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Ahmad Mohamed Ali Al-Madani from the Islamic Development Bank addresses the jobs and economic development pledging session at the Supporting Syria conference.
The conference has raised $11 billion in aid for the humanitarian crisis, as well as commitments to support 1.7 million children in education and deliver 1.1 million jobs across the region.
BACKGROUND
The Supporting Syria and the Region conference is taking place in London, today on 4 February 2016.
It brings together world leaders in a bid to raise the money needed to help the millions of people whose lives have been torn apart by the devastating civil war in Syria.
Syria is the world's biggest humanitarian crisis. Billions of dollars in international aid are needed to support people caught up in the conflict.
The UK, Germany, Kuwait, Norway, and the United Nations are co-hosting the conference to raise significant new funding to meet the immediate and longer-term needs of those affected.
The conference is also setting ambitious goals on education and economic opportunities to transform the lives of refugees caught up in the Syrian crisis - and to support the countries hosting them.
This event alone cannot solve all these problems. Ultimately a political solution is necessary to bring the Syrian conflict to an end.
Find out more: www.supportingsyria2016.com
FREE-TO-USE PHOTO
This image is in the public domain and free-to-use, as long as you credit the source as: Adam Brown/Crown Copyright
April 09, 2019 - WASHINGTON DC - 2019 World Bank/ IMF Spring Meetings. World Bank Group CEO Kristalina Georgieva, IFC VP for Latin America & the Caribbean and Europe and Central Asia Georgina Baker, and the Sexual Violence Research Initiative founder Claudia Garcia-Moreno, 11 winners from around the world were awarded prize money to design, implement, and capture results of new solutions, including the first-ever private sector winner. Photo: World Bank / Grant Ellis
(spy)camera > Porst KX50 (Yashica Atoron rebranded) (*)
film > Minox Minocolor400 (@200iso)
development > Tetenal Colortec C41, 38 °C, homemade in tank AP Compact, attached on an old film 120 already developed.
scanned > Epson V600
negli ultimi frame, la pellicola è uscita dalla spirale e ha restituito questi colori strani... ;/)
a bit lopsided - that's what happens when you prepare you pictures on bouncy train....Around March 2014. Argyll Street. London.
IN ENGLISH BELOW THE LINE
Ningú havia vist aquestes fotos fins ara, sobretot els que les varen fer. Fins que jo les he revelat ara.
Aquest és un dels rodets més antics que he revelat, i mostra molta "boira", ja que probablement té més de 100 anys des que fou fabricat i exposat, fins que l'he revelat ara el 2023.
Només s'hi poden identificar clarament 3 imatges de format quadrat, tot i que un parell més mostren alguna silueta d'arbres i potser alguna teulada. Al ser un rodet de format 117 i en format quadrat el més probable es que la càmera emprada fos la famosa Kodak Brownie No.1, la original de 1900.
Amb el que he disfrutat més ha estat en localitzar aquest lloc en concret, que resulta ser al peu del War Memorial de Newquay, Cornualla, amb el Hotel Atlantic al fons. Ha estat sorprenentment facil. Una busqueda dels conceptes "memorial cairn column coast" seguit de diversos paisos com França, Bèlgica, Països Baixos i Anglaterra finalment m'ha mostrat un monument que m'hi encaixava. L'edifici del fons tenia pinta de gran hotel però l'actual hotel conserva poc de la sea imatge original. Per sort buscant fotos antigues del mateix clarament es veu com correspon al mateix edifici, abans de ser profundament reformat els anys 80. Per cert ,la foto data segurament dels anys 20, pels incomfusibles barrets femenins de l'època, i en concret post 1921, que es quan s'inaugurà el monument.
atlantichotelnewquay.co.uk/cheers-to-125-years/
S'anomena "found film" a aquelles fotografies en pel•licula o placa que es troben sense revelar dins càmeres velles o per altres racons. La gracia és que ningú ha vist mai aquestes fotografies.
Aquest rodet prové un conjunt comprat a algú de Leeuwarden, Països Baixos.
Aquest rodet, de inusual format 117, marca Kodak Brownie, el vaig revelar diluit ("stand development") amb Rodinal a 25º durant 42 minuts.
===================================================
Nobody, even less the author, had seen these pictures until now. Until I've developed them in the dark room.
Only 3 square-format images can be clearly identified, although a couple more show some tree silhouettes and perhaps a roof. As it is a 117 format roll-film and in a square format, it is most likely that the camera used was the famous Kodak Brownie No.1, the original from 1900.
