View allAll Photos Tagged 23016
Portrait A.I.
************
★*´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•` Moltes gràcies per la visita - Thanks for your visit !!!
All right reserved - Contact: joanotbellver@gmail.com
Nadat de nachttrein naar Latour de Carol was vastgelegd gingen we terug naar de herberg bij Ax-le-Therme. Hier werd van de mogelijkheid gebruik gemaakt om een wasje te draaien en ondertussen werd de omgeving nog wat verkend. Toen alles klaar was om ingepakt te worden reden we weer naar Latour de Carol. Nu met het doel om de 'Train Jaune' te fotograferen. Deze 'Gele Trein' rijdt tussen Latour-de-Carol en Villefranche over een elektrisch smalspoorlijntje. Het ingezette materieel stamt uit de begintijd van de spoorlijn, welke gebouwd is tussen 1903 en 1927 (telkens een stukje verlengd). Het eerste stekje waar de zon goed stond voor trein 23016.
Leuk detail is dat de Spaanse grens direct links van het spoor ligt. Om op dit stekje te komen moesten we dus de 100 meter door Spanje rijden, om vervolgens terug te keren in Frankrijk en het talud van de brug oplopen.
N783AX - Boeing B-767-281/BCF - DHL (operated by ABX Air - leased from CAMI)
at Hamilton International Airport (YHM)
c/n 23016 - built in 1983 for ANA All Nippon Airways -
converted to freighter (by BEDEK) in 2010 - operated by ABX Air for DHL Network Operations
N783AX - Boeing B-767-281/BCF - DHL (operated by ABX Air - leased from CAMI)
at Hamilton International Airport (YHM)
c/n 23016 - built in 1983 for ANA All Nippon Airways -
converted to freighter (by BEDEK) in 2010 - operated by ABX Air for DHL Network Operations
N783AX - Boeing B-767-281/BCF - DHL (operated by ABX Air - leased from CAMI)
at Hamilton International Airport (YHM)
c/n 23016 - built in 1983 for ANA All Nippon Airways -
converted to freighter (by BEDEK) in 2010 - operated by ABX Air for DHL Network Operations
Z 107 + ZR 20033 + ZR 20004 + Z 111, TER 17317 Villefranche-Vernet-les-Bains - Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via
Z 105 + ZR 20032 + ZR 20037 + Z 116, TER 23016 Latour-de-Carol-Enveitg - Villefranche-Vernet-les-Bains
La Cabanasse
N783AX - Boeing B-767-281/BCF - DHL (operated by ABX Air - leased from CAMI)
at Hamilton International Airport (YHM)
c/n 23016 - built in 1983 for ANA All Nippon Airways -
converted to freighter (by BEDEK) in 2010 - operated by ABX Air for DHL Network Operations
Z 118 +ZR 20031 + ZR 20033 + Z 102 + ZR 20023 + Z 104, TER 23016 Latour de Carol-Enveitg - Villefranche-Vernet-les-Bains, Nyers
Ex-PRR caboose (or cabin car, depending on your preference) CR 23016 brings up the rear of a westbound van train at Tipton, PA. Operating rules, as well as union agreements kept the caboose on the rear of Conrail trains longer than most railroads, but the caboose would be mostly gone by the end of the 80s.
CR 23016. Tipton, PA.
July 18, 1985. H. E. Brouse photo.
Adam Klimchock collection.
Flixtrain 243.001 (Hector Rail 243.001) makes a stop in Hallsberg with train 23016 (Göteborg C - Stockholm C ) on August 6, 2021, departure Hallsberg 14:23.
A pair of former Luminant Texas Utilities C30-7's now belonging to locomotive component trading and recycling company Solvents and Metals, Inc., sit in the service track at KCS Knoche Yard. These units originally built for the BN are apparently headed for scrap.
Locomotives: SMTX 23016, SMTX 23017
2-1-15
Kansas City, MO
From Monday 1st June 2015 the Monday to Saturday service on route 32 from Guildford to Redhill transferred from ARRIVA Kent & Surrey to Compass Bus and thus ending ARRIVA's fourteen year association with the route.
Pictured here during the last month of operation, ARRIVA Kent & Surrey 3930 GK51 SZJ is seen on Old Reigate Road between Brockham and Betchworth whilst working route 32. Wednesday 13th May 2015
DAF SB120 - Wrightbus Cadet (Ex-ARRIVA Guildford & West Surrey)
IMG_23016
....Well, you can`t polish it! However, it makes a nice visual change on the D2. Photographed along Shackleton Drive, Daventry on the way towards Lang Farm. 30th March 2016
N783AX - Boeing B-767-281/BCF - DHL (operated by ABX Air - leased from CAMI)
at Hamilton International Airport (YHM)
c/n 23016 - built in 1983 for ANA All Nippon Airways -
converted to freighter (by BEDEK) in 2010 - operated by ABX Air for DHL Network Operations
The Grade II Listed Exchange Arcade, built in 1847, Cornhill, Lincoln, Lincolnshire.
Originally opened as a Corn Exchange by the Lincoln Corn Exchange and Market Co. Designed by Architect W A Nicholson and built by Kirk of Sleaford.
The foundation stone was laid on 1st September 1847 and opened in April 1848 and completed at the cost of £15000 (£1.196 Million in modern money). It was found to be too small, so was enlarged in 1853 with the addition of the west end at a further cost of £1000.
