Old Kits vs. New Kits?

[Spark-O-Matic]

I'm wanting to get into Macross model kits, after trying out a few easy snap & go modern kits was kinda fun.

what are the Pro's & Con's of buying and building between kits made over the last 40yrs?  I love the old ones box art but have the models inside become outdated? or is the new kits missing the quality of the old kits? I wanted to ask to try to start on the right foot avoiding costly mistakes. I looked back several years on this sub forum and seen no one else had asked a similar questions.

I want get into making models, getting my skills worked up, plus to display them at home( Hopefully the whole DYRL series models) while working my way up to custom designs. my first original idea is for a custom made VF-1Z Demon Birds (Zentradi Valkyrie) would be the arch rival of Angel Birds.  maybe in 6 months or a year from now I'll have the skills to make it happen with professional looking results.

Thank you

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Spark-O-Matic said:

I'm wanting to get into Macross model kits, after trying out a few easy snap & go modern kits was kinda fun.

what are the Pro's & Con's of buying and building between kits made over the last 40yrs?  I love the old ones box art but have the models inside become outdated? or is the new kits missing the quality of the old kits? I wanted to ask to try to start on the right foot avoiding costly mistakes. I looked back several years on this sub forum and seen no one else had asked a similar questions.

I want get into making models, getting my skills worked up, plus to display them at home( Hopefully the whole DYRL series models) while working my way up to custom designs. my first original idea is for a custom made VF-1Z Demon Birds (Zentradi Valkyrie) would be the arch rival of Angel Birds.  maybe in 6 months or a year from now I'll have the skills to make it happen with professional looking results.

Thank you

The box art and variety of the old kits are really the only major draw to them. I personally think the ones from Imai molds, wether that’s the og release or Bandai rereleases to be the better of the classics. But with those, there’s a lot more work to be done. Seam lines, mismatched parts and the necessity for paint. It can really be a long laborious project.

The new kits on the other hand will have more durability, articulation and less of a need for seam filling and have a much more precise fitting. I’ve snapped up two yf-19 kits from Bandai and those are pretty super easy with a lot of color separation, but still have seam issues. The upcoming vf-1j from max factory might be the best looking battroid only kit in plastic and looks like it will be pretty simple. Hopefully they put out more kits, because that one looks like a real winner. And the Hasegawa Regult series has been pretty great as far as looks, but will need a little seam work as well, but have some great innovations in the way they did the knee joints. I’ve built a few regult kits from several companies in the past, but the new ones from hasegawa have made it to where I’d never bother with the old imai or Arii kits ever again.

as far as transforming kits, I’ve never liked transforming models. I’ll take a partsforming kit or non transforming kit any day and leave the transforming to the toys

In short, I’d say the old kits make better collectors items since the packaging was so beautiful back in the day, while I’d buy a modern kit for the build unless it’s of a subject that the other companies haven’t done. Although I’m keeping up hope for more enemy mecha from hasegawa.

I kinda forgot to mention tomy tech, but those great little kits are very hard to come by these days, but prepainted parts and articulated joints along with those little decal sets made the worth the price. Those were tiny masterpieces 

[Bolt]

Ya, the new Bandai 1/100 parts formers look pretty easy and nice. I also think the PLAMAX 1/72 VF-1's look pretty good. They may be easier than the Hasegawa's. But i do think the most bang for your buck, if you're looking to improve your skills, are the Hasegawa's.

[pengbuzz]

14 hours ago, Spark-O-Matic said:

I'm wanting to get into Macross model kits, after trying out a few easy snap & go modern kits was kinda fun.

what are the Pro's & Con's of buying and building between kits made over the last 40yrs?  I love the old ones box art but have the models inside become outdated? or is the new kits missing the quality of the old kits? I wanted to ask to try to start on the right foot avoiding costly mistakes. I looked back several years on this sub forum and seen no one else had asked a similar questions.

I want get into making models, getting my skills worked up, plus to display them at home( Hopefully the whole DYRL series models) while working my way up to custom designs. my first original idea is for a custom made VF-1Z Demon Birds (Zentradi Valkyrie) would be the arch rival of Angel Birds.  maybe in 6 months or a year from now I'll have the skills to make it happen with professional looking results.

Thank you

One of the biggest problems of the old kits will be age; if you get an older kit, try to opt for one of the more recent pressings of it, as polystyrene and decals become brittle with time and exposure to UV rays. Also, be aware that with transforming kits, you should scrape paint away from areas where the parts will frequently make contact or scrape together.

