Chronocidal

It needs some work to not be ugly depending on the angle, probably with some tweaks to the shapes, but I think it has potential, especially if the upper half could be a sleeve that covers the lower when collapsed. But yeah, the thing that gave me the idea was just the original art. Look at the angle of the tip of the tail compared with the root. The tails just look like they're swept back. Folding in the tails the way I showed would actually be more accurate to the art, since it would be angling the tips the same way. The shapes of the tails just wouldn't be the same, and the panel lines wouldn't line up properly, since it's clear that the art just has them morphing like the YF-21's wings.

So I had a thought the other night, and decided to try a quick and dirty concept model. It would take some very high-precision molding or printing to make the proper parts.. but maybe with the right tail design, we can have our cake and eat it too. The folded tail is not going to look very nice.. but when you fold it up, it's covered by the booster. Keep the overlap on the inner side of the tail and it might not look bad. If you had the molding capability, you might be able to get really fancy, and have the lower half slide inside the upper, but that would be much harder to pull off, while keeping the tail looking good when extended.

Will look forward to seeing your review/comparison when you get to it! It's an interesting mix of features to process.

Not going to lie, the E-Wing would be pretty tempting, if it were anything approaching a reasonable price. Even if they did shamelessly gank it from the EU, and smash it face-first into a bunker until the nose collapsed. Seriously, why do they keep doing that with ships? Stop ramming them into solid objects! Though.. it actually might not be hard to get a printed nosecone to slap over the the stub. I had no idea Dora the Explorer got isekai'd into Star Wars though.

That was my thought as well. It's not going to be a small amount of masking, but it's definitely doable, if you only want to reduce the shine on certain parts.

Same thought I had. Store the better content in the superior package. Same thing I did with my de-specialized Star Wars DVDs when I got the bluray box.

Updating this with a few more detailed options, specifically for the SendCutSend site. I didn't really break down the options for what materials are available, or what settings are needed, so here are the options I think would give the best results. First off, the parts should always be measured in millimeters, and loading the drawings should give you the following overall dimensions: The thickness of the parts should be as close to 2 mm as possible, without going any thicker. The original parts from Sculpteo were cut from 2 mm stock, but depending on the material options from SendCutSend, you might not get that exact number. After looking through the options, there are really only three with thicknesses close enough that I'm going to call them viable: 1. Stainless Steel (304 Series) This one is probably the first to try. A little less thickness might not hurt, and the material will be the most sturdy. 2. Aluminum (5052 H32) 3. Aluminum (6061 T6) I do not have the material knowledge to really know what the differences between these two aluminum options are, or whether either would be different enough from the stainless steel to make them more or less suitable. The prices are all close enough to really be negligible in the long run. In fact, the most effective option? Since the site has a minimum order of about $40 USD, you may as well just order as many variants as you might want to try. I was able to order over 30 individual parts before I went above the minimum price. I would expect all parts to need some application of a metal file to smooth out rough edges. In that sense, aluminum might be easier to work with. You will also want to clean out the insides of the loops to make sure they do not rough-up the plastic parts when inserted, especially the pivot point for the wing. You want it to rotate smoothly so it doesn't grind up the plastic shaft. Once I actually place an order, I'll probably do another replacement from scratch on one of my stock YF-19s, and document the process carefully. If anyone does order these, please post your experience here for reference, since I might not have time to actually get a test set ordered for a while.

Honestly, the solution to the tails for me is just to only display it with the boosters, or in gerwalk. I still am interested in kitbashing a different backpack together for one though, just to see how it would change.

I wasn't planning on repainting anything if I can avoid it, just taking some of what Bandai put there off of the spine, since it's such a huge patch. The wings would definitely need repainting though, and I've just never gotten around to it.

Huh.. not something I'd probably pick up, but I will absolutely give them credit for probably the most creative use of effect parts I've seen so far for a transformer.. or really, any figure. Snapping them all together to make a display stand is a great way to keep track of them.

