Bandai Macross Δ Mecha Collection Small Scale Plastic Model Kits

[Phil]

I cut out the center of the Elysion antenna.  Drilled a small hole in the center first, then a bigger hole with a bigger bit, and then used a Xacto to scrape out the rest.  I'm not done with the model yet - I'll post a pic when I'm done.

[David Hingtgen]

Hmmn.  I just barely started scoring, after thinking about the drill method.   Abandoned it, but may re-try, now that I hear drilling works.  

[Phil]

Still not done, but decided to post a picture anyway.  Drilled multiple holes with multiple size drill bits.

 

[David Hingtgen]

Doing the same.  In-progress pic:

 

 

Edit:. Think that's about as good as it'll get:

 

[David Hingtgen]

All done:

(Camera phone on kitchen table---will do better/proper pics later)

 

Edit---probably better if I use an angle that actually shows the hollowed-out antenna:

 

[mickyg]

Looks great, David!

[Graham]

Awesome.

 

[seti88]

Nice! would be proud to have that on display! 

[no3Ljm]

 Lovely.

 

[chyll2]

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1059309484&ref=list

[MechTech]

That looks REALLY good! - MT

[arbit]

Looks really good!

[mickyg]

Finally finished masking and got some paint on last night. I'm using Mr Metal Color "chrome silver" thinned with Mr Color Leveling Thinner in about a 1:1 ratio. The whole thing took two drops of paint to two of thinner!

Some of the masking is humbrol masking fluid, the rest is Tamiya tape. 

Top:

Bottom, with one side already painted:

Two views of the finished top side:

I applied masking fluid with a toothpick to the canopy area. We'll see how well it turns out after I remove it this evening. 

Mr Metal Color buffs really well so the sheen you see here will become more brilliant and smooth after I go over it with a cotton swab. I hope it's thick enough to not completely disappear after buffing. 

Edited February 13, 2017 by mickyg
Phone autocorrect issues

[mickyg]

My favourite part is pulling the tape off after painting. Did that this evening and was mostly happy with the results. The masking fluid is awesome but if you apply it to haphazardly, it can leak into nearby nooks and crannies and it's tricky to remove. 

Anyway, here's progress. I am wondering if I should start a different thread or just park them here. Really just want to showcase how nice these little things look when a bit of effort is put into them. 

Buffed with a cotton swab and then regular tissues (which actually worked better):

All the tape after removal:

Bottom view (with stickers for the dark areas):

Top view:

Closer view of the canopy area. It's not perfect but it's also not bad for dabbing masking fluid on with a toothpick!

I managed to get all the masking stuff out after taking these pictures but it was not easy. Very strong, very accurate closing tweezers were required. 

Edited February 14, 2017 by mickyg

[MechTech]

That's looking really good so far! - MT

[mickyg]

Thanks MT!

I've made more progress but seem to have forgotten to photograph it.  I've painted the cameras around the canopy a transparent red, then filled in the "frame" around them with a heavily thinned black, and also used that mix to hit some of the panel lines.  I then misted a coat of future over the whole thing.  The Mr Metal Color seems to want to almost tarnish if left to the air.  The good news is the future doesn't seem to have impacted the finish too negatively.  The bad news is that the rest of the model is now obviously glossy.

I've hit the nacelles, feet and canopies of my other VF-31s in the last few days, all with various shades of metallics.  Hoping to get them all to similar stages of completion together, rather than doing them all individually.

 

[sketchley]

Picked up the VF-31J Super Siegfried last weekend, and started work on it this week.  The biggest change to the base kit is that the engine nacelles are completely new molds.  That's not a problem for the top ones, but it is a problem with the bottom ones... in short, while the light grey fuselage from the original molds fit smoothly, the white fuselage/wings do NOT.

As it's quite small, you can probably get away with leaving it as-is.  The seam line between the light grey and white wing parts is basically flush, except for the very rear of the kit, where the white side pops up about 1 mm.

1. grey and white sections flush, neither 'clicked' into the dark grey engine nacelle part at the rear.

2. light grey clicked into the dark grey.  Mind the gap with the white part!

3. normal type VF-31J for comparison.  Wing parts line up flush.

4. best shot I could get highlighting the gap.  (the front section of the wings isn't properly affixed with the dark grey plastic - I was test fitting at this point to see where I had to file).

So, I set about 'fixing' the problem.  It's a relatively easy fix, and if you keep your filing strokes angled correctly toward the interior of the dark engine nacelle part, you won't have to worry about banging up the outer surface of the kit!  (In other words, even novice modellers can do this with little fear of wrecking the kit!)

 

Tools: hobby file, parts separator (freebie from now defunct Dengeki Hobby Magazine)

Top tip: keep the dark grey lower engine nacelle part attached to the nose part, as the section that joins the two halves of the dark grey part is flimsy, and was already showing stress marks from merely disassembling the kit.  It makes the filing hassle free!

