Jasonc

Still working on this, but I have so much crap to do this weekend, I have to clear up all my mess, so I should have an update on Monday. But so far, the parts for the back connector are done, sealed, and I'll be making the lance now work on the 25 in fighter. I have everything chromed out now as well, and sealed, and I just need to now detail each part so that they can look ready for action. The large wing armors are the most work, as I have to color match orange again, patch up thrust parts that I've removed, and all that. Oh, and that knee attachment. I'm going to use the original. I was able to build it up to where I'm happy with the original part, and recasted it in a mineral resin, which makes it similar to a metalic aluminum. Not a popular resin as it's 5:1 ratio by weight, but it's hard as hell, with .0006 shrinkage, so it's basically the exact same as what I set. Hmmmm, so much work to do, and I'm trying to finish this by SDC. May not happen. Pics either Sunday night or Monday.

Aside from the dye strategy, which I will not do, I take a long time to prep these parts, but they come out smooth as a hi-res toy finish. Not pretty, and a lot of primer, but it's a process. It's why I didn't buy the whole kit either. It'll give me shorter goals. I do plan, once I get the canopy, to do this process, then gloss paint it, then then buff the hell out of it, then recast it in a crystal clear. I also have a liquid buffer that I can use after that, so I should be able to make a crystal clear canopy. This is what I did with the Paladin clear head top when I had to redesign it, and it was pretty clear. Xigfrid, do you have a place to get rubber tires for this, or did you just paint yours? If there's a rubber tire to get for it, I'd love to get a set of them online.

I don't have a lot of experience with the professional plastic, and ended up ordering everything with the standard stuff. I can work with it, but damn. I may have to reorder those parts. As long as I can still do my process with them, (sand, prime, sand, prime and rescribe lines). My real dilemma is, what color do I do? There's so many versions. MtR version? Max, Miliya, or the standard color that was first shown?

OK, get this. I send them a message, telling them that they passed my order up, and I reference order numbers that past mine and by how many days. They come up with something that didn't make too much sense, so I then reply, "So, does this mean I will be next? I've literally been passed over". I check back in my email, go there and find this. .

I'll have to get it in pieces. So next check will complete it.

See, and I created my order 3 days before this, and I'm still waiting.

you and I both. I would love to do the VF-27 that is in it, but that's one crazy paint scheme.

I'll be placing my order shortly.

Thanks. It really came to life because of your parts you made for it. It would just be the "early design" stage of it, which I think is what Frameout called the one they released, but this is the full custom, full race version. The wings didn't work, but that's OK. Your work really makes this feel like it belongs to Macross the Ride.

So, I've been working on this kit for quite a long time. Between getting the official Framout kit, and using parts that were made by Xigfrid along with some custom work of my own, I present the finished VF-1X++. It looks easy enough, but I actually ended up having to custom make the wings due to a few 3D design attempts that just didn't work. Because of that, I had to color match the wings to a Yamato white.not the easiest thing. The head is basically all Frameout gave, along with the decals, so it was great to see that Xigfrid was willing to do the other parts. The white on the armor is simply Model Master superfine white primer, and the grey armor is Tamiya grey primer. All this is from one of the unassembled Yamato VF-1S kits. While I may still touch up a piece here or there, I do want to customize the pilot, but as of now, she is done. I should also point out that it still fully transforms and all the pieces work as the toy was intended. No special parts swapping for transformation. I hope you guys enjoy.

Wow, looks great. I'll be getting it once it's all uploaded. By any chance, can you make the figures available in the hi-res clear? Since that doesn't require too much sanding and not to much handling, I'd like to get that piece in that finish. Just a request from me.

Getting around that time. Can't wait to see the results.

And this little piece is the backpack connector. The 2mmx1mm round magnets there are to help with securing the lance to it, but they are not strong enough to really do a suitable job. However, the design of the new piece, with the rail guides that protrude is. Between the two, it will hold upside down in fighter mode. For the 9f you who got this kit from me, you may want to make sure that when testing the lance connector (the top piece on the lance) that it is snug but something you don't have to peel off. My first attempt at this had it way too tight, and it took too much work to get it out. If you need to, use a 400 grit sand paper in between the columns where the lance connection will slide in, an lightly sand until a desired thickness is obtained. Also take 8nto account paint. These will be chromed and sealed on Tuesday. True test Wednesday.