What I enjoyed most was locating this particular spot, which happens to be at the foot of the War Memorial in Newquay, Cornwall, with the Atlantic Hotel in the background. It was surprisingly easy. A search for the concepts "memorial cairn column coast" followed by several countries such as France, Belgium, the Netherlands and England finally showed me a monument that fit me. The building in the background looked like a large hotel, but the current hotel retains little of its original image. Luckily, looking for old photos of the same, it is clearly seen as it corresponds to the same building, before it was deeply reformed in the 80s. By the way, the photo probably dates from the 20s, due to the unmistakable female hats of the time, and specifically post 1921, which is when the monument was inaugurated.
atlantichotelnewquay.co.uk/cheers-to-125-years/
They call "found film" at those images in film or plates that are find undeveloped inside old cameras or in other places, like boxes or old houses.
This film is part of a large pack I bought in the internet from somebody in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands.
This one was a roll of inusual 117 format Kodak Brownie film, stand developed with Rodinal at 25º C for 42 minutes.
Dry tendril. 8 September 2005. Old Woman Creek.
Old Woman Creek is the smallest reserve in the National Estuarine Research System. It is also the only Great Lakes-type, freshwater estuary in the system. The reserve features freshwater marshes, swamp forests, a barrier beach, upland forest, estuarine waters, stream and nearshore Lake Erie.
The Churchill had a difficult birth in 1940, followed by a troubled development and nearly suffered a premature death in 1942 before maturing into a useful tank. Some specialised versions remained in service with the British Army until 1965.
The Churchill had its origins in the A20, designed by the shipbuilders, Harland & Wolff. This tank was intended to support infantry on a battlefield dominated by trench warfare. The prototype proved to be unsatisfactory when it appeared in February 1940.
The first production tanks, (Churchill Mark I), were delivered in June 1941. In some respects the design was old-fashioned with its wrap-round tracks and hull-mounted 3-inch gun. A small turret carried the British 2-pdr tank gun. More seriously, the new tank was very unreliable. However it carried very thick armour on the front of the hull. The new tanks were the first to be fitted with the Merritt-Brown gear box that provided controlled differential steering.
By 1942 the War Office had decided to abandon the Churchill because of its unreliability. A major effort by the manufacturers and the Army improved its reliability and the tank was reprieved after demonstrating its usefulness during the fighting in the hills of Tunisia in 1942-43. The first German Tiger I to be captured by the Allies was disabled in combat with Churchill tanks of 48th Royal Tank Regiment. This Tiger is now owned by the Tank Museum.
The Churchill design was extensively modified in 1942-43 and a new turret was fitted mounting the British 75mm tank gun. Although this gun was inferior to the German long 75mm and 88mm guns, with its thick armour the Churchill Mark VII, introduced in November 1943, became a useful tank. It served with British troops in North West Europe and Italy.
The Churchill was designed to fit within the British rail loading gauge. As a result the hull was too narrow to accommodate the larger turret needed to mount the British 17-pdr tank gun. Thus the Churchill VII was inadequately armed when compared to other late war tanks.
One of the Churchill’s strengths was its adaptability to specialised roles such as flame-throwing, bridge-laying and mine-clearing. It was especially useful as the basis of an armoured engineer vehicle, the Churchill AVRE, (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers). Many of the specialised vehicles were developed by the 79th Armoured Division and were known as ‘Hobart’s funnies’, after the Division’s commander, Major General P C S Hobart.
Churchill gun tanks disappeared from the British Army quite quickly after World War II, but a small number of gun tanks and Crocodiles served with 7 RTR in Korea in 1950-51. Post-war developments of the AVRE and bridge-laying tanks remained in service with the British Army until the 1960s. A few Churchill gun tanks lingered in service with the Indian, Irish and Jordanian armies until the late 1960s.
In all, 5,640 Churchill tanks were manufactured. Small numbers of 6-pdr armed Churchills were supplied to the Soviet Union in 1941-42. Churchills also served with the Canadian Army, taking part in the disastrous Dieppe raid in 1942.
The Tank Museum’s Churchill above is the last Mark VII to be built and came to the Museum straight from the factory, so it is effectively brand-new, with almost no mileage on the clock. It is modified as a Crocodile flame-thrower and is displayed in the markings of the 34th Armoured Brigade in Normandy in the summer of 1944.
The background this picture was taken against wasn't great, so have some edited-in bricks instead.
Change is afoot on the Toton Lane to Nottingham park and ride service, since the temporary allocation of mostly double deckers (for social distancing) can be eased off slightly and various members of the RB fleet fill in while the branded vehicles receive attention, with a couple being off the road at any given time. The first of these was 28, now back in traffic on the P&R in its updated livery so now the other buses can have their turn at being repainted.
Reduced PVR:
Although there are six buses branded for the park and ride, a revised timetable sees the same level of service (every 10 min departures with a small amount of recovery time at Toton Lane) but with a PVR of five buses, completely cutting out one of the service boards because a few months ago I sat up all night devising an ingenious new timetable. There are five boards Monday to Saturday and three on a Sunday, so having six branded buses is a massive overkill; four, maybe five would be better.
New Livery for the Darts:
Because I tried to paint all six P&R buses in 2017/18 at the same time, it ended up taking ages and the paint finish was pretty rubbish across all of them. Also I'm a bit sick of the livery now, only having lime green at the front and looking generally uninspired. Because I ideally want to get some more double deckers for the P&R and oust at least three of the Darts onto the 201/211 I wanted to change the livery so it looked better for the P&R but could also be repurposed without me having to repaint them all again.
Repainting 28:
28 is the first Dart to be painted into the revised livery, which isn't too much of a drastic change from the previous one but different enough. The most important part is that I got the finish far better than before, so the whole thing looks neater. Unfortunately I managed to sand off most of the front detail so it looks rather flat... hopefully I won't end up doing the same to the other three. I eventually decided the headlights I painted on looked too rectangular, so I've changed them slightly since this photo and now 28 looks far more like an SLF Pointer. (with the 'rectangle' lights it looks almost like a Mercedes O405!)
Repainting 27 and 31:
Next to be pulled from service is 27, which I'm currently in the process of repainting. 31 wasn't meant to be done until after the Darts, but I had a closer look at it and thought it looked so bad I needed to fix it immediately, so that's being painted at the moment too. I just didn't like the idea of the revised P&R livery on the double deckers, so it's staying in the original P&R livery for now. What I do with it in the future I can worry about when I get to that stage.
Potential for New Buses:
As good as they are, the Darts are a bit of a compromise on the P&R since they are rather small for the job they have. The P&R could really do with a 100% allocation of deckers, but the existing double deckers in the fleet are a bit of a motley collection and, besides, none of them are Euro 6; unlike the Darts with their retrofitted E200 engines. I thought it wouldn't be too impossible to find four - five at a push - double deckers this year to completely renew the P&R fleet, enabling the six buses you see here to be cascaded off to other interesting developments on the RB network.
Of course this relies on some bus/model shows taking place and then me actually getting to them... and then them having models of low floor deckers for sale that aren't £25+ apiece. Hold on, this is sounding less likely by the minute.
In The Meantime:
For now the P&R is mostly back to normal, with 25/6/8/9 on it (providing they aren't breaking down that day) and the 5th board being covered by just about anything Enviro-Dart sized or bigger... 8 the ALX500, 14 the B7 Artic and 20 the BYD electric have all filled in although more commonly it's either 12, 16 or 30. Since going back to normal, the P&R hasn't seen either of the Excels again... yet. When 27 and 31 are finished I'll move on to the other two Darts, then 29 providing I don't change my mind again like I did with 31. Hopefully by then I'll have figured out how viable my "buy 4 or 5 double deckers" plan is and maybe even got some of them! Who knows?
(I mean I really do have a load of things planned for RB which pretty much hinge on me replacing all the current P&R fleet with new deckers.)
A collection of pots and tubs on the patio whils the pond, rockery and raspberry canes are about a yearold here I guess.
From the Hidden Groves website:
History of the Hidden Groves
In 2000 a local resident noticed tapes up for logging in what is now the Hidden Grove and the movement to save this local gem began.
A Hidden Grove Park Steering Committee ( a committee of the Sandy Hook Community Association) was directed by the District of Sechelt to prepare a development concept plan for that area of District Lot 3006 known as Hidden Grove or Interfor Block 350. On November 6, 2002 the original work of the committee seemed basically completed with a presentation to the District of Sechelt council.
Nevertheless from 2002 and until 2008 the Committee worked to thwart logging interests in the area as they wanted to clear cut the Hidden Grove. When the Sunshine Coast Community Forest was formed and at their first AGM, the SCCF promised no logging for 2 years, later this was extended to 5 and then to as long as they had tenure from the Province. Then and only then was real work allowed to go ahead with the work parties putting in approved trails and starting other projects. In 2011 the SCCF tenure was extended to 25 years so the Committee could relax.
In 2011 the overall commitment became a bit much for the Sandy Hook Community Association that had other obligations too. Also it was seen as advantageous to not only have a dedicated Society but one that could apply for Charitable status with the ability to issue tax receipts. March 8, 2011 the Sechelt Groves Society was formed using some seed money from the SHCA and including some SHCA board members on the new Society board.
Throughout 2011 and into the 2012 Society carried on with trail building and maintenance but also saw to the installation of the parking lot. It launched major dedicated fund raising for Phase 1 of a Accessibility Trail into the Ancient Grove. As funds came in work started in the August of 2011. The "Take It Easy — AYAT-TSUT" trail was officially opened on May 12, 2012.
During the same period the entrance kiosk was donated and the Trailbuilders completed it’s installation on September 19, 2012
On July 12, 2012 work was started on the second Accessibility trail — Monty's Way — with the official opening on April 7, 2013.
