David Hingtgen

sithlord---GERWALK's out there, go check the first post. As for magnets--I'd be the leg-mounted FAST packs. A YF-19's are very similar to the VF-0's. Never did like the "clip over the ventral fin" they did for the VF-11. As for the canopy hinge--I'm betting it's not the right way due to transformation. Anyone who's had the original knows how the nose folds down 90 degrees right at the end of the canopy's front, and has to be transformed part-way to even get the canopy to open or close. I can't really think of a way to get the canopy to hinge open to the front while maintaining the transformation. The nosecone has to be horizontal, and the canopy has to be vertical, in battroid mode. You'd need the hinge itself to split in half, as it goes right over the separation line.

Ok, this time I actually have the upper intake move like the SHE kit--the previous pic merely had it as a separate, yet fixed piece. No fancy hinges, it simply slides straight down just a bit--yet makes a big difference visually.

I'm pretty sure it's too late as I sent drawings/explanation of this to Graham the day the CAD was first posted, and he said it was too late then. Still--the SHE VF-19S did a variation of this and it helps a lot, don't know why Yamato seems unaware of it. Now, the SHE YF-19 didn't do this, and it suffers from "overly square hips" as a result. I'm guessing Yamato only knows the SHE YF-19 for reference, not the improved-transformation VF-19S model. The SHE VF-19S actually splits it front/back instead of top/bottom--I think so they can re-use some YF-19 parts or not have to mess with thr transformation. But starting from scratch like Yamato did, you should be able to do the better top/bottom split. Here's the SHE--the hip is actually "multiple angles" instead of round--but it's still a lot better than the new YF-19. Also look at the upper right pic--that's a rear view showing what would be the "upper" half of the intake, as a separate piece mounted behind the hips and slid down on a hinge. Also it allows a shorter torso, so the battroid isn't so tall and skinny--with the upper edges of the intake moved down behind the hips, you can move the torso lower and still have room.

I edited the first post of the thread to include the best pics of the protoype, so people won't have to hunt around. I'll try to keep up and edit it when needed so there's always a "easy to find" source of pics--if it's ok with wolfx.

Another of my infamous "how I'd do it pics". As usual, left one side alone, changed the other. See the top of the hip/intake? See how it's rounded and shortened like the battroid line art? And the large triangular piece behind it? That triangular piece above and behind the hip, visible from the front actually is correct to the REAR line-art--it magically disappears in frontal views. Pure anime magic--that piece HAS to go somewhere, and that's where it is. That's part of the reason there's such a discrepency between battroid and fighter modes there---Kawamori has that entire piece just go away so he can draw a short, round hip. BUT---if you go by the way the animators did it, and Kawamori's own REAR views of the battroid--it works fine. You get the sharp, angled look when looking at the fighter from above, and the round hip in battroid. Just have two different angles. Yamato did a SLIGHT change, but probably didn't do like I did because there's not "supposed" to be any visible pieces around the hip--even though it has to be there and should be there. It's far worse than a nosecone changing length---for the official battroid front view, that piece just disappears. Well, in 3D world it has to be there--thus it SHOULD be visible. But people don't expect it (since it's not in the art) so the compromise is to have a wrongly-shaped hip in battroid---wrong shape is better than "shape that shouldn't be there at all according to the magic lineart" apparently. But you can fix that too! Just separate the two pieces. Have the "large triangular part" above/ behind the hip slide downwards, behind the hip. It totally works, and that's what the SHE VF-19S kit does. You can have the battroid hip be round, have the angular intakes in fighter mode, and hide the angular intake from battroid mode, all with a simple hinge allowing the piece to slide down behind the hip--so long as you separate the pieces. heh heh--we've come full circle now. From the intake/hip separation, to the wings, and now back to the intake/hips.

Re: Macross design works page 83. I was just looking at that recently, and comparing to fighter mode pics, I get the impression that the gunpod on the shield is more along the lines of "gunpod still attached to the arm, behind the shield". Basically, transform from fighter to battroid, but don't remove the gunpod from the fighter mode mount/position---and it'll end up like in the drawing. I think. Re: battroid mode hips. Currently gets a big "WTF" from me based on how it's sculpted. It's MOLDED like it separates like I think it should (and how it does in all rear-view line art), but it doesn't. They gave the upper intake and the hips separate angles and don't have them as a single smooth piece, but the difference is so slight it doesn't matter. The whole point of separating the two is to make much smaller/rounder intakes in battroid mode, while having the long angular ones in fighter mode. They came SO close to doing it--but didn't. Though that makes it even easier for me to think about modifying it, now that there's a "cut here" line molded in... PS---looking at the CAD drawings, it is there. But again--it's so subtle it's not "how it should be" IMHO so I missed it. There's always the possibilit it does separate, but I doubt it's mis-transformed---unlike a Transformer, valks tend to "not work at all" if you screw up. Also Graham said it was way too far along to change anything like that when I mentioned it, and I think he would have said if it already did it.

What I thought, but wasn't sure. (Not owning a VF-0 and all---still waiting for either a D model, or a different scheme---I kinda like ANIME low-vis, but not Kawamori's ret-con of it--which isn't low-vis at all IMHO---more like a Heater-Ferris scheme--which tend to be the highest-vis schemes of all, based on visual detection range)

I'm much more interested in the news than the pics at this point. 1. Fold booster! But does it light up...? And I see no way to mount it on the prototype. I don't think there's any clear drawing/animation of the mounts, but from the scene when Isamu ejects it you can get a pretty good idea of where it connects. 4 struts, just inside the shoulders/arms. Basically at the "corners" of the shield. Possibly it connects to the shield itself with clips? 2. VF-0 Ghost. Hmmn--add on, or a new release? Anyone see a way to attach a Ghost to the current VF-0 mold? Will it just use the dorsal conformal tank mounts somehow? Someone needs to ask about the VF-0D.

