Bootleg 1/100 Bandai GN-002 Gundam Dynames

Update 11/08/2009: Finished model pictures can be found here.

I went back to the mall and bought a bootleg GN-002 Gundam Dynames to review in this site from a stack of bootleg gundams that I had seen. It cost me about 1078 yen. At Hobby Link Japan (HLJ) this was selling for about 2300 yen. I'll probably buy this from HLJ in a couple of months in order to better differentiate the quality of the pirated versus the original.

Judging from the box shots you can see that they had copied everything down to a T except for the pilot which was visible in the original Bandai product. Instead of the red Bandai mark, it was replaced with a "TT Hong Li" tag. Also they missed out on the "Gundam" tag. I am shooting at the dark here, but assuming that Bandai has already trademarked the term "Gundam" in China. This could be some sort of a defensive tactic by the Chinese bootleggers to circumvent it since when they get caught they could always say that its not a "Gundam". This way Bandai will have to start suing in the individual product level for copyright infringement.

Bootleg Gundam Action Base Stands

Went back to the mall again and found this in the stack of Bootleg Gundams I had seen previously. I guess if you have no conscience to prevent you from pirating Bandai's Gundams, what's to stop you from counterfeiting its other accessories? They are actually copying now the Action Base Stands sold by Bandai to help display Gunpla's. This particular one was molded with the color red, it costs about 350 yen . Once again it is branded as "Hong Li" and definitely looks ugly because the plastic looks cheap. It was also renamed to "All-Purpose Bracket", instead of branding it as an Action-Base.

Yamato Toys 1/60 VF-22S Sturmvogel II of Max and Milia Jenius

Update: 10/18/2009 HW Japan also has it up for pre-order, here and here. And its cheaper too at only 15040 yen.
Update: 10/14/2009 Hobby Search has these two up for pre-order already here and here and its going for Y17,860.

Yamato toys just posted on their site pictures and product page of the VF-22S of Maximilian Jenius and Milia Jenius from the Macross 7 series. Guess this means that Yamato Toys finally obtained the Macross 7 license to produce toys based on that series. Earlier this year, Yamato Toys released a 1/60 scale version of Gamlin Kizaki's VF-22S seen in the Macross 7: Dynamite OVA.

Gundam Color Spray and Gundam Marker

Update 10/12/2009: Thanks to new restrictions at the Japanese postal office, most online sellers will no longer ship modelling paints and solvents overseas.

Found a place in my area where they sell Gundam paints. Woohoo! too bad that there wasn't much in terms of selection but at least they had what I needed for the 1/72 VF-25G Messiah that I was building. I bought Blue, White and Gundam Marker Grey, its not what the VF-25G Color Guide calls for but it'll do for me. Its a tad bit expensive too though, but heck, might as well spend.

Bandai 1/72 VF-25G Messiah Model Kit English Translation Part III Page 9-13

Continuing where we left off on this 1/72 VF-25G Messiah Construction manual translation project. Once again, use at your own risk, and yep, it sure does sound funny since I did a literal dictionary translation without attempting to transpose it to a more suitable english sentence structure. Now I realize why Google Translate sounds so funny.

Bootleg Gundams For Sale in the Mall

Was surprised to see this in a Mall, a whole rack of counterfeit (Bootleg) Gundams. I found this when I went scrounging for some modelling paint for the 1/72 VF-25G I was planning to assemble.

Macross Chronicle 31, 32 and 33

It was announced last week at the Macross Frontier Blog that Macross Chronicle Magazine No. 31 was already on sale.

Macross Chronicle 31 will feature the Quadluun Row from the Macross SDF1 series in its Mechanic Sheet portion. I'm actually confused with the Quadluun series of mecha with regards to what the last three letters of its name are. Some articles refer to it as Quadluun Rau (used by female Zentradi in Macross SDF1) while others Quadluun Rea (Macross Frontier's Clan Clan's mecha). Now in the very Official Macross Chronicle that gives further explanation to the series, they refer to it as Quadluun Row... weird. I'm inclined to think that its just a typo and that it should really be spelled as Rau.

