HWR MKII Posted December 1, 2008 Posted December 1, 2008 Just ordered this kit from Starship Modeler. Order was confirmed today so i should have the kit in my hands by thursday. Having followed up with the Badai thread i believe there are no big issues with it. If anyone else has input before i dig into it let me know. Im also going to try usig WM Chengs magnet tricks to tighten things up a bit. Im not a fan of bandai Kits in all honestly. But i like Valks and the Ozma one was the only one available. All teh Alto variants are sold out. Even though the reviews of the VF-25 kits have been nice overall there are some areas i may feel inclined to detail up more. Quote
HWR MKII Posted December 2, 2008 Author Posted December 2, 2008 Just ordered this kit from Starship Modeler. Order was confirmed today so i should have the kit in my hands by thursday. Having followed up with the Badai thread i believe there are no big issues with it. If anyone else has input before i dig into it let me know. Im also going to try usig WM Chengs magnet tricks to tighten things up a bit. Im not a fan of bandai Kits in all honestly. But i like Valks and the Ozma one was the only one available. All teh Alto variants are sold out. Even though the reviews of the VF-25 kits have been nice overall there are some areas i may feel inclined to detail up more. This will be a WIP thread. I just decided to start it early to get some prebuild feedback from those who have also built it. I have yet to see one straight from the ground up build. Usually the model is finished or it has been built then disassembled and then rebuilt. Quote
Ignacio Ocamica Posted December 2, 2008 Posted December 2, 2008 He, he, I'll be watching too!!! Quote
Dobber Posted December 2, 2008 Posted December 2, 2008 Good luck, I'll be watching too. I finished my Alto VF-25 a few weeks ago and now my VF-25S is just mocking me in my bedroom because it's a Christmas gift for me so I have to wait. I plan on building it up as a "proper" model ie completely painting it includeing the stripes....they didn't fit too well on the Alto version and had a tendacy to rip and peel during transformations (even after several clear coats!) Chris Quote
Valkyrie addict Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 nice...will be nice to see your awesome abilities on the VF, wonder if you'll go clean or weathered?, you have great weathering skills man... get ready for the fastest build up in MW... Quote
HWR MKII Posted December 3, 2008 Author Posted December 3, 2008 nice...will be nice to see your awesome abilities on the VF, wonder if you'll go clean or weathered?, you have great weathering skills man... get ready for the fastest build up in MW... Actually this wont be a very fast build. I plan on taking it one little bit at a time. But i will be going for a slightly weathered look for it. Quote
HWR MKII Posted December 4, 2008 Author Posted December 4, 2008 Well tomorrow should be the day i get the kit. I have all the frontier soundtracks and episodes ready to go and try to keep me motivated Quote
HWR MKII Posted December 4, 2008 Author Posted December 4, 2008 (edited) Ok the kit is here. First impressions are.... Impressive. This has to be some of the sharpest detail bandai i have seen yet. Usually their detail is shallow and a little soft looking to me. This has nice depth and definition. Ill need to go restock some paits before i start so expect to see the first photos sometime saturday night. I am also going to do some tests on clear coats to see which one is the most chip resistant. I dont expect the decals to give me troubles. I have my wys for making them stick now. Another thing i noticed is (unlike tamiya) Bandai clearly marks which pars are made of ABS. This is good as it lets me know when to switch adhesives and paint techniques. Most times ABS can be painted on normally but sometimes it can be slightly greasy or smooth feeling and paint wont stick well. I will be taking some liberties on colors for my own personal tastes (gunpod color). But overall will try to go for a screen look for the most part. Edited December 4, 2008 by HWR MKII Quote
electric indigo Posted December 4, 2008 Posted December 4, 2008 So you plan to build a transformable version? Quote
HWR MKII Posted December 5, 2008 Author Posted December 5, 2008 Yes i do. Im not too happy with bandais choice of format for instructions. They CAD model idea doesnt work. The contrast is so low its difficult to make out details well on them. Line drawings would have worked so much better. Quote
Savvi Posted December 5, 2008 Posted December 5, 2008 Can't wait to see your model ^^ Still wanting to get a VF-25F but the currency problems at the moment is making it costly for importing. Quote
