DX Chogokin VT-1 Super Ostrich

[vt102]

6 hours ago, tekering said:

The fins don't have to fold for transformation.  Just glue it!

I have thought about doing that. The fins don't fully fold...true, but they do move ... A little, from angled, to vertical.

[vt102]

6 hours ago, Shawn said:

How did you get the little nub stuck in the tail fin to roll over so you could glue something to it? Mine is really wedged in there the wrong way.

You sure Shawn? I thought mine was like that too (rolled inwards). But upon further inspection, it is at normal level.

[Radioguy]

14 hours ago, Kinzoku VF said:

Hey everyone,

I received mine on the 1st of August from Lunapark. And was part of the super lucky ones to have their left wing/stabiliser snapped off...I've gone back and forth with them, their first solution was they would pay for the 'repair' (like what? Superglue?!),

Told them I was a collector and don't want broken pieces, especially as it wasn't exactly cheap. Shipping was nearly ¥10k via Fedex, then add the insanely f'd up high import taxes..

My last contact with them, they asked me to check how much it would cost to ship it back to them. Went to the post office had it weighed etc. Gave them all the options, from cheapest to most expensive.  

Since then....NOTHING. So, I hit them back again about a week ago and got "We are looking into the options". And that's it...

According to them, (I asked when I received mine as I saw a post on FB from someone with the same broken wing). They told me they had about 4 other customers with the exact same break (that was probably on the 5th August..who knows if they had any more since.)

Anyway, to anyone in the same position  what do you intend to do? Feels like they are trying to ghost me, with " we will contact Bandai, then wait, then to go to the post office etc, but no resolution in sight"

Will PayPal side with me if I open a dispute?

What did you people with the same issue do?

Sorry about the rambling, just thought I'd ask for some opinions..

Cheers.

 

That's damned enlightening.

I too, converse with them often, and NOT ONCE did they ask me to check how much return shipping cost. IN FACT, they made a passing comment that they are waiting for Bandai to resolve this so I wouldn't be out of pocket shipping it back to them!

Judiciously, I had let that slide at the moment, but made sure they knew this purchase set me back, and equally made passing subsequent comments on how I can't afford any further expenditure here.

They said Bandai responded that they WOULD exchange it, so Bandai is acknowledging blame here, but that they refused to cover return shipping. That came off as if they wouldn't cover it even were I in Japan, which was odd. All in all, it would seem LP just doesn't want to foot the return shipping here despite it being their responsibility.

The last words in any LP message always implies they are working on a solution. It just comes across as if they want to wait me out before finally acknowledging what their own responsibility is, and I'm losing patience and respect for them while they do that.

13 hours ago, tekering said:

Glue.

Garden-variety, buck-store CA Krazy glue.

I don't mean to belittle those who got broken toys, nor excuse Bandai's infamous QC fails of late, but this one's such a stupidly easy fix...

The fins don't have to fold for transformation.  Just glue it!

I'm happy for you that that works for you, but no, it's not easy for everyone; especially if they have difficulty with dexterity. (I do)

13 hours ago, Pontus said:

Be careful with the super glue.  It's good to have a fan on it while it dries.  Super glue can get "bloom" which appears as a white haze from the curing fumes.  At work we use a low bloom CA glue made by Resinlab called Cynergy (bottle is marked CA 6704), but it is really expensive stuff.  Do they make low bloom CA glue for modeling?

I've actually wondered before if model glue would work on this type of plastic, does anyone know for sure?  You'd have to scrape off any paint from any contact surfaces first of course since it reacts with the plastic to do the gluing (at least as I've understood it).

Edit: Unfortunately, model glue only works on polystyrene and no other types of plastic like our toys are made of.  Just make sure to ventilate so the super glue doesn't haze up.  You could also use an accelerator, but I wouldn't recommend it around painted parts as it will take off the paint.  Some accelerators are safer for that tho if they are hydrocarbon based (usually labeled foam safe) like Bob Smith Insta-set.

Thanks. This adds to my wariness of any homegrown solution.

12 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

I don't think toluene-based styrene glue will work well with the ABS these tend to be molded from, but maybe keytone-based thin glue would work a little better?  I've never tried it myself, so I would defer to anyone with experience testing such glues with ABS.

