Valkyrie

If anyone cares, there's a 7 page spread of Gunbuster 2 design art in the March 2005 issue of Newtype. It's actually got some interesting stuff in it, too!

Put me down for one too. Only two more now

The Club-M fold booster is a great sculpt and all... but the clear parts suck. They're really foggy, and they fit like crap. I was going to recast it at one point, and adapt it for various models and toys. But I never finished repairing and/or re-sculpting the clear parts.

Yea, the "wipe out girl" lines are what I disliked most about the sub. Granted, it's not easy to come up with good-sounding translations for nicknames like "Zenmetsu Musume", but Daughter of Defeat is about the best you can do. In the dialog, just before they refer to her as the Daughter of Defeat, one student says she's the daughter of the captain of the annihilated fleet. Thus, the Daughter of Defeat. Makes sense, right? "Wipe-Out Girl" just seems to come out of nowhere, leaving the viewers saying "what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Except for dorks like me, who already know almost all of the dialog verbatim But all this reminds me... I've still gotta buy a copy of the DVD set.... which will mark the 4th time I'll have bought the series

Just got done watching the new fansub. It'd kinda ameture-ish, IMO, but it's quite commendable that they did their own translation from scratch! I'm almost surprised they didn't just steal my script In watching their translation, I actually noticed a few spots where I need to fix the my scripts (if I ever get around to doing anything new with them, that is). So it was surprisingly accurate, most of the time. But the editing job seemed pretty rough to me, and that can easily kill an otherwise good translation. Still though, I hope they sub the other 5 episodes too

Sorry for the lack of updates, guys. But progress is definitely being made. I'm pretty close to finally being done, actually. I think I've only got about another 3 molds left to make. I still need to put the finishing touches on my scratchbuilt barrels for it too. They ended up taking way too long (I had no less than 3 failed attempts at them), but it's looking like they're going to be awesome. Much better than the plastic tubes the IHP kits came with. And I'm going to pull out a few molding tricks to try and make sure there's no seams on them too I'll try and get some new progress pics posted this weekend when I've got some time off work.

Errrr.... No. The VF-19A is nearly identical to the YF-19. But the VF-19F/S and VF-19Kai Fire Valkyrie are very different beasts. Take a closer look at them in the art books. The Blazer and Fire valks have very different legs, shoulders, and shield than the YF-19 does. And the fuselage is a bit different too. Even the Fire Valkyrie's wings, though similar to the YF-19's, are different. So you may want to reconsider the feasability of this project. If you're just looking to kitbash a YF-19, it'll take a lot more work than you may think. But if you can make it happen, I'll pick one up. Though I think I'd prefer it in 1/72

Glad to hear it, Jesse! I've been wanting to see MW's model section become a definitive referance for Macross models for quite a while now, so I'm very glad to hear that progress shall be made! As for pics... I've been collecting model pics from Yahoo Japan Auctions for a couple years now, so I have a pretty good stash of pics for you. Bug me about it sometime and I'll send you the entire directory. And lastly.... Platz made photoetch for the VF-0 and SV-51? That's news to me... and I couldn't find them on HLJ...

Telescoping barrels would be a pain in the ass to make, and I think they'd end up looking pretty crappy too. But it'd be easy to make barrel extensions, that just get plugged in when in gerwalk and battroid modes! I had never considered the possibility... probably because they never looked too short to me. But it's definitely a possibility.

One last pic. This time of the inner workings of the main body. I had to include this one, just to make all you Yamato VB-6 owners say "What the hell is THAT?!" Though actually, it's missing one part... the plate that goes behind the head. But you get the idea

One more, side view this time. Also, just so a certain someone doesn't think I massacred his original IHP kit, the white pieces are recasts too, not originals. I ordered the wrong resin, so I was stuck with white parts... until I thought of mixing in some black dye and making them gray But I marked up all the white recasts with a permenant marker so I wouldn't get them mixed up with the originals. And in case you were wondering, the pieces marked with an R were candidates for the final kit that didn't make the cut. So the R was my 'note to self' that I had to Replace them.

