Retracting Head Ter Ter

That really doesn't sound right!

same a saran wrap, its just a lot bigger. Much much thicker too!

The pick up lines are no different for whte/black/hispanic chicks. Girls are girls. Unless you are asking about those asian girls who can't speak english or are from a totally different culture (i.e. just fresh from inner mongolia and no idea of american culture).

Am I the only one who thinks that the X-31 looks very UN-american? Even if the canards were removed, it looks more like a Euro/Russian/Chinese/Isreali/anything but USA plane!

Sold! I'm buying at least one! Hope it includes at least a pilot figure.

It was already on TV. It was a short story on one of those Ray Bradbury Theatre/Twilight Zone kind of show. Story is exactly identical to the link you posted except for the end, they came back to a Nazi dominated future with Swastikas all over the place. Watched it nearly 20 years ago as a kid. I remember it cuz I thought they tried to be smart (kill a butterfly, mess up the future) but it makes no sense. As if the anti-grav path, the sound of guns, the extra wound on the T-Rex and the air displaced by the travellers wouldn't make as much of a difference as that dead butterfly.

Well, I am not convinced that the Mac was totally beaten. Those cars you mentioned still lose out in either/or 0-60/100 or absolute top speed. Of course I never drove these 3 cars and I cant say how they handle. So just comparing paper straight line stats.

I hope its a typo. If they put 1/48 Yamato VF-1 style 'flaps' on it it'll be utterly annoying. Plus if there is no swing wing, the wings will most likely be stuck in the full swept position which makes putting flaps on it all the dumber.

I never thought too much of the Jag 220. Too big and heavy. The all time Greatest will always be the Maclaren F1. Thats the way a real sports car should be made. Weight saving and refinement of all the 'basic' sport car attributes. The F1 was made in like 1991. Nearly 15 years on, still no car can touch it IMHO. Stuff like the Bugatti Veyron don't count as _real_cars_. If I put 6 Saturn Rockets and 4 wheels on a Blue Whale and make it go 0-1000 in 2 seconds it still doesnt make it a good sports car.

Subpar or not, the wise thing for the Chinese govt is still to produce and field the J-10. Without the J-10 production know-how, they'll never get to the J-12 and future fighters. They are behind by so many years that they probably won't be able to home produce anything matching the US/Russia/EU for years. But if they stick to purely buying Sukhois they'll never get there. But yeah, I don't see why they aren't buying MKIs or asking for MKK+++ which equals or exceeds the MKI. Money can't be the problem. With some MKIs, at least they can tear it apart for their own future knowledge. BTW, most loadouts of Chinese Sukhois seem to have em hanging bunches of unguided ordnance. Pretty expensive fighter for such primitive ordnance. There isn't much info out there anyway. Anyone know more?

Ahhhh!!! Just read the DW F-14 link twice over and they made no mention of working swing wings!!! Pfffffftt!!! They promised working flaps?!?! but no swing wing???

Ohhhhhh oOOOOOOHHH OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!!!!!!!!! *Runs to toilet!*

Well I know the shuttles were using the old 086 chips (cant remember XT or AT) but since the 22 was only finalised after 91, I thought they would have at least used 386's by then.

You sure they using 286 chips on the 22? Thats pretty surprising. I thought the processing power of the 22's electronics was way up there. How'd you do that with 286 chips?

Did the author go to Iran to interview the pilots or did he interview those that had left Iran? I am guessing the post Khomeini-regime (President Khatami/Khitami? dang can't remember exact spelling) are quite a lot more tolerant. How's the relationship between Iran and Russia now? Any chance of seeing some 30-40k thrust ruskie turbines on these old birds? That would be a hoot!

Hey David. How reliable do you think the numbers and facts in that book are?

Yeah, I would think the thrust loss would be immense. Only reason why I can think of to explain how the SR-71 gets to mach 3.5 with _only_ 2x32k of max rated thrust.

I seen it. Just like Shaolin Soccer, its great in Cantonese, good in Mandarin but most of the fun is gone if dubbed in English or only watching with English subs. Like in the last part, when the beggar shows off all the kung-fu manuals. You need an understanding of Chinese kung-fu culture to get the joke (or at least read the names of the manuals).

Oh, another thing. I have been asking this question all over but can't get an answer. Has anyone seen the rated thrust of the different jet engines at the various operating altitutes? I keep seeing the figures for the old ww2 warbirds (like 2000 at takeoff, 1200 at 35,000 ft etc etc) but can't seem to find any for the jets.

I would love to. Been hunting the web for it. In the meantime, thanks for answering all the questions.

So does Isreal make their own bootleg/OEM F-14 parts or they got parts from Grumman or are those from their F-15/16 bin? Any info on the book about Russian involvement? I am sure the Soviets would have been pleased as heck to tear an F-14 apart for study. BTW, that Mig-25 kill. Was it a head or tail shot? If an F-14 was going at 2.2 and launched a Phoenix at the tail of a Mig-25 from 67 miles out, I would hazard that the Phoenix wouldn't be able to catch the Foxbat unless the Foxbat pilot wasn't aware of the incoming missile.

Considering that the AWG-9 and the 54 were state of the art toys back then, I really find it surprising that they got the USN spec versions. The Shah must have been a really good friend of the USA.

It really looks MAGNIFICENT! The original Yamato 1/48 was already a work of art but its incredible how the detailing brought it into totally new levels of beauty. How much time did you have to spend on this baby? Care to give us a brief walkthru on the process?

I wonder if they had fed in AP rounds, would the blade have lasted till the 2nd hit. 20mm vulcan vs that blade would be hilarious to watch. But that was a waste of an impressive blade. I would have loved to own that sword.

Power should be a buck to the gajillawatt with Hypermatter reactors I guess.