Bandai DX Chogokin 1/48 VF-1

[sqidd]

  On 1/15/2020 at 7:55 PM, Slave IV said:

If we are talking about a Valk made with forged automotive grade alloys, $600 sounds cheap! Where's the preorder button?!

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I actually did a quick outline on what it would cost to do a mostly aluminum 1/35 Valk. Some would be plastic simply because it's a smarter material in some sports. But mostly metal. Sprung/spline'd joints inside "ball" or "rose" joints for things like the hips. Probably with teflon sliders and tension adjustments, etc. Make most of the other simpler joints so they can be adjusted for tension too (teflon inerfaces0. Rough guess on a limited quantity $3000. Maybe something I can tackle in 5-6yrs once I get through the current business cycle. It would also be easier if a few production technologies that are coming on line pan out by then too. And I would have to find someone to paint them. Maybe get LEK in on it so they can be $4000!

If it would cost that much there is not much reason not to go even bigger. Materials cost is a really small portion of the overall cost. Maybe a Battroid that 24" tall and about 15lb.

Frankly, I could "steal" the current best sculpts and then just engineer the rest of the figure. I have the ability to scan parts right into CAD now.

I'm hoping to have the option of retiring in 7yrs (I won't though). Once I have that option I want to start doing crazy projects like this, farming myself out to race teams for development projects, working as a "mercenary" product development service, etc. Development is what I really want to do. The actual selling product thing isn't fun.

[Sanity is Optional]

  On 1/15/2020 at 7:50 PM, sqidd said:

I tens to massively over engineer my products so take this with a grain of salt.  If I were designing a valk I would have a way of actively locking stuff like the arms in place. I'd have to think long and hard about how to do it and make it "transparent" at the same time. I'm sure it could be done though.

If I designed a Valk it would probably be $600 though. So maybe I'm not the best person to get an option from.

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Same, then again the company I work for sells the finished product for 7 figures. Some of my individual parts end up being over $1000 per, and not even as one-offs.

Actually, my version would probably be made of machined 6061T6, have a bunch of adjustments, and cost, well more than the Hachette subscription.

[jenius]

  On 1/15/2020 at 6:37 PM, sqidd said:

When I read this thought to myself......self, "I don't remember those being an issue". And that is one of those things that drives me batty. I would have remembered. I just pulled my 1S with Strikes off the stand to check and it's as I remember it. A brick. I can shake the fighter and the arms/armors and gun pod don't budge. I don't know what I did to get it like that or if it's a fluke (a sample size of one is not a test). But mine is solid. Better than my 1/48 Yammies for sure.

If I accidentally figured out a trick I wouldn't know how to convey it. Because I don't know what I did.

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Hey Sqidd, when you look at the pegs that go down from the back into the leg armors, is there much of a gap there or is the peg almost (or completely) within the armor? Since it is a slip fit, I may just need to muscle the thing up higher than I felt comfortable doing initially. Right now I have a bit of a gap there.

EDIT - I looked closer at the picture in the instructions and my gap did look a little bigger than the one they showed. I wiggle/jiggled and pushed and got my leg a little higher and now the toy can be handled without the leg dropping off. It took a lot of effort to get it there so I have some long-term concerns about how tight that connection will stay but at least the thing is playable now.

Edited January 15, 2020 by jenius

[Slave IV]

  On 1/15/2020 at 8:09 PM, sqidd said:

I actually did a quick outline on what it would cost to do a mostly aluminum 1/35 Valk. Some would be plastic simply because it's a smarter material in some sports. But mostly metal. Sprung/spline'd joints inside "ball" or "rose" joints for things like the hips. Probably with teflon sliders and tension adjustments, etc. Make most of the other simpler joints so they can be adjusted for tension too (teflon inerfaces0. Rough guess on a limited quantity $3000. Maybe something I can tackle in 5-6yrs once I get through the current business cycle. It would also be easier if a few production technologies that are coming on line pan out by then too. And I would have to find someone to paint them. Maybe get LEK in on it so they can be $4000!

If it would cost that much there is not much reason not to go even bigger. Materials cost is a really small portion of the overall cost. Maybe a Battroid that 24" tall and about 15lb.

Frankly, I could "steal" the current best sculpts and then just engineer the rest of the figure. I have the ability to scan parts right into CAD now.

I'm hoping to have the option of retiring in 7yrs (I won't though). Once I have that option I want to start doing crazy projects like this, farming myself out to race teams for development projects, working as a "mercenary" product development service, etc. Development is what I really want to do. The actual selling product thing isn't fun.

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We’re looking at the makings of the next evolution of 3P companies!

