About
Look! its year 2022! Happy new year everyone! Hahaha!! yeah i purposely released this simulator model on this very publishing date: 2 January 2022 since its has a very similar number variant to VF-2SS....lots of '2's right there! If you reading this congratulation you've survive the global Covid-19 pandemic that plaque for 2 years and now 
living along side as endemic state. We're in the new era but somehow we're trying to dig the past because it was cooler back then. Just look at this MACROSS II VF-2SS VALKYRIE II fighter, the coolest mech fighter of the late 1990's.
The late 90s was a great era for me; the great outdoors, slow paced society, slow internet dial-up connection, living was cheaper, phone was on monochrome screen solely for communication, people were reading books, there not much modern things to catch up and its all about going out there to explore the world. I called the last era of 'analog' society before people started to embrace digital trends and stick their face on camera and colored touch screen all day. Yes! everyone was equal and not dictated by how by how may 'Likes' they have. I missed those days....but MACROSS was my number one mecha childhood animation. I thought MACROSS SDF and 'Do You Remember Love' was the last show until few years later they came out with a sequel MACROSS II. I dig out my college lunch money for VCD disc movie for it....was expensive but worth it as a fan. Oh my VCD! that must be epic watching anime movie on 352 x 288 pixel resolution via CRT computer monitor.
MACROSS II: LOVERS AGAIN was not the original canon Macross story timelines since it was not originally came from the author Kawamori Shoji according to the online community resources and Wiki but somehow viewer and fans able to get along. Unfortunately the valkyrie mechs wasn't getting much popularity until it started to resurface after a decades later. The movie was fantastic to watch and the art style was similar to MACROSS: DO YOU REMEBER LOVE (DYRL). I watch if from VCD format (Video CD) which is quite common yet popular in the 90's on CRT monitor running on my MPEG4 card on ISA slots, of course its was the era when INTEL PENTIUM 133Mhz still struggling to run movie files and need special slot of hardware to make it happens. Yeah! life as a teenage was struggle when computer technology was still a newborn, you have to use MS-DOS to key in the hardware installation. Lack of internet facilities means that we never know much the origin of MACROSS II yet i just assume it was a continuity of timelines from SDF1 and DYRL series. So i enjoyed it as it is and VF-2SS was thought to be the ultimate evolution from VF-1 Valkyries series., two decades later we have Valkyries series all the way to VF-31 and beyond. To commemorate those nostalgic days i've decided to build the VF-2SS!
The build
The most difficult part of the first phase build is together more consistent visual view and the blueprint of the VF-2SS Valkyrie in fighter modes so i could do some Orthographic tracing to start building the models on 3d work space. There are limited usable photo on the internet for VF-2SS unlike other Macross models because VF-2SS is not that 
popular among Macross modeler enthusiast since its not part of the Macross original canon timeline. So what i can find was shoddy photo of VF-2SS model as if toy manufacturing R&D budget was cut half. Not all models are geometrically accurate to reflect the fighter shown on the MACROSS II animation. For example the fighter front nose fuselage can be varies between several manufacturer, artist illustration and in movie, they don't show consistency among each other. Even the landing gear visual design and configuration is clueless keeping me guessing all over places. So i decided to try my luck imagine how the build would look like by mixing all the models visuals and find the 'average' within by looking at original artist illustration, fan art and some 'toy' quality models. After almost 2 days of mental visualization i manage to get it to work. Although throughout the movie the VF-2SS are fully equipped with 'Super Pack' extension with rail guns/cannon and booster thrust in space i've decided to keep it original without those pack so it looks more like general aircraft fighter in the skies than being in space fully armored....keep it real life plane.
As for textures for UV mapping i have to do some modification to make it more grey'ish/silver metal in color than being just white as depicted in the animation series because somehow when i did research online 
not every one of them (manufacturer, fan modeler nor animator) have an agreeable opinion what's color it should be. Took me about 4 hours to create a proper texture template ready for UV mapping for the 3D meshes.
When it comes to 3D modeling one of the quirky things that i have to make but does not exist in original VF-2SS official design was i created a very tall front landing gear struts for a good rational reason. Originally MACROSS II anime fictional specification of VF-2SS VALKYRIE II it has a very short front wheel struts causing the fighter tilt way at downward angle towards the ground. I did try to fly with default short front landing gear struts but the plane wouldn't take-off even with full flaps retracted. The downwards angle of attack will not take-off because the main wings is not receiving proper air flow between upper and lower wings. Downward angle on the wings means too much airflow on top of the wing surface and none below it so it cannot generate lift. So by correcting the angle by nose up the front fuselage by increasing the height of the front wheel struts helps to level the 
main wings and get proper air flowing under the wings more than above it to generate lifts. As ugly as it is it gets the job done rather than keep the style original.
