Orb-Morgenroete-Inc

Ford Focus 2011

2011-12-31T01:40:00.006+01:00

I almost forgot to mention that my Focus Mk II has been replaced by the new Focus Mk III 2011 as of June 2011. I wasn't really looking for another car, but since I'm doing less km a year (around 18K-20K), my Focus II with a 2.0 L TDCi dieselengine was, due to the tax systems in The Netherlands, becoming too expensive to hold on. And after all, I'm a 'petrolhead'.....
The Mk III was presented on the Detroit Motor Show way back in January 2010. At that time I wasn't very impressed and even disappointed. Knowing that the car was not too photo-genius, I waited to see the car in real. In April of this year the car arrived in the Netherlands and in real life the car has much more looks than on pics.
After a testrun with a friend and collegue of mine, I was convinced. The car has inherited the short and extreme cornering technique's of Mk I and the long interchange cornerings (especially cloverleafs) of the Mk II. A perfect combination with a lot of comfort and silence aboard.
In the US consumers are very happy with the global project of the Focus, especially to replace the previous NA model which is in fact the first European Focus (1998-2004). Since the higher driving standards of European cars, it's no suprise that the design and development has taken place in Germany.
In Europe we are very fortunate to get the car with the Ecoboost engines. This means a 1.6 Litre 4-Cylinder direct injected inline engine with a midrange turbocharger added. The performances are fair enough. Max output will be around 150 hp (there is another type 1.6 with 182 hp) and a torque of 240 Nm and an additional 30 Nm to 270 Nm in overboost modus. Powertrain is combined with a 6-speed manual gearbox. The Ecoboosts are standard fitted with city start/stop system.
The US customers unfortunately will have to do it with an very ancient 2.0 Litre 4-cylinder natural aspired engine wich gives 160 hp and a torque of 198 Nm, all combined with an also ancient 5-speed gearbox. The fuel consumption performances will be less good than it's European Ecoboost counterpart.
The car comes with a good equipment like half-leather interior; heated seats; heated windshield; dual zone climate control; LED rear lighting; Interior ambi-lighting; Hill start assist; tyre-pressure control and ESP.
The car features new (green) technologies like: active grill shutters, parkist assist, lane departure warning & correcting system, active city stop, traffic signs recognition, light control, Blind Spot recognition and for exceptional cornering performances: Torque Vectoring Control.

My car is personalized with metallic paint: Midnight Sky, Large rearspoiler, 18 inch alloy wheels official Ford-design (225/40/R18). The car is wearing Michelin Pilot Sport 3 shoes.
For the winterseasons I'll use Vredestein Sportrac 2 (205/55/R16).

Here after some more pics. Hope you like it.

Active grill shutter & en profil

Ambi lighting & Ecoboost engine

Original Spoiler & Large Spoiler

My previous cars: Focus Mk I - 2001 (& Alfa Romeo 146) & Focus Mk II - 2006

Ford Focus Mk III - 2011

Rest well Nick Ashford!

2011-08-23T20:17:00.004+02:00

On August 22nd Nick Ashford has passed away of complications of throat cancer.
A great Soul; R&B and disco performer, with his greatest years in the 80's with Motown.
Such artists are very hard to find these days.....

A week in Singapore (Part 1)

2011-07-17T15:10:00.006+02:00

It has been a long time ago I updated the blog, so after a very busy period I guess it's time for a some news. So I start with a city-trip I made last May.
Destination: Singapore. My interests are the greater metropolis in East- and SouthEast Asia. Last year I've been in Japan (Osaka/Tokyo) and of course Hong Kong. Another city among the Four Asian Tigers I haven't been yet is Singapore.
A republic at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula which has been repelled from the Malay Federation in 1965 after racial riots and other problems. Lee Kuan Yew became the first Prime Minister of the newborn Singapore and was governing the state for 3 decades. Singapore became one of the wealthiest nations in the world and is with Hong Kong SAR the most powerful economy in the asian region. It's after New York, London and Hong Kong the 4th leading International Financial Centre in the World.
Back to my trip. On Dutch Queensday I flew with Singapore's flagcarrier Singapore Airlines. As many travellers may know SIA is one of world's leading airlines, so the flight wasn't a punishment at all. Great services onboard, a 35-inch pit, Personal AVOD, Diner menu cards, flight amenities, real metal cutlery and drinking glass for diner.

Once arrived in Singapore I took a cab to the hotel in the district 'Little India'.
By coincidence the cabdriver was a Singaporean habitant with Cantonese roots, so the conversation went smooth and felt like a warm welcome.
As I dropped my luggage at the hotel, I went into the Central Business District by subway which is familiar and of course super-efficient like in HK.
Like Victoria and Nathan were important persons for HK, the British Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles has been the founder and indirectly responsible for the Singapore of nowadays. Today, there a many legacies of Raffles, like several places in the CBD, streets and SIA's First class is named Raffles Class.
A short while ago, the brandnew Marina Bay Sands has been opened. This megastructure is a 3 column Hotel which towers more than 200 m above sea level with a 350 m curved, boatlike skypark across the 3 towers. Very impressive since it stands on reclamated land
In the CBD there are a lot of heritages from the colonial era under Britisch Straits Settlements. The Fullerton Hotel is settled on the corner of Singapore Bay and is a former Post Headoffice.
Today, many luxury sportscars are crowding the parking lane.
At Singapore River are many ancient tradehouses which are nowadays restaurants and cafe's. On the background you'll notice the business district.
Singapore maintains 4 official languages: English, Chinese Mandarin, Malay & Tamil.
Later that day I went to the Esplanades, a twin Dome performing arts centre which has a shape of two Durians, the king of fruits.

Next part: Sentosa Island; Science center and Orchard Ion Sky.

Are you going on vacation during this summer?

Durian shaped Esplanades & 4 languages

Udon noodle soup & Aqueen Lavender Hotel

PG 1/60 ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom Gundam 1st & 2nd batch - UPDATE

2010-12-22T13:39:00.010+01:00

Today the first batches of the long awaited Gunpla kit PG 1/60 ZGMF-Strike Freedom Gundam has arrived. Along with it, a PG Strike Rouge + Skygrasper kit.

At the time of shooting this picture, several PG kits were already shipped to customers.
This is what's left for now. Of course amongst them, one is kit is mine ;-)

UPDATE:
3rd batch has arrived and this week there are some interesting offers on
Morgenroete Inc. Gunpla store!!

