Retracting Head Ter Ter

BTW, what are the NATO reporting names for the J-10 and JF-17?

Who needs airbrakes when you can pull a "Cobra" instead? Maybe Crazy Ivan can even do it gears down!

Well, the P-38, SR-71 and F-111/14 and B-2 did indicate otherwise. But c'mon, comparing that bullfrog head grafted to a guppy body lump to the beautific YF-23 ain't fair!

Shark? I think of this instead.....

Heh, F-35 is going to join the lonely Hornet soon. Unless all those released specs are bullcrap.

I think he means the 3rd one. I used to have it. Its a triangular combiner.

So an 'Ideal' stealth shape would be a flying diamond with a 'no-opening' anti-gravity propulsion?

X-32 is ugly but there is definitely a lot of really other fugly planes out there. Esp. from the pre-40s. I suppose SR-71 isn't 'stealth' in the 5th gen sense but its one of the very first operational planes with active measures being taken to reduce its signature. (dumping chemicals into the exhaust etc). Back to the F-35. With the blended design, internal weapons carriage and that kind of thrust, I am surprised it does not supercruise. Was that some deliberate downgrade to make sure F-22 sales would not be affected?

OK, someone beat me to it again about the YF-23. I am actually hoping that the PLAAF will copy the YF-23's lines instead of the probabe F-22 clone it will be.

I was tempted to bid for the $300 one but its $105?!?!?! for international shipping! WTF?!?! I shudder to think how heavy a 38 inch resin block is. Not too good for flying it around the house by hand while making turbolaser sounds I think. A Darth Vader/R2d2 head? That cant be in scale right? How would that show up in a 17km+ long ship scaled to 38 inches?? I never heard of that SSD feature before. In any case, I really hope Fine Molds steps up to do a SSD.

Aw, its no Raptor but that tubby thing is actually supposed to be supercruise capable too right? edit: Aw crap. I just found out that tubby doesn't supercruise! Always thought it could, with the internal payload and all...

I suppose the F-22 gets to lob the missile from higher and faster and presumably closer to the target to compensate.

I have the Scale Solutions resin kit. Is the 38 inch version in resin as well? Would be crazy heavy if it was! I am not 100% satisfied with the scale solutions one. The molding on the side 'fencing' (or whatever you call the protruding roof covering the side trenches) was short of resin so the 'fence' was broken on one side. Think the bridge tower is a big too big for its scale too and the 'city superstructure' detail is off too. Overall, the lines are nice though. I found the 38 inch one on ebay! USD$380!!! Is it ABS plastic or resin?

What? 38 inch SSD? WHO WHAT WHERE?!?! Can I have a link please? Pics?

Zoids are cool! Iron Kong PK and Death Saurer etc. But they have their uglies as well. Gentlemen, I present... Gravity Wolf!

I have the ERTL ISD too! Was so excited to finally find one. There is not enough ISD/SSD love out there in terms of kits and toys. I got the Scale Solutions SSD too, but am still hoping for a proper plastic kit. A Fine Molds SSD would be a dream come true. I don't care if its 20,000+ yen. Can we see more pics of the ISD you have. Like to see what detailing you did, esp on the heavy turrets.

Unless your mind is in the Matrix thinking it is in an internment camp. I'd take the Star Trek holodeck thank you.

Ronin, while not a racing movie, had good car scenes. None of that 'shift-16-times-during-a-drag-race' crap. I really, really hate the Fast n' Furious series.

But is she fully functional?

Sad to hear of the arcade like aspects and lack of proper animation for the planes in this one. Ubisoft actually had released one heck of a flight sim in the past - IL2 Sturmovik. That one was amazing, with incredible attention to detail*. *and when they were not sure of the details, e.g. exact gunsight used on some extinct WW2 Nazi warbird, they pointed it out in the readme files!

Dude, the METRIC system!!! So 1300-1400 kg isn't really light compared to the S12/13/14/15, AE86, SW20 or GC/GDs but given the lard-arse porky pig cars that are all over 1500-1600 nowadays(like the 1500++ STI), its hard to find something below 1.4tons with a decent engine and isn't a Elise or FWD hatch. And I do like some luxury in my car. Not the 12 way power seats and assist/parktronic/adaptive headlight/blood pressure monitor etc etc but good insulation, good materials, stereo etc etc is necesary in my old age!

News was out over a month ago that it has been pushed back indefinitely. Earliest we could see it (according to them) is 2012. It was originally meant to be out by 2010. I am disappointed. I was hoping to see the EJ25 turbo (better yet, a direct-injection Ej25 with twin scroll) fitted to a RWD in the sub 1300-1400 weight range.

What speed did the SDF impact at anyway?

IIRC, thats the official line from Singapore's Ministry of Defence (me from Singapore). We like everything about the Typhoon but the manufacturer couldn't commit to the air-to-ground capability within the specified timeline.

North Korea, and Pakistan all now fly fighter jets with capabilities equal or superior to those of the F-15, At that line in the first paragraph of the article, I stopped taking it seriously.