SebastianP

Choosing between 1/100 and 1/72 is a matter of figuring out what you're most interested in. If you want to compare Macross to other anime subjects, 1/100 is pretty much the way to go since it's one of the standard scales for Gundam models. It is very oddball for anything else, though, as pretty much only Japanese toy manufacturers (as opposed to model companies) use that scale. It also isn't universal - Kotobukiya, who makes the Super Robot Wars and Armored Core model lines, avoid 1/100 scale and offer their kits in 1/144 and 1/72. If you want to compare them to other aircraft or even other space fighters, 1/72 is the better bet. The selection of real-world aircraft available in 1/72 is larger than any other scale, and in recent years, several popular scifi designs have been kitted in 1/72, such as the fighters from Star Wars, Yamato 2199, and - if you're willing to try resin - the BSG Viper or the Yukikaze fighters. For myself, I'm a 1/72 guy - I like being able to compare the VFs to modern jets like the Raptor or Super Hornet, and having the option of building dioramas with modern vehicles in the same scale...

Gotta complain some - I had the Skystriker toy, and the gun pod on that was essentially a perfect match for the Tomcat's drop tanks, except for the four muzzle ports. The pod itself retained the point and the blunt tail: http://www.yojoe.com/vehicles/83/skystriker/skystriker_bottom.shtml The pod might be somewhat overscale, but then the entire Skystriker was a mishmash. What you have there looks much more like it belongs on a VF-1, ergo the Jetfire toy... SP

Dammit, this would have been just what I needed for a collection of all the VF-25 models and addon packs without doubling up on any of them... And I can't get it. (IMO, the minimum collection needed for that would be: * VF-25S Armored * VF-25F Super * VF-25G Plain (repainted into an A) * VF-25G Tornado * RVF-25 with Ghosts Without the VF-25G Tornado, a separate Super pack is needed, and they're OOP...) SP

The first link has some sprue shots - the construction seems really simple. Which isn't all that surprising, as the kit is Fighter-mode only. As to the red/white scheme being noisy, that's how flight test prototypes are usually painted in real life. For example, have a look at Joe Hegedus' model of the 4th F/A-18E. In any case, I'll be waiting until this thing is available as a transformable 1/72 kit... SP

Fantastic Gnerl. Love the bloodspatter on it... What scale is this thing, and is there any chance of getting a comparison shot with a same scale VF-1 and/or Regult? Just so we can see how big this thing really is (it ought to be huge, considering the size of the Zentraedi pilot...) Cheers, SP

(Yes, I'm a necromancer, but at least I'm not as bad as the last guy to reinvoke this thread... and, the subject is plain cool!) First off, big thanks to Op4 for the work on the Asuka II model, it cleared up a bunch of things for me, plus it's inspiring my own efforts to model Macross ships in 3D... that bridge section looks awesome. I just finished reading the whole thread, and there's some pretty good debate here. One of the things I'd like to comment on is the whole Macross Compendium debate - it seems to me that there's a huge split in the sources pretty generally, with written canon contradicting drawn or animated canon, sometimes from the same source (the VF-4 missiles issue for example, where SK has apparently said and written one number, but *drawn* a completely irreconcilable number...) . This thread alone contains a bunch of examples, and I'm finding more and more while crawling the web for references to my own RPG write-ups. (And sometimes the sources are so fragmentary as to be nonexistent - for example the "stealth cruiser" from Frontier which only seems to exist as a stock footage clip of it being blown up - in great detail, but with nothing to use as a reference...) Pretty much all fandoms have similar problems due to multiple authors stirring the pot and multiple studios handling the gruntwork of animation, and I've yet to see a canon policy that appeals to everyone - some will take anything written as "word of God" and discard anything that doesn't fit even when the results become ludicrous, and some will take "it's on the screen, it's canon" to similar extremes. And neither route is any good in the long run - the first would invalidate the scene where DD blasts the turret (which doesn't exist according to the writeup); and the second opens up the infinite reloads fallacy... (face it, it's a very very rare anime where the creators actually bother to keep track of the ammo. Being out of ammo happens at the convenience of the plot... and Macross is far from immune). Back to the topic, though. First of all, regarding the ship numbered 71, 77 or 79 (opinions seem to vary), I'm less than convinced that this is supposed to be a DDG, as the angles are all wrong, the superstructure seems to be all one piece rather than two sections, and the deckline has a pronounced step (hurricane bow, I think it's called). An alternative explanation that's pretty close at hand is that this is either an FFG (current series ended at 61, a couple of dozen of a new class being built due to the UN wars is not unthinkable); or a CG (current series ending at 73, only half a dozen of a new class needed to catch up). As to why they don't show up in the 3D scenes, the likely answer is that no one bothered modelling them. (Of course, this is the "SWTC"-style interpretation, i.e. any drawing of anything - regardless of quality - which disagrees with other sources, has to be a different model - which results in a two-page spread of really badly drawn star destroyers, some just blobs in the far distance, being turned into a dozen new ship classes... your mileage may vary on whether this is a good thing or not). The above also ties in with the fact that the UN managed to put two new carrier classes, and somewhere in excess of 25 new carrier hulls of all classes, to sea in the nine years since the Macross landed. (two classes is indisputable, as both the Asuka II and Prometheus are new designs, 25 hulls is an extrapolation based on the newest US carrier at the time of the landing being the Harry S. Truman, CVN-75, and the Asuka II and Prometheus being numbered 99 and 101 respectively. Of course, they may have skipped numbers, or the number series is based on something other than the US CV series. Who knows?) Finally, if you're still here Op4, how's your ship model coming along? I've got a bunch of (tested) methods for doing stuff like the directional deck lights (the runway lights are different colors when viewed from the fore or aft, for example), without resorting to a bunch of extra light sources, etc. I'll post them if there's interest... Cheers! SP

