Graham

Back in the day, I used to be able to go from battroid to fighter or fighter to battroid in slightly under a minute, 58 or 59 seconds IIRC. Haven't timed myself for ages though. Graham

With it's ability to go low and slow, loiter over the battlefield for long periods of time, ability to carry an extremely large amount of munitions, absorb great amounts of damage and still make it safely back home and be repaired quickly the A-10 is still an extremely useful plane to keep in the US inventory IMO. The A-10 is not just a tank hunter, which some people tend to forget. It's capable of a wide variety of missions such as day and night Close Air Support (CAS), Forward Air Controller (FAC) and certain types of interdiction missions as shown in the Gulf war. Definitely recommend reading William L. Smallwood's Warthog book. which goes into detail with first hand accounts from A-10 pilots about how the A-10 performed in combat. I think in a situation with enemy troops in the wire, I'd rather have an A-10 come along to save my bacon than a UAV or fast mover with PGMs. As for the F-35, in all it's variations, so far I'm not impressed with what I've read. It seems to be overbudget, overweight, underarmed with only internal weapons (or if it does carry extra external weapons, looses stealth). Not particulaly fast, agile or long range. In the STOVL version especially, is likely to be extremely maintenance intensive. Just wondering how many A-10s could be purchased for the price of one F-35? perhaps it's time to start up a new A-10 production line . If the US does get into a shooting war with either Iran or North Korea at some point in the future, I can well imagine that as with Iraq, there is likely to be more A2G than A2A combat and the A-10 will be just the right plane for the job (again). Just my 2 cents. Graham

Correct me if I'm wrong here guys, but slow is actually good for CAS missions. Allows the pilot to see more of what's on the ground. Graham

I wouldn't say a new addition. I've been collecting Valk toys for a long, long time. While I'm not up there with the big guys like Godzilla as far as collection size goes, I still have a reasonable size collection. Graham

Picked up a second VF-0S yesterday from a small toy shop in the town of Tai Po, as my normal supplier wasn't able to come through for me. I paid HK$880 (US$113). From what I've seen here in Hong Kong over the last week, the VF-0S seems to retail for between HK$850 (US$109) the cheapest I've seen, to HK$980 (US$125), depending on which shop you go to. Happy to say this VF-0S was flawless. The tail spikes were undamaged, the paint job was crisp, Tampo printing was all straight. The joints were all sufficiently tight and the toy was able to hold any pose I put it into in any mode. While it's true that the knee and elbow swivel joints are slightly looser than on the 1/48 VF-1, I wouldn't really describe them as 'loose joints' per say and don't consder these 'slightly less-tight joints' a problem at all. All in all, I'm a very happy camper and will probably pick up a third one soon. Graham

Actually the A-10C is just a stopgap to give the old Hog better capabilities while the F-35 comes online, and to supplement the JSF once it does. Curent planning has the A-10 being replaced by STOVL F-35Bs 399656[/snapback] Heh, them wacky military planners. They must be smoking some very funny cigarettes if they really think that the F-35B is really a suitable and capable replacement for the A-10. Graham

Still don't have my Super Stealth yet, but got to handle one for a short time the other day and it definitely looks better in person than in online photos. The Superstealth box is ridiculously huge. Graham

Just wondering has anybody picked up the Takara 1/18 scale Scopedog toy that was released late last month and if so, how does it compare with the Yamato 1/12 scale version? Although I haven't handled the Takara version yet and it sold out pretty quickly at shops here in Hong Kong, from what I can tell it has the advantages over Yamato of having a cheaper price point, comes with a Chirico Cuvie microman pilot figure and has a weathered paint job. Graham

Just curious, anybody know where the chaff and flare launchers are located on the F-22, or even if it has chaff and flare launchers? If it has them, I'm presuming that like its offensive weapons, they must be hidden behind doors when not in use to preserve stealth. Graham

Not interested personally. There's already plenty of manufacturers such as Armour, Corgi & Dragon making detailed real-world plane replicas. Graham

You have to play through 50 missions before you even get to use the VF-1?!!!!!!!!!! Sorry, I'll pass. Graham

I find it pretty durable. Some joints may be loose, but that has nothing to do with durability. Graham

Wow, missed it when I was writing my review, but I just noticed over the weekend that the instument panel is also Tampo printed on. I love this toy. Graham

Heh, love the 'Golf Club Storage' marking on that F/A-18. Graham

Yes, a Corgi EF2000! I love the Typhoon and being British, it's the plane I fly the most in the Ace Combat games. Will definitely be picking one up. Graham

I've never tried messing around with the forum software before, so I'm going to leave this one to Shawn to fix. I've already emailed him and if he hasn't fixed it in a day or two, I'll chase him with a phone call. Graham

It was a joke. Look up the euphemism for "bush." 398800[/snapback] I have one onething to say 'Brazillion'. Graham

OK, when you talk about Kawamori 'doing' people, you mean doing as in acting their roles, or doing as in the 'Debby Does Dallas' meaning? Graham

Here's a recent pic of me with my son, who will by 2 years old in June. Graham

Heh, just read this on another forum about the canopy on an F/A-22 jamming shut and having to be cut open with a chainsaw. See: here. Graham

+1 for Yoko Kanno. Graham

If a new Macross TV series, OVA or movie is ever made, I'd like to see Kawamori responsible for the mecha designs of course, but not for the story, unless he's willing to drop all mystical and tree-hugging elements. And it would be great to have Mikimoto back on character design duties as well. Graham

The 4 slits on the VF-0S's backback are a completely different size and shape compared to those on the 1/48, so the 1/48 FAST Packs will not fit. Not to mention that they would be completely out of scale anyway. Graham

Technically, it is possible. But a VF-0D would require a lot of new tooling, which would be very expensive. Graham

To set the record straight, as far as I'm concerned AgentONE is permanently banned. He is no longer welcome on Macrossworld. If Macross Nexus wants him, they are welcome to him. He has been given plenty of chances over the years, but each time he comes back, he just seems to get more disruptive and insulting, with little in the way of positive contributions via his posts. Basically, he has made it impossible for people on this forum to hold an intelligent discussion on Macross 7 with it turning into a 'Macross 7 is gay' or 'I hate Macross 7' fest. Also, despite the many updates to the main site this year, AgentONE is overly critical to the point of being insulting. While constructive criticism is welcome AgentOne has crossed the line with his constant personal attacks. The straw that finally broke the camel's back was his comments in this thread. I actually like AgentONE and think he would be a great guy to go out partying with, but he's just stepped over the line of what is acceptable behavior on these forums one time too many. The current 999 day suspension was just a temporary measure and will be changed to a permanent ban once I have a couple of minutes to log into the admin control panel. Graham