Busted VF1A

HI All,

It's been a while since I've posted on the forums, but I still lurk.

I'm in the process of scaling back my collection of things, and I wanted to see if anyone was interested in a near complete set of Robotech VHS cassettes. FHE distributed.

Price is Free  (just cover shipping)

Vol 1 to 33  (66 episodes) + Robotech II: The Sentinels

Good condition, but I cannot vouch for the picture quality of the video. I literally don't have a way to play them anymore.

total weight is around 6 kilos (estimated) in case you want to get an idea for shipping

I'll post picture tonight.

Thanks.

I'll probably pick one of these up. Surprisingly, I don't have a 1/60 v2 Focker VF-1S at all. I tend to go for the CF version of valks if they exist. I'm not really partial to the Hero valks most of the time, unless they're unique.

An Arcadia "white" VF-11B would be perfect!

God Dammit, you made me snork my soda.

There were no failures with the first beta's. Someone just made the suggestion that I make the area that bends wider.

wouldn't the thickness of the acrylic being used have more of an effect on the strength than the width of the tab? Is it possible to use the same thickness acrylic that the alpaha base is made from? I think that would make the tab much stronger even without a redesign.

(I really am trying to be helpful, but I tend word things badly)

They seem to have been received well. I am redesigning the pivot point on the base taking into consideration some critique/concerns. I should have my laser cutter in hand around June. I would certainly order another batch before than if there is interest.

If you think the re-design will be stronger, I'm willing to wait, but I would certainly buy the existing design if you restock before that. I know I was one of those who voiced concern with the strength of the folded over joint, but it still looks great, and I love how my VF-11B looks on it.

Shoot me an email if you'd like to borrow my VF-2.

I'd certainly go for a 1/60 VT-1 re-issue. Also a VF-1D. Those 2 have eluded me for a long time.

And the no-paint kits. I only got my hands on 2 of those back when they were released. then they vanished. Still haven't built one of them.

I didn't buy one. If someone is willing to let me borrow theirs, they'll get the adapter for free. That valk has gaps for days. It would be trivial to make adapters for it.

If you promise not to break it, You can borrow mine to make an adapter.

...

Just kidding. The thing is such a cluster, breaking it might be an improvement.

Side question: Do you know when you might have more beta stands available? I ordered another alpha the other day, but I want to do 2 betas for my VE-1 and custom VF-4 I'm building. The betas look so much better for single valk displays. I'll move the extra alpha over to a multi display later.

Busted, think you could weigh those Lego sets so we can have benchmarks?

I got my beta Beta (heh) Friday, but I got home late that day and I've been busy since so I haven't had a chance to load it up yet.

I don't have easy access to a scale that can accurately measure something this size, but Amazon list the weights as

31039 Blue Power Jet - 2.8lbs

75106 Imperial Assault Carrier 4lbs

They're probably a little lighter, as this is the weight including the box, but probably not much.

Busted, I appreciate the feedback, and am glad you are enjoying your stands! I do agree that the beta stands are less willing to be abused by weight than the alpha. I see the beta being used to show off 1-2 figures on a custom etched base, whereas the alpha remains an everything and the kitchen sink on top option.

I actually have 2x4 brick adapters. That is the size I started with. I can send some along on your next order, if you'd like, or for the cost of shipping. I found that 8 studs wasn't enough for me to feel that the model was secure, but I am willing to let you try them out.

Don't get me wrong, I like the Beta stand, and can think of at least 1 or 2 other things I'd like to use them on. It's just not the heavy lifter the Alpha is. Heck, I mounted a customed lego Star Destroyer to one of my alphas for a short time. The in box weight for that was 5.5 lbs, but I added a heck of a lot more legos to it and it was probably closer to 8lbs. (2 arms, 2 lego adapters)

Thanks for the offer on the brick adapters. They'll work much better for planes I want to mount. The body's on most are only 4-6 studs wide, and the wing less than 20. So really small.

I've been meaning to post some new Yeti Stand pics for the last 2 weeks, but, well, life happened. But I finally found some time to put these up. Please excuse the image quality. They looked great on my PC, but something didn't scale very well when I uploaded them and they look really grainy as a result. Can't quite figure out what. It's also really inconsistent, since some look perfectly clear and others, not.

First up is my favorite new display piece. My old Yamato YF-19 paired with the updated v2 Arcadia. I had all the fast packs attached originally, but I like this naked look much better.

I also picked up one of Yeti's YF-19 fighter adapters for the Arcadia. And damn, Arcadia should take some notes. Anyone who's used the Arcadia included fighter adapter will be well aware of how bad it is. It's attachment is loose and sloppy, and is positioned so far forward on the neck, that the weight in the back end causes the YF-19 to flex horribly, opening all the jonts along the back. Yeti's is much better in every way. The attachment is solid, and positioned much closer to the center of gravity, putting far less stress on the joints.

I also happened to have a chance to try out Yeti's DX stand starter kits. And since I was already playing around with my other YF-19's, I decided to test it out on the VF-19 Advance.

Gotta say, I really like it. Far less obtrusive than the included black bar stand, and obviously has more options for positioning. Only down side I can see is that since the Bandai base is so much smaller than the Yeti base, it probably wouldn't be wise to mount more than one valk to it.

All together now

I also picked up a Yeti Stand Beta to test out. While I like the overall look, I have some concerns about it. Particularly about how much stress is placed on the folded over attachment point on the base.

On a single valk, it's perfectly fine. But I decided to test how much it could take.

