PetarB Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 Okay so I thought I should make an entry to the Macross Valkyrie Mecha Model Comp. Option 1: Fix up my VF-0D, which underwent an accident and is awaiting some TLC. It looks quite good and I know I could make it better. (easy option) Option 2: Build up my most precious kit, my VF-1 Atmospheric Booster mastered by Captain America himself, John Moscato. My precious (insert Gollum voice). Option 3: Opportunity presents itself - a VF-4 has just arrived yesterday. I reject Option 1 - too easy. Option 2 would score a lot of points just for the subject matter, and the fact that it's a such a great kit it would be relatively easy to do a decent job. But I really love this kit, and although I've started prepping it, and have done most of the VF-1 I don't want to rush it, so I put those engine bells back on the shelf and pull out the VF-4. This kit is fantastic. My inital enthusiasm is tempered a bit once I take a look at the neck join. It's not quite right, and if I sand back too much I'm going to wreck the lines. So I've added about 3 ml in neck length which will give me opportunity to smooth out those sleek lines a little better. I've dremelled quite liberally on the interior of both sides to insert a 3 cm piece of sprue, glued in with epoxy. Once this dried I packed it with milliput and squeezed the two components together so that it would fill all the hollows I've made and give some real strength to that join. I smoothed over as much as possible with alcohol, while leaving a little bump - I would rather have more stick out, so that I can lightly sand it down, than have to put more filler on later. Tomorrow I will sand it down and rescribe the lines. I've bought a hot new scriber which I can't wait to do some more work with. Now here's the challenge. I have 8 days in which to do this kit. Each day I will update this thread, and you can see if I make it. There's going to be lots of drama! Here's what's against me: 1) My mother has come over to spend the weekend with the family 2) My 2 airbrushes are broken, and parts for them are meant to arrive mid-week 3) Work is pretty full-on at the moment. Mecha Model Comp says I have 8 days, 3 hours and 23 minutes! Back to the workbench... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkx Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 I am waiting for the same kit to arrive on the mail. I will be keeping a close watch on this thread (even I have no plan yet to start building the VF-4 soon). Thanks for sharing and I wish you all the luck and may the modelling God watch over your work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie addict Posted September 23, 2007 Share Posted September 23, 2007 good luck, i'm waiting for my kits to arrived soon, but mine will take a while, hope to see your talents at its best meanwhile I'm fixing up a club-m vf-4 recast that I totally f*cked up the paintjob by rushing it and now I'm in the process of taking the paint up and resanding the damn thing, and it's taking forever, hahaha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big F Posted September 23, 2007 Share Posted September 23, 2007 I too am waiting on my one of these kits, keep up the good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetarB Posted September 23, 2007 Author Share Posted September 23, 2007 I put the two engine pods together, pinned and sanded. However the pictures turned out poorly, so I will take some more tomorrow. You could just assemble them... but I puttied, sanded, puttied sanded. They are not perfect but acceptable. Sanding's always the bit I hate most! Anyways I sanded down the large join in the main fuselage and rescribed with my new scribing tool. I was going to order one of these from Micromark or somewhere like that. Imagine my surprise when I saw one in my local hobby store! Some scribers are basically a sharp spike and make an indent into the resin/styrene. This one's a bit different. As you trace your line, it actually digs in and lifts up the resin, leaving a clean line with no ridge on either side. And it does it very lightly, so you can go over it again for a deeper/wider line. Much better than the old pin-in-vise method. I love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabe Q Posted September 23, 2007 Share Posted September 23, 2007 What brand is that scriber? It looks like just what I need. Where can I get one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetarB Posted September 23, 2007 Author Share Posted September 23, 2007 The exact model I have is detailed here... link to manufacturer. I bought mine at the hobby store - you might be able to order one in, or direct from their website link here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabe Q Posted September 23, 2007 Share Posted September 23, 2007 Thank you. It looks like you're off to a great start with the VF-4. I'll be keeping an eye on this build-up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warpaint22 Posted September 24, 2007 Share Posted September 24, 2007 Great work so far I hope it all goes well looks like you've got everything under control, and good luck in the comp! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowie165 Posted September 24, 2007 Share Posted September 24, 2007 Picked up my VF-4 today Subscribed! Looking forward to the WIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetarB Posted September 24, 2007 Author Share Posted September 24, 2007 Okay so firstly I got a call this morning to say my airbrush parts have come in... ahead of schedule! I'll pick them up later. Meanwhile I attached the rear blast deflectors on the engine nacelles. Its only looking at the photos I realise I've ignored the interiors, but - I will probably paint it flat back, and by the time the horizontal blast deflectors go in, you wont' even see em. Oh, and recutting those stretched hexagonal indents under the curve, that's going to be annoying... Anyway I've thrown the first coat of Mr Surfacer on to pick up imperfections. Yep, there are a few, but a little more judicious sanding and work