HardlyNever

Chances of a Bandai YF-19 reissue any time soon (within the next few years) are incredibly slim. If you want one, I'd start shopping around now. They aren't that far above their original MSRP anyhow, so a theoretical reissue (which probably won't happen) wouldn't save you much. Arcadia might try to make a "premium finish" version of their yf-19, but I wouldn't hold my breath on that, either. And that would be quite expensive. A 1/48 yf-19 or yf-21 is basically never going to happen, at least not from a company like Bandai. That scale kind of works for the VF-1 because of its relatively small size, but a 1/48 yf-19 would be quite large, and would likely be a $400+ product.

Personally, I felt like he was trolling after the 2nd or 3rd post, so I kind of ignored him after that. But we do get some odd-ball, genuine posters here everyone once and a while, so I'm not as quick to label someone a troll here as I might be on some other forums, so I kept out of it. Either way, it's been a slow few months for Macross news, especially for this DX line, so a little trolling/possible misinformation can be a nice distraction from the silence we've been dealing with.

It definitely could be. And I agree we'll probably get a TV Kakizaki eventually. I was just saying (along with others) that the pics from above are meaningless with regards to knowing what Bandai is planning.

Yeah, I thought the TV Kakizaki VF-1A DX claim was intended to be a joke, since that clearly isn't a DX valk at all. Perhaps it is a self-bamboozle, though. Either way, I would not assume anything based on the information we have. Leaks seems to be very rare for Bandai, at least leaks that make it to us. But people claiming to have insider knowledge still seems to happen from time to time, even on small forums like this.

Regarding the carrier designation, I think "Prometheus" is the "more correct" carrier designation for the M&M 1Js, but it's SDFM which is riddled with various production errors, so it can be pretty hard to tell what is intentional and what is in error when you starting dealing with this minutia. A Blue/white Max 1J valk is first seen in Episode 24, and it appears to be launching from the Prometheus, as far as I can tell. Then we see another blue/white valk in Episode 25: Virgin Road, which most of the community has decided is a different valk from the episode 24 valk. It has become known as the VF-1D "Virgin Road" edition, despite being clearly being shown with a VF-1A head in the animation. But because it has two seats in it, and some toy companies made that version as a VF-1D, some of the community has decided it was the 1A head that is the anime production error. It could well be, who knows. I've never seen any official statement to conclude one way or the other. We then see the M&M blue and red 1Js in episode 27. I don't think you see where they launch from, specifically. They are already launched when we see them.

I'd say more than a bit. I'm right there with you. There are a lot of things I enjoy about Japanese culture, within the scope of anime/manga etc., and even beyond that scope. But the whole "lolicon" thing and general fetishization/sexualization of young girls is definitely something that disgusts me within Japanese culture. I'm not saying its generally accepted behavior within Japan at large, or that everyone there is ok with it, or that Japan alone is guilty of this behavior, but it definitely has a strong hold in certain parts of Japanese sub-culture. And it's pretty f-ing disgusting, imo. I should have known what to expect just based on the brand name alone, I guess. I thought it might be just a random brand name, and not actually exactly what it says. Nope, of course it's exactly what it says. To each their own, I guess. It's definitely not for me.

Sorry, that was a typo. I meant to say that racing white was pretty far off from what I was looking for (definitely too warm). I also don't have any Yamato 1/60 DRYL valks, so I can't compare there. But AS-20 might be close to what I'm looking for. I think there might be just a touch of blue in the color, but it's hard to describe. It's definitely not warm. This pic from Anymoon captures the color pretty well, I guess? There are so many variables from lighting of the picture taken, to screen color, it can be really hard to color match just on the internet. Thanks for the help. I might try one more color and live with "close enough." This project has gone on longer than I wanted, anyhow.

Cross-posting for more visibility (since there are more model-kit type people here). Any help on matching the light gray of the DX vf-1s would be great:

I tried using just the primer (unfortunately, racing white wasn't pretty far from what I needed). The primer itself is just a shade or two too dark, so I figured I'd kind of try to sand a little off to make it lighter. That sort of worked, but it ended up kind of splotchy as well: It looks pretty good, but the color is still just a bit off. If I were going for some kind of weathered or even cell shaded look, it would be fine. But as-is, it still isn't quite right. And I found out the hard way that Amazon does not accept returns on things like spray paint (I guess the can makes it a shipping hazard, but they have no problem shipping it to you... whatever). So I'm not too keen on ordering a bunch of different colors that I can't return in order to get the color just right. So I'm hoping someone can vouch for one of these colors as a near exact match; otherwise I'll just call it good enough for now and move on. Here are the colors I'm considering: British Navy Grey Light Gray (USAF) or possibly Royal Light gray, which is probably too blue. This is what color the primer is. The color on the cap is nearly an exact match, but it ends up just a little too dark. So it's really hard for me to tell what is going to work best

So Tamiya racing white was definitely not the color I was looking for. Any suggestions for matching with the grayish-white of the including hands? I haven't tried it yet, but it almost seems like the primer itself might be pretty close to the color I'm looking for. Is there any harm in just using the primer and not adding any paint?

