After a long time, another small Arii Valkyrie. The impulse to build it came spontaneously, since I have other projects on the agenda. But when I found a VF-1J kit in the basement, I decided to build a version that I had seen in a source book. It is a British(!) Valkyrie, which can be found in the "Variable Fighter Master File: VF-1 Valkyrie", published 2009 by SoftBank Creative (and immediately sold out). This book is HIGHLY recommended to anyone who is into the VF-1 - pure robot porn! ;) Anyway, one of the many CG graphics as well as a side sketch (which are both a bit contradictive in details...) show a VF-1A in a livery that is a nice adaptation of the Royal Navy paint scheme from 1960-1980 on: dark blue-grey surfaces, and white or very light grey undersides. Very simple, but elegant. Consequentially, the VF-1 also received a typical British designation of "FRS.1" (describing its utility roles: Fighter, Reconnaissance, Strike - the same as 1st generation Sea Harriers which carried, in the the beginning of their career in the early 1980ies, the same livery). The source book version even sports the original 801 NAS squadron emblem. Accoprding to its markings, the machine belongs to SVF-9 in the Macross universe and is stationed on the "Ark Royal". I found the idea SO odd, I knew that a similar machine would join my collection... ;) Said and done - the kit was built almost 100% right out of the box, in about three days. Since the basis here is a VF-1J, I changed its 'official' designation into "FRS.2". Only enhancements and changes include some typical antennae the toy-like kit is missing, a pilot figure and some cockpit details. Biggest other modifications are obscure long bulgings on the FRS version's legs. I have no idea what these are? Extra fuel? Sensors? As part of a sea defense package, I also added individual armament, which is supposed to be used against large surface targets like ships, but also Zentraedi pods: a pair of slender SNEB rocket launchers with 3" FFARs (1:72, I think they originally come from an Airfix Hunter FGA.9) plus two air-to-ground/anti ship missiles. In wanted something like the German Kormoran or British Martel and was happy to find two nicely detailed AGM-12A Bullpup's in the scrap box from a Hasegawa air-to-ground weapons set. They were just painted dark grey for a different look. For painting, I went for the authentic color on the upper side, 'Extra Dark Sea Grey' (BS640), which is available as an original tone as Humbrol's 123. For the undersides, I settled on Humbrol 196 ('Lichtgrau', RAL 7035). Some sources claim that the original color is white, but many pictures of Royal Navy airplanes with this finish show a light grey, even with a yellowish hue. Some sources even claim Sky! Since the Macross source book also suggests a very light grey tone, I went for this alternative. While the paint scheme looks and is simple, the straight separation line between the colors was quite a challenge. A light wash with black ink in order to point out the surface engravings and a final coat of satin varnish finished the job. Decals fill the surface with life, and they come from the scrap box and a Model Alliance Sea Harrier FRS.1 decal sheet which offers a variety of historic Sea Harrier squadrons. Heck, this sheet alone cost more than the ARII kit itself... I decided not to copy the source book's FRS.1 with its NAS 801 markings. Instead, I went for markings of the NAS 899, with a white and black gauntlet emblem. Consequently, this FRS.2 is allocated to the fictious SVF-8, stationed oif the even more fictious "Cougar". By the way: the other neat registration numbers and letters come from TL-Decal sheets - a highly recommended source for generic aftermarket high quality water slides. All in all I tried to stay true to the source book's paradigm but adda a personal touch. The result looks nice - and shows once more that there is hardly a painting scheme that could ruin the elegance of Shoji Kawamori's original mecha design!

The Navy Ceremonial Guard rehearses their parade movements to prepare for the 56th Presidential Inauguration in Washington. More than 5,000 men and women in uniform are providing military ceremonial support to the presidential inauguration, a tradition dating back to George Washington's 1789 inauguration.