MacrossJunkie

Darn you! Now I'm seriously considering getting a Milia to go with my Max...

Thanks! Very useful info. I'll give them a try.

Well, whatever works for you. Everyone has different preferences. I started out with heavily thinned enamel paints, but I don't have any workspaces that are ideal for venting the fumes from the thinner besides working in the garage with the door open. I then went to the gundam markers which allowed me to work on the valks anywhere without subjecting myself to toxic fumes, but it made the panel lines too heavily emphasized or looked too artificial which I felt didn't look good. The promodeller kind of gives me the best of both worlds. For me it's close to the look of thinned enamel paints while at the same time being non-toxic and odorless. I haven't had much problem with the beading. I've even panel lined the DX VF-27 with the promodeller wash which ought to be the hardest since that thing has super glossy plastic which tends to be hydrophobic and I really had no trouble. I think the key is using a very fine brush in addition to lessening the surface tension and just going along the panel lines. As for your results looking weak and splotchy, I don't know what to say. Perhaps the batch you got wasn't mixed well with a high enough concentration of clay particles? I got the Dark Dirt and Light Dirt washes and I pretty much just use the dark dirt as the light dirt wasn't what I expected and looked almost completely white. But there are darker colors available for those who find the panel lines in my pics are too light or subtle for their tastes. Do you mean weathered or panel lined? I guess it doesn't matter. Either way, it's really no harder to panel line or weather colored areas, but sometimes due to lighting or color, it may be hard to see. Using that Max VF-1A as an example, I can't see panel lining on the arms, but it could just be the lighting causing it to be washed out or he just didn't panel line that area. You can see in my pics though that both panel lining and weathering were applied in all the colored parts. You just have to use shades that are distinguishable from the surface you're panel lining if you want to be able to see it clearly. Like the dark dirt wash I used would be nigh invisible on the dark gray/near black surface of Gamlin's VF-22. Ideally, you'd go with a bit of a lighter shade. I went with black gundam marker and said "meh, good enough".

They never ever got back to me on my cracked shoulder joint for my VT-1. They were quick to respond when I had a question while placing an order but after it arrived and I had an issue with it, no replies after. Go figure. So I'm basically stuck with a bad shoulder.

Geez, they're on crack if they think that VF-25G set should cost ¥19,500. It barely includes more than the original release with the super packs and is still the same badly designed toy that will likely deteriorate into a floppy mess without even handling it.

If you're replying to me, I was referring to what he was saying would be next VF after the VF-19 variants are all done.

Sure. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, I add a bit of dishwashing liquid. Not the kind that you put into a dishwasher but the kind you'd use to handwash dishes like this: Add a small drop of it into the promodeller bottle. About this much to start with (pictured with a teaspoon): Mix it, shaking the bottle circularly so it's swirling along the walls of the bottle instead of up and down to avoid making bubbles. Take a fine tip brush like this: Dip it into the mixture and brush or dab it along the panel lines. I didn't have any non-panel line valks so I took one of Ivanov's boosters to use as an example. If it continues to bead up for you, add another dab of soap to lessen the water's surface tension until it doesn't. Wipe off the excess that's outside the panel lines with a paper towel after it dries. Dab a drop of water on the towel if it's not coming off easily. If you accidentally take some out of the panel line, just reapply and be careful as you wipe next time. Edit: Forgot to mention you should probably re-shake it every few minutes since the particles tend to settle fairly quickly.

So that means no more EMS shipping through Japan Post either? "Japan Post announced that they will not accept any air parcels over 16 ounces (453 grams) due to the higher security threat of terrorism in the United States indefinitely." What higher security threat of terrorism? This is getting out of hand. Politicians keep crying wolf with "high threats of terrorism" to keep the population in fear so they can institute more draconian police state measures like the recent hubbub with the airports of being given a choice between the invasiveness (and highly dubious safety of getting blasted with xray radiation) of full body scanners or submitting to sexual assault by TSA goons. Now Japan Post can't send items of over 16 ounces to the US? Absofrigginlutely retarded. Just what is that supposed to accomplish?

And so it seems it's spelled out pretty clearly that it will be the VF-17, since there's nothing else with double digits that Yamato would be likely to make. A VF-14 would be far less likely than even the VF-2SS.

With the current crappy exchange rates, pretty much every Macross toy and not just the VF-11 is way more expensive than they are worth. Even a relatively cheap item like the 1/60 hikaru VF-1A on sale at HLJ (likely with a broken shoulder also) at 7350 yen is going to set you back almost $90. Once you add in standard shipping rates, you're likely spending $130-140. Even with the half off shipping deal that HLJ is having, you're still looking at probably $115. I remember a year or so back, you could get a 1/60 VF-1 + FAST packs for close to that price.

Heck, while we're at it. They should load a bunch of Fire Bomber music into the mp3 player as well. They probably couldn't if they wanted to though. I think I read somewhere that the music licensing for M7 is a huge mess.

