Mr Jones

After a long while off building any models at all, started on the Hasegawa TV SDF-1 along with the PE set; TBH I'm rusty but its looking good so far ( I'll just accept most of the inaccuracies )

Hi -- I'm looking for a 1/72 VF-1 Valkyrie Atmospheric Booster from a 'real' casting. I have a boost launch vehicle that's calling to be built and I need a non-recast Booster to go with it.

Thanks!

6 hours ago, Perxion said:

Finally Yellow arrived!

I'm so jealous -- those look fantastic.

Damn - that is unfortunate; I hadn't preordered the fighter mode but that seems crazy to me ( unless HLJ screwed up on shipping costs for the Gerwalk in the first place - which is entirely possible ).

Keeps me away from the future impulse purchase..

18 minutes ago, mslz22 said:

Well unfortunately the response I got from HLJ customer service is that the $325 shipping is correct for DHL or Fedex.  Not sure why it's $240 more then it was less than a year ago for a smaller box but I had to request a cancellation for it.   Guess it's only gerwalk for me,  which is fine.

The Gerwalk wouldn't even ship from HLJ last time until I got a custom quote for shipping -- might be worth hitting up support as the shipping costs were nowhere near that amount via DHL.

It does look like it might be a different shape at least, which can cause havoc with shipping costs..

23 minutes ago, tekering said:

Care to see pictures of the fighter kit as well?

Since most of the runners are identical to the gerwalk kit (including the inaccurate backpack), I've only photographed the unique sprues for this release:

These leg parts, for example, are obviously specific to fighter mode (specific to legs in fighter mode with FAST pack attachments, in fact).

The landing gear bays are full of sculpted detail...

...but for a kit of this size, it's not very impressive.  

While the gerwalk kit included an array of stickers representing Fokker's VF-1S (Skull 1), the fighter kit comes with stickers for both Hikaru's VF-1A (Skull 11) and VF-1S (Skull 1) variants.

Anything else you want to see pictures of?

 

Looks nice -- I wonder how long it will take for someone to chop up the legs and make a non-Fast Pack version..

23 hours ago, Sanity is Optional said:

1/20 YF-19 kit would be an instant buy, so long as it wasn’t horribly malformed.

It'd need a YF-21 and a Ghost to go with it... I'd need a whole room for that

2 hours ago, Anasazi37 said:

Okay, here is a preview of the minimalist version of the decal set. I took out all of the large designs, but left in the yellow arrows because those are not necessarily easy to paint. I'm still working on the exact layout of everything, but you can at least see what's included right now. I can pare the set down even further, if needed.

Looks great. Looking forward to getting my hands on a set

To be honest its the same for me -- all the large scale black / coloured markings will be masked and painted -- its all the detail decals that are important to me. I'm on the fence as to which pilot I'd be doing too but all the main decals on a waterslide would be great.

2 hours ago, slide said:

Well it Looks excellent so far, but we need Details Man!

How are you mounting the packs?

Where'd the packs come from? A Hase kit? or did you pick up a Bandai SuperPack ?

Armament?

How will you paint her?

and more pics!!

Heh I'm still working it out -- they're Hasegawa from the fighter mode ( also looking at the packs from the Gerwalk as they seem to have a bit more detail ) 

I'm going to put VF-1 Weapon stores on it too -- basically inspired by this : 

Going to magnetize a few things for swapping around when I feel like it -- build a mount for the boosters and also make the fronts swappable for when I feel like getting all VF-4S or double cannon ( if I can dig up another cannon front for the pods ) : 

Working on my VF-4 build -- can't leave anything basic....

Inspired by some art in the VF-4 Master File

I forsee lots of interesting 3d printed and detail-up parts for this kit. I can't wait until I can start digging in on it ( in like 6 months :S ) 

I love all these changes -- I have a different plan for how to mount mine but I'm going need to do some reinforcing of some parts to pull it off. Also will come down to a lot of reposing but I think it's worth it. Being a bit secretive until I can mock it up

With shipping, original cost and duty ~$580 CAD. There was a 'cheaper' option with FEDEX but I refused that for the same reasons; they and UPS have terrible rates at the border. Gave DHL a chance ( since they do a good job when I order from Amazon.co.jp ) and it worked out. Will it again in the future? Who knows but this time it was good.

4 hours ago, TMBounty_Hunter said:

Did CBSA hit it?

Not bad at all -- I got hit with a total of ~$36 CAD

3 minutes ago, GMK said:

@Mr Jones - what scale is that CF?

Its one of the Hi-Metal-R ones -- so non scale but I believe somewhere near 1/100? 

Whee got my big box from HLJ ( via DHL ) -- quite exited -- took a peek inside and took some pictures because who could resist.

Couple other images at : https://imgur.com/a/0RbrzIV

Now to put it away until I move and have time to really give it the work it deserves :S

3 hours ago, tekering said:

I'm keeping the option open... which is why these panels are removable:

I don't think magnets will be strong enough to secure the boosters.  I'm relying on the existing mounting bracket, simply modifying it so that it can be taken in and out.

