Macross build – VF-11B Super Thunderbolt

ＶＦ－１１Ｂスーパーサンダーボルト。1/72スケールレジンキット、Ｃｌｕｂ　Ｍから。ミサイルはExcelsus Modelから。

Back to Macross. Just finished a VF-11B Super Thunderbolt. 1/72 scale resin cast kit from Club M. From the same timeline as the Japanese animations “Macross Plus” and “Macross 7”. Weapons from Excelsus models (Wonderfest exclusives).

Ah, garage kits. Whenever I finish one, I think to myself, “That was fun”, and then I don’t even want to look at another resin kit for at least 6 months. Just the usual difficulties of parts not fitting together as well as they should (though this one wasn’t to bad) and having an entire paint job (all the way down to bare resin) get pulled off along with the masking tape you’re removing. And I still hate, hate, hate vac-formed canopies.

The biggest problem I had with this kit was one I probably created. On the back, below where the boosters are sitting, are two engine cover pieces that either weren’t in the box when I bought the kit many years ago, or I lost them when I took out the rocket boosters and weapons set for use on two other kits. Epoxy putty and sanding took care it it, though.

99% of the decals are from the Hasegawa Super Thunderbolt kit which I bought direct from Hasegawa. I think the Sky Blue accents look pretty nice, and match the color of the “Thunder Dragons” writing.　I also purchased the gunpod parts at the same time, as for some reason the kit had the VF-11C gunpod (the skinnier ones used in Macross 7).

This kit was completed on June 26, 2021.

Space Battleship Yamato build- Great Imperial Garmillas Astro Fleet 1

大 ガミラス帝国航宙艦隊 ガミラス艦セット１、バンダイから。

Another little Macross break. This is the Great Imperial Garmillas Astro Fleet Set 1, 1/1000 scale (except for satellite) plastic kits from Bandai. From the Japanese animation “Space Battleship Yamato 2199”.

First is a G-BS-01 Destoria Class Astro Heavy Cruiser.

Next is a G-BC-01 Kelkapia Class High Speed Astro Cruiser.

And last is a non-scale beam weapon reflector satellite.

All of these were a pretty simple build. Parts fit together well, and minimal seam line repair was needed. It’s kits like this that make me wonder why Bandai can’t ever do a good Macross kit. Only “change” I did was painting the orange/yellow bow openings, as I had forgotten about how crap Bandai decals can be (very thin and not very durable).

These kits were completed on June 2nd, 2021.

Macross build – VF-1EX Valkyrie

VF-1EXバルキリー。1/72スケール、ハセガワから。

Another State of Emergency due to Covid-19, another long period of time where I’m not needed at work, another chance to get some building done. This is a VF-1EX Valkyrie, 1/72 scale plastic kit from Haseagawa, from the Japanese animation “Macross Delta”.

Now, Macross Delta is the newest of the Macross series. What are they doing using a VF-1 from the original series? This is a training aircraft. They’ve kept the VF-1 air-frame, but upgraded all the internal bits, including putting EX Gear in the cockpit. Instead of having a backseat flight instructor, the controls are slaved to the instructor’s aircraft, so they can remotely take control if the student is messing up.

I’ve never liked how the training aircraft was in the hero colors (though, you could say that’s done with holographic technology, like they do in the movie), so I changed it to standard training orange. All of the big color areas were painted (such a fun masking job that was!). The decals used were the various warnings, and the χάος (Chaos) symbol. I also used the Hasegawa PE set, plus some old Jasmine Models PE pieces I still had lying around.

This kit was completed on May 25th, 2021.

Star Wars build – Incom Corporation T-65B X-Wing Starfighter “Red 5”

Xウイング・スターファイター、1/72スケール、バンダイから。

Small Macross break. Here’s an Incom Corporation T-65B X-Wing Starfighter “Red 5”, piloted by Luke Skywalker. 1/72 scale plastic kit from Bandai. From the original Star Wars trilogy movies.

But you probably already knew that!

Should have grabbed one of these kits sooner. I had a Fine Molds X-Wing from before I moved to Japan, but it didn’t survive the move. Bandai released this, but I thought nothing would be as good as the Fine Molds one. This is equal. I did build this using the colors supplied by the Fine Molds version, though (managed to find another FM kit recently)

A straight out of the box build. Luckily, not much putty work is needed. And the nice thing about doing Star Wars Rebel craft is that the dirtier you make them, the better they look!

