Graham's Review of Yamato 1/60 Scale YF-19

[Hayao Kakizaki]

STEP BY STEP FIX YF-19 BUG:

PART 1-- LANDING GEAR:

1. BEFORE MODIFY

2. use modelling hand drill drill out some space that the pic show

3. see ~

4. FINISH!

[Hayao Kakizaki]

PART 2 -- GUNPOD:

about the gunpod, the problem is the handle is too thin, after attach on the arms, have a wide gap between them so made the gunpod not in the stright line. the target to fix it is to increase the thickness of the handle,

so, many way and hit it , make it become thick enough is the main point!

1.because all I can found is just a old plastic ruler, so ... actually, u can use anything if u think that's work...

2.cut out a little like the pic show

3. use "AA" Glue is on the place that the pic show

4.the outlook is not good, anyway ,I don't care....

see the thickness

5. testing the result

6.OH! very OK!!

[kensei]

Great fix. Handle looks ugly in full view, but that will hardly show.

[Ignacio Ocamica]

Thank you very much for the vids Graham!!!

Can't wait till I get mine

[Macross73]

Thansk for the Vids Graham

Thanks for the fixes Hayao Kakizaki

[rikiryou]

Oh man oh mannn... wasn't as swayed to buy one but those videos just broke my will, haha. Unfortunately my wallet is broke, too. Thanks a lot Graham for the review and videos. Now to get rid of my 1/72 of it somehow, and make room.

Hmm, the parts falling off their placements reminds me of the 1/48 line, too. Heat shield and the 'locks' specifically, which didn't bother me much. Arghhh talking about it just makes me want to get the YF-19 even more.

[Dangard Ace]

HLJ does this sometimes with items that are released on Fridays. I am almost certain that everyone who has the YF-19 preordered with them has this message on their account. Basically, it means "We have the items in stock, but it is Friday so we can not start the shipping process until Monday." They probably do this to keep people from click on the "ship all items in stock & wait for the rest button" over the weekend. How many impatient people do you think would click that option on Saturday if they saw it listed as instock, but NOT in order processing? I'm willing bet a lot of people would.

Guess you were right. Just checked my account and my YF-19 is being processed. Woot!! One week to go! (EMS)

[kensei]

Just finished downloading the vids. Man that was great. Thanks Graham! Much appreciated. Hope it was a fun thing for you to do.

Love the UN Spacy anthem playing in the background.

[Fly4victory]

This transformation has been brought to you by GBC, The Graham Broadcasting Corporation.

Thanks for the video. That really shows the truly amazing engineering that went into the new 19.

For hand sculpted to CAD…. wow have things changed.

[Mechamaniac]

I've added links to Graham's video transformation guides to the YF-19 Review Page

[AlphaOne]

Awesome job Graham! Thanks so much, and gotta say, love the background music. This will help so much more than just the pics provided in the instruction booklet.

With HLJ, same here, I just got confirmation that it's being shipped. Whoo hoo! I think I'm gonna be a nerd and say "I've been waiting for you, pretty lady," when I open it!

[Valkyrie Nut]

Thanks for the detailed transformation guide Graham! I'll watch it a few times over the next week as I also recieved my HLJ shipping notice today

[dafunguy]

Lordy, after seeing how it transforms, I'm keeping mine in fighter mode! hahaha.

Thanks for the videos Graham ... they were bloody good, mate! The videos will be a big help for everyone. There will be less MW members screaming their heads off and running to the forums when pieces of their YF-19 start popping off. Wait, what am I talking about, people here love to coming to the forums to scream and complain. I think if you take your time and not man-handle (like Graham), things will stay in place. With a toy this detailed, you're going to have small complicated parts to deal with. It's good to see that things can be popped back into place. As for the gunpod ... c'mon guys, we all have crooked gunpods. As long as you can shoot straight, it's all good!

I personally think the transformation process is very compliated and intricate. I don't know how the peeps at Yamato can think up with stuff like that...it just amazes me. When is Yamato going to make something that tranforms itself automatically with a push of a button? That would probably cost like $20,000, but that would be the ultimate toy!

BTW Graham, how many dogs do you have in your neighboorhood, and how do you get a good night sleep?

[Mechamaniac]

Sorry, the links to the MW hosted files were wrong, I have fixed them.

