DX Chogokin Super VF-27

[wm cheng]

hey wm cheng you going post pics of your weathering too?

I just haven't had any time to take any pictures... plus I wanted to finish up my VF-25F and do it all in one go. I'm not sure I'm too happy with the job I did on them, I might still tweak them a bit (my RVF-25 is a bit "over" done - he mostly stayed back behind the lines so it should be less weathered, but I think I went overboard since it was the first light Valkyrie I've done after the dark VF-171CF which took a lot of work for anything to even show up). I'd like to "dry-brush" some white highlights now that they've been clear-coated so there is hopefully some "tooth" for the lighter colour to cling onto. I'm really not a fan of this super-slick glossy/shiny Bandai plastic - they just look so "toyish" and its a bi@#$! to tone down and protect.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

I just haven't had any time to take any pictures... plus I wanted to finish up my VF-25F and do it all in one go. I'm not sure I'm too happy with the job I did on them, I might still tweak them a bit (my RVF-25 is a bit "over" done - he mostly stayed back behind the lines so it should be less weathered, but I think I went overboard since it was the first light Valkyrie I've done after the dark VF-171CF which took a lot of work for anything to even show up). I'd like to "dry-brush" some white highlights now that they've been clear-coated so there is hopefully some "tooth" for the lighter colour to cling onto. I'm really not a fan of this super-slick glossy/shiny Bandai plastic - they just look so "toyish" and its a bi@#$! to tone down and protect.

you and Macross Junkie probably know this site already. but in case, pretty good and very complete article on future

http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html

Edited September 10, 2013 by davidwhangchoi

[MacrossJunkie]

I've used the Model Master Acryl clear coats for my models, so I tried on these toys too. They are fine for Yamato toys (since the plastic has a bit more "tooth") but due to the glossiness of the Bandai plastics, its just too slick for them to adhere well and is too delicate and gets easily scratched off - especially the matte/flat coatings.

I'm going to try MJ's Future method on my next Bandai toys - but the trick is to give them a soapy wash first as there is often a lot of oil/grease in the joints when it comes out of the box. I'm just hesitant because you have to mix a Tamiya flat base in each time which adds a level of uncertainty each time you spray on the clear coat.

How do you get such a perfect black background? Velvet? I love your photos!

Yeah, that's why I disliked the Model Master clear coats. They flake off toys, particularly the Bandai stuff if you so much as look at them funny. It's just way too brittle.

If it helps as a suggestion, I fill up an empty one of Tamiya's 23mL paint jars with the future and flat base. It's usually enough for 2 or 3 valks so you wouldn't have to keep mixing. So once you have it at just the right mixture, just shake it up and you're ready to go when you want to use it later.

Yeah, my backdrop is a velvety black cloth. Unfortunately it's also a magnet for all the little white particles that float around due to the felt-like inner texture of the light tent. It's a real pain in the rear to clean off which anyone who has tried to clean lint from a dark velvet material can attest to. I tend to just clean up any white particles in post-production of the photos since it's impossible for me to keep up. Adobe Lightroom is used to help me make sure the background is a true black and tweak exposure when needed. The backdrop gets me about 95% there already. Strangely enough, it seems to require less light to get a good exposure with the black backdrop compared to the gray or white ones I have and it gives the picture more natural contrast.

you and Macross Junkie probably know this site already. but in case, pretty good and very complete article on future

http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html

Yep, I used that site as reference when I first started using Future to clear coat my stuff.

Edited September 10, 2013 by MacrossJunkie

[UN Spacy]

Pretty happy it's still up at Ami.

[wm cheng]

Not really sure where to post this, but I just realized when I was picking up my VF-27 from AmiAmi that what a great deal Nippon Yasan was?!

There's been a lot of bad mouthing NY here over a few threads lately, but I must say, without them, I wouldn't be able to get a few of my renewals. No one (including me) likes to pay above MSRP, but I'd rather pay that then the e-bay prices later on and get my sleep so I can work the next day!

AmiAmi declared my VF-27 at $200 which results in a $36cdn customs & brokerage fees when I picked up at the post office (via Registered SAL). Nippon Yasan declares my other renewals at $10 and I've saved $30-40 on each of my orders (also registered SAL) so far. At first I thought that Registered SAL snuck through the customs agency, but I think its the value declared - I've saved over $200 in just customs fees alone in the last few months. Even though NY charges a higher initial fee, its still less than customs in Canada (sometimes), and I'd rather pay NY for helping me get this toy than the government for restricting everything that comes into the country if it doesn't have French on it! So I now factor in 3,500Y into the price at NY to compare if its still cheaper. (ie; AA is 18,800Y while NY is 23,900Y - so while more expensive, its closer than you think in the end - at least for me in Canada).

