Darth Mingus

This kit was just confirmed to be a fall release. Price TBD. http://ngeekhiong.blogspot.com/2010/05/mg-musha-gundam-mk-ii-others-from.html Towards the bottom of the page.

For the clear parts, stay away from the types of glue that melt the plastic to bond it. I would try 5-minute epoxy or contact cement.

Whatever glue you use, make sure you test it on some sprue first. I had horrible experiences with Bandai's ABS plastic and the Humbrol liquid cement. It would dissolve the plastic like no one's business, making the ABS extremely brittle. The ABS parts literally fell apart in my hands.

This site has scans of most of the instruction booklets. Here is the link to the VF-1S/A/J: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10042285

I hate to mention this but the VF-25G should be SMS003 not SMS007. Otherwise, it is looking good.

If you have an airbrush, there is a company called Polly that makes a water based clear coat in flat, satin and gloss finishes. A bottle costs ~$4 CDN. I think they were made for model railroad building so I am not sure about the durability. My LHS is primarily into the railroads so they have an amazing selection of colors.

They are calling this thing an "Atmospheric" unit. How can covering up your leading edges on the wings make this an "atmospheric" unit? Why would something designed to look like a airplane need an "atmospheric" unit? Put all the boosters you want for a space configuration, but I would hope that the people who designed the plane version of this thing would have considered "atmospheric" flight when they designed the thing. Epic fail...or just another excuse to sell more models.

Hi guys, What you are seeing is the Laquer overcoat reacting to the paint underneath. You cannot paint lacquers over anything other than bare plastic or other lacquers because lacquers etch the surface they are painted over. For overcoats, you should stick with acryilics whenever possible.

One thing to keep in mind about clear coats. It seems that Japan has banned the export of spray cans so Mr Hobby and some of the other brands may be more difficult to get outside of Japan in the future. Keep this in mind, because it would suck to have to try to change clear coats mid-model.

Looks like Queadluun-Rea Klein Klan's Unit is a September release. Wonder if it will come with removable pilot?

Nice work, great update. Based on the number of replies these updates generated in less than 24 hrs, I guess lots of people are watching this one.

beautiful! I had dreams of kit bashing a Bandai 1/72 variable kit with Hasegawa's static models. But with the rising Yen price, that dream became a bit prohibitive. ($45 CDN for the Bandai kit, plus another $36 CDN for the Hasegawa)

In case anyone had any doubts, here is the link to Hasegawa's site: http://www.hasegawa-model.co.jp/2009sh/MACROS.html Looks like the kit will be revealed to the public at this year's Shizuoka hobby show happening from May 14-17th.

I hope they are jumping into the 1/48 market. I have been waiting for this since they released the VF-1 in 1/72 originally. I always preferred the 1/48 scale for military aircraft. The level of detail is much better than 1/72. Or course, now I can just sit back and wait for 1/32...

I am not sure if this has been posted before but this guy build a transforming Valkyrie in lego: http://kaisun1192.blog121.fc2.com/blog-entry-933.html

I've got a friend going to Japan for 3 weeks at the end of February. Hope he can find me one.

For those of you who want a completed kit and have money to burn: http://www.gundampro.com/macross_vf25s_ozuma_custom.php

Agreed, don't use the Testor Dullcote. It will cause your acrylic paints to do the Orange peel thing. I have head that you cannot mix Tamiya and Future. Tamiya flat base should be OK.

OK, are some general guidelines regarding model paints. There are 3 types of paint available for modelers: Lacquer based, acrylic based, and enamel based. * Lacquers should only be applied on top of the bare plastic or other lacquer paints. They will react with other types of paints. They are also very runny so they should only be applied with either a spray can or an airbrush. Paints like Mr. Color, Mr Surfacer, and the Krylon are examples of lacquer paints. They are toxic. * Enamel paints can be applied over lacquers without problems. Large coats over acrylic can be problematic. Most modelers use thinned enamels to do panel lines because the thinner to clean up will not react to other paint types. Enamel paints have great metallic colors and hand brush nicely and dries slowly so you can even out coats better. * Acrylic paints can be painted on top of anything. They can be thinned by water and have nice flat finishes. They fall somewhere between Enamels and Lacquers in terms of drying time. Note that you cannot, under any circumstances, mix any combination of enamel, acrylic and lacquer paint. Also watch out for some clear coats because they may be lacquer based. Acrylic based finishes are best, but they are not as tough as the others. I would recommend finding a technique that works best for you on cheap disposable kits before tackling your masterpiece. EDIT: Forgot to add that some paints may react to some plastic types. I have heard reports that Bandai's ABS parts become brittle after painting with Tamiya acrylic paints, even though these are considered the safest paints. Primed parts did not suffer this. I have not confirmed this myself but it is a cause for concern, especially with the Macross Frontier kits.

To sand the nubs off, first cut as close as possible with a sharp hobby knife, then I usually use 600 grit sandpaper to smooth, then 1000 grit to polish. I usually paint my models so I don't go for 100% smoothness. Some people use up to 2000 grit to get all the scratch marks off, but I find it irritating to do that.

This is great. Looking forward to this. Will you be planning on adding the full armour parts eventually? You will need to be careful which parts you glue.

I think the floppy-ness issue with the fighter mode realy depends on how you transform it. On my Ozma, sometimes it looks really bad, but if I am firm and really push the pieces together, it fits much better. There are a few things Bandai could of done to make it better, like adding tabs for the wing roots, but otherwise it seems to be OK to me. Maybe I'll change my mind when I get an Alto with super packs.

Kind of hard to make out in the small pic, but it looks like you will need to remove the intakes on the hips, the back leg armour, the chest piece and the parts around the neck. Shoulders themselves and arms are intact. Looks like my VF-25s will not be getting fast packs.

Great work! Having just completed my Ozma, I know how small some of these details are.

I was thinking about picking one up just because they are so inexpensive. I built one ~20 years ago when Revel released it in NA as part of the Robotech line of model kits. I don't think these ones were perfect transformation. You have to slide out the cockpit & nose cone assembly and replace it with one with the heatshield and leg connectors.