YF-19 Chest Tubes

[Graham]

A few months ago, there was a thread where we discussed what is the function of those two tubes on the underside of the YF-19's chest.

Some people thought they are chest guns, while others (me) thought they might be part of the transformation mechanism to lock the mecha together in fighter mode. In the end, there was no evidence either way to reach a firm conclusion.

I personally dispute the chest gun theory, namely because no chest guns are mentioned on the Macross Compendium, which is the most accurate and official English language source of information on the YF-19 and a direct translation of Japanese source material.

I couldn't find the old thread, so thought I'd start a new one as I possibly have some new information.

Yesterday, after a couple of years of procrasinating, I finally broke down and purchased the Hasegawa YF-19 model. On the instruction manual, I was surprised to find what appears to be some lineart of the underside of the YF-19's chest area , which looks to be drawn by Kawamori and has some writting perhaps explaining what the chest tubes are. See pic below.

Perhaps Renato would be good enough to translate, so we can end this mystery once and for all.

Graham

[Graham]

Here's a larger scan of the text.

Graham

[Graham]

Just for those of you who are not sure what tubes I am referring to.

Graham

[Ghadrack]

This might sound dumb because I haven't really taken a close look at a toy or model representation recently, but I was under the impression that they were functioning in fighter mode as a conduit of some sort between the cockpit electronics and the tail assembly and the engines, in battroid mode they were non-functional, of course, that would take anime magic and make them actually nothing more than aerodynamic lookie-loo parts. But, that is from a complete aircraft layman, just from looking at the pictures.

Is there a cut-away picture of the YF-19's "Guts" like the VF-1? You may not get the technical explanation that you are looking for, but if you can see a picture of where the tubes connect it may help understand their funtion better.

Edit- I thought they "plugged" in to the thrusters in the back but it doesn't look like they do

Edited February 21, 2005 by Ghadrack

[Duke Togo]

Nipples, man, nipples! Its like when they put nipples on the Batsuit.

[UN_MARINE]

i always thought they were vulcans....

most of the material i've seen suggest a 4-barrel gun in each tube

...then again, it could just be me & my "more guns = better" thing

sensor array maybe...... or FLIR ?

Edited February 22, 2005 by UN_MARINE

[Zentrandude]

I say its a special locking device so in fighter mode it doesn't break in half during high-g turns.

[The_WOZ]

I can only read battroid written in katakanas. So I guess the tubes only have a function in battroid mode.

[JB0]

Spotlights?

[Graham]

I say its a special locking device so in fighter mode it doesn't break in half during high-g turns.

That makes sense.

Graham

[AlphaHX]

I say its a special locking device so in fighter mode it doesn't break in half during high-g turns.

That makes sense.

Graham

Shouldnt the VF-19 Kai or VF-19S/F have them if that was the case?

[zeo-mare]

maybe by the time those were made they had made improvements prehaps they were more on the inside where they could not be seen, plus better metal maybe on the outside? i always thought they were guns myself. though the locking peices seems very interesting.

chris

Edited February 22, 2005 by zeo-mare

[Zentrandude]

maybe by the time those were made they had made improvements prehaps they were more on the inside where they could not be seen, plus better metal maybe on the outside? i always thought they were guns myself. though the locking peices seems very interesting.

chris

that can be but also s/f was mainly for space or maybe it is still there but its more hidden by retracting into the chest area in battroid mode than the YF version.

[Chronocidal]

Something interesting to note about those tubes... The fronts of them aren't exposed in the original lineart, at least not in fighter mode. Hasegawa changed the lines of the forward fuselage when they made the model, and those tubes got uncovered. Where the model's lower fuselage has a thin fuselage around the front landing gear, with small flat portions to either side, the original fuselage was rounded all the way across, and covered the fronts of those tubes. So, they can't be guns, at least not in fighter mode.

[AlphaHX]

If they turn out to be guns, I wouldnt be surprise. Ive always wondered what the YF-19 used to shoot at the ghost in the end of Macross Plus. I was under the impression that the Isamu lost his gun pod with his fight with Guld.

[Graham]

If they turn out to be guns, I wouldnt be surprise. Ive always wondered what the YF-19 used to shoot at the ghost in the end of Macross Plus. I was under the impression that the Isamu lost his gun pod with his fight with Guld.

The YF-19 still has the two lasers in the wing roots.

Graham

[Graham]

Something interesting to note about those tubes... The fronts of them aren't exposed in the original lineart, at least not in fighter mode. Hasegawa changed the lines of the forward fuselage when they made the model, and those tubes got uncovered. Where the model's lower fuselage has a thin fuselage around the front landing gear, with small flat portions to either side, the original fuselage was rounded all the way across, and covered the fronts of those tubes. So, they can't be guns, at least not in fighter mode.

Hasegawa has made changes from the lineart for just about every single one of their Macross models. We had quite a heated thread discussing this point in the model forum recently. They are still fantastic kits though, even if not following kawamori's designs 100%.

Graham

[AlphaHX]

If they turn out to be guns, I wouldnt be surprise. Ive always wondered what the YF-19 used to shoot at the ghost in the end of Macross Plus. I was under the impression that the Isamu lost his gun pod with his fight with Guld.