How to Disengage the Hip joint of your 1/60 Yamato VF-1

Found this on the Yamato website. Its a little tutorial on how to disengage the metal hip joint from its housing in the nose of the Macross 1/60 VF-1 series made by Yamato Toys. Be sure to check out the video on the page as well for a real live demo. One should also take note of the position of the cockpit since it can be moved up or down and also limits the movement of the hip joint.

This tutorial starts from page 22 frame 6 of the manual and is taken from a different angle

Bandai 1/72 VF-25G Messiah Model Kit English Translation Part II Page 5-8

Just continuing with this post the English translation of the Manual for the Bandai 1/72 VF-25G's Messiah that I recently bought from HLJ. My plans to assemble this kit have really taken a back burner already as the budget I had allocated to buy paint for this kit with all went to an emergency expenditure to buy new tires for our car and have some other parts fixed... bleeehhhh...this will probably screw up my plans to pre-order a VF-27 Lucifer too, would have wanted to translate that one... *sniff*... Anyway, continuing where I left off from here.

Bandai World Gunpla Competition

This is a bit late since I totally forgot to post about this. But you might still have time to purchase a Bandai kit from your favorite online hobby sellers in order to submit your entry well before the Nov 1, 2009 deadline. But then again, maybe you can can submit an old kit?, hmmmmm?...

The Bandai World Gunpla Competition is an online Gundam kit competition open to all. It was held in-line with the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Gundam Franchise. It is co-presented by Bandai, Anime Festival Asia 2009 and Danny Choo.

CDJapan Limited Sakura Sale

I only noticed this in my inbox today, but was first sent on Sept 18. CDJapan is having a limited Sakura Sale on some of their items. I saw some mecha in there when I flipped through the pages.

Some items there however can be deemed sensitive to younger audiences, kindly access at your own risk. Haven't tried buying anything yet though from CDJapan so I don't have feedback about them. Am not sure also as to how long this sale will be going.

HLJ's Pay with Paypal get Free Shipment Promo valid till Sept 28, 2009

Just saw this on Hobby Link Japan's website. They have a promo running till Sept 28, 2009 (7 days to go!) wherein if you pay your item via Paypal and agree with a Paypal Billing Agreement between you and HLJ, you get free express shipping on your item. You will initially be charged for the shipping then after a few days HLJ will credit the money back to your Paypal account. Its Silver Week right now in Japan and they also announced that they won't be back till the 24th, so I guess there might be a delay in the processing of your order.

Macross Motorcycle Helmets and the secret latest Yamato Product

Update: 01/24/2010: HLJ announced a tie up with Yamato Toys which allows them to sell exclusive items such as this. This is selling for 36800 yen at HLJ.

Update (11/11/2009): These Macross line of helmets can also be bought at HLJ, here, here and here. As well as at Amiami which is selling it for a much cheaper price of 30,834 yen.

Update (10/13/2009): Hobby Search already has this up for order. You can't cancel it though once you have made the order.

Update (10/13/2009): Yamato has the product pages for the helmets up already at their site, here and here.

Update (10/09/2009):Latest update from Yamato with regards to the method and date of reservation start, estimated price, release date and other options found here. If you are outside Japan, you can always check at HLJ or Over Drive Inc if the helmets are available already. Both these shops can also offer to purchase it for you if incase it won't become part of their inventory. Over Drive I know will charge a service fee for out of shelf purchases.

Guess Yamato Toys was really planning to make a motorcycle helmet with a Macross theme. As based from their blog post here, here,here and here. Right now they showcased two types, a Hikaru Ichijo version (red, white and black colors) and a Roy Fokker version (yellow, black and white)

Based on the article, its a real life helmet that can be used legally on the street and its based on a racing replica. From what I'm seeing it looks like an ordinary helmet with some stickers added to it. This is different from the Macross Replica Helmet that they are selling.

