Graham

Bicep armor should also be unscrewed and removed on the VF-0A to check for cracks around the swivel joint. Graham

MORE PICS please!!!!! The more pics I can show Yamato, the easier it is to convince them this is a serious problem, not just a few isolated cases. So far only a couple of people have posted pics of cracked shoulders and I don't recall seing any pics of the broken bicep swivel. I have emailed them the link to this thread, but don't know if they have read it. I have also informed them verbally about the problem during my last meeting a few weeks ago. I've sent them another email today, to follow up to see if any action is being taken and I will try to speak with them on the phone next week. Again: MORE PICS please!!!!! Graham

Are you making the shoulders and also the elbow swivel joint? It is both these sections that have problems. Graham

Here's a summery of what we know so far regarding the problems with the VF-0 arms. Please let me know if anything I've written is incorrect or something is missing. 1) Stress marks and cracks are appearing on the inner (front & rear) shoulder sections. 2) Stess marks and cracks are also appearing on the lower part of the bicep swivel joint. 3) The problem seems more prevalent on the VF-0A, but has also occured on the VF-0S. 4) Some toys have stress marks and cracks right out of the box. 5) One theory put forward by some Macrossworld members is that the seam line on the shoulder ball joint is contributing to probelm with the shoulders, as it may extert exess pressure on the shoulder parts when the shoulder is moved. 6) Another thory is that the top screw on the back of the shoulder joint is too tight and causes the plastic to crack. 7) As a preventive measure, the seam line on the shoulder ball joint should be filed down. Also, the two silver color screws located on the rear of the inner shoulder, especially the top screw should be loosened slightly (about a half turn?) to decrease pressure. 9) Some members have theorised theat the rubber O-ring o the bicep swivel joint may be too thick, causing the joint to crack. 10) As a preventive measure, the bicep screw should be looseend slightly and/or the rubber O-ring removed. 11) Initial coments from Yamato are that these problems have not been reported in Japan yet and also the problem may be caused by an adverse chemical reaction between the rubbber and ABS, which weakens the ABS. Anything else? Graham

VA-3M (from VF-X2) is amphibious, not the regular VA-3. Graham

AFAIK, the legs are fixed. Looks like the front landing gear on the Focker VF-1S Strike is collapsing......LOL! Wonder what the material is, ABS, diecast, hard PVC? My bet is on hard PVC. Hope they hold together well and don't have parts falling off all the time! Graham

IIRC, the Hasegawa SV-51 Ivanov paint guide calls the main color 'Black-Grey'. Graham

It really looks like these are heavily based on the Hasegawa sculpt, right down to the design of the FAST pack side verniers. Graham

It's a quote from D.R. & Quinch. Nothing to do with Yamato or Macross this time, sorry. And if you haven't read D.R. & Quinch, you should. Graham

I wonder how many surplus Phoenix the US Navy has? Would it not be possible to use them on a F/A-18, or is the missile tooo big and the Hornets radar to crappy? Hang on though, doesn't the SHornet has some sort of super-duper AESA radar? (can't be bothered to look i up). Graham

The bottom pic is completely unrelated. It's part of an ongoing article on customising a Hasegawa. Graham

Here's the latest pics of these lil' Valks. I love the one painted in Zentradi colors, just like Max's TV VF-1A wearing a Zentradi jacket. Graham

Guy's here's the scan from Figure Oh magazine issue # 108. I've been told that in the interview, Kawamori says the SV-51 really means a lot to him and it took him about 1 year to design. Most of his VFs have a wide body because of the legs being between the arms in fighter mode and he wanted to make the SV-51 as slim as possible. The SU-27 was his design inspiration. Perhaps somebody would like to do a full translation. Graham

Definitely don't like the short nose. Graham

Apparently the new issue of 'Figure Oh' magazine has a two page photo spread on the SV-51 and also an interview with Kawamori. I'll try to pick up a copy today. Graham

Trust me on this, there are more cute women in China than you can shake a very large stick at. And I do like to shake my stick Graham

Not sure why people think the Chinese are unhappy. The economy is booming, the standard of living is going up in the cities. There is much more freedom to travel. China is a communist country in name only these days. Yes, these are still problems with corruption and poverty in rural areas, but things are getting better. Graham

Erik, Welcome back to MW. Would you mind if we use some of your pics for the MW main page? I'm just imagining how good some of the cusom Valks by Kurt, Jung etc would look in a diorama like this. Graham

Those things on the wingtips are composite micro-missile launchers/fuel-tanks. Graham

Here's the bigger scan. It will have a proper cockpit, just the one in the photo is quite cloudy for some reason. Actually, if you look carefully, you can still make out the ejection handle with yellow and black stripes. Graham

The spikes around the nose are part of the active stealth system. I would imagine the spikes on the tail fins are probably radar warning receivers. As for the spikes on the canards, who knows? Graham

No, but for ones which don't already have stress marks, it may help. Graham

The mid-wing hinges are also a concern to me. Graham

To be honest, the following sentence from the link posted earlier sends the shivers down my spine far more than the Chinese testing an anti-satellite capability. "In October, President George W. Bush signed an order asserting the United States' right to deny adversaries access to space for hostile purposes" To me as a non-American it sounds like Bush is trying to grab all of space for himself by preventing others access. Not sure that even the US has the right to prevent others access to space. Not trying to get political or off topic. I'm usually very pro-American, but that sentence honestly disturbed me. Anyway, back to our regular discussion about pointy things with wings. Graham

Where's the Helldiver? I'd buy a revoltech figure of that. Graham