Hasegawa 1/72 VF-0S

[Valkyrie]

Well, I finally got my Hasegawa VF-0S. Actually I would have gotten it yesterday, but no one was home to sign for it. And so I've been in hell the past 24 hours waiting for it

But anyway, it's mine at last.

First impression: . . . Wow.

First of all, it's bigger than I expected. I knew it'd be bigger than the VF-1, but still, it took be by surprise.

Also, I was surprised at some of the parts they combined. The leg halves are all one part, including the intakes. The upper fuselage is joined with the bakpack, and the arm halves are all one part too, from forearm to shoulder.

The surface detal is excelent, as usual. Hasegawa's more recent offerings like the YF-19 and 21 have been relatively sparse in panel detail, becuase they're supposed to be much more streamlined than the older Valkyries. And since the VF-0 is even less sleek than the VF-1, those who loved the Hase VF-1's surface detail will eat this one up. It's just as plentiful, and just as well executed.

There doesn't seem to be many unexpected options. There aren't provisions to build it with the landing gears up, but I sure it can be done easily enough with the normal amount of kitbashing.

The canopy is split in two, and parts are included to build it opened.

And then, of course, there's the fast packs and pilot. And the air brake option has returned, complete with actuating cylinder.

Some of Hasegawa's improvements over thier first VF-1 kits have reappeared in this kit. First, the wings now have the 'plug' pieces that go in the bottom of the wings, as opposed to the first VF-1 wings which were two complete halves. This change made its debut in the VT-1 Super Ostrich kit.

Also, the main nozzles (feet) can now be installed after the legs are constructed. A very welcome change, because that was one of the hardest parts about building the old VF-1's - getting rid of that nasty leg seam after the feet are installed.

But the canopy seam has appeared once again. The canopies have the same dome shape that the VF-1's had, so Hasegawa had to do thier same ingenious molding tricks to get them right. But the result is that we have to sand and buff out a seam once again. Oh well.

Also, Hasegawa has seemingly revealed its intention to produce a two-seater VF-0. Becuase it comes with two pilots and two pilot seats

Yea, I know, big surprise. But spare pilots are always good to have!

That's about all I can think of. I suppose this grew to be a bit longer than the 'brief review' I had planned on doing. But oh well.

I'll post pics later tonight. If you have any questions, ask away.

[wm cheng]

Woohoo!! Thanks Valkyrie, I was really anxiously awaiting a review of this kit - hope it makes it over to Canada soon!

Can't wait to see pictures. So what other variants or markings do the VF-0S have other than Fokker's? Do the decals and instructions provide alternate schemes?

I actually don't like the wind inserts and prefer the two halves, the inserts have to fit just right for the oil wash to work properly, otherwise the gaps might not be even all around.

Thanks, Valkyrie

[Myersjessee]

Man...I can't wait for mine to get here.....and yours WM!

[Angel's Fury]

Great review of the Hasegawa 1/72 VF-0S model kit. I can't wait for the step-by-step assembly and painting pics of this kit.

[007-vf1]

sooo...where are the pics?

[Valkyrie]

Right here

Looking at those pics, I wish I'd taken bigger ones before I started ripping parts off the sprues :/

Here's manual pics (sorry I couldn't scan them). Links this time. They're 150k each

Manual 1

Manual 2

Manual 3

Manual 4

[Grayson72]

Thanks for the pics man, that ought to tide me over till mine comes in the mail.

I'm looking forward to how creative people will get with the paint schemes in the future.

[GunnerX]

Waoh! Can't wait for mine to arrive!!!! (Hurry up HLJ..)

Legs are just 2 pieces?!?! Puttying time!

Was wondering.. for other ppl building the VF-0, will you attach the FAST packs to the legs? Seems like it'll block some detail... or issit just a snap on?

[Grayson72]

It'd be cool if you could rig it to be removable

[Myersjessee]

looks nice...those legs look suprising...

[godfather]

First of all, it's bigger than I expected. I knew it'd be bigger than the VF-1, but still, it took be by surprise.

Yo dude!

Mine are still in snail-mail hell. I'm hoping they get here this week...

