jardann

Wow! I love the boxart on that Blackaces kit! If I see the price come down a little bit, I'll have to grab one. I really have too many kits waiting to be built right now though.

Great work Mark! I knew that kit still had a lot of potential and you brought it to life! The weathering looks great. Old and used, but not really damaged. I'm no photo expert, but your pics look pretty good to me. Maybe try a background that is a little bit off-white so that it doesn't wash out and make the subject seem darker?

Ha! Yeah, that's my last 1/100. I don't really want to part with it because of the box art. It's one of the best I've seen. I have one 1/72 scale armored battroid that is built-up, but not in very good shape. I can't wait to see what you can do with one though Mark.

Yeah, that's just a reboxing of the Imai injection plastic kit. I have a VF-1S in similar boxart.

It sounds like you are not using a solvent type cement. The glue should actually melt the plastic a little bit, and when it evaporates, the two pieces will be "welded" together. I like the Model Master glue too. Just make sure you get the kind in the picture with the black label. It has a nice metal applicator that works well. They have another kind that is in the same bottle, but has a red/orange label. That kind has a plastic tip that is too thick and clogs up almost immediately, becoming useless. Why they even make it, I don't know.

Wow! Lots of great work has been added to this thread recently. Keep it up everybody! Petar, that scout trooper is amazing. Will that be getting cast for general availability anytime soon?

You're right Coby. I can't get a good sense of the size of it in that picture. Are those ships even in Macross Frontier?

Whoa, one of those looks like Thorsten's kit! Did he get it produced for Wonderfest? If so, congrats, he did a great job on it. If not.....well, someone's been bad.

You might try the stuff plumbers use for ABS pipe. I had some plastic cards (ID card blanks) that I wanted to use, and the plumber's adhesive was the only thing that could bite on them. It is quite "hot" though so you want to be careful. Epoxy or JB Weld might be easier to work with and should work pretty well too. Is there any room on the back or inside of the parts to build up a little bit of epoxy? That might add strength. Good luck!

More of what AR said, I don't think there are any "perfect transformation" VF-1 model kits on the market. Your best representation of a "Max Special DYRL" will come from the Hasegawa kits. Either battroid or fighter. But these of course are not transformable. Other than that, you should be able to make a nice representation of Max's Valkyrie with the Bandai transformable kits. I would suggest you work on some simple non-transforming airplane kits before you tackle one of the transformable kits. You will need some skill with using model cement cleanly and in the right amounts before working on a transformable kit. Messy glue joins are the biggest danger when making a model with moving parts. If your parts aren't properly aligned and cleanly glued then the kit will not move as it needs to and transformation will be a mess if not impossible. I don't say this to scare you, the Bandai kits (especially the 1/72 scale) are not that difficult to build as long as you take your time, follow the directions and make your joints as clean and strong as possible. If you do get the Bandai 1/72 kit and have any trouble with the Japanese instructions, PM me and I can get you a copy in English. Those kits were also issued by Revell as part of the Robotech Defenders line and those came with English instructions. Good luck with the search!

Hello CosmicSpore and welcome to MW, Those 1/72 variable kits are really pretty neat! There weren't any fast pack equipped variable 1/72 kits, so you can forget about that unless you want to go through a lot of customizing and kit bashing. I don't think there was a VF-1A Max type kit released either, but it's really just a paint job. You can use the 1A variable kit and just paint it in Max's colors. White and blue for TV version, white-blue-black for DYRL. (the 1A head is a little different between the two versions, but not much) The 1J kits are harder to find and don't show up very often. As for the 1/100 scale kits, the only ones I've seen reissued are the VF-1S Focker and the VF-1J Miria. Again, you can make a Max version of either of those by simply painting them in Max's colors. (the Miria kit is molded in red though, so you would need a good primer and paint) The 1/100 kits with the 1A heads are really hard to find now. Maybe you would have some luck looking for them on Yahoo Japan auctions, but that's a whole other bit of work to go through. The 1/100 kits are quite nice too and they will give you the Strike fast packs that it sounds like you are looking for. I have a 1/100 Miria Super kit for sale if you're interested. Good luck with your search!

