HardlyNever

Ehh, probably a pass for me unless it hits the bargain bin.  I'm surprised and disappointed we're getting this instead of a VF-11 first.  I'd love a new vf-11 in chogokin or HMR.

5 hours ago, Jasonc said:

The one thing I like about PLA is that it has a large variety of different colors. That said, I've printed in several SLS printers now, and PLA wouldn't really be an option for me with those parts. It is a plant-based plastic, and while that normally isn't an issue, when looking for qualities similar to ABS, the fact that there are a lot of newer Core X-Y printers that can print in ABS a lot easier than just a few years ago, ABS is a much more accessible material. There's also PETG, and some other hybrids that are fairly simple to print. With ABS though, the only thing with it is that it is a toxic material to print, so anyone doing it, have great ventilation and use a respirator when in the room, garage, or area while it's printing. Same should be for a lot of materials, but especially ABS, along with a few others. 

As for best materials, I have a printer that does do nylon. It's even more expensive, but while it is stronger and more resilient in how it handles, it's limited in colors (usually white, or black if you mix with a carbon fiber mixture). 

Yeah, I was trying to give him an idea of what is readily available at consumer-grade level. I'm lucky enough to work somewhere that I have access to a lot of printers and materials ( from fdm printers to SLA , to resin, abs and carbon fiber), but I know most people don't have access to that.

If he can find someone or somewhere that can print in ABS, that would be ideal like I mentioned, but it still doesn't seem that common at the consumer level. PETG would be a good option and is becoming more readily available.

Also PLA has come along in the last few years. 5 years ago I would never try to do a part like that in PLA, but if that were my only option now, I think it would be fine.

On 8/31/2025 at 11:00 PM, wsna said:

Hi borgified - I remember reading about replacement parts for 1/60 Yamato/Arcadia VF-1 a long while ago. After I noticed my hinges (for swinging the out the arms to the sides) cracking badly and dropping an entire arm, I am thankful that I booked marked this thread. The link you posted is a ray of hope. Apart from getting the STL file, would you know what kinds of proven material do I use to print these pieces? Is there a "good" way to take apart and reassemble the joint with the least amount of damage as possible?

I am very thankful for our community online. Finding Valkyrie toys let alone from finding ways to mod or fix them is scarce or has always been non-existent.

Very Grateful - WS

I do a fair amount of 3D printing so I'll give you what advice I have.  (Un)Fortunately, I haven't had to do this repair myself, so I can't speak directly to how hard to is it do (but from what I've seen it is pretty straight forward).

As far as what materials, your most common options are going to be PLA (a type of plastic) or resin.  There are lots of other kinds of printers out there, including ABS (which would be ideal here), but most of those are more expensive.

For this type of thing, I'd probably use PLA, as it is more durable than resin.  It generally looks a bit worse (more visible print lines), depending on the resolution of the printer, but since this is a part you barely see, I don't think that is an issue.  As others mentioned, what color it is will depend on what color of filament you use.  Color matching the valk exactly with just filament color is going to be pretty hard.  Painting with thin coat of paint would probably be easier to get a much closer color match.

 A key thing is to keep the two metal parts (the pin and the screw) from your existing joint, as replacing those could be a pain.

Hope that helps.

So I was transforming one of these last night and I had a bit of a revelation: I think I know why Bandai went with the slip-fit vertical pegs (and only the vertical pegs) for the arms in fighter mode.  I think it's so you can drop the arms down and attach/remove the gun pod without having to move anything else (backpack/legs).  Maybe this was already figured out, or stated directly by Bandai, but it's first time I've realized it.  You can kind of do this with something like the yamcadia 1/60s, but I feel like you have to fiddle with the legs more to get the arms undone.

Does it make it the "correct" design choice?  Probably not, but at least I think I understand the logic behind it, finally.  I will say, it was kind of nice to be able to easily attach the gun pod when I realized I had forgotten to.  Probably not worth the other sacrifice to overall rigidity that they made, though.

Got my Ozma just before Christmas, but didn't have a chance to get him out until now. I also have ridiculously tight hips and the left ankle lock being a bit soft that others have reported.

He joins some other armored boys.

Got a shipping notice from Kappa Hobby for Ozma. 

Anyone have any info regarding release date for this beyond "November?"  Just wondering if there is any chance of getting this in hand next month for those that preorderd.

Still kinda torn on this.  Macross Plus is probably my second favorite entry in the franchise and I'm a fan of the yf-21.  I'm fine with it not being super line-art accurate, but higher-than-average risk of having a toy damaged right from the factory, plus the shoddy (seemingly half-finished) fast packs and overall compromised nature of this release have me holding off on this one.

There's still things I like about it, but I might just wait and hope it comes down below MSRP.  I think the asking price is too high for what they ended up delivering.

Looks like they're adding more Macross to Disney+ in August, but only in Japan.  I wonder if we'll get those outside of Japan.

https://www.siliconera.com/macross-joins-disney-august-anime-lineup/

7 hours ago, tekering said:

That Matchbox abomination on top makes me laugh. 😅

That one's near and dear to my heart.  That's actually one of the Playmates "reissues" they did of that mold in the 90s.  However the fast pack it has is from my original Matchbox from the 80s (sadly the rest of it is long gone).

