DX VF-25G

[kanedaestes]

He has a few times just never did anything in battroid mode

[wm cheng]

Hey MacrossJunkie, I always love the way you've weather your renewal toys (the main reason I got hooked and bit the bullet). Would you do a step by step to explain your process with the amazing results? I'd love to see how you did yours on the dark blue base of the VF-25G in detail.

[Mommar]

I kinda think Luca's might be somewhat easier to get, just because of the generic lack of anything his plane was ever seen doing. I don't think he's anyone's favorite character. If anything, he should be the first to be bundled with his packs, because I don't recall ever seeing him with them off. Heck, I'm not even sure he ever transformed out of fighter.

I hope you're right about him being easier to get. Personally I don't give a crap who "piloted" the fighter. It's green and has a radome and I think that looks good. So I'm buying one.

[Chronocidal]

Well, I'm only guessing that he won't be any harder to get than Michael. I'm still going to just eat the markup and order from NY again though, especially if they come through for me on this replacement part. I can't be staying up all hours refreshing HLJ to catch their 15 minute sales windows.

Luca's actually the only one I think really MUST have the super packs though. I mean, all the other planes look decent without their super/armor packs, even Ozma. The radome and lower antenna just unbalance his plane enough that it doesn't look right without the packs on.

[UN Spacy]

Review on the way...been WAY too busy this weekend.

[MacrossJunkie]

Hey MacrossJunkie, I always love the way you've weather your renewal toys (the main reason I got hooked and bit the bullet). Would you do a step by step to explain your process with the amazing results? I'd love to see how you did yours on the dark blue base of the VF-25G in detail.

Funny you should say that as it was your work on your models that made me unsatisfied with the way my toys looked and inspired me to start experimenting with weathering and such in the first place. I wish I remembered to take pics as I worked on it so I could properly illustrate. I'll just have to explain with words for this one and then the next valk I do, I can take pics as I go for a proper step-by-step.

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Supplies on hand that I used:

Paper towel

Microfiber cloth for dusting

Tamiya weathering master kits B and D

Gundam Marker GM01

Testor's enamel thinner & brush cleaner

Flat black Model Master enamel paint

Future

Tamiya flat base X-21

Fine tipped paint brush

Wider tipped brush (mine is about 18mm wide)

Airbrush and compressor

Glass container to mix things in

Masking tape

xacto knife

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I did very minimal disassembly of the toy during the entire process and my steps here reflect that.

Prep work:

I used a wet paper towel to clean off the greasy mold release residue off the toy.

Then I used the microfiber cloth to remove the dust particles left behind by the paper towel.

Alternatively, make sure your fingers are dust free and wipe off dust particles with fingers while blowing air over it.

Step 1: First clear coat

Transform the valk to GERWALK mode but leave the shield either attached to the end or taken off. As long as it's not attached to the arm. Then detach the intakes/hips from the underside and straighten out the legs so that no part of the knee caps are obstructed or hidden in any way. Pull the crotch piece down out of its locked position and stand the valk up so that the legs are straight down and the fighter part is more or less either angled a bit down or up. Fold the back plate down and get the head unit up and out so that it is exposed and move the backplate back up. Postion the head so that it is not obstructing the backplate or the chest area for when you go to spray it. Pop the head off and do it separately. Remove the plastic pieces on the feet and the hip guns and set them to the side. Also, make note of which way the feet pieces should be facing for when you put them back on. Hint: The thicker blue band should be towards the ground when standing.

Now you're ready to spray the first coat and the majority of the surfaces on the valk should now be exposed. With the airbrush, spray an even coat of Future onto the valk. This should include the inner sides and back of the legs, the underside of the fuselage, wing gloves and wings, and the shield if left attached.

Use some masking tape and roll them into rings with the sticky side facing out and stick each hip gun on a piece with the outside surface facing up. The four pieces from the feet can be stuck to the tape like arches. Clear coat these as well.

Once the valk is dried, fold down the knee caps and bend the knees and spray the gray areas with the clear coat.

Step 2: Panel lining

I normally do panel lining only with thinned paints, but with the darker blue colors, it's very hard to get visible results so I turned to the black Gundam marker for assistance.

