Neova

Summary: We have an 18 year guy who grew up in the 90s, with the advances of CGI in movies and video games, asking for an update to an almost 25 year old TV series, which did not have such production advances back then, so he can "see and believe" in the continuity and evolution of the Valkyrie from its prequal (Macross Zero) to the present or future (Macross Plus and beyond). I see his point if I was his age but unless Big West or Kawamorie "updates" Macross SDF-1 to at least VFX CGI standards, it would always look old because the technology that made the TV series is old. Had Kawamorie had access to better techology THEN, the VF-1 may actually look a lot different. Maybe Big West should sell the Macross franchise to Sunrise / Bandai and we have the "refresh" version of M:SDF1 and M:DYRL for TODAY's audience. I found this thread amusing at first, then plain tiresome at the end.

Shin, All plastics and resins are a type of polymer (or material). The high impact ones are not as "brittle" as regular high cast resins and flexes a bit so its more ABS like. It can take more impact pressure than regular resin. It would suck to have the heads chip or crack if dropped. Note: The head lasers can snap if dropped but this is a limitation of design vs material unless that whole piece is machined of metal. Also, it didn't save in the original comments regarding the picture above but that is supposed to show off the lighting effect. The original thought was to detailed up and ETCHED with cuts inside the visors to show "stuff". This will show off the LED function a lot more than HG's lit Veritechs. I had considered providing holographic foils for behind the visors, but it seems etching it with some internal panel lines looks just as good if not better. This item was originally intended for the detail nuts / customizers and not just an offer for straight up recasts since the release of the new 1S' may have made that point moot. It appears there may be enough interest to do a small one shot run for the 1S head and cast a few extras heads for those guys who need a replacement. I will start on the prototype soon.

1) The visors will be clear and colorless. You must paint this yourself or if we get enough orders for a color (EG Green), I will try to get it done for everyone. 2) I believe Fulcy is offering hollow head lasers right now. If he becomes too busy, I can look into it with a machine shop. Might add a bux or two or with enough volume, probably included. 3) Modified. There will be a cut that fits at the back of the head, where you see the horizontal panel lines. It will serve double duty as opening / button / electronics assembly. The whole back piece will be attached to the electronics so you basically pull out the piece, replace the battery and pop it back in. A SMALL button will be inserted for on / off. We will try to make this piece universal for all the heads, and perhaps the recast heads will have this cut also, so you can swap in the electronics later. 4) The head assembly will be nearly the same as the originals. You CAN putty and seal it up, except for the removable back piece for changing batteries and electronic replacement. It will weigh a bit more so we will do some testing to make sure this is feasible. Worst case is to provide straight recast heads. Best case is with all the goodies at a great price.

Working on a new project for MWers. Would you guys buy a 1/48 recast head with light up white LED function (electronics, LED, battery all included) but you must assemble it yourself. It will be a modified resin or high impact polymer head that you must paint with a clear resin lens, lasers, head, screws and possibly an extra neck piece or use the existing neck pieces. If Hi Impact Polymer is used, it will be ~90% color matched to the DYRL Valkyries or TV if enough orders for that version comes through. Back side of the head will be cut and made into a toggle switch. VF-1J, Vf-1A and VF-1S can be done. VF-1D can be done with the Captain's approval ONLY. Probably just the two nessesary 1D head pieces for those who already have the kit. I need a minimum of 20 total pieces per version to get started. You can order 1 or more. 3 week lead time from GO to mailing. Estimated price is 15 USD for the resin head or 20 USD for high impact polymer. Price is before shipping. The more orders we get, the cheaper it gets. Edit - Can do recast heads for ~ 10-11 bux a head with clear resin lens but same limit applies as I need to do 20 at a time to get the price down. LED Head prototype. Not final yet. Details to be added. Hollow Lasers may be included. http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...e=post&id=31946 http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...e=post&id=31947

You mean the kind you set with the the visible blue light? Damn... that is expensive stuff.. Also, don't forgot to hit up your local $1, 100 YEN or 10 HKD shop! I just hitup the local 10 HKD and bought scotch tape, masking tape, box cutter, blades, hooked cutter, wire (sprue) cutter, small files, mini pliers, a small table top vice and bunch of kitchen stuff to build my new spray booth for less than 20 USD. The money you save can go towards quality paint, good model kits and the really nice tools you need as listed above. I will post pictures of my mini spray booth later. I think I need to buy another fan as the existing one is not powerful enough.

