Anasazi37
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Everything posted by Anasazi37
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Just sent a long message to HLJ asking them to honor what they did for the gerwalk kit and give us the option to use EMS for shipping. I told them that I based my purchasing decision on the reasonable expectation that they would offer that option for the fighter kit, too. It's $200 less than FedEx. I'm willing to be a pain in their backside for that much money--especially since the alternative is paying as much for shipping as I did for the kit and I can't really justify that. I pointed them to my support ticket from January where they provided lower-cost quotes across the board for the larger and heavier MF-25 box, gave them my EMS estimate from Japan Post for the MF-37, and included the picture of the box that @tekering posted which clearly shows the gross weight and dimensions. I'm hoping that they'll do the right thing.
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That's incredibly generous of you. Using the picture you shared of the box with the dimensions and weight printed on it, I got a rough EMS estimate from Japan Post's website that is waaaaaaay more reasonable: 13,400 yen. That's in line with what HLJ quoted me for EMS shipping in January for the gerwalk kit. It's actually less expensive than the gerwalk kit, but that makes sense because the fighter kit weighs about 1kg less.
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Thanks for doing that for us, @tekering. I was having a hard time believing that the fighter box was larger. When I had my gerwalk kit shipped in early January to the US, this is what HLJ quoted me: EMS: 15,500 yen FedEx: 28,713 yen DHL: 21,820 yen I can confirm that when you try to ship the fighter kit from your Private Warehouse on your own, the estimate is really high ($327 for me). That's insane.
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Holy cow those are big. I have two sets in my private warehouse at HLJ, was wondering what shipping was going to cost me...now I have a decent idea. Glad to see that decals are included (contrary to what's listed on the Max Factory site). Odd that there aren't white UUM-7 markings. I've always used the Hasegawa Weapons Set as a guide and black markings on dark paint won't show up well:
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Looks like NY still has the Fighter kit available, but for 7000 yen more than what HLJ charged: https://www.nippon-yasan.com/figures/28049-plamax-mf-37-minimum-factory-vf-1-super-strike-fighter-valkyrie.html
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That pretty much sums up everything I’ve learned over the past year...
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I'm planning to do another run of decals for those who are interested. I don't anticipate that many (or any) changes will be needed to accommodate the Fighter kit, but will double-check when mine arrives. I will be making decals for the Armaments kit, too. According to the Max Factory site, it only comes with stickers.
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I say exactly the same thing! She no longer looks at me skeptically when a box from Japan shows up and I say that the item was pre-ordered and paid for six months ago. Especially after seeing what I went through during the last few rounds of PO madness for the 1/48 DX valks (frustration, lack of sleep, etc.).
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Same here. My wife woke up before I did and happened to be looking at our credit card accounts over breakfast. As I was making coffee she asked, "what did you buy?!" So much for my plan of convincing her that I only had one 1/20 by taking the Gerwalk kit out to the garage and then walking back in with the Fighter kit, saying that I changed my mind and wanted to keep it in the house. I threw a smoke bomb and ran out of the kitchen.
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That is definitely the most reasonable option. 3D metal printing would be the more mad-scientist-fun option. I was working at a lab where we got to try out all of the latest 3D printers, including ones that can print houses, cars, airplane wings, etc. Crazy stuff. I never asked what the metal printing would actually cost commercially, but thought "surely it can't be that much." Sounds like it is that much...and more.
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We did metal 3D printing (additive manufacturing) at my last job. If I was still there, I'd try to hook folks up with replacements for the core. The printing techniques are still a bit experimental, but the results are pretty nice and I think the printed part could handle the stress. Might be worth looking around online to see if someone can metal-print what you need.
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The name keeps changing: http://www.finescale.com/how-to/tips/2018/05/reader-tips-pledge-future-gloss-has-a-new-name
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In six days (21 Sep): https://tamashii.jp/item/12912/?wovn=en
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That could actually work. I recently set up a model building and toy customization space in the garage, so I could carry the first one out and stash it there, then bring the second one in and say that I decided to keep it in the house after all. She'll know something's up when both get built, but this plan could buy me at least a year....
