David Hingtgen

F-16 tanks are F-16-specific. Most drop tanks are. The only one I know of that isn't, is the later-style F-4 centerline tank and the F-15, they use the same 600-gallon tank--it's a "standard large tank for large twin-engine MDC fighters". Bombs should fit on the DW F-15E wing pylons, don't know for certain. On the other boards, they only like DW because of the lack of screws and paint IMHO, if you really look Dragon accuracy is no better than any other brand, despite people constantly talking about Dragon's "accuracy". I think "small engraved details and thin, fine panel lines" are a more accurate term than "accuracy". I own all the Corgi's you mentioned, here's my comments: Tornado: very nice, best Corgi there is. Main gear doors very difficult to position correctly in the open position though. Wings swing with a movable section to fill the gap! Only model plane I know of where "wings forward" won't leave a big hole behind the wing. Phantom: only accurate for an F-4C and possibly a UK one. Do not buy a US Navy one, it will be horribly inaccurate. As an F-4C, very nice, Tornado seems a bit better. Harrier: I only have Sea Harriers, but they're pretty nice, if a bit more "simple" than the others. Movable nozzles, canopy doesn't open, speed brake doesn't open (that's important for Harriers). I often go by the weapons, as Corgi weapons are permanent, and some are painted well enough, others are simply pure white. Landing gear/doors is very much like Dragon, but I always spend more time "scraping paint" etc to get the posts in the holes on a Corgi than a Dragon. Mainly I think because Corgi just puts a very thick layer of white paint on the gear.

Also having issues----trying to click on a FORUM often says I'm not logged in or not allowed (either through the clickable links near the top or through the window menu near the bottom), but direct links to a THREAD are ok. And it "remembers" I'm logged in like every other click, so I don't need to "log in" every time, it just kind of auto-logs-out then auto-logs-back-in every other click. Happened in the last 24 hours. Doubt it's a cache issue, it was cleared out just this week.

News(not really): http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12500282-1243,00.html JSF over budget and behind schedule. USD$125million each now. (they seem to switch between Austrailian and US dollars often in the article) Boy, I'm glad we're buying those instead of EXPENSIVE planes like the F-22... PS---RN also not happy, retiring the Sea Harrier starting to look like a bad idea, since there's now going to be a several year gap that the Gr.9 simply isn't going to be able to fill. And not that the latest RN carrier design has been going well either...

I bought the JP version almost purely because of the stacks. I know trucks (not nearly as well as planes, but enough to know stacks) and the US version's stacks are just plain "stupid" IMHO. It'd be like an F-15 with v.stabs only half as tall, or an F-14 with 5,000lb thrust engines, for the aviation guys here. It just looks wrong due to small size. Of course, my main gripe with Prime is that truck mode was heavily sacrificed for both robot mode sculpt, and gimmicks. G1 Prime is a much more accurate truck, though of course robot mode is only 1/100 as good as MP Prime's.

Prime is the best toy I've ever owned, period.

But there's no way the ENDING of Kotor 2 could be put into Kotor 3. This isn't a planet, scenario, villain, etc. This is simply the ending and it really wouldn't fit into another game.

Glad someone else brought this up. Basically: "Hey, there's a whole lot more backstory for the characters, and a long, satisfying, multi-branching cool ending! We just left it out of the final version, but 99% of it is still on the disc, inaccessible" Read most of it here: http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?sh...pic=29764&st=15 4th post, much easier to read than the "raw" dialogue.

Real YF-23's are huge like a Flanker. IMHO most diecast planes are a bit too big for their "official" scale. I'll see what I can find about F-8 gunsights. And yes F-8's can decelerate very well, they have HUGE airbrakes. (As does the A-7)

::long post shortened:: A Tomcat with its wings out is burning a lot of fuel. Throttling back doesn't really help nor does going slower. If it did, the airlines wouldn't be running their planes at 90% thrust for hours on end. If it's a jet, it's going to be most fuel efficient at about Mach .8 and 80-90% power. From a private jet to an F-15 to a 747.

