Graham

It's about 6-7 years (sheesh, that long) since I handled one, so my memory is not that clear. Graham

I don't think I got to shoot the Walther P99, as IIRC it was just coming out when I quit my previous job at the gun shop/gun club. I did handle an early one though and remember thinking the trigger felt very mushy. I did like the interchangeable backstrap feature though. Also, the flush 'no snag' decock button on top of the slide was a neat idea as well. I seem to recall the P99 had a weird manual of arms, where you could pull back the slide to cock the gun and then manually push the trigger forward with your finger to the double action position. This would give you a single action pull weight, but with a double action length of pull. I don't think the Walther P99 or it's American version the S&W99 have been adopted by a great many law enforcement agencies, which should tell you something. I've always prefered full size service pistols with minimum modifications and based on my own shooting experience and personal preferences, the only handguns I would use for IPSC, IDPA or self defence (if I had that option) would by a Glock 17, Glock 21, Browning Hi-Power MKIII, S&W645, S&W745, S&W4506, S&W945 & SIG P226. I don't particulaly like 1911s, Berettas, or H&Ks for various reasons, which I'm not going to bore everybody with. Graham

I've very little shooting time with Ruger firearms, but I'll post my impressions. I've shot the Ruger GP-100 revolver with both 4" & 6" tubes and also the SP-101 5 shot compact revolver. Their revolvers are strong as the proverbial brick sh*t house. Sights are pretty good and grips are comfortable for most hands. They are probably the strongest production double action revolvers made. Trigger pull in both double and single action while not too bad, can't compare with either S&W (the best) or Colt double action revolvers. On the negative side, I did find that extraction of .357 magnum spent cases is not that smooth on some Ruger revolvers, as the cylinder chambers seem to be rougher than other brands of revolvers. There were several times I had to give the ejector rod a good hard whack to get the cases out, especially with CCI Blazer alumium cases. Never had this problem shooting Blazer with the S&W L-Frame 686 or Colt Python though. I've also shot the Ruger MKII .22LR pistol, which is probably one of the most reliable .22 pistols and the Ruger 10/22 rifle with various barrel and stock configurations, again a good rifle if you want a .22 and great for customising as there are so many options available. I've handled Redhawks, Super Redhawks, Blackhawks and various early Ruger 9mm and .45 pistols, but never had the chance to shoot one. To be honest the centerfire pistols seemed very blocky to me, with terrible triggers and a high bore axis. No one in our gun club owned one, although a gunclub we were affiliated with had some as rental guns. Graham

I'd never put decals on a toy, as IMO toys are for playing with and I find decals too prone to scratching, especially on transforming toys. I usually apply stickers, but only the essential ones. I very rarely use every sticker on the sheet. Most of my 1/48 VF-1 toys for example, have just the UN Spacy emblems, squadron numbers and Skull emblem on the FAST Packs. I seldom bother applying all the small fiddly stickers like the 'beware of blast' or 'no step' stickers, as I think the toy looks good enough without them. The only toy I have completely stickered up in recent memory has been the Toynami MPC Alpha, as I think it looks much better with all the stickers applied. Graham

The ISBN number of the Kazutaka Miyatake Macross & Orguss Design Works is: - ISBN: 4896016297 The publisher's website is here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the new book. The is no mention of an updated Kawamori Design Works on the publisher's website, so it's probably just those book store clerk jerks talking out of their asses. Graham

A4 size (landscape), 136 pages. All in color. Softcover. Graham

I like my toys stickered, my models decaled and my women naked . (Although I probably wouldn't say no to a pretty woman if she was stickered or decaled). Graham

Very nice. Now how about some drawings of the transformation sequence. Graham

From those drawings in Dengeki Hobby, GX-30 looks like a nicely designed toy with lots of gimmicks. I won't be buying it though as I never liked Voltes-V. I'm a Combattler-V man through and through . I always thought Combattler-V had a better looking robot mode, better looking individual vehicles, cooler attacks, better characters and a more kick-ass theme song. I mean come on guys, a Yo Yo attack is far cooler than a spinning top attack. Graham

