Brand-X

To begin, some background, because this is going to be a very personal journey for me, so bear with me here. I was a little young for Macross, I was born in '84, and didn't discover Macross until '89 or so, when my dad took me to a video store and I saw a copy of Clash of the Bionoids (so unlike most North Americans, I found Macross before Robotech). I was so blown away by it that I, of course, wanted toys, but none were available to me. My dad was a draftsman, and had been teaching me various things about his job from a very young age, so, with his help, I started putting together plans for a toy of my own from watching the movie over and over again, in fact, I swear with the rental costs (the owner of the video store wouldn't sell the tape to my dad) every single weekend he must have bought that video 20 times over. From there, I went to my grandpa's house, he had been a tradesman for decades and had a very well setup workshop in his shed outside. I spent months, every weekend, going over to his house and together we built a very rudimentary, fully transformable VF-1S out of balsa wood. From there on together my dad, my grandpa and I would build other transforming toys together, it was a fantastic bonding experience for 3 generations of a family to all use our individual skills to create something. Unfortunately, my dad passed away when I was young and my grandpa a few years ago. Just recently it came time for me to sell my grandparents house, and one of the toughest parts was walking through that shed again where we had spent so much time working and getting it all ready for the sale. While going through his belongings I found stacks of sheets for plans for toys that we built together or planned to. It kind of inspired me in the same way I was as a kid. There's no 1/60 VF-2SS out there, and I want to make one for myself. So, do I have the skills required to do it? Maybe, maybe. I've been building plastic models since I was a kid, my dad taught me a lot about drafting and plans, taking something from a small sketch to a real, physical object. In addition, I've been working with CAD and 3D design programs for nearly 20 years now, and I know my skills up to the task of creating this in conceptual space. It's going to be getting it working in real life that'll be my challenge. I've got a big library of Macross toys from both Arcadia and Bandai, as well as a number of official and third party Transformers to use as reference, and as I collect for my own personal satisfaction rather than value or resale, I've taken most of them apart at some point just to see how they work. We'll see how it goes, but I think I can do it. So, step 1 is figuring out the mechanics of this. I've begun with a basic, blocked out 3D model. The proportions I've based on some orthographic diagrams I found of the Valkyrie in fighter mode, then I've rearranged them into a Battroid shape along the engineering I have planned for transformation. My challenge next will be re-proportioning the components so that it looks good in all modes. From there I'll go back and re-work the hidden mechanics to fit the corrected shape. Next will be creating the production shape and breaking down the parts. After that, I'm going to get a prototype 3D printed, sand and assemble, make adjustments as needed and continue with that stage until I'm content with the product. From there it's just on to painting and I should be good. Before you ask, no, this is not up for sale or mass production (though if it turns out well I might make a few extra copies for myself) as I don't even want to begin thinking about the legal issues involved in this, it's just a fun project for myself. So, now that we've all read a small novel, wish me luck! Oh, and thanks Dad and Grampa! (Oh and give me a break on this thing, I was like 6 years old...) So, here's my first test shots, I've blocked out the basic shapes involved here, based on the proportions I found in some orthographic views of the Valkyrie in fighter mode. Unfortunately, they're not true orthos, as the details don't exactly line up between angles, so I've had to compromise on a few details. This is essentially to see where I need to adjust proportions to create a pleasing shape in all modes, so ignore the fact that it's ugly and un-detailed. The coloured bits are just placeholders where some additional engineering will be needed to be hidden somewhere within the figure, so ignore them. Already I notice that the proportions on the limbs are going to be tweaked, along with the backpack. Surprisingly enough though, the wings actually work well with the size they are in fighter mode, while I find with the VF-1 the wings come in much larger than they should be on Battroid, so that's lucky.

I just hope they re-release the 1/3000 DYRL version again. I really have no interest in the TV version, and the secondary market for the DYRL version is insanely overpriced.

They're there as far as I can tell, take a look at the arm on the right side of the picture and then up and to the left of it, from camera's point of view.

The 0B and 0C are indeed Hasegawa creations. One is a two seater VF-0A and the other is a single seater VF-0D

Hmm, I already have a 0S (exploded shoulders and all), and I'm in the market for a Shin 0A with the ghost booster, so I'll definitely pick a 0A up at least. I've got a 0D on preorder so we'll see how that turns out and if it's good enough I'll replace my old 0S with a new one I'll pull the trigger on that too. I'm quite excited actually, now Arcadia just needs to re-release the VF-1 FAST packs...

