VF-19

I've got two main methods for holding pieces while airbrushing: 1) Popsicle stick with double sided tape. Quite flexible, and you can glue a couple of sticks together to get one nice long surface to apply the double sided tape. Best of all it's reusable. Just peel off the tape, and put some new tape on. 2) Alligator clips with wood skewers. Picked up a long skewer at Home Depot (and they even let me cut it up! ), and a bunch of alligator clips at Radio Shack (or in Canada, The Source). Put them together, and presto, instant (and cheap) way to hold parts while you're painting!

Thanks for the heads up on the gaps. Personally, I'm probably going to go the Mr. Surfacer 500 route myself, a bit less messier than putty... One more question about the kit: I've noticed that your canopy isn't quite flush with the body of the plane. Is that just your plane, or did you have problems with the canopy fit?

I have that exact same kit too. What I'm more wondering about is about any problems you may have had while building it. Looks great!

To heck with FF4 for the GBA, I want Chrono Trigger for the GBA! And yes, FF7 isn't the be-all-end-all of RPGs. There are plenty more out there that does it better. And no, Cloud isn't the greatest protagonist, and nor is Sepiroth the greatest antagonist. Destroying the world isn't new, it's stereotypical.

Popsicle sticks and some double sided tape will make a very handy and perfectly customizable paint stick. If the popsicle stick is too short, just glue 2 or more together! Oh, and clothespins. Great for holding large (and sometimes small, but only specific parts) parts together while glue dries.

Here's a not-quite-super model of an aircraft: The old first release Airfix F-14a in wolfpack markings. I picked it up for $5 on a "what the hey" whim. First impressions: It looks like a F-14... Sort of. The cockpit is somewhat Ok for the period, and at least the pilot and backseater's panels look halfway decent. Panel lines are raised, but it's hard to tell about the detail on the plane, as the plastic is moulded in bright white. I guess I'll see it when I give it a coat of grey. No wheel well detail (and not surprising), so it'll be gear up and in flight. Surprisingly, the wings are geared both together and to the forward winglets that pop out at high speed. So when you sweep the wings back the little winglets open up with the main wing. Kinda neat. Also surprising about the kit is that the decals have survived thirty years in storage, and the test decal responded very well to Microset, then Microsol, and then Solvaset. If I keep my pace up, I'll probably finish the kit in a couple of weeks.

The ones on the trailing edges of the wings and tail are probably the mechanisms that move the flaps, elevators and ailerons on the wings and tail surfaces. The two bulges on the body are most probably the wheel wells.

The PG gundams probably aren't worth having insured, as they're still fairly easy to come by. Now, if you have a boxed unbuilt AMT/ETRL U.S.S. Enterprise-C, then you should insure that, as you can't buy them in stores anymore, and there's hordes of people who want one. Best bet, call around town, and see who'll insure it. You might also want to contact an appraiser to get a value too.

I got my bootleg VF-17D today. Aside from the stickers peeling (again, seriously considering painting on the blue stripes and whatnot), the toy is in excellent condition. I'd bet that put side by side the original Bandai VF-17d, id would probably be a little tricky telling them apart. Ahh, the good old days of quality bootlegs!

I got my M7 VF-19 today in the mail. It's definately a boot, as it at least has the forward canards of the fire valk, and the wings of the fire valk. Plastic quality is good, and there's some die-cast in it, so it feels durable. Not bad for a bootleg. I might, however, repaint all the yellow bits myself, as the stickers are starting to peel off.

I've won this VF-19 off of E-bay not too long ago. The box indicates it's a boot, but item itself looks pretty good for a boot (if it is a boot). Yes, I paid a bit too much for a boot, but I think it was a pretty good price. His other M7 valks (fire Valk, and the two VF-17s) went for around what I paid, excepting one of the VF-17, it only went for about $19.

Memory is easy to test, simply remove ALL of your RAM sticks and try and boot. If it boots (and stops, because there isn't enough RAM to load anything), then your RAM is bad. I only hope that your powersupply hasn't gone partially belly up. You might want to test it before you put new components in your system...

