Graham

Theoretically yes. Regarding the VB-6, Yamato's licence is for the VF-X2 version. Theoretically, Bandai could also have a licence for the Frontier version.

Heh, I'm old enough to remember when the .357 magnum was a common round for US law enforcement & the 9mm was the esoteric.

Eh?

Initial impressions are that it seems to be, but until it's been out longer, in more peoples hands, it's difficult to say for certain.

Just to make this clear, there is no secret licencing deal between Bandai and Yamato to decide who makes what. Licencees such as Bandai & Yamato can only negotiate directly with the franchise licensor, i.e. Big West, over who makes what. Basically Bandai has the exclusive on Frontier for at least the next few years. As I understand it, licences for SDFM, DYRL, FB, M+, MII & M0 are negotiable on a scale/type basis. There is no exclutivity. M7 & MD7 licences were previously Bandai exclusives, but may now be open to others (stay tuned for further news).

"Circle-Bar Verniers" is the approved MW term.

Well, bit the bullet and went ahead and placed my order with OverDrive for two of the Ghost+weapons set and one of the Fold Booster+speaker sets. Was originally planning to get one more of each, but the higher than expected price of these has nixed that plan. Remember the heady days before release of the DX, when we were all excited cus' these toys would be cheaper than the Yamato offereings......Hah! Graham

Guess your've never heard of the F104 Starfighter then? Graham

It was based on the long defunct Calico 9mm SMG, which used a top mounted 50rd or 100rd helical feed drum magazine.

Technically the blue & white and orange & white Project Super Nova paint schemes first appeared in the Variable Fighters Aeroreport chapter of the TIAS Macross Plus book, which predates the Model Graphix articles & Hasegawa by several years.

I think you might mean the M1 carbine, which fires the .30 Carbine cartridge. A light, handy weapon good to about 100 yards. Quite a good choice against Zombies IMO. One of the characters in the Romero Land of the Dead movie used one. I'd stay away from anything chambered in .22LR due to lack of power and reliability.

Good catch. Same on my two VF-25S. Bad Bandai, cutting corners!

I love this toy. The sculpt is awesome in all three modes, transformation is easy, it locks together well & has good poseability. This is the VF-11B toy I've been waiting 15 years for! Now bring on the VF-11C.

I have turtles. Slightly more mobile than a fish.

My choice of Glock stems more from limited parts availibility & lack of competant gunsmiths in this part of the world, plus I'm a Glock armorer. +1 on the Hi Power, lovely pistol. Not a fan of CZs though, seen several low round count guns with broken slide stops which puts me off. Plus they just don't fit my hand. Also shot standard & revolver class. Can't stand race guns either.

Moving this to the 'Movie & TV Series' forum, as it's a technology discussion and doesn't seem to have anything at all to do with toys. My take on the rear pointing head lasers is that they are likely semi-autonomous. It would be very difficult in a dog fight siituation for a pilot to fly, aim and fire a rear firing weapon all at once. Probably the pilot can select between 1) full manual control, where he does everything, i.e aims and fires. 2) Semi-autonomous, where the onboard A.I. does the aiming and just tells the pilot when to fire and 3) faull autonomous, where the onboard A.I. does everything, i.e. aims and fires. Graham

I don't think typical toy-grade, die-cast pot metal zinc would hold up unless the parts were made much thicker. Machined aluminum or steel would do the trick, but may be too expensive. Graham

Still haven't opened my reissue VF-25F yet. Saving it until I come back from my business trip on Saturday, so I've got something to look forward to. Graham

Heh, I can actually reload pretty fast (or used to be able to). I used to be a very active IPSC competitor before my son was born. I love the 10mm round, but wouldn't choose it due to limited availabilty. If I did go with a 10mm, I'd go with a Glock 20 in 10mm not a Para. Seen too many Paras go down to ever really trust one. The loadout I mentioned is manageable with decend load bearing gear. Certainly many troops are carrying more in terms of sheer weight. Two guns minimum are a must, in case of parts breakage or a stoppage that can't be instantly cleared with a 'tap-rack-bang' or other immediate action drill. There are certainly many modern surpressors that work just fine on locked breach pistols and allow the pistol to cycle just fine in semi automatic. I used to be in law enforcement arms sales, so this is an area I do have some experience with. And I repeat, a minigun is only man-portable in the Predator movie or if it's an airsoft minigun, not in real life. Graham

There's a hotel near my office where the HK Government has quarrantined all 300 guests and staff for 1 week, after a Mexican guest staying there became HK's first confirmed case of the Mexican Swine Flu. Just waiting for them to all turn into flesh eating zombies any day now. Graham

Miniguns only work well when mounted on a vehicle or a building. They are far too heavy to man-carry. While a person could manage the gun itself, you could not carry the batteries plus a reasonable supply of ammo as well. Anyway, in a post-apocalyptic scenario, ammo may be in short supply and miniguns are real ammo hogs. Graham

In a Romero (slow mover) zombie scenario, I'd go with a reliable short barreled .223 (5.56mm) rifle with an aimpoint and lots of mags (8-12 mags), probably a surpressor as well to keep the sound down (protect your hearing and not attact so many zombies). This would be backed up by one or two 9mm pistols, probably a Glock 17 or 34 backed up by either a Glock 19 or 26 for mag interchangeability, The larger of them would be fitted with a surpressor. Other options would be S&W M&P 9mm full size and M&P Compact 9mm. One would be carried in a thigh holster (Safariland 6004 or similar) and the smaller pistol in a shoulder or chest rig. 4-6 full size spare pistol mags would be carried. All above firearms, would also be fitted with tactical light/laser combo, i.e Crimson Trace laser Grips and Insight Technology M3X lights. A hand axe and a couple of Sykes Fairbairn type knives would be carried as well (good for penetrating skulls). Riot armor not ballistic armor wold be worn on the limbs, torso and head. Unlike ballistic armour, riot armor is much lighter and would offer excellent protection against zombie bites. Gotta say, I've never really agreed with Max Brook's choice of gear either. M1 Garand would be two long for CQB and is very limited with only 8rd stripper clips. Can't speak for game Zombies, as I've never played much Resident Evil, but in the Romero movies of which I'm a huge fan, you gotta shoot em in the head to take them down. Graham

No problem with both my heatshields. It does take a bit or force to get them locked, but once they're locked, they stay locked. I can hold both my VF-11B upside down and the escape pods don't fall out. Graham

Great photo, but shouldn't the YF-21's wings be unfolded? Also, didn't realise the new Yamato clear display stand was out already! Graham

I find the 1/100 VF-25F & VF-25S are defnitely more poseable than the 1/60DX. I've got my VF-25S battroid in a really cool looking reverse grip, semi-crouch, knife fighting pose at the moment. I definitely don't want to see Bandai tackle the VF-1 in 1/100 scale for a long, long time. I'm not saying never, but let's have Valks that have never been done before like the VF-171, VF-2SS, VF-27 etc first. Graham