David Hingtgen

Final boss of X1 is weak to to Rolling Shield. It has a weird firing pattern, but it's worth it. However, you probably will run out of weapon energy before he dies. Then use X-buster for the last 2 or 3 shots. X4 with Zero is still the toughest IMHO, or final boss of X3 (even with the Z-saber you can die 20+ times before you get the timing/positioning right).

A cheaper Qui-Gon was my most-wanted 1:1 scale, but it's still not quite cheap enough. That's still 6x the price of a .45 scale. And twice the price of an FX. Frankly, it should cost about the same as an FX---better hilt, but no blade/electronics.

Halford's is always mentioned on the model airplane forums, but AFAIK there is no US equivalent. Of course we have many spray paints from various stores, but there's nothing we would praise/use like Halford's it seems.

Rare that I can chime in, but owning a Grand Prix GTP and closely following Pontiacs over the past few years, I can. So here's a comment from someone owning a Pontiac and looking for potential replacement: After all the "overview" stuff you get down to the details. And THAT is where Pontiac seems to have really screwed up lately. Check Grand Prix, G6, or GTO sites. Stupid option packages are KILLING sales (or at least, prospective owners are b*tching about them a lot). Examples: Heads Up Display. Coolest feature there is, especially to plane-freaks like me. Used to be available on almost any Grand Prix. Now it is only available and standard on the V8-powered Grand Prix. So 95% of Grand Prix's cannot get it, despite being a popular option for many years. Sunroof. Nearly every single Grand Prix ordered by a dealer has it. Some 90% of those ordered by individuals DON'T. There's a reason for that--low roof-line. Anyone over about 5'8 can't have a sunroof in a Grand Prix. But almost every one on the lot has it. There's not the slightest chance I can deal with a sunroof in a Grand Prix--I got the only GTP in Iowa without one that I've seen--and it was brought in from Nebraska. Now, like most Pontiacs there's a bunch of audio options. But for the good one it is only available with the sunroof. Beyond stupid. People over 5'6 like amps too. To get the Monsoon system you need to be short. So basically, my current Grand Prix has no sunroof(and thus headroom), the best sound system, and a Heads Up Display. And an auto-dimming rearview mirror. And lots of other little things. But I can't get anything like that now. HUD is only available with the V8, and those are both hard to get and don't do well in snow (300HP+ via FWD on wide tires is not good for the midwest) (plus there's no spare tire and they have an even HIGHER percentage of sunroofs than the other models). Electrochromic mirrors flat-out don't exist--yeesh, even cheap Chevy's have those, and GP's used to--but not anymore. Sound? I can only have the cheapest single-slot CD 4-speaker system if I don't get a sunroof. Not the nice in-dash changer with amp and XM. Finally--onstar. It's standard on nearly every GM car now. That's $600+ of an option I don't want/need, that I'm paying for. It's just built in to the base price now. I could use that money for wheels. Also it adds an ugly antenna and its base to the rear window. I very much like my current antenna-less look. Sorry for the rant, but I'm just ticked that a car I like can't really be "replaced". I do not want to buy the same car but with half of all my options missing. I like all my comfort/convenience features, there's a reason I paid for them. And I want those same ones on my next car---and they really should be available, now that the GP has even higher-level models. And should be available without a sunroof.

XFA-27 has the same layout as a Super Flanker or F-15ACTIVE. It simply has a cruciform tail (which I am fond of for redundancy/damage reasons) instead of a typical right-angle v.stab/h.stab arrangement.

Cool video of the day, very fast *VERY* low F-15 passes. I want to go to that airshow! http://www.flightlevel350.com/download.php?id=4798

News is that JLU starts up again Feb 11th. 10:30EST, though latest reports are putting it at 8:30EST.

MW alone could support an entire on-line wing.

Well you'll at least SEE a Blackbird very early in AC5. And there's 2 XB-70's you can shoot down in AC4 if you really hunt for them. "Shattered Skies" and "Broken Arrow"---they're the targets that zip across REALLY fast.

Ace Combat 2. Where the AFD-01/Falken also made its first appearance. The Falken did not premiere in Ace Combat 5, it just became more famous in AC5 because in AC2 it was only an enemy plane (and you couldn't fly it). Pics are few and far between, here's the only one I could find: http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~tac1991/18.jpg AC2 has a plane viewer in it, so you can look at all the planes up close and move them around, etc.