It should be recessed, I know, but it would seriously compromise the integrity of the booster mounts... at least, as Max Factory designed 'em.

Maybe I can come up with a secure method that doesn't require linking the boosters together...  

Technically, no.  As depicted in the line art and the animation, nothing should actually be visible there.  

Even the extreme close-up in DYRL is stubbornly featureless:

When it comes to official products and packaging, however, there is no consistency whatsoever!  

The more research I do, the more confusing it becomes.  

Thanks for paving the way -- I'm definitely taking notes for my build here  Frankly I might leave the intake they have but cover it in a fine mesh like speaker covering/nylon and perhaps light it from behind for a fun effect

3 hours ago, tekering said:

I make it 38mm in diameter, 382mm in length.

I doubt that.  The backpack pieces (including the folded wing flaps) are on a single sprue, and the panel that stick out the back would prevent it from fitting into fighter mode.

The shape is accurate, and I think it's a good model to emulate.  The detailing is all wrong, though.  

A great deal, yes.  What came as two separate pieces I cut into ten, and selectively removed edges (mostly cutting along sculpted panel lines) to create a smaller, more trapezoidal shape once the surfaces were glued back together.

I also made a thinner, more detailed antenna than my earlier attempt, built a special mounting plate to support the thrusters, and added those ubiquitous triangular shapes on either side (the most consistently seen panel detail on any drawing, toy or model, and the one Max Factory neglected to put there).  

  

The folded wingtips and trapezoidal panel above them were both removed and turned upside-down, so the sculpted detail on the panel lines would be visible.  

Now I can move onto the next challenge -- getting the legs and feet into a position that supports the model without requiring the stand...

 

I'm assuming at this point that you're not putting in the Fast Packs / Super parts? If you aren't, what are you doing with your leftover super cannon?

Seems like HLJ may get mine out the door today/tomorrow -- they took payment for my shipping so now just looking for notification on shipment itself. Avoided postal service since it was more expensive and also unlikely to arrive until June at this point with the way Canada Post has been on strike and backing up international reception.

Question for those who have the kit already - are there logical locations where one might set up the kit to be broken down ( like wings / legs / arms / super parts removal ) ? Because of its size I'm wondering if a bit of extra work being done to make it more portable might not be a bad idea and am considering how to get that done without having yet seen the kit in hand.

11 minutes ago, mslz22 said:

 

I know this may be a weird ?,  but has anyone in the US gotten a shipping notice at all?  I ordered one of these from HLJ and one from NYasan and HLJ won't let me pay for shipping and NY has been in prep to ship for like a week.   I paid shipping at NYasan

Is there a problem with the box size to US?

HLJ finally got back to me ( on the support site ) with shipping options, in this case to Canada. We'll see when they actually charge me now -- as an FYI to the Canadian folks here here were the options presented :

EMS: 15,500 yen
FedEx: 8,103 yen
DHL: 9,293 yen

Personally avoiding EMS since its more expensive and also probably won't make it through our postal strike until May 2019 at this point :P

3 hours ago, tekering said:

The bare Gerwalk assembled.  All it needs is an antenna, and a strap for the gunpod.  

No trouble at all.  

Now, let's look at some niggling details that are bothering me:

The trigger finger of the right hand has an inexplicable hole through it -- a very clean, perfectly centered hole -- and I can't possibly fathom what purpose it would serve.

Having properly mounted the legs by sliding them into the locking mechanism underneath, I'm left with an unsightly gap that doesn't look right...

The backpack mounting bracket leaves a strange-looking gap, too.  

This doesn't look like any Valkyrie toy or model I've seen before.  

The leg fins are lacking in any forward-facing detail, except for the ugly circles indicative of the injection-molding process...

...and yet, there's plenty of molded detail visible on the backside...!

Both leg fins have the same anomaly, and -- since they're symmetrically reversed -- they only fit into the specific leg they're designed for.  I think it's some kind of molding mistake.

More ugly circles on the inside of the feet... and while I love seeing the engine behind the verniers like that, the interior of the leg is otherwise an eyesore.

And finally, those boosters on the back are much too large, and they stick out way too far.  They'll require some major modification, if they can be used at all...  

All in all a good base it looks like -- some super-detail work is definitely on the books for this one; that + some electronics should take me the next 5 years to do  ( once I get HLJ to actually quote me on shipping -- its been since last week now that their support hasn't responded .. no auto quote in the system for it to Canada ( with our screwed up postal stuff right now I'm not completely surprised ) ) 

51 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

Wonder if they'd be willing to sell the pilots separately.  Makes me glad I don't have room for that huge kit though, it looks bafflingly underwhelming in all the worst ways.

The lack of waterslides is especially egregious, since it's not like 1/20th scale aircraft markings are something everyone just has laying around like they would for more common scales. 

Once I have the kit in hand i plan on looking into what it would take to get some well printed markings printed. I'll probably skip major colour separation stuff that can be masked and painted but instead look at all the greeblie little warning markers etc. I've always planned on this kit being a project rather than a snap build.

HLJ just charged me for mine; in my private warehouse but currently no calculated shipping options. :S