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And the armament set, too! Now I have to prepare my wife for *another* very large Plamax box showing up at the house. She might hurt me this time....
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Or Highlander. Whoever is left standing at the end gets everything.
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The one exception is Mandarake's warehouse location, Sawara (SAHRA). They wrap and weigh/measure everything in advance so they can ship right after you order. If you find an item you want that is available at SAHRA and another location, and the other location's offering is what you really want, you can add the SAHRA one to your cart and start the checkout process to see what shipping is going to cost you, then back out of the order. There might be a slight cost difference for the other location, but it's probably pretty close. You can also use other variants of the item you want as a proxy since the size and weight will be the same, like the Super Parts for the YF-29 Durandal Ozma when you really want the Alto. Not that I've ever actually done this....
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The people who really seem to have this bot thing figured out are the ones who go after high-end sneakers. Someone posted this story in the 1/48 DX thread during PO Madness for the Hikaru 1S: https://www.highsnobiety.com/2016/04/27/sneaker-bots-how-do-they-work/. The talk about latency due to geographic distance (which is true) reminds me of front-running and high frequency trading on the stock market. It's a fascinating rabbit hole to go down. The best and most accessible explanation of it that I've come across in recent years is the "Magic Shoebox" episode of Michael Lewis' podcast "Against the Rules": https://atrpodcast.com/episodes/the-magic-shoebox-s1!33643. If bot-runners in China ever start operating like high frequency traders on Wall Street, we're screwed....
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Holy smokes, @Shizuka the Catis upping her game. I definitely don't want to be competing with you on PO Madness night!
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I carved out some time yesterday to armor up my VF-31S. Many thanks to @jeniusfor his fighter-to-battroid transformation video. Barring some new VF or armor variant showing up in the next Delta movie, I think I'm done collecting for this series. I wanted one fully-loaded example of each main variant, which I now have. I took some liberties with having the Lil Drakens flying above the VF-31F with Super Parts, but who says that they have to be attached to be used? I also borrowed the reactive missiles from the VF-31S to complete the look. And how could I not display the SV-262 in battroid mode with the sword and shield? Lighting isn't great in the pictures....
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Much appreciated! Comparing your scan to the preview image on Max Factory's website, the only differences I see are in the lower left corner. All of the designs are still there, but the section was reorganized a bit. Not sure why they had to do that, maybe something related to their printing method. Makes me think that the DX set will be very close to the preview image, meaning that stuff will be missing. I'm still hesitant to finalize my set for the Fighter mode kit until I actually get my hands on it and look at the sticker sheet. Since the official decals are advertised as working for both kits, I don't anticipate any differences, but I'd rather play it a bit safe. That reminds me: I also need to make decals for the armaments.
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Mine arrived this morning. Similar experience with AE, right down to the slow EMS shipping. Might only use them again for TWE items that sell out too fast on Bandai's site for a proxy like FJ to help me. Tracking showed that the package arrived early this morning at my post office and because I live out in the country, I knew that they wouldn't actually deliver it to my house because it requires a signature and they have to focus on our mailboxes on the main roads. So, instead of waiting until *Tuesday* to receive official notification that I could pick it up (long holiday weekend here), I just drove to the post office and asked for it. Friendly staff there hooked me up and now the waiting is finally over!
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HLJ is now showing the Normal and DX versions of the decals as in stock. Estimated release date was August, and they just barely made it (last business day of the month). I'm hoping this means that the armament and fighter mode kits will actually be released next month, but my wallet wouldn't mind a slight delay. For those of you who bought the decals, especially the DX set with all of the Skull Squadron markings on it, I'd love to see a picture of what they actually look like. There were many things missing from it--in the preview pictures--when compared to the original sticker sheet that comes with the gerwalk kit.
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Me, too. When I need a proxy, they're my go-to. Given how slow AE and NY have been, I'll probably switch back to FJ for TWE items.
