takatoys

I have not done canopies, but I think Tamiya clear paint would do the job. You won't get the rainbow effect but if you mix a little of red and yellow clear you might get the brownish aircraft looking canopy.

I have the Ishkick and Ishforn and they are fine. That does not have to do with plastic quality. It is the plastic joint that is very, very thin. You just need to be careful handling it. Like the Ishkick, Ishforn, Lover Maaie and a bunch more I have in my cabinet, they have been there for years. Those toys were manufactured 30 years ago and none of them have developed the disintegration syndrome. Yamato have the Garland, VF-0S and now the YF-19, toys that were made a couple of years back.

The same happened to me a couple of months back on my first version YF-19, right shoulder joint was about to break. Transformed only once and left it in battroid for several years. I quickly glue the pieces and sold it. I will say it again, plastic quality has become worse on modern toys. My old vintage toys from the 80s are still strong. In order to save money, manufacturers are using cheap quality plastic.

I agree the VF-27 looks nice in all modes and does not need major improvements, so no need for V2.

Nice picture! Kawamori is a genius. Bandai and Yamato are at their pinnacles too.

Also, if the package is too big, it will mostly be retained by customs for inspection. If so, then you will have to pay custom taxes and it is not cheap. If the package is small with not too much weight then you can avoid customs.

The power of gravity! I guess this happens when it's in battroid mode. Too much weight of the wings for such a small connector. The less chunky it is, the more fragile it gets. Looks difficult to fix!

Have to get the new Jetfire!

Lucky for US customers Hot Toys has Sideshow Collectibles as a official distributor and prices are the same as you were buying in Hong Kong. You can see that Sideshow has many of the Hot Toys figures under US$200 and with free shipping included. And like Yamato and Bandai, Hot Toys has improved the quality of its figures with a little increase in price but not that much. Ok, enough for being out of topic. I will definitely pick the YF-29, it looks as nice as the VF-19. I'll just have to wait for a big sale in a year or so.

Yeah, Hot Toys figures are not cheap either but they don't surpass the US$200 mark as these new valkyries are costing. There was a time where I could buy these without hesitation but now, I will have to wait a year for a miracle sale or a scratch and dent offer from Hobby Link.

Damn! Both are beautiful but very expensive. My wallet can't handle more valkyries. I am switching to action figures. Hot Toys here I come!

That's good news. I can keep ver.1 in fighter and ver.2 in battroid. Is Ozma VF next? I bet it will.

Well, I just paid for the VF-X. It has been a long time since I bought a Yamato Valkyrie. I think this one has good potential of being a truly collectible toy like the 1/48 low vis. One qustion though, is this free of the broken shoulder syndrome?

Ok, I am certainly going to buy this toy. But, why is Yamato so greedy to put such a high price on this one? Yes, it is the best Macross Valkyrie from Yamato, it has more diecast, more gimmicks. But US$230 dollars for it!(not including shipping) I've been loyal to Yamato and bought most of the main Valkyries since the crappy 1/72 YF-19. Now that Yamato is a bigger company thanks to all the Valkyrie toys we bought over the years, Yamato still want to squeeze our wallets increasing the price of these toys. I will have to wait until HLJ puts the Fire Valkyrie on super dimensional sale in a year or so . Not fair for a loyal Yamato Valkyrie customer.

Perhaps he thought it came with no pilot and another piece missing.

You are right, I think I am being too optimistic. With Yamato, you never know Anyhow, this toy looks darn good.

What a toy! Thanks Yamato for the incredible progress you have made since you first started the crappy 1/72 YF-19 back in 2000. Took Yamato 11 years to reach perfection. 11 years of producing average Macross toys at ridiculous prices, but we as loyal fans bought the toys until someday Yamato could give us the best Macross transformable toy. This day has finally come. I thought Bandai was the only company capable of this kind of toy engineering, I was wrong. Now bring us a new YF-19 and I will consider my money well spent.

