DX Chogokin VT-1 Super Ostrich

[Froy]

Mine is in my local post office already. But might not see it till next week if I have to pay import taxes ☹️. Post office no longer collect those taxes like many years ago. It means a extra visit to the bank and one or two more days of waiting m

[Agent-GHQ]

10 hours ago, rsvictor1976 said:

I have an order from Yoyakunow still pending too. They’re all waiting for their shipment from Tamashii Nation according to the email I got from them.

Ordered mine from Yaku too & shows being boxed up. Hopefully, shipping notification/tracking by tomorrow

4 hours ago, Froy said:

Mine is in my local post office already. But might not see it till next week if I have to pay import taxes ☹️. Post office no longer collect those taxes like many years ago. It means a extra visit to the bank and one or two more days of waiting m

I'd have made the trip to my local PO & ask for it

16 hours ago, nightmareB4macross said:

Yikes.... they dropped the ball on this one. IRL aircraft port (left blue) & starboard (right red)

[Chronocidal]

36 minutes ago, Agent-GHQ said:

Yikes.... they dropped the ball on this one. IRL aircraft port (left blue) & starboard (right red)

No, they actually go this one right thankfully.  Right is definitely blue.

Reason I remember it (besides being around aircraft all the time) is an old catchphrase I picked up at some point: "Red, Right, WRONG."  If you see the red light on the right, it means you're set up for a head-on collision.

Still sucks they completely forgot to paint them, but I actually wonder if it's due to the extra layer of paint on those thruster blisters disrupting the normal production flow.  Would be really funny to scrape away a layer of that tan paint, and find out they did paint the lights, they just got the layering out of order, and painted the tan over the top of them.

[rocketblast]

13 hours ago, grogall said:

Still nothing from @LUNA PARK on my order! what great customer service! 🤬

They said they are shipping more next week.  Hopefully that is true.

[MKT]

Yet another case on FB. There seems to be an emerging pattern - all the broken stabilisers are on the left side.

Edited August 1 by MKT

[Duymon]

10 hours ago, Agent-GHQ said:

Ordered mine from Yaku too & shows being boxed up. Hopefully, shipping notification/tracking by tomorrow

I'd have made the trip to my local PO & ask for it

Yikes.... they dropped the ball on this one. IRL aircraft port (left blue) & starboard (right red)

It's a good thing these are fictional aircraft then cuz it's been this way for 40 years 

Even Tenjin isn't immune

Edited August 1 by Duymon

[Radioguy]

2 hours ago, MKT said:

Yet another case on FB. There seems to be an emerging pattern - all the broken stabilisers are on the left side.

That so many replied to that FB post with "glue it" was disturbing. It's like they are all shills for the retailers.

[Wunit]

55 minutes ago, Radioguy said:

That so many replied to that FB post with "glue it" was disturbing. It's like they are all shills for the retailers.

Actually, you need to insert 2 or 3 0.5mm metal/copper rod before gluing it.....

 

This is a limited movable parts and need to be attached to the back.... (at least one side)

 

 

[spacemanoeuvres]

Received one from Luna Park and another from YoyakuNow. Haven’t checked them out yet; hope all is in order

[Chronocidal]

4 hours ago, MKT said:

Yet another case on FB. There seems to be an emerging pattern - all the broken stabilisers are on the left side.

I wonder if some factory workers are confused about the fact that the tails on this one don't fold, and are trying to force them down during packaging.  

[Radioguy]

18 minutes ago, spacemanoeuvres said:

Received one from Luna Park and another from YoyakuNow. Haven’t checked them out yet; hope all is in order

I hate to say this, but I heard ZERO rattling in the box before I opened the shipping box, the Bandai shipper, or even the retail box. It was snapped off, but laying flat and not moving around. I think static charge might have held it in place.

I only ordered the one (because I can't afford multiples, and barely this one), but I WOULD OPEN ALL I ORDERED, if it was little ol' me. If you resell your extra sealed one some day, you may have to deal with a refund situation if this issue come back to haunt. I know I would always worry about that.

[Radioguy]

1 minute ago, Chronocidal said:

I wonder if some factory workers are confused about the fact that the tails on this one don't fold, and are trying to force them down during packaging.  

Maybe when they are sliding them into the boxes?

