Doyusha's
YF-19, the third entry in their Macross 'Desktop Museum' series
of die-cast non-transforming 1/144 fighter toys has just been
released.
The
YF-19 is 5 inches / 13cm long, which makes it quite a bit larger
than Doyusha's 1/144 VF-1 toys. This of course is normal, as
the YF-19 is a much bigger plane than the VF-1.
The
YF-19 comes in the same type of high quality jewellery type
case as Doyusha's earlier VF-1A and VF-1S toys.
The
only moving parts on the YF-19 are the variable geometry wings
which can be moved from the full forward position to the completely
swept back high-speed position featured in Macross Plus (and
any position in-between). The YF-19 is completely die-cast except
for the landing gear, gunpod and canopy.
Unlike
Doyusha's VF-1, the landing gear on the YF-19 is not removable
(at least it wasn't on my sample). This is a pity as I would
like to fly the toy around my house without the landing gear!
The canopy is also removable, although I'm not sure if it is
supposed to be!
The
paint job on the YF-19 was excellent with no flaws. Likewise
the tampo printed details were also very well done, although
the printing of the red hybrid sensor on the nose was ever so
slightly out of position, although this is only really noticable
if you look closely.
Although
I feel that Doyusha's VF-1A and VF-1S did not offer good value
for money due to the small size, I do really like the YF-19
and feel that while it is still quite expensive, it is worth
the price. In my opinion the larger size and the great sculpt,
which in my opinion really catches the spirit of the YF-19,
make this a toy worth adding to any Macross Plus fans'
collection.
The
YF-19 retails for ¥2,980 and is available from Hobby Link Japan
www.hlj.com .
The
next Macross toy from Doyusha will be the VF-1J to be released
soon. I certainly hope that we see Doyusha continuing with more
toys in this line.
Graham
