NZEOD

Right... yes I have actually made some progress and now have the SV-51 built and preshaded ready for a wild Russian Splinter camo, the VF-0B built, Preshaded, base painted and ready for decals as the Space Proving version, the VF-1J Minmay Special painted and ready for decals, the VF-0C mostly built and ready for metallic detailing and the decals ready to make it a VMFA-122 Werewolves version, and all mounted with their magnets to fit in the cases. Making a VF-1 into a British version in honour of my old man who died last night. His father was one of the chief designers of the English Electric Lightning Fighter. The VF-4 is being redone from blue to red as I cant source decent VFA-213 Black Lions Decals in 1/72 scale anymore so its to become the 70th Anniversary CAG scheme of VFA-41 Black Aces. The VF-0C and VF-0D are HUGE too! Photos tonight of the work done so far.

I'd call that a win. Amazing how the addition of the black line has given the impression of darkening the pink and the red as well.

There are some references to caseless but thats likely due to the Eighties obsession with trying to make working real world caseless small arms.... which for the most part were a total failure. The G11 is a success but there are still issues with Cook offs from chambering into a hot breech and foreign objects/debris fouling with the square rod shaped cartridges as well as exposure of the rounds to the environment while in magazine pouches. I have 3 rounds of 4.73 from training cse in Germany. The other thing to note with the Macross gunpods is they would need a belt of some sort with lots of flex in it to allow the rounds to be wrapped like that shown around the barrels in a double stack. So belt links should also be getting ejected out an earlier port ahead of the spent cases. Linkless wouldnt work in the space they have around the barrels.

As I said... reinventing the wheel. They forget to ask themselves my favorite line for training soldiers... In Order To Do... What? we need a new engine with whizbang parts... in order to do...what? What is it that the current design isnt doing? Nothing? Then we dont need a fancy engine, just a stronger basic one thanks. The F-35/A10 debate... CAS missions, the plane needs to drop large amounts of ordnance effectively, precisely, in all weather and in all hours in order to support ground ops. Does it need the cannon then? Not really. Does it need stealth? not really. What does it need? Loiter time, range, carriage of ordnance, comms with ground units, on board targetting, slaved targetting from ground units, survivability, low maintanence, fast turn around times, low costs to allow for numbers of units to allow constant overwatch, low logistics or ease of logistics in the least. The rest is a Nice To Have.

Violating SOPs will get you up on a murder charge. They aren't guidlelines, and the real world doesnt mean much in a court room afterward. The instructor is right when you kick in the door to a kid with a squirt gun and you knee jeck the trigger and drop that kid. Right there by violating the SOP you claimed you life is more important than the civvies which is counter to the reason we are soldiers. You train hard enough and the muscle memory to flick from safe to semi is nothing. Its the least we should do a professional soldiers. Thats one reason I have such disdain for reservists and territorials, this is my trade, my career and I take pride in professionalism and working with men and women just as professional, this isnt a weekend hobby or a joyride with a gun. No excuses for violating rules. If they dont work, work on changing them.

Tease...

I buy all mine from there and have them sent to NZ... still cheaper than whats here

Ahhh ??? Try here... 153 of them available for $44 http://www.amazon.com/72-VE-1-Elintseeker-Plastic-model/dp/B0006NGPT6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1462927885&sr=8-2&keywords=Elintseeker

Working on a bunch of mine at the moment for the Hall displays and that front door on the rear legs, the one with the light in it.... I hate it with a passion now. So much of the back side of it has to be shaved off to have it sit flush!

HAHAHA MINE NOW!!!!

Its a heavy beast and now has major engine fatigue issues. Airbus is having to pay out compensation for lost dollars due to the planes not being delivered and now their shares have plummeted.

Not an Exit Strategy yet but other aircraft to fill the capability gap the A400M is leaving now its over weight and cant carry the Vehicles and equipment its was intended too. Redesigning the wheel when the wheel was already working fine. In this case the Antonov and the Hercules.

Different pill packs have different patterns too...

RC Airplane builders have a ton of info on their sites on making them. I made one when I was 16 for making canopies on P51 and BF109 Slope Soarers MANY MANY MANY years ago. Frame to hold the plastic sheet, Clean over to heat it in until is JUST begins to sag, a Form to stretch it over, a sheet of peg board (holes all over it already) as a base and a simple box underneath with a nozzle to hook up the Home Vacuum too. Job done and same results. Just takes a few minutes instead of 20 secs like theirs.

Super Hornets would be the logical choice for Strike fighters given the available knowledge base and logistics in place. Commonality of systems is a major advantage to joint service operability. Rafales and Typhoons for Interceptors to back up your proven F-22. They are current, effective and cheaper to buy and maintain. Rethink the CAS role with money spent on developing newer counter measures to assist the a New Version A10 to better survive loitering over a battlefield and look at the Tornado program for a high speed CAS option which as been proven time and again. Perhaps its necessary to forget the VTOL option for Amphib ships, or develop Combined Helo and Fixed wing Ski jump light carriers like the Brits for the Marine forces.

