My VF-2SS Project

[Brand-X]

To begin, some background, because this is going to be a very personal journey for me, so bear with me here.

I was a little young for Macross, I was born in '84, and didn't discover Macross until '89 or so, when my dad took me to a video store and I saw a copy of Clash of the Bionoids (so unlike most North Americans, I found Macross before Robotech). I was so blown away by it that I, of course, wanted toys, but none were available to me. My dad was a draftsman, and had been teaching me various things about his job from a very young age, so, with his help, I started putting together plans for a toy of my own from watching the movie over and over again, in fact, I swear with the rental costs (the owner of the video store wouldn't sell the tape to my dad) every single weekend he must have bought that video 20 times over. From there, I went to my grandpa's house, he had been a tradesman for decades and had a very well setup workshop in his shed outside. I spent months, every weekend, going over to his house and together we built a very rudimentary, fully transformable VF-1S out of balsa wood. From there on together my dad, my grandpa and I would build other transforming toys together, it was a fantastic bonding experience for 3 generations of a family to all use our individual skills to create something.

Unfortunately, my dad passed away when I was young and my grandpa a few years ago. Just recently it came time for me to sell my grandparents house, and one of the toughest parts was walking through that shed again where we had spent so much time working and getting it all ready for the sale. While going through his belongings I found stacks of sheets for plans for toys that we built together or planned to. It kind of inspired me in the same way I was as a kid. There's no 1/60 VF-2SS out there, and I want to make one for myself.

So, do I have the skills required to do it? Maybe, maybe. I've been building plastic models since I was a kid, my dad taught me a lot about drafting and plans, taking something from a small sketch to a real, physical object. In addition, I've been working with CAD and 3D design programs for nearly 20 years now, and I know my skills up to the task of creating this in conceptual space. It's going to be getting it working in real life that'll be my challenge. I've got a big library of Macross toys from both Arcadia and Bandai, as well as a number of official and third party Transformers to use as reference, and as I collect for my own personal satisfaction rather than value or resale, I've taken most of them apart at some point just to see how they work. We'll see how it goes, but I think I can do it.

So, step 1 is figuring out the mechanics of this. I've begun with a basic, blocked out 3D model. The proportions I've based on some orthographic diagrams I found of the Valkyrie in fighter mode, then I've rearranged them into a Battroid shape along the engineering I have planned for transformation. My challenge next will be re-proportioning the components so that it looks good in all modes. From there I'll go back and re-work the hidden mechanics to fit the corrected shape. Next will be creating the production shape and breaking down the parts. After that, I'm going to get a prototype 3D printed, sand and assemble, make adjustments as needed and continue with that stage until I'm content with the product. From there it's just on to painting and I should be good.

Before you ask, no, this is not up for sale or mass production (though if it turns out well I might make a few extra copies for myself) as I don't even want to begin thinking about the legal issues involved in this, it's just a fun project for myself.

So, now that we've all read a small novel, wish me luck!

Oh, and thanks Dad and Grampa! (Oh and give me a break on this thing, I was like 6 years old...)

So, here's my first test shots, I've blocked out the basic shapes involved here, based on the proportions I found in some orthographic views of the Valkyrie in fighter mode. Unfortunately, they're not true orthos, as the details don't exactly line up between angles, so I've had to compromise on a few details. This is essentially to see where I need to adjust proportions to create a pleasing shape in all modes, so ignore the fact that it's ugly and un-detailed. The coloured bits are just placeholders where some additional engineering will be needed to be hidden somewhere within the figure, so ignore them.

Already I notice that the proportions on the limbs are going to be tweaked, along with the backpack. Surprisingly enough though, the wings actually work well with the size they are in fighter mode, while I find with the VF-1 the wings come in much larger than they should be on Battroid, so that's lucky.

Edited February 18, 2015 by Brand-X

[wmkjr]

This is a pretty cool project you got going on here. You should put this in the workshop section too.

[Brand-X]

Thanks for the encouragement. I figured I'd add it to the workshop section once I actually have something physical in hand to work on, for now everything is still just digital.

[EXO]

I'm sure your dad and gramps will be proud. Good luck!

[Mr March]

A great story and an amazing wood model for the time. I hope your project goes well.

The wings on the VF-2SS Valkyrie II were intentionally designed as much smaller than other atmospheric-centric variable fighters. That's why less "anime magic" is required to accomodate them in Battroid mode. Everything I have on the VF-2SS Valkyrie II is on my website, under the dedicated profiles for that Valkyrie.

http://www.macross2.net/m3/macross2/macross2-index.html

If I ever find any other useful artwork, I'll be sure to post it here.

Best of luck!

Edited February 18, 2015 by Mr March

[Brand-X]

Much appreciated Mr. March, I've been combing through your site already for references and have found lots of useful images for this project. I think at this point I've grabbed every image that exists of this thing on the internet in fact haha!

[dodiano]

I have a very expensove CNC machine that can make the parts for injection moulding. It would be cool to make the tooling for this as a kit. Totally possible.

Oh and I've made a perfect transformation mechanical system for the vf-2ss out of Legos if you care to see.

[Brand-X]

Yeah I'd love to take a look at that for sure, I've got a good idea how I'm going to work it already but it's good to see other methods for sure and see if they're better than mine.

[dodiano]

Let me see if I can post pics later today!!

[Brand-X]

Haha well with the announcement of the new VF-2SS coming out I'm gonna go ahead and put this project on hold.

[DeductiblyBonkers]

I'd keep going tbh. I'm not really impressed with the new VF-2SS yet, sure I'm glad we're getting an official 1/60 VF-2SS at all, but from what you've shown I think I like the proportions on your model better. Seems a bit less flimsy too.

[Galaxy_Stranger]

Wonderful work!