David Hingtgen

I really wonder about that plane. TF30+J85---yet it still has the auxilliary intakes? You couldn't change a thing about the J85 and maintain those inlets as functional--they're positioned right at the first stage fan. Plus it makes little sense---turbojet vs turbofan, and an order of magnitude difference in size/power. Maybe they can use some technique they learned from the TF30 to design some new J85 stage, but there's no way to combine the two in any form. Not while still fitting in a plane that size. Also--adding a second tail is a lot of weight for a plane that small. Especially when it's twin-engined already (which is inherently heavier than a single, larger engine) Finally---Northrop planes, especially the whole F-5/17/20 family, are quite reliant on their area ruling. Speed via low drag, not high power. (The YF-23 had both, which is why it had such insane acceleration). I wonder how well they realize that, and can alter the plane without ruining it. They could have doubled the drag with those new intakes, alteration of the fuselage contours, and doubling the skin drag of the tail.

Dassault almost got a Rafale order from Morocco, but it seems Lockheed stepped in with a cheaper offer for F-16's. Still not decided for certain. Even I'm cheering for Dassault at this point. I'm still surprised the Rafale has NO export orders. It's a good plane AFAIK, and aerodynamically a cut above the basic F-16 design--again, AFAIK. The F-16 is just getting uglier and heavier with each upgrade. Soon it'll be nothing but a flying bundle of sensor pods and bulges, with the handling of a pregnant yak. Personally, I don't really like any F-16 past Block 30, which is where it peaked in air-to-air.

The 3-year warranty only applies to the overheat 3-red-rings failure. But it is standard with every 360, even retroactive to launch-day ones. Everything else (drive issues, power supply, misc weird stuff) is still just under the 1-year warranty. (Which is itself an extension---it launched with a 90-day warranty).

MGS 4 isn't really "new"---we already have had a ton of stuff over the last few months. But I'd never even heard of Last Remnant until today, and White Knight was but a single trailer before.

The VF-11 ending up being 1/64, 1/65, right around there. It was enlarged from 1/72 due to fragility.

Isn't the Intrepid closed for like 18months for refurbishment?

None have it, so don't bother looking yet. AFAIK.

I hate rumble with a passion. And I hate heavy controllers. (I don't like feather-weight either, but rumble often seems to double the weight) I removed the rumble packs from my 360 controller entirely. I seriously considered removing them from my PS2 controller but thought it might affect it and didn't want to re-solder the wires. (On the 360 they just use plug-in connectors--easily put back in if needed)

Nobody's commenting on Tokyo Game Show stuff??? Anyways: The Last Remnant. Looks must-buy to me. It's Kingdom Hearts without the Disney stuff. White Knight--definite maybe. Xenogears-esque in that it's a mix of normal party fighting, and giant mecha fighting. Interesting---this year I'm buying all 360 stuff, next year looks to be all PS3 stuff (including buying a PS3).

The separate battery charger is worth it if for no other reason than it's a ***** to try to get the batteries out of the battery case. I think that's MS's intention--make it so annoying to try to remove the batteries, that you buy their rechargable battery pack. Also, I recharge mine every 2 days if I'm playing a lot. AA's add up pretty quickly at that rate. I only have the one pack, as I find no need for a second one---playing Oblivion I found that you can go for hours beyond when it starts flashing at you---you don't have to "stop at the next save point and recharge". You can finish out that entire evening's gaming and recharge it while sleeping.

****! Everyone gets a new, quieter system but me---the guy who really wants a quiet system and is willing to pay. Mine didn't even come with the new heatsink. I'm really starting to get pissed.

Plastruct makes glue specifically for ABS. However I find it to still be weaker than say, a styrene-to-styrene bond that styrene glues produce. But it's better than using standard model glues, as they usually have little to no effect on ABS. You can find Plastructs glues at most hobby shops--they make several, just look for the one that's mainly for ABS (orange label I think). Other option would be super glues etc.

I wasn't doubting the info, I just found it surprising.

You said "first time on a plane" so I had assumed it was several years ago. But if you had TV's on the seat, it must have been recent. And a "hmmn" statement for the fact that they have -600's. -600's are decidedly uncommon, very poor seller compared to the others. (It's just mis-proportioned, too much wing and tail for such a small fuselage---the -500 was iffy for the same reason, but sold decently since it was almost tailor-made for UAL and SWA---but the -600's even worse and I didn't know anybody but SAS had picked some up)

If you thought one of Westjet's 737's could move (probably a -200) you should try to book your next trip on a 757. Those are by far the "hotrod" airliner. Many people comment the first time they get a 757 takeoff.

Way too long since cool pics were posted. Gah, MW is the only forum I know that doesn't support A.net's own linking system---this took like 20 mins to write with thumbnails! Not going to do it again unless the board supports Java... This is messy but it works--click the link, then click on the pic the link leads to. Then you'll have to request the large version if you want to make a wallpaper out of it. http://www.airliners.net/photoLink.inc?id=1256124 http://www.airliners.net/photoLink.inc?id=1266017 http://www.airliners.net/photoLink.inc?id=1268975 http://www.airliners.net/photoLink.inc?id=0716079 http://www.airliners.net/photoLink.inc?id=1225052 http://www.airliners.net/photoLink.inc?id=1260574 http://www.airliners.net/photoLink.inc?id=1255527 <a href="http://www.airliners.net/photoLink.inc?id=1250440" target="_blank">http://www.airliners.net/photoLink.inc?id=1250440</a>

I never realized that anyone ever transformed it wrong until I saw those pics.

AFAIK the main reason for the elimination of gold canopies on the F-16 and 18 is the increasing use of night-vision goggles. It interferes with them. You'll note F-16 Block 40's were the first to abandon it, and often just the front half of the canopy. But the F-22 isn't going to be night-bombing much.

Every pic at A.net is photoshopped to some degree.

First, this is a REALLY cool picture---darn watermark ruins it for wallpaper though. (And the shape's hard to fit) http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1265696/L/ But--look at the F-22's. Do they actually have different canopies, or is the slightly different angle enough to totally change how they look? They're almost exactly the same position in relation to the camera.

From inside. If you really want to make it "look right" (assuming it's meant to be the same as modern gold-tinted canopies) try to make it a bit towards the golden/orange hues, maybe a TINY touch of pink.

Are you going to put all the stripes on? I still haven't seen a pic of one all stickered up.

It's the big new trend in movies, TV, and games---you need to buy/read everything else to really get the whole story. Star Wars ROTS is a good example---buy the prequel and sequel novels, and watch season 2 of Clone Wars---that's the WHOLE story, the movie was just "a good chunk of the middle". It can stand alone, but there's a lot more out there.

::checks around:: Yeesh, why didn't anybody tell me the graphic novels continued every week even while the show was on hiatus? I'm going to need hours to read all the ones I missed.

Lost Odyssey delayed until February in the US. Not a big problem, as it was going to come out almost simultaneously with Mass Effect originally---two big RPG's at the same time?. No time to play both. This actually works out better, as February through Sept is normally "the dry time" for games.