mickyg

Thanks! I'm totally with you on the chore that is decalling/stickering these things up, but I just can't leave it bare. It looks way too plain without some markings on it. As I learned with the VF-25G kit I did years ago, sometimes just painting the bigger stripes and major markings is actually easier than using the stickers/decals. I've got that in mind for a good portion of it and will only use the stickers or decals where I know they're going to be easier or just make sense. The little symbols and insignias are one area that they'll definitely get the (probably) water slide decal treatment. Bandai's adhesive backed stickers are surprisingly good (very thin, stretch reasonably well) but I'm not game to try them unless there's some really good reason for using them over the water slide decals. I've experimented a bit with the two "silver" metal paints I have in my possession (Mr Metal "Stainless" and "Chrome Silver"). I found the Chrome Silver wasn't grey enough to match the stickers and the Stainless is a bit on the brown side for my liking. But, when applied over the bare plastic, the silver moulded parts look great with either and the green seems to do best with Stainless as well. So stainless is what I'm using for parts that I'll be attempting to paint up without the help of any stickers or decals. I've got pics but they're pretty boring. And my flouro overhead lights are causing me all sorts of grief with yellow bars across all my images...

Chronocidal, my thoughts exactly! But I don't have the Hs kit to compare it to. The colour moulding has surprised me the most. There's a whole silver sprue for quite a few parts but then many of the ones I'd expect to be silver are green instead. Some very easy to separate parts, in fact. The nozzle parts that sit at the back of the wing roots or parts right above the foot in Battroid, for instance. They're clearly exhausts vents of some sort and are metallic at least. I'm glad they're separate parts, as a quick steel painting session fixed them right up, but they're prime candidates for being moulded in the right colour to begin with. And very glad to hear your experience with the head part also matches my own. Those "cheek" panels are unbelievable. I keep thinking I haven't engaged the ball sufficiently, so fragile is the connection. And pushing on them harder is darned near impossible, given the way the ABS arm is attached and how thin it is. The whole area looks very fragile and I'm more than a little concerned about how it's going to look when it's done. Still, looking forward to the rest of the build and thinking about how I'll paint it up and what to use. I still have plans to use the decals or stickers in places where it makes sense. With that in mind, finding a paint to match the provided markings is going to be fun. Did you go that route with either of your Ba builds? Any tips on paint? I've got Mr Metal Color (it's apparently a lacquer but it smells like an enamel to me) and Mr Super Metal (I think?) in Steel, Chrome, Stainless Steel, and a couple of Alclad colours as well. The Mr Metal products are amazing when brush painted, too. You brush them on a bit heavy and then dry brush after a few minutes and they polish right up, creating a very nice gleaming metal sheen. I've also airbrushed them too, but found they weren't nearly as durable when done that way. Probably means I need to do a few more coats is all.

No, I didn't. I considered it but the scheme didn't really hook me I'm afraid. Too little, too late, I think. I'm surprised they haven't released the other variants of the Ba yet, along with the 31E and the rest of the super parts (for both VF and SV machines, for that matter). I don't remember the initial release schedule on the Frontier kits, so maybe it's just a patience thing. I do recall there was a lot of stuff released though.

Really enjoying the SV-262ba kit so far. It's got a few issues, like the fact that the plastic is dark and shows stress marks even when I use huge amount of care in snipping parts off the sprue, the incredibly complicated mechanisms required for it to transform causing alignment headaches, and the way the markings make me laugh when I look at how they're meant to be applied to all the various complex curves EVERYWHERE! But, as I've said many times before, these kits are fun and the engineering is outstanding! I'll figure out how to paint the silver I think. There's just too much to cover with decals or stickers and I simply don't like my chances of making it look presentable if I go that route. The canopy sticker and decal are one piece, for example. Progress so far: I'm painting the back of the red parts as without it, the red looks shapeless and detail is lost in the dark voids inside. This is Tamiya acrylic aluminium. The face and forehead get Gundam panel line black applied. Sub assemblies. On leg is done and attached so there's still a lot to do. Next will be to figure out what needs to be painted and if masking will be easy or a royal pain.