Coupla of dumb questions: what do you mean that it's bigger than a VF-1? Isn't is supposed to be in same scale (1/72)?

Thanks for the piccys btw.

[Myersjessee]

DANG! THERES already a done one on Yahoo Japan!

[Myersjessee]

and...

[Myersjessee]

LINK

[GunnerX]

Arrhhh! Beautiful! Now who's gonna build the cat-launch for it?

That's it... i'm leaving the fast packs off!

[Grayson72]

So what does everyone think of the panel shading on that build? I haven't decided if it's too much and if I'd like it better with a cleaner look.

[Valkyrie]

I saw that one this morning. That guy is good AND fast!

Here's a quick comparison shot of the 1 and the 0. Keep in mind, the VF-0 is actaully a bit longer than that, cause the feet aren't on

And here's a pic of the decals. Forgot to include them in the first set of pics.

Another big one

BTW, I've decided I'm going to build mine so I can attach the fast packs with magnets. I did some preliminary tests, and it looks like it's gonna work great

[Grayson72]

Hey Valkyrie, how many valks have you built?

[Valkyrie]

Let's see, so far I've done (in chronological order)

VF-1A Hikaru

VF-1J Max

VF-1A Hikaru Super Valkyrie

VF-1S Focker

I'm way out of practice... I haven't built a valk in well over a year. But I'm gonna give this one my best shot

[Grayson72]

Hey that's as many as me, you should post a pic of them all lined up.

[Angel's Fury]

Valkyrie, if you could do it as good or better than the one Myersjessee posted, then that would be awesome.

[wm cheng]

Hey Valkyrie... are you holdin out on us?

Come on lets see them all - even though I can't build right now... I still need my fix of models - I need to rely on you guys for the time being.

[Myersjessee]

Man..there is definiitly to much model buying, and not enough model building going on here....and I am one of the worst offenders...Ill remedy that someday though....does my customized, painted, panel lined, actualized, and seamed VF11 toy count as a model? (please...its taking me forever, I'd like some credit! )

[Grayson72]

Nope, hey man a toy is a toy and a model is a model. Bust out the glue and paint and get crackin'

[Myersjessee]

Nope, hey man a toy is a toy and a model is a model. Bust out the glue and paint and get crackin'

Come on...Im using modeling glue, strip styrene, modeling putty...heck...even some model parts and decals...not to mention I took it all apart....gutted all the screws out, and Im using glue to put it back together...certainly there is a mason-dixon line between toys and models that I am approaching!

[Grayson72]

WOW, that sounds like a really nice customization of a TOY!!!

Can't wait to see it.

[Myersjessee]

WOW, that sounds like a really nice customization of a TOY!!!

Can't wait to see it.

no pictures unless I get at least partial credit for building something!

[Valkyrie]

Hey Valkyrie... are you holdin out on us?

Heh, hardly. The valks I build came out decent, I think, but they're not exactly anything special.

Maybe I'll post pics of them later tho.

I've been building the VF-0 for a day or so now, and it seems like it isn't QUITE as good a kit as I initially thought it was. I still love it to death, but it's not without its flaws. And fixing them is consuming more time than I would have liked.

A few that come to mind...

First, there are no shutters for the arms, where the hands come out. The VF-1 has very nice ones, but the VF-0 has none. And there's a pretty nasty seam in there too. I gave up on trying to putty over them, and cut a piece of .010" styrene and glued it in place over them.

You were definitely right about the wing plugs, Cheng. They're a bit undersized, resulting in gaps around them. I tried puttying them up, but they didn't turn out all too well

You know how inside the Hase VF-1's fuselage, there's those 'trenches' on the bottom part? The rear ones get covered, but the front ones don't. Well, those trenches are back, and this time neither of them get covered. And they're visible (albeit slightly) when the kit's built. So I've got big globs of MoriMori putty curing in them right now.

There's rivets all along the outsides of the feet, but the ones along the sides are very faint, due to the way Hasegawa molded them. So I've gotta figure out how to scribe new rivet holes now...

But in Hasegawa's defense, the only way to get the rivets right would to make each foot half three parts.