The differences between ships of the New Macross type are pretty extreme for ships purportedly of the same class. Real-world aircraft carriers are the slowest-built naval units in the world, and even with thirty years between the Nimitz and the Truman, the differences amount to changes in the sponsons and the antenna farm on the island. Only the latest two units of the class differ significantly, and they're specifically meant to be evolutionary steps toward a new class. New Macross ships are churned out at a rate of at least one per year, which is four times as fast as the Nimitz class, which given their size pretty much requires multiple sources. A comparable building program in this case is the Ticonderoga class cruiser. which apart from the first five units don't differ externally at all, over a twenty year period. In light of that, I'm beginning to consider the New Macross "class" as a "type" instead, such as "super carrier". A "New Macross"-type ship (battle section) has a defined size, role and general arrangement, but the exact specifications are mutable. They're not interchangeable. (Looking at the differences in the stern of each ship will tell you that you won't easily dock the wrong battle section to a city...) Also, did anyone notice that the Battle Frontier has two independent main gun systems in its gunship? Macross 5, 7 and 13 didn't have the underslung beam gun that Frontier uses in episode 19 to clear away the Vajra (or at least there's no indication of it). The beam that the Galaxy fires at Frontier (that takes out Frontier's gun) is fired from the quad barrel structure, and is a different color from Frontier's continous beam... SP

Been spending the last week or so alternating between (re)watching Macross Frontier (in HD!) and drooling. Need me some plastic VF-25! Of course, since I don't have the money right this minute, the lack of an available kit suits me pretty well. I'd really like to know what kind of wait time to expect, though, so I can gather up the cash to pay off HLJ (thieves!), the post office (bandits!), the customs clerks (pirates!) and the tax men (scoundrels!) I swear, I paid nearly 75% extra over and above the listed price at HLJ when all was said and done for my last purchase there, and I didn't even get express shipping. On a slightly related note, does Hasegawa's license still only cover VFs, or is there a chance we may get one of those big red dudes too? It would look cool next to my 40K monstrous creatures (roughly the same scale). A belated happy new year to everyone, and good luck with your modelling projects! SP

In-universe answer: Because someone else designed everything for them, and they're good at copying. Logical answer: Because even the Zentraedi are smart enough to understand the perils of miscommunication due to sloppiness, and thus they'll communicate, even in writing, with Rigid Military Precision . Real world answer: Because the mecha designer thought it looked cool the way it does, and honestly, so do you? SP

On my workbench until this evening: My digital camera, which is now fixed. Thus, I have a pic for you! Here's my VF-0A with Ghost - which really only needs decals and the contents of the cockpit... SP

