Skull Leader

I don't know how his engine would get enough air unless he drove windows down... and to top it off, the noise would be pretty harsh on the ears in that proximity... would ear protection even help at that range? Waste of a good engine on a pretty sh!tty car if you ask me.

The very shape of the F-104 lends itself very poorly to an Air-Superiority role, but perfect for the high-speed interceptor role. Having never seen an F-104 fly (even airshow demos from the german ones), I couldn't say for sure, but just from looking at the wings, I'd hate to be in one when it came down to a turning fight.

I absofartinlutely LOVE this game. I can't wait for the second installment to come out

Perfectly happy with my original DS. I've played a DS lite at the store and didn't find it different enough to justify the change. It's nice, I'll give it that, but I kinda like the heft of my regular DS. I have large hands and the DS lite would pretty much dissapear in them.

Umm, VFX2 was NOT a failure. In fact, it is arguably one of the best Macross games made to date.

If a phantom (ANY variant) tried to turn against an F-15C, he might as well punch out and save himself the grief of getting his ride shot out from under him. Phantoms are horrible turning jets (as discovered to our dismay in 'nam). His power is in the vertical with the ability to maintain a higher rate of speed through a climb. That said, I'm pretty sure (without looking at any stats, just off the top of my head) that an F-15 could still outclimb a phantom. His best bet would be to crank to 100%mil and just keep on going. Outclimbed AND outturned? Not a fight I'd care to be on the losing side of. The Tomcat would probably be much better in the dive/climb than the Hornet. While it's VG wings give it pretty impressive maneuverability in a turn (especially at slow speeds), I'm pretty sure the wing design of the Hornet would allow it to turn better than the Tomcat.

I love the look, feel, and even the smell of old comic books. I've read the original TMNT line (have almost the whole lineup, minus 2 or 3 later issues), and Uncanny X-men (I stopped collecting after issue 380 or so... I was getting tired of them switching artists like some people change underwear). The earlier stuff just seems so much more quality to me. More thought given to the storylines (unless it's intended tongue-in-cheek stuff by the writers), and just a better presentation of the "larger than life" attitude that was so important to comic books. I never once read comics for any sense of realism. I read comics as an escape from reality.

best addressed in the newbie forum, but I'll give a brief reason why here. Most of the PC98/Super CD games are alternate-timeline material. They don't have any emphasis on the canon plot, but relate more to Macross II. The Macross: VFX series takes place sometime roughly after Macross plus and before/during Mac 7.

Ehh, it would pretty much be the same thing as happened with F-4Es vs MiG-21s in Vietnam. The only real "later" models that didn't see service in 'nam are the F-4G and the F-4N/S, which probably would've performed near identical to the late F-4E (with the slatted wing... and the F-4Ns didn't even have that) So the end result is the same. The F-4 would be better in the climb, and the MiG-21 would be better in the turn. The only real thing that would be different is that the later-issue J-79s were classified as "lo-smoke" versions which would leave less of an identifying trail across the sky. No J-79 is ever completely smokeless though.

Taken last september at the Little Rock AFB airshow. I know one of the pilots, Frank Romaglia (ex KANG Phantom Driver... did a couple of tours in Vietnam out of DaNang). For 10 grand, you can take a ride in it I think. I think it's only a matter of time before we see civilian-rated pilots of new-generation warbirds. The collings phantom guys, for example, are all ex-phantom drivers themselves and a few of them are FAA qualified to rate each other. I'm sure at some point, civie-rated F-14s (Snodgrass is still working on it!), 15s, 16s, and 18s could be possible with enough funding.

Actually, the Collings Foundation owns it's own F-4D (it's an ex- Kansas ANG jet no less), they are a civilian group. While it's not ONE person, it goes to show that they can be bought with enough money.

Good photos, David! Kinda sucks with the cameras limitations, but you certainly seem to have handled the situation well! Spent the morning out on the flightline at McConnell AFB before work... a B-1B from Ellsworth had an IFE and spent the night here. A crewchief and a bunch of techs drove down overnight to work on the jet... the parts they needed are evidently so hard to find that when we left, they were awaiting permission of the base commander to go rob the needed parts off the bases museum jet! We walked the flightline and shot photos of all of the KC-135Rs. Got plenty of good shots, here's a small sample. A couple of the B-1B Lancer The Stratotanker flight line. There were about 30 Tankers on the ramp this morning, although the squadron has over 50. One of the 184th ARW Kansas ANG jets taxiing out. They were packing loaded duty bags when we saw them boarding, so they were heading somewhere for an extended stay!

Well, it can drop most JDAMs and CBUs.... that's the lions share of what the USAF seems interested in dropping these days. I understand that there's other stuff though.

The Iranian Air Force made lunchmeat out of the Iraqi airforce, and Tomcats saw surprisingly little of the frontline action (they worked mostly hand in hand with their E-3 as part of an early-warning net) Pretty much every encounter at the border led to the Iraqi MiGs running back across the border in hopes that they could lure the Iranians into SAM traps. It was the Iranian's ballgame for the entire duration. What's more, the Iraqis finally decided that their air force was too precious an asset to lose, and so moved their entire MiG force to the western side of the nation at ONE airbase (H-3). The Iranians promptly sent a flight of Phantoms to level the place, pretty much reducing most of their MiGs to so much scrap metal.

you're forgetting F-4Es also. Iran is one of two nations left in the world flying F-4Ds (South Korea being the other) They never sold a tomcat to Russia, and the rumors about an Iranian pilot defecting with his plane were later debunked. We have no reason to believe Russia has any tomcats. They have tinkered with a number of indigenous upgrade programs, even one with the possibility of implementing a full-glass cockpit (digital displays), but nothing has come of it yet. Their tomcats are VERY well maintained and shouldn't be discounted so easily. They have learned to produce most of their own spare parts, but evidently a few things still elude them. Also, I'm very leery of anything written by Tom Cooper. He's the only one who can claim to have any evidence backing up his theories (such as the infamous 3-MiG kill by one phoenix missile). While I believe US estimates of their tomcat strength are possibly on the conservative side (an intelligence briefing held on January 1st cited approximately twenty working tomcats with possibly another dozen airframes that are being switched out with some minor parts swapping), I don't think Tom's estimate of 50-60 tomcats is any more accurate. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.

yes, you are the only person who enjoyed this movie. But you are from Wichita Kansas and that explains a lot. Lord K. 404795[/snapback] Actually, I'm not. I've only been here since 2004, and I'm not sure what the correlation would be anyway?

in the past year alone we've caught at least 10 people/companies trying to smuggle parts to the Iranians for their Tomcats. It's still a huge concern.

Again, I must be the only person who enjoyed this movie.... (as well as the book, which I bought about a month after it first came out)

I bet they're both easier to get into than community college.

I'll thank you for NOT putting words in my (or anyone elses) mouth next time you decide to try and speak for everyone. I enjoyed the strips and not just because they "featured macross". Rather, they were basically an allegory of the membership of Macrossworld's temperment about all things Harmony Gold. Speak for yourself next time. you'll look like less of an ass.

The final consensus was that there IS no final consensus. They could be found in a variety of settings depending on many different factors. The pics in question were Ken Middleton's. Perhaps you can ask him.

Phalanx, that's sound advice. Just watch and learn for a month or two and you'll see how the social currents of the board move. We don't really have any knuckleheads to watch out for just now (I have personal people I'd just as soon not talk to or deal with, but I won't slander them here in public, but we members of IHAC maintain a list! ). Just bear in mind that there are real pilots and crews from every branch of the service and many from other countries that are members there, and if approached nicely, they'll be a wealth of knowledge for model builders. Just don't take their word on aircraft outside of their profession (for example, most USAF pilots don't know how to do anything but talk trash about USN jets... even when they're trying to look and sound official.) Just like here, make sure you're posting in the appropriate board (or after looking at all of them and being unsure, posting in the one you think is closest) ... and above all, post pics of your work! It's a model-building site and we all like to see pics!

Which one? Both arguments got so intense as to see an ARC member get banned. about the Tamiya vs. Academy 1/32 F-16 kits: When a very pixilated test shot of one of the sprues of the academy kit was released, a then-ARC member went so far as to say that the kit would suck like no kit had ever sucked before. It was later discovered that he had served in an advisory role for Tamiya when they had released their own 1/32 viper kit, so naturally he was a little partial. Multiple people called him down for striking out at a kit that no one had even seen yet, much less had a chance to build. He basically went on to call anyone that spoke out in defense of the academy kit as a weak-minded fool. The moderators finally had enough of him and banned him. They later allowed him to return, but I've yet to see him post (although I've noticed him lurking from time to time) about the Super Hornet flap "flap": ARC member "X" asked the ARC community which of the new 1/48 Super Hornet E kit was the best (Revell or the Hasegawa). ARC member "Z" went on to tell him that the new revell kit was about the biggest waste of time possible just because the wing flaps were hard-molded to the kit (whereas the Hasegawa provides the flaps separate, so you can drop them). He tried to say that a no time while the SH is on the ground are the flaps raised in anything other than a fully dropped position. A barrage of pictures proving otherwise arise and he goes on to say that those MUST have been taken immediately after shutdown (despite one of the moderators insistance that the pics were taken a number of hours after shutdown). Argument then shifts from being about the super hornet to the credibility of the moderator (which everyone promptly jumps to defend), ARC member "Z" finally pushed one button too many and faced the wrath of the mighty "Vorpal boot of banning" +10.

The real beeyatch of the situation is that according to some of the guys that lurk on the Tomcat sunset forums that used to work up at Pax River (where the Tomcats were manufactured, for those who don't understand) said that even though the toolings were ordered DESTROYED, they were carefully dismantled and stored away in the event that congress saw the error of their ways (to be fair, Grumman was talking a LOT of sh!t in their proposals on the hill... they *knew* they had a hot fighter on their hands and they were doing their damnedest to convince congress that they couldn't live without it). I guess someone had to take Grumman down a peg or two, I just hated it that the pentultimate First response/interceptor platform the world has ever known had to suffer because of it.

Just don't start a "which is better?" or "this plane vs. this plane" thread. We *HATE* those kind of discussions over there (it's academically proven that they'll get out of hand there). The moderators take a pretty hard line on stuff like that these days (they even went as far as to completely shut down one of the forums for a few days because people couldn't keep their ignorant thoughts to themselves)