wm cheng

The matte finish does provide a nice contrast to the Valkyrie - as well as the weathering - the Packs are well used The matte finish also lightens up the plastic and brings out the blue in it (which I like more than the green anyways IMHO).

Here are all the fast packs done!! Yah! not bad for a toy! Now I didn't go overboard and repaint them or fill the seams - I do want to play with them and I might take them apart for repairs or mods. I decalled them onto the bare plastic (although now I reccommend some surface preparation first either with a gloss coat (like future) or a glossy finish paint - since the flat finish does bring out the silvering - believe me, I've tried to eliminate it as much as possible (I think I'm pretty good at decalling too ) but its next to impossible when its sitting on this bare textured plastic surface). I would not recommend putting the little panel details that Anasazi has so thoughtfull provided (silvers in the middle) and trimming as close to the image as possible. I liberally put several coats of MicroSOL to get the decal to stick down - during the decal process when its still wet, and afterwards a few times to get them to lay flat. Then I lightly post-shaded with flat black all the nozzles and some panel lines and over some white stenciling to tone them down a notch. I then sprayed down a rather heavy coat of ModelMaster Acryl clear coat flat matte finish to protect the decals and the light black post-shading. I sprayed rather heavily especially around the nozzles - since the rub against the plastic when removing the panels to show the internal machine guts (becareful when removing). All the internal mechanisms were given a black artist oil wash to pickout all the wonderful engraved details that Yamato provided. Lastly, I did a white dry brush over just the corners, highlights and certain panel lines - very subtle. I feel this should adequately protect this toy - I play with it a few more months and give you an update as to its durability.

Here's a shot with the flat base clear coat protection - it seems pretty tough although I would still becareful while transforming - it is a $300+ toy (cdn) I took apart the rear bell nozzle and sprayed it with a flat black, I finished the exterior in a semi-gloss to preserve the metallic sheen, and I sprayed the interior with a flat clear coat - these clear-coats are necessary since the light weathering of the flat black is delicate and can scratch off unless its protected by the clear coats.

I do wish the packs were bluer like they were in the initial Yamato teaser photos - I guess someone could totally re-paint them, and eliminate that seam down the center of the forward micro-missile launchers. These water slide decals from Anasazi will be so much thinner than any stickers, the edges already almost dissappear without the clear coat seal!! Man!, I already spent a day at this !! Hopefully there will be more to show tomorrow.

Hey all, I just couldn't wait, I spent the better part of the day decalling the fast packs when I got my set from our resident decal master Anasazi! Now, I just applied the decals with a lot of MicroSOL solution to aid them to sit directly on the plastic better. Unfortunately, the Yamato plastic has a bit of a texture to it, so its important to get the decal to sit and conform tightly to reduce the silvering on them. In hindsight, I would suggest people to coat the packs in future or gloss finish first, then decal - it would help. I intend to do a burnt black light airbrushing around the forward micro-missile ports on the back packs, and around all the manuvering nozzles (they are just too bright) as well as the main rear bell nozzle. Then I intend to seal the decal in with a clear coat of flat matte finish. So just like my model in the background, the Valkyrie is in semi-gloss, and the packs will be finished in flat matte (this will tie the finish of the decal into the packs). I intend to do a little white dry brushing over the corners and ridges after the clear coat - it is a toy after all , I didn't want to go crazy and turn it into a model or something. Gotta get some sleep now...

Wow fantastic!!! Hey Grayson, your stuff is really comming along - I love the CF colours, hmm... maybe I should do one someday - I must admit, I hadn't thought of doing them since I was kind of fixed on doing at least one of all the box art covers Your's turned out great!! Man!, those wing tip lights are tiny! you're crazy The exhaust cones turned out great. I tend to agree the post shading is a bit on the heavy side, you could lighten them up by masking (with post it notes - unless the decals are properly sealed under a thick clear coat) at some of the panel lines and lightly spraying a lighter tan colour from front to graduated towards the rear of the plane. It would tend to wear the panels a bit, vary the tan shading, and lighten up the dark post shading. Look to the desert storm vehicles for inspiration. Thanks for sharing, keep up the great work!!

Hey thanks Bsu & all, I tried a google search and came up with only US and UK dealers. I would really appreciate any leads you might have for Canadian or Toronto dealers. How realistic are they? Are they plasticy? Thanks.

Hey thanks for the quick reply, Hmm... to bad they are prohibited now. So can anyone tell me more about these airsoft pistols, I don't really care about shooting them - I just want the most realistic ones they make, or are they all "plasticy"? What is Gasblowback? Does it work without firing a plastic BB? Are there better companies than others? Is there a brick & mortar store in the Toronto area I can go see them or are there any good distributors within the Canadian border that I should try?

