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Hmm... so the Airfix is good eh? I never knew that (I'm a Japanese snob, love Tamiya & Hasegawa - shun away from Revel & Monogram). So is this a new tooling? Does it have engraved detailing? Its so hard to find 1/72 scale aftermarket stuff in North America, the selection is like 1/5 of 1/48 and 1/10 of 1/32... boo... Any good photos and reviews of this kit?

Wow! HWK MKII - all those aftermarket parts, it looks amazing, can't wait to see what you do with it! Is gotta be one of my favourite aircrafts (next to the F-14 of course!) - just wish there was a decent kit (with aftermarket stuff) in 1/72 scale... someday... Please post progress, the instruments are looking great! Can't wait to see more!

Just some photos of the grey panelization process. Found out that I liked it better (from my YF-21 & starship Enterprise) that if it was a fairly straightforward scheme like an all white or all blue scheme that it adds interest to vary the panel shadings a bit - so I wanted to get some off-white/greyish tints in there, the overall end result will still be a white plane close to the canon scheme, but I thought that it adds interest. My first attempt was just to tint the white with Tamiya Sky Grey (its warm) - it looked fine in the airbrush cup, but by the time it was evenly applied, it appeared way too dark against the white parts. So I mixed up a batch of thin white again, and airbrushed over it to lighten the grey panels so there was more subtlety in the shading. Its still a bit on the strong side, but I will "post-shade" the panel lines (which will further blurr the edge distinctions between the white and light grey) weather on top and the relatively high contrast decals will all fight with the grey panels in the end. I still want to see the effect. My past experience with the VF-0 showed me that by the time all those other layers were on top, the panel difference was so subtle that it hardly showed through, so this time I was going a bit more heavier. If its still too heavy in the end, I can still spray a light coat of white over the decals to tone them down a bit and tie everything together a bit more as well as lighten any overtly strong paneling. Well... at least thats the plan. Now the next step is to completely finish the wings so I can glue the wing gloves together and fill and sand that seam. I think I will paint the grey stripes on the wings, was well as any of the grey decalled areas such as the back of the leg stripe and the knee patch. Firstly, I hate seeing screened areas on the decals - and unfortunately, the Bandai grey on their decals is a screened element, plus the knee and wing glove will be a "high-traffic" area (lots of movement - so the decal will be more prone to scratching and chipping) - so the hope is that the painted grey will stand up better than the decals.

What I did was use the back of my x-acto knife (the fine no.11 one) to trace a rough circle in pencil, then I cut the circle out of the Tamiya masking tape. The size was not crucial, just close was good enough. As it happened, the hole cut out was a bit smaller than the circle I wanted to mask, so I cut a slit in one side of the hole to open it up, and I "stretched" and massaged the cut circular opening around the circular ankle detail until it matched the curvature. I've found that you don't necessarily need to match the curvature that much as long as you're close (it wasn't even a true circle, just a free hand one...) but with these masking tapes, you can push, nudge, pull and bend it to fit the proper curvature. Because I had to open it up a bit, there was a small portion unmasked which I filled in with a small thin piece - I found that this way it was easier than with many built up pieces and that the curvature was too tight to do it with a small thin strip. Sorry I didn't take any photos of this process, I didn't really think much of it - especially because the edge wasn't that crucial since its in a crevice and a dark wash will be applied so the oil wash will hide any masked messiness.

