Vf-1s Battroid

[geecie30]

This is my first attempt at a machine.lots of heat even after gluing to get covers under the chest piece to fit but a glass of hot water is all you need to make that pvc soft like rubber bands.I have a cold cup of water to shock the pvc into a solid state after i hold the model into a desired form then it goes to the freezer for a second.I will not glue the legs on until the end because the nose cone is the area of detail that wont be possible if the legs are glued together.I'm not a nut so,there is no way all the detail will be present on the completed version.This vf-1s figure has detail probably no thicker than a hair and that is not necessary for a 1/72 figure like this but it makes a great paint guide also I have found that primer is the color i prefer for pvc models so there will be no airbrushing and such but this kit will be solid primer white.You can see in the southerncross pictures that I have a can of krylon 12 minute primer. while I am waiting for the paint to dry Maybe we can mull over "who invented the logan?"and "Why does the legioss have three modes like the vf-1's?"

Edited July 27, 2004 by geecie30

[geecie30]

Ok i have stuck a chinese skewer in the pivot joint for the legs,thats my twirl rod so the model can spin around when i paint the primer on.I stand outside there is alot of wind so the coverage is perfect and not to thick.the wind difuses the spray and atomizes it better and keeps me and my neighbors from having the smell linger for more than a few seconds

what I didn't know is that the primer brought out the details even more (july 26 04)

the imperfections I will leave for realism/subtle battle damage

Edited July 27, 2004 by geecie30

[geecie30]

see the detail and my buddies from the southern cross wanted to say hi

Edited July 27, 2004 by geecie30

[geecie30]

I just washed the legs with detergent Dawn when they are dry I will paint them couple minutes from now I used that putty tack stuff mine is white to fill/or mask the holes where the legs go so that it comes out of holes easily after painting dry or wet say hi to misa

Edited July 27, 2004 by geecie30

[Grayson72]

Looking good so far, keep the pics coming. Who makes this kit?

Where are you from and who's the girly?

[geecie30]

Iam from San Luis Obispo, California .On Highway101 (same highway that takes you to the original Brady bunch house in Studio city down on Dilling between Elmer and Klump).San Luis Obispo is between Los Angeles and San Fransisco.We had an earth quake right next door not a year ago in Paso Robles.(an earth quake yesterday there too).They filmed Murder by numbers with Sandra bullock in San Luis Obispo.San Luis Obispo for short is called S...L...O(spelled out) or SLOW TOWN.This town is around a one hour North of Santa Barbara(Michael jacksons ranch) and one hour south of Monterey/Carmel(where Clint Eastwood resides)Tracy Peterson and Scott Peterson went to college here and so did Weird Al Yankovic(CAL POLY).Highway 101 also goes north to San Jose and San Fransisco.The catch phrase for our town is people come up for (the) air.

I dont know who cloned this kit but here it is on ebay,perhaps Elfin

(Click this)

as far as the girly is concerned ,I typed macross into the search field ,using "MACROSS" as my search word under google images tab and lo and behold I arbitrarily chose her

Edited July 27, 2004 by geecie30

[geecie30]

The beauty of the vf-1s is that it is predominately,white.For pvc models I use acrylic paint.Its been 6 hours since the prime job and I predict that the primer will be completely hard in 10 more hours even though I could paint it now I dont want to get the chemicals in my skin or scratch the curing primer or transfer oils from my skin on the paint.My area after 6 P.M. has a tendency to get a high water content in the air due to fog from Morro bay,Thats why when I prime in the evening it takes longer than if I do it in the morning and the mid day so that the warmer-dryer air aids in the curing.Never the less I did it in the evening so I will have to wait a bit longer but at least I will be asleep .If you cup your hands(as if holding a baby bird) you can safely hold the pieces however really its not that bad but I wouldn't treat the pieces too roughly.Also the beauty of the acrylic paint I chose is that its water clean up and if you use it strait out of the squeeze bottle it comes from, its heavy enough to actually fill holes and dry in minutes and if you cross hatch you can cover up imperfections in previous paint jobs. Every time you paint, it blends 100 percent color wise.If make I make a mistake and get angry no problem really ,just hose down the whole thing in water the paint will come off but not the primer.I will hand paint the parts that aren't white.I mean theres not much to paint.I dont have to postpone gratification for this birdie I do however plan on india inking this mudder(alcohol and ink mix) and as a final touch i might some day cut out the green window from the head and add a Light emiting diode or perhapes find a green semi transparent styrene sheet for the effect like the yammies.These are definitaly for when the right moment arrises dont want to push it.The magority of the painting is done in "PLAID"Paint for plastic mixed with alcohol and stirred well ,then layered on because its real smooth almost like air brushingWeb site

sometimes 3 to 4 layers to get darkness and purity of color touch up will be necessary towards the end but alcohol lays it on smooth.

