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@no3Ljm sorry for old timers like me, what is P-Bandai channel? Web exclusive means they will make as many as ordered?

So these drones are Pre-Order tonight?!?! (nothing in the pre-order thread!) Its Nov 18th @10am Tokyo time which is Nov 17th @8pm EST for those of us in Canada/US in eastern standard time? I thought they were usually at 4pm which is 2-3am our time depending on DST. Are these going to be easier to order (made to order) or a bitch? Usual suspects like HLJ, AmiAmi or someone more exotic? I'm pretty excited about these, they look pretty cool for drones, I guess it doesn't matter they are both "09" and the markings don't change whether they are paired with any of the planes? Hey will any of this be available on Amazon.com / US?

Is the show over? I wish there was some concrete info about availability on this. I'm personally loving all the Bandai DXs over my old Yamato/Arcadia stuff (I still haven't forgotten how expensive the Yamato/Arcadia YF-19 was and how bare it is compared to the Bandai and how many hours it took me with custom graphics/decals to get it up to a respectable condition to display with the rest of my collection - its still left a raw taste that's tainted a lot of older releases in my memory, I guess I hold a grudge).

YES!!! I want orange highlit supers!

@electric indigo Wow nice shading on her stomach and chins - amazing airbrush control!

Thanks @electric indigo does he say what his ratios are?

That's good to know, I like the Alclad stuff because its pre-thinned to the perfect consistency and goes on so smooth! Hmm maybe its time to look for something different - at least on the clear parts. There are so many new paints out there, anyone can recommend an alternative pre-thinned for airbrush lacquer primer? Hopefully that can be thinned with either Tamiya lacquer thinner or Mr. Color thinners/cleaners?

@Urashiman I noticed you’re using Alclad grey primer too, same as me and I had some slight flaking or chipping when I pulled the mask off the freshly primed and painted canopy. Use a very sharp new exacto blade to cut around the mask before you pull it up, it minimizes the chipping but sometimes even the sharp exacto blade caused the flaking. I don’t know why, but it’s happened to my last 3 models (GWH F-14, F-15 & FineMolds F-4) at the edges only. Maybe it has something to do with using Mr. Color grey lacquers over it? This never happened when I was just shooting straight Tamiya acrylics before. I’ve had to hand brush touch ups on all the frames. Thanks @Thom and @MechTech I see too many of my mistakes to ever put it in a show! I always say to myself maybe I might bring this in until I make the first mistake or something happens and I have to attempt the repairs. I have yet to complete a single modeling experience where everything when smoothly.

@Urashiman I love the GWH 1/72 F-14 its one of the best kits out there I believe (I have a stash of Hasegawas that I don't think I'll ever build and 2 FineMolds that I will have to see if it measures up to the GWH). Great fine detail and shape, great landing gears, just too bad the RIO coaming seems really narrow if you plan on opening the canopy (reason I left mine shut) just don't use their decals, some of the stenciling and hooks data are out of scale and the instructions have mistakes especially on the Sparrow lines, just be careful and look at real photo references (I went by their instructions and made the mistakes - at least on their VF-1 Wolfpack kit and decals). Love your clips, where did you get them? @Rock Nice big 1/48 scale, the Tamiya was such a nice kit that I broke my only 1/72 rule and got one as well. If you've clear coated gloss or semi-gloss the figures, then do a pin wash / Flory wash (what I use) and the black will flow into the crevices and neaten up your painting on the figures as well as add shading/shadow/dirt to the outfits, do a little dry brushing over top with a lighter colour to pick out the highlights and it will make the pilots pop. Great work so far BTW! @MechTech Your machining never ceases to amaze me, making stuff from scratch is unfathomable to me. I usually get every aftermarket set for a kit just to avoid having to make stuff myself. Your stuff looks so pristine and perfect, it really calms me and gives me a happy warm feeling just seeing it because I can never get so perfect, there are so many mistakes in mine that I am always correcting it and fixing flaws. OK I've finally gotten my F-4 to a stage where I can sit back and take a little breather/rest. Unfortunately, when I took off the mask for the canopy, a bunch of paint flaked off, as though the primer and paint didn't bite into the clear parts (only the canopy, this happened to my F-15 as well, I think my Alclad grey primer doesn't bite into clear parts as well and I had to hand brush fix a lot of chipped edges on the canopy unfortunately. So much detail into the cockpit that is hidden in the photos, at least you can see a lot more with the naked eye. I've always wanted a VF-84 Phantom (now I've got to do a VF-84 FineMolds F-14 to go with it). Gotta say FineMolds did an excellent job with the gears and gear wells, although they are nicely augmented with Eduard PE parts. I do love the Quinta 3D cockpit panels, much better than PE parts - just wished they did more in 1/72 scale. I'm going to take a break down to do chores while I figure a way to weather the fuel tanks properly and build and paint the missiles which are a separate thing. Thanks for looking.

I think I managed to save it by re-piecing the VF-84, but the font is subtly different and because I always know what I did, my eye is always drawn to the paint repair instantly, I hope it doesn't look repaired to the fresh person seeing it. Its getting there very slowly, very hard to find time to work on it when I'm working.

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.