Arii’s 1/100 scale Regult Battle Pod from the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross TV Series is a great example. Manufactured and designed in 1982 this kit is one of the better kits from the line that builds up to a great representation of our favorite two-legged cannon fodder monster, although not without some minor faults.

Regult Arii 1/100

Model kits have an unusual connection with toy collectors. Usually, they are bypassed and forgotten by toy collectors, as most do not have the skill to build the kits leaving some great subjects that have been represented in sprue sadly left behind and under represented.

Arii’s 1980’s Macross line is a perfect example. Some great subjects were injected into plastic model kits but because many of the kits in the line that were produced were less than satisfactory the entire line has had a bad reputation over the years, even though there are few well done gems in the line.

Arii’s 1/100 scale Regult Battle Pod from the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross TV Series is a great example. Manufactured and designed in 1982 this kit is one of the better kits from the line that builds up to a great representation of our favorite two-legged cannon fodder monster, although not without some minor faults.

Arii’s Regult kit includes: 2x off white sprue, 1x black rubber polycaps, 1x instruction, 1x promotional flyer, 1x sheet of decals, 1x Glue. No options are supplied. The skill level is moderate to advanced due to the fragility of the legs and paint masking.

According to Macross World this kit is a rare kit due to some quality issues with the upper leg joints. I picked up this kit about 7 years ago at an antique store in New Mexico for $14.00. I just happen to luck out when I saw it at a vendor booth with an “all items 50% off“ sign. This was good as the original $28.00 asking price was a bit overpriced. Today, expect to pay from $8.00 to $18.00 for these kits.

As with many of the early 1980’s Macross oil painted toy and model kit box art, this Regult box art is fantastic and first rate and really captures the spirit, realism and mystery of what I love about Macross to this day. The downside, and typical of the era, is that the model kit itself is not represented on the box top or sides, but in this case you are getting a decent kit.

The kit itself is a straightforward build, but there are some things you should be aware of. I was surprised to see so much flash on this kit but considering that these Macross kits out produced even the landmark Gundam 0079 from three years earlier shows the popularity of these kits and I am sure that the molds were run down. Some parts clean up are necessary for the parts to fit correctly, especially the rear facing cannons array on the top of the Regult.

Great care is needed when building up the upper leg area. Very much if you accidently drop even one tiny drop of glue in the wrong area forget it, it’s over. Make sure all the seams are filled properly before gluing those upper leg parts together. But if you take your time you should have no problem. I have read that the upper legs were redesigned in Arii’s later Regult kits, but as I do not own any of these later kits, I cannot comment on how they were redesigned.

Also the designers of these kits were more focused on playability of the kit after it is finished. They designed it so moveable joint parts are permanently joined together and cannot be taken apart. Since this kit was for display only I opted to leave those parts off for ease of painting at a later stage. Keep in mind this does not affect the pose ability of the kit after one is finished with the kit.

The six-gun cannons present a few problems, the major one being that two larger cannons are a bit awkward and thick for the scale, as the cannon barrel holes should be filed down to look more scaled. If you have the skill, new cannons could be lathed out of aluminum for a better look. The heels were also open so I boxed them so they can look solid. You might want to box in the toes as well which was something I was planning to do but I thought I did not have the right resources. It was not until I was nearly finished when I realized I did have the right book with the proper info. I will build up these details on the next Regult I build.

The body is three parts, the front, back and the bottom cap. I purposely left the bottom cap off until final assembly so I can put all the cannon parts in after I was through painting and decaling. My biggest complaint is how the jet nozzles are designed to be assembled together. Instead of having a bottom and top half the parts are split down the middle leaving a near impossible seam to fill. Filling the deep seam not only destroys the detail around it, but also destroys the shape of the nozzle in general and demands a lot of reshaping for the part to look right.

Painting this kit is where one needs to deliver, as all the painting details are no joke and quite intricate. This is not like your current Systeminjection multi-color sprue Bandai kit, this kit is molded in one color, off white and every detail needs to be masked and painted. I painted the kit with Tamiya and other than the light blue, which needed to be mixed, all the other colors were straight out of the bottle. Honestly, give yourself about a week to paint this little monster as there are so many small details involved and they just don’t paint themselves!

I sprayed a Testor’s gloss coat and applied the decals. I accidently dropped the entire sheet into water bowl so I had a limited time to quickly apply all the decals. Of what I can see the decals went on well but typical of the Arii decals, the instructions only tell you where to about six of the 25 decals provided. Thankfully Macross World saved me again and I was able to use their resources to place the other decals on the kit.

After a spraying a Testor’s flat coat, I applied a mix of black and burnt sienna oil paints for the weathering and finished it off with a silver color pencil to represent chips in the paint.

My other main issue with this kit is the scale. Since we here at CollectionDX already discussed scaling issues with some of the Macross vehicles here, there is no need to open a sore wound. But I am going to say its too small especially if you compare it to Imai’s 1/100 scale of Captain Kamujin Zentradi Armored Space suit, which I feel, is scaled correctly. I know the pilot has a snug fit in the Regult but there is no way the Kamujin kit would fit inside this Regult kit or fit through the hatch in the back. Also viewing the kit from the back, the Regult body looks squashed especially compared to Revoltech’s Regult.

Besides the jet nozzles parts and some scaling issues this kit builds up into an impressive model kit and stands out from the self amongst my other Macross toys and models. The best part about this kit is that it is one of the few representations of the Regult in any form and accordingly it is great to have an item few people have in their collections to display. The pose ability of the kit is quite good, with upper leg and waist pivot and bendable knees and toes and positional jet nozzles.

