Deadzone

Wow, over a hundred. How did you come to that figure? Is it based on how many custom VF-1D heads were sold. I definitely think the VF-1D is the more popular custom. However, still haven't seen anywhere close to a hundred. I imagine a lot of people who have one don't post pictures, but over a hundred?

From the looks of it, I am guessing that there are less than fifty VF-1D customs in existence. Probably less for the Max Customs. Do you guys think that would be an accurate guess?

I was a little curious to see how many of these were around. People talk about the low production runs of some of the mass produced Valks. I think the Low Vis came in at around 5000 pieces. And although the VF-1D and TV Max were never mass produced on the 1/55 scale, I see customs of these two toys pop up the most, especially the VF-1D. They are almost like an "extremely" limited released toy. Just wondering if the numbers were in the tens, hundrends, or even thousands.

How many people are confirmed going on this thing?

At first I thought this movie looked remotely interesting. After reading all of the reviews, I have no intention of watching it. However, I am curious. Everyone bashed the ending saying it was stupid. Can anyone tell me what was so bad about it that no one thought it was good? I would go see for myself, but I don't want to spend $9.00 for crap.

What I want to know is when they will do alternators of Ironhide and Ratchet. I thought out of all the original transformers, these two were done the worst. The most noticeable problem was "NO FREAKING HEAD!" Now they have a chance to redo them and redo them right. Of course, both died in the Movie. However, Ratchet got a few good shots off with his two handguns. Leave it to the medic to dish out the most firepower.

I like the proportions of the feet for G1 Hound better than the alternator. The G1 is still a bit too big, but I like things to be a little too big than way too small. However, the alternator Hound has good arms. It's like I said before, these guys need a physical trainer so they don't wind up all disproportional. Yeah, the old transformers were rarely proportioned correctly, but the reissues are selling for around $25.00. Don't alternators go for around $40.00 and above?

You know, the more alternators I see, the less I am impressed. First they came out with a pretty good one in Smoke screen. He looked good as a car and as a robot. Then Sideswipe came out. Good as a car, but he had a fat ass as a robot. Now they have Hound. The jeep is nice but the bony girl legs have to go. Seems like these alternators need to hit the gym more and get their proportions fixed.

For the people who like Macross more than Robotech, I'm not exactly sure why they are complaining. Sounds like they have no intention of watching Robotech DVDs ever again. Personally, I really liked the Robotech series. I'm not too mad about the rerelease because I bought the original series for around $60.00 and it is fine for me. The biggest complaint I had about the image quality was the stupid black line that appears in some of the later episodes. Other than that, I'll save my money for something else rather than plunk down the money for the remastered stuff. Nevertheless, if HG said there would be no remastered dvds ever released, I can see why Robotech fans are pissed. It is always nice to have the best quality of something in any case, whether it be books, dvds, toys etc. So go ahead and vent. Also understand that most business say they care about their customers but will always market according to what they think will make them the most money. So it comes down to how badly do you want these remastered videos. I will pass. But others who are really concerned with quality will probably buy. HG maybe an a hole but let's see how many companies did well by being money milking a holes. Microsoft comes to mind. Unfortunately, this is a bad side to capitalism, but it sure beats getting your ass beat because you owned any kind of American DVD period.

I think this model is a good start. When I was a kid, it took me five models before I got... well, actually I was never really good as a kid. Almost all my models sucked. I just saw Greatmoose show off a black valk that he said he hand painted. That is the smoothest hand painted finish I have ever seen. Might want to ask him for advice. Personally, I got past this problem with a good airbrush. An Iwata Eclipse did it for me although I hear Paasche and badger are also good. With Tamiya paints and a good clear coat, you should have no problems. Keep them coming.

Wow! A hand painted valk that came out that smooth. Now I am really impressed.

Very nice. I still want to know how you painted the thing. Did you take it apart first, or did you paint the Valk intact. Also, What kind of paint did you use? Great job!

That's funny. That grey looks very familiar. Oh that's right, It looks like the same damn grey I used on my custom! I have no problem with people who like this version of Unicron better. TF master obviously spent a lot of time and effort on this custom, and I will be the first to say that he deserves all the praise that he gets. I also don't mind constructive criticism. I actually did a third Unicron after the ebay one that had the cheeks painted grey and the rings painted in a more subdued orange which were two major complaints. Nevertheless, for the people who put comments of: "Boring" "This Sucks" and "I don't like it" (no explanation) I just have to say.

A lot of people complained that I painted the planet plates grey which covered up the detail. I thought the grey looked good. Of course I didn't see any complaints about this one.

