MacrossJunkie

Same...

Well, good luck, everyone. I just can't deal with these site shenanigans anymore.

Got as far as getting through paypal, but when it returned to HLJ, it said order stop. They need to reserve the stock if you already get to the point that you've gone through the payment stuff...

Haha, thanks! I wish I had time to do more as I have a backlog of stuff, but ever since a person on my team at work quit over the holidays in December, I've been stuck with like 3 people's worth of work and have had little time to do anything else. Perhaps someday I'll be able to get time to get back to things...

Got mine earlier today. I'm surprised at how many markings it got out of the box. They got all the major ones as far as I can tell and even has the pilot name on the canopy which I think is a first for a non-premium edition release for Arcadia. All that's really missing are the usual No Step, Danger, Beware of Blast, etc. and the nuclear reactor marking on the legs. In any case, a vast improvement over the VF-4G which had almost nothing tampo printed on, to my recollection. Hope someone can post comprehensive pictures of the premium finish version so that I can use it as reference for where to put the markings since the instructions don't even come with any diagram for the markings. Aside from that, the build seems pretty solid. The legs on mine are a bit loose. Arms are very stiff by contrast. Missiles still keep popping off during transformation so that hasn't really changed from the VF-4G either.

Got my shipping notification as well. Also a notification of a price reduction too!

This thing looks really tacky and psychedelic with all the colorful neon lights, rings and wavy patterns. Has SK been experimenting with LSD while designing this?

Is anyone else beside me still waiting on their Sentinel ETA Legioss from BBTS? I can't imagine it taking nearly half a year for any sort of shipment to arrive even by the slowest method of shipping across the ocean. People have gotten theirs from BBTS months ago and I can't seem to get a helpful answer from them on if I should still be expecting to get one or not.

Marvelous weathering job on that!

Mine is in pieces right now as I took it apart to get at the green clear piece in the nose section. Trying to figure out a better way to paint the frame as the way I did it before was a pain in the butt. On another note, is it just on mine that the addon fuel tanks are missing the black arrow markings on the bottom vernier thrusters? The original has them on all three (top, side, bottom).

Maybe they will return to Delta once the 2nd movie is right around the corner. Chuck didn't even get his supers yet.

Mine aren't really flush either, but not as bad as that one on the bottom of your pics. Here's mine. Original on the left. New on the right.

That deep black panel lining is definitely way too much contrast on white. Personally, I use different colors depending on the color of the area I'm panel lining. I would only use that level of black on white where it's actually justified, like at the root of the flaps and ailerons and along lines where I think dirt or oils might collect more. The rest of the panel lining is using varying shades of grey. Like so: I don't expect them to go that far with the panel lining, just pointing out one of the only times when I think using black on white is acceptable. They just need to use a shade of grey instead. It makes me glad I didn't go with the premium finish either. Trying to undo that heavy panel lining would be a huge pain in the butt. Also, honestly, I don't know why they don't just make waterslide decals the default to begin with. They've shown they can produce waterslide decals in the past. Well, okay, that was when they were Yamato, but is printing on waterslide decal paper prohibitively more expensive than printing on sticker sheets AND pre-cutting them? There's probably more to it than just swapping out the printing medium, but still. They're selling to collectors, not kids, so the argument of decals being more fragile goes out the window. We're not banging these things around. Decals look way better and don't have edges lifting or peeling like stickers do. I'd pay the $10-20 more for them to ditch the sticker sheets and include waterslide decals instead.

+1 I both hate having to buy waterslide decals because their stickers suck and having to apply them myself. I would rather that the markings are all there from the start. They should call the weathered versions something like "extra premium finish" or "premium finish plus". Maybe an very limited run of ones where they had someone spend more time to do the weathering better and call it "extra premium finish plus ultra"

Don't forget belly plates that don't lock in place in fighter mode and relies solely on joint friction to keep them there. While we're at it, might as well add in some paint rub/flaking goodness like the SV-262.

That's looking nice! I completely forgot they had turrets instead of phaser banks. The upgrade parts do seem to improve the look of it a lot. That looks awesome! The lighthouse casting a bright light really does add to the effect. Looks like it's coming along pretty nicely so far!

They do, but I wouldn't recommend using them. The panel lines will turn out too thick with them and far too dark or strangely colored. I'd say go with oil paints thinned with odorless mineral spirits or enamel paint highly mixed with a high ratio of thinner and just dab into the panel line with a fine brush. Alternatively, you could use a mechanical pencil. Any of the above are easy to clean up mistakes.

Looks like mine came a day early. Looking it over. the joints, including the arms, seem tight enough and don't flop around. What does flop around on mine is the right hip gun, which is a first for me with the line of VF-25, 27, and 29 toys I've had. I checked the elbows and see no stress marks or cracks (so far).

I'm not going to go fully into it like with the Macross Zero valks. The 29 was a brand new and experimental machine and was only really deployed in space, but ignoring that, I might still add some subtle effects here and there. Maybe as if it's been through atmosphere or something like in the master file books. Not sure yet.

The DX 1/48 VF-1S I got from them was also rated as damaged box, but I couldn't find a single ding or scratch on the box (not that I cared). I didn't have as much luck with an opened item I got from them though. It was the super parts for Alto's YF-29. One of the "petals" on the extending fold wave emitters was missing and I had to scavenge a piece off an anniversary edition version super part to replace it and repaint the little arrow marking to red.

Mine's set to arrive Thursday as well. I'm looking forward to the mechanical and structural improvements to the toy, but a bit worried about the reported breakage... I color matched my original Alto 29, but it seems like this new one might be harder to do. I want to do a better weathering job on the new one as I was still exclusively using the Tamiya weathering kits back when I got the original and can probably do a better job having more experience now.

They did seem to charge tax. It originally showed something like 22 something thousand yen, plus tax was ￥ 25,455, and then ￥2444 for shipping. Shipped, total was ￥ 27,899

Got one from Amazon Japan, sold by Amazon. 6 left if anyone is still looking to get one. https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/DX-Chogokin-Macross-Sayonarano-Durandal/dp/B0897ZW6HZ Edit: and now they're gone.

Thanks everyone! If you want to see more of the 51, I have more posted here http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/topic/48129-macross-weathered-releases-diy/?do=findComment&comment=1547384 http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/topic/48129-macross-weathered-releases-diy/?do=findComment&comment=1547422

Finished taking pics of my VF-0S last night. Fighter Arcadia and Yamato VF-0S GERWALK Battroid