One more of the top.

I used liquid buffer and 800 grit sandpaper. Wet sandpaper first, then the liquid buffer to make it shiny again. I still put my clear top coat over, but once totally painted, it will be satin finish top coat.

More work today.

It's better to buy them. You'll get full detail, and even in the parts the newer release had from Frameout, they weren't well detailed. You can find them fairly inexpensive on Mandarake last I checked.

So, more updates, and it mostly has to do with painting and decal applications. I've pulled the YF-25 apart, and have painted grey parts grey, and buffed out tampons pieces that dont belong. The valk itself is about done, but I had a misstep with the right wing white trim. Theres no correcting it, so once the clear coat dries tomorrow, it's off to do it again. I will also do the under wing decals tomorrow, which are easy enough, but there are these. The pictures of the paladin logo are rub on transfer decals. They're great because they leave no residue, but you only get one chance to do them right. Anyways, I learned after trial that it's best to get a piece of tape over it once you lock it in position,and use a q--tip to rub on top of the tape, followed by a light scratching with your nail. These pieces are now done. She's getting there. Just hope before SDC.

Ok, so this is a bit of a work through with an experimental piece that actually came out way better than I had planned. Because I have Lways been a little iffy on a plastic handle being attached to the lance, I thought, "how can I put a solid piece of material on its place, and be able to carve out the part for the hand?" Well, I did some mods to the lance base, and made a 3mm diameter hole down it. Here is what it looks like So, it looks very rough, and needs a lot of paint and sanding to fill in the sponge like material. But not now. In my search, I looked for 3mm pins, pipe, something that is strong, but would be straight and do what is required. That's when I found the wood pieces I put my painted parts on. They're a little wider, but they're rough so what better way to fix them, then to sand them down. Now, it needs to be borrowed out a bit where that triangular piece on the printed part is, and about halfway down. I used an exact, the a file that is the perfect width. So this wood is actually quite strong and durable. Once everything lined up and the wood was slim enough to slide all the way in, here you go. Now the full length of the lance handle happens to be 105mm, so I now not the tip about 106cm, and sand it til it's just right. I used crazy glue to put that little triangle piece down. Crazy glue is great on two porous materials such as this 3d material (which is also very sturdy and durable) and wood. From this point, I must've used this grey primer and sanded about 6 times before it became smooth. After that, I put it together with some fine touches, and here she is. Hope you guys like it.

If the dye method is used, the only drawback I'm seeing is that you can't really get that completely smooth look from that type of material. Because it has a sponge-like composition, it can never be fully sanded smooth. The only way to fix that, is by painting, or filling in. What you could try, and I haven't tried this yet, is to dye the part the color you want, then put a gloss clear coat on, and sand. You'll need to repeat it until the sponge makeup is filled with gloss clear coat. Then it should look a lot smoother I think.

So, all the new fixes from the second build have been made and uploaded? I may start buying the pieces for this kit now.

Thanks. That's a lot of light sanding, with primer, thinned out gloss black, and thinned out high metal chrome paint. I have one bottle of it left, and it's painfully hard to find locally. Nevertheless, I'm hoping to have more done tonight on the lance. I'm going to put some gold paint on some trim, and get the attachment piece on, if I can find my dremel for the steel prongs for magnets.

The head needs to have the current glass popped off. Mine luckily came off easily. It takes some work. I think the official instructions on the page may explain how to take it off.

These are really hard to make without making a recast of the part to replace it with. I have clear resin, but without an original working canopy that is aligned properly, your chances of fixing it aren't too great. Perhaps one of the 3D CAD guys here can make a copy of one for you, and you can order it on Shapeways. That's probably your best bet for a fix.

If you wire frame it, you could actually bondo it all to smooth it out, and then paint her up as she's supposed to be painted, and you'd have a pretty legit looking statue.