Skull Leader

what other upgrades would you need? They were simply experimenting to see what would work, probably.

Hate to burst your bubble, but there's more to back it up than that. In the TIAS book #7, there is a sketch set aside just for that valkyrie and it plainly says "VF-1D" as used in the "Virgin Road" episode.

LOL, I ran into the same situation! Having to shuffle up every once of security in my manhood and buy PINK PAINT......

(to make things a little easier, I bought a new can of primer and a can of clearcoat )

I built the 1/144 VF-11MAXL two-kit recently... I love it! It's space-conservative... there's a lot of detail for their size, and they're snap-together. These are great little weekend builds if you're got nothing better to do.

My painting skills are severely retarded, however, I find I have the easiest time with water-based acrylics. The only time I will use enamels is for spray base coats (usually testors, since they are cheap and readilly available) and water-based acrylics for details.. I then spray or brush on a clearcoat to protect everything. Acrylics are wonderful for the above-listed reasons (By Kanata). I especially enjoy the ease of which I can whip up an easy wash. Enamell paint is a lot more difficult to repair if you make a mistake.

It really is user-preference. I have a difficult time working with Tamiya paints simply because they must be thinned heavilly before they are used... others will swear by them though.

Or how about "sing at them while other people shoot at them"? Seemed pretty effective in the series. Although, it seems to me that it was more that they just got in the way that pissed everyone off, not the music.

there really isn't anything "wrong" with injection-mold... it's just that some things are better done in resin.

It also seems to me that making modifications to resin model parts is a little easier, if a piece doesn't fit just right, you can sand it down for a more complete fit, instead of just tiny edges meeting. On my YS SDF-01 Storm Attacker kit, I somehow got one too many of the wrong edge for the feet (all four corners had a different piece), so I simply sanded down a new ledge for it to rest against, and now you'd never know the difference.

Resin kits do tend to require a considerable bit more modeling experience, but don't let that scare you away from them... how will you ever learn how to do them if you don't try? My SDF-01 Storm attacker was my first resin model, and it was a giant to tackle! I'm not finished with it yet, but so far I've not run into any complications that an injection-mold modeller couldn't tackle. I know they're often expensive (finding a kit worth building for less than $50 is a difficult thing to do), but WELL WORTH IT. While the SDF-01 was my first kit, I HAVE finished a couple of other kits between now and then (I did a wonderfest 1/72 action pose VF-1S kit and a YS Super Ostritch kit for a friend of mine) and I got a greater sense of accomplishment out of those than any injection-mold model I've ever built! Give it a shot, you won't be sorry. Just remember to take your time.

So, maybe Kawamorii calling it the F-14A Kai is his way of simplifying it... chances are that the "kai" variant simply implies that is uses overtechnology.

So I have to wonder then, exactly what changes are made in the kai variant? Surely engines get upgraded, but what else I wonder....

I could be wrong, but aren't there just about as many A+ and B F-14s still in service combined as there are D models? Given the timeframe that the war would've taken place (just a few short years from now, hypothetically) Many of those airplanes would be on their way out. The only ones left in service would probably be the D/Super D models. It seems to me that what Kawamorii was trying to portray was a Super Tomcat in it's final inception (had the program not been chopped... indeed he probably had some concept art in the works before the F-14 program was finally axed and the Super Tomcat was still a "go".) I would think the program must still be going full-steam at this point in the Macross timeline (or preparing to end and be replaced by the VF series)

There IS a note in the compendium on the F-14s used in Macross Zero though...

PROGRAMME: First flight of development aircraft 1970 December 21. Service life extended with upgrades implementing Overtechnology.

So more advanced technology was used in the last stages of the F-14. The compendium lists the model used as the F-14A+Kai(custom).... it's a mythical version that does not exsist. In fact, they still call it the "Grumman" F-14 instead of "Northrop-Grumman". So it's definate that Kawamorii dragged the F-14 into a separate timeline to develop along lines it never will in real life.

Dave's right, a kitbash would be a requirement, as no model of this model (no pun intended) exsists.

*sneaks down to his local hobby store to see if he can find one of these badboys*

kitbashing that with a cheaper 1/72 scale F-14D shouldn't be a problem... although you can almost bank on the D kit being of lesser quality and detail than the Hase kit.

Vlenhoff..why did you post that here??? there's only a million other 1/48 fastpack topics you could've posted in. Please remain on topic here, thanks.

Being that my collection is ALMOST exclusively 1/60s (better to have spacewise), I'd rather have a 1/60 GBP.... the 1/48s take up a lot of space... ADD TO THAT when you consider the fast packs... an the GBP would be even bulkier... nah, the 1/60 would definately be the preferred way to go.

Unless I am very much mistaken, the squadron that uses F-14s in Macross Zero is using F-14D Super Tomcats.

The hase model is highly innaccurate... unless you got it just for the decals, I'd reccomend a different F-14 model.

man, that's a damn nifty webpage.... that answers a lot of my questions about vacuum.

So, what's the lesson we all should learn? If someone rips your space helmet off, don't hold your breath! Safer to take your chances and let unconsciousness overtake you.

LOL Roy.... you mean Anime FIEND... or at least it should be

These guys took the best anime series in the world and bent it over... then they took it for all that it was worth WITHOUT offering lube.

I love Macross, even with the mistakes, but man.... they really whizzed that one.....

"Anybody else wanna negotiate!?"

