Pontus

1 hour ago, no3Ljm said:

@jeniusI didn't notice that earlier. Archie is right. The Strike Cannon doesn't need any mods to be fold down 90 degrees. The extra joint comes in the connector itelf (Strike Cannon connector that attaches to the Booster portion).

Well I'll be damned.  I did NOT notice that on mine as it was very stiff and the back of the connector popped out instead of the extra joint popping up.  I just looked at my cannon and, although I had to hold it down on its mount while forcing it around to get it to pop, sure enough, it popped up this time.  Well, anyway, I like my way much better.  Why have an extra joint that puts stress on the cannon mount points instead of just allowing the hinge to extend down farther?  Plus, that's not quite 90°, and with the extra joint, mine now comes past that down to right beside the head. 

Anyway, thanks for the tip!

Wow, I love this toy more and more every time I play with it! 

4 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

Nice. Thanks for sharing.

AFAIK, threads like this are basically everywhere. But mostly I see is in the Workshop! section. And we do actually have a Maintenance thread.

Anyways, looking forward to your mods.

 

 

Ok, from the description, I thought the workshop was more for modeling, but if this needs to be moved in there, that's cool.  I guess that's why I didn't see much of it here, duh.  I saw the maintenance thread which is why I thought it appropriate for this here. 

I was concerned about maybe making it too broad and thought maybe I'd limit this to 1/60 mods but talked myself out of it.  Would it be better if I just made my own thread in the workshop?  I'm just a big fan of reference threads where people can find scattered info in one place.

I was dissatisfied with the amount of angle you got with the strike cannon.  It didn't seem to be all that useful for a cannon to only have about 15° of range:

So I took out my trusty exacto knife and got to work:

Much better now.  It may be a cannon, but it doesn't have to be canon!   

Then I noticed that the arm missiles weren't glued in place, but they also don't come out.  So I took the two screws out, disassembled, and noticed that all I needed to do was shave down the sides a bit.  Be careful though - if you shave too much off, they'll just fall out, and if you shave too little, they will pry the sides apart and stress the little screws.  I did too much on one side, but a little creative melting of the tab fixed that right up.  I think they need some additional detail too... someday.

If there's already a thread for this topic, I was unable to find it in a quick search, but please let me know and I will continue there. 

What hacks/mods have you done to your valks?  Have you done any repairs that have left the valk improved over stock? (although I don't mean for this to become a repair/maintenance thread)  Has anyone added lighting or even electronics?  If you already have a project thread about this, post a link and I'll add it here for reference.  Perhaps we can make this a sticky reference post for all hacks/mods if this is a thing people do a lot of or are interested in.  If not, enjoy my own mods in the next posts.  I'll reserve this first post for links to project threads or posts below.  Feel free to post your own below and I'll link those here as well.

Personally, being Mr. Fixit for just about everything and working in the repair field, I'm not squeamish about taking things apart and making them better if possible, although I do suffer from a condition known as "scope creep" among vehicle project circles where the scope of a project tends to creep unsustainably larger until you've got a monster you can never hope to tackle.  Just ask my motorcycle and camping van.     And this new obsession is no different as I'm already forming big plans for lighting and modding my 1/60 VF-1S and making a large, well lit SDF-1 model (that hopefully transforms) based on the papercraft model.

Anyway, I'm eager to see what others have done and hoping we can share ideas and do cool things.  Cheers! 

Also, if you have issues like @jenius describes in his review where your tail section never lays flat, you can make a little slot where the backpack thrusters meet the... wing base?  Anyway, cut a slot there and it will snap together in fighter mode much better.  Also note the aforementioned pin off the right on the chest piece - much better than tiny plastic ones.

3 hours ago, Mazinger said:

The fighter mode on those things isn’t horrible. I have one that’s falling apart. Been thinking about glueing it in place as a fighter.

On mine, the tiny plastic pins broke on the piece that allows the chest to assume fighter or battroid position.  At first, I tried to find a tiny drill bit and put a pin in from a piece of paperclip, but then I realized it was plastic and that, being in electronics repair, I had sharp dental picks and a soldering iron.  Worked wonders.  You can see the pin I installed in my pics if you look at the chest piece.  It's a PITA to get that little plastic piece to snap back into the body tho and it comes out easily.  I'm thinking of putting in another pin there.

Yesterday, I decided to put a little more lipstick on the pig,and got creative with some sharpies and highlighters.  Yes, I know the coloring on the missiles is not cannon, but I just wanted to add some color.  I also added the marker lights and whatnot.  Why does every valk use blue instead of green for the starboard side?  That's just wrong.  The standard color world over for starboard side markers is GREEN and it just makes sense since the sky is BLUE.  And yes, I realized after painting it that the red band is broken across the air brake, but why is it not so on the VF-1S?  I think it looks better this way.  I need to put the stickers on too but haven't gotten to it yet.

