I don't understand how they've gone down hill so quick? Every other MP I've had from them has been fine! No problems at all, but for some reason they've decided to start playing up!?

 

it’s the general finessing but i’ll try to capture what i did this time around to get things to where they’re at. at first i thought i got lucky with how parts fell into place but i was able to reproduce it on the original figure and again once i transformed my replacement a second time. here’s how it looks fully closed:



for the green hinge that you rotate 180 degrees to reverse the cannon, try to bend it a little past 180, more like 185 degrees, so it sits further back and away from the seat. here’s the side profile, just keep rotating that green hinge joint as far back as you can, while compensating the silver cannon to be parallel to the foot:



from the top of the foot, the raised silver cannon bit actually fits perfectly into the upper green cutout, that’s when you know the cannon is pushed back enough:



from the underside, note the silver cannon hinges and how they’re angled about a 45 degree angle so the cannon compresses better:



lastly, from the back, make sure you squeeze the bottom of the foot tight so that the notch in the back center of the foot is snug, and also make sure the silver cannon is as far back as possible. if yours has a bigger gap than mine, then most likely it’ll butt up against the seat and cause clearance issues.



give this a shot and let me know if you have better luck!

haha yea, my cringe moment was when he was trying to jam the faux wheels to the side of his feet when his toe panels weren’t even extended.

another note to add... after carefully handling the figure some more, i’m suspecting that the crack behind the knee may be due to the stress it’s taking during transformation as you rotate his lower legs 90 degrees. because the rotation is so tight, there’s quite a bit of pressure if you’re squeezing the lower legs and torquing it. to alleviate this, try placing your fingers near that joint and the surrounding corners instead of directly on any of the lower leg panels. again, this is just a hunch, but i believe this definitely contributes to the stress.

 

Thanks, those are great tips! Hopefully there's something similar that can be done for the other foot.  

And yeah, that was another "oh Bobby" moment. There were several, but I've managed to put them out of my mind... now I kind of want to re-watch it for entertainment purposes.  

 

i have a 1mm horizontal gap on the other foot, but i don’t think there’s anything that could be done bc i made sure the spare wheel was collapsed all the way and there’s nothing else i see that can be tweaked. but the gap is minor enough for me to disregard.

lol another step he failed to do was make sure the front wheels plugged into the upper body. also, the shin panels really aren’t that hard to peg together. he failed to see that there’s really only one peg he has to worry about, the other is just a hook that “hooks” into place. smh

 

I've opened and am in the process of transforming my third copy of Hound (first opened replacement). So far so good with no cracks and no paint issues. Spike's head won't sit straight, but that's the only real issue I've noticed so far and I have a very good Spike from my second copy.

Box code: K1219
Figure code: I2619

 

i edited and added a note to the end of my earlier post with the breakdown of the foot, and you may want to be mindful of what you’re holding onto while you’re rotating the lower legs during transformation, as i believe that causes a lot of stress and may be a contributor in the cracked joints behind the knees.

 

When the figure works correctly, it's fantastic. But you have to be comfortable with the possibility of having to send it back for a refund.

 

Nope still no movement from NY. Makes me wonder if they are pausing for thought. I really want to experience this figure, but to be honest could be a blessing in disguise if I pass now and wait for a fixed reissue!  

 

Doesn't look like they are, theres people over on FB having same issues. No movement on there orders..

 

OK, now it's cheaper I've ordered a 2nd copy from AJP. Will wait and see how that turns out before I return one of them.

 

Holy shit, seems like I'm not the only one waiting on frickin Nippon Yasan!! I've had my order set on "Preparation in Progress" for almost 2 weeks!! I know they came back from a break earlier in the month, but not shipping out fully paid preorders in almost 2 weeks is just shitty!

 

Looks like quite a few orders are having similar problems.. I've opened a Paypal case just in case they are deciding to fold..

 

Latest update: I've transformed one of my replacements (A.K.A. Copy 3), and so far it's the best yet. No cracks anywhere, all joints are tight enough but not too tight, no paint blemishes, and transformation went super smooth. The gun mount in the cargo bed is even super tight and stayed in place through transformation without a problem! And the foot with the spare tire in it has very minimal gap in 'bot mode.

