Noyhauser

Looks like the U.S. tanker competition is reopening. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5d4a8fb8-c792-11...?nclick_check=1

One thing I've found with Tamiya is that they did something to the formulation which forces you to use their thinner. If you don't I've found that white streaks start to occur and it pools differently (for the worse).

Well its F-22 time boys. Lockheed Martin given F-22 reprieve http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2b6bbce0-c4a1-11...?nclick_check=1

Seriously? As much as there are better ones, I find it a good "medium grade," where I don't want to mix up some mori mori or use mr. surfacer.

I've got one partially built (major assemblies cleaned and re-etched), test fitted, and probably would only be an even or two of work to put it all together. However, I don't have an airbrush to finish it with (I've moved back towards airbrushing for painting)... so don't expect to see one soon from me.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fj8Qo13OR_0&feature=related Fast Forward to 9:56: Three Colony ships. I'm trying to find where it says "expand" the galactic network, but I may well be wrong as I said in my first post. Maybe its for improved communications to the borders areas (since there are smaller colonies in the region.)

Just to nitpick, Macross 7 wasn't a colonization fleet if I remember correctly. Its mission was to expand the galactic communications network or something like that, which was stated a couple of times in the series. But it wasn't a colonization mission. Thats probably why it only had one Colony ship, unlike other, larger fleets (like Macross 5, which had two or three city ships.)

Frriiiiick. Thanks Briscojr, I must have early onset Alzheimer in my mid 20s. Well thats debunked... never mind me.

Oh don't get me wrong... It could be that too. But it "could" also be a protoculture base, since we know they used that exact shape for some of their buildings.

No that looks like the Protoculture temple from Macross 7 which contained the Gold Protoculture Avatar. Its the one that Exedol visits on the Planet Rax before Gigil destroys it.

Holy. Not to inflame the fire, but HWR is entitled to his opinion, and I don't disagree with it. To be honest I think you should look at yourself. He made a comment, and you responded with a highly inflammatory remark questioning his love of his hobby... How could you question that when half of this thread is made up of his models, almost all are extremely impressive. (I love the KFOR Stryker) So you jump down on his throat for him giving his informed opinion as if you have the only informed opinion on here... THATS one of the saddest things I've seen on this forum.

I still say, the ECM in Macross Frontier seems eerily reminiscent of the Vindiriance group's anti missile ECM from Digital Mission VFX-2 (used on Macross-13) Anybody else notice this?

As a cheap civil defence measure. Purchasing weapons rarely has to do with what is better, but what is better for what we can afford. I doubt that its considered an effective But the monster does appear, in every series and game produced, and even gets a new version the VB-6. Its really the exception that proves the rule. Moreover Kautaka Miyatake (he designed the destroids and almost everything else) did mechanical designs for M+ M7 as well sooo I don't think it was just because Kawamori is racist towards the destroids. There are numerous problems with your analysis. First off its pretty clear that economics make up a huge part of the Macross universe. Its the reason why the VF-5000 replaces the VF-4, the production of the VF-9, and the selection of the 19 over the 21. Its obvious that they want all environs combat vehicles, partly because its more economical than just space combat use destroids. As seen in Macross 7, colonization fleets do spend significant time on the ground, even if they don't colonize a planet. Are you then forced to buy two wholly separate arms, one space based and then one atmospheric based? Thats a completely unacceptable waste of resources. Its better to have one vehicle that do both jobs at 80%. Moreover there is something to be said about having the weight of your research on one area, especially after the destruction of earth. If all your research is on transformable fighters, then its likely that you're going to continue to focus on transformable fighters as your main design of choice.

Because there is no point... its a waste of money against maneuverable power armor like that used by the Zentredi. You might be right that the animation may not have shown the "true capabilities of a destroid" but it does show us something else: no new destroids ever appear after SDF macross in an actual frontline combat role. In the three series set after SDF and three canon games, no destroid other than the Monster are shown. Kawamori stuffs these series with almost a dozen new valkyries, but not one new destroid design emerges, save for one exception (which I'll get to in a sec.) Instead they are portrayed as museum relics in Macross 7, mostly converted into construction vehicles. Macross Zero has them... but thats a pre-Space War period when Destroids were being built and thought of as being useful because they didn't have real combat experience of fighting against the Zentredi. I don't think this is all coincidence or unintentional. The only exception is the Monster, which does appear in every series and all of the games, but its not the same as its brethren. It is designed for long range bombardment... not short ranged defence like the Tomahawk, Spartan ect. And guess what happens to the monster? They upgrade it with a transformation sequence to give it greater mobility. That alleviates it from the problem shared by every other destroid: they are immobile, slow, and vulnerable to attack. ITs probably cheaper and more effective for them to add a couple of turrets on the outside of the hull, and bring valks into a city area to deal with anything that might leak through. Now I could be wrong, and Kawamori might decide to add Destroids to Macross Frontier, but if I had to bet, I'd say its pretty unlikely given his track record.

Umm, Hasegawa kits are pretty well the top end of the quality scale for model makers. The difference between the two makers models is the markets they intend to service. In some way its like comparing apples and oranges. Bandai may have good quality, but they aren't really "models." Gunplas more playable figures that you construct than anything else. They are designed to be easy to build; no glue or paints are needed to make a decent model, just some panel lining. Hasegawa models are different... you need paint, glue, and putty to make a good model. However a hasegawa is a better "model," they are unrivaled in their level of detail. You see all the panels that a real aircraft would have, which gunplas don't. Even if you compare a PG Gundam to a Hase VF-1. It might not have the posability or all the movable parts, but if built correctly, the Hase model will always beat a gunpla for detail and realism hands down. You should take a look at this threads by WM Cheng if you want to see how hasegawa models are built and the difference between them and Bandai gunpla. http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=5881 http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=7956

Question is, just how effective were destroids in the first place? With the exception of the HWK Monster, which played a different role than most destroids, probably not very. They were large, slow, very easy to pick off... had limited weapons ect. Destroids were designed in an era when humans had little clue about how their opponents would fight... and from the looks of SDF macross and DYRL they were terrible compared to Valkyries. Even in built up areas, Valks seemed more effective there too... so for stopping a major threat to the colony, neither destroids or tanks are really the answer. At the same time, they there still is a need for civil defence work: ie police duties and maybe helping during an attack. But if they never encounter an opponent inside the dome, what justifies the expense of destroids? Very little.

