Retracting Head Ter Ter

I have seen some on Ebay, but they are from Hong Kong, and I know all about bootleg goods that come out of HK.

I humbly request some advice from my fellow MWers. I feel like a damn rookie all over again after this time away.

Don't worry about the Yamato valks from HK. As far as I know, there are no bootleg Yamato valks in HK. i.e. there are no valks that look 90% like the Yamatos and are bootlegs. If the ebay pic shows something that looks like a real Yamato valk/box, it is real.

I got most of my yamato's from HK sellers. No problems so far.

Indeed. I think stationwagons can be cool (depending on your taste). But I wouldn't presume to call them "sporty" by any stretch of the imagination--at least in the handling/performance department; you just have to recognize some inherent limitations of the platform, compared to more conventionally designed sedans/coupes/sports cars (at least with older cars).

But yeah, given the right look, I'd rock a 'wagon.

I see your Buick Sport Wagon and raise you an Audi RS2.

And on the subject of X6s and Co. I FR3$G1N6 HATE EM ALL!!! Takes up so much space on the dang road, normally driven by slow-pokes! @#$#@%!!!

Roadster, Hatch, Sedan, Estate (ok Shooting Brake for you landed gentries going for your fox hunt) and 4x4s like the Cherokee/Landcruiser/Discovery.

Thats it, we don't need crossovers, sport activity vehicles, metroactive lifestyle wagon, fusion sport intelligent active (you wait, the Japanese will come up with something like this sooner or later).

And lastly, 4000lb+++ hybrids mated to v8 turbos or whatnot trying to 'promote' ecogreeness. WTF?!? Its like I made a nuclear weapon with 15% less radiation fallout and suddenly I am GREEN and ECO Friendly.

If they'd have picked the YF-23 back when, the F136 would already be in-service...

Haha, anyone ever checked what was the max number of pages we went on an Aircraft Super thread without complaining about the YF-23 losing the contract?

Just like the I-185, MB5, TSR2, XB-70 etc, we enthusiasts need some 'forgotten' aircraft to bitch about now and then.

And NOT some BS Japan only exclusive thing that's only available between 1230 and 1AM at the Yamato showroom and requires 50 Pocari Sweat lids.

You forgot the Japanese credit card and shipping address in Japan only! Tsk tsk!

Hmm, they got rid of the winglets?

Looking at the reference to 1942, I assume the show's title is a reference to this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Los_Angeles

What is a brake over-ride feature anyway? Throttle closes when brakes are hit? In any case, unless your car has way too much power or your brakes are crap, slamming on the brake pedal even with the accelerator floored should still stop the car.

Obviously, the cars would need to be replicas, using modern materials and safety equipment; carbon fibre cockpit structures; fuel cells; proper roll bars; modern tyre compounds (but in similar to historic sizes/profiles). While it'd make the cars look slightly different, the main thing would be: the emphasis on driving style & artistry needed to extract the most from cars that rely primarily on mechanical grip, with relatively low HP (450-500?), and no electronic nannies.

Too expensive I guess. If you just want to test their handling of 'mechanical grip with no nannies', just slap some overweight (for a kart) production engine with 150-200hp to a go-kart and let them race. That should be fun to watch too.

On that same note, got this off Jalopnik:

Feds find majority of Toyota unintended acceleration cases were people hitting wrong pedal

By Justin Hyde, Feb 8, 2011 05:01 PM

The U.S. government's ten-month probe into Toyota validates the initially unpopular argument we at Jalopnik put forth at the start of this unintended acceleration witch hunt: This was a case of people pressing the wrong pedal. In every way, this was Toyota's beige-ification of cars biting them back, and hard.

The probe by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and NASA scientists examined 280,000 lines of Toyota software, 3,054 complaints of sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles and several dozen individual vehicles. "There is no electronic-based cause for unintended high-speed acceleration in Toyotas. Period," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

(The NASA team did find one theoretical way for a Toyota's electronic throttle control to screw up and open wide even when the brake was depressed. But doing so requires two inputs at a precise electrical resistance; any variation and the car's warning lights come on, and NASA reviewed Toyotas own warranty data and found no evidence of any such faults.)

NHTSA officials said the causes were the ones they suspected all along — bulky floormats, sticking gas pedals and driver mistakes. "We found that when a complaint alleged the brakes didn't work, what most likely happened was pedal misapplication," said deputy NHTSA administrator Ron Medford.

Yet the proposed solution? More electronics and more regulations. NHTSA officials say they'll now push forward with three new rules for vehicles, requiring brake-override software, electronic data recorders and new rules for keyless ignition so that people don't get confused when they have to shut down a car by holding a button for one-Mississippi two-Mississippi. NHTSA will also study pedal design, to see whether vehicles need to be designed with podiatry standards in mind.

In the heat of the recalls last fall, everyone who complained of sudden acceleration had the benefit of the doubt, and even today, LaHood tried to claim that "nobody up here has even insinuated the term 'driver error.'" Why not? We know what Toyota did wrong: it's mechanical and business mistakes led directly to four deaths and several injuries, and it faces hundreds of lawsuits and a dented reputation for ignoring defects. We know what's wrong with Toyota's software: Nothing. Why avoid discussing what many drivers did wrong — mistake the gas for the brake?

Human nature suggests some of those who claimed sudden acceleration problems without a defect will likely go on believing the government just overlooked something rather than admit a smidgen of responsibility. New rules for safety technology will take several months, if not years, to put into place, while the technology on vehicles will require several more years to filter into production. Even then, it will only protect those who buy new models, not the ones on the road today.

