Chronocidal

Darn, all these comments are making me actually consider getting one of these little suckers. Well, I might eventually anyway, just the VF-19S takes precedence, since I already have 5 other Hikaru 1Js in various scales (some in various stages of being built). I wouldn't mind having one of these to sit on my desk at work though.

Yep, considering I keep mine all in fighter mode anyway... Actually, I use the feet quite a bit more than the gear though. I tend to open the feet one notch less than full, angle them slightly down, and pose the valks standing on the engines in fighter mode. Saves a ton of shelf space that way.

Oh, trust me, you haven't seen thorough. I tend to pick things apart piece by piece, and I could here, but the main points are all covered. It comes from being a little OCD about things like mechanical details. One thing I did forget that I should note though, the left foot seems to slip around side-to-side inside the leg a little. It still snaps into the extended position (a little.. the snaps aren't very strong), but looking inside, I can see the piece that slides back and forth when you extend the foot moving out of line. It's not a problem, but again, I'd like to take the leg apart if I could, and see what causes that. Lately, the first thing I do with any new Valk is take it apart as far as I can, just to give it a once over, and loosen up any overly tight joints. The internal mechanisms in these things are just fun to fiddle with.

Well, it's a possibility anyway.. I couldn't say for sure, but it's something that happens over time, and it's more likely than the holes in the metal piece shrinking. As far as filing the tabs down goes though, I wouldn't be too worried about that. The clips already do a decent job of holding the hips in place, and you have the rear tabs helping in fighter mode, so you might only be a little floppy in gerwalk mode. Besides, if the tabs get too small, you can add a little glue to them to build them up again. I know I probably sound like a broken record sometimes touting the usefulness of superglue, but I've used it to fix so many problems I've lost count.

Just received my 0S from HLJ, and it's not without defects, but fortunately they're minor, and I think mostly able to be fixed. Overall quality is very good, a little paint overspray on the head I think, but looks very pretty. All the skulls are straight too. As for the arms (and other various joint pieces), the material used there seems a bit better. The plastic isn't free from stress marks, but there are no spiderweb crack patterns like I saw before, and the quality of the plastic seems much less... well, rough. It still has a potential to be stressed though, so I've loosened the screws in the shoulders. One thing I did notice was that I think the rubbery friction caps from the 0A have been relocated, and placed in other positions within the joint, possibly to relieve stress on the screws. With regard to the legs, I've noticed a few things. First, the tabs that hold the back of the calves in fighter mode seem to lock much more tightly. I don't know if this is due to internal component changes, but I've found I do have to rotate the toes outward a bit, and push the legs forward to release the legs without stressing the tabs. The right upper leg section tends to pop open when the hip joint is pushed all the way open, just from a lack of glue there I think. Now, one thing I did notice right away was that the nose still droops, much more so than my 0A. In fact, the slot in the side of the fuselage was actually visible almost fully below the grey extensions from the front of the intake. There's also a noticeable gap between the back top of the cockpit shield and the chestplate. While this doesn't bother me terribly, I decided to investigate it a bit. In the end I wound up performing surgery on the entire nose section, which fortunately was not glued together. The culprit in the nose droop is the big metal plate that the nose slides on. Quite simply, it's warped. The center portion on mine is bent down so that it falls between the intake plates. If it was truly straight, it would be parallel, making the nose slide alongside those plates. So, I'm going to see about bending that plate upwards a little. By the way... I got past my fear of filing/sanding/cutting/gluing my Valks a long time ago, and it's given me some opportunities to fix some big problems. It scared me at first, but I realized that even if I do sell them someday, I'd rather sell them in better condition than I bought them. Be aware this fix will require some pretty hefty disassembly of the nose, and won't work if you've stickered it up (another reason I don't ever use the stickers.. much harder to fix things if they break without destroying your markings). ------------------------------------ Okay, it's done, and it works perfectly. I just bent that plate level with the force of my fingers, and now the nose holds nice and level without even having the intakes attached, and the heatshield gap is just about non-existent. My guess is that plate has a tendency to warp during the cooling process, since it is cast metal. I think I lucked out, and they didn't glue most of my nose section together. All that was holding it was two screws (one inside the door for the hip bar, the other inside the landing gear well), and a small piece of adhesive tape under the cockpit, which was rather gooey, and pulled loose easily. So, if your VF-0 nose droops, my guess is that that is part of the problem. It's not the only cause I'm sure, because adding bulk to the intake tabs with superglue on my VF-0A had roughly the same effect, but it's intake plates were already in line with the nose, so the plate may be less bent there. Now, all that's left is to add a little glue to those tabs near the feet that go into the backpack, and she's good to go. Honestly.. I wish they hadn't become obsessed with plugging screw holes up with covers on the Mac0 releases. It makes them so hard to work on. I'd love to take apart the legs and fiddle with them too, but I can't even open them up.

