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Here is from the VF-1A Hick that I just bought. Both Pins are Knurled but only the right shoulder is cracked.

eugimon no Knurled pins that you can see?

I got mine from AMIAMI on Monday and I would have to say that I am quite impressed. It came fairly quickly and the shipping box was twice the size of the toy box. My only problem is even though it was on for basically half price afer you add the shipping it came out t o almost the same. Still glad I got it though.

I think the should have just left the knurling out. I would rather have a pin that might work itself out over time to a pin that breaks the hinge.

There's actually a really simple solution to this, with very little effort on Yamato's part. Since they already have the unassembled kit version in production, just overproduce the particular sprue that contains the shoulder hinges, and send that out with the pins. After all, there's no reason to waste good labor on assembling complete arms just to have them cannibalized for the shoulder hinge.

I'd like to see the parts breakdown of the kit version to see how practical this would be. If the shoulders are on the same sprue as the fuselage, wings, etc. Yamato might not like the lost plastic, but even if we get a sprue with the parts for two full arms, Yamato would still save money since they don't have to be assembled.

Only downside I see to this is that all the spares would be bright white, instead of color matched to the valk. Not a problem for the GPB sets, and maybe not so bad for DYRL valks, but they'll stick out like sore thumbs on VT-1s and VF-1Ds.

I think it would all depend on how their part and inventory system works. In some cases it's just easier and/or cheaper to send the whole effected assembly you have in stock instead of doing new production runs and/or breaking up runs to part out fixes. Never-mind the extra overhead involved.

I can just imagine the kind of havoc the Kit Valk could cause to their parts and inventory system. I have to deal with crap like that once in a while and it can drive you batty. You create the frame work for assemblies, sub-assemblies, polybags and crates and then someone tells you naw we came up with this to sell and now you need to pack and assemble it this way while maitaining the old system. Oh and then you need new manuals and parts books on top of that cause most of your previous work can be worth zip, nada, zilch.

Unfortunately Yamato sends the whole arm as a replacement which means that, most likely, in their parts chain the pins or shoulders might not exist as "salable" items. I thought when I ordered replacement shoulders for my Strike Roy they would have just sent the shoulder hinge but they sent the whole arm assembly.

The good news for me is that I have 2 arms for my Strike Roy sitting in little baggies for the day that those cracks become breaks. Now I just need Overdrive to get back to me on the VF-1A Hik I just bought....with cracked shoulders right out of the box (which I knew might happen).

I sure hope this isn't someone at the factory trying to save money by using up old stock. I can accept it on an older model like my VF-1A as I knew what I was getting into. If I find those pins on my VT-1, VE-1 or VF-1Ds I am going to be extremely pissed.

If anime like "Chu/o(?) Bra" are any indication anime is just getting more depraved. Don't get me wrong I can enjoy some fan service and just plain find some if it funny but I think it is starting to get more and more out of hand. I wouldn't show half the anime I watched last season to anyone, even some of my buddies who like anime.......they liked Macross Frontier but my "other" friends thought it was stupid although they did like the CG dogfights.

As to series I use the following anime to introduce people to anime:

Ghost in the Shell SAC

Macross Plus or Macross Zero

Spice and Wolf (fan service in there but not so bad)

Samurai Champloo

Cowboy Bebop

Fullmetal Alchemist/Brotherhood

Kimi ni Todoke - I love this show I don't care what anyone says about it.

Darker than Black

Eden of the East

etc.

Mainly I try to stay away from Fanservice/Harems and stay with story/action animes. Some comedy but there isn't many Japanesse anime comidies that aren't full of fan service. The episode of Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi where they are stuck in the movies usually goes over well here.

Shows like Kampfer, Queen’s Blade, Kiddy Girl from last season........ shudder.........and even I regret watching them.

I have tried using Macross Frontier (because of it's great animation) to introduce people to anime but they see the J Pop being sung during the fights and the fan service and it's an instant turn off. I liked Macross Frontier but I think they have taken a step backwards from what we got with Plus and Zero. Still not as bad as Macross 7 though.....the only time I enjoyed that show was when Gamlin, Max or Mira where on the screen.

I think the pilots look larger as well in relation to the cockpit. The VF-25 pilots were about the same size as the gummi pilots that came with the 1/72 M+ valks (and have just about as much detail).

I just hope they put some more cockpit detail in this time. The 2 figure pics give me some hope.

Oh man that is so frick'n sweet! To all you bastards that can afford to fork over the coin for that thing....you suck!

NIIICEEEE! So I'll ask the inevitable question. What did you do to panel line and weather your valks? I've been tempted to use Gundam weather makers on mine but some of the test I did using my Toon. 1/100s didn't turn out so well.

that's because the canadians are still sore about the time we invaded them. Get over it already, it was 200 years ago and we lost that war, forgive us!

