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Lady Offering Dragonbane
Race: High Elf
Age: 282
Height: 6'0" / 182 cm (plus a few inches in boots)
Weight: 60kg / 132 lbs (lithe but has the curves)
Eye Color: Green
Bust: 38"
Sexuality: Bisexual (female leaning, dominant tendency)
Alignment: Neutral Good
From a young age, Offering had a charismatic gift for being an effective trader. It was her love of rare and exotic things that drove her to know the value of objects, long before she completed her paladin training. Within a few years of being inducted into the Order, she had travelled much of the elven lands and beyond. She worked as both an emissary and trader with the demons, drow, and Vanadians in her younger years.
Offering became very wealthy, intuitively knowing when to buy low and sell high. She had a way of always ensuring she could close the deal. For many years, the paladin Order of Felwithe looked past her ever increasing trade with those who could be considered enemies. After all, she tithed 10% of her income to the Church and this helped expand their own influence.
By age 40, Offering was giving more platinum than the rest of the Order combined. She felt it unfair to give such a large sum, and so refused to give more than what she felt was fair. The Order saw it differently, and she was promptly ex-communicated.
Offering decided then to follow a different path rather than atone. Far too selfish for such petty games, she decided to enroll at the Enchanter's academy in Felwithe. No longer bound by the light and laws, she learned new charm and weakening magics. She took a new path with the enchanters, worshipping Erollisi Marr, the Goddess of Love.
Offering now uses a combination of her ex-paladin combat skills and new enchanting magic to do battle. She has given up her holy sword, in favor of an enchanted whip named Willsapper. It drains the target of its energy and causes humanoid targets to become aroused, and thus more submissive to her will. She still uses her shield to defend herself in combat. Offering now prefers to dress much lighter than in her paladin days, often wearing revealing outfits made of fine leather and fur.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the model, the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Panzerkampfwagen E-100, also known as Gerät 383 and TG-01, was a German super-heavy tank design developed towards the end of World War II. It was proposed to be the basis for a heavy artillery system, an anti-aircraft vehicle, and a heavy tank destroyer. The basic design had been ordered by the Waffenamt as a parallel development to Porsche's heavy tank design "Maus" in June 1943, but it was to become an integral part of the new, standardized Entwicklung (E) series of vehicles, consisting of the E-5, E-10, E-25, E-50, E-75 and finally the E-100. The latter was the heaviest and biggest chassis of the family, which was meant to standardize as many components and production processes as possible.
In March 1944 the Adlerwerke company from Frankfurt am Main submitted blueprint 021A38300 for a super-heavy battle tank called E-100, after the tank was proposed in April 1943 along with the other Entwicklung series vehicles. According to the blueprints, the tank would be armed with a both a 150 mm gun and a 75 mm gun in a huge turret. Two types of engines were proposed: one was a 700 hp Maybach HL230, with a transmission and turning mechanism borrowed from the Tiger II. The estimated top speed was 23 km/h, and it was clear that this powerplant was utterly undersized for the E-100, which would be almost twice as heavy as the already underpowered Tiger II. The second engine, which was favored for serial production, was a new, turbocharged 1200 hp Maybach HL 232 engine that allowed an estimated top speed of 40 km/h on roads and a decent off-road performance, should the underground allow such an adventure. Other engines in the 1.000+ hp range were considered, too, e. g. modified Daimler Benz aircraft engines, or even torpedo boat powerplants.
The Adler design had a simple hull shape and featured removable side armor skirts and narrow transport tracks to make rail transport more viable. The running gear was very similar to the original 'Tiger-Maus' proposal but had larger 900 mm diameter road wheels and a new coil spring-based suspension rather than the original torsion bars. This greatly simplified the hull’s construction, avoiding openings and therefore weak structural spots, because the coil springs and their mounts remained outside of the hull. This design also made manufacturing much easier, and the simpler coil springs saved high-quality steel. A new turret was designed, too, intended to be simpler and lighter than the massive Maus turret. In the end, the E-100 was 40 tons lighter than the 188 t Maus prototype, and a much simpler and streamlined design.
In July 1944, through the worsening war situation and declining national resources, the development of any super heavy tanks was officially halted. However, work on the E-100 continued at a low priority and with the outlook to produce a limited number of these massive vehicles for special purposes, using existing components. With increasing panic among the military staff and a desperate search for “Wunderwaffen” that could eventually turn the Allied invasion, permission was granted in early 1945 to proceed with the E-100 project as the SdKfz. 193, with the intention to build the E-100 as a supplement to the E-50 and E-75 Einheitspanzer battle tanks, primarily in the role of a long-range tank destroyer with either a 15 cm StuK L/63 or a 17 cm StuK L/53 gun as main armament, and as a heavily armored defensive vehicle.
The first prototype of the basic battle tank version was quickly completed in March 1945, but from the start several variants were slated for the limited serial production. Four battle tank variants were defined, differing basically through the turret designs and the armament. The chassis was furthermore earmarked for E-100 tank hunters and assault guns like the "Krokodil" (the Sd.Kfz. 197) with a low, casemate-style hull. Some of these SPGs also had their internal layout changed, moving the rear engine into the middle of the hull for a bigger combat compartment at the rear, so that the long gun barrel would not hang over at the front. These vehicles received the designation suffix “(m)”, for “Mittelmotor” (middle engine).
After the first E-100 battle tanks had reached frontline units in December 1945, the new chassis was greenlighted as basis for super-heavy self-propelled artillery and anti-aircraft guns. Since these vehicles were not expected to operate directly in frontline fire and to save material and production time, the hull had its armor thickness reduced considerably, and this chassis variant was called the Sd.Kfz. 199. This led to several super-heavy SPAAGs that primarily differed in their superstructures, which included open, semi-armored and fully armored/closed weapon mounts.