Got it, and while it's not perfect, it's a huge improvement over the old releases in a few ways. I'll put the overall comparison in that other VF-0 topic that was started. There are still some problems, but after some serious surgery, I might know how to correct some of the lingering issues.

Looking at those pictures, I'd think it would really just be a waste to use a Falken kit to make a Morgan.. the only parts they really share are the wings and tails, and maybe the intakes. The rest of the Falken is much more angular and boxy than anything on the Morgan, especially in the engine area. And that's not even touching the forward fuselage (which actually looks sort of like a blending between an F-16 and MiG-29). That being said, I'd love to see a kit of this, but I'd probably have to put my own tweaks to it.. I love the creativity behind some of the Ace Combat superplanes, but some just have several features that just make no aerodynamic sense, even if they look fun or different. Personally, I always thought the fuselage surface should have extended back further between the engines to form a reverse arrowhead shape on both the Falken and Morgan.

I'm not saying it's re-released, what I'm saying is that these VF-1Ds are ones that came out of the mold later. Whether they're called a "re-release" or not, they're from later production runs. The longer you produce things out of the same mold, the more problems those molds are going to have. HLJ has run out of stock of the VF-1D several times, and has been restocked. Call it an assumption if you like, but unless Yamato is sending out restocks in an order that doesn't match the production order, the ones people bought recently came out of the molds later than the previous restocks did. That puts mold degradation high on the list of probable causes for this problem. We've already seen this happen with Yamato on other toys over time, so it's by no means a stretch to think it could happen again. I would agree with the measuring the tabs, although according to what's been said, they might be pre-damaged from the factory assembly. Someone mentioned that when they finally managed to pry their intakes loose, they noticed the tabs were misshapen, as if they had been forced into a hole that was too small. Some pictures of those tabs would be very helpful for comparison. I don't want to start a panic either, but I guess my thought is that the last time we panicked, it had a good effect, and Yamato took notice. In the end, we got a nice batch of shiny new shoulder hinges, and Yamato redoubled their efforts to make sure the shoulders were assembled with the right parts. It might not be anything they can fix this time around, but it would be nice to hear an official word from them about what causes this issue. At the very least, they might amend their instructions to change how it says to detach the intakes, or add a warning to mention how the tabs can break if handled too roughly. In the meantime, I'd say if the intakes don't disengage easily by the normal method, the best course is to lift up the chest plate, and use some tool to push the intake tabs down from above. It may take some disassembly to get at them, I haven't tried it myself. Once they're out, filing down either the tabs or the inside edges of the holes should help a lot. Also, for those afraid of filing the tabs too much and making the intakes loose, remember they're still held on by the underside clips, which should be plenty (gerwalk might be a little floppy, but fighter should hold fine from the other tabs). And if you make them too small, remember, you can always beef the tabs back up again with something like a thick superglue that you can sand to shape once it dries. It might take some trial and error, but you can make it work.