Will you get this PG kit for Christmas?

Two weeks in Japan (conclusion)

2010-11-27T16:50:00.003+01:00

After a long period finally the conclusion of the Japan trip. After the arrival in Tokyo metropolis we headed directly to the Tokyo Tower. As usual there was a lot of smog, what resulted in a ghost-city like picture at 250 m height.
On Saturdays allmost every citizen of Tokyo is running and jogging along the Tokyo parks near the residence of the emperror of Japan. It doesn't matter the conditions are hard. With temperatures of 37 degrees Celsius and humidity of 90% people keep on running. We also visited the business district Shinjuku and the 'twin towers' of Tokyo Government Building which are 202 m high.

The next day I spent a day with my niece who was graduating in Japan for Biomedic Technologies and would return to the Netherlands within a few weeks.
She showed me Akihabara, Shinjuku, Meji jungu in the Shibuya district.

As known the Akihabara district is a heaven for otaku. All electronic gadgets, videogames and cosplays are concentrated in this area. Fascinating....
I was also able to get my hands on new SNES carts from the 90's. I love it!!!
The store was called Retro store....catching! All videogames systems from the 80's till now are available!
As you can see: Loads of retro games!
Later that day we spent some time on world's famous crossing point at the Shibuya district.
Two days later we concluded our journey in Japan and returned to The Netherlands with a dayflight with KLM.

The return flight was a little less comfortable due to a lot of turbulence during the flight.

It was a great way to explore the Kansai region and Tokyo metropolis. Somewhere in the future, I would like to take another trip to Japan.

Do you like city-trips?

Parking in Tokyo & Jogging with 37 degrees Celsius!

The original Metal Gear! & Lots of Super Famicoms for a bargain!

The remarkable English skills of the Japanese & Wedding in Meji Jungu

Asakusa district for souvenirs & Shibuya 109 Center Gai at dusk.

Tokyo Narita Airport & Boeing 747-400 PH-BFL City of Lima.

KLM's Economy Comfort class & Halfway around the polar circle.

Nice view!

Two weeks in Japan (part 3)

2010-09-09T21:45:00.001+02:00

The next day we went to Nara. Nara was also the capital of Japan in the 8th century. Today it is a small town with approx. over 4000 habitants. But the history remains. This year is the celebration of Nara's 1300 years anniversary.
Throughout Nara there are nearly 'infinite' amount of deers walking around for some sempei (a sort of biscuit) from tourists.

We also have visited the highest building in the Kansai region, the Cosmo WTC tower, which is about 260 m high. We had a nice and clear view over almost the whole Kansai region. Even the Akashi-Kaikyo bridge in Kobe (World's longest suspension bridge) could be seen.

Kobe would be the next place to visit. Though in 1995 been smashed by mother nature due the earthquake, Kobe has been recovered quite fast. Besides a monumentary at the Kobe tower at the port, there is not much left that reminds you of the catastrophe from 15 years ago...incredible. We also took the bus and cross the Akashi bridge to Awaji Island. There is not much to do, but it was quiet and beautiful to see some more nature. Back in Kobe we visited the Kobe Tower which is 108 m high.
A platform at about 90 m turns around in 25 minutes. We enjoyed the view with a good glass of beer.
Another day passes by and we decided to visit the Botanic Gardens nearby the Nagai Stadium in Osaka. It lies in the southern district Minami. We were amazed by the excellent sports-accomodations for public and professionals. The athletic stadium of Nagai has also a soccer-field which surpasses many reknown stadiums in Europe in facilities and condition.

On July 23rd we travelled from Osaka-City to Tokyo Metropolis. Of course, we took the famous Shinkansen, known as the bullet-train, which is a misconcept since the bullet-design dated from the 1960's and is obsolete by now.
The distance between saka and Tokyo is approximately 600 km. We did it in 2h40min. with the Shinkansen Nozumi 700 Series and a rms speed of +250 km/h....amazing.
Unfortunately there was a lot of smog that day. So we weren't able to catch a glimp of mount Fuji between Shizuoka and Kanagawa.
That's it for now. Next time, the conclusion of the Japan trip.

Japanese gardens in Nara & deers

Kimono & view on Osaka Bay

Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge & Kawasaki monument.

Botanic garden & Nagai Stadium

200m run & accomodation Kikue Osaka

Shinkansen N700 Interior

Two weeks in Japan (part 2)

2010-08-04T23:39:00.029+02:00

Part two starts with a daytrip to Japan's former capital Kyoto. We visited the Ginkaku-Ji temple and garden.
At first we missed our get-off point at the temple. After a while we concluded that we should go back a few km. A local on bike who was initially a little irritated because we were standing in the way, was very kind to help us. He was one of the very few Japanese who spoke properly English. The plan was to walk along the 'path of philosophy' to the Nanzen-Ji temple. But halfway we decided to get of the track and take the bus back to te centre of Kyoto due to the high temperature rising till 36 degrees Celsius. At Kyoto station we visited another temple and also the Kyoto Tower which is about 130 meters high. A new record in comparison to the Tsutenkaku tower (103 m).
The Kyoto station was also very impressive. a high rised building with many escalators. One after another going sky-high!

The next day was another day in Greater Osaka. We visited the famous Kaiyukan aquarium. The theme of this aquraium is 'The ring of fire', because it shows the species from all around the Pacific Ocean. A great watertank filled with 5,4 million liters of water and their famous residents: 2 Whale Sharks and 2 Manta Rays.
Later that day we visited another tower: the Umeda Towers. Another new height has been reached: 173 m.
The view was again....amazing....pictures were taken from the floating garden between the both towers.

Later that evening we also took a break at Namba parks before getting dinner. A park that has risen on the roof of the shopping mall in Namba. More pics are coming up!

Further impressions of these days.