Thats awesome that your SSP set seems solid in fighter mode. The complaints about it were getting annoying, especially when it’s about something I don’t have but am waiting to get. Good thing for me is I prefer mostly Battroid and Gerwalk mode for DYRL SSP equipped Valks. 

[sqidd]

  On 1/15/2020 at 9:16 PM, jenius said:

Hey Sqidd, when you look at the pegs that go down from the back into the leg armors, is there much of a gap there or is the peg almost (or completely) within the armor? Since it is a slip fit, I may just need to muscle the thing up higher than I felt comfortable doing initially. Right now I have a bit of a gap there.

EDIT - I looked closer at the picture in the instructions and my gap did look a little bigger than the one they showed. I wiggle/jiggled and pushed and got my leg a little higher and now the toy can be handled without the leg dropping off. It took a lot of effort to get it there so I have some long-term concerns about how tight that connection will stay but at least the thing is playable now.

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You got your edit in while I was popping pics. Figured I would post them anyway. Maybe they will give the next person an idea of what home plate looks like.

You may be right on the duty cycle of that interface. I guess time will tell.

[sqidd]

  On 1/15/2020 at 9:38 PM, Slave IV said:

We’re looking at the makings of the next evolution of 3P companies!

Thats awesome that your SSP set seems solid in fighter mode. The complaints about it were getting annoying, especially when it’s about something I don’t have but am waiting to get. Good thing for me is I prefer mostly Battroid and Gerwalk mode for DYRL SSP equipped Valks. 

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A 3P company selling $6,000 valks!

It looks like @jenius figured it out in the meantime. Seems as if it takes a little more than "comfortable" pressure to get them locked in. It's probably a safe bet that people are justifiably gun shy about going bonkers. I'm kind of stupid, so I just went for it blindly. 

[Slave IV]

  On 1/15/2020 at 10:32 PM, sqidd said:

A 3P company selling $6,000 valks!

It looks like @jenius figured it out in the meantime. Seems as if it takes a little more than "comfortable" pressure to get them locked in. It's probably a safe bet that people are justifiably gun shy about going bonkers. I'm kind of stupid, so I just went for it blindly. 

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Well, you can afford to take risks with 6 extra ones lying around right?

[sqidd]

  On 1/15/2020 at 10:52 PM, Slave IV said:

Well, you can afford to take risks with 6 extra ones lying around right?

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5 extras. Do you think I'm some sort of madman?

[jenius]

  On 1/15/2020 at 10:29 PM, sqidd said:

You got your edit in while I was popping pics. Figured I would post them anyway. Maybe they will give the next person an idea of what home plate looks like.

You may be right on the duty cycle of that interface. I guess time will tell.

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That was exactly the picture I was looking for. You really did get them jammed in pretty high! In an ideal world they'd sit flush, like they do on the Yamato 1/60 V2, but that agrees to the instructions and once I have mine pretty close to that level the legs stopped drooping off. The arms also aren't quite flush but oh well.

[rocketblast]

  On 1/15/2020 at 6:10 PM, Sanity is Optional said:

Purchase through a proxy like Buyee or FromJapan. They will place the bid, receive the item via domestic shipping, and handle the international shipping.

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Thanks that appears to (it is suppose to anyway) work but it keeps declining my payment methods paypal and credit card with an error message about insufficient funds.  I even got a fraud notification from my bank after trying to use my bank card.  lol.  I cleared that up and it still won't let me pay for the item.

[Alphahorizon]

  On 1/16/2020 at 5:09 AM, rocketblast said:

Thanks that appears to (it is suppose to anyway) work but it keeps declining my payment methods paypal and credit card with an error message about insufficient funds.  I even got a fraud notification from my bank after trying to use my bank card.  lol.  I cleared that up and it still won't let me pay for the item.

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If I remember, you have to have money already stashed in your Pay Pal account. They then get access to that and pull from there. If there is a zero balance that may be the issue.

 

[Slave IV]

  On 1/16/2020 at 12:16 PM, Alphahorizon said:

If I remember, you have to have money already stashed in your Pay Pal account. They then get access to that and pull from there. If there is a zero balance that may be the issue.

 

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I hope for their own sakes that no one is still using this method to pay for items from any foreign marketplace. Not only do you have to pay PayPal’s foreign transaction markup, it makes it more difficult to contest a payment if anything goes wrong past the time limit PayPal gives you. 
 

You should be setting up a no foreign transaction fee card to use through PayPal and then you get a double layer of protection and no extra markup.

[sqidd]

  On 1/16/2020 at 2:47 PM, Slave IV said:

I hope for their own sakes that no one is still using this method to pay for items from any foreign marketplace. Not only do you have to pay PayPal’s foreign transaction markup, it makes it more difficult to contest a payment if anything goes wrong past the time limit PayPal gives you. 
 

