David Hingtgen

It's worth getting the new one for the uber-bright screen. Check out old vs new. The sheer fact that the DS lite screen easily shows up when being filmed by a TV camera says a lot.

The key thing about the Cobra is that the plane flies BACKWARDS for a short time, with NEGATIVE airspeed. Maverick simply slowed down and pitched up---a 747 can do that, just not as quickly or severely. To fly tail-first takes a very neat plane. Also a key issue is re-accelerating afterwards---effectively coming to a dead stop in mid-air is kinda pointless unless you immediately follow up with something equally impressive, as the guy who was trailing you will then be miles ahead of you and out of range VERY quickly if he's still doing Mach .9 When you come out of a Cobra you have very little airspeed and energy, and will not be able to do ANYTHING until you regain one or the other. If you ever see a Super Hornet at an airshow you'll notice it takes a 20-sec "break" after the high-alpha pass to build speed back up to start the next set of manuevers. And ironically, I don't recall seeing the speed brakes go out at any time in Top Gun...

Basically, but the scheme is nothing compared to the F-14 and F-18 schemes. Those use false edges, silhouettes painted on the wings and tail, fake details and everything to try to make it look like another plane from a distance. The Hornets have the entire back end painted sky blue because a MiG-29's rear fuselage is so much shorter. They have fake angled intakes and slots painted on for that Fulcrum look. The F-14's even have the distinctive Flanker fin leading edge antenna painted on, and use a combination of sky blue and black paint to visually re-shape the tail fins. And at any distance it really does look like a set of Flanker tail fins. Must be a Navy vs Air Force thing--the Navy does a LOT better with simulating other planes. If you've ever played Ace Combat and noticed how the F-15 schemes in the games often have "false edges" painted on the wings and stabs that really mess up the plane's outline, it's that sort of effect. Only they specifically try to get a Flanker or Fulcrum effect. (The F-4 prototype was also painted with false edges to disguise the true shape)

Our first Aggressor blue F-15 is painted, and it's a D model: http://www.f-16.net/modules/PNphpBB2/files...ueeagle_831.jpg

No one's seem the video demo of the browser? The bottom screen shows the webpage as a whole, and you use the touchscreen to move a box around that lower screen----the upper screen then shows the boxed area zoomed in. Basically, the upper screen is like a magnifying glass for the lower screen, and the stylus moves the magnifying glass around. VERY neat.

I also vote VF-9.

Ah yes, THAT's the Tomcat low-vis scheme. Any chance you could add a bunch of touch-ups, replaced panels, oil streks, and hydraulic leaks, to really get that "been on the boat for 20 years" look?

Because it LOOKS cool. And thust vectoring is not required, you just need a lot of engine thrust and incredibly effective and rapid pitch control. And the ability to override the flight computer. Vectoring tends to be the extra boost of pitch control most planes need. Canards work too. Su-37 had both. While the F-22 probably could aerodynamically do it, the flight computers wouldn't allow it, it'd ignore the pilot's commands at a certain point.

Who wants the US version of the DS Lite manual? 2.96MB PDF file https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/forms/bl...tive_or_pdf=pdf

I could do without the fish head above it.

Zelda---So long as it's overhead 2D, and not side-scrolling 2D. PS---I just picked up MMZ 3. Used, but so utterly mint it could have been sold as MISB. Only GB game I've ever found that was kept in as good condition as I keep mine. KOTOR 2: Ever read the scripts for all the stuff that was cut out at the end? Makes the game a whole lot better. And ticks you off at how much you missed out on. Starting with a new engine (not trying to learn Bioware's) and hopefully not releasing it months early will make for an experience as good as the original. PS--anyone perchance reading the new KOTOR comic? My vote's for everyone picking a yellow saber in KOTOR 3.

And we seem to have miniscule powers... (I still want "Powerless Mod" as my member title)

The big bumps on top are larger versions of the VF-1's, which are larger versions of the F-14's. For the F-14 they're stiffeners for aft part of the wing glove. The VF-0 has expanded them until they're practically conformal fuel tanks.

1. I'm a Trekkie. But we are the most cursed, gamewise, of all creation. ::edit:: OMG! It's got modified Excelsiors and late-version Ambassadors! ::end fanboyism:: I also see they modified the Nebula class so that they actually have decent impulse engines. (Why they weren't designed the same as a Galaxy there I'll never know, there's plenty of room for all 3--and they could easily have gotten by with just the main one) 2. I would buy a 360 for KOTOR 3 alone. 3. Super Mario World. Greatest system-seller ever. THAT sold the SNES. Pack-ins=better sales. I remember to this day the first time I saw Mario World--JC Penney catalog department. I *needed* that game. And it delivered. I didn't need an *SNES*, I needed that GAME. 4. If the Revolution had Super Mario 1, 2, 3, and 4 as a pack-in, it'd sell zillions. I'd buy one. If not, Zelda Twilight Princess. (Based on current rumors)

At that angle, my first "aviation enthusiast's" thought is "I don't think it could fly". Both the leading and trailing edge taper in at the root. It's got to have the strangest wing-loading ever.

Is painter's choice matte, semi, or gloss? (A good gloss white is also on my list, as I like airliners even more than military jets---but airliners are typically the bane of model painting--gloss white and pristine polished metal with long, straight decal stripes that'll show the slightest mis-alignment)

Quck edit: I actually heard the 2008 Grand Prix was being canned, to bring back the Bonneville. Wouldn't surprise me for GM to do something that stupid--kill the best-selling Pontiac to bring back the one that was cut due to poor sales. (Hey, maybe the sunroof option package really is hitting GP sales really hard--not that GM would ever figure out why--are all their executives like 5'4?) Anyways, living in a place with bad weather doesn't help much--people are still stupid. About 2 days ago it started snowing. Just a little flurry, nothing at all. I WAS going to go to the mall, but only got to the first intersection before I noticed things "weren't right" and my car's external temp gauge was clicking down. It was in fact 29 degrees. THE worst possible temperature. Not 28, not 30. 29. That means snow melts on hitting concrete but rapidly refreezes into ice. Spotted 2 cars crunched together at the intersection. Then I spotted a 2-block long back-up on the next curve (had already decided to go home after 90 secs of driving) and then noticed cars off the street on the other side of the same road! I had came to a complete stop to make a u-turn but still totally slid sideways when starting the actual turn, about the worst I've ever encountered in my life (and I had slowly accelerated to about 4mph, and I just got my new "highly-rated for snow" Traction T/A tires put on, and had full traction control engaged) (worst slide ever was at the mall, I actually hit the curb--to this day I still see people slide right into the curb at that spot, it's the slickest spot in town) The news later reported 30 accidents within the first 45 minutes. People like me quickly realized it was SLICK out when we first got on the roads and carefully, slowly drove home. The other idiots of the town drove like they would any other day, and ended up in ditches. How the roads LOOK and how they ARE rarely coincide. They can look fine and be godawful (like that day), or they can look horrible but not be that bad. Fine line between ice, slush, and snow, and mixed layers of all. All look different, all behave different. PS--the absolute worst, period, is someone in a pickup in snow. I swear, they get on a hill, and floor it, and fishtail widly, sometimes practically doing a 180 from the stoplight, and wonder why they can't go. Sign of an utter moron is usually to spin your tires widly, trying to go in snow. (There are a few rare situations where this is the only way to go, but it is rare and I've yet to see it done here---every spinning tire acceleration here is a result of having no clue whatsoever how to drive in snow/slush/ice) It's to the point that in winter, I absolutely will not pull up next to a pickup at a stoplight. Period. I'll hang back 15 feet and have people honk at me--I've come an inch away from being sideswiped way too many times. Only pickups, only in winter. So many of their drivers just CAN'T figure out how to get going without having the back end swing out 5 feet. Plenty of people have figured it out (my parents for example) but I can't risk the other 80% of the population who are more likely to crunch my door than to actually go STRAIGHT from a stoplight in the snow.

If not for the snow (yes, that's my all-purpose car excuse) my next car would be a GTO, period. Both the Grand Prix and GTO have very nice interiors.

Hey, it's interesting and relevant. (And something I didn't know)

This is possibly not only the coolest Shornet "vapor" shot ever, it's the best shot so far of the new-style Shornet ECS outlets: http://www.alert5.com/gallery/Pensacola-2/gmc0244 (even bigger version if you click on it) Plenty of shots for wallpaper: http://www.alert5.com/gallery/Pensacola-2

Because I think we all appreciate cool Tomcat pics: VF-31's the only squadron I know that paints the CAG and CO planes completely differently.

I think they'd have to charge an extra 50 bucks for the paint applications alone to give you a fractal-camo VF.

I model in my bedroom, but modeling smells seem to get worse/affect me more every year---#1 reason I switched to acrylic paint. (That and cleanup). I'm going to try Tamiya's light-curing putty, and will hopefully find a better glue someday. (Non-toxic glue smells worse than any other glue IMHO, it's like super-hyper-orange-gasoline or something) Want to try Tamiya Extra-Thin cement for its welding properties, but "sampling" it in the store made me think twice--pretty intense fumes.

Simple all-over 36118. F-15E, B-52, B-1B, YF-23. When new they look sinister. When not pristine they look pretty neat. You don't see weathered Strike Eagles that often but here it is. PS--Nied--despite everybody referencing it, "TPS 1" is not at all the F-14's TPS. And MATS has the right pattern but the wrong colors. Here's my corrected version of the MATS one. 99% of F-14's don't have the patch by the intake lip though. And the area just outboard of the tailfins usually isn't painted 36320 but 35237. PPS--the ultimate digital camo is the new fractal pattern. Nigh-invisible. Just gotta paint the missiles too...

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions, I have a lot of things to try when the weather warms up. Which leads to the next big impediment: No basement or room to do modeling. It's almost all done in my bedroom, except spray-painting/airbrushing which is done outside. I can only paint for a few months of the year. It'll likely be years before I have a place with a dedicated spray booth or something, but I can't just "not model" until then. (Fall/Winter is mainly researching/purchasing, and gluing together assemblies and puttying them when possible, so they're ready for painting when the weather allows)