ChristopherB

Hello Valk009,

I hope you're doing well, as you know we've been friends for a while. By the way, I replied to your PM already, hopefully you received it.

You welcomed Achtung Macross to MW, which was very gracious, but he's actually been a member and a friend of mine for about (6) years. He's built quite a few Hasegawa Macross kits for me, and Gundam resin kits as well. There were a lot of pictures posted to the modeling section.

While I don't claim to be an expert, HobbyFan does apparently sell some original resin kits, such as by a company called SMS. I've purchased about (20) of their kits so far, and they don't seem to be recasts. I suppose someone would have to research each and every kit, then find out if another company released the same one, then compare them to see if they are identical. For example, Bandai B-club produced several Gundam resin kits were have been copied by various companies.

Another point to consider would be if a company were to make major modifications and improvements to an old B-club release, and then sell it along with their own decals, metal hoses, nozzles, etc such as G-System sometimes does. I wouldn't consider that to be a recast either since the new release is indistinquishable from the old.

Lastly, there is often a negative connotation associated with the term "recast" in that it's viewed as being inferior, and a less valuable copy of the original. With that being said, some of these kits might be original and some might be recasts.

I believe we are advised not to cause someone's for sale thread to become off-topic. As such, I would ask that we not debate "recast" vs "original" in this posting. Please feel free to contact me directly for further discussion if you so desire.

Sincerely,

Christopher

Hello,

Just received my Bandai VF-25F Tornado, and I'm very happy with it. Reminds me of the VF-1AG in some ways.

My new display cabinet arrived yesterday, but they brought the wrong size glass. It's a lot of work, but fun to transform each valkyrie to a nice pose and add the armor. I'll post some pictures when I'm finished.

Too bad the VF-0A/S have been pushed back until May.

Sincerely,

Christopher

I highly recommend MW Member SAVE

Purchased (4) 2010 WF Resin Kits from him at a total cost of almost $1,000.00

Prompt, professional and polite.

Hello,

I would like to start by thanking MW Member "Save" for getting the WF kits for me. By nature I'm apprehensive to do business with someone that I don't know, but things worked out perfectly. I'll post more in the MW SSL.

Here are my (4) 2010 WF Resin Kits, which cost around $1,000 to include shipping. (They are at the bottom middle of the picture.)

Hello to all,

Here are some pictures of the latest items to arrive that I recently posted the shipping notices for:

1.) PS3 Slim 120GB w/ 2 games

2.) 1/16 Tamiya Full Function M4 Sherman Accessories (Metal Tracks, Futaba Attack Transmitter, Infared Battle System, 7.2v Battery and Charger)

1.) Tomy Takara Zoids 1/72 Highend Master Model Red Horn

2.) Unicorn Gundam Destroy Mode

3.) Tomy Takara Transformers Masterpiece Starscream

4.) Transformers Human Alliance Barricade/Frenzy

(5) Kotobukiya Super Robot Wars Full Action Kits

(2) SMS Resin Conversion Kits for Bandai MG 1/100 Gundam

(1) SMS Full Resin Kit NZ-666 Kshatriya

(1) Bandai MG 1/100 Gundam Astray Red Frame

Yamato 1/60 VF-11C

Bandai 1/60 VF-27 Lucifer

(4) 2010 Wonder Festival Resin Kits that cost $1,000.00

(2) Yamato 1/60 Limited Clear Armor Parts [i have (3) total now for use with my Yamato Limited VF-1S Focker, Max and future release Hikaru]

Bandai 1/60 Macross Frontier Chogokin VF-25G Gallia 4 Fold Booster (Brown Box)

Bandai 1/60 Macross Frontier Chogokin RVF-25 Ghost & Weapons Set (Brown Box)

I'm looking for a bigger display cabinet now, and I'll post some pictures in the appropriate thread once everything is ready. I hired a resin/model expert to build the SMS kits for me. The resin quality is excellent.

Sincerely,

Christopher

Been waiting for my 1/72 VF-27 Lucifer Valkyrie Brera custom for like the past 23 days since it was dispatched from HLJ via SAL. Funny thing is that I've already received some of my Mr. Hobby supplies (shipped using SAL as well) yesterday which I had ordered from HLJ a week after I had ordered the VF-27. Is this probably due to the size of the package?

