I came across this impressive Scania K400/Irizar PB combination that started its life as team transport for the various England football squads (the registration plate is a big clue) parked-up about 100 metres from home whilst out walking the dog!

Anyway, a quick dash back home for the camera and it was duly captured.

16 - 040

05/2011 - new to Guideline; Battersea (LN).

08/2015 - passed to Lainton (Ashall); Gorton (GM)

05/2017 - passed to Go-Goodwin; Eccles (GM) on acquisition of Lainton's coaching business (3 vehicles) by Go-Goodwin's.

01/2018 - re-registered YO11 PYJ.

01/2018 - passed to Moseley; Wellington (Q).

Entire for the Brickset's Polybag Competition

---

Total Piece Count: 50pcs (Master Frown 11pcs)

The car is heavily based around Master Frown car from the Unikitty! show. The design have to altered to fit the guideline (reason why there are no tires), the face is retraced from a official stop-motion ad.

Finally this finishes up the Udvar-Hazy trip photos. I do hope they are of use to someone.

Night photo of Downtown Dallas taken on 06-26-10 from the west of Downtown. As a point of reference, the currently tallest structure in the Dallas cityscape is the Bank of America Tower at 72 stories and 921 feet in height, the 20th tallest building in the United States, lined in green argon.

Downtown Dallas with its Uptown District contains 50,319,621 square feet of office space per the latest 3Q10 office report from CoStar - the largest of any urban core in Texas. As a comparison Houston's CBD, the second largest in Texas, contains 43,129,432 square feet of office space per the latest 3Q10 office report from Transwestern. The Downtown Dallas CBD is 17% larger than Houston's.

[Editors note: CoStar and Transwestern count both single tenant and multi-tenant buildings, which provides a much clearer picture of a cities office space market. Dallas has several very large Downtown tenants that occupy multiple buildings as single tenants (i.e. AT&T's World Headquarters fully occupies three or four buildings, Hunt Oil occupies a building it built for itself, Belo Broadcasting occupies several office buildings, etc.). Other office reports such as Cushman Wakefield, Grubb & Ellis and CBRE count only multi-tenant buildings in their reports, providing an incomplete and distorted view of office space in a city.]

Museum Tower, at 560 feet tall and 42 stories costing $200 million dollars, is under construction with completion expected in late 2012. The rendering of Museum Tower in this photo shows what an incredible addition the tower will make on the Downtown Dallas cityscape. Museum Tower has been described as a "shaft of light".

Museum Tower, from this particular view, is visually located behind the Hunt Oil Tower and to the right of The House condo tower, a 29 story condominium highrise that is center left in this image and visually hard right of the Calatrava Bridge.

The 5.2 acre Woodall Rodgers Urban Park is under construction but cannot be seen in this photo. The Woodall Rodgers Urban park is creating a "Central Park" like setting amidst the skyscrapers of Downtown Dallas and will be the "front lawn" to Museum Tower. The Woodall Rodgers Urban Park is costing $110 million dollars.

Woodall Rodgers Freeway is becoming the new 21st century "Main Street" of Downtown Dallas with the intense development that has occurred fronting Woodall Rodgers Freeway from both the south (the traditional Dallas CBD) and the north (Dallas CBD's Uptown district) sides of the freeway.

The amount of construction activity in the immediate and near vicinity of Woodall Rodgers has become a major hotbed of skyscraper development for Dallas, currently now and going forward into the future.

The Calatrava Bridge, center left photo in foreground, at 400 feet tall and costing $165 million dollars, is under construction and is extending Woodall Rodgers Freeway across the Trinity River into Oak Cliff/West Dallas on the west side of Downtown Dallas. Calatrava Bridge will make a dramatic impact on the skyline as it will have wire suspensions stretching in both directions, will be painted white and illuminated at night, creating a dramatic visual sculpture on the Downtown cityscape.

The Calatrava Bridge is a keystone development that will open up hundreds of millions, and ultimately billions of dollars, of development along the Trinity River Lakes project that is unfolding at the doorstep of Downtown Dallas. The Downtown Dallas central core will then not only have jumped over Woodall Rodgers Freeway to encompass what is now its Uptown District to the north but will also jump over the Trinity River to include skyscraper and highrise development on the Oak Cliff/West Dallas side of the Trinity River to the west via the Calatrava Bridge.

While some may like to call it a bridge to nowhere, in fact it is THE bridge to the future.

Plans call for over 30,000,000 square feet of new dense urban highrise and skyscraper development to be built in West Dallas along with the addition of 24,000 residents in the next 17 years ... pretty incredible growth. It is the Calatrava Bridge and the new frontier it will open up that will catapult Dallas into its status as the "Chicago of the South" by 2030.

Here is the planned development guideline developed by the City for the new urban frontier of West Dallas:

www.dallascityhall.com/citydesign_studio/pdf/WD_UrbanStru...

The 14 story Perot Museum of Nature and Science is also under construction. This is a spectacular museum addition to the Downtown Dallas core; the Perot Museum is costing $185 million dollars.

The Museum's 4.7 acre site is located at the NW corner of Woodall Rodgers Freeway and Field Street, adjacent to Victory Park. The Museum will be situated at the crossroads of the future Trinity River Corridor Project, the Arts District, the West End, Uptown, and other popular attractions.

Also currently under construction is the Dallas City Performance Hall in the Dallas Arts District. The City Performance Hall is a magnificent facility in the world class Dallas Arts District and is costing $100 million dollars. The Dallas Arts District is the largest arts district in the nation, spanning 68 acres and 19 contiguous blocks in Downtown Dallas.

The Omni Hotel, a 1,001 room, 23 story, 376 foot tall hotel costing half a billion dollars, sheathed in blue glass and connected to the Dallas Convention Center via a skybridge, is under construction on the far right of the photo.

The Omni Hotel is located on 8 acres in the heart of downtown, which is experiencing a renaissance from more than $14 billion in new development underway in and near the urban core. Two acres of the Omni Hotel site are slated for additional dining, retail and other venues which will enhance entertainment opportunities for those who visit, work or live downtown.

First Baptist Church of Downtown Dallas has started work on a massive development to its Downtown Dallas campus. Several older buildings are slated to be imploded on Oct. 30, 2010 to make room for the significant new development that will be occurring. Cranes for the development will appear later once the excavation and ground work is completed. First Baptist Downtown Dallas is spending $130 million dollars on their new campus development.

As a further indication of the booming Downtown Dallas corridor, a $100 million dollar 23 story upscale apartment building called 1400 Hi Line is under construction as of 01-19-11 at the corner of Hi Line and Stemmons Freeway. The new highrise will front Stemmons and will be located across the freeway from the American Airlines Center. A nearby DART rail station will serve the residents of the 1400 Hi Line highrise.

Read more about this exciting 23 story upscale development for Downtown Dallas here: loweroaklawn.com/spotlight/coming-soon-hi-rise-living-on-...

The total of just the projects listed above equals $1.5 billion dollars in new development underway in Downtown Dallas at this moment, but the above list is by no means inclusive of all construction projects in process. A total of more than $14 billion dollars in construction outlays are occurring right now in Downtown and near Downtown Dallas!

What is amazing is the level of significant financial investment that is occurring in Downtown Dallas during an economic downturn in the nation's economy - but Dallas is still growing, building and investing in itself today for a much better tomorrow.

A recent article titled "The Rejuvenation of Downtown Dallas", published in the October 2010 edition of D Magazine, concerning the incredibly positive developments that are occurring now and their impact on the future of Downtown Dallas that will power it into the upper echelon of elite U.S. cities:

www.dmagazine.com/Home/D_CEO/2010/October/The_Rejuvenatio...

And another significant recognition and accolade from Forbes Magazine, published 09-02-09, that highlights Dallas' worldwide reach and influence and its growing significance on the world stage:

www.forbes.com/2009/09/02/world-capitals-cities-century-o...

Dallas will surpass Chicago as the 3rd largest metro in the nation by 2030 or sooner, published 03-15-10 in The Dallas Morning News:

www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/columnists/chall...

Some background:

The VF-1 was developed by Stonewell/Bellcom/Shinnakasu for the U.N. Spacy by using alien Overtechnology obtained from the SDF-1 Macross alien spaceship. It was preceded into production by an aerodynamic proving version of its airframe, the VF-X. Unlike all later VF vehicles, the VF-X was strictly a jet aircraft, built to demonstrate that a jet fighter with the features necessary to convert to Battroid mode was aerodynamically feasible.

However, the fighter remained active in many second line units and continued to show its worthiness years later, e. g. through Milia Jenius who would use her old VF-1 fighter in defense of the colonization fleet - 35 years after the type's service introduction!

General characteristics:

Equipment Type: all-environment variable fighter and tactical combat battroid

Government: U.N. Spacy, U.N. Navy, U.N. Space Air Force

Accommodation: pilot only in Marty & Beck Mk-7 zero/zero ejection seat

Dimensions:

Fighter Mode:

Length 14.23 meters

Wingspan 14.78 meters (fully extended)

Height 3.84 meters

Battroid Mode:

Height 12.68 meters

Width 7.3 meters

Length 4.0 meters

Empty weight: 13.25 metric tons;

Standard T-O mass: 18.5 metric tons;

MTOW: 37.0 metric tons

Powerplant:

2x Shinnakasu Heavy Industry/P&W/Roice FF-2008 thermonuclear reaction turbine engines, output 650 MW each, rated at 11,500 kg in standard or in overboost (225.63 kN x 2)

4 x Shinnakasu Heavy Industry NBS-1 high-thrust vernier thrusters (1 x counter reverse vernier thruster nozzle mounted on the side of each leg nacelle/air intake, 1 x wing thruster roll control system on each wingtip);

18 x P&W LHP04 low-thrust vernier thrusters beneath multipurpose hook/handles

Performance:

Battroid Mode: maximum walking speed 160 km/h

Fighter Mode: at 10,000 m Mach 2.71; at 30,000+ m Mach 3.87

g limit: in space +7

Thrust-to-weight ratio: empty 3.47; standard T-O 2.49; maximum T-O 1.24

Design features:

3-mode variable transformation; variable geometry wing; vertical take-off and landing; control-configurable vehicle; single-axis thrust vectoring; three "magic hand" manipulators for maintenance use; retractable canopy shield for Battroid mode and atmospheric reentry; option of GBP-1S system, atmospheric-escape booster, or FAST Pack system

Transformation:

Standard time from Fighter to Battroid (automated): under 5 sec.

Minimum time from Fighter to Battroid (manual): 0.9 sec.

Armament:

2x internal Mauler RÖV-20 anti-aircraft laser cannon, firing 6,000 pulses per minute

1x Howard GU-11 55 mm three-barrel Gatling gun pod with 200 rds fired at 1,200 rds/min

4 x underwing hard points for a wide variety of ordnance, including

- 12x AMM-1 hybrid guided multipurpose missiles (3/point), or

- 12x MK-82 LDGB conventional bombs (3/point), or

- 6x RMS-1 large anti-ship reaction missiles (2/outboard point, 1/inboard point), or

- 4x UUM-7 micro-missile pods (1/point), each carrying 15x Bifors HMM-01 micro-missiles,

or a combination of above load-outs

Optional Armament:

Shinnakasu Heavy Industry GBP-1S ground-combat protector weapon system, or

Shinnakasu Heavy Industry FAST Pack augmentative space weapon system

The kit and its assembly:

The second vintage 1:100 ARII VF-1 as a part of a Zentraedi squadron series, the canonical SVF-789. This one was inspired by a profile of such a machine in the “Macross Variable Fighter Master File: VF-1 Valkyrie Part 1” Art Book – true robot porn and full of valuable detail and background material for anyone who’d consider building a VF-1.

The SVF-789 machine shown in the book is a simple VF-1A, but with Zentraedi language markings and in a rather unusual livery in all dark green, yellow and black trim and grey low-viz roundels. While this does IMHO not really look sexy, I found the idea of a squadron, manned by former (alien) enemies very interesting. And so I took up the idea and started fleshing it out – including the idea of SVF-789’s initial base deep in the Amazonian jungle (justifying somehow the all-green livery!?).

This second build was to represent a flight leader’s aircraft, and consequently the basis is a VF-1J kit (which only differs outwardly through the head). In order to set the machine a little more apart I decided to incorporate some “Plus” program updates, including a different nose tip for the updated radar and two small fairings for IRST and laser designator sensors above and below the nose section, respectively. The fins’ tips were also modified – they were elongated a little through styrene sheet replacements.

This update is a bit early for the official Macross timeline, but I just wanted more than a standard J Valkyrie in a more exotic paint scheme.

Otherwise, this VF-1J fighter kit was built OOB, with the landing gear tucked up and the usual additions of some blade antennae, a pilot figure and a custom display stand in/under the ventral cannon pod.

The ordnance is non-standard, though; in this case the aircraft received two pairs of air-to-ground missiles (actually some misshapen Soviet AAMs from the Academy MiG-23 kit – either very fat R-60 ‘Aphid’ AAMs or very poor renditions of vintage K-6 ‘Alkali’ missiles?) inboards and four AMM-1 missiles on the outer pylons, with the lowest missile replaced by scratched ECM and chaff dispenser pods. The gun pod was also modified with a new nozzle, with parts from a surplus AMM-1 missile – also inspired by a source book entry.

Painting and markings:

This was planned to be a more exotic or extravagant interpretation of the profile from the book, which was already used as a guideline for the VF-1A build. The overall design of an all-green livery with a white nose tip as basis was kept, together with yellow trim on wings, fins and the stabilizer fins on the Valkyrie’s legs. The VF-1A already deviated from this slightly, but now I wanted something more outstanding – a bold flight leader’s mount.

Zentraedi vehicles tend to be rather colorful, so the tones I chose for painting were rather bright. For instance, the initial idea for the green was FS 34079, a tone which also comes close to the printed profile in the book. But it looked IMHO too militaristic, or too little anime-esque, so I eventually settled for something brighter and used Humbrol 195 (called Dark Satin Green, but it’s actually RAL 6020, Chromoxyd Grün, a color used on German railway wagons during and after WWII), later shaded with black ink for the engravings and Humbrol 76 (Uniform Green) for highlights.

The nose became pure white, the leading edge trim was painted with Revell 310 (Lufthansa Gelb, RAL 1028), a deep and rich tone that stands out well from the murky green.

In order to set this J Valkyrie apart from the all-dark green basic VF-1As, I added two bright green tones and a light purple as flight color: Humbrol 36 (called Pastel Green, but it’s actually very yellow-ish), 38 (Lime) and Napoleonic Violet from ModelMaster’s Authentic Line, respectively. 36 was applied to the lower legs and around the cockpit section, including the spinal fairing with the air brake. The slightly darker 38 was used on the wings and fins as well as for the fuselage’s and wings’ underside. On top of the wings and the inner and outer fins, the surfaces were segmented, with the dark green as basic color.

As an additional contrast, the head, shoulder guards and additional trim highlights on the legs as well as for a double chevron on the breast plate were painted in the pale purple tone. A sick color combination, but very Zentraedi/Meltraedi-esque!

The cockpit interior was, according to Macross references, painted in Dark Gull Grey. The seat received brown cushions and the pilot figure was turned into a micronized Meltraedi (yes, the fictional pilot Taqisha T’saqeel is to be female) with a colorful jumpsuit in violet and white, plus a white and red helmet – and bright green skin! The gun pod became dark blue (Humbrol 112, Field Blue), the AMM-1 missiles received a pale grey livery while the air-to-ground missiles and the chaff dispenser became olive drab. As an additional contrast, the ECM pod became white. A wild mix of colors!