By the spring of 2013 the Society had raised over $60,000 in funds and in kind donations as well as obtaining special support from the District of Sechelt and the Sunshine Coast Community Forest. The volunteer Trailbuilders had put in literally thousands of hours of hard labour to get everything done.
Since then the Society has taken on numerous smaller projects such as permanent trail intersection maps and interpretive signage on Monty’s Way. Plans for the near future include a second expansion of the parking lot and extensive landscaping with native plants.
I visited this with my mother, so these are quick snapshots with the Insta360 ONE camera rather than with the better-but-slower Nikon.
These saprophytes are called "Indian Pipes".
Indian Pipe is a small, low-lying wildflower. Unique among wildflowers, Indian Pipe is opaque white (sometimes red-rarely pink) in color from root to petal. As indicated by its scientific name, Indian pipe has a singular nodding flower at its terminal end. The straight, thin stem has a waxy, fungus-like consistency and is irregularly sheathed in thin, translucent white bracts (reduced from leaves).
This High Dynamic Range 360° panorama was tone-mapped with Photomatix, processed with Color Efex, and touched up in Affinity Photo and Aperture.
Original size: 6912 × 3456 (23.9 MP; 112.35 MB).
Location: Sechelt, British Columbia, Canada
Management is one basic piece of the business. With better and viable management, a business can get wanted development and benefit in less time. On account of digitization, Management Software is being utilized in each sort of business. Same goes for restaurant or bar business. To get a specific development, restaurant and bar business people counsel Restaurant and Bar Management Software Development Services to build up a management software for them.
Source: maxanderson.postach.io/post/what-benefits-can-be-get-by-r...
" Work is the moving power of society development "
In Namibe, in an old garage, i saw this painted walls, with 70's communists slogans. Very few can still be seen i Angola. At this time, Cuba and USSR were supporting MPLA to fight UNITA party , supported by USA and South Africa.
In December 1956, in Portuguese Angola the Angolan Communist Party (PCA) merged with the Party of the United Struggle for Africans in Angola (PLUA) to form the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola with Viriato da Cruz, the President of the PCA, as Secretary General.
During 1975, before the official Portuguese withdrawal, the civil war in Angola intensifies. In fighting for control of the capital city, Luanda, the MPLA succeeds in driving out both its rivals. UNITA, which claims to enjoy wider popular support than the other groups, argues that Portugal must fulfil its last colonial duty and supervise elections.
But the Portuguese, eager to leave as quickly as possible, abandon the country without formally handing over control to any succeeding government. The MPLA, in possession of the capital and with guaranteed support from the USSR and Cuba, declared itself the government of independent Angola. Agostinho Neto, a distinguished poet who had led the MPLA since 1962, became president.
The Soviet Union supported the MPLA-PT as a liberation movement before independence and formalized its relationship with the MPLAPT government through the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation and a series of military agreements beginning in 1975. Once it became clear that the MPLA-PT could, with Cuban support, remain in power, the Soviet Union provided economic and technical assistance and granted Angola most-favored-nation status. In 1976 MPLA adopted Marxism-Leninism as the party ideology. It maintained close ties with the Soviet Union and the Communist bloc, establishing socialist economic policies and a one-party state.
For the first decade after independence, trade with communist states was not significant, but in the late 1980s dos Santos sought expanded economic ties with the Soviet Union, China, and Czechoslovakia and other nations of Eastern Europe as the MPLA-PT attempted to diversify its economic relations and reduce its dependence on the West. In October 1986, Angola signed a cooperative agreement with the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon), a consortium dedicated to economic cooperation among the Soviet Union and its allies. As part of the Comecon agreement, Soviet support for Angolan educational and training programs was increased. In 1987 approximately 1,800 Angolan students attended institutions of higher education in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union also provided about 100 lecturers to Agostinho Neto University in Luanda, and a variety of Soviet-sponsored training programs operated in Angola, most with Cuban instructors. Approximately 4,000 Angolans studied at the international school on Cuba's renowned Isle of Youth. More Angolan students were scheduled to attend the Union of Young Communists' School in Havana in 1989.
Cuba's presence in Angola was more complex than it appeared to outsiders who viewed the Soviet Union's Third World clients as little more than surrogates for their powerful patron. The initiative in placing Cuban troops in Angola in the mid-1970s was taken by President Fidel Castro as part of his avowed mission of "Cuban internationalism." Facing widespread unemployment at home, young Cuban men were urged to serve in the military overseas as their patriotic duty, and veterans enjoyed great prestige on their return. Castro also raised the possibility of a Cuban resettlement scheme in southern Angola, and several hundred Cubans received Angolan citizenship during the 1980s. Cuban immigration increased sharply in 1988. In addition to military support, Cuba provided Angola with several thousand teachers, physicians, and civilian laborers for construction, agriculture, and industry. Angolan dependence on Cuban medical personnel was so complete that during the 1980s Spanish became known as the language of medicine.