The latter included the Sd.Kfz. 199/4, also called the Flakpanzer E-100/88. It carried a large, box-shaped turret with a crew of five and a twin-mount for a pair of coupled 88 mm Flak 43 anti-aircraft guns, the “Gerät 288”. This heavy weapon had originally been on the Marine's drawing board for the anti-air defense of medium to large battleships since 1942, but the German fleet’s demise led to an adaptation of the coupled-weapon concept to the use on land. The huge and strong E-100 chassis eventually offered enough space to consider a self-propelled mount for a fully enclosed turret with this anti-aircraft weapon.
The Gerät 288 integrated two, originally independent guns into a massive, mutual mount, working on the Gast Gun principle developed by German engineer Karl Gast of the Vorwerk company in 1916: the firing action of one barrel operated the mechanism of the other, creating a reciprocal twin gun. This system required no external power source to operate but was instead powered by the recoiling of the floating barrels. This provided a much faster rate of fire for lower mechanical wear than a single-barrel weapon, and another benefit of this arrangement was that the recoil from one barrel was largely compensated for by the movement of the other one.
To expand range and ceiling beyond the standard Flak 43 gun the Gerät 288 featured extended gun barrels (80 gauge instead of the field weapon’s 72), which were manufactured in two pieces for easier production and replacement. With these, the guns achieved a muzzle velocity of 1,050 m/s (3,440 ft/s), giving them an effective ceiling of 11,500 meters (37,100 ft) and a maximum of 16,000 meters (52,400 ft). The 88 mm guns could also be used against ground targets and were, using dedicated armor-piercing rounds, able to penetrate ~240 mm (9.4 inches) of vertical hardened steel armor at 1,000 m (3,280 feet). This was enough to defeat the armor of almost any contemporary Allied tank from a relatively safe distance.
In the Sd.Kfz. 199/4’s massive turret, the heavy-duty hydraulic gun mount had an elevation between +70° and -5°. The Gerät 288’s combined rate of fire was up to 150 RPM, even though 120 RPM were more practical to limit structural stress and avoid jamming. Thanks to two magazines with 58 rounds each in the turret’s sides, continuous auto-fire was possible, as well as short bursts of two to five rounds per gun and single shots. The guns could also be fed manually by the loaders (one per gun from the inside). The magazines were normally loaded externally through hatches in the turret roof, but they could be accessed from the inside, too, and re-filled under armor cover from a further stock of 86 rounds that were stored in the SPAAG’s lower hull.
To improve target acquisition and fire control, the Gerät 288 was combined with a visual coincidence range finder and an integrated analogue targeting computer, a variant of the Kommandogerät (KDO) 40. In the Sd.Kfz. 199/4, this device was operated by a dedicated crew member who assisted the gunner and the commander.
This so-called Telemeter had already been introduced in 1941 to the field troops as a mobile guidance tool for stationary anti-aircraft units equipped with the 88 mm and 105 mm Flak. But it had so far – due to its size and bulk – only been deployed on an unarmored trailer and in the recent unarmed Sd.Kfz. 282 command vehicle. In the Sd.Kfz. 199/4’s turret the rangefinder’s optical bar had a reduced span of 240 cm (95 in), but fixed target reading was possible on distances from 3,000 to 20,000 m and aerial courses could be recorded at all levels of flight at a slant range between 4,000 and 18,000 m - enough for visual identification beyond a typical anti-aircraft group's effective gun ranges and perfectly suitable for long range observation, too.
The Telemeter was mounted in the turret’s roof under armored fairings behind the Gerät 288 and its magazines. In combination with the Gerät 288, the KDO 40 replaced the traditional gun scope. Due to the weapon’s weight and bulk, all weapon orientation was carried out by means of hydraulic motors via a control column that were slaved to the gunner’s Kommandogerät, so that aiming and firing was semi-automatized. The gunner still had to use the Telemeter as an optical scope to find and pinpoint the target, but the device translated this, together with additional information like range, temperature or wind shear, into electrical input for the guns electro-hydraulic controls that automatically corrected the weapon’s orientation and triggered them with an appropriate lead at an ideal moment. This automatized process made especially the acquisition of new targets easier and sped the whole re-targeting process up.
In this form the Sd.Kfz. 199/4 was cleared for production in mid-1945, but initial field experience especially with the heavy and less mobile E-100 vehicles had shown that these were very vulnerable to foot soldier attacks with mines or carefully aimed RPGs. Originally, the whole Einheitspanzer family had been designed without light defensive weapons, but this turned out to be a lethal weakness. Therefore, many vehicles were retrofitted in the field and on the production lines with close-combat weapons like a 100 mm “Nahverteidigungswaffe” grenade launcher which fired SMi 35 leaping mines against approaching infantry. Other frequent upgrades were smoke mortars and remote-controlled machine gun mounts that could be manually directed and fired from the inside. There were even complete, motorized gun barbettes available like the “Schwere Waffenlafette 45” (Heavy weapon mount). The latter was a newly developed, modular weapon platform, originally designed as main armament for lightly armored infantry fighting vehicles like the Sd.Kfz. 251 where it was simply mounted onto the armored roof and replaced the former manually operated machine guns. However, since it was an autonomous, electrically driven system on a simple ring mount with a relatively small diameter, the Schwere Waffenlafette 45 could easily be installed anywhere else, e. g. on the turret of most heavy tanks or the roof of assault guns. It had three periscopes at its base that gave a hemispherical field of view, the central mirror was combined with a target scope for aiming the weapons. The barbette either replaced the commander’s cupola, or it was, if there was enough space, directly attached to the roof as an additional outlook. Due to ample space the latter was the typical configuration on board of the Sd.Kfz. 199/4. The barbette’s mount replaced an already existing ventilation opening and was added on the roof in the right rear quadrant, next to the commander’s cupola, and it was operated by one of the loaders.
