Valkyrie

Here's My Soul For You acoustic. http://www.halfassedprojects.com/~valkyrie/My_Soul.zip I was going to post Remember 16 also, but it's the same recording that's on the Heart and Soul single, and also the SM release of Second Fire. But if ya'll want it, let me know and I'll post it.

Ya see, this is one reason I like the models 10x more than the toys. Us model guys are all about the love

You're quite welcome. And yes, the acoustic My Soul For You and Remember 16 are on it too. My Soul is the same recording that Basara was singing while he was writing the song in episode 2 (which was very distinct in how he sung one part in particular). I've been meaning to get them up for a few days now (I've just gotta edit out the drama tracks attached to them), but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Hopefully later today.

Wow, that's awesome! I'm still up for the challenge. As anyone who has one of my VF-4 kits could probably tell you, small parts are no problem for me The part about the rough castings is a bit troubling though. I think it's safe to assume that the owner wouldn't want me doing a ton of clean-up work on his prized kit. And they only way to improve upon the kit's quality would be to make molds of each part, cast a copy, clean up that copy, then mold the cleaned up part. That'd double both my molding costs and the time it'd take to finish the project. But at least it wouldn't have an effect on how quickly the owner's kit is returned. As for the screws, I would definitely want to include them. I always thought it was kinda rude for IHP to not include them, thus leaving his customers on thier own to find them. Even if he lists a source. I'm hoping I'll be able to find them (or at least SAE screws that would be compatible) through domestic industrial supply companies like Grainger or McMaster. I wouldn't want to throw you all to the wolves like IHP did The IHP VF-4 would be cool to do in the future too. But I'm pretty sure Carl already has one.

Well, I was selling mine for $20, and no one wanted it...

It seems I'm only allowed to post 10 images per post max, so I'm spliting this post in half. Next, onto the HUD. Like I also said in WM's thread, I wanted to make one thinner than the stock HUD. First, I got out my machinist's calipers and measured the thickness of the original. Just a hair over 25 thousandths of an inch. At full scale, that'd be 1.8" thick. No wonder it looked too thick I opted to make mine out of 0.01" clear plastic stock. The thinnest stuff I've got (it's the same stuff I make VF-4 canopies out of). At full scale, it calculates out to 0.72" thick. Probably still a little too thick, but I can live with it. To copy the shape, I took a piece of the sheet stock and put a dab of canopy cement on it. Then I set the HUD on top of it, cleaned off the excess, and let it dry overnight. Then, it was a simple matter of using an xacto knife to cut off the excess. I just put the knife up to edges of the original and pressed down, chopping off a section of the sheet. Once that was done on all 8 sides, I had a perfect copy of the part, after I seperated the two. I have a bad track record for losing small, clear parts. I was determined to not let it happen to this part Speaking of small parts... time to move on to the seat modifications! I wanted to make my own ejection handles, only (hopefully) more accurate that WM's. I started by making the brackets that they atatch to, which mount horizontally on top of the seat. I made them out of 0.01" sheet styrene. They're not entirely accurate, but they're so goddamn small, I had to simplify them. Then I glued them on and started on the handles. I used 30 guage wire with the insulation removed (which is 0.01" in diameter, the same as the brackets' thickness). Shaping the first one was a HUGE pain in the ass. And then making another one identical to it was even more so! I just pray they're not too big... and they I'll be able to attatch them... Here they are stuck on a piece of masking tape, after getting a coat of white primer. They accept paint better than I anticipated And here's my progress on the seat. Not quite there, but it's close. Next I'll start on the pilot figure. I want to get him in there before I try and atatch the handles. That's it for now. More soon, I hope!

