cmal

You asked what people wanted etched, nobody responded, you post there's a limited number of designs you chose at your discretion, suddenly everyone wants 10. :T

Ooh, neat. I'll have to get one or two of those to try out in my next order.

Testing out some prototype Action Base adapters. Options: Offset octagon vs Straight square Crappy scene composition feat. the Beta Stand Close-ups of the adapters

Cool. Just send me a PM whenever they're ready. Because it was worth a shot, today I went ahead and put the knuckle on to see if I could get four arms. In the end, between the elbow and the knuckle, I couldn't get the screw on tight enough and the knuckle would slip and rotate. If I could get that secure, I probably could put 4 Valks on a Beta; whether that's a good idea is another matter. But yeah, 2 side-by-side or front-to-back should be no problem. With front-to-back, you just have to tweak your positioning to balance the weight depending on where you put the foot on the corner with the bend (mine was a little farther in, so it had a tendency to tip backwards more than necessary).

I assembled it following the logic that for a "standard" setup, the rubber washer goes on the side that's been photoetched. Its not supposed to make any difference, but it might matter to some people. Hence my "creative planning" comment, since you've also got to consider which direction you put the screws in so they can be tightened. Having the bend of the elbow on the right instead of the left was unexpected. I guess it does make sense since the tab on the base is offset to the left ever so slightly. Its not apparent at first glance, but after reading your comment, I remembered that from when I put the rubber feet on. As far as changes, the only things that I can think of are making it more apparent that you put the elbow on the right and shortening the tab. Is there any way you can get the screw hole closer to the base and still have enough clearance for arm attachments? The longer it is, the more leverage you get on it, so it has the potential to bend and flex more. It could also alleviate some concerns about the acrylic being thinner, and since you basically require an elbow, the elbow could also add some support against too much (or catastrophic) flexing of the bend. Other than that, I must say the Beta is a fine addition to the YetiStand family. Options are always good. PS: You might not be able to tell, but my jury-rigged Gundam adapter is starting to fail LOL. If you can find some time in the next few months to whip up a few prototypes, I'd be more than happy to cover shipping and test some out for you.

Finally got a chance to try loading up my Beta during lunch today. Just putting the stand together, I could already see where there might be issues. The bend is really the weak point and its compounded by the fact that you need an elbow to get your arm on straight. That's two points of potential failure, as well as areas of instability. As a sidebar, you have to get creative with how you mount your arms to get them centered on the stand. The first thing I put on was a naked VF-11B, which I think is my lightest Valk. The stand holds it just fine, but movement caused flexing of the bends. You might have seen a long screw in a previous photo; I was planning to try to get an elbow and knuckle on there at the same time for four arms, but abandoned that idea after this. Here's some gunpla. Also holds well. Tried with the XL arm and a Dual (a single regular was too short and linking two was too much work). The lower price point is nice if you're using it for lighter collectibles (some Transformers, plastic models). The Alpha is a Cadillac -- like Yeti said, its robust and flexible enough to load up with everything plus the kitchen sink. The Beta is more affordable, but limited in what you can put on there. There's also the customization factor once Yeti can do laser etching in-house. I could see using Betas for one or two special display pieces, but not a whole flight wing, or if your collection is more modest. I'd definitely consider using these for my plastic models (or a similar, lighter and cheaper iteration), since Alphas are overkill.

Busted, think you could weigh those Lego sets so we can have benchmarks? I got my beta Beta (heh) Friday, but I got home late that day and I've been busy since so I haven't had a chance to load it up yet.

Realistically speaking, what are the chances that Nexx will be different from Sylvie/Faerie, other than a leg-stored railgun and fin funnels?

Now that more people have had this in their hands for awhile, I've amended my decision of 'no'. I think I'd actually buy this in one of these situations: 1) Bargain Bin'd LOL. I love the VF-2, but my nostalgia isn't going to overcome my reservations and I don't have a burning fervor to own one. 2) I've had a chance to hold one in my hands. Photos and videos are nice, but for me there's too much uncertainty without actually interacting with it. I'm a tactile person and when I have doubts about a product, I like to demo.

I've got the shoulder fix parts and I agree, what you're describing is an acceptable application of 3D-printed stuff to make the toy better. But anything more than that I'm gonna harumph at.

I don't feel I should have to rely on 3D-printed Shapeways parts to make it look good. There's a significant amount of skill and effort required to make Shapeways prints look "finished". Honestly, its great that we have 3D printing available to consumers, but the technology just isn't quite there yet for this type of an end-user application. If you're making prints in addition to doing mods and custom work, more power to you, but for Average Robot Toy Enthusiast, that's not gonna fly.