Sea Otter and Manta Ray

Whale Shark and Japanese Spider crab

Nemo's and Umeda Tower

Umeda Tower at distance and Namba Parks

Two weeks in Japan (part 1)

2010-08-04T23:30:00.003+02:00

It's been quite a while since my last post. So here's a new post about my last vacation to the land of the rising sun and the origin of Otaku....Japan. Having been in Hong Kong earlier this year (May), I thought it would be a nice extension to explore the Farther East. We started the journey with a flight from Amsterdam to Osaka in the Kansai Region. Many people will think about Tokyo first, but the Kansai Region is also interesting, because of the well-known cities as Kobe (Kobe-beef and unfortunately also the 1995 earthquake) and the former capital of Japan, Kyoto, which has far more history than the nowadays Tokyo metropolis. The first flight towards Osaka Kansai International Airport was a comfortable one with a KLM Boeing 777-200ER. Although having flown for many times in widebodies like 747-400, it was actually my first flight in a triple seven.
We were staying at a hotel in Nipponbashi nearby the busy district Namba. We discovered that it was located in the middle of Den Den Town, a shopping area for electronic equipment, games, anime and a heaven for Otaku which is comparable with Akihabara in Tokyo.
Our first activity was visiting the Tsutenkaku tower in Naniwa ward. It gives a great view on the southern (minami) section of Osaka. It wouldn't be the last tower we are going to visit.
We also visited the Osaka Zoo for the time being till we could check in at 15:00 later that day.
The next day we went to the famous Osaka Castle. It provides a great view.
Unfortunately the world famous Himeji Castle, one of the few original surviving castles in Japan from the 17th century, was under renovation at this time which will last till 2015! The southern districts, known as Minami has the Shitennoji-temple. The narrow streets has the well-known electricity- and telecommunicationpoles and cables. Well, that's for now. More reports are comin' up soon!

Are you going on a vacation this summer?

Great view from the Tsutenkaku Tower

A rollercoaster in the middle of the city! Only possible in Japan!

All pictures taken with Sony-Alpha A-300 + 16-80 mm Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar.

Review - Macross Frontier kit VF-25G Messiah Valkyrie Michel Blanc Custom

2010-03-21T12:12:00.005+01:00

As promised, here are the pictures taken from the VF-25G Messiah Valkyrie Michel Blanc Custom. The kit is supposed to be at a MG level, but there are some downfalls to mention.
Overall design is excellent, colorschemes are good and...amongst the three modes, the fighter mode is by far the best pose.
There are 3 modes for the macross frontier kits. The first is the Fighter mode. In contradiction to the Gundam Franchise, the Fighter/ jet mode is the primary mode for these models. It declares why the Battroid Mode is less attractive in comparison to the Gundam-designs.
Of course there is a 'robot'mode called Battroid mode. This is for battle-scenes which do not require to much velocity and becomes handy is space-scenes.
At last, there is a gerwalk mode. This is n intermediate form between Battroid and Fighter mode.
As if a Fighter has a pair of legs and arms. in the series it became useful in narrow spaces were no velocity could be generated.

Back to the building proces. the internal parts of the inner skeleton are tiny and delicate. But a pain in the ass to built. As the skeleton became ready, it was a little bit loose as a whole. Transforming to Battroid mode or Gerwalk mode is a mission apart.
Because all the parts have not much of a margin left, the whole kit is a little unstable if the parts do not fit correctly. During transformation it will give loads of frustration. I've been messing for two hours to get this photoshoot done! Thats why it took so long for a review. I wasn't looking forward for an afternoon like this.

The additional action base 01 S.M.S. version is very good and a nessecity to pose the Valkyrie properly.
As I'm a huge fan of ther series and MF models, the kits are somewhat dissapointing. That means: The thought was very good and the meaning also, but the execution did not met the idea. The majors flaws in my opinion:
- Knee-cover are loose.
- Decals, tons of it to cover wrong colors!
- Some parts which are supposed to be white, were blue!
- Parts fit too tight!
- Transforming means frustraton.
- Sniper Rifle is a bit loose. By all this, the kit will be showed as a fighter, not because it's the best pose, but also most stable form. The limbs are not as posebale like a MG Gundam model, so in Battroid form it looks a little stiff, like the Valkyrie is stored in a hangar.
Here are the rest of the pics.

In conclusion: I still have Ozma's and Alto's Super and Armored Messiah's and I will build them in the distant future, but the original idea to collect them all is not anymore. It's quite hard to built them and show properly like I have in mind.
But the awesome design makes the hesitation thumbling toward building them.

Are you planning to built more MF kits?

All pictures are taken with: Sony DSC-P8, Digital Compact.

Preview - Macross Frontier kit VF-25G Messiah Valkyrie Michel Blanc Custom

2010-02-02T21:08:00.006+01:00

At the end of December 2009 I started to assemble Macross Frontier kits aside the Gundam Lines.
The following pictures are a little preview of the VF-25G Messiah Valkyrie Michel Blanc Custom.
A complete review is coming in the near future, but one thing I have to say already, is that the MF 1/72 kit is quite complicated due to the transformable features. I also assembled an Action Base 01 S.M.S. version.
This is really a good and nice action base and simple to build.
More pics are comin'up.

RPG Classics

2009-12-20T15:45:00.015+01:00

Although the Role-Playing-Game genre has been around for a long time, I didn't care about it till the mid 1990's. Before this era I was very hooked of the 1-on-1 Beat-em-up's like Streetfighter II (Turbo), Fatal Fury and the KoF series.
The following RPG-timeline describes the developments from 1992 till today, with spotlights on the classics on the SNES.
In the fall of 1996, it was like I stood up on a day and must have thought there must be more than no-thinking games like SF etc.
So I bought Secret of Mana, which I also purchased a few years earlier, but swapped it for another game due to not understanding the RPG genre.
I was hooked again and the RPG virus never left me since. Because it was also fall in the lifespan of the best gameconsole ever, the SNES, my brother and I were hunting for all the greatest RPG's on this system for about two years.
The result was a very impressive list of great RPG's. Most of them were in new condition.
A unique feature at the time for Secret of Mana (16-Meg) was the real time action where most of the rivals were menu-driven or turn based. The latter method was because of the limited processing power to realise real time action. There was also a 3-player mode which gave the players more fun. My brothers and I are still playing it nowadays!
Father of the SNES RPG is without a doubt 'The legend of Zelda I II - A Link to the past' (8-Meg). In those days - and still- a fantastic in-depth story with lots of action released by Nintendo itself.
Squaresoft (Good old times without Enix) was already a specialist in RPG's and had released Final Fantasies 1 -3 for the NES. Though the story of FF IV (8-Meg) was very good and today's classic, the graphics were reminding of a pimped NES. Till winter 1994, Square releases her Golden Egg - Final Fantasy VI (FF III in the US) with rendered graphics, great music and a epic story stored in - at the time huge cart - a 24-Meg cart. Since then Square's star has rised to heaven and the following succes were even greater. This time, there was besides the turn based, the introduction of active time battle, better known as real-time battling menu-driven. In 1994, just after finishing FF VI, Hironobu Sakaguchi put together the so called dream team consisting Yuji Horii (Dragon's Quest), Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball) and Sakaguchi himself to work on a project which turned out to be the best RPG ever - Chrono Trigger (32-Meg!). Aside of them, there was the debut for music composer Yasunori Mitsuda. It was a gamble, but it turned out fantastic. Mitsuda asked too much from himself and suffered from exhaustion. Nobuo Uematsu finished his soundtrack with a few tracks, but Uematsu states that the credits goes to Mitsuda.
This game was special because it didn't had to change the field screen to action/fight screen. A few extra menu's appeared when confronting the enemy and there was a smooth transition in the music. The unique style for the Chrono Series was also the Tech-ability. Depending on which character you were using, you could spread a great arsenal of magic and fighting combo's, just fenomenal! Of course the active time battle system was featured here.
Besides of all, there were multiple endings, depending on what kind of decisions you had made in the past. Now this is Chrono (time) Triggering at highest level!
The new game+ feature boosts up the replay value. You can replay the game without searching all the valuable items/ techs once again.
Later in 1999 Sony would also release a 'sequel' named Chrono Cross. This is not a really sequel, because it has no direct connection to the events of Chrono Trigger, but takes place in the same universe about 20 years later. The extra dimension of CC was that it also junps to parallel universes, which explaines the title Chrono Cross.

