ghostryder

I just thought about that after I posted - I'm not so sure the latest Hikkie was cast from the Roy mold - the parts fit and color was very similar to a Hikkie 1A I handled. I didn't think the darker color of plastic has anything to do with mold degradation, just variations in the pigment concentration?? Also, the fit of the 1st issue Hikkie 1S was different from the Roys, so it's not like all 1S variations need to come from the same mold. Then again, I know nothing of the manufacturing processs .

I dunno, the latest Roy issue was great as far as fit of plastic parts. Unless they re-tooled for the last issue, I'd say they are holding up well.

Parting shot - Gummi Hikaru

Other than pulling a new fin off another 1/48, you could do this... see thread I only painted black over the skulls on this Roy, but you can also mask off and paint the whole fin. I just painted over the whole fin on my Hikkie and applied Takatoy skulls, and it looks good as well.

I think these issues are related to the transformation and the compromises needed to transition between lineart and a workable toy. The arms need to be skinny enough to be hidden between the legs in fighter mode (which in turn are oversized at the inlets in order to hide the shoulders). The backpack needs to be oversized to hide the hands and fold flush with the wrists (which in turn are undersized to fit the backpack).

AFAIK, neither the TV Max 1A or 1J had the white stripe running lengthwise on the arm.

You can see diecast pieces , they are in silver !The VF-0 looks ..waou.. I want it Thanks graham 364753[/snapback] Looks like the LERX/internal chest plate/front hinge of the shoulders are metal. the actual shoulder hinge connectors are the dark gray ABS, like the feet and gun.

Paint the tail lights red? Why? Are NAV BCNs on the tail of the VF-1? Hmmm. Never thought of that... 364689[/snapback] Well, there are on the yamatos, and the chunkies have them outlined on the tail tips also. Pretty sure they should be red, but I'm no pilot...

Skull-1 I get the feeling you don't like Krylon Are these the colors available in DUPLICOLOR, or did you use the high-heat stuff? Racing green might have worked for you custom. Dupli-Color® Engine Enamel with Ceramic DE 1601 Ford Blue DE 1602 Universal White DE 1604 Universal Gold DE 1605 Ford Red DE 1606 Ford Dark Blue DE 1607 Chevrolet Orange-Red DE 1608 General Motors Blue DE 1609 Chevrolet Blue DE 1610 Pontiac Blue DE 1611 New Ford Gray DE 1612 Gray Engine Primer DE 1613 Gloss Black DE 1614 Cummins Diesel Gold DE 1615 Aluminum DE 1616 Pontiac Blue Metallic DE 1617 Ford Green DE 1618 Detroit Diesel Alpine Green DE 1619 Chrysler Green DE 1620 Chevrolet Orange DE 1621 Old Ford Blue DE 1622 Chrysler Orange DE 1631 Chrysler Corp. Blue DE 1632 Chrysler Industrial Red DE 1634 GM/Chrysler Low Gloss Black DE 1635 Ford Semi-Gloss Black DE 1636 Clear DE 1638 Cummins Beige DE 1640 Plum Purple DE 1641 Grabber Green (Lime) DE 1642 Daytona Yellow DE 1643 Torque ‘N’ Teal DE 1644 Racing Green (Hunter) DE 1645 Ruby Red DE 1646 Trophy Blue DE 1650 Cast Coat Aluminum DE 1651 Cast Coat Iron

Funny, that's what ran through my head as I opened the box . I dont want to give people the wrong idea. OVERALL, I'm happy. The only real non-cosmetic issue I saw was that the knees and hips were a bit looser compared to my Max/Roy, but then again that one is so tight I was afraid I would break it. Of course, if I bought toys to keep in the box stored in my closet, or wasn't intending to customize, I'd be pissed.

From what I've seen, 1st edition had straight skulls. Whether they were whiter, I'm not sure. Like I said, I've seen a Hikaru 1A with the same yellow-ish tint, so it may be that the Roys (or at least the 4th issue) has whiter plastic. I'm no collector and am not willing to pay $300 just for a Hikkie with a straight skull . I can fix the skull no prob (did it with my Roy/Max). With some minor cosmetic touch-ups, this will still be a fine centerpiece to my pitiful collection.

and maybe...

Yes

Okay, here's the scoop... Left side - slight overspray on rear leg stripe and friggin' crooked skull - worse than my former 4th edition Roy Right side - pretty decent Nose - actually, gap is minimal. Crooked skull more evident here. Top - stripes are ok, but there's some tooling mark on wing (left one in picture) and chest plate Batteroid - where's my strike pack? Knees are pretty loose - too much play between ratchet teeth?? Hip ball joints are not loose, but not as tight as 4th ed. Roy Head - this yellow dot will soon be painted red. Note airbrake is up and tight. Side-by-side w/ Max (former 4th ed. Roy). Hikaru's eye piece is noticeably lighter than Roy's. Gad, the Mac7 flashback! Note the slight yellow hue compared to 4th ed. Roy (damn flash hides the difference) I couldn't get a good shot of the gummy pilot, but I was very pleased with the crisp paint job. Overall, pretty decent QC, but the loose knees and crooked skull are disappointing. Both can be fixed with little effort, I hope.

Krylon fusion and similar products are designed to adhere to plastics better, don't need primer, and have an enamel hardness that stands up better to "play" than model paints, without needing to add a top coat. It's great for us unskilled quasi-hobbyists.

Can't take pics right now, but here's the quick 'n dirty: 1. crooked skull on left fin, just like 4th ed. Roy 2. tight airbrake 3. slight nose gap 4. some overspray of black stripes on legs and wing, not as bad as some of the 1st ed. Hikaru 1S's, but not as sharp a 4th ed. Roy 5. super clean paint job on gummy pilot 6. plastic color is a bit more yellow-ish than 4th ed. Roy, looks similar to 1st ed. Hikaru 1A 7. yellow dot on head 8. tight head fit in fighter mode Pics to follow soon Thanks to Samurai-Monkey for the quick delivery!

Whoaaa, awsome job. Is that the same paint that Datterboy and EXO used? You got some funny lighting going on, because the flash pics make the blue appear more yellow that the color really is. I think some daytime shots would show off that custom much better. Is that Krylon "Gloss" or "Semigloss"? I used Rustoleum for Plastic in semigloss, and it pretty much looks glossy against the rough ABS surface. Still no luck color-matching Kakizaki's brown, huh?

That looks like something I dropped in the toilet this morning... sans the color

Shoot, give the VF-1 arms and shoulder that sit flush with the fighter bottom (like the zero), a skinnier canopy, and those zero-style rounded exhaust flaps, it would damn-well near be perfect .

Frackin' "Broken Heart." That was a bad one. But it did give us Kamjin's first kiss and the infamous Animefriend VF-1R very-tech . I never did understand Misa's mental episode at the end. WTF??

Okay, I got lost after post 22..... So what I gather is that when a sound is translated into and "L" character, it may have been intended to be pronounced like an "R"?? That would make sense, since "Microne" makes more sense than "Miclone"..., unless they were word-playing micronize and clone. But then Komillia isn't supposed to sound like "Komiriya"!..... crap, I give up

Another annoying heatshield color question... Is the skull on Hikaru's red heatshield(s) supposed to be black-filled in the skull details AND outlined in black? Hard to tell if the black outline in these screenshots are there just for contrast in the animation, or if it is supposed to be outlined (like the hasegawa decals). Yamato stickers have no black at all, and Takatoy stickers are only black-filled.

Welcome to the board, please explore the search function if you haven't already . thread1 thread2

I think going lighter than the Yamato Max blue is best as being accurate to any of the DYRL screen shots. From your description of Sail Blue, that camera flash must really lighten up things. Looks pretty good at any rate. 363203[/snapback] Here's the 1/60 blue, Takatoy fastpack sticker blue, and Rustoleum Sail Blue for comparison, in equal lighting (that reminds me, I need to paint the tail lights red):

Roy's 1S get's blown up on the Zentran ship after Roy (as he's dying) pumps Kamjin full of rounds in the back . So both Max and Hikaru eventually get their own 1S. In this shot, Kakizaki was in front of Hikaru (look at those tiny UUM-7 pods!), ..but then it looks like he fell behind Hikaru ...so relative front-back position probably means nothing i this case? I'd like to think Hikaru outranked him...jeez, imagine if Kakizaki survived and was tasked to kill off Bodolza!