You should be setting up a no foreign transaction fee card to use through PayPal and then you get a double layer of protection and no extra markup.

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So much this^^^^^

The Case Sapphire Card

[Sanity is Optional]

  On 1/16/2020 at 3:10 PM, sqidd said:

So much this^^^^^

The Case Sapphire Card

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Capital One Signature also works.

Pick one based on the rewards. In my case looked for a while to find one where I could get cash back directly rather than travel rewards (since I don't travel).

[Digitalfiend]

Well, it looks like my bid for a Strike Pack is going to fall through.  I won a bid for one back in October and the seller advertised they were in the first wave (confirmed registration for December release).  Seller hasn't shipped anything and there is another buyer that hasn't received his order yet either (and subsequently left a negative review).  I've contacted FromJapan and they've attempted to contact the seller with no luck so far.  I told them that if they don't hear back from the seller by tomorrow (it's been a week), I'd like a refund, minus whatever reasonable processing fee (for actually providing the service of bidding on the auction) is necessary.  Worst case, I go through PayPal/CC and lose my account at FromJapan (not a big deal), but I think FromJapan will take care of things.  I'm not losing money to a scammer though ($155 CAD) and I assume FromJapan can easily get their credit card company to reverse the payment to the seller on their end.

So, if you use FromJapan/Yahoo Auctions, don't by anything from the seller: uniuni0099egg

[sqidd]

  On 1/16/2020 at 8:07 PM, Digitalfiend said:

Well, it looks like my bid for a Strike Pack is going to fall through.  I won a bid for one back in October and the seller advertised they were in the first wave (confirmed registration for December release).  Seller hasn't shipped anything and there is another buyer that hasn't received his order yet either (and subsequently left a negative review).  I've contacted FromJapan and they've attempted to contact the seller with no luck so far.  I told them that if they don't hear back from the seller by tomorrow (it's been a week), I'd like a refund, minus whatever reasonable processing fee (for actually providing the service of bidding on the auction) is necessary.  Worst case, I go through PayPal/CC and lose my account at FromJapan (not a big deal), but I think FromJapan will take care of things.  I'm not losing money to a scammer though ($155 CAD) and I assume FromJapan can easily get their credit card company to reverse the payment to the seller on their end.

So, if you use FromJapan/Yahoo Auctions, don't by anything from the seller: uniuni0099egg

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If you had a Tenso address could you have cut From Japan out of the loop?

[jenius]

To order directly you need a Japanese issued credit card from what I understand.

[crackpot]

  On 1/16/2020 at 8:15 PM, sqidd said:

If you had a Tenso address could you have cut From Japan out of the loop?

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It's essentially the same. They're both forwarding services. From Japan ends up cheaper.

[sqidd]

  On 1/16/2020 at 8:18 PM, jenius said:

To order directly you need a Japanese issued credit card from what I understand.

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Ahhhhhhh

[Chronocidal]

Bleh.. I caved to impatience, and just grabbed a pair of packs from a reputable ebay seller.  Really not much of a markup, all things considered, and they're already shipping, so I'll have something to play with while I wait until sometime in 2021 for NY to get my other four sets to me.  I made the mistake of not diversifying my purchases from the get go, but I wanted more than four anyway, so no real loss.

[Guyffon]

I bought 2 extra strike packs (1 in haste and 1 in accident) when I was told by AE that my order was in april, but they shipped it in dec, so I now have 2 extra strike packs (still sealed in their brown shipper box) that I want to let go at cost price (slight markup due to buying from fromjapan) if anyone is interested PM me. Thank you.

Edited January 17, 2020 by Guyffon

[no3Ljm]

I received today Hikaru's VF-1S sold by AmiAmi thru Amazon US. The one posted by drobo last January 10. 

 

[F360]

  On 1/17/2020 at 8:42 AM, no3Ljm said:

I received today Hikaru's VF-1S sold by AmiAmi thru Amazon US. The one posted by drobo last January 10. 

 

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Congrats, 

[lechuck]

Just curious, is anyone still waiting for their VF-1S from NY to be shipped like me?

[Guyffon]

Thought NY fulfilled every vf-1S order already, but since ypurs have not yet been fulfilled, I suggest you drop them a mail about it

[sqidd]

  On 1/17/2020 at 9:59 AM, lechuck said:

Just curious, is anyone still waiting for their VF-1S from NY to be shipped like me?

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@Slave IV I guess NY hasn't shipped everyone's order. Just sayin!

[Slave IV]

  On 1/17/2020 at 8:42 AM, no3Ljm said:

I received today Hikaru's VF-1S sold by AmiAmi thru Amazon US. The one posted by drobo last January 10. 

