mechaninac

Indeed. I've just been delivered my small haul from HKC, like 5 minutes ago. I just love it when things just fall into place: Being able to get a pretty good deal on a VF-19S and VF-17S, non-express (less expensive) shipping transiting fairly quickly, and me getting the day off to be home to sign for the package upon its arrival. A good Friday. Happy Easter/Passover everyone.

I've got the F and don't see any real need to get a second as I do not double dip on the same unit in the same scale, although I can absolutely understand that some people desire more than one in order to display multiple modes and pack loadouts at the same time. The one I will definitely park my a$$ in front of the computer in order to secure is Ozma's 25S (and actually contemplating breaking my own no boubles rule because I have the Armor pack for it, but that huge skull art on top/back deserve to be seen too), which is a shoe-in for a reissue shortly after Alto's Messiah.

Let the preorder shenanigans begin in T-minus 2 days, 19 hours, 30 minutes...

It's a pun on the recent announcement of the July rerelease of the DX VF-25F Alto Custom Renewal; but as with all jokes, if you have to explain it the punch line is lost.

There are also: RGM-89De Jegan ECOAS RGM-96X Jesta RGM-96X Jesta Cannon RGM-79SP GM Sniper II has been release in the HGUC line.

Awesome news. I knew it would be just a matter of time before reissues of the renewal 25s got announced; actually surprised it's starting so soon on the heels of the release of the RVF-25, to be honest. I eagerly await the reissue of the VF-25S, as that is the one I need to complete my collection; of course, I'll have to secure a preorder at that time... no easy feat where these Bandai DXs are concerned.

You -- are -- killing -- me!...

Ahhhh! Don't do that... I've already spent far too much this month

And here I thought new content had been posted...

Not bad... that VF-19P really does a nice job of complementing the cherry picker truck...

My recent order from HKC just cleared customs in New York yesterday. Soon I'll get to enjoy, or regret, the fruits of my impulse buy, but at least I'll be able to check off the VF-19S and VF-17S from my list of to-get items that are rapidly becoming scarce. Now, the only two that I'd like to purchase to close out my Yamato Macross collection are the VF-1A CF TV version and the VF-22S Max; after that, aside from Bandai's Frontier DXs, I can comfortably say that I'm done... until and if Arcadia steps into the vaccum Yamato is leaving in its wake.

The most hastle free, least involved, way to apply a top clear coat is to use a rattle can. In my opinion it is best to spray subassemblies whenever possible when dealing with 1/144 Gundam kits; the more subassemblies the better as you'll have a much better chance to get to every nook and cranny with minimal overspray since they are much easier to handle than a whole model; with things like aircraft kits you'd be doing the whole assembled model, minus landing gears and equipment/weapons stores, but in the case of articulated humanoid mecha kits you have the luxury of separating limbs, etc. With MG (1/100) and PG (1/60) Gundam models you have even more freedom because most/all armor panels are removable, so you can spray the inner frame subassemblies and all the armor bits separately. Always remember that successive light coats are better than one single heavy coat (go too heavy and you'll get dripping, pooling, runs, and the flat coat will lose it's dullness... not good). Also make sure to leave off or mask anything you don't want coated. And make sure to spray in a well ventillated area as free of dust as possible.

Panel lining your Gundam kit will greatly enhance its appearance. Since you're new to modeling and not really interested in advanced techniques such as washes, your best bet is to get a hold of some fine tipped gundam markers ( I'm partial to the fine tipped gray pens myself as they yield a less harsh result than the black ones). Just run the tip along inside edges and grooves until you get the desired build-up/depth of ink, let dry for a bit and then wipe with your finger until most of it is gone except for the amount you desire; repeat as many times as necessary until you've achieved the look you want. An alternate method is to park the tip on a location along the line you desire to line and let capillary action carry the ink as far as it will go, then move the tip to where the ink stopped to spread and repeat so that it travels further, then repeat until the whole edge or groove is inked (you will be left with several pinpoints of ink that you can easily clean by running a clean fingertip or thumb over the area to wipe out the excess. The best part of using gundam markers though is that if you really screw up it's easy to clean off using a Q-tip dipped with a bit of alcohol. Regarding clear coats, the reason to use them is to seal your pen lining, washes, dry brushing, sticker/dry transfer/decal application, etc., so that they don't get worn off due to handling of the model. It also serves the purpose, in the case of a dull or flat coat, of making the kit look more like a model and less like a toy in that it tones down the shine of the bare plastic and makes the plastic look less platic-y... it tends to make everything look more unified. The way I hadle separating parts from sprues is to use platic nippers such as PLATO model shears to cut the parts off about 1-2 mm (~ 1/16") from the part itself by having the flat part of the shears face away from the part; this leaves nubs on the part that need to be cleaned up later but prevent damage to the part by mistakingly cutting too close. Once the part is separated from the sprue tree, the nubs can be cut down much closer to the part's surface by turning the shears around so the the flat portion faces the part; just cut very close but do not touch the nipper's cutting surface to the part... you want to be as close as possible without touching. Next, use a No. 11 X-acto blade to cut the remaining bit of nub off the part until you're at the part's survace (this takes some practice and a lot of patience, so take your time); you can use the blade's edge to cut and scrape at the nub until it's gone, and you can use the back of the blade as a scraper too. Sometimes these innitial steps are enough, but most of the time you will need to sand and/or file the spot where the injection gate nub was in order to make everything nice and uniform; I like to use a 280 grit or finer sanding stick such as Micro-Mark's Flex-Pad to eliminate any surface inperfection -- don't be afraid to sand past the nub's spot; if necessary, sand the entire surface of the part. Once the part is evenly sanded down to a 400 grit level finish, use a triple grit polishing stick to get rit of any scratches sanding might have left behind; use only the side with the two different grits (the single sided grit is great for polishing clear parts but is too fine to use on regular parts as it will polish them to a high gloss). After the polishing stick you can give the whole part a further polish by rubbing it with a cotton T-shirt... it does wonders. Also, is some cases you can rub away any offending sprue nub marks with your gingernail. Hope all this helps; I know it looks like a lot of information, but it's all kind of intuitive once you've practiced a bit. Bear in mind, however, that what I've described is what works for me; once you start you'll quickly learn what works best for you. Good luck and happy modeling.

