VF-1A Grunt

I really hope the Wave kit turns out as well as the resin version. I'm thinking I'll have to try painting one in CF brown! Looking forward to seeing your progress.

Beautiful! As cool as the movie is, I think the TV version with Prometheus and Daedelus is the way it should be.

By the way, Gatsu, I should have said this in my first post - your models looks great, and I'm especially impressed by the Regult, which I've always heard is a tough model to build (since I can't seem to find my kit, I can't try it for myself!). My first impression of the kit when I received it was that the brow(?) cannons looked much too thick compared to the artwork, but your model really turned out well and captures the colors, stance, and weathering that I had hoped to achieve with my own model. I may have to break down and buy another kit, but I keep hoping that I'll find my first one, or someone will produce a better model!

i thought the old ones Bandai reissued were IMAI...

The 1/72 Regult was originally Imai and the Glaug was Arii. As a kid, I remember thinking that it was strange that they were made by different companies. I guess I wasn't sure why one of them hadn't decided to make both. Maybe there was an intentional split of the licensing so that one company wouldn't have the monopoly on the "pods." I bought the Regult off eBay about a decade ago but now can't find it for some reason (moved about 5 times since then). I've never seen the Glaug in person - they were always too expensive on eBay - but have heard it is undersized (more like 1/100).

i'm sincerely really angry with the total lack of care by Bandai in their 1/72 model kit line for SDFM, they released a prototype kit like the vf-1 as a definitive one and they reissued all the old old Imaii molds as the regult and destroids instead of creating some new ones with the new producing tecnologies they have now...

It would really be great if someone would produce new, quality, detailed models of the Regult (all four versions) and Glaug in 1/72, hopefully a little larger than the Bandai and Imai versions. I'm sure that we'd all buy a bunch of them. The Regult seems like a great opportunity for Wave to do something like they did with their Destroids - common parts in all four kits (even if it's only the legs for the Scout) with just the addition of specific parts for each variant.

Yeah... I hope that's some sort of artist's rendering of the concept or something. I know models go through a series of refinements. Hopefully they'll release more info in the near future.

Great to see Hasegawa adding more Macross kits to the line, between this model and the RVF-25 Super.

Birthday yesterday was good!!!

Wow! I didn't realize the Tie Interceptor kit was out! I must have missed that somehow. My favorite Imperial fighter!

I wonder what the market would be like for a 1/72 plastic Monster. I think it's just too big for most modelers, but I would certainly buy one (or two!). I'm guessing it would probably be at least in the $200-$250 range if Wave did it, but that would still be cheaper than resin (as awesome as those models are). I'm sure it's just too big a model for anyone to tackle as a mass-production plastic kit. The molds would be pretty expensive.

I'm not sure what to think of the Gimix brown. It looks a little dark in the comparison photos, but while the lighter shade of the F-Toys tan looks more "correct," I think the color is off. Interesting comparison, thanks for posting!

Aside from wanting a bit more detail on the Armoured VF-1 that comes with it, the set is really great.

It's great that there are some better-quality 1/100 scale models it there now to go with this set, like the Wave Battroids. Maybe one of those could be combined with the armored VF-1.

That's a bummer on the timing - I just got my payment request from HLJ for the VF-4 Master File book!

Just got my payment request from HLJ for the VF-4 Master File book!

It would just be a pretty straightforward matter of having the fire control system launch those underbelly missile first during the first engagement of the battle. Once those missile are expended, it would jettison the racks. Worst case, it could automatically jettison those stores if the pilot activated the transformation sequence. It does seem strange to have the gun pod slung under the center of the aircraft though, since that would be one of the last weapons to be used. I'm not familiar enough with the VF-4 transformation process to know whether it could stay attached to the leg or not.

Spartan? What about the Monster?

I was just kidding - following up on the past discussions about whether we'll ever see a new Wave-quality 1/72 Spartan.

The Master Files sneak peak looks awesome! I love the underwing stores, including the gun pod, and the squadron markings look great! Can't wait to get my copy.

Excellent! Thanks a lot for getting an update for us. Gotta sell some excess stuff to raise some funds!

They're really trying to get a lot of mileage out of this pre-production model!

I can't seem to find it with the search function, but I recall a while back that there was discussion of a later run or recast of this kit that didn't include the fan detail inside the engines. I think it had some sort of covers on the fronts of the engines that were supposed to represent them configured for space flight. I may be getting this mixed up with another kit, but it looks like this is the original Moscato kit? I'd like to get one but just wanted to make sure I don't pick up the wrong one. Hopefully SSM will get some more in soon.

This looks to me like a proof of concept mockup to test the size, scaling, etc. Kind of like the similar models you see of new automobile designs. I would suspect they wanted to show something quickly to get people excited about the sheer size of this huge model. I'm sure the production model will be a lot more refined.

Had to chuckle at the NZ SAS M203 ND in one of our Blackhwaks. Neat hole, that one!

Yikes! A guy in one of our units had an ND with a 203 while he was sitting inside a building on guard, and the HE round bounced off the floor and imbedded in his thigh. USEOD had to help the docs remove it!

That looks fantastic! The paint and weathering looks perfect, and the wing-mounted booster look great (and it appears to have worked out just right so they're not touch the ground). The only suggestion I would have is to add some addtional "REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT" tags to the reaction missiles since you have some forward on the fuselage. Congratulations on finish this incredible project!

I'm definitely getting antsy about this announcement - partly because I've always wanted an affordable, plastic model of the VF-4, but also because I'm excited to see Wave's first 1/72 Valkyrie after the nice job they did on the 1/100 scale models, not to mention their Destroids (where is that Spartan, anyway?). Hopefully they'll have an update soon.

I also believe the D isnt a trainer. Look at the cockpit layout - its pure two seater like the F14 Tomcat where the back seater is sitting at the same height as the pilot and cant see crap in front as opposed to the VT and VE where the back-seater actually is sitting higher up and therefore can see forward and pilot the plane if they had too.

Well... the famous VT-102 cockpit does say "STUD SEAT" for "student" and "INST" for instructor on the side of the canopy. There are also real world examples of trainers that have both seats in line. Maybe not the best design, but I certainly think the SDFM creators intended for it to be a trainer. Obviously they thought a little more about it with the VT-1, but it makes sense that they might have wanted to imply a little more commonality of parts in the original VF-1 series.

One thing that I found interesting, in a funny anime art / magic sort of way, is that if you watch SDFM closely, there doesn't appear to be a display screen for the rear seat in the D cockpit. It looks like the rear seat is just immediately behind the front one. This obviously differs from the line art, but I couldn't find any shots in SDFM that showed a rear display or any kind of equipment in back of the front seat.

That is really some impressive design work! Congrats on seeing your project coming to fruition!

Query: "Dissolved putty"... please elaborate, I wish to know more!

I thought he was referring to Mr. Dissolved Putty, from the Mr. Hobby line of paints. I just got a jar recently but haven't had a chance to try it yet. I think there are similar products available from other brands.