David Hingtgen

The "real" purpose between these exercises is to make current USAF fighters look bad---thus, we get more F-22 funding. I'm all for it. Still, from what I know the F-15 exercise was with Elmendorf's planes---and those are the TOP F-15's we have. The newest version of the radar, JHMCS, and AIM-9X's. They are even better than Langley's planes. PS--I really didn't like AC5's default F-14D scheme. I do NOT like that scheme on the Tomcat.

Best list I've found is here: http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/usaf/docs/mcm3-1-a1.htm Also, just listen closely on any military documentary. Notable is "Rifle" to identify an AGM-65 launch.

Pilot's names have been stenciled on since the beginning, but callsigns tended to fade away in the jet era--however, many say Top Gun made them popular again, and it is obvious that they did start becoming much more common around that time. Every pilot has an "assigned" plane with his name on it, but he will fly every plane in the squadron equally. For important things (first mission of a war, last flight coming home from deployment, etc) the crew chiefs will try to make it so that as many pilots as possible get to fly "their" plane, but usually it's random chance.

There are a few private F-5's out there for hire for movies, ads, etc. Need a figher jet in a scene? They're available. USAF F-16's outperformed by Russian aircraft By Khalid Hasan WASHINGTON: Pakistan may like to think twice about acquiring F-16s following reports that in the recently concluded joint US-Indian air force exercises, the much-vaunted aircraft did not come out the winner in its “encounters” with Indian Sukhoi-30 MKIs. The exercises had mixed teams of Indian and American pilots on both sides, according to a report on Monday in the Christian Science Monitor, and observers say that in a surprising number of encounters - particularly between the American F-16s and the Indian Sukhoi-30 MKIs - the Indian pilots came out the winners. “Since the cold war, there has been the general assumption that India is a third-world country with Soviet technology, and wherever the Soviet-supported equipment went, it didn’t perform well,” says Jasjit Singh, director of the Centre for Air Power Studies in New Delhi. “That myth has been blown out by the results” of these air exercises. The Monitor report filed from New Delhi says, “But there are some signs that America’s premier fighter jet, the F-16 Fighting Falcon, is losing ground to the growing sophistication of Russian-made fighter planes, and that the US should be more wary about presuming global air superiority - the linchpin of its military might. ‘The Sukhoi is a ... better plane than the F-16,’ says Vinod Patney, a retired Indian Air Force marshal, and former vice chief of air staff. ‘But we’re not talking about a single aircraft. We’re talking about the overall infrastructure, the command and control systems, the radar on the ground and in the air, the technical crew on the ground, and how do you maximise that infrastructure. This is where the learning curve takes place.’” While Indian bloggers are generally ecstatic about the performance of the Indian pilots against the American aircraft, an American pilot who participated in the exercise expressed disgust over triumphant Indian comments, pointing out that the point of the exercise was to learn and “for two weeks of training, both sides got more out of their training than they probably would in two months”. The Monitor report quotes military experts who say that the joint exercises occurred at a time when America’s fighter jet prowess is slipping. Since the US victories in the first Gulf War, a war dependent largely on air power, the Russians and French have improved the aviation electronics or avionics and weapons capabilities of their Sukhoi and Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft. These improvements have given countries like India, which use the Sukhois and Mirages, a rough parity with US fighter planes like the F-16 and F-15C. China, too, now has 400 late-model Sukhois. The report notes that “while the Indian Air Force designed the exercises to India’s advantage - forcing pilots to fight ‘within visual range’ rather than using America’s highly advanced ‘beyond visual range’ sensing equipment - both observers and participants admit that Indian aircraft and personnel performed much better than expected”. The Su-30 MKI “is an amazing jet that has a lot of manoeuvrability,” Capt Martin Mentch told an Air Force publication, AFPN. Manoeuvrability is key for missions of visual air combat. If it turns out the US Air Force did, in fact, “get their clocks cleaned,” it will have been the second time. In Cope India 2004, an air combat exercise that took place near the Indian city of Gwalior, US F-15s were eliminated in multiple exercises against Indian late-model MiG-21 Fishbeds as fighter escorts and MiG-27 Floggers. In the 2005 exercises in Kalaikundi air base near Calcutta, Americans were “most impressed” by the MiG-21 Bisons and the Su-30 MKIs. Maj Mark A. Snowden, the 3rd Wing’s chief of air-to-air tactics and a participant in Cope India 2004, admitted that the US Air Force underestimated the Indians. “The outcome of the (2004) exercise boils down to (the fact that) they ran tactics that were more advanced than we expected,” he told Aviation Week last year. “They had done some training with the French that we knew about, but we did not expect them to be a very well-trained air force. That was silly.” One USAF controller working aboard an AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) plane told reporters at Kalaikundi Air Base that he was impressed by the speed in which Indian pilots responded to target assignments given to them by AWACS. The AWACS, while operated by Americans, was acting as a neutral party, feeding target assignments to both Indian and American pilots during the exercise. In most cases, the Indians responded to target assignments faster than the American pilots did – “a surprising fact, given that this was the first time Indian pilots had used the American AWACS capability”.

The light/dark ghost grey totally messed me up---since that is in itself the most common scheme of all----I never even noticed the pattern was like 60's/70's USN. (Though the leading edges of the wings also messed me up---those were never white, only trailing control surfaces were white) I recognized Euro 1 of course, and I knew the second was an F-5 but not exactly which (there's SO many that are SO similar). PS---the Sundowners are my fave squadron of all. PPS---that's the only YF-21 sideview I have--it's from MW, about 4 boards ago.

I've seen basically the opposite---that the 360 doesn't like being shared via power strips etc, and prefers the actual direct wall outlet all to itself, basically. Weird. I'll second the whole "if it makes it 24 hours, it'll be fine" notion. Just about every electronic thing I've ever had die, died with only a few hours on it. If you haven't seen problems now, you probably never will. As for video cables etc: http://www.gamespot.com/features/6139690/index.html S-Video seems to offer very very little over Composite, IMHO. Get an HDTV or it's simply not worth having a next-gen system. 720p is a zillion times better than even 480p. I recently considered getting a cheap 20-24in w/component to have an "interim" upgrade until I splurge for a 16:9 HD LCD in a year or two---but it really doesn't seem like it'd make much difference--I'll just save that money and put it towards an LCD. Longer you wait=faster the refresh rate (which seems to be the #1 gaming issue for LCD screens) Every 3 months seems to bring better screens. I'd love a CRT HDTV, but they are non-existent in the smaller sizes, and development is basically frozen. PS--Apollo Leader--my launch day PS2 worked fine for years and years too. And I even played DVD's on it all the time (often said to be a PS2-killing action) But my Slim PS2 died with about 12 hours on it...

Thus the irony.

Draken retirement: http://www.shotbyme.at/byedraken.html Apparently the Viggen retirement was on the same day! (no pics yet, but incredibly ironic) Note the insignia on the Draken---Austria's is quite similar to the UN Spacy's.

Trigger--what's the bottom scheme based on? I clearly recognize F-15 Mod Eagle and F-16 two-tone, but I like the bottom the best and can't identify if it's based on anything. PS---YF-21 side view:

BestBuy, X360 launch: Maybe 100 people. Same BestBuy, a few days later, Black Friday: 1500. (According to the news crew there)

Just post more pics of your avatar.

It's amazing how often I give tech support for stuff I don't own...

myk--the TV/HDTV switch is on the video cable plug itself, itty-bitty little black one, IIRC.

If it's so picky that vertical vs horizontal makes a difference, then it's got to be running right at the limit all the time. It's not like there's another fan that's uncovered when you stand it upright. Also, "just sitting there" should be more than enough for an AC adaptor---having to be "suspended in the air for full ventilation" is frankly ridiculous. I have all my systems (and AC adapters) on the floor, never had anything overheat, from SNES to slim PS2. If every other system is ok, but the 360 won't take those conditions--then it's an issue with the 360, not "how consumers set it up". Nothing should run so hot that you need to "accomodate" it. No electronic equipment does well when it's surrounded, but it seems like the 360 wants nothing less than its own personal fridge.

Iowas were armored for 16/50, that is what they thought Yamato had, as well as being equal to the Iowa's own guns. I still can't find anything about carrier escort etc being considered into the design---it's much more like "well since we're going to be getting a 33kt BB, we might as well think up some tactics on how to use that extra speed---starting with integrating them into carrier task forces". In addition to IJN BB speed, sheer size of the Pacific/supply lines was a reason for the design of the Iowa class. The Philippines were considered the most likely place to be attacked, a long way from Pearl Harbor based ships--thus they wanted ships that could get there quickly.

While the Iowas spent 90% of their time shooting down planes and escorting carriers, they certainly weren't designed for that. They were specifically designed to counter the Yamato class, and little more. Speed was increased over the South Dakota class mainly to keep up with the faster Japanese BB's, as Japan had been rebuilding many of their BB's and had already surpassed the North Carolinas in speed and tied the South Dakotas.

Hmmn. This sounds exactly like what happened at my BB: www.kotaku.com/gaming/best-buy/best-buy-is-full-of-lying-swine-139268.php http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/best-buy/best...wine-139268.php

Only thing I would correct is speed of the AIM-54. Most reliable info I've seen is Mach 3.8 initially, going up to Mach 5 terminal velocity. Janes says "Mach 3+" IIRC. Phoenixes (Phoeni?) going for a max-range launch behave like mini ICBM's---they go WAY high, arc over, then dive down----and so they'll pick up a lot of speed towards the end. An AIM-54 strikes from above. In general, the biggest missiles are the fastest, and the smallest are the slowest. Also---further research shows than for the ECM bumps etc, #1 and #2 always go together. PS---just for clarity, Fox One etc do not refer to specific missiles, it refers to what type of missile it is. Fox One: Semi-Active Radar Guided. So the AIM-4E, AIM-7, Skyflash, R530, AA-10A, etc are all called that on the radio. Fox Two: Heat-seeker. AIM-4G, AIM-9, Python, AA-10B, AA-11, Matra Magic, ASRAAM. Fox Three: Fully Active Radar Guide. AIM-54, AMRAAM, AA-12, Meteor.

There's gotta be at least a thousand Japanese cosplayers that would look 10,000x better and more like Kasumi. And almost anyone looks more like Ayane than a pouty-lipped Norwegian girl... WHY isn't this movie being made in Japan? There's already a zillion DOA hentai movies out there. And I'm sure they're all better than this will be, including plot and acting ability. (Quite possibly the first time I've typed the h-word here)

I keep my 1/700 Musashi right next to my 1/700 Iowa, to show people the size difference. Wonder if we'll get any scenes showing Yamato and Musashi together.

I never sell on Ebay, I've sold a few Yamato valks here before, so I'd just sell it here.

Oooooooooooh. Sundowners are my fave squadron, so of course I love this custom. Tail looks closest to their first F-14 markings, 1979 or so. Grays remind me of an Su-24 more than anything else, which is a rather unique but cool pattern.

From what I've read, I'm currently leaning towards it actually being the power brick, not the system, for most cases. Found an interesting thread that they've already identified 2 different types of power bricks, and swapping them around between systems will make all the difference. Also, considering the massive XBox power cord/adapter recall recently, it may be that MS still has bad powerpack design/suppliers. Of course, Sony recently recalled a lot of slim PS2 power packs, but I've never heard of them causing PS2 failures. Finally---is it really THAT hard to design adequate cooling for electronics? Everything gets "warm" but it seems game systems are far more prone to actual OVERheating. Can't they just add a bigger/faster fan, or more surface area to the sinks, or something? Why does everything lately always seem to run one degree away from failure?

Basically, I plan to get rid of most of my few remaining SNES games, and since I doubt any local store would even know what Scrambled Valkyrie is, I'm wondering if it goes for anything---especially since I believe most people who play it nowadays simply use a ROM and emulator. In case anyone's wondering, mine was MISB when I bought it, and is now as close to that as it can be while having been played. (I still have the plastic wrap with yen price tag) If not, I'll just keep it another 20 years and sell it when vintage import cartridges of any kind are "RARE!!11! L@@K" on Ebay.

The complete guide to Future: http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html