1:100 Destroid Phalanx SDR-04-Mk. XII Space Defense Robot (Macross)

Dizzyfugu · February 10, 2021, 04:48:05 AM

1:100 Macross - Destroid "(Missile) Phalanx" SDR-04-Mk. XII Space Defense Robot; "S-7 (s/n D-229-149) a.k.a. "Rabbit" of the U.N. Spacy Ground Forces; South Ataria Island, early 2010 (Bandai/Arii kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Some background:
After the space-worthy conversion of the CVS-101 Prometheus and the SLV-111 Daedalus carriers, these ships were docked with the SDF-1 Macross and it became clear that this new gigantic vessel required a specialized unit with a heavy armament for medium range defense.
The resulting Space Defense Robot (SDR) Phalanx was tailored to this task. Development of the Phalanx began in a hurry, during the already ongoing Space War I in July 2009. Its systems and structural elements were, to save time and minimize development risks, taken over from a pre-war Destroid standard mass production model. The "Type 04" biped chassis from 2001 was common to several Destroid types, including the Tomahawk medium battle robot and the Defender anti-aircraft robot. The main frame from the waist down included a common module which consolidated the thermonuclear reactor and ambulatory OverTechnology system, and for the Phalanx it was combined with a new, jettisonable torso that was suited to space operations and could also act as a rescue capsule with modest independent propulsion. Thanks to this dedicated mission profile, the Phalanx was the best adapted Destroid to space operations, with the best zero-G maneuverability of any Destroid type during Space War I.

1:100 Macross - Destroid "(Missile) Phalanx" SDR-04-Mk. XII Space Defense Robot; "S-7 (s/n D-229-149) a.k.a. "Rabbit" of the U.N. Spacy Ground Forces; South Ataria Island, early 2010 (Bandai/Arii kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:100 Macross - Destroid "(Missile) Phalanx" SDR-04-Mk. XII Space Defense Robot; "S-7 (s/n D-229-149) a.k.a. "Rabbit" of the U.N. Spacy Ground Forces; South Ataria Island, early 2010 (Bandai/Arii kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:100 Macross - Destroid "(Missile) Phalanx" SDR-04-Mk. XII Space Defense Robot; "S-7 (s/n D-229-149) a.k.a. "Rabbit" of the U.N. Spacy Ground Forces; South Ataria Island, early 2010 (Bandai/Arii kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:100 Macross - Destroid "(Missile) Phalanx" SDR-04-Mk. XII Space Defense Robot; "S-7 (s/n D-229-149) a.k.a. "Rabbit" of the U.N. Spacy Ground Forces; South Ataria Island, early 2010 (Bandai/Arii kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

With this proven basis, the Phalanx quickly reached rollout in December of that year. Armed with dozens of missiles in two large launcher pods, the Phalanx made an excellent semi-mobile missile-based battery. On board of spaceships, the Phalanx also performed as a substitution deployment for the much more complex ADR-04-Mk X Destroid Defender, and it complemented this type with its longer-range guided missile weaponry. Minor Phalanx variants featured additional light close-range armament, such as a head-mounted gatling gun that replaced the original search light array, or more sophisticated sensor arrays. The latter led to the dedicated Mk. XIII version for space operations.

During the final battle of Space War I against the Zentraedi Bodol Zer Main Fleet, the Phalanx units, originally delivered in a sand-colored livery, were repainted in dark blue and refitted to fire long-range reaction warheads for use against space warships. The Phalanx' on board of SDF-1 had their finest hour when the SDF-1 Macross broke through the Zentraedi fleet defenses and entered the interior of the massive Fulbtzs Berrentzs command vessel: all the Phalanx units unleashed their missiles and aided in the swift destruction of the enemy flagship.

