Mechmaster

Heres the best I could find Dok, TV version, I don't know if DYRL was any different but they appear to be fairly plain plates.

I started out building AFVs before I discovered Sci-Fi and then anime models. What sort of glue are you using? If you're using the tube type I would recommend that you try the liquid types that come in bottles, I haven't bought tube glue since I first tried liquid cement. Just dry fit the parts and touch a brush loaded with liquid glue to the seam and let capillary action draw the glue down the joint. Less mess and less softening of the plastic than with icky sticky tube glue. An airbrush can be useful but I admit to doing most of my models with normal brushes and I'm happy with the results, as long as the paint isn't applied too thickly and the brush is decent quality and doesn't shed bristles there shouldn't be a problem. I mainly use Humbrol enamels with a normal brush, Tamiya acrylics I always airbrush as they dry too fast for decent results with a normal brush. If you really want to paint straight lines you need masking tape. For those stripes on the front of the tank run a strip of tape down the hull where the white meets the brown, making sure it is pressed tight into any angles and panel lines and paint the whole forward area white. Remove the tape as soon as you are done painting, if you wait til the paint is dry it will give a raised edge and also risks tearing some of the paint away. Once the white is thoroughly dry use two strips of tape to mask the area for the red, painting the red over the white will make it appear brighter. AFVs are quite forgiving when it comes to painting because you can add weathering and hide any flaws beneath mud and dirt.

Dok... Its all manual, I've tried using IK in the past but it just doesn't seem to give me the fine control I want. Plus, having no IK restraints sometimes allows me to cheat a little and achieve poses which wouldn't be physically possible in a real Valk. Dat... Battroid only, I'm not too keen on transformable Valks because of the proportion issues between the different modes. Also, because I mainly produce still images I didn't consider it worth the effort of trying to make it fully transformable, I made my Legioss transformable but keep a seperate model for each mode, I've never used its transformation capability since I finished building it.

Nice work Gammera, I've just redone the upper leg articulation of my own valk based on the 1/48 Yammie. I got fed up of the hip intakes colliding with the wings whenever the upper leg pivoted forward, that joint mid-thigh helps a lot.

Once again, thanks for the kind words guys, glad you like my work. BoB... You're probably right about the eyes, as a long time follower of the cult of the overcute taking inspiration from the likes of Minky Momo, Princess Silver and Snow Fairy Sugar I guess I do over do the eyes a bit, likewise the fake highlights ( thats the Satoshi Urushihara influence). It won't take me long to tone it down a bit. Dna... I have already produced a sketch for a Regult girl, great pair of (s)hooters but the reverse articulartion on the knees is a bitch, I've not given up on it yet though. Monkey-N... I kinda like pink myself (diehard Minky Momo fan) but by the time I've worked through VF1-a, D, J, S, Tv and Movie, Armoured, Super and Strike, plus Destroids and probably Q-Rau girls I think there will be a model with a hair colour to please everyone. Dangaioh... nice work, don't be suprised if I pinch a few of your ideas when I come to do a CG Tomahawk girl.

Yeah, you can expect to see a number of variations. Hopefully I will be able to manage different hairstyles as well as colours and once I've gone through the various VF1 types and colours there will probably be Destroidgals as well and DNA's suggestion of a CG Q-Rau girl is also something I am considering.

Thanks to all who have voiced praise for my CG valkgirl, I wasn't sure if it would work or even if I had the modeling skills to pull it off as it is such a departure from my normal line of work but so far so good. BoB... I've taken your comments on board and the face now has modeled eyes and mouth, originally I was using some faces downloaded from the net which were intended for simple flat projection onto a head, made it easy to change expressions (just change the image for a different one) and worked fine in long shots but didn't really work close up as you noticed. There will be hair, but not today. I've been studying a few volumes of the "Virtual Beauty Collection" to see how the pros do it but as I don't read too much Japanese I'm not learning a great deal, trial and error time I think. Further comments, criticism and suggestions are welcome.

And another just for the hell of it.