Again I suggest this kit to moderate to advanced builders due to the paint masking and upper leg fragility but if you take your time with the finish and parts you will be rewarded with a beautiful representation of a classic Macross vehicle.

©2009 Article and pictures Leonardo Flores and CollectionDX.

I am sure this was a memorable purchase for many at San Diego Comic Con 2009.

When Toynami set out to create a more affordable Macross toy, the results were mostly satisfactory. Their 1/100 line for better or worse is readily available at almost any comic book store for the low introductory price of $15.99. They were marketed as Macross toys with nary a hint of the Robotech logo in sight. This particular example is the first time this toy has been marked as a Robotech toy. This exclusive "Stealth" Veritech also comes with the Strike/Super pack accessory, which is a little confusing since the Strike pack was never part of Robotech. The color scheme is also unique although it feels a little bit like a combination of the Stealth and Anniversary colors used by Yamato and Hasegawa Macross products.

The toy looks alright in fighter mode. The intakes do not lock into the upper fuselage nor does the backpack lock into the legs so it can be a little fiddly. The toy comes with four missile packs of each type and the extra set adds three large missiles. The gunpod attaches via its own special part that replaces the gunpod's handle and plugs into holes on the bottom of the stowed arms.

The landing gear is a simple plug-in affair with the holes being hidden under folding panels.

Gerwalk mode is also fairly standard. The toys comes with two fists, one gun holding hand, and two styles of open palm. For this mode, the toy's extensive stand set is attached by simply plugging a ball joint into a hole on the underside.

Battroid mode is arguable this toy's best mode. It features good articulation and several features like the ability to attach the gunpod to its arm. I'm afraid this sample has some excess plastic around the right shoulder.

The Strike pack fits well to the figure. Nothing feels like its going to fall off.

Strike Battroid looks good as well.

Battroid mode comes with its own stand attachment piece which plugs in under the backpack. There is also a stand extension piece to give the figure a little more altitude.

The only real problem with this figure is that there are a lot of small parts to keep track of. Be sure to buy a little storage bin.

With the impending release of Waves new Destroid model kits I thought I would go back and revisit an old favorite and reevaluate the 1/100 Destroid Defender "Angel Face" kit and see if our little fork-toed friend still holds up to today’s modeling standards.

Destroid Defender "Angel Face" 1/100 Arii

The Destroid Defender was one of five different styles of non-variable battle robots that were used throughout the 1982 anime series Super Dimensional Fortress Macross. The Destroid Defender was very much a walking anti-aircraft gun platform, armed with four cannons and operated by a single driver. Although they heroically put up a good fight against the Zentradi, the slow moving and bulky Destroids usually became one of the series “cannon fodder” mechas. Regardless, they are affectionately remembered and have a cult following by Macross fans.

I have always concluded the Arii’s 1/100 Destroid model kits from Macross were much better tooled and sculpted than the Valkyrie kits from the same line. With the impending release of Waves new Destroid model kits I thought I would go back and revisit an old favorite and reevaluate the 1/100 Destroid Defender kit and see if it still holds up to today’s modeling standards.

I had only build Imai excellent 1/72 Destroid Defender model kit when I was younger, and missed out on building Arii’s 1/100 Defender kit. I picked up my Defender from a dealer at Macross Con ’08 for $5.00, but they have been reissued periodically since they were originally released back in 1982 and can still be found under $10.00. This kit is comes in a reissue box from the 1990’s and although box art looks decent, I definitely prefer the original oil painting style illustrated boxes from the first release.

The Arii 1/100 Destroid Defender kit includes: 2x Dark Tan sprue, 1x polycap, 1x full color instructions, 1x caution sheet. There are no options. This kit does not come with any clear parts.

I have taken for granted the statement “…the model kit has sharp details…” that I forgot what a model kit looks like with soft details. The details of this kit are very soft and rounded, and not sharp at all, unlike a current Fine-Molds or Tamiya kit. I have always likened the Destroids to tanks and accordingly I am used to those types of details for a tank type kit.

When these Arii kits first came out they broke the previous record of number of units sold, beating the previous record that had been held by Gundam kits when they first were released a few years earlier. Nearly 30 years later these Macross molds are still being used and the wear of the molds on these kits are starting to show. Make sure you have a lot of green putty because the fit is terrible, especially on the body, lower legs and where the gun barrels attach to the upper arms. Most of the time spent building this kit was filling up all the gaps with green putty and Mr. Surfacer 500. I also boxed in the arm pivot area with some thin sheet styrene to close up the gap and make it less toy looking.

The good feature about this kit is that you are not committed to putting all the main parts together until you are finished building the kit. This helps with the ease of painting, decaling and finishing. The separated parts include the arms, legs, waist, body and radar. They easily snap in and out of place due to the polycaps. I wish that Arii did this for the feet as well, but as is, it is fine with me.

By far the worst engineering in this kit is the bottom leg section. It is nearly impossible to fill and shape the gaps in the front and back of the lower leg. Also they expect the modeler to chisel out the middle section of the front of the leg leaving only the small corner “L” shaped edges on the leg. I knew something looked wrong and it was too late before I figured it out. Why Arii just did not make it smooth with eight small “L” shaped parts to glue to the leg is beyond me as it is considerably more dangerous to allow a kid to chisel out that part with and Xacto-Knife than to just have eight small parts. The rear ankle parts had open holes, which I boxed in to get a solid look.