Just my 2 cents worth.

(nope I haven't opened this beauty yet, its sitting in my car till the end of my 12hr work day...)

[Mommar]

Not really sure where to post this, but I just realized when I was picking up my VF-27 from AmiAmi that what a great deal Nippon Yasan was?!

There's been a lot of bad mouthing NY here over a few threads lately, but I must say, without them, I wouldn't be able to get a few of my renewals. No one (including me) likes to pay above MSRP, but I'd rather pay that then the e-bay prices later on and get my sleep so I can work the next day!

AmiAmi declared my VF-27 at $200 which results in a $36cdn customs & brokerage fees when I picked up at the post office (via Registered SAL). Nippon Yasan declares my other renewals at $10 and I've saved $30-40 on each of my orders (also registered SAL) so far. At first I thought that Registered SAL snuck through the customs agency, but I think its the value declared - I've saved over $200 in just customs fees alone in the last few months. Even though NY charges a higher initial fee, its still less than customs in Canada (sometimes), and I'd rather pay NY for helping me get this toy than the government for restricting everything that comes into the country if it doesn't have French on it! So I now factor in 3,500Y into the price at NY to compare if its still cheaper. (ie; AA is 18,800Y while NY is 23,900Y - so while more expensive, its closer than you think in the end - at least for me in Canada).

Just my 2 cents worth.

(nope I haven't opened this beauty yet, its sitting in my car till the end of my 12hr work day...)

I think most of the hate are from people in the US who don't have to jump through those customs loops. I personally think there's no justification for it and I've appreciated every single thing I've been able to order via Nippon-Yasan. Then again I don't really care about "saving" money by shipping by EMS because the post office around these parts loses/breaks things so i find it more economically feasible to pay extra for Fed Ex everywhere I shop.

[ArchieNov]

100% agreed on above 2 posts. I will always appreciate NY for allowing me to get the Macross products I wanted. Same as wm cheng and Mommar, I've also saved a ton from customs and import fees whenever I order from them.

[Reïvaj]

NY is generally among the cheapest for Yamarcadia© valks.

Edit: I mean pre-orders.

Edited September 11, 2013 by Reïvaj

[mechaninac]

I totally agree that if the choice is between forking over import duty tax to government bureaucrats or paying a comparable sum to the vendor supplying the goods, then the vendor is a far worthier of the lucre... the seller provides a service, the government just wants more money to waste. N-Y and Nin-Nin declare ludicrously small amounts that can save you a lot of mullah in import fee in countries that inflict such charges on their residents, so those two stores, and others, are an attractive option in this case.

In the case of the US, their inflated prices are only worth it, at this point, as a last resort to acquire an item that may prove hard/impossible to purchase at or below MSRP elsewhere. If we're talking about Bandai's Frontier DXs, starting with the VF-171 CF their mark-up has been an unnecessary premium.

[valhary]

lucifer looks great with a big gun without weight

[SilentCrossHairs]

lucifer looks great with a big gun without weight

A Sky Grasper with U.N Spacey markings.... Blasphemy!!!!!! I say. Good day sir. Good day......!!!!!!!!!!

[Valkyrie addict]

You usually have to ask before shipping to mark your package as a gift, that way you can bypass import tax.

I've ordered from HLJ, A-E, Mandarake, HKC, Angolz and they've all mark it as gift with no problem. Except if you choosr FedEx shipping, they're most of the time force to declare the full value.

Only time I've been denied such request is when I buy squash raquets... hmmm...

[TCracker]

A Sky Grasper with U.N Spacey markings.... Blasphemy!!!!!! I say. Good day sir. Good day......!!!!!!!!!!

agreed! but nice vf27 by the way.

[ArchieNov]

You usually have to ask before shipping to mark your package as a gift, that way you can bypass import tax.

I've ordered from HLJ, A-E, Mandarake, HKC, Angolz and they've all mark it as gift with no problem. Except if you choosr FedEx shipping, they're most of the time force to declare the full value.

Only time I've been denied such request is when I buy squash raquets... hmmm...

In my country, marking something as a gift means nothing. It won't save you from import fees.

