VF-0 air-to-air refuelling...

[F-ZeroOne]

Stupid question - is the VF-0 equipped for air-to-air refuelling?

[Akilae]

Stupid question - is the VF-0 equipped for air-to-air refuelling?

Yep, you see it at the beginning of Ep. 04. Mid-air rearming too!

[F-ZeroOne]

Ah, thank you. I must have missed that scene somewhere.

[Chowser]

Roy was trying to get his gunpod back while he was refueling.

I missed the fact that he was refueling too when I first saw it. I was just wondering why the gunpod was so big.

[Bub]

Yep, you see it at the beginning of Ep. 04. Mid-air rearming too!

I've got to watch zero again! it's been more than a year since.

[sketchley]

The big question is, IF the refueling craft hadn't exploded, how would he have received the gun pod? The way I see it, he still would have had to do some chasing after they dropped it.

[David Hingtgen]

Maybe he could have just went up to it, extended an arm, grabbed on, then the S-3 would let go of it.

[Lightning]

c'mon DH, you know that the airflow wouldn't permit it....the turbulence would probably kill both aircraft...

[David Hingtgen]

Episode 1 makes me believe that a VF-0 in Gerwalk can take most anything...

[sketchley]

I can see it transforming to gerwalk and moving into the 'optimal position' to catch it. But there's still the need for dropping it. Last I checked, the VF-0 doesn't have extendable hands, like in Patlabor. Though... could it use those 'magic hands' that were seen on the VF-1 in all of one episode? Those things would extend the reach, and probably be able to carry (or redirect the fall of) the gun pod.

[Scream Man]

i always assumed he just shifted modes and grabbed it, but i suppose they may drop it and he catches it. Heck, if they release it, wouldnt it fall backwards towards him and let him grab it?

[Kelsain]

I kind of figured that the refueling VF-0 would convert to Gerwalk after it was full, then be ready to catch the gunpod - or perhaps the gunpod would be extended on a cable to be grabbed. Obviously, things didn't go so smoothly for Roy.

[IAD]

I was thinking cable as well. The real question is HOW did the gunpod get on the refueling aircraft to begin with.

~Luke

[myk]

Questionable or not, it allowed us to see yet another great air sequence...

[Kelsain]

Not shown, but I assumed that Roy dropped his gunpod, either in the fight with DD or b/c it was empty. The one on the refueling plane was a new gunpod, fresh from the carrier.

I was thinking cable as well. The real question is HOW did the gunpod get on the refueling aircraft to begin with.

~Luke

[Prime]

I was thinking cable as well.

That's what I thought. Perhaps there was a part to help hold it up and back from the tanker.

Who knows?

[Fly4victory]

I reviewed the scene many times to figure out how the gunpod was mounted on the S-3 Viking so that I could build one. The S-3 had an additional hard point on its wing between the engine and the external fuel tank. The handle of the gun pod locked into a special wing store that was attached to the hard point.

The airflow between the external fuel tank and the engine would have been very turbulent plus the gunpod would have been unstable since it would be dropped with the vertical fins forward into the air stream. That would cause the gunpod to rotate 180 degrees on release and possibly impact the refueling aircraft.

I can understand the reluctance of the crew not wanting to release the pod. It is anime so shift of CG, asymmetric loading, and all the other holes in the theory do not apply. I just find the idea of takeoff and landing interesting with the gunpod projecting so far aft. Unless there was a traversing mechanism that would elevate to gun different positions automatically it would impact the deck.

[EXO]

c'mon DH, you know that the airflow wouldn't permit it....the turbulence would probably kill both aircraft...

In the first episode of SDF:Macross Roy mentioned that the alien technology would allow them to do stunts in the air that was currently impossible. Then Hikaru and the Zentradi came and screwed up all the demos. But if Hikaru can grab on to Minmay while she was freediving in midair, I believe the VF-0 would be able to catch the gunpod without chasing it all the way down like when the refueling ship blew up. The same way Roy catches the gun when transforming from fighter to battroid in mid air.

Edited September 12, 2006 by >EXO<

[anime52k8]

I question whether the writers themselves know how that was supposed to work.

[Kelsain]

I question whether the writers themselves know how that was supposed to work.

Shhh!

[TehPW]

Shhh!

likely they didn't consider the dangers such a mounted weapon would have to the A/C (cue the one pic with the smokin' bong ! )

though i've not seen close pics (and it's been years since i've seen a Viking upclose), i don't even think it's possible for anything to be mounted between the engine nassel and the fusilage, can it?

[Scream Man]

ive always figured the hand units ona valk ( any of them) must have some sort of magnetic properties to minimise the chance of missing the gunpods during transform. the 0,1,17 and 19 all definitely have gunpods that need to be caught, so some chances to minimise losing it would have to be taken.

[UN Spacy]

(cue the one pic with the smokin' bong ! )

[TehPW]

Thank you sir Spacy

[Fly4victory]

The gun pod was mounted between the external fuel tank and the engine nacelle on the port side of the aircraft.

I modified a Hasegawa S-3 Viking to carry the VF-0 gun pod and placed it on the starboard wing with the buddy pod on the port wing, a reverse of what was seen on TV.

The mounting of the buddy pod and external fuel tank had to be moved out almost to the pivot point for the folding wings.

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...p;p=423309&

Edit to add link. Model is in the center photo.

Edited September 19, 2006 by Fly4victory