[mister_e]

These reports of broken tail fins scared me enough to go ahead and break the seal on mine and check it out. These pics were taken just as I opened it up, before I had touched it even once. Neither of the fins are broken, but you can see that the left fin is tilted inwards. I imagine if whatever tilted it inward had put just a little more pressure it might have easily broken.

[Radioguy]

Just now, mister_e said:

These reports of broken tail fins scared me enough to go ahead and break the seal on mine and check it out. These pics were taken just as I opened it up, before I had touched it even once. Neither of the fins are broken, but you can see that the left fin is tilted inwards. I imagine if whatever tilted it inward had put just a little more pressure it might have easily broken.

Yeesh.

 

[Radioguy]

With this issue always being possible until the box is opened, I elect we heretofore refer to this release as Schrödinger's Ostritch.

[MKT]

My copy arrived. From the box itself, am quite surprised everything fit into a standard sized looking DX VF-1 box, despite it having an extra tray for the booster parts. Was expecting it to be as at least as thick as the YF-21 box lol. I opened it immediately to check on the stabilizers and thankfully both are intact. Took the naked valk out just for very quick impressions:

1. I'm struck by how big the cockpit canopy looks, even if put beside the already elongated canopy of the VF-1D. With the now bigger and raised cockpit at the front in conjunction with the shrunken vertical stabilizers at the rear, the valk actually gave out semi-SD vibes lol. I don't remember having the same impression when first handling the smaller DYRL 2-seaters - namely the HMR VT-1 and Arcadia VE-1. Perhaps it's just the sheer size of the 1/48 scale. But I really like the implementation of this 2-seater more than the 1D, it looks much cooler.  

2. The stabilizers have a slight slack - very tiny range of inward tilt movement, I think to allow them to tuck onto the clips on the back when folded over. Is this slack sufficient to mitigate impacts from above? We'll never know, but I'm willing to bet the stabilizers snapping is related to whatever caused the YF-21 bent head lasers.

3. Was concerned about the beige looking too pale from earlier pics, but when looking at it in flesh, am quite happy with it. I quite like how the orange & beige sufficiently contrast from those on the VF-1D. Didn't look closely on which parts are molded or painted, but there doesn't appear to be color matching issues between various parts.

4. The 4 figures are nicely and sharply molded, and they seem to be bigger than previous DX VF-1 figures. I have no trouble thinking white pilot-suit Hikaru is the same as the one that came with 1S Hikaru, but blue-suit VT-1 Hikaru here is slightly bigger than orange-suit 1D Hikaru that itself (if I'm not mistaken) is bigger than white & red suit 1J Hikaru.

Some peeves though:

5. I wish the clips for the stabilizers on the back plate are more seamless when recessed. They look quite distracting, but I suppose most will display the VT-1 with the boosters (including me), so eventually will not be an issue.

6. The rear landing gear doors are still rubbish to me. Just don't like the DX implementation of having to first pry the doors ajar, then having to pull out the joints a bit before fully swinging the doors open. Also, while the sideway-canting wheels look fantastic, there's just so little clearance around that space where everything have to positioned juuuuust right to avoid the doors not touching the wheels on one side & the horizontal stabilizers on other. Everything there just feels so fiddly.  

7. The cockpit canopy have some opacity that isn't present in all previous DX VF-1 valks. Not much, perhaps about 10%, but quite obvious to me when put beside a DX 1D or 1S. It's rather similar to what we got with the old Yammie 1/48.

Couple of quick snaps:


 

  

Edited August 1 by MKT

[vladykins]

I keep talking myself into and out of buying this. the broken tail fins have me leaning back towards holding off.

[no3Ljm]

2 hours ago, MKT said:

7. The cockpit canopy have some opacity that isn't present in all previous DX VF-1 valks. Not much, perhaps about 10%, but quite obvious to me when put beside a DX 1D or 1S. It's rather similar to what we got with the old Yammie 1/48.

The canopy opacity is probably due to some fogginess caused by Hikaru's Saturn Ring run?  

 

I also think that Bandai forgot something to add on this set -- Orange Booster Pod Antenna and Beige Feet. 

[Radioguy]

 

19 minutes ago, vladykins said:

I keep talking myself into and out of buying this. the broken tail fins have me leaning back towards holding off.

Obviously, I stopped from doing anything with mine when I saw the damage, and now wait for LP to hear from FedEx or Bandai, or both, but from what I can tell, it's gorgeous and everything I want from a VT-1 otherwise.