I have found that transforming kits can be made to work well with some precautions, such as replacing fragile plastic parts with metal or sturdier plastics like ABS where and when possible (such as the square retaining bar  for the "backpack" on IMAI's 1/72 VF-1 transforming valks). But that said: the advantage of them is that with some work, you can make a kit that can rival their later counterparts.

[derex3592]

Buy the old kits for the box art, cut the boxes apart, make a nice collage out of them, throw the kits in the trash and go buy newer kits. Old Macross kits are NOT what you wanna start out learning on. Trust me. Try the new Hasagawa1/72  Regult kit. It's a great kit to start out with for beginners! 

[Thom]

The older kits can be made into nice looking examples, if you don't mind some shape issues esp with the nose on the older Bandai kits. There are after market decals out there is you want newer of those, or there is a thread somewhere here with scanned decals sheets that you can (with decal paper and printer) print yourself.

[Big s]

3 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Buy the old kits for the box art, cut the boxes apart, make a nice collage out of them, throw the kits in the trash and go buy newer kits. Old Macross kits are NOT what you wanna start out learning on. Trust me. Try the new Hasagawa1/72  Regult kit. It's a great kit to start out with for beginners! 

I’ll agree that the regult is a great kit. I’d also recommend the wave destroids especially since they’re 1/72 scale just like most of the newer kits.
But I don’t think you should throw the old kits away, even though the collage would be awesome. Maybe start with a newer kit and learn a few simple things and use what you learn in an older kit. 
I would probably say to pick something that hasn’t been done better by a newer company. Maybe the tv sdf1 or the zentraedi power armors. When you get your skills up tackle some of those. They’re a lot of work, but you’ll be more proud if you can turn those into treasures. 

[pengbuzz]

8 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Buy the old kits for the box art, cut the boxes apart, make a nice collage out of them, throw the kits in the trash and go buy newer kits. Old Macross kits are NOT what you wanna start out learning on. Trust me. Try the new Hasagawa1/72  Regult kit. It's a great kit to start out with for beginners! 

No...give the kits to me.

[VF-1A Grunt]

As mentioned above, decals can be a big drawback with older kits. They can tear or disintegrate, depending on their age and how they were stored. You can help save them by coating them with Microscale Liquid Decal Film. It will help hold everything together. Just be aware that it will thicken the decals a bit, so you may need some extra clear coat to help hide the decal edges.

I love the new Hasegawa and Wave kits, but I think there are some neat old models too, like the ARII Zentraedi capital ships that no one else has produced.

[Sanity is Optional]

I can comment on the Bandai 1/72 transforming kits.

Skip the VF-1, it is a 100% awful kit, just do not.

VF-25 and VF-27 are not bad, just be careful with the decals and transformation. Matte topcoat is a must.

VF-31 is a good kit, but again careful with the decals.

SV-262 is a real winner, honestly better than the DX Chogokin in a few ways, primarily transformation.

[pengbuzz]

On 8/17/2023 at 11:56 PM, VF-1A Grunt said:

As mentioned above, decals can be a big drawback with older kits. They can tear or disintegrate, depending on their age and how they were stored. You can help save them by coating them with Microscale Liquid Decal Film. It will help hold everything together. Just be aware that it will thicken the decals a bit, so you may need some extra clear coat to help hide the decal edges.

I love the new Hasegawa and Wave kits, but I think there are some neat old models too, like the ARII Zentraedi capital ships that no one else has produced.

Exactly; the decal film on the older kits can be problematic. Another way to deal with them is to scan them into a program like GIMP or Photoshop (or even Paint), then print them on a new sheet of decal paper and clearcoat it. Granted, you'll have to cut each one out, but that should avoid the age/ tearing issue.

And yeah: miss the old capital ship models as well!

9 hours ago, Sanity is Optional said:

I can comment on the Bandai 1/72 transforming kits.

Skip the VF-1, it is a 100% awful kit, just do not.

VF-25 and VF-27 are not bad, just be careful with the decals and transformation. Matte topcoat is a must.

VF-31 is a good kit, but again careful with the decals.

SV-262 is a real winner, honestly better than the DX Chogokin in a few ways, primarily transformation.

Not familiar with the 27, 31 or 262 kits, but I've had the VF-1 and 25. I agree: the VF-1 is a hot mess that will simply cause you tears and increase the possibility that the model will end up flying across the room to its' "violent disassembly"! The 25 was okay, but the transform was a bit fiddly IMO.

[KOG Water Dragon]

If anyone has Bandai 1/72 VF-1s they want to dump, I'll gladly buy. 😂