Bandai DX YF-30 Chronos

[Hikuro]

I talked to Nippon-Yasan about it seeing how a 50 dolalr shipping fee shouldn't occur a Taxes and Duty charge imo, they pretty much told me TS, not their problem.
I've sent an email to Fedex, I've had to many horrible experiences with them over the last few years and I pretty much try to avoid as much as possible on using their service or not doing business with a company that does. Lesson learn for me.

[Guyffon]

Gonna throw it up here, that I once ordered a blu-ray box set from Mandarake, and they offered FedEx because it was cheaper than EMS. Turns out, Fedex wanted me to pay an extra fee (can't remember the amount, think it was about $10) when they sent it to my house.

Needless to say I was kinda miffed, and asked them for an explanation. They said it was indicated on their invoice (WHAT INVOICE?!).

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I ended up forking it out because it was still ultimately cheaper than EMS.

Also, I think this has been covered already, but I probably missed it. So I got my YF-30 in the mail, and it was pretty nice and all. Haven't gotten around to transforming it, but out of the box, the wings were folded for packaging. I tried putting them up for flight mode, and on one side, the wing just refuses to tab in.

Anybody had this same issue? And any ideas on how I can remedy it? Worse case scenario, this will be the piece I leave in Battroid mode.

Mind showing us a pic about the wing, my right wing does not tab in completely and i noticed the plastic was not cleanly cut near the hinge but have yet to file it as that part is painted. Will do so when i can get matching paint for that area

[technoblue]

WTF! Has American law regarding personal importation of good purchased from overseas change without notice, or is this just FedEx being jerks and trying to cash-in?

I could only find this:

http://www.dutycalculator.com/country-guides/Import-duty-taxes-when-importing-into-the-United-States/

(looks like it is a subscription site)

There is a link on that page pointing to the Customs and Border Protection site, which is conveniently down today. Perhaps states are starting to charge sales tax on imports and apply that as a duty tax? Could this be part of the internet shopping (amazon.com) crackdown from earlier in the year? It seems to apply to all purchases valued above $200. And that makes sense from my experience. The last FedEx shipment I received was valued under $200 from hlj, and I wasn't charged an importation tax.

For those in the US, has anyone received a request from FedEx to pay taxes on items valued less than $200?

Edited September 1, 2014 by technoblue

[valhary]

that's why I stopped my purchases in shapeways always FEDEX and UPS charge additional money for different stupid reasons so always try to use EMS never had problems with this option

[XFJ-01A]

I'll be honest, after posting that incident, I've been too busy with work and school to even call them.....whoops.

but technoblue did bring up an interesting point...Last few times I used Fedex all my totals were sub 200 (aside from chronos) and I didn't recieve any invoices.

Edited September 1, 2014 by XFJ-01A

[wm cheng]

It's really not NY's fault, its FedEx. It seems so easy for everyone to jump on the hating NY bandwagon - if it wasn't for them, I don't think I would have gotten any renewals.

Coming from Canada, I've come to terms with an extra $40-$50 customs & duties for my toys so there's not much sympathies here However, NY is the only place that under-declares the amount and have gotten past the Canadian system for me.

[Duymon]

It's just Fedex. All my SAL and EMS packages are going through just fine. Fedex is cooky right now for some reason

[McFly!!]

It's really not NY's fault, its FedEx. It seems so easy for everyone to jump on the hating NY bandwagon - if it wasn't for them, I don't think I would have gotten any renewals.

Coming from Canada, I've come to terms with an extra $40-$50 customs & duties for my toys so there's not much sympathies here However, NY is the only place that under-declares the amount and have gotten past the Canadian system for me.

Yup, I've paid more for customs duties than actual shipping once or twice. HLJ sales are just too tempting sometimes! And yeah, NY goes to bat for us that way!

Edit: USPS, CanadaPost, and UPS aren't as quick to charge you as FedEx. I guess they have to pay for those ads and movie placements somehow...

Edited September 1, 2014 by McFly!!

[F360]

for those that are getting a customs charge from fedex, can you do a scan or pic of your commercial invoice? Since Nippon-yasan only started doing Fedex recently, perhaps they are putting in a different HST code than what HLJ normally puts. Maybe that N_Y is putting a HST code for Collectible/antique which I think will get a customs charge. Also is the shipping address a home or Business?

