Mospeada

[jenius]

4 minutes ago, armentage said:

So... I guess those of us who ordered on BBTS continue to wait?  Should I be worried?  It's been months and the pre-order release date seems to keep slipping.  I'm kind of sad I cancelled my Nippon Yasai order

There's no reason to be concerned, it's been less than a month and most boats from Asia take longer than that. You probably have a few more weeks to go. BBTS had amazing customer service, which may come in handy with this release, but they get their items by boat so it takes a while. 

[Roy Focker]

Still waiting...

December 8, 2019, 6:00 am 
Processed Through Facility 
TOKYO INT V BAG 2, JAPAN 

[sqidd]

Got the last Ride Armor out of the box tonight. A MISB Toynami 1/10 Scott. Even though it was MISB time took its toll on the red "pajamas". They came apart every time I moved it. Oh well, I'll have to do @jenius fix on that at some point. I made some adapters to put the 1/10's on a single YetiStand. I didn't feel like messing with that tonight though. There will inevitably be some trickery involved in getting that to work. Now I'm ready for the Sentinel Legioss's!

 

[jorawar_b]

Still waiting for BBTS  

[jeniusornome]

You’ll probably be waiting until mid January. Slow boat plus holidays. 

[RED WOLF]

14 hours ago, sqidd said:

Got the last Ride Armor out of the box tonight. A MISB Toynami 1/10 Scott. Even though it was MISB time took its toll on the red "pajamas". They came apart every time I moved it. Oh well, I'll have to do @jenius fix on that at some point. I made some adapters to put the 1/10's on a single YetiStand. I didn't feel like messing with that tonight though. There will inevitably be some trickery involved in getting that to work. Now I'm ready for the Sentinel Legioss's!

 

Do you know if @Yeti  has an adapter to fit these 1/12 Sentinel riders to his stands? 

[sqidd]

3 hours ago, RED WOLF said:

Do you know if @Yeti  has an adapter to fit these 1/12 Sentinel riders to his stands? 

I don't think he does. I ordered some "generic" looking stand adapters for the 1/12's. I plan on figuring out a good way of interfacing with the YetiStands maybe using them as a jumping off point. Maybe just starting from scratch. It's actually a lot easier for me to make things out of aluminum than plastic. I'm a bit timid about "pinning" the 1/12's with an aluminum pin. I'm going to sneak up on it and see what I can come up with.

Once you start using YetStands you're screwed (well, at least I am). Regular "colored" stands hurt my eyes now! And it's really nice being able to double figures up on one stand. For example the M&M's below. That's a whole lot of Valk on one shelf. I'm still playing with this one a bit still. I'm going to turn the Battroid's out 45deg with some adapters @ChaoticYeti made me. And I need to do something with the Gerwalk setup. I'm not sure what yet though.

 

 

[blackconvoy_D01]

17 hours ago, jeniusornome said:

You’ll probably be waiting until mid January. Slow boat plus holidays. 

Plus I noticed a change in the listing from TFSOURCE. The Riobot MOSPEADA toys were previously categorized under "MOSPEADA".

Now they're under Robotech.

Maybe theyre unrelated; but considering boat time from the south east US to Kallingrad is 3 weeks, Japan to the US port should be nearly nothing and I've had my HLJ Yellow since the first week of December; but TFSOURCE and BBTS are still in preorder status? Just odd.

Edited December 26, 2019 by blackconvoy_D01

[jorawar_b]

Just sent money to a member here on MW (no3Ljm), thank you for the sale. Can't wait to get it.

[Convectuoso]

I received today a prototype of MEP TOYS' Invid Scout. For some reason this prototype didn't come with the head cannons.

Here's the link to the pictures I took 

 

[jenius]

33 minutes ago, Convectuoso said:

I received today a prototype of MEP TOYS' Invid Scout. For some reason this prototype didn't come with the head cannons.

Here's the link to the pictures I took 

 

Can the toes pivot outward?

[Convectuoso]

30 minutes ago, jenius said:

Can the toes pivot outward?

Not outward. There's a joint there, but only to move them upwards or downwards

[jenius]

Bummer, should have made them peg in parts so they could swivel also.

[no3Ljm]

On 12/26/2019 at 6:03 PM, jorawar_b said:

Just sent money to a member here on MW (no3Ljm), thank you for the sale. Can't wait to get it.