Note that this was a British war and not really a Canadian War. Canada did not exist as a sovereign nation until 1867 with the signing of the British North America Acts. And we didn't truly exist as an independent nation until 1982 with the passing of the Canada's Act. Proving that you could secede from Britain without a war.....it just takes generations.

We didn't do so well in winning The War of 1812 either and it really ended with no side really winning unless you just go by body count. Then we won! Yay.... We did burned down part of Washington and the first White House though. This was in response to the sacking of York (Toronto) and the US burning down Parliament the previous year. Needless to say if the British hadn't been busy with Napoleon at the time the British would most likely have wiped the floor with the Americans.

Also this anit-American/Canadian stuff is bullshit. Most Canadians don't have anything against Amercians. We just shake our heads at what the US government does sometimes. Just like you might do to ours if you cared about what goes on in Canada. Oh and there is universal health care. I am so glad I don't have to worry about health insurance. Anyways enough said.

Back on topic. Avoid the Megablock stands unless you want to modify them. I have posted in previous threads how to do this. If you don't you are very limited in the poseability I would trust to the things. Buy Flexistands. You can swap the shorter and longer arms from the other stands to get some great posses like I mentioned above. I imported these to Canada last year and the 3 stands cost me about $55 Can. + duty/taxes. Remember to ship using USPS not UPS. UPS sucks balls outside of the US. They charge crazy brokerage fees and if you don't live in a larger city in some Countries good luck getting your parcel as you probably don't have a drop off point in your town. F**K I loath and despise having to deal with UPS. Which I do on regular occations cause we use Dell computers and servers where I work so everytime I have to fix something I have to order parts and send parts back that go UPS.... which are really going Purolator as UPS does not deliver directly to the city I live in.... hence no drop sites.......

anyways FLEXI STANDS ARE WORTH EVERY PENNY!

Sorry about the rant I got a little carried away.

Anyways nice Sheryl pics and nice lens! Anyway take some sample pics with it please? You've got to be able to get some really nice shallow depth of field pics with that 1.8 lens.

because CF cards offer more memory and higher speeds for less money.

also SD cards are flimsy, I like my recording media to have better tensile strength than a saltine cracker.

EDIT: When I say SD I am talking SDHC.

That is so not the case anymore. Where I live I can get equivalent memory SD/SDHC cards cheaper than CF just not as fast mind-you. You see the problem is that camera memory write time is way more dependent on the camera processor and buffer than the card. You are going to have to buy a $1200+ camera before you can even see slight deferences between the fastest cards. I know that you would like to keep your CF cards for a new camera but if you can buy a "fast" SDHC 16GB card for $50-$120 US why would you pay $80-$150 for the fastest 4-8GB cards that you are only going to notice the performance on a camera that is most likely more expensive than you need.

So it might be a bit faster but are you really going to see it in anything other than burst mode? SD is taking over the market and more and more DSLRs are SD only (even Olympus has started to move). About the only thing propping up CF sales today are high end SLRs and older devices using CF. Almost everything else has moved to SD because it is small and cheap. I will give in that CF is probably more durable than SD but you should store all media in thier plastic cases and in the camera so are you really going to break an SD card? It's not like a floppy so as long as you don't try to bend it between your fingers it should be fine. Never mind that if you are using and 8 to 16 GB card how often are you going to be taking it out of the camera?

If you want to stay with Nikon and use CF you are probably going to have to look at a D300 then which has CF and SD slots. Problem is that the Camera goes anywhere from $1300-$1700 bucks. Now I know you would rather stick to a Nikon to go with your glass so do you spend and extra $400-$800 for a now Full Frame Camera that you don't really need to save at MOST $100-200 to keep your existing memory? If you are making money taking pictures I would say go for it but for personal use a D300 is probably way more camera than you need.

Sweet poseable thrusters and 2 pilot figures with nice detail it appears.

Since we're now officially in a pissing match...

_________________________________________________________--> I hit here.

On topic.

I'm currently using a D70 (not a D70s, you whippersnappers! ), with a 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens, 60mm macro lens, a 18 - 70mm DX, and a 35mm prime. I also have a teleconverter (next to unused), 2x SB600, and a SB-something commander unit (not the SB800). I'm entertaining suggestions to add to the stable, inclusive of a second body. Other relevant information:

My primary shooting patterns:

• I shoot indoors a lot, company events. Very low light (even in the day), so I need high ISO and high speed lens.
• I also shoot miniatures/ toys a bit. Not true digital macrophotography, but similar techniques.

My preference is to shoot from far, using tele -- I'm a stalker, not a paparazzi.

I intend to stick with Nikon, so no Canon suggestions please. Also, whatever it is, it has to be CF compatible -- I'm using CF now, not keen to switch medias between 2 bodies.

So, suggestions? Would appreciate some rationals too.

If your trying to stay around the same price range why not look at the D90 or D5000? Check out the reviews at cameralabs.com. Gordon Lang gives a great in depth review on both and there is a video review on the conclusion pages that you can watch.

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Nikon_D5000/index.shtml

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Nikon_D90/

Note there is no Compact Flash slot on either of these cameras. I think for mid range and lower Nikon has go to SD only. The good news is that you can get an 8GB high speed SD card for under $40 these days so I don't really see why you need to stick to CF.

As to brand...... I always say whatever works for "you". Some people prefer Cannons, some Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic and some even Sony. I find taking pictures to be a very subjective experience and a camera you don't like using will always result in sub par pics. So if you aren't enjoying the experience that the camera provides in taking pics don't buy it. One of the reasons I didn't buy an EP-1 was that the intial user experiece with their GUI for the camera drove me nuts. That is most likely because I grew up using Canons though.

Anyway I like landscape and macro shooting so shutter performance is not the most important thing for me. I also wanted something that I could throw in my back pack and just go. I would have bought and EP1 or Pany GR1 but that was out of my budget range right now and why I bought a G11. I know the low light is not as good as an SLR and the shutter speed kind of sucks for action but I like the build of the camera and I like most of the shots I get with it (I really need to get a monopod for some of those low light shots....) My brother prefers his $300 PowerShot SX200 IS because it has a 12x zoom and its small. He can keep it in his pants pocket and whenever his 1 year old daughter does something kooky he is ready to shoot it. It dosen't take the greatest pictures IMO but he and his wife are perfectly happy with it. Beauty is always in the eye of the Beholder right?

Now as too what Macross Man was saying I agree to the most part, but Program mode can only get you so far. I have been rather impressed what the program modes can get you on some of the newer Budget SLRs and high end compacts. That being said when you are going for certain effects in a shot, having control and knowing what you are doing can help allot. I got my G11 a few months ago and for "quick" shots I leave the camera in program mode and only screw around with the exposure dial and it takes pretty decent pics. For those tougher low light shots playing around with exposure, iso, shutter and white balance can get you some impressive shots. If you look at the shot below that is taken with a fluorescent bulb lighting the scene. I played with the white balance and exposure till I got this "warmer" shot out of it. Also adjusting the shutter enough so that my shaky hands don't make the pic blurry and give enough light for the shot.......did I mention I wanted a monopod? Maybe my parents listened to me this year....

Does anyone know if it has swappable hands or posing fingers?

no adapters need with flexi stands

I love them all but at the top of my list would have to be (in no particular order):

OD green Tomahawk - as a former Battletech fan boy this scratches 2 itches! The torso joint sucks but otherwise I can find not on fault with this one. I can even franken-mech it.

VT-1/VE-1 - Just wow. I love them both. With both sitting next to my Strike Roy........I just get a grin on my face.

VF-11B - Sets a new standard for me. It's not as articulated as the VF-1 V.2 1/60s but it feels so solid and the build quality is top notch. Did I mention that it just plain looks kick ass!

You would have thought they had learned that lesson with the Ozama VF-25.... Oh well I'd still buy one if I could afford it right now.

Those would all be great.

In addition I would like to see rub on transfers for something like the Minmay guard (or something similar) and I would love to have a 1/60 zentradi soldier to go with my valks. Fixed pose would be fine....... this feels so christmasy like I should be addressing this to santa or something.

The only problem I have ever had was shipping to where I live. I can spend $120-$180 on these toys but then add anywhere from $30-$50 dollars shipping per item and the screaming voice in my wallet tends to win me over.

From amiami I just ordered:

VF-27 - $11,720 yen / $130.383 USD

VF-25F - $12,450 yen / $138.543 USD

I am not a big fan of the Bandai DX series but at that price I couldn't resist. The have the armored Ozama on for a discount as well but I figured that was enough money for a little while. Now only if HLJ would have a sale on the Frontier stuff.

So sales work. I wasn't going to buy any Macross stuff for a few months and I didn't see myself buying anymore DX stuff after my VF-25F but I find a sale and out comes my credit card....... I'm so weak.

I think this sale must be doing so darn well that the stocks are in a state of depletion very shortly after the sale began.... so... let it run longer, and with more items! In fact, combine it with the free shipping offer!!

Can you combine the Yamato sale with the free christmas sale offer? I had thought they where separate.

Well the price at AmiAmi was so cheap I couldn't resist. Ordered the tornado and the VF-27. My wallet hates me already!