3D modeling work was a breeze since i get proper outline of the models from top to bottom without leaving me to do the guess work. Took about 4 hours of 3d modeling work. The model 3d meshes have the value of; Vertices: 7168 and Faces: 8812 which all already include with collision (col_*) meshes, good amount of polys for any moderately modern CPU and GPU to render inside the Phoenix R/C simulator. Next phase will be compiling the 3D model into Phoenix Builder to add necessary parameters and functional flight control surfaces. With tweaks and test flight it takes another 3 hours before the VF-2SS received a thumbs up for public sneak peek and revealed its upcoming news release.
Fictional/model VF-2SS VALKYRIE II:
3D construction:
Texturing works and decaling:
Applying control surface and parameters:
Final production in R/C Phoenix:
Below are the virtual stock attributes value on VF-2SS that influence a lot on how it flies in Phoenix R/C, i setup the aircraft as 'Advance Level' flyer type handling specifications in simulator:
- Wingspan: 5900mm + Flying Weight: 33.26kg (Variant 1)
- Wingspan: 3900mm + Flying Weight: 21.59kg (Variant 2)
- Turbine unit: 2x Fuel turbine
- Outer main wing airfoil type (flaps + elevon): MH32
- Vertical stabilizer airfoil type (rudder): Flat profile
- 2x Turbine idle rpm: 48000
- 2x Turbine max rpm: 2900000
- 2x Turbine thrust power (N): 580
- 3x wheeled landing gear: functional retracts + front guided + gear bay doors + suspension struts
Flight characteristic
Just like the previous Macross Valkyrie fighter that was build before the VF-2SS also is a fun jet to fly and handle much better that my first build on the VF-1S. Since it inherit most of the flight parameters from YF-21 STURMVOGEL inside the Phoenix R/C builder tools it flies more docile, tame and glides nicely than its more aggressive sibling like the VF-11B or the YF-19. The only unexpected but odd physical quirk of this plane that it has pretty tall front landing gear which is necessary to get wing's angle of attack parallel to the ground to get proper wing lift as it goes V1. I did tried the original designs but by aero-dynamic engineering common sense it didn't worked. Never mind, once the wheels retract back hiding inside the landing gear bay the VF-22S will look stunning in the air.
If you've been collecting all my MACROSS models for Phoenix R/C simulator from the first till the end you'll notice how easy it was to fly and floats in the air as years of creating flight models for simulator goes by. 
Now with VF-2SS i've decided to configure it to be more fun, agile and nimble to fly than its predecessor. The plane now flies as if it was filled with helium gas causing it to float like a balloon, so light as if its was flown on the moon with less gravity. Now it has better stall tolerance and will not drop quickly at lower speed. It can fly at higher angle of attack at lower air speed like EF2000 EURO FIGHTER or a DASSAULT RAFALE. It also could flip, spin and turn from almost a stand still in the air after a slow down like how you would see on Russian SU-27 and its proceeding generation. Its a thrust vector style flight! So basically i made the VF-22S more like fun aerobatic Russian fighter plane rather than sticking to the actual capability as shown on TV animation. All you have to do during slow cruise is immediately flip nose up like doing back flip and you can start doing funky maneuver while holding the throttle to make sure it doesn't sink an altitude. Pull the thrust a bit more to exit back to normal straight cruise. So if you're an expert R/C pilot who are into aerobatics and into 3D flight this fighter will amaze you to toy around with. Make sure to do it high up in the air when you're at it.
Take-off from runway or hand launching is easy but landing can be a bit of surprise; not difficult but just awkward since its way too floaty during approach and you'll be hitting that moment when you're about to look at your watch 'what time is it now?'....yeah! its hard to land a helium balloon but you get the idea how to once you try to fly the VF-2SS for a few rounds. Overall its a fun MACROSS fighter to fly and just ignore the non-sensible logic of flight aerodynamic and physic applied to this model. Go and have fun flying!
* Pro tips on VF-2SS: If you unable to recover or exit the aircraft from stall spin maneuver or stuck in loop maneuver activate the flaps and brake function and throttle slowly to get back up in the air.
