About
So you've seen and downloaded my previous build the MACROSS DELTA VF-31J right?... don't forget the VF-1S!. For those hardcore Macross fan you can't ignore the presence of classic and the legendary VF-1S model way back since the beginning of Macross universe, having this model
is actual 'rite of passage' for every fan of MACROSS series even for any fictional aircraft enthusiast, as for me my childhood have been sitting on and holding on it for years till now. Its like if you are an aircraft enthusiast but don't know the fact and history about F-14 TOMCAT you're fake..like ignoring whose your mom and dad was. My love for VF-1S came some where around 1985 when watching it on evening TV program with my sibling showing early episode of MACROSS where this bright white aircraft turn into robot with cool Skull (Jolly Roger like) insignia on its fuselage body (in Battroid mode) and stabilizer/rudder kick ass the Zentradi and rescue his still green bro on orange VF-1D who will soon flew VF-1S on later episode. The VF-1S (that flown by Roy Focker) that transform from Valkyrie, Gerwalk to Batteroid still amaze me today with it cool engineering mechanical prowess being transform and fro between robot and aircraft..that's Japanese engineering 101 from idea of the mech creator himself Mr Shoji Kawamori. Back in the 80's anything that pop-up in TV will show up its replicas toys and models at hobby or toy shop and there i was manage to get lots of VF-1S, VF-1A and VF-1J thanks to my supportive father and also keep it 'stealth' from my mom, lol...along the way we have M.A.S.K, G.I Joe, Micro Machine, He-Man and other merchandises.....yes being living as kid in the 80's is cool, if you're as sold as i am you'll understand (ha! i see your grinning right now hehehe!). Unfortunately with the introduction of tool box screw driver and curiosity as a kid the my Macross toys didn't survive long enough even a week and it went shred which is why i turn up to be excellent engineering student and today evolve into career related skills thanks to my mechanical curiosity attitude. Today i should be wealthy enough to buy lot of MACROSS model kits but since i know how to create 3D model i'll go cheap into virtual method (re-usability) and save up my buck for R/C models instead haha!
The build
Unlike my previous build the VF-1S took only 2 days to build 3D meshes from scratch because it was straight forward easy to recognized the shape of the models by recalling from my memory from the past owned several early Macross models from VF-1S, VF-1A and VF-1J (i don't recall any brand
from the box in 80's) which i played around a lot and smuggle into the classroom, lol. So every bit and pieces of the models i remember vividly since 1985 up to this day from the shape of the head, turbine case (legs), fuselage, color, squadron insignia, wing shape and etc. The only problem i have in concern is finding resources such as 'Ortographic' view of actual colored texture and photography of models needed for 3D 'tracing' work and UV mapping.
Its not very hard to find photos of MACROSS models since internet have abundant of the VF-1# variants which share the same outline but the texture quality varies and i had to tweak a lot through hours of work in my Photopaint/photoshops programs. However the most high quality 'base' texture i acquired wasn't for the VF-1S but instead for VF-1J and so i've spent time changing the color and some photo editing plus adding necessary decals to convert into original VF-1S skull leader type flown by Roy Focker (the ace pilot). Unfortunately non of the photo have any direct zero degree snapshots from above and below the model so i had to skew some texture a bit to match the model panel outline. With my 'magic and lighting' as usual i got it done in just 24 hours. To be honest based on the texture templates that i produced used for UV-mapped into 3d modeler is not a standardized direct 'Orthographic' but the model need to angled 45 degree back top side to UV-map the texture of main upper fuselage and wings because the sources texture obtain online is shot from various angle.
For 3D model tracing reference i used one of i believe it must be HASEGAWA model manufacturer (maybe BANDAI) scanned manual page for decal attachment which i acquired online. 3D mesh build for VF-1S is more is slightly harder to 'shape' than VF-31J despite it looks direct straight blocky looks 
starting from the turbine casing because i had to get the front nose right to mimic the iconic looks of VF-1# series like kind of banana upright nose cone than your typical F-14 aircraft nose cone looks. Slight wrong angle will definitely trigger alert to any hardcore Macross fans which is why the front part of the nose cone till cockpit fuselage have higher amount of polycount (Faces/Vertices) among all parts of 3d meshes on this plane combine. Unlike previous Macross build the wing on VF-1J i made 3 types of surface controls; elevon, flaps and airbrake (above flaps) so it will have more pivot points to move the control on simulator. Another extra airbrake have been created behind the fuselage canopy which resembles F-15 style airbrake panel above its neck complete with hydraulic strut. Most pain in the ass to build was the landing gear set...what i recall from my childhood days my VF-1S 80's model have one retractable wheel cover panel per-struts but in reality it should have like 3x retractable wheel cover per-struts = (3x landing gear struts x 3panels cover) which is twice more to build than on VF-31J. So that will be 3x pivot point for retract cover and one retract point for wheel struts which means (4x pivot point x 3 wheelsets)...that's lot of work on Phoenix R/C builder tools. The total worth of 3d meshes are; Vertices: 5255 and Faces: 5569 which all already include with collision (_col*) meshes which is slightly less amount of polycount than my previous MACROSS DELTA VF-31J build because in VF-1S there are not much curve and smooth parts to build other than straight line blocky angle meshes.
