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Taken from the up platform at Prestonpans with maximum zoom, we see a 225 set sitting in the up loop with 91124 at the rear. This set had worked 1S04, 0615 London Kings Cross - Edinburgh Waverley Virgin Trains East Coast service, and has ran here as 5S04 from the Waverley. It will leave here as 5E19 at 1337 to work 1E19, 1430 to Kings Cross.
22/2/17 at 1303
Smoke from SF Belt 25 drifts southward and Nick rolls hoppers by the switch as I hide from the light in front of a cold Kenworth. San Francisco in the 6am hour.
Maximum knee bend without support: Ficon Denimish, JamieShow Angelina, DeMuse Doll Papillon, Deva Doll Nantha, Inamorata Inro, Numina Devon, Sybarite Dionysis
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
In October 1951, a heavy tank project was underway to mount an oscillating turret with an automatically loading 120mm Gun on the hull of the 120mm Gun Tank T43. (The T43 would later be serialized as the 120mm Gun Tank M103, America’s last heavy tank.). This was the T57, and the Rheem Manufacturing Company were granted a contract to design and build two pilot turrets and autoloading systems.
During the T57’s development, it became clear that it was feasible to mount a lighter armored version of the T57 turret on the hull of the 90mm Gun Tank T48 (The T48 later became the 90mm Gun Tank M48 Patton). This combination granted the possibility of creating a ‘heavy gun tank’ that was considerably lighter (and therefore more agile and tactically flexible) than any previously designed.
In May 1953, a development project was started to create such a tank. It would be designated the 120mm Gun Tank T77, and another contract was signed with Rheem to create two pilot tanks. The T77 weighed about 50 tons, with armor of the hull being up to 110mm thick. It was originally powered by a 650 hp Continental AVSI-1790-6 V12, air-cooled twin-turbo gasoline engine. This would propel the tank to a speed of 30 mph (48 km/h). The tank was supported on a torsion bar suspension, attached to six road wheels. The drive sprocket was at the rear, while the idler was at the front. The idler wheel was of the compensating type, meaning it was attached to the closest roadwheel by an actuating arm. When the roadwheel reacted to terrain, the idler was pushed out or pulled in, keeping constant track tension. The return of the track was supported by five rollers.
The T77 had a crew of four: The driver’s position was standard for M48 hulls, located centrally in the bow at the front of the hull. Arrangements inside the turret were standard, too: The loader was positioned to the left of the gun, the gunner was on the right with the commander behind him.
The T77’s oscillating turret could be easily mounted to the unmodified 2.1 m (85 inch) turret ring of the M48 hull, and on other tanks, too. It consisted of two actuating parts: a collar that was attached to the turret ring, allowing 360° horizontal traverse, and a pivoting upper part with a long cylindrical ‘nose’ and a low profile flat bustle that held the gun, which could elevate to a maximum of 15 degrees, and depress 8 degrees. It also held the complex loading mechanism and the turret crew.
Both turret halves utilized cast homogeneous steel armor. The sides of the collar were made to be round and bulbous in shape to protect the trunnions that the upper half pivoted on. Armor around the face was 127mm (5 inches) thick, angled at 60 degrees, what meant an effective 10 in (254 mm) equivalent of RHA at the turret front. Maximum armor strength was 137mm (5.3 inches) on the convex sides of the turret, and this dropped to 51 mm (2 inches) on the bustle.
Though it looked like two, there were actually three hatches in the turret’s roof: There was a small hatch on the left for the loader, and the slightly raised cupola for the commander on the right, which featured six periscopes. These two standard hatches were part of a third large, powered hatch, which took up most of the middle of the roof, granting a larger escape route for the crew but also allowed internal turret equipment to be removed easily. It was also a convenient way to replenish the ammunition storage, even though a use under battle conditions was prohibitive. In front of the loader’s hatch was a periscope, housings for a stereoscopic rangefinder were mounted on the sides of the swiveling turret part, and there was another periscope above the gunner’s position, too. Behind the large hatch was the ejection port for spent cartridges, to its right was the armored housing for the ventilator.
The initial Rheem Company turret concept had the gun rigidly mounted to the turret without a recoil system, and the long gun barrel protruded from a narrow nose. The gun featured a quick change barrel but was otherwise basically identical to the 120mm Gun T123E1, the gun being trialed on the T43/M103. However, for the T57/77 turret and the autoloader, it was modified to accept single piece ammunition, unlike the T43/M103, which used separately loading ammo due to the round’s high weight. This new gun was attached to the turret via a conical adapter that surrounded the breech end of the gun. One end screwed directly into the breech, while the front half extended through the ‘nose’ and was secured in place by a large nut. The force created by the firing of the gun and the projectile traveling down the rifled barrel was resisted by rooting the adapter both the breech block and turret ring. As there was no inertia from recoil to automatically open the horizontally sliding breech block, a hydraulic cylinder was introduced. Upon firing the main gun, this hydraulic cylinder was triggered via an electric switch. This new variant of the T123 cannon was designated the 120mm Gun T179. It was fitted with a bore evacuator (fume extractor) and a simple, T-shaped muzzle brake.
