F-ZeroOne

I'm not completely sure, but I think this is the F-15 that was part of the "Dragon" flight (in the dub, anyway) that chased the phantom radar contact in Patlabor 2.

That YF-19/YF-21 one - very nice. Though if I could be allowed just one personal opinion, is there a different skin tone that could be used for the Zentraedi girl? She looks a tad sickly at the moment...! (I think its a childhood thing - school sick rooms in the UK are often painted a similar colour, so it always puts me in mind of illness!)

You know, sometimes I feel the RAF should hang signs out saying "Won't anyone buy our lovely aircraft?"...

Dammit! I wanted to do that one! (The Last Starfighter)

And, of course, the VF-1 is actually named after the XB-70. It wasn't just a freakish coincidence(of which I've seen stranger). Theres a scene in Zeta Gundam where a XB-70 is strafed and blown up. I'd like to know if that was Tomino, or at least the proudction team, having a dig at Macross...

Lets not forget the contribution of a little lady with a thing for straw bonnets - lets hear it for the... KANNO! The pop tracks are, of course, superb - Voices, the dirty chat of Idol Talk, and it will be a long time before I see anything that matches the excitement of Information High (when matched to the re-entry scene), but I also really like Fly Up To The Air - Tension, possibly the ultimate sonic realisation of the joy of flight...

Actually, at the time Robotech the RPG was being put together I don't think Mekton would have done either - I have the Mekton II book and its quite basic. You might have been able to produce a specific Macross system based on the rules, but the actual Mekton Techbook didn't - as far as I'm aware - get published until sometime after the first Robotech RPG, and the Mekton Zeta and Zeta Plus didn't arrive until even later. You'd very probably have needed the Techbook at the very least to take a good stab at Valkyries using Mekton.

The HCM is possibly the most interesting of all my Macross toys. One thing thats a little annoying about it is that it has all these little caps and things to cover up the screw holes, but if you want to use them you have to take them off sprues - same with the missiles, which leads to a dilemma - play with the bits or keep the parts in prime condition? It has a number of nice details - real rubber tyres, nicely done hands, and twin tailhooks - something not even on the Yamato 1/48...! The fighter mode is okay (there seems to be too large a gap between the engine/leg parts and the body) and the gerwalk mode is more of a "because it has to", but I feel it looks best in Battroid mode, despite the high tailfin. Its got a bit more poseability to it than a 1/55, mainly in the arms and legs, but this is balanced against the fact that it doesn't feel as solid. I suspect the HCMs reputation for fragility is a touch exaggerated, but theres no doubt its plastic on plastic joints don't make for an overly comfortable feel when transforming it. One thing that is quite clear is how much the Toynami Veritechs were based on it...

Thanks again, Laserstorm, though I wished I'd moved Max in a bit closer - looks like hes missing an arm! Also, I'm afraid this isn't my actual display now (they were just resting there while I set things up) - my cabinet is a bit small, so at present they all look rather cluttered together where they are now. Must try fiddling with it a bit more... Edit: oh, yeah, I was applying the stickers this morning and tried the six reaction missiles. Didn't look right at all - back to the micro missiles on the inboard pylons!

Laserstorm: I had the micro-missile packs going spare from the VF-1A, and I like varied loads. However, I may try it just with the reaction warheads just to see how it looks - but I do prefer the mixed loadout ("We can fry yer battle pods, yer officer pods, and yer battle-cruisers. Just don' ask us 'bout no chicks called Milia!" ) Shin: yes, that was probably me who posted those HCM pics a while back. I do sometimes wish I'd picked the Cannon Fodder variant, though - theres a lot of white in my collection...!

I usually only turn it very slightly to help the 1/60s stability in Battroid mode. It does help, but it does make for a rather unslightly twist in the leg if done fully. Edit: oh, wow. 501 posts!

Thanks for the nice comments! I really don't have room for another 1/60 Strike, but I was at this cult TV event at the weekend and it just screamed "Buy me!" Thanks also for the comments about the artwork - the Kiki picture I got at the Studio Ghibli museum in Mitaka, Tokyo, a couple years ago. That turned out to be something of an adventure - thanks to the credit card company thinking it strange some one was buying "Japanese furniture" on my account...! (I cannot thank my friend Martin and the wonderful staff at the museum for helping me sort that one out). The Lum cel - and the VF-1A, incidentally - were prize catches from my very first trip to Japan, nearly five years ago now. The cel is a really nice one of Lum and I was surprised I could get it so cheaply. Sadly, you don't tend to see as many cels these days due to the switch to computer-based working practices... Oh, yes - the Max is from an old Arii Gerwalk toy I had ages ago. Hes a bit out of scale, but does go nicely with the Milias...

Ah, thanks! I spent a good five minutes looking under the bed and such before thinking "Waitaminute... "

Having recently - and unintentionally! - acquired a 1/60 VF-1S Strike, I needed to rearrange the Macross section of my cabinet a bit, so heres a pic of my Macross collection waiting to be rehoused:

I think this may have been asked before, but I couldn't find the answer even after searching the forums - sorry. How many FAST pack micro missile launcher parts (the forward part of the boosters) does a 1/60 VF-1S Strike Valkryie come with? Is it two, or is it just one and one strike cannon part? After opening the box, I can't remember if there was an extra missile launcher or not (like the 1/48s) and I'm worried I may have put it down somewhere - unless there wasn't one to begin with, in which case I can't have put it down and I should just be worried about going nuts instead...!

I greatly enjoyed epsiode 2 whilst watching it, though as soon as you actually stop and think about any part of it for a moment it all sort of falls apart... But cracking entertainment with some wonderful lines ("This is called an... i-pod!" - and no, for those that haven't seen it, its not what you're expecting... ) Interesting that they seem to have introduced a bit of a back-story to the Doctor. I also feel that the Daleks are going to turn out to be the culprits, though The Master must be an outside chance... Incidentally, I got to meet Tom Baker today at a cult TV event in Birmingham, England. Will post a pic of what he signed for me when I finally get the cable that connects my phone to a PC... (yes, I have bluetooth, and yes, I have a headache from tyring to make it work!)

Speaking as a first-born son, I have something of a bone to pick with angels... As I understand it, angels has a meaning of "messenger". That message does not have to be a happy one.

http://www.toyboxdx.com/data/takatoku2/images/top1or.gif I believe these toys - if its the large one - are 1/40 scale. They make good companions to 1/55 Valkyries. Incidentally, if it does have yellow trim around the head area, it sounds like you may have scored the Olson special, which I understand is rather less common than the Drifand Orguss...!

The irony for me is that because of work, I got to watch it about two hours after everyone else... I liked it overall. Some of the FX are a little dodgy, but even Buffy the Vampire Slayer didn't have fantastic effects all the time. It will probably require a little adjustment for those mostly familiar with previous incarnations of the series - its very fast moving, and a little disorientating. The Doctor isn't introduced in a drawn-out sequence - hes just suddenly there - and then, just as suddenly, gone again for a bit. Theres a bit of post-modern irony here and there, which people will either smile at or grimace at. Theres a lot of humour there - theres no regeneration sequence, but instead a nifty comic line from Ecclestone that makes reference to one of his most noticable physical features. The ninth Doctor is quite a mercurial character - one moment hes all what we in England call "cheeky chappie" and the next deadly serious. Hes possibly the only Doctor yet that would go out clubbing one moment and fight off Daleks the next. Its probably a bit too early to give a definitive view of Rose yet - this episode was mainly about setting things up, so hopefully she'll come more into her own as things go on. She is definitely a bit more pro-active than previous companions though. Pretty good, then - and I suspect will get even better from here on in. And SF fans have a new chat-up line to try now, too... "Forgot to mention - it also travels through time, too!" Oh, yes, Shaun of the Dead fans - Simon Pegg will be turning up later on in the series...

Tonight, BBC 1, United Kingdom, 19:00 GMT. "Do you want to come with me?"

The Lightning was a product of the 50s UK aviation industry. They didn't know how to make an ugly aircraft then; designers in Britain who made ugly aircraft were quietly taken away and shot... [1] I think you might find it ugly partly because you're probably more familar with the later variants, which had all sorts of bumps and things added (mostly to try and improve its terrible fuel economy); if you see early Lightnings from the 50s, you see very clean, very smooth aircraft. Granted, the radome/nose intake and over-and-under engine mountings do make for an unusual configuration. [1] Okay, Fairey Gannet excepted. Presumably the design team for that one sneaked away when the shooters weren't looking...

The F-4E probably has most of the advantage - long range missiles, relatively powerful radar, two seats, etc. with one exception - the Lightning would probably be able to outrun the Phantom at will (one pilot reckoned that the Lightning, in clean configuration, could actually show an early F-15 a thing or two about acceleration...!) Of course, once its done so, the Lightning would fall out the sky anyway, because it would be out of fuel (always the Lightnings major shortcoming), but the Phantom pilot might not have seen it for dust...! (also, the Phantom would have to be careful up close - Sparrows weren't exactly wonderful close combat missiles, and the Lightnings Firestreak missiles actually had a limited all aspect capability, some time before the Phantoms Sidewinders would have done... )

Eh? Is that like some computerised automatic fire system? The sensors determine when to fire and autofires one the nose is pointed correctly? As far as I know, the firing system isn't automatic - the pilot still has to press the trigger - but the rangefinder provides accurate ranging information, just like modern tanks use laser rangefinders. Many aircraft use ranging data from radar instead.

American planes use - generally - the 20mm Vulcan, which has a rate of fire of a few thousand rounds a minute, hence big ammunition storage. The MiG-29 has a laser rangefinder for use with the cannon. The Russians claim that this makes the cannon extremely accurate; theres a story that during early tests the cannon had a habit of jamming after only a few rounds, but that it was so accurate the target was usually destroyed anyway.

I displayed one of mine in GERWALK for a long time, before shelf space required me to re-orient him. I'm quite fond of GERWALK mode. It's by far the most distinctive mode, even if it doesn't get as much screen time as the others(which is likely why it seems to be less popular). A valk in GERWALK mode screams Macross in a way that no other mech is quite capable of. I also display mine in Gerwalk mode. Its a Yamato 1/48, and perhaps one reason you don't see Gerwalk mode more often is that the 1/48 line is the only one that gets it the most "right"...