1/60 Arcadia VF-0B & VF-0C Conversions

[wmkjr]

Finished VF-0B here and here.

Finished VF-0C  here.

 

Hello. I always wanted both a VF-0B and a VF-0C but I doubt Arcadia will do them (though one can hope!). I bought extra D's and A's in the hopes that the canopies could be swapped so I could make both a B and C. Thankfully they could and posted a couple of pics in the toys section. Although they looked okay I thought "both of them need a paintjob" so here I am. Bear with me as I'm a noob at these things so some of the ways I do things might not be the best way but it worked for me.

Some helpful tools to have are: 

Spudger/Pry tool kit for the tiny screw hole covers and areas that need a little gentle help.

Roll pin set and a small hammer to access the pins in the swing bar and to separate the chest piece. Don't need to do this using the new way.

Extra plastic containers with lids labeled to keep all the small parts together. Don't do what I did and leave them in ziplocs as I found out the hard way as my darling wife threw a bag of small parts out into the rubbish and I spent half a day sorting through bags looking for it

First thing I did was to take apart as much of the valks as I could so that I could mask and paint. Here is a pic of it apart, primed with Tamiya fine grey, and sprayed in AS-16 light grey. The legs are together and hanging.

The rest of the time was masking and painting the various colors. I decided not to do the SPW scheme and instead do the VF-8 theme in the Master File. I sprayed the nose and lighter colored parts AS-20 insignia white, TS-16 yellow, and TS-29 semi gloss. After I let everything dry I put it all back together. Here's some pics of it in gerwalk and fighter modes. There's still a lot of stuff I need to touch up and put on some decals but that's where I'm at now. Thanks for stopping by!

Here is the scheme for the VF-0B:

This is the VF-0C scheme:

3/13/17: I added on the VF-0C to this thread so that I don't need to do another one.

Edit 3/22/17

VF-0B Colors:

Tamiya fine grey primer, AS-16 light grey for the main color, AS-20 Insignia white for the lighter parts, TS-18 yellow and TS-29 Semi gloss black. TS-80 flat clear.

VF-0C Colors:

Tamiya fine grey primer, TS-81 Royal light grey for the main, AS-7 Neutral grey, TS-15 Blue, TS-16 Yellow, and TS-29 Semi gloss black. TS-80 flat clear.

 

EDITED: 8/26/17

I want to thank fellow member Ratatarse as he also did conversions but had a different way of converting. The difference is that he showed an easier way to convert than the way I did it. All he did was swap the cockpit sections along with the cockpit shields. Disregard all the rest of the instructions as my method was trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Lol.

 

Edited August 28, 2017 by wmkjr
Added new instructions for an easier method of converting.

[Xigfrid]

Holy S... ! You are making me dream

A question: did you clean the original paint before the tamiya grey primer ? With a solvent like alcohol or light sanding ?

 

[chyll2]

damn, you are killing it.

[pengbuzz]

Excuse me...I need to go pick my jaw up off the floor just now. It fell when I saw this!!!

Awesome work so far, wmkjr!!! Looking forward to the updates!!

 

[barurutor]

Awesome! someone post this to Mr. K twitter!

[wmkjr]

5 hours ago, Xigfrid said:

Holy S... ! You are making me dream

A question: did you clean the original paint before the tamiya grey primer ? With a solvent like alcohol or light sanding ?

 

Just a quick wipe with a microfiber cloth. The primer and sprays look like they stick to the plastic pretty good  as I scratched and dropped a few pieces without even fazing it. The Tamiya sprays are pretty hardy though I did give them a few days in between colors. 

Edited March 8, 2017 by wmkjr

[mickyg]

Very nice start!  You sure you're new to this kind of thing?

[505thAirborne]

Looks amazing! Can't wait to see the final product, great to see other VF-0B fans!! 

[no3Ljm]

'nuff said.

 

[Mommar]

Sweet.  Are you going to knock out a C after this?

[wmkjr]

17 hours ago, mickyg said:

Very nice start!  You sure you're new to this kind of thing?

Thanks guys. Yes, with the exception of the X-9 this is my first try at something like this.

1 hour ago, Mommar said:

Sweet.  Are you going to knock out a C after this?

Yes, I'm in the middle of masking it for primer right now. That one will be in the regular VMFAT-203 scheme. It's a little more work as for whatever reasons Arcadia decided to glue the back half of the conformal tanks where you'd swap out for the slotted ones. I ended up snapping them off with the pegs still in but thankfully I have the slotted ones from the VF-0B that I'm not gonna use with it. I just drilled out the pegs in the holes.

The B is slowly coming along. I gotta get the decals/stickers on and decide if I wanna try to panel line it or leave it as is.

Edited March 9, 2017 by wmkjr

[Mommar]

17 hours ago, wmkjr said:

It's a little more work as for whatever reasons Arcadia decided to glue the back half of the conformal tanks where you'd swap out for the slotted ones.

Wow, what an odd thing to even bother doing.  Why prevent that?

[valhary]

I wish see this scheme on the 0c

[wmkjr]

5 hours ago, valhary said:

I wish see this scheme on the 0c

*snip*

That's the scheme I'm working on right now. Does anyone have the Decals for the VF-0C and would be willing to provide a high res scan?

