whytwolf

Cool kit! What's the scale on it?

Sean

WOW. Very cool. You've clinched it for me, I'm gonna have to get one of those resin kits from Hobbyfan now

Great work macroadster!

Sean

I can't remember what picture I saw that in. Has anyone out there got a picture with that in it? I would like to make my VF-1's as accurate as possible, if I can find tubing that small.

The Hasegawa kits actually mold the three barels inside the muzzle of the GU-11. If you want to accurize them, simply drill out the barels with a pin vice (as I did). Much easier than trying to find small diameter styrene tubing.

HTH

Sean

Looks great, and very well proportioned as a Battroid. The few fighter kit to battroid conversions I've seen always look too lanky to me ('thin as a drink of water' my grandpa would say).

I look forward to seeing it completed

Sean

ps - in addition to the pics, could you perhaps explain in a little detail about how you made the mod?

Oh how gauch, replying to my own reply!

Due to the boards being down yesterday, the last post was intended to update to boxing day--now here's what I accomplished tonight while watching a Randy Bachman special (and if you don't know this legend of the Guess Who and BTO, shame on you! )

http://www.whytewolf.ca/media/qrauleg1.jpg

http://www.whytewolf.ca/media/qrauleg2.jpg

http://www.whytewolf.ca/media/qrauleg3.jpg

The little white guy with green putty is the new Valk pilot I'm working on for the Block 5 cockpit mod I mentioned a while back--just to give a sense of scale to the suit. And yes, the leg doesn't look like much now (and it's upside down, with the Club-M leg on the right) but you could think of it as a view of the suit's internal structure

Sean

Mechleader: well, that is part of the plan. Once I'm further along on the 'masters' I'll be talking orders--but thanks for the vote of confidence.

Well, thank God for XMas holidays--I got some more work done on the QRau. Mostly I decided that the pilot's head looked NOTHING (even if very skeletal) like Milia's, so I spiked it into the trash, and also discovered that the pilot's arm positions are different between the two suit versions--the DYRL version has the pilot's arms pointed forward to grasp the waldos behind the chest cannons, whereas the TV version has the pilot's hands in the shoulder units.

For that reason I repositioned the arms and have started on yet ANOTHER head (will show it when I feel more confident it looks like an anime chick )

The pictures linked below show the refined figure, as well as the beginnings of the suit's main chest/groin section where the pilot compartment resides.

http://www.whytewolf.ca/media/qraumain1.JPG

http://www.whytewolf.ca/media/qraumain2.JPG

As I continue to work on this project I am continually surprised at both the poor engineering of the Club-M kit (most of the ball/socket joints for the limbs don't fit at all) not to mention that the kit and it's pilot are not to scale with the measurements given at Egan's site (well, at least as far as I can tell). That said, I'd like to ask other people who have built or own this kit what they think.. Is it that I simply have a crummy recast (Sorry AlphaHX, but the bubbles and warts in this kit are a shame--hope you don't mind me cleaning it up for you ) or was the original kitpoorly engineered as well?

Anyway, I'll keep updating this thread as I progress--although, knowing my life, I could be doing lots of work on it now, only to drop off the face of the earth for several months...fate of a single father I guess

Sean

As some of you may remember, I'd mentioned I was interested in doing a conversion of the Club-M kit from the DYRL version of the Q-Rau to the TV version. My first hurdle though was getting the Club-M kit.

Well, much thanks to AlphaHX for loaning me a recast he got--it's allowed me to rethink the scale of this project

First off, the recast is a really crummy one, needing a lot of work to clean up to cast masters from to modify. Yech

Secondly, as I determined looking at the kit, I was not too impressed with the detail of the original. Much of the interior detail was a rats warren of 'wires', leaving lots of scratchbuilding to capture the interior detail of the TV version.

So, with all that in mind, and my handy cache of Robotech (::gasp:: horrors!) DVDs for animation reference, I decided to set out sculpting a new kit. Yes, long, arduous process that it will be, I think it'll be better, and easier in the end to do so than clean up and then modify this kit.

Well, then, that brings me to my current progress. Though minimal, I do have some work to show off--namely the start of the Milia figure that will go inside the armor's cockpit. The photos below show my work after about three hours. On the left is my new sculpt, and on the right a semi-clean recast of the Club-M kit.

(I'm linking these, beacuse they're rather large)

http://www.whytewolf.ca/media/MiliaSculpt1.jpg

http://www.whytewolf.ca/media/MiliaSculpt2.jpg

http://www.whytewolf.ca/media/MiliaSculpt3.jpg

Bearing in mind that this is VERY preliminary (heck, her entire head needs to be fleshed out--basickly she's sholders and a skull) I'm hoping to hear from y'all about what you think, both what my plan is, and what the current results look like. This feedback will help me ensure I have the best Q-Rau sculpt in 1/72 that I can get.

After all, two (or two hundred) heads are better than one right?

Sean

Oh wow, what a great custom Q-Rau. As you mentioned you've seen others I assume it's a kit? Do you know who manufactured it? Whats the media--resin? What scale?

Inquiring minds (well, maybe just mine) want to know

Sean

You have photo etch sets for the VF0's? Can we get a picture of them? Where'd you get them? How much, wanna sell a set?

