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13 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

I wonder who among here who said before they're not going to buy Arad's DX 31S because of its coloring and style only to be swayed upon now by that Silpheed-Stampede Armor look?  

 

Yep that would be me.  I never liked the colour combination, but I love that bulky mess of a Armored Missile monstrosity and figured that it hides all that colour scheme anyways.  I don't want anything to hide Chuck's radome, so I guess I got "Bandaied" ;P

I do like the Armored, but not the Arad's scheme.  Does this armor appear on any other scheme?

2 hours ago, jenius said:

Yamato was proud of their very thin panel lines. I think it was because they were trying to stay true to scale. In real life the lines wouldn't be very deep so on a 1/60 toy they should be barely perceptible. 

Then why aren't they consistent?  There's no reason why it should start off deep and go light have way though.  Bad molding or old dies or too much paint - I don't know but I don't buy they were entirely intentional.

That's just stupid... they made a mistake and won't own up to it.  I've found that if I used a really sharp mechanical pencil, I can "draw" in the lines of the really shallow panels lightly.  The problem is sometimes there is no consistency in the panel line depth, it can go from ok to really shallow in the same line.

Beautiful Noel!!! Glad it worked out so well.  All you gotta do is a light panel line on that beauty!

Damnit!!  Originally not a fan of Arad's Teal & Grey scheme - was gonna skip it, but now I gotta get it - sucker for all the extra add-ons even if it seems like overkill.  At least you don't see much of the Teal & Grey scheme (hidden under all that!), but unfortunately now I have to try to get one to dress the armour on (it would be nice to get a bundle set, but I doubt it).

1 hour ago, no3Ljm said:

Quick question, is there any markings besides the U.N.SPACY for the leg's conformal tanks?

 

Yeah I think off the top of my head, there's the arrow near the front, red "DANGER" near all the nozzles, "BEWARE OF BLAST" at the end near the foot and one of those yellow warning data rectangles on the back calf as well as one of those Hasegawa fast pack designations; white "NP-FP-01" I believe.

Gorgeous!!!  Turned out so well.  Can't wait to see the paneled version.

Come on VF-4!!!

On 1/27/2018 at 7:55 AM, Lolicon said:

Finally had some time to fix up the VF-2SS SAP a bit so they didn't look so plain. It's the best VF-2SS toy around so I wanted it to not look so out of place next to my 1/60s. 

 

Amazing!!!  Fabulous work, congrats on the best looking VF-2SS I've seen from Bandai HM-R line.

My favourite design, but there's just something not right about it... hard to put my finger on it.  The proportions just seem a little "off" here and there and it all adds up to something that's close, but just doesn't "do it" for me.  It seems a little "awkward" to me - maybe bad camera lenses chosen in the photos.  I think the nose needs to be a little sleeker and the back end seems a bit too wide and not thick enough and the wings outside of the engine pylons seem to have too much surface area.  I think the Yamato/Acadia 1/60 seems closer to the lineart or feeling of the design.  I just wished Hasegawa did their interpretation of this beautiful bird!

1 hour ago, derex3592 said:

Make sure you practice your method with some older decals on an older scrap kit if you have one, all decals are not the same and depending on the thickness, it can be tricky using the decal solutions properly, especially over contoured or raised surfaces. Just my .02 

Excellent advice, I've always found decals different from every manufacturer.  However, Bandai decals seem indestructible yet brittle, they seem impervious to MicroSET/SOL and Mr. Set/Softer - at least the old VF-25 kits were that way.

OMG!!!  I want that Cosmo tiger booster/missle pack!!!

I ended up buying it in store before Christmas when I literally, knew a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy who worked at a Lego store and he heavily hinted that there was a shipment of 36 boxes the next day.  I got there at 11am (they opened at 10am) and 20 were sold already and they had already gone through their reserved list (I couldn't get on the reserved list at the store because I called the next day after they were available on Sep 15 instead of the 14th when I was busy online with their servers crashing on me and after spending 2 hours to get through on the phone!).  Argh!  They are the Danish Bandai!!!  Yeah, I wished there was a take a number reservation, my online VIP reservations were supposed to email me when they became available online, I only got an email last week about that.  Try calling your local Lego Store, you might have better luck there than online.

I have actually seen a quite a few Saturn V sets at the lego stores in stock - highly recommend that as its the best build experience I've ever had with lego - I think its the perfect size/length and it displays so well.  The UCS Milf is a little too long/complex and you can't really swoosh it around as much as its heavy and fragile - great for display, but even that its a little too big. 

42 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

Armored up the VF-2SS and put the effect part on the gun.

