Awacs

My 1/60th GBP has some real issues I have to say. Getting it to all hang together when being assembled was really difficult. Once I managed to get it all put together and posed in a stable pose most of it stays on fine. But the process of getting it to that stage involved a lot of cussing, as one bit went on another bit flew off.... The crotch piece still doesn't stay together, mine flys apart if left to its own devices. A small amount of sticky tape on each seam, hidden where it can't be seen unless to go looking specifically did the job nicely in holding it together. I'd say that it looks...alright once assembled. I'm not a huge fan of it, but its not too bad for what I paid for it. Karl

The hugest sum I paid for a single anime-related item was for a 1/48th Super-1J Max Type. All told, once you factor in shipping and the customs costs it cost me about £200. That was an owchy week for my wallet. Karl

It would appear HG and all parties involved aren't looking to just update the series with modern animation but to also make a series that is finally completely there own. None of the characters seem to resemble their predecessors at all with the exception of retained hair color (even that doesn't appear to always tie to previous incarnations). 383943[/snapback] With a lot of the character designs I'd agree that they have had a very heavy re-design (with perhaps the exception of Scott Bernard, who looks much the same to me, only a bit older than he should be). I'd agree that anything that puts some range between Robotech and the OS's has to be a good thing. I'm just not sure that I get the same "first impressions" from the re-designed characters - to me they evoke a different sense of the kind of person they are, causing a bit of cognitive dissonace trying to square the personality with the appearance. But as ever, other folks mileage may vary. Karl

"Wouldn't that be Ariel?" It's _supposed_ to be Ariel/Invid Marlene - and actually the poster looks more like the original character design than she does in the trailer. I had to watch the trailer twice to be sure, and someone I know completely failed to recognise her at all. Redesigning the character is one thing, but when there's nothing in the redesign that evokes the sense of the original character then what's the point? Karl

I like Gerwalk mode on the VF-1, about equally to Fighter and Battroid modes to be honest. The VF-11 Gerwalk is quite nice, but mine doesn't end up in that mode very often because I have issues getting it to balance on my shelves (a problem with the shelves, not the VF). Not keen on the Gerwalk modes of the other Mac 7 mecha to be honest, or the VF-22 - it just looks terribly unbalanced even in the line art. The only thing I've got in Gerwalk mode at the moment is my Jetfire, which is totting spare 1/48 missiles under the wings, but I tend to rotate my collection through modes as the whim takes me. Karl

I'm noticing a common theme here... The VF-1 FAST packs don't add armor. That's a RawBootEck-ism. They're full of fuel and explosive weaponry. A hit on a loaded FAST pack is probably going to blow off whatever it's attached to. 381935[/snapback] Considering how easily Cannon Fodders tend to blow up in the series its fair to say that the best defense in Macross is avoiding being hit in the first place rather than trying to soak up the impact with armour. So the extra re-mass and ammunition are probably better than toting around the mass of armour in any case. At least the extra reaction mass reserves allows you to burn harder and the extra firepower might allow you to put down your attackers before they do the same to you. Karl

My collection is significantly smaller than everyone elses here.... TV 1/48 Vf-1J (Max FP): 001 DYRL 1/48 Vf-1S (Roy): 002 Accessories 1/48 Vf-1 FP: 001 Others 1/60 VF-1S Roy: 001 1/60 GBP: 001 Macross Plus 1/72 VF-11 FP 001

I'm definitely on the "either" side of the debate here. I like my VF-1's both with and without FAST Packs. In fact, one of my VF-1S's is tricked out in Strike configuration and the other in "clean" because I can't chose between the two looks. Not to keen on the VF22's FASTpacks though. They just seem like fiddly extra bits that don't really do anything to change the visual aesthetic of the design - whereas the Packs for the VF-1 and VF-11 make them look like distinctly different animals. Karl

There is indeed a picture of a Strike -1J Stealth on there. I wonder whether their actually going to ship the Strike with the equivalent of the full recent release of the FASTpacks? Giving us both two missile launcher ends and a Strike cannon? Karl

1) I'm single at the 'mo. A matter of choice rather than anything else 2) I tend to buy what I like. Although I do have a plan to accumulate fifteen officially released VF's to complete my rag-bag squadron. Once that's done the few bootlegs I have will be parceled out to a subsidiary flight and I shall slow down my rate of acquisitions a bit 3) I save a lot. Currently I'm putting money aside for the VF-0 and have been for a while, cutting back on other things I was collecting to put the money aside. I don't tend to get multiples of anything (I have two VF-1S Roy's but that was due to a snafu with a HLJ order that their website wouldn't let me in to cancel for a week and a half - by which time it had already shipped.). Pretty much one Valk of each type is my lot at the moment. Karl

I personally would be disappointed if that "stealth" isn't the final version -I quite like the "colour palette" (if that term applies) and it looks almost "Low Viz Scheme - Space colours" if you see what I mean. I could have gone a black VF-1J Strike for the collection. Not hugely enamoured of the VF-1A "Mudmover" scheme to be honest so if it had been the finished release I would probably have skipped it. Karl (So many developments whilst I was trapped at my desk. Wish I had access to MW at work)

