Bandai 1/72 vf-1a Mass Production

[Gatsu]

Bandai 1/72 vf-1a Mass Production. This model kit is a total disaster, pieces don t fit well togheter, design errors are countless, you touch it and a piece fall off. But i think it looks good. I won't never give my trust to Bandai in the future, they do not deserve the trust to do a preorder after they released such a crap. They could have done a gorgeous job but i suppose they had to hurry up to release it for the 35 anniversary and didn t continue perfectioning it enough before launching it in the market. Hope you like it. Done following the Wm Cheng tutorials and personal advices.

Edited January 25, 2018 by Gatsu

[Sanity is Optional]

Is this the 2013 bandai VF-1?

If so, I can tell you as someone who has built it alongside the Bandai VF-25, VF-27, VF-31, and SV-262 that the VF-1 by far the worst of them all. The rest are much better, and the -31 and -262 are downright pleasant to transform and lock together nicely. The VF-25 doesn't have as many tabs locking it into form as the later ones, and the -27 is essentially an updated -25 with some improvements.

[Gatsu]

yes, it is. I know Frontier and Delta are better kits... this makes me more angry toward Bandai dudes because for me it s the proof they had the means to do a better job but they didn't, maybe the project ended out to be longer than what they thought and they forced it to be released prematurely because they had the 35th anniversary deadline... i have 2 Frontier kits to bouild but i m kind of intimidated by them: The super vf-25g and armored vf-25s... also i d like to build them so that i can change the armor parts with the normal parts and build them in both ways.... what do you think?

Edited January 5, 2018 by Gatsu

[Gatsu]

i have also a vf-27 to do... it looks gorgeous and scary.. one of the biggest issue i see with Frontier kits is the fighter patterns wich are made by decals that can be ripped off with friction... as i see the sv-262 i imagine all those golden decals chipped by transformation

Edited January 5, 2018 by Gatsu

[Sanity is Optional]

12 minutes ago, Gatsu said:

yes i know Frontier and Delta are better kits... this makes me more angry toward Bandai dudes because for me it s the proof they had the means to do a better job but they didn't, maybe the project ended out to be longer than what they thought and they forced it to be released prematurely because they had the 35th anniversary deadline... i have 2 Frontier kits to bouild but i m kind of intimidated by them: The super vf-25g and armored vf-25s... also i d like to build them so that i can change the armor parts with the normal parts and build them in both ways.... what do you think?

I've got an armored VF-25 Also myself in my backlog, going to try and use a bunch of tiny neodynium magnets I have to mod the armor to be removable. By default you can remove it, but you've got a bunch of tabs and such underneath. The Armored/Super kits do include the normal parts without such, but there's no way to attach the armor to them by default.

I'll say my favorite of the 1/72 was the SV-262, since in some ways it's nicer than the DX Chogokin, at least as far as the transformation goes.

The 1/72 VF-1 is actually really accurate to the mechanisms and transformation from the TV series/movie, but unfortunately that makes for a terrible transformation in practice.

I have made the Brera VF-27, with full decals and topcoat, plus some detail work here and there. I can't get the damn thing to transform into gerwalk properly, the legs won't lock into the intakes, and putting pressure starts destroying the decals so I gave up.

It looks amazing, and gerwalk aside it's much better than the VF-25 in battroid and fighter, holds together much better.

I've got some WIPs and pics of the final product on the -27:

https://imgur.com/a/29TBG

https://imgur.com/a/smpKq

https://imgur.com/a/QdBuE

https://imgur.com/a/h0iWK

https://imgur.com/a/CWOd4

[edit]

Finished model: https://imgur.com/a/78X1t

 

[edit #2] Feel free to PM me if you want some tips, I ran into a couple problem areas: neck and a couple of the decals specifically.

Edited January 5, 2018 by Sanity is Optional

[Gatsu]

Thank you, nice wip. I ll try to paint the whole model.

[Sanity is Optional]

Just now, Gatsu said:

Thank you, nice wip. I ll try to paint the whole model.

Probably for the best. One of the main reasons I went with the -27 is it's relatively low number of pinstripes compared to say the -25s, which have gigantic decals all over. There was only two parts that needed significant decal coverage.

[VF-1A Grunt]

I’ve been meaning to ask, how does this Bandai kit relate to the original variable kit that was first issued in the ‘80s? I have quite a few of them, mostly the ‘97 reissues:

Bandai 1997 VF-1A

Is the newer version the same basic parts with new joints and “hardware,” or did Bandai completely redo this kit from scratch?

I always thought the heads were way too big on these kits, but the overall proportions looked pretty good despite the challenges of making them variable.

[Gatsu]

Two totally different kits

[Hikuro]

On 1/6/2018 at 9:57 AM, VF-1A Grunt said:

I’ve been meaning to ask, how does this Bandai kit relate to the original variable kit that was first issued in the ‘80s? I have quite a few of them, mostly the ‘97 reissues:

Bandai 1997 VF-1A

Is the newer version the same basic parts with new joints and “hardware,” or did Bandai completely redo this kit from scratch?

I always thought the heads were way too big on these kits, but the overall proportions looked pretty good despite the challenges of making them variable.

they're completely different in every aspect.

 

I don't think the VF-1 is a horrible kit....I've built two since it came out in 2013. I thought the first time I built it, yeah pile of crap, hated it with a passion. But then once day last year I got bored so I ordered another one and rebuilt it remembering the issues I had from the first one. Second time I built it, came out a lot better. I remembered to glue a few areas to keep the parts in place, trimmed some areas for better fitting, and since then I really haven't had any issues that turned me off from playing with it once in a bluemoon.

Infact, I'd actually like to do another one and do a custom job to it.