This^^ I just started on my SV-262ba yesterday and the engineering in the nose alone has got me excited. They need to get moving on the rest!

Ditto to all of the above. Would love to be in Hasegawa's shoes, with so much to choose from.

Yup. So this is where folks go who don't want to read about spoilers from leaked or hacked episodes? Guess we'll need to make it interesting...

Great find, SH9000!

That is too cool! 18 hour flight time, too. Nice!

Never saw that manual before but that's a nice bit of assembly required on that version of the kit. In fact, I didn't even know this was offered in kit form! Also, looks like the glow in the dark stuff are rub on transfer decals, not stickers and not water slide types.

This looks refreshingly different, while still carrying all the basics that make the Valkyries of Macross so recognisable! Well done on such a unique but familiar design.

Those pics are fantastic!

To piggyback on Slave IV's comment and out of respect for differing opinions and the main point of this thread:

Wow...

I'd also like to point out that in cases of the real thing, or actual canopies that I've seen on real aircraft, this rainbow effect doesn't exist. Before everyone goes and posts real photographs, let me qualify that a bit. I started taking photos of aircraft at airshows some years ago and noticed in almost all my images where I had a polariser fitted to the lens, this rainbow effect was obvious and looked really cool. I was carrying around a second camera, with no filter and to my surprise, photos of the same plane didn't exhibit this rainbow effect. In short, this rainbow tint is something you'd really only see if you've got a filter in place on a camera. It may also be visible with polarised sunglasses but I haven't tested it personally to say for sure. Honestly though, I still think it looks cool on the VF-1, without a doubt!

Ooof! $434 Aussie Dollars for this guy via HLJ...

I have had 7 pass through my halls at one point or other, one of which was in pretty "well loved" shape and I've honestly never had this issue. I must be lucky. I can see how it might be an issue, given the kits of the Yamato I've built. The clear plastic has a decidedly softer feel to it and is certainly glossy, so getting the paint to stick to it (because it's just an iridescent paint after all) certainly might have had its challenges. Either way, 7 copies I've had, from various sources and not an issue, even all these years after their release.

So torn on this one. I never wanted to like ANY of the DYRL designs when I first learned what they even were. I was completely ignorant of the film or the "alternate retelling" of the TV series until about 10 years ago. Unfortunately, actually watching the movie grew on me way faster than I would like to admit! I saw it around the time the first Yamato release was beginning to become scarce and even at RRP, there was no way I was in a position to justify the expense, even if I told myself I didn't like the design. Fast forward to present day and the price actually seems somewhat reasonable, considering all the other stratospheric costs of toys these days. But I still can't decide if it's something I need... If a TV version, with the same quality and attention to detail that this one has was announced, I know I'd bite in a heartbeat! Decisions, decisions...

Thanks wmkjr! It looks very nice, proportion-wise. Really needs to be snapped up by some manufacturer soon. The DYRL style should give any company thinking about it the motivation to give it a crack. I will be very surprised if we don't see one being produced by a well known name in the year.

Anyone got more info on the big TV SDF-1 that's pictured?

Got a link to what you're looking at? There are numerous experts around here who could probably point you in the right direction with a bit more info.

Ah, so it's a tie-down point then. Makes sense but would expect to see a lot more of them, actually.

Where did you get the marking placement guide you're using - it looks really thorough and complete and I very much like it!

Actually not sure it's from an episode. I think it's inspired from the scene where Roy is helping Hikaru in his downed VF-1D but I'm not certain. HardlyNever's avatar is what inspired it though:

Heh, you noticed that, eh? Believe it or not, it's a wire tie like you'd find holding a cable together in a retail box (iPhone charging cable, audio cable, whatever). I just stripped the black off the very small wire inside and poked it through the holes in the gun. Crude, but effective.