I don't know about a still in "every" ship, but in Scotty's bairn, you better believe it...

I'm scared to think of how many of these new Iron Man 3 suits will see release as Revoltech, et al., figures... I don't think my wallet will be able to survive the merchandising aftermath of this movie...

I'd be more than happy if they went the MG Gundam Plamo rout and had every conceivable color break broken down into color specific sprue trees and/or their multi-color, multimedia sprues. The 25s were more akin to HG kits in the way they separated parts by color, but I'd really like to get MG/RG/PG level molding here.

Yes, it's just Hasegawa milking their VF-11 molds and adding the radar dish and its support pylon(s) in the mix. It's still a welcome sight for 1/72 Macross kit builders, and with one in hand it would be an easy thing to use the model parts as reference for some enterprising member here to generate 3D files to run on Shapeways, or elsewhere, for a 1/60 scale conversion for the Yamato Thunderbolt. So it's all good.

Note to self: erect an electrified fence and set up a motion sensor detection perimiter to protect collection from EXO's ninjas...

I collect whatever strikes my fancy, that happens to fall within my buying "pain" threshold.

I suppose that my last purchases (one VF-17S and one VF-19S) could be considered panic buys, or maybe impulsive ones; however, I prefer to refer to them as belated aquisitions that happened to coincide with all the bad news regarding Yamato and welcomed discounts from HKC. Aside from the one time expense for a VF-4G upon its release, this has been the most I've ever spent on a single month on Macross related collectibles, or any collectibles for that matter. After these two birds, the only Yamato VFs I still need to call my collection complete are a 1/60 VF-1A 2.0 CF TV ver. and a VF-22S Max; if I were to come across a VF-19F and/or P and a VF-17D for roughly the same price as the deals I got on the two I bought from HKC I'd get them too.

I'm about to find out for myself. I got a shipping notice from HKC for my last purchase, a VF-17S and a VF-19S; now the waiting begins...

Wow!... somewhere in Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod Crane is screaming...

Have a VF-4, so no... unless MSRP were half what I paid for the G version, or the Dollar/Yen exchange rate were a lot more favorable than it is now. I have a VF-0S and a VF-0A Shin with the UCAV booster, so unless they were to produce a VF-0D I see no need to revisit the M-Zero mecha, on my part. And I have the Fold Booster equipped YF-19 so I can't see me needing a renewal of it unless it were a huge leap in desing/engineering/quality over what I have and it would need to be within what I consider to be a fair price, because I do not double dip. Therefore, from my point of view, not getting any of them, at any price, isn't an issue in the least. I'm well aware that when it comes to the rarified high end toy market, price becomes a secondary consideration for many because quibling over $50 to $100 bucks becomes accademic in the greater scheme of things; but, for me, with very few exceptions (the aforementioned VF-4G for example) I draw the dividing line between "realistically priced" and "an insult to my intelligence" at the $200 range... with shipping if at all possible. Thus, a $170-180 VF-17S is nothing to sneeze at, but justifiable; a $280-300+ VF-17D is an easy pass.

Well, speaking for myself, since I placed an order with HKC for a VF-19S and a VF-17S earlier this week for ~50% off each (still waiting for the shipping notification email from them, BTW), I essentially got two Valks for the price of one; therefore, my complaining that Yamato 1/60s are, with the exception of the VF-1, grossly overpriced in general, still stands... it's one of the primary reasons I waited this long . All the doom and gloom concerning Yamato's demise and the drying up of supply everywhere were just the last little push I needed to pull the trigger on these, but if they were going for full price or anything less than 40% off I would not have bought them because they would've been too expensive to me, to my perception of their true value. Just my 2 cents...

So... after a lot of prevaricating, and getting antsier and antsier given all the depressing info here and elsewhere regarding Yamato/Arcadia and availability of current product, I finally broke down and ordered myself a VF-19S and a VF-17S from HKC; for what amounts to 50% off each, the total cost for the two pieces came to around the same as I paid for 1 VF-4G. Even if we never see another 1/60 VF release from this particular producer, I can now say that I own at least one example of every Valk they've ever made; so, unless things work out for the better and Arcadia fills the void, Bandai notwithstanding, I can say that my collection is complete. Thanks for all of you for breaking down my self-restraint and parting me with a wad of cash on these latest aquisitions... sometimes I really hate you guys!