I came home last night to find my HMR Hikaru VF-1J came in the mail.  This completes my HMR collection - all that I desire anyway.  Now I have good, high quality toys of all the important characters from the TV show plus some excellent accessories... except Misa, but there doesn't seem to be a decent model of her that's poseable.  Maybe Kitzconcepts will come out with one.  And Global would be nice (although, I sort of see the SDF-1 as being his machine).  Someday I might get Kamjin's glaug, a regult, and a Monster but by the time my account recovers they'll probably be too expensive and/or rare.  I'm happy with what I got though.  I've already gone down the rabbit hole more than I wanted to.  Told myself I only wanted Roy's VF-1S 1/60, then added more than a few lengths of rope to my rappelling rig, but I haven't fallen in yet.   It seems like I chose an excellent and very fortuitous time to discover and collect these things considering that most of what I bought came out in the last year or so.  It was meant to be!

And yes, I've had it open which is why it has the TV hands attached, but my wife has started complaining about edging out her stuff on the shelf, so it's time to start making my own space.

1 minute ago, borgified said:

The first thing that you want to do in your copy if the YF-19 Full set is: Loosen up those hip joints!

Don't be like @onnasake and have your valk legs sheer off during the transformation. Watch out for those canards on the shins and other notable items that we all have experienced here.

Oh.. Don't forget to have a bottle of shock oil on hand (if you have).  

Thanks for the tips!  Shock oil tho?  You mean like suspension shocks like motorcycle fork oil?  Or is this a brand?  I need to do the same for my 1/60 VF-1S shoulders.  I haven't broken them yet surprisingly.  I was going to attempt to take them apart and lightly sand them, but perhaps this shock oil trick will help.

I can't wait to get mine!  The seller took 3 weeks to ship the damn thing where it seems to be sitting at the local Japanese post office for the past 8 days.  I'm getting more than a bit impatient.  I've watched Jenius's videos so many times that a majority of his views are probably from me, and I've got the transformation memorized (I hope).  As for difficulty transforming it, I figure if I can learn to love the Yammie 1/72 YF-21, this will be a breeze.

4 hours ago, Convectuoso said:

 Not really into going the Toynami route 

Yeah, I bought the recent Roy and Hikaru Rick releases because they were cheap and I was curious, but they both broke immediately with careful handling.  I had to fix one with a metal pin just to keep it together.  I don't know how they even assemble them without breaking them.  Cheap POS.  But, that said... I pose them everyday at work, and for $35 (ok, they're only really worth $20), they aren't totally horrible for a toy you don't care much about, don't mind other people handling (it's funny to watch them freak out when it falls apart on them) and can actually play with.  And you don't have to wait for them to ship internationally!

3 minutes ago, tekering said:

Kakizaki's VF-1A was, technically, distinct from the "bog standard..."

...albeit, only slightly.

 

Haha, I knew someone was going to call me out on that one.  I suppose I could paint it.  But there was no HMR Kakizaki, I didn't want to mix in Toynami with my HMR, and anything else was too expensive and didn't match scale.  I'm not picky.  It's Kakizaki enough for me.  I wish there were more Kakizaki valks, and they should each and every one come with a tiny, very large steak complete with cutting board, even if not to scale, just like an inch long.

I took my Toynami toys to work for displaying on my computer.  I forgot to take Roy's hands with me at first, but he made fast friends with Haggis the "hah ree coo" (Scottish hairy cow).  Now Roy and Hikaru have decided to take up farming...

Hikaru, CATCH!  mmmMMMOOOOooooo....

Roy, Hikaru, and Haggis go skipping through the fields.

We're under attack!!! Quick, get Haggis into the barn!

Time for some valkyrie yoga!

Haggis helps load up the missiles. (Just noticed that I put the wheels on the wrong way)

Kakizaki forgot he was wearing his new GBP armor and accidentally hit the G switch.  You're doing it wrong Kakizaki!

No like @S... oh, a popup box comes up when you type @something.  Nevermind.  It didn't work in my original post though.  I'll try again.

How do you make proper attributions like that?

Well, I guess it's time to make an introductory post now since it doesn't look like I'm getting the rest of my toys anytime soon (I was hoping to do them all at once).  Hello MWF!

I've been a Macross fan since being introduced to it by a fellow anime fan back in... '03.  And I loved Transformers in the 80's as a boy and had a Jetfire toy that I cherished. 

