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MACROSSWORLD REVIEW OF
YAMATO 1:60 SCALE DYRL HIKARU TYPE VF-1A
Part 1 of a 3 part series
A short note before we continue. The toy shown in
these photos is not quite the final production version. However, as only about
1 week separates this toy from the final version, the differences between them
are extremely minimal. The toy shown in these photos functions identically to
the final version, uses exactly the same materials and is painted the same as
the final version. The main difference between this toy and the final
production toy is that Yamato decided to make a last minute change to decrease
the gap between the chest plate and the main air intakes in fighter mode. In
short what you see in these photos is 99 percent the same as the production toy
you will be able to buy.
· INTRODUCTION
It's been a long time coming.
So is it worth the wait…………………………??????????
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.
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Unequivocally, YES!
The Yamato 1/60 scale VF-1A Hikaru type from
'Macross Do You Remember Love' is an amazing toy. In my humble opinion it blows
all other transforming VF-1 toys out of the water.
I must admit that when I first heard that Yamato was
going to make a VF-1 toy more than a year ago I felt somewhat disappointed. I
mean we already have our beloved classic 1/55 toys and HCMs. What was the point
in another VF-1 toy? At that time I would much rather Yamato had made a VF-4 or
VF-5000 or any other Valk besides the VF-1.
Soon after I had the chance to see early prototype
pictures of the VF-1 and I started to change my mind. Then came my first chance
to actually handle the toy and I was blown away. Since then I've been a firm
supporter of Yamato's efforts to make a VF-1 toy and have been lucky enough to
witness every step of the development and even offer some creative input.
If you are a Macross toy fan go out and buy this toy
quick. Although Yamato is going to make a lot of them, I guarantee that they
will sell out quick and this is one toy you do not want to miss…trust me on
this.
FEATURES
Here are just some of the many great features this
toy: -
1.
It
actually looks like it does in the anime.
2.
It's
got more articulation than any other transforming VF-1toy.
3.
It
transforms easily.
4.
It
has no ugly exposed hinges.
5.
Nearly
all the external screws are covered.
6.
It
should be plenty durable.
7.
It's
a nice handy size to play with, not too big and not too small.
8.
It
locks together solidly. No floppiness here!
9.
It's
got much more detail than the old Takatoku & BandaiVF-1 toys.
10.
Most
of the detail is actually engraved on or painted on unlike the old toys which
used stickers for much of the detail.
11.
It
comes with lots of accessories.
12.
It uses translucent plastic for the
eye-piece, shoulder searchlights, rear landing gear lights and wing lights.
· PLAYABILITY
The Yamato VF-1A is a great toy to play with, In
both fighter and battroid modes it is rock solid.
You can hold it anyway you want in fighter mode,
zoom it around, pretend to dive bomb and strafe your cat or dog and no part of
the toy will hang down loosely or flop around. This is due to the way the toy
is designed to lock rock-solidly together. In fighter mode everything locks.
The arms lock to the legs and to each other, the legs lock to both the chest
and back plates and to the legs and the chest-plate locks to the nose.
In battroid mode the toy also has a very solid feel
due to the 4-point system used to lock the torso together. Also, even though
the legs are nearly all die-cast and thus quite heavy, the POM hip joints
attach very firmly in the ABS nose sockets. Even picking up the toy and shaking
it, the legs do not fall out.
The Gerwalk mode is probably the least secure of all
the three modes as the legs are only attached at the intake section in Gerwalk
mode. Still, they stay on well enough, just don't try any barrel rolls or loop-the-loops.
Also, all the accessories fit well and stay attached
and the toy is just so damn poseable.
Personally, I love the 1/60 scale of this toy. I
have always thought the classic 1/55 toys were a little big for play and the
Bandai 1/72 HCMs a little small. As Goldilocks would say "this one's just
the right size".
· MATERIALS
The Yamato VF-1A is made of four types of material
as follows: -
ABS plastic is used for the
chest-plate, back-plate, forward fuselage, nose, canopy, pilot seat,
heatshield, air intakes, feet, landing gear doors, landing gear wheels, lower
arms, shoulders, head, backpack, gunpod
& missiles.
