Good point, I am still playing with the idea of getting it. Now... where do I get $200 ... :p

- Tak

Thats some amount of money. Do all the models cost this much? It's not a model or figure collector so bear with my lack of knowledge. ;)

Well that thing should be only slightly smaller than the 1/3000 SDF-1 I think

Urei: that one is a toy not model. Model is alot cheaper than the toys

Well what with all of the "25th" references in the show, I'd expect $250... oh, wait, instead that'd be ¥25,000. :)

Just to give an idea what that Macross Quater is.

Firstly its a 'Chogokin', a famous line of mecha toys of very high quality. The name, Chokogin itself, comes from the grandfather of mecha anime, Mazinger Z, whose armour is made of Chogokin Z. Chokogin means Super Alloy.

Chogokins always reproduce the features of mecha very faithfully to its originals, you can even expect combinable mecha to combine the exact way it does in anime.

And living up to its Super Alloy name, Chokogins are mainly made up of metal, giving you durable, steady yet posable figures.

If you want to know more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chogokin

EDIT: Oh wait LOL

After reading the Macross Quater box again, it says 'why this size', as in why so small? Chokogins are easily 30 - 50 cm tall.

I can only suspect a same scale Macross Frontier!

M-Frontier would be at least 80cm tall if it is the same scale! (remember M-Quarter is only 1/4th size of New Macross Class)

Chogokin is doing Macross figures now?! :eek:

Must find place to pre-order...I own the Gunbuster from them and if its anything like that, this is going to be WIN :D

Here's progress as of last night.

http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/4...1400il6.th.jpg

Its a horrible fuzzy image I know. I promise to get it focused next shot. I'm having a problem with my camera, as I tried to offer a few in progress shots so you can see how it goes together in a puzzle like fashion, but they all were the suxorz. More to come tonight I hope.

One important note so far. The red color sticker decals for the tail parts aren't properly backed in white, so they turn out translucent. This means they don't display the correct red color over the black moulded parts. I'm probably going to go out and get some red paint for the tail sections as a result. It was going too perfectly, there had to be some fail hidden somewhere in the kit... :p

It's perfectly fine. I'm just happy enough that you taken a photo to show us all. :)

Great, thank you for the picture. It really looks nice even without painting. Be sure to show us the completed model. About the paint. I think that the kit is mostly dedicated to people who take their time and do the paint job. I always thought that stickers and decals are 'our', the moderate level assembly type people, way of completing the model

Hey there... here's where Alto's ride is as of tonight:

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/393...1415rh3.th.jpg

Another cr@ppy phtog I know. I think the focus on my camera is shot. Time to invest in a new one. :(

Its starting to look like something now. I still am amazed by the tight tolerances of this kit. If you're going to build one of these, make sure you have either a small flat needle file or a way of sanding off the excess sprue flash even if you've trimmed it close. pretty much every part is hinged in some way and if you don't get everything smooth and clean, you could have binding in the joints. Also, really pay CLOSE attention to the direction of the parts as they go together. I ended up pulling a whole engine section apart because I'd gotten one small tab upside down in an early step. Pay attention to left and right for this same reason. The instructions call it out, but its still easy to slip up and get 5 steps along before you realize the mistake. :p

Cool thing is that being a "snap fit" you can break a section down and rebuild it, but be careful as some of the pieces snap in REALLY tight and are a trick to get apart again without risk of breakage. Having a sturdy blade on hand to pry things apart is useful. OTOH, the parts are so accurate that there's virtually NO test fitting. Once snipped and cleaned, they go right together.

On the decals vs stickers vs paint. This is the first kit I've ever built with the stickers. Let me tell you its not just an easy-peasy thing to do. As a matter of fact, the water slide decals would be MUCH simpler to put on because they are easier to align. The stickers are a real trick to keep straight and flat without bubbling, stretching or binding them. Fortunately for me, I have years of practice pulling lines of tape from my time as a car designer. :) As I said earlier , I'm only using them because I think they will be more durable than the decals. Normally I'd just paint it.

