Anasazi37

16 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

Looking good! Will the Battroid adapter work with GBP equipped Valks too?

It might require some modifications. Good thing I have a VF-1J suited up and ready for testing.

Took a week longer than anticipated, but I finished up all four adapters for the Yamato 1/48: Battroid, Gerwalk, Fighter, and Fighter with Super/Strike Parts. The Battroid and Gerwalk adapters work with or without the Super/Strike Parts attached, but separate ones were needed for both Fighter mode variants so you don't end up with a lot of empty space under the gunpod. I printed them in some white PLA that I had on hand because it was much faster for prototyping and tweaking the designs, but grey ABS would be my choice for actual use. I'm still making some small adjustments, but they're looking pretty good now. My goal was to make them as low profile as possible, so you barely know they are there. They are also best thought of cradles because the valk rests in them, but isn't locked into place. You can do some pretty extreme banking poses, though.

End of week update for the Yamato 1/48 adapter project. I've been tweaking the design a little bit each evening, printing multiple prototypes along the way. I think it's pretty close now. Here's the latest version. It takes advantage of the original adapter design and uses it as a low profile anchor point behind the head, but also redistributes the weight of the valk further back (right behind the shoulders) in a way that holds the valk snugly in place without having to do any kind of snap fitting. It simply rests in the adapter. I wouldn't flip it upside down and expect it to stay in place, but other than that, you can do some extreme banking in the display stand and it seems to be rock solid. The tab at the bottom is moved just far enough back from the edge so the front of the adapter sits flush with the Arcadia A adapter when attached. I've been printing the prototypes in ABS for added strength, but you could probably get away with PLA since the adapter isn't subjected to a lot of pressure. I'm thinking about making a shorter version for a valk that doesn't have the armor attached. Adapters for Gerwalk and Battroid are also in the works.

1 hour ago, Slave IV said:

Nice! Are you going to sell some of these or willing to share the files?

Haven't thought that far ahead yet. For now, I'm just trying to get the designs right. Rest assured, they will be available to the community in some form. 

As a fun weekend project, I created an adapter for the Yamato 1/48. It closely mirrors the original design. I wanted to start with that and see how it looked. Works well, but the one drawback is that you can't mount the gunpod--it runs smack into the Arcadia A adapter on the stand. I'll spend some time next weekend extending the design to allow for the gunpod in both regular Fighter and Super/Strike. Will also look at making a Battroid adapter. I'm not going to copy Yeti's designs, for the reasons already outlined above, but space and valk part constraints will lead to me making very similar choices. There are only so many ways to make an adapter....

A few design notes. The prototype is printed in PLA, which is not very sturdy. End goal is to print in ABS, but my new printer is being really temperamental about that material and I don't have it dialed in yet. Lots of failures yesterday. Much like Yeti's adapter, I chose to do a straight vertical slot for holding the hip bar in place instead of one that "snaps" the bar in place by closing around it. The latter puts too much strain on the printed adapter. There's just enough friction, based on the slot width I selected, to hold the bar in place, but I'd still avoid barrel rolls. Last, this adapter requires the use of supports when printing, so I tried to orient the part so you won't see the impacted areas. I only did a quick cleanup for this prototype, but you'll see impacted areas in the pictures below.

Yep, this was an insta-buy for me. Took care of my PO first thing this morning. It will be nice to have all four variants at the same scale in a modern, well-made form. Looking at you Bandai, with your still-unreleased HM-R Scout that was teased in prototype form at an event several years ago. 

1 hour ago, Chronocidal said:

Nope, the red one is included in the Kakizaki release, along with his own stand.  

...to encourage people to buy what Bandai thinks will be a less popular item? I hope it sells well, because I'd like to complete the squadron in 1/48, too. 

14 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

I think that’s what Yeti did but also redesigned it to be more robust. I wonder if anyone saved the images of all the adapters yeti offered. 

Just checked the Wayback Machine and it didn't capture anything beyond high-level product links and some images. Can't even get to the 1/48 adapter entry. It's a shame that he didn't post his adapter files somewhere for purchase online. Even if he never plans to make more stands or adapters, keeping those adapter designs locked away is a real shame. Now they have to be reinvented...again. There might be some images of the 1/48 adapters in the YetiStand thread, but it's 80+ pages long and I don't have time to go through all of that today.

