Chronocidal
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New Macross TV Series in 20xx (sometime this decade)
Chronocidal replied to Tochiro's topic in Movies and TV Series
Careful what you wish for, the opening and ending credits could cover that amount of time. -
Ok, THAT looks amazing. I never use those missiles on the YF-19, so I might have to beef a couple sets up to use on the VF-31s. Though, Maybe some custom pylons would be a better start, since those would need to be mounted farther forward to deconflict with the control surfaces. Hmmmm...
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I love the way they've executed the schemes on these, but I actually kind of hate the way they tried to "adapt" the ordinance paint schemes. Like.. I get what they were going for.. but it just doesn't look good. The RMS repaint of the phoenixes on Roy's and Hikaru's looked a bit better, but I still think standard ordnance looks best. These just remind me of the missiles you'd get on GI Joe and Flying Fighters aircraft toys.
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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
So, the only Hobby Master release I have is a CA ANG F-106, and I'll just say it right out, the molding is not even in the same league. It's not bad for what it is, and it looks awesome, but the panel lines are much deeper, the overall detail is not to the same level, and they really made no attempt to hide any of the major seams on the fuselage. What's very funny about that HM release though.. It's a dead ringer for the old Hasegawa 1/72 F-106 kit. I'm not even joking, it has the same exact particular shape to the nosecone (which doesn't blend quite into the fuselage), and the detail on the insides of the landing gear bays looks like it could be a flat recast of that kit. Now.. in my particular case, I actually like that about it, because it looks almost exactly like the one my dad built in the 70s, which was an ever-present decoration on our entertainment center growing up. The fact that I can have a near duplicate of his kit gives me all kinds of warm fuzzy feelings. -
Interesting.... they've printed UN SPACY on both sides of the gunpod for fighter mode. The legs being offline just seems like Bandai hasn't figured out how to get the limbs on a VF-1 to line up in general. Never have worked on the HMRs, I guess I shouldn't be surprised they can't get it right in this scale either.
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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
This scheme hit me in all the right places, and I'm tempted to buy a second one to put on my office desk. I grew up putting together the old Monogram 1/48 kits, and that scheme was always so striking on the box art, so I had no hesitation ordering this one. If they do a classic Black Aces scheme, I'll do the same, and I still want a buff-nosed VF-84 version. I've got one Century WIngs release (VF-84 202), and four of the Calibre wings ones now. I'd be wary looking up reviews and comparisons online, because the debates between the brands tend to turn into flame-wars, with insults thrown back and forth by people who like one or the other brand, and can't stand the opposite. I've got both the Wolfpack and Ghostriders releases, as well as the "Last Cruise" VF-103, and the Hikaru VF-1J scheme. While I'd agree the Wolfpack one has some little deficiencies, I think it's better sculpted, and more shape-accurate (to my eye) than the Century Wings one. The Century Wings release isn't terrible overall, but the canopy doesn't fit well, the phoenix rails don't stay on, and the nose probes were screwed up to high heaven, and required some serious modification and even paint touch-ups. Century Wings pretty much expects you to glue on detail parts like nozzles and missiles apparently. Also... just to be frank, Century Wings' engine details suck. The interiors of those engines looked like vintage 1940s-era turbojet exhausts, what with the giant bulbous cones in them. On the flip-side, the Calibre releases have a slightly different molding setup, and certain releases are better or worse about gaps between parts, or manufacturing flaws. My Wolfpack one didn't have issues with the file marks on the wing gloves, but the wing glove pylons on both it and the VF-103 version don't like to stay on. The Calibre nose landing gear also don't fit quite as well as the Century ones (need some sanding down to fit in the bay), and early releases had an extra beacon light painted on the right tail leading edge. They do include a working airbrake, but since that means the boat tail section is plastic, it makes me wary of using the tilting stands that clip around the airbrake area. Pretty much, every release from every company is a mixed bag. The worst one by far was the Hikaru-schemed release, actually, with paint scratches, broken landing gear, and gappy assembly. In the end, I had to be honest with myself... these types of collectibles are just substitutes/placeholders because I've been too lazy to build the kits I have. They look nice, on a shelf, but if I want something that holds up to an up-close inspection, I'm going to have to build it myself. -
I've poked them about my order of two 31As at least 3 times now, and keep getting reassurances that they haven't forgotten the order. To their credit, I haven't gotten any cookie-cutter responses, but I'm really getting tired of not hearing anything more than empty promises.
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Yeah, if there's one thing about Bandai, they will absolutely cling to their mistakes like they're some kind of trademark. Why ruin a perfect record and use correct colors and markings at this point?
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Yuuuup... though, to be entirely fair, I can see why someone (Tenjin?) thought it was called for. If I remember right, I think that's the panel Roy accessed to detach the nose section from the VF-1D. Doesn't mean I won't be rubbing those markings off. I don't think that was a separate release though. It was only ever a Tamashii exclusive, and I think the trick for the stand was that you had to order by a certain date. Making Roy's Valk an exclusive was one of the dumbest things they ever did with the HMR line I think, but at least it made it relatively easy to order. If they do that again with a 1/48 one, I'm fully expecting VF-31A: The Sequel.
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This just gets better with every picture! Looking really amazing, I can't wait for the final version so I can build one myself. How did you finally manage to get the arms to flip underneath the wings in gerwalk? It looks great that way.
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Wait. Allllllllllll that tampo... AND THEY STILL FORGOT THE EJECTION SEAT WARNING?? Granted... that doesn't look like a tampo'd copy yet. The kite on the nose is partially transparent. Still, to include so many other excessive little details, and forget one of the mainstays of military aircraft warning labels.. yeeesh. Fortunately... it's really easy to get Hasegawa markings in 1/48 for a VF-1. In other news though, I applaud Bandai for finally getting over their obsession with die-cast intakes. Maybe we can finally have a DX valk without paint chipping all over the thighs.