Bandai 1/72 VF-25G Model Kit English Translation

Decided to start an informal (meaning when I have time) translation project of the manual for the 1/72 VF-25G Model Kit from Bandai that I recently bought. It initially started with the translation of the VF-25G's Color Guide and then ended with translation of some parts of the VF-25G's manual. Then I realized that since I won't be assembling this model in the near future, might as well have everything in place once I do decide to build it. Its going to be hard moving back and forth between the manual and a Japanese-to-English dictionary by that time.

Bandai VF100's VF-25 Messiah Alto Saotome version

There's a saying that you only get what you paid for. So I'm quite happy that I only paid Y2400 for this toy since it was on sale at HLJ. Ok so I think its a still bit overpriced but almost anything with a Macross tag tied to it nowadays is overpriced and selling like hotcakes.

The toy comes in 1/100 scale and stands roughly 15cm tall in Battloid mode. With the aid of additional parts it can transition to Fighter and Gerwalk mode. So you could say that some assembly is required for this toy. Its very light because its mostly constructed of plastic.

Not sure why this was on sale though. Whether it was because it was the last few remaining inventory, so they're trying to get rid of it to make some shelf space for the VF100's version of Alto's Armored VF-25, or because its really not selling only HLJ knows.

If I were to base this review on the Y5040 price tag that Bandai is touting it for over at the Bandai Site, definitely its overpriced given the quality of the plastic and the workmanship. Design wise its a fine design for a display model and because of the size they had to work with. Because of the high price of Oil I'm not surprised if they had decided to cut corners on the quality of this product. Plastic is made from oil so its price is pegged proportionately with the price of oil. And oil hasn't been that low these past few years.

1/72 Hasegawa VF-0S Advanced Assembly and Painting Tutorial from Plamo Tsukurou

I really enjoyed watching the Plamo Tsukurou (Constructing Plastic Models) tv series posted on youtube, one episode had the assembly of Roy Fokker's VF-0S from Macross Zero. The kit built was a 1/72 scale VF-0S Phoenix (Fighter Mode) made by Hasegawa. Even without understanding Japanese that much I think you can still understand a bit what's going on. The master modeller in this episode was Noboyuki Sakurai. Sakurai-san's work has been featured in Hobby magazines and he specializes in the Valkyries of Macross.

Part I is here:

Bandai 1/72 VF-25G Messiah Valkyrie (Michael Custom) Model Kit

Update 11/03/2009: Finished building this wonderful kit, shots of the build can be found here.

I was antsy in the house because my EMS package hadn't arrived yet after two weeks, so my wife, the ever loving wife that she is, told me that maybe I should drop by the post office to check if the package was there already, since I was going to run errands anyway. And I was, "You can do that?" So I did and to my surprise it was indeed there already. Yippee!

How to make miniature figures using a polymer clay mold

I remember when I was a boy into scale models I always wanted the kit with spare figures in it so that I could display them diorama style in my cabinet. Ok, I admit, when I was young I usually didn't display my models but rather played with them. And the figures accentuated the game play and gave me the opportunity to monologue... hehehe. Of course I took extra steps to ensure that I didn't break them.

So when I suddenly took up my passion for collecting kits all over again I was looking for figures to complement the package. I'm lousy at figure sculpting but I found out however that you can actually make figures with a mold made out of polymer clay if you have an already pre-existing figure. This can be done with the use of some Mold Maker from Sculpey. Its basically a form of clay that needs to be baked in order to harden. Its difference from regular clay is that its sort of rubbery after baking making it easy for you to pull out your casted item. The drawback is that usually only one side of the figure can be casted in the mold, leaving the other side bare. You'd have to make another mold of the other side then use your fingers and a little bit of creativity to combine them together.