13 hours ago, Reni said:

Slightly off topic, but related question:

I have a 1/48 Yamato VF-1.  As I'm sure you all know, the 1/48 Yamato VF-1's did not come with the part that attaches to the valkyrie so it could be mounted on the stand:  these were later included in the first Yamato display stand.

Outside of buying one of those old display stands, is there anywhere I can buy just the adapter piece that attaches to the valkyrie?  I've tried looking at shapeways and other 3d printing sites but haven't had any luck.

I dug out the box for my Yamato display stand and I think this is the one you're looking for. I'd have to add it to my project backlog, but it wouldn't be difficult to recreate it for 3D printing in a durable material like ABS.

5 hours ago, sh9000 said:

@Anasazi37 and @chingu77 if you don't mind I'd like repost the descriptions and pics of the items in this thread to help people be more informed of the different stores and how items arrive.

https://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/topic/49497-general-discussion-of-stores-store-policies-and-practices-shipping-and-handling-and-types-of-packaging/page/2/#comments

 

I don't mind, but I'd be sure to mention that the extra care AE takes in packing is what saved my VF-25F from being completely destroyed. They bubble wrap every item and custom fit every shipping box so items don't slide around in transit. What happened to me is entirely DHL's fault.

52 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

The lack of the washers is worse imo. The smooth acrylic has no buffer/friction between them without the washers so you need to tighten more to prevent slipping. Not a huge deal especially since the arms are thicker on Archi compared to Yeti but worth pointing out since I never noticed it mentioned before. If you plan on printing your own, it may be an issue with the length of the bolts provided so I’d say just don’t worry about it. You’ll be fine. 

Appreciate the heads up. If it looks like the slippage might become an issue, I have TPU filament on hand and could try printing some thin washers, but if the bolt length then becomes an issue I might source some slightly longer bolts online.

10 hours ago, Slave IV said:

So far so good! Only thing is even though it came packed really well and has the typical acrylic protective film that you need to peel off, mine still had a scuff on the base.

Another difference from Yetistands is these don’t come with printed washers which really help with the connections feeling more secure as opposed to bare acrylic attached to each other. Either way, glad these exist because they put all other available stands to shame. 

So is the lack of printed washers better or worse? I can't quite tell from your comment. Asking because I just ordered six of these stands and have both a filament and resin printer.

9 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

Arcadia B is specifically for the weird hexagon plug they went with for their Macross Zero releases.

Arcadia A will work for everything else released by Arcadia or Yamato.

Much appreciated!  Now I have to either dig out my original adapters or track down STL files for replacements online that I can 3D print.

6 hours ago, Lolicon said:

I'm not terribly concerned about the box condition as long as the toy is undamaged. 

This is one time where I'm grateful for Bandai's plastic clamshell packaging inside the box.

13 minutes ago, Radioguy said:

I'd care about the price paid, at least. If you pay for new and undamaged boxes and get less, you should be offered a choice of a refund to some extent, an postage-paid exchange, or a full return.

I had to open the toy box to check if the valk was damaged, so on top of the crushed box it's now no longer sealed, which reduces its value even more. I'm in the camp of "DHL needs to offer something to compensate for the damage" because I did indeed pay for a MISB valk. If I wanted an opened one with a damaged box, I'd just get it through Mandarake. Whether I open my box and whoosh the VF-25F around my house in fighter mode in a mock battle with Vajra, with my wife rolling her eyes the entire time, is something I should get to choose to do on my own--not because of a shipping failure.

8 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

Could you just check the adapters with your Valks? The only ones I remember are a small rectangle version (Arcadia a) or the octagon version (Arcadia b). 

All of my adapters are packed away in their original boxes, which are in turn packed away where I can't easily get to them. The valks have been on FlightPose stands for many years, so there was no need to use the adapters and I don't remember what they all look like. Before taking several hours to dig them all out to check before buying a bunch of stands that cost $37-65 each, I was hoping others might have the adapters more readily available and/or have already put those valks on the stands and could answer the question. Sounds like Arcadia A might work for all of them.

Just a quick unboxing. Glad it comes with individual stands so I can display them separately from the valk. 

1 hour ago, BroTaku79 said:

Arcadia A adapter should be able to accommodate all of those except for YF-21 battroid mode as there is a separate adapter for it and I currently do not offer it.

I will have to cross check with the producer to see if this is indeed the case though but I have seen users using Arcadia A adapters for thoese valks in question.

 

Thanks!

That helps--thank you. I plan to keep all of them in fighter mode. If you can let me know for sure, I would greatly appreciate it.

