Chronocidal

Here's one in battroid. Like I said, no legs yet.

1/18th!! LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL...It's been too long since I read PA... I'm gonna see if I can get a decent shot of this thing with my web cam.. the resolution's tiny, but you should be able to make out the yard stick next to it for comparison.

Boy how I wish I had a digicam.. I have a project that's been in the making for close to three years now.. if my guesstimates are correct, it's about 1/18th scale. Barely fits in my closet. It's a fully transformable DYRL VF-1S in the making, and it's nearly three feet long. Weighs a ton though, and if it ever gets finished, it'll probably never be able to stand on it's feet. Shoot, the arms are so heavy, it's a struggle just to keep them supporting their OWN weight, let alone a gunpod. The whole thing is rigged up though, based on the 1/60th transformation,arms are fully articulated (down to the last knuckle ) and you have to mount the legs on the nose.. .if there were legs that is. I ran out of decent parts right after finishing the arms, and now I'm waiting for Lego to invent a hinge piece that can support about 10 lbs of weight. I gave up on retractable landing gear long ago... the axles would snap in half.

I only really became interested in anime at all from a couple of key series... or, rather, friends who tended to obsess about anime in everything they talked about.. I couldn't help but pick up a few things My absolute favorite is Macross Plus, the movie version. I would like to see the OVA though. Isamu's love of flying just struck a chord with me, and my favorite impossible dream is secretly building a functional YF-19 in a hangar under my backyard (Dexter's Lab style) to joyride in while blasting the Top Gun soundtrack. Closest I'll probably get is flying my version for MS Flight Sim 2002. Trigun's pretty amusing to watch, and I've only seen a few key episodes that got me intrigued. My friends all swear by Excel Saga as one of the funniest things on earth, but I haven't seen any as of yet. As far as hilarious insanity goes, FLCL has the record in my book, particularly episode 5, the one with all the Matrix perodies. Cowboy Bebop, again, haven't seen much of it, but what I have seen has been good. I've seen bits and pieces of various series, usually on Adult Swim, or at the random friend get-together. I'd like to see Evangelion, all of Trigun, Excel Saga, and especially Macross, of ANY type.. The only time I've ever been able to get a hold of anything even remotely related to the original SDF Macross was when I recorded the first episode of Robotech when it aired on Cartoon Network. I did manage to watch most of Blue Gender, but I missed the last episode. It was really depressing at first, but rather engrossing. I just wish that they had finished the storyline. Apparently the American version is missing the second half of the story that took place after what was supposedly the last episode.

Hmm... maybe I can oblige you when I start working up YF-19 and VF-19A textures.

I too bought one of the Sundowners Tomcats.. I got the unassembled one though..and discovered something very interesting. Certain parts of the cockpit, mainly the pilots and instrument panels, look like exact duplicates of parts from the Monogram 1/48th Tomcat kit. I'm planning on opening that thing up one day and actually painting the entire cockpit up nice. There's more than just the tail decals that are strange though... I never knew the ship was named USS Independance... And what kind of missile is an "ATM-54?" The decals aren't a biggie for me though, I plan on repainting and re-decaling this thing later on when the markings start to flake off. The only thing that really bugged me about it was the fact that the bottom half of the fuselage is plastic. I looked at the other planes though, and I wouldn't buy the F-18, mainly for one reason: the sidewinders. Unlike the F-14, which had all the pylons and weapons correctly mounted (strange tanks aside), the F-18's wingtip sidewinders were cast in one piece with the wing. So, in other words, no pylon. The missiles are mounted in a hideously wrong position, hanging back way too far so the fins could be molded. You'd have to cut those things off, add pylons, and then mount a decent set of missiles on there before I'd buy one. What I'm really amazed by are these new "toys" that are in the same size range as some radio control models, or at least control line models. Recently at Wal-Mart I've seen 1/18th scale BF-109s and P-47 Thunderbolts. They're huge.. and everything works, landing gear, various control surfaces, wing folding, etc.... If I saw the Corsair in a store, I'd pick it up instantly, as that thing is beautiful. What's amazing is that from the box ads, they've made a 1/18th P-38 Lightning... I've never seen it in stores. I've seen the P-51D and Corsair at Toys-R-Us once, but that's it, aside from the Wal Mart stuff. But a 1/18 scale P-38 would be absolutely gigantic... sheesh, what would that be, something like a 3 foot wingspan?

