kyekye

Moving to the main body. First, chest block and head area.

This one came off easily.

Separated Chest block and the remaining body.

Separating head was a bit tricky. There was a tiny part covering the screw on the back of the head (bridge). Carefully removed it and unscrew to remove the head and bridge cover shield.

i might need to separate small parts from the head, but I'll leave this for now. I need more planning before that.

Getting to the Cannon. This took me a while. So many parts and Yamato's ingenious parts separation!!

I was very impressed while working on the parts.

Putting labels for easier assembly later. Most of Dark metalic grey parts are actually separate parts

Parts of Cannon Base. Again, some parts were lightly glued - and used to cover up the screw holes. I had to remove them to separate the Dark metalic grey parts. It's worth it because I can do cleaner job while painting them.

Today I'm moving on to the rest of the body as much as I can before going to bed..

From this point, it's total adventure without seeing manual. Luckily still no damage to the parts so far!!

First disassembling the shoulder. It has spring and click joint.

Understanding the shoulder cover and lock mechanism. (so that I can put it back later)

Oh! I forgot. Here is the part with City.

There is one more part to remove and 2 screws before getting to city

Hmm.. The city with Concert Hall. I'll get back to you later with some plan~

After getting used to this great toy for a couple of days, I decided to take it apart/detail it up/paint it and put it back to make my "true dream toy".
This will be another slow but constant progress (meaning updated weekly)
Thanks to vf-1s's scan, I first got the legs all disassembled and laid out the parts nicely for better paint job later.

Thank God, I didn't break any parts yet. Some small parts were lightly glued at the factory, but most of them came off easily.
If you don't have right tools, I wouldn't recommend doing this.

Next step would be disassembling body and main cannon.


Legs disassembled and laid out nicely. labeled them with marker for later assembly.

Tools I used to do this so far.

Some of Photo Etched parts I'm planning to use for detailing up

Give me back my Pants!!

This might be asking too much, but since you started it

Can you scan the rest of assembly manual as well if you have time? It will be greatly appreciated..

Seeing the leg assembly telling me it's not as simple as I thought for the rest of body.

Hi all:

Quite a few people have questioned on how to take apart the 1/3000 SDF-1 toy to get access to the city, so that they can repaint it.

The 1/3000 SDF-1 toy is actually assemble together the same as the 1/2000 SDF-1 prototype. Therefore, I have taken pictures of the construction manual, and added it to the "1/2000 SDF-1 Customised" thread as another reference.

Hope it helps.

Awesome!! Thanks!

I would've broken some pieces without this. Time to use reverse tech on mine!

Looks great so far! I can't wait to see more.

BTW, i got mine today, so I'll join you on the moding-fun this weekend!

Finally i got mine today!!!

For the people who's trying to get it late,

AmiAmi : 26790 yen (17% off) - temporary sold out + EMS shipping to US about 4700 yen

HLJ : 27880 yen (15% off) - backordered + EMS shipping to US(20% off) 3760 yen

Hobby Search 27880 yen (15% off) - Looks like they have it in stock now - ? Shipping

Otacute : $288.90 - backordered + ? shipping - still taking orders, but can't guarantee it.

Anime-Export 29520 yen (10% off) -in stock + shipping to US 4700 yen - it was 17% off until recently, but they changed the price after other places got sold out.

Personally, If i were late anyways, I would wait for 2nd shipment rather than paying more to get it sooner. After all, it's very expensive toy and it's Yamato. They will make more.

So far, AmiAmi and HLJ cost about the same thanks to HLJ's 20% EMS discount.

Or you can wait for HLJ's next Yamato sale if you're patient type.

Happy SDF-1 hunting!

2 days of fun!!! Very nice indeed so far. Can't wait for tomorrow's update.

Mine should be coming in soon as well. I'll join you in detailing fun soon Hopefully I can get more than 2 days!

Anime-Export have it in stock!

Wow!! They jacked up the price since yesterday! It was $26896 yen, and now they are asking 29520 yen!! (plus usually they charge 30% more shipping than others)

I would say wait until HLJ has more stock. AmiAmi doesn't look like they gonna get more any time soon....

Very detailed review! Thanks Graham!

Looks like the command center has bridge details inside! Amazing piece!

The bridge on the black one has green color paint on it, new sculpt?

Probably that means different material used on the antenna.

