Bandai DX VF-31

[venth85]

 

10 minutes ago, Sandman said:

Yeah what's the surface?

Just a dark colored glass for table 

[MacrossJunkie]

9 hours ago, David Hingtgen said:

Much like I did with my -27's nosecone (and a few other spots), I think I'll give it a coat or two of flattened Future to some areas before it is transformed even once.   (once I actually buy one, that is).  

So---intakes/hips are the #1 area that needs protection?   Followed by 'aft of canopy'?   Anywhere else notable? 

The blue surface under the trailing part of the canards can rub against the canards. On both my copies, the starboard side is not perfectly flush and has rubbed off against the canard, forcing me to touch it up.

The black area on the sides just behind the canopy can get rubbed off due to the way battroid mode folds down over it. I had to color match and touch those up as well.

When folding the weapon container up, it can be tricky getting it up over the part of the backplate that sticks out as there is little to no clearance and can cause rubbing on the grey paint if you don't do it just perfectly right.

Haven't had any trouble with it yet, but the inner ankle collar areas can rub against the weapon container in fighter mode.

Haven't had any problems with the intakes/hips myself.

When I'm home, I'll take pics and mark the areas to clarify what parts I'm talking about as I feel my descriptions aren't sufficient.

[Duymon]

I knew immediately the VF-31 would be super scratch-prone so the minute I got it I applied the flory's wash and clear-coated the entire thing. 

I would go as far as saying the paint on the new VF-31's is actually more fragile than the VF-25 / VF-29 series valks and that's saying a lot.

[trojan_gambit]

What is the decent PO price for Messer's 31 ?

A local seller offers one for a price equivalent to US$ 221. Take it or leave it ?

[Duymon]

9 minutes ago, trojan_gambit said:

What is the decent PO price for Messer's 31 ?

A local seller offers one for a price equivalent to US$ 221. Take it or leave it ?

US 221 is like 25.7K Yen which is way too high.

Considering NY had preorder for 16k and HS/HLJ/Ami ami were all in the 19k range there's no reason to pay so high a price.

I would rather wait until march/april when HLJ and others start opening up their Preorders again so that you can snag them at or below retail.

[Eslim109]

1 hour ago, trojan_gambit said:

What is the decent PO price for Messer's 31 ?

A local seller offers one for a price equivalent to US$ 221. Take it or leave it ?

If it's a local seller and you can pick it up, then $221 doesn't sound like too much more than how much it would cost from HS/HLJ/AmiAmi when you include EMS shipment. 

[no3Ljm]

2 hours ago, trojan_gambit said:

What is the decent PO price for Messer's 31 ?

A local seller offers one for a price equivalent to US$ 221. Take it or leave it ?

Ok. Let's tackle this discussion in a more rational way and based on price and effort. AmiAmi/HS/HLJ/NY/Others posted this for preorder between Y16000 - Y20000. With the EMS shipping (assuming you're in US too), you'll end up with a total of Y20500-25000. As of today's current exchange that's around $176.90 - $215.70.

 I ordered mine at NY week before the release date since I didn't get the chance to PO this so price is already higher at Y22500 and paid the EMS shipping for Y4500. Based on JapanPost EMS pricing list that's 2kg package going to US. So at Y27000, with today's current exchange I paid $232.24. 

I know it's expensive compared to the initial MSRP price it was posted by the shops. But remember I didn't get the chance preordering this one. So the next question would be is should I feel bad about it? A little since I know the PO price is cheaper. But did it gave me hard time ordering it without the PO madness? No. Well, on second thought, I'll probably hit my head afterwards if NY didn't put stocks during the release date. Would you be able to get this even if you didn't get a chance to PO? There's a big chance. Since it's new it's probably going to pop up everywhere. Some of the guys already posted 3 sightings over Mandarake starting from Y18000-Y22000. Now, if you head out on Tamashii site, you can see that the original MSRP for this DX Valks is Y21600. Messer's too. Yeah, the PO price is cheap I tell you. But getting this aftermarket price (meaning after PO price) means, what your local seller is offering is, somehow, is just in the right amount and not too overpriced. And to be frankly, I think I paid more than what he offered for my VF-31J. Boohoo to me, right?  

The only question left is this. Are you comfortable paying that price without the hassle of doing the PO madness and get frustrated if you don't get one and worry later that you're going to pay more afterwards? If no, then you can try and wait for these shops to open their PO for limited number again. Or wait before the release date and see if NY will post some with marked up price (Just like mine). If yes, then go for it. You'll be glad because you'll pay less compared to the amount I paid. But just make sure that your local seller will assure you that you'll have a copy. 