This kit was completed on March 17, 2021.

Macross build – VF-1D Gerwalk Valkyrie

VF-1Dガウォークバルキリー、1/72スケール、ハセガワから。ハセガワのエッチングパーツも使いました。テレビコクピットとHUD自分で作りました。

 

Another build finished! This here is a VF-1D Valkyrie, Gerwalk configuration. 1/72 scale plastic model kit from Hasegawa. I also used a PE set from Hasegawa, and made a TV style cockpit and HUD unit. From the Japanese animation “Super Dimensional Fortress Macross”.

This is from the very early parts of SDF Macross where Hikaru Ichijo was visiting Roy at the launch of the SDF-1, when the Zentradi attack. So Hikaru got swept up into combat, and along the way picks up Lynn Minmei (and looses an arm). The time of this pose is after he had fired on the Regult, but before the Zentradi soldier comes out. (yes, I’m totally assuming you know the story. If you don’t, why not?? Go watch it now!!!)

This is another one of those kits that I’m surprised I haven’t seen anyone make the same way yet, even though this kit was released back in 2016, and it is a rather iconic image.

This kit was completed on February 23, 2021.

I used this tutorial on how to make the battle damage on the back:

Macross Build – VF-1S Valkyrie, Battroid

VF-1Sバトロイドバルキリー、1/72スケール、バンダイから。

VF-1S Valkyrie, Battroid configuration. 1/72 scale plastic kit from Bandai. From the Japanese animation “Superdimensional Fortress Macross”.

First build completed for 2021, and going old school. This is an old kit from Bandai. I did very minor modifications to it; I wanted it to look like someone from the late 80’s had built it. Though, I admit I did have fun with the paint scheme.

Even though it’s an older kit, I think it was more difficult to build than a modern Hasegawa offering. With Hasegawa, a majority of the parts can be painted, then you put them together. This one, you had to assemble most everything, then paint. Lots of creative masking practice!

This kit was completed on February 4th.

2020 – A build year in review

Well, that was a year no one expected. One good thing, though, I had plenty to do during the stay-at-home recommendations (Japan never had hard enforced stay-at-home orders). So here’s what I cleared out of my storage room last year.

 

VF-31F Siegfried, piloted by Messer Ihlefeld. 1/72 scale plastic model from Hasegawa. From the Japanese animation “Macross Delta”. Completed on February 24th.

EVA Unit 2 and Unit 5, “Erste”. LMHG non-scale plastic kits from Bandai. From the Japanese animation “End of Evangelion”. Completed on April 26th.

VF-4 Lightning III, piloted by Hikaru Ichijo. 1/72 scale plastic model kit from Wave. From the Japanese animation “Macross Flashback 2012”. Completed on May 5th.

VF-19EF/A Isamu Special (plus), piloted by Isamu Dyson. 1/72 scale plastic kit from Hasegawa. Fold booster and missiles from Excelsus models (Wonderfest exclusives). From the Japanese animation “Macross Frontier – The Wings of Goodbye”. Completed on May 30th.

VF-2SS Valkyrie II, SVF-41 Black Aces. 1/72 scale resin cast kit from Musashiya. Valkyrie II design from the Japanese animation “Macross II, Lovers Again”. Black Aces livery from my imagination. Completed on June 20th.

BBY-01 Yamato. 1/1000 scale plastic model kit from Bandai. From the Japanese animation “Space Battleship Yamato 2199”. Completed on July 10th.

SR-71A Blackbird “Ichiban”. 1/72 scale plastic kit from Hasegawa. Completed on July 27th.

And, the monster build of the year, which took close to 5 months. VF-1S Strike Valkyrie – Ultimate Detail. 1/48 scale resin cast kit from Club M. From the Japanese animation “Macross: Do You Remember Love?”. Ground-crew is USAF support set A from Hasegawa, and the hanger was made from H Hanger parts from Wave. Completed on December 10th.

