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Nekko Basara

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Everything posted by Nekko Basara

  1. Nekko Basara
    Hehe, both a good joke and a callback to season one. And here I thought he was a GT-R enthusiast.
  2. Nekko Basara
    I would absolutely LOVE to see Mylene again, but I have to ask - was she ever really an "idol?" A girl doing bass and vocals in rock band doesn't really fit the idol mold. The one time the show portrayed her as a typical idol, her only fans were some perverts with a camera, and a totally crazy kid. And when they tried to make a real idol out of her in Mylene Beat...well, the less said about that, the better.I dunno. The aging idol trope just doesn't fit Mylene in my opinion, because I don't think she was ever a young idol.
  3. Nekko Basara
    If I've made you feel that's what I wanted to say, then I have spoken badly and I am sorry. I respect you and I agree with a lot of what you have said. I have deep concerns about the compromises that have both apparently and presumably been made in the F-35 in order to support a configuration (STOVL) that only something like 15% of the planned production will use.I appreciate the info you've provided. I don't put so much faith in Boeing marketing materials, and I believe that there are varying levels of stealth technology that may be exported depending on who the ally in question is, but you answered most of my questions. Like Vifam, I'm curious to see if the future has a place for both the F-35 and developments of the F-15 and F-18 serving in similar roles. I feel that the F-35 has greater growth potential, but I don't doubt that its teething period will be painful.
  4. Nekko Basara
    SchizophrenicMC, I'm confused by some of your stealth claims. You seem to be suggesting in one breath that a "tarted up F-15," the SE, can be a capable alternative to true 5th-gen fighters, and in the next breath claiming that unspecified design compromises in the F-35 have rendered it a significantly less capable all-aspect stealth design than the F-22. Do you have a source for your claim that the F-15SE's stealth is on par with the F-35's? Or that the F-35's is so compromised? And, if so, can you clarify whether stealth of this level is competitive or inadequate? Because you seem to want it both ways, depending on which aircraft you are discussing.
  5. Nekko Basara
    I'm totally on board with you, Vifam. It seems like most, if not all, modern combat aircraft were called lemons by at least a vocal minority before they entered service. The F-22 faced many of the same criticisms, particularly on cost grounds, but you don't hear much of that now (perhaps because Russia and China are developing comparable platforms, or maybe because the Typhoon II ended up costing nearly as much).To bring it back to Mr. Sprey, he and the "fighter mafia" made the same claims about the F-15 before it entered service. And - unbelievably - he's still repeating them today, in the face of its fantastic international service record. Time and service are the test of any weapon system. Plenty of high-profile, potentially effective aircraft have died in the womb - the TSR-2, B-70, and RAH-66 come to mind. Bringing an advanced aircraft into service is a trying process. But relatively few - at least in the west - have made it into service only to prove unworkable failures.
  6. Nekko Basara
    Love. It.
  7. Nekko Basara
    I think that's a valid question. I wonder at the utility of 5th gen fighters generally, given the asymmetric nature of modern wars. The thing is, that same argument has held true since the 60s, but it hasn't stopped the development and acquisition of generation after generation of fighters. As best I can figure it, the only roughly equal fights that have taken place between contemporary fighters since Korea have been in the middle east conflicts and India-Pakistan. So, either Western Europe and the once-Soviet states have been deluding themselves for half a century (certainly possible), or maintaining parity of modern air fleets has actually contributed to not "needing" them. The question is whether countries will opt to risk their security on last century's fighters.
  8. Nekko Basara
    That's all well and good, but there aren't a lot of alternatives in the 5th gen multirole fighter market, unless they'd like to pin their hopes on Chinese or Russian aircraft that are even further from operational status. It's a bit late to start a new indigenous project, and even then there's no guarantee that it might not run into cost over-runs that make the F-35 look sensible by comparison (see the Typhoon II or Mitsubishi F2, for example).
  9. Nekko Basara
    It appears we have over a hundred flightworthy examples to show for it, and counting:http://intercepts.defensenews.com/2014/09/the-current-status-of-the-f-35-in-three-charts/ I'm not trying to start a fight, but I think we're past the point where the F-35 could be considered a stillborn failure. It may not be a great aircraft (time will tell), but it is the aircraft the US is getting.
  10. Nekko Basara
    The F-35 is already in low-rate initial production, FYI.
  11. Nekko Basara
    Perhaps it's not a delta... perhaps it is a shark fin! Space sharks hunt the space whales, until Basara flies in and makes them all have a dance party with the power of his song! (And Gamlin awkwardly sways to the beat.)
  12. Nekko Basara
    Oh wow! Could it be the Flying High reboot that everyone's been clamoring for?
  13. Nekko Basara
    Macross Build Fighters TRI!
