MickyG's Yamato VF-1S Unpainted, Unassembled Kit Build

[mickyg]

I'm sure there are going to be a lot of these being built in the coming months. Since I've got mine, as of today, I thought I'd start my own build thread. A place to get some input and feedback from the MW community and also journal my build.

I'm hoping this will be a quicker buildup than my ongoing VF-25G - mostly because this is a toy, it's designed to transform, and the general build is much more robust than the Bandai model kit. Why that is supposed to be quicker, I'm not entirely sure yet! Perhaps we'll see when I get started.

I expect this first page will undergo some changes as the project gets underway. I'll post up some pictures, for instance (they're not taken yet) and add any other relevant details for fellow builders of this kit. Something to make the first page a bit more informative for anyone following along.

For now, some initial findings:

First the good:

• It's a v2 VF-1S and we're all familiar with it, so no surprises here.
• The instruction manual is very detailed and very clearly laid out.
• There are lots of decals and stickers (more decals than stickers, in fact)
• Not that it's a massive thing but the box is very minimalist and well packed.
• Tons of parts! Looks challenging for those that are into that sort of thing (I am!).
• Since none of it is painted, you get to do whatever you want to it.
• There's a chance to fill in all seams and make this look a lot more refined than the completed toys.

Now the bad:

• It's a v2 VF-1S - not a v2.1 so the crotch is the same fiddly design as the first gen v2s. I don't have any of the second gen ones so it doesn't bother me so much.
• The instruction manual, while very detailed is in Japanese. There are bound to be some tips that will be missed for english readers.
• There are lots of decals and stickers but not, in my opinion, enough. I really wanted some low vis options, for instance (grey kites, gray intake warnings, white "no step" markers, etc...)
• Since none of it's painted, you have to figure out what sort of paint will be durable, whether any paint build up is going to wreck transformation and fit of parts. Add to that the different mix of plastics and pre-painted metal and it can seem a little daunting to paint this thing up!
• There are many, many steps that call for glue (that much I've managed to translate). I don't know what type of plastic we're dealing with so have no idea what sort of glue is appropriate.
• The kit doesn't specify whether it's DYRL or TV. The hands are DYRL but the pilot is TV style.
• The white plastic is not all the same colour. The shoulder covers for instance, are almost a purple hued white. So unless you want this to look a little off, you'll need to paint everything. Even if you're going for white.
• There's no description for the screws. Unless they're all the same size (I haven't checked) you'll need to test what goes where and hope you don't crack any screw bosses.

I'll end this first post with some general questions:

• I think there are a few types of plastic in this kit. Anyone know what sort of glue is going to be required, based on the plastic type?
• Will there likely be more than one type of glue that should be used?
• I'm planning to use acrylics on this - has anyone got any experience using this type of paint on this kind of plastic and know how it will hold up?
• Would it be better to use a lacquer?
• How bout putty - any suggestions for type?

UPDATE (29/04/10):

Some pictures and a few general comments.

Pics 1, 2 - Unboxing (sort of - I'd already taken stuff out prior to the photos so the arrangement of the markings and instructions probably isn't right)

Pics 3, 4 - Decals, stickers and two instructions - one for assembly, and a standard valk transformation guide. The blue sheets are the decals. As you can see, I didn't get stickers for the smaller sheet. I'm not sure if this is a mistake in packaging or if that's just the way it is. I'm not too concerned as I'd planned on using the decals anyway. Not really visible in the pics, but the instrument panel is DYRL style. So again, it's not clear if this is meant to be a TV or DYRL style Valk.

Pic 5 - everything is packed in layers and then bubble wrap around it all. Not over the top packaging but certainly adequate. I only found a few parts that had come off the sprue but nothing broken.

Pics 6-12 - all the individual bags. Not sure if you can make it out but in pic 9, look at the bottom left bag: these are the parts that are a bit purple hued. Like it's a different grade of plastic. I'll be painting the whole thing so I'm not terribly concerned but if you were going for a standard white scheme, this could look a bit off. The screws and pins bag shows all the little parts and my previous comment about screws doesn't seem to be so bad after all - looks like they're all one type of screw except for one exception.