It operated as exchange until a larger building was required and the new Corn Exchange was built in 1879/1880. In 1882 it was renamed Exchange Arcade and was altered to create an arcade with 12 small shops on either side of a central walkway, with a larger shop at east and west ends. This arrangement continued until the 1950s when the walkway was moved to the north side, with 6 shop units extending the width of the building.
The basement/cellar was Hattons Tea Rooms from the early 1900s until the 1930s; in 1939 it was intended for use as an air raid shelter; 1950s a store for bananas; it was part-renovated in 1976, with the cellar opening as Cornhill Vaults Public House in December 1976 until it's closure in 2000.
In 2002, the whole of the eastern part of the building was gutted except for the external walls; a lift and new piles were inserted and a completely new open-plan interior created. Brick culverts were recorded at the western end below cellar level. It remained Unoccupied until 2005 when the current occupiers Waterstones bookshop opened. The West end in the 1960s-70s was Wakefields Army Stores and since 2010 Santander Bank.
Nikon D40
18-200mm f/3.5-6.3
ƒ/6.3 201.6 mm 1/800 400
EXIF
JFIFVersion - 1.02
X-Resolution - 300 dpi
Y-Resolution - 300 dpi
Make - NIKON CORPORATION
Orientation - Horizontal (normal)
Software - Capture NX 2.0.0 W
Date and Time (Modified) - 2018:07:21 10:55:10
YCbCr Positioning - Centered
Reference Black White - 0 255 0 255 0 255
XMPToolkit - Public XMP Toolkit Core 3.5
Authors Position - Utente fotocamera NIKON D40
Usage Terms - Solo per valutazione, nessuna riproduzione è permessa senza autorizzazione
Rating Percent - 0
ISO Speed - 400
Exif Version - 0220
Date and Time (Original) - 2018:07:20 18:54:20
Date and Time (Digitized) - 2018:07:20 18:54:20
Components Configuration - Y, Cb, Cr, -
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
Max Aperture Value - 6.3
Metering Mode - Multi-segment
Light Source - Unknown
Sub Sec Time - 50
Sub Sec Time Original - 50
Sub Sec Time Digitized - 50
Flashpix Version - 0100
Color Space - Uncalibrated
Sensing Method - One-chip color area
File Source - Digital Camera
Scene Type - Directly photographed
CFAPattern - [Blue,Green][Green,Red]
Custom Rendered - Normal
Exposure Mode - Auto
White Balance - Auto
Digital Zoom Ratio - 1
Focal Length (35mm format) - 300 mm
Scene Capture Type - Standard
Gain Control - Low gain up
Contrast - Normal
Saturation - Normal
Sharpness - Normal
Subject Distance Range - Unknown
Maker Note Version - 2.10
Color Mode - Color
Quality - RAW
White Balance - Auto
Sharpness - Auto
Focus Mode - AF-A
White Balance Fine Tune - 0
WB_ RBLevels - 2.05078125 1.6015625 1 1
Program Shift - 0
Exposure Difference - 0
Crop Hi Speed - Off (3040x2014 cropped to 3040x2014 at pixel 0,0)
Serial Number - 6544903
Color Space - sRGB
VRInfo Version - 0100
Vibration Reduction - On
VRMode - Normal
Tone Comp - Auto
Lens Type - G VR
Flash Mode - Did Not Fire
AFArea Mode - Dynamic Area (closest subject)
AFPoint - Center
AFPoints In Focus - Center
Shooting Mode - Continuous, Auto ISO
Lens FStops - 5.33
Contrast Curve - (Binary data 8256 bytes, use -b option to extract)
Color Hue - Mode3a
Light Source - Natural
Shot Info Version - 0209
Shutter Count - 58090
Hue Adjustment - 0
Noise Reduction - Off
WB_ RGGBLevels - 525 256 256 410
Lens Data Version - 0202
Exit Pupil Position - 128.0 mm
AFAperture - 6.2
Focus Position - 0x8a
Focus Distance - 1.06 m
Lens IDNumber - 237
Min Focal Length - 18.3 mm
Max Focal Length - 201.6 mm
Max Aperture At Min Focal - 3.6
Max Aperture At Max Focal - 6.3
MCUVersion - 75
Effective Max Aperture - 6.3
Raw Image Center - 1520 1007
Sensor Pixel Size - 6.05 x 6.05 um
Retouch History - None
Image Data Size - 4431864
Saturation - Auto
Vari Program - Auto
Multi Exposure Version - 0100
Multi Exposure Mode - Off
Multi Exposure Shots - 0
Multi Exposure Auto Gain - Off
High ISONoise Reduction - Off
Nikon Capture Version - Capture NX 2.0.0 W
IFD0_ Offset - 14943
Preview IFD_ Offset - 14843
NEFBit Depth - 12
Compression - JPEG (old-style)
XResolution - 300
YResolution - 300
Preview Image Start - 17243
Preview Image Length - 23016
Beep - Off
AFAssist - On
No Memory Card - Release Locked
Image Review - On
Auto ISO - On
Auto ISOMax - 1600
Auto ISOMin Shutter Speed - 1/30 s
Image Review Time - 4 s
Monitor Off Time - 8 s
Metering Time - 8 s
Self Timer Time - 10 s
Remote On Duration - 1 min
AELock Button - AE/AF Lock
AELock - Off
Shooting Mode Setting - Continuous
Timer Function Button - ISO
Metering - Matrix
Internal Flash - TTL
Manual Flash Output - Full
Flash Level - +0.0
Focus Mode Setting - AF-S
AFArea Mode Setting - Single Area
Compression - JPEG (old-style)
Thumbnail Offset - 15067
Thumbnail Length - 2176
Rating - 0
By-line Title - Utente fotocamera NIKON D40
Camera ID - 54194
Camera Type - Digital SLR
The above image is a scan from an original Kodachrome™ slide. The default size is 2000 x 1250 pixels, so clicking on the photo will enlarge it for better viewing.