If you could get one that's not damaged, I wouldn't dissuade you from grabbing it.

[Chronocidal]

3 hours ago, MKT said:

1. I'm struck by how big the cockpit canopy looks, even if put beside the already elongated canopy of the VF-1D. With the now bigger and raised cockpit at the front in conjunction with the shrunken vertical stabilizers at the rear, the valk actually gave out semi-SD vibes lol. I don't remember having the same impression when first handling the smaller DYRL 2-seaters - namely the HMR VT-1 and Arcadia VE-1. Perhaps it's just the sheer size of the 1/48 scale. But I really like the implementation of this 2-seater more than the 1D, it looks much cooler.  

3. Was concerned about the beige looking too pale from earlier pics, but when looking at it in flesh, am quite happy with it. I quite like how the orange & beige sufficiently contrast from those on the VF-1D. Didn't look closely on which parts are molded or painted, but there doesn't appear to be color matching issues between various parts.

4. The 4 figures are nicely and sharply molded, and they seem to be bigger than previous DX VF-1 figures. I have no trouble thinking white pilot-suit Hikaru is the same as the one that came with 1S Hikaru, but blue-suit VT-1 Hikaru here is slightly bigger than orange-suit 1D Hikaru that itself (if I'm not mistaken) is bigger than white & red suit 1J Hikaru.

Some peeves though:

5. I wish the clips for the stabilizers on the back plate are more seamless when recessed. They look quite distracting, but I suppose most will display the VT-1 with the boosters (including me), so eventually will not be an issue.

6. The rear landing gear doors are still rubbish to me. Just don't like the DX implementation of having to first pry the doors ajar, then having to pull out the joints a bit before fully swinging the doors open. Also, while the sideway-canting wheels look fantastic, there's just so little clearance around that space where everything have to positioned juuuuust right to avoid the doors not touching the wheels on one side & the horizontal stabilizers on other. Everything there just feels so fiddly.  
  

(Snipped for saving space)

1. The canopy is definitely huge, but that's actually very fitting for the dual-elevation cockpit on the VT-1.  It's so the instructor in the back seat has a clear view if they have to take control, and it's very similar to other dedicated trainer aircraft like the T-45 Goshawk and T-38 Talon.

3. The beige looks great to me honestly.  I did a little bit of inspecting, and very little seems to be molded in orange, but the color matching is definitely better here than I've seen Bandai manage in some time.  Molded orange parts appear to be limited to the tails, underside of the backpack, the backpack thruster flap, inner and outer leg panels, and the leg strakes (not counting the boosters and leg packs).

4. The fact that DYRL duty uniformed Hikaru looks like a much larger person than TV Roy bugs the crap out of me.  Bandai just seems to exist in this warped reality where they are desperate to replicate animation, even if it makes no physical or logical sense, so we get these midget TV figures bouncing around massive cockpits and failing to grasp flight sticks the size of encyclopedias, while DYRL figures are properly sized and crammed in like actual fighter pilots in actual aircraft that can actually grasp the controls.  

5. I just refuse to use those tail clips.  They're not necessary, and all they're going to do is stress the tails.  I'm almost tempted to putty over them to fill the divots taken out of the backplate.  To Bandai's credit though, they had the sense to mold the tails in orange, and the backplate all in beige.  To my knowledge, there are no places where painted and unpainted plastic connect or grind against each other when mounting the boosters, so you don't need to worry about paint scratches.

I was impressed to see that the booster packs actually will stay in place without the tan mounting bracket though.  You can't do this with the normal super/strike packs, because they don't have a substantial enough connection to the backpack, but the extra orange cover panel on the backpack of the VT-1 gives them an extra connection point, and they will stay on just fine, so long as you don't wildly swoosh the valk, or leave it standing in battroid.  If you were so inclined, you could probably avoid the bracket entirely if you wanted to trust those tail clips to hold the backpack up, but I don't feel like it's worth the risk.  The booster brackets have never really bothered me anyway; I feel like they were a huge step up from how the old 1/48 Yamato boosters were secured, and I like the boosters being sturdy enough to lift the valk by.

6. As much as some people may like the pop-up/sliding hinges that Yamato/Arcadia and Bandai have both adopted for gear doors at this point, I maintain that they have always been a significant step backwards from how Yamato used to do their door hinges.  Older Yamato designs used a hooked swing-bar on the gear doors to pull them out and away from the wells, and it was both more functional and more accurate to how actual landing gear doors pivot.  That's just how gear doors work in real life, they have to swing out and away to clear the bay.