Grayson,

I think he meant the VF-1 PE set--as he said, he'd wanted to do a 1S first...

And from my personal experience the PE details are not really worth it unless you have FAST packs on the valk--although I do like the extra cockpit details, too bad you can't get them on their own...

Sean

Hrmm, that's a neat idea....although the FoodSaver appliances are just outside of my price range, thus my need to go with a cheaper solution

Sean

I got a 12" diameter, 3/8" thick wall PVC tube - it was scrap from a job at work - and glued it to a 1/2" thick plate for the bottom, and made a nice top out of a 1/2" sheet of clear acrylic.  Work great down to whatever vacuum I want to throw at it - and only apply vacuum to your resin to degas it until it's done boiling over.  Don't let it cure under vacuum - I can only assume you'll get large airbubbles, and nasty results.  However, I do cure my casts in a pressure chamber - I bought a pressure paint pot from sears for about $100, and after I degas my mold full of resin, I throw the whole thing in the pressure pot at about 50 psi for about 4 hours (depends on the resin being used - until it's cured).  Works like a charm, and I hardly ever get air bubbles (as an example, I've probably cast 30 sets of head lasers, and only one of them had a tiny air bubble - all the rest were perfect! ).

Sounds cool. Did you have to modify the pressure pot any? Did it come with a compressor, and if not, what do you use for it?

Thanks again guys, great ideas!

Jesse: I don't think I've gotten a hickey in any way since highschool, but now that I'm divoced, you've giving me some ideas

Sean

Wow, this is just an outstanding model. Very good work, especially the camo--nice variation (and it would go well head to head with that Flanker-cammoed SV-51)

Kudos to you!

Sean

reanimation, that would be interesting

The serie is already done and it is ok like that, lets not turn Mr Kawamori into Lucas.

But isn't reanimating it simply playing the Lucas game anyway? To me that would be like all that extra CG crap added to ANH's Mos Eisly scenes etc.

In any case, I crave more Macross. Zero just didn't do it for me. I'd LOVE to see a new series, but one definatly more in tune with the hard-edged realism of war than quite as mysticly flightly as M7.

Sean

Here's one from South Park that I think fits the bill:  "giving birth to a brown baby boy.

Damn...Now you sick fecalpheliacs have me doing it!.....

Dude! That's some f#*!ed up S#!t right here!

Ah toilet humor...where would I be without you?

Sean

I agree with Sithlord, if there was a 'remake' of the TV series, I'd like to see it deal with different characters and different situations during the same timeframe--perhaps set it on earth and let us see what happened while the Macross was away.

I'd also like to see the 'definitive' telling of Space War One.

Sean

The topic says it all, I need some of the UN NAVY decals off Option Set #2, and I can't seem to find the damned thing anywhere. Anyone able to help a poor modeler out?

Sean

If/when a Beta/Tread appears I'll pick up one of the Alpha's, but with all the negative reviews, I'll stick to my old Imai models thank you very much.

OTOH, if a 1/12 Ride Armor were to come out I'd sell my good kidney to buy one!

Sean

on edit: I can't freaking type aparently

Personally I think it's a little too slick--says 'corporate graphic artist' to me. Previous color birds for the JR always had more of a made in the wardroom feel to me in terms of their design--this seems more a marketing gimmick than anything IMHO.

Sean

Anyone use/abuse Blender? I'm on a Mac and it's the only free/open source alternative that I know of. Y'see, I'm just a teensy bit jealous of all this great work and want to try my hand at it too....

Sean

Thanks for the info guys. For the second question--does the vacuum or pressure need to be on for the entire cure time, or just until the rubber de-gasses?

Sean

All,

I know I've seen one posted on these forums before, but the search isn't finding it for me. I'm looking at trying to put together a homemade one with some PVC pipe fittings and my Dustbuster, and was hoping I could get some advice.

Was also wondering about how long the vacuum needs to be on--only untill the mold/resin is de-gassed right, not for the entire cure time?

Thanks for the help.

Sean

VERY nice. BTW which Hasegawa decal sheet did you use, #1, 2 or 3? I'm doing an F-35 in a Macross Zero scheme, and need "UN NAVY" decals.

Sean

LOL... you guys don't want to wait to see the final product?  Just PM Rohby or myself (I'm just going to forward the PM anyway) and make sure you guys get what you want... I believe you can get the "helmet" head or the "hair" head seperately or a set.

Is there going to be a 'bed head' version?

Sean -> sorry, that one clawed its way out of me. You have permission to groan

ROTFL!

I think any thread can be made cooler with a Simpson's reference!

On topic: I'm not a huge fan of these designs--too Gundamish for my taste, even if they end up re-painted. I think a valk should be a sleek strike craft--not all pointy and lumpy with weapons ports jutting from every angle. It's a variable fighter aircraft for craps sake, not a destroid!

Sean

Hey congrats! Better start putting away money for clothes for this one, my daughter was 8lbs 4oz 21", and at 18 months is wearing clothes for 2+ year old kids--the bigger they are the faster they grow it seems!

All the best to the family!

Sean