Californium

13 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

while I believe most WWII-era Naval aircraft already had white struts.

Some had silver, apple green, black, or dark grey.  Largely depends on the factory they were made in.  Some had 2 or three of those colors (See F4F Wildcats).  But most were the same color as the aircraft's underside: light grey (Grumman grey) or dark sea blue or insignia white.  (White would have been more common in late 1943 through early 1944, then not again until the late fifties.)

    

13 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

They don't animate the ejection warnings either,

Eh?  They were in almost every close-up. 

 

14 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

That includes the gear.

That's an assumption I wouldn't make.    But hey, whatever floats your carrier.  

8 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Having bare metal landing gear on a high quality scale model...

Ah.  High quality, sure.  But for me, these things are toys, not scale models.  Besides which, white is way too light a color for VF-1 gear.  It's more like silver or light grey or even medium grey.  

 

 

8 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

For the moment, I just want them to get around to a VT-1.

Agreed.  

10 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Not a bad little survey, I was tempted to beg them to start painting landing gear white, but I don't really want them to start now and have to rebuy everything to match

 

I like the metal gear as is.  I see it as a nice little callback to its chunky monkey predecessor.  

8 hours ago, mantisfists said:

Am I really the only one that begged Bandai to complete their Hi Metal R Destroids and enemy mecha?

You certainly are not the only one.   I also mentioned the Phalanx, Tomahawk, and Queadluun-Rau by name. 

13 hours ago, sqidd said:

We'll, I commissioned someone to do a bunch of modifications to the old school Matchbox unit (and I mean a LOT) and then custom paint it. As soon as it's done Bandai will release a TV SDF1.

You're welcome.

Ha!  Yeah, that oughta do it.  Thanks! 

With the release of the DX Chogokin VF-1D, I'm probably done collecting Macross stuff. But there are a few ways Bandai might entice me back for another round . . .

- Finish the Hi-Metal Destroids

- Hi-Metal Q-rau, Millia colors, TV style

- DX Chogokin SDF-1 Macross, TV style (How the hell has this not happened yet?)

1 hour ago, Checkmate said:

Has anyone tried removing the canopy and fixing the seam line?

I lucked out.  Not very noticeable on mine.  

 

Curious; is anybody planning to put some scale bullet holes in their 1D?   I was going to before I got it in hand, but I'm so chuffed about how it is now, I've dropped the idea.    But I figure there's gotta be somebody out there...  

2 hours ago, Guyffon said:

A question to all 1D owners, is the canopy elongated compared to a standard vf-1, and also, if it’s elongated, is it elongated enough?

It's about half a centimeter longer than the standard canopy, which is long enough to look good, but not long enough to fit instruments/control yoke/foot room for the instructor's seat.  

 

2 hours ago, MKT said:

On other hand, quite pissed because they invoiced shipping money that should covers EMS cost (shorter shipping, less chance of damage) but went with the much cheaper mail option with crappiest packaging instead. 

Wow.   What the hell, LP?   That sucks.  

39 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

I really really do hope they make this, because I love the design, and I feel like it gets even more screentime in DYRL than the VF-1D did in SDFM.

I'm sure it's just a matter of time.    Bandai won't let any Valk with that much screen time go.  And if they make the SO, they'll make the Elint.   

 

Meanwhile, a DX of the TV version SDF-1 doesn't seem any closer now than years ago.  Go figure. 

1 hour ago, sqidd said:

All I need now is the DX GBP and the Hikaru shelf is done!

Not interested in the inevitable DX Super Ostrich?  

8 minutes ago, sqidd said:

Chunky Fan Racer! Make it happen Bandai!

*gasp!*  With a chunky sculpt and spring-loaded bare-metal landing gear and a permanently closed canopy and cockpit short on interior detail...  Seriously, I'd buy it.  

23 minutes ago, sqidd said:

With Hikaru being 5'8" that put the Fan Racer at 1/54.65 scale. Pretty much exactly between 1/48 and 1/60.

lol.  that would make the fan racer chunky monkey scale.