You know, I could kind of see that making sense actually. The other two are hero valks, so I think there may be a bit more demand from collectors for something that's complete with a box, while all of these come without box. The CF, on the other hand, for a lot of people is just a shelf filler, so collectors may be more willing to accept it without the box. Just a theory, at least.

I've had a similar problem myself before. The way I fixed it was to over-rotate the fuselage further backwards after flipping the back plate up, then pushing the neck plate up further. Hope that helps.

While for new molds I'd love to see the VF-2SS, I know it's unlikely to happen. I do really hope they reissue some of Yamato's old molds though, I could use a couple more super sets to match the white on my Arcadia valks, and a 1/3000 DYRL Macross rerelease would make my year.

I've done my best to peruse through this thread and check out reviews but I'd like to hear a second opinion. I'm considering grabbing one of these, my Frontier collection doesn't seem complete without a cannon fodder valk (I dunno, I just like having CFs from each series) and I've got enough 25s to definitely not want the 25A, honestly how terrible is this release? I know about the triangles breaking, is it like a full on falling off the figure kind of break or just a little crack? Does it hinder transformation or articulation? And how noticeable is it? Also I saw one review on youtube where the leg just snapped right off, has anyone else had this problem? Last but not least, do you think there's any chance of Bandai doing a reissue with these problems fixed?

I was really on the fence with this one at first, I'm still not so sure about the wings in Battroid mode and whether all that weight from the super packs will make it a floppy mess, but I figure at the worst I can still display it in fighter mode to represent Isamu's cameo in Frontier

There's also the possibility that immediately after the war there wasn't the manufacturing capability to continue the Megaroad-class, so they numbered Britai's ship the SDF-3, then later as recovery happened, they decided to re-classify Britai's ship and reserve the SDF prefix for the Megaroad-class and subsequent colony ships. It wouldn't be the first time in history that a ship had been renumbered.

For my own part, I was rather confused when reading this thread at first. I've only recently begun reading about Macross recently, but previous to that it had been years since I had even looked into the lore of Macross. When I saw this, my reaction was "Of course Britai's ship was the SDF-3, wasn't that said a long time ago?" I can't say where I got this notion in my head, but it's been there for quite a long time.

Oh thanks, I didn't even know that. Much appreciated guys!

Yeah it's not the assembly that pushes the crotch forward, but the two little metal tabs that slot into it, they won't stay locked in unfortunately. Oh well.

I just wish I could have my Ozma with armour parts in Battroid mode, the hips won't lock in place for me.

I dunno, I own 2 Arcadia valks and I think it's really just nitpicking. Yes they are white, yes it is very white, especially next to a DYRL Yamato Valkyrie, but it's not pink. I've heard it can be seen in very specific lighting conditions, but I've never noticed it.

I'm a little iffy on this, I've heard you can use the DYRL hands if you already have extras by not using the hand shields included with the armour, but I imagine that means you can't have it holding a gunpod. Maybe someone will do something on shapeways (I hope) to fix that.

I always go with EMS, but mostly because if I'm not home or the delivery guy can't figure out how to use the buzzer in my apartment (Which is 95% of the time) they drop it off at the post office a block away from me, whereas with Fedex or UPS I have a half hour drive to go pick up the package from their depot.

Ah if you're going to have it transform you have your work cut out for you. Most Macross Valks use a fair amount of anime magic to transform. My suggestion then would be to block out the shapes roughly in low poly and work out the transformation first, then adjust proportions so it looks good in all modes as much as possible, then afterwords use that rough shape as a basis to go back and begin detailing and getting parts shaped exactly. The less polies you have to work with the easier it will be to adjust when working with proportions, and use the Yamato VF-11 shots as a reference as much as possible, they've done a lot of that work for you already.

When doing 3D modeling of Macross valks I generally find Hasegawa's images to be the best. I imagine those dimensions are based on a further back swing. Start with the length, and then just go with the Hasegawa refs from there.

Considering how many people have been asking for a VF-2SS SAP maybe it might be worth it for them to listen to their western customers. Obviously ignoring us wasn't the reason Yamato went under, but it doesn't mean Arcadia can't try something different as a small house. If they could come up with a really really solid VF-2SS that was beyond the quality of anything other valks out there with some cool new features... ah wishful thinking. I doubt it'll happen.

Yup, nice and sturdy wings so far

Yeah, a general VF-171 fixer upper kit would probably inspire me to finally buy a CF one.

Oh jeez. I just put in an order for the arm pieces like an hour ago, I would have grabbed a set of these too just to have them, especially considering the cost of shipping haha. Oh well, next time.

Mine are nice and tight