Vinnie

Those ghosts are nice, but I'm gonna have to go with the Doc on this one. That VF-1 model represents months of sweat, blood, and a ton of frustrations. I remember the work he put into perfecting it. Not that I don't think a lot of work went into the Ghost Trio. I was just closer to the action on the VF-1 model.

Click to Enlarge Well, here's #2. I changed the palette around to be more like the Macross Plus tones. Hopefully it's an improvement over the last one. Lineart is cleaned up a bit, but still not where I want it. I didn't get the chance to really present the VF-4 like I wanted to with Nied's paint scheme, but will fully reconcile myself next week. In all though, I'm happy with the changes from #001. This week's is of course a few days late. Normally webcomic artists have some excuse for why they were delayed. Here's mine: I flew my ass off this past week, flying over 12 patients on 5 missions for 8.2 combat hours. Also big news, I'm bringing on webcomic fan Ben Whitten to help with the writting. He edited my dialogue this week, but we should actually be getting some whitty humor out of him over the coming strips. What's this Little Valk?

I blame Macross for all of the following, hence why my mug is completely on topic here: Me up on the hydraulics deck of a UH-60A At the controls ready to get the heck out of Balad "Roll the Dice to see if I'm getting drunk" or "DMing Desert D&D"

Flippin' Sweet! That's perfect! I'm gonna get to work on doing up those colors in 3d studio. They'll be needed for next week's strip. Curious about your choice of 601 and 632 for the modices (or 600 series in general) I think I'll go with it, though.

Well, here's my first go at it. I still have a lot to improve on, but hopefully it's the start of something good. Now I just need a title...

This is headed off topic, but while we're on the subject... I would assume that hover time in GERWALK is limited due to some output temperature limitations. I imagine the VF-1 is hitting the top part of its temperature range pulling hover power. In the UH-60A we can only sustain a TGT of 775-850 C for 30 minutes before we need to reduce power, and we usually only hit that doing OGE hover with a heavy load or flying max Vh. I'm not sure if starch-winged fast movers have the same sort of limitations on their engines, but it's one theory. For my jet experts, what limits you from flying full throttle for a full flight? Is it fuel or do you hit some tempurature/compressor limits? The Battroid hover time I'm guessing would be far less as you've just lost all compressor for cooling and are just relying on some sort of magnetic containment at that point. I would think later model engines would run hotter, produce more thrust, and be on lighter aircraft which would limit when the Valk would hit its upper temp & compressor limits and increase the amount of time it could hover.

Damn... Damn... I so want to play witht that...

Oooh. Lot's of good VF-4 lineart there!

Oooh this was a good thread, and I finally have something to contribute. A little WIP shot of a VF-4 in the SVF-143 Pukin' Dogs scheme.

Well, you suggested it. Then I read Ken Akamatsu's article in the back of Negima Vol 8 talking about how he uses Lightwave 3d to do most of the backgrounds for the manga. I thought, heck, let me grab the latest version of Max and see what it can do. Pulled out the old VF-4 from the archives, slapped on the ink 'n paint shader and bam! The model is missing some parts, and it doesn't have any of the tweaks I need to make it look right, but I think I might be on to something here... EDIT: Swapped Image URLs, should display in the forum now.

Yet those same fans wonder why so few take anime seriously. 379372[/snapback] It's been a while since I watched it, but my understanding was that if you watch up to Episode 24 and then the two movies instead of Ep 25 & 26 it actually makes it a good series.

I definitely have to agree with the sentiments about FM4 being a bit of a let down. FM3 blew me away when I played it. The soundtrack was decent, I got into the characters, and the Ten-Mou/Internet&Email thing was fun and added depth to the world. FM4 felt more restricted in character building, combat tactics, and even storyline. There were some things that looked promising like linking actions and radar scouts, but not enough to really push the franchise to the next level of gaming.

Tried something different with the irises How's this? (Click to zoom) I'm not sure about my coloring skills. About all I've ever done is sketch, and I'm having a heck of a time 'inking' my drawings (which I assume is the next logical step.) If anyone's got any tips, techniques, or tutorials, I'm all ears.

So I just got a Wacom tablet and have been practicing on for most of the day. I'm on leave in the States so I don't have much else to do at the moment. Downloaded Alias Sketchbook Pro 2.0 and am loving how it emulates real art tools. Anyway, here's the product of today's efforts: She'll be one of the two love interests for the CO of the Pukin' Dogs, but I haven't decided which yet. More to come...