7 hours ago, Angesdad said:

How big is the box? HG wants 5100 yen to ship via EMS to me but it seems a little excessive. 

Bandai's thin cardboard shipper box is 38 x 25 x 6 cm

5 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Sorry about your item @chingu77.  I think it's a rare case though.  Hobby Genki is one of the few stores that individually bubble wrap items in the order being shipped and then ships in strong boxes.  The condition of the toy packaging arrives without damage.  Hopefully yours will be an opener so that it might be less of an issue.

AE also does a good job with packing, which actually helped recently. DHL massively screwed up when shipping my VF-25F Super. Big gash alone one side of the box which cut through the double wall of cardboard and the bubble wrap. Since the box was no longer rigid, it got crushed on that side and in turn crushed the box for the VF-25F. I'm still pretty upset about it. AE instructed me to file a claim with DHL, DHL said AE had to file the claim because they sent the package. Went round and round a few times with both of them and AE finally said that they would file a claim. Still waiting to hear the outcome, but I will say that they've been responsive to my emails. First time I've had an issue like this with them. If they had packed the valk with less care, which most stores do, it would have been completely trashed.

I need to spend some time this weekend trying to figure out if I should buy some Archi Stands. I'm mainly looking to replace all of the FlightPose stands I have, as they are nowhere near as stable and getting the arms positioned *just right* is a bit of a pain. Yes, the big black Bandai stands are eyesores, but at least they keep the valks secure. I'll replace them eventually. What's not clear to me, based on the Archi Stand site, is if the adapters he's currently selling will work with all of these valks:

• Yamato VF-0S (this one is listed under Arcadia_A, so I think it's okay)
• Yamato SV-51
• Yamato YF-19
• Yamato YF-21
• Yamato VF-17D
• Yamato VF-11B
• Yamato VF-11C 

My best guess is that for some/all of these, the stand adapters that came with the valks (if they came with one at all) would have to be used in combination with an Archi Stand adapter. Any advice or thoughts are appreciated.

Mine arrived this afternoon. Have not had a chance to check them out.

11 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

How fast are we talking for these really big prints?  I'm working on some printed cockpit components for an F-14 simulator pit for flying in DCS, and there are lots of models around to print the major instrument clusters.

I've got a nice big enclosed Qidi X-Max with about a cubic foot of volume, so I'm not hurting for space, but the speed things tend to print at can get pretty long.  I imagine it's related to the layer heights, but this piece I just printed (half of a flap lever box) took about 10 hours.  The long side is about 9 inches, and I used a 0.1mm layer height on it.

The main thing I learned to avoid is the type of printer with a translating bed.  I know many of them rely on that, and my first printer had one, but it also destroyed a ton of my prints by shaking them back and forth until they broke loose.  The one I have now has a head that moves in X and Y, with a bed that only moves up and down, and it's helped keep my taller prints nice and solid.

I moved to a CoreXY (head moves in X and Y) printer recently and won't ever go back to the translating bed system for the same reasons. My last printer (Creality CR-6 SE) topped out at 100mm/sec, which is pretty standard, and my new one (Bambu P1P) tops out at 500mm/sec. That's turned out to be an accurate estimate. My large prints (at 0.1mm vertical resolution) are indeed completing five times faster. I believe the new Creality K1 tops out at 600mm/sec.

The proxy I use doesn't charge for shipping upfront, but when I requested shipping for this item yesterday, the price was about a third higher than I expected, given its size. There might be some truth to the explanation that the item is heavier than expected, but based on what I've seen other MW members report over the past few years, BigInJapan seems to be known for big upcharges on shipping. It's why I won't use them.

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

https://www.biginjap.com/en/completed-models/28857-macross-hi-metal-r-vf-1a-valkyrie-maximilian-jenius-use.html

https://www.biginjap.com/en/completed-models/28856-macross-hi-metal-r-vf-1a-valkyrie-hayao-kakizaki-use.html

Biggest downside to BiJ is their astronomical shipping cost. Not that we have a lot of options for TWE, though. AE's markup on TWE items puts them in line with most proxies after you factor in all of the fees the proxies tack on to the order, so you're paying a premium no matter what.

Snagged Max and Hayao through my favorite proxy service. They acted really fast on my request, which was a pleasant surprise. They only had a few hours' notice before the PO window opened.

33 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

My proxy just received the two I ordered.

Got a notification from my proxy as well. I've been looking forward to these.