There's a number of fairly minor surface flaws resulting from parts being made too thick in places. I'm not sure of the details of it all, but it seems if an area of a part is made too thick, there can be some shrinkage or something. And the result is some small, but noticable craters in the surface of some parts. And there's two of them on the top of the fuselage.

But the biggest pain in my ass right now is the intakes. They're laid out much the same as Hase's VF-1. You've got the intake housing halves (this time joined with the legs in the VF-0), the funnel-lookin' thing, the turbine blades, and the shutters, which sit up top.

First, there's a problem on the outside of the housing. On the bottom of the legs, there's a panel line that's completely wrong. The two halves each have a horizontal line going nowhere, when they should be diagonal lines which meet. I'll have to putty over those lines and scribe new ones. (see highlighted lines in 1st pic)

But the inside of the intake is a bigger problem. The parts all fit fine, but housing and the funnel don't 'flow' together like they should. I've had to do a lot of shaving, sanding, and puttying to get rid of all the gaps and 'steps' in there.

And the shutters aren't wide enough, so I'm extending them out with epoxy putty (see 2nd pic for before and after)

All that may sound like a lot, but don't let it discourage you from building one of your own. It's a great kit, and I still love it. It's just taking a bit of TLC to get it where I want it to be

[Graham]

First, there are no shutters for the arms, where the hands come out. The VF-1 has very nice ones, but the VF-0 has none. And there's a pretty nasty seam in there too. I gave up on trying to putty over them, and cut a piece of .010" styrene and glued it in place over them.

Actually, the VF-0's hands do not retract into the arms in fighter mode. They are permanently out in all three modes.

Graham

[Valkyrie]

Ahh, that solves that mystery. Thanks Graham.

The kit does come with part of the hands (though I didn't realise that's what they were until Graham mentioned that). But it's only the back surface of the hands, so they didn't seem to solve anything. Until it occured to me to try test-fitting it all with the backpack in place...

It never even occured to me that the big-ass packpack would hide the ends of the arms. And the hand pieces act as covers to bridge the gap between the arms and backpack. The sides are left open, but that's ok, because the legs will cover them.

So that seam in the would-be hand ports in the arms is no problem at all

[Hikuro]

Hmmm, looking at it now sorta makes me think twice about this kit. At first, I thought it might be rather good, Hasegawa makes rather impressive kits espically for Macross. But seeing this, I'm a bit dissappointed on it's overall appearance.

Something I really hate are the decals, no doubt, those are water based right? I can't stand those, they dry so fast, their fragile, and they start to like tangle on to itself when coming in contact with one and other....it's just ugh! It's hard to line them up properly for me, that's why I always end up having to paint that stuff on there and it's a pain to do it cause I gotta outline the stuff and get it right!

: / I did think of ordering a VF-1, but not from HLJ, they're TOO SLOW for me, took a month to get a 1/72 Bandai kit and it was broken in some areas...

I'll look else where for a kit.

[tetsujin]

Hmmm, looking at it now sorta makes me think twice about this kit. At first, I thought it might be rather good, Hasegawa makes rather impressive kits espically for Macross. But seeing this, I'm a bit dissappointed on it's (sic) overall appearance.

Something I really hate are the decals, no doubt, those are water based right? I can't stand those, they dry so fast, their fragile, and they start to like tangle on to itself when coming in contact with one and other....it's just ugh! It's hard to line them up properly for me, that's why I always end up having to paint that stuff on there and it's a pain to do it cause I gotta outline the stuff and get it right!

Decals take practice. If you know how to work with decals they're not hard at all. You can keep them mobile by keeping the model surface wet, and then once they're in place and they've settled down a bit, you can hit them with decal solvent and they'll almost look like they were painted-on. It can be frustrating to attempt large decals when you're out of practice like I was a couple years ago, but once you get the hang of it it's great stuff. Much better than the alternatives, like Bandai's stickers or even dry transfers.

[Grayson72]

If you don't like water decals then you're probably not an experienced model builder. Any model I've ever built had water slide decals. Peel and stick are for toys.

[Hikuro]

no I'm not an "experinced" model builder to say. I do build a large amount of Gundam, model cars, and such. But for the Macross kits I generally paint what I want cause I enjoy making custom versions.

[Captain Angel]

Man, do I wish I had the money to order one...