Deadzone

The words "Holy Crap!" come to mind. Wow, when I saw your place, I knew you had a lot of toys, but not that many. I guess since most of them were packed away, it was hard to tell. Everything looks great.

I hear ya man, the Macross snobs are out of control. Whether the toys carry the Macross or Robotech moniker doesn't really make a difference, they're all based on the same thing. I could understand if he was asking a question about a Transformer or something, but it's still a Valk toy, whether the package says Robotech or Macross. I agree. A valk is a valk under either name. What's the big friggin deal?

Does anybody know where I can find this bootleg locally in Los Angeles? All I really want is the box and styrofoam insert to protect my VF-1D in transit. They sell these things on ebay for around $15.00, but that's a lot to pay for just an ugly box. Help would be appreciated.

I thought your original skyfire looked good. Now it is going to look amazing!

Alright, this is my tribute to the Simpson's half-assed guide to foundation repair. I just finished doing my third Valk, and I think I got the hang of it. This guide is not for people who want to become expert customizers like WM Cheng, Xstoys, and Kidkorrupt. I paint my valks to look like they came straight out of the factory. No frills or extras, just a nice looking valk with a different paint scheme. I only do 1/55 reissues because they are my favorite and surprisingly affordable. So for anyone who ever thought about doing a simple custom repaint, here we go. TAKING APART THE VALK: Taking apart a 1/55 is fairly easy. Most of it is just unscrewing parts and pulling them apart. The biggest challenge is to separate the nosecone and the back section that hold the wings in place. For the nosecone, you're going to have to go in from behind. Stick a screwdriver in and slowly work the two parts open. It will take some force as the pegs are held in pretty tight. The back section holding the two main wings has two parts that are screwed together and glued together. Remove all the screws, then use a screw driver to pry open the parts glued together near the shoulder area of the robot. This will also take some force. I'm surprised I didn't crack the plastic separating the two. SANDING THE VALK: This step is probably the most important to prevent chipping. Essentially, all the clear coat, primer, and superglue in the world will not prevent chipping if you have areas of high friction. To prevent this, you have to sand down those pieces that would scrap against each other during transformation. The vital areas include: 1.The plastic around the leg swing bars. If you notice, there are two indented holes made for the leg pegs to lock into when in fighter mode and in robot mode. I sanded the bottom half of the nosecone/canopy part on the sides from one indented hole all the way to the next indented hole. I also sanded around the hole for the swing bars. 2. The inside of the hips where they contact the upper leg. When the hips are screwed in tight, they will pinch the upper leg and cause friction when moving the legs around. You want to sand behind the area where those side guns are. (I think they are guns or missle launchers) 3. The insides of the shoulders. When the two shoulder pieces are put together, they will pinch the upper arm. Make sure the insides are sanded smooth. DO NOT sand away the ridges that allow the arm to stay in place and click when they are moved. 4. The two hook like pieces that hold the tailfins in place. Do not sand the bump that allows the tailfins to click in place. Only sand around them and the edges. To find out if you have sanded enough, here is something I find useful. Take a piece of paper. If you like putting on multiple coats and heavy clear coats, take a thick piece of paper. If you can slide it in between two pieces without much trouble, you have sanded enough. If the paper gets caught in between two parts, keep sanding. A medium grade sand paper will do fine for the initial sand. For the final sand, use nothing lower than a 400 grit. (600 grit if you have it) PRIMING THE PIECE: 1. You may not have to, but I like rubbing all the pieces with polishing paper. You can buy it at a hobby store for around $2.00 a sheet. The stuff feels almost like cloth. It is great for getting the shine off of the plastic which makes the primer stick better. 2. Now to prime. But what primer should you use. I have experimented with rustoleum, Krylon, and Tamiya. Tamiya is a great primer but very expensive. It dries smoother and preserves more surface detail. However, a small can runs around $7.00. You can get twice as much from a Krylon can that only costs $5.00. I find the rustoleum premium metal primer to be good on metal parts and plastic resin. The Krylon and Tamiya will chip off on certain resin parts. Although I never tried the rustoleum metal on the entire valk I imagine that it would be fine. The Reissues are made of ABS plastic that should withstand the metal primer. I would still do a test piece just in case. You should really choose the primer according to what you want to do. If you plan to use the primer as a paint, I would go with the Tamiya for the smooth coat. If you plan to paint something on top of the primer, it is hard to go wrong with the Krylon. If you are painting metal or resin (most custom heads are made of resin) go with the rustoleum premium metal primer. 