Penguin

Best gold I've seen is the gold Gundam paint marker. It's what I used on my perfect grade Wing Gundam Zero. Smooth, shiny, metallic finish.

Having watched all of Macross 7, including the movies and Dynamite 7, I gotta say it kind of grew on me... especially Dynamite 7. I just think that the series could have been about 20 episodes shorter. About midway through, the re-use of animation started to wear on me ("Oh boy... yet another pointless battle ends with Gamlin blasting Ivane with the laser adaptor... didn't see <i>that</i> coming." ) and I was totally sick of "Planet Dance" and "Totsugeki Love Heart" by the end (especially since Fire Bomber has other songs that are considerably better).

Actually, I think you'll find the Hasegawa molds between fighter and battroid to have quite a few differences. Just to hit the short list, the battroid nose is shorter, the wings are a lot smaller, and the legs are much fatter than the fighter. I tried some decal swapping between the two, and I can definitely report that anything large just doesn't match up.

HLJ was definitely willing to be the middleman when my first 1/48 VF-1A arrived without any hands. All I did was e-mail their customer service and refer to the parts as labelled in the instruction booklet for the Valkyrie. It took about 6 weeks all total. They would probably charge for replacing a broken part if it was not broken when you received it. If you can't fix it yourself, it couldn't hurt to drop them a line and ask.

Well, this isn't really Macross-related, but I figured I'd ask the model experts here anyway. I just picked up an old model kit on eBay, and part of the kit includes a curved metal arm (for those interested, it's the old MPC kit of V.I.N.CENT from "The Black Hole"). The arm, however, is a little rusty after 24 years in a box. Any advice on how to spruce this up? I was just planning on sanding down the rust and painting it, but I really don't know how the oxidization affects paint (acrylic or enamel), et al. Can anyone offer any other tips or suggestions? Thanks to all.

I've built Bandai's whole 1/144 line (VF-11, VF-11MAXL Kai, VF-19 Fire Valkyrie, and two VF-17s, one for the 17F, and one for the 17S), the transforming 1/100 VF-19S, and Hasegawa's VF-22S (which I did in Diamond Force colours rather than Max). Were you looking for some feedback on their quality? IMHO, the 1/144 scale were fun to build ; the 1/100 looks okay in battroid mode, and not so great in the others; Hasegawa's VF-22S is my favourite Hasegawa model to date.

All praise and give thanks for Yoko Kanno, queen of the anime soundtrack. Long may she reign!

I entered the game kinda late to get ALL the older Bandai, Imai, and ARII kits (at least without spending a mint on eBay), although I do have a respectable number of them. So far, I've been suckered into the complete Hasegawa 1/72 line, including several custom variations of the VF-1A, -1J, and -1S. Gettin' a little tired of all the VF-1s though. Classic design, but I'd kill for a VF-4, VF-5000, or VF-17. And I mean it... I'd kill... JUST TELL ME WHO!!!!