Why limit ourselves to a single year? Valkgirls forever! I'm with you on the boobs Bob, not only is it wasteful but outside of Wagnerian opera Valkyrie breastplates just aren't built to accomodate that kind of load. Here is a progress report, her chest intakes are simply painted on, I was worried that if I tried to cut them out her puppies might make a break for it. Still got to give her some hair I just haven't figured out how to do it yet, most of the stuff I build has no such requirement.

Here's the lower half of that cabinet with the DYRL SDF1 and a couple of larger scale tactical pods lurking in the back corner.

Here's one of my display cabinets, I have another about the same size as this one and a third which is 50% larger but this is the one where most of my built Macross stuff lives. Most of the smaller Macross stuff is on the top shelf, the SDF1 cruiser and attacker are on the shelf below with my other spacecraft.

I'm afraid the pics are crap as my digicamera is nearly 10 years old but I think it will give you the general idea. This is a shot of my workshop, the opposite wall has only half as many kits and the bigger items (mainly Master Grade Gundam stuff) are stacked on the floor. At last count I had over 550 kits waiting to be built, that figure is probably a lot nearer 600 by now.

Another angle.

Here are a couple of work in progress shots of my first virtual valkgirl. Still quite a bit to do but I was able to get this far by simply adapting parts from my existing CG battroid model. Any and all aspects of the model may yet be changed before I consider it complete.

Macross fans don't need to look far to find an example of the Japanese fondness for english profanity, HG airbrushed it out for Robotech though. That little kid is so offended by it he is covering his eyes.

Here is my second attempt, this one coloured entirely in PaintShopPro, (real paint takes too long to dry). I went for the movie version this time and a slightly more dynamic pose. I might try some Destroid gals next, depends how much free time I can make.

I mainly do polygon work too, I analyse the subject and figure out what basic shapes it all breaks down into, then I start by building the simplest bits, parts which are for instance basically a cube or a cylinder. For more complex bits I pick the object closest to the final shape and cut or extrude polys to mold it into shape. For really complex parts I assemble them bit by bit from polygon patches derived from simpler objects, often using extruded splines or full on nurbs objects as a core upon which to build.

Exo - Don't think I haven't thought about it, I'm still refining my technique for building CG cuties but maybe one day... Yellowlightman - I actually created it cel style, the image is painted on a sheet of clear acetate using modelers enamels and then scanned and cleaned up a bit on the PC.

Its been a long time since I've done any drawing but I had to try something for this thread, I rushed it a bit but its not the worst thing I ever produced and I may have another go when I have more time and better light.

Really nice, the internal detail on the fast packs is fantastic, I keep meaning to build the super valk parts for my battroid but I don't think I will be putting in quite that much work. Can't wait to see it textured.

I'll model almost anything but these days, due to time limitations, I tend to concentrate on anime kits and some Warhammer 40,000 stuff. I started out in WWII armour, then with the release of Star Wars in '76 I switched focus to movie and TV spacecraft until the early '80s when a local model store stocked Imai/Arii's Macross range and I discovered anime. I currently have around 400 finished kits and another 550 plus unbuilt. Check my website for pictures...[link] I haven't updated it for over a year as my CG modeling has seriously reduced the amount of time I spend on real models.

Just had a look at the website, excellent job Brian.

I can't really contribute to this one as there are no pics of me and I'm so secretive even I don't know what I look like, but if you look round and there is no one there it probably wasn't me.

I've got lots of nice models but I'm not going to have time to get any pictures done, I should have spotted this thread sooner. Thanks for bringing the CMC to my attention though, maybe I will enter something another time.

Mechaninac: Yeah, I've got love for Orguss (and Macross, Mospeda, Gundam, Dragonar, Dunbine, Dougram, Ideon, Votoms, Vifam, Xabungle, Yamato, Crusher Joe, L-Gaim, FSS, Patlabor, Southern Cross, Nadesico, Evangelion, Gasaraki and Detonator Orgun) Seriously though, your stuff looks good so far, I'll be interested to see the finished Ishkick as that was the one Orguss model kit I never got hold of so I'm less familiar with that mecha than I am with most. Dok: I did consider doing the Ride Armour, but I will have to build a more detailed pilot figure first. Maybe later, I'm caught up with building a full transformation ZZ Gundam right now.