HLJ VF-27 - WIP 0 - Intro / Preface

Well I've gotten my first 'job' as a modeler and here it is.  The VF-27 Lucifer.

This is what's been keeping me busy for the past couple nights.  I didn't do anything until I confirmed with the HLJ staff how they wanted to proceed and their expectations.  Now that that's all out of the way now I can get started on this fully.

I changed the banner to commemorate the event.  Kept it green because the MGIJ is still my main project but has temporarily been put on the back burner until I wrap this up.

Here are some shots of when I first received it.

From VF-27

From VF-27

From VF-27

Some of you may remember that I posted about this kit a long time ago when the mass produced version was announced.  Now I finally have the chance to build it courtesy of the kind people at Hobby Link Japan, who provided this kit for me (+stand!) free of charge on the condition that I make a build log at Hobbylink.tv of the kit.  Easily done.

Here are some pics of the stand.

From VF-27

From VF-27

Seems to have been made specifically for planes.

Please do check out their goods by clicking on the banner below.  They certainly do have an impressive inventory!

First I want to thank all the people involved who helped to make this happen.  Thank you.  I love you.

Second I want to mention some things about the history and the design of the plane.

The VF-27 is the successor of the VF-25 but looks like it's more from the SV-51 design tree as opposed to the VF-0 (which just happens to be on sale!) design that the VF-25 descends from.  Actually both planes share a lot in common as far as how the transformation mechanisms work which leads me to believe that the VF-27 is more like the VF-25 structurally and fundamental but takes some design elements from the SV-51 design.  I believe that's the most accurate way I can put it.

Now... building the VF-25G (shown here) helped a lot concerning what to expect from this kit.  The VF-25 was no joke.  It's a beautiful, beautiful kit and plane.  But it isn't easy and the VF-27 has even more movable parts so I'm pretty sure I'll have my work cut out for me.  During the entirety of this build process the VF-25G will be present.  At the end I'll do some touch ups on it as well as a comparison between the two fighters.

I've always liked the VF-27.  Simple armament and a design that harks back to one of my favourite fictional planes ever, the Falken (1/100 scale! Oh I'd love to build this!), because of the enclosed canopy and the bold colour scheme.  I also like the extra thrusters on the wings.  And don't get me started on the beam rail gun/gun pod...  It's an impressive machine.  Not the biggest fan of the fuchsia or the pilot but those are minor things.

Onto the kit itself:

Because this build is supposed to be a basic review of the kit I won't be doing anything radical and will be approaching it more from a beginner/intermediate stance, illustrating some of the most basic techniques that you can use to make a regular kit look really nice.  That's not saying I'm going to do all of them myself but I will show you how and where to do it if you're inclined to do so.  For that reason this build process/WIP will also double as my first tutorial.

If you're interested in picking up the VF-27 for yourself please do check Hobby Link Japan first.  It is a great source for all you're modeling needs!  They have just about everything!