Graham

Don't be afraid. It's a sturdy toy and not difficult to transform IMO. I can never understand you guys that get your toys and then don't transform them for weeks or months. As soon as I get a new toy, I'm transforming it within minutes of getting it out of the box. Graham

I'm also a big fan of Iain M Bank's Culture novels, but their Effector technogy is probably a bit too advanced for knight26's ships, at least from what little I know about his ships (they look sorta old style Flash Gordon-ish to me). He's also stated that he does not want to directly copy shield tech from any source. Personally, if you want to make it a realistic hard sci-fi universe, I'd stay away from any sort of energy shields, and instead go with physical armor (reactive, ablative etc). Point and medium range defence with lasers, railguns, missiles etc and active and passive stealth technology for avoidence. Another possible anti-laser defence could be sounding the ship with ablative anti-laser particles (sorta like chaff). In the old Traveller RPG, this was called 'Sand'. Graham

I don't know, I'll ask. Graham

Not gonna happen, sorry. Graham

I'd forgotten about that scene with Nora's SV-51 kicking. I'm hoping too that the SV-51 will be at least able to stand in a neutral pose, but for those funky action poses, I imagine the stand will be a must. Graham

All production launch bars are grey. On the publicity pics, which are of a preproduction (non-final color scheme) sample, the launch bar was white. As we all know, the production toys often differ from the preproduction pics, the most obvious recent example being the VF-0A. Graham

You guys are only thinking of TV series. It could just as easily be from an OVA or movie. Then again maybe it is from a TV series. Graham

LOL! I wonder has anybody comissioned Kurt to do a custom job on their wife tho! Graham

I don't think any toy company would pick up the licence for Southern Cross, the mecha are really fugly IMO. Graham

Lemme rephrase that. It's a transforming mecha from an 80s' anime. Graham

I've owned a fair amount of Yamatos over the years, probably close to 100 in all scales, although I've sold a lot, so my currrent total is about 50. Given the complexity of the designs and the number of parts involved, I'd say that overall the durability, fit and finish of Yamato toys is pretty good. I currently have about 22 x 1/48 VF-1 (I used to have close to 30) and the only problem I've had is a single BP8 breakage on my very first VF-1A Hijkaru, which was 100% my fault. I've owned many 1/60 VF-1 although only have a few remaining, but never had a breakage on any of them. I've had 6 or 7 VF-11B FAST Pack, and never had a problem. I used to have a dozen non-FP VF-11B and only had 2 hip breakages. Probably owned about 15 x 1/72 YF-19/VF-19A and only had one Tab-B and 1 hip breakage. The new 1/60 YF-19 seems pretty sturdy so far. The VF-0 is apart fom the shoulders, which is either a material flaw or a design flaw (TBC) a pretty sturdy toy overall. My 3 x Q-Rau are all fine. My 2 x Konig Monster are both fine except some stress marks in one of them. My 1/72 YF-21 are all fine. I have 5 remaining. It's a given that the more articulation, small parts and features you put on a toy, the more fragile and less durable it's going to be. The only Yamato product that has really disappointed me was the Garland. I had no problems with the shoulders, but the metal bars connecting the front wheels snapped on both of mine. Graham

More pics guys if possible. The more pics we can show Yamato, the more they are likely to do something. eugimon, can you post a larger opic of your avatar? Graham

Posted details of my recent meeting with Yamato in the updates page (Jan 14 update). Graham

Keep the pics coming please. Graham

Can we have more pics posted please of the cracks, breaks & stress marks so Yamato can see them. My contact at Yamato is not aware of complaints from Japanese buyers regarding the VF-0A upper arms. That doesn't mean there have been no complaints, just my contact is not aware of them. Anyway, the factory will be looking into the problem. Graham

Report is being written now, and will be posted as soon as it's been okayed by Yamato (probably early next week). I found out a lot of interesting stuff yesterday. Graham

Surprised you guys haven't discussed the upcoming MP Megatron lineart that was shown in last months hobby mags, or did I miss the discussion. Graham

Not break completely, but develop a 3-4mm crack in the shoulder. Graham

If I was ever going to get a tattoo, I'd probably chose one of the girls from the GBP leg art, possibly # 26. Graham

Just stick a Hasegawa decal on your arm. Far less painful and not permanent. Graham

Send a PM to both Kurt & Jung. I know for sure Kurt takes on custom commissions and you can see lots of his excellent work in the MW custom toy gallery on the main site. Jung also does fantastic work, but I'm not sure if he accepts commissions. Jung's work can also be seen in the MW custom toy gallery. Graham

I need to confirm this with Yamato, but I have a theory that the gunpod was deliberately left a bit loose to allow it to twist slightly when the YF-19 is placed on the Yamato stand. The placement of the stand attacment piece prevents the gunpod from pointing straight ahead and forces it to twist to one side. Graham

Updated list of members with VF-0 toys with shoulders and/or biceps showing stress marks, cracks or completely broken. 1) Gatillero PR. 2) Pierre. 3) prometheum 5. 4) UN Spacy. 5) Scream Man. 6) Master of Puppets. 7) Ghostryder. Magnus. 9) eugimon. 10) Kiririth. 11) Graham 12) Roy's Blues 13) sidearmsalpha Graham

Technical issues. Yamato have always claimed the 1/48 wasn't designed to easily be converted to two-seater and still keep perfect transformation. It can be done as Capt America's conversion kit is proof, but it's not an ideal solution as the head hangs too low in fighter mode and the heatshiled is removeable rather than being stored under the chest plate. Graham

For god's sake, NO rub on decals like on Bandai's MG kits. I hate those things and have never managed to get one to completely stick to the kit. No matter how much and how carefully I rub them, little patches always stay firmly attached to the sheet. Graham