I'm actually kind of hoping KC will keep up with their figure-capable releases, and maybe give us an actual Gnerl for the first time in.. ever. It wouldn't be complex or particularly feature-rich, but if they give it articulated fins and nozzles, some retracting landing skids, and a cockpit on par with the Battlepod, I would actually pony up and preorder a couple.

Interesting idea, but including random pictures of sprues from unrelated kits is.. confusing? None of those are even parts from the completed kit they show.

I've been tempted to do the same thing at times, but mine don't tend to fall off quite that easily, and I have a hard time justifying another one. I still might if I see a good discount on Amazon. I think if I could just swap the feet from the Advance, I'd be happy. One thing I've been contemplating since release is actually stripping away a chunk of the black patch behind the cockpit on each side, raising the lower border until it's level with the canards all the way back. Unfortunately that also leaves the black hinges on the canards, because of course they drop below that line, and it's probably why the line is so low in the first place.

Yeah, I'm being at least partly sarcastic about it, but in my personal experience with every request I made for a replacement of anything broken or missing from any of the DX releases I've ordered going back to the VF-25, every single request was either outright denied, or I was told to send the entire item back at my own expense. My VF-25G Michael came missing his crotch plate, and I was basically turned down flat for any help. Bandai was just completely unwilling (or unable) to send me that missing part, and the best I've ever gotten until now was the vendor telling me to send them back the whole item for a replacement. Given how insane the demand has been for pretty much every DX release, I never saw that as a viable option, because I was not going to bet on there ever being any stock available to even exchange it for. That VF-25 purchase was the point where I started ordering two of everything, just to ensure better odds of getting at least one whole item. Even in the case of something like the VF-171s, that gave me pretty good odds of at least being able to combine two broken ones into one whole one.

