Nujevad

At least they give you spares. As for me, the left shoulder was very floppy. Upon closer inspection, I saw a break on the plastic which held the elbow joint to the shoulder, the one which gets covered by the sheaths.

So it's exactly like my old VF-1S? I guess I can just get regular, non-fast-pack Hikky if I decide to get another one then.

I just saw the VF-1A at my local hobby store and it didn't seem to have the Strike cannon. What does it have in it's place?

1/60=1 1/72=0 1/48=1

It's a good thing I already have a PSP.

The screwdriver I use has a rounded tip, it's the ones I use on my glasses. If your screwdriver is kinda edgy, you could try wrapping it with a thin sheet of tissue paper.

I use a small flat head screwdriver to get those intakes open, as well as getting the landing gear out.

Hmm, hopefully the plastic is indeed just factory runoff, but as you said, no visible parts of the valk is broken off and that makes me think that it might be one of the inner parts which holds some joints together. Try what the others recommended and transform him and see if any part is looser than before.

Do you have a photo of the unknown piece of plastic?

Getting a standard Valk would be a good idea if you were one of the few unlucky ones to get a busted Strike. It's also appealing for those who want to build a whole fleet.

This might not apply to everyone but I found that using a tool, like a very small flathead screwdriver, can help in dislodging some of those tight parts. Take the part where the legs are locked to the chest plate in fighter mode, instead of bending the whole leg inwards to dislodge it, insert the tool in the gap and gently apply pressure to both the leg and the tool. Another part where it helps is with the swinging part of the shoulder joint. Using the tool helps getting the joint over the small hurdle which locks it into place.

Mine is perfect, but being used to the 1/48s so long, I wasn't thinking when I was positioning the shoulders. I almost broke the arm off thinking the arm pivots from the shoulder armor. Good thing I looked at the joint at the last minute and saw that it's actually different.