Official Bandai 1/72 Scale Macross Frontier Model Kit Thread Ver.2

[Savvi]

So, Alto shrunk in size or did he manage to get into Klan's Micro pod while she was in it o.O;

If I get the kit, I think I'll have Alto removed from duty. X3

[PetarB]

When I finally get my kit I'm going to do what I can to recreate a better cockpit that can house an in-scale pilot which I will sculpt up, probably towards the end of November. If there's any interest I will cast a few up. I knew that pilot was too small as soon as I saw the first pics.

[Major Focker]

When I finally get my kit I'm going to do what I can to recreate a better cockpit that can house an in-scale pilot which I will sculpt up, probably towards the end of November. If there's any interest I will cast a few up. I knew that pilot was too small as soon as I saw the first pics.

i'm interested. if you want to indulge us a bit more, perhaps a dancing ranka and a sheryl in flight suit too?

[David Hingtgen]

Flightsuit Grace! (assuming they make a VF-27, and then of course they'll make a green version)

[electric indigo]

When I finally get my kit I'm going to do what I can to recreate a better cockpit that can house an in-scale pilot which I will sculpt up, probably towards the end of November. If there's any interest I will cast a few up. I knew that pilot was too small as soon as I saw the first pics.

I support that. Maybe I'll build my Alto as it is now, but I would love to have an upgrade when I do the Ozma version.

Here's a good reference pic for the cockpit design.

[SDF-ONE]

In the latest Hobby Japan (December) it looks like they changed the head on Ozma.

Scan by kunluinlmodel

[anime52k8]

In the latest Hobby Japan (December) it looks like they changed the head on Ozma.

Scan by kunluinlmodel

good, the old sculpt looked like someone stepped on it. this new one looks better. (I have a feeling it's still going to be a b***h to clean.

[David Hingtgen]

I've decided not to paint the outer engine nozzles, mainly because of "future matching", particularly Michael's. He has pale grey nozzles, definitely not metallic.

Anyways---anyone else notice Bandai seems to have really gotten the colors of the jaw/chin on Alto's wrong? And the HJ build didn't correct it. Fairly easy to do. Basically, the front white piece actually needs to be mostly grey, with a white stripe and black inset. The rear grey piece needs to be completely painted black.

Mr March has a GREAT pic showing the head, though ep 13 confirms the coloring: http://www.new-un-spacy.com/macrossf/vf-25...id-headunit.jpg

::edit:: The attached cap is I think from ep 25, while the lighting's weird it does show the grey vs black parts.

And here's my repainted front chin piece: (the "mouth" area is not all black, just the inner-most section--between that and the white, it's grey) (I couldn't follow the design of the white EXACTLY, there's really no guide/lines and its critical to make it symmetrical)

[wm cheng]

Wow! David... excellent work on the micro-painting... that pilot is SMALL! Its looking good so far...

[Penguin]

I'll second that... top notch work, David. You're much more patient than I. When I saw how tiny the pilot was, I promptly ejected him from the kit.

[Graham]

In the latest Hobby Japan (December) it looks like they changed the head on Ozma.

Scan by kunluinlmodel

I don't think they re-did the head. I think the top front of the head actually hingges down slightly for fighter mode and in that older battroid mode pic, it was incorrectly hinged down.

Graham

[Black Valkyrie]

Kinda looks like the Predator mask.

[Graham]

In case this hasn't been mentioned yet.

In the new December 2008 issue of Dengeki Hobby magazine, there is a photo article on a Bandai VF-25S that has been customised as follows: -

1) Full size, working, folding landing gear added (looks really nice).

2) Multiple small pegs added to help lock the fighter mode together better.

3) Gunpod and forearms modified so that the gunpod can attach directly to the arms in fighter mode, without having to use the attachment piece.

Graham

[badboy00z]

Got a scan?

[wolfx]

Alto scale comparison time.

With Hasegawa 1/72 Isamu helmet:

With 1/72 Dragon F-16 pilot (pre-painted, not my work):

And after realizing from the above pics that I had smudged the left shoulder (the black stripe across the red spot), I touched it up and took these:

(Alto doesn't really have grey gloves---more like grey wrist-protector gauntlet things, the hand and fingers are still black)

PS--if anyone can successfully paint his collar red, please let me know where you buy your butterfly-leg-hair brushes)

Great job on the paintjob, David. That's some nice alto painting....i can't get mine to look anything as clean and nice as that. Mine looks like a blue/grey blob.

