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Argh, I might be getting old, but it always seems like 2 steps forward and 1 step back. Thought I'd finally seal in all the decals under a gloss coat before the final finish, but for some reason, the gloss coat (maybe the Mr. Color spray cans) went on a little too thick, it "melted some of the decals" and pulled them in the direction of drying - I stood my model up on end vertically (in hopes to provide less surface for dust to fall on the drying clear coat) and the clear coat seems to have shifted and took some decals down with it. The VF-84 is now distorted (just the center portion) and the 7 in the tail code is partially melted. So weird, has anyone had this happen? In all my years it hasn't happened before. It also partially melted my weathering above USS ROOSEVELT into this weird pattern, don't know if I will keep it yet as I haven't seen weathering like this on a real plane. I had to mask and re-spray that VF-84 with the gull grey (I thought it would be less intrusive than going through the clear coat to remove it) and pieced together another VF-84 to replace it and clear coat again. I'm going to let the "7" and the "N" go as it is (as I don't have any spares to replace it with), but haven't decided on redoing the weathering or leaving it alone.

I got fooled into thinking there was real news too - especially seeing so many replies in my email, I thought there must be something up instead of just one person wondering - oops, well I guess I just added to that list of replies. Sure do hope this sees the light of day, its the whole reason I hunted down the YF-19 afterwards and I'm glad I did or I would have missed out on a nice toy - so much better than the VF-19 money grab they put out beforehand (of course I got suckered in and now I have both)

That would be great, I hope they come with their own stands!

I'm so heartbroken to hear @pengbuzz - I've always admired your tenacity and perseverance when you create your models from literally nothing. I hope you get a speedy resolution to your satisfaction with your apartment. As for your models, know that you're not alone in your loss and we will be happy to follow you in your future and better builds!

Oooh, I am a sucker for grey and orange!

Those look Super Ghosts look ok, I'll bite for one (though I get the booster on the booster thing :P) Are they specific to each Valk / colour variations or do you think they are generic and can fit on any AX Valk?

What metalizer or graphite powder would you recommend? I'm a bit out of the loop with latest and greatest in technique and supplies.

Cool @derex3592 - I just wished there was a pre-mixed with the grey solution. If you mist it, would you do it as an overcoat or under coat and mist the grey over top? Either way its a pretty risky and delicate paint job. My guess is misting over the top might leave metallic particles/flakes that would be too big / out of scale. Undercoat might be better but you have to work in both the lighter grey and darker grey without overlap on top. There are pearlescent pigments that can be added to the base paint/grey (like how they do Star Trek Enterprise aztec paneling). Maybe I'm just over-thinking it. The canopy has gold reflective finish too doesn't it? I'm thinking my F-22 kit might go to the bottom of my pile

Soooo good, I had to watch Balance of Terror again!!! Definitely my favourite season 1 SNW episode so far!

Nice @derex3592 - I've got a Fujimi 1/72 sitting on my stash. I would be very interested in seeing your progress. I'd like to know how you were going to tackle the metallic greys? Does someone make up a pre-mixed metallic greys for the scheme that I can just buy and be done with? It's so hard to find metallics that are in scale especially with 1/72 - the metallic flecks are always so big unless they're Alclads.

I love HLJ, but I've got a $30 Regult sitting in their warehouse with a $50 FedEx shipping option only - come on HLJ, open up EMS or Slow Boat to help us out in Canada. (Warning to fellow Canadians, they offer no other forms of shipping to Canada other than FedEx or DHL). I'm not ordering anything else until some other options for shipping open up. (when I pre-ordered there were more options, didn't know things would get worse over time - I thought things would get better?)

MyKombi came through and my Super Parts arrived (additional $24 brokerage, customs & duties, plus $30 FedEx - so shipping alone is $54 to Canada)! The box was cut down and made to fit the brown shipper box exactly, no room for any bubble wrap. Luckily just the corners were a little dinged, but the box inside is perfect. I wish the two legs and central pallet clipped together tightly, the legs are really only held in place by the wing root tabs and the central pallet just floats there inbetween - not too solid. The slot for the wing tabs is really tight, you have to massage the legs at the knee joint and upper thigh joint and knee extension to get the right angle to slot into the wing tabs. I never sanded mine down yet awaiting these parts and its still fits, but I might sand them down a little to make it easier on myself. However it seems like the leg joints have to be at some point between the ratchet detents to properly lock into the wing root tabs. I wished the overall thing was more stable and solid to swoosh around more. The damn huge joint the forward fuselage (both of them) have to be massaged all the time to eliminate the gap, it would open up again after zooming around. It looks great as a static piece, but I wished the boosters at the end clipped on closer to the wings, it seems like there's this large gap produced by the round pivot joint, I would have thought they'd be tight to the wing pylons which would look neater. The forearm shield thingy keeps popping off too. The leg armour has some notches that does keep the guns aligned up properly. It sure does look pretty though! I'll take some pictures after I do a panel line wash on them. I might keep the Mirage naked though (I can sit out that pre-order), I miss the back swept wings silhouette if they were all to have their super packs on.

Absolutely beautiful work @Lolicon - another masterpiece to your collection. Congrats!

