just got the 1/48 max tv w/fp.................

[calvin]

hey, I just got my second max 1/48 tv and I have to say that I am noticing that yamato is slacking in the paint and trim department!!! I noticed on the blue on both of mine there is white paint marks, like they didn't dry the thing before putting it into the jet mode! Anyway I know I'm bitching but!, I have noticed some things lately that make me wonder what is going on?

for example I have noticed that the trim points(sprue marks)are getting more sloppy(jagged)!

also on both the paint lines are less crisp and in some cases(few)the paint is see thru, I can fix that!, But should I have too? so I am wondering if anybody else is having these issues? anyway I will keep these and am going to try to get another one(3rd time charm crap)

what I have noticed:

DYRL F/P fine on the trim points

T.V. not fine on the trim points

paint getting worse?

Edited April 21, 2004 by calvin

[do not disturb]

quick question dood,

is the blue painted on the max or is the plastic actually blue?

and the same question with the white?

[calvin]

the plastic is mostly blue with white paint on it but the lower legs are white with blue paint

[do not disturb]

the plastic is mostly blue with white paint on it but the lower legs are white with blue paint

well that just completely sucks the big one!

you'd figure the legs are the most likely part to get scratched while TFing to any mode...WTF!!!!!

does the TV arm armor hold the gunpod atleast?

i know with the 1J hikaru, the TV FP's the slot for the gun doesn't hold crap. the gunpod falls off if you breathe by it.

someone, anyone, say something nice about the max!

i was going pick these up(against my better judgement and the ugly ass color) now i'm split down the middle.

[REMINATOR]

How about some pics and some overall review, hopefully it can convince me to buy one. I'm not sure who I like more, Roy or Max, ehheee. As a character I like Max more, but as a Valk, I like Roy 1S more thanks to the TF Jetfire.

[Hurin]

I got mine last night. Aside from the pilot seat being crooked (see my post in the Yamato problems thread). . . mine looks fantastic.

The paint lines are crisp and clean. The blue color is deep and rich. I have no complaints. . .

Yes, I notice some more sprue marks. But not in noticable places. There is one on the heatshield. But that is hidden when in battroid mode (which is the only time the heatshield is actually displayed!).

I think these sprue trim marks are only showing up because of the plastic color. I'll bet if you compare the marks to a white/light-gray valk, you'll see the same marks if you look closely. They just aren't as visible on such a neutral background.

Anyways, I'm happy with mine except for the seat. I'd take pictures. . . but mine is in pieces while I wait for the replacement seat to come. The dealer who sold it to me is sending me a replacement. I'd give the dealer public kudos for doing this, but I'm not sure if he wants my kind of whining encouraged in his customer base.

Thanks,

Hurin

[Mechamaniac]

the plastic is mostly blue with white paint on it but the lower legs are white with blue paint

well that just completely sucks the big one!

you'd figure the legs are the most likely part to get scratched while TFing to any mode...WTF!!!!!

Well, honestly, how would you like them to do it???

The legs aren't made out of 87 pieces of color molded plastic, so they have to be one color, painted with another on any of the bi-colored valks.

If the legs were all blue, then they would have to put on about a dozen coats of white to cover the blue plastic and that would look crappier still.

I got my max today, and I have to say the color in person is MUCH BETTER than any of the prototype pics. It is nice and dark blue like it should be.

I do have A couple of pet peeves though...

1. NO, the gunpod does not mount onto the arm armor - LAME.

2. The rear antennae under the backplate is white WTF? it should be blue.

Other than that, I love mine.

[calvin]

Okay I went and compared more closely the DYRL fastpacks and All the T.V. fastpack...

and yes the sprue marks are more sloppy on the tv ones, all 6 sets I have and the dyrl ones are

clean and flush so quality is either worse or yamato changed factory builders or went to a union based employee system(damm unions) so I really don't think I'm seeing a lighter/more visible plastic thing, it's quality, so I just want to say that something is up with them but I will completly hold my judgement until my 3rd max arrivesw monday to see , thanks

about the paint it's like the paint was still wet when the put it in the box that is not good

Edited April 16, 2004 by calvin

[Toonz]

i got my max a few days back and i don't have much complain except for a few things here:

1. U.N.SPACY was not printed on the side of the legs. some may say there are leg armors to attach on but i feel that it has to be printed.

2. why is max wearing baby blue?

[Skull-1]

Great! So now when my Max yellows he will yellow unevenly and make it even more glaringly apparent to the whole friggin' world!!!!!!!!!!

[Uxi]

Hmm not sure I like the sounds of that as I was seriously considering this Valkyrie...

ah I'll probably just stay 1/60 M&M.

