SpaceCowboy

The only thing so far that has broken is the VF-11B. Both legs eventually broke (first version). So far, my Garland has been okay, though a small panel on the dashboard that held a joint in place fell off, but that was easily repaired. I'm not too picky, but when I spend $100-$200 it had better be damn near perfect for a toy.

What about some of the enemy mechs from Macross 7? What were they called...the Veruta fighters?

Have you guys bothered looking for an orguss variable model kit? I picked one up for about $20 six months back or so. It supposedly transforms into all four modes. I haven't gotten around to putting it together yet, but I'll let you know how it turns out. SpaceCowboy

I thought about it, but it's not a macross model, so I'm not sure if it would be appropriate. Also I'm not sure a step by step would be useful from someone that is still learning how to do this as I'm probably going to make some mistakes. If it turns out ok, I will post a picture of the final product though. I've already decided for my next project I'm going to try that Mr. Surfacer 500, as I don't like repeatedly sanding to fill in small seams. I was also surprised how fast my primer ran out. I got a small can and it ran out after 2 1/2 coats. So I wasn't able to get the smooth prime that I wanted, though it is probably sufficient for the job. So far, no seams in the arms or legs can be seen, yeah! SpaceCowboy

I'm using Testor's contour putty. It is just one tube, but I'm not sure it ever really dries. I let some dry overnight, and the putty is hard, but I can break it off the model. I'm not sure that the seam is filled with the putty or just being sanded down by removing the putty. So I tried sanding another piece without applying the putty and it came out just as smooth. So I figure I must be doing something wrong. After all the sanding though, I'm thinking of moving to Mr. Surfacer if I can clean up seams without all that sanding. SpaceCowboy

Thanks everyone. All of this is very helpful. Next Question: Does it make sense to prime the pieces before individual construction, then put them together, putty, and prime again? I'm practicing on a patrol labor model I have. Since there are a lot of moveable joints, I'm putting small parts together and then priming and painting. With some pieces though, it will be nearly impossible to prime doing it this way, as they will be covered by other pieces and be surrounding still other interior pieces. My current thinking is not to worry too much about the interior joint pieces, and just paint them (no priming) since they will barely be visible. Then on the larger sections (legs armor, arm armor, torso), mask off any different colored parts, prime, then paint. And I'm doing this by assembling as small section (the foot for instance) then doing the priming, painting coloring. I'll do the leg the same and mask off any joints that can't be removed before painting. This is all kind of hard to describe, did that make any sense? Oh, and unless my original question got lost in the babble: Is it always necessary to prime a piece before painting, or for smaller, lesser seen pieces, is it ok to just paint them without the prime coat? SpaceCowboy

I just scanned over wm_cheng's YF-21 step by step and am floored. And to imagine he did this in aroudn 2 weeks (judging by the posts) is awesome. Now, on to my question... I've just started painting my models. I've done three so far and have learned lots each time. After looking through cheng's post, I noticed he put the primer on once most of it was assembled. Is this normal, or for more mobile models (gundams, transforming valks) is it better to prime individual parts as they are placed together, paint them, then add them to the total assembly? What I'm saying is, if you have a leg, do you prime and paint the foot, then attach it to the leg, or do you do so afterwards, or what? SpaceCowboy

Yes, Bob Joe. I am more into the realistic robots that aren't all powerful and the shows don't boil down into a villian of the week. I've never heard of Vifam, Dragonar or SPT Laynazer, so I'll be sure to check those out. Thanks for helping me narrow down what I meant in the first place!

Cool, I'm going to check out my HobbyTown and see if they have any (they had some listed on their website (6"x12"x0.03") for ~$2.00. Gerwalker mentioned that art stores would have larger sheets cheaper. Are we talking Michael's? Or something else? Thanks for the recommendation on the 1/100th heller. That sounds like it could be useful. Oh what fun...hehehe SpaceCowboy

Nah even if it's terrible, I still want to try it just for the sake of comparison against VF-X2, and the Macross PS2 game. Graham Heck, stateside you can even pick it up for about $10 for any of the three consoles. It's definately worth $10. I didn't find it that bad. The game was a little unbalanced, some levels being super easy, and some being insanely hard. SpaceCowboy

No, not really all transforming. I'd prefer to check out shows that are similar to either Macross, Southern Cross, Mospeada, or Orguss. SpaceCowboy

Hey, Mcbride, Can you read japanese? If not, once you've gotten to mess with it a while, can you post a review of the Gundam Scratch Build Manual. It looks interesting, but I can see where it would also be worthless if you can't read the language. SpaceCowboy

Hey Graham, Have you played Robotech: Battlecry? How does it compare? SpaceCowboy

I read the beginner scratch building articles over on starshipmodeller and think I may give it a shot. Will a normal hobby shop carry 0.03 plastic styrene sheets, or is this something I'm going to have to search for. I'd rather just buy flat sheets and cut them out rather than busting up models (which sounds like it can get expensive). SpaceCowboy

Right. I forgot about Z Gundam. Well, I remember buying a model kit that transformed into a jet, but at the time wasn't aware of their being more than one Gundam series. That was a long time ago and the model has since vanished, but I will check into Z Gundam. Thanks. I did watch Bubblegum Crisis 2099 (?, some year) but the transformation aspect of the bike was nearly non-existent =( I've also seen Escaflowne...should have included that in my list. I liked it ok. I thought the dragon robot transformation was very cool. SpaceCowboy

I'm really into anime involving some type of robots that transform into vehicles and vice versa lately. I'm currently watching Orguss, and was wondering what other series are out there that I might not know about. The ones I've seen or heard about are Macross Southern Cross Mospeada Megazone 23 On the Fringe, Voltron Transformers There has got to be more than this? With the success of Macross, I would think there would be tons of copy cats. SpaceCowboy