Max Factory 1/20(!) VF-1S/A Hikaru

[no3Ljm]

33 minutes ago, macsam said:

i am confused with the head pieces.  do you have to extract the head out of the plastic all around?   Meaning you have to use an exacto knife to cut all around it?

Is it a full complete head that you join with a bottom head piece or is it just the top?

No. The head is built in. So it's a complete piece. So if you want to use VF-1J head, you have to use part A1. If you want VF-1S configuration, you'll use A2. And so on. No cutting around needed.

 

[nightmareB4macross]

1 hour ago, macsam said:

i am confused with the head pieces.  do you have to extract the head out of the plastic all around?   Meaning you have to use an exacto knife to cut all around it?

Is it a full complete head that you join with a bottom head piece or is it just the top?

The heads appear to be molded to this flanges. This is an easier way to mate the flange to the lower part of the fuselage and maintains a streamlined bottom while keeping costs down.

[pafy6285]

Just got additional fee notification for N-Y. So the rate is for a 12 kg package (which is the expected weight/rate with the brown box).

[Lord_Of_Tetris]

On 11/25/2018 at 7:47 PM, tekering said:

 

The DYRL pilot figure included is molded in Roy's colors -- matching the stickers -- but there's nothing specific about the sculpt; you can paint him any color and call him whoever you want.  Stickers only include Roy's name under the cockpit canopy, however.

Uh. Maybe I'm missing something. In what way is this a pilot figurine? I just see a blue orb of some sort with a peg on it.

[tekering]

24 minutes ago, Lord_Of_Tetris said:

 In what way is this a pilot figurine? I just see a blue orb of some sort with a peg on it.

It's called "suspension of disbelief."  

Actually, the figure is comprised of 30 separate parts, for ease of painting.  

 

[Lord_Of_Tetris]

8 hours ago, tekering said:

It's called "suspension of disbelief."  

Actually, the figure is comprised of 30 separate parts, for ease of painting.  

 

Oooooooh, cool, whew. I feel stupid. It was late last night, and I thought the blue orb was the WHOLE pilot figurine. BAHAHAHAHA.

I find it ironic that the pilot figure is so many pieces, for ease of painting, yet large portions of the jet are one solid piece. It looks like the "heads" are the top 1/4 of the head and it's the same piece as the fuselage, which will make it very difficult to paint.

 

[TMBounty_Hunter]

You have to remember this is a minimum factory release, the 25th in the lineup and they've always put this much effort into the figures. The gerwalk is technically just an accessory for the pilot :P

[no3Ljm]

I wouldn't mind Max Factory to release a 1/20 scale VF-1 Canopy kit.

 

[Chronocidal]

Wonder if they'd be willing to sell the pilots separately.  Makes me glad I don't have room for that huge kit though, it looks bafflingly underwhelming in all the worst ways.

The lack of waterslides is especially egregious, since it's not like 1/20th scale aircraft markings are something everyone just has laying around like they would for more common scales.

[GMK]

Yep, starting to regret my purchase. 

[Mr Jones]

51 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

Wonder if they'd be willing to sell the pilots separately.  Makes me glad I don't have room for that huge kit though, it looks bafflingly underwhelming in all the worst ways.

The lack of waterslides is especially egregious, since it's not like 1/20th scale aircraft markings are something everyone just has laying around like they would for more common scales. 

Once I have the kit in hand i plan on looking into what it would take to get some well printed markings printed. I'll probably skip major colour separation stuff that can be masked and painted but instead look at all the greeblie little warning markers etc. I've always planned on this kit being a project rather than a snap build.

[Grayson72]

If anyone is interested I could take a look at creating waterslide decals for this badboy. 

[tekering]

4 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

I wouldn't mind Max Factory to release a 1/20 scale VF-1 Canopy kit.

Something like this?  

I'm slowly starting to warm to this kit.  It looks great, it's quick and easy to put together, and the proportions are fabulous.  