[JsARCLIGHT]

I got mine in the mail from VEX yesterday and I must say that I like it. I'm not noticing all the issues that others seem to have with theirs. The only complaints that I have about the toy are that the white seams (on the chest) are noticable in fighter mode and a bit ugly and my catch-all complaint about the 1/48 RMS bombs that they just don't stay on the racks.

As for the colors of the Max pilot he looks right to me.

Max's flight suit colors have always been a sort of light blue. And you have to remember that the Hory Froating Head himself signed off on these toys so the color that Max is must be right.

[Godzilla]

I have no problems with mine. 2 of the 6 came in yesterday and 4 more are coming in. Thanks Tamin.

Anyways I love this plane. I am glad they didnt use the blue tow piece on the landing gear. Upon inspection, it looks fine to me but I need to take off the armor. Max is my fav character in Macross. I liked Roy and hated Hikaru. I dont understand why Hikaru couldn't play with both Minmay and Misa? He shoulda been the player. Heck a three some would be great. hehe... I digress.

Anyways, I have no real complaint except the head antenna should be gray.

[flash]

6????? OMFG

I'm still looking for the best price to buy 1.....

[Blaine23]

I've had mine for a week and I've got nothing but great things to say about it. The sprue marks are there, by like Hurin said, there all pretty much in unnoticeable places. And I check it against my other 1/48's and they're pretty much the same, just the blue color does make it a bit easier to spot.

Basically this valk is just like all of my other 1/48's - terrific.

Edited April 16, 2004 by Blaine23

[Godzilla]

6????? OMFG

I'm still looking for the best price to buy 1.....

Talk to Kevin at VE. He has some blemished boxes of Max.

[hirohawa]

Just got my 1/48 Max also and it has the worst paint of all the 20+ Yamatos I own. The White lines are really fuzzy and the Blue on the legs is pretty fuzzy as well.

Not a good paint job on this one. Kinda pissed.

[calvin]

Okay I just got the third max in the mail.........................opening...................looking...........

ten minutes later....he's in battroid, damit!!! same thing on the shoulder area with the white paint, sloppy, see thru and fuzzie.................oh and the legs on this one are worse <_<great now I have three that are not great quality, I'm going to take the best parts and mix them together for one good one!!! then I'm going to give the others to my 5 year old he's a lucky kid, back when I was 5(insert b.s. here!) all we had were sticks and snow five feet high and no shoes.............blah blah blah

no more max's for me after this! * edit..........okay maybe one more

Edited April 20, 2004 by calvin

[Hurin]

great now I have three that are not great quality

"not great" or "poor?"

I'm not asking this to be snarky. People are making their buying decisions based on this sorta stuff. So. . . what if you only bought one? Would you regret the purchase? Seriously. . . please respond as well as you can given your obvious disappointment.

I think mine looks great. But, I'm also not bothered by the 1S face gap, the DYRL hands. . . etc. So I just hope that everyone out there realizes that these opinions are subjective and we should all try to keep all the varying opinions in perspective.

I am not saying you (or anyone else) is too picky. I'm just saying that everybody is different and we should keep that in mind. I would just hate for Yamato to lose out on sales (and thus endanger future valks) because one opinion is over-represented. I do not want to touch off another "This suck vs You're anal" debate that seems to follow every Yamato 1/48 release.

Best Regards,

H

[calvin]

I would say poor, really poor compared to all other curent 1/48 releases.......

edit* listen I want to make sure I'm not saying this "poor" thing without explaining it, I just feel that $200 for a yamato with shipping is fine, but when I pre order something it's because I have experiance with the product! I do not spend blindly, I also have come to know yamato as a fine supplier of products(macross) that I want and am willing to pay for! I do get frustrated when a preordered product(pre-paid in some cases) shows up and is sub par from the rest of my collection, this is what frustrates me,now I tend to stock up on items I like and this(max vf-1j) isn't going to be one of them! and in the future because of this event i will wait to pre-order my 1/48 macross until somebody else gets it and rights a review(an unbiased review that is)

Edited April 17, 2004 by calvin

[Neova]

Calvin,

Can you post some pictures of these flaws? I would like to check for them also.

Thanks

[calvin]

okay I don't have my nikon...so I'm using photos already up to illustrate the areas to look at on the max....

the areas that are circled are the problem spots, so look on yours to see

Edited April 17, 2004 by calvin

[calvin]

next....if you look on this one even you can see the paint sloppiness

Edited April 17, 2004 by calvin

[calvin]

last one.....on all three of mine paint chipping! first time ever with any of my 1/48's

Edited April 17, 2004 by calvin

[Skull Leader]

It's really a shame to hear people having these problems... my 1/48 Hikaru S-type is pretty much flawless as near as I can tell... but then, I don't exactly go over it with a fine tooth comb....

[vlenhoff]

Got it from Kevin's VEX.com yesterday. Paint problems are closely noticeable, but not enough to calm my emotion about the 1/48 TV MAX! I love this suckah, it looks so awesomely badass in blue!

