1/72 Bandai VF-25F Messiah build-up step-by-step (sort of)

[regult]

太漂亮了！这么久没白等啊！nice work！我就会说这么多英语了```- -!

He said (literally word by word):

"too beautiful. long wait was worth it! nice work! is all the English I can speak '''--!"

So he likes your work and cannot express his admiration in English Master Cheng!!

[wm cheng]

He said (literally word by word):

"too beautiful. long wait was worth it! nice work! is all the English I can speak '''--!"

So he likes your work and cannot express his admiration in English Master Cheng!!

Thanks so much Regult! I just hate it when they throw me the "all-chinese" menus at restaurants... and I have to ask for the "english" white folks ones... so embarassing! ;-)

Can you translate what he said in my "Links to my step-by-step" thread?

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...mp;#entry744601

[regult]

Thanks so much Regult! I just hate it when they throw me the "all-chinese" menus at restaurants... and I have to ask for the "english" white folks ones... so embarassing! ;-)

Can you translate what he said in my "Links to my step-by-step" thread?

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...mp;#entry744601

At your service, with all the tips and examples you're setting, translating a few lines is nothing. Vifam is translating all the Japanese color code for the 1/72 kits...Gubaba is translating..what is he not translating??!

Here goes a crude word by word translation:

漂亮!做的很好啊!

"Beautiful, really very nice"

可惜有部分地址挂了啊```好想看到 可惜了 LZ大神能否修复一下啊？？

PS：有哪位好心人能帮我翻译一下把我热切的期望传达给LZ啊？不胜感激！！

"too bad some links are broken, would love to see, would LZ god be able to fix this?

PS: could anyone be kind enough to help me translate this very warm expectation of mine to LZ? thanks in advance!!"

I am not sure who's LZ or what it stands for...is it any of the mods?

[penray]

At your service, with all the tips and examples you're setting, translating a few lines is nothing. Vifam is translating all the Japanese color code for the 1/72 kits...Gubaba is translating..what is he not translating??!

Here goes a crude word by word translation:

漂亮!做的很好啊!

"Beautiful, really very nice"

可惜有部分地址挂了啊```好想看到 可惜了 LZ大神能否修复一下啊？？

PS：有哪位好心人能帮我翻译一下把我热切的期望传达给LZ啊？不胜感激！！

"too bad some links are broken, would love to see, would LZ god be able to fix this?

PS: could anyone be kind enough to help me translate this very warm expectation of mine to LZ? thanks in advance!!"

I am not sure who's LZ or what it stands for...is it any of the mods?

LZ就是楼主的意思 发贴人```呵呵 非常感谢您 来自香港的reqult朋友！真是帮了我大忙了

[regult]

LZ就是楼主的意思 发贴人```呵呵 非常感谢您 来自香港的reqult朋友！真是帮了我大忙了

不客氣，但你也該盡量練練英語啊！

我不熟悉大陸的網上用語，謝謝釐清LZ...

回答你：wm cheng 已經盡力找出他所能找到的原帖，但很多還是不見了。連版主都無能為力！

OK, here I go again, he explains the meaning of "LZ", which in Chinese Internet slang abbreviates Louzhu, or "Master of the Building", in fact it means thread starter, original author...so in short, the guy is asking for wm cheng to find his old threads...(we did that, we all did!)

I explained him that wm cheng already did a great effort and probably not even Graham can help dig out the old threads, and that it's probably a good idea for him to practice his English a bit!

[Dangard Ace]

不客氣，但你也該盡量練練英語啊！

我不熟悉大陸的網上用語，謝謝釐清LZ...

回答你：wm cheng 已經盡力找出他所能找到的原帖，但很多還是不見了。連版主都無能為力！

OK, here I go again, he explains the meaning of "LZ", which in Chinese Internet slang abbreviates Louzhu, or "Master of the Building", in fact it means thread starter, original author...so in short, the guy is asking for wm cheng to find his old threads...(we did that, we all did!)

I explained him that wm cheng already did a great effort and probably not even Graham can help dig out the old threads, and that it's probably a good idea for him to practice his English a bit!

Your best bet is to pray to Shawn for the return of the old forums. That or you start sacrificing virgins on a full moon to Shawn. I don't think that would really help but you never know.