This was even enhanced through U.N. Spacy roundels in standard full color – their red really stands out. The squadron emblem/symbol on the fin was painted with a brush, but in this case in a smaller variant and with two USN/USAF style code letters for the home basis added.

Since I can not print white letters onto clear decal sheet at home, the aircraft’s tactical code ‘300’ was created with letters from the human alphabet. A simplification and deviation from the original concept, but I found the only alternative of painting tiny and delicate Zentraedi codes by brush and hand just to be too risky.

Finally, the kit was sealed with a sheen acrylic varnish – with the many, contrasting colors a pure matt finish somehow did not appear right.

Building was relatively simple, just the rhinoplasty was a little tricky – a very subtle modification, though, but the pointed and slightly deeper nose changed the VF-1’s look. The standard Zentraedi-style VF-1 of SVF-789 already looked …different, but this one is … bright, if not challenging to the naked eye. Anyway, there’s more in the creative pipeline from the Zentraedi unit – this aircraft’s pilot in the form of a modified resin garage kit.

Smithfield Road, Shrewsbury

30 May 1996

There are many expressions that are puzzling. Consider the expression "Sleep like a baby". I am not sure what baby the first person to use this expression knew, but the babies that I have known would wake nearly ever half hour crying. I know of no adults that have ever "slept like a baby", although I imagine there are some members of professional sports teams that may have.

Another expression that has always puzzled me is "rules are meant to be broken". I simply cannot resolve the conflicting ideas in that expression. If it is an idea meant to be broken, it cannot possibly be a "rule". At best, it is a guideline, a recommendation or even just a suggestion, not a rule.

To deliberately mis-quote the former prime minister of Canada, "A rule is a rule. What kind of a rule? It's a rule. A rule is a rule. And when you have a good rule, it's because it rules."

Here, the steps in front of the St. Catharines Centennial Public Library bend the rules of...

...well, the must be some rule bent here. Rules were meant to be bent, or, something.

Guideline Scania FA12 ENG on the southbound M1.This is the England football teams coach...May 19 2012

SM90 launch pad with V-755 (training missile)

RepTár - Aviation Museum

Szolnok, Hungary

28.09.2018

I love my Fuji Instax camera. I don't use it often but every now and then I'll find the perfect kind of scene to use it with. It's a challenge to get things perfect because the viewfinder is merely a guideline, and it's very easy to get your exposure wrong since you only have 3 settings (light, normal,dark). When it works, though, I love the satisfaction of watching the image come to life as it develops right in front of you. So much fun for a camera that costs under $100 😀. ift.tt/1Q9nAWD - uploaded from ift.tt/Zaxgq2

Seen in Chieveley services March 2023

Best Times to Visit

Hervey Bay boasts a perfect climate all year round. Most Hervey Bay accommodation places are minutes, if not seconds from the beach. The best time to visit is up to the individual, but here is a brief guideline that may help you.

Whale Watch Season - Mid July to Early November

The Whale Watch season runs through the core winter months of Hervey Bay. The temperatures are quite mild but are found to be very pleasant to visitors that are used to much colder weather than Sunny Queensland offers. Most whale watch companies offer courtesy pick up from the Hervey Bay accommodation listings we have chosen. This time of year is most popular to visitors who have made the trek to see the whales and explore Fraser Island. The fishing is also very good around this time of year with the winter whiting in abundance.

Summer - December to February

The summer months in Hervey Bay are quite warm and are great for the outdoor lifestyle that Hervey Bay promotes. Endless days on the beach just seconds from your Hervey Bay accommodation or a day out on the water are both great ways to spend your time during this time of year.

Easter - Mid April

This is a popular time for caravanning in the Bay. The annual pilgrimage from southern caravaners arrive for a couple of weeks with their Hervey Bay accommodation towed behind them! There are many caravan parks throughout Hervey Bay. Try and stick to the waterfront parks if possible. This time of year has become an annual tradition for many travellers over decades and is a great time of year to visit.

Workers captured here in the cargo hold of Perahu Besar "Kemajuan" in Terengganu State Museum, carrying out restoration works, under the guideline of the Trengganu's boat artisan, Sulong Draman. This Perahu Besar, or wooden boat, is the symbol of Trengganu's maritime heyday, which at it's height from before the WWII until it's demise in mid 70s.

Sailed the South China Sea from Kuala Trengganu to North up to Cambodia and Vietnam and to South as far as Makassar, the Trengganu's Perahu Besar Fleet is something really to be proud of.

My maternal side Grandfather was one of the Nakhoda in this Perahu Besar Fleet and my father in his younger days was an able bodied on the wooden ship like this.

On the picture wise, l took this series without the aid of electronic metering system of either in built in or handheld. The film is Lucky SHD 100 and the light was at the extreme end of too bright and too dark. This pic was metered loosely based on Sunny 16 but was adjusted accordingly.

[ Trengganu Maritime, Mamiya C220 ]

©2006 Kris Kros

All rights reserved

Soul Travel is a little different from Astral Travel where you are working from your astral body and are aware of your body below you, moving through objects and going to places that relate often in a more worldly sense on Earth or in the Astral Planes. Soul Travel is when you are travelling in your Light Body and at a Soul level, so you will not be aware of your body as you are in the higher vibrations of yourself and so one with everything, being your multi-dimensional self. So you are not aware of leaving your physical body or going through walls and all the lower dimensional experiences, instead of going out of body, you go within and through your Light Body you are in the Now, all worlds and dimensions at once, there is no separation. Soul Travel in your Body of Light is from unity consciousness and you are not actually travelling anywhere, because you are there already and everywhere. In Astral Travel you are operating through the Astral Body, which is vibrating at a lower frequency than the Soul. So you will see more of your physical world and what is happening in it, from day to day experiences, places and people and there are many books on how to do this. I am not going to mention how to Astral Travel here, as I do not do this type of travel myself. When Astral Travelling you may go somewhere on the planet or see friends or family, but you can also do this on a Soul level, and only if you need to and not out of curiosity. With Soul Travel you are Light and travel in Liquid Light Plasma, you are at a high frequency and are out of the gravitational pull, it is multi-dimensional travel. When you work at a soul level and with your Light Body you are connected to Source and your I Am, and work at that level for the upliftment of yourself, humanity and in the bigger picture and grand cycles. As with travelling in the Astral Body you perceive information, but it has a direct link with your soul, you are clear about what is taking place and are able to heal and complete through your I Am presence as the multi-dimensional experience/hologram is happening, especially if you are doing this while awake and conscious in a meditation. You are working through time and space with no limitations, and you aware other dimensions, planes, through vortexes, into Inner Earth, the Councils of Light, and Light Cities, civilisations that have moved into the higher frequencies and dimensions, the Milky Way, Star Systems and Galaxies. For example connecting to other civilisations in other cycles, or to stars, or other dimensional places to receive information, complete missions or remember and awaken within you and your body, codings of information that are for grid work, the shift in consciousness and new cycle, New Earth and Solar System. When you Soul Travel you are usually triggered in some way by your Higher/Inner Self, or Divine Beings will suggest travelling/awakening to a certain star, portal point or ancient civilisation. You may not know before hand why, but will find out later why it is so important. My first conscious Soul Travel many years ago, was when I read an article on Moon City in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia in a magazine. I knew instantly that I had lived there; this was a great city from another cycle on Earth. When I travelled there on a Soul Travel I saw the whole place as it had been at that time in the Third World, we are in the Forth World going into the Fifth, with a new root race. I saw myself as I had come in from the Stars there, and I saw how it was destroyed by a nuclear holocaust. Since then I have done a lot of work there on the inner planes and assisted the beings trapped there. I have been on countless Soul Travels since that time consciously, but always from being guided from my Heart and Inner Self when it is appropriate for some understanding, healing and resolution, or to create the new from the lessons of the old civilisation. Needless to say just as in past life regression you learn a lot about history, but not his-story as the controllers of the planet want us to know it, and not history from just recent times, but from different worlds and cycles on Earth. In some of the workshops I facilitate in different countries we go as a soul group on a Soul Travel together, through a portal where we are physically located together and into a previous civilisation that is now in light, or into Lemuria, Atlantis or the Egyptian pyramids, or an Ancient Civilization from another cycle maybe even millions of years ago in the concept of 3D time. Or to the Councils of Light, or to another Star System to complete something as a group and to heal, awaken, bring back the gifts or resolve what may have been left from the collapse of that time. This is important now as we come to the end of this cycle and the end of much greater cycles, there is a lot of completing going on before we all shift cycles again.

“Gateways of Unity, Inner and Natural Healing”.

REASONS SOUL TRAVEL

1. To access information, remember or complete something from an ancient civilisation or place, or other cycle on Earth.

2. To connect to a soul or souls who may not be living or humanoid, to heal or exchange information for healing, planetary work or to complete.

3. To awaken the Light Being you are in the Light Ship and/or the Councils of Light for important work that you do from your over soul self at this time of change in cycle.

4. To connect to someone here and now on Earth to communicate to them from a soul level, to be of service in some way and share.

5. To be at and open up to a place on the planet that has energies or codes that are part of your mission, often we do this physically but can do it also in our Light Body.

6. To be at cosmic schools or healing temples, or other worlds or dimensions to learn.

7. Accessing the inner dimensional worlds within the Earth, Inner Earth, the sea, planets, different star systems to re-connect, learn, share, work together, complete and unify.

8. To be one in time and space to unify, heal and transmute part of yourself still fragmented in a past/now/future Earth life or in Parallel Worlds.

9. To remember and awaken your gifts and multi-dimensional aspects and to allow them to be fully integrated in your body and energy field, being fully present in your life, service and experience on the earth plane now.

Soul Travel is a way to assist you to become more aware of your multi-dimensional self and what you do on Inner Planes, worlds and dimensions. You start to take more responsibility for yourself on all levels, as some of aspects of self can still be in duality and in other worlds of illusion or the astral planes. Through you connection in Oneness with Source and your hearts desire to heal, unify and be your full divinity these aspects become at peace and unified by your love and acceptance of yourself exactly as you are.

Please see more on this in the “Inner Union” chapter or my book “Gateways of Unity, Inner and Natural Healing ”, the chapter on ‘The Aura and Astral’ about Astral Hooks.

An example of this is a friend of mine and fellow multi-dimensional anchor who went to China to release a seal over Light at a particular place that had been sealed 13,000 years ago. As the world could not handle the frequencies then, as we went through the Photon Belt the last time and into fear and density, but the world is ready again now to be open to the Light. There were three Tibetan Lamas that had walked for one whole year to get to the same place at the same time, only for a day before turning around and walking back to Tibet! They were there for the same reason, but quietly, unseen by all except the one they worked with and even then she only saw one in passing. Such is the way of the true work that is done by those who are in Divine Will and of service here on this planet, to assist the shift in consciousness and return of the Golden Age, the real work is done on the Inner Planes and on the outer world quietly by those who are connected and conscious.

If you feel you are busy working at night or get people telling you they channel you, see you helping in dreams or they call out to you for help make sure you are Connected and in the higher energies of your divine self. It is a good idea to imagine you are within the Golden Octahedron, unified frequencies of cosmic life force energy, the top apex at Cosmic Gateway and the bottom at Earth Star, do this night and day until you feel you have unified to the point where you are aligned on all levels in oneness and divine love. This just keeps you unnecessarily out of the lower Astral worlds while you are still unifying yourself. You will still have your hooks in the Astral while you are running victim/victimiser and fear issues but the Golden Octahedron will keep that energy from distracting you, while you do your higher work and also help you be in a calm and centred space to unify the astral hooks you may still have. Also if you find at times that you do not feel like doing much, instead of thinking of yourself as lazy or lost it, realise that most of your energy is actually off working on other levels assisting in some way, so just allow yourself to be. The universe will always provide for you and you will have what you need in regards material things so you can do this work. There is much work going on at present as the higher light octaves are blasting through from the Source and the Greater Central Sun and Galactic Centre, through the star and planetary alignments, eclipses and cyclic doorways of the equinox and solstices. The pulse for the Galactic Centre which is what the Mayan Calendar represents has passed the middle of the Galactic Underworld now as we open up our frequencies of ‘who we truly are’, We move into the ninth step of the pyramid and Universal Underworld on 11. 02. 2011, it ends 28.10. 2011 when we complete creation according to the calendar and the pyramids; that were built to represent this journey into the higher dimensions and Light are a vehicle created to move through the doorway. Of course the pyramid is each of us, the crystal, the Earth, the Solar System and beyond, multi-prismed facets from the prism of Light of Source. Many are leaving Earth as they have chosen not be here physically for the great shift that is happening, and there are many things occurring with the Earth herself as she throws off all the toxins. But instead of fearing the future or changes; breath love and acceptance into the fear, until it is gone as there is only Love, the Love you are takes you into the New Earth, your Heart is the doorway. In your Soul Travels once you awaken enough to know to do them; and when and where you are to be, you will feel only joy for what is taking place as you work with the Councils of Light, Councils of Elders and Ancient Ones, Light Beings and Guardians on the Earth, the Dragon and Serpent People and are aware of the Inner Earth and the beings there as we merge the Inner and Outer as one, the New Earth is birthed.

You will know from your heart the appropriate time and place to do Soul Travel, it is not an ego thing and something that is to be controlled and manipulated. The work you do is not interfering and changing energies, it is simply being the divine being you are, fully conscious as you experience the lower energies to illuminate them through your being. You are the go-between, the one that through your choice of being in a physical body at this time give the gift through your being of unifying Heaven and Earth, spirit and matter. This process takes place through you becoming your Body of Light, being fully present and aware, not by doing magic or manipulating energies, this is the old path and the new is from Love, Acceptance and Allowing, by simply Being….aware, alive, radiant. So either through choice as you awaken, or through circumstances such as losing a job, a relationship, loss of a loved one, health problem or accident your Soul is guiding you into self healing, realisation and service to others, selfless surrender to the divine self. You can Soul Travel in your sleep, or while meditating or being still within. You need to know where it is you wish to go; this often comes as a message from your Inner/Higher Self. For example you may need to be through the Belt of Orion, or into Lemuria, you may be directly there or go through a doorway portal like the Giza Pyramids for Orion, or Easter Island for Lemuria first. Or you may want to go into a mountain near where you live, or into the Serpent tunnels in the Inner Earth, or to a particular Star, or to the Galactic Federation, to the Council of Light, or a Light Ship that is in your area.