Yep. Cancel it or slow it down and look to reworking what they have now that works right now for the battlefield of right now in order to save the lives of personal fighting right now. Best bet is to shitcan it and paint it up as yet another lesson learnt about overreaching and not listening to the personal ACTUALLY on the ground when they have an opinion on what they need and what works. Have the battle is the fact an officer Posting is 2 yrs then the move on so very few lessons are learnt and historical mistakes are repeated again and again and new procurement officers arrive to replace the outgoing ones. Forget the money and remember the cost in lives. Civvis always forget that one paramount factor. Dragging feet in development and over dreaming a project DOES cost us soldiers on the ground our lives. Nothing should justify that. End of the day, its really a case of wounded pride that this debacle is even continuing.

It does when it becomes Uneconomical to sustain or even acquire. Money has to come from somewhere and its a finite resource. Someone somewhere misses out to cover the astronomical cost overruns with this project. And they are undeniably astronomical! You really should read this again and add up ALL the issues in bullet point on a note pad and then decide it this is still a value for money vs performance project. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II#Program_cost_overruns_and_delays With all the Ammunition aquisition projects I've been involved in thats the one thing the Officers in IM Branch seem to lose sight of. The fact that eventually the project will cross the red line to be practical if it keeps having delays, failures and cost increases. The red list below is just WAY too big for a plane thats meant to have been delivered already. A 2014 Pentagon report found these issues: First two mission data sets available November 2015, after USMC IOC. Overall operational suitability relies heavily on contractor support and unacceptable workarounds. Aircraft availability reached 51% but short of 60% goal. Fuel Tanks don't retain inerting for required 12 hours after landing. High dynamic loads on the rudder at lower altitudes in 20-26 AoA preventing testing. 82 pounds added to F-35B in last 38 months, 337 pounds below limit. Transonic Roll-Off (TRO) and airframe buffet continue to be program concerns. 572 deficiencies remain affecting Block 2B capability, 151 of which are critical. VSim would likely not support planned Block 2B operational testing in 2015. Maintainability hours still an issue. ALIS requires many manual workarounds.[152] A 2015 Pentagon report found these issues:[200] The Joint Program Office is re-categorizing or failing to count aircraft failures to try to boost maintainability and reliability statistics; Testing is continuing to reveal the need for more tests, but the majority of the fixes and for capability deficiencies being discovered are being deferred to later blocks rather than being resolved; The F-35 has a significant risk of fire due to extensive fuel tank vulnerability, lightning vulnerability and an OBIGGS system unable to sufficiently reduce fire-sustaining oxygen, despite redesigns; Wing drop concerns are still not resolved after six years, and may only be mitigated or solved at the expense of combat maneuverability and stealth; The June engine problems are seriously impeding or preventing the completion of key test points, including ensuring that the F-35B delivered to the Marine Corps for IOC meets critical safety requirements; no redesign, schedule, or cost estimate for a long-term fix has been defined yet, thereby further impeding g testing; Even in its third iteration, the F-35’s helmet continues to show high false-alarm rates and computer stability concerns, seriously reducing pilots’ situational awareness and endangering their lives in combat; The number of Block 2B’s already limited combat capabilities being deferred to later blocks means that the Marine Corps’ FY2015 IOC squadron will be even less combat capable than originally planned; ALIS software failures continue to impede operation, mission planning, and maintenance of the F-35, forcing the Services to be overly reliant on contractors and "unacceptable workarounds"; Deficiencies in Block 2B software, and deferring those capabilities to later blocks, is undermining combat suitability for all three variants of the F-35; The program’s attempts to save money now by reducing test points and deferring crucial combat capabilities will result in costly retrofits and fixes later down the line, creating a future unaffordable bow wave that, based on F-22 experience, will add at least an additional $67 billion in acquisition costs; and Low availability and reliability of the F-35 is driven by inherent design problems that are only becoming more obvious and difficult to fix. Its a great concept but soldiers need a tangible asset now, not a concept. If it drags too long and they are forced to reinstate the Old fleet of F-16s and A10s they will have major logistical issues as they are tailing off supplies of parts and training of new maintainers. Once they are gone they are very difficult to reinstate. Personal leave between 10yrs and 15yrs (in my country) and even more rapidly at the lower ranks after a deployment or 3 (we lost 33% of all personal within 2 yrs of our INTERFET/UNTAET mission from both the Airforce and the Army and most of that were the middle ranks that were headhunted by Contractors - Middle ranks are your trade trainers. Lose them, you lose the skills and knowledge. You fill the vacant ranks with those that aren't ready yet. A10s arent going to be able to fill the role in 5yrs-10yrs if they have told the crews they were being phased out, they left the services, then the DoD keeps the aircraft on and the crews are long gone and bitter. NO soldier will wait 20yrs for a project to stand up, they will look to their future and jump ship around 30yrs old so they can retrain and settle into a new role. My country did it to US in the Bombsquad with the EOD Squadron standing up only after being dragged out for 10yrs and they did it again when the disbanded our Combat Airwing. All the crews bailed to OZ and Canada and the Armament techs got partially disbanded and either retrained, changed services or left the forces. Those skills are now gone. So the F-35 project is creating major issues in costs of development, consuming money for other projects, consuming budgets for current units, halting personel carrier development which will effect retention and the fact its NOT USEABLE yet in theatre.

