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Wow! I can't wait to see you paint that up - maybe it will give me an idea of how to paint the 1/3000 scale PE valkyries They are like the Bandai 1/350 scale Yamato crew figures - absolutely amazing resolution in such a small object - but how the hell do we paint them?! Thanks for the heads up - looking forward to your thread!

If the unpainted model was available when I first bought this toy, I'd opt for that version (even if it cost the same as the toy), but I had no choice back then (I hate it when you're punished for being an early adopter!). The unpainted model is not only cheaper, but has more stuff included, the unpainted model includes the extra decals, glow in the dark stickers, resin optional parts and the photo-etched details including the tiny 1/3000 scale valkyries and launch arms for the ARMDs (the toy doesn't include any of these extras). It's mostly molded in all the correct colours anyways, and most of my time was spent taking my toy apart to access the city within the leg. I would definitely recommend the unpainted model over the toy. However, if you have no time to build or don't feel comfortable putting it together yourself or don't care about the extras - those would be the only reason to go the toy route now. But in either case, definitely get this toy (in either form while you can), I think its the best thing Yamato has put out! Good luck. p.s. - nothing more to report but just more decalling - I've just finished the underside of the legs - only the lower main fuselage and the underside/inside front guns left.

YES! +1 I haven't been this excited about a Macross release since the first 1/48 scale toys from Yamato!

That's what I'm waiting for!! to re-iterate FAM56; 1/72 scale forever!

Is that a fan created manual? - doesn't seem to follow the lineart in my official books as much...

Well, I'm quite impressed with this first showing. Especially given the fact that this is one of the earlier designs that has quite a bit of "anime magic" in its transformation and wasn't exactly thought out like the VF-1 since its not a central character - Yamato has done a remarkable job at comprimising all the various modes into a coherent whole - I'm pretty happy. The canards are just way too big in the MMM Lineart (what is MMM?) and the profile just doesn't flow as well as the Yamato profile - however, I do agree with the upward turn of the nose cone as above. My main problem with the VF-4 and all its resin iterations has been the plan view, the forward fuselage just seems too thin, too needle-like (while the profile - side elevation is great) - my main reason for not getting any of the resin kits thus far - Yamato still has that needle-like plan view - my personal taste would be to fatten it a little - same as the VF-1 would be nice. However, overall, I'm quite impressed and very much looking forward to adding this baby to my collection - please Graham, if we don't get tampo printed everything, then ask for water-slide decals as well?

Thanks everyone, not much new news but the same old - every few hours I get I continue on the decalling, there are so many surfaces and so many tiny little pieces (I didn't quite know how labour intensive this was going to be). I got maybe another 8-10hrs over the Christmas Break to work on this puppy and I've managed to cover the top and side surfaces. I still have the sides of the upper portion and the entire underside and some interior surfaces that are currently hidden in cruiser mode. I'd say I'm at least 2/3rds done with the aztec panelling, but only 1/3rd done with the overall decals as I still have tones of the tiny data stencilling decals (the tiny hits of red, white and yellow details) all throughout the ship. After the aztec panelling, I plan on doing another dark/black oil wash in select areas to pick out the darker vents first (while the gloss coat is still there for the decals) and then tone down the overall effect of the decals with a light thin coat of grey - which will lower their contrast against the grey plastic and hopefully lighten up the dark grey areas. This will tie everything together a bit more. At which point I will clear coat gloss again to apply the more colourful tiny 1/144 & 1/100 data stencilling decals that I shown before. This way the colours will stand out a bit more against a more muted background. I hope... at least that's the plan. Hopefully I'll post more when I've got something more interesting to show. It's just a stage right now of sloughing through the grunt-work of applying tonnes of tiny decal bits - hopefully it will pay off in the end.

Pre-ordered! sight unseen...

+1 or at least provide water slide decals as well (I never use the thick stickers).

I also agree that some of the garage kits vary pretty wildly from the lineart - its one of my favorite designs, yet I've held off on the resin kits as I feel none of them capture the VF-4 properly - most are too thin and pointy. I hope it takes the shape of the VF-1 nose a bit more like the Flashback 2012 lineart. For me, the aircraft mode is key! Hence I still prefer the 1/48 Yamatos over the 1/60 (I know, I'm in the minority!) - but I almost exclusively display all of them in the aircraft mode. I'm so excited about this release! Way to go Yamato!! Make sure you make enough for us foreigners!!!

My thoughts exactly!

Where can we poor Canadians buy "web exclusives"? Will they be offered through online retailers like HLJ or AmiAmi? If it does well, will Yamato make an improved version cheaper like the SDF-1?

Got another 2hrs last night! I'm hoping to get enough time this Christmas Break to finish this puppy (finally! - might be wishful thinking though...) My favourite part! DECALS!! I started by cutting the large sheet into smaller pieces so it doesn't overlap onto the major scribed details on the ship. I save the leftover bits and pieces to add into tight and hard to reach spots here and there. You can see how the underlayer of the lighter panelling adds to the overall depth of the decal panels. I hope to spray another layer of lighter panelling (masked airbrushing) over top of these decals so they are "sandwhiched" between two layers of aztec panelling - it should work them into the over paint finish a little bit more, I also want to do an overall grey coat (maybe a lighter grey) as the panelling is a bit dark - that should hopefully blend all the layers together a little bit more. Lastly, I intend to apply the little red, yellow, orange and white 1/144 scale warning stenciling decals after the overall panelling is blended in, so the red "dots" stand out from the weathering (all amongst various clear-coats to protect each step of the way). As you can see though, I still have 80% of the first stage of decalling ahead of me. Wish me luck to get some time this break to work on it more! Merry Christmas everybody and hope to post before the New Year!