DX YF-29 Durandal (Maximillian Jenius Unit) WWM Release

[twich]

So, is this version of the YF-29 the same as the YF-29 Durandal Full Set Pack alto use? Does it have more Tampo on it? I know it has the Jenius family crest itashi on the back, but any other improvements?  I dig the color and the YF-29 is one of my favorite Macross designs!

Twich

[no3Ljm]

29 minutes ago, twich said:

So, is this version of the YF-29 the same as the YF-29 Durandal Full Set Pack alto use? Does it have more Tampo on it? I know it has the Jenius family crest itashi on the back, but any other improvements?  I dig the color and the YF-29 is one of my favorite Macross designs!

Twich

I think it’s the same base body as the previous Alto Full Set.

[Bolt]

And it's Max! A must  have if you love the 29 !  Although, I didn't get one yet..

[Angesdad]

34 minutes ago, twich said:

So, is this version of the YF-29 the same as the YF-29 Durandal Full Set Pack alto use? Does it have more Tampo on it? I know it has the Jenius family crest itashi on the back, but any other improvements?  I dig the color and the YF-29 is one of my favorite Macross designs!

Twich

Speaking of improvements, I wish they had done something about the exposed screws on the arms.

[Mommar]

1 hour ago, Angesdad said:

Speaking of improvements, I wish they had done something about the exposed screws on the arms.

I don't recall seeing that.

[no3Ljm]

14 minutes ago, Mommar said:

I don't recall seeing that.

Yes. There were exposed screws on the inner side of the arms on both Alto's Full Set and Max's. Alto's not as obvious as Max's on the upper arm since the color is grey. Where as Max's upper arm is white so the screw holes are obvious.

[Chronocidal]

Honestly, I'm at the point where I would much rather have exposed screws than screw covers I have to destroy to tighten the joints when they go floppy.

[no3Ljm]

Just now, Chronocidal said:

Honestly, I'm at the point where I would much rather have exposed screws than screw covers I have to destroy to tighten the joints when they go floppy.

Same here. As long that it's strategically place well.  

 

 

Looking at you, Beagle Mospeada Necks. 

[twich]

Thanks for the replies guys! With Christmas coming up and this being available for sale from BBTS, the wife might surprise seem Christmas morning!

Twich

[Lolicon]

9 hours ago, twich said:

So, is this version of the YF-29 the same as the YF-29 Durandal Full Set Pack alto use? Does it have more Tampo on it? I know it has the Jenius family crest itashi on the back, but any other improvements?  I dig the color and the YF-29 is one of my favorite Macross designs!

Twich

Yes it has more markings printed on than previous iterations of the 29. It's on par with the rest of the Delta line marking-wise. 

[twich]

1 hour ago, Lolicon said:

Yes it has more markings printed on than previous iterations of the 29. It's on par with the rest of the Delta line marking-wise. 

Okay, cool! Thank you for telling me. I hope I will find this under the Christmas tree.

Twich

[PointBlankSniper]

Hi all. Lurker here. Just got my Durandal in and been trying to go through the initial break in transformations.

On to the point. The telescoping barrel  on the right side of the back swivel turret gets stuck part way inside the also telescoping radiator shroud. Anywhere past halfway and it starts to get very sticky already. Stopping from that point on is enough to get it jammed very tight and possibly require dangerous amounts of pushing to get it to retract.

I've already scuffed up my fingers trying wear it in by pumping it in and out like an idiot, but probably isn't happening with how durable the plastic is. If it's not my hand that breaks, sooner or later the barrel or the turret's dinky support arm will. At it's farthest, I've pulled it out close to the point where the engraved details at the base of the barrel are still just barely hidden. But retracting it back from that spot took nearly an hour of pure violence...

Anyway, does anyone have tricks to loosen it up, or know how to disassemble the turret so the internals could be cleaned up?

[twich]

EDIT:*The first pic shows the issue*I just got this for Christmas today, I took it out of the box and did all the fiddling with it to get the seams tight, but on the left side of the aircraft, where the wings meet up with the rest of the body, it almost seems as if the edge of the wingroot is not cut correctly, and it is dragging on the little metal piece that the arms is attached to, right near the hip-gun cover.  I almost wonder if I have to shave the wing edge down at the wing root to get it to sit flush.

I transformed the toys and repositioned everything, but the wings do not want to pivot, and despite transforming it twice, it still does not sit flush.  Kind of frustrating on a brand new Macross Jet.

