David Hingtgen

The funny thing is, Northrop and Grumman were 2 different companies back when Macross came out. They've since merged, and have a logo. Now we just wait for PW and Rolls-Royce to make PW-Royce.

Yep, it sucked. Specific complaints: Beach Head. (Of course). It *really* reminded me of small soldiers. Not for one sec did I think it was supposed to be "real", I constantly thought "r/c tank in a sandbox driven by a Wild Bill figure". And since when was Wild Bill THAT good, in EVERY VEHICLE? He's a chopper pilot, period. Animators have obviously never ever seen a helicopter, and certainly don't know how they fly. They had a jet that could hover (and it didn't even move like a Harrier, either). Destro was like, huge with funky legs. Am I the only one who got the impression that Cobra Commander was REALLY short? (and walked funny, even more than the others) Flint was way ugly in close-ups. The good: Duke didn't suck. Baroness' voice (and outfit).

How'd I forget FF Tactics? (Especially since I'm 20 hours into FFT:Advance) That ROCKED.

Actually that's a not-so-great DC-9-10. But I had to have it because it's Ozark. There's a new DC-9-30 coming out that's just awesome, and I'll be buying LOTS of those. Anyways---they come like that out of the box. I haven't built any kits of airliners in years. And most of them are Dragon Wings. Gemini Jets, Aeroclassics, and Jet-X make up the rest. While Dragon does make many plastic model kits, they also make pre-assembled, pre-painted diecast airliners--which is what I have. So it takes about 5 secs (insert the gear into the holes), and maybe another 5 secs to put them on the stand. Two-tone chrome is VERY difficult to photograph, the official page has better ones than I can take---here's the AA 777 that I have--and they look just like this when you buy them, no assembly or painting required. http://www.dragonmodelsltd.com/html/aa777.htm

Took this pic a few months ago, it'll give you an idea (this is one of my 3 main display shelves)

I'm probably up to 165 jetliners now. (Got 4 yesterday--CO DC-10, EA 747, PA 727, F9 A319) Anyways---737 is by far my least-fave plane. But I of course have several. For the -200 (there are no -100 models, too few liveries to justify the costs of making a mold) I have Frontier final colors (the original Frontier), USAir 1989 scheme, Piedmont final white, Air Florida final, Western Indian-head, Delta widget, and am hoping somebody makes United current and old colors (lowered-stripes variant) and USAir triple-red. As for 1/72 747's-- http://www.aim72.co.uk/TW-list.htm (they also sell a kit to convert their -300 to a -400) If you want a KC-135E, best bet by far is to go for the AMT/ERTL kit. There's a LOT of 707/KC-135 differences between the families. To the point that I wrote an illustrated guide for it. ::note to self--upload newest version of 707 guide to Aerosite and Airlinebuzz :: Finally: 1/400 models can be chrome-plated. They can also have silver paint, or actual polished bare metal. My basic rule is: American Airlines: chrome Other airlines that have bare metal finishes: not-chrome (whatever it may be) AA's planes ARE that much more shiny than any other airline that polishes their planes. AA is so good at it, that as they age, they actually get more shiny, for they are better at it than Boeing. (Thus a 5-year old 777 looks better than one just delivered, for AA will have polished it themselves a few times). (MDC and Fokker polish better than Boeing) A chrome model is *much* shinier than buffed silver paint etc, like you commonly see on model planes. I'll photo some of the different types if you want. Of course, there's always my two-toned ones, which have subtle panel lines due to alternating polishing/chroming methods. All this for $25 or so. Why spend so many hours making your own 777, when you can get a pre-assembled pre-painted one for that cheap? (Yeah, 1/144 is bigger, but there's no way you'd have room for a lot of them)

Heh heh. Xenogears FF 9,6,10,7,4,5,3,1 in that order. Chrono Trigger Kingdom Hearts

1. Nope, those are 1/400 airliners. It'd take my entire life to BUILD 150 1/200 models, but I can buy 1/400 pretty quick. (Jet airliners are my true obsession--other planes rank far below) And I can't chrome-plate American Airlines planes, but some companies can. (Most anybody is impressed by a chrome-plated DC-10 model) 2. Hasegawa 1/200: well, Air Force One (A1, not AF1--trust me) has quite a few mods from your standard late-model 747-200B. I'd have to see the kit. If it's actually an E-4B kit with decals than it should be quite accurate, asides from the IR jammers. If it's a 747-200B w/GE engines, then it's pretty far off. What type of KC-135 are you looking at? I'm a veritable 707 expert, but Aztek is probably the guy you want to ask about KC-135's. 3. Light was good, and my 1/700 Iowa was in the box being dull-coated, so I took another pic: note the helipad markings, and the main guns are at maximum deflection (fore guns pointed aft, aft gun pointed forward) (background stuff is 1/350 Iowa parts)

The wings are out whenever the plane's going slow or has little energy (manuevering lingo). Takeoff, landing, approach, low-speed passes, air combat, etc. Flaps/slats are another issue. Anyways, the problem with the hase kits is that they're always out with the flaps FULLY down and slats out. THAT combo is only for landing. Not takeoff or anything else. (the flaps are only partly down for a carrier launch IIRC, with fully deployed slats--landing speed on a carrier is far more important than takeoff speed--full flaps just add drag, not lift) And it's a lot more work, since there's like 24 support struts for the extended slats... It'd be fine if the wings were locked swept, since that works for ground, high-speed flight, etc. But wings out WITH the flaps fully down? Only landing. (or maintenance, but not very often at all).