The original image comes from my slide collection, amassed over the past 40+ years. They are a combination of my own photographs and ones acquired through trades or purchases.
I created this Photostream in 2017 for the purpose of holding my slide collection as an archive, as otherwise they would just remain in binders and boxes, not being enjoyed by anyone, myself included.
Comments are welcome.
Aircraft MSN: 23016
Type & Series: Boeing 767-281
Registration: N783AX
Operator: ABX Air
Location (when available): Seattle BFI
Remarks:
Departing Phoenix, AZ on March 6, 2013. Might be a bit backlit, but for a 762 I'll take it!
Copyright
All my photographic and video images are copyrighted. All rights are reserved. Please do not use, copy or edit any of my photographs without my written permission. If you want to use my photo for commercial or private use, please contact me. Please do not re-upload my photos at any location on the internet without my written consent.
With KCS Geeps and a pair of Ex-BN C30-7's bound for scrap, transfer move UP Train YKS69 07 passes St. Louis Avenue on the UP KC Metro Sub. during its trip from KCS Knoche Yard to UP Neff Yard with a healthy cut of interchange tonnage.
Locomotives: KCS 2847, KCS 2966, SMTX 23016, SMTX 23017
2-7-15
Kansas City, MO
Photo André Knoerr, Genève. Reproduction autorisée avec mention de la source.
Utilisation commerciale soumise à autorisation spéciale préalable.
Menée par l'ABt 375, la composition de réserve de la ligne Vallorbe - Le Brassus, ex-transN, stationne en gare de Vallorbe.
23016
Southbound NS manifest 35Q climbs out of a dip at Midland, VA on Jan. 27, 23016, led by CP CW44AC No. 9547.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Brazilian Air Force (Portuguese:) is the air branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces and one of the three national uniformed services. The FAB was formed when the Army and Navy air branch were in 1941 merged into a single military force initially called "National Air Forces". Both air branches transferred their equipment, installations and personnel to the new force. In World War II, the Brazilian Air force made important contributions to the Allied war efforts, especially as part of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB) on the Italian front, and operated a number of American types like P-38, P-40 and P-47 fighters as well as A-20 and A-31 bombers, which were partly kept in service after the war had ended.
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was originally designed in response to a February 1937 specification from the United States Army Air Corps. Circular Proposal X-608 was a set of aircraft performance goals for a twin-engine, high-altitude "interceptor" having "the tactical mission of interception and attack of hostile aircraft at high altitude." The P-38 had distinctive twin booms and a central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament.
During its successful career, the P-38 was not only used for interception, but also for dive bombing, level bombing, ground attack, night fighting, photo reconnaissance, radar and visual pathfinding for bombers and evacuation missions, and extensively as a long-range escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks under its wings. The P-38 was unusually quiet for a fighter, since the exhaust was muffled by the turbo-superchargers. It was extremely forgiving and could be mishandled in many ways, but the rate of roll in the early versions was too low for it to excel as a serious dogfighter.
The P-38 was operated by the USAAF throughout the country’s engagement in WWII and in all major conflict zones. Beyond the USAAF, the type was also tested or operated by allies, e. g. France, Great Britain (only an export version was tested and rejected) and Brazil. The Brazilian Air Force received its first P-38Js relatively late in WWII. In December 1944, a total of 109 aircraft were delivered to FEB forces in Italy, where the machines were primarily used as fighter bombers (armed with bombs and unguided missiles) and sometimes as long range escort fighter for American bomber raids. After the war, most of these machines were abandoned and scrapped on site, but the P-38 had a very good service record and had been popular among the crews. In order to modernize its home defense, Brazil procured in 1946 another 55 P-38L from US stock and surplus production. These were distributed among three interceptor squadrons and the type’s long range proved to be very effective over the country’s vast ranges along the borders, and also over the Atlantic Ocean.
Most of the aircraft’s career remained peaceful, but towards the end of the FAB P-38’s career, while the Lightning was already about to be gradually phased out, the machines became in 1961-63 involved in hot military action during the so-called “Lobster War”, a dispute over spiny lobsters with France. The Brazilian government refused to allow French fishing vessels to catch spiny lobsters 100 miles off the Brazilian northeast coast, arguing that lobsters "crawl along the continental shelf", while the French maintained that "lobsters swim" and that therefore they might be caught by any fishing vessel from any country. During this conflict, the P-38s carried out long range patrols over the Southern Atlantic and flew escort missions for Brazilian long-range reconnaissance aircraft, which shadowed (and threatened) French civil and military vessels. More than once the FAB aircraft flew low-level phantom attacks and fired their guns into the open sea as threatening gestures. There were no casualties, though, and the dispute was resolved unilaterally by Brazil, which extended its territorial waters to a 200-mile zone, taking in the disputed lobsters' bed.