The nuclear option would just be nail polish remover, which is mostly acetone, and will just melt ABS.  If you have scraps of ABS plastic in the same color, you can dissolve it in a small jar of acetone to make ABS putty.

In this case though, CA glue is probably just the safest to use.  With small-enough application it probably shouldn't fog, but getting a hold of that low-bloom would probably be best, if you can.  I hadn't heard of it before myself.

Still sounds like a gamble for even steady hands.

11 hours ago, Kinzoku VF said:

Thanks for the tip Tekering. I've got modelling skills, but what worries me is that you can't dismantle the back part. Would much rather only work on the 2 parts that need gluing rather than working with the entire thing...Kinda scared to end up messing everything up as it's kinda snapped at an angle.

Out of curiosity which  brand did you use? 

I did consider acetone having successfully welded back Abs parts together before, but yet again messing up is making me anxious as it can be hit and miss depending how you do it Melting some ABS first to get a paste or just straight on putting acetone between the 2 broken parts with nothing in between you can easily mess up the part completely...

I've now had it close to a month, and haven't taken it out of its box, (aside to take a pic of the broken part....)

Thank you all your suggestions though.  Much appreciated. 

Same on just staring at the box, and that anxiety. I sincerely hope LP stands up and neither of us have to experiment needlessly.

[Kinzoku VF]

5 hours ago, Radioguy said:

I too, converse with them often, and NOT ONCE did they ask me to check how much return shipping cost.

I think they might've asked me for the return shipping cost to test the waters and see if I was willing to go all the way (mind out of the gutter please!)

Now in their last message they are implying that they might be able to send off just the broken part...I'll will patiently wait and see...It's already  been close to a month since I received  it. And they had told me that at least 3 other customers had the same issue. Who knows right? If the only send off the wing, it'll be something (although I seriously doubt the back section can be opened up, I would still be happy with a spare wing, even happier with the entire back section...)

Still, to their credit, not once they ignored me, always replied to all my mails etc. I do buy from them, not on a regular basis, but have over time spent a good amount of money in their store. I don't want to have to get Paypal involved or make a fuss ( if they are willing to work out a solution ...). Fingers crossed for all of us with that particular issue.

12 hours ago, Shawn said:

With the 50th, we can at least now peek inside and see how the backpack is assembled/bonded

Thanks for the pic Shawn, I obviously had my suspicions that they hadn't used any screws for the backpack. I hadn't tried to pry it open as I'm not sure whether it's glue or not. (More than likely it's either a super snug fit and/or also glued into place...

[tekering]

12 hours ago, vt102 said:

The fins don't fully fold...true, but they do move ... A little, from angled, to vertical.

Sure, if you're following Bandai's instructions, and using those little clips...

18 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Mounting the boosters on the backpack does press on the tails though, and they don't sit entirely in their sockets with the tails pushed outwards.  They look like they'll still stay on fine, but they might be canted outward toward the front.

They're supposed to be canted outward toward the front.

The only reason why you're suggesting those fins should need to move (or even be able to move) is because Bandai has misled you into believing that's the way it's supposed to be.  Their toy is engineered that way, but it doesn't reflect the VT-1 design or its depiction in the movie.

That's why I considered glue to be an effective solution in this case.

5 hours ago, Radioguy said:

I'm happy for you that that works for you, but no, it's not easy for everyone; especially if they have difficulty with dexterity. (I do)

Does your difficulty with dexterity affect your ability to install the gerwalk antenna?  Swap out the pilots?  Transform the toy, even?

Just curious. 🤔

[Radioguy]

38 minutes ago, Kinzoku VF said:

I think they might've asked me for the return shipping cost to test the waters and see if I was willing to go all the way (mind out of the gutter please!)

 Well, if they offer that to me, I'm saying yes.

38 minutes ago, Kinzoku VF said:

Now in their last message they are implying that they might be able to send off just the broken part...I'll will patiently wait and see...It's already  been close to a month since I received  it. And they had told me that at least 3 other customers had the same issue. Who knows right? If the only send off the wing, it'll be something (although I seriously doubt the back section can be opened up, I would still be happy with a spare wing, even happier with the entire back section...)

This has been discussed already, and it doesn't sound like an easy job at all. Also, if Bandai is truly saying they will exchange it, what LP told me, that's a more expensive option than a replacement part, so it would seem at least Bandai doesn't consider a user replacement feasible.

