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I hope HLJ or someone else will carry this new book that will allow us in Canada to buy it!

OMG Thanks for posting! I love its just not the points of lights, but the spills of lights in the trench too (just like the movie) - I want to try to replicate that but don't know how.

How much was MSRP for this toy?

Damn it! I'll be away at a cottage without cell service let alone internet next week - ARGH!!! How hard is it to get one of these at release day with the markup? Where would that be? How much should I budget more than the 19,800Y MSRP to get one at release date? There isn't anyone in Toronto that wants to order an extra one for me is there? (I'd even give them a tour of my models/toy if they wanted to come by?!)

Hey didn't know where to post this - but I've been working on this for the last year (so its kind of on my workbench) but I'm so proud of it. The first peak teaser... I'm the Supervising Art Director and put together the Toronto Art Department team with my Production Designer Rory Cheyne designing these new worlds. I got to help design a lot of the spaceships and convince them to build model miniatures to shoot instead of CGI spaceships. As with all the films I work on I always sneak as much Macross into the sets and spaceships as I can :P!

@NZEOD Covid has all the postal stuff delayed, I'm sure its on a boat over (no real air travel - at least for packages) anymore. @derex3592 That SD is lookng great! I was thinking of masking some of those rectangular patterns to get the mottled look, but your method my look as good without being insane effortwise. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Thanks all! Nope the clear blue is really glossy (gotta leave a lot of time for it to properly cure before handling, I kept getting fingerprints on it - argh).

Kept busy while I waited for NZEOD's canopy to repair and finished my F-18F Super Hornet. My best buds are together again. What great kits, amazing engineering, however they are a bitch to build if you want to paint them. The tolerances are so perfect that a layer of paint throws everything off and a lot of modifications need to be cut and performed to build them out of order to facilitate painting. I'm pretty happy with the finished product though. I Alclad all the blue panels with chrome first, then sprayed Tamiya Blue Clear as a clear coat over it so they have a iridescent sheen to it like anodized aluminum. ...and my big ass quarter to show scale!

Sorry, I thought there was only one DX issue for the YF-19. Is there a broken version? (or are you guys saying that there is a broken toy for sale at Mandarake as well as new in box versions?) Am I having flashbacks to broken shoulders of the older toys?

Yes I agree, I'm sure DHL or couriers pocket the taxes when they are not charged as I got a DHL invoice but not the Canada Customs Invoice (which I get about 1-2 items for every 5-8 courier charges) which is still way more than when I get caught with EMS/Canada Post (which always returns me a Canada Customs invoice when caught). Yes my packages are always declared full value but I never thought to look at the declaration between collectibles and toys (I think they always say toys/models no battery).

I've been lucky enough to adorn all my 1/48 Yamatos with @Anasazi37 amazing work!!! Seems like a lifetime ago...

Gorgeous and sooo smooth @electric indigo Do you primer first? If so what do you use?

I guess I've been just lucky then since I haven't had any customs or duties on anything that has been sent to me via EMS for the last 3-4yrs (including the YF-19 I just received). I got dinged with EMS maybe 4yrs ago once but then nothing before that for a few years. I do however get dinged consistently 100% when it comes through via DHL, FedEx or Purolator. Most recently, I got a SSP delivered and that cost me $33.37 from DHL. The actual customs & taxes were only $14.72, (which is probably what I would have paid via post) but DHL tacked on a processing fee of $12.71 AND a transaction fee of $5.93. So $18.64 went to DHL is what I meant which didn't sit right with me.

Well, EMS to Canada took over 1.5 months from Mandarake for my YF-19 but no Customs & Duties. DHL however I was just dinged both a Processing Fee AND a Transaction Fee on top of the Government Duties and Taxes which ended up paying more to DHL than the government. Never had Customs & Duties when I ordered EMS, only through couriers.

Hey where did you get those clips on the sticks and that cardboard base? What is it called? I've been trying to look for something like that but don't know what to search for?

I just got my YF-19 from Mandarake and paid EMS (you have to watch which countries accept EMS - Canada does, but US doesn't) and it shipped Apr 15 and just got it last week which was 1.5 months so I don't think there's much air travel, I think it must have arrived via boat. I don't think it was worth EMS, either slow boat ship it or pay for couriers like FedEx or DHL if you can't wait.

I just got my YF-19 from Mandarake last week (EMS shipped Apr 15 - 1.5 months argh!) and can't stop playing with it! I love it (I originally didn't get it because I had the Bandai VF-19 already and the Arcadia YF-19 unfortunately). LOVE this toy (got it thinking it might be hard once YF-21 comes out and makes a better pair than the Arcadia) - the extra tampo is great, love the extra twist in Gerwalk leg joint, love the fold booster, love the folding arm weapons - wished I only got this instead of the expensive POS Arcadia (keeping it only because I put so much work into decaling, panel line and clear coating it to make it presentable) and if this came out before the VF-19 - I would have never bought that, smart move Bandai! All I've done is Flory Panel Line wash it in light grey and black for the moveable surfaces and vents. I haven't painted the gears white yet since I only have white acrylic, I think these structs needs a white lacquer to stick better and stand up more as there's a bit more punishment in the forward gear folding mechanism. Highly recommend it to anyone on the fence, and surprisingly they haven't gone up in price too much over the last 1.5yrs - but maybe not pay for EMS.

THANK YOU!!! You're the best.

Shipped to North America for 12,238Y or within Japan? I'm getting 15,306Y for Standard Shipping to Canada.

So where is the best place to get another SSP these days (with reduced shipping and all) and what would be a decent price for a set? (Now you got me all worried about a naked upcoming Roy - I really love them on my VF-1S Hikkie) Anyone in Canada wanting to unload any extras?

I never knew how much they went up (never kept track). You never said find a cheap one :P The only Frontier Hasegawa I have was their VF-31A Kairos.

THANKS SO MUCH!!!

I use Tamiya black so I can't suggest anything else (nothing beats it for ease of clean up, dunk the brush in a bit of Windex and you're good to go!). I am starting to move over to Mr. Color since they match FS military colours and Tamiya does not - also they are in semi-gloss. They are lacquers so its harder to clean up though. However I've just discovered Motolow Liquid Chrome Markers, nothing gives a true chrome/silver like it. I used to dab a bunch of Tamiya Silver Marker into a small dish and use a paint brush to dip in it, I use lacquer thinner to thin it if it starts to dry out. But this Motolow stuff looks more amazing and they come in a 1mm marker so some small stuff can just use the marker tip instead of cleaning a brush. The only thing is it takes a long time to dry and you can't touch it until its dry or you'll ruin the mirror finish. No bottle silver paint comes close to these markers (maybe Alclad but its only airbrush consistency).

What about putting a layer of trace paper, mylar (drafting film) or parchment paper in front of the LEDs to diffuse the lights? I had to get myself the Limited Edition so it had all the lighting included. I was thinking of using the clear pieces so I can paint them and pinvise more smaller holes just scratching the paint to give me more windows that are lit. It's amazing Bandai managed to mold such tiny holes into those pieces, but I feel its still missing about 1/3-1/2 more windows than the filming model (which of course is much bigger!).

I hear ya @NZEOD its painful to weather over a flawless paintjob sometimes. Even though I love the painting/weathering/decaling stage, I'm sometimes almost afraid to advance to the next stage for fear of wrecking the previous stage. Envy your electronic lighting skills @derex3592!!! Any lighting I've done its been a "dummy" kit that all I have to do is put in batteries. Are you going to gel those LEDs so they appear warm?