Yes, from "insane" to "much higher than before". Mass oil company conspiracy theory: 2.00 gas isn't profitable enough. Reduce supply so that people get used to paying 3.00 for a little while. Then bring down to 2.50. 2.50 is such a "relief" from 3.00 that people are happy to pay 2.50 now and forever.

I doubt they spent that much time and money just as diversions... PS--remember the much-maligned "techno-gorilla" Starscream drawing? Then Bay said "that's just some early concept art, the real things aren't like that, don't worry". Well, that concept art looks more like the real thing than anything else so far.

The front battroid view isn't the best for comparing the VF-19F/S and the YF-19. A surprising amount of stuff simply "disappears" that should clearly be visible based on the rear view (and the sheer fact that it can't just disappear depending on the angle). Notably the LEX/intake extensions----all official rear views and much of the animation show it split apart like I proposed how the Yamato should transform, but it flat-out disappears in frontal views--or merges with other parts in an impossible way. (super-extreme anime magic, even for a valk). Fighter mode views and rear views of battroid show the changes better. Notably the shoulder/leg integration, and the LEX/intake extension. Also, fighter mode accentuates how much "smoother" the later VF-19's are compared to the original. Battroid is too "split apart" to get across how it all works.

Intakes are new too, as well as I think both v and h stabs. And possibly nacelles and beavertail (depending on how accurately they're trying to draw--hard to tell "slight change" from "not that accurate drawing of the original"). What's left of the original plane? The tailhook?

Barricade and Blackout? If I don't recognize the names instantly, 99% of the people watching the movie won't either. I thought the movie was going to be "ultra-famous" TFs only. The Autobots sure are. Even Brawl isn't "first tier", and Bonecrusher only barely. Only Barricade and Blackout I can think of are from the neo-Bruticus combiner team recently. (about the only ones of that line I bought, because the team leader was such a good toy--best TF in years IMHO)

I knew I recognized those. Rather fiddly to assemble IMHO. For those wondering, ALL 1/72 Fujimi F-14 kits come with them--the Iranian markings one usually is the cheapest to get, check Ebay. And you get 2 per kit. They're actually engine carts.

The infamous (and wonderful) Hasegawa one is here: http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...odelgraphix.htm Yes, the OTHER part of MW. It's in the June of 2002 issue. And there's GERWALK pics.

The entire LEX area of the VF-19F/S/Kai is different from the YF-19/VF-19A. As in the intakes, seen from above. Go compare line art or the anime. Different placement, different angle. It's probably the most overlooked difference of all. Here's a quick little drawing--just from memory, won't match exactly, but shows you how the LEX/intakes extends much further forward (to where the canards would be if the F/S models had them)--they "continue the angle" formed by the sides of the intakes, as opposed to how the YF-19 has the front edges angle in sharply. The SHE VF-19F/S model incorporates this--the extension is a separate piece from the hip, it's on a double-ended hinge that ends up behind the hip in battroid mode, very similar to how I proposed the Yamato YF-19 should do (upper intake lip separate from the hip/intake itself). I don't know if it'd work for Basara's, as his still has canards--they'd be in the way for the transformation of that extension. PS--the VF-11MAXL differences from the VF-11 are closely based on the F-16XL vs F-16. Even the name came from it. The F-16XL is clearly a personal favorite of Kawamori's, based on how often elements of it show up in his valks.

Hey Graham--if the YF-19 is to be unveiled on the 19th, any chance you could get permission to show us some stuff here say, a few hours before "random pics from Japanese sites" get posted from the show? Or even if not, could we get some good/exclusive pics after it's unveiled? Surely there's gotta be something you'd be allowed to show us here once it's unveiled to the masses.

Flaps AND slats.

Yeah---I wonder why I see multiple people commenting about the new F-14 and Leader-1. It still amazes me how many TF fans can spend years staring at the seeker mold, and still not recognize an F-15. Leader-1, Air Raid (Aerialbot), and Starscream are all F-15's---and IIRC Leader-1 actually is the most accurate of them all. I learned how to recognize the Nissan 280 because of Bluestreak...

The new minicon jet is an F-14! Now if only they'd given him Jetfire colors.

And before anyone brings it up, nose probes don't count when measuring a plane's length. So the .07m difference isn't from that.

If they'd used Blue ANGELs blue and ThunderBIRDS red, it'd probably look awesome. Or just use all Thunderbirds colors---it looks like the original design did more of a 90/10 Thunderbirds/Blue Angels split than a mix of each. Here we could get into a debate about "intended" vs "on-screen" or whatever colors. Since it's so clearly (both visually and name-wise) imitating the US demonstration squadrons, my opinion is that it was always intended to be the deep red and blue used by those squadrons---not the lighter colors we actually get. Kind of like I think Roy's valks should flat-out have Insignia yellow for their accents, as that is the shade of yellow the Jolly Rogers have used for some 50 years on their planes--and Yamato's is too pale. Match what the scheme itself is trying to copy, not old animation cels... Ok, here's a quick recolor I did approximating Thunderbirds red and Blue Angel blue. I think it'd be even better with Thunderbirds/Insignia blue---the very dark blue you find on an actual fabric US flag.

Do you want that to be the second post of yours I've deleted in this thread?

Actually it was more likely to be mass deletings of individual posts.

Which can be harvested as a pure form of protoculture, and then spread over the deck with a brush.