Thank you and you're welcome, sir! Everything's good to go.

 

[tekering]

1 hour ago, Convectuoso said:

There's a joint there, but only to move them upwards or downwards

Another failure for MEP, then.  Maybe next time. 

They have the resources, they just need a better design team.

 

[Convectuoso]

6 hours ago, jenius said:

Bummer, should have made them peg in parts so they could swivel also.

 

5 hours ago, tekering said:

Another failure for MEP, then.  Maybe next time. 

They have the resources, they just need a better design team.

 

To be fair, the prototype I got was damaged badly during shipping, and I had to superglue a lot of parts. The final version may be more articulated

[vladykins]

I believe the legs can pivot some (it wasn't part of the prototype). The toes don't seem to pivot independently though.

[derex3592]

I'm still in for a couple just to try them out. The eye sensor needs some detail though. Looks to plain. 

[Convectuoso]

The prototype has 3 articulation points on each leg

[Lonely Soldier Boy]

6 hours ago, vladykins said:

I believe the legs can pivot some (it wasn't part of the prototype). The toes don't seem to pivot independently though.

They seem simple enough to try some mods out and they scale well with the Sentinel Legioss, so I'm getting a couple too. Is there a MSRP on them yet? 

[Sildani]

Or a release date?

[Roy Focker]

After 25 days my Yellow has finally cleared customs.  Seriously this has been a ridiculously long wait.  I'm expecting the address label to have several typos or find signs that customs opened the box and broke things.

[anubis20]

Checked my Yellow today and out of the box one hinge is perfect and the other one has a stress mark running about half the length of the part that breaks. Also checked Stick which was transformed once and back, has been stored since August of last year and its perfect. 

[no3Ljm]

On 12/13/2019 at 10:53 AM, enphily said:

Didn't noticed these stress marks till you're said about it, but yes,i have them in my Stick and Ray too. I'm sad now

Just want to ask what type of plastic do you guys think they used for this part? ABS, PS, PE or PVC?

 

[Ignacio Ocamica]

3 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

Just want to ask what type of plastic do you guys think they used for this part? ABS, PS, PE or PVC?

 

Feels ABS to me, but I could be wrong.

[Mommar]

Clearly it's the wrong type of plastic (material IMO).

[beatsing]

Someone who works in machining told me that metal parts go with metal parts, and plastic parts with plastic parts.  Since the part is a moving part that is expected to carry the weight of the hydraulics, the metal part above it, and is a transforming part where stress is expected, Sentinel should have used metal.  

Still unhappy about the part on my Yellow, as well as HLJ's ignoring the problem. 

[sqidd]

1 minute ago, beatsing said:

Someone who works in machining told me that metal parts go with metal parts, and plastic parts with plastic parts.  Since the part is a moving part that is expected to carry the weight of the hydraulics, the metal part above it, and is a transforming part where stress is expected, Sentinel should have used metal.  

Still unhappy about the part on my Yellow, as well as HLJ's ignoring the problem. 

Engineers have a bad habit of telling people the most ideal way of designing something with no consideration for cost and production/assembly processes (which at the end of the day ends up being cost too). Almost everything can be engineered better, so it's real easy to point fingers and say "That's not right, I would have done it like this". If they were presented with the same question with the addition of "It has to be done for $XX.XX" most of the time you will get an answer like "I don't know" or "That's impossible".

I'm an engineer. But, my company actually has to produce things that hit a target price point. I'm the lead designer and the bean counter. That means a lot of things I would like to do get left on the table. If I could go at some of my products "no holds barred" their price would at a minimum quadruple. That doesn't mean I can't put out a quality product. It's arguable that my stuff is the best in it's market. It just means that if I could unload both barrels the product would be out of this world trick.

I'm not suggesting that "hinge" shouldn't be better. "Not breaking" is the lowest bar in engineering. At a minimum that should be met. If it can't, either don't produce it, or raise the price to cover the cost of getting it right.

What's my point (I'm rambling)? I guess it's that a lot of engineers tend to think in a vacuum. They also like to show off a bit too (I'm as guilty of this as any engineer). When listening to an engineer it's best to take the 30,000ft perspective.

[beatsing]

I take your point @sqidd.  But I think he meant that breaking part should have been metal, since Sentinel thought it was important for both adjacent parts to be metal, that little extra cost could save a class action suit or more likely a bad reputation.  

