Chronocidal
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I'm actually counting on those packs to cover the scratches I already have on mine. Worst scratches are on the blue around the intakes, which I figure the packs should hide pretty nicely.
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I believe a lot of the good will toward Arcadia is a carry-over from Yamato. Yamato made it clear they were entirely aware of their overseas customers, and were willing to go the extra mile to help support them in little ways. Arcadia? Not so much, and their slow pace of releases is making their mistakes just that much more visible. In terms of Bandai vs Arcadia though... it's becoming a tough call. From a top-level view though, I want to say while both have made some dumb design choices, Arcadia's tend to be more of the "this doesn't work so well" variety, where Bandai tends more toward the "this will explode into a million pieces" type. From my personal experience, most of Arcadia's gaffes have been in terms of aesthetics (i.e. paint colors or lack of tampo), and some sloppy designs that may not work great, but don't actually break. And of the few things I have broken, they've generally been pretty easy to fix. On the flip side of that, if I added up the total number of pieces I've ever broken on any Arcadia or Yamato valk, it doesn't even come close to the number of broken shards that one of my CF-171s is still laying in to this day.
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Yeah, the 3-mode design is killer, and while I know there is a good way to do it, I'm not sure if there's a good way to do it that's easily accessible to hobbyists. Honestly, the existing swing arm is the simplest solution, it just needs some kind of ratcheted motion, or internal locking mechanism to keep the wing in a stable position. Getting those detents built into it might take a complete redesign of both the wing and the glove, because the wing needs to snap into place in all three positions, and there's nothing to do that now, on either the Bandai or Arcadia versions.
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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, in theaters Dec. 16, 2016
Chronocidal replied to Dobber's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
I couldn't help but chuckle remembering Leia's line in ESB: "I am not a committee!" I don't think we'll learn anything substantial about the plans for Episode IX until after VIII is out. For all we know, Leia may not even have been intended to be in IX, but they can't reveal anything without the entire interwebs jumping down their throat about spoilers. What I am slightly surprised at is that they didn't try to do Tarkin with just prosthetic makeup. I know there was the really ugly younger version of him shown at a distance in ROTS, but I'm fairly convinced they could do better if they actually tried, and knew he'd be in close-ups. They could potentially do the same with Leia. I've seen some insane prosthetic makeup jobs though, and while I'm sure part of it has to do with compatible facial structure, I'd much rather see that done, and get someone to impersonate the person's voice, than see a CGI recreation of Carrie. Anywho, I was discussing R1 with a coworker yesterday, and I don't quite remember if we ever decided why, but we agreed that everything about the end battle was just somehow a lot more satisfying than the combat shown in TFA. Maybe it was just less frantically done? The battle felt like it was done a bit closer to the old WWII combat movie feel that was used for ANH, or at least done in a way that mimicked the older movies to the point of feeling familiar. It just felt right. -
Actually, I think the dark gray insert seen in the hinge is part of the internal portion of the wing, which works out for the better, since it means stowing the arms won't scratch up paint there, or wind up depositing paint on the arms. Also, Bandai loves using that silver/gray plastic for mechanisms. Ideally, for a transforming toy, you want as little painting as possible, and as many pieces as you can molded in the proper color. Unfortunately, that gets less and less practical the fancier your paint scheme gets, because it means more pieces, and more molding. These schemes are about the fanciest Macross has seen yet, outside of something like the Angel Birds, and that makes it really difficult to break parts into proper colors. Given that Bandai hasn't really had the best history with proper color breakdowns in their DX toys, the 31s are like a quantum leap in color and paint complexity.
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I dunno about Arcadia, but Bandai's been doing that nonsense all along, starting with the v1 VF-25s. Half the parts on the VF-25G were molded in the wrong color, then painted over, and even the v2 VF-25S had a ton of parts with this treatment, despite the fact that there were other sections of the valk molded in the proper plastic color. As far as having to touch things up every time though, I doubt that'll be the case. I hand painted the markings on one of my VF-25 kits, and those are still going strong after a lot more transformations than I've even bothered to attempt with the 31. Bandai's paint is just really weak, and really thinly coated to the point that it'll wear off just from holding the valk in your hand. Throwing a few heavier coats over their markings should help a lot.
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Those all seem pretty clear to me. The black areas on the underside of the nose seem like a prime problem area too, since it looks like they're white plastic painted entirely black. All this paint nonsense is part of why I'm looking forward to a release of the 31A, so we can have a plain gray one without all the airshow striping everywhere. Do you have a listing of what colors you're using for touch ups? I'm tempted to assume the paint guide for the 1/72 kit would be a good start, but I don't know how much color mixing might be involved, or how well they'd match the toy.