My camera is broken, and the pics it takes would probably be too blurry to see the damage anyway, or I would have posted some. Much of the damage is moot, anyway, since I've mostly built around it - the booster problems were pretty much solved by building it land-based, for example. The big broken pieces were as stated earlier the lower fuselage half - one of the wing pivots had punched through the plastic from the inside, and I think some of the injection stubs from the other sprues had been forcefully pressed into the plastic because it's full of small "bend lines" where the plastic has weakened. Since I managed to fix the important part - the pivot - and the destroyed detail is mostly invisible after assembly, I used it anyway after some consideration. The second big part is the portmost piece of the main dorsal thruster assembly - part of the shell has been literally torn off (the edge is bent to hell, and the missing piece is just that, missing.) This one is the most immediately replacable part, though, since it's included, but unused, in the Super/Strike Valkyrie kits, and I've decided that I *will* get one of those, eventually. The exhaust nozzle for one booster has been slightly flattened, though - it's half-way D-shaped. Since it's not cracked or anything, I may be able to fix it with hot water and gentle pressure. Hopefully. There was just enough left of the intake pieces to complete one closed and one open intake, thankfully from opposite sides, so that's what I did. I'll have to come up with a story reason why the FOD cover on one side is closed, but not the other, but that's a pretty minor detail... Since there was no way to build the correct booster, and I decided against waiting for replacement parts (a month at least - I'm not that patient!) I used some ingenuity and spare pieces from the A and K sprues to build a new tail with extended fins. Basically, I carved off a bunch of plastic from the bits that would make up the folded tail, and butt-joined them with CA to the rear of the center fuselage. I also built the legs to go straight back (none of the spacers nor guide bars). They're not quite perfect, since I got the tail a tad crooked and made the legs to match before I spotted it. What's actually left to do now is the arms, head, landing gear and the cockpit (which I left for last because I could). And the painting... I will eventually build the VE-1 specific booster parts - both leg, arm and dorsal units - though I think I'll wait until I've gotten a Super or Strike Valkyrie, so I'll have replacement pieces. Maybe I'll display them separately? SP

The good news is, I managed to get the A5 part back into its original shape, more or less, using brute force, strong cement, and CA glue for reinforcement. I lost some detail, and I'll have to sand down a bulge or two, but I actually managed to assemble both the front and center fuselage completely without it looking too bad. Yay me. The bad news is, I found a couple of more mangled parts - including one of the "space" intakes. The intake lip part has been completely sheared off from the FOD cover, and is nearly broken in two besides - which means no amount of careful gluing in the world will fix it. Couple this with a missing piece of the dorsal booster shell, and numerous mashed up vernier thrusters, and I've decided that this one will end up in Atmospheric configuration - because that's about all the options I have... SP

Someone appears to have sat or stepped on the box to the VE-1 Elintseeker kit I just picked up from the post office, and because I didn't see any damage (they'd cleaned the box up pretty good), I think I may have lost my right to complain about it... I'm lucky in that only a few pieces have taken the brunt of the damage - the trouble is, at least one of these is absolutely required to build the blasted thing in any configuration... The pieces that are definitely broken beyond all hope of repair include A5 (lower main fuselage half), V4 (port outboard dorsal booster half), and one W15 (booster exhaust bell) - these are way beyond my ability to fix. The rest is basically OK, though - or marked as not for use, which is a relief... Does anyone have spares for these parts that they could find it in their hearts to send me? SP