1. one side shaved down.  The interior side that was filed off is roughly level with the internal hollow.  It gradually angles up to the exterior of the part.

2. rear view with one side filed down.

3. test fit to check filing.  Left side is filed (wing parts are flush), right side is not (wing parts not flush)

4. filing complete!

5. reassembled.  White and light grey fuselage/wing parts flush, and rear part of the wing Super Packs properly seated 'inside' the white wing part.

 

All told, it took about 15-20 min to do this fix.  But a big chunk of that time was figuring out where, what, and how much to file off, as well as taking pictures.

Edited February 27, 2017 by sketchley

[mickyg]

Thanks for taking the time to post this!  Very interesting that this part isn't quite as well done as the rest is.

Questions about the kit:

• Do the original "non-super'd" parts still come in the kit?
• Do we still have the lack of markings for the bottom of the kit that is present in all the others?

I have one of these on order and sitting in my private warehouse at HLJ, but unfortunately it will expire before the DX SV-262 hits my private warehouse.  I may ship it before then, or cancel it outright and pay the silly restocking fee for such a small purchase. 

Once again, the small price of these kits is a very good thing!

[sketchley]

2 hours ago, mickyg said:

 

• Do the original "non-super'd" parts still come in the kit?
• Do we still have the lack of markings for the bottom of the kit that is present in all the others?

 

1) no.  All parts that have been 'covered' by Super Parts have been replaced with new molds (forward fuselage head area, upper engine nacelles, lower engine nacelles/inner wings, and vertical tails).

2) no stickers for the underside.  There are a pair to put on the sides of the legs, but they're like unit markings, and not proper colour swatches.

 

Annoyingly, the folded-over tails are molded in dark grey plastic.  They only provide stickers for one side.  So, it looks like I'm going to have to paint them white...

[Kelsain]

Am I crazy, or had somebody made & posted an Elysion modified into attacker mode? I want to say it was in a little diorama overlooking Barrette City. 

I could have sworn I saw it here, but haven't been able to track it down...

[sketchley]

And the finished VF-31A Super Pack...

 

I'm glade that I decided to paint the folded over tails.  Not only does the white on the sticker for the tops come out stronger, the underside also looks closer to the anime (in two ways: the tails themselves, and the tabs on the parts that sticks into the main wings).

I was thinking about doing some additional painting (e.g.: engine nozzles and head laser cannon), but went for the quick build.

 

Now... problems: aside from the aforementioned leg parts not sitting flush in the wings, there's also the stickers.

The underside being bare is disappointing, but not unexpected.  The main problem is the stickers for the small, forward missile launchers (either side of the head laser cannon), and the grey spots on the Super Pack boosters.  The gaps in them just didn't want to line up!

Also, I dropped one of the stickers for the blue bands at the back of the Super Pack Boosters, and one end folded over.  As I couldn't get it separated, I had to trim it off... on both packs!  So, handle with care...

[MechTech]

It came out great Sketchley!  The smaller scales are more "fun" top deal with anyhow. - MT

[mickyg]

Got one finished today. Decided to just do the minimum on it. Just painted the nacelles, nozzles, canopy, and a few accents on the stabilisers, wings and head. The Gundam marker yellow is a decent match, even though my pics make it look otherwise. 

 

[MechTech]

Nice finish; I like the colors too! - MT

[Graham]

Can we see a pic of the underside of the radar pod please? Interested to see how it looks.

[mickyg]

Now you'll all know I didn't "really" finish it!

Pardon the gray gundam marker that I didn't bother to clean up very well, along with the whole underside that remains unfinished.

[seti88]

Those are large taco undies!....Are they supposed to be so large? cant imagine them in the 1/72 and 1/60 scale...

[mickyg]

I tried to imagine the parts unfolded when I was messing around with painting the thing.  I think they're fairly accurate.  Bear in mind that the angle I snapped the pic at is going to exaggerate how far the part looks to "hang" below the legs.  In reality, they're about the same thickness.  If I snapped a pic from the side, I don't think you'd even see the sides of the dish.

[Wolf-1]

On 3/18/2017 at 3:53 AM, mickyg said:

Got one finished today. Decided to just do the minimum on it. Just painted the nacelles, nozzles, canopy, and a few accents on the stabilisers, wings and head. The Gundam marker yellow is a decent match, even though my pics make it look otherwise. 

 

GM mecha gray or GM13 works well for all the underside parts that need "touched up".  Sharpie's Magenta paint pen matched really well to Mirage's color; their blue not so much with Hayate though it will work if the lack of color/detail drives one crazy.  Messer's is easy but I haven't had any luck matching Moulder's. 

 

[mickyg]

Yeah, Arad's required a special mix of blue and green from my acrylic paint stockpile.  I got close but it still looked a bit off when compared to the stickers.

See here for how I did on that one:

 

Edited March 23, 2017 by mickyg

[ridgebacks]

Finally! Been waiting for this since February.