Awesome stuff you've just bought (+pics please)

[mesh control]

Goya Panther S-3 (also known as a Galanti Grand Prix v-3)
A cool Jaguar-esque 60's Italian guitar.
I am so happy ^_^

[z0mbie90]

Goya Panther S-3 (also known as a Galanti Grand Prix v-3)
A cool Jaguar-esque 60's Italian guitar.
I am so happy ^_^

Beautiful, just beautiful.

[caincan]

80's flavor

[kid aphex]

http://i.imgur.com/8ZEYO.jpg

[GaijinPunch]

[gct]

Nice. I have a Traxxas E-Revo VXL that I haven't used much in a while that I should pull back out of the closet and do some stuff to. Sure it tends to break, but at least all the parts are available, and sometimes fixing it is half the fun (although if I want to tinker, I'll probably do it on my Nitro truck.)

I've already built up a bit of a Mini-Z collection, I now have an AWD and two 2WD, and expecting a buggy soon, all 2.4GHz ASF and I have a decent radio - I can appreciate the individual model memory already.

So you have an E-Revo VXL and you're not using it? Damn that thing looks like so much fun, I am almost definitely getting a 1/16 VXL within a few weeks, but I'm undecided which one I should get. Not really considering Slash, but favouring E-Revo and Summit. Currently leaning heavily to the Summit but it's the most expensive of the three. It does seem most versatile in general outdoor conditions which is what I want to drive, whereas the E-Revo seems better for racetrack?

[Vexorg]

Nice. I have a Traxxas E-Revo VXL that I haven't used much in a while that I should pull back out of the closet and do some stuff to. Sure it tends to break, but at least all the parts are available, and sometimes fixing it is half the fun (although if I want to tinker, I'll probably do it on my Nitro truck.)

I've already built up a bit of a Mini-Z collection, I now have an AWD and two 2WD, and expecting a buggy soon, all 2.4GHz ASF and I have a decent radio - I can appreciate the individual model memory already.

So you have an E-Revo VXL and you're not using it? Damn that thing looks like so much fun, I am almost definitely getting a 1/16 VXL within a few weeks, but I'm undecided which one I should get. Not really considering Slash, but favouring E-Revo and Summit. Currently leaning heavily to the Summit but it's the most expensive of the three. It does seem most versatile in general outdoor conditions which is what I want to drive, whereas the E-Revo seems better for racetrack?

As far as I know, there is little difference internally between the E-Revo and Slash VXLs, and they share most of the same components. I believe the Summit is intended more for use as a rock crawler, but I haven't done much with those. No matter which one you get, the internals are going to be mostly identical. I actually did pull my e-Revo out to bash around with it in the snow recently, and plan to do a few upgrades when the Spring thaw hits (RPM suspension arms, most likely upgrading to 2.4Ghz radio). I suspect there should also be plenty of messing around with the nitro stuff later this year since we have a couple of older Savages to use as project trucks.

[caincan]

very happy. because it requires fight & patience to get 1/2. unluckily i'm still without the c64 version which has some more style box. two of the most important games in postnuke inspiration. Fallout is only a sequel/remake of these ! i'm missing the badblood radioactive prevention badge. only saw it once in an auction . yes there's not only Cave in matter of boxes & goodies





and something cool, a V pistol replica

[ookitarepanda]

One of my favorite Cave posters...

[louisg]

OK, so I just got a Lynx. I had one back in the day, and I liked it a lot. It was one of two systems I sold for a trade, and regretted it at the time (traded it for a GameGear, which seems to have a worse screen, same battery life, yet is easily less capable). From the games I have, here's what I think of them so far:

Hydra - This is the most disappointing of the bunch. It's just poorly balanced: Easy really is easy, and lets you easily amass so much fuel that you can die over and over on the Medium levels and still win. Starting on Medium starts you with hardly any fuel on the other hand. Add to this that a lot of the later enemy attacks are nearly invisible and impossible to avoid, and you have a missed opportunity of a game. The graphics are excellent at least.

Steel Talons - Lots of fun if you can deal with the framerate. This is about as good an arcade heli sim port as you could hope for on home hardware back then. I think it runs roughly as fast as the Genesis version and seems to have all the detail. I've played up to Mission 4 so far, though I'm still hazy on what the best tactic for various situations is.

Battle Wheels - Incredible! It's a good vehicular arena game, and the car customization seems Car Wars-influenced, which is awesome for Car Wars fans such as myself. The AI is pretty good, and there are a lot of strategies you can employ. The controls make it easy to look out the side/rear windows, check the map, and cycle between front/side/rear weapons quickly (which you'll have to do well to win). There are uses for each weapon, too-- it's not just feature creep design. The action is also very crisp and it's easy to see what is happening, for the most part. My big complaint so far is that it should be more obvious when a point is scored.

Xybots - I rented this back in the day. It's a faithful port of the arcade original, though it does run a little slower. If you haven't played it, check it out-- it's one of the very first corridor shooters (ala Wolfenstein 3d).

One Q i do have though: Is it normal for the screen to have a little bit of vertical bleed?

[drauch]

Nice grab on the post-nuke games! How much did you get wasteland for? I wasn't aware there was a 3.5 version!

[louisg]

Oh crazy! I just noticed Wasteland and Bad Blood. I remember when those were new. Man, that box design really brings back memories of SSI games. Yeah, I'm surprised too that there's a 3.5" one for IBM back then. For a sec I thought it must be the IIGS one or something.

[undamned]

Few Rockman items:



(147 gummies, D-Arts Full Armor X, Rockman Arrange Ver.2, Yujin DASH figures, Zero 1&2 guides, promo items, etc.)
-ud

[njiska]

Few Rockman items:



(147 gummies, D-Arts Full Armor X, Rockman Arrange Ver.2, Yujin DASH figures, Zero 1&2 guides, promo items, etc.)
-ud

How are the D-arts figures? I've been looking at buying their second Zero and upcoming Vile.

[undamned]

How are the D-arts figures? I've been looking at buying their second Zero and upcoming Vile.

Excellent. First, Kotobukiya's Rockman figures surprised me with a great look and then D-Arts blew my mind with both looks and posibility. We are in an age of neat stuff! I have not opened my Full Armor Rockman, but I have the regular X and it is great. You can pose them so awesomely, the possibilities are limitless. Contemplating picking up one of those Bandai figure stands that grips their torso so you can make flying action poses!
-ud

[caincan]

Nice grab on the post-nuke games! How much did you get wasteland for? I wasn't aware there was a 3.5 version!

myself too, but that's not the real purpose. easy to get the data anywhere on the net. i figured it was 5"1/4 only. appleII version was from the latest games on the machine i suppose. got luck, ~40$ shipping included (it's part of fun too, i only went for more for a pc game : Martian dreams , complete with maps, cards, .. ). they go nearly 80$ many times . as goes Fountain of dreams. (beautiful art on the box)

absolutely yes for SSI/TSR arts on boxes, the Buckrogers 25th century , is marvelous imo.

[chempop]

I might have to start using the heat in my apartment more, I tend to be comfortable at around 58-60 degrees. The stick is solid metal and basically turns into an ice cube! I'm a happy camper though, been wanting one of these for the longest time!

[Stormwatch]

D2 -- $24.97
Joe -- $5.07
s&h - $3.75

Fuck yeah Lukie Games!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

OK, so I just got a Lynx. I had one back in the day, and I liked it a lot. It was one of two systems I sold for a trade, and regretted it at the time (traded it for a GameGear, which seems to have a worse screen, same battery life, yet is easily less capable). From the games I have, here's what I think of them so far:

Hydra - This is the most disappointing of the bunch. It's just poorly balanced: Easy really is easy, and lets you easily amass so much fuel that you can die over and over on the Medium levels and still win. Starting on Medium starts you with hardly any fuel on the other hand. Add to this that a lot of the later enemy attacks are nearly invisible and impossible to avoid, and you have a missed opportunity of a game. The graphics are excellent at least.

Steel Talons - Lots of fun if you can deal with the framerate. This is about as good an arcade heli sim port as you could hope for on home hardware back then. I think it runs roughly as fast as the Genesis version and seems to have all the detail. I've played up to Mission 4 so far, though I'm still hazy on what the best tactic for various situations is.

Battle Wheels - Incredible! It's a good vehicular arena game, and the car customization seems Car Wars-influenced, which is awesome for Car Wars fans such as myself. The AI is pretty good, and there are a lot of strategies you can employ. The controls make it easy to look out the side/rear windows, check the map, and cycle between front/side/rear weapons quickly (which you'll have to do well to win). There are uses for each weapon, too-- it's not just feature creep design. The action is also very crisp and it's easy to see what is happening, for the most part. My big complaint so far is that it should be more obvious when a point is scored.

Xybots - I rented this back in the day. It's a faithful port of the arcade original, though it does run a little slower. If you haven't played it, check it out-- it's one of the very first corridor shooters (ala Wolfenstein 3d).

One Q i do have though: Is it normal for the screen to have a little bit of vertical bleed?

Those listed Lynx games are ace in my book.

If you haven't tried out the prototype Lynx cart of Road Riot 4WD, it's a super smooth Lynx racing game based on it's arcade counterpart of the same name (that was developed by Atari Corp. in-house as a 1st-party killer app Lynx gaming title). It has a 1994 copyright date (considering that official Lynx software production stopped after the 1992-1993 season). The Lynx RR4WD port does have a sliky-smooth 60fps presentation from the get-go (to show off what the Lynx was capable of doing in the hands of the right dev team). It was 99% finished but there's no "final" ending screen and goes to a black colored screen upon completion of the final race (even if you cross the finish line in 1st place). The digitized speech bites, sound effects, & BGM from the arcade original is "spot on" in this Lynx RR4WD port indeed! I would've gladly bought it on day one of release if Atari Corp. had officially released it.

I think if Atari hadn't killed software support for it's Lynx platform to concentrate on the Jaguar platform only, it would've gotten a lot more 1st-party & 3rd-party software support, indeed, for the 1993-1994 timeline.

Yes, it's normal for a Lynx I/II handheld to have vertical bleed due to the LCD technology used in manufacturing the Lynx's LCD screen. However, it's not normal for an Lynx I/II LCD screen to have on-board sprite corruption issues (happened to me upon buying a Lynx II, returned it and got a 2nd one that was 100% working with no issues whatsoever). You might want to try out some of the other Lynx gaming titles such as: Blue Lightning (awesome usage of hardware scaling effects even when afterburners are implemented), Klax, Blockout, Road Blasters, Hard Drivin', Raiden (was never officially released by Atari Corp. despite being 100% finished & still has a 1992 copyright date), S.T.U.N. Runner, Checkered Flag, etc.

If Atari Corp. hadn't killed off it's upcoming 16-bit powered Panther gaming console, it would've been possible to play your favorite Lynx games inserted into the console and played on the big screen with no adapter necessary. But alas, it wasn't meant to be as Atari canned it and decided to "put all their eggs in one basket" with the 64-bit powered Jaguar console instead.

Atari Lynx Factoid: The LCD screen used in the Lynx I was designed & manufactured in Japan. Originally, it was supposed to debut with an MSRP of $149.99 USD but ending being an MSRP of $179.99 instead at launch. The sharper TFT-based LCD screen used in the NEC PC GT/Turbo Express handheld was made by Epson of Japan.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Deca]

Just finished building this last weekend, maiden flight will be this Sunday.

I'm a bit more worried about damaging the Mini-Z, since it was EXPENSIVE, even more so after installing a bunch of aluminum parts on it. The fit & finish on the chassis is unbelievable though, such precision engineering that must be seen to be believed. I can't wait to race against my cousin, but I got him a MR-015i which is slightly nerfed electronically, I might have a big advantage...

I've been racing Mini-Zs with a local club for a while now, I have an MR-03 with extensive modifications (I can list them if you're interested), an MA-010 that was originally set up as a drift car (oneway diff front, locked rear, 4.5* camber front) and has currently been reverted to stock for a spec STi class we're running this season, and a MB-010 that I grabbed as soon as they were released. These things are a lot of fun, if you can afford it you might consider an RCP layout, your cars will handle better/more consistently and you won't have to worry as much about damage. If you're looking to drift then a tight woven carpet works great (you can drift on RCP but it requires a much more delicate touch). Build yourself some sort of track and you'll find driving much more fun, even better if you get some sort of timing system going. Check out mini-zracer.com to see if there's a club near you, these things are really best enjoyed with others.

Kyosho stuff definitely is expensive, but for the size of a Mini-Z nothing else even comes close to the level of precision and consistency they offer. Setting them up is just like setting up a car in Gran Turismo

[gct]

Wow Deca. RC flying looks really fun, although I'd probably have to drive an hour and a half to find a safe place to fly. I guess that's not too bad, really. But how many times do you crash before you get decent at it?

Yeah I'm over at mini-zracer, and someone there pulled me over to a local forum. I'll be meeting the club for the 2nd time this Sunday, I'm totally pumped!

If I'm racing with them I will use my nearly-stock 2WD, but I'm such a noob I wouldn't be able to control it if it went any faster. I've been doing a little bit of drifting with the AWD at home, but the best surface I have available is a rug, which is kind of thick and has all kinds of textures that can stop a slide suddenly. Maybe when I have my 1:1 car back on the road I can go look for some roll-up carpets or something. Is gym flooring any good? The local club has RCP but I might want something cheaper just for messing around at home.

[KBZ]

Been wanting a mechanical keyboard for years. Finally got one within by budget.



Word of warning, these Cherry MX Blue switches are louder than the Babylon 5 font this thing uses.

Noticed my local stores weren't restocking the DSi XL, so I picked one up before I could regret it.

[gct]

Noticed my local stores weren't restocking the DSi XL, so I picked one up before I could regret it.

I was about to ask why you couldn't just buy one 2nd-hand, but then I checked and realized that your local craigslist really sucks.

