Month: September 2012

The funny thing is that I actually like to drive. The car I normally drive is automatic though. I have nothing against it, but if I don’t drive a stick shift once in a while I fear I may forget how.

I bought some sketch paper with the intention of doing something other than just read this tablet. I also bought a new mech pencil to replace the one I lost at my friend’s apt… but it’s a different brand… why did I do that ?

I am finding that the android tablet is strictly a browsing machine, it being hard to do anything but that. I probably end up doing a lot of browsing on a laptop anyway, but with a larger software suite (proper software not apps), keyboard and mouse, I have more options that look a bit more like work. Or at least doing somethkng that looks remotely constructive. Not to mention typing on a pad is rather difficult, but maybe it’s just the awkward size of the particular pad I am using at the moment.

I wonder if netbooks have become so passe that nobody sells them anymore? I hope not, since I am seriously considering getting a netbook instead of a tablet for my mobile computing needs… unless an ultrabook is now reasonably priced.

Stall maneuvers

Some of the more drastic maneuvers employed by fighter planes involve deliberately induced stalls.

A stall occurs when an aircraft’s forward motion is insufficient for the wings to generate lift. The plane literally starts falling from the sky. Pilots recover by pushing the nose down into a dive, gaining enough speed for the wings to work. Sometimes stall happens when the plane tries to climb too steeply, causing the plane both to lose speed fighting gravity and also, because the wings present their underside instead of the leading edge to the air, prevent the airfoil effect from functioning and generating lift.

A stall may occur in a single wing, under certain maneuvers, causing the wing to drop and causing a sudden roll turning the plane upside down. This happens at low speed, usually in very tight turns. It is normally  regarded as highly undesirable.

Some ace pilots like to do what is called a snap roll by pulling up then applying strong rudder, usually to the left. Pulling up brings the plane to the brink of stall. Using the rudder swings the plane (in this case) left, slowing the left wing past the stall point, causing that wing to fall suddenly and flipping the plane upside down and into a dive! And usually changing direction to run in the opposite direction it had been going.

Not all planes are suited to this maneuver because most will spin out of control. Japanese fighters on the other hand were noted for their easy recovery from violent stalls, especially the Ki-43 Hayabusa or Oscar. Therefore we find frequent mentions of the Hayabusa aces performing these wild snap rolls to throw off Allied attackers in pursuit. The jolting change of direction is extremely hard to follow if the attacking plane does not have the same level of maneuverability.

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Flight Sims

It all began when I came up with the idea of creating characters based on Axis fighter planes such as the Bf-109 and the Zero. Since the characters have quirks based on the fighters they’re based on, I did a bit of research on the aircraft. Aspie that I am, I soon got neck deep into it, discovering the sheer variety of planes the Japanese employed and getting to know and be fond of some types I’d never even heard of before this year.

Much of the information came from sites and forums for flight simulators such as Warbirds and Aces High, in addition to historical sites. Now I feel that I would like to try flying some of these old planes in a sim. I have my eye on the Nakajima Hayate and the Kawanishi Shiden. Jap planes are slightly slower but more maneuverable and supposedly more forgiving if you accidentally stall them. American planes are fast, but you can lose control in some maneuvers, pretty violently.

Well, I figure that I might try flight sims. So I’ve checked out some software, but without downloading. Warbirds allows you to download a client free, and you can fly against the computer for free. You only need to pay to fly against online opponents after the first month, and from what I’ve heard, human flyers are very unpredictable opponents and make a more exciting game. In any case I won’t be flying online anytime just yet. Need to learn to fly first!

FlightGear is a very well developed open source simulator, with high quality graphics and a large variety of planes, including obscure ones from the Rumanian Air Force, for example. It’s really very pretty and realistic. Dogfighting is not a feature though. Or at least you *can* dance in the sky chasing other planes. You just can’t shoot at them.

Aeron is another flight sim. This one does allow dogfighting. The planes are rendered as basic vector shapes flying in a realistic sky, but fly realistically enough. I probably wouldn’t mind the basic rendering of the planes when too busy watching out for bogies. My main complaint is the small collection of planes, mostly modern jet fighters. Still, it might be fun. It is possible to dogfight other players online.

