VF-1A Grunt

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.

I think it appeared in an episode at some point, but you can see it in the bottom left in this Prometheus line art from the Mecha Manual: http://www.macross2.net/m3/sdfmacross/carrier-prometheus/carrier-prometheus-lineart2.png

I always wanted a couple of those! I think they were already sold out by the time I discovered Starship Modeler. I thought it would be really neat to try to add the catwalk for the catapult control stations from SDFM along the front edge of the model deck.

I hope the Max / Kakizaki VF-1A fighter still arrives in June. I’d like to pick it up while I’m visiting Japan.

1/350 is the common scale for model ships. I’d love to see Prometheus and Daedalus in that scale.

It’s funny how the bullet hole locations kept shifting around from one scene to the next!

It looks to me like there’s a heavy dose of anime magic used in the transformation concept, as shown the Macross Mecha Manual line art. If you look at the Color Code Transformation Guide on that page, the yellow parts of the “back” with the pink vertical stabilizers just sort of fold away and disappear in Battroid mode. I don’t think there would be a practical way to replicate that in toy form. I love the elegant look of this design, but I think it uses a lot more creative license than the VF-1. This is a fantastic model and a great job of cleaning up what was clearly a challenging resin kit! I love the color scheme, and great photos too!

It’s at the end of Episode 1, when Hikaru comes under fire while flying with Roy, loses control, and starts falling towards the city. He changes to Gerwalk, and that’s the first time you see bullet (laser?) holes on the top of his VF-1D. After he crashes through the buildings and stands up in Battroid mode, the bullet holes are on the chest plate.

I’d love to see a new Destroid Spartan!

I got a notice from Hobby Search that the Regult Scout is available for preorder again, due for release in late July. I was slow and missed that one in the original release, so I’m glad to see it being rerun.

I’ve always wanted to build a diorama with a couple brown VF-1As defending a city street with a group of Regults rounding the corner at the other end of the block. I envision having one Battroid crouching in a huge bomb crater in the street with another taking cover at the corner of a building. I never thought the Hasegawa Battroid would have the flexibility to do those poses, but the Plamax model definitely looks like it could. Can’t wait to see them release the -1A.

I just had the thought that they may be reluctant to offer the VF-1D in 1/48 because they would feel obligated to include special figures for Hikaru and Minmay, which they haven’t done before in that scale. I’d personally just like to see it come with two TV pilots, but I’m sure many fans would expect the special characters.

The original 1/72 transforming VF-1 kits were done by Imai, later acquired and reissued a couple times by Bandai. I have a VF-1J Max Type from Imai and VF-1D, VF-1J Millia, and three VF-1As from Bandai. I’m not sure under which owner they were marketed through Revell. I should have a couple of those Revell kits somewhere, but I’ll be honest, I didn’t take good care of them as I preferred the Japanese kits. Arii made 1/100 transforming VF-1 kits. I have one that was issued by Revell in the Robotech Changers series. The Revell instructions say “MACROSS, Tatsunoko Production MOLDED BY ARII, JAPAN” on the front page. Interestingly, it’s Roy’s VF-1S in the correct scheme, labeled as “VF-1S Battloid.” Revell didn’t market the 1/100 kits in funky paint schemes like the 1/72 kits.

That’s fantastic. Can someone explain the decals used in the video, with the backing that peels off after the markings are set in place? I haven’t seen that before. Looks kind of like a wet version of the old dry transfers that you rubbed onto a model. Thanks!

Since it’s a new year, I’m going to wish for a Hasegawa 1/48 scale VF-1D in 2024. It seems like a reasonable idea, since it only involves tooling about 20 new parts to add to the VF-1 kit. I'm not sure how well the 1/72 version sold, but I assume it did ok since they reissued it with added box artwork.

I’m going to have to order a couple of the Max / Kakizaki version to do some cannon fodders 1As. I really like the look of these kits, and I appreciate them including a pilot. I’m still not sure why Hasegawa has never updated their older kits to include a pilot when they reissue them. Edit: I just noticed that this new version is due to arrive in June. I’m hoping to be in Japan around then, so I may just pick them up while I’m there. Definitely taking an extra suitcase!

Yes, that’s the artwork for the 1/48 version. One of my favorite kits to collect! I’ll probably never build them all, but I might have to get one more…

I completely forgot about that discrepancy on the box. I recall looking at it years ago and discovering the same thing. A number of Japanese vendors, like Hobby Search, label the product listing as Vermilion Platoon, maybe because they translated their English listing off something in the instructions? I’ll have to look at my kit later today. I’m guessing there was something in the original show or a book that referred to it as a platoon. It would make sense to me that Hikaru would have been promoted upward to command the squadron after Roy was killed, and the other two stayed with him, because it was all the same squadron. But I think all of this is kind of like anime magic in the artwork. There’s no real, correct explanation because the creators didn’t think it through in that much detail.

I could be wrong, or thrown off by Hasegawa’s marketing, but my understanding is that Vermillion was a “platoon” in Skull Squadron (Hasegawa calls it Vermillion Platoon on their 1/48 VF-1J/A kit). A fighter squadron is about 18 aircraft, as I understand it, so it would make sense that Skull would consist of several smaller units, called “flights” in the real world, I believe. U.N. Spacy in SDFM seemed to have mixed up ranks, where Hikaru was a Sergeant (normally not a pilot rank) and then a Lieutenant. I seem to recall that he was a Sergeant when he first started flying after his basic training. Then he was promoted to Lieutenant and had Max and Kakizaki assigned to him. It was always a little odd that (I think) he had his special white VF-1J from the beginning, but it makes sense from the show’s perspective, that you need the main character to stand out visually.

If you zoom in on the Milia figure, you can see irregularities in the way her hair and the markings on the front of her suit are painted. Hasegawa’s product photos are always very impressive. In cases like this, it looks to me like the body parts may be unpainted plastic that has been clear coated with decals applied. I’d have to see what the parts look like to see if the base colors match the way this model is decorated. In most cases though, I think they just have really good painters.