Gluing the barrels to the upper arm did not go to well either and after applying layers of green putty and Mr. Surfacer I was able to get a good fit. The front sensor part also had some difficulty. Molded in two halves (Parts 18 & 19), when glued it presents itself with a seam that is impossible to fill without damaging the surrounding area. I decided to glue some thin sheet styrene over the gaps. The result is great but it took a considerable amount of time to accomplish that goal. I also suggest not gluing the completed sensor part until the last step after painting and applying the decals as it would be impossible to mask off the ammunition box parts as it is a small area to work with. You will be glad you did.

The real shame of this kit is not including any clear parts. These parts should include the clear sensor covering, the two headlights and the knee lights. A red clear senor gem should have also been included. The senor cover should cover the red and black part on the “nose”. The headlights should be painted white or silver and knee sensors are represented as decals. A red gem could be scratched build and would great improve the look of the kit.

I have made some effort this year to improve my weathering technique and though the Defender would be a good platform to experiment with. As an undercoat I painted Tamiya German Grey around the panels and raised areas and painted Tamiya XF-60 Dark Yellow as the overall base coat. Tamiya Green Khaki was used for the ammunition boxes and Testors dark Gull Grey was used in lower knee area then sprayed Testors gloss coat for decals.

When I first saw the decal sheet I though the decals were junk. They were very frosty looking, the details were not sharp and even the sheet was not cut correctly. Surprisingly they were some of the best decals I have ever worked with although one cannot read the words on the stencils. Unfortunately the decal placement was very vague in the instructions but luckily enough I was able to go back to my old Imai Defender kit and use the resources at Macrossworld.con to get the decals in the right places. One cool decal that the kit came with was some pin-up art for the Destroid named “Angel Face”. It is suppose to be placed on the left toe, but I moved it up to the lower leg for better display. Over all I love the WWII tank feel with the decals such as the pin-up art, geometric codes on the back, “V” ammunition box codes and stencil serial numbers.

One complaint I have read about the kit is the application of the while leg stencils. The upper leg stencils after being cut in half presents no problem when applying but the lower leg stencils have to set on a high contour raised area. Believe it or not I got it to set with Solve-set a high concentration decal setting solution I picked up at the local hobby shop. It took a while and I had to work with it but I got all four stencils around the contour with no major problems. The finished product looks great and I highly suggest picking up a bottle of Solve-set for your modeling supplies.

After spraying a coat of flat coat, I applied a wash of Winston oil paints of Lamp Black and Burnt Umber. I dry brushed a lighter tan for the raised areas. Most importantly this was the first time I used MIG weather products from Spain. I wanted to represent a Destroid Defender from after the Battle of Mars in episode 7: Bye-Bye Mars. MIG products is a weathering systems of paints and washes developed by a Spanish modeler named Mig Jimenez http://www.migproductions.com/index.htm that has very much taken the military modeling community by storm by introducing some unique products to modelers.

I bought Europe Dust P028 a powdery substance that is mixed together with MIG Thinner for washes. When the two products are mixed together it produces a thick muddy substance. The mud is then applied to the model with a brush, and when the thinner evaporates a very realistic mud coating is left on the kit. I only used it in the lower leg and feet area and other places where Martian mud would settle. It is going to take some mastering but I think these MIG products have a lot of potential for Sci-fi modelers. I finally airbrushed some black in the gun barrel tips and other assorted areas and sprayed another flat coat over the kit again seal it completely.

What do I think of this kit? At first I was quite disappointed with the kit with its soft details, lack of clear parts, ill fitting parts and the many problems with the lower leg area. But after I painted, decaled and weathered it, the Destroid kind of came into its own. The raised details weather quite well and the small details such as the pin-up art make this an interesting kit. The Arii Defender kit does stand a bit stocky for my taste but overall I am quite pleased with the kit.

The real question is how much time do you want top spent on fixing a $5-$10 model kit? I only did some minor improvements but a modeling expert could make this a stand out kit. And for $5.00 it is cheap enough for a beginner modeler to have some fun, and the overall one color is great for modeler who uses spray cans. Yes this is an old kit, but unlike the Arii’s Valkyrie kits, with some elbow grease this kit still has little life left in it for the Macross modeler.

© 2009 Article and pictures by Leonardo Flores and Collection DX.

It seems like every kid on the block had one of these Macross Valkyrie VF-1J Bootleg figures in their toy-box. This VF-1J was one of the many inexpensive toys that were easily available at the local swaps meets and 99 cent stores and was perhaps one of the most popular bootlegs available during the early 1980’s.

Valkyrie VF-1J Bootleg

It seems like every kid on the block had one of these Macross Valkyrie VF-1J Bootleg figures in their toy-box. This VF-1J was one of the many inexpensive toys that were easily available at the local swaps meets and 99 cent stores and was perhaps one of the most popular bootlegs available during the early 1980’s.

If one wanted to find obscure Japanese toys, besides Japanese specialty toyshops, the local swap meets were the place to go. The list of legitimate Japanese toys that I bought at these swap meets is endless and I still own many of these toys in my collection today. The swap meets were also a place where many bootleg Japanese toys were sold. Many of the Go-Lion bootlegs that are available today originated during this “Swap Meet Chogokin” era.

With many Macross/Robotech Valkyrie toys being difficult to locate or expensive to purchase, it was no wonder this bootleg Valkyrie was as popular as it was. I do believe this was a recast from the small scale Takatoku Valkyrie that was available at the time as I remember owning a VF-1A Hikaru from Do You Remember Love? in this scale. Even the box is a not so subtle nod to the Takatoku packaging.

