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Bandai DX Chogokin 1/48 VF-1


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I just received my VF-1J from Amazon Japan. Package arrived in great condition. I handled fighter mode and I am loving the heft! After holding the DX I held my Arcadia VF-1 and it felt like I was holding a model kit.. lol The DX reminds me of Yamato's VF-19 valks in terms of feel. It feels chunky, hefty, and robust to play with. Just the way I like it :)

Edited by Foblander
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1 hour ago, Foblander said:

I just received my VF-1J from Amazon Japan. Package arrived in great condition. I handled fighter mode and I am loving the heft! After holding the DX I held my Arcadia VF-1 and it felt like I was holding a model kit.. lol The DX reminds me of Yamato's VF-19 valks in terms of feel. It feels chunky, hefty, and robust to play with. Just the way I like it :)

This is a good comment, one I think that gets overlooked.  Yamato and Arcadia did have modeling and customization in mind with their valks.  You can see that in their comments about decals and also the releases of their full build kits.  They even gave inspiration through their weathering releases.  I would rank the Yamato in all essence as a model kit that was sold completed but not detailed.  A true gem either way and even though I'm all in on the DX line and releasing my v2's from the collection, I will never let go of my premium edition Roy 1 and 0 S's or Max's Premium.  They did more for macross releases and design than anyone.

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18 minutes ago, Ridden001 said:

This is a good comment, one I think that gets overlooked.  Yamato and Arcadia did have modeling and customization in mind with their valks.  You can see that in their comments about decals and also the releases of their full build kits.  They even gave inspiration through their weathering releases.  I would rank the Yamato in all essence as a model kit that was sold completed but not detailed.  A true gem either way and even though I'm all in on the DX line and releasing my v2's from the collection, I will never let go of my premium edition Roy 1 and 0 S's or Max's Premium.  They did more for macross releases and design than anyone.

Except the weight of the v2’s never made any difference to the durability of the toy.  While they may have had customization in mind when considering amount of markings it being a “model” simply because they didn’t put in a bunch of unneccessary weight isn’t neccesarily accurate.

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7 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

You won't regret that Advance, it's a beautiful bird.  I think my only recommendations for it would be to take the transformation slowly, since it's a quantum leap in complexity compared with the VF-1, and to act quickly if you want to acquire any sort of official under-wing weaponry for it, since sources for those are few and far between.

If you want everything and the kitchen sink for add-ons, it might be worth tracking down the Macross Plus YF-19 version as well, since it comes with a boatload of extra missiles and weaponry to add.  It's very much up to you and your interests though, because digging into the various lines of Macross merchandise can get complicated and expensive very quickly.

I don't expect Bandai to overwhelm the 1/60 market with 1/48 releases, but I do expect them to release at least a few.  It would take a significant effort to produce a line as extensive as Yamato/Arcadia though, since the current 1/60 VF-1 mold has been in near-constant production for over a decade now.

 

 

8 hours ago, HardlyNever said:

No problem.  Do note, there ARE 1/60 VF-1s out there.  Arcadia currently makes the best 1/60 VF-1s (using a Yamato design).  So if you are looking to collect in 1/60, there are 1/60 VF-1s out there.

But the DX 1/48 seems to have taken the crown of the "best VF-1 ever," at least for now.


Thanks a ton, guys. Super excited for the Advance at this point. I think I'll just keep the 1/48 as my one VF-1J for the time being since there will more than likely be an S to display with it, right?and just collect 1/60 to display around them as centerpieces. 
 

Just Transformed this thing into GerWalk for the first time. Man oh man it's pretty darned sexy:

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14 hours ago, Kuma Style said:

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@Kuma Style i'm so glad you're getting into Macross.

Haloid and Diggeh both want one too but they missed out on it. I reposted your photos on our discord since you know both of em and they know youB))   

Finally some pics with the chest cavities. :yahoo:

14 hours ago, Lolicon said:

Sure. Super old pic incoming. :ph34r:

721591048_VF-1SDYRLold.jpg.7c7913817b1533d80975f693e9df5561.jpg

Bruh, i wished you did this light shade of grey on your DX 1J and VF-0S.

this is freaking amazing... who needs Yamato's weather special with the panel lining above.

 

I'm hoping to one day get panel lines as nice as this. I will keep trying to achieve this goal.  

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1 hour ago, davidwhangchoi said:

Bruh, i wished you did this light shade of grey on your DX 1J and VF-0S.

this is freaking amazing... who needs Yamato's weather special with the panel lining above.

I'm hoping to one day get panel lines as nice as this. I will keep trying to achieve this goal.  

I'll probably do that on my second DX 1J as that one will be my 'display only' piece. First one is my 'playing around' piece that I am free to be rough with. :) I tend not to handle my valks much after putting all that work into them so I don't break or scratch them up too much.

Though I've also become enamored with the clean paneled valks from the photobook of Hasegawa Macross models. I love the finish on them. :yahoo:

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Great Pictures all of you!

Sadly, i finally opened my Dx VF-1J, and i got one of the bad ones. Floppy left leg at the intake, uneven wings at the back. I love how it looks, but i keep thinking how long until it becomes a floppy mess(i am looking at you heels!). I Love the heft, of this valk. The metal feet gave the brief impression the whole leg was metal, lol, but ofc it isn't. It feels like an advanced 1/48 Yammie, but I don't feel as confident handling it.

I checked the screws on the left leg, and they are tight. It seems like the ratchet is loose on the thigh. Super loose. :mellow:

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2 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Nice pics @Saburo.

Same to you @Kuma Style.  The only things I noticed were some of the parts not in place for Gerwalk and Battroid mode.

 

8 hours ago, Saburo said:

 @Kuma Style Congrats on the VF-1J and as always your shots awesome!

Thank you guys very much and @Saburo your pics are what made me finally cave and jump in on all of this so it means a lot. You guys are an extremely positive and dedicated bunch and it's a great community to be a part of.

 

And thanks for the share @davidwhangchoi!

@sh9000 would you mind pointing out what's out of place? I knpw the calf area flaps area mess which I've fixed for the gallery pics but it's hard for me to see what else is off. I'm at that, "just glad to have transformed it wothout breaking it" level so criticism is more than welcome. I'm going to knock out the review and site gallery tonight so I'd like to male sure everything is right. Feel free to circle and do whatever you need to point out!

----------

One more question about the 19 Advance vs the Full Set... the reason I want the Advanced is the boosters but does the Full pack have any engineering changes/improvements? I don't care for the Full pack set itself at all.

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48 minutes ago, Kuma Style said:

 

@sh9000 would you mind pointing out what's out of place? I knpw the calf area flaps area mess which I've fixed for the gallery pics but it's hard for me to see what else is off. I'm at that, "just glad to have transformed it wothout breaking it" level so criticism is more than welcome. I'm going to knock out the review and site gallery tonight so I'd like to male sure everything is right. Feel free to circle and do whatever you need to point out!

----------

One more question about the 19 Advance vs the Full Set... the reason I want the Advanced is the boosters but does the Full pack have any engineering changes/improvements? I don't care for the Full pack set itself at all.

The only things that stuck out to me when I looked at your photos are 1) that the fins on the legs are all over the place and 2) that it looks like you may have mixed TV and Movie hands. The TV hands are the big round clown looking ones. The Movie hands are the mechanical looking ones. The proper hands for this guy are technically the TV hands, but I prefer the nice articulated hands.

If you get the VF-19 Advance set there is a clip available on Shapeways for mounting the boosters alongside the wings in battroid mode. I think it looks much better than the official mounting. - https://www.shapeways.com/product/QE36W94LX/vf-19-boosters-clips?option=63626526&etId=187527872&utm_source=automated-contact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=payment-received&utm_content=3

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1 hour ago, Kuma Style said:

@sh9000 would you mind pointing out what's out of place? I knpw the calf area flaps area mess which I've fixed for the gallery pics but it's hard for me to see what else is off. I'm at that, "just glad to have transformed it wothout breaking it" level so criticism is more than welcome. I'm going to knock out the review and site gallery tonight so I'd like to male sure everything is right. Feel free to circle and do whatever you need to point out!

The hands and fin for Gerwalk and the hands, fin, wings, and kneecaps for Battroid.  Just minor adjustments.

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2 hours ago, Kuma Style said:

One more question about the 19 Advance vs the Full Set... the reason I want the Advanced is the boosters but does the Full pack have any engineering changes/improvements? I don't care for the Full pack set itself at all.

IIRC there is one additional area of articulation on the legs for the YF-19 vs the VF-19Advance, but it's not a major change.

Mainly the differences are the paint and the accessories.

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2 hours ago, Matt Random said:

The only things that stuck out to me when I looked at your photos are 1) that the fins on the legs are all over the place and 2) that it looks like you may have mixed TV and Movie hands. The TV hands are the big round clown looking ones. The Movie hands are the mechanical looking ones. The proper hands for this guy are technically the TV hands, but I prefer the nice articulated hands.

If you get the VF-19 Advance set there is a clip available on Shapeways for mounting the boosters alongside the wings in battroid mode. I think it looks much better than the official mounting. - https://www.shapeways.com/product/QE36W94LX/vf-19-boosters-clips?option=63626526&etId=187527872&utm_source=automated-contact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=payment-received&utm_content=3

 

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

The hands and fin for Gerwalk and the hands, fin, wings, and kneecaps for Battroid.  Just minor adjustments.

 

57 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

IIRC there is one additional area of articulation on the legs for the YF-19 vs the VF-19Advance, but it's not a major change.

Mainly the differences are the paint and the accessories.

Thank you all very much! 

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I had a male and female pilots printed in 1:48 scale specially for when my VF-1J would arrive. Well I had to cut and sand a lot to fit the female into the cockpit, but I didn’t try hard enough for the male pilot. 

For size comparison, left side are the 1:60 pilots (approx 1m75 fall), middle is a MFT diaclone, right side the same pilots at 1:48 scale. 

It looks like there is room for wealthier pilots than Hikaru, I just hope Bandai can fix the pilot size for the next VF-1 releases. 

 

A5C42E24-FA20-4F0F-9170-35F61F5413E1.jpeg

F32E780F-7CD2-4BD7-ACE2-221D7E66F870.jpeg

D1249C01-8FA8-404D-9DB8-23B79D52184F.jpeg

D6145987-BA66-4FCB-BD67-F9E435C88595.jpeg

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As we are talking about pilot figures, I was watching watching Episode 1 again if Bandai release the 1D then it must also come with a Roy figure so you can recreate that 1 scene where Roy is showing Hikaru the 1D. :lol:

list of included figures 

• civilian Hikaru seated 

• red dress Minmei seated

• red dress Minmei held by battroid hand

• Roy seated 

 

Speaking of episode 1; would love to see DX 1/48 Fan Racer and Lancer II. :wub:

 

Then if you go down the Fan Racer rabbit hole you have to get 5x VF-1A Angel Birds and recreate the booster climb scene! Haha 

Might smarter to buy 5x Hasegawa 1/48 VF-1A Fighter kits and customise them to Angel Bird paint scheme. :p

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3 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Nice pilots.  Maybe when Bandai releases a DX VF-1S with a Roy pilot figure that it will be a unique sculpt and be larger than the Hikaru pilot figure.

This would be great, and I think pretty likely, given how much the 1J pilot seems to be sculpted like Hikaru, at least to my eyes.

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Well, I managed to get my wings lined up in battroid. My wing flaps are a bit wonky by the looks of it because by using them to apply small pressure with each other, I got them aligned. This is after I took the entire wing apart, shaved off what looked like excess glue on one side the rear rudder assembly is attached to and ended up stripping a screw hole in the whole process. So be extra careful if you decide to take it apart and reassemble it. But this wing misalignment seems to be more of a YMMV issue. Since I had no excess flash even after taken the time to shave off somethings here and there, I still had the issue. Only messing with the wing flaps seem to have fixed it (but adds to the list of things easily bumped and need to fiddle with after posing).

32931769508_5b45549d08_h.jpgWing Aligned by Vicki Lee, on Flickr

The wings are held together by 5 screws. Once you get those screws out, it's easy to dismantle. Here's a blow up of the assembly.

39841957853_0e5b4eb4bc_k.jpgWing Assembly 1 by Vicki Lee, on Flickr

45892070905_a5e3949d39_k.jpgWing Assembly 2 by Vicki Lee, on Flickr

31865673227_3f0e74a480_k.jpgWing Assembly 3 by Vicki Lee, on Flickr

The rubber pieces attached to the wing can be poked out and removed if needed

46754791332_39e20cfedc_k.jpgWing Assembly 4 by Vicki Lee, on Flickr

 

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