Here's a couple of my valks with only panel lining done (these were done with black enamel paint mixed with thinner). And these are some of my valks that I did panel lining and weathering/battle grime/etc. (using promodeller's and tamiya weathering kits) I would say all of my macross toys have been panel lined and about half or less have had some form weathering done on them.

This site, www.ledlightingkit.com, seems to have nearly identical kits to the Dioders that Ikea sells, but at a cheaper price. Some even come with remotes which Ikea's doesn't, but at a higher price of course. Has anyone tried the products from this place?

Personally, I've not had good results doing weathering with the ProModellers weathering wash despite the name of the product. I use it strictly for panel lining and that's it. I use other alternatives like air brushing (pain in the butt) or the tamiya weathering kits (easier with no clean up work after and can use it anywhere) to do actual weathering. For the panel lines, I just use a fine brush and dab the tip into the panel lines and let the capillary effect carry the wash (only works if you add a drop of dishwashing soap or the surface tension of the basic product is too high). But yeah, if you just brush over the entire valk, then putting on the decals before hand wouldn't be any good due to it collecting on the edges (not a problem if you do a couple layers of gloss clearcoat first however). If you have a problem with the wash dulling very white valks like hikaru's 1J, try using isopropyl rubbing alcohol instead of plain water. Using alcohol, I've been able to completely remove any trace of the wash in the rare cases it is hard to remove. Word of warning, paint on Bandai's MF valks comes right off with the slightest touch of rubbing alcohol so avoid using at all costs. The paints used on Yamato valks are much much much more resistant to rubbing alcohol.

I'm not a big fan of the cruiser mode for both the TV and DYRL versions. It basically looks like a robot lying down. The TV version does a look a bit better in that mode however. The attack mode is what I love about the Macross. It's easily one of the most memorable and distinctive designs I've seen. In that mode, it's the DYRL version that I like much more though. When I get mine, I'm definitely displaying it in attack mode.

1. They're two distinctly different things, although some people will do both at the same time by smearing some of the ink/paint/whatever being used for the panel lining. But yes, you can have panel lining and still have no weathering effects applied. 2. You would normally do the panel lining after applying decals/stickers. If you panel line beforehand and put decals on after and a decal happens to go across a panel line, the decals will cover the panel lining and will not look right, thus making you redo the panel lining anyway.

If you want to see, there are pics earlier in this thread showing the tail fins retracted like on page 11. I posted a couple on page 13 as well.

I'll give another vote for the promodeller weathering wash. I've used enamel mixed with thinner, gundam markers, pencil (sort of. I tested it on a few panels once and hated the shininess.), and promodellers mixed with a small drop of dish washing liquid. The enamel paint properly mixed to the right color with thinner added looks great but you have to deal with venting the thinner fumes. Gundam markers emphasize the panel lines too much, particularly on light colored surfaces and the lines just seem too heavy. I've had to rub most of it out of the panel lines in order for the lines to not look so overdone, but even then, the color of the inks don't look very natural to me. Darker colored valks still look alright. I still use them, but only sparingly in certain situations. The biggest problem I've found with the markers is that while it's normally easy to clean off if you mess up and wipe it immediately, some plastic surfaces seem to get stained right away so you're kinda screwed if the pen slips. Painted surfaces fare even worse as the paint seems to absorb the ink right away. I finally settled on using promodeller wash because it doesn't stain (even if you leave it on for days or longer), it's easy to apply, and the results look pretty natural. It's effectively tiny particles of dirt (clay actually) mixed into liquid. The only real downside is that it can come off fairly easily if your hands are moist and the the panel lines are extremely shallow to nearly non-existent, like some of the panel lines on the v2 1/60 VF-1's.

With the Yen sharply gaining on the US Dollar and Euro, the end price for many outside of Japan just keeps going up. I'm not worried about them raising the price so much as how much crappier the exchange rate is going to be by the time this thing is released. I really wish they would let you pay now, but they said they can't because they don't know what the price for the shipping will be and their system can't handle paying for the item now and paying for shipping later.

Nope, just the standard edition Konig, not even the special one. I don't understand why it costs so much to ship with SAL even with the big boxes, considering that I had Yamato and Bandai valks shipped from Amiami before using EMS that was around that price.

This sucker must be deceptively heavy. They charged me 4080 yen for SAL shipment... Normally I pay that much for EMS shipping on valkyries. I thought SAL would have been cheaper.

It only shows 22% on the Japanese site because they have a suggested retail price of 34,440 listed, but still selling for 26,790. On the English site, they have the suggested retail price of 32,800. Regardless, either way, everyone is still paying 26,790 whether it is 22% off 34,400 or 17% (which is not right, it's over 18% off if you do the math) off 32,800.

The ones that come with the 1/60's starting with the v2 VF-1s are comparable in thickness to takatoys' stickers but not as shiny, which is good.

It looked like it might be around the same size as Yamato's which was 1/100 scale.

I think the VF-27 edges out the SV-51 in sleekness. It's more smoothly contoured and streamlined than the SV-51 (except for the fins on the head unit of the 27γ variant. I wish they at least folded down flat against the body).