David Hingtgen

Can you stretch an airliner too much? Yes, yes you can. I'd love to know the climb performance/TTW ratio... http://qa.airliners.net/photo/Bombardier-Aerospace/Canadair-CL-600-2E25-Regional/1525641/L/

The F-16XL was an amazing plane, its load/range capabilities were insanely better than a stock F-16. Not sure exactly how it'd perform vs an F-15E though--IIRC they were quite close. The F-16XL would cost less to buy per plane, as it's smaller with just one engine---but the F-15E would cost a lot less to initially develop. And you could imagine how much stuff a current F-16XL would have tacked on by now, it'd make the Block 60 look sleek... NASA has both of the XL's, I know at least one still flies fairly often. PS--the production version would have been F-16E and F-16F. Much like the F-101, I think the 2-seat version of the F-16 looks cooler. PPS---an F-16 with a bigger wing is basically an F-2. 25% larger IIRC.

Big disconnect between critics and "everyone else" at Rottentomatoes etc. Seems "the masses" like it quite a bit more than the critics. As do I.

I'm the one who made that a formal rule in the latest revision, and am usually the one who enforces it--but not this time. Still, I never close the thread--I retitle it.

The F-16 is already on its second intake design (unless it's got PW engines, when it still uses the original). It's pretty darn-near perfect as it is--as the later, improved one is nigh-identical to the original. The F-16 was designed from the start with a modular intake assembly to allow for changes etc--that's why it was so easy to change to the 2nd (MCID) design. If anything newer was that much better, you can bet they would have upgraded it by now. Intakes are over-rated in their effect on power/speed. Look at the Super Crusader---can easily outrun many planes with 'fancier' 'optimized' inlets with just a J75 for power.

Yeah, Koto does tend to do 2nd runs if something's really popular. Hadn't heard about it before though for this one. I didn't like how the Phoenix one turned out, so I passed on it. (disappointed, I very much would have liked one to go with Rogue)

Rogue sold out pretty much upon release. They're a bit smaller than you might think---but my copy of Rogue is one of the best figs I've ever bought.

Yup--few things more slippery than a bath mat that's lost suction.

Everybody likes canards except the F-16's designer. They increase overall lift, contribute greatly to pitch control and flow control, moderately to roll control, and can also act for yaw and braking. And can also act as a backup "anything" if an aileron or elevator etc should be damaged.

5 years, that might be a record for "delayed response" here at MW. Anyways, just got back from seeing it. Pleasantly surprised. Given its length, I can't think of any way it could have really been done better. A few "combining" moments and minor changes, but overall pretty good IMHO. I think we all know that doing EVERYTHING in the book would have taken 3 or 4 hours... Bodes well for future movies, if they can be done this well considering time/budget. ::edit:: Addendum---most every negative review criticizes on lack of plot. True, but not really. More like "lack of exposition/explanation". WHY they're doing what they do and going where they go isn't really able to be gleaned much from what's on-screen. But seriously---if you read the books, you know why. Anyone seeing the 3rd movie and STILL hasn't read the books---why? Seriously, I think every negative review comes from those who haven't read the books. Yes, you probably would be pretty lost with no background. But if you HAVE read the book---they do 90% of what's in there. To me, that's a lot of plot. They just don't directly talk about it in a contrived monologue to the audience disguised as an internal narrative like most movies do to spoon-feed their viewers...

Welcome to my world.

Savage Oprah?

I was more specifically referring to bathroom humor. Anything in the humping, peeing, farting, Turturro's butt, etc category. That's pretty much the definition of "sophomoric".

VF-0 wing isn't blended, and I've never liked calling its little extensions "LERX"s. It's little more than the F-15's intake lips IMHO. It's a big chine at best. Too much intake and glove in the way for it to directly affect the wing or be considered a root or LE extension. It's got a leading edge, but the rear goes into the intake, or a non-lifting-profile glove. Half an airfoil is no airfoil. As for wing loading---high loading is great for low-level (it resists turbulence/gusts and gives a smoother, more stable ride for firing accuracy), and as the attack on the carrier group shows, low-level strike is certainly part of the Sv-51's mission, and it does it well. As for maneuverability---the Sv-51 has big moving canards, and it uses them. That'll count for something vs the Zero's loading advantage. Plus, the Sv-51 seems able to fold/flap its wings in every mode---we may not see it animated, but "flapping" the tip just a bit for more lift/roll in turns is certainly possible IMHO, it's no different than the F-16 and F-18 tweaking their LE flaps constantly. Seriously---a plane with a bird-like ability to adjust/use its wings? That is one HELL of an advantage aerodynamically. It's been the ultimate goal for years.

