Chronocidal

It is true that most F-14 models are hideously complex, either in construction or detailing.. or in Hasegawa's case, both But that doesn't mean that easy to build F-14 kits don't exist. If you want a very easy F-14 kit, get the old Fujimi release from a while ago.. I don't remember exactly when it was released, but it has a blue and white box, with a checkertailed F-14 on the box (can't remember the squadron unfortunately.. the box is back at home ) That thing has the most incredible parts fit I've ever seen on any model, PERIOD. The cockpit isn't detailed at all, with simple decal instruments, bucket looking seats, and swamp-thing type pilots, but it'll make a great flight display model. I haven't assembled mine all the way yet, but the landing gear doors fit perfectly to cover the wheel wells, and the overall fit of the parts is nearly perfect. The overall detail isn't the best by far, but it's a perfect easy kit to make into a quick display piece. Plus, it's much more accurate than the Motorworks one, and probably cheaper.

Sounds pretty good Now all we need are some high quality images of the planes.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH..... Thank you.. I've been looking for that logo, or at least a decent size image of it. Originally, that triangle thing with the logo at the top was the backdrop for one of the images I had wanted to use... but I didn't want to even think about redoing the tiny example I had. Btw, I can get a scan of the Hasegawa VF-1J box if it's needed.

I would definitely do that.. having the extra space leaves room for whatever logos, text, etc you may want to stick inthere.. but personally, I would go with the blue version that someone did. It looks a little more natural. That Isamu/YF-19 pic is very good as well.. I found that site the other day, and downloaded all those backgrounds Here's a fully colored version of the lineart I posted earlier, but I'm not sure about the colors. I know Guld's skin is more grey than pinkish, but how does this shade look?

I don't think there ever was an official release with dubbing of the movie version. The reason I heard was because of all the added material in the movie edition. There were several scenes in the movie that weren't in the OAV at all, added in to enhance the storyline. The problem came when they couldn't get the OAV dubbing voice actors back to dub the new scenes in the movie. Dunno why, but they couldn't. So they decided to leave the whole movie subbed, rather than have brief interludes of subtitling in the added scenes.

Yipes.. never actually heard that much about those planes, and why which was chosen. The main reason always I heard was that the YF-23 would've been much more expensive to make, due to the complex shape of the airframe. But the YF-23's still my favorite stealth aircraft to date. Honestly, if it weren't so big, I'd say it'd be the perfect replacement for the F-14. With those kinds of speeds, the thing has interceptor written all over it. Dunno if it'd be as maneuverable though, and they'd probably never fit the phoenix in that bay. But it'd still be better than trying to replace it with some new adaptation of the hornet. Oh, and on a side note, I'd probably call the YF-23 and YF-21 long lost cousins, at least in overall shape. Obviously there are large differences, but the overall shapes are VERY similar when compared. Except, the YF-21 and VF-22 need to lose the god-awful canopies... a simple bubble F-16'ish canopy would've been soooo much more attractive than the bubbly dome thing they used. I know they did it for visibility, but that dome top is ridiculous.

Ok, I couldn't find any high res versions of that trio pic, so I started over from scratch. Here's a shrunken down lineart version, the full size one is about 2000*2400 in 300 dpi.

O_O Umm... yeah... wow. I think that says it all. Would be perfect if the gunpod wasn't half-merged with the ground. Oh, btw, forget half an hour to render.. try two and a half DAYS. I tried to do an animation once.

Here's one more it's distorted to be more box-sized, but still looks cool..

This one would probably work better, different proportions, and the background's just solid black.. makes Sharon stand out better. Just a note, those planes are no where near the poses I'd like, I'd hope to do actual renders of them.. they're just placeholders for now. Actually, now that I think about it.. it may be better to focus on the characters on one side, and the planes on another.. You know that shot of the two of them flying at sundown, when they finally reconciled what had happened? I'd like to see a RENDERED version of that.

K... this is just a rough cut/paste job using everything from model boxart to screenshots, and the Mac+ DVD photo gallery. It's kinda what I had in mind, but it'll have to be refined quite a bit, and rearranged/resized obviously. It would probably work better, if it was narrower, and the planes were below the characters.

That Mac+Shot would be great for an edge of the package.. Actually, I've had an idea for something that would make good box art for a long time...I wanted to paint it for art class, but never got to it. Basically, it's got two opposing shots of the YF-19 and YF-21, overlaid with a trio of Guld, Myung and Isamu, all overlaid with a nearly transparent overlay of Sharon Apple's most evil/seducing look.. I'll see if I can piece something together out of screenshots.

So that would make the formula Ev1Re3? I'm gonna have to bring that up in chem class.. maybe we can run that experiment in lab and see if they actually combine.

Actually, it's about the same size as an F-14. That'd make it about 16 inches long, I think. Maybe a little less. Not that big really, in terms of models. Realistically speaking, it would make a nicely sized model, even if it was just in fighter mode (I prefer that to the other modes anyway). A Hasegawa 1/48th F-14 runs about $60 these days, I'm guessing something like this would probably sell for a little more just because of the name. If demand was high enough, I wouldn't put it past them to make one. Personally, I like the designs of the planes enough that I'd buy them, even if I had no idea what Macross was. Heck, I've done it before, that's how I got my first Valk. Even if they never actually make a kit of it, I intend to do my best to find a way to make one, even if I have to digitally scan every piece of the model, scale them up, and reproduce them somehow.

