Knight26

@Seto Kaibais right about the scale of things. A modern nuclear aircraft carrier has a crew complement of 5000+. Given that the D&P are each approximately 50% large (500m compared to 350m) one could easily estimate their crew sizes to be equal increased to 7500+, each. The Macross is supposed to have a military compliment of 20k, with 15k on the carriers, that leaves only 5000 aboard the SDF-1 herself. That is a huge amount of space for that crew. Now, taking into account the relatively small internal volume of the SDF-1's engines and other mechanical systems, stuffing 58k civilians onboard would be possible, just not ideal. The city is stretching things, but city-like amenities could be incorporated into the cavernous legs, with the majority of the civilian population then relocated into low security areas of the ship, or conscripted into the crew. ANother way to look at it. Tokyo has a population density of 6000+ people per square kilometer (and it isn't even in the top 100 for population density). Assuming a rough usable deck print of 1000mx400m, that is .4km^2, per deck. The SDF-1 is then 312m tall, of which maybe 100m would be full size decks. Assuming 3m deck spacing average, that gives approximately 33 decks, so a total deck area of 13.2km^2. Not including the partial length/width decks, that gives space enough for 79,200 people. Which matches up nicely with the original numbers of 20k crew and 58k civilians. Even with the lost deck spacing between individual components, there are still additional deck levels to make up the difference. Taking all that into account, aside from the few large spaces like concert venues, resteraunts and entertainment spaces, most people would probably live in either communal spaces or micro-apartments spread throughout the ship. The "city" would be where they go when not at home to try and keep a sense of normality and raise moral. Yes, that does not line up exaclty with what is seen in the animation, but it could still work out feasibly. Or for a real world example: Male' city in the Maldives, a tiny island city is only 6km^2 and has a population in excess of 133k people with the tallest building topping out at 15 stories, and most coming in under 10 stories.

Maybe it's because pretty much all my VF-19s were knockoffs (I think), but that VF-19 might be legit, as I have never seen the 1/65 VF-19F/S with the shorter wings and san-canards.

Ultimately the failure of the YF-23 comes down to the following factors, in no particular order: Too Radical a Design: The YF-22 was the more conservative design approach, it looked like a stealthed up F-15, which the USAF brass preferred. Weapons Deployment and Versatility: The YF-23's trapeze missile launcher was a gamble, but would have allowed it to carry more AMRAAMS in the main weapons bay. Additionally, the forward sidewinder bay (singular) would have simplified the design with only having two bays. However, there were worries that the trapeze might jam, trapping weapons inside. Also, the AMRAAM bay would not have been able to carry much, if any other ground attack weapons. See below. Mission types: The YF-23 was designed as stealthy interceptor, fast and carrying anti-air weapons. It's weapons bays would not have been able to accommodate anything more than Small Diameter Bombs (SDBs) which were barely even a program yet at that point. THis would require it to carry all other weapons externally, defeating the stealthiness. Alternations to the Requirements: Contrary to what many believe, the design requirements did not include thrust vectoring or super maneuverability. They did however require Thrust Reversers in the initial iteration. As a result the first YF-23 prototype actually had thrust reversers, Lockheed gambled that that requirement would get pulled and never designed it into the YF-22, instead opting for the thrust vectoring. By the time that the requirement was pulled it was too late to change the YF-23's design, and one set of engines, with reversers, were already on hand. So while prototype two did not fit the reversers, and it also had the more powerful engines, making it lighter and MUCH FASTER. Production F-23s would have deleted the thrust reversers with later variants having the option for TVC. Showiness: While the ATF competition did require working weapon's bays, it did not require anyone to fire a weapon. Lockheed knew that showing a missile launch would do wonders to help them, so made sure to have one of their prototypes able to fire off a sidewinder. Northrup wanted to show off their stealth capabilities, which were superior. Contracts: Lockheed had only the C-130 production contracts at the time, they had yet to purchase General Dynamics and the F-16. The F-117 was out there but had ended production. Northrup on the other hand still had the B-2, which was facing delays and cost overruns, and their half of the F/A-18 production, two major programs. Politically Lockheed needed the contract more. Corporate culture: NG has a very odd corporate culture. Where most companies tend to be run top-down, with every site adhering to company standards, each NG site/program tends to act more like a franchise doing things their own way. This actually creates quite a bit of confusion inside the company and some instability. Having worked with at least 5 different NG programs and sites, I have seen this, with none of them writing their reports/proposals in a common format, or displaying their data in the same format. Cost: The YF-23 would have been a costlier design overall, but had it's production design more "locked in" than Lockheed did. Lockheed did fib about how quickly their could turn around a production design, and their production design wasn't full "locked in" until later. Overall, most agree that the YF-23 would have made a superior interceptor, but that was it. The more radical and advanced design, it would have been locked into that single role much moreso than the F-22 without adding additional design variants. (see NATF). But in the end the F-22 won out for many reasons one the biggest honestly being the NG contracts, corporate culture, and the politics of giving a new fighter to Lockheed.

It's a bit more complicated than that. When I was at EAFB I worked with several of the program Flight Test Engineers and one of the pilots. I even got to watch some video I'd never seen anywhere else.

The paint job is amazing, let me start with that. I love it. The colors look good to me for the most part, accurate to what the items would likely be, power modules, capacitors, metallic relays of copper and gold, etc... Even the brightly anodized parts make some sense in order to keep them from getting mixed up. The cabling however would mostly be white with clear ID tags on them. The colored wires would be inside the white shielding.

My god, Kakizaki, what did they do to you?

I know Toynami isn't grey market, but... Poor Kakizaki, what did they do to you?

Man, what cool second hand stores are you shopping at?

That is an amazing find, good work there.

Dang, made out of fiberglass, that is awesome.

I think he is adapting the ORBOT STLs from thingiverse, which are in turn copies of the old Revell Robotech Kits based on the proportions and details.

I have actually contemplated having a heavily modified B-52 show up in my books at some point. But after a couple centuries I think even the mighty B-52 deserves a retirement.

Shattered Pantheons is live. Pick up your copy today: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B3V2WZ2J

Your bioroids look pretty sweet. Pretty comparable to @captain america's Are you also working on a VT-1 mod kit?

Interesting, do you have a website with your portfolio of completed projects and designs?

Those decals look amazing, a little overkill on the no steps though.

Getting ready for Tucson Comic-Con Yes those are 1:18 scale 3D prints of two fighters from the books, and the helmet is also 3D printed. And the preorder for Shatter Pantheons is live: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B3V2WZ2J

Great series, just wish Hulu/Fox/whoever the next provider is will finally give them the budget and time to make a full season. I know he has other commitments with his animated projects, but still. This is the best Star Trek on TV right now, followed closely by SNW.

That is cool

Interesting, but I don't care for it.

They look neat, but other than maybe the black one I doubt I would wear any of them. Even then, I wear a smart watch now so...

Seriously, someone get this man a plamax 1:20

Hell's Razer Relaunch Tomorrow: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B3TYY78Z

God dang this is gorgeous, ultimate VF-1S reference model.

Corvette in skull squadron livery