Bandai DX VF-31

[funkymonkeyjavajunky]

Ok, quick poll: who thinks not being able to buy a --non limited edition-- macross toy during preorder is complete BS? Hands? Anyone?

 

[no3Ljm]

18 minutes ago, funkymonkeyjavajunky said:

Ok, quick poll: who thinks not being able to buy a --non limited edition-- macross toy during preorder is complete BS? Hands? Anyone?

Everyone here knows that preordering a non 'web exclusive' items (basically the regular release) is BS from day one since you only have atleast a matter of seconds to nab certain 'hot stuff'. 

But don't forget that preordering a 'web exclusive' items is now BS too. Everyone here knows too that the fast way to order it is to order it from Nippon-Yasan. But, we have to Pay Now since NY removed that Pay Later option for this. 

So all in all, ordering 'hot stuff' items is probably BS too.  

Topic closed.  

 

Edited January 12, 2017 by no3Ljm

[funkymonkeyjavajunky]

3 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

Everyone here knows that preordering a non 'web exclusive' items (basically the regular release) is BS from day one since you only have atleast a matter of seconds to nab certain 'hot stuff'. 

But don't forget that preordering a 'web exclusive' items is now BS too. Everyone here knows too that the fast way to order it is to order it from Nippon-Yasan. But, we have to Pay Now since NY removed that Pay Later option for this. 

So all in all, ordering 'hot stuff' items is probably BS too.  

Topic closed.  

 

Hold on a sec. Since when did NY remove the Pay Later option?? I just went to their website and it is still listed in their preorder FAQ.

[no3Ljm]

12 minutes ago, funkymonkeyjavajunky said:

Hold on a sec. Since when did NY remove the Pay Later option?? I just went to their website and it is still listed in their preorder FAQ.

Since last year. IIRC, I paid for the Chogokin X Figuarts Hulkbuster months before the release date. Now all of the Tamashii Web Exclusive items they have is Pay Now. And it's not just Macross stuff.

 

Edited January 12, 2017 by no3Ljm

[wm cheng]

36 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

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?

 

 

Yes, I like the future mix best as well as I find it a lot more durable than the model top coats available.  I mix my Future with Tamiya Flat Base - its kind of tricky as to how much because if you go over-board with the flat mix, you get a whitish chalky finish when it dries, if you don't use enough, you still get a glossiness and this doesn't show up till after its dried.  But sometimes I hand brush it on the edges that I want to protect as you get a much thicker coat when you hand brush and I airbrush the larger areas to get a smooth consistency - future is pretty good at self-leveling.  All my Valks are clear-coated with a future/matte mixture and they've held up fine to transformations.

 

Good luck!

 

[funkymonkeyjavajunky]

Ah, just for the 'Limited Edition' items. Ok, at least non-limited items you can still pay later. Thanks for the explanation.

[Duymon]

If you do use future then yes, mix it with a flat base like Tamiya's acyrlic flat base. It works very well.

on a side note.. I am very weak. My Wife is in Japan for a month so I nabbed a VF-31J (reseaeld, damaged box but no toy dmg) off Suruga-ya for only 21800 shipped to her parent's house

weirdly, after I paid the order the price at Suruga-ya jumped up by nearly 8000 yen because they only have new ones now... craaaazy

Edited January 12, 2017 by Duymon

[dizman]

39 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

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?

 

 

 

I've never tried it myself but that seems to be the case, here's a handy guide someone made a while ago  http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html About midway through they go into detail about the ratio using tamiya flat base.

[Duymon]

42 minutes ago, funkymonkeyjavajunky said:

Ok, quick poll: who thinks not being able to buy a --non limited edition-- macross toy during preorder is complete BS? Hands? Anyone?

 

 

Ordering these things at 2 AM and having to perform a flawless checkout in under 20 seconds is BS. I agree.

Sadly my unreasonable desire for Macross toys increases my BS tolerance by a factor of infinity

Edited January 12, 2017 by Duymon

[derex3592]

20 seconds????  that sounds more like an eternity! .... more like 2 for the Delta Valks thus far...