That's all well and good, but that's not my point. Just because you have not witnessed an issue personally does not mean it doesn't exist. First off, the crotch has never been a reliable indicator of release date as far as I know. I have early releases with it, and recent releases without it. The crotch fix hasn't been consistently implemented. No one is asking you to make assumptions. You've already stated that you don't have any problem with the VF-1D, and neither do I. But this does not change the fact that some people DO have problems with them, regardless of what the ultimate cause of the problem is. It could be molding problems, it could be too much paint, it could even be clumsy people on the assembly line mashing the pegs up. In any case, HLJ has been shipping replacement legs out, so it's at least fixable. I just hope we don't see any more reports like this. If it is a molding problem, that doesn't bode well for any more V.2 reissues. Now, this whole topic should probably be moved to the other discussions on this subject so we can get back to drooling over the stuff we've ordered. In my case, I'm picking up my VF-0S after work today, so I'll have a fresh report on how the new reissue stock compares to the old VF-0A.

That's kind of what I've suspected might be the problem. If the intake molds have degraded, they're going to get sloppy in areas like that tab, and the tabs are going to grow. Even if the metal plate doesn't change, those tabs are going to get bigger and bigger over time, and the tabs will always give way more than that metal plate, which is why they can still manage to mash the tabs into their slots. You had the right idea pressing the tabs down from above the intake plate, that's probably the only way to pop the legs out without snapping off the tabs. The issue is a difference in the direction of force on the tabs.. pushing the intakes upward into the plate is just direct pressure on the tab, but the method of rotating the legs inward to pop those tabs loose puts a twisting and shearing force on the tab, which is much more nasty on the plastic. The only way to ensure they don't get stressed is putting pressure on the tabs from directly above, using some kind of tool to press the pegs out directly through the metal plate.

I think you're continuing to miss the point they're making about the recent batch. Just because the ones you bought in the past don't have any issues does not mean issues will not develop in the future, and this is what they are concerned with. THE MOST RECENT RE-RELEASE VF-1D COULD BE FLAWED. Whether it's due to decaying molds, too much paint, or whatever else you can come up with, the intake tabs ARE A PROBLEM FOR MULTIPLE VF-1Ds. Angling the intake just right and filing down the tab will not help jack squat if the tab breaks on the first time you pull the leg loose, which is what has been happening. I myself noticed my intakes on my VF-1D were very tight to begin with, and it took some care to pop them loose. If the molds for the intakes have degraded, those tabs could have gotten bigger over time, which would explain this issue.

Heh, glad I got an old one then, even if the shoulders did go kablooie. Those Wolfpack markings are awesome. And yep, the molds used on the VF-0 shouldn't make that much difference. The problem was the plastic itself. It was just a bad mixture or something, and actually seemed to form fault lines within the plastic. There were clear stress marks running through it, straight out of the mold. Suppose it could have been a problem with cooling the finished pieces too.

Yeesh.. yep, those first pics are the same place my YF-19's arms failed, straight out of the box. That arm design just sucks. Judging by the texture of that plastic, it's the same explodium as the VF-0's arms, and there is just not enough structure there to hold a screw. What I wound up doing was just gluing the entire upper arm together around the screw. I sincerely hope Yamato remakes the YF-19, it just doesn't hold a candle to any of the recent stuff they have in terms of engineering.

I still don't understand why no one has the sense to package VF-1s in their smallest configuration, with the tails folded and the wings swept back. Depending on the overall design, you can sometimes get even smaller by folding up the backpack and putting the wings all the way together (this doesn't always work, since the wings sometimes hit the tops of the legs). Bandai had the right idea to start with the old chunky packaging, and did the same thing with the VF-25 packing foam, so why the sudden waste of space? Aside from the packaging though.. now that I see the fully painted version, the stripes on this one have me wondering.. what's the canon marking scheme for the chest plate? Yamato's valks always have the chest stripes painted in a double angle, but this one has the front stripe segment horizontal, like they used to be on the chunkies, JMs, and other older toys. Is there any clear reference in the animation as to which it is, or is this one of those markings that tended to morph between animation cels?