I saw this custom Unicron done by TF Master, or Bashmaster on the transformers forum. I thought he did a really good job on resculpting the chest plate and face. I also liked the way he repainted the rings. Wish he had repainted the purple on the legs and put a yellow eye in for planet mode. However, it is tough to complain when you see all the good things about what he did. So why am I so Pissed off. Well, because I did a custom Unicron that got ripped apart on a lot of the Transformer boards. Yeah, TF Master Unicron is definitely more accurate in robot mode. It also looks like he put in a lot more work than I did with the resculpting and full body repaint. However, people on the TF boards made it sound like my repaint was a piece of crap. Of course, a lot of people also gave me praise for my repaint. But there were several that were giving me grief to no end. These people really piss me off considering that they did not put other customizers on the board to the same standards. Of course, I put my custom on ebay to sell instead of posting pics in the actual forums themselves. I guess it is easier to tear something apart when you don't have to answer to any of the members.

I think you did a good job on it. Looks really clean. The Skull and Crossbones on it only look strange because everyone is used to seeing the flags there. If you block images of Macross out of your mind, I think it looks perfectly fine from an aesthetic point of view.

Great workmanship! I guess I should expect that from you. Just wondering. How much do you charge to do something like that and how long does it normally take?

Yeah, I use future all the time. It doesn't protect as well as envirotex does, but it is much easier to use than envirotex. If you have an airbrush, the best thing to do is spray from around eight inches away depending on the weather. I didn't have any problems with it attacking the acrylic paint or the decals. However, I used the decals from the sticker sheet that came with the valk, not the water slide decals a lot of people make. I still doubt it will harm the decals since the stuff is pretty mild, but I would do a test. If you spray it on, don't even worry about future attacking the paint job. Just don't spray future on bright white. It tends to show a slight yellowing on bright whites. All other colors are fine (especially black). My experiences with future have been alright in general. The important thing to do is spray until there is a smooth wet coat on, then let it dry. If you spray too much, you will get drips. Spray too little, and the surface will orange peel. It's really not too hard. However, in terms of protection, I find you have to put several layers on before you get that glossy tough barrier. Even then, I think the Envirotex protects better. If you didn't sand the pieces properly though, nothing will prevent chipping between parts that really rub up against each other. If you have sanded properly, then Envirotex is the way to go if you can take your valk apart and spray each piece individually. I think the stuff is too hard to use on a put together valk. If future is the only option, I would still reccomend taking the valk apart first and spraying each individual piece. The good thing about future is that if a glob does form, you can wipe it off real quick without much harm done (That is if you used high quality Tamiya paints). BTW: How did you paint that valk. Did you take the valk apart at all or just sprayed it while it was together. What kind of paints did you use?

Hey Greatmouse, Where did you get those teeth? Are they stickers or an incredibly great paint job? Makes me want to make a tiger version myself except with a 1/55 Bandai (can't afford to make 1/48 customs). That is one kick ass job. The shark does look unusually happy, but who cares? If you like it, that's what matters. I also think it is kind of cool having a happy shark blowing enemy pods away. It's like the Joker from Batman, happy but one mean SOB. Keep up the good work.

By Mock battles I meant actually moving the toys around and going "Bang, Bang!" Stuff I did when I was a kid but not anymore. Just putting the toys in a battle scene is more like displaying them in a more realistic setting.

I saw a thread where this became a heated issue. However, playing with a toy can mean so many different things. I thought we should clarify what people actually meant. Personally, I am the one who does the second to last choice (maybe because I don't have any battle pods to have them fight against). Hey, Hikaru was playing with a toy in the final episode of Macross. Of course, I thought he should have been playing with Minmei. In my opinion, if you want to display your piece or play with it, doesn't really matter to me. It is just preference. However, certain toys do lend itself better for handling than others, but we've covered that to death.

To be honest, I don't really like the yamato line that much. It may be more accurate, but I still think the proportions are off aesthetically. The chest piece and nose cone are a little too big, and the bony girl arms just accentuate this fact. The new TV hands and armor hide this a little better beefing up the arms, but I'll stick with my 1/55 bandai's. I always liked how they looked and the durability can't be beat.

Sorry, At this moment, I never want to make another VF-1D again. It is just too much of a hassle. I might change my mind when I come back from Hong Kong later next year. At the moment though, I am so burnt out on custom making. BTW: Thanks everybody for all the kind words.

A close shot of the head which was cast by mslz22. If one side of the green visor looks slanted a little, it is because I sanded it down too much. Not mslz22's fault. It's my own.

Wow, This topic almost fell off of the map. It was on page 10 when I found it. The strange things is, I wrote VF-1D in the search engine, and it didn't pop up. I find the search engine on this site to be a bit screwy. Well, although most of you probably don't care anymore, I promised a couple of guys that I would post some pics of the finished project when I was done. Really hate to give this thing away to my sister, but I sort of short changed her on Christmas presents the last few years. She better like this thing or I am taking it back.