Majestic

Yes, rare earth magnets in a few different sizes. Got them from K&J Magnetics. Between all of the individual missles and armor attachment points, I used around 70-75 magnets. So I won't be displaying this thing near any sensitive electronics!

Cool! It looks like you're making the tailfins and ventral fins able to pivot on joints at the root? Is that just for poseability? I was wondering how the tailfin modification would look...and it it looks great! Can't wait to see this finished, keep up the good work.

Bummer about Charlize potentially ousting Noomi Rapace from the project. Rapace was awesome in Girl With the Dragon Tatoo and I could easily see her as a tough Ripley-type crewmember. Maybe her english isn't pitch perfect, or the studios don't want to bank on a "no name" actress.

Looks much better in jetfire colors! Matchbox(?), circa 1987: "Hey guys, I have a great idea for a toy to capitalize on this whole Robotech thing!" "What's would that be Bob?" "A veritech fighter that doesn't transform at all! What kid wouldn't want it?" "How do I sign up for this amazing idea? Big bonus for you this year Bob".

Wow, that looks ridiculously good. Excellent paint and detail work.

Thanks. The VF-1 is fully painted and awaiting decals (I found some and they should be arriving in the mail soon). I'm currently painting the armor. I've had to start and re-start a couple of times because I haven't been happy with the colors or my rusty airbrushing ability. Currently I'm trying to decide on a good shade of yellow/orange for the parts colored as such in the lineart. It's an obnoxious color scheme, so I'm trying to subtly adjust it for a more 'realistic' and weathered look.

While the Patlabor head looks good, it is sort of recognizable as such. It probably wouldn't take much to modify that head to more closely match the Platypus design. But it's your project, and I understand if you want something more unique. I think the "ugly" Valks are awesome, especially the Platypus. I was considering a 1/48 build myself, but am hoping somebody makes a kit so I don't have to do all that scratchbuilding. Hard to tell from the photos...are you using a VF-1D for the conversion? Making it a 2-seater?

Will be watching this project closely, love the Platypus.

You beat me to it, although I was thinking of scratchbuilding one in 1/48! Can't wait to see how you manage the nose and the head (if you are indeed making what I think you're making).

Looking awesome, Captain. Any chance you could show how you create some of these parts from scratch, start to finish? Or maybe there's another thread elsewhere that does?. I'm curious what steps you go through and what materials you use to scratchbuild.

Somebody needs to make a conversion kit for the 1/60 VF-0A or 0S (*cough Captain America cough*). Of course, parts would replace practically everything.

Painted Ventral Tank. I painted this as a test to see if I could remember how to use my airbrush. Will be painting the remaining parts over the coming weeks or perhaps commissioning someone to paint the VF-1 for me. By the way I'm looking for a set of standard 1/48 VF-1 decals, please PM me if you have any available or know where I can find a set. I've got the fast pack decals, but need standard VF-1 decals.

All parts are removable, so there is a relatively easily-transformable 1/48 VF-1 hiding in there. When I get around to it I'll take a picture of all of the parts detached, along with a non-canon Gerwalk version. I'm curious about Gerwalk mode myself...I haven't tried it yet but I expect it to look pretty hilarious(if the leg armor allows it at all).

Some progress photos. All parts are done. A few minor tweaks and fixes and it will be ready for painting, decals, etc.

I'm thinking about custom decals to indicate kill markings for zentran ships and am experimenting with profile silhouettes like the following. I'm having trouble finding good quality profile images of zentran and meltran ships, preferably on a single size chart, any suggested links/images?

I used this calculator to figure out how to cut out cone shapes from flat styrene. I then slowly bent the styrene around a broom handle, using friction to keep the shape, then joined the ends with locking pliers and bonded with superglue. I had to shape the cylinders by hand after bonding to get the desired circular shape. The propellant tank is actually very slightly teardrop shaped, which allows it to fit up under the fuselage better. Not sure what the next project might be, maybe an armored gerwalk or the platypus valkyrie. I have a soft spot for "ugly" valkyrie variations.

Ventral Propellant Tank Created from flat sheet styrene and a challenge to both build and calculate the cone shapes for the ends. 8x verniers are Kotobukiya Burner Nozzles. Other than the dorsal antennae, all parts are done and are undergoing the initial Mr. Surfacer priming to find and fill imperfections.

