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I would just mask off the lighter black area if you want to clear-coat it with the TS80. I don't know how it holds up to transformation and scratching, so minimizing the area to be clear coated is always going to be a plus. I very carefully clear coat my toys really at a minimum because all clear coats can scratch off - that being said, I've found a Future (floor polish) based clear coat to be the most durable so far - with a glossy finish being more durable than a matte/flat finish.

Hi Xigfrid, I'm afraid your reseller steered you wrong. I would not try "dry brushing" as its not the right technique for the job (trust me, I've done a lot of modeling - check my signature for tips). Also, it doesn't work with diluted paints, it only works with very small amounts of "dry" paint, not wet (diluted) paints. Additionally, you mentioned Humbrol enamels - I think enamels is too "hot" (not as hot as lacquers) to safely brush over the whatever black Bandai uses for its stripes - if you make a mistake, you'd need mineral spirits to remove the "dry brushing" because its a enamel solvent, but it will most likely also damage the black paint Bandai uses underneath. If you insist on dry brushing, try acrylics like Tamiya, if you don't like it or make a mistake, you can wash it off with Windex and it will not react to the black stripes below. In fact that's one of the reasons I still you Tamiya Acrylics for all my airbrushing work, because I make mistakes too. Dry brushing depends a lot on the surface you dry brush over top of and the sheen of the surface as well, if your test piece isn't exactly like what you want to work on, it will turn out differently - it works best on flat/matte surfaces with a bit of texture or "tooth". Trust me, if you want to lighten the black, airbrush or rattle can (if you've got really good control and masking) is the way to go to preserve the transparency and keep the "NO STEP" - if you don't mind loosing it, then I've seen people who can brush paint it absolutely smooth, but you'd have to re-apply the "NO STEP" as decals over top.

Thanks everyone for all the kudos! It's nice to get back in the saddle, just wished I had more time for it. Now I love it all the more. Now I just gotta figure out what to do with the canopy and it will be perfect for me. I didn't know about the tailfins. I considered the doors, but the missile doors on the toy is considerably darker than the illustration (and its metallic - gun metal) - I thought it might be too flashy to do a metallic gun metal on the leading edge and it would look too different from the rendering reference. I really liked the dark grey, and it makes the NO STEP look like a light grey (instead of obviously looking like a sprayed metallic finish over them). Yeah, well that was the disastrous initial first attempt where I used the wrong basecoat for the Aclad metalizer top coat - actually it was the correct basecoat (made by Aclad for a black glossy undercoat) - it was using a mineral spirits/turpentine based oil wash that reacted with the enamel basecoat and basically ruined the whole finish because the Aclad coat was so thin that it didn't provide any barrier. I posted some photos of the disaster on that workbench thread a while back and I have subsequently bought a second kit and have painted it to the same stage as the original failure, but I have lost steam/momentum in the project and its just sitting on my bench until I get some time. I don't think you'd get an even enough finish brushing any top/clear coat to lighten the black, when you brush transparent coats, brush marks are that much more apparent.

Even though I have no time... I love this bird so much that I managed to carve out a little bit to get back on my bench... Now its a little bright because its flat finish against the black, when I clear coat it semi-gloss, it will darken up... It used a very thinned out med grey, sprayed very lightly to lighten the black and darken the stark "NO STEP" - two for one! and it toned them down nicely. Did a light wash of different blacks/greys to get the panel line and smudged stick some graphite on the various panels - I didn't want to over do it as this is a fairly new experimental aircraft. Lastly, the future/tamiya matte finish clear coat dries and I can zoom it around! (I still find the future clear coat to be the most durable so far) Here is the configuration it will sit in my display with the extra VF-171 armament decked out and ready for swooshing around! (Maybe I have to break my rule and get a second one just to leave in Battroid mode) I'll hopefully take some more decent shots once I have time to setup a little light tent with some helpful info Saburo gave me! Did I mention that I love this toy!!! The other Mr. K really did an amazing job on the design, a real great combo of real-world/old school aircraft with the newer Macross Frontier design language - I can't believe I can love a "non-swing-wing" Valkyrie this much.

PLEASE, please can someone contact Mr. K and ask for more Tampo printing this time around - forget the stickers.

I have to admit I am surprised how much I love this toy! I've been playing with it for the last 3 nights and I'm in love. It's actually fun to transform, seems quite study with all the die-cast parts and hats off for all the paint and tampo details by Bandai! It makes the Arcadia/Yamato look naked - I always have to worry about making or obtaining decals for those toys - but this YF-30 just looks great right out of the box. A little bit of panel wash and it looks even better! The extra missiles from my VF-171 super parts is just icing on the cake. I'll weather it lightly tomorrow and attempt that 2nd tone lighter black on it and clear coat this baby (even love the matter finish!). I'm having a hard time working on it because I keep playing with it and swooshing it around (great solid feel in fighter mode which is paramount for me and my playing!) The whole fuselage, neck and back of the head lines up quite well after a few times of transformation and learning where to tweak the joints to get that sleek flush neck. I just wish that my canopy was clear (instead of this frosted, I'm still not sure how to handle it - please someone tell me how to take canopy off completely so I can work on polishing it) and that there we some detents on the rear stabilizers and that they didn't turn so easily. This blows the Arcadia YF-19 out of the water and it was $100 cheaper! My Yamato/Arcadia stuff definitely looks and feels more like toys compared to the latest renewals from Bandai (with the exception of the VF-4G and 1/3000 SDF-1 - which are still my favourites). Not only do they look great, more like replicas - I feel I can play with them better and feel more substantial. I just wished they were easier to get a hold of instead of this crazy pre-order nonsense.