I personally would third or fourth the hope that we see a -OD unveiled at Toyfare - and a VF-4 would fill a distinct hole in my Macross collection. I actually wouldn't mind, and I think the chances of this are as closely approaching zero as makes no odds, seeing Yamato unveil a VF-5000, But then... I am a little strange so, ya know.. Karl

They've discontinued Space Wolves Grey? That's a shame - I used to use that as a hand applied primer for my Heavy Gear minatures. Never considered trying to use it in an air-brush but it worked nicely hand applied. Typical of GW - anxious to suck people in to their captive little market, but not always that useful to the more generalist tabletopper/model collector. Karl

Done three so far. Two Command Wolves (a black "stealth" one with a replacement set of guns taken from a Blox, and a two-tone desert camo scheme one with a rotary cannon from a Gi Joe bootleg) and a desert camo-esque Godos with as set of back mounted cannons. I've got a pair of Stealth Vipers and Shadow Foxes on my worktop at the moment that are awaiting customisation - I'm thinking of a red "European Fox" and a white/Black "Arctic Fox" scheme on the Shadow Foxes, and a desert cammo look for one of the Stealth Vipers. Not sure what to do on the other viper yet Karl

Behind the curve on these - I don't have access to MW at work :-( and so I only just saw this thread. I'm not a huge fan of the sculpt on the 1/100th -1S that Toynami seem to have had on show. But at just over £15 quid I suspect I will find myself buying a few of these for display in gerwalk and fighter mode. They'll sit quite nicely in a formation with the few Banpresto's that I have. Hopefully they'll do well enough that they'll give us Super and Strike versions at some point. Karl

I'm going to be sticking with one of these - my budget won't stretch to any more than that when I also want to pick up either the stealth or Low Vis VF-1 releases this year. Ideally I'd like to get three VF-0's - and if we get an -A and -D model then I'd happily snap those up to form a flight. Karl

Ta for the suggestions and advice. I think I'll probably go with the Halfords acrylic primer on the grounds that it sounds like its less easy to get it wrong. Never worked on anything this size before - my largest custom to date has been a deluxe-size Zoid so I'm stepping into slightly new territory. Ta folks, the advice is much appreciated. Karl

"Well the best thing I have found so far for mine is white automotive primer in a can the type you get from the auto shops superstores we have Halfords over in the U.K, i cant remember what the equivalent is in the U.s but Autobacs come to mind for some reason." S'okay. I live in the UK anyway, and am about 15 minutes walk from a Halfords in fact. "The red colour for the Nissan Z300 just so happens to be the same (as near as I can get it ) to the colour on Hikarus Vf1-J and Milia`s red custom VF1-J. There are others of these paints that are also good Macross friendly matches for posible use." What I'm actually going to be looking for is a match for the actual red of the ETPS scheme - probably end up hand-painting a lot of it anyway just to get the seperator stripe right, but that might be handy to know for doing the vertical stabilisers. Not sure why but I've got a picture of the ETPS scheme on a Valkyrie in my head for some reason and I'm not going to be able to shake it until I try it. "Works for me and is cheap and I dont have to clean out my airbrush afterwards." Ta for the advice big F. T'is much appreciated. Karl

Forgive what may be a foolish question... I'm considering repainting a 1/55th bootleg I have lying around in my collection (considering a variant of the Red-White-Blue Empire Test Pilots School colour scheme) and I'm wondering what is the best thing to use to prime it with. Anyone found anything that works particularly well (or badly)? Karl

The colour scheme on the Harrier II's is pretty nice. I'd love to see a VF-1 in the flat grey worn by the serving last Sea Harriers, but I'm not sure it'd look particularly attractive on a toy so I guess that'd be out. The USN TPS was the scheme that immediately leapt into my head when I read this thread title - it'd be appropriate considering the Valkyrie's ancestry. I'd want the new Low Vis to be a 1J - still a semi "line" unit but meaning it doesn't put folks nose out of joint by releasing a variant on the limited -1A and I figure FAST packs probably shouldn't be included. After all, most "Low Vis" schemes are probably less Low Vis in space than they are in an atmosphere. (Maybe that's what the Stealth VF-1 is for....) Karl

Why must these pictures keep coming out. I had almost resigned myself to thinking I could do without this... but now that I see these I'm back on the "must have GBP armour...". Ah well, seeing as I ended up with an unintended second 1/48th -1S the GBP should do quite nicely for that. Saves me getting FASTpacks for it if I think I'm going to be putting it in GBP. Karl

So the Robotech folks didn't exercise any excess imagination in translating the episode titles then huh? :-) Karl Ps - I would have thought the fact that we don't see more dark blue Valks would have suggested that blue ink was really expensive rather than being cheap.... :-)

Episode 5 is "Transformation" in Robotech (I forget the Macross episode title) It's the first time the Macross transforms. The dark blue Valk is only in that shot as far as I can see, which is part of a montage sequence of Valks being readied for battle, launched etc. I agree that it's probably just a low-vis colour scheme on an otherwise standard VF-1. Since it's not a colour scheme seen anywhere else in the show maybe it was just evaluating that colour scheme and they decided against rolling it out fleet-wide? Karl

I've always had a fondness for a design with a lot of edges and stuff so my number one design is no surprise:- 1) VF-19A Excaliber 2) VF-1S Valkyrie 3) VF-4 Lighning and last but not least:- 4) VF-11 Thunderbolt Awacs