I'm in for at least one, maybe two! Is it definite that this is a piloted vehicle? I always thought it was an automated robotic controlled vehicle.

That brings back a nolstalgic feeling seeing the old 1/170 factory module. Those kits actually look like they go together a slight bit better than the originals! The seam lines aren't as atrocious. That could be your modelling skill making the best of a bad situation though. Still pretty cool and amusing to see. Thanks for showing these.

Great to hear from you Cap! Has the snow melted up there yet? As always, I will be in for at least one, probably two.

Beautiful scheme! Looks like an Eastern Bloc show bird. Cool!

Hah! Yeah, I have noticed that he has been very quick lately. When someone else beats me to it though, I just figure that they are saving me some money.

If you find an answer, let me know. A twelve kit backlog is nothing. I've got a whole closet full of kits looming over me. I do the same thing with painting though, I get a kit built all up, it's just ready for painting and maybe detail parts added, but then it just languishes on my bench while I try to keep them from getting damaged. Part of the problem is that I don't have a dedicated space to use my airbrush and I don't have much practice with it either, so I'm worried about mucking up the model. I have a model I built last summer that is just waiting for paint and then the canopy to be attached, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I did take an old airfix kit that I had laying around and just did a straight OOB build and painted it all with a brush just to have it finished. Turned out pretty good actually, but it has no decals on it because the decals were really yellowed and dried out.

Picked mine up from the PO last week. This thing is awesome! It begs to be shown open with all kinds of interior detailing, but I also want to see it in-flight. Hopefully I can do it justice sometime in the not too distant future. Thanks Captain!

Starshipmodeler.com is the site for sci-fi modelling. A lot of great friendly people there, many modelers here are also members there. The store there has the best customer service around. As for a general online hobby shop, (with just about everything you could think of) is Squadron.com. I've had great transactions with them and they often have good stuff on sale. I do recommend some inexpensive kits, but check them out and make sure they aren't "cheap quality" kits. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to build a kit that is just made so poorly that parts don't fit, or that needs tons of cleanup before starting. If you can find some of the older cheaper Hasegawa or Fujimi kits, they may have some simplified details or cockpits, but the parts fit should be good. Newer Revell kits (such as their F-15e and f-18 Super Hornet) are good value for your dollar too. I recommend a nice liguid glue too, stay away from the Testor's orange tube stuff. I use Testor's Model Master liguid glue (make sure you get the black bottle that says Model Master on it) it has a metal tube applicator that works well. They have another type that is in the same bottle (I think it is orange though), but has a plastic nozzle that clogs almost immediately, so stay away from that. Along with the glue, I'd recommend an Excell or X-acto hobby knife with some #11 blades and a few sheets of different grit wet-or-dry sandpaper. That should get you started. For detail painting, you can start with some Testors, Model Master or Polly scale paints. Tamiya paints are good too, but not always best for brush painting. For finish painting on large exterior surfaces you'll probably want to start with some spray cans of the previous brands, but eventually, an airbrush will be best if you get serious or start building a lot of kits. Don't be afraid to ask questions, and good luck with the hobby!

Hey HAL, Love that camo on the SV-51! Great job and thanks for showing it off!

I do have some somewhere. I'm probably going to be digging through some of my stuff this weekend, so if I come across any, I'll post up some pics.

Ha! Those are "Most New Set!" Be forewarned, those are only worth it for the amusement factor. Couldn't they at least have bootlegged a kit that was good to begin with?

That's what I have. If I remember correctly, they include some nice display stands too, one for each mode. The fighter and stalking fighter modes compare nicely with 1/144 kits of real planes.

I have an old release of this kit. The details and proportions are pretty good. Much, much better than the old 1/170 scale blobs of gunk. I believe the battroid is articulated like an old star wars figure (head, shoulders, hips move) I think the gerwalk has some articulation too and the wings sweep on the gerwalks/fighter modes. I have an unopened set in the red box if anyone is interested. I think it has different head parts to build any of the different versions you want.

I think Fujimi and Hasegawa both have decent sets of some figures, but they are listed as deck crew. Italeri may also have a set. These get reissued every so often, so they should still be fairly easy to find.