I'm actually kind of doing both simultaneously. I've got the plane working pretty well in both, but in CFS3 the speed is limited to about 600 mph. Both games use the same type of aircraft aerodynamic configuration files, so I'm hoping that tuning it to work in one will transwer well to the other. I've been adjusting the various details of the plane, like flap drag and lift multipliers, and adjusting how it performs... it still has a nasty tendency to stall at high speeds though.. I dunno what causes it, but at high subsonic speeds, if you pull all the way back on the stick, the plane gives you a stall warning.. then, for some reason, the wing starts working in reverse, and as you let off the stick, the plane starts diving... it did it at a high enough altitude to survive once, and after pulling a complete loop, once I let off the stick, the plane did a complete outside loop on it's own... very odd, and I don't know how to fix it. It's almost as if the plane has too much inertia, and pulling up at high speeds only changes the AOA, and has no effect on the flight path of the plane. But that doesn't explain why the plane forcibly dives after pulling a tight loop. I'm beginning to understand why the YF-19 went through so many test pilots. Aside from that, the plane is handling quite well. You just can't leave the throttle on full and expect to do any kind of aerobatics. Also, it's a good idea not to pull all the way back on the stick above about 700 knots. The low speed handling is good, and landings aren't too hard to accomplish. I've got the flaps-down landing speed down to between 100-150 knots right now. I've also managed to add a few nice effects, like nav lights, etc. Also, thanks to the air traffic control system in FS2002, and a tweaking of the default aircraft ID, the control tower now addresses you verbally as "Alpha One." Odds are I'm going to completely rework the model later on, since I never textured it. It needs a cockpit still as well, so that'll take time. What I want to really do is somehow duplicate the full canopy hud setup seen in the movie, with the surround screens. There are tricks to the animation parameters for some things.. I may link the exhausts to the throttle animation so they open as the throttle increases.. I may even be able to make bottom screens in the cockpit change from opaque blank screens to transparent windows by linking the texture opacity change to one of the cockpit power switches. I don't really know everything that's possible yet. After this one, I think I'll probably either do a VF-1 series, or a YF-21/VF-22.. but it won't be for a while yet. I've still got to make the cockpit, texture everything, get rid of the last few bugs, and make a few variations (maybe VF-19A textures ).

Hehe.. that's a big question I'm trying to find the answer to myself... it doesn't look like they will be able to. There's just too much mobility in those feet for the game to accurately simulate all the ways they move. They are linked to nearly every axis of control (roll, pitch and yaw) as well as actually functioning as a focusing mechanism for the engine... I'd probably be limited to one axis of movement, and even then, I have no idea how to make an engine's thrust change direction with control inputs.. I know it's possible, from all the harrier mods out there, but I'm at a loss for finding any decent guide for making that stuff work. Heck, I'm at a loss as to how to even make the plane fly decently. The game scales thrust incorrectly, and anything over 25000 lbs of thrust per engine results in an out of control straight up acceleration. Right now, the plane is bouncing around on the ground like a balloon before takeoff, something to do with the landing gear mechanisms. I've re-started from scratch MANY times over now. I have got a few things working finally though. I went ahead and added leading edge slats like you see on some older fighters.. I'll probably replace them later with simple flaps, but the sliding animation just looks so cool. I've also experimented with the feet, trying to make them close up, and slide into the legs when the engines shut down, like they did in Mac+, but I don't know the part name that will let them animate. I have got the compressor blades spinning in the engines, and the cockpit canopy is fully animated now though. Now, to just get rid of that darn instability...