The last FAB P-38 was eventually retired in 1965 and the type was replaced by the F-80C and TF-33A, which themselves were later replaced by the MB-326, Mirage III and Northrop F-5 jets.
General characteristics.
Crew: One
Length: 37 ft 10 in (11.53 m)
Wingspan: 52 ft 0 in (15.85 m)
Height: 12 ft 10 in (3.91 m)
Wing area: 327.5 ft² (30.43 m²)
Airfoil: NACA 23016 / NACA 4412
Empty weight: 12,800 lb (5,800 kg)
Loaded weight: 17,500 lb (7,940 kg)
Max. take-off weight: 21,600 lb (9,798 kg)
Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0268
Drag area: 8.78 ft² (0.82 m²)
Aspect ratio: 8.26
Powerplant:
2× Allison V-1710-111/113 V-12 piston engine,
each delivering 1,600 hp (1,193 kW) WEP at 60 inHg, 3,000 rpm
Performance:
Maximum speed: 414 mph (666 km/h)
Cruise speed: 275 mph (443 km/h)
Stall speed: 105 mph (169 km/h)
Range: 1,300 mi (2,100 km) with internal fuel
1,770 mi (3,640 km) with drop tanks
Service ceiling: 44,000 ft (13,400 m)
Rate of climb: 4,750 ft/min (24.1 m/s)
Wing loading: 53.4 lb/ft² (260.9 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.27 kW/kg)
Lift-to-drag ratio: 13.5
Armament:
1× Hispano M2 20 mm cannon with 150 rounds
4× M2 Browning 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns with 500 rpg
Inner underwing hardpoints for up to 2,000 lb (907 kg) bombs or drop tanks each;
Outer hardpoints for up to 2× 500 lb (227 kg) bombs or 10× 5 in (127 mm) HVARs (High Velocity
Aircraft Rockets)
The kit and its assembly:
This lightning is another hardware rendition of a fictional profile drawing, once more created by Czech fellow user PantherG at whatifmodelers.com, originally posted in late Feb. 2019. Brazil never operated the P-38, but I found, due to the type’s long range, the idea quite plausible. And the paint scheme depicted in the profile was interesting, too. So I dug out a Matchbox P-38 from the pile (primarily in order to reduce its volume; if I had bought a dedicated P-38 kit for this build, I’d probably have used the Hobby Boss model) and started work.
The Matchbox P-38 is certainly not the best kit of this iconic aircraft. Its biggest selling point is that it goes together relatively well and yields a solid, even though simple model. It has many weak points, though:
- It features a wild mix of raised and engraved details on the surface.
- The cockpit only consists of a simple floor panel and a pilot seat, which rather looks like an armchair from a Seventies living room.
- The landing gear is very simple, too, and the landing gear wells show no interior detail at all
- The turbocharger fairings are (relatively) nicely detailed, but their fit is abysmal and their complex shape makes blending them with the surroundings a tiresome (if not futile) affair.
Since all wing and fuselage elements come in separate sections, aligning everything is not easy - expect some serious PSR work! At least, the real life P-38 had handed propellers, and this detail is actually reflected by the Matchbox kit.
Since this build was rather about fiction and the livery than details, I only made minor improvements. I left the cockpit closed, with the OOB pilot inside, but replaced the wacky seat and added a board with a radio to cover the empty space behind it. Any available space in the central pod and in the tail booms’ front ends was filled with lead, in hope to get the model on its three wheels. It actually worked!
The propellers received new and longer axes as well as matching adapter tubes inside of the engines, so that they could be attached after the model was otherwise finished. The primitive landing gear was taken OOB, I just pimped the struts with hydraulic hoses, made from thin wire.
The flaps under the inner wing sections were lowered and I used the OOB drop tanks. The “tree” HVAR launchers were omitted and their attachment points under the wings hidden under styrene profiles. On the nose, I added machine gun barrels to the otherwise empty openings, and, as a final cosmetic move, I added wire antennae between the tail booms and the canopy.
Painting and markings:
The more creative part. I tried to stay true to PantherG’s inspiring profile, even though I made some minor changes which appeared more plausible to me and added some more color. The three-tone camouflage pattern (inspired by Guatemaltecan P-51s?) reflects typical Brazilian jungle landscape well and was made of USAAF WWII colors (Dark Olive Drab 41 (ANA 613), Medium Green 42 (ANA 612), Sand 49 (ANA 616) and Neutral Grey 43.
Painting was done with Tamiya XF-62, Humbrol 195 and 237 on the upper surfaces, and underneath I used FS 36314 from Modelmaster, since I find “true” Neutral Grey (FS 36173) to look very murky on/under a 1:72 model. Painting was done with brushes, as per usual.
The cockpit interior was painted in zinc chromate green, while the landing gear wells’ interior became chrome yellow. Landing gear struts, wheel discs and drop tanks became Humbrol 156, similar to the aircraft’s undersides.
Concerning the FAB markings I deviated from PantherG’s profile drawing: I gave the Lightning post-WWII FAB roundels which consist only of the stylized star and lack the blue USAAF disc background or the “bars”. AFAIK, these markings were only used during WWII, when American aircraft were quickly “Brazilianized” through simply overpainting the original US insignia’s white star from the factories. Furthermore, I individualized the aircraft with post WWII FAB squadron markings in the form of medium blue bands around the tail booms with the Southern Cross star constellation from the Brazilian flag.