[Deca]

Wow Deca. RC flying looks really fun, although I'd probably have to drive an hour and a half to find a safe place to fly. I guess that's not too bad, really. But how many times do you crash before you get decent at it?

I may not be the best person to ask, as I had a fair amount of experience with real airplanes before getting into RC. I've only crashed a couple times and it's never been due to a loss of control really. Once I clipped a tree making my turn to final (my depth perception isn't so hot, I operate on one eye most of the time). That didn't do much to my Multiplex Mini-Mag, just straightened the wing out and it was ready for more flying. I tore the nose off my Typhoon 2 once because I was stupid and flying intense aerobatics without using my flight timer. I'd been out a bit too long and my battery didn't quite have the juice to pull out of a long series of downward vertical maneuvers. Tip stalled on me and I panicked and cartwheeled it. I've crashed my UMX Extra 300 a handful of times but it's so light that it doesn't do too much damage to itself, so I'm a bit more careless with it. A lot of those can be attributed to the fact I only fly it indoors as well, and I tend to get nervous when I'm heading toward a wall. As for helicopters...my Blade400 went down ONCE because of a tail rotor failure in flight. My mcpx has been crashed dozens of times but it's indestructible so I fly it pretty recklessly.

So uh...to actually answer your question. If you can get your hands on a simulator you'll probably hardly have to crash at all. Knowing what to expect and not being surprised goes a long way. If you're interested in collective pitch helicopters then I'd say a sim is an absolute must if you don't want to spend more time rebuilding and buying parts for it than flying it. This will sound cheesy but it's totally true that experience with video games will translate over to RC flying, it's the exact same sort of coordination. If you start out with a foam electric trainer then even if you do crash a bit it won't be a big deal. You know how I said I tore the entire nose off of my Typhoon 2? I took it home and after a bit of Foam Safe CA and Kicker it was put back together in 30 minutes or less, and it flew again that evening!

If you're interested feel free to hit me up via PM or whatever, I'd be happy to talk shop about RC flying all day!

Yeah I'm over at mini-zracer, and someone there pulled me over to a local forum. I'll be meeting the club for the 2nd time this Sunday, I'm totally pumped!

If I'm racing with them I will use my nearly-stock 2WD, but I'm such a noob I wouldn't be able to control it if it went any faster. I've been doing a little bit of drifting with the AWD at home, but the best surface I have available is a rug, which is kind of thick and has all kinds of textures that can stop a slide suddenly. Maybe when I have my 1:1 car back on the road I can go look for some roll-up carpets or something. Is gym flooring any good? The local club has RCP but I might want something cheaper just for messing around at home.

I actually race with TinyRC/Mini-Z Racer's home club here in Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti It's very convenient being able to run back into the stockroom to get parts at races, and we get to see all the new merch right as it arrives! Speed shouldn't be a concern, as they likely run a standard motor (probably the PN 70turn if not just stock). The first upgrades you'll want to look into are a damper plate system for the rear suspension, possibly springs for the front depending on how it feels after that, and most importantly TIRES. Drive stock for a bit just so you understand/appreciate the mods as you do them, you'll find a DPS makes the car much easier to drive and more predictable. I'm sure the guys at your club will be happy to help you out with setup and everything, I hope you have fun with it!

It's going to be fairly hard to drift accurately on a gym floor, it actually has too little grip, RCP is difficult for similar reasons. Just try drifting on all sorts of different surfaces, you might find something you like. I like carpet because I get just enough traction that I'm not constantly sliding unless I want to be, and I've noticed some of the better Mini Z drifting vids on youtube take place on carpet tracks. Oh also, try taping some weight under the hood of your drift car. I taped two quarters together and stuck that under the hood of my FC3S, really liked what it did for the handling. I've been trying to mess with gearing too overdrive the rear wheels for a countersteer setup, but it's proven annoying to do with the parts available. I'd have to buy a fairly expensive rear diff that I'm just going to lock anyway simply to be able to get the proper size gear.

[KBZ]

I was about to ask why you couldn't just buy one 2nd-hand, but then I checked and realized that your local craigslist really sucks.

Craigslist sucks because no one uses it. This part of Canada uses Kijiji.ca

They pop up pretty often, but this time I wanted a new one.

[Skykid]

[tinotormed]

http://twitpic.com/8hx68c
Total awesomeness, DooD!

[dingsbums]

[Casey120]

Needed a new printer and A3 + printers come pretty cheap now so bought a Canon iX 6500 .
had some testing fun today :

[burgerkingdiamond]

Needed a new printer and A3 + printers come pretty cheap now so bought a Canon iX 6500 .
had some testing fun today :

are those original scans of yours?