I dunno, depending on which version you see as more accurate, the 1/72 VF-27 kit is pretty well endowed all on it's own. I mean, look at the size of those intakes! (credit goes to Jarrod for the pic from back in the last bandai kit thread) As for Mac7, I have to confess, I blew through all of M7 in a week or so a while back. I tried catching up to where the thread was, but when I got there I didn't want to stop. Part of it was just because I realized I didn't remember a good portion of the plot after Mac7 got force-folded, and I actually wanted to see what happened. Another was that, even as corny as Sound Force was in some ways, the plot really starts picking up speed there. It's just much more interesting to me to see a group fly out with a purpose, instead of Basara running wild while the rest of the cast looks on and goes "Huh?" Most of all though.. I think I just wanted to hear something other than Planet Dance and Totsugeki Love Heart for the umpteenth time. Seriously, I think my favorite moment in the entire series is when they use Holy Lonely Night for the first time. I mean.. all the songs up to that just seem so... happy.. I think Holy Lonely Night is the first song they play that's actually in a minor key, and it feels so much darker... it just fits the situation so much better in my mind. Shoot, I play that song sometimes playing combat sims myself, it just feels right. I guess in a way it's kind of the same way that Aimo O.C. feels so different than when Ranka sings the normal version, or the Bird Human version. It's a different tone entirely, and just feels right at home as a soundtrack for a battle, even if it is a weird perversion of the original song. What still makes me sad is that some of my favorite Fire Bomber tracks were never even used in the series. I really enjoy both Tread the Lightless Night and Diamond Calling, and wish they had gotten used. I think Mac7's greatest fault might be that the same music was used so many times. It's not bad, but hearing even your very favorite song over and over and over can make you tired of it. Granted, it makes sense.. I mean, if you traveled with a band, yes, you'd hear the same songs at every concert. Makes me wonder how tired actual band musicians get of their own music after a while.

So are tickets to the concert still available? I'm still tempted to try going to this, even if I can't convince some of my friends from up north to come along.

I picked most of mine up during HLJ's sales, so I lucked out on cost, but these are by no means a cheap kit, especially when you start looking at the armored one. I definitely want to get one some day, but right now I don't feel like dropping the $80 for an armored Ozma, considering it'd be easily close to $100 US after shipping. That being said though.. as frustrating as the kits can be, they make for a very nice challenge, or at least a challenge very different from any other plastic kit I have. I'm torn between all the different ways I want to build them up, whether to paint them, etc.. I think painting some of them will be worth it, but it will definitely take practice and patience. Speaking of building, I need to get back to finishing my Alto kit. It's been sitting collecting dust for the past couple of weeks now, so hopefully when my new paints arrive next week I can get to touching up the things I'm not happy with.

Sorry not to reply about that more earlier, I really haven't had any problems with mine in that area. Honestly, those aren't tabs so much as stubs, and even if they do wear down or break off, I don't see it causing a problem. Really though.. I don't see any reason that bit should be stressed in the first place, unless you're pulling the plates straight down at the front instead of rotating them to open them. Now, as for the bottom plates, there's a few little things I've noticed that seem to help those fit better. First off, make sure to check how your shoulder covers are rotated. They can move back and forth a little over the shoulder, and they need to be aligned right before they will fit well next to the legs. Second, yes, it's essential that that metal bar across the back snaps over those screw mounts fully. That will stop the back plate from lining up correctly. One thing I did notice that might not be able to corrected.. whether those belly plates fit can depend entirely on how the rear engine plate is shaped. On my YF-21, I noticed the belly plates just would never sit correctly if the rear tabs were correctly inserted into the undersides of the engines. When put in there, the plates would be bent upwards at the rear, and the rear set of center alignment tabs would get stressed if I tried to push the plates together. Eventually that led to the middle tab breaking off. So, I've just had to live with the gap there. In comparison, both of my VF-22s have perfectly fitting plates. They mesh together perfectly at the rear, and there's no stress on the plates in the closed position. In fact, there is actually a little wiggle room for them, so they definitely are under no stress. What I'm pretty certain causes this.. I noticed a long time ago that the upper engine plate (the one that slides) on my YF-21 was not level. If you look at it from the rear, you notice the upper flat surfaces of the engine nacelles both lean inwards. Because of this, the engines are actually rotated a little, and the end result is that the places where those tabs on the belly plates go are higher than they should be. The belly plates mesh together fine if you don't insert those tabs under the engines, but putting them in correctly makes the plates bend from being forced against the legs. On the other hand, the engines on both of my VF-22s are much more flat on top, and the belly plates fit fine. I'll have to have another look at this later to be sure I'm not missing some small problem inside, but I've gone over the YF-21 several times, and never seen anything else that could cause the plates to bend that way.

