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A tale of two Valkyries


Dazzio

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Howdy everyone,

 

So I have reach a road block with the Gundam - I am waiting for a delivery of paint and placard to continue.  So I thought I would start this double-ish build.

 

I am a massive fan of Macross (not that robotech rubbish - what an abomination) and have been since the 80's/90's when I was shown a video by a chap down in the street.  Fast forward a decade or more and I see Macross Plus, one of my fav films.  But right at the start there is a VF-11 fighting some forces.  I loved the design of that craft and I have an VF-11 Super Thunderbolt in the stash somewhere for a later date.  However one of my holy grail kits has always been the VE-11 Thunderseeker, I even tried to find it in Japan by going to every Book-Off or model shop I could find with no luck on both trips.  I was however able to get the kit from Buyee, a service I will loose so much money to now.  Anyhow the Thunderseeker is below.

 

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I have always liked the idea of smaller craft being used in the AWACs role.  However the first issue I have with this particular kit is that it is a single seater, which I know these craft have powerful AI on them, but it still seems a stretch for a single pilot to be flying it.  Also the gun, it just seems wrong to me that an AWACs craft would have a gun.  Which is no biggie, I can use the gun for a Tomcat build I have planned.  So going from that, the gun will just be omitted and I will need to at least make this a dual seater, so off to Buyee I went to get an VF-11D kit.  Sometimes if you get one of the more funky kits you can get different cockpit parts but that hasn't been the case thus far. So a very cheeky bid and 2 weeks later, one of these landed on my door.

 

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As far as I am aware this is from a serialised series in one of the many many modelling magazines they have in Japan.  Anyhow I am not too fussed on the actual subject of this kit.  So I will steal the front half of the craft to make my two seater VE-11, turning it into a VE-11D.  Also what interested me the most was the the item where the gun pod should be, as I understand it that is a camera pod as this is a filming craft.  I thought I could add that to the VF-11D and say it is some EW/C3 kinda kit.  Result!  I was also toying with the idea of putting some ALQ-99 pods under the wings, not sure yet.  Not sure if that is going too far, but apparently no one makes ALQ-99's in 1/72 as a resin upgrade - weird huh? Below is the parts for each kit.  The white ones are for the VF-11D and the gray plastic is for VE-11.

 

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The VE-11E has been started that is why it is open and some parts are missing.

 

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So I did start this kit when I first though that the idea of a single seat AWACs wasn't too bad, but it really really bugged me so I stopped and ordered the VF-11D.  All I have done really is put the wings together and painted the cockpit.  I will be below the usual 25% complete for both kits.

 

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  This is the kit of the VE-11 as is from the box.  What I am going to do is start the other kit and put the cockpit for this kit into the VF-11D and put the cockpit of the VF-11D into this one.  The reason I am doing this is there are certain things that are special to the VE-11 and VF-11D kits.  All will become clearer when I continue building.

 

Onto the fun and games!

 

Kind regards,

 

Dazz

 

 

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This is interesting. I've never actually seen one of these models built and now you're coming with a handful of them :D 

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Sounds like an interesting project. I assume these are 1/72nd scale, or close to it anyway.

I see there aren't any tail fins on the Thunderseeker. But there are what seem to be thrusters at the back end? Good job it has AI!

I'll pop by from time to time to see how you're going.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 8/28/2024 at 4:31 PM, Col. said:

This is interesting. I've never actually seen one of these models built and now you're coming with a handful of them :D 

 

Oh I do have quite a few of these kits - it does help that I love the franchise as well even though officially there still hasn't been an official release of Macross outside of Japan thanks to harmonygold - a company I despise worse than apple (I work in IT).  But stick around and you will see a masterclass in how *NOT* to build a Macross kit. :D 

 

On 8/28/2024 at 6:06 PM, Pete in Lincs said:

Sounds like an interesting project. I assume these are 1/72nd scale, or close to it anyway.

I see there aren't any tail fins on the Thunderseeker. But there are what seem to be thrusters at the back end? Good job it has AI!

I'll pop by from time to time to see how you're going.

 

Yes Pete they are both listed as 1/72 scale.  So yeah, they do not have tailfins like you would see on an Hawk or F/A-18 for example, but the weird rudder/tailplane you would see on an F-117 Nighthawk.  The thrusters at the back are also thrust vectoring and also the aircrafts "feet" when it is "battleroid" mode.  Then again, how useful would a tailfin be in space anyway?  I will see if I can get a video of this later.

 

On 8/29/2024 at 4:46 AM, HarryHobbyin said:

it looks Awesome,....very cool 

 

Thank you Harry, I hope you like where I am going with this kit.

 

So there has been practically no progress on this kit as I have been suffering from a bad bout of food poisoning - something I wouldn't wish on anyone.  Anyhow I was able to get to the bench this past weekend.  I first started with the cockpit tub of the VE-11D, when the tub is in place, I noticed that there was a massive gap down the side of the walls.  Thinking that this was ugly and would be seen, I tried to fill them.  

