cowie165

It came out very well so far, I like the way you are finishing it, the toned-down red, be it canon or not, helps avoiding any toy-like look to it. From what I see in the pics I´d say the way you build the kit makes it look proportionally correct.

Thank you mate. As one of the people that first helped me out, your praise means a lot. Cheers.

...the whole set of additional grey parts are the FAST packs but they are in fact a  combination of boosters and additional weaponry...

Far out. That was a forehead slapper. I completely forgot

I find the colours used perfectly fitting, german grey is correct to me. Don´t know if there are any "canon" colour prescriptions but you usually see those parts painted in a darker grey, sometimes a little blueish, sometimes even greenish and on the old box arts by Y.Takani they sometimes appear more brownish - I like all those colours as long as they make a fitting contrast to the colour of the Valk.

Thank you again. This is my first sci-fi kit ever and therefore my first Macross kit. The VF-1 and the Mk IX Spitfire in one of the pics are the only aircraft I've built that are >1/144 scale Suffice to say, I was shooting from the hip, so I appreciate the reassurance!

Cowie,

With all the extra weight in the legs, wouldn't it be rather difficult to maintain legs in an up position in fighter mode?

BTW - Nice job on the paint. What red are you using?

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Thanks for the kind words.

Re: Paint

I was stuck for a colour I liked so I pre-shaded with enamel XF-63 (German Grey) then I lightly sprayed acrylic X-7 (regular, boring old Red) until I felt the shade matched some pictures I have.

Pre-shading is such a great technique. First time I've tried it and I like the results. You can pre-shade to make it darker in areas where you'd expect shadow, etc. and (as the pics are awful res) the kit looks like it has a lot more 'depth' to it.

Re: Legs

The kit was purchased to be a gerwalk as I've slowly picked up the 'better' fixed pose kits (Arii 1/100 fighters, Imai/Bandai 1/100 Battroids). Once all the parts are assembled, I'll probably mount it on an acrylic rod and then glue the arms and legs into a realistc pose.

I managed to file away enough plastic around the intakes to afford a noticeable splay on the legs and widen the stance. In the pic below hopefully you can see (once again, sorry about poor res, taken on handycam) where I rotated the intake mounting pic. I understand that the intakes don't actually move but I was stuck for ideas as the knee joints didn't have a nice place to make a pivot joint.

Being a dad makes for slow progress

I'm still not sure if I'll mount the gerwalk on an acrylic rod or let it stand by itself. I added these nuts+silicon just in case I want it to stand. Regardless, it makes for a better 'feel' and isn't quite as plasticky.

Here's some assorted parts that are just about ready to be fitted. I'm not 100% happy with the booster-cannon colours (cannon in metaliser, mount in german grey). Is it even called a booster? It has been a while.

Assorted pics. honneamise I tried and tried to thin that area near the intakes but couldn't come up with a worthwhile solution. I'm hoping that filing it all back to a single smooth surface will make it less eye-catching.

This pic hopefully highlights the difference between the out-of-box left arm (right of screen) and the right arm where I deliberately broke the bicep joint so I can rotate it.

...nearly there...

VALKYRIE-EXCHANGE.COM

The owner of the site hangs out here (using the same handle as above), so contact him via PM and he'll be able to hook you up...

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*raises hand*

One please!

I though V-E e-store was closed?

The pictures did say a thousand words! Thanks honneamise, we're on the same sheet of music now.

I agree - that plate under the chest plate is causing the kit to look unrealistic. It's on the list for tidying up now!

Leaving the polycaps out sounds like the way to go, I thought about that one the other day too. Not quite sure on how to fill the area thought. Perhaps I could putty that end of the knee joint and drill out new holes for the mounting pin?

Unfortunately, I think I'm stuck with the shoulder plates as I modified that 'bicep' bracket but did not keep it poseable - if I make it 90' then the forearms will probably look a little goofy - have to dry assemble and see. Perhaps with a few more parts assembled I'll have a clearer idea on a way around this.

Thanks again for the pointers guys, your advice has been very motivating!

edit: double post

Guys thanks very much for your input. I have a few Hasegawa kits but wanted to start with something 'easier'!? So I thought... well I bought it when HLJ was selling them at Y900 or whatever it was, rather than the US$30 they seem to sell for these days...!

honneamise thanks for the pointers - I hadn't considered leaving out/replacing those parts. I think my next task should be a dry assembly by taping all the arms and legs together, just to help me clarify which parts you are talking about!

big F I wish you hadn't said the 1/100 takes as long as the 1/72 Hase kits! The Bandai has been a real test of patience, with lots of masking etc. I'm not looking forward to assembling the arms and legs and taking the seam lines out...

If you guys have any ideas on how I might be able to splay the legs out I'd appreciate it. There just doesn't seem to be any way to do it without either filing off a great deal from the top of the mounting pin or to scratchbuild something. Hrmmm.