Resurrecting this thread for the purposes of updating the status of those replacement wing brackets, and their availability from different laser cutting services. The original vendor I used for my metal brackets was Sculpteo.com. As I'm finding out apparently they've shut down their marketplace service as well? So I'm not sure you can even get the POM brackets I made there anymore. They had discontinued their metal cutting service long ago, and you can apparently still order the POM version, but now the shop is showing me a minimum order price of $50, at which point those just are not worth it. So, I'm not sure what the best option is. I've seen a few places recommending two sites for ordering custom laser-cut orders: SendCutSend (https://app.sendcutsend.com/) OshCut (https://app.oshcut.com/) These two seem to have slightly different approaches, but both seem to have solid reviews on quality. SendCutSend seems to be the preferred choice for very small one-off orders of unique parts, and while they have a minimum order price, it's not terrible (or no worse than Sculpteo was, anyhow). For a quick rundown, I uploaded the drawings and setup orders for a set of two brackets from both sites. SendCutSend has a very low per-part price ($2.13 for a single copy, and it decreases from there the more you order), but they bump up the order to an oddly specific minimum of $37.21. They do offer free standard shipping, and add normal sales tax, so for California, this came out to a total of $40.65, for up to 34 individual parts. That's how many I was able to add to the order before the minimum price was overcome. If you have a bunch of YF-19s to fix, this is absolutely the best way to go, provided the quality is good. OshCut's process is fairly similar, with a higher base part price ($6.20 for one, $4.41 for a pair, and decreasing from that point), a flat $15 setup fee, no minimum order, but also no free shipping. You would think that would give you a better price overall, but the cheapest shipping they offer is USPS Priority for $15.71, which feels completely ridiculous for literally a few of ounces of metal you could mail in an envelope with stamps. After tax, this one actually comes out about a dollar more, at $41.61. In the end, it's kind of a wash between the two. You may get better prices from shipping or tax options in other areas, but at the end of the day, a single pair is going to cost about $20 per piece. Considering how many I can get from SendCutSend for $40, it might make sense to just place a bulk order there to test the quality, and then offer to send them to anyone who wants some at the cost to ship, which should be pretty miniscule. I'm going to be paying the $40 to get a sample either way, so might as well get my money's worth out of the first order, and pass that on to anyone else who wants these. The other thing I will do is link the design files for the two sizes of brackets I made. That'll provide the maximum flexibility for anyone who might have another favorite service closer to them, or if you happen to have access to the machinery to cut these yourself. Hopefully the links will work correctly, and not trigger any weird filename warnings. The format is a very ancient standard of AutoCad file for vector drawings, and has been accepted by all of the assorted cutting service sites I tried. ============================================================================================================== Here is the file for the version that leaves wiggle room for the wing to better align the pylons directly forward: YF-19 Bracket Loose.dxf Note, the wiggle room shouldn't be sloppy, it just depends on the wing hinge being tightened, and the part tolerances fitting the pivot shaft in the wing. Here is the version that was shifted slightly to snug the wings up against the legs, giving the weapons a permanent very slight outward angle. YF-19 Bracket Tight.dxf I tested this copy again today, and could barely see any angle, but I'd rather keep both options available. ============================================================================================================== Please note, both of these files are designed to exact size, with no margin for material loss during cutting, so they're intended to use with metal. They may not work with other materials. When I had my POM copies cut, I had to add a margin for how much plastic would be burned away. Also, because I forgot to mention it earlier: these need to be cut from material 2 mm thick, or as close as possible. If anyone has any other recommendations for services, I'm happy to hear more suggestions. The two I listed here were just the main pair I saw called out in hobbyist forums over the course of searching this evening. Edit: As an addendum... I re-mounted a pair of the "Tight" brackets to test.. and I seriously can't see any outward angle anymore. Maybe my original impression was an optical illusion? The legs being angled towards the back does make them seem angled outward to the front in comparison. I'm thinking maybe the reason I kept the looser ones mounted was that having the wings held so tightly in place tended to pop open the leading edge of the wing gloves. Doing this mod requires popping any glue there (it wasn't very much), so while they stay together well enough without, pressure from the wing being pushed into them can cause them to leave a gap. Obviously you can re-glue them if you like, but I've left mine open and haven't replaced the screw covers so I have a copy to experiment on. It's starting to show too, because there are a couple places on the wing gloves and legs where the black striping is fading from how much I've handled the parts. There's a reason I call this one my "beater copy."

I've looked through the site, and they just completely stopped offering metals with their laser cutting/engraving service. I didn't notice specifically when it happened, so I may have missed the explanation, but now the only materials offered are MDF, plywood, acrylic sheet, and POM. I would think laser cutting services are much more common than 3D printing ones though, since cutting and engraving metal have a lot more everyday applications. I just haven't done a lot of research to find another service that would make the parts in metal, and not require bulk orders to make the production costs make sense. I did find one with a quick search that will cut them out of stainless steel (xometry.com), but to bring the price down to what I think feels reasonable (my prototype order from years back was about $10 per part), I'd have to order upwards of ten at a time. The unit cost for each part starts at $110 if you only order a single one, and doesn't drop below $10 until you order fifteen or more. I can't say the single unit cost is unreasonable considering the effort, but it's just not practical for anyone to order a set or two for their own use. It would have to go the way of a bulk order that I mailed out to anyone interested. I'm not really opposed to going that route if enough people need them, but I haven't seen that many people wanting to do the replacement. Edit: Browsed a little more, and it looks like OSH Cut (https://app.oshcut.com/) can fill smaller orders for a more reasonable price, about $24 for a pair in stainless steel, but you still run into the problem that these places are geared towards rapid bulk orders, which means the cheapest shipping option for something you could slip in an envelope with a stamp is over $15, meaning you're paying over $40 for one pair. I'll keep looking at options, but maybe the easiest thing to do is just to paste the cutting pattern, and let everyone browse for the best option they can find. I'll do that in the main YF-19 thread though, we've probably derailed this one enough.