The only issue so far with this copy is the hip ratchets are much softer than the other two copies I've been through. Not a terrible thing as there's still significant friction in the hips and they hold poses just fine. All in all, this is a nearly perfect copy of Hound and if everyone had one like this I don't think there's be many complaints at all. Hopefully he stands the test of time over the next couple of weeks.

I also think I figured out what that tab in the left foot might be for (looks like a square peg hole). I think it's there to use during transformation as a leverage point to rotate the joint properly past the seat and tailgate. Hard to explain in words, but it really helped when working that foot into place.

 

beware that a paypal case will have them close your account

 

Quoting this from the MP-45 thread, but it really belongs in here I guess!

I'm in design/engineering, but nothing to do with injection moulded plastic things, so can't really comment specifically to this case, only generally. But I'd say yes you're right this certainly could be a design issue - not out of the question. A designer's remit generally includes material choice and their design will take into account the properties of the material. They'll follow design rules based on that - relevant example: how thin a panel can be, how much material must there be round a pin or screw boss, etc etc. A designer could shrink the size of hinges, thickness of panels, etc, and chose a stronger material to compensate and so still have a working design. So it's possible the designer could have made things weaker without speccing a stronger material, or kept things the same but specced a weaker material. Then it's a design problem.

It just doesn't seem to be what's happening here. I still don't have my Hound, but from the pics here he doesn't seem to be pushing the envelope in terms of tiny hinges or paper thin panels compared to previous figures that don't fall apart on sight. And he's still made of mostly ABS. There is significant variation in properties of ABS depending on grade, but not massive within grades used for injection moulding. IMHO not enough that this situation could be fully explained by that they simply switched from the usual grade to a weaker grade to save pennies.

So that's what I mean when i say Hound seems to follow the same rule book as previous MPs. It seems like a pretty typical design in those kind of critical parameters, and so using typical material it should have typical durability. He obviously doesn't have typical durability - failing in many cases under residual manufacturing stresses alone (i.e. the stresses left from moulding and/or assembly) without even any external stress applied (the out of box or 'i just looked at it' failures). And it isn't only the 'on the limit' hinges and panels breaking - those door hinges aren't particularly small, and that head armature joint is positively beefy, but failing none the less. It's cracking right through panels, through his head even! So I'm convinced the problem is the properties of the plastic is nowhere near what it should be due to some of the many possible factors.

Just speculation, but it certainly seems to resemble the phenomenon of environmental stress cracking (ESC). Read about that and fear! Especially if you're one of those using low molecular weight silicone oil on your Hound!!   It's where a combination of residual stress and a chemical fluid lead to massively accelerated formation of cracks at potentially very low stresses causing catastrophic brittle failures. Could have been exacerbated by many factors - maybe they used a cleaning detergent that wasn't rinsed properly and is an aggressive ESC agent? Maybe something with the paint? Or maybe it's just the stresses higher than usual - an error in the control of the moulding process resulting in high residual moulding stress, slightly oversized pins or too much paint resulting in high residual assembly stress?

As I said, pure speculation - I don't know nearly enough about the manufacturing process. But I am personally convinced it isn't my bro Kobayashi's fault and instead the manufacturing/quality side of the execution has cocked up somewhere!   Doesn't really matter either - not our job to figure it out, and at the end of the day the result for us is the same - we mostly got shitty chocolate Hounds, which sucks, and I just hope they investigate, identify the root cause, and fix asap!

I've even seriously looked into annealing my Hound lol! A heating process to relieve residual stresses. Sadly as fancy as my wife's oven is, it cant do controlled heat up and cool down profiles - dang it. Not to mention the idea of doing that to a fully assembled and painted product is probably nuts and more likely to result in a disintegrated pile of plastic bits and baked peeled paint.

 

They already have! As there are plenty of other alternative suppliers I'm not too fussed. Just frustrating as in the 7 years I've used them I've never had a problem, and to see something like this just worries me!

 

have a picture? not sure what you’re referring to here

 

I don't really have a pic handy and I've got to get some sleep (it's past 2am here). I'll post a pic tomorrow unless someone else has already. I'm also thinking I might put together a video of transformation tips* for Hound as I've discovered a few that make some of the difficult points easier.



* Assuming I can find the time to make one.  

 

@Phamduc , do you have any info/guesses about how design wise will be handled the combiners team? (E.g. less articulation but more sturdier)