38 minutes ago, Kinzoku VF said:

Still, to their credit, not once they ignored me, always replied to all my mails etc. I do buy from them, not on a regular basis, but have over time spent a good amount of money in their store. I don't want to have to get Paypal involved or make a fuss ( if they are willing to work out a solution ...). Fingers crossed for all of us with that particular issue.

Word for word the same situation for me as well. I'd rather not have another bridge burned as Anime-Export has for me.

2 minutes ago, tekering said:

Does your difficulty with dexterity affect your ability to install the gerwalk antenna?  Swap out the pilots?  Transform the toy, even?

Just curious. 🤔

I'd like to believe you didn't mean that to come off as insulting as it did.

I was talking about the gluing process, specifically, and in the context of the ease in which you describe it can be accomplished.

Not that I expected to have to explain this, but I have between 60-80% sensation in my hands depending on the day, and often have to see what it is I am handling to accomplish fine tasks that years ago I could sometimes accomplish via touch alone. When it comes to the gluing process described by others, the speed of action to prevent spillage, bloom, etc, is something I am no longer confident I can avoid in time, and is why I have generally given up kit-building altogether. The thought of trying that on a DX figure prompts anxiety to say the least.

In fact, my recent attempt to venture into trying to convert Hasegawa 1:48 missile sets into being compatible for DX is still sitting in the box it arrived in, and that is a far less risky prospect. (I still hope to give that a shot somehow someday). Even swapping out parts on HMR figures has become difficult to the point it is no longer enjoyable, and is an additional reason I find the 1:48 scale preferable.

[tekering]

1 hour ago, Radioguy said:

I'd like to believe you didn't mean that to come off as insulting as it did.

I certainly meant no offence, and I thank you for giving me the benefit of the doubt. 🙏

1 hour ago, Radioguy said:

I have between 60-80% sensation in my hands depending on the day, and often have to see what it is I am handling to accomplish fine tasks that years ago I could sometimes accomplish via touch alone.

I imagine most of us here (the so-called "Robotech generation") are middle-aged men now, and even those of us who aren't pushing fifty are nonetheless past our prime.  My vision isn't what it was five years ago, and I certainly don't expect it to improve...!  😬

I wonder how soon the products catering to collectors of our generation start to reflect the aging market, and how they're likely to change as a result.  Kawamori himself is only six months from mandatory retirement, and without his direct influence I don't expect future Valkyrie toys to maintain the same level of quality... 🤔

[Slave IV]

1 hour ago, tekering said:

I certainly meant no offence, and I thank you for giving me the benefit of the doubt. 🙏

I imagine most of us here (the so-called "Robotech generation") are middle-aged men now, and even those of us who aren't pushing fifty are nonetheless past our prime.  My vision isn't what it was five years ago, and I certainly don't expect it to improve...!  😬

I wonder how soon the products catering to collectors of our generation start to reflect the aging market, and how they're likely to change as a result.  Kawamori himself is only six months from mandatory retirement, and without his direct influence I don't expect future Valkyrie toys to maintain the same level of quality... 🤔

Perfect timing to bring back the Chunkies!

[vt102]

@tekering can the booster pack still be put on with the fins fixed outward position? If so, I will probably pin and glue directly into the side edges of the backpack, not the hinge/snapped area.

[tekering]

59 minutes ago, vt102 said:

can the booster pack still be put on with the fins fixed outward position?

That's exactly my point, see:

That's how they're supposed to look.

[Radioguy]

2 hours ago, tekering said:

I certainly meant no offence, and I thank you for giving me the benefit of the doubt. 🙏

I imagine most of us here (the so-called "Robotech generation") are middle-aged men now, and even those of us who aren't pushing fifty are nonetheless past our prime.  My vision isn't what it was five years ago, and I certainly don't expect it to improve...!  😬

I wonder how soon the products catering to collectors of our generation start to reflect the aging market, and how they're likely to change as a result.  Kawamori himself is only six months from mandatory retirement, and without his direct influence I don't expect future Valkyrie toys to maintain the same level of quality... 🤔

Actually, while I'm no spring chicken, my Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and spinal disorder set in awhile back due to repetitive work, as well as my vision taking a hit too. I'm afraid many of these things come with a career in IT support and development.🙄

[Froy]

So. Few days ago popped the Ostrich out of the box.

