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Bandai DX YF-30 Chronos


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Ohhhhhhh shoot! I didn't think I would want to go through the effort of getting one after I missed the pre-order window at amiami all those months back, but boy do I want one now!

For those who are in the know, is there any hope of getting this at a decent price?

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It looks cool there but part of why is because that purple is so vibrant in game. I'm not sure the toy would look quite like that.

I think personally I'd want the Red Variant first, but that's because I think it looks like a Milia-style YF-30.

Edited by Mommar
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I have to admit I am surprised how much I love this toy! I've been playing with it for the last 3 nights and I'm in love. It's actually fun to transform, seems quite study with all the die-cast parts and hats off for all the paint and tampo details by Bandai! It makes the Arcadia/Yamato look naked - I always have to worry about making or obtaining decals for those toys - but this YF-30 just looks great right out of the box. A little bit of panel wash and it looks even better! The extra missiles from my VF-171 super parts is just icing on the cake. I'll weather it lightly tomorrow and attempt that 2nd tone lighter black on it and clear coat this baby (even love the matter finish!). I'm having a hard time working on it because I keep playing with it and swooshing it around (great solid feel in fighter mode which is paramount for me and my playing!) The whole fuselage, neck and back of the head lines up quite well after a few times of transformation and learning where to tweak the joints to get that sleek flush neck. I just wish that my canopy was clear (instead of this frosted, I'm still not sure how to handle it - please someone tell me how to take canopy off completely so I can work on polishing it) and that there we some detents on the rear stabilizers and that they didn't turn so easily. This blows the Arcadia YF-19 out of the water and it was $100 cheaper!

My Yamato/Arcadia stuff definitely looks and feels more like toys compared to the latest renewals from Bandai (with the exception of the VF-4G and 1/3000 SDF-1 - which are still my favourites). Not only do they look great, more like replicas - I feel I can play with them better and feel more substantial. I just wished they were easier to get a hold of instead of this crazy pre-order nonsense.

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I dunno if I like it better than Arcadias 19 overall, but I agree its more sturdy. It also holds the gunpod a bit tighter, which I prefer. I also think its ging to stay tighter than the 25 series has, party because the shoulder hinges lock together better. The issue i have with the 25's is the hinge that swings the arms into position, and the hinges that raises them up and down come loose. On the 30 the whole assembly just locks into place, and i think thats a huge improvement

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Are you able to lock in the legs/intakes in GERWALK for more stability if you didn't need the waist joint?

Yes. It is very solid in this version of gerwalk. The instability comes from swinging the hips down.

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Even though I have no time... I love this bird so much that I managed to carve out a little bit to get back on my bench...

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Now its a little bright because its flat finish against the black, when I clear coat it semi-gloss, it will darken up...

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It used a very thinned out med grey, sprayed very lightly to lighten the black and darken the stark "NO STEP" - two for one! and it toned them down nicely.

Did a light wash of different blacks/greys to get the panel line and smudged stick some graphite on the various panels - I didn't want to over do it as this is a fairly new experimental aircraft.

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Lastly, the future/tamiya matte finish clear coat dries and I can zoom it around! (I still find the future clear coat to be the most durable so far)

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Here is the configuration it will sit in my display with the extra VF-171 armament decked out and ready for swooshing around! (Maybe I have to break my rule and get a second one just to leave in Battroid mode)

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I'll hopefully take some more decent shots once I have time to setup a little light tent with some helpful info Saburo gave me!

Did I mention that I love this toy!!! The other Mr. K really did an amazing job on the design, a real great combo of real-world/old school aircraft with the newer Macross Frontier design language - I can't believe I can love a "non-swing-wing" Valkyrie this much.

Edited by wm cheng
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@wm cheng, that is amazing! Looking forward to seeing your photos of the YF-30. I see that you have a Cosmo Zero kit sitting on your bench along with other nicely weathered goodies, I'd love to see pics of the Cosmo Zero when it is completed or is it completed.

Edited by Saburo
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Looks very nice with the correct colors! Bravo!

I'm enjoying the YF-30 in general, but I must admit, the tail design really drags this one down for me. It's beautifully engineered and painted (backwards text labels notwithstanding.. <_<), but the tails feel like a horrible afterthought to the rest of the design...

I'm actually tempted to make some wider tails that actually integrate into the wing, and don't look so incredibly flimsy. The way they can just attach and detach easily makes me think that they'll lose any existing tension around their pivot points over time, and just fall over.

Edited by Chronocidal
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Thanks everyone for all the kudos! It's nice to get back in the saddle, just wished I had more time for it. Now I love it all the more. Now I just gotta figure out what to do with the canopy and it will be perfect for me.

Pretty cool what you've done here but the gray should match the gray of the bay doors on the missile box and you missed the leading edges on the tail fins.

I didn't know about the tailfins. I considered the doors, but the missile doors on the toy is considerably darker than the illustration (and its metallic - gun metal) - I thought it might be too flashy to do a metallic gun metal on the leading edge and it would look too different from the rendering reference. I really liked the dark grey, and it makes the NO STEP look like a light grey (instead of obviously looking like a sprayed metallic finish over them).

@wm cheng, that is amazing! Looking forward to seeing your photos of the YF-30. I see that you have a Cosmo Zero kit sitting on your bench along with other nicely weathered goodies, I'd love to see pics of the Cosmo Zero when it is completed or is it completed.

Yeah, well that was the disastrous initial first attempt where I used the wrong basecoat for the Aclad metalizer top coat - actually it was the correct basecoat (made by Aclad for a black glossy undercoat) - it was using a mineral spirits/turpentine based oil wash that reacted with the enamel basecoat and basically ruined the whole finish because the Aclad coat was so thin that it didn't provide any barrier. I posted some photos of the disaster on that workbench thread a while back and I have subsequently bought a second kit and have painted it to the same stage as the original failure, but I have lost steam/momentum in the project and its just sitting on my bench until I get some time.

Great paint fix Wm Cheng! The light weathering is also great. I wish I had a air brush too!

Would it be an alternate method with a Tamyia coat or something similar that could do the same for the black borders w/out the air brush?

I don't think you'd get an even enough finish brushing any top/clear coat to lighten the black, when you brush transparent coats, brush marks are that much more apparent.

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I don't think you'd get an even enough finish brushing any top/clear coat to lighten the black, when you brush transparent coats, brush marks are that much more apparent.

Thank you for the fast reply. I usually use the Tamyia top coat, the low pressure can ones. The result is very good.

I should have a look if my reseller has a grey tint that would be transparent enough!

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