F-ZeroOne

It could be that someone got a bit mixed up and meant "40mm" originally ( or they just scaled up from that ); the 40mm Bofors was pretty much the standard Allied naval AA gun and was also used by the Germans as well. Alternatively, I guess it depends if you class a Zentraedi vessel as an "aircraft"... Or it may even be a tribute to the absolute biggest AA guns of all time, which were the 18-inch guns mounted on the Yamato and Musashi...! ( really - an anti-aircraft round was designed for use in these guns, but it never worked very well and I believe the Musashi was actually damaged by its own shells when test-firing...! )

Uh oh: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3520636.stm The chances of anything coming from Mars were a million to one... he saiiiddddddd!

Hmm. I love War of the Worlds, the book - I like to think of it as the prototypical mecha series [1] - and though I haven't seen the film for some time, I seem to remember it was pretty good, even if the technology of the time didn't allow for tripods. I've long wanted to see on film Martians advancing up the Thames, but I'm wondering whether they plan on adapting the book, remkaing the film, or something different... [1] If only old H.G. had realised that bacteria aren't as marketable as giant red, white, and blue robot suits...

Actually, according to toy expert Matt Alt in a Cool Japanese Toys website article from way back, there is a 1/55 VF-1D - at least in prototype form. It was obviously never released, and is only known from a catalogue picture. It is very probably a mock-up, but at least one may still exsist somewhere...

YOU twisted british.... Again making us suffer. You should know by now, we make the best arch-villians... So true.... it's because of the fake accents.... Case in Mr. Pointy: "If every vampire who said he was at the Crucifixion was actually there it would've been like Woodstock. I was at Woodstock. I fed off a flower person and I spent six hours watching my hand move." Lucky James Bond is aorund to save the World all the time, though, isn't it?!

YOU twisted british.... Again making us suffer. You should know by now, we make the best arch-villians...

Didn't someone point out a little while ago that whatever they're made of, it tends to blow up really easily...?

I have seen it; great fun if a bit dated now and probably best seen when you've been into anime for a while but not so long that you can't laugh at yourself anymore... My favourite was the foreign guy who really likes Lum. Boy, did they nail me to the wall with that one...

"What is... this... Protoculture?" "Nope - BUSTER BEEEAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!"

"Hey, mister, those darn well better not be hands I can see up this fuselage!" Thanks for clearing that up, David.

Macross toys are not exactly rare in Tokyo, but theres no doubt which product line has the higher profile. My experience may be a bit tainted as I've been fortunate enough to be in Japan at the time of release of the 1/60 VF-1A, 1/48 VF-1S and around the time of the Bandai re-issues, so Macross products were perhaps a bit thicker on the ground, but with the exception of the M & M Bandais, I had little trouble finding most Macross-related toys. Even rarities like the Bandai E-lint Seeker aren't utterly impossible if you know which shops to try looking in. It should also be borne in mind that many Japanese hobby shops have limited floor space and would appear to have a relatively high product turnover. Macross isn't just up against Gundam, its up against every other popular anime & manga in the country, and I'd say it gets a reasonably fair amount of exposure compared to that.

If you want to go Across the Tube... A Rolling Nucleus Smashed the Neuron. Er... don't mind me, brains somewhere else...

Okay, I'm curious - do their rules specifically mention "no transforming robots!"...? Or does two wings, a couple of engines, and a fuselage not count as sufficently airplane-shaped enough by them...?! For the record, BTW, I've always assumed Isamu was talking about 48 seconds from a low altitude, not the ground.

I bet you even know how to set your VCR timer, too... I think theres room for both, really. I enjoy reading Nanashis site for both the pictures and the wonderful text descriptions, and Egans for its incredible comprehensive-ness. After all, what are fans for if not for arguing over obscure points of imaginary detail...?!

I know that fully auotmatic fire is not a good way of hitting a target myself, it was just the most visual demonstration I've yet seen of the point!

There are actually numerous incidences of RAF aircraft during the Battle of Britain engaging formations many times stronger. Although there is almost certainly a good degree of exaggeration to many combat reports (which should perhaps be forgiven... ), there are a great many accounts of squadrons of twelve RAF fighters - or even flights of four - engaging upwards of a hundred or more German aircraft. (of course, the problem for the Germans was that there were those twelve, then another twelve, and then another twelve, all the way to London, until the total the RAF threw at them somewhat exceeded the famous "last 50 Spitfires... ") The RAF tried big formations during the Battle, and found that aircraft tended to get in each others way (leading to false claims and friendly fire) and that the groups took too long to get organised and up to altitude. Its noticable that "Big Wing" tactics were usually only employed by 12 Group, whose airfields were further back than the vital 11 Group, and who had more reaction time. I alos believe that being outnumbered is traditionally referred to as being in a "target rich environment"... I didn't intend it to be an exact match, just an example - I just happen to know those figures better than any others. Regards the AK47, there was a recent programme on BBC Television where a journalist opened up a AK47. Its no wonder they don't break, theres noting in the thing! I swear I saw a piece of string in there...! The same presenter also fired a clip on full automatic at a van standing no more than 50 yards away, as a demonstration of the AK47s muzzle climb. It was untouched...

So... we need someone preferably British, good with guns, and who is used to working undercover to get insider information on top secret projects. So, tell me, how do you feel about vodka martinis, shaken not stirred, Graham?

Thats easy. Pick the one that looks like the one in the anime.

If you can't stop what you're firing at with half-a-dozen 55mm rounds to a vital area, you've got more to worry about than just running out of ammuntion... Edit: Some comparisons. Supermarine Spitfire, Mk. I or II: 8 .303 Browning machine guns. 333 rounds per gun for approx. 13 seconds continious firing. Messerschmitt Bf109E: 2 7.62 mm machine guns, 1000 rounds per gun, and two 20mm cannon, 60 rounds per gun - approx 6 seconds firing. This is why at least one historian has argued that asides from making 109 pilots feel a bit more comfortable and being able to penetrate a bit deeper into England, increasing their fuel load wouldn't actually have had much effect on the Battle of Britain, as they would still run out of bullets - and have much further to fly back home after doing so, through the best organised air defence system of the era... MiG 29: 30 mm cannon with 150 rounds. Fitted with a laser rangefinder, the designers claim that the cannon jam after only three of four rounds, but that the laser made it so accuarate that a target was nearly always destroyed anyway.

Thats odd, we always thought it was the other way round... The Tornado has an internal gun because the Air Defence Variant was developed from the attack version. It was also fashionable at the time [1] - the Tornado was being developed just after Vietnam - to put guns back into aircraft. [1] A surprisingly strong part of aircraft design on occasion!

I don't have anything really against Transformers; however having grown up with the original toys I have a bit of trouble with the latest designs. It always seemed to me the point of Transformers was that they resembled something real-world, and that the current lines have moved rather far away from that original idea. For want of a better word, I think they lack the elegance of the original line. They were always exceptions, of course - the Dinobots, Galvatron, Cyclonus... but even the more sci-fi designs seemed to have been designed with a degree of fuctionality. The latest designs are loaded down with all sorts of cool gimmicks (I'm amazed at what you can do with electronics ina toy these days), but I find the designs - and the colours - rather messy. However, the line is (and of course, always was) aimed at children, who probably like having lots of bits and bright colours (I seem to remember reading that children have greater colour perception which we gradually lose as we grow up). The new BinalTech/Alternators line and the Masterpiece OP do seem to be a good step in acknowledging Transformers more mature fan base though. And I wouldn't be too hard on the VF-1. After all, more than one Transformers fan discovered Macross through a certain red and white Autobot air guardian...

The UK has always had an eye on longer-range combat, partly because of our nautical heritage and the need to defend Britains sea-lanes. Remember, we've been nearly bought to our knees twice by interdiction of international shipping...! BTW, the Eurofighter is now officially the Eurofighter Typhoon. This name was chosen because it was polictically neutral and acceptable to all nations in the project. German tank commanders may feel a little bit differently about that... [1] [1] In fact, British pilots were a bit nervous as well, given the original ( WWII ) Typhoons early development difficulties...!

I think I saw on the history channel that the Mig-15 was superior to the F-86 in almost every way, from speed to max altitude to range and armament. There was also a Korean defector who used his Mig-15 to escape and the tests done on the plane afterwards confirmed it. Of course, the US countered these inefficiences with better tactics, kind of like a Wildcat/Zero situation from World War II with great success. That doesn't mean the F-86 was a better plane. I wouldn't entirely trust the History Channel for the last word - not when Hurricanes in footage are referred to as Spitfires... Again, its always a bit relative. The MiG-15 would appear to have had better altitude performance and speed than a F-86, but that same North korean defector also warned the test pilots - one of whom was Chuck Yeager - not to turn on the emergency fuel pump. Not if they still wanted the tail to stay attached to the aircraft at any rate... The US did have a big advantage in that its pilots had a good deal of combat experience, and that probably more than anything else was the biggest advantage. Yeagers commanding officer pointed out that during the MiG-15 tests, Yeager did things with the aircraft that probably even the Russians hadn't. Its also interesting that you bring up the Wildcat/Zero subject. Saburo Sakai, a great Japanese ace, once escaped from a swarm of Hellcats - on paper, a much better plane - through the benefit of his much greater combat experience. Sakai, by the way, had just returned to flying after losing one eye...! Or then theres the Falklands - on paper, the Argentine aircraft had much higher performance than the Harriers. The difference was geography - the distance the Argentines were operating from - training, and a superior weapons system.

Dwayne Dweebly? DWAYNE DWEEBLY?!! Of course, it could already have happened, and we're just all virtual avatars unsuspecting of the real battle being fought out there... ...just a thought, neh...?

I know you've already mentioned that the Q-Rau has no real balance problems, Graham, but I think this the first time we've seen photos without any visible means of support - thanks!