David Hingtgen

IMHO That's the worst version of Super Mega God Fire Convoy I've seen---I base mine on the first/most famous version from Japan, but for the hip armor I use the parts exactly how they are in "fire truck trailer mode" and they fit perfectly and look really nice. Always surprised I've never seen anyone else use them like that, as it looks better and is fairly "obvious" since you don't have to fold them or anything. Maybe I should go get mine and take a pic.

Along the same vein as my earlier post--what version? British P-38's sucked as we discussed just a little earlier. The definitive US P-38's rocked. Why do you think they got up to version "J" so quickly? They were fixing problems left and right, with many subvariants for each letter. Same for the Ta152---there are dedicated high and low altitude versions.

I was going to post that, but was waiting for someone else to do it first. A Zero can TURN and should never be dismissed. Zero's main problem is sheer durability--what would be light/minor damage on most planes is fatal to a Zero.

Umm, P-51D vs BF-109 and P-51D vs ME-109---what's the difference? Also, the 109 has a HUGE range of variants, you've gotta at least specify E, G, K, etc.

The board is supposed to be PG-13 (though we often creep higher), so try not to get too much past that discussing various "aspects" of Major Kusanagi's construction/anatomy etc. Secondly, we do have female board members, though I doubt they'd be perusing this particular thread much.

One thing missing from that is the VF-11 accent color change--the elbows/ankles/hands/feet went from a dark teal to a medium grey on the FP version.

Now that they're out, I'm waiting for Graham to reveal the "neat new features/improvements" he hinted at and couldn't tell us.

Not quite a scan, but better than nothing: http://www.1999.co.jp/dbimages/user/hobby/.../10027950n2.jpg The bureau number is 161621 BTW--though I'm 99% certain that's purely Hasegawa's idea, not canon at all. Box photos: http://www.1999.co.jp/dbimages/user/hobby/...g/10027950a.jpg

roborob---is your Camaro repainted? That doesn't look like Quasar Blue Metallic, and I know of no other blue anywhere close to that color for a mid-90's Camaro. And I notice lots of the normally black parts are also blue. PS--that's my fave Camaro wheel style, and one of my all time fave wheels period. Was that style ever available from the factory chromed?

Should I pin it now, or wait until it's "refined" as kensei said? Maybe add pics of the differences?

I'm trying to decide if I should use the optional gray decals Anasazi includes on the 1/48 M&M sheet----I'm thinking that the red really won't show up, and that the gray would both stand out and look better overall---but I don't think I've ever seen pics of someone who's actually done it. My main concern is how opaque the gray is, and if the red plastic would show through. (Red decals might not show up, but you don't have to worry about the red plastic showing through, it'd be impossible to tell) As you might imagine I'm trying to find out if that's how it'd be done in real life, but bright red planes in actual service (as opposed to demo teams and other planes with all the data and warnings omitted) are hard to find, and most of the VF-1 markings are closely based on US Navy markings, which has never had a red jet that I know of. Only really red one I've found is the "Milia red" F-15 Japan has. There's also a few F-14's and 18's with red, but not overall red---they seem to usually have white markings where the red is, sometimes black. (Black is hard to read on red) Of course, real grey planes have grey markings that can be VERY subtle, but they do specify that there should be contrast.

....as the thread marches ever closer to UTTER pointlessness

But, but--we all WANT Miami Vice the TV show...

I think the issue is, that real-life scheme isn't very famous and it does look weird to most people (myself included, despite it being on the cover of a book I often reference). It's close enough to the ultra-famous SEA camo that everyone knows and expects, that it looks off to people, almost like a mistake---like they tried to do SEA camo and screwed up. Plus I think the colors are just off enough that they didn't really match the JASDF camo that well, making it look even stranger to people. The JASDF is decidely more brown, the LV2 is too yellow/pink.

It wouldn't have been closed based on the first two posts, but Phalanx--you REALLY didn't need to go there.

The first low-vis was an almost exact copy of the standard 1980's F-15 scheme. Plenty of other grey low-vis schemes to do, including the F-14's unique low-vis scheme---there's no scheme that'd fit better or work better for obvious reasons. Or, with Roy's scheme being closely based on VF-84's scheme, why not "copy" some other famous Navy squadrons? Do high-vis! I of course would vote for VF-111.

See my previous comment.

Or my fave quote of his, when a reporter asked what it was like the first time he ever saw a jet: "I shot it down"

Oooooh, the BIG Yamato kit. I have a 1/350 Iowa and Tirpitz I'm slowly working on, and have been considering a 1/350 Musashi. If you're unaware of it, one of the best Yamato site for modelers is here: http://www.coma.ais.ne.jp/~watakan/yamato/index.html Somewhat Engrish-y, but very good info, especially on paint--down to the actual ratios and materials used.

Nintendo's official stance is still "no plans to release DS Lite in the US in the foreseeable future". Nintendo would also like you to really ignore the US version manual that exists, and the fact that a lot of things point to it being released with New Super Mario Bros.

Food threads tend to get locked REALLY fast. PS--Pepsi makes Mountain Dew. Thus, Pepsi wins.

I've always been surprised that most large R/C airliners, despite being like 1:8 scale, have godawful proportions and shapes, being less accurate than $3 1:600 scale toys. You see tons of incredibly perfect R/C F-15's and the like, but most airliners I see are just hideously off. But Airbuses tend to be done a lot better, and I have no idea why. Wonder if it leaves a scale wake----it'd still be dangerous to small aircraft!

And for a bunch of pics of Ace Combat X go here: http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20060414/acx.htm

As I've said numerous times, it's not the volume, it's the sound itself. It's a high-pitched whine that pierces all. It could be made 99% quieter, and it'd still bug me. I know what a rapidly spinning drive sounds like (nothing like burning a DVD at max speed), and this is not it. It's the screech of bad bearings or something. It shouldn't be there period. PS---amazingly, I found SEVEN 360's at K-Mart today. Thought about snagging one, since they'd certainly be a different batch. Then tonight, tornadoes ripped through town and my side of town is pretty much cut off from the other side, and that side is without power. PPS---I still see a lot of "disc scratching when the console wasn't moved at all" reports. My XB would carve out a circular scratch in almost every game, but it never affected them. And I didn't even BREATHE on that thing... I'm still thinking about waiting for another running production tweak or two before I buy a replacement 360. I still prefer top loaders----all my PS2 games since I got my Slim PS2 are still utterly pristine, as opposed to the "very faintly scratched just from putting it in the tray a few times" all my others are. PSX games? Perfect for years, until they were used in a PS2. Dreamcast? Not a one is anything other than flawless. XB? All slightly scratched.

Re: slowing down That's always been the #1 failing of Trek ship design (and SW too I think)-----no way to slow down or reverse. Both ST and SW feature vectoring exhaust nozzles, clearly implying that thrust from their sublight drives have forces directly operating on the ship. Yet they can rapidly come to a stop "magically", with a rate of deceleration far greater than their forward acceleration. I can totally buy "collapsing the warp field" or "coming out of hyperspace" to stop faster-than-light propulsion. But when they make it so clear that their sublight drives are little more than advanced forms of rocket propulsion that are directly affected by the ship's mass, it makes it hard to explain how they slow down rapidly with nothing but a few tiny verniers, when it took the main engines quite a while to ramp them up to speed. Of course, it just looks cooler on screen to have big glowing engines at the back, and the audience can more readily identify the ship with present rockets and jets that way.