Fortunately nothing broken or seriously damaged.

But found something really odd. 

Unlike the YF-21 that seemed to have enough clearance between the head laser and the plastic trays my Ostrich was rubbing the left rear stabilizer hardly enough to remove some paint

But even more weird, the cover is showing stress marks in the part of both stabilizer and even a tiny hole on the left side

The box only was dinged on one of the corners and it didn't show signs of crushing. Even the box of my 21 got a bit crushed but no damages to the toy

[Radioguy]

Bandai really f**kd this one up.

[Chronocidal]

7 hours ago, tekering said:

They're supposed to be canted outward toward the front.

I wasn't speaking of the tails in this case, I meant the actual boosters.  Pressing the boosters' pegs fully into place will squeeze the tails in vertically, if they're allowed to move.  If the tails are locked in the outward position, the boosters will just be canted outwards a few degrees at the front.

It's not enough to be noticeable from any angle but directly overhead at least, but if you're mounting the boosters without the tan bracket underneath, there's very little tab holding them onto the backpack.  They don't seem like they'll just fall off since they're held together solidly by the extra backpack panel, but they're just lightly clipped around the backpack, with the boosters' orange tabs sunk about halfway into their sockets.

[dapro]

I just opened the VT-1.  This is the first DX I owned that I actually opened due to reports weeks back of the tail fin issue.

 

I am happy to report the tail fins are good on mine. I think maybe there were one bad batch. Haven't heard much since couple weeks ago.

[Sayroll]

Update on my situation: my VT-1 came from Luna Park with a broken tailfin. My last contact with LP was last saturday when  they replied to my last email saying Bandai was willing to replace my toy but it had to be returned to Japan. I said I didn't want to pay for the return shipping (and anyway I have already panel lined the toy and painted the landing gear and wing lights).

Instead I have asked them if Bandai would provide a new backpack assembly and they said they would ask Bandai for this option, but no answer so far. I'm going to email them again this week end.

Now I see in @tekering posts that the toy works fine without  the tailfins held by the brackets even with the boosters on. So I'm probably going to glue that tailfin back in place.

[vt102]

6 hours ago, Froy said:

So. Few days ago popped the Ostrich out of the box.

Fortunately nothing broken or seriously damaged.

But found something really odd. 

Unlike the YF-21 that seemed to have enough clearance between the head laser and the plastic trays my Ostrich was rubbing the left rear stabilizer hardly enough to remove some paint

But even more weird, the cover is showing stress marks in the part of both stabilizer and even a tiny hole on the left side

The box only was dinged on one of the corners and it didn't show signs of crushing. Even the box of my 21 got a bit crushed but no damages to the toy

Consider yourself lucky. My plastic clamshell cover has that same hole. I'm guessing it's from the fin poking through. And for some snapping off from that pressure shifting around. And by the way all 3 of my boxes(actual shipping box, the brown outer box, and the actual VT box)are free of damages. 

[vt102]

7 hours ago, tekering said:

That's exactly my point, see:

That's how they're supposed to look.

Awesome 👍. I guess I will try and just glue it, instead of trying to figure out how to disassemble the backpack.

[Major Tom]

Did anyone here ordered the VT-1 Super Ostrich from Solaris Japan? what were your experience with them?

[nightmareB4macross]

From looking at this picture, it just makes me think that Bandai wanted to keep taller vertical stabilizers but opted not to extend and rake them back a bit. Would have made a huge difference in fighter mode.

[Chronocidal]

I've honestly never understood why the VT-1 had to have unique tails in the first place.  Maybe they don't fit with the different booster profile?  It's not as though you couldn't just keep the tails full-sized, and let them fold normally, then adjust the boosters to fit.  It always felt like a completely unnecessary feature.

[Shawn]

That pic to me sort of explains it.
With the taller fuselage for the 2nd pilot perhaps Miyatake and Kawamori said 'if we fold the tailfins up as we normally do, its going to be at a super steep angle now on this 2 seater. Hmmm, what if we just didn't fold the tailfins and we have the same angle, oh that works, neat! Movie special!" 

Then Yamato and Bandai have to go and shrink the tailfins and ruin the design. Bah.

[davidwhangchoi]

2 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

I've honestly never understood why the VT-1 had to have unique tails in the first place.  Maybe they don't fit with the different booster profile?  It's not as though you couldn't just keep the tails full-sized, and let them fold normally, then adjust the boosters to fit.  It always felt like a completely unnecessary feature.

 also never figured the same reason the movie sdf macross can't fire in city mode...  i guess the supervision army took away the boby trap in the movie. 

 i mean the space fold engines  are not missing: 

 

 

 

41 minutes ago, Shawn said:

That pic to me sort of explains it.
With the taller fuselage for the 2nd pilot perhaps Miyatake and Kawamori said 'if we fold the tailfins up as we normally do, its going to be at a super steep angle now on this 2 seater.

movie should've kept it virgin road. then bandai wouldn't have broken tail fins.

[nightmareB4macross]

13 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said:

 also never figured the same reason the movie sdf macross can't fire in city mode...  i guess the supervision army took away the boby trap in the movie. 

 i mean the space fold engines  are not missing: 

 

 

 

movie should've kept it virgin road. then bandai wouldn't have broken tail fins.

The cockpit, canopy, and fuselage are very different in dimensions between the 2-Seaters. VF-1D is sleek while the VT/VE-1 are more bulbous in shape. This is why the tail fins can lay flat on the 1D variants.

[grogall]

I think the design idea for the 2 seat in step up seating position was taken back in 1984 from the Suchoi Su-27 wich was the only fighter that had this kind of seat configuration back then. 

[davidwhangchoi]

6 hours ago, nightmareB4macross said:

The cockpit, canopy, and fuselage are very different in dimensions between the 2-Seaters. VF-1D is sleek while the VT/VE-1 are more bulbous in shape. This is why the tail fins can lay flat on the 1D variants.

i can't tell  as the anime magic always shortens the nose in battroid. 

only if i brought some mecha manual that points it out would i know. 

[jenius]

The DX had removable vertical stabilizer so they should have given us regulation and small stabilizers. The real problem is that the DX doesn't have a backpack lock so Bandai used those new clips (repeating Yamato's mistake). The 1/48 Yamato had the top hook that would have solved this problem but there are so many more elegant solutions to a backpack lock that should have been employed all along. Blah!

[sh9000]

I was going to order the 3D printed tent that a guy was selling on FB to go with the VT-1 but decided that $40 shipped was too much.

Edited September 24 by sh9000

[Chronocidal]

3 hours ago, jenius said:

The DX had removable vertical stabilizer so they should have given us regulation and small stabilizers. The real problem is that the DX doesn't have a backpack lock so Bandai used those new clips (repeating Yamato's mistake). The 1/48 Yamato had the top hook that would have solved this problem but there are so many more elegant solutions to a backpack lock that should have been employed all along. Blah!

I'm still actually confused why anyone thinks a lock is even necessary for the backpack.  Those clips are completely unnecessary, and I've had no trouble with any of the DX backpacks staying up at all, since there's no appreciable weight applied to any of them, unless you're actually mounting the boosters with no bracket.

I don't think there's any reason they couldn't have designed the backpack to still use the original tails, but they just didn't.  It would have just required a different backpack clip to hold the boosters in the right position, and the backpack would have been canted up in the air like the old 1/55 was, but it would have been mitigated by actually having the tail of the backpack fold over like it should have all along.

It wouldn't have worked to give you both sizes of tails though, unless they designed two completely different booster bracket systems for each tail size.

[jenius]

Well yes, if you had a lock you wouldn't also have the bracket... isn't the bracket just something toy companies invented because they didn't do a lock? I don't think brackets appear in any of the line art.

[Chronocidal]

From a structural standpoint, not exactly.

You're right, the original art didn't include any mechanism to mount the boosters aside from bolting directly to the backpack.  That's.. fine?  In a world with impossibly advanced materials that allow you to build a functional mech that can move like a human, and bear loads that would easily crumple modern aircraft like tin cans, that's not really a problem.

What is a problem is that if you mount the boosters directly to the pack, you are depending entirely on the backpack hinge to hold their entire weight, in any mode.  The HMRs get away with it for the same reasons that ants can lift so many more times their own weight: the laws of material science scale down in ways that allow it to work.  The mass of the boosters isn't enough to overcome that tiny backpack hinge, unless it gets really worn out.

