Falcon in the Sunset

Hey Folks!

Thanks for your continued support and readership...and we really appreciate it. The integration stated by JQ is still in the theory phase, and it isn't planned to happen in the near future yet. We will provide a definite update when we do get it going.

Today we're featuring another icon of 20th Century Air Combat, and that is none other than the F-16 Fighting Falcon! A veteran of many fronts, the Falcon continues on to roar in the skies of today.

The development of the F-16 is a pretty interesting one, having competition from aircraft that were to become the F-15 and the F/A 18. Initially the US chose to develop the FX aircraft for air superiority missions after Vietnam (the 'pre-F15), while a group of innovators pushed for a mixed budget airforce: have expensive and low cost fighters at the same time, to fulfill required roles at an economical cost.

Prototype competition then became the name of the day, as the Lightweight Fighter (LWF) program was hatched, which looked into making an airplane complementary to the FX. In the end, FX led to the F-15, while the LWF gave us the F-16, but the navy went for the F/A-18 (which lost to the F-16) instead of the navalized F-16.

It is interesting to know that these aircraft all have a shared history, and eventually became so successful that they are still actively deployed by many countries all over the world. USAF is already replacing them with the F-22 and F-35, while advanced versions are still being made for export to other countries...

Not many fighters can make a claim to longevity as much as the Fighting Falcon!

Harriers and Pop Culture

Hey Everyone

Thank you for coming down to this corner of the internet, and thanks also go out to JQ who provided us with a good ol' salvo of articles on the pics we have taken of our miniature micromachines.

This time, we are continuing with our slew of Harrier pics, this time a closeup on the cockpit of a 'Terror Troops' AV8B Harrier II.

The American developed Harrier II is currently deployed by USMC, Spainish navy (Armada Española) and the Italian navy (Marina Militare). As we know, there are different variants of the harrier jet, with the Harrier II starting as a joint US-UK (McDonnell Douglas and Hawker Siddeley) project until the British pulled out due to financial constraints (due to over-runs from the Rolls Royce engine), only to later return and develop a Harrier II variant based on the American design (giving us the Harrier Gr.5/7/9).

The Harrier's ability to hover was a fascinating ability that found homage in popular culture, and it was most well-known for its appearance in the hollywood movie, True Lies (bet some of you guys still remember that scene well). It was reported that the film employed actual Harrier IIs from the USMC with their pilots, provided by the US government at a fee of $100,736 for about 4 hours ($2,410 per hour). Of course, this doesn't include expensive payloads and extensive support network to strategically deploy the aircraft...duh. That's where our tax money goes in haha.

Interestingly, Pepsi ran an ad for a Harrier jet up for grabs at 7 million Pepsi points, and someone actually used a loophole (to by points at 10cents each) to buy the jet for $700,000. He used a certified check (with his earned Pepsi points, to claim the Harrier jet from Pepsi, who of course did not fulfill the demand since the jet easily costs more than a million bucks. This led to a court case, with the judge deciding that the person had ought to know the ad was a joke, and he had no grounds in stating there was a breach of contract and fraud when Pepsi didn't fulfill his demand (details are at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_v._Pepsico,_Inc.).

Interesting stuff huh?

Harriers Veering off

The AV8Bs making a hard right.

Hi there. This week, its still the AV8Bs.
Its funny. Me and Josh were just coming up with better ways to shoot the two harrier jets. But i guess after 13 years into Modern Military Models and also enjoying the beauty of detail and improving on the modelling side, i am not really satisfied with the picture as compared to our others.

What do you guys think?

Problem is, to make better detailed Micro Machine pictures, I will have to paint it over and put in my extra detail. Furthermore, Model kits and other collectibles take a long time to make it into an awesome sculpt.

But like they say. No Pain.. No Gain.

Regardless of it, I hope U like the pictures i have served up for you. I noe the entries are a bit bla dee bla bla.

But now, i will pass the time to Josh to feature one last closeup on the AV8B and many more cool stuff.

On a sidenote, the integration to an UBER hobby Blog will come soon. And hopefully, it will attract more of you guys and also be a good place for ppl who take interest in these stuff. As for modelling progress on my side, I have done nothing because I have nothing with me in KL.
That is because I am pretty sure I cannot accomplished anything during this period and hence i did not bring any equipment or models to do during this few weeks.

Im off to Kill my exams.

Till the next time, Stay tuned and enjoy reading.

Cheers

Harrier and His Wingman

Back again with this weeks post. And posted promptly. But i must say, my schedule is getting insane because I have exams that I will have to deal with very soon. (being a student, of course)

In any case, here is another view of the Harrier AV8B patrolling over the skies. I must say, the detail of micromachine doesnt make this picture that great. And even when it is an SLR camera, it doesnt really showcase the magnificent dynamic and structure of the AV8B Harrier Jet.

Nevertheless, it is a Micromachine, so it definitely lacks the details and makes up for durability to give kids around the age of 8 and beyond the advantage of crashing it around and playing with their Imagination in mind.

Still remember the days as an 11 year old kit getting my hands on some awesome micromachine military and playing with them. Some of the vehicles had great detail for that size..

Ahhh but gone are the days.. Because Galoob went to hell, Hasbro took over, Destroyed everything, and now you dun even see modern military in the toy department other than the Tamiya Models at the small corner. (Talking in retrospect to Singapore Mainstream Toy Department).

Well thats all for today.

Cheerios PPL.