shiyao

thanks bhop - your apartment certainly looks smaller than mine! i guess if you can manage, i should be able to as well. major - ah, so that's what wet sanding is! thanks. jonwayne - man. it's at times like these that i actually feel proud to be singaporean. *jaw drop*

cheers guys, that was very good of you. the piece has since been bought (!) by chowser, who needed the good parts to repair his super ostrich. i never thought about using a thin strip of metal though .. i think that would've worked ..

A health question: I live in a one-room studio apartment in Manhattan. Painting "outdoors", i.e. downstairs in the lobby of my apartment is out of the question; apart from finicky doormen, my building also has a regular stream of loutish visitors from the street (I'm near a dodgy neighborhood, though not quite in it). So - I'm looking for some ideas to help dispel the fumes from painting indoors. I usually paint with the windows wide open, but I still consistently get headaches. Also: what paints are non-toxic? I know acrylics are perfectly fine for your health, but other than that, what else is viable? Acrylics don't adhere so well. Lastly: some models are also made out of harmful materials, like resin. So one should be careful sanding/sawing those kits. Does anyone know of other harmful materials? Polystyrene is ok, I hope? I have 3 kits waiting to be built - but I'm not sure if they're worth risking cancer for.

that makes 3 of us ... those yamato &(#@O($@(*#$ ! man! i am so pissed off! i spent nearly the ENTIRE AFTERNOON looking for that small hexagonal purple piece of *(*&$*(@#$! i'm trying to think of something else to say, but i can only think of only more *&@#^&$#($&@)$&p@)*$#$*()$($&@$^)@&^(*@&$^#%( !@!!!!

yup i thought about that ... unfortunately i belong to the "seams? what seams?" school of thought. one day that will change; for now, i'll be happy if my model even remotely looks like the anime.

painting while the stuff is still attached to the sprue really helps alleviate the problem of spraying stuff when it's 3-D though. i find that i always miss parts when i'm painting something that's already in 3 dimensions (on the sprue, stuff is still pretty 2-D, although not technically).

same! maybe it was a particular shipment of YF-21s ....

my two cents': macross was special because it was all about the transforming mecha. so, in that sense, the variable kits make sense, because they reflect what makes macross unique. "if i wanted to make a non-transforming plane," so the argument would run, "i wouldn't have to make a macross one. f-15s are much better-looking." on the flip side, however, macross jets and battloids are flippin' gorgeous in their own right, regardless of variable-lity. Ivanov's SV-51 in fighter mode makes me drool, and i mean that quite literally. the yf-19 has a GORGEOUS battloid mode - too bad the yamato toy doesn't do it justice. so i guess both camps make a good point. at the end of the day, it depends on whether you're childish like me ("i want transform! i want transform!") or adult ("look at that exquisite weathering on the underside of the fuselage"). and of course, how much money you can spare.

you know, i have this suspicion that the one i lost was never there in the first place. it's a pretty big one (same as you jenius, the one that can be hidden by the Fastpacks), and i'm pretty sure i would've noticed if it popped off. was yours on the left or right side (with the nose being the front)?

Hi guys, Just thought I'd get some feedback on what people think about the plastic caps covering the screw holes on the Yamato YF-21 (both FP and no-FP versions). I've lost one already and many of the others seem ready to pop out at any time. If anyone out there has faced the same issue, do let me know how you've dealt with it! Cheers, Shiyao ps. here's a pic for illustration (from MW):

i think i did use force - slow, sustained force, but force all the same i suppose.

How would you guys go about fixing this? i broke the metal chestplate at 2 points when sliding it down for battloid mode. forgot to release the landing gear, sigh. (By the way, this item, a 1/60 Yamato VT-1 Super Ostrich - whole or parted out - is for sale: http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=13384 )

Well, maybe that's because I've already pointed it out myself.

Thanks guys again, for all these words of encouragement. I guess I have a whole list of things to buy, if I'm going to get anywhere with this! Where do you guys normally get your stuff - online, that is? I've surfed onto a couple of art and hobby sites, but it would be great to know where most of you shop. Here's my buy list then: 1. Sandpaper 2. Tamiya putty 3. Tamiya paints - acrylics, right? Which type goes best with airbrushes? 4. X-acto knife 5. Priming spray 6. Finishing spray 7. Markers for fine detail/panel lining Recommendations as to where to find these online (cheap + good + reliable), anyone?

Wow - thanks for all that feedback! I am *amazed* that not a single one of you said, "Gedouddaheah, newbie. Diz place for dem Blackaces and WM Cheng only. Ain't nobuddy gonna look at yah stinkin' pile o' crap." So, gathering up the snippets of wisdom from you guys, I have this summary: 1. Get an x-acto knife. 2. Get sandpaper. 3. Get epoxy putty or Mr Surfacer (any other more easily available alternatives?). 4. Get a priming coat spray (what's the exact name for this kind of stuff?) 5. GET A (&@#^*$# AIRBRUSH 6. Get a simpler model. I was thinking of one of them Hasegawas, since they all don't transform (but they're still pretty hard aren't they?). BUT I am SO TEMPTED to buy a 1/12 Imai Variable Cyclone from Drewsky ... any thoughts on the difficulty of that kit? 7. Get some acrylics! (I was told acrylics were bad for model kits - why though? My experiment with LACQUER paint here has obviously been a miserable one.) 8. Get outdoors (impossible in Manhattan). 9. Get a better finishing spray (I used a Windsor and Newton All-Purpose Matte Varnish - bad choice?). 10. Get some patience! OK, 10 rules, just nice. I will be off now to continue heated negotiations with 1 VF-1 2NV over the possible splitting up of DanGAGT's Hikaru 1/48 VF-1J Super.

Well, see if you can spot all the errors I made. I would also greatly appreciate painting feedback, positive or negative. Should I have painted the individual parts first before sticking it all together? is painting without an airbrush just stupid? will i die if i paint indoors without any windows open?

Roy is so gonna kick Blackie's ass.

and from the rear:

now in battloid mode (guess where that heatshield sticker came from!):

and a side view (note Robotech DVD in background - I had to alleviate boredom when I got stuck):

more of the carnage, this time a 3/4 view:

AND THEN - I destroy everything with my evil brush -

and in pre-paint Battloid mode (argh! note the mistake with the left knee!):

Here are the results of my first attempt at constructing a model kit ever: a Bandai 1/72 Variable VF-1S Valkyrie. Loads of errors, and I don't just mean the paint job. Here it is, pre-painting:

haterist, amazing - of all the sites you've listed, i've only never come across "angolz". seems like this little hobby is becoming quite an obsession. yeah i'll do that bigkid. his prices for the FPs look reasonable.