Jump to content

The Official Yamato VB-6 Monster Thread


Recommended Posts

Just last night I was thinking that I really needed to get my old SDF-1 toy that a friend was holding onto for me, and see about getting it fixed (the shoulder piece somehow broke from the rest of the ship coincidentally enough at about the same moment in time that an acquaintance of mine became dead to me). If I can get it fixed, it will look most excellent as a centerpiece to my collection.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice display, Drifand! Everyone say cheese!!

PS: Where's the 1/48s? On top?

Zilch for 1/48's... they do nothing for me. (And let's not go into any debates, ya?) Top shelf is pure ORGUSSmic mecha pleasure:

08.jpg

:-)

Orgussmic indeed! OH YES! :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to add that I'm loving my Konig more and more. It's by far my favourite non-1/48th toy to date. If they did one up in the black and red paintscheme I'd definitely pick it up.

In the meantime, I'm eyeing those Q-Raus. I'm digging the diversity my Macross collection is gaining. I'm even digging the idea of picking up some more Macross 7 toys, if I can find a V-17D, and a VF-19F and S for cheap.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

incredible shelves drifand i am loving those orguss figures i have been wanting to pick some of those up for a while, by the way you do not like the 1/48's :blink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

incredible shelves drifand i am loving those orguss figures i have been wanting to pick some of those up for a while, by the way you do not like the 1/48's :blink:

I knew something was missing. :p

My Monsters are stuck at customs. <_< At least they are here I suppose.

Can someone tell us if we can fire the rail cannons in Battroid mode?

Edited by kensei
Link to comment
Share on other sites

incredible shelves drifand i am loving those orguss figures i have been wanting to pick some of those up for a while, by the way you do not like the 1/48's :blink:

That is correct: 1/48's don't mean much to me. Lot's of reasons, but it boils down to the fact that I place greater importance on the Battroid mode over the Fighter mode... and the 1/60's have got the overall proportions done much better for my preferences.

Anyway... I decided to see how I could fit the VB-6 in Battroid mode! Afterall, that's why I had to raise the shelf in the first place:

10.jpg

Very tight fit made possible only by shifting/squeezing the whole 1/55 line-up to the left. Once VB-6 was in, I decided the two 1/100 destroids (from the TT Conversion Kit set) made the perfect complements. Now I definitely wish I can obtain one more 1/100 Defender. :-)

A closer look:

11.jpg

With the right mods, the 1/60 VF-1J's can achieve excellent Battroid poses without support... I like them! :-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

incredible shelves drifand i am loving those orguss figures i have been wanting to pick some of those up for a while, by the way you do not like the 1/48's :blink:

I knew something was missing. :p

My Monsters are stuck at customs. <_< At least they are here I suppose.

Can someone tell us if we can fire the rail cannons in Battroid mode?

According to the Macross Compendium's page on the VB-6, there's no indication that the rail guns are disabled in Battroid-mode. Fire away!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I ended up breaking down and buying a Yamato VB-6. If for no other reason than because I was quite curious as to what Yamato did with the IHP designs.

Well, I got it yesterday (Thanks Kev!), and I found the differences very surprising.

Overall, I like it a lot. It's not perfect, but overall, it's pretty well done.

One thing that I don't like about it, though, is that most of the toy's joints are done with rivets, not screws. And even some parts are just glued together. That means two things. First, if a joint gets loose over time (or worse, is loose right out of the box), then there's no way to tighten it.

And also, that means there's no way (that I can see) to disassemble the toy, making custom paint jobs all but impossible.

As far as detailing, it's a bit of a mixed bag.

A lot of the detailing that's on the IHP is also on the Yamato, but some of them look a kinda plain in comparison. They're more toy-ish in appearance, and not as crisp. The nozzles are the best example of this. The IHP's are amazing :)

Some of them (but not all) are besause of the limitation of injection molding. You just can't get the detail you can get with resin, becase injection molding doesn't allow undercuts. Similarly, injection molding won't allow thick, solid pieces, like resin will. That's why a lot of the parts that need to be kinda thick (like the two folding flaps on the bottom in bomber mode) are ribbed on the back. It's the only way to get the thickness and rigitity the part needs without making it two seperate parts. So again, it's another area where resin allows a lot more flexibility.

And I've noticed a few small details that are on the IHP (and are lineart-accurate) that are missing on the Yamato. But it's pretty small stuff.