Those big curved hooks at the hinge are mounted to a pivot point outside of the gear bay.  It lets the doors drop freely and swing away from the gear well.  I'm not going to say they don't exist, but I have never seen a gear bay function anything like the sliding hinges used on the toys now.  I think that sort of mechanism would just add multiple layers of extra complexity to what should be a very simple swinging door that is able to clear the bay by gravity assist alone in case of a hydraulic failure.

Also, there is just no helping that very front gear door.  Yamato nailed that design when they attached it to the gear strut, and Bandai's is a step backwards in every way.  I worry I'm going to just snap that little twig of a door off every time I try to pry it open.

Edited August 1 by Chronocidal

[Sayroll]

One more to add to the broken stabilizer list. Box was intact. This one is coming from Luna Park; I contacted them and haven't heard back from them yet.

[Wunit]

1 hour ago, Sayroll said:

One more to add to the broken stabilizer list. Box was intact. This one is coming from Luna Park; I contacted them and haven't heard back from them yet.

This is the problem of the packing design.

A small box should be added between the stabilizers and that should be higher than the stabilizers for absorbing the shock

The current design make the stabilizers tip get hitted directly from outside....

 

 

 

[davidwhangchoi]

1 hour ago, Sayroll said:

One more to add to the broken stabilizer list. Box was intact. This one is coming from Luna Park; I contacted them and haven't heard back from them yet.

thanks for reporting your damage, damn... i can't even keep my two sealed in the shipper box. 

 

2 for 2 bandai of muliple broken valks. yf-21 and VT-1

 

[Agent-GHQ]

6 hours ago, vladykins said:

I keep talking myself into and out of buying this. the broken tail fins have me leaning back towards holding off.

i've come to accept that anything involving humans will neve, EVER, be 100% perfect whether in design or manufacturing. if this is a common & widespread issue then the ethical thing to do is either provide the necessary parts or return for repair 

[jenius]

My first VT-1 has intact vertical stabilizers.

[Shizuka the Cat]

9 minutes ago, jenius said:

My first VT-1 has intact vertical stabilizers.

YAY!  Mine too... I think? Still have not taken it out of its plastic packaging yet. But it looks intact when I look thru the plastic.

[jenius]

I took mine out for a hot second but I'm still focusing on the YF-21 for now. As someone else observed, the stabilizer that is frequently broken was knocked inward on mine but it wasn't enough to break it.

[vt102]

Add one more. I'm so disappointed in Bandai. FML. Can we start claims with the companies we bought them from? And my boxes are perfect no damages.

Update: I checked again to make sure the head was ok. Looks intact. Still disgusted this whole ordeal. For such an expensive item, you would think these wouldn't be an issue. But at the same time, they are not meant for us to have outside of Japan.

Edited August 3 by vt102
Added text

[Chronocidal]

I actually think the only way this is going to get better is if Bandai gets shipped a pile of broken ones for replacement, so we might have to start looking for people who can initiate that process.

It's a shame this one isn't being officially exported, or it would be a nice addition to the pile of YF-21's Bandai is going to have to support claims on.  Bandai's refusal to support broken products is a pretty legendary black mark on their reputation, but they usually don't have mass failures like this to make it such a disaster.

Edited August 2 by Chronocidal

[davidwhangchoi]

54 minutes ago, vt102 said:

Add one more. I'm so disappointed in Bandai. FML. Can we start claims with the companies we bought them from? And my boxes are perfect no damages.

[Radioguy]

55 minutes ago, vt102 said:

Add one more. I'm so disappointed in Bandai. FML. Can we start claims with the companies we bought them from? And my boxes are perfect no damages.

Which retailer?

[vt102]

1 minute ago, Radioguy said:

Which retailer?

Luna Park 

[Radioguy]

2 minutes ago, vt102 said:

Luna Park 

I wonder if I was the first to let them know now or not. Either way, it looks more and more like they need to contact Bandai now.

[vt102]

Just now, Radioguy said:

I wonder if I was the first to let them know now or not. Either way, it looks more and more like they need to contact Bandai now.

I just emailed them with a picture of the damage. We shall see what happens.

[no3Ljm]

From Facebook. Better check also the head's sensor. Said it was purchased from Luna Park.