3. People always say prime the pieces using light coats. However, what the hell is a light coat? At first I would go over a piece very quickly with a light mist, then bitch about how the coats were too rough. What you want to do is continually go over a piece until it looks smooth. Chances are it will also look slightly wet like a gloss paint. If the coat does not look smooth, keep spraying until it is. Sometimes, I have to go over a piece three times before I get the desired effect (And yes, I mean in one sitting I don't mean spraying, letting it dry, then spraying again) . 4. The can will tell you to hold the piece a certain distance away for spraying. The truth is, the proper distance depends on weather conditions. Hotter drier conditions means moving the can closer to maybe 8 inches away. Colder damper conditions may mean going to ten to twelve inches. It all depends on the weather. As long as you get the smooth result, it will be fine. 5. The best thing to do after priming is to let the stuff dry overnight. Yeah you could start painting within an hour, but to ensure a smooth surface, you need to polish the piece with polishing paper or maybe a 600 grit sandpaper. This requires the primer to be completely dry which normally takes awhile. 6. Clean all the dust particles off with warm water. PAINTING FINALLY: 1.Type of paints: I like using Tamiya paints. They spray great and look great after drying. They also stick better than Createx which I think is crap. 2. Thinning paint: Buy the large 250ml Tamiya thinner. You will be using it and the big gas tank like bottle gives you the best value. There is no defined ratio of thinning that is best. The problem is, every color has a different consistency. Sometimes I buy two pots of flat white and each flat white has a different consistency. People say thin until the paint looks like milk. That's good for the airbrush. If you plan to hand brush anything, go a little bit thicker. 3. The airbrush you choose is very important. Personally, I like the Iwata Eclipse. If you can't spend that much, I hear a Badger or Paasche is good too. Whatever you do, do not buy an airbrush meant for fine inks. You will be in a world of hurt. Get one that can spray the thicker paints as opposed to watery inks. 4. When spraying, you want to do the same thing as priming. Get a coat that is smooth. As with priming, you will have to adjust the distance of the airbrush depending on the weather and thickness of paint. Never start spraying directly on a piece. First start spraying, then move the airbrush slowly across the targeted piece. (Sometimes paint collects at the tip of the airbrush causing spattering when the trigger is first pulled) 5. Glass cleaners like windex should be used to clean the airbrush. 6. If you make a mistake and get paint globs on your piece, you will have to get a Q-tip with windex and wipe out the mistake. Don't try to paint over it. That NEVER works. MASKING: 1. Masking is fairly simple. Put tape on the part you don't want painted. The best masking tape I have found is this automotive masking tape by 3m Scotch. It is $3.00 a roll, but it works wonders. Press the masking tape firm against the surface with either your fingernail or a toothpick. The stuff works best on smooth surfaces which shouldn't be a problem on a 1/55 valk. Just make sure the paint underneath has properly dried. I usually give it a day to dry before I start masking. CLEAR COAT: 1. By now you have painted your valk and think it is pretty good. However, how do you protect it? If detail is important to you and you don't plan on transforming your valk too often, future floor wax works pretty well. Spray it on with your airbrush until you get a smooth wet coat. Don't overspray otherwise it will cause unsightly globs. Since future has almost the consistency of water, you will probably have to spray farther than your Tamiya paints. Let it dry overnight before handling it again. DO NOT USE FUTURE ON BRIGHT WHITE. I did one one of my valks which slightly yellowed everything. It gives it kind of a weathered look, but I like my valks bright white. 2. For those looking for a stronger coat, try envirotex. This clear coat is the equivalent of almost five to six coats of future. The stuff dries rock hard and provides excellent protection for your valk. However, the coats are so thick that they do cover up some detail. Also, mastering the spraying technique will take some time. You have to spray until the surface is smooth. A light coat is actually pretty thick. If the coat looks like sugar, you are spraying too far. If it looks like an orange pell, you haven't sprayed enough. Keep spraying until the coat looks smooth, or prepare for a lumpy finish to your paint job. Touch envirotex before it dries and you are screwed. You will probably put an ugly finger print on it and have to strip the entire piece or wait for it to dry and sand the finger print down. Finger prints will also be left in future, but they are more easily corrected since the future coat is thinner and easier to reapply. PUTTING IT TOGETHER: 1. Pretty self explanitory except for one thing. You should probably sand the leg pegs slightly to reduce friction when moving the legs into their locking positions for the fighter and robot modes. Also, sand the pegs so that they can actually slide back into the hole towards the spring but not too much or they will end up falling out. Replace the springs with ones that have more give. I bought some at the hardware store for around $1.50 for six. Well, this is how I do my valks. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me. The half assed approach is still time consuming but should yield you good results. So after all my instructions, sexual innuendos, and your effort, you should have a descent custom valk.