Hi all, I'm not sure if this is the place to ask, but have you guys heard of replica guns? I remember when I was younger there were all these hobby shops selling Japanese made replica guns, with brass shells that contained caps, and even ejected from the force of the caps. They were really realistic. However, I think people were using them to hold up stores - I'm not sure, but I don't see them around anymore. I am curious, are they outlawed here in Canada, especially Toronto? I would love to get a realistic Walther P99 with silencer like the James Bond gun now as a display piece. All I could find are those airsoft BB guns, I don't care if it shoots anything, I just want it to be a realistic as possible - a working slide and realistic weight would be cool - I have a bit of a bond collection going. Or is this kind of collecting illegal now in Canada? Does anyone have any more info on this, or can point me in the right direction? Thanks,

Wow, what a tight deadline - modelling under pressure... Good luck, lets see some pictures.

Hey Sebastian, Very nice custom scheme - I love the light grey accents!! One of the best schemes I've seen - subtle yet totally in keeping with the genre! Great work!

Well, I'm not sure if I qualify to clear this up, but here are my experiences, I own a real non-bootleged Perfect Memory - I bought it in high-school in 1986 from a Japanese book store and it does indeed say OUT8 on the front cover. However, it does come with the poster, orange bookmark, mail in tear out and cover stripe exactly like the one as illustrated on the MW books section. I would tend to guess that the "second" printing with the "8" has all these things and you've gotten luck to get it all.

Hey, I just checked HLJ and it says they are not available! Whatsup?

Ok, Ok... enough sci-fi trashing! The original true aim of sci-fi was to subversively educate the public as to current plight of the society without infringing on the government restrictions of the times. Sci-fi ws borne out of the neccessity to point out problems in the direction technology and governement were heading. Such as pre-war Germany and Metropolis or Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari. Hence the all menacing and un-named "company" as head of state - little did they know that these companies would actually become governments in their own right (as fortold by William Gibson and Blade Runner). It makes sense that you don't name the people you are criticizing. Since the "aliens" are actually just a safe way of explaining our own problems (be they luddites, or communist etc...), they would be more accepted if they didn't look too different than us. So if we are looking for the small details in sci-fi to add up, then we are overlooking this genres true purpose and missing the big picture. (IMHO) whaaaaa!!... fell off my soapbox Now, what I hate is secret explosives hidden with flashy red LEDs that tell us where they are hidden!

Ok, I have to put my twice cents worth (this doesn't seem to have been mentioned before), I personally liked the movie, however, my wife was disgusted at the level of gore and violence that was shown. I was a bit surprised, in none of the reviews I have read (including this thread) was there much mention of the excessive gratuitous gore that was displayed on screen. I was caught abit off guard by it but accepted it, however, my wife was appalled that everyone in the theatre could sit so cavaliar through it all and take it all in without wincing or much reaction other than laughter. I tried to explain that it was part of the humour, that the blood gushing out of the severed limbs and torsos were exaggerated beyond belief, a homage to "old school" samaurai/kung-fu films - the absurdity of it told the viewer to not take it too seriously. But even I was at a loss to explain the split torsos when the samurai blades were torn out and the internals just exploded out all over everyone and onto the camera with the lens still dripping. A few carefully selected shots of blood spewing would of been enough to convey his message to the "old" films that were his inspirations - I find really no excuse for the continued and sustained on-slaught of these depictions. Have we been so desensitized to a point where such graphic violence and death is now just common place and widely accepted? Now remember that I said I liked the movie - and I do. The fight choreography was tremendous (having met Master Ping himself - and been pulled up on his wire-rig harness for fun) I have a enormous amount of respect for the planning and execution of the fight sequences especially with so many combatants all at once. The cinematography was fantastic, and served the story well, the black & white emotional detachment that Uma had during the main fight sequence juxtaposed with a "blink" to the darkened blue background silouette fight scene was flawless. The slow-mo a-la "reservior dogs" scene of Lucy Lui and gang entering the restaurant to the Kill Bill theme was just "cool". The introduction of the anime sequence for background onto O-Ren's character was inspiring and of course who can deny the appeal of the school-girl body guard reference - Tarantino defly demonstrates his understanding of the genre and the Japanese culture. However, the best parts of the movie are not its graphic depiction of gore and blood splattered relentless everywhere. In fact, I would say its in spite of that. There are necessary depictions of gore, such as Lucy Lui's beheading of her crime bosses for bringing up her origins - but its was nicely counter-balanced with her sarcastic speech dialog and served to further her character. It made a point, just like the brains splattered all over the rear windshield in "Pulp Fiction". However I don't really see the case for the extended bloodshed and projectile gushing of the internals that were so promenantly displayed throughout the extended fight sequences - and even I am at a loss to explain this. All I can say is a warning to those who have yet to see this film - its a good film on many differently levels, but be prepared for the exaggerated gore that will assault you - unless you are accustomed to such (if so, than I feel sorry for the state of our society) IMHO. On its most simplistic of terms it may be; "just a guy's movie".