This is one of the few known flaws across the vf-31 mold. It seems to vary a little bit by each specific copy (some have it worse than others), but there is no way to completely eliminate the gap, as far as I'm aware. You can try what @no3Ljm suggested, but like he said, there is a trade-off.

Thanks for this! As far as putting it on a stick, I guess I just use some blue tack or something? I've seen set ups where they put the non-holding end of the stick in some styrofoam. Any recommendations for tack?

Here is where I'm at with the hand now. Any recommendations for painting on resin? I need to match the color to the rest of the valk/hands:

Well I finally have a TV-style fist that is close enough to what I want. I've got a slightly better hand mold curing right now, but this is more or less where I'm at with it. My goal wasn't really to create something that looked like it shipped in the package with the rest of the valk; just something that looked passable from 2-3 feet away (generally how far away when I look at my display). I might revisit the sculpt at a later date, but I think I want to move on to other things for the time being: The last thing to do is to paint this in some way to match the off-white of the rest of the valk/hands. Anyone have any suggestions for painting on resin? Haven't really done that before, so any paint recommendations would be great (even better if you know a color that will match).

Quick question, as I struggle to keep up with Gunpla news. Am I completely crazy, or was there some release/announcement of a release for new TV series-style Gundam Wing MG kits? I know this has been around for a while, but that is the only TV show style MG kit I've been able to find (I know there is a lot of EW variants available). I thought I read/heard somewhere that Bandai was releasing some TV MG kits, but I could be completely misinformed and/or have had this in some sort of fever dream. Does anyone know anything about this, or am I going insane here? Were they a different grade, maybe?

Missile effects for the TV style missiles (and maybe the reaction missiles) are on my to-do list, after I finish my current 3D printing project. Will I ever actually get around to it? I dunno. Missile effect parts for the box missiles would be harder, because there is no real port to plug them into like the removable missiles have. But someone with more time/talent than me could probably do it.

Anyone with digital calipers and a DX 1/48 hand want to give me a ball joint measurement (in millimeters)? I used the calipers we have at the 3D printing lab here, but I'm not sure how accurate they are (the battery was dying, and there might be user error on my end). I got between 5.1 and 5.15 millimeters, but the final product looks a little on the small side to my eye (I won't be able to tell for sure until I get home). I'd like to do another print now, if this ball joint is in fact too small. I'm thinking it is closer to 5.5mm around. I know 6mm is too big, as I made one that size already. This 5.15mm ball joint might work, but if I could get a second opinion on the measurement, that would be great.

Same situation with NY. I ordered the SS parents June 7, also got the email that they "just found out" the release date changed (lol). I wonder if any of us are going to get December/January shipments, or they are just going to scalp most of their first wave for more profit. Either way, NY just went from "not my first choice" to "absolute last resort only" for me.