Due to the arrogance of Nintendo to keep the support of cartridges, Squaresoft switched and gave the licenses to Sony to release titles for the Playstation. This is because the CD-rom (and later DVD-rom) could store much more data, which gave more opportunities and possibilities.
The results are known, FF VII till FF IX were cashcows for Sony. Many people claim that FF VII is one of the best episode that has been made. It was a high quality title with a good in-depth story. For me, FF VI is still the one above all, nothing beats the 16-bit era. FF VII & FF VIII was a little change in tactics and technical choices. The party you were playing consist 3 characters. Why Squaresoft made this choice is unknown. In FF IX was a return to the roots.
The characters were more animated like and the music is familiar with the pre-32 bit era. The party you're travelling with consists 4 characters, like before.
The summons are mostly the same as in FF VI.

In the early 2000's Squaresoft merged with Enix, it's rival company, to the biggest console RPG developper. The merger is comparable with that of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas in the aviation-world.
Critisism said it hasn't brought that good to the development of the products, I agree. The saga continued on the PS2 with FF X to FF XII. Now in March 2010 the 13th episode awaits for the PS3.

Do you look forward to Final Fantasy XIII?

A few titles (brandnew) acquired during our hunt late 1990's:
Chrono Trigger, FF III (US), Secret of Mana, Secret of Evermore, Super Mario RPG, Breath of Fire 1 & 2, Lufia 2, Terranigma, Illusion of Time, Seiken Den Setsu 3 (Secret of Mana 2), Treasure Hunter G, Romancing Saga 3.

New additions

2009-11-14T11:40:00.021+01:00

It has been quite a while since my last post. So it's about time to present my newest additions to my Home Theatre & Home Entertainment. This time it is a mix of modern computergaming and old school retro gaming.
At the end of October I bought the new PS3 Slim with a 120 GB HDD. I already know the possibilities and a few systempushers like Metal Gear Solid 4, CoD 4 Modern Warfare and the newly released CoD MW2 have convinced me. The PS3 slim has more HDD space and a renewed OS. A few features didn't come anymore with this version, but it's worth it. PS2 support is not available, which is a downside, since the PS2 is still the cashcow after 9 years of life. Directly after release I purchased the Hardened Edition of CoD MW2. This version includes besides the game disc, a steelbook case, plastic overall sleeve, a booklet with concepts & art-work and a voucher to download the first CoD, known as CoD Classic.

Furthermore, there is a new handheld. The Nintendo DSi black is a lovely gadget to play present games, but also timeless classics as Chrono Trigger DS.
I love this game and also got the original brandly new SNES cart title from 1995 (purchased in 1998).

Speaking about the SNES, i already own an PAL version and share a US SNES with my brother. But if this one dies, it will be difficult to play US games. And I got a good library of fantastic SNES RPG's. So'I purchased a spare US SNES on E-bay.
It took me € 55,00 shipping from US included, but hey......this brick is gold! The US controller, RF-switch and AC-power adaptor are rubbish, but I got a tons of PAL controllers and accessoiries. Ow...a Super Mario World game pack was also a freebee.... Nice!
But aside from it's uncool design (known as the Brick) the US SNES has a few points over the PAL version. It supports RGB-signals which was comparable with HDMI nowadays. The colors of the US SNES were far more brighter, colorful and thus superior to it's PAL nephew. Another good thing is that the Brick is running on 60 Hz due to NTSC, which is 17 % faster than the European counterpart and the black boxes on the top and bottom of the screens will not be shown.

Later this year I will spent an article about the classic SNES RPG's.
For now, i present a few screenshots which are upscaled by my superb Onkyo beast and full blown all channel stereo (There wasn't any Dolby Prologic II or DTS HD yet in 1995). The shot of CoD MW 1 & MW 2 is a little blur. Apologies for that.
(All pictures are taken with Sony-DSC P8)

Which type of gaming do you like? Retro, Modern gaming or both?

Poll Results

2009-09-18T22:52:00.006+02:00

Again, the poll has already been closed for a while. The results shows that amongst the High End line of Bandai's PG series, the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam is the most popular version of all. If we look closer to the second place, the MBF-02 Strike Rouge, we'll learn it is the same frame. So, actually the G-frame owns 63% of the votes.

Final results:
GAT-X105 Strike - 36 %
MBF-02 Strike Rouge - 27 %
MBF-P02 Astray Red Frame - 18 %
XXXG-00W0 Wing Zero Custom - 18 %

Thanks for voting and a new poll about the Macross Frontier kits has been added.

Picture: Thanks to Danny Choo.