I used a clock screwdriver. I had to apply a little bit of force to get the sucker out. Maybe heating it with a hair drier can help too.

What the heck, long time I have not bought a Yamato 1/60. I am a sucker for gray valkyries so pre-order is imminent.

I am deciding right now to click the "preorder" button VF-1X at Hobby Link Japan

Looks nice in my opinion. A good alternative of displaying this toy in the dark. Perhaps he overdid it with the green and orange-red; overall it looks neat. But hey, that is how it looks in the dark. Wanna see it in daylight how those tiny holes look.

Can't wait for the final pictures! I wonder how much you could get for this customization if you put it on ebay.

WOW! This Fire valkyrie has become one of the best made by Yamato. How ironic, perhaps this will be the best Macross toy from one of the worst Macross series.

This topic sure brings back old memories. I still remember having my old Power Computing Mac clone with a 28.8k US Robotics modem and a 100mb Zip drive. Times where the only sources of Macross data and toys on the net were Ebay, Kimono My House, Macross Compendium and Nam Ngo's Valkyrie Factory. By far the coolest Macross site on the web on that year (1998)! It was an excellent visual reference for any Macross collector. I can humbly and proudly say that I was the first Macross fan that made a customization of a 1/55 toy. My intention was to replicate this famous VF-1S prototype from Takatoku: In 1998, I made this 1/55 custom using a Jetfire toy with a Joons nosecone. Nam Ngo added these pictures on his Valkyrie Factory website and caught the attention of many fans including Jung who asked me for advice. To replicate the Takatoku protoype, I eliminated the metal swing leg bars, modified the head, used a lot of marks just like the proto and added the first custom pilot on a 1/55 Valkyrie. Everybody liked the pilot on the 1/55. Most of the Takatoku toys from Orguss or Dorvack series came with pilots figures except the 1/55 Valkyrie. Back in 2001, I decided to make the first custom nosecone from a Jetfire toy that included a pilot (haha, arms looked exactly like the Yamato pilots). This was the first prototype: I was so enthusiastic with this project that I wanted an open canopy for my custom nosecone. I spent some cash to make a mass produced clear canopy from a metal mold: I improved the cockpit with more accurate detail as well as a better pilot rendition with the sticks on both hands. I used Tenjin's artwork for reference, nice hee: At last, my custom nosecone with pilot and clear canopy made its debut in November 2001: Jung used my custom nosecone on his Max and Myria Valkyries signed by Kawamori: Even though Macross toys got better with the 1/48 and 1/60 V.2 valks, the pilot figures still look horrible with lack of detail and out of proportion. I used my old custom pilot on the 1/60 V.2 valk with great results:

I've been a collector since I was a kid really. I always took care of my toys since I was 8 years old. I still keep my Star Wars kenner figures in good shape. But I became a serious collector when Ebay appeared back in 98. I looked for toys that I had and wished to have when I was a child. Funny, I could not buy any original Takatoku Valkyries because of the high prices and demand. I always lost the bids by US$1. Then, I found an old warehouse full of original Japanese vintage tin toys and diecast ones including Takatoku, Takara, Popy, Clover. I got those toys at bargain prices. Sadly, no Takatoku valkyries. By the time I wanted to buy the original Takatoku, the reissues showed up and saved a lot of money. I still want to buy the original just for the beautiful takatoku box. By trading and selling the vintage toys I have, I bought most of the other modern toys on display. This year, I have not bought any except the Macross Frontier valks. I got infatuated with the dolls you see on display. They are called "dollfie dream" dolls from Volks and they are really expensive. Danny Choo, a famous Japanese Pop Culture Blogger is a big fan of these dolls and when I found his web page, it was too late. He published a book called Otacool that showed otaku rooms from all over the world and my room was chosen to be part of it. Then he made a TV show called "Culture Japan" and my room also got featured. 2012 looks very promising with the release of the Fire Valkyrie and more toys from the new Macross Frontier movie. And I want the 1/3000 SDF-1 just released.