1:100 Stonewell/Bellcom VF-1L KWS "Valkyrie", "27+85" of SVF-71 "Richthofen"

[Dizzyfugu]

Just for fun, and these are actually just new pictures of an older model. It's once again a tiny, vintage ARII 1:100 Macross Valkyrie, albeit with a personal touch: What if Germany had joined UN Spacy in the early 1980s and introduced the VF-1, e.g. at JG 71...  :-k






















A little background on this:
This simple ARII model is a few years old, I think I built it in 2010, but recently realized that I only had four pictures of it, and two of them were quite poor. So, I dusted the small model and started a quick photo session - after all, I am locked at home due to a Covid-19 infection, and anything to do is quite welcome... 

Retro-cloaked Valkyries keep popping up in the official Macross sourcebooks (like Russian Su-27, USAF SEA, US Navy, or Royal Navy derivatives), and with that certain national identity in mind, I wondered what a German Valkyrie would look like ?
For the TV series' early '80s timeframe, the Luftwaffe's Norm '72 Splinter livery would fit, or even the more complex Norm '81 livery of the Phantom interceptors. However, since this seemed difficult to transfer to a VF-1, the classic yellow olive/basalt gray with a light gray underside and the spectacular "Black Tulip" markings with high-viz decoration, as worn on JG 71 in Wittmund for years, remained - a historical legacy from WWI, which the squadron commander Erich Hartmann introduced/continued at the new exhibition of the BW.

The model is actually a fuzzy bunny. At the time of building it I had ran out of single-seaters in stock, so I combined a VF-1D two-seater hull with the cockpit and wings of a Gerwalk single-seater kit. This hardly caused any problems as these kits have almost 100% matching 'interfaces'. The Gerwalk cockpit differs only slightly in proportion and lacks a landing gear compartment. The wings have no strikes/adapters for weapons underneath and the holes for the wing pivot mechanism are slightly larger than the fighter kits.
Additionally, the little Valkyrie was built almost straight out of the box, with typical small touches added to the exterior, like some antennas, plus a pilot figure and HUD. To set this Valkyrie apart from the anime versions a bit, I gave it an "L" designation (for "Luftwaffe", the only plausible suffix I could find that wasn't already taken...). A homemade laser spot tracker (similar to the small Pave Penny system) was mounted under the Valkyrie's front as part of a domestic combat stat package. This pack also includes subtle details like passive radar sensors (fins, front, legs) and beacons (legs). The wings were left blank so as not to detract from the beautiful lines of the VF-1, to keep the wings articulated, and to keep the kit's focus on its marker.

The base livery is typical of German jets like the F-4F, F-104G or Alpha Jet in the 1960-80 era, according to the official standard '72, which also had the unofficial nickname "Zitronenfalter" ("Brimstone Butterfly"). This already looks retro due to the angular design, but proves to be very effective at medium altitudes over typical German cultural landscapes or over coastal sections, even if it was quickly clear at the time that everything was a bit too dark for air combat paint.

The authentic colors of the Norm '72 scheme are RAL 6014 ("Yellow Olive", a dark brownish shade of olive green; Humbrol's 108 or Revell's 46 come very close), RAL 7012 ("Basalt Grey", similar to Bristish Dark Sea Gray or FS36118 ) for the top and RAL 7001 for the bottom ("silver grey", a peculiar light gray with a metallic sheen). For the small Valkyrie kit, however, I opted for other, lighter colors because the original tones are pretty dark and would hide the funky camouflage pattern. Yellow olive was (initially) replaced with the much lighter 1711 from Testors (US Olive Drab, FS34087) and the dark basalt gray became Humbrol's 27 (Matt Sea Grey). The RAL 7001 of the undersides was simulated using a 1:1 mix of Humbrols 11 and 34 (silver and matt white).
While the choice of tones was basically okay, the olive green turned out to be much too light after application. Contrast with Humbrol's 27 was poor so Humbrol 108 would be recommended for a more authentic look, although weathering would severely fade the real colors in real life. But damn, we're making anime here! So I left it as it was.

However, once the basic camouflage was complete, I realized that something was missing to round out the Valkyrie's look due to the low contrast of the colors of the Norm '72 scheme from above. As a visual trick I simply added leading edges on the wings and fins in Humbrol 94 (Matt Brown Yellow) - this plausible detail clarified the outline of the machine but dis not detract from the overall visual style. The red squadron markings were painted with Humbrol 174 (Signal Red), a bright and yellowish shade of red that came out almost orange near the dull camouflage. The black tulip wedges were partly taken from a JG71 decal sheet of a HobbyBoss F-86 in 1:72 and partly hand-painted black, with white decal strips as borders. I was amazed at how these small details changed the overall look of the machine!
A light wash with black ink to bring out the surface engravings and a final coat of matte varnish (except for the nose, which is intentionally high gloss like the German F-4F Phantom with the Norm '72 outfit) finished the job. The typical German border numbers in black with white borders came from a replacement set of decals. The Valkyrie registration number 27+85 pictured corresponds to the nomenklatura of the German Luftwaffe since 1968 (the Hartmann Tulips are older though), would have been a TF-104G Starfighter trainer in its day, but numbers that are being phased out are known to be re-used.

Overall, the German VF-1 interpretation turned out better than expected, despite the design issues along the way. At first I was afraid that the Brimstone Butterfly scheme would make her look boring. While this IS very retro, the flashy, historical JG71 markings add that special touch and comic book-likeness that even makes the whole thing seem quite plausible? It's amazing what can be made from these simple kits and once again respect and awe for Kawamori Shoji's timeless design. So inspiring, certainly not the last Valkyrie from my workshop, even if the kits are starting to get rare and ridiculously priced!