Heheh.. actually, I was able to find quite a bit of info, at least as far as weight, wing area, etc. goes... it's got a much bigger wing than the YF-19, though. I've got to apologize for something, I misread the characteristics the program asks for.. it's not really wingloading. What I thought was weight loading is really just a way of determining how weapon payloads, fuel, etc will affect the aerodynamic model of the aircraft. The system for determining flight characteristics is brutally precise for a game, I must say. As far as the control scheme goes, I think I have an answer that works, but here's the problem: They designed this as a WWII sim from the ground up. What does this mean? Well, mainly, no fancy hydraulic control systems, no high performance flight computers, and no way to make a plane fly well above about 600mph. Microsoft must not have taken creativity into account when they allowed people to put more aircraft in the game. The technology to make newer planes flyable just isn't there. As a rule, any aircraft that goes above about 550mph starts shaking and wobbling like nuts. On top of this, at that speed, the control surfaces become pretty useless from all the air buffeting. Also, in this program, there is no such thing as a flaperon, let alone leading edge controls, thrust vectoring, or any number of modern advances in flight control that something like the YF-19 depends on. I can make the plane as maneuverable as possible, but it's going to be very limited as far as engine performance. Also, the closest I can get to flaperons is to use elevons all along the back edge of the wing. Thanks for all the input, I may still be able to get a decent plane out of this. There aren't many big differences between this game and the other flight sims, so I can probably get everything working in FS2002. I'm going to check out how I can export it to that program, and see how it handles.

Well, there is an in-game shot of it in the CG thread, but it's a rough, untextured model, and has no cockpit at all, and it's been using the stats from an Me-262 Fortunately, I found that I can get a good estimate of the wing area, etc in my modeling program. It'll tell you the surface area of something, or the volume, or whatever, and I can use that to find the various stats of the wings. I did use the RPG stats for it, and I've got most of them written down.. what I don't have, I'm filling in by estimation from modern aircraft of somewhat similar type, fuel stats from F-15, etc...The real trick will be to see if these stats actually result in a plane that will fly.

Dunno if this is quite the right forum for this, but since all the other CG stuff is here, figured I'd try here first. Apart from a working cockpit, my YF-19 model for Microsoft's flight sims is done.. I'm attempting to put it in Combat Sim 3, but several things have got me stuck. CFS3 isn't as simple as some games, where you just put a model in the game, specify it's maneuverability rating, speed, and hull strength, and it works. This thing is asking for everything from wing load coefficients and engine rpm ratings, to the actual wing area and fuel load. Suffice to say it's complex, and would be much easier if I were doing a real plane, with real specs. Is there any website or reference that actually lists such statistics? My guess would be the Macross Design Works book, but I was under the impression that that was mostly artwork. I've got stats for the engine thrust, dimensions, top speeds, max/min takeoff weight, and service ceiling, but that's about it. In the end, I may just end up making stuff up, and hoping that it works. :S Also, does anyone have any info on the actual workings of the YF-19's various control surfaces? Mainly I'm wondering about the wings. The rudders are easy enough to pick out, as are the workings of the canards in the front (just make the whole canard rotate)... but what kinds of control surfaces do the wings use? I'm guessing leading edge slats, from the "NO STEP" decals on the kit there. But the ailerons/flaps/elevons have got me stumped. How are they linked together? From the artwork I've seen, it looks like each of the four sections of the wing control surfaces can move independently...but should they? And does the plane have flaps, or some sort of elevon system?

Well, it's not exactly cg, but I have some news from the flight sim front:

Hey, if you like working on low-poly models, look into modeling for games... Those things would look great in some of the recent space combat games

Ditto... I'm working on a YF-19 right now, just very slowly. Hasegawa definitely slicked back the design a little more than the Yamato 1/72 version... a friend of mine commented that the Yamato looked like a a constipated goose compared to this kit. I can only hope that if Yamato ever releases a 1/48th YF-19 (pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease) they base it off of this version... course, the proportions might be tricky to get, but just as long as they don't make the back end as fat as the 1/72 transformable one, I'll be happy.

