Rock

FFFFFFF that took too much effort.

[deep breath]
Previous mods/work undone, kit fully disassembled and then stripped during a 4+month soak in diluted purple power with a bit of easy-off (oven cleaner.) Then sanded, re-scribed, sanded, packed up for 2 cross-country moves, survived a hurricane, and then cleaned with 70% isopropyl alcohol, stored, resanded, lightly polished with tamiya's compound, recleaned and finally dusted with Mr. Surfacer 1500! to today.

Finally got to put in some time while the other project is stalled for a bit. Got her out and managed to go through with a final prep for paintwork on the main body today tonight. After cleaning up the surface and re-reading my thread, (this one) I decided on a new approach to painting less repeat the same mistake.

FWIW a jumbo popcicle stick wedged in between the gap behind the wings is a perfect way to hold the VF-25F during painting. Solid as a rock without any glue required!

Round 2 see's me using more of a traditional post shading style with an overcoat similar to how real life aircraft might be done. First I applied an off-white base, a mix left over from my recent MG Perfect Strike Gundam I built earlier this year. IIRC it was a mix of Gaia's ultimate white and a bit of tan. I reduced and sprayed it at around a 70:30 (thinner:paint) mixture and only applied enough to hide the majority of the primer.  Next up I over reduced some gloss black base and traced all the panel lines, part edges and details. After that was done a bit more black was added to make a stronger mixture and a few key areas (the shadows) were given a 2nd pass. At this point I intended to grab Gaia's Grey IV and Mr. Color's Deep Sea Gray and do a bit of dot filtering and surface modelling however I got a nice surprise in discovering I somehow bent the needle in my fine detail micron airbrush putting that on hold. So instead I mixed up some bright pure white and highlighted a few panels with pre-shading giving the model's surface more variation. I'm using a super bright white now which will be toned down next. One thing I've learned over the years is to always avoid pure white never is something in real life a pure white and doing so creates an undesirable high-contrast effect that can ruin the scale effect of any finish.

Lastly I needed the final color. For this I mad a custom mix using Gaia Notes Pure White, Ultimate White, Primary Color Cyan and my favorite paint Flourescent Pink, such a handy addition to breath vibrancy into any dull color. The end result is a violet looking shade of white. I hope this will help tie everything together with a cool tone. It should really help with the purple cockpit hatch and tornado armor pack bits. This custom "Alto Mix" is was sprayed around a super thin 20:80 mix ratio blending everything together in long sweeping front-to-back passes, always making sure to start and stop spraying in front of and behind the model (an not directly on the surface) to not have the paint build up and edge pooling. At this point everything is blending together and Model Master's gloss clear lacquer was lightly airbrushed onto the surface.



Before doing any additional surfacing, I've got to get them pesky panel line filled in. 4 year later.

edit: also uploaded some older cockpit pictures since the old links expired.

On 7/5/2019 at 9:31 AM, derex3592 said:

Also -- side question -- I have a spray can of Mr.Surfacer 1000 that I bought and never used, but thinking maybe it can help on Mrs. Q-Rau somehow - Can anyone around here explain to me how to use it?  I can't seem to find much on YouTube in English on it. 
 

Here is a good article on the differences between the MR. Surfacer lines. In short the # represents the build and grit of the product with 500 being more fore filling and 1200 closer to a slick paint coat.

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

On 2/15/2019 at 12:33 AM, Frenchmeister said:

Just found (and ordered) a 1/48 full color VF-1A cockpit PE upgrade kit.   And since I'm already posting this, I'll include the information/pics of the other PE upgrades I've found so far in case someone else is looking for them.  The Dream Model and Hasegawa PE sheets you can just Google to find where to buy them.  I think I got both on Ebay.  The Jasmine Model sheets currently aren't available.  If anyone has extras or knows where to get some, please drop me a PM.  Given the amount of detail they would add, there's no way I can even start my builds without them.

 

Jasmine's creators is actually a member here. His ID is newca. He's released and sold tons of set from the VF-11 Thunderbolt to the VF-25 Messiah. Looking at his post history you should be able to pictures and item numbers. Unfortunately the ebay store and almost everything macross-related (except the full fram vf-1) has been removed from their site and store. Originating from Chine, you might try Taobao.

52 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

8's not too bad. Now 17, that one sucks! You have to take out these bombers before they hit an island, but there are way too many other targets. I keep flying in circles mashing triangle trying to lock onto the last couple, but it seems like my plane wants to lock onto literally anything else. One or two get by and I keep failing the mission. And there's not even a checkpoint when the bombers spawn.

 I had to take a brake there. The lock-on was getting to me. It doesn't help that call signs, aircraft names and target designations are all small text, often too hard to read against the sky background sometimes... For this mission I was in the F22 Super Tomcat with the long range lock air-to-air special weapon. 

In for the F-Type armor!

22 hours ago, TMBounty_Hunter said:

Still waiting for a Hasegawa VF-27....

Seconded, Throw in a Durandal too!

You can finish your EVA 01 while we wait... ;P

On 6/27/2018 at 5:05 PM, slide said:

is that the Platz 1/72 resin one?

My Cockpit module has bubbles in it... hows yours?

The only fighter I love more than my valks!

3 hours ago, 505thAirborne said:

Kansas City is about 45 minutes from me and none of the shops there carry Tamiya either, so it's online only for me. Look forward to the completed Pegasus! 

 

Hobby Town USA on North Oak carries Tamiya's products...

40 minutes ago, locidm said:

Not sure if I'm reading too much into the poster, where Hayate and Mirage doesn't even get a face shot. Hope it doesn't mean Mirage gets a lesser role in the movie!!

