Well, between bad painting weather, being sick, and my growing disdain for all things Bandai Macross transformable, this spent WAAAAAY too long on my bench. However, finally finished it.
Yes, it does go into fighter mode; however, it's so poorly designed that it's actually resting on the arm armor, not the landing gear. There's no way to properly tuck the arms up high enough. Also, they use some type of soft crappy plastic for arm and leg attachment points. Good luck changing positions or modes without a litany of curses.