© Eric Lafforgue
Erucarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis :.
Amstelaedami :Apud Joannem Oosterwyk, cujus in Officina, hoc, tam figuris, ad vivum depictis, quam aeri solummodo incisis, ut & quaecunque opera alia per dictam Mariam Sibillam Merian unquam composita, prostant,[1718].
Some background:
]The VF-4 Lightning III began development in 2005 under the initial designation of the VF-X-4. Developed as a successor craft to the VF-1 Valkyrie, the VF-4 Lightning III was designed as a variable fighter that emphasized mobility in outer space.
The VF-4's development began with the prototype VF-X-4 and the VF-X-3. However, when Earth was devastated in Space War I the loss of military facilities also resulted in loss of the VF-X-3. Amongst the airframes under development exist prototype No. 1 craft, VF-X-4V1 and the trial manufactured VF-4A-0 and thus the surviving VF-X-4 was developed and completed as the VF-4 Lightning III. A trial-produced variable fighter, designated the VF-4A-0, was also built using 25% VF-1 Valkyrie parts.
VF-X-4 underwent flight tests, including being test piloted by Space War I veteran Hikaru Ichijo. Once successful operational models were ready, the VF-4 began mass production on February 2012. Initial deployment began on the SDF-2 Megaroad-01 in VF-1 Skull and SVF-184 Iron Chiefs Squadrons on September 2012. When the SDF-2 Megaroad launched in the same month, Hikaru Ichijō flew a VF-4 alongside the new colonization vessel as the ship lifted from Earth and began exploration outside of the Sol system.
As a result of integrating existing Overtechnology and Zentradi-series technology, the VF-4 had a characteristic three-hulled-type airframe structure remarkably different from the conservative VF-1 Valkyrie design. The three-hulled style of the VF-4 increased fuselage volume, propellant capacity and armament load capability that all resulted in a 40% improved combat ability over the VF-1. Fully transformable, the VF-4 could shift into Battroid and Gerwalk modes like previous variable fighters.
However, the VF-4 did suffer minor mobility problems within an atmosphere and the new type was primarily deployed to the Space Air Corps of emigrant fleets to serve as the main fighter craft of the UN Forces in the 2020s. It was because flight performance within the atmosphere was not as good as the VF-1 that the VF-5000 Star Mirage became the main combat craft within atmosphere, while the VF-4 operated mainly in outer space.
Built as a space fighter, the VF-4 primary weapons became two large beam cannons, though the craft was capable of carrying a GU-11 gun pod in Gerwalk and Battroid modes. In addition to the powerful primary beam guns, the Lightning III also featured twelve semi-recessed long-range missiles, as well as underwing pylons for additional missiles and other stores.
The VF-4 was only slightly heavier than the VF-1, but featured considerably more powerful engines, making the craft ideal for operations deeper out in space. The Lightning III was also much faster in the atmosphere than the older VF-1, although the VF-4’s flight mobility performance was not as great.
The VF-4 was also notable as the first production variable fighter to utilize a HOTAS system (Hands On Throttle And Stick) for the cockpit HMI (Human-Machine Interface). Furthermore, the VF-4's cockpit was laid out as a single hexagonal MFD (Multi-Function Display) that proved so successful that it was retrofitted into "Block 6" VF-1 fighters, as well as providing the template for all future variable fighter cockpits.
By the end of 2015, mass production of the VF-1 series at last had come to an end. From 2020 onward, the VF-4 Lightning III officially replaced the VF-1 to become the main variable fighter of U.N. Forces. Production of the VF-4 continued for a decade and ceased in 2022, with a total of 8,245 Lightning III variable fighters produced.
The VF-4 variable fighter remained in active service into the late 2040's but was complemented or substituted in many branches of the UN Forces by the cheaper and more atmospherically maneuverable VF-5000 Star Mirage. The VF-4 Lightning III was eventually replaced as the main variable fighter of U.N. Spacy in the later half of the 2030s by the VF-11 Thunderbolt.