For the first few hours, I was so afraid to put any stress on this thing, I was propping it up on coasters, just so it wouldn't bend the leg fins out of shape. talk about obsessive compulsive. Personally, I think my 1/48th Fast Pack -1J looks best in aircraft mode, so I don't transform it much. I just play with the weapon options, and fly it around a little. I leave the fast packs off most of the time too, since they put some stress on the backpack. I would be very afraid to leave this in the hands of someone I didn't know, or knew that they aren't very gentle with their toys. My family, mainly my younger brother isn't a problem though, he likes transformers, and mostly knows their limits.. better yet, he respects my stuff pretty well, so he wouldn't start playing around with it without me saying he could. I probably would have been just fine with one of these at age 10, I've always been hideously careful with toys... building with Legos teaches you that, since they fall apart easily. I play with this just like I'd play with a gundam model, or a model plane, considering I was playing with, and building my own model planes at age 10. There's just a couple things I worry about, and I avoid them... mainly, I don't use the landing gear much, cause I REALLY don't want the rear gear doors to wear down and fall open, and I'm kinda worried about the canopy shield getting scratched up. The backpack is only an issue if I'm using the fast packs. I was actually kinda surprised how sturdy the thing is standing up. I'd never display it that way, for risk of something knocking it over, but I left it standing on it's own in a pretty nice pose for a couple of hours yesterday.

Next week I'll be able to get you cello solo version of the Mac+ theme, "Voices." It's the same as the end credits to the movie version, but with all the vocal parts replaced with cello...beautiful.

Quick and easy (read ghetto) way to fix a loose speedbrake: double up a piece of scotch tape, and stick it inside. Worked for me. I may remove it later though for something better. I'm wondering, is there any way to tighten the black piece the head is attached to? The head rotates fine on the panel, but when in fighter mode, the head rattles around quite a bit. The mount inside the nose seems a bit loose. Btw, is the VF-1J's heatshield painted, or solid plastic?? I'm not too worried about the painted stripe, but I'm wondering if they used clear plastic and just painted it, meaning it will eventually be transparent if the paint comes off.

Just got mine in the mail the other day, appears to be in very good shape (kinda got a surprise when the box came... it was shipped in a Yamato packing box labeled "CONTENTS: 1/48 VF-1S HIKARU 4 PCS" ). I have noticed a couple of things, but they're not anything serious. My speedbrake is a little floppy, and pops open about 1/16th of an inch in battroid (I may just put some double sided tape inside to keep it closed), and the head's a little loose, and rattles around a little in fighter mode, but that's it for the actual fighter. I did notice some scuffing though, not on the fighter, but on the back boosters. Most noticeably, there's a pretty big gouge out of the bottom of one of the boosters. Fortunately, it's toward the inside, and on the bottom, so it'll never be seen anyway. Aside from that, and a tiny bit of overspray on one intake, this thing is absolutely beautiful. I love the TV hands.. Personally, I think they look much better than the normal ones, and they're all I use. It's funny... I'm so afraid to put any stress on this thing... I must've taken an hour to transform it the first time.

Here's some rear details.. the doors aren't visible in this part, but they're not too hard to figure out.

*Screwed up post, see below*

Here's some landing gear details.... I would've sent these by email, but my email doesn't like attachments sometimes.

K, here's a couple of shots that may help... I should'a known those were placeholders.. no way you'd leave them on a plane that beautiful.

Agreed.. that thing looks beautiful.... Personally, I'd add more detail to the landing gear though. Right now, they look kinda like donuts on pipes. It looks like the rest of the model is based off the 1/60th, so I'm guessing that's where that comes from. For detailed landing gear your best bet is to look at the Hasegawa kit, if you have one. They look about as true to life as you can get. If you need scans of instructions, I'd be glad to help out.

Hehe.. well, there ya go. I thought about getting the Angel Birds version at a hobby shop since it was the only one there, but I held out and got the VF-1J later online.

LOLOLOL.... Imagine the pranks you could pull with that material... I've got a couple of Matrix-fan friends.. just think.. you go in one day, and wallpaper their room with this stuff. :D:D:D Be a great candid camera type of joke. Too bad they didn't have this for making the Movie TRON.. would've saved em a ton in special effects costs.