This barbette could be rotated 360°, had an elevation between -10 and +80° and carried a magnifying periscope for observation and aiming. The weapons were installed in external, co-axial pods with light armor protection on both sides of the central carrier column. Typically, these were a 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 103 machine cannon with 60 rounds (typically explosive APCR rounds against soft targets, but armor-piercing rounds could be fired, too) and a rapid-firing MG 42 machine gun (with 1.200 rounds), but other weapons and combinations were possible. Like the weapons, all ammunition was carried externally, too, so that the crew had to leave the vehicle’s protection to re-arm the weapons or deal with mechanical problems.
With all this heavy and bulky equipment as well as a total stock of 202 88 mm rounds and a crew of seven the Sd.Kfz. 199/4 weighed – despite the chassis’ reduced armor thickness – more than 100 tons, so that its mobility and tactical value were sharply restricted, even though it was markedly better than the battle tanks with their all-up weight of 140 tons and more. Due to this limited usefulness and lack of resources, only a small number were built. Production numbers vary between 15 and 25 vehicles, some might have been created on the basis of refurbished Sd.Kfz. 193 battle tank hulls. Most of the time, the few Sd.Kfz. 199/4s were used as mobile command posts for anti-aircraft units that defended vital locations like headquarters or production sites around Berlin, so that the vehicle’s short legs did not matter much.
Specifications:
Crew: 7 (Commander, Gunner, Telemeter operator, 2x Loader, Driver, Radio Operator)
Weight: 108 tonnes (119 short tons)
Length: 8.86 m (29 ft), hull only
11.62 m (38 ft 1 in), overall with guns forward
Width: 3.96 m
4.48 m (14 ft 8 in) with armored side skirts mounted
Height: 3.29 m (10 ft 10 in)
3.92 m (12 ft 10 in) with Schwere Waffenlafette 45
Suspension: Belleville washer coil spring
Armor:
Hull front: 80 – 120 mm (3.2 – 4.7 in)
Hull sides and rear: 60 – 90 mm (2.4 – 3.5in)
Hull top: 40 mm (1.6 in)
Hull bottom: 40–80 mm (1.6–3.1 in)
Turret front: 140 mm (5.5 in)
Turret sides & rear: 60 – 90 mm (2.4 – 3.5in)
Turret top: 40 mm (1.6 in)
Engine:
1x turbocharged Maybach HL232 V12 gasoline engine with 1.200 hp
Performance:
Maximum road speed: 40 km/h (25 mph)
Sustained road speed: 36 km/h (22 mph)
Cross country speed: 14 to 20 km/h (8.7 to 12.4 mph)
Power/weight: 8,57 hp/ton
Range: 120 km (74 mi) on road
85 km (53 mi) cross country
Power/weight: 11.1 PS/tonne (10.1 hp/ton)
Armament:
2x 88mm (3.46 in) FlaK 43 L/80 in a Gerät 288 Zwilling mount, with a total of 202 rounds
1x Schwere Waffenlafette 45 with:
1x 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 103 machine cannon (60 RPG) and
1x 7.92 mm (0,312 in) MG 42 machine gun
6x 76 mm Wegmann smoke mortars
The kit and its assembly:
Another fictional German WWII/Heer ’46 SPAAG, and it’s a big one with a lot of SF appeal since it makes IMHO not much sense from a tactical point of view. However, this is whifworld, so it perfectly fits, and such paper project models seem to be very popular – even though I do not understand why many modelers build them in a style that I’d almost call “Steampunk”?
I had the ModelCollect E-100 twin-88 mm gun Flakpanzer kit stashed away since it came out in 2017, but never had the nerve and mojo so far to build it, because it is simply a huge tank with twin gun barrels. This changed, in the wake of other SPAAG builds, and was a quick and straightforward build. ModelCollect‘s E-100 kit is finely molded, but it has IMHO some issues. The biggest problem I found is the hull: you have to take (a lot of) care to make sure that the hull elements are properly aligned due to their sheer size. The problem is: all outer walls are standing free with no alignment reference, and I have the impression that the rear wall is too small, so that the roof does later not properly fit into the opening. An internal engine bay bulkhead that could be used as an alignment reference is missing locator pins, so that you are left to guess where to place it.
On the positive side: the kit comes with brass gun barrels and two small boards with PE parts, e. g. for louvres on the engine cover which hides a complete engine with a detailed motor block, radiators, dust filters, etc. This way, you can easily integrate the E-100 into a workshop diorama or a similar scene. There’s also a delicate PE mount for an infrared sight.
However, building troubles easily outweigh the kit’s hardware highlights. Mounting the wheels was not easy. The sprocket wheels at the front as well as the idler wheels at the rear have complicated and flimsy constructions with very thin and short pins that hold them – any tension on the vinyl track easily bends them! To improve stability, I drilled holes through these wheels’ attachment points and put a continuous metal axis through the hull. The (nicely detailed) vinyl tracks themselves are unfortunately molded in a sandy beige, and they turned out to be too short, so that they had to be carefully stretched to match the running gear before they were painted and mounted. This should really one of the final assembly steps.
But this is not the only problem zone, you stumble upon small bugs and nuisances everywhere, like missing holes on the idler wheels, poor fit on the turret parts that call for PSR or instructions that do not match the parts. And it is not helpful that different kinds of wheel halves on the same sprue are just designated ”Part 1” and “Part 2”. All these hiccups are not fatal, but the whole kit leaves a giddy (if not lousy) impression. It’s nothing for tank kit beginners, and since this is the second time that I have built one of these with several déjà vus, I am quite disappointed by the kit.
