captain america

You may call me... Shun Yoshikuni ( fast guy from good fortune country) Sonds like something I'd get out of a fortune cookie

Hi WM. The plan view of the booter was a bit of a compromise as it turns out. When you look at it from 3/4 front/elevated level, like in the main pic, it looks spot-on. However, if you make the booster fuselage TOO bulbous at the mid-section(around the UN kite), you will end up with a tremendous amount of overhang over the legs. If you take your Hasegawa VF-1 kit and look at it from the underside, you see that the legs are actually narrower than the chest/back/main fuselage to begin with, so if you then exaggerate the outward flaring of the booster, you just compond that problem. By the way, Kawamori's drawings contradict each other in terms of proportions. In his 3/4 front view and 3/4 underside view, the side bulge is gradual and progressive, whereas in the rear view, the sides of the booster look almost board straight, and then taper in dramatically to tuck-in under the booster nozzles. As a result, it's impossible to get a solid 3-D form to look EXACTLY like all of Kawamori's drawings, but I am keeping it superbly close... And creatively ad-libbing in the grey areas. Re: teeth details. I'm not sure what you're referring to exactly. I still yet have some little rectangular bits to add to the base of the nozzles... Might those be what you're refering to?

Hi Thor. Quite simply, once the blocks are cut square, I take my trusty ol' dremel and sanding block, and simply hack away at them 'til the shape is right. Lucky for me I have eagle eyes for proportions, so I'm able to keep everything symmetrical to within about half a mm. You can do this too, just be sure that as soon as you carve one curve in one piece, that you immediately cut the same curve in the mirror part. The more closely you work on both parts simultaneously, the better your chances of keeping them symmetrical.

Hi Batou. Actually, Rob is the one handling the marketing aspect of the model, so would be the one to best answer your question regarding price. However, I can assure you that it'll be cheaper than a japanese kit of similar detail/size. As for the launch vehicle, we both decided that precisely for cost purposes, we would market them as separate kits; basically give people a chance to save-up for them.

Hi Valkyrie. Looks great to me! I'm just coming to realise how tiny 1/72 is; I'm used to working in much larger scales

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Hi guys, I'm exhausted... Time for an update To answer Noyhauser's question, I really don't know, as I don't have a super O kit. It may very well fit with some veeeery minor modification to the center fuselage on the booster. The booster is designed to accept a VF-1 with its backpack deployed "atmospheric" mode and its V-tails flat. Anyway, onto the pics... As you can see, the once flat blocks of modelling board have now been fleshed-out into a more familiar form. My webcam's lens produces a tremendous fish-eye effect on objects that I shoot from a short distance, and as a result, makes the booster look much more slender than it really is; it's actually spot-on with the side-view Rob posted at the beginning of the thread. All the parts fit perfectly, and tolerances are being kept tight. As Valkyrie had noticed earlier on, the foreward, upper tips of the booster will need to be cut-back and enlarged... I left them longer for the time being, as I'll need to adjust that entire area to conform precisely to the Hasegawa kit's surface. In a nutshell, things are going exactly as planned.

Actually, Gakken DID make a series of 1/12 model kits of the ride-armors (1/12) and Legioss (1/48). They were non-transformable types.

Hi Coby. From what I've seen, the short-term effects of breathing modelling-board dust is quite simply... The sniffles. That's not quite as harmless as it sounds though, as when you blow your nose, you'll see that the stuff accumulates rather fast. Over the long term, you may begin to exhibit breathing problems and/or develop a hacking cough from constant accumulation of dust in your lungs. I see that a lot with veteran model-makers and body-shop workers. There may or may not be other hazzards related to the dust, but personally, I plan to NOt find that out firsthand... I always wear a mask. Your constant colds may be a result of exposure to chems in the workplace, or, silly as it sounds, you may also have a problem with fungus. Most people worry so much about the industrial-strength goo, that they overlook simple things like mold, that can be every bit as hazzardous if not more so.

Hi Sean. I get my modelling board here http://www.mfcomposites.com/ You can work the Ren Shape with any milling machine or lathe, as well as a dremel for removing large volumes. You can then very easily sand it with regular sandpaper for fine finishing. Just so that you know, the dust put off by the material is toxic, so you'll need a mask to work it. You can get a relatively good finish on the parts, but as it's still technically somewhat porous, you will need to seal it with primer prior to molding.

