Valk-1S

As I said in another post that Yamato have not term this to be limited and they could very well just mass release it later on due to the popularity of it. Low Vis 1 has Limited written on the box, therefore restricting them from a second issue. Weathered VF-1S has just weathering special which does not term it to be limited. It could be very well be true to be release later. Anyway, I have already bought one from ebay from the person Macrossman refers to but he is still yet to receive his. Still waiting for it. If they mass release it later, bad for me and good for everyone, but I don't mind as may just pick up another one.

Looking good to me. Definitely a must get for me. Good to see that there is no joint line at the middle of the face now as well.

Just saw HLJ taking preorders on a couple of Bandai VF-1. Anyone know what these are? Are they reissues? http://www.hlj.com/product/BAN952859 http://www.hlj.com/product/BAN952862

Rob, Are the people you know receiving it in the normal VF-1S box or with the special edition slip. Maybe there is a crooked handler in Yamato shipping department, shipping out standard VF-1S and probably going to keep those weathered versions and ebay them.

That's really bad. At the same time glad that i left my order on the order page too long and when i finally submitted, i got an email saying that I left it for over an hour and my order was not processed. I am 50/50 at the moment of whether to stop continuing with buying Yamato stuff. Special weathered VF-1S making it not available to other people outside Japan, QCs problem now and then, drough of Macross products and then flooding the market with Macross stuff, which have now resulted in places discounting some stuff. They have great designs but just crap marketing and QC team.

Going to try to see whether I can order one tomorrow with an address from a colleague parents home over in Japan. Hopefully it is easy to navigate through their website.

Quick question for those who ordered the parts for a while now. Are the new shoulders holding up well? And can you confirm that you received new versions of the arms and not just replacement of the same old arms with the same quality for both the VF-0S and VF-0A. Looking to order the arms for both my VF-0S and VF-0A. I would think ordering the VF-0S will be safe now due to the 2nd version and bundle pack being released but not too sure about the VF-0A CF. Also, I have been searching the thread but can't seem to find Graham response to the VF-0A Shin and whether it uses the new arms. I remember someone posting before mentioning some have the new arms and some don't. Can someone confirm. Thanks.

Is HLJ still the only place where we can get the replacement arms, and are they the new fixes especially for the VF-0A CF as I would think the VF-0S and VF-0A Shin should be the new ones.

Before the 1/48 CF was released they were advertised as being limited. But nothing was printed on the box to say otherwise. But so far only one production run has been done. So it may very well still be limited. Yamato may very well inform the public that the 25th Anniversary will be limited and not put it on the box again. But since it is a 25th Anniversary, I would probably think it would be limited and not be release in future years as it doesn't make sense to re-release products with 25th anniversary when its the 26th anniversary. However what they may do is that they may release versions without the 25th anniversary marking and maybe even the gold trim as regular production in future if the 25th anniversary does well.

Actually the last issue was either the 5th or 6th issue. I remembered the 5th, but if I recall properly there was a small batch of a 6th issue. Not sure whether those had crooked skulls or not, but I have the 1st to 4th issue and all had crooked skull except the 2nd issue. I don't think Yamato cares anyway, My Kakizaki also came with a crooked skull, my second issue VF-1S Hikaru also had crooked skull and missing tabs to hold the backpiece in place before you connect the hook to the backpack.

Just tried transforming it back to fighter mode, and yup the arms tuck nicely. Quite a tight fit to get it in. Afraid I would damage the shoulders due to the shoulder problems. Sorry for the false alarm.

Will have a look at it again when I get back home. I did notice the plastic was bend but that becos I left it in Battroid mode for like months. I think overtime if the plastic is bend too much it will get harder to tuck into the swingbar. I remember mine was pretty high above the swing bar when the arms folded in.

An annoying thing with the VF-0 which Yamato will not be able to fix due to a design issue is that if you leave the VF-0 in battroid mode for some time and then decide to transform it back to fighter, the arm will no longer sit flush with the legs and will be hanging down and causing the gunpod to touch the ground. This is so as the attachment of the shoulders if left in battroid mode too long will bend due to the the way it transforms.

Graham are Japan retailers the only way of getting the parts or can Yamato also provide to Hong Kong retailers. It seems that HLJ wants to make a profit on it and other than them I can't think of any places providing this service. As Kensei said Rob tried but they refused to help. Unless we are willing to pay HLJ prices, we are basically screwed.

Graham in Hong Kong which means same timezone as us

Mine are either 3rd or 4th issue but bear in mind a lot of the reissues other than the 2nd issue still have a slight crooked skull on the tail fin which is not as bad as the 1st issue. If you read carefully, prices are in Aussie dollars and not USD. And also the Aussie dollar have been getting stronger against the USD the last few months which is making it harder for me to sell it to overseas. I purchased it when the AUS to USD was at $0.70 and now it's $0.85. In addition, I am selling the CF relatively cheap considering the availability of it now of days in Japan and this was also rumoured to be limited and until Yamato does a reissue it could very well be. I actually am having second thoughts about selling my CFs due to them having one of the better QCs and the limited availability. But I will still sell one to Mad Llama if he is interested in the CF.

QC are minor now of days for the 1/48 VF-1. Common QCs still exist are crooked skull on tail fin. A new QC pop up in the recent reissues but is not common is that the tabs at the back are missing resulting in having to use the extra white piece when attaching FPs on. These were on the VF-1A and VF-1S Hikaru. Best 1/48 will always be any with the 1S head for me.

I would wait as knowing Yamato, they may just release the Shin Ghost by it self like the Stealth FPs.

The 1/60 Macross Zero line actual toy size is closer to those of the 1/48 VF-1 line and should not be compared to the 1/60 VF-1. However, agree with you that Yamato have been increasing their prices lately for all their new products which somewhat will eventually make it out of budget for a lot of ppl to collect or even to consider buying it.

Looking for a Hikaru 1/48 011 Wing. I am in Aus and will pay via Paypal + Paypal fees. Thanks.

Avoid first issue Roy. Second Issue roy you are guaranteed a straight skull on the tailfin. After that, you may or may not get one with a straight skull. All my 3rd and 4th Roy issue have crooked skulls. Roy have the plastic pilot and Hikaru have the rubber pilot. First Issue Hikaru will have the straight skull on the tail fin, however, the airbreaks can be loose depending on your luck. Second Issue Hikaru similar to after second issue roy where you may or may not get a crooked skull on the tailfin. Both my second issue have the crooked skull. In addition, some batches of the second issue hikaru is missing the little tab to hold the backpack more in place. Both mine were missing. So you will need to use the extra white piece supplied with the FPs to put on the FPs. Without it the backpack will definitely not hold the FPS up.

The backpack doesn't folds up when the ghost is attached, therefore no extra support is necessary.

Done mine

Just checked my VF-0S on display and the left shoulder have a stress mark and partially crack. However the shoulder cover is providing extra support to the inner shoulder part. Just guessing but I think the cause of the stress/crack is the upper screw and not the lower screw. I think the ball joint may be alittle thick for the shoulder and the shoulder not having strong enough plastic and when the screw is tighthen, it results in the plastic giving way and crack.

Yup exactly what have been said. If you can't turn the legs from the ball joint, don't force it. A couple of my third issue Roys were like that. After removing the legs and opening up the parts you can see the paint stuck to the rubber piece. Once you remove the rubber piece from the ball joint and put it back, it should be okay, but test it again to see whether you can move the leg. If not, open it again and try cleaning the paint off.