The bootleg boxed Valkyrie VF-1J consists of: 1x VF-1J, 1x Laser Rifle, 1x instruction sheet with blue printing.

Although it was a bootleg, this toy was fairly well made. Many of the parts were die cast metal, good plastic was used and the articulation was decent considering in was designed in the 1980’s. Metal parts include the chest and back area, the legs, feet and wheels. Most importantly it was fully transformable from Fighter, Gerwalk and Battloid modes. If you own one of these be extremely careful of when transforming this figure as it has weak shoulder hinges, as my original toy easily broke in the shoulder area back in the 1980’s.

I wish the color was more of a white color, like the VF-1A DYRL Hikaru but it seems very standard compared to the Takatoku releases at the time. Transformation is standard but the hands do not telescope into the arms. The head turns and antennas rotate and the head shape is very accurate but I had wished they had included some sort of visor details, as it is very plain looking.

The worst accessory to this figure is the laser rifle, which appears to from another toy. It just looks so wrong! If anybody has a guess what toy it was from let us know. It looks like it is something from Southern Cross but that is just a guess. The stickers are already attached to the figure and except for the out of scale red stripe flash on the
chest, they are applied well.

Next to the bootleg Go-Lion/Voltron figures, these VF-1J’s were some of the most popular non-licensed Japanese toys that were available in Southern California. A co-worker still had this boxed figure in his collection that he bought back when he was younger and sold it to me when he found out I wrote vintage toy reviews. I do not know how much these sell for these days but I’m sure a boxed C-10 VF-1J would easily sell for $60.00 today.

©2008 Article and pictures by Leonardo Flores & CollectionDX

When I turned 15 years old all those years ago, some friends of the family had bought me for my birthday Revell’s Robotech model kit of Orbot, the USA re-boxed version Imai’s variable VF-1D Valkyrie. Due to many circumstances I was finally able to complete the model kit a week ago, which just happened to be my 34th birthday! This is the saga of one VF-1D, changing modeling skills and one of the greatest Macross model kits series ever.

1/72 Imai Macross VF-1D / Revell Robotech Changers Orbot

When I turned 15 years old all those years ago, some friends of the family had bought me for my birthday Revell’s Robotech model kit of Orbot, the USA re-boxed version Imai’s variable VF-1D Valkyrie. Due to many circumstances I was finally able to complete the model kit a week ago, which just happened to be my 34th birthday! This is the saga of one VF-1D, changing modeling skills and one of the greatest Macross model kits series ever.

What prompted me to finally complete my long unfinished VF-1D is when a few months ago I bought Hasagawa’s 1/72 VF-1A/S Strike/Super Valkyrie model kit. I have been anticipating the building of the new Hasagawa kits for years and it was great to finally build one. I bought the Hasagawa kit, the photoetched parts, the display stand set and optional weapon packs kits. Then I pulled out my trusty x-acto #11 blade. But something lingered in the back of my mind. “I know, I can’t start this kit until I finish the last Valkyrie I started all those years ago”.

Back in the 1980’s model kit manufacture Revell was keen on the growing US market of Japanese related robot model kits and picked up the license to re-package some of Imai’s model kits. The bulk of the line was Fang of Sun Dougram, but a few Macross and Orguss model kits were thrown in for good measures. The model kits were released under one banner, most likely coined by one of Revell’s still nameless marketing employee. The name of the model kit line was called Robotech, which actually predated the Robotech TV series by at least a year. How the Robotech model kit line became the name of a TV series produced by Harmony Gold is another story for another review.

Robotech model kits could be bought at many shopping mall outlets such as Kay-Bee Toy & Hobby and Playco Toys stores. When Revell repackaged the kits they did not keep to the original names, paint schemes and decal placement as Revell decided to publish new instructions in English and photographed new model kit box art. Thus the VF-1D became the Viet Nam era camouflaged Orbot, the VF-1J Millia became Axoid and the VF-1S became Vexar.

I was indebted to the friends of the family who gave me the kit but for some reason life has given me VF-1D model kits to build when I wanted to build a VF-1J, VF-1S or the even better VF-1A Hikaru from Do You Remember Love. As a kid I thought that the VF-1D was the silly trainer version that got all shot up in the first four episodes of Macross. I had built four VF-1D's and quite frankly I am tired of building them. Even the Hasagawa limited release of their 1/72 VF-1D blows me out just thinking about it.

First off, if you have not experienced more than a few model kits I would flatly suggest you pass up building this kit. Although the VF-1D is a well-produced kit this is a very difficult and trying model kit to build. There are many seams to fill, many parts to easily confuse and assemble backwards, and many complex and fragile parts to easily break or accidenly glue together.

Revell Robotech Orbot/ Imai Macross VF-1D come with the following: Set of sprues, 1x clear sprue, 3x rubber tires, 2x metal landing gear, 2x metal shoulder joints, 1x screw, 1x polycaps, 1x set of decals, 1x instructions, and 1x Robotech model one-sheet catalog. I do not know if the Imai VF-1D came with any other extra inserts such as an Imai catalog or stickers. The plastic parts are finely molded with recessed panel lines and the metal castings are solid with hard sturdy metal, not soft pewter type metal.

The designers at Imai had thought this kit through; two of the most fragile parts were cast in metal such as the landing gear and shoulder hinges. A screw is used to keep the many body parts together. For a nice added touch the wheels could be assembled with an optional choice of plastic injected molded tires or rubber tires.

