eggy99

One thing I forgot to mention that I appreciate:

The UN SPACY on the gunpod is upside down on both sides so it is the correct orientation when mounted in Fighter mode. 

It bugged me that Yamarcadia did it different on each side so the UN SPACY was upside down on 1 side in fighter mode. It took away from the secret that this sleek fighter plane is also a bad ass robot solely created to fight 50 foot tall aliens. 

In fact all the markings on the gunpod are oriented for display in fighter mode. 

Also I think everyone here has well and truly given up on seeing a VF-0A CF. LOL!

We’d sooner see DX VF-0 from Bandai before Arcadia releases the mythical CF they teased so long ago. 

16 minutes ago, seti88 said:

Hmm good thing i ordered 2 then, cos 2 fits in just nicely in the ami box!

the box my friend received with his and my 3rd DX was a 120 Ami box, and the box I received for my 2nd and 3rd was a 140 Ami box.... because of the additional Monster Hunter World teacup I combined with the order. That teacup cost me an additional ~¥1500 EMS over what my friend was charged for just 2 DX shipped DHL! The additional shipping was more than the teacup!

7 minutes ago, seti88 said:

Plus gerwalk has a 2 modes in one! Normal gerwalk or armless gerwalk mode which reminds me of speed skating!!

bwahaha..

makes sense since you want to go aerodynamic, from hovering state to speed, whilst maintaining the flexibility of stopping on a whim.... i wonder which lever in the controls retracts the arms tho...hmmm...

 

More like Gerwalk has 3 forms in it's self.

1) Full Gerwalk with arms
2) Half Gerwalk with no arms
3) Plane with legs for VTOL

If it's TV Series transformation does the pilot just slide the big G switch a part of way to fully engaged position? LOL

54 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

fairly complete Macross  ROBOTECH mech representation

The one thing I dislike about the 1/72 is the mold just looks unrefined and very mid level toy like. It could be down to the scale, but it's only a little bit smaller than a 1/60 and the 1/60s are very refined. 1/72 is more like a toy than looking like a high end collectable. Maybe in line with HMR line.

2 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

However, for the arm portion, that locking peg on the elbow joint should be tighter to support the arm once the Fast Pack arm armor are mounted

I discovered the trick to getting the arms to lock in very tightly (at least on the 2 I checked last night). You cannot have the arm sliders pushed all the way up as the tabs no longer match up to the arm holes. Once you find the sweet spot for the sliders and the arm is seated correctly the body tabs into the arms tight. Shaking will not dislodge the arms. I’m highly confident the addition of the hollow FAST pack arm armor will not cause the arms to detach. 

17 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

All 3 modes, once my other two show up.

Gerwalk is probably my favorite, the extra articulation in the legs and arms really shines there.

I couldn’t pick a favourite mode after handling it in person now. I love how all 3 modes are represented in fantastic elegance. I’m glad I chose to get 3 of this iconic valk. 

BTW, who else has this awful mold mark on their gun strap? It’s on all 3 of mine. 

I received my other 2 from Amiami and did a check on them for faults. Number 2 and 3 are A OK.

Only minor things, like slightly misaligned front and back parts of the foot unit, light tampo of UN SPACY on 1 of the side of 1 of the gunpods. 

My impressions of this toy. 

I love it so much. It exceeds all my expectations. I did a full transformation to battroid and back to fighter for one of them and a half gerwalk on the other. The DX is very solid and feels very sturdy and weighty. Many of the changes from the Yamarcadia 1/60 are functionally better on the DX. 

I mentioned previously about the landing gear doors having visible hinges. The doors work amazingly. Very tight, sturdy and well aligned. 

I think I could go on and on about the DX, but it would be too much to write. 

The attention to detail on the DX puts it in a class above even the PF 1/60. The 1/60 feels light, and just a little bit fragile in comparison. The heft of the DX is just so good in the hands and all the clicky joints are a joy. The DX is immensely more fun and satisfying to play with than the 1/60. 

The things I don't like on the DX. 

The diecast seam on the feet. The 1/60 has no seam, so I’m not sure why the DX feet needed to be cast that way. Must be a diecast VS plastic molding thing. 

Nose cone. I would have preferred it to be removable with radar detail like the old 1/48. I guess they just didn’t want people misplacing their nose cone if they took it off for the GBP. 

