Graham

AFAIK, he JSF is designed to replace a lot of different aircraft, not just the F-16. Plus the JSF is mostly (70%) optimised for ground attack missions, not air to air unlike the F16. IIRC, the F-35's payload is pretty small if just using internal weapon bays. Of course using external pylons, the payload increases greatly, but then stealth goes out of the window. Basically, you have an aircrart that is probably going to be complicated and difficult to maintain, has a limited payload if it wants to remain stealthy. Has poor rear visibilty due to not having a raised buble canopy (how many times do aircraft designers need to relearn this lesson). Has no internal gun on most versions. Has little ability to defend itself in a close-in dogfight, due to the inability to carry a short range AAM. Is not really faster or more manueverable than many other modern fighters. IMO It's one big compromise that doesn't really perform especially well in any area. Graham

The F/A-22 will be able to beat the Eurofighter, Gripen and Rafale, but the Eurofighter is supposed to be better than the Gripen and Rafale and any older planes the US has, including the F-15, F-16 and F/A-18. Graham

I believe there is also a Cat translator and they are also working on making a baby translator as well. Graham

I'm no HG lover, but if BW is now willing to deal with HG and license Macross properties to them, this could potentially be a good situation for us. That is of course only if HG is willing to release pure Macross anime, i.e. subbed, completely uncut and unedited, with all orignial character names retained and no mention at all of Robotech. Graham

Whoa......just came online and it's like WTF! Did I go to sleep last night only to wake up this morning in an alternate dimension, where reality as we know it has been turned upside down? Anyway, until we get some concrete information, the way I see it is that either HG is just try to see how far they can push the envelope or they have been secretly negotiating with BW recently. Graham

Mostly to do with the above points, rather than details and gimmickry. Graham

Actually, the VF-0's hands do not retract into the arms in fighter mode. They are permanently out in all three modes. Graham

Oh, I didn't know we could post photos in the profiles again. I'll have to post something tonight when I get home. Graham

The 12" Guts Black Swordsman figure is by Dragon Models. All the Universal Model Limited (UML) shops in HK have this figure in stock, as UML is the retail arm of Dragon Models. Anyway, IIRC it's selling for the insane price of HK$1,300 (US$167), which is way too much IMO for a 12" action figure. Here's the link to the relevant page of the Dragon Models website. Graham

That one is the McNell Douglar F203 Dragon II. See Compendium. Graham

Yep, it's the Mikolev MiM-31 Karyobin. See the Macross Compendium entry. Graham

He want's big hands, I want a Yamato style big nosecone. Hey, we just gotta learn to live with what we were born with, unless you consider cosmetic surgery that is. Implants anyone? Hey, I wonder if Zentradi resizing chambers can selectively macronize specific parts of the body? Graham

OT a bit, but I'm curious, why was episode # 1 cut? I don't recall there being any 'questionable' content. Graham

I'm not a big fan of the JSF concept. It seems to be too much of a 'Jack-of-all-trades' plane IMO. It tries to be too many things at once and does nothing very well. Limited payload, unless external pylons are added, which compromises stealth. No gun on some models (will they never learn). Sure you can add a gun pack in the internal bay, but that ties up space needed for other ordnance. Limited self defence capability. Can't carry Sidewinders internally (seeker head partially blocked by body) so has to use AMRAAMS instead. OK for medium to long range, but not so good in a knife fight (and when is BRV combat ever allowed anyway)! Poor rear visibilty. Not really faster or more agile than existing planes. No off-boresight targetting (like most US planes)! I know that the JSF is supposed to be 70% geared towards ground missions and 30% for air-to-air, but it seems curiously poorly suited for both IMO. And yes I know that the JSF is supposed to use internal weapons only for the early days of a campaign thus maximizing stealth and will only start carrying external weapons only once air superiority has been acheived. However, even with air superiority, there may still be ground threats that haven't been neutralized, long into the campaign. It always makes me smile when I read about how short range air-to-air combat is a thing of the past and that all air combats will take place at long ranges with missiles (people having been saying this for what, the last 50 years LOL!). In theory this sounds good, but modern rules of enagement are so tough, especially when operating in an environment with other allied forces aircraft, i.e. Desert Storm or pretty much every NATO/allied joint operation in the past decade, that getting a visual ID before firing is essential. I think the US is placing far too much emphasis on radar defeating stealth recently. It's expensive and difficult to maintain and Infra Red Search & Track (IRST) sytems are improving by leaps and bounds that an aircraft with a good IRST system will probably be able to detect, track, lock-on and fire at a so called 'Stealthy' F-35 or F/A-22 anyway. Personally, I think the the Europeans have the right idea about multi-role planes with the Gripen, Typhoon and Rafale, which I think are superior to anything the US has in the air, except probably the F/A-22. Graham

Note, as this is not a Macross question it is being moved to the 'Other Anime & Science Fiction' forum. Graham

Whoops sorry, thought I'd answered this a long time ago. It looks like I'm not going to need the decal set , but thanks for remembering. Graham

It also left a Valk's decapitated body lying on the floor next to his own severed head. A head which at this time has no name. I know his name. There can be only one! I have something to say! It's better to burn out, than to fade away! Graham

LOL....not true. The 1/55 is a very tough toy. Graham

I use forward view all the time in VF-X2. It's the only way to play! I've never had a problem with it on both my original disk or my bootleg copy. Graham

For those of you in HK, I found one shop yesterday that had the VF-0S in stock. It's that small hobby shop on the 1/F of Causeway Bay Center, just to the right as you go up the stairs. It was selling for HK$199, which I think is a bit too expensive. They had about 3-4 remaining. I didn't buy one. Graham

OK, I picked up Air Force Delta Strike (US ver) yesterday. Been playing it for a few hours now. As somebody else mentioned earlier in this thread, the gameplay and missions are sorta similar to AC4, just somehow not quite as good. I can't quite put my finger on what makes AC4 gameplay better, but it just is IMO. Still, the AFDS gameplay is not bad overall, although the yaw controls on the planes I have flown so far seem very unresponsive (I set the control settings to Ace B', which is pretty much the same as AC4). My biggest gripe with this game is that the dialog is the most annoying, purile, juvenile buncha horsecrap that I have ever had the misfortune of havinng to read plus the voice acting is awful. Graham

I'd love to know why the F-22 is not cleared to use it's thrust vecoring yet. First I've heard of it. Graham

Can some kind person please remind me just when exactly is the Blue MPC Alpha being released? I sorta remeber it was either Feb, March or May(?), but I'm too lazy to reread all the way through the 26 pages of this thread again. Graham

I wonder if the radio chatter will be in English on the Japanese version, as all I can buy out here is the Japanese version. I might buy this game purely for the English Electric Lightning, Tornado and the Eurofighter Typhoon, as I'm more a fan of British planes than I am of US planes. Not sure I like the funky color schemes though, sorta reminds me of the first Ace Combat game. Graham

In the past, I've suggested to Yamato several times that they should make a 1/48 accessory set, containing standing 1/48 pilot figures as well as non-articulated DYRL style hands (gunpod hand, open hand & fist), similar in concept to the 1J TV hands. Last time I mentioned this idea was about a month ago and they seemed fairly receptive to the idea, so there is a small chance it may eventually happen. Graham