I panel lined all the areas on the blue plastic with the gundam marker and avoided any areas that had white paint or plastic. What you should end up with is a rather harsh black that stands out, perhaps a bit too much. This will be dealt with later. I mixed some enamel thinner with black paint. I used probably about 10 drops of thinner and 6 or 7 drops of paint. I took the fine tipped brush and dabbed it along the lines on the white plastic or painted areas and let the capillary effect take the thinned paint down along the lines. Wait for the paint to dry and tear off a piece of the paper towel and put a drop of thinner on it and use it to wipe off any excess paint that is not in a panel line so that the panel lining looks clean and sharp. The thinner should not react at all with the clear coat.

Use the gundam marker to do the little rivet dots that's on the foot pieces if so desired.

Step 3: Clear coat again

Just spray a single layer of clear coating to keep the panel lining sealed in. Wait for it to dry and then expose the front of the chest that's hidden behind the cockpit and clear coat that by either spraying or brushing on Future. Do the same with the blue half of the crotch piece. After it dries, move it back to how it was in step 1.

Step 4: Weathering

I used a sort of dry brushing technique here except instead of the standard way with paints (which I've never been able to to properly), I'm using the Tamiya weathering kits. The Tamiya kits come with applicators that have a foam side and a brush side. The foam side is no good for this so ignore that end for now. For the paint wear/fade effect, I use the "snow" from the B kit. Slide the side of the brush against the powder until you get a visible amount on the brush, then with the side of the brush hairs, brush them along the edges repeatedly until you get the desired amount of paint fade. Brush some along the surface to soften the blue and the blacks. Don't forget to do the pieces that were taken off.

Using the "soot" from kit B, I drybrushed along the edges and raised areas of the white areas for a subtle bit of highlighting and also lightly against the panel lines of the white areas.

For the panel lines, get some powder on the end of the brush and "dust" the panel lines with it and blow off the excess. Use the clean foam end along the panel lines to smear the powder along the panel lines. This should take away the harsh blackness of the gundam marker and make it look grayer and more natural.

Step 5: Sealing the weathering

Time to spray on another clear coat. What you may notice after spraying this coat on and letting it dry is that most of the weathering looks like it disappeared. Just repeat steps 4 and 5 several times and it should slowly build up. Repeat until you reach desired results. I had to repeat about 3 or 4 times.

Step 6: Additional effects

I used the "soot" from kit B and "oil stain" from kit D to simulate trapped dirt and staining from smoke and such. Using the brush again with the soot colored powder, brush in the direction that air currents would go along the surface and you should get faint traces of the soot along the surface. I also dirtied up the area outside of the air overflow outlets in the back of the legs like smoke had gotten sucked in and let out over that area. I used the foam side of the applicator for that. Dabbing it into the soot, I then brushed the foam along starting from the outlets and followed along the imaginary air flow. I applied a little bit along some panel lines as well.

Using the "oil stain" powders and a cleaned off foam applicator, I applied some streaking from some of the holes and verniers. I also dirtied up the gray areas for the knee and behind the knee caps. Quite honestly, it looks so close to the soot when applied that you could just use the soot entirely and forgo the D kit.

Step 7: Clear coat again to seal in what was done in step 6.

Step 8: Transform to battroid mode to have easy access to the front of the chest piece and the crotch piece.

Repeat steps 4-5 on those parts that were not accessible earler, namely the front of the chest piece and the blue half of the crotch piece. Being such small areas, this should be very quick.

Step 9: Final clear coat with added flat base.

After you're happy with everything, it's time to put the final coat on, or leave as is if a glossy finish is preferred.

Using another glass bottle or cleaning out and reusing the existing one, put some future in and then mix in the tamiya flat base. Too much and it will turn the valk very whitish. Too little and you may not notice it at all. Suffice it to say, it's better to err on the side of too little than too much as you can mix in more later and spray again for a flatter coat. The mixture should be very foggy, but not white like milk. Probably closer to the look of semen, if you pardon the crudeness of the description.

With the masking tape and xacto knife, mask off the clear parts like the clear pieces on the head and the canopy.

Take the valk back to how it was positioned in step 1.

Spray the flat coat onto the valk and let it dry. Then transform it to battroid mode or just expose the front of the chest area and the crotch piece and spray those (or brush on with the wide brush which is what I did) and let them dry.

