Comic Strip #1

[Lightning]

definately a nice job. Can't wait to see the finished panel.

[big F]

Lookin good !!

[Nied]

You know I'm looking at the center panel more now that I'm home from work and can appreciate it more and I gotta say Vinnie you've got one hell of a mean eye for composition. The two VF-4s are offset just right, and the color contrast of their dull grey schemes and the green rolling hills of Ave Maria just looks perfect. It'd make a hell of a good wallpaper if you have the time to render it.

[Vinnie]

You know I'm looking at the center panel more now that I'm home from work and can appreciate it more and I gotta say Vinnie you've got one hell of a mean eye for composition.   The two VF-4s are offset just right, and the color contrast of their dull grey schemes and the green rolling hills of Ave Maria just looks perfect.   It'd make a hell of a good wallpaper if you have the time to render it.

423411[/snapback]

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

I'd be more than happy to do the higher res wallpaper. The only thing that keeps me from kicking the resolution up, is a lack of surface detailing and weathering on the model. I mean, the VF-4 doesn't have a lot of body panelling, even with me borrowing some from the Musasiya kit, so I've been having a hell of a time with it.

If anyone has some good techniques for weathering the Lightning (weathering the Lightning...get it?,) I'm all ears. Also, if anyone would actually like to give it a go, I'll zip up all the files and let you have at it. I'd actually really appreciate the help. They're multi-layered TIFFs.

EDIT Actually, Nied's high-res 143rd VF-4 has some weathering on it. That'll be as good place as any for me to start. I'm gonna give it another go using that as a reference.

Finally, Nied, I remember you're a big fan of the Sundowners and mentioned that you had their history in this 'verse planned out. Any chance they were long time users of the VF-4 like the Dogs, or at least using it as early as 2017 and as late as 2037? I just ask because I think I'm gonna need another VF-4 scheme, one for 2017, and one for 2037 (which I imagine will be high-viz and low-viz respectively.)

Edited August 9, 2006 by Vinnie

[Nied]

Actually by 2037 they'd be flying the VF below out in deep space on the SDF-3 Pioneer (and yes that's a Robotech reference). The Sundowners transitioned to the VF-4 right after the Megaroad left so they also transitioned to the VF-11 pretty early on.

I have been thinking about doing another Sundowners scheme from around the 2017 period (they'd still be using the VF-4 then) and a higher vis "circus wagon" scheme for the Pukin Dogs. I should warn you I'm pretty busy myself here (I've got a wedding to plan) so it may take me a while.

[Vinnie]

Actually by 2037 they'd be flying the VF below out in deep space on the SDF-3 Pioneer (and yes that's a Robotech reference).  The Sundowners transitioned to the VF-4 right after the Megaroad left so they also transitioned to the VF-11 pretty early on.

I have been thinking about doing another Sundowners scheme from around the 2017 period (they'd still be using the VF-4 then) and a higher vis "circus wagon" scheme for the Pukin Dogs.    I should warn you I'm pretty busy myself here (I've got a wedding to plan) so it may take me a while.

423756[/snapback]

Ah, the poor Sundowners. Oh well, I hope the increased maintenance reliability of the VF-11B makes up for all the firepower they lost. Bummer you have them as an early transition and then off with a fleet, because they have some of the coolest tail art. Excellent work on the color schemes as always.

The squadron I'm looking for will appear over the skies of Macross city in 2017, the planet Hydra in 2037, and then coming back as a VF-11B squadron part of Carrier Air Wing 7 in late 2038. I probably won't get around to this other VF-4 scheme for another month or two, and the VF-11 is still a ways off, so no worries.

[Nied]

It's not that bad. They transition out to the VF-17 in 2039 and serve as the SF squadron on a Megaroad colony ship (and get a battying 100th anniverary scheme in 2042). I just need to get around to making a good high-res VF-17 side view.

[Lightning]

VF-17's actually have a high-res paint scheme?? (not counting Millia's...)

[Nied]

VF-17's actually have a high-res paint scheme?? (not counting Millia's...)

423862[/snapback]

They do when it's the squadron's 100th anniversary.

[Vinnie]

Back south in Tallil. No more Baghdad runs for me for a while.

Been busy working on the VF-4 model. I should have a product for show and tell in the next few days. In the meantime, here's another WIP comic page waiting for the model to finish up.

Must sleep now. Admin mission to fly in a few hours.

Good luck to Anthony (Lightining 06) on his big move this weekend!

[Knight26]

Nice shooting girl, two in heart, on in the head for each

[Lightning]

nice! the expression on Toni and Jersey's faces is funny.

Yep! I'm moving to Michigan tomarrow! (it's gonna be a 2 day bus ride though...)

[IAD]

So, how are things? Almost as importantly, when do you post a new page?

~Luke

[Lightning]

I think he's revamping the site and stuff at the moment...

(I wound up moving back to FL..)

[Nied]

Vinnie posted some new stuff at MN while MW was down.

Here...

And here...

He told me via PM that his Army duties have him pretty busy again (there they go again thinking National Security is more important than us getting our webcomic), so it may be a while before we see something from him. I've actually got some stuff I'm working on for the comic that I might post in a few days.

[IAD]

Ok, well as long as it's a matter of national security, I guess I can wait....

~Luke

[Vinnie]

Ok, well as long as it's a matter of national security, I guess I can wait....

~Luke

More like I'm playing platoon leader again and we're starting the whole packing and getting the heck out of here process. But I find time to draw and every now and then, mostly when I'm on first up.

