wm cheng

Ok, Ok... it wasn't the hit we all hope for, but... Yours truely designed all the sets in the movie!! It was one of the best work experiences I've had in the industry in a while, met some really great people. Yes, the acting wasn't that great, but the original script was fantastic. It changed so much from conception to final exhibition. I can tell you though, the art department designed wonders, worked our asses off, and built fantastic things what were shot, but never made it into the film. In fact, there was enough shot to make 2 movies, but I don't know the reasons why so much was edited out. One of the parts most proud for me was the Colosseum build, I thought it was a pretty seamless transitions from the location of the actual Colosseum in Rome (the only film company to ever be granted access to it, they even denied Roman Holiday) to our soundstage construction in Toronto. I know it wasn't the greatest piece of celluloid, but a Macross Fanatic designed most if not all the built sets, so we can be a little less "brutal" on these boards here ok? Maybe it might get a life in rentals... (there was a whole section filmed in Tokyo in a high end physics particle accelerator lab where I plastered the graphics with tons of stuff from Macross data stenciling - even the portable scar generator device has the main pull from a Valkyrie's circular vernier thruster, you might see it if you go frame by frame on the DVD!)

I did a search... turned up nothing, where did Graham post scans from Great Mechanics? Thnx

Yeah, my thoughts exactly, hating the blue/green canopy - I hope this is the same prototype that we've been seeing everywhere. It really makes it a toy, and I'd hate to have to try and vac-form a clear canopy... argh!! why can't toys be toys and models be for the big boys? ;-)

Isn't all the mech done CG in Frontier? - I know its stylized rendered to look hand drawn, but I think most of the mech is CG (just like Yukikaze). Why didn't they just use the CAD models from the show? Do you think even with the show's CAD models that they "fudged" the proportions?

Yeah, exactly... I'm a aircraft guy too. No surprise that Bandai would go for the Battroid mode eh - pretty Gundamish to me! I guess they stick to what they know.

Well... for one thing, I don't think there's that big ass hinge on the plane's back for the wings to fold up in the lineart. Also all the big gaps/seams between all the various moving parts should be filled, sanded and more panel line appropriate fine seams be re-scribed so its more like the drawings. There's probably plenty of bumps and pins along the way that needs to be cut off, or sanded to make it look sleeker and more like the design since transforming models always sacrifice "thin-ness" of parts for strength and durability.

I agree with ya completely - however, being the only kits available for the time being, I'll probably get them anyways and modify them to be in only the plane mode.

Thanks so much!!! I'm so starved for any good mechanical art from this series - I love the aircrafts!

Which book is this that the scans are from?

So do Bandai have ABS in their models? How does one glue styrene to ABS?

Wow! a few days/weeks away performing fatherly duties and I almost missed this great thread!! Great job Rockhound! - great build up, some good tips and ideas (I'll definitely look into drilling out the slots - they turned out great - what do you see through the slots? I'd like to thin out the plastic a bit at the slots so it looks more like sheet metal - but that's what I'm saying being a "back-seat" modeller, I'm sure its too much work when I finally get around to it - hehe... ;-) The finished model turned out beautifully - what a great job on the decals and how they turn into the slots slightly too. Might I add a suggestion, maybe you could do a little light "post-shading" and panel oil-wash over the decalled areas so it would tie them into the plane a little bit more. Its a bit distracting (a dead giveaway that its a applied decal vs. painted area) that the "panel line details" disappears once it encounters the decal, and re-appears again on the other side and there is so much decals on this chosen scheme. Thanks for sharing. (p.s. did you do build up threads for your other models?)

Hmm... that looks suspiciously like the Bandai EX 1/100 scale model - look a the placement of the seams... and chunky landing gears... they might of just started out with the Bandai model and modified it to cast it. Although the rear view of the back vents are better rendered than the Bandai model.

Unfortunately, THESE ARE the Bandai kits. Hasegawa doesn't have the license to produce Macross Frontier AFAIK. That would be a dream come true!!

So its an off-shoot of the SV-51?

Does anyone have a picture or drawing that shows what this VF-27 that everyone's talking about looks like? I must of missed it in the previous episodes (however I haven't seen the latest 7th episode yet).

