mitch

Thanks for the tips guys. I'm not sure how long it will take to get the custom finished, but it's a labour of love and I'm determined to see it through no matter how long it takes to get it right. My first custom was a repaint of a VF-19S which took months to finish because I disassembled the valk, made some minor alterations, sanded and sprayed each piece individually, waited for a week for each piece to dry and then put it all together again. I'll try to post some pics of that when I get the chance. I saw this thread on seibertron.com the other week and it intreagued me enough to order some 'flexible pipe' to see if it can be applied to the 1/55: http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/new...sformers/14382/ I also had a brain-wave the other day as to how to do a collapsible neck which would allow for added posability - a sliding ball joint that is mounted in a cylinder rather than a cup! I have no idea if it will work, but I hope my success or failure will be instructional (or at least entertaining).

Hi everyone. I'm organizing a project for next year after Christmas - My first 1/55 custom! I've already started a checklist of things I want to do and have been researching other MW members posts on what they have done. Right now I'm looking at doing: 1) Thigh swivel joints 2) Painted cockpit interior 3) Scratch-built missile pods 4) Head modifications 5) Panel lining and paint 6) Some kind of hand improvement This will be the first time I attempt a custom with this much of an over-haul and I would really appreciate any help or advice from anyone kind enough to offer it. Specifically, I wanted to ask the following... I would ideally like to have a pilot in the cockpit and thought of using one from Hasagawa, but it looks like they work best for 2-seaters. Does anyone have any tips on how to make one or have a custom pilot-in-cockpit for sale? I have an idea how to shave down the head to give it less blocky features, but does anyone have a custom VF-1S head for sale? I've got several ideas on how to give my valk new hands, but I wanted to ask what other people have used or where to get them. Gundams? Transformers? Scratch built? There are other things I might be interested in doing like nosecone extension, collapsible neck, custom feet or tinkering with the gunpod a bit, but steps 1-6 above are what I realistically think I could do with my skills and what I have. If anyone can help me out with castings of a seated pilot or a resculpted 1S head, I will gladly pay whatever they are asking for them, or alternatively I in return will offer a set of missile pods. I will be making the box-type that houses 5 missiles under the wings, and am working on the premise that they will be clipped to the wing in a similar (but more streamlined) way as the the missiles that came with the old Takatoku strike, and of course if anyone has better ideas on how to attach missiles I would really like to learn them. Thanks everyone.

Has there been any word at all for an armored pack for the 25s?

I've used them, but be warned, the blurb on the can about adhering to the plastic on a molecular level is not true. If you do use it, make sure to lightly sand the surface with a very fine sand- or glass-paper to give the paint something to grip. When I used Fusion it was on a custom I did on a bandai vf-19 KO, so it may work better on different types of plastics, just make sure to sand off a hair more around the joints if what you're painting has articulation, as Fusion will chip if rubbed enough. Also, give the paint plenty of time to dry before assembling it. I used their 'satin' finish white and black and each piece was left for 7 days before putting parts together, and after applying decals and panel lines I used Krylon crystal clear to protect the finish as it is fairly resilient. (I'm told some types of finish may react when sprayed on different brands/types of paint, so I kept with Krylon for the sealer, but I hear a lot of good things about Future Floor polish but have never tried it). It all depends on what the model is for, too. I customized a toy because I wanted to be able to transform it and pose it differently, and so wanted the paint to stand up to scratches and be as durable as possible. If you just want to display a model you might do better with acrylics and an airbrush if you can get hold of one, or a type of modelers spray paint that might have a wider choice of paint tones. If anyone knows of a really tough adhering spray paint I would really like to hear some recommendations...

A few years ago I got a Banpresto valk. It looked okay and I liked the way you could change the heads to 1S, 1A or 1J. Then the shoulder broke in an unfixable way after 3 transformations. I now own a Banpresto Gerwalk paperweight.

Hells yeah I'd get one! I'd like to think that Bandai would be able to sort out the transformation so that the fighter doesn't have such a hefty profile like the VF-17. I can see why so many people here would prefer a Yamato production, but Bandai have always had better QC in my opinion.

I find that the Testors Dullcote generally works well. It protects against fingerprints and keeps the finish nice and flat. Although, I would advise to do a test to see if it reacts with the paint you are using underneath. The tamiya Flat clear can work well, but I've had some experiences where it will turn white in patches, and also it would be eaten by anything as tough or tougher than alcohol, whereas testors is much more durable. Krylon is okay, but the finish isn't as flat as the dullcote.