I believe he was referring to the Sv-51, regarding Sukhoi and Israel.

Is it natural thread or synthetic? Natural fibers (anything in the wood/cotton category) can take over 400 degrees before bursting into flames. Some nylons etc will start having issues at less than half that---and a VERY hot video card could get that hot. (you don't want it too, but it could in a worst-case scenario of worked hard while overclocked) (and of course, some nylon takes heat very well) If you're worried---JB Weld can take 500 degrees, high-temp hot glues come in 400 to 700 degree ranges IIRC. ::edit:: Whoops, didn't notice "Singapore". All my numbers were Farenheit. Eh, just halve them all, close enough with numbers this large.

Undecided. I'll make a rant I thought up of years ago: IMHO, many people miss the main point of Prince Caspian. The palace life, life in the city, life of a prince there, etc. It's one of the "lower" books, but if you miss/gloss over that part of the book, then all you have left is an awful source for a movie. And of course, they ditched most all of that so they could have a uber-expensive 45-minute castle siege to copy Helm's Deep. Thus, what should have been a short, simple, cheap, fantasy movie, became an expensive long war movie. I knew this would happen, and knew it would basically screw over Dawn Treader, as the 2nd movie would be too expensive and the source material simply isn't good enough to justify a large production in the first place. Thus, sucking away all the money that Dawn Treader would have required (it would require zillions of FX shots), but it actually would have deserved it as it's one of, if not the best books in the series---and it is far and away the best one for adapting to a movie. Caspian should have been done cheaply, focusing on the Prince's life, with a quick little rebellion battle at the end--having JUST the duel would have been fine, with everything else viewed in the background and narrated away by Qui-Gon. In short---inserting a big huge battle into Caspian frankly killed the series. Made the 2nd movie too long, too much of the same, and too expensive. Thus, making Disney abandoning it. And even if they hadn't, they still wouldn't have poured as much money into Dawn Treader if they'd produced it, seeing the expense vs return on Caspian. But Dawn Treader and Silver Chair could have made an awesome pair of back to back movies, given care/budget. Early reviews of Dawn Treader don't seem encouraging, so Silver Chair may never come to be. (A Horse and His Boy is still my fave though, but if any were to be skipped, it'd probably be that---of course, knowing Hollywood, they'd skip a lot of the horse-journey stuff, and focus on the battle of the end of course----the book is 90/10 horse/battle, the movie would be the opposite)

I like. Don't love, but I like.

F-16's with CFT's are love/hate. I personally hate them. F-16 is the sleekest mass-production jet ever. This ruins that. Though that particular concept is sleeker than the current UAE and Israeli ones--fewer sensor bumps etc. I kind of doubt the JSOW and SLAM-ER though.

That reminds me--anyone else notice that Youtube just started "splitting up" all their files, and it causes hell? Everything loads slow, skips, glitches, and the audio is often out of synch at the end of the movie. It really, really sucks. I suspect there'll be enough outrage in a week or so that they'll do something about it maybe, but for now---Youtube just sucks.

Late reply, but Re: maturity and more humor. Sophomoric humor was THE main thing that made ROTF worse than the first, and was the source of most all my complaints about the first one. MORE of that will make the movie godawful, period. There's already more than enough cringe-worthy moments in the first 2 movies. A movie about giant f'in transforming robots does not need more humor. Especially from humans. It needs more robots and more transforming.

Agreed. Valks already have numerous high-power servos in them. 2 more for the wings is nothing. I don't think they'd have jackscrews etc like an F-14 does. ::edit:: Well, looking at the VF-1, it looks exactly like the F-14's, just oriented funny. I'm going to chalk that up to the artist blindly copying the F-14's internals and making the parts fit. (are any of the famous VF-1 cutaways actually by Kawamori?)

I agree. It's darn near a full-armor set in fighter mode--only it fits the DX toy well...

It's an A5, recovered quite intact in Russia---apparently they literally just found it sitting there in the woods some years ago. I know Paul Allen had a hand in restoring it. (unlimited money helps a lot) Here's how they found it: That was in amazingly good condition, considering.

EVERYTHING causes cancer in high enough doses in rats, heck, humans die from drinking too much pure water on occassion. Though I think all the "known to the state of California" stuff will get me first... (even some of my model trains and planes have that sticker!)