Making the best of a bad situation

[Jefuemon]

Reams have already been written about the shortcomings of this kit, I'll try not to add to it. Just let the pics speak for themselves. Got sick of the bad fit of the shoulder area, so I crammed the pieces together as best I could, and glued it into fighter mode for good. Which doesn't really matter too much, since the neck piece broke first time I tried to transform it.

I stole the flight stand from my unbuilt VF-25S Armored, because the more I looked at the original landing gear, the more I hated them.

Edited May 5, 2011 by Jefuemon

[PetarB]

This kit drives me insane - on the one hand, the detail and basic shape is wonderful. On the other some real issues - like the landing gear, the gaps and assembly nightmare are enough to drive you crazy. But it looks like you've put yours together nicely.

[jardann]

Fighter mode is my favorite for this bird. Looks like you did a great job on it!

[Dobber]

Great work, like others have said the sculpt of the kit is really nice but the hip guns and engine sag are what really screws this kit up. Too bad Bandai didn't make a locking mechanism for the wings and engines so they would stay in the correct position. Again, great work!! I like her!

Chris

[tetsujin]

For a non-transforming fighter mode build - I think it could be better, honestly. Discarding the transformation system gives you the opportunity to cover up those wing glove hinges, open up the air intakes, fill the various gaps, really line everything up and fit it properly... Though I guess if you started with the intention of a transforming build and only fixed it to fighter mode after building then that could limit your options...

[Ghost Train]

In my opinion cementing things and locking it into 1 mode is the only correct way to tackle the Bandai 1:72. You are doing it right. Having said that, it's a bit pricy for a single-mode model, but then again you have the flexibility to build it into either F/G/B mode.

[Lolicon]

Bandai clearly engineered the 1/72 kits for the "snap it together yourself toy" crowd, because for anyone who seriously wants to do a good job building and painting the kit, it's a royal pain in the rear.

That being said, I think yours turned out pretty good, given the shortcomings of this kit. Dunno if you ever plan on building anymore VF-25s, but if you do, I'd recommend painting the sides of the interlocking parts where the stripes are, because just sticking the decals/stickers alone will leave lots of unsightly gaps.

For my part, I will probably never build another 1/72 VF-25 kit.

I think I'll look into the YF-29 fighter kits next... though they have their own problems. *coughstickerscough*

[Jefuemon]

I honestly hadn't planned on finishing this kit. I started it in September/October, and got so disgusted with it 75% of the way through, I boxed it up and threw it back on the shelf. However, my wife is nice enough to feed my habit, and she bought me the Tornado Messiah for Christmas, so I had to make the effort to finish at least this one. I just basically phoned it in on completing it. One of those kits where you just say "yeah, I finished it. Let's never discuss it again,"

I'm really hoping that a couple of years down the line, Hasegawa or Wave can acquire the rights to Frontier, and we can finally get some decent kits from that series.

Edited May 6, 2011 by Jefuemon

[Fly4victory]

For a "just get her done" model it looks really good.

[ThingkingCap]

Nice kit, with more practise you can do another.. !