This thread is cracking me up! But I want Agent One to tell us a story! Heh..

Stealth looks great in the photoshop but the real picture is under the WF thread. I am not thrilled about it. Camo, still gets thumbs down from me. Too plasticky looking. If they tone down the colors, it would look better. Yamato should have released the digital camos and enigma versions.

Holy! That is awesome! Any links to that 1/38? Yukikaze's fighters certainly deserves the "ultimate" treatment!

I'm in the process of trying to get one or 2. I have a few of the Platz kits here... Would love to offer em to the community but lets wait until I get the rest of the squardron in. I wonder if there is a market for a scaled up 1/48 kit.

Getting my prices sorted out and will post about it soon. Waiting to confirm on the white metal or stamped metal BP8.

Yamato, Showing ugly REFERENCE SAMPLES that will not go into production at one of the premiere industry shows prior to the release of your new products, yet leaving the price tags there? Can you say MARKETING BLUNDER?! At least remove the sales tag so its not OFFICIAL. I wonder how many distributors just puked and outright canceled their orders because of that. I hope Yamato had the common sense of at least a closed door presentation for the business guys. If I was the Marketing Director at Yamato, somebody would have been fired for putting those out. The Product Marketing manager first, followed by the design director for both signing off on those two. But, I am scared these two atrocities are actually real or intended production prototypes because even Yamato is not as dumb as I had just vented about above. Or are they? PS: VF-0S looks way cool the two ugly sisters really took away the thunder. PPS: I wonder how hard is it to mod the rotating seats feature from the VF-0S into the VF-1?

Maybe on discount too!!! Then again I\'m sure ALL of us wouldn\'t mind picking these up at lower prices than advertised on the information tags. 371835[/snapback] What??!?! Lower prices on these bastardizations and give Yamato the artificial impression that these things are selling well so they can have their design school rejects churn out more ugly Valkyries? These look like wannabes to the old Exo Squad Lineup. I rather Yamato released the Clown Valkyries from Macross 7 than these. Someone needs to go back and review whats new in Stealth and Camo trends. Simply googling the terms Low Vis and Stealth should have given the designer more than enough clues.

Yamato, Color me NOT impressed! These are the Low Viz you should have made: http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/toys/m...oms/jbrj-16.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/toys/m...oms/jbrj-10.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/toys/m...toms/jbrj-6.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/toys/m...kurt-lv-j-8.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/toys/m...kurt-lv-j-1.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/toys/m...urt-lv-j-11.jpg This is the Stealth you should have made: http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/toys/m...oms/anabr-9.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/toys/m...ms/anabr-13.jpg A wasted opportunity from a design standpoint. Funny, both are so ugly, the orders may be low and these things may end up being RARE one day... sigh...

