Shaorin

- just picked both of these up second hand. they look and sound promising to me, but please feel free to share opinions... Adorable!!

thank you kindly... thank you, i appreciate that, but i'd prefer an actual hard copy of same or reasonably similar if i can possibly get one...

at present, and for the foreseeable future, the VF-19S. what can i say? i simply adore the Yammie 1/60 iteration. it's the most thoroughly satisfying Valk toy i've ever owned, bar none, and that's exactly why i ordered up a spare copy, despite it's dear price tag...

one, and only one real gripe with the HI-METAL; the ball-jointed head/neck connection. the base of that neck, and it's tendency to catch during rotation between the FIGHTER/GERWALK and the BATTROID positions, constantly throws the front of the neck and the front of the head way out of alignment with each other, and is a real pain in the veritable ass, at least on my copy... thin zinc castings such as that would likely be quite bendable. and if they were poorly cast, (ala older YAMATO metal castings) then they would likely be quite brittle. also, solid diecast head turrets would need the bases painted white/grey, inviting paint chippidge...

if it's 1/48, i don't see why it wouldn't be essentially identical to this 2005 edition kit. if you are willing to send me your manual, please PM me for my mailing info. thanks very much...

just found this exact kit today at a thrift for $1.00, complete, even a brand-new quality fine brush in there, only problem, a missing instruction manual. if anyone here has built this kit, or a similar one in 1/48, and can spare their manual to send my way, i'd deeply appreciate it...

-and the HI-METAL most certainly walks all over that hellish 1/72...

no... the proportions in relation to the forearms and lower legs are all wrong for a proper FIGHTER mode fit. not even that silly collapsing leg-panel system helps this problem out. not even the ancient IMAI VARIABLE TYPE or the HCM had issues anything like this... you know, a sensible engineering team would have learned much indeed from both their parent firm's own related products, as well as from the high-watermark that the YAMATO 1/60v.II has set, and applied all of that fantastic engineering design towards a real humdinger of a 1/48 GUNPLA-type PLAMODEL. in reality, however, BANDAI obviously prefers to keep it's many divisions as seemingly autonomous sub-corporations that are somehow forbidden to take cues from other firms' efforts as well as from that of their very own corporate fellows. in other words, the classic case of one hand having not a wit what the other is up to. moreover, not even having a clue as to what their rivals' hands are going about with. at any rate, i wash my hands of the 2013 BANDAI 1/72 VF-1 PLAMODEL...

exactly. a sensible engineering team would have learned much indeed from both their parent firm's own related products, as well as from the high-watermark that the YAMATO 1/60v.II has set, and applied all of that fantastic engineering design towards a real humdinger of a 1/48 GUNPLA-type PLAMODEL. in reality, however, BANDAI obviously prefers to keep it's many divisions as seemingly autonomous sub-corporations that are somehow forbidden to take cues from other firms' efforts as well as from that of their very own corporate fellows. in other words, the classic case of one hand having not a wit what the other is up to. moreover, not even having a clue as to what their rivals' hands are going about with. at any rate, i wash my hands of the 2013 BANDAI 1/72 VF-1 PLAMODEL...

god, i love the 1/60 VF-19 mold. i mean, i rather dislike the 19k and 19P, and yet Yammie's gorgeous renditions of both are breathtaking to behold. makes me forget all about that blasphemous BANDAI 1/72, even. now that, dear friends, is Perfection itself...

