Yamato 1/60 VF-17 Nightmare Diamond Force

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

should be doable, but might need to shrink the gunpod to make it work. In that case, I'd suggest two gunpods, one for PT and a beefier, anime accurate one.

If they can give us pt gimmick with ok-sized gunpod, I'm ok with that. What some fans might complain about though is how such and such part is small. This is known as 'the yamato curse' where some part must appear small. hands, feet, gunpod, etc and people obsess over that part. Even v2 1/60 couldn't escape the curse as people don't like the long neck.

Edited June 2, 2011 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

Ha, I like the comment about landing gears not being needed for a space fighter... but that it should look slim... as if aerodynamics would be important for a space fighter

They very rarely need to take off from runway in the show. They have those arm things holding them like in dyrl. And a lot of us use stands. But we do want slim fighter because thats what it looks like in shows.

Personally I think the landing gears should be folded into position using minifold boosters (like how weapons appear out of nowhere in the transformers cartoon) or have the pilots learn how to float rocks or other things with the power of thier minds like we see in macross zero. The fact is shin was able to fly his destroyed vf-0 miraculously into space without any shamanic training and I think if all pilots in future macross shows can't learn to stop thier planes using magick to land them safely, then they should be given training in the event that gerwalk mode doesn't work (yf21 legs detached for instance) or the landing gears fail.

Edited June 2, 2011 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[eugimon]

If they can give us pt gimmick with ok-sized gunpod, I'm ok with that. What some fans might complain about though is how such and such part is small. This is known as 'the yamato curse' where some part must appear small. hands, feet, gunpod, etc and people obsess over that part.

yeah, Im not going to freak out about it but it wouldn't be the first time Yamato provided doubles of an accessory. The Patlabor has an extendable baton and a die cast, full sized unit and the vf-19 has the anime shield.

[Ignacio Ocamica]

The latest CADs look great. From what I saw yesterday, Yamato have done a good job of capturing the chunkiness of the Nightmare in battroid, while still keeping a relatively slim fighter mode.

Graham

Sounds pretty good to me,

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

Yes, unfortunately the wings extend to the back of the knees. No easy way around this unless you have swappable wings, a small set for battroid and a full size set for fighter, but Yamato don't want to do that.Graham

Not a big deal imho. The wing length in battroid mode does not bother me.

The VF-17's lower legs were always going to be problematic.They have to look big and chunky for battroid mode, yet slim enough to enable a relatively slim fighter mode.And then into the lower leg, you need to fit the rear landing gear, folded gunpod, reaction missile bay, all the associated doors and the connections for the knee and ankle joint.At this stage, I can confirm landing gear and a gunpod stored in the leg (in some form). I don't know yet, but I suspect the reaction missile bay may not be included (I should know later today).The latest CADs look great. From what I saw yesterday, Yamato have done a good job of capturing the chunkiness of the Nightmare in battroid, while still keeping a relatively slim fighter mode.Graham

If doing away with the missle bays means Yamato can focus on making the legs uber strong and shove some ratcheting knee/ankle joints in there, then that, IMHO, is a worthy compromise.

[Cent]

Not too concerned with the number of gimmicks in the legs, provided they get the battroid beefiness right. That model posted was a nice try, but the legs are far too small in battroid.

[charger69]

The latest CADs look great. From what I saw yesterday, Yamato have done a good job of capturing the chunkiness of the Nightmare in battroid, while still keeping a relatively slim fighter mode.

Graham

I would be very pleased with an attached CAD image to your next post

[ff95gj]

Gimmicks are good, but I care for the overall look first.

While I like the VF-22/YF-21, I can't say I love their B mode.

[Chronocidal]

Good to see they're concentrating on the gear and gunpod then. While the missile bay would be nice, considering how often we even saw it in the anime, I'd rather see a good design for the full gunpod, and nice landing gear.

Now, the fun one is how to implement the beam adapter. It'll probably be easier to fit than the whole gunpod, but if they go with the ejection door seen in the show, it might be tricky getting it out. And if you make it loose enough to just slide out the door, it might rattle around inside the compartment.

I know the whole "spring loaded launcher" gimmick seems kind of silly, especially if it's powerful enough to launch the piece across the room. But what about a more subtle type of mechanism like in a ball-point pen? As in, press the beam adapter into it's space, and it locks down, with just a few millimeters popping out, just enough to form a button. Press the tip in, and it releases, pushing the tip out just enough to grab hold of, and pull out the rest of the way. Sure, you could try and launch it out on purpose by letting it slip past your finger, but it wouldn't involve some trigger button protruding from the leg, or any kind of hook/release/etc built into the beam adapter.

[Renato]

Graham, here's a suggestion: How about including the Spiritia drain beam weapon? Towards the end of the series, most of Diamond and Emerald Force were equipped with them.

Oh, and FAST packs. Although I have never figured out how the FAST packs work in all modes...

[charger69]

But what about a more subtle type of mechanism like in a ball-point pen? As in, press the beam adapter into it's space, and it locks down, with just a few millimeters popping out, just enough to form a button. Press the tip in, and it releases, pushing the tip out just enough to grab hold of, and pull out the rest of the way.

Very good idea!

[kanedaestes]

In the Mac7 ep posted in the 19Kai thread it does show that in gerwalk the arms can rotate and the hands can be used. Why they don't always do that i am not too sure but the function is always there.

[CF18]

Another idea for the missile bay: make the missiles and launch arms swappable, like the landing gears on VF-100 VF-25. The bay door can be hinged, or swappable with the rest of the launch arm. The bay door can also give user access to the gun pod area, as the proper way to manually push the gun out or to un-jam it.

[Xx-SKULL-ONE-xX]

Oh, and FAST packs. Although I have never figured out how the FAST packs work in all modes...

The line art shows it pretty good. The leg packs are hinged and ride under the wings during flight and swing back to the legs during gerwalk/battroid. The shoulder/dorsal packs don't really have to move at all, strike cannons just pop out.

They look great in battroid, not so great in fighter IMO.

[robodragon]

Ha, I like the comment about landing gears not being needed for a space fighter... but that it should look slim... as if aerodynamics would be important for a space fighter

That's because of the solar winds.

"Uh, some of us have got this idea. We want to land a craft, deploy solar sails. You'll have a great big canopy. Solar winds will be caught by these mylar sails."

Just saying? LOL

[charger69]

Leg fast packs are clearly longer than the inner sides of lower legs in fighter mode and they are reaching the swivel joints at battroid mode.

Edited June 2, 2011 by charger69

[anime52k8]

Leg fast packs are clearly longer than the inner sides of lower legs in fighter mode and they are reaching the swivel joints at battroid mode.

ok, I'm not sure what point you're trying to make.

[kanedaestes]

Going back and reading the comments about landing gear not being needed on a space fighter, since when was this designated as only a space fighter? They still go to various planets and thus need to land, like the planet of my coffee table.

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

Meh. All valks can just land in gerwalk mode, and pilots can easily learn to levitate the wrecked planes with thier minds like what happened at the end of macross zero. Landing gears could just as well be put on the top of a valk since there is no up or down in space. But you barely see pilots flying around at wierd angles in space in the animes which makes us assume they have to act like they don't float around.

Since when did hikaru ever need to land the valk in dyrl when he was folded to earth and there were no places left for him to land in fighter mode due to earth being destroyed? And then you have haters of gerwalk mode saying it's not a cool mode. ..really.. This mode is one of the differences between normal planes and valkyries and why it made the other robots obsolete.

Landing gear is for pussies who can't control thier valks in all three modes yet because they are too scared to try everything.

As for the guy asking: Why do valks need to be slim? (i know it's troll bait)

Has it ever occured to you that when not fighting in space, the advantages of not being a flying brick outweigh the disadvantages of not being one?

But why does the vf-19 blazer have stubby wings? Uh, maybe because they mostly want to use it in space, just like how some gundam types are customised a bit more for space missions with extra thrusters so they gain an advantage.

Dude, don't try to think so hard about it. It's a giant robot anime where all kinds of crazy things are possible due to advances in fictional technologies from a race of beings who are probably just evil versions of humans.

My theory about why they need landing gears is that originally the transformation was a secret so the valkyrie had to look like an ordinary jet at least until the public realised they were up against giants. But the need for landing gears in macross is just as puzzling as the need for heads on mecha in any anime.

The zentradi were smart to just have an eyeball on the regult to keep it simple.

Edited June 2, 2011 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

The valkyrie also doesn't need hands. If they wanted to they could just integrate the weapons into the robot and have something like what the destroid has. Majority of the time they just use one gunpod and not several different gunpods in the shows.

[Raptor One]

Whether or not they NEED landing gear, they have them in the anime and this is macrossworld where we NEED our toys to 100% anime accurate . Besides, landing gear are cool

[m0n5t3r]

The valkyrie also doesn't need hands. If they wanted to they could just integrate the weapons into the robot and have something like what the destroid has. Majority of the time they just use one gunpod and not several different gunpods in the shows.

my valk would definitely need to have hands... how else would i be able to rescue pretty, singing babes falling out of the sky?

Edited June 2, 2011 by m0n5t3r

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

In the original macross, hikaru could have easily rescued minmay in his two-seater. He even realises this himself when he grips minmay with the robot arm lol

What happened when he decided to hold her in the hand instead of putting her in the second seat?

The arm got shot off and she almost plummets to her death, that's what.

Would have been so much safer to put her inside. Let the spoilt girl climb a rope if you have to.

Edited June 2, 2011 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[m0n5t3r]

anyway... i still find it cool whenever a VF can grab hold of a person or something like that in the shows.

anyway, back on topic... i really hope the D variant comes out first... no matter how many times i look at it and from every angle, I just can't get past the weird shape of the VF-17S head.

Edited June 2, 2011 by m0n5t3r

[valhary]

agree I always prefer the model "s" except for the vf 17

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

Yeah it has a big forehead.

[valhary]

I hope come with fast pack

[Raptor One]

That looks pretty cool. I like the S Head in that picture too. Looks pretty demonic, like a Nightmare should

[Andy NYK]

anyway, back on topic... i really hope the D variant comes out first... no matter how many times i look at it and from every angle, I just can't get past the weird shape of the VF-17S head.

it's only just as weird as the head of VF-25S^^

baboon skull of 17S versus goat skull of 25S.

[raptormesh]

The valkyrie also doesn't need hands. If they wanted to they could just integrate the weapons into the robot and have something like what the destroid has. Majority of the time they just use one gunpod and not several different gunpods in the shows.

Pilot floating valks, no hands, no landing gear. Seems like you're into a different universe altogether. Not sure if serious or trolling since we're discussing the -17 in Macross not some fantastical super robot show.

[MacrossJunkie]

I hope come with fast pack

I think that S variant head looks so much better with the "jaw" piece colored the same as the main body. Looks good with the blue stripe instead of yellow too.

[jenius]

It won't come with super parts... they will be sold separately for $50. That's my guess. Maybe a bundle for the VF-19 super parts with VF-17 super parts like they did with the YF-21 and YF-19.

[raptormesh]

It won't come with super parts... they will be sold separately for $50. That's my guess. Maybe a bundle for the VF-19 super parts with VF-17 super parts like they did with the YF-21 and YF-19.

This would be my guess as well. Bundling in super parts may just cause the price to hit 25k yen MSRP.

[reeoyuy]

I prefer D over S. I first saw S head design in Macross VFX-2. My impression was that thing looks really evil (it's a baddie VF on that game anyway). Then I watched M7 and surprised that thing is not the one bad guy used. I think it has more scary-looking head than Elgerzorene .vfx2 gallery (11).bmp

[m0n5t3r]

I like the FAST Packs in battroid mode, not so much when in fighter mode.

there... better pic... no "baboon" head...

from MAHQ

I hope they're making the Diamond Force VF-17D... i like it with the blue stripes and the chest insignia.

The valkyrie also doesn't need hands.

i was browsing the Sci-Fi section, new Voltron thread. Now there's a robot without any hands! it has mouths for hands!... and for feet... and a mouth head with a face in it...

Edited June 3, 2011 by m0n5t3r