anime52k8

the Japanese version's already out, but the Japanese version is in English with Japanese subtitles. so we're watching the Japanese version obtained through various methods of the internet.

ok, I re watched episode 3, episode 5, and all that VFZero. first I'm going to say that I don't consider the launch shown in all that VF to be correct, because all they did was take the launch sequence from episode five and change the background form sky to water to save time and money. now in ep. 5, it's possible that what's shown isn't how they launch underwater either. it's totally possible that they have different launch procedure for surface vs. sub-surface launch. for a surface launch (or a launch when you ship is being levitated by an alien device) the aircraft are clamped down, bring there engines to maximum power, then they're released and shoot strait up (sort of like how Russian aircraft carriers launch aircraft) under water it's not so simple, there are huge problems with trying to launch a rocket under water. first you need a rocket that will run underwater (typically solid fueled rather than liquid), then you need to keep water out of everything, and finally the amount of drag water exerts on objects is 1000 times that of air, so it will take a massive amount of fuel to get you clear of the water ( hence why most missiles either are gas launched, or have an extra drop off stage just to get them clear of the water). now I say rocket because that's probably what the engines are acting like. you'll notice that whenever the intakes are closed, the exhaust plume from the engine always looks like it's in in a/b mode. considering these are tuned and modified turbine engines, it's possible one of the modifications is that the engine can function as a liquid fueled rocket, and what we're seeing is the rocket exhaust. (if a liquid fueled rocket motor can get a trident missile airborn, it can power the SV-51 for the 5~10 seconds before it switches to conventional jet power) also, we don't see the main engines of the VF-0 running under water during episode 3, the main engines appear to be off, and only the backpack thrusters are running. now, we don't see the intakes with enough detail to say if they opened back up or not (if they stayed closed the engines were off, if they were open, they could be using the compression section as an impeller running off internal battery).

sad is a nice way of putting it. I was going to go with creepy.

why do they need to surface for oxygen? and why are they using oxygen for launch anyways? they probably launch the aircraft ICBM style (i.e. shoot the plane up in a bubble of gas, then light the engines after it's clear of the surface. and the gas used to launch the valks is going to be something inert like CO2 or Nitrogen, (CO2 make sence as they could collect the CO2 filtered out by the ships scrubbers.) if they did need to use oxygen to launch the valks they wouldn't have to surface to replenish it, sub's produce oxygen through electrolysis which is why they only need to surface to pick up food. what I was saying from the start, they shoot them up with compressed gas.

but this is bandai were talking about, the idea that they would release a product then not release the same product again bundled with something new is ludicrous

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! yes it was the year 2012, specifically December 20, 2012 is going to be the the last day of B'ak'tun 13. at which point the mayan long count date 12.19.19.17.19 roles over to 13.0.0.0.0 and b'ak'tun 14 starts. (the long count calander is a little odd, as it works in base-20, except for the second set of numbers from the end, which is base-18, first set on the right is days, then winal's wich are like months, then tun's which are years.) there are predictions made by the Maya after 2012, in fact they have predictions all the way up to the late 4700's. the year 2012 is mostly significant just in the Popol Vuh, which contains a creation myth in which the world was created 3 times unsuccessfully before the world we live in was created, and each previous world ended on 12.19.19.17.19 i.e. December 20, 2012. and in the myth, the previous worlds were ended because the creator gods weren't able to create humans successfully. things finaly worked on the forth try, (our world) so our world won't tend. So now you know. no they didn't. the Pyramids were built by parasitic aliens who were using them as landing platforms for there space ships.

on most SSBN type subs the missile compartments constitutes about 1/4 to 1/3 of the length of the boat (US subs carry more ICBM's, but Russian subs carry torpedoes and cruse missiles as well as ICBMs). the missile's also take up the entire height of the interior of the sub. looking at the official drawings of the of the auerstadt, it looks like the fighter hangers take up more than half the length of the sub (quite a lot of space considering the how big the auerstadt is). however, based on how tall the sub is vertically, it looks like there may be room for compartments underneath the hanger area, (unlike a modern ballistic missile sub, which has missile tubes running all the way from top to bottom.)

technically there were no design changes because there wasn't anything wrong with the design. apparently the shoulder thing was a result of them being incorrectly assembled, but Yamato's slave drivers yelled at their Chinese sweat shop workers and now things are all better.

a big part of the problem is also how screwed up the Japanese retail industry is. maybe it's not this way for yamato products, but for most things sold in japan the item ends up going through multiple wholesalers and resellers. rather than just 1 party or less between the manufacturer and retailer, there may be 3-5 parties involved, all of whom take a percentage of the final retail price. this reduces the percentage that each party takes in, and as a result the prices of everything gets driven up.

so, Day after tomorrow with even more agenda to it? sounds like crap, pass.

except I highly doubt that it would be unfeasible/more trouble than it's worth to retrieve fighters on a sub that's large enough and advanced enough to be able to sub-surface launch a dozen aircraft. the auerstadt is in the 300 meter long ballpark, and only has to support 12 aircraft. for some perspective it's about the same size as the Russian Admiral Kuznetzov, but the kuznetzov supports some 40+ aircraft (12 Su-33's, which are about as large as a SV-51, and the rest are helicopters). you've got more than enough room to handle maintenance and refueling for that many fighters.

I didn't even realize the red dot was a light, I always just assumed it was just a red dot.

you could have just posted a link... inquiring minds want to know!

all I'm going to say is that I like the fact that this threads poll lets you vote for yes AND no.

the FEAB's the SV-51 used were fairly massive weapons. they were something like twice the length and twice the width of the 51's standard fuel tanks. (in fact I think it's about the same size as the fold booster for the YF-19/YF-21) a more accurate description would be like the micro missile pods with the tips replaced with a set of massive braking flaps, but twice as long and twice as wide. if you wanted to build one, I would think you'd want to start with something much bigger than the SV-51's drop tanks (some 1/48th USG 600 gallon fuel tanks maybe?)

really, I wouldn't recamend any of the kits you listed to a novice builder, though you're definition of novice vs. mine could be quite different. Hase Valk kit's are traditional style models (i.e. single color plastic, you have to glue paint and decal everything). and hase kit's in general, while nice, are a bit expensive to start out on if you've haven't build models like that before. bandai snap kits are much simpilar to do a basic build on (snap kit so no glue, colored plastic so no painting, and stickers instead of waterslide decals). haveing looked over the new VF-25 kit though. they're pritty complex in terms of number of parts. If you've never built a gundam kit before get a couple newer ones and try building them first just to get a feel for bandai instructions and bandai model construction. It really comes down to you're personal level of experiance and what you feel comfortable with. of you're choises though, I'd recamend the ozma for the bandai's and any hase kit.

still, I went and played a few rounds of CoD4 after about 2 weeks strait of WaW, and tried to use my red dot equiped M60. I've never had trouble with recoil management before, but after getting used to using the WaW MG's I couldn't hit poo... anyway's yeah, I like courtyard, also cliffside. right now I'm using every gun, trying to finish as many challenges as I can (it sucks the expert challenges don't get you anthing anymore.) My Gamertag's BedivereXIV

just because it can be launched from under water doesn't mean it can manuver under water like a submarine. for all we know it launchs like a trident missile, as in they close all the intakes, pressurise the interior to keep water out, then shoot it to the surface in a giant bubble of steam. then once its out of the water the motor fires. you can't leave a sub launched missile under water for very long. when they're launched they try to get them out of the water as soon as possible, and protect them as long as they can. we don't know if the engines on an SV-51 will even work under water, nor do we know if they're supposed to even if they can. only the backpack thrusters on the VF-0 were clearly shown to work underwater, and even then it could be extremely detramental to the valk, and not something you wan't to do reguarly.

other than the Fact that the Model in the anime looks like the -29A (the intake slats over the LERX's indicates that it is), I don't think anything official has ever been said that they were in fact A models. and the canard equipped one's don't equate to any real model so there capabilities are purely speculative. it's possible that the Canard equipped ones are carrier capable models, which were launched by another Anti-UN carrier (submersible or conventional) somewhere, or they could have been launched from the Auerstadt as well. as for the Migs we see in the earlier episodes, perhaps the fact that they were animated as Mig-29A's was just an animation error/oversight on the part of the production staff, and what we're seeing are really supposed to be carrier capable Mig-29K's, again launched from a second anti-UN carrier or the Auerstadt.

OR the sub could deploy SV-51's from under water near the enemy force, then while the SV-51's are engaging targets, the sub egresses to a safe location away from the enemy, then once the SV-51's are finished with there operation they brake off and meet up with the sub at which point they are recovered by the sub. any ship is going to be a big fat target while it's recovering aircraft, weather it be a submarine or a conventional carrier. and having a conventional carrier involved along with the sub just puts more men and material at risk. a conventional carrier even at long distance is even more vulnerable because it's on the surface ALL THE TIME. much more time for it to be spotted, and once it's spotted there's no real way to get away (it's kind of hard to loose a 40,000 tone ship on the surface). and then, once you get the jets on the surface carrier, how does it get back to the submarine? the sub is still going to need to surface, meet up with the surface carrier, and then spend a long period of time transferring aircraft. that of course assumes that the SV-51 can even operate safely underwater. Just because the Shin did it once doesn't mean that's how it's supposed to be used. and considering how radically different the SV-51 is from the VF-0 there's no guaranty that the SV-51 has the same capability as the VF-0 in this area.

so apparently the Defender is a cold-cast model...

at cent: I kind of get the feeling that (at least around here) a lot of people buy multiples of the same toy just to display in each mode anyways. and a lot of us buy the same type of fighter multiple times just to get different color schemes. perhaps you wouldn't be interested in getting the two similar valks in a similar scale, but for a lot of people having them in a similar scale wouldn't be a problem, and may just be a selling point. I just don't see how it would make the transforming toy "obsolete." the Transforming toy gives you PT, and the ability to have a toy that actually transforms and show how the thing works in real life 3D, and the fixed mode toy gives you a really beautiful representation of one mode that doesn't compromise or sacrifice anything, I'd see them complementing each other rather than making one or the other less desirable.

the next release is probebly going to be vanilla Michel (no armor) then they'll start coming out with the super versions. (I say that because they've shown only the alto with super parts, Michel's valk has always been shown plain) this is just speculation but I don't think they'll be coming out with stand alone super/armor parts. form what they've shown. you'll either end up building the kit's plain or with the super/armor parts and changing would require disassembling the kit.

well there is a games workshop near by so that's good. I guess I can sacrafice a little dignity to finish these kits right.

everywhere I've checked still has a December release, which usually means last of the month. I know that the Japanese don't have the whole holiday shopping season, but why do they have to release everything at the very last day of the month?