Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Custom Job

After discussing at length the idea on the forums and looking at the results of the poll, I've decided that doing a frame store in the typical sense just isn't viable. The time and money involved to put something together that would be efficient and desirable would not yield anywhere near enough profit to make it worth the large amount of time invested.

However, I am willing to take commissions for custom frames and companies. This is much more viable as I wouldn't have to keep frames on hand and I can design/build on a case by case basis determined by the budget of the buyer. Not only that but I feel it would be much more fun and rewarding for me to do something like this over a cookie cutter frame store.

If you're interested in a MittenNinja designed custom company (or individual frame) shoot me an email at MittenNinja@gmail.com. Let me know what you're looking for, what budget you're working with, and we can see what we can whip up!

The Grizzly: It's got fists for pummeling.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Builder Spotlight: A-Yates Industrials

A-Yates Industrials. If you haven't been over to his Flickr stream you need to go have a look. I've had a few of his builds on the blog in the past, but man, he has a lot more to offer.

His APF-90 frames (pictured left) are simple yet incredibly detailed. I absolutely love the feel these guys have. His MINX frames give off a burly vibe with their squat silhouettes. The Growlers ooze style, and builds like the Jak Ra33bit and the Goat have tons of personality. Keep up the good work man!

Monday, May 21, 2012

Frame Merchants?

After discussing the idea with a local lego vendor, I wondered what the viability of selling pre-built frames to MFZ-ers would be. So, with that I have set up a new poll. Would you be willing to purchase pre-built frames instead of ordering the parts yourself and building them yourself? If so, what kind of price range would you be willing to pay? I only ask this because If there is enough interest I would be completely willing to start up such an operation. Let me know what you think!

MFZ Dives to New Depths

There's just something about Chubs with flippers...

Onosendai2600 has done something absolutely incredible. He has built three MFZ companies all with an underwater theme. Above, you can see his "Aqua Chubs" hanging out around their underwater base. I absolutely love the look of these, as well as the idea behind them.

It's not hard to imagine frames taking positions on an aquatic world, fighting off aliens and monstrous sea creatures alike, but after seeing what he has put together, I can't wait to see what else he has in store for us.

If you check out his Flickr steam, you can see the other two companies, Team Crustacean, and Team Mollusk.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Comic Con Deployment

With the Denver Comic Con approaching on the weekend of June 15th, I've been putting the final touches on two of the three companies I will be bringing with to demo Mobile Frame Zero. The third is a company being built by Soren which is shaping up rather nicely if I say so myself!

The 31st Orion Militia Unit
I still may be tweaking the companies a bit here and there, but this is two thirds of what you can expect to see on the game table out at Con! Hope to see you there!










The Pit Vipers


















Monday, May 14, 2012

Not Your Typical Iguana

The ST-09 Iguana is one of two standard issue frames in use with the serpent legion (the other being the ST-07SLC "Fat Snake" Chub). Being a common frame in the Legion, it needs to be adaptable to multiple battlefield situations, which means there are a number of "standard" variants of the Iguana being fielded. Below are two of those variants.
ST-09c Recon Iguana
 2d6Rd - Heavy Autocannon
2d6Rh - Flamethrower
2d6Y - Commlink and Laser Rangefinder

ST-09d Longbow Iguana
3d6Ra - Guided RPG Launcher
3d6Rd - Poseidon Heavy Machine Gun
1d6B - Composite Armor Plating 

Building the XF-14 Copperhead


Wordman came through yet again and put together Ldraw and PDF instructions together for the Copperhead I had put together a while back. If you haven't already, check out the rest of his work too! Thanks again man!

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Building the XF-21b Anaconda

Thanks to Wordman over on the Mobile Frame Hanger Forums, there is now a lovely little Ldraw file and pdf building instructions for the Serpent Legion's newest prototype. He has also been putting together a number of other files for builds on the forums. Make sure you go check them out!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Mobile Frame Zero Wallpapers


Over at the Mobile Frame Hanger Dukayn has been putting together some really badass wallpapers of some of the frames people have been putting together, including the ST-09 Iguana! He's also taking requests so if there's something you'd like to see rendered in 3d and made into a killer desktop wallpaper head on over and let him know! Thanks Dukayn!