Any suggestions?  Is this happening with other peoples Max jet?

Twich

PS.  I am working NOC shift right now, I will try to post a pic of it tomorrow morning when I get home from work.

Edited December 26, 2022 by twich

[aurance]

On 12/24/2022 at 10:47 AM, PointBlankSniper said:

Hi all. Lurker here. Just got my Durandal in and been trying to go through the initial break in transformations.

On to the point. The telescoping barrel  on the right side of the back swivel turret gets stuck part way inside the also telescoping radiator shroud. Anywhere past halfway and it starts to get very sticky already. Stopping from that point on is enough to get it jammed very tight and possibly require dangerous amounts of pushing to get it to retract.

I've already scuffed up my fingers trying wear it in by pumping it in and out like an idiot, but probably isn't happening with how durable the plastic is. If it's not my hand that breaks, sooner or later the barrel or the turret's dinky support arm will. At it's farthest, I've pulled it out close to the point where the engraved details at the base of the barrel are still just barely hidden. But retracting it back from that spot took nearly an hour of pure violence...

Anyway, does anyone have tricks to loosen it up, or know how to disassemble the turret so the internals could be cleaned up?

You can pull the barrel completely out, and put it back in. I’ve done it a few times to adjust the tension the way I want it.

DISCLAIMER: I can’t guarantee yours or anyone else’s won’t break… but mine is fine 

[PointBlankSniper]

3 hours ago, aurance said:

You can pull the barrel completely out, and put it back in. I’ve done it a few times to adjust the tension the way I want it.

DISCLAIMER: I can’t guarantee yours or anyone else’s won’t break… but mine is fine 

I'd be first in line to try it, but I can't exend my barrel out in the first place lol. Unless you mean the radiator also pops out and I can slip the barrel itself out the back.

6 hours ago, twich said:

on the left side of the aircraft, where the wings meet up with the rest of the body, it almost seems as if the edge of the wingroot is not cut correctly, and it is dragging on the little metal piece that the arms is attached to, right near the hip-gun cover.

If you mean the inner shoulder/ collar joint, mine came severely misaligned too. Mine did also come with the intake underneath that part refusing to plug in to the upper body, and I just blamed all the misalignment on that. I've since gotten the intake to seemingly clip in and stay flush after rotating it into a steeper cant during transformation. Haven't put it back into fighter though, so I don't know if transforming fixed it.

The wings did also take some careful violence to get flapping.

Edited December 26, 2022 by PointBlankSniper

[derex3592]

Well I FINALLY had time to take mine out of the box and play around with it yesterday. No issues with my copy, but I had to do a re-watch of Anymoons transformation video! It had been a long time since I've done a 29! Anyways I love this paint scheme, anything Max just rocks! 

[David Hingtgen]

Stuck barrels have been an issue since the early days of the mold---my Ozma had a rather stuck one, and I totally "pumped it in and out a zillion times to loosen it up" and it still sticks a lot--it just doesn't get COMPLETELY stuck like it used to.  I never really did figure out a definitive "fix". Can't recall if I tried to sand some of the paint off the barrels where they ride on the rails. (I don't think so, I think it was basically impossible to get access to)  And getting it unstuck the first time or two was indeed a nightmare.  May legitimately want to use a hairdryer or heat gun (carefully!) to warm up the plastic a bit before trying to unstick it.   

My other piece of advice---if it gets stuck "mid-way" when going either direction---go back to where it was before it got stuck and try again.  Do not try to "keep pulling" or "keep collapsing" it to try to force it the rest of the way---that will make it VERY stuck!   You want one continuous extension manuever, or one continuous collapse manuever.   Fully out or fully in, no in-between, and no stops on the way.   It it does stop---move it back to whichever position it was in before, and try again.   Don't "keep trying to go in the direction that caused it to get stuck".   

Combine that with the above---if it's REALLY stuck--heat it up, and GO BACK TO HOW IT WAS BEFORE--don't heat it up and try to "get it past the stuck point".   Heat it up in order to be able to 'reset the position'.   

