edwin3060

Yep except that it's extra addictive and can get innocent Mayan islanders to give up their blood

I know-- Mr March counted them some months back--- but wouldn't the model kit info supersede the anime drawn count? I believe the kit does state the number of missiles in the description-- ---From the VF-25F Super packs post While I've lost the ability read Japanese, I can still understand the kanji, which is why I could make a little sense of the descriptions. Which pics are too blurry to translate? I will try to take better pics, but like I stated previously, I don't have a scanner and my camera is 3-4 years old.

It's March... have we got the release dates for the Super packs for VF-25F/S yet?

Uhh... maybe about 3 years (and ongoing) education in Materials Science and engineering? I'm not here to state that Composites are the devil's material, so get that sand out of your vagina I'm just here to say that Composites are just as fallible as any other material, with new, relatively less known methods of failure that are harder to predict. If F-15s can fall out of the sky even with all that we know about the metallurgy of steel and titanium, just think what could happen with composites. Unfortunately I'm gonna have to take a rain check on this argument until about 2025 at least . Also, even if there are marginal increases in defence budgets, clearly they aren't enough to ensure that the Eurofighter gets onto the production line with the capabilities it was DESIGNED for. By your reasoning, there should be even more of an impetus for an air to ground capability for the Typhoon, yet this wasn't materialized. And if you think there is no role for air to ground support fire in counter-insurgency or stability operations, you've been missing out on a lot of whats going on in Iraq Either way, I don't care-- I was just responding to those who asserted that the Typhoon lost the fighter competitions in Korea and Singapore even though it was a superior platform--- because it is not in several ways.

Hmmm ok. It is still a VF-25 variant though-- and you have your bit about the 42 missiles in green, which directly contradicts the model kit info.

Sweet thanks. Great translation! Are you planning to work on the Super parts translation as well? Some comments and questions, ICS stands for Inertial Capacitor System I believe (from Macross Compendium) The part about the head not containing lasers contradicts the Macross Compendium VF-25S page translated by Gubaba which states that other than the VF-25G, and the VF-25S, all other VF-25s have 2 head lasers. Where did you get the data about the 300 targets? I believe the scans stated 128 targets, or at least thats what I understand from the Kanji. Also, about the body mounted missile packs, where did you get the data about the 42 missiles from? I ask because Mr March seems to have the same error in calculating the number of missiles for the body mounted missiles for the Super pack. Thank you very much for translating!

I take it to mean Macross II, which is not canon.

I wouldn't say that it is 'perfected', given that half the fleet of F-22s are outdated and need billions to be brought up to speed. Reports have also come in that normal maintenance on them is taking more time and money than expected. Not to mention that the Raptor still doesn't have a HMD.

The Sheryl decals will be covered by the Super pack anyway--- if you want to build a Sheryl VF-25F it should be a plain version.

OMG! Thank you very much Graham! Also much thanks to the person who first looked at the Macross symbol and thought-- thats weird. I certainly didn't detect it until it was pointed out here. Gerwalk mode looks awesome.

Considering the problems plaguing the Eurofighter development programme, and the current problems with the A400M, I think the US is better off not buying from Europe! That's not to say that current US defence companies are doing well either-- other than the F-18E/F and G programmes, I don't think any other defence programme has come in on time and more or less on budget.

Yes it is-- I believe I said an F-15 in the size and weight of an F-16 --- it is also much much harder to replace a composite panel than a metal panel since composite panels are glued together and not riveted-- much more 'single-piece' construction is also used which saves weight but makes maintenance hell. Note: The reason why they cut short the life of the F-15 was that they detected the increased metal fatigue-- you have no such thing with composites-- the only indication that the composites are not performing as they are designed to are when your expensive 100 million dollar plane falls out of the sky for no reason. And, like I stated, composites have many other modes of failure that metals do not have, so you are basically trading one for another. You are wrong about the Tornado replacement-- The Eurofighter was initially marketed to replace all Tornado variants, as well as the F-104G interceptors in German and Italian service-- If you look at the early marketing materials you will notice that some of them prominently feature missiles such as the Storm Shadow, LGBs and such. Eventual politicking pushed back the air-to-ground capabilities, which is why it doesn't have them now. In this way, the Eurofighter is more like multirole fighters such as the F-16 and F-18, rather than a pure air-superiority fighter like the F-15 (which is not to say that it is deficient at A2A).

Exactly what Jenius said, just that it's armour pack, not grenade pack The Super pack should fit the current releases just fine-- its what the holes in the current releases are for, anyway.

From the preview pictures so far, the proportions are more like the Yamato 1/60 YF-19 than the 1/65 toy GGemini: That looks like it works, but it wouldn't allow the classic spread leg Gerwalk pose?

Well either Ohnogi is the best smooth talker this side of the Galaxy, or SK took his suggestions because he was not satisfied with the way Frontier was going in the first place... which sounds more plausible? Anyway, like Killer Robot said, I don't see how the story could have developed otherwise. Personally, I felt that the first 6 and last 6 episodes of Frontier were the most interesting and exciting, and the middle portion was more or less filler-- if Ohnogi had not taken over maybe we would have only had the first 6 episodes being good and the rest being bland, run-of-the-mill, mecha anime. I get the feeling SK started out strong, but ran out of steam after the first couple of episodes, then muddled around for abit, before getting Ohnogi in for the second half the series. Maybe after all the focus on OVAs and short series (including all the Macross 7 spin-offs), SK is more accustomed to working in short 4-5 episode bursts rather than longer broadcast series?