[Scyla]

Not that I want to derail this thread some more but the one time I shipped an item with FedEx they also charged a service fee for bringing the package through customs and paying the import fee and sales tax upfront so maybe the fee you are getting is for the customs project. Granted in my country FedEx takes a risk for paying the taxes but I never had this with any other carrier.

In my country there is even a company that offers a service to get your package to you if customs can't figure out what this package contains. They offer this with a hefty fee (plus taxes and fees). In the past they also never mentioned that you could to the paperwork by yourself through a web service so many customers just payed that company.

So maybe FedEx is trying to make an extra buck with offering this service for their customers.

So yeah the YF-30....

I really hope we get some options for the missile rack later on. If they to the Skywarp repaint hopefully they add a new head into the mix so I can buy it without regrets.

[The Old Man]

I decided to use the NY facility where you pay the VaT upfront to bypass any customs charges.

Sure it costs more, but no delays waiting for customs to process the package (sometimes this can add two weeks!!!), plus I don't have to pay their handling fees on top of the duty/VaT.

[moustik747]

I offloaded my HLJ warehouse back in July, total was about 250 USD shipped via Fedex. Never paid a single fee, just the 0 USD amount bill from Fedex.

[Desty_Nova]

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...

Exactly how I feel. The tailfins just scream "Why the hell would you do that!?" The fact that the rest of the valk is so good just makes me even more disappointed.

[Mommar]

This US "customs" thing on expensive imports may be related to the state you live in and FedEx is tacking it on as it goes. I received two YF-30's not that long ago, that's pushing $500 with shipping, and in New Mexico there were zero additional charges.

Also, I haven't had wing troubles with my 30's but I could see that easily happening. I don't like the design of the folding wings at all.

[close313]

So when do you guys predict Bandai's gonna announce the add-on stuff for the YF-30? It's usually around 6 months of lead time for Tamashii exclusives(as it should be) from pre-order to release. Unless they're just yanking our leg with the removable missile pod and armament ports.

[CF18]

Has there been any offical-ish drawing or screen shot of any YF-30 add-on?

[Shukenzero]

Has there been any offical-ish drawing or screen shot of any YF-30 add-on?

Nothing yet. The game didn't have extra parts if I'm not mistaken. Bandai are making it up as they go along.

Edited September 3, 2014 by Shukenzero

[jenius]

Or it's the star of the new TV show....

[sreichma]

I think Bandai has exceeded Yarcadia with the YF-30. The presentation, tampo, hidden transformation, etc is outstanding. You can clearly see that Bandai continues to improve and better itself while Yarcadia has not changed or improved since the V-2's were released. I don't count QC issues like the shoulders, rainbow canopy, and crotch mechanism being improved. The basics of them are unchanged. I know many will disagree, but i think the lead Yarcadia had is gone and they need to step it up or they will be left in the dust.

The two things that Yarcadia still has the lead on is joint longevity and more experience engineering different valks. That lead and the comfort that comes from it is shrinking though.

[spanner]

I think Bandai has exceeded Yarcadia with the YF-30. The presentation, tampo, hidden transformation, etc is outstanding. You can clearly see that Bandai continues to improve and better itself while Yarcadia has not changed or improved since the V-2's were released. I don't count QC issues like the shoulders, rainbow canopy, and crotch mechanism being improved. The basics of them are unchanged. I know many will disagree, but i think the lead Yarcadia had is gone and they need to step it up or they will be left in the dust.

The two things that Yarcadia still has the lead on is joint longevity and more experience engineering different valks. That lead and the comfort that comes from it is shrinking though.

+1

[Mommar]

I think Bandai has exceeded Yarcadia with the YF-30. The presentation, tampo, hidden transformation, etc is outstanding. You can clearly see that Bandai continues to improve and better itself while Yarcadia has not changed or improved since the V-2's were released. I don't count QC issues like the shoulders, rainbow canopy, and crotch mechanism being improved. The basics of them are unchanged. I know many will disagree, but i think the lead Yarcadia had is gone and they need to step it up or they will be left in the dust.

