PetarB

Getting a few PMs for the canopy, I will sort something out and get back to you. Meanwhile, here's some more progress. The seat colour should make the pilot pop out a bit more, although you wont see much of it. It's painted red in homage to my old car, a tricked-up MX6 which had the most comfortable red seats... I also detailed up the console area but you will see more of that once I've finished it. Going away for a few days on Monday, not sure if I will get to finish it by then, so it might be a while till next update. Thanks for looking!

Yes, it looked fantastic as I recall, must find the thread. Come on Sean, get busy, really itching to see this one!

All figures have been designed specifically for and tested in the Hasegawa VF-1 series kits, and they seem to work fine. I didn't have any Arii or resin kits to test out on. When you get the camera out, I'd love a shot of the male pilot just placed in or near the seat so I can get a handle on the issue. If I can, I will alter it so it's a 'one size fits all'. There will be always be a tiny variation in height, due to the pouring process, however you can run the base across some sandpaper to easily correct this. Anyway, can't wait to see this Ostrich painted up, it's one of my favourite Macross subjects.

I just used a candle. You will probably screw-up once (like I did) before you get to understand the 'slump point' for the acetate before you burn it. The acetate was just some stuff I had from a presentation binder. Just experiment, and remember... safety first!

I guess I wanted to document the process of how I made the canopy. Firstly, as I'd already painted the area, I put in the clear wrapper to protect it, while I mashed in some epoxy putty to get the shape of the cockpit tub. This would form the base of the canopy buck I was making. Once this was semi dry, I pulled it out, aided by the clear wrapper. I then put some Mori-Mori on top of this, (next pic) and once it dried, shaped it to the canopy shape I liked - kind of angular at the front, and rounded at the back. I then mounted it on something tough. Some acetate was heated up, and pulled down over the top of it. Once trimmed, this produced the perfectly clear canopy you see in the very last picture. The resin canopy that came with the kit wasn't too bad as resin canopies go, but as I'm going to be tinting this, I wanted it as clear as possible, so I had to manufacture my own.

I've always loved the above image. And the fighter mode of the VF-2SS is one of my favourite mecha. Just look at WMCheng's build! Although the standard white all over scheme looks great too, I wanted to do something different. I also needed to take a little break from sculpting before I finalise couple of products available later this month. Below will chronicle my journey to get there. I usually try and do one build over the Christmas holidays, so hopefully I can finish this before they are over for me. I've done all the hard bits now, anyway, as you will see. I've made the colours slightly darker than the above, as I alread have a light blue Valk it will sit next to and I definitely do not want them looking the same. I wont be putting the extra armour and guns on this one, just the atmospheric style version. I think the original B-Club magazine cover art may be inspired by Max's colours, if not, well, my version will be his anyway! I can't remember if he made a guest appearance even in Macross II, (over 10 years since I saw it). Anyway here we go... postscript. just as i finished this post my youngest daughter just pulled down the drying legs - right next to me. there are chips all over them, I could cry...

That actually looks really quite nice! Great weapon and cockpit area detail.

Very grateful, thank you! And HWR MKIII, I do hope you receive yours soon so we can see how they look painted up. The ones I sent you were an early cast which I have since remoulded so there will be a little bit of clean up.

A quick update. Note: if these go reasonably, I will certainly make a DYRL-specific set (yes, WMCheng, with special focus on Minmei! ). I wanted to brush up on some old skills first before tackling her. Macross Frontier has been started, but nothing really to show for it yet. I'm also half way through a standing Hikaru with his helmet in hand which will be the final piece for now. My wife was very impressed by the restraint I showed in the 'chest' area for the civilian/officer flightsuit. I did, however, compensate with the female Valk pilot. She wrinkled her nose at me when she saw it.

Big update on the weekend. Sorry for the delay, I get impatient too, when people take a long time between posts on certain subjects!

I order DVDs from Amazon in the USA all the time as I can't get them here in Australia. Playback is never an issue for US DVDs here in Australia. Most DVD players also have a 'hack' - if not already applied - that will allow them to play all zones, if zone protection is a concern. Go crazy, watch whatever you want.

When I'm not working I'm with my kids When I'm not with my kids I'm at karate When I'm not at karate I'm writing for fun or profit When I'm not writing I'm illustrating When I'm not illustrating I'm modeling. Motivation is never a problem for me, but there are never enough hours in the day to achieve the things I want to do. Go and do something else, life's too precious to waste!

I can understand this totally, and commercially it makes better sense too. However, a couple of the Tanmen items: 1) Could have been done a lot better & 2) Are basically unavailable. Don't be greedy Grayson72, just because you have a hoard of double of everything, doesn't mean we hoi-polloi can't want for these things too! :lol:

'Cats Eye' Recon Aircraft 'Cutlass' VF-9

I've just posted a spare one I have of that excellent version in the 'For Sale' section.

Wow she's a beauty. And great photography to complement, nicely done!

Amazing work, I love it!

In the words of Neo: "Woah!" I'm really looking forwards to receiving mine. That second pic looks awesome.

HWR MKII has agreed to feature a preliminary casting of the female flight suit figure in his VT-1 Super Ostrich build up, which I will be sending to him on Monday. As I'm not going to have time to do any build ups for the next few weeks to demo the pilots, we will be able to see how they look in action, I hope!

Time for an update. I borrowed a more powerful camera. So now you get to see all the 'holes' I have to fill! Misa is now almost done, I just have to fix her left arm, and give her some legs. One section of the atmospheric pilot's harness fell off just before photography. Once I put that back on, and a little more work, and he's done too. And although there's wasn't really much to photograph, the other good news is that I've started some preliminary work on Alto.

Not to derail the thread, but Games Workshop's 'Green Stuff' is just a more expensive, repackaged version of Kneadatite - which is actually what a lot of professionals use.

Really great to see one model bring in so many people to the hobby. Kudos to Bandai for doing it, and looking forwards to reading the updates to this thread, Zebu!

Wow that red one from Model Graphics is absolutely gorgeous. I'm aiming for something like that, its really made the fighter shine.

Don't be fooled, Bertt's actually quite a decent modeller. I look forwards to this, it's only when we challenge ourselves that we produce amazing results.