[no3Ljm]

23 minutes ago, funkymonkeyjavajunky said:

Ah, just for the 'Limited Edition' items. Ok, at least non-limited items you can still pay later. Thanks for the explanation.

You're welcome. I just added that 'Limited Edition' things since you're asking if not getting 'Non Limited' stuff are BS. But basically even getting the Limited ones now are BS because of that NY's Pay Now thing. Sorry if ever there's any confusion created in my reply.  

23 minutes ago, wm cheng said:

Yes, I like the future mix best as well as I find it a lot more durable than the model top coats available.  I mix my Future with Tamiya Flat Base - its kind of tricky as to how much because if you go over-board with the flat mix, you get a whitish chalky finish when it dries, if you don't use enough, you still get a glossiness and this doesn't show up till after its dried.  But sometimes I hand brush it on the edges that I want to protect as you get a much thicker coat when you hand brush and I airbrush the larger areas to get a smooth consistency - future is pretty good at self-leveling.  All my Valks are clear-coated with a future/matte mixture and they've held up fine to transformations.

Good luck!

Thanks wmcheng! I'll keep this note in mind. So you're saying that it's not always 50/50 ratio mix. Would I see difference like the whitey thing you mentioned while I'm mixing bases in a bottle? But knowing that your topcoated Valks are held up fine to transformations is already an assurance to me. So thank you for this.  

19 minutes ago, dizman said:

I've never tried it myself but that seems to be the case, here's a handy guide someone made a while ago  http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html About midway through they go into detail about the ratio using tamiya flat base.

Thanks for this too Dizman. Will take note of this too.

 

[wm cheng]

9 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

 

So you're saying that it's not always 50/50 ratio mix. Would I see difference like the whitey thing you mentioned while I'm mixing bases in a bottle?

Definitely not 50:50 ratio, that's too much.  That will definitely give you the chalky whitish finish when its dried.  That's why its tricky as it totally looks milky/whitish/translucent when the Tamiya flat goes into the future and looks horrible, but if you've got the right mixture, it will dry nicely.  You don't know if you've got it right till it dries.  That Future Guide is a great summary, wish I had something like that as a guide when I was experimenting.  I just experimented and the failures were wiped away with Windex, so don't worry too much - hint, don't use windex when cleaning your shelves around the toys!  But it suggest a 1:3 ratio (flat:future) as a max flatness I'd go - I always end up being on the safe side and usually end up with a semi-gloss at 1:4 or 1:5.  I go a semi-gloss on the aircraft and a flat/matte on the boosters/fast packs/armour so they're like "tank" armour.  I quite like the contrast, especially when you post shade the aircraft (darker streaks and shading on a lighter base colour) and dry brush the armour/booster packs (lighter grey/white edge highlighting on a darker base colour).

[Mommar]

To be fair NY removed the Pay Later option when people would load up on Pre-Orders and then dump them from NY days before the actual release.  And it only appears to be for Bandai Pre-Orders.  They still have pay later options for other items.

[Sandman]

Well this is disappointing that the 31 scratches that easily. Especially disappointing that it seems Bandai knows this and doesn't try to do a better job. I could handle the paint scratching in less visible spots but not in highly visible spots. This affects my score for the vf-31 dx.

How much you want to bet the super parts introduces some new issues of paint scratching.

Edited January 12, 2017 by Sandman

[Chronocidal]

I'm actually counting on those packs to cover the scratches I already have on mine.  Worst scratches are on the blue around the intakes, which I figure the packs should hide pretty nicely.

[Duymon]

2 hours ago, Mommar said:

To be fair NY removed the Pay Later option when people would load up on Pre-Orders and then dump them from NY days before the actual release.  And it only appears to be for Bandai Pre-Orders.  They still have pay later options for other items.

Yeah, only for Bandai Web shop exclusives. I think it makes sense as web shop exclusives actually put them on the hook financially so if people flake out they are stuck with extra inventory. 

[Chronocidal]

Which is probably why they had so many left over Isamu YF-29s that they put up at a discounted price later.

