DX Chogokin VF-171 Cannon Fodder

[ULessa]

...

Right leg broke at the joint above the knee(the joint where the leg twists when transforming from fighter mode)

This damn thing was designed to blow up like in the anime.

I lol'd. CANNON FODDER! and just realized the amount of cannon fodder in Macross 7. Must be a shitty life to be in the UF

[Silverstreak]

A while back, someone asked for pics of these parts. I second that request, please.

Might be hard to find someone with an intact sample to photograph

[Duymon]

Which parts need photos?

5 out of 6 of my VF-171's are still alright (knock on wood)

It seems Bandai had several batches of the 171, some were great (like 5 of what I got), and many came with varja battle damage.

Many of my friends in JP who got the VF-171's didn't have any issues with the triangles weirdly enough.

[eriku]

A while back, someone asked for pics of these parts. I second that request, please.

If you mean the triangle parts that are breaking, I posted photos a while back in this very thread.

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=37124&page=5#entry1076387

[Sildani]

Thanks for that. So the "triangles" most people talk about are those tiny bits underneath the NUNS parts. If there was ever a part that cried out for diecast metal construction, that might be it.

Hopefully, Luca's 171 has the better plastic bits, rather than the CF's.

[eriku]

"Triangles" pretty much refers to anything made of black plastic in that entire area, top and bottom. On the 171 I had, everything involved with that entire assembly cracked and fell apart.

[David Hingtgen]

The NUNS triangles crack too, but it's the ones underneath that crack first and more severely.

[anime52k8]

The NUNS triangles crack too, but it's the ones underneath that crack first and more severely.

But the smaller one is less important since all it does is fill in a tiny gap in fighter mode. if the larger NUNS triangle cracks, the entire shoulder pauldron falls off.

[Kanedas Bike]

So now I feel "lucky" that it's only the smaller triangle pieces on mine are faulty and not (knocking on wood) the NUNS pieces.

I remember how excited I was when this got announced, I told the girl I was dating at the time and how I'd have to stay up late for the pre-order and blah, blah, blah, and bless her she was happy for my geeky excitement. And now this Valk is just like that relationship...GARBAGE.

-b.

[mickyg]

If you mean the triangle parts that are breaking, I posted photos a while back in this very thread.

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=37124&page=5#entry1076387

Thanks for the re-link to your pics, they're a lot better than what I was going to post up a few days ago.

[JerryM]

Anybody been able to produce a replacement part for this?

I hope the NUNS triangle of the Lucca version is made out of metal.

[ULessa]

Urgh, I want the Nightmare PLUS but the exploding NUNS

[The Old Man]

Urgh, I want the Nightmare PLUS but the exploding NUNS

I've gone for it and will just hope for the best. I plan on displaying it in fighter mode with the armour pack anyways.

[ULessa]

I've gone for it and will just hope for the best. I plan on displaying it in fighter mode with the armour pack anyways.

I plan on getting 2. A fighter mode and Battroid mode, both with armor parts of course. It'll be a while before I'll get them though.

EDIT: Whats a good price for the armor parts?

Edited June 22, 2014 by ULessa

[no3Ljm]

I plan on getting 2. A fighter mode and Battroid mode, both with armor parts of course. It'll be a while before I'll get them though.

EDIT: Whats a good price for the armor parts?

From what I've seen from the sellers at the Sales thread before were mostly $60-ish and up. Not 100% sure though on the price. But they're a lot cheaper that the VF-25s Parts.

[Kanedas Bike]

From what I've seen from the sellers at the Sales thread before were mostly $60-ish and up. Not 100% sure though on the price. But they're a lot cheaper that the VF-25s Parts.

Yeah, the price for the CF-171 Armor Parts should be very reasonable, blame, or thank the problems that the 171 has for keeping the price on the low end. They're actually still available for purchase at N-Y for around $60.

-b.

[ULessa]

The more I look at this the more I want one :X

[Chronocidal]

So, anyone have a battered and broken CF-171 they'd be willing to sell for parts? One of the legs on mine is freaking shattered. Like, worse than original VF-0 release shattered. I tried to take the thing apart to see why one knee was loose, and when I started trying to remove the screw covers, I discovered that they're pretty much all that was holding the knee together.

