DX Chogokin VF-171 Cannon Fodder

[typhoon]

I know everyone outside of Japan is out of luck with the triangle situation on the canon fodder release. I was wondering about Macross collectors in Japan, have they been able to return their faulty copies? I guess retailers would offer exchanges or refunds in Japan, but is it common knowledge that the problem is widespread.

Has anyone on MW heard anything about Bandai taking responsibility for their product, or recognising the problem.

I get that I'm out of luck here in Australia, but I was just curious to see if the problem had been acknowledged in Japan. At the very least it would make me feel a whole lot better about the upcoming Luca release...

[Chronocidal]

I honestly don't think Bandai made enough of them to fix the problem. Their entire MO with what seems like everything is to make you send the entire thing back for a replacement. They don't issue spare parts, and I seriously doubt they pressed enough original copies to fix all the broken ones.

[94medition]

Chronocidal, thank you so much for the detailed post. That is exactly where the left leg of one of my CF 171s broke. It is now permanently in fighter mode with the armored parts . The triangles are ok though. I bought two CF 171s. The second one I dare not open yet... I also have the VF-171EX. No problem at all. I hope the Luca one will be more like the EX then the CF.

[ErikElvis]

Hmm. I'm starting to hate this thing.

During transformation from F to B, tiny pieces fell off.

image.jpg

Has anyone also had the 'pleasure'?

I need to know where the frakkers go back on.

I have one of these sitting on the base of one of my 171's. Has been there since I first transformed it when it came out. I had no idea where it came from. Edited July 20, 2014 by ErikElvis

[enphily]

finally got my VF-171 CF with Armor. It was unopened, but 1 triangle broke immediately, I hate u, Bandai. But this valk really impressive, i like it.

[valhary]

for have this valk functional I had to exchange both triangles with the altos version that already broken of the pin of one wing the only difference is the line below NUNS logo now is red and no look so bad

[Pedro2k6]

Last night I check two of my VF-171, bought this two last year around September, in that time I checked and everything was good. Now one was still good and the other has a little stress mark on one of the litle triangle under the NUNS shoulder.

P.S: both were store in their original box

Edited July 22, 2014 by Pedro2k6

[Chronocidal]

Question for those of you with busted NUNS triangles. Which piece actually broke, the upper or lower half?

Reason I ask is because after disassembling them and looking at the parts in detail, the upper pieces on mine seem a lot more structurally sound, and aren't damaged at all, while the lower halves are cmpletely covered in cracks.

Funny enough, I think this is actually partly due to the way the little lower folding triangles were designed. If the lower half of the NUNS triangle didnt have the rounded cutout to accommodate the folding underside panel's pivot structure, it would be a nearly solid slab of plastic without all the structural integrity problems it clearly has.

[enphily]

Right upper piece, left lower piece, i'm lucky man

[Chronocidal]

Welp, so much for that theory.

Anyway, I plan on remodeling those parts all in CAD software soon to attempt a redesign and 3D print. Will probably start a new thread once I get something built.

[The Old Man]

Can you whip me up a prosthetic knee joint whilst you are at it?

[YF-29 Durandal]

Did Bandai ever acknowledge that there is a quality issue with this valk?

[94medition]

I second the prosthetic knee joint

[mickyg]

Area under the NUNS on the triangle on the left side, for me. The other side has crakcs but hasn't disintegrated yet.

You get some parts printed and you'll sell a bazillion!

Edited July 23, 2014 by mickyg

[Chronocidal]

Reposting a little discovery here that I mentioned in the Luca RVF-171 thread, regarding the lower leg rotation.

Long story short, Bandai wrote their own transformation instructions wrong, or didn't realize that going back to fighter mode from battroid or gerwalk is not the same as leaving fighter mode.

Leaving fighter, they show you dropping the lower leg by the knee joint, and then rotating the lower leg 90 degrees. That's fine.. but it doesn't work in reverse.

Because of how that (entirely unnecessary) interlock is rigged, the knee must be completely collapsed before it disengages, and allows the lower leg to rotate correctly. And since bending the knee even slightly will actually pull the knee joint out a tiny bit, this means the knee must be completely straight before the lower leg will rotate freely.

There's enough slippage in the mechanism to let you rotate the feet into position with the knee bent one click forward, but you can't rotate them back.

So, going back to fighter requires a different order of steps. You need to rotate the feet back sideways before snapping the thighs into the belly, not afterward. That will let you keep the knees straight while rotating them back. Once the feet are back sideways, you can bend the knee down one click again (actually that's as far as the knees will go with the feet oriented sideways) to help get the thighs back into place.

Maybe this isn't news to anyone? I dunno. But it literally took me completely removing the legs on my CF before I discovered how this mechanism works.

[ChaoticYeti]

Are the shoulders luck of the draw? Is there a "good" batch out there?

[Valkyrie Magnus]

My CF VF-171 has knee and triangle issues. I swear the box should have had this as cover art

[SilentCrossHairs]

If I can score another CF cheap. I will get it. I'll probably just remove the triangles when I transform it. The only reason one I my triangles broke is beacause I was in a hurry to transform it. BUt up until then their was not problems.

[Valkyrie Magnus]

I never transformed mine and it still broke. I did bring down the legs though and that's when the knee broke too. The Alto has been problem free besides being a bit floppy

Edited August 12, 2014 by Valkyrie Magnus

[The Old Man]

I think having your first 171 is like a badge of honour, a MW rite of passage if you will.

The first is a learning experience, setting you up for the subsequent follow up purchases.

Not only have I been able to learn how to transform my CF, I have also become adept at taking the thing apart and fixing it. The glued knee is holding up well.

I have had no problems at all with my Alto custom, and don't expect any with my Luca either.

[Kanedas Bike]

My CF VF-171 has knee and triangle issues. I swear the box should have had this as cover art

LOL - agreed!!!!

I think having your first 171 is like a badge of honour, a MW rite of passage if you will.

The first is a learning experience, setting you up for the subsequent follow up purchases.

Not only have I been able to learn how to transform my CF, I have also become adept at taking the thing apart and fixing it. The glued knee is holding up well.

I have had no problems at all with my Alto custom, and don't expect any with my Luca either.

Ditto (well, at least I hope there are no issues with Luca's 171).

-b.

[arrow]

is the Luca 171 out?

[Chronocidal]

Don't think it's out for a couple months yet, but I haven't looked recently.

I'll be honest though, I ordered two RVF-171s with little to no expectation of either of them being flawless. I'm just hopeful I can kitbash one functional copy out of the two.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Chronocidal

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

It sucks that parts of this valk are so faulty. I would happily plunk down the cash for two of these valks plus armor parts if they were a lot more solid.

[arrow]

that's the reason I bought an alto version instead even though I was so so with the color. But they should just offer a bundle with the fixes and armor parts for people who like the color scheme.

[aceoftherebellion]

To be honest, even for all of it's problems I don't regret it at all. I think there's a weird sort of thing going on where the more I fix the toy the more I love it. Maybe it's stolkholmes, or maybe it's just that I appreciate an underdog, but all problems aside, my patchwork repair-job has held more or less since I got it, so I'd like to think there's hope even if you get a lemon, as long as you're able to fix it.

[Duymon]

The bad reputation of the vf-171 has made it very cheap to amass an army of them:D

[Tking22]

I'd honestly like to get one with armor, but if it's almost guaranteed to break if I attempt to take it out of fighter, it's still an easy pass, if I'm unable to transform my transforming toy without issue then I have a problem.

[Duymon]

Transforming doesn't break the triangles, they break on their own.

If you get a broken triangles don't use super glue to fix them. I instead remove the triangle, use plastic weld which is super easy to apply via capillary action into the cracks and then place the triangles in a gentle clamp to hold them in place while the plastic weld does its magic. After that just some light sanding / polishing followed by spraying on a coat of gloss black and you can'y even tell they were broken.

It sucks ass that we have to do this on a 140 dollar toy, but since it's the only CF VF-171 out there you really don't have much choice.

[mickyg]

I've yet to find anything called "plastic weld" here in Australia. Any ideas what sort of chemical it is? I've got some tamiya ABS glue but it's very thick and would definitely not do the "capillary action" thing at all. It looks and smells a lot like the clear glue you see for plastic plumbing pipes (not the blue PVC glue).

[Valk-1S]

I've yet to find anything called "plastic weld" here in Australia. Any ideas what sort of chemical it is? I've got some tamiya ABS glue but it's very thick and would definitely not do the "capillary action" thing at all. It looks and smells a lot like the clear glue you see for plastic plumbing pipes (not the blue PVC glue).

I googled and found this here in Australia. Hope its the same thing.

http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/Permatex-Permapoxy-5-Minute-Plastic-Weld-25mL.aspx?pid=129945#Cross

[mechaninac]

I googled and found this here in Australia. Hope its the same thing.

http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/Permatex-Permapoxy-5-Minute-Plastic-Weld-25mL.aspx?pid=129945#Cross

That's two-part epoxy... definitely NOT what you want.

These are the sort of things you want to look for:

Somewhere to look

Edited August 14, 2014 by mechaninac

[mickyg]

Super helpful, guys. Tenax? Really? I was thinking that was for model kit plastic only (styrene). Good to know.

The tamiya stuff I have. Are the black triangles ABS? Do we know? Its definitely brittle and not your typical ABS "feel" if that makes sense.

Edited August 14, 2014 by mickyg

[mechaninac]

ABS is a type of Styrene (Acetyl Butyl Styrene). Even milder solvents like Testor's model cement will work on most ABS grades used in model kits (Gundam, etc) and toys, but always test first on a spare part or an unobtrusive spot to see if it will work.

[DyNo]

Well after sitting in the display case for over a year now I decided to take a peek....

Edited August 29, 2014 by DyNo