Pic 13 - just playing with my new lens!

Edited April 29, 2010 by mickyg

[miriya]

I am so glad that you are doing this. It will help the rest of us who will be building one too.

[valhary]

i hope pictures to see the construction process

[mickyg]

Don't worry, I predict lots of pictures!

I haven't mentioned what scheme I'm going with yet. I'm going to keep it a secret until it's finalised (finalised in my head, at least - no sense announcing it if it's not possible, right?).

Edited April 28, 2010 by mickyg

[505thAirborne]

A secret paint Scheme, this should be fun!! Show some pics when your ready!

[thegunny]

I am so glad that you are doing this. It will help the rest of us who will be building one too.

While it's good to see how people tackle different problems isn't the whole idea of modelling to put the kit together yourself and not just copy how other people did it

[mickyg]

Yes and no. I think it depends on your skill level, personally. There's no way I'd have ever attacked my first Macross kit with the enthusiasm and confidence I did, had I not seen it demonstrated before. Each person is different, obviously. But for me, I like seeing people's how tos for ideas and sometimes, just for the confidence it gives me. I'm hoping I can encourage others similarly.

As for "the whole idea of modelling" I don't think there's a hard and fast rule there, Gunny!

[Chronocidal]

Just a thought... but why not see how well it goes together without any glue at all?

I imagine some parts might be impossible to do without it.. but on the whole, when I build one of these, I plan on using the absolute minimum amount of glue possible. I like to take things apart and tinker with them, and glue will only frustrate that possibility (looking at you, 1/60 YF-19 ).

For example.. I do know that the lower legs will stay together entirely with screws. I had to take apart a couple of mine to fix sloppy leg strakes (another bonus of the kit, you can just fix things like that from the start), and I wound up breaking a locator pin clean off one when I popped the glue.. but the screws in the leg were plenty to hold things together.

Edited April 28, 2010 by Chronocidal

[mickyg]

Good idea. I was going to play around with dry fitting today (if time permits). I know there are a few parts that won't stay on without glue. Just off the top of my head, the wing lights, the rear landing lights, and likely the shoulder lights (the amber coloured ones), these all need something to hold them in. And by looking at the instructions, I think there are a few more parts that don't have anything holding them in place, so glue is probably required.

A secret paint Scheme, this should be fun!! Show some pics when your ready!

Not secret, just not sure I can pull it off yet and I don't want to get my hopes up prematurely! ...or maybe it's secret

[Jasonc]

In response to the glue issue. I took apart one of the No Painting pre-builts for my custom that I finished a couple weeksa ago, and let me say that the glue isn't 100% necessary, but is if you wanna keep gaps in the legs and some other areas to a minimum. On my Sheryl Guard custom, if you look at the pics, in this forum, you'll see that there are some gaps in the legs. Now, it's not a deal breaker, but I just didn't want to worry about glue, and decided to work without it on this one. I'll probably use it in the unassembled versions I have. Oh, and for the record, taking these apart isn't as hard as I imagined it'd be. And if you have one of the unpainted ones that's assembled, they're good practice for putting them back together. these completely unassembled ones shouldn't be too dificult. As for the shoulders from a true v.2 and not 2.1, if it has the ribbed pins, you can goto a hardwars store and find pins to match that don't have it, or you can sand or flatten out the given ones. Rule of thumb for helping the preservation, loosen the arms a bit. More play will divert stress into the loose area, and away from the stressed, problem area.

[mickyg]

Updated first post with some pics and comments. Haven't started yet! Haven't even opened the bags. Only so much I can get done with my lunch break.

[miriya]

I thought that I may as well share my color scheme here to see what you guys think. Just a photoshop mock up but I hope to paint mine this way.

[mickyg]

Looks like a lot of fun! You going to find some way to do the Zentradi soldier?

Speaking of paint schemes, I may as well get some opinions on mine too.

