DX Chogokin VF-171 Cannon Fodder

[Mommar]

I'd take a white and green RVF-171, but I wouldn't pre-order one this time.

[YF-29 Durandal]

I would not get another 171 unless there is confirmation that the problematic NUNS triangles have been fixed.

Yeah I would only get one after reading several statements from different people that the old quality issues have been fixed.

[MacrossJunkie]

Finally found a little time over the long weekend to touch up the newly arrived Armor Super packs, there wasn't much to do but some dry brushing with the Tamiya weathering powders, but the matte flat clear-coat does wonders - I've always done all the super/fast packs on all my models in a flat/matte finish to contrast against the shinier plane. The CF itself is in a semi-gloss - which does wonders in hiding all the tiny swirls and scratches from the dreaded Bandai glossy plastics. I left the MDEs bare glossy plastic with just very light weathering around the seams - I usually leave the ordinance in a glossy finish and much less weathered than the aircraft itself, specialty ordinance shouldn't be flying around all the time collecting dirt! No time for real photos, just some snaps from the workbench for now. Did any of you have a heck of a time snapping the left leg back up to the back plate with the fast packs on? I thought I'd break it - I ended up lightly filing the arm/peg down a little to get it to snap in - and boy is this thing tight now - I don't think I'm ever transforming it again (especially with the black triangle problem!).

Enjoy.

That looks absolutely fantastic! I see you got the hang of using the Tamiya weathering kit

Thanks for sharing!

I also had a heck of a time getting the legs to snap back in with the packs on. My first time around, I was struggling with that for quite a while. The legs have to be perfectly aligned to have a chance of snapping the peg in on both legs.

[wm cheng]

Thanks MJ! It's all thanks to you.

The key was the initial clear-coat which allows the weathering powders to stick in the first place - otherwise everything just slides off that slick glossy Bandai plastic.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

I shot hlj an email with photos samples of cracked shoulders with my invoice anyways (shot in the dark). i'll keep you guys updated. (they're closed for the 3 day holiday weekend and will be back tues)

they just responded no go... (it's discontinued and they are not able to get replacement parts from bandai)

[Chronocidal]

Because clearly, Bandai's take on it is "Why would anyone ever need spare parts?"

I'll be honest.. I'm hoping one of their releases has such a catastrophic failure that the public disgrace forces them to start selling spare parts on the open market. They need a slap upside the head. I don't know if it's any easier to order replacement parts from within Japan, but not allowing retailers to replace defective parts is the worst kind of customer disservice I know of.

[Silverstreak]

Yeah, I've been tossing up whether to get one of these for a few weeks but I think I'll jut skip it. I'm not paying tht much money for a Toy that is almost guaranteed to break in several places. Put it toward the YF-19 instead

[DyNo]

I finally pull mine back out of the box to put it on display. I didn't even have to touch

the one black triangle it just fell apart by me looking at it. Yep POS...

[YF-29 Durandal]

I finally pull mine back out of the box to put it on display. I didn't even have to touch

the one black triangle it just fell apart by me looking at it. Yep POS...

Ouch... anyone who knows what the Japanese are saying on different forums about the quality of the VF-171?

[zzgundam010]

they just responded no go... (it's discontinued and they are not able to get replacement parts from bandai)

Even if Bandai has replacement parts they won't do any good if they are of the same inferior quality. Bandai needs to re-engineer that part with different material.

[Reïvaj]

Well, I don't think they really need to re-engineer those parts for they worked OK on the Alto version. They do need to use better materials and improve the QC in certain areas though...

[funkymonkeyjavajunky]

I finally bit the bullet and decided to transform to gerwalk Fortunately, nothing broke, but I hate those shoulders. Too many delicate parts.

[lancalot]

i transformed my once...it was a scary thing to do...the nuns pieces were ok .. but my neck piece surrounding the ball joint cracked in half while i tried to do the head transformation , it was so stiff .well it lose now... .. transformed it back to fighter then i saw the nuns piece deforming

Edited October 18, 2013 by lancalot

[MacrossJunkie]

I finally bit the bullet and decided to transform to gerwalk Fortunately, nothing broke, but I hate those shoulders. Too many delicate parts.

I'm afraid to even touch my one good one which is in battroid mode currently. Or at least it was good the last time I handled it.

Right now, I call it Shrodinger's shoulders. It was good during several transformations before leaving it in battroid, but it could have cracked on its own. I can't really tell because it's hidden by the pauldron. It's in a state of being broken and unbroken at the same time and only by moving the pauldron out of the way in a transformation to observe it will it collapse into one state or the other.

i transformed my once...it was a scary thing to do...the nuns pieces were ok .. but my neck piece surrounding the ball joint cracked in half while i tried to do the head transformation , it was so stiff .well it lose now... .. transformed it back to fighter then i saw the nuns piece deforming

Yup, that's the exact same thing that happened to my first one in pretty much the same spot. You can even see the white stress mark on the side. Mine eventually just cracked and split apart.

This was taken before it broke. If you zoom in, you can see the same deformation in my pic as well. If you remove the shoulder piece and look on the inside, you'll likely see it has cracked and split apart on the inside.

Edited October 18, 2013 by MacrossJunkie

[lancalot]

would loosing the screw there help ?.. im just afraid to touch it any more also ....

[MacrossJunkie]

I don't think so. The black NUNS part just snaps on over the shoulder joint via two round bumps on the diecast part. The screw wouldn't relieve the pressure being put on the plastic presumably by the round bumps.

[funkymonkeyjavajunky]

Drat, I spoke too soon. Upon careful examination, one of my NUNS parts has begun to deform after I transformed it to gerwalk. It's only a matter of time before it splits entirely.

