Kit Review

Straight build + Panel lining + Decals

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom (1/2)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom (2/2)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom (1/3)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom (2/3)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom (3/3)

Upper body close-up

The unique head of the Luca Custom. Quite bare, isn't it.

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - The Luca Custom has a reconnaissance radome mounted on its back. (1/3)

The Luca Custom has a reconnaissance radome mounted on its back.

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - Unlike other Valkyries, the left arm has a large wing that acts as the lower

Unlike other Valkyries, the left arm has a large wing that acts as the lower horizontal stabilizer in Fighter mode.

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - Because of this large wing, it's hard to attach the shield directly, so you h

Because of this large wing, it's hard to attach the shield directly, so you have to use a separate intermediate connection gimmick.

The legs are identical to other Valkyries.

The Luca Custom comes with 3 Ghost unmanned fighters — Luca's little wingmen.

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - All three have the same structure.. and the waterslide decals are quite a ha

All three have the same structure..
The waterslide decals are quite a handful. T_T

Ghost with decals completed.

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom (1/7)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom (2/7)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom (3/7)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom (4/7)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom (5/7)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom (6/7)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom (7/7)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - Detailed shots of decals by section (1/4)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - Detailed shots of decals by section (2/4)

Detailed shots of decals by section

Underside

Decals on the underside

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - For applying waterslide decals to those awkward curved surfaces, Mark Softer

For applying waterslide decals to those awkward curved surfaces, Mark Softer or Mark Setter is absolutely essential..

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - The yellow parts on the Ghost's stand are all waterslide decals too. (They c

The yellow parts on the Ghost's stand are all waterslide decals too.
(They could've just made those stickers.. OTL)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - You can remove the missiles on the underside of the Ghost and replace them wi

You can remove the missiles on the underside of the Ghost and replace them with covers.

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - Action poses using the Macross-exclusive Action Base (1/4)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - Action poses using the Macross-exclusive Action Base (2/4)

Action poses using the Macross-exclusive Action Base

Knife action..

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - GERWALK mode. (1/4)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - GERWALK mode. (2/4)

GERWALK mode.

The radome on the back gives it a really distinctive look.

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - GERWALK stand action. (1/4)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - GERWALK stand action. (2/4)

GERWALK stand action.

Fighter mode in reconnaissance aircraft form.

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom (1/5)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom (2/5)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom (3/5)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom (4/5)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom (5/5)

Detail of the nose and wing sections.

The head buried inside the body

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - The radome section. The seal that wraps around it didn't fit well and ended u

The radome section.
The seal that wraps around it didn't fit well and ended up wrinkling. T_T

The radome can also be deployed as shown above.

Verniers section

Underside.

The Luca Custom has an extra vertical stabilizer added to the underside of the body.

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - The Luca Custom comes with the new stand connector part included with the Sup

The Luca Custom comes with the new stand connector part included with the Super Parts right out of the box.
It holds much more securely than the one that came with the Alto/Ozma customs.

Fighter mode stand action

The extra vertical stabilizer on the underside can be folded down.

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - Flight action (1/6)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - Flight action (2/6)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - Flight action (3/6)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - Flight action (4/6)

Flight action

Now, together with the Luca Custom's little Ghost wingmen..

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - This kit includes dedicated Ghost stand parts for mounting on the Action Base

This kit includes dedicated Ghost stand parts for mounting on the Action Base,
so you can display them all together like this.

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - I went through so much pain applying the Ghost decals that it felt like a was

I went through so much pain applying the Ghost decals that it felt like a waste not to..
so I took plenty of photos from all angles (lol)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - Applying the waterslide decals on the Ghosts was pure hell, but once it's do

Applying the waterslide decals on the Ghosts was pure hell, but once it's done there's definitely a sense of accomplishment..

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - Together with the Alto and Ozma customs in Battroid mode. (1/4)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - Together with the Alto and Ozma customs in Battroid mode. (2/4)

Together with the Alto and Ozma customs in Battroid mode.

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - Fighter mode group shot (1/4)

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom - Fighter mode group shot (2/4)

Fighter mode group shot

Wings folded, gathered together

The variety of colors is great ^^;

Battroid mode straight build photos

GERWALK mode straight build shot

Fighter mode straight build photos

Ghost straight build photos.
Without decals it looks pretty bare~..

Following the Alto and Ozma customs, the Luca Custom has been released right on schedule. Unlike other VF-25s, the Luca Custom is a distinctive Valkyrie equipped with a reconnaissance radome and an extra vertical stabilizer on the underside. The color scheme is a bright green tone that gives it a fresh, clean look.

The overall kit structure is naturally the same as the Alto/Ozma customs, and aside from the changed head and the addition of the radome and vertical stabilizer, most of the features are identical. "Radome" is a portmanteau of "radar" and "dome," referring to a cover made of radio-transparent material that protects the radar antenna inside. The added radome even replicates a deployment function, and since the radome needs to be mounted, the parts on the back have been changed as well.

Valkyries are basically all about color variants, so there's not much new to talk about on that front — but the big highlight of this kit is that it includes three Ghost unmanned fighters that Luca pilots in the show. That's also why the price is ¥1,300 higher than the others. If you figure the radome accounts for about ¥100, then one Ghost runner plus the waterslide decals probably comes out to around ¥400.

The issue is... while the Luca Custom itself comes with waterslide decals and premium clear seals like the other Valkyries, the Ghosts only come with waterslide decals. The Ghosts are small and have lots of curved surfaces, making the decal work no easy task — on top of that, there's a huge amount of decals, and the real kicker is that you have to do the exact same job three times. I originally planned to just do one of them and call it a day.. but as I got into it, my stubbornness kicked in and I ended up applying all three sets of decals.

The time it took to apply decals on all three Ghosts far exceeded the work on the Luca Custom itself — it requires a serious amount of time and effort. Even people who are comfortable with waterslide decals will find it tough, so those without much experience will have an even harder time. On the flip side, it's actually perfect practice for waterslide decals in a way. I made several mistakes on the first one, but by the second and third I was definitely getting more and more comfortable with the process.. (Was this secretly a waterslide decal training kit!?) Total decaling time for all three Ghosts was roughly 15–18 hours. It wasn't so much the time as the eye strain and neck pain that made it a pretty exhausting job..

That said, since the decals are small and the surfaces are heavily curved, it seems like a really tough job without decal aids like Mark Softer or Mark Setter. On the other hand, if you have Mark Setter to help the decals adhere properly and Mark Softer to stretch and conform the decals to curved surfaces, the work goes much more smoothly and the results are noticeably better. If you're planning to tackle the Ghost decals, I'd strongly recommend using these.

The Ghosts also come with separate skewer(?) parts for mounting on the Action Base, so if you have one, you can display them together with the Luca Custom itself. It'd be even better to use the new Macross-exclusive Action Base if you can. The Ghost decal work was truly terrible, but once you've got everything displayed together, a wave of satisfaction just washes over you.. ^^;

Anyway, the kit's quality and features are already well known, and it's clearly a high-quality kit worth picking up without too much hesitation.. but you'll want to think carefully about the Ghost decal ordeal. (Even thinking about it now makes me shudder..) If you're just going to do a straight build and not worry about it, that's one thing — but if you're planning to do the decals, you'd better brace yourself..!

1/72 RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom | 2009.2 | ¥5,800

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.