Talos

Just got my book. I'm very happy with it and like it a lot. Did notice that they are missing a cannon squadron in the back or in any photo's...the Bunny squadron, Skull squadrons sister squadron on the Asuka II during the events of Mac 0.

The book is REALLY making me want Hasegawa to rerelease their VF-0 and SV-51 models.

Chris

Yes! I was griping about the Bunnies too. I should look at the table of where the fighters are assigned again in the back of the book, I think it showed another squadron on the Asuka II. VF-11 or something.

here's some pics so we can obsessively debate it!

Thanks for those, VF5SS, you and I were thinking the exact same thing.

When I got home, I overlaid the old Hasegawa VF-0B canopy I drew for a profile a while back over the cockpit transformation diagram and, using the front edge of the windscreen glass and the very end of the canopy as reference points (since the lower part of it is completely different), the Hasegawa's canopy bow is farther forward and there's more headroom in the aft canopy. Does the pilot need it? Probably not. I've just grown used to the old look and seeing something that different is weird, just like the canopy (and most of the rest of the plane) on the Hasegawa VF-11 model kit.

I didn't notice they changed the shape of the two VF-0 canopies until you guys pointed it out. Perhaps it's their way of making sure there is enough space for the second seat to rotate for Battroid mode.

Going by recollection, since my book's downstairs, I think it actually either kept the rear headroom the same or reduced it.

It's actually great they made their own 3D. The two-seater are more beautiful than the original line art. They re-do the cockpit of the two-seater and make it look more streamline than just a bulge from the original design.

I was actually discussing just that with Seto yesterday. I don't care for much of the changes to the cockpit for the B/D, mostly that double-bubble shape it acquired. It's not so bad in 3D or in the page on VF-0 variants, but to me looks awful in the Structure of VF-0 section. I just preferred the continuous flow of the original's. Though, I'll admit, the variant page look for the canopy is growing on me. It's just a shame they didn't cover the Space Proving Wing markings for the VF-0B. That was one of my favorite Hasegawa looks.

Two things we did notice yesterday were the ARMD-00 Constitution and the fuel tanks taken from the F/A-20A, related to the F/A-20N Dragon IIs that Prometheus carries according to VF-1 Master File.

Get back to Macross stuff? Rubbish! Who needs that junk?

Incredible work Talos! I love all those badges.

Thanks, March. I'll eventually do it.

In the meantime, got these done over the past couple hours.

After seeing so many amazing colorized valks, along with many in the US Naval markings schemes it occurred to me that some adjustments might be in order.

I've been edumacating myself on US Navy markings on Jets and found the tail lettering to be the AirWing the fighter belongs to.

A two letter Air Wing designation only allows for 676 air wing combinations and thus by the time of Mac Plus it is reasonable to conclude they must have switched to 3 letter designations which would allow for approximately 17576 air wings to be registered in UN Spacy as opposed to the initial 676.

Another thing I still have to confirm but it appears that the "Modex" numbers on the Spacy valks in SDFM are US Airforce numbers or another countries numbering convention. US Navy Modex never start with a zero, prefix numbers "1" & "2" are for fighter craft, "3" & "4" are for attack craft (though with the US navy flying mostly F/A Hornets it would seem that #'s 1 - 4 are F/A squadrons anyway), "5" is for Electronics craft "6" is for Early Warning aircraft and Helos begin with "7".

The only time a prefix is "0" is if the fighter is an Admiral's bird...

The next 2 digits designate who belongs to the fighter - "00" is a CAG (Commander of Air Group), "01" is a squadron commander's fighter, "02" the squadron XO, etc, usually the number "13" is skipped...

The Marines only use a 3 digit modex when they are assigned to a carrier wing, otherwise ground based squadrons use a two digit modex number for their aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modex

In real life terms, the Macross modexs are probably, at least in the original show, based on JASDF ones, which repeat the last three digits of the plane's serial number. You can see that on 32-8080/080 here. When I was doing my VF-4s, I pretty much stayed with what they had in real life with the Navy squadrons, with a few tweaks here and there. The harder one was assigning non-USN squadrons modexes that fit the rest, of course.