OK, as promised some photos of the recent work I've managed to sneak off to do (sorry its a bit anti-climatic after all this waiting...) Basically I've separated out all the parts that get a white spray (it takes away the slightly purplish cast that the Bandai white plastic has) and taped them to a cardboard tray for painting. The key thing here is that the wings need to be fully finished, clear coated, decaled and weathered before attaching them back into the wing glove pivots so that can then be glued and the seams be filled and sanded, then painted, so we have to basically re-paint and seal that part all over again after the wings are finished. I also broke down the parts that needed filling to get rid of the seam, I used Tamiya putty for the bigger stuff and Mr. Surfacer 500 for the smaller stuff. There's a shot after the sanding too. Lastly I sprayed everything else Steel from AlcladII metalizer paints as the base metal skeleton to be detailed over top of. Then I masked that little circle detail on the ankle - it would of been so simple for Bandai to mold this piece separately as an add-on later, but they weren't really thinking about people who paint (it was a bitch to mask decently, I'm still not happy with the demarkation between the colours, but once I do the black oil wash over this part, I think it will hide the masked line nicely (I hope!). Today I've clear coated the flat white. I used flat white (Tamiya Acrylics) because it seems to have a better coverage, I find gloss white to be too translucent and requires too many coats to cover anything underneath. I then used ModelMaster clear-coat semi-gloss with some gloss added into the mixture to cover the flat white. The flat white is fairly fragile and is prone to scratching off if not protected. If I use pure gloss, I find the shine too much that it attacts finger prints, this semi-gloss mixture I find is just smooth enough to take decals and an oil wash sucessfully, but not glossy enough to keep fingerprints. Also I want to mask the white areas to spray varying shades of off-white and grey because I find the overall white too flat or dull, but I don't want to stray from the canon scheme too much, so I think some off-white (tinted light grey) panels will make the white plane jump out a bit in terms of paint finish. This clear coat allows me to use the masking tape without fear that it might pull up some of the white paint (which has happened in the past). So not much to show today, just the clear coat which doesn't look any different.

Wow! looking pretty fantastic so far PetarB (as always!) can't wait to see more. Fantastic job on that canopy too! Great scheme too! although I might perfer a little greyer (just a touch more realistic...)

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year everybody! Sorry for the long break. I started this build while I was out of work (and thought I had some decent chunk of time to devote to it - I like to build when I have a solid stretch of time). But with the downturn in the economy and the film business in Canada not picking up, I thought I might seek alternate employment to pay the bills and support our collective addiction ;-) Once I started my new job, it took a while getting used to - you know, impress them and all... then the Holiday season hit (my first where my 2.5yr old daughter actually "got" Christmas - its so wonderful to experience childhood Christmas again, I highly recommend it to anyone here still sittin' on the fence about children). So needless to say, I haven't had time to my hobby much these days. I'm sure I'll be back to these boards with a vengeance when I retire or when my daughter hits teenage years and wants nothing to do with her daddy ;-( Thanks to all who follow along. Firstly, what does this mean? I hope its something good... Thanks for any and all advice. I appreciate it, its the reason I post online - its one thing to show off, but its really the only input I get on this hobby (I don't have time to attend the IPMS meetings and no one I know locally is interested in this hobby) so I end up building in isolation which isn't great for my skills building. No advice or suggestion is too trivial, I might be good in some areas, but I also lack knowledge in some basic stuff too, so please fire away if you have anything to say (if I already know it, then it might help out someone else who is reading this thread at a different experience level than I). Actually, the problem I've been having lately is a very basic one; I'm having problems filling a seam (its model building 101) - I've been away from it so long that I find I keep leaving a hairline seam after filling and sanding, or I sand too much and lose the shape or contour - argh! - its just a finesse thing and I hope its something that will come more naturally whenever I "get back into the saddle". I've never built an SV-51 (its on my huge pile of unbuilt boxes) but it isn't even on the radar yet. I'm not a huge fan of Future yet. I've used it for clear-coating canopies, and its great for that. However the last time I used it (I don't know if any of you caught my F-16CJ on ARC - it was my attempt to start modeling again after a long break) I wasn't too impressed with the results. I may of laid it on too thickly, but it partially obscured or filled in some very fine panel lining so the oil panel wash didn't take as well as it should, it did allow the decals to sit remarkably flat and made them disappear and appear painted, but when it came time to airbrush the matte/flat clear-coat finish overtop, the clear coat developed micro-cracks and fractures in the surface (as though the future undercoat was just too slippery to grab hold of, too smooth) and the top matte coat looked like it had slightly shrunken uniformly. In the end after a lot of careful micromesh sanding and multiple coats, it looks somewhat acceptable, but still it was a hassle. Maybe its the mixture of ModelMaster acrylic clear-coats over Future that the combination doesn't like, but for now, I think I will stay with ModelMaster clear-coats all the way and only use Future for canopies & tinting. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll have a solution to this chipping paint or decal problem. It was one of my first criticisms of Bandai when I first heard that this kit was going to be transformable - in fact I had originally intended to build it in the aircraft only mode and fill in all the seams and gaps. However its moving parts are so well engineered that it seemed a shame negate all that goodness. My plan is to apply many layers of clear coat to help protect it and minimize on the number of transformations - realizing that it is a model and not a toy after all. The tolerances are so tight and the transformation relies on these parts being so tight so that friction can help it stay together that I don't think this problem will ever be truly solved, I think all the clear-coats of whatever people decide to put on will only delay the inevitable, at first its only the clear coat that gets damaged, before it eventually works its way down to some visible part such as the decal or paint finish. Just my opinion, but I'd love to be proven wrong - so if anyone comes with a better solution, let me know! OK, on to the VF-25, I haven't done much, but did get in a day over the holidays, I basically took the whole thing apart and separated it into painting assemblies (it ended basically un-building the whole thing). I took some pictures which I'll try to get around to posting sometime soon. But there's not much to see but a bunch of parts ready for paint. I also filled and sanded a few pieces (nose cone, forearm seams, shoulder seam and the knee mechanical joints) that I thought needed the seams to be removed, but overall the seams have been successfully kept to a minimum by Bandai's excellent assembly design - as HWK MKII correctly states - unfortunately Bandai did not design for painting assemblies so a few parts will be awkward to mask and paint. Just an update, I haven't forgotten and I desperately want to get back to this baby (especially since I picked up the Ozma one too now).

