Gunpla 1 72

[Kenneth Larson]

Rememberthat post about my first Macross kit? Yeah, neither did I. That was until I found some old, dusty cluster of plastic somewhere within my apartment. Carbon dating of the dust layers revealed that it was from 8 years ago. This meant that this artifact is no other than my first Macross kit, the 1/72 scale VF-25s Messiah by Bandai.

Somehow it was stuck halfway through snap-fitting; half was already assembled, while the rest were still on their runners. To further motivate myself to complete this kit, I bought this book from Amazon with some nice photos of VF-25 Messiahs. I found an image that inspired this build:

The tricky part was painting the camo patterns. First I sprayed Light Gull Gray on parts that are underneath the aircraft, including wings. Next comes the base color (Mr Color 307); I carefully drew the boundaries using my airbrush and then proceeded to fill in the remaining areas. For the darker colored camo patterns (Mr Color 305) I directly drew the camo patterns using my airbrush instead of using any masking techniques.

For panel lining I used black enamel. Then comes the decals. Instead of using the supplied water slide markings, I decided to use my own catalog of aircraft decals accumulated from various hobby shows. To go with the camo pattern I painted, the decals I picked mimicked contemporary aircrafts; in this case US Navy aircrafts. To get a sense of where to position these decals, I referred again to this book.

As I was assembling, I noticed some joints were tight; maybe due to the layers of primer and paints. Inevitably I broke some of those joints because I pushed too hard. I performed a quick fix using superglue. Miraculously I managed to assemble the Fighter mode after several hours of trying to make the parts fit. After that stressful episode, I made the decision to keep it in fighter mode. Any attempts to transform it into Gerwalk or Battroid mode would risk catastrophic failure.

Surprisingly, the hull went together quite well indeed. The central hull is made of two halves, with two braces inside for structural integrity. Instead of pegs on one side and holes on the other, it uses pins that you glue in, which helps a great deal with getting a good, even fit to minimize seams. After gluing, the keel needed hardly any sanding at all. The bow and stern are separate pieces (most likely to expand the fleet later, as the drainage holes had differing positions throughout) but both attached to the main hull quite nicely. The diving planes have a nice design where the posts hook into one another inside the hull, allowing you to rotate them up and down in unison. So far, so good; much better than I expected from Revell!

Next, the deck was laid down, down, and this is where the kit loudly reminded me of where it came from. There were gaps where the deck met the sides of the fore hull, gaps between the outsides of the deck plating, and the rear third simply refused to sit level with the central deck.

It impressed me right afterward, however, with the design of the ladder rungs. The elements came premade in brass. I drilled holes into the sides of the sail, then guided the individual rungs using a shim thoughtfully included on the sprue. The shim ensured that all the rungs were an even distance from the wall, and when flipped over, CA glue attached the excess brass firmly without any visible mess after all was said and done! Very nicely designed.

The rest of the sail went together quickly. Where the rear railings are done in plastic, the fore railings are made from supplied string. These were left off until just before painting, to minimize the danger of accidentally snapping the thin string.

Finally, the ugly seams were puttied with Milliput and then sanded smooth, and all the railing posts were glued down so that the railing could be strung. I moored one end of the string in place with CA glue, and then used tweezers to thread it through the eyehole of each post. When I reached the other end of the railing, I pulled the string taut, secured it with more CA, and then trimmed it down. 1/72 X-Wing pilot standing on deck for scale.

Finally, I took Tamiya weathering powder and brushed gunmetal silver all along the hull, to give the paint some depth and make the sculpted panel lines stand out a bit more. With that, after about three weeks of work, this ship was done.

Wave's 1/100 offering comes with Strike parts and is grouped by sturdy plastic bags, filling the compact box. Only the S variant is covered, which explains the small sticker sheet. It came molded in white, dark grey, strike-parts-blue, clear and rubbery polycap (PC) material.

The 1/72 Hasegawa's stack of plastic was biggest. Three heads are includes, and almost everything was contained in a single bag. Sprues became entangled and a few small parts broke free, but nothing was damaged. Molded in white, red, clear and PC, with an impressive sticker sheet covers three variants (A/J/S).

So far I'm very happy with all three models and it is interesting to switch back and forth. Sharp as the panel lines on the Wave may be, Hasegawa's Battroid is sized in the popular 1/72 scale and only costs half as much, which may decide it for many.

Then there is also the matter of choosing paint schemes... My current plan is to build the Wave in Rick Hunter Ichijyo Hikaru's red/white (not that I have much of a choice if you go by the decal sheet) but without Strike Parts (or perhaps I can make the upgrades removable?)

Senpai Hasegawa I'm planning to finish in Roy Focker's colours. Unless I go for the brown Cannon Fodder VF-1A finish, which Hasegawa also has covered... Another option would be to go for two identical VF-1S...

From I what found on Google, Kakizaki's scheme looks very similar to how TwoBad finished his Hasegawa VF-1A (see Hobbyfanatics and PhotoBucket). Posted by electric indigo in my original thread, I was impressed enough to ask permission to repost. This level of build is obviously far beyond my abilities, but it is nice know that it can be done (and out of the box too).

Your example looks nice and dirty! If you don't mind me asking: how did you get that finish? I've been reading up in the Beginner's Model Building Construction BASICS thread and my guess is that you've used some kind of a "wash" to pick out the panel lines..? I've been pondering how I should finish my models: I'm a bit hesitant in investing wads of cash into an airbrush, compressor and extractor setup, though it certainly seems like the best option. I'm keeping an eye on my local second-hand market though.

I use some of the easiest stuff around, Flory's Promodelers Wash. I use the black. What's nice is that it'll go over a properly set decal no trouble. I don't know if an oil or enamel wash will do that.

Ah, thanks for the tip! I've checked out your link and it looks very interesting. I did not see any reference to the chemical base of the wash though... Sticking with the beginners' thread terminology: how "hot" or "cold" is this wash? I have a colleague, who is an experienced modeller, and he advised me to try "Vallejo Air" paints, which are apparently "polyurethane / water based". If I understood your post (in the beginners thread) correctly this is would be a relatively "cool" paint...

Definitely "cool" paint, vallejo. The promodeller wash is also about as "cool" as you can get. I think its clay based, if I'm not mistaken and is mixed with water to apply it. I know of nothing that you'd hurt by applying it.

Sounds good! What do you guys use for extraction? I plan to paint in room already fitted with an air outlet for the tumble-drier. There is a second pipe that is currently blanked off. I imagine myself spraying towards a ventilator blowing into the outlet, while wearing some sort of gas mask...

based from the video Jefuemon has posted, the wash is applied through out the model. The Vallejo washes that I tried has similar consistency. It is like a dirty water with very little acrylic suspended on it.

I have a hard time using it since I was doing panel wash while by focusing on one panel line and moving the kit around to let the Cappiliary action to do its thing. (just like how an enamel panel line wash)

I'm also looking for (and not finding) reference pics of damaged mechs... Valkyries would be awesome, but anything would do. I'm in the process of re-watching the Western adaptation of Macross ( ) and I'm looking out for scenes where damage occur. The obvious scene would be the first episode where the arm holding Minmay is shot off, but I'd prefer my model to be sporting all its limbs...

My advice to you regarding weathering is that less is more. If you think you have weathered too much then you probably have. The thing about weathering and damage is that it does get repaired and cleaned. Sometimes excluding an area from weathering or repainting a spot on a model with new clean paint can go a long way in adding realism and also variety. Often, I find that I have over done my chipping and exhaust staining. Stepping back from your work after each section you do will help your overall process.

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