Step 10: Final touches.

Take off the masking tape.

I made the clear parts extra crystal clear by applying more Future with a brush to the inside and outside of the canopy and over the head unit lenses and over the blue and red wing lights.

Let dry.

Done. Avoid playing/transforming it for a day or so and let the clear coat fully dry so that it becomes more durable (advice that I ought to listen to as well).

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I know this seems mostly useless without the pics to illustrate. I'll try to make better one with the next valk I do.

Edited October 15, 2012 by MacrossJunkie

[Bunneh]

Amazing effect, especially Alto's white valk. I would be happy to pay you for your time and skill any day.

Now if only I knew where mine was at....

[wm cheng]

Thanks MacrossJunkie! That was very informative. I've tried one of the Tamiya weathering kits before, but I've always found it a problem getting it to stick to glossy clear coat surfaces or bare plastic, its just seems to slide right off. It seemed to work best on top of flat finishes - do you have a trick for getting it to stick to the future clear coat? How are the clear coats holding up to the toy's transformation and moving/rubbing areas? I think I have to modify my weathering techniques for the toy as I don't think my models would hold up well to the handling demands of a toy.

I'd love to see a nice detailed photoshoot of your Michael VF-25G masterpiece! You've done such an amazing job with the other ones already, but understanding weathering techniques on a dark coloured plane is a whole different ballpark! Did you add any additional decals?

[MacrossJunkie]

Amazing effect, especially Alto's white valk. I would be happy to pay you for your time and skill any day.

Now if only I knew where mine was at....

Thank you. Doing other people's valks is probably a can of worms I'd like not to open, however. In my head, so many things could go wrong.

And what do you mean if you only knew where yours was at? o.O

Thanks MacrossJunkie! That was very informative. I've tried one of the Tamiya weathering kits before, but I've always found it a problem getting it to stick to glossy clear coat surfaces or bare plastic, its just seems to slide right off. It seemed to work best on top of flat finishes - do you have a trick for getting it to stick to the future clear coat? How are the clear coats holding up to the toy's transformation and moving/rubbing areas? I think I have to modify my weathering techniques for the toy as I don't think my models would hold up well to the handling demands of a toy.

I'd love to see a nice detailed photoshoot of your Michael VF-25G masterpiece! You've done such an amazing job with the other ones already, but understanding weathering techniques on a dark coloured plane is a whole different ballpark! Did you add any additional decals?

The slick bare plastic is certainly extremely difficult to get the weathering to stay on and requires a lot of effort so that's why I start with a clear coat which seems to take the weathering easier. when using the brush that comes with the kits, the trick is to use more pressure and the the part of the brush that's closer to the metal handle as that is where it is stiffest (just be careful not to accidentally scrape the handle against the finish). Otherwise, it may be easier to find a brush with stiffer bristles to do the drybrushing with. You're practically rubbing the powder into the clear coat with repeated motions and some light pressure. I'm probably making it sound more tedious than it really is.

You do have to take some care while handling the toy during transformations. I screwed up a little during the second clear coat phase and the head got in the way and scraped the clear coat at the edge of the backplate. Repeated additional coats didn't help smooth it out. I've since fixed it by treating it like a chip in car paint and instead of spraying on future, I used a fine brush to dab some of the flat coat onto the chipped area and let future's auto leveing properties to take care of the rest. I then blended the weathering and sprayed a little more of the flat coat localized over the area to seal it in. In retrospect, I should have popped the head off completely so it would be less of a hassle.

Once you let future dry for a couple days, it should be pretty solid and durable. I can transform it back and forth and there's no wear along the wing hinges, the edges of the hip guns that meets the wing root, the side of the legs or the chest area. There are only three parts you have to really pay careful attention to while transforming. One is the tip of the black area on the nose after you've folded the tip of the nose down while transforming to battroid mode. The blue area on the shoulders that have the "SMS" and "003" markings while taking the arms out from fighter mode or putting them back in. Finally, the back of the arms in fighter mode when using the GERWALK joint as the blue plastic part of the leg that's just behind the white intakes can scrape along the plastic if not careful while straightening it out to put into fighter mode. I'm a little less than careful, but so far those places have held up. Those are just the potential problem areas during transformation that I'd like people to be aware of.