The kit was basically built OOB, but for a more science fiction-esque twist I added a close-range defense in the form of a (fictional) remote-controlled weapon mount on the turret roof. This is an aftermarket set from ModelTrans/Silesian Models, a resin-cast gun barbette that reminds of the early German “Marder” IFV’s main weapon. However, it made IMHO perfect sense for this behemoth because it would be very vulnerable to infantry attacks, and the huge turret offered enough space on the roof and inside to mount it.
Since I did not want to depict a vehicle during overhaul, the whole engine bay interior was left away and the space under the bonnet filled with foamed plastic and later painted black. PE grates from the OOB plate were used to block views into the bay further.
Another personal modification is the omittance of the bulky side skirts that cover most of the running gear and the tracks. They make IMHO sense on the heavy battle tank and maybe assault gun versions, but on the SPAAG they just add weight and use up resources. I left them away and replaced them with scratched alternatives, created from 0.5 mm styrene sheet and profiles, slightly dented at the edges for a more natural and worn look.
Because the E-100 kit lacks any equipment on the hull (well, if this heavy vehicle broke it would certainly have been abandoned – who’s salvage it!? Another weak point of thew whole concept), I added some resin storage boxes.
Painting and markings:
It took some time to decide how to paint this huge thing. Inspiration eventually came from the idea that it would probably have only been used to defend very important targets, most probably around or in Berlin, so that an urban environment and a suitable camouflage would make IMHO most sense.
I took some inspiration from the British “Berlin Brigade” urban camouflage (consisting of square fields in bluish grey, dark brown and white) and the German late-war simplified splinter schemes. Since the E-100’s bulk would be hard to conceal, esp. with rather small mottles, I rather concentrated on disrupting its outlines and blending it with buildings in the background. Such an urban/artificial environment calls for angular and horizontal lines and edges, but I did not want to make the paint scheme look too modern, like a pixel scheme. The vehicle would furthermore be painted with only limited resources at hand, or maybe just in the field, so that typical red primer would certainly show through, with camouflage added on top.
This led to an initial overall basis in RAL 3009 Oxidrot. This was applied from a rattle can and shaded with clouds of different similar tones like Humbrol 70 and 160, for an uneven look. On top of that I added a vertically aligned splinter scheme with thinned Panzergrau (RAL 7021, Humbrol 67) and Dunkelgelb (RAL 7028, Humbrol 83), with the primer showing through and leaving the inside of the running gear uncamouflaged. The horizontal surfaces remained Dunkelgelb. The twin gun barrels were painted in a slightly different fashion: their undersides became RAL 7028, for a low contrast against the sky when raised, and onto the upper surfaces in Oxidrot I added (only) Panzergrau mottles. The remote-controlled barbette was, as an “aftermarket piece” and to reduce its contrast against the sky, too, painted uniformly in Dunkelgelb, but in a different shade (Tamiya XF-60).
I considered adding small clusters of Hellgrau (RAL 7035, Humbrol 196) and Olivgrün (RAL 6003, Humbrol 86) here and there to break up the vehicles outlines, but found that this would look too superficial and “forced”, so that the scheme remained rather a splinter scheme.
Once the basic camouflage had been applied, the kit was weathered with a highly thinned wash of dark brown, grey and black acrylic paint. Once dry the major surfaces were lightly wet-sanded, revealing more of the underlying red primer.
Tactical markings are minimal, just with Iron Crosses on the hull and a white tactical code on the turret flanks. As a unit code, the s.Pz.Abt. 505’s emblem, a charging knight on a horse, was added to the turret. The decals were protected with a thin coat of varnish before the next steps.
Details and edges were then highlighted through dry-brushing with Humbrol 70 (Brick Red) and 168 (RAF Hemp). Dust residues and some rust traces were painted with watercolors. These were also used to weather the (rather stiff) vinyl tracks, which were molded in a sand color and had to be totally painted – with an initial overall coat of acrylic black paint from the rattle can and later with grey and red brown acrylic artist paints, and some medium grey dry-brushing.
Matt acrylic varnish (Italeri) was used to seal the kit, and once the tracks had been mounted, the lower hull was dusted with grey/brown mineral pigments.
This one took some time to materialize. The E-100 kit fought my efforts to put it together constantly, and the conversions and add-ons – while not a major surgical intervention – took some time. Finding a credible camouflage concept for this hulk of a tank (a.k.a. rolling bunker with guns) was not easy either. But the idea of using the primer color as base with additional, somewhat digital camouflage on top looks credible and “works”. - e. A relatively quick build, realized in less than a week, and some (minor) challenges. What a huge vehicle the E-100 has been – but what a waste of effort, resources and tactical limitations due to the vehicle’s sheer size and weight. Looks impressive, though, esp. when you place this hulk next to a “normal” tank…
In the end I am not really convinced of my paint scheme idea, but I ran with it since I wanted something different from the obvious German late war standard scheme.
Spinning is an ancient textile art in which plant, animal or synthetic fibers are drawn out and twisted together to form yarn. For thousands of years, fiber was spun by hand using simple tools, the spindle and distaff. Only in the High Middle Ages did the spinning wheel increase the output of individual spinners, and mass-production only arose in the 18th century with the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution. Hand-spinning remains a popular handicraft.
Characteristics of spun yarn vary according to the material used, fiber length and alignment, quantity of fiber used, and degree of twist.
HISTORY
HAND SPINNING
The origins of spinning fiber to make string or yarn are lost in time, but archaeological evidence in the form of representation of string skirts has been dated to the Upper Paleolithic era, some 20,000 years ago. In the most primitive type of spinning, tufts of animal hair or plant fiber are rolled down the thigh with the hand, and additional tufts are added as needed until the desired length of spun fiber is achieved. Later, the fiber is fastened to a stone which is twirled round until the yarn is sufficiently twisted, whereupon it is wound upon the stone and the process repeated over and over.
