Aztek

DG do you have ref pics for the leg detail? I've been thinking of doing the same thing in my model ...

Haha, I missed the encouragement from these forums Here's a mini-update w/ some undercarriage/antenna work ...

Here's a new render of an ELINT I started based on my VF-1S (You'll see incorrect textures and clipping). I noticed DG is back in the saddle so it inspired me to get going on my last project. I always liked the technical ugliness of the this variant. Fortunately since I'm very rusty at modeling and mapping the only major changes between the -1S and ELINT are "basic" polygons. Modeling the 2-seater offset cockpit/nose section will be a bear though ...

Ain't been by in years DG ... forgot how to model Your work looks great!

Yo! Man its been a while and your guys stuff still looks great! I'm glad you are all still active! I'll reinstall some software and see what I can put up!

Whaaat's up???!! I heard my ears ringing ... DG, you are a tru pimp. I'm still in Japan. I had a stint in Balad, Iraq for about 5 months working F-16's woohoo. (Attached) I'm a First Sergeant now with about 600 Airmen. Not alot of time for anything anymore. I finished my AA and have a bit of free time now ... Maybe I'll "knock the dust off" of my unfinished ELINT. I seriousely got a chub watching that ... Az

Added one more cat in Japan ...

Good shot! Maybe some new breath will flow into this thread.

Your nuts dude. I can totally appreciate the detail and time it took to build this. No matter how many or how few polys you've tweaked to make this come together, it paid off ... big time. Awesome work. I truly am speechless. Always the critic ... I hope your texturing skills match your modeling. You are on a path for an insane model.

Jay, This is one pretty ship. It really is. Any chance of a detail shot of the command deck?

Thanks Chrono, those are great refs.

Jay ... dude ... that SDF is tight. I've been pondering the idea building one up. You've set the bar high bro.

Chrono, Are you up for emailing some scans? I have most of the SDF ref materia that's on the web. I went out and bought Design Works to trick out my valk. I know these kind of books are a godsend for canon fanatics.

HERE HERE!!

Disregard. There was a knock at the door. It was life.

That's blasphemy Dat. Why don't you post some sweet a$$ renders instead of useless text? Wait, that's what I just did. I'll fire off some renders tonite.

I'm using the DC++ software and can't find the imacross4 hub in the dir. Is it still up?

My workaround for the arms hanging so low, was that the fitting that runs along the track that is connected the shoulder pivot has a swing arm that puts the flat surface of the shoulder almost parallel to the track plane when in stowed mode. Whew. Picture the 1/55 and the way it stows. There are two pivots in the arm where it swings open. In stowed and battroid mode they are near even with each other. On mine, from a head on shot, the actual shoulder pivot stows "higher" than the attach pivot to the rail slider thing. It is still lower than I'd like. From the same head on shot, the shoulder and forearm sections of the arms sit below the level of the lowest part of the head. I've been busy lately, but I'll post some renders of how mine stow. I haven't textured the underside of my backplate yet, but rather than model the track I was just going to texture in it's appearance, but you'll get the picture. Like everything on the valk t was a delicate balance between what I? see on screen during DYRL what toys I have and how they function, and the beautiful Hasegawa fighter mode. Canon, functionaility, and eye candy. That's a hard mix to nail with these bad boys.

Check the magazine section's Oct 02 Hobby Japan gerwalk models. Here's a link to one of the scans. Note the position and detail of where the arm socket is in gerwalk mode. The nice thing about real models is they don't allow you to cheat on the clipping!

Legs extended, arms back fwd. This is the xform for fighter to battroid. I'd assume if it was fighter to gerwalk the arms would stop their fwd movement somewhere at a midpoint along the track. Toy mechanics may be the reason we get caught up on the shoulder having the fwd most position all the time. Trying to engineer a plastic robot fit to be handled by a 6 year old probably made this intricacy go out the window.

Mid xform and slid aft ...

That pic is a screengrab form a clip during one of the first 5 or so episodes of macross. It's a split screen of cockpit action and chest "thrusters" that ends up showing the throttle rise up and the ducts spit out blue thrust. It's about a 2 second clip that I played over a few times to see what was going on. You can just see the aircraft right side chestplate intake in the lower left/center of the pic. That would be the right armpit with covers open. Twenty or so pages ago I rendered some armsocket detail. My side covers have a pretty complex folding system but they eventually slide up under the chest plate intake, which they are hinged on. If you look at the lineart for the valk xform sequence you can see that the arm sockets slide forward and aft under the backplate during xforms. In battroid and fighter they are all the way fwd. It seems like they slide aft a hair in gerwalk so that they clear the verniers, on the engine intakes. Re-render your gerwalk pose with the entire socket assy slid back far enough that the joint doesn't clip the verniers. Swing around it and check it out. This is definately cannon or the tracks wouldn't have been so clearly drawn. First pic is slid fwd and stowed.

Dude, I really like your armpits. It looks more "macrossy" than mine. I may have to rethink the direction I'm going in. Do they stow away during the xform sequence? Here's a pic that I used when I modeled mine. I've been trying to get them to fold open to reveal the ducted thrust, but it's an engineering nightmare.

Dat, K, here's where I'll back peddle a lil. White and light grey is notoriously almost always a gloss or semi gloss paint in the fighter world (and heavy for that matter). Usually reserved for special purpose aircraft, i.e., AWACS, Demo teams (Thunderbirds), and Airborne Command Aircraft, etc. This paint makes it highly reflective and hence more visible from land and air targeting. That's why the majority of the fleet is flat and subdued. Then there is the valks. While I'd put my last dollar on the fact that a cannon fodder aircraft is most definately non-gloss, the lead aircraft and maybe even the entire skull squadron may have gloss tendencies. Since they are the best of the best of the fleet, maybe they go for the flair instead of the work horse plainness. So, I'd say, in relative terms if glass is 100 percent gloss, and your paint is 70, it "should" be kicked down to about 40-50. Some reflection and gloss but not always immediately apparent. Dude, go to www.af.mil and dig through their photo section. It is broken down by aircraft type so it's easy to search through the library. Some pics are like 2000x3000 pixels so the details are sweet. Dig around and try and find your balance. Look at any Thunderbird photos, and if you are going for a white gloss paint, those will be your best reference.

That looks frikin pimp Dat. Your valk has come so damn far since your earlier versions. You're definately leading the pack around here lately. Have you thought of softening up your glossiness on the wing skin? It seems really reflective for something that goes on flat. I've only seen gloss paint used on fighters in the intakes. Maybe I'm overthinking the valk, but since I'm always around aircraft it just screams at me to NOT make it glossy. When a fighter gets a new paint, it looks really flat. Nice and grey, but flat. Over time weathering, foot/hand traffic, washes, scrubbing and such it "polishes" up. The intrinsic flatness (roughness) of the paint smooths out and gives the appearance of a semi gloss paint in certain lighting. But since I'm not around valks day to day, I can only guess. Maybe they are glossy and I'm a meathead. It's just a personal pref of mine. Right now your valk would totally kick my valks ass, so please don't take this personal!