Some guy named Nguyen Chung has dipped his hand into the flight sim business. The sim is written using irrlicht 3D with a version of Basic, and come in several variants all ending in _chung. It looks basic, and probably flies quite basic, but you can dogfight and shoot. I am not sure whether the Chung sims can go online.

Lastly, for all the research I’ve done about those fighter planes… I haven’t actually drawn anything yet, alas.

Mehter!

Some years ago I got a bit of mania for Ottoman history and even started listening to “mehter” (Ottoman war songs) such as, “Gafil ne bilir”. In one line, “Hazreti Yezdan” is translated as “Allah”.

Gâfil ne bilir neş’ve-i pür-şevk-i vegâyı
(How would unwary know the joy of fighting a war in vigor)
Meydân-ı celâdetteki envar-ı sefâyı
(Light of purity emanating from the battlefield of heroism)
Merdân-ı gazâ aşk ile tekbirler alınca
(When the men of war started to scream Takbir in over excitement)
Titretti yine, rû-yı zemin arş-ı semâyı.
(The surface of the earth shook against the vault of heaven )

Allah yolunda cenk edelim şân alalım şan
(Let’s fight in name of Allah and have all the glory )
Kur’an’da vaadediyor [B]Hazret’i Yezdan[/B].
(which [B]Hazreti Yezdan (Allah)[/B] is promising in Quran)

Farzeyledi Hallak-ı Cihan, harb-ü cihadı,
(Creator of the universe, made the holy war (J1had) our religious duty)
Hep cenk ile yükselmede ecdadımın adı…
(Names of my ancestors have always been ascended through war)

Dünyaları feth eyleyen ecdadımız EL HAK,
(Our ancestor who conqured the world, for the name of AL-HAK)
Adil idi, hıfzeyler idi, Hak-kı ibadı…
(were just and protective of rights of people)

Allah yolunda cenk edelim şân alalım şan
(Let’s fight in name of Allah and have all the glory )
Kur’an’da vaadediyor Hazret’i Yezdan.
(Which Hazreti Yezdan (Allah) is promising in Quran)

About cars

Well, regarding second hand cars with a budget of 10k, I’ve kind of rooted for several possibilities, including a surprising one.

Kancil seems to be a very common choice, but I’ve heard it’s a bit fragile and the 660cc model actually uses more fuel than the 850cc due to lousy acceleration and climb. The good news is that spare parts are plentiful. I don’t know how reliable it is, how often it breaks down, etc. I would actually prefer the Kelisa model, which got good reviews in UK and Australia, and has a good reputation in terms of performance and reliability even here, but that reputation plus its sporty looks means dealers can “jual mahal” (sell high). I couldn’t find a second hand Kelisa advertised for less than 20k.

Proton. Also a very common choice, I haven’t really done any research though. Spares are abundant, but supposedly the reliability of the newer homegrown models is questionable. The early Sagas are rebadged Mitsubishis, they may be reliable… need more research! They do seem to be much more abundant than, and cheaper than second hand kancils, at least the ye olde Saga model are. Getting conflicting opinions on Lowyat forum about reliability and maintenance.

The surprising choice is Nissan Sunny 130Y. I hadn’t even considered it at first, until I heard about its legendary reliability, low fuel consumption and low maintenance requirements. It’s selling cheap too, likely because of its unremarkable appearance. However, I get the impression that the Nissan Sunny is a diamond under that plain exterior. Some cars from the early 1980s are still running with minimum maintenance! It’s a car that might suit a complete engine tyro like me.

The question mark is the availability of parts, as the old style Sunny stopped being produced in the late 1990s. There’s a brand new Sunny coming up, but I don’t think the engine parts will be compatible. If Nissan parts are easy to come by and older parts compatible with new cars, the good old Sunny will be a strong contender.

Surprisingly, I couldn’t find a second hand Toyota advertised for less than 15k. Toyotas are solid cars, and dealer and driver alike know it.