Actually the VF-27 box is not very large, and it's pretty light.

Just estimating, I would say 3" thick by 12" long, which just happens to correspond with the size of my...Ha, ha

It's here!! hahaha

& Finally my VF-11C is here! thanks HWjapan & AmiAmi!! haha

paid on Wed night,ship out thursday evening, arrived at my doorstep Sat morning! Simply outstanding.. haha

but i am still waiting for my mighty stand... sighs...

Wow, you've got some nice looking items there!!! I'm definitely jealous.

You're Gernsback is cool, haven't seen that kit before.

Congrats

I preorded and paid in full for a VF27 Beta before I realized it wouldn't be released until the end of June. I could have used that money to buy something now, but good things come to those who wait.

Received the hinges, thanks Graham.

Hope to perform some shoulder joint replacement surgery tonight, and without any anesthetic. Ha, ha That'll teach my valkyries not to break so easily.

Review your payment and send

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$20.00 USD

Hello Everyone,

Please use the option to send Graham the payment as "Personal Gift". No offense, but honestly why wouldn't you pick that option in the first place? I'm by no means a Paypal expert, but the choice is clearly marked that you can send money without any fees.

After all of Grahams hardwork, and the low amount he is asking for ($2.00), it seems an insult to me to be so cheap and send only the bare minimum, plus cause Graham to lose part of it to fees.

I'm not wealthy, but I sent $20 as my personal way of saying "Thanks." Plus I ordered ( hinges, so that comes out to only $2.50 each not including shipping/handling.

Best wishes to all,

Christopher

PS: Graham and Amy...how sweet

Sorry for the poor quality, I used my Nokia cellphone:

First are my misc/anime purchases:

The Max Factory Dragonar-1 is very nice and even comes with a set of white gloves to handle the toy

GMP 1/18 Scale 1993 Ford Mustang LX 5.0 Convertible

Tamiya 1/16 Full Function R/C M4 Sherman

Bandai Robot Spirits Nirvash & Crossbone X2

Zoids Tomy Geno Breaker

Appleseed Hot Toys Landmate wearing some gold bling bling

Second are my recent Macross items:

Tenjin Hidetaka Valkyries

1/60 Limited Edition VF-1S Roy Focker Weathered

1/60 Ghost A

Bandai Robot Spirits Klan Klang Custom

1/60 Limited Edition GBP Armor with Missile Effect

1/60 RVF25

1/60 VF25G

1/60 Limited Edition Clear Armor (white box)

Bandai Ex-Gear

Wow, thanks for posting the pictures.

I'm a kano living outside of Manila in Olongapo/Subic.

What's the name of the fast food chain? Hopefully it's not Chow King, as I can't stand the food there. Ha, ha

Maybe we could have a PI MW Convention at some point.

He lives in Hong Kong.

Cool, that's even better since the valkyries are made in China not Japan! He can get even better deals than I suspected, hence the second VF-27.

I completely forgot about his recent message regarding his Chinese wife.

I hope to visit HK soon and buy a lot of mecha toys. The plane ticket will be a lot cheaper than all the money I've spent for customs/shipping over the years.

Well, the later the release the better probably... and given the sale on HLJ recently, the movie version Alto is probably the easiest to get right now. I haven't noticed any serious issues with mine.. though it's only a couple weeks old.

It does come with the super packs and painted stand, so that's a nice addition, if you don't mind the blue-ish tint of the plane and armor.

Hello,

I agree and highly recommend the 1/60 DX Chogokin VF-25F Super Messiah Valkyrie Alto Custom. The blue color as shown on HLJ is much lighter than the actual color of the armor, which comes with the valkyrie.

Unlike some, I find the color to be awesome, and it reminds me of the 1990 Bandai VF-1S Super release. Sky blue has been my favorite color since I child, after all, that's the same color as a beautiful sunny day, so what's not to like? Ha, ha

If you have the a choice, skip the Tamashii Web Shop Exclusive version, save your time and money, and go for this one: HLJ Website

I PM'ed Graham recently how lucky he is to live in HK and be able to visit local shops and get the lowest price possible for his valkyries, not to mention store discounts like we see on HLJ, etc. Everyone else has to pay shipping, higher internet prices, and sometimes customs. Just last month I lost almost $1,000 in customs/shipping costs, but if I lived in HK that money could have been used to buy another (10) valkyries. The bad thing about HK is the tiny apartments and overcrowding.