Cheers!

Hi guys

I'm kinda new here and never saw the old MW so I don't know what was there and what wasn't. I'm building the above kit at the moment and thought I might pop a few pics on and hopefully will receive some feedback and produce a nice kit at the end of it all.

The first pic should be what I am aiming for - using a variable kit to make a fixed pose gerwalk.

We're picking things up in the 2nd quarter, with a bit of assembly and maybe half the painting already done. I'm not happy with some of the parts of this kit so I'm chopping and changing a little as I go.

This pic is the business end of the valk. The original seat placement is so far back the pilot would be hard pressed to reach the instrument panel, so I insert a little piece of plastic card, puttied and sanded, and was able to move the seat forward just enough that she doesn't look like a toddler trying to drive a car. The panel lines are a little messy but I don't have a proper rescriber yet. It might end up adding to a weathered look, who knows.

The bicep/shoulder-to-elbow joint is designed to look ok in battroid and gerwalk modes but it will make the forearms stick out at a weird angle, as you can prob see in the first picture. I decided to cut them up and create an angle instead. My 'razor saw' was actually the strip from the bottom of a Cling Wrap box. Once the part was cut, I filled the void with Tamiya putty, inserted a piece of bonsai training wire and superglued the next day. I am happy with the result but better tools would produce a better finish. Perhaps now should be a time to add this is the first aircraft kit I've painted that is bigger than 1/144 scale - I normally do 1/24 autos.

Finally, I've modified the right hand to make it more realistic. This is what it would look like OOB:

After a bit of filing, I came up with:

The sling is made from the foil lid of a sour cream / yoghurt container. I spread some superglue, folded it in half, and once the glue set I cut a thin run of the foil. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, plus I'll be able to pose the sling once the kit is all done (ie. allow the sling to sag forward).

I'm planning on another very thin spray on the cannon, to help blend the 'UN SPACY'. The weapon looks like it is MIB - I've used a light respray before to help things look a little tired - simulating the paint wearing away from use.

Anyways, that's about all I've got for now. I'm hoping that this thread will make me spend more time on the kit. If you have any pointers for me, please post as feedback is always welcome and I'd like to do the best job I can.

Cheers MWers,

cowie

PS As the gallery seems locked, any pointers on linking images rather than using attachments would be great please. Does everyone here just have them hosted elsewhere?

Macross games collection bittorrent now available

I also put up Macross music collection and Macross Miscellaneous (Paper models, manga, etc.) .

I'm Azureus encoding Macross 7 gigapack and the rest of the Macross video not already available under the the macross bittorrents folder

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Thanks boinger! With the new version of Azureus you can identify which parts you wish to download however some cannot be deselected.

I've not created a .torrent before - is it fairly straightforward? If so, could I trouble you for a .torrent that just has VO(VOXP) add-ons please? Hopefully would be fairly small but would save a lot of running around via google.

Thanks mate

Mark

Thanks evirus I noted that the frozen-layer .torrent and boinger's .torrent were the same and have been downloading for a day or so now. I posted about the 2Gb file as I was interested in the other unlicenced titles he was seeding.

I'm happy with daemon tools and have been using it for a while now. You're right, it sure is nifty! Great program there. Very simple to use.

Thanks for the bittorrent info - I've been using that too and 60Gb later Azureus is still going strong

Many thanks, once the image is complete I'll be seeding that one until further notice!

I just put a Macross games bittorrent on Azureus trackless/server bittorrent software under the iMacross thread.

Here's the Macross Game bitttorrent, which includes Macros VO, VOXP and mods and many other hard to find unlicensed in North America games.  Almost 2gb, but once it's seeded, anybody else using Azureuse bittorrent can up/download the file.

This bittorrent was made to be used with Azureus bittorrent software because it has a trackerless bittorrent file server built in to the Azureus software.  So, use Azurues bittorrent software only for the bittorrents I'm uploading.

Downloading the file will take a couple of weeks or a month because it's just me uploading, but once more people have the whole download, speeds will pick up.

boinger

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Hi boinger

I hate to be a pain, but I couldn't find the .torrent on your ftp site. Could you please double check it is in that directory? I found an image (437Mb) for VO but couldn't find the 2Gb download.

If it is there and I just can't see it, I apologise for the bother.

Cheers!

Found this just now:

Macross VO on eBay US

I came to MW to post the link but then saw the torrent links! Cheers!

Thanks for your comment Wicked Ace and here are some more!

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I registered with MW just to say that the kit looks brilliant, great job! I can relate to where you're coming from as I traditionally build 1/24 autos but I'm working on my first Macross kit at the moment.

Thanks for taking the time to post the pics, very encouraging mate.

I'm sure it has been said before but that kit looks so similar to the MiG-31 in the Clint Eastwood 'Firefox' film. Particularly the first pic of the cockpit taken from the rear. I wonder how it'd look in black!

Cheers