100 DECORATING IDEAS UNDER $100

After finishing its incidentless duty on LEO patrol, VF-1J "176" banks in, preparing to land on its home base, the U. N. Spacy carrier ARMD-7 'Ranger'.

After running out of spare parts from convertible Valkyries from my junkyard, I doubted that I'd ever build one of these Super Valkyrie Fighter conversions again, because this a major surgery project.
Anyway, in the wake of other atmospheric use Valkyries I had built in the past months, I felt the itch to build an old favorite of mine, too: a (AFAIK) fictional VF-1 in a deep red and black livery which was marketed under the handle of "Axoid" by Revell in its infamous "Robotech Changers" model series in the mid 80ies (see pic below for reference). To add a twist, I settled on the Super Valkyrie conversion option, with its bulky FAST rocket and weapon packs. My idea behind it was that SUCH an eye-catching livery would only be "suited" for space/LEO use, since this VF-1J was supposed to become a "realistic" Macross fighter.

The basis for the conversion is a standard 1:100 scale VF-1J Gerwalk vintage kit from ARII. The kit itself is gruesome (that's the reason why you won't find Gerwalks in my albums...), but using it for a conversion is quite efficient. Good thing about the Gerwalk kit is that you get a complete cockpit/nose section, and the central hull with the fins already folded for space use, plus a proper mechanical solution for the folded legs.
The Super Valkyrie parts come from a standard sprue which comes with any Super Battroid or Gerwalk kit. From this set the booster packs for the Valkyrie's back and the complete lower legs were taken, plus some single parts for the arms.

Thanks to the Gerwalk's leg joints, fitting them under the hull in the typical Zero-G Fighter position is no problem. But the legs are very bulky - there is little space between them where actually two folded arms with missile containers would find their place. Fortunately, these parts would later not be seen in detail, so the folded arms can be improvised with spare parts from the Gerwalk kit and some plastic sheet (see respective pictures about the "Work in Progress" of this kit).

Even though this conversion runs rather straightforward and is not difficult for someone who knows these kits, it takes major surgery and some putty work to make everything fit well... but what can you do when there is no such kit available (anymore)?

Apart from the conversion job, the kit received standard "pimping" treatment with a pilot figure and a HUD in the cockpit. Outside, some typical antennae were added and the kit received UMM-7 missile lauchers which are a typical armament of LEO use Valkyries. They had to be improvised, too, with AMM-1 missiles and thin poly sheet (actually blister box material). They are not perfect in shape, but, heck, this is a 1:100 model, so IMHO the impression counts more than the last screw.

The kit's livery was, as mentioned above, inspired by an unauthentic Revell 'Robotech' kit - basically something similar to the USAF/USN "Compass Ghost" camouflage scheme, just in deep red and purple! Very odd, but cool...
The basic colors are Humbrol's 19 (Bright Red) with countershades in Humbrol 20 (Crimson). The original Revell colors would have been 330 (RAL 3000, Fire Red) and 331 (RAL 3004, Purple Red), but since I do not like this manufacturer's colors at all, I went for Humbrol equivalents. The shading between the reds was, as usual, not done by airbrush, but by hand and brush with thinned Crimson and Red.

The Valkyrie's head was painted in flat black (Humbrol 33), the exhausts/"feet" with steel metallizer. The Gerwalk GU-11 pod and some details were finished in "Black Metallic" from Testors (#2713). The FAST pack parts were painted with a mix of Humbrol's 85 (Coal Black) and 20 in a 2:1 ratio. It took some time to figure out a good tone which would neither be grey, brown or pure black, but still match up with the overall red tone. This mix is an interesting color, though - it looks like very dark chocolate, but in direct sunlight the purple hue can be distinguished. Quite unique...

After basic painting the kit received a thin black ink wash and a coat of satin varnish on the red areas and a matte finish on the FAST pack parts. Next came a light weathering with dry-brushed silver on leading edges and some rubbing with grinded soft pencil mine. With the comic-like outfit, I wanted this Valkyrie to have a realistic touch - marred from heavy LEO duty.

Decals came from the scrap box. Highlight surely is the "Happy Hooligans" banner on the VF-1J's legs, leftover pieces from an ancient Matchbox Voodoo in 1:72 scale, originally decorating a F-101F from USAF's 178. F.I.S. on its tail fin. The skull emblem on the FAST boosters' sides is a German WWII marking from an aftermarket decal sheet (from Peddinghaus Decals, it belonged to German Luftwaffe's KG 54,

Annie Fuhrman, first place winner Multi-page story package
Main-edit story layout done for 100 Decorating Ideas for Under $100, Meredith Corporation intern