The two things that Yarcadia still has the lead on is joint longevity and more experience engineering different valks. That lead and the comfort that comes from it is shrinking though.

-2, there's a lot of stupid in this design as well. The moment they release anything that can add additional weight content you're going to see a lot of failures pop up.

Edited September 3, 2014 by Mommar

[close313]

For one, Arcadia/Yammie valks doesn't have as much scratchable paint jobs as Bandai's. Mine is full of tiny nicks and especially the YF-30. But given that the original design/colouring of the valk is partly to blame anyway.

[Pedro2k6]

-2, there's a lot of stupid in this design as well. The moment they release anything that can add additional weight content you're going to see a lot of failures pop up.

-3, YF-30 is good but not enough...tail fin is a very poor design. Not be able to storage the gun under the plane when you display the missile pod is lazy too. And to me yamcadia always look more solid. IMHO

[close313]

Actually with regards to the tail fins, design-wise I don't think you could blame Bandai for that, since the designer of the valk is Kawamori himself and not the company. Unless you mean the engineering which is the fin being easily removable, now that is Bandai's design choice.

However I am grateful for that removable fin as my YF-30 dropped from my table once. Gave me a heart attack when I saw the fins on the floor and thought that they broke (I only have one YF-30!). Luckily they were just popped off the wing.

It's also not the only sci-fi plane with unorthodox tail fins that stuck out.

(Fenrir from ace combat)

[MacrossJunkie]

Late to the party, but I finally taken some decent shots of my weathered YF-30. (with the help of photo tips from Saburo... thanks!). I'm loving all these Bandai toys (very little effort to get them looking great!) way more than the Yamacadia ones now - they look so basic & bare...

DSC_2974 - resized.jpgDSC_2976 - resized.jpgDSC_2978 - resized.jpgDSC_2981 - resized.jpgDSC_2985 - resized.jpgDSC_2986 - resized.jpg

Beautiful!

I had the same idea with making the leading edge of the black a lighter colour using a filter.

I messed mine up pretty good though. In trying to find the right subtle shades for the patterns, I had to clean off paint and redo when the color looked off or too strong. However somehow the paint solvent I guess carried up the panel lines and capillaried their way up through the masking tape and spread out under the tape all throughout. So when I took the masking tape off, the red and black paint were all splotchy, cracked and ruined. This is the first time I've had this happen to me. I even made sure to press the tape on firmly, but the panel lines are pretty deep and the textured surface probably also allowed enough space for the paint solvent to work its way under the tape. So I had to mask off and repaint the black areas and the red stripes... what a friggin' nightmare. It especially sucked trying to fix the "SMS 030" and SMS logo areas. So it's been taking me far longer to do than I thought it would and has made me regret this project. Fortunately they went with a basic red and black so it was an exact color match with off the shelf hobby paints.

Here's a quick snap of it on my desk. I went with 4 different color tones and tried to keep it subtle and simple. I initially tried to match the patterns from the red and grey variants, but it looked too busy in the end so I simplified the pattern. Stripes and the screw ups are mostly fixed now. It's still a work-in-progress. I still need to mask and spray the filter, do the weathering, and clear coat.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

This bird is so photogenic

these are great shots!!!

[sreichma]

Yep, Yarcadia better step it up. They aren't evolving at the speed Bandai is.

[xrentonx]

I've got every single Bandai release (doubles/triples on everything) since they started the renewal game (lots of sleepless nights ). They got a ways to go before they surpass Yamarcadia in my eyes. If they gave the same level of attention as Gundam (fat chance), we'd be getting somewheres...

[nexxstrait]

Attention like... uhm.. like exploding shoulders and arms, you mean?

(runs away at the speed of light)

[xrentonx]

Wait...we talkin about Yamato or Bandai here?

Attention in that we've had more variety through Yamarcadia than any toy manufacturer who does Macross so far.

Edited September 3, 2014 by xrentonx

[Scream Man]

Actually with regards to the tail fins, design-wise I don't think you could blame Bandai for that, since the designer of the valk is Kawamori himself and not the company. Unless you mean the engineering which is the fin being easily removable, now that is Bandai's design choice.

