David Hingtgen

The VF-0A w/Ghost pic has been in the VF-0A thread for several months now. There's a copy for quick viewing here: http://members.aol.com/ncc42768/ghost.jpg (At least I think it's one of Tokyohunter's pics)

Welcome to the forum, your pic of the VF-0A w/Ghost Booster you took at WonderFest is still the only pic of it. Your work is much appreciated here.

The Hase kit just makes no sense at all for it weapons mount, just ignore it IMHO. Also---Mk82's are canon? I am SO going to rig up my 1/48 to carry some. Will have to buy some TER's though... I never knew any real weapons were listed. (Though it should be LDGP not LDGB---and yes I know the whole "Bofors vs Bifors and Royce vs Roice" issue, but it really should be LDGP---that's an Engrish thing, not a parody/avoiding copyright thing)

Scouting around all the JP toy show news sites I know of---trying to find more pics of that display. Apparently yesterday and today were "press only" days, the general public is tomorrow and the next--should be a lot more pics in the next 48 hours. Thing is--wouldn't Yamato do Ivanov's first, to go with Roy?

If you split the intakes and nacelles into arms/legs, you'd have a pretty short Jetfire.

Have to find somewhere to put the arms. Trying to make a Jetfire F-14 would totally ruin Kawamori's apparent goals. The F-15 works because it has a deep, flat belly. F-14 has a whole lot of nothing between the engines.

The X-02 is slightly redesigned in every game, to take it further and further from the YF-23. Compare the YF-23 to the original X-02 design, from AC4, not the "redesigned to look less like a YF-23 copy" version from AC5 and AC0. The X-02 started out as 90% YF-23 parts, only recently has it been "resculpted" to only make it "similar" to the YF-23. And might as well: The XFA-27 is a modified F-14. Don't even think about denying that one, it shares PANEL LINES on 90% of the fuselage, exactly matching.

I think my "what forward-swept wings do for the YF-19" thread is still among the missing in the archives. Generally, FSW isn't as great/useful as people think, and a lot of what is published is flat out wrong. Basically--FSW planes are more stable in roll at extremely high alpha, and have a bit less drag at high speeds. That's about it. A few mentions of superior lift/drag ratios, which would actually make it longer-ranged. Traditionally, having wings swept forward have actually been mainly for structural/location reasons, not aerodynamic. The aerodynamic problems of FSW generally outweighs the benefits. Could be the same for the YF-19--they're swept forward because they have to be mounted at the rear because of parts/system/transformation fit, not any aerodynamic advances. Knight26---where does takeoff performance come in?

IMHO the VF-1 is just plain blocky, regardless of when it was designed. When Kawamori was sketching it up, the very sleek F-16 was already well-known. And the F-14 and 15 are sleeker than the VF-1.

chowyunskinny--did you glue them on, or is there a peg or something that'll hold the intake kibble on the wings? Because I *very* much planned to do that if I ever got one. I figured it'd work, but you make it seem like it takes almost no work at all to make it happen.

I doubt the VF-0 and VF-1 are the same design, at different stages. Especially with how very well Kawamori knows and follows current aircraft naming conventions, even in the Macross universe. He would have called the VF-0 the "YVF-1" or "YF-1" if he intended it to be an earlier version of the design. I would draw a parallel with the F-111B and F-14. The F-14 is an "emergency replacment" pressed into service with inferior engines, due to the pure suckiness of the F-111B. As many parts and systems from the F-111 as possible were used, and just as many were taken from the A-6, to get it ready as soon as possible. The F-111B was supposed to be the Navy's primary high-speed Phoenix-launching bomber-shooting interceptor, not the F-14. Same design goal, same features and weapons, same designers (Grumman helped on the F-111 a lot), similar configuration---but different planes in the end. Ironically, like the VF-0 vs VF-1, the F-111 was also a lot bigger than the F-14 (which above all was the #1 problem). I doubt Kawamori went with this parallel intentionally (unlike the YF-22/YF-23 definitely being the basis for Macross Plus) but it does work quite well.

Which is what I was referring to. Said idiots said there were no similarities, when people posted side-by-side pics at the same angle...

Live and dummy missiles in the US (and possibly all of NATO) are 36375 grey. That should match the main color of the original low-vis VF-1. Nosecones are usually off-white, being ceramic or composite or whatever--they're not painted, they're "whatever color the material is". Russian missiles are still white with black stripes AFAIK. Russian missiles seem to have almost no color coding at all.

Never a lack of idiots over at Gamefaqs.

Additionally: Hasbro--you're allowed to use drawings other than directly from the front, and directly above. Angled shots help a lot. As does choosing the CORRECT angle. How many times have you had no clue what was going on, because there were those 3 arrows, but the "from overhead" drawing looked almost identical before and and after, yet a sideview would have clearly showed what moved? If the piece moves "towards the camera" it's really not going to be obvious what happened.

Rubber has an amazing ability to "eat" other substances. Certainly plastic, but don't know much about paint. But paint and plastic can be quite similar chemically, so... (FYI, the tires on LEGO wheels will often partially dissolve the wheel, if you let them sit there long enough)

Exactly---by trying to follow the incomplete instructions, you'll actually get messed up---you assume they're right, and so blindly keep trying "their" way. Doing it yourself is a lot better in that case.

Let me guess: shoulders/arms, mainly the wheels? Yeah, there's a couple very USEFUL steps in the Binaltech instructions that the US ones simply omit. You cannot physically do how the US ones show--you have to do the entra arm/shoulder rotations that the JP ones have. If you fiddle around enough, you'll figure it out. But it'd be a whole lot easier if that part wasn't omitted for the US release. You can get scans at BWTF.com to compare.

For a while I thought Hiro had gotten to New York really quickly (teleported most likely), and Peter was unconsciously using the power---then Future Hiro appeared.

Radd---yup, that's why I'm passing on Prime. BRIGHT red and BRIGHT blue and "knock-off bright yellow" does not a good Prime make. Looks much better in the RiD Magnus colors. Lately Hasbro seems to have a 16-color Crayola palette--super bright basic colors and nothing more. If Prime was deep red and blue (say, like a US flag) he'd look great. (I thought MP Prime would have looked a lot better in G1 toy colors--deep blue legs) Anyways, Hot Rod is really good, as he's a deep kinda fuschia-red like he should be, and the flames are gold paint, not yellow. (Cheap, thin gold, but gold nonetheless). But his waist accents are still bright yellow, and don't match.

I've noticed that some US Alternators have "abbreviated" instructions compared to the JP Binaltechs (Smokescreen for sure)---which leads to problems---you simply CANNOT do it how the US instructions show---it's obvious the guy who re-did them just looked at them and THOUGHT that eliminating a few steps to save some paper would work--but it doesn't. I wouldn't be surprised if MP SS was the same, since MP Prime had such long, detailed instructions--they probably edited the instructions at the end to save some paper, and eliminated some useful steps in there.

Shawn just announced he found some more stuff from 2002. Might be some in there.

Thanks

Just to nitpick, but the Rafale's much older than the F-22. It was flying the 80's. I think the Rafale is the record holder for "longest gap between flying prototype and service entry". And isn't the MiG-29S now the MiG-35 officially?

X-02 has the outer half of the wings swing INSIDE the wingroot. When the wing tips are retracted, the wings are identical to the YF-23. (the leading edge splits open to allow the tips to go inside). Canards---just write it off to "close-coupled in the extreme". Pure wing airflow control, rather than pitch control.