I seriously want to take the people who designed this toy, hang them from the rafters by their tonails, and play piñata with their heads. This is by far the most stupdendously unnecessarily overcomplicated piece of crap design I've ever seen. Tiny senseless parts everwhere, no regard for any kind of structural reinforcement, and some of the worst hinge designs I've ever seen.

So yeah.. I was able to get the legs off of the main valk with no trouble, because those were actually held down by screws, and not glued anywhere. The legs themselves are a lost cause... not only did they cover the screws with hidden screw covers (only discovered one hidden screw because the opposite half of the piece it was holding decided it was gonna just break off entirely), but they actually glued detail panels over the top of certain seams, so even if you get the screws out, the entire thing is still wrapped up in glue and plastic.

Anyway.. yeah. I managed to get the lower triangles off without breaking them, so I'm going to experiment with replacement designs for those, but unless I completely rebuild the knee hinge from scratch, this thing is going to be glued in fighter mode forever... not that I really intended to take it out of that mode anyway, but it was nice at least having the illusion that the freaking thing was solidly constructed.

[Valk-1S]

I have a VF-171 where the knee broke as well but managed to glue it back, but have done so multiple times, so it's not really holding well. I think I was the first to report the issue of the knee breaking and appears more and more people are having this issue now too. The issue appears to be the plastic batch used to make the CF.

[Chronocidal]

Well, it's half plastic batch, and it's half pants-on-head engineering. The knee pivot is such a stupidly overcomplicated design, it's begging to destroy itself. Instead of putting some kind of rubber insert,and using a solid rotation peg, they decided they were going to make the peg hollow with a spring pin in the middle to provide friction..

Of course, this hollow pin is what shattered, and destroyed the knee. Nice job, dipwads.

Should say, though, that's not the only part of that part that broke.. that entire section of the knee joint just seems to be crazed and cracked to high heaven, and the thigh swivel peg is only one of the parts of it that have broken off.

Frankly, it's broken into so many pieces, the only way it's going to stay together is if I glue the leg together in a single position forever.

Edited July 2, 2014 by Chronocidal

[CoreyD]

Jeez. Man that sucks. Can't wait to see what goes wrong with the rvf-171...

[Saburo]

Triangles and knees are falling apart.. Sorry to hear that. I hope are able to fix it.

[Valk-1S]

Link to my original picture of where it broke on the knee joint.

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=37652&p=1060427

[Chronocidal]

Actually, that's kinda the funny part.. my triangles are fine.

[Saburo]

Actually, that's kinda the funny part.. my triangles are fine.

Haha, If its not one part its another.

[YF-29 Durandal]

Urgh, I want the Nightmare PLUS but the exploding NUNS

The EX one is safer than the cannon fodder.

And I wouldn't buy one from Yahoo! Japan... Mandarake is a much safer bet.

Edited July 2, 2014 by YF-29 Durandal

[antibiotictab]

RVF-171.

[Sildani]

Pretty; wish the nose cone was aligned. Thanks antibiotictab!

[aceoftherebellion]

Got my hands on one of these this weekend. I was thrilled until I went to transform it and it fell apart as the grey block strait in the middle of the whole thing that... essentially holds the whole damn thing together more or less shattered. I was able to glue it back together and re-engineer the joint connecting it to the torso transformation's swing-arms, but wow.

I'm reminded of gold plastic syndrome from transformers lore

[Sandman]

Mine is still sitting on the display stand in fighter mode. Took it out yesterday and whooshed it around. Didn't see any stress marks yet on the triangles but i'm not risking transforming it.

[EXO]

RVF-171.

IMG_3738.JPGIMG_3742.JPGIMG_3743.JPG

no fin at the bottom?

[matic]

Just not shown but its there from display picture above.

[antibiotictab]

no fin at the bottom?

No. I went to the showroom again, and reconfirmed it on Sunday. As far as I could see, nothing on the bottom,

Or being folded? I have no idea.

[Mommar]

The fin just plugs into the hole the optional forward part of the gunpod would plug into. It should be easy enough to remove when needed. I'm curious if the radar dish can be removed, however.

[Chronocidal]

I'm fairly sure it could potentially be removed... but that's assuming bandai's assembly monkies don't dunk the thing in gorilla glue like they did on several of the other valks I have.

Bandai just really doesn't want their valks coming apart for any reason, and it tends to completely stifle any kind of attempt to repair their shoddy engineering when it fails.

Edited July 8, 2014 by Chronocidal