Hurin

You have to remove two screws and then take the fuselage apart. One, I believe is in the landing gear well. The head is sandwiched between the two (top and bottom) halves of the fuselage/nose. Hope that helps. Taking it apart is easy. . . getting it back together is the hard part. It takes some patience to get everything just right and get the two halves back together.

Sweet Merciful Crap! I just got my 1S Roy from chibitokyo. I had mentioned in my order that I was hoping for a mint box. So I don't know if they take this much care with all orders. . . but WOW! This thing arrived in a huge outter box that was very sturdy. Not a ding on it! Then I opened the box to find coarse packing paper. At first, I thought "Hmmm, that could really mar some of the glossiness of the black parts of the box." After the first layer, there was another layer. . . very thick protective packaging. . . and then. . . believe it or not, they had actually taken the time to shrink-wrap the valk box itself! Now, I don't know how familiar y'all are with shrink-wrapping (I used to shrink wrap video game boxes when I worked at Software Etc. in High school about 15 years ago!). But it doesn't hurt anything. You just put it in a loose shrink-wrap material bag. . . and then use a hair-dryer type blower to heat the plastic, and it shrinks down and clings to the item. That's what they did. So I now have a 100% mint box that arrived in pristine condition. And I'm going to leave it shrink-wrapped, since this is my "backup" 1S Roy. I know it sounds like I'm praising these guys too much. . . but this is the best packaging job I've ever seen on the part of a toy seller. No offense to VE or TMP! Anyways, it's too bad that they had to raise their price by $20 in the last few days, otherwise, I'd give them 10/10 stars. Outstanding! H P.S. They packaged and shipped before I emailed them about spreading the word on MW and asking them if they had sold a lot lately.

Actually, that's not a Matchbox VF-1S. The one in the auction is one of those bootleg 1/60's that was originally sculpted out of a 1/100 Bandai. The head in question is about half as big as this bootleg. Actually, it looks like it uses some 1/55 parts too. That is one ugly beast. But you're right, it bears no relation to the Matchbox RT toy. H

Yeah, I actually got a response to my email. It wouldn't be right to post the entire contents of a private email, but I don't think this one sentence can be considered betraying confidence: So, I'd say that MWers really made a run on them. I'd also say it's safe to assume that they're running pretty low on stock. And no, I have not asked, nor have I received any special treatment for "getting the word out." I actually sent a second email after I saw it come back in stock at a higher price, telling them that a lot of MWers will be pretty disappointed by it. . . though I understand that nobody is immune to the laws of supply and demand. Anyways, I hope everyone got one before they raised the price. And, if anyone still wants one, it's still better than $250 at TISINC99.COM. But again, these are 1st Editions. Which, together with the $20 price hike, may turn some people off. Best Regards, H

They all had the same head. It has the 1J visor but the 1S lasers.

Behold! Ass-ness!

I was just googling for an image. Still no luck. . . H

Yes, it is best forgotten. Listen to Vostok 7.

I agree. I'm pretty sure that's the head to the non-transormable Robotech "veritech" Matchbox toy. It was the one that the 3 3/4" figures could fit into. It was trippy because it couldn't transform. But there were aspects of the design that showed that it might have been originally designed to do so. . . then they gave up on it. Edit: Someone has even tried to to mod their matchbox in order to get it to transform. But I haven't seen that link in ages. H

I built a couple models back in high school. But that was more than a decade ago! My airbrush has been MIA for years. So thanks, those tips will helpful if the head doesn't match quite well enough "out of the box." Good luck with the Low-Vis! Post pics when it's done! H

Well, a starting point for non-modelers and complete rookies would be helpful. Brand, color #, flat/semi-gloss/gloss, what type of clear-coat matches best with the look of the rest of the valk. Etc. Did a few searches in the modeling areas. Didn't see anything. H

Yeah. . . they were actually listed as out of stock earlier this morning. Musta been taken down while price was adjusted. Just goes to show. . . no seller is immune to the laws of supply and demand. My guess is that stock is getting pretty tight over there. I emailed after I saw they were out of stock to see if they had sold a lot recently. Haven't seen a response.

Oh what the hell, I'll take two if still available. Green (standard) visors please. Any word on what paint to use to get a perfect match to the off-white of the valks themselves? I understand that it's close, but Rohby himself said that some are closer than others. Thanks, H

Nice pictures. . . and it only took him nine months.

