Graham

Not sure why people think the Chinese are unhappy. The economy is booming, the standard of living is going up in the cities. There is much more freedom to travel. China is a communist country in name only these days. Yes, these are still problems with corruption and poverty in rural areas, but things are getting better. Graham

Erik, Welcome back to MW. Would you mind if we use some of your pics for the MW main page? I'm just imagining how good some of the cusom Valks by Kurt, Jung etc would look in a diorama like this. Graham

Those things on the wingtips are composite micro-missile launchers/fuel-tanks. Graham

Here's the bigger scan. It will have a proper cockpit, just the one in the photo is quite cloudy for some reason. Actually, if you look carefully, you can still make out the ejection handle with yellow and black stripes. Graham

The spikes around the nose are part of the active stealth system. I would imagine the spikes on the tail fins are probably radar warning receivers. As for the spikes on the canards, who knows? Graham

No, but for ones which don't already have stress marks, it may help. Graham

The mid-wing hinges are also a concern to me. Graham

To be honest, the following sentence from the link posted earlier sends the shivers down my spine far more than the Chinese testing an anti-satellite capability. "In October, President George W. Bush signed an order asserting the United States' right to deny adversaries access to space for hostile purposes" To me as a non-American it sounds like Bush is trying to grab all of space for himself by preventing others access. Not sure that even the US has the right to prevent others access to space. Not trying to get political or off topic. I'm usually very pro-American, but that sentence honestly disturbed me. Anyway, back to our regular discussion about pointy things with wings. Graham

Where's the Helldiver? I'd buy a revoltech figure of that. Graham

David, you should send me your 1/60 YF-19. If I can't easily transform it, I'll eat my boots. The only Yamato toy I've ever had difficulty transforming was one YF-21 FP. Graham

Will post a bigger pic when I get home. Graham

Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but I don't think this was really a huge issue. IIRC, the number of cases of reported stress marks on the blue YF-21 was pretty small and actual breakage even less frequent. From what I remember from my talks with Yamato, a slight redesign or material change solved the issue on the purple YF-21-FP Admittedly this was a big problem, but was completely fixed on the VF-11B FAST Pack version with the hip joints reinforced with steel pins. The VF-11B-FP is a very sturdy toy. Given the large numbers of 1/48 released, the number of reported breakages is tiny. From what I've read most cases of breakage with the BP8 happened early on when people didn't know better and tried to force the BP8 past its design limits. Or they dropped the toy onto a hard surface and the toy unluckily landed on the backpack. It's interesting that most people here now consider the 1/48 as a very sturdy toy. Maybe I've just been lucky, but on the 20+ 1/48 I have out of the box, I've never had this problem. While rubber seepage seems to be fairly frequently reported, it doesn't seem to cause harm. Cracked intakes seem to be very rare. I'm wondering do people confuse the mold lines for cracks? This is an issue of some concern on what is otherwise a well designed and sturdy toy. Hopefully it will be fixed on future VF-0 toys. Loosening the top shoulder screw slightly and sanding down the shoulder ball seem to help prevent this. Graham

I take it you are joking, right? Graham

Haven't checked this thread for 2 days. Been busy. Gaps and saggy back are most likely due to it either being resin, which will have loose fit insufficient locking and heavy weight, or a very early test shot, before the molds are tweaked to tighten things up and improve fit. Common problem, don't worry. And no, I don't have one.......................yet. Graham

The leg FAST Packs on the VF-0 also have three micro-missile launchers (2 forward & 1 aft), holding eight micro-missiles per launcher IIRC. I love the look of FAST packs on most VFs, especially the VF-11, VF-2SS, & VF-17. The only FAST packs I'm not really keen on are those used by the VF-19F/S. They look terrible in battroid mode IMO. Graham

I've transformed 6 x YF-19 toys so far and have not encountered difficulting on any of them. Are you sure you guys are transforming correctly? I can't understand why there is any need to start sanding down or unscrewing things. It's not that difficult. Graham

I've seen the first few eps of Layzner years ago, but in Japanese with no subs. Seemed pretty good. I liked that they animated the mechas vernier jets firing when flying around and changing direction in space. Graham

I'm so tempted to put this as your member title. Graham

[pink floyd]set the controls for the heart of the sun[/pink floyd] Graham

I don't know why you guys are even bothering to list the VF-4, as in my newsletter, the comment about a transforming toy from an 80s anime is listed under the heading of 'Non-Macross Products'. Graham

Sorry, still no VF-4 planned in either 1/48 or 1/60 scale. Graham

I haven't handled the Yamato SV-51 yet, so this is purely conjecture on my part. but with the skinny limbs, smallish wing hinges and multiple small spiky antennas on the cannards, all 4 tail surfaces and all around the nose, I'm wondering if Yamato is going to be able to build enough durability into this thing. Graham

Haven't seen that before. Pretty cool, although I'm a bit disturbed by the way the guy is hugging it. Graham

What I'm looking for if possible is: - 1) Group pics of each set. 2) Pics of each individual figure - front. 3) Pics of each individual figure - side. 4) Pics of each individual figures - rear. 5) Box pics. Photos in focus, with good lighting and with a plain background if possible. Photo size between 800 to 1000 poixels width. Graham

I'd really like somebody to supply some decent pics of all the CMs figs, so we can add them to the main site toy section. Any takers? Graham