Anasazi37
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Everything posted by Anasazi37
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The one exception is Mandarake's warehouse location, Sawara (SAHRA). They wrap and weigh/measure everything in advance so they can ship right after you order. If you find an item you want that is available at SAHRA and another location, and the other location's offering is what you really want, you can add the SAHRA one to your cart and start the checkout process to see what shipping is going to cost you, then back out of the order. There might be a slight cost difference for the other location, but it's probably pretty close. You can also use other variants of the item you want as a proxy since the size and weight will be the same, like the Super Parts for the YF-29 Durandal Ozma when you really want the Alto. Not that I've ever actually done this....
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The people who really seem to have this bot thing figured out are the ones who go after high-end sneakers. Someone posted this story in the 1/48 DX thread during PO Madness for the Hikaru 1S: https://www.highsnobiety.com/2016/04/27/sneaker-bots-how-do-they-work/. The talk about latency due to geographic distance (which is true) reminds me of front-running and high frequency trading on the stock market. It's a fascinating rabbit hole to go down. The best and most accessible explanation of it that I've come across in recent years is the "Magic Shoebox" episode of Michael Lewis' podcast "Against the Rules": https://atrpodcast.com/episodes/the-magic-shoebox-s1!33643. If bot-runners in China ever start operating like high frequency traders on Wall Street, we're screwed....
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Holy smokes, @Shizuka the Catis upping her game. I definitely don't want to be competing with you on PO Madness night!
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I carved out some time yesterday to armor up my VF-31S. Many thanks to @jeniusfor his fighter-to-battroid transformation video. Barring some new VF or armor variant showing up in the next Delta movie, I think I'm done collecting for this series. I wanted one fully-loaded example of each main variant, which I now have. I took some liberties with having the Lil Drakens flying above the VF-31F with Super Parts, but who says that they have to be attached to be used? I also borrowed the reactive missiles from the VF-31S to complete the look. And how could I not display the SV-262 in battroid mode with the sword and shield? Lighting isn't great in the pictures....
- 20137 replies
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- macross delta
- vf-31 siegfried
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Much appreciated! Comparing your scan to the preview image on Max Factory's website, the only differences I see are in the lower left corner. All of the designs are still there, but the section was reorganized a bit. Not sure why they had to do that, maybe something related to their printing method. Makes me think that the DX set will be very close to the preview image, meaning that stuff will be missing. I'm still hesitant to finalize my set for the Fighter mode kit until I actually get my hands on it and look at the sticker sheet. Since the official decals are advertised as working for both kits, I don't anticipate any differences, but I'd rather play it a bit safe. That reminds me: I also need to make decals for the armaments.
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Mine arrived this morning. Similar experience with AE, right down to the slow EMS shipping. Might only use them again for TWE items that sell out too fast on Bandai's site for a proxy like FJ to help me. Tracking showed that the package arrived early this morning at my post office and because I live out in the country, I knew that they wouldn't actually deliver it to my house because it requires a signature and they have to focus on our mailboxes on the main roads. So, instead of waiting until *Tuesday* to receive official notification that I could pick it up (long holiday weekend here), I just drove to the post office and asked for it. Friendly staff there hooked me up and now the waiting is finally over!
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HLJ is now showing the Normal and DX versions of the decals as in stock. Estimated release date was August, and they just barely made it (last business day of the month). I'm hoping this means that the armament and fighter mode kits will actually be released next month, but my wallet wouldn't mind a slight delay. For those of you who bought the decals, especially the DX set with all of the Skull Squadron markings on it, I'd love to see a picture of what they actually look like. There were many things missing from it--in the preview pictures--when compared to the original sticker sheet that comes with the gerwalk kit.
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Me, too. When I need a proxy, they're my go-to. Given how slow AE and NY have been, I'll probably switch back to FJ for TWE items.
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Exactly! I'm not thrilled about the 5200 JPY "fast" shipping charge, but it could have been much worse. The "economy" shipping option was only 200 JPY less, so it didn't make sense to choose that one.
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Just received my "item is in stock and ready to ship" notification from AE for the armor
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Thanks for doing that! I was going to wait a few more days then do the same, but I'll instead keep an eye out for a message from them on the 26th. Can't wait to armor up my Arad.
