Graham

My choice of Glock stems more from limited parts availibility & lack of competant gunsmiths in this part of the world, plus I'm a Glock armorer. +1 on the Hi Power, lovely pistol. Not a fan of CZs though, seen several low round count guns with broken slide stops which puts me off. Plus they just don't fit my hand. Also shot standard & revolver class. Can't stand race guns either.

Moving this to the 'Movie & TV Series' forum, as it's a technology discussion and doesn't seem to have anything at all to do with toys. My take on the rear pointing head lasers is that they are likely semi-autonomous. It would be very difficult in a dog fight siituation for a pilot to fly, aim and fire a rear firing weapon all at once. Probably the pilot can select between 1) full manual control, where he does everything, i.e aims and fires. 2) Semi-autonomous, where the onboard A.I. does the aiming and just tells the pilot when to fire and 3) faull autonomous, where the onboard A.I. does everything, i.e. aims and fires. Graham

I don't think typical toy-grade, die-cast pot metal zinc would hold up unless the parts were made much thicker. Machined aluminum or steel would do the trick, but may be too expensive. Graham

Still haven't opened my reissue VF-25F yet. Saving it until I come back from my business trip on Saturday, so I've got something to look forward to. Graham

Heh, I can actually reload pretty fast (or used to be able to). I used to be a very active IPSC competitor before my son was born. I love the 10mm round, but wouldn't choose it due to limited availabilty. If I did go with a 10mm, I'd go with a Glock 20 in 10mm not a Para. Seen too many Paras go down to ever really trust one. The loadout I mentioned is manageable with decend load bearing gear. Certainly many troops are carrying more in terms of sheer weight. Two guns minimum are a must, in case of parts breakage or a stoppage that can't be instantly cleared with a 'tap-rack-bang' or other immediate action drill. There are certainly many modern surpressors that work just fine on locked breach pistols and allow the pistol to cycle just fine in semi automatic. I used to be in law enforcement arms sales, so this is an area I do have some experience with. And I repeat, a minigun is only man-portable in the Predator movie or if it's an airsoft minigun, not in real life. Graham

There's a hotel near my office where the HK Government has quarrantined all 300 guests and staff for 1 week, after a Mexican guest staying there became HK's first confirmed case of the Mexican Swine Flu. Just waiting for them to all turn into flesh eating zombies any day now. Graham

Miniguns only work well when mounted on a vehicle or a building. They are far too heavy to man-carry. While a person could manage the gun itself, you could not carry the batteries plus a reasonable supply of ammo as well. Anyway, in a post-apocalyptic scenario, ammo may be in short supply and miniguns are real ammo hogs. Graham

In a Romero (slow mover) zombie scenario, I'd go with a reliable short barreled .223 (5.56mm) rifle with an aimpoint and lots of mags (8-12 mags), probably a surpressor as well to keep the sound down (protect your hearing and not attact so many zombies). This would be backed up by one or two 9mm pistols, probably a Glock 17 or 34 backed up by either a Glock 19 or 26 for mag interchangeability, The larger of them would be fitted with a surpressor. Other options would be S&W M&P 9mm full size and M&P Compact 9mm. One would be carried in a thigh holster (Safariland 6004 or similar) and the smaller pistol in a shoulder or chest rig. 4-6 full size spare pistol mags would be carried. All above firearms, would also be fitted with tactical light/laser combo, i.e Crimson Trace laser Grips and Insight Technology M3X lights. A hand axe and a couple of Sykes Fairbairn type knives would be carried as well (good for penetrating skulls). Riot armor not ballistic armor wold be worn on the limbs, torso and head. Unlike ballistic armour, riot armor is much lighter and would offer excellent protection against zombie bites. Gotta say, I've never really agreed with Max Brook's choice of gear either. M1 Garand would be two long for CQB and is very limited with only 8rd stripper clips. Can't speak for game Zombies, as I've never played much Resident Evil, but in the Romero movies of which I'm a huge fan, you gotta shoot em in the head to take them down. Graham

No problem with both my heatshields. It does take a bit or force to get them locked, but once they're locked, they stay locked. I can hold both my VF-11B upside down and the escape pods don't fall out. Graham

Great photo, but shouldn't the YF-21's wings be unfolded? Also, didn't realise the new Yamato clear display stand was out already! Graham

I find the 1/100 VF-25F & VF-25S are defnitely more poseable than the 1/60DX. I've got my VF-25S battroid in a really cool looking reverse grip, semi-crouch, knife fighting pose at the moment. I definitely don't want to see Bandai tackle the VF-1 in 1/100 scale for a long, long time. I'm not saying never, but let's have Valks that have never been done before like the VF-171, VF-2SS, VF-27 etc first. Graham

OK, got a reply back from Yamato regarding the running changes to the 1/60 V2 shoulders starting from the DYRL Max VF-1S type and the only thing that has been changed is that the knurling has been removed from the ends of the shoulder pins. I was hoping as I'd discussed with Yamato and the Chinese factory owner a few months ago, that the pin diameter would be made smaller, thus allowing the plastic around the pin to be made thicker. Hopefully, removal of the knurling will lessen pressure on the plastic and eliminate the cracking issue, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Honestly, I was hoping for more, but hopefully Yamato and the factory have done their homework and this change is all that is required. Graham

Just remember two words............Head Shots! No blazing away at the body on full auto. Nice aimed semi-auto fire wins the day everytime. Graham

There is no problem with the heatshield........PERIOD! What Yamato are saying is that the packing foam was added to prevent movement of the escape pod during shipping and transit. The packing foam should be removed and discarded when you get the toy. Graham

OT, but is the second pic a front handguard from a Galil? Graham

Some more detailed information from Yamato on the foam that comes packed under the VF-11B's escape pod: The english is not perfect, but I think you can all get the gist:- Graham

I'll have to check my copy, but I'm pretty sure the line art published in B-Club magazine back in June 1992 identified them as rail guns. Thought this was common knowledge?

My guess is that the 4 tube things are fuel tanks.

Paint application on the vF-25S head is much better than the VF-25F. Graham

I suspect the large ports under the chest missile launchers are just vent ports, for when the missiles are fired. The could possibly be reverse thrusters also? I'm gonna go with the two slots under the ports for the 25mm gun as being the 2 x 22mm guns. Graham

Sketchley posted a link to a partial translation of the Armoured VF-25S page from Macross Chronicle (see link in quote from Sketchley below). I presume the 57mm beam guns are the two big ball turret mounted guns, but I'm curious as to where the 4 x 22mm guns are located. Any ideas anybody? Graham

You could probably rig it for battroid and gerwalk modes, but not for fighter mode, there's just no room to attach the 2 spare mags. Chalk it up to anime magic.

Yep. Unfortunately Yamato don't provide the two spares that are stored on the back of the shield in the anime & the toy has no provision to attach them.

LOL...the cover IS the magazine.

Pull it until it clicks. You'll feel some resistance and think it can't be pulled anymore, but it can. Once it clicks into the detent, it will be locked firmly into place. Graham