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I'm sure with a little work, you could add some dimples to the swing bars and add some tension to them so they snap into place. This is just a quick hack-job replacement that'll remove the feature. I'm really not sure how to search for anything on these forums though. The search function is useless 90% of the time, and can't seem to find the simplest things. Seriously, typing nothing but "YF-19" into the search box brought up 0 results, despite this topic sitting at the top of the list. I'd love to find a reliable way to lock the wings in all three positions, I'm just not sure how much modifying of the original wing I want to do. The nice thing about this mounting bracket is that it's just a straight swap out for the swing bar, with no changes to the original parts (damage to screw covers notwithstanding). What this doesn't fix is the fact that the wing still floats on its pivot, and doesn't rest against the leg at all. I do remember a mod that added a tab that fit into the wing's root and both locked into the outer leg panel to hold the wing steady, and also tabbed into a slot in the wing glove when the wing was folded, but the tab sat in the track for the swing bar, effectively eliminating the high speed mode. That tab would probably be an idea match to this mounting bracket, if you just want to be rid of the high speed mode entirely.
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I got to cutting up some scrap plastic tonight, and might have a fairly viable solution for the wing hinges. Those are cut from roughly 1/16" sheet styrene, and very carefully filed to shape. The gray one was made first, before I realized I could strengthen the actual wing pivot by extending it to the rear, and it would still fit inside the wing when folded up. End result? It works great. I sandwiched both those brackets together inside the wing and closed up the wing glove, and it rotates nicely, just like the original Yamato YF-19's wing. However, you can see I've got two copies here, and I actually went through one other before realizing that this might need to be made of thin metal. The original wing brackets were very finely shaped, and fit very tightly around the wing pivot points, which means the pivots were also really thin. Those little rings are fragile, and probably won't hold up to many transformations. But they work, the bracket basically locks the wing pivot in the unextended pivot position, and lets the wing rotate back to fold in for battroid mode. The location may not be exact, but it's close enough for my taste. I'm going to get a master pattern drawn up with measurements via caliper, and see if anyone wants to give it a shot with something a little better than styrene.
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So, which is better overall? Arcadia YF-19 or Bandai VF-19 Advance
Chronocidal replied to takatoys's topic in Toys
Small update, and I'll post more info in the actual Arcadia YF-19 thread later, but I've got a working prototype of a new wing mounting bracket that'll revert the wings to a single pivot. For now, it's just a pattern cut out of plastic sheet, and it's both too thin and too weak, so it might need to be made from a proper thickness of metal to be functional in the long term. It's essentially a bracket in the shape of the collapsed swing bar, with extensions to brace it against the inside of the wing glove so it doesn't rotate. It works perfectly though, holds the wing just fine in two positions, if a bit sloppily. I'll refine the pattern some now that I know where I can add reinforcement. -
So, which is better overall? Arcadia YF-19 or Bandai VF-19 Advance
Chronocidal replied to takatoys's topic in Toys
So, as far as the sloppy wing joints go, I think I did figure out that despite all the folding metal bits, the wing pivot actually stays stationary for both normal fighter and battroid mode. I need to get to work finishing my prototype replacement for that, which would just be a thick plastic plate to replace all the metal, and lock the pivot in one spot. It wouldn't even be worth going to shapeways for it, you could just print out a pattern and cut it out of plastic card stock. In theory, you could also keep the high-speed mode position by using a sliding joint, but that's just as iffy as the existing swing arms, if not more so, since it actually would need more parts. -
They're essentially the same aircraft, but it'll depend on if you're going for combat effectiveness, or pure aesthetics. Personally, all the extra junk hanging off the YF-29 just feels too busy to me. I do like the VF-31 gerwalk quite a bit, especially with the extra joints Bandai threw in on this design. I will say the upper twist joint behind the thighs scares me a little though, it's extremely tight, and I worry about what kind of plastic shard puzzle that could dissolve into if the metallic plastic does what it did on the 171. Do appreciate that they finally ditched the die-cast intakes though. It never seemed to serve any purpose, other than making sure that the hips eventually wound up with paint flaking off. Not that the 31 isn't having paint issues of its own, but it's a lot easier to repaint plastic than to touch up bare metal.
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Mostly mean if they're clear of untrimmed sprue. Aside from the defined pegs, the two flat surfaces that meet inside the wing-fold joint should be clear of any lumps, or they're going to keep the wing sections from meshing properly. Anyway, yeah, the blue paint on this valk just feels really thin and weak, as if they didn't give it enough coats. I've barely handled mine, and all of the sharp edges around the intake are already wearing off, showing white plastic. There's literally nothing that comes into contact with those edges but my fingers when I'm posing the hips, and I've spent maybe all of five minutes doing that before going back to fighter mode. The gray paint on the backplate and wings feels a little thicker, but I'd also be careful handling the weapons pod, since the paint actually looks almost feathered toward the edges of the gray panels. Also have lost a bit of paint on the painted panel right behind the canopy for whatever reason. Might have scratched it during the one time I transformed it? May also have happened purely from trying to shove the nose back to close the fuselage gap.
