Graham

The 1/100 VF-19Kai is an mostly snap fit kit from 1995. It is molded in red, grey and yellow plastic. It can be built unpainted, but of course looks better painted. The other reissue kits are all 24 or 25 year old designs and definitely require glue and paint to look good. Graham

Yes, they are coming out, but they are just reissues of old model kits. Graham

How are you getting SMS run the whole fleet just from Kresphy's & Sketchley's short translation? All I get from it is that SMS have a battleship called 'Macross 25'. Being either a civil defence force or paramilitary force, it's pretty obvious that they would have some sort of battleship. Graham

I think you may be right about the new pic showing the legs beginning to move down at the start of the transformation sequence. If you look just past the intake on the new fighter mode pic, you can see a black triangle, not on other pics, which seems to indicate a leg hinge at that point. On the battroid mode pic the black triangle is not there, only a panel line. Graham

I posted the scans on page 5 of this thread. Tsk, what sort of MWer are you if you haven't read every page of this thread at least twice already! Graham

Another improvement I forgot to mention over the 1/48 is that in fighter mode, the 1/60's arms to not hang as low as the 1/48' arms. Infact they sit much higher up. Graham

Looks like the VF-171 designation is official, as the HJ article also mentions it, which makes it two magazines that have used it now. Notice how the older figher and gerwalk pics of Aruto's VF-25 did not show the black and red head top colors, instead having the head plain white. It's only in the battroid pic and this new fighter mode pic that the black and red head colors are used. I guess irt was a fairly recent color change decision then. Graham

Yep, double elbow joint. Graham

Here's the latest Macross Frontier articles from the new February 2008 issues of Dengeki Hobby and Hobby Japan magazines. Note the new top view pic of Aruto's white red & black VF-25. Not too sure I like the gap between the legs and the shield though. Graham

BTW, this refers to my "Saturation Penetration" sig of a few months back. Congrats to those who guessed right. Graham

There may still be the occasional reissue, but yes, for all intents and purposes the 1/48 is dead. All hail the 1/60! Graham

Here's the scans from the new February 2008 issues of Dengeki Hobby and Hobby Japan magazines. Graham

Yes it's true. Yes, it's perfect transformation. Yes, it has been engineered from the start to allow for 2 seaters. Yamato want's to have all their perfect transformation toys in 160 scale. Improvements over 1/48 include shorter nose cone in battroid mode (uses VF-0 type transformation), non-splitting foot thrusters and propotionally larger hands than the 1/48. No moving flaps or removeable nose cone, but it does have some other interesting gimmicks. I'll post clearer magazine scans in about an hour. Graham

Sketchley, is that confirmed that General Galaxy is the manufacturer of the VF-25? Where did you read that? Graham

I'm betting that Kawamori did those mecha designs. Looks like his work. Graham

Did they spell 'Excalibur' correctly on the YF-19? Mine are all wrapped up for X'mas, so I can't check. Graham

MW is the only forum I frequently post on, but I lurk on the following: - 2000AD forums HKPro foums 10-8 forums Tactical Forums Smith & Wesson Forums M&P forums Graham

All this talk about SMS being a private defence contractor in the Blackwater mold is pure speculation at the moment. In all likelyhood, they may well turn out to be just a civil defence force. Graham

It's tomorrow. The air time info is in the news section of the MW Frontier page (the link in my sig). Graham

Passive stealth also makes use of RAM (Radar Absorbent Material) in the construction of the aircraft. Graham

Can't see the thumbnail. Just left clicked on it and it opened up under MS Paint. Graham

Anyway, we are starting to stray off topic again. Let's stick to Frontier. Graham

The VF-9 Cutlass has only been shown in action in the M3 Dreamcast game as a player selectable mecha. I can't recall if it is shown at all in the opening movie of the game or not, which IIRC features mostly the VF-5000B, VF-4 & Variable Glaug. Just do a search on YouTube for Macross M3 and I'm sure you can find the movie. IIRC, the Shoji Kawamori Macross Design Works book features lineart of the VF-9's transformation. Graham

Ah, I may have seen the Baltar trial. Gotta go back and rewatch what I have. Graham

Good question. Its been a while since I last saw any. IIRC, I think the last one I saw was where Starbuck vanished into the cloud chasing what may or may not have been a Raider. Sorry, memory is fuzzy. Am I up to speed? Graham