Of course, it does indeed "rawk". I kinda figured that goes without saying. But for the record, it also "r0x0rz", "rocks the hizzy fo shizzy" But which leg piece are you refering to? None of them seemed too bad to me. I got around to taking a few pics of the IHP kit's nose to show you all what I was talking about. Like I said before, this was an incredibly half-assed build using whatever reject parts I had laying around. Also, a the larger screws will have much smaller heads on them in the final kit. I had to work with what I had at the time. So bear that in mind

Well, I ended up breaking down and buying a Yamato VB-6. If for no other reason than because I was quite curious as to what Yamato did with the IHP designs. Well, I got it yesterday (Thanks Kev!), and I found the differences very surprising. Overall, I like it a lot. It's not perfect, but overall, it's pretty well done. One thing that I don't like about it, though, is that most of the toy's joints are done with rivets, not screws. And even some parts are just glued together. That means two things. First, if a joint gets loose over time (or worse, is loose right out of the box), then there's no way to tighten it. And also, that means there's no way (that I can see) to disassemble the toy, making custom paint jobs all but impossible. As far as detailing, it's a bit of a mixed bag. A lot of the detailing that's on the IHP is also on the Yamato, but some of them look a kinda plain in comparison. They're more toy-ish in appearance, and not as crisp. The nozzles are the best example of this. The IHP's are amazing Some of them (but not all) are besause of the limitation of injection molding. You just can't get the detail you can get with resin, becase injection molding doesn't allow undercuts. Similarly, injection molding won't allow thick, solid pieces, like resin will. That's why a lot of the parts that need to be kinda thick (like the two folding flaps on the bottom in bomber mode) are ribbed on the back. It's the only way to get the thickness and rigitity the part needs without making it two seperate parts. So again, it's another area where resin allows a lot more flexibility. And I've noticed a few small details that are on the IHP (and are lineart-accurate) that are missing on the Yamato. But it's pretty small stuff. But the Yamato has a few fairly signifcant details that the IHP is lacking. Most notably, the ribbing on the front of the orange shoulder pieces, and the simulated shutters in the arm sliders. Both very nice touches that I always thought the IHP was lacking (and that I didn't have time to incorperate into my recast ) But what surprised me most were the design changes that were made. The Yamato is obviously heavily inspired by the IHP design, but there are a lot of differences. It's actually quite a bit simplified compared to the IHP. The transformation designs of the arms and legs is almost identical, but the main body has some very large differences. A few aspects of it are streamlined and simplified. And while a couple of the changes I definitely prefer, the rest of them I'm not so sure about. And I probably won't be sure about them until I finish the recast and get one that's built up well. So far I've only built one up about 75% (missing one arm and one leg), and it was a pretty half-assed build I did just as an engineering check. A lot of of the joints were pretty loose because I didn't take the time to do things properly. The result is that chaos that can be seen in this pic But one area has a lot of changes that definitely do NOT like, and that is the nose. It's fine in bomber mode (aside from a slight droop problem), but it just doesn't sit right in gerwalk and destroid modes. Not only does the IHP have a better joint for it WITH the 'crotch turret', but it can be positioned much better, exposing much less of the uglyness behind the nose. I really should post pics to show you all what I'm talking about... but I've gotta get to bed. Work in the morning And finally, for those of you who are still interested in getting one of the recast kits, they should finally be finished sometime this month. I'm still working on getting the final molds finished, but I just don't have enough free time to get them nearly as quickly as I would like to

I tried using regular laquer thinner once, and it clumped up a bit when I tried airbrushing it (I use it as a primer all the time). The best stuff to use is Gunze Sangyo's Mr. Color Thinner. It can be kinda hard to find, but there's a couple hobby shops near me that carry it. Most mail order hobby sites in japan won't ship the stuff, but I've seen a couple american sites that will.

Got mine today. I love em, except for how most of the mecha won't stand unassisted. And I was very impressed with how accurate the Amano-type RX-7 is! It's not just a different head and paint scheme. All the parts except 3 of them are completely different! I was also impressed with how they didn't use that crappy soft vinyl for everything. For some of the thinner parts, they used a stiffer plastic. And it worked very well, since very few of the toys' parts are warped. In my case, I got.. Amano x 2 Noriko x 1 Jung x 2 Noriko RX-7 x 2 Amano RX-7 x 2 Gunbuster x 2 Cyzlar Black x 1

Elfin uses the crappiest resin I know to exist. It's extremely brittle, nearly to the point of being unworkable. Avoid their kits like the plague. Plus, their $95 price tag is a joke. That's more than the original kit is worth.

Turns out there's two 'secret' figures in this set The first is an Amano Kazumi version of the RX-7, complete with the correct head unit (the regular one is Noriko's "Nausicaa" type RX-7) And the other is Cyzlar White (the regular version is Cyzlar black. Same head unit in this one) I've got a case on order from HLJ. Can't wait to see what all I get

Yep, sorry I haven't been around much, guys. Working retail around christmas really sucks Having money once again is definitely nice (finally bought the milling machine I've had my eye on for the past year, even!), but having little free time really sucks. I've been chiseling away at the Monster project, trying to finish making the molds, but it's been pretty slow going. But I'm probably going to be switching to part time in january, and that should give me the time I need to get things done at a much quicker pace. After the Monster project is done, I'll be doing one more limited run recast project, and then I'm done for good. No more recasts from me. I'd rather be spending my free time scratchbuilding my own models But more importantly, the whole ethics thing has been getting to me a lot lately. I had actually planned on the Monster being my final recast for a while now. But I got another project offer that I just couldn't refuse. I think you all will like it too

I should still have a couple canopies around somewhere. I'll have a look around and get back to you.