and they should be ready for pinning and gluing to the fuselage. Speaking of which, I threw a quick coat of Mr Surfacer on. I like this primer for resin, it has a lot of bite for resin, and leaves a very silky finish which isn't too apparent on these photographs. Except for the base area, the sanding is okay, but I went a bit too keen on the scribed line. I really should fill and rescribe the whole thing. I'll evaluate where Im at tomorrow nite and see if I have the energy to do it. I have a surprise for the decalling in store, and it's going to take a bit of time, time wasted rescribing, and sanding... I've tackled the cockpit, but it's at a boring stage now, should be a little more interesting tomorrow. I swear, 90% of modelling always seems like prep work, then suddenly - BOOM - it all seem to come together.... See you tomorrow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big F Posted September 24, 2007 Share Posted September 24, 2007 Okay so firstly I got a call this morning to say my airbrush parts have come in... ahead of schedule! I'll pick them up later I wish mine had Ive been waiting over 2 months now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetarB Posted September 25, 2007 Author Share Posted September 25, 2007 So tonight I started by pinning the engine pods onto the fuselage with some brass rods. Actually, the moulded support isn't too bad, but just for safety's sake I thought I should pin them. Then some two part epoxy to bind them together. I let that dry, gave my wife a massage, and put on a DVD - Letters from Iwo Jima. BIG MISTAKE! Great movie to watch, bad for modelling, as it's mostly in subtitles, if you don't speak Nippon... However I peeled myself from it and started filling in the huge seams between the engine pods and the fuselage wing. I did this by rolling a thin snake of Milliput (Aves would work fine too) then liberally coating in alcohol to keep it nice and slippery and mashed it into the seam. Once it was in, I then smoothed it with the blunt rounded edge of paintbrush, once again with liberal amounts of alcohol. This means I wont need to sand much later on. So much alcohol... Hmmm, I feel very happy for some reason.... While this was going on, I had left the cockpit inserts to dry - they got a coat of Tamiya Silverleaf spraybomb. I find Silverleaf the only metal from Tamiya's sprays that actually looks like a decent metal... there's almost no 'grain' to it, unlike the rest of their spray can range. After it dries (for some reason this particular colour is touch dry in minutes) I put a wash of dark grey pastel mixed with alcohol, the rubbed it back a little. In this picture the wash has just been applied so it's still glossy. The nice thing about pastel washes is that they dry absolutely matt... if that's the effect you're after. This last picture is purely for my benefit, so it looks to me like I actually did something tonite... Mechacomp timer says I only have 4 days, 23 hours and 8 minutes. I must admit, Im slightly concerned, but I will soldier on. My goal for tomorrow will be wing assembly, first all-over base colour coat, and metallizers for the exhaust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetarB Posted September 26, 2007 Author Share Posted September 26, 2007 Well, I'd hoped to get the first all-over coat on today. I didn't even pull out the airbrush - filling and sanding kept going on... and on... and on. So I'm behind a little, but on the other hand, I did some design work on the livery. That's for later. For now... the ugly truth! Mechacomp timer: 4 days, 51 minutes. Yikes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wm cheng Posted September 26, 2007 Share Posted September 26, 2007 Fantastic work!! Don't rush it... so what if you don't make it for the competition - at least its gotten you off your butt and started on this amazing bird. Looking great so far, have fun with it - I'll definitely be watching with great interest. I've always love this design - I just wish the nose was less needle-like and more like the Hasegawa VF-1's with that characteristic droop. I wish Hasegawa would make this kit! But its looking like your model is giving them a run for their money! Keep up the great work! Wm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ignacio Ocamica Posted September 26, 2007 Share Posted September 26, 2007 Nice progress so far!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kicker773 Posted September 26, 2007 Share Posted September 26, 2007 awesome, just awesome!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetarB Posted September 27, 2007 Author Share Posted September 27, 2007 (edited) Bad News and good news. Bad news... I wont be entering this lovely lump of resin into the competition. The reason is the good news, we just got a new account at my studio, and I am staying back tonite and tomorrow to push through a project. Since I am a partner, it's a great financial boost (ie, now I can afford that FineMolds Millenium Falcon I want) but I don't have time this weekend now to complete the VF-4. I will probably have it finished by next weekend though. With the larger timeframe, I will probably go back and clean up a few more lines, etc. Just like to say props to Gamera Baenre and Tetsujin for organising the comp, I know these things are a lot of work. Come on people, go and enter your Valkyries... there are a lot of talented Macross fans on this board! Thanks for watching, back in a few days. Edited September 27, 2007 by PetarB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetarB Posted October 18, 2007 Author Share Posted October 18, 2007 Well it's obviously a longer than a few days. Lots of stuff happening in life at the moment... ...anyway, I spared you the boring bits, which basically consisted of many fifteen minute sessions grabbed here and there of putty, let dry, sand. Then the other day I got a tube of Tamiya Light-Curing putty. Praise to Jesus Christ, Bodhisatva, Vishu and forest Kodama! This stuff rocks. Basically you put it on, away from sunlight, in a gloomy room. Spread it around. Walk outside into sunlight and it cures. In about a minute. I love it! After all filling and sanding, I used my new scriber to re-etch some lines. You can see here the little corkscrews of resin it pulls out, unlike other scribers I've used. I use Dymo label tape to give a straight line. Accidents do happen though...! Anyway here she is after 4 coats of white. I'm going to be putting a couple more on. Some of you might notice that the scribed panel lines are quite deep. A little too deep. If I wasn't so impatient I'd find some way to semi-fill them, but a few coats seemed as good a solution as any. I love the shape of this airframe. The more I look at it the more I like it. I have a non-canon, but very, very Macross plan for decals and trims, but the basecoat will be this white. The next part will be fun, but might be a few days until the next update. Till then, sayonara! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy007 Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 looks great so far! good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie addict Posted November 8, 2007 Share Posted November 8, 2007 looks amazing slow and steady gets the job done waiting for your custom scheme...by the effort you put, I know it's gonna look great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warpaint22 Posted November 8, 2007 Share Posted November 8, 2007 Very impressive and I have to agree that it's one of the nicest VF's in figher mode. Can't wait to see your custom decal design. Awesome work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetarB Posted November 11, 2007 Author Share Posted November 11, 2007 I just got back from a spare-of-the-moment couple of weeks in Japan yesterday. Spent quite a bit of my leisure time there hunting down rare resin, but didn't find much. Got a Swordfish II, The Macross 'Monster' model (was there only one?) and a few rare Orguss pieces. However, I swagged a bundle of Kotobukiya option parts from Yellow Submarine, which will replace the verniers supplied with the original resin kit for this baby. I hope to post some updates next weekend. I have a feeling this week's evening will be spent catching up on 'real' work...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
promethuem5 Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 You shoulda splurged for some turned aluminum Adler's Nest engine nozzles ... seriously tho, those things are amazing. Can't wait to see how it looks with some newer verniers and details either way... and then paint! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MechTech Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 Ions ago I had the vinyl kit and loved it. A dream trip to Japan, I'd love that too! Keep up the great work. - MT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetarB Posted November 21, 2007 Author Share Posted November 21, 2007 (edited) Here's a lo-res file of few of the custom decals I finalised last night. I couldn't find the Alder's nest stuff or I would have got some. Apologies for the slow progress, it's such a busy time of year, and I am also now working on another model project, which I alternate with this one. Just learned to put attachments into the website, rather than link to to large files... should go easier on those will low bandwidth. Edited November 21, 2007 by PetarB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
promethuem5 Posted November 22, 2007 Share Posted November 22, 2007 Wow! Those decals look great. Can't wait to see this finished... I buy Adler's Nest stuff from HLJ in case you were still curious... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowie165 Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 I gotta saw "Wow!" as well. Nice decals! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowie165 Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 Wow! Those decals look great. Can't wait to see this finished... I buy Adler's Nest stuff from HLJ in case you were still curious... Do you have an item number please? I browsed HLJ but only found 1/35 armour accessories. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big F Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 Those decals look great, just out of interest what did you use to make em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skull-1 Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 Looking good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MechTech Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 Nice job on the decal graphics! - MT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie addict Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 can't wait to see it...hurry up man!! hehehe I need to learn to make decals, hehehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetarB Posted November 25, 2007 Author Share Posted November 25, 2007 (edited) I use Adobe Illustrator to create the decals. By trade I am an art director for a design studio, so I know how to get a good result out of this sort of thing. Having said this, I printed the decals out... and wasted about $10 in decal paper. I used decal paper for a laser printer in my inkjet. D-OH! I didn't realise until they came out poorly. I did a test print on ordinary inkjet paper and they looked awesome, but I need to get some more inkjet decal paper now, unfortunately. Anyway I pressed ahead and did all the base colours on the fuselage with my airbrush and tamiya acrylics, which I quite happy with. More pics below! You can see I'm going for a non-canon look, but it still should look pretty 'Macross'ish. As I've worked on this I've envisioned another colour scheme, distinctly more 'military' which I'd like to do, so I am going to order another one. Hopefully the next update should have all the decals on. Edited November 25, 2007 by PetarB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warpaint22 Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Very nice, love the colours. Look forward to seeing the decals on the fighter. Looks fantastic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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