A medium sized Lego kit held fine, but the attachment point was visibly flexing. not horribly, but I'd worry about any kind of shock that might cause something this heavy to bounce, as that might put it over the limit.

I upped the anti with a larger kit. While the Empire transport is similar in dimensions, it much more parts heavy, and weighs a lot more than the jet. I didn't dare put the full weight on the stand, I don't know if the stand could hold it, but I didn't want to break it trying.

Overall, the look is good, but I'd prefer the Alpha stand for multiple valks or anything heavy.

My personal thought is that the folded over attachment point on the base could use some reinforcing, since that essentially supports everything above. Because of the design of the beta stand, that point will always have a great deal of stress placed on the thinnest section. If that tab was thicker or folded up from the side (oriented 90 from the current) instead of the back it would probably address the issue entirely.

as a side note to Yeti, I'd love it if you made a 2x4 lego adaper as well. I have a few smaller builds that don't really suit the 4x4 adapter you make. You know I'm overhauling my basement, and I have plans

Mounting valks on the wall is really neat indeed. I wished I could put mine out of the detolf safely... but with the kid around, they won't be for sure!

Haha, I have a 2 year old myself, and these are WAAAYYYYY out of his reach. I had to move all the expensive/delicate stuff up high on wall mounted shelves since, well, 2 year old. Floor mounted shelves are all but gone from the house since he's a climber. And considering how efficient he is at dismantling legos, he's not getting near these anytime soon.

Just ordered some Yeti Stands myself the other day, (been waiting for these to come in stock forever) and Yeti threw in a wall mount for me to try out.

I have to say I'm very impressed. The mount is quite solid, and once you tighten the bolts down they hold position near perfectly. I gave them quite the pull once I got them set just to see how much they could hold. I got a little movement as the rubber washers flexed a little, but it returned to it's original position once I let go, so good hold. I put far more force on it than a Valk would just sitting there. When the Acrylic versions come available, I'll defiantly be adding a few more of these. Next I'll have to look int those lego mounts.

My initial posing is a little sloppy, but I'll tweak it over the next few days. The third position will be for my 0S when I finally get it.

And some other angles:

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/uploads/gallery/album_813/gallery_4884_813_2582588.jpg

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/uploads/gallery/album_813/gallery_4884_813_1229443.jpg

correct me if Im wrong, but I believe he mentioned in a few posts back that it would be "financially discouraging" for the buyers if people were to print these off shapeways.

So, the other option is to do plastic injection moulding, which would require a huge sum of money for mould cutting.

Sorry bout that. I'm not as active on this board as I use to be and it's a long thread to read through. I missed where he said he'd already considered it.

have you considered submitting them to someplace like Shapeways, and let people print them on demand? These are by far my favorite stand designes yet, and I know I would be ordering them for years to come (as long as Arcadia is popping out new goodies like the upcoming VF-0D), so I would constantly need to buy more. As of now, i would need 15 to seat all of my Yammies and Arcadias.

Preorder up on HLJ

http://www.hlj.com/product/ACA82042/Sci

29,520 yen

interesting. I just got a shipping notice for mine (Unpolished white material). It's not actually in the mail yet, I just have the tracking number. When I get them I'll install and post pics.

The shelf dropped one was mine... damn cat...

Anyway, Shapeways just canceled my order for the part in black. They said that they couldn't make it in that material, so I reordered in the basic unpolished white. If I don't like them that rough, I may reorder in polished white.

ORDERED!!!

suppose that this might be an issue with all 1/60 VF-19s down the road? my initial copy has been through a jillion transformations by now,

without even the slightest hint of a problem in this area, let alone any other. this just a simple isolated case perhaps? bad molding?

It seems like a far less frequent issue then the YF-19 hinge issues. Mine broke due to my cat knocking it off a shelf, not because of wear during transformation. Aside from the very few I've seen in this thread, I've not heard of this happening.

19F hinge.jpg

I started working on the new hinge part. I don't think it will be as difficult to get working because this has fewer tricky curves.

Oh, Sweet godsend. My aluminium ones keep failing to fit properly, and I need to start from scratch each time I mess up.

Two things:

Very first 1/60 valk production by Arcadia

Very unique paint job

Got my preorder in because of those reasons as I usually skip noncannon birds

I did the same for the same reasons. And once I saw the sample toy, it doesn't look AS bad as the art. The colors are a bit more muted than the bright artwork shows.

I checked and that part is similar but definitely not the same as the YF-19 part. After Anime Boston I could start working on a Shapeways replacement.

That would be AWESOME. Right now I'm trying to mill new ones out of aluminum (Something I am familiar with) but i'm doing it manually (no CNC for me) and with the tools I have and the original parts broken it's hard to get proper measurements and fit.

I'm having this same issue, but for differnt reasons. My cat knocked my VF-19f off the shelf and the landing snapped one of the hinges and cracked the other. I've been looking for a replacemnt option for a few weeks now. I may break down and try to cast new ones myself, but I'm not too confident in my skills there.

so I have a question on the yf-19 hinges. Would they also fit one of the VF-19's? My cat decided to do a gravity test on my VF-19f and the hinges were the only casualty, now I need a replacement.

I always love seeing progress on this. An in-scale monster is sorely missing from my model shelf so I hope I can afford one once you finish it.

EXO, have you ever though of making adapters like these that could connect to 1/4" round rod? I like to make my own stands that are a lot less noticable than the Yamato or bandai stands.