[Spitze]

In case this hasn't been mentioned yet.

In the new December 2008 issue of Dengeki Hobby magazine, there is a photo article on a Bandai VF-25S that has been customised as follows: -

1) Full size, working, folding landing gear added (looks really nice).

2) Multiple small pegs added to help lock the fighter mode together better.

3) Gunpod and forearms modified so that the gunpod can attach directly to the arms in fighter mode, without having to use the attachment piece.

Graham

I'm interested in the scans so I can use them as a guide. Maybe I can figure out how to do the magnets this way.

[David Hingtgen]

I want scans too--I'm still building mine, so it'd be easier to incorporate a few pegs etc.

[Graham]

OK, here's scans of 2 pages of the article, which shows the custom mods.

Graham

[Vifam7]

OK, here's scans of 2 pages of the article, which shows the custom mods.

Graham

According to the article the guy had to swallow some tears and mod the ankle storage gimmick (dunno what that is since I haven't started mine) and mod the outer covering to allow for the rear landing gears to fit.

Edited October 29, 2008 by Vifam7

[Graham]

According to the article the guy had to swallow some tears and mod the ankle storage gimmick (dunno what that is since I haven't started mine) and mod the outer covering to allow for the rear landing gears to fit.

It's just something that locks the ankle in place in battroid mode to prevent it from retracting back into the leg. Probably not even necessary as the kit is lightweight and doubtful it's heavy enough to make the ankle collapse under the weight of the kit.

Graham

[protostar8]

It's just something that locks the ankle in place in battroid mode to prevent it from retracting back into the leg. Probably not even necessary as the kit is lightweight and doubtful it's heavy enough to make the ankle collapse under the weight of the kit.

Graham

Is it just me or do the arms look kinda like Fast Packs (original Macross)? Never noticed that before...

Edited October 29, 2008 by protostar8

[David Hingtgen]

I think I finally found an acceptable mixture of flat base+future that'll work well. Definitely glossier than I'd like, but dries smooth and even. (took probably 10 or 15 attempts---flat base is so thick it's impossible to measure, so it will be very difficult to make more of the exact same mix)

PS--Future and Tamiya do NOT mix. Nor do Future and MM Acryl in my experience--at least, grape pearl sure doesn't mix with it.

[anime52k8]

OK, here's scans of 2 pages of the article, which shows the custom mods.

Graham

I'm surprised the kit doesn't come with the the pegs on the engine to begin with, seems like a simple and rather obvious thing to do now that we've seen it.

[regult]

Looking closely at the scans (Thanks a bunch Graham!) I realized the modeller took some liberal approeach with: position of the gunpod, the catapult bar that really does not exist in the anime, cockpit panel. It's a wonderful Fighter-First build, and I can only dream mine would ever come close to this but since only the nose gear doors open and close (the main ones need to be exchanged), and the space inside the nose gear door is much needed for the radome to properly fit inside the chestplate, I'd not care too much about retractability, it may backfire in Battroid mode, but maybe there are pictures of this custom built Ozma in Battroid in the said magazine and I am worrying about a non-issue?

This custom has some cockpit details, and no mini-Ozma figure, but you'd of course notice that it is nowhere near the "real" cockpit display system David Hingtgen so carefully snapped for us. Again on the accuracy issue, why didn't the modeler use the skull decal AT ALL? He did fix the tail fin extensions to match the CG model closer, but totally ignored the livery, color of sensors and lots of other rivet-counter issues?

Edited October 29, 2008 by regult

[Graham]

There are pics of Battroid mode. I'll scan and post them tomorrow.

Graham

[SDF-ONE]

It's just something that locks the ankle in place in battroid mode to prevent it from retracting back into the leg. Probably not even necessary as the kit is lightweight and doubtful it's heavy enough to make the ankle collapse under the weight of the kit.

Graham

Thanks for the scans!