One tiny problem with building a rail gun on the Great Wall of China. It isn't straight... That and China might have a tiny problem with having a rail gun on its wall. Like I say to my friends and family regarding the Columbia accident. Beyond a certain point during launch or re-entry, if anything goes wrong, you're automatically screwed.

I'm personally more of a WW2 flight sim junkie (except Combat Simulator 3, never liked it). I kinda like the whole idea that when you push a button something happens right away. In Falcon 4.0 you can't even shoot until you've armed your craft (master arm switch in the lower left hand corner in the frontal view). Plus there's some amount of skill involved in using guns to shoot down a plane while barely avoiding a collision. But I like Falcon 4.0 Makes me want to dig out Lock-On (and print the manual to that), and Flanker 2.5 (and print the manual for that too). If nothing for the reading material.

I picked up Falcon 4.0 Allied Force a few weeks ago, and after spending about $45 CDN to have the manual printed and bound, I'm still quite lost. At least I can launch missiles and bombs, and SOMETIMES hit something. Hopefully not one of my buddies. The manual is quite awesome, and explains everything. Can't remember a key press? Hunt the button down in the cockpit and manually press it yourself. That I really really like. But I don't like it when I shut off my engine mid flight... Ooops. Overall, dispite the somewhat dated graphics (a bonus of that is that it will run buttery smooth on today's systems), it's basically a military grade simulator for the commercial market.

Actually that's what they normally do when they record voices for a movie or a TV show. There are the unusual cases of when two or more actors are in the same booth, but by and large they normally record everybody seperatley (sp?), and then mix the voices together.

Finished: Canadair Saber done up in Bluenose squadron colours. No pics as the plane went straight away to my Dad's nightstand at the Hospice (he wasn't involved in the squadron, but I made it to cheer him up). Airbrushed and sealed with a semi-gloss coat. When I get it back home (don't know when), I'll take pictures of it. Working on: Old 1:100 Nu Gundam. Looks nice (and lots of pre-MG features), but it's going to need some additional weights in the feet so it won't tip with all the extra weight on the back. I'm having some minor parts fit problems. Not warping, but there's about a 1/2 mm step in between some parts. Lots of sanding needed...

Message to politicians: It's just a game. Repeat after me: It's just a game! Seriously, there's better ways of spending taxpayer dollars than leading a crusade against a game...

It's official: Ottawa, Ontario sucks for Alternators. My local Wal-Mart and TRU isn't carrying Alternators anymore... Grr... At least there's online...

The thing is, wizards and witches can't cast proper spells (apparently apart from appirating) without their wands, and that includes Dumbledore. They can do unfocused magic caused by extreme emotions or stress, but that's it. House elves, on the other hand, are much much more powerful. They can cast spells that would require a wizard or witch to use their wands. House elves don't need wands. Makes you wonder why the elves are slaves and not in control...

Not likely. I don't think Voldemort had the time to set a part of his soul in Harry. It seems to me that it would take much longer than a split second to cast a spell to put part of his soul in Harry. While Horcruxes can be in living beings (snakes etc), it cannot be Harry for the simple fact that the prophecy states that somebody is going to die, either Harry or Voldemort. For Harry to die, he has to screw up. For Voldemort to die, Harry cannot have the Horcrux in him, as then Voldemort CAN'T die, as a part of his soul remains in this mortal coil. He'd be back to square one: worse than dead.

That might be considered a spoiler. Finished the book today. Loved it. Can't wait for the next one (2007 or 2008ish).

I studied it in University. Came to the conlusion that the wizarding community pretty much mind-rapes (messes with memories, removes memories etc) anybody they please, even Dumbledore. Oh, and the Wizards are the ruling class, the goblins are the merchant/labour class, and the house-elves are the slaving class.

1) Yup. All 1:48th have come with their own little pilots. It's just that this one is nameless, and therefore, disposable (in a cannon fodder way! ). 2) You'll get a set of articulated hands that are already attached to the Valk, and the TV hands come as extras. To use them, simply pull off the hands (they come off easily), and put on the TV hands. That's it! And yes, the Max and Miriya came with both types of hands (TV and DYRL).

Interesting. So it'll be about $40-50 CDN. Or less. Thanks for clarifying!