Yes, this is a bit similar to the "other obsessions" thread in the Other forum, but hopefully this'll be a bit more "directed" in its scope. Anyways, I'm guessing most people don't model ONLY Macross, and the vast majority also model planes or Gundams, since valks are planes+mecha. So, what else do you model? Here's what I like: Ships: Modern US warships, WWII battleships of all nations, WWII US cruisers and destroyers. 1/350 vastly preferred. FULL HULL ONLY. (But I could quickly make a whole fleet of waterline submarines from extra periscopes) Planes: surprisingly, I don't model planes (any more). Diecast models are now cheap enough and good enough (and SEAMLESS) that I can get a model as good or in most cases better than I can do myself, for 0 hours of work and less money. (Planes suck--gotta fill the seams, and there's simply no F-14 kits in the world with good intake/nose fit, and making a bunch of missiles and gear doors nice and white is simply too much effort) And I am especially fond of airliners, but suck at gloss white........ Prefer 1/72 for warbirds, 1/400 for airliners. Trains: MODEL trains, not toy trains. HO scale mainly. Calling a model railroad "toy trains" will incite wrath on the scale of someone a YF-21 a veritech. And don't dare mention Lionel, either. I like just about everything US, but mainly 30's/40's passenger trains, and 80's/90's freight. Mecha: a few Gundams, but I pretty much build straight out of the box. I'm also a big fan of chick-mechs. Pink+female+robot=I own it. I also like Zoids a lot, and build straight out of the box. (I panel line everything though). I mainly like Zoids for the mechanics, so big ones are far far better than little ones to me. Goes with trains--gears and pistons and shafts and such are intrguing to watch. (Few machines more complicated and wondrous than a steam locomotive's valve gear--I'm simply amazed they could be designed 100 years ago) Star Trek: most people have seen my USS Lakota by now, and I am awaiting my Bandai Ent-E. Will see how that goes before I buy their Ent-refit. Have an Excelsior in the box, but will wait to see if Bandai makes one before I build it. Would really like a Bandai Ent-D. Photo: my almost-complete 1/700 USS Iowa (not wholly accurate, I plan to convert a 1/350 New Jersey someday for a truly accurate Iowa) and some of my 1/400 planes.

1. The VF-2 kit is one of the newest and best of the D's, AFAIK. 2. Yes, it IS that much work to change the wings! Redo the entire leading and trailing edge with scratchbuilt flaps, essentially. (Because unlike most fighters, F-14's have fowler flaps, not simple flaps) F-14 flaps don't simply pivot up/down, they move in/out, and have cove doors and eyelet doors that retract and extend in sequence with the flaps. F-14's have the most complex flaps I know of of any plane, even compared to something huge with triple-slotted flaps.

Anyone can translate katakana, even if you don't know Japanese. Anyways, the BF-109 and P-51 obviously list their names, and the Spitfire says "Spitfire" in katakana. But the biplane is simply "Arcadia". (More like "Arukadeia" though) Strange, they go so far as to not only make it a Bf-109*G* but a *G-6*----yet the P-51 doesn't get anything... (It's a P-51D obviously, the most distinctive and famous version)

Hey, I totally accept female ninjas with lavender hair and red eyes wearing purple tights with a giant yellow bow. This is no different.

This is like the 3rd thread in as many months about the M0 F-14, but I'm pretty sure I mentioned the AMRAAM situation in this one... And anyways, I think I mentioned much earlier that I was only going for structural differences. As you said, beyond that is insanely anal... (I didn't mention the bumps on the rear edge of the right v.stab, for example) And the CGI is still too dark and too blue.

Am I the only one who's been following this game for the past year?!? Anyways, yes, it's from Sega. It's a sequel to Shinobi. Supposed to be easier (thank God). Game is called Kunoichi. (Not her name, that's WHAT she is. Just like Shinobi--his name is Hotsuma. The kunoichi in the last game was Ageha).

