Bandai 1/72 Scale Transformable Macross Δ Kits

[David Hingtgen]

Wow, that's really thinking it through. Props to Kawamori for that.

[slide]

Wow, that's really thinking it through. Props to Kawamori for that.

If he'd only gone into aeronautical engineering... Japan would have the coolest looking air force in any universe!

[ayaxr]

If he'd only gone into aeronautical engineering... Japan would have the coolest looking air force in any universe!

Lol completely agree....

BTW here's an illustration that might help?

[David Hingtgen]

I found the drawings on the official site, and laying them on top of each other, the -31A does have slightly larger canards. But the shape is the same, so it's hard to tell. And without HFH confirming it, it could easily be written off as an artist's error etc.

[mickyg]

Love the throwback to the VF-0A on that 31A head.

[Phoenix1]

Anyone know how to order replacement stickers/decals? I had to remove some of mine after I did panel lining because these really big air bubbles formed, although I think that's probably my fault for doing panel lining after sticker application, and using too much panel line accent.

For what it's worth, I got it looking like this before that disaster happened.

[chyll2]

That is beautiful work.

[sh9000]

That looks awesome.

[ayaxr]

That looks amazing. I think the question about replacement decals came up before. Apparently Bandai no longer sells them on their own as replacements.
For older kits like the VF-25s there is a 3rd party option (which looks better and of higher quality) than the ones from Bandai. But I think its a long way off to have a 3rd party offering for these new kits.

I'm a bit terrified of the waterslides on this kit once I start building it because of that.

Edited August 1, 2016 by ayaxr

[Phoenix1]

Thanks for the kind words!

Guess I'll talk to the shop I bought it from and see if I can nab replacements. I did try the decals, but the really large ones crumbled on me and overall I just found the stickers easier to work with.

[ayaxr]

Whats your take on the kit as a whole? Always good to hear more opinons.

[Mazinger]

Curious, has any transformed there's more than a few times?

Does anyone plan to? Or is that just outright foolish-ness due to eventual floppiness?

How much time, minus decaling, would you figure you have spent in putting the kit together?

[Phoenix1]

Whats your take on the kit as a whole? Always good to hear more opinons.

Goes together really well, if you have a bit of modelling experience it's easy to make it look really good doing rather simple things like touch up painting etc. You'll need plastic cement and super glue if you want to transform it more than once, though, but it's doable.

Those stickers, though. Although the stickers are the lesser of two evils. I think that if you have an airbrush setup (I don't), you should definitely mask and spray the detailing on.

Much better kit than the VF-25, and I didn't really have any problem with floppiness despite transforming more than a couple of times. (Although, I did break parts that needed to be glued back.)

Spent 3-4 nights working on the kit, soooooo about 10 hours? But I did a lot of unnecessary busywork that I wouldn't have had to do if I was more organised. I think assembly by itself just took around 5.

[Petrov27]

I found assembly to be pretty great. I went with the decal route and had a mess - they actually went on pretty good for me but even with some clear on them damaging was super easy. I stripped them off (was very easy to do) and am trying to paint the markings but that is turning out to be fairly involved....

Edited August 1, 2016 by Petrov27

[kajnrig]

Curious, has any transformed there's more than a few times?

Does anyone plan to? Or is that just outright foolish-ness due to eventual floppiness?

How much time, minus decaling, would you figure you have spent in putting the kit together?

They'll hold up to multiple transformations much better than the old VF-25s. The choice and number of materials (lighter polystyrene and sturdy ABS, and fewer/lighter parts), as well as the engineering (smarter design and more locking sections), makes for probably Bandai's best "toy" kit ever.

I transformed mine half a dozen times before selling it, and it still went back into fighter mode just fine. The gaps were perhaps more noticeable, more "used"-looking, but certainly nothing very far from how they started.

I really can't stress how well thought-out this kit was. Bandai set out to make an affordable, playable, transformable kit, and they accomplished that goal in spades. It has many serious flaws as a kit, and as a toy, but as an amalgamation of the two, it is Bandai's best effort to date.

Floppiness is inevitable, but the aforementioned choice/number of materials and engineering certainly won't accelerate the process, if that's what you're worried about.

As for build time, it shouldn't take very long. A couple hours a night over the course of a week is what I did.

