I just got my strike VF-1S

[Laserstorm]

This morning postman brought me my MISB Strike VF-1S in 1/60 scale . And of course I have some questions concerning some quality issues. Now I was probably spoiled by Hasbro with transformers, as I expected this toy to be of a better quality. My main gripes are the way the toy connects as strike variant in fighter mode. It seems floppy in my mind, the hands don't connect to well with the legs, they do hold together but a slight shake and they detach. Is this common with Yamato? Also more important, the backpack section in fighter mode (strike variant) is way to floppy for my taste. Whenever I tilt the nose upward about an inch and a half, the whole section with the FAST packs just swings backwards, it isn't holding very well. This scarred me, as I thought 'Oh my, how will he hold in battroid?', but lucky me, when you fold the wings down everything locks great. And the hip joints are to stiff.

In gerwalk mode (strike and regular) he's fine, it also holds quite well in battroid mode (regular and strike, although strike is kinda backheavy, I need to position him so he doesn't fall back). Fighter mode as regular variant is tight (and I mean 'toight') and looks gorgeous, my favorite.

Oh, forgot about the gunpod. When I collapse the grip and lock it into position in fighter mode (either variant) the muzzle is angled toward the body it's not parallel with the body. As strike variant it helps, because otherwise the muzzle would have touched the ground, but as regular fighter it just looks stupid. Is this the same with every strike valkyrie or just mine?

Help guys, I want to know about this.

[AlphaHX]

I dont have the strike version but I'll try to help.

As for the fighter mode feeling floppy, be sure to lock the legs in where I circled blue in the picture. I have a hard time locking that in myself and it feels floppy. When it actually locks it should "click" and it should be quite sturdy.

As for the gunpod, I personally think it looks fine. You can use my picture as a comparison.

Hope this helps.

Edited March 23, 2005 by AlphaHX

[VF-19]

I have a Super 1J, and everything holds together nicely in either mode. The wings, when folded, help support the backpack in battroid mode. When in fighter mode, gently, and I repeat GENTLY push the hinge forward until it clicks (its not fragile, but you should be nice to it). There should be a lesser chance of the FAST packs flopping down.

[jardann]

I second VF-19s idea. I am always kinda scared when I push the backpack all the way up/back, but it holds much better if you do. It feels like your pushing far harder thatn you should have to, but it works.

Congrats on finally getting a valk. Watch out for the 1/48s now! Your wallet will never be the same!

[Laserstorm]

I dont have the strike version but I'll try to help.

As for the fighter mode feeling floppy, be sure to lock the legs in where I circled blue in the picture. I have a hard time locking that in myself and it feels floppy. When it actually locks it should "click" and it should be quite sturdy.

As for the gunpod, I personally think it looks fine. You can use my picture as a comparison.

Hope this helps.

I stated that fighter mode as regular variant is realy tight it's the strike variant fighter mode that's floppy. It locks at the intake points, the problem is at the arm-leg locking points. The pegs on the forearm armor aren't flush tight with the holes in the legs, so when you shake the valk they detach from one another.

[AlphaHX]

I dont have the strike version but I'll try to help.

As for the fighter mode feeling floppy, be sure to lock the legs in where I circled blue in the picture. I have a hard time locking that in myself and it feels floppy. When it actually locks it should "click" and it should be quite sturdy.

As for the gunpod, I personally think it looks fine. You can use my picture as a comparison.

Hope this helps.

I stated that fighter mode as regular variant is realy tight it's the strike variant fighter mode that's floppy. It locks at the intake points, the problem is at the arm-leg locking points. The pegs on the forearm armor aren't flush tight with the holes in the legs, so when you shake the valk they detach from one another.

Oops, sorry. My misunderstanding.

[Laserstorm]

I have a Super 1J, and everything holds together nicely in either mode. The wings, when folded, help support the backpack in battroid mode. When in fighter mode, gently, and I repeat GENTLY push the hinge forward until it clicks (its not fragile, but you should be nice to it). There should be a lesser chance of the FAST packs flopping down.

I'll try that, thanx. I was thinking of doing something like that, but I wasn't sure, I can't read japanese, and the instructions aren't that detailed.

[do not disturb]

I dont have the strike version but I'll try to help.

As for the fighter mode feeling floppy, be sure to lock the legs in where I circled blue in the picture. I have a hard time locking that in myself and it feels floppy. When it actually locks it should "click" and it should be quite sturdy.

As for the gunpod, I personally think it looks fine. You can use my picture as a comparison.

Hope this helps.

I stated that fighter mode as regular variant is realy tight it's the strike variant fighter mode that's floppy. It locks at the intake points, the problem is at the arm-leg locking points. The pegs on the forearm armor aren't flush tight with the holes in the legs, so when you shake the valk they detach from one another.

then don't shake your valk.

you might try twisting the calf a little so that the pegs on the arm armor and the holes in the legs line up correctly. i dont' really get buck with my valks so i don't really have this problem.

[Laserstorm]

I was browsing through the instructions when I had a closer look and I was talking

about this when I mentioned the gunpod:

See how it's tilted? When everything is locked (yeah right) into place its tip is

angled towards the body. As I allready said as strike variant it helps because it

would be touching the ground, but as the regular variant it's realy an eyesore. Oh

well, I guess you can't have the money AND the sweets, if you know what I mean.

[Laserstorm]

i dont' really get buck with my valks so i don't really have this problem.

Uhm, I don't understand you very well. Can you clearify?

