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Solvalou out of box: From the arcade to you!


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One thing I’m not into, and never really was, is video games. I never got the allure of spending lots of time and money standing in crowded arcades when I could stay home and work on a model. However, one thing I AM into is cool-looking spaceships! It doesn’t matter to me if I know their backstory or not, for me spacecraft provoke a very deep and immediate response.

 

In this case, I was drawn to the Wave Non-Scale “Solvalou” fighter from a famous (well, not to me, but…) videogame of the ‘80s. This game was called “Xevious”, and while successful here, it was a huge hit in its homeland of Japan. To honour the game’s anniversary, kitmaker WAVE issued this model a few years ago.

 

I’m not sure about it’s origins, but man, it’s a neat looking ship with all kinds of potential! For something a bit different from the usual Star Wars, Star Trek and Gundam ships, check out the link below!

 

https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/wave-non-scale-solvalou-fighter-oob/

 

solvalou-oob-001.jpg?w=400

Edited by Faust
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You will have a lot of fun with this kit. It is about 1/100 scale given the size of the pilot figure in the cockpit. I built one not long after acquiring it at a Wonderfest and it was one of the most fun models I have ever built.

 

For mine, I decided to be a little different with the paint job. So rather than going with the bright primary white and blue colorings, I went with more subdued blues and grays which in hindsight seemed to match the artwork on the Atari game cabinets while Namco went with the primary shades on their cabinets. Stencil markings came from a couple Hasegawa F/A-18 decal sheets and the white #2s were done on an ALPS in "Tron" style font since well, it is a video game after all. It is the perfect escape from AMS as you don't have to go too crazy with detailing it and be as creative as you want since there really isn't much reference on it.


Here was my result:

 

Solvaloufin6_zpszwetobyx.jpg

 

Solvaloufin1_zps0bcoskcc.jpg

 

Solvaloufin3_zpscwz3mfuc.jpg

 

Solvaloufin2_zpsprtfbael.jpg

Edited by Jay Chladek
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Wow...

 

That looks stunning in the "low viz" scheme! Nice work! 

 

I was thinking maybe Jolly Rogers paint, at one point... like on the VF-1S in Macross. Now that I see your tactical scheme, though.... now my head's really moving in high gear.

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Thanks.

 

I added one minor nod to Macross on my model in the form of the white nose since the radome nose on the VF-1 jets were always painted bright white in the TV series. I pulled in a lot of ideas to get the coloring I wanted as I was partly inspired by 1970s/80s album covers, such as the cover to "Deliverance" by Space

 

deliverance-5405e63b2bf80.jpg 

 

There are any number of directions you can go with this model. High viz Navy markings, such as VF-84 are indeed a possibility. Something a bit more Star Wars inspired is also an idea. You can really have fun with painting this and it builds up in almost no time at all.

Edited by Jay Chladek
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I wondered about the nose! Nicely done!

 

Oh man... that Space album cover is AWESOME! it's so much a product of it's period - great stuff, I can taste the TTA vibe!

 

Wait... that's it! I'll TTA this ship! Oh yeah... Now it's rockin'!

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On 6/17/2017 at 11:35 AM, Faust said:

I wondered about the nose! Nicely done!

 

Oh man... that Space album cover is AWESOME! it's so much a product of it's period - great stuff, I can taste the TTA vibe!

 

Wait... that's it! I'll TTA this ship! Oh yeah... Now it's rockin'!

Now THAT I want to see given I have the TTA book in my stash as well. Can't wait!

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I've got all four TTA books, plus some others I came across recently, to help me. Oh, and the Usborne Book of the Future (my fave when I was a kid, and it still kinda is!), so I think I can see some coolness approaching. :)

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I have the Usborne book of Space and of Robots in my stash (two segments of the "Future" book they did) from my childhood. I look at them periodically for inspiration. One day I hope to build the British Interplanetary Society's Star Probe Daedalus in model form because of how cool the Usborne version looked.

 

I had a feeling the Solvalou might resonate with a Brit given its over/under engine configuration reminds me an awful lot of the English Electric Lightning. I even briefly toyed with giving it an RAF paintjob before the final scheme latched itself into my brain. TTA inspired paint would be perfect for it and it builds very easily, allowing you to build it in sub-assemblies if you need to.

Edited by Jay Chladek
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