Less than Super Ostrich

Given the epic nature of the plot line (and many many many subplots), I was very pleased with the outcome. This was definitely not an easy undertaking for any writer/director and a big bet for Sci-Fi. As onezero has said sooo many times, "its only a TV show." Without a big box office budget, the product was more than adequate... blowing away the poor plot lines of the old series while still paying enough homage. Character development on the whole was adequate. I think the actors/actresses themselves were quality... much better than those we have seen traditionally on TV (I know I will be hated for saying this... but the acting blows away SG-1). I very much like the fact that no character is ALL good or ALL evil... and most are very conflicted about something. I think this gives the characters depth. Special effects were rather impressive. No glaring mistakes in my view. The "snap-zoom" cinematography (yes, i know it was CG) worked very well, IMHO. Ship designs were much much much better than the series, but definitely not the end all be all when compared to B5, SW, etc. Plot twists were good... in general. I know, I know.... there were plenty of holes, but I think that was done for a reason. The cure for plot holes is (drum roll please)... a series. And hopefully that's what we'll get. There are sooooo many different directions that the plot could take. ... now where to get me one of those fembots?

though, i'm not a big fan of Minmay Guard decal set... YOU MAKE THEM LOOK GREAT! Wonderful job. One question.... did you do post shading on the panel lines? they look awesome.

finescale.com, starshipmodeler.com are my favorites (besides MW, of course!). i also do childofmecha.com and hobbyfan.com (what is the new address now?) hope this helps.

I will try to thin the paint more... I have been spraying at 25 psi, which i think is pretty high. The orange peel is there, but it gets exacerbated by the low quality of the digital camera. Also, I get a little impatient with my airbrushing since two kids keep me VERY busy. If I was smart, I would do lighter coats more times. Instead, I probably spray too much paint on. Thanks Grayson for the tip! By the way... I have another one of Valkyrie's recasts of this kit. I've been having so much fun with this one, that I thought I might get "creative" with the paint scheme on Number 2.

MODS MODS MODS... please put an end to this thread. it has spiraled out of control. as you can see by the posts... it is waaaaaaaaaaaaay off topic now. my vote: boot the guy and be done with it. but as always, i leave the discretion up to the mods.

If my digital camera were better, then you may notice that I used the Alclad jet exhaust to do the thrusters and the exhaust nozzles. As wm cheng has stated before, this has a reeeaally nice effect. I had select areas where I got some overspray, but since I sealed the previous coat in with a lacquer seal, then I think i can use some windex on a cloth to clean that up.

Welll I finally got a moment to do some painting. As you can see in the two pictures below, I am pretty close to finishing. I still need to apply some decals. The prescribed circles where the Macross logo goes does not fit any of my Hasegawa 1/72 scale decals. I should've tested this before, filled them up and gone without the scribed circles. I'm still trying to think how to successfully mask the canopy. More importantly, I am in dire need of some weathering tips. My airbrush (or perhaps its my skills) is not good enough to do a post-shade like wm cheng. I may instead to a sludge wash. I have heard it can have a similar effect. Some of the best modelers I know like to weather with pastel chalks over airbrush shading.

By the way... is that wmcheng's YF-21 that won second place for Mecha?

Dude, slamdunk, you gotta take a chill pill. cwmodels and the hobbyfan crew are doing this as a service. They are trying to do something positive to promote the hobby. cwmodels has been particularly friendly on the boards. why would you even criticize this contest? it's not like this is the super bowl... it's some folks that just do this for the fun of it. slamdunk... just grow up. cwmodels, thanks for putting the contest together... I hope to get some models finished for the next one. ignore this slamdunk guy... we appreciate all your efforts at hobbyfan and with letting us know about these contests.

I'm a big fan of the dremel saw blade. Smoothest cut you can get IMHO.

stupid question that I really should know the answer too, but I've been too chicken to ask. To clean FUTURE floor polish from your airbrush... do you use Windex? Or something else?

Jesse ... wonderful job! I'm very excited about this one. Great idea about giving WM Cheng one... I think a wmc buildup is the BEST advertisement for the kit possible! Thanks again, LTSO

yeah.... a thunder hummer could really hurt

Here is the super sylph again. Notice how shiny it is. I used a gloss lacquer coat over the acrylics, so I could try the post shading technique (that way if I mess up, I can get rid of the post shade without ruining the base coat). The final version will get a flat coat, so it will NOT look sooo shiny.

Here is the toughest part. I tried to mask the canopy several times with no luck. So I actually just used some hobby stickers that you can by at the hobby store. They come is several colors and thicknesses. Its not great, but it'll do. Unfortunately, you can't see all the time and energy that I spent on the pilots.

Here is the side view with some decals applied and the lighter grey undercoat.... rlm grey and sky grey were the colors used on the underside.

Ok... now here is more with a coat of paint... a combo of dark grey and RLM grey from Tamiya. This will be closer to the final color than some other pictures that I will post next. It will be flat rather than the glossy coat that you will see in the next couple of picture posts.

I promised WM Cheng a while ago that I would post this thread, but I never did. This is my build up for the Yukikaze Super Sylph. Its a Bandai 1/100 scale kit. The kit is only ok at best. Pin marks, poor fitting wings to the fuselage and bad fitting decals are the main complaints. Here is the main body together with some primer added. Perhaps you can see the problems I had with the wings not getting flush.

Ok... new picture... not much has changed. I just added a gloss lacquer coat. I thought I would do the lacquer coat over the acrylics, so I could try the post shading technique. That way if I screw up then I can remove the post shade without attacking the base coat. Make sense? *EDIT* Well, I tried the aforementioned plan and it did not work... I did some overspray with an acrylic paint over the lacquer coat (by accident), and then tried to correct my work by wiping the acrylic paint off... however, it wouldn't come off with either water or windex... this does NOT bode well for my post shading experiment.

are you guys talking about that recast by Monkey Nugget?

As Dick Vitale would say, "AWESOME BABY! It's a DIAPER DANDY!" quick question... that looks like post shading instead of pre shading... am I right?

anyone know if the decals for the VF-11's are much different than the YF-19's? Is there a source for decals for all the next generation (post VF-1) aircraft?

LOL...would love to...but I think it would be a one way trip...my wife wouldn't take to kindly too it! "Honey, I know you think it's odd for a 32 year old father of 2 to spend this much time and money on collecting toys...but certainly you would not have a problem with me spending the money, and the time away to go to a big hobby show in Japan...." Yep...that would go over like a Led Zeppelin... Jesse... sounds like you and I have alot in common (30 years old with two kids). However, I have already started working on my "get out of jail free" card for Wonderfest this year. I've never been, but there is a crew here in Chicago that may make the trip down to Louisville in May. Maybe I'm the only one that would have gotten your Keith Moon reference on Led Zeppelin!

the minmay guard is Not what I was looking for. I frankly hate the minmay guard version. I was looking for something that was in Dengenki Hobby or Hobby Japan... it was a custom paint job that looked low-visibility, but with tans instead of grays.

By the way... simultaneously with the VF-4, I am finishing my Yukikaze Super Sylph. It is the Bandai 1/100 version 1.5. Overall, I had the same problems as wm cheng... the connections between the wings and the fuselage SUCK... lots of Mr. Surfacer and copious amounts of sanding made it somewhat flush. I used a combo of dark grey and RLM grey from Tamiya's paints for the top base coat (underside will get a lighter shade of gray. The hook nose on the Super Sylph reminds me of the VF-4 (club-M version).