Graham

Not sure yet. One is planned AFAIK, but may come with the sound booster instead of the VF. I think it's still being decided. Graham

Nah, the wings are almost certainly going to fold ala the VF-25. On the Dengeki Hobby 3D CAD scan of the DX toy, where the parts are in different colours, you can clearly see what look like hinges (cream backplate). Also, it's looking 99% certain that the wings (blue part) will retract into the wing gloves (grey part) in battroid mode. Graham

Please bear in mind that those colour pics from Hyper Hobby magazine, posted on the previous page are just of the painted resin prototype. They are NOT of an actual ABS test shot yet, so are not representative of the final product in terms of finish or colour. The tooling is still being cut, so no ABS test shots exist yet. Graham

I'm slowly warming to the YF-29 design and will likely buy the DX. However, I still think it would look much better if it lost the mid-wing boosters. Still not loving it, but at least I'm not hating it so much now. Really want to see the battroid mode though, especially the head as that will be make or break for me. Graham

Easy pass, as I also refuse to watch anything with Sean Penn in. Graham

I will ask Yamato when they are back from their holidays. To be honest, I have no idea whether it has been cancelled or not and have not asked Yamato previously about a release date. A soft vinyl Britai is not something that is of interest to me personally. Graham

Hoping the DX will have full-length, decent looking landing gear. Graham

Gamlin, of course! Graham

It's a really annoying feature of the current version of the forum software, that if you make multiple posts within a certain timeframe, it automatically lumps them together in one post. I really, really hate it. Should try to look if it can be turned off. Graham

FYI, that pic comes from either the box of the Bandai 1/100 VF-19Kai or Bandai 1/100 VF-19S plamodel kits from 1995 (I forget which). It is printed on the inside of the box. At the time it lead a great many people into thinking that Bandai was going to release a YF-19 model kit. Graham

Heh, I must admit after I got the Quarter for X'mas 2009, it went on the shelf a few days later and has never been touched since. Graham

Here's a bigger scan of the YF-29 lineart from the February issue of Dengeki Hobby Magazine. I'm wondring if in batroid mode, the 2 beam cannons will be able to pivot on the cross bar they appear to be attached to, which would possibly have them pointing forward over the battroid's hips(?) Graham

Heh, and I have one of the gloss finish 1/60 YF-21 prototypes sitting at home somewhere and very nice it is too, although the gloss plastic does tend to scratch and show up the scratches easily. Graham

Sorry for the looooong delay guys. Promise I will get back on this soon. Last year got kinda crazy in the second half as work really picked up plus I had some health issues, which I needed to deal with (am still dealing with). Will aim to start sending out what I have again after the Chinese New Year Holidays, i.e. from second week of February. Also, as David mentioned, I need to see if I can get some more of the off-white (light grey) DYRL VF-1A/S hinges from Yamato, as demand has again outstripped my meagre supply. Please don't PM me about hinges yet, as I'm still pretty busy and need to dig up all the old info. I will post an update in this thread sometime in the next few weeks about who is on the list and how many hinges remain. After I post the update, then you can PM me with any questions/requests/clarifications. Note I will not answer PMs about hinges until after the update is posted. Graham

I've already talked to Yamato about this. The CEO likes the design. Could be a possibility. Depends how popular Macross R is and also how well the VF-19 sells. Modifying the 1/60 VF-19Kai to VF-19ACTIVE would probably require 40%-50% new tooling. Graham

Check your PM box. Graham

Compared with the Tornado pack, the YF-29 seems a bit light on missile armament to me. Starting with missiles. While the YF-29 may have 8 micro-missile ports, the payload for each must be quite small given their locations on the outside of the engines (not much room in the legs and mid-wing engine nacelles for missiles). Compare this with the Tornado pack, which although it has a similiar number of micro-missile ports (6 micro-missile ports on the dorsal wing surface and possibly another 2 on the ventral wing surface). However, given the location of these ports, there is the potentional that the Tornado Pack's micro-missile payload is much greater, as the Tornado packs wing would logically seem to offer far more storage space compared to the YF-29's launchers on the primary engine (leg) and secondary engine (mid-wing) nacelles. Then of course the Tornado pack also has the optional underwing 'Corn Cob' micro-missile launchers for space use. Moving onto the beam guns, even with advances in technology I have a hard time beliving the 2 large-bore beam cannons on the YF-29 (located inward and slightly fore of the vertical tails), are as powerful as the much large cannons on the Tornado pack. Also, the Tornado Pack's cannon being moveable in both the horizontal and vertical axis offer a wider field of fire compared to the YF-29's cannons which appear to be fixed forward firing only. However, I'm wondering if for battroid mode, the YF-29's cannons will hinge up over the shoulders/head somehow. Looking at the line art, they do seem to be connected to a y-shape piece, which perhaps is pop-up moveable mount. While I can see with advances in engine technology and likely lighter overall weight the YF-29 being as fast or faster than the Tornado pack equippped VF-25, I'm wondering if it is as maneuverable. To me the 360 degree rotating engine nacelles on the Tornado Pack would seem to offer a huge advantage in maneuverability, especially in space. Graham

Except the SW-XAII Schneegans looks way better than the YF-29 IMO. Graham

Interesting. Thanks for the translation Sketchley. Graham

Picked my copy a couple of days ago. HK$370 in Sino Center.....ouch! Damn the high Japanese Yen exchange rate! Quite like the redesigned canopy shape and feet on the VF-1P. I really hope the VF-4/VF-3000/VF-5000 book is not a joke and is really the next in the series. Has the potential to be an awesome book. Graham

Those fighter mode grey prototype pics were already posted months ago in this thread. Graham

I'll re-clarify with Yamato, as it's been years since I last asked, but IIRC, when Yamato decided to go ahead and make the FAST Packs for the 1/48 VF-1, Kawamori was consulted on the number of missiles and the design layout and it was established then that the number is 20 per pack. Graham

The missile load has been long established, since the release of the 1/48 FPs. Yamato didn't just pull the design and number of missiles out of a hat y'know! Graham

Had a chat with Yamato this morning. They said sales in Japan have been doing really well. Graham

Getting old, memory is going! Was it ever established whether there was going to be a 3rd Frontier movie or not? Or is two it? Graham