David Hingtgen

How about a different low-vis scheme? F-15E style gunship grey? F-15 light/dark ghost? F-15 current mod. eagle scheme? Or the ultimate, overall mountbatten pink. (Yup, nothing like a pale pink destroyer to confuse enemy ships---no ship painted pink was ever sunk, AFAIK)

There's no such thing as "black". I own a good 4 blacks, and none match what I'm currently trying to match. Will try some various enamels later. Anyways, for "basic" colors like blue, red, yellow, black, etc, go take a look at the model railroad paints. There's a LOT of "medium/bright reds", lots of yellow, not many blues though but they are nice and rich, and 3-4 blacks per line usually. I don't know why, but most blacks you can buy aren't black/dark enough to match most factory painted stuff. Acrylic black is the least black, btw, if you want BLACK, do not go with acrylic, it's inherently more flat/grey. (I'm currently touching up a locomotive, that's overall deep black, with off-black anti-skid, almost-black walkways, and "a different black" for vents and grills") (And the deep black is what I can't match) PS--the black on the legs isn't as black as the black stripes on the chest, IIRC. Leg chipping is probably easier to match than most other blacks.

I like the first one better. Sleeker.

No item crashes, but any item+any orb will give some pretty high-power attacks. Blue orb+holy water rocks for power/area, though I am more fond of my long-range double boomerang axe. (Blue+axe).

I wish every game could "not suck" due to that. Gameplay/control beats EVERYTHING. No matter how gorgeous the graphics, no matter how cool the hero, gameplay/control are the main things. Is that not what's wrong with X7? Zero's cool, X is cool, looks ok--but gameplay? Control?

That's a very famous F-14 pic. Not faked or anything, just blowing past the carrier. Pilot was grounded for 30 days, and presumably got one heck of a chewing out from the air boss.

There's really itty-bitty bulbs. Like 1mm x 3.5mm or so. Micro-mini is the term I think. But they'll only take 1.5 volts, aren't very bright.

For itty-bitty switches, I can't help. But remember a switch is nothing more than a movable piece of metal that completes a circuit path. As for LED's: Most every LED you buy will say right on the back what voltage is best, what's the max voltage, and how much current. (Radio Shack's sure do, the individual ones at least) Dunno about bulk packs though. Just buy one (green?) and see what it wants. Or just look at all the ones they have. Green usually wants about 3-4 volts. (Yes, color affects voltage--it goes red/yellow/green/blue/white for least to most) Also, every battery will say voltage, even a duracell or something. (Anything that's AA/AAA/C/D alkaline is 1.5v each, most rechargable/nicad etc are 1.2v each. A 9v battery is literally 6 1.5v's wrapped together in one case) So see what fits best. If you get a 3v LED, with a 3v battery, it'll be fine without a resistor. (or 2 1.5v, etc) +/- 0.5v is usually ok, anymore and you'll have to figure out what resistor you need. A 2.5v LED with 2 1.2v batteries will be fine, it's close enough, just a tiny bit low. (Don't go TOO low, it might not light up at all). There's lots of LED calculators out there, but the formula is simple: voltage you're sending it, minus the voltage it wants. Then divide by the current it sucks up (in amps). Example: You have 2 1.5v batteries and a 2.2v LED that sucks up 20 milliamps. Thus 3v from the batteries minus the 2.2v the LED wants. 0.8 volts you need the resistor to take care of. Then divide by the 20milliamps (.002 amps) the LED uses. .8/.002=40. You need a 40ohm resistor. (Ohm is just what the term is---it's the only way a resistor is rated). Well there's also watts, but there's no way you'd be sending enough power to worry about it at all. LED 101: http://members.misty.com/don/ledd.html Just text, but it explains it. Finally, as for shattering: never witnessed it myself (and don't plan to) but some blow more violently than others. Most will just act like a lightbulb--a big flash and then it's dead. But older/bigger ones can really go AFAIK. A plastic-lensed one probably can't do anything, but anything with brittle stuff could be nasty. Better safe than sorry, IMHO. (Even the tiny piece of metal from the electrode when hot could really suck if it hits your eye)

goldenboy--I mean hours TOTAL before it blows. Use it 20 times for 10 minutes each time, and it'll be gone. The LED itself. That'll quickly add up $, plus it'll be burning hot while used (depending on how much you're overloading it). And you'll have to re-wire it every time it blows, replacing the LED. And yes, they literally do blow into pieces if you way over-shoot them. Many toys/cheap lights etc use no resistor, but that's because they don't ever get used more than 5 secs at a time, and have a total life expectancy of a few hours, plus they tend to use metal strips with high resistance, not wires. If you don't know what a resistor is, might I suggest not trying to install LED's in a valk without reading up on the subject a bit more? Though basically, resistors lower the voltage running through a circuit (by increasing RESISTANCE). To get the right one, you need to know what voltage the LED wants, how much current it draws, and how much voltage you're sending it. Most batteries are either 1.2 or 1.5 volts each--though that difference, when using 2 or more batteries, is enough to fry a small LED in 5 minutes. LED's run forever when conditions are right. They will run on almost any anything, but their life will be cut to 1/100,000th of normal if you get outside of their preferred range. I got my light-up USS Lakota down to just one resistor for saucer section, and it runs cool for hours on end. When testing out the deflector's LED though, with no resistor, it got so hot you'd burn your hand in about 5 secs. (To the point that it started making noise---it glowed VERY brightly though) Of course, all this is dependent on the LED and power suppply. They just might match as they are (unlikely). You can run a 3.5v LED at 4.0v with almost no probs, and most people (me) wouldn't bother with a resistor. But 3.5v at 5v will have problems, and 3.5v at 6v will get real hot real fast. PS--don't wire it backwards, that'll blow it REAL fast, even if the voltage is right.