The next method of spinning yarn is with the spindle, a straight stick eight to twelve inches long on which the yarn is wound after twisting. At first the stick had a cleft or split in the top in which the thread was fixed. Later, a hook of bone was added to the upper end. The bunch of wool or plant fibers is held in the left hand. With the right hand the fibers are drawn out several inches and the end fastened securely in the slit or hook on the top of the spindle. A whirling motion is given to the spindle on the thigh or any convenient part of the body. The twisted yarn is then wound on to the upper part of the spindle. Another bunch of fibers is drawn out, the spindle is given another twirl, the yarn is wound on the spindle, and so on.
The distaff was used for holding the bunch of wool, flax, or other fibers. It was a short stick, on one end of which was loosely wound the raw material. The other end of the distaff was held in the hand, under the arm or thrust in the girdle of the spinner. When held thus, one hand was left free for drawing out the fibers.
A spindle containing a quantity of yarn rotates more easily, steadily, and continues longer than an empty one; hence, the next improvement was the addition of a weight called a spindle whorl at the bottom of the spindle. These whorls are discs of wood, stone, clay, or metal with a hole in the center for the spindle, which keep the spindle steady and promote its rotation. Spindle whorls appeared in the Neolithic era. They allowed the spinner to slowly lower, or drop, the spindle as it was spinning, thus allowing a greater quantity of yarn to be created before it had to be wound onto the spindle; hence the name "drop spindle," which is now most commonly used for the hand spindle with whorl attached.
In mediæval times, poor families had such a need for yarn to make their own cloth and clothes that practically all girls and unmarried women would keep busy spinning, and "spinster" became synonymous with an unmarried woman. Subsequent improvements with spinning wheels and then mechanical methods made hand-spinning increasingly uneconomic, but as late as the twentieth century hand-spinning remained widespread in poor countries: in conscious rejection of international industrialization, Gandhi was a notable practitioner. The hand spinning movement that he initiated as a part of the Indian freedom struggle has made the handwoven cloth known as "Khadi" made from handspun cotton yarn world famous. Women spinners of cotton yarn still continue to work to produce handspun yarn for the weaving of Khadi in Ponduru, a village in South India.
A great wheel (also called a wool wheel, high wheel or walking wheel) is advantageous when using the long-draw technique to spin wool or cotton because the high ratio between the large wheel and the whorl (sheave) enables the spinner to turn the bobbin faster, thus significantly speeding up production.
A Saxony wheel (also called a flax wheel) or an upright wheel (also called a castle wheel), can be used to spin wool or cotton, but are invaluable when spinning flax (linen). The ends of flax fibers tend to stick out from the thread unless wetted while being spun. The spinner typically keeps a bowl of water handy when spinning flax, and on these types of wheels, both hands are free (since the wheel is turned with a treadle, rather than by hand), so the spinner can use one hand to draft the fibers and the other to wet them.
INDUSTRIAL SPINNING
Modern powered spinning, originally done by water or steam power but now done by electricity, is vastly faster than hand-spinning.
The spinning jenny, a multi-spool spinning wheel invented c. 1764 by James Hargreaves, dramatically reduced the amount of work needed to produce yarn of high consistency, with a single worker able to work eight or more spools at once. At roughly the same time, Richard Arkwright and a team of craftsmen developed the spinning frame, which produced a stronger thread than the spinning jenny. Too large to be operated by hand, a spinning frame powered by a waterwheel became the water frame.
In 1779, Samuel Crompton combined elements of the spinning jenny and water frame to create the spinning mule. This produced a stronger thread, and was suitable for mechanisation on a grand scale. A later development, from 1828/29, was Ring spinning.
In the 20th century, new techniques including Open End spinning or rotor spinning were invented to produce yarns at rates in excess of 40 meters per second.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SPUN YARNS
MATERIALS
Yarn can be, and is, spun from a wide variety of materials, including natural fibers such as animal, plant, and mineral fibers, and synthetic fibers. It was probably first made from plant fibers, but animal fibers soon followed.
TWIST AND PLY
The direction in which the yarn is spun is called twist. Yarns are characterized as S-twist or Z-twist according to the direction of spinning (see diagram). Tightness of twist is measured in TPI (twists per inch or turns per inch).
Two or more spun yarns may be twisted together or plied to form a thicker yarn. Generally, handspun single plies are spun with a Z-twist, and plying is done with an S-twist. This is a cultural preference differing in some areas but surprisingly common.
PLYING METHODS
Yarns can be made of two, three, four, or more plies, or may be used as singles without plying. Two-ply yarn can also be plied from both ends of one long strand of singles using a center-pull ball, where one end feeds from within a ball of yarn while the other end feeds from the outside. So-called "Andean" plying, in which the single is first wound around one hand in a specific manner that allows unwinding both ends at once without tangling, is another way to ply smaller amounts of yarn. The name comes from a method used by Andean spinners to manage and splice unevenly matched singles being plied from multiple spindles. "Navajo" (aka "chain-") plying is another method of producing a three-ply yarn, in which one strand of singles is looped around itself in a manner similar to crochet and the resulting three parallel strands twisted together. This method is often used to keep colors together on singles dyed in sequential colors. Cabled yarns are usually four-ply yarns made by plying two strands of two-ply yarn together in the direction opposite to the plying direction for the two-ply yarns.
CONTEMPORARY HAND SPINNING
Hand-spinning is still an important skill in many traditional societies. Hobby or small scale artisan spinners spin their own yarn to control specific yarn qualities and produce yarn that is not widely available commercially. Sometimes these yarns are made available to non-spinners online and in local yarn stores. Handspinners also may spin for self-sufficiency, a sense of accomplishment, or a sense of connection to history and the land. In addition, they may take up spinning for its meditative qualities.
