honneamise

As for Bandai reissuing the same (Ex IMAI)kits over and over again, I am pretty sure that they don´t even have the molds for the 1/72 destroids, 1/200 Monster, 1/5000 Macross Fortress etc. . On some japanese collectors site I have read that those molds are considered "lost" whatever that means. I wonder where the Arii molds have gone, none of those except the variable 1/100 Valks have ever found their way to Bandai and Arii themselves have only reissued the small stuff (10 years ago) - where are the 1/5000 Storm Attacker, 1/72 Glaug + Tomahawk and the retooled 1/100 Regults? "Lost" as well? Just curious... The biggest loss -at least to me- is the IMAI 1/72 VF-1 D Gerwalk - not the transformable one! This one was based on the "raven-nosed" Gerwalk and Super-Fighter kits but they added a completely reshaped nose that looks fantastic. The only old 1/72 Gerwalk kit that looks good out of the box (except the Hands) IMO. I have only ever seen it once on E-Bay but got outbidden.

Great to see this model built! I had the same idea some years ago but I must admit I have only bought two of the old Revell D-VII´s instead of the better Roden kit. Two because I wanted to do the red Hikaru version as well... but I never got started.

A Kibou-Gou from Mars Day Break, isn´t it? Never seen the anime but I like the design, especially with the retracted hands. BTW the Dorvack "MAK."- Armors are all reissued in two-packs as it seems, at least we get the standard versions of the four different types.

Amazing works guys! HWR MK II your days seem to have at least 48 hours... your model output still amazes me as does the quality of your work. I am happy that I have (well, almost) completed two models in December/January. One is a Bandai Xabungle Dugger Type in 1/100 that I had on my bench for over a year - once I started again it all went pretty straightforward. The kit is from 1983 but more detailed than one of todays Master Grade kits. I love it and it will definitely build more Xabungles in the future. BTW the kit will be reissued soon! The other one is a Gunze 1/24 Dorvack Halk Power Suit. Took me about 3 hours to build and another 3 to paint although the optical sensors still need some paint - a fun kit, also of 1983 vintage - only the decals tended to disintegrate.

I like the Dragon design and how this specific kit came out. Of course it is not Hasegawa. It IS lineart-correct, but, since the dragon was just seen very briefly in the series, there was no need for more details in the Sketches. When Tanmen decided to make a model of this, he should have at least "upgraded" the panels to the then-standard IMAI-treatment of the VF-1 kits. Those have less detail than the Hasegawas but they still convey the look of an actual plane and do not just look like an animated one. As I consider it completed, I´d not try to add more panel lines and stuff. Depending on the resin and if it was pressure cast, you may end up digging up little bubbles under the surface, resulting in uneven scratches instead of consistent lines. Maybe you should consider adding lots of small stencils to liven up the big surfaces. The Hasegawa VF-1 J-kit comes with the standard stenciling in black and also in white for the Max/Millia-Versions, so if you have the kit and plan to do the red or blue scheme there should be enough spare decals to use on the Dragon. As for preshading (or postshading): it is a matter of taste, looks great on low-visibility Tomcats, but I think on a white surface with very few panel lines it easily tends to look forced and pretty unnatural if not done very subtle.

Great work Cool8or!!! I have only seen the lineart and some small pics of the unbuilt parts so far. This is the first time I see a completed Dragon in all its glory. The landing gear you added looks believable and you made the canopy fit like a glove. A beauty, very well built and painted!

I have one from the first run and I can only recommend it to anyone. It is a great model and well cast. I don´t care if you make changes or not - I do not consider this a speculation object, I want it built on my shelf - so the only thing that bothers me about limitations is that my time is just too limited to build it right now.

It is from a customer from the Netherlands but he bought it from a German mail order shop and made them send that thingy directly to me. You can also get it from HLJ. The kit is quite cheap for the size (135cm), but shipping will cost a fortune. I had this model when I was a kid (BIGGEST present I ever got in my life) and I built it in about three days... no paint of course, big gaps, lots of glue but I had the biggest ship! Now I can try again! With the Anatomy of the Ship book all the inaccuracies of this model come to light, but it has still held up quite well considering the age of the mold. At least it looks like Yamato.

I am going naval and have started work on a Nichimo 1/200 Yamato.... maybe I´ll cross the North Sea and try to sink MechTechs Daedalus..... ....no chance, I´ll get blown by the HWR Mk.II´s on board before I get into firing range I guess. Yamato isn´t even worth a Daedalus manoever, it is too small.... still, it is quite impressive on my table. It is a commission so I won´t have to find a proper shelf to display it! [attachmentid=43149]

I have seen those as preorder items at HLJ but thought the´d be available for some months - big mistake! I still hope that they might see a reissue in kit form - both Platz ans Sweet have re-released some of the more popular Gashapon toys as kits such as the Sea King, Mitsubishi F-2, Phantom etc.. The VFs must be very popular if they sell out that quick and there is almost limitless potential to make different versions and decal options. And if we have kits we could take more care to make the canopies fit better! That could be a great way to replace some of those rather dated Imai 1/144 kits.

Ertl? Wow never thought you´d build something that small <but of course it looks like 1/35 if you get your hands on it! Great build and really cool weathering effects - you corrected the "face-plate" didn´t you? I remember there are some incorrect angles on the front panels....

Hi guys I´ve been confined to my workbench for far too long so I did not manage to build stuff other than these two: [attachmentid=42146] That´s the one that is on sale over at the SSM Shop. Next one will be this one, John already posted this pic on his site. Both are 1/72 [attachmentid=42147] Almost forgot I DID build something different in my sunday spare time - not yet finished but only a little bridge and some trees are missing. This is Matsumoto Castle in 1/350, kit by Doyusha, almost out of the box. That was fun - no big conversions, good fit despite the ages-old mold, really just glue and paint! [attachmentid=42148] I hope to get back to some Macross stuff soon!

And darksoul you need to know that the IMAI 1/72 Regult is in fact too small for the scale, a properly sized Zentraedi soldier could never fit in there. The resin kit (John´s, there is also a resin version of the Imai one) has the right size so you will get a better AND bigger model for your money! I have John´s Regult and it is an awesome kit. I hope to have some money saved when the new ones come out -I already missed the Destroids. The Imai kits are, well, OK, but remember they were only 1000yen when they were produced. That´s about what you get......

Some manufactureres seem a little clueless these days... I´ve heard that the DML Mustang has some issues. That gun cover thing seems to be not worked out properly. Moreover, people complain about the "skin texture" with too deep and wide trenches and overdone riveting that does not look like the real thing. But it looks like a Mustang to me and that is more than can be said about some (not all) Trumpeter kits - I have the feeling they either copy other kits to get the proportions right or they try to skip research and get it all wrong (Wildcat, 1/24 Mustang, many of their ships etc.). Then they add thousands of panel lines and little parts to hide the fact that the main parts are all wrong... I´ll stick to Tamigawa kits for now!