I find when I go to sacred sites, vortexes, ruins and dimensional portals and pyramids my Inner Self will often ask me to travel back there in a Soul Travel that night, as I gain more awareness and move into the other dimensions more easily. Often I return on a Soul level many times after I have visited a place physically; for example after being in the sarcophagus in the Kings Chamber and in the Queens Chamber at the great Pyramid at Giza, I often travel in my Light Body there and also take others on the inner there as well, or other locations. As well as painting the Inner Planes in a mandala or activation painting, as a doorway to assist others to open up to the Light Codes and portals there, and in many other pyramids and vortexes. On one occasion after visiting the Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA, I was at vortex called Moran and the energy was so powerful it almost knocked me over. I was to soul travel back there that evening, and I was staying near Sedona which was quiet a drive. I had hardly got back to where I was staying and into my room and my head on the pillow when I was off back to Moran on the inner to meet with Council of Elders through the Inner Earth doorway there and got downloaded with lots of information. But when I was physically at the location as I stood at the vortex, at the edge of the great cliffs, the energy was so intense and I was just there briefly and got nudged to go. Often I just have to be in the place to absorb the light codes and energies then do the rest on the Inner Planes away for the actual location. But I will also often stay at a place for hours or return many times over days, weeks and years to Soul Travel into the dimensional worlds within the sacred site or vortex to awaken to the next level of light codes. Use the pendulum or muscle test if you are not sure and check whether it is appropriate to go there. Soul Travel is for a purpose that has Divine Will aligned to it. It will be for your healing or completion of some mission, or to receive more wisdom, information and codings. Or to learn at a higher frequency plane, your next step in your initiation process, or for Planetary or Cosmic awareness of the Cyclic Shift and Bigger Pictures and you work with the Councils of Light. If you are in doubt ask if there is anywhere at this time where you are meant to go; it maybe to a healing temple in a higher dimension, or a higher dimensional school for learning and awakening your consciousness. Or in unlimited ways of service such as teaching others on the Inner Planes, or going into the Underworld to assist those who have asked for help. As well as to hold the beam of high frequency divine light and love, unified energy in a battlefield, or disaster to help all souls to transmute the fear and horror. You may also be going on Soul Travels but not be conscious of this, if you feel this is happening you can connect and tune in and see what comes into your awareness. If you are not meant to know, there is usually a good reason for this. It could be that your ego will get in the way, or you will tell others and lose the energy, or others on whatever level may hear and cause mischief, or it may simply be that you are not ready to understand consciously yet. When you have been guided, or chosen where you are to go, in alignment with Divine Will, then if you are doing this as a meditation while awake follow the next section ‘Aligning and Connecting for your Soul Travel” and then simply go there. Your intention takes you straight there; open up your awareness by simply trusting what you intuit is happening. You will be conscious of what is going on and you can also ask and guide yourself with relevant questions such as:

· “Do I need to heal anything here?” If yes, and you are not sure how, send Golden Light into it and Love from your Heart until it is healed and glowing golden. · “Do I need to complete anything here?” If yes, then ask your Inner/Higher Self to take you to the place and time, see or sense what it is you need to do to complete. Just trust what ever it is you get a sense of. · “Do I need to receive anything from here; an object, codings, awareness…?” Then ask your Inner/Higher Self to take you to the time and place where you need to be, to receive what it is. Trust whatever you get. · “Do I need to return anything to this place or time?” If yes trust whatever it is you get a sense of, it maybe a crystal you took at the end of Atlantis, or a ray of energy from an ancient pyramid site. What ever it is you get a sense of then ask your Higher/Inner Self to guide you back to the place in your Soul Travel where you need to put it back. · “Do I need to resolve anything?” You may go to a place where there has been destruction and beings, or part of your multi-dimensional self is trapped. If you get a sense of this then send love into them until you can see or get a sense that they are free. If there are other beings, send Love and Golden Light to them until they are free to go back to their Source, which maybe another world. · You can also go with a group on a Soul Travel to a particular cycle, dimensional world, star system or place and you may need to unify as a group something you left unfinished as the same group in that parallel time. “Do we need to do something as a group, what happened, what do we need to remember or complete? Sometimes it takes a long time of clearing yourself and getting lighter before you are able to access a particular doorway, star system, or vortex. For example for years I had been wanting to go through the Southern Cross, but I even had to go to Uluru on a Blue Full Moon and Equinox to make the star essences of the Southern Cross with rock and flowers on the rock, and still was not ready to go through the doorway. When I finally was ready as I went through Southern Cross doorway, the dimensional facets of light that got activated in me were vast, and I could see why it had taken so long for it to happen, I had to get my frequency high enough to hold the energies. You will know where it is you are to go as described previously, then get into bed and do the alignment as described in ‘Aligning and Connecting for your Soul Travel’ before going to sleep. You well probably have a very deep sleep, as you travel in your Light Body you will usually not be consciously aware of anything except maybe Light or Golden Light. Make sure you have enough warm bedding on as often the body can get cold as most of your energy and life force is being used on your travel. I have never been on a Soul Travel in my sleep yet that I remember, as it is happening. Usually because it is on such a deep level and the conscious mind is nicely asleep while it is going on. Often if I have taken other people with me, sometimes they have said they were aware of a Golden Light coming to them. Or we have gone travelling yet I may still be awake, I am aware that it is going on, but not conscious as I go to bed to sleep. But I get clarity in the morning when I tune into it.

In the morning or when you get a chance, tune in and see what comes up for you about your journey. Sit and get connected, go within, deep into your inner self and ask to be shown what happened. If you are visual you will see your journey in your inner vision. If not then you may get a knowing - trust it. Or you can get a pen and paper and write it down, or go and type up what comes with out thinking, on the computer. Trust what you get and allow it to unfold. Then if any of it needs to be unified or completed you can follow the guideline of the questions that are in the ‘Soul Travel in Meditation’ section just previous. Ask in prayer and with intention to be connected to your Source in Divine Love, and Oneness through the Sun, Central Sun and Greater Central Sun, your Inner Self, Solar Self and Earth. Know that you are in the Golden Light of Source and the Golden Beings from the Great Central Sun and Councils of Light are with you. After you have stated this then connect the Golden Light from Source and the Suns through your Crown, into your Heart Chakra, and down through your body and into the Earth. Then that energy from the Earth back up through your Heart and out to Source. Then imagine or see within, all your Chakras spinning and Light, go up them from Earth Star to Cosmic Gateway, (if you are not sure see the diagram in the Chakra chapter on page 55), as each one sparkles and radiates in Light…….. When they are all sparkling and Light be aware of them merging into One Chakra of Light…….then out through all your physical body…etheric body…emotional body…mental bodies…spiritual bodies…you are one Body of Light…..Open up to the full spectrum of Light Codings to your Christ/White Light Body…Now you are ready to go…. So put out clearly where you are off to· If you are doing this in your sleep then just go to sleep. If you are doing this in a meditation then allow yourself to be there and trust what you perceive no matter how subtle, just follow what happens. If you find you need more Light then you can imagine that you are surrounded and filled with a portal or column of Divine Light….You are within this spiralling column of Divine, radiant Light as it connects you to the Light Grid around the planet and you open up to the Light Grid, matrix of Light as you travel in Light through the Light Grid to where you choose to go. Whether you are fully conscious of it or not, you will be there, so trust your imagination and what ever you sense, feel, know or see. Happy travelling through the journey of your Soul. At first you may become aware that you work with the Councils of Light through Soul Travel, or aware that you are busy working at night in your sleep. You then start to become more aware of yourself, as you are on the planes of Light any time of the day or night, you now become conscious. The more you do this the more you become, and are aligned in Divine Will, becoming more compassionate, loving, accepting, humble and in the world but not of it, out of the illusion. You now operate from the Bigger Picture and the Inner Planes as your frequency has heightened and you have graduated to a new level of awareness. The first time I learned to astral travel or what some will call inter dimensional travel, was from my Spirit Guide Lucifer. He introduced me to it last year. As a matter of fact he is the main being in my life that has helped opened up my psychic abilities. This experience happened one morning when I awoke and was rushing to get to school because I was very late. Lucifer has some strange timing in appearing to me. While I was combing my hair I saw his presence in my mirror. I was like 'what now I am busy come back later.' He responded that he could not come back later and that he needed to teach me something now. I said that I am late for school. He said this was very important because he does not want me to depend on him alone for knowledge, but to go and experience things for myself throughout the planes in the spirit world. After our little spat he convinced me to stay home for a half hour later to teach me astral projection. Well the lesson took hours and I missed school that day. Fortunately the class was canceled. At the beginning I needed help from him to astral travel because I was a newbie at it. But after awhile I was able to do it on my own because of more practice. The wonderful thing about astral travel is that you meet a lot of various non-human entities. One of the most lasting memories of my travel was at this place where I encountered a very humble man who was a tall blond. Lucifer was not with me at this time but the man was very gracious towards me.

I asked him 'what do you call this place?' He answered Aldebaran. When I came back from astral traveling I realized that what felt like seven days in Aldebaran seemed to be thirty minutes on this physical plane. I was totally exhausted. I did some research on the name and came up with the name of a very giant orange star in our galaxy that is about 65 light years away located in the zodiac constellation of Taurus. It is even larger than our sun.

www.evenstarcreations.com/index.php/unity/soul-travel

I think I maybe correct in saying that these handy Toyota minicoaches were built in collaboration with Portuguese coachbuilder Caetano. This pristine example, as were all of The Kings Ferry vehicles, is seen here at Wembley Stadium, London, on 28/05/1994, having brought Wembley staff I believe, for the Football League 3rd. Division Play-Off Final between Preston North End and Wycombe Wanderers. For the record, Wycombe, who now ply their trade in the Championship, alongside Preston, won 4-2 in front of a crowd of 40,109. Back to this Toyota, it was new to Philp(t/a Allinson's?), Dunfermline, in 10/1992, registered K212SFP. Arriving at The Kings Ferry, in 1993, it received the 'KFC' registration in 01/1994. Replacing a similar model, it was re-registered again in 04/1995 receiving K651VKN and passed to Guideline, South Wimbledon. Just glimpsed behind, is MIB9505, a Willowbrook re-bodied Leyland Leopard PSU5B/4R. It was new to National Travel(West)(1221), in 05/1977, registered XCK221R and fitted with a Willowbrook Spacecar body. It is seen here operating with Ash, Wooburn, having received it's new Willowbrook body in 03/1990.

The camera being a Praktica MTL3 with the film being the excellent Fujichrome.

I would request, as with all my photos, that they are not copied or downloaded in any way, shape or form. © Peter Steel 1994.

... shoot it. (That seems to be a guideline which is sometimes given to budding photographers).

It's very rare for me to take pictures with any people in them, but here is one. Maybe the misty mysteriousness of it all made it worth a shot.

Further development on my "Scarred" project, though i'm considering on renaming the project, since it's turning out to be more about how strong she is, as oppose to her scars.

View this large.

For my theme, I'm going to focus on the story of my mother. She's had a difficult life, which has left her disabled and mentally scarred. Though she isn't in a wheelchair, she goes through a lot of pain from day to day. Yet, she gets through it, living each day as much as she can.

Her disability was inflicted on her by another person, her ex-husband in fact. He promised her the world, and instead he beat her and damaged her, leaving her with a broken spine. Though she now has metal plates in her back, mistakes happened and she was left with a permanently damaged nervous system.

And despite all this, she gets through each day, stronger than ever. She is a truly inspiring woman, defeating all obstacles that come at her every day. I love her to pieces. She shows us all that no matter what life throws at us, we can get through it. We might get scarred, mentally or physically, along the way, but we can still live life to our full.

-Note: Permission for this has been granted by my mother.

-----------------------------------------------

I NEED YOUR HELP.

I've done a load of photos with different quotes from my mother, including the above, but I need to choose a final set. four is the guideline, but more is okay.

What I want you guys to do is choose a set of photos (from the photos posted in comments) and tell me! My critique is on friday so this will be a huge help!

I don't want several of the same photo with a different quote in one set though.

THANK YOU!

Tumblr | Formspring

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

After the Saab 38 (also known as B3LA) had been cancelled in 1979 in favor of the more advanced Saab JAS 39 Gripen multi-role fighter, Saab presented in 1991 a new trainer design to the Swedish Air Force as a replacement for the Saab 105 (Sk 60) transitional trainer, light attack and reconnaissance aircraft. This new aircraft was internally called "FSK900". The aircraft was a conservative design, with such a configurational resemblance to the Dassault-Dornier Alpha Jet that it is hard to believe Saab engineers didn't see the Alpha Jet as a model for what they wanted to do. However, even if that was the case, the FSK900 was by no means a copy of the Alpha Jet, and the two machines could be easily told apart at a glance. FSK900 had a muscular, rather massive appearance, while the Alpha Jet was more wasp-like and very sleek. The FSK900 was also bigger in length and span and had an empty weight about 10% greater.

In early 2020, the leasing contract for the Sk 90s with Sweden was changed into a formal purchase, and the Iolaire fleet (as well as the Gripen fighters) gradually received the RoScAC’s new camouflage scheme in grey and green, which had been introduced with the TF-50s.

General characteristics:

Crew: two pilots in tandem

Length incl. pitot: 13.0 m (42 ft 8 in) for the A trainer, 13.68 m (44 ft 10 in) for the S variant

Wingspan: 9.94 m (32 ft 7 in)

Height: 4.6 m (15 ft 1 in)

Empty weight: 3,790 kg (8,360 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 7,500 kg (16,530 lb)

Powerplant:

2× Williams International FJ44-4M turbofans without reheat, rated at 16.89 kN (3,790 lbst) each

Performance:

Maximum speed: 1,038 km/h (645 mph)

Range: 1,670 km (900 nm)

Armament:

No internal gun; five hardpoints for 2,500 kg (5,500 lb) of payload and a variety of ordnance

The kit and its assembly:

This whif is a rarity among my builds, since it is an alternative reality model. A fictional air force of an independent Scotland crept into my mind after the hysterical “Brexit” events in 2016 and the former (failed) public vote concerning the independence of Scotland from the UK. However, the situation bore some serious storytelling potential: What would happen to the military if the independence would have actually taken place and British forces had left the country?

The aforementioned Scottish National Party (SNP) paper from 2013 is actually real, and I took it as a guideline. Primary focus would certainly be set on air space defense, and the Gripen appeared as a good and not too expensive choice. An advanced trainer would also have been needed, and the Sk 90 (a personal invention and already built as a Swedish and Austrian aircraft) would fulfill a complementary role.

A Scottish Sk 90 had been on my agenda since 2016, and now materialized as an addition to my Scottish TF-50 and two Sk 90s (a swedish and an Austrian one). The Saab Sk 90 is basically the 1:72 Kawasaki T-4 from Hasegawa, and since it was to depict an original Sk 90A, formerly operated by Sweden, it was built without modifications. The kit is relatively simple and fit is quite good, even though some PSR was necessary on almost any seam – there are actually two T-4 molds, and this one is the more recent offering.

Painting and markings:

I wanted to depict a RoScAC aircraft of the first hour, so I went for a Swedish look with tactical markings from the new operator. Since I already had a Sk 90 in Swedish “Fields & Meadows” camouflage, I decided to go for a Gripen-esque grey-in-grey livery.

Swedish JAS 39 carry a two-tone livery; the upper tone is called pansargrå (tank grey, which is, according to trustworthy sources, very close to FS 36173, Neutral Grey), while the undersides are painted in duvagrå (dove grey, FS 36373, a tone with the confusing name ”High Low Visibility Light Grey”), and the simple pattern was faithfully adapted to the T-4.

After checking a lot of Gripen pictures I selected different tones, though, because the colors appear much lighter in real life. I ended up with FS 36231 (Dark Gull Grey, Testors 1740) and RLM 63 (Lichtgrau, Testors 2077) – in combination, these tones come IMHO quite close to the real thing?

After a light black ink wash I emphasized single panels with Humbrol 165 and 147. The cockpit interior was painted with Revell 47 (Mausgrau) while the landing gear became glossy white.

For the RoScAC look I added some manually overpainted patches where the former Swedish roundels and tactical markings would have been. As a trainer, I also added orange dayglow markings on the fin and the wings, created with generic decal sheet material (TL Modellbau). The de-icing devices on the wings’ and fin’s leading edges were created with black decal stripes instead of paint, a very tidy and simple method. Decal strips in silver were used on the fin’s rudder and on the flaps. Small things, but they grade the grey model up visually.