[wm cheng]

Thanks for the translations! I'm such a banana!! ;-) I too would like to go back and re-learn some of the stuff I forgot in my earlier days - but sadly I don't have the old threads, I have all the old photos, but I have no record of the stuff I typed.

Well I got a full day 2 weeks ago and a few hours this last Victoria Day weekend to finish (don't get you're hopes up) the Bandai supplied decals on this bird. Keep in mind that this is the first stage of decals, there are other warning data stenciling (like "no step") that I want to add, some more oil wash over the decals to allow the panel lines to run through them, some post shading weathering to lighten them and tie them in (look a little bleached and faded into the white to look painted in) and some oil staining and streaking over them on the moveable surfaces (I will keep the weathering light on these since they don't seem to be as used as the VF-0). Of course to protect all this delicate weathering with many, many, many protective coats of sealant (semi-gloss clear coats).

Ok, first off, my thoughts on the Bandai decals... they aren't the greatest unfortunately. They are better than the Revell or AMT stuff of the 80s, but they are definitely not state of the art or even what I'd expect from a tier A Japanese company. I'm quite dissapointed. My issues;

1. They achieve their colours by screening. WTF?! Its the newsprint pattern of dots that I'm talking about, good quality decals are "spot colours" which means every colour on the decals is achieved by the actual ink in that colour - not mixed together through some pattern of dots - very amaturish, and gives the finished model a toy-like appearance - definite giveaway that decals were used for the markings (the whole goal of good decalling is to make it look like its painted on - no one paints a pattern of dots?!). Its most apparent on the lighter colours such as the orange in the SMS symbol or purple areas, but even in extreme close up you can make out some patterning even in the blacks! Very dissappointing.

2. The do not react at all to MicroSET and hardly react at all to MicroSOL (decal setting solvent). I don't know what they are made of, but you can dump a bottle of MicroSOL on this stuff and it won't melt the decal. Good if you don't want to damage them, bad if you want them to conform to unusual contours. The decals themselves are quite thick, and do not conform to a lot of the unusual contours well anyways. #17 on the rear ankle didn't conform well (it didn't help that it wasn't printed in the correct curve to start with) and #2 red/black borders on the shoulders didn't conform well to the 3D shape. I wonder if I used some other type of decal setting solution such as Mr. Mark or Mr. Setter would work better?

3. Not only are the decals thick with a lot of excess carrier film that needs to be trimed off around each image, they are brittle. The decals from a Korean manufacturer Academy (my recent F-16CJ in 1/72 scale) were amazing!! The carrier film hardly needed to be trimed and they were so thin that they appeared painted on even without MicroSOL. I was expecting more of the same, if the Korean manufacturer could do it, then of course Bandai could, but I was sadly mistaken. Its so weird that they are thick decals (don't like to telegraph much detail through them) but they are also brittle and tended to flake apart as I was moving them around. There are several where I had to piece some broken pieces together. It may be a bad reaction to my MicroSET/MicroSOL combination, but I consider myself pretty good at decaling and still flaked at least 3 spots. I actually accidentally flaked a piece after it had dried on the model just through handling - that has never happened to me before, I thought once it has set, it's pretty permanent. Funny though, once it has dried, I cannot re-soak it or apply liberal MicroSOL to lift it back up to move it - its really weird stuff, I've never come across this type of decal before. Needless to say, I didn't like it. ;-(

4. They're not cut to the right size or the right pattern! Come on Bandai!! This is modeling making 101, yes there are some contours, but the least you could do is work out the proper 2D patterns and create the artwork to the right size or curvature. Luckily thanks to David, I was made aware that the red rudder and ventral fin edges don't fit so I painted those. And luckily the head decal #15 with the two thin white stripes actually fit, I was lead to believe that they didn't work out and the white fell in between the cracks, but it did work out. The curvature of the two top ankle bits #17 were the worst, they had to bunch up to maintain the curvature of the part and no amount of MicroSOL (since it had little if no effect) would cure this - funny since the lower ankle ring (decal #5 are properly curved to fit the part). Additionally #2 took a few tries to lay it properly and then still a lot of finaggling to get it lay down correctly, I'd suggest to cut a slice at the 4 corners so they can fold and lay flat. Remarkably decal #16 fit perfectly?! and its one of the most complicated contours I couldn't believe it was a single decal - but it worked out. #52 is undersized and don't follow the panel lines and of course the black stripes #54 the thruster doesn't line up with the molded detail on the plastic. I think I will add some plant-on detail to cover this up.

