dero

I managed to get mine and complete it out over the last weekend.

Overall, I love the shape and presentation.  The decals and colour separation could have been better.  So many places after I had snapped things together, referring back to the instructions showed indications where paint would need to be applied to improve the look and feel of the kit.  Did some disassembly and painting so there's a bit better looking a colour separation to it.

What got me the most niggles of all were the decals.  So many big narrow long ones that caused me to damage a few and not have a couple sitting snugly in certain places.  What niggled me more though were the decals that went on top of other decals!  These decals area already presented in 4 colours.  Why couldn't they use a 5th colour or re-use the same 4th colour to print that additional layer onto it rather than needing a second decal to go on top of one already applied?  Weird design choice for sure.

The thing I've noticed as differences between GFFMC, MB to Metal Robot Damashii while scale is one of them, the stand is definitely another.

I've got a MRD Strike Freedom and was lucky to also be able to land a set of the effect parts.

However I don't have it on permanent display because the stand is quite naff.  There's no real ability for me to adjust where's it's directed or angled.  The stand is a straight vertical block and all the way the arms are positioned effectively set it to really only be in full burst display and not much else.

Does anyone have suggestions to being able to make it be displayed more dynamically posed?  Could an Action Base 5 be used to give it more dynamic flying posed positions and angles?

1 hour ago, kajnrig said:

Thanks for the clarification, @dero. That's a shame about Amiami/CDJ/et al. Seems kind of heavy-handed on Bandai's part... Wouldn't a cease and desist have sufficed?

If you think about it, it was a cease and desist...  Thus CDJapan, AmiAmi and the like have taken their Gunpla off their site's listings.

Bandai's priority is their local market.  The scalpers and resellers were negatively affecting the Japanese builders being unable to get any stock.  Bandai's affecting that situation first while production capacity builds to enable a release of the taps to the overseas markets.

I think by the time this happens, the overseas wholesale and distribution will have reconfigured somewhat because the international market purchasers will be sourcing their purchases from elsewhere.

Yeah I don't know to be honest.  None of this really affects me personally because the majority of my kits have been second hand buys off Facebook Marketplace of recent years.  

There has been the odd occasion that I have gone and purchased at a retail store but I think it was nearly 2 years ago with an MG XN Raiser.  I also don't think the scalping situation is something that really affects Australia all that much because Australian prices by basic default is scalper pricing anyway.

Many times during the initial phase of my entry to the hobby I'd see a kit which Bandai recommends to be ¥2,200 be sitting on store shelves for $AU35-45 where a direct conversion it should be $AU25.  It's this alone that has had me shy away from retail purchases for the most part.  I got banned from Facebook Gunpla groups because I asked what I thought was reasonable questions to why the pricing of kits was so much over what Bandai RRP sets them at... I guess the importer asked favours to stop the questioning.

I honestly don't have answers to why Bandai is doing this nor how much of a negative effect that scalpers have been having against the JDM Gunpla towards their stock shortages.  I hope though that my above post will help give some understanding to some who are experiencing some of the negative effects to why their usual suppliers aren't able to supply stock.

I was late on the Metal Build side of things and never was able to get any of the 00 MB series.

This Devise is quite alluring - especially so given that it looks quite a lot like the base Exia but with an updated backpack.  It's still super sleek and gosh that makes it look great. 

I might try to get onto the pre-order for it.  Generally what time does pre-orders open for these products in Japan time?  4pm there?

Where would be candidate locations I should refresh pages go for?

Bit of clarification has come to this Bandai notice.

• It's to do with the local stores which does sales and shipping overseas
• Specifically with the stores that did not have any purchase restrictions to what an account could buy
• Bandai understood that stores like CDJapan and AmiAmi were selling bulk loads of kits to accounts who would do secondary re-sale overseas with their mark-up
• This was causing continued stock shortage in the JDM and given JDM is the most important/biggest market for Bandai then they did this to protect their most important customers
• This only affected the retail stores that sold unrestricted numbers overseas
• HLJ always has imposed limits on order numbers and thus aren't affected
• BlueFin/Bandai USA are importers and distributors and thus aren't affected
• HobbyCo for Australia are the same as above, not affected
• Other Japanese distributors who's business model is to sell in bulk are also not affected
• Bandai has also been working on increasing their production capacity to further future proof and alleviate the stock supply shortages in the long term

So if you used to buy from a reseller where you never knew their source and now they don't have ability to sell anything - the above is the answer.

