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It's really just Bandai stuff that's a problem for me. I get all my Hasegawa, Wave, Max Factory, Kotobukiya, Moderoid, Our Treasure, Tamiya, Aoshima, Fujimi, Hobby Japan pre-orders with no problems.

Calling this one done; 4 years is long enough: It's now up on the shelf (will build permanent stand later, after I've had some time away from it); next project, not sure of at this point. Finances are tight again and more uncertainty in the air about the future.

One hasn't sold on YJA in 180 days, so there is no historical data about the current open market price....with that said there is one that actually ended a few minutes after this post, with no sale at 32,105 JPY, it was relisted at 31,142 JPY...it is brand new, unopened....let's see if it sells this time...if not, at least it will tell you what you can't ask for it....lol https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r1188394102 You can also try a search on Mandarake, but their price is not determined by competative bidding...generally, their pricing usually runs lower than the open market prices you'd see on auctions...but if you were to match Mandarake pricing, it would probably be considered a "good deal" by most...as always, YMMV and with the economic situation being what it is....it could be we are in an extended buyer's market for the forseeable future....

Thank you @wm cheng Great work on that phaser!

How much is the now general price of the Yamato Macross 1/60 VF-1S Low Visibility out of curiousity.

I was wrong! 😓 They're seen fighting on the Daedalus. They're even called out in dialogue! I've been entirely too focused on the Destroids INSIDE the Daedalus. 😅

beyond fuming that i missed all the po's... #heartbroken ... can't do the luna park, but the after market might already come close to this...

I guess there's global time for it's release as still nadda over here.

Very click baity. Noticed it's pretty much the same with other items by different vendors.

That's from Google translate... it seems like it but could be wong. I though doubt it...

I gave up on HLJ. TOo much in the end, and wait times... nuff said.

This leads me to question the use of plastic parts in the joints at particularly high-stress points: many of them are supporting quite a bit of mass/ weight or are under considerable tension/ strain when moved. As for the dyes being used on plastics: it depends upon the dye and the process. Some dyes can inherently weaken the plastic based on their composition, while heat and other processes can disrupt the polymerization chains in the plastics. Even dye concentration in the wrong amount can be an issue, as dyes are a chemical and plastic is a complex mix of chemicals based on the polymerization of petroleum products. For any dye attempt, I would recommend trying to test it first to see if it will create an issue later on.

So is it a limited version that’s going to be available for preorder at the event or is the event the only way to obtain one?

Since he's been peppered sprayed on Mezco's Instagram, Sparky is most definitely a Wednesday drop. Edit: Here's the load out

Well, if the dye is darkening it (white or grey to maroon), I'd imagine it would pass. Dye weakening nylon is new to me though. It does that? Again, in my case, it would be a light grey turned maroon surrounded by either the same color or black parts. I think we're good if dyeing would work. Anyhow, if anyone here has done it to Bandai nylon parts, I'd love to hear about it!

Thanks so much. I appreciate your suggestion and will be doing some light chipping with sponges. Since this has a matte finish, a more reflective chipping like you mentioned “silvery” would look really nice and give it some visual interest. I also love these old kits with all their charm and interesting challenges they present. Also, wow! That TOS Phaser is absolutely beautiful. 🤩 Thanks for all the info and process images. It wouldn’t be a proper build without some sort of disaster. Hahaha. I had some major paint issues where MR color lacquer did not like the Rusto rattle can primer. It bubbled and was also a gummy mess to sand off. Yuck! Anyway, you have some major skills, and persistence pays off for you. Very inspiring, I really need to try out a 3d print one of these days. Edit* For Alclad have you used their Aqua Gloss Clear ALC 600? It plays nicely with their gloss black base and metal colors. I love their black chrome! I used it on the Bellows on the Volks Daccas VSMS kit.

I think almost all of mine are in car mode right now, but again, car guy. My (Chinese) wife jokes that when we watch Chinese dramas on Netflix together that she's always looking to see what the characters are eating, I'm always looking to see what they're driving.

I abhor the Bayverse films and I make no bones about it. However, I like a good Transformers toy, I like a cool alt mode, and sometimes a robot mode just looks cool to me. Check all three with this figure. While Takara can be hit or miss on some of these SS figs, in this case I think they did a pretty good job taking a bit of concept art, a beautiful car that apparently was in a single scene (haven't seen the film), and married the two into a figure that, IMHO, looks good and turned out at least standard relative to other figs in the line. I really like the reuse of the Vehicon's roof and windshield folding technique, one of Takara's best for compressing a lot of car into a compact kibble-less form. I can't stress enough how much I love the integrated weapon storage, a feature that, at this point in the franchise's history, should be standard practice. I like how the front fenders form her shoulders, and finally, the 12C is indeed a lovely car, and despite my feelings about the live action films, Bay and Co have an excellent eye for beautiful or interesting vehicles to use as alt modes and Has/Tak do the line proud by securing the licenses in most cases. Fortunately, they do far more justice with the cars than with jets. I've got a PO in for this fig. I don't buy many Bayverse figs anymore, but every now and again, one strikes my fancy for one reason or another. If nothing else, I can always leave them in car mode, but I seldom do. Appreciate the comprehensive look, Mike.

