Bandai 1/72 Scale Transformable Macross Δ Kits

[Chronocidal]

I wouldn't call their X-Wing kits anywhere near their best work. While the kit is insanely detailed, and even very fun to build, the fuselage is a gappy mess of nonsense, due to them deciding, for some reason, that the nose markings HAD to be molded in color.. despite not including any other colored parts in the entire kit.

On the other hand though, while they still went with the molded marking panels, the Y-Wing is both a lot better designed, and insanely intricately detailed (you might have to assemble parts of it with tweezers). The TIE Fighters too are nicely designed, and will look beautiful straight out of the box with no paint or glue, because of how they broke down the solar panel assemblies.

Anyhow though, if you can manage to find ways to get the VF-25 kits to stay together in fighter mode, they do look nice when everything lines up.

The biggest lesson I've learned with any Bandai kit is that you really have to clean the parts. Bandai's molding is top-notch, but even they will have slight bits of plastic flash or mis-molding sometimes, and you have to make sure that you clean up sprue attachment points carefully.

The parts will fit together nicely, but only once you get everything aligned. I found that I had to squeeze the hips pretty forcefully onto their joints before they would sit nicely under the chest. Once the hips fit, the arms and shoulders all align better as well.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Chronocidal

[IXTL]

Featured on the cover of the latest issue of Hobby Japan.

[seti88]

Phew for a moment there i thought there was new SUPER SPIKE packs for the 31!

[Graham]

Oh, I will have to try to track down that issue.

[IXTL]

New pics.

http://hobby.dengeki.com/news/203057/

[seti88]

Ooo clear version VF-31....with DVD OR BLU-RAY purchase if thats translated correctly...

[Graham]

Seeing that clear version makes me very curious about how much is actually correctly molded in the correct colors. Seems like quite a lot.

[Duymon]

I am going to stay away from that clear version like the plague. The Pro-modeler VF-25 and the Hasegawa Clear VF-1's taught me that I really really really hate clear plastic parts

[David Hingtgen]

The pessimist in me says it's molded almost entirely clear, with a lot of clear-blue-paint carefully applied for the display. Note the blue areas look a but more metallic and opaque.

[Graham]

I picked up that new issue of Hobby Japan today that has the 1/72 VF-31J on the cover.

Lots of great pics of the completed kit inside, but no pics of the sprues unfortunately. Was hoping to see what's colored and what's not.

[SebastianP]

Still no word on the release date for the Super version? (or for that matter the Mecha Colle Elysion, which is my number one must have kit of the year...)

[VF-1A Grunt]

I am going to stay away from that clear version like the plague. The Pro-modeler VF-25 and the Hasegawa Clear VF-1's taught me that I really really really hate clear plastic parts

I bought one of the clear VF-1s just for the special decal set and plan to just paint the model itself like any other. Maybe the Cavaliers scheme to make sure the dark paint covers the blue clear plastic. What kind of frustration should I expect? Is the clear plastic a slightly different formula (brittle)? Thanks!

[kajnrig]

Clear styrene in general tends to be more brittle than solid colored ones (in my experience anyway). Bandai clear plastic is particularly troublesome because they tend to use thicker plastics in general. It's easy to cause internal stress fractures that'll mar the clarity of the plastic (though that shouldn't be a problem for you if you're going to be painting everything opaque anyway). When removing nub marks I find I have to shave small slices off little by little.

[slide]

When removing nub marks I find I have to shave small slices off little by little.

Clear styrene is simply more brittle as a rule; the above is good advice, particularly if you're trying to keep it clear.

all the other issues with it kinda fall away if you're painting it.

I'm looking at the clear NCC-1701D on my shelf with a certain level of dread...

Edited June 2, 2016 by slide

[Dio]

1/72 SV-262Hs Draken III (Keith) pre-order is up on HLJ.

http://hlj.com/product/BANN07587/Sci

Edited June 2, 2016 by Dio

[kajnrig]

I'm hoping Bandai will provide fixed-pose shield alternatives as well the way they do for the MG Unicorn's v-fin...

[Duymon]

No Matter how I look at it the model kit version of that drak looks.... wonky for some reason. I dunno what it is.

[Skypoet]

No Matter how I look at it the model kit version of that drak looks.... wonky for some reason. I dunno what it is.

Wonky, yet not a chunky monkey! I like the thick spine in fighter mode, reminiscent of the late versions of the Mig 21 :-)

[IXTL]

New pics of the clear VF-31J.

http://hobby.dengeki.com/news/212891/

[seti88]

linking to the p-bandai page....

http://p-bandai.jp/bandaivisualclub/special-1000006185/?rt=pr

which if am not mistaken you need to get all 9 volumes to get the kit?

would that be kinda ...pricey??

Edited June 7, 2016 by seti88

[Jefuemon]

linking to the p-bandai page....

http://p-bandai.jp/bandaivisualclub/special-1000006185/?rt=pr

which if am not mistaken you need to get all 9 volumes to get the kit?

would that be kinda ...pricey??