I don't know much about toy production, but I feel like there is a reason we'll never see a larger-scale SoC-style VF-1, at least not from a big company like Bandai. I'm probably letting my experience in web development color my opinion too much, but here's a simplified version of how I see this going down. I present "Valkyrie's Fall: A three five act play." Players: Executive (EX), Product Design Lead (PDL), Product Engineer (PE) Act 1 EX: Ok, whats next in the pipeline for product ideas? PDL: We're thinking a Soul of Chogokin VF-1. It's an iconic mech design that is still appreciated by fans today. We've done well with less popular mechs, and I think this is an easy home-run. We'll make the best VF-1 ever made. PE: Yup, we've been looking forward to doing this for a while. We've got a basic prototype already. At this scale and price, we'll be able to incorporate gimmicks and features that no one else has been able to attempt in this classic design. EX: Sounds great, lets get to work on it and see what you come up with. Act 2 PDL: Here's our first mock-up. We're thinking around 1/35th scale, die-cast construction. This will give us the heft we need to add in a lot of small features that can't be done in the smaller scales this design is usually done in. PE: We've already incorporated a light-up visor, and we're working out how to keep it perfect transformation while leaving space for all the extra things we want to add in. EX: Great, looks great. Say, I was talking to 斉藤さん in accounting the other day, and he said there are actually a lot of VF-1 color schemes, and that we can use the same mold to make a bunch "different" toys, and those otaku will buy all of them! Is that true? PDL: Uhh... yes sir, that's true. But the idea behind this particular design was that we were trying to make the "ultimate" VF-1. This toy has been made a lot over the decades, but we wanted to do a single, definitive version for our SoC line. EX: Sure, sure. This will still be the best one ever. But let's get rid of the die-cast. It will cost too much and people won't buy more than one at that price-point. We want want to be able to repaint this thing and sell it to the same sucker customer again and again, right? That's where the money is. Show me what you can do in ABS. PE: Ok... Act 3 PDL: Ok, sir. We've changed it to mostly plastic. We still think we can do some things the customers have never seen before with the large size. Here are some cool gimmicks we're thinking of that have never been done before. We're also going to include all these accessories with the product. PE: Yeah, we've got these little arms that come out of the big arms, and... EX: Hmm... yeah. Ya know, I was talking to that 斉藤さん again, and man, he knows a lot about Macross. Why don't you guys know this stuff; isn't it your job to know this stuff? Anyhow, he says there are a bunch of accessories that go with this VF-1 thing, and we could even sell them separately to customers, and they would buy multiples of each! Can you believe that? Is that true? PD: Yes sir... that's technically true. But that's all been done before. Remember, we were making the "definitive" version of this mech with this particular design. We wanted to include all those accessories with the base toy, like we do with most of our SoC products. EX: Sure, this will still be definitive, but we can't pass up all the extra cash. Lets plan on having those accessories separate. We'll sell them individually later. Anyhow, I've got some puppies to go kick, it's looking good, we'll meet again later. *PDL and PE stare at each other silently* Act 4 PDL: Ok, sir. We've finished working on the accessories, but they will be sold separately. We still have some fun new features never done before with this toy, due to the increased size. See, these intake covers are usually separate parts, but now they'll be able to... EX: Looking good. But I was thinking, at this size, some suckers customers won't really have the space for more than one. Let's shrink it down some, that way more people can collect all of them! PE: We could, but at a smaller scale, we'd have to get rid of some of these original gimmicks that die hard fans have always wanted. I've been dying to make a VF-1 that does these things. EX: But they're die-hard fans right? So they'll buy it anyhow! This is still going to be the best VF-1 thingy ever right? Are you telling me this won't be the best VF-1 ever? I thought you guys were good at your job? PDL: Yes, sir. It would still probably be the best one ever, but we wanted to make a truly epic toy; ya, know. Definitive; like we've been saying. We won't be able to do that at a smaller size. EX: It will still be the best one ever. Just shrink it down, we'll figure out the rest. PDL, PE: Yes, sir. Act 5 PDL: Well, here it is. We've made it 1/48 scale, like you asked. We had to sacrifice a lot of the original things we wanted to do with this design, but it stills should be the best VF-1 ever. EX: Great, great. Look, we got rid of most of the metal right? And this isn't even all that large anymore. This really isn't an SoC figure anymore. We have our DX Chogokin line for this kind of stuff. Let's put it in there. We'll be able to make a lot more of them that way. PE: But, sir. We wanted this to be the ultimate VF-1. If we do that, it's just another good one. EX: Yeah, yeah, but the best one ever? Right. Sounds good. Great job on the new DX Chogokin VF-1 design guys. We'll make a ton of cash. THE END (PS this is what happens when I have too much time off from work).

Got a chance to "attach" one of the early builds to the valk. The ball is still about 1mm too small all around, so I just used some tape to get an idea of how it actually looks on a valk. I've also realized I need deeper lines between the fingers and on the joints to match the contrast of the tv hands on the Bandai valk. I'm also shrinking the size down just a hair. I've done all those things on my latest file, but since I print this stuff at work, I won't be doing another test run until the new year.

I've seen this pic I dunno how many times, but for the first time I really noticed that "thumb" on the main hand. Look at it... that's not a thumb. It's like a separate hand or something. I don't even know what to call it; but it's huge.

That sucks. But nothing surprises me about NY anymore, unfortunately. Oh well, I knew when I ordered more than 1 set I'd be setting myself up for an April shipment from them. We'll see what happens, maybe a few of us will get lucky.

Yeah, like @Matt Random said above, that's kind of weird given that some of us got notifications that it will be released on Dec 23, 2019. I mean, I'm not expecting them to actually SHIP it then (this is NY), but it would be a new low for them if they notified a new release date, then said "nah, its all actually in April." My faith in NY is basically non-existent beyond "I'll get it eventually," so anything could happen of course. It's just odd that they would go out of their way to antagonize their customers in that way.

This is the second attempt (the first was way too small, in all regards). I'm really trying to dial in the correct ball size to fit the DX joint. This is 4.8mm, and I have a 5mm one currently printing (it also has an improved hand sculpt, especially on the inside fingers). I haven't had a chance to clean up the all the excess plastic on this, since I'm at work, but I feel like I'm getting close. I'll post pictures of a (hopefully) attached one when I get home today. These are all PLA test runs (hence the weird colors), but the final version will be in resin, which I'll probably have to end up painting or shading a bit. I'll also be refining the hand sculpt and size once I have a working ball joint. It will be easier to tell what looks good on the figure once I can get it attached.

This is on my "virtual workbench" I guess (is there a thread for 3D printing stuff?): I'm trying to make a 1/48 DX vf-1 TV style-fist, that started as a scan of yamcadia TV style fist. Still definitely a WIP at this point, but I should have the first prototype printed out tomorrow. I'm not sure how much of the bumpiness will be captured by the 3D printer, so I'll refine it from there. I'm also pretty sure the ball joint is a little too small, but I should be able to adjust that pretty easily. This was definitely harder than thought it would be when I got the idea (I'm a complete noob to 3D printing). Props to the guys that make all those detailed models and extra pieces on Shapeways and the like; this definitely isn't easy.