The nose cone originally started as the rocket nosecone from an Estes model rocket nosecone. I had to split the rocket nosecone open a bit to widen it, then added sheet styrene, some epoxy and putty to fill in the rest, trying as best I could to mold it around the existing 1/48 nosecone. It has an internal frame to center it around the existing nose. I started with the nosecone because I figured it would be the hardest to make (and it was!). The bottom "quarter panel" of the nosecone is removable so that it can be transformed to battroid. The 1/48 nosecone you gave me was then glued inside once I was satisfied with the fit. The vent covers on the leg were scratchbuilt from sheet styrene. I created box shapes that would fit snugly inside the leg vents, then built up styrene on top of and around that. I sandwiched styrene in a rough pyramid shape and sanded down to fit. The half cone shapes for the leg missles was made using the same Estes rocket nosecone(s) used for the nose. Curved and cone shapes are definitely difficult to scratchbuild unless you're casting them somewhow. I'm sure carving some of these shapes from wood and then casting them in resin would be much easier...but having never done that I decided to just use what I could find. Like I posted earlier, I'm still puzzling over how to scratchbuild the dorsal antennae. I think I might actually buy a jet fighter kit and adapt missles or fuel tanks in order to achieve the needed shapes. I would kill to have access to a big pile of assorted molded styrene shapes.

Unemployment has its benefits, namely getting things done on this project. Here are the VE-1 -style wingtips, which were surprisingly easy to make: New thruster bells on the dorsal verniers courtesy of mechaskunk. These look really great and I probably won't paint them to keep the shiny aluminum look: And here's a shot showing fully mounted weapons on the fast packs, attached by magnets. Took forever to get the alignment right. Battroid mode looks great brandishing the particle beam and gatling gun. Metal posts attached to the forearms help poor Battroid wield them. The gatling gun turned out slightly lengthier than I would have liked, so extends out further than the lineart. It should be about an inch shorter, but then that throws off the proportions of the back of the weapon (anime magic in the lineart): Profile shot: I'm working now on the ventral fuel tank, then I'll go back to puzzling over how the hell to build the dorsal antennae. Short of casting them somehow, I'm really stumped on those antennae. They're pretty prominent so I want to make sure they look good and are adequately detailed. Painting I'm going to try to avoid the gundam-ish bright colors in the lineart. The final paint job will roughly match the color scheme, but in more realistic, slightly weathered and muted tones, Katoki-style I guess. I might commission somebody to paint the valkyrie separately.

Additional detail added to leg armor and an in-progress shot of the head. Front of leg armor still detaches in order to allow for landing gear extension in fighter mode. "Stiletto" foot extensions are also removable. I'm using Mr. Surfacer 500 to help find imperfections in scratch-built parts, hence the smudgy-grey appearance. Not pictured, but the particle beam weapon and gatling gun now attach to the sides of the boosters via magnets. The project is about 85% done at this point. Up next is scratchbuilding the VE-1 style wingtips and the dorsal antennae. The dorsal antennae are a real puzzle since I'm not casting custom parts. Not sure yet if I will tackle the ventral propellant tank or not. Metal mechaskunk vernier nozzles are on the way to replace the temporary plastic verniers mounted on the dorsal vernier clusters. I'm still looking for an 8-10 mm jewel eyepiece (like a convex zaku eye) for the starboard particle beam weapon.

Update! Built the port 35mm tri-barrel gatling gun. The tri-barrel gun rotates freely. Next comes figuring out the method of attachment to the boosters for both the gatling and the particle beam weapon. Edit: Thanks to Dax415 for sending me a 1/48 nosecone and BP-8 part - just what I need to keep this project going.

Minor update. 90% finished with the starboard particle beam weapon with sliding mechanism for grip. I'm working now on the port-mounted gatling gun. WANTED I'm looking for a jewel-eye piece (similar to a zaku eye for gundam kits) that is 8-10 mm in diameter to complete the scope mounted on top. I'm having trouble finding one in that size...any suggestions for where I can find a scope lens that is the right size? Also, as always I'm still looking for a 1/48 BP-8 part and a 1/48 v.2 nosecone.

Working on the sliding grips for battroid mode (metal detail work parts courtesy of mechaskunk). Also, a shot of the leg armor - armor at the front of the leg is not yet complete. You can see the tiny magnets on the inner leg armor that will hold the removeable front leg armor in place. This whole panel has to be removeable for landing gear to deploy.

Oh man please make the Stampede your next project. Your skills are amazing and I'd like to see how a professional interprets the design.

I'm trying to find a 1/48 nosecone and non-broken BP-8 for this project. See here: http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=31574