1/55's revisited

[Shawn]

attached are the pics from the live auction
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/t1157557958

it looks like the backpack and tailfins are one shade of orange, and the head/chest another.

but the backpack and tailfins don't LOOK painted, so I was thinking maybe resin cast, but who really knows just a guess

[nightmareB4macross]

Nice custom you found there. Where did you find this?

The head appears to be that of a 1/100 kit.

 

Edited 22 hours ago by nightmareB4macross

[jvmacross]

1 hour ago, nightmareB4macross said:

Nice custom you found there. Where did you find this?

The head appears to be that of a 1/100 kit.

 

The 1/00 Arii kits are very much in-scale to the 1/100 Takatokus....the only thing that is making me think this is not a 1/100 VF-1D kit head, is I think the seam on the 1/100 Arii head unit is molded into top and bottom halves....this VF-1D head looks like it has not been worked on, like removing the seams or painted....I am not a kit guy but maybe someone can post a pic of the unpainted VF-1D head from one of the ARII 1/100 Battroid kits...I believe it should be molded in the same 'tan' color....maybe from the 1/100 transforming kits?

It is known that Takatoku had a VF-1D planned, but was postponed due to other priorities in their production schedule...then the BK happened....I would not be surprised if mock ups had been created for both the 1/55 and 1/100 lines by Matsushiro....for these toys it probably would have just been a head and 'maybe' different chest piece, but doubtful...they probably would have just went with stickers for the chest piece....so it wouldn't have been a large amount of work for them to roll-out a couple of demo VF-1D's....it is nice to imagine that this is one of those 'mock ups' for the VF-1D....

Not only am I not a kit guy, I also am not much into the KOs...I'm curious, was there a 'Takatoku-based' 1/100 VF-1D KO?  If anyone knows, I would imagine it would be you...lol

 

[nightmareB4macross]

You are correct about the head being reworked, as you can also see the vents on the back of the head have prominent characteristic bubbles from resin casting.

[grogall]

@Shawn Thanks for the pictures! When I first started collecting the 1:55 Takatoku's, I always was looking to get the VF1D. Since some of my 1:55 had a small rollup catalog showing the VF-1D as an upcoming release. So I think this might be an early prototype if it isn't a self made mockup!? It's kind of sad that the VF-1D never got released in 1:55 since it's one of the most prominent Valk's in the first two episodes...

Edited 18 hours ago by grogall

[Shawn]

My initial thoughts right now is that this is a prototype or anything, just curious on what appears to be a recast tailfin/backpack, which isn't the norm for most customizers who just do repaints. At least in the pictures it doesn't LOOK painted. But it we see bubbles in the back of the head for on the VF-1D head, then perhaps the backpack was recast in resin. Until proven otherwise its assume a good custom, not to start off any rumors.

Unfortunately that Takatoku 1/55 VF-1D was just an example of how you could customize your valkyrie yourself, that one pictured in the ads and catalogs was not representative of a prototype or anything. It was frequently shown with that light blue variant and black variant as well.

[jenius]

I want to believe! That backpack, if painted, looks very well done. If resin, then the color after all these years is fantastic, as is the quality. Are the arm stripe stickers orange or red? 

[jvmacross]

[jenius]

My understanding is that the toys were expensive so they were marketed to adults with the premise they were easily modified like models. Paint it like any Valkyrie from the show!