Rock Posted April 20 Share Posted April 20 (edited) Hello, today I am starting on my VF-1A "5Grand" A special livery used to celebrate the 5000th Valkyrie to cross the production line. The livery is a 1-off and ultimately painted over before the unit was sent into combat. This 'should be' a quick mental health build in between workings of a much larger project I'm focusing on. It will also serve a a test bed for trying out a few new finish techniques in the paint department, and a few little other things along the way! Lets start with what makes run of the mill VF-1a kit special... the decals! Beautifully printed white, navy blue and gold! A very clean and striking color combo that would make even commander Golg Boddole Zer blush! It's a very modern color way than what is traditionally seen on the VF-1 Valkyrie. The larger sections of color breaking up more of the white really modernize the VF-1 and helped me appreciate it more without the fancy packs. The large color splash around the cockpit calling to a more IRL NAVY aircraft such as VF-123 Black Lions' F-14D! I adore this color combo, it's a shame the decals (mostly) won't be used! Masking hell it is, Yack! Quick look a Hidetaka Tenjin's lovely artwork for the kit. I really want to mimic the textures used in his artwork here, so a weathered... yet clean build it is! Semigloss sheen metallic weathering, a new one for me. The main reason I don't want to use the decals is the navy blue. The decals are just not the look I'm going for. In Tenjin's artwork, the blue gives off a almost candy finish with depth projecting a similar refraction as the gold does. The decals just look dead or flat, even when painted on Hasegawa's sample build. It looks okay in 1/72, but at 1/48 we can do better! That however, is still a ways away, not to get ahead of ourselves. --- Starting with the cockpit. Everything fit smoothly with minimal issues. My main focus was getting the assemblies together cleanly and glued. I really want to be able to go minimal on the filler, primers and paints as Hasegawa's nearly 10 year old kit is already not a sharply molded as I hoped. The original 1/48 VF-1a [Vermillion] was released in 2010 after all. I was a bit worried the TV version of Hikaru/Pilot wasn't going to fit well due to it's age. With a bit of trimming and finesse, I was able to get the extremities where they needed to rest in the seat and the flight-stick didn't end up too out of place. The TV version of the pilot. I think this is probably the only time I'll be building a non-DYRL pilot so I feel happy leaving him as-is. I think the only adjustments I'll be making is adding some definition to his arms/legs and fabricating a harness. I'm unsure if I'll go for the traditional pilot colors or try to spice it up to match the 5grand livery! For the front controls console, I found it easiest to build it on the runner. I've pretty much left the cockpit in 3 assemblies. The pilot/seat, the cockpit tub, and the front display. This is enough to allow me to detail it without having too many loose parts. With a closed cockpit build, it doesn't need to be 10/10 anyways. Unsure how I'll approach the cockpit going forward. I do have a set of Hase's photo etch, but do still intend to keep them for the Super/Strike build whenever I get to it. I think I may take a simpler approach and just rely on detail painting and a little bit of freehand scratch-building modification to make it a bit more interesting. I've yet to pull up references from the 1/20 kits or artwork so we'll see. Don't touch that dial! Edited April 20 by Rock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urashiman Posted April 20 Share Posted April 20 Hehe, cool man! I wonder: why is there the joystick in the middle? I always thought the stick is on the right hand panel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big s Posted April 20 Share Posted April 20 6 hours ago, Urashiman said: Hehe, cool man! I wonder: why is there the joystick in the middle? I always thought the stick is on the right hand panel. If you notice, it’s not connected. Hikaru broke it and he’s gonna crash……..again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvmacross Posted April 20 Share Posted April 20 7 hours ago, Urashiman said: I wonder: why is there the joystick in the middle? I always thought the stick is on the right hand panel. The TV SDF-1 on the boxart should give you a clue... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pengbuzz Posted April 20 Share Posted April 20 3 hours ago, jvmacross said: The TV SDF-1 on the boxart should give you a clue... We've never noticed a joystick on the SDF-1, so I'm afraid you've lost us there. 🙄 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvmacross Posted April 20 Share Posted April 20 2 hours ago, pengbuzz said: We've never noticed a joystick on the SDF-1, so I'm afraid you've lost us there. 🙄 The episode where Gloval steers the SDF-1 with the joystick and eludes thousands of Zentran missiles was arguably the best episode of the series.