Lolicon

Whoa those pics make the crotch look huge and the legs look much higher up than before. Don't like that, but still leaps and bounds better than the VF-25. But the pilot figures look very nice; even better than the 1/72 model pilots. Gonna pick one up for the fighter and gerwalk modes at the very least.

That's great to know! Thanks! I might give it a shot then... after I sand down these parts and see if anything needs patching first.

I like the "paint-less" build but I couldn't live with it; the stress marks on the red-lavender plastic are too noticeable to me, even with the nail burnishing method. Guess I have no choice but to paint it! Though the light pink parts you could get away with not painting, since they're so light already.

That's really damn good looking. How the heck did he manage to hide all the stress marks from where the parts were cut? No matter how careful you are, there's always going to be some visible stress marks from cutting when you're working with colored plastic like this. I guess you can kind of sort of see them in the closeups, but that's still a good job hiding them.

Finally got mine stuck together in fighter mode. Parts fit is just super tight; I wouldn't attempt it after painting it. Slightly larger and heavier than the 25 due to the wings and extra engines, but otherwise it's nearly identical to the 25 in design and transformation (but I guess everyone already knew that). The back is way heavier than the front when mounting on my SMS stand, so much so that it cause my stand to flop backwards at the screw joint. Unlike the 25, the parts used to connect it to the stand are sturdy and secure. Didn't bother with the landing gear; looks kinda funny with the gun split to accommodate the front landing gear. Also looks kinda ridiculous in profile with that huge gun mounted so far forward.

Yeah it's not a design flaw, it's just me being too damn clumsy to handle the much tighter engineering of the 27. I was planning on keeping it in battroid anyway, so I can have him posed in the "about to blow Alto away" stance. I'll probably pick up the DX for whoosh whoosh purposes.

So you're telling me you notice more details in the often low res photos posted on the web versus just seeing said item in person? Like the small photos of the Quarter? Please. In theory yes, you can see more details with a high resolution image. I'd agree with your statement if everyone posted super hi res pics, but that's simply not the case on the web. I'd love it if all these websites had images at a minimum resolution of 1920x1080.

That's why I qualified my statement with the adverb "usually." Anyway, unless the Quarter is tiny like the Wave SDF-1 Macross, I don't think the bent turrets are a case of flaws being magnified by "blowing up" the image. I don't need a magnifying glass to see something obvious like a bent turret.

Details are usually more noticeable in person, not less. I didn't realize I was paying for gashapon quality. I guess if the turrets are removable I can put them in hot water and straighten them out. I really shouldn't have to though.

TV Focker pilot would be great. Or how about a Hikaru pilot with Misa on his lap? (With Misa wearing the helmet, of course.)

Oh what the hell. I could live with the color scheme, but not this crap. Time to look into canceling that preorder...

Almost done assembling my VF-27, but for the love of all that is holy I can't get everything to fit together properly in fighter mode; all I've done is scratch the model up. So I can't comment on the locking tabs. Going straight to battroid mode for this build.

Awww did I insult your precious Robotech? Too damn bad. Nice try comparing me to HG though. Robotech is still a crappy hackjob of a show.

That's where many bootleggers operate out of. Robotech is a bootleg show.

I started doing a test assembly last night on my VF-27. Not sure if it's been noted before, but the kit comes with two canopies. One molded in clear green, the other in the solid red-maroon plastic of the main fuselage. Why? Not sure since I'm not done assembling it.

Gundam marker is too fat and sloppy for any kind of fine panel line work. I use a 0.3 mm mechanical pencil. Though plain lead works fine, on my Yamatos I used a higher density (2H) lead that's harder and draws lighter; I didn't want dark, sloppy panel lines. Not prone to smudging at all, either.

I think I herniated something... that's the best analogy of RT.com ever!

Given a choice between Gundam marker and mechanical pencil, the pencil is definitely the way to go! No pics of my Yamatos atm, but the results are the same as my mostly unpainted Alto.

Me too. You know what this means? CHILD PORNOGRAPHY is being shown in our public schools!

A scale version of the Ranka Messiah girl, please!

Hmmm you may want to email them anyway and ask. The Ranka Deculture Decal sheet is huge; it's as long as the model box. The Armored decal sheets are small and have way too few decals for the entire model, like they were thrown in as an afterthought, so it might be bundled with the regular set.

That was the best Robotech video ever! Hey where's the The Macross II Saga footage?

Armored Alto is sold out at a lot of places. But it shouldn't be long before more become available. The cheapest places I know of are Amiami and Rainbowten, and they're both sold out. Only other place that is under 8000 yen is Hobby Search, but it's not under by much. http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10089907 I wouldn't be able to answer the decal question, other than add that I picked up the Ranka Deculture Decal Alto kit and it does not come with the regular decals. It does have a massive decal sheet though!

Robotech induces me to consume liberal amounts of alcohol.

I was talking about the grey recesses that the nozzles are inserted into and the ones at the front of the boosters. The ones you masked and sprayed grey. From the new photos you took, yeah you can't really tell once you attach the nozzles, but the other sections look good. Now that I've seen what they look like with nozzles attached, it'd probably be best if I just filled it in with a black Gundam marker. Quick and easy. The insides of the nozzles themselves is what I meant. I just did a wash on mine, inside and out. On most of the previous photos I took, they appeared silver, but they're actually a dull silver-gold color. Hard to get a good photo of the underside of the model, but this is what they look like.