Hasegawa VF-1S Super Battroid (DYRL version)

[Bawoo]

So I'm posting up pics of kits I built in the couple years I was absent from modeling forums, here's another!  This is the Hasegawa DYRL VF-1S Supper Battroid.  These Hasegawa Macross kits are just beautiful, they put Bandai to shame!  I wish they weren't so time consuming, I'd love to build more, there are so manny classic paint schemes.  They're darn near perfect out of the box, so I didn't do many modifications.  I couldn't resist a few though:

-Scratchbuilt front foot section for slightly better proportion (the original is too "skinny" looking)
-Scratchbuilt hip intake covers for a more "louvered" look
-A few custom decals to give it a more 80's Macross model feel (VF on the legs, new shoulder decals, etc, my usual retro stuff)

I had some fun with the alclad chrome and some clear colors on the jets...I wish it photographed better, it always looks too "sparkly" in photos.  Anyway, here are the pics, comments welcome as always...

[Zircor]

That looks amazing.  I really like the preshading you did on the fastpack and other parts of that color (leg armor, etc).  What did you do for the visor?  The Alclad, like you did with the verniers?  Did the panel lines come molded on the kit, or did you add them?  The sheer detail of them on the shoulders and chest area boggles my mind, but it looks incredible as well.

[Bawoo]

Thanks...I like to use the lighter preshade color on darker parts sometimes, particularly if I want the color to be more "saturated", using black or darker preshades tends to make things a little grey-er. 

The visor is just backpainted silver with clear green brushed on the front.  I got some great clears that are actually for making suncatchers from the kids crafts section.  They brush on and level very nicely for little details!  I'm proudest of the effect on the yellow/orange lights near the shoulders.  I backed these with some foil, clear paint on the front, and a decal on the back for the little lines.  The effect is really cool in person, very "light-like".

All the panel lines are stock on the kit.  Like I said, Hasegawa kits are amazing.  The detail is really crisp on the kit.  I was nervous about doing black wash over white with so much detail, but the lines and rivets are so well molded they practically washed themselves!

[Major Blah]

These Hasegawa Macross kits are just beautiful, they put Bandai to shame! 

I'm surprised to hear this from you.  You should be modifying the Bandai sock-monkey kits to beat the Hase! 

Great work as usual, and old school subject matter to boot.  The details are indeed pretty amazing on these kits.  I guess the aircraft modeling community is more picky about this sort of stuff and thus they have better technology to achieve that.  What's with the wings?  Seems like one of them is a little bit misplaced. 

[Bawoo]

These Hasegawa Macross kits are just beautiful, they put Bandai to shame! 

I'm surprised to hear this from you.  You should be modifying the Bandai sock-monkey kits to beat the Hase! 

Great work as usual, and old school subject matter to boot.  The details are indeed pretty amazing on these kits.  I guess the aircraft modeling community is more picky about this sort of stuff and thus they have better technology to achieve that.  What's with the wings?  Seems like one of them is a little bit misplaced. 

Surprised huh?  Yeah, I do normally prefer the kits that are kind of crappy...in some ways it's a bummer that the Hasegawa Valkyries are so nice, takes some of the fun out of it!  But it's hard to argue with quality like that...plus they don't condescend the way the current Bandai kits do.  They just "feel" more authentic than most of the MG kits, which are so homogenized they irritate me.  Now if Bandai went to down with the detail like this on newer kits I might be able to overlook the bland look they usually have...but then I'm not sure this type of detail is really my style on Gundam stuff anyway.

The wings are hinged, and this is the only fit problem I found in the whole kit, they don't really stay closed properly.  I should probably have glued them, but then you guys would have nothing to nitpick!

[tetsujin]

Dang, man, when you build something like this you gotta let people know about it! 

[Bawoo]

Dang, man, when you build something like this you gotta let people know about it! 

Heheheh...it's been sitting on the shelf waiting to be photographed for almost 2 years now!  I thought you might get a kick out of it Tet, as one of the only true Macross people around here (I think).  I only wish there was more I could have done to make it more "old school"....filled in most of the awesome detail and put some huge fists on it I guess!

[DrDazzle]

Dang, man, when you build something like this you gotta let people know about it! 

Heheheh...it's been sitting on the shelf waiting to be photographed for almost 2 years now!  I thought you might get a kick out of it Tet, as one of the only true Macross people around here (I think).  I only wish there was more I could have done to make it more "old school"....filled in most of the awesome detail and put some huge fists on it I guess!

Im sure some B Club Zaku hands would work.

This is a pretty kit. You did great work here. I noticed you said you made it 2 years ago. Have you build anything recently? It has been years since I have seen anything of yours.

[Bawoo]

Dang, man, when you build something like this you gotta let people know about it! 

Heheheh...it's been sitting on the shelf waiting to be photographed for almost 2 years now!  I thought you might get a kick out of it Tet, as one of the only true Macross people around here (I think).  I only wish there was more I could have done to make it more "old school"....filled in most of the awesome detail and put some huge fists on it I guess!

Im sure some B Club Zaku hands would work.

This is a pretty kit. You did great work here. I noticed you said you made it 2 years ago. Have you build anything recently? It has been years since I have seen anything of yours.

Thanks for the kind words.  About the hands, I was actually just making a jab about the old ARII and IMAI kits, what with their insanely huge fists!  I stuck with the square fingers on this one, since the movie Valks had them, but I'd replace with round fingers on a TV version. (probably from scratch anymore, why give B-Club all my money??)

