onderon

The missiles on the chest reminds me of ikura sushi rolls

Don't get me started on the ver 2.0 zaku 2 recolors. they are a great kit and bordering on revolutionary in terms of engineering like the strike was when it came out but the 13+ recolors is abit too much. I lawled hard at the lastest white zaku where in the promo pics they gave it a black base paint underneath the white so it was kinda of defeatist imo.

I dont remember seeing any mention of the YF-25 in the anime so it could just be like the MSV gunpla which is based on prototype designs and variations found in novels and stories which branch off the anime series. If you look really closely it looks to be a recolored Alto at this point cos the top of the battroid head is about the same shape with the same head lasers but like ngee said we need more confirmation.

I preferring using a Millennium ZIG marker for panel lines especially the ones with the 0.05 tip. the colors are limited compared to gundam markers but the ink I found works so much better it dries quick and adheres well. It's kind of hard to find though (for me at least since the store I go to stopped stocking that size tip)

Mr hobby and Tamiya topcoat is almost identical and it's extremely common outside of japan. It does not damage decals in any way and I'm saying this from experience. I've built around 15 or so master grades a ton of high grades and not once been unsatisfied with how the topcoat turned out. One note of interest is for people too lazy to paint but want a good looking kit is to sand the plastic from low then gradually to higher grit and then slap on a nice spray of flat topcoat for a pretty convincing 'painted' look of course you'll need to do an even sanding but that's childs play. PS. I managed to order a ton of rattle can paint and some topcoat off rainbow 10 before the regulation kicked in since it was abit cheaper than getting it from the stores but now I feel that I should have ordered some more lawl.

Why don't you use Mr Hobby topcoat? Comes in both flat and gloss and that's the only type of topcoat I ever use for my kits. It's rather cheap as well to boot and the stuff dries in like 10sec so it's superb to use.

After I saw the runners of the armored ozma in person I noticed that the plastic mix for the ozma is different to the first 1/72 ozma most notably is the darker shade of grey and if you look at the codes on the runners its actually an entirely new line of molding. This casts some doubt of a stand alone armored pack in the near future. Of course it is highly possible that there will be one but the difference of the armored bundle compared to the vanilla VF is much greater than the super bundle and vanilla. And another foreseeable outcome is that it wont have an extra sniper rifle included.

The biggest questions I have atm is regarding the set of closed fists that comes with the armored bundle and if there was a standalone kit would it include them. I couldn't be bothered to check up the runner pics so I'm gonna be mean and throw this question at you guys XD. And to answer fufufu's question I think that they will just randomly attach the decals to a few lucky preorders like what they did before.

Been busy with uni work and stuff so I haven't had a chance to post recently. Anyways I remember R10 saying that they will not have the cathy/sheryl decals with all preorders like the previous releases due to high demand and the supplier only providing limited numbers for them to give out so I hope that answers some questions you guys might have.

I know this isn't necessary but the last 2 screen caps are just so uberly amazing every time I see them. Yeah I know I'm a bad boy. P.S. I noticed I forgot to link which screen caps I was going on about but I'm sure you guys know which ones =P

I would say that the vf is almost on par with todays MG models in terms of detail and gimmicks although due to the nature of the vf design there is not as many parts as say the MG sinanju I recently built nor as complex as the transformable EX-S sitting on my desk but everything you can think of is in the kit so its a great model to try out your modeling skills. When i first built the Alto back in Jan, which had been collecting dust since Sept '08, it took me a total of 16hrs to do a straight build the ozma in about 12 and the luca + super parts and mihail only took me about 5hrs each. The Alto took that long due to the fact that the previous plamo I touched was almost a yr earlier and the haste in the later vf is more accredited to my experience I've gathered over the many yrs and in no way indicate the lack of challenge this kit provided. Just a LQ photo taken with my phone of my VF collection b4 I take some better photos after I get the painting all done and please ignore the rough sand job on mihails forearm.

Just finished building the mihail after it was sitting on my shelf for a while and I was abit disappointed with my kit. Not that there wasn't good or anything and even after building the fourth VF it was still enjoyable but I was unlucky enough to have a pretty major flaw in mine. When I was putting the armor onto the clavicle for a lack of better word there was a obvious chip in the plastic. I know I didn't accidentally chip it with my hobby knife so it must of happened during production or shipping T_T. On another note I'm getting ready to paint the entire vf and instead using stickers and decals I'll be painting in the details and coloration for most parts such as the strips on the wings legs ankle guards and the dual color along the body of the vf. The chip is outlined with a circle I already have a semi WIP on my blog which I have set up with a few friends just for kicks and anything gunpla and random related so check it out if your interested although the vf WIP will be slow.

