David Hingtgen

Except, it's not. If you don't look at the belly, it's an F-15, 100%, far more than Boeing would require a license for. It's not CLOSE to an F-15, it's better than a lot of early "detailed replicas". Heck, it's closer than most wood or resin F-15 models you can buy for $300. It's got a lot of things right that brand-new-for-2006 diecast F-15 models screw up. Adding fake cannons doesn't make it "not" an F-15. (poor grammar, but for emphasis)

No no no. MP SS is 1,000x more realistic than MP Prime. SS is an F-15, so specific I can tell you what year/model/nation it is. Prime is "a cabover semi of no particular nation, decade, or manufacturer". And just plain fake-looking and disproportionate. The VF-1 is a more realistic plane than MP Prime is a realistic truck.

However, real F-15's have one-piece dorsal opening speedbrakes, radomes that hinge to starboard, and frameless forward canopies. To make all those moving "gimmicks" 100% real-life accurate, and then go and totally "fake" the engines strikes me as very strange, especially considering how well Kawamori must know the F-15.

The hell? F-15's can't move their nozzles. And those aren't the nozzles of the one F-15 that can. Sorry Kawamori, but don't incorporate parts from other planes. No different than putting a Super Hornet's LEX on a baby Hornet.

The one I dodged is presumably alive--unless it happens to be the one she hit! (It was only a few miles away, but it's been 6 months). Ironically neither of these incidents had blood, but the time I totally didn't hit a deer did. If a large vehicle hits a deer at high speed, the deer basically vaporizes into a "deer cloud"---basically a blood/flesh mist in the air like a fog. The pickup ahead of me vaporized the deer, and I drove through the "deer cloud". Didn't quite realize what had happened until I saw the blood mist particles condense into drops and and running down the windshield--I decided not to use the wipers, didn't want to spread that across the glass. Even after going to the car wash as soon as I could, I still found bits of deer meat all around the front half--itty bitty stringy bits of flesh--nasty stuff to peel off. I replaced the air filter soon thereafter, as I figured at least some of the blood mist had to have been sucked up. Did I mention I hate deer?

Yeah, but my insurance didn't cover me DODGING a deer yet getting 1,000 rock chips from the gravel I encountered doing so. I just bought some stuff today to start getting ready to fix it. Sigh. (I sure wasn't going to try to start a month-long process of waxing, sanding, polishing and painting during winter or the rainy months) PS---anyone know if there's anything that can be done for rock chips in the clear coat of a polished aluminum wheel short of flat-out refinishing it professionally? I can't seem to find anything. My current plan (based on a quick talk with the body shop) is to use cleaner wax and remove as many scratches as I can, just so I can SEE what's a clearcoat scratch and what got down to the color coat and what got down to the primer. (I already primered the spots that got down to the bare metal--easy to spot the glint) Then primering/painting/clearcoating as needed. Then a full-on detailing to see how the car looks.

Latest news is that Blair personally brought up the "UK having full rights/access to JSF stealth technology" issue and Bush gave the go-ahead. Now to see if it actually happens. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if we see Australia make the same request.

"Schokoladen Braun". German Panzer Chocolate Brown, an excellent color for all sorts of things.

It's been a few months since I last mentioned how much I hate deer. They are without a doubt the dumbest creatures on the entire planet. I'm quite certain that the only reason they are not extinct due to their own stupidity and suicidal tendencies, is the fact that they breed like rabbits. I. HATE. DEER. We'll know more about the damage once we manage to get the hood open--the latch is wedged under the radiator upper mount. From looking through the big gaps, the air intake seems ok as are the diagonal braces---but I can see some of the air temp/coolant level sensors etc are disconnected. Seems to run fine so far though, amazingly. Air dam's totally messed up, and I suspect the entire front fascia is about 2 inches higher than it was. Plus the obvious radiator and headlight issues. PS--this is not my car, but a family member's---she wanted me to look at it. Still, it's yet another Pontiac I'm very familiar with (and have driven many times) hit by a suicidal deer in Iowa. I was planning on cleaning the engine bay for her next week, ironically.

