David Hingtgen

People are joking, but that "much deeper" shade of blue IS an absolute deal-killer, at least for me.  

It's like history repeating itself for the third time.   From Yamato to Arcadia to Bandai.  Show something that looks pale/slate/desaturated blue as a sample, then make it way more blue at the last minute, so that it looks nothing like the show.  

I just want SOMEBODY to make a VF-0D in a dull shade of blue.  My "acceptable range" is pretty wide at this point, from original Yamato sample to HMR sample----but every actual release has been way too rich.  

I am a **huge** Xenogears fan, but pretty much gave the first batch of kits one look and thought "nope".  Basically zero parts/color separation, they'd be a nightmare to paint.  And now, ESPECIALLY Xenogears itself.   

I might buy Vierge if ever offered alone, as it's one of my faves and has simpler colors than most.   But Brigandier and Heimdal? Hard no.  And Renmazuo even harder no.  

XG runs the gambit of having some of my all-time most fave, and least-fave, mecha designs.   So big multi-packs are a massive dis-incentive to purchase. 

Is there an official scan/art anywhere, of the "winged MM" symbol that's on Mirage's -31AX and Max's -29?  Best images I can find of it are photos of the DX toys, but the hinge-lines etc make a mess of some areas.   

When do we get balloon-shooting DLC?

I have a small plastic colander I originally bought for like single servings of pasta, but it's pretty much dedicated to washing Lego now.  The holes are just small enough that no piece will get out (though I do worry about lightsaber blades aligning perfectly and managing to slip through) and being plastic means it won't scratch like my big metal one might.  

Colanders are THE way to wash Lego.  

It just took way too long to get to this point.  This should have been episode 6.   Even ep 10 still seemed to be filler, instead of building up to this.

2-3 eps cut out would have lost NOTHING of significance, and cutting 4-6 eps I think would have made it progress a lot better.

I was honestly mentally comparing it to DBZ until just now---"They need to keep leveling up their duels/classes/business license, until they can beat the boss..."----just how long can they drag this slow-build-up out?

Stuck barrels have been an issue since the early days of the mold---my Ozma had a rather stuck one, and I totally "pumped it in and out a zillion times to loosen it up" and it still sticks a lot--it just doesn't get COMPLETELY stuck like it used to.  I never really did figure out a definitive "fix". Can't recall if I tried to sand some of the paint off the barrels where they ride on the rails. (I don't think so, I think it was basically impossible to get access to)  And getting it unstuck the first time or two was indeed a nightmare.  May legitimately want to use a hairdryer or heat gun (carefully!) to warm up the plastic a bit before trying to unstick it.   

My other piece of advice---if it gets stuck "mid-way" when going either direction---go back to where it was before it got stuck and try again.  Do not try to "keep pulling" or "keep collapsing" it to try to force it the rest of the way---that will make it VERY stuck!   You want one continuous extension manuever, or one continuous collapse manuever.   Fully out or fully in, no in-between, and no stops on the way.   It it does stop---move it back to whichever position it was in before, and try again.   Don't "keep trying to go in the direction that caused it to get stuck".   

Combine that with the above---if it's REALLY stuck--heat it up, and GO BACK TO HOW IT WAS BEFORE--don't heat it up and try to "get it past the stuck point".   Heat it up in order to be able to 'reset the position'.   

While I am a HUGE Blacktron 1 fan, and this set is pretty much designed just for me (the Invade is my fave Blacktron set)----$190 is just too steep, when it really doesn't include any Blacktron parts!  All stickers.    I can probably just Bricklink it, and do a few part-swaps with real vintage printed Blacktron pieces for some markings.   

I still plan to think about though---I do kinda like the Tallneck set, and that plus the TIE Bomber would get me close...

On 12/4/2022 at 4:25 PM, Mommar said:

They consulted Tenjin, he's the one who made the original textures for Zero.  That color is the factory fresh paint scheme prior to a years worth of sea salt exposure.  It's not "wrong" but it is screen inaccurate.

Tenjin was involved in the production of Zero?  Never heard that before   

Wouldn't Hasegawa have consulted him too?  They give very different paint colors.  

If anyone wants to paint the bare white hinges on their own VF-4, it's straight Vallejo 72.060 "Tinny Tin".  (plus a lot of thinner and flow aid----it's very thick right out of the bottle).  

A green renewal VF-27 would be much appreciated if they took it back to the original dull olive green color of the first release.  The 1.5 version was WAY too deep/bright a green, and didn't match the show at all.  (but the stripes were at least grey, while the 1.0 has lavender stripes carried over from Brera's)

Not a perfect match but quite close when dried.  I ended up painting the coppery-plastic part of the hinge too.  

It's a good enough match I may start painting other "coppery plastic" bits, too. 

Yup, my hopes for a cheap correct-colors 0D were quickly dashed.  How hard is it to just LEAVE IT HOW THE EARLY SAMPLES ARE and not make it a much deeper more intense (read: WRONG) blue?   

Vallejo "tin" is actually very close to "VF-4 dark copper/bronze" so I'm applying that to the hinges.  I "feel good" about the hinge-paint surviving transformation, but we'll see.  

(I was originally going to use "hammered copper" and try to darken it, but the tin color looked so close in the hobby shop that I bought it) 

I may try basic bronze acrylic just to see how it looks, for a minimal-effort test.  

The whole fin+hinge comes out easily (even accidently), but the hinge itself (coppery-plastic) is pinned to the fin (molded in off-white), and my efforts to remove the pin to remove the coppery-hinge so as to have access to the part of the hinge molded to the fin (the whitish part) were unsuccessful.  And I didn't want to try to hand-paint the area, I wanted "lacquer spray or nothing" in an area subject to wear, and that pretty much meant spraying black or nothing.   So I went with "nothing".      

Am I the only one who wants a DARK YF-21?  Why are 90% of toys so much lighter than the anime? It was practically navy blue in many scenes, and never the bright blue we see in most recent toys. I think the first Yamato/Toycom was the only one that ever got the main color right.  

I would have liked to paint the fin's hinge, but it was impossible to remove the pin, and it'd be almost impossible to match the dark copper color anyways, so I left it as-is.   

Bandai will up their game and announce it's already sold out BEFORE they announce the price and date...

::edit::  Also merged threads before either got too big, and merged title.  

Hmmmn----too much black? Matching the tailfins closer might have looked better but would be difficult to paint.  

They also have a YF-30 mold, and NEVER used it again, despite multiple amazing schemes out there from the games.  :p

(and since they made -29's from the games, clearly they're ok with using schemes only seen in games)

M3 has a mix of amazing schemes (VF-11) and terrible ones (VF-4).  

A small preview/update.  The panel lines are basically done, a few spots need redoing/tweaking.  

Lines are not quite as "crisp" as I'd like, but I'd rather have too soft than too stark.  

Mine got loose hips while sitting in fighter mode, completely bare.   

It may not be very canon for a VF-4, but a flightsuit Misa could be quite interesting.