However I am grateful for that removable fin as my YF-30 dropped from my table once. Gave me a heart attack when I saw the fins on the floor and thought that they broke (I only have one YF-30!). Luckily they were just popped off the wing.

Amen to that! Dropped mine and freaked out, but the tail had just popped off and popped right back on. It holds position at angles without drooping, it looks fine in all positions. Yeah i'd have liked a tab or something to indicate the proper angle,m but it's not a deal breaker.

I'd say the 30 is up there as one of my favorites, and there is no one more surprised than me saying that. I got it purely as a new Macross plane, and i want one of any of those in 1/60. And yet weeks later i still can't put it down! It's so fun to play with and pose, looks great in all modes (Especially fighter) and is a solid build. it's so far my contender for Toy of the Year (And if you know how many toys i collect, believe me that's saying something!).

As for comparing them to Arcadia; My Arcadia stuff is almost all fine. i have a VF-1J which ha a shoulder coming apart, and my YF-21 has some broken belly lock tabs (My fault).... that's it. Al my other stuff is just fine, and it's all stuff that's been played with repeatedly. The 19 is gorgeous and i have no issues with it at all; again, its been transformed and played with repeatedly.

conversely i have had to tighten almost all the hips and shoulders on my 25's and 29's. i STILL havent found a solid fix for the loose hinges on the shoulders (Where they swing back for fighter). I love the Bandai planes, but they are far FAR from being a tonne better than Yarcadias.

[spanner]

-2, there's a lot of stupid in this design as well. The moment they release anything that can add additional weight content you're going to see a lot of failures pop up.

-3, YF-30 is good but not enough...tail fin is a very poor design. Not be able to storage the gun under the plane when you display the missile pod is lazy too. And to me yamcadia always look more solid. IMHO

Actually with regards to the tail fins, design-wise I don't think you could blame Bandai for that, since the designer of the valk is Kawamori himself and not the company. Unless you mean the engineering which is the fin being easily removable, now that is Bandai's design choice.

However I am grateful for that removable fin as my YF-30 dropped from my table once. Gave me a heart attack when I saw the fins on the floor and thought that they broke (I only have one YF-30!). Luckily they were just popped off the wing.

It's also not the only sci-fi plane with unorthodox tail fins that stuck out.

hmmm yeah ok so.. +1 on certain design elements of the 30 but then yes as Pedro points on in a few comments above and -1 on others..

The tail fins are a definite negative.. still don't like how they attach so flimsily and the lack of locking or reference point to indicate correct positioning is another small fail.

But maybe there wasn't many other build options or resolutions available for Bandai to overcome this shortfall in the 30's design without deviating too far from the original design. The base of the tail fins would look crap if it was built up too much / bulky in order to make it stronger or incorporate a locking mechanism..

The gun pod mounting issue with the missile pod extended is another let down yes.. don't really see a way around this other than having an additional bracket / clip available in order to remount the gun back to the underside of the plane when in fighter mode with missile pod extended.

Not sure how many folks will have the 30 displayed in fighter mode with the missile pod extended as to me it looks kinda silly.

Gerwalk or Battroid are really the only two modes that the missile pod doesn't look too out of place when extended. Well actually now that I have two 30's with one displayed in Battroid im really liking the missile pod hanging overhead! Ready to issue a whole lotta chaos!

On the discussion of which brand is better.. Bandai -vs- YamAcadia.. I think both have their strong points and weaknesses. But I think the differences between the two brands is what give each other their character / qualities!

Edited September 3, 2014 by spanner76

[Pedro2k6]

YF-30 is for now my favorite valk...with the yf-19, but a simple in/out lock mechanims it will be great.....(take the tail fin out to move...take it in to locked)

[Chronocidal]

Honestly.. I think I kinda like the YF-30 better with no tails. It just looks better balanced, somehow, without those weak flappy looking things sticking out. Seriously, redesign the outer wing segments with tip tails like the MAXL, I could care less if the other tails even exist.

[xrentonx]

I like Kawamori's tail design (it looks nice to me) but Bandai's implementation is flappy. They could've added detents or something, I guess.