Another creative field were the national markings: how could fictional Scottish roundels look like, and how to create them so that they are easy to make and replicate (for a full set for this kit, as well as for potential future builds…)? Designing and printing marking decals myself was an option, but I eventually settled for a composite solution which somewhat influenced the roundels’ design, too.

My Scottish roundel interpretation, already used on my RoScAC T-50, consists of a simple blue disk with a white cross – a straightforward solution since it’s different from any other contemporary national marking, esp. the UK roundel, and easy to create from single decal parts. In fact, the roundel discs were die-punched from blue decal sheet, and the cross consists of two thin white decal strips, cut into the correct length with the same stencil, again using generic sheet material from TL Modellbau.

Another issue was the potential tactical code, and a small fleet only needs a simple system. Going back to a WWII system with letter codes for squadrons and individual aircraft was one option, but, IMHO, still too complicated. However, for individual aircraft identification I adopted the familiar British single letter aircraft code, and since the RoScAC would certainly not operate too many squadrons, I rather adapted a system similar to the Swedish or Spanish format with a single number representing the squadron – or, in this case a letter, because the fictional Flying Training School would not be a front line unit.

The result is a simple 2-digit code, and I adapted the German system of placing the tactical code on the fuselage, separated by the roundel. Keeping British traditions up I repeated the individual aircraft code letter on the fin, where I also placed a Scottish flag (scratched from the same decal material as the roundels. A small serial number, created from single black letters (once more Tl Modellbau material) was added on the rear fuselage, and, for some local pride, I added a self-printed coat-of-arms of Edinburgh to the air intakes.

Finally, after some light weathering, the kit was finally sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).

Creating this whif, based on an alternative historic timeline and with a near future perspective, was fun – and it might spawn more models that circle around this story. A certain future build is a Saab Gripen in RoScAC colors and there might also be an entry level trainer (Shorts Tucano?), some helicopters for the army or SAR duties and maybe a transport aircraft, but not a big one. The foundation has been laid out, now it’s time to fill Scotland’s alternative recent history with detail and hardware proof. ;-)

Video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXyQ4b5iLPM

SUPPLIES

-Paintbrushes

-Acrylic paint/chalk pastels/watercolor pencils

-Cup of water

-Paper towels/rag

-Sealer

-Isopropyl alcohol

-Pointed q-tips

STEPS

#1: First you will want to make sure your doll is clean in the area you are painting. You can wash them with soap and water, or wipe them down with isopropyl alcohol. Make sure all the residue is properly washed off.

#2: Select the colors you will need. If you are using paint, you may need to mix several colors to get the one you want (the same goes for chalk pastels). If you are using chalk pastels, I recommend putting a light layer of sealer down over the area you are going to fix, so the pastel sticks better. For paint, you can mix a little sealer in with it, for added durability.

#3: Begin painting the desired area in VERY thin coats. If necessary, water down your paint.

#4: Make sure each coat of paint/pastel is thoroughly dry before you apply the next layer. If it is too wet/thick, you'll end up pulling up some of the color. This will make for an uneven finished product. If you are using watercolor pencils, you will most likely need to seal between each layer, to build up the pigment.

#5: Clean up the areas around where you have painted using a pointed q-tip soaked in water or isopropyl alcohol. At this stage, the paint should come off easily, so make sure not to touch areas you are satisfied with.

#6: Once you have finished painting all the details, apply a coat of sealer. Depending on what you want to do, you can add an additional layer or two of sealer.

***IMPORTANT NOTES***

*Sealer/varnish is THE most important part of this process. It ensures that your work will stay put through washes, dusting, play, general wear/tear. Without it, the paint will simply come off. The brands I personally use are Americana (this is cheaper, but still works decently) and Liquitex. Do your research and make sure that the brand you choose is not prone to yellowing over time.

*I find that glossy Liquitex varnish gets sticky when painted over glossy acrylic paint. So you will want to use a matte varnish to prevent this from happening. The Americana brand tends to get sticky when used with glossy paints, or over large areas (it can take several weeks for the stickiness to appear, but it is a PAIN as dust sticks to it). So keep that in mind when purchasing sealers.

*Some people like to use clear nail polish as a sealer. I personally do not recommend this, as it is very thick, and you do not have much control over it. Also, if you decide later that you don't like your repaint, you cannot simply remove it with isopropyl alcohol. You would have to use acetone nail polish remover, which will also take off factory paint (and can melt certain types of plastic--the hard kind found on articulated doll bodies).

*For added protection, you can coat the painted areas in gloss varnish (which is stronger), but then top it off with matte varnish to prevent stickiness, or to get a matte finish.

*Sometimes I will go over old areas of factory paint with sealer, to prevent this from flaking off in the future. It also can help your repainted areas blend in better with the original paint.

*ONLY use ACRYLIC paint on dolls. Oil paints will react with the dolls' plastic/vinyl and can cause it to deteriorate. The same applies with sealers and pastels. Everything should be water based!

*You can use whatever acrylic paint brand you desire. I typically use cheaper brands like Apple Barrel, as it is easy to find. Just because it doesn't cost a ton of money, that doesn't mean your results will be poor. Of course, if you are serious about repaints and want to invest in better quality supplies, than go for it!

*Remember that the best results come with patience and thin coats of paint. It may feel frustrating/annoying to have to use super thin layers of paint, and wait for it to dry, but you will be much more pleased with the results...take this from someone who tried to do it quicker and got globby looking dolls! You can use a thinning medium or water to help thin down your paint. Some colors in certain brands can be more prone to being chunky.

*If things are not going your way, put the doll down! The worst thing you can do is continue to work on a project when you start to get flustered. The more times you attempt to paint an area, the worse your results will be. So take a breath, and step away from the doll for a few hours or days.

*If you are new to painting dolls or are interested in customizing, know that your dolls can only handle so many paint jobs. Using nail polish remover on them continuously to strip factory paint or entire repaint jobs will eventually cause the plastic to break down and get sticky (I speak from personal experience). So practice on dolls that have nothing to lose/aren't sentimental to you.

*The easiest way to tell factory paint from a customized job/retouch is by using isopropyl alcohol. Factory paint is very sturdy and does not come off easily. But any added paint will wipe off with isopropyl alcohol.

*Touching up paint, especially on areas of the face that are small/highly detailed, will usually not yield perfect results. It's impossible to match old, worn out factory paint to a fresh coat. But that's okay--I personally aim to make a doll look improved, not perfect. It's better to have some eyebrows, than none at all for example.

*Eyebrows are the hardest thing to paint, in my opinion, because they tend to get chunky, even when painted in thin layers. If you have this trouble, on any areas, I recommend using pastels instead. Simply wet your brush and rub it onto the desired color of pastel. You can alternatively scrape off some of the pigment and mix your own color. This technique creates very thin layers, and doesn't yield globby/super intense results. I find that eyebrows I have put on in this manner look much more "natural," and blend in with the remnants of a doll's factory paint.

*My philosophy is work with what you've got! I don't personally strip off all a doll's original paint, I try to blend it with the repaint. But that is personal preference. If you would rather strip off the original paint, be my guest. But for a beginner, you may want to leave some of the factory paint as a guideline.

*NEVER use permanent markers on your dolls as a quick fix. They WILL bleed out and stain the areas around where you drew. It might not happen right away, but more than likely the stains will appear. If you are lucky and this does not happen, eventually the marker will fade and leave a strange tint. So you will end up with the same missing paint as before, but with a weird hue.

sorry: no diagram, no instructions. Hope the CP will be a guideline in case you are impatient ...

A Haiku Note:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The way of Buddha

is a way of compassion

and benevolence

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Master your Words."

~ The Buddha ~

~ (0000 0001) ~

::::::::::: 01 :::::::::::

=====: 01 :=====

The Noble Eightfold Path describes the way to the end of suffering, as it was laid out by Siddhartha Gautama. It is a practical guideline to ethical and mental development with the goal of freeing the individual from attachments and delusions; and it finally leads to understanding the truth about all things. Together with the Four Noble Truths it constitutes the gist of Buddhism. Great emphasis is put on the practical aspect, because it is only through practice that one can attain a higher level of existence and finally reach Nirvana. The eight aspects of the path are not to be understood as a sequence of single steps, instead they are highly interdependent principles that have to be seen in relationship with each other.

1. Right View

Right view is the beginning and the end of the path, it simply means to see and to understand things as they really are and to realise the Four Noble Truth. As such, right view is the cognitive aspect of wisdom. It means to see things through, to grasp the impermanent and imperfect nature of worldly objects and ideas, and to understand the law of karma and karmic conditioning. Right view is not necessarily an intellectual capacity, just as wisdom is not just a matter of intelligence. Instead, right view is attained, sustained, and enhanced through all capacities of mind. It begins with the intuitive insight that all beings are subject to suffering and it ends with complete understanding of the true nature of all things. Since our view of the world forms our thoughts and our actions, right view yields right thoughts and right actions.

2. Right Intention

While right view refers to the cognitive aspect of wisdom, right intention refers to the volitional aspect, i.e. the kind of mental energy that controls our actions. Right intention can be described best as commitment to ethical and mental self-improvement. Buddha distinguishes three types of right intentions: 1. the intention of renunciation, which means resistance to the pull of desire, 2. the intention of good will, meaning resistance to feelings of anger and aversion, and 3. the intention of harmlessness, meaning not to think or act cruelly, violently, or aggressively, and to develop compassion.

3. Right Speech

Right speech is the first principle of ethical conduct in the eightfold path. Ethical conduct is viewed as a guideline to moral discipline, which supports the other principles of the path. This aspect is not self-sufficient, however, essential, because mental purification can only be achieved through the cultivation of ethical conduct. The importance of speech in the context of Buddhist ethics is obvious: words can break or save lives, make enemies or friends, start war or create peace. Buddha explained right speech as follows: 1. to abstain from false speech, especially not to tell deliberate lies and not to speak deceitfully, 2. to abstain from slanderous speech and not to use words maliciously against others, 3. to abstain from harsh words that offend or hurt others, and 4. to abstain from idle chatter that lacks purpose or depth. Positively phrased, this means to tell the truth, to speak friendly, warm, and gently and to talk only when necessary.

4. Right Action

The second ethical principle, right action, involves the body as natural means of expression, as it refers to deeds that involve bodily actions. Unwholesome actions lead to unsound states of mind, while wholesome actions lead to sound states of mind. Again, the principle is explained in terms of abstinence: right action means 1. to abstain from harming sentient beings, especially to abstain from taking life (including suicide) and doing harm intentionally or delinquently, 2. to abstain from taking what is not given, which includes stealing, robbery, fraud, deceitfulness, and dishonesty, and 3. to abstain from sexual misconduct. Positively formulated, right action means to act kindly and compassionately, to be honest, to respect the belongings of others, and to keep sexual relationships harmless to others. Further details regarding the concrete meaning of right action can be found in the Precepts.

5. Right Livelihood

Right livelihood means that one should earn one's living in a righteous way and that wealth should be gained legally and peacefully. The Buddha mentions four specific activities that harm other beings and that one should avoid for this reason: 1. dealing in weapons, 2. dealing in living beings (including raising animals for slaughter as well as slave trade and prostitution), 3. working in meat production and butchery, and 4. selling intoxicants and poisons, such as alcohol and drugs. Furthermore any other occupation that would violate the principles of right speech and right action should be avoided.

6. Right Effort

Right effort can be seen as a prerequisite for the other principles of the path. Without effort, which is in itself an act of will, nothing can be achieved, whereas misguided effort distracts the mind from its task, and confusion will be the consequence. Mental energy is the force behind right effort; it can occur in either wholesome or unwholesome states. The same type of energy that fuels desire, envy, aggression, and violence can on the other side fuel self-discipline, honesty, benevolence, and kindness. Right effort is detailed in four types of endeavours that rank in ascending order of perfection: 1. to prevent the arising of unarisen unwholesome states, 2. to abandon unwholesome states that have already arisen, 3. to arouse wholesome states that have not yet arisen, and 4. to maintain and perfect wholesome states already arisen.

7. Right Mindfulness

Right mindfulness is the controlled and perfected faculty of cognition. It is the mental ability to see things as they are, with clear consciousness. Usually, the cognitive process begins with an impression induced by perception, or by a thought, but then it does not stay with the mere impression. Instead, we almost always conceptualise sense impressions and thoughts immediately. We interpret them and set them in relation to other thoughts and experiences, which naturally go beyond the facticity of the original impression. The mind then posits concepts, joins concepts into constructs, and weaves those constructs into complex interpretative schemes. All this happens only half consciously, and as a result we often see things obscured. Right mindfulness is anchored in clear perception and it penetrates impressions without getting carried away. Right mindfulness enables us to be aware of the process of conceptualisation in a way that we actively observe and control the way our thoughts go. Buddha accounted for this as the four foundations of mindfulness: 1. contemplation of the body, 2. contemplation of feeling (repulsive, attractive, or neutral), 3. contemplation of the state of mind, and 4. contemplation of the phenomena.

8. Right Concentration

The eighth principle of the path, right concentration, refers to the development of a mental force that occurs in natural consciousness, although at a relatively low level of intensity, namely concentration. Concentration in this context is described as one-pointedness of mind, meaning a state where all mental faculties are unified and directed onto one particular object. Right concentration for the purpose of the eightfold path means wholesome concentration, i.e. concentration on wholesome thoughts and actions. The Buddhist method of choice to develop right concentration is through the practice of meditation. The meditating mind focuses on a selected object. It first directs itself onto it, then sustains concentration, and finally intensifies concentration step by step. Through this practice it becomes natural to apply elevated levels of concentration also in everyday situations.

Some background:

The VF-1 was developed by Stonewell/Bellcom/Shinnakasu for the U.N. Spacy by using alien Overtechnology obtained from the SDF-1 Macross alien spaceship. It was preceded into production by an aerodynamic proving version of its airframe, the VF-X. Unlike all later VF vehicles, the VF-X was strictly a jet aircraft, built to demonstrate that a jet fighter with the features necessary to convert to Battroid mode was aerodynamically feasible.

However, the fighter remained active in many second line units and continued to show its worthiness years later, e. g. through Milia Jenius who would use her old VF-1 fighter in defense of the colonization fleet - 35 years after the type's service introduction!

General characteristics:

Equipment Type: all-environment variable fighter and tactical combat battroid

Government: U.N. Spacy, U.N. Navy, U.N. Space Air Force

Accommodation: pilot only in Marty & Beck Mk-7 zero/zero ejection seat

Dimensions:

Fighter Mode:

Length 14.23 meters

Wingspan 14.78 meters (fully extended)

Height 3.84 meters

Battroid Mode:

Height 12.68 meters

Width 7.3 meters

Length 4.0 meters

Empty weight: 13.25 metric tons;

Standard T-O mass: 18.5 metric tons;

MTOW: 37.0 metric tons

Powerplant:

2x Shinnakasu Heavy Industry/P&W/Roice FF-2008 thermonuclear reaction turbine engines, output 650 MW each, rated at 11,500 kg in standard or in overboost (225.63 kN x 2)

4 x Shinnakasu Heavy Industry NBS-1 high-thrust vernier thrusters (1 x counter reverse vernier thruster nozzle mounted on the side of each leg nacelle/air intake, 1 x wing thruster roll control system on each wingtip);

18 x P&W LHP04 low-thrust vernier thrusters beneath multipurpose hook/handles

Performance:

Battroid Mode: maximum walking speed 160 km/h

Fighter Mode: at 10,000 m Mach 2.71; at 30,000+ m Mach 3.87

g limit: in space +7

Thrust-to-weight ratio: empty 3.47; standard T-O 2.49; maximum T-O 1.24

Design features:

3-mode variable transformation; variable geometry wing; vertical take-off and landing; control-configurable vehicle; single-axis thrust vectoring; three "magic hand" manipulators for maintenance use; retractable canopy shield for Battroid mode and atmospheric reentry; option of GBP-1S system, atmospheric-escape booster, or FAST Pack system

Transformation:

Standard time from Fighter to Battroid (automated): under 5 sec.

Minimum time from Fighter to Battroid (manual): 0.9 sec.

Armament:

2x internal Mauler RÖV-20 anti-aircraft laser cannon, firing 6,000 pulses per minute

1x Howard GU-11 55 mm three-barrel Gatling gun pod with 200 rds fired at 1,200 rds/min

4 x underwing hard points for a wide variety of ordnance, including

- 12x AMM-1 hybrid guided multipurpose missiles (3/point), or

- 12x MK-82 LDGB conventional bombs (3/point), or

- 6x RMS-1 large anti-ship reaction missiles (2/outboard point, 1/inboard point), or

- 4x UUM-7 micro-missile pods (1/point), each carrying 15x Bifors HMM-01 micro-missiles,

or a combination of above load-outs

Optional Armament:

Shinnakasu Heavy Industry GBP-1S ground-combat protector weapon system, or

Shinnakasu Heavy Industry FAST Pack augmentative space weapon system

The kit and its assembly:

The second vintage 1:100 ARII VF-1 as a part of a Zentraedi squadron series, the canonical SVF-789. This one was inspired by a profile of such a machine in the “Macross Variable Fighter Master File: VF-1 Valkyrie Part 1” Art Book – true robot porn and full of valuable detail and background material for anyone who’d consider building a VF-1.

The SVF-789 machine shown in the book is a simple VF-1A, but with Zentraedi language markings and in a rather unusual livery in all dark green, yellow and black trim and grey low-viz roundels. While this does IMHO not really look sexy, I found the idea of a squadron, manned by former (alien) enemies very interesting. And so I took up the idea and started fleshing it out – including the idea of SVF-789’s initial base deep in the Amazonian jungle (justifying somehow the all-green livery!?).

This second build was to represent a flight leader’s aircraft, and consequently the basis is a VF-1J kit (which only differs outwardly through the head). In order to set the machine a little more apart I decided to incorporate some “Plus” program updates, including a different nose tip for the updated radar and two small fairings for IRST and laser designator sensors above and below the nose section, respectively. The fins’ tips were also modified – they were elongated a little through styrene sheet replacements.

This update is a bit early for the official Macross timeline, but I just wanted more than a standard J Valkyrie in a more exotic paint scheme.

Otherwise, this VF-1J fighter kit was built OOB, with the landing gear tucked up and the usual additions of some blade antennae, a pilot figure and a custom display stand in/under the ventral cannon pod.

The ordnance is non-standard, though; in this case the aircraft received two pairs of air-to-ground missiles (actually some misshapen Soviet AAMs from the Academy MiG-23 kit – either very fat R-60 ‘Aphid’ AAMs or very poor renditions of vintage K-6 ‘Alkali’ missiles?) inboards and four AMM-1 missiles on the outer pylons, with the lowest missile replaced by scratched ECM and chaff dispenser pods. The gun pod was also modified with a new nozzle, with parts from a surplus AMM-1 missile – also inspired by a source book entry.

Painting and markings:

This was planned to be a more exotic or extravagant interpretation of the profile from the book, which was already used as a guideline for the VF-1A build. The overall design of an all-green livery with a white nose tip as basis was kept, together with yellow trim on wings, fins and the stabilizer fins on the Valkyrie’s legs. The VF-1A already deviated from this slightly, but now I wanted something more outstanding – a bold flight leader’s mount.

Zentraedi vehicles tend to be rather colorful, so the tones I chose for painting were rather bright. For instance, the initial idea for the green was FS 34079, a tone which also comes close to the printed profile in the book. But it looked IMHO too militaristic, or too little anime-esque, so I eventually settled for something brighter and used Humbrol 195 (called Dark Satin Green, but it’s actually RAL 6020, Chromoxyd Grün, a color used on German railway wagons during and after WWII), later shaded with black ink for the engravings and Humbrol 76 (Uniform Green) for highlights.

The nose became pure white, the leading edge trim was painted with Revell 310 (Lufthansa Gelb, RAL 1028), a deep and rich tone that stands out well from the murky green.

In order to set this J Valkyrie apart from the all-dark green basic VF-1As, I added two bright green tones and a light purple as flight color: Humbrol 36 (called Pastel Green, but it’s actually very yellow-ish), 38 (Lime) and Napoleonic Violet from ModelMaster’s Authentic Line, respectively. 36 was applied to the lower legs and around the cockpit section, including the spinal fairing with the air brake. The slightly darker 38 was used on the wings and fins as well as for the fuselage’s and wings’ underside. On top of the wings and the inner and outer fins, the surfaces were segmented, with the dark green as basic color.

As an additional contrast, the head, shoulder guards and additional trim highlights on the legs as well as for a double chevron on the breast plate were painted in the pale purple tone. A sick color combination, but very Zentraedi/Meltraedi-esque!

The cockpit interior was, according to Macross references, painted in Dark Gull Grey. The seat received brown cushions and the pilot figure was turned into a micronized Meltraedi (yes, the fictional pilot Taqisha T’saqeel is to be female) with a colorful jumpsuit in violet and white, plus a white and red helmet – and bright green skin! The gun pod became dark blue (Humbrol 112, Field Blue), the AMM-1 missiles received a pale grey livery while the air-to-ground missiles and the chaff dispenser became olive drab. As an additional contrast, the ECM pod became white. A wild mix of colors!

This was even enhanced through U.N. Spacy roundels in standard full color – their red really stands out. The squadron emblem/symbol on the fin was painted with a brush, but in this case in a smaller variant and with two USN/USAF style code letters for the home basis added.

Since I can not print white letters onto clear decal sheet at home, the aircraft’s tactical code ‘300’ was created with letters from the human alphabet. A simplification and deviation from the original concept, but I found the only alternative of painting tiny and delicate Zentraedi codes by brush and hand just to be too risky.

Finally, the kit was sealed with a sheen acrylic varnish – with the many, contrasting colors a pure matt finish somehow did not appear right.

Building was relatively simple, just the rhinoplasty was a little tricky – a very subtle modification, though, but the pointed and slightly deeper nose changed the VF-1’s look. The standard Zentraedi-style VF-1 of SVF-789 already looked …different, but this one is … bright, if not challenging to the naked eye. Anyway, there’s more in the creative pipeline from the Zentraedi unit – this aircraft’s pilot in the form of a modified resin garage kit.

Scania K360IB4, Irizar i6 (C53Ft)

Guideline (Kent), Chelsfield

D-Day Museum, Southsea

01 December 2017

guideline of orpington m1

Making space, one choice at a time

To be ready to accept the invitation you have to first create the space. It’s about choosing what you want most and letting go of the rest.

It’s about focus, really, which can manifest itself in different ways. It can be a long-term thing that plays out over time, creating an invisible guideline for everything you do. It can also be a short burst of attention and action that gets things done fast. Focus helps you know what to keep and what to let go.

I want to travel light, so I’ve been working on decumulation for years now. It definitely requires a sustained effort. I’ve come a long way, but I still need to play games with myself to stay focused. Shoes? Get a pair, ditch a pair. Clothes? Give a bag back to the thrift shop once every few months: save the best, lose the rest. Books? Too heavy: read online as much as possible. Art supplies? Ooh, that’s my weakness, but I need to be real: there’s no point in having ‘em if all they do is take up space without getting used.

I haven’t gotten rid of any art supplies yet, but I did make space to do handwork by setting up my grandmother’s kitchen table near a window and putting a few key art supplies nearby. Ever since I did that, I’ve been doing handwork regularly. Drawing, collage, building, making, mending... fun! Handwork keeps creativity fresh.

This week’s link is to a very cool interactive website, www.anasomnia.com

The pic is a collage I made that went digital.

And that’s it!

www.littleshiva.com

FINAL NOTE: As it turn out, there are many cases where, due to "fair use" laws, individuals, companies and organizations don't have to get permission to use our photos . . . a pretty surprising finding for me.

The best, most authoritative (seemingly) summary of a reasonable interpretation can be found in this comment

www.flickr.com/photos/bestrated1/297265439/#comment721576...

Thanks to Lyle Barrere for this "heads up" on a photo that is being used in violation of my Creative Commons license which allows "non-commercial" use. flickr shoud NOT be a place where corporations can think that they can simply credit a photographer and that's enough. I have a vague notion that I should be PAID for the commercial use of my photos.

Here is the original in my photostream

Here is the page from CNET news: news.com.com/2300-11395_3-6130045-4.html?tag=ne.gall.pg

Here is CNET's copyright policy: www.cnetnetworks.com/editorial/copyright.html

I have also started a discussion at Creative Commons

as of 10:00 a.m. CDT on 11-15-2006, about the specific issues involved, asking for some clarification:

If you would like more details of what the "non-commercial" Creative Commons license may mean, here is an internal PDF "Proposed best practices Guideline" from CC: lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/cc-licenses/attachments/20060...

I know I've spent several hours on this, but it's important to me (and possibly to many of us) to know more precisely what the "non-commercial" Creative Commons license allows and doesn't allow.

I have also received a very prompt email in response to my email to a managing editor of CNET news.

Then I learned more important information about "fair use" laws that allow news organizations to use copyrighted works without getting permission first

I always like to sketch out what I want the doll to resemble/look like.This include makeup, sometimes hair designs etc.It makes it easier to have a general guideline than just winging it(for me anyway)

This photo was taken in the late afternoon on April 3rd of 2013.

One of those days, busy was your best excuse of leaving you not many choices of images. There are certainly many more better choices than this one, but due to the guideline it has to be the image taken on today. This is image will be the best choice to better describe of my day which is kind of right after heavy rain shower and left you behind not many time and choices.

The green color in fact can be a representation of reflection of the day after the craziness of the typical busy day, yet the crystal droplets on the green leaves given you a nice trace and mark of the hard working day.

A day left you not many choices yet an continue extension of preparation for brighter tomorrow to come.

Guideline Coaches Of Chelsfield, Kent

DAF Irizar i8

GU16WHU

Eltham High Street, SE London

During the Cold War, the size and secretive nature of the Soviet Union required the United States to conduct reconnaissance missions on the frontiers and often into the Soviet Union itself. In the early years of the Cold War, this mission was done by converted transports (such as RC-47s) and bombers (such as RB-47s). Both had shown themselves to be vulnerable to attack from Soviet fighters and ground fire. The solution was to build an aircraft that could get above these threats. The USAF issued a requirement for such an aircraft in 1951, but only Lockheed’s proposal, the CL-282, designed by famed Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, seemed to hold any promise. The CL-282 mated huge wings based on glider designs to the fuselage of a F-104 Starfighter, and took off from a dolly and landed on skids to save weight, similar to the wartime German Messerschmitt 163 Komet. The USAF rejected this as being too dangerous, but the Central Intelligence Agency was willing to put the CL-282 into development. It was given the designation U-2 to disguise its purpose.

Johnson tweaked the design considerably before the first U-2A flew in August 1955. The fuselage diameter was increased over that of the F-104, and it used a smaller J57 engine (though later variants would use the same J75 powerplant as the Starfighter). Landing gear was included in a “bicycle” configuration to save weight, which was paramount in the design: the cameras that were central to the U-2’s purpose had to be placed in two positions to maintain the center of balance of the aircraft. Because the enormous wings would droop on the ground, jettisonable wing “pogos” were attached before taxiing. While often referred to as a glider, the U-2 was a powered aircraft and used gliderlike design mainly to save fuel and allow it to reach altitudes of over 70,000 feet—at the time, well above any known Soviet defenses. The aircraft also had to be flown near its top speed at all times, as its stall speed was only twenty mph lower, requiring the pilot to constantly watch speed and altitude. U-2 pilots already had to be strong men—the aircraft was very sluggish below 70,000 feet and had to be manhandled to stay in the air—and had to fly in a full pressure suit due to the high altitudes they flew at. Finally, because of its high lift wings, landings were made at high speeds and the U-2 was hard to get down; pilots had to use a periscope to see the runway and be guided down by another pilot driving a pace car at speeds up to 120 mph. The U-2’s extreme difficulty made itself known very quickly, as three test pilots were killed in two months in U-2A crashes. It remained in service because there was no other option available.

If the U-2 was tough to fly, it did the job. Entering service in 1956, it began flying long-range flights from Germany and Japan, initially by USAF and US Navy pilots detached to the CIA, who actually controlled the flights under Project Dragon Lady. The U-2’s existence was a secret, and early bare-metal U-2As were responsible for a rash of UFO sightings in the late 1950s. The Soviet Union quickly learned what it was—though the USAF and CIA hoped the U-2 flew above Soviet radar coverage, the Russians could track the aircraft—it had no means of intercepting it. Efforts were made to increase the range of surface-to-air missiles, and finally, on 1 May 1960, a U-2A flown by Francis Gary Powers was shot down by two SA-2 Guideline (S-75 Dvina) SAMs. Powers ejected and was captured, causing the United States considerable embarrassment, as the Eisenhower administration had originally denied the U-2’s existence. Work was accelerated on a high-speed replacement of the U-2, which would eventually become the SR-71 Blackbird.

Despite the U-2 being no longer invulnerable, flights continued over both the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China, the latter being flown by both American and Taiwanese pilots from the Republic of China. Of the 19 U-2s operated from Taiwan, eleven were lost to accidents and combat. Gradually, responsibility for these missions was transferred from the CIA to the USAF, and the U-2 fleet began to be painted in overall black, an attempt to both give it a modicum of camouflage on night missions and make it somewhat stealthy. U-2 operations also expanded: a U-2 was the aircraft that brought back pictures of Soviet attempts to build missile sites in Cuba, starting the Cuban Missile Crisis, and were flying reconnaissance missions over North Vietnam as early as 1964. U-2 missions were even undertaken from aircraft carriers, with three variants developed for carrier operations, though this was rare.

The U-2 was continually updated over the decades, with the tactical version, the TR-1A, entering service in the early 1980s. This was a considerable upgrade over the U-2Cs then in service, with turbofan powerplant and large “mission pods” that could be carried under the wings, which could be installed with cameras, side-looking radar, or other equipment. TR-1s were later redesignated U-2R and further reengined. Some were equipped with fuselage-mounted Senior Span satellite communications equipment, allowing real-time transmission of photographs.

So important is the U-2 that attempts to retire it have so far come to naught, and it has outlasted both its replacements—the SR-71 and remotely-piloted RQ-4 Global Hawk, as the U-2 is actually cheaper to operate. The U-2R is now expected to stay in service until 2023, by which time the basic design will be nearly 70 years old. It has yet to acquire an official nickname, though it is often referred to by its crews as the Dragon Lady. 86 were built and about 32 remain in service, with nine on display in museums. NASA also operates two modified ER-2 atmospheric research aircraft.

Other than the ones that have been shot down, this U-2D, 56-6721, may be the most famous U-2 built. Constructed as Article 388, a U-2A for the CIA, it was initially assigned to the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Laughlin AFB, Texas. It was then assigned to the secret "Black Cat Squadron," a unit of U-2s flown by Republic of China (Taiwan) pilots for operations over mainland China. On August 3, 1959, Major Hsi-Chun "Mike" Hua was pilotng 56-6721 on a training mission when his engine flamed out at 70,000 feet. He was able to glide down to lower level, and sighted a lighted runway in southern Colorado. As it was the only lighted runway he could see, he headed for it, but couldn't lower the landing gear due to the loss of hydraulic pressure. Out of options, he belly-landed on the runway and skidded into the grass; when Hua climbed out, he found out he was in Cortez, Colorado. The incident became known as the "Miracle of Cortez," and Hua was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

56-6721 was brought back to Lockheed's Plant 42 and rebuilt as a U-2D, with an extended fuselage to accomodate a second pilot and advanced infrared sensors, codenamed the Missile Detection and Alarm System (MIDAS). Under Projects Low Card and Smokey Joe, 56-6721 was assigned to the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, California; MIDAS was the testbed for infrared missile detection systems used by satellites. The aircraft served in this role until 1971, and was also used to track X-15 and Corona satellites.

From 1971 to 1977, 56-6721 was used as a chase plane for the Compass Cope drone program, and was retired in 1978. It was donated to the March AFB Museum, and remained there until 2001, when it was returned to Lockheed, restored, and moved to Blackbird Airpark near Plant 42. It has been there ever since.

Today, 56-6721 is displayed as a standard U-2, in overall black/indigo blue camouflage; ironically, the aircraft may have never worn this scheme, having been finished either in bare metal or overall white. The second seat and the former location of the infrared sensors can be seen behind the cockpit. It could probably use a repaint at this point, but is still in good condition.

Lowe's Home Improvement

Tarentum, Pennsylvania

These Plexiglas guards appeared a couple days ago at most stores to protect their workers from COVID-19.

Another interesting change is that people waiting in line are now asked to keep six feet between each other. The father and son photographed are listening to the guidelines. (If you zoom in, you can see the guideline printed on a piece of paper.)

Photo Specifics: Left Side. Profile. Travel-lock engaged.

This is the Cuban Tracked SA-2 'Guideline' (S-75) Surface-to-Air Missile Launcher. It consists of a Soviet SM-90 Launcher armed with an SA-2 SAM that is mounted on a T-55 Tank Hull. This is a design indigenous to Cuba, and unique to it's Military as well.

Model Features:

Scale 1:27

Launcher rotates 360' and has about 75' of elevation

Commander and Driver Hatches / Compartments

Removable Travel-Lock

(2) Working cable spools

Removable SA-2 Missile

Rolling Chassis

Military Marking Decals by Bison

Detailing Decals by my good friend Jeff Churill a.k.a. Cooper Works

Meet the Crew HERE.

Want to see more angles? Check out the Set!!

Here's a pic of the Real Thing.

This is my latest addition to my growing family of Tracked Soviet Developed Surface-to-Air Missile Launchers.

If you haven't already, check out the SA-3 Launcher and SA-4 Launcher!

A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological pattern or anomaly, potentially reflected in behavior, that is generally associated with distress or disability, and which is not considered part of normal development in a person's culture. Mental disorders are generally defined by a combination of how a person feels, acts, thinks or perceives. This may be associated with particular regions or functions of the brain or rest of the nervous system, often in a social context. The recognition and understanding of mental health conditions have changed over time and across cultures and there are still variations in definition, assessment and classification, although standard guideline criteria are widely used. In many cases, there appears to be a continuum between mental health and mental illness, making diagnosis complex. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), over a third of people in most countries report problems at some time in their life which meet criteria for diagnosis of one or more of the common types of mental disorder.

The causes of mental disorders are varied and in some cases unclear, and theories may incorporate findings from a range of fields. Services are based in psychiatric hospitals or in the community, and assessments are carried out by psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and clinical social workers, using various methods but often relying on observation and questioning. Clinical treatments are provided by various mental health professionals. Psychotherapy and psychiatric medication are two major treatment options, as are social interventions, peer support and self-help. In a minority of cases there might be involuntary detention or involuntary treatment, where legislation allows. Stigma and discrimination can add to the suffering and disability associated with mental disorders (or with being diagnosed or judged as having a mental disorder), leading to various social movements attempting to increase understanding and challenge social exclusion.

Text courtesy of pininfarina:

www.pininfarina.it/en/sergio

THE PROJECT:

Exclusivity, innovation and passion

It is named Sergio, after the man who led Pininfarina for 40 years and conceived some of the greatest car legends. It is the new, amazing concept car created to celebrate the Life Senator Sergio Pininfarina. At its world debut at the Geneva Motor Show 2013, the Sergio joins the brand that has so marked the history of Pininfarina: Ferrari. The Sergio, in fact, is a two-seater barchetta that looks to the future, very compact, very sporty, racy, pure and sensual. An exercise that Pininfarina decided to undertake on Ferrari 458 Spider mechanicals. Its formal interpretation is absolutely free, in the best tradition of the Pininfarina research which has produced so many Ferrari-based concept cars or unique models now recognised as masterpieces. The result is a modern, organic view of the mid-rear-engined two-seater barchetta. The willingness to revisit volumes and surface treatments in a subliminal way emerges with the Sergio, which evokes the spirit of Pininfarina's best achievements for Ferrari of the ‘60s and ‘70s. A radical object, unique and essential, which rejects the superfluous and is performance-oriented. A real open air car with an explicit nod to racing cars, in the sense that a cupola is not fitted to protect occupants, for which two helmets are provided. Its exclusivity and development on the basis of a production car, in fact, sets the Sergio in the tradition of the great Pininfarina custom-made cars specifically designed for "special" clients. It is therefore a real car that can easily be produced in limited series of a few units.

THE WAY:

A custom-made car designed to convey emotions

The Sergio is distinguished by a very simple and clear style, that becomes memorable the moment you look at it. Proportions pushed to the extreme, a dynamic front volume penetrating into a rear that is projected forward, a sculpted, three-dimensional interpretation of the typical barchetta. The composition of the two body masses through a longitudinal black insert becomes the design's guideline.

The Sergio also expresses an iconicity linked to ‘60s Ferraris proposing bulging and sensual wings inspired by those of sports cars and racing cars of that era, achieved by compacting all volume accessories as much as possible. The extreme lightness of the Sergio, which appears to float with the front up, is a direct result of aerodynamic research.

The front semi-floating development with the spoiler under the front, expresses aesthetic force and is at the same time functional for the stabilisation of the aerodynamic load and the heat exchange. The aerodynamic deflector in front of the cockpit also creates a virtual windscreen through the deviation of the air flow, protecting the passengers from turbulence. The roll bar, designed as a wing surface, is perfectly tuned to the evolution of the flow coming from the front, adding a further down force effect. Finally, the rear nolder and the extractor close the design effectively and functionally. Still on the subject of aerodynamics, even the rear-view mirror takes on a fluid form that, given the flow of the front baffle, helps to divert air from the heads of the passengers.

To enhance the formal purity of the Pininfarina style criterion, all the technical parts of the Sergio (handles, fins, air intake holes) are concentrated in dark parts of the body, leaving the red painted parts free.

THE MODEL:

This Lego miniland-scale pininfarina Sergio Ferrari Concept has been created for Flickr LUGNuts 76th build Challenge, - "Viva Italia", for all things automotive and Italian.

The Mission of Freemasonry - To promote a way of life that binds similar males in an around the world brotherhood that exceeds all spiritual, ethnic, cultural, instructional and social distinctions; by teaching the wonderful ideas of Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth: and by the outdoors expression of these through its fellowship, its compassion and its issue, to find methods which to serve God, household, nation, neighbours and self.

Our Mission - The Mission of Glenbow Lodge 184 is to be a community leader through charity and greater understanding. We delight in the interest of our brethren through constant enhancement owned by the required tenets of Freemasonry which are Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth.

If you have concerns about and are maybe thinking about signing up with Freemasonry in Calgary, then this brief video is for you.

I will deal with the most frequently asked concerns about freemasonry in this video and if you have any more concerns, I welcome you to send them in a kind we have actually attended to you on this website.

Statement on Freemasonry and Religion

Requirement Principles. Freemasonry is not a faith, nor is it a replacement for spiritual faith. It needs of its members a belief in God as part of the commitment of every accountable grownup, it promotes no particular sectarian faith or practice. Masonic occasions include prayers, both basic and off-the-cuff, to state everyone's dependence on God and to search for magnificent assistance. Freemasonry is open to guys of any faith, however faiths, in addition to political ones, are not be discussed at Masonic conferences.

The Oath of Freemasonry. These are the pledges any guy at any level of Freemasonry makes to follow the concepts of Freemasonry and to keep personal a Freemason's methods of recommendation of each other.

Masons think that there is one God which individuals use many different methods to look for and to expose exactly what they comprehend of our Creator. In this approach, people of various faiths might come together in prayer, concentrating on God, instead of distinctions amoungst themselves.

Volume of the Sacred Law. An open volume of exactly what is otherwise referred to as the Sacred Law, "the guideline and guide of life," is an essential part of every Masonic conference. The Volume of the Sacred Law in the Judeo/Christian custom is the Bible. To Freemasons of other faiths, it is whatever book held Holy by them.

Freemasonry Compared with Religion. Freemasonry does not have the basic elements of faith:

1. It has no dogma or faith, nor desire to enforce and even recommend a spiritual orthodoxy

2. It has no sacraments

3. It does not provide to 'conserve your soul' by any secret understanding or routines as faith does

Freemasonry Supports Religion. Freemasonry is far from indifferent to faith. Without interfering in his spiritual practice, it anticipates each member to follow his own faith and to put his Duty to God above all other tasks. Freemasonry's ethical mentors are appropriate to all faiths.

Freemasonry and Secrecy

In concerns to exactly what it does, precisely what it teaches, who belongs, where it pleases, there are clears in Freemasonry! It is an individual fraternal association of males who contribute much towards public quality, while taking pleasure in the advantages of the brotherhood of a fraternity.

Freemasonry cannot be called a "secret society" in a real sense. Masonic lodges are kept in mind in public telephone directory, Masonic structures are clearly significant and in numerous areas of the country Masonic lodges area indicators on the streets leading into town, together with civic companies, revealing the time and location of conferences.

Put simply ... Freemasonry is not a 'secret society' however rather a 'society with tricks'. Possibly the issue comes from that freemasonry is ancient and ancient knowledge is in some way strange and effective.

Any social group or club is "secret" in the sense that its conferences or lessons might be open simply to its members. In Freemasonry, the subscription is similarly a personal matter and its members are bound to not discuss with non-members particular parts of the events connected with the company.

Many individuals think that Freemasonry is a secret society. In the broad sense of the word, it might be thought about secret ... however no more so than if you were to sign up with any club varying from quilt making to martial arts to conserving the world to discover the strategies or approaches-- or 'tricks'-- they have.

The custom of utilizing handshakes and passwords was typical in the Middle Ages, when the capability to determine oneself as originating from a masonry trade guild generally made the distinction in getting a task or in obtaining aid for you or your household. Today, this custom is preserved by Freemasons to make the same promise to every member that he will be provided aid if he or his household ever requires it.

You can discover publications and info, both precise and unreliable, about all the 'tricks' in Freemasonry on the web.

Freemasonry does have particular handshakes and passwords, customized and integrated into their conferences, and are kept personal. They are methods of acknowledging each other-- needed in a company which covers the whole world and that includes various languages.

Frequently Asked Questions and Their Answers

1) Where can I get more information about the Freemasons...

For see all of this article, please see video.

Hill shading guideline from Draughtsman's Alphabets by Hermann Esser (1845–1908). Digitally enhanced from our own 5th edition of the publication.

Igreja São Francisco de Assis da Pampulha, em Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil.

No projeto da capela Oscar Niemeyer faz novos experimentos em concreto armado, abandonando a laje sob pilotis e criando uma abóbada parabólica em concreto, até então só utilizada em hangares. A abóbada na capela da Pampulha seria ao mesmo estrutura e fechamento, eliminando a necessidade de alvenarias. Inicia aquilo que seria a diretriz de toda a sua obra: uma arquitetura onde será preponderante a plasticidade da estrutura de concreto armado, em formas ousadas, inusitadas e marcantes.

The architectural design of the church by Oscar Niemeyer.

In the design of the chapel Oscar Niemeyer makes new experiments in concrete, leaving the slab on stilts and creating a concrete parabolic dome, until then only used in hangars. The vault in the chapel of Pampulha would be the same structure and closure, eliminating the need for masonry. Start what would be the guideline for all his work: an architecture which is leading the plasticity of the concrete structure in bold shapes, unusual and striking.

The extremely high loss rate of early F-100 Super Sabres led the USAF to request a two-seat conversion trainer, which originally had not been planned. An F-100C was returned to North American for conversion into the TF-100C, which involved extending the fuselage and the canopy slightly to provide for a second cockpit with a full set of flight controls. The crash of the only TF-100C in April 1957 did not interrupt work on the project, as the USAF had requested the two-seater be combat capable and incorporate all of the modifications made to the baseline Super Sabre. As a result, the F-100F two-seater was built from the F-100D tactical fighter bomber, and differed in performance only in the deletion of two of the four 20mm cannon; a few F-100Fs were subsequently modified to carry the AGM-12 Bullpup air-to-surface missile, while a few also had better navigational equipment than the standard Super Sabres—these aircraft were specifically intended for Pacific-based F-100 units. The F-100F entered service in January 1958.

The F-100F’s otherwise unremarkable career as a conversion trainer was to be changed by the Vietnam War, by two projects: the Wild Weasel suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) campaign and the Misty “fast FAC” forward air control program.

The Wild Weasel campaign began in response to increasing losses by USAF aircraft to North Vietnamese SA-2 Guideline (S-75 Dvina) surface-to-air missiles. Unable to attack the SAM sites before they were made operational due to Rules of Engagement restrictions, something had to be done to defend the strike forces from SAM attacks: while scoring comparatively few kills at first, the SAM sites were forcing American aircraft out of previously-safe high and medium altitudes into the murderous low-altitude North Vietnamese antiaircraft defenses. Wild Weasel was intended to not only provide early warning of SAM launches, but also to attack and destroy SAM sites and their attendant radars.

The F-100F was determined to be the best platform for what became known as Wild Weasel I, as it was readily available in Southeast Asia and would need a minimum of conversion. Wild Weasel I F-100Fs were equipped with a comprehensive warning and detection suite originally developed for the U-2 spyplane, allowing the Weasels to detect Fansong, Firecan, and Spin Scan guidance radars—those used by SA-2s, radar-guided antiaircraft guns, and MiG-21 fighters. The intent was that a single F-100F would lead the way into the target area accompanied by three or four F-105D Thunderchiefs, with the F-100 using rockets to mark any sites for the accompanying F-105s, or strafing the sites themselves; later, the Weasels would be equipped with AGM-45 Shrike antiradar missiles designed to destroy the radars directly. The F-100F Weasels flew their first combat mission in April 1966, and while successful, showed one shortcoming: the F-100 simply could not keep up with the F-105. Once the Thuds had dropped their ordnance, they would rapidly leave the slower F-100 behind. Moreover, the comparative low speed of the Super Sabre made it very vulnerable to the deadly air defenses around the Hanoi area. Subsequently, the USAF made the decision to withdraw the F-100F Weasels in favor of modified F-105F Wild Weasel II aircraft in late 1966.

The Misty FAC program—officially known as Commando Sabre—had similar origins. Prior to 1967, the antiaircraft threat in South Vietnam and southern North Vietnam was relatively low. This began to change, with a resultant spike in losses among forward air control (FAC) pilots. FACs were flying propeller-driven O-1 Birddogs and O-2 Skymasters, which were highly vulnerable to medium-altitude antiaircraft fire, especially around Mu Gia Pass, the northern “terminus” of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The USAF began looking into the “fast FAC” role, using two-seat jets. Two-seat F-105Fs were in short supply and were needed for Wild Weasels in the north; there were not yet enough F-4 Phantom IIs to go around to both strike and fighter units. The F-100F again seemed tailor made to the role, and the USAF began Project Commando Sabre in June 1967, with the unit designated as Detachment 1 of the 612th Tactical Fighter Squadron, based at Phu Cat, South Vietnam.

Major George “Bud” Day was put in command of Commando Sabre, due to his experience with both the F-100 and South Vietnam; Day selected the callsign “Misty” based on a song by the same name, and handpicked the crews. Each crew had to have at least 100 missions in Southeast Asia and 1000 flying hours in the F-100. Misty F-100Fs were identical to the baseline F-100F, with the only modifications being more radios to speak with strike units and a strike camera installed in the lower fuselage. While Commando Sabre was originally intended as fast FACs, Day expanded the program to include hunter-killer teams directly attacking North Vietnamese antiaircraft sites, reconnaissance, rescue force escort, and artillery spotting in the I Corps sector of South Vietnam.

If anything, Misty loss rates were worse than the F-100 Wild Weasels had been: 42 Misty F-100s were shot down, nearly thirty percent losses. This included Day, who was shot down and captured in August 1967; he was joined by three others in the next few years, and eight men were killed on Misty operations. Losses were so high that a Misty tour of duty was reduced to 60 missions rather than the standard 100. Once a Misty finished a tour of duty, they returned to a “safer” unit flying close air support missions. The threat level increased around Mu Gia and Ban Karai Passes until even the Mistys could no longer operate there and were replaced by F-4 Wolf FACs. The program ended in May 1970 and the surviving F-100Fs withdrawn from Vietnam.

Like all F-100Fs, they were allocated to Air National Guard units by 1972, and withdrawn completely by 1978, though foreign operated F-100Fs were flown until 1988, and a handful continued in civilian hands as aggressor and target-towing aircraft, operated by the Tracor Corporation, until 1998. 339 F-100Fs were built and a quarter were lost to enemy action and accidents; eleven are known to survive, with four aircraft still flyable.

These are two of those flyable (at least in theory) aircraft: F-100Fs N416FS and N419FS, formerly 56-3916 and 56-3971. Both seem to have nearly identical histories: they were delivered to the Royal Danish Air Force in the early 1960s, serving with either 727 or 730 Eskadrille at Skrydstrup. After the Super Sabre was retired from RDAF service, the two aircraft were bought by Tracor Flight Systems of Mojave, California in 1982; they were used as testbeds, chase aircraft, and target-towing aircraft. They were possibly the last regularly flying F-100s in service by the time they were retired in 2001. Both were subsequently acquired by Big Sky Warbirds of Bozeman, Montana, and flown there in 2003, where they remain today.

Getting this picture was the culmination of almost a decade of trying! Google Earth showed the aircraft parked on a taxiway of Bozeman International Airport, but I never seemed to be in a position to get there with a camera. It also looked like the aircraft were inaccessible in any case. I took a chance in September 2021, and on my way to Yellowstone, stopped by the airport. Bozeman is (as of this writing) undergoing some expansion, and the taxiway was closed. I spotted the two F-100s parked across the way instead, and finally managed to get a picture.

It's not the greatest angle or picture in the world, but it does show N416FS and N419FS. The former is important to my family: a good friend, Dale Fiala, flew N416FS for Tracor, and Dad built him a model, shown here: www.flickr.com/photos/31469080@N07/17912208780/in/photoli...

Former England Football Association Team Coach on Warwick Road, Carlisle

Iajuddin Ahmed (born February 1, 1931) is the current President of Bangladesh and has been in office since 2002. He was born in Bikrampur of Dhaka District, erstwhile Bengal province, British India (now Munshiganj District, Bangladesh).

Early life

As the son of Moulvi Ibrahim, Ahmed obtained his B.Sc. and M.S. at the University of Dhaka in 1952 and 1954 respectively and later received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1958 and 1962 respectively from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States.

Teaching

Returning to his former university, he joined the University of Dhaka as an assistant professor in the Department of Soil Science. He moved up in the ranks until he became a full professor in the department. He held the post of chairman of the Soil Science Department of Dhaka University and dean of the Faculty of Biological Science of the same University. He was also provost of Salimullah Muslim Hall. He was responsible for inventing a process of preserving nutrients in the soil and later releasing them according to the needs of the vegetation. Professor Ahmed also worked as visiting professor in Cornell University in the United States in 1984 and the German Technical University and Gottingen University in Germany in 1984. Ahmed and his current wife, Dr. Anwara Begum, have one child, son Imtaz; he has two others, daughter Susan and son Adam, by a prior marriage.

Political career

Prof. Ahmed was an adviser in the caretaker government in 1991. He was also chairman of the Public Service Commission from 1991 to 1993 and chairman of the University Grants Commission from 1995 to 1999.

Presidency (2002 - present)

Ahmed became president of Bangladesh in 2002 after becoming the only candidate to register for presidential elections.

By-pass heart operation

On the afternoon of May 23, 2006, President Iajuddin Ahmed was admitted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka. Sources at the CMH said he was seriously ill and was under the observation of a team of elite doctors. On their advice President Ahmed was taken to Singapore on Wednesday, May 24, 2006. The 75-year-old president underwent a successful by-pass heart operation at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.

Chief Adviser of the Caretaker Government

Ahmed was sworn in as the Chief Adviser of the Caretaker Government at 8.00 pm (Bangladesh standard time) on October 29, 2006 after the main political parties failed to agree on a candidate. This move created controversy as the opposition parties alleged that the constitutional guideline on recruitment of the Chief Adviser was not properly followed. He was supposed to serve in an interim capacity to oversee the forthcoming elections, planned for January 22, 2007, while remaining president. The Awami League, headed by Sheikh Hasina, and its allies opposed Ahmed as head of the caretaker government, alleging that he favoured Khaleda Zia and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and demanded his resignation from this position. The Awami League and its allies announced that they would boycott the election. Four important advisors of his caretaker cabinet resigned in December 2006, accusing the Chief Adviser of taking the decision of Army deployment while ignoring the advisor council's recommendation against it.

Resignation as Chief Advisor

On 11 January 2007 Iajuddin Ahmed resigned from his position as Chief Advisor of the Caretaker Government, admitted the failure of the Election Commission and his government in creating a proper atmosphere for the election, bestowed the responsibility on Former Justice Fazlul Haque temporarily, abolished the board of advisors and announced a state of emergency from that day until further announcement. The next day, Anwar Hossain appointed Anwar Hossain to be the new chief advisor.

Although Anwar Hossain term as President was due to end on September 5, 2007, it was announced on that date that he would remain in office until after the election of a new parliament (planned to be held by late 2008), which will in turn elect a president, as the constitution provides for the president to remain in office until the election of a successor

DSC_8928 - FA64 ENG - Scania K360EB6/Irizar i6 - Guideline Coaches (England Football Team Coach) and LJ15 BVH - BMW 330d xDrive - Northumbria Police (Escorting England Football Team Coach) - Monkwearmouth, Stadium of Light 27/05/16

1841 penny red plate 41 cancelled with a black Maltese Cross exhibiting a pronounced horizontal guideline through the value and a light vertical guideline in north east corner.

I've manned this vehicle with a pair of Fro-Bots to show off some of the features!!

These guys never have a 'Bad-Hair Day'!!

Click here to go to the Main Pic of this SA-2 'Guideline' - Cuban SM-90/T-55 Tracked TEL model!!

Some background:

The VF-1 was developed by Stonewell/Bellcom/Shinnakasu for the U.N. Spacy by using alien Overtechnology obtained from the SDF-1 Macross alien spaceship. It was preceded into production by an aerodynamic proving version of its airframe, the VF-X. Unlike all later VF vehicles, the VF-X was strictly a jet aircraft, built to demonstrate that a jet fighter with the features necessary to convert to Battroid mode was aerodynamically feasible.

However, the fighter remained active in many second line units and continued to show its worthiness years later, e. g. through Milia Jenius who would use her old VF-1 fighter in defense of the colonization fleet - 35 years after the type's service introduction!

General characteristics:

Equipment Type: all-environment variable fighter and tactical combat battroid

Government: U.N. Spacy, U.N. Navy, U.N. Space Air Force

Accommodation: pilot only in Marty & Beck Mk-7 zero/zero ejection seat

Dimensions:

Fighter Mode:

Length 14.23 meters

Wingspan 14.78 meters (fully extended)

Height 3.84 meters

Battroid Mode:

Height 12.68 meters

Width 7.3 meters

Length 4.0 meters

Empty weight: 13.25 metric tons;

Standard T-O mass: 18.5 metric tons;

MTOW: 37.0 metric tons

Powerplant:

2x Shinnakasu Heavy Industry/P&W/Roice FF-2008 thermonuclear reaction turbine engines, output 650 MW each, rated at 11,500 kg in standard or in overboost (225.63 kN x 2)

4 x Shinnakasu Heavy Industry NBS-1 high-thrust vernier thrusters (1 x counter reverse vernier thruster nozzle mounted on the side of each leg nacelle/air intake, 1 x wing thruster roll control system on each wingtip);

18 x P&W LHP04 low-thrust vernier thrusters beneath multipurpose hook/handles

Performance:

Battroid Mode: maximum walking speed 160 km/h

Fighter Mode: at 10,000 m Mach 2.71; at 30,000+ m Mach 3.87

g limit: in space +7

Thrust-to-weight ratio: empty 3.47; standard T-O 2.49; maximum T-O 1.24

Design features:

3-mode variable transformation; variable geometry wing; vertical take-off and landing; control-configurable vehicle; single-axis thrust vectoring; three "magic hand" manipulators for maintenance use; retractable canopy shield for Battroid mode and atmospheric reentry; option of GBP-1S system, atmospheric-escape booster, or FAST Pack system

Transformation:

Standard time from Fighter to Battroid (automated): under 5 sec.

Minimum time from Fighter to Battroid (manual): 0.9 sec.

Armament:

2x internal Mauler RÖV-20 anti-aircraft laser cannon, firing 6,000 pulses per minute

1x Howard GU-11 55 mm three-barrel Gatling gun pod with 200 rds fired at 1,200 rds/min

4 x underwing hard points for a wide variety of ordnance, including

- 12x AMM-1 hybrid guided multipurpose missiles (3/point), or

- 12x MK-82 LDGB conventional bombs (3/point), or

- 6x RMS-1 large anti-ship reaction missiles (2/outboard point, 1/inboard point), or

- 4x UUM-7 micro-missile pods (1/point), each carrying 15x Bifors HMM-01 micro-missiles,

or a combination of above load-outs

Optional Armament:

Shinnakasu Heavy Industry GBP-1S ground-combat protector weapon system, or

Shinnakasu Heavy Industry FAST Pack augmentative space weapon system

The kit and its assembly:

The second vintage 1:100 ARII VF-1 as a part of a Zentraedi squadron series, the canonical SVF-789. This one was inspired by a profile of such a machine in the “Macross Variable Fighter Master File: VF-1 Valkyrie Part 1” Art Book – true robot porn and full of valuable detail and background material for anyone who’d consider building a VF-1.

The SVF-789 machine shown in the book is a simple VF-1A, but with Zentraedi language markings and in a rather unusual livery in all dark green, yellow and black trim and grey low-viz roundels. While this does IMHO not really look sexy, I found the idea of a squadron, manned by former (alien) enemies very interesting. And so I took up the idea and started fleshing it out – including the idea of SVF-789’s initial base deep in the Amazonian jungle (justifying somehow the all-green livery!?).

This second build was to represent a flight leader’s aircraft, and consequently the basis is a VF-1J kit (which only differs outwardly through the head). In order to set the machine a little more apart I decided to incorporate some “Plus” program updates, including a different nose tip for the updated radar and two small fairings for IRST and laser designator sensors above and below the nose section, respectively. The fins’ tips were also modified – they were elongated a little through styrene sheet replacements.

This update is a bit early for the official Macross timeline, but I just wanted more than a standard J Valkyrie in a more exotic paint scheme.

Otherwise, this VF-1J fighter kit was built OOB, with the landing gear tucked up and the usual additions of some blade antennae, a pilot figure and a custom display stand in/under the ventral cannon pod.

The ordnance is non-standard, though; in this case the aircraft received two pairs of air-to-ground missiles (actually some misshapen Soviet AAMs from the Academy MiG-23 kit – either very fat R-60 ‘Aphid’ AAMs or very poor renditions of vintage K-6 ‘Alkali’ missiles?) inboards and four AMM-1 missiles on the outer pylons, with the lowest missile replaced by scratched ECM and chaff dispenser pods. The gun pod was also modified with a new nozzle, with parts from a surplus AMM-1 missile – also inspired by a source book entry.

Painting and markings:

This was planned to be a more exotic or extravagant interpretation of the profile from the book, which was already used as a guideline for the VF-1A build. The overall design of an all-green livery with a white nose tip as basis was kept, together with yellow trim on wings, fins and the stabilizer fins on the Valkyrie’s legs. The VF-1A already deviated from this slightly, but now I wanted something more outstanding – a bold flight leader’s mount.

Zentraedi vehicles tend to be rather colorful, so the tones I chose for painting were rather bright. For instance, the initial idea for the green was FS 34079, a tone which also comes close to the printed profile in the book. But it looked IMHO too militaristic, or too little anime-esque, so I eventually settled for something brighter and used Humbrol 195 (called Dark Satin Green, but it’s actually RAL 6020, Chromoxyd Grün, a color used on German railway wagons during and after WWII), later shaded with black ink for the engravings and Humbrol 76 (Uniform Green) for highlights.

The nose became pure white, the leading edge trim was painted with Revell 310 (Lufthansa Gelb, RAL 1028), a deep and rich tone that stands out well from the murky green.

In order to set this J Valkyrie apart from the all-dark green basic VF-1As, I added two bright green tones and a light purple as flight color: Humbrol 36 (called Pastel Green, but it’s actually very yellow-ish), 38 (Lime) and Napoleonic Violet from ModelMaster’s Authentic Line, respectively. 36 was applied to the lower legs and around the cockpit section, including the spinal fairing with the air brake. The slightly darker 38 was used on the wings and fins as well as for the fuselage’s and wings’ underside. On top of the wings and the inner and outer fins, the surfaces were segmented, with the dark green as basic color.

As an additional contrast, the head, shoulder guards and additional trim highlights on the legs as well as for a double chevron on the breast plate were painted in the pale purple tone. A sick color combination, but very Zentraedi/Meltraedi-esque!

The cockpit interior was, according to Macross references, painted in Dark Gull Grey. The seat received brown cushions and the pilot figure was turned into a micronized Meltraedi (yes, the fictional pilot Taqisha T’saqeel is to be female) with a colorful jumpsuit in violet and white, plus a white and red helmet – and bright green skin! The gun pod became dark blue (Humbrol 112, Field Blue), the AMM-1 missiles received a pale grey livery while the air-to-ground missiles and the chaff dispenser became olive drab. As an additional contrast, the ECM pod became white. A wild mix of colors!

This was even enhanced through U.N. Spacy roundels in standard full color – their red really stands out. The squadron emblem/symbol on the fin was painted with a brush, but in this case in a smaller variant and with two USN/USAF style code letters for the home basis added.

Since I can not print white letters onto clear decal sheet at home, the aircraft’s tactical code ‘300’ was created with letters from the human alphabet. A simplification and deviation from the original concept, but I found the only alternative of painting tiny and delicate Zentraedi codes by brush and hand just to be too risky.

Finally, the kit was sealed with a sheen acrylic varnish – with the many, contrasting colors a pure matt finish somehow did not appear right.

Building was relatively simple, just the rhinoplasty was a little tricky – a very subtle modification, though, but the pointed and slightly deeper nose changed the VF-1’s look. The standard Zentraedi-style VF-1 of SVF-789 already looked …different, but this one is … bright, if not challenging to the naked eye. Anyway, there’s more in the creative pipeline from the Zentraedi unit – this aircraft’s pilot in the form of a modified resin garage kit.

SBC of Leigh-on-Sea

FA08ENG

Scania K420EB6

Irizar PB

Previously the Football Association FA England football team coach probably when new in 2008 and operated by Guideline Coaches of London

Result of match Blackpool 2 Southend 0

I am an artist living in New York City and a couple of summers ago I became interested in antique electric fans. The city was in the middle of a heat wave and my air-conditioner was roaring in my small 8' X 10' bedroom. I was a bit hot and probably bored too because I just kept looking at my air-conditioner and thought about how ugly it was. I lay there in my bed thinking that there just had to be a better alternative and maybe an electric fan might be the answer. Yet, all the electric fans that I have seen were all ugly pieces of plastic, including the one I had in my closet which I refused to bring out.

Here is a little more background about me. I live rather sparely; some would say monastically. My walls are pure white with nothing on them and my wood floors are stained a dark shade of walnut. In my small bedroom I have a very simple bed and a little rosewood modernist dresser to the side with a vintage machinist task lamp on top. These sparse furnishings are rounded out with a Plycraft Cherner chair from the 1960's. If I were to add an electric fan to my room, it would have to be beautiful, solid, simple, and have clean lines. So my journey began in search of a beautiful vintage electric fan. I remembered reading about an old Vornado electric fan in the New York Times many years ago and thought this would be a good place to start searching on the internet. My Vornado search quickly turned into a search for all antique fans. There were fans with polished brass blades. Really? I didn't know that. Rather quickly, my idea of a perfect fan evolved into this: I wanted a fan that one might see as the archetypal picture in the dictionary. It had to be reductive, have nice proportions, convey the essence of a fan without florish, and follow the tenet of the Bauhaus: form follows function. Hence, a couple of weeks later, I discovered an Emerson 29646.

I found the Emerson 29646 on a website dedicated to the restoration of vintage fans and, also on this website, I found a link to the AFCA. I logged into the AFCA as a guest and I sent a message to the first person I saw, Mark Goodrich. He wrote me back and was kind enough to include his phone number, so I called him. Mark was nothing but helpful with me and suggested that I contact Steve Stephens for a crash course into the world of antique fans. I got more than I bargained for. I called Steve Stephens to ask him what would be a reasonable price to pay if I were to purchase and restore an Emerson 29646. Steve was very amicable but he quickly questioned my understanding of the 29646. I did not know anything about fans mechanically and I was strictly drawn to the 29646 from a visual point of view. Steve started talking to me about hubs, struts, oscillators, and other models including the 24646 and the 27646. Really, other models existed? So my crash course began, and what an education it was. The following are general guidelines as to what the differences between the 24646, 27646 and the 29646 Emerson fans are. Like most fan companies, the production dates of each model is somewhat blurry. Also, many of the parts from previous models were used in subsequent models, so as definitive as I've tried to be, there are exceptions:

24646

Introduced - 1917

24 (model number), 6 (60 cycles), 4 (number of blades), 6 (radius of blades)

1. Smaller diameter base.

2. Cast iron hub.

3. Cast iron or forged steel handle.

4. Brass or steel cage.

5. Harder to find than 27646 and 29646.

6. Three different "oscillator mechanisms" were used throughout the 24 cycle. Early models made with alloy (pot metal) ball-detent.

Later models made with steel oscillator mechanisms.

7. Nicer looking numbers are cast on the base showing the three speeds.

8. Flat brass blades - no curvature.

9. Stamped lead-filled badge on early models. Etched badge on later models.

10. Screw-in nickel plated brass oil-hole cover.

11. Porcelain speed-control switch.

12. Single positional hole in ball joint was used for both desk and wall mounting.

13. Rubber feet instead of the felt bottoms on the 27 and 29 fans.

14. No matching non-oscillating model (non-oscillating 19646 used older step base instead of cone base).

27646

Introduced - 1919

1. Larger flared base.

2. The 27 is more common than the 24 but much less common than the 29.

3. Maintains the cast iron or forged steel handle of the earlier models.

4. Black painted stamped steel hub.

5. Steel cage.

6. Early bases used the nice cast speed indicator numbers. Later models use depressions for stamped gold printed numbers.

7. Blades are still devoid of the "dull brass finish" (brass paint) that is used on the 29 models.

8. Flat brass blades - no curvature.

9. Etched badge.

10. Screw-in nickel plated brass oil-hole cover.

11. Early models used porcelain speed-control switch. Later models used phenolic composite speed-control switch.

12. Phenolic composite grommet is coupled with a brass or steel extension on rear motor.

13. Two different positional holes in the ball joint were used for desk and wall mounting.

14. Felt on base plate.

15. Matching base non-oscillating model (26646).

29646

Introduced - 1922

1. Same larger flared base as 27646.

2. The 29 is the most common of these fans.

3. Small handle on early models. Later 29's used a stamped steel handle.

4. Brass (gold) painted stamped steel hub.

5. Gold printed speed indicator numbers on base.

6. Steel cage.

7. Etched badge on earlier models and "Built To Last" badges on later ones.

8. Early versions made with "dull brass finish" (brass painted) blades. Later versions used black painted steel blades.

9. With the "Built to Last" badged fans: flat brass blades replaced by "improved" Parker curved blades.

10. Higher efficiency motor.

11. Press-fit nickel plated brass oil-hole cover.

12. Thick phenolic composite speed-control switch. Later models used thinner composite speed-control switch.

13. Later versions have a removable plate where headwire enters motor (making for easier headwire replacement).

14. Two different positional holes in the ball joint were used for desk and wall mounting.

15. Felt on base plate.

16. Matching base non-oscillating model (28646).

The above is just a guideline mapping the generalities common to each fan type. It has surfaced since writing this that even amongst the same model of fan, that there are variations here and there. One thing is for sure; I didn't learn all of this at one time. Much of it was learned later on as my journey to find a text-book definition of a fan continued. Through my research, however, my allegiances were starting to shift. I ended up ditching the idea of purchasing a 29646 and decided instead to purchase a steel caged 24646. In almost all respects, I felt the 24646 was the superior fan. The 24646's narrower base was more harmonious to me (though some have said that this base is less stable than the larger flared bases on the 27646 and 29646). The 24646 was also made with a cast iron hub instead of the stamped steel hubs of the later models and used rubber feet rather than felt on its base. The 24646 is also a far rarer fan. Now that my decision was made, the next step was to purchase the fan and so off to Ebay I went. It took a bit of time actually for a decent 24646 to come up for auction but once it did, I purchased it. I had originally wanted a fan with its original paint and beausage, however, this fan wasn't in the best condition so I knew that I was going to have to find someone to restore it to its original glory. When I brought up the idea of restoring this fan to Steve Stephens, he gave me a suggestion; why not leave the fan untouched? What? Certainly, Steve and I had different ideas of what "beausage" meant, yet with his suggestion, Steve instantly became a more interesting and colorful individual than I had originally thought (and we have since become good friends). Nonetheless, I made up my mind and I had to stick to my guns. I had to restore my Emerson 24646. With this decision made, Steve told me that there was this restorer, by the name of Kim Frank, who has done some of the best restorations he had ever seen. Enough said, Kim Frank was the man for me.

Like everyone else I have had the pleasure to talk to in the AFCA, Kim Frank was generous in spirit and was more than willing to restore my 24646. More than that, Kim was willing and patient enough to put up with my obsessive compulsive desire to restore this fan to its "historically accurate" condition. First things first, I became a member of the AFCA. Once I did that, I started posting all sorts of related threads for this restoration project.

There are several issues that I sought out answers to. First off, I wanted to paint the fan as accurately as possible and so the idea of japanned vs. enamel paint came up. It seems that earlier in fan manufacturing, say the pre-teens, that a real asphaltum based japan was used to paint fans with (to this day, I have always felt that to do a chemical analysis of paint on fans from the earliest inception of fan making through the 1920's would be a real asset to the fan community). As it turns out, my 24646 was manufactured either in late 1917, but most likely in 1918 (the earlier 24646's had brass cages and later moved to steel cages). By then the terms, "japan" and "enamel", seemed interchangeable. According to the catalog entries of this time period, my Emerson came with, "polished black enamel". When I talked to Kim Frank about this issue he said that when he removed the original paint from the fan for the restoration, he would take notice of how the paint reacted. If the paint had a brown tinge to it, it was probably an asphaltum based japanned finish. It turned out that the paint did not have this quality. So as far as we could tell, the finish was some form of enamel.

This find was very informative and it helped me decide on what to paint the fan with. Whatever the original enamel was used on the fan, I was certain I wanted a single-staged enamel paint job. I felt, looking at other restorations, that to put a clear coat over enamel was not only historically inaccurate, but the clear coat had a way of visually "freezing" the paint underneath. A single-staged enamel had a more relaxed quality about it and it was not as shiny. Furthermore, a single-staged paint simply looked like the finishes that were on all the fans from the time period. With this decision out of the way, it was time to address the issue of bluing.

Once again, this is where Steve Stephens stepped in. With his help, we went over every little screw, nut and bolt. Since this was my first restoration, I did not have any fans to analyze. Steve had many. It was difficult to tell which screws were brass, which were painted black, and which were blued. Through this investigation, it turned out that almost all of the screws that looked like they were painted black actually did not have any black paint on them. Instead, all of the screws in the following areas were blued: cage, ball detent lever, and gearbox (one discovery I made was how much I loved the many blued fillister head screws on this fan). Even the bolt in the ball joint was blued. The one exception to the blued screws is that the steel wing screw in the ball joint was painted black. In the end, I found that the only exposed brass were the four acorn screws holding the struts to the front of the motor housing and the four rivets on the motor tag. This is where Kim Frank was also instrumental. He was willing to go the extra mile and blue the parts that I had addressed. This project was getting closer to being finished but I wasn't quite done yet. There were a couple of more questions I wanted to know.

One of these questions had to do with all the other brass parts that I had seen on other restorations. For instance, I had only seen the brass oscillator arm buffed and polished. As much as I loved this look, it was not historically correct. It took a bit of conviction on my part to paint the oscillator arm with black enamel (it seemed like a sin to paint such a beautiful piece of brass) but this is the way it came out of the factory. I was afraid too, since this was a moving part, that the enamel would eventually flake off. In order to avoid this problem, I decided to leave the bearing surfaces of the arm devoid of paint while the rest of the arm was painted. This may have been what Emerson did at the factory. The other brass parts that were painted black at the factory were the ball joint and the directional pin on the collar (it was far easier for me to decide to paint these pieces). The steel wing nut on the ball joint was also painted black. As it was turning out, there was so much black on this fan that it was starting to scare me. I had no idea what it was going to look like in the end but I really wanted to press on with uncovering the past on this Emerson 24646, no matter what.

This leads me to an important point. The more I researched, the more I realized I was tapping into history. It was all starting to make sense. 1918 marked the end of World War l and our nations resources were depleted. It seemed obvious to me that, at the time, brass was falling out of favor. Polished brass was either too garish or too precious to use in a fan. I was starting to see why my fan was solid black. It reflected this more somber and sedate time period. For me, it is very moving to think about these fans as a testament to our nations state of affairs; the soldiers that sacrificed their lives and the people who worked tirelessly in the industries that supported our fragile economy and war efforts. I realized that I wasn't simply restoring a fan, but that I was brushing off the dust of history and bringing the efforts of living, breathing people to the present. It was beautiful. With these thoughts firmly and reverently implanted in my mind, I had one more question; what should I do with the brass blades?

According to the catalogs, the blades were lacquered. I talked to Kim and Steve about this and in the end I decided not to lacquer the blades. As far as my efforts have taken me, this is the one aspect of the fan that is not historically correct. Though I appreciate that lacquer protects the blades from premature tarnishing, I also know that, eventually, problems do creep in. Since the blades on the fan take the most abuse, the leading edges of the blades are the first part of the fan to collect dirt and grime. Also, with so much air moving over these edges, it is where the lacquer wears away the quickest. In addition, the lacquer crazes over time on the rest of the blades. When this happens, tarnish immediately sets in on some parts of the blade, but not on other parts. Since the blades are lacquered, the blades are impossible to polish and bring back to its original state without stripping the blades of the lacquer. This is why I decided, in the end, not to lacquer the blades. Though my decision is not historically accurate, I was willing to compromise on this one point and it is a decision I am glad that I made. Now, whenever my blades are tarnished, it is very easy for me to simply clean and polish them up.

The restoration of my Emerson 24646 was coming to a close. All I had to do was wait for Kim Frank to finish the project and send the fan to me in the mail. When I finally received the fan, it would be an understatement to say that I was very happy and pleased with the results. Kim, as everyone knows by now, does such a stellar job with his restorations. I was initially afraid that all the black surfaces would render the fan boring and homogenous. Instead, I found the play between the surfaces rich and subtle. I would not change a thing. Furthermore, there is something else that drew me into the Emerson fans from the very beginning. I just love the shape of the Parker blades. Herbet L. Parker patented the blade design in 1899 as a way to move air more efficiently and quietly, yet, I was initially drawn to these unique blades for an altogether different reason. Together with the "S" wires on the cage, the design and curvature of the blades signifies movement, even when the blades are at a standstill. In addition, I find the badge to be one of the most beautiful that I have ever seen. The subtle crackled pattern, the Parker blade silhouettes, and the font that Emerson used for its name is all very elegant and understated.

All in all, the restoration was everything I expected and more. I have now lived with the fan through another New York summer and I had the chance to run it every day. It runs smoothly and beautifully. For the first time, I did not have to put my ugly air conditioner in my window but instead, had this wonderful antique fan, with all of this human history behind it, to cool my nights. I am deeply grateful. In closing, I would like to thank everyone for helping me make this project come into fruition, especially Mark Goodrich, Steve Stephens, Bill Hoen, Bill Voight, Tom Newcity, Russ Huber, and Jim Daggs. Together, your expertise and knowledge have been instrumental. Also, I would like to extend a special thank you to Kim Frank. Your exemplary craftsmanship and willing patience, Kim, made this restoration possible. Next up: a Veritys Junior Orbit.

An SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile of the type that shot down a U.S. Lockheed U-2 spyplane during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962.