Missing ejection warning tampo. A dumb mistake by Bandai. 

Useless wing flap gimmick. It doesn’t add anything. 

I found it very challenging to open the landing gear doors. I had to use a plastic seperator tool for model kits to get started. 

Oh yeah I took a photo of the legs positioned for attachment of the FAST packs. Enjoy:

Ahh yes and Hikaru. I measured him and he’s approximately 3cm so he’s only 144cm tall scaled to 1/1. That's too short even for a 16 - 17 year old Japanese, who ends up at 175cm by adult hood.

I’m very much looking forward to more DX VF-1 toys. 

15 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

the 1/60 definitely solved the 1/48 with the arms clipping on a bracket.  

not too thrilled about bandai going backwards but oh well...  

I've been thinking about this too. Why did they remove the brackets to lock the arms to the underside of the chest?  Someone mentioned this was designed by T-Rex, which is why it is so similar to the Yamarcadia 1/60 design. Then I thought about the paint scraping issues from the the more colourful VF-1s. Clips are definite culprits of paint scraping / wear and tear. this could have been the reason for the change.

Another aesthetic change made from the Yamarcadia - which could be a functional improvement.
- Rear landing gear doors: the 1/60 had really flush doors. DX has visible hinges. the DX's do sit cleaner overall though. The 1/60's doors were some times a bit misaligned.

Then the leg fins. There must have been a functional reason for less ridged lock compared to the 1/60. I feel like ridged flaps would not be safe with the amount of weight the DX has at the rear now. The 1/60 could comfortably be placed on the fins without fear of breaking, but perhaps the same could not be said for the DX. But again, it doesn't feel like the DX fins can be positioned outward and flat, so what happens if you do place the DX on it's leg fins? Snap or fall off the hinges? Who dares to try that?

5 hours ago, JB0 said:

I believe you mean the short-range flamethrower turrets.

The only weapon needed.

Oh dear. He mounted the missiles on backward. 

1 hour ago, jenius said:

What did they charge for their clear stand alone display stand? Hopefully they don't have to pay much for licensing right for the launch arm design but there's that and and the added complexity of the arm and all its bits. My guess is 6,500¥.

http://arcadia.ac/products/detail.php?product_id=209

¥2916

For those that have not received their yet and want to see the arm tabs, this is what we're working with:

The friction on these isn't amazing. There is no satisfying click. Any pressure pushing those arms out of position will give you droopy arms in Fighter mode on the DX. I managed to get the left arm on mine to stay put by adjusting the legs around a bit and reseating everything.

The legs attach just like the Yamarcadia 1/60.

Imagery sourced from this YT video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m2HBHt8328

Regarding the FAST pack armor, we now only have 1 hole for the leg armor to attach to if it's the same implementation as Yamarcadia. The back pack armor situation is the same. It will be interesting to see how Bandai implement a secure connection.

1 hour ago, Ridden001 said:

Need some clarity here from the community on Nippon Yasan.  They still have it listed as pre order rather than instock.  Does this mean they haven't received their inventory yet or is this a second batch already?  The reason I'm asking is: I paid the $7.00 extra fee on both of my copies and it still has not shipped.  I just checked the site and then saw that it is still listed as pre-order vs. add to cart.  I'm wondering if anyone has had a shipment notice from them?  

 

I thought they changed it to Preorder status so you could not use the 5% off promo on that item. LOL! Sneaky.

5 minutes ago, spanner said:

I reversed double back flipped and reordered one from NY and today got preparation notice. Hopefully they ship it out soon..

I remember the day when @spanner stated he probably wouldn't get this series. Let's go find that post. 

1 hour ago, Spiff said:

That is most unfortunate. Did you lift or step? It clearly says "NO LIFT" and "NO STEP" on the wing flap. User error. LOL. Yeah definitely a QC issue. Maybe you can exchange.

What is up with the scratches on the wing by the hard point in the middle pic. 

LOL! It said NO and I had to say YES! 

1 hour ago, spanner said:

Sucks about the wing flap.. also, is that scratching next to the hard point?

I only noticed the scratches on the wing when I wasn posting the photos. I have no idea. I’ll need to look again tomorrow. It’s all boxed up again at work. Keeping it there until some of my work colleagues return from Xmas/NY break. They’ll be stoked to check out my faulty wing flap, err... I mean valk. 