[jenius]

Review is up on anymoon.com... I tried to be thorough... let me know if you think I missed something. Unfortunately I have to dart across the country for a week and the videos aren't ready to roll so I'll address that when I come back. There will be three videos:
1) Transformation guide (I think I'm going to do this with the super parts attached)
2) Original Release to Renewal Version video like I did for the VF-25
3) Review video

I also ran out of time so there aren't any size comparisons other than to the original toy. When I get home I'll be pulling out my RVF and Arcadia VF-1 for reviews so I'll have size comparisons with those.

Edited September 13, 2013 by jenius

[Scyla]

Good review jenius. I'm looking forward for the videos. One humble request: could you show in your transformation video how to transform the legs the right way with the Super Parts equipped. I have a terrible hard time to find a way where the legs stay securely in place. If the videos are already shot and/or you covered this issue already you don't have to include it. It was just a thought.

Then I would've loved to hear your opinion on the leg attachment points as they are not have the grips of death that the VF-25 Renewals have.

Other then that I really enjoyed reading your review.

[wm cheng]

Great review Jenius! Looking forward to your videos.

Anyone have a crotch plate that keeps popping off? When I attach it back, the front edges always seems to have a slight gap, as though I'm missing some clip that supposed to pull it tight - maybe I'm not pressing hard enough.

[3D-Brainx]

Great review Jenius, as always.

So I finally got mine. I'm very happy with it I must say and I'm glad I got it. That being said, I don't know if I would have got it if I had the v1. I actually got if because of that, I missed the first run of 27's.

I would have liked a non super pack bundle, to save some 50 bucks, the 27 in my opinion is already a super valk, no need for an extra super pack.

Finally, I'm a bit disappointed with the articulated hands, considering what Bandai achieved with the latest Gundam 1/100 MG kits and their hands. A $60 sinanju kit has full articulated hands with independent fingers and this $250 toy doesn't.

[Valkyrie addict]

I've been spoiled by your videos jenius and was sad to see it's not up yet...

great review!

[Saburo]

jenius, I always look forward to seeing your videos they are well done and informative!

Edited September 13, 2013 by Saburo

[MacrossJunkie]

Good review jenius. I'm looking forward for the videos. One humble request: could you show in your transformation video how to transform the legs the right way with the Super Parts equipped. I have a terrible hard time to find a way where the legs stay securely in place. If the videos are already shot and/or you covered this issue already you don't have to include it. It was just a thought.

Then I would've loved to hear your opinion on the leg attachment points as they are not have the grips of death that the VF-25 Renewals have.

Other then that I really enjoyed reading your review.

I wasn't thrilled with the way the super packs in fighter mode were implemented either. It only seems to fit and just barely, with the GERWALK joint down one click and the knee bent also one click. It's still difficult to get the peg in the hole and seems like it puts a lot of stress on the wing hinge to the point where I would worry if it would cause a crack in the plastic similar to what happened a lot to the version 1 VF-25S with Armour Pack set. With all these issues with Bandai's crappy plastics cracking, I don't really want to tempt fate, so I took it out of fighter mode very quickly while the super packs were still on. I also didn't like that the knee armor kind of juts out while in that configuration.

Great review Jenius! Looking forward to your videos.

Anyone have a crotch plate that keeps popping off? When I attach it back, the front edges always seems to have a slight gap, as though I'm missing some clip that supposed to pull it tight - maybe I'm not pressing hard enough.

The one on mine falls off very frequently. Pretty much every time I transformed it, it would take the opportunity to fall off several times and is exactly as you described it. It doesn't seem to have any clips to keep it on and is instead kept on by small little pegs that barely produce any friction to keep the crotch plate on. Putting the support arm in the crotch piece for GERWALK mode would often act as leverage to lift the plate up, kind of making the support arm less useful than it ought to be because there's nothing to keep it from being pushed up. I'm tempted to just glue it in place since I see no reason for it to need to come off.

[CF18]

One thing I noticed from the compare pics - the screw holes on the bottom of the wings and wing engines are gone in the new version.

[jenius]

Great review Jenius! Looking forward to your videos.

Anyone have a crotch plate that keeps popping off? When I attach it back, the front edges always seems to have a slight gap, as though I'm missing some clip that supposed to pull it tight - maybe I'm not pressing hard enough.

I did notice this when transforming back from battroid to GERWALK mode. If I notice it more while making the movies I'll point it out in the text and video reviews later.

One thing I noticed from the compare pics - the screw holes on the bottom of the wings and wing engines are gone in the new version.

Good eye but I'm pretty sure they just put in a screw cover, not a mold change or anything. It might actually prove bothersome to customizers as I'd guess the screw covers are glued in.