Hope that helps.

 

[HEY BOYS]

Any shops outside of japan that you guys have confidence in pre-ordering from .? The only one that i know of is Angolz and i am looking for more..

[Mommar]

45 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

Ok. Let's tackle this discussion in a more rational way and based on price and effort. AmiAmi/HS/HLJ/NY/Others posted this for preorder between Y16000 - Y20000. With the EMS shipping (assuming you're in US too), you'll end up with a total of Y20500-25000. As of today's current exchange that's around $176.90 - $215.70.

 I ordered mine at NY week before the release date since I didn't get the chance to PO this so price is already higher at Y22500 and paid the EMS shipping for Y4500. Based on JapanPost EMS pricing list that's 2kg package going to US. So at Y27000, with today's current exchange I paid $232.24. 

I know it's expensive compared to the initial MSRP price it was posted by the shops. But remember I didn't get the chance preordering this one. So the next question would be is should I feel bad about it? A little since I know the PO price is cheaper. But did it gave me hard time ordering it without the PO madness? No. Well, on second thought, I'll probably hit my head afterwards if NY didn't put stocks during the release date. Would you be able to get this even if you didn't get a chance to PO? There's a big chance. Since it's new it's probably going to pop up everywhere. Some of the guys already posted 3 sightings over Mandarake starting from Y18000-Y22000. Now, if you head out on Tamashii site, you can see that the original MSRP for this DX Valks is Y21600. Messer's too. Yeah, the PO price is cheap I tell you. But getting this aftermarket price (meaning after PO price) means, what your local seller is offering is, somehow, is just in the right amount and not too overpriced. And to be frankly, I think I paid more than what he offered for my VF-31J. Boohoo to me, right?  

The only question left is this. Are you comfortable paying that price without the hassle of doing the PO madness and get frustrated if you don't get one and worry later that you're going to pay more afterwards? If no, then you can try and wait for these shops to open their PO for limited number again. Or wait before the release date and see if NY will post some with marked up price (Just like mine). If yes, then go for it. You'll be glad because you'll pay less compared to the amount I paid. But just make sure that your local seller will assure you that you'll have a copy. 

Hope that helps.

 

Well said.

[David Hingtgen]

I'd take that offer on Messer's.  

[Lolicon]

Short version: PO discount is meaningless if you can't get a PO. 

[Chronocidal]

5 hours ago, MacrossJunkie said:

The blue surface under the trailing part of the canards can rub against the canards. On both my copies, the starboard side is not perfectly flush and has rubbed off against the canard, forcing me to touch it up.

The black area on the sides just behind the canopy can get rubbed off due to the way battroid mode folds down over it. I had to color match and touch those up as well.

When folding the weapon container up, it can be tricky getting it up over the part of the backplate that sticks out as there is little to no clearance and can cause rubbing on the grey paint if you don't do it just perfectly right.

Haven't had any trouble with it yet, but the inner ankle collar areas can rub against the weapon container in fighter mode.

Haven't had any problems with the intakes/hips myself.

When I'm home, I'll take pics and mark the areas to clarify what parts I'm talking about as I feel my descriptions aren't sufficient.

Those all seem pretty clear to me.  The black areas on the underside of the nose seem like a prime problem area too, since it looks like they're white plastic painted entirely black. 

All this paint nonsense is part of why I'm looking forward to a release of the 31A, so we can have a plain gray one without all the airshow striping everywhere.

Do you have a listing of what colors you're using for touch ups?  I'm tempted to assume the paint guide for the 1/72 kit would be a good start, but I don't know how much color mixing might be involved, or how well they'd match the toy.

 

[Raptor One]

Watch the 31A be molded in white plastic with grey paint 

[Duymon]

nonono it will be molded in BLACK plastic and painted grey lol

[no3Ljm]

1 hour ago, Chronocidal said:

Those all seem pretty clear to me.  The black areas on the underside of the nose seem like a prime problem area too, since it looks like they're white plastic painted entirely black. 

All this paint nonsense is part of why I'm looking forward to a release of the 31A, so we can have a plain gray one without all the airshow striping everywhere.

Do you have a listing of what colors you're using for touch ups?  I'm tempted to assume the paint guide for the 1/72 kit would be a good start, but I don't know how much color mixing might be involved, or how well they'd match the toy.

