Yamato 1/60 VF-11b under development

[QuinJester]

That would be my guess as well.

Yamato sure does one thing right: they make toys with no ugly gaps. Everything is flush and looks to fit together perfectly.

If only they would go to the guy who came up with the 1/48 swingbar transformation and have him come up with a way to get longer tailfins stowed in the legs. Someone did a real nice computer animation to show that it's possible.

And what's with the wide-hipped, bowl-legged battroid mode?

My 1/60 YF-19 disagrees with you on the "no gaps" point, but ah well. I'd almost like to see some more seams or something, anything, to break up the big blank grey areas on the body. Hopefully there's plenty of sculpted detail in there that's just being washed out by lighting or something. The bowlegged stance looks to mercifully be the product of poor hip-hinge arrangement, and hopefully wont be endemic on the final model, because otherwise it'll just be one more nail in its coffin.

We'll see, we'll see.

[anime52k8]

if they can rescale the nose and tailfins, I'll be happy as hell. Either case, if they don't, I'll still buy it...just hope to god it's not in the 200+ dollar mark like the 19 and 21 were : / I swear the prices are getting ridiculous for toys.

considering the that each 1/60 (excluding the v2. VF-1) has been more expensive than the last, $200 USD is probably going to be the minimum for this thing.

My 1/60 YF-19 disagrees with you on the "no gaps" point, but ah well. I'd almost like to see some more seams or something, anything, to break up the big blank grey areas on the body. Hopefully there's plenty of sculpted detail in there that's just being washed out by lighting or something. The bowlegged stance looks to mercifully be the product of poor hip-hinge arrangement, and hopefully wont be endemic on the final model, because otherwise it'll just be one more nail in its coffin.

We'll see, we'll see.

my YF-21 seconds that disagreement. and it's unlikely there will be much in the way of panel lines on this one. Yamato tends not to ad much in the way of made up detail, and the VF-11 (like the YF-19) never had much detail in terms of panel lines and what not shown in the official line art. the VF-11 will probebly be pretty barren like the YF-19. (the YF-21 has much more panel detail since full detail official line art exists for it).

I think the bow leg thing is because the LERX that is under the canard in batroid mode gets in the way of the top of the hip. I have a feeling that could have a seriously negative effect on the poseability of the batriod mode.

another thing I've noticed is that the from the back the wings don't come together all the way in batroid mode, leaving a gap and making the wings look funny from the front. hopefully, it's jut not correctly transformed, and it won't be a problem when the toy finally comes out. (not getting my hopes up though)

[Vic Mancini]

another thing I've noticed is that the from the back the wings don't come together all the way in batroid mode, leaving a gap and making the wings look funny from the front. hopefully, it's jut not correctly transformed, and it won't be a problem when the toy finally comes out. (not getting my hopes up though)

It's a VF-11, not a VF-1. The wings aren't supposed to come together in B-mode.

[ruskiiVFaussie]

anime52k8, where are the gaps located on your YF21??? Fighter mode is f'n seamless on both of mine....

Edited November 11, 2008 by ruskiiVFaussie

[kaiotheforsaken]

You know, the nose doesn't look nearly as squashed in the image of the fighter with the FPs on.

[ruskiiVFaussie]

photoshopped?

[kaiotheforsaken]

Or maybe de-photoshopped based on what Graham said about the larger un FP'd image of fighter mode.

[ruskiiVFaussie]

You remember the first pics of the SV-51 Ivanov though right, the shortened nose, this is the same deal.

Yamato give the photoshoppers the go ahead for that? But for what purpose? To piss us off?

Edited November 11, 2008 by ruskiiVFaussie

[kaiotheforsaken]

Oh I remember the Sv-51 very well. Concerns about the nose, the "broken" back look, all kinds of things. Though that sucker is amazing looking in person. I'm not too concerned about the 11, I think it'll look great once we see some better images and, of course, once it's on my shelf.

[ruskiiVFaussie]

And on my shelf! Seeing that it's the next gen VF-1, i'll have to grab atleast 2.

Edited November 11, 2008 by ruskiiVFaussie

[anime52k8]

anime52k8, where are the gaps located on your YF21??? Fighter mode is f'n seamless on both of mine....

this is the tightest i can get these parts, It's not bad, but it's a little annoying.

and I know there's nothing that can be done about this, but I still wish there wasn't such a big hole where the arms are.

[SuperHobo]

this is the tightest i can get these parts, It's not bad, but it's a little annoying.

and I know there's nothing that can be done about this, but I still wish there wasn't such a big hole where the arms are.

I think I might be able to solve those gap problems. Know that grey metal swing bar that locks in the backpack to the rest of the plane? Make sure you have that pushed all the way down on both sides (ie: the two screw pegs into the holes of the swing bar). That was my problem and now my YF-21 is beautifully held together without any annoying gaps.

[Sumdumgai]

The wings not connecting in the back in battroid is normal even in the lineart. The wings fold and the rear edges rest against the central body in the back. While the lineart has the wings ending before the extendable gerwalk joint, it's not possible on the toy otherwise the wings in fighter mode would be too stubby (more anime magic).

