honneamise

You´re right, electric indigo, Chris Foss was the hero of my youth. Airbrush work was not as common then (early ´80s) and his spaceships and cloud-scapes blew me away. Guess you mentioned this because of the clouds in my pic? Strange to find someone mentioning Foss these days, I have hardly ever had a look into my copy of "Foss´Spaceships" in the last 15 years. Over the last few years it was Artists like Tenjin (that Valkyries Book rocks!) and Takani who gave me inspiration, I can only hope in a few decades I´ll paint half as good as these guys. By the way, your work is amazing, electric indigo - those VF-4 images you´ve posted are top-notch! You should consider making posters ore even some kind of artbook depending on what else you have done so far.....GREAT

Another angle

The underside:

No need to be afraid, Angus! I´ve finished it now and the only tricky thing was the two-tone paint scheme. And of course the 4 antennae on the engine compartments will break off if no stand is used. Here are some pics:

Thanks guys! The poster idea is great, I´m checking out some offers here... and I need higher resolution images for the bigger size, the picture is 50X40cm and a poster shouldn´t be much smaller. My camera has only 3.2 Mpixels, too few - but I know a pro who could help me....

That´s perfect!!! That is not a nicely built plane model against a cloud backdrop - this is better than the real thing! You really know how create a convincing scene with great athmosphere! Easily the best "art" shot of a model kit I have seen so far. But I want to see more of this beauty, please post some detail pics of the VF-4 as well!! I love the design and what you made of it.

Actually, this small one here shows how I think the model should look from above.

Finished!

Sorry Grayson72 I had no time to start the build, too many other things on my mind.... but I´m almost done with the drawings which have to come first of course, looks like I´m finally satisfied with all the views... then I have the urgent need to finish my Oberth kit - just adding the last antennae and a flat finish and that´s it - I felt uneasy with beginning a new project without being able to see what really came out of the last. Finally the painting.... needed to finish that too - I need another 2hours and it will be FINISHED! Seems it´s coming out well now, I´ll post a pic of it soon.... but I think I will use it as boxart but sell the original (if anybody wants it) to raise some funds for buying resin and stuff - I´m really kinda broke these days (the architects are broke too so I don´t get much commission work at the moment .) The upside of it is of course that I will have quite some time on my hands to get the Ghost started..

electric indigo that´s a most elegant looking plane and very well built from what I can see. I´m looking forward to see more pictures of this beauty when finished. Jardann - no, it´s not really the best stand possible for the kit but now that I have the engines attached it is kinda well balanced. The stand itself -a standard one from an old ARII VF-1- is quite light but the heavy weight of the model is actually working in favour of it - it is not too easy to knock it over now if you don´t try too hard. Of course it is mounted on a steel rod to provide stability - I should use a bigger diameter but I didn´t want to drill a bigger hole into the hull. I´ll mount the whole thing onto a bigger wooden, plain black base plate someday to secure it once and for all...

I felt pity for my Oberth as I had to see it on my shelf in its half-finished state every day. I thought if I want it finished I´d have to do it now - I´m almost there! Added some shading and some decals - they come from an old ARII kit (as does the stand), the rest are unused decals from other kits. Still some small parts to attach and the whole ship will get a flat finish.

Thanks Nanashi, another view of the same subject and quite different from what I´ve come up with.... gave me quite a headache yesterday! I´ve redesigned my nose (well actually not mine even though it could be a tad smaller ) I mean I´ve changed the Ghost´s nose more to what is seen in this lineart. What I´ve found out is that this Fan-Art is closely based on the preliminary concept sketch as featured in the Miyatake book. Still, I´m sticking to my slightly beefier, wedge-like appearance as this does match the "official" lineart more closely. And remember this is supposed to be a lifting body design, it should more ride on the air than cutting through it. I´m almost through with my own 3-views now, it was quite difficult to determine the width of the craft. In the lineart it looks kinda slim but it has to accomodate the lading gear and two big airbrakes side by side on the underside PLUS it gets wider on the upper side. The upper/down-view looks OK now but I have yet to draw a matching front/rear-view - hope this will look OK. It´s easy to draw a Ghost freehand but if it has to be "nailed down" in a plan it is getting difficult.... I mean each time Miyatake drew a new lineart he seems to have changed all the hull curvatures, angle of the fins etc. and for a physical model it has to be something in the middle of it.... it´s very challenging even before I get to build anything!

Thanks Nanashi, I´m glad you like it. I hope to ultimately finish mine in a few days and post some pics here....

I´ve just found the perfect aft thruster , comes from a 1/144 Gundam Gerbera Tretra and has the perfect shape. Good to see this solved before I even begin - and that part settles the size of the craft on about 16cm overall - not THAT big but still a handful and it matches the lineart! More to come....

Schrebergarten, you got it Bromgrev!! The weather has changed to wind and rain and I´ve redesigned the side view. More elegant and slim, the first one was way too bulky even it looked right when compared with what you see on screen. I can´t get used to the idea of the "real" Ghost being the size of a big model aircraft, in my book it is STILL about 80% of a VF-1.