The cockpit's a lot more accurate than that ridiculously-overpriced 1:6 scale speaker -- even completely unpainted, the details are striking -- and there's plenty of room to mount LEDs behind the panels if you're so inclined...

The pilot is similarly impressive, and I may even put an LED in the head.

The large scale allows for some detail never seen on a Valkyrie toy or model before.  This nosecone looks like it could actually be unscrewed and disassembled for maintenance!

Oh, and if there's still any question as to whether a fighter mode retool is in the pipeline:

The black sprue includes tires for landing gear (which have no purpose in this kit whatsoever).

I'm gonna finish rough assembly before I start to paint the Valk (haven't decided on a color scheme yet), but I've already started painting the pilot.  

1 hour ago, Grayson72 said:

I could take a look at creating waterslide decals for this badboy. 

There will definitely be demand for it.

[GMK]

Does the Gerwalk look as though it can be finished without using the Super/Strike parts?

[tekering]

1 hour ago, GMK said:

Does the Gerwalk look as though it can be finished without using the Super/Strike parts?

The short answer is no.  There are obvious gaps and mounting points for the FAST packs on the arms, legs, and through the backpack on top... and while the instructions do indicate the -1A, -1J, or -1S head options, there's no mention of gap fillers or other options for assembly.

A close look at the runners, however, reveals several additional parts the instructions ignore:

So, as it turns out, the kit actually includes all the necessary pieces to complete the Gerwalk either with or without the FAST pack armor.  

[Sanity is Optional]

I smell something for all these tiny magnets I've got sitting on my workbench to do...

[milhouse]

Hey tekering, glad you are warming up to the kit. With your initial assessment of the vf-1 it got me to second guess my purchase, but the more I looked at the initial photos you posted it actually made me more excited for it... esp seeing the runner for the figure... can't wait to see how you paint yours!

I may paint it white, and then give it the ol' Kakizaki green markings (only cos green is my favorite color). Now to wait patiently for CDJ to ship the thing...

[Sanity is Optional]

With details that big, even my ham-hands (and anal-retentive obsession over clean edges) can be happy.

[Major Tom]

Hey tekering, is the stand included in this kit? What does it look like?

[Chronocidal]

Glad to see it's working out better than it sounded initially.  Looks like it's going together very cleanly at the very least, and the details look pretty crisp, though that might be hard to judge at this scale.  I'm actually surprised they went the length to add an AOA probe on the side of the nose cone, and I don't recall seeing that on any art before.

The kit definitely demands some lighting though, and it's big enough that you could probably put self-contained lights in the boosters so they can be removable.  Trick would be rigging the mounting points to be sturdy enough, since those packs have got to be pretty heavy in this scale.

[Sanity is Optional]

I'm thinking some careful positioning with multiple magnets ought to snap the supers on at the right spot. Next question is where to put in a connection to power it, or a door to change the batteries?

I'm definitely going to get some LEDs to go with this thing and try to wire it all up. Not sure if dumb or smart style.

[Return To Kit Form]

22 hours ago, tekering said:

Something like this?  

Exactly like that! Alhough it looks like the parts breakdown of the nose section will prohibit releasing just those as a stand alone kit.

Which sprues are needed for it and is it possible to just order those? I saw prices listed on the instructions.

Its a grest looking kit and I am very jealous Ted 

 

Cheers,

Brett

[tekering]

23 hours ago, milhouse said:

Hey tekering, glad you are warming up to the kit.

It's getting bigger and more beautiful day by day.  

4 hours ago, Major Tom said:

Hey tekering, is the stand included in this kit?

The stand is not only included, it's mandatory; the kit is not designed to support itself unassisted, based on the position of the legs.

Of course, it's shouldn't be much trouble to modify the angle of the feet so that it can stand by itself -- something I fully intend to do -- but if you're building it stock, the stand is obligatory.