[GobotFool]

When is Yamato going to make something that tranforms itself automatically with a push of a button? That would probably cost like $20,000, but that would be the ultimate toy!

Self transforming toys... that takes all the fun out of it :-p

[Scream Man]

yeah they tried it with transformers and it sucked then too.

[charger69]

yeah they tried it with transformers and it sucked then too.

Wow? when and how? Do you have any link that explains it??

and thank you Graham for the videos!

[Bub]

Thanks for the review! I'm thinking of getting this next month.

[Graham]

To those members ready to complain about it not being in widescreen, Hi Definition, THX, Dolby Digital 9.1 Surround Sound,...P*ss off.

Well, I could do the whole high definition, THX sound, John Woo style leaping through the air while holding two YF-19 sideways and transforming them both at once in slow motion, but the file size would be at least a Gig!

Or perhaps next time I should try for a Bullet Time transformation.....LOL!

Graham

[Gatillero PR]

Hey Graham thanks for the review and well done vids of the transformation. I have one question, does the shoulders move to the front a little? From the pics there is a gap to the front, but ihaven't seen any pics of this.

[attachmentid=38843]

Edit: added pic

Edited December 11, 2006 by Gatillero PR

[UN Spacy]

Sorry to go off topic but where'd you get that shirt from Graham?

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

Graham,

You make the transformation look easy, so my question is, is it easier to transform than the 1/48 VF-1? It seemed like it in the video, maybe I am just used to the VF-1 transformation but the YF-19 seemed easier to transform and seemed to take less time to do so as well. I for one am glad that it seems very durable and pleasant to transform.

[holytoledo69]

Great Review and excellent instructional video to boot. Thanks Graham. It's just too bad the gerwalk mode doesnt "lock" in any particular way...

[Kyp Durron]

234 replies counting this one, and over 7,200 views in only 4 days....

WHEEEEEE!!!!

I can only imagine what it will be a month from now.

-Kyp

[Graham]

Sorry to go off topic but where'd you get that shirt from Graham?

20th Anniversary T-shirts from Japan, available in black, red & tan and in three different designs. I've got the black and tan ones and I think Noel has the red IIRC.

I got them as a gift.

Graham

[recon]

Tks for the demo vids graham! the arms looks a bit difficult to lock them in place when transforming from battroid to fighter but i guess one would get the hang of it once you have fiddled around with it a couple of times. Boy you really handled it roughly, which proves its durability and strength of its joints and plastic

Just a question, is the transformation of 1/60 YF19 the same as that of the 1/72 version as i never owned the 1/72 version? It makes me wonder if the cockpit is tucked in the backpack slot which is near the thrusters, would the cockpit be able to withstand the intense heat radiated by that of the thrusters?

Feel weird that the pilot is navigating the battroid facing upwards, although i imagined it would be rotated forward, guess it would impossible to achieve that in the 1/60 version due to space contraints, nevertheless im happy to own a masterpiece with ingenuity and engineering incorporated into it

Cheers

Edited December 11, 2006 by recon

[BinaryFalcon]

Wow? when and how? Do you have any link that explains it??

and thank you Graham for the videos!

They were called Jumpstarters. There were two of them, both Autobots - Top Spin and Twin Twist.

To "transform" them into vehicle mode, you folded the spring loaded legs up over the body until one side of them locked with a little hook that protruded from the right side of the chest.

Inside the body was a spring loaded motor that had small wheels sticking out of the back of the toy. Once it was in vehicle mode you could put it on its back and pull the toy backwards until the motor was fully wound (it clicked). Then you let it go and it would zoom off a short distance until the motor triggered the release of the hook. That caused the spring loaded legs to be thrown forward, which (ideally) flipped the entire toy forward and off the ground so that it could land on its feet. As I remember it worked surprisingly well, although they really weren't all that amazing as toys. Aside from the folding legs the only parts you could move were the one piece arms, which were limited to simple up and down movements.

Ah, looks like youtube once again supplies the answer with a copy of the original commercial.

Edited December 11, 2006 by BinaryFalcon

[Graham]

Tks for the demo vids graham! the arms looks a bit difficult to lock them in place when transforming from battroid to fighter but i guess one would get the hang of it once you have fiddled around with it a couple of times. Boy you really handled it roughly, which proves its durability and strength of its joints and plastic

One thing I forgot to mention in the videos and in the review is that when transforming the arms to fighter mode, after you slide up the bicep covers, there is a joint hidden under the bicep cover that hinges 90 degrees. You can see this clearly in this pic.