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Same here. I preordered from AE right after their listing went live. Radio silence. They had a banner on their site last week saying that they were closed for Obon, so they're likely way behind on processing orders. I did notice that NY finally changed the status of their listing to "Not Available," so maybe they received their shipment and are processing orders right now. Think I'll go back to using a proxy for TWE items. Price is about the same and you get your item faster.
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Yep, that's an option, too. Comes with it's own set of challenges. Generally works better for larger designs, but you have to make absolutely sure that there are no air bubbles or wrinkles in the decals after application and that you get everything aligned perfectly. It also doubles the thickness of the design you're putting on the surface, so it might stick out more. As @MechTech said, it's nice to see some affordable options out there.
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Thanks for sharing, @MechTech. Yes, I looked into that option a few years ago. If all you need to do is print white designs, it's a viable option. If you need to print color designs that can sit on dark backgrounds, which requires printing them on top of a white backing layer, you'll need a more sophisticated setup. You can try to achieve the same effect with this ghost white toner method by passing the same page through the printer twice (one for the white, then once for the color, maybe having to swap out toner cartridges along the way), but the registration will be bad for small designs, which is pretty much what we all deal with for scale models and customs. By registration I mean the alignment between the color layer and the white backing layer. It happens because the paper isn't held in place between passes, like you get with ALPS and higher-end OKI printers. This option is definitely cheaper than the $6000 OKI printer that officially supports white, but suffers from the same problem (hand-feeding the paper through each time). The OKI printers that can do it right are on the order of $30,000. So, I'm trying to keep my ALPS printer running as long as I can....
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This is what Plamax has on their site: Normal and DX Decals: Aug 2019 Fighter: Sept 2019 Armaments: Sept 2019 No specific dates yet. The Gerwalk kit experienced several delays, so I think we're all a bit skeptical that anything will be released soon. My wallet would like for the Fighter to be released before November, though. Too many other preorders are going to hit right around the holidays....
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I've only had one marginally bad experience with a used item on Mandarake, otherwise it's worked out really well and allowed me to flesh out my Macross collection with a bunch of stuff that I missed out on over the past 6-7 years (Frontier valks and the early HMRs) at reasonable prices. The one marginally bad experience was with a YF-25 Durandal Alto (the version with the shoulder marking misprinted, but the corrected part was included in its still-sealed bag). It was listed as opened and QA inspected, but unused. The cardboard top for the styrofoam insert looked like it had been through hell, but the toy looked pristine. Turns out the parts of the wings that can spin all the way around were loose, which made it impossible to attach the super pack in fighter or battroid modes. Previous owner must have transformed it at least a few times for that to happen. Two tiny dabs of super glue later, to create a bit of resistance, and the problem was solved. So, "bad" with Mandarake is a relative thing. Their warehouse location, Sawara (SAHRA), is really good, too. When you buy from them, the item ships immediately and is generally packed way better than what the storefront locations do.
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Next week? I keep seeing "late August" everywhere I look, so sooner than that would be great.
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I'd print them myself, with white-backed designs on clear film. I've been making waterslide decals and stickers for Macross collectors and customizers for the past 17 years.
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I never applied the stickers to mine, they're probably still in the box which is tucked away in a closet somewhere. I could scan those in. I could also potentially turn them in to custom stickers, but I'd have to seriously look at how much time that would take.
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He was listed at "not available" on NY for most of today. Guess they found a few more from third party sellers....
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I think I grabbed the last affordable MIB Arad, when it was still around $200 USD. I'm usually not that lucky, getting punished by DX Chogokin PO Madness and subsequent scalper price hikes like everyone else here, but I lucked out this one time. I suspected that the armor was going to be announced in March, so I started monitoring Mandarake at the beginning of the month, hoping an Arad would show up. I happened to wake up in the middle of the night during a business trip, saw an email notification that one was available, bought it without hesitation, and later that day the announcement came out. Price jumped immediately to $400+.
- 20137 replies
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- 1
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- macross delta
- vf-31 siegfried
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I have space set aside on one of my display shelves for at least five more releases (Tomahawk, Phalanx, Q-Rau, TV Max, TV Hayao)
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Wow, I completely forgot about this. takatoys and I were making competing aftermarket sticker sets for the Yamato valks at the same time, around 16(!) years ago. Different designs, different printing methods. Definitely necromancy.
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Hooray! Nice catch, @Xigfrid.
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Yeah, it's great to see a fellow MW member knock it out of the park