The only thing I can say is, the color scheme is a little too gaudy for me. I know some people like the red white and blue. I like red white and blue on American flags, but not all over a valkyrie. It kind of reminds me of those guitars or automobiles with the american flag painted all over it. Of course, that hasn't stopped toy companies from releasing stuff before. I think the closest valk that resembles the Angel is that Takatoku French version, but that thing is hiddeous. Personally, I would rather have someone release the Strike Eagle. Now there's a color scheme, simple yet elegant.

Those are nice pics. So there is no way to get these English made movies?

I remeber watching force five when I was a kid. They had Danguard Ace, Star Avengers, Grandizer, and so forth. Does anybody know if they ever released DVDs of the American made movies? I know the movies are a severly abridged version of Force Five television shows, but I still like them. I imagine somebody here must know the answer.

Tough crowd... Even though the metallic doesn't look as good as the regular blue on the Max, you guys still have to admit he did a really good job on all of his 1/48. Those things look like they came directly from the factory which is hard to do. I am kind of curious why he put a VF-1A head on the Max while using the VF-1J color scheme, but it works. I hope he does more in the future.

That's a good thought. I might have to try that out.

Damn Sebastian, Your place can almost pass for a toy store now.

I went to Ikea today to check out all the display cases. I saw the Notrop (SP?) Ingo, and the clear glass one standing side by side. The clear glass one looks the best for displaying valkyries. It doesn't have anything to obstruct the view, isn't too big, and looks descent. The only problem is that the shelves do not look like they are adjustable. For people wanting that flexability, they might want to stay away from the clear glass one. I can't buy the clear glass one because I have a 16 inch unicron to display. I think the shelves will accomodate up to 14 inches. The Ingo selling for $79.00 I thought looked pretty bad. The design is fine but the wood they used was terrible. It's kind of like a toynami MPC The Notrop was probably the best looking one in terms of just the appearance of the display case. The silver one only sold for $150.00 and is more modern to match the valkyrie toys. For a warmer wood feel, you have to pay more. The only problem is the beams obstructing some of the view. Otherwise, a nice piece but a bit pricey.

I guess for the same reason peole collected all the Decepticon jets. That was even worse. It's the same toy with only different color schemes. However, different colors give different personalities to each toy. Yeah, I don't plan on buying every single valkyrie that comes out. Some people might just to complete their collection (that's what collectors do). I only buy the ones that I like in particular. To me, a skull leader may have the same body as a VF-1J, but the color scheme gives it an entirely different feel. Now, for the people who buy ten skull leaders because they just can't get enough I definitely won't become. Yeah, it's cool to have ten skull leaders, but the money to me would be better spent on buying other things.

Personally, I think the VE-1 looks cool in fighter mode, but that head needs a redesign.

Drugs is a nasty thing. I hate seeing friends who can't seem to break out of it. They say that it is their life, and they will do what they want. However, they never see the people around them who they are hurting. Most likely, they don't want to see. I don't have tolerance for drug users either. You can call me a cold bastard, but if a person willingly does drugs without trying to change or get off of it, they don't stay friends with me for long. Life and health is such a precious thing that we don't appreciate until it is gone. I guess what I am trying to say is... good luck to you. You made the right decision. And come back to the boards soon. It's always tough at first, but we have to go through tough times to get to the good.

Here's a picture that shows the detail of the Unicron a bit better in planet mode. The problem with small ebay pictures is that they really don't allow you to do much in terms of showing the intricacies of a custom.

Well, I didn't go and read every TF Forum out there, but the ones that I did read expressed a lot of positive feedback for some of the kiddie like transformers. Your right in that there were still some sensible people that I found who disliked all the strange colors, but there were also a sizeable amount who thought the colors were great. Yeesh. BTW: When I took pictures of the Unicron in planet mode, the light kind of washes out the details. However, when lit differently, more details start showing through. When I compared it to the old version, you can definitely see more detail in the light grey than in the see through purple. I guess I have to work on my photography skills.