+1!!!

Well, nothing I've seen or read about here has changed my initial assumptions with Bandai (unfortunately). Yes, the overall shapes and proportions are good (as can be expected when they have access to the original CAD digital files). However with any transformable model (or toys) the logistics of transformation always affects the realism of the model (they just can't make hinges and sliders small enough to be hidden successfully - just look at that massive ugly hinge on the top of the fighter mode at the root of both of the main wings!). I just wished that they just concentrated on the model and made that as realistic as possible and left the transformation to the toys (toys are meant to be played with while models are meant to be looked at). As with all Bandai models, even in their EX line, they never seem to add anything (or make up details) that wasn't in the original anime artwork - which is a shame. Their Yukikaze EX models are a prime example of good faithful reproduction, but with nothing added to embellish them - they even retain the stupid panel lines that end in the middle of a section with no apparent intersection (see the top/back of the airframe) - it just makes no construction/assembly sense! What elevates the Hasegawa models is their artistic license in adding appropriate details (not just revits, but proper brake lines, hydraulic reserviors in the gear wells, actuator structs, APU access panels, re-fuelling panels, avionics bay access, engine bay access... the list goes on!). Its just not practical to add all the details in the anime art when you see it swoosh by in a few frames and the limited time its on screen, its always in motion. However, a model is static, and meant to be admired, at that level of scrutiny the few anime lines just don't hold up well. Perhaps at this point I should also clarify my position of revits. Yes, old aircraft are pop-revited, and newer aircraft are usually countersunk allen head capscrews - but they are usually represented on small scale models as little tiny dents (so we call them revits, but they are not the old "Titanic" iron revits of the Industrial Era). Has anyone seen the new Hasegawa F-18F kits, they have tons of revits on a new aircraft and give the overall model a tremendous sense of scale. Yes, it probably not "realistic" to include all these panel lines and revits on scale aircraft that is so small and modern - but these are just "artistic cues" that gives a model a sense of scale. Look at all the Sci-Fi filming minatures that have tons of panel lines or shading that make it look like the thing is made up of thousands of tiny panels (like the Starship Enterprise Refit or E versions) - realistically wouldn't someone have painted the entire vessel after assembly?!, no its a visual cue to give something small a false sense of scale and grandeur. Its the inclusion of familar "real-world" cues that grounds science fiction designs into something believable. I for one is grateful for anything that gives something as small as a 1/72 scale plane detail and visual interest - otherwise you'd just have a model like those painted wooden airliners in a travel agency's office - nobody really ever admires those or give them more than a second's glance. In fact those giant gaping seams and hinges on the top (most visible portion of the model) due to its ability to transform do exactly the opposite! it makes the model seem smaller and more "toy" like. That hinge on the back seems like it would be at least 5ft long and 12" in diameter - wouldn't you think in the future they could come up with a better way of hinging something - if we were to take that line of thinking that in the future they'd come up with better ways to put together an aircraft than with revits?! Bandai doesn't have to add revits to make the VF-25 better, and yes there could be a newer futuristic way of fastening/assembling aircraft, but it needs to add whatever that would be AND it should make an attempt to add more than just what the anime shows because it is a static model (maybe smaller exhaust vents, panels or some other sci-fi patterns... and the like). I just haven't seen Bandai do much of that... even the PG models are exactly what's been drawn, I even have their giant 1/350 scale Yamato, while its a technological marvel of a kit, its still lacks any details on such a huge kit that gives it a sense of scale (other than the photo-etched railings - but that was in the original anime lineart). Personal, I hate their multicoloured sprues and plastic, what a waste... I have to prime them all (because of the bright saturated color base) and paint everything anyways. In fact, its just an added step to prime everything. Plus I always cut away all those "snap" pins, they never really register properly with the seam and are just a pain - another "extra" step one needs with Bandai models. I guess its great for the younger audience and those just learning to build, but personally its more work for me to build a Bandai kit. That all being said, of course I will buy the kits when they come out if only because they are the only ones that will be available for a while anyways. I had hoped they would have had a little more out than just the painted prototypes by now - however, lets just hope they take their time and not rush it out just to burn all us early adopters and release a fixed version 1.5 of the kits a few months later like they did with their Yukikaze kits!

