Wearing a Valkyrie

I couldn't help myself... It's a little tacky but it's rare and limited outside of Japan. And on top of which, I'm a long time Macross/Robotech fan. This Valkyrie-themed jacket caught my attention right away. It was just a matter of finding a means to acquire an item intended only for the Japanese market exclusively (because well, I'm pretty certain Harmony Gold would have something to say about their international rights for the Robotech brand).And I couldn't help wearing it. I had to at least once. During the course of the day I gradually discovered the little features all over the jacket.The most distinguishing feature is the VF-1 regalia. Everyone keeps calling it a "flight jacket" but it isn't a cosplay piece (everyone knows the pilot's uniform on Macross was a plain white and red jumpsuit). From the shoulders down the sleeves, the jacket resembles the paint scheme on Hikaur Ichijio's Valkyrie fighter. Details include embroidered UN-Spacy logos, appropriate craft numbers, and of course carrier name. A real embroided name patch for Skull-leader with Ichijio's name is on the chest. For that authentic military touch, the patch is held by velcro.

The groovy feature is the music-player storage system. The forearms have zippered compartments for a portable device. The left sleeve has a velcro shaft to hold down an ear-phone wire. The velcro clasps continue right up to the colar. I'm sure Minmay would have approved.And it has the requisite "Engrish" not to be missed!

There are a some compartments of questionable practicality. The side pockets are button-closed (the left pocket has the official-licensed product seal inside of it). There is a pocket just inside the left breast. Lastly there's also a large compartment inside the back. For the life of me, I can't figure out what that's for. It seems to follow the entire length and I can't imagine the jacket being particularly comfortable if I were to put something in there. However, there is yet another little hole behind that pocket coming out to one of the velcro clasps on the back. I have no clue what this is for either.My jacket is sized "Large." The lengths fit me perfect (I rarely find anything where the sleeves actually stop of my wrists). But I don't know if I have a bulky frame or what, but it's very close-fitting. Am I disappointed? Not really, I plan to treat this as a collector's item more than an actual jacket. And in that respect, how far does it reach up the geek-o-meter? Very high.

Imperial Guard Valkyrie 4

The Valkyrie build was delayed for a variety of reasons, but here's the final follow up.
First I wanted to turn the kit over and present possibly the ONLY image of the underside of the model anywhere. It's not clear from the instruction sheet nor from the photos. But the hatches don't have anything holding them in place until you finally put the wings and tail fins in place. Once everything's together, the hatches sort of get sandwiched in the grooves naturally. You'll wonder how it wasn't so obvious before you test-fit everything.Another trick I had to ask for help with is the canopy over the cockpit. Firstly, do the easy thing: base coat the "window frame" bits first. Just remember to leave the underside unpainted because that's where your glue will make contact! While you're at it, carefully tape off the windows leaving only the horizontal cross-bars that are molded into the clear plastic. These "bumps" will form part of the frames on the finished model so you'll need to paint that too.Here's a shot of the finished canopy resting on top of the cockpit assembly. Don't glue it in place yet!
Why not, you may ask? I painted the interior first for a reason. The finished canopy will serve as a conveniently cockpit-shaped template. How? Here's an easy trick for basecoating: wrap the finished canopy in plastic-food-wrap then sit it on top of the cockpit you want to protect. Plastic wrap is easy to hold together and easier to remove when you're done spraying!And finally... the photos you've been waiting for. This is after a coat of black, then a dusting coat of generic olive-drab green. A touch of randomness is done by holding up a sheet of card-stock with holes in it. And a final touch: sky-gray on the bottom... look it up, there's a reason for this paint scheme on military aircraft. Finally weathering is done with a combination of more chaos black, tin bitz, and boltgun metal from Citadel Colour paints.

Brutal abuse of comedy...

Planetstrike kits

Today I'm bringing you a look at the Planetstrike scenery kits (which if you got a chance to check out the new expansion book, serve as more than just scenery). We'll start with the Aegis Defense Line kit.As you can see, there's very little to the set. There are 4 long walls and 4 short ones coming on a pair of sprues. Slap some paint on and you're done. The only thing to assemble is the quad-cannon model which will come in handy if you decide to leave the base and the gun unglued. The Planetstrike line has a common feature in most parts: the hatches or mounts for turrets are all the same size so they're interchangeable.
The Imperial Bastion comes on 6 sprues. The walls for the main structure are on 2 pairs while the rest of the stuff including the Comms Relay and Lascannon are on their own.
The first thing to do is to start with adding corner joints - you need that angle to start off the structure just like the Cities of Death kits from a few years ago. Next, use a main deck panel to help text fit the walls together, this will help get as close to a proper 90-degree angle as possible.Don't worry about perfection. The plastic has just enough give that you will be able to press the next parts together on top. More importantly, lay down the deck without glue. Friction between levels will keep the parts together! And that's how this kit becomes modular as described in the Planetstrike book. Just remember to test-fit everything on top of the previous level and glue only the walls you want to hold. In the end, you end up with this:
Note the deck panels are reversible so you have the option of reassembling the Bastion with or without the mounting point on the roof like so:Of course, building the kit to take advantage of its modular nature means you can do this (using the quad-cannon from the Aegis Defense Line kit and removing the middle level from the Bastion):
Or change the prop on the roof to suit the mission scenario you are playing:


Or try to use everything since the Bastion kit comes with a variety of ground-deployment bases. Mix and match parts to offer some dynamic looking setups.


Remember, if you shop smart, you can assemble an Imperial Strongpoint (a limited direct-market release from earlier this year) simply buy collecting 2 Bastion kits and 3 Aegis Defense Lines. It's tricky, but it can be done for the same price as the limited offer.

Gotta catch'em all

It's been a long time but I finally finished up my collection of Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi figures by FREEing and Good Smile Company. The tale goes all the way back to wanting to support my local store but if they couldn't get it in stock within the first 3 months of release it was looking more and more like eBay was the way to go. Sadly, also costing me an arm and a leg more than it should have been at retail.The box is surprisingly small. I was under the mistaken impression that since Ryoko is posed lengthwise it might be extra large - possibly larger than the box for Yuki.I'm very pleased that she's finally here. In fact the only thing I find perculiar is that her stocking is stretched away from the back of her bent knee. Never noticed that in any other peoples' review photos. I wonder if it's a defect. Anyway, here is Ryoko with the rest of the cast ...finally.