True. I did not add the locking clip and the model stands just fine in battroid mode. There is enough friction on the mechanism. Now I can have it in Urkel mode or in anti-Urkel mode (and anything in between) without having to open the leg panels on the side. I prefer to keep it low, since I never liked seeing too much of the ankles. In the scans it seems like the ankles have been glued down. Wouldn't that seriously restrict the feet movement in battroid mode? Perhaps there is a way to move the ankles out? Not part swapping I hope.

Again on the accuracy issue, why didn't the modeler use the skull decal AT ALL? He did fix the tail fin extensions to match the CG model closer, but totally ignored the livery, color of sensors and lots of other rivet-counter issues?

Could it be because he used Alto's version, not Ozma's? The trench in which the laser resides in fighter mode is longer on Alto's version than on Ozma's. On Ozma's they stop where the hinges begin. But then again the plastic is Ozma grey...

Edited October 29, 2008 by SDF-ONE

[David Hingtgen]

Also, the chestplate is Ozma's, not Alto's. (they're subtly different). He must have got some weird hybrid test-shot, that had Ozma's head and chestplate, but Alto's backplate. Thing is--chestplate, backpate, and some head parts are all on the same sprue (M). Did he get individual test-shot pieces or something, and not a full sprue?

PS---did he use YF-21 landing gear? It's the right color, and it's definitely not from a Blue Angels Hornet or Phantom kit.

[Graham]

Here's the other 2 pages from the article on the modified VF-25S.

The battroid mode doesn't seem to have been adversely affected by the modifications.

Graham

[wolfx]

Here's the other 2 pages from the article on the modified VF-25S.

The battroid mode doesn't seem to have been adversely affected by the modifications.

Graham

Does the page say anything about armored alto at the bottom of the page?

[Graham]

Does the page say anything about armored alto at the bottom of the page?

That's not Armoured Alto, that's Alto with Super packs, which was shown at a recent hobby show along with the RVF-25 & VF-25G. Photos from the show shoud just be 1-2 pages back in this thread.

Graham

[Graham]

Alto scale comparison time.

With Hasegawa 1/72 Isamu helmet:

With 1/72 Dragon F-16 pilot (pre-painted, not my work):

And after realizing from the above pics that I had smudged the left shoulder (the black stripe across the red spot), I touched it up and took these:

(Alto doesn't really have grey gloves---more like grey wrist-protector gauntlet things, the hand and fingers are still black)

PS--if anyone can successfully paint his collar red, please let me know where you buy your butterfly-leg-hair brushes)

Hey David,

Do you want to start a side business, painting Altos?

I'd pay to have my Alto painted, as there's no way I'm going to attempt it myself. My skill level with paints is far too low.

Graham

[miriya]

Hey David,

Do you want to start a side business, painting Altos?

I'd pay to have my Alto painted, as there's no way I'm going to attempt it myself. My skill level with paints is far too low.

Graham

Please put me on the list for that too. Serious.

[wolfx]

That's not Armoured Alto, that's Alto with Super packs, which was shown at a recent hobby show along with the RVF-25 & VF-25G. Photos from the show shoud just be 1-2 pages back in this thread.

Graham

Yeah that's what i meant. Was there any new info if they might sell the FPs seperately?

[biggooftoybox]

I think a model product with just the fastpacks is unlikely. Just look at the HG Gundam00 GN Arms. The Gundam Exia was sold on its own and then later there was the GN Arms which came with the HG Gundam Exia. Same thing happened for the GN Arms Dynames version.

It makese sense for Bandai since they can sell the same model twice basically and we'll pay. It also also possible that when they add the Fast Packs, some minor changes may need to be made to accomodate it, so the VF25 itself may be a version 1.5 or v2.

I think I'll grab the VF25s first (since the VF25 is complete sold out) and then later get Alt's VF25 when it comes out with the fast packs. Any release date for the VF25 alto version with FS?

[anime52k8]

Yeah that's what i meant. Was there any new info if they might sell the FPs seperately?

from all the pictures they've shown, and considering base kit doesn't appear to have any accommodation for mounting the fast packs. (look at the DX, there are clearly holes and slots on various parts in order to accommodate fast packs.)

the Super version will probably require a good deal of the parts be replaced. (it should still transform the same way, but it will be super only)