I've also got a Matchbox Zentradi warrior down in the corner of the little Zentradi section.

Finally got my display set up at the new house. Some of this stuff has been sitting in boxes for over a year, so it was nice to get it out.

Good transaction with @Alphahorizon. Prompt payment and good communication.

Well, it sucks this looks to be coming out worse than anticipated, especially with the damage straight out of the box.

Seems like my theory that this will be a shelf warmer available on discount might come true.  Now it's a question of whether I even want to buy one at a discount.

Personally, I'm banking on this being somewhat of a shelf warmer, for a variety of reasons.  Hoping to catch it on a discount in the next 4-5 months.

Does anyone have any contacts with the state-side vendors (BBTS, Entertainment Earth) that they could check with?  Beyond just the standard customer service reps.  Maybe they could clear up what kind of release this is.

It seems weird that all the other Frontier releases would be standard "worldwide" releases, and this wouldn't, but with Bandai, anything could happen.

Yup, this is the one I was holding out for.

I'm down.

8 minutes ago, Focslain said:

Been playing since 2nd and still play to this day, usually on weekends.

Got a little bit of all the Imperium and most xenos armies, including a Macross inspired Tau force.

Most of the discussion here tends to be of the Joytoy variety these days. Collectors have to collect after all. 

Yeah, Macross Tau makes sense, probably looks cool.  Someone where I play made a "Riptide" out of left over Gunpla parts.

I put little UN spacy kits on some of my Grey Knights stuff, but it's really small and no one really notices it (or knows what it is).

9 minutes ago, Bolt said:

 You finished them quite nicely, good job .

 

Very nice looking armies you have there. I haven't played in about 10 years, but i still keep updating my Farsight enclave. 

Ah cool.  Yeah, it's really just one army (Grey Knights) and a little unpainted Drukhari.  Game is in a great spot now, best it's been since I've been playing (about 5 years) and I've talked to a lot of people that quit in 5th or 6th ed come back to the game and are enjoying it a lot more.  Might be worth giving 10th a try, I've had fun with it.

T'au just got a bunch of new Kroot models.

Just noticed this thread.  Does anyone here play, or it just about the Joytoy figures?

I guess I'd be part of the target audience for this.  I only have 1 VF-31 (Arad) and he's usually suited up in his sumo suit armored parts.  I like the VF-31, and the super parts but... I don't know if I care to get this.  Maybe will get it if/when it goes on discount from a stateside retailer (like Amazon).

Is anyone else concerned on the number of reissues/"revivals" we're getting at this point?  I know Macross is niche, and we haven't gotten a truly new IP in... like 8 years, but is this like... the beginning of the end?  Macross collecting just seems flooded with reissues, where as 5-6 years ago we were getting actually new stuff pretty regularly.

Yeah, I basically don't even bother with the "before times" ways anymore.  If its WWM, I'll get it through Amazon or another stateside vendor.  Otherwise, I either skip it, or if I really want it, just buy it second hand via Mandarake (and only Mandarake) like 6 months after release.  After getting burned by NipponYasan (like many others), I stopped using the import vendors, even though I know they aren't all bad.  The last pre-order madness I did was the 1/48 Hikaru DYRL VF-1S.  I don't miss that, and don't plan on going back.

And with sales like this, we're almost back to pre-COVID pricing.  Makes the hobby enjoyable again.

Amazon has these on sale, if anyone is still looking for one.  Just grabbed one for myself.

Macross 7 is my least favorite Macross by... quite a margin, but I'd still be down for the VF-19.  I think HMR is perfect for stuff you're only kinda sorta in to.

15 hours ago, Raikkonen said:

Question for everyone. How often do you transform your HMR and the joints and tabs still good after multiple transformations? 

Largely depends on the specific valk, but the TV Hikaru VF-1J is my "beater" HMR that I don't care too much about what condition it is in.  I've transformed it probably over two dozen times, and while it is notably looser than the others that I've only transformed a couple times, it still holds together well and can hold poses just fine in Gerwalk/Battroid.

I'm sure most people around here are aware of this fact, but the "Hi Metal" branding started way back when they were making the 1/55 "chunky monkeys."  I'm not exactly sure why they ever put "Hi-Metal" on the box (maybe someone knows the story behind that), but it's been a part of their branding for Macross since the 80s.

They brought back that branding around 2010 when they did the first reboot of the Hi-Metal line, which strangely, was just called Hi-Metal again (shouldn't that one have been Hi-Metal R?).  And now we're on the 3rd iteration of that branding with Hi-Metal R (R?).  There's never been a lot of metal in any of them; it's a branding thing.  Is it misleading? Maybe, but it's been around forever, and it's pretty clear this is meant to be, at least in part, a nostalgia bait line, so they're going to lean into that.

The chogokin line (超合金) isn't made out of... super alloys... whatever that would be, and people don't seem to complain about that.

I'm not saying I love the name, but it is what it is, and it's been around for decades, and I get why they want to keep that branding around.