Thanks Kev!

Vic!

[Hurin]

Hi guys,

I have some higher-res pictures. I really couldn't see anything in Calvin's pictures. But these pictures do show some of what he was talking about. My take, however, is that, while I wish Yamato had done a better job, I'm not really that disappointed. I see some of what he's talking about, but I don't think it ruins the toy. I definitely wouldn't warn anyone off this toy (especially if they like the Max colors) based on these problems. I think this is just inherent to trying to get a solid white paint to cover a dark blue base. . . that's not an excuse, just an explanation.

All just my opinion. Remember, I'm also not bothered by most of the complaints leveled against these things every time a new one is released. I used to consider myself pretty picky. . . but I guess maybe I'm not. Then again, if I had pre-ordered three of these things (sight unseen!). . . I'd probably be much pickier!

Here's the pics. Judge for yourselves. . .

I hope these are of good enough quality to help people make an educated buying decision. If anyone wants the original high-res (2048x1536), uncropped, pics that are un-JPEG-compressed, you can download a zip file with them here.

Good Luck out there!

H

*Edit: Clarified the link to the High-res versions.

Edited April 17, 2004 by Hurin

[Mechamaniac]

Thanks for the high res pics Hurin! I too was unable to see anything in Calvin's first set.

The only pic that shows anything remotely noticeable in my opinion is the shot of the head, the stripe is a little sloppy.

All in all, I'm in the club with Vlenhoff, yeah, I have some gripes, but they are so minor as to NOT in any way interfere with my absolute joy over having a TV MAX!! After the disappointment that was the Bandai Max re-issue, nothing has filled the void left by my original Taka Max...until now.

IMHO this is one that is WAY in the W column for Yamato.

[JsARCLIGHT]

I just noticed something while putting my Max 1J into the display case... the head lasers are blue.

The head lasers on the 1/60 are dark grey... why did they make the head lasers blue on the 1/48? I decided to paint mine a nice shade of dark grey so it looks like the 1/60... plus that blue on the lasers was driving me nuts.

[calvin]

you know I think you have to take into acount that the images I posted were not of mine! they were an example... for owners to look in the areas? anyway I bought three! I have good and bad spots on all three, my point was quality in the manufacturing of the product> as in consistency!

not as in "gee mine suck boo hoo" I find that in the high rez photo's(nice shots! ) that yours was better quality than all three of mine, So It is a perfect example of inconsistant production

that I was adressing my biggest complaint was that I expect the manufacture to keep with quality. For example I pre ordered a vf-1j (H-red&white) and it's perfect as I hoped so three months later I thought gee I'll buy more, and guess what? it was perfect as could be, and then I thought I'll get two more again perfect! ya!!!

Now I won't say I feel that I'm discouraging anybody to buy one(max rocks!) I'm just saying three for three were sloppy, So be aware of your spending, I know money is a hard earned item so I was trying to alert people to my senerio so they could make an educated buying desicion anyway I hope all get high quality max because he is an important part of the story and any collection would be incomplete without> buyer beware

-calvin

[Hurin]

you know I think you have to take into acount that the images I posted were not of mine!

Woops, didn't realize that!

I find that in the high rez photo's(nice shots! ) that yours was better quality than all three of mine,  So It is a perfect example of inconsistant production

Yes, I meant to point out that this could just be an example of me being lucky. Then I forgot to do so. Point well taken!

Now I won't say I feel that I'm discouraging anybody to buy one(max rocks!)

Yeah, I think you're being very fair. But readind some of the responses to your concerns, I thought people might be getting the wrong impression about the severity of the problems. I'm just here to be the Yin to your Yang.

As for the head lasers (another person's post). Was watching "Romanesque" last night. . . and the head lasers in the anime are blue. So these, I think, are more accurate, strictly speaking. That's not to say that the line art or models might designate them as metal/gray. After all, there is no UN SPACY on anything in the anime either!

Best Regards,

Hurin

[hirohawa]

I just think that this one has teh sloppiest paint of all the 1/48s I own and have all of them out of their boxes. This new one is several steps down in paint quality.

Still glad I bought it though but I am hoping that Yamato comes out with a second version and has this paint problem tackled for the upcoming Miriya Valk.

[Hurin]

Oh, and thanks for the compliments on the images! I happened to borrow a friend's tripod last night. Boy does it make a difference!

I'm taking a bunch of pictures today of some stuff I'm going to sell.

[Zentrandude]

i see 2nd edition for the valk for max in the future.

[trueblueeyes]

No glaring QC problems with either of mine. I'm with JS though...I think the blue head lasers look like ass. But a nice gunmetal re-paint will take care of that. All in all, I am very happy with mine!

Melissa