wm cheng Posted January 25, 2006 Posted January 25, 2006 (edited) Hi all, Well... Christmas/New Years holiday craziness has finally subsided. After a little hiatus, I finally got back to finishing up this amazing resin Launch Arm and base by our very own Gundamhead & Myersjessee. If you haven't bought yours yet, then hurry up; http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...3&hl=launch+arm I also created a buildup thread here; http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...6&hl=launch+arm that outlines my process with this baby! I wanted to make a stand for it so that it would be free-standing instead of being hung on a wall or placed flat on a table so that the arm and valkyrie are perpendicular. I'll start with a few final workbench photos that I'm pretty proud of - unfortunately, I never got these cool angles again when it was time to properly take photos of the completed kit. (The Max VF-1A super was completed a few years ago, and that build up thread unfortunately is locked away or lost on the old MacrossWorld boards for the moment) Edited January 26, 2006 by wm cheng Quote
wm cheng Posted January 25, 2006 Author Posted January 25, 2006 Hmm... those small click to enlarge thumbnails doesn't seem to have the old impact of the old boards where you'd see the large post (although I've resized them down to 1024x768). Here's just the resin kit (this is what you get without the Valk) - minus my work of course ! Quote
wm cheng Posted January 25, 2006 Author Posted January 25, 2006 I did say finished... sort of... You may notice that the signal lights themselves are not done yet, I have the silver undercoat for the three big squares, which I will finish with a blue clear coat over top and cover it with windex for a lens effect. However, I am still going to try to replicate all the little red and white graphics on the side paddles of the signal lights at some point with decals - but that may be a bit away. Quote
jardann Posted January 25, 2006 Posted January 25, 2006 Just plain awesome! I can't wait to see your stand configuration. Thanks for sharing so much of your talent with us on these boards. Quote
wm cheng Posted January 26, 2006 Author Posted January 26, 2006 Here are some close ups of the Valkyrie itself and the launch arm claw release mechanism. Quote
wm cheng Posted January 26, 2006 Author Posted January 26, 2006 Okay here are the stand pictures I took today. Its very simple, I went to Home Depot and bought a 1/8" thick aluminum flatbar. Aluminum is a good metal to use since I can display it bare finished without having to paint it, also its a non-ferrous metal (without iron) so its soft enough to use woodworking tools on it. I used a chopsaw to cut the flat bar down and a drill to drill out the back to allow two screws through to attach to the resin base . You can see in the photo behind, I have four washers between the flatbar and screw, basically I didn't have screws short/shallow enough to not poke through on the good side of the resin base, so I used the washers as spacers to back the screw out so they can't been seen from the front. I also put the flatbar in visegrips between two blocks of hardwood to get a nice clean bend at the desired angle. And thats it!! The new photos were taken with available diffused/cloudy daylight against black foamcore boards (everyone wanted a black backgound!). Quote
wm cheng Posted January 26, 2006 Author Posted January 26, 2006 And finally some closeups against a dark background. Thanks for tuning in... now I want to see what you guy all do with your launch arms! The no-brainer would be to scratch build a full hanger interior and put the launch arm on a retractable rail (like a kitchen drawer bearings) but I was too anxious to get this built to go into all that scratchbuilding. But I know someone here is crazy enough... Now its back to the Boosters... Quote
neptunesurvey Posted January 26, 2006 Posted January 26, 2006 Very nice wm cheng. Another masterpiece by the great one. Quote
Gundamhead Posted January 26, 2006 Posted January 26, 2006 Excellent display idea! Beautiful work! Mine is about 3/4 done, I just have some paint work on my base, then I promise some pictures. Quote
Zinjo Posted January 26, 2006 Posted January 26, 2006 Excellent display idea! Beautiful work!   Mine is about 3/4 done, I just have some paint work on my base, then I promise some pictures. 364195[/snapback] SWEET! Quote
Gabe Q Posted January 26, 2006 Posted January 26, 2006 There are no words to convey just how beautiful your work is to me. Thank you. Quote
Less than Super Ostrich Posted January 26, 2006 Posted January 26, 2006 wow. great stuff, billy. sheesh... and they used to call Walter Payton... Sweetness. Much more fitting for Master Cheng. Quote
honneamise Posted January 26, 2006 Posted January 26, 2006 wm cheng this is great work!!!! I looked at the pictures and my first thought was "this is how Macross looked like if it was REAL"!! I´ve seen many well built models but this is way above it. Quote
Guest Bromgrev Posted January 26, 2006 Posted January 26, 2006 Absolutely outstanding workmanship, wm cheng! I'm going to stop looking now, before I cry ... Quote
AlphaHX Posted January 26, 2006 Posted January 26, 2006 Absolutely outstanding workmanship, wm cheng! I'm going to stop looking now, before I cry ... 364377[/snapback] I'm already crying... *sniff*. It's... so... beautiful... *sniff*. Quote
