VF-1A Grunt

Sorry, I don’t know much about the YF/VF-19 series. Are there any differences in the VF models themselves (i.e. different parts), versus the YF, or it is just squadron paint schemes on the same YF model?

Broken record here: I still keep hoping Hasegawa will release a 1/48 VF-1D fighter some day…

I can’t say that’s the most inspiring or exciting artwork I’ve seen lately… Looking forward to a couple of these kits though.

I saw quite a few Wave Destroid Tomahawk and Phalanx kits from their most recent release when I was in Tokyo last month, but the VF-4 kits were noticeably absent. I’d been hoping to pick one up while I was there, as I don’t have the newer version with the extra missiles. I see that the kit is listed as discontinued on the HLJ site, but I think they said that about the Destroids after their first release too. Hopefully they’ll run the VF-4 again in the next year or two, maybe with the gun pod.

I saw official Wave fighter and Battroid samples on display at Yodobashi in Akihabara two weeks ago. They looked really good, just like the example photos above. They had the Hikaru VF-1A Super Battroid kits for ¥4950. I assume they had just been released, because I don’t think I saw them at any other stores. They look really good, a huge step up from the old transformable kits. I’ve never really been interested in 1/100 but would certainly get a bunch of these if I wanted to model in that scale.

I checked Yodobashi-Shinjuku on Wednesday and Nakano Mandrake yesterday hoping to see the VF-1J fighter on the shelves, but no luck. They may still be processing shipments. Left Japan today, so I’ll have to order it online.

I believe Hikaru’s TV VF-1J fighter was announced before the Max / Kakizaki Vermillion Platoon VF-1A fighter, but the VF-1J has since been pushed back to July. The Vermillion fighter is apparently still due in June, but my understanding is they usually release at the end of the month, and I’m leaving a couple days prior. But I’m definitely going to check a few stores the day before I leave!

I’m spending a couple weeks in Tokyo, and I made the rounds of the shops in Akihabara yesterday. The VF-1J Battroid seems to be sold out everywhere. The only one I saw was a sample in the display case in Yodobashi. Bummer! I was hoping to pick one up. I’ll check some other places over the next few days. I may end up buying a Max / Kakizaki movie fighter, since I don’t have any of the Plamax VF-1s yet. I was hoping to get their TV version while I was here, but I think I’m going to just miss the release.

Those decals sets unfortunately only have one set of the standard markings, so the only extra decals are the ones that have the specific colors for the two pilot options. You might be able to get a set of generic markings from eBay or another source. The other option could be to use one of the Hasegawa sets that had both full color and low visibility markings, although they might need to be trimmed to fit the Plamax model in some locations.

Looks like that’s the sticker version, just FYI. It’s a good price, but I’d want to find decals for it, personally.

Hear me out for a minute. I’ve always thought that the DYRL movie design team decided to stretch out the -1A head to make it a little longer and sleeker. It’s hard to really say because of the weird way the TV artwork was done and the many variations from one scene / one episode to the next, but I think you can see it by comparing the original line art to the movie. Ignoring the lens, I think the area between the front “face” and the round “neck” under the head is stretched a bit in the movie version. The movie version’s “chin” also doesn’t hang down as low. SDFM TV: DYRL Movie: Again, I know it’s not definitive because the movie art is more detailed and may just be a better a more accurate representation of how the head was always intended to look. However, you can see the same longer, sleeker look at the artwork for the 1985 Bandai transformable VF-1A kit. Not official, of course, but maybe an indicator of how the movie design was perceived: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/bandai-0505197-vf-1a-valkyrie--1076235 Finally, acknowledging that the Master Files aren’t “canon,” apparently they saw the same thing when they included these two versions of the -1A head in their Battroid manual: When it comes down to it, I’m totally fine with the way it’s represented in the Plamax Battroid kit, but I also think the way the Master File book presented it as early and later variants of the head is a really cool idea.

Excellent, thanks! That makes sense now, what that extra lens is that’s show in the image above. I wasn’t sure why they were showing that part separately. I think the TV and DYRL -1A heads are slightly different in design on the sides (kind of hard to tell from the line art, but the movie head always looked longer), but the alternate lens approach is about the best we can hope for.

I really hope they produce the TV VF-1A head, since they’re going to all this effort to match the stylized SDFM artwork and starting the Battroid line with the TV J and D models. I see the movie head in this image. It would be nice to have a quality model of the TV head.

It made me immediately think “TV vs. Movie.” I think DYRL’s more sophisticated animation and attention to detail made the Battroids look taller and slimmer, which is what I see in Hasegawa model. More realistic looking, if you will. The Plamax definitely has the feel of the SDFM artwork. I like them both, and I plan to add a few Plamax models to my collection, but the Hasegawa model just looks more believable to me.

Since it’s all striping, I would recommend masking and painting those markings. I know a lot of modelers do that anyway because the Hasegawa decals can be fragile, especially when they’re older sets. Having custom decals made could be expensive for what would be a fairly straightforward masking job. I’m actually planning to do that (mask and paint) for nearly identical markings to replicate the Skull Squadron markings on a brown VF-1A that appears in the SDF-1 VF-1 Squadrons Master File book. If you don’t have an airbrush or aren’t comfortable using one, you could try Tamiya spray cans (which are the best quality I’ve ever used in terms of a smooth finish) combined with Tamiya masking tape.