GMK

Really like this one, @monsterpartyhat Your original result is nice enough, but your IKEA flatpack ‘kit’ is next-level. Looking forward to further updates.

Wow! @Photon - lovely, lovely work! Wish I’d been following from the start. Ten points.

There’s been some discussion regarding how true-to-anime the backpack of this kit it. In-universe, the backpack is what is formed by the vertical stabilisers folding, before the eppenage itself folds. Using the proportions of the Hasegawa 1/72 kit as a guide, I mocked up the following (left): It’s not correct (yet) but the lengths & height work. Kit: Mock up: Anime: Not there yet, but a lot closer.

Great work! And thanks for introducing me to another talented Mecha designer!

With sprues/runners being about 10mm in diameter, cleanup of this behemoth is somewhat time consuming. I’ve also being filling sink holes & experimenting with some of the panel lines to confirm what they’ll look like, as the white plastic makes details difficult to see. Most of what you see here is press fit together, so that I can understand what molded in defects I can safely ignore & what must be filled.

Thanks @Pilgrim_UK for adding context. The box is enormous! Pulled the cockpit off the sprues/runners to see what’s what. I’ll likely modify the kit cockpit from the movie-style (DYRL?) cockpit back to the TV-style (SDFM), but I’m not 100% on that yet. This is the movie type: This is the TV-style: Then added it to the nose section. Pretty happy so far. It’s big, detailed, & easy - the challenge will be the painting. ETA: hmm, pics are a little too high contrast will improve in later posts.

@Pete in Lincs I hope not - I already build at the pace of a startled glacier! Dry fitting & cleaning up sink holes in some of the not-so-little parts.... Forward fuselage: Press fit with the nose. Like a lot of anime, with giant robots piloted by angst-ridden teens being the solution to most problems, this kit has a head (the ‘A’ head seen here) - stowed in this mode. The head would look like this in ‘Battroid’ (i.e. giant robot) mode: In a broader context, under the fuselage, between the intakes. The kit also comes with the ‘J’ head (right), and the ever-popular ‘S’ head (left). As I’m building the ‘cannon fodder’ VF-1A, these heads are surplus to requirements. Thanks for looking.

Thank you @Hunter Rose & @JamesP Like a lot of renditions of sci-fi/anime subjects from Japanese producers, this kit comes molded in various colours of styrene. Couldn’t resist trying the new (& very expensive!) Meng side cutters... Duly impressed with the cutting ability of the Meng cutters! Then the parts were press-fitted them together.. Looks like the classic Valkyrie nose!

Picked up the Plamax 1/20 VF-1 Valkyrie - the star of the anime classic Super Dinensional Fortress Macross (more widely known in the west by another name, use of which is considered bad form by purists) - billed as the largest Macross model kit ever. Though intended to be built as either a Super or Strike variant from the movie, I’m likely to build as a conventional ‘cannon fodder’ VF-1A. The parts (that’s a full-size bottle of beer tucked away in the bottom right to give a hint of the size): and the intended finish: I’m also considering a technique known as ‘cel shading’, in which a model is painted to look like an coloured anime cel, complete with artificial shadows & highlights. The best I’ve seen is this 1/72 scale model: Difficult to believe that’s a three dimensional model!

Can’t help, sorry. All displaying on my laptop, tablet & phones. They’re from the @RafPhotog twitter feed.

Pics here: Good looking jet!

Does this kit have a “wheels up” option?

Thanks @303sqn - nicely finished model! Will have to check out Iliad. Thanks to the links posted by @Troy Smith the night/white/aluminium factory scheme has also caught my eye. Just have to wait for Tamiya’s new 1/48 kit, I guess.

Whoa! Thank you all gentlemen! @72modeler @Troy Smith great links! @bobmig L1090 looks amazing! I’m guessing that with a three-bladed DH prop, it has a bulged canopy? Can’t quite see it. Would love to track those decals down!

Thanks @gingerbob - I hadn’t seen that they had the black & white underside. Can you point me at pics? Thanks again!

Quick one: I’m quite taken by the early Spitfire Mk.I with small Type B roundels on the fuselage sides, as well as the wings. I’m also quite taken by the black & white underside colouring that was worn for a brief period. My question: did these two marking schemes ever appear on the same aircraft at the same time? Thanks!

Random one - what is the road wheel diameter for the AJAX? Thanks.

Looks like it’s an off-the-shelf system already in use/in service with the US Army, not “bespoke”: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/us-army-europe-calls-for-more-ch-47-blade-folding-k-436711/ or more developmental: https://www.scoop.it/t/ch47/?&tag=rotor+fold

Plus, both Canada & Australia are building their hulls locally. Australia is also using the US 5” gun & Mk41 VLS (SM3 & SM6 missiles), and an Australian phased array radar.

The 50mm Supershot is based on the 30mm, but is more compact (don’t know how). As can be seen, it’s not a case-telescoped round. I understand the pros and cons of case telescoped cartridges; like bull pup rifles, I’ve settled on “interesting, but irrelevant.” (Hybrid cartridge cases now deliver greater pressures, velocities, terminal effects, consistency, and accuracy from shorter barrels, making barrel length less important than in the past.) The .338 Norma uses a different cartridge case than the .338 Lapua Magnum, which is “forcing” the development of .338 Norma sniper rifles. I’m going to CAD up that signature management stuff and see if I can 3D print it.

This is the AJAX-based Griffin III: 50mm main armament (85 degree elevation/20 degree depression), Iron Fist Active Protection System, Remote Weapon Station, drone launcher, .338 Norma coax machine gun.

Staggering is the word. As an aside, and ignoring practical considerations such as camouflage etc., I wonder whether the late-lamented colourful schemes of the 1950s-70s were tolerated for morale reasons?

Not sure that the Thud is a fair yardstick - the overwhelming majority of its losses were combat losses in Vietnam.

My understanding is that the F135-400 (engine for the F-35C) and the F135-600 (engine for the F-35B), in terms of physical envelope of the engine itself, is essentially the same. The -600 plugging into the separate Integrated Lift Fan Propulsion System (ILFPS) module. For the purposes of the CMV-22, the COD requirement includes delivery of carrier air wing spare engines onto aircraft carriers. So, that’s the F404 for the C/D Hornets, F414 for the E/F/G Super Hornets/Growlers, and the T56 for the E-2, with the F135-400 for the C model Lightning. As the conventional C-2 COD can’t land on an Amphibious Assault Ship (LHD, LHA, etc.), I’m not sure carrying the F135-600 (or the F402-RR for the AV-8B, for that matter) was a requirement. All that being said, taking the commonality between the F135-400 and F135-600 engines, I imagine that freighting the -600 engine internally via CMV-22 wouldn’t be too tricky to pull off.

No - it’s internal. That was a mandatory requirement so that the CMV-22 could fly the F-35 engine out to the carrier battle group.