Mog’s a Low-Down, Dirty Rotten Copy-Cat (Modded Matchbox SDF-1)

[Mog]

Since no toy company was making an updated TV Style SDF-1, I finally caved and got an old-school Matchbox version.

While waiting for it, I started seeing all the customs and mods everyone was doing or did to theirs.  Needless to say, y’all are a bunch of enablers!  

I was only gonna do a few changes, but I decided to do a “few” more custom touches.  So yeah, I’ve been cribbing notes from everyone’s work.

It looked like the Macross I got was in good condition (no yellowing, all railguns in great condition, etc.).

But it had this issue:

I’m gerry-rigging a workaround, since the plastic around the ratchet is kinda brittle.  But I’ll see how well it succeeds, once I reassemble that whole chest/main guns area.

First up, I painted and detailed the Prometheus and the Daedelus:

Spent too many times referencing back to the M3 website.

Painting the lines yellow (that mark off the Prometheus’ elevators) was an idea I cribbed from @nightmareB4macross’s awesome custom.

The sides of the Daedelus looked kinda bare, so I made some homemade stickers to detail her up.

I’ll post more as I get other bits done.

[tekering]

That's clean work, Mog.  

Still, it amazes me how you all just repaint the Daedalus and call it a day.  It's by far the least-accurate part of the whole toy, and I'm not talking details...

I mean, the whole shape is wrong!  

You could whittle a more accurate prow out of wood.  

[big F]

8 hours ago, tekering said:

That's clean work, Mog.  

Still, it amazes me how you all just repaint the Daedalus and call it a day.  It's by far the least-accurate part of the whole toy, and I'm not talking details...

I mean, the whole shape is wrong!  

You could whittle a more accurate prow out of wood.  

Or a house brick.

[derex3592]

Is it wrong that I actually prefer the more stream lined look of the Matchbox toy Daedalus???    I can't be the only one!             ***runs and hides from @tekering and others*

[Mog]

I think a happy medium would be something between the old Matchbox version and the model(?) in tekering’s photo.

Now that I’m staring at the model and the pics on M3, the old toy does look like someone mashed down the front door and made it too flat.

But the overall shape still evokes a sub.

If they had rounded out the edges, it would have helped a bit too.  

I can live with it on a 35 year-old toy, but would probably scream bloody, hell murder if Bandai or Arcadia did something like this now.

Given my limited skills spray-painting and some dumb foul-ups I’ve done, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna have to make some “eh, good enough” decisions.

[nightmareB4macross]

13 hours ago, tekering said:

That's clean work, Mog.  

Still, it amazes me how you all just repaint the Daedalus and call it a day.  It's by far the least-accurate part of the whole toy, and I'm not talking details...

I mean, the whole shape is wrong!  

You could whittle a more accurate prow out of wood.  

Just chop and channel the hull, add fins. Then rework the deck by removing and thinning the bridge and finally rework the hatch.

All simple mods which are very effective.

[big F]

3 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Is it wrong that I actually prefer the more stream lined look of the Matchbox toy Daedalus???    I can't be the only one!             ***runs and hides from @tekering and others*

Hunt him down he can’t hide forever.... his kind can’t be allowed to prosper.....   

LoL if we didn’t have the internet full of line art and screen caps we would be happy with Matchbox’s version.

[Mog]

Added some light panel-lining to the center fuselage and one of the main guns.

And reattached the repainted leg.

Made a couple of foul-ups making the A-stance cuts and with the spray-painting.  But nothing too catastrophic, and I was able to “cheat” a bit when I retouched some areas of the legs.

[nightmareB4macross]

Looking good.

[tekering]

Are you intending to repaint all the blue sections, or just the legs?

[Mog]

All the blue sections.  

Still experimenting with extending the guns (using your styrene technique ), so I’m holding off on reassembling that whole chest/main gun section.

I did back off from painting the Prometheus’ deck, partly because my brush painting tends to be streaky on large areas and partly out of laziness.

I guess my excuse can be that the Prometheus was never intended to be attached to the Macross. 

[tekering]

9 hours ago, Mog said:

I guess my excuse can be that the Prometheus was never intended to be attached to the Macross. 

Actually, I've been wondering lately why the Daedalus and Prometheus would've been painted the exact same blue as the SDF-1...  You know, trying to justify it in-universe.

[DewPoint]

Perhaps look into "Non-skid" deck coatings from Naval ships for inspiration? You can decide if you want to go that route or not. 

[Sanity is Optional]

1 hour ago, tekering said:

Actually, I've been wondering lately why the Daedalus and Prometheus would've been painted the exact same blue as the SDF-1...  You know, trying to justify it in-universe.

