David Hingtgen

Finished it last week. One of the very few games I actually thought went on too long. The second half is exactly like the first half. Nothing new, just more of the same. In snow. It could have ended at like 25 hours and I would have been fine. But the next 15 hours---actually kinda bored me. The first dozen hours are great, but it quickly seems repetitive.

I eventually went with BBTS last week, based mainly on their incredible customer service--if it's missing a piece etc, they'll fix it, and fast--mainly due to the sheer numbers they have. That's worth the extra $ they charge over most other places for the -19 considering Yamato QC. That, plus the fact that they are still accepting pre-orders this late. (Though their latest email this afternoon says there's not many left)

Have you only looked recently? Many of "our" retailers pre-sold-out months ago.

The "S" part of the F-15's FAST pack (Fuel And Sensor Tactical) never came to be, but it was going to be for reconnaisance--cameras, IR imagery, etc. The F-14 ironically did get a special recon pod--the TARPS pod.

There's really only one person who gives out titles----"he who hates everyone".

I have a single 1/48 of my fave valk (Milia) but everything else is 1/60. I'm a huge fan of "consistent scale".

::counts the dots::

Navy modexes are traditionally thusly: 1xx---First fighter squadron VF 2xx---Second fighter squadron VF 3xx---First light attack squadron VA 4xx---Second light attack squadron VA 5xx---First heavy attack squadron VA 6xx---Second heavy attack squadron VA (And they all have assigned colors, too---1 is red, 2 is yellow, 3 is blue, 4 is green, 5 is orange) Nowadays they're all just "VFA Fighter-Attack squadrons with Hornets". The last pair of digits is the individual plane. 00 is for the CAG, 01 is for the squadron commander. 02 is the squadron XO. 03+ are for regular squadron members. 08 and 09 aren't used. "Fast Eagle 100" would (for most of the history of the F-14) be the Black Aces' CAG *plane* but doesn't mean the CAG is flying it (odds are low, with a half-dozen planes or more designated for the CAG, but there's only one CAG). PS---no Navy squadron has the radio callsign "Ghost Rider", despite Top Gun---not even the Ghost Rider squadron. Squadron name and callsign rarely agree--here's some I know: Black Aces: Fast Eagle Jolly Rogers: Victory Ghost Riders: Dakota Satan's Kittens: Hellcat Swordsmen: Gypsy Bounty Hunters: Bullet Tomcatters: Felix Tophatters: Camelot

IIRC, nearly every place taking Wii/PS3 pre-orders, pretty clearly states that a pre-order merely guarantees a system AT SOME POINT, not a launch-day one. Being #1 on the list, you should EXPECT to get one on launch day, but even that's not for sure. #12? Could be launch day, could be the next week, or next month. No different than 360 pre-orders were---they were hard to find for months, but the people who pre-ordered yet still didn't get them on launch day usually got them within 4-6 weeks of launch, vs the people who didn't pre-order and might hunt for months before finding one.

Nothing's "permanent". If it was added, it can be removed. Interesting, the law specifies the color---FS12199. That's "Coast Guard Orange".

I think people are confusing personal callsigns and radio callsigns. If someone's callsign is "Pig" (fairly common) they may be called Pig for years and years---but their radio callsign can change every flight---it may be "Fast Eagle 107" one day, and "Dakota 202" the next.

This pic: http://www2.moeyo.com/img/rev/06/11/12/r1/rl29.JPG shows a sticker for the fuselage kite. It's more subtle than the ejection triangles, but still a sticker.

Graham's back!--it's been like 3 days. He was probably playing with his new, final-version YF-19 all this time...

Having to move the legs for the FAST packs almost seems like a design error. They are supposed to be small enough to fit as-is, that's how Kawamori designed it. Did Yamato try to make them VF-1 sized for some reason, then change the YF-19 to fit?

UN Spacy---the legs twisting outwards at the hips?

Nice, I like it a lot. Some day I'll have to take mine beyond the "removed from sprue and sanded the intake halves" stage. Is that the first one we've actually seen built as a 2-seater here at MW?

I'd guess more like $100, if they're at BestBuy... Launch dates are almost as bad as the "November mass game releases" we have. Nothing for half the year, now EVERY game you want comes out in a 6 week period...

Oooh, Battle 7 would rock. And then they could release a City 7 add-on for like 100,000 Yen... Battle 7 not only looks cooler, it has MAX commanding it!

I've been holding off on buying the GBA remakes of the NES/SNES Super Mario games, hoping they'd be on the Wii. But since none are in the first batch(es), now I'm thinking they're not going to be (at least for a while) so as not to hurt sales of the GBA versions. What we really need is Mario All Stars 2-- 1 through 4, and Yoshi's Island. For GC/Wii.

The YF-19 was accepted as-is for the VF-19A, then heavily redesigned for the later VF-19F and VF-19S. Kind of like how the F-18A/B/C/D Hornet had about 90% of its structure changed to become the F-18E/F Super Hornet. Same basic name and designation, but actually only "looks similar" and doesn't share many parts.

I thought I read the PS3 is actually transparent black, but so "barely" transparent it's almost impossible to tell from opaque black.

Basically---yup. Painting is done last. Think about all the aircraft models with camoflage--the camoflage doesn't follow panel lines or subassemblies at all. Mask mask mask... And Tamiya masking tape is worth the price.

Nani--the VF-19A Excalibur is identical to the YF-19. It's the VF-19F and S Blazer valks, and VF-19Kai Fire valk that are so different.

Half of Yamato's VF-1's are non-canon repaints, do you really think they wouldn't make the best-known canon repaint? We'll probably also get low-vis, stealth, and Roy VF-19's...

"- Engadget has revealed some technical details on PlayStation 3. The PS3 BluRay drive is quieter than the DVD Drive on Xbox 360 " I should hope so!