I may just stop for a few days and paint some of the vents and intakes afterall since they are still easy to get to at this point. If I wanted to go the "master builder" route, there are ample details in the moulding that would make for a spectacular display model if the time to make it cherry was spent. I mostly want it to be a semi toy, so that's why I'm not bothering. I might go further with the Ozma version when it arrives since I'm kind of an Ozma(Focker) fan. Something about the yellow and black machines really do it for me. :heh:

Its a great kit. I hope some of my comments are useful to you other builders out there who are about to tackle this model.

Have fun!

Mughi~

Boxart image of 1/72 VF-25S Ozma colors

http://img247.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/u...mqvar14869.jpg

We'd go different routes then, as I prefer the F version over S ;) Then again it would be great to make this epic face off of two Messiah's. Again, thank you for the information. It will be very useful once I start the assembly. I've been building models as a kid and I can't say I did a bad job. Let's see how this one will turn out ;)

Thanks for sharing this! I'm really excited to get this kit now that I have half an F-type under my belt. :)

So are you going to go all out on Alto's plane? I'll be looking forward to see what you do with it! :)

I thought about buying some spray cans and using them instead of an aribrush. Thats what I did long time ago. I can't say that I loved the process as it took hell lots of time. I've seen the instruction manual for the VF-25F and it seems to have the color schemes for the plane listed on one of the pages so I'll take my time and get the best possible paint.

Btw., thank you about the info about the tight assembly. I've checked everywhere and it seems I lack small grain paper :D

OK, A little more progress this weekend:

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/2...0009tu1.th.jpg
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/9...0013ef1.th.jpg

...and a new camera that's at least able to focus and shoot without a flash! :)

Not much real new work since the last shots. I painted some vents and details... more needs to be done, but the visor on the head is now clear green and even that little bit made a significant difference, although its difficult to see in these shots.

On the stickers... They can be VERY easy to tear, so be careful. I've begun to re-score them all with a sharp knife, but even so I had a couple give me lots of difficulty. Also, as expected, the SMS logos look awful over the black on the tails. You can't see them in these shots, but they get VERY dark as they are too translucent. I wish Bandai had backed them with opaque white first. There IS SOME white backing them, but its insufficiently solid enough to give them punch. I may pull them off and try the water decals instead to see if they are better.

More detailing and decaling soon, then its on to final assembly steps! :)

Mughi

Great shots! Thank you. Could you please tell me where have you used stickers? Maybe decals with some hardener would have been better. I was planning to go with decals so I'm curious about your opinion on the subject.


This is how Intend to make it look after the final assembly

Well, I'm TRYING to not get TOO serious about this kit, as I'm already doing... I want it to stay "playable" and not become something you put on an altar and pray to each night. :heh:

I 'm sort of experimenting with it as I go. So far the wings and tail have stickers on them. The fuselage hasn't been done yet obviously, and some of the vents and little vernier ports are painted. In addition, I painted the red on the tails and fins on the engines, but I decided to put the stickers OVER the red paint on the tails just to see if I liked it. They look pretty good and I may leave them that way only because getting a bright enough color over the black parts is tricky.

Don't get the stickers wrong. They are VERY high quality film with a matte finish to them, so they look VERY nice in person, but clearly, if you want the apperance of the images you posted from Bandai, the waterslip decals is going to be the way to go. At this point, I MAY replace the SMS logo stickers with the decals, just to see if they come out better over the dark areas.

All of the panel lines are VERY small and will take a master's touch to get right. I'll be fascinated to see any images you can post of your build as you do it Urei.

Thx, for the info yet again. It'll take about two weeks for me to start the assembly as I still haven't received my kit. This will also be the first time I'll get this serious about a model. It will be a great way to test the skills and pay a homage to the series. Besides, I'm a very patient person and I refuse to give up until it's done my way. A pain in the ass sometimes...

Most probably I'll put it into a pose and let it fly in it's small little spot. Be sure to update the gallery once you do something more. I really want to see the final stage ;)