Does anyone have links to the latest ModelGraphix or Hobby Japan issues? The January ModelGraphix has a Valkyrie special including this VF-25.

Oh PetarB - how could I have missed this!! YES, YES, YES, but is it too late for a request?! Please, please, PLEEEZE... a DYRL Minmay in her orange flightsuit with her helmut off for my VT-1 someday (the only reason I've never started mine was I wanted a Minmay with her helmut in her hands sitting back there. Amazing micron work!

Hmm... notice that they made 3 models - each dedicated to one mode. I guess this is the only way to protect a precious paint job is by not transforming it between the modes - I can't think of a paint job that will last through many transformations, its just too hard on rubbing the various surfaces.

Well... its a little more complicated than that. Dullcoat or any flat finish is inherently microscopically bumpy (this is what gives the flat appearance). Any marker or wash put over top of this "rough" surface will be harder to remove (as it gets into all the little crevices - if you apply a wash, you will stain the clear-coat finish). If you use an erase to take away any marker mistakes, you will end up with a "shiny" spot where you rubbed (because you would have smoothed out the roughness which is what gives the matte finish). So you may need to clear-coat flat again over it to even out the finish. It isn't so much of a problem when applying marker or washes over Glosscoats since glossy surfaces are microscopically smooth (this is what gives something the shiny appearance). This smoothness allows things to "not stick" as well and allows markers and washes to "erase" easier. I would generally do washes or markers over a somewhat glossy or semi-gloss surface (or bare plastic) and then seal it in with whatever final finish you desire (as long as you're not using some clear-coat that has the same solvent as your wash/marker ink or some clear coat which is "hot" meaning that it will chemically react to the surface beneath).

The lacquer solvent in the clear coat partially thinned the Gundam Markers inks... sorry to hear about that. It also depends a bit on how heavy and "wet" you sprayed your clear coat. Usually if there's something to protect underneath, I'd spray a light dry coat first, once sealed in, then I'll spray a wetter heavier coat over top. Lacquers are pretty "hot" stuff (meaning they react to a lot of things - that's part of the way they adhere to plastic, they partially etch into the styrene to form a better bond - that's why its easy to scratch off acrylics as they only "sit" on top of the plastic). There's usually no problems as long as you use lacquers first and layer your way up to "cold" stuff like acrylics, but never the other way around. You could use Model Master Acryl clear-coats (its what I use, and its pretty inert) - but it wouldn't hold up as well as the lacquers.