Since I started more or less fresh with my model building this summer, and I tend to drop kits in production whenever I get a new one, I've got thirty-something in-progress kits going at the moment - about half modern helicopters, and the rest modern jet fighters. Let's see... A VF-0A with Ghost, which is currently lacking legs and stabs because I need to decal the former before adding them. Don't look too closely at the bottom, the seams were pretty horrible and it didn't seem to matter how much I sanded, since the paint brought them out in sharp relief anyway. AARGH. A JASDF F-2A maritime strike fighter, which is looking terribly blue at the moment. It needs some green camo paint, but I haven't found a good color match yet. An RAF Tornado GR.1, which may end up as a GR.4. No paint on this one yet - actually, since I'm not done with the 'pit, I haven't even assembled the nose section yet. The kit is positively awesome, though - nicest kit I've seen so far this year. Falls together, and looks like it was 1/32 scale. An F-14B Tomcat, which is in decalling, and will probably stay that way for a while since there were quite a lot of those... It's being done up as the VF-102 CO jet, on one of their last cruises. An F/A-18E, also in VF-102 livery, and also in decalling. The biggest uncertainty here is which cruise it's supposed to be from, and what ordnance to use - there's so much to choose from... Another F-14, this one built as a "D" prototype, but painted as an F-15E. This is what happens when I get up in the morning and find that my bright white aircraft that I painted the night before is now cream colored, almost beige. It looks much more amusing like this.... I've actually got Gulf War squdron CO markings on it, and stencils from three different sources, including my one aftermarket sheet (a Superscale sheet that must've slipped through quality control since the colors have run all over the place) ...and assorted other stuff. (I could sit here all night listing kits in some stage of construction - everything from a tiny OH-58D Kiowa Warrior in need of new decals, to a CH-53E Super Stallion which is the wrong shade of gray, and a brace of French air force fighters, and a Gripen, and half a dozen European helicopters of various makes and sizes...) SP

Not until well after the new year - I've been told that the earliest opportunity for mailing the kit my way won't be until the 28th or so. It's a tossup what'll get here first - my prize, or my previous order from HLJ (a VF-0 with Ghost which shipped three weeks ago). I'm considering ordering a VF-0D and a Strike Valk express after Christmas - I can afford it easy, though it means I'll be eating a lot of canned food this month. Which would probably be good for me, anyway, I need a break from fries-with-meat. SP

After taking a good look at the cutting board underneath the model, I discovered I was wrong about the size - it's nearly 19 inches across, rather than 9. Which means that the 1/1 dimensions are on the order of 960 meters long, and 1880 meters wide... It's still too expensive for my budget, though.

Wasn't there an official explanation for the purpose of the VF-0D that had nothing to do with conversion training? I think it had to do with reconnaissance/strike instead (like the F-15E) Traditionally, the first version of anything is called "A", the next "B" etc. For aircraft with twin-seat models being developed concurrently with the baseline singleseaters, this usually means that single- and twin seaters alternate through the alphabet. Then there are the exceptions made for "special" versions, most often exports. For instance, an "I" version of a US fighter is usually made for Israel, a "J" is a Japanese version, "K" and "M" (IIRC) are associated with the UK, etc. With that in mind, I'm inclined to believe the VF-0A came first, with the "S" being a direct development and the "B" being a conversion trainer. The "D" is a strike variant, and the "C" is a cancelled version of some sort, possibly a single-seater "D"... Or just something no one ever got around to drawing, but that's there in the background. Does any of this make sense? SP

Not Macross, but still pretty topical - the flying carrier from Yukikaze: http://www.hlj.com/product/OMTGK-01 First thought: Oh my God the pricetag! (19,000 yen!) Second thought: Oh my god it's tiny! (only nine inches across) Third thought: Oh my God, at that scale the real thing is nearly a kilometer wide! The fourth thought is pretty much a given: "I want one!" Now, does anyone have a list of banks I can rob to pay for it? :-) SP

I was just informed that I won an online contest on another site, and that my prize was a Hasegawa VE-1 Elintseeker kit - which was a great surprise, in all senses of the word. I usually never win anything... While I'm waiting for the kit to arrive, I've decided to do some planning for how I want the finished model to look. Rule number one is: No allover white. In fact, no large white surfaces at all, if it can be avoided - because once I open that tin, the model is usually doomed. (It's gotten a little better in the last year, but brushing on white paint thin enough to level out is a pain in the rear that I'll happily avoid for all time). So, what do I do instead? The only option I can think of off hand that I can make look any good, would be a US Navy-style two-tone scheme with color insignia and modexes (spares from a Tomcat kit). I could do all-over black, as well - though with no white Modexes, and no masking skills for the big eye thing on the rotodome it, it wouldn't look near as good; and all-over Gunship Gray - which makes any and all red details stick out like beacons. Does anyone have any good ideas for how to paint this thing? SP