Sincerely,

Christopher

(Edited to fix country)

Hello,

I decided to order a second Ghost for use with the April re-stock of the VF-0A and VF-0S. The Ghost B model is hard to come by, but personally I find the all grey color scheme to be boring, so I'm happy to use the Ghost A version, which has really nice markings in my opinion. Unfortunately, both of them cost me about $140.00 after shipping, and that's a good bit for something that doesn't even transform.

Here is my shipping notice from HLJ:

Item Code Item Name Quantity Price Extended Price

YMT00054 QF-2200D-A Ghost 1 4,800 4,800

Merchandise Total: 4,800

Shipping Charge: 2,400

Total: 7,200

I just received my shipping notice for a prior order. No Macross stuff here, because I'm also a fan of Gundam, Super Robot Wars and Transformers. It would be a hell of a lot cheaper to just focus on my Macross, but there are a lot of good anime mecha available from other shows.

Item Code Item Name Quantity Price Extended Price

BAN961934 MG Gundam Astray Red Frame Custom w/Special Clear Armor Parts 1 5,000 5,000

KBYKO-106 Gespenst Mk-II Kai 1 4,500 4,500

KBYKP-101 Cybaster 1 7,800 7,800

KBYKP-105 ART-1 Advanced Real Personal Trooper Test Type-1 1 4,800 4,800

KBYKP-41 PTX-014-03C Arblade Custom 1 3,500 3,500

KBYKP-55 PTX-007-03UN Rein Weissritter 1 4,800 4,800

TKT36734 RD-24 Barricade & Frenzy 1 5,000 5,000

Merchandise Total: 35,400

Shipping Charge: 7,800

Total: 43,200

I really envy guys like Graham that live in HK, which I mentioned to him in a previous PM after he posted about buying a second VF-27. He's able to buy direct from local shops and get the lowest price, without having to pay any shipping or customs expense. I lost more than $800 just in customs during the last month. That works out to over ( valkyries, and that's not even including shipping costs yet. So, I could move to HK and have a bigger collection, but a much smaller house to display them in.

I'll take some pictures today and post them, the Ghost A arrived very quickly.

Sincerely,

Christopher

(Edited to fix country)

Indeed...<looks over at his Hi-Metal VF-19>

Wow, excellent comeback. Ha, ha

Yes, let's see something new, getting tired of the same old thing just repackaged and with new gimmicks.

"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."

There's way too many variables to be easily accounted for. Fact of the matter though is the pins that have "knurlining" have raised portions of the surface that put additional pressure on what is obviously thin pieces of plastic. If someone wants to do a double blind study on yamato exploding shoulders and prove their fragility to be baseless rumor I'm all for that but I'd rather be safe than sorry in the mean time.

Bluemax,

Very well said my friend. Likewise:

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Benjamin Franklin

Modeling experience is not a prerequisite (althought it certainly can't hurt), and the lack thereof shouldn't be a deterrent to anyone considering inspecting or replacing a Yamato shoulder pin.

Familiarity with something you own can only be a good thing, as it would not breed contempt in an inanimate object such as a valkyrie. Ha, ha Just a little play on words.

Sincerely,

Christopher

Hello,

I recommended checking each Yamato VF-1 V2 as soon as possible to determine what type of shoulder pin it has (smooth or knurled), and if knurled removing it and replacing it with a smooth one.

Today I received a weathered VF-1S, and tonight I have my tools ready to take it apart. My motto is "Better safe, than sorry."

It's funny and all to make light of things by intentionally being melodramatic/overacting by associating broken shoulders with global warming, etc.

However, it's getting old (beating a dead horse) in my opinion and is also insensitive to the MW members who have broken valkyries and are upset about. Some people aren't as well off as others and can't afford to buy very many collectibles.

When they find that their hard earned money bought them a broken Yamato, it must be pretty frustrating.