Agreeing with the second part---frankly, nobody "agrees" with me for games, there's little point in going by a score at all. The fact that Suikoden III, Xenosaga, and Xenosaga II all got nigh-identical scores by most reviewers I saw says a lot, since I consider those games to all be vastly different in quality, in different ways.

hellohikaru---while the F-8E's certainly could carry the Bullpup, I can't find any evidence it was actually USED. The hump on the F-8E's back is purely for the Bullpup avionics, but in later ones it's used for ECM instead of Bullpup stuff. If it was used at all, they wouldn't have deleted the equipment in the F-8H/J/K etc.

F-15K first flight today: http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2005/q1/nr_050303n.html Sucky photo, can barely even tell it has GE F110's. Interesting that the nozzles are in totally different positions.

Famitsu is #1 but I have no idea why. The translations of reviews I've read make me think of GamePro or something. I don't trust/give credit to Famitsu at all. If they're #1, it must be because the average Japanese gamer has tastes very different from mine. Of course, not many mags "agree" with me. Gamer's Republic was close though, as was NextGen.

So you want a launch day PS2 controller? They're still around. Here's what to look for: 1. Check Toys R Us, your best bet by far. After that, Wal-Mart (an old one not a Super), K-Mart, Target. Sears? Somewhere that probably has OLD stock that's been sitting around for years. Not somewhere that sells lots and lots of games. 2. How to tell: Old controllers will not say "Black" in a small box, because there were no color options. There are other differences in packaging so minor I can't even remember, but that's the big one. I also *think* the newer ones have a small diagram on the back showing how it hooks up to the console (in case you can't figure it out) and the old ones don't. Not sure. But the lack of "Black" (where others say Blue, Green, etc) is the big clue, since it means it was made before there even were other colors to buy. Of course, a thick layer of dust on the packaging (Toys R Us) is also a good clue. IMHO the biggest difference is the D-pad, it won't register unless you press it harder. What would normally "count" as a light tap doesn't. MMX4 is the best test, the most "sensitive" game I know of. X button also wants a "harder" hit to register, to the point that in AC5 I would often tap the button and not have anything happen. Circle to a lesser degree. Triggers are simply "cheaper" and feel it. If I tap a button, it should register. I even thought start/select felt off. 5 years of PS2-playing makes me pretty familiar with exactly how a controller should respond. New ones want a distinct "press" into the sensor pad, not a mere "click" of the button. I don't smash buttons into the controller as hard as I can, I tap them. Especially menus, etc. AC5's many menu screens are a good test too. (I got my PStwo the same week as AC5, that's about the only game I've tried with the newer cheaper controller)

I've never seen droptanks on an F-8, and only once on a test plane have I seen Bullpups. I own nearly every F-8 book that's been published or re-issued in the last decade. F-14: Block numbers are never changed, no matter what happens to it. Same for all plane, it's part of the serial number. The final F-14 mods were the HUD's for the B's, and GPS/JDAM. LANTIRN was slightly before JDAM AFAIK. Acronyms galore!

Just a few comments: 1. Recent PS2 controllers suck compared to a launch day one. I am not the only one to notice, and it's very obvious to me. I searched for a while to find a "old" PS2 controller for sale to replace the one from my PStwo, and will buy another soon as a spare. And yes I popped them open to compare, and found small but definite differences. Different enough for me to spend 25 bucks on a new controller. Was NOT going to play AC5 on the new sucky one. 2. Hori pad for GC is nice, but if they'd have done SNES style buttons instead of GC it'd rock. The GC button arrangement sucks for many games, especially fighting games. 3. Actually preferred DC controller to twin-sticks for VO:OT. 4. Original US-style Saturn controller is the best I've used. The Saturn controller coming out for the PS2 is either the original JP style or later US style, I can never remember. Shoulder buttons are the main real difference, casing is mainly a cosmetic change. 5. I hate GC triggers. Gotta press them in half a foot before they register, then they "sprong" back up audibly. 6. Xbox S controller always makes my 3/4/5 fingers curl in weird angles, same problem as DC controller---the giant "trigger holder/handholds" scrunch my fingers behind the controller towards the center. I want nothing on the "back" of a controller---PS controllers are much better. If I stop playing due to finger pain, it's because my middle and ring finger are rubbing or pressed against a hand-hold/trigger button area, not due to button pressing.