nice... now to deploy it!

Given its over runs in costs, time and lack of progress on all the next gen features, it has failed. Its meant to have been in service by now and for a 1/4 the cost. So its failed both those criteria, which are pretty damn important. Case in point is the example of the Brits needing a new Medium APC. They started up funding the GTx Boxer then bailed after they kept changing the goal posts. 14 yers later they have burnt 1.4 Billion GBP, pulled the old vehicles from service, replaced them with soft skin landrovers and open frame offroaders on operations and cost lives because of it, still havent even designed a vehicle yet, asked BAE (one of the companies shafted over the Brits pulling out of the Boxer) to retool their Scimitar and Warrior lines to make new hulls to keep them in service, all the while the Germans and the Dutch have had their Boxers on Operations with Zero casualties and a brilliant track record. That joke of a Bradley is another good example. I'm a solider, not having the gear promised when the boots hit the ground IS a failure. The moment it costs lives its a crime. All the claims that the F-35 will be better in a CAS high threat environment and all the other smoke and bullshite thats being claimed doesnt match the reality RIGHT NOW on the ground. That being, its low tech threats, minimal enemy air and a requirement for long loiter, heavy loads. A stealth CAS isnt needed right now and its right now that soldiers are dying. The F-35 needs to be parked, the A10 needs to be retooled and the rest of the money needs to go to the F/A-18E/F and the E/A-18G projects. They are the ones doing the actually workloads on Ops right now. The other buyers outside the US need to do what they know they should has already (Canada is) and go trial the Rafale, Grippen, Eurofighter and Super Hornet and buy one that's actually made and proven and that the budget can afford to maintain without taking money away from the rest of the forces.

Currently the Main gun doesnt fire, correct? I played a game in close contact to the Zentran flagship and its Main gun rips apart my lil ARMD carriers so had to circle them and the SDF around it at arms reach to stay out of line of sight of it. Eventually the SDF-1 will have its own Main gun?

"H" number conversion chart http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/colorcharts/stuff_eng_colorcharts_gunze.htm Hope that all helps.

Will they have small Post-It notes with IOU - To be delivered and fitted at a later time on each of the sub systems that haven't quite worked out yet? Or disclaimers - "Please don't load this aircraft to maximum payload as the operational range suffers" "Please don't expect stealth results to match the brochure as that was a typo, please dont use S/VTOL as fires may ensue" "Due to a lack of internal ordnance carriage capacity non stealthy wing and fuselage mounted stores will compromise airframe stealth" "Due to a lack of stores and range, loiter time on target in CAS roles is limited" "Ground attack ordnance must be delivered at sub sonic speeds. Be aware this will compromise the claimed maneuverability of the aircraft" "Radar rebooting maybe required during combat, please follow the restart procedures as laid out in your handy guidebook located in the Trouble shooting manual Vol 1 though 16 located under and behind your ejection seat and pretty much anywhere else we could fit them - Also note the Volumes are flammable and lingering in the cockpit after an unsuccessful ejection initiation is not recommended" "Please ensure your airframe is operating the latest version of Kaspersky's Systems Protection to maximize resistence to Gameboy level and above hacking attempts" "It is recommended that engaging in WVR dogfights with any aircraft built since 1968 be avoided and that the RUN AWAY option be employed where ever possible. This includes adversaries such as Fighters, Bombers, Heavy Transport, Maritime Patrol, Cessnas, Paragliders and seagulls."

Gunze Sangyo/Mr Colour

They need to hurry the hell up with the live action Macross or Yukikaze movies... As side note... think I found where the Macross Gun pod sound came from... The cheeseball movie The Final Countdown has an F14 putting a burst of M61 rounds into a WW2 Zero - funny scene watching the F14s with wings fully extended trying to wallow slow enough to "dogfight" the zeros - and its probably the first movie sound effect of the Gatling gun. Sounds EXACTLY like the Macross ones.

1/72 Missile sets?