[Mommar]

[Mommar]

[PointBlankSniper]

On 12/31/2022 at 1:07 PM, David Hingtgen said:

Stuck barrels have been an issue since the early days of the mold---my Ozma had a rather stuck one, and I totally "pumped it in and out a zillion times to loosen it up" and it still sticks a lot--it just doesn't get COMPLETELY stuck like it used to.  I never really did figure out a definitive "fix". Can't recall if I tried to sand some of the paint off the barrels where they ride on the rails. (I don't think so, I think it was basically impossible to get access to)  And getting it unstuck the first time or two was indeed a nightmare.  May legitimately want to use a hairdryer or heat gun (carefully!) to warm up the plastic a bit before trying to unstick it.   

My other piece of advice---if it gets stuck "mid-way" when going either direction---go back to where it was before it got stuck and try again.  Do not try to "keep pulling" or "keep collapsing" it to try to force it the rest of the way---that will make it VERY stuck!   You want one continuous extension manuever, or one continuous collapse manuever.   Fully out or fully in, no in-between, and no stops on the way.   It it does stop---move it back to whichever position it was in before, and try again.   Don't "keep trying to go in the direction that caused it to get stuck".   

Combine that with the above---if it's REALLY stuck--heat it up, and GO BACK TO HOW IT WAS BEFORE--don't heat it up and try to "get it past the stuck point".   Heat it up in order to be able to 'reset the position'.   

 

I had tried chilling it and then warming it with no results before my first post, maybe because it wasn't extreme enough. At some point, I got the barrel out all the way after I decided to go ham and wrap my shirt over it for grip. Not the best idea since being unable to see or feel the piece warping under such violent motion is probably risky. Seems even half a second of direct skin contact is enough moisture that I lose the grip needed to extend and retract it.

Even though there's not really a fix, it's kind of a relief to know others have the issue and it seems it could be coexisted with as long as caution is taken lol

 

With that out of the way, my unit only has couple tiny issues that don't bug me too much.

One of my super pack missile doors don't seem to open all the way, but it's not too bad. Don't know if there's injection flash on the joint, or the piece is just warped. I've already accidentally popped out the missle array and the doors on another side, so I know how it assembles and might be able to fix it when I'm not lazy.

The other issue is that the fuselage doesn't seem to lock in to anything in battroid mode. I've got the cockpit pointed at the underside of the collar plate, but the two just wiggle from each other and I'm not sure if that is supposed to be normal. The whole upper torso feels vaguely held in its form simply by the fact that the nose cone is trapped behind the chest emblem piece. Maybe I'll have to come around and watch a video to make sure I've got it right

And also, the hand peg or the slit on the gun's grip is already coming loose... I have yet to find out if those two just never interfaced well, or mounting and removing the gun from various positions and holding the knife once each has already chewed up the parts.

[twich]

Did anyone else fill out the survey questionnaire that you could scan and go to on the last page of the instruction book? It is funny that the only Macross item listed that I could find was the VF-25F World Wide Release version, and not the YF-29 Durandal full set pack Max use that the link comes from.

Twich

[twich]

so, I was looking through my pictures on my computer, and I found on the official photos released for this toy, the same problem that I am having with the folding wing roots fitting flush with the hip guns, as I had previously posted is a problem on my release of the toy.  I have the YF-29 Durandal Alto full pack set release and it does not have the same problem.

[jenius]

Have you transformed it to GERWALK and back? It looks like a misalignment of the legs.

[twich]

8 minutes ago, jenius said:

Have you transformed it to GERWALK and back? It looks like a misalignment of the legs.

Yes, I have transformed it several times to try to work out any kinks, plus had it on display in battroid mode for a week.  The wing joint does not like to articulate at all.  It is probably the most stiff wing joint of any VF-25/VF-27/YF-29 toy that I own, and I have followed the instructions and watched your video on transformation to make sure that I was getting it right.  Can't wait to see videos from you on the VF-25F WWM, YF-29 Max, VF-31AX Hayate, Mirage and Bogue customs.  Hi-Metal R VF-0S.....have I missed any releases?  Hope to see a new video soon!

Twich

[ValkAddict]

7 hours ago, twich said:

 Hope to see a new video soon!

^ This. Love your reviews @jenius !!! And your transformation videos have helped me many times. Thank you.

[jenius]

9 hours ago, twich said:

Yes, I have transformed it several times to try to work out any kinks, plus had it on display in battroid mode for a week.  The wing joint does not like to articulate at all.  It is probably the most stiff wing joint of any VF-25/VF-27/YF-29 toy that I own, and I have followed the instructions and watched your video on transformation to make sure that I was getting it right.  Can't wait to see videos from you on the VF-25F WWM, YF-29 Max, VF-31AX Hayate, Mirage and Bogue customs.  Hi-Metal R VF-0S.....have I missed any releases?  Hope to see a new video soon!

