apharmd

3 hours ago, Scyla said:

HMR VF-0D is in stock and available at HLJ: https://www.hlj.com/hi-metal-r-vf-0d-phoenix-kudo-shin-machine-bans65126

Thanks! I got one after I missed preorders earlier this year

On 12/29/2021 at 8:28 AM, badboy00z said:

Does anyone know how to (if it's even possible) tighten the hip joints on the DX VF-31s? Even though they're ratcheted the ones on my Messer is looser than I'd like.

Also what about the waist twist joint? I tried taking it apart (2 screws) but I didn't want to try prying the plastic apart with force.

Hey homie, I had the same issue as you with my DX VF-31J. One leg felt looser than the other, for sure. I felt particularly brave today and wanted to see if it's possible at all to do so myself! Before I start though, this is my first time posting here with images, so forgive me if the implementation is a bit wack (advice would be welcome!) But anyway, I went about trying to disassemble the hip section.

It wasn't pretty.

There's two screws. The back is easily accessible, but the front is hidden under a plate I had to bust in order to open, as shown in the image above. The good news is that this plate in battroid mode will be hidden, and people would have to look real hard under the gerwalk/fighter mode to notice the break. CAUTION: Open up the hips on top of a large table. The parts are liable to pop off and you don't want small bits going out. The image above also shows what I found underneath. The gears associated with the legs push against this ridged die cast plate, which are supported and pushed up by springs.

When I took the diecast plate off, I did notice that the springs are uneven, in the image below. I'm not mechanically inclined so I don't know what the term is, but one looks a bit more deformed than the other. That's the side of the loose leg. When I swapped the springs and I reassembled the hips, I did see that the looseness had swapped with the springs. So, there you go. I'm pretty sure that if we replace the springs with stronger ones, it'll make the ratchet tension better. I'm about to go to Home Depot to see if I can buy some 4mm x 10mm compression springs, I think these are the ones that would fit.

On that note, if anyone has advice on how to make my maintenance post better, please let me know. I'm just happy I can finally contribute.

Oh no. I need to hit that eject button LMAO. I gotta find HLJ's return policy 🥲

Delayed until after June.

Glad to see they kept the VF-1J in scale with the Fire Valk.

That said, the VF-1J is gonna be a pretty small toy.

And the VF-19 Hi-Metal rocks! Just wonder why they left of the head lasers and head fin in the photo.

Graham

Too lazy?

In any case, I'm quite excited for the VF-1J. It'll be my first VF-1 toy and second Hi-Metal.

Comparison from 2chan.

Thank you for the review, ff95gj. It's really appreciated.

I picked up one of these guys for 2000en yesterday. Lowest i've seen them for in other places was 3780.

First thing's first. The parts-forming is just friggin annoying. There are a good two dozen left-over parts to keep track of in any one mode.

The fighter mode is really nice though. Quite tight and locked together. The landing gear is actually quite nice and detailed but watch out for the rear landing gear. I snapped off one of the little pegs pulling them out. It still attached but minus one peg.

The rifle needs to have the handle removed and an extra part attached to fit underneath. Speaking of which, you get an opned and closed rifle. (say hello to my little friends!)

Battroid mode is actually quite weak. In build and execution. The hips become very loose after the first few transformations. Not the actual ball joints on the legs but the ball-joint that attaches the crotch piece to the waist.

I like the inclusion of extra rubber head-lazers though. I can see the plastic ones snapping easily. What i was not impressed with was the lack of open palm hands. As it is you have four sets of grasping hands, two fists and two stored hands for fighter mode. Kinda limits rifle posing options.

The ankles have very little motion aside from back and forth. Nicely detailed though.

Overall, I wouldn't say this felt like a 5000en toy. For 2000en it's great. Fighter mode is arguably better than the kit and DX. Battroid is floppy below the waist and the lack of open palm hands is annoying.

Alex, can't you strengthen that ball joint by a drop of superglue and then dabbing it dry with tissue, to glue in tiny lints to it, and thus increasing the surface area of the ball joint?