The assembly of the kit can be broken down into three main components: 1) body assembly 2) leg and arm assembly 3) cockpit assembly. Although this is a variable model kit the cockpit needs to be pulled off and replaced with a shielded cockpit for the legs to attach to in Battloid mode.

The arm and leg assembly are the most difficult parts to assemble. Always remember to check and check again before you apply glue. I remember my friends and I building these kits when I was a kid. It happened more than once when we glued the wrong intake parts to the wrong leg parts. This was partly the fault of Revell as they attached the legs backwards on the box art.

One feature I did not like on the kit was the kneepad armor in Battloid. That is one feature I love about the Battloid armor and was, until recently, consistently being left off toys and models of the Valkyrie and this Imai kit was no different. I am sure it would not be too difficult to scratchbuild that mod.

Be careful with only using just enough glue to attach these parts together. If the glue overflows into a joint, just forget finishing the kit, as it will be dead in the water with an unmovable joint. This happened to one of my arm parts, I broke it apart and now the parts fall off if the arm joint is rotated. This also happened with the gun pod as I put too much glue and it spilled over into the sliding joint and now the gunpod is glued opened. Special care is also needed when gluing the sliding fist parts into the forearm area.

The only major modification I made to this kit was making the fist shields on the hands and the squared off fingers Do You Remember Love style. Sausage fingers on real robot era robots do nothing for me and it is a great and simple mod that improves the look of the kit. Unfortunately, the shields are two big to fit in the hole when they retract so I plan to steal some other fists from another Imai Valkyrie kit I plan to purchase soon.

As stated before the center cockpit capsule needs to be changed out when transforming from the Fighter/Gerwalk mode to the Battloid mode. The cockpit is finely detailed but the undercarriage wheel well is plain and is best to use some sheet styrene to spice up the look of the wheel well. The shape of the two cockpits is different to compensate for the minor scaling issues from the Fighter to Battloid mode.

I started building this kit when I graduated High School in the early 90’s when I felt that I could approach it with better skills. Another mod that I planned to do was convert it into Hikaru’s VF-1A DYRL style as the kit does come with extra parts such as the short nose glass and standard chest plate. So I thought I would be cute and cut the long glass shorter and use that part to fill up the second seat space and use the short window as the main window. Very much my chop job was a nightmare. Not only that the VF-1A head I was going to use from the Bandai 1/72 Valkyrie kit was too thin looking for the body.

I used a dark grey Testor’s “primer” that was too dark for the light colored paint scheme. It was not a proper primer; just a grey color that I thought would work for the kit. That alone was another nightmare as the paint never really grabbed onto the plastic and up until the last day, paint still flaked off when I pulled the tape off.

The body part is straightforward but take special notice of making sure you do not glue parts that should otherwise move freely. The wings are capable of holding the missiles on pylons using polycaps but keep in mind it is near impossible to paint polycap material and it is just best to keep them unpainted. The missiles do come off the wings.

One of the best details of the model kit is the head, it is well molded and the front sensor glass area looks great when painted in clear green and grey. The only regret is that it is not on a ball joint. Otherwise it looks accurate when use in both Fighter and Battloid modes.

For about 15 years I worked on and off again on my VF-1D. My skills improved over the years and I have not made those types of mistakes in many years, but at the time for every step forward I took on the kit it put me two steps backwards. You live and learn. When I bought the Hasagawa kit I still had the sense to finish one Macross Valkyrie project before I started another. So I pulled out the Imai kit for one last push to finish the model. It seems in 2008 I had new tools and friends to help out.

The first step I took was to convert it all back to what the kit was intended for, as a VF-1D. So I took all the irrelevant parts off and put on all the VF-1D parts again. Also these days I am a part of a local International Plastic Modelers Society (IPMS) model building group and a fellow member was kind enough to take some time out of his schedule and vacumform a new canopy for me.

I finished the kit with Testors Radome Tan and a custom flat orange I mixed up using Testors flat yellow and flat red. Having built a few VF-1D’s DO NOT under estimate the black stencils on the chest area and shielded Battloid cockpit area. Take out a day to paint the intricate black stencils, as they are very time consuming to paint and to line up properly when masking. And whatever you do not use Comico's Robotech: The Macross Saga comics as a paint guide!

Another nice tool that was not available in the 1990’s was the Internet. Macross World has a great gallery of classic Macross model kit box art and instructions. Revell left out all the decal and painting information in the Vexar instructions but I was able to use Macross World’s resources to complete the kit properly.

Once assembled the transformation of the kit is quite easy. The kit looks well balanced and appealing in all three modes. Considering this kit came out in 1983 it still holds up very well and is still the only 1/72 scale transforming model kit of a Valkyrie. Because of the thick paint application many of the parts do not close properly like the cockpit to the body section and the top seam of the chest plate and back plate when it is in fighter mode. The vertical stabilizer backpack section does not hold well on the back in Battloid mode. Any idea of making it hold better would be greatly appreciated.

I am content that I was finally able to finish the kit after all those years. It is one of my most commented models I have on my display shelf although these days I could definitely build and paint a better version. I must have done something right as I was able to finish up the model in time of our regional IPMS model kit contest in Ontario, CA last summer and I was quite surprised when I took home the second place trophy in Sci-Fi category ( I displayed the model in Battloid mode at the contest, I did not finish the cockpit until a couple weeks ago)!

