F-ZeroOne

I haven't seen anything of the original Orguss series, but I would very much like to. Its got an interesting premise and wonderful mecha design. The original Takatoku toys are, by the way, very cool and although some of them can be very fragile, going by my experience, with one or two exceptions, they are generally cheaper to buy than Takatoku Valkyries, and sometimes easier to actually find too! Orguss 02 is probably one of the most under-rated - heck, its possible its only so because very few people have seen it! - anime around. Though the mecha designs are inferior to the original, and I can't compare it to the original series either, I found it much better than I expected to be and one of the main characters ( though not the young lead, who has "plot device" written all over him ) is superbly scripted and very, very likable, despite his devious manner...

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.ad...108053709990007 "NASA today denied that the first communication with the Spirit Rover following its mysterious radio black out over the past two days was "I'm sorry, Dave, I cannot do that."

"NASA today denied claims that, shortly before communications with the Spirit rover were lost, it transmitted a picture of what appeared to be a large, featureless, completely black free-standing structure... " At least your (astro)-boy got to Mars in one piece. My own nations effort, designed as usual on the back of a postcard and built from spare bits of string and loose screws from DIY furniture kits, only managed to achieve a very limited terraforming experiment... ...its pretty likely it drilled itself a new crater on the surface... Still, at least the ISS is in good hands - Michael Foale survived the Mir, I doubt he'd be fazed even if someone tapped on the outer airlock cover muttering "Ackackackackackack... "

I suggest we all catch colds in one big hurry... I told ya the Martians were coming... ...the chances of anything coming from Mars were a million to one, they said... ...but still...

Its not just the canopy frames - notice the landing gear tow-bars?!

At the moment, my Yamato 1/48 VF-1S with the Strike pack. The first Japanese mecha I was ever introduced to, with the bonus of added firepower. It scares me silly every time I try to transform it ( its not so much thats it difficult - with practice - as I'm just afraid that being a klutz I'll break something ) but it looks wonderful in all three modes. I think Gerwalk is my favourite, but fighter is close behind... ...but what i would really, really like is a half-decent Takatoku Big Dai-X diecast. I have a rather battered, small-ish one but would love to find one of the bigger ones in better condition on my next visit to Japan. I realise I could possibly find one after a lot of searching on e-bay or by begging round the toy collectors market, but getting one in Tokyo would just be fantastic...!

But this was in the period before the F-14 got up-engined. Once the F-14's got F110's, it would appear that the advantage narrowed. I'd also suggest messages 33, 45, and 47 of this thread. An air force pilot and an F-14 pilot exchange some interesting information, with a good deal of courtesy and mutual respect, I might add. If you do check that thread out, note the comment about the A4 Skyhawk and the F-15. I've also read that a pair of RAF Jaguars once "shot down" a pair of Eagles on a training mission, which raised a few eyebrows at the time. I don't think anyone disagrees that the Eagle and the F-15 are both great fighters. Like all aircraft, they have their advantages and disadvantages. One point which I think has been missed is that the Tomcat is a naval fighter and has to carry quite a bit more weight than an equivalent land-based fighter ( this generally applies to most navalised aircraft ); it would probably also account for the extra expense of the Tomcat. And if two aircraft are pretty fairly matched, as these two seem to be ( not in all areas, but one planes disadvantage in one area is probably made up for in another ), like Chuck Yeager always maintained, it then just comes down to the pilot... Edit: so its just like Macross Plus after all!

You're no expert. No, I'm not, and I never claimed to be. On the other hand, the information about the Hayabusa is directly taken from accounts from P-38 pilots. If they're not qualified to comment, who is? The Spitfire information has been gleaned from several different sources, one of which is The Most Dangerous Enemy, a book by Dr. Stephen Bungay - who is currently a consultant for the UK Channel 4 programme "Spitfire Ace". The point I am trying to make is that any poll of that kind can be highly subjective. Edit: didn't mean to quote the whole discussion first time round.

I'm sorry, but I can't let that one go. Anything with "expert opinion" like that is going to rather subjective. If theres one thing I've learned from reading about air combat its that no one aircraft is entirely superior to another. For example, take the Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa ( "Oscar" ) of W.W. II. BY late W.W. II standards, it was obselete - slow, poorly armed and very lightly built. Yet pilots flying such heavily armed, fast and sturdy aircraft as P-38 Lightnings learned to be careful when taking them on, because the agility of the Hayabusa, even by late war standards, and in the hands of a skilled pilot, made it a very difficult target. Theres a number of accounts of a lone Hayabusa dancing around four or more US aircraft. Or take my favourite, the Supermarine Spitfire. If you take the Spitfire story as a whole, although I think the P-51 was a superb fighter, I think the Spitfire just edges it simply because the P-51 was designed with the benefit of two years combat experience. When Reginald Mitchell designed the Spitfire, he didn't have that benefit. Yet from its very first engagements, the Spitfire was proved to be "right" in almost every respect ( there was, of course, a couple of years of "fine-tuning" pre-war. There probably has never been a military aircraft that has been perfect from the word go ) - so right, that it stayed in production all through the war, the only Allied fighter to have been in production from before the war started to the end. Yet, of course, the Spitfire had its weaknesses - the early models were at a disadvantge in a dive compared to the Me-109, and it had a much shorter range than the P-51. But then, the Spitfire had been designed as a defensive fighter... ...like I say, its all rather subjective...

Chrono, what you're describing sounds a bit like "compressibility" - you'll have to forgive me, as I've only read about it and most of it went way pass my head, but I believe this is where the airflow passing over the wing begins to exceed the speed of sound and locks up the control surfaces. However, I've only ever heard about aircraft experiencing this in a dive, not a climb ( it was a big problem for prop driven aircraft during W.W. II ). I believe Chuck Yeager also encountered a similar problem when approaching the speed of sound in the Bell X-1 - perhaps the game is modelling the same effect...?

Was it one of the following: Theres a Gamers store right next to the "Electric Town" exit from Akihabara station? The LAOX Hobby just round the corner? Directly opposite the "Electric Town" exit there is a multi-story building which has K-Books on its 3rd or 4th floor, and then a couple of floors up theres this huge place that has all sorts of toys, kits, models, and dolls? Just curious, really...

I saw a similar programme about Spitfires a little while ago. All TV producers repeat after me, "Hurricanes are not Spitfires, Spitfires are not Hurricanes... " Repeat!

The "cast of Mary Poppins" costumes worn by background people using the moving walkways when Guld is saying goodbye to Myung at the spaceport in Macross Plus. No, I'm not making that up... I've also often wondered just what great moments in Macross aviation history are recorded on the wall of Col. Millard Johnsons office at New Edwards...

I'd just like to point out that my original comment about the YF-1Rs "stealth features" is not meant to be yet another attack on the MPC - I don't really have an opinion on the MPC ( at least as a toy - I don't personally like the proportions as shown in pictures, which seem to be a bit "off" ) one way or another, though its obvious its based on older designs than the Yamato Valkyries ( of which I do have a couple ). I've only ever seen a MPC, curiously enough, at a Japanese convention, and never held one in my hands - I trust other MW members judgement on what they might be like, but I won't have a final opinion on one until I actually handle one, which is going to be pretty unlikely given my geographical location. However, this doesn't mean that I agree with the history of Harmony Gold, either... Having cleared that up, having been interested in military aviation for a while, I just felt I couldn't let that description pass without comment. I think this is one problem HG are going to have by not having access to Japanese source material; Shoji Kawamori was an aeronautical engineering student, or at the very least, was considering it, and understands the issues involved. I'll admit that Macross stretches plausibility very, very thin a lot, but I would like to think that Kawamori wouldn't have come up with a comment like that as he probably knows better... which also moves us onto the issue of "lightening the armour". This is not wholly implausible, though again, even if it did increase speed by a truly significant amount, still does not equal stealth. And again, the licensing issues come into play, because Macross Zero has revealed that Valks are equipped with some form of energy reinforced armour and that increasing engine power is probably going to have far more effect on speed... ( I suppose you could probably strip a Valkyrie down completely - as the US and USSR used to do with Eagles and Foxbats in order to gain aviation records, but you'd end up with a fighter that could only down an enemy by colliding with it )... ...but then the argument can go that Veritechs are not Valkyries... ...so, er, have I sat on the fence enough to satisfy everyone yet?!

Ah, now we know what the "R" in "YF-1R" stands for - Relativity!

I have to admit to having a chuckle over the idea that the VF-1Rs speed somehow makes it stealth capable. Ask a SR-71 pilot sometime about that idea... ( speed certainly makes you difficult to intercept, but its not the same as "stealth!" )

Congratulations on your choice...! ( there is, BTW, nothing fundmentally wrong with 1/60s, its just the 1/48 is several notches up the scale! I was completely blown away by mine, and was much more impressed with it than I expected to be. The "head seam" issue is really blown out of proportion... ) Now that you've put your money where your heart is, why not invest a few more bucks in a set of Takatoys excellent 1/48 sticker sets? They're a bit more work - you have to cut them out yourself - but the resultes are well worth it!

I think it should be borne in mind that this is probably a prestige item for the Japanese domestic market. Bandai sells Gundam guitars, there are 1/1 scale anime character dolls, and cos-play is a pretty good market in Japan - you can buy complete outfits if you want, and they're not exactly cheap either... frankly, I don't think Yamato are considering the international market at all with this one.

Small tip: when attaching/detaching the FAST pack laser cannons and/or missile pods, remember that the front part of these pieces are detachable - removing the front parts, inserting/detaching the back parts seems to make things a little easier as at least on my Fokker -1S, its a bit of a tight connection going into the backpack.

Patlabor is truly superb show, and much under-supported. Hope you enjoy the rest of the series, and watch out for the recap episode in episode 23 of the TV series. Its a killer! Anyways, as I understand it, first there was an OAV series. Next came the TV series, and a second OAV series. At some point during the production of the TV series, there came the two movies ( interviews on the collectors edition of WXIII, the latest movie, seem to indicate that the first movie was produced before the TV series, but I don't know that for definite ). WXIII was a long time in development and was released some time after the second movie. I would personally recommend watching the TV series followed by the movies, and add the OAVs to taste, but you can watch all three movies on their own with little prior knowledge of the TV series - generally, only the characters are connected, not any plot points ( though bear in mind that WXIII features the cast of the TV series only in a supporting role, with the story focusing on two new protaganists. Also, don't watch WXIII in the dark. The soundtrack is really creepy! ) Edit: oh, theres also the manga, the English release of which was cruelly killed off due to poor sales. Some people just have no taste...

I suspect you are referring to the incredibly lucky Gray Death Legion, who fight Marauders with Locusts, do indeed fight three major campaigns with an ever decreasing roster of troops that never actually runs out, and grab themselves a Star League cache...

Another classic graphic novel - which was rumoured to be lined up for filming at one point, at an estimated one million dollars a page! - is Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Once you read that, you will probably never look at comics, or superheroes, in quite the same way ever again. Other fun comics include Preacher and, the Authority, and Planetary. Be warned, at least the first two are for [/i]mature readers.

Of course, we could always draw the short straw... “No-one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than mans’ and yet as mortal as his own… across the great gulf of space… intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded this Earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.” - H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds.

Thanks for the vote of confidence...! You never know, I might get a bargain two-in-one deal - a flying lesson and a parachute jump...

I got a flying lesson. This is what I get for asking my parents to "surprise me"... I should perhaps explain the background here. There is scale that people like Chuck Yeager, Douglas Bader, and Max Jenius are at the top of. I'm somewhere down at the other end. It took me nine tries to pass my driving test. So, remind me... its back for up, and forward for down, yes?