Monday, May 7, 2012

Building the XF-13b Grand Naga

First off, I'd like to apologize for the inactivity here over the past week or so. A combination of work and starting the process of buying a new home took up my time for a bit. With that, I'm going to be starting a new thing over here. Instead of just giving you a single breakdown shot of some of my builds, I'm going to be putting together a detailed breakdown with some setting fluff on their origins and current use. We'll start things off with the XF-13b Grand Naga.


After the riots on Quall, the Union became increasingly concerned with engagements dealing with close quarters urban environments. The Serpent Legion made finding a weapons platform to fit within that situation a high priority because their pilots were being deployed in similar situations with increasing frequency. The Skunkworks began designing a mobile frame from the ground up to give Legion pilots an edge. The result was the Grand Naga.

The first of my "cheats" for this build.
First things first. There are two "cheats" in this build that involve disfiguring some parts. Purists may scoff. But hey, I think it looks sweet, so I'm going to do it. Also, this is a very travis brick heavy build. There's 12 of them if you include the one in the shotgun, so don't be surprised if you start running low after building a few of these.

Let's begin the build with the legs. This is where my first "cheat" comes in. As you can see I've cut one of the tires to wrap it around the rear travis brick, with the radar dishes on the side creating the illusion that the tire goes into the back of the heel of the foot. That travis brick connects to a headlight, and then another travis, creating the foot. The ankle is one of the sturdiest connections you'll find while maintaining a good amount of flexibility. The only downside is there is no horizontal movement.

Next, the torso. As you can see, the central core of this is from Squieu's brilliant mini-frame. The motor piece (#4595) at the center is a wonderful place to start for torsos due to the large amount of studs hanging off it and the fact that it is also a very common piece in my experience. Three more travis bricks make an appearance here as well as some plates, cheese slopes, and tiles to complete the look.




This section of the frame is also very, very solid. There is little to no wiggle anywhere and the only piece that feels like it may fall off in any means is the 1x2 hinge piece on the crotch.

The legs attach by plugging the taps into the travis brick at the bottom of the torso.






Next we move to the arms. The tire technique here is something I use quite frequently due to the fact that I absolutely love how the matte, rubberized black breaks up the look of the frame beautifully, while adding a rounded aesthetic that is rather hard to achieve with standard brick usage. The arm attaches to the tap via a 1x1 plate w/ ring. This technique is something I've used a number of times with frames like the MkII Meerkat.



 It's a sightlier fragile connection without being too flimsy, although it gives you a lot of options for posing the arms. That plate is attached to a headilght piece and a travis brick (bringing the count to 11 with both arms at this point). Then come the standard issue weapons. We have a Molecular Blade and a Tactical Shotgun (which can be seen in more detail here). The shotgun contains the 12th travis brick of the build and could easily be used as a grenade launcher or really any number of other weapons.

The second cheat.
Bringing it all together gives you a near complete Grand Naga. There is just one more piece missing, the top. This is where the second cheat comes in. It involves cutting the ring off of a 1x1 plate w/ring and placing them into the top of the motor piece of the torso. If you're against destroying a couple of pieces, you could use 1/4 pins, although the connection isn't anywhere near as solid, and there is a bit more of a gap between the torso and the top slope. Now you have a completed Grand Naga!

The XF-13b Grand Naga is currently in the field testing stage with the Black Adders, commanded by Captain Uri Reed on Orion 6. So far, they have been invaluable tools in subduing and eliminating the  Free Colonist Terrorist movement on the planet's surface. Assuming continued excellent performance, these Nagas may be seen on the field in standard production within the coming year.






Tuesday, May 1, 2012

The Waiting Game

Things have been rocking over on the Forums over the past week, but otherwise there hasn't been a whole lot of activity as Josh and Vincent are finishing up the rulebook.

I've been a little lax on keeping up with all the stuff going down now that I'm searching around for a house to buy as well. So things may be a little slow for the next week or two on my front as well. That won't stop me from continuing to build though!

The Hellraisers dont have any qualms about making modifications to their frames that might be considered dangerous. Above you can see an "Inferno Wasp" one of their makeshift jump pack equipped raiding frames. I pity the convoy that is surrounded by a swarm of these.