honneamise

Sorry man, It said "There is no schedule for re-issue" 367614[/snapback] Thanks RTHK, just what I suspected... funny, a catalog that lists UNavailable items maybe it is supposed to be a reminder to buy the other kits in time..

Yes you should use alcohol instead of water or -even better- the Tamiya thinner. Did you prime your model? You really should to make the paint stick better, but only within the same paint system, so the primer has to be acrylic, too. You stated that you use Citadel - I ALWAYS work with Citadel Skull white or Chaos black as primer spray, then use Tamiya and/or Gunze on top of it, works fine. The only reason I could think of why the smoke dissolved the other paint was that it was thinned with water. Water usually doesn´t stick to plastic, and while the acrylics do kinda compensate this effect to a certain extent, the more water you use, the more fragile the layer of paint. Had you used white spirit or Tamiya thinner (and maybe a clear coat to further seal it as Grayson72 stated), the smoke would have done no harm to it. This is also the reason for the paint chipping. Whenever you change to new colours, there are always new techniques to be learned and a certain "getting used to it" before everything goes well. I experienced similar catastrophies when I changed to acrylics over 10 years ago so I know how feel. But give it another take, the Tamiya paints ARE fine! They are kinda tricky to brush, though, I alwas got the feeling that they were designed for airbrushing, but that doesn´t mean they cannot be brushed. As for your Zaku, it should be easy to clean it up again, just bath it in white spirit and the paint will come off at once. The decals might be saved if you put the whole model in water for some hours, maybe they come off that way.... I hope you won´t be too dicouraged from your experience, all I can say is that IMO the Tamiya paints are worth their money.

I´d like to know why they mention all of the previous, now mostly discontinued kits on page 4. Unfortunately I cannot read japanese. Does it say "look what you have missed" or "available again" or something like "these are special items that we might produce again in the future"? Not that I missed many of them (but some), just curious....

Yeah, show me. It´s the model kit that should gather dust on a shelf, not the box! Bromgrev the Ghost will have more parts than the Oberth I think (around 40) . The little details like panel lines etc. will be no problem to cast but those side intakes will be a hell I guess - never thought of this until I saw the finished part. I think it can be done but the mold will wear out sooner than the others so I will have to replace it more often.

Been working on the side intakes/missile bays. A lot of shaping and sanding, especially because both sides have to look symmetrical. The right side is still a little behind so I only took photos of the left. With covers closed open covers: actually these are two different insert pieces to choose from. The open option will have four missile heads added.

I am looking at you...

NEVERRRR!!! 364700[/snapback] As I said, from the outside - of course we know better!!

The set of engines. I finally found matching parts for the 4 little ones, they are from a 1/48 Dougram Hovercraft and then detailed with some Wave option parts. I need to cut them back a bit but otherwise they look spot on.

Front section. Those ribs inside the "eye" opening are a pain. This is the third attempt to get it right. Glued on plastic strips were too heavy and the glue is always visible at the small size, strips cut from old Star Wars stickers did not stick to the surface.... now I try strips cut from the sticker sheet of an old Tamiya 4WD car, they seem to work. The eye is from the engine intake of a YF-19 so this is a genuine Macross part!

Ha! You´re completely right Ranger565! I had completely forgotten this scene but the moment I read your post I remembered I had seen this too. Thanks a lot. The RCS thruster theory might work from the look of it, but the non-flyable things such as destroids or maintenance cars have them too. There´s even a forklifter with one of these thingies, take a look at the Perfect Memory book!

I couldn´t resist adding some of these little round handling thingies to the model - it´s not lineart-conform but, if even cars and personal rucksacks etc. have them I cannot leave them out here! By the way does anyone here know what these things are meant to be? Lifting points for cranes? Or do they lock/unlock the structural parts of the machine for disassembly/parts change? Maybe both? Just wondering ´cause they are used so frequently in the Macross universe they must be more than decorative design features....

It´s great to be just creative but your idea needs get you enough money. Constantly having to worry about money forces you into compromises and in the end may kill creativity and all the fun. A regular paycheck and some spare time on your hands isn´t the worst thing even if the job is not the greatest - there´s always two sides... Well the ghost is looking more ghostly as work goes on. No overwhelming progress so far as I´m still not 100% sure of some underside curvatures, but I´ve been working on some other parts as well. This is the "cockpit" complete with slots for the stabiliser fins to fit in and with some panel lines and hatches done. The big business end

wm cheng this is great work!!!! I looked at the pictures and my first thought was "this is how Macross looked like if it was REAL"!! I´ve seen many well built models but this is way above it.

Welcome Back HWR MKII! Man that must be awesome coming back home and finding the falcon under the tree!