Easiest explanation? Standardized paint colors. If it's not environment specific, why wouldn't everything be painted using the same shades if the same organization is buying the paint?

[slide]

1 minute ago, Sanity is Optional said:

Easiest explanation? Standardized paint colors. If it's not environment specific, why wouldn't everything be painted using the same shades if the same organization is buying the paint?

This.

for example: US Navy ships are all the same color of red beneath the waterline, and most are the same color of gray above the waterline.

slight variations will happen because of fading, different lots of paint, etc,

Edited April 23, 2020 by slide

[pengbuzz]

On 4/22/2020 at 11:20 PM, slide said:

This.

for example: US Navy ships are all the same color of red beneath the waterline, and most are the same color of gray above the waterline.

slight variations will happen because of fading, different lots of paint, etc,

Exactly; it's called "red lead" or "antifouling red" for the hull below the waterline, and "haze grey" above. I suspect UN Spacy wanted to "break up" the hull lines on the Macross so that the enemy didn't have one solid-colored target to strike at (in space, dakrer colors would not sho up so well). Also, I suspect without Earth's atmosphere, the year-long trip, exposed to the solar wind, charged particles, UV and other forms of radiation (solar and extra-solar) would take a farily hefty toll on the ship. So, like with any mode, what point in time you're depicting would also determine it as well.

  

On 4/22/2020 at 12:03 PM, Mog said:

All the blue sections.  

Still experimenting with extending the guns (using your styrene technique ), so I’m holding off on reassembling that whole chest/main gun section.

I did back off from painting the Prometheus’ deck, partly because my brush painting tends to be streaky on large areas and partly out of laziness.

I guess my excuse can be that the Prometheus was never intended to be attached to the Macross. 

if you take a look at modern flight decks after some use, they have wheel marks and streaks all over the place. And yeah: neither carrier really were intended to be attached to the Macross. But most anti-slip/skid coatings on flight decks actually tends to be black/ dark charcoal grey.

Edited April 24, 2020 by pengbuzz

[Mog]

Semi-related, when I visited the USS Missouri and the USS Iowa (on separate occasions), it was interesting that both of those WWII battleships had wooden decks.

Apparently, one of the reasons was that sailors were less likely to slip on the wooden decks, even when the wood got wet or covered in oil.

Interesting little tidbit I learned on those tours.

[slide]

3 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

...(in space, dakrer colors would not sho up so well). ...

Bear in mind though: dark colours absorb light, which in space means heat, which you can't radiate to get rid of it

Thus very dark colours approaching black are a no-go.

The best camouflage colour for space would actually be something like Mountbatten Pink...

worked quite well for the SAS and LRDP units in Africa during WW2

but again, heat dissipation issues in space are no joke.

 

1 hour ago, Mog said:

Semi-related, when I visited the USS Missouri and the USS Iowa (on separate occasions), it was interesting that both of those WWII battleships had wooden decks.

Apparently, one of the reasons was that sailors were less likely to slip on the wooden decks, even when the wood got wet or covered in oil.

Interesting little tidbit I learned on those tours.

Teak is wonderful stuff... Many capitol ships use(d) it for decking, as it's very resilient, and according to my Tour-guides on USS Missouri and HMS Victory it's the best natural non-slip surface [as far as wood goes, anyway]

Edited April 24, 2020 by slide

[Sanity is Optional]

Well, you're half-right, and half-wrong.

Emissivity is actually highest for black, and lowest for white. However the same is also true for absorption. Ideally you want anything facing the sun to be light and reflective, but anything not facing the sun should be black and have as large of a surface area as possible to radiate excess heat more efficiently.

[big F]

22 hours ago, slide said:

Teak is wonderful stuff... Many capitol ships use(d) it for decking, as it's very resilient, and according to my Tour-guides on USS Missouri and HMS Victory it's the best natural non-slip surface [as far as wood goes, anyway]

Isn't Teak also one of the woods that bugs don't eat, so that adds to its usefulness.

[Mog]

“Whoa, we’re halfway there”. . . 

So, here’s what I’ve been up to since the last update:

* Repainted the bridge, changing the red stripe to black (the factory red had a lot of slop) and using chrome paint and a blue Tamiya clear to redo the bridge window.

* Did minor paint details and added a few of the stickers to the bridge and center fuselage areas.

* Like @tekering, cut a notch into the main gun and added magnets to help the main guns from drooping.

* Painted and extended the main gun.

* Much like @tekering, used polystyrene for the gun extensions (though mine probably looks a lot rougher).

