Anasazi37

Okay, that's just being lazy and dumb after putting so much work into designing a new 1/72 valk. Stickers have no place on a scale model. I was unhappy with them on the 1/20 kits and they make even less sense with this one. We know they are capable of making decals, they are just apparently unwilling to do so.

The proxy I used to order my set of super parts just notified me that it's ready to ship. I should hopefully have it by early next week.

Just saw it this morning. Fantastic. On the one hand, it seems to be loading a lot faster, so perhaps it will be able to better handle high traffic levels during PO Madness, but they once again did away with the option to sort search results by newest arrival, which is how I quickly check if something has been added in a particular category. Took them months to bring it back the last time they upgraded the site.

So you're saying that banging away at the base of a resin print with a chisel, hoping you don't destroy something that's taken hours to create as you attempt to pry it off the build plate, isn't fun? My Elegoo Saturn has a Z Offset setting that seems to work pretty well when it comes to compensating for the thickness of the vat film and screen protector, but adding a flexible build plate might go beyond what the setting can handle. I've see the end stops you're talking about. Seems like a common approach across printers. To get the setting on the Saturn dialed in, I had to do a bunch of prints using a known calibration pattern.

Since the super parts set is a TWE release that required payment up front, odds are good that it will only show up on the secondary market. I'd keep an eye on Mandarake, Jungle, and Yahoo Japan. For the last one, it's generally easier to go through a proxy like FromJapan. I just ran a search there and a bunch of sets popped up from Yahoo Japan, Rakuten, and a few other stores. I'm still waiting to hear from my proxy for the set I ordered. They recently sent out a note to customers saying that they're still dealing with a package processing backlog due to Golden Week. I'm guessing a lot of proxies are in the same position. It might be another week before I get a payment request for shipping.

When I saw the price at BBTS, it made me glad that I secured POs from AE and HLJ. That's pretty steep *and* you'll have to wait 3 months after release to get it. I guess it's the new version of the "old man tax," for those who are done with PO Madness. I'm definitely in that group, but wow.

It's back up at Anime Export https://www.anime-export.com/index.php?product=58095

Now sold out at HLJ

VF-0S posted and already sold out on both Amazon Japan and Anime Export. Managed to snag one at both AE and HLJ. Just checked AJ again and scalpers are already reselling it for ¥33,500.

I truly hope you're right, as I'm getting too old for PO Madness. Bandai is making a big deal out of WWM, so I agree that it would be really dumb to leave overseas stores hanging, and I buy domestically from sites like BBTS when I can, but I'm personally adopting a wait-and-see attitude on this one. I say this recognizing that I might be part of the problem, in that WWM likely only succeeds and continues to be an option if we all take advantage of it. By avoiding the domestic purchase option for these early releases, it looks like I'm not interested in the option. I am interested, but will only start using it once Bandai actually delivers on these early releases. In the past, we've seen them reduce the amount of stock shipped overseas for other lines, and stores in turn have had to cancel POs, leaving collectors scrambling to find replacements. And that was before the supply chain and manufacturing issues we're dealing with right now. Fingers crossed that this all works.

Looking good!

I just can't bring myself to order from a domestic store like BBTS until I see Bandai actually follow through on their first WWM release. I'm worried that they're going to screw overseas stores in favor of the local Japanese market, despite all of the hype. I really hope not, because I'd like to not have to worry about PO Madness in the future, but I'm extremely skeptical right now.

I retired from printing decals many years ago, mainly due to my day job, which keeps me extremely busy. I occasionally do small print runs and every so often take on custom orders, but the wait list is pretty long right now. At the moment, more than a year. I feel really bad about that, but I don't have a lot of free time these days.

@MikeRoz The short version is that NY imploded like a dying star at the end of last year. It no longer exists and your store credit is now worthless. Due to its increasingly shady business practices, the implosion probably should have happened a lot sooner than it did. I now see other stores acting in a similar way and am staying far, far away from them.

I first made this waterslide version of the Yamato sticker sheet in 2006, I think. Man, time flies.

Back in 2007, for the original Yamato YF-19, I made two sets. One was a conversion of the stickers to waterslide decals. The other was a resize of Hasegawa Option Decal #1, from 1/72 to 1/60. That sheet had some relevant markings on it, like the "Super NOVA" one. Back in 2014, a MW member commissioned me to do a conversion of the original Arcadia YF-19 stickers: I'd have to ask the person who commissioned them if it's okay for me to print another set (probably fine), but the bigger issue is that I retired from printing decals several years ago because my work keeps me extremely busy. I occasionally produce small sets that address oversights or mistakes made by Arcadia and Bandai and take on unique/challenging commissions, but right now the waiting list is pretty long. There are folks on it who have been waiting patiently for more than a year because of my limited free time.

And given the current exchange rate, not a bad time to pick up an otherwise pricey valk.

I had exactly the same thought. It's refreshing to see this level of disassembly.

Good luck and can't wait to see the finished product

The cynic in me wonders if they just generated shipping labels for the customers that contacted them, making it look like there's movement on those orders with the least amount of effort required (some button clicks), which in turn buys them some time. In the past we've seen other stores do this when they're short on stock and/or overwhelmed. I hope that's not the case and I hope they aren't scrambling to find units on the secondary market. LP seems to always come through, but they'll be lucky to break even if they're primarily sourcing stock from third parties post-release.

I'm still waiting for them to make the 1/20 Strike Battroid. We see you with that prototype, Max....

"After Golden Week" leaves a lot of room for them to ship far later than other stores, given past performance. I hope the shipping is better this time (speed and packing materials). And I hope they've worked out their supply issues and don't resort to buying units off of Amazon Japan again. I managed to snag one at HLJ a few weeks before the release date. Blind luck really. They shipped mine last weekend, so they must have been trying to get as many orders out as possible before shutting down for Golden Week.

Nice to see that they'll be released in a few weeks. I preordered a set through a proxy at the end of December. Even though it's a TWE item and the competition for those has gone up in recent years, it didn't sell out, so here's hoping the secondary market prices will be reasonable for those who are still looking to get one.

Mine arrived from HLJ yesterday, safe and sound. Looking forward to putting her on display this weekend.