warpaint22

A great product to use for seem lines is Mr Dissolved Putty which is very thin and is a lot easier to use than a standard tube type putty. It also has the advantage of penertrating small gaps rather than just covering over them, you can also apply it and after about 30 secounds you can wipe the excess off with a cotton swab dipped in white spirit, the result is that the putty will stay in the grove but will be romoved from the higher surface. This is great for filling seems inside of air intakes and 99% of the time requires no exrta attension except primer. Also remember that you don't always have to use putty at all if you use a solvent rather than a glue such as Mr Cement S as it wield the plastic togeather like wielding steel. If you align the parts correctly you will find that you can sand out most seem lines without the use of putty, but you will need to learn how to rescribe panel lines however you'll need to do this even with putty. Most of my models that you have seen of mine have next to no putty at all, only when a gap has to be filled. Try using a solvent instead of a glue as I did this about ten years ago and your models will look better just by making this change as you get no glue oozing out of seems. But one tip, as solvent is water thin you use capillary action to draw the solvent along the parts to be glued, but make sure your fingers are not anywhere were the solvent can reach them, such as panel lines where the solvent may run down to where your holding the parts. As it has the same effect as having wet glue on your fingers and your left with your finger tips imbedded in the plastic, and that means more sanding, filling, hard work. Model building is 80% prep work and the more prep that goes in the better the end result. Take your time, invest in quality products and read about all types of models even if the subject has little interest to you. I posted a great site with great tips and awesome step by steps, these guys are really masters at what they do. http://www.naritafamily.com/howto/howtoindex.htm

Well I'm in between.... Been married for 8 years and I agree the games change and never stop but they do become more painful. Especially when you say "Hey babe, Yamato is releasing a new valk, (ducks for cover) and I really need one maybe two for my collection (starts making bed on couch)." Anyway I'm with the guys who love robotech for nostalgic reasons, brought valks to my childhood and I've always loved the Mospeada mecha. But alas Macross is so much more mature and it makes a huge difference. Once you have seen macross I find it hard to watch Robotech with the same inthusiasm as I once did. I think there is room for both but it's what HG has done to Macross fans. If HG had confidence in thier product they would let the fans decide which they prefered instead of basicly banning Macross in the west. But this debate has been done to death. Macross ROCKS, it's the original and the best hands down but I'm more of a DYRL fan as I guess I like super and strike valks more than the standart type but for story SDFM is just awesome. But all in all it's the mecha I love and macross has the best of the lot.

Hey sonic I'll send you some of my step by steps of the fighters pic's that I've sent you. Great to see you on here. I'll try and get the pic's off today.

First things first WELCOME to MW. Very nice work, your figures look great and I look forward to seeing this project all finished. Really awesome work.

Most impressive, I can't say any more, lost for words. If ever I wanted a VF-4 then it's now. Truly beautiful work.

Great work as always Valkyriepm, it looks awesome with paint on. It sucks when paint peels, it has to be my pet hate when modeling. Funny you mentioned you normaly build waterline ships as this is how my 1/700 is being done. Have to admire anyone who builds full hull on these ships, much more complex than standard ship hulls. Thanks for sharing your work and keeping me inspired to keep going on mine.

Very nice, love the colours. Look forward to seeing the decals on the fighter. Looks fantastic!

I really hope so, a 1/60 would be huge. Cool8or, the weathering is achived by pre-shading then spraying in very thin coats until I get the desired cover. The final dirty weathering is done with a enamel wash as I paint in acrylic the enamel thinner doesn't harm the paint. I used X-18 semi gloss black as the wash then once dry I rub the wash off the center of panels with a cotton swab with a small amount of enamel thinner, letting the black build around the edges. The enamel thinner will rub the acrylic paint off if you concentrate in one spot for too long so do it in stages. I always apply the decals before the wash as it allows them to become dirtied aswell. Finaly give a very light drybrush in a grey that suits you and try to do this in enamel aswell. I guess if you paint in enamel then you can just reverse all of the above, but I'm not 100% sure as I don't pait in enamel anymore and always found that enamels wash better than acrylics, but that's just IMHO. Hope this helps a little.

Looking great redfinger61. I'm amazed at how far you've come in such a short time. Keep it up.