Home Theatre - Next Generation

2009-09-05T15:39:00.035+02:00

Way back in January 2004, half a year before I moved into my current residence, which I've had build then, I purchased a Home Theatre system to enjoy the new era of home entertainment. The Sony DAV-S880 was a good all-in-one choice at the time. My budget at that time was not that big due to my movement and the purchase of my house. For displaying the video I bought the Sony KV32FQ86 including the complementary furniture. A CRT TV with a 32" display, very big at that time. All together it had cost me about € 1900,00 (US$ 2680,00), € 600,00 HTS and € 1300,00 for the TV. In the meantime I've hacked the regioncodes and it is regionfree since then. But there were also some major flaws. The main shortcoming was the passive subwoofer. So the power of the sub wasn't that high, since it had to drain it's power from the main receiver causing the temperature rising rapidly. The satellite speakers were good with a power of 100W rms per speaker. But as usual, satellite systems are not made for audio or music events. The mid-range frequencies were not that good. Sony's S-Master digital amplifier system made the AV-receiver very compact and gave it a superslim design. But the drawback was that it could, despite the S-Master technology, overheat. Slowdown processing and even crashing could be the result. And as time goes by, the still goodlooking Home Theathre System has became a fossil in the HT scene.
This summer I assembled my next generation Home Theatre System. First thing first. The heart of a HT system is a A/V Receiver. My choice is the Onkyo TX-SR876. A high-end receiver and top of the line along with the TX-NR906. The receiver has an output of 200W rms per speaker and has many features like 7.1 with all Dolby and DTS variants, Bi-amp wiring, up to 3 zones performing. The THX Ultra 2 Plus and ISF calibrating is also included. One of the great things is the upscaling proces to high defintion display with its advanced HQV Reon-VX video processing. This guy is really big and weights 24 kg! Ironically, as I'm writing this blog now, the successors of the SR876 and the NR906 are presented as the NR3007 and NR5007 respectively. Speaking of first things first. It was a pain to get a new AV furniture since the depth of the Onkyo is 46 cm. Besides of that, the old AV furniture was a part of the CRT TV and the glassplates would explode in thousand pieces should the Onkyo be placed onto it. So the German company Spectral was the solution. The Brick 1501 was my choice. My version is a black one with black glass on top and front. To get a good sound, I choose between Focal Sib & Co (JM-Labs), Mordaunt Short and KEF KHT 3005SE. Since the first two were hard to get and becoming obsolete I purchased the KEF. The black high gloss version has a good design and even the sub is very stylish. The performance is very good and in pure audio setting the satellites have enough power of their own. The packaging of the speakers also gave me confidence since it has a precious sleeve to protect them.

For the video features I purchased the Samsung LED LCD-TV UE46B7090. A 46" (117 cm) wide flatscreen with an ultraslim design. The screen is only 3 cm (1,18") deep!! Originally I ordered the B7000, but it was not in stock anymore, so the retailer offered me the B7090, which has no red lighting edge. I didn't bother, so I ordered the B7090.The specs are the same as the B7000.

At this moment, I do not have a really DVD player anymore. I borrowed my brother's PS3, so I can also play Blu-Ray movies. I'm considering to get a PS3 (or the new PS3 slim) of my own, because it can also play videogames and has several other multi-media features, which a regular BD-player doesn't have. Besides, it is said that the PS3's Blu Ray player has better performances than many other players. the last thing I noticed is that the PS3 slim will support DolbyTrue-HD and DTS-HD, something the PS3 Fat doesn't do. This is something I have to think about..... Of course, there will also be a cheap DVD player next to it which accepts all legal and illegal crap from all over the world.

These finishing touches will be coming soon.

Suggestions for the choice between a regular BD player or a PS3 are welcome. (Except for the first 2 pictures, all pictures are taken with: Sony-DSC P8)

Onkyo in Pure Audio setting

Final setting Home Theatre

Gundam Fall 2009

2009-08-23T11:54:00.014+02:00

The currently running Gundam Big Expo reveals a lot af interesting kits for coming fall. The most forward looking kit for almost a year will be the MG 1/100 RX-75 Guntank. With this MG kit Bandai finally completes the Operation V team. Even the Box-art is ready. Release of the MG Guntank will aproximately be late September. At this moment I don't know yet if the MG Guntank will come with new gimmicks like flash LED's or anything else. Bandai has becoming known as the source of the Chaos Theory lately due to the unlogical strategy of release of kits. Now it is revealed that there will be a MG re-incarnation of the MBF-P03 Gundam Astray Blue Frame 2nd L revise (Lowe Gear), which already has a HG 1/100 version. Just half a year after the Release of the PG Astray Red Frame. It is the second MG kit that comes after a PG version. The first one was the Gundam Wing Zero Custom. My guess is that a MG Red Frame release will be realised in a distant future. I will probably get this kit anyway, due to the originality and technical quality of the design. Speaking about design........ I am a great fan of the Cosmic Era (Gundam Seed), but the future releases of Seed vs Frame Astray makes the C.E. a little ridiculous and insults the current line-up. Look and make up your mind. From left to right: NCYS Providence; Hail Buster; Gail Strike and the Regen Duel. The Buster and Strike will be released on August 24th, the Providence and Duel will be released late September. Designs are very undelicious in my opinion. It looks like the designs are coming from an artstudio with some rookie students. Every one can redesign this through replace the MS parts on a different location. I do not wish my future car will be one with the wheels on the roof....defenitely a No No to me.

For now the last fact: This is the first glimp of the next Perfect Grade kit - The Gundam 00 Raiser.
Probably a very good design and a very large kit, since it will come with the 0-Raiser.
My expectation is that the box will has the size of his successor PG Red Frame and the earlier PG Zeta and Strike Rouge + Skygrasper.
Although I'm a major fan of the PG kits, I think it is a little overkill with in mind that the last PG Red Frame release was just 8 months ago by the time the 00 Raiser will arrive.
The timelag between the PG Red Frame and the ultimate frame PG Strike (+Strike Rouge) has been 4,5 years! What has Bandai been doing all these years?
There is no doubt the PG 00 Raiser will be a succes, since the meta series Anno Domini Gundam 00 is a commercial succes. I wonder if the Gunpla fans can catch up this tidal wave of new and good releases.
Time will tell......

All kits will be available at Morgenroete Inc.

Do you like the Seed vs Astray models design?

Gunpla releases Summer 2009

2009-07-27T09:10:00.009+02:00

Amongst of the releases, the main focus this month is defenitely on the MG 1/100 GN-001 Gundam Exia. There is also a different kit, MG Exia Ignition Mode. This kit is a limited release with extra parts to make the Exia Repair II mode. Lots of gunpla builders are looking forward to it. So do I. But all other releases are also very interesting and can be ordered at Morgenroete Inc. for Benelux Gunpla builders.
The first batch has arrived!

