m0n5t3r

did you get even just a reply for your tail fin request? i put in an order for those twice and never even got a reply both times...

very keen observation/s... i guess they figured a new head constituted a new valk and that people would just snap on the GBP armor on the 1J and wouldn't notice the discoloration. i wonder where they stored these overstocks for the past year since you said that the 1J w/ the GBP has more yellowing happening to it than the one you previously bought... EDIT - looking on the bright side... it'll eventually even out, since the whiter parts are now the only ones exposed...

or at least make it as thick and sturdy as the shoulder hinges of the 1/48 VF-1s or 1/60 VF-0s. They should realize this (if they haven't yet) and do the same thing they did when they redesigned the crotch lock system for the v.2 VF-1s to match the 1/48's. but i don't think they will, seeing as using the smooth pins essentially solves the problem... it's a half-a$$ed solution but they'll definitely say that it a solution that works. EDIT - correct me if i am wrong, but IIRC, the reason why Yamato decided to redesign the crotch system was because a lot of Japanese buyers were complaining about it??? maybe the G-man can impress upon Yamato that we have valid complaints and we're not just a bunch of whiners and complainers... hahahaha

fixed it for ya!

oh, i also remember another member mentioned that his 1S Roy Low-Vis had knurled pins and that the stress marks were more obvious w/ the darker plastic. I don't have one of those so i can't make sure myself.

well, then those definitely still have knurled ends. my VF-1S Max and VE-1 shoulder pins DO NOT rotate w/ the outer shoulder part, so i'm pretty sure that they have the new completely smooth pins.

nope, they don't. there's enough tension between the pin and the inner part of the hinge assembly(the one attached to the backplate). an easy way to find out if the pin has knurling or not is just to swing the arms/shoulders... if the pin DOES NOT rotate w/ the outer part of the hinge(the one connected to the arm/shoulder assembly) then they should be perfectly smooth... and vise versa.

for those thinking that their VF-1Ds have the smooth pins... better check again... they may look like this (no visible knurling on either side) - but there's some little extra metal on top of the knurling that hides it when it's slotted in the hole. <----- paranoid

yikes! that's way worse than VT-1 patient zero. and here i thought i was the only one that got a VT-1 w/ them bad pins.

not just extra pins... make it a couple of extra

checked my valks... apparently i wasn't able to remove enough of the knurling on one of the shoulder hinges on one of my 1S Fockers that has been on display in battroid for the last year... disassembled it already and i just took a pic before i try to fix it... i didn't notice it at first coz it cracked at the back part instead of the usual place. ...and does this count?... there are still some micro-cracks/stress marks that can be seen even after i had removed the knurling way back last year... ...all the others seem to be fine.

don't forget to ask about the reg. release standalone GBP :D

LOL! i sure wouldn't want any of them 3rd kind of gnurl on my pin! but seriously, even if a knurled pin doesn't necessarily mean it will crack/break, i would definitely prefer to have the smooth pins on every v.2 VF-1 that i would be buying from now on.

"gnurl"... i just had to look it up, LOL

hey man, can you double check by swinging the hinge/s inward/outward... there are some, like on my 1D where you can't see the knurling/teeth from just looking at it... if the pin stays put and doesn't rotate when you swing the hinge, then it definitely has the new smooth pins. TIA.

if Yamato plans to sell off their old stocks some more, the least they could do is pack a couple of non-knurled replacement shoulder hinges in a little ziplock bag just like what LAFtoys did w/ the replacement screws for the v.2 flexidisplay stands.

well... using the non-knurled pin/s is the actual fix... somebody just f@cked it up all over again...

IMHO, Yamato will never use metal for the shoulder hinge part coz it's still basically the same (at least similar) design as w/ the ones used for the 1/48 VF-1s and 1/60 VF-0s... and those haven't had any problems... the v.2 1/60 hinges are just smaller and less sturdy esp. when you factor in the fat-ass knurled end of the pin. They're not gonna spend knowing it works as long as they use non-knurled pins. on topic... i really hope Yamato will finally announce that they will be coming out w/ the regular release standalone GBP armor... both canon and non-canon...

hey, since we're talking stress marks and all... one (or maybe two) of the shoulder hinges that i modded on my VF-1S Roy has some micro-cracks on the top sloped part...

and there's the "311" modex on the real Shin type... here are a couple of VF-0A pics from jenius' site for comparison: Shin CF

it's been on one side only from when they first released the v.2 VF-1S Roy. Max 1S and VE-1 both have smooth non-knurled pins. my VT-1 has 'em knurled pins...

man, that's worse than the old pics of cracked shoulder hinges that i've seen... it could also be that some (if not all) of the VF-1Js that were packaged w/ GBP-1S were leftover 1st releases... or it could be some random factory worker mistake like w/ what happened to my VT-1 having knurled shoulder hinge pins, since there are other parts of the v.2 VF-1 that uses them knurled pins. Thank god it's still okay along w/ my VF-1D.

poke the tabs out from under the wing/s...

wow... sold out already on Hobby Search... man, Yamato's gotta be saying "why didn't we think of doing this before!?!?! less work and more profit for us... muahhaha..."

gotta hand it to Yamato though... it probably cost them less to put on some gray paint and pack the VF-1Js w/ the GBP-1S than make a new box and add that penlight thingy, like what they did for the Focker and Hik VF-1Ss w/ SSP... and they're probably gonna be able to dispose more of these (1J) than the 1Ss.