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urashiman Posted April 20 Share Posted April 20 I like how everyone is having fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bolt Posted April 20 Share Posted April 20 18 hours ago, Rock said: Hello, today I am starting on my VF-1A "5Grand" A special livery used to celebrate the 5000th Valkyrie to cross the production line. The livery is a 1-off and ultimately painted over before the unit was sent into combat. This 'should be' a quick mental health build in between workings of a much larger project I'm focusing on. It will also serve a a test bed for trying out a few new finish techniques in the paint department, and a few little other things along the way! Lets start with what makes run of the mill VF-1a kit special... the decals! Beautifully printed white, navy blue and gold! A very clean and striking color combo that would make even commander Golg Boddole Zer blush! It's a very modern color way than what is traditionally seen on the VF-1 Valkyrie. The larger sections of color breaking up more of the white really modernize the VF-1 and helped me appreciate it more without the fancy packs. The large color splash around the cockpit calling to a more IRL NAVY aircraft such as VF-123 Black Lions' F-14D! I adore this color combo, it's a shame the decals (mostly) won't be used! Masking hell it is, Yack! Quick look a Hidetaka Tenjin's lovely artwork for the kit. I really want to mimic the textures used in his artwork here, so a weathered... yet clean build it is! Semigloss sheen metallic weathering, a new one for me. The main reason I don't want to use the decals is the navy blue. The decals are just not the look I'm going for. In Tenjin's artwork, the blue gives off a almost candy finish with depth projecting a similar refraction as the gold does. The decals just look dead or flat, even when painted on Hasegawa's sample build. It looks okay in 1/72, but at 1/48 we can do better! That however, is still a ways away, not to get ahead of ourselves. --- Starting with the cockpit. Everything fit smoothly with minimal issues. My main focus was getting the assemblies together cleanly and glued. I really want to be able to go minimal on the filler, primers and paints as Hasegawa's nearly 10 year old kit is already not a sharply molded as I hoped. The original 1/48 VF-1a [Vermillion] was released in 2010 after all. I was a bit worried the TV version of Hikaru/Pilot wasn't going to fit well due to it's age. With a bit of trimming and finesse, I was able to get the extremities where they needed to rest in the seat and the flight-stick didn't end up too out of place. The TV version of the pilot. I think this is probably the only time I'll be building a non-DYRL pilot so I feel happy leaving him as-is. I think the only adjustments I'll be making is adding some definition to his arms/legs and fabricating a harness. I'm unsure if I'll go for the traditional pilot colors or try to spice it up to match the 5grand livery! For the front controls console, I found it easiest to build it on the runner. I've pretty much left the cockpit in 3 assemblies. The pilot/seat, the cockpit tub, and the front display. This is enough to allow me to detail it without having too many loose parts. With a closed cockpit build, it doesn't need to be 10/10 anyways. Unsure how I'll approach the cockpit going forward. I do have a set of Hase's photo etch, but do still intend to keep them for the Super/Strike build whenever I get to it. I think I may take a simpler approach and just rely on detail painting and a little bit of freehand scratch-building modification to make it a bit more interesting. I've yet to pull up references from the 1/20 kits or artwork so we'll see. Don't touch that dial! Awesome! Looking forward to more ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock Posted April 21 Author Share Posted April 21 (edited) On 4/20/2024 at 2:23 AM, Urashiman said: Hehe, cool man! I wonder: why is there the joystick in the middle? I always thought the stick is on the right hand panel. DYRL VS TV. TV also has a 3-piece console screen and a physical HUD instead of everything being projected on the canopy/helmet directly. -- Let the game begin. I couldn't find many good references for the cockpit. In SDFM it varied greatly from scene to scene. I just cherry picked a few key details from the line art to give the eye something interesting. Leftover gunpla, kotobukiya bits, copper wire, and metal HiQ parts proved useful. I was really concerned about filling the dead space around the rear of the seat. The pilot got a little trimming to define the legs and upper arms a bit more, and a little Mr. Disolved Putty was brushed onto the joints to hide the seams. I've been relying on this product a bit more than Mr. Surfacer 500 brushed out of the bottle. For small pinpoint applications it goes down smoother and sands quicker. The shoulder seam received a little bit more of a liberal application because this pilot has been hitting the gym! Afterwards off to a coat of Mr. Surfacer 1500 and a quick check to make sure nothing would get in the way of the nose halves sealing. All good... though the panel lines on the 2 halves conveniently don't meet. For later. Now onto colors.l! I decided to go with the OOB pilot colors. I used Mr. Color 328 for the blue. This is the same blue that is to be used on the valkyrie's markings. For the pilot, I really like the color. I'm trying out a new (to me) product. Micromark's Micro Mask! I tend to use Mr. Masking Sol Neo but, have never been too fond of using it for small areas as it tends to have elasticity. That same latex-like elasticity fights you during toothpick and brush applications. Micro