Urashiman

If you are expecting a VF-9 test print, I don't have one. The test print is just a small rounded block, with panel lines and holes with varying hull thickness.

A 1:1 VF-1 made from duct tape and cardboard?

well, it might be due to perspective but the canopy aligns with line art. The render is not orthographic, but has perspective and is slightly tilted from up to down as well. only the nose needs a bit more tweaking here and there. Edit: forgot about the panel line thing. What do you mean with a V-shaped cross section? I think I understood what you mean, but the model is not going to be 1:1 scale, but specifically designed for 1/72. I did some test prints for panel lines with a friend, and doing them like an edged U has given the best results so far.

@electric indigo Adjusted the nose and canopy. Does this look better? Let me hear your thoughts This time I joined the nose and the head piece into one mesh and will put the seperation as a baked panel line later on. I think it will give the model a smoother look in the end. First render: The old (new one from yesterday) nose Second render: The new one from today, no panel lines yet.

okay, redoing it again. Canopy on the list as well hahahahah I think it got so bulky because I was putting in a true to scale pilot figure. The nose and canopy were done based on super bad quality line art. I got way better stuff now. the plane is cut up in different parts, so if I want to fix a part, I usually have to do it from scratch. Especially if I already did the panel lines. Adjusting something with baked in panel lines is the horror. Usually it is easier going from the backup model without the panel lines and then redo the panel lines. @MechTech Thanks and jep, see the above

Hey there everyone! I worked on the VF-9 a bit again and went through some renders and started to be unhappy with some parts of the VF-9. I started modelling on this in 2009 or 2010 I think, and some parts are just missing the meshdetail (read: poly count) to be smooth enough for 3D printing. Therefore I decided to redo them. I did the nose today. So here are renders of before and after. Before: And after: And here is what I am going to redo as well. The wings, the head (right behind the nose), the canards, and the lasers. More and more work, but it is going quickly, as I got all the forms figured out already. I did the nose from scratch again, only today. The first time it took me weeks to get it right.

I remember seeing that F-14 configuration in some masterfile or something. I am inspired to do the same now. I have two spare F-14s lying around. Edit: Found it. F-14X Fase 1.43 in the VF-0 Master File

You can buy a chinese reprint of those decals through eBay (at the cost of a normal Hasegawa VF-1 kit). https://www.ebay.com/itm/132264740955

aww man, get well soon!

No real world fiddling around today, but some progress on the VF-1P. Slow progress ... super slow, because things don't turn out how I want them and then have to do it again, but I love doing it, else I wouldn't be doing it, eh?

@MechTech thanks man! okay, I think I performed enough sanding now. next steps: new canopy carving panel lines

Oh yeah - you are in sanding hell as well. have fun!

@derex3592 haha, sound horrible. But no, I only build a hand full of 1/48 kits. Most were WW2 planes and one F-14 I think. @MechTech no, I like it the hard way. Sanding until the fingers are bleeding. I hope this is done now. Will test prime that thing tomorrow. Let’s see if it is good now. Then it is time to carve panel lines and make a new canopy.

Haha! Great! Have fun! I hope it won't be as annoying as my F-5B (CF-116). Can you post pictures of the runners?

It‘s putty time children! grey revell putty for the things that need more sanding. And then I noticed these giant gaps. Revell putty won’t help here. time for good old miliput! muhahaha! More stuff to sand away!

@ahiachris Nice print! What resolution has you SLA printer? @MechTech Thanks a lot man! Working on the VF-1P again. I think I have the canopy right now. Took me a while to get the proper form. In the back, canopy v1, in the front canopy v3.14 (the one I am satisfied with). EDIT: Some progress from today. Panel lines in real life, as in virtual life are hard to carve, and take their time.

@Thom @arbit @derex3592 Thanks for the encouraging words. No worries, the adventure (much more sanding) will continue. But I got tired of that thing after sanding away and decided to work on the VF-1P a bit more. Here two renders fresh from the renderbakery. I am not too sure if I will leave the canopy like this. It looks a bit too much like the weird 80s Bandai kit canopy.

Hey everyone! I did a bunch of sanding and filling and "pre-panel lining" on the F-5B (CF-116). So this is where I am so far. I have been sanding and sanding and filling and sanding. Rinse and repeat. So I decided to spray the thing with the good old Tamiya surface primer to check for any stuff that needs even more sanding. And boy, the primer didn't fail me, but that #@%&$?! kit frustrates me. After all this sanding, there are still so many things to do. So much fun! Hahahahahah

Have fun with them!

Okay, did a bit of panel line work on the VF-9 again. It is so annoying, and super hard work. You start to cut an then it looks weird. Then you go back to an older version of the object and do it again and again and again until you have something that you a bit satisfied with and then rework it again. At least I am getting progress. Slow but it is there.

Went over it with 1500 grid tamiya sanding sponge. Not too sure if I like this. Defo have to air brush again.

I'm not a careful sander ... I'd probably sand through the primer, the ground color and shading. Hahaha. It dried a bit more, and isn't that much visible anymore, so I'll just leave it like that PS: Revell Enamel blue 50. Fits the VF-22S Max version without any need to color mix something together.

A modellers horror story in three pictures. I hate it when my airbrush burps onto my stuff I decided to leave it like that now, but stilll it annoys me.

Nice, my wife is from cologne. We visit cologne as well as Bergisch Gladbach a lot, family visits etc. I am from the former East Berlin (born and raised in communist Germany, hahaha!)

Yeah, F/A-18, F-14 and F-35 all have straight 90° angle nose gear. Might have asked that already, but are you German?