Within the recent past, many new spinners have joined into this ancient process, innovating the craft and creating new techniques. From using new dyeing methods before spinning, to mixing in novelty elements (Christmas Garland, eccentric beads, money, etc.) that would not normally be found in traditional yarns, to creating and employing new techniques like coiling, this craft is constantly evolving and shifting.
To make various yarns, besides adding novelty elements, spinners can vary all the same things as in a machined yarn, i.e., the fiber, the preparation, the color, the spinning technique, the direction of the twist, etc. A common misconception is yarn spun from rolags may not be as strong, but the strength of a yarn is actually based on the length of hair fiber and the degree of twist. When working with shorter hairs, such as llama or angora rabbit, the spinner may choose to integrate longer fibers, such as mohair, to prevent yarn breakage. Yarns made of shorter fibers are also given more twist than yarns of longer fibers, and are generally spun with the short draw technique.
The fiber can be dyed at any time, but is often dyed before carding or after the yarn has been spun.
Wool may be spun before or after washing, although excessive amounts of lanolin may make spinning difficult, especially when using a drop-spindle. Careless washing may cause felting. When done prior to spinning, this often leads to unusable wool fiber. In washing wool the key thing to avoid is too much agitation and fast temperature changes from hot to cold. Generally, washing is done lock by lock in warm water with dish-soap.
EDUCATION
There are number of guilds and educational institutions which offer certificate programs in handspinning. The Handweavers Guild of America (HGA) offers a Certificate of Excellence in Handspinning. Olds College in Alberta, Canada, offers a Master Spinner program both on campus and by distance education. The Ontario Handweavers & Spinners offer both a Spinning Certificate as well as a Master Spinning Certificate. These programs feature in-depth examinations of handspinning topics, as well as extensive assignments and skill evaluations.
TECHNIQUES
A tightly spun wool yarn made from fiber with a long staple length in it is called worsted. It is hand spun from combed top, and the fibers all lie in the same direction as the yarn. A woolen yarn, in contrast, is hand spun from a rolag or other carded fiber (roving, batts), where the fibers are not as strictly aligned to the yarn created. The woolen yarn, thus, captures much more air, and makes for a softer and generally bulkier yarn. There are two main techniques to create these different yarns: short draw creates worsted yarns, and long draw creates woolen yarns. Often a spinner will spin using a combination of both techniques and thus make a semi-worsted yarn.
Short draw spinning is used to create worsted yarns. It is spun from combed roving, sliver or wool top. The spinner keeps his/her hands very close to each other. The fibers are held, fanned out, in one hand, and the other hand pulls a small number from the mass. The twist is kept between the second hand and the wheel. There is never any twist between the two hands.
Long draw is spun from a carded rolag. The rolag is spun without much stretching of the fibers from the cylindrical configuration. This is done by allowing twist into a short section of the rolag, and then pulling back, without letting the rolag change position in one's hands, until the yarn is the desired thickness. The twist will concentrate in the thinnest part of the roving; thus, when the yarn is pulled, the thicker sections with less twist will tend to thin out. Once the yarn is the desired thickness, enough twist is added to make the yarn strong. Then the yarn is wound onto the bobbin, and the process starts again.
SPINNING IN THE GREASE
Handspinners are split, when spinning wool, as to whether it is better to spin it 'in the grease' (with lanolin still in) or after it has been washed. More traditional spinners are more willing to spin in the grease, as it is less work to wash the wool after it is in yarn form. Spinners who spin very fine yarn may also prefer to spin in the grease as it can allow them to spin finer yarns with more ease. Spinning in the grease covers the spinner's hands in lanolin and, thus, softens the spinner's hands.
Spinning in the grease works best if the fleece is newly sheared. After several months, the lanolin becomes sticky, which makes the wool harder to spin using the short-draw technique, and almost impossible to spin using the long-draw technique. In general, spinners who use the long-draw technique do not spin in the grease.
Such spinners generally buy their fibers pre-washed and carded, in the form of roving, sliver, or batts. This means less work for the spinners, as they do not have to wash out the lanolin. Spinners then have available predyed fiber, or blends of fibers, which are hard to create when the wool is still in the grease. As machine carders cannot card wool in the grease, pre-carded yarn generally is not spun in the grease. Some spinners use spray-on lanolin-like products to get the same feel of spinning in the grease with carded fiber.
WIKIPEDIA
An aircraft above the skies of Edinburgh. It's vapour trail in alignment with the ferris wheel in Princes Street Gardens for the Edinburgh International Festival and Fringe.
This image is an attempt to get the predawn sky right (to my eye) with the alignment. Image acquired with a Nikon 105 vr lens and a Nikon D500 camera. The image was processed through a Lucy Richardson deconvolution and adjusted with photoshop to try to match my eye's perception of the scene but fades the planets a bit.
The staff of Brookhaven's National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) have completed a preliminary test of one of the project’s critical design issues -- to determine how closely the magnets stay aligned when they are moved from their assembly point to the NSLS-II tunnel. The results confirm that the magnets’ high-precision alignment would survive the process of transporting and installing and fixing the girders to the ground in the tunnel.
The staff of Brookhaven's National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) have completed a preliminary test of one of the project’s critical design issues -- to determine how closely the magnets stay aligned when they are moved from their assembly point to the NSLS-II tunnel. The results confirm that the magnets’ high-precision alignment would survive the process of transporting and installing and fixing the girders to the ground in the tunnel.
The staff of Brookhaven's National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) have completed a preliminary test of one of the project’s critical design issues -- to determine how closely the magnets stay aligned when they are moved from their assembly point to the NSLS-II tunnel. The results confirm that the magnets’ high-precision alignment would survive the process of transporting and installing and fixing the girders to the ground in the tunnel.