Edited March 11, 2017 by wmkjr

[Mommar]

We will require hundreds or pictures. 

[Xigfrid]

Yes! We need more more pictures

[wmkjr]

Hello again. Here is where I'm at now. I put the B on the side for now till everything is cured. I finished priming and spraying the base color for the VF-0C. After I let it sit for few days I sprayed on the darker grey color which is what I have now. I'll be masking the front so that I can spray the blue in a few days.

[505thAirborne]

WOW!!!!!!  This is looking good. Someone send these pics to Mr. K's Twitter account with words "Hint hint" attached! 

[David Hingtgen]

Second that---I may like the C even more than the D, and would love an Arcadia one.   (that, or Shin's D in the proper shade of blue)  

[505thAirborne]

https://www.shapeways.com/product/NMN5PCYEF/vf-0-fenix-trainer-b-type-conversion-kit?optionId=42420452&li=marketplace

Here's a possible option for making a VF-0C. Might see if I can get a spare Yamato 0A cheap. 

[barurutor]

Nice linking to kurisama's shop. Support our own!

[wmkjr]

1 hour ago, 505thAirborne said:

https://www.shapeways.com/product/NMN5PCYEF/vf-0-fenix-trainer-b-type-conversion-kit?optionId=42420452&li=marketplace

Here's a possible option for making a VF-0C. Might see if I can get a spare Yamato 0A cheap. 

Yup, it comes out very nice. I've seen 3 of those customs finished. I think it was robodragon, valhary, and ratatarse's ones. I wonder if you can get it where it's printed oriented in the way with less noticible steps visible.

[Xigfrid]

Yes this is a new option, you should ask Kurisama to check the model orientation prior to print it. 

[wmkjr]

I've sprayed the nose blue. Just need to do the leg fins and wing tips then gotta figure out the hardest part to me, the tailfins. I tried looking for a high res image of the tailfins but couldn't find one so I just grabbed a pic online, upscaled as much as could then retraced it line by line in Inkscape. Luckly, my wife has this thing called a Silhouette Cameo so I'm experimenting with using a low tack vinyl decal as a mask. I gave it to her in a png file and she inputted it in her software. The one you see is just a test as she started to throw it away after she thought she made a mistake. I put it on to see if it'll work ( I didn't peel the beak part), I'm impressed at how small that thing can cut! It sticks on pretty good and peels off nice and easy with no residue or damage to the paint. Next thing I'll do is test paint the tailfins then work on the UN MARINES font and right tailfin RH letters as it slants in the opposite direction.

 

Edited March 16, 2017 by wmkjr

[no3Ljm]

 

Lovely.  

 

[seti88]

 Dayum nice progress!

[Xigfrid]

This is the pic of day!

[wmkjr]

BUWAHAHA! 

I did it backwards as I painted the tailfin blue overall then the yellow. Getting access to the smaller parts of the decal is a PITA. Now I gotta draw the other side's RH lettering and redo the decal to face the other way. I don't have the other texts because it's too small to work with.

[505thAirborne]

WOW!!! 

[seti88]

Go go power ranger wmkjr!!

[Chronocidal]

See.. this is what I would basically love to do with all of my models.  Painted markings are just so much more attractive to me, I love trying to paint as much as possible and only use decals for very small lettering and things that would be impractical to paint.

Those vinyl patterns pretty much nailed the markings on the tail, I love how clean that looks.

By the way, as long as you're at it.. why not cut out some clear plastic inserts and replace the painted on wing lights?  That's one feature I was pretty disappointed with when Arcadia didn't keep the clear ones.

Edited March 16, 2017 by Chronocidal

[wmkjr]

17 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

See.. this is what I would basically love to do with all of my models.  Painted markings are just so much more attractive to me, I love trying to paint as much as possible and only use decals for very small lettering and things that would be impractical to paint.

Those vinyl patterns pretty much nailed the markings on the tail, I love how clean that looks.

By the way, as long as you're at it.. why not cut out some clear plastic inserts and replace the painted on wing lights?  That's one feature I was pretty disappointed with when Arcadia didn't keep the clear ones.

I give you credit as it's a PITA to do your own paintings this way.  As far as the clear inserts go I'm not at that level to trust myself with something like that let alone attempt. The one thing that helps me is that I have a lot of free time on my days off from work and can goof off and learn some of the programs to help create these.

[valhary]

arcadia should learn

[wmkjr]

Finished the other tailfin. I also extended the blue at the nose as i found out that it was too short. Here are some pics of it mocked up with the missile pods and canards.

I've run into a mistake on my part. I swapped the upper chest covers thinking that was all that's needed but it appears that I now need to swap the bottom part of it out as the 0D has an indent for the canards and it's on the 0B right now. At first i thought I couldn't get to that part as there are 4 small screws (1 smaller one than the other for the outer hole) holding it together and after taking out the screws it was clamped together pretty tight. I used my spudger set to gently pry it apart.

Here is the top half of the upper chest piece with the 4 screw holes:

Here is the bottom half that I need to swap out under the white area. I just need to take out the pins that's holding it, take apart the 0B a little, then swap them out.

That's it for now.

[slide]

She's a Beauty wmkjr!