Jefuemon's miscellaneous stuff

Macross modeling group VF-1 Riders at Shizuoka Hobby Show 2023

May 13th and 14th, I participated for the fourth time (and my first time back-to-back) with the Macross modeling group VF-1 Riders at the Shizuoka Hobby Show, the largest hobby show in Japan. Last year was reduced due to covid restrictions, this years was a little more back to usual. Here’s what we did:

We also had Macross (and others) artist Hidetaka Tenjin stop by to say hi and check out what we built. Of course we got his signature to go along with Kawamori-san’s!

BONUS CONTENT

There was another Macross modeling group called Project VF-M, that a couple of the Riders also participated with. Their display was all 1/72 scale VF-1’s from Max Factory.

So, if you ever get a chance to go to Japan in early May, be sure to hit Shizuoka and check it out! I plan on being there next year again.

Star Wars build – A-Wing Starfighter

Ａウイング・スターファイター、1/72スケール、バンダイ。

Latest build completed, in hardly any time at all. This is an A-Wing Starfighter, 1/72 scale plastic model from Bandai. Debuted in the Star Wars film “Return of the Jedi”.

Very easy build. Didn’t have to do any puttying or sanding of seam lines, and I only had to mask off the tips of the lasers for the painting, all the other parts pretty much broke down into the color they needed to be painted.

I had an urge to paint this Kakizaki green, instead of the reddish-brown of the movie. What, you think every A-Wing in the galaxy was at the Battle of Endor?

The forest moon of Endor. Now, is the moon’s name “Endor”, or is the planet the moon orbits called “Endor”? Never really felt like looking up the answer to know for sure.

This kit was completed on May 7, 2023.

Macross build – VF-1J Valkyrie “What an ace pilot!”

「天才パイロトだ！」
いつも第3のワイヤーを捕まえて
マクロス・パーフェクト・メモリーページ８８のイラストを作りました。全部ハセガワから。1/72スケールＶＦ－１Ｊファイター、肘と手はバトロイド、パイロトはガウォークからです。エッチングセットも使いました。

Latest build complete. This is a VF-1J Valkyrie piloted by Max Jenius. “What an ace pilot!” 1/72 scale plastic kit from Hasegawa. From the Japanese animation “Super-dimensional Fortress Macross”.

This is my interpretation of a filler illustration on page 88 of “Macross Perfect Memory”. Had that book for years, but never really noticed that Max was grabbing the arrester cable with his hands instead of the arrester hooks, so I had to try and build it.

The fighter kit is a VF-1J, the hands and elbows are from a Battroid kit, and the pilot figure is from a Gerwalk kit. I also used a Hasegawa photoetched parts set. The base is some cheap one I found on Amazon that I cut down to a smaller size. The arrester cable is one of my wife’s old hairbands with a bit of 0.5 mm brass rod threaded though it, and painted steel.

This particular kit only had the decals for Hikaru’s VF-1J, so to make Max I painted everything white, then masked off the areas to stay white, and painted blue over that.

The flap struts are pieces I cut off of the etching set and inserted into the wing halves before gluing.

This kit was completed on April 23, 2023.

Macross Build – VF-25A Super Messiah

ＶＦ－２５Ａスーパーメサイア、1/72スケール、ハセガワから。

First build completed of 2023! It’s a VF-25A Super Messiah. 1/72 scale plastic kit from Hasegawa, from the Japanese animation “Macross Frontier”.

Once again, I’ve built something that doesn’t technically exist as a kit. In truth, this is a VF-25G, but I decided to call it an A because it has only the 1 head laser, and the marking decals are black and white, which basically go with anything. Plus, I’ve already built a standard VF-25G.

Nothing too crazy with this build. Only big changes I made were switching out the sniper rifle with a standard gunpod, and changing the SMS-003 decals into SMS-030.

Random name from one of my extra decals collections. As it’s from a real-world build, this might be a real person.

This build was completed on March 1, 2023.

2022 – Build year in review

If you complete at least one kit to your satisfaction, you’ve had a productive year.

VF-1S Strike Valkyrie, piloted by Roy Focker. 1/20 scale plastic kit from Plamax. From the Japanese animation “Macross : Do You Remember Love?”. Completed January 9th.

Hikaru Ichijo. 1/20 scale plastic kit from Plamax. From the Japanese animation “Macross : Do You Remember Love?” Completed January 28th.

First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter. 1/72 scale plastic kit from Bandai. From the Star Wars “Next Generation” movie series. Completed February 7th.

First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter-B

First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter-C

VF-0C Phoenix “VF-41 Black Aces”. 1/72 scale plastic kit from Hasegawa. Carrier deck from Monkey Island Arsenal (猿島工廠), deck crew from Fujimi. From the same timeline as the Japanese animation “Macross Zero”. Completed April 28th.

Sv-262Ba Draken III, piloted by Bogue Con-Vaart. 1/72 scale plastic kit from Hasegawa. From the Japanese animation “Macross Delta”. Completed June 29th.