The staff of Brookhaven's National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) have completed a preliminary test of one of the project’s critical design issues -- to determine how closely the magnets stay aligned when they are moved from their assembly point to the NSLS-II tunnel. The results confirm that the magnets’ high-precision alignment would survive the process of transporting and installing and fixing the girders to the ground in the tunnel.
It was interesting to see how the National Bus Company's subsidiaries adapted the once rigidly-enforced corporate livery in the run up to privatisation. Northern England was poppy red territory with little distinction between the overlapping operations of Northern General, United Automobile Services and East Yorkshire Motor Services. Some re-alignment of boundaries had taken place with parts of United passing to East Yorkshire Motor Services. Northern, United and East Yorkshire each made subtly different adaptations to the corporate colours before moving away from them completely.
This is East Yorkshire's version, or rather one variation of it, since the black skirt was a later addition and, for a period, the white areas were replaced by Portland Grey. Like many former NBC subsidiaries, East Yorkshire found itself short of vehicles with which to compete with new predators and bought whatever it could on the open market. It didn't operate Volvo-Ailsas but later acquired some examples of the Ailsa's successor, the Volvo Citybus, with the purchase of Fingland of Manchester.
STRICTLY COPYRIGHT: You may download a copy of any image for your personal use, but it would be an offence to remove the copyright information or to post it elsewhere without the express permission of the copyright owner.
When you're setting up the lays on your press, a transparent grid can be very useful to get things straight. Make an impression on the top sheet, then put the grid over it and adjust the lays to fit. It's amazing how a fraction of a degree off-square can look so obviously wrong.
There have been commercial products — Alignmate has been discussed online recently, and there was another called Esila but you can easily print your own with a laser printer and some acetate. If there's a job you print regularly with the same format you can produce one specially for that.
An observation of faith in alignment. This composition explores the repeating patterns and leading lines created during the night prayers of Ramadan, highlighting the intersection of sacred architecture and communal devotion
Jon's 997.1 GT3 Cup Tribute in Signal Green // @escargotgarage
APEX Wheels Forged EC-7RS in Satin Black
F: 18x10" ET36 with 275/35-18 NT01
R: 18x12" ET46 with 305/35-18 NT01
Body:
Signal green
997.2 rear widebody
Sunroof delete
PCM stereo delete
Porsche Motorsports North America front Cup bumper
Porsche Motorsports North America Cup fender flares
Porsche Motorsports North America Cup splitter
Demonspeed Motorsports oversized carbon fiber dive planes
Porsche Motorsports North America rear Cup bumper
Porsche Motorsports North America retractable tow hooks
Porsche Motorsports North America Cup wing
Data:
AIM MXS digital dash logger (CAN)
AIM SmartyCam
Safety:
Schroth Racing 6 point enduro harnesses
Sparco Pro 2000 competition seats, Brey-Krause seat mounts, Porsche seat sliders
Suspension:
Motion Control Suspension, remote adjustable coilovers
RSS front lower control arm
RSS rear lower control arms
RSS thrust arm bushings
RSS front toe steer / bump steer kit
RSS rear adjustable upper links (dog bones)
RSS rear toe alignment locking plates
Guard Transmission limited slip differential
Centerlock to 5 lug conversion
Tarret Engineering front and rear motorsport wheel studs
MSI Racing Products NASCAR style lugnuts
Engine:
Orbit Racing ECU tune
S•CAR•GO headers
Sharkwerks GT3 coolant pipe kit
Transmission
Porsche GT3 4.0 lightweight flywheel
Porsche GT3 4.0 clutch
Numeric Racing short throw shifter
Numeric Racing motorsport shifter cables
SRP Racing custom aluminum pedal set
Brakes:
Performance Friction 380mm, fully floating brake kit
Tarret Engineering brake caliper studs, mil-spec nuts
Porsche GT2 brake cooling ducts
Fluids:
Motul 300V 5W40 engine oil
Motul 75W90 transmission / differential fluid
PFC 665 brake fluid
Lenticular clouds (Altocumulus lenticularis) are stationary lens-shaped clouds that form in the troposphere, normally in perpendicular alignment to the wind direction. There are three types of lenticular clouds: altocumulus standing lenticular (ACSL), stratocumulus standing lenticular (SCSL), and cirrocumulus standing lenticular (CCSL). Because of their shape, they have been offered as an explanation for some unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings.
As air flows along the surface of the Earth, it encounters obstructions. These can be human-made objects, such as buildings and bridges, or natural features, like hills, valleys, and mountains. All of them disrupt the flow of air into eddies. The strength of the eddies depends on the size of the object and the speed of the wind. It results in turbulence classified as ‘mechanical’ because it is formed through the “mechanical disruption of the ambient wind flow”. Where stable moist air flows over a mountain or a range of mountains, a series of large-scale standing waves may form on the downwind side. If the temperature at the crest of the wave drops to the dew point, moisture in the air may condense to form lenticular clouds. As the moist air moves back down into the trough of the wave, the cloud may evaporate back into vapor. Under certain conditions, long strings of lenticular clouds can form near the crest of each successive wave, creating a formation known as a "wave cloud." The wave systems cause large vertical air movement, enough that water vapor may condense to produce precipitation. The clouds have been mistaken for UFOs (or "visual cover" for UFOs), particularly the round "flying saucer"-type, because these clouds have a characteristic lens appearance and smooth saucer-like shape; also, because lenticular clouds generally do not form over low-lying or flat terrain, many people have never seen one and are not aware clouds with that shape can exist.[1] Bright colors (called iridescence) are sometimes seen along the edge of lenticular clouds.
By golly, the aircraft GPS info was in sync with the camera GPS, the altitudes for both were pretty much in alignment. UTC is +10 hours, so add that to data info.
NOTE: Flickr makes a .jpg of uploaded files. The Jpeg process reduces actuance. The original scan has more detail than the .jpg file and in turn the original scan has less detail than is on the film. The film probably has 4 to 9 times (2 squared to 3 squared) the detail as you can see if made with a cracker jack lens and top rated film.
1. The bus was about 185 meters away from the camera.
2. The film does not have the reddish/maroon look that you see here. Scanning with the Kodachrome film type selection instead of the proper Color Positive selection miscolored the scan, my fault
Photos taken in this set were to test various stock lenses on some of my cameras. I started out with old 120/620 folders then added some modern 120 filmed examples. There will also be a few 35mm and 127 tests. You will need to open these up to their original size to see how good or bad the lens is. Also please see the type of scanner that was used because not all the scanners were able to scan at the same resolution.
Unless specifically noted, over time I used several films for these lens tests. Various Kodak and Fuji 100 speed reversal films and Fuji Velvia 50 speed were used. The difference in sharpness of the film was far less than the difference in the lenses.
Please take into consideration that when Flickr jpegs the uploaded tiff file some of the detail is lost so the original is sharper than what you can see.
Gentlepersons:
The Pictures...
These recently uploaded pictures have no artistic value. They were just uploaded to be representative of color picture recording during about 85+ years that I was able to take color pictures, mostly slides at first. Unlike in today’s digital world it took time, money and effort to make a color slide. We took fewer pictures back then, trying to stretch resources, but some sere still frivolous.
I'm 97 (2016). I'm about at the end of my ability to continue posting. The ratio of today’s digital pictures that are kept for any length of time and/or printed is much less than the film photos taken in days past. History will be lost. Meanwhile you get to be bored by some old Kodachromes, Anscochromes, a Dufaycolor and perhaps an old black & white or so.
These recently uploaded pictures have no artistic value. They were just uploaded to be representative of color picture recording during about 85+ years that I was able to take pictures, mostly slides at first. Unlike in today’s digital world it took time, money and effort to make a color slide. We took fewer pictures back then, trying to stretch resources, but some sere still frivolous. The first picture I remember taking was in the mid-1920s when my mother's sailor boyfriend brought an overseas camera to San Pedro.
The Camera: Rolleicord V, ca. 1954
I used a used but good condition Rolleicord V ca 1954. It has a single coated Schneider Kreuznach 75mm F:3.5 Xenar four element lens. I bought a second one so I could make medium format 3D (Stereo) slides. The two like cameras are less than 100 serial numbers apart but the second lens is not up to the quality of this one. Using the USAF1951 chart this lens gives over 60 lp/mm at F: 11.
The film: Fuji Provia 100 or Kodak E100:
This was shot on Provia 100 or Kodak E100 in 120 size. To scan with a 35mm dedicated film scanner I first used a Mamiya Super Slide punch. The film center was then mounted in 127 sized slide mounts which have the same external dimensions as 35mm slides. The surrounding mount has thinner sides than 35mm. This does give a 35mm scanner a chance to scan all film instead of having some mount blocking and reducing the amount of picture taken.
The Scanner, Minolta 5400 II:
The Minolta 5400 was advertised at 5400 PPI and actually gave out not only a scan of that size but also of that resolution. Testing was done using a 1951USAF glass microscope resolution bought from Edmond Scientific. When scanning a chart at maximum resolution one has to be concerned with registration between the lines on the chart and the pixel placement of the sensor. Exact registration is a hit and miss, re-trial exercise. With film the scanned bits of silver and dye clumps are randomly scattered without the need to have perfect alignment.
Historic pony truss bridge over the Rio Grande on a former alignment of NM 74 in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. The four-span Parker pony truss bridge was built in 1925 for the Office of Indian Affairs (now Bureau of Indian Affairs). Bypassed by a new bridge and closed to traffic in 1997. The bridge was listed on the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties (HPD 1669) and on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP No. 97000738 as the Rio Grande Bridge at San Juan Pueblo) in 1997.
My trusty Zeus dropout alignment tool. Note the bass washers-for use in 130mm spaced rear dropouts. This is a vintage tool, made for 120mm spacing.
Alignment of the five bright planets, in order of their distance from the Sun, together with the waning crescent moon, as seen from Mout Coot-tha, Brisbane, Australia. The last time these five planets aligned was in 2004 and the next occurence will be in 2040. Mercury can be seen in the lower right, just above the pre-dawn glow. The other planets are aligned diagonally along the path of the ecliptic, first Venus, then the Moon, Mars, Jupiter and finally Saturn in the upper left corner. Six images stacked to a vertical panorama in Photoshop.
The Board of Trustees visit the Coast Guard Academy and attend morning colors, Nov. 1, 2018.
The roles of the BOT members include advising the superintendent, advocacy, strategic planning and alignment and ensuring the safety and well-being of cadets, faculty and staff.
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Lauren Laughlin
Entire church was remade to fix vertice alignment issues and to reduce the number of materials needed. Added some rafters and extra joists, ridge boards and also a cat walk leading to a small storage area above the doorway. The steeple was extended into the church a little and will eventually be made hollow with a ladder up to the bell. This catwalk is accessible via a ladder in the top floor back room, but this room may be locked.
This has taken way longer than expected, but hey, i have to learn how to use 3DS Max!
Racing Green
APEX SM-10 Wheels in Satin Black
F: 18x8.5" ET50 - 235/40-18 Michelin PSS
R: 18x11" ET36 - 295/35-18 Michelin PSS
H&R lowering springs and stock alignment
The purpose of this project is to replace the aging Route 703 bridge over Rowanty Creek in Dinwiddie County with a new structure on the existing alignment. The current bridge was built in 1938.(Photo by Trevor Wrayton, VDOT)