  14. Nekko Basara
    I recently finished the bare VF-25S, my first modern Macross kit. I built it straight OOB, with just panel lining and a bit of detail painting, using the stickers rather than the waterslides. My points of comparison are a dozen or so modern Gundam kits I've built in the past year, mostly RG with a couple of MGs and HGs. It wasn't as good as those generally, but my overall impression was more positive than most of what I've read here. Maybe that's because I've never handled the 1/60 toys for comparison. I think battroid is excellent, easily the best mode. Articulation is good if not amazing, it's surprisingly solid given its complexity, and the "look" is striking and - to my eyes - pretty show accurate. The weakest area of the kit - the stickers and lining up panels - are less noticeable in this mode because the shape is broken up. Gerwalk is decent, but the heavy back panel tends to sag, and it can't pose much without a stand (and the stand attachments in all modes are awful). I can get mine into an "A" stance, but just barely. I also simply don't care for the 25 gerwalk, with so much plane left hanging out the back. Fighter is an amazing piece of engineering that just doesn't quite work in practice. It's astonishing how all the pieces theoretically line up into a smooth and gorgeous shape, but it needs about 400% more locking tabs and such. It just won't hold together the way it's designed to, and I'm always left with gaps and loose panels, especially if I try to attach the gunpod (which is necessary to use the stand adapter). It still impresses me and looks ok at a distance, but it's not how I'd want to display it. I've transformed the kit a half dozen times, and any gains I make in learning how to line it up are offset by joints loosening with use. As a building experience, it was pretty good - comparable to a MG Gundam, but with a few more fiddly bits. I also found it harder to picture the assembly from start to finish, but that didn't matter much - I just followed the steps carefully, and got the intended result. I have to say that the stickers are absolutely terrible, almost to the point of ruining the kit. They are far too transparent, so the colors are weak and change drastically based on the underlying plastic. They don't adhere well, either, which is especially bad on a kit that you will handle a lot, with parts that rub together. Given what excellent stickers Bandai makes for its Gundam kits, this was hard to understand. Overall, I wouldn't say this is a good kit to start with due to its complexity and finickyness, and I'm sure it's no replacement for a 1/60 valk, but I'm satisfied with it as a model that costs around the same as a MG Gundam. It's fun to transform occasionally, see how it works and picture how nice it could be if it locked together, and then put it back on the shelf as a badass battroid. EDIT: Added some pics. I have a gallery here.
  15. Nekko Basara
    Delta as in wing. Delta as in triangle. Delta as in difference. Delta as in change. I like it!
  16. Nekko Basara
    The Aile pack comes with the RG Strike Gundam, and the Sword and Launcher packs come with the RG Skygrasper. There is no RG counterpart to that large, curvy sword the PG Strike has (as far as I know), but at least RG has that light blue anti-ship sword from the Sword pack. I was hesitant about getting the RG Skygrasper, but now that I have it, I'd say the number of sprues and stickers in the box is on par with most RG kits (not as many as a monster like the Freedom, but more than the Z'Gok, for example). I was really surprised at the complexity of it. I'm still building the Skygrasper itself and, sure, it's not as satisfying as building a mobile suit, but I do feel the whole package is worth the price if you want the full Strike Gundam experience. Please note, though, that there is no proper "Perfect Strike" setup. What I've done here is fit the Aile pack and omit the backpacks for the Sword and Launcher, so he has no place to store the Sword, and the Launcher isn't held up by its usual armature. The RG packs are really intended to be used one at a time, but you can fudge the combination.
  17. Nekko Basara
    I couldn't pick just one strike pack...
  18. Nekko Basara
    I'm sure it's been done before, but I've been wanting to do an RX-78-2 in colors that mirror the female federation uniforms from MSG, rather than the male uniform colors, to commemorate Sayla piloting the original Gundam.
  19. Nekko Basara
    I get it - Aila Strike!
  20. Nekko Basara
    Haha, I meant folks were probably happy to buy him a drink after the fact, in exchange for the story - but I'm sure a few drinks beforehand couldn't have hurt! The Wikipedia article did include a reference to the F-14 association website for the claim that they had successfully test-landed with asymmetric sweep, but unfortunately the link is now a dead page. If you want to hunt further, check out reference 32 here: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_F-14_Tomcat
  21. Nekko Basara
    Sadly, the picture isn't working for me I read on the Wikipedia page that as part of that testing, they did a carrier trap with the wings in asymetric sweep. That must have gotten the test pilot a lot of free drinks!
  22. Nekko Basara
    I'm weighing my options on how to handle that frame, too. I saw some encouraging pics from someone who just sprayed it down on the runners with Tamiya gold from a can. I'm not sure how to handle joints, but I suppose I'd go in and touch them up with a marker after flexing them. Maybe I'll just let you go first ;-)
  23. Nekko Basara
    Nice! I can't wait to hear about those. I'll also be getting the Strike Freedom and Justice any day now. Very curious about the two MGs - they look like some of the best kits to date. I'm falling behind in my pictures and posts, but I'm actually doing a lot of building. The Z'Gok is done, as is a RG Aile Strike, but I'm working on the Skygrasper set for the latter right now. I also have some Macross projects underway.
  24. Nekko Basara
    Loved it again!
  25. Nekko Basara
    I've never seen it diagrammed, but from vague descriptions I imagined it just like your second description, as a way to dump speed rapidly while ascending, forcing a pursuer to overshoot (I understand that the nozzles on the Harrier rotate a bit past straight down, so they can apply some of their thrust vector to braking). It's a move I consider a bit dubious, in Top Gun or otherwise, because while it gives the pursuer only a brief and difficult shot before they overshoot and are in front of the maneuvering craft, the latter is left in a very low energy state - meaning if they aren't successful with a snap shot, they're in a very bad spot for any follow-up maneuvers. Incidentally, I've heard that an unusual disadvantage of the F-14 in a dogfight is that the automatically-controlled wings let an opponent gauge its energy state at a glance. That may be something an experienced aggressor pilot can use to their advantage, but I wonder if any real-world opponent would have that skill. EDIT: On second reading, I don't mean to imply that potential opponents are unskilled, only that they would not have a specific skill that could only be acquired by hours of dogfighting against real F-14s. Which, I guess, is largely a moot point, nowadays.
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