Specialised, yes. Expensive is relative. A 2" by 16" by 50" plank usually runs @ $400 dollars. I'm in Canada though, so we have different pricing. The booster end-bell is actually urethane resin: I poured some into an empty yogurt container and let it harden; makes perfect round stock that you can turn and taper... Just takes way too long to hack Renshape into round bars, so I use it almost exclusively for flats & components that need to be milled.

Hi whytwolf. It's high-density modelling-board: CIBA Ren-shape 460 & 480... 2 inch plank.

Hi guys. Stamen: the side view Rob posted has the little tabs on the nozzles looking chunkier. However, upon closer inspection of the original lineart, Kawamori has them rendered considerably narrower, so I simply opted to stick with the closest reference; I guess it comes down to personal preference with things like that. WM: the ball-joint will be simply for final positioning/glueing. In reality, you may not have that much positioning leeway as you think, since the nozzle fits quite snugly into the fuselage in the line-art(and probably will in the kit too). The ball-joint will probably end up being just a simple connection point

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Update July 29th. Here are some preliminary progress pictures of the booster thus far. The first pics are of the main booster fuselage hulls, which are temporarily split into four parts for better dimensional control. The paper templates affixed to these are from the side-view that Rob provided. The next set of pics are of the booster nozzle itself. I spent most of my time doing this piece, and consequently, it's relatively close to finished, with just a few little bits and rivets to add. Since Kawamori's line-art just shows black in the recessed areas between the secondary (smaller) nozzles and the main outer nozzle, I took the opportunity to do some creative modelling in that area; adding lots of little bits & pieces that would normally be hard to see in the overall view, but would then provide some eye-candy for those willing to stick their flashlights & dental mirrors up the tailpipes. The nozzle assembly itself will be two pieces: the main bellhousing(which is hollowed-out from the back for weight savings) and the ball-joint/end cap. Enjoy...

Hi Noel. I'm not entirely sure what you're refering to with regards to the "booster frame." I have the Perfect Memory book, as well as the Macross/Robotech RPG book, and both show exactly the same line-art. 3 views, and one black silhouette on the launch vehicle. There are no technical or plan views in existence that I know of, so all data needs to be extrapolated based on these drawings. The fact that the drawings are freehand and vahe clear signs of "cheated" perspective only serves to complicate the task somewhat. If you have any pics or diagrams of your own to illustrate your views, by all means, feel free to share

Hi WM. Thanks for the vote of confidence I'm definitely trying to keep the design as sleek and slender as can be, but I still have to allow the design to taper sufficiently at the rear to allow for the mounting of those huge booster nozzles. The fact that there's very little reference to work from, and that Kawamori's drawings tend to contradict each other somewhat just makes things that much trickier. Paneling: oh god yes! If anything, I'm trying to maintain continuity between the Valk and the booster, so it's crucial that the detail flows as seemlessly as possible for apperarance's sake.

hi guys. Here are some initial tech drawings for the booster unit. I'm trying to keep things as close to the line-art as possible, all while allowing the booster to mate cleanly to the Hasegawa model. Sculpting proces begins tomorrow, and progress pics will be posted regularly to allow prospective buyers to see the evolution of the model.

I read Olsen's painting article for the big E. However, I'd seriously consider against using high-build primer on the kit; you'd completely drown & ruin the detail. They used high-build because the original was a fiberglass laminate, which (probably)needed a lot of touch-ups & putty. If anything, I'd recommend an automotive epoxy primer... You can get those in white, and it's extremely thin. You could litterally apply your pearls directly onto the primer after a bit of wet-sanding.

Hi David. I just got myself a 1/850 Bandai Enterprise refit myself... I was actually expecting it to be much worse than it was; all I'd heard were horror stories about poor fit about those kits. Though I think more of that criticism was aimed at the E model than the others, even the comments on the refit weren't all that great. Perhaps I just got a lucky kit, but I honestly don't think I spent more then 2 and a half hours to put it together. Excellent fit. Pre-painting was cute. Not phenomenal, but acceptable. The only thing that bothers me is the lighting system. I'm almost afraid to turn it on too often for fear of burning out those microscopic bulbs... Anyone know what the life on those bulbs is roughly?