That's the only way to get that kit. I believe they are not selling it separately. So, if dropping ￥70,000 on the Blu-ray set is out of your budget, wait and see if these show up on Yahoo Japan Auctions come March of next year.

[Duymon]

Seeing then stickers for this clear set leads me to believe the bandai kit will need much painting to look the same as the show.

Dont expect crazy multi color injection like on some gundam kits

[Duymon]

BoxARt via Taghobby

The Battroid is looking pretty legit

Landing gear is comically bad but what'd you expect it's Bandai

Only concern is the Rotation joint for the gerwalk A-stance is the same as the DX VF-19; right behind the intake instead which is kinda awkward to pose. On a side note, It's nice to know this guy will have tabs for a solid fighter mode, you can see the tab in the gerwalk pic near the back of the wings.

Edited June 15, 2016 by Duymon

[Graham]

Yay, release date of 25th June for Hayate's VF-31J.

Not long to wait now.

[SebastianP]

Still no news about when the Super Siegfried is expected? I'm kind of holding out for that one, even if the regular version is what we see the most of in the series (unlike in Frontier where it was all Super Parts, all the time.)

[Duymon]

Pretty sure they'll release standalone supers. Sure it'll be a pain to unassemble to install the suler specific parts but whatev

[SebastianP]

Pretty sure they'll release standalone supers. Sure it'll be a pain to unassemble to install the suler specific parts but whatev

The VF-25 stand-alone supers used stickers for all the unit-specific colors, and there were quite a few of those... and I don't imagine the VF-31 will be much different. Would rather have them in color where possible, as I suck at both color-matching and painting.

Then again, unlike the VF-25, you don't absolutely need at least super parts to make a representative version of any of the VF-31s. We've only seen them twice so far in the show anyway, which is kind of the opposite of Frontier where they were used *all the time*...

[Graham]

I'm really hoping the instruction sheet includes full technical specifications of the VF-31. Often Bandai's transforming kits include the tech specs.

[NZEOD]

Ok so I watched up to EP10 and first up, I noticed Hayates Seig when it wears super parts gets some sort of HUGE back mounted lump of a ... something... missiles? Speakers?

it was visible in the episode where he kills the young Knight in the asteriods.

Second... where the hell does the Yellow 31 of Chuck fish boys hide the radome when its not being used or is it an attachment like a super pack?

Wondering how these will be shown in model form.

Edited June 20, 2016 by NZEOD

[Graham]

Ok so I watched up to EP10 and first up, I noticed Hayates Seig when it wears super parts gets some sort of HUGE back mounted lump of a ... something... missiles? Speakers?

it was visible in the episode where he kills the young Knight in the asteriods.

Second... where the hell does the Yellow 31 of Chuck fish boys hide the radome when its not being used or is it an attachment like a super pack?

Wondering how these will be shown in model form.

In episode # 6 when they are using Super Parts in the asteroid field battle, they have a Sound Booster Pod equipped instead of the standard charger pod. We discuss this in the Episode 6 discussion thread.

The radome on Chuck's VF-31E folds down at the sides, kinda like a folding table (actually it may be a bit more complicated than that) and when not in use is stored between the VF-31E's legs.

[David Hingtgen]

The VF-25 stand-alone supers used stickers for all the unit-specific colors, and there were quite a few of those... and I don't imagine the VF-31 will be much different. Would rather have them in color where possible, as I suck at both color-matching and painting.

I almost wonder if Bandai had some input into how the -31 super parts were to be colored---they are so reminiscent of how the -25's are, where they're 90% all the same with just a few bits actually being color-coded (excluding Michael's). Makes it very easy for them as a company---one small sticker sheet can cover every variation, and/or one small sprue of just a few pieces needs to be molded in its own color.

[Duymon]

Anyone check out the new-ish Page Bandai put up for this 1/72 line?

http://bandai-hobby.net/site/character_macrossd/scalemodel.html

Some nice pics and even a nice PDF download

Here's some quick snaps of the brochure

It's looking to be some great insight to how everything moves around on the VF-31, though we already had a good idea from the YF-30.

Also, a pic of the straight from box build without paint. Looks like a lot of decaling / stickering / painting, but we expected that.

.

*EDIT* SPRUE PICS from This Blog

Edited June 23, 2016 by Duymon

[SebastianP]

Hobby Search has scans of the kit instructions up now.

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10382560

[seti88]

Thanks for posting the pics and links folks!

looks like a vf31 masterfile book would be oncoming too looking at that cover with the clouds heheh..

Edited June 23, 2016 by seti88

[Duymon]

I Just canceled by VF-31J PO. There's no stock pilot fig and I'm planning on making a non-hayate valk :0 Will just have to settle for the VF-31S and then maybe an A or so down the line.