mitch

First of all, thank you Graham and everyone else for the photos. A lot of us have been waiting for these for a while now.

Now comes the bit where I take this all a bit too seriously (apologies in advance)...

The die cast metal supporting the shoulder frame is unpainted and does not compose well with the glossy cheap plastic of the figure. IT MAKES IT LOOK LIKE A TOY and not an accurate representation.

...Isn’t this a TOY thread? Sorry VFTF1, it's your opinion, you are entitled to it, this is a forum for expressing these opinions and I completely agree with your right to voice it (except for maybe that power ranger remark. I call that a low blow, sir!), but this is a product by Bandai. A maker of toys. I totally agree that the 25 is not perfect, but when you consider that the VF-1's that they did were essentially Takatoku molds, I guess technically the MF valks are only Bandai's second attempt at completely manufacturing valk toys (not counting banpresto, obviously, I have nothing good to say about that whole fiasco). This does not excuse their cutting of corners and taking certain liberties with the design. Yamato would totally do a more line-accurate job of it, but you know what..? Ain't never gonna happen. No way, no how. I'd bet Bandai hold onto that licence until long after we're dead. If an agreement can be worked out between the two companies I will eat my hat, but not until we see a Nightmare or Excalibur from Yammie. As far as transforming MF Valkyries go, it's the kit (brittle), the 100s (no 'perfect' transformation), or the DX.

Okay, let's take a deep breath and try to look on the bright side...

Ginrai is right that the hot water/cold water technique does usually work, so the head-lazers are not quite as big a deal for me.

A couple of Graham's pictures show that the 25S DOES indeed have a neck! It's not as well proportioned as some of the initial prototype shots had led some of us to believe, but it is capable of peeping over it's carapace. I can live with that.

The landing gear IS kinda stubby and rudimentary, but compared to Bandai's VF-17's sorry attempt it is inarguably a step up, as is the inclusion of pilots, stubby and lacklustre as they may be.

It does have loads of tampo printed details, and if you don't like the gloss finish, I recommend a quick mask and sprits of testors dullcote spray kept at room temperature (I know that some may say to this 'why should I have to do work on a toy I just paid $100+ for?’ to which I reply 'Why should I pay $100+ that could potentially snap at the [insert joint of choice here] after a couple of transformations?').

We are witnessing Bandai's baby-steps into high-end Macross merchandise.

The price-tag and Japanese website exclusive accessories just suck. No silver linings there. But still, when has being a fan of macross been easy? Whether you are in the Bandai or Yamato camp over this whole thing, I think we can all agree that we all have to go to some expense and effort to fuel our hobby and appreciation of the Macross franchises. We have to hunt and search and save and persevere for the items that we feel will add to our collections. It unfortunately comes with the territory.

Anyway, I'll shut up now. I take the position that it is not as bad as many of us had feared it would turn out to be. It could have been better, but we can still hope for upgraded re-releases (packaged with full armor maybe? HINT HINT, Bandai!) In the meantime I still stand by my preorders, and may even get around to doing some custom head lazers and neck extensions after I finish my next project in the new year.

Hang on... slightly squashed proportions? diecast components? Tampo printed details? Ideas for customizations?

It's official...

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Chunky Monkey of the 21st Century... The VF-25 DX!

I think it may be the emperor's birthday on the 24th which is a national holiday.

Show me the neck!! SHOW ME THE NEEEEEEECK!!! The suspense is killing me!

I would prefer t know sooner than later if I'm going to have to figure out how to customize one or not.

VF-25 custom chunkies FTW!

Hey everyone.

So the pilot experiment seems to be working. I got a nice little casting with only a few minor bubbles on the surface from tiny air pockets in the mold which were quickly taken care of with an exacto knife. I've started work sculpting the shoulder pads with some miliput epoxy putty in the few moments I've had spare, and it looks promising so far.

As of now, I've also got together some of the materials I'll need for the hands, missile pods, thigh joints and have a re-cast strike pack ready to be worked on. I'm off home for Christmas and new year, so I'll be getting started in January. I promise I'll get some photos taken and put up when I'm back so I can start to spruce this thread up a bit. Thank you again to everyone who has posted messages of advice and support, I hope I can put together something that is worthy of being displayed alongside the awesome customized specimens we see on the boards and in the galleries here at MW.

Happy Holidays everyone!

I put some cash aside as soon as I knew Bandai were coming out with the 25's and pre-ordered the Alto and Ozma from BBTS before the price went up. I've got a few things from them in the past and they've always been good. I also bit the bullet and ordered the super pack from over-drive (I figured if I was going to shell out so much on these things I should do it properly or not at all).

On a related note, I am enjoying 'chili' ramen noodles this week. I find alternating flavors helps.

I own some Yamatos, but I honestly prefer Bandais because of the sturdiness, and I like to play with them often. Of course, I would prefer them to be a bit more line-accurate (hence my Yamato purchases), and the VF-17 could lose the gut on fighter mode,and God knows a few more points of articulation would make a lot of difference, but as well as being a huge fan of the various macross incarnations, I really admire the engineering that goes into making a transformable action figure. The Bandai transformation process has always been 'perfect' (give or take a heat-shield), and living in an earthquake zone has reinforced my appreciation for tough designs. I'm holding on to that thin thread of hope that the S does in fact have a neck lurking somewhere in it's admittedly burly shoulders.

At the very least, Bandai appear to be trying to make an effort - they have shifted to 1:60 scale to tie-in to a majority of valks recently, and they do look to be of a better standard of accuracy than the VF1's and M7 releases (the inclusion of pilots for a start). Hell, even the landing gears don't look so bad when you look at them next to the 17's! No, I fully admit they don't look 100% anime accurate, but being a fan of the Chunky VF-1's I'm willing to give them a shot.

All that said, if the QC sucks, I'm going to be REALLY pissed! Like, $400 worth of pissed!

So come on Bandai, don't screw this up! VF-25's FTW!!!

Of all the sealers I've used so far, nothing gets a better flat finish than Testors Dullcote laquer. Unfortunately, you need to air-brush it on a low psi for best results, and I'm not sure if the laquer would react negatively with what you've used so far, but it will take the shine off of almost anything painted, and from what I understand laquers have the toughest properties.

Either way, I'm seriously impressed with what you've done. designing and making a transforming figure requires skill and 4-dimensional thinking that I really respect. Good stuff!

NOOOOOO! Another neckless 25S promo shot! What the hell? I'm sure the early prototypes had a neck! I'm sure they did!

Did someone at Bandai say half way through production 'Hmmm... lets loose the neck in that one. No one will notice.'?

WHYYYYYY?!

I stand by my preorder, but they're really making me worry about it so close to the release...

Crazy awesome! Nice work man!

As far as the durability/visual aesthetic debate, I would humbly like to mention that as a resident of an area that is earthquake prone I highly value the sturdiness of a toy (especially one that I would be forking over so much for). I hate going through a 'quake at work and thinking to myself "Did I leave that VF-1 in Battroid or Fighter mode? Will I come home and find my custom VF-19 in 5 different pieces after it does a face-plant off it's stand?". I was happy when I heard bandai would be tackling the 25 series. I've been happy with the quality of their product before. Yes, they are kinda chunky, and yes, the M7 line could have benefited from maybe 4 more parts of articulation on each figure that would have bade them a lot better in terms of poseability alone, but I do like them. A bit more diversity of new and re-releases would be nice too, but I'm still happy with what I've got from them so far.

From what I've seen so far I personally like the look of the DX. I just hope to God that the 25S does in fact have a neck and the last few months of shots have ALL been either mistransformed, suffer from some kind of loose prototype-stage casting that is loose and will be corrected in the next stage of production (hell, it could be what's been holding up the release date? ). I'm a big fan of the S's and I hate to see a really nice design to look like it's constantly shrugging.

The whole ankle-flaring thing looks like it might be correctable, it seems like the feet extend out from the lower-leg as part of the transformation process, so you may not have to extend them all the way and keep them stable when it stands.

I've made my preorders.