Well, this snap together thing actually comes in quite handy for doing these magnet modifications, you can take it all apart over and over again to get the fit and alignment just right on the magnet placement. Here's some shots of the thing together again, the left side (if you're in the cockpit looking forward) has got 3 magnet attachment points and although I didn't think they worked that great individually, all together I think they do an OK job of aligning and minimizing the gaps and making it feel in general a little less flimsy. You can certainly see how the right side leg/engine sags a little due to the weight and how it doesn't quite tuck up to the wing roots as nicely as the left side. I wish there was more I could do, but for now, I'll do the other side as well and see how the whole thing ends up - that might be it, and I might start gluing and putting the only 2 seams and hopefully start painting. The main trouble spots left are that damn flip down gun/shield thingy on the hip/upper thighs - I can never really get that to seat properly and as a result, its the primary reason we get the ugly gaps in the upper chest/shoulder pieces. I wish I can see a way to get it to lock kin properly - any ideas?

Lastly I found a nice little spot to tuck in another magnet to pull the wings and wing root down to that it contacted the leg sides more positively and brought the overall front profile of the wing tips and wing roots to angled down a bit more to the ground (or at least more horizontal - I hate planes with wing tips that point skyward, it looks like its trying to flap its wings?!). Its a nice little spot to tuck in between the white shell pieces - the only thing is that we will see the opposite magnet on the wing root when its in the battroid mode (that's something I'm willing to sacrifice since the plane mode is more of a priority to me. It does however go over some nice details of the inside of the wing root though.

The next spot is the forward intakes, I've always hated this seam between the main lower ones and the smaller upper intakes. I was hoping the magnets will help here. It did work when the parts were free, but the magnets just weren't strong enough to really close the gap when everything was back and assembled again. It does sometimes hold if you press everything together tightly, then the magnets seem to work, but I'm not sure if this is worth the effort now. I'll still do it onto the other side just to make it symmetrical, but I guess I was hoping for more of an effect. You have to dig out a little divit (careful to not go through) on the rear of the intakes because of the depth of the magnet for the intake covers to sit properly again.

Hey those magnets are even smaller! I wish I knew about those first, I might get myself some to try out on another project, I wonder if they'd be as strong as the ones I got. Well, its been a few days and I've only had a bit of time to try these magnets out and they do seem to be working (not as well as I hoped... but they do tighten up the gaps). I wish they were stronger, because the force giving the gaps in the model seems to just barely equal the strength of the magnets, I was hoping that they'd be strong enough to be completely hidden behind the plastic, but they aren't. So there will be exposed magnets so that they can have actual surface contact - with the exception being the arm pieces, I shallowed out the back so the magnets could be closer to the surface, but I still want that surface to be smooth and the magnet hidden. The first one is the leg, I wanted it to be tucked tighter to the arms in the fighter mode as the arms actually have some tab/peg lock to the underside of the back plate. The magnet is surface mounted so that its flush with the surrounding details, and I think once its painted up, it will just blend in and look like another circular detail in amongst all that made up "gak". I had to make sure that the depth of the magnet didn't interfere with the movement of the foot/ankle assembly too - luckily it isn't deep enough to interfere. In the photos I show where I could mark its corresponding magnet placement on the forearms. The last photos show that it does indeed work, the gap on the left leg between it and the arm is evident (even when the plane is upside down - gravity works for us, when you flip it around, when gravity is no longer our friend, the gap is worst) and the leg on the right has its gap closed up tight due to the magnets working.

Lastly I ran across this Humbrol clear purple in a spray can for R/C polycarbinate shells - I picked it up. Its my fall back for the canopy tinting and clear-coat over a Aclad metallic base for the gunpod. I also found this food colouring dye at the groceries store, and the pack even has mixing instructions on the back, I will try that with the future first, its more reversible if it fails, I can always strip off the future off the canopy if I don't like the results. The Humbrol clear purple might actually etch into the clear canopy (but its there if all else fails - I too will try the Tamiya red & blue clear paints too). I'm sure the spray can will work for the gun pod though - I just hope the purple is right. But we are getting too far ahead of ourselves, I think I will tackle the magnets problem first and get the plane to hold itself together with all the gaps minimized first before thinking about painting.