Good advice Kurt, I use ModelMaster Acryl clear-coats, and I always thin them with the thinner, but not as much as I do with paints. Generally if you can get a skim milk consistency then you're fine.

Hey Noyhauser, yes you can get a smooth of a coat with hand painting as I do with airbrushing - although I personally can't. I stink at hand painting, I used to be able to do it quite well - but now I almost rely exclusively on airbrushing. However I have seen amazing handbrushed work. You can't really do the post or pre-shading though. Sorry Kam, I don't have the packaging to my Fine head and needle assembly anymore - I tried to look it up on the Badger web site, but they don't list parts or accessories. I just asked for the fine head and needle for the Badger 200. My head has a little engraved "F" on the head for "fine" my medium head says "IL".

Hey fanboy, you should check out some of my previous threads in the "How to build..." section - they should give you a starting point. Its too bad that the old boards are currently off line, since they do contains some of my previous step-by-steps. Yes, I always assemble / glue the kit together first (into sub assemblies that facilitate painting) because you always have to putty/fill seams or construction joints, and sand them smooth first so you don't see the seams between the parts. Then you paint over top of that. Of the Hasegawa Macross offerings, the only two kits I do not recommend are the Macross Zero F-14 and Mig 29. Since all the others are original new toolings, the molds are crisp and up to the traditional Hasegawa standards. However, the Macross Zero Mig 29 was a re-release of their original 80's tooling (with Macross decals) which actually was rushed out the door when the Mig 29 first appeared and contains many speculative details and inconsistencies (pls David correct me if I'm wrong). The F-14 was not even an Hasegawa tooling, I think it was a re-packaged Italieri kit (with Macross decals) - complete with raised panel lines YUCK! I woud suggest a real Hasegawa tooled F-14 (#00364 is a good one, but you can tell when the box side states 191 pcs!!) and get your own Macross decals - this Hasegawa is an excellent F-14A with tons of details (some say its a bit over-engineered) but stay away from the Macross Zero Mig 29 and F-14. Although you might want to find a F-14D to be truer to the Macross Zero plane.

And my latest Macross offering... 1/72 scale Hasegawa YF-21 - a very easy build - just not as well engineered as the rest with a few minor decal fit problems - but still an excellent kit overall and highly recommended.

Then there's the Macross Plus stuff - the 1/72 scale Hasegawa YF-19 - very simple kit - excellent decals though.

One of my all time favourites, the 1/72 scale Hasegawa VE-1 Elintseeker - really excellent kit - highly recommend it.

Then of course there's the 1/72 scale Hasegawa VF-1A Super. Fully decked out with the Hasegawa weapons set and some vernier nozzle modificaitons to the fast packs.

Oh, Fanboy, my panel lines are done with thinned down artist oil paints (thinned with low odour varsol / mineral spirits) dabbed into the engraved details and the capillary action draws the ink-like colour into the panels. I let dry a few hours and wripe the excess off with a clean rag or paper towel. Here's the 1/72 Hasegawa VF-1A

It comes with fast-packs too - with a little modification (pins), they can be made to be removeable.

Welcome to these parts AKD001 - always great to see a convert around here!! As far as styrene kits go, nothing comes close to the Hasegawa Macross offerings. I think they are all really good. In fact, when I use to just model aircraft - after trying all the various kits out there, I almost exclusively only build Hasegawa or Tamiya. They are just so much surperior to anything else out there (IMHO). It really was a dream come true to have my favourite aircraft company do Macross. I can whole heartedly recommend all their Macross kits as well as their photo-etched details for these kits and the weapons & pilot sets. Check out HLJ for their complete line. Since the old boards are down currently, I can post a few pictures of the ones I have built in the past. (sorry to those who have seen them before ) All are 1/72 scale, I'll start with this resin re-cast from Hobbyfan of the VF-2SS from MacrossII - unfortunately Hasegawa hasn't made this into a kit yet.