I just finished a custom myself which was sort of an experiment in what paints to use. Obviously chipping was a main concern since there are so many contact points and joints in any valk. I mainly used Krylon Fusion since the blurb on the can said 'bonds on a molecular level' or something. This is BS! The can lies!! Still, if you do use krylon make sure to leave it for 7 days to fully dry. I also used Krylon's Crystal Clear to seal it because; A) I've used it before, and... B) I had used Krylon to paint it. It is my experience that you sometimes need to test how a sealer will react to the paint underneath. Still, the crystal clear gives a reasonably tough finish that shouldn't yellow. Just remember to test your paints and sealers, and to give the figure some preliminary sanding with something like 1200 grain sandpaper with a little extra sanding at areas that will move or come into a lot of contact (eg. 'snap-points'). Good luck!

When I first heard about this I was hoping they would re-tool the heads a bit like the prototype heads in the "unreleased" section, so we could finally get a VF-1J with a chin. Not holding my breath tho.

While we're on the topic of spray painting, I'm psyching myself up to start taking apart a bandai VF-19S Blazer. I want to paint it so that the finish is as durable as possible so I can keep playing with it (the bandai VF-19S is obviously not really a display piece is it ). So with that in mind, does anyone have any experience with KRYLON FUSION spray paint? I seem to remember people saying it was really good at bonding to plastic, I'm just concerned adout wear at pivot points and joints. Obviously there will be some light sanding in order,and I'm told that it may take a week to completely dry, but I would really appreciate some words of wisdom from anyone who has taken this approach in the past. Also, will enamel paints bond well to krylon? Thanks.

Cells haven't been used in years, everything, 3D or 2D, is all done digitally now, greatly changing the way modern animation outfits are structured (from what I've seen in western production houses it now looks more like an office with a minimal crew of animators with greater experience in an office-like layout, rather than a traditional studio set-up with seperated departments). 3D does have the advantage of 'puppet' manipulation of characters, mecha and scenery once it has been constructed, but personally I wasn't a massive fan of the CG valks in Mac0, they looked TOO clean and didn't have the 'weight' of old-school hand drawn valks (although the first time we see the Valk0 transform was really sweet). If you look at the flight sequences in Eureka 7, they were probably plotted in a 3D environment but were finished by hand, giving them the same 'clean' finish of movement while still displaying the quality draftsmanship of 2D technical drawing and animation. This also means that mecha and characters are more in synch stylistically (unless you use some kind of new 'toon-shading' software). Although I would prefer to see a total 2D approach, if the project is going to be completed sooner rather than later, I'm expecting to see the same approach as Mac0. Just my 2 cents.

Cool! What type of paint are you using?

Personally, I felt the whole spiritia thing was a bit like Star War's Midiclorians - unnecessarily turning the metaphysical concept of the spiritual into something definable by a scientific scale. The Protodevlin reminded me of power rangers villains too, which didn't help...

Anything new aside from more VF-1 repaints would be cool.

I wouldn't recommend acrylics. In my experience they tend to scratch easily unless thoroughly primed and sealed, which can lead to the obscuring of detail and causing parts to rub together, etc. I'm getting ready to do some customs of my own and I plan to use Krylon Fusion (which is fine if you can find the colour you are after from their limited pallette), or Plasticote. Krylon do a series of camouflage paint which might work well depending on how you use it. I've got a Galaxy Defender at home in theUK (which to be fair I found to be a prettey good quality knock-off considering what it cost), and there are are some sculpting discrepancies which would need to be corrected if you're really picky about how close it should look to the original. It is, however, perfectly in scale with the 1/55 Bandai and Takatoku valks, so if you need spares they are really good (They even have the same die-cast parts if I remember correctly).

I'm currently a painter for Gentle Giant Studios.

If there is any chance of producing the following I would deffinately buy a few of each: Missiles Smaller VF-1S heads Cockpits with a seated pilot

If you want to watch the intro to VFX-2 without buying the game you can watch it (along with some other cool random Macross gubbins from the games) on the 'Macross 20th Aniversary' DVD.

Actually, I believe the voice actors on 'Bionoids were Australian. I seem to remember an article written by Helen McCarthy that Clash' was produced to serve as an aid to learning English in Japan. Make of that what you will... Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong...

I think I remember reading that Carl Macek got death-threats from angry Macross fans at the time for chopping the 3 series together. Anyone able to confirm that? As for annoying tunes, I got the Mac2 VHS tapes in the '90s and I remember that all through the series the music was from the original soundtrack but in the last episode towards the finale Ishtar's singing suddenly switched to an American dub that sounded like someone's heavy-set Aunt belting out a song at a wedding reception or somthing! (I think it was Ishtar anyway, I've not watched those tapes in quite a while, I just remember laughing my ass off!) The DYRL soundtrack is ace in my opinion, but personally I don't think you can beat Yoko Kanno's work on Mac+. And how about 'Get Free' from the VFX-2 Soundtrack, eh? Kickass!