Other recent stuff?  Yeah, there's my FAZZ, a Christina Mackenzie figure, and I'm working on a Jamru Fin right now...I'd post links but my browser is acting totally crappy right now.  Scroll down the model gallery page and you'll see 'em. :)

[FichtenFoo]

Nice work Pete. I like all of it but the blue-gray shaded parts. I'm not sure why, maybe my general dislike for the edge-shaded look, but it looks odd to me. Maybe it's the lighter edge color. More realistic probably that way, but almost looks drybrushed. Other than that it looks great. Nice clean panel lines.

And yeah, while part-fit can be an issue, these kill Bandai in the detail dept.

[DrDazzle]

I will definitely have a look. And I loved the proportions on the ARII kits. I wish I could find some so I could make some better joints for it. I had one I painted when I was like 9 years old and I had planned to strip it and rebuild it, but I guess it got lost at some point .

[Bawoo]

I will definitely have a look. And I loved the proportions on the ARII kits. I wish I could find some so I could make some better joints for it. I had one I painted when I was like 9 years old and I had planned to strip it and rebuild it, but I guess it got lost at some point .

I hate the ARII kits (aside from nostalgia value, they were among my first mecha models back in 1984 or so), but they're definitely old school.   Might be a fun project to try to make one presentable!  They're a dime a dozen on Ebay these days, shouldn't be too hard to find some.

[tetsujin]

When Bandai re-issued the Imai Battroids recently, I was sorely tempted to get one.  They're not as good as the Hasegawas IMO but still from the photos I've seen I think they were pretty good...

Though the Arii Gerwalk was the second anime kit I ever did (first was a variable Legioss in grade school) - so it's very tempting to build one of those again...

Have you posted this over on Macrossworld?

[Bawoo]

When Bandai re-issued the Imai Battroids recently, I was sorely tempted to get one.  They're not as good as the Hasegawas IMO but still from the photos I've seen I think they were pretty good...

Though the Arii Gerwalk was the second anime kit I ever did (first was a variable Legioss in grade school) - so it's very tempting to build one of those again...

Have you posted this over on Macrossworld?

Nah, I can't keep track of all these forums!  Would they gaga over it there...?  Might be worth posting then.

The IMAI Battroids aren't too bad actually, I built several of them back in the day.  The hands are bad, but they are large, beefy, and build up into a fairly accurate representation of the Battroid lineart, complete with stubby wings.  I'll probably make one sometime in the not too distant future...a nice brown VF-1A or something. :)  In fact, most of the IMAI kits were pretty good, and the ARII stuff was surprisingly bad, something I never quite understood.

[tetsujin]

Nah, I can't keep track of all these forums!  Would they gaga over it there...?  Might be worth posting then.

Macworld is kind of a funny place.  On the one hand there's a small group of very skilled builders there (John Moscato probably being the prime example).  Then on the other hand there's the swarming masses of Yamato collectors, some of whom also do custom work on the Yamato toys...  And there's very little in between.  Of course, that's somewhat true on almost any modeling forum, really - a few people building and a lot of people talking...  But I think they always like to see a nice build of a good kit.

The IMAI Battroids aren't too bad actually, I built several of them back in the day.  The hands are bad, but they are large, beefy, and build up into a fairly accurate representation of the Battroid lineart, complete with stubby wings.  I'll probably make one sometime in the not too distant future...a nice brown VF-1A or something. :)  In fact, most of the IMAI kits were pretty good, and the ARII stuff was surprisingly bad, something I never quite understood.

Yeah, that's generally been my impression, too - though I think Arii did have their moments.

[DrDazzle]

I will definitely have a look. And I loved the proportions on the ARII kits. I wish I could find some so I could make some better joints for it. I had one I painted when I was like 9 years old and I had planned to strip it and rebuild it, but I guess it got lost at some point .

I hate the ARII kits (aside from nostalgia value, they were among my first mecha models back in 1984 or so), but they're definitely old school.   Might be a fun project to try to make one presentable!  They're a dime a dozen on Ebay these days, shouldn't be too hard to find some.

I just loved the proportions. They just need some good joints! I will look over at ebay.

BTW your site doesn't seem to work, where can I find pics of your recent stuff.

[Bawoo]

Yeah, my web server died and I've been too lazy to fix it, so my site's down for now.  Hasn't been updated in years anyway, I'm actually half-assed working on a new version of the site.  For now everything recently that I have photos of is posted here.

[robofreak]

The VF-1s is one of my favorites. I think that's because Jetfire from Trasnformers is one of my favorite figures.

I love the paint job and all the little details you put into the kit. All those panel lines would drive me insane.

[Bawoo]

The VF-1s is one of my favorites. I think that's because Jetfire from Trasnformers is one of my favorite figures.

I love the paint job and all the little details you put into the kit. All those panel lines would drive me insane.

The panel lines weren't as hard as they look, the detail is so crisp on the kit that a controlled oil wash let's the paint and the panels do the work for you.

I must admit that I've restisted temptation to do a Jetfire paintjob on a VF-1S.  It was one of the first Transfromers I got, way back in 6th grade...lol

[robofreak]

I'll keep that in mind if I ever get around to building one of these. I've used to using fine tipped pens, but have been needing a reason to try out a oil wash.

Jetfire fans unite! The one I have, I had to customize into a Decepticon. The yellowing was so bad that I had to do something to keep it presentable.