- I Rest my Case...

really nice for the size. nice heft for that size, too. hip width seems a bit excessive, looks a little odd in any given mode. kind of hard to get the legs to stay tabbed in to the arms in STRIKE FIGHTER. i worry about long-term longevity on those hip ball-joints, but if they loosen too much, a tiny swatch of electrician's tape in the ball cavity should restore good friction. all and all, a worthy addition to my little squadron, and nice to finally have a STRIKE option for at least one of my variable VF-1's...

it is. the clearances through the body hatch for BATTROID head position are tight. they made sure to get that head every little bit as large as they possibly could while still clearing that hatchway. if only they could have directed all that effort elsewhere...

it does appear serviceable enough in BATTROID, in most photos, but therein lies the rub; one has to actually have this disasterpiece in their hands to play around with before they really start to grasp it's considerable degree of total suckitude. once you pick it up in any mode to pose and/or admire, the whole thing starts coming apart faster than a Texas Wedding. hell, i just finished assembly of my copy yesterday, and one of my kit's shoulders is already loose enough to continually pop off it's mounting. so many poor design choices here, they're really too many to list. for one, the damned thing is fiddly to the extreme. you'll frustrate yourself trying to get it to hold together properly during transformations, and once you finally got it in desired mode and pose, all you can really do is look at it. now, don't even think about playing with it, lest things start falling out of kilter and/or off. and despite the numerous metal shafts used in assembly, the thing still has so many vital joints that continually tend to come apart during transformation. hell, several of the self-adhesive decals aren't even sized properly, especially the tail-fin labels. really, skilled modelers can most likely rend something of a diamond out of this rough, but as a "GUNPLA-style" casual consumer-friendly product, this model well and truly fails as soundly as just about anything ever has in my personal experience... do enjoy the build; i all but guarantee that you'll probably find it to be the most rewarding aspect of this model... why? because this model could have been WORLDS BETTER had BANDAI taken a moment to learn from all the great aspects of the 1/60v.II, rather than going all wacky-doodle like this and eschewing all the fantastic advancements in design YAMATO toiled so long and hard to pioneer...

Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV -this ghastly thing, sorry to say...

i know that... but just about ANYTHING out there is very much indeed like a Yammie/ARCADIA 1/60v.II, when directly compared to this awful BANDAI kit, trust me on this. this atrocity is sure to be crash-landing itself right into the Great VF Hall of Shame alongside other choice "distinguished" company, IMO...

FOR CHRISSAKE, how'd this ever make it to production?!?! i mean, JEEZ!!!! (( EDIT; notice the RED/BLUE navi-lights on the legs are on the wrong sides? damn panels keep falling off, and i had put them back on wrong last!!!! ))

well, got a gust of ambitiousness tonight, got this gawdawful thing (IMO) mostly done, some sloppy painting to clean up a little, and some more decal work to do; ...man, was this turd one hell of a disappointment for me... still, that cover art/design is divine, and i do have a 1/72 Minmay DYRL now, to add to my small-but-growing DYRL Minmay collection, so it's not all bad...

oh, i'm confident i'm gonna be loving the ever-loving s%$t out of the HI-METAL 1S Focker STRIKE coming my way, (should arrive tomorrow) all the more after dealing with that turd (IMHO) of a 1/72 variable model (2013 BANDAI VF-1S/A Hikaru DYRL) hell, the HI-METAL promises to be just the seltzer to wash that bitter taste right on out...

just finished assembly on mine. first impression? Beta Product. really, this wants to be a good GUNPLA style kit, and i want to like it just fine, but it just seems far too fiddly and complex for 1/72. what i mean, is that 1/72 is far too small a scale for what BANDAI was attempting to accomplish here. 1/60, 1/48 better still, but 1/72... too many compromises, too many fine complex parts... i can get slightly better play out of those hips than many examples i've seen, but... it's just a bad design, IMHO. those hands... PiTA!! pretty sure i won't be revisiting this line... the box is the best thing about it IMO... damned beautiful boxart!!!! anyway... gimme another day or two, and i'll have this beast finished enough to be showing around...

man, what sort of poses are you guys trying to get, anyhow?

indeed... i had at least 5 hours into the IMAI/BANDAI 1/72 1J MAX GENIUS type i did back in the late 90's, which required all manner of painting as all of those old 1/72 VARIABLE TYPEs did (save for the Focker 1S and Ichijo 1J, which can get by with a relative minimum of paint work)