ghostryder

Holy crap, I'm a doofus. I just looked at the promo shots, and the legs, arms and head ARE molded a lighter color than the top. That does indeed rock... but that makes the Yamato even less like the CF and more like the Shin anime version. EDIT - after seeing new pics from Hobby shows, looks like all the plastic is molded in the same gray, and the nosecone, wing/tailfin edges and part of the head are the only part painted light gray.

Well, HFH-approved or not, here's the paint guide for the Hase -0A Shin. It's too bad, Yamato could have easily pulled this off by molding the legs, arms, head, and lower fuselage bits in a lighter gray. The lighter gray on the bottom adds a touch of realism, but may not translate as well to battroid.

(bump back to first page) There's no love for the 0A. I hope Tampo-printed pics will surface in the next few weeks. Who has the dates for the next hobby magazine releases?

Which one ? The CF 1J is doing fine. The SS has some paint chips on the arms I'd rather not talk about .

Super Stealth Surfin' Wipe-out!!!

Honestly, I'd like to know where this scheme originated. I redid a 1/55 with this pattern way before the SS came out, but I'm sure I'm ripping someone else off .

I finally got a chance to stop by the hobby store to get some gunmetal color paint, so here is the finished product, still need to do fastpacks . It is very similar to the custom 1J CF in my avatar, but this valk ain't mine so I don't care. Battroid - I wanted to paint the entire bicep sections black but was afraid of paint scratching around the elbow and shoulder, so the arms a bit more stripey than I'd like . Battroid close-up of new eye piece and painted intake covers. Fighter Fighter side Fighter front - why didn't Yamato paint the intake fans? I took care of that. Fighter underside - scrotum sack painted black per Kelsain's sugggestion. Gear down shotz Thanks to all who chimed in with suggestions.

Good choice on the low-vis markings, and Black Aces are one of my all-time favorite schemes. Definitely try adding a black ace to the heatshield, that would be icing. I'm working on a low-vis scheme for a SS also. I may steal some of your ideas .

Vf-11B for me - it would be the only M+ valk I'd get, and I'd get two if Yamato made the tail fins bigger.

With respect to the VF-1, I think the boxiness came more out of necessity for housing transformation mechanisms, like JBO said. Even later generation VFs like the YF-19 and quasi-redesigns like the VF-0 have very boxy legs, just to make transformation simpler. I'd argue that the VF-1, while ho-hum overall, is one of the simplest and cleanest looking VFs. Give it a ridged nose section like the VF-0 and some more angled edges at the intake area and control surfaces, I'd even say it is one of the stealthiest (based on our current understanding of what stealth is). For a given aircraft, a more blended fuselage shape will generally provide more internal volume and structural strength for a given surface area (which is roughly correlated to how draggy the airframe is). Look at the F-16 - it's a 70's era design but had a blended wing/fuselage design that added much internal volume for fuel. You are correct in that boxey airframes would allow room for more avionics and gizmos, since most gizmos are in fact boxes.

Hmmm... that just might do the trick. As for battroid, I haven't even transformed it yet. Will post battroid pics when it's done.

Kensei I thought PVC glue was MEK-based (nasty nasty stuff that will melt ABS)? Do they sell different stuff in Australia?

Sorry, wasn't me. I put epoxy on the leg pegs that lock into the backpack. That kep the legs from popping off in fighter mode and made the rear section very secure, but the whole nose section in front of the airbrake was still not very secure and the fighter would strike a Toynami Alpha pose (belly dip) when resting on the landing gear. This problem could be alleviated if the hexagonal pegs above the intakes that attached to the bottom of the gray metal LERX section actually locked.

So.. any suggestions on how to make the low-hanging shoulders (a.k.a. scrotum sack) a bit more stealthy?

Progress shots showing "blackout" on rear top fuselage, lower wing glove, upper thighs, ventral fins, and tail fins. I've also added panel lines and light gray low-vis stickers added. I think the low-vis stickers are the way to go with the SS. Even those farkin' "NO STEP" stickers were worthwhile.

Hey, good eye! I know on the -0S the only way for the feet to lock was to butt up against the lower leg section. Maybe they just tightened the ankle swivel to enable the feet to support the weight of the battroid at an angle.

Just ordered mine from samurai-monkey. Can't wait. Jeez, this thread needs a bump, why is the VF-0S getting more attention?

I guess it's unanimous! I'll post some more pics when the paint stripping on the legs is done. I think the intake covers will need to get the gunmetal paint treatment - that ghastly DYRL green-gray just doesn't work. In the meantime, that crappy clear eyepiece had to go....

Okay, I went with blue confetti instead. The orange looked, well, too evil I couldn't find the iridescent type confetti, but the reflective coating effect looks cool as well.

I customize and play with all my valks. The boxes almost always find their way to the garbage can after a few months, since they are worth almost nothing once I've tainted the toy with panels lines, paint and stickers.

I’m customizing a SS for a friend (probably a dumb thing to do; after handling this thing, now I want the whole darn SS pack vs. just the stealth fastpacks). Anyhoo, he wants to make the valk look more subdued and stealthy, and less patchy. So far, I’ve stripped the patchy gray paint from the back fuselage and painted over part of the tail fins so the squad markings won’t cross over 2 colors, like the current skull does. I was thinking of also painting over one of the legs parts and stripping the paint from the glove half right above the intakes (see attached thumbnail pic). I’m planning on light gray/white kites and warning markings with a Blue Roses scheme. For those with constructive suggestions on what else could be done to subtly improve the looks of the SS, please chime in.

I may get a bag of confetti and just glue a piece (cut to size) over the existing crappy eyepiece. This is for stealth 1J, so I was thinking orangy-red, a la Ivanov's SV-51.

... it also works for the Stealth, with no permafrost on the black ABS (this paint was much tougher to brush off because of the rough surface texture)

IT WORKS! These pics show the results of just 15 minutes of soaking with occasional scrubbing with a toothbrush. The CF color looks intact and I see no signs of "permafrost" on the colored ABS. BEFORE AFTER

Hey, you and me both, except I'll be trying Everclear (95% ethanol). I'll post pics as well.