 

[MacrossJunkie]

4 hours ago, wm cheng said:

Definitely not 50:50 ratio, that's too much.  That will definitely give you the chalky whitish finish when its dried.  That's why its tricky as it totally looks milky/whitish/translucent when the Tamiya flat goes into the future and looks horrible, but if you've got the right mixture, it will dry nicely.  You don't know if you've got it right till it dries.  That Future Guide is a great summary, wish I had something like that as a guide when I was experimenting.  I just experimented and the failures were wiped away with Windex, so don't worry too much - hint, don't use windex when cleaning your shelves around the toys!  But it suggest a 1:3 ratio (flat:future) as a max flatness I'd go - I always end up being on the safe side and usually end up with a semi-gloss at 1:4 or 1:5.  I go a semi-gloss on the aircraft and a flat/matte on the boosters/fast packs/armour so they're like "tank" armour.  I quite like the contrast, especially when you post shade the aircraft (darker streaks and shading on a lighter base colour) and dry brush the armour/booster packs (lighter grey/white edge highlighting on a darker base colour).

 

As an alternative to using the Tamiya Flat Base (X-21), I highly recommend the Vallejo Matte Varnish, which I can get from Amazon for around the same price. Early on, I was telling people to use the Tamiya flat base, but after trying the Vallejo matte varnish, I've had much better results from using it compared to the Tamiya flat base and much prefer the Vallejo. Too often I've gotten little white specks from spraying the tamiya flat no matter how much I stirred and mixed, even trying new bottles. With the Vallejo, I just shake and squeeze some drops straight out of the bottle and it's already premixed to give a nice flat uniform finish. Add Future to make it less flat or semi-gloss.

Sounds like you've had more luck with brushing it on also. Whenever I tried to brush it on, the flat base would not leave a uniform flatness and you could see streaks in the coat after it dries. The coating itself would be level, but the flat base tended to gather around the brush hairs despite mixing it well prior and leave whiter streaks or swirls within the coat after brushing. I didn't get that with the vallejo. I pretty much swear by that stuff now. I feel it's just that much better.

[Graham]

Examined my two DX VF-31J while wearing my reading glasses last night (yep, old age is catching up, needed reading glasses since last year).

Both have no noticable paint wear so far after about 2 weeks.

My first one has been transformed 4 times and currently resides in Gerwalk mode and is handled every 2-3 days.

My second one has never been transformed, but gets handled (swooshed around) daily and the canopy and multi-drone bays get opened regularly.

Personally, I'm fine if I do get a bit of paint wear not really an issue for me, as planes rarely look pristine in real life. But anyway, hasn't happened yet on mine.

 

 

[Master Dex]

1 hour ago, Graham said:

Examined my two DX VF-31J while wearing my reading glasses last night (yep, old age is catching up, needed reading glasses since last year).

Both have no noticable paint wear so far after about 2 weeks.

My first one has been transformed 4 times and currently resides in Gerwalk mode and is handled every 2-3 days.

My second one has never been transformed, but gets handled (swooshed around) daily and the canopy and multi-drone bays get opened regularly.

Personally, I'm fine if I do get a bit of paint wear not really an issue for me, as planes rarely look pristine in real life. But anyway, hasn't happened yet on mine.

 

 

I like this viewpoint. While a clean display is nice, it is very true. I work with real jets every day, and they are almost never clean or perfect looking. So there is a sense of truth in toys going on if the paint scratching is seen as a realistic result of a transforming fighter jet, heh.

It also absolves me of doing extra work on my VF-31F when I get it, lol.

[QEssential]

Haven't got my VF-31J or the VF-31F yet. I am keen to get both but can't get one at the recommended retail price anymore. Really disappointed. Toy collecting should not be this stressful. lol

 

Haven't seen Mac Delta yet but if I wanna get one definitive valk from the series which one should I get? VF-31J or VF-31F?

 

Edited January 13, 2017 by QEssential

[eXis10z]

I don't know about you guys but NY have yet to deduct any money from me since my super parts PO on the first day of release.

 

And at time of my pre-order it stated " Pay Later for this product is Available "

[seti88]

48 minutes ago, QEssential said:

Haven't got my VF-31J or the VF-31F yet. I am keen to get both but can't get one at the recommended retail price anymore. Really disappointed. Toy collecting should not be this stressful. lol

 

Haven't seen Mac Delta yet but if I wanna get one definitive valk from the series which one should I get? VF-31J or VF-31F?

