OK, I'm seeing 64 messages before I start down the list...

Anybody have more?

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

Reply to
Mad-Modeller
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Cr-a-ap.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

Reply to
Mad-Modeller

I've got 81 messages time stamped 2/5.

WmB

Reply to
WmB

Best that I can tell, about 100 and some change came in on 2/5. Not very busy stuff.

--- Stephen

Reply to
Stephen Tontoni

I am seeing 75 today. Of course, it depends somewhat on exactly what time you check, but this does seem to be a better day than some lately. I wouldn't mind if we had this number every day.

Reply to
Don Stauffer in Minnesota

Heh, haven't got a clue where the windoze disc is. Probably lost somewhere in the son's house. Lately that's where everything I lose goes to vanish forever. ;]

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

Reply to
Mad-Modeller

reminds me of first super-detailed kit i built. twice.

Reply to
someone

Ah, yes. The son has been a regular black hole for money since he was a teenager. One of the things I discovered amongst my father's papers was a list of everything he lent to his grandson. I think I'll keep it for emotional blackmail. ;) The daughter has not been a rerun in this case. She takes care of herself and her family on her own. Obviously I learned all the mistakes with the 'prototype' and didn't repeat them on the 'improved model'. ;)

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

Reply to
Mad-Modeller

You think that's bad? Read this:

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sat there for around five seconds in complete shock...realizing that actually _had_ happened, then started jumping up and down on the concrete basement floor so hard I had sore feet the next day. The end result of the experience was good, although the Valley Forge was gone. It took me around a generation to do it, but I always knew that _someday_ I'd build a spacecraft model bigger than that, and a lot better done. And I did do that... it's around six inches longer (on purpose)...and it's not in a case:
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and learn. Of course, it's around time for its yearly washing... and sooner or later, something goes wrong while taking it down from over my bed and getting it into the shower, and then getting it back into place over the bed. Nowadays, I'd think that was funny, and indeed a Zen lesson about the transitory aspect of all things in the world. :-D I'd miss it a bit, but when it came right down to it, not all that much. After all, it, like Camelot, is just a model.

Pat

Reply to
Pat Flannery

84 for 5th February here
Reply to
Alan Dicey

I hate to admit this, but my way of getting money out of my parents for models closely resembled Cartman's technique from South Park. If you whine enough, they'll get you the model just to get you to shut the hell up. :-D

Pat

Reply to
Pat Flannery

on 2/7/2008 3:12 AM Pat Flannery said the following:

I had a number of built models that were stored in large cardboard boxes under my basement stairs for over 20 years. Even though they had tops on the boxes, they got pretty dusty. Some of the dust had attached itself to the models so well that compressed air couldn't blow all of it off. I sprayed each model with Windex and let it sit for a few seconds, then ran warm tap water over it. They cleaned up very well without having to brush the model off and brushing off small parts as well.

Reply to
willshak

i would love to build about a 6 foot version of the rodger young during a drop, with trooper's capsu;es slamming down. wheneve i read an account of a drop, i can see it perfectly in my head. the one ry model i've seen wasn't what i'd imagined. big surprise....

Reply to
someone

good tip!

Reply to
someone

for me, getting a job was a lot easier.

Reply to
someone

I read this forum through Talkabout Network, if anyone is familiar with that. I see the list of the latest 100 topics (undated)with authors, with the newest at the top (which theoretically could be weeks old), but there is no indication of what's new in the way of replies, or how many total posts there are. Here's the URL I get in the address box--

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-- Message posted using

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information at
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Reply to
Disco58

I never pictured it that way either. I thought it would be something like a big lifting body that slammed belly first into the atmosphere to slow down, dropped the landing capsules, then climbed vertically out of the atmosphere back into space. A cutaway model of one of those landing capsules in the book would be interesting in its own right. If they ever want to do a powersuit, this would be a good piece of machinery to base the design on:

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a more streamlined version:
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Pat

Reply to
Pat Flannery

no, not an atmospehric vehicle. read the drop scene again. i see her as a clip and ejector setup. the caps get fed into a cat and as he said, WHAM! the living section would be hung onto that mech. might be symmetric, might not. i could see early in the bug war there might be several types until they get their essex-analogue. could see cvl and jeeps for hitting airless bases. different capsules for different jobs, only relation the launcher...you could make a capsule for any kind of assault. even a tea and crumpet special for diplomatic invasions....add some retief for fun.

Reply to
someone

Same here. Dad had the talent of making you feel bad for having disappointed him. I never could get that to work on mine.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

Reply to
Mad-Modeller

In the book they state that a good dropship pilot will match the speed of a planet's rotation and drop the capsules straight down onto the target. That means the dropship is going considerably slower that orbital speed at release, so one way or another it will be falling toward the planet. You could this slowdown maneuver either via rocket braking or aerodynamic means. Aerodynamically would let the capsules be ejected at lower altitude and save fuel on the dropship. It would also look very neat in a movie. An interesting question is how capsules are landed on airless moons, as in the book they rely on aerodynamic means to brake their fall towards the surface before opening to release the mobile infantryman.

Remember though that the capsule disintegrates before landing to generate radar chaff. So that just the trooper in his powersuit with his weapons ends up on the ground. I may know where this idea came from. The Snark intercontinental cruise missile had a separate warhead that would release near its target and fall supersonically on it...the rest of the aircraft like-body would then pitch violently upwards and break up to generate clutter on the enemy radar. Although you could make capsules for all sorts of assaults, carrying a wide variety could take up a fair amount of room aboard a dropship...maybe whatever type is needed is loaded aboard before a specific operation via a supply ship. Here's a neat little item; back before the book, "Starship Troopers" was "Starship Soldier" and published in The magazine Of Fantasy And Science Fiction; here's the cover art of what Mobile Infantry looked like when Heinlein first wrote the story:

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Pat

Reply to
Pat Flannery

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