Heheh I'm gonna have to get this YF-19 I'm flying textured... I finally got the final version of the exterior model (I think ) done, and into the game. I spent most of today figuring out how to make various parts of the plane reflective. Actually, I've got all the tools, plugins, etc for exporting the planes to FS2002/4, so if you can get me a mesh with all the control surfaces, landing gear, moving parts, etc. modeled and movable, and the various textures needed, I could probably have a roughly working FS model for you inside a week. I can't guarantee it will fly well, but I can at least get the model into the game so you can sit on the runway and test out the controls.

Heheh.. oh well, that just means we have to make them ourselves... I'll get a 1/48th YF-19 if it kills me... even if I have to manufacture each part myself. K.. all I need is a completely transformable computer model.. and one of those hugely fancy rapid prototyping machines. Heck, I'll be happy if I can get a SOLID 1/48th YF-19. Btw, how many 1/48th's do you think you'd have to cannibalize to get the parts to make the Mac+ Valks?

Hehe.. now, if only a sim existed that could put these things to good use. Unless LOMAC is moddable, I don't know of any modern computer game that would do these planes justice. And even then how would you make them transform?? We need a Macross Sim... hmmm....

It looks like a slightly edited photo (if it's edited at all.. maybe blurred shadow a bit), that's the Hasegawa model kit, albeit a superdetailed one. I'd recognize those proportions and landing gear anywhere. I've spent the better part of 3 months replicating that in the computer. I've seen this kind of effect before, people use special lenses to get these effects without any editing done at all. That's simply amazing.. looks like they cut the control surfaces loose to angle them. O_O That would be insane on a kit that small....and I've got a new background

I don't know if there are any nice full 3 views of the VF-11.. I'm hoping Hasegawa will release a kit. But I too would appreciate some drawings.. I'm hoping to work on a full Macross fleet for MS Flight Sim. I've got plans for a VF-1, YF-21/VF-22, and maybe VF-4. I'd love to be able to do a complete Mac+ series.

Hmmm.....absolute favorite toy? As a kid, Legos... as an adult? Still Legos. I'll probably be building with them my whole life. (It may take me that long to finish my 1/18th VF-1S ). Apart from that, I took such good care of things as a kid, I still have most of the stuff worth keeping. I still have the old G.I. Joe Space Shuttle, and Cobra Hurricane, in near perfect condition. I used to have the F-14, but it wasn't mine to begin with, and was missing lots of parts. Those old G.I. Joe toys were incredible.. where else could you get something that big, that detailed, and with that many features? The newer stuff I have can't really compare to my old toys, just because of sentimental value. My 1/48th Super VF-1J is the greatest thing I've gotten in a long time (and definitely the most expensive), but I think it would have been a lot more fun as a little kid. It'll never have the same play value that my Milia Joke Machine, or my old Ramjet Transformer did when I first got them. I didn't want to risk bringing my 1/48th to college with me (no way to get it here safely, and no room for the box), so I have my JM perched on my monitor instead.

Hehe.. I haven't even seen the OAV, but I have heard that it can't compare to the more intense version in the movie version of Mac+... youch...that really looked painful.

I think it's called L-Draw, basically a Lego-based CAD program. I never could get it working quite right, and the process of building stuff seemed a little annoying.. you had to select the parts by a part number, which would be a pain.. I probably had an older version though. The only really bad thing about lego CAD is that you don't really know how well something will work, or if it will even stay together. Some things I've seen built in L-Draw would never stand up under their own weight.

Actually, that was my main resource for building the joints on this. I used the same types of gear construction, but unfortunately, most of his joint designs, while VERY strong, are too bulky to be practical for what I need. I was able to use the same basic worm gear joint setup, but to make it transform, the joints had to be much more compact, and I wasn't able to add as much support to each joint. They do hold up on their own pretty well, but there is some play in the worm gears that I'm not able to fix, and it makes the arms a little loose. My dream is to build something as complex as those Gundam models, but as of yet, I don't have enough parts. I've got plenty of pieces, but I never got into Technic sets enough to collect enough pieces to do that sort of inner construction framework. There may yet be an answer for the legs, but it will require me collecting a lot of very rare pieces that only come in the more expensive sets. The new leg joints developed for the AT-AT set may be strong enough, but it'll likely take 3+ per leg joint (times 4 leg joints, not counting feet, etc.) before I'll have enough tension to hold the thing up.

Last one... hehe.. and you thought the 1/48th's backpack hinge had stress on it. (No faceplate seam here, either. ) Anyway, yeah, I'm through showing off now. Only really bad thing about this is the weight. If legos were strong enough to make more of the fuselage hollow, it'd have a much better chance of standing on it's own feet. As it is, the legs may have to be solid bricks, and the feet interchangable, unless lego can come up with a hinge that'll hold 5+ lbs of pressure.

The hands are completely bendable, since every finger segment is made with one of those new clicky joints. The arms also rotate in four ways, thanks to a complex gearing mechanism. The arms basically have the same posability as the 1/48th, except they're too heavy to pose much.