Just because you have had only one or none break, that does not mitigate their loss.

My regards to anyone who owns a broken Yamato,

Christopher

I think that's a resin kit. Anyways, Bandai regained my faith with the VF-19. That is such a fun toy.

Yes, I agree it's a resin kit (Studio Halfeye perhaps), but then I thought the YF-21 in the magazine scan also looks to be made of resin (or at least most of it), as opposed to plastic, metal, wood, gold, silver, etc.

I'm no expert, but I thought a lot of prototypes were made out of resin, since it can be sanded, scultped, cut, etc. Plastic molds are a major investment since they're made of metal, whereas resin molds are very cheap in comarison. So ideally, resin makes sense to me. The fit, clearance and aesthetic qualities of the resin prototype are evaluated and once final approval is given, the metal molds for the individual plastic parts can be created.

I think everybody knows what I am talking about from the picture, even if I did use the wrong choice of colors to describe it.

Graham

Yeah, amen on that brother. The specific color is important, just the intent, which you conveyed correctly.

Not to mention, I believe "pink" is your favorite color, as concerns sloppy seconds and so forth.

I'm also looking forward to the green VF-27, because it's my favorite color and matches my eyes. Ha, ha

(Edited to fix punctuation)

The YF-21 looks great.

Just curious, but how did someone get lucky enough to bring the YF-21 prototype home and pose it in front of their other Bandai valkyries/SDF1?

That's the first time I've ever seen a rare prototype displayed in that manner.

All along I planned to focus on the Bandai 1/100 releases, but the VF25 parts former scared me away, but now I'm wondering if I was wrong to lose faith.

Most recent HLJ Shipping Notice, the previous order should be here any day:

Item Code Item Name Quantity Price Extended Price

BAN958455 DX Chogokin VF-27 Lucifer Brera Sterne Custom 1 15,200 15,200

BAN959113 Robot Damashii Unicorn Gundam Destroy Mode 1 3,500 3,500

KBYZD30 Highend Master Model EZ-004 Red Horn 1 6,800 6,800

YMT00182 VF-11C with Super Pack 1 18,800 18,800

Merchandise Total: 44,300

Shipping Charge: 5,500

Total: 49,800

I also ordered a Tamiya 1/16 Full Function Radio Controlled M4 Sherman. I'm not sure if anyone else is a fan of these tanks, but I highly recommend them.

Thanks for the warning Graham.

It looks to me like white paint was scrapped off with lavendar/lilac showing underneath.

Perhaps I'm missing something, but I would think you need the appropriate shade of white to touch it up.

I'm looking forward to receiving mine, I just got my HLJ shipping notice:

Item Code Item Name Quantity Price Extended Price

BAN958455 DX Chogokin VF-27 Lucifer Brera Sterne Custom 1 15,200 15,200

BAN959113 Robot Damashii Unicorn Gundam Destroy Mode 1 3,500 3,500

KBYZD30 Highend Master Model EZ-004 Red Horn 1 6,800 6,800

YMT00182 VF-11C with Super Pack 1 18,800 18,800

Merchandise Total: 44,300

Shipping Charge: 5,500

Total: 49,800

Hello,

I always use EMS or registered airmail from Hong Kong. They both cost more, but the speed and tracking are worth it in my opinion.

Personally, I don't care what condition my item box (Yamato, Bandai, etc) is in, as long as the toy inside has no damage. I don't collect boxes, they go straight to the trash/recycling bin as soon as possible. If I have no time to display for a while, I'll store the valkyries in tuperware. I always wondered why some people treat toys like an investment commodity similar to gold/silver/antiques. It's not like the kids of today are really into Macross, so who's gonna buy our VF-1 in (20) years.