Edited September 14, 2013 by jenius

[MacrossJunkie]

Actually, they did remold it. there are fewer screw holes and the shapes of the existing ones are different. The round divot for the screw hole in the nacelles for the original are now gone and replaced with a square cap. They also remolded the hip guns a little and also the backplate where they have the four quadrilateral shapes that were just painted on before are now molded in.

Makes it that much more confusing why they bother to go to that much trouble but not actually bother to do the panel details.

[jenius]

Yeah, looking at it now in person I see what you mean. I wonder if it's possible to just modify a mold. The changes are really minor and everything looks perfectly identical otherwise.

[UN Spacy]

Jenius da man.

I definitely don't need to do a video review anymore. You've covered all the bases.

[mechaninac]

...I wonder if it's possible to just modify a mold...

Of course it is. If the intent is to add material from the molded part, as in additional raised detail, or to slightly alter the shape so that the end result has more meat than prior to making the change, then that is a relatively easy tool alteration involving the removal of metal from the mold... EDM it, re-polish, and re-texture if necessary; on the other hand, if the goal is to subtract plastic from the final part then material has to be added to the tool, which involves welding of new metal to the mold, resulting in a somewhat weaker mold that then has to be machined to achieve the final geometry -- it can be done, but it's not ideal. In short, where molt tooling is concerned, it is always easier and preferable to remove metal than to add it; this is likely the reason no new recessed panel line details were added to the toy: recessed feature(s) in the part = removal of plastic = adding material to the mold tooling = big headache.

[lechuck]

Well got mine from AmiAmi (haven't got around opening it yet), but like others I had to pay 33 Euros for customs and I am not happy.

What is AmiAmi's official stance on this? I think I have had items arrived from them w/o the full value declared and then sometimes they do it.

I suppose it depends on the idiot that is processing your order.

Oh well I should be happy I didn't have to waste petrol to go down to customs only for them to ask me to pay...

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

Review is up on anymoon.com... I tried to be thorough... let me know if you think I missed something. Unfortunately I have to dart across the country for a week and the videos aren't ready to roll so I'll address that when I come back. There will be three videos:

1) Transformation guide (I think I'm going to do this with the super parts attached)

2) Original Release to Renewal Version video like I did for the VF-25

3) Review video

I also ran out of time so there aren't any size comparisons other than to the original toy. When I get home I'll be pulling out my RVF and Arcadia VF-1 for reviews so I'll have size comparisons with those.

Photos are so professional

[Mizicke5273]

Received mine yesterday, surprisingly. I figured it wouldn't show up until next week sometime! Got home from a round of golf and there it was, sitting on the porch for me. I transformed it to battroid mode to put the super parts on, but I don't think I got it 100% correct. It felt really back heavy and would not stand straight. I don't think I had the crotch correctly.

I put it back into fighter mode to display it, as fighter mode for this valk is the only one I really like, but had a heck of a time getting everything to be nice and flush again.

Anyways, I am really happy with this valk in fighter mode. I never liked the design at all before, but all the sudden it really grew on me; so I am glad I was able to pick one up.

[Scyla]

It's funny how much one starts to love a thing after he spend money on it.

No offense. It happened to me several times (more than I can think of).

Glad you like it. I hope it stays that way.

[wm cheng]

Yep, it wasn't one of my favourites either, but its really grown on me (and not because I spent money on it, because I usually just get pissed off I spent money on stuff I don't like in the end!). I only wished the wing hinges were more hidden.

Does it bother anyone that all these Valks come so greasy (or is it just me)? I always have a heck of a time washing them all down with soap (partly because I want to weather and clear-coat them and that doesn't stick to grease and partly because I hate leaving fingerprints all over these toys!). The glossy finish doesn't help either. It's not like the grease actually lubricates the movement of any of the joints.

[mechaninac]

That stuff is mold release oil, not joint lubricant. It is bothersome as it does feel greasy.

[MacrossJunkie]

The prior releases have been less greasy, but the 27 had been completely covered and was leaking mold release from between the hinges.

At least the grease can be wiped off with just a paper towel and water.

[Saburo]

The prior releases have been less greasy, but the 27 had been completely covered and was leaking mold release from between the hinges.

At least the grease can be wiped off with just a paper towel and water.

I am glad I wasn't the only person who had this. When I first took it out of the box, I thought it strange it was covered a thin film of grease. I wiped it down with a cotton ball and water and all is well.