DX VF-171EX from Macross Frontier

[Chronocidal]

Oh, it is definitely fun. I haven't done that with everything, but I've definitely had my SV-51s and VF-0s down to their components multiple times. Had to pull apart a VF-17 recently too, to work on one of the shoulders.

I just hate having screw covers glued in all over the place, even if the do look better than screw heads. Makes things a pain to get to, and I want to pull apart my VF-19s to tweak them.

[eugimon]

FYI, the screw covers on the vf-19 are DEEP. There's no way to pry them out without seriously damaging the surrounding plastic. You can only drill them out. The vf-19 legs were not designed to be taken apart.

Edited March 23, 2013 by eugimon

[anime52k8]

FYI, the screw covers on the vf-19 are DEEP. There's no way to pry them out without seriously damaging the surrounding plastic. You can only drill them out. The vf-19 legs were not designed to be taken apart.

yeah, Yamato got REALLY glue happy with the VF-19's. Getting just about anything on it apart is bound to do irrevocable damage.

[LuizSSB]

It seems Bandai will make a third version of the VF-171:

Is this Luccas's paint scheme? It has been sometime since I last watched Frontier...

edit:

I noticed now that it seems like the CF version, but I dont know. I remember the CF being a little more green, that color is almost gray.

Edited March 24, 2013 by LuizSSB

[sketchley]

It seems Bandai will make a third version of the VF-171:

I believe that's just the general VF-171 version, and not a new version.

The key thing about the text is that it's announcing armour parts for the general VF-171. I'd like to tell you more, but the picture is just to blurry.

[ff95gj]

Yes, the magazine scan is about the armored parts for the VF-171 general version.

[Kicker773]

I told my self I wasn't getting one.. but damn... had to snag one up with armor parts...thats it.. no more =(

[SaitouSad]

Quick question.. would the 171ex be worth the 17,000yen (excluding shipping) for 2nd hand price it is going for?

[Duymon]

I've seen used 171's with armor set bundles go for 13000-14000 on yahoo auctions

It wasn't hard to find them at retail in Akiba when I was last there in December, and they were marked down to like 12000 - 13000 MISB

Edited April 3, 2013 by Duymon

[anime52k8]

yeah, that sounds a pretty steep to me even without the armor parts I'd say 13k about right.

[SaitouSad]

hmm alright, thanks for the price gauge

to be honest, I'm not a very big fan of the 171, though I do like the battoroid mode. The fact that it had such a short life before Alto crashed.. i mean got it shot down didn't help hahah

[Duymon]

This is weird, but after looking at all three of my 171 EXes I noticed something.

THe plastic on the shoulders, the head and the nose is a slightly different white than the off-white used on the wings, backpanel, etc.

THis is driving me nuts, I can't unsee it now

[physioguy]

This is weird, but after looking at all three of my 171 EXes I noticed something.

THe plastic on the shoulders, the head and the nose is a slightly different white than the off-white used on the wings, backpanel, etc.

THis is driving me nuts, I can't unsee it now

Darnit!

Now I'm only going to squint when looking at my 171's. I don't want to have to try to "un-see-it" later on.

[blackconvoy_D01]

I noticed a big blotch of glue near my rear right landing gear. But otherwise its a 'like' all around.

Edited April 26, 2013 by blackconvoy_D01

[Scream Man]

Found one of these on Mando really cheap. Got the Super packs as well since they were cheap.

So yeah. First 171.

[Pedro2k6]

Found one of these on Mando really cheap. Got the Super packs as well since they were cheap.

So yeah. First 171.

where do you found it?

[Scream Man]

Mandarake

[CF18]

TLDR: Be very careful with the chest hinge.

You may remember a month ago I got two box of VF-171 from NY when I ordered a single one. They wanted the extra one back but I think I convinced them that paying $100 to sent it from Canada is not worth it for them. The 1st unit has that cracked shoulder piece that is quite common. I opened the the 2nd unit a month later and it looked fine. I transformed it once and it has stayed in B mode, and today I change it's pose for a bit and found one side that hinge above was broken off. The other side quickly broke off too when I try to see if it still transform properly. I don't think I had too much force on it to cause it to break, and I had transformed the EX many times already without problem.

At least after swapping the shoulder I still got one good unit (for now). The broken one can still hold together in F mode and B mode reasonably well, while G mode needed some help from the stand adapter.

Edit: oops this was meant for the CF thread, oh well.

Edited June 29, 2013 by CF18

[Loop]

[Scyla]

Did this happen to any unit of the previous release? I changed mine from Battroid to Gerwalk and it seems fine. I need to check out the hinge.

[TCracker]

wow, tht looks nasty. were yiu trying to push the hinge in a direction it is suppose to fold and collapse? looks like the hinge was wedged against the direction it suppose to go and causing the breakage. not saying you did anything wrong, but could it be possible?

I have trabsformed by 3 CF171 regularly and looks fine. *knocks on wood*

[Murphy]

I haven't transformed my vf-171, and ive had t since release, I'm now too scared too now.

[Scyla]

Well I transformed mine back to Battroid today and know the damn thing won't lock together.

Sometimes I wish I am a Fighter-Mode only guy but no, I have to play with those damn toys.

Curse you inner child!

[CF18]

wow, tht looks nasty. were yiu trying to push the hinge in a direction it is suppose to fold and collapse? looks like the hinge was wedged against the direction it suppose to go and causing the breakage. not saying you did anything wrong, but could it be possible?

It may be possible, I was transforming it without the manual open in front of me, only from memory.

[Scream Man]

Well i got mine, and shes nice. The fighter mode is killer, Bot mode isnt bad, but the transition is MURDER> I had a helluva time figuring out how to get all the chest pieces sliding into the right spot. So yeah she's a little fiddly, but i like her.

The super Parts I'm a bit on the fence about. The kinda work, but they still feel a bit more haphazard than the 25's. I DO like the new wings with missile hardpoints.

[anime52k8]

Quick question, was the VF-171EX supposed to be bright white out of the box like the VF-25F, or is it supposed to be an off white?

[TCracker]

Off white. The VF25F is brighter.

[skullmilitia]

Mine broke in the exact same spot

[anime52k8]

Off white. The VF25F is brighter.

that makes me feel better. I pulled all the armor parts off my ex and put it in battroid for the first time since I got the VF-25F. the difference when you have them side by side is shocking.

[Scream Man]

Assuming you didn't want to change the wings out, is there any issue with gluing the wing pegs in?

[anime52k8]

Assuming you didn't want to change the wings out, is there any issue with gluing the wing pegs in?

other than the possibility that you'll change your mind down the road, I don't see any reason why that wouldn't work, just be careful not to get any excess glue outside of the hole and end up gluing the wing in place.

[Scream Man]

Nah I glued the FP ones with the harpoints on, and prefer to always have that option.

[anime52k8]

lately I've been leaving the missile off in battroid mode because they get in the way of everything and make the backpack pop loose all the time. I left the hardpoint wings on because I was too lazy to dig out the original wings, but I kind of want to so I can have a clean look in battroid mode like the VF-25 without big holes and lugs showing. Of course, at the same time I wish the VF-25 had hardpoints on it's wings so I could stick all the VF-171 missiles on it. (I think they'd work better there anyways since there's more clearance for them in battroid mode.)

Edited August 16, 2013 by anime52k8

[spanner]

So, I decided to take apart my VF-171EX and see if I could tighten up some joints.

first up was the hips, fairly easy to get in to, but a clear example the odd over engineering that goes into this thing. First there's a single screw to remove back of the intake/hip piece, that frees up the lower leg and gives access to the ball cup proper. the ball cup consists of a plastic insert (green) and a die-cast cover (red). also, watch out for the two plastic inserts (blue), they fit in to the grooves in the white diecast part (yellow) and provide a detent for the gerwalk joint (pink) to extend an extra click outside of it's normal extension to accommodate the thigh armor parts.

Next up, the ankle. it's pretty simple. it's similar to the VF-19's ankle, but the two screws that hold it together are easily accesable if you pull the leg all the way out, and once you do that the two halfs of the ball cup can be easily pulled off the spring pin that makes up the forward/back ankle hinge.

then we get to the arm. it's actually easy enough to get off since the shoulder pauldron just pops off and the arm itself is connected by a single screw (green) to the underside of the chest plate. it's also easy enough to get the lower arm separated from the shoulder proper with one screw. again, watch out for the little plastic washers that provide friction to the elbow joint, they're indexed with a square peg so they only fit correctly one way. it's also interesting the way they chose to engineer the bicep swivel. They used a press fit spring pin connect a trapezoidal block to the shoulder (red). the block remains stationary in the bicep and the pin provides all the friction.

unfortunatly, the shoulder joint itself is basically impossible to access. it's held together by a single screw which is completely covered by the hinged portion of the shoulder (green). the lower hinged portion is held in place by a press fit pin that I absolutely have not be able to remove (red).

BTW, if you remove the arm, watch out for this piece:

It came from here (green) and the only purpose it serves is to act as a spring clip to hold the metal swing bar in place while in fighter mode.

Oh, maybe I'm just late to the party, but while I was taking this apart I noticed for the first time that there are actually tab points that hold the backpack in place for battroid mode and not just two. in addition to the obvious white pegs that stick out of the back-plate, there are also two holes (green) and two tabs that stick out of the wing bars (red) which in theory should tab in to said holes.

so yeah, fun time to be had all around this afternoon.

@anime52k8..

This is fantastic! I know you posted this quite a while ago but thanks for doing so regardless! I am going to attempt repairing the Alto 171 that I gave to my son and this should help wonders!

Im also going to order the replacement shoulder parts from Shapeways.. hope this goes well!

[Valkyrie Driver]

I know this thread is old, but most of this has reassured me that getting the EX was a good choice. I've had mine for about 3 months and I got it NIB, and have transformed it about a dozen times. It's even replaced my long time favorite VF-19 as my favorite Valk. It's small and compact, yet it looks dangerous, and it looks like a war machine in battroid mode. really love it. Have there been any breakage issues with the EX similar to those reported on the CF version? Was the CF version just poor quality control, and the EX just a better run?