Those tips have always been yellow, as they should be since they all were like that in DYRL. The only reason they appear red on the Hikaru box is because Yamato didn't feel like taking a separate picture of the Hikaru, and just photoshopped a picture of Roy to swap the yellow markings for red. The skulls on the booster packs should be red too, but I'm pretty sure they're black like Roy's.

See, on the rare occasion they choose to use it, their time-paradox shipping is top notch!

Phew, was worried for a moment that VF-0S wasn't gonna happen.. Checked my order status last night, and it was down to low stock, with no notice that my order had processed yet. Come this morning, looks like it's being readied for shipping though, so looks like I lucked out. Plus, I got one of those spare sets of decals which I'd actually forgotten all about. Dunno if I'll use them or not, but depending on if they fit, I might use them to turn one of my 1/48 Hasegawa Vermillion Squad kits into a DYRL 1A.

Since the only 1/48 I have is a Super Hikaru 1J, I can't compare releases, but I can vouch for it being very sturdy. You might have a very hard time finding the version with fast packs now though, I don't think it was ever reissued. The only issue I've ever had is that the fit between the intakes and cockpit section is a little off, so it either sits with the intakes dropped a bit from the upper plate, or the nose section gets angled down a little. Now, comparing to newer releases, I would say the new V.2 1/60s are definitely more refined in terms of engineering than the 1/48, with a much higher level of precision. Comparitively, the 1/48 looks much more rough in terms of molding. But with that roughness also comes a lot of strength*, and you won't find any shoulder hinges shattering on a 1/48. ____________________________________________ *On a completely different note.. stupid language question.. I found myself wanting to say the 1/48 has a lot of.... well, it's sturdy. In the same way calling something "crappy" implies it is made of, resembles, or contains crap, does calling something "sturdy" mean it's made of "sturd?"

That is the one thing I always worried most about on ths kit.. the pieces fit so tightly, and the tolerances are so miniscule, how is there supposed to be room for you to paint it? I think when I finally get my Alto kit put together, I'm going to work it around for a while to and actually just see where the paint scratches. Afterward, I'll just sand down the areas that rubbed, and repaint them. That should give a little room, and it'll give me an excuse to repaint the areas I'm still not happy with. Really glad I managed to grab a nice set of tamiya acrylics from HLJ's free shipping sale, including some clearcoat I can brush on over the tender spots.

Heh.. I certainly hope so. I had thought some people got the 0S from HLJ recently, and had confirmed it was the fixed re-issue. Considering how long HLJ had it marked as sold out or even discontinued, I'd assume that anything they're selling now would be a reissue. If not, I suppose I'll just have to deal with it. I was able to fix up the arms on my 0A decently enough. Frankly though, even with the shoulder issues, the only thing that really stopped me from getting one before was the price. I rarely if ever buy Valks unless there is some sort of sale going on (think the ONLY exception to that is my V.2 1/60 M&M pair), and in all those Yamato sales from the past couple years, I never once saw any VF-0 discounts. I've been waiting a long time for a VF-0S sale, and I'm not gonna miss it now that it finally happened.

They're back up now, I just made an order there that I never thought I'd make: just paints. I don't need to be spending any more on any valks for a while, so I just bought a small stash of the currently stocked tamiya acrylics, and a big bottle of thinner for them. Now that I think of it, I could have probably tacked on a VF-25 kit (still want at least one armored Ozma), or maybe a Hasegawa, but I've got plenty of stuff to build as it is. Ehh screw it. I'm getting that VF-0S before the sale ends. Hopefully they'll combine the two orders in the morning.