[Desram]

My 1/60 cf is exactly the same. In fighter mode, when you mount the gunpod, the barrel is tilted upward towards the cockpit instead of running parrallel along the body of the plane. It's pretty ugly. Also mine has similar floppy areas. One of the legs doesn't stay connected to the arms and the little landing light on the knee always falls open. Also one of the legs is mysteriously longer by a teensy amount that only became apparent when standing in battroid. Oh well, it's still a purdy toy.

[Die, Alien Scum!]

As far as the gunpod goes, make sure the grip is pushed in all the way. If it's not seated properly, the muzzle will be angled upward. I'd show you some pics, but I don't have any batteries for my digital camera right now.

[wolfx]

Don't have that problem with the gunpod....

And based on this picture, its tilted upwards because the grip is extended out of the gunpod for use in gerwalk and battroid mode. But i'm quite sure you pushed it back in during transformation tro fighter mode?

[Die, Alien Scum!]

Okay, I dug up some batteries. That photo from the instructions isn't much help. It shows the older setup on the TV Hikaru 1J Super. On those the gunpod's grip doesn't fold into the barrel. Anyway, this is what I was trying to get across.

Edited March 24, 2005 by Die, Alien Scum!

[Desram]

The grip isn't collapsable on the 1/60 cf.

[Laserstorm]

As far as the gunpod goes, make sure the grip is pushed in all the way. If it's not seated properly, the muzzle will be angled upward. I'd show you some pics, but I don't have any batteries for my digital camera right now.

Hey, I managed to push the grip all the way in. Now it's flush with the fuselage in

fighter mode. I was scared it might break, that's why I didn't push it to much. But then you said about not pushing it right, so I went ahead and pushed it until it clicked and went in completely. Now its perfect.

[Laserstorm]

Today I spent about 5-6 hours aplying stickers. I must be out of shape, last time I was putting stickers on something was about 10 years ago, when I bought G1 Sandstorm. Back then all tf's had stickers, not like today.

Anyway, applying stickers today was realy hard work, especially all those little ones. And I used less than half of all the stickers. A lot of stickers needed trimming, UN SPACY especially, and the dash board (spent 10 minutes afterwards trying to align it right in the cockpit).

I was also in a dillema about what stickers should I put on tailfins, SDF-1 or Prometheus? I used ARMD-1 on the fast packs, because we all know that strike VF-1S is shown in DYRL and all fighters in DYRL are launched from ARMD platforms. Anyway I was thinking 'which ones should I put on tailfins?'. In the first episode of the series Roy is taking off the runway which was beside the SDF-1 on land, which means (I at least think so) that he was stationed on the SDF-1 and the plane was taken out for the air show. That was confirmed after the SDF-1 takes off and we see Roy with Hikaru and Minmay landing in the hangars on board SDF-1. But I did go and put Prometheus because later in the series the whole Skull squadron was launched from Prometheus. I think this is because the Skull squadron is the best of the whole fighter contingent and as such were sent first, and the fastest method for launch was catapulting them off the carrier.

And the Yamato botch up the sticker for RoX-24 beam cannon. They were made black instead of white. You can barely see them on the cannon.

There are a lot of stickers I have no idea of where to put. Are there good sticker placement instructions on the internet somewhere to download (in large format)?

[do not disturb]

sticker placement? try using the search function.

BTW, yamato stickers suck, you might want to try and score some after market stickers from either VE or twinmoons. i'm not sure if they got any 1/60 scale stickers left but its worth a shot.

[Lone Wolf]

I still think the toy is great even with all its faults.

Edited March 25, 2005 by Lone Wolf

[Laserstorm]

I still think the toy is great even with all its faults.

It sure is. I'm glad I bought it.

[jenius]

Ugh, I just got my 1/60 VF-1S Strike today... and I don't know if "great" is exactly the word I would use to describe it. This is the first 1/60 I ever purchased. Maybe it's because I own a 1/48 VF-1S Strike... and just about every other VF-1S strike ever made, but I feel like this toy leaves a LOT to be desired. After all the praise on MW for the 1/60s (especially in comparisons to 1/55s) I guess I just had way too high of expectations. This will certainly be the only 1/60 I ever purchase.

[Akilae]

I stated that fighter mode as regular variant is realy tight it's the strike variant fighter mode that's floppy. It locks at the intake points, the problem is at the arm-leg locking points. The pegs on the forearm armor aren't flush tight with the holes in the legs, so when you shake the valk they detach from one another.

I also have that problem on my own newly acquired VF-1S Strike... ended up squeezing the legs together and hoping that the arms won't flop down as long as I don't play around with it. Maybe I'll display it in gerwalk mode...

[Lynx7725]

Pics pple. Can't help you guys troubleshoot without pics.

Laserstorm: You sure you got the right pegs in the right holes? The Strike-1S changes which pegs goes into which holes, due to the FAST packs on the legs and arms.

Alternatively, could be your gunpod giving you problem. I dimly recall one of my gunpods have too small a hole for the peg, and it forces the arms apart (and thus a bit wobbly), but nothing a quite pass with a needle file won't fix.

[Black Valkyrie]

I also had problems with my 1/60 at first but IMO it`s the best VF-1 toy especially for playing in battriod mode.

[zeo-mare]

in regards to the 1/60's, i did not really like my 1/60 VF-1J , i like the 1/48's much better. mine always felt loose and seemed prone to falling over alot (I had the GBP armor on it). so i will probably will not be buying any more 1/60 anytime soon.

chris