David Hingtgen

Also, the chestplate is Ozma's, not Alto's. (they're subtly different). He must have got some weird hybrid test-shot, that had Ozma's head and chestplate, but Alto's backplate. Thing is--chestplate, backpate, and some head parts are all on the same sprue (M). Did he get individual test-shot pieces or something, and not a full sprue? PS---did he use YF-21 landing gear? It's the right color, and it's definitely not from a Blue Angels Hornet or Phantom kit.

Possible Ozma head explanation: If you compare the model kits, it's not just the head, but the chestplate too that is different. (and the backplate too, actually) There are specific chestplates and backplates for every VF-25 variant from the model kit team. Bandai's DX team seems to be using the "Alto" chestplate and backplate for all of them, and modifying the head/neck to fit that. See how poorly the head lasers and their mount fit in fighter mode? That's because the slot on the backplate is shaped for the laser and mount of Alto. That, is just plain laziness---we know changing the slots for the lasers in the backpack isn't going to affect durability/transformation.

I think I finally found an acceptable mixture of flat base+future that'll work well. Definitely glossier than I'd like, but dries smooth and even. (took probably 10 or 15 attempts---flat base is so thick it's impossible to measure, so it will be very difficult to make more of the exact same mix) PS--Future and Tamiya do NOT mix. Nor do Future and MM Acryl in my experience--at least, grape pearl sure doesn't mix with it.

Anything that long is pointless/stupid. Once you "figure it out" there's no fun at all in running the same pattern of attack/heal 43 times in row until it's dead. I keep waiting for Square to do "Chaotic Omega Weapon XII, mk 2" with literally 40 million HP, with a 9999 cap, just to see how many people will do it and talk about it at Gamefaqs...

"We are sorry but we will not accept nor reply to any requests for multiple parts"

I want scans too--I'm still building mine, so it'd be easier to incorporate a few pegs etc.

Did they get the paint scheme right? A M7-era Milia VF-1J should have black striping instead of white.

I don't think it's a QC issue, but a design issue.

Hey hey hey---keep movie news (and especially potential spoilers) in the movie thread.

I've decided not to paint the outer engine nozzles, mainly because of "future matching", particularly Michael's. He has pale grey nozzles, definitely not metallic. Anyways---anyone else notice Bandai seems to have really gotten the colors of the jaw/chin on Alto's wrong? And the HJ build didn't correct it. Fairly easy to do. Basically, the front white piece actually needs to be mostly grey, with a white stripe and black inset. The rear grey piece needs to be completely painted black. Mr March has a GREAT pic showing the head, though ep 13 confirms the coloring: http://www.new-un-spacy.com/macrossf/vf-25...id-headunit.jpg ::edit:: The attached cap is I think from ep 25, while the lighting's weird it does show the grey vs black parts. And here's my repainted front chin piece: (the "mouth" area is not all black, just the inner-most section--between that and the white, it's grey) (I couldn't follow the design of the white EXACTLY, there's really no guide/lines and its critical to make it symmetrical)

Just a random comment, but NCSX has been one of my main sources for imports for over a decade, and they have Ace Frontier: http://www.ncsxshop.com/cgi-bin/shop/ULJS-00158.html If you're in the US, it's usually a whole lot order to get it from a place in the US.

I have yet to see the oft-mentioned "shadows" etc of other people in Galaxy. Could someone post a screen cap or give the exact time at which it's visible?