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You mean gray like the shadow in the inside of the white landing gear bay, and the underside of the white airplane? Maybe I'm overly picky about this, but there should be no question about this sort of thing, and it just comes off as flippant and lazy on Bandai's part. The VF-1 was designed in the style of 1980s US Naval aircraft. US Naval aircraft in that era never used anything other than pure white paint on landing gear and bays, as a means of detecting fluid leaks. I can get that they're trying to cling to nostalgia. It's the way the old Chunkies were colored. But just like the incorrectly angled chest stripes that they FINALLY got around to fixing on the HMR releases, just because it's nostalgic doesn't mean it's not wrong. If they're going to produce a toy that displays well alongside aircraft collectibles, then they need to stop half-assing the effort, accept that they're making an aircraft collectible, and do what their competition has gotten correctly all along. Honestly though... the bare metal landing gear just looks cheap.
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There seem to be two ways that those cups holding the flap tend to break free. Early on during the first releases from Yamato, some folks reported that those little cups broke off when moving the backpack back into fighter mode from the folded up gerwalk position. In those cases, it was due to the edges of those cups being caught against an edge of the backplate, and stressing them as the backpack was pushed down. There is a way to avoid this by making sure to rotate the backpack in a specific way. The second cause of these breaks just sounds like mold degradation of either the caps, or the backpack flap. When this issue popped up again in the past year or so, it was reported that the pegs on the backpack flap were mis-molded, and stressing the caps when the flap was folded over. I'm hoping the cause is one of these two issues, and that we don't have a third root cause to track down. :P
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"Better" is a relative thing. For whatever reason, they seem to just be completely opposed to ever painting the gear white, on any Valkyrie of any type. If they can be removed without destroying the valk, I might pop them out and spray them myself. They might think the chrome is nostalgic for the old 1/55 toys, but it's a glaring omission in what otherwise looks like a model aircraft replica.
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In all honesty, I'm disappointed they aren't farther along than this. At this stage, I think the only actual difference I see is that they changed the wing and knee joints a bit, and maybe helped close up the gap under the head in fighter. Maybe I'll treat it like the VF-0 and grab one for completion, but I can't justify replacing my existing set. It's not like the shape of the original was ever inaccurate, so these changes aren't going to make much difference when viewing one from a shelf.
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Well then... apparently the click was too stronk for AmiAmi to handle.. I wound up with two there as well. And then another at HLJ for good measure.. and already got the confirmation email. Didn't intend on three.. but I'm not going to knock getting a trio of stands.
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Not yet, they won't post the item until it opens for sale.
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CD Japan usually lists around the same time as HLJ, and I actually tend to use them as my secondary preorder source. They don't tend to offer large discounts, and you have to pay up front depending on the payment source, but those details both work in your favor if you don't mind paying a bit more, since the site doesn't get quite as hammered as places like NY and AmiAmi.
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Yeah, the fact that anyone is saying it might be 3 PM in Japan is enough to make me start up the F5ing early to be safe.
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I'm still not taking any chances, I'm going to be mashing that F5 starting in about 35 minutes
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I just sent in another check-up ticket to NY about my pair of 31As, and all they really said was "We haven't forgotten about your order!" So as not to poke the sleeping dog, I'm waiting until I receive my order to lay into them about finding out exactly what happened to cause this level of nonsense.
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Can someone please just walk into Bandai HQ, and slap the entire DX design team upside the head with some sort of documentation on actual aircraft? They're doing the "TAMPO EVERYTHING" deal again, and splattering useless aircraft warning markings where they don't belong. I'm still going to try and grab two of these, just on principle. Will I keep them? Who knows, but my enjoyment of any new mold is in figuring out how they function.
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Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series
Chronocidal replied to BoBe-Patt's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
I'm going to have to watch the entirety of both CW and Rebels at some point, if only for the never-ending onslaught of audio-cue chills they give me. -
Figures they would go and release the single 1/48 Yammie I ever got Eh, I'm game, pre-order madness notwithstanding. Basically looks like a scaled-up HMR, really, which isn't all bad, but I hope they manage to get the gunpod level. Also, I'm seeing folding leg fins, and hardpoints included, and maybe a working airbrake. On the down side, looks like it's got shades of the old Yammie 1/48 bulbous canopy as well, but it's hard to judge just from the single angle they give. Will have to see how it pans out.
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Having disassembled that structure to flip around one that was assembled backwards on an old Yamato, the final segment with the actual hip bar should come free relatively easily (though they may have switched to those annoying spring-pins to hold it). Also, the metal isn't painted, so nothing to really lose there. I think what might be the most solid repair for this would be to actually cut off the opposite hip shaft as well, then drill out the hip bar and replace both hips with a solid metal rod. You'd have to replace the ball joints on both hips as well, but that might be an improvement over the original Arcadia hip joints. Sadly, that kind of operation might require some decent metal shop hardware, maybe a drill press, and you'll need a properly sized rod to fit in the nose correctly (though it might be easier to modify the inside of the nose to fit an available rod than to make a rod fit the nose). If Shapeways can print a metal part with the required strength, I think that'd be a much simpler option than trying to remake the part. Replacing the rod itself would be pretty easy I think, but getting it to attach to the existing ball joints might take a lot of fine machining. I'm thinking you would have to find or make a hip bar with threads on the ends, and then drill into and make matching threads in the existing ball joints to attach them.