The YF-19 still has the two lasers in the wing roots.

Graham

Oh... just reread the Macross Compendium.

That explains a lot.

Thanx.

[Anubis]

I like the fighter mode lock mechanism idea.

[Renato]

The last kanji is just a scribble to me, I'd have to show it to somebody else, but what I can read is "the double chest *things* during Battroid mode" (*things* is where the enigmatic kanji is). Could well be nipples, for all we know.

Funny how Kawamori's designs are so pretty, yet his writing sucks.

-- EDIT --

I tried a different strategy, and thought of what it COULD be... I tried the kanji for "cannon" and I think it matches up pretty well, so in my view, them there be "double chest cannons during Battroid mode".

Edited February 22, 2005 by Renato

[UN_MARINE]

i'll go with the twin gattling guns theory,

it's possible the compendium just missed 'em

IMO they're too big to be any sort of locking mechanism, & i've never seen any other VF

with an "obvious" locking mechanism on any part....

even the VF 1 FAST packs don't have any obvious support structure in the line art,

they only appeared on the toys & kits

...well, that's my 2 cents

[Ido]

I'm sure they are the Yf-19 battroid backup weapons, the head laser don't look like it can bend forward and the fighter/gerwalk cannon seems don't usable in battroid mode.

Edited February 22, 2005 by Ido

[Final Vegeta]

I think Kawamori wanted to leave open a room for further add-ons. If he ever included again a YF-19 in one of his new Macross, he would have turned these chest tubes into other sensed and unexpected things, like a kind of beam sabers.

It can't leave my mind the idea that he simply thought they looked cool, though.

Btw, the SV-51 has similar holes in the side of the chest, but the Compendium doesn't mention any chest cannons either. Maybe it is simply a mecha fashion (I suddenly had the vision of a white shirt with regult beam guns over the nipples).

FV

[Ido]

The compendium mention One (two in SV-51γ) fixed Gsh-231 12.7 mm mini-gun, it doesn't say the position so they could be the sv-51 chest cannons.

[Tomato]

Are you sure about the SV-51 not having chest cannons? I thought they were used when that one 51 ripped a hole into Asuka II and shot up some of the crew...But then again I haven't seen zero in a while and could be wrong about what that SV-51 used.

[twich]

The machine guns on the SV-51 are located on the legs, by the air intakes, or on the hips in battroid.

Twich

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

Easy: Holes for future GBP armor to lock into in battroid mode.

Given the skinny anorexic look of the battroid, the armor would help prevent it from splitting in half if a zentradi got close enough to rip apart its skinny frame.

As the fighters becomes smaller and more agile, battroids become thin and fragile.

I used to think though that these might have been flame throwers for heating up giant chickens for zentradi soldiers to eat when there was no camp fire on the field. Similar to how the gunpod could be used to light giant cigarettes. Ones used for space would have the boobs removed. But if a one-to-one britai style hand to hand fight ever happened and ammo was scarce or the gunpod was knocked from the hand, the chest flame thrower would act as a surprise weapon for in-close combat to avoid being thrown around.

Edited February 22, 2005 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[AlphaHX]

Are you sure about the SV-51 not having chest cannons? I thought they were used when that one 51 ripped a hole into Asuka II and shot up some of the crew...But then again I haven't seen zero in a while and could be wrong about what that SV-51 used.

Those guns are actually located on the side of his legs where the blue arrows are pointing in the picture.

[JB0]

I think Kawamori wanted to leave open a room for further add-ons. If he ever included again a YF-19 in one of his new Macross, he would have turned these chest tubes into other sensed and unexpected things, like a kind of beam sabers.

Riiiiiiight...

[Tomato]

Are you sure about the SV-51 not having chest cannons?  I thought they were used when that one 51 ripped a hole into Asuka II and shot up some of the crew...But then again I haven't seen zero in a while and could be wrong about what that SV-51 used.

Those guns are actually located on the side of his legs where the blue arrows are pointing in the picture.

I stand corrected.

[AlphaHX]

We need to translate the tag that Graham posted.

I tried to clean it up a bit...

[Arrowyn]

They could also be thrusters. In DYRL, the chest plate on Hikaru's Valk serves as a kind of retro-thruster (or a vernier). (y'know, the scene where he tells Misa to screw off, then blows his extra armor to chase the Zentran who got into the ship...)

It would make sense that the 19 would have similar equipment, given that it's the most agile valk. It would NEED one (or a pair) of these thrusters to pull off some of the moves that it does. I don't recall seeing them in action in MPlus though.

Otherwise, the "GBP" attach points seems credible, too.

[imode]

I think it says バトロイド<something, maybe 形>の両腕下部

Which basically says portion under the arms in battroid mode. Not 100% sure, but if you can get a higher resolution scanning, it'd be much easier to read than that one.

[AlphaHX]

Also since we're on the subject of "what is THAT?"...

Can anyone tell me what the highlighted green part on the head does?

[zeo-mare]

those also look like little machine guns damn doesnt anyone have a guide book with all the detail and explanasions of this design. where is Nanashi he might know (oh yea thats right he is no longer registered )

Edited February 24, 2005 by zeo-mare