HARDCORE MODELING!: 80's Cartoon: Macross Valkyrie

#1

Here’s a rendering of the Valkyrie in fighter-mode. The backdrop, flares and afterburners were added in Photoshop. Background Artwork by Robert Hurt. NASA/JPL/Caltech.

So here’s my entry for the 80’s cartoon Challenge.
I was always hugely intreagued by the Robotech series, though I never really got to follow it, as I stumbled on it halfway through the series and the netword airing it in Holland did’t really seem to care about the order in which the episodes were aired.

My brother and I were avid model kit builders back then and we amassed quite an army of model kit Mecha’s. But they never seemed to have the Valkyrie on stock at any of the local hobby shops.

I’m gonna try and make it look like an actual model kit. Maybe have some left over plastic runners and glue and stuff strewn about…

If i’m done quickly enough, i’m gonna try and put a cell shaded Rick Hunter in there looking as if he’s ready to board his new toy :wink:

#2

Here’s a picture from a Dutch model-kit site, with a really good looking model of a VF-25.

Thanks to poster Wolfe177 of www.modelbrouwers.nl

#3

Great choice man, the Valkyrie variable fighter has always been my favorite mecha design. In the mid-90’s I did a transforming VF-1S with the old 3D Studio release 4. Those were the days. Look forward to seeing were you take this. Good luck!

#4

Ok, so I’ve been reading up a bit on Robotech, and it’s pretty complex… Turns out I want to model the VF1-S type Valkyrie, in ‘Gerwalk’ mode. Probably without the ‘Space-booster’ pack it has on it’s back in the drawing.

The Photograph of the model-kit is a VF25-J from another series of Robotech…

Also orthographic views of the gerwalk Valkyrie a pretty hard to find, so I’ve been modelling the surrounding in stead for now…

I’ve actually ordered a model kit, 'cause these things are just too sweet. :smiley:
You gotta love this Interweb-thingy, back in the actual 80’s I had to cycle three to four towns, just to hunt for a model kit… (and I never did find a Valkyrie) and it also helps that I have a bit more disposable income than when I was eleven.

#5

So, I finally got something to show for, it aint much but you gotta start somewhere, right.
I’ve got a wing and a piece of fuselage. These things are just horribly intricate and I take my hat off to all the animators that drew these things by hand in the early 80s…

#6

Keep it up! It looks good so far, I can’t wait to see a Valkyrie in full 3D!

#7

Nice choice and good progress! WIP progression shots like the ones you are posting are always appreciated. :slight_smile:

Cheers!

#8

Here are some some more WIP pictures. NURBS were converted to polys and a lot of vertex pulling was done. Some detailing hes been done.


Here’s some close-ups of the canopy…


And here’s the nosecone. I’ve booleaned out the hole for the canopy and have coaxed the vetexes around the hole to line up with the actual canopy. The back of the nosecone has been cut and morphed to line up with the fuselage.

I have taken the day off work to get some real work done today… I’ll be posting more later today…

#9

I’m working in Autodesk Maya 2008. My system is a MacBook 17" (first gen.) with 2Gig’s of RAM.

Copyrights belong to Harmony Gold USA and Tatsunoko… i guess

#10

Got the better part of the fuselage done today. It needs a bit more detailing but i’ll add that later on. I’ll leave it at this for now and continue on to the main air-intakes and arms.


Building the fuselage consisted of extruding edges and getting them to line up with the ortho’s. I only have a top, bottom and sideview, but no front. So it took a bit of educated guesswork.

#11

Looks like you got a great start, looking forward to seeing your progress.

#12

Hi, first post here.

I’ve done a VF-1S and have many reference images, you got a good start, as long as you don’t want make it transformable.

The nose cone and frontal fuselage is more triangular:

And here is a CAD drawing showing the interior, landing gear, etc (It’s a VF-1A variant, but the only difference is the head/laser turret):

And here you can find the instruction sheets and decals for the plastic models:

http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/models/hasegawa/hasegawa.htm

And here you can see detailed pictures of the finished plastic models, very helpful:

http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazines/_magazines_hobbyjapan2001-2003.htm

Browse that site, there is a lot more info in there.

#13

Wow, thanks Woz. These are amazing. I already had a pretty good side, bottom and top, but these will be very helpfull indeed.

I intend to make hins thing transformable, but for this competition i’m just going for a cool pose in Gerwalk mode.

I’m curious as to how your Valkyrie turned out.

#14

Hi, for you model to be transformable, you’ll have to make the nosecone, cockpit, front fuselage and rear fuselage separate objects.

Here’s a render of my old VF-1S model, it’s made on Truespace, and at the time of this render I didn’t had enough machine for a better quality render.

#15

Wow Woz,
That’s one slick looking Valkyrie… I hope I can get mine to look as good as that :applause:
And thanks again for the ortho’s. Especially that transparent sideview was helpfull.

Here’s some more updates. I’ve been working on the legs/engines. I got wrapped up in the details i put the paneling and landing-lights on the top in stead of the bottom… I fixed it already though with a little cutting, pasting and re-aligning.

I’ve also started cutting up the fuselage to get the thing fully transformable…

#16

Another WIP-shot. I’ve been looking at some movies on youTube where guys show how to transform the Valkyrie and I’ve got a pretty good grasp on how the whole thing really works… I just hope I’m done modeling by next week… time flies…

#17

And here’s what i’ve got so far…

#18

Lookin’ good!

Hope you have time too, you did a very good model so far!

#19

looks great …
hope to see it transform too …

#20

I adore Macross Valkyries, modelled one myself many years ago (still in my avatar too) - if there’s one thing I remember it’s that it took alot longer than I thought it would to complete, especially the texturing. It’s kinda like having to make 2 models instead of one where as I thought i would only have to make one model to get two forms. :argh:

I have several VF-1 toys and kits, they all transform slightly differently but the basic principle is the same as far as the layout of parts. The key differences are the leg swingbar and the heatshield (often a separate piece). I would advise looking at the Yamato 1/48 as it probably has the best solutions. I can scan some reference images of how the designer envisioned the VF-1 to transform if you like… it uses a swinging mechanism unlike any of the toys or kits have tho.

It’s looking good so far. :beer: