Apollo Leader

With the exception of the Toynami DYRL Poseables, the last serious VF-1 toy I got was the Yamato 1/48th Hilaru type Super VF-1J almost 11 months ago. You can only buy the same basic thing over and over again before it becomes tiring. I plan on finishing my Alpha collection, buying some of Yamato's future non-VF-1 Macross stuff and non-Macross stuff (ie. Votoms), and buying any Zeta toys that Bandai ever does release here in the US (yeah right), but the Macross and Gundam spending spree I've been on for the last four years is winding down for me. There are more important and pressing things for me to spend my money and time on these days. But that said, I am glad I had the opportunity to build the collection that I did during these last fews years and the friends and aquaintances I have made online, too. I just hope that any future girlfriends or the woman who might one day be my wife will be accepting of my little "army"!

The irony about the A-7F was that it was intended to replace the A-10 Warthog when the A-10 was built to replace the original A-7's to begin with!

Since this might be fodder for this thread, I just wanted to say right now that there is going to be at least one or more Macross related developments on the Harmony Gold end of things that might be announced VERY soon. I have absolutely no idea what they are, but just keep your eyes peeled.

Depending on who you bought you're Alpha from, if you have a reciept, etc., you might be able to get a complete exchange and avoid the hassle. I had the hand on one of my Alpha's (#200 something) go bad and it had a bunch of paint flaws. If you send it back to Toynami, make sure you have a receipt (e-mail them, and they'll tell you what to do). If you got it from somebody like Kevin Lam (Valkyrie Exchange), he will do the exchange for you (that's what I did to get my replacement).

Greatest video game... evar!

Apaches can carry Stingers or even Sidewinders on their wingtips so they do have the ability to fend off against other aircraft, though their best chances would be against other helicopters or slow moving jets like a Su-25.

I've only had the chance to watch A New Hope so far. My one negative comment is in the scene where the Millenium Falcon has escaped the Death Star and is being persued by Tie Fighters... throughout the fight, there are these very annoying green and red tinge boxes that enclose the Tie Fighters especially when doing rolls. I know this was where the Tie Fighters and their movements were super imposed, but I thought Lucasfilm would have surely cleaned that up by now. Other then that, it was awesome to watch and hear it in all its DVD glory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... oh yeah, Lucas raped my childhood! (Just joking, Max!)

I have another bundle of joy coming Kevin's way in the next day or two in the form of a defective MPC Alpha! Congratulations, Kevin! Surprised you didn't name your daughter Lana.

Just got one through a local Gamestop today (still waiting for Kevin to send me my other one!). Mine is #924 (the boxes and the toy's numbers all match). The only flaw I've found was a slight paint run on one of the arms in fighter mode. Everything seems to be in place and nothing seems to be damaged so far (I haven't transformed it yet ). I've never had a full blown Alpha/Legioss before, so I will most definitely be following the instructions. I like the weight that it has for a toy this size. The attention to detail and its overall appearance is better then the MPC VF-1 was. Hopefully my Alpha/Legioss survives its first few transformations.

Nice job SDFcommander! Still waiting for my Alpha...

That's funny. What are you doing reading a Gundam thread for? Looks like you don't let go of a chance to bash Gundam for all it's worth. You don't like it. We get it. You don't have to rain on our parade. Agreed.

How deep is that into the ground? Only about the length of the nose cone (a few feet). If it hadn't landed in something hard, it would have been buried deeper and that may have effected the GPS transmission. The payload section was located a day after the flight.

Actually that might be apossibility. I understand that an effort will be made soon to look for the bottom section soon, but if it's buried underground and since it didn't have a GPS transmitter, that might be quite difficult.

Will do.

Same reason that the SpaceShipOne didn't. When they hit the (dense) atmosphere again, they are flying only at Mach 5 or so, instead of the shuttle's (or anything that goes orbital for that matter) Mach 25 . That's a lot less energy that transforms into heat. Actually I think it only reaches about Mach 2.5. Furthermore, they got that shuttlecock recovery arrangement to help lower it.

A few weeks ago, the Big Bad Toystore got in the US release of the FA-78-1 Full Armor Gundam and the rerelease of the the GP-01 and 02. Unfortunately, the Full Armor Gundam and GP01 have sold out. Besides the BBTS, has anyone seen these figures at Target or any other store? Are the GP01 and 02 retooled versions (the GP02 looks like it has the proper paint job now)?

Ha!

And here's where the payload section landed.

Liftoff! 21 foot tall CSXT heads up to space.

Here it was before flight.

Including the failed 2000 and 2002 attempts, I believe somewhere in excess of $100,000 has gone into this project including all donations and sponsorships. The Discovery Channel will be airing a presentation on the CSXT and Ky Michaelson this fall. As for orbital plans, Ky is out, but some of the other team members are talking about it though it will probably be a fair number of years until that happens.

Here was the CSXT's payload section before flight.

Just under the lip of the payload's shoulder can be seen two detonators. Instead of using an ejection charge, some explosives were used to sever the payload section from the bottom.

The reset of the nosecone was made from two pieces of machined aluminum. The nose was anodized red... other then some fading, the anodization job held up much better then the paint. The big scratches to the nose were from when it landed in the rocks.

Over 77 miles up. Space begins at 62.