If you want an X-02, you could always buy a YF-23 and modify it. Anyways---the XFA-27 is a far cooler plane. And you can even fight the Falken with it! A REALLY ambitious person could build one from an F-14 kit, as it uses a large amount of the fuselage panel-for-panel. If they're making the ADF-01, they need to make the rival XFA-27.

6 Enterprises---the 2 3-packs or all six individually? (Which'd cost quite a lot nowadays) Plan on lighting anything up?

Well mine's launch day, so it's certainly got the early style. Don't really feel like opening it up again to take a REALLY good look at the cooling system. (Can't get parts anymore really, I plan to have mine forever)

For #2, I want to say J57. 13--that's a Rockwell Sabreliner in the background. "If it's got triangular windows and it's not an old airliner, it's a Sabreliner"

IIRC when I opened mine up when it was brand-new, it's basically a silver square with faintly visible tubes embedded.

Oooooooooooooooh. I was thinking about getting a DS soon, but will definitely wait for this one. (I *so* want that Xenosaga 1+2 remake to come to the US--I would buy a DS for that alone in a second---also, XS1 sold far better in the US than Japan, so I'd expect it to come out here--they would literally be missing their primary market) I hope the screen is like the new backlit GBA SP---the latest GBA SP screen strikes me as nicer than the current DS.

I'm still searching for the perfect spray-bomb for basic overall painting like primer, white, grey, etc. I currently like Testors "Light Aircraft grey" but it's still thicker/grainier/bumpier than I'd like, and far more expensive than hardware-store paint. But I use it because it has lead to my best results, even though most of the time it just comes out "ok". Gunship grey still sprays the best but far too dark for most things.

Very true. While white paint may still yellow, it's nothing compared to white plastic! Also, I tend to believe that it's usually the clear coat that yellows more than the white paint underneath. Acrylic clears are certainly the way to go, they seem to be inherently more "pure" and truly colorless than any lacquer clear.

Dreamcast is liquid-cooled. Just water, but water is second only to ammonia for "common/safe liquids that can suck up a lot of heat." And liquid ammonia isn't practical for home use. Sodium and lead are even better, being liquid metal under heat/pressure, but it's really hard to work with them---only a few nuclear reactors use it, with the other 90%+ of reactors using water. In other words: water is about the best you'll ever see for liquid-cooled things, anything else is probably inferior or very impractical except for high-end military use.

90% of "something rattling inside" problems are the little ball inside the hilt that is the sensor so that it knows it's being swung, and to make appropriate sounds. In other words: that's how its supposed to be. Same as the "rattling ball" in an Xbox 360--it's how it knows which way is up.

OT, but my GBA is the Asian version, and my brother's Dreamcast was the Asian version. It generally only affects packaging and possibly the default language when starting up the first time. Though IIRC Asian Dreamcasts have no modem.

There's different levels for a tone, it doesn't mean automatically LOCK it simply means it can tell there's something out there and is looking for it. It'll make a different tone (almost always described as a growl--listed for it in real gun camera footage , especially the F-14 ones) when it's actually LOCKED. You can fire a Sidewinder at a sort of "half-lock"----low chance of success, but sometimes it's the best you've got. No noise: Missile's acting stupid, even if it's staring at an afterburner. Tone: Searching, sorta sees something, can tell there's a heat source somewhere in its field of vision. Means "seeker is active". If it actually locks on, it'll give a growl to indicate how well it's locked: Low-pitched growl: slight lock Medium-pitched growl: moderate lock High-pitched growl: strong lock (I think, could be the opposite) Also---"No Joy" specifically refers to sighting of aircraft. If you call "Bandits, 8 o'clock high" to somebody, he'll either respond "Tally Ho" that he sees them too, or "No Joy" that he doesn't.

I'm more curious about that Skull Leader YF-19 in the background.

I still haven't seen one, though my brother recently bought the first one he's ever seen, at Target.

Yup, smacking the case often works to get a fan to "settle down" and quietly hum instead of BUZZ/RATTLE. Until it doesn't. (Then it's time to replace)