General characteristics:
Manufacturer: Stonewell/Bellcom
Equipment Type: Variable fighter
Government: U.N. Spacy, U.N. Space Marines
Introduction: 2012
Operational Deployment: September 2012
Dimensions:
Accommodation: pilot only
Fighter Mode: wingspan 12.65 meters; height 5.31 meters; length 16.8 meters
Mass: empty 13.95 metric tons
Structure: space metal frame, SWAG energy conversion armor
Powerplant:
2x Shinnakasu/P&W/Roice FF-2011 thermonuclear turbine engines,
rated at 14,000 kg (137.34 kN) each
2x dorsal rocket engines (mounted on top of the main thermonuclear turbine engines)
2x ramjet engines (embedded into the inner wing sections)
P&W HMM-1A high-maneuverability vernier thrusters
Performance:
Fighter Mode: Mach 3.02 at 10,000 m
Mach 5.15 at 30,000+ m
Thrust-to-weight ratio: (empty) 2.01 (rating for turbine engine thrust ONLY)
g limit: unknown
[Armament:
2 x large beam cannons in forward engine nacelles
12x semi-recessed long range missiles (mounted on engine nacelles and ventral fuselage)
8x underwing pylons for missiles, gun pods an/or drop tanks
The kit and its assembly:
Well, this build has been lingering for almost 25 years in the back of my mind. It just took so long that a suitable IP kit (with a reasonable price tag) would materialize!
The original inspiration struck me with a VF-4 profile in the source book "This is animation special: Macross PLUS" from 1994, which accidently fell into my hands in a local Japanese book store. Among others, a side and top view profile of an aggressor VF-4 in an all-brown, Soviet-style paint scheme was featured. At that time I found the idea and the scheme pretty cool, so much that I even built a modified 1:100 VF-1 as a ground attack aircraft in this paint scheme.
However, the original VF-4 profile from the source book had always been present, but for years there had been no affordable kit. There have been garage/resin kits, but prices would start at EUR 250,-, and these things were and are extraordinarily rare.
Things changed for the better when WAVE announced an 1:72 VF-4 kit in late 2016, and it eventually materialized in late 2017. I immediately pre-ordered one from Japan (in a smart move, this even saved money) and it eventually turned up here in Germany in early 2018. Patience pays out, it seems...
I had preferred a 1:100 kit, though, due to space issues and since almost any other Macross variable fighter model in my collection is in this small scale, but I am happy that a decent VF-4 kit at all appeared after so many years!
Concerning the WAVE kit, there’s light and shadow. First of all, you have to know that you get a VF-4A. This is mentioned nowhere on the box, but might be a vital information for hardcore modelers. The early VF-4A is a rather different aircraft than the later VF-4G, with so fundamental differences that it would warrant a completely new kit! On the other side, with a look at the kit’s parts, I could imagine that a VF-4B two-seater could be easily realized in the future, too.
The kit is a solid construction, a snap-fit kit molded in different colors so that it can be built without painting. This sounds toy-like, but - like many small scale Bandai Valkyrie kits - anything you ask for is actually there. When you use glue and put some effort into the kit and some donor parts, you can make a very good model from it.
The kit's box is pretty oversized, though (any sprue is shrink-wrapped, horrendous garbage pile and wasted space!), and the kit offers just a single decal (water-slide decals, not stickers) option for a Skull Squadron VF-4A – AFAIK it’s Hikaru Ichijoe’s machine that appears in one of the Macross Flash Back 2012 music videos, as it escorts the SDF-02 “Megaroad” colonial ship after launch from Earth towards the center of our Galaxy.
The parts are crisply molded, and I actually like the fact that the kit is not as uber-engineered as the Hasegawa Valkyries. You can actually call the WAVE kit simple - but in a positive sense, because the parts number is reduced to a minimum, material strength is solid and the kit's construction is straightforward. Fit is excellent – I just used some putty along the engine gondolas due to their complex shape, but almost anything else would either fit almost perfectly or just call for some sanding. Impressive!
Surface details etc. are rather basic, but very crisp and emphasized enough that anything remains visible after adding some paint. However, after all, this aircraft is just a fictional animation mecha, and from this perspective the kit is really O.K..
After building the kit I most say that it's nothing that leaves you in awe, and for a retail price of currently roundabout EUR 50-70,- (I was lucky to get it for an early bird deal at EUR 40,-, but still pricey for what I got) the kit is pretty expensive and has some weaknesses:
The model comes with a decent (= simple) cockpit and a very nice and large pilot figure, but with no ordnance except for the semi-recessed long-range missiles (see below). The cockpit lacks any side consoles, floor or side wall details. If you put the pilot into the cockpit as intended, this is not a big issue, since the figure blocks any sight into the cockpit’s lower regions. However, the side sticks are molded into the pilot’s hands, so that you have to scratch a lot if you want to present the cockpit open and with an empty seat.
The landing gear is simple, too, and the wells are very shallow (even though they feature interior details). As a special feature, you can switch with some extra parts between an extended or retracted landing gear, and there are extra parts that allow the air intakes and some vectoring nozzles to be closed/extended for orbital operations. However, detail fetishists might replace the OOB parts with the landing gear from an 1:72 F-18 for an overall better look.
