Mysterious Alloy - Universal Duralumin and Zeonium

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Deacon Blues
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Mysterious Alloy - Universal Duralumin and Zeonium

In doing some recent data crunching and what not for various fighters and craft that appear in the Universal Century, I've come across various information which utilizes the terms "universal duralumin" and "zeonium". Near as I can tell, the "universal duralumin" was used as the alloy in the Federation fighters and what not while the "zeonium" is the alloy used in the Zeon's fighters. I believe these one-offs were mentioned in the Roman Album Extra for Mobile Suit Gundam II Soldiers of Sorrow book that was published, but alas I haven't been able to track it down easily.

Were these terms abandoned early on or are they just forgotten words thrown in at random for world building purposes that never gained traction?
toysdream
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Re: Mysterious Alloy - Universal Duralumin and Zeonium

Yeah, these were just throwaway references in the vehicle specs from the Roman Album. Since Gundam Officials opted to privilege the Roman Album specs above all other sources, they've lived on in later publications.

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Deacon Blues
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Re: Mysterious Alloy - Universal Duralumin and Zeonium

toysdream wrote:Yeah, these were just throwaway references in the vehicle specs from the Roman Album. Since Gundam Officials opted to privilege the Roman Album specs above all other sources, they've lived on in later publications.
Huh, interesting though. I haven't found them in any other publications aside from that particular one. Ah well. I guess we shouldn't consider that a spec worthy of listing anyways, right?
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Re: Mysterious Alloy - Universal Duralumin and Zeonium

Well, it's part of the Roman Album specs for the Core Booster, Deprogg, Fanfan, and Fly Manta, which are pretty much the only ones on offer. I think the reference to Zeonium is just in the mecha essay section, though - the Zeon vehicle specs aren't as detailed, and most of the aircraft were covered in the previous volume.

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Gelgoog Jager
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Re: Mysterious Alloy - Universal Duralumin and Zeonium

Slightly off-topic, but I couldn't help to remember a somewhat related issue:

Is there any info on the mineral that M'Quve was extracting at the mining base which Amuro attacked by himself?

M'Quve told Kycillia that they were only getting a few grams of this particular mineral, to which Kycillia replied that she didn't want the EF to get any of it.
False Prophet
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Re: Mysterious Alloy - Universal Duralumin and Zeonium

Can anyone please explain to me what is this "Roman Album" thing anyway?
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Brave Fencer Kirby
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Re: Mysterious Alloy - Universal Duralumin and Zeonium

It's one of the myriad different print sources for technical information about Gundam stuff. Here's some details.
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Erisie
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Re: Mysterious Alloy - Universal Duralumin and Zeonium

Gelgoog Jager wrote:Slightly off-topic, but I couldn't help to remember a somewhat related issue:

Is there any info on the mineral that M'Quve was extracting at the mining base which Amuro attacked by himself?

M'Quve told Kycillia that they were only getting a few grams of this particular mineral, to which Kycillia replied that she didn't want the EF to get any of it.
Can't give you an specific answer on that one... but that doesn't stop me from speculating!

Considering its military strategic value and scarcity, it might be related to a scarce mineral used for metallic alloys, such as Rhenium (Re), Tellurium (Te) or Ruthenium (Ru).

It might also be a synthesized (ie. non-naturally-occurring) element, extracted as a byproduct of nuclear reactions and useful for, well, more nuclear reactions! The only ones known to be of any use are Californium (Ca), which emits high quantities of neutrons; and Americium (Am), widely used in household smoke detectors.
It is possible that UC physics might have found practical applications for the rest of the stable heavy elements, such as Protactinium (Pa), Einsteinium (Es), Fermium (Fm), Mendelevium (Md), Nobelium (No) or Lawrencium (Lr); none of which are stable enough to have any use beyond research.
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Gelgoog Jager
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Re: Mysterious Alloy - Universal Duralumin and Zeonium

That's an interesting theory, and likely the case though most likely for a fictional equivalent.

I guess I was hoping that there do was a more specific mention of the element/resource in question. For instance, a key resource for manufacturing luna titanium alloy/gundarium or for the research that would lead to the psycho frame or some other newtype technology. Kycillia wanting it to be secret from Gihren makes it sound like something she could use at her favor against him, making newtype weapons, which she supported, a likely candidate.

Still, if there's a fictional material for generic aircraft, I wonder why didn't do the same for MS armor material, well, aside from luna titanium that is.
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