David Hingtgen

<<<<< The Royal Australian Air Force is facing a six- to 18-month gap in the availability of operational in-flight refuelling aircraft, as a result of plans to withdraw its final Boeing 707 tanker from service in July 2008. The service is not expecting to achieve initial operational capability with its new Airbus A330-based KC-30B multi-role tanker transports until late 2009, with this milestone set for the availability of two of its five aircraft. Australia's Department of Defence announced that only one 707 tanker will be in service for the next eight months, following the 31 October retirement of the RAAF's only other available example from an originally five-strong fleet. The retired aircraft are being cannibalised to provide operational spares for the sole remaining platform. The first converted KC-30B made its debut flight last June, but phase one flight testing is only just starting. "The test readiness review is expected to occur by the end of October 2007 in support of commencement of Phase 2 test activities in early 2008," the DoD says. "The in-service date - for two aircraft, qualification tested and issued with military airworthiness certificates - remains as planned for late 2009." >>> How about waiting until you have the replacement before retiring the old one? Though the RAF already got rid of its Sea Harriers, and they still don't have any JSF's... (nor will for quite a while)

If the C/D's are having issues, what about the A/B's still in service? There's been a lot of swapping/upgrading since the F-22 came into service, but there's still some squadrons that have the early models. As for structure: Go look at any F-16 block 40/42. You'll see retrofitted reinforcement plates to stop the cracking on them. The increased weight was too much for them. (block 25 and 30 also have some, but far fewer)

I've been annoyed by the number of total noobs on AC6. They have NO achievements (and you get 1 just for playing the prologue mission---how hard is it to shoot down a B-52?) and pick like an A-10 with Mavericks for a 4-on-4 dogfight. I just think "please don't be on my team, please don't be on my team". Of course they just get shot down and never shoot anyone else down, making it harder for everyone else on their team to win. I'm not some AC6 elitist, but c'mon--at least pick a FIGHTER plane and AIR TO AIR weaponry when you're playing with other people in a pure air-to-air mission.

That's kinda what I was worried about---based on my rough estimates of "TV distance at BestBuy" compared to my at home distance--I think it is visible (720 vs 1080)--but not a lot. But I don't want to go down to a 26in, as they almost all are of inherently lower picture quality, the 32's are the start of the "good technology" stuff. Though Sony and Samsung seem to have some 26's that are almost as good as 32's. 26S3000 is a possibility. The Sharp 1080 sets cost a lot more than the other 32's I was looking at though, and nowhere around here seems to have the non-game-mode one (which I have yet to see any review say makes any difference--yet adds hundreds to the cost). Of course, getting it online brings the price down to the same as the 32S3000---but then introduces all the hassle of if there's anything wrong with it it's hard to exhange/return.

Simple basic question: 32in HDTV, 5 foot viewing distance (maybe as little as 4 to 4.5 at times). Good, bad? 1080p worth it? (Do 32in 1080p's actually have 1080 pixels, or just accept 1080 and show it with 768 pixels)

I've seen 3: 2 at a Super Target a few months ago, and 1 at a Wal-Mart a few weeks ago.

Instead of removing the nosecone paint, why not paint it blue to match the tailfins? That'd be semi-canon.

God no, she's one of the ones on the list of "not convincing at all, and took a role away from a real redhead".

HD-A3 is/was going for 170 some places---might just wait for that to come down a little.

Mainly because 95% of colored/dyed reds are easy to spot as such, and ruins the effect.

I'll second everything Tober said. Takara made an awesome, perfect MP-3 proto/sample before Kawamori got involved. He only delayed the project (and increased its cost) by making changes, and in many people's eyes, either made it not as good as before, or even ruined it.

I'll re-iterate: REAL redhead for Scarlett. That is all.

I liked KOTOR's music a lot. Not enough to buy the soundtrack, but well above average.

That gets a "fail" as it's utterly impossible to identify as a 727 at that point---every distinguising feature has been removed. It could just as well be a 737 chopped up. 95% of the plane is gone--everything behind the cockpit windows. IMHO, that's not a converted 727. That's a bus, with a new cosmetic shell on the outside, with a Boeing cockpit grafted on the front. I could add a 727's #2 intake to my car, and have a much more 727-ish vehicle.

2012?