Dayamn.... that dude has MAD sculpting skills....and I bet he's got mad phat bank to back it up now too....I need him to do a sculpt of my girlfriend so I can always have her sitting on my desktop, even when she's not here!

well, you saw how it functioned for Roy.... the eye-tracking lasers on the top of the visor tracked the movement of roy's eyes relative to the targets outside and then haloed them on his visor... it seems to me that it serves as a full-time HUD.... ALSO, as a matter of comfort, it would be a lot less stressful on the pilot to have his entire face protected in one environment, as opposed to the mouth/nose being covered one way, and the eyes covered in a different way... it just makes things easier (not to mention the new oxygen hoses are apparently reduced in size and made internal)

Kim playing T-crush...... an interesting concept, and nice art!

Ewilen, don't expect to find too much there... they don't show a whole lot (went back and watched my DVD). I even seem to recall reading somewhere that the scout-pod, despite having the most technologically advanced radar systems and whatnot, was STILL extremely substandard compared to UN technology (that may be translated from the Memory Perfect book....) The Quel-Quallies (theater scouts) were large, ungainly affairs that had poor protection and even poorer sensory suites.

1/72 Scale: 2(sold)

1/60 Scale: 4

1/48 Scale: 1

1/48 fst pk: 1

Last updated: April 12, 2004

Also, unless I am mistaken, most Zentraedi mecha had but the most basic radar, weapons aquisition, and tracking capabilities (probably point and shoot... MAYBE slightly more advanced, but not much).... meaning that once a valkyrie was out of their line of sight, I bet they were more or less forced to rely on their comerades to get what they don't. It seems to me that it took a far BETTER Zentran pilot to stay alive against the UN spacy than a UN pilot against the Zentraedi. They were dealing with extremely inadequate hardware. Also, they probably hadn't encountered the type of precision warfare that the UN was bringing to them before... not to mention the UN (capital ships and fighters alike) tossing nukes like they were going out of style..

In my opinion? If it had just been Breetai's fleet against the Macross with it's Mecha Support, Kamujin (Khyron) or no, I don't think the Zentraedi even stood a chance....I mean, do YOU honestly think you would stand a chance piloting a Glaug Combat pod vs. your average VF-1A? Arrogance might say yes, but prudence would say "you win".

The only thing that might've pitched the battle in the Zentraedi favor was the length of the fight... the longer things drew on, the better the odds became for the zentran (who seemed to rely more heavilly on beam weaponry, as opposed to ballistic ordinance)... The combat effectiveness of a battlepod probably doesn't deteriorate much over time (that's granting NO damage occurs) while a Valkyrie will eventually be reduced to head-laser(s) and hand-to-hand combat. Not to mention loss of maneuvering fuel might reduce the nimbleness of a VF-1. There's probably a mathematical formula for it somewhere, but I wouldn't know.

These kits are really great for the money. They're really small (1/144 scale), but they pack in a surprising amount of detail.

I've done the VF-11MAXL kit (although my paint skills can't match up) and it was a fun set of builds (for those who don't know, the kit comes with two models... one fighter and one battroid) They're easy to put together, and you don't even have to use glue.

If I had one gripe about the fighter models, you can't build them with the landing grear doors UP without serious modification.

They're cheap, they're fun, and best of all, for the amount of detail, they take up very little space on your shelf!

I think it was WAVE (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that put out a number of resin upgrade kits for these models.

They featured various sorts of fast pack equipment or Gerwalk mods... but they're RARE and EXPENSIVE.

Yo Graham... how did u get to know yamato's upcoming production? Would like to know what will they be coming up with... cos' they r killing my pockets with their new range of 1/48s n destroids!!! arghhh!!!

Umm, Graham is more or less a "Quality Control" agent for Yamato. He handles most of the Macross prototypes long before we ever see the production variants. He's only allowed to tell us so much though, and sometimes he isn't always told everything. Just spend a little time scanning the old boards (there's a link elsewhere, I don't know where it is now) and you'll find almost a complete list of what Graham has been told is being worked on.

I know they have plans for a 1/60 Monster and 1/60 Quaedelun- Rau.... beyond those, the 1/48 VF-1S Hikaru and the 1/48 VF-1J hikaru, I don't know what else is currently in the works. I could mention what ideas have been tossed around, but I won't start that in this thread (it's not what the topic is about)

I was referring to both actually (I was trying to not give too much away for those who might be waiting to read the books, I suppose it's just as well)

I think both the war for the shire and the exodus into the west are two key points in the story... and given how much they have to tell (since they idiotically left the Shelob scene to the last movie) there is NO WAY they can be faithful to the story and tell everything there is to tell in 3 hours. They probably will end up doing like the animated version and just basically recap what happens afterwords (something to the effect of "The rise of the halflings") and leave it at that.

I was pretty upset that Tom Bombadill got left out of the first one, although he's more important to the middle-earth realm altogether than he is to LOTR... so I let that one slide. Then ELVES at Helms Deep??? Faramir all of a sudden becomes an a-hole (in the book he was pretty fly for a white guy)? He let Frodo and Sam go in the woods in the book, they never even set foot near Osgiliath.

I do believe Halbarad and the Grey Company will recieve, AT BEST, a brief mentioning... something in me wonders if Peter Jackson will not set the 3 companions through the paths of the dead alone.

No, my friends.... something important, indeed MANY things important will be left out of this story. Somehow Aragorn and Arwen will recieve a "happy ending" no doubt (for those that may not realize, in the books, what Elrond foretold is daughter in the second movie DOES come to pass)... I just shudder to think what damage could be done... let us hope that Peter Jackson doesn't hack it up too bad.