 

I hear ya, just keep an eye out for release dates for opportunities to catch em again. If you like the design,there would be remaining 3 variants that is yet to be released.
Suspect those might be easier to get since there 'might' be 31 valk burnout after many releases.

On which is better, they are both great and cant reveal more as it might spoil your enjoyment of delta. If you havent seen delta, objectively then its a toss up of if u like an emblem or not on the fuselage of your valk, the colors and the head design.

hope you get to catch one.... 

[no3Ljm]

9 hours ago, wm cheng said:

Definitely not 50:50 ratio, that's too much.  That will definitely give you the chalky whitish finish when its dried.  That's why its tricky as it totally looks milky/whitish/translucent when the Tamiya flat goes into the future and looks horrible, but if you've got the right mixture, it will dry nicely.  You don't know if you've got it right till it dries.  That Future Guide is a great summary, wish I had something like that as a guide when I was experimenting.  I just experimented and the failures were wiped away with Windex, so don't worry too much - hint, don't use windex when cleaning your shelves around the toys!  But it suggest a 1:3 ratio (flat:future) as a max flatness I'd go - I always end up being on the safe side and usually end up with a semi-gloss at 1:4 or 1:5.  I go a semi-gloss on the aircraft and a flat/matte on the boosters/fast packs/armour so they're like "tank" armour.  I quite like the contrast, especially when you post shade the aircraft (darker streaks and shading on a lighter base colour) and dry brush the armour/booster packs (lighter grey/white edge highlighting on a darker base colour).

4 hours ago, MacrossJunkie said:

As an alternative to using the Tamiya Flat Base (X-21), I highly recommend the Vallejo Matte Varnish, which I can get from Amazon for around the same price. Early on, I was telling people to use the Tamiya flat base, but after trying the Vallejo matte varnish, I've had much better results from using it compared to the Tamiya flat base and much prefer the Vallejo. Too often I've gotten little white specks from spraying the tamiya flat no matter how much I stirred and mixed, even trying new bottles. With the Vallejo, I just shake and squeeze some drops straight out of the bottle and it's already premixed to give a nice flat uniform finish. Add Future to make it less flat or semi-gloss.

Sounds like you've had more luck with brushing it on also. Whenever I tried to brush it on, the flat base would not leave a uniform flatness and you could see streaks in the coat after it dries. The coating itself would be level, but the flat base tended to gather around the brush hairs despite mixing it well prior and leave whiter streaks or swirls within the coat after brushing. I didn't get that with the vallejo. I pretty much swear by that stuff now. I feel it's just that much better.

Thanks for sharing more insights about this. I just need to find time so I can start doing to planned panel lining and applying decal stuff.

57 minutes ago, eXis10z said:

I don't know about you guys but NY have yet to deduct any money from me since my super parts PO on the first day of release.

And at time of my pre-order it stated " Pay Later for this product is Available "

Really? I've been paying most of my web exclusive preorders at NY ever since they implemented that rule including the recent DX VF-31J's Super Parts that I ordered from the first day they put it for preorder. Lucky you I guess for getting that 'Pay Later for this product is Available' option.

Anyone else here got the 'Pay Later' option for the DX VF-31J Super Parts? Let me know so I can complain to NY coz I already paid for it.

 

[neoexcaliber]

55 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

Thanks for sharing more insights about this. I just need to find time so I can start doing to planned panel lining and applying decal stuff.

Really? I've been paying most of my web exclusive preorders at NY ever since they implemented that rule including the recent DX VF-31J's Super Parts that I ordered from the first day they put it for preorder. Lucky you I guess for getting that 'Pay Later for this product is Available' option.

Anyone else here got the 'Pay Later' option for the DX VF-31J Super Parts? Let me know so I can complain to NY coz I already paid for it.

 

I had a purchase from months ago that was listed as 'pay later' but barely a day later, they changed the listing and asked me to pay for it. Weird thing was that a friend say the same listing as 'pay later not available' when mine was 'pay later'. I wonder if it's because of a cache issue or just a bug.