Twich

This is where it will be starting

I had some time to do some photo shoots but it'll take a bit to get everything properly situated to start doing videos again. I appreciate the encouragement to get back on it! 

[Zeliard]

Hi. 

I posted over the maintenance section as well. Just got my unit today, notice the front landing gear panel doors, one side does not close, leaving a gap. Anyone has similar problem? Any fix?

[Angesdad]

19 minutes ago, Zeliard said:

Hi. 

I posted over the maintenance section as well. Just got my unit today, notice the front landing gear panel doors, one side does not close, leaving a gap. Anyone has similar problem? Any fix?

It's a drawer hinge type you just have to line it up and push it down. Do check if your front landing gear is sitting flush inside the landing bay too because it seems to affect how the covers close in my case. Speaking of cases, oh boy I have my 29's in pieces at the moment with various QC shortcomings.😔

[ValkAddict]

47 minutes ago, Angesdad said:

Speaking of cases, oh boy I have my 29's in pieces at the moment with various QC shortcomings.😔

Sorry to hear this. Bandai'd with poor QC!!!

The very poor QC on the VF-31AX makes me a sad panda.

[MKT]

@Zeliard These hinges have always been somewhat fiddly on the 25/29.

Pushing either side of the doors first to close will always make that side a bit out of alignment.

As @Angesdad mentioned, you need to align both doors first before or on the way to pushing them down. The tension of the doors will somehow hold each other flush once they are fully closed.

If that doesn’t work. I guess it’s some bad flashing somewhere inside the hinge, & I have no experience disassembling them.

[Zeliard]

Here is the video. U can see the left flap falls into place easily. But the right kinda slips off 

 

 

[jenius]

Might be a broken or bent peg on the attachment... Does the door feel like it's going to fall off?

[PointBlankSniper]

On 2/15/2023 at 4:24 PM, Zeliard said:

Here is the video. U can see the left flap falls into place easily. But the right kinda slips off 

 

Mine is kind of like that, but not as severe, so I didn't complain about it before. I just kind of gently torque the panel with the hinge stem's flex in mind, while pressing it down the last bit of the way, until it kind of just gets blocked and binds against the opposite other door panel. Then it stays closed in a very slightly slanted and bulging by less than a hair kind of way, but its close enough if you don't let ocd take over kind of way.

My superpack missile door panels that I mentioned before though, is almost as bad as what you have here, and I haven't managed to fix it.

[Chronocidal]

Just got my order of this one from BBTS, since I let it linger.. and I sort of got a dud, I guess?  Not terrible though.

What I noticed immediately taking it out of the box though was that the left tail was completely limp.  The right snapped between two positions with a solid feeling, but the left was entirely loose, and just flopped up and down.

SO... I looked at it closely, and what became clear was that the hole for the shaft mounting the left tail had been mis-drilled.  It was canted at an angle that kept the tail from engaging the stops to keep it in place.  I had to snap out segments of very tiny plastic covers that held the shaft in, but they're absolutely invisible on the underside of the plane, and I don't know if I will even bother gluing them back in.

While I considered filling it with putty or cement and re-drilling.. I decided to just widen the hole to the correct alignment, and jam a small shim of paper to re-align the shaft.

Snapped the tail back into place, and the shim realigned it enough to get the tail to click up and down solidly.  I don't think I'll touch it anymore.

The front gear door is a little offline, and I think the tab snapping the nosecone in place is misshapen a little, but it holds well enough.  Otherwise, it looks good so far.

Edit:  I take it back.. they had some issues with this one.. somehow.  I don't know quite how they managed it, but I'm thinking they needed to train their hired help a bit harder.

Yeah, the nosecone mount is just completely offline.  In fact, I actually wonder if it would even transform.  The nose is so far out of line, I don't think it would fit between the sections of fuselage to go into battroid mode.

Yeah, nuts to that.. I don't really care for the YF-29 battroid anyhow.  It's just really weird seeing stupid production flubs this bad.

Edited March 1, 2023 by Chronocidal

[Bolt]

well i'm glad you were able to fix it. there seem to be a few qc issues with this release. yours sounds odd, but then again, it's always odd or unexpected (or should i say disappointing..)when there's a qc issue.