A single .30 Caliber (7.62mm) machine gun was mounted coaxially, and another such weapon or a medium 0.5” machine gun could be attached to a mount on the commander’s cupola.
Using standard Armor-Piercing Ballistic Cap Tracer Rounds, the T179 was capable of penetrating 221-millimetre (8.7 in) of 30-degree sloped rolled-homogenous armor at 1,000 yards and 196-millimetre (7.7 in) at 2,000 yards. It could also penetrate 124-millimetre (4.9 in) 60-degree sloped rolled-homogenous armor at 1,000 yards and 114-millimetre (4.5 in) at 2,000 yards.
The T179’s automatic loader was located below the gun and it gave the weapon a projected rate of fire of 30 rounds per minute, even though this was only of theoretical nature because its cylinder magazine only held 8 rounds. After these had been expended, it had to be manually re-loaded by the crew from the inside, and the cannon could not be operated at that time. Ammunition types such as High-Explosive (HE), High-Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT), Armor Piercing (AP), or Armor-Piercing Ballistic-Capped (APBC) could be fired and be selected from the magazine via a control panel by either the gunner or the tank commander, so that it was possible to quickly adapt to a changing tactical situation – as long as the right rounds had been loaded into the magazine beforehand.
The cannon itself was fed by a ramming arm that actuated between positions relative to the breech and magazine, operating in five major steps:
1) The hydraulically operated ramming arm withdrew a round and aligned it with the breach.
2) The rammer then pushed the round into the breach, triggering it to close.
3) Gun was fired.
4) Effect of gun firing trips the electric switch that opens the breech.
5) Rammer picks up a fresh round, at the same time ejecting the spent cartridge through a trap door in the roof of the turret bustle.
Beyond the 8 rounds ready-for fire in the magazine, the main gun had only a very limited ammunition supply due to the large size of the 1-piece rounds: only 21 more 120 mm rounds could be stored in the hull and at the base of the turret.
After thorough trials, the T77 was, powered by a more fuel-efficient Continental AVDS-1790-2 V12, air-cooled twin-turbo diesel engine with 750 bhp (560 kW), accepted as a replacement for the U.S. Army‘s unloved heavy M103 and introduced as the M77. The first M77s were assembled at the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant in March 1964. However, the M77 was primarily a support vehicle for standard tank units and reserved for special operations. Therefore, the type’s production numbers remained low: only 173 tanks were eventually built until 1968 and exclusively allocated to U.S. Army units in Western Germany, with a focus on West Berlin and Southern Germany (e.g. in the Fulda Gap), where they were to repel assaults from Eastern Germany and defend vital installations or critical bottlenecks.
Due to its high rate of fire and long range, the M77 was ideally suited for defensive tasks and hit-and-run tactics. But this was, unfortunately, the type’s only selling point: The oscillating turret turned out to be complex, concerning both handling as well as maintenance, and in practice it did not offer the same weapon stability as the M48’s or the later M60’s conventional design, especially when firing during movement. The cramped interior and the many mechanical parts of the bulky autoloader inside of the turret did not make the tank popular among its crews, either. Several accidents occurred during manoeuvers while the loader tried to refill the magazine under combat pressure. A further weakness was the type’s low ammunition stock and the fact that, despite the autoloader, there was still a loader necessary to feed the magazine. The low ammunition stock also heavily limited the tactical value of the tank: typically, the M77 had to leave its position after expending all of its ammunition and move to a second line position, where the huge one-piece rounds could be replenished under safer conditions. But this bound other resources, e. g. support vehicles, and typically the former position had to be given up or supplanted by another vehicle. Operating the M77 effectively turned out to be a logistic nightmare.
During its career, the M77 saw only one major upgrade in the mid-Seventies: The M77A1 was outfitted with a new multi-chamber muzzle brake, muzzle reference and crosswind sensors (the latter was mounted in a small mast on the rear of the turret) and an improved turret stabilization system along with an upgraded turret electrical system. All of these measures were intended to improve the tank’s 1st shot kill probability, esp. at long range. A large AN/VSS-1(V)1 white/IR searchlight was added above the gun barrel, too. All tanks in service were upgraded in this fashion, no new tanks were built. Unlike the M48, neither the M77 nor the Rheem turret or its autoloader system were cleared for export, even though Israel showed interest.
In the early Eighties, there were further plans for another upgrade of the M77 fleet to a potential A2 status. This would have introduced a laser rangefinder (instead of the purely optical device) and a solid state M21 ballistic computer with a digital databