vf-24

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Do what you said and what everyone has suggested, call HLJ or e-mail them and explain the situation. If you e-mail them, show them the pictures. They seem to be very understanding and hopefully you'll get a replacement of the whole craft. If that doesn't work, then move on to the next step which is to try to repair it yourself with the suggestions that everyone has offered you or purchase another fighter. Take the damaged fighter and sell it for parts and maybe you can make a profit or break even. Or you could always keep the damaged fighter and save it as your spare parts just in case the backpack hindge breaks (which is common) or any other part breaks off. Since Yamato isn't dealing with overseas customers in replacing parts, this might be your best back up to have for spare parts. Btw, just as a suggestion, I have bought 1/48s at BigBadToyStore.com here in the states and have had good success with them. I haven't checked prices lately and compared them to HLJ but they are roughly about the same. the plus side of getting a new valk in the states is that if there is something wrong again, it might be quicker and easier to deal with exchanging and shipping costs. Look at their policies. some offer free shipping if something is damaged when you send it back to them. Basically no cost to you. Good luck and keep us posted.

Well I wouldn't go that far into using surgical gloves. I know you're kidding but if someone out there is seriously thinking of doing that, that almost kinda defeats the purpose of owning one. In that case, you might as well not take it out of the box. But feel free to do what you want with your valk, after all it is your valk. Anyways, there are a host of reasons why the plastics turn yellow. I think everything that everyone has mentioned could be the cause...oils, uv, humidity, etc but I don't believe that it is just one thing that causes it. We'll probably never find out. Doesn't hurt to keep theorizing. Keep the suggestions comin'!

plastic being damaged by the oils on the fingers causing the plastic to yellow over time. A lot of toy collectors who have experienced this have suggested to wipe your collectibles with a cloth before storing your collectibles for a long time. This is especially true on some diecast car collectibles. with the SW toys I mentioned above, part of it was because of the type of plastic, part was oils, and part was because of the paint that kenner used to use back then...but that's another discussion entirely. But this is just one possibility out of many that could cause the yellowing.

one possible reason for the yellowing could be the oils from our hands from handling them. I've had this happen to my old bandai valk. haven't touched it for years until recently and found out that my valk was turning yellow. and the majority of the yellow was coming from the areas where i mostly touched it. the same goes for my old 1977 Star Wars figures. so it could be a possiblity that your valk is turning yellow due to oil resdue if not from anything else.

ditto. <_<

here's my 2 cents, take it or leave it. yamato is a business in creating adult collectibles. they produce nice work, the mechanics or the materials used for the products may need some tweaking. their custormer service and quality control, probably needs a lot of tweaking. they, like any other business out there are out to make a buck. do they care about their customers? do they listen to consumer complaints, suggestions, etc? no one knows except those who know yamato. but companies that do listen to their consumers and try to satisfy them, are good companies. and those that don't listen are bad companies. ironically though in the world of business, sometimes the bad companies make the most money but that's an entirely different issue for elsewhere. the bottom line, in my opinion, is are you satisfied with your purchase? no? then don't buy from them anymore. yes? then continue to buy from them if you want.

1) i think you'll find different answers to the first one. for me, they seem to hold pretty well and i have 2 FPs. The front missile portion is held together with the main booster by 4 tabs which seem to be pretty solid. not so hard to fall off, take off or push in. 2) instructions are pretty much like the instructions for the 1/48 valks...straight forward. I don't think you would have any problems. the only minor problems as you might've already read is that the rms missles tend to fall off easily and the micro missiles seem to pop out easily. i haven't experienced the micro missile issue cause i'm too lazy to cut them off the sprues. the other minor problem i have is that the arm armor is pretty snug when it snaps onto the arm. very nice looking. but when you try to take them off, gets a little scary for me cause you have to bend the tab a little to release them. other than that, the FPs are pretty cool.

hope this helps. there's an extra piece in the FPs which fits in between the head and the back panel. also make sure the back panel is pushed in pass the two tabs on the fighter. refer to the picture. i never knew that i had to push it in further until someone posted a picture of it.

Does anyone have pictures to show the difference between the yamato and taka toys stickers?

did you happen to have any problems taking the arm armor off also?

I remember this discussion too. It's o.k. to complain and vent as long as you state some possible solutions to the problem otherwise you just sound like a complainer and no one can help you or ease your discomfort. no one likes to hear a complainer...gives us all headaches. remember to just buy what you like and don't buy what you don't. for me, I bought a vf-1s and a max 1-a. i'm disappointed on the construction of the backpack hinge and made suggestions to yamato as to how they could improve it but until they do, i choose not to purchase anymore of their fighters cause i don't think it's worth my money. my choice and my contentment. like hurin stated, nothing is perfect and by keeping that in mind, work on satisfaction. if a product or a company doesn't satisfy you, learn from that experience and move forward. bare in mind, i'm not trying to "knock anyone down", just trying to help.

Does anyone know of a trick or an easier way to remove the Fast Pack armor off of the arm for the 1/48s? Everytime I take it off I feel like the tabs are going to break off. Any help is most appreciated.

after looking at the dyrl cockpit and the vf-1j, looks like the only difference is the head rest on the 1j is more curved to fit the head and it also looks like the center stick is molded to the pilot. other than that, the cockpit is pretty much the same.

Is there anyone out there who can provide some photo examples of the difference between Takatoys decals and Yamato decals on the 1/48s? I don't mean examples of the decals sheets but the decals on the fighters. I keep reading that Takatoys decals are better than the Yamatos and just would like to see some examples. Thanks.

I was wondering if anyone knew if the Furuta Defiant is in scale with the Bandai Enterprise-E (1/1700)? If not, what scale is the Furuta Defiant?