Hagerstrom

2 hours ago, Lolicon said:

No that's pretty much it. It's really that easy. 

Okay, thanks. I'll give it a try on my Isamu YF-29.

On 10/26/2020 at 6:49 AM, Lolicon said:

Flory model washes are also good and very easy to use. Just use a moist paper towel or Q-tip to wipe off the excess.

https://www.florymodels.org/washes

Really impressed with the panel line effect you got on your YF-29.

Do you take any extra steps not described in the Flory models post? Is it just as simple as applying the wash, then wiping off the excess once dry?

On 10/26/2020 at 6:49 AM, Lolicon said:

Flory model washes are also good and very easy to use. Just use a moist paper towel or Q-tip to wipe off the excess.

https://www.florymodels.org/washes

Really impressed with the panel line effect you got on your YF-29.

Do you take any extra steps not described in the Flory models post? Is it just as simple as applying the wash, then wiping off the excess once dry?

On 9/9/2020 at 3:53 PM, MacrossJunkie said:

Yeah, I don't see why not.

Looking at that, I would start with 1 to see if that's enough to get out the blemishes. If not, then 2 and then 1. If that's still not enough then do 3, then 2, then 1.

Though some good advice is to test the 1 in a minor area you wouldn't really notice to make sure it leaves a polished glossy look to the plastic and not swirls. I'd also recommend putting some masking tape over the painted areas just so you don't accidentally damage or remove any paint.

Thanks to your advice, I managed to pretty much polish out the scratches on the nacelle and top-left wing (which, hopefully you can see in the before and after shots). I also bought some Tamiya fine polish, which helped to bring out a nice shine to the plastic.

Thanks again!

13 minutes ago, Paco Grande said:

 

I just received the DX YF-19 Full Set Pack and I was very impressed with the whole package except for the tail fins falling off. On mine it's both sides and if you look at it funny they will fall off. I just keep putting them back on. It's a flaw in the design. They should have put a pin in those hinges but I'm sure that would have ruined the look of the fins so they went with the crappy joint.

As for your scratches, they aren't ideal but I've seen much worse on other collector toy lines. For example, the white parts could be painted white with a different colour of white plastic underneath. That would make the scratches much more visible. 

I'm actually surprised you were able to return the figure for those issues. Where did you buy it from? Mine is from Nippon Yasan so I have no hope of returning it.

 

 

I bought mine from Ebay, The first return did produce a refund but the seller then claimed that I sent the YF-19 back broken. The YF-19 arrived back in Japan with both tail fins detached and the seller assumed the item was broken. I then had to produce annotated images of the YF-19 explaining that they do fall off and can be reattached.

The 2nd YF-19 is being posted back at the moment.

My original YF-19 does suffer from tail fins popping off but the problem with the replacements is that the tail fins do not fold out to the correct angle. The tail fins should fold out and stop. These tail fins also fell very easily compared to my original.

You can see from the image, the left tail fin is not seating properly compared to the right and does not fold out to the correct angle

2 minutes ago, MacrossJunkie said:

Yeah, I don't see why not.

Looking at that, I would start with 1 to see if that's enough to get out the blemishes. If not, then 2 and then 1. If that's still not enough then do 3, then 2, then 1.

Though some good advice is to test the 1 in a minor area you wouldn't really notice to make sure it leaves a polished glossy look to the plastic and not swirls. I'd also recommend putting some masking tape over the painted areas just so you don't accidentally damage or remove any paint.

I'll give that a try. Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

2 minutes ago, MacrossJunkie said:

You could try Tamiya's fine and finishing compounds for light scuffs. Or if you already have some polishing compounds for cars (for removing swirls from a car's clear coat), you could try that first. If that doesn't get the scratches out, you'll likely want to start with some very fine sandpaper before using the compounds. 

It's hard to judge from your pics, but I would guess that you should be able to get that out with compounds alone without having to resort to sandpaper. 