I've never held with the belief shared by some members here that Yamato toys are fragile 'display only' pieces. I handle all my Yamatos roughly and apart.

Graham

[charger69]

Binary Falcon, thank you for the video

And sorry guys, this was an off topic...

Edited December 11, 2006 by charger69

[justvinnie]

Feel weird that the pilot is navigating the battroid facing upwards, although i imagined it would be rotated forward, guess it would impossible to achieve that in the 1/60 version due to space contraints, nevertheless im happy to own a masterpiece with ingenuity and engineering incorporated into it

Cheers

Kawamori puts a lot of thought into his designs. The cockpit in fighter mode can display the environment around the pilot, even underneath him via the use of monitors all over. When I first saw M+ I thought that was silly. But when I examined the Macross DesignWorks book, it made so much more sense. The floor monitors become the forward monitors, and forward monitors become the top monitors. There are lots of other details too that makes the design functional and not just for coolness. For instance you can see how the pilot can get in and out of battroid mode via the hatch. I know a lot of people think SK does a lot of things just for the cool factor but I think he actually makes a lot of practical considerations.

vinnie

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

One thing I forgot to mention in the videos and in the review is that when transforming the arms to fighter mode, after you slide up the bicep covers, there is a joint hidden under the bicep cover that hinges 90 degrees. You can see this clearly in this pic.

I've never held with the belief shared by some members here that Yamato toys are fragile 'display only' pieces. I handle all my Yamatos roughly and apart.

Graham

I agree, in fact the transformer alternators that some of the fans here collect are a lot more fragile than the 1/48 VF-1. I'm glad to see that Yamato is continuing to keep durability in mind when designing the toys. I also think its a shame to just leave something like this on display and just stare at it.....it was meant to be picked up and admired!(A lot of people still do this with the 1/48....it makes me wonder....though...then again perhaps none of them have ever built model kits? could be the case! I stick to toys because models all break under my handling....and my yammies have stayed in 1 piece since I've bought them years ago...).

I will probably pick one of these up during spring.

[Sebastian]

I finally came back from my short vacation and spent some time transforming the YF 19.

In my opinion the transformation is pretty simple considering how complex this toy is. The only difficult part is part of the chest when transforming to Batroid mode, later will post a pic of this, but I guess G-Man already explained the issue quite clearly. All the rest is easy and fast.

I have to say the engineering on this toy is WONDERFULL, Yamato made an incredible YF 19 rendition.

The toy is tight, stable (at least in Bat and Fighter modes) and feels really strong despite all the moveable parts, hinges and thingies. Nice paint job and poseability. In my opinion it the best Yamato work ever.

From what I can see there is absolutely no need to fix or change anything on this beauty. I found NO QC problems or design issues on my toy.

We had a bit of a bad experience with the last VF 0S but there is nothing wrong with this new YF 19… except the UGLY and HUGE box.

The 1/72 looks like a joke machine compared to the 1/60.

[recon]

Yups i agree that the YF19 is a truly a remarkable work of art and engineering. There wasnt really any serious QC issues except for the misalignment of the gunpod and rear left landing gear unable to rotate fully out. Other than that everything is nice and tight.

Hopefully, Yamato would release them in the super nova scheme as well with the sponsor markings tempoed on, would defintely grab a couple of these as well

Edited December 11, 2006 by recon

[Chaos]

I agree with the statement of Yamato making quality stuff. The only Yammie I've ever had broken was a YF-21 that it's right arm broke off. I admit, though, that I bought it only because it was half off because someone had stepped on the box, resulting in said damage. I've been trying to get some replacement parts for it, but Yamato turned me down hardcore.

[cyde01]

I'm not really a sports fan and have little interest in Cricket, Soccer or Rugby, so I'm not really typically British. Neither do I drink tea. I live mostly on coffee.

Graham

haha so i guess you wouldn't be much of a cricket commentator, although most of us wouldn't know the difference!

i've noticed not a lot of anime fans are into sports, at all. i've met a lot of african american anime fans that say they get told by others they're not typically african american cuz they're not interested in basketball and american football. i say interests should not be dictated by one's background, although sad to say i fit into my stereotype pretty well.

ne way sorry to get off topic. can't wait to get my 19!!