Where's the call to improve American drivers? Where's the charter to make driving an essential skill rather than a chore which should be handed off to computers as much as possible? If part of the Toyota imbroglio stems from people becoming disconnected from driving their vehicles, part of the answer should be to restore that connection — rather than making every vehicle as somnambulant as the worst Toyota.

I dunno about you guys but although that guy is in shape, I always imagined Thor to be more of 80s Arnie proportions.

Indeed. It would be interesting to see how the current crop of F1 hotshoes could cope with crash boxes; dog rings, and 3-pedal setups. Driver's skill with synching shifts and such would arguably play a critical role in overtaking in the passing/braking zones.

I think they tried this in the past. Put F1 drivers in WRC cars and WRC drivers in F1 cars to see how they coped. The WRC guys coped better.

When done properly, they work faster and better than a regular manual transmission. There's a reason why Formula 1, IndyCar, and many other purpose-built race cars use them. They still don't have the same cool factor though...

When done properly. On some crappy auto-boxes (yes the torque convertor sort, not the DSGs and SMGs) where th put in paddle shifters, the damn things react about 1+ seconds after user input. Dumb @!#$%s.

I belong firmly to the stick and clutch faction. Damn DSGs might be faster but I miss the fine control and the clutch down free-rolling...

IIRC, the F-22 had a hard time in the final shape tweaking to get it to supercruise without compromising stealth, and that was with a combined NASA-Lockheed effort, the two groups with more stealth knowledge and history than probably the entire rest of the world combined. I doubt China could come close to matching its basic aerodynamic qualities on their first try.

Come to think of it. It is not even known if either of the prototype J-20s can even supercruise.

First thought : Cherry 2000!!!

I was watching a CCTV military channel and the guy on it was claiming that the lack of the afterburner flame on the test flight take-off was proof that they had managed to mask the IR using conventional looking nozzles.....

I WANT the Nupetiet!!!

Not in 1/3000 scale though!

1/10000 to 1/12000 is fine.

DYRL version. Needs a gimmick like the Hull Splitting main gun.

Hmm, thinking of the WRC cars which run pretty long races and in real dusty conditions. What would they use?

I am more curious what the reaction of the girls* will be when they see that we bought doll clothes for our robots.

Anyone?

*those that have not watched Macross.

Aliens 3 and 4 and resurrection or whatever (I stopped counting at Aliens) all need a remake.

I would support a Return of the Jedi remake if they cut out all that Ewok crap and flimsy SSD bridge shields plot too.

General automotive question.

Given the plethora of aftermarket intake filter mods ranging from drop-in filters to open pods with metal mesh or paper or those HKS 'mushrooms', what kind of filters (if at all) do race cars use? e.g. on The WRC cars, do they use the stock intake box, a modified box but still a 'box' like thingy or open pods? F1 cars?

It might be too late because HLJ has them listed as back ordered, but you fear mongers pushed me over the edge and I put in for one. You are all a bunch of enablers...

Perhaps I should just sign over my paychecks directly to Yamato and save myself the hassle of pretending to manage my finances.

Chill and wait for the inevitable re-issue. Or better still, Ver 1.1 with stand.

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and mini valk set.

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and couple of 1:3000 HWR Monsters to pose on deck

Hope Yamato gets the idea that this toy is sold out at least partly because the reviews are good, the shoulders are not exploding out of the box, the joints hold their poses and position and things sit flush (not like my YF-22's #$@#in^!! belly plates).

Think it is about 1:55 to 1:60 from what I hear.

Ha!

You got me back though...I just smudged my screen trying to kill your .gif bug

Insect hater! Repeat after me "Killing is bad for kharma."

Yamato can bite my shiny metal ass for releasing this 3 days after Christmas. I want this thing so bad it burns but seriously? 3 days after Christmas when everyone is penniless? I don't use credit and it's pretty bad that this toy is so full of win that it makes me want to get a CC just to order it and then shred the thing. If I'm lucky, I might get one when the ole tax return comes in.

I was in the shop 1 hr ago. I held the box in my hands (slightly lighter than I expected by a wee bit). I cradled the damn thing for a couple of minutes (couldn't open it, sealed with Yamato factory tape I think). Price was about US$410. Was very undecided. Then thought along these lines:

1. This one is sold out, backordered on HLJ, reports (see above) that no more in Yamato warehouse

2. Everytime Yamato sells out a standard toy, they re-release it.

3. Maybe I'd get a weathered version.

4. Maybe some small improvements in the Ver1.1 or Ver2. or I get a stand with it.

5. OK OK, US$410 is not small sum, I'd take my luck and wait it out.

Now I am back home in front of the PC and still sort of 40% regret not buying it because I'd be zooming it around by now making main gun charging noises.

Heck, now I know that the Yamato SDF-1 really is overpriced. Here we have a product from the same company made out of more expensive materials and almost of the same size as the SDF and yet you are looking at 150 USD less shippped. Yamato seally didn't have any fait on their SDF, even when they sold three batches of their incredebly expensive model before they did the 1/3000

True, the SDF transforms... from a robot to a robot that is laying down... not really comparable to the magic they pull off on their valks.

Yeah, this makes the SDF-1 seem pretty expensive. Given the number of articulation points and detail on this zoid (check out the springs and shock absorber detail on the legs), I am inclined to think that the design is at least as complicated as the SDF-1 transformation.

I would have picked it up if it was 1/72 and in scale with the rest of my Zoid kits (HMM and motorised).

If they made an Iron Kong or Deathsaurer, I would buy it even at double the price. Ligers just aren't my fave design.

Hey guys, for those who are interested, the Collection DX review was posted today.

http://www.collectiondx.com/toy_review/2010/sdf1_macross_do_you_remember_love_type

This should be enough to push all those who are on the edge off (the ones who survived after Grahams review that is).

You #$%^!! now I really want one!