Well, there is always the Supervision Army. From what I got from the original series, they are still big, bad, and on the prowl. I would also imagine that they have access to far more firepower than the Varauta had in Macross 7. The story told in Macross II was interesting for the reasons you cited above. In a way, it\'s a shame that it isn\'t a part of the official continuity in some way. 370803[/snapback] Upon reading this, the Marduk in Macross II appear to be the Supervision Army but renamed don\'t they? Micronized humanoids that control the Zentradi for proxy warfare? I persoanlly loved Macross II. It was more of the same as DRYL, but upgraded and a shame it was tossed into an alternate universe. It would be awesome to see a Macross VFX 3 sequal (Movie promo, then TV series) featuring all the mechs under various uses. Have the UN Spacy blackops background with the use what you got premise in a series of small tactical operations which leads to a showdown with the Supervision Army contained in big epic war story to wrap it all up. Before I get too off topic (my choices in order) 1) DRYL + Flashback non music video scenes (I consider these two to be together) PERFECT STORY TELLING, PERFECT PRESENTATION. The benchmark in Anime. 2) SDF - Macross - Good story telling, good action, but feels dated compared to DYRL. A must see to setup DYRL/Flasback properly. 3) Macross II - More of DRYL, but with a lower budget feel. Good presentation overall. 4) Macross Plus (OVA - did not see the movie yet for the extended ending) - Great story telling, great action. Very focused sub story of the Macross universe. I need more! Make a Macross VFX movie already!!! 5) Macross Zero - Great action, great animation, great presentation, great telling... I actually didn\'t mind the tree hugging aspect as it brings about a different view on the conflicts. I LOVED the ANTI-UN vs UN antaganism. 3 sides, and a good setup for the Macross story as a whole. We need more side stories during Space War I with VF-0S, SV-51s starting the war and the eventual introduction of VF-1s. What the hell happend to the Anti UN anyways? None snuck on board the SDF-1? 6) Macross 7 (have not finished watching this yet. First 15-20 or so episodes are slow, but it really picks up afterwards. The overly reused footage is crap. How many times did they reuse the VF-11 and Varutas blowing up in space already? Anybody ever did a count to confirm? Overall, I love the series as whole... It fills in universe even more and makes rewatching each series more enjoyable.

I did a little research just to see how feasible that 20-25 retail 6\" PV Valkyrie is. Its actually pretty easy to guess the prices. I searched Amazon.com to see what kind of Transformers would sell for 20-25 USD retail and compared the level of quality and complexity. The alternators came up and a few of those does retail for ~ 20 bux retail. Size wise, quality wise and complexity wise was pretty close to Toynami\'s offering. It is feasible at the $20-25 retail price point so I stand corrected. But, this assumes that it will be a mass market toy with a high production volume. At this price point, there is no doubt Toynami will target that market to keep the cost down. I personally do not own any of the Transformer line, but have handled a few binaltechs and alternators. Reviewing the comments on Amazon.com backs ups my first assumption. For $20-25 retail, I still am not confident of the quality for an all plastic with minimal diecast content toy. By the way, most exhibitions or trade shows will display wholesale pricing, and not retail from my experience. And yes, almost everybody who attends those shows always thinks the wholesale prices are the retail prices.

Hi all, I will post pics of the donor parts soon for reference. No molds have been poured yet. Once I get enough interest in the parts, I will start taking orders. I will wait on this poll until at least the end of these week to start anything. Waiting on the price quote for the white metal BP8. Note these will be in native metal colors so you have to repaint them. That is the one problem. I am trying to see if we can at least color match all the resin parts. I can definately mold all the pilot heads in clear resin (cannot confirm color tinting) but it would be easy to color it with food coloring or any of the transparent paints from Tamiya or Mr. Hobby. I can probably offer to have all the head parts paint in clear blue prior to shipping. Should not cost that much more. Note: I will not recast the GBP hands. Those are way oversised for a regular Valk. The 3 Bad Men Hands are nearly perfect in size (albeit a little smaller than the TV Fat Hands) and will be modified to have the stubs for insertion and the grips modified to hold the gun pod. If Eternal D gets his DYRL hands into production again, then I will not bother offering these hands as I feel his may be better and less effort is needed to get it going.

If that price is shown at NY TF, then it is the distributors price @ 3-5K pieces. Suggested Retail Price should be ~ $39.99 USD. A major retailer would probably try to push the price down to $29.99 - $34.99 or if they did a huge volume, $24.99 USD and that is only on promo. Best wish Walmart, Target or Toys R Us will pick it up in heap loads. Otherwise, the price would not be that cheap. If it really is 20 retail, I would SERIOUSLY doubt the quality on that thing, given the complexity of a PV mech.