Mask is easier to apply with a thinner consistency closer to dish soap. Anyways, the top of the helmet was masked up and a quick spray of of Mr. Color's 311 white was applied. It's an off-white (yellow/tan + white) that is recommended to use on the body of the valkyrie too. This is my first time seeing the 2 colors together in person. The cockpit was painted with Mr. Color 13, letting some of the black primer show through for the shadows towards the bottom. I wanted to see if the decals were even worth attempting... even with Solveset, they were not. However, they did give me a taste of the direction I would end up heading. Having the bold colored decals on the gray really helped sell the direction I wanted to take with the cockpit's colors. A very early SDFM inspired scheme focusing on bold contrasting primary colors. A nice break from the metallic paints I've been using for everything lately. So, I grabbed the brush, toothpick, and began basing in my color selections. Some trained bridge bunnies may notice that some areas not fully painted in. This is because I am only concerned with getting the basic down before seeing what will end up hidden when I get around to panel lining and washes. I'm debating whether to try a blue or green filter over the aircraft gray to make it look more like the animation's coloring. Not sure if that will clash with what's to come. Top left! Edited April 21 by Rock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urashiman Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 That is a sweet looking cockpit Keep up the good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock Posted April 25 Author Share Posted April 25 Not much movement. Got the initial wash done and have continued to sharpen up the cockpit. Everything else is a little more complicated... I hand brushed my base colors onto the pilot. The Micro Mask masking film was a total bust, the edges came out horribly. (Just look at the top back of the helmet.) Going forward I will continue hand painting the details on the suit and try to sharpen everything up. I imagine I'll then do another wash, spray a flat coat, drybrush over everything, and a 2k gloss coating on the the helmet. I want to respray the gold bits to help even them out and see if I can get them to pop a bit more. For the visor I used a Moltov chrome paint pen. I did not get a very good result. I don't really feel like masking the visor off but, I think I will have to redo the chrome with the airbrush and then apply a candy blue/green for the tint. I do have some HiQParts aurora film that is commonly used on camera lens and eye details for Gundam model kits that I've also wanted to try, I'm not sure if I can cleanly apply it to such a small convex shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock Posted April 25 Author Share Posted April 25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goodman Models Posted April 25 Share Posted April 25 Looks great so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToyTalk3D Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 Cockpit is highly detailed, nice 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock Posted Sunday at 05:22 AM Author Share Posted Sunday at 05:22 AM Aurora film was a miss, could only find Mirage and regular green films. Ordered some blue mirage that should be here next week! Glossing over the clear parts, the next step was the nose. Sadly, as I hinted before, the 2 halves simply were a miss. Therefore some putty/sanding work was needed to get the parts aligned. I used Tritool's PE scribing saws to restore the panel lines before a final round of Mr. Surfacer 1500 was sprayed and imperfections were checked. A final wet sand using 600 grit was completed. From here I straight assembled the nose's remaing details, landing gear and bay doors. Everything nicely fitted and glued with the exception of the landing gear leg itself so I can paint/detail the bay at a later date. Plamax nose cone anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock Posted yesterday at 03:03 AM Author Share Posted yesterday at 03:03 AM Not feeling the chrome, I repainted the helmet's visor lightly with some titanium. I was hoping for a better finish similar to the irridecent look of a modern F35 pilot's helmet. Better but, not quite there. Then the HiQ Parts' Aurora Blue film I was waiting for showed up! I then went to applying the film. If your wondering what this product is like, picture a piece of clear scotch tape with an effect on it. Anyways, Aurora Blue to visor, and Aurora Green to the heads up display! Aurora films are transparent when viewed head on, but have a iridescent-like color sheen when viewed from an angle. It's not as noticeable as the Mirage series of films which slightly change color, and even harder to photograph. Let's try! With that done there is just one more task left to get the glass down on the bird... In typical fashion, our pilot is sitting just a bit too high to get the canopy into place! An ass-ectomy operation was needed! And with that, (with some help of Ultra Glue,) The canopy is sealed! I went with the more bubble-shaped of the 2 options included with the kit... the one with the giant mold line down the middle. Guess what we'll be fixing next time?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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