10 Things to get you started on Macross

Was having a discussion with a friend who loved anime and our topic touched on Macross Frontier. She had never watched any of the Macross series nor movies before but she heard that Macross Frontier was a great anime. A diehard fan like me would just love to get another one into our fold, our discussion however was cut short before I could continue with my discourse on the wonders of Macross.

I saw this little interruption as a fortuitous event, since I could have ample time to better arm myself with factoids to show her what Macross is all about without giving up much in terms of plot elements to spoil it for the first time fan that she was. I am not saying that this list is perfect, but for me this is what made Macross great and worth watching

How to make cartoon figures using polymer clay

Quite recently my son had his birthday and his mother wanted to mark the occasion by making a personalized cake topper for his birthday cake. The figures she made were the cast of the Backyardigans. The reason for this is because our son loves this show so much.

My wife started sculpting clay last year and from that time has really gained a lot of skill and experience, well in my eyes anyway and you could say I am biased because I'm her husband *snicker*

HG 1/144 Ribbons Gundam from Gundam 00

Just saw this at Bandai's HG site: Almark Ribbon's Gundam from the Gundam 00 series as a High Grade 1/144 to be released this month. Release date is supposed to be on Sept 12, 2009. SRP is Y1890 but I see both HLJ and Hobby Search selling it for 1800 (The Bastards! *kidding*)

Review of Hobby Search

 Update 02/15/2011: Hobby Search now accepts AlertPay payment gateway.

Update (07/22/2010): Finally was able to type up a review for Hobby Search. Been wanting to buy from them for the longest time because of the large volume of inventory that they have. When I tried registering however I found out that my country was omitted from their registration page.

How to create a Personalized Anime Mug

I was having a sip of coffee in my regular mug when I realized that I could make my own personalized mug showcasing my love for all things mecha. Well maybe Macross Frontier for starters *snicker*

We had some leftover decal sheet in the house after we had the idea to adorn our mugs with pictures of our son, so definitely this project was a Go!. We had bought the decal sheet and the decal sheet spray from our local bookstore. If you can't find it in your office supply shop, you can try also your local hobby shop, since model kit builders have long made their own decals to detail their models.

Immersing in CowBoy Bebop

Its been 11 years since Cowboy Bebop came out in 1998 but its only now that I was able to watch it. I have to say that I wasn't disappointed, only slightly, not by the story or the characters, but rather by the ending. I hate it when series creators leave the major plot line hanging in the end. So did he or didn't he?

Cowboy Bebop is a story of a group of bounty hunters who go around the solar system catching people with bounties on their heads. I'm not saying criminals because even in the future one is presumed innocent until proven guilty. "Cowboy" is the term that is used to refer to a bounty hunter. Bebop is the name of the ship that everybody resides in and uses as their base of operations.

VF100 Fighter Special VF-25F Fighter - Alto Saotome and VF-25S Ozma Lee

Just saw this at Tamashii, seems to be another exclusive for their club members. A VF100 "FighterSpecial" release of Alto Saotome and Ozma Lee's VF-25's from the Macross Frontier TV series. *Yawns*

Listen to My Song! What version should be used?

In Macross 7, before breaking out into a set, Fire Bomber lead singer Basara Nekki screams to the ecstatic crowd: "Ore no Uta Kike!". In Macross Frontier, the intergalactic songstress, Sheryl Nome pays homage to Basara Nekki by screaming "Atashi no Uta Kike!" before singing. So what's the difference?

Not much really, they all mean the same thing, an impolite and informal way of saying to somebody: "Listen to My Song." The difference is in the use of the gender form of the pronoun "My."

Bandai Sept 2009 Price List and Item Release Date

Found this on the Bandai Site. A tabular list of the items that they are releasing for September, along with it are the recommended selling prices of the items.

I fixed it up a bit and left behind only the new items that are scheduled to be released for September. I noticed that usually the online Anime and Hobby shops have a lower selling price than the recommended selling price on the list.

