VF-1A Grunt

Oh, man, that looks very cool! I like the realistic appearance of the Hasegawa kits, like they replicated how the Battroid should look if it was a real transforming machine, but I love how this one replicates the style of the TV artwork. Glad to see TV hands too!

17 hours ago, Firefox21 said:

They should do a 1/48 VF-1D

I’d love to see that. As much as I’d like to have a VE-1 or VT-1, the D is a simpler kit for them to tool, just adding the cockpit section, head, and chest plate, if I recall correctly.

That’s awesome! Love the artwork.

I just received my shipment of five Regults from HLJ yesterday. I paid ¥4,520 for Surface Parcel, which they were offering to the US, but it took almost exactly three months to arrive from when I ordered March 15. I went a little overboard, buying five of them, but I’ve waited for years for a quality Regult kit. I want to have a couple spares in case the first build doesn’t go well (with paint and weathering, etc.).

The model does look a bit small for 1/72, but I think it will make up for it in appearance. I have in mind building a Macross City street fight diorama with a couple VF-1A battroids at one end of the block and several Regults at the other end, so some forced perspective would offset the relative scale of the two models.

On 6/7/2022 at 10:39 AM, wm cheng said:

I love HLJ, but I've got a $30 Regult sitting in their warehouse with a $50 FedEx shipping option only - come on HLJ, open up EMS or Slow Boat to help us out in Canada.

The solution to this, of course, is to add three more Regults to your warehouse, and maybe throw in a 1/48 VF-1 or two. Then the shipping doesn’t seem as high when you’re getting so many kits at once!

I would love to go in for a set too, if you don't mind. I'll be honest, I haven't opened my kit to see what shape it's in (have to find it after the last move), but I'd like to secure a set of canopies for it just in case.

I’m definitely in for one! I’ve always wanted a model of that aircraft. Please add me to the list! Thanks!

On 5/11/2022 at 10:19 AM, slide said:

It's no Tamiya or Hasegawa as far as detail sharpness, but it looks good. I'll probably stack one in the stash.

At least the got the "legs" straight.

One other minor detail I noticed is that they appear to have blunted the nose a little to match the artwork in the show and movie a little closer. I think the Hasegawa nose looks realistic, but it appears longer and more pointed than the artwork. My apologies if this has been mentioned already, I'm just catching up with this thread.

On 4/16/2022 at 6:59 PM, Bolt said:

That appears to be exactly what it is. I've already got mine preordered. I'll use some of the spare decals from this one to use on the 1J version that previously was released.

Very cool! I need to dig out the book and look through those again. The Master Files books have some really great squadron paint scheme ideas - I hope Hasegawa does more of them in the future on their various models.

On 5/3/2022 at 10:20 AM, Duymon said:

sonic birds came in from HLJ. the 40th anni sticker hit me harder than I thought it would 

I just got mine yesterday. It's definitely hard to believe it's been that long. I still remember seeing one or two episodes of that strange and exciting new TV series while visiting family in Japan and buying the transformable 1/55 toys with my brother at Kiddyland in Harajuku.

One other thing I noticed in the box art when I was looking it over is the Skull Squadron brown VF-1A in the upper left. That's another scheme from the Master Files, where they carried over the black striping on the sides of the forward fuselage and legs from Roy's VF-1S. It's missing the black vertical stabilizers and skull emblem shown in the Master Files version, but it's neat to see that concept included in this box art. Nerd-linger posted this image from the Master Files book about 8 years ago, with the Skull Squadron scheme in the upper left:

At some point, I'm going to attempt to do that scheme on both a 1/72 and 1/48 VF-1A, but my modeling efforts have stalled in the last couple years.

Really glad to see Hasegawa release both the Black Aces and Sonicbirds schemes in 1/48. I received two of each from HLJ in the last couple months - I love those huge models, but running out of room for the big boxes! I had forgotten that Hasegawa included options to build both TV and movie VF-1A heads, which is a really neat feature of the 1/48 kits (in addition to the two canopies).