Jarrod---can you give some approximate ratios for what you mixed up to tint the canopy? I've tried various things tonight, and nothing is working at all. Red and blue food coloring in Future mixes to brown, red and blue tamiya clear mixes to brown. Food color and Tamiya colored clears must be "impure" as they're making brown/grey. I can get clear blue fine, or pink----but mixing the red and blue just makes it turn dark grey-brown almost instantly. Your mix seems to be the only one that'll work, so I'm going to have to try it. For the MM clear gloss---you mean the "white that dries clear" stuff? How can you tell what color you're going to end up with when mixing it with purple and blue? And how much did you add? Not being "water clear" really messes up trying to eyeball 'clear purple'. I don't have any at the moment, but I can probably get some tomorrow. (I'd prefer to work with Tamiya clear gloss but I'd have to order out, and I've already spent way more than I planned on paints for this kit)

Flightsuit Grace! (assuming they make a VF-27, and then of course they'll make a green version)

6 small thrusters mounted just ahead of the shield. Visible being used in Ep 1 right after Alto saves Ranka from getting sucked into space. The kit has them molded as little more than "tiny raised circles well separated from each other" but they should be larger and closer together. They're actually visible in that pic:

No OST has ever ticked me off more than Suikoden II though. 4 discs, packed full of pointless junk like every variation of "staying at the inn" and "cooking mini-game", yet omits one main song---the "desperate battle" theme.

About 3:10 to 3:35 in. Right when Alto runs out of ammo and Ranka has her flashback. Church organ in it. When Ozma shows up in armored battroid it switches to the "fast-paced" version of "Transformation" that we also hear in Ep 14. But the part right before Ozma shows up--I can't find it on OST 1 or 2 and it's my fave little segment of BGM.

Just a note, but peolesdru has VERY nice transformation videos, be sure to watch his as well:

Alto scale comparison time. With Hasegawa 1/72 Isamu helmet: With 1/72 Dragon F-16 pilot (pre-painted, not my work): And after realizing from the above pics that I had smudged the left shoulder (the black stripe across the red spot), I touched it up and took these: (Alto doesn't really have grey gloves---more like grey wrist-protector gauntlet things, the hand and fingers are still black) PS--if anyone can successfully paint his collar red, please let me know where you buy your butterfly-leg-hair brushes)

Does anyone know where that VF-9 scheme is from? The only time I've seen the VF-9 colored is in M3.

I just painted the red details on Alto---I'm skipping the collar. No way. My finest brush from the UK that I "keep in reserve to preserve the tip" is too big. If the head was separate from the body it'd be easy, but this--not worth the risk of screwing up the entire neck/shoulder area. (and if you look, you'll notice even Bandai's guy couldn't do it nicely---smeared red on the left shoulder pad--and he's so good he's paid)

IMHO that'd be a bitch to fix, since there's a slight depression there on the white part due to the internal configuration. (a fairly normal but subtle sink-mark) The "natural seam" there between the black and white sections helps hide it a lot. But if you want to make it white you'll need to putty the underside and outersides of the white part above it to fill it out to match the black part, then paint. PS--don't forget the white discs on the sides of the ankle: (I may skip it depending on how close of a match I can get with my white paints--Bandai's using their "purple-white" in this kit)

That's a whole lot bigger than the kit pilot, proportionately. As soon as I'm done with my Alto painting and have him fully removed from the sprue, I'll find a 1/72 pilot to compare to and photograph.

It's Bandai's fault IMHO--the cockpit tub is way too narrow, with large separate "sills" on the sides. They're just "filler" pieces to get rid of the resulting gap between the cockpit and the fuselage. It's almost like they made the cockpit too small, then "filled in" with extra plastic from other parts rather than re-tool the cockpit. When I actually build it I'll see if there's some reason it had to be done like that and isn't simply an error. But the cockpit is as narrow as a WWII fighter, smaller than any jet I've built. While the forward fuselage itself is wider than an F-18's. ::thought:: It may have to do with the large black "stripes" on the sides of the nose, as they are also the "extra-large sills", but that just seems to be a bad way too do it--surely there was some way to make the stripes a separate piece without making them mount on the SIDES of the cockpit. Those black parts are awfully thick.

I never noticed that spot by the gear doors, thanks! (I did notice the mouth area a while ago and plan to do it correctly--the head will probably take as long to paint as Alto, there's a lot of details/colors and it's a "focal point" of the model) I'm almost done with Alto and the cockpit, just need to do the red stripes and the visor. (if it turns out at all decent I'll post pics, but he really is 1/100 scale)