Edited August 2, 2016 by kajnrig

[Mazinger]

Thanks folks, gonna order at least one then.

[seti88]

Next on the list for release!

October!

Edited August 2, 2016 by seti88

[Chronocidal]

I spent a few hours doing a quick and dirty build-up this past weekend, no painting or markings. I just cut loose everything and slapped it all together with minimal cleanup where it was necessary.

Overall I'd agree that this kit was better thought out than the VF-25, and it's really nice to see some sort of thigh swivel, but I think it still has some serious compromises for transformation.

Warning, nitpicky comments ahead, read at your own risk.

Biggest thing is that as nice as it works, it's actually quite farther from achieving a perfect transformation than the VF-25 kits were. With those, all you had were the separate hands for fighter mode, but this thing has quite a few part swaps involved. The wrist guns, the little under-wing plates (that won't stay in place anyway in any mode), the center section of the weapons pod, plus that bulky bracket that holds the thing together in fighter mode that you have to remove entirely to transform it. It still looks nice, but it feels like they got lazy.

Aside from that though, the construction doesn't feel as sturdy as the VF-25 kit, even with all the extra locking tabs. The weapons pod locks under the chest so well, it tends to break in half before it'll unfold properly. Mine clearly needs the tail mounts glued in, because they pop off every time I try to fold the tails over. And despite the more complicated construction, I thought the lower legs on the VF-25s were much sturdier, having those flip-out tabs to lock the feet in place. The double sliding joints in the legs on my 31 kit aren't very good at keeping the feet from extending. The tabs holding the wings on also don't feel substantial enough, I've had them fall off completely trying to fold back the wings. The VF-25 had the wing hinges sandwiched between two layers of fuselage plates. Plus the aforementioned tiny little wing plates that fall off from gravity. Also, while less fiddly than the VF-25's front gear doors, I think the 31's front gear door mechanism is just a terrible idea, and a lousy compromise over actual opening doors. Though.. I have to wonder, are they just entirely aware of how ugly the gear are, and figure no one will ever use them anyway? Who knows?

Nowwww... all that said, I do like the kit, despite my own issues with the kit design. It went together smoothly, and the fit was close to perfect all around. The newer joint designs allow for a larger variety of poses than the VF-25 kits, and the variety of sliding/locking joints in the fuselage adds a lot to a sturdy fuselage. I admit, I haven't transformed the entire kit yet, but I fiddled with all the mechanisms as I built it, so I can kind of see how it all functions.

Outside of the kit itself though, I'm tempted to make a few mods to this and try to fix some of the more annoying features of the design. I really want to slice open the outer surface of the legs, and put some reasonable looking landing gear in there. The angled surface is really just begging for a simple door and an angled F-16 style strut. I might even fill in the slots for the canards, I actually think the design looks better without them.

I also want to see if I can come up with a way to streamline the butt end of the spine, because it's an eyesore. I don't know why they ended the fuselage so bluntly, it's like they looked at the YF-30's spine and asked "How can we make this uglier in every way possible?" All they had to do was taper the surface down to blend with the upper side of the weapons pod, but nope, they decided to give it a blunt edge, and leave the pod looking like it was wedged uncomfortably between the engines.

I really want a version of this without all the ridiculous airshow colors though. Never going to touch the decals (I'll do my own panel lining, thanks), and that paintscheme is a nightmare.

Edited August 2, 2016 by Chronocidal

[seti88]

slobber....

[Kelsain]

Looks like someone will have to do a Batman custom on that one.

[Petrov27]

Really dig the 02 color scheme - best of the lot IMHO - cant wait to get that one (though still slowly working on painting the 05 here)

[chyll2]

where is the splashed red canopy?

[seti88]

well its just initial promo pics...haha...

[Phoenix1]

Axia just started spontaneously playing in my head.

Shinigami decal looks painful to apply, though.

Darn. I want Keith's Sv-262 DX Chogokin rather than the plamo, but I'm not gonna be able to afford anything more than Plamo Messer, and everyone knows you're gonna need a Shinigami for your Shirokishi. But using mis-matched scales for the display is gonna look weird. (Maybe I'm over-thinking this.)

And I still need to puzzle out the most affordable set of Walkure figures.