Anyways, my suggestion is to assemble the aircraft in the plane mode - get all the pieces of the back plate aligned as best you can and decal the red stripes #24,25,26,27 all together - that way you can move them about, tweak here and there so the red and black parts line up and create a continuous pattern. Since they are not too accurately created, it will create some slight white cracks on the edges in order to line up the pattern. I had to fiddle for hours to get both sides looking good and leave the edges for a later step. Once its in position, I left it alone to dry and set. Then my plan was to fill in the white slivers at the edges with a black Gundam Marker and red sharpie marker. In fact I tried to extend the decals to wrap around and down each of the edges slightly - since this is what you'd see if some of the back panel pieces are improperly aligned - it will minimize the effect of seeing the cracks which accentuates the misalignment. I just wished they oversized the decals to allow some wrap-around - but they didn't. Hey, I'd just be happy if they were the correct shapes - they couldn't even get that right?! This edge condition will get sealed in and protected by clear coat.

[wm cheng]

Now I leave to dry and disassemble the model again to get to parts that are only revealed in Battroid mode. Also this allows me to get at all the edges of this complicated back red/black stripe pattern - I use the black marker and red sharpie to edges around all the pieces and fill in the white slivers left by the decal movement. Once I apply a clear-coat to protect it, the black marker and red sharpie are a pretty good match on the white paint to blend in the areas left behind by the decals.

[wm cheng]

Now I took those little shoulder shield pieces out to apply the #2 black/red border surround, after a lot of tweaking I finally got it where I wanted them and got them to lay down flat against the plastic. I then painted the white areas around the outside black up to the decal so it looked more like the anime marking. Why Bandai didn't include more black border to allow this to happen without painting I'd never know.

I also dabbed a little silver in the end of the head sensor piece, then some Tamiya clear green and used my black gundam marker to edge around it (I had considered hollowing it out, but it was so small and I already had to do so much to get to this stage that I feel like just taking the short-cut way out of this one. (sorry for the blurry photo, it's so small that I had to hand hold both the piece and camera).

These photos show the model in partial transformation to get at all the edges of the back piece to allow me to clear coat them to protect the edges from chipping. I hand brushed Model Master Acryl semi-gloss clear coat on them. I hand brushed because I wanted several thick coats - it would take dozens of airbrush coats to come up to the thickness of a few hand brushed coats. The problem is the edge, the clear coat doesn't like to stick to any edge conditions, so you have to build it up in layers, the problem is that when you build it up, it makes the parts bigger and the transformation may not be as tight due to the slight over sizing of the parts due to the multiple clear coats. Oh, well, its a lose-lose situation if you want to use this model as a transformable toy. I'd be happy if it stands up to a few transformations, enough for a photoshoot without damage.

Lastly another shot of the decal #52 and that its undersized, but not evenly so, its actually not the correct shape, not just uniformly too small. You can see the horrible dot screening in the purple area. I may paint it next time (omg, I have 3 more of these too build... argh!)

Lastly it will sit in this dissassembled state for the next few days as I add a few more clear coat layers - then I will transform it back into the plane mode to add the additional warning data stencils.

The remaining forward LERX nav lights and wingtip lights I was planning to not use the decals and paint some silver with clear red at the end with a coat of future, it looks better than the decals.

[wm cheng]

Oh! p.s. I finally got the purple tint on the canopy to work! Woohoo, I can't believe what an ordeal that was. What finally did it was purple acrylic ink from an art supply store mixed into future (maybe 1:10 ratio) and then I dunked just the outside surface (so it didn't get caught in all the pegs on the inside) and used a paper towel to wick the excess mixture and allowed it to dry under a cup (to keep dust out). I'm pretty happy with it, will take pictures of it the next round.

[VFTF1]

Just wondering - does the decal problem extend to the Sheryl Nome decals? I used stickers on my Ozma 1/72 - but I do want to put the Sheryl decals on a second VF-25 I'm building... ?

Thanks,

Pete

[David Hingtgen]

Hmmmn. *Acrylic* purple ink. I think I've bought every purple ink in town, none strike me as acrylic. They all reacted very differently with Future, but none left a nice tint.