Someone mark this down as a first in history: Bandai actually theoretically responding to a replacement part request! Well, a first for Macross DX releases, anyhow. I have no idea what their track record for any of their other franchises is like, but given the mentality they seem to follow (essentially a minimalist approach involving as little spare inventory as possible), I'd be surprised if anything else was different. Kind of incredible that it takes a failure of this magnitude before they actually give anything like what should be considered a reasonable response.

Oh, it's just because I was watching here in the forum. The option didn't appear until I loaded it on Youtube properly.

So those subtitles were all in Japanese, so not really helpful. Interesting sketches though, I feel like I recognize those designs as things from other anime series, but redrawn with gerwalk legs, so maybe they're actually doing inter-series crossovers between anime aircraft? Not sure if I would grab them myself since I'm not familiar enough with the series to have any real attachment to the designs, but I can say that's a whole lot more interesting than a giant beetle or dinosaur in Skull-1 markings.

Good luck, the scary part is probably just getting the parts inside the wings. None of my copies were glued enough that I couldn't spread the wing and pop out the stock metal hinges, but that doesn't mean others weren't glued better, and I remember the wings on the first release arriving broken for some folks, so be careful not to stress them.

The history of the mod I made is a ways back in the old YF-19 thread, but the short version is I made a new wing bracket that mounts solidly in the wing gloves, and completely removes the high speed mode in favor of a simple rotation point. Takes some minor disassembly, and depends partly on how well Arcadia glued the parts. I had to really dig at the screw covers on my original release, but they just popped out with no effort on the PF version. Fortunately, I didn't use Shapeways to make this particular part, and the service I used is still in service. They don't offer the parts in metal anymore, but the pair of POM brackets I installed in a second YF-19 are still holding up. They just take a little bit of filing along the long edge to make them fit against the legs. I still need to go and update the pattern I made for the metal ones to work with POM, since they needed an extra margin added for the plastic that would be burned away by the laser. Parts seem like they're still available here, but I haven't ordered any since my original batch. https://www.sculpteo.com/en/print/pom-wing-mount/ii6HRFai?basket=1&noclickredirect=1&uuid=89QWzZybWQJU9fpl8eHUub

I think my biggest gripe with both is the dumb wing hinges, which I was able to just replace on the Arcadia, but Bandai's... everything is just too hard to disassemble. Feet on the DX would be better if they stuck with the VF-19 Advance design, but I do find myself waffling back and forth on which I prefer. Arcadia's is leaps and bounds easier to transform though, it's actually kind of a pleasant process by comparison.

I'm not sure thy could pull off an 89 Batwing without some massive weirdness to use the wings, but that old F-19 concept would make a solid platform for a transformer, just because it's such a solid brick of a plane with not much wing to get in the way. Granted, it might wind up needing some Sv-262 style plastic origami to transform into a chunky robot of any sort, but I am surprised we've never really seen that one. On the other hand, I'm actually disappointed we didn't see them pull out an X-30 Conquest crossover during all of the GI Joe releases. All they really had to do was repaint this one.

Hah.. not going to go buying bootleg bricks, but I wouldn't mind grabbing a scan of the instructions to examine.

I think at this point, I'm less interested in more "canon" Legioss designs, and more in new interpretations like we saw with the new Tread artwork from a while back. Sentinel pretty well nailed it, and while I wouldn't mind seeing an even bigger version, I have no idea whether it would be affordable. I'd just be interested in seeing what a more aircraft-focused approach would give us. I'm not going to say I've worked out how any of the transformation would work, or what the proportions would look like, but I'd be interested to see if anyone could make something along these lines work at all. Would this actually work? I'm thinking not very well, since it would lose a lot of the chunky charm of the original. The arms might work, if the whole lower arm shrouded the upper like an extended VF-1 elbow. The wings would probably need to be much smaller to start with though, and collapse in other ways. I would just be interested to see if anyone could come up with something that makes it look more like an aircraft, and less like an almost SD/Joke Machine-esque design, even in canon. Maybe even if just the cockpit was shrunken down somewhat? It just looks cartoonishly huge.