Chronocidal
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Everything posted by Chronocidal
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I actually do wonder whether Bandai would bother with the VT-1, since judging by the HMR sales, I don't think it's exactly a hot seller.
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It's an impressive piece, with a lot of little details, but man if it isn't the most unwieldy hunk of plastic in the Macross product line. I messed with the set a little, but didn't apply the whole thing, using the VF-31E I had laying about. Orange not quite a match, but it wasn't too bad. All I did was mount the arm cannons and giant cannon pack to see how they looked, and it kind of worked to keep most of the plane streamlined. I think my least favorite part is the flippy/spinny/sliding boxes of missiles on the booster packs though. I don't know what good they expected that little black stub piece to do, but it's absolutely ineffective on mine at holding the pods aligned, and they just sag in fighter mode. Also think the little beak-like covers over the big cannons are pretty useless, since they don't really seem to work well in any position but snapped closed. I did get two sets so I have one to customize, but I might try and find a spare set of regular super packs to do the same with, so I can mix and match the components.
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I just hope they skip the regular release, and go straight to PF like with the VE-1 (and at the same price point). I've been wanting a second VT-1 for years, and a PF version will definitely pop in a display. Of course, then we just wait for Bandai to release the 1/48 version, which I hope they actually get around to.
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STAR WARS Merchandise Episode - 2
Chronocidal replied to Black Valkyrie's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
See, that bomber X-Wing fixes what I think is the biggest problem of the T-70: the lower wings look like sticks. They don't look like wings anymore, and the lasers are just kinda hanging out under the ship. Individual designs aside though, I'm mostly just disappointed that they haven't designed a single original ship for these new movies that I give two shakes about. They're all either hackjobs of OT designs, or the ugliest monstrosities this side of pouring glue in a box of spare parts, and shaking it to see what comes out. -
I'm curious, how does the "1/72" kit compare next to the Yamato 1/72 and 1/60? Being that much bigger than the Hasegawa, it almost looks like it should be 1/60.
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STAR WARS Merchandise Episode - 2
Chronocidal replied to Black Valkyrie's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
That's the kind of thing I would wait and see if it hits the bargain bin like the Walmart exclusive Tie Fighter recently. I don't really regret paying retail, because it's a beauty, but the quality of the product is not worth that price, especially when they still insist on using that stupid spring-loaded "battle damage" gimmick to attach the wings. I probably harp on the T-70 design more than is fair, and it looks great in some cases.. just not once the wings open. I think with a little work, they could have even made the split wing design aesthetically pleasing, but they made them so uneven that the lower wings just look like guns mounted on sticks. I always found the symmetry of the classic X-wing one of its best aesthetic features, and I wish they had just stuck with the original McQuarrie design. I'll be very curious to see what they tweak about the Y-Wings and B-Wings for the last movie. -
The email I got sounded like they'd be plenty willing to take the return, so it's probably worth a shot.
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Wow, great news! That's some massive production snafu though. I wonder how they wound up with so many of one ankle.. maybe the factory broke one mold, and didn't tell anyone?
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Yeah, you should be fine, I'm guessing they are busy chugging through the stack of reports and return questions. You contacted them plenty fast, so no reason they shouldn't take the exchange no questions asked once they get fixed stocks. That's just going to take a while for Arcadia to unscrew the situation. I really hope Arcadia can weather another QC ding on their record though. I think this is only their second original Macross release since Yamato folded, and both have been plagued by QC/factory/assembly issues. Could possibly count the YF-19, but I still think of that as a Yamato really, and I don't know if that one used the same factories as the VF-0s and Sv-51s.
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That was my impression, since what they're essentially doing is reverting the purchase status to "awaiting stock," rather than being ready to ship, and they aren't going to allow those purchases to ship until they resolve the quality issues with Arcadia. Sounds like they'll also allow you to cancel the order from that state. I would assume they will also honor returns of received items, or exchanges, but it sounds like you would need to wait for their fixed stock from Arcadia to arrive for an exchange, and you might be pushed to the end of the line waiting for a replacement. I do not know if their usual time limit on returns would apply in this case, since I believe you normally have 10 days after receipt of the package. They may be flexible in this case, since the product is known to be defective.
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Little update on my end, HLJ actually contacted me first. Looks like they're either getting replacement parts, or full replacement shipments.
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Glad to hear they're looking into it then, I'll hold my horses in the mean time then, thanks!
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A side note about the sanding dust, I do remember reading that resin dust is quite a bit finer than styrene, to the point of being hazardous. People tend to recommend a particulate filter mask and goggles when working on resin. I don't know if you need anything higher tier than your typical paper dust filter mask, but overkill can't hurt.
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Currently running a Qidi X-Max, but also have an UP! Plus 2, similar to UN MARINE's, which is what he printed his SD SDF-1 with. They're both very capable printers. What you run into is that while the software and hardware can make very smooth shapes, any time the print head has to jump around to make details, it will leave ripples in the material, just due to natural vibrations in the machine. You can reduce this if you finely tune the speed of the printer head, but it also greatly increases the length of time of the print.
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Your most recent Macross or toy purchase! General thread.