That becomes more and more of a structural problem the larger the valk gets.  I don't want to conflate the weight of the backpack boosters with the failures of the Yamato 1/48 backpack hinges, because the FAST packs weren't even released when that was discovered as a problem, but it didn't help it any, and that tiny backpack latch was really not built to support that much weight, especially when you consider that the latch itself was mounted to a moving panel.  I never liked using that latch, as streamlined as it was, because it was always resting so much of the weight and stress of those boosters directly on the backpack hinge.

The booster bracket on the DX VF-1 really only needs to support the boosters.  It's just that the nature of its position also locks the backpack in place.  The backpack doesn't need the help, so it really doesn't need any sort of specific lock.  It stays up just fine with just the tension on the hinge when no boosters are mounted.

The VT-1 though is a unique case, and I mean that specifically referring to the DX VT-1, and how its boosters mount.  The backpack hinge is actually strong enough to fully support the boosters without the mounting bracket, even hanging upside down. It's not sturdy, so it's not like you could pick it up by the boosters like you can if you use the bracket, but they stay in place well enough while holding the valk by the main body.

The difference between the VT-1 and the other DX VF-1 releases is that the boosters are clipped on with that secondary panel that clips over the backpack, and it is enough to keep them in place where the smaller tabs aren't.  The regular VF-1 booster packs only have a tiny tab that tabs into the backpack for alignment (unlike the Yamato 1/48 which had solid metal supports that sank easily a half inch in from each side), and there is nothing to hold them onto the backpack otherwise.

I think if Bandai had actually made the attachment points for the regular boosters more solid, and possibly increased the strength of the backpack hinge a bit more, the bracket may have been entirely optional.

Personally, I do not mind the brackets, because they give me peace of mind in terms of structural stability, and they let me pick up a fully loaded Strike VF-1S by the boosters without worrying it's going to break.  They're a far more solid connection than dangling the packs purely off of the backpack, with or without some additional locking mechanism.

Edited September 24 by Chronocidal

[jenius]

Hmm, I'm not following the problem. The hinge is metal on the DX toy. I would imagine the lock being down at the hinge rather than the up above hook Yamato did. The beauty of the Yamato hook was that it works for a double-hinge. If I were engineering the toy, I would probably put locks on each one of the hinges separately rather than do the hook. Since the backpacks don't weight a ton, the locks don't have to be overly robust. What's kind of crazy is that the original Hi-Metal VF-1 does have a backpack lock, you just press downward on it in battroid mode and it locks into position. Bandai removed it for the Hi-Metal R and didn't even try on the DX. 

[Chronocidal]

I guess it's not exactly a "problem," but what I think Bandai (and Yamato with the 1/60 v2) were trying to achieve?  I think they wanted the boosters to be a reliable handhold for picking up the entire valk.  Considering that's how the launch arms grasped them in DYRL, and how much real estate the boosters take up from above (especially with the strike cannon), they're a natural point to grasp the entire toy by when picking it up.  

The existing backpack hinge on the DX is plenty strong to hold up the VT-1's boosters in battroid with no bracket, and it might even be enough to hold the Super/Strike packs, but there's no real way to test those due to the different mount. 

Making a locking hinge strong enough to hold the boosters is not the same as making a locking hinge that can support the entire valk though.  The brackets are perfectly capable of that, and I think it's a better situation, since otherwise you're left in the awkward position you mentioned in your VF-31AX review, having no really good place to actually pick the valk up when sitting on the gear.

 

Edited September 24 by Chronocidal

[grogall]

I also have the VT-1 mounted without the backpack brace, the boosters will hold onto the backpack with the pegs in both the backpack and middle backpack booster.  I wouldn't pick up the the VT-1 using the boosters though! 

[davidwhangchoi]

4 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

From a structural standpoint, not exactly.

You're right, the original art didn't include any mechanism to mount the boosters aside from bolting directly to the backpack.  That's.. fine?  In a world with impossibly advanced materials that allow you to build a functional mech that can move like a human, and bear loads that would easily crumple modern aircraft like tin cans, that's not really a problem.

What is a problem is that if you mount the boosters directly to the pack, you are depending entirely on the backpack hinge to hold their entire weight, in any mode. 

Also the boosters were used only in little to no gravity space (saturn's rings).

If Hikaru didn't jettison the boosters falling to Earth, the backpack hinge would've broke in the anime