Second batch is following very soon!

Do you like the MG 1/100 GN-001 Gundam Exia?

City trip Hong Kong SAR - 4 (Last Part)

2009-07-26T15:40:00.009+02:00

Asians are quite electronic-addicts. So are they here. This computer centre was in the district Sham Shui Po. The Mekka for electronic-madmen.
All sort of hardware and software for PC and console gaming are available here. I have thought about purchasing a Nintendo DSi here, but on a second thought....it would be better to buy one back in The Netherlands due to the region restrictions. (which weren't an issue in the past).

A few days later we went to Lantau Island to visit the Tian Tan Buddha. It's worlds tallest buddha seated statue outside and has a excellent view. If the weatherconditions are good - and we were lucky - you can see Macau SAR from the top of the statue.
At Wong Tai Sin Temple we were witnessing some of many ceremonial buddhism activities.
We have also visited Hong Kong Park at the district Admiralty. HK Park has a nice Greenhouse and an enormous aviary with a great variety of birds.

On the last day we have visited our grandmother who lives in a adult-day care resort. Because the H1N1 Influenza is an actual item, we had to wear a surgical mask. On the picture: 4 musketeers, my grandfather (left) was joking with us!

Later that night, after being confirmed we were able to jump on the jump-seats again, the PH-BFS 'City of Shanghai' flew us back to the Netherlands. A special note: The 747-400 captain was the same one as on my flight last year from HK to AMS, an unique coincidence.
Unfortunately the last picture isn't that sharp, but it was my best one at the time.

Well, this is it. I hope you enjoyed my mini-trip log.

Have you planned a vacation this summer?

City trip Hong Kong SAR - 3 (City)

2009-07-20T21:05:00.018+02:00

During our visit to HK we stayed at The Cosmopolitan Hotel. A high-end hotel at the Wan Chai district. Well...actually it is based in Causeway Bay since the MTR station is nearby. Happy Valley Race Course was situated next to us. Since gambling is illegal in HK, the people are looking for some excitement at the HK Jockey Club and bet on horse races.
Due to the economic crisis the prices for a stay are dropped tremendiously that low, the costs for 1 night at this 4 star hotel was about € 26,00 (US$ 36,50) per night.
In The Netherlands we can't get even the doors opened for us....

Anyway, the location was great we were right in the centre of HK Island.
If you have the chance getting there, make sure you get the infamous Octopus Card.
This card is your key to mobility. Private transport is almost impossible in HK due to the many traffic-infarctions, so the public transport (trains, underground, taxi's, busses and feries) are excellent!
You can simple charge up your card and pay electronically all your fares. The Octopus is also used for payment at convenience stores, supermarkets, fast-food restaurants, on-street parking meters, car parks, and other point-of-sale applications such as service stationsvending machines.

Eating is a very important activity in South East Asia. So people do not cook very often, as it is very time consuming. No, around every corner they have a restaurant, eating house or markets, so let's eat outside!
The 3rd picture is at a market in the New Territories city Sheung Shui.
Later that day we had a good dinner at my grandparents place.

Hong Kong's skyline is also breathtaking and we were able to see the Symphony of Light, an event with a mix of lightshow and music while presenting the skyline and the remarkable buildings of HK Island.

Also remarkable is the building proces in HK. Unlike the European which uses steel or aluminium tubes for scaffolding, the Chinese use bamboo. And they have a few points: It's a product of mother nature, easy to assemble and dissemble, it's weight is limited, also strong and withstands all sorts of stress. And more importantly, the costs are low. Incredible how an ancient method defeats modern methods.

Next time: Part 4 - Cities, Tian Tan Budha and more culture.

Poll results

2009-07-18T13:31:00.005+02:00

Well, the poll has already been closed for a while, but nevertheless, the results shows that The United Emirates of Orb are the favorites amongst the voters. Though there were only six voters, 5 out of six have chosen the Orb Union.
It's probably the vision behind this faction that makes sense. The obviously Three Ship Alliance is a forthcoming from the orb faction.

Final results:
Earth Alliance - 0 %
PLANT - 0 %
United Emirates of Orb - 83 %
Three Ship Alliance - 17 %

Thanks for voting and a new poll about the PG kits has been added.

City trip Hong Kong SAR - 2 (Flight)

2009-07-18T11:37:00.021+02:00

From July 4th till July 12th I have been doing a short City trip to Hong Kong SAR with John, a friend of mine. The idea to guide him in HK rose way back in 2004, but there wasn't a real opportunity till this summer.
Since John is a KLM employee, he is allowed to take a companion with him and travel with reduced fares. For € 196,00 (US$ 275,00) we were able to have a return flight from Amsterdam to Hong Kong.
The other side of traveling this way, is that you are on the waiting list. So, you're stand-by. If there are people who don't show up or the flight is not fully booked, we're in. Leaving with empty seats is not an option, so the economy people who are overbooked will be upgraded to the World Business Class and if there are stand-by travellers, they can also boarding.
We were not that fortunate. We were only travel with these flights on the jump-seat, due to overbooking.

These seats are used by the flight attendants only for take off and landing, but are far from comfortable.
Well, at least we are going to HK! But the crew was very relaxed and made any efforts (well, almost any) to comfort us during the flight.
They even offered their crew seat (3rd pic), which was much more comfortable than the M-class (economy) version, but not as good as the WBC version. Besides, it was a stand alone seat, so there wasn't anyone to bother you.
Except for the seat, we've had almost a WBC treatment. Due to the available space, the crew even gave me a galley-container to support my legs as I could stretch these fully to take a nap. During the 11 hours, I had a deep sleep for 6,5 hours. I can't remember to have slept this much during a flight!

At the end of both flights we reveived an attention from the crew. This attention was the famous KLM-house and only prohibited to travellers in the WBC. Nice!!
These poclain miniature houses are replica's (with a real adress) of real ancient houses which were built throughout The Netherlands (Like Amsterdam, Amstelveen, Alkmaar, Arnhem, Deventer etc.) during their Golden Age from approx. 1550-1650. These miniatures are filled with Bols Jenever (a Dutch liquor and precursor to gin made from Juniper berries)

During the flight, the attendants provided us with loads of snacks and drinks and took some time to make a chat. My brother was also on board on the flight back to Amsterdam.
The last few years I heard a lot of negative complaints about the cabin crew. KLM flight attendants would be very snobbish or not very polite.
I have been flying KLM for more than 25 years and I cannot share the above. All the flights the attendants did their job properly. Alright, the atractiveness is not like Cathay Pacific crew (which some of them are very atractive), but that is not an issue of importancy.