 

Plot twist. To save on production time, Mirage and Hayate's character have been combined. Mirage, now taking the spotlight, feels down due to the pressure of living up to her family name. That is until she meets a hopeful young idol Freyja and they together walk the path of pilot and star.

Mirage, Freyja, Mikumo triangle certain. lmao ('Least Mirage would have a plot this round.)

Cut the nose back off so I could do some significant sanding. She is getting there. I need to make the top side a bit less flat and curve is a hair down but, it's starting to take shape. The nose is quite a bit longer than planned (like the SV-51) and the lower edge took on more a sweep-look like something drawn by Ikuto Yamashita (of Evangelion/Yukikaze.)  Once I get the rest of the kit snapped I'll refine and shorten it if needed. Sadly snapping kits is my least favorite aspect of building them. 

Just snagged another Bandai Pro-Shop VF-25F off YJA for cheap. This is my 4th clear one. Eventually these will be used as bases for my deculture decal builds. Now just to snag one more for cheap and I'll have one for each of the SMS memebers and 2 for Alto (Ranke and Sheryl.)

Nom Nom Nom Nom

Cheated on my current project with 1/72 devil over the past holiday. Tired of waiting for Hase to bring it, so I'm working with Bandai's offering.

Fixed Fighter. Gluing up the parting lines for the sub-assemblies and then removing the huge gaps is a pain. With some gluing and clamps, most appear to disappear after a few round of straight un-thinned surfacer dabbed on. Most of the work will consist of getting things to fit properly and removing the toy and transformation looking aspects (such as the joints all the fins connect with) for a more model-like appearance.

A bit had to see but, I cut the tip off and glued some scrap pla-plate in its place, lengthening the nose and eventually upturning it a bit more like the DX Renewal figure has. I think adding some length should help with the short and stubby look. 

Hope for an Armored VF-25F/S (Alto or Ozma) or a YF-29 Durandal/ISAMU next year. I'd say it's a pretty good chance given 2018 is the 10th Anniversary for Frontier.

On 11/23/2017 at 2:47 AM, Sanity is Optional said:

Here's a pic of Frosted Extreme vs Ultra for the doors. (next to a polished strong+flexible body I had made to check printability)

The extreme is on the left side and ultra on the right correct?

On 11/26/2017 at 1:00 AM, NZEOD said:

bought one each of all of those in the New Black HiDef material.... pretty good looking figures!

 

How's the scale accuracy?
I'm hoping to order Brera next week for my 1/72 Bandai VF-27γ,  which annoyingly just includes 2 generic male pilot that don't even look remotely close to Brera, Ranke or Grace...

Came across some 1/72, 1/60 and 1/48 macross prints. A bit high in price but might be a great alternative to the generic pilots, or if you need characters for a diorama. Curious if anyone had tried them. Would love to grab Alto, and Ranka soon for a sms hanger display.

https://www.shapeways.com/marketplace/miniatures/figurines/?tag=macross

Any word if Bandai Pro-Shop will be doing a clear VF-31 like they did with the VF-25?

Not much of an update but I *had* started painting. Sadly panel lines are dropping like flies and I need to find something to retard (slow down) the dry time of my lacquer paints in this 105F days. It doesn't take much to start shooting cobwebss out the airbrush. I'm looking for something generic I can add to my thinners to make is slower, worst case I'll just pick up some Mr. Leveling Thinner from Gunze though. Back to re-re-re scribing the panel lines.

Here it was with a blue and black base coat + the first couple rounds of preshading. I would like to have thrown a lot more paint on it via some drop coats to make the shading contrast less stark but, need to rescribe before I can continue.

Just cut and paint a thin strip of masking tape similar to how the car modelers do seatbelts.

http://www.ratomodeling.com/articles/belts/

I got nowhere last week as life disaster flew in. But carrying on...

Started describing and adding more panel lines. Mostly adding them to the tornado parts to make them match Hase's level of detail. I'm also trying to rescribe everything deeply so that they will make it through preshading, base, highlighting, topcoat, decals, topcoat, weathering topcoat... plan on lots of paint hitting this bird!

Using dymo tape and a the backside of a no11 blade. A while back I sold off an amazing set of chisels/scribes and kind of regret it... since then I've really found I can do more than plenty with a good old hobby knife. Though I really want to get some of the tri-saws for the round bits.

A tiny, tiny bit more cleanup, some additional panel lines, (for my sculpted bits) and the top-side is ready for paint!

On 7/7/2016 at 10:18 PM, slide said:

coming along nicely!

thanks for the canopy-tint tutorial... That'll come in very handy!

does your "dip" mixture keep for very long? or does it dry out in a hurry?

As long as it is in an sealed, air-tight plastic container in a cool enviroment it will last more than a year. I've never had it dry up and usually pitch it after a kit is done. You'll use so little future and acrylic ink it isn't a big hassel.

First clear cast turned out alright, it turned out a bit rubbery though, may be the mix being such low in quantity though.

Also hacked up the back of the legs and blended together my own armor design variant. This way it doesnt look so 'toonish' as the straight tornado parts did. In primer, now to painfull rescribe everything...

Waiting for subs. Just watched the new opening. Did not like it.

In general, singing quality was generally going up. But this one is sung outright worse than the previous version, in my opinion.

Animation is very clearly Hayate/Freyja. The triangle is pretty much gone as far as the opening is concern. Mirage is just a background character. This might be Kawamori sticking a middle finger to the execs who want a triangle?

Too me it seems more like a quick recap on the last episode before they switch it up.