Alright, finally got enough progress done that it's worthwhile to add to the thread First of all, like I said in WMcheng's thread, that fuselage intake has been kicking my ass for the past few days. But I've ALMOST got it licked. Here's what I've been through. It was clear from the start that the bottom panels for the intaked don't fit anywhere near as well as they should. They don't line up flush in the front, and there's small gaps on the sides. So I sought to kill two birds with one stone by making them a tad wider by using some 0.01" sheet styrene to shin them up. Here is the plastic piece cut to fit the contour of the end of the panel. You can see that I've already painted the panel. That was the first of many times I painted them, for one reason or another. I stopped counting after the 4th time Here's the plastic piece glued in place. Once dry, I cut it to match the shape of the panel. The joint between them wasn't as clean as I would have liked, so I filled it with SubeSube putty. I also puttied up the bad panel line on the legs while I was at it. so then, once again, I painted the off-white base coat, masked, then painted the gray intake interior. I also painted the inside of the intake on the fuselage. Then, after spraying the panels with clear coat to protect the paint, I masked over the gray paint. The plan is to glue the panels in place with the interior painted. Then I'll have to putty up the front seams where the panel meets the fuselage, then eventually paint the topcoat over the assembled fuselage. And when all that is done, I can just remove the tape from the intakes, and I won't have to jump through all kinds of hoops to paint the inside gray after assembly. Here the painted and masked panels are, test-fit in the fuselage. Much to my frustration, I couldn't get the front edges flush in the front, so I ended up cutting out my sheet styrene shims and cutting the hell out of the notches that align it, letting me position it more freely.

The VF-11C isn't just the full armored version. All of the VF-11s in Macross 7 are VF-11Cs. The Full Armor parts are option parts for the VF-11 series, just like the FAST Packs are. Also, the VF-11C is physically almost identical to the VF-11B. So a VF-11C toy is just a new paint job away But anyway, all that aside, Macross 7 toys, including the VF-11C, with and without armor, isn't likely to happen. Graham's said in the past that Bandai holds the exclusive toy rights to Macross 7, and isn't likely to give them up any time soon. The VF-22, on the other hand, is possible, because it appeared in the VFX video games. A liscense that is still attainable.

Wow, that looks pretty cool. But honestly, I've never seen the point in it. A sound booster on a YF-19 or even a VF-19A makes little sense. It was never used on anything other than the VF-19Kai Fire Valkyrie. And the Fire Valkyrie, along with the VF-19F/S Blazer Valkyrie, are night and day different from the YF-19 and VF-19A.

Those intakes have been a pain in my ass for days now. I shimmed them up by gluing some 0.01" sheet styrene on one side to fill in the gap, but I still couldn't get it to fit quite right. But it's close. On top of that, I'm painting the gray interior of the intakes before I glue them to fuselage. I have a feelnig I'm going to need a lot of luck to pull this one off... I should have pics of the process in my build-up thread today.

$200 minimum. That kit's a monster. Pun intended. And congrats on getting the job, Carl! Great to hear you're employed again!

The kits in that initial offer were to be original kits, cast by IHP himself, not recasts. But now that the man behind IHP is working for Yamato, the future of IHP Macross kits looks uncertain But anyway, I've seen two IHP Monsters sell on Yahoo Japan Auctions in the past year or so. The last one sold for about $500 about 8 months ago. Keep in mind, if one turns up on yahoo japan and you intend to bid on it, you'll find yourself bidding against Carl Hoff A bit more info can be found here: http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=381 But anyway... if you or anyone else can help get one of those kits into my hands, I will recast it. I've always tried to avoid recasting transformable kits (sucessfully, so far) because 1) they've got tons of parts, and 2) I'd have to source all the oddball screws and other hardware they need. But for a kit like the IHP Monster, I'd definitely do it. That goes for the D'Stance YF-21 as well

Looking really good, WM! You've given me a few good ideas for mine I was also planning on adding the ejection handles to the seat, and I did quite a bit of research on the cockpit to figure out what details I could add and what the proper colors for everything are. You're quite right that the wire you used was too thick. I'm guestimating that the actual handles are about 0.4" in diameter, so that's a miniscule 0.005" at 1/72 scale. The closest thing that is readily available is 30 guage wire-wrapping wire. http://www.radioshack.com/images/ProductCa...278/278-502.jpg With the insulation on, it about 0.015" thick, and the conductor alone is 0.010". I'll be using that, probably with the insulation on, just because paint should stick to it better. I'm also going to be making the trangular shaped plates that sit horizonatally on top of the seat, which the ejection handles are atatched to. Also, looking at your clear HUD display, I think it looks too thick. I'm going to cut a new one out of some clear plastic sheet.