I really hate the green on the Luca so I'm planning to paint it differently but atm I have no idea what scheme to go with. I'm trying to keep it different to the rest of the other kits as much as possible and already have a black and gold planned for another vf so any ideas would rock.

I finally got my hands on the 1/72 mihail, luca and the super parts but don't know when I'll be starting on them. Maybe they'll end up collecting dust for a few months first lawl. Also considering giving Luca a different paint scheme since the pastel green is such a turn off. If you guys can suggest some nice colors that would be awesome.

Yeah that's it. I was too lazy to check if there was a thread up cos and I have this thread auto load up when I open my browser and when I saw it the urge to tell others took over hard.

this is probably off topic but if you go over to ngee khiong theres 1/1 SDF Hikaru, Roy and Max's helmets. I believe this is too epic not to post into this thread.

I highly doubt Bandai will release a PG kit outside of the gunpla range. It took them a couple of years since the last PG ( about 5 i think ) and then they released the PG astray this march and they recycled like 80% of the parts from the previous kit. One of the main reasoning behind PG is do they offer enough gimmicks and a believable increase in detail and difficultly to go with the jump in price which are around 18.000yen and above. If you look at the VFs the detail they have is remarkable already in terms of construction and accuracy so the next step up would be increase in size maybe a slightly better inner frame and some more hatches and whatnots but the effort is definitely not worth the trouble considering Bandai is one of the laziest bunch of ppl ever, this is a company which released the same few kits with different color variations and minor accessory changes within the space of a year *cough* zaku2 and 8 variations*cough*. Also if you look at the number of transformable MG level kits and PG kits you can tell that they shy away from transformation gimmicks but when they do it they do it right but the only transforming PG they have, the PG zeta, took way too much designing and they probably don't want to go through the same things again. And yes gundam has a larger market and therefore more predictable profit and Bandai is a company which won't do anything unless there is a considerably gain and the VFs just don't hold up as well as we would like to believe they do. On the side note I would love to see a PG VF but I won't be holding my breath and getting my hopes high.

I just used the MK2 ver 2.0 as an example but it has the same hands as the rx78 ver2.0 and GM 2.0. most of the recent gunpla models have articulated fingers and every 2.0 kit has them for sure. Still have no idea where my camera is so no pics atm.

I'll get some pics up for a comparisons of the hands later when I can find my camera but i can tell you that the zaku 2.0 hands are a lot bigger than the VF hands but something like the MK2 ver2.0 hands are perfect size and the ball joint is exactly the same. I was thinking of giving the armored ozma some left over freedom hands as well.

You can also try using some ultra fine polishing compound after you go through a couple higher number sand papers such as wet and drys and then buffer with the stuff. I'm also going to try to see if polishing compound is good for removing smudges left by panel lines and those annoying residue stuck in the fault lines that you tend to find in bigger pieces of plastic.

I'll answer your 2nd question first. The spray that I and I'm sure most people use is called Topcoat which comes in matte and gloss. There are many other sprays which does the same thing but if you're not sure what to get just grab a bottle of Mr Hobby Topcoat. The joints are very durable due to them being ABS plastic but vigorous playing tend to wear them out somewhat but I have not noticed any lose in strength in my Alto which i got during the initial batch and even if the joints become loose you can always give the joint pegs and holes a nice coat of topcoat lawl or thin layer of PVA glue to stiffen the plastic again before you stick them back into one another.

I also noticed that in the prototype pics the battroid is sporting some awesome closed fists. Definitely thrown in to do the full missile burst pose and is more naturally looking than the hands we have now. And would it be too greedy to ask for a fold booster and some speakers for Mihail?

http://shop.hobbyist-inc.com/online/detail...e=4543112587657 prototype pics of the armored ozma for those who hasn't seen it yet. I'm drooling to be honest.

Hey guys I was just wondering how you would effectively mask the radar dish on Luca's VF to paint the white edges. I normally use the tapes but can already see the agony I would be in and have also considered using blu tac but then the edges are not as sharp and defined. At the moment nothing is coming to mind so please help enlighten a fellow model enthusiast.

I was going to post this in the 1/72 thread but it was closed but if you guys haven't checked it yet, Ngee Khiong has posted a pic about the 1/72 armored ozma. Theres nothing to look at but a drop down menu in Bandai's website with the 1/72 listed.