Die-cast is used for the lower legs,
upper legs, T-bar (located on the inside of the chest-plate), inner surface of
the back-plate, landing gear struts & the reverse thrusters located on the
outside of the air intake/hip sections, (which serve as a locking catch for
attachment of the legs in fighter and Gerwalk mode).
3. POM (Polyoxymethylene
Acetal Copolymer), is a super tough plastic which is nearly as strong as steel and was chosen
for it's long-lasting characteristics
and high wear-restistance even when used in contact with metal parts. In the VF-1, POM is used for
the for the shoulder hinges, hip joints,
the hinges connecting the chest and back plates and the "L" locking lugs on the inside of the chest
plate. To learn more about POM please
visit:-
http://basf.idesinc.com/SampleFLU.asp?bu=1&TN=97&ck=1826&Page=TPU
http://www.pbaindustrial.com/html/POM.html
PVC is used for some of the hands,
backpack radio antenna and upper arms,
· MEASUREMENTS
The Yamato VF-1A Hikaru Type has the following
measurements: -
· Length in
fighter mode = 24cm
· Width in fighter
mode (with wings fully spread) = 23.4cm
· Height in
fighter mode = 7.5cm
· Height in battroid mode (to
top of head) = 19.3cm
· Height in battroid mode (to
top of head laser in full upright position) = 22cm
· Weight = 325g
· ARTICULATION
The Yamato VF-1A has 23 points of articulation,
which makes it the most articulated and poseable VF-1 toy to date.
The poseability of the Yamato VF-1 is due to a
number of firsts that have never appeared in any other transforming VF-1 toy,
these include: -
· Rotating nose/waste joint
· Shoulder ball joints
· Hip ball joints.
· Lower leg rotation point.
· Hinged ankle joints
The articulation of the Yamato VF-1 allows it to
pull of a number of life-like poses that the older VF-1 toys cannot match.
· TRANSFORMATION
Transformation of the Yamato VF-1 is relatively
simple, at least much more so than the Macross Plus toys. However, there are a
few more steps involved in transformation when compared with the classic 1/55
scale Valks, but these are easily mastered.
In one way though the Yamato VF-1 is a radical
departure from what has gone before in that it has detachable legs which must
be removed from the toy in fighter mode and reattached at a different location for battroid mode.
Many die-hard fans of the classic 1/55 VF-1 are actually against having
removable legs, but truthfully it is closer in design to how Shoji Kawamori
envisioned the transformation of the VF-1 than the swing bars of the older
toys. Also, the removable leg feature has the double advantage of allowing not
only a cleaner more accurate-to-anime appearance, but also allows much greater
poseability than is possible with swing bars.
Within the next week Macrossworld will be publishing
a detailed photo guide on how to transform the Yamato VF-1.
One thing that I will say now is that when
transforming the Yamato VF-1 it is absolutely essential that you follow the
correct sequence for (a) removing and attaching the legs in fighter mode &
(b) the sequence for locking the torso together for battroid mode. I cannot
stress enough that it is critical you perform these two procedures in the
correct sequence…..more later!
· ACCESSORIES
Each VF-1A comes with the following parts: -
· 4 x UMM-7 Micro-Missile Pods
· 4 x AMM-1 Triple Missile
clusters
· 1 x GU-11 Gunpod
· 1 x standard right hand
· 1 x standard left hand
· 1 x optional right hand with
extended trigger finger for holding gunpod grip
· 1 x optional open left hand
for holding gunpod barrel
· 1 x ABS heat-shield
· 1 x ABS clear canopy
· 2 x removable arm covers for
attachment of Gunpod in fighter mode
· 2 x radio antennas (one is a
spare) for attachment to the backpack
in Gerwalk mode
· 2 x nose plugs (one is a spare in case you lose
one)
· 1 x sticker sheet
· 1 x instruction manual with
photo-illustrated transformation sequence
The missiles supplied with the toy are quite
detailed. All missiles attach easily using a cylindrical peg, which plugs into
a matching hole on the underside of the wings.