The trouble with my garden is that it is a few kilometers away from our flat (we only have a small balcony) so I better take all things I need with me... well this time I got the kite right, and most of the bigger details are done. As for the angle of the fins, I found out there are some sketches with "rabbit ears" and others with much more angled fins but what you see on TV HAS rabbit ears and I start to like them.... Next will be finer stuff such as panel lines etc.. and I guess I should make the scene "busier" by adding some more Ghosts or maybe Hikaru struggling in his VF-1D in the background for some colour variety...

Heck with that, with that painting it should look like a modern Hase box. Unbelievable painting, true artist man. The fins look a bit too verticle though, makes them look like rabbit ears. 336069[/snapback] Thanks You mean the big aft fins? I tried to make them look like on the MiG 25 plane, but maybe they´re indeed too upright, must check the lineart again... Well nanashino you caught me. I was sitting in the garden while painting and thought I could do the kite, no reference at hand at the time. Somehow automatically I started with a white background, possibly because it looks better as a contrast to the dark colour of the plane. Of course this is wrong unless the Ghost is a Destroid - I´m gonna change that! But I guess the overall colours - usually light for airborne craft and dark for ground forces- made Kawamori/Miyatake think it was useful to have the colours reversed for better contrast...

Guess I always tackle models with unknown measures but I actually like it -if there is a lack of info on the subject there is also a lot of creative license I can take - that way it is more fun!! While I have to think about the final dimensions again, I thought I make myself more familiar with the lines of the craft by making a painting of it. It´s not finished yet but at least you can see it´s a Ghost (I hope so.. )

Best thing I´ve found so far is Citadel Skull white in Spraycans, intended for spraying metal and plastic miniatures, you can get it in every Games Workshop store. Comes in black as well. This is expensive but a can lasts quite long. You can apply several coates and all the detail is still there, I tried it on a VF-1 and despite a generous coating no rivet or hatch was lost. Works on resin as well but only if you apply it in very thin layers, guess Gunze works better here, have to try it out.

Wow thanks Nanashino for providing more info on this subject, seems from the airshow picture it can be taken for granted that the QF-3000 was intended to be much smaller than a VF-1! I had just redrawn the plan and made the plane look more elegant with a lower profile, now I will have to re-scale it one more time. Good I hadn´t started with the actual model as it might have turned out being in 1/48 or even bigger! Guess I still need to get used to the smaller size...but it makes sense. As for the landing gear, I had ignored the arresting hook - it´s down so it looks like it IS ready to land with gear in the position shown. But I can only make out ONE sketch with gear down in the link Nanashino provided, Chad you mention two different stages right/left, which picture are you referring to?

I think you're on the right track there. Whenever I see that piece of lineart, it always looks to me like its a "landing in progress" pic, with the gear in the process of dropping rather than in their final position. 334512[/snapback] If you look at the first scene with the Ghost (ep.1) , in the very first frame the landing gear looks like in the lineart, one frame further it is almost fully retracted and one further only one gear door is still open. Since the plane is already in the air when the scene begins and it is obviously caught in the middle of the retracting process, I´d say the gear looks different when the plane is on the ground.

The Oberth took slightly more than 3 months to complete, this one might take a little longer but it depends on how much other work I have to do.

Don´t worry I know this sketch is just good for measuring the height of the Ghost not the actual length - those 8m are way too small!

Haha, I´ve got the same hobby - starting model kits! And then I have the nerves to even create new ones.... have I told you that I really like my half finished Oberth? It looks great between the half finished Gundams and my half finished french cruiser. Not to mention all the other kits lying half finished in their boxes.... really sometimes I wish I had only like 10 kits and no interest in buying new ones - maybe I´d actually finish some then!! Instead the pile in the basement keeps getting bigger!

Wow seems the Ghost is a bit more poular than the Oberth - maybe it is because it has much more screen time - five seconds instead of the Oberth´s two . You guys have mentioned all the issues I need to solve before I begin on this one.. the size: here is the sketch with the man and it indicates a rather small plane I made it slightly bigger in my own sketch but as Cobywan says I´m not sure why a robot plane shouln´t be kind of miniaturized - if you don´t need a cockpit you can design the plane around the engine and the weapons - the smaller the size the harder to hit in combat. Maybe I should shrink the thing a bit. On the other hand, several sites (Nanashis for example) state the TV Ghost is "much" bigger than the "booster" Ghost they use in M 0. Considering the size of the VF-0, the older Ghost is already quite big, but I don´t buy the idea of the TV Version being bigger than a VF-1. The landing gear? Bertt I agree, the gear in the sketch is too angled to accept a heavy weight but it seems to be designed that way. This way it looks cool but seems to indicate a very light plane. With this gear in mind, I don´t think it could be anywhere as heavy or big as a VF-1. And even if it is smaller it still needs some support struts.... maybe it is not fully extended in the sketch? Electric Indigo you must consider that this is based on a lifting body design and these are not exactly sleek! Still, I´m not fully convinced of the way it looks in my sketch. I guess I will stay with the main body´s proportions but make the sensor head more flat to enhance the wedge shape and match the lineart more closely. The side view makes the Ghost appear fat but as the sides are angled inwards this effect will be somewhat reduced on the model I hope. As for the cost I have no definite idea but most likely more than the Oberth but under EURO 100 thats sure.