I just received my shipping notice from HLJ, EMS (2) boxes:

Order Number: 02219927

Item Code Item Name Quantity Price Extended Price

BAN956811 Robot Damashii Crossbone Gundam X-2 Custom 1 3,800 3,800

BAN957701 Robot Damashii Nirvash type Zero spec2 1 4,500 4,500

BAN958095 Armor Plus EX-Gear Alto Saotome Ver. 1 7,500 7,500

BAN959023 Robot Damashii Queadluun Rare Klan Klang Custom 1 3,200 3,200

CSP29545 Roy Focker Special VF-1S T-Shirt Black L 1 2,900 2,900

CSP34732 SDF-1 T-Shirt Indigo L 1 2,900 2,900

CSP36483 Regult T-Shirt White L 1 2,900 2,900

KBYZD19 Highend Master Model Geno Breaker 1 8,800 8,800

KOB90124 Valkyries: Tenjin Hidetaka Art Works of Macross 1 4,000 4,000

MAX07008 MAX Gohkin XD-01 Dragonar-1 1 21,714 21,714

YMT00183 VF-1S Roy Focker Weathering Special Version 1 14,800 14,800

Merchandise Total: 77,014

Shipping Charge: 12,000

Total: 89,014

My card was billed about $1,000 so it's a lot less than my last order from HLJ. Unfortunately, I collect from several different anime, when I would rather focus on just Macross/Gundam.

Here is a recent list of eBay items I'm waiting to arrive or pick-up at the post office:

Macross Frontier Chogokin VF-25G Gallia 4 Fold Booster

Sale date: 02/12/10

Tracking number: --

$89.99

Macross Frontier Chogokin RVF-25 Ghost & Weapons Set

Sale date: 02/12/10

Tracking number: --

$89.99

BANDAI Chogokin Macross RVF-25 LUCA CUSTOM Super parts

Sale date: 02/12/10

Tracking number: --

$159.00

BANDAI Chogokin Macross Frontier VF-25G MICHAEL CUSTOM

Sale date: 02/12/10

Tracking number: --

$159.00

1:18 GMP 1993 Yellow LX 5.0L Mustang Convertible SN 05

Sale date: 02/12/10

Tracking number:

$129.95

SMS 1/100 MSN-06S Sinanju MG Conversion kit Gundam

Sale date: 02/11/10

Tracking number: --

$72.50

SMS RMS-154 "Barzam" MG Conversion parts Gundam RMS154

Sale date: 02/11/10

Tracking number: --

$105.90

SMS 1/100 NZ-666 Kshatriya NZ666 resin model Gundam kit

Sale date: 02/11/10

Tracking number: --

$225.00

Yamato Macross 1/60 Clear Parts for Super figure LE NIB

Quantity: 2

Sale date: 02/04/10

Tracking number: --

$69.98

Yamato Macross 1/60 Super Parts Clear Color (Limited)

Sale date: 01/31/10

Tracking number: --

$34.99

Yamato Macross 1/60 VF-1 Armor Part+Missile Effect LE

Sale date: 01/30/10

Tracking number: --

$129.99

I'll post some pictures when everything arrives.

Sincerely,

Christopher

Hello,

I just received a large shipment of Yamato valkyries, so I've been taking each one apart and removing at least (1) shoulder pin to determine which type it has.

My fear is to leave them in the box for a while, only to find out later that they're already cracked.

It's been a tedious process as the valkyries are quite fragile and the knurled pins aren't easy to get out. I've been replacing the offending pins with smooth rods of the appropriate diameter.

I was disappointed to find out that my limited and newly release VF-1J weathered version also has knurled pins. If this hasn't been posted yet, then let me be the first to advise Yamato has intentionally released (2) valkyries utilizing old stock of which they knew were prone to breakage, being the VF-1J/GBP and the Weathered VF-1J Hikaru.

I hope to be able to check (2) more tonight. What a fine mess this has become for customers, having to repair brand new collectibles.

Sincerely,

Christopher

Hello,

I recently received my Hi-Metal Fire Valkyrie, and I'm also very happy with it.

It seems a lot of people are jumping on the "bandwagon" that they have either cancelled their order, or wish they did upon learning that Yamato has decided to imitate Bandai, by releasing their own version. As they say, imitation is the highest form of flattery.

I do not regret buying this item, and I'm very impressed with Bandai thus far. In comparison I have found the Yamato valkyries to be much more delicate and prone to breakage. While I like both companies for various reasons, I believe the Fire Valkyrie to be excellent despite the lack of metal.

1/100 size is just right and allows for more display space to be utilized.

Sincerely,

Christopher