Graham

I'm begining to think you are right about this being passed onto a newbie design team with little sculpting experience. While from certain angles the toy looks OK, there are IMO so many areas that are just poorly sculpted and not accurate to what little CG art and lineart has been published so far of the VF-0S. Here's a list of where I think the sculpt is poor: - Inaccurate wing shape. Hip area (intakes) too large. Ugly, too large ball joint sockets on the hips. Inaccurate tail fin shape. Tail fins not canted outwards enough. Innacurate cockpit and nose area sculpt. Poorly sculpted, ugly landing gear. Graham

It looks like the 1/100 VF-0S has mid-calf rotation points just like the 1/60 VF-1, which should allow for a slightly better Gerwalk mode. Graham

At least the wings have attachment points for missiles. But what really worries me is that there dosen't seem to be any attachment points for the leg FAST packs, unless they are going to be held on by magnets Graham

Haven't received my shipping notice from CD Japan yet. I'll post as soon as I do. I think I was probably one of the first people to order it, as I was checking their site several times daily waiting for them to list it Graham

And I'm also getting seriously worried that we haven't seen the leg FAST packs or wing missiles yet. Graham

On the anime VF-0 in fighter mode, the hands do not retract into the forearms like the VF-1, but are instead supposed to slot into the bottom of the backpack (those of you who have the Hasegawa VF-0S will know what I mean). However, looking at these latest pictures of the Yamato 1/100 VF-0S toy, it looks like there is not enough space for the hands in fighter mode, so I'm guessing they have to be removed in fighter mode. Sigh.........yet more parts to remove. Graham

I disagree. It should be easily possible to shorten the hip shafts and have the ball joints located entirely inside the intake area, thus eliminating those ugly external sockets. If you look here at this custom battroid mode conversion of the Hasegawa VF-0S model, you can see what a good job they did on the hip joints. Even with the intakes positioned so close to the nose, the kit can still adopt a spread-legged stance. Graham

Nope, no Macross Zero artbook yet unfortuntely I'm hoping there will be one soon though. Graham

Although the Reactive Armor VF-0S is an awesome scratch build, I noticed that the armors' back thrusters are much smaller than shown on the line art. Graham

Page 3 Reactive Armor. Graham

Page 2 Reactive Armor. Graham

And here's the 1/72 scale scratch built VF-0S with Reactive Armor. Note, this is not the same Battroid as above, you can tell by looking at the backpack, shoulders and nose which are very different. Graham

3rd page SV-51 conversion. Graham

2nd page SV-51 conversion. Graham

Now for the Battroid mode conversion of the Hasegawa SV-51. This is truely some insane modelling skills. Graham

And more pics of the Hasegawa VF-0S Battroid conversion. Graham

Here's the Battroid mode conversion of the Hasegawa VF-0S. I just wished the Yamato 1/100 toy looked as good Graham

Here's a larger scan of that page. Graham

Well, it's still another 2 hours till I get home, but I won't be doing the scans immediately. My wife would be pretty pissed with me, if as soon as I got home I went on the computer straight away I'll be scanning and uploading after dinner and during the commercial breaks for Smallville and CSI which are both on tonight in HK. Graham

The just released July 2004 issue of Dengeki Hobby magazine has a great Macross section for Macross model fans this month. Included are: - Battroid mode conversion of the Hasegawa VF-0S model kit. Battroid mode conversion of the Hasegawa SV-51 in D.D. Ivanov colors. This has to be seen to be believed. Scratch built 1/72 scale reactive armor for the VF-0S. I'll try to get scans up tonight. Graham

The pics of the VF-0S are from the new July 2004 issue of Dengeki Hobby magazine. I just picked this up a few minutes ago, so I'll get a larger scan up tonight. Graham

Thought PB was an OK movie, not great, but I've no regrets about renting it on DVD. Probably would have been a bit disappointed if I'd have paid money to see it at the theatre tho. As for Riddick, I'll do the same and rent it on DVD when it becomes available, unles it gets super fantastic reviews then I'll go see it at the theatre. However, with little Roy about to eject from his cockpit, I think my movie going days are gonna be on hold for quite a while. Graham

We've known it is not perfect transformation for months already. This is not new news. Graham

My choices for a set # 3 and set # 4 of CM's Macross figures would be: - Set # 3 1) Gamlin in Diamand Force fight suit (M7). 2) Shin in flight suit (M0) 3) Isamu in either uniform or flight suit (M+) 4) Breetai DYRL version (DYRL) 5) Shower scene Minmay (DYRL) Chase Figure) Sharon Apple AI box (M+) Set # 4 1) Captain Max in uniform (M7). 2) Mylene in bikini from M7 ep # 7 'Summer Accident' (M7) 3) Guld in either uniform or flight suit (M+) 4) Sharon Apple with short red hair (M+) 5) Nora Polyansky in flight suit (M0) Chase Figure) Guvava (M7) Graham

I thought the release date was May 28th? Graham