Hmm... it does have the lines and shape of a Gundam kit ;-( No fine aircraft like access panels or rivets ala Hasegawa. Not too overly impressed so far, but I was never that much in love with the Battroid designs anyways, I love the aircraft look.

Wow! Really fantastic work PetarB! What a great scheme, you really pulled it off. I especially love the red thruster bell interiors just like the Vostok Russian rockets - it really adds a sense of realism and grounds the scheme. Excellent clean build and fantastic work in the weathering, just enough to look realistic, but not too much to look worn and used (thats the easy trap we can all fall into). Great placement of stenciling decals too! I LOVE IT! Come on everybody else! lets see yours...

I'd be really happy even if they came out with the VF-25s like their Fix Figuration type toys (non-transformable, with limited poseablility), with the amazingly detailed matte finish paint schemes and every tiny stencil printed all over the complex double curved surfaces! They are like pre-built models - the accuracy is amazing!

Hey thanks man! I'd love to get a copy of these word documents too! I too wished that some of the older links were recovered, I sometimes refer back to them to remind me of what I did back then too. PM me for my e-mail when you get them done.

uh? I don't get any album art on any of my MP3s at all. I use WMP11 to stream, and I embed the album art right in the MP3s themselves - my itunes has no problems seeing them, and WMP11 has no problems seeing them, but the PS3 just displays the default MP3 icon for all of them. Is there something I need to turn on for the PS3 to see/read album art?

Oh, I didn't know that about resin canopies. I guess I didn't lose out too much getting the recast - the original was so expensive at the time. I didn't know about your thread on the VF-0 - but I just checked it out, its coming along great! Thanks, I really need the "hit" to follow along other builds when I don't get the time to do my own. My VF-2SS was my very first posting here on MacrossWorld, in fact, it was because I found this amazing place that got me back into modelling and Macross after my University and career hiatus! I think the threads were long gone (it was built and posted way back in 2001) - the original URLs might be in my links page, but I think they refer to a MacrossWorld over 3 crashes ago and are gone forever (too bad, I often wanted to look back to see what I said about it and how "green" I was). It was also my first attempt at a resin kit too (after reading a lot of posts about what to do and all the pinning and stuff). Now looking back, its was painted really poorly - the post shading (new to me back then) was just too heavy and obvious as well as the panel lining (which I did with a marker, before I knew about oil washes) - I've often contemplated re-painting this beautiful design every so often, but my backlog of un-built stuff always beckons me beforehand. The only modifications I did were to make the fast packs removable - since I loved both designs so much (with the packs and without) and couldn't get another re-casted kit back then - I went through the trouble of devising a pretty primitive pin system to remove the packs. Overall I am pleased with the results in the end (except the horrible post-shading paint job). Here's a few pics from an era long ago... (I hope you don't mind me intruding on your thread?)

Looks fantastic!! So glad you posted and actually built it. I thought the Musasiya original would have had a clear canopy?! I got the hobbyfan recast and was so disappointed with the milked canopy too (I then wished I had bought an original instead of a recast) but in the end I got a friend to vac-form a new canopy for me from the old one as a pattern. It all worked out in the end - I loved the design, I would just go crazy if Hasegawa got their hands on this design. My wishlist for hasegawa would be VF-2SS, VF-11, VF-4. Thanks for sharing (yeah, I never ended up building the 3 drones either)

I not so sure if its wise to mix something ammonia based such as Windex with an acrylic paint like Tamiya - at least in the long term effects might be questionable. Might I suggest trying to airbrush at different PSI and mixture viscosities to get the paint to dry at a rate you want. I've found that by varying either the pressure or mixture of the paint, you can pretty much get it to do whatever you want. Then again, I'm a play it safe kind of guy... I still pay the extortive prices they charge for the "real" Tamiya thinner - my thinking is... how much is your time and effort worth? I'd hate to find out a few years down the line that I "cheaped out" on a procedure or a few cents here and there and have some finish start crackling or crazing on me. I've had a few models done that to me over the years - and boy am I sorry now.