Chronocidal

Toy Story NOTHING... that looks like a photo from off a shelf!! O_O!!! I really should use Rhino for more than polygon modeling... How on earth do you get those complex surfaces so smooth??? I always end up with ridiculous distortions.

Hehe... I've got fond memories of that plane.. I think I've still got a picture somewhere of myself at about age 4 standing under the engines. Btw, as another size comparison, I've got a 1/72 scale kit of the XB-70 under my bed.. it's three feet long. A 1/48th kit would easily be four and a half feet long (I've actually seen one.. vacuuform kit, very rare and pretty expensive). VERY big plane.

Agreed... plus, I think the colors in that magazine pic are better as well. But that little catapult hook up on the landing gear is still colored..

There really isn't anything keeping you from buying a set of strike armor if you get the -1J, no. All the Valks are identical, and can use the armor (as far as I know). There are three main differences between the separate strike parts and the ones that come with the VF-1J. Mainly, the VF-1J parts are more of a green color to match the tv show, the arm armor is a little different shape, and it doesn't include the extra part to replace one of the booster launchers with the beam cannon. If you're not at all concerned with accuracy to the show, and want the strike cannon, go ahead and get the strike armor separately, then buy the Valk of your choice to put it on. Personally, I went ahead and got the -1J with the armor...Besides the uniqueness of the set, I figured if I was going to just get one 1/48th, I might as well save on shipping, and get the whole thing at once. But that may change depending on if I get a good paying job this summer. I'd certainly like to have a strike -1S to display as well.

Whoa... K, I've had that space shuttle for years... never cared what his name is... but wow. Spay-C??? It's still in pretty good condition actually... I always wanted the F-15 too, but they stopped making them before I knew what money was. I never watched any of those shows, except for MASK, though... Three things got me hooked on that, mainly, Switchblade the helicopter/jet (coolest thing I'd seen at the time), Thunderhawk (the flying car that made me believe at age 5 that ALL cars with gull-wing doors could fly), and that R2-D2 knockoff T-Bob. I actually have some rather fond memories of that show.. must've led me to build an incredible amount of transforming vehicles with Legos.

Personally, I don't really care for the Bandai sculpt of the VF-19, otherwise I would've looked into getting one a long time ago.. I think it's nearly a crime that they made the fighter mode so stubby. The nose should easily be another inch or two long. It's not a bad design otherwise, but I guess that's what they had to do to give it a perfect transformation.

Ahhh, k, thanks for clearing that up.

K, I don't know if anyone else noticed this, or thinks that it's odd.. but when did HG start selling the original Japanese SDF Macross series? MACROSS DVD Complete Set Maybe I'm out of the loop, but why would HG be selling the AnimEigo dvd set? And besides that, what's up with them selling Mari Iijima's "Right Now" album?? Sorry if I missed something here, but this makes it seem to me that suddenly they're doing a whole lot to promote the original Macross, rather than Robotech...

Good to hear. I'm looking forward to seeing a 1/48th VF-4.

Actually, there's another thread here just about that topic, look for "Brother can you spare a mesh?"... I'm working on a nice YF-19 model to use, modeled after the Hasegawa kit.. that would probably be ideal.

Actually, sometimes it's easier to make the model before the blueprints. A lot of times, I've just started building from concept art, without ever really defining each and every detail. It makes the modeling process easier, since you're not concerned with accuracy so much as making it look good. I've made entire 3d models in a couple of days from a couple of sketches, but it sometimes takes me weeks to duplicate a set of bluprints. It may just be my way of modeling, but I think it's easier to model if you leave some room for on the spot creativity.

I'd say do the CG model first, before assembling too much of the model. It's easier to see how to make the major assemblies before you put all the parts together. Btw, any chance you can scan the instructions for the bottom view? That usually helps quite a bit, since even a front and side view won't reveal how all the underside detail works.

Hmm.. while on the subject, how hard would it be for you to reduce poly-count on that mesh? If you could get it in the range of about 8000-10000 polies, it'd be a good candidate for MS Flight Sim. But I digress... Yes, it probably would be best to leave it as LWO.. in my experience, detail always gets lost in conversions. But if I'm not mistaken, it may take some modification to make that mesh usable for the process Cobywan's describing.

Ditto, thank you... I'm gonna save this away for a Flight Sim mesh later on... Do you have a top and bottom view though?

Actually, it's VERY easy to convert to Rhino format. You basically need the model in a form Rhino can open (and it can open a LOT of types), and then you can save it in Rhino 3dm format. I can make the conversion if you need it. I have an older version of Rhino, but it should still work. Rhino can open .lwo lightwave files natively, so I don't see a problem with that, but it can also open IGES, 3ds, dxf, and dwg files.. and I think the newer versions can open even more filetypes through plugins.

Personally, I could care less if there's an english version of the song.. it's true, you'd have to rewrite most of the lyrics to make an english translation of their meaning to fit the melody and/or rythym. What I would recommend is hunting down the instrumental version. I don't know where or what it's from, but I once found a version without any lyrics at all. It's identical to the music from the end of the movie version of Mac+, but has a solo cello part replacing Myung's voice. In my opinion, it's one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard. If anyone knows where it's from I'd like to know, but I'd also be willing to send it out to people if they want to hear it. What I'd really like, though, is a recording of the background music during some of the dialog, specifically, the piano version of "Voices." I've been trying to learn to play it, but I can't pick out the notes very well with all the dialog.

Ohhh...about the red stripes.. DON'T TAKE THEM OFF... I know I sound crazy, but they're actually supposed to be there. Tomcats have the same type of red stripe actually, I think it's some sort of warning marking for where the compressor blades start in the engine, or something like that. But it's always there. Cool customs btw.. I'd love to do this myself, but I don't think I could bring myself to take a chance of fouling up a mint $200 toy.. I'd rather customize the model kits, since they're much more affordable.

True, all we can really do is wait.. I just hope they can get a nice balance between all three modes without sacrificing the sleek look of the fighter. If they can manage that, I'll be plenty happy.

Heh.. in which scene? It changes between them.

Heheh.. what if the reason for the delay is to keep the REAL YF-19 prototype design a secret from all of us? Introducing the new Yamato YF-19- IN ALL NEW FULLLY FUNCTIONAL 1/1th SCALE!!! (thermonuclear fuel sold separately)

Actually, you can run 1280*1024 on a 17" monitor...I know I do. Nice stuff, btw. What variation of a VF-1 is that bottom one?

Oh, I think there's lots of interest.. I haven't been able to make a VF-1 model though, too busy.. but I know someone out there has one completed... Btw, are you making these models just as aircraft, or with the possibility of all three modes?

Well, if they use the design from that custom model, that'll be the landing gear.

Personally, I didn't think Peter Jackson's attire was so bad as the hairstylings of some of the group that went up for one of the other awards.. I don't remember for sure who it was, or which award it was, but I could've sworn one of the women had let her pillow do her hair for her... The only thing that I was disappointed about really was the fact that Pirates was shut out. I didn't see any of the other best actor nominated movies, so I can't judge, but I really wanted to see Depp win one for that. It is cool that LOTR made a clean sweep, but I think all the hype that built up from the three movies ended up drowning a few other deserving nominations.

Actually, the feet do extend... they're tucked deep inside the leg in fighter mode. The startup sequence when Isamu steals it shows the feet opening up and extending from a completely closed position when the engines are started. So I wouldn't worry about the sizes of the feet.. you can always just tuck them inside a little to make them look right.