Darth Mingus

I've got a friend going to Japan for 3 weeks at the end of February. Hope he can find me one.

For those of you who want a completed kit and have money to burn:

http://www.gundampro.com/macross_vf25s_ozuma_custom.php

Yes. Don't do it.

From what I know, you should use Future mixed with Tamiya Clear Flat or Gunze's "Topcoat".

Agreed, don't use the Testor Dullcote. It will cause your acrylic paints to do the Orange peel thing. I have head that you cannot mix Tamiya and Future. Tamiya flat base should be OK.

OK, are some general guidelines regarding model paints. There are 3 types of paint available for modelers: Lacquer based, acrylic based, and enamel based.

* Lacquers should only be applied on top of the bare plastic or other lacquer paints. They will react with other types of paints. They are also very runny so they should only be applied with either a spray can or an airbrush. Paints like Mr. Color, Mr Surfacer, and the Krylon are examples of lacquer paints. They are toxic.

* Enamel paints can be applied over lacquers without problems. Large coats over acrylic can be problematic. Most modelers use thinned enamels to do panel lines because the thinner to clean up will not react to other paint types. Enamel paints have great metallic colors and hand brush nicely and dries slowly so you can even out coats better.

* Acrylic paints can be painted on top of anything. They can be thinned by water and have nice flat finishes. They fall somewhere between Enamels and Lacquers in terms of drying time.

Note that you cannot, under any circumstances, mix any combination of enamel, acrylic and lacquer paint. Also watch out for some clear coats because they may be lacquer based. Acrylic based finishes are best, but they are not as tough as the others.

I would recommend finding a technique that works best for you on cheap disposable kits before tackling your masterpiece.

EDIT:

Forgot to add that some paints may react to some plastic types. I have heard reports that Bandai's ABS parts become brittle after painting with Tamiya acrylic paints, even though these are considered the safest paints. Primed parts did not suffer this. I have not confirmed this myself but it is a cause for concern, especially with the Macross Frontier kits.

KK, sounds good. I think I'll just pick up an SMS base then. Now all that's left is to choose a grade of sand paper to make it look extra nice...

To sand the nubs off, first cut as close as possible with a sharp hobby knife, then I usually use 600 grit sandpaper to smooth, then 1000 grit to polish. I usually paint my models so I don't go for 100% smoothness. Some people use up to 2000 grit to get all the scratch marks off, but I find it irritating to do that.

This is great. Looking forward to this. Will you be planning on adding the full armour parts eventually? You will need to be careful which parts you glue.

I think the floppy-ness issue with the fighter mode realy depends on how you transform it. On my Ozma, sometimes it looks really bad, but if I am firm and really push the pieces together, it fits much better. There are a few things Bandai could of done to make it better, like adding tabs for the wing roots, but otherwise it seems to be OK to me. Maybe I'll change my mind when I get an Alto with super packs.

Kind of hard to make out in the small pic, but it looks like you will need to remove the intakes on the hips, the back leg armour, the chest piece and the parts around the neck. Shoulders themselves and arms are intact. Looks like my VF-25s will not be getting fast packs.

Great work! Having just completed my Ozma, I know how small some of these details are.

I was thinking about picking one up just because they are so inexpensive. I built one ~20 years ago when Revel released it in NA as part of the Robotech line of model kits.

I don't think these ones were perfect transformation. You have to slide out the cockpit & nose cone assembly and replace it with one with the heatshield and leg connectors.

That's it! I'm sick and tired of this stupid dilemna! It's ridiculous.

I'm just going to get both. Duh!

Pete

Someone at Bandai laughs maniacally...

Nice to have you back. Thought you had abandoned the project. I can sympathize, with 2 kids and a full time job, it is difficult to get any modeling done (stop staring at me VF-25S, I will get to you!!)

One thing you can do for filling fine lines is to use Mr.Surfacer 500. Here is a small tutorial in case you are unfamiliar with it: http://www.swannysmodels.com/Surfacer.html

I have not been able to find the 500 locally in Montreal, but I do have the 1000 and it covers pretty well without obscuring the fine details.

If I recall correctly, Future is renamed in certain markets -- Pledge w/Futureshine may be the new name. I'd wait for other members to chime in on this, or check out sites, like aircraft resource center and starship modeler.

I live in Montreal and Future is available here at Walmart. I think I got the big bottle for $4 or something.

I am sure most people on this forum have see this link before, but this is the end-all guide to Future and it's many uses:

http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html

Extremely rare kit, not sure if it's ever been recast even. This is the 1/72 resin kit however, the 1/100 kit from bandai that's transformable is readily available.

There was one on Ebay just before Christmas. I think it sold for $150USD.

Just from looking online, the Gundam Markers look like lead pencils. Are the pictures just deceiving or are these things really just "Gundam brand" lead pencils? I mainly think that b/c the refill sets look like lead.

Oh, and what's a reasonable price to pay for an Alto model now? On evilbay, they are about $70 shipped and I don't think they are worth that much (IMO), so I'm hoping they are just a price gougers.

I had a friend look for me in San Francisco, one shop is charging $90 USD. A shop here in Montreal had it for $78 CDN but they are probably sold out. I got my VF-25S shipped from HWJapan for $68 CDN.