Sorry I didn´t want to sound like I wanted to bash toy collectors or even express enmity towards them! I was just pointing to some differences in mentality between toy and kit people, and I was talking about tendencies, not black and white stuff. Of course I think the majority of the toy collectors can and do appreciate things like the Captain´s conversion kit - I was just wondering about the reasons why SOME people just keep complaining. I once worked in a toy retail shop and I have met quite some customers who really LOVED complaining about everything. Returning an item several times even seemed to be the most fun part of their hobby... of course they were all Germans but you can obviously find these people all around the world. By the way, seen from the outside (ask my girlfriend), both toy collectors and modelers are generally regarded as the same strange species, so we are all in the same boat

1/160 is actually railroad scale (N-Gauge) as well. You don´t get other mecha kits to scale (but 1/170 is close so you can add some Valks) but you can let your Monster stomp on houses, trees and cars! Strange though that N-Gauge in Japan is actually 1/150 while it is 1/160 in the rest of the world (the rails in Japan are a bit narrower so they scaled things slightly up to allow people to interchange trains/rails with other brands) so 1/150 would have been more likely - and why the heck didn´t they choose 1/144 in the first place? Guess they did it like Revell in the good(?) old days - they take a box size and the kit is made to fit!

IMO it is even better to get 2 regular VF-1J kits, they have all the decals for M&M as well (e.g. all stencils are there in white to fit to the red/blue surfaces) and they come in white plastic - easier to paint than the kits in the sets which are molded in blue and grey. What I don´t know is if the re-issue VF-1 A/J/S kits have the correct decals as well, but the older "1-J only" kit should be easier to get than the 2-set.

Chad I´d say that´s EXACTLY what the toy guys thought! We modelers see a broken part or an imperfection and our brain comes up with "drill, fill, sand, prime, paint, ready in 10 minutes" - but only because we are USED to think that way. Not meant as an insult but Toy collectors (not all of course but as a tendency) think about mint packages and stuff, and if they encounter a deficiency they are used to get all set up and call the customer service instead of thinking "what can I do to repair this broken part?". They paid money for the toy so it´s their right to complain about any difference to what was advertised or reviewed. Needless to say that they have no concept about hand-made, resin cast items and their -unavoidable!- limitations. So, some people buy the VF-1D conversion set and get a rare addition to their toy collection, while others just get another reason to complain... It is interesting - when I read all the threads on quality issues even with the 1/48 Yamato toys, people should come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a mass-produced, perfect toy - but then again, if you want to fix those imperfections yourselves (much more reasonable than returning the item again and again IMO) you have to be at least a little bit of a modeler.

Discipline is the key and it is sooo hard to keep, there are days when I can´t seem to start- another morning coffee, another 10minutes surfing the internet and - oops, half of the day is waisted. That´s why sometimes I wish I´d work for a company..... And right now I have to kick my own butt to get off MW and start working on the Ghost! I´ve ordered all types of thrusters from HLJ and I have to decide which ones fit best as the 4 smaller ones on the rear end....

One of my favorites too, Ranger 565! That looks great even in the early stages, I´d love to see that one finished!

Wow great work anthonyk, this thing is so beautiful! The paint work, the panel lines, shading, everything is just spot-on! I´d like to start on mine at once but there´s a Ghost waiting on my workbench and he says he wants to be finished first!

Cobywan I wish it was a surge, but it is more of the opposite. Here in Cologne there seem to be far too many architects but they are all struggling to get work, all they need is cheap little models for competitions. The big stuff goes to the big, more established workshops here, they really make money - I´m just 2 years in the business now and I still don´t get enough comissions to call this a fulltime job, so I can´t turn down anything at the moment. Maybe these models for the German Museum in Munich will get me a little reputation and more regular work. In the meantime, I take comissions for planes, ships etc. as well - not well paid but I still like it to work on different subjects. A pity that here in Germany there are not too many people into Mecha modeling, so, before I found MW, the Macross stuff was purely for my own pleasure.

It´s sitting on my shelf grinning at me while I´m busy with another architectural model. Deadline for this is next Tuesday, so after I got rid of the mess and sanding dust in my workspace, I´ll get to the really important stuff again

Hello Fear the Fokker and welcome to the boards! Yes there is a green Vf-1 in SDF Macross and if I´m not mistaken it is a VF-1A. I don´t know the episode´s name but it is when Misa travels to Alaska to meet her father. The green VF-1 in Battroid mode is standing guard at the Grand Cannon. As far as I remember it has the Cannon Fodder standard scheme applied just with the light brown changed to green. I´ve never seen a model or toy VF-1A built/manufactured in the green colours but of course it doesn´t get much screen time, only a few seconds.

Enamel and Acrylics are two different paint systems - you cannot mix them! To be more specific, NEVER use enamels (or laquers) on a surface painted with acrylics or the effect that you described will occur (it can happen immediately or even after 1 year, I learned it the hard way too ). While it seems to work the other way round - you can paint your model with enamels and then seal it all with an acrylic coat - I´d choose one system and stick with it, who knows what might happen even after some decades.... If you can´t find Future (we don´t have this stuff here in Germany) try either Gunze or Tamiya clear spray or - even better - if you have a Games Workshop around (the stores that sell Warhammer miniatures etc.) get a can of Citadel Purity Seal - that stuff is perfect!