kyekye

News from the frontlines!!!!!!

Reliable source says It's going to be a toy at 1/60 scale, transformable with professional box art.

So enough with all the will Arcadia get the Macross 1/60 VF-1 license and Bandai BLAH BLAH BLAH conspiracy theories.

END OF TRANSMISSION.

I believe you for the first part (1/60 toy with box art) , but I'll hold and wait for the 'license' part.

Japanese have this 'spot license for conventions and special occasions' - meaning it's not permanent and only for '30th anniversary event sales'

Looking at the recent events, Arcadia might just have that for the time being.

Also rumors from unreliable sources (2ch) mentioned that Toynami acquired Yamato molds from Chinese factory...

Man, I'm so late in the game. Wish I could buy one from you guys. I just saw Nippon Yasan selling it for $171. Is that still a good deal?

I think that's same as my pre-order price. (some of other guys might have paid a little less) check if you can pay in Japanese yen and save few $$.

Not a big fan of Itasha design, but I'll buy one to celebrate 30th anniversary and support Arcadia Macross and Tenjin design when it becomes available.

Not buying the Hasegawa model kit thou.

For a note, I just checked Japanese forum, and they are all as confused and chaotic as here about the article. So... yeah...

I was going for the dramatic reaction from the fans.

Looks like it worked!! See what you did to 'Gakken85' !!

You confused the heck out of him, and now he in denial!!!

Mine is at LA custom!! Can't wait!!!

No. It was officially announced, with images, at Wonderfest. There was a poster for it at the Arcadia booth. However no photos were allowed.

This is the design we discussed on the last cast we did. As far a I've heard it's pretty much a final design as far as the paint scheme is concerned.

I knew about the wonderfest. I posted translation of some Japanese blog about it back then.

The difference is 'no photos allowed' to 'printed on magazine'

I assume this means they have legal license now and possibly their good-old 1/60 V2 mold.

For the paint scheme, I just translated what's written on the magazine.

Haha...nice escape.

Seriously!

If you had put some simple notes along with the first image, we could have shaved off first 2 pages this thread!

In my own defense, here's the finger, kyekye.

I speak Japanese and can read some of it. I'm not a fluent speaker nor do I plan to be one, but I know enough to carry conversation.

Good defense! but failed to hit Ninja!

I had no idea if you're Japanese or kaijin living in Japan. Anyways Thanks for the article! Gave us good hope.

Is there really any doubt that the first pic is a Yammy V2? You can clearly tell just from the profile shot.

If you ask me (+ according to my intel) This is Arcadia's first official announcement of Macross product, and some proof that they have license?

In a couple of months, they will release more detail, so any speculation seems useless until then.

うそ、読めて話せないやつなんているのか？

Tamaniwa arukamo? yareba yoku yatderujan! (sorry no Japanese keyboard here)

sounds good, today we went from:

no transformation<to just a model by hasegawa<to perhaps a perfect transformation version 2<and now speculating on a prototype that may be a new mold. (why would an old mold be supervised by Kawamori and designed by Tenjin) unless they are referring to the paint scheme?

They meant paint design scheme.

just want to reiterate, so there is no confusion. by model, kyekye means this is the J TYPE or VARIANT, just as Hikaru's first custom valk was a J TYPE or VARIANT.

no where in the text does it say whether this is a toy or a model, although the pictures very much look to be a 1/60 v2. also the gimmicks and high play value comment does make it seem like they are hinting that this is a PT toy and not a model.

Yup. What he said.

Model Type 'J'. not plastic model.

In his defense it's a hell of a lot easier to speak Japanese then it is to read it. That was what I experienced anyway.

Oh. My bad. I didn't see it that way

For me, it's opposite now. I can still read but I forgot how to speak

I tried reading what I could from the Japanese and in parenthesis, it reads "The Arcadia version only will be introduced this time"

Even if Arcadia continues the Yamato molds, the 30th Anniversary plane they are starting with is ugly as crap.

Hmm. You are in Japan, but you don't read Japanese?

If this is indeed from latest Hyper Hobby magazine, the meaning is huge!!