I'm curious on these touch ups you guys were doing on the DX Valks. What's going to happen after the touch ups when you transform the Valk again? Is this going to be an 'everytime' application?

35 minutes ago, Raptor One said:

Watch the 31A be molded in white plastic with grey paint 

Bandai's going to copy Arcadia's shortcut paint methods now?

 

[Chronocidal]

10 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

I'm curious on these touch ups you guys were doing on the DX Valks. What's going to happen after the touch ups when you transform the Valk again? Is this going to be an 'everytime' application?

Bandai's going to copy Arcadia's shortcut paint methods now?

 

I dunno about Arcadia, but Bandai's been doing that nonsense all along, starting with the v1 VF-25s.  Half the parts on the VF-25G were molded in the wrong color, then painted over, and even the v2 VF-25S had a ton of parts with this treatment, despite the fact that there were other sections of the valk molded in the proper plastic color.

As far as having to touch things up every time though, I doubt that'll be the case.  I hand painted the markings on one of my VF-25 kits, and those are still going strong after a lot more transformations than I've even bothered to attempt with the 31.  Bandai's paint is just really weak, and really thinly coated to the point that it'll wear off just from holding the valk in your hand.  Throwing a few heavier coats over their markings should help a lot.

[mickyg]

And if the Frontier valks are anything to go on, the paint they're using might very well be identical to the Tamiya and Gunze paints I use for my models - alcohol/water based acrylics.  I've managed to strip the paint VERY easily with nothing but a Gundam marker eraser.  In fact, putting fresh Gundam marker paints on is a recipe for messed up base paint too.

Point being: be careful with the paint.

[Duymon]

All the DX paint for plastics thus far has been alcohol based and is super fragile (the die cast paint seems to be lacquer). Had they opted for more expensive but durable lacquers I'm sure we would've seen a mere fraction of the paint issues. 

 

Edited January 11, 2017 by Duymon

[venth85]

BANDAI even lazy to pain this part, DX ver got dark plastic, while they use proper white plastic for the kit.

[hoahuynh]

Man Im starting to feel guilty i snapped one up in the PO madness and

I got the VF-31J still in the werehouse in HLJ and the VF-31F form HLJ too but im still trying to toss up if I really want.

What really sucks is I actually wanted Sv-262 Draken III but totally forgot about it.

 

Anyway from the perspective of looking after these toys, what do you recommend, should coat them?

My old VF-25 Alto first issue white now looks grey, worried that eventually my VF-29 30th Anniversary will go grey which would really ruin the look.

I keep it in a display cabinet out of the direct sun light but the Australia heat really isnt something I can avoid. 

[mickyg]

I can forgive that part, as it's really durable plastic that suggests it might be better able to withstand the rigours of the wing fold mechanism.  Then again, perhaps the same plastic in white could have done the same?

[no3Ljm]

8 minutes ago, hoahuynh said:

Man Im starting to feel guilty i snapped one up in the PO madness and

I got the VF-31J still in the werehouse in HLJ and the VF-31F form HLJ too but im still trying to toss up if I really want.

What really sucks is I actually wanted Sv-262 Draken III but totally forgot about it.

 

Anyway from the perspective of looking after these toys, what do you recommend, should coat them?

My old VF-25 Alto first issue white now looks grey, worried that eventually my VF-29 30th Anniversary will go grey which would really ruin the look.

I keep it in a display cabinet out of the direct sun light but the Australia heat really isnt something I can avoid. 

Well, I can buy it from you if you want and you can ship it to me from HLJ once it's available since I didn't get any during PO madness. What do you say?

 

[Chronocidal]

Actually, I think the dark gray insert seen in the hinge is part of the internal portion of the wing, which works out for the better, since it means stowing the arms won't scratch up paint there, or wind up depositing paint on the arms.  Also, Bandai loves using that silver/gray plastic for mechanisms.

Ideally, for a transforming toy, you want as little painting as possible, and as many pieces as you can molded in the proper color.  Unfortunately, that gets less and less practical the fancier your paint scheme gets, because it means more pieces, and more molding.  These schemes are about the fanciest Macross has seen yet, outside of something like the Angel Birds, and that makes it really difficult to break parts into proper colors. 

Given that Bandai hasn't really had the best history with proper color breakdowns in their DX toys, the 31s are like a quantum leap in color and paint complexity.