[sqidd]

4 minutes ago, beatsing said:

I take your point @sqidd.  But I think he meant that breaking part should have been metal, since Sentinel thought it was important for both adjacent parts to be metal, that little extra cost could save a class action suit or more likely a bad reputation.  

I was just trying to provide perspective. Not make excuses for them. I agree it should be better.

[beatsing]

Yup, thanks for sharing your perspective as an engineer.  And the guy I mentioned is probably not an engineer, but he's handy with small repairs and toys.  You're right about costs and design, it's a major part of it.  

We as fans don't expect the whole toy to be made out of metal, or any metal.  But it shouldn't be broken out of the box, or with careful handling.  Especially when these things aren't cheap. 

I was so impressed with the easy preorder on this item, not like the preorder madness of DX chogokin.  The previous releases weren't perfect with minor issues but were pretty good for most to want to collect the entire set.  This breaking part is now putting a downer on collecting these toys.  

[sqidd]

2 hours ago, beatsing said:

Yup, thanks for sharing your perspective as an engineer.  And the guy I mentioned is probably not an engineer, but he's handy with small repairs and toys.  You're right about costs and design, it's a major part of it.  

We as fans don't expect the whole toy to be made out of metal, or any metal.  But it shouldn't be broken out of the box, or with careful handling.  Especially when these things aren't cheap. 

I was so impressed with the easy preorder on this item, not like the preorder madness of DX chogokin.  The previous releases weren't perfect with minor issues but were pretty good for most to want to collect the entire set.  This breaking part is now putting a downer on collecting these toys.  

A hobbyist engineer is even worse about the "I would have done it like this" thing. Some of these guys are actually really good designers/engineers/fabricators. I'd argue a lot of them are better than "real" engineers. They can actually fix and make things. They do lack cost and production consideration perspective though. It's not a knock. Why would they have that perspective? They're usually making one of something in the most ideal way. Not trying to mass produce it at a targeted cost. A friend of mine that I work with on projects from time to time is a self taught engineer/fabricator/machinist and I would go as far as to say artist. He can pull of some genius/elegant solutions. But, his practical application skills aren't very strong. Most of the stuff he does he does one of. You have to design much differently when you are doing multiples or it has to be "serviced" frequently. A perfect example is about 10yrs ago we both had S197 Mustang (2005-2014) road course cars. His car was BEAUTIFUL. Hand made carbon fiber aerodynamic pieces, grills, coolers, etc, etc, etc, etc. It took about an hour and five hundred different tools to get the bumper cover/splitter off to access everything in there that you need to mess with from time to time. My car was set up so the entire front end of the car came off with 1/4 turn fasteners (no tools). It came off in one piece. One person could do it in about a minute. That's the execution difference between the "artist" designer and the "practical" designer. His stuff was pretty. My stuff was functional.

I agree 100% that these should not be breaking, let alone broken out of the box. That is a complete fail. I don't know what their margins look like. But I'd wager that they could have solved that problem for very little money per unit. They would buy themselves a lot of good will with that expenditure.

I agree, it's very disappointing to pay for a high end toy and it have such basic flaws. Most of the time I think to myself, "Charge me $10 more and get it RIGHT. I'll pay it". A $200 toy with problems is "junk". A $210 toy that is flawless is a masterpiece. 

[RavenHawk]

4 hours ago, sqidd said:

Engineers have a bad habit of telling people the most ideal way of designing something with no consideration for cost and production/assembly processes (which at the end of the day ends up being cost too). Almost everything can be engineered better, so it's real easy to point fingers and say "That's not right, I would have done it like this". If they were presented with the same question with the addition of "It has to be done for $XX.XX" most of the time you will get an answer like "I don't know" or "That's impossible".

I'm an engineer. But, my company actually has to produce things that hit a target price point. I'm the lead designer and the bean counter. That means a lot of things I would like to do get left on the table. If I could go at some of my products "no holds barred" their price would at a minimum quadruple. That doesn't mean I can't put out a quality product. It's arguable that my stuff is the best in it's market. It just means that if I could unload both barrels the product would be out of this world trick.

I'm not suggesting that "hinge" shouldn't be better. "Not breaking" is the lowest bar in engineering. At a minimum that should be met. If it can't, either don't produce it, or raise the price to cover the cost of getting it right.

What's my point (I'm rambling)? I guess it's that a lot of engineers tend to think in a vacuum. They also like to show off a bit too (I'm as guilty of this as any engineer). When listening to an engineer it's best to take the 30,000ft perspective.

During my engineering days, I sometimes did like materials with like, but sometimes dissimilar made more sense. if you knew that there was going to be wear, but one part was easier to replace when it wore out than the other, then you made that part out of the weaker material.

Not saying that's the case here, but that was the theory.

Of course, other times, it's just cost. You want to make parts plastic, but it financially makes sense to use off the shelf metal pins, so you use those with plastic surrounding them.

[beatsing]

14 hours ago, sqidd said:

A hobbyist engineer is even worse about the "I would have done it like this" thing. Some of these guys are actually really good designers/engineers/fabricators. I'd argue a lot of them are better than "real" engineers. They can actually fix and make things. They do lack cost and production consideration perspective though. It's not a knock. Why would they have that perspective? They're usually making one of something in the most ideal way. Not trying to mass produce it at a targeted cost. A friend of mine that I work with on projects from time to time is a self taught engineer/fabricator/machinist and I would go as far as to say artist. He can pull of some genius/elegant solutions. But, his practical application skills aren't very strong. Most of the stuff he does he does one of. You have to design much differently when you are doing multiples or it has to be "serviced" frequently. A perfect example is about 10yrs ago we both had S197 Mustang (2005-2014) road course cars. His car was BEAUTIFUL. Hand made carbon fiber aerodynamic pieces, grills, coolers, etc, etc, etc, etc. It took about an hour and five hundred different tools to get the bumper cover/splitter off to access everything in there that you need to mess with from time to time. My car was set up so the entire front end of the car came off with 1/4 turn fasteners (no tools). It came off in one piece. One person could do it in about a minute. That's the execution difference between the "artist" designer and the "practical" designer. His stuff was pretty. My stuff was functional.

I agree 100% that these should not be breaking, let alone broken out of the box. That is a complete fail. I don't know what their margins look like. But I'd wager that they could have solved that problem for very little money per unit. They would buy themselves a lot of good will with that expenditure.

I agree, it's very disappointing to pay for a high end toy and it have such basic flaws. Most of the time I think to myself, "Charge me $10 more and get it RIGHT. I'll pay it". A $200 toy with problems is "junk". A $210 toy that is flawless is a masterpiece. 

Agreed.  Mass production requires functional designs.  On the whole, Riobot's designs are pretty good, but this mass failure is not acceptable for this price point, and I've been a fan of their work for years.   You're right on the money, and the DX VF-1 line looks to be that (almost) flawless toy in that $200 category.  My yellow went from $200 centerpiece, to $200 brick/statue out of the box.  If anyone asks me about Riobot, it'd be hard to recommend them at this point.  If Sentinel offered replacement parts or replacements like Figma did with Berserk, that would buy a lot of good will.

13 hours ago, RavenHawk said:

During my engineering days, I sometimes did like materials with like, but sometimes dissimilar made more sense. if you knew that there was going to be wear, but one part was easier to replace when it wore out than the other, then you made that part out of the weaker material.

Not saying that's the case here, but that was the theory.

Of course, other times, it's just cost. You want to make parts plastic, but it financially makes sense to use off the shelf metal pins, so you use those with plastic surrounding them.

If that's the case, then Sentinel should have included replacement parts in the box, or made the joints like the rest of the bike, with those ball joints that pop off and on.

[adugifever]

On 1/7/2020 at 12:38 AM, beatsing said:

If that's the case, then Sentinel should have included replacement parts in the box, or made the joints like the rest of the bike, with those ball joints that pop off and on.

I personally don't think that piece will just come off for an easy replacement. Those are held by metal pins. Which I think have to be heated with a soldering iron at a low temp to gradually soften the surrounding plastic then pulled away gently. I'm not sure, however, if it will go back to it's original state after the repair has been made. On the other note, that part of the design transformation is a swivel point and does not require a ball joint for many reasons. The only true issue is the plastic that was used, it might be cheaper plastic. I honestly don't think that is an ABS part since it should have a higher break tolerance. Lego bricks are made of ABS. Think about how much play-wear they go through, being connected, pulled apart, bit, stepped on, etc.