As for the white head striping---darn, you got yours to work? I've ruined 2 decals so far and still don't have it right. It's the seam/cracks! Anyone here got a spare head decal for Alto?

[cool8or]

Wow! This guide will be my bible!!!

I did'n see it until now... It looks incredible!!

[shiroikaze]

Awesome stuff as usual. I'm surprised you didn't just paint in some of the decor instead of using the decals.

[mickyg]

Fantastic work Mr. Cheng! I've read each and every one of your buildups and as a new MWer, you are, without doubt, the reason why I've gotten back into model making. I built a bit when I was a teenager and unfortunately, never saw anyone do a model any justice till in recent years. Your stuff is just amazing! Honestly.

Back onto the subject of VF-25 models though, I just got my VF-25G Michael (hey, I'm partial to the name ) and was also very surprised like you, to see the dot printing. Why, why, why? I haven't started on the kit yet and might have to make a decision about whether I paint the bigger things. It sounds like the tail decals are a definite no no so I'll paint at least those.

Anyway, just thought I'd chime in as a newb and let you know how inspiring your work has been. I'll be watching intently as you work through this one.

[wm cheng]

Thanks for the kudos,

The real challenge lately has been trying to find time to get back into modeling. So a lot of my decisions are governed by a lack of time and the desire to finish this model - maybe not the wisest but I like to get things done. I will paint more of the decals next time (I knew the grey stripes were screened/dots so I painted those, I had no idea that they were such ill fitting decals before I started - no one else who has built these models had bothered to mention that the actual shapes were incorrect, I just assumed Bandai knew what they were doing). Now I know and this will serve as a reference for my other Vf-25s and what I choose to decal - however I read somewhere that the decals for Alto were the worst fitting ones, and that Bandai had corrected their mistakes with the other release - is this true? can anyone confirm this?

I'm so happy to hear that I actually got someone back into modeling!! Its such a dying art, that it really makes all this posting up worthwhile if it got one more modeler into the world. I always try to get my friends into it, but sadly, they're not interested with all the electronic games around, parenthood or work. This is the site that got me back into modeling too! I built in high school, but dropped it for University and work afterwards, it was when I discovered this site and got back into Macross that I decided to get back into modeling. Gotta thank Shawn & Graham for that!

Yeah, the dot printing really irks me, but I can't imagine masking and painting all the SMS symbols - that's insane! More power to ya if you try. Maybe someday Wave Option parts might put out a option decals set like they did for Macross a while back. Oh well.

Not much on the model front in the next few days, I will just let it dry thoroughly (hand brushed clear coats are much thicker) and should be allowed to cure several days before "mashing" it back together in the aircraft mode. I worried that if it doesn't cure properly that it might weld the parts together and crack on first transformation again. The plan is to transform it back into the aircraft mode before I airbrush a clear coat over the entire plane and continue to decal the warning data stencils from my spares box (not included by Bandai) whenever I get some time again.

[bishop_710627]

Hello WM,

You are rigth about Decals, I used many so many Micro Sol and set but don't work.

I think was me, used the wrong way.

Yes the decal don't fit, sorry for not warning you, but again I think was me and the use of so many Microsol.

Your VF-25 is fantastic, Bandai is the real problem

I really like see more works from you.

I learn so much from this forum and your tutorial.

Yes so many models .............few time.

[Lolicon]

She looks incredible! I wish mine looked half as good!

A few notes-

I agree that modeling seems to be a dying art. All the hobby shops in my area shut down in the past few years (does anyone have hobbies anymore??) and I live in Houston, which is a big city. Astounding.

I mentioned in in my previous postings that many of the decals are the wrong size and shape, but no one listens. Yeah, these decals suck pretty hard. I had many of the same problems you had. Decal 17 actually wrinkled up in the middle for no explicable reason, then ripped when I attempted to straighten it out, forcing me to have to line up two broken halves.

Decal 52 was another particularly bad decal though I was able to fix it by inking in the white gap around the edges using my Sakura micron pen.

The head decal I managed to get correct the first time... until due to a blunder on my part, I accidentally pushed the red part out of its socket in the black part, fraying the edges of the white stripes. The white stripes stupidly sit on the gap between the red and black parts. I got a replacement decal sheet and fixed it (and glued those two parts together!). For my second Alto head (building two Altos for different modes), I painted the red parts, glued it to the black section, then carefully trimmed just the white stripes from the decal and applied them separately. I prefer this method because it's easier than dealing with the whole decal, which has a tendency to wrinkle and is kind of annoying to line up correctly, and it eliminates the ugly mismatched section directly underneath the sensor which the decal does not cover. I've attached a pic.

