Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted (edited)

VBF-1A Beta Fighter TREAD

Found this this morning for $5.50 with 4 bids. I know it's not Macross but its the Gakken Tread that is so rare and thought all would be interested.

Link to Ebay: Gakken VBF-1A Beta Fighter Tread

d8be_12.JPG

Don't spend your retirement.

Edited by Spiff
Posted

No box, yellowed, broken, and on the verge of Toynami's release? I think $1,000 even might be it... but it seems like lots of people in Argentina are ready to get into a bidding war.

Posted (edited)

yes I thing over us$1000 or maybe US$900 because is not complete and the condition is no good

regards

Edited by JuanJovv
Posted

Speaking of which, I have a question...once(about 5 years ago) I saw a picture of an advertisement for some mospeada toys(from Gakeen during th 80s); on that picture there was a Beta fighter of the same scale of the 1/35 Gakeen Alpha. I swear it was there. There was also written that that Beta was a prototype NEVER released but completely compatible with the ALPHAs. Does any of you know what I am talking about or have info about where to find that picture?

Thanks

Posted
Speaking of which, I have a question...once(about 5 years ago) I saw a picture of an advertisement for some mospeada toys(from Gakeen during th 80s); on that picture there was a Beta fighter of the same scale of the 1/35 Gakeen Alpha. I swear it was there. There was also written that that Beta was a prototype NEVER released but completely compatible with the ALPHAs. Does any of you know what I am talking about or have info about where to find that picture?

Thanks

I think your memory is playing tricks on you.

Posted
Speaking of which, I have a question...once(about 5 years ago) I saw a picture of an advertisement for some mospeada toys(from Gakeen during th 80s); on that picture there was a Beta fighter of the same scale of the 1/35 Gakeen Alpha. I swear it was there. There was also written that that Beta was a prototype NEVER released but completely compatible with the ALPHAs. Does any of you know what I am talking about or have info about where to find that picture?

Thanks

This might be the advertisement you are thinking of.

lansay_tread_ad.jpg

But this is NOT to scale with the 1/35 Alpha. This is the same Lansey thread you see in the auction.

Carl

Posted (edited)
This might be the advertisement you are thinking of.

lansay_tread_ad.jpg

But this is NOT to scale with the 1/35 Alpha. This is the same Lansey thread you see in the auction.

Carl

I love that picture and the upside down left arm. :lol:

I'm still trying to get my paper beta fighter to work (I'm making one in autocad but it's a beast of a job b/c of the size and semi-complex shapes combined with a transformation design that racked my brain to figure out (while making it still look okay and be show accurate to an extent)).

Edited by protostar8
Posted

I always have to laugh when these things go up for auction because it's something I wouldn't even trade a Coke for. :)

Posted
I think your memory is playing tricks on you.

No, he is actually right. The advertisement in question is in the B-Club Artmic Design Works book. There is what appears to be an ~1/35 TREAD and Legioss in flight above the posed 1/35 Legioss that is the subject of the photo. What is not clear is what sort of mock-up or model the TREAD might be, as it is backlit and kind of tough to make out detail.

I'll see if I can get a scan of it later.

Posted

I took some quickie pictures instead of risking my spine on a scan. The details are very difficult to make out, but it definitely does not look like the 1/72... See what you guys think:

DSCF0001.JPG

DSCF0004.JPG

DSCF0003.JPG

Posted (edited)

Wow, you're not kidding about the detail being hard to make out! Going off just the Alpha I'd have to concur, that doesn't seem to be the 1/72 version. If I had to guess, I'd say it's an incomplete prototype of a 1/35. I'm basing this off the fact that the arm on the far side doesn't seem to have the bottom half attached (see how you can see the rounded end of the wing where it would swivel?). There's also a mysterious hump on top of it.

PS - thanks for the pic!

Edited by jenius
Posted (edited)
Wow, you're not kidding about the detail being hard to make out! Going off just the Alpha I'd have to concur, that doesn't seem to be the 1/72 version. If I had to guess, I'd say it's an incomplete prototype of a 1/35. I'm basing this off the fact that the arm on the far side doesn't seem to have the bottom half attached (see how you can see the rounded end of the wing where it would swivel?). There's also a mysterious hump on top of it.

Yarp. Good catches on the stbd wing root and "hump". The retention boom for the Legioss looks different than the 1/72, too. Sorry that the zoomed shots look like amateur UFO snap-shots (but actually, they kind of are) :lol:

*Edit - Jeremy, that's from the B-Club Artmic Design Works book (mentioned a few posts up on the last page).

Edited by Hiriyu
Posted
No, he is actually right. The advertisement in question is in the B-Club Artmic Design Works book. There is what appears to be an ~1/35 TREAD and Legioss in flight above the posed 1/35 Legioss that is the subject of the photo.

Very very interesting...

Is he also correct about this part?

There was also written that that Beta was a prototype NEVER released but completely compatible with the ALPHAs.

Is there any mention of this Tread in the Japanese text to the left of the picture? If so I'd be very interested to see what it has to say.

Carl

Posted (edited)
Going off just the Alpha I'd have to concur, that doesn't seem to be the 1/72 version. If I had to guess, I'd say it's an incomplete prototype of a 1/35. I'm basing this off the fact that the arm on the far side doesn't seem to have the bottom half attached (see how you can see the rounded end of the wing where it would swivel?). There's also a mysterious hump on top of it.

I see the end of the wing you mention (circled in red) but I'm not certain I see the hump. Are you talking about what I have circled in green? Is so I believe that is the part I have circled in the lower picture. There does appear to be some odd bumps on the bottom of the wings that I don't see on the 1/72 scale version. Is that what you are looking at?

35Tread.png

Carl

P.S. I just added a few red lines to the above pictures. Note the two red lines on the top picture. I think this is the shoulder of the Legioss and note it appears to have a white side. If this were the 1/35 scale Legioss wouldn't this area be blue? The 1/72 scale Legioss has white sides in its shoulders so this has me thinking this may be the 1/72 scale Tread after all. I'd LOVE to be proved wrong though.

Edited by wwwmwww
Posted (edited)

You're probably right on the hump Carl, the blur had me thinking the hump was located on the center of the Tread.

Edit - it looks like the Beta's arm only grabs the heels of the Alpha (RT terms) rather than extending to the crotch.

Edited by jenius
Posted

That Legioss/TLEAD combo in the Artmic book is a garage kit. They show it assembled on one of the following pages. In the same book, you can see paintings for the 1/72 battloid and fighter model kits that Imai was planning, but never saw the light of day.

I've also never seen any convincing evidence that the little TLEAD in the auction was ever sold in Japan, and I have a feeling that there are many more of these scattered throughout France that enterprising collectors could probably dig up with a little effort.

Posted (edited)
That Legioss/TLEAD combo in the Artmic book is a garage kit. They show it assembled on one of the following pages.

Hurin, we need more pics!

I've also never seen any convincing evidence that the little TLEAD in the auction was ever sold in Japan, and I have a feeling that there are many more of these scattered throughout France that enterprising collectors could probably dig up with a little effort.

Carl, correct me if I'm wrong on this:

There are prototype Gakken Tread/Tleads that were designed for future distribution in Japan and are stamped "Gakken of Japan." Some of these were used for marketing purposes and are decaled up but there's no official Gakken of Japan boxed Tread/Tlead as it never did make it into full production for the Japanese market.

Gakken of Singapore however did receive an order from Lansay and shipped a bunch over to France. How much is a bunch? In all likelihood, a "bunch" is pretty darn few but I don't think anyone knows. These toys are all stamped "Gakken of Singapore" though and are almost always what you see up for auction.

Edited by jenius
Posted
That Legioss/TLEAD combo in the Artmic book is a garage kit. They show it assembled on one of the following pages. In the same book, you can see paintings for the 1/72 battloid and fighter model kits that Imai was planning, but never saw the light of day.

Its not the same. The cockpit on the Legioss is orange in this pic, unlike the garage kit. There is a non-transforming prototype that you see in some of the ads for Gakken toys. It has an orange cockpit. My theory is that this is a prototype TREAD that attaches to that prototype non-transforming Legioss. Scale is unknown. I'll post pics later of the prototype Legioss.

Posted (edited)
Carl, correct me if I'm wrong on this:

There are prototype Gakken Tread/Tleads that were designed for future distribution in Japan and are stamped "Gakken of Japan." Some of these were used for marketing purposes and are decaled up but there's no official Gakken of Japan boxed Tread/Tlead as it never did make it into full production for the Japanese market.

I saw Carl's article here:

http://www.macrossworld.com/mospeada/tread_toy.htm

It doesn't seem to go into detail about what indicates that this was made in Japan. Does it have a different maker's mark than this one?

http://www.macrossworld.com/mospeada/lansa...y_tread_toy.htm

Gakken of Singapore however did receive an order from Lansay and shipped a bunch over to France. How much is a bunch? In all likelihood, a "bunch" is pretty darn few but I don't think anyone knows. These toys are all stamped "Gakken of Singapore" though and are almost always what you see up for auction.
Given the way those factories usually operate, I would say "a bunch" would be in the thousands.

Its not the same. The cockpit on the Legioss is orange in this pic, unlike the garage kit. There is a non-transforming prototype that you see in some of the ads for Gakken toys. It has an orange cockpit. My theory is that this is a prototype TREAD that attaches to that prototype non-transforming Legioss. Scale is unknown. I'll post pics later of the prototype Legioss.
Yeah, the difference in canopy colors was pointed out to me before and I think the orange color is a result of the light shining through it. Look at it this way: if it's a completely different item than the garage kit shown on the following pages, why didn't they show more of it than just relegate it to a blurry background image? Edited by Roger
Posted (edited)
It doesn't seem to go into detail about what indicates that this was made in Japan. Does it have a different maker's mark than this one?

I'm not sure if the Gakken of Japan releases bare any stamp at all or if they are marked Gakken of Japan (I think they are marked Gakken of Japan). They do not bare the Gakken Singapore stamp that the Lansay does. Hopefully Carl will clarify. It doesn't look like there are any paint differences like there were on the 1/72 Legioss toy (the japanese one has white arms while the Singapore one has arms that match the color of the body).

Look at it this way: if it's a completely different item than the garage kit shown on the following pages, why didn't they show more of it than just relegate it to a blurry background image?

Yeah, but at the same time, why would you show a garage kit on the same page with a bunch of legitimate releases with the subject "Mospeada Toys"

Edited by jenius
Posted (edited)
Yeah, but at the same time, why would you show a garage kit on the same page with a bunch of legitimate releases with the subject "Mospeada Toys"
Because it would look cool in the background. Consider this, too: that garage kit is pretty small, making it relatively easy to set up that shot. If the Legioss/TLEAD combo in the picture is 1/35 scale, it would have to be a few feet behind the toys in the foreground to look like that.

And I'm not sure what would make the garage kit illegitimate. The book gives pricing information and contact information for a shop that sells them. I really doubt that an outfit like B-Club would have highlighted an unauthorized item like that.

Edited by Roger
Posted
That Legioss/TLEAD combo in the Artmic book is a garage kit. They show it assembled on one of the following pages. In the same book, you can see paintings for the 1/72 battloid and fighter model kits that Imai was planning, but never saw the light of day.

I've got this Artmic book... looks like I need to dig it out and take a look. Still I'm not sure this is that kit. What are those bumps on the bottom of the wings?

I've also never seen any convincing evidence that the little TLEAD in the auction was ever sold in Japan, and I have a feeling that there are many more of these scattered throughout France that enterprising collectors could probably dig up with a little effort.

I guess that depends on what you mean by 'sold'. There are a few Tleads or Treads that I don't think have ever stepped foot in Fance. Mine is one. Check out the picture here:

http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?show...mp;#entry337153

By the way, how are things going with getting that Mospeada art published? Any updates...

Carl

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...