What are your experiences with cabin crews? (all airlines)

City trip Hong Kong SAR

2009-06-30T00:06:00.013+02:00

Next week I'll be in Hong Kong SAR again. Although I'm born and raised in The Netherlands and being a full Dutch citizen, due to my Cantonese roots, HK is like a second home to me. My grandparents are still living there. It will be the 3rd time in the last 12 months. A few collegues of mine were very curious about life in HK. So, last April I took them to HK and let them have a great journey in the city where west meets east (I know, it's a cliche). Now, in July I will probably return again. A good friend of mine is a KLM employee and has opportunities to travel for a bargain. I'm talking about € 200,00 (Aprox. US$ 280,00) for a round trip Amsterdam - Hong Kong with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

I love to fly, But a flight of 11 hours in a M-class of a Boeing 747-400 is quite a time, so I'm hoping the economy class is fully booked, as I am to be upgraded to the World Business Class (for the same bargain!!) Therefore, I hope to see some new stuff and otaku gadgets again and of course, take a lot of pictures, as it is also one of my hobbies.

Last year I bumped on Jackie Chan, while shooting a promotion (I guess). That was a true coincidence, I don't think it will ever happen again. One of the specific issues being on vacation is in my opinion the scent of a location. So has Hong Kong. They often say: One picture tells more than a thousand words. Well, if it also goes for a scent, I think that a scent is telling one hundred thousand times what a picture says. It's so unique that every time this scent is passing by, I'm immediately back on vacation again! Great experience!

Do you have nice memories of scents/aroma about your vacation?

Macross Frontier

2009-06-20T13:11:00.008+02:00

Today I received a sh*tload of awesome kits from Macross Frontier.
The long awaited VF-25S Armored Messiah Ozma Custom and many others like Super Messiah's
(both Alto & Ozma) and Michel Blanc's sniper version.
These pics are taken with a compact camera, so the quality seems to be a little inferior.

I have also ordered a Super Pack parts kit & 2 S.M.S. version of No. 1 Action Bases.
Next week Luca's Reconnaissance RVF-25 Messiah will arrive and in July the Armored Messiah Alto Custom will follow.

I do hope they also will release the VF-27 Lucifer, VB-06 Konig Monster and the mass productions like VF-171 Nightmare (including the EX and Plus version).
A lot of wishes.....

Benelux customers can order these kit at Morgenroete Inc.

If you have Macross frontier kits, are you planning to modify them like Gunpla?

Macross Universe

2009-06-14T11:38:00.015+02:00

The Gundam Universe (1979) is probably the best known franchise of all Real-Robot mecha anime from Japan. Still, the Macross Universe (1982) is the second longest franchise running along with Gundam and has an equally impressive library of stories.
Most European / North American watchers will recognise the stories Macross Plus (OVA, 1994) and Macross 7 (TV series, 1994).

Macross Frontier (2007) is about human journeys through space to discover new area's and (what a surprise) colonisation. It is chronologically subsequent to Macross 7. In contradiction to Gundam, the 'enemy' seems not to be coming from human itself, but from alien races which also are weapons itself, similar to Battlestar Galactica 2003.
The colonies are not like the Gundam version, O'Neil cylinder shaped, but more like a big oyster, followed by little sibling colonies.

Backbone of the N.U.N.S. military are variable fighters. The ordinary military has only common fighters. The private organisation S.M.S. has just deployed the newly developed VF-25 Messiah Valkyrie to support the N.U.N.S.
Soon, the S.M.S. proved to be invaluable. Spectacular fighting scenes and animation with good music are returning elements in this series.

In 2008 the first kits has been released and are equal to the Gundam's Master Grades series in terms of quality. I'm planning to collect these kits as well. Another refreshing point of view is that the Macross forces are primarily fighters and NOT humanoid fighters like Mobile Suit Gundam. The fighters do have a secondary humanoid (Battroid mode) and even a third mode (Gerwalk mode) which is an intermediate of the 1st and 2nd mode.

A few days ago, the long awaited Armored Messiah Ozma Lee Custom has been released by Bandai and later this month, Alto's version will follow.
While Alto Saotome is the main protagonist of MF, I do like Ozma Lee, best supporting character, more. The relationship Alto Saotome-Ozma Lee can be compared to Gundam Seed's Kira Yamato-Mwu La Fllaga, with a note that Ozma is more hotheaded than Mwu. That makes Ozma's Armored Messiah (also commander unit) for me, the coolest VF-25 fighter throughout the series.

Do you like the Macross Frontier Models? And which one is your favorite?

Golden Age

2009-06-05T21:36:00.060+02:00

Born at the end of the 70's means that I am one of the so-called (pre) Nintendo generation. Compared to the current Internet generation, claiming their agenda is full continously, a teenager in the 80's & 90's seems to be very blurry nowadays. But there are also some remarks.

The music back then was real music , written by real musicians who were also able to play instruments, had a fantastic live act and more importantly, had a content. Unfortunately, this kind of music isn't anymore today. Wacko Jacko didn't retreive his nickname yet. Today, the only ingedients consists: Be pretty, have a good voice, wrong manager and a Magic Music Maker 178.0 and let's get rich! (or fall very hard)
Teenagers were more mature back then and didn't have to be cautious about capsizing when traveling by boat due to corpulence or obesity.
Besides, the time we spent outside was about 20.000 times more than today, because there wasn't anything to do at home. We hadn't that much of pocketmoney, neither we needed it, since we didn't get drunk every weekend. A cell phone was something no one had ever heard of and so we weren't bothered 24/7.

In 1990 we saw the NES as an upcoming home entertainment system. Of course, it was nowhere in comparison with the Neo Geo , but hey, who cares! We now have entertainment at home! At that time, Sega had a similar system called the Mastersystem (II). There were no other competitors at that time (Sony was still sleeping), so our (game)life was sooo good and so easy, because there was nothing else to choose, thus nothing else to overthink about. Every time when a game was released we bought it, whether it was good or not. Fortunately, we were clever enough to recognise quality and inferiority.