 

Edited January 12, 2017 by Chronocidal

[recon]

1 hour ago, hoahuynh said:

Man Im starting to feel guilty i snapped one up in the PO madness and

I got the VF-31J still in the werehouse in HLJ and the VF-31F form HLJ too but im still trying to toss up if I really want.

What really sucks is I actually wanted Sv-262 Draken III but totally forgot about it.

 

Anyway from the perspective of looking after these toys, what do you recommend, should coat them?

My old VF-25 Alto first issue white now looks grey, worried that eventually my VF-29 30th Anniversary will go grey which would really ruin the look.

I keep it in a display cabinet out of the direct sun light but the Australia heat really isnt something I can avoid. 

A small dish of water placed in the cabinet will help to regulate the temperature as well as attract dust to it. Tip learn from jewellery and watch shops who had their spotlights blasting continously on their displays

[MacrossJunkie]

12 hours ago, MacrossJunkie said:

The blue surface under the trailing part of the canards can rub against the canards. On both my copies, the starboard side is not perfectly flush and has rubbed off against the canard, forcing me to touch it up.

The black area on the sides just behind the canopy can get rubbed off due to the way battroid mode folds down over it. I had to color match and touch those up as well.

When folding the weapon container up, it can be tricky getting it up over the part of the backplate that sticks out as there is little to no clearance and can cause rubbing on the grey paint if you don't do it just perfectly right.

Haven't had any trouble with it yet, but the inner ankle collar areas can rub against the weapon container in fighter mode.

Haven't had any problems with the intakes/hips myself.

When I'm home, I'll take pics and mark the areas to clarify what parts I'm talking about as I feel my descriptions aren't sufficient.

Red circled areas are the potential problem spots I mentioned above.

[hachi]

What type and brand of top coat did you guys use on your VF31s? If I can find one here locally I might do the same treatment on Mirage's valk (assuming I get to PO one of course.)

[Mommar]

CDJapan finally got around to contacting me and confirming my card went through.  Ysy Messer... I hope his wing will straighten this time.

[dero]

These mobs... they are legitimate sellers or would they be sniping re-sellers?

http://www.imageanime.com/dxchvfsimcup.html

http://www.yesasia.com/us/dx-chogokin-macross-delta-vf-31f-siegfried-messer-ihlefeld-custom/1056843502-0-0-0-en/info.html

[anubis20]

Image Anime is legit but i just hate using them because they price gouge and their shipping rates are not good at all. 

[Duymon]

Image Anime is a real store and only a few blocks from where I work. They are legit.

Their mark-up is retarded but they usually always have stock because of said mark-ups. I saw some poor soul buy an RVF-25 for $250 back when they were released and didn't say a word out of courtesy to the shop owner (i always buy model supplies there because it's cheaper than paying for shipping for a 5-6 dollar item)

 

[dizman]

3 hours ago, hachi said:

What type and brand of top coat did you guys use on your VF31s? If I can find one here locally I might do the same treatment on Mirage's valk (assuming I get to PO one of course.)

Any model spray topcoat should be fine (though you need to choose a flat, semi-gloss or gloss coating). You could also go the future floor polish route and only treat the areas prone to paint scratching. 

Edited January 12, 2017 by dizman

[no3Ljm]

1 hour ago, dizman said:

Any model spray topcoat should be fine (though you need to choose a flat, semi-gloss or gloss coating). You could also go the future floor polish route and only treat the areas prone to paint scratching. 

Curious. Is this more like applying it to the specific areas with handbrush and not with airbrush, correct? And since it's just a specific areas, how's the overall look after? Would it have like an uneven finish look overall?

 

[Lolicon]

Future is super glossy so yeah those areas will be nice and shiny.

[dizman]

Yup the best way to apply future is with a brush over a small area. I don't have a VF-31 and I was assuming that the valk already had a gloss look but yeah you would see a small difference if it's being applied to a matte finish.

Edited January 12, 2017 by dizman

[no3Ljm]

33 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

Future is super glossy so yeah those areas will be nice and shiny.

10 minutes ago, dizman said:

Yup the best way to apply future is with a brush over a small area. I don't have a VF-31 and I was assuming that the valk already had a gloss look but yeah you would see a small difference if it's being applied to a matte finish.

Thanks guys!

But no, the DX VF-31's doesn't have gloss finish. It's natte finish. So I'm assuming I need to mix Future with Flat Base content, correct?