Pretty sure we'll be seeing a VF-171 and VF-17.

I wasn't going to discuss real world examples... just pointing out the likely inspiration for SMS.

While I think your point is interesting, I don't think that its quite what Kawamori intended. The Froating head seems pretty up to date about modern military issues. While you say Macross 7 talks about Military vs Civillian defence in Japanese history, I disagree. Its actually more reflective of the Japanese Security debate in 1994 and 1995. Remember that Macross 7 played over the summer of 1995, right with the 50th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing.... it was a period of much discussion about what should the JSDF do in the absence of a major security threat like the Soviet Union. Thats what I think the whole concept of Soundforce vs the Military was a comment of. He was trying to suggest that maybe we don't require massive military force, but its more important to have dialogue. Now what is a major trend today in the military? Alternative Service Delivery and Private Military Companies. Private Airforces are a reality today, and I think SMS is Kawamori's idea of a futuristic example of one. The text pretty clearly says "Civilian Military Provider" when describing SMS in the episode. Now looking at the japanese text, Civillian military is spelt out in Kanji (I think: minkan guun), as these are formal words in Japanese. But "provider" is in Katakana... its a japanese transliteration of a modern english word. He could have used the word squadron (sentai) or battalion or something else. Instead he used the word "provider," a modern concept, not a classical one as you suggest. I also think the Macross universe 2059 is very different one than we are used to... maybe not as prosperous as it once was. The implication in Macross Plus is that rebellions are breaking out across UN space, and in VFX-2 one almost takes down the entire U.N. As I've pointed out, cost seems to be a fairly important consideration for procurement of military equipment. Instead of maintaining major military formations like Diamond force, they might prefer paying for highly skilled private military services on a "per use" basis.

Realism issues aside, it makes sense tactical sense. If we keep with the economic motif and that the VF-171 is an downgraded VF-17... then deleting arm lasers (maybe), and all the advanced equipment of the VF-17 would make sense. The VF-17's legs contained the one shot beam weapon and a second ammo clip for the stealth gunpod, a load out that was more useful against high value targets. Thats why it was given to elite pilots like Gamlin. With the VF-171 now facing more conventional opponents, like a zentredi fleet, you don't need all those specialized equipment. So removing all those weapons, and adding more missiles which are useful against a numerically superior zentredi opponent makes sense. It also makes it cheaper, so that it can be mass produced, rather than limiting it as a low production fighter. But look what happened when the VF-171 faced fewer, more technologically superior foe, like the "Space Monster" in Frontier; it gets crushed. They even used the classic anti-Zentredi tactics at the start: a massive missile barrage, followed by close combat... which was completely ineffective and it showed. Also, I don't see it so much as a "downgrade." I'd bet that the VF-171 is kinda like the VF-1 Plus. It probably has upgraded engines, maybe more powerful but less verniers as well. But its been optimized for taking out massive quantities of enemies as a standard fighter, not a top end fighter designed to take down a less numerous, more technologically advanced opponent.

I posted this elsewhere but I think it can be plausibly explained by economy. If you don't mind I'll just copy and paste my previous post... I'm a bit too lazy to rewrite it http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?show...4559&st=580

I don't think any of the acrobatics in Macross have ever been realistic... I mean watch the F-14 in Macross Zero, even with "overtechnology" engines, thats basically impossible. The VF-171 fight looks basically like the VF-0 vs SV-51 battles from Zero, despite 50 years difference... and they certainly didn't have G-dampers then. I really just chalk this up to artistic license. In comparison, the underlying universe has been pretty well sketched out and somewhat realistically portrayed. While yes there is "anti-gravity" technology, how would that operate within a gravity-less environment to me seems pretty unrealistic. Now I might be wrong... but wouldn't that entail creating force by pushing against the airframe itself to create anti gravity... that creates a force opposite direction... IE less maneuverability/major stress on the airframe. My physics my be wrong on this but I think that would be implications of applying the "antigravity" technology as an inertial damper. Now I'm sure that "over-technology" could solve this, but then I feel the series is getting away from its somewhat realistic roots. I mean yes there are some new technologies like folding, but its been believable up until this point, and this would get away from it.

The Inertia vector control system is not an inertia counterer. Its what it is: a control system for the vehicle itself that makes it more maneuverable. Also my first post might have came off as being a tad negative... It wasn't intended to be as such.

You might want to read the description of the VF-15 from the compendium. http://macross.anime.net/mecha/united_nati...vf15/index.html I don't think its an "inertia canceller" rather a Anti-G boost system. I think its physically impossible for a Inertia canceller to exist.

Ah, yes... the fit issues. yeah that is something I forgot. They're definitely alot of them, but I don't consider them bad to the extent requiring major work (like stuff being unfitable or so out of shape that it needs to be modified). Most (with the exception of the intakes) only required filling once glued... so its not that bad. Actually in a weird way I think it makes it more of a fun project... they are acceptable flaws that involve more work, but nothing as time consuming as scratchbuilding an entire piece.