Monk's Shop Talk Painful Paint By Ron Frye#879655

Since I have recieved no letters thus far this week, I have decided to discuss a topic that has been bothering me for some time; Mecha battle paint. I know that every pilot wants his mecha to not only be the badest and slickest beast on the field, but also to look unique and fearsome as well. The practice of personalising the paint job on mechas is a long standing tradition; however, you need to think before you paint. Be carefull in your choices. You do not want something so striking that instead of you painting the mecha, the mecha paints you as a target. Also, be wary of painting your mecha to resemble the creature it was designed to emulate; such as the Smilodon mecha. Remember, on some planets there are biological organisms in existence to this day that look amazingly similar to those animals.

Recently I had to perform repairs on a Smilodon mecha that had some very unusual damage. Apparently the pilot had painted his mecha to resemble a photo he found of a similar smilodon shaped animal from a planet in the Sagitarian sector. Unfortunately he was unaware that the photo in question was of a female displaying high heat mating coloration. His platoon landed on the planet in question, right in the middle of a pack of the creatures. When he returned to base, the mecha had suffered severe structural damage and massive devastation to both the fore and aft exhaust ports! The pilot is still under a bed in the back bay, curled in a fetal position, sucking his thumb and muttering the words, "...bad touch...", under his breath over and over.

"Remember.....think before you paint!", Monk Malone.

Submitted by Ron Frye#879655