Bandai 1/100 YF-29 Alto custom

[Chronocidal]

Ok, that custom did it... I'm buying a dozen.

It just looks so clean in actual military colors. Plus, I might buy four (or possibly six) of the blue Sheryl version.. I have no intention of using those ridiculous decals (not on the model at least), but I'm really really tempted to make either a VF-29 Diamond Force group, or even a full Blue Angels set.

And I LOVE the fact that this thing comes with a stand. Bout time they started doing that.

[Dobber]

Yup, I'm tempted to get another along with a few more VF-25's now that they are up for pre-order. I'm finding I really love the 20 series Variable fighters 21/22, 25,27, and 29. Hope they continue to make fighters in this model series. I'd love to get a 27 and SV-51....not to mention the 19's 21/22, 0, 1,4......

Chris

[PetarB]

Yes, always liked this design from the start but that custom sealed the deal. Won't get one until they do a 1/72, however unlikely that is though...

[Fly4victory]

Blue Angel set sounds interesting.

The LV version looks really good. Didn't think it was possible. Need to make that in 1/72.

[Chronocidal]

Actually, think I heard that a 1/72 transforming kit has already been confirmed for a bit later this year. The 1/100 fighter kits are just a quick marketing gimmick that also happens to match something I've wanted for a long time.

The variable kits are beautiful works of engineering, but I've been aching for some simple fighters I could just slap together and paint up in all sorts of schemes, without worrying about how complicated the variable ones are to actually paint.

I'm going to grab a few VF-25s as well. I've got my share of the variable kits already, but I want some dedicated fighter kits. It's such a waste to build the 1/72 in fighter mode only. Now I can have my full SMS Skull Squad in 1/72, and still have some fun painting custom schemes like an M&M set, CF, classic Jolly Roger, etc.

And.. shoot.. they're about $12 right now on sale on HLJ too. Makes buying a bunch of them at once VERY tempting, considering the shipping is also about that much. I might have to grab a couple now, and just figure out some way to cram them in my car when I move back to california this summer.

[kyekye]

Found it online

1/100 VF-29A Custom!

Wow! That actually changed my thoughts on the YF-29 design. I want one now!

[Kelsain]

Purrrrty. Although in grey, it really looks like the fighter from KISS DUM.

[PetarB]

Actually, think I heard that a 1/72 transforming kit has already been confirmed for a bit later this year.

Where did you hear that?

[Chronocidal]

Was mentioned quickly in passing in one of the topics about the DX YF-29, I'd have to skim those to see where it was. I don't remember if it was officially mentioned, but given how successful the first run of 1/72 variable kits was, I have a really hard time believing they wouldn't do it.

The way I'm thinking, the 1/100 kits are more for the niche market of aircraft purists and detail modelers who just want a fun little aircraft model to detail without the hassle of all the extra parts and assembly/painting complications (not to mention making a quick buck capitalizing on the movie while they work on the DX and potential 1/72 kits, which will take longer to design).

The 1/72 kits are targeted more to their cash cow gunpla market, and I can't imagine they'd abandon that to focus on the aircraft kits.

Edit: Here we go, apparently the source is a Figure Oh article, and mentions a few interesting potential developments on the model side of Bandai.

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=34295&view=findpost&p=900035

Edited March 23, 2011 by Chronocidal

[reeoyuy]

Just got this one today. In my opinion, this 1/100 is Macross equivalent of Gundam High Grade, while 1/72 is Master Grade. The packaging/box size and design, price range, even down to the manual is very HG-ish. The color separation is comparable to HGs. But of course since it has no limb, straight build will be as fast or even faster than No Grade/First Grade/Entry Grade. I haven't build it yet, but I already like it .

[sketchley]

It's a pretty fast build. Even for an out-of-practice novice (myself), it was completed in a couple of hours.

Some things to take care:

... when cutting the parts from the sprues. The red plastic tends to result in white stress marks if your not careful.

... of the small antenna on the wings/canards. They are the first parts to break if you're not careful when cutting or manipulating the kit when finished.

Otherwise, fairly straightforward, and you won't have any language barrier problems, especially if you're familiar with Bandai's Gundam kits.

[reeoyuy]

Ah, yes. I checked the wing part and the antenna on tip looks very fragile. But since it's not articulated, I won't play with it too much (maybe just swooshing it sometimes ). Unlike other airplane kits out there, this one is very familiar, almost felt like a gunpla. And yeah, I have experience with gunpla and Kotobukiya's more fragile (and with more confusing manual) kits.

[kurdt_the_goat]

Just a quick question; does this kit require gluing?

[raptormesh]

Just a quick question; does this kit require gluing?

Not necessary, but some parts could use a teensy bit like the vertical stabilizers or the nosecone, if you plan to swoosh them around some.

[Lolicon]

Here's something that I haven't seen mentioned. #$%@&*! Bandai can't even get the parts of their own simplistic kits to fit together properly.

I wanted to paint as many of the markings on as I could, but when I went to assemble the upper and lower halves of the front fuselage, there's a gigantic gap in the parts. The two pieces are flush against each other at both ends. Also, the upper and lower halves of the lerx (is that what it's really called?) aren't even the same length. The bottom half of the lerx is clearly longer.

I suppose it wouldn't be as much of an issue if you just cover it with a sticker...

Some damn sloppy work, Bandai.

I went online to see if it was just me, but it's not. Gap can be seen on this build too.

http://reggiocomics.blogspot.com/2011/03/kit-review-yf-29-ranka-marking-ver_03.html

[tetsujin]

Some damn sloppy work, Bandai.

That's actually Bandai's coporate slogan: "Some damn sloppy work" But of course they usually make the tolerances so forgiving that people praise them for their exceptional engineering quality anyway.

[Chronocidal]

Actually, no, given the amazing complexity and precision of their 1/72 kits, a flaw like that is pretty inexcusable.

I half wonder if it's some sort of molding flaw in that piece. It's nothing that a little glue/putty/paint won't fix, but these kits aren't supposed to need anything like that.

[tetsujin]

Actually, no, given the amazing complexity and precision of their 1/72 kits

Let's see a 1:72 VF-25 in fighter mode with a smooth, continuous, gapless surface over all those upper-torso/shoulder panels that make up that section of the dorsal fuselage, and then we can talk about "amazing precision".

[Chronocidal]

Oh, no, see, the pieces are fine. When I glued all those panels together, they fit perfectly on mine. The mechanism itself just tends to screw with things, but the pieces all fit beautifully together when I test fit them.

That sort of mismatch between parts is just plain fugly.

Edited June 15, 2011 by Chronocidal

[Vifam7]

Let's see a 1:72 VF-25 in fighter mode with a smooth, continuous, gapless surface over all those upper-torso/shoulder panels that make up that section of the dorsal fuselage, and then we can talk about "amazing precision".

That'd be impossible on the 1/72 kit unless you eliminate the transformation feature. Granted that's how the kits should've been from the beginning (IMHO) but that's a whole other discussion. I managed to get a pretty decent fit on my VF-27 build though (almost finished).

I see the issue on the 1/100 kit but then it's an 1200yen kit. I guess, you get what you pay for.

[Lolicon]

The gap is like 2 mm wide. It's a "no one at Bandai gave enough of a crap to check the CAD drawing before finalizing it" type of screwup.

Also, the way the kit is assembled means that attempting to remove all the seams would entail an enormous amount of time and effort (and masking tape) that just isn't worth it for this kit. Even the pro built YF-29s in Hobby Japan left those seams in (or are photographed in such a way so that you can't see them).

[Reïvaj]

This custom YF-29 looks cool!!!

From: http://www.google.co...iw=1440&bih=807

[Lolicon]

So I finished building my YF-29. I got the both the Sheryl and Ranka versions and had planned to build both at the same time, but one evening my bastard cat decided to attack the box the model box where I was keeping all the prepped parts, and succeeded in snapping off the fragile nub off one of the canards on the Sheryl model, and since the main fuselage had already been glued together, I had to buy a whole new kit just for that.

Take care when building, since that nub is quite fragile!

Anyway, that allowed me to focus on just the Ranka version. Like the Sheryl kit, it's identical to the Alto version, except it's molded in different colored plastic (obviously). And like the Alto kit, it only comes with marking seals, aka Bandai's fancy name for stickers. It comes with all the stickers to build Alto's SMS marking scheme (except in pink rather than black) and of course the stickers for the special Ranka markings.

The actual model kit itself is okay. It's the usual Bandai snap fit affair. If you've ever stuck together a Bandai HG Gundam kit from the past 20 years, then there should be nothing that surprises you here. As I noted in a past post, the parts fit around the lerx is poor and leaves a huge, visible gap. I hadn't planned for this, as it's the kind of awful parts fit I'd expect from a lame AMT/Ertl kit, not a Bandai kit. In any case, the way the model is built makes it very difficult to remove all the seams, unless you're prepared for a lot of work and masking tape, which I didn't think was worth it for a 1200 yen kit.

So the model itself is easy enough to assemble, and most of the parts fit well.

What drags the model down is Bandai's cheap, boneheaded (but not unexpected) decision to only include stickers. That proved to be the most annoying and time consuming portion of the build. If Bandai had just given us decals, it would've made things 10x easier (not to mention made the kit look much better). The sticker film is much thicker then a decal, but the actual coloring or whatever is thinner, making them translucent when you apply them. It's especially noticeable when you apply a light sticker over a darker surface.

When I went to see the Frontier movie, out in the lobby there was a glass display case with all three YF-29s built. They were unpainted and stuck together with just the stickers. And they were ugly, especially the Alto version, because it has white stickers on a red surface. The result? Alto apparently doesn't fly a red and white YF-29, he flies a red and pink one.

Alright, that's enough bitching about the kit's flaws. On my build, I decided to paint as many of the pink markings on as I could, since pink stickers look almost as bad as white ones, IMO. All the sensors and navigational lights are painted on too. I didn't want to deal with painting a 1/100 scale pilot figure (I'd had enough of that painting the tiny 1/72 pilots) so I coated the inside of the canopy in silver.

And then the stickers. You have to lay them down perfectly, and if you don't, you can't just nudge them into place like with a decal. You gotta peel them off and lay them down again. Do this a couple of times and the super sticky adhesive quickly gets lost.

However, the part that really took a long time was getting the stickers to conform to the surface so they would look like they were painted on. Sadly, there's no such thing as "sticker softener" so I had to do it the old-fashioned way: with a toothpick! I more or less got most of the stickers down, but sometimes the surface was just too irregular to get the sticker to conform. The worst areas are the back beam cannons and the area around the battroid head.

I usually prefer a semi-gloss finish for anime mecha models, but for this one I decided on a flat finish, since I figured it might better hide the fact that these are stickers. I'll let you decide on how well that turned out.

Overall, it's merely an average kit that requires a modeler with greater skills and resources than myself to really look spectacular. Just trying to get it to look presentable (and not like a really cheap toy) takes a lot of work!

[mickyg]

And your hard work has definitely paid off! Very nice!

I didn't want to deal with painting a 1/100 scale pilot figure (I'd had enough of that painting the tiny 1/72 pilots) so I coated the inside of the canopy in silver.

But I thought the 1/72 scale pilots were 1/100 anyway! Does that mean the 1/100 are even smaller (as in out of scale with the mecha)?

[PetarB]

Thanks for all that info Lolicon. Makes me really, really want one of these in 1/72 now...

[jardann]

Amazing work on that lolicon! Just getting those stickers to conform like that must have been a real PITA. The time and effort paid off though. I can't believe Bandai did not produce those as decals!

[Reïvaj]

Really nice work, Lolicon! Thanks for sharing!

[Lolicon]

But I thought the 1/72 scale pilots were 1/100 anyway! Does that mean the 1/100 are even smaller (as in out of scale with the mecha)?

Good question. Here's some pilot size comparisons. The second pic is with an old 1/100 NT-1 kit I snapped together some 10 years ago. The pilot figures are the same size. Which only raises more questions.

[mickyg]

Looks like the 1/100 kit pilot is actually smaller but not by much! Hard to tell in the second pic with the gundam pilot being in the shadow but it does look to be the same size. Thanks for the comparison pic.

I'm obviously still a bit confused as to whether we're actually getting correctly scaled pilots.

[TSP]

The 1/100 scale pilot figures are 1/160 scale they perfectly fit into Dragon/DML's 1/144 model kit series. Alto is a bit shorter than a Wave 144 mobile staff figure.

[reeoyuy]

Why don't we measure Alto pilot figure and comparing it to his official height stat (if there any)?

[Chronocidal]

Anyone else think the placement of Ranka's face right over that circular panel is just horribly and hilariously unfortunate?

Arguably, I'd say those crazy decorations are one of the worst things you can do to a plane, but they look good for what they are. I'm hoping to order a Sheryl version later to make into a Blue Angel-ish scheme, but I don't want to ship anything more to my current address, since I'm moving out in a couple weeks.

[Reïvaj]

Anyone else think the placement of Ranka's face right over that circular panel is just horribly and hilariously unfortunate?

Arguably, I'd say those crazy decorations are one of the worst things you can do to a plane, but they look good for what they are. I'm hoping to order a Sheryl version later to make into a Blue Angel-ish scheme, but I don't want to ship anything more to my current address, since I'm moving out in a couple weeks.

Yeah, I know what you mean…

IMO, this fairly new to phenomena to Macross stuff of decorating the planes like this may be influenced by other shows and intended to the new generation of Japanese fans that are sometimes more interested in the characters than in the planes…

Despite they’re not my cup of tea I have to admit they do look good.

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, I know what you mean…

IMO, this fairly new to phenomena to Macross stuff of decorating the planes like this may be influenced by other shows and intended to the new generation of Japanese fans that are sometimes more interested in the characters than in the planes…

Despite they're not my cup of tea I have to admit they do look good.

I think it's kind of an offshoot of the similar things people tend to do with cars really. Macross just happens to use a lot of aircraft, so they're the most visible option for these types of decorations. I still think the Ace Combat Idolmaster schemes were the first time I saw anything like it, and it's kind of snowballed from there. If Gundam series had more characters that were idol singers, we'd probably see their faces pasted all over gundams too.

Oddly it actually is pretty fitting in the Macross universe, due to the way the aircraft become associated with the musicians (either as escorts or pilots). I mean, it started with the Minmay Guard designs, and went from there. It's like a slightly unnatural progression for the nose-art you see on old planes.

Really, I think by that point in time, technology would have progressed enough to render anything other than active stealth systems obsolete anyway, so I like to think that regulations dictating the ways military aircraft should be painted would get to be a little more relaxed. I mean, that, plus space is usually really really dark. That episode with Hikaru flying through Saturn's rings comes to mind. If you don't paint your stuff bright colors, it's likely you'll be just as much a hazard to your wingmen as you are to the enemy.

On the other hand, there's a difference between formation lighting and turning your plane into the Goodyear Blimp.

Edited July 5, 2011 by Chronocidal

[Lolicon]

Wow Chronocidal, I've never seen someone spend so much time trying to conduct a pseudo-intellectual discussion over something so innocuous and harmless. Perhaps you should write a letter to Bandai expressing your displeasure at these kinds of fighter marking sets? And maybe ask them to stick to "realistic" paint schemes like every other VF in the Macross universe.