Firstly, I love Dobber's custom SV-51. I think it looks awesome and is easily the best looking non-standard paint scheme I've seen on any Valk! I liked it so much, I thought about doing it on my VF-1. But then thought it'd look dumb. I mean, the SV looks so cool because it's modelled after a Russian fighter to start with. So it's a natural thing to paint it like one too, right? Of course. So what to do? We've seen camo schemes on VF-1s and while they're unique, I'm not a huge fan of the urban camo Yamato 1/48 offering. It's different but it looks a bit too fat to me - not sure if that's the paint scheme or just my imagination.

Anyway, I wanted something lighter and light camo, while common enough, just isn't really what I want. I want Dobber's scheme! Then I found this:

Now that's what I'm talking about! The whole page can be found here. So we have a scheme used in the Top Gun program to represent an enemy plane - perfect! And it's real too!

So I just need some low-vis decals, which might not be that difficult. I might even be able to make my own. I can't see too much that needs to be white and since white decals are impossible with what I have at my disposal, this should be ideal. If you read through the article, you'll find there were very few markings at all. It looks like this might have been relatively common for non-standard US machines that were set up for training (and made to look like enemy fighters). David H, chime in here if you're reading this!

There are a few difficulties I can foresee. Firstly, the camo on top, but gull grey on bottom thing, while it works well for fighter, it might look a bit silly in gerwalk and battroid, as there will be grey on camo in spots and might break things up enough to actually look very clashy. Or maybe it'll look great! I'll practice on some technical drawings before I start painting the real thing. The other concern is what I've already mentioned in my first initial thoughts about painting in general. Can I paint the light grey everywhere that needs it and not have it scrape off the first time I transform this? And since I want to use acrylics, is that just asking for trouble?

So what do you all think? Is it too blatently ripped off of Dobber's idea? I'll admit, that's my main inspiration!

[Lolicon]

Hmmm I've been wondering about these Yamato, err, model kits. So is it just an unassembled, unpainted VF-1 with decals, etc.? Is it molded in the same kind of plastic as the completed toys, or is it made out of the same kind of plastic like other plamo kits? (I'm not even sure if they're any different or just thicker; but the toys certainly feel heavier and more sturdy!)

I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with this. For me personally, I wouldn't build a VF-1 that's available as a completed toy (being able to paint and fill in seams and such is not enough incentive for the time and effort involved). But a custom... maybe I can finally put those Deculture Campaign decals to use.

Hmmm are you going to want to transform it after completion? Even though it'll be sturdy as a completed version, I'm thinking that even the sturdiest paint job is going to be scratched up after a couple of transformations. And the decals!

Edited April 29, 2010 by Lolicon

[mickyg]

Thanks for stopping in Lolicon!

Yes, these are just unassembled versions of the toy. No difference at all, as far as I can tell. The plastic is the same. The only difference is no paint, and no glue. You really appreciate all the tampo printing on the completed toys, let me tell you!

As best I can tell, the plastic is either ABS or POM. There may be a third as well (I don't know what the clear parts are, for instance). I still don't know what sort of glue to use and I'm also curious about what sort of putty will bond well too. I may try a few things on the sprue before I commit it to the actual part.

Your second paragraph is exactly how I was feeling. I was going to do this up as a TV Roy. But the more I thought about it, the less I liked that idea. I mean the DYRL one is almost the same and now that Yamato has announced a TV release, what's the point. Plus, any attempts at painting/decaling it up would be terrible compared to how the toy comes completed. So it had to be a custom.

Your last comment is another reason I decided to do this particular custom scheme. Look at the F-14 markings - there's hardly anything on it! So the decals I'll be applying will be minimal. Even if I went nuts, there's not a whole lot of surfaces with decaling or printing on the completed toy that actually rub. So I'm not terribly concerned about wear. I transform my (now 3) valks about once a month and am pretty careful with them so that's another plus in my case.

That's not to say there won't be some scratching though. I'll just have to figure out a way to minimise it.

[mickyg]

I'm going to start assembling today. Just rough fitting to see what sorts of issues I'll encounter. The manual starts with the arms. I'll likely skip that and go on to the nose. The arms are the notorious pin sholder hinge things and I'd rather not assemble those until I know how I'm going to paint them. They'll be the first to get scratched paint, otherwise!

Just a quick comment - the shoulder triangle stickers (black "L" shaped items) are not included as decals or stickers. What the?