Okay, thanks. Do you think this would do... Novus Plastic Polish

32 minutes ago, MacrossJunkie said:

I think most of the Bandai DXs I had have had some scuffs out of the box. The problem is that the majority of them have a very glossy smooth surface so those scratches and scuffs show quite easily. Those surface scratches aren't too bad. They can usually be buffed out with some buffing compound and a microfiber cloth if you really felt like it, just be careful not to hit the painted areas. 

For me, since I do stuff like clear coating them, the scratches and other surface imperfections disappear with that too.

Thanks for the info. Do you have any recommendations for buffing compounds?

41 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

In general, the fit and finish of Bandai's valkyries has not been as good as Yamato/Arcadia releases.

BUT! Yamato/Arcadia valkyries have tended to have more catastrophic failures (usually on early versions of a particular line): cracked shoulders, broken legs, exploding arms, mismatched ankles, that sort of thing.

Bandai tends to have smaller but more numerous issues that are endemic to their valks and that Bandai will never acknowledge are a problem. They've improved a lot over the years for sure, but things like the YF-19 stabilizers falling off if you breathe on them too hard, miscellaneous scratches and chips all over the valk, weak tampo that flakes off, backwards modex numbers, locking tabs that don't actually lock anything/dependence on friction and hope to hold things in place, etc.

How serious or not these Bandai issues are will vary from person to person. Some peeps may not care or don't see them as problems.

The problems you (the OP) mentioned are endemic to all Bandai YF-19s.

My YF-19 has chipped navigational lights on the wing tips that I will have to touch up eventually. Others received their copies with broken head lasers due to poor packaging.

Also, someone at the factory vandalized every Bandai YF-19 with huge ungodly graffiti on the wings. 

I totally understand that some of these issues are down to the individual but getting the brand new YF-29 and seeing scratches on top of the toy is really frustrating.

19 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

The YF-19 is known to have a few issues with hinges being weak, though IIRC it was the leg-fins, rather than the tail-fins. It also had a lot of issues with the antenna arriving broken due to the box design.

On the whole though, you're either unlucky or are looking a bit too closely for imperfections. All toys are going to have minor issues, so hard to say how yours stack up without pictures.

The scratch on the nacelle is a bit difficult to capture.

13 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

The YF-19 is known to have a few issues with hinges being weak, though IIRC it was the leg-fins, rather than the tail-fins. It also had a lot of issues with the antenna arriving broken due to the box design.

On the whole though, you're either unlucky or are looking a bit too closely for imperfections. All toys are going to have minor issues, so hard to say how yours stack up without pictures.

Here's the scratches on the YF-29.

I've been slowly building my Bandai DX Macross collection but I seem to be having real trouble acquiring examples without issues.

The first YF-19 I bought was fine apart from the fact the panel lines were not great and after seeing better examples on this forum and else where, I decided to buy a replacement and then sell the original on Ebay,

Unfortunately the 2nd YF-19 arrived with a broken right tail fin. The tail fin wouldn't fold to the correct position and would fall off very easily. I returned this one for a refund and ordered another replacement.

The 3rd example arrived with the same tail fin defect but this time on the left side. Again, I returned the item for a refund.

On top of this, I received a YF-29 (Isamu version), with scratches on the top left wing mount and left engine nacelle from the factory.

I've bought all these examples as brand new f/s.

Has anyone else had similar experiences? Or am I just incredibly unlucky?

It's really taking the fun out of collecting these toys.

14 hours ago, Jasonc said:

This happened to just about all of my Milia 639 figures I had purchased, with the exception of one set that I received from Japan about 3 months ago. Maybe that set was in a cooler shop, but the ones that I opened in my closet, which usually stays quite cool, had signs of sweating oils out. Again, these I have only seen in those Yamato figures, and they aren't made of the same plastic that the Yamato/Arcadia valkyries are made of, as is with the DX valkyries. I think you should be OK.