1:100 Macross - Destroid "(Missile) Phalanx" SDR-04-Mk. XII Space Defense Robot; "S-7 (s/n D-229-149) a.k.a. "Rabbit" of the U.N. Spacy Ground Forces; South Ataria Island, early 2010 (Bandai/Arii kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:100 Macross - Destroid "(Missile) Phalanx" SDR-04-Mk. XII Space Defense Robot; "S-7 (s/n D-229-149) a.k.a. "Rabbit" of the U.N. Spacy Ground Forces; South Ataria Island, early 2010 (Bandai/Arii kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:100 Macross - Destroid "(Missile) Phalanx" SDR-04-Mk. XII Space Defense Robot; "S-7 (s/n D-229-149) a.k.a. "Rabbit" of the U.N. Spacy Ground Forces; South Ataria Island, early 2010 (Bandai/Arii kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:100 Macross - Destroid "(Missile) Phalanx" SDR-04-Mk. XII Space Defense Robot; "S-7 (s/n D-229-149) a.k.a. "Rabbit" of the U.N. Spacy Ground Forces; South Ataria Island, early 2010 (Bandai/Arii kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

However, Phalanx production only reached limited numbers, due to the type's high grade of specialization and its inherent vulnerability in close combat - the Phalanx' combat operation capability decreases substantially once the missile ordnance had been exhausted. Beyond the initial production on Earth, roughly 20 more Phalanx Destroids were also built aboard the SDF-1 Macross shipboard factories, and many of these were later updated from the Mk. XII to the Mk. XIII standard. Post-Space War I, Phalanx Destroids were deployed as part of defense forces on various military bases and used in the ground attack role as long-range infantry support artillery units, fighting from the second line of battle. Nevertheless, the Phalanx remained a stopgap solution and was quickly followed by the more versatile Destroid "Nimrod" SDR-04-Mk. XIV.

Technical Data:
Equipment Type: Space Defense Robot/heavy artillery
Accommodation: One pilot
Government: U.N. Spacy
Manufacturer: Macross Onboard Factories
Introduction: December 2009

Dimensions:
Height 12.05 meters overall (11.27 m w/o searchlight array)
Length 5.1 meters
Width 10.8 meters.
Mass: 47.2 metric tons

Powerplant:
1x Kranss-Maffai MT828 thermonuclear reactor, developing 2800 shp;
Auxillary Shinnakasu Industry CT 03 miniature thermonuclear generator, output rated at 970 kW.

Propulsion:
Biped, with limited zero-G maneuverability through many low-thrust vernier thrusters beneath multipurpose hooks/handles all over the hull.

Armament:
2x Howard SHIN-SHM-10 Derringer short-range high-maneuverability self-guided missile pods, one per arm, with 22 missiles each (missiles stored in two rows behind each other).

Production Notes:
The rather obscure Destroid Phalanx made its media debut in Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Episode 27, and it's actually the only occasion where it appears. Original mecha designer is/was Miyatake Kazutaka.

The kit and its assembly:
I have been pushing this build away from the workbench for a long time. I was – after building two conversions - missing a canonical Destroid Phalanx in my Macross mecha collection, and since I had one stashed away (you never know...) I tackled this project now. The kit is Bandai's re-issue of Imai's 1982 1:100 kit, a vintage "Matryoshka" construction (= build one element from two halves, place it between two more halves, etc.) which does not make the assembly process easy.

The kit was basically built OOB, but "under the hood" it received some mechanical mods and improvements. These primarily include scratched joints for the arms/launcher pods and the hip. The pods remained detachable through an internal styrene tube construction. An important improvement for the "04 chassis" is a completely now hip joint arrangement because the Phalanx' OOB posture is pretty stiff, with the legs and feet facing straight forward. The mecha model is just supposed to just stand upright and with the model's OOB joint options it is really hard to create a vivid poise at all, so that a 3rd dimension improves the posing options a lot. Furthermore, the bolts that hold the legs are prone to break off, even more so because the kit is from the 1st generation of mecha kits without vinyl caps and just a very tight joint fit to hold the appendages in place. My solution was the implantation of a new hip "bone", made from plastic-coated steel wire, which is stiff in itself but can be bent in two dimensions. The thighs had to be modified accordingly, since the wire is much thinner than the original bolts, and it needs a rigid attachment point. Resulting gaps around the hip joints were filled with bits of paper tissue drenched in white glue.

1:100 Macross - Destroid "(Missile) Phalanx" SDR-04-Mk. XII Space Defense Robot; "S-7 (s/n D-229-149) a.k.a. "Rabbit" of the U.N. Spacy Ground Forces; South Ataria Island, early 2010 (Bandai/Arii kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:100 Macross - Destroid "(Missile) Phalanx" SDR-04-Mk. XII Space Defense Robot; "S-7 (s/n D-229-149) a.k.a. "Rabbit" of the U.N. Spacy Ground Forces; South Ataria Island, early 2010 (Bandai/Arii kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Other visual improvements include launch tubes inside of the missile pods. These were made from thin plastic drinking straw material, they fill the (rather ugly and well-visible) blank space between the warheads. Additionally, the hollow "heels" were filled on their insides with putty.