Great stand!!!  Which one is that?  Wished they included it with the toy.

WooohooO!!!  I missed it last time, didn't know it was a limited release thing.  Hoping for the Minmay figure to be included too.

22 hours ago, Lolicon said:

Reassembled my VF-2SS and took a few quick pictures. Man, that heat shield gap...

Will get some fighter pics later; going to see TLJ right now.

Great job on the decals!!!  Congrats.  I find that if you tilt his crotch forward a bit, like doing a crunch, it closes up the gap considerably - and it looks good for the pose too.

WOW!!!  That looks fantastic @Lolicon  Congrats, can't wait to see it all put back together again.

That looks great Lolicon! (any reference on what goes on a VF-2SS?)

Now you've put a bee in my bonnet... great, another one on the line up.  I've stopped on my VF-1S too Noel - given up finding the right white stenciling on the fast packs, I think I might just make it up to look close.  Although just like Noel, with the holiday season, its now on the back burner for a bit.  Maybe I can live vicariously though you guys.

Yes!  I'd totally be all over a DX version of the VF-2SS!!!

Well I absolutely love my tiny little VF-2SS!  Yes, the QC is definitely not what I'm used to, I got huge sprue marks and a few places where they look like they were just twisted off leaving gouges behind where the sprues used to be.  Also I've got a few paint smudges and paint bleed so the paint apps were definitely not crisp, luck of the draw I guess.  A little disappointing definitely in the QC department, but just to get such a great representation of the VF-2SS is such a treat!  I love their sculpt and it really captures the goose-neck sleekness and angles of the original design.  If I were to really nitpick, I'd say the knee/upper thigh is just a tad oversized.  I can't believe they could get the anime magic transformation mostly done especially at such a small scale.  We'd all like it to lock in better in all the modes of course, but for the size I think they deserve congrats!  It has all the markings of the original anime.  I just wished the colours of the SAP packs were somehow less cheap looking - however again its anime accurate.  I might add some decals and weather/flat coat the SAPs to give them some weight.  I am looking forward to the NEXX blue one to display in a different mode.  I do love the aircraft mode without any SAP too! 

I find when you fiddle in the Battroid mode (I don't mind the fiddling - I call it playing and it holds pretty well once I get it the way I like - at least for now when its new), if you stick his "crotch" forward and push in his chest like he's doing crunches, it closes the gap in the shield to canopy, and recreates the iconic pose better (in fact most of the prototype photos that don't show this gap is posed this way)

I'd definitely be getting another one!

Darnit!  Just found out about it and started using it one toy ago.  It will be missed.

2 hours ago, F360 said:

Ah so your AE is anime extreme and not anime-export.  

 

Hmm maybe ill split it up then , I'll probably cheaper or the same, but more protection.

52 minutes ago, Dobber said:

Yeah that’s what about what I paid with Anime-Export for EMS shipping to the US. Maybe Anime Extreme is just gouging? I do know Canada and Europe seem to have higher shipping cost into their countries but IIRC shipping out of said countries seems to be much cheaper than it is for those of us in the U.S. Everytime I have to ship something internationally it’s pretty pricey.

Chris

It's my mistake, I mean Anime Export - and I just checked, they charged me 2,900Y for EMS.  Not too bad, I was mistaking another PayPAL thing I bought from Japan at the same time.

7 minutes ago, Dobber said:

Man, every time I think I want to move to Canada I get remind d about the crap you guys have to deal with like that rediculous shipping. Mine was half that to the U.S. 

Anyone else want a VF-2JA as well? I really like that one too.

Chris

Yeah and you haven't even factrored into the Customs & Duties we pay (even if there's no duty, there's still a $9.95 fee plus HST tax - usually adds another $40 onto my Valkyries)  Really sucks when something I want is at Amazon.com (but specifically says does not ship to Canada) is like $20usd and when I go to Amazon.ca the same thing is like $80cdn - WTF?!  The exchange rate isn't that far off, its like 78 cents to the dollar.  Boils my blood ALL THE TIME!

1 minute ago, Thessair said:

 

I just got my request from HLJ for payment. This is what they're showing for shipping.

Wow!  Ouch for my shipping from Anime Extreme (4900Y EMS) - I guess that's where they are taking their profits.  At least I can save a lot on my HLJ order (that's really reasonable for EMS) - Oh I just realized, is this to Canada or US?

Shipping seemed pretty steep from AE - it was 4900Y for EMS.  Oh well, at least its on its way and I've been waiting for this one for a long time.  Funny haven't gotten any notification from HLJ about that one?  Didn't know they were so late, wonder what the shipping costs will be from HLJ.