Heh.... keep dreaming.

Totsugeki http://www.halfassedprojects.com/~valkyrie/totsugeki.zip

Actually, fairly recently, I discovered that it WAS released on CD!! It's on the "Macross Festival '95 Ticket Magazine" CD single. I've got a MP3 of the CD that I got on Bittorrent a couple months ago.

I've been slackin' Well, kinda. Been busy with other stuff, actually. But I'm getting back into it, and should be working on it a lot today. I'll have an update for the build-up thread tonight. Very cool to hear you got one of your own! I'll be looking forward to reading your build-up thread, which I'm sure will blow mine away

That's right. But it's not just that that bugs me. The boosters are too round-ish. Especially on the top and bottom of the beam cannon portion. They should be flat. The gunpod isn't quite right either... But he got at least some of the more subtle points right. Like the different hip-mounted thrusters. I still want to scratch-build a VF-1SR conversion kit. One day....

I'd say get some gold Bare-Metal Foil http://www.bare-metal.com/

Well, knowing now that Tanmen's Cat's Eye is forever out of production, I think I could probably take on a recast project of it with a clear conscience. And I know the theory behind the 3 part mold technique that Tanmen used to cast them. So I could probably pull it off. But the problem that remains is that the big-ass molds wouldn't fit in my pressure chamber, so I couldn't pressure cast the large parts. And no one likes tons of tiny air bubbles in their resin kits.... Plus, I'd need to find someone to loan me their Cat's Eye for me to make molds of Mind you, if I ever DO recast this kit, it'd likely cost nearly as much as the original. The cost of the materials involved would be quite high.

Nah. If this guy isn't Valkyrie himself, it's probably someone who bought one of his recasts. The MiM kit has a lot less parts. I'm not sure what it's recast from. Of course it wasn't me. I'd have given mylelf a MUCH better review than that! J/K It looks to me as if our own Less Than Super Ostrich did the write-up. That totally caught me by surprise. And I'd say it's a pretty fair review. So thanks, LTSO I have not seen a MiM kit, but I'm under the impression that it's a resin recast of the Retpuu 1/72 vinyl kit. I was never terribly impressed with the original kit, but I'd still like to see a review of the MiM recast. And yes, my recasts are still available. PM me if you'd like to get one.

WTF happened here?! $255 for an Ishtar kit?? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=3274873056 I'm willing to bet it's just a $35 Hobbyfan recast. Granted, they're out of stock, but still... And even if it IS an original, it's not worth anywhere NEAR $250!

It seems to me that they kept the Legioss small just so they wouldn't have to make Tread wouldn't too huge (and thus costing more than most would be willing to pay) And speaking of which, there's something about this whole situation that I find quite amusing. Here we have Toynami about to start selling these stupidly small and insanely overpriced Legioss toys. All the while saying "We'll make a Tread too if the Legioss sells well enough". But logic would seem to dictate that NOT making a Tread too would be extremly stupid. Cause if you want a Legioss, you've got choices. There are toys and models out there in 3 different scales each. But for Treads, you've got I think 3 different resin models and a prototype toy. All of which are quite rare. And here they are saying they MIGHT make a Tread toy? It'd be their only sure-fire seller!! People who said 'hell no' to the Tread MPCs will be lineing up around the block to get thier hands on a transformable Tread toy. And even if it doesn't link up with the Legioss, it'll still likely be the best Tread toy ever made. Cause let's face it, even HG/Toynami would be hard pressed to do much worse than the Gakken prototype But anyway.... The Legioss is worth $40 tops to me. But I'd imagine I'll likely buy a Tread. And yes, I refuse to use the Robocrap mecha names

Not a terible coloring job. Not great, but not terrible. Your japanese, on the other hand, IS terrible

I got them at a semi-local shop called American Science and surplus. They have a web site and do mail orders though. http://www.sciplus.com/ http://www.sciplus.com/category.cfm?subsec...11&category=117