But the Yamato has a few fairly signifcant details that the IHP is lacking. Most notably, the ribbing on the front of the orange shoulder pieces, and the simulated shutters in the arm sliders. Both very nice touches that I always thought the IHP was lacking (and that I didn't have time to incorperate into my recast :()

But what surprised me most were the design changes that were made. The Yamato is obviously heavily inspired by the IHP design, but there are a lot of differences. It's actually quite a bit simplified compared to the IHP.

The transformation designs of the arms and legs is almost identical, but the main body has some very large differences. A few aspects of it are streamlined and simplified. And while a couple of the changes I definitely prefer, the rest of them I'm not so sure about. And I probably won't be sure about them until I finish the recast and get one that's built up well. So far I've only built one up about 75% (missing one arm and one leg), and it was a pretty half-assed build I did just as an engineering check. A lot of of the joints were pretty loose because I didn't take the time to do things properly. The result is that chaos that can be seen in this pic :blink:

But one area has a lot of changes that definitely do NOT like, and that is the nose. It's fine in bomber mode (aside from a slight droop problem), but it just doesn't sit right in gerwalk and destroid modes. Not only does the IHP have a better joint for it WITH the 'crotch turret', but it can be positioned much better, exposing much less of the uglyness behind the nose.

I really should post pics to show you all what I'm talking about... but I've gotta get to bed. Work in the morning <_<

And finally, for those of you who are still interested in getting one of the recast kits, they should finally be finished sometime this month. I'm still working on getting the final molds finished, but I just don't have enough free time to get them nearly as quickly as I would like to :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unfortunately, I'm no good with models, worse so with resin models. Definitely keep us posted with more of those differences, and photos would be appreciated when you have the time. The nose/crotch of the Konig, and the lack of the turret are my least favourite parts about the toy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks to "Valkyrie" for a very informative post about the evolution of the VB-6 from model to toy... The observations about the nose cone are particulary interesting; if Yamato manages to improve this for a v2.0, I might seriously consider a second purchase. Please do post some comparison pix when you can. :-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great review, Valkyrie.  I love these kind of in-depth reviews over the "it rawks" comments ;)

One thing though, since you have both the kit & toy, would it be possible to recast (or even create) the leg piece that Yamato messed up on.

Of course, it does indeed "rawk". I kinda figured that goes without saying. But for the record, it also "r0x0rz", "rocks the hizzy fo shizzy" :p

But which leg piece are you refering to? None of them seemed too bad to me.

I got around to taking a few pics of the IHP kit's nose to show you all what I was talking about.

Like I said before, this was an incredibly half-assed build using whatever reject parts I had laying around. Also, a the larger screws will have much smaller heads on them in the final kit. I had to work with what I had at the time. So bear that in mind ;)

post-4-1107498736_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One more, side view this time.

Also, just so a certain someone doesn't think I massacred his original IHP kit, the white pieces are recasts too, not originals. I ordered the wrong resin, so I was stuck with white parts... until I thought of mixing in some black dye and making them gray :p

But I marked up all the white recasts with a permenant marker so I wouldn't get them mixed up with the originals.

And in case you were wondering, the pieces marked with an R were candidates for the final kit that didn't make the cut. So the R was my 'note to self' that I had to Replace them.

post-4-1107499126_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One last pic. This time of the inner workings of the main body. I had to include this one, just to make all you Yamato VB-6 owners say "What the hell is THAT?!" :lol:

Though actually, it's missing one part... the plate that goes behind the head. But you get the idea :)

post-4-1107499822_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

incredible shelves drifand i am loving those orguss figures i have been wanting to pick some of those up for a while, by the way you do not like the 1/48's :blink:

I knew something was missing. :p

My Monsters are stuck at customs. <_< At least they are here I suppose.

Can someone tell us if we can fire the rail cannons in Battroid mode?

According to the Macross Compendium's page on the VB-6, there's no indication that the rail guns are disabled in Battroid-mode. Fire away!

Sorry dude! I meant if we can tilt the Rail Cannons down in Battroid mode. I wasn't thinking about what I was typing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the review, update and pictures Ken. I was worried that the VB-6 project had driven you mad :p

Keep up the good work man, I wish I lived nearby so I could come donate some time to the project, it is obvious that you have put a massive amount of effort into it so far!

I picked up a toy version from Kevin at Valk Exchange as well mainly for my Yammy toy collection, but I still eagerly await the challenge of the kit. Thanks again for taking on the project man.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got the Monster from Kevin yesterday. This is the toy!!!

It's perfect, no q/c at all.

Some pictures for the ones that still are not convinced to get one.

(sorry for the quality but I had not too much time when I took them)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...