Actually, I just snagged an original 1/72 Orguss II resin kit by Wave on Ebay last week. It's pretty damn cool! Lots of parts, great detail, and even a small sheet of awesome photo-etch detail parts! And 4 pages of design art in the instruction book! (Wave always does that -- very cool of them ) Orguss II auction It's a fully posable kit when finished, but it's not transformable. But it looks like it can be modified to be built in Flyer mode without TOO much dificulty. It even comes with the four wings for the legs and shoulders, even though they aren't usually deployed in Orgoid mode. But as far as I know, this kit is the only physical incarnation of the Orguss II that was ever made

That VF-0 was incredible! That pic doesn't come close to doing it justice! There were a few details that weren't 100% accurate (mainly in his cockpit detail mods), but the build and piant jobs were still amazing! Easily better than anything I've ever done. And if you were at the show, you may have also seen my Gunbuster kit I had there

I've got a copy of that Anime Bike book. Great book! I found it at Anime Central a couple years ago. I took one look at it, saw the names of a few of the series it covers that are listed on the cover (namely, Akira, Megazone, Mospeada, and Bubblegum Crisis), and said "I'll take it" on the spot. I expected it to be some old, rare book that I'd have to pay out the nose for. Imagine my surprise when they told me it was a mere $25 It's really an incredible book. It's about 140 pages of motorcycles (variable and not) from every anime you can think of (that had a bike in it), and then 100 or so more! All arranged chronoligically. It's really amazing just how thorough this book is. Anyway, a quick Yahoo search turned up this yahoo store, which has it available for $30. A small-ish pic of the cover too. http://store.yahoo.com/animenation/4890486607.html

If Toynami has any business sense at all, they WILL make a Beta. Regardless of the sales of the Alpha. And by that, I mean, even if they were a complete and utter flop (even more so that they already are) Why, you ask? Simple. Because the Beta is the only Toynami product ever that is GURANTEED to sell well. Hell, even I'll buy one. Because it'll be the only toy ever made of the Beta (excluding the obscenely rare Gakken one, which pretty much sucked anyway). With VF-1s and Alphas, the fans have several models and toys to chose from. But in Betas, there's pretty much nothing out there. In such a severely under-saturated market, anything will sell well. I can certainly understand Toynami's choice in marketing the Beta they've made thus far though. Everyone seems to think their Alphas are small, blue, transformable turds with $80 price tags on them. The only way they can POSSIBLY sell them is by telling they fans that if they don't, they won't get their Beta toy a year from now. This has always been quite an empty threat in my mind. If this 'threat' is at all genuine, I'm thinking it's solely because they're trying to win back as much of their money as possible which they've invested in the Alpha project. Becuase they're gonna need it for the Beta. It will be the first time they've actually had to do all their own R&D. Becuase the Beta will be their first project in which they have NOTHING to copy off of! So who knows, maybe they're trying to scrape up enough cash to employ the services of John Moscato Cause at this point, I'd be amazed if they could pull it off on their own...

The Musasiya VF-4 is based on the version of the VF-4 that appeared in Flashback 2012. It's a bit different that final version that appeared in the VF-X game. Most noticeably, the fuselage is larger. I only have a recast of the Musasiya kit myself (I've been looking for an original of it for years now...) but I was really impressed with the detail on it. Its panel line detail rivals that of the Hasegawa VF-1! And though my recast came with no decals, the original looks to have come with decals equal to the Hasegawa kits as well. As for the Retppu vinyl kit, I can't really comment on it, since I never got one of my own. But after recently building my Kotobukiya vinyl kit of the Gunbuster, I may never bother getting the Retppu kit, even at its low price tag. I now officially despise vinyl kits

It's certianly an unconventional design, even by Yukikaze's standards. But I rather like it. Though I must admit, the whole lower undercarraige seems a little pointless... The intake, engine, and cockpit are all in the main (upper) fuselage. All the lower fuselage seems to do it join together the two main wings, and house the landing gears. Seems a little pointless to seperate it all to that degree. And also, that design makes it necessary to put the two rear landing gears VERY close together. I can see that making for some very unstable landings. Not that it matters much, since none of them that appeared in the anime ever made it back to base