EDIT:

OK, scratch that. I started on the intakes (top of the thigh). The parts are very sturdy and very cleverly designed. I've never liked the "turbine blades are outragiously close to the intake opening" comprimise of any of the valks out there, but there's just no other way to do it. You couldn't move them back even if you wanted to. There's just too much reinforcement in the area behind the turbine plate. And once you put the ratcheting mechanism together, you can understand why. Sorry, no pics today. Will get some soon though and post what I'm talking about.

I didn't finish the upper thigh because it calls for a pin. I can't read which type though and there are many to choose from. Is it knurled, straight, taper ended, rough? I don't know. All it shows is 11mm. Perhaps there's only one that length. Also, there are two types of screws in the kit but I don't know which is which. The CG instructions seem to show both used interchangeably with the Japanese for either type. Again, I'll take some pics to explain what I mean.

Edited April 30, 2010 by mickyg

[Dobber]

Thanks for the compliments MickyG. The NSAWC Tomcat is where I started from, for my SV-51. I made mine kind of a cross between it and an actual Flanker....pretty much the NSAWC Tomcat just a bit more "busy." For mine, I used MM acrylics and 1 MM enamel.

They are: MM Acrylic light ghost grey overall

MM enamel Flanker light blue (I think this is what it was called) for the light blue portions

MM Acrylic US Navy blue-grey for the medium blue color

MM Acrylic Itermediate Blue for the dark blue portions

I would definately recommend sealing it in a clear coat. I used MM laquer. Haven't had many problems with chiping just a fe spots where the hinges wheren't dissassembled (main wing joint) but I believe that since you the kit that is already disassembled it shouldn't be much of a problem. As for tight fits due to paint...not sure, I'd think that if you kept the coats thin it shouldn't effect it too bad, pluss the VF-1's transformation is prett simple compaired to the SV-51. I'd think that the worst area for chipping on the VF-1 would be where the legs attach under the wing roots....that tab is always tight for me.

Anyway, really looking forward to seeing what you do with your VF-1, no worries with me glad to see it!

Chris

[mickyg]

Thanks for the tips Chris! Very much appreciated. So you used the enamel because it's what you had, it wasn't available in anything but enamel, or some other reason? I gotta admit, I'm afraid of anything but acrylics because if you screw up, they're very hard to remove. I've come to love the windex approach for mistakes! Interesting that you used lacquer clear over everything without problems. Everytime I've tried that with any of my acrylics, they run or worse.

I agree about the areas on the intakes. I'm not sure what I'll do there yet. But since those are areas that will be light ghost grey (I'm guessing that's not the same as light gull grey too, I'd better look into that) the white underneath won't be too start a contrast if it does scratch.

And glad we had the same starting point - that can't be a bad omen!

[lechuck]

MickyG can you please, please, please do me one favour and take some pics of the individual parts of the nosecone and fuselage section.

I would like to see how these two join up and if 1/60 v.2 actually has a "hidden" waist joint that is just glued up by Yamato.

Please be a life saver, the curiosity is killing me.

[mickyg]

Most certainly! I was curious about that too. It'll likely be a day or two, as the kit and the camera are in two different places this weekend. I'll definitely get it posted though.

[Dobber]

Thanks for the tips Chris! Very much appreciated. So you used the enamel because it's what you had, it wasn't available in anything but enamel, or some other reason? I gotta admit, I'm afraid of anything but acrylics because if you screw up, they're very hard to remove.

I prefer acrylics too, just, that color only came in enamel. Luckily though, I started with the Ghost Gray base then painted on the enamel flanker blue in large "stripes" across the fuselage whith some "edging" then put the navy blue gray on and lastly the intermediate blue. Basically, going from lightest to darkest. So much of the enamel gets covred this way to hide any errors or sections that you don't like!

Chris

[lechuck]

Most certainly! I was curious about that too. It'll likely be a day or two, as the kit and the camera are in two different places this weekend. I'll definitely get it posted though.

Thanks, the effort is greatly appreciated.

