ewilen

Kakizaki never got a 1J. I doubt you can tell from the film but...it's basically a given. Anyway, yes, this has been discussed before. In fact, it was one of the first things I posted about as a newbie, and people already seemed a little tired of explaining it over and over. I guess it's just one of those things you have to go through on the path to Macross Knowledge.

I haven't played much with my sole 1/60 so I can't speak from experience. But I think people should probably be specific about which 1/60 they're talking about since the leg design changed somewhere between the Hikaru 1A and the Hikaru 1J. (At least, the peg went from being hexagonal [octagonal?] to square.)

Never put metal objects in a microwave. If you go the heat route, you'll probably want to use an open flame (gas stove, bunsen burner, candle).

Quick note: the Ghost's turn radius in a vacuum would be quite different from its turn radius in atmospheric flight.

Does anyone have the software and skills to try changing the color on the model? I don't have Photoshop on my work computer and I'd love to see the SV-51 with base color in Blue Angels blue or low-viz grey...

The dual-400 mm howitzer stat is also at http://macrossmilcomnet.net/sdf1.htm But I don't know where they get their info. 400 mm howitzers are awfully big for AA purposes. That's about the size of a battleship's guns. (Exactly the size of the Bismarck's guns, for example.) I think about the biggest any AA gun gets in the real world is 100 mm. Edit: Don't know what I was thinking--400 mm is closer to 16" than 15". The Bismarck's guns were 15". 16" guns are found (most famously, though not exclusively) on the Iowa class battleships--the largest built by the U.S. In reference to comments below--I doubt that a reference to the Yamato class is being made, since those battleships had 460 mm (18.1") guns.

Please do--this is the perfect place for it! (Just be sure to save it so we don't have another "lost FSW discourse".)

EDIT: my post was polite enough but that's besides the point. Fifbeat, if you don't like how things are done around here, please raise your concerns in the Feedback forum.

They're called "ventral fins" according to the Compendium. I see from the Animeigo Liner Notes that Kawamori worked as "Assistant Animation Director" and that Star Pro (who is apparently the real source of many animation errors--whether or not they were part of Animefriends) had nothing to do with the episode. So you're probably right: the ventral fins are capable of some movement, though whether they only retract for re-entry, or actually act as some kind of active control surface, is unclear.

Y'know, there is a pinned topic on the MPC in the Other Anime section. Yes, I understand that a comparison topic bridges categories. But if this turns into a purely pro/anti MPC discussion, I think it should be moved over there. Anyway, I'd suggest having a look at http://www.menet.umn.edu/~ngo/frame.html Note that the MPC's are in the Robotech section. The site doesn't really have reviews but you can tell by a few comments that the owner thinks poorly of the MPC's quality control and detailing. The pictures can help you judge for yourself about proportions and posability.

I read in one of my modelling books (most likely Shep Paine's books on dioramas and armored vehicles) that it's a good idea to thin the plastic on the nonvisible side of the hole (I guess by sanding or using a hobby knife to partly drill through), then make the hole from the visible side. Not sure how this compares to the hot pin method.

They're anti-aircraft guns, not "anti-artillery". (Maybe you're thinking of AAA, which means "anti-aircraft artillery".) Anyway, the listing at the Compendium doesn't have anything about the small guns. http://www.mahq.net/mecha/macross/sdfmacross/macross.htm has pictures of the AA guns and, strangely, also uses the term "anti-artillery". However, that site isn't always accurate, even though it's a good resource and relatively free of RPG-type speculation.

Madman is the company releasing Macross TV in Australia. There's been a thread about the release recently. It looks like a great deal if you can't find the region 1 DVD's at a reasonable price AND you have a DVD player capable of playing R2/PAL DVD's. (They use PAL in Oz, don't they?)

Stuff cribbed from the Animeigo liner notes: Episode 1: When Hikaru flashes back to Fokker in a replica biplane, the plane has "Kawamori" and "Haru/Hal" written on it. ("Hal" is how Haruhiko Mikimoto often signs his work.) Episode 9: "MBS" stands for "Macross Broadcast System" but is also a reference to Mainichi Broadcast System, on which SDF Macross originally aired. Episode10: This is the episode with the ASCII Star Trek game. The name of the Cat's Eye pilot is "H. Iwata"; Hiroshi Iwata was the producer from Anime Friend who worked on Macross. Episode 11: Max dons the Zentradi outfit on his battroid in a Zentradi bathroom. (Is this an Easter Egg or just an obscure fact?) Episode 18: The nurse, Mizuhara Haruka, is based on Matsuda Seiko. I don't know how you're supposed to be able to tell this. Maybe we can get a good screenshot of the nurse alongside a headshot of Matsuda. (BTW, isn't there a nurse that everyone has a crush on in Nadia and the Secret of Blue Water?) EDIT: Hey, I thought Minmay was based on Matsuda Seiko. Episode 26: Ishiguro, Mikimoto, Kawamori, and Itano's names show up on a billboard advertising a sexy movie. Episode 27: Hideaki Anno is apparently also referred to in the big destroid shot that's in the first post of this thread. (Probably the H.A. at the top.) Episode 29: There's a watch designed by "Myd Sead", which refers to designer Syd Mead, who worked on Blade Runner, Alien, and other movies. Episode 3: The fat bridge crewmember with glasses is named Machizaki Kenichi, a play on Matsuzaki Kenichi (script supervisor for SDF M). Matsuzaki also wears glasses (according to Egan) but I don't know if the physical resemblence goes beyond that. Episode 35: Among the toys at the Lolicon 3's stand are: "Godzilla, Ironman No. 28/Gigantor, and Mighty Atom/Astroboy". There's also a reference to Tamiya and a Valkyrie toy with the logo "Harakiryu"--according to Egan, this is a combination of "Valkyrie" and "Harakiri".

I think you might strain the forum software if you try to put all the easter eggs in one post. You might try making 36 placeholders and editing each one as necessary... Anyway, here are links to gags that have been discussed before. Sorry, I know I'm already breaking the rules by not including timecodes. "Hikaru's first kill". From Boobytrap. Names of buildings destroyed are various studios from Macross production; little critter painted on Studio Nue/Chimera building reacts with dismay as the Valk hits it; Kawamori seems to get killed or injured on his way into a "Privacy Box", i.e., house of ill-repute. Also in that episode: Kawamori appears near the beginning in the crowd which has come to see the airshow. Thread on random things people picked out in Macross. Not all of it is very specific but it might inspire people who have time to kill. CORRECTION to the first post: Arihiro Hase was the VA for Hikaru. "Sukebe Itano" seems to be a reference to Ichiro Itanoh Oh, and I'll add, vaguely, that there's at least one scene where the old ASCII-character-based Star Trek game appears on one of the bridge crew's video screens. Sorry, don't recall the episode.

Geeze, there are so, so many. Somebody in the newbies thread expressed an interest in cataloging them all--I wish him the best of luck!

I'm not aware of a "definitive" list. Egan Loo listed a few (but by no means all of them) in the Animeigo liner notes. We've had a few threads about them here--maybe you should piggyback on an old thread and ask for links to other threads. I can think of one or two but this isn't the right place to start listing them.

Somebody, somewhere, asked if it was inspired by the F-18. And to me, it does look more like an F-18 than a Flanker. Anyway, I like it.

Aside from just getting whichever one you fancy, you should be aware that the first production runs of the Hikaru 1A and the Roy 1S had some problems which were fixed in all subsequent 1/48's, as well as the second runs of the Hikaru 1A and Roy 1S. The problems I'm aware of are nosecones that come off too easily, wing flaps that fall off, and on the Roy only, skewed skull insignia and dimples on the head. I think the 1A's problems are less frequent and less severe--I have one and I don't have any complaints. The later 1/48's may also be able to hold a 90 degree elbow angle slightly better. How to tell the difference between versions? I don't remember. I think maybe the new versions don't have velcro on the box flap. See the pinned "what's wrong with my" thread for more details.

Nope, it's before the attack on the factory. http://www.mahq.net/animation/macross/series/macep30.htm

Opus is correct. The 1A head was the original design and was manufactured by Northrom. The 1J head was designed by Kyuusei Industry, but the 1J itself was manufactured by Shinnakasu. The 1S was an upgraded version of the 1J design; the 1S itself was manufactured by Northrom.. From the Compendium entry: BTW, I can think of three occasions when the head lasers were used in the series: 1) By Roy to knock down a passing Zentradi vehicle (probably Regult) in episode 2 or 3. 2) By Hikaru, Max, and Kakizaki in a failed attempt to cut through a Zentradi bulkhead after they enter Britai's ship. 3) By Hikaru to get Misa out of the Grand Cannon. (I know some of these have been mentined already.)

This page has the dope on Lorem ipsum: http://www.lipsum.com/ I haven't checked to make sure the author isn't making stuff up, but I believe what he has to say. (I studied Latin; tried on a couple occasions to translate the "lorem" text but never got very far. Never occurred to me that it was based on something else.)

I wanted Raffi!

No, it's really more like having four lamps plugged into your home electrical sockets than one. The Valk's engines can (almost certainly) produce way more power than a single laser can handle.

You have a point, but it could be argued that the various elements which go into making a variable fighter also produced something which was superior to a standard fighter. SWAG makes it tougher, OT-tuned engines give it more power, and the gerwalk & battroid modes both give it more options in a dogfight and the ability to take advantage of terrain. If both sides were simply using overtechnology to develop better fighters, they might not have produced airplanes that transform into robots, but the transforming airplanes they produced for use against extraterrestrial giants are superior enough to regular fighters that the only match for an SV-51 is a valk, and vice-versa. Then again, as was discussed in another thread a long time ago, UN Spacy didn't stop making variable fighters after SW1. Perhaps this was entirely because they recognized an ongoing Zentradi threat, but it could be that the advantages of variable fighters vis a vis conventional fighters justified their continued production.