Another FAB post WWII era detail is the use of a color code for the different groups within a squadron, which were carried on propeller spinners and thin fuselage bands. In this case, the aircraft belonged to the “Blue Group”, adding some more color to the camouflaged aircraft.
The Brazilian roundels come from an FCM Decals T-33/F-80 sheet. The same source also provided the small stars that appear on the light blue fuselage band (created with generic decal sheet). The Brazilian fin flashes were created with yellow paint and green decal sheet material. The tactical codes in USAF 45° font come from a Hasegawa Japanese F-4E decal sheet, and for a better contrast I placed them on a silver background (again generic decal sheet material), as if they had been spared when the aircraft received its camouflage.
Some light panel shading as well as weathering/dry-brushing on the leading edges and around the cockpit was done, and finally the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).
An interesting result – the Brazilian P-38 does not look spectacular, but quite plausible. The three-tone camouflage creates an interesting look on the P-38, which normally only comes in olive drab/grey, NMF or all-black liveries. In the beauty pics over a rainforest landscape, it even proves to be quite effective at medium and low altitude! And while the Matchbox kit is certainly not the best P-38 model around, it “does the job” and is a pleasant, quick build.
London 30-07-1984. Burnley & Pendle WRN 13R (13, they were not afraid of numbers...), Leyland Leopard PSU4D/4R / Alexander Y new in December 1975. Seems to be in use on the London-Southend service.
Seen while taxying in on G-GDFF. Stored since 2007 she was originally delivered to Lufthansa as D-ABIQ. I first saw her in 1983 as VR-BHP
CR 23016 brings up the rear as a westbound Conrail pipe train works its way through Dolton. 5/16/81--Tom Golden photo.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Brazilian Air Force (Portuguese:) is the air branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces and one of the three national uniformed services. The FAB was formed when the Army and Navy air branch were in 1941 merged into a single military force initially called "National Air Forces". Both air branches transferred their equipment, installations and personnel to the new force. In World War II, the Brazilian Air force made important contributions to the Allied war efforts, especially as part of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB) on the Italian front, and operated a number of American types like P-38, P-40 and P-47 fighters as well as A-20 and A-31 bombers, which were partly kept in service after the war had ended.
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was originally designed in response to a February 1937 specification from the United States Army Air Corps. Circular Proposal X-608 was a set of aircraft performance goals for a twin-engine, high-altitude "interceptor" having "the tactical mission of interception and attack of hostile aircraft at high altitude." The P-38 had distinctive twin booms and a central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament.
During its successful career, the P-38 was not only used for interception, but also for dive bombing, level bombing, ground attack, night fighting, photo reconnaissance, radar and visual pathfinding for bombers and evacuation missions, and extensively as a long-range escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks under its wings. The P-38 was unusually quiet for a fighter, since the exhaust was muffled by the turbo-superchargers. It was extremely forgiving and could be mishandled in many ways, but the rate of roll in the early versions was too low for it to excel as a serious dogfighter.
The P-38 was operated by the USAAF throughout the country’s engagement in WWII and in all major conflict zones. Beyond the USAAF, the type was also tested or operated by allies, e. g. France, Great Britain (only an export version was tested and rejected) and Brazil. The Brazilian Air Force received its first P-38Js relatively late in WWII. In December 1944, a total of 109 aircraft were delivered to FEB forces in Italy, where the machines were primarily used as fighter bombers (armed with bombs and unguided missiles) and sometimes as long range escort fighter for American bomber raids. After the war, most of these machines were abandoned and scrapped on site, but the P-38 had a very good service record and had been popular among the crews. In order to modernize its home defense, Brazil procured in 1946 another 55 P-38L from US stock and surplus production. These were distributed among three interceptor squadrons and the type’s long range proved to be very effective over the country’s vast ranges along the borders, and also over the Atlantic Ocean.
Most of the aircraft’s career remained peaceful, but towards the end of the FAB P-38’s career, while the Lightning was already about to be gradually phased out, the machines became in 1961-63 involved in hot military action during the so-called “Lobster War”, a dispute over spiny lobsters with France. The Brazilian government refused to allow French fishing vessels to catch spiny lobsters 100 miles off the Brazilian northeast coast, arguing that lobsters "crawl along the continental shelf", while the French maintained that "lobsters swim" and that therefore they might be caught by any fishing vessel from any country. During this conflict, the P-38s carried out long range patrols over the Southern Atlantic and flew escort missions for Brazilian long-range reconnaissance aircraft, which shadowed (and threatened) French civil and military vessels. More than once the FAB aircraft flew low-level phantom attacks and fired their guns into the open sea as threatening gestures. There were no casualties, though, and the dispute was resolved unilaterally by Brazil, which extended its territorial waters to a 200-mile zone, taking in the disputed lobsters' bed.
The last FAB P-38 was eventually retired in 1965 and the type was replaced by the F-80C and TF-33A, which themselves were later replaced by the MB-326, Mirage III and Northrop F-5 jets.
General characteristics.