I was holding a Unicron auction and a guy emailed me asking for bigger pictures because they were discussing it in a thread. I thought... great until I saw the thread. A third liked the color scheme, a third were indifferent, and a third thought the armada color scheme is better! I can understand the indifferent people, but the Armada scheme better? The purple colors make unicron look gaudy to me, and the clear plastic chest and waist pieces look terrible. But then it hit me, a lot of transformer fans thought Energon prime was great. I used to be a big transformers fan. Personally, the color scheme for Skywarp, Thrust, and Ramjet were my favorites. Yeah, you won't see a F-15 painted in white and crimson, but the colors matched and accentuated each other. Now a days, I can't say much for the transformers line. In fact, besides the new Prime, smokescreen, and reissues, I think the transfomers line kind of blows. It all started when they began rereleasing the constructicons in this saftey bright orange color. Then it went down hill from there. I kept thinking, why don't they go back to the old color schemes that made the toys look classy and cool? Well, after visiting a couple of transformers forums, I got my answer. Those guys like their transformers to have bright green, orange, and red colors. They like their prime to be a fat ass, and they like toys that appeal to little kids. Now you know why I spend most of my time in this forum. But, I have to give it to Hasbro. They know their audience. I'm not saying all transformer fans have bad taste. The new prime and smoke screen deserve praise. But as long as transformer fans continue to compliment toys that are almost flourescent in color, I'm going to have to keep repainting them. I guess I'm just venting my frustrations with poor taste. When I first saw the Unicron by Hasbro I thought, "Great toy but what's with the awful colors?" Apparently, a lot of Trans fans thought, "Great toy but how come they didn't paint his arms flourescent green and put a rainbow on his chest?" It's like all these movie critics who give bad movies great reviews. If you keep praising something bad, that's what you'll get.

The SDF-3 looks great and the Harlock ship looks amazing. We definitely need to see more pictures of the Harlock ship from different angles.

It's kind of cool. The only problem is the price. They should have made these things out of a strong plastic and charged like $30.00. At over hundrend, I doubt a lot of people will be picking them up. Why do they have to be porcelain? Usually porcelain is good for making fine vases and bowls. From the pictures, the porcelain doesn't even make the thing look all that much better. Maybe the picture doesn't do it justice? <_

I actually liked how the music was used in Robotech to a degree. Yeah, it got to be a bit too much at times. They used a music cue for every single shot some times. However, I think that beats some of the japanese animation that I have seen in my day which use no music cues for hours on end. They decided to let the drama play out and take center stage. The only problem is that the drama is usually some guy trying to look cool for an hour and a half. If I wanted that, I would go read comic books.

Nope, that's not the one I have. The one I have is a single CD. However, it does say perfect collection on it. Oh well, Guess I'm not going to be buying the Macross CD although I still want to watch the series.

As some of you may know, I grew up watching Robotech, and I'm trying to find an affordable copy of the original Macross series so I can watch that too. I was just curious. Is the music different in the Japanese show, or did Harmony Gold take the same music and just dub it in english for the Minmay songs? I have the Robotech "Perfect Collection" which is not a perfect collection because it left some of the songs out. I heard there was a more complete collection and went trolling in ebay. What I found was a lot of Macross soundtracks for sale at around $8.00. I don't want to buy anything I haven't heard, but if this CD is pretty much the same songs with just a japanese girl singing instead, I might give it a try. The singer who did Minmay in Robotech wasn't very good so it might be a welcome change.

Thanks guys, I'll give those places a look.

Okay, If anybody is going to delete this topic or move it, please send me an email saying why it was moved or deleted and where it was moved to if it is moved. I'm trying to watch the Japanese version of Macross, but I am having problems finding it at an affordable price. Apparently, the Animego versions sell for around $225.00. I recently discovered new versions selling in Hong Kong. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...&category=41524 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...7&category=2290 The second one doesn't make any sense because the pictures are clearly Macross the original version, but then it talks about Macross Plus and the VF-19. I don't know what the hell a VF-19 is. Is there any difference between the Hong Kong versions of Macross and the Animego version of Macross. If not, I'll save myself $170.00 and just shell out the money for the Hong Kong version. I grew up watching Robotech, and everybody has told me that the Macross version is better. So, I want to give the Macross version a try. However, I need to know what version to buy. Anybody with any insights please help. Thanks.