I also put together that Bandai stand (this did not come with the kit - I bought it a few years ago, I thought it was pretty neat when I saw it, little did I know it fits this kit). Mainly I wanted to see if I could modify it so I didn't have to use that stupid piece J4 to attach it to the stand. Its really poorly thought out; A) its not even at the centre point / center of gravity of the model, its too far forward and puts un-necessary torque on the gunpod and B) it so poorly designed that it will scratch the finish on the gunpod everytime its put on or off and lastly C) it just looks like an afterthought, it doesn't work with the design of the Valkryie at all! Well using one of the universal adapters supplied with the stand, I was able to find the middle size to straddle the gunpod and hold the plane up - or course its slides around, but maybe again with some magnets, it might hold to the underside of the arms - I think it will be a better solution than using the kit part J4. Oh, BTW, the way the gunpod holds onto the aircraft mode is a joke! That J25 piece is just a poor afterthought, and the gunpod is constantly mis-aligned - with all this thought gone in to the all the movable pieces, its a shame they couldn't of come up with a more elegant solution to holding the gun in place while in the aircraft mode

Finally I think I might try and get some small rare earth magnets tomorrow to see if they are small enough to be used in this kit. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of cavities that allow for the placement of these magnets within the plastic parts. They may need to be drilled and surface mounted so they have direct physical contact However, initially I thought that if we had some magnets placed where I outlined in BLUE in these areas that it might help hold the aircraft mode together better. The primary concern is that I wish the legs were snapped closer to the folded arms and higher - they somewhat drag down a bit due to gravity. Additionally if the wing glove was attached more snugly to the leg sides, it would tilt them down a bit and look more natural head on - as it stands now, they have a tendency to sit pointing up at the wingtips which is a bit odd for any aircraft. Lastly those gun shields (B14 & B15) at the hip sides are so problematic, they never seem to sit right maybe a magnet to pull them closer to the lower hip might help them align themselves. I've found these rod-type magnets that are apparently 1/8"X1/8" which is pretty darn small! http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=...,42348&ap=1 I'll pick some up tomorrow or the next day to see if they'd work.

I've identified some of the most problematic areas in terms of paint durability. These areas seem to rub against each other quite a bit, and no matter how much we clear-coat it, I feel its only a matter of time until its worn down enough due to movement that it will eventually damage the paint job. I've outlined the areas which rub in RED. I will definitely apply multiple coats here and multiple clear coats too - but the knee will be a real problem because when the dark grey gets scratched, the white plastic will show through underneath. Also the forward LERX (I don't know what its called, forward wing roots) is a highly visible area and it takes quite a bit of abuse from the upper thighs during Battroid transformation. Additionally I've also identified the only seams that need to be puttied filled and sanded - everything else seems to be pretty well hidden. These seams are outlined in GREEN. Lastly, I don't know what to do about this yet, but the canopy will get scratched eventually by sitting against part J5 - its almostly like I should glue some soft pads there to rest the canopy against when in the Battroid mode. I've outlined the problematic areas in PURPLE. Its also been suggested that one can re-inforce the fat antenna at the bottom of the forward fuselage part D18 which snaps into part A14 crotch piece for the battroid. It was suggested that one could drill through and leave a tiny metal pin or bit within it to re-inforce the tab/antenna. While initially I thought it was a good idea, I didn't do it yet - the other school of thought is that drilling through will weaken the area, which can promote breakage. I would only attempt it as a repair to it if it had broken, I will tempt fates and leave it alone for now.