My obstables: 1. Work... I am stuck here at least 8 hours day when I can be developing my skills, modeling and working on my customs. Work is so over rated! 2. GF - nuff said 3. Space - I finally found a room to model in but it has now became the Valkyrie Hanger and Armoury which houses the goods for my side biz. I have another small closet like room that would have been great for housing a spray booth but the need to stay clean has necessitated the occupation of the washing machine! 4. Spray booth - I am still trying to see where I can tap a blower or fan into that room and perhaps build a cheap flat folding collapsable booth so it won\'t hinder my laundry needs. Also, no room for a second vent so might need to tap into the existing exhaust! 5. Time... after work, after spending time with the GF, after processing the orders, after pulling parts and sourcing for others, what remains is for eating and sleeping. That 8 hour chunk of work time sure is wasteful! Not to mention the lack of time to test fit, puttying, sanding, and cleaning up just for the basic prep. This is all before masking, painting, decal work... sure is a lot of work! 6. Lack of skills - Why Hasegawa models can not be simplified more like Bandai\'s MG line yet still retain the realism and details? That would help partially solve 5 with the basic buildup. So, due to the first 4 points, points 5 and 6 crops up and leads to boxes of models and customs waiting to be built. Glad I have that Valkyrie Hanger space at least. I cannot imagine how must worst it can be if I was married and had kids, which I hope to be one day. Sigh...

I get a lot of requests for parts and have found a high quality recaster to help ease the parts drought since there are not enough interests for the leftovers to justify parting out Valks at this time. Please vote to help me gauge the interests for this project and I can get it going ASAP. Cost will depend on confirmed orders. Currently guessing 5-6 bux for resin bits (a set of TV hands) and 10 bux for hi impact part (pair or TV arms or TV Arm FP) before shipping ~ 2-3 bux by airmail. Minimum order is 20 total pcs for any item or kit to start. Most pieces will be produced in standard high cast resin to save cost (hands and pilots) or in a high impact polymer but will cost more. Some parts such as the arm and Fast Packs which will flex will be cast in high impact polymer only. The fast pack clips would snap off within 3-5 regular insertions if it was made in resin. Note: All parts will be available in native resin color (milk or creme white) only. Color powder is lacking over here so you will need to paint all parts to match. Casting quality will be the same as the scratch built 1/72 VF-4 offered by Valk009 (same caster). For those looking for half a chicken (VF-1D conversion kit), I might be able to provide a Valkyrie with only the equivalent parts from the 1D kit removed for a discount. Everything else can be included. PM me and specify TV or DYRL donors. Pilots : DYR Ultimate Type, DYRL Type, TV Type, Low Vis Type, TV Fat Hands TV Arms and Fast Packs from both sides - Compare with your DRYL and Fast Pack Sets. GBP Sides and Backpack pieces for detailing up. Custom sculpted and modified DYRL Hands (working prototype, not finalized yet. Will be slimmed down a bit): 1 Pair only, Thumb, Index and 3 fingers are ball jointed. Last 3 fingers will be merged but prototype is fully and independantly articulate. 5 Finger full articulated version will cost approximately double but doable. First Picture shows Hasegawa VF-1 Battroid hands for comparison. http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...e=post&id=31941 http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...e=post&id=31942 http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...e=post&id=31943 http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...e=post&id=31944 http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...e=post&id=31945 3 Bad Men Hands (Right Trigger, Left Gunpod Cradle, Right Gun Pod Cradle and Salute, L&R fists.

True assembly can be switched with neglible cost impact for similar items, but it is STILL a seperate run. One assembly team would focus on a color version and one would focus on the regular version. One team would never mass produce two different line simultaneously. It is always a seperate sub team or teams. QC issues. The parts costs would cost same regardless of color since the plastic resin is purchased in bulk. Again, it would be a seperate run plus downtime to simply change out the color of the resin, clean out the tooling (residue colors, etc...)and setup. They produce only one color after another unless simultaneous runs were in place. Actually, most dealers are constantly trying to reduce their cost since the selling price of one item does not equate to fixed operation and behind the scene costs. I would say the market dictates the selling costs more so than the dealer or manufacturer.

