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Has anyone attempted (or considered) kitbashing a GBP-1S armored Valkyrie by combining an older armor kit with the newer Hasegawa VF-1 Battroid model? I have one of these older Arii 1/72 kits: http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/models/arii/ar326-52-box.jpg It's kind of disturbing to open up the box and see how crude the model is compared to today's offerings. The hands and head especially look like they were blown up from an old 1/144 scale toy; at a minimum, replacing those with leftover Hasegawa parts would be an improvement. I've been thinking that it might be possible to hollow out the Arii armor components and apply them to a Hasegawa Battroid, although the backpack / thrusters would probably need to be scratchbuilt, since the original parts look very small compared to the line art. Some parts, like the Hasegawa chest, probably wouldn't fit into the armor, but the wings and back would definitely need to be used to upgrade from the Arii parts. I've always thought there was some "anime magic" going on with the armored Valkyrie, especially around the... er... "crotch." From comparing drawings (and especially the actual animation), it just looks like the nose of the fighter would be too long to fit inside the armor, and the hips (intakes) look like they are spread out wider than they should be. That makes me think it would be challenging to fit the more scale Hasegawa Battroid model inside the armor without heavily modifying it. It would probably be easier to use the individual leg and arm assemblies independently of the actual Battroid body and develop a way to attach everything together, maybe to the original armored body. In the end though, I'm not sure I'd be satisfied with the appearance of the Arii armor even after a lot of work. I've never really been interested in the Yamato toys, but this is one instance where I'm jealous of the toy version. It would be great to see a new, high-quality scale model of this interesting mecha. Dave

From about a year ago, I started working on the 1/100 Armored Factory rerelease. The assembly of the "factory" itself was pretty straightforward, but I got bogged down on the vehicles (old school kits have some truly small parts. E.g.: side mirrors!). This past weekend, I finished the Armoured Valkyrie. It's a major milestone, as I've been working on it for a good chunk of the year. The kit itself is alright, but lacks any gimmicks such as missile hatches that one can open (or are glued open). The possibility is also extremely limited, and the lack of a gun pod is also a shame. It's truly a kit made to be displayed as something waiting for/just completed maintenance in the hanger. After a few times moving the limbs in the limited range that they can move, some of the joints have become floppy... that said, the feet have a good range of movement, giving it stability in the full range of limited poses the legs allow. The head and beam guns also move - though, as I painted the kit after assembly, the paint prevents the guns from moving. On the subject of paint - the light gull grey that I used is a major pain! I didn't realize it when I purchased it, but its from the Mr. Hobby Water based line, and it caused no end of trouble, especially when putting acrylics on top! Suffice to say that there are layers of paint covered by layers of clear coat. Even then, some of it has come off from friction, etc.. Gah! Looking back, aside from not starting to paint it on the sprues (lesson learned), my one regret is not having filed down the seam lines. After so much sweat and tears with the paint, those seem lines bring the kit down. >.< On the other hand, I had a bit of fun mixing paint to get some custom colours for the first time (light blue forearms, green sensor on back, light green visor). Though, I almost cried manly tears when I noticed a chip on one of the forearms! And as this topic is geared around the Armoured Factory, here is the Armoured Valkyrie in the "Factory" itself (its still a work in progress - I'm waffling over painting the entire thing, painting only a few spots, or just laying on the decals!) With the 1/100 Phalanx and Tomahawk (another work in progress), it's actually become quite an interesting diorama!

Did the VF-1 GBP-1S Armor Fired Missiles only come in 1/60 or was there a 1/48 version as well?