1/60 Yamato VF-4G Web-Exclusive Toy

[VF5SS]

A part in my Lightning hard points got rejected by Shapeways. I'll have to try again soon. I wish they'd let me know before doing other things in the order because 6.50 shipping is getting grating.

[funkymonkeyjavajunky]

Aargh! My toy is in San Francisco and it's a holiday. Just 800 more miles to go.

[Scyla]

I'm fairly certain there would not be a 1:1 buy rate for a repaint for those of us who bought this one. I love this toy, but investing another $340-$360 is going to stop many who only bought one of this thing from buying any more, regardless of paint scheme. New paint schemes on 150-250 toys is one thing, investing in two of these is getting closer to $1k than many people are comfortable with.

Speaking of milking, tell that to bandai. I am sure there are plenty of people out there who would buy a reissue of the renewal vf-25's as they missed out on the ridiculously small buy windows (ahem).

I'll agree that it makes sense they would go ahead and release the 2012 paint scheme down the road, but there are arguments against it. As you said in your own review, this valk is relatively unknown and barely saw screen time with Hikaru in the pilot seat and that was a music video. No screen time in combat. More people know this valk from exposure to the game than FB i would wager. We will see I suppose! Ill put my dollar on this being it, or a reissue of this paint scheme in 6 months.

I don't know about that. I mean how many people played the game and thought: "I want one"

I think the Valkyrie is widely known from FB2012 and that's the more popular color scheme. And the majority of VF-4 owners are not willing to customize a $350 toy.

In addition word has spread that this is an excellent piece so people who passed on the first one will now order because

they've seen it in a review and know what they are getting. So the FB2012 version might even sell better than the current one.

[CoreyD]

I ordered Kurisama's weapon's hard points off shapeways not too long ago and I couldn't resist mounting my VF-4 with a full weapons payload. Not sure if the crazy glue will hold long-term, but it seems to be ok for now.

By the way, testors gray primer acryl paint seems to match the rest of the plastic pretty well.

Attack!!!

[Mommar]

I ordered Kurisama's weapon's hard points off shapeways not too long ago and I couldn't resist mounting my VF-4 with a full weapons payload. Not sure if the crazy glue will hold long-term, but it seems to be ok for now.

By the way, testors gray primer acryl paint seems to match the rest of the plastic pretty well.

Attack!!!

Interesting, we used the exact same VF-0 Markings for our VF-4's.

I should really get around to posting pics of my stickered up one.

I was so busy looking at the markings I didn't even notice the missiles. LOL Looks pretty good loaded down.

Edited January 22, 2013 by Mommar

[Kurisama]

Whoop whoop wut wut!

Cool! I think, if they come off easily - you should shave a slight angle so the pylons are perpendicular to the ground - but otherwise - sick!

[danth]

Guys, I'm trying to push the cockpit down for battroid mode and it is just not happening. I'm going to crush the cockpit if I push any harder. Help!

[jenius]

See my video guide, your finger is in the wrong spot would be my guess.

8:20 (watch it in HD!)

Edited January 22, 2013 by jenius

[danth]

I was watching it. Not holding it underneath the gear. The thing is just stuck.

When I push down I hear a lot of creaking as if it's about to break in multiple places.

Edited January 22, 2013 by danth

[Chronocidal]

Well, make sure you're not pushing on the canopy itself. The cockpit interior will take a lot more pressure than the clear canopy before it gets damaged.

[danth]

I must have gotten a dud. I guess I can keep it in fighter mode or try to return it. I have pushed as hard as I can, and cannot get any movement.

EDIT: Jeezus Christ. I finally got that damn cockpit down, and if I had not taken pains to not crush the canopy, I surely would have cracked it. This is how I had to hold it to get it down without breaking anything:

My index fingers are on either side of the front console, and my middle fingers are on the head of the pilot's seat. I had the canopy up and open, so I wasn't pressing on it at all. Putting this here in case it helps anyone else.

Edited January 22, 2013 by danth

[danth]

The result of the past terrifying two hours:

Edited January 22, 2013 by danth

[Kurisama]

Huzzah!

[RazgrizRezel]

Do you think that they might release that camo scheme they've used in Macross Plus? (not sure if it did have screen time.)

[NeoverseOmega]

Well, this did pretty well despite the fact that some people are holding out for the Hikaru version - a mainstream release would probably be more popular and cheaper as well. I can't help but hope they milk the mold simply because I ended up having to choose between having this and having a home (how messed up is it that the cost of a valk is the same as my first months rent at the new apartment), so if they did a mainstream release a couple of months down the line I would be very happy.

Besides, now that the molds are made if they pump out Max, Myria, Hikaru, Stealth, and Camo paint schemes in relatively small numbers, they'd probably make a tidy profit.

Edited January 22, 2013 by NeoverseOmega

[jenius]

I think stealth and camo schemes are dead thanks to the poor 1/48 sales

[Scyla]

Well, this did pretty well despite the fact that some people are holding out for the Hikaru version - a mainstream release would probably be more popular and cheaper as well. I can't help but hope they milk the mold simply because I ended up having to choose between having this and having a home (how messed up is it that the cost of a valk is the same as my first months rent at the new apartment), so if they did a mainstream release a couple of months down the line I would be very happy.

Besides, now that the molds are made if they pump out Max, Myria, Hikaru, Stealth, and Camo paint schemes in relatively small numbers, they'd probably make a tidy profit.

Man, the rents must be pretty low. Were I live you have the problem the the rents (even for a small single room apartment) are more than a normal monthly salary

So it could be worse I guess.

Something on the topic, something on the topic....

Ah yes! a M&M scheme would be nice. I love the red hue of Milias Valkyries in the M7 show.

Edited January 22, 2013 by Scyla

[Sandman]

I think stealth and camo schemes are dead thanks to the poor 1/48 sales

I know the camo sold really bad but i'm surprised that the stealth didn't sell well.

[jenius]

Yep, it was a dud; a pretty big dud; a major mark down item. I think in Yamato's mind the best non-canon scheme they can give us is a blank valk for us to do whatever we want with.

[Kurisama]

In case anyone is interested, I'm almost finished the sculpt for the 4G custom;

Thread located here if this floats your boat; http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=38380&st=0&gopid=1017234entry1017234

I'll stop spamming this forum now

[usagiz]

That did it! Mine had a really tight cockpit too, and your steps worked for me too! Now onto hours of fiddling until I find a pose I'm happy with! This really is an engineering marvel!

(null)

Edited January 23, 2013 by usagiz

[danth]

That did it! Mine had a really tight cockpit too, and your steps worked for me too! Now onto hours of fiddling until I find a pose I'm happy with! This really is an engineering marvel!

Yay!

The way you have the arm cannons out looks really good. I'm going to have to try that pose.

[Actar]

So, where can I acquire one of these beauties this late in the game?

[ErikElvis]

So, where can I acquire one of these beauties this late in the game?

Well I doubt you'll find one for under $400 before shipping. Nippon-yasan.com seems to have some.

[DarrinG]

Yahoo Japan has a bunch for around 35,000 yen...

[slaginpit]

The result of the past terrifying two hours:

Yeah IMmmmmm not going to attempt it. And I love it in Valkyrie mode. Word of advice. DO NOT PANEL LINE WITH PENCIL, you cant rub off the access with your finger like you can with a gundam marker. Now Its smudged and even eraser wont clean it up. Not sure at this point what to do to clean it up.

[Actar]

Urgh... it's been forever since I last purchased a Valk and I really want to scratch that itch... However, all the new Valks are just so darn expensive, be it the VF-4G, 17 or 25.

[Scyla]

I think the MSRP for these toys is reasonable.

Yamato has the problem that they are not Bandai and their licenses are not as popular as Frontier so they can't produce runs in high numbers to beat don the price.

And Bandai... well for some unknown reasons Bandai wont satisfy the demand for their Frontier toys so if your interested in one you pay "slightly" over MSRP and so you

come closer to the prices Yamanto asks for.

As I said the prices are worth it in my opinion. And at least with the Yamato Valks you can get some of them at a clearance.

If you are interested in the VF-4 I would wait to acquire one. Maybe the will announce a reissue with a different color scheme mid February.

[takatoys]

Yeah IMmmmmm not going to attempt it. And I love it in Valkyrie mode. Word of advice. DO NOT PANEL LINE WITH PENCIL, you cant rub off the access with your finger like you can with a gundam marker. Now Its smudged and even eraser wont clean it up. Not sure at this point what to do to clean it up.

Try cleaning the excess with isopropylic alcohol. Just be careful not to rub the tampo markings.

[wm cheng]

Yeah IMmmmmm not going to attempt it. And I love it in Valkyrie mode. Word of advice. DO NOT PANEL LINE WITH PENCIL, you cant rub off the access with your finger like you can with a gundam marker. Now Its smudged and even eraser wont clean it up. Not sure at this point what to do to clean it up.

What happened? I did mine and even the "post shading" in pencil and it worked out great. Was there a specific part what wouldn't come out like a painted surface? Did you press too hard with a really hard lead and etched into the surface?

[MacrossJunkie]

Yeah, that's very strange. I've never experienced staining with pencils before. I have experienced quite a few times where gundam markers would stain or otherwise seep into plastics (particularly noticable on lighter colored plastics) or painted areas even if only on the surface for seconds and couldn't be fully wiped off even with rubbing alcohol. For most painted areas, I really couldn't mess up with the gundam markers, it would just stain immediately and the best I could do is lighten the stain. For plastics, it varies. Sometimes I could mess up a few times if I'm lucky before it becomes really noticeable. Other times I could really mess up a lot before it really gets ingrained into the plastic.

Was the graphite getting into scratches in the plastic surface? What type of pencil was used? I typically use a .5 mm mechanical pencil with a medium grade softness (HB, give or take a grade or two) if I decide to use pencils for panel lining.

[takatoys]

That happened to me once. You basically make to many passes in the panel line with the pencil to show up more. By the time you want it to look a bit weathered, you get smudges everywhere because of the excess accumulated in the line and the toy becomes a mess.

Just clean it using a paper towel with isopropylic alcohol. Make one pass and avoid using the towel when it becomes dirty. Most important, don't pass the wet towel on the tampo marks or you will get a smudge with it.

[Arrowyn]

That's one wicked-looking VF-OS in the background there, Usagiz! >D

Oh, and we're glad you didn't break your Lightning III.

[robodragon]

My responce form NY

Hello and thank you for your email!

Thank you for the picture.

We will contact Yamato and tell you as soon as we have news.

I got that last week.

I sent this today.

Hello

Any response from Yamato yet? I'm really disappointed about paying so much for a toy and having a piece missing, A piece that can not just fall out, but had to actually be left out during the build. This should be an easy fix for Yamato to just send me the piece that I already paid for and should have been installed in the first place. Until I hear from them on what they are going to do to fix this issue I have to keep it in the box just in case they want the whole thing back. That is really annoying, to have this great expensive toy and not be able to do anything with but stare at the box.

Any pressure you can put on Yamato to resolve this would be appropriated.

I can't see why it would take Yamato so long to say "Sorry, here is the $0.50 piece we forgot to add. Have a nice day."

I still have time with paypal. Worst case I open a Paypal against NY for not complete item and force their hand. I hate to do that but I hate paying almost $400 for a incomplete brand new toy.

[Roy's Blues]

I'm in the same situation as robodragon, and received the same response 7 days ago.