I'm waiting for the Wii to get cheap at this point. I still like 10x more Virtual Console games than Wii games, and I'm not paying $250 to re-play stuff I played years ago. Mario G alone isn't worth it. Maybe 4 years from now, when Wii's are 99 bucks and include Mario Galaxy and Metroid 3 as pack ins...

Luckily *(or unluckily, depending), I live in Eastern Iowa---we have Wal-Marts all over in rural farm towns, where probably 1% or less of the population has HDTV. If there's not one in town--I know several towns less than an hour away that are sure to have some in stock. When I had the money for a 360, I knew exactly where to get one when they were still "sold out everywhere"--drove over, and picked it up. Probably the only 360 they've ever sold...

I was at Wal-Mart an hour ago---but didn't go by the electronics area. Is that 100 bucks for all Wal-Marts, you just have to be lucky and hope they're in stock, or what? I would so pick one up for a hundred bucks now, and just hold on to it until I get my HDTV in a few weeks/months.

I plan to play online tonight. Just "whenever I get around to it". Xenogears Id, plan to be in 5-10 min Team battles, might try siege.

Using Skywarp parts (or just not changing the color of that particular sprue) makes a lot of sense--because nothing else does. Making that whole sprue grey would apparently make a grey nosecone too----which'd match the animation a whole lot better than "random silver". Have I mentioned that F-15's cannot have bare metal nosecones? (Most any plane with radar can't) I assume Hasbro intends the "bright silver" paint on the upper rear fuselage and nose to represent bare metal--too bad that's 2 areas the F-15 never leaves bare...

You have to get it in orange to get the cool wheels? That sucks. People have wanted those wheels ever since they found out the Holden SS-V came with them (and were on the G8 show car). They look a lot better on black/red/blue cars... Thanks for the info though. 6 speed auto only? Strange, would have figured the super-special edition would have introduced the 6M, as it's supposed to come out a little later than the 6A.

If anyone really hates Beast Wars I don't know what to say---it's got one of the better storylines out there *period* IMHO, and is by far the best TF story out there. It's kind of like saying "I hate ST:TNG and DS9 because they're not TOS". Umm, well, it's hard to argue that TOS had better stories and plots. You may hate the setting and look, but for raw character development, stories, etc---TNG and DS9 blow away the original.

Still, why BLACK? I have many things made of various types of unpaintable plastic, but many come in colors other than black. Black is by far the most common, but it can be molded in most any color AFAIK. If there's a toy-type plastic that is inherently black, it's news to me. I mean, most TF parts are molded in color and not painted. It's not an issue for most molds, as you just mold the unpaintable parts in Autobot red, or silver, or whatever color matches the rest of the toy. Ironically it's usually the painted parts that don't match---see "car doors and roofs molded in clear plastic to have transparent "glass" then painted on the outside to match the molded fenders, hood, etc". Look at Yamato---they have plenty of POM unpaintable parts, molded in VERY LIGHT GREY. ::looks at 1/60 Roy::

I can post this in both the plane and car threads! One of the coolest jobs in the USAF has to be chasing down landing U-2's at 140mph. They used to use Z28's, but now it's GTO's: http://airteamimages.com/displaybig.php?phtID=58010 http://airteamimages.com/displaybig.php?phtID=58009 http://airteamimages.com/displaybig.php?phtID=58011 For those wondering, the U-2 is so hard to land (and so senstive), that they have fellow pilots drive alongside while landing, calling out the plane's altitude and attitude to the pilot during the critical last seconds---they literally call out foot-by-foot at the end. And the pilots practice a lot driving to be able to be in position--it's easy to get there too early (plane can't land if you're in the way) or too late (you'll never catch up if you're 5 secs late). Apparently they can make the turn off the taxiway onto the runway at over 100mph while accelerating to 140, and the tires only last a month. They sit on the taxiway, waiting for just the right moment to go, then floor it to catch up so that the plane and car hit the same speed at the same time (as the car is accelrating but the plane is slowing).

I've always thought Australia should go with F-15E's. Much better long-range striker than a Super Hornet, and plenty capable of going against a Super Flanker at range with the newest electronic fits like the F-15K and S. PS---I can post this in both the plane and car threads! One of the coolest jobs in the USAF has to be chasing down landing U-2's at 140mph. They used to use Z28's, but now it's GTO's: http://airteamimages.com/displaybig.php?phtID=58010 Just search "U-2" there for more pics.