You may need to switch to HLJ or any other local or local-online store that sources their kits from importer distributors like BlueFin or HobbyCo.

This negatively affects those who live in countries that don't have an official Bandai import and distribution license and their only source of kits has been from the secondary resellers who purchased from places like CDJapan and AmiAmi - for these people, it'll have to be importing their kits from places like HLJ from here on till Bandai has been able to increase its production capacity significantly.

Those colours are amazing.  The gradient change of white to purple on the funnels looks super lovely.

This 30th anniversary colour version of the 29 is probably my most favourite of all the DX VFs I own.

I've been looking at it and its starting to have some yellow discolourations on some of the white pieces.

I've been doing some reading and see that there are people who have had success with removing the discolouration with 12% peroxide and a plastic bag.  I'd be intending to be very careful to only paint the peroxide on places where the discolouration has occurred (fuselage, wings, legs)

1. Has anyone's 30th Anniv YF-29 been experiencing some yellowing?
2. Has anyone tried cleaning it with the peroxide and sunlight method?
3. Would doing #2 have an effect towards the painted decals that are on the white areas of the plastic?

I got a PG Banshee and went all out to accessorise it as much as possible.  VN/BS pack, LED, Delpi Decals, metal detail up parts... then finally what works out as a very good case for it - it's actually sized for a Lego Lion Voltron kit but the dimensions works well enough for this.

I call it the Banshee Neo edition. 

Guns... all of them.

Has anyone got a copy of the GFFMC Zaku II figures that had Katoki design attached to it?

Are they a worthwhile pick up?  Or would there be some other figure that would arguably be more worthwhile getting?

After Christmas I was able to invest in and get a bigger display cabinet so I could expand my collection out of the single Detolf that they were all in for however many years they were there.

With the expansion in space, I was finally able to put on display the VF-25F that I'd had sitting in its box for well over a year.

2 questions.

1) When I bought the VF-25, I also purchased a Smoke Clear display stand in with it as a bundle.  I've subsequently read that it doesn't fit exactly with the renewal version that I have.  Is that correct?

2) I need to invest in a second Yetistand... but I've also read that Yeti has been out of action here for a little bit... is there any likelihood or means to be able to purchase a stand with his website being down still?

Amazing... such an old DX and even still, the pre-orders sell out within 15 minutes of opening.

https://www.gundam-base.net/special/rg_unicorn_twc-lm.php

RG Unicorn, light up edition!

Ooh, thanks.  It's essentially only a $5 on top of the P-Bandai price by getting it via Nippon Yassan.

I didn't think about this place.  Thanks!

11 hours ago, F360 said:

Metal Robot Strike Freedom WOL and hi-mat Full burst effect set . TWE 6264 yen

http://p-bandai.jp/item/item-1000124576/

P-Bandai?

So... it's all of a sudden hard to get.

Any suggestions to where to keep a watch on for pre-orders?

Aah ok.

I'll end up getting a Mr. Mark Setter and a Mr. Mark Softer bottle instead of the Micro-Sol pair now.  I looked up a YouTube video and they seemed to work easily enough.

1. Apply Mark Setter onto location
2. Slide decal onto location
3. Mop up excess
4. Apply Mark Softer onto top of decal

This will be good for those kits which have a nice surface finish on them to avoid ruining them with the use of a top coat.

On 14/01/2018 at 11:39 PM, anubis20 said:

Well i can say im 100% done with kit  it has been hell up to this point, just yesterday when i was about done the leg fell and ankle joint broke  had to repair it with a pin. Overall its not a bad looking kit but the transformation is a chore and it just doesnt look good out of the box with stickers. Moral of the story is never feel bad about paying $200+ for the DX 

What pulled me into Delta was the delta wings of the bird.

At first I wasn't all too sure about paying for the DX so ended up buying the 05 kit also.  Built it and it's sat unlined and without decals and stickers for the longest time.  I ended up buying the DX of the 02 and am supremely happy with it.  I've resolved to also get the decals onto this bird and permanently display it in fighter mode only.  It at least deserves this much.