Provisions for underwing hardpoints are actually molded into the lower fuselage part (and could be punched/drilled open - another indication that more VF-4 boxings with extra sprues might follow?), but the kit does not come with any pylons or other ordnance than the dozen fuselage-mounted AAMs. Furthermore, the semi-recessed missiles are just that: you only get the visible halves of the only provided ordnance, which are simply stuck into slits on the model’s surface. As a consequence, you have to mount them at any rate – building a VF-4 for a diorama in which the missiles are about to be loaded would require massive scratch-building efforts and modifications.
Another problem indirectly arises when you put some effort into the kit and want to clean and pre-paint the missiles before assembly: every missile is different and has its allocated place on the VF-4 hull. The missiles are numbered – but only on the sprue! Once you cut them out, you either have to keep them painstakingly in order, or you will spend a long evening figuring out where which missile belongs! This could be easily avoided if the part number would be engraved on the missiles’ back sides – and that’s what I actually did (with a water-proof pen, though) in order to avoid trouble.
The clear canopy is another issue. The two parts are crystal-clear, but, being a snap-fit kit, the canopy parts have to be clipped into the fuselage (rear part) and onto a separate canopy frame (front part). In order to fit, the clear parts have cramps molded into their bases – and due to the excellent transparency and a magnifier effect, you can see them easily from the outside – and on the inside, when you leave the cockpit open. It’s not a pretty solution, despite the perfect fit of the parts.
One option I can think of is to carefully sand the cramps and the attachment points away, but I deem this a hazardous stunt. I eventually hid the cramps behind a thin line of paint, which simulates a yellow-ish canopy seal. The extra windscreen framing is not accurate, but the simplest solution that hides this weak point.
The kit itself was built OOB, because it goes together so well. I also refrained from adding pylons and ordnance – even though you can easily hang anything from Hasegawa’s VF-1 weapon set under the VF-4’s wings and fuselage. A final, small addition was a scratched, ventral adapter for a 3.5 mm steel rod, as a display for the flight scene beauty pic.
Painting and markings:
As mentioned above, the livery is based on an official profile which I deem authentic and canonical. My aircraft depicts a different machine from VFT-127, though, since I could not (and did not really want to) 100% replicate the profile's machine from the Macross PLUS source book, "13 Red". Especially the squadron’s emblem on the fin would create massive problems.
For the two-tone wrap-around scheme I used Humbrol 72 (Khaki Drill) and 98 (Chocolate Brown), based on the printed colors in the source book where I found the scheme. The pattern is kept close to the benchmark profile, and, lacking an underside view, I just mirrored the upper scheme. The starboard side pattern was guesstimated.
As a second-line aggressor aircraft, I weathered the VF-4 with a black ink wash, some post-shading with various lighter tones (including Humbrol 160, 168, 170 and 187) and did some wet-sanding treatment for an uneven and worn look.
Interior surfaces were painted according to visual references from various sources: the landing gear and the air intakes became white, while the cockpit was painted in RAF Dark Sea Grey.
In order to add some color to the overall brown aircraft I decided to paint the missiles all around the hull in white with tan tips – in the profile, the appear to be integrated into the camouflage, what I found dubious.
Most stencils come from the OOB sheet, but I added some more from the scrap box. The grey "kite" roundels come from an 1:72 Hasegawa Macross F-14 Tomcat kit sheet, which I acquired separately for a reasonable price. Even though it took four weeks to be delivered from Asia, the investment was worthwhile, since the sheet also provided some useful low-viz stencils.
The VAT-127 “Zentraedi Busters” unique tail insignia was more complicated, because these had to be printed at home. As a side note, concerning the fin marking, I recently found a translation of the benchmark profile's text on mahq.net, which is interesting: "The Regult within the targeting reticle on the tail met with disapproval from micronized Zentraedi pilots, and so was only used for a short time." The comment also reveals that the original aircraft's modex is "713", not just "13" as depicted, so I tried to reflect these details on my build, too.
I eventually settled for a solution that was partly inspired by the kit’s OOB fin marking and the wish for more contrast for the motif: I scanned the original Regult pod illustration from the source book and printed it on white decal sheet. This was sealed with two layers of glossy acrylic varnish (applied with a rattle can) and then cut into a white field that fills the fixed part of the fin (using the WAVE kit’s OOB fin markings as reference). Once in place and dry, two black outlines were added separately (generic decal material) which help blend the decal and the surroundings. Finally, thin strips of silver decal sheet were used for the fins’ leading edges.
This design variation, compared with the original “13 Red” illustration, led to the idea of a flight leader’s machine with slightly more prominent markings. In order to take this concept further I also gave the aircraft a white stripe around the front fuselage, placed under the kite roundel and again with black outlines for a consistent look. It’s not much different from “13 Red”, but I think that it looks conclusive and, together with the white fin markings and the missiles, livens up the VF-4’s look.
The appropriate flight leader tactical code “01 Red” was puzzled together from single digits from a Begemot Su-27 sheet, the rest of the bort numbers were taken from the OOB sheet (which incidentally feature a “01” code, too).