3 hours ago, Return To Kit Form said:

it looks like the parts breakdown of the nose section will prohibit releasing just those as a stand alone kit.

Which sprues are needed for it and is it possible to just order those? I saw prices listed on the instructions.

Sprues A, B, Q and R would be required (which unfortunately includes the largest parts of the fuselage).  ¥14800 plus shipping.

[electric indigo]

There are some interesting angles on the nose compared to the Hasegawa kits, it looks much sleeker. And I like the rounder cross section just before the canopy.

Edited November 29, 2018 by electric indigo

[GMK]

@tekering - again, thanks for your pics to date.  It does look impressive. Could I trouble you for a pic of the muzzle of the gun pod? Cel-shading this as Hikaru’s VF-1J or a CF VF-1A is starting to sound appealing. 

[tekering]

The bare Gerwalk assembled.  All it needs is an antenna, and a strap for the gunpod.  

47 minutes ago, GMK said:

Could I trouble you for a pic of the muzzle of the gun pod?

No trouble at all.  

Now, let's look at some niggling details that are bothering me:

The trigger finger of the right hand has an inexplicable hole through it -- a very clean, perfectly centered hole -- and I can't possibly fathom what purpose it would serve.

Having properly mounted the legs by sliding them into the locking mechanism underneath, I'm left with an unsightly gap that doesn't look right...

The backpack mounting bracket leaves a strange-looking gap, too.  

This doesn't look like any Valkyrie toy or model I've seen before.  

The leg fins are lacking in any forward-facing detail, except for the ugly circles indicative of the injection-molding process...

...and yet, there's plenty of molded detail visible on the backside...!

Both leg fins have the same anomaly, and -- since they're symmetrically reversed -- they only fit into the specific leg they're designed for.  I think it's some kind of molding mistake.

More ugly circles on the inside of the feet... and while I love seeing the engine behind the verniers like that, the interior of the leg is otherwise an eyesore.

And finally, those boosters on the back are much too large, and they stick out way too far.  They'll require some major modification, if they can be used at all...  

[Mr Jones]

3 hours ago, tekering said:

The bare Gerwalk assembled.  All it needs is an antenna, and a strap for the gunpod.  

No trouble at all.  

Now, let's look at some niggling details that are bothering me:

The trigger finger of the right hand has an inexplicable hole through it -- a very clean, perfectly centered hole -- and I can't possibly fathom what purpose it would serve.

Having properly mounted the legs by sliding them into the locking mechanism underneath, I'm left with an unsightly gap that doesn't look right...

The backpack mounting bracket leaves a strange-looking gap, too.  

This doesn't look like any Valkyrie toy or model I've seen before.  

The leg fins are lacking in any forward-facing detail, except for the ugly circles indicative of the injection-molding process...

...and yet, there's plenty of molded detail visible on the backside...!

Both leg fins have the same anomaly, and -- since they're symmetrically reversed -- they only fit into the specific leg they're designed for.  I think it's some kind of molding mistake.

More ugly circles on the inside of the feet... and while I love seeing the engine behind the verniers like that, the interior of the leg is otherwise an eyesore.

And finally, those boosters on the back are much too large, and they stick out way too far.  They'll require some major modification, if they can be used at all...  

All in all a good base it looks like -- some super-detail work is definitely on the books for this one; that + some electronics should take me the next 5 years to do  ( once I get HLJ to actually quote me on shipping -- its been since last week now that their support hasn't responded .. no auto quote in the system for it to Canada ( with our screwed up postal stuff right now I'm not completely surprised ) ) 

[mslz22]

I'm in the USA and HLJ took my payment but will not let me move it from PW to cart to pay the shipping and get it shipped.

 

I would love to see if they would be open to ditching as much of the packaging as possible and putting it in a smaller box,  as long as all the stuff is there I don't care about the outer box.

 

[Sanity is Optional]

CDJ shipped mine out on the 28th. ought to get here sometime next week.