Vostok 7 Posted December 5, 2008 Posted December 5, 2008 Yes i do. Im not too happy with bandais choice of format for instructions. They CAD model idea doesnt work. The contrast is so low its difficult to make out details well on them. Line drawings would have worked so much better. Old Bandai model instructions were linearts, but I too have noticed the switch to CAD models for the instructions in a couple of the newer Gundam models I have. I agree, makes it very very hard to make out whats going on. I have a Mega Bloks (LEGO derivative) Zaku kit that uses poor contrast CAD drawings for instructions too and it really sucks. Watching this thread because I'm interested in the new VF-25 models but want to see the nitty gritty of one before I pick it up. Vostok 7 Quote
HWR MKII Posted December 5, 2008 Author Posted December 5, 2008 (edited) Well ill be doing a nitty gritty on this. One part one step at a time. Considering the complexity it cannot be rushed. Edited December 5, 2008 by HWR MKII Quote
HWR MKII Posted December 5, 2008 Author Posted December 5, 2008 there will be on saturday. I need to get some paints first. Quote
HWR MKII Posted December 7, 2008 Author Posted December 7, 2008 Well i wasnt able to get the paints i needed today. But i did start construction on the kit. Nothing to show really that hasent been seen yet. I just got up to step 9 of the first part. This covers the whole nose and wheel well. A few notes. The clear lense that goes on the nose. Dont bother using the sticker. Just get some games workshop purple ink and color it with that. Then back it with silver. BANG nice sharp clear lenses. The grey called out in the instructions for the upper fuselage color is too light. It matches the skull decal grey. It needs to be darker so the skull can contrast like it does in the show. A slightly lightened panzer grey or gunship grey will work well for this and match the images of the CG model better. One good thing is each part can be taken one sub assembly at a time. This is what i will be doing. Tomorrow i will tear down the nose i assembled and get the paints i need monday (im off work and will have time to do it) I will have pics up then. Sorry this is taking so long guys. Im just taking this one day /one part at a time so i can get the best possible result for ya. I will have reassembly shots after paint so if you choose to paint yours you will know in advance what parts to paint what colors. Quote
Thom Posted December 7, 2008 Posted December 7, 2008 No problem about time. We all know it takes some to get something good. Thanks for the tip about the nose markers, but did you paint them on the inside, like the 'eye' piece on the head? That turned out real well on mine. Quote
edwin3060 Posted December 7, 2008 Posted December 7, 2008 About the clear parts-- do you paint/ink the front the colour you want-- green, purple etc, and then ink the back with silver? What kind of silver paint do you recommend? Quote
HWR MKII Posted December 7, 2008 Author Posted December 7, 2008 Yup ink on the outside and silver on the bottom/inside part. The silver i used is tamiya chrome silver from a bottle. Quote
edwin3060 Posted December 7, 2008 Posted December 7, 2008 Yup ink on the outside and silver on the bottom/inside part. The silver i used is tamiya chrome silver from a bottle. Thanks for the tip! Please post up pics of the finished parts! I was thinking of using this: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=250302497045 to back the parts. Do you think it would work? Quote
HWR MKII Posted December 7, 2008 Author Posted December 7, 2008 Bare metal foil could work but theres 4 pegs on the bottom of the part as well and they need to be silver. It keeps holes from showing in the finish. Also the foil may make hte part too thick it gets sandwiched between the upper nose and the anti glare panel. Only the sides show. Well i found i had the paint colors i needed here is the nose assembly mostly disassembled. I reassembled some parts so i could see where scratches may develop. Ill give them a coat of future and let that harden while at work. Then ill reassemble it tonight. The only bad seam so far is on the nose cone. But some liquid cement and a clamp with a clothes pin fixed that. Then i put some Mr Surfacer over it and wetsanded it with 1400 grit. This eliminated the seam all together. Quote
HWR MKII Posted December 7, 2008 Author Posted December 7, 2008 As for the canopy. I blended some of the same purple ink in future to tinit it then brushed it over the outside. If you paint it from the inside you run the risk of the purple pooling around the base of the attachment stubs and causing dark purple rectangles to be visible. THe effect is very very slight and will look great once the canopy frame is painted. It is wise to do this tinting with the canopy and its rear section still attached to the sprue. It will allow you to hold it better. Quote