The Imai variable Valkyrie kits are definitely worth picking up. In all reality the first Valkyrie we see in Macross in Battloid mode is this VF-1D and it is must to have a representation in any form in the collection. Hobby Link Japan right now has the current Bandai reissues of the Imai kits of VF-1A and VF-1D for about 1700 yen. The Robotech boxed kits are surprisingly hard to locate unbuild these days and most of the boxes are crushed due to the thin cardboard that Revell used for all their model kits in the 1980’s. My only suggestion is if you decide to build these kits is to double and triple check your parts before you glue them together and take your time when building and checking seams, although I do not think you will need to take 15 years time in doing so!

© Article and Photos Leonardo D Flores “modcineaste” and Collection DX

There is something about toy and model collectors that when a manufacture reissues a product in chrome or clear, we just lose it. We could be perfectly content with our collection and be about our business but as soon as we glance at a chrome reissue of a toy we already have we are drooling fools.

Arii Metalized Custom VF-1D 1/100

(For my review of the building and scale issues with this kit please read my Arii 1/100 VF-1A review, as it is the same kit with a different head detail and without the chrome plating.

There is something about toy and model collectors that when a manufacture reissues a product in chrome or clear, we just lose it. We could be perfectly content with our collection and be about our business but as soon as we glance at a chrome reissue of a toy we already have we are drooling fools.

Arii picked five model kits from their 1/100 Super Dimensional Space Fortress Macross line and plated them in blue tinted chrome. These included A Battroid VF-1S, Destroids Defender, Destroid Spartan, Gerwalk VF-1J and this Fighter VF-1D. I do not know how limited edition these kits were but I do know the Valkyrie fighter was fairly common back in the 80’s and 90’s but the other four are quite rare as the only other kit I have managed to locate is the Spartan.

When building this kit remember that glue does not stick to plastic chrome plating well, so the main issue when building this kit is making sure you scrape off all the plating with an x-acto blade in the areas about to be glued before building as your model will fall apart if you don’t. Trust me I found out the hard way all those years ago when I originally built this kit when I was a kid in the 80’s and the kit kept falling apart! I am surprised I still have as many pieces of the kit as I do.

I purchased this kit on clearance at a great, but no longer in business, hobby shop called The Hobby Hut in Upland California for $6.00 in the 1980’s. The Hobby Hut stocked a lot of great anime, airplane and military kits at great prices and it was a huge loses when they closed down. Not only that the Hobby Hut has got to be the greatest hobby shop name ever!

I am not particularly fond of the box art of this series as its very boring and the picture of the model could have been framed better.

There are some details with this kit that work and others that do not. For one thing the one of the main themes in building model kits is filling the seems in and with the chrome plating one simply can not fill in and sand the seams as the unique chrome finish can not be duplicated. You could use Testors Metalizer or Alclad metal finish but it would not match the chrome finish of the kit. Metal finishes are the hardest paint finishes to duplicate on model kits and it would be much easier to just buy an unplated kit and spray it with Alclad or Metalizer, which kind of defeats the purpose of a chrome plated kit to begin with. So if you are going to build it understand the seams are going to be part of the kit when it is finished.

And because its chrome I’m sure you’ll get a lot of discussion and remarks from other collectors and casual fans about that shinny Chrome Valkyrie on your shelf.

Leonardo Flores “ModCineaste” Copyright 2008

It is odd to note that when Japanese model kit firm Arii was licensed to produce model kits for the 1982 series Super Dimension Space Fortress Macross that the worst scaled kits in the line would be the flagship vehicles of the show, The Valkyrie Fighters, Battroid and Gerwalk variations.

ARII VF-1A Valkyrie Fighter 1/100 #50

It is odd to note that when Japanese model kit firm Arii was licensed to produce model kits for the 1982 series Super Dimension Space Fortress Macross that the worst scaled kits in the line would be the flagship vehicles of the show, The Valkyrie Fighters, Battroid and Gerwalk variations.

Looking back all these years it’s good to note that most of the other kits produced by Arii of their 1/100 Macross model line still hold up quite well. Good examples are the Destroids and Regult battle pod lines, one of which I should have finished for a review shortly.

Most model airplanes plastic model kits are usually manufactured in four scales: 1/144, 1/72, 1/48, and 1/32. 1/144 is considered the airliner scale, as most all airline model kits would be much too large to fit on a shelf if they were produced in a larger scale. The second scale 1/72 is considered an international or standard scale as most all manufacturers worldwide still produce kits of this size. It is a great scale as it is just large enough to produce a decent scale kit of a small WWII airplane but just small enough to produce a large bomber kit such as Monogram’s B-36 Peacemaker kit.

I/48 and 1/32 are great scales for large high detailed kits and it is a good scale to mix armor and airplane kits with for same scale diorama scenes. Yes there are other scales but these four are the most popular in aviation plastic modeling.

.

One scale that has seemed to have died in military modeling is 1/100 scale. In the 60’s and 70’s there were quite a few companies producing 1/100 scale model kits, but over the last couple of decades 1/100 scale has seemed to disappear from the model shelves for aviation modeling. The huge exception of course is if you build anime robot model kits.

Most Gundam model kits are produced in 1/144 and 1/100 scale and those two scales are the most popular in anime robot modeling, with 1/100 scale being reserved for Gundam High Grade model kits. I personally build model airplanes in 1/72 scale and having these Arii Valkyrie kits produced in such a small scale that is out of scale with all my other airplane model kits, the VF-1A just does not look right sitting on the shelf next to my other airplanes.