Chronocidal replied to Gakken85's topic in Hall Of The Super Topics
I would need to double check, but I believe all of the A-models are carrying two phoenix missiles underneath, while the Ds have bombs mounted, and a targeting pod under the right wing instead of a second sparrow. I actually prefer a clean F-14, and went to look at how hard it would be to pop the phoenix mounts off the belly, but turns out they're integral to the construction, and would take a decent amount of modifying to remove. Each of the variants only has the two forward phoenix mounts, since the stand mount is directly behind them. -
I've been waiting to hear anything about HLJ, but I think I'm just going to email them directly to check on what they're doing, if anything. If they can order replacement feet from Arcadia, I might ask them to just ship me a spare matched set of feet with my Sv-51 to cover all possibilities.
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Depending on the type of print, this might work really well, but I don't think it will substitute for actually removing certain ridges. In the prints I've done, the ridges between layers are very fine, and would probably disappear under a thick coat of paint, but the vertical waves in the material due to the motion of the printer head can be much more severe, and will need sanding. This can be mitigated a little by finely tuning the speed of the print head, but some of the larger prints I've done had a texture like corrugated metal. On the other hand, if you ever get the urge to print yourself a Ju-52, the texture might wind up being beneficial.
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Ugh. Fair point, I stand corrected, but I'm still disappointed that they decided that particular joint needed to be metal. The more metal involved in a valk, the less likely I am to ever transform it, specifically to avoid all the wear and tear on painted metal joints. It's not so bad on lighter colored ones, but the solid black just makes it stick out terribly. I suppose things like that could be treated so the metal is darker, but your typical diecast piece probably isn't nearly that expensive or fancy.
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STAR WARS Merchandise Episode - 2
Chronocidal replied to Black Valkyrie's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
You know though.. I have to ask the dumb question. Is it possible the studio reference model used white/blue lights, and the red was done in post production? Doesn't excuse ignoring it after being pointed out, but could be why it was ever wrong in the first place. Star Wars merchandise has a long history of being inaccurate to the screen because of too-faithful attention to prop details. The old MPC/ERTL kits all had this in spades, because they were produced off of reference photos of the filming models. While the goofy pilots and cockpits in those kits looked absolutely nothing like what you saw in the movie, they were pretty much dead-on copies of the NASCAR drivers and WWII German tank crew members used in the props. -
See, I don't know if I'd call those worse exactly? People were able to develop a fix for the bad hip design, so they didn't need factory replacement parts, but the foot issues here seem much harder to fix, even if they aren't as catastrophic (unless you happen to be one of the lucky ones whose feet fell clean off). Sanding down that foot mount so it fits cockeyed inside the leg doesn't seem like a good solution from a structural perspective. Though, looking back, I suppose it's some kind of a tradition that first release Ivanov Sv-51s involve mix-ups with left and right parts. At least with the Yamato mix-up, you could trim the wing hinges to work on both sides. Honestly, I probably wouldn't notice the ankle issue much over time, but I'm actually fairly pissed about the white parts being painted black, and might use the ankle problems as a more solid reason to cancel my order. It's a solid black aircraft. Why on earth would you ever mold any part of it in white plastic, let alone moving parts that rub against each other?
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Or.. you know... Arcadia could have prevented it by molding the parts in the proper freaking color. That sort of issue right there is a pile of stupid that I thought we were long past. What sort of incomprehensible logic would ever lead someone to produce a black transforming aircraft by molding it in white, and expecting the black paint on the joints to hold up?? Tempted to just tell HLJ that I don't want my warehouse copy, because of the problems. I might just eat the re-stocking fee, and see if I can buy one in a fire sale once all the issues finish driving the demand and value into the dirt. Seriously, wtf is with this?
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Your most recent Macross or toy purchase! General thread.
Chronocidal replied to Gakken85's topic in Hall Of The Super Topics
Glad to hear you're not getting dinged for return shipping! I'm guessing that's a kit, due to the lack of markings, but looks pretty good! I want to say that looks like the old Monogram snap kit, but I thought that one was 1/144? -
Unless I missed some detail, I think the arm gattling guns should be able to mount on any available hardpoint, provided the folding armor panels don't get in the way. ... Suddenly, I want to see a VF-171 or YF-19 with 6 of them mounted.
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Glad to see some response on that end. Hopefully HLJ/CD Japan/etc. will address this directly with the customers, since we can't work directly with Arcadia. I've got plenty of time in my private warehouse, so I'm going to leave it there as long as possible until I can be sure HLJ is receiving corrected stock, or spare parts.
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I did pick up two sets, thinking I'd play it safe in case we didn't get Chuck's set.. but I might just go for broke and repaint one in something a little less eye-searing. Also, it's not like you can't just mount the normal VF-31 canards on the Kairos. Would be simple to just swap in someone else's canards on the 31A, because it's not like any of the canard is visible to begin with. Might even be able to just cut a set of correctly sized ones from scrap plastic, and swap them in. In fact, I think I'd rather make dedicated armor "canards" to mount the armor to in the first place, without the canard hinge. That entire setup is just asking to scrape the paint off the canards.