The shoulder hexagon decals were some of the worst decals I've ever dealt with. I actually used my hobby knife to put a few small partial incisions on the corners of the hexagons, and it really helped in getting it to fit properly. I'm glad I'm not the only one who painted the edges of the shoulder hexagons.

Also painted the tailfins because those decals are just plain awful.

Also had some issues with decals that have fully dried getting lifted up when I brushed Future on a part. I've since moved to the Gunze Sangyo clearcoat spray, so this is no longer an issue.

The decals don't react to Mr Mark Softer very well either. Using my finest brush I'll apply a coat of Softer, which will then promptly bead up and you'll have to sit there and keep brushing it around until it finally affects the decal. Better to just avoid using it at all, if you can help it.

I look forward to seeing the completed work!

[David Hingtgen]

Lolicon, could you post again how you did the purple canopy? (I know you said it before, but it's now buried in the archived thread)

[Lolicon]

Lolicon, could you post again how you did the purple canopy? (I know you said it before, but it's now buried in the archived thread)

Sure. It's a pretty clunky method, admittedly. I just dissolved a small amount of Tamiya purple in a container of Future, stirred it as best I could, then just dipped the canopy and then drained off the excess with a paper towel. I don't have an exact mix % as I just added purple until I got the color I wanted. (I saved the mix.)

As has been pointed out before, Tamiya acrylic tends to clump up in Future, but I was able to stir it enough to get an evenly mixed purple water and I just let the remaining purple sediment settle to the bottom before dipping. Of course I tested it on some clear pieces of sprue first.

I've seen some people here have tried purple ink and have had good results. I might experiment with that on my next VF-25 and see if that works out better for me than the acrylic method.

[shiroikaze]

@lolicon: Now that is pretty good tint of purple there.

[alfye]

Mr Cheng good work on this F, its great!

I´ve used MicroSol with the same results. Then used MrMarkSofter and they works better.

Finaly, I achieve the best results using MrMarkSetter only, placing brust over decal a few seconds it fits to correct form.

Back onto the subject of VF-25 models though, I just got my VF-25G Michael (hey, I'm partial to the name ) and was also very surprised like you, to see the dot printing. Why, why, why? I haven't started on the kit yet and might have to make a decision about whether I paint the bigger things. It sounds like the tail decals are a definite no no so I'll paint at least those.

Mikhail VF-25G decals are better than Alto ones, they fits better and covers requiered area:

[shinagami]

agreed, i'm currently doing the RVF-25 supermessiah and almost all the decals sucks!!! resulting in masking n painting almost all the decaling parts. what worries me the most is the tattoish stripe decals for the superparts.

WM Cheng, one dumb question, this is my first time doing weathering effect, did u use 0.3 or 0.2 nozzle airbrush for post shading? how much did u thinned tamiya smoke? issit 50/50?

[VFTF1]

I'm so happy to hear that I actually got someone back into modeling!! Its such a dying art, that it really makes all this posting up worthwhile if it got one more modeler into the world. I always try to get my friends into it, but sadly, they're not interested with all the electronic games around, parenthood or work.

You know - I don't mean to disrespect gamers - but I gotta admit that ever since I got into modeling, I've seen improvements in other areas of my life thanks to what modeling has taught me. Patience, an appreciation for detail, for structure, care, attention - in stressful situations that are work or relationship related, the skills I learned in modeling are really becoming useful. It's like - if I could build a VF-25 in 1:72 scale - why can't I patiently work through other situations/challenges in life?

I don't think video games give people the same sense of achievement because ultimately - what counts in the game is figuring out the schematics - what specific steps you must take to do x, y and z. The only games that are fun are shoot 'em ups (but that's "mindless" fun) and inter-active games where - because you are playing against another human being - things are not as predictable as just playing with/against a computer program...

Modeling on the other hand - it's something new every time. I can't wait to start on my second VF-25S and build it with a view to keeping it in fighter mode with Sheryl Decals and weathering it and stuff. And that's great - you can always customize, experiment - do crazy stuff.