Wow! I'd definitely buy that for $20 bucks! Any more lying around?

Thanks! Oooh... I can't wait to see this!!!

Fantastic review - enjoyed the read and agree with all your points. Might I add that I wished they did the two tone black paint (lighter black / dark grey on the leading surfaces), they forgot the pink/purple fold crystals on the top of the rear black portion of the leg (there are holes there for them, but no clear plastic insert) and I wished the blue fold crystals were clear and not just a painted detail. It's odd that on my copy, the wheels all roll freely individually on my fingers, but when I put the toy down to roll on a glass surface, the wheels don't roll. The Battroid mode is growing on me after a few hours of play (it looks great from the front view, side view is pretty funny though), I wished it was cheaper to break my rule of no doubles - I don't think its worth the premium though, I think it should be around the same price as the VF-25 renewals (maybe +10%)

It makes me not want to pick up my VF-0 - I like that toy and every time I want to pick it up to swoosh it around, it feels like its going to break as I lift it up off the surface, the neck flops and the nose drops at least an inch.

Oh nice! Please link if it becomes available anywhere else other than Amazon - they usually end up charging around $60 for shipping, customs & duties by the time it gets to Canada (and that's not including the price of the book!).

How about how to deal with the frosted canopies? It seems some have it worst than others, mine isn't great - don't know how to deal with it short of taking it apart and wet-sanding and Tamiya compound. Is there really so much variation in the canopy finish? Love the matter finish though and it looks great! A tad floppy without the brace in Battroid mode though. Love the tampo throughout though, its great to not have to worry about making decals.

Anyone? Anybody who received a frosted canopy and made it clear - how did you do that? Did you remove the canopy to work on it - how do you remove the canopy - can the hinge just come straight out?

Finally got my YF-30 (thanks to NY, I didn't get dinged with customs & duties again) - actually arrived Monday via SAL registered - so not too bad. Picked it up from the post office today - didn't have time to play with it other than take it out and zoom it around a bit. However I do have the "frosted" canopy and its definitely not just grease. How did you clear up / polish the canopy so nicely? Did you remove the canopy from the hinge? If so how did you take the canopy off to rub the inside? I see a pin in the hinge, but was afraid to push it out. I notice that my head doesn't sit down so flush and the forward fuselage seems to drop a slight bit from the back/neck and I can't seem to make them flush/sleek. I may be mis-transformed, so I will transform it tonight into the other modes to see if I can get it to line up better. Love the matter finish, but can't really see the extra $50 price jump over the VF-25. It's nice, but a bit underwhelmed (still smarting from the YF-19 - that's the problem when you look forward to something so much that its hard for it to meet expectations). I don't like the exposed arm hinges on the side of the intakes and all the exposed pin holes (or screws) on the back for the backpack arm - it makes it look like a version 1 where the renewals will have them all covered up and sleeker (I hope I'm wrong). Don't get me wrong, I'm happy I got one and that its a new design - just a bit underwhelmed.

Still seems to still have that droopy neck syndrome from the old VF-0...

What a great story... I love happy endings! Thanks for sharing, can't wait to see the photos. Exactly what I would have done!

YES! Love how you think... thanks for that clearer render of the YF-30. I do like the two-tone black (lighter black on the leading edge). Can't wait to see what you do with yours!!!

Some very clear canopies... are some frosted and some clear (luck of the draw) or did they do something to clear up the foggy canopies? Argh, mine's been sitting "Dispatch from Outward Office of Exchange" in Osaka for 4 days - can't wait to get at it!

I buy my toys to be enjoyed! I love the feeling of waiting for something to have it finally arrive and opening it for the first time. Then thinking of the ways to panel line them, decal and clear coat them with some weathering to improve them to my taste (totally destroying their value - but increasing their value to me!). Personalizing them so they truly are one of a kind! I just can't be hassled with trying to sell anything and shipping it to some stranger. Toys are for my inner child, not investment. Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU!!!

Yep, got Preparation in Progress right at the beginning and waited and waited and just got Shipping yesterday. Woohoo.

Very nice! The other modes are looking better than I thought (I thought this was a fighter only mode for me too!) Thanks for the pictures. So are the shoulder chips from transformation/rubbing or did it just come like that from the factory? Sucks that the canopy is foggy, wonder if a coat of future will cure it?

So IS the plastic more matte than the recent renewals?

Hey, is it a slightly matter plastic instead of the cheap shiny stuff on the renewals?

Me too! Woohoo.

I can't agree with that statement more! It's really too bad what Bandai has done to my feelings about this particular toy. I really hope to walk away from all this unpleasantness in November and not look back! I also have a strict singles policy - I'll never keep them around for investments, I take them out to swoosh around as soon as they arrive! I paint, panel line, weather, decal, clear coat them as soon as I get time to my hearts content - I'm sure that will destroy any MSIB value they have. It's a little sad to see some negative statements on our wonderful community. I have nothing but the highest praise for MacrossWorld members and they have helped me out numerous times in the past. I'm constantly surprised at the kindness and consideration strangers on this site have for each other. The 2nd VF-25S that technoblue got (his one and only from HLJ) was in fact for me - I got a message from him (a stranger to me previously) out of the blue on the morning it came out after I stayed up till 4am unsuccessfully and had to get up 2hrs later for a long 12hr day at work. I had such a bad long day and I came home to his surprise message... and it reaffirmed my sense in humanity. Of course now I hope HLJ has enough to go around. Anyways, I thought I had a point... I just want to say I love this site (and its members)! Now I feel bad I haven't contributed much since my daughter was born - I will endeavor to rectify that soon.