It only shows 22% on the Japanese site because they have a suggested retail price of 34,440 listed, but still selling for 26,790.

On the English site, they have the suggested retail price of 32,800.

Regardless, either way, everyone is still paying 26,790 whether it is 22% off 34,400 or 17% (which is not right, it's over 18% off if you do the math) off 32,800.

Yeah. i was too excited and missed the Japanese Tax from Japanese site.

Their before-discount price included Japanese sales tax which made the discount percentage bigger. English site before-discount price didn't include tax, but their after-discount price is same (includes their sales tax).

So it's 22% off on Japanese site, but 17% off on English site.

Regardless their sale price is by far the lowest.

If I recollect my memories, Wave WHAM versions (I still can't believe they named THAT!) came out 1 year apart. First -blue metalic in 2007, second -Movie version in 2008, and re-release in 2009. My guess is that Yamato will release TV version to squeeze juice out of their mold, and it will be at least 1-2 years apart if they do.

So, That can be my THAT year's X-mas gift.

Just one important note about AmiAmi (compare to HLJ or other online shops) since I mentioned it.

AmiAmi don't have your order list or nice order history page where you can conveniently alter (or cancel) your pre-order items.

Their basic policy is "No cancellation" (Instead you get bigger discount). So if you're not 100% sure, I'd recommend pre-ordering this somewhere else.

If you don't pay after you receive their invoice, they'll take that as cancellation.

However, they will put you on their blacklist if you do that a couple of times.

It IS now listed at AmiAmi English site at the same 22% off price!!

AmiAmi English pre-order

Woot!! Here comes my X-mas gift (from myself!!)

Can't seem to get this item to show up on Amiami in the english section to order... can anyone help?

English site didn't list it yet. AmiAmi does that often. Hopefully soon~ and hopefully with the same 22% off price discount!!

Just saw HS listing at 15% off original price. (still about $332? What's exchange rate these days!!!)

Hobby Search Link

I'll probably wait to see if AmiAmi English site lists it with same discount as Japanese site. 22% off sounds pretty good with this price.

Pre-order started on Amazon Japan and Amiami Japan.

AmiAmi English version doesn't list it yet. Hopefully soon...

Forgot to add the links.

Amiami japan is offering 22%off regular price

while Amazon Japan is offering 7%off..

Amazon Japn link

Amiami Japan link

In the Hobby Japan interview (I think it was April issue? The one with Zaku cover), they mentioned they will reveal more details during Japanese spring model/toy conventions. Probably that's when we get to see some images.

Can't wait to see some visuals!!

Don't you want to know what the actual model looks like before pre-ordering.

I've built most of Hasegawa Macross fighter models, so I trust them to do a good job.

Also the reason I use HLJ over Hobby Search is ease of cancellation process. If I see the prototype images and find it really disappointing (even thou I doubt it), I can cancel it. However, I'm 99% sure it will be a fantastic model. I wish they release some photo-etching detail-up parts to go with it at the same time.

Well the Ozma Armoured seems to be a bundle and not standalone, so if you have a VF-25S kit you can just build it in clean (or Super) configuration.

As of now, it seems like it. They still might release Armored Pack Only thou.

Either way, I don't think I'll make 2 separate Ozma. Drilling those tiny holes isn't always fun... (Especially when you do that 4 times )

It's back on "Early Bird" and they've got a Product Page now.

Got it! - Pre-Order! - Done!

Wait! They also listed Armored Core Vangurad OverBoost! Gotta have that for White Glint as well! Pre-Order! - Done!

Now I gotta wait 3 months.........................

Well, It Is true. Hasegawa did mention this 1/48 scale macross during one of the interviews earlier.

I just thought they gonna start with VF-1 since it has many variations. YF-19 would be awesome choice for first one though.

I think HLJ just listed without deep thoughts on Early Bird. Last time they did exactly same with first 1/72 VF-25 Alto. It went stright to regular sale without early bird i believe.

Really? Are you saying the metric folks are the heathens?

In case it wasn't clear, I was talking about "Non-metric" heathens, not non-"metric heathens"... I love me some metric system, though trying to use it in the US gets awkward.

This thing's 25% longer than a foot. I felt like an extra 25% was worth being specific about.

I'm also fan of metric system. It's painful to find a drill bit size of '9/64 inch'... How the heck can you imagine actual size of the thing....?

Anyways, Someone please fix the order link at HLJ alreaday! It's still broken!!!