[Chronocidal]

FYI, I think if you're looking for low vis VF-1 markings, you might want to take a look at the sticker sheet included in the VE-1/VT-1. I don't remember for sure, but I think the markings for the VE-1 were mostly low-vis variants. Course, they're stickers, but it's probably better than nothing.

[mickyg]

MickyG can you please, please, please do me one favour and take some pics of the individual parts of the nosecone and fuselage section.

I would like to see how these two join up and if 1/60 v.2 actually has a "hidden" waist joint that is just glued up by Yamato.

Please be a life saver, the curiosity is killing me.

Here you go Lechuck.

Sorry about the focus (not sure why but everything was focusing closer to me than what it should have) and the less than perfect lighting. The white looks pink and it's not quite that bad in real life (even after I corrected my white balance).

Anyway, the hip joint/swivel is technically possible with this setup. But you'd have to replace that box setup with a cylinder one. I'm not sure how you'd get the pieces to do it and a metal one would be much better/more durable than the ABS. I thought of just rounding the edges of the plastic but I don't think there's enough material to allow for that.

Hope that helps!

By the way, these parts all fit very tightly. I think glue is not completely necessary for any of these sections.

[lechuck]

Thanks for the pics MickyG.

The square fit for the two parts is a bit of surprise.

I think I could get the the square plate rounded, but the leading stem looks so short that there is hardly any room to work with.

Nah, I don't think I'll touch it. Otherwise it will just end in a botch job.

But it baffles me why Yamato omitted the waist joint, when it was working perfectly for the 1/48's?

[mickyg]

Wait, what? The 1/48s have a working waist joint? That's awesome! How does it get used because I thought the 1/48s had a swing bar too. I'm sure you can surmise that I don't have a 1/48. Never even seen one up close, to be honest (unless you count one in a cabinet at a shop in Akihabara in Tokyo). How do they get the swing bar to work with the swivel?

[valhary]

what about the head parts............please

Edited May 4, 2010 by valhary

[Chronocidal]

Wait, what? The 1/48s have a working waist joint? That's awesome! How does it get used because I thought the 1/48s had a swing bar too. I'm sure you can surmise that I don't have a 1/48. Never even seen one up close, to be honest (unless you count one in a cabinet at a shop in Akihabara in Tokyo). How do they get the swing bar to work with the swivel?

Basically, they gave the swing bar a double axis hinge on the backplate, and the entire swingbar could swing left and right at its base. There wasn't much range of motion though. The nosecone was limited to three notched positions, with one centered, and the others being maybe 10-15 degrees off center to either side.

Really, the function is pretty easy to miss, I didn't even realize the nose could rotate at all until I noticed the nosecone off center one day.

[mickyg]

That's very cool! I read the reviews on anymoon at least twice (for every release Jenius did a review on) and I never caught that!

Hey Valhary, I'll get head photos as soon as I get a chance - once again, I'm in one place with the camera and the kit is in another. Doh!

[mickyg]

I went out to get some paints on my lunch break today. Man, I didn't realise how hard it'd be to get these colors in Australia! Well, my LHS at least. I ended up getting some acrylics from a company I'd never heard of. Anyone have any experience with Lifecolor?

I found everything except for the dark bluegrey (FS35109) so went with FS35164 instead. It's called Intermediate Blue and might need to be mixed with a bit of grey to get it right. I'll try it as is and see what I think though.

[mickyg]

For Valhary:

These are resized WAY down so if you need more detail of any individual part, let me know and I can crop just that section out, but blown up.

I've included the clear parts to show the visor. No green molded clear plastic here.

[Lolicon]

Tinting clear parts myself was my favorite thing about working on the VF-25.

I assume it was left untinted so people could go wild with their customs.

[mickyg]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to this too. Gives me a chance to tone down the green a bit and possibly add some detail with a small drill bit (maybe).

[valhary]

thanks man!!!!

[nightmareB4macross]

Tinting clear parts myself was my favorite thing about working on the VF-25.

I assume it was left untinted so people could go wild with their customs.

IIRC, the visors were never molded in color, they were always tinted in green. From the various 1/48 heads I've disassembled on three seperate occasions I was able to remove the green tint using "Simple Green" or paint remover for plastics.