The AMM-1 missiles come molded in white plastic and
are unpainted.
The UMM-7
micro-missile pods are molded in black plastic with the missile heads and
exhausts painted in white.
My one complaint with the missiles is that the
attachment points on the wings are slightly too close together. The inner
attachment point could really do with being moved inboard another 2mm so that
the missiles do not look so close together. However I already know that this
problem will be rectified on the later FAST pack versions.
The GU-11 gunpod is superbly detailed and is the
first VF-1 gunpod toy to feature a siding rear cover (although the upcoming
Toynami and Banpresto toys are said to have this feature). The Yamato GU-11
gunpod also has three silver painted barrels showing at the muzzle end another
first for Yamato.
The GU-11 attaches to the fighter mode by pegs on
the forearms which connect to a matching hole I the gunpod's pistol grip. To
attach the gunpod you must first remove two "L" shape panels on the
forearms to uncover the attachment cutouts. My only complaint with the way the
gunpod attaches in fighter mode, is that it hangs down too low and nearly
touches the ground.
The VF-1 comes with a total of four hands. When you
remove the toy from it's box the two standard hands made of ABS are already
attached. These two hands take the form of closed fists. The right fist has a
hole in it into which the gunpod can be placed. Only these standard hands are
small enough to be retracted into the forearms.
Included as accessories are an extra right and left
hand. The right hand, which is made of PVC, is used for holding the gunpod and
features an extended trigger finger which can be placed into the trigger guard
of the gunpod. Unfortunately, this hand does not feature a thumb despite what I
have stated previously on the forums.
This hand cannot be retracted into the forearm as it is too large.
The spare left hand comes in the open palm position
and can be used to pose the battroid so that the left hand is holding the
barrel of the gunpod. This hand is also too large to be retracted into the
wrist.
· BOX
Unfortunately, no box was available in time for the
photo shoot, but Ican describe it for you. The VF-1A comes in a card window box
measuring 11.5" x 10.75" x 4". The toy is displayed in the box
in fighter mode, and is displayed surrounded by the AMM-1 missiles, UMM-7
micro-missile pods and GU-11 gunpod.
The very stylish box is black in color and features
photos of the VF-1A toy. Personally, I love the look and size of this box. I
always found the Macross Plus toy boxes a little too large, but in this
reviewer's humble opinion, the VF-1A box is just the right size.
Opening the box finds the toy supported in a clear
plastic two-piece tray. This time no twist ties are used to secure the toy and
once the clear tray top is removed, the toy can be easily lifted free.
Just a note, at this stage before you start playing
with your toy please take some time and study the instruction manual, or even
better visit the Macrossworld
VF-1A transformation guide!
There is actually a funny story behind the decision
not to use twist ties. One of the people in charge of the VF-1 project from
Yamato's Japan office wanted to use twist ties. He felt that during shipping,
the legs might become detached and it would not look good if a customer opened
the box and found the toy with unattached legs. However, the majority of people
at Yamato's HK office and also myself felt that twist ties were unnecessary as
both the box design and the three point leg attachment method were secure
enough to keep the legs attached during shipping and handling. Also, Yamato had
recently received a lot of complaints about their over-zealous use of twist
ties on the VF-19A. So during one of my visits to Yamato's HK office we decided
to test if the legs would stay on. We took a sample VF-1A toy in a box and
started throwing it around the office with increasingly longer and harder
throws. At one point we did consider throwing it out of the 7th floor window,
but that was considered a little extreme. Anyway, needless to say we were
proven correct and the legs did stay attached.
· STICKER SHEET
The Yamato VF-1A comes with a single sticker sheet
measuring 18.1cm x 9.6cm and features 41 different
types of stickers. Unfortunately, for this review as many of the
stickers are white and the backing paper is white they do not show up very well
when I scanned them.
Luckily, the stickers are already die-cut so they
can be immediately peeled off and placed of the toy without any troublesome
cutting. Well, that’s not exactly true, I have found that a couple of the
stickers especially the instrument panel do fit better if the excess clear
border is carefully trimmed. Note a pair of sharp nail scissors works best for
this.