David Hingtgen Posted December 7, 2008 Posted December 7, 2008 Was the purple-tinted Future the very first coat, or did you "Future the canopy" prior to using the tinted coat? (I've been wondering if some of my problems may be related to always Futuring the canopy first---perhaps it makes the canopy so slick that everything else after has problems going on nicely--there's nothing to "grip") Quote
HWR MKII Posted December 7, 2008 Author Posted December 7, 2008 The fuure ink mix was the only coat. The canopy in this kit is as clear as it can get. No seam down the middle or anything. Quote
HWR MKII Posted December 8, 2008 Author Posted December 8, 2008 Ok does anyone have any good shots of a VF-25 cockpit? I want to get the nose buttoned up tonight and get the future laid down to cure. Once that is done i can move on to the head. Ill probably just brush paint the head overall since the parts are so small on it. Quote
David Hingtgen Posted December 8, 2008 Posted December 8, 2008 This is the same batch of pics I sent Wm Cheng, lots of cockpit shots, plus a few various helpful shots. Quote
HWR MKII Posted December 8, 2008 Author Posted December 8, 2008 Dave to the bloody rescue. Thanks Mate! Quote
electric indigo Posted December 8, 2008 Posted December 8, 2008 Here's another useful pic in case you want to go crazy on the details. Quote
HWR MKII Posted December 9, 2008 Author Posted December 9, 2008 Daves pics were more than enough. The cockpit on this is too small to effectively detail. Plus its dark grey color under the tinted canopy will make it very difficult to see well anyway. I have the head assembled. Now i have the colors sorted out its a quite simple matter of painting the parts, letting it dry, slamming them together and giving them a coat of future. The future coating is proving pretty effective at minimizing scratches. I have color matches for the greys and am going one part at a time doing up some of the details. there is some airbrush work but alot of brush work too. The entire head was brushpainted. the parts breakdown really helped in this though. I didnt bother using the green sticker for the eye part. its molded in clear green as is. I just backed it woth silver and painted the black border on the outside. Quote
David Hingtgen Posted December 9, 2008 Posted December 9, 2008 Alto's eye piece is molded clear, not green---one of the several ways Ozma's seems to be a better kit. Quote
HWR MKII Posted December 9, 2008 Author Posted December 9, 2008 (edited) Alto's eye piece is molded clear, not green---one of the several ways Ozma's seems to be a better kit. I have heard that. Kind of like bandai took the feedback from the Alto version and went and tightened up the molds too. I havent got the the main fuselage yet but i have heard its fit has been refined some compared to the Alto version. I also hope that the dark grey in the finish will blend away the thickness of the variable gaps some. We will see. I also think a layer of paint will help slightly tighten things a bit more. Im working on the arms now. These have the classic unavoidable seam line on them. not much you can do because of the design but i have a plan for these too. The fit is good and tight and the seam should be just as easy to eliminate as it was on the nose. Ill have some shots up in a bit of one assembled arm and one assembled frame and the forearm cover parts. Edited December 9, 2008 by HWR MKII Quote
HWR MKII Posted December 9, 2008 Author Posted December 9, 2008 Heres the finished nosw and head with the arm parts still in work. The canopy is only just put in place so i can remove it for the dullcoat once the decals and wash are done. The decals will also be under a coat of future to protect them. I will not transform this kit until all layers are on. The clear reds on the head and other areas will be added after the dull coat so they will have a gloss. Other parts like the purple sensors will be masked Quote
edwin3060 Posted December 9, 2008 Posted December 9, 2008 Heres the finished nosw and head with the arm parts still in work. The canopy is only just put in place so i can remove it for the dullcoat once the decals and wash are done. The decals will also be under a coat of future to protect them. I will not transform this kit until all layers are on. The clear reds on the head and other areas will be added after the dull coat so they will have a gloss. Other parts like the purple sensors will be masked Wow I really like the purple tint that you did! What proportions of ink and thinner did you use? Quote
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