Sorry folks, I feel I have to wade in on this one with my own two cents... The animation is stunning; the mecha are hand drawn and the action is extremely well directed and rendered (personally, I felt that the CG Valks from MacZero lacked weight behind them and moved too quickly in Battroid mode). It seems that fewer and fewer shows take the time and effort over this kind of technical animation these days when approaching their mechanical elements (remember, this was back when animation was still drawn and painted on cels), and the YF-19 and YF-21 are masterpieces of mecha design. The soundtrack is brilliant. Yoko Kanno Rules. End of story. Shinchiro Watanabe rocks. Fact. When compared to Mac7's Mac0's and Mac2's plotlines, Mac+'s plotline is second only to the original Macross. It may not address the grand themes of the origin of humanity and it's place in the universal scheme of things, but focuses on three people driven by their passions and living for their dreams and the prices they pay for doing so. It expands the Macross universe in smaller ways by showing us the "peace" children and Zentradi integration into human culture (anyone else think the YF-21 Battroid bares a marked resemblance to Queadluun Rau?), the development of the Valkyrie program, the colonization of other worlds, and portrays UN Spacy as a more realistic military/industrial complex and not just a "defender of humanity". The cast are all flawed in ways that flesh out the characters and make them more believable. Even after humanity has clawed its way back from the brink of extinction at the hands of an alien armada, some of its greatest threats are of its own design and stem from it's own shortcomings. It contains the classic and reoccurring Macross themes of a love triangle, Idol singers and transforming mechs. Fair enough, the story can seem to move a bit slowly at times, but it carries an emotional depth and maturity that are sorely missing in other stories (Mac2 and Mac7, I'm looking at you...). I once heard it described in a mathematic formula as; Top Gun + transforming aircraft + AI pop stars - homoerotic sub content and Air Force recruiting tool x intergalactic setting = Macross Plus (but I still think that doesn't do it justice). Okay, rant over

Thanks guys. Wow, there's a lot more back-story to MacZero than I realized. So the consensus (and please correct me if I’m wrong) is that... Sara survived the warhead to the face of the AFOS and guided it away from earth as it was only going to be a point of contention for the UN/anti-UN forces (as a threat or source of plunderable technology to be reverse engineered and added to their own arsenal. Not helpful if you've just convinced it that we're not that war oriented). Shin also survives and his damaged VF-0 is transported off by the AFOS in a sort of tandem-fold to places unknown so that the two will be together (love being one of the reoccurring threads of the whole Macross saga). The AFOS itself is a relic of the Protoculture left behind to evaluate us when the time comes that we have the potential to venture out into the universe and, if necessary, prevent us from going all Zentran. The series wasn't cut short, it was intended as a 5-part affair and the pacing is down to just having the budget for 5 episodes and needing to fit it all in, which I get - When I was animating at university I'd come up with stories intended to be 2 minutes long and they ended up being about 5 minutes long and taking more years off my life than cigarettes stressing to get them done on time. Not an option in the real world. Anyway, thanks for the pointers and sorry for coming across as a bit of a noob.

Hi, I'm a big fan of Macross and although I come from England where we get pretty much nothing Macross related released (apart from 'Plus on DVD and the 'Clash of the Bionoids'/DYRL film on VHS) I've tried to keep up with the various series. Personally, Macross Plus is still my favorite - the character and Valkyrie designs, the soundtrack, the quality of the story and animation (quality old school technical drawing baby! None of those squeaky clean CG mechas!), the whole thing still makes it one of my favorite shows ever! I got a fan-sub version of Macross Zero a few months ago off of eBay because I was sick of waiting for the UK distributors and Harmony Gold getting their acts together and then having to pay about $80-90 for it, and I really liked it. The animation and mecha designs were great, there were some kick-ass flight sequences (how cool is it the first time you see the VF-0?), but the last episode left me a bit confused... * - Is the "Bird-Human" giant related to the Zentradi or Meltran races, or something else entirely? * - Are Sara and the "Bird-Human" destroyed be the shelling from the mk1(?) Köenig Monster? * - What the hell happened with Shin? It all seemed to get a bit 'Final Fantasy' at the end there... * - Does anyone else feel that the last chapter was slightly rushed in its pacing? Sorry if I'm being a bit dense, generally I don't need my anime spelled out for me, but these questions have been bugging me for a while and I figured that if anyone knows, it would be the folks at MacrossWorld.com. If there is a link already posted somewhere that talks about this can someone please point me towards it so you don't have to go into it all again? Cheers.

I'd definately buy a set!