* Cut the connecting joint to the main gun tip and used a polystyrene rod to extend the length and maintain the rotation:

* Because the shoulder joints were so badly broken, I basically used a semi-long screw to act as the one rod through which the main gun rotates AND around which the shoulder ratchet-joint rotates.  

* The screw is a little off-center for the shoulder joint, but the shoulder can still rotate and maintain its ratcheted hold.

* Because of the screw I used, I had to use drill bits to enlarge the “divot” in the die-cast metal (so the chest assembly could sit a little more flush with the center fuselage):

* Painted up and panel-lined the shoulders and their rail guns.

Still have to retouch the main guns with white paint, but still happy with how everything worked out.

Armless and busted no more!:

[MechTech]

That looks a lot better Mog! Your changes made it more realistic and cleaned it up. The Daedalus has been messed up in a lot of toys and kits. I wouldn't have noticed though if I didn't spend so much time building my model. As far as the blue color goes, it makes it easier on the artists painting the animation cells    My family has been watching the Macross saga and I keep asking myself the same questions about the blue. Blue is so non-military; ya know? - MT

[tekering]

Geez, you work fast, Mog!  

Are you gonna repaint the Prometheus deck to match the bright blue of your SDF-1?

[nightmareB4macross]

Wow Mog, that is coming along nicely.

Keep it up, you’re almost there!!

[Mog]

Thanks!  Still gotta repaint the other leg, chest pieces, and main gun.  Then still gotta make the cuts and mods to the chest pieces and the other main gun.

Getting one half done is easy, the hard part will be getting everything to match up and align on the other side.

As far as repainting the Prometheus' deck, I had already laid down the sticker and painted the deck details.  Plus, I didn't like how streaky my brush painting was on the Daedalus.  It would have been glaringly worse on the Prometheus' flat surface.

Between family duties, keeping tabs on the kiddos' Zoom meetings and their homework, and doing the whole work from home bit, I need a fun distraction to get the creative juices flowing.  The fun challenge is figuring out what I can work on each day or what little bit I can squeeze in between tasks or while waiting for stuff to dry.

Plus, I'm a little stubborn and got on a hot streak late last night.

Edited April 27, 2020 by Mog

[sketchley]

On 4/25/2020 at 3:22 AM, Sanity is Optional said:

Well, you're half-right, and half-wrong.

Emissivity is actually highest for black, and lowest for white. However the same is also true for absorption. Ideally you want anything facing the sun to be light and reflective, but anything not facing the sun should be black and have as large of a surface area as possible to radiate excess heat more efficiently.

So... this is why the Parker Space Probe has white on the sun shield (facing the sun) and black on the other sides (on the parts not covered in foil)?

Edited April 27, 2020 by sketchley

[slide]

12 hours ago, sketchley said:

So... this is why the Parker Space Probe has white on the sun shield (facing the sun) and black on the other sides (on the parts not covered in foil)?

Precisely.

 

21 hours ago, Mog said:

“Whoa, we’re halfway there”. . . 

looking great so far Mog!!

[Mog]

Welp, we got a one-armed bandit in our midst now!

[pengbuzz]

14 hours ago, Mog said:

Welp, we got a one-armed bandit in our midst now!

Show-accurate as of the final episode!

[Mog]

Other than some minor touch-ups, I’m done with painting (at least spray-painting).

Now comes the hard part:  waiting for everything to dry properly and completely.

[Mog]

Told ya’ I’m impatient :

Still have to panel-line a few spots, paint up one set of foot boosters, and confirm the main guns mesh and hold up in cruiser mode.

But I’m pleased with how it all worked out.

Definitely messed up in spots, but was able to come up with workarounds.

[big F]

Its so far removed from where it started.  Need to find mine and see what I can do.

[nightmareB4macross]

8 hours ago, Mog said:

Told ya’ I’m impatient :

Still have to panel-line a few spots, paint up one set of foot boosters, and confirm the main guns mesh and hold up in cruiser mode.

But I’m pleased with how it all worked out.

Definitely messed up in spots, but was able to come up with workarounds.

Nothing more to do but call it a day!

That came out great Mog. Congratulations!

Edited May 3, 2020 by nightmareB4macross
.

[tekering]

I just can't get over how quickly you've done all that, Mog.

I'm still blending edges and scribing panel lines, and I'm nowhere near ready for painting...  

[big F]

1 hour ago, tekering said:

I just can't get over how quickly you've done all that, Mog.

I'm still blending edges and scribing panel lines, and I'm nowhere near ready for painting...  

LOL Im still at the go into the attic and locate the box with my Matchbox Macross stuff in stage.