Sky-Byte, that's me!

Ah, Sky-Byte, a poet, scholar, brilliant military strategist... not.

Source : http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Sky-Byte_(RID)

Who's the baddest shark around? Who's the smartest shark in town?

Sky-Byte, that's me!

Everybody loves a haiku-spouting born loser, right? 

I have both the LG 06 Gelshark and the older Transformers RID Sky-Byte. The LG 06 has a better shark mode while its robot mode is unspeakable.

 

Here's the robot mode... The RID Sky-Byte looks more like the Predacon military genius from the cartoon. 

Super Ginrai - TR Powermaster Optimus Prime

Super-God Masterforce - the series that left a deep impression on me, much, much more than G1. I was stunned the first time I saw Ginrai combine with his trailer to form Super Ginrai. Since then, I can't remember how many times I rewatched how Super Ginrai defeated King Poseidon on YouTube.

Credits to Dinobolt1 for the excellent video.

Here's is Hasbro's Titan Returns Powermaster Optimus Prime (what a mouthful). To me, this will always be Super Ginrai. 

This is a great 'generations' update of that old brick, which happens to be my favourite toy among my collection. 

Traditionally, Ginrai is a human who keeps combing his hair. He is also quite a contortionist who bends his legs in some horrible angle to become the godmaster engine situated in front of Super Ginrai. The current 'upgraded' version looks more like roadkill with Ginrai splattered in front of the cab. Poor Ginrai, his previous life wasn't good, this current reincarnation is worse... (- - !!!)

So I took out my trusty brush and gunmetal paint and painted the front part, if nothing more than to hide the blood stains... sigh... poor Ginrai.

While I got my brush out, I proceeded to do some simple wash to bring out all the beautiful details.

More pics of this awesome toy. The horrible hollow forearms are really obvious. Thank goodness Takara Tomy fixed that. 

Macross VF-1S

VF-1S piloted by Roy Focker before Hikaru Ichijo took over. I did the panel lining and weathering for this model back in 2008.

The main issue with this toy is the head. There is a distinct seam line right through the middle of the head. It's as if Voltron had cleaved him right through the middle of the head using Voltron's 'blazing sword'. The fix for this is rather simple. Just apply model cement on the seams. Compress the seams tightly together such that they form a permanent bond. Then file the part smooth and spray the area. The tricky part is that the body and the head is no longer of exactly the same white tone :(  Luckily after some 'dirtying', the colour difference is not obvious.

I also 'drilled' holes into the head machine guns. It's not difficult to do, just need to do slowly and with care so as not to break off the thin plastic.

As with VF-1J, panel lining was done by doing a grey wash, followed by a white wash to produce the smoky effect. The weathering was done using pastel chalk, silver model kit paint and colour pencils.

Fireburst Optimus Prime

Fireburst Optimus Prime from Transformers DOTM - the notorious shelf warmer...

I must admit the only reason why I got this was that there were lots and lots on clearance at OG. This mould is terrible. The legs are too long, the torso too short, the forearms too bulky, in a popeye kind of way. And the worst thing is the drab, unpainted plastic grey all over the figure. The head is nicely detailed, however, but Hasbro effectively removed the light-piping effect by painting the eyes light blue.

The first thing I decided was to do a panel line wash. It's very easy and fast, and it brings out all the little details in the dull grey plastic.

I didn't bother to spray the smoke stakes and font grilles silver. Looking at the pics, maybe I ought paint some parts... nah... maybe not. I don't really like this mould that much.

Here are some more pics.

Toransuformu!!
The transformation is quite intuitive. I don't really like the fake chest windows and the fake wheels. Leader class ROTF Optimus Prime, this is not.

I don't remember DOTM Optimus ever wielding an axe in the movie...

Macross VF-1J

Back in my secondary school days, I would rush home just to watch Macross. The intricate way the jet plane transforms into Gerwalk mode and then to a gigantic robot captured the imagination of this young impressionable mind. Soon this iconic VF-1J would be seen on every available white space in my textbooks, in particular, Chinese textbooks. Come to think of it, I always doodle on Chinese textbooks throughout my secondary school days-- 大醉侠 in Sec 1, Doraemon in Sec 2, but I digress :D

Anyway, after the cartoon came out, it became impossible to get the model kits. Fast forward 20 years later to 2008, I chance upon the Yamato 1/48 VF-1J. It's perfect in every way. Perfect transformation. Good sturdy joints. Looks great in all 3 modes. It didn't took me long to start work on this toy.

The weathering was done using pastel chalk, silver model kit paint and colour pencils... yes, colour pencils, the ones used in primary school!

The panel lining was done using first a grey wash, followed by white wash. This achieved a smoky effect which a pure grey wash would not achieve. I came upon this by accident (^ ^ !!!). Also, I took a really small screwdriver to bore holes into the head cannons.

I should take this out to take more pics one of these days.

DOTM Sentinel Prime (Part 3)

Sentinel Prime in his younger days. (Notice his V-fins were still black.) Fresh out from Prime College, brash, impudent, a biggoted idealist who espoused, 'Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.' This ideal was later embraced by his successor, Optimus Prime.

Sentinel Prime, battle-hardened warrior. As he grew in wisdom, he began to teach 'Freedom may be the right of all sentient beings. But the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.' ^^!



Did anyone notice Sentinel Prime looks a wee bit like Justice Gundam?

Athrun Zala, Justice, deru! 

Sentinel Prime, erm..er.., roll out!