Kremmen

Oh, fkdmn. I just bought one of the hideous Yamato Angel Birds VF-1 1/48s to convert. It's half price at HLJ. It's still half again what a Hase 1/48 VF-1 will cost. Bugger! I'll console myself with the thought of maybe a 1/48 VF-0 coming up. Oh, please God! Anyone wanna buy a virgin Hase Super Elint or D?

You say that only now, after people have already reffed METAL SIREN??!? ;p PS that Model Graphix VF-4 was horrible, horrible, just horrible. Shape entirely wrong, nothing like the line art or 1/72 kit versions. PPS just ordered a 1/48 Angel Birds VF-1 from HLJ. Half-price - anyone notice they're having a sale on Yamato toys?

Thanks guys. Never heard of it previously. Aarrgh, why left and right halves? Top and bottom would have been more obvious. Looks like a must-have though; nice sculpt, really like it. Seriously wanna nice big 1/5000 one to go with the old IP SDF-1 kit, though. Will have to get off my butt and do some modelling some time soon, heheh. In 1/5000 it'd be about 80cm long, if memory serves. Much more like it.

I'll say. Where'd that Nupetiet-Vergnitz come from? Looks like a nice sculpt. Always wanted a bigger, more accurate green pickle.

Yeah! That!!! And a VF-0S to go with it!!

That is because it is the ugly DYRL version, as we have discussed... Sorry, can't help myself. ;p

Yerkiddin!!!!? Sweet. I wonder what my collection of unbuilt Imais is worth overall now? Gonna build them all though...some day...

Really beautiful work!!!

Well, just buy the plastic kit! There has been a 1/5000 TV Cruiser kit forever...

Wow, I'll agree to that. The DYRL Attacker is better than the TV Attacker (not saying much as I think both suck!)

It's a damn nice book. I treasure mine too. To cover some of what you said earlier, I don't know that we're bashing the DYRL version, collectively more people seem very psyched about it BEING the DYRL version - there are only a relative few of us holdouts for the original. I don't love the DYRL version but don't hate it either, hate's too strong a word. Dislike, maybe. And as for hating the more military look - it's the comparative LACK of a military look that has me feeling that way. TV version is much less fussy and more military as far as I'm concerned. I forgive the animation for not being movie-budget. I can deal with the primary colours, because I know what the colours were supposed to be "in real life". I like the fact that it has more big gun turrets. I like the fact that it looks like a warship, rather than a giant robot. I can deal with the transformation stuff in Macross, but I don't love it. It's the planes, not the battroids. Between battroids and destroids, destroids win. Between storm attacker and cruiser fortress, cruiser fortress every time. So that's where I'm coming from.

Mike, Mechinyun - well said! The smaller number of big gun turrets, and the bulgy, padded, overdone "bow" are also disappointments. The TV ARMDs were really nice! I do think the TV SDF-1 could have used some revision for the movie, but just not this much - especially changes for the sake of changes that made it less appealing, not more.

Amen. My eyes bugged out when that was released. "but...but...but...we've already GOT the BETTER version in that scale!!!"

Agree. I really hope you're right, anyway. There's plenty of room for more great new 1/72 kits of original old-school Miyatake and Kawamorii stuff - the original and best! That said I think I'm going to get myself a 1/60 Yamato Phalanx when it comes out. I don't give a damn if "it's not a model scale", it can still be converted into a proper model. Big Phalanx! Yum!

You consider a 1/5000 kit to posess the quality of "sheer size"??

Er, yeah, "they're incredibly different". The Storm Attacker/Construction mode (construction???! WTF?) kit has fat, stubby legs with curved sides. Both ship/arms are about 30% or more shortened and stubby-ized. The detailing overall is much cruder. The central hull is a blocky, chunky lump. The guns are thinner. I've never laid eyes on the 1/8000 though, perhaps it isn't quite as mutated!

I would have FLAT OUT said it couldn't be done. I have my 1/5000 Arii and Imai kits of both modes on my desk now for reference and they're incredibly different. I'm really impressed!

Thanks, Vostok 7. That's what I'd have been reaching to say myself but I'd never have put it so well. BTW the image is SDF-4 Global, not SDF-1 DYRL version, judging by the colours. I'd also just like to comment that the TV SDF-1 in that image is a "low line-count" version for longer shots. For closer work there are sketches showing sections of the ship with vastly more detail. Check the line art in Perfect Memory to see what I mean. I'm sure there are scans of that online too somewhere. On colours - check the scans of the box art for the TV model kits. Both the cruiser and attack versions are shown as having *dark* colours - an almost indigo dark blue, and a medium-grey, not white or light grey. There are other images showing the same. It's a pretty dignified scheme. Like to think of these darker colours as being the 'official' ones, but they must just have been too hard to animate at the time.

That seems to be a widespread opinion, but it's not actually correct. Pull out your copies of Perfect Memory and the gold DYRL book, open them both to the SDF-1 pages and you'll see what I mean; there's absolutely no shortage of intricate detail and design on the TV version. Sure, in the animation you often don't see it, but it's designed, it's canonical and there's plenty of detail for a model. It's not the surface that's lacking - it's just that the DYRL version has a lot of extra lumps and bulges, sharper edges and harder angles. To me, it's basically like taking your Porsche 911 and whacking a really bulky body kit on it. But as you say, to each their own. Yeah, probably. I really don't think a hybrid version would go down too well with the licensor, for that matter. That Prometheus scene was great.

Ahhhh, PU is for wimps. Use epoxy and run a lot of CF tube and rod into the moulds. Hell, it's only going to add another nine or ten thousand to the price. Now if only Kurt Kuhn was a Macross fan. Yeah, I dabble myself and have gotten away with casting one or two pretty thick pieces but that thing would be a whole different kettle of fish. Sag clearly is an issue - it's a proto so could be built of anything, but it has a ton of supports and obviously needs them. It may not be an utterly unachievable casting job but it would probably require more experimentation with mould layouts than anyone could really justify. Silicone is very far from cheap, unfortunately.

Urm, guys, guess I haven't made the point clearly enough have I? You can't DO a TV add-on pack. The ship has a different front hull, different middle hull, different engines and different shoulders. It would have to be a whole new mould. Can you see Yamato releasing *two entirely different 1/2000 Macross pieces*? No, neither can I... Sorry to belabour the point!

It would be quite heavy, but wouldn't get into that range unless it was cast solid. You cast hollow parts, as thin as possible while still being sturdy enough to avoid warping.

Ack...yeah, there's that, too. I'm in Oz also. Oh well, got to keep reminding myself it's DYRL. I have to say I doubt that Yamato would be interested in doing the TV version even if this one sells very well. It's not like a Valk, where one mould will provide the basics for a bunch of variations. A TV version couldn't use even one of the DYRL moulds. Well, maybe the bridge.

PM sent...

If it was the TV version, I'd buy. (I'd just still pick up a larger garage kit, if one ever came out.) A lot of people are buying anyway. I guess they've found a fairly-close-to-sweet spot. Vostok 7, amen to that. I'm stunned people are complaining it's too big. It's only two feet long, for heaven's sake. It'll occupy less overall space than a PowerFX X-wing.