Is it really not too much to ask to produce a 1/72 scale or even a 1/48 or 1/32 scale Valkyrie kit? The Grumman F-14 Tomcat, which is slightly larger than a Valkyrie, has been produced in 1/48 and even 1/32 scale by a few manufactures. So I ask, “When is our large scale Valkyrie model kit going to be produced?”

The VF-1A was the standard and most numerous fighters in the Macross TV show. Usually they were the cannon fodder in the series and most of the pilots on Macross seemed to have started with the VF-1A.

If you are going to build it out of the box, one fault is the clear window is molded distorted and thick and is out of scale. If you have the ability it would be best to vacumform a new window with thinner clear material. Also there is sparse detail in the cockpit and landing well areas of the kit.

I painted my VF-1A with Testors Model Master Flat Military Brown and flat white, they appear to be a great match to the colors on the instruction sheet. The model was painted with a Badger 350 airbrush. After spraying a gloss coat I applied the decals, which were a bit thick but went on and set well with Microset and Microsol decal setter. After a flat coat to seal the paint I applied a thin wash of paint thinner and black paint although these days I do not apply washes that way (I use oil paint now). I built the kit around 11 years ago, and although I have lost a few pieces over the years it still looks nice.

Now lets talk about Arii scale issues with the entire kit and entire Valkyrie line. If this model kit were to transform it would look nothing like the Arii 1/100 scale Battroid. The body of the aircraft is too thin and long and the arms would be too long and small. The heads are too completely different sizes as well. The Battroid is shorter looking and stocky and the legs and arms are fat. The Gerwalk and fighter bodies are two different bodies. It seems there was no continuity in designing the Valkyrie series, which is too bad as the Valkyrie was the main icon of the series. But of the three the Valkyrie Fighter looks the best and still looks in proportion even though it is out of proportion.

Since these poor kits were manufactured a few other Valkyrie kits were produced. Soon after this kit was released one of the other Macross model kit licensee Imai would produce an excellent 1/72 scale Variable Valkyrie model kit that 20 years later still hold up beautifully. Also Arii will scale down the Imai molds to 1/100 scale and release their own variable Valkyrie kit that also still holds up well.

Most important and recently, the model industries most innovative and important model aviation manufacturer Hasagawa started producing Macross Valkyrie kits. Of what I have seen they look beautiful and better yet they are manufactured in 1/72! It appears the designer of the new Hasagawa Valkyrie kit approached the kit as if it was a real aircraft, something Arii should have done all those years ago. I am looking forward to building one these Hasagawa kits soon; their Strike Valkyrie Fighter is a beauty!

Leonardo Flores “Mod Cineaste”

You would think at this point when I find certain product in the clearance bin I would stay far, far away. But noooooo, even at 1.99 I feel ripped off. Here’s my review of one of those silly Super Deformed Veritech’s by Toynami.

Released in 2002 with a bunch of other Toynami produced Robotech product, the Super Deformed Veritech’s ended up as peg warmers very quickly and ultimately in the clearance bins of most specialty stores.

The figure transforms between Fighter and Robot mode and isn't designed to hold any sort of Guardian mode.In fighter mode it has pull back motorized feature to make your fighter fly along which is not a feature that has ever impressed me in a toy.

Paint detail is ok, it's not great and it's not horrible. Articulation is almost non existent and the arms and legs are loose, as are the wings. I realize that this is just supposed to be a “cute” toy but I don’t really think it’s cute or fun and feels kind of cheap for the original retail price.

Even on clearance it’s a waste of money. If someone tries to give you one, say no. If they insist on trying to give you one, take it … then throw it out when they are not looking. It is better to spare their feelings than ridicule their taste in toys. Sorry Toynami, you probably should have re-released the old Bandai Super Deformed toys or at least taken more of a design nod from them.

A very recent aquisition of mine... But being a massive Robotech nerd, you could easily ask, what took ya so long!?

First off, if you want to check out more super-dimensional action, be sure to check out Atom's great review of Wave's 1/5000 DYRL-version Macross! Afterall, we have him to thank--at least in part--for this review. The recent release of Wave's Macross and Atom's subsequent review actually inspired me to pick up this 1985 US release of Matchbox's "Robotech SDF-1 Battle Fortress", a repackaging of the 1984 Japanese release of Takatoku's 1/3000 "Storm Attacker Construction" Macross toy.

Funny how toy collecting works sometimes. Toys, even vintage ones, that are extremely ubiquitous tend to fly right under my radar, no matter how cool they really are. ...For instance, it took me forever to get a Zinclon Mekanda Robo, any one of the umpteen releases of the diecast Lion Voltron, and even a Matchbox Vehicle Voltron. For me, Matchbox's fully-transformable SDF-1 had been the same way.

...Until I read Atom's review and the desire kicked in! ;)

Okay, let me just start by saying that I'm not going to go into gory detail about how big a Robotech nerd I am because of how the early '90's Eternity Robotech comics got me into anime. I'm not going to go into "which one's better": Robotech or Macross (or even Macross TV versus DYRL). I'm not going to go into why Carl Macek should or shouldn't be lynched. We've all been there... And no one should care.

Let's stick to the toy, shall we?

First off, the outer packaging was clearly redesigned by Matchbox, who distributed the toy in the States under the "Robotech" monicker [and check out this cool robot-japan thread for pics of the Takatoku version, including its box]. It's neat to notice that Revell, Inc. is recognized as the "Robotech" trademark owner on the box, as well as Harmony Gold and Tatsunoko being mentioned as copyright holders. The box measures 17" x 9" x 4" and features a door/lid that opens to reveals the toy inside. Under the door, cellophane-covered holes show the toy in "Battle" mode.