I'm guessing you have not seen SAC 2nd Gig yet then? Graham

Well, IIRC the US Congress recently finally approved the F/A-22 for full rate production. So obviously, somebody doesn't think that it is obselete/irrelevant. And just because in recent conflicts that the US has been involved in there has been no significant air-to-air threat, doesn't mean the same will hold true for any future wars. If the US wants to maintain it's lead as a Superpower and as the country with the most tehnologically advanced military, it needs aircraft like the F/A-22 to stay ahead of the pack. Any shooting war with China, India, Iran, France (hey, I'm British, we never liked the Fench), could include air-to-air combat and the present F-15, F-17, F/A-18 are just not going to cut it agains the recent generation of Flankers, Rafale or Eurofighter, all of which may end up exported in one form or another to countries which pose a possible threat to US interests. Graham

Probably talking about the 'Kazutaka Miyatake Macross & Orguss Design Works', which is due out on April 30th and has been discussed in several threads in this board already. Nothing to do with Shoji. The main thread discussing the book is here. Graham

I always liked Predator 2. Not as much as the original of course, but it's still a good movie and definitely preferable to AVP IMO. Grahan

Heh, not really safer if you happen to be using it for self defence. You'd probaby have to empty the whole mag into a determined aggressor to stop them. No, siree, while any firearm is better than none in a pinch, you wouldn't catch me with what is effectively a .22 magnum pistol round to protect myself or others. I've been saying this for years to anybody that would listen. I've never understood why so many people like the P90 & Five-Seven pisol. While they might look stylish, they are just underpowered, mouse guns IMO. Give, me a proven .45ACP, .40S&W, 9mm or .357SIG pistol anyday or a 5.56, or 7.62x51 rifle or a 12ga. shotgun. Graham

Count yourself lucky. Once you are married with children you don't get many of the second anymore, but lot's of the first. While we are on the subject, here's some BJ related links. Click if you dare! Yes, they ARE actually worksafe. Link 1. Link 2. Link 3. Edit in: Damn, the naughty word censor is screwing up link 2. Oh well, just replace the word 'farted' in the URL with the word 'fu*ked', with a 'c' instead of the '*'. http://fartedgaijin.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11767 Graham

Here's what the Macross Compendium currently has to say on VF-22 variants: - "VARIANTS: VF-22: Advance production version with no additional series letter designation VF-22S: Production version adopted by United Nations as special operations fighter. First manufactured by Macross 7 fleet factory ship Three Star under experimental license for two fighters". The Compendium did previously mention a VF-22C, but that info is now deleted from the present VF-22 page.. I think there was some old material, perhaps a magazine article, I don't remember, that made reference to Gamlin's VF-22 in Dynamite 7 as being a VF-22C, but it was probably just a typo. Even the Dynamite 7 art book has 'VF-22S' written next to the lineart drawings. Graham

Yeah, that's cus they didn't hire Kawamori to design it........idiots! Graham

I wonder how the average US movie goer would react if they kept all the teen angst from the anime in the live action movie. Graham

Or paint your Low-Vis white, to match the shoulder pads . Graham

Thread Necromancy. Graham

Unfortunately, all the Wendys closed down and pulled out of Hong Kong years ago, as did Jack-in-the-box & Burger King . For US fast food, all we are left with is about a gazillion McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut and a couple of branches of Hardees, but they are probably also close to closing as well. There ends your lesson on the US fast food scene in HK for today. Graham

I have no idea what you are talking about. But all this talk of chickens has made me want to go out and buy some McNuggets for lunch. Graham

And at what speed, cause the mech have to move faster than the turret tracking it and the mach 5 projectile fired at it? Ah, but everbody knows that in giant robot anime, shots fired travel slowly enough that they can be seen by the human eye and easily dodged at the last second by a 60 ton giant robot. Happens all the time in Gundam animes, especially with the slow moving beams from their beam rifles . Graham

Soon to be destroyed Graham

My wife has never really been that supportive of my toy collecting, but neither has she been against it either. If there is a toy that I really like, my wife has always said "if it's something you really want, then I don't mind you buying it". However, in the past 5 years, my collection has grown and grown (mainly due to Yamato), to the point where I don't have enough space in my small house for all my toys, and I've had to start storing the overflow of toys (6 cartons worth) at the office . However, we're at the stage where my wife is starting to bitch and moan (bitch being the opperative word...yes we had an argument this morning ) about downsizing my collection, especially as our 10 month old baby is very mobile and needs more space. Graham