Retracting Head Ter Ter

Phalanx, to give you an analogy of how the idea of retrofitting is really out of the question. Say, you want to build a Pentium IV chip. It is definitely cheaper to build one from scratch then to take a 80286 chip and modify it to a Pentium.

No restraint 1 vs 1. I don't see how in a 'normal' combat a Zentran ship will ever get close enough for a Daedalus attack. Seeing that the Zentran capships have multiple beam cannons and that the Macross can only stop 3 at a time with the shields (barrier shield doesnt let them fire back, not a good option in a 1 v 1) + the fact that even 1 beam can damage the Macross badly, the only way for the Macross to outpunch a Zentran ship is still to outrange it.

Well, my original question was still how the Macross would fare against _one_ Zentran ship. Guess the opinion here is about 50/50? The SDF was _only_ a gunboat after all. It might be better then a Zentran destroyer but I don't think its good enough to overwhelm multiple Zentran boats or something like Vritwhai's battleship? Guess that final fight between the worn out Macross and Kamjin's flying garden was quite indicative then?

OK, if the Zentran forces weren't out to investigate/scout/capture the SDF, does the SDF stand a chance in a straight up fight against something like a Nupetiet Vergnitz (sp)? How about the smaller Zentran destroyers? We can see on the TV series that the SDF's main gun can blow away any Zentran ship short of Boldoza's base in 1 shot. But we also see that 1 hit from just 1 of the many beam guns from a Zentran ship can cause serious damage to the SDF too (that episode when Kamjin made one of his operators hit the SDF with 1 shot). I would assume that a full barrage from a big Zentran ship could KO the SDF (the pin point barrier can't block say, 40 shots if they all fired at once, 37 would get thru). And the barrier shield is a stalemate since the SDF can't fire back and once it overloads, the Zentran ship can continue blasting on). So I assume its down to range. Does the main gun on the SDF outrange those energy beams from a Zentran ship?

Oh wait! I remember now. Most expensive toy is not my Super Max but the King Gojulas from Tomy. About 220 usd for a built, stickers and minor parts missing 10 yr one. Hey Warmaker, what size is that Master Replica AT-AT? Is it poseable or a fixed display piece? Is it Ceramic or Die-Cast? I went to the site hoping to find a Imperator or better still an Executor (would pay $1k+ to get a nice one) but its about 600 lightsabres and not one starship...

Hey, I know there is a few TF fans in MW. No one seems to have mentioned the MP Starscream yet? Is there any pics of it besides the teaser pamphlet? I don't collect TFs at all, but might just get this one if it looks nice next to the Yamatos. Hope its in the same scale as a 1/48 F-15 (unlikely, since it would be bigger then OP).

Most expensive was the Super 1/48 Max 1J. But I don't regret it. The $80 I spent on the damn red Alpha from toynami was VERY MUCH REGRETTED though!

But why bother with the extra expense and unwanted plastic? If Hase threw all the parts from their F or B mode kits into 1 bigger box, thats what it'll be. Just buy the current non-variable F or B kits and you have it already.

I always figured that it looked that way as a design balance between the pilot's rear visibility and drag coefficient. Was it really designed that way due to plans for double seating?

I would like to get rid of that lump on the canopy of thw YF-21 and VF-22. Its against the law of aerodynamics and spoils an otherwise beautiful plane.

Somehow, something about it. Screams 'Robotech'!

The nose seams annoyed me a lot too. Easy to fix though. Unscrew the nose part. There is a plastic block which is in contact with the top of the nosegear. It is the friction between this block and the nosegear which keeps the nosegear stiff in the deployed position. But they made the block too thick, so it pushes the nose apart, resulting in the seam. Just sand the block down. If you over-sand, the nosegear becomes loose. Just paint the over-sanded bit. Its ok since its hidden once you screw everything back.

You mean 'Re-Saw'?

I always thought Palladium sucked. Same rules/skills/layout/everything rehashed 6000 times for every setting from ninjas to superheroes to fantasy to mecha to james bond. The robotech RPG book was prized by me only because it contained a lot of original Japanese artwork.

People always get the spelling mixed up. Kawanishi N1K1 Shiden (Violet Lightning) Kyushu J7W Shinden (Grand/Magnificent Lightning) That often repeated story of WO Kinosuke Muto of the Yokosuka Air Wing beating off 12 Hellcats has never been verified on the US side. I find it quite unbelievable that 1 Shiden can fight off 12 Hellcats.