My method for setting up head on attacks is simple: Turn the other way. If he breaks left, break right. If he goes high, go low. So long as you always go in the opposite direction, after 180 degrees of turning (assuming he continues the turn) you'll always end up head-on. To gain a few seconds/separation, accelerate during the first half of the turn, and brake during the latter half. I've still used the F-15C for most of times I've won. For the first forms, just keep a close eye on him---his mini-nukes leave a pretty distinctive trail, and he of course pulls off to avoid his own blast radius---watch for him to launch them, then go after him---he's very easy to hit the moment before they explode. Also keep watching after each "stage"--the radar won't lock on, and he's invincible for a few secs, but he'll be very vulnerable the moment the next "stage" starts---if you've kept on his tail all the while, you can unload the moment you're allowed.

I didn't even catch that---I knew something was pretty off about the canopy, but couldn't pin it down. (I did notice the extra frame near the rear, but I think that's more to make robot mode look like the cartoon model)

Whoops, never mind. Thanks, Shin.

"the power of Disney" LOL, I'm going to use that.

Knight26---you're not the only one to ask that question. The real question is why not SEA Flankers?

That will so utterly kill Sony. If that's the case, I will own like 10 PS3 titles in the next 5 years. And I'm not paying 600 bucks to play 2 games a year. I've played quite a few PS2 and XB games over the years, but the "permanent" collection is like 20 and 10, respectively.

AC2 had fuel, but you could spend the whole mission in afterburner and not be even close to running out. Speed: AC has always made the planes closer to each other, evened things out. Thus the F-15 isn't notably faster than most others, and the F-117 and A-10 aren't as slow as they should be. What the "speed" indicator really should be is "acceleration". Or "power to weight ratio". The F-117 and Harrier have approximately the same speed, but VERY different power ratios and acceleration characteristics. Same with the F-4 and Flanker. The YF-23 should out-accelerate ANYTHING, with a very high power ratio. If you really want, add altitude effects. The Tornado will easily outrun everything at low level, but really sucks up high. The F-4 won't be in its element until high up, but will match most anything when it is. Possibly: weapons load affects speed/handling. Thus, huge bonuses for internal carriage and small missiles, vs tons of high-drag bombs all over. No dogfighting with your F-15E when you're loaded for tank-plinking. Finally, almost-real planes I really want: F-111H. F-111B with the F-111F's engines and mods. Carrier based interceptor with Phoenix missile carriage. And DAMN fast. (outrun an F-15 under all conditions AFAIK, because the F-111F can) F8U-3N Crusader III. It's like the F-8, but with Sparrows. And potentially Mach 2.9----with a fixed intake. (2.4 for certain, 2.6 very likely, 2.9 was what they wanted)

Planes are unlocked by shooting down their aces, basically. The F-16C was among the very last plane I ever got, annoyingly. I think the F-16C rocked in this game--it had extremely typical and useful weapon options---AMRAAM, 2,000 pounder, and HARM. I usually buy the F-16 as soon as possible (as my first upgrade from the base plane).

The cartoon version switches around what model of truck Prime is. Mainly a season-by-season thing. Kind of like how Sideswipe sometimes looks a lot like a Countach, and sometimes looks more like Bluestreak...

Bayou Billy, from The Adventures of Bayou Billy.

I want a Fine Molds Star Destroyer. The AMT one is the only kit that has such poor fit that even when I was only 10 years old I realized it had huge gaps and ill-fitting parts when building it. Well, tried. I don't think I ever did get it together.

Semi OT, but basically EVERY Japanese manufacturing company built war equipment in WWII. But Mitsubishi was certainly #1, they built a lot more than just planes. (Notably the Yamato-class battleships) No different than here---Chrysler and GM built tanks, and some car companies even built B-25's.

For the love of God don't hang around ACIG.org. Trust me, it's like going to Robotech.com for Macross info. Tom Cooper may be fairly reputable, but the forums there are no better than Abovetopsecret.com etc.

GE and PW are two different companies. Though there are a few joint projects for large airliner engines recently. The TF30 is a PW engine. The GE engine for the F-14 is the F110, which is used on the F-14B and F-14D. And Iran's would have the exact same problems. Note that all the videos you see are the IMPROVED version of the TF30! Early ones were even worse--failed more often and with bigger booms. Feel sorry for VF-1, VF-2, and VF-124, who had to deal with the really early ones.

Unless of course you go Soldier/Knight/Mercenary like I did, with the Typhoon being among the last planes you get.

Which one of many F-14 exploding videos is it? Doesn't really matter, it's the same thing every time: The TF30 is one of the worst jet engines to ever enter service. Their compressors stall all the time, usually leading to blade bending, and subsequently blowing up the engine.