I think having one at a time is bad enough. Besides the whole idea behind that system would be to procreate. I'm not super cool on the idea of a dozen kids knocking on my door two decades from now calling me daddy or all these ex-girlfriends trying to get child support off me because the "UN Mass Repopulation Program" turns out to be like every other UN Program. The flight pay just ain't that good. 373357[/snapback] You forrget, the modern UN and the Macross UN are diffrent beasts. The Macross one is an actual world government(interplanetary government post-colonization), as opposed to a loose alliance of national governments that don't really have to do anything the UN says. 373534[/snapback] This is true. Though I get the sneaking suspicion that although the government style has changed, some things remain the same about the UN. I mean my whole point has been there's no difference between our present and Macross future except the holographic porn. So I'd have some concern that the "Babies for Food" program didn't end up managed like the infamous "Oil for Food" one. However, if the UN truly is a different beast and we didn't send ALL the socialist hippies off on the megaroad 01, then we might have an effective government sponsored breeding program. That being the case, in the words of that Brian Peck song from the 2020s "Let's go. Bring it on!"

I think having one at a time is bad enough. Besides the whole idea behind that system would be to procreate. I'm not super cool on the idea of a dozen kids knocking on my door two decades from now calling me daddy or all these ex-girlfriends trying to get child support off me because the "UN Mass Repopulation Program" turns out to be like every other UN Program. The flight pay just ain't that good.

Alright, seeing as how Macross Plus got me into that mess I'm in now, I'll take the 2040 Macross Plus timeline. The music is sweet, the aircraft are hot, and I love Lucy. Granted with my luck, I'd be stuck in a VF-4 squadron on some quiet front, the aircraft would always be breaking down because they're older than me, I'd be completely clueless about pop culture anyway, and I'd be stuck in some assignment with a ton of dudes or enlisted chicks. Well, I guess the future isn't all that different, but at least I'd get holographic porn.

Here's the art right up front (linked to larger image) Left to right: Toni Lombardi, Spencer "Jersey" Reed, Maria Defreitas, Kristopf Sasaki. And the text: So a couple years back when I was into the 3D modeling and low budget film thing, my sister and I wrote a script for a short macross film, titled Avemaria. It was a 15 minute light-hearted story centered around the dysfunctional family life of runaway Maria Defreitas and her legal guardian Kristopf Sasaki. The two supporting characters in the film were fellow pilots Toni Lombardi and Spencer Reed. The action takes place on the planet Avemaria in the fall of 2035, far away from any of the conflict of the Delta War, and focuses on the pilots of the SVF-143 "Pukin' Dogs," one of the last few operational VF-4 squadrons. Alas, the film project was too ambitious for me, but the story and characters were great. However, I'm thinking they might see new life in the form of a webcomic. I figure that's my style anyway that sort of "Western Artist doing webcomic emulating a quasi-manga flavor." I haven't been practicing long and have loads to improve on, but I figure running one will keep me focused, give me reason to practice, and give me an outlet to comment on what it's like being a pilot where the war just ain't that busy (as well as something to do because we're not busy.) Advice, comments, and opinions are more than welcome. Especially if anybody knows anything about Wacom tablets and recommends something to work with other than Photoshop 7.0.

Man that was a good time. Even with all the craziness during the great split. I'm glad to see the Macross XV fleet is still alive and well today. Even my old Death Angels were up and kicking until a few months ago it seems from the boards. There's part of me that would love to do it again, but there isn't a campaign that just grabs my attention.

You didn't happen to belong to Aoi House did you? ( http://www.gomanga.com/manga/aoi.php )

And a smaller samples: I've got several more blackhawk shots. Mostly the orange door former EH-60A "Quickfixes" used for training at Ft. Rucker and medevac configured UH-60As. I also have a limited collection of aerial photography of Vermont and Alabama that may be of interest to the CG guys.

I feel the need to contribute some of my personal shots. Probably not as useful for CGI modelers, but way more exciting in my opinion.

I can relate. Flying's expensive. 175 Gallons of JP-8 at Florala, AL (K0J4).........$393 Maintainence for a 1.5 hour flight .................$1100 1 UH-60A Blackhawk from Sikorsky.....$15,000,000 Passing that Checkride.............................Priceless "There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's your US Government AVGAS Card."

And I always said if the VF-4 were a girl, I'd totally... Great work! I'm a huge fan of the VF-4, and love to see that it's been done up as a sexy redheaded Valk Girl.

Looks great!