Dude, How can you not mention Unforgiven. He's a bad-ass throughout that movie. Twice, near the end, he stares death in the face. What he says to Eastwood while looking down the barrells of that shotgun is just f'ing priceless. H

My pleasure! Happy to help you get back in the game. But I hope I didn't also help you get back into the poor-house! Mine should be here on Friday. I'll let everyone know the condition of the box and the quality of the packaging. Best Regards, H

Personally, nothing pisses me off more than when I hear people say something like: "Well, yeah, she totally screwed my friends, Jill and Ben. But, she's always been wonderful to me. So, I can't hold it against her." I understand that there are two sides to every story. And you have to be careful just taking someone's word against another. But, when it's obvious/apparent that one person is mistreating another, it's pretty callous to just say: "Well, they've been okay to me." And, yes, I think this should apply to this situation here. You seem like a decent guy. But I wouldn't be suprised if some people here are now looking at you a bit warily due to your willingness to indulge (and even visit) this guy who is demonstrably crooked. H

Thanks for all the information. I hope someone asks about re-releases of the 1/48 VF-1 valks themselves. Looks like they said there won't be any more FAST Packs released. But I don't know anybody who can't get their hands on a set of those if they tried. Even if they won't answer, as someone already said, it might reinforce in their minds that there is still a demand for the 1/48 VF-1, and every little bit of encouragement helps. Of course, this is the part where people say that they are personally tired of the VF-1 and don't want Yamato distracting itself by re-releasing a "played" line. Best Regards, H

Dude. . . I don't want aircraft anywhere near my navel. It's ticklish. H

Darn it! My mistake. I should watch something twice before opening my pie-hole. Thanks! H

Just watched the Vader/Emperor scene. Hey. . . isn't Vader already pursuing "Skywalker" according to the opening "crawl" of ESB? I always assumed that Vader had somehow "felt" (or heard through spies) that "Skywalker" was the name of the pilot who destroyed the death star. And, I always wondered if Vader was pursuing Luke in order to turn him to the dark side without the Emperor's knowledge (so that they together could supplant the emperor). A lot of the (excellent) RotJ novelization has these elements in it. They seem to go out of their way in this re-done scene to explain how Vader comes to know about Luke. Yet, I don't ever remember anyone wondering about it. Seems like yet another case of Lucas fixing something that isn't broken. . . removing subtlety from the narrative, and perhaps contradicting other previously established plot points. I'd have to hook back up my VCR to check the opening crawl of ESB. But. . . well. . . it's really no bid deal either way. I sorta like the new scene. And Vader could still just be playing poker face with the Emperor. But it seems like yet another case where things could have just been left alone (replace the chimp, but use the old dialogue). It's cool to see the consitency with the actors. . . but I'll miss the line: "The son of Skywalker must not become a Jedi." H Edit: On further reflection. . . it actually does seem likely that Vader already knew he was Skywalker and is trying to protect his son from the Emperor. Hence his suggestion that he be turned rather than killed. So, I guess no harm done at all. Ignore me.

So help me, if these DVDs make me regret selling off my vintage Star Wars collection, I'll be a sad, sad man. H

True, Yamato stickers may not be that bad. But I don't think anyone who has directly compared the two would disagree that Takatoys' are much better Hey JawJaw. PM your address and I'll send you out a set of TakaToys. I've got an extra set (or two half sets that together would make a whole). You gotta try these! Best Regards, H

I thought they were removed because, in the anime, I don't ever recall the Macross simply hurling valkyries off its flight deck and smashing them into oncoming enemy vessels. H

Welcome back man! Here is a poll regarding the quality of the 1/48 Milia 1J. Here is a poll regarding the quality of the 1/48 Max 1J. Here is the initial praise/bitching thread that coincided with Milia's release. Here is the same thread for Max. All in all, I'd say that QC was about on par with the rest. Some people had a big problem with sloppy paint. But, I'd say that the polls tend to indicate that there weren't any more complaints than for any other 1/48 release. If it's not the paint, it's the hands. . . if it's not the hands, it's the airbreak. . . if it's not the airbreak, it's the crooked skull. . . there's always something that people will fixate on where any 1/48 release is concerned. And, of course, complaints are always more prevalent than praise. Because people who are happy are less likely to be motivated to write. All just my opinion, of course. I was going to post a follow-up poll to the two above (several weeks later), asking whether the 1/48s in general are of good quality and are worth their price. The hypothesis being that the numbers of people thinking that the 1/48s weren't of very good quality and/or a rip off would track pretty consistently with those who were unhappy with Max and Milia's valks. But, I never got around to posting that poll. . . and now, it's too late since this paragraph would taint the results. H