VF-1A Grunt

I think it's something more than that, possibly an issue with their website's calculations. For the ¥3,230 price of the 1/48 VF-1J/A to equal $26.10 USD, the exchange rate would have to be about ¥124 to the dollar. The yen hasn't been that strong in over three years. Not a big deal, regardless. I'm just happy that the prices ended up being lower than I expected. One of my cousins is visiting Japan at the moment, but I doubt I can talk her into squeezing a few kits into her bags for me!

That's good news, I'm hoping to have mine shipped before the tariffs kick in. Are you seeing the 1/72 Armament Set in stock too? It looked like they would be released together.

I'm sure like most of you, I received an email from HLJ this morning warning about the impact of the impending tariff on Japan that goes into effect at the end of August. In case you didn't get it, the email states, "The recent announcement implies that a flat-rate fee will be added to shipments valued at under $800, based on the effective IEEPA Tariff rate decided by the US government. These charges begin at $80 dollars and increase depending on the tariff rate of the country of origin." And, "Therefore, we would like to advise customers in the US to prepare for the possibility of tariffs also being applied to JP post methods following August 29th." I decided it was time to ship the items in my Private Warehouse in the hopes that they'll ship / arrive before the deadline. I had two Hasegawa models, the 1/72 VF-1J Armored Valkyrie Operation Bullseye Part 2 and the Queadluun-Rau "General Machine," plus the PLAMAX "Max" VF-1A Battroid. I decided to add a Hasegawa 1/48 VF-1J/A Vermilion Squadron as well. The point of this post is to note something odd with the HLJ pricing that I haven't seen before (maybe others have). HLJ lists the 1/48 VF-1J/A as $26.10 USD, but when the purchase went through, the price was ¥3,230 = $21.89. The EMS shipping option was showing as about $96 for the four models (ouch), but when I actually shipped the order, it came out to "only" ¥11,890 = $80.44. The shipping transaction is still pending with my credit card, but that's what the email receipt says. That was a pleasant surprise that everything didn't cost quite as much as I was expecting, so I wanted to pass that along. I'm probably going to hold off on shipping anything else for a while, since HLJ is being generous with their extended hold time in the Private Warehouse. We're planning another trip to Japan next summer, so I may need to take a second extra suitcase to bring more things back than I normally do.

My plan is to basically swap the decals with a regular 1/48 VF-1J/A kit. I’ll build the standard kit as a Black Aces and the Super kit as a brown cannon fodder Super VF-1A.

That’s definitely a good point! I think I have three of them now, along with 5 or 6 of the 1/72 version. I’d like to do one 1/48 model as in non-Super configuration at some point.

Hasegawa is re-releasing these two kits, just FYI: 1/72 VF-31A Kairos - Macross Delta 1/48 VF-1J Super/Strike Valkyrie SVF-41 Black Aces The Black Aces is my favorite squadron scheme of the ones they’ve done, so I’m tempted, but I already have a couple I haven’t built yet.

That’s a fantastic model. It must be a 3D printed design to fit the Hasegawa model. Link to the rest of the photos on X:

I’ve noticed that it’s hard to find pilot names in white font. Most real U.S. aircraft have black lettering on grey fuselages. I noticed recently while watching a modeling video that the F-117 had white names since the aircraft was black. I’m going to pick up a decal sheet to supply some names for VF-1s. The model is looking great!

I’ve been wondering the same thing. I just received the periodic open order reminder from HLJ showing that I’ve had some backordered since September 2023.

Looks fantastic! Well done!

I’m a little surprised to see this multi-scheme kit, since they appeared to be putting out a series of specific paint scheme kits that are now superseded by this one. But I guess that’s what Hasegawa did when they released their combined VF-1A/J/S kit (although that was several years into their product line). Regardless, I ordered three from HLJ for the standard brown scheme and the Alaska Base too. I’m also interested to see the weapon set. I’ve always thought the Hasegawa 1/72 missile boxes were too big and didn’t look right, so I’m curious how these will compare.

I’m disappointed about that. I thought they were going to use the face of the pilot who gets hit and climbs out of her cockpit before dying.

They were still available in almost every good model store when I visited Tokyo in June 2024 - Yodobashi (both Akihabara and Shinjuku), Volks, Mandarake in Nagano, checking my photos from the trip. ¥6730 at Yodobashi. The Phalanx was plentiful too. I’d look around online (especially Mandarake) to seen what they may cost now and what shipping would be. Certainly cheaper than eBay.

Very cool. I bought the Queadol-Magdomilla years ago, probably about 40 years, and I found an unopened Quiltra-Queleual in Tokyo last summer. Neat models. I may have to spring for a few more - that’s a great price for them here in the States.

It looks like it’s regionally restricted too. It says “Japan Only” in the product info. When I’m not logged in, I can see the Kakizaki Battroid product listing, but as soon as I log in (with my U.S.-based account), it doesn’t show up in the product search (nor does the Max Battroid). I can’t add either of them to place a preorder. PLAMAX PX13 1/72 VF-1A Battroid Valkyrie Hayao Kakizaki Unit I may have to create another account and have it sent to family in Tokyo.