While the kit itself is a pretty simple affair, fit is mediocre, and you have to expect PSR almost everywhere. A direly weak spot area is the shank's rear: there's a recession with a seam running right through, and there are side walls missing in the section, too. I tried to mend this through putty and decals.

Painting and markings:
Since I wanted to stick to the authentic OOB livery, I gave the model an overall basic color, a greenish-grey, dull beige (RAL 1019) from the rattle can. The canonical Phalanx also features some dark contrast highlights all over the hull, and these were created with RAL 7013 (Revell 46), an olive drab tone that looks, in contrast to the light beige, almost like a dull brown on the model. The box art suggests a very dark grey, but I found that this would not work too well with the overall light beige tone.
Strangely, the characteristic white trim on the lower legs that many Destroids carry was in this boxing provided with the decal sheet – other Destroid kits require them to be painted manually!

Otherwise there's hardly any other color on the Phalanx' hull. The missile pod exhausts as well as the launcher interior were painted with steel metallizer (Humbrol 27003) and treated with graphite for a shiny finish, the inside of the launcher covers and the missile tips became bright red (Revell 332). The bellows in the knees became anthracite (Revell 06), later dry-brushed with a reddish brown.

Quite a challenge were the three search lights in the "head unit", because they consist of massive molded opaque styrene. I simulated glass and depth through a bright silver base, with vertical stripes in thinned white and medium grey and a coat with white translucent paint on top of that. Finally, extra artificial light reflexes were added with opaque white paint and, finally, everything was sealed with glossy varnish, which also adds some visual depth.

The model was thoroughly weathered with a black-and-brown watercolor washing and a generous dry-brushing treatment with Hemp 168 (RAF Hemp). The decals came next, taken from the OOB sheet, the Bugs Bunny artwork on the lower right leg is a typical individual detail of many Destroids, taken from a WWII USAAF P-47D.

1:100 Macross - Destroid "(Missile) Phalanx" SDR-04-Mk. XII Space Defense Robot; "S-7 (s/n D-229-149) a.k.a. "Rabbit" of the U.N. Spacy Ground Forces; South Ataria Island, early 2010 (Bandai/Arii kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

After some additional weathering with watercolors and some graphite rubbing around the many edges for a worn and beaten look, the model received an overall coat with acrylic matt varnish. After final assembly of the model's elements, soot stains were added around the missile launchers' openings as well as to the small thrusters, again with grinded graphite, and some mineral pigments were dusted onto the model with a soft, big brush, esp. around the lower areas.

1:100 Macross - Destroid "(Missile) Phalanx" SDR-04-Mk. XII Space Defense Robot; "S-7 (s/n D-229-149) a.k.a. "Rabbit" of the U.N. Spacy Ground Forces; South Ataria Island, early 2010 (Bandai/Arii kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:100 Macross - Destroid "(Missile) Phalanx" SDR-04-Mk. XII Space Defense Robot; "S-7 (s/n D-229-149) a.k.a. "Rabbit" of the U.N. Spacy Ground Forces; South Ataria Island, early 2010 (Bandai/Arii kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

A build that took some time because of the mediocre fit of the kit and the mechanical mods it IMHO requires. But I am quite happy with the outcome, "just a Destroid" in its gritty heavy ordnance look, and the dull beige suits the Phalanx well.

NARSES2 · February 10, 2021, 06:35:36 AM

Wouldn't want to meet that on a dark night

Seriously, great looking model Dizzy

and as you say the dull beige suits really does suit it. Also from my perspective it's probably the most humanoid looking of your creations in this genre.

Dizzyfugu · February 10, 2021, 06:49:18 AM

Thank you, the Phalanx is a bulky beast, and one of the more obscure Macross mechas.

1:100 Destroid Phalanx SDR-04-Mk. XII Space Defense Robot (Macross)

Dizzyfugu

NARSES2

Dizzyfugu