Lame! Anti-Hero bad boy with attitude. Where have we seen this 5000 times before? Everything went downhill for SW after ROTJ. Heck! It went downhide _during_ ROTJ even. Once the ewoks popped up, well, its all downhill from there.

The Jug could hold its own against the more 'nimble' opponents because it had a turbo which allowed it to keep its power at 30k+ feet when escorting the bombers. The German birds (esp the Fw190s) lost a lot of power at high alts since their superchargers were not as good at higher alts. Low down, well its still tough as hell but they had to stay fast. For all its complicated turbo plumbing, the dang thing could take hits pretty well without having its engine dying on it. And 8 Brownings pack quite a punch. I understand that the Oscars were even more nimble then the Zekes. Same power, even lighter frame with less fuel. But the damn thing packed only peashooters. An Oscar could pump its entire magazineload into a P-47 or Hellcat and the US bird could still fly home.

Sure a lot of the German aces racked it up against low quality opposition during 41-42 (but even then, flying a warbird in combat over the russian front can't be a picnic) but people like Hartmann came onto the scene late, by that time the Soviets had improved training and equipment which in some aspects were superior to the German planes. And people like Galland, Marseille and Glunz scored their kills in the west. I am pretty sure if US pilots like Meyer, McCampbell and Bong had a longer tour and if there were as many Japanese planes in the air as the Soviets, they would reasonably be expected to score over 100 kills too. I am still most impressed by Marseille. Something like 10-15 bullets on average to take down a plane. And all his 158 kills were RAF pilots. edit : To those curious. Only 2 aces had over 300 kills. Hartmann (352) and Barkhorn (301). Next was Rall at 272.

I'm gonna be the devil's advocate here and say that its a possibility that things might have been better for Japan if Pearl Harbour never happened. If the USN had tried to sail to the Phillipines, they would have come into range of land based air. Now, I am not sure if PH never happened, how wary the USN command would be of air strikes but whilst virtually all the battleships sunk at PH were refloated, you can bet any that sank on the western half of the pacific would not. As for the 3rd strike. It wouldn't have KO'ed the US much more. The IJN bombers didn't pack enough bombs to completely destroy the heavy equipment.

There were about a 100 of em with kills in the 100 range. Mostly on the Eastern front. 2 with 300+. 15 with 200+ IIRC. If what they said about Marseille was 75% true, he takes the cake for greatest of the lot.

Ditto on the Gripen book. As for Japan's choice, they seem to always insist on licence production (as with the F4 anf F15) but I don't see the US letting them licence produce the 22.

The landing gear has improved locking over the 1/48 and also, the rear landing gear angles out when opened. Graham 389850[/snapback] Ah dammit! That just sold the toy to me! Must....have......angled......landing.....gear.......

I found it really easy to get into. After the first 2-3 eps I was hooked. I'd readily vote it for best most epic anime of all time. Only problem was remembering who Franz Ritter von Hipper was vs Wolfgang Scharnhorst Gneisenau Bismarck Von der Tann Motlke Luitpold Holstein Goeben. A few times, Herr von Der Germaname appears and I am like "Wait! Was this the guy from 5 episodes back?" Looks like simple names like Hanse or Kurt isn't popular with the author. As for Liottel's avatar. This isnt the place for it but I'll readily fight for his right to display it someplace else. 6 million jews got massacred under it but nobody will scream at me if I display the Hammer and Sickle which massacred _at_least_ 6 million more Soviets. Why? The media. Which is why I am screaming for _education_ of the masses. Its _lack_of_education_ which lead to all this crap in the first place back in the 30s.

Going OT but thats the exact damn beef I am having with all the damned higher end cars (esp from Germany) now. Damned computers and electronics where you don't need em. WTF do I want an electronic parking brake for?

It got appopriated mainly because the WESTERN MEDIA played it that way. If you walked into China or India and pointed at a swastika to half the people, many of them wouldn't have even heard of the term 'Nazi'. If Hitler had used the Christian Cross as his symbol, you'd bet the western media wouldn't have let it been appropriated. But its a Hindu/Buddhist thing and those beliefs weren't important to the post 40s western media so lets conveniently use it as a symbol of evil. Now, you are right to say that many symbols were appropriated, not just the swastika. BUT the difference is that the swastika is still in active use by... uhmmmm like 1-2 billion people (hard to estimate, in modern times how many of the current day Indians and Chinese still identify readily with it). Not asking people to disassociate the Swastika with the Nazis, just asking for a little _education_.