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Posted

Hey guys. With everyone else showing off their scratchbuilds, I though I'd join in on the fun. :)

This is a little something I've been working on the past couple days. It's my first real attempt at a scratchbuild, and I'm really amazed at how well, and how quickly it's coming together!

The kit will be in 1/72 scale (made to be used with Hasegawa VF-1s) and will most likely be called "Ship-Borne Aircraft Support Equipment Set #1". It will contain two main models, one of which will remain a secret for now :ph34r:

But the first one will be a Tow Tractor, which is used to taxi VF-1s and to tow other support equiptment. Design art and technical assistance was provided by Nanashi (thanks again!), and I used AutoCAD to create plan drawings from them.

These two drawings are all I had to go on, but they proved to be pretty adequate (posted with permission from Nanashi)

ship-borne_tow_tractor.jpg

And here's my current progress building it. It's made almost entirely of 0.03" sheet styrene, with MoriMori polyester putty used to make it solid (and therefore less fragile). Building it has been rather intersting. It's easier than I though in most respects, but harder in some others. But all in all, I think it's looking really good :D

Some of the panels (I think 4 of them so far) are temporary, and I'll have to make detailed ones to replace them. I'm kinda just fleshing out the shape right now.

taxi6.jpg

taxi7.jpg

taxi8.jpg

Lemme know what you all think

And for those of you wondering, yes, I am still working on the Monster too :D

Posted

Looks good. I'm currently using Hasegawa's standard carrier equipt set for my Valk dios, but having something 'authentic' would be a cool addition.

John: I love working in 1/72 myself, but I did realize just how small it is when I compared a 1/72 pilot to my Zentradi figure sculpt. And oddly enough, the way the math works out, a 1/72 full-sized zentradi is the same actual height of the dude if he was micronized and you built a 1/6 figure of his micronized form (if any of that made sense). Wierd hey?

Sean

Posted

Yes, 1/72 is a little small for VF-1. I forgot to mention, the tow tractor will only be about 2 1/4" long. But I think it'll make for a great kit. These two models plus a Hase VF-1 will make for a nice little diorama :)

And yes Jesse, that was pretty much my idea. If I'm not mistaken, mine will be the first 1/72 Macross support equipment kits ever made. Though Imai made some in 1/100 that came with their Macross Factory, and they look fairly accurate, from what I can tell. But they didn't make either of the ones I'm working on :)

Posted (edited)

Oh sweet, really excited about this project, I've been wanting official Macross vehicles forever. I even tried to upsize the ones from the factory kit, one was a Cherry Picker, one was a generator vehicle and one was a personnel transport.

Here's a pick of my lame attempt at the generator vehicle.

post-3-1091513028_thumb.jpg

Edited by Grayson72
Posted

Very cool. The fact that it's authentic macross is what, I think, will make this an A++ piece vice an A+ piece. Thank you for adding great macross models to the macross modeling world

Posted
Yes, 1/72 is a little small for VF-1. I forgot to mention, the tow tractor will only be about 2 1/4" long. But I think it'll make for a great kit. These two models plus a Hase VF-1 will make for a nice little diorama :)

And yes Jesse, that was pretty much my idea. If I'm not mistaken, mine will be the first 1/72 Macross support equipment kits ever made. Though Imai made some in 1/100 that came with their Macross Factory, and they look fairly accurate, from what I can tell. But they didn't make either of the ones I'm working on :)

Are you sure that the M Factory vehicles are in 1/100 scale? I thought they were 1/170... I have to check it when back at home.

BTW: excellent idea!! Go ahead!!

Posted

Your thinking of the small armored factory ones that came with little mecha, there was a set of 4. The 1/100 set was huge with all sorts of people and vehicles like a cherry picker and a personnel carrier and came with a 1/100 Tomahawk and a armored battroid.

Posted

I'm hoping to find a few parts to kitbash into it for some of the smaller bits. Like the dashboard details, steering wheel, headlights, etc. And I think I found one of the wheels I'll be using, but I'll probably end up using only the rim and scratchbuilding the tire.

And I still need to find something with a fine diamond-plate pattern (preferably photoetch) to use on the hood panel. I REALLY don't want to have to scribe all of that :blink:

Posted (edited)

You should be able to find a really good diamond pattern from an existing kit like one of the hasegawas. Actually you know what had gobs of diamond plate to copy was the original 1/100 factory kit. If you've got one that'd be perfect.

Hey how bout some more pics.

Edited by Grayson72
  • 3 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

Looks nice, that's been on my "todo" list for a while, I was going to canabalize the Fujimi 1/72 tractor.

For real world reference of carrier tractors, there is some great stuff at

http://www.news.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=4271

http://www.news.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=6061

Depending on if you are shooting for "realism" or duplicating the sketches, it seems that for the most part the tractors don't have diamond plate, but get coated with the same non-skid "goop" as the carrier deck.

John

Edited by jontom
Posted

Ken, I have some photo etch diamond plate scraps from my Macross flat bed (I scaled up the 1/100 cherry picker and factory flatbeds to 1/72) if you want it PM me your addy. The scraps should be more than enough for that tiny tug.

  • 2 weeks later...

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