Neova

Did we all settle on the box art yet? I have access to a full blown print shop here with world class color seperation and pre and post processing to pump out a bunch of artwork for a good price. The minimum orders is at 100 sheets for 4 color seperated work at A4 size or any size for that matter. Most shops have minimums at 1000 or more. I can help on this. I'm working a much larger size project right now and can check into this for us. BTW: This offer is good for anybody looking to have lots of box art printed out. I just don't know where to source the boxes. PS: If you want POSTERS of the artwork, let me know as that's a specialty of the shop.

OH HELLO! Please let me know if you do. Me too ! If you have scans of the packaging, I can have that remade but I can't source the box.

I don't want to go OT but does anyone have scans of the the Mac Zero decals they could share with me? or other Hasegawa Macross scans? I want to blow some up to 1/48. 200 DPI or LPI and up would be perfect. I searched and found that old thread about the 1/48 Hasegawa models and would like to convert my Atlantic Fleet F14A to Macross Zero F14. Then I can pass my 1/48 Jolly Rogers decals to Indigofx to work on his customs. I'll scan that sheet too so I can have it re-done for others later.

Are these guesstimate pricing? I would like to see more real world pricing before I firmly commit. Put me down for a fan racer, a fold booster and 3 of those destroids.

How did I miss this thread? Confirm me for 2 for now since the VF-4 is on hold.

Great! Another classic that I'll have to wait for the Director's Cut DVD before I watch it.

Wow, those prices are not bad at all. All original order prices? Recasts prices are about that right now, even in HK! If SMT can get a new cats eye out on par or better than Tanmen for the SAME or better price point, I'm in for 1 or 2.

I personally would love to get ahold of Tanmen's Cats Eye but in reality, price vs product is what keeps most buyers from coming through. I would love to see 1/72 enemy mechs but the cost would be more than procuring those old IMAI/ARII model kits, even if they can be significantly better. I voted 1/72 GBP because that is an instant seller with a known audience, a lower parts count and coupled with enough orders can bring the price WAY down. I would pick up 5-10 sets of those myself just to build out my UN Spacy Defense Battroid Squad. Sometimes keeping it simple is enough. I would love to see a VF5000 as the polls show but I want that VARIABLE, in 1/72 scale just like the future VF-4G Variable we might see.

I love the mixed low-vis camo look. Really impressive!

2 VF4 at that price or cheaper. 1 VB6 at the current price or 2 if cheaper. Confirm it.

I have to agree with the non-variable stuff. Actually, I would recommend some cheap re-casts kits of any make to get you started. Handling resin kits is not as easy as plastic models but not that hard with experience. I buy those "get me outta here cuz there no shelf space" sale stuff that I find in every store that have too many kits of unpopular subjects to practice on. Practice you sanding, finishing, re-scribing, handling tiny delicate parts, glueing the pieces back, primer, painting and etc... Good luck and hope you stay as addicted as we are to the beauty of those Macross models.

It is a custom in Japan to sell new products at ~ 80% off the suggested retail price during introduction. You also forget that Japan requires sales tax just like the US. It is vastly different there. I personally do not think Yamato use fishing tactics to gain customers at all. The price differences are set by dealers. It is NOT up to Yamato to tell dealers what they could or could not sell at. They "suggest" a retail price. It is not enforced. And again, I don't think the Q-Rau is worth 12800 YEN. It would be better at 100 or less USD. Dealers do the actual gouging, markup or whatever, but again, see my post above clarifying why things are so cheap in HK. A lot of what goes on in HK is not legal in the USA for instance. There are business protection laws whereas it may "seem" there aren't many in HK, maybe just not as enforced. BTW: I'm not attacking or picking Hayao out. He makes very valid points but I wanted to clarify how a toy business works and why each global market operates the way it does, and hence, affecting prices.

Not quite right but mostly. Yamato does not TEST pricing in HK. Sorry. Yamato also "officially" wholesales to the HK market at or more than what is currently sold for on the streets of HK. OK so why is it the HK street price for the Q-Rau (and sometimes the 1/48s) cost nearly the same for street and wholesale? That does not make sense. Why would Yamato want their dealers to buy at the same price as the customers? There is a term known in HK as "low shui fo" which translates to "mice product" or in meaning, "walked away or trickled goods" , eg... stolen, misplaced, whatever... The street price is CHEAPER than anywhere in the world in HK, even cheaper than wholesale, due to the above. I know many dealers who are ripping their hairs out cuz they bought "officially" from Yamato with stacks of Q-Raus sitting there while other shops blow them out at less than wholesale. Take it for what you will but those who work, sell and trade in the toy industry knows this. This is also why HK is a haven for cheap stuff cuz low shui fo, and grey imports (not technically illegal in any sense - just no warrenties - grey market PS2s for example) and HK business practices brings the prices down. If the US ever allowed any of the things that go here, many things would be super cheap but guess what? The side effect is that someone, say Yamato, will never ever see any of the profits, let alone the production cost of those products. I can see many folks going "who cares? as long as its x cheaper and I saved $ cuz that thing wasn't worth their retail price." I can agree with that but the long term affects may not be desirable. Lets leave it at that and start another topic for "who cares if yamato gets ripped as long as we get cheap valkyries." I'm not defending Yamato's 12800 YEN price either. I voted expensive but just wanted to clarify why sometimes toys in HK are so much cheaper than many other places. China might be even cheaper since the factories are there... so many little mice...

