Graham's Review of
Yamato's 1/60 Scale VF-0S
(4th May 2006)

Notes

This review will be a little short on photos first of all as I don't have my good camera with me today. I'll replace these photos with better ones soon.

Introduction

Released in Japan on 28th April 2006, Yamato's 1/60 scale VF-0S perfect transformation toy is finally a reality, 4 years after the first episode of the Macross Zero OVA was released.

Problems

First of all, let's get the bad news out of the way, before we move on to the good stuff. I received a production VF-0S yesterday. It was in near-perfect condition, except for one small problem, which was that one of the yellow tail spikes was bent right in the box. One other person has reported this problem so far. Personally, I don't think this a QC issue with the toy. To clarify, I think it is more of a problem due to Yamato's flimsy card box, and the way the toy is packed in the box. Basically, if the side of the box where the tail fins are is pushed in while handling or shipping, then the tail spikes can get bent. I was lucky enough to be able to straighten out the bent spike on mine by hand, without snapping it.

Fin Spike as found when I opened the box

As I have suggested to Yamato already, the easiest and most cost-effective solution to prevent this problem with future production runs is to simply pack the toy with the tail fins folded down, as in this position, the spikes do not extend past the feet, and so are protected by the feet from getting bent.

The only other minor issues I had with the toy, was that the gunpod pistol grip was a bit loose and kept wanting to collapse into the gunpod and also the hole in the gunpod grip for attaching to fighter mode was ever so slightly undersize making it a bit difficult (although still possible) to attach the gunpod in fighter mode.

Some other members have reported receiving toys with loose shoulder joints and getting a toy with two right arms, or getting a toy with the FAST Pack magnets installed with the incorrect polarity, but I'm happy to report I did not encounter any of these issues. My toy had nice tight joints, no large unsightly seems, a great paint job and perfectly straight Tampo printing. All in all, I'm extremely happy with it.

• Skull Squadron emblem and 'VF-0' marking on the heatshield.
• Skull Squadron emblem on both sides of each tail fin.
• 'U.N. SPACY' marking on both sides of the gunpod.
• 'U.N. SPACY' marking on both leg FAST Packs
• 'U.N. SPACY' marking on both lower legs (outer edge).
• '301' marking on left and right dorsal surface of the nosecone (above the Hybrid sensors).
• '301' marking on the left wing.
• '301' marking on each side of both lower leg fins.
• U.N. SPACY Kite emblem on the right wing.
• Red 'V' warning markings on both engine intakes, including the wording 'DANGER INTAKE' in white writing on
• the red V.

Nose Markings	Intake & Gunpod Markings	Tail Markings	FAST Pack & Fin Markings	Heatshield markings	Leg & Fin Markings

Paint Applications

Paint application on this toy was among the best I've seen on any Yamato release. There were no over sprays, smudges, smears or other paint defects visible.

One of the things that really impressed me about this toy was that the 12 x AIM-200A AMRAAM 2 missiles come pre-painted, with red nose sensors, black, grey and red bands around the main body of the missiles and a black painted end cap.

Paint application on the head was also very well done and a nice touch was the yellow and red bands around the head lasers.

The insides of the foot thruster are painted a pale gold color, which looks great in my opinion.

The little Roy Focker pilot figure is also very nicely painted and even has a miniature Skull squadron emblem painted on his flight helmet.

Accessories

FAST Packs	FAST Packs	Missiles	Missiles	Pilot	Pilot

The toy comes with the following accessories: -

• 12 x detachable AIM-200A AMRAAM missiles on 4 x detachable pylons, which attach very firmly to the wings and will not fall off.
• 1 x GPU-9 Gunpod, with sliding stock, collapsible pistol grip and translucent red sensor.
• 2 x magnetically mounted leg FAST Packs.
• 1 x Roy Focker pilot figure.
• 1 x sticker sheet.
• 1 x 20 page black and white instruction manual.
• 1 x grey plastic adaptor for mounting the toy onto a Yamato display stand in Fighter mode.
• 1 x white plastic adaptor for mounting the toy onto a Yamato display stand in GERWALK mode.
• 1 x detachable nose-mounted pitot tube.
• 2 x removable engine intake covers.

Sticker Sheet	Instructions Cover	Instructions Pages 1-20
		1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Box

Box Front	Box Rear	Box Inner

• Box Dimensions: 14" x 5.5 " x 14.5" (36cm x 14cm x 37cm).
• Box weight: 2.8lbs (1,270g).

• Fighter Mode Length (not including Pitot Tube): 12.4" (31.5cm)
• Battroid mode height (to top of head lasers): 10.8" (27.5cm).
• GERWALK mode height: 7.8" (20cm) approx.
• Toy weight with FAST Packs and Missiles: 0.837lbs (380g).

Compared with the 1/48 scale VF-1 series, the 1/60 VF-0S is slightly longer in Fighter mode, but a tad shorter in Battroid mode.

Many people can't seem to grasp how the 1/60 VF-0S toy can be longer than the 1/48 VF-1, when it is in a smaller scale. The simple answer is that the anime VF-0S is a much bigger plane than the anime VF-1, which is a comparitively tiny design. If the two toys were the same scale, then theVF-0 would absolutely dwarf the VF-1.

