I first acquired the Wave YF-19. It had polycaps, so it could be posed and it was dead on accurate to the batroid in the OVA. The only problem was, it was out of scale. Wave thought the YF-19 was the same height as the VF-11, so as a result, the kit is actually 1/120 scale. The scale difference became really obvious when placed next to a 1/100 VF-1 or destroid. So I sold this kit and began seeking out the others.

I next found a Studio Half Eye 1/100 YF-19 at Otakon 1996. I didn’t buy it, but the dealer selling it was kind enough to open it and let me examine the parts. The S.H.E. kit is transformable, but due to the  “Anime vs. Reality” problem, it only really looks good in Fighter mode. The shoulders and thighs just didn’t look right in the Batroid mode. On top of that, the joint areas left a little too much exposed space (needed to transform it). 
I just wanted a Batroid. It seemed a waste to spend $250 on a kit I wanted to glue in one mode. 

Then a few years ago e2046.com listed an original B-club 1/100 YF-19. The finished batroid was pictured on the box lid, so I knew what it would look like. So I ordered it. But this kit held some surprises for me. First off it was the correct scale, had metal parts for the gun and sensors on the head, and as a bonus, I discovered that even though it was a batroid mode only kit, the parts broke down into subassemblies as if the kit could transform. For example; on the Wave kit, the chest was all one solid piece, matching the evenly drawn lines of the animation batroid, on the B-club kit, the chest consists of an upper body, nose cone, center fuselage (cockpit), center back piece, and the drop armor panel that fits under the nose cone in batroid mode. If you are familiar with how the YF-19 transforms, you will recognize that these are all the separate parts from the fighter mode that rearrange to form the chest in batroid mode. So while it didn’t transform, it certainly looked like it could, more realistic, and yet 99% anime accurate! Given the part breakdown and a little work, I could have built this kit into a good-looking gerwalk mode. The proportions are that good.

The end result, I feel, looks very realistic while at the same time, retains the anime feel of the design. I enjoyed doing this kit so much that I bought a 2nd one to paint in the VF-X2 color scheme and I’ll eventually be working on the matching B-club YF-21 to go with it.

In Progress Pictures

Finished Model Pictures