The stickers are mostly UN Spacy signs, squadron
numbers, pilot names and miscellaneous warning markings. It is fairly obvious
that the Yamato sticker sheet is heavy based on that of the Hasegawa VF-1A
plastic model kit.
Of note is that the sticker sheet also includes a
sticker for the cockpit instrument panel. Although this instrument panel
sticker is die-cut, it is the only sticker that is slightly oversize and needs
to be trimmed slightly.
As the Yamato instruction manual does
not feature a sticker placement guide, placement of the stickers is left up to
the individual. However, if you are really stuck as to where to place the
stickers, the instruction sheet for the Hasegawa VF-1A model is a handy point
of reference.
· INSTRUCTION MANUAL
Unlike the Macross Plus Toys which come a
double-sided fold-out instruction sheet featuring line-art of the
transformation process (which many people found to be unclear and confusing),
the Yamato VF-1A comes with a 13 page
instruction booklet featuring a step-by-step transformation guide with black
and white photos used to show the transformation. Unfortunately, the text in the
instruction booklet is all in Japanese. Still this instruction manual is
already a major improvement over the Macross Plus instruction sheets. Kudos to
Yamato.
· PAINT JOB
Yamato have really outdone themselves on the paint
job of the VF-1. In my opinion, he quality is absolutely outstanding and is far
superior to the paint job of the Macross Plus toys.
One thing that highly impressed me is that all the
black trim on the nose, wings, shoulders, tails and leg fins is painted on,
unlike the older Macross toys which often used stickers for some of the black
trim.
Also, all the circle-bar verniers and many other
small details are also painted on. You
cannot understand how wonderful this is to me. As much as I love the old VF-1
toys, one thing I could not stand about them was having to cut out all those
stickers, especially the circle-bar stickers
For the Hikaru type VF-1A, Yamato chose to go for a
matte finish for the painted die-cast parts rather than the gloss finish of the
Macross Plus toys. In my opinion, the matte finish is more realistic looking
and secondly may be less prone to chipping. While the matte finish looks great,
it does have a downside, which I'll discuss in the next paragraph.
One thing you must be careful of is that the matte
paint used on the legs can get dirty quite easily, so I recommend that make
sure your hands are clean before you pick up the toy. However, even if you do
manage to get the legs dirty, most dirt can be removed using a normal eraser.
· LANDING GEAR
The landing gear is the one part of the VF-1 that I
am not very keen on. Firstly, both the front and rear landing gear struts are
not very detailed. Secondly, they are difficult to open by hand. This is
especially true of the front landing gear which can also be tricky to close as
well as once folded down, it still requires a forward push to fit back in it's
bay.
Also the wheels on the front landing gear do not
rotate (they are not supposed to according to Yamato), but the wheels on the
rear landing gear do rotate…..weird huh!
· DURABILITY
I predict that the Yamato will be a very durable and
long-lasting toy. It certainly went through extensive testing by Yamato.
Some of you may be frightened by the use of plastic
for some of the hinges and the hip joints, but as Yamato are using the
super-tough POM plastic, which is nearly as tough as steel and has similar wear
characteristics, this should not present a problem.
There is only one area you need to be careful with
and this is the small hole located just to the rear of the cockpit that the
chest-plate tab locks into in fighter mode to achieve the flush-fit between
chest-plate and nose. If the toy is not transformed correctly, this plastic at
the top of the hole may crack.
This is why when transforming from fighter to
battroid mode it is very important that you must push down on the chest-plate
to release tension while pulling the nose downward to pop out the chest-plate
tab from it's hole. All this may sound
unclear to you now, but it will be explained in detail in the upcoming VF-1
transformation guide. If you transform the toy correctly there will be no
problem
Of course, remember that this is a toy designed for
adult collectors, not children and while it will stand up to some abuse,
reasonable care should still be taken. As long as you don't use excessive force
when transforming it and remember to follow the transforming instructions to
the letter then everything should be fine. Of course, if you do something silly
like drop the toy several feet onto a hard surface or throw it against a wall,
don't expect any sympathy from me.
Graham
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