Also - I've discovered that technology has really made models more durable, detailed and amazing. before I got into contemporary modeling, I had the stereotype in my mind that models were these brittle things that you spent many hours gluing only to put them on a shelf - under glass maybe - and never touch again.

Pete

[jay1105]

Very brilliant work. This tutorial pretty much answered any skepticism I had about this kit. I'll be getting the armored VF-25's when they are released and I will be revisiting your tutorials for amazing tips on any improvements that can be done to the kits.

I haven't modeled for more than 8 years and I still have a partially completed 1/72 variable VF-1S from Bandai that I just found in the closet after cleaning it out along with my modeling tools and paint as well. My brother gave me his airbrush and compressor so I got that part covered.

So far I've been collecting MG 1/100 Gundam kits (variable Zeta versions) and a PG 1/60 Astray Red Frame which I will do when I have better modeling skills. I will be working to complete the VF-1S it to help with my rusty modeling skills before tackling on the more refined VF-25's when they are released.

Thanks again for your ideas and hardwork and for helping me decide to get back to modeling again. Jay

[wm cheng]

Yes, technology sure has come a long way from my first model when I was 7! I think it was the AMT X-Wing fighter, it had stickers and I loved that thing and zoomed it around till it literally fell apart in my hands.

So good to hear Jay, please post pictures when you do start!

agreed, i'm currently doing the RVF-25 supermessiah and almost all the decals sucks!!! resulting in masking n painting almost all the decaling parts. what worries me the most is the tattoish stripe decals for the superparts.

WM Cheng, one dumb question, this is my first time doing weathering effect, did u use 0.3 or 0.2 nozzle airbrush for post shading? how much did u thinned tamiya smoke? issit 50/50?

No dumb questions! I actually don't use Tamiya smoke, I use a very thinned down flat black only, however I might try smoke since everyone else uses it and it might be more durable (more scratch resistant) - I'd usually mix 9:1 thinner to paint ratio for the black paint, maybe I'd alter it a bit for the smoke since its already a transparent clear colour to 6:1 I use a Iwata double action airbrush (I used to use a badger single action - which is just fine) now so there are no nozzles per se, its just the finest setting you can get. Just remember less is more, you can always build up, but its a lot more effort to remove if you go too heavy. Look up one of my older threads, I'm sure I've outlined my panel post shading process. Remember... SUBTLE! goes a long way. Post pics when you get the chance.

[wm cheng]

OK, here's my first sucessful attempt at tinting the canopy purple...

I just used the ink mixed with future 2-3 drops in - straight colour. After a few days, I wasn't happy with the purple, its too reddish and too strong - the anime had a more bluish cast and I thought that a lighter bluer tint might look a bit more realistic with the model - the strong purple looks anime cartoony.

I tried to add some blue food colouring to the mix. I stripped the old tint by dunking it windex (with ammonia). I tried a lighter 2-coat this time. The first time was only one coat, but I feel that if I did two light coats, it would be more even. I grabbed the canopy with tweezers by the mounting pegs on the underside (very handy - if you don't remove them, I was going to remove them to get a more realistic model effect, but all the other effort I had to do to this Bandai kit compunded with the fact that it still had big ass hinges exposed made me forget that idea - it wasn't offensive enough to me to justify the added effort).

I've dunked only the outside surface, careful to not get it into the inside where the pegs are so that there won't be any pooling of colour around the pegs. Its under a cup drying now, after my second coat, I'll post some shots again.

[wm cheng]

I had to transform it back into the plane mode to start with the data/warning stenciling. Wrapping the black and red down around the edge of the panels worked wonders in blending all the decals together and minimizing the gaps left behind due to the complicated shoulder/back transformation pieces. I could probably massage the pieces in a little better to tighten up the gaps, but its good enough now for me to decal (hopefully I might sneak a few hours this weekend).

[mickyg]

Your purple tint looks really good. I've had an awful time getting mine consistent. The small parts (the sensor array and the front of the canopy) look pretty good, but the main canopy being bigger, just seems to make the liquid pool up or worse yet, thin out in odd places. The end result is a streaky, crappy looking mess!