Edited January 13, 2017 by neoexcaliber
More info

[MacrossJunkie]

Probably a glitch or something. If it was a client side cache issue, I would think their server back end would not let that happen.

[Scream Man]

My 31 has a small chip on the hinge of the shoulder, noticeable in robot mode. That happened after like, 1 trnsform, and is barely noticable. 

Otherwise totally fine after copuntless ransformations and play basically every day since i got her the day before Christmas. 

[spanner]

38 minutes ago, Scream Man said:

My 31 has a small chip on the hinge of the shoulder, noticeable in robot mode. That happened after like, 1 trnsform, and is barely noticable. 

Otherwise totally fine after copuntless ransformations and play basically every day since i got her the day before Christmas. 

are you referring to this area? if not, does yours have this issue?

[F360]

3 hours ago, eXis10z said:

I don't know about you guys but NY have yet to deduct any money from me since my super parts PO on the first day of release.

 

And at time of my pre-order it stated " Pay Later for this product is Available "

well , you should probably take a look at your order/order history if you really want the super part set.  Last thing you want is getting a email cancelling your preorders for non payment even if "pay later option is available" due to a glitch. 

 

[eXis10z]

1 hour ago, F360 said:

well , you should probably take a look at your order/order history if you really want the super part set.  Last thing you want is getting a email cancelling your preorders for non payment even if "pay later option is available" due to a glitch. 

 

I shall do so

Edited January 13, 2017 by eXis10z

[wm cheng]

14 hours ago, MacrossJunkie said:

 

As an alternative to using the Tamiya Flat Base (X-21), I highly recommend the Vallejo Matte Varnish, which I can get from Amazon for around the same price. Early on, I was telling people to use the Tamiya flat base, but after trying the Vallejo matte varnish, I've had much better results from using it compared to the Tamiya flat base and much prefer the Vallejo. Too often I've gotten little white specks from spraying the tamiya flat no matter how much I stirred and mixed, even trying new bottles. With the Vallejo, I just shake and squeeze some drops straight out of the bottle and it's already premixed to give a nice flat uniform finish. Add Future to make it less flat or semi-gloss.

Sounds like you've had more luck with brushing it on also. Whenever I tried to brush it on, the flat base would not leave a uniform flatness and you could see streaks in the coat after it dries. The coating itself would be level, but the flat base tended to gather around the brush hairs despite mixing it well prior and leave whiter streaks or swirls within the coat after brushing. I didn't get that with the vallejo. I pretty much swear by that stuff now. I feel it's just that much better.

I will try that Vallejo Matte Varnish, its always hard to get a truly flat/matte finish with the future.  Does the Vallejo wear as well as the future?

[Duymon]

14 minutes ago, wm cheng said:

I will try that Vallejo Matte Varnish, its always hard to get a truly flat/matte finish with the future.  Does the Vallejo wear as well as the future?

If you have the Vallejo matte varnish for hand brushing, DO NOT SPRAY IT. 

<---- NOOOO

If you're talking about Vallejo's Polyurethane matte varnish it's pretty good and it sprays very well.

<----TOTALLY OK

The entire Vallejo Polyurethane series has been great for me; especially their polyurethane spray primers which are arguably the best non lacquer primers I've ever used in my airbrush.

 

Edited January 13, 2017 by Duymon

[wm cheng]

Thanks!  I wouldn't have known the difference.  What version are you talking about MacrossJunkie?  I would definitely want to spray it out of the airbrush, so what is the solvent/thinner for the Polyurethane version?

[Duymon]

53 minutes ago, wm cheng said:

Thanks!  I wouldn't have known the difference.  What version are you talking about MacrossJunkie?  I would definitely want to spray it out of the airbrush, so what is the solvent/thinner for the Polyurethane version?

The polyurethane matte varnish is already formulated to go straight out of an airbrush (i use iwata eclipse which has a .35 mm needle)

You can try thinning it with the same-brand airbrush thinner

However, I've never done it. I've only thinned down primers with this stuff and it worked like magic

Edited January 13, 2017 by Duymon

[jrhudson311]

I wonder what the DX line will offer up after its done with the Macross Delta planes......

Just thinking out loud here.