Hi all again... a little more progress. bishop, yes I did get your photos via e-mail, once you get your camera, you should also post a thread here too. Right now your cell phone photos are a little too blurry and grainy to see anything constructive. Nope I did not trim the pegs, I tried a few and managed to successfully pry them apart very gently and carefully. The key is to get something right in to the base of the pegs and twist - I find a soft fast food plastic knife works best and a jeweler's screwdriver (but becareful not to damage the surrounding surfaces) - just gently ease it back and forth and the parts should come apart easily without damage. Yeah it does seem like a waste to forgo all this nifty movement, hence I'll try to make it work on this one, but Ozma's VF-25S might be just an aircraft only mode depending on how crazy this one gets by the time I'm finished with it. There is just so many movement areas that rub that I don't feel any decent paintjob will hold up after any number of transformations regardless of how many coats of clear-coat one applies. Plus, I only really care about the aircraft mode - however Bandai has done a marvelous job on the Battroid mode on this one! So I spent the afternoon transforming it through the Gerwalk to the Battroid modes to get a sense of where the joints are, the extent of movement and where the pieces rub against each other - and unfortunately, there are quite a few problematic areas (as far as paint is concerned). At this point I would suggest anyone to try lacquers and enamels over acrylics (unfortunately I am almost exclusively Tamiya acrylics, since they are soo much easier to clean and better for my working environment) since lacquers and enamels have a better "bite" to the plastic and will probably adhere better and be more durable. That being said, I'd still probably use my Tamiya acrylics since I'm so comfortable and familiar with them. However if anyone has any good White lacquer that they'd recommend me try, I might be open to it. Here's the Battroid mode which exposes the most of the internal mechanism - luckily there aren't a lot of exposed seams. I've included a shot of the base of the neck, there's a sliding plate (E32) that looks like it should lock into an upper position (on top of J5) but I can't seem to get this piece up there - is this the correct alignment/orientation for the neck assembly? (the top of J5 looks like there's a little triangular shelf on the two corners where the collar E32 looks like it should rest on) - however the HJ scans show the same orientation as I have.

Hey guys! I've just finished "snapping" this kit together and started my build-up thread here: http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?show...mp;#entry679310 Please feel free to build along and post your experiences with me!

Ok, 10 hours later from start till finish, I've completed the assembly / snap-together of the VF-25F - I only have the gun to do tomorrow. Initial impressions now... its somewhat over-engineered. The model has a nice solid heft to it, unlike most models which are hollow, this one is jammed packed with a internal mechanism, half there to allow the kit to be snapped together, and half there to allow the kit to transform into the other modes. While its a novelty for this to happen, I'd rather get a decent aircraft mode model kit and purchase a real toy for the transformation, but from the ugly looks of the Bandai DX toy, this model might be our best bet at getting a decent looking toy for the time being. Because so many parts move and slide and interlock with each other and each joint is multi-axis, its near impossible for all these parts to align properly. The result is some pretty serious gaps all over the model. Now I don't know what to do, do I glue everything together and fill up all these seams in an attempt to create a decent plane, or do I live with the gaps and keep on trucking towards a transformable model? Some of the worst areas include; the shoulder chest plate sections on either side, its just about impossible to properly seat the hip gun piece to look flush with these shapes and the back leg calf to sit higher up and engage the rear of the wing roots properly (without gluing the wing roots to it). Initially I've identified 3 possible places to add rare earth magnets that MIGHT help to stabilize the aircraft mode. Although I have no idea if they'd work, one in the arm sides and leg sides to pull the leg closer to the folded arms might help, another at the lower wing root section to the leg knee sides to pull the wing roots down closer to the legs might help and lastly maybe one at the split intakes one on the upper half and one on the top of the lower half to help them stay together. For the time being, I'll have to learn to transform this a bit more and to see what is the smallest rare earth magnets I can get before I can decide anymore. I'd love to see what you guys are up to and your thoughts on this model too. Feel free to contribute any ideas and suggestions you might have to this thread and any references. I'd love to get more painting references for my self too.

The legs next - again the movement joints designs are amazing, and so is the use of ABS plastics - lets hope my paints stick to this ABS later on! And we'll see if all this joint goodness translates into a good poseability in the battroid mode later on. Not much to say except I followed the instructions explicitly. Once I did one, I thought I understood it and raced through the other leg (just mirrored I thought) - but the joints are so subtlety offset or the tolerances designed so specific that I ended up having to take that leg apart and go through and re-trace my steps with a fine tooth comb to find out that I had two joints reversed. Just pay attention to the hip joints. It all worked, but when I put on the air-intake covers, its fit wasn't as perfect as the other side which was the only hint that I had errored somewhere along the way - so if it doesn't fit like a perfect glove, then there's a problem somewhere in the joints.

The arms next, nice feat of engineering for movement and joints. Its clear that I will have to eventually glue the two outside shell together and fill and sand the main seam and paint it white, but not before I spray the internal elbow and shoulder mechanism first and have to mask that all away - again they didn't put any thought as to how a modeller would go about painting this. I wished the lower white portion of the arm was removable from the grey portions even after the two halves where glued together.