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Planning this ~ デュランダル I've had the conversion ever since Bandai dupped us by going 1/100 instead of 1/72. It was shelved due to the bad (IMO) quality and aggravating proportions which give it an even more toy-like feel on top of it being a conversion for the Bandai VF-25f kitformers and a poor recast. Having scored a couple of Hasegawa Messiah's on ebay for real cheap I decided to put this project back on the table. Playing in PS with the VF-25's Master File linework and artwork from MacrossF Sayonara no Tsubasa's data book I think I figured it out what bothered me so much about the sculpt. -First I figured out a large portion of the VF-25f is usable in the conversion. Given the Hase kit dominates the Bandai intricate kit in details (like the engine and cockpit) AND the fact the conversion kit itself delete Bandai's details further... this is great! I should be able to use the cockpit/nose section, intake, and the legs in full. This makes me really happy. -Secondly I figured out just what exactly I hated about the conversion kit's sculpt. The main issue if everything topside from the intake vents/head forward is simply too small for the body of the kit. Comparing the resin kit's nose to the Bandai kit you can see it is visually sleeker looking. You then compare the Bandai and Hase kit any you realize it is shorter. So smaller and shorter and droopy. This is really visible comparing the kit on top of the movie's artwork. I expect I will try to use everything from the battroid head forward to fix this. Right now I'm still test fitting everything and need to get more of the Hase kit built. This will require careful planning for a complex cut to splice the kits together. It is very easy to rush the hacking and make more work like I learned with my Tornado Pack build.

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

Hi everyone !! Last night, while taking another look at Tenjin Hidetaka's Macross art works, specially to the VMFAT-203 Hawks VF-0C flying over a Daedalus picture, I started to entertain the thoughts of kitbashing a VF-0C and/or VF-0B from the Hasegawa VF-0D and VF-0S kits available. As you may know, VF-0C & VF-0B productions were discontinued long time ago due to being both limited editions, and to find a kit at an affordable price nowadays is nearly impossible. Have anyone of you guys (specially our modelling masters or the ones that have the VF-0S or D under the belt) thought about this idea before ?. How complicated could be ?. Any additional or special work besides frankenstaining two kits ? Any references or previous topics about this subject ?. Any comment will be highly appreciated. Cheers !

Found this thanks to Cancer107. A cel-shaded VF-1D and VE-1. Yes, these are model kits, not paper craft!