More shots of my 25G are found here in this thread:

http://www.macrosswo...ndpost&p=999220

I need to figure out how to do the lighting better while achieving the lighting I need. In some shots as it caused a look of splotchy whiteness in some photos. The first photo in fighter mode and the one in this thread are closer to what it looks like in real life though still a tad bit exaggerated. The fading and whiteness in some areas are way overexaggerated and doesn't look quite as consistent from pic to pic due to the way the light is reflecting off the surface I think. The battroid mode pics turned out pretty well.

Oh yeah, I didn't add any additional decals because they pretty much got the bases covered as far as markings are concerned which is nice from a lazy person's (e.g. me) perspective.

Edited October 15, 2012 by MacrossJunkie

[wm cheng]

Thanks MJ!

Beautiful photos too! Although I seem to be having a problem seeing the 2,3,4th ones, the rest are ok and I will promptly save them to my computer! I hope to follow in your footsteps when I finally get my VF-25G (I got shipping notification today, but I opted for the 2-3wk SAL with tracking).

[MacrossJunkie]

Thanks MJ!

Beautiful photos too! Although I seem to be having a problem seeing the 2,3,4th ones, the rest are ok and I will promptly save them to my computer! I hope to follow in your footsteps when I finally get my VF-25G (I got shipping notification today, but I opted for the 2-3wk SAL with tracking).

I actually just removed those photos because I thought they were bad. I put up some new ones with better results after playing with the lighting more.

[zulu]

I just received my 2 valks today from NY and I was pretty happy with the overall experience of ordering with them. I will gladly place another order from them for the super packs and hopefully the RVF.

Thanks Nippon!

[Bunneh]

@ MacrossJunkie

As of this morning when I posted, I still had no signs of my valk since it hit customs in New York. I went out today to shop for my wife's B Day presents, and with my luck of course...came back to see a note from teh USPS lady on my door....

You guessed it- she tried to deliver it while I was out. It has been weeks, another day won't make a difference I suppose.

[MacrossJunkie]

Awww, that sucks. At that point, I normally just take the slip with me and head to the post office the following morning before going to work to pick it up since the USPS in my area doesn't automatically try to redeliver the following day. I'd have to put the signed slip back in the mailbox and then they take it back and do the redelivery the day after that. I'm not patient enough to wait an extra two days when I know it's just within my grasp

Edited October 15, 2012 by MacrossJunkie

[eugimon]

I actually just removed those photos because I thought they were bad. I put up some new ones with better results after playing with the lighting more.

have you tried taking HDR shots for the 25g? If you don't crank it up, I think you should be able to get some nice shots that show off your weathering without all the blown highlights.

[MacrossJunkie]

have you tried taking HDR shots for the 25g? If you don't crank it up, I think you should be able to get some nice shots that show off your weathering without all the blown highlights.

I figured out what was the problem. Adobe Lightroom was f'ing up my photos when I imported them so that I could convert the RAWs to JPEGs. I was trying to wrap my mind around why it looked so different when previewed in the camera and I finally realized that was the problem. It was killing the color range and blowing things all out of proportion without me doing a single thing to the photos. I need to figure out how to get it to not do that. For now I have started using the Nikon software that my camera came with instead since it leaves the photos intact. I haven't tried doing HDR shots, but I should look into that. The three latest pics I put in the other thread have a better color range and the highlights aren't shot to hell.

[eugimon]

Nikon has a NEF codec for adobe that will let you work with the files in the original format.

[MacrossJunkie]

Nikon has a NEF codec for adobe that will let you work with the files in the original format.

Is that different from the Adobe RGB setting in the camera?

[eugimon]

Is that different from the Adobe RGB setting in the camera?

yeah, Adobe RGB allows for you to be able to print to CMYK printers from RGB monitors and get good color reproduction. NEF is Nikon's raw format. They're both going to affect the colors but in different ways.

When you convert (or shoot in) to a compressed format like JPEG, you tend to lose some information or certain things become simpler, like having banding in gradients. If you use the NEF codec and work in photoshop (or whatever) then it lets you deal with the original information and then you can convert the file to jpeg or whatever for posting, but you can better control how aggressive the compression will be.