I like that scheme. It reminds me of the GBP squadron and special mission variations they included in the Master File book (the VF-1 Battroid one, I think).

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the DYRL pilots in TV fighters in the artwork!

On 3/2/2022 at 10:14 AM, Podtastic said:

Regult reinforcements have arrived. Such a pity I never got my 20 oversized rightsized Gurabs to deploy them against.

Nice! I preordered three of them from HLJ but haven’t had them shipped yet because I’m debating purchasing a couple more. It’s always a tradeoff, wondering how much another kit will add to the shipping cost. I may just hold off in case they announce the missile variants in the near future.

On 11/30/2021 at 5:11 PM, valhary said:

https://www.shapeways.com/product/G8D52LFAX/pilots-set-for-vf-1j-dx?optionId=91611789&li=marketplace

I ordered a couple sets of these in 1/72. The detail seems decent, but I haven’t had a chance to paint them yet to see how they turn out when finished. The male and female figure differences are so subtle in 1/72 that I’m pretty sure they’ll be indistinguishable once under a canopy. I’ll have to reserve final  judgement until I get them painted. Regardless, I was glad to find TV pilots to man my Hasegawa fighters.

On 11/19/2021 at 9:20 PM, KOG Water Dragon said:

https://www.hlj.com/1-48-scale-vf-1j-super-strike-valkyrie-svf-41-black-aces-hsg65874

Wow, I was away from the forum for a few weeks and got slammed by both the 1/48 Black Aces release and the Regult announcement! Expense couple of months for me, with the Armored Valkyrie and Sonic Birds as well. I'm thrilled to see Hasegawa continuing to support this line.

I'm pretty blown away by the Regult announcement. I had thrown the idea out here before as a "wish" but never thought Hasegawa would venture there. It's definitely a big step away from the aircraft theme that allowed them to initially venture into the Macross line. I would love to see a taller / bigger Regult model than this one appears to be, but I'm too excited about a high quality, up-to-date Regult kit after so many years since the old kits appeared. I've followed the many discussions about anime magic and relative scale in the shows and movies, and it seems like most model manufacturers opt for slightly models of the enemy mecha that can be justified with canon measurement references and allow them to produce smaller kits.

I've wanted to buy a few RTKF Regult kits but have been trying to be more careful about my hobby budget in the last couple years. I think I'm also more likely to actually finish one of these simpler kits too. I ordered three Regults and will see how they stack up. As others said, although I don't normally model 1/100, I'll order a Wave Battroid to go with these Regults if they look too small for 1/72.

On 10/27/2021 at 3:25 PM, 505thAirborne said:

Hmmm... 

Well here's having that crazy thing called "Hope" that Hasegawa has redesigned those hip and apparently shoulder joints. Nothing like all that trouble to assemble a kit and paint it only to watch it snap apart.

I thought I heard years ago that although the original VF-1 Battroid had issues with weak joints, they corrected that with the Super Battroid kits.

I've been away from the forum for a while, so I'm thrilled to see both the Armored Battroid and the 1/48 Sonic Birds model. I bought quite a few of those in 1/72 because their resemblance to a real Navy squadron scheme. If Hasegawa does the SVF-41 Black Aces scheme in 1/48, my wallet is going to be in trouble!

Thanks for the heads up on these. I just ordered two 1/48 sets - one TV and one movie set with additional intake and exhaust details. I was going to order a few 1/72 sets also, but they sold out before I got around to it. I'll keep an eye on them to see if he gets any more in.

On 5/26/2021 at 1:02 AM, Gabe Q said:

Please let us know how much shipping was. I'd like to have an idea as to whether or not I will order this. 

Sorry, I forgot to reply back. I haven't actually had them ship my kits yet because I was debating adding another 1/48 weapon set. Always hard to know how much more one additional kit will increase the shipping...