Got a resistor? While the LED+watch battery method works, it doesn't last long. As in, hours.

Best nose art ever was on a British Jaguar during Desert Storm:

G's aren't the ultimate measure for manueverability, it's more like "maneuverability at speed". (It's really a measure of structural strength if anything) A 6g turn can easily evade a missile that's doing a 30g turn. G=speed X rate of turn (basically). I can't do real calculations without looking up some stuff, so this'll be all fake numbers but will illustrate my point: Turning 10 degrees per second (thus 36 seconds to make a full circle) at Mach .7 is like 2 g, while 5 degrees per second at Mach 5 would be like 20 g. Same turn rate, but more G's due to more speed. (Thus an equal turn rate---but greater radius of turn for the latter). Turning's complex, btw.

Many people believe Speicher's F-18 was lost due to mid-air collision with a MiG-25, not shot down by it. (Mostly this is based on info by the other pilots in VFA-81 on that mission---VFA-81 rocks) I have no love for the 18, but it is an amazingly strong aircraft. They almost always survive the first missile hit and come home. It takes either a HUGE missile, or multiple missiles to bring them down. But being hit by the world's fastest fighter will surely take it out. ::gets out Gulf Air War book:: F/A-18C #163484, VFA-81, Modex AA 403. January 17, 1991, first combat loss of Desert Storm. Officially listed as downed by SA-6 SAM. (One of the few big enough to take out a Hornet in one shot). However, due to the fact that the rest of the squadron was practically engaged with a MiG-25, and they saw the MiG-25 in Speicher's area, and there were no other SAM's around, it seems likely that the MiG-25 got him, and not a SAM. As I said, lots and lots of debate. Speicher's "saga" if you'll call it that is still a big thing in the aviation community. His status has been switched from KIA to MIA. Still don't know where he is. And I'm not sure if they ever had proof the F-18 remains they found in the desert was his. (I think they do). But the big debate is whether he could eject, and if he survived the ejection. Canopy/seat condition are of course the biggest clues, but the canopy wasn't where it should be, for either ejecting or not. Many believe the Iraqi's messed with the wreckage before we found it, as a lot of it simply didn't make sense.

Enough for now, maybe more later. (Trying to keep all pics below 50k)

I got LOTS 'o -23 pics.

This is pretty YF-21-looking:

And I already posted a perfect 3-view line drawing of the YF-23 a few posts ago. Anyways, here's another pic:

Uxi, sure you don't have -22 and -23 confused? I mean, how could the YF-22 (with FOUR tail fins of different shape) possibly look more like the YF-21's TWO fins, when the YF-23 has TWO fins set at the same angle as the YF-21 with the same shape fins? That's always been the #1 thing---YF-23's tail configuration is utterly unique, and the same as the YF-21's. (Somewhat belatedly known as a pelican tail due to proposed X-32 configuration)

VF-19A or VF-19S? Big difference.

And hey--gotta use the YF-22 to compare, not the F-22. F-22 wasn't around when the YF-21 was designed. YF-22 and F-22 are not the same plane, it's like YF-17 vs F/A-18F. F-22 has different nose, h.stabs, v.stabs, and most importantly pretty much an all-new wing compared to a YF-22. (Plus a lot of other little things)

Ok, "all over" is too strong a term. How about "obvious"? Also, check out the top of the engine nacelles for some hexagon patterns. (The YF-23 has them BETWEEN the nacelles, the YF-21 has them on the nacelles.)

YF-21 is a ,modded YF-23, hands down. Nothing's from the YF-22. (IMNSHO) The engines in trapezoidal nacelles above the main fuselage clinch it. PS--you know those diamond/hexagon vents all over the YF-21? Only one other aircraft has vents like those--the YF-23. (Y/F-22 uses sawtooth style)

This is the month of "sequels that sucked from series I love". Virtual On, Rogue Squadron, Megaman X. At least the new Castlevania's supposed to be good, and Jak 2.

That's so messed up I don't know where to start. Thankfully other people have posted the right info. Can't name something after something that doesn't have that name. I mean, c'mon. What's next, the Macross itself was named after the USS New Jersey? "They're both big ships"

There's so many Flanker variants I don't even try to keep them straight. I know *some* Flanker has rear radar, and that's good enough for me. Of course, equally difficult is the sheer act of firing a rear-facing missile, as no matter what, it's going to be launched while the plane is going forward at 500kts, so it's got to go from -500 to 0 to 1500 kts quickly, if it's going to be any good. (Micro-missiles seem to be so agile it might be better to launch them forward and then have them do a 180)