Kylwell Posted January 26, 2006 Posted January 26, 2006 dang....that' sweet. My plan (yes, I have a plan) is to mount a short piece of angle to the bottom with some heavy weight on the bottom and then build a box to cover it all. I know a place where I can get soem tungsten shot that should work well enough as a counterweight. Quote
mechaban Posted January 27, 2006 Posted January 27, 2006 And finally some closeups against a dark background. Thanks for tuning in... now I want to see what you guy all do with your launch arms! The no-brainer would be to scratch build a full hanger interior and put the launch arm on a retractable rail (like a kitchen drawer bearings) but I was too anxious to get this built to go into all that scratchbuilding. But I know someone here is crazy enough... Now its back to the Boosters... 364161[/snapback] Someone need to Photoshop one of these and put some stars in there. Quote
nightmareB4macross Posted January 27, 2006 Posted January 27, 2006 dang....that' sweet.My plan (yes, I have a plan) is to mount a short piece of angle to the bottom with some heavy weight on the bottom and then build a box to cover it all. I know a place where I can get soem tungsten shot that should work well enough as a counterweight. 364482[/snapback] Stop planning and get to building. *Seriously, excellent build, WM. Quote
Spatula Posted February 2, 2006 Posted February 2, 2006 Okay, I want to quit my job and start modeling full time. Oh wait, where all ma money! >_> Maybe I could make a living off of this? No, Cheng's probably doing that now! Quote
wm cheng Posted February 2, 2006 Author Posted February 2, 2006 Okay, I want to quit my job and start modeling full time. Oh wait, where all ma money! >_>Maybe I could make a living off of this? No, Cheng's probably doing that now! 365952[/snapback] I WISH!! Actually got a real job now that actually pays money, so the boosters might be on the slow burner now... Quote
wm cheng Posted March 28, 2006 Author Posted March 28, 2006 Finally finished the graphics for the signal arm paddles. I have posted them for download in my build-up thread! http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...ic=16726&st=200 Good luck... now I want to see everybody else's launch arm models. Quote
HWR MKII Posted March 28, 2006 Posted March 28, 2006 (edited) Ok WM take the DYRL screencap off and show us the real pic of it......oh wait a minute Edited March 28, 2006 by HWR MKII Quote
to177 Posted April 16, 2006 Posted April 16, 2006 Always enjoy seeing another one of your masterpiece... great work! to177 Quote
Gundamhead Posted April 19, 2006 Posted April 19, 2006 I added a few more pics to mine. It's in the other thread somewhere. http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/thewildkingd...r=/d371&.src=ph Quote
Myersjessee Posted April 19, 2006 Posted April 19, 2006 I added a few more pics to mine. It's in the other thread somewhere.http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/thewildkingd...r=/d371&.src=ph 392166[/snapback] WOW! Thats perty!!!! Quote
specr0101 Posted April 20, 2006 Posted April 20, 2006 What Bandai kit did you source the reactor bombs from? BTW, very clean job! Quote
HWR MKII Posted April 20, 2006 Posted April 20, 2006 the weapons come in a seperate set by Hasegawa. Quote
specr0101 Posted April 20, 2006 Posted April 20, 2006 Actually, the ones he has mounted are not Hasegawa ones. They are a bit smaller and mounted in pairs. Quote
Gundamhead Posted April 20, 2006 Posted April 20, 2006 (edited) The pair is scratchbuilt, and the boxes are Hasagawa. I re-used some missiles I had made for my old 1/72 Imai Variable Super/Strike VF-1 set. (Pre Hasagawa days). There's been a years old controversy about the smaller pairs not really being 'official', but pre hasagawa they were more or less accepted. There are a few shots of VF with considerabley smaller reactor bombs that appear to be mounted sharing a pylon. I don't believe there is lineart, or an official name, but the Ultimate 1/48 VF-1 includes them along with smaller box missiles too, so I guess I'm not the only fan of them left. On a similar tangent, I had also scratchbuilt the Fire Retardant missiles Max and Millia used. I'm not sure where they got to though. They are official though, there's lineart for them. I had an idea for a fire fighter VF, but got stumped on the gunpod. Then I was going to do a Max and Millia ready for take off 'armed' with them and date the stand Christmas Eve 20?? Rescue (I forget the year) Edited April 20, 2006 by Gundamhead Quote
specr0101 Posted April 20, 2006 Posted April 20, 2006 How many missles come with the 1/72 Imai kit? Looks like I need to search Ebay now...Thanks! Quote
Gundamhead Posted April 20, 2006 Posted April 20, 2006 The only missiles they ever made before Hasagawa were the atmosheric missiles. You don't have to Ebay. (You know, the 3 per pylon bunch). The parts I used was of my own making. I mastered a resin set of weapons and super armor that let you convert any of Imai's (Bandai) 1/72 Variables into the Super/strike version, while still leaving it variable. I took some of those old missiles I had made and redid them for this Arm. So long explanation short, they're scratchbuilt. How many missles come with the 1/72 Imai kit? Looks like I need to search Ebay now...Thanks! 392541[/snapback] Quote
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