Wave Vf-0s Battroid

[P.W.Royce]

I just got my Wave VF-0S in the mail and decided to snap a few pics to share. What follows are my first impressions of the kit after a (brief) initial inspection.

BOX

I have to admit, the box top was my main motivation in purchasing this model. It's beautiful and does an excellent job capturing the atmospheric feel of Macross Zero. The clouds, the warm colors from the setting sun, all the elements combine to form an excellent Macross model box illustration. Just look at it. . .

For those that are inreseted, in the lower right hand corner, in very tiny letters, the box says: Ilustration by Naochika Morishita.

My example came shrink-wraped to a piece of cardboard, a nice touch to keep the box from being crushed when stacked.

Kit Contents

Here is what you get- four poly-baged trees, a decal sheet, and the instructions booklet.

The instructions are in Japanese, of course; however, unlike the Hasegawa kits, no

English paint color names are given. This isn't much of a problem though as the kit will require very little painting to complete. The main color (white or light gray), a dark gray shade, and your favorite metallic paint scheme for the feet and /or gun pod are all that is really needed; the rest is taken care of by the decals.

As you can see here, when completed the Battroid can twist at its waist, a nice feature that I am glad to see that Wave incorporated.

The decals appear to be of high quality with good registration as well as color saturation and overall detail. And they don't apear to be too thick, either. Wave has given us a generous sheet of decals, and, like the rest of the kit, they are designed to speed up the construction.

The major parts come in two colors, gray and white. The detail is crisp with fine engraved panel lines. Wave has gone to great lengths to make this kit easy to build. The parts engineering is quite good, especialy in the legs which consist of both right and left halfs, as well as front and back panels to capture the ventral strakes and intake detail unique to the VF-0.

The model comes with FAST packs that can be atached to the legs by drilling 3mm holes through the leg halves. The location to drill through from is very lightly molded on the inside surface of the leg halves. This could probably be accomplished with rare earth magnets. However, because of the kit's small size (wave calls it a "Non Scale Construction Kit"), it may be dificult to fit the magnets inside the parts. Although some modelers will probably opt to skip this step, the fine molded detail and decals provided for the FAST packs cry out for you to install them.

Wave has given you two options for the left hand, opened and closed, but the right hand will always be grasping the gun pod. I like the sculp of the hands in this kit; they are slighly oversized and add a bit of flare to the finished product. The detailing is also far better than past Macross models in this size and price range.

A Few Parting Thoughts

This model is the first Macross model kit not made by Bandai or Hasegawa to be released in quite a while. It would probably strike most modelers as strange that Wave decided to tackle a subject already covered by Hasegawa, but I have high hopes for this line. In the future hopefully Wave will provide us with a few of the more obscure subjects from Macross Zero, like the VF-0D Battroid, SV-51 Battroid, or destroids!

I did notice one interesting detail while examining the kit pieces. On the back of the Battroid the fuel blisters have a very clear dimple molded into them. This could be an artifact from the molding process, or it could be a drilling point to mount something on a later kit release (VF-0 Battroid with Ghost perhaps?).

[TSP]

Seems to be a nice kit. Good to see some pictures as well,cause now I know what awaits me on Monday( tomorrow )after a visit at the postoffice. Would be nice if Wave could continue this Series just like they did with the Armored Cores.

[HWR MKII]

Those dimples are an actual detail on the VF-0. They represent the hardpoint mount for the weapons carried on it in episode 5. They are present on both the fighter and battroid kits by hasegawa as well.

[big F]

This kit looks good I almost got one a while ago now I think I`ll have to.

How tall does it stand when completed ? It says non scale but is it comparable to the 1/100 or 1/72 ?

[P.W.Royce]

This kit looks good I almost got one a while ago now I think I`ll have to.

How tall does it stand when completed ? It says non scale but is it comparable to the 1/100 or 1/72 ?

423048[/snapback]

HLJ lists the size as 15cm, or almost 6" tall. I won't know for sure unless I build it, I have a few other unfinished kits to work on . . .

[newca]

Nice review

1/60 VF-0S height is 35cm, so a 15cm tall kit should be 1/140 around.

Edited August 7, 2006 by newca

[big F]

Thanks

[newca]

Correction:

1/60 VF-0S height is 32cm, so a 15cm tall WAVE kit should be 1/128 around.

[Guest sh002]

I think I saw some places listing it as 1/100 scale. Even though it is not 1/100 scale, I was hoping it was. Non-scale doesn't really help it to be displayed next to other Valks.