The fan racer is 4.25 inches long, including the booster covers.  Works out to about 520 cm real-world length. 

 

Loving this orange beast. 

Loving my 1A Max.  I still think it's crazy that such a plot-heavy scheme never got a chunky-monkey release, and I'm really happy to have it now in the form of a stellar DX. 

My only quibble would be the overlong head-laser.  They made this thing a frickin' narwhal.  I cut off nearly 7/16th of an inch within a few hours of opening the beast up, (and drilled and sanded and polished back to factory fresh -- I'm no barbarian), and it's still a little bit longer than the lasers on the 1J.  And, I think, looks nicely like most of the animation and lineart now.  I attached some post-surgery pics.  

 

A few notes:

- Not a big deal, but I do wish the shoulder lights were more orange than yellow.

- The yellow for the wingtip and back-of-hands light-strips are a deeper yellow on this release.  I think I prefer the paler yellow on the 1J.   

- Swing-bar connection is much tighter on this release.  Never bothered me on the 1J, but for those that complained, looks like it won't be an issue going forward.  (At least, if my sample is anything to go by.)

 

Awesome release.  Bring on the 1D and the TV-style 1A cannon fodder.

 

 

 

Better pics from that recent show:  https://ameblo.jp/digitamin/entry-12453374625.html

 

55 minutes ago, DYRL VF-1S said:

I've never heard of this company before, but they've only opened shop since this year (2019).  But, they have a physical address and phone number in Japan.  I didn't take the time to search the inter-webs for feedback on them either.  But, the price is what it should be ($188 with EMS shipping).  Only downside is upfront payment.  Desperate measures may call for desperate times for those wanting to grab now.

https://okini.land/en/8955-dx-chogokin-vf-1a-valkyrie-maximilian-jenius-use-bandai.html

Twitter: https://twitter.com/okiniland

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/okiniland

Thanks much for posting this.  I went ahead and grabbed one using paypal since I hadn't snagged one yet.  We'll see what happens. 

3 minutes ago, rdrunner said:

One minor complaint - the OCD me really wants to go plug the left engine with an intake cover, LOL!

 

Same here!

 

3 minutes ago, rdrunner said:

Fantastic close-up pics, thanks!

The shade of blue here looks slightly more "purple-y" than Bandai's own promo shots, and this blue seems closer to the blue that we're used to in the M&M 1J.

 

 

Blue is notoriously difficult to photograph, and the lighting there looks kinda weird.  I'm betting the twitter pic that spacemanoevres linked gives a better approximation of the real color:

https://hobby.dengeki.com/event/742091/

http://toysdaily.com/discuz/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=279440&extra=page%3D1&page=4

So there was a second round of listings for this thing? I didn't even know. I thought things were already over when I got cartjacked all over the place on the first night.

Anyone know why the order-stopped listing at HLJ keeps switching between being limited to 1 per person and 20 per person? Seems weird they would be messing with the listing at this point.

Heh. Max's HUD is . . . very blue.

Almost looks like the 1A head has some hidden light piping or something. If it's just photoshop, it's a lot more convincing than what they usually do.

 

 

Edit:



Ah. I guess it's probably 'cause the lens isn't entirely recessed like it is on the 1J.

I'm always down for a wish-list. And with a Max TV-1A in a deluxe mold finally on the way, (how did we never get one in an official 1/55 release?) now seems like an especially good time.


1) DX VF-1D
2) DX tv version SDF-1
3) HMR Q-Rau (Millia tv version)
4) DX cannon fodder VF-1A


...That's really it. Anything else is just icing at this point.

And you guys prefer the skittles version??

Da hell is wrong with skittles? You one ah them shaved-headed anti-skittite freaks er somethin? Skittles is almost as good as guardian legend; and dats some damn good stuff. Slap some disco on that an you got a hell of a party. But you wouldn't know. You're too busy driving around Illinois an listenin to ride of the Valkyries an thinkin bout how you're gonna weather your toothbrush to make it look more "realistic" an "battleworn" an poo.

Come on Yamato. Tampoed markings. Phalanx. Spartan. YOU CAN DO EET!