mickyg

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Come to think of it, every single TRU here in Australia is in a shopping mall. Last I heard, the Australian ones aren't going to be closing. No idea how that International relationship works but it sounds like the Aussie ones are safe. For now... Man, the name of that toy store in Norcal in the mid to late '80s is gonna bug me now. Wish I could recall it...

Very fond memories of KB. Not nearly the same memories of TRU though. Something about the massive size of the place and the fact that the toys were stacked to the ceiling. Definitely got a lot of stuff there but KB always had a better feel to my 7 year old self. I will never forget my first memories of shopping at said, 'stacked to the ceiling TRU' in San Mateo though. My dad had told me that if I got good grades, I could get something from there, to a certain dollar figure (no idea what that was). By this time, I think I'd acquired a decent number of Transformers (like 4 or 5 in those days), had a decent collection of Lego, and wanted something different. My heart was set on the massive Erector Set (Meccano to anyone not in the US) with the cool twin cockpit 'spaceship' on the front. After achieving that academic goal, the set was mine! I don't recall doing much with it and it didn't stick around as long as my Lego or Transformers collection did, but that experience definitely stuck out in my mind. Every other toy shopping experience that made an impression was KB and Toy and Model (I think that's what it was called?). And they were both small. I wonder why they stick out more in my mind than the mega store that TRU was, even in the mid '80s?

I think it has a lot to do with the DX releases for the add-on parts (both the SV-262 and VF-31) being web exclusive offerings. That means only what was pre-ordered got made. Well, with some exceptions I'm sure, as there always appears to be far more of these things than what you'd expect from a made-to-order item. But all the add-on parts, since the VF-25 supers have been web exclusives and only available from shops that want to offer this (Nippon Yassan being one of them). So you're always better off ordering them during the initial offering, rather than waiting for them to trickle out post release.

So, it's very close. It's not exactly the same though. The VE-1 is just a touch darker than the CF 1A. But if you want to mix and match parts, I think it'd be very hard to tell the difference. Does make me wonder why Bandaid'd mix up a new batch of plastic for something so close. Anyway, here's some pics to help illustrate. Bear in mind that these are taken under fluorescent lights and I've edited the tones a bit to make them easier to see the differences. For instance, I'm a reasonably pale white guy but my hand looks awesomely tanned in this pic. The 1A CF part is the landing gear cover and it's fitted, with the VE-1 part right next to it. Here the VE-1 part is at the top, along with all the other CF parts.

Glad it didn't cause you too much grief. The stuff absolutely needs an instruction booklet with it! I bought some years ago and had no idea what to do. Ended up finding a tutorial somewhere once properly armed with info, managed to use it with Gunze clear gloss (acrylic type) and got a really good finish. You can also mix it with Future in varying amounts to go from semi gloss, right down to dead flat, based purely on the proportion of flat medium you mix in. Obviously it also works great for turning gloss acrylic paints flat, too as I'm pretty sure this is precisely what it's designed for. As I recall, there are a ton of FS colors from Gunze that only come in gloss.

I think he would have approved, actually!

I can test it this evening.

A great loss indeed. Just saw the Theory of Everything last year and it reminded me of how impressive this man was, but also inspired me to make the most of every moment, never let your circumstances prevent you from continuing your journey, always surround yourself with people who won't give up on you, and curiosity is one of mankind's greatest treasures. On a personal note, I lost my uncle when I was a teenager to ALS (over 20 years ago). He fought it for a few very short years. How Dr Hawking was able to punch ALS in the face for so long is nothing short of astounding.

My VE-1 arrived today, after HLJ SAL shipping, a month or so after it released and sat in my PW for other goodies. I have to say it's really good to finally have the Elintseeker in my collection. It's the first I've had of any type or size so it's cool to have this really unique design now. I'm not sure I'm a fan of the beige grey they used but given how unusual the scheme is anyway, I guess it's hard to know what it should be anyway. And if those recent screen grabs from DYRL are anything to go by, the entire design is totally different to what any toy has ever tried to reproduce.

MT - the flat base is something you have to add to paint. The idea is that you add it to glossy paints so you can get a different finish (flat, semi-gloss, etc...). If you use it all by itself (or even thin it) it's basically like chalk dust. Lucky it came off though.

Dislcaimer: I have no experience with any 1/60 scale M&M release. I do have experience with the hardpoint issue on two of my early release Yamato V2 VF-1 purchases, though. Both were brand new, I might add. The first was the Super VF-1A Hikaru release (which if memory serves is one of the first that came out of the V2 line) and the other was a Super VF-1J Hikaru. Both had issues with the hardpoints and both required some minor surgery to repair. I should also add that both have held up for years after the fix (just super glued the part back in). The size of the rib in the new Arcadia shots that have been posted definitely seems strange. I recall Arcadia specifically mentioning some tweaks made to the release but I can't remember if the mounting points were one of them. Either way, to me, this is an issue of design which is inherent to the way the wings are put together and is not an issue of mold quality. The simple fact is that unless the back of the hardpoint is glued to the filler piece on the top of the wing, the torque/torsion force applied to those tiny fingers of plastic that hold it to the bottom of the wing, is simply too great and the part fails. If the mount is properly glued to the filler piece, that surface is far bigger and the force is transferred to the filler piece. In that case, it's not ever going to fail. I shored up the piece on subsequent Yamato valks I purchased, by applying thin super glue to the hole in the mount and letting it spread. This ensures the mount and wing filler are as close to one piece as you can get with simple super glue. Using an ABS glue would be better but I didn't have that when I was messing around with my valks years ago. Can anyone see any evidence of glue on the backs of the hardpoints? The whole filler piece is glued in so the glue should be visible somewhere. My guess is that it's not applied to the whole part, which would certainly help.

Just saw Black Panther last night at the theatre and for the opening previews, there was an ad for the Royal Australian Air Force. There are tiny segments of what appear to be almost YF-19s in it. The first is only a few seconds in, the second is at about 15 seconds and the third is 1:15 in. If you pause it, you'll see they're not clips from Plus, as there are two of them and they've got some odd enhancements. But that colour is pretty close. Anyone know where these are taken from or do we just have a mega fan making this video and they did it themselves?

Outstanding!

LOL at the "mini" Yetistand - had to double check what it was you were referring to. I've got the lego adapter and that's a brilliant use for it! Pics are looking great, everyone!

Looking fantastic Arbit! The progression in programming on the lights is very impressive too. Love seeing the evolution of your work in the last, what is it now, few years? Time flies!

MT, that looks fantastic! I'd love to hear a bit more about how you achieved that "splotched" look because it looks very realistic.

Up to ep 5 and am really liking it so far. Yes, lots of gratuitous content, which goes double for the violence and gore, but it seems to work and doesn't end up feeling distracting as far as I'm concerned. I certainly felt the Blade Runner vibe from the scenery alone. The concept feels fresh, but also very familiar.

Just until it heats up the plastic. For a head laser, probably 10 seconds or so. A bit of a warning on this technique - if you go overboard, you can warp the plastic worse than it already is. So just concentrate on getting the plastic warm/hot so you can bend it back to the right shape before cooling it. I went too far on a Bandai VF-27 gun and pretty much ruined it. I think the Yamato plastic is a bit more forgiving though. Don't be too afraid, but do be careful.

Thanks Noel. My concern is due to the fact my account is set to a billing agreement. As soon as it's available, it is purchased automatically. Normally that's how I want it because I don't have to think about it and log in and pay. This time though, I completely forgot I'd already pre-ordered it in December. Either way, sounds like I'm safe. This one hit my PW over the weekend. So I'm still in the 10 day window.

I somehow ordered two from HLJ. If I can cancel one without a penalty, I will. Otherwise for you Australia for, I may have a spare for sale soon. And I might even do one up for someone who's willing to pay a bit more for it.

As I recall, the biggest issue is that they're yellow instead of gold.

The P-38 naturally works - can't wait to see your take on it!

Ah, I see. Sorry, I'm in the same boat then. I'll have to defer to the other experts on that one. Might ask about it in the aircraft thread. Or maybe I should check my Hasegawa f-22 model kit...

It's the same. I recall the saying, "is there anymore (red) port left?" And that always helps with the colour and location.

While gloss is ideal, I've had reasonable success without it on Yamato VF-1 valks. Though that was on white, admittedly. What are you wanting to tackle? Might be worth looking at @no3Ljm's progress on his Arcadia valks for some tips. Since we're usually dealing with lighter plastics, you can get away with a lot less surface prep than you would on a darker model.