Meh, I made no mention of the Super parts. Even so, some of the inaccuracies that I attributed to the need for Super parts without partsforming in Ver2 of this thread (like the back of the legs in the DX) turn out to be wrong as well-- the leg mounted Super parts still hang below the wing glove etc-- which is very disappointing.

I don't see how the releases of even more VF-1s into an already saturated fanbase will boost the sales of the GNU line, to be honest. Already the YF-19, YF-21 and VF-11B set are offered at massive discounts, and Yamato thinks they can charge the same MSRP for the VF-1?

A bit of wishful thinking, or is there some basis to this? Is Yamato actively trying to get the rights to produce MF mecha? *crosses fingers and toes* The thing that pisses me off so much is that Bandai clearly knows how to make an accurate VF-25, but they are deliberately choosing not to do it. To add insult to injury, their already crappy sculpt now has design planning problems, so that they have to drill extra holes in it and whatnot.

Unfortunately, the holes in the current DX for the Super packs already spoils that!

Macross Plus was hand drawn, which is why there is tonnes of anime magic involved and Yamato gets a pass. If the same inaccuracies had happened in the Macross Zero line, for example, which is CAD, Yamato would have been hung, drawn and quartered. Bandai has shown that a show-accurate VF-25 is possible in the 1/72 model kit, and the model kit is not all that fragile, which is why there are so many complaints about the anime-accuracy of the DX and the VF100. As to the waist joint, I maintain that it is a nice, but totally unnecessary feature that totally spoils fighter mode for me in the DX. I actually thought of puttying it and painting it over, but the need to paint all the rest of the VF (and worries about paint adhesion) to get the same finish put me off. I'm disappointed to hear that it is present in the VF100s line as well, and doesn't even function as a waist joint to boot. Major fail on Bandai's part. My VF100 is stuck in customs right now... and I'm actually regretting pre-ordering Ozma and Michael. Judging by the discounts available on the 1/100 VF-25, I'd guess that the sales aren't impressive as well, which means that the likelihood of Bandai continuing the line is low. The main draw of the VF100s line for me was that it would have valks from every single series, but if it's not going to have that then I'll not be getting any more of these (and be glad that I'm only out the equivalent of 1 Yamato valk so far )

AMAZING collection. I will never be able to amass something like that!

Yea, especially since weathering kits can be had for a few dollars. I think it is just the exclusivity of the weathered versions.

Sweet! Now I can say that while Sheryl has the boobs, Ranka has the memorable ass

The model kits don't seem to be announced very far ahead of time--- the 1/72 Super VF-25S and 1/72 VF-25G were only announced last month and they are due at the end of this month, unlike the toys where they are announced 3-4 months ahead of time. So, the first indication we would get of the Armoured 1/72 release might not even be until end-April, for a late- May release. Anyway, unless Bandai releases other VF model kits, you know they will be reaching the Armoured sooner rather than later-- All they've left after March is the Super RVF-25 and Super VF-25G, and maybe a CF-25.

David Hingten is right--- and damage doesn't come only from enemies. Birdstrikes, flying through hail, bad weather, or just normal operational fatigue--- all these will cause more problems with composites than it will with metal. With a metal airframe, it is actually pretty easy to do NDT-- non-destructive testing-- which will pretty much tell you when a part will fail and when you have to replace it--and metals have very good failure behaviour. Unlike metals, composites fail catastrophically, which means you have no idea when it will fail, and when it does, the whole thing will fall apart quite spectacularly. Also, composites don't always have better corrosion resistance or durability-- yes, they are not made of metal and they don't rust, but they face the problems of delamination and fibre pull-out, so it is really a trade-off. Finally-- money still comes down to politics. Each country wants to pay the least possible, and half the European politicians don't even think that they should maintain an armed force. So defence budgets are cut, and the money dries up. It's not just because of the air-to-ground capability that we dumped the Typhoon--- its also because of the AESA and the other funky things that we could do with the F-15, given our defence-technological links. Especially the AESA-- people just don't understand that generational leap in capabilities that it offers. Bri: Actuall, the Typhoon is closer in weight to the F-16--- it is basically an F-15C crammed down into the size and weight of an F-16 . Also, the Typhoon is not designed to be a dedicated air-superiority fighter like the F-15. Remember, part of it's design requirements was to replace the Tornado as well. The Typhoon may be able to supercruise, but AFAIK that is only with a light A2A loadout and then only at around Mach 1.1-1.3, which is just barely Supercruising. The Block 60 F-16s can supercruise as well, thanks to the thrust of the new engines, so really, supercruise is nothing much. Otoh, Thrust vectoring is over-rated--- it is only really useful at high altitudes or low airspeeds, and when you use them in a dogfight you pretty much get creamed by an enemy who knows what to do-- just search around for last year's red flag involving the Indian SU-30s and how they got beat by F-15s in close combat. The F-22 needs them because it's operational altitude is much higher than any current fighter, the Typhoon doesn't operate that high and so doesn't need it--it is plenty maneuverable without it due to its low wing loading and canards and certainly doesn't need the weight penalties that thrust vectoring incurs. Ultimately, I'd say that the Typhoon has greater potential, but that's because of the new technologies that it was built with. It is far from realising that potential, unfortunately. The F-15, and even late model F-16s and Super Hornets are more than a match for it at a lower cost-- which is why the Typhoon isn't selling.