Crew: One
Length: 37 ft 10 in (11.53 m)
Wingspan: 52 ft 0 in (15.85 m)
Height: 12 ft 10 in (3.91 m)
Wing area: 327.5 ft² (30.43 m²)
Airfoil: NACA 23016 / NACA 4412
Empty weight: 12,800 lb (5,800 kg)
Loaded weight: 17,500 lb (7,940 kg)
Max. take-off weight: 21,600 lb (9,798 kg)
Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0268
Drag area: 8.78 ft² (0.82 m²)
Aspect ratio: 8.26
Powerplant:
2× Allison V-1710-111/113 V-12 piston engine,
each delivering 1,600 hp (1,193 kW) WEP at 60 inHg, 3,000 rpm
Performance:
Maximum speed: 414 mph (666 km/h)
Cruise speed: 275 mph (443 km/h)
Stall speed: 105 mph (169 km/h)
Range: 1,300 mi (2,100 km) with internal fuel
1,770 mi (3,640 km) with drop tanks
Service ceiling: 44,000 ft (13,400 m)
Rate of climb: 4,750 ft/min (24.1 m/s)
Wing loading: 53.4 lb/ft² (260.9 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.27 kW/kg)
Lift-to-drag ratio: 13.5
Armament:
1× Hispano M2 20 mm cannon with 150 rounds
4× M2 Browning 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns with 500 rpg
Inner underwing hardpoints for up to 2,000 lb (907 kg) bombs or drop tanks each;
Outer hardpoints for up to 2× 500 lb (227 kg) bombs or 10× 5 in (127 mm) HVARs (High Velocity
Aircraft Rockets)
The kit and its assembly:
This lightning is another hardware rendition of a fictional profile drawing, once more created by Czech fellow user PantherG at whatifmodelers.com, originally posted in late Feb. 2019. Brazil never operated the P-38, but I found, due to the type’s long range, the idea quite plausible. And the paint scheme depicted in the profile was interesting, too. So I dug out a Matchbox P-38 from the pile (primarily in order to reduce its volume; if I had bought a dedicated P-38 kit for this build, I’d probably have used the Hobby Boss model) and started work.
The Matchbox P-38 is certainly not the best kit of this iconic aircraft. Its biggest selling point is that it goes together relatively well and yields a solid, even though simple model. It has many weak points, though:
- It features a wild mix of raised and engraved details on the surface.
- The cockpit only consists of a simple floor panel and a pilot seat, which rather looks like an armchair from a Seventies living room.
- The landing gear is very simple, too, and the landing gear wells show no interior detail at all
- The turbocharger fairings are (relatively) nicely detailed, but their fit is abysmal and their complex shape makes blending them with the surroundings a tiresome (if not futile) affair.
Since all wing and fuselage elements come in separate sections, aligning everything is not easy - expect some serious PSR work! At least, the real life P-38 had handed propellers, and this detail is actually reflected by the Matchbox kit.
Since this build was rather about fiction and the livery than details, I only made minor improvements. I left the cockpit closed, with the OOB pilot inside, but replaced the wacky seat and added a board with a radio to cover the empty space behind it. Any available space in the central pod and in the tail booms’ front ends was filled with lead, in hope to get the model on its three wheels. It actually worked!
The propellers received new and longer axes as well as matching adapter tubes inside of the engines, so that they could be attached after the model was otherwise finished. The primitive landing gear was taken OOB, I just pimped the struts with hydraulic hoses, made from thin wire.
The flaps under the inner wing sections were lowered and I used the OOB drop tanks. The “tree” HVAR launchers were omitted and their attachment points under the wings hidden under styrene profiles. On the nose, I added machine gun barrels to the otherwise empty openings, and, as a final cosmetic move, I added wire antennae between the tail booms and the canopy.
Painting and markings:
The more creative part. I tried to stay true to PantherG’s inspiring profile, even though I made some minor changes which appeared more plausible to me and added some more color. The three-tone camouflage pattern (inspired by Guatemaltecan P-51s?) reflects typical Brazilian jungle landscape well and was made of USAAF WWII colors (Dark Olive Drab 41 (ANA 613), Medium Green 42 (ANA 612), Sand 49 (ANA 616) and Neutral Grey 43.
Painting was done with Tamiya XF-62, Humbrol 195 and 237 on the upper surfaces, and underneath I used FS 36314 from Modelmaster, since I find “true” Neutral Grey (FS 36173) to look very murky on/under a 1:72 model. Painting was done with brushes, as per usual.
The cockpit interior was painted in zinc chromate green, while the landing gear wells’ interior became chrome yellow. Landing gear struts, wheel discs and drop tanks became Humbrol 156, similar to the aircraft’s undersides.
Concerning the FAB markings I deviated from PantherG’s profile drawing: I gave the Lightning post-WWII FAB roundels which consist only of the stylized star and lack the blue USAAF disc background or the “bars”. AFAIK, these markings were only used during WWII, when American aircraft were quickly “Brazilianized” through simply overpainting the original US insignia’s white star from the factories. Furthermore, I individualized the aircraft with post WWII FAB squadron markings in the form of medium blue bands around the tail booms with the Southern Cross star constellation from the Brazilian flag.
Another FAB post WWII era detail is the use of a color code for the different groups within a squadron, which were carried on propeller spinners and thin fuselage bands. In this case, the aircraft belonged to the “Blue Group”, adding some more color to the camouflaged aircraft.