Anyway, I've seen the original Macross TV series several times, own it on DVD, and it's one of my all time favorite shows ever.  I also loved Macross Plus.  So, when Amazon put the original TV eps up on Prime video, I of course had to watch it again with my 4yr old daughter who also loved it.

And one day about a month ago, I randomly thought to myself, "I wonder if there were any vintage Macross toys in Japan..."   Boy was I surprised to find currently manufactured toys for a 30yr old show.  So after a bit of research (thanks @jenius!!!) I bought one... then more... then a few more just to round out the collection.  But I did try to be economical and only got the bare essentials .  I started with a 1/60 Vf-1S Skull Leader with fast packs cuz Roy Focker is focking awesome and my favorite:

I like the price, durability, and detail of the HMR line, so I picked up Max and Milia at first:

You'll might notice a box in the background from Kitzconcepts.  I'm not into figurines, but if I was going to collect Macross toys, I had to have Lynn Minmei:

I then noticed a distinct lack of Kakizaki's valk in the HMR line until I realized that he never had a custom valk in the TV show, just a bog standard brown VF-1A, so I picked up an HMR of that.  Edit: I read that wrong somewhere, but the HMR brownie was close enough for me - maybe I'll paint it appropriately someday.  I also found out about FEXT which is so much better (and cheaper) than any of the other GBP armor out there (despite being non-cannon), so now Kakizaki is appropriately armed to the teeth:

I quickly realized that I needed some organization of extra bits and bobs, so I picked up a Plano tackle box.  I didn't even realize it was in sortuva Macross Blue until I got it home:

This was all expensive enough to get me in serious trouble with the wife, but after seeing reviews of Bandai's DX YF-19 full set (probably my favorite valk second to Roy's) I had to have one.  Unfortunately, the Japanese seller waited 3 weeks to ship it whereupon it has sat at their local post office for another week with no further updates.  I hope it gets here one day.  Anyway, if I have a YF-19, I had to get a 21 as well... but decent 1/60 21s are WAY too expensive.  So, despite bad reviews, I picked up a 1/72 Yamato V2 for a very decent price.  I see why the reviews are so bad, it is a major PITA to transform or do anything with!

Is this post getting too long?  Sorry, I went a little crazy buying these things.  I also wanted to have at least 1 enemy, but I didn't wanna spend much on it, so I picked up a Revoltech Regult:

I really wanted a large SDF-1 model, but was disappointed with my options,most of which were movie versions.  The only one I was interested in was the original Matchbox toy, but they were going for stupid money or broken, badly used, etc.  But after seeing some papercraft projects like @Nyankodevice's beautiful models I was inspired to pick up the book.  It's also stuck in Japan, so in the meantime, this little guy will have to suffice:

I'm still waiting on an HMR VF-1J Hikaru, but I did get some FEXT OWL armor for him:

I'm also waiting on a Robot Spirits Queadluun Rare (the gray one) to ship from Japan.  I wanted Miria's Q-Rau, but it's a bit hard to find and expensive when you do.  And the Q-Rare is better with the shoulder cannon and such, so I figured I'd just fudge it and paint it in the Miria scheme.  I'm not picky.

And, other than some misc display bases, that's about it for now.  I've got big plans for the papercraft project and I'd like to carefully attempt to add some lighting to my VF-1S skull, so look for my posts about those later.  Cheers all, and thanks for having me! Now let's see how the site handles this insanely large post...

They contacted me last night, and they're shipping my missing piece today!    And I got my 102F in the mail last night.  Kakizaki is now properly and characteristically armed. to. the. teeth!  And the teeth are missiles!  This armor is so much fun because it doesn't hinder articulation much.

19 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

Had the exact same issue on one of mine. Emailed them, got a response back, and they shipped me the cover to install. I'd say give them a few days, and if they haven't responded poke them again.

Ah, thank you, phew.  Good to know how they handled it.  I emailed on Jan. 5th and again on the 8th, so I guess I'll wait. 

I should have had some patience ordering as well.  They only had the 101 for sale at the time and all others were out of stock.  I figured they probably only had a limited run, and I really wanted the 102F with the gattling guns and shoulder cannons (especially since none of the HMRs I bought had them), so I gave in to the scalper on ebay charging double.  Now I see that they have them available again.  facepalm (how is there no facepalm emoji?)

Has anyone had any issues contacting Fext?  I got a set of 1/100 armor that was missing a piece, but they have refused to reply to my emails.  I'm missing the shoulder cover.  Has anyone else had issues like this, and if so, how was it resolved?