This is announcement of first Arcadia Macross item!!!!!!! It's design is supervised by Kawamori and designed by Tenjin (same design as Hasegawa 1/72 model kit)

Some quick translation

* It's VF-1J model (suitable for 30th anniversary model since Hikaru's first model was 'J')

*While the color reminds of Movie version of Hikaru, we haven't decided who pilots this.

*Design is WIP version. It might change as we get the prototype.

*This project is in conjunction with Hasegawa Plastic Model which is in different scale

*This time, we are only introducing Arcadia version. It will have a bunch of gimmicks with high play value!. Details will be revealed with prototype pictures.

It doesn't say what scale or any connection with Yamato (sounds like intentional)

Unless the article was written by some dumb guy who never seen Yamato Macross stuff, it sounds like it has new gimmick - new mold?)

It sounds like the prototype pics will be revealed pretty soon. (it looks like the writer has seen the prototype (or picture of prototype)

My hope is up now!! 500%!!!!!

Here is my last weekend work summary.

With resin copies of wings I prepared, I started cutting out this way, that way to figure out flaps movement and angles..etc - while trying to figure out LED wiring.

Here is rough result.

Also made a Air Brake out of resin copy and added some details. The canopy cover is right under this (the chest piece), so I don't have much room. I will see if I can add piston actuator , but it's very unlikely... Also made a resin copy of the pilot. The one comes with the kit is soft Vinyl and hard to add detail or paint.

That's all for this week!

Gonna be EPIC!

Thanks! I might need your 1/60 ground crew later, so save some for me!

^{You must be a project manger as a career Kyekye! Looks like you got everything figured out and ready to go. I think it will turn out great and will be worth the effort, especially the lighting effects. - MT}

Haha I was ..kinda years ago. Still figuring out the LED parts thou

There is already thread talking about this Here.

For me, I set my policy for buying toys.

1. Never ever pay premium over retail (except some some fees)

2. Once decided to pass and it become sold out, never ever look back.

These rules kept my sanity for long time.

If I need to cancel a preorder on NY, will they just let you if you email them? Or do you have to wait until your 15 days to pay "times out"?

Doesn't that mean all your pre-order from NY disappears and you on their blacklist? I wouldn't do that.

You can ask nicely via e-mail.

well... enamel plastic model paint and toluene-based model cement is a perfectly legal way to get high and kill brain cells simultenously...

Mask and ventilation!! Otherwise you gonna end up like one of my old hobby-shop owner whose shaky hand couldn't hold his coffee cup...

And I just realized the figure sculptor for this one is '智恵理(Chieri)'!! - One of my favorite artist!

Here is some sample review with pics (might not be work-safe )

In many ways, it reminds me of this figure - which was around $50 (Banpresto SQ series)

I still like the whole set, so per-ordered at AmiAmi

Nice. Those battery coin holders are pretty small.

That modeltrainsoftware.com shop is where I got the LEDs and battery coin holder + switch for my SDF-1. Good service and friendly people, based on my correspondences with them.

The smallest of their 3V LEDs are very small but still insanely bright which is great.

smallest I found was 12mm, but I can make smaller ones if necessary. Some 3V LEDs are too bright, so I'll need to use fiber-optic cables and put some smoked lens covers to dim it down

Wow, I'm really looking forward to seeing this custom/detailing!!!

Cool. Me, too!~

So what you're doing is making it the T.V version and Movie version? and your making it more detailed then Yamatos?

Eh... That, I haven't decided yet. The base work can be applied for both, so I have some time to decide which one I'll do first. I'm leaning towards the Movie Hikaru VF-1S Strike version.

Wow this seems like an immense amount of work. Will you be making magic hands?

Magic hands!!?? You must be joking!!

It's shaping up to be a great project!!! Will patiently wait for the updates!

Thanks! It will be slow thou

I want to see this so bad, but I don't. Because in the end I just know I'm going to want one and will have no means to do it.

;;;

Looks like a good project!

Like 'MacrossJunkie' said, it IS ambitious plan. I'll see how far I can go with it

Even after highlighting the differences I still don't really see what you mean.

Why are parts of the legs and backpack being redone too? Or maybe I won't understand that either!

Elbow: Tip of the elbow should be open with 'U' shape. Yamato closed it to hold arm attachments. I'll open it and use magnet instead.