Outer box lid. Note the heart-breaking Kay Bee clearance price tag!

Underneath the lid. "3 Exciting Versions"!? How can ya go wrong???

Though the outer cardboard box is obviously very different from the Takatoku release, the styrofoam tray within is identical.

Styro tray. Mmmm...

Once you break out the toy, it's all play from there! This toy is simple, rugged, and fun. It takes less than a minute to transform and you sure won't need to consult the "Operating Manual" (which consists of a lone double-sided sheet!), you won't need any tools, and you don't have to be ginger with it. This is a children's toy, folks.

First, let's take a look at "Cruiser" mode. The craft measures 15" long. It's gorgeous.

Now, one of the first things you may notice is that there seem to be two holes at the tips of the Main Gun. Unfortunately, I've never handled the original Takatoku version, but I assume that these are for firing missiles--though I can't seem to find where the buttons would be. In fact, there are no spring-loaded mechanisms found in the Matchbox release at all, and the toy doesn't come with any missiles. I assume these features were gutted to conform to US toy safety standards. Further, there seem to be flip-up launchers near the aft of the ship. Similarly, there are no actual firing mechanisms present in the Matchbox version--though they're cruelly mentioned on the back of the "Operating Manual".

Gutted launchers? Boo.

There seems to be some storage spaces in cruiser mode, as well. There is a very tiny one just aft of the bridge (though I forgot to photograph this!) and a larger one in front of the bridge. I just assume they're for storing extra missiles. Or drugs.

Ya put your wee--*ahem*...sorry. I just tell people that's where the city goes! ;)

Next is the landing gear. Wait...what??? "Landing gear"? Really? For a gigantic spaceship that holds a city in its belly? Well, this is just for convenience. Without the gear, you wouldn't really be able to put the thing down in Cruiser mode!

Landing gear detail.

Cruiser resting on its gear.

Other than that, there's not a whole lot else to Cruiser mode. It just looks great and is fun to fly around the room (hmmm...this is a recurring theme for me, isn't it? maybe we should add "fly-ability around the room" as a toy category...)

One thing to be aware of on these older toys is the elbow joints. They can tend to sag a bit. This is most apparent in Cruiser mode when looking from the side. The super carriers, Prometheus and Daedalus, tend to droop a tiny bit, as you can see here:

Droopy Prometheus.

Droopy Daedalus...but also note the "Bandai" stamping on the feet/thrusters...

...Honestly, I wish I could tell ya more about the history of this toy. I'm aware that Bandai bought the molds for the Matsushiro/Takatoku 1/55 Valk, but I wasn't aware they'd done so with this 1/3000 Macross toy until I just recently saw the stamp. So what's the deal? Did Bandai ever release their own transformable Macross? If anyone has any knowledge about this, please post a comment (Ginrai, I'm looking at you).

[*EDIT*: Ginrai did update us with a little history lesson! Check out the comments below. Also, while we're at it, for more history on the 1/55 Valkyrie, see Ginrai's Missing Link article reposted by yours truly on TBDX]

So, anyway, on to "Battle" mode. Again, very simple transformation. This is the classic SDF-1, with the impressive Main Gun elevated vertically and the inhabitants of Macross City safely tucked away inside.

Yep, not a whole lot going on here other than big, plasticy robot action. The figure is pretty great. It looks good, has nice surface detail (molded and from the numerous decals), and has good-nuff poseability.

One thing that's kinda neat is the ability to remove the super carriers. They simply pop on and off pegs at the elbows. This adds some neat play value and helps fire up the ol' imagination--giving you some sense of how truly enormous this thing's supposed to be.

Super carriers' attachment pegs.

They look pretty cool alongside Cruiser mode, too.

Lastly, we have "Attack" mode. All it really is is the Main Gun elevated onto the shoulders and pointed forward, and a curious step I never noticed in the cartoon when they fired the Main Gun: the thrusters on either side of the upper chest splay outward a tiny bit. This, in turn, makes the Main Gun's pylons appear angled outward. Who knows if it's "canon" or not...but it looks cool!

Take that, you pesky Zentraedi!

Again, that's pretty much all there is to it! Simple. Fun. Rugged. That equals a classic toy to me. I'm not going to debate which Macross toy is better: this or the Wave. Everybody collects for different reasons, and these two offerings appeal to very different collecting aethetics. Just be happy we have a choice!

Toynami introduced there Veritech super poseable in 2004. A non transforming Battleoid mode only figure is intended as the be all end all “Poseable figure”. Does it deliver? Is it worth seeking out? Read on to find out.

Standing at seven inches tall with eighteen points of articulation these figures are meant to be “Super Poseable”. Capable of being put in extremely dynamic poses these figures are meant to replicate the look of the animated series.

Super Poseable is a bit misleading as the legs are permanently set apart from each other in a wide stance so no neutral pose is possible. The wide stance forces you into only three or four different distinct poses. The feet do not have much swivel in them either so that limits the poses as well.

If they had put the hip joints on ball swivels and made the feet rotate forward and back a bit more this would have fared a bit better as a Super Poseable.

Paint detail is good and looks like Max Sterling’s VF-1J from the show but without transforming it doesn’t have a lot of playability. It looks good on the shelf or desk at work paired with a couple of others but that’s it.

Originally costing $14.99 I was able to grab a set of the first wave on clearance for much less. If you can grab a good deal it is worth grabbing if you are a Robotech / Macross fan, otherwise it’s a pass even on clearance.