The Baroness Action Figure

After tackling the top brass of Cobra, we head on down to middle management. The Baroness, intelligence officer and sometime 2nd in command of the Cobra organization. The Baroness is not just a pretty face with a self made title, she really is aristocracy. In the comic book series by Marvel Comics, the Baroness entered into the world of terrorism and the Cobra organization after mistakenly thinking that the Americans were responsible for the death of her relative.

Bandai Perfect Grade "Double O" 00 Raiser from Gundam 00

Update 03/24/2010: HLJ just announced that their PG Raiser was on sale for 30% Off. Add that with the Cheap FedEx rates and 20% discounted EMS shipping till June 30 and you could come out with a bargain here.

Update 02/09/2010: 3rd Party sellers selling it at Amazon for $$$$ ... gaaahhh.

Update 12/05/2009: After the color guide, I started translating slowly the PG 00 Raiser's Japanese Construction Manual into English.

Update 12/04/2009: Color Guide had been translated to English here. Check out Dalong.net for detailed parts shots.

Update 11/28/2009: With HWJapan's Gundam Sale ongoing, their price for the PG 00 Raiser is at 17500 yen or 30% off. The bad news is that due to size shipment limitations, they cannot ship to the following countries: (EMS) Spain, Philippines, Argentine, and others. (SAL) U.S.A., Argentine, Australia, Brazil, Mexico Russia and others. I wonder if its the same for other online shops? I guess what they mean here is that for the US, they can't ship via SAL, only EMS? I hope that is what they mean by that. Best to shoot them an email before ordering from HWJapan.

Update 11/11/2009: Amiami is selling this for only 18,280, they just recently started shipping overseas.

Update 10/22/2009: Amazon Japan is selling it for ￥16533 yen, don't think they ship overseas though.

Update 10/11/2009 : More photos of the Pefect Grade Double 00 Raiser taken from the 49th All Japan Plastic Model Show can be found here.

Update: I'm wondering though why HLJ is selling theirs for only Y17062 at their Japanese site while in the english site its pre-order price is Y23,750?

Update: According to this official post from the developers of the PG 00 Raiser, the kit has a total of 1031 piece parts.

Whoa, just saw this at the Bandai Site. A Perfect Grade rendition of the 00 Raiser ("Double O" Raiser) in 1/60 th scale. Be sure to check out the PDF file at the link above for more details and shots of the kit.

In the "Gundam"-verse, a GN-0000 00 Gundam will combine with a GNR-010 0 Raiser to produce this marvelous mecha of mayhem and destruction known as the 00 Raiser.

GI Joe Cobra Commander Action Figure

I think it be fitting that I showcase my beloved GI Joe collection by starting with the main man himself, on the Cobra side that is. None other than Cobra Commander.

How to Fix G.I. Joe Figures with broken rubber bands

I wrote a while back that I was planning to post up my GI Joe collection in this blog but had to fix the figures first because the rubber bands have already deteriorated. I wrote on that post a method to fix the broken rubber band in the Real American Hero figures of GI Joe.

Later on realized that it would be better to put up an actual post showing the procedure taught to me by my friend. Aside from fixing up old figures, you can actually use this method to kit bash some of your old figures with parts from another figure. I actually did this before by getting the legs of Bazooka and putting it in Tunnel Rat. I liked the Tunnel Rat figure but didn't like the pants that he had on... hehehe

I actually wanted to try fixing Flint first, since he's my most favorite figure. I couldn't find all of his parts yet, so I decided to try it instead on his paramour, Lady Jaye.

1/72 YF-25 Prophecy available for pre-order

Update:Overdrive just replied to my inquiry with regards to ordering the item. The YF-25 will indeed come with the Movie tickets, if you live overseas then I guess you end up with a fine souvenir... hehehe. Price for the item is Y6025. There will be an additional shipping charge worth Y1000 for the item to be delivered to Overdrive's offices since technically Overdrive is just ordering it for you. Then there is the service charge of Y1500 by Overdrive. Total cost without shipping fees from Over Drive to your place is Y8525. Ordering deadline at Over Drive will be November 2 while estimated release date will be between October 8 to November 18.