Edited August 5, 2004 by geecie30

[geecie30]

This is the torso portion

[geecie30]

So now its the new day and the primer seems good so I took some pics before I paint the detail on the nose cone,The wierd thing I notice is that the number on the airplane is 011

Edited July 27, 2004 by geecie30

[geecie30]

besides noticing that the arm was glued on different than the kit called for .I reattached the arm correctly the plade where you put the forearm to the shoulder is modular and can accept any position because it is square.So I put the arm on correctly and did some preliminary aging before the painting I'm going to my job and I will begin painting in about 3 hours.

[kam63]

whats up with that neck

[geecie30]

well, the giraffe neck wasn't my doing.It took some acclimation for me too

kind of seems like some guyver style neck.The neck looks, from the back,like hydrolic pumps and levers and the neck plate facade looks like a cover to hide the works,and to be more aesthetic.kind of like the shroud on a washing machine.If the cover wasn't on the machine you would see the guts and that would be a sore thumb.The neck on the typical(all the other "normal"type) battroid seems glossed-over(generalized) usually like some cylindrical ring to cover the works,but this model just has a small V-shaped cover in front,while the neck joint to the head is some spongey flex joint.All the same you are right it is long

Scanning the internet I found some completed models and they have me in awe.But you can see that they must have questioned the neck as well!

Edited July 29, 2004 by geecie30

[kam63]

weird for some reason I cant get over that neck maybe the head is falling forward to expose the seat?? does anybody eles know why this kit was made with that long neck? well beside the neck you doing a good job

Edited July 29, 2004 by kam63

[hirohawa]

I have the recast of this kit and the neck should not sit that high.

[007-vf1]

weird for some reason I cant get over that neck maybe the head is falling forward to expose the seat?? does anybody eles know why this kit was made with that long neck? well beside the neck you doing a good job

the neck can be mounted slighly higher or lower but you can't do much about it unless you cut it shorter...it might look weird at first but it doesn't look bad once you see it from a different angle...in fact the so-so detail in the neck is pretty nice...

[Grayson72]

Iam from San Luis Obispo, California .On Highway101 (same highway that takes you to the original Brady bunch house in Studio city down on Dilling between Elmer and Klump).San Luis Obispo is between Los Angeles and San Fransisco.We had an earth quake right next door not a year ago in Paso Robles.(an earth quake yesterday there too).They filmed Murder by numbers with Sandra bullock in San Luis Obispo.San Luis Obispo for short is called S...L...O(spelled out) or SLOW TOWN.This town is around a one hour North of Santa Barbara(Michael jacksons ranch) and one hour south of Monterey/Carmel(where Clint Eastwood resides)Tracy Peterson and Scott Peterson went to college here and so did Weird Al Yankovic(CAL POLY).Highway 101 also goes north to San Jose and San Fransisco.The catch phrase for our town is people come up for (the) air.

I dont know who cloned this kit but here it is on ebay,perhaps Elfin

  (Click this) 

as far as the girly is concerned ,I typed macross into the search field ,using "MACROSS" as my search word under google images tab and lo and behold I arbitrarily chose her

A simple "I live in San Luis, CA" would have sufficed .

Edited July 29, 2004 by Grayson72

[geecie30]

so I discovered a new Idea to myself I got the paint as thin as permanent marker would be.Its still the same paint and I'm working on the painting right now.Btw Iam wearing black ,for the fact the paint being so thin.

Edited July 29, 2004 by geecie30

[kam63]

use some masking tape to paint those lines on the arms. It will come out more clean a crisp.

[geecie30]

I should have masked it but I didn't

[geecie30]

I have spent most of the time lately working on the legs ,while the legs dry I paint details on the upper part,so I will show them.Painting takes forever

Edited August 3, 2004 by geecie30

[geecie30]

heres one of the legs

[geecie30]

For the very small details Im just lumping it on.I was real afraid that when I clear coat,the anime detail lines might bleed so I used a drawing pencil of the darkest nature,NOT a marker.I do wish I knew but my lines are ok looking

Edited August 3, 2004 by geecie30

[geecie30]

I stuffed two bamboo skewers into the legs(pvc is soft enough to stab plus there were little punch out holes),last night and cut them shorter with wire cutters for the leg pivots. I superglued the left leg and epoxied the right,so that I could get the legs plumb to the table flatness,before the epoxy hardened.After one night of sleeping and permitting the epoxy to solidify, I painted the seams where the glue was.maybe there is some touch ups needed,So,It got its clear acrylic coat finally , but it is..., for all intents and purposes.....done!!!

Edited August 5, 2004 by geecie30

[geecie30]

Some morsk

Edited August 11, 2004 by geecie30

[Phadeout]

I like the "skull" emblem, is it actually raised up out of the heatshield?

[geecie30]

yeah,the skull is raised in profile.Thats not my favorite idea.But it allows some awsome shading possiblilities.I think of the skull emblem as either forcing the model to be viewed from about 5 feet away or that its kind of like the toynami poseable thing I just accepted it but I dont think this is how the real skull would be .

Edited August 21, 2004 by geecie30