All the colored valks are technically seperate runs just to change the colors. That is how mass production works in general. If you were a mass production baker, you wouldn\'t prep 2 chocolate cookies, a raisin oatmeal and double chocolate dip on the same line. You either finish one full run, then setup for the next run or run simultaneou different lines. Just imagine what would happend if the guy painting Hikaru\'s VF-1J had to paint 3 Max 1Js next, then 2 CFs, another Hikaru 1J and finally a Millia 1J. I can imagine all the QC issues or the creation of those \"rare, mistake valks\" that look like Joon wannabees. This might make for even crazier prices on Ebay. Also, speaking for pretty much all etailers everywhere, that 80 USD Valk is a pipedream. I wish most etailers can get it at that price. Now I can believe it if TRU Japan got that kind of pricing due to their volume but thats only at 500 pieces or more of the same exact item only. The only time I recall the magical 100 USD Valkyrie came to be was during the VF-1A Max blowout and when some of us were parting Super Valks out. Note I was not in HK during the initial release of the 1/48 so can\'t comment on that. Want to save on shipping? Go surface mail and wait 6 - 8 weeks. It is ~ HALF of the price of AIR SHIPMENT at 8x the transit time. This is available from most overseas retailers. I was going to further comment on the common notion here on MW that dealers have no incentive to lower the prices, but will leave it at this : without knowledge of the economics involved or the available choices offered from each dealer is ignorance.

Happy 46th Birthday Kawamori-San! Thank you for your creativity, drive and energy which has delivered enjoyment many! Looking forward to your next masterpiece! Fan forever! Neova

Probably a reissue of the GBP-1S. The first run is done already! Sold out! Looking forward to the stealth and low vis again though. I bet the Low Vis will be a 1S or 1J or a \"different\" 1A variant. Yamato has never re-issued their limited versions exactly as it was produced (EG: 1/60 TRU CF Limited Edition) so they may lighten or darken or change the camo pattern around.

Back on topic... Someone asked why there may be quality issues from Roy\'s VF-1S as more and more of it is re-issued and yet why Hikaru\'s VF-1S seems to be different. Color has nothing to do with the molds. Its all pantone matched ABS resin so unless the supplier has changed or the resin is not from the same exact batch, it should always be the same. You can compare the DYRL Valks from one given production period and the base color should be exactly the same (EG First issue Roy and Hikaru). This is not to say there cannot be slight pigment differences from batch to batch, but it should be 99.99% color matched if the factory is up the job. Now as far as the molds, I believe there were multiple molds as this is typical in manufacturing. Each mold is usually allocated for a product run and kept for that variation only, to ensure QC and to allow simultaneous runs of two different products / versions at the same time. It could be possible Hikaru\'s VF-1A (2nd issue) and the 1S are the same molds, while Roy had his own mold. Or Hikaru\'s and Max\'s 1A mold were the same, a new mold was made for Hikaru\'s 1S and Roy had his own mold. But too many molds won\'t make sense as each cost a LOT and the production run must be very high to recoup the cost. Can they re-use 1 mold for another item? Of course, since once a mold is setup to run, its cheaper to keep it going that to stop it for downtime and slap another mold onto the production line. I\'m guessing Yamato may have up to 4 production molds for the VF-1x series. 1 original mold, 1-2 reworked (rev 2.0 fixes) molds and maybe a backup mold. 2-3 molds is probably more likely. They would either tool a new head mold or re-use Roy\'s VF-1S (probably the latter since the head is so small and you can run a lot of these per day). I can check if these 5th or 6th issue (damn lost count somewhere!) and if it indeed are from the previous batch once I get a few in. I know the last batch of Max 1As I and Toy Wave had blown out along were not reissues and definately old warehouse stock of the last issue (2nd). I\'ll snap a picture to show you guys how we identify it. Heh. It is more than likely a new run though to co-inside with Hikaru\'s VF-1S reissue since its CHEAPER to produce both at the same time than to store it at a warehouse. But I will post my analysis afterwards. Crooked Skulls and seats and bad paintjobs? Thats just plain cost savings and QC.

I agree on a new TV series or even a movie. I would like to build on DYRL and move on ala VFX so we can have new heroes, a new storyline that opens up the Macross Universe, which may lead to a bigger fan base and most importantly, more merchandise! Think how good a new Movie along the lines of Aliens or Black Hawk Down but in our favorite universe and then follow that up with a new TV series continue the momentum! Macross Bliss! Sorry if I\'m dreaming. Its the marketing guy in me.