Okay,

I got the 'flexible pipe' in the post the other day and they do indeed seem to be in scale with the chunky's hands. On the down side, looking at the hole from the molding on the left hand may cause some problems down the road when it comes time to drill holes or cut a trench for the new fingers, so I may need to scratch-build the main body of the hands. I it comes to that and it turns out the fingers don't bend enough to fit I will not be amused. Still, I've got time to plan it all out.

I've also been working on a pilot - I took the pilot from my Toynami VF-1S and made a quick mold of Roy above the knees. I've got a friend to cast up a duplicate, so tomorrow I will know how it came out (I'll be saying my prayers for no air bubbles before bed tonight). If it comes out well, I'll be atempting to modify it to resemble the flight suit from DYRL.

Fingers crossed...

Hi,

I was wondering if anybody knows where I could get a Pilot in Cockpit for a Bandai 1/55 valk, and/or a resculpted head of a VF-1S? I'm putting together a customized chunky monkey project for the new year and I have seen some awesome customs here at MW, and was wondering if anyone here has either these custom features for sale, or the means to reproduce/recast them?

Please, if anyone would be able to help me out or put me in contact with someone who could help me I would be very grateful. I am more than willing to pay a fair price for the custom parts, as well as materials and labor, as I know how rare they are.

Thank you.

Thanks for the tips guys. I'm not sure how long it will take to get the custom finished, but it's a labour of love and I'm determined to see it through no matter how long it takes to get it right. My first custom was a repaint of a VF-19S which took months to finish because I disassembled the valk, made some minor alterations, sanded and sprayed each piece individually, waited for a week for each piece to dry and then put it all together again. I'll try to post some pics of that when I get the chance.

I saw this thread on seibertron.com the other week and it intreagued me enough to order some 'flexible pipe' to see if it can be applied to the 1/55:

http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/new...sformers/14382/

I also had a brain-wave the other day as to how to do a collapsible neck which would allow for added posability - a sliding ball joint that is mounted in a cylinder rather than a cup! I have no idea if it will work, but I hope my success or failure will be instructional (or at least entertaining).

Hi everyone.

I'm organizing a project for next year after Christmas - My first 1/55 custom! I've already started a checklist of things I want to do and have been researching other MW members posts on what they have done.

Right now I'm looking at doing:

1) Thigh swivel joints

2) Painted cockpit interior

3) Scratch-built missile pods

4) Head modifications

5) Panel lining and paint

6) Some kind of hand improvement

This will be the first time I attempt a custom with this much of an over-haul and I would really appreciate any help or advice from anyone kind enough to offer it. Specifically, I wanted to ask the following...

I would ideally like to have a pilot in the cockpit and thought of using one from Hasagawa, but it looks like they work best for 2-seaters. Does anyone have any tips on how to make one or have a custom pilot-in-cockpit for sale?

I have an idea how to shave down the head to give it less blocky features, but does anyone have a custom VF-1S head for sale?

I've got several ideas on how to give my valk new hands, but I wanted to ask what other people have used or where to get them. Gundams? Transformers? Scratch built?

There are other things I might be interested in doing like nosecone extension, collapsible neck, custom feet or tinkering with the gunpod a bit, but steps 1-6 above are what I realistically think I could do with my skills and what I have.

If anyone can help me out with castings of a seated pilot or a resculpted 1S head, I will gladly pay whatever they are asking for them, or alternatively I in return will offer a set of missile pods. I will be making the box-type that houses 5 missiles under the wings, and am working on the premise that they will be clipped to the wing in a similar (but more streamlined) way as the the missiles that came with the old Takatoku strike, and of course if anyone has better ideas on how to attach missiles I would really like to learn them.

Thanks everyone.

Has there been any word at all for an armored pack for the 25s?

A big thank you to solscud007 for a first class transaction!

I've used them, but be warned, the blurb on the can about adhering to the plastic on a molecular level is not true. If you do use it, make sure to lightly sand the surface with a very fine sand- or glass-paper to give the paint something to grip.