Edited October 16, 2012 by eugimon

[MacrossJunkie]

Yeah, that's what I've been (accidentally) shooting in. I had set it to store in the the highest quality (14 bit depth) raw and the color space was set to adobe RGB. I'm actually not sure how I ended up in the Adobe RGB. I usually shoot in sRGB, I must have set it to that sometime and forgot. As I understand it, Adobe RGB is more useful for photos to be used in print while the sRGB color space is better for viewing on monitors and such. Strangely enough, it is the photos I shot in Adobe RGB that Lightroom completely screws up. For some reason, it automatically sets black levels to 5, contrast to 25, brightness to 50 and does some other weird settings, regardless of the photo. If I set those back to 0, the image still looks weird and about 2EV settings underexposed compared to how the photo should be.

[Darth Mingus]

I got mine today from NY. I did a quick transform and the Valk was OK. I had a heart attack when I opened the styrofoam part of the package and saw the tow cabes where the gun usually was. I thought I got a dude that was packaged without a rifle. Then I glanced over at the stand package and saw the gun.

[UN Spacy]

Enjoy...subscribe...it's all good.

[Bunneh]

Thanks for all your reviews on YouTube. Nice job.

I'm off to the post office to grab mine.

[Bunneh]

OK

Everything on my valk is pretty much spot on

EXCEPT-

Right wing is slightly warped, you can't tell unless you really try to look for it. Right landing gear door is slightly weak (maybe left door is really tight?)

What's up with the right side?

And yeah, does anyone else think the included display stand is a fail?? I might have to get a Flightpose and improvise on the tips.

[Benbot]

I'm far too cautious to attempt any custom work on my Valkyries. Too much money is invested in them and so much that I could screw up. That's what Gundam kits are for!

[Chronocidal]

And yeah, does anyone else think the included display stand is a fail?? I might have to get a Flightpose and improvise on the tips.

The display stands do what they are meant to do, but I've never cared for how obscenely bulky they are. Someday when I get space to actually display the valks I have, I'll probably build my own stands for them. I'm not sure how I'll do it yet, but that method of using rubber coated wire to make custom shaped supports is looking pretty promising.

For now, the ones I keep out are either displayed on their gear, or standing upright on their feet.

[Bunneh]

To be honest, this is my first Messiah I have bought. It was a once in a while purchase simply because it's so costly. I'm too scared to mess with it, so Fighter mode it will remain.

[PsYcHoDyNaMiX]

I got mine in. QC error as it's missing a screw on the front part of the right foot/thruster. There are two screws securing the part... hopefully it wont fall apart. Maybe I can steal a similar screw from the 1st VF-25G that I have.

Other than that no other major QC issues.

[Rusty]

Mine it's just received this afternoon from NY.

[takatoys]

I got mine today from NY. I did a quick transform and the Valk was OK. I had a heart attack when I opened the styrofoam part of the package and saw the tow cabes where the gun usually was. I thought I got a dude that was packaged without a rifle. Then I glanced over at the stand package and saw the gun.

Same reaction when I lifted the cardboard cover. My heart was beating in agony thinking how I was going to get the gun from HLJ.

Found the gun and and pulse went back to normal. This toy is awesome, Bandai got it right this time.

[kanedaestes]

Happy to report mine is good to go yaaaaay was getting worried.

[anime52k8]

The display stands do what they are meant to do, but I've never cared for how obscenely bulky they are. Someday when I get space to actually display the valks I have, I'll probably build my own stands for them. I'm not sure how I'll do it yet, but that method of using rubber coated wire to make custom shaped supports is looking pretty promising.

For now, the ones I keep out are either displayed on their gear, or standing upright on their feet.

I still think mini camera tripods screwed upside down into a block of acrylic is the best solution anyone's ever come up with.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Metal-Universal-Tripod-Stand-For-Digital-Camera-/300541955622?pt=US_Tripods&hash=item45f9b24e26

[Reïvaj]

Source: B_A_T_

[Ignacio Ocamica]

Great pictures and great poses!

[Loop]

Just wanted to say WTF super parts.... They have already announced them for the 30th YF-29.