Looking at the decals though... man it's daunting - there's so much of it!  Stickers, dry transfers and waterslides!  It'll take me a couple of weeks to get it done I think.

23 minutes ago, arbit said:

No, I am referring to a different product called Mr. Mark Setter.

The image above is of a different brand called Micro Sol that I have not tried in the way you want, so I can't vouch for it. But Micro Sol is definitely great for decals.

Neither are to remove: one is to set decals, and one is a solvent for a different use, to shrink the decal to conform to uneven surfaces. 

Google a "how to" in youtube.

Got it.  Thank you for the clarification!

9 hours ago, arbit said:

I have used Mark Setter for decals on toys/models that I didn't want to top coat. With regular handling they will not come off.

I'm a little confused with this product - so the Mark Setter is the bottle with the blue markings?

This bottle with the red markings is meant to remove the decals?

On 1/8/2018 at 1:34 PM, derex3592 said:

good progress for day one of the build.. .. 

Looks like a great build.

Question though about the Micro Sol you have in the photo - this is the stuff that sucks in the waterslide decals hard onto the surface?  Does it mean that using this stuff, there's no requirement for top coating the kit to keep the waterslides on long-term?

What's the difference between the two Strike Freedoms which has been out and to be coming out?  The Metal Build vs the Robot Spirits version upcoming in a few months' time?

Scale?  Detail?  Style? Proportion?

On 19/12/2017 at 5:51 PM, Golden Arms said:

The top shouldn't affect the Titanium finish at all.  

Bandai never stops production of their gundam kits.  I would order it from HLJ.  If not it stock, they will restock.  I've done this with several of their gundam kits.  They've even rstocked some that were limited production release ( RG unicrorn with unicorn cover).   

 

Thanks for this knowledge.  I'll just keep an eye on things and pick the kit up whenever it comes back into stock.

I did however also did some more looking around and there were some Reddit recommendations that a top coat would not go nice with the titanium finish of the plastic.  Recommended instead to use something like some Microscale Micro-Set solution for the decals to further suck the decals onto the surface.  I guess I'll do that.  Small amounts can be applied and mop-up to minimise run-off, etc.

Thanks for the advice - some of it I understood already - my major question was would the top coat applied to the kit, would it negatively affect the titanium finishing?

I guess it doesn't matter too much now though because I contemplated too much... the shop I was considering buying it from sold it yesterday.

Does Bandai continue to make these Titanium Finish editions of the kits or is it done once, all done type of thing?  I may end up just having to wait and when I've cleared off some of the kits in my backlog, it may end up being the non-glossy version of the Nu Ver.Ka.

What's the opinion of the special edition "Titanium Finish" variants of kits?

More specifically, I really quite like the look of the RX-93 Nu Ver.Ka and came to the understanding of there being a Titanium Finish version of it.  Looking at the images and videos posted online the slightly darker colours of the kit are nice and the coating catches the light so the differing angles coming out of the panel lines makes for not needing to actually panel line the kit.  This sort of stuff appeals to me.

The question I have though is relating to the waterslide decals.  A Ver.Ka kit is nice because of the usage of these decals.  In previous history, after a few years, I've always found that waterslide decals dry out and flake off or lift off.. ultimately losing the joy of the look that would be brought about in the kit.  Stuff that I've read is that one of the reasons for applying a top coat spray is to seal the decals in and prevent this dried lift-off that may come down the line.

A concern I have though for doing this for sealing the decals in is that the top coat will adversely affect the titanium finish of the kit itself.  Major question out of this post - will a top coat negatively affect the overall look and presentation of a Titanium Finish variant kit?

On 30/11/2017 at 6:07 AM, kajnrig said:

 

@dero Does the Astray come with the older style thumb/trigger finger/three finger hands? Or are those fully articulated? Or even better, fixed pose? I like what you did, and the stickers look really good, all things considered. I guess that soak in the water didn't harm them very much.

The Red Frame comes with what I am lead to believe is the standard MG hands.  Articulated thumb and first finger, the last three are a single piece.  No fixed pose hands.

Stickers - majority of the stickers I actually left off because I ultimately didn't like the look it presented to the kit when applied.  The majority of what's on there are dry transfer decals.  I think the only stickers that managed to stay on the kit were the Tiger Pierce and Gerbera Straight name stickers which went onto the scabbards.  The water soak didn't do them too badly.