Written by 3:06 pm On the Bench

WIP : Hasegawa 1/72 VF-0D Pt.2 – Construction

I’ve always used round brass rods to mount my kits because the holes are much easier to drill out. However, the kit can spin in place with a round rod if I don’t use some sort of glue to secure it in place. I’ve previously used a polycap but the clutch eventually wore out and the kit started spinning. So below is a more elaborate attempt. The rectangular plug is hollow and the brass rod is held in place with epoxy putty.

I drilled and cut out a slot in the kit and inserted a larger rectangular piece of pipe to line the inside. The rod and plug then slots into it. It’s a very tight friction fit but there’s no movement at all now.

As usual with Macross kits, this kit only comes with the centerline gunpod and no other weapons. Getting some inspiration from the real world, I decided to give this a heavy loadout of 2x Rafael Popeye air-to-surface missiles, 1x A/AXQ-14 targeting pod and 2x AIM-120C air-to-air missiles. The missile rails for the Popeye come from a Trumpeter F-100F kit and and were modified and pinned to better fit the missiles. The Popeyes and A/AXQ-14 come from the Skunk Models 1/72 IDF Weapons Set.

The Hobbyboss F-105G comes with a pair of dual AGM-45 Shrike missile rails which gave me the idea to have an assymetric load of the 2x AIM-120Cs on a dual launcher on one wing and the A/ANX-14 pod on the other wing. The VF-0D comes with the two pylons to be used with these weapons. To mount the AIM-120Cs requires additional pylons that will attach to the dual launcher. The AIM-120Cs and pylons come from the Hasegawa 1/72 JASDF Aircraft Weapons 1 set.

I added pins to the pylons for an easier fit to the missiles.

A quick test fit shows the work I’ve done.

I really like how the dual AIM-120s turned out.

But I’m surprised how small the Popeyes look mounted on the VF-0D

Hasegawa’s usual practice of molding each part in straight halves rears its ugly head here with full length seamlines that need to be fixed.

Now for the main fitting problem: there’s a step on the wingroots for both wings. There’s also a gap on the port wingroot.

I tried to brute force the wings together to remove the steps but didn’t have much luck with it. Checking the various VF-0D toys, it looks like they also have these steps due to the transformation sequence. In the end, I just filled the gap on the port wingroot with plastic card and decide to live with the steps.

A quick dryfit shows the final form.

The bottom looks sufficiently busy with all the stores attached.

After multiple sessions of gap fixing, I masked off the canopy to prepare for the painting stage. I’ve kept the head unit, exhausts and stores off until final assembly.

Build Log
Part 1 – Construction | Part 2 – Construction | Part 3 – Painting & Finishing

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Tags: , , , , , , Last modified: 14 January, 2022
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