 

My Yamato YF-21 I was handling the other day in the hot weather, the plastic felt absolutely fine.  Same with the Neca ED-209 I have, the plastic doesn't feel any different. It's because the YF-19 was expensive and I've been after one for a while that's making anxious.

1 hour ago, Mommar said:

I'm more struck by the idea 86 is considered a heatwave.

It's been hitting 36c in the south of England but it's my office that's been going up to 30c.

2 hours ago, MacrossJunkie said:

Yep, definitely try to keep them out of UV light. Personally, I keep the window blinds closed, the windows have a UV blocking film and all the lighting in the room is from LED lights. They provide the least amount of heat compared to CFL and incandescent lights and also the least amount of UV, and even then it's diffuse lighting bounced off the walls and such and has to go through the glass of the display cabinet so the negligible amounts of UV they produce is reduced further.

If one is worried about minimizing UV, definitely move away from fluorescent lights, particularly the CFLs. Even though it's not as much as sunlight, it's still a decent amount. I've had lamps with white plastic housing that have yellowed from fluorescent lights, particularly in the areas closest to the bulbs.

There might be other environmental factors like pollution/ quality of air or whatever.

Finally, there just might not be anything you can do. Sometimes there are just batches of plastic that destabilize or are just prone to yellowing and it comes down to luck I suppose. But I guess it's still better to control the factors you can control. People have had stuff that has never seen the light of day still yellow over the course of some years.

 

Appreciate the feedback. I only have LEDs in my office, so that should be fine. I also keep the blinds closed but since I don't have air con it's just the room temps that's a concern.

I was looking at getting a glass cabinet (https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/detolf-glass-door-cabinet-black-brown-10119206/), nothing too fancy.

Can't really enjoy the toy if it's storage.

6 hours ago, sqidd said:

UV light will do a lot more damage faster than temps will.

I think the toys that are in Styrofoam have more yellowing issues when they're stored. I think the foam breaks down then reacts with the plastic. A totally non scientific conclusion.

I had an old old Yamato YF-19 yellow on the bottom only. It spent about 10 years on a stained wooden shelf (on a Flightpose stand). I think that was a case of "off gassing" like Styrafoam does. I think it's plastic dependent too. I had a very old Gakken Ride Armor right next to that YF-19 and it didn't yellow at all.

Keep your toys out of the UV light and in a temperature stable environment if you can. Not a bad idea to kep them away/out of any material that is prone to off gassing.....like Styrafoam.

Thanks for the info.

9 minutes ago, spacemanoeuvres said:

Unless you keep them in a vacuum; they're all going to yellow and crumble to bits eventually.  You're mileage may vary; some folks have had valks for many years with no issues, while others have had them turn yellow after a short time.  There's a thread on yellowing Macross Frontier toys not far from the front page.

I totally understand what you're saying. It took me a while to get hold of a YF-19. so I want to keep it in the best condition I can.

19 minutes ago, Mog said:

There’s the potential for yellowing of the plastics.

Given that the YF-19 is already kinda beige or cream colored though, it may not be that noticeable.

If that is the case, that's frustrating since the YF-19 was expensive to get hold of. 

11 minutes ago, MacrossJunkie said:

Aren't Star Wars figures made primarily of pvc? I can see those degrading in higher heat, but the DX YF-19 is I think made of abs and die cast with no vinyl or pvc content (I think?). I believe those kind of temperatures should still be fine.

I can't find the post I saw but I'm sure they described the Star Wars figures as being PVC.

Here in the UK we're experiencing a delightful heatwave and I'm struggling to keep my office below 30c where I have my YF-19 boxed up in storage.

I had read on a collector blog that with Star Wars figures you should keep temps below 27c. Above that, the plastic would start to sweat with the oils coming to the surface.

Does anyone know if having temps around 30c can cause any issues to a Bandai DX toy?