The Brazilian roundels come from an FCM Decals T-33/F-80 sheet. The same source also provided the small stars that appear on the light blue fuselage band (created with generic decal sheet). The Brazilian fin flashes were created with yellow paint and green decal sheet material. The tactical codes in USAF 45° font come from a Hasegawa Japanese F-4E decal sheet, and for a better contrast I placed them on a silver background (again generic decal sheet material), as if they had been spared when the aircraft received its camouflage.
Some light panel shading as well as weathering/dry-brushing on the leading edges and around the cockpit was done, and finally the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).
An interesting result – the Brazilian P-38 does not look spectacular, but quite plausible. The three-tone camouflage creates an interesting look on the P-38, which normally only comes in olive drab/grey, NMF or all-black liveries. In the beauty pics over a rainforest landscape, it even proves to be quite effective at medium and low altitude! And while the Matchbox kit is certainly not the best P-38 model around, it “does the job” and is a pleasant, quick build.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Brazilian Air Force (Portuguese:) is the air branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces and one of the three national uniformed services. The FAB was formed when the Army and Navy air branch were in 1941 merged into a single military force initially called "National Air Forces". Both air branches transferred their equipment, installations and personnel to the new force. In World War II, the Brazilian Air force made important contributions to the Allied war efforts, especially as part of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB) on the Italian front, and operated a number of American types like P-38, P-40 and P-47 fighters as well as A-20 and A-31 bombers, which were partly kept in service after the war had ended.
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was originally designed in response to a February 1937 specification from the United States Army Air Corps. Circular Proposal X-608 was a set of aircraft performance goals for a twin-engine, high-altitude "interceptor" having "the tactical mission of interception and attack of hostile aircraft at high altitude." The P-38 had distinctive twin booms and a central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament.
During its successful career, the P-38 was not only used for interception, but also for dive bombing, level bombing, ground attack, night fighting, photo reconnaissance, radar and visual pathfinding for bombers and evacuation missions, and extensively as a long-range escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks under its wings. The P-38 was unusually quiet for a fighter, since the exhaust was muffled by the turbo-superchargers. It was extremely forgiving and could be mishandled in many ways, but the rate of roll in the early versions was too low for it to excel as a serious dogfighter.
The P-38 was operated by the USAAF throughout the country’s engagement in WWII and in all major conflict zones. Beyond the USAAF, the type was also tested or operated by allies, e. g. France, Great Britain (only an export version was tested and rejected) and Brazil. The Brazilian Air Force received its first P-38Js relatively late in WWII. In December 1944, a total of 109 aircraft were delivered to FEB forces in Italy, where the machines were primarily used as fighter bombers (armed with bombs and unguided missiles) and sometimes as long range escort fighter for American bomber raids. After the war, most of these machines were abandoned and scrapped on site, but the P-38 had a very good service record and had been popular among the crews. In order to modernize its home defense, Brazil procured in 1946 another 55 P-38L from US stock and surplus production. These were distributed among three interceptor squadrons and the type’s long range proved to be very effective over the country’s vast ranges along the borders, and also over the Atlantic Ocean.
Most of the aircraft’s career remained peaceful, but towards the end of the FAB P-38’s career, while the Lightning was already about to be gradually phased out, the machines became in 1961-63 involved in hot military action during the so-called “Lobster War”, a dispute over spiny lobsters with France. The Brazilian government refused to allow French fishing vessels to catch spiny lobsters 100 miles off the Brazilian northeast coast, arguing that lobsters "crawl along the continental shelf", while the French maintained that "lobsters swim" and that therefore they might be caught by any fishing vessel from any country. During this conflict, the P-38s carried out long range patrols over the Southern Atlantic and flew escort missions for Brazilian long-range reconnaissance aircraft, which shadowed (and threatened) French civil and military vessels. More than once the FAB aircraft flew low-level phantom attacks and fired their guns into the open sea as threatening gestures. There were no casualties, though, and the dispute was resolved unilaterally by Brazil, which extended its territorial waters to a 200-mile zone, taking in the disputed lobsters' bed.
The last FAB P-38 was eventually retired in 1965 and the type was replaced by the F-80C and TF-33A, which themselves were later replaced by the MB-326, Mirage III and Northrop F-5 jets.
General characteristics.
Crew: One
Length: 37 ft 10 in (11.53 m)
Wingspan: 52 ft 0 in (15.85 m)
Height: 12 ft 10 in (3.91 m)
Wing area: 327.5 ft² (30.43 m²)
Airfoil: NACA 23016 / NACA 4412
Empty weight: 12,800 lb (5,800 kg)
Loaded weight: 17,500 lb (7,940 kg)
Max. take-off weight: 21,600 lb (9,798 kg)
Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0268
Drag area: 8.78 ft² (0.82 m²)
Aspect ratio: 8.26
Powerplant:
2× Allison V-1710-111/113 V-12 piston engine,
each delivering 1,600 hp (1,193 kW) WEP at 60 inHg, 3,000 rpm
Performance:
Maximum speed: 414 mph (666 km/h)
Cruise speed: 275 mph (443 km/h)
Stall speed: 105 mph (169 km/h)
Range: 1,300 mi (2,100 km) with internal fuel
1,770 mi (3,640 km) with drop tanks
Service ceiling: 44,000 ft (13,400 m)
Rate of climb: 4,750 ft/min (24.1 m/s)
Wing loading: 53.4 lb/ft² (260.9 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.27 kW/kg)
Lift-to-drag ratio: 13.5
Armament:
1× Hispano M2 20 mm cannon with 150 rounds
4× M2 Browning 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns with 500 rpg
Inner underwing hardpoints for up to 2,000 lb (907 kg) bombs or drop tanks each;
Outer hardpoints for up to 2× 500 lb (227 kg) bombs or 10× 5 in (127 mm) HVARs (High Velocity
Aircraft Rockets)
The kit and its assembly:
This lightning is another hardware rendition of a fictional profile drawing, once more created by Czech fellow user PantherG at whatifmodelers.com, originally posted in late Feb. 2019. Brazil never operated the P-38, but I found, due to the type’s long range, the idea quite plausible. And the paint scheme depicted in the profile was interesting, too. So I dug out a Matchbox P-38 from the pile (primarily in order to reduce its volume; if I had bought a dedicated P-38 kit for this build, I’d probably have used the Hobby Boss model) and started work.
The Matchbox P-38 is certainly not the best kit of this iconic aircraft. Its biggest selling point is that it goes together relatively well and yields a solid, even though simple model. It has many weak points, though:
- It features a wild mix of raised and engraved details on the surface.
- The cockpit only consists of a simple floor panel and a pilot seat, which rather looks like an armchair from a Seventies living room.
- The landing gear is very simple, too, and the landing gear wells show no interior detail at all
- The turbocharger fairings are (relatively) nicely detailed, but their fit is abysmal and their complex shape makes blending them with the surroundings a tiresome (if not futile) affair.
Since all wing and fuselage elements come in separate sections, aligning everything is not easy - expect some serious PSR work! At least, the real life P-38 had handed propellers, and this detail is actually reflected by the Matchbox kit.
Since this build was rather about fiction and the livery than details, I only made minor improvements. I left the cockpit closed, with the OOB pilot inside, but replaced the wacky seat and added a board with a radio to cover the empty space behind it. Any available space in the central pod and in the tail booms’ front ends was filled with lead, in hope to get the model on its three wheels. It actually worked!
The propellers received new and longer axes as well as matching adapter tubes inside of the engines, so that they could be attached after the model was otherwise finished. The primitive landing gear was taken OOB, I just pimped the struts with hydraulic hoses, made from thin wire.
The flaps under the inner wing sections were lowered and I used the OOB drop tanks. The “tree” HVAR launchers were omitted and their attachment points under the wings hidden under styrene profiles. On the nose, I added machine gun barrels to the otherwise empty openings, and, as a final cosmetic move, I added wire antennae between the tail booms and the canopy.
Painting and markings:
The more creative part. I tried to stay true to PantherG’s inspiring profile, even though I made some minor changes which appeared more plausible to me and added some more color. The three-tone camouflage pattern (inspired by Guatemaltecan P-51s?) reflects typical Brazilian jungle landscape well and was made of USAAF WWII colors (Dark Olive Drab 41 (ANA 613), Medium Green 42 (ANA 612), Sand 49 (ANA 616) and Neutral Grey 43.
Painting was done with Tamiya XF-62, Humbrol 195 and 237 on the upper surfaces, and underneath I used FS 36314 from Modelmaster, since I find “true” Neutral Grey (FS 36173) to look very murky on/under a 1:72 model. Painting was done with brushes, as per usual.
The cockpit interior was painted in zinc chromate green, while the landing gear wells’ interior became chrome yellow. Landing gear struts, wheel discs and drop tanks became Humbrol 156, similar to the aircraft’s undersides.
Concerning the FAB markings I deviated from PantherG’s profile drawing: I gave the Lightning post-WWII FAB roundels which consist only of the stylized star and lack the blue USAAF disc background or the “bars”. AFAIK, these markings were only used during WWII, when American aircraft were quickly “Brazilianized” through simply overpainting the original US insignia’s white star from the factories. Furthermore, I individualized the aircraft with post WWII FAB squadron markings in the form of medium blue bands around the tail booms with the Southern Cross star constellation from the Brazilian flag.
Another FAB post WWII era detail is the use of a color code for the different groups within a squadron, which were carried on propeller spinners and thin fuselage bands. In this case, the aircraft belonged to the “Blue Group”, adding some more color to the camouflaged aircraft.
The Brazilian roundels come from an FCM Decals T-33/F-80 sheet. The same source also provided the small stars that appear on the light blue fuselage band (created with generic decal sheet). The Brazilian fin flashes were created with yellow paint and green decal sheet material. The tactical codes in USAF 45° font come from a Hasegawa Japanese F-4E decal sheet, and for a better contrast I placed them on a silver background (again generic decal sheet material), as if they had been spared when the aircraft received its camouflage.
Some light panel shading as well as weathering/dry-brushing on the leading edges and around the cockpit was done, and finally the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).
An interesting result – the Brazilian P-38 does not look spectacular, but quite plausible. The three-tone camouflage creates an interesting look on the P-38, which normally only comes in olive drab/grey, NMF or all-black liveries. In the beauty pics over a rainforest landscape, it even proves to be quite effective at medium and low altitude! And while the Matchbox kit is certainly not the best P-38 model around, it “does the job” and is a pleasant, quick build.