SDF-1 Macross, Storm Attacker configuration (TV version). 1/5000 scale plastic kit from Arii. From the Japanese animation “Super Dimensional Fortress Macross”. Completed September 18th.

AAA-1 Andromeda. 1/1000 scale plastic model from Bandai. From the Japanese animation “Space Battleship Yamato 2202”. Completed October 19th.

Gigamesh, Feff use. 1/100 scale resin kit from B-Club. From the Japanese animation “Macross II Lovers Again”. Completed December 5th.

See you again soonish with the new.

Macross build – Gigamesh (Feff use)

ギガメッシュ　（フェフ用）、1/100スケールレジンキット、Ｂクラブから。

Another build down, quite possibly the last build of the year. This is a Gigamesh (Feff use), 1/100 scale resin kit from B-Club. From the Japanese animation “Macross II Lovers Again”.

For a resin kit, this went together pretty well. Basically, all the parts were one solid piece, so no seam line fixing from having to glue two halves together. No pin holes to fix, but there was casting “flash” I had to clean up on every piece.

And, of course, the usual problem with masking on a resin kit, removing the masking tape, and having the entire works (all the way down to bare resin) come off attached to the tape. Thankfully, that didn’t happen too much.

The kit can stand on its own, and it’s surprisingly stable, only it likes to keep all its weight towards the toes. But a non-brand figure stand purchased off of Mercari does the trick.

This kit was completed on December 4, 2022.

Space Battleship Yamato build – AAA-1 Andromeda

ＡＡＡ－１アンドロメダ、1/1000スケール、バンダイから

Latest build complete. It’s the AAA-1 Andromeda, 1/1000 scale plastic model from Bandai. From the Japanese animation “Space Battleship Yamato 2202”.

It was nice to do a lower stress build after the troubles the last one gave me. Build went quick, not much to putty; main problem was in getting the shade of paint correct. Bandai doesn’t give you actual brand names of paint to use, they just list colors. If you build this, ignore their mixing instructions, just get some Mr Color c367, and add a little white to taste.

I skipped on doing the little 1/1000 fighters this time. Since I’ve got a couple of other “2202” kits, I’ll do them then.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jefuemon/52439353743/in/dateposted-public/

I’m noticing that the Cosmo Navy really likes their ships to be spiky.

This kit was completed on October 18, 2022.

Macross Build – SDF-1 Macross, Storm Attacker configuration (TV version)

ＳＤＦ－１マクロス、1/5000スケール、アリイから。

Went old-school for the latest build. This is the SDF-1 Macross in Storm Attacker configuration (TV version). It’s a 1/5000 scale plastic kit from Arii, from the Japanese animation “Super Dimensional Fortress Macross”.

Usually, old kits are kind of fun (this is about 30 years old). This one, however, is not. Proportions are off, details are lacking, and you have to do a few modifications to make it look nice.

I had to put the “elbows” in for it to be able to hold the Daedalus and Prometheus horizontally, instead of vertically. Plus I had to cut a chunk off of the deck of the Prometheus in order to fit properly. It would have listed, instead of sitting level. I also had to scratch build an antenna array behind the bridge area.

This took a little longer to build than I’d like, not because of the problems, but because of lack of building time on my part. Since the end of June I’ve been working 6 days, 42 hours a week at my part-time job. Not much energy to fight with a stubborn kit.

My advice, avoid this kit. The cruiser version from Imai is one of the nicest kits of this subject. But for the Storm Attacker, you’re better off grabbing a Hasegawa kit.

This kit was completed on September 18, 2022.

Macross build – Sv-262Ba Draken III, Bogue Con-Vaart use

Sv-262Ba ドラケンＩＩＩ　ボーク機。1/72スケール、ハセガワから。

Another build finished. This is a Sv-262Ba Draken III, piloted by Bogue Con-Vaart. It’s a 1/72 scale plastic kit from Hasegawa, from the Japanese animation “Macross Delta”.

Very standard, simple build. I think the main construction was finished in about 3 days. The detailing, however…

The kit came with a ton of silver decals; however, I only used them to photo copy and use as a mask to paint the silver bits myself. I used Alclad II White Aluminum for all the silver areas. A difficult, but fun challenge, and I think it came out fine.

I modified the pilot figure, too, so that it could do the “Bogue Maneuver”.

This kit was completed on June 28, 2022.

Macross modeling group VF-1 Riders at Shizuoka Hobby Show 2022

After a break of 2 years, the Shizuoka Hobby Show had the modeling club exhibition on the final two days. The group I participate with is the VF-1 Riders, an exclusively Macross model building group. This is the third time I’ve been able to participate with them, and they have been participating for 20 years now!

The exhibition was changed a little bit this year, due to covid restrictions. No foreign clubs were allowed (since no foreign tourists are allowed into Japan as of yet), and I think no first time participating clubs were allowed either. Admission is free, but this year you had to apply for admission, so visitors were limited, too. Even though it was scaled back, there was still a lot to see and do. So, here’s what we did: