Yamato 1/60 VF-17 Nightmare Diamond Force (Thread no.2)

[Loop]

Honestly for me, I think the rarity of the VF-4 means no, you would not be getting a fair trade. Although I had one of the arms on the 2 I got fall off as I tried to bring the arm down. The die-cast just crumbled. I sent in a request via the vendor to Yamato, and have yet to hear anything. They made it sound like Yamato is really busy because they had a ton of toys breaking. I am not sure If I buy that though, as I have only had 1x 1/48 gerwalk joint crumble on first transform due to a really badly molded joint and the VF-4 incident. I feel I have a pretty large collection of Yamato toys and have only had those 2 incidents.

Edited January 31, 2013 by Loop

[sil80jdm]

Got my shipping notification from otacute for my vf-17d with super packs! Come on guys keep the pics coming I can't stop looking at pics of this guy but unfortunately this thread is getting no love

[Mommar]

Sorry Man, I haven't had time to take pictures of toys recently.

[locidm]

I love my VF-17S, and even more now that I have the super pack!! I just got the Fire Valkyrie with sound booster, and the ace pilot trio of VF-17S, VF-19S, and VF-19 Kai looks awesome together. No pix though......no time. I hardly had enough time to transform my Fire Valkyrie and put the sound booster on before having to do something else......sigh.

Edited February 4, 2013 by locidm

[plutoniumhunter]

Me want - maybe twiddle my thumbs for a few months praying for prices to drop.

[Phalanix]

I ended up getting a VF-17D w/super packs from AmiAmi as they had the cheapest prices (23% off, roughly $260CAD). Stock seems to be wavering there, sometimes sold out, sometimes in stock. Now it says backordered, but you can still try your luck and put an order in.

VF-17D for that low-vis look, screw canon.

[sil80jdm]

Just received my 17d from otacute! I gotta say first time ordering from them and really impressed.outer Box was smashed to hell but my 17d art box was perfect because they overpacked it. Gonna open this bad boy up tonight and post some pics really excited about this one guys lets get somemore 17 luv in here!

[Phalanix]

Received my 17D today as well, I have to say I was really surprised by the weight of it. Definitely has a fighter bomber vibe with this thing. It also looks much better in person, pics really don't do it justice. From the pictures, the lack of tempo printing and decals look really boring, but holding it in my hands it doesn't feel that way at all.

Really hoping the Milia 17S will become a reality.

[Loop]

I ended up buying 17-D number 2 to complete Diamond Force. I got this one from Amiami also, but I bought the combo set again so I may have to end up selling off a spare unopened Super Parts set. I decided to jump on it right after I got all freaked out about the Yamato/Arcadia announcement. I was going to wait for it to go on sale for more, but decided I would rather have it than not just in case.

[Chronocidal]

Freaking hell... anyone have a busted VF-17 I can scavenge the right arm from? My right shoulder is pretty much trashed, because something went wrong with the molding, and it will not stay on. I fortunately got the screw cover off the main shoulder piece, so I can get the entire arm apart, but the little folding triangular part with the trap door is shot. In fact, the metal shoulder piece itself might be malformed, because I cannot get the shoulder to glue together around it. It's like it's too wide.

I've tried every freaking which way to get this thing to glue back together, and nothing works. The parts just will not touch enough to get a good glue surface.

[usagiz]

This would be good for replacement. http://www.hkcollectibles.com/macross-robotech/7024-vf-17s-diamond-force.html

[Chronocidal]

I'd agree, except the pieces I need to replace are maybe a couple bucks worth of plastic. Plus, I don't need an entire spare VF-17 sitting around without a right shoulder, just so my D can have one.

Eh, it's not pretty, but after posting that I tried to put everything back together as best I could, and it's sort of holding together. I just cannot find any way to force those two halves of the upper shoulder together, as if something is in the way.

I wound up filling the gap with superglue, thinking I might have cut away some of the plastic when I cleaned the pieces, but now that shoulder piece is actually too thick, because it's interfering with the way the hip and that little triangle flap sit. Not to mention, superglue and black plastic is never a good combination. The parts are all fogged up.

Edited February 12, 2013 by Chronocidal

[whitestar]

Just got the super pack for the vf-17s and was wondering if the leg armor tabs should lock into the slots on the underside of the wings??? The tabs on mine don't lock into the slots and disconnect very easily when I'm handling it. Is there something I'm doing wrong??? Still, a very nice addition to the valk

[Mommar]

Just got the super pack for the vf-17s and was wondering if the leg armor tabs should lock into the slots on the underside of the wings??? The tabs on mine don't lock into the slots and disconnect very easily when I'm handling it. Is there something I'm doing wrong??? Still, a very nice addition to the valk

It's kind of a friction thing really. If you adjust the bits that insert into the legs correct those tabs will fit into the wings and stay. But they do not lock into the wings, which I think is a mistake.

[whitestar]

Thanks for confirming that, Monmar.

[Mommar]

It's interesting. They don't lock in but once I got the bits in the legs adjusted properly they've stayed up without slipping once since it arrived the beginning of January.

[whitestar]

Mine tends to unlock if you hold the fighter without supporting the legs. The legs tend to droop down, dragging the leg armor down and away from the underside of the wing where the tab connects to. If the tabs lock instead of being held by tension, I'd be a lot happier with the $75 purchase. It's overpriced as it is

[Mommar]

Hmm, I've never held the 17 in a position where the legs were to droop down but it was on a yamato stand in fighter and I never had any issues with the legs drooping in the back. Are you sure you have the legs locked in place correct? It can be a little finicky.

[whitestar]

The tabs on the underside of the backpack area does not slot in tightly with the slots on the lower legs of the valk. The tabs aren't as substantial as the ones on Bandai's vf17. That does a better job of locking the legs in place in fighter mode. The sheer weight of the legs on the Yamato version forces it to droop down by a small amount, since nothing is connecting it tightly with the backpack part of the valk. I've seen other reviews on this site which mentions the same issue. This could've been corrected by a stronger leg armor connection with the underside of the wing, but alas, another missed opportunity by the manufacturer.

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, I've never been able to get the legs on either VF-17 to stay up if I didn't support them. The "tabs" that are meant to hold them up are nowhere near big enough to give them any kind of support.

That is one place they really should have used magnets.

[Mommar]

I wonder if people aren't quite attaching their legs right in Fighter mode? I clearly have taken photos of the fighter on the Launch Arm Stand, which does nothing to support the legs at all, and they don't droop and the packs don't fall out at all. Unless I've just got lucky. I know when my D came in the package it wasn't quite transformed correct and the legs didn't feel like they would attache all the way but I transformed it once and then back again and it's been stable since. You have to be absolutely sure the legs are rotated correct at the thigh. If it's off by a small hair it will feel like it's snapped into place but won't actually be. The legs on my D definitely stay put.

[Chronocidal]

Alignment could very well be part of the problem, but that's a problem in itself. There's nothing to guide the alignment of the legs.

My "best guess" way to do it is to line up the legs so the backs of the ankles mesh cleanly, and then press them together against the underside of the backpack. The tabs are obviously fitting where they should, but there is no way those dinky strips of plastic are going to exert enough friction to keep those legs from falling. There's just nothing to grip.

It's almost like the legs are supposed to be slightly off line, so that they don't mesh together all the way, and the outward pressure on the tabs is what is supposed to keep them up.

Tiny differences in the molding could cause that though. Get thick enough tabs, and maybe the legs would snap onto them. Might just have to thicken them up with some glue to see if it helps, but I've never had them on a stand anyway, and setting them on the gear fixes the problem easily.

Edited February 13, 2013 by Chronocidal

[Kicker773]

I think its an alignment issue.. check it. Sorry to hear about the arm busted.

[whitestar]

As Chronocidal, mentioned part of the problem is that there's no way to guide the alignments of the legs so that they remain firmly locked with the backpack piece. I've been playing around with the alignment, and as soon as I grab the fighter by the nosecone and give it a shake, the legs detach from the backpack area. It annoys me to no end. In contrast, I can shake the MacF vf-17 by Bandai and all parts remain locked in place. Deeper tabs or magnets would have been better.

I won't belabor the point (too late!!!), as it's a quibble that doesn't prevent me from enjoying the valk. My next step is to sticker it up. I'm toying around with the idea of DIY waterside decals since they have a wider margin for error. Screw up a decal placement? No worries!!! Just print more decals until you get it right!

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, the leg alignment thing is a nuisance, but it's not like they're falling down entirely. They just sag a few millimeters.

Anyway, as far as the shoulder goes, fortunately it's not quite busted.. it still holds on ok in fighter mode. The entire shoulder cover just loves to pop off in battroid or gerwalk, and sags because there's no tension in the pivot around the metal shoulder joint. Mostly it's just ugly, because I tried so many times to glue it back together, and had to sand down the surfaces to get rid of the glue residue.

I figure it's not worth messing with anymore. My last resort was going to be to sand off all the locator pins, make the pieces flat, and fill the gap with a piece of black scrap plastic, but considering how often I transform it, it's probably better to just leave it be.

On the plus side, I took so many pieces off the thing to work with it, I now have a great understanding of how to disassemble a VF-17.

[Lightning]

out of curiosity on the -17S, has anybody decided to just paint the white part of the head black like the rest of it?

[Graham]

This would be good for replacement. http://www.hkcollectibles.com/macross-robotech/7024-vf-17s-diamond-force.html

Snagged that. Good price.

Graham

[ErikElvis]

17D with packs now low stock at HLJ. I picked up another to be safe.

[plutoniumhunter]

Snagged that. Good price.

Graham

Same here.

[Phalanix]

Snagged that. Good price.

Graham

Same here.

Me too. Then I saw that Angolz is selling the 17S for $7 cheaper. But I picked up another 19S as well, which was cheaper at HKCollectibles than Angolz, so I guess that evens it out. Edited February 18, 2013 by Phalanix

[plutoniumhunter]

I got it together with the VF-22S Gamlin, VF-19Kai and Sound Booster... The Sound Booster's price at HKCollectibles made up for the $10~ ish difference that Angolz had for the VF-22S and VF-17S

[xrentonx]

17D with packs now low stock at HLJ. I picked up another to be safe.

I did the same this weekend. Gonna feel foolish once Arcadia makes an official announcement that they are gonna reissue everything though.

[Negotiator]

Ugh, I was sitting on whether to get a 17d w/ armor vs naked 17d last night, and this morning I check Ami and the 17d w/ armor is sold out! Since my choice was made for me, I got a naked 17d coming.

[Phalanix]

I did the same this weekend. Gonna feel foolish once Arcadia makes an official announcement that they are gonna reissue everything though.

Wouldn't mind that, but it's best to be safe than sorry. LOL

Plus, we'll have the original Yammies.

[Rabidweezil]

I just got a brand-new Yamato VF-17D. I watched a couple of "how to" transform vids, but for the life of me I cannot seem to get the hip bars to turn all the way down like it seems they are supposed to.

I can pull them out, and they turn down together to about 90 degrees forward but then stop. After that the resistance for them to move further down seems like it's not meant to happen. I have tugged, and twisted, and pulled with no luck. I think I've actually loosened the right ball joint hip with all my forced pressure. That leg now seems a little floppier then it was when I started out.

Suggestions or tips would be appreciated