Concerning the OOB decal sheet, there’s much light but also some deep shadow. While the register is excellent and the carrier film flexible enough to lay down smoothly, the instructions lack information where to place the zillion of stencils (“No step” and “Beware of Blast” stuff) are to be placed! You only get references for the major markings – the rest has either to be guessed, OR you are in possession of the VF-4 source book from Softbank Publishing which was (incidentally?) released in parallel with the WAVE kit. This mecha porn offers an overview of all(!) relevant stencils on the VF-4A’s hull, and ONLY with this information the exhaustive decal sheet makes some sense…
As final steps, the VF-4 received some dry-brushing with light grey around the leading edges, some chipped paint was simulated with dry-brushed aluminum and, finally, light soot stains around the vectoring nozzles all around the hull and the weapon bays were created with graphite. Then the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).
Well, in the end, it’s not a carbon copy of the inspiring illustration, but rather another machine from the same squadron, with more creative freedom. I stayed as true to the benchmark as possible, though, and I like the result. Finally, after almost 25 years, I can tick this project off of my long ideas and inspiration list.
Considering the kit itself, I am really torn. I am happy that there finally is a VF-4 IP kit at all after so many years, but to me it’s a contradictive offer. I am not certain about the target group, because for a toy-like snap-fit kit it’s too detailed and expensive, but for the serious modeler it has some major flaws.
The biggest issue is the kit’s horrendous price – even if it would be more detailed or contained some fine resin or PE parts (which I would not want, just a “good” plastic kit). Sure, you can put some effort into the kit and improve it, e .g. in the cockpit or with a donor landing gear, but weak points like the “flat” missiles and the lack of proper bays for them are IMHO poor. For the relatively huge price tag I’d hoped for a “better” OOB offer. However, the kit is easy to build and a good representation of the Lightning III, and I am curious if there are kit variants in WAVE’s pipeline?
I had a successful molding run yesterday, and as a result there are now two different versions of the BrightScreen: the original microprism style on the left and a new one with a diagonal split image spot inside a microprism collar, shown on the right. This was I think the fourth molding run since the spring of 2018, and we seem to learn something on each run. We're actually getting pretty good at this now......
Makes for a long day, though, as the molding shop is a bit of a drive from home. I left the house at 7:30 yesterday morning and got back home at 9:30 last night. But I have enough screens on hand now that I won't have to do it again for a while.
Agriculture women worker
Solomon Islands
©ILO/Peter Blumel
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.
26-27 November 2019
2019 Green Growth and Sustainable Development Forum - GGSD
OECD Headquarters, Paris, France
Photo: OECD/Andrew Wheeler
Sibley’s closed its department store in January 1989. Syrwil purchased the building for $4,040,000 that year. Wilmorite then began leasing the building to call-center office tenants, but it struggled to keep the building occupied.
The structure has been vacant since a small Excellus BlueCross BlueShield office moved across the street to Dey’s Plaza last year. In 2009, the building lost its last major tenant when National Government Services moved a medical claims processing center with 450 employees to DeWitt.
Modern new houses mushrooming near the ancient village of Kokana (in the background)Lalitpur, Nepal.
Man with a Stop Sign at the construction site near the West Side Rail Yards at the Highline Park.
Olympus E-M5 with a Lumix 12-35mm f2.8 Lens
So I have been working on this for a week. I have now figure out how to add the rig, make the animation, add the mesh modifier upload the mesh, and script it to work. There is a crazy limitation on distance, and I developed a hack to get more distance on the animations. I'm sure I know someone thinking, "how is he getting the distance so far"
My workspace right now. Pretty much my ideal combination of glass-and-steel cleanliness, device integration and wireless freedom.
Adopting technology based solution becomes a recent mindset of businesses from small and midsized businesses to large sized enterprises in order to explore new horizons of their ventures. Mobile app becomes a one of the most popular trend adopted by businesses, today. Based on one survey,...
voxilltec.com/2017/03/06/selecting-a-right-mobile-app-dev...
Original Caption: Development of Artificial Reefs at Marco Island.
U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: 412-DA-11378
Photographer: Schulke, Flip, 1930-2008
Subjects:
Marco Island (Collier county, Florida, United States) island
Environmental Protection Agency
Project DOCUMERICA
Persistent URL: arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ExternalIdSearch?id=553837
Repository: Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD, 20740-6001.
For information about ordering reproductions of photographs held by the Still Picture Unit, visit: www.archives.gov/research/order/still-pictures.html
Reproductions may be ordered via an independent vendor. NARA maintains a list of vendors at www.archives.gov/research/order/vendors-photos-maps-dc.html
Access Restrictions: Unrestricted
Use Restrictions: Unrestricted