I really need to get back to Macross stuff sometime. I've been focusing on some other series recently.

That looks stunning, Dan. Really top-notch work!

That's because it's awesome!

Thanks. BTW any suggestions on where I should post the uncensored version.

Gelbooru would probably be a good choice.

I may be weird but actually prefer a tight flightsuit over raw skin. And Grace without her glasses just isn't very Grace-y, you know?

Hahaha, the glasses do make all the difference.

Cue Dave's cliche explosive nosebleed in 3...2...1...

Great job on it, Flug!

Actually and I think I speak for a lot of people. I would love to see more reference for the obscure valks - 3D work, profiles, etc...it's the 30th anniversry. Macross has come a mighty LOOONG way. We as the fans have shown much love and appreication to the genre. I've been wanting to throw my contribution in the mix and this was the best way that I could think of. Ever since the accident, my modeling skills have deminished. I thought this was the best way to inspire.

Yeah, I would too, that's why I've been doing them. Eventually I would like to have a complete set of profiles for all the different models, even things obscure like the various VF-14s, the VF-5000T-G, VF-11MAXL (not Mylene's), etc. That's most of what's on my desk right now in paper form. Fz-109F/A, which I'm doing for Mr March. The Macross 7 PLUS version of the VF-14 is coming out of that effort, since it's basically the same. The VF-9, since I've had a profile of that in the works for ages, a redo of my VF-19E/F/P/S, and a secret project or two. It's only recently that I got back to paper sketching after years and years of computer-only. I forgot how much easier sketching is like this.

Keep up with your project, though. It's definitely been inspiring me!

Actually, I was hoping you would, not enough reference for alot of the ladies.

Dang Nabbit. Actually that is the next one -but there are two different versions of it -not a lot of refernce on that one too

Funny, I've actually been sketching out some drawings for the Macross 7 PLUS one the last few days, trying to work out a clean profile design for it...

All the other singers in the Galaxy Chart Network CD (or at least the ones that appeared in M7), for starters...

I wouldn't mind seeing all of them. There was some interesting ones on those CDs beyond even the ones we saw in M7.

Excellent work there. I would have done a few shapes slight differently (mostly the nose), but I like it! Makes me want to go back and finish my VF-5000 profile.

Woo! Favorite female character finally makes an appearance. Thanks for those, Tochiro!

One moment, I'm going to need to get a mop to clean up all this drool. Totally epic!

like it or lump it, it's pretty much the way it has to be in order to make it all work...

Yeah, totally. I have a 1/48 and a couple 1/60s and I love them. I just don't view the shape as the definitive one, since it's so far away from the animated design.

Interesting, interesting. I can't help but be reminded of Aoba's VF-1X++ from Macross the Ride with the Super-Maneuver pack, especially that nose segment and the pieces attached to the wing gloves/chest plate.

Thanks!

Ha, another reason it might be like Christmas is because it only seems to happen once a year! Wish I had more time to work on this...

The Yamato 1/48 S head is pretty good, at least for a TV head. It matches the original TV lineart quite well, but it falls short in a few areas, especially for a DYRL head. Of course, the Yamato 1/48 doesn't tuck the head in very well into the nose recess (it hangs low, which at least helps with the shoulders being too low as well), so that got them around any clearance issues with the guns and the nose. The front of the head has good taper, but it doesn't follow through to the rear, and so the gun turrets don't have the angle. As a result, the guns are always straight when rotated. The neck detail has more than 2 neck rings as well, and while it still has a similar look to the TV lineart, it isn't a good interpretation for the more detailed DYRL design. The targetting sensor/laser on the top of the head is too small, and positioned too high up as well.

Both the Yamato 1/48 and 1/60 V2 heads suffer from a visor that isn't recessed enough (again, works better for the TV version), and don't have enough of a protruding "hat bill" above the visor.

Here are the DYRL detail drawings I used for my primary reference:

This one shows the long overhang "hat bill" I'm talking about, which I think looks great, and it really helps with the fit in fighter mode (assuming the head tucks in as it should). The overall shape is too narrow, with too wide of a chin. To match a model to it, even with a lot of perspective, it looks totally weird. The details on this drawing really bring the design alive to me though, and I only wish the A head got as much attention.