Hasegawa is 95% planes, 5% ships nowadays. I'm surprised they even made a VF-1 battroid at all. A MG/PG style battroid is basically unthinkable.

Super Hornet's RCS has been reduced to that of an F-16. F-18A has a fairly large RCS, F-18C is smaller, and now F-18F is smaller than that. The Super Hornet isn't so much "stealthy" as "no longer such a blatant beacon".

Mentioning this because DOA/Kasumi fans are likely also NG/Ayane fans, there's a statue of Ayane in her NG outfit: http://www.hlj.com/product/KBYSV-04 Diamond is going to import it to the US in April, should be $40. There's also a matching very cool Ryu. http://www.hlj.com/product/KBYSV-03 Kasumi always gets more/better figs than Ayane, this is the first Ayane where the face doesn't suck. There's many Ayane figs, but I still don't own any because none have a face that looks like hers at all. (Ayane is WAY high up on my list of game/anime characters--I like purple hair) Now I'll finally be able to have an Ayane.

Their PW-powered F-16's have the big intakes, and none have AMRAAM-capable wingtip launchers. The F-18 is half A, half C. I could go on for days, but that's a nice sampling. In addition to the F-15E that can't carry bombs...

Dragon's page is updated: http://www.dragonmodelsusa.com/dmlusa/welcome.asp F4U, F-18F x2, F-14B. Sigh, look at the VF-103 plane's back end... Yes it's only a drawing, but it doesn't bode well IMHO.

The B-2 is decidedly stealthier than the F-117. It has like no visible panel lines, rivets, joints, etc. and actually uses differential thrust for control when in "stealth mode". Ever noticed how you ALWAYS see a B-2 with its ailerons partially split? That's because they are utterly ineffective when 'closed'. In normal ops, it always keeps them partly open like 5 degrees, as that is the true "neutral" position---only past that do they start to function. When it closes them (for stealth) it switches to pure engine thrust changes for control.

AFAIK removing the refueling probe doors throughout the USN is a fairly recent thing. If you saw one years ago without them, it's probably the reason they got removed: As in, they tend to come off rather easily on their own, creating one heck of a FOD hazard. Nowadays they just remove them to make sure they don't fall off in flight or on deck. As for HAWK missiles: seems that only 2 F-14's were ever modified to carry them, and it really couldn't use the AWG-9's signals at all well so the program was cancelled after the Iran/Iraq war. Rumors of 2 successfull kills though.

IRIAF had F-14 refueling doors removed from the start. Only recently have USN Tomcats had them removed. From what I've read, using HAWK's was only an experiment, never made it much past a few flights, maybe 1 or 2 firings. Certainly don't expect to see it carried on F-14's nowadays. PS-- AIM-54 clone? Russia calls it the AA-9.

Mislovrit, your post was 100% unrelated to aircraft. Talking about political policy killed the Chinese stealth fighter thread. And you tend to make 99% of your posts political in every thread you post. At least in all the aviation threads. To everybody: this is the AIRCRAFT versus thread, not the nations/policy/politics/nukes versus thread. Yes of course policy affects the procurement/reason for being for most military aircraft, but if you're going to bring it up, make it RELEVANT. Human-rights violations, religion, being communist etc all have no relevance to the planes. Wanna talk about Iraq? Talk about their MiG-29's, not mustard gas... North Korea? Talk about the Flanker rumors and how the Wolfpack or Kadena would go after them, not Kim Jong Il's policies...