So, what is in store for us come 2021? Hopefully, things will start to turn back to the better. Not sure what my build year will hold, except for doing the 1/20 scale VF-1S Strike Valkyrie for my summer project. Stay tuned to see what comes!!

Macross Build- VF-1S Strike Valkyrie “Ultimate Detail”

Here it is, the final build of 2020!

This is a VF-1S Strike Valkyrie “Ultimate Detail”. It’s a 1/48 scale resin/white metal/photo-etched parts kit from Club M. Ground-crew is USAF support staff set A from Hasegawa, and the hanger was made using 2 sets of H Hanger from Wave. This particular plane is piloted by Hikaru Ichijo, and is from the Japanese animation “Macross: Do You Remember Love?”.

This is a pretty rare kit. I think only 500 were made, and prior to Hasegawa’s release in 2013, this was the only way to get a 1/48 scale Super/Strike Valkyrie.

You can see why this is called “The Ultimate Detail”. I decided to build it as one side normal, the other side exposed. During the build, I noticed that Tanmen-san (who originally sculpted this kit) must have used the diagram off of the poster in the Macross Gold Book, as everything matches up perfectly.

And this kit took some time, too! If you’re lucky enough to get one, don’t expect to bang it out over a weekend. I started on July 31st, and finally finished everything yesterday. Think I’m finished with resin kits for a while again!

If you’ve got one of these, and are wondering why the markings are a bit different, it’s because I ordered a decal sheet from Hasegawa. All of the big black and red markings were painted by me, though.

Since I built it looking half taken apart, I thought it would look weird just sitting there, so I picked up a ground support staff kit from Hasegawa (USAF set A), and built a hanger using 2 H Hanger sets from Wave. Unfortunately, the Valkyrie’s landing gear struts are way too long, that’s why the people look too small, but everything is the same scale.

Everything was finished on December 9, 2020. See you in 2021!!

Aircraft build- SR-71A Blackbird “Ichiban”

SR-71Aブラックバード　「一番」。1/72スケール、ハセガワから。

Taking an occasional return to realworld builds, here’s an SR-71A Blackbird “Ichiban”, 1/72 scale plastic kit from Hasegawa.

Straight out of the box build, nothing fancy. However, I did use a new brand of flat black paint that just eats the light, as you can tell (no, your monitor settings are not set too dark). Bad thing about it is that it’s not as durable a paint job as I’d like, and big decals really don’t sit/set well on it. Other than that, I like it.

As there were no pilot figures, I cheated the cockpit a little, too, by tinting the canopy with clear black.

This kit was completed on July 27, 2020.

Space Battleship Yamato build- BBY-01 Yamato

さらば地球よ　旅立つ船は
宇宙戦艦ヤマト

1/1000 スケール、バンダイから。

BBY-01 Yamato. 1/1000 scale plastic model kit from Bandai. From the Japanese animation “Space Battleship Yamato 2199”.

Probably my second favorite anime franchise after Macross. Had a ton of the old movies on VHS, but sold them all before I moved to Japan. Right now, only have a bootleg DVD set of the 3 original series, and Blu-rays of 2199 and 2202.

Pretty simple build. Not a lot of putty work to be done, and not many areas where glue is needed (but that didn’t stop me from using it). This particular kit is the Cosmo Reverser edition, but I didn’t use the cap on the Wave Motion gun. There’s also a detachable hanger for the Cosmo Falcons. which I also skipped, because I really didn’t feel like painting close to 20 1/1000 scale aircraft!

I did do some of the aircraft, though. Compared to 1/1000 scale planes, a 1/72 scale pilot figure isn’t too bad.

This kit was completed on July 10th, 2020.

I’ve also done an original 1/500 scale Yamato kit in the past. This was released by Bandai around the time of the original second TV series. This kit also has the honor of being the first kit I directly imporetd from Japan (actually, this is the second time I’d done this kit. First one was the first kit I had built after a break of 10~15 years, and it showed).

Funny how a modern kit at half the size has more details. Ah, it’s still a fun kit to build, just needs a little more TLC.

I honestly can’t remember when I finished this one, but these photos were from November of 2009.

ADDENDUM Looks like Flickr changed their code for embedding photos, so they don’t link back to the source. I fixed it for the first one, so click that image to see where I have bigger pics of all.