Photos

Now for some pictures of the toy in all three modes (better pictures to come later): -

Battroid Mode Photos

GERWALK Mode Photos

Fighter Mode Photos

In my opinion, the VF-0S, which was CAD designed just like the 1/48 VF-1 definitely has extremely accurate proportions in all three modes and doesn't really seem to favour one mode over the other, unlike the older 1/48, which looks best and has most accurate proportions in fighter mode. In fact I'd go as far as to say that out of all of Yamato's transforming Macross toys to date, the VF-0S looks is closest to how it appears in the lineart and anime.

• The VF-0S's heatshield does not need to retract under the chest plate in Fighter mode, as it becomes part of the fuselage behind the cockpit.
• The hands only partially retract into the forearms and then tuck into the backpack in Fighter mode (this is 100% accurate to the anime).
• The tail fins have to be pulled up slightly (about 2mm) before being folded down for Battroid or GERWALK mode.
• Left and right hinged panels, located just in front of the head on the ventral surface in Fighter mode need to be folded down when transforming to Battroid mode. This is part of an innovative function designed to make the Battroid mode's torso shorter.
• The diecast metal left and right LERX (which are joined to the shoulder hinges) need to be slid down towards the nose when transforming to Battroid mode.

I've had an early preproduction sample VF-0S since late-February, so have quite a lot of transformations under my belt already. There is nothing really difficult about transforming the toy, with the trickiest part probably being getting the hands tucked into the backpack and getting the arms, legs and backpack tabs/holes locked together in fighter mode.

1. Articulation has been much improved overall, especially with a greater range of movement being given to the shoulder joints, which allows more clearance past the sides of the chest plate. Also, the addition of a two independently ratcheted knee joints, the first being at the bottom of the thigh section and the second at the top of the lower leg, allows the knee to bend forward more in GERWALK mode compared to the 1/48.
2. Detailed non-splitting turbine section now featured inside the foot thruster.
3. Clear plastic Heads Up Display (HUD) featured inside the cockpit.
4. Rotating cockpit seat with attached instrument panel, which rotates approximately 70 to 80 degrees, allowing the pilot to face forward in Battroid mode (as shown in episode # 1 of the Macross Zero OVA). The seat must be pushed manually, using a fingertip to rotate it. Note, care must be taken when doing this, not to push down on the instrument panel, as it is only attached to the seat at two small points by glue and can be broken off if not careful. I did this once on my pre-production sample, when transforming it for the first time in a dark restaurant. Luckily it was easily glued back on and I now always push on the pilot instead to rotate the seat.
5. Addition of a moving (hinged) arrestor hook fixed to the backpack is a nice touch.
6. The backpack thrusters now slide in and out of the backpack using a button which is cleverly concealed under the arrestor hook. Also, the three backpack thrusters can independently pivot. Note, for GERWALK & Battroid. mode, the backpack thrusters should be in the out position. For Fighter mode, they should be in the in position.
7. Another great touch is the improved design of hip-joint hatch on the underside of the nosecone. If you recall, the hatch on the 1/48 VF-1 featured two hinged pins used to block up the hip bar holes in Fighter & GERWALK mode. These hinged pins on the 1/48 were a pain in the butt to get out once you had already pushed them inside and usually required the use of a paperclip. Yamato have improved the design by making this part a single bar, attached directly to the inside of the hatch, which slides up and down on a metal pin and can be easily moved using your fingertip.
8. Increased use of Tampo printing (as mentioned above).
9. The rear landing gear struts actually angle outwards when opened, instead of going down straight vertically.
10. Although skeletal type articulated hands are used for the toy, they seem to grip the gunpod better than the 1/48's hands in my opinion.
11. Magnetically attached leg FAST Packs.
12. Overlapping wings in Battroid mode (anime accurate).
13. Painted missiles (as mentioned above).
14. The innovative folding panel/sliding LERX design (mentioned above), which allows a shorter torso in Battroid mode. If you compare the 1/60 VF-0S to the 1/48 VF-1, you can see that the nosecone on the VF-0S does not hang as low as that on the VF-1, due to this neat feature.
15. Very importantly, the toy features an improved backpack hinge design, which should be more durable than the infamous BP-8 hinge on the 1/48 VF-1.
16. The backplate hatch hinge has also been changed to what I consider an improved design.

Canopy Open	Seat Rotated	Inside Foot Thrusters	Foot Thrusters Open	Intake Details
Front Doors Open	Rear Doors Open	Front Gear Extended	Rear Gear Extended	Arrestor Hook Down

Other areas where the two toys differ, are that the 1/60 VF-0S lacks the 1/48's moving wing flaps and removeable nosecone, although it keeps the opening air-brake feature and removeable engine intake covers. Personally, I'm glad the moving flaps and removeable nosecone were not included on the VF-os design. While nice features in theory, they were actually quite troublesome, both being easily knocked off during handling of the 1/48 VF-1.

Like the 1/48, the VF-0S's feet can also angle up or down in Fighter mode, to simulate thrust vectoring.

Articulation

The VF-0S is an extremely well articulated toy, featuring ratcheted hip, knee, ankle and elbow joints as well as points of rotation at the neck, upper arm, wrist & knee and ball jointed hips and shoulders.