This drawing is another favorite of mine, and it is surprising how much of the new details match between the previous ones. Again, the S head shape is wrong though. It is too short (front to rear), with too big of a visor and not enough space between the visor and the guns. I think Yamato might have been looking at this drawing when they placed that sensor on the top of the head on their 1/48 (placed incorrectly high and too small).

This one has a lot of the updated S head details as well, though the gun turret details are a bit different. I actually went more with these details, because I felt they work a little better. This is also where the panels on the neck come from as well. I'm going to try to replicate some of the detail from the head transformation mechanism, but it won't actually work right for the transformation. I chalk it up to another attempt to make sense of the impossible elevated seat egress concept.

I hear you, Talos. The heads can look pretty weird in orthographic views. We're so used to seeing them drawn with perspective, and the designs tend to get oddly interpreted when modeled. The VF-1 Master File (vol. 1) orthographic views are particularly hideous (to me) when it comes to the heads. Here's some ortho side views of my A and S heads, just for you:

EDIT: Here's another shot that I forgot to post. This shows the head tucked in fighter mode. I might make a S model-specific fairing panel to fit the head closer, but I actually like a little bit of the eye showing anyway, so we'll see. The "hat bill" fits nicely with the bottom of the nose, reaching almost to the back of the landing gear bay.

Thanks for the ortho, I might have to use them then.

The Master File heads were, as I recall, basically the same ones as This is Animation Special: Macross Plus Movie Edition. Not the bastion of line art accuracy, just look at how off the VF-4 and VF-5000 are in it. The A-type head almost looks tilted back until the top/bottom of the head is near parallel with the ground.

Did not look good at all. There is a diagram with different heads on another page, which look a lot closer in basic shape to your's, though not as detailed of course. That it what I had used.

This is a shaded VF-1S a friend of mine did a while ago with my line art to illustrate what I mean.

And just because it's a fun shot, Hikaru's VF-1S head from the Pachinko footage from the bluray.

Damn that looks nice! I've found all the VF-1 heads tricky to match. I've yet to really find an appealing A/J/or S when viewed from the side. Went with the Macross the First style one for the VF-1D though.

Just watched through both episodes and was completely floored by them. I never watched Starblazers as a kid and the various times I've tried to watch through the original series have all kind of fallen apart after a few episodes since the old animation takes some getting used to, so this is perfect for me. I spent the entire time noticing the tiny details, like writing the destroyers' names on their sides like the IJN did in WWII, the English markings on the plane Kodai has on Mars, and the modern Japanese markings on the Cosmo Zero, including the ejection seat warning triangles, all the little NATO tiedown and lifting points, and the hinomaru on the wings.

Speaking of mechanical designs, I definitely think I might do one or two profiles from this like my Macross and real-world aviation ones. Anyone have good scans from GM DX 20 for the Cosmo Zero and Yukikaze side views?

Anyone else really liking the new Old UNCF Murisame class Cruisers?

and this looks like it's out of Macross....forget the name FZ something is what I'm thinking of or maybe the VF-14 either way....pure awesome!!

Fz-109A/F Elgerzorene, based on the VF-14 Vampire.

Excellent. Good to see those back again, sketchley.

I just got the VF-1 Space Wings one yesterday. I was supposed to get the VF-25 as well, but the place I ordered it from screwed up my order and sent the VF-19 instead. I had placed two orders with them, one with the VF-1 vol 2 and VF-25 through Amazon, and then another for VF-1 vol 1 and VF-19 through their regular website. I'm hoping they'll just be able to send the VF-25 in the second shipment. I really like the two that I've got so far, though. The images are really cool, and especially the VF-1 has some neat schematics of the cockpit. I just really wish that there was some way to translate the books into English. I'd love to see what they're saying, especially what looks like stories of some sort.

Several members here have been slowly translating bits and pieces of the books, including sketchley (who has the most, though his site is currently down), Seto Kaiba, and myself. There should be some threads in the main section of the forum on that.

That's one nice-looking HMM. Great work!