NekkiBasara

Just by eyeballing, it looks like those two drawings have slightly different angles of leading edge sweep. And since the VF-11 does have variable-geometry wings (often forgotten, as is its high-speed-mode), that could affect things. The lower drawing has the wings swept back a bit more than the upper. If they were un-swept another couple of degrees, that would increase its span.

(I assume they were trying to show both of them "fully un-swept", but look at the VF-25 for an extreme example of the "normal" forward position being more swept than the MAXIMUM FORWARD position)

I think you may be right. The only way for the VF-11 to fit those specifications is to have the wings swept. I can see how it would make sense to measure the width of a plane at its smallest for carrier storage, but I could also see an argument for measuring a plane at its widest for maximum clearance while in flight.

When doing 3D modeling of Macross valks I generally find Hasegawa's images to be the best. I imagine those dimensions are based on a further back swing. Start with the length, and then just go with the Hasegawa refs from there.

Thanks, Brand-X. That's the approach I am going to take. The Hasegawa VF-11 looks great; my only concern is that it doesn't transform, so the parts are proportioned for fighter mode only. I'll model it in fighter mode first, and then make adjustments where needed when I work on the battroid.

Hello everybody,

This is my first thread, but I have a question that I feel only my fellow Macross fans could help to answer.

I am an amateur 3D artist and as a hobby, I enjoy modeling Valkyries. I just started a new model of a VF-11 Thunderbolt. I want to make it as close to the line art as possible while still being able to transform it from fighter to battroid. For reference, I have Yamato's VF-11B and Hasegawa's injection kits. They look good and will work great, but I noticed when I started measuring them that the proportions don't match the specs given in all the documentation of the VF-11 series.

Macross Chronicle and the Macross Mecha Manual say the VF-11 is 15.51 meters long with a wingspan of 11.2 meters. When I measure the artwork from the Hasegawa instruction sheet and scale it up (assuming a length of 15.51 meters), I get a wingspan of 14.37 meters. The Macross Mecha Manual line art gave me a wingspan of 13.23 meters. I have yet to measure the Yamato toy, but just eyeballing it, I can tell it has an incredibly wide wingspan.

So my questions are:

1) Is the Macross Chronicle wingspan correct, or is it a known inaccuracy?

2) If it is correct, is it with the wings fully extended?

3) Is there an accurate portrayal of 15.51 x 11.2 dimensions anywhere, either in a kit, toy, or line art?

4) Did Yamato and Hasegawa make the wings too wide, or did they shorten the body?

5) Should I just ignore the specs and go with the Yamato or Hasegawa proportions?

6) Can anyone recommend an alternate resource for VF-11 schematics?

My temptation is to go with the Yamato, since it compromises nicely for transformation, while maybe scaling down the width of the wings closer to the line art. Thoughts?

VF-171 !!!

There's never been a decent toy done for the VF-17. i have the Bandai toy and it's pitiful. I think part of the reason is a scaling issue. In the series, the parts don't remain a consistent size when it changes modes.

When Macross F came out, The VF-17 was reshaped into the VF-171 to actually transform realistically now that the valkyries are being done via CGI.