Yeah you have to actually look at the listings carefully on some of them on Ali Express. A seller on there has what looks like a DYRL non weathered VF-1S Max, and the first couple of pictures look like it would be what you'd get, but the last two pics show a v1 Yamato VF-1A. It's rather click baity...

I have heard of dyes working, but sometimes having a bleeding affect on lighter colored parts around them

Knowing Bandai's love of hollow expanding pins in their joints, I imagine almost all DX's have some degree of cracking (even on a microscopic level), and dyes will immediately soak in and make the cracks more visible. (and possibly exacerbate/weaken them).

Oh yes! You did a good job. That's what I will need to do.

Well... I still don't know when the Voyagers of this wave are coming, but Scavenger wasn't the only Deluxe. So up next we'll do Age of Extinction Concept Art KSI Widow. As the "concept art" bit suggests, "Widow" (aka Widowmaker) wasn't actually seen (at least not in robot form) in the film, but rather is based on concept art by Steve Jung. There are some pretty major differences, though... she was more red than orange, and the car kibble is quite different, because she was originally going to be the Pagani Huayra that eventually became Stinger. The head design, the fenders forming her shoulder pads, the spikes on her arms, the knee pads, though, all come from Jung's concept art. She technically has high heels like the concept art, too, but it's kind of hard to tell with the mass of car kibble on her lower legs that was decidedly not part of the concept art. That said, I'm not really mad about it. The concept art has a very lithe, almost sexy design with almost no visible car parts that would have very much relied on CGI magic to transform. What I feel we got from Evan and Kunihiro is a robot that still has noticeably feminine proportions in the arms, torso, and thighs that avoids the all-too-common "just fold everything into a backpack" engineering that's prevalent with Bayverse cars. Despite allusions to some kind of chain accessory (seen in some of Jung's concept art), Widow just comes with these two blasters. While I do admire Widow's aesthetics, her articulation leaves a bit to be desired. Her head's on a ball joint that swivels, but has minimal tilt due to the molded "hair". Her shoulders are ball joints that swivel and move 90 degrees laterally. Her biceps swivel, and her elbows bend a tad over 90 degrees. No wrist articulation, though, and no waist articulation. Her hips are more ball joints that move 90-ish degrees forward and backward, but only about 75 degrees laterally. Her thighs swivel, and her knees bend 90 degrees IF you make sure the kibble on her thighs is out of the way first. Her feet tilt up, due to how they transform, but not downward, and she doesn't have ankle pivots. Her blasters clip over her forearms. I don't think it's immediately obvious how they go on (pro tip: try to align the curve near the barrel with the back of her hand). When not mounted to her forearms, tabs on the top rear can plug into slots under her door wings on her back. Her transformation actually gives me flashbacks to the Transformers Prime Vehicon. Her head and spine fold back from her torso, tabbing into her butt. Her shoulders shift down and back slightly, so that her arms lay along side her head. Her kneepads and toes fold flat. and the thigh kibble slides out, spins to align with the car kibble on her lower legs, then slides back into place. Then (and this is really where the Vehicon thing comes in) her calves open up, and you fold out the insides on three hinges to form the top of the car, from the hood all the way to the rear. Flip up her wings, fold her shoulder pads down to line up with her chest, then rock her chest up so the wings line up with the thigh kibble on the sides of the car. Then all you have to do is close her thighs, lining up all the kibble you folded out along the way, and fold her heels in to finish off the rear. I'm a car guy, and for all the faults both objective and subjective I might have with Bayverse robots both as both concept designs and physical toys, the one thing you're not going to here me complain about is the cars. The people making the movies have an eye for cool cars, and for their part Hasbro's been doing for the Studio Series line what they often didn't do for the individual movie lines- licensing those cool cars. So what we have here is a McLaren MP4-12C (or just 12C for short). The 12C actually was in a highway scene with Galvatron, it just didn't transform. I guess Hasbro retroactively decided that the 12C could be Widow, since the Huayra became Stinger. Regardless, Hasbro did an excellent job here, as all the little details are accurate to the real car; I think the only thing I can find to nitpick is that the side mirrors stick out further on the real car, but that's about it. Of course, you don't want to mar a gorgeous alt mode like this by plugging weapons on top of it, or even having the requisite tabs to attempt to plug the weapons on top. Instead, mid-transformation, you'll find slots below her knees on the inside of her shins after you fold the car kibble out. Plug the guns in there before you close her up and you're golden. To recommend, or not recommend, is tricky. On the on hand, I don't think most of you even bother with the Bayverse stuff. And, for the few that do, maybe you're sticking to characters that actually get screen time. It's definitely a bummer that her articulation is a little sub-par... ankle pivots have been part of the Generations lines since Siege; Bayverse characters deserve working ankles, too! Despite her flaws, though, I do think that the team did a pretty good job taking Jung's concept art and translating it into a toy that still manages to be maintain a feminine figure on a Deluxe budget, and I'm tempted to say that her alt mode alone is worth the purchase price. Truthfully, there have been worse-executed Bayverse characters, so I think I'd give her a tentative recommend if you collect Bayverse characters.

I used some .5mm to close up the bottoms. No details though since I’ll never look at the bottoms. Lol