As far as Remove Before Flight goes. I'm planning on a 01 January 2007 re-release date. I'm switching to a full page format and planning on shifting the emphasis to story over gags. Although, it'll still be humorous and light-hearted. Think of it more as romantic-transforming-mecha-comedy (if such a genre can exist.) Trust me on this one. I'll keep the previews coming to the MW/MN community, so you'll probably get to test flight the everything before the official launch. The character sketches on MN are a hint at what's to come.

So until the relaunch, I'm working on getting a chapter's worth done (20-30 pages) and up on the site at release. It'll let people get into the story and style. Plus having a small backlog so if I get busy, I can slack off on drawing for a week and still keep a regular update schedule. These are apprently webcomic basics; things to do before you go public. Other things to keep me busy until then will be a small library of mecha, and redoing the site. I plan to take off most of November and December before I start work again, so I'll have some free time on my hands.

[big F]

Keep your head down (when the bullets fly) and take your time Vinnie. and dont let your ink dry out in the heat.

My neighbor has just been posted to Afganistan for 6 months, and the day after it all flared up again (guess which province hes shipped too). He says he`s not too worried about it all. Its getting blown up he`s not sure he`ll like.

Edited September 12, 2006 by big F

[Nied]

All right here's some of the new stuff I was talking about. Vinnie and I have been going back and forth over this for the last few weeks and we have something that we're both really happy with. This is what the Pukin Dogs' ride looked like back in their heyday in 2017. I'm also workng on a "rival squadron" in both 2017 era and 2038 era colors (PM for ya Vinnie) that I better hope I can post in the next two weeks.

[Lightning]

oooo! I like!

maybe make the rival squadron in a dark or maroon colors or something....

[HWR MKII]

Nah a rival Squadron in the VF-11 would be good. You could have the VF-4 unit outfly them by dumb luck. Kind of like the F-18 that was able to get the drop on the F-22 in a exercise.

Edited September 14, 2006 by HWR MKII

[IAD]

Hey guys, any news on this? Still get a laugh out of the duck episode..!

~Luke

[boinger]

Just wondering what happened to this macross web comic? It was going pretty good.

[chillyche]

NOTAMS

06 September 2038:

YNAV Newport Field

A1534/38 QMHXX migratory birds nesting at departure end of RWY 32. Exercise extreme caution on departure or approaches to RWY 14. WIE UFN.

....

Holy, I thought 3 panels would be an easy one, but I guess not. I think I spent more time on this strip than any other to date. Hopefully the efforts are noticeable. Trying out a new font for the text, let me know what you think, because I'm not completely sold on that one. Else, just poking fun at the comments for the previous strips with this one.

And before anyone asks: Yes. Maria's skirt got about 6 inches shorter...

Funny. I'm just discovering these things. I totally dig that the general gist of the board made it into the comic.

[Kronnang Dunn]

Nah a rival Squadron in the VF-11 would be good. You could have the VF-4 unit outfly them by dumb luck. Kind of like the F-18 that was able to get the drop on the F-22 in a exercise.

An agressor Q-Rau or Nous-Ger training Squadron even better!!!

Good work!!!

Plz, post more!!!!

[Vinnie]

Hmmm... this thread does keep popping back up every now and then.

Here's a small dump of some sketches, WIPs, and other images that I did during my tour in Iraq. Some of it's early on concept work, some of it towards the end, but nothing since 06. I think the later, scrapped comics look way better than the first one, but even they're not quite where I wanted to be in terms of artwork. The Puking Dogs will be back. I promise.

EDIT: Oh, and looking at Maria again, I totally beat Macross Frontier by 3 years with the idea of going to high school and flying a Valkyrie.

Edited April 29, 2008 by Vinnie

[mechaninac]

Those are fantastic. You should realy keep it alive. I'd sure like to see more.

[misterryno]

This is a GREAT comic. I'm glad I stumbled upon it. THANKS!!!

[Macross007]

Hmmm... this thread does keep popping back up every now and then.

Here's a small dump of some sketches, WIPs, and other images that I did during my tour in Iraq. Some of it's early on concept work, some of it towards the end, but nothing since 06. I think the later, scrapped comics look way better than the first one, but even they're not quite where I wanted to be in terms of artwork. The Puking Dogs will be back. I promise.

EDIT: Oh, and looking at Maria again, I totally beat Macross Frontier by 3 years with the idea of going to high school and flying a Valkyrie.

I am f*cking impressed. More please.

Edited April 30, 2008 by Macross007

[misterryno]

I am f*cking impressed. More please.

This is what someone says when they REALLY mean it. When you use the "f" word....it really....what's the word....emphasizes what you mean.

[Nied]

Gah! That reminds me, I have work to do...

[Starscream]

And their still comical no matter how many times these pop up. And I dig the references to real military aviation in some of them. I'll laugh if you ever do one and show them playing Crud.

[Vinnie]

Gah! That reminds me, I have work to do...

LOL. You and me both. Good to see you back around!

What's Crud? Is that anything like Port-a-Potty Shuffleboard?

[Starscream]

LOL. You and me both. Good to see you back around!

What's Crud? Is that anything like Port-a-Potty Shuffleboard?

Similar to pool. But played without a pool cue, typically on a snooker table. All by hand. A lot of pilots play it. Hell, there's dedicated crud tables at a lot of Officer Clubs. Here are the official rules. http://www.aifcv.org/pdf/CRUDRULES2000.pdf

Notice how a lot of the terms in CRUD clearly are aviation related (FOD, Foot off Runway, Holding Area, No Six, etc.)

Edited May 2, 2008 by Starscream

[Macross007]

This is what someone says when they REALLY mean it. When you use the "f" word....it really....what's the word....emphasizes what you mean.

You have to excuse my bad english since english is not my first language (french is). But thanks for the correction. I will keep that in mind in the future.

Edited May 2, 2008 by Macross007