Graham

According to one of my F-15 books, the F-15 has something like 90 documented air-to-air kills so far with zero losses IIRC. Of course this includes Saudi and Iraeli F-15s, not only US ones. No idea how many kills the F-16 has racked up so far, but I presume the IAF must has some. Graham

Comparing the price point of the Masterpiece Convoy/Prime to the Q-Rau is a bit unfair. Transformers has a far bigger fan base than Macross and it's a safe bet that Takara/Hasbro's production run has been far, far larger than Yamato's. The larger the production run, the lower the per unit cost and selling price can be. Takara/Hasbro have probably made at least 100,000pcs of the Convoy/Prime (if not more) and while I can't reveal the actual production run figures for the Q-Rau, it is considerably smaller quantity by a huge margin. Graham

Can I add your photos to the MW custom toy gallery? Graham

Just added many new pics to the MW Custom Toy gallery. More to come later. Graham

Guys, I've just uploaded the scans from the new April 2004 issue of Model Graphix Magazine. It features two non-canon VF-0S paint schemes and also the biggest photo so far of the Hasegawa SV-51 model. See it here. Graham

Q-Rau Review up here. I thinks it's a great toy. Graham

The F15 would have to be seriously upgraded to outmatch the Eurofighter. The Eurofighter is regarded by many people as being the 2nd best Western fighter by a very wide margin, being only outclassed by the much more expensive F-22. Among the features the Eurofighter has (or will soon have) are supercruise, reportedly very low RCS, excellent automated defensive aids system, voice direct input, excellent agility, data link, excellent radar, good payload and range, helmet mounted sight, offboresight targetting, extremely ergonomic cockpit, very advanced IRST system. Graham

Oh well, I was hoping to see Vader kick some serious Jedi ass Graham

Actually, I live in Tai Po, but work in Lai Chi Kok. Graham

I've always wondered would the Commanche really have been that stealthy. I mean don't large spinning rotor blades create a huge radar cross section (RCS)? It's a long time since I read up on the Commanche, but what where supposed to be it's advantages (besides stealth) over the Apache? Graham

If you guys want articulation, accuracy (not to mention beauty), and affordability, I'd like to recommend the HGUC Gundam Mk-II. I know it's not a toy, but since it's Bandai, it might as well be. It builds into a very solid, perfectly playable toy. At 1/144, it isn't big enough to dwarf any Macross item and become a thunder stealer, but it's not so small that it lacks details. I know the prospect of building a model freaks people out, but if you have a nail clipper and an X-acto, you'd be poised to build a nice looking Mk-II, with no proportion problems the HCM present. I agree. The HGUC MK.II is a nice and fairly cheap kit, with a good level of detail, good proportions and decent articulation. Graham

Heero, Basara, and Keith. Wrong timeline, wrong series, and wrong genre, in that order. Serious consideration of the question: 0. Bomba! Amuro, Kamille, Lala Wasn't Lala a Telly Tubby? Graham

I wonder how effective (if at all) the 25mm ammo is against the top, side and rear armor of T-80 and T-84 tanks? Graham

Getting back on topic, I've recently been wondering how successful Victory Gundam would be in the US if it aired on TV? Opinions? Graham

Some interesting pics there. I wonder how much screen time Anakin as Vader is going to get. I wish the movie was coming out this year, it's a pain still having to wait more than a year. Graham

A7, can't see the pic. Graham

You still see the MK.II HCMs quite frequently in toy shops here in HK. I think they sell for between HK$120-HK$160 (US$15-US$20). And yes, they do have opening cockpits. The beam sabres are one piece grey plastic though, so need painting to look good. Graham

Interesting ! die-cast ! because I really want the HCM Gundam MKII and you can forget the FIX MKII to expensive! IMO the HCM MK.II does not really have a very good sculpt, the head is a bit wrong, plus I find the body a little chunky. Also, it does not come with a bazooka. If you want an accurate looking, well articulated, relatively cheap MK.II toy, IMO the MSiA is far better than the HCM. Graham

Yup, I'm with you there, bring back models, epecially model space ships. Graham

There's a transforming 747 in this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was thinking of checking it out after reading the review, but I may pass now. Graham

It's not confirmed yet, but it should be somewhere around ¥4,000 I think. Graham

If you think that you might possibly later regret selling them, then don't sell them. Personally, I've found that if you think you might regret getting rid of a toy, you usually will regret it sooner or later. Graham

If you already have the seperate 1/48 FAST pack set and don't want or need another FAST pack, then just buy the standard (blue box) VF-1J without FAST pack. If however, you don't already own a FAST pack set then I would say spend the extra money and buy the VF-1J with FAST packs. Graham

Well, I just went again and checked 2 branches of Animate, one branch of Kanto Hobby, plus a few other smaller toy shops during my lunch break and the Q-Rau is still not in toy shops in Hong Kong yet (at least not in the MOng Kok district). Graham

Hmm........interesting, that's the first reference I've seen to the F-35B (STOVL ver) having an optional external gun. Previously, I'd read that it could be fitted with an optional gunpack in the internal weapons bay, which replaced one of the two bombs. In order to ba able to fire this gun pack, I'd presumed the bay doors would have to open and the gunpack extend out to be able to fire. Looks like I was wrong about this. Anyway, I just found this very interesting page about the F-35 Weapons Capacity. Didn't know it would have a 25mm gun like the Harrier rather than the 20mm standard on most US fighters.....interesting. Graham