Wow this is great news. I've only just started collecting Gundam HCM Pro's and I love them, so Macross mecha in the same style will be great. As for the loss of transformation, that doesn't bother me at all in a small scale. Have to agree on the Revoltech PVC poo it really sucks and lacks the detail that can be acheived in a harder plastic. Can't wait to see these!!!!!

No never sick of the VF-1 but I wish now (never did before) that it had more option weapon systems. Some different gun pods, super armor and such to give it a little more variety but other than that the VF-1 is a classic and always will be.

I decided about mid last year when I started collecting Yamato's that I would only buy what I really wanted, but since I want everything I decided to only collect what I wanted for my fave pilot/pilots. So as Roy is my No.1, I puchased a CM figure of roy and then a 1/48 1S, then the 1/60 0S and a 1/60 1S these are what I really wanted to put in my roy display and the rest I used models and revoltechs. Next will be CM Isamu figure and M+ 19 and 11B valks. I try and buy quick to be discontinued products such as the Encore tranformers and once they are discontinued I resell them. I also build models for a good number of people here in Oz and a couple in the states and this funds my collecting and life, but the wife and I don't go out much as we are content with a nice simple life. We don't need a flash car or a huge expensive house so we don't spend our money on things to impress other people and only on what we want and need for ourselves and the kids, and I've got to say we have had a blast for years. I'm also a R/C Tech so I work time to time in hobby shops doing repairs. Oh and a older friend once gave me some good advice about collecting and that was that it's not as much fun when you can just buy everything for your collection at once, the most fun is had waiting and hoping on a piece, as once it's in your hands the quest for that item is over.

Has to be the MH version at this point as I've also preordered them ( going to be expensive Jan/Feb this year) but I do like what may become of the CM version as I do like small detailed items. But I must say I'm not to fussed on the MH in ride mode as it really does look small and the necks on the riders look a little odd but I'll display them in armor mode and they excel in looks over the Toynami version. I have to date never bought any toynami product and I don't plan to start now.

Well I've hated the look of the VF-21 since the day I saw it, the vf-19's from M7 are all fugly, the VF-4 only looks good in fighter mode any zentran mecha( looks good being blow up though). Oh the SV-51 looks like a praying mantus in battroid only looks good in fighter and gerwalk and the list goes on. Gundam, about 40% look good and the rest look crap and evas look creepy. I'm a heavy armor type of guy, love the VF-1 with super/strike armor the VF-0 looks great in reactive armor and well in gundam the more armor the better such as the Deep strike or statmen, ZZ full armor basicly, look at the gundam fix range to see the gundams I like but not all. I think that the VF-1 has aged really well and is the most practical for transformation, I'm no fan of the stealth look in fighters even if it is the future. Long Live the F-14 Tomcat we'll never forget you.

Awesome work! The skull paint scheme is the best on the VF-4. Love how it's such a clean shape, it's an awesome aircraft. Great work!!!!!

Thanks Valkyrie addict, the box design was the inspiration for the finish and I'm very happy with the out come. I have tried posing like on the box but it's very top heavy and becomes unstable, looks cool though. The box art will get framed as I also do this, it's awesome artwork and deserves to hang on the wall IMO.

That's one very nice model and I also am a fan of clean looking models. All those extra touches really make your model stand out and the low vis looks great also. Congrats on a top looking model.

Very impressive and I have to agree that it's one of the nicest VF's in figher mode. Can't wait to see your custom decal design. Awesome work.

Looking good, the colour looks great and the drybrushing really adds to the overall look. I like the mesh too it's a good idea.

Looks absolutely awesome, and the bridge looks spot on.

0.03 should be fine, I don't think you would see a differance between a 0.02 to a 0.03 and for 1/55, 1/60 and 1/48 it should be perfect.

Awesome idea Ashton I can't wit to see how it turns out. I've been thinking of the same thing for a while but just don't have the time at the moment, but I'm looking forward to seeing your's completed and get a few ideas. Great work as always.

That's the part, thanks guys I haven't seen any pic's with the foot stand. Now I'll can give the 1J a more dynamic pose rather than just standing.

Thanks again guy's I'm flattered.

Thanks Mr March but the piece that I didn't know what it is came with the stand and looks like part of a stand just not for the VF's, thanks though for the gunpod info as that part had me a little confused at first. I got the base part of the stand just not the back vertical part that the valk mounts to so I gave my 1J a standing pose and gave the 1S a full stand. I'll post a pick of the part later today as someone must know what it belongs to.