 

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If you look to the left side of the tub (as you sit in it) you can see the massive gap I am referring to.  Thinking that not only are the tubs ugly but devoid of any detail I decided to at least get some console sides in.  So I copied an idea I have seen in the figure painting world by putting a plastic sheet down from a plastic bag (good job that these Japanese kits usually come with 5-10 plastic bags per kit) and then just ram loads of filler down the sides to get a perfect fit then cut off the rest.  You are supposed to cover the half that you do not want sticking to with Vaseline or similar.  But this didn't work for me.  Probably because I used Vallejo filler.  Anyhow, after a few days, I pulled the plastic sheet away and it was a mess - I am not going to sugar coat it - it looked like a marshmallow massacre! 

 

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Oh well, least I tried.  So I pulled the plastic off and cut all of the putty off and restorted to using placard cut into strips and then sanded away until it fitted, this was a long process that took many, many, many trial and fittings with a few swear words thrown in to boot.  But i managed to get somewhere with the tub.  I also purchased an F-14A PE set as it was only £5 and cut a side console in half to make it look like the back seater would have something to do.  The pilot I am not bothered about as you will not be able to see anything.  I also in a rare exaple want to display this aircraft in "flight".  Well as much as an aircraft in space can be "in flight", which means I need to add pilots.  I have only ever done two pilots in my life and funny enough they where for the F-14A+ Kai from Macross Zero... I am seeing a trend here.  Anyhow, basically painting "skills" (a very loosely used term) and I had two willing crew for my AWAC bird.

 

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Sorry for the bad lighting it was taken quite late. I tried my best with the crew and tried to make them look different.  I do like the sidepanels even if they do *just* fit inside of the tub.  The grab handles on the top of the seats are also taken from the F-14 PE set.  the rest of the chair/crew is my painting.

 

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This is the cockpit from the now VF-11B kit, this kit is going to be shown with all bits open and no crew in sight, I tried to use tape for the buckles but am not keen on them.  I might take the PE belts and fit them at a later date.

 

I also went to the cinema to watch Macross Plus at the cinema at the weekend... "Voices" and "Information High" are still as good now than they where when I first heard them all those years ago.  But I have been listening to loads of Macross songs while building these kits and there is many many songs.

 

I made a booboo when I made both FAST packs for the VE-11D to be left handed.  Luckily I have an VF-11B Super Thunderbolt that I could make both FAST packs to be right handed.  Problem solved! 

 

The more I think about it, the more I want to have some ALQ-99/ALQ-218's on the kit.  I might have to buy a Growler kit and see what I can steal from it. (hehe Growler! :D so immature).

 

Hopefully more to come soon and maybe even an update on the Gundam kit... yeah right.

 

Kind regards,

 

Dazz

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Afternoon all,

 

Wow has it really been a month since my last update?!  Time flies when you are working...

 

I have been working on both kits on and off and been too lazy to post anything.  But I can show you the VE-11D as she stands now.

 

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I have kinda gone off from the suggested colours because I am like that.  The flappy bits are meant to be white, but I didn't like the way it looked so I have sprayed them with Light Ghost Grey from Ammo... not 100% sure if I like that range of paints yet.  The main gray is Sky Gray from Tamiya with about another 20 shades of gray after that.  She has been glossed up now ready for some decals although I have spotted some bits I am not happy with from this picture.

 

The VF-11B has been primed pretty much in black and left.  I am not sure if I want to paint her in white, light grey or the weird off-white colour it suggests.  We will see. 

 

Also toying with the idea of putting some ALARMS and ALQ-218's on the under wings.  I was thinking of the ALQ-99's on the wing tips bit I am not sure if that would work.  Might have a play with another VF-11 I have been using as spares.  We will see.

 

I have spent most of the weekend however building these 3 little things that a friend has sent me recently, I also have the clear armoured versions as well.  The Sazabi (red one) and Nu Gundam will be getting a repaint at some point in time.

 

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From the left to right we have the Sazabi then the Nu Gundam from Chars Counterattack and then we have the Strike Freedom from Gundam SEED Destiny/Freedom.  The middle one is my favourite Gundam and it is a shame you only see it in the film for a little while but it is amazing and full of space magic (people who have seen the show know what I mean).  I have seen the RX-93ff at Lalaport in Fukuoka, Japan which is really impressive.  However trying to find the Gundam base and Side F was a right PITA as they are no where near each other!  If anyone wants to know their exact location, send me a message, I will give you the Google map location.  I do have the Real Grade and the Entry Grade of the below Gunda that I plan to make one day.

 

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Just because I can, below is a picture of the life sized VF-25F Messiah from Macross Frontier.  To say this thing is cool is an understatement, but typically it is really hard to find if you haven't done your research first.  In the same room as the Messiah is a katana blade that was made from the remains of a 450million year old asteroid found in Namibia, Africa called "天鉄刀" - "The sword of Heavenly Iron" - pretty cool.  Thats enough holiday snaps I promise... unless anyone wants to see more weird Gundam/Macross coolness?