When I used Fusion it was on a custom I did on a bandai vf-19 KO, so it may work better on different types of plastics, just make sure to sand off a hair more around the joints if what you're painting has articulation, as Fusion will chip if rubbed enough.

Also, give the paint plenty of time to dry before assembling it. I used their 'satin' finish white and black and each piece was left for 7 days before putting parts together, and after applying decals and panel lines I used Krylon crystal clear to protect the finish as it is fairly resilient. (I'm told some types of finish may react when sprayed on different brands/types of paint, so I kept with Krylon for the sealer, but I hear a lot of good things about Future Floor polish but have never tried it).

It all depends on what the model is for, too. I customized a toy because I wanted to be able to transform it and pose it differently, and so wanted the paint to stand up to scratches and be as durable as possible. If you just want to display a model you might do better with acrylics and an airbrush if you can get hold of one, or a type of modelers spray paint that might have a wider choice of paint tones.

If anyone knows of a really tough adhering spray paint I would really like to hear some recommendations...

A few years ago I got a Banpresto valk. It looked okay and I liked the way you could change the heads to 1S, 1A or 1J.

Then the shoulder broke in an unfixable way after 3 transformations.

I now own a Banpresto Gerwalk paperweight.

Hells yeah I'd get one! I'd like to think that Bandai would be able to sort out the transformation so that the fighter doesn't have such a hefty profile like the VF-17.

I can see why so many people here would prefer a Yamato production, but Bandai have always had better QC in my opinion.

I find that the Testors Dullcote generally works well. It protects against fingerprints and keeps the finish nice and flat. Although, I would advise to do a test to see if it reacts with the paint you are using underneath.

The tamiya Flat clear can work well, but I've had some experiences where it will turn white in patches, and also it would be eaten by anything as tough or tougher than alcohol, whereas testors is much more durable.

Krylon is okay, but the finish isn't as flat as the dullcote.

I am going to get back into customizing. But I wanted to know those of you who have totally painted the entire Valk for a custom. How and what do you use to seal it so the paint doesn't scratch or chip off durring transformation. I have been very scared to totally paint up a valk thinking it will chip or scratch off making it look like crap.

I just finished a custom myself which was sort of an experiment in what paints to use. Obviously chipping was a main concern since there are so many contact points and joints in any valk. I mainly used Krylon Fusion since the blurb on the can said 'bonds on a molecular level' or something. This is BS! The can lies!! Still, if you do use krylon make sure to leave it for 7 days to fully dry.

I also used Krylon's Crystal Clear to seal it because;

A) I've used it before, and...

B) I had used Krylon to paint it. It is my experience that you sometimes need to test how a sealer will react to the paint underneath. Still, the crystal clear gives a reasonably tough finish that shouldn't yellow.

Just remember to test your paints and sealers, and to give the figure some preliminary sanding with something like 1200 grain sandpaper with a little extra sanding at areas that will move or come into a lot of contact (eg. 'snap-points').

Good luck!

When I first heard about this I was hoping they would re-tool the heads a bit like the prototype heads in the "unreleased" section, so we could finally get a VF-1J with a chin. Not holding my breath tho.

Big thanks out to MisterRyno for a 1st class transaction!

Hi,

I'm looking for a Bandai 1/55 VF-1S reissue.

It doesn't have to be mint in box but as long as the valk is in good order with it's rifle (not too fussed about the bullets), please let me know how much you would want for it.

Thanks!

While we're on the topic of spray painting, I'm psyching myself up to start taking apart a bandai VF-19S Blazer. I want to paint it so that the finish is as durable as possible so I can keep playing with it (the bandai VF-19S is obviously not really a display piece is it ).

So with that in mind, does anyone have any experience with KRYLON FUSION spray paint? I seem to remember people saying it was really good at bonding to plastic, I'm just concerned adout wear at pivot points and joints. Obviously there will be some light sanding in order,and I'm told that it may take a week to completely dry, but I would really appreciate some words of wisdom from anyone who has taken this approach in the past.

Also, will enamel paints bond well to krylon?

Thanks.

Another big thank you to VALKFAN for another great transaction!