Hip/Legs: I'm gonna enlarge the hipgun (or was it vernier?) a little bit and add inside mechanical detail on lower leg (like 1/48 Hasegawa model)

Backpack : the round part is rather flat on Yamato version. It should have more spherical volume. However, it will interfere with arms when unfolded, so I might omit that plan..

Are those tiny battery boxes available online or did you find them in a local shop? I'd be interested in getting some also if they are small enough.

It looks like you're going to try to get the HUD to light up as well? That would be pretty sweet if you can manage that. Definitely looking forward to seeing your progress on this.

Battery box (with switch) is this one.

HLJ or AmiAmi

or This shop or This place also sells a lot of LE/battery related items.

Or you can just custom make as you need.

HUD will be lit via LED+ Fiber-optic cable (same way i did SDF-1 city, but cleaner this time )

Wow, that's quite an ambitious plan. If you manage to do all that, I'll be seriously impressed beyond words.

Well.. It's a plan, so it might not happen 100%. You will see me trying thou

Another thing is there are many more option parts available than before - such as tiny 3V LEDs and tiny battery boxes. I also learned some new skills while doing 12" custom figure projects

Sounds amazing!!!

What about rescribing the panel lines deeper?? I'm working on a Yamato VF-1A and just did a second clear coat to seal the decals and have pretty much loss all panel lines details now...don't know what to do, I'll see if I can rescribe them for panel lining but I don't have the correct tools for it.

Good luck on your project and keep us updated.

I'll most likely sand off most surfaces evenly to compensate the thickness of primer and paint- which will unfortunately remove most of panel lines. So I'll have to redo them..

Luckily, I do have panel line tools and templates, so I'm good to go

Holy crap, this will be epic! You'll make us all hate our crappy per-assembled Yamato's, just like we all hate our standard SDF-1's, but in the most awesome way possible!

Why, and in what way, are you rebuilding the forearms?

oh... that..

First, the elbow design is wrong on 1/60 VF-1 toys!

Second, It's just personal preference. I want slightly tapered/ thicker forearms in Battroid mode - like images below.

However, I don't want to mess with how the gun-pod or super parts attached to them. So I'll just add a little bit.

After a long break from my last Macross/Mecha kit building (as well as my hobby life), Somehow I managed to come back to it!

I've always wanted to make this custom build, but I had a couple of reasons I didn't start until now. The biggest reason was my fear of paint wearing and chipping on transforming kit, but I might have found some solution - which is not fully tested yet.

Anyways, the below image is my project plan.

Basically, my goal with this project is to

• make it like Hasegawa 1/48 or Club-M resin kit - while keeping the ability to transform between 3 modes
• add details where it's safe
• add lights where it's possible and make sense.
• use metal where it makes sense for texture or it need strength

The base kit will be either VF-1J or VF-1S that I bought from HLJ during 'Panic buying frenzy'

I haven't decided which one it will be yet. It could be

• My favorite first TV Hikaru VF-1J - but cockpit design is not as cool as movie ones, and doesn't go with cool launch arm (that I'm planning to build later..)
• Movie Focker VF-1S Super Valkyrie - All good except that I'm not a big fan of S head design
• Movie Hikaru VF-1S Strike - it's the final battle model - All good except that I'm not a big fan of S head design

I'll decide as I go..

By the way, I've been buying some supplies and parts for this mod for a while now. Below is a some part of it

So.. according to my plan, I'll be doing some major work on the wings, chest block, backpack(?) and cockpit area. So I've made silicon mold to start copying those parts. My workflow will be 'recast - cutout/rework - recast those parts'..etc

Also I found a cool mechanical hand parts that I can use. Size is between 2 hand types that comes with Yamato 1/60. Design is a little different, so I need to work on that.

That's it for now, but I started it at last!! I can only work on this over the weekend nights, so it will be very slow process..

I was planning to throw some sand in my eye. Testing on the precise grain of sand that replicates those effects has yet to produce an conclusive result.

LOL!!

Looking good so far!

My concern is the thickness of the paint. It's already tight between the parts and adding primer + car paint will increase the thickness and dimensions which increases friction level.

You might need to test on some surface and sand down before the paint job..

Good luck. I'm facing the same problem.