Summary
This is the first time i made the plane to fly like a balloon, very feathery light, float like a bubble, chaotic but fun to fly under experienced R/C pilot. It broke the law of physic/dynamic of flying for the glory of fun stick bashing. Oddly i spent more time flying the VF-2SS more than other normal R/C plane in the simulator during spare time. It has the agility of a Russian SUKHOI jet fighter with fully 360 degree thrust vectored style flight!. Once it do the flip the fun begins! I'm glad i build this magnificent stellar flying machine from the past, it just made me smile all the time!
At last, after almost 25 years i've finally get to create and enjoy flying the MACROSS VF-2SS VALKYRIE II that i used drool on CRT monitor screen during youthful days in college..most coolest looking fighter of the 90's TV animation. Now i have one more problem, i can't find where i put that original MACROSS II video CD disc that i bought from the movie store thousand years ago, lol! Hahaha! nevermind i'll just watch over on someone's Youtube channel, behold the era of Internet! Life back then was nostalgic yet being a struggle little lad trying to grow into adult world...hahaha! Ironically i was the president of Hobby Club in college that host such stuff from plastic model kit to anime culture. Yes i was a 'cultured' young man myself but not fully 'weeb' yet..hehehe! Let me see if i still can find those old photo's of me with those thick hair do, lol! I remember we have a class session watching anime from GHIBLI STUDIOS movies production, some DRAGON BALL-Z, DETECTIVE CONAN and some others including MACROSS II. The past is past, life moves on but the inspiration from the animation lives in me.
Overall the creation of VF-2SS reminds me how fortunate i am to live in the days when life was simple and straight forward; study, enjoy hobby, cycling, Playstation 1, make friends and sleep....that was in late 90's. One thing for sure we have less screen time and time moves slower around us...of course people still running Intel Pentium 166Mhz with 16MB RAM.....take your time to wait, lol! Nowadays in new era of 20's; social medias, videos and other entitlement 'hey! look at me' culture are too messed up. Everything is too fast to catch up so too with economic inflation. Fortunately i learn to keep life simple and go out to explore outside the door. When i ever i create and fly the MACROSS VF-2SS VALKYRIE II i always remind myself .....wow! i used to live in an awesome era and be inspired! 90's rocks!
* Note - variants
As usual like previous build especially for MACROSS audience i've created two type of VF-2SS models for Phoenix R/C simulator: 2 meter wing span + 21.59g flying weight and 3 meter 
wing span + 33.26kg flying weight model variant all zipped into one download package. So if you want a park flier R/C scale models install the 3.9 meter wing span size (xl_vf2ss_valkyrieii_3m.pkg)and if you like the feeling of big and loud presence in the skies install the 5.9 meter wing span variant (xl_vf2ss_valkyrieii_6m.pkg) all available inside the zip file. Despite differences in both wing span size the handling on both model also quite different due to its size, wing lift area, CG placement and inertial/momentum force during flight. Do take note the smaller 2m actually handles more sensitive, faster in term of speed and hot landing so you'll have to slow down much early for every turns and landing compare to bigger 3m wingspan. Hope you enjoy collection of Macross II Valkyries. Cheers!
Video
Tools used to create these custom model:
- 3D Modeler program: 3D Zmodeler v1.07 and v2.0 (*.OBJ support)
- Compiler tools: Phoenix Builder v1.0.p
- Texture editing program: Corel Photopaint
Related article & community
Here are list of article and links related to the above model.
- Wikipedia: Mecha designer Shoji Kawamori
- Macross wikia: Shoji Kawamori Macross Design works
- Wikipedia: Super Dimensional Fortress Macross II: Lovers Again
- Wikipedia: Macross series
- Macross Wikia: Macross II VF-22S Valkyrie II
General info | model: Macross II VF-2SS Valkyrie II | platform: PC | simulator version: Phoenix R/C v5.5 | type: Aircraft | class: Performance | style: Scale | level: Advance | power: Turbine | Manufacturer: Macross II | avg ZIP file size: 7.99MB | date released: 2-Jan-2022 | Revision: v1.0
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*Installation instruction: How to install custom models in Phoenix R/C
*Note: This models are available for free distribution and for non-commercial purposes.
*'MACROSS', 'The Super Dimension Fortress Macross', 'MACROSS II': Lovers Again and ''VF-2SS Valkyrie" are trademarks and copyright of the following company © Big West, Studio Nue, Tatsunoko (www.macross.jp). All Rights Reserved