Anyway, for two 1/48 VF-1 kits from Japan to Michigan, USA, it's estimating $28.98 USD for surface shipping (1-3 months!), $56.47 for EMS, $59.56 for DHL, and $59.66 for FedEx. I'll probably just go with surface shipping because I'm not in a rush, and I could buy another kit with that savings.

Just got my in stock purchase notice from HLJ for the Low Visibility 1/48 VF-1. Looking forward to seeing it in person, but I’m afraid to see what shipping will be for the two I ordered.

12 hours ago, Duymon said:

From Tag Hobby. Guess we're getting the normie TV pilot which isn't a big surprise. Follows the same vein as 1/72 Low Viz box

I know it's not an official history, but I like the way that Master File VF-1 books describes the TV flight suit as the original design, with the movie version as a subsequent, newer design. It makes sense to me that the TV version would have been designed as more of an atmospheric suit with the movie version tailored for deep space operations. I think the low viz scheme works well as a hypothetical early scheme for use on Earth as the VF-1 was first going into service, so the TV pilot makes sense to me. When I finally start making some progress with all the kits I've accumulated, I plan to use TV pilots in standard VF-1s (if I can get more of those pilots - may have to go with the Shapeways version). My Supers will get movie pilots for space operations later in the war.

I just pre-ordered two of the 1/48 low viz VF-1s from HLJ. I’ve always liked that scheme, and it’s good to see them expanding that line, even if it’s just another paint scheme. I’d love to see a 1/48 VF-1D too, and any other variant, for that matter.

On 11/6/2020 at 2:51 PM, KOG Water Dragon said:

This is great news for me since I've been wanting to grab an extra 1 or 2 Black Aces kits.

I just got my notice from HLJ yesterday that the Black Aces kits arrived, and my three are on the way. Really glad to see them release that model again - it’s my all-time favorite of the squadron schemes, since it includes the Super decals. I’m planning to build several different aircraft from the squadron and eventually use the decals from one kit to build a Black Aces Super Battroid.

I had the chance to visit family in Tokyo over the holidays - my first time back in four years, and only my second visit in the last 25 years (we used to go about ever other summer when I was a kid). I stopped by the Mandrake store in Shibuya, which I had never been to before, to see what they had as far as Macross books go. What an amazing collection of vintage toys and books in what felt like an old basement warehouse. Unfortunately, their selection of Macross material was fairly limited - some Yamato, Arcadia, and Bandai toys and a couple dozen books. The art books included about a dozen Master File books, but I have the ones I want, so I was looking for books from the This Is Animation series. I picked up the DYRL This Is Animation book, which I hadn't seen before, in what appears to be new condition for ¥1,600. The only other book they had that appealed to me was Kazutaka Miyatake’s Design Works book, but it was ¥7,000, and I had pretty much spent my entertainment budget at that point, so I held off. Kind of a limited selection, but I enjoyed the quick visit to a store that I've seen mentioned a lot here. I didn't have time to check out their Nakano location, which was close to where I was staying in Shinjuku, but maybe next time.

I really wish they would make the 1/72 VF-1 TV version pilot (from the Gerwalk kit) available separately or start including it in the VF-1 fighter kits. Maybe an updated version of the VF-1 weapons kit with both styles of pilot included.

That looks awesome! I’ll have to see if I can put together the funds for one before they sell out.

How tall is the completed model? Thanks!

On 5/25/2019 at 4:41 PM, DYRL VF-1S said:

Thanks! I keep debating opening it. It’s minty white plus the decals will be 35 yrs old. 

My brother bought the DYRL Hikaru Strike VF-1S in Japan when we were kids, the summer after the film was released. I got many, many hours of enjoyment out of it. Still have the box and most, if not all of the parts, stashed with the things I moved out of my mom’s house years ago. It’s all in rough shape, but it holds a lot of good memories. Amazing to see one in mint condition like yours.