wm cheng

Oh, very curious how you solve this... did it scrape off the Future clear-coat too or just the bare paint surface? Are you going to take it apart?

Outstanding MJ!!! Exactly what I want to do to mine when I get it. It turned out beautifully and really adds to the scheme. Congrats, can't wait to see it all weathered up and panel lined. I didn't think it would be possible to paint the forward fuselage stripes without taking apart the LERX side pieces - how does it look when its transformed? Did you spray them with the partially transformed or are you left with some triangular spots that didn't get the paint? Can anyone tell me how to take apart the forward section to separate the LERX pieces so I can paint in behind?

BEAUTIFUL!!! wished I could have seen it in person.

Well, finally got a little time to finish off weathering and clear-coating the VF-27 over the long weekend. I left this baby much newer as its more advanced and he didn't really get shot up much. So the aircraft is pretty new, just a semi-gloss clear coat to take the shiny Bandai toy-like plastic down to something a little bit more realistic and hides all the swirls and tiny scratches well and some post shading to bring out the sculpt. Most of the weathering is on the matte/flat fast packs. Enjoy...

Oh no! I was hoping not the green... I was hoping more towards the grey less saturated range. Darn it. I should get mine in a few weeks (registered SAL) - maybe we can use some grey in the weathering to tone it down, and the matte/flat finish helps to lighten it up (that's what I did with my RVF-25 to take the minty curse off of it). I was thinking grey stripes maybe - it does look a little too naked (its in that reference anime shot). What will you do with yours MJ?

Speaking only for the Bandai Cosmo Zero (Yamato 2199) kit, they snap together really tightly. The plastic is somewhat soft, so if you press it all together, it would be difficult to take it apart again without bending, scratching or damaging the surface of the plastic (I found out the hard way). Just don't follow the order of the instructions unless you want to mask everything - Bandai is never friendly to modelers who want to paint the kit.

DOOOO IT! You've already got the weathering part down pat, all the major paint masking is decals already from Hasegawa - all you need to do is paint the entire plane white or grey. It will spoil you for other model companies. While the landing gears look long, they are quite beefy in all the lineart and anime. It will look much better with the armor packs on (which I assume they will get to).

Thanks MJ! It's all thanks to you. The key was the initial clear-coat which allows the weathering powders to stick in the first place - otherwise everything just slides off that slick glossy Bandai plastic.

The cockpit does seem a bit snug... but its because we're used to the micronized Bandai pilots. Ohh, there's clear lens tips for the missiles. I was kind of hoping for a few more panel lines or revit/hatch details - not as much as their VF-1 (which I love!) but a few more look more "real" than anime. Still miles ahead of the Bandai disaster... although the gears (while looking great!) do look a bit long and make the bird a bit tall - should cut that down a bit (easier to cut down than build up). Finally I can have a Messiah on the ground without an in-flight stand!

Finally found a little time over the long weekend to touch up the newly arrived Armor Super packs, there wasn't much to do but some dry brushing with the Tamiya weathering powders, but the matte flat clear-coat does wonders - I've always done all the super/fast packs on all my models in a flat/matte finish to contrast against the shinier plane. The CF itself is in a semi-gloss - which does wonders in hiding all the tiny swirls and scratches from the dreaded Bandai glossy plastics. I left the MDEs bare glossy plastic with just very light weathering around the seams - I usually leave the ordinance in a glossy finish and much less weathered than the aircraft itself, specialty ordinance shouldn't be flying around all the time collecting dirt! No time for real photos, just some snaps from the workbench for now. Did any of you have a heck of a time snapping the left leg back up to the back plate with the fast packs on? I thought I'd break it - I ended up lightly filing the arm/peg down a little to get it to snap in - and boy is this thing tight now - I don't think I'm ever transforming it again (especially with the black triangle problem!). Enjoy.

Please let me know if there will be PE upgrade parts coming along too!

That's going to be on the top of my lists... (but you guys already knew how slanted towards Hasegawa I am ;-)

Sorry to hear about that. It looks like you didn't wash off the mold release thoroughly enough and the paint was applied over a section with the resin mold release. I usually scrub down my resin kits with ajax and a toothbrush.

Now THATS how you do a model kit... beautifully sleek.

They don't mark it as gift, just a low amount like 10Euros which for Canada at least, seems to slide under the Customs & Duties radar. I've never had to pay the customs and the often associated brokerage/processing fee on top of that which is often $30-40 on top from NY. I've always had to pay it from AmiAmi or HLJ.

Beautiful as always - love that scale!!! My only scale too (except toys), although I might be gettin' a bit old for this size, my eyes aren't what they used to be anymore.

Woohoo!!! Pic too small, but it looks like we might finally get some decent landing gears on this plane. All the Bandai stuff, (both kit and DX) just looks stupid!!!

Yes, where else can I get it - other than Amazon.jp?

Major BOOOO!!! Still my biggest sticking point.

Hmm, for some reason this one looks so much better than the previous photo... are they the same kit?! This one seems to have finer details...

Got my Armored Parts from NY - excellently packed (I was afraid since the box was really battered up and squished in the middle - but the inside contents were perfect!) - can't wait to weather them up and apply them to the VF-171 - amazing design! Got away without customs & duty too - woohoo NY!!!

Hey, I just saw this thread today (even though its old - July is not a good month for me, I'm pretty much off-line with the great weather and both my daughter and my birthdays together). YES!!! I can't recommend Alclad stuff enough - but only if you airbrush. It is pre-thinned and must be airbrushed. The key to this metalizer is surface prep - it needs to be ultra glass smooth. Actually if you ever sprayed it onto glass (as I have accidentally done onto the glass bottles - it looks absolutely amazing). Sand, putty, Mr. Surfacer, primer and sanding again and the results are spectacular! But if you rush it, every little tiny imperfection and flaw will telegraph through and be magnified. That's why they recommend a glossy undercoat as it fills in the slight sanding imperfections and creates a smooth surface. Word of warning (I had to find out the hard way and ruined my Bandai Yamato 2199 Cosmo Zero model!) the Alclad Gloss Black undercoat is NOT a lacquer, despite it saying it is everywhere on the bottle, it refers to the rest of the Alclad metalizer line which is a lacquer, the Gloss Black is actually an enamel and will react to any oil based paints even after an Alclad metalizer has been sprayed over it (the Alclad metalizers are so thin that they do not form a sufficient skin layer protection to the enamel based underlying black paint). This is the reason I've switched to the Flory's Pro-modeller's wash for my panel lines (as its water/clay based and is completely inert as compared to my previous varsol/artist oil washes). Good luck and try some, you'll end up buying the entire colour line (however they've changed their STEEL - its not as smooth as it used to be, its a little bit sparkly where you see the metallic flakes). Can't wait to see some of your work with this stuff!

In Canada, there's usually a $30-40 customs & duties often with an additional $10 brokerage/processing fee - so any place else (HLJ, AmiAmi, HS) other than NY willl have to chage 4,000 - 5,000Y cheaper for it to make any difference to my pocketbook. Plus, I'd rather pay NY for their service (which without them, I wouldn't have been able to get any of my Bandai Renewals) than the government which has done nothing but hinder my toy buying. I went with EMS as there was only a 200Y difference between the two and Fed-Ex is 2-3 days where EMS 3-4 days - but with the Post from NY, I usually get through without customs/duty charges. With FedEx, there will always be a brokerage fee even if the customs/duties were zero (at least in Canada).

Went through NY - there's gotta be more than 3,500Y difference before the customs & duties from AmiAmi or HLJ even out for us in Canada. Shipping is pretty expensive for this though. NY has it for 5,000 registered SAL, 5,400 EMS & 5,600 FedEx - I chose 5,400 EMS since its so close in price to registered SAL anyways, but EMS will arrive via Post instead of FedEx which will tack on a brokerage charge regardless of customs and duties. HLJ & AmiAmi wouldn't disclose their shipping yet - I wonder if I got gouged on the shipping by NY though. The total came out to 35,150Y though, ouch!

Great idea!!! I can't read japanese, what was Mr. K's response?