Headlaser length is pretty much spot on with the lineart, it's damned long.

Nice catch on the fast-pack fighter mode VF-11 not looking so squished and stubby, kaiohtheforsaken!

[anime52k8]

The wings not connecting in the back in battroid is normal even in the lineart. The wings fold and the rear edges rest against the central body in the back. While the lineart has the wings ending before the extendable gerwalk joint, it's not possible on the toy otherwise the wings in fighter mode would be too stubby (more anime magic).

Headlaser length is pretty much spot on with the lineart, it's damned long.

Nice catch on the fast-pack fighter mode VF-11 not looking so squished and stubby, kaiohtheforsaken!

still, I think it would have looked better if they wings swong in closer together. no mater what you do it wont be perfect, but I think it would have looked better if they had them come all the way together so that the wings didn't had down so much, and showed less from the front.

[Sumdumgai]

still, I think it would have looked better if they wings swong in closer together. no mater what you do it wont be perfect, but I think it would have looked better if they had them come all the way together so that the wings didn't had down so much, and showed less from the front.

I'm not sure I get entirely what you mean anime52k8.

What I think you're saying is that the wingtips shouldn't be hanging down so low, and should be closer to the lineart with the wingtips stopping near where the booster nozzles on the fastpacks begin. Shorter wings in basics, like the lineart.

More compromises are needed on the older non-cg model designs. I agree it would look better with shorter wings in battroid, but I prefer the longer wings so that fighter and gerwalk aren't freakish with tiny stubs. The rest of battroid is overall great, so the wings aren't a killer for me. It has the VF-11 essence there.

Oh yes, pic taken from Mr. March's fantastic Macross Mecha Manual.

Edited November 11, 2008 by Sumdumgai

[do not disturb]

haven't been here in a while, 11B looks good but as always, i'll wait for some reviews.

plus with this economy, i don't see these being very expensive for long.

[AcroRay]

More likely: production will be cut short by the economy, making them more expensive in the long run.

[TheLoneWolf]

And when they become more expensive in the long run, Yamato will notice the increased demand and cash in with a reissue.

[ruskiiVFaussie]

....................... damned economy.

[eugimon]

And when they become more expensive in the long run, Yamato will notice the increased demand and cash in with a reissue.

and then, after they've released every canon paint job, they'll release a ver 2 that fixes almost everything we're complaining about.

[Scream Man]

Thats the spirit!

i was always torn about whther i liked the 11 more with or without the FP. Im still not sure, even now...

[Sumdumgai]

Thats the spirit!

i was always torn about whther i liked the 11 more with or without the FP. Im still not sure, even now...

A lot of people have that issue with the VF-1. The VF-11 is carrying along the torch just fine.

[kaiotheforsaken]

I didn't really like the old FPs for the 1/72, but seeing this one makes me rethink how I'll be displaying mine. I think I've said it before, but this could easily be my first time owning multiples of the same Valk.

[Lonely Soldier Boy]

Personally; I think all of these complaints miss the apple for the tree...or...um...something like that....

I think each and every Vaklyrie should come with a diorama of some sort. It could even be cardboard. The original 1/72 VF-11B came with a cardboard desert diorama. That was really cool. A stand and a diorama would really go a long way in improving my Macross experience.

It would be nice, for instance, if a box of GBP armor for the new 1/60s came with two or three "hangar bay" dioramas, if the fighters came with "space" dioramas and so forth and so on.

I think that this is a better way of improving the offer than hagling over a milimeter here or there.... just my opinion..

Pete

Agreed. My dream display is a large 1/6 SDF-1 hangar bay diorama for all my Macross mecha.

[anime52k8]

I'm not sure I get entirely what you mean anime52k8.

What I think you're saying is that the wingtips shouldn't be hanging down so low, and should be closer to the lineart with the wingtips stopping near where the booster nozzles on the fastpacks begin. Shorter wings in basics, like the lineart.

More compromises are needed on the older non-cg model designs. I agree it would look better with shorter wings in battroid, but I prefer the longer wings so that fighter and gerwalk aren't freakish with tiny stubs. The rest of battroid is overall great, so the wings aren't a killer for me. It has the VF-11 essence there.

Oh yes, pic taken from Mr. March's fantastic Macross Mecha Manual.

No, what I mean is that when the wings fold back, they should rotate in further. right now the toy looks like the wings rotate about 90 degrees, I think they should be able to rotate around 100 to 110 degrees. if they did, then it would bring the trailing edges of the wings together more.

see how in the the trailing edges of the wings are basically parallel to to each other. on the toy aren't. if the wings were angled in more, the wing tips would be higher and from the front the wings wouldn't look so wide.

[Valkyrie addict]

I know this problem...when I was customizing an IHP VF-11 model, I ran into this trouble, that piece that's not visible, is actually the back crotch with hold the legs, and the wings just like the VF-1 on battroid magicly shorten to fold neatly and dock with the piece to look cool

Yamato must have compromise this piece since it's very important for the legs articulation and it joints with the nosecone, only way for this to look right would be for the piece to be extremely bulky and could make the valk look chunky, I guess since the wings are too long and either way they were not going to look right I guess they just made the piece more slimmer so it would look more sleek in fighter and battroid, I think they would also would have had to put the piece upper in the torso so it wouldn't look weird and long

Edited November 14, 2008 by Valkyrie addict

[Sumdumgai]

I see what you mean now anime52k8. I would have liked if they had been able to engineer it to make the wings in battroid more like the lineart, but oh well, it's not a dealbreaker for me. Some kind of hidden device to rotate the wings after you fold them, to bring them up higher and turn them more... Oh well.

[Valkyrie addict]

ok, I think I've figure out what Yamato compromised and why the nose is shorter and sqashed

the crotch piece that I mentioned earlier houses the legs sway bar, when the valk transforms, the whole crotch piece pivots down for transformation, the piece thanks to anime magic is slim on fighter but gets bulky and moves down on battroid

if the piece is kept bulky the figther would look chunky, Yamato had to make this piece slimmer and on transformation sits higher than it's supposed according to lineart, according to this also, on battroid, the nosecone (gets shorter), joints with this crotch piece and it's sorta even on space, but since this piece had to be compromise and is slimmer and shorter, if the nosecone were kept as long as in lineart for fighter mode, on battroid would look weird with the nosecone too long looking like a penis and the legs to far up, it also appears that the legs sway bar slides down for proper positioning unlike the fugly Bandai VF-25, so yamato make the nosecone as short as it could, so it would look proportionate on fighter and battroid

I don't know if I explained myself right, here's an image highlighting the piece I'm mentioning and also a comparison with the GNU that is more line accurate so you can see the compromise I'm talking about

[badboy00z]

The chest (cockpit/nose) in battroid is too big.

And of all the things wrong with the battroid mode you guys complain about the wings not being close together enough??

[lechuck]

I noted that in my original post too, but everybody seems more worried about the length of fighter mode and the size of the rear tail fins.

After looking at the images again, I think the problem lies in the wrong scaling of the individual components to make up Battroid.

- feet vs. lower legs

- chest/fuselage vs. head and upper legs/intakes

- the whole arm section seems to be big compared to the more petite legs

- and it looks too wide from shoulder to shoulder

But hey, as long this thing flies 0.000000000001 sec longer with improved rear tail fins when thrown it in the air everybody will be happy.

[anime52k8]

The chest (cockpit/nose) in battroid is too big.

And of all the things wrong with the battroid mode you guys complain about the wings not being close together enough??

I already bitched about the Cockpit section being to massive in batroid mode and still stubby in fighter mode.

the thing is I've already given up on the things that couldn't be done any better realisticly (the nose of the plane will always be a problem. if you get it right in batroid, the fighter looks like it hit a brick wall, if you get the nose right in fighter, the batroid ends up with VF-25 Doom-cock.

they could have the wings better, but they don't.

also, another thing that bothers me is the LERX's directly behind the canards. that part should is too strait, there should be a bit of a kink in it.

if you look at the batroid of the 1/60 the part (which is behind the canards) is basically strait. on the GN-U figure the part has a change in angle, making it look pinched in. not only would it look better, it would also improve articulation. if you look at the pic the top of the intake hits that part, limiting the movment of the leg and producing the bow leg stance in the pic.

[Kelsain]

I think my biggest issue is the feet and and tailfins. I accept the concession on the nose, but the back end of the fighter just looks too puny, and the battroid looks like its feet were bound in childhood.

I also wonder about the shield. You can't really tell in the photos, but it looks like it mates with the fuselage more like the shield of the VF-25. I don't see that it pinches in at the top of shield, like the lineart or the GNU.

Overall, it still looks pretty good, though. All the Mac Plus valks seem to suffer from major anime magic on the legs, so the toys look like gymnasts. Think of how bad the Fire Valkyrie would look!

Edited November 14, 2008 by Kelsain

[Nani?!]

I think my biggest issue is the feet and and tailfins. I accept the concession on the nose, but the back end of the fighter just looks too puny, and the battroid looks like its feet were bound in childhood.

I also wonder about the shield. You can't really tell in the photos, but it looks like it mates with the fuselage more like the shield of the VF-25. I don't see that it pinches in at the top of shield, like the lineart or the GNU.

Overall, it still looks pretty good, though. All the Mac Plus valks seem to suffer from major anime magic on the legs, so the toys look like gymnasts. Think of how bad the Fire Valkyrie would look!

I agree.

I don't have much of a problem with the front of the fighter. I actually think it'll look fine when we have it in our hands and view it from all angles. It's the feet and tail fins that makes this less than ideal for me... especially because anime magic really isn't a hindrance in getting those areas right.

[promethuem5]

I love it... the 11 has so much anime magic and fiddlyness to its design that I'm happy with most any solid looking practical design, and Yamato nailed it.

[Lonely Soldier Boy]

I still think they could've done small tweaks here and there to better balance the overall looks of each mode despite the anime magic problem: Bigger feet would've made a world of difference in Battroid and "Gawok" without making Fighter suffer, for instance.

Edited November 17, 2008 by Lonely Soldier Boy