 

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Kind regards,

 

Dazz

 

 

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Evening everyone,

 

So I thought I would try to get some of the decals done for the Thunderseeker.  Most have gone down alright except for the biggest one and the one that is the most noticable... of course it is...

 

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It is the decal on the spine, it is supposed to go over the back of the cockpit area and then go over the canards/thrusters.  I think it is probably because of the size difference between the two cockpits in the VE-11 and VF-11D.  Oh well... I will let them dry and then see about painting the lines on.  Hell if I could do this for the F-15 ACTIVE in 1/144 then these should be a walk in the park right?...

 

I've decided to walk away from it for tonight.

 

Kind regards,

 

Dazz

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Good to see you're making continuous progress through this project Dazz :speak_cool: Sometimes taking a break is the best way to make that progress so quite right to put down and step back when needed.

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Thank you for the encouraging words Col. :)

 

I think I was just trying to do too much while I was a wee bit tired last night.  Now that I have walked away from the kit and looked at it again I can clearly see that the join between the body and canards is longer on the dual cockpit of the VF-11D as opposed to the single on the VE-11.  Also the length from the front of the canards to the thruster is longer as well.  That decal was never going to fit.  I have also noticed that there is a clear panel line where the decal bends roun the top of the spine, had I known that earlier I would have painted the blooming thing.  Oh well...

 

So going forward with that knowledge, I tried to cut out a mask for the spine using a tracing of the instructions which come at 1:1 scale with the model in the kit.  How cool is that?!  But with my cackhandedness and not being able to see straight, I just couldn't get the curved bit done correctly. I then thought about just cutting a mask using the panel line as a guide and then remembered I do not have much luck with that.  So what I did was try to use my otherhalfs Cricut for this.  It's not much, but first I took all of the dodgy decal off, I left some of it on as a guide.  Scanned the instructions as PDF, importing the spine part into Cricut, cut/erased what I didn't need and made a single mask, cut it out and hey presto a simple mask! I have since glossed the aircraft again in an effort to protect the decals. 

 

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Tomorrow if I can get in my office, is to have some fun with masking... remember masking is fun!

 

Kind regards,

 

Dazz

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On 10/23/2024 at 6:57 AM, Col. said:

That's a clever solution to the issue Dazz.

 

Thanks Col, to be fair, I dont know why I didn't think of it before really...

 

I had fun on Friday evening masking this bugger up until about 2am. Totally forgot to take any pictures until after the first coat of white went down (below).  The masking was fun, but truth be told, I am surprised at how easy it was in theory once I had thought about it.  Still managed to mess it up though - typically.

 

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You can see that I have masked over the main spine decal to use as a guide.  I did spray 3-4 coats of Tamiya clear thinking it would hold the decals down - how wrong was I?!

 

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This is with the second set of masking applied for the black with a white cheatline (I think thats the correct term?!).  Still genuienly shocked at how easy this was in theory...

 

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After unmasking, this side is way better than the otherside, but I can live with this and if I ever need to, I can repaint this.  The spine decal did lift when I was pulling the masking tape off but due to the blessings of the modelling gods, the decal did not tear - HUZZAH!  I lost the "Do not touch" decals over the leading edge lights, but I can steal those from the other kit or one of the many many many many VF-1 kits I have, so not a real biggie.  I need to touch up some bits here and there but for the most part, I am really really happy with this for once.  Now to work on the VF-11, that should be easier in comparison.

 

Kind regards,

 

Dazz

 

 

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On 10/28/2024 at 12:30 PM, Col. said:

That's looking rather smart Dazz. Has the look of a CAG jet about it.

 

I think that it is meant to be a CAG bird, although most of AWAC style Valkyries in the series have very colourful paintwork on them in one way or another.  Even the original Elintseeker (which I have two) has a bight orange nose.  I do have a plan for those two kits when I get around to building them.

 

So I have done some more work on the Thunderseeker here and there over the course of last week.  This is where I was at this morning, this is only a mock up of how she would look and I wanted to see if she would fit on the Macross stands I have... the answer is yes she does but not very well. 

 

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As we didn't have any plans for today, I decided to basically just work on this kit.  I am now at a stage where she is almost finished.  I just need to let the oil paint dry then varnish again to seal it in and add the thrusters and she is finished.  The other ECM suite I can add at a later date.

 

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She is looking pretty smart I think, I buggered up the decal for the rotordome though as it is not centered and it wouldn't move after I had laid it down.  So I just left it where it was, you can't really tell unless you look really hard for it.  Also I am not sure why the port wing looks a different shade of gray to the rest of the aircraft even though they where the same paint sprayed on (Tamiya Sky Gray).  Oh well...

 

I have recommenced work on the VF-11, but at this stage she has only been painted white which is nothing much to look at.

 

Kind regards,

 

Dazz

 

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17 hours ago, Dazzio said:

..I am not sure why the port wing looks a different shade of gray to the rest of the aircraft even though they where the same paint sprayed on (Tamiya Sky Gray).  Oh well...

Call it weathering ;) 

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