Pretty much just venting. (As for stickier tape--no way. Acrylic+resin=low paint adhesion--I'd have entire layers peel off rather than a few smudges/leaks) I use the lowest tack possible. It's just one of those "it happens" things. Piece of tape some 30 inches long, sealed exactly evenly (magic tape+flashlight=you can see EXACTLY how sealed it is) yet at like the 4 and 22 inch marks--it just didn't work, despite that layers of paint had been applied over it prior the the one that "leaked". Kind of like how the bow actually repelled paint upwards against the force of gravity for the first coat. THAT was weird. (I've had "runs" but never one that actually made the paint flow upwards) As for posting--feh. If you don't have photo-etched brass railings, you're not a "real" ship modeler pretty much. (Doesn't matter than they're still like 700% overscale, they're expected nowadays) Kind of like submitting Star Trek pics--unless it's the greatest one ever, they don't really care. But they'll take all the Bf-109's in the world... I'll post here or at one of the diecast model forums when it's done. Actually, the next things done will be USS Conolly and USS San Francisco. They're quite close. Less than a week unless something happens.

Umm, I've never seen a CGI F-14 asides from Mac 0, I'm not quite sure how it's painted. Looks very dark/blue as Tomcats go, almost overall 35237. If you're planning to use the M0 kit just for the decals, it should say how it's painted. (I can tell you how just about any real F-14 is painted, but a fake one with "they tried too hard" patchy texturing?" Sorry) The most common F-14 low-vis scheme (also the most common US scheme period) is 36320 upper surfaces with 36375 lower surfaces. Some F-14 schemes use all 3 of the colors I've mentioned. (Black Knights do, as did the Wolf Pack)

Actually I did that. The stern was still visibly wet when I started pulling the tape off the bow. At least for how I fix mistakes, I want the paint to be rock-hard super-ultra-cured before messing with it. Due to the multi-color splinter camo in combination with waterline and lower hull, the painting order is thus: 1. Pale grey. (done) 2. Dark navy blue. (more grey than blue) (done) 2.5. Flat clearcoat (to try to stem paint bleeding--but since 3 layers of grey didn't stop the navy blue I don't know if it'll help) 3. Black. (next week, after mistakes are fixed and the hull is dry) 4. Red. (as soon as the black is dry enough to mask directly over it--3 or 4 hours if possible) But any other way would involve masking the same area multiple times, and you can never line it up again perfect. (I spent about an hour on the waterline alone--30 inches of perfectly parallel lines on each side--ack)

No, I'd have to go get my Blackbird book. Give me a few hours to find it and read up on the "pre" Blackbirds.

Well, just got done from airbrushing the camo pattern on the Iowa's hull. About 98% perfect. Now, upon reflecting, I know how I might have been able to prevent 2 spots where the paint leaked under the tape, but another two just defy explanation. (and dark navy blue on pale pale grey is VERY obvious) 1. Bare hull. Masked the waterline, then sprayed primer. 2. Then sprayed a thick coat of light grey. 3. Then sprayed 2 more coats of light grey a few days later. 4. Masked over that layer at the waterline again. 5. Painted navy blue. 6. Pulled off tape, and found navy blue paint that had leaked underneath all those layers, to "swim" up along some non-existant gap in the primer, and find its way to the very first layer of light grey. WTF? The first layer of tape was SEALED under the primer, as well as multiple layers of paint. *sigh*. Will let dry for a week, and hope the light grey is thick enough that I can scrape off the navy blue, and still have some light grey beneath. And one piece needs to be stripped down to bare plastic. (Aft funnel's forward director platform). Went pretty well overall, but I was hoping for perfect. (The Tirpitz's hull was perfect, and masked in exactly the same way with the same tape). And will have to brush-paint turret #1's demarcation line. Am considering brush-painting the camo on turrets 2 and 3 based on how #1 went.

I've got to recommend the Testors $18.44 or so set you can find at Wal-Mart. Sprays ok, and is *easy* to clean. Only one piece needs cleaning, and no disassembly to do so. If you're using acrylic, you can clean it in 30 secs in the sink.

Nope nope nope. Go to the site I listed above. Explains the whole SR-71 name. Nobody screwed up, some people just switched some things around on the final version of the speech...

Ah. Well then, here's some advice: a *lot* of painting suggestions/colors are wrong. And unless it gives a specific FS number, then it's only "the closest color we or our affiliates sell is" not "exact match" nor "the closest color anybody sells". PS--especially since 99% of kits come from Japan, they will almost always suggest Imperial Japanese Navy etc colors---even for the USAF, Royal Navy, Star Trek, etc. Pick what you think looks right, not merely what they suggest. Very rarely are color suggestions officially approved/matched by the people who made the original.

I'm not big on *any* MiG and can't comment off the top of my head. If nobody here is a MiG-29 buff, I'll go find my WAPJ "MiG-29 variants" issue and see what I can find out.

Astrostrain, though not my fave, is by far the best triple-changer. Perfect shuttle, perfect train--and he changes color! Depending on what version, he's either a grey shuttle and purple train, or white shuttle and black train. (Blitzwing also has very good color changes, but each mode isn't quite as good--turret's too obvious as a plane, afterburners too obvious as tank)