Overall this plane have more surface control and parts movement than any planes i've built before this. However there's one critical feature that was missing but for other user might think this may be optional on VF-1S; was the ability for its main wing to sweep forward and back like F-14 Tomcat or GR4 Panavia Tornado does, despite all my attempt to outsmart the Phoenix R/C tool by bundling it codes i still can't get it to work because it wasn't program to move whole lot of control surfaces; elevon, flap and airbrake to sweep back and forth horizontaly one go even using Widget pivot tools unless if the wing remain as static pieces of non-aerodynamic property then i could but logically not contemplated to do that since its visually uncool not able to see all flight control like elevon, flaps and airbrake not moving at all ... so i was like 'i'm done' and let the wing be static for now just to save my brain from over prune by unnecessary problems. Just let it fly and its good.
Fictional/model MACROSS VF-1S:
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-1S that influence a lot on how it flies in Phoenix R/C, i setup slightly advance flyer type handling specifications so would not be easy for new R/C learner in simulator:
- Wingspan: 2000mm (variant 1) and 4000mm (variant 2)
- Flying weight: 3.7kg (variant 1) and 10.2kg (variant2)
- Turbine unit: 2x Fuel turbine
- Outer main wing (variable sweep) airfoil type (flaps + elevon): NACA 0015
- Side fuselage airfoil type: NACA 0015
- Airbrake: Top fuselage + Main wing above flaps (split surface control)
- Vertical stabilizer airfoil type (rudder): Flat profile
- 2x Turbine idle rpm: 40000
- 2x Turbine max rpm: 1020000
- 2x Turbine thrust power (N): 500
- 3x wheeled landing gear: functional retracts + front guided + gear bay doors + suspension struts
Flight characteristic
Like the previous Macross build this VF-1S flies on Elevon surface control....i think pretty much almost all planes in Macross flew with Elevon due to lack of elevator like tail design. It flew more agile and nimble than VF-31J due to short fuselage and proper wing design. 
I did few hours of testing and tweaking about it flight parameter since it borrowed from base flight parameter of VF-31J script, the plane flew nice, precise, predictable and fun to fly but definitely had more realistic handling leaning towards for advance level flying. Roll barrel is solid, knife edging felt more challenging , thrust power very punch and the stick control close to simulated over real jet plane than arcade-ish aerobatic r/c plane which means you'll learn more control how to fly a real R/C jet. It felt more fun to fly the VF-1S than VF-31J because it had more 'oommppphhh!' and servo inertial force for those who flew more R/C plane outdoor because it has the 'feel' what more R/C jet pilot wants. The aerobatic feel and handling felt like the same way i flew my FMS EXPLORER F3A plane...straight and smooth like butter when doing some basic aerobatic moves in the air with the right EPA and EXPO setup for all servo control. Another good news is that it has plentiful amount of airbrake control surface if you wanted to slow down for a quick turn or more controlled landing. Although lack of wing sweep capability due to unsupported feature (else i could do other way around with additional drawbacks) the plane provide the feel of 'MACROSS'~ing the skies with loud thundering twin turbine sound roaring the skies much like when i was once being young kid holding the VF-1S model in my hand and run around the house flying it on my hand like i don't care humming the intro of MACROSS opening theme ( (マクロス Makurosu?) is a song by Makoto Fujiwara)..but i don't do that in my current age, lmao. So to you all R/C'er who are big into MACROSS download the legendary skull leader VF-1S Valkrie, plug your controller, turn on the volume and have fun.
* Note - Variants
As usual just like previous build especially for MACROSS audience i've created two type of VF-1S models for Phoenix R/C simulator: 2 meter wing span + 3.27g flying weight and 4 meter wing span + 10.2kg flying weight model variant all zipped into one download package. So if you want a park flier R/C scale models install the 2 meter wing span size (xl_vf1s_m2.pkg)and if you like the feeling of big and loud presence in the skies install the 4 meter wing span variant (xl_vf1s_m4.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 activate airbrake much early for every turns and landing compare to bigger 4m wingpan. Hope you enjoy the legendary aircraft in Macross universe. 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: Macross series
- Wikipedia: VF-1 Valkyrie
- Macross Wikia: VF-1S
General info | model: MACROSS VF-1S | platform: PC | simulator version: Phoenix R/C v5.5 | type: Aircraft | class: Performance | style: Scale | level: Advance | power: Turbine | Manufacturer: Macross | avg ZIP file size: 7.72MB | date released: 15-Jul-2018 | 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', 'MACROSS: Do You Remember Love' and ''VF-1S" are trademarks & copyrights of the following company © Big West, Studio Nue, Tatsunoko (www.macross.jp). All Rights Reserved