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Given how many parts are in that hinge, it could be some untrimmed plastic on the inside of it too. I know the gray internal piece on one of my wings has a sprue-mark on it from what it was cut loose, and there's a bit of a bump there, but it's not enough to misalign my wings. Are the edges clear where they meet up? Also, thanks for that link to the painting post. I haven't lost enough to make it worth redoing yet, but I was startled at how easily the paint just rubbed off.
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It's only recently that NY has had the best prices at initial preorder, they used to be somewhere in the middle of the pack (and their faster shipping rates are still pretty excessive). Amiami tended to have the lowest prices for the Frontier releases. NY has a reputation for marking things up significantly later on, gradually increasing prices, but it's not like they don't have a good reason to do it. If they're buying up things from other shops to sell online, then their prices are going to reflect the cost to buy them. What I wonder is if NY employees have been blacklisted from other local shops for reselling online. Would explain why they seem to have so much less stock the past year or so. Anyway, two comments about the actual VF-31 though.. not significant problems, but minor annoyances that I'm curious if anyone else sees. First, it seems like my ankle cuffs don't want to stay on. Maybe it's the angle they're getting pressure from, but they seem to pop off any time I extend or collapse the ankles. Second, anyone else noticing.. just thin paint, I guess? I've barely transformed mine one or two times, but the blue paint on the intakes is wearing off just from handling. Anyone have a good paint match to touch those up with?
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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
That really is the best version of the VB-6 I think, the colors just pop so much better than the earlier releases. Something to be aware of though, the decals of the girls on the nose are pretty prone to flaking off. On the other hand, if they do flake off all the way, you'll be left with the classic eyes tampoed onto the nose, which I don't think any of the other releases had printed on (think they were included as stickers). -
Well, also remember the shenanigans Bandai puts shops through to procure stock. They force retailers to buy tons of their lower ticket items before they're "allowed" to buy the fancier DX releases. I don't know if this applies the same way to online shops as brick and mortar stores, but if NY decided it wasn't worth it to stock so many of Bandai's products, they might've been locked out of more stock. They haven't really done their series of incremental price increases for a long time. I'm probably going to end up paying too much on the back end for Mirage once hers gets released, since I want at least a pair.
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You know, I think one of my biggest disappointments with Delta was that they never actually explored that idea.
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They're not a bad little kit, I think they're quite a bit simplified compared with the older VF-25 ones, but they're also not as sturdy. Lots of parts that like to pop off. They're fine for display in a single mode, but not great if you plan to transform them. Also, because of the way the paintschemes are, the decals are a bit ludicrous, and actually include panel-lining of all things, so you'll have to panel line the un-labeled parts to match.
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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, in theaters Dec. 16, 2016
Chronocidal replied to Dobber's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
I think... is a good summary of most of TFA's issues. Not going to belabor the point, but the SW universe as a whole tends to run on extremely convenient coincidences. TFA just has more than your average amount, I think. Rogue One had its share as well, but they didn't seem to be so forced. (no pun intended ) -
So, a belated thank you to all those posting the HLJ link last night, I wasn't able to camp any sites because I was picking someone up after a flight into LAX. The timing worked out impeccably though, we decided to get a late dinner, and I happened to check the forums on my phone while we waited for the waiter. Bam, first post of the newest page was the HLJ link, and I was in and out in 10 taps or less. I think I'm going to be fine with just one for Messer, but I'm going to need at least doubles of Mirage.
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OK, yep, 31C is my favorite so far. The unicorn lasers that don't lay flat bug me, but Mirage's looks awesome. Can't wait for her kit (and later, the DX )
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I just hope they update the super packs to include the reaction missile mounts before they release them. That's a huge letdown to not include the one external weapon they were shown with in the entire series, especially after going to the trouble of adding all those hardpoints. I should start working on a shapeways adapter to mount Yamarcadia missiles on the Bandai hardpoints though.. the ones in the 171 sets just don't look very good on anything.
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Yeah, given the way those pieces snap in, I think it'd be pretty easy for them to break. Honestly, for pieces that shape, it might be best to glue a support brace across the inside surface of the door, and just paint it to match. I do feel like they skimped on the detail for those pod doors though, they're not quite the right shape, and the hinges are really bulky. Makes me wonder if something a little better could be designed and put up on shapeways that would put the rotation point back further inside the box.
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Ouch, that's lousy luck out of the box. The folding panels may be easy enough to glue/replace, but that canopy issue is weird. I will say that the canopy feels thinner than the ones on previous Valks. I just picked up my pair from the post office, and so far so good. I caved and got a second in one of the rounds of restocks after seeing the first few pics of it here. Hazardous to your wealth, indeed. Have to admit, I still feel like this isn't one of Kawamori's better designs (some pretty lazy design features I think, dumb landing gear, etc), but the toy itself is beautifully done. Half transformed one with no trouble, and it really feels like the aircraft was designed with the toys in mind. Also, this is probably the best box design of any valk so far. I'm torn though, they're making it harder and harder to get rid of the packages I'm running out of room for.