Hasegawa 1/72 Macross VF-1A Max TV Custom - 3

Some minor progress on Max's VF-1A. I moved onto working on the engine nacelles. As I noted in my last post, the kit's engineered in such a way that you have to paint the exhaust outlets before you can assemble the nacelles. I had originally had planned to do it that way, but decided against it because I didn't want there to be the possibility that I would ruin the painted outlets while I was assembling the legs.

After thinking long and hard about it, I decided that I would cut half the cup that the outlets sit in, then assemble the leg. 

The assembled nacelles. Since I'll be displaying the finished model in flight mode, I also glued on the landing bay doors. However, the kit was engineered for gear down display, so the fit of the doors is a major pain in the ass. It's not a clean fit, so I'll be doing some sanding and filling to get everything at least semi-flush.

However, it turns out the that even with the cut out, the outlets are too wide because of the slight riser that sits in the cup. With the nacelles assembled, there's no way to slide the outlets in. I had to shave the sides of the outlets down enough for it slide in, but leave enough material for it to be able to seat into the inside the leg. The right shows the stock piece, and the left the shaved down unit.

You'll also noticed that I abandoned the idea of adding a ridge to the end of the outlets. I simply peeled of the pieces of styrene, cleaned it up, and scribed in new panel lines where the ridge would have been.

That's it for now. My plan this week is to finish cleaning up the nacelles. I've got most of the sub assemblies finished, so hopefully, in the next couple of weeks I can start putting primer on. Until then, happy modelling!!

Hasegawa 1/72 Macross VF-1A Max TV Custom - 2

Like with the Lotus, the heat made getting any painting done really difficult. With the Valkyrie, I manage to prime the exhaust nozzles. I also applied Mr. Surfacer 500 to the areas were deep scratch marks from sanding were visible. I'll sand it down with 800 grit before applying another coat of priming and painting them with Metalizers.

Also found this pic on the internet to illustrate the look I'm going for.

Again, that's it for now. 

Hasegawa 1/72 Macross VF-1A Max TV Custom - 1

I've also started working on the 1/72 scale Macross VF-1A by Hasegawa. I'm a huge sci-fi and anime fan, and Macross is one of my favorite animes. I'll be building this to represent Maximilian Jenius' custom colored white and blue VF-1A. Again, sticking with my "back to basics" theme, this will box stock (mostly, as you will see below).

First step was to assemble as many sub-assemblies as possible before it goes to primer. So I assembled the main fuselage, the engine intakes, and rear stabilators.

An important step is to work on the exhaust nozzles. The way the kit is engineered, I need to paint the nozzles before they can be assembled into the engine nacelles. I decided to add styrene to represent ridges at  the edges of the nozzle. The kit parts have a panel line to represent this, but it's fairly faint. The modified part is on the left, the original kit part on the right

It took me two hours to add the ridges to the nozzles, so I decided to take a break from them and move onto another area of the kit.

 Like a majority of aircraft kits, this kit requires that the cockpit tub and interior be painted before the fuselage halves are glued together. I primed the cockpit and fuselage interior, then covered it with Testor's Model Master Gunship Gray FS36118 enamel. A light wash with Model Master Black acrylic to bring out the details, then drybrush Testor's silver on the corners to show some wear.

The fuselage was glued together. I mocked it up with main fuselage to get a feel for how it will look. 

I filled the seam with a putty made from super glue and talc.

And the sanded result. I love using the super glue/talc putty because it dries quick, dries super hard, and won't shrink over time. When I primer it, I'll go over any voids I missed with Mr. Surfacer 500.

That's it for this week. My plan for the upcoming week is to get the exhaust nozzles painted and the main engine nacelles assembled. As awlays, any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!