Over Drive Inc just announced via an email blast that they are taking pre-orders of the limited edition 1/72 scale YF-25 Prophecy offered by Famima that is being exclusively sold to those who buy tickets to the Macross Frontier Movie to be released this November. All you have to do is contact them at their contact page.

Fine Molds: 1/20 Makino Vertical Machining Center Mill Model Kit

I guess you can't call yourself a diehard-hardcore Model Kit Builder unless you have one of these in your collection: A model kit of a Makino Vertical Machining Center Mill built by Fine Molds. Basically its a computerized numerical control (CNC) milling machine that makes the metal molds for the model kits that we build today. (This is just a model kit in 1/20 scale and doesn't actually have the capability to cut metal, just incase you get confused.)

Bandai 1/72 VF-27 Lucifer Brera Stern up for pre-order already

Update 11/20/2009: HWJapan upped the ante by selling it at 3,849 yen. 3rd party sellers at Amazon are selling it for about $$$.

Update 11/12/2009: It's a lot cheaper at Amiami's site, about 4000+ yen. And the even better news is that Amiami started selling overseas already.

Update: Whoa, nice to see that Hobby Link Japan had put the VF-27 up for pre-order again after they had temporarily put it on hold yesterday (9/17/2009) till they could guarantee the volume that they would be getting from Bandai. They also posted there that they were expecting to receive it by November 31, 2009. Brera Stern's VF must be really selling like hotcakes right now so you guys better get yours!

Just found out today that this fully transforming model kit of the VF-27 Lucifer from Macross Frontier is already available for pre-order at Hobby Link Japan and Hobby Search. Release will be somewhere around November. The YF-25 Prophecy meanwhile is available for pre-order at Over-Drive-Inc.

New Kid on the Block: Carving with Plaster of Paris

I've had this block of plaster of paris sitting on my work bench for a few weeks already. Haven't gotten around to working with it yet. In one of my previous posts I wrote that I accidentally broke the main fuselage of the Macross Lancer II SF-3A project that I was working on.

Yamato 1/60 Super and Strike Parts for VF-1 from Macross Do You Remember Love

Update:Translated manual can be found here.

If you think that a VF-1 is pretty, wait till you get some Fast Packs on it! Yamato Toys also recently released a clear version add-on for their VF-1 Super and Strike Packs.

The FAST pack equipped VF-1 first appeared in Episode 24 of the Macross TV series episode titled: Goodbye Girl.

In the episode Misa Hayase's shuttle is attacked on its way to earth. Her escort, commanded by Max Jenius, were overwhelmed by the Zentradi Battle Pods. Captain Global has no choice but to launch their secret weapon, a FAST pack equipped Valkyrie. Hikaru Ichijo cuts the gap easily and arrives in time owing to the speed of his FAST pack equipped VF-1S. He lets loose a large amount of micro missiles to end the conflict quickly. Yep, you get more points with the girl too when you rescue them in a FAST pack equipped VF-1...hehehe

There are two variants of the FAST Pack in the Macross Universe. In the Macross TV series, the FAST Pack equipped VF-1 is referred to as a Super Valkyrie. The original variant doesn't have the Cannon mounted on one of its boosters. In the Macross Do You Remember Love, the Cannon equipped VF-1 FAST pack is known as a Strike Valkyrie.

Figure Cleaning Brush

Once you get older you start thinking about taking better care of your toys more. Or is it because once you become older your toys start becoming more expensive?

One thing I've learned to do is to dust off my toys regularly. Something I never thought of doing when I was still a kid. Of course you can avoid having to dust off your toys by keeping them in the box. I'd prefer to brush them weekly but sometimes they can go a month without any dusting.