Then in 1992 the Super Nes appeared, known as the giant and winner of the 16-bit era in the Golden Age of videogames. This system didn't only wipe Sega's Mega Drive/ Genesis from the face of the earth, but was also killing for us, leading to spent more times with the SNES rather than boost up my school results (sounds familiar?) Super Mario Kart was one of the carts we played a billion times. It still amazes me that the cart has survived! At the end of the 90's we were (still are) also RPG mad and the SNES still posesses the finest RPG's ever like: Chrono Trigger, (+DS version), Final Fantasy VI , Secret of Mana (2) and so on.....without disqualifying today's videogame entertainment (They are good)..... I miss those days with this exceptional machine.
So I guess it wasn't all that blurry backdays.......It was a Golden Age...OUR Golden Age!

Do you cherish your teenage years?

SD Mods

2009-05-25T22:52:00.017+02:00

One of the great things about the Gunpla is the opportunity to modify the kits.
Especially the SD kits are good kits to mod.
The inspiration came from my brother which started with Gunpla at the same time. His first mod was the SD Strike Gundam. Since he already owned a normal version of the SD Strike and purchased the SD Strike + Striker Weapons System, he didn't know what to do with the extra Strike at first.
After a good brainstorm, he decided to make a rarely seen SD Strike Rouge. He has turned into a SD mod specialist ever since.

The first kit I've had modified was the SD Gundam Astray Red. I've had a SD Astray Red already build, wondering why Bandai didn't milk this one out, I made a recolor and the SD Gundam Astray Blue Frame was born.

To find a fitting color wasn't that hard. I decided to use the Tamiya Spray TS-44 Brilliant Blue. Now the hard thing was to get the details also in the same color.
Since there is no acrylic version of the TS-44, I had a solution that was just as easy as brilliant.
I took an empty acrylic bottle and sprayed a couple of ml in the bottle and made sure that it was well closed after every use.
I could have even the polycaps painted. (See all above)

After the release of the SD Gold Frame, the Astray Team was complete.

My second mod was a very good one, almost a masterpiece. This was the SD Blaze Zaku Phantom (Rey version) turned into worlds first SD Blaze zaku Phantom - Dearka Elthman Custom.
Below the results.

This is one of my better works. The irony is that, again, my brother started to mod his Rey version into a Heine Westenfluss version.
8 months later Bandai had released such a version themselves.
I wonder whether Bandai releases my SD mod.........

Do you moderate your SD kits?

The first, the latests....

2009-05-19T21:08:00.013+02:00

Since this site is about Gunpla too, I thought it would be good to post some of my works.....
Well, the first photo is from August 2006. Just finished my first Gundam kit. It's a good model and not too difficult. The HG 1/144 ZGMF-515 CGue hasn't been painted yet and I was trying to find my way in de world of Gunpla and painting.
So the details are limited to some panelline markings and a little painting. The thrusters on both sides of the chest are painted,
so are colors the pink and German Grey (Tamyia).
The grey I used was mixed on feeling. Being a teacher in Physics has some advantages I guess....

My latest works are the MG 1/100 RGM-79Q GM Quel (on the background another masterpiece: Gundam Mk II Titans) and the HG 1/144 TMF/A-802 Mobile BuCue
As you can see, all the parts are painted. The details are done with old school paint and the larger parts, such as armor plates are done with spraycans. It's easy, faster and, most importantly, economic.
All my Master Grade (and the pending Perfect Grades) have also undergone a Top Coat-Flat treatment, this is to wipe out the chaep plastic-looks from the kit. The flat version makes the kit look very precious and 'heavy'. I've decided the Top Coat treatment to be prohibited to the MG & PG kits. The SD and HG are in my opinion, not worth it (yet, although there are some exceptions).
The GM Quel is a relatively old kit from December 1999, almost a decade. Though it is a good kit to start or, what I did, enjoy as a funny project between the serious works.

The BuCue (2007) has more articulation and details than the CGue (2004).
It has good beam weapons and two backpacks. Either a twin-rail gun and a 13-pod missile launcher.

More projects are coming up. in the future I will upload the best of my works till now. The next project is still unknown, due to the investigation of the Macross Frontier kits. So, the next kit could be a MF kit.

All the photo's till now are taken with an ancient digital compact camera Sony DSC-P8 (2004). This is because the 3.2 megapixel isn't that spacious as the 10.2 megapixel from the Sony-Alpha 300 DSLR. Therefore, soon I will switch to this camera due to the much higher qualities and possiblities it has.

How the Gundam madness began...again...

2009-05-17T11:28:00.036+02:00

As a long time fan of Sci-Fi like Transformers back in 80's (Only G1, the rest was crap), Battlestar Galactica TOS and Battlestar Galactica 2003, there was also place for Anime. In the 90's there were besides Anime, Manga. This is a different style and fundament, but that aside of it.
As a kid I've watched many Cantonese versions of Anime like Mobile Suit Gundam (Not aware of all the storylines, but the action was great), Dairugger XV - Kikoukantai, Six Gods, LionBot and so on.

At the end of 2005, after purchasing a HD-DVD recorder to record BSG 2003, my brothers attended me that the series mecha do have a lot in common with Mobile Suit Gundam Seed, and more importantly, have a good and decent storyline.
After buying the first 2 DVD's (10 Phases) to give it a try, I was completely hooked. That was about Jan. 2006, a time-span of 22 years since the first show of the Transformers. A lot has happened.
While searching for some information on the internet, I remembered my brother purchased some kits from Gundam Seed way back in 2004 in Hong Kong SAR. The kits, HG 1/144 Freedom & Justice made me curious about the franchise and before I realized what has happened, I had a tons of kits. Thinking about being able to build just one kit at a time, the idea to sell Gundam Model kits was born in no-time.
Since then, there is not many left untouched of this franchise and grew out to a serious hobby of mine, again.....

Launch United Emirates of Orb - Morgenroete Inc.

2009-05-16T22:52:00.012+02:00

To say that it is a life-changing day, is probably somewhat excessively. But with the launch of this Blog, there is another expansion of my view on Gunpla modeling, the world of otaku, videogames, traveling.

The Blog's name is derived from a faction from the Gundam meta-series 'Mobile Suit Gundam Seed'.
Since the vision and the mobile suit ad battleship designs of Orb are very inspiring to me, I decided to use these terms as well aside of my Gunpla webshop Morgenroete Inc..

Therefore, I hope this Blog will also inspire other Bloggers, Gunpla-fans etc.
It's one of the many ways of life.
Have fun.