Edited August 3, 2016 by Phoenix1

[Darth Mingus]

I'm going for the Figure-rise busts. At 1,500 to 2,000 a pop, they are reasonable. Do we have a topic for these?

Edited August 3, 2016 by Darth Mingus

[Phoenix1]

I don't think we have a topic for the busts specifically, but they were posted before in the toy thread. The busts are nice and cheap, but aren't the full figures I'm looking for. Personally, I'm considering either the SQ's or the Plamax set atm, altho the figureart zero Freyja is really tempting.

That said, seeing Messer's 1/72 with the Kaname bust hit me right in the heart.

Edited August 3, 2016 by Phoenix1

[kajnrig]

I'd rather see Arad's 1/72 with Kaname's bust, but this looks alright, I guess...

Edited August 3, 2016 by kajnrig

[derex3592]

You know...as a somewhat competent model guy...I almost wanna try the 1/72 kits..I mean.. they DO look good! I mostly want them for fighter mode anyway and I do love Bandai's Star Wars kits. NO preorder madness--NO price hikes, NO waiting forever for the DX releases, and I could get basically all 5 for $250ish..hmmmm.

[Petrov27]

Arad arrived today here - not 100% keen on this ones color combination but still plan on building it.

The figure rise busts do look quite nice paired with the VF-31.... Might have to reconsider purchase there....

[kajnrig]

I should mention that the busts don't come with stands for the VFs (or at least the pics suggest they don't). You have to buy an Action Base 1 and then mount the kit and the bust to it. It would have been nice if they came with even just a simple arm to pair up a VF.

[electric indigo]

You know...as a somewhat competent model guy...I almost wanna try the 1/72 kits..I mean.. they DO look good! I mostly want them for fighter mode anyway and I do love Bandai's Star Wars kits. NO preorder madness--NO price hikes, NO waiting forever for the DX releases, and I could get basically all 5 for $250ish..hmmmm.

Wait for the Hase fighters and complete some Star Wars kits in the meantime

[derex3592]

I gotta be honest, I've never built a Hasagawa kit, I've got the old 1:72 YF-19 and YF-21 in my build pile, but honestly I kinda have gotten addicted to the easyness of the Bandai snap together stuff, with just a little paint and panel line effort, their kits look pretty darn good for the price.

[Skypoet]

I gotta be honest, I've never built a Hasagawa kit, I've got the old 1:72 YF-19 and YF-21 in my build pile, but honestly I kinda have gotten addicted to the easyness of the Bandai snap together stuff, with just a little paint and panel line effort, their kits look pretty darn good for the price.

Agreed.

[cwmodels]

I gotta be honest, I've never built a Hasagawa kit, I've got the old 1:72 YF-19 and YF-21 in my build pile, but honestly I kinda have gotten addicted to the easyness of the Bandai snap together stuff, with just a little paint and panel line effort, their kits look pretty darn good for the price.

Agreed.

You guys have no idea what you're missing out!

[slide]

I gotta be honest, I've never built a Hasagawa kit, I've got the old 1:72 YF-19 and YF-21 in my build pile, but honestly I kinda have gotten addicted to the easyness of the Bandai snap together stuff, with just a little paint and panel line effort, their kits look pretty darn good for the price.

The Hasegawa kits are great, but REQUIRE glue and paint.

The Bandai kits [i can only really compare the VF-25 series, I don't own any Bandai VF-1s] are simple, and look decent [and can look stellar a little extra effort]

But comparing the two, Hasegawas are cheaper, and since I'm really only interested in the fighter-mode for most of my builds, I prefer them. I started as an aircraft modeler, and Macross designs are some of the sexiest aircraft ever, even taking into account the "I'm also a humanoid mecha" concessions in their design.

there is nothing super wrong with the Bandai kits [some have complained about their decals/stickers (haven't tried those yet, so no judgment), transformations and longevity, but since mine are all going to stay/get glued in fighter mode, not an issue for me], but in the fighter-mode for the increased cost I'm not willing to put up with some of the gaps that happen because of the transformation capability.

It really is a case of knowing what are you looking for in your build, and what you're willing to pay/do/put up with to get it... but objectively they're all good kits, and from what I've seen of their VF-31 series, Bandai is getting better at a prodigious pace.

Edited August 4, 2016 by slide