Basic Best Practices For New Yamato 1/48 Owners.

[pirata]

I intend this thread to be a gathering of information, advice and links to relevant threads regarding basic fixing, improvement and customization of newly owned Yamato 1/48s.

-first of all, reissue guessing. I explain my case first: I've bought a Yamato 1/48 VF-1S. The seller says it is 4th reissue. I can see the annoying diagonal seam under the cockpit and one of the skull emblems on one of the tail fins is not straight. The nosecone does have the tabs and the radar has correspondent tracks. Flaps seem tight and can move up- and downwards. Canopy remains open by itself.

So: can I be sure that this is 4th reissue? How can a buyer know which reissue its toy belongs to?

-fixing: besides cutting excess of plastic here and there with a cutter, is there anything else I can do to fix problems? I am referring to the seam under the cockpit and along the robot's head as well as the not-straight skull and any other thing you might know about.

-improving: is there any means to improve the toy? I mean, for instance: the hands are tiny and not very appealing. Is there anybody out there that makes better ones? Can I buy a different, completely painted head? Regarding stickers: can I buy a stickert set better than the Yamato one? Which ones are the best?

-customizing: what can be done here that is not terribly demanding skill-wise? Panel lining? How should it be done? What material should be use? Which color? (in my case, I have standard white-yellow-black Roy Fokker painting) How should I apply it?

Thanks to anybody willing to share their knowledge.

Cheers,

Pirata

[big F]

I can try and answer some of your questions. Others here are more quailified to answer the rest.

The whole skull thing is an on going one. the only way I know of is to repaint the tail wings and add new skulls straight. You can get waterslide decals for the 1/48`s which are much better than the standard stickers from various places made by our very own Anazazi37.

As far as pannel lines are concerned there are many methods. you can use Gundam pens, fine line perminant markers, draftsman pencils, oil washing or my personal favorite thinnned down Tamiya black paint ( the consistancy of writing ink) dropped into the lines via a fine paint brush. There are guides to how to do it on the web and also if I remember here on MWF. You could also ask the paint gods here like WMCheng and co They have probably forgotten more than I know about painting.

Customising is an area that can range from the 10 min fix to the complete teardown and rebuild, there are people here who are better quailified than me. My area is 1/55`s, as far as my 1/60`s and 1/48`s are concerned I tend to just pannel line and put a few knocks and scrapes on them, and may be sort out ill fitting parts.

As far as the hands are concernened the ones that come with the GBP kit are much more in keeping with the anime I think. Obviously you could just get a GBP and use the hands while not using the GBP parts. This would be really expensive. The hands are not too dissimilar to Some Gundam hands. You can buy spare hands for them made by co`s like Wave and Kotobukiya, but as I have not seen them in person I can not be specific which ones you need, all the scales are listed as Gundam scales which I think are different to Macross. I am currently looking for some while Im in Japan for myself when I find somewhere that has them in stock I`ll post to let you know. I know that the clown hands have been recast and were being sold by someone here but I dont think the GBP articulated ones have been. If they have I want some.

Hope that helped you a bit and welcome to the board.

Edited April 20, 2006 by big F

[pirata]

>I can try and answer some of your questions. Others here are more quailified to answer the rest.

Thanks, man.

>The whole skull thing is an on going one. the only way I know of is to repaint the tail wings and add new skulls straight. You can get waterslide decals for the 1/48`s which are much better than the standard stickers from various places made by our very own Anazazi37.

Why are decals better than stickers. Many years ago I was into model building and painting. Placing decals was a pain, and they would go out with use... Plastic stickers remain as long as you are careful... so why bother with decals?

Whatr should I do to buy those you mention?

>As far as the hands are concernened the ones that come with the GBP kit are much more in keeping with the anime I think. Obviously you could just get a GBP and use the hands while not using the GBP parts. This would be really expensive.

I was planing on buying a GBP, which are great, but those hands are not articulated, are they? They are like the fixed-pose hands of the mass production versions of the toy, aren't they? If they are indeed articulated, can they be hidden in the forearm,like the standard ones? Don't think so... they are way too big... but I wouldn't mind using them if they are articulated. Are they easy to exchange with the standard ones?

And... what about the head??

C'mon people!!! Help this poor little newbie!

[big F]

I was planing on buying a GBP, which are great, but those hands are not articulated, are they? They are like the fixed-pose hands of the mass production versions of the toy, aren't they? If they are indeed articulated, can they be hidden in the forearm,like the standard ones? Don't think so... they are way too big... but I wouldn't mind using them if they are articulated. Are they easy to exchange with the standard ones?

C'mon people!!! Help this poor little newbie!

392635[/snapback]

Just rechecked at the shop they look like they are not posable afterall. Shame they look so like the larger Gundam hands. I can only assume they just plug in to the peg holes left by the standard hands. Looks like I will have one at the end of the week as I cant get a VF0 by the time I have to return from Japan. When I do I`ll hopefully answer your questions.

Edited April 20, 2006 by big F

[promethuem5]

Have you looked in the toy thread at the newbie answers and fix my yamato stickied threads? I think alot of what you're look for is in those two, but the idea for a 1/48 care thread is sitll neat. I'll chime in a few things I know...

For the reissues and such, cehck out Kensei's mini essay on it, which tells all.

For the seams, some light sanding could do the trick. The tail fin's a toughie tho... for the best fix, you've have to repaint the section black and apply a new decal.

For the hands, there are a few choices. Someone here (I forget who... might have been Rhoby, who disapeared) did recasts of the VF-1J TV hands. Neova in the For Sale section seems to be planning to do recasts of another really detailed set of DYRL style hands, and another posable hand I think. Eternal_D sculpted and cast copies of a set of gorgeous fixed pose DYRL hands, which I have and are great, but no longer in production.

If you have more specific questions, I might be able to help, seeing as I've had at least 1 1/48 in pieces all over my work desk to customize, so I've got some experience fixing bits, but not too much. Hopefully some more knowledgable types will chime in here.

[kanata67]

customizing a 1/48...

take a 1/48 in batroid mode, take a 1/55 in batroid mode...

proceed to play full contact "rock em' sock em' robots" while drunk in your backyard with an equally inebriated friend. Becareful of who is weilding the 1/55 as concusions can happen

glue the pieces of your 1/48 together by applying glue to the broken-off part and trowing it at the "body" of the toy from 2 feet away. Again... while drunk. When you are done you have a truely unique custom and an intact and functional 1/55

[Retracting Head Ter Ter]

The nose seams annoyed me a lot too.

Easy to fix though. Unscrew the nose part. There is a plastic block which is in contact with the top of the nosegear. It is the friction between this block and the nosegear which keeps the nosegear stiff in the deployed position. But they made the block too thick, so it pushes the nose apart, resulting in the seam.

Just sand the block down. If you over-sand, the nosegear becomes loose. Just paint the over-sanded bit. Its ok since its hidden once you screw everything back.