Did you wash the clear parts before-hand? I might try that. Luckily the stuff comes off perfectly with Windex. The other problem is the lack of a good Future equivalent down here in Australia. I'm using a product that seems a lot less glossy when dried and also seems to not like sticking to any surface. I once used it as a clearcoat on top of black enamel spray can paint and it just pooled up into tiny droplets. At any rate, as I mentioned, it looks OK on the small parts.

[BeyondTheGrave]

nice wish i had your skill, patience and some time.

but i need to get into modeling.

hope it turns out how you want it.

[mickyg]

Did you wash the clear parts before-hand? I might try that.

Ok, washing the parts is a no brainer! In case anyone tries without washing first, it's a huge difference.

This is a fuzzy pic but after one coat it's almost acceptable. One more should do the trick.

WM, did you notice the "edges" on the curved part of the canopy? On mine, these are so prominent that the tinting ran off them more than the rest of the part. You can probably make it out in the pic. My lousy camera phone exaggerates this but I'll still pop another coat on to be safe.

[shiroikaze]

I've dunked only the outside surface, careful to not get it into the inside where the pegs are so that there won't be any pooling of colour around the pegs.

How do you dunk the outside surface only without flooding the inner side?

[wm cheng]

To dunk only the outside, I held onto the inside pegs with a set of tweezers and put the ink/future solution in a small mixing cup, I tilted the cup and dunked only the outside of the canopy, just allowing the plastic surface to touch the ink/future mixture, but don't emmerse the entire canopy in. Then took it out and kind of swirled it a bit allowing the excess to run all over the top surface to get an even coating. Once its even I set it down proper and took a paper tower to wick a the excess pooling around the canopy frame - even with this wicking, its still thicker/more purple around the frame (opposite from what you showed in your photo - don't know why). But this extra thickening isn't too bad, since I'll be painting a black canopy frame right there the contrast of the black will lessen the purple tint. It appears more purple now than when I get the black frame painted.

I'm pretty happy with this second round of tinting with the shade and density. I found that dipping it and letting dry and repeating the coats gives a more even finish than one heavy dark coat (that's where you see the colour tint running un-evenly.

So I got almost 5hrs today to finish up the data/warning stenciling. I got out my older VF-0 and VF-1 as guides to where would be appropriate places to add these extra decals. I feel they make a world of difference. They are mostly made up of extra bits from other models, I scanned the Hasegawa sheets and printed them from a colour laser onto decal paper and coated them with a decal spray so I got my own sheet of extras that I can draw from (hopefully enough to do the entire squadron). The great thing about a mostly white model is that these laser printed decals will work, however on the darker Luca blue one, I don't think any of these will show up. I wished we could print white! I've got some old Wave Option decals saved for that one. So everybody, keep all your old unused decals or decals from failed builds, they come in useful eventually. I wished Bandai added some more, but I guess since they weren't in the anime, they didn't improvise. I will let it set and spray a clear-coat Model Master Acryl semi-gloss over them a few times to seal and protect them in before my next stage. Post Shading and weathering. I guess I've got to look a the gunpod sometime too.

Enjoy... (Father's day is coming up... I hope to get another chunk of time then!)

[wm cheng]

Before I forgot and closed up the cockpit with the canopy. I decided to do the front instrument panel. Thanks to David who did the screen captures for me, I resized and cropped the front panel image to about 7mm wide which would fit the front console.

I have provided the properly resized graphic. I printed it onto photo-quality gloss film (better than paper since it doesn't bleed) but you can print it onto whatever you want. I placed a few in one go so that I'd have enough for the squadron later on without having to print it again. I just used white glue to set it in place, once the canopy is on, its pretty well protected. Once the glue dries, I'll take a fine brush and edge the film with flat black to blend it into the front console and prevent the edge from catching the light as its doing so in these photos. I think it adds a nice touch once the canopy is on, its something Bandai should have included - oh well.

Lets let this sucker dry before I clear coat it tonight!

[PetarB]

Beautiful work.

I'm building my Ozma version up now, but I'm not sure I have the patience you have!

Mine's going to be a 'smoothie', I'm going to try and skip a few things that way...! Although it means another layer of work, too.

I use the same acrylic inks you do, so its good to see it will actually work when it comes time to tint the canopy. I am still looking for a decent way to tint gold canopies, but that's another story.

I admire your persistence. I know this model has been testing, but the effort has paid off. The paneling in the top back area is superb.

Looking forwards to more updates when you have some time.

Regards, Petar