There will always be multiple views on collecting. If you work at toy company, the best defination is that premium toys (high price, high quality) are aimed at collectors while mass market is for everyone else and perhaps a cheapo line for little tikes. I talked to toy dealers and even they agree that certain toys are "expensive" when compared to other toys. Its part of the culture in toy collecting to compare toys in its price points and target market. With advances that you see increasing quality, articulation, better engineering, production and most importantly, competition, you can't help it. Hard core collector or not. Toy collecting is a passion that doesn't have fixed monentary requirements to be part of the club. Kakikazi summed it up the best: Amen to that my toy collecting brother. Edit: I was going to say something about target demographic but that horse has been blown up to itty bitty wittle pieces by Agent One in his 2 Bazillion dollar Q-Rau Strike Armor against Abombz $10 RMB value knockoff Chunky Monkey (86th re-issue). :D BTW: Agent one is right.

Carl, Fantastic idea on the box art. I guess we were all wrapped up with funneling resources to get the casts going, we forgot about that! Thanks for bringing it up. I don't know if we should have the MW logo there just in case a few sets get re-sold. It would great as a personal collector item but I would think the potential affiliation of MW officially supporting re-casts would dim our presence in Big Wests and Studio Nues' eyes. Perhaps re-worked or MW Edition would suffice. The word re-cast and MW should not be included together whatsoever on the box. Either one is fine. I hope the box art is not going to add another 10 bux to the kit already.

I think we can use the MAME rom trading analogy here. Mame roms project and others , makes old, unavailable, no longer manufactured or supported arcade games available to people to copy, distribute, enjoy and to relive or experience those games while preserving their art and creativity. The VB6 is like one of those old roms. IHP has currently and forseeably cease doing business with direct customers since the one and sole employee now works for Yamato. All of his old works is locked up or lost if there will be no reproduction. Tanmen is actively still working and producing models including the ones he doesn't want to sell to MWers over his crack head interpretation of how to demonstrate anti-war sentiments. Does this guy even know that MW is an INTERNATIONAL site which Macross fans from all of the world but the server is based in the US? I don't see the stars, stripes, or banners on the front page. I see the UN Spacy Kite shield. Sorry for the rant but in anycase, he is actively in the modeling business and it is ethically wrong to steal his money, like the way he is attempting to do so unto MWers who have ordered from him. Or at least that is what is interpreted.

My friend lives in Japan and I can ask him to procure those printers for you guys. I need to ask him if he is willing to do this. You will probably need to pay him a service fee and the shipping. Let me know. Any idea how much that thing weighs? It might kill you guys on shipping if its a lot. Actually come to think of it, Rob aka Monkey N could help you guys out. He is there already and is a fellow MW. PM him about it.

That sounds like a great deal! I'll take 2! Like I told someone else in PM earlier today, I still have the Tread molds, but I'm really in no hurry to make more of them. Both because they're a pain in the ass to cast from, and because they wouldn't be any better quality than the ones I made 2 years ago. We can re-visit this after the VB6 and VF-4G are out of the way. Thanks again for letting us know. Now I need to sell more blood and put the dough into my "Valkyrie Re-cast Fund".

I have two friends who are fluent in English and Japanese. I can help with the translation if I have the actual message you want sent to D'Stance. I'll contact them and see if they can help out so don't hold me to this yet.

My input: 1. Is the megazone re-cast a fairly recent representative of Carl's anonymous caster's work? If not, how about something more recent? 2. Based on 1, if the re-cast is recent, I would vote for Valkyrie to take on the project due to current quality, availability and accessibility. I would still put the nod towards Valkyrie for availability and accessibility. 3. How much would the 1/72 VF-4G re-cast kit cost? Was Valkyrie's quote of ~ 250 for both the VB6 and VF-4G each or just for the VB6? 4. OT but... Can re-casts of both the Garland and Treads be made available sometime down the line? And of course, how much each? After D'Stance's YF-21 of course. I love community effort and this is one of the best examples of enthusiasts getting together for the greater good of our hobby. Bravo Melissa, Gene, Carl, Valkyrie, Unknown Caster, Mr Anonymous and Christopher.

... sorry bro... back to the topic

If you guys want me to get you just the decal sheets, then yes, I will sell them. The cost is whatever the model kit is since they are so cheap here. You will pay shipping for the sheet though. I will toss the models or split the price between the decals and the models between interested model buyers.

OMG. Sithlord needs to rename his house to UN Spacy Research and Development. Jebus!

I agree with Valkyrie here. Can we split the load between these two fine re-casters so we can get faster production and more buy ins into both projects? Again, price is a factor but at least we have Valkyrie's generous offer to help out. I am also interested in D'Stance YF-21. Actually 2 or more.

I think in the end, it boils down to price for many of us. As much as we want to buy this, price will be the big factor in deciding who will definately buy it. If we can push enough volume to get a price of ~ 150 USD or less, I am down for 2 definately. If its over that and hovers ~ 200 USD, then one. If its 300 USD each, then its a pass for me and I'll wait until the logistics are worked out for the 1/72 Variable VF-4G. I say let the re-casters evaluate the scope of the project, get the nuts and bolts in there and give us a realistic price. Then we can tally the votes for who will be in on this. I think this would be a realistic approach. For Carl, Melissa and others who have been after this holy grail with the funds to back it up, then price doesn't factor as much and I'm sure they will get their kits even if the rest of us may backout.