I'm normally a 50/50 F/B guy (LOL Gerwalk), but in the case of the VF-2, yeah, I do love that Fighter mode. What I always liked about its Battroid mode were all the nods to the VF-1's look (which will always be a favorite), but in a sleeker package matching that sexy fighter. At this point, I'm hoping someone from Bandai realizes that these things are shelfwarming because they're turds, not because there's no market. A company with a long and storied history like Bandai should know a missed opportunity when they see one. If an HMR sells well, it just might give them an incentive to produce it in 1/60.

I've already got Shapeways replacement parts for my exploding VF-1 shoulders, what's some spats for the VF-2's fighter mode?

That's really demoralizing, but I'm going to be super-ultra-hyper-optimistic and wait for a consensus its trash before I start bawling. I just really want it to, at this point, just be decent, so badly.

I'm still holding on to hope that its actually good and the GooTL is ass.

If I'm interpreting that Google Translate correctly, things don't sound good.

The date on that blog post is October 2015, so yeah, pretty old. Way to get our hopes up. *shakes fist*

Waiting for this to drop so we can get some in-hand reviews is agonizing. :C I really want this to be good, but if its just an upscaled, pre-built version of the Bandai kit, I'm gonna cry.

That kind of dynamic pose has been around since the 80s/early 90s, especially if Masami Obari was involved in the animation. That's a very "Obari" pose, which makes sense since was a staffer on MacII.

Heh, the Beta lost a DX stand's weight compared to the Alpha. Weight isn't necessarily the issue with Bandai's stands -- to me its rigidity. The DX and Action Base stands are plenty good as long as they're perfectly static, but introduce any sort of movement (from posing, a bump, etc) and the thin plastic begins to flex and your rectum clenches while you wait for the wobble to stop. Yeti could probably cut the weight in half, but as long as the base is a solid piece of acrylic with enough mass and surface area (another problem with the DX is the area it has to distribute the forces) to support the position of the center of mass of the displayed piece(s), it'd be okay. The weak point then becomes where the arm joins the base (a problem with ABs): for a slotted pivot (Alpha) is there enough contact to firmly hold it in place, for an elbow (Beta) is the material strong enough to support the loads. On a lark, I tried one of the DX pivots I recently bought (to modify into an adapter for something else), and its quite acceptable except for the plastic flexing where the pivot slots into the base. This limits how much I can move the center of mass of the suspended collectible to the left and right and how high above the base I can put things. But along the axis of the slot and a radius of about 3 arms? No problem.

So until Yeti whips up an Action Base adapter, I decided to modify a Metal Build hex adapter by gluing in some scrap plastic. The alignment of the Metal Build's hex isn't square, so I stuck the peg in with an offset, but it fits just fine. Its not ideal for long long term use without permanently fixing the parts together, but should hold together for a good while. Finished reposing my Hi-Nu with its included stand adapter and the YS Metal Build adapter with funnels out the way I had it with the stock stand. Looks pretty good. Except for multiple 1/100 kits or the larger and heavier ones (like MG Sazabi, that fatass), a YetiStand is probably too expensive at this point (will the price go down once you can cut your own acrylic?) to use for plastic models. Its definitely better than the Action Base or any of the stands Banda includes in the box. I've pretty much written off trying it with my SoCs -- the ones in my collection have way too much die-cast and combining/transformation gimmicks to be stable. I'll probably try an HMM Zoid next.

Do we have confirmation the SAP will work with the initial (Sylvie) release?

This is the adapter that came with the Hi-Nu and goes in a slot under the crotch. This is the slot on the stand arm. I measured the depth using the blade on the end; I just took the photo that way to show what that dimension was. Let me know if you need anything else. I have a bunch of extra cradle adapters I don't use, so I don't mind mailing a few of them to you, as well. I don't plan on doing anything to any surfaces that interact with other components, just minor cosmetic stuff. I'll experiment a little and see what works.

Here are the measurements of the base pegs of the Act 4 and 5 Tamashii Stages. The holes averaged ~4.5mm, so just a smidge off. Could you design an adapter for the Bandai Action Base 1s? That'd cover a significant portion of their model line; the pre-AB kits use the little cradles and all the newer stuff usually have an adapter included on the sprues. The socket on the arm is a 5mm square with octagonal pegs on the adapter pieces -- I can get photos and measurements if you haven't got one on hand. And the printed adapters are ABS, right? Have you got any recommendations on sanding some of the rougher outer surfaces down for a smoother finish?

I'll take some measurements for you tomorrow. It didn't take much filing, but they definitely weren't going in without something giving.