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Has anyone ever used this stick? http://cyborggaming.com/prod/v9stickps3.htm It claims compatibility with Hawx and other flight sims (but I guess AC is too new yet). It's an awesome looking and feeling stick in person (I used two of them back when they were PC sticks and ripped them apart to just use the stick portion for the cockpit of the futuristic V-22 helicopters I designed for Resident Evil 4: Afterlife).

A decent review from a trusted source :-) http://io9.com/5850037/the-thing-prequel-is-a-fun-horror-film-with-one-fatal-flaw?tag=movie-review and to tout my own horn!... "...Then, when we finally get to the (beautifully designed) Thingship..." Go see it, support a fellow MacrossWorlder... And watch for my name in the credits! - too bad it was too dark to make up the Macross/Zentradi inspired details in the Alienship.

This is an interesting read/short story from the Thing's perspective... http://io9.com/5849758/an-incredible-brilliant-short-story-told-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens-in-john-carpenters-the-thing

Lastly I have cut a pattern for the background to the city. It's been scanned at 600dpi with the ruler behind it for you to scale if you need to - but if you print it out at 600dpi, it should be size as is. I will use this to compile the various city backgrounds that have been used on these threads for the 1/2000 SDF-1 that other masters have toiled hard at creating! I have a bit of a surprise that I hope will work out for the azteking panelling paint surface treatment thoughout the ship (but that comes much later!) - some of you who know me from Starship Modeller might have an idea - but don't give it away yet. Lets hope for another few hours this weekend!

Hmm, why is it lumping all my separate posts into a single post - I want to break apart steps with corresponding attached photos, but its all lumping them together, even though I am replying in separate posts? It's difficult to see which comments belong to which attached image this way. Is there a new setting in this forum upgrade that I have to check off? What was better was in the old forums, I could attach images within the body of the post and then type some more and then attach other images within the post instead of having them all appear at the bottom of the post togeher - is this functionality still available? Anyways - here's a shot of the wonderful PE set that Manji was so kind to send to me. I really just wanted the tiny PE Valkyries and launch arms (have no idea how I'm going to paint them!) - but there was so much more stuff that I want to use the rest of them for body plating for the rest of the SDF-1. What was even more wonderful, was that Manji still had the plastic wrap left on it, so I could peel back portions of the wrap to start pre-painting some of these plates before they went onto the SDF-1 which saves masking later on. So I started to mix up different batches of colour based on where the plates go. Its okay to get the colours just close enough and not exact because you want the plates to have a slightly different tone than the plastic anyways - this will help with the azteking panels to be sprayed later on to create even more panel variation - but you don't want it to stand out too much to ruin the overall scheme of the SDF-1

Next was the more obvious side screws which I tried back in January, but without knowing the hidden screws behind the engine bells - I was stuck. With that out of the way, I next proceeded to remove the side pieces with the 3 screws shown in the manual. I thought this was it, unfortunately, there is more, I had to remove the top plate to access the hidden vertical screws. Prying apart the rear turret wasn't a problem, however the forward plate was a much bigger deal. I ended up snapping the 3 pins that held it in place trying to pry it up. Upon closer inspection after I've taken it apart, I notice that there is quite a bit of crazy glue holding this piece via the 3 pins down to the larger plate - I don't think you can take the piece off without snapping the location pins off (I guess I have to glue it back on when it comes time to assembling it back together again. Now I can get at the city when the two haves come apart vertically... WRONG! There are still two more hidden screws right at the knee joint and there's a piece that covers it - however to get this little piece off to uncover the screws, I had to take the whole knee insert right out of the lower leg. Oh well, no shortcuts here I guess I had to take everything apart. But for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to slide the knee insert out of the lower leg. According to the instructions it just slide right out. Well, there is an undocumented screw that is holding this piece on! After a lot of headscratching, I started unloosening screws and found out that this upper screw to the knee piece is what was holding the knee insert to the lower leg. With the knee insert out, I can take apart that last piece that covers the two hidden screws that allows me to finally access the city piece!

Ok, I got a kick in the pants from an amazing fellow MacrossWorlder here! Manji has been so kind to send me his leftover PE parts AND a assembly manual (for me to take apart the leg to get to the Macross City piece to paint) all for free!! I tried to pay him, but he wouldn't take it, so I thank you and dedicate this thread to Manji and the amazing people this site brings together. I managed to sneak a little bit of time over the long Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. However I spent most of that time cleaning up the huge mess left behind on my work bench and the literal cobwebs and debris from being derelict for so long. Additionally, almost all my various glues has dried up on me too. I hope to sneak away 2-3hrs every Sunday till I get this baby done! The assembly manual was invaluable to disassembling the leg. I was hesitant at first dealing with this $400-500 toy, but procrastination pays off! Thanks to Manji's manual now, it gave me the confidence to start. From the manual, I loosen the rear engine bells first (they are just held on with a little dab of crazy glue) with my fingers and pull. Then I took a jeweler's screwdriver and carefully pried up the two engine piping detail plates to expose the screws hidden underneath them.

So does the retail version support any kind of flight sticks & throttle combinations?

A little more than the trailer...