Beautiful @Lolicon can't wait to see it all together!

I don't have the really old Hasegawa F-14s with the raised paneling - I haven't seen those. I have the 80s version with very finely recessed panel lines - I'm afraid they'd disappear with a coat or two of paint, shape seems really good and all the panels are there, just no riveting. I've heard that they are a bitch to align and get the gaps out - a bit over engineered from what I've been told. I do love the GWH, just wished the RIO coaming was correct. I have the original F-14D that were in the magazines from FineMolds - I didn't know they were rare - I was hoping to turn one of those to a F-14B.

Hi @Urashiman - I have both the FineMolds and GWH and the Hasegawas. I don't know if I'll build the older Hasegawas, maybe as in flight someday (they just don't hold up to the current kits I even have all the resin Verlinden aftermarket stuff and even those don't hold up to the current stuff). The GWH is amazing except for the RIO console housing, its just way too narrow to display it with the canopy open - its just fine if you close the canopy. If you want canopy open, there are amazing 3D printed cockpit instrumentation that are leaps above and beyond Photoetched stuff from a Russian company called Quinta. They have North American hobby companies that carry their stuff as well. The wings are great as it has great flaps, slats and even spoilers which is rare. Just don't use the GWH decals or the instructions, its placement is suspect of some of the data stenciling and the graphics are way too large on a few items and wrong placement on the sparrow missile stripes. The FineMolds seems to be begging to be built with everything opened to see all the access panels. Can't wait to see your build, most importantly, have fun! Don't worry, we're not ARC around here 😛

Yes, I'm planning on sleeping through this and hope some fellow Canadians would posts some local sources soon after (TIA!)

Woohoo!!! MyKombi asked for Super Parts shipping payment!!!

UPDATE: received the DHL pkg today! Just a DHL bag around the box, no bubble wrap, the outer box is almost exactly the right size so there's less room to move, but I did get a slight crease at the corners of my real box inside - luckily I'm not a box nazi, but I still like clean boxes. Woohoo, they just left it at my door without asking for Brokerage or Duties - has anyone experienced this from Canada? I'm sure to get a bill later on as FedEx did this once a few years back. Did they change the plastic sheet around the plane from other Bandais - its covered in a frosted plastic sheet instead of the clear plastic sheet. The paint apps are gorgeous, makes me glad I missed the 04 in the original release and I'm too cheap to buy it to complete the set at the inflated prices. I hope it doesn't look too out of place with the rest of the older VF-31s. Overall I find it floppier, slight looser than the first release. Because its floppier, I found it easier to massage the arms in place and get the canons pointed correctly and that dreaded gap behind the canopy can be massaged away more easily. However, the nosecone seems to be easily rotated slightly off true (which bugs me, I wished it had a notch or some detent that keep it pointing true) and the wings on mine still don't peg into the legs (I'm going to refrain from sanding them till I get the Super Parts to see how it integrates with those). Its slightly less swooshable due to its floppiness, but slight nicer as a display piece to just look at (less gaps if you massage them and don't pick it up). I find the gun underneath doesn't clip to the front like the previous one did - might just be my variation in my batch. Oh well, you win some and you loose some, its a nice looking piece sitting there and I really can't wait for the super packs, I love how they attach to the side now instead of sitting on top - huge improvement design wise!

@no3Ljm I believe they came with the Yamato GBP set - I think they are the perfect hand size upgrade, not too big not too small.

So glad to see you're taking this on John! I'm sure it will be wonderful. Might I add my 2 cents in its development, I would suggest you start with the standard valkyrie forward fuselage as the curves and details are already quite established and you can see that the designs all have a common forward fuselage like the VF-4 and VF-1. The mid sections is obvious that K based it on the F-15, so take as many details from that real world aircraft as you can. Designing aircraft is a very different beast than armor or other mechs so I would always steal as much from real aircraft as possible instead of making it up, the rear landing gears could just be a copy of the F-15 gears and in the same placement as the real aircraft as well and the forward gears just be the VF-1 forward gear or if you keep with the F-15 styling, the single wheeled gear from the F-15 too. I wished I had time for resin kits nowadays...

I can confirm how gorgeous @Anasazi37 decals were! I might still prefer my old version over the new Bandai one after his decals.

Still waiting for mine to arrive, LP gave me a DHL tracking number, but it was 4 days later for the actual DHL pickup and its been in transit with DHL for 8 days now. I'm just expecting to be hit with a big brokerage & customs/duties fee any day now - argh.

With this be a World Wide Release or has that not gone into effect for Macross Zero? Hoping to get in Canada if its not too marked up with crazy shipping - these 1/100 are kinda small for something around $200cdn (including S&H)

Mine is on its way by DHL is slow (been 7 days transit already - now no updates) and their customs & brokerage the worst of the 3 couriers - but this isn't LP's fault. Luna Park was always the last resort (like NY was) its only when I can't secure a pre-order anywhere else, they always seem to still have something at a slight markup. I haven't had much luck securing one on release date that wasn't marked up more than LP. Is this AX still available anywhere now? I hear your frustration @borgified especially a fellow Canadian.