[TCracker]

What I usually do is to remove the shoulder piece with the NUNs completely during transformation and lodge it back when it is in either mode. By doing that, you are not putting unnecessary pressure on the NUNs piece.

[Scyla]

I don't think so. The black NUNS part just snaps on over the shoulder joint via two round bumps on the diecast part. The screw wouldn't relieve the pressure being put on the plastic presumably by the round bumps.

What I usually do is to remove the shoulder piece with the NUNs completely during transformation and lodge it back when it is in either mode. By doing that, you are not putting unnecessary pressure on the NUNs piece.

I loosened my screws on the black shoulder blocks and now their so loose that there is not enough pressure on the shoulder pauldrons to keep them angled upwards (what I assume is line-art accurate). In addition I remove the shoulders completely before transforming it into anything. Since the shoulders are that loose I can pop them on and of without much force and I don't rotate the shoulders trough applying pressure to the plastic shoulder pauldrons. *knocks on wood* The black pieces seem fine so far *knocks on wood again*.

[TCracker]

Methinks them black NUNs pieces should have been in die-cast

[zzgundam010]

What I usually do is to remove the shoulder piece with the NUNs completely during transformation and lodge it back when it is in either mode. By doing that, you are not putting unnecessary pressure on the NUNs piece.

That's probably the only way to keep them from breaking for those lucky enough to not have that happened yet.

[Kelsain]

Hmmm, would anyone care to take some pictures or video (or even crude diagrams) of how one loosens the screws or removes the shoulders? I took my 171 out of the box the other day, and the pieces are still ok, but I'd like to try some of these things to keep it that way. At the same time, I'm nervous of screwing around with it too much, without knowing what I'm doing.

[Scyla]

Can't make pictures at the moment but it is quite simple. The shoulder pauldrons consists of two pieces. The black triangle blocks and the teal pauldron itself. If you pull the shoulder pauldrons perpendicular away from the main body one of two things will happen. You can try to pry open the teal pieces near the base a bit if you think you need to much force and fear damaging the black parts. I would not recommand this so be careful here because you don't want to damage the black part.

Either the whole pauldron comes of or only the teal part. This is nothing bad since both parts are hold together with friction (i.e. the black parts to the die-cast shoulder and the teal part to the black one).

If the whole assembly came off then you can separate the teal and the black pieces by pulling them apart. If the black triangle block stayed on nothing else to do.

Either way you have now access to the (two IIRC) screws in the back of the black shoulder block. Now you can loosen them a bit. Snap everything together and test the fit of the parts. I loosened mine to a degree where the shoulders won't stay angled upwards on their own but not to as much where you can see a gaps in the black triangle assembly.

Now you should be able to remove the whole shoulder armor assembly without much force.

I assume what damages the black parts (besides tight screws) is the force that you apply when you swing the arms form their Fighter to Gerwalk/Battroid position. The die-cast part of the shoulder tries to pry open the plastic parts which might lead to tension breaks in the plastic due to faulty plastic used in the manufacturing process.

[edit: ] Just be very careful. I did these steps myself some while ago so I might not remember everything correctly. I don't want to be the cause for broken pieces when they are still whole after all these month.

Edited October 18, 2013 by Scyla

[Kelsain]

Thanks Scyla. Maybe I'll try it this weekend.

[xrentonx]

Thanks for the description! I may try it myself.

[anubis20]

Well i got fed up and decided to fix the shoulder for my 171CF so it would at least hold in battroid mode. I took a staple and melted it into the plastic and then covered it with epoxy i let it harden overnight and here are the results.

Colored it with a sharpie so it didnt look too bad lol

Success!

Now i can display it with that pretty armor pack on! i have another new 171CF but that one will never be transformed.

Edited October 19, 2013 by anubis20

[lancalot]

in battriod mode you can't even tell..and now you don't even worry about it any more doing all the poses ....great job

with full armor he look good.... might get another one if they drop below 100 to display him and battriod

[skullmilitia]

I fixed my nuns piece on my broken one only to have the elbow loosen so bad it won't hold up the arm.

Even after tightening the screws.

This is truly Bandai's joke machine.

[Rabidweezil]

Now i can display it with that pretty armor pack on! i have another new 171CF but that one will never be transformed.

I never transformed mine and it's still showing cracks in the "Nuns" pieces as well as the underside black triangles. I sincerely hope you have much better luck then I did!

[anubis20]

in battriod mode you can't even tell..and now you don't even worry about it any more doing all the poses ....great job

with full armor he look good.... might get another one if they drop below 100 to display him and battriod

Thanks!

I fixed my nuns piece on my broken one only to have the elbow loosen so bad it won't hold up the arm.

Even after tightening the screws.

This is truly Bandai's joke machine.

I noticed on mine the shoulder is loose. It wasnt like that before ill apply some future and that should tighten it back up.

I never transformed mine and it's still showing cracks in the "Nuns" pieces as well as the underside black triangles. I sincerely hope you have much better luck then I did!

I havent even opened the new one. For all i know its missing something! O_O

[YF-29 Durandal]

$160 for a new one on Amazon.com... seems pricey considering it's awful quality. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ATZ13MA/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2YR4N0RUBHLBD

Edited October 19, 2013 by YF-29 Durandal

[skullmilitia]

They are still 200$ on eBay lol.

[YF-29 Durandal]

Yeah ebay is always overpriced so I will never shop there and you can with a bit of google searching find that small japanese store that has one in inventory and not charging an arm and a leg.

[skullmilitia]

There's even one on mandrake for 200$.

[skullmilitia]

As much as these suck QC wise, they are still bad ass!

I hope they do a RVF-171, and find better plastic.