 

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Nice score! Congrats!

  On 1/17/2020 at 9:59 AM, lechuck said:

Just curious, is anyone still waiting for their VF-1S from NY to be shipped like me?

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When did you order it?

  On 1/17/2020 at 12:59 PM, sqidd said:

@Slave IV I guess NY hasn't shipped everyone's order. Just sayin!

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That is interesting especially if it was an original preorder. 

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, I would definitely contact them to check on it at this point, but I suspect it's because they're still looking for copies to cover all of their orders.  

It might depend on how soon after the initial pre-order date you placed your order, but it's worth checking to make sure they still plan on shipping it.  If so, all you can really do is wait.  

Edited January 17, 2020 by Chronocidal

[no3Ljm]

  On 1/17/2020 at 9:05 AM, F360 said:

Congrats, 

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  On 1/17/2020 at 3:13 PM, Slave IV said:

Nice score! Congrats!

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Thank you sirs!  I know I promised myself no more doubles but I couldn't pass up that good price. 

 

Now, what are the chances that Hikaru's 1A might come with Super Parts bundle since his 1A modex number is not in the recent SSP release? So I don't to order another SSP pack. 

 

Edited January 17, 2020 by no3Ljm

[borgified]

  On 1/17/2020 at 6:28 PM, no3Ljm said:

Now, what are the chances that Hikaru's 1A might come with Super Parts bundle since his 1A modex number is not in the recent SSP release? So I don't to order another SSP pack. 

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If so, I'm all for that! 

Knowing willingly that Bandai loves to nickel and dime us regardless..  

[Chronocidal]

  On 1/17/2020 at 6:28 PM, no3Ljm said:

Now, what are the chances that Hikaru's 1A might come with Super Parts bundle since his 1A modex number is not in the recent SSP release? So I don't to order another SSP pack. 

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I would put this at slim to none.  I think the best we're going to get is them including a spare skull logo piece with his 1A, since that will fit into the existing packaging.  

[HardlyNever]

Well I finally have a TV-style fist  that is close enough to what I want.  I've got a slightly better hand mold curing right now, but this is more or less where I'm at with it.  My goal wasn't really to create something that looked like it shipped in the package with the rest of the valk; just something that looked passable from 2-3 feet away (generally how far away when I look at my display).  I might revisit the sculpt at a later date, but I think I want to move on to other things for the time being:

The last thing to do is to paint this in some way to match the off-white of the rest of the valk/hands.  Anyone have any suggestions for painting on resin?  Haven't really done that before, so any paint recommendations would be great (even better if you know a color that will match).

[sqidd]

  On 1/18/2020 at 12:25 AM, HardlyNever said:

Well I finally have a TV-style fist  that is close enough to what I want.  I've got a slightly better hand mold curing right now, but this is more or less where I'm at with it.  My goal wasn't really to create something that looked like it shipped in the package with the rest of the valk; just something that looked passable from 2-3 feet away (generally how far away when I look at my display).  I might revisit the sculpt at a later date, but I think I want to move on to other things for the time being:

The last thing to do is to paint this in some way to match the off-white of the rest of the valk/hands.  Anyone have any suggestions for painting on resin?  Haven't really done that before, so any paint recommendations would be great (even better if you know a color that will match).

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Looks pretty good to me.

[DYRL VF-1S]

Yeah great job!

[derex3592]

  On 1/18/2020 at 12:25 AM, HardlyNever said:

Well I finally have a TV-style fist  that is close enough to what I want.  I've got a slightly better hand mold curing right now, but this is more or less where I'm at with it.  My goal wasn't really to create something that looked like it shipped in the package with the rest of the valk; just something that looked passable from 2-3 feet away (generally how far away when I look at my display).  I might revisit the sculpt at a later date, but I think I want to move on to other things for the time being:

The last thing to do is to paint this in some way to match the off-white of the rest of the valk/hands.  Anyone have any suggestions for painting on resin?  Haven't really done that before, so any paint recommendations would be great (even better if you know a color that will match).

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@HardlyNeverSand it completely smooth, with a fine grit sandpaper. 600 should do.  Give the hands little wash with Dawn dishwashing soap , don't touch them with your fingers after this!!!!  Stick them on a stick of some kind.  Oils from your skin are the devil when painting!  Then get some White Tamiya Surface Primer, prime it white with a few light coats. Then pick a Tamiya TS lacquer spray paint color that you like. (Tamiya Racing White is a very good off white color, I use it quite often).  Apply in light coats and let dry. Should do the trick just fine. You can then seal it if you wish with Tamiya Flat Clear  

Edited January 18, 2020 by derex3592