I also had one of the arms not want to stay clipped into the underside of the body, but wiggled the legs a bit and it went in snug and tight.

Thankfully the rear flaps aren’t a floppy mess and the nose cone has enough resistance. 

A bit of messy sprue cuts left here and there though. Maybe I’m too picky. 

but shouldn’t we be for a AU$280 toy?

EDIT: I just remembered my gun strap also has some bad molding on 1 side. 

*complain complain complain* 

1 of mine has arrived, and it has a faulty wing flap. 

There is not enough plastic to hold the peg in place. See the other wing

Might have to glue that flap. 

Waiting on the EMS delivery for my other 2.

@jenius Nice transformation guide. I haven't handled my Yamarcadia VF-1s in a while, so this is a nice refresher for when I receive my Ami order. Looking forward to the full review.

About the pilot figure size. So while looking into the Hasegawa 1/48 VF-1J kit for the additional decals, I looked at the pilot figure. Looks bigger than the DX Hikaru. Yes?

It definitely feels like they have purposely under sized the pilots for the DX series so they can make the 1D with less retooling/resizing in the cockpit area. It was mentioned a few pages back, currently the DX VF-1J looks like it can accommodate 2 seat configuration as there is a lot of equipment behind Hikaru's seating position. So Bandai will probably just adjust the canopy shape for the 1D and put in the 2 seat parts.

5 minutes ago, HardlyNever said:

In the "Miss Macross" episode, Hikaru gets in the GBP vf-1j with the battroid-seat thing.  I feel like it makes an appearance somewhere after episode 27, as well, but I'm not sure.

TWE seat option part to go with with GBP release. 

25 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

 Would you guys prefer the added details that YamArcadia have on their neck cover option part? I don't have mine yet, but after I checked back the photos in the Tamashii site, I noticed that there's not enough detail on it that suggests that there should be a door somehow for the pilot to release.

 

Maybe they are saving that feature update for the 1D with raised pilot seats option parts.

I can’t recall another time in the TV series we see that feature used except in the 1D. 

16 minutes ago, Dobber said:

Is it me or does the 1/60 YF-19 pilot look larger than the 1/48 VF-1 pilot? I know the 1/48 pilot was reported as a little small but damn! 

Chris

It’s bandai poking fun at how shrimpy Hikaru is. 

3 hours ago, DWN013 said:

My dream would be for the Roy 1S release to come with 3 pilot figures:

TV Roy, DYRL Roy, TV Hikaru

 

Sigh, I know it won't happen...

Then we also need additional canopy also with matching tampo for Roy and Hikaru. 

Oh wait. It’ll be TWE option parts. Yay!

Received my Ami shipping email. Those guys working hard to get through their back log. 

2 hours ago, canklebreaker said:

That’s very nice work! If I were to simply panel line without doing any weathering would you suggest the matte coat still?

It’s not required, but I find a matte coat adds that little touch that makes it look really nicer. Nicer than a matte finish plastic has. 

I’m not experienced with washes for the panel lining, but from what I remember from tutorial videos I have watched they do recommend to apply a complete gloss coat first which helps the wash run through the panel lines more smoothly. Once it’s dry you apply a matte coat to seal it all in (or another gloss if you prefer a gloss finish).

I think another reason for the initial gloss coat is actually for application of water slide decals as they adhere better to a smooth surface as opposed to a matte one. 

I think with no initial coat ist will be fine though. If the surface is the same as the HMR line then you can apply a water based wash right into the panels no problem.  

3 hours ago, canklebreaker said:

What method/materials do you use to panel line this figure? I've read varying suggestions/recommendations over on the HMR thread. Debating if I should do it to my figure, makes such a huge difference!

I normally use grey copic marker as the tip is smaller than the Gundam marker panel lining pen. I think it’s 1/2 the size. 

But... on all my latest work I used Gundam real touch markers to weather the panel lines and edges which provided a subtle panel line + the weathering effect. On some parts a line still needs to be added, but it depends on the depth of the line. Also some silver dry brushed over metallic surfaces. Once that is done I spray a matte coat to lock it all in. 

This is the kind of finish I end up with.

I’ve never worked with a completely white valk before, but I’m relieved that the DX is more a grey white so that should be easier to work with without the weathering looking too heavy.