Can't wait to take a look inside.

[Chronocidal]

So, one thing that might shed some light on the intake gaps.. I think I've seen those done before.  I want to say that the 1/48 Hasegawa kit has something similar, but I would have to check the assembly instructions. 

In terms of actual aircraft, there's a reason for those sorts of structures, and it usually has to do with airflow boundary layer separation.  Lots of older generation aircraft had those separation gaps behind intakes.  Obviously they're not always necessary, but there's at least a real life precedent for that shape.

Far as that backplate and backpack hinge goes though...   What were they smoking there?  Aside from looking ugly in general, there should be a flat edge to merge with the backpack in the lowered position.

Are there extra parts included in this one to use in a pack-less fighter mode configuration?  I'm really curious to see what the parts for a normal fighter would look like by comparison.

Those quirks with the mold are really baffling though.  Sorry to see how much extra work this will take to be presentable.

[GMK]

26 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

So, one thing that might shed some light on the intake gaps.. I think I've seen those done before.  I want to say that the 1/48 Hasegawa kit has something similar, but I would have to check the assembly instructions. 

In terms of actual aircraft, there's a reason for those sorts of structures, and it usually has to do with airflow boundary layer separation.  Lots of older generation aircraft had those separation gaps behind intakes.  Obviously they're not always necessary, but there's at least a real life precedent for that shape.

 

I think @tekering is referring to the gaps on the inside/inboard top of the intake, where the top and side don’t intersect quite correctly. 

I’m hoping that the intakes can be built “open”, as well, but can’t see the intake turbine face parts on the sprues that have been shown. 

[nightmareB4macross]

The design choices are interesting. With regards to the backpack, wasn’t it Kawamori who redesigned it in this fashion? 

One odd thing about the backpack besides the obvious is the small trapezoid it connects to. The part seems to stretch. It doesn’t appear to raise like a plate or any previous versions of it.

Either way the kit is very impressive. Tekering,  thanks for sharing these pictures with the rest of us.

[TMBounty_Hunter]

Those look way too much like NACA ducts to be a molding mistake, they're facing the correct way for Valk mode too, but why they would be on the fins I have no idea.

I'm assuming that's just the only way they could mold the part, since if they made it solid you'd have horrendous shrinkage, which we've seen in some test shots all over the place

 

5 hours ago, GMK said:

I’m hoping that the intakes can be built “open”, as well, but can’t see the intake turbine face parts on the sprues that have been shown. 

Those are on the Valk-only runners

Which there will be at least 3 4 of, including the above, the following image, the straight legs runner we've seen a lot in the early days of development and wherever they put the rest of the landing gear bay parts we saw in the Max video a few pages back

 

Edited November 30, 2018 by TMBounty_Hunter

[tekering]

10 hours ago, GMK said:

@tekeringCel-shading this as Hikaru’s VF-1J or a CF VF-1A is starting to sound appealing. 

Well, the hands, the pilot, and the cockpit details are all DYRL-specific, so you'd have to get pretty creative if you want a TV-accurate Hikaru VF-1J...

6 hours ago, mslz22 said:

I would love to see if they would be open to ditching as much of the packaging as possible and putting it in a smaller box,  as long as all the stuff is there I don't care about the outer box.

There's not a lot of wasted space in the box to begin with, though... and unless you get the pieces removed from those massive sprues, they're not gonna fit into a smaller box anyway.

5 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Are there extra parts included in this one to use in a pack-less fighter mode configuration?

No, just the "Gawalk."

 

[GMK]

2 hours ago, tekering said:

Well, the hands, the pilot, and the cockpit details are all DYRL-specific, so you'd have to get pretty creative if you want a TV-accurate Hikaru VF-1J...

All just modelling “challenges” - but, yeah, I get it. May just use the Macross Master File methodology and build a block that crosses over between the Block 5 (SDFM) & Block x (DYYL?).