Graham

According to Noda-ya web site the 1/48 FAST packs should be out in Japan on August 30. Graham

Getting mine today, will write review at the weekend. Actaully had samples at the beginning of the week, but sent them off to Shawn to display at MW CON 3, so I haven't had much time with ther toys myself. Graham

LOL That is really funny............ No actually, it is kind of sad, for me living in poor crowded HK Graham

No, beacuse my place is a typical tiny HK apartment and my one spare bedroom is full up of cartons of Macross toys, so even though it has a double bed you can't actually see the bed anymore because of all the boxes. Graham

Do you think we have any clergy who are also Macross fan-boys? Graham

are they very prone to breaking? Not really. I've never broken any of mine, but I think I've read of maybe 2(?) MW forum members who have broken theirs. The key words are really be gentle and don't use force. Graham

Although if you want to nitpick, the VF-11B (both original and FP) is not actually 1/72 scale. It was slightly resized up from 1/72 scale to make it more durable...Ha Ha Ha. Graham

Nice custom Sebastian. Somebody really should recast the Hasegawa pilot as it's too expensive to buy the Hasegawa Weapons Set just for two pilots, not to mention that the Weapons Set is getting difficult to find now. Graham

Here's what improvements I'd like to see on the 1/48: - 1) The DYRL pilot figure resculpted. 2) The backpack hinge (part # BP8) beefed-up. This can be done on the part of the hinge that is on the inner side of the back plate, so it would not change the appearance in fighter mode). 3) Sell each Valk with a set of swapable non-articulated hands ala the upcoming VF-1J Hikaru, in addition to the normal articulated hands. 4) Better, thinner stickers, with less border area. Maybe Yamato should hire Takatoys! 5) Change the material of the heatshield, so that the two side pins are not so fragile. 6) Yes, I agree with Tamim totally about the boxes. 7) Resculpt the VF-1S head to get rid of the vertcal seem down the centre of the face. Graham

Heh...Chungking Mansions....You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. I wasn't even going to mention that place. Still, some good Indian restaurants inside. I never go in there without my trusty Benchmade or Cold Steel or MOD tactical folder. It's not the safest of places. Watch your back and your wallet if you decide to stay there. Graham

Damn, saw the title and thought it was going to be an aviation anime Graham

What's the switch on the back of the Minmay doll for? Graham

The Doyusha VF-1J Hikaru was cancelled and never made it into production I agree, these are nice little toys if quite pricey. IMO, the best of the bunch is the YF-21. I'm still POed that I accidently dropped mine from a height of about 3 feet and it landed on it's plastic canopy, which shattered into about half a dozen small pieces. Have to get a replacement someday. I'm pretty sure that Doysha has no plans to continue with this line, as sales were somewhat lower than anticipated. Graham

No, the Low-Vis 1/48, which was painted by Mr. Naoki Kimura first appeared in the February 2003 issue of Hobby Japan magazine. Graham

The Metal Siren may have better combat performance in the anime, but IMO, it is an ugly, ugly Valk that looks like it's been cobbled together out of mis-matching parts. The VF-2SS Valkyrie II and VF-2JA Icarus on the other hand are just so beautiful and sleek looking. Graham

Even I don't know what's next for the 1/48 line after the VF-1J Hikaru in November. However, my completely unofficial guess would be Max & Millia VF-1J. I guess another possibility would be a DYRL Max VF-1S. Personally, I'd like to see some more non-canon color schemes, like some of the ones that have appeared in Model Graphix magazine. Graham

My agent tells me it's a little bit early to get hotel rates for January. In the meantime, here's a couple of web sites with info on HK hotel pricing. HK Hotels And HK Hotels It would also help if you can all let me know your rough budgets and if you all would prefer to stay in the same hotel. Graham

That is not a Yamato prototype. Neither is it the Hasegawa. the Hasegawa will be much more detailed. Studying the pictures I seriously doubt that it is in anyway transformable. Mostly likely, it is just a scratch build by a talented amateur, or possibly judging by the low level of detail and poor placement of parting (seam) lines a prototype of a game prize toy by perhaps Banpresto. Graham

Sounds good, I'm always up for meeting fellow MWers and having some drinks. Not sure I can persuade my wife to come though. She's not a Macross fan and gets very bored and irritable when I sit around talking Macross and toys Graham

Just to clarify a few points: - 1) The Monster is definitely confirmed, but we won't see it until the first quarter of next year. Yamato were not happy with some areas of the design and also the level of detail, so the Monster is currently undergoing a bit of a redesign and also having a 'detail-up' face lift. B) 2) Despite what some people have posted in the past on the old MW Forums, no other Destroids or enemy mecha besides the Q-Rau are confirmed at this time. Yamato are considering a lot of stuff, but no firm decision on whether to produce these items has been made yet. At the moment, it's a case of wait and see! Graham

If Yamato made the new Macross Zero Destroid, I would like to see it with electrically powered rotating gatling gun barrels. Perhaps also a sound chip for the gun firing sound as well. Graham

I'll do some research on hotel rates. Graham

I think it varies. Sometimes Kanto is more expensive, sometimes Animate. But I think you are right that generally Animate is a little cheaper overall. Yes I also noticed that Animate's stock usually seems more limited though. No, I don't get over to Causeway Bay much, probably just once or twice a month as I live out in the New Territories and my office is in Kowloon side. Actually, my office is fairly close to Mong Kok, so it's very easy for me to go and check out the Mong Kok branches of Animate & Kanto during my lunch break. Graham

OK, I just checked the Kanto Hobby and Animate stores in Mong Kok during my lunch break and as of today Wednesday August 27th at 1.30pm (HK time) they still DO NOT have the VT-1 and VE-1. Graham

My first yamato was of course the YF-19 ver.1. I bought 3 of them the day they were released. This was long before I had any contact with Yamato (that didn't start until after the release of the YF-21). I remember when I first handled the toy being a bit disappointed with the paint job of the YF-19 and the groin piece blcking the gunpod in fighter mode, but I still loved it, as in terms of an accurate sculpt, it was light years ahead of Bandai's horribly out of proportion VF-19Kai/VF-19S toy. And yes, I broke the Tab-B on one of my YF-19 toys, but only on one. It actually didn't bother me that much as I was able to work out a fix for it pretty quickly. The last few years have been a real pleasure for me with release after release of new Macross toys, each one better than the last. OK we'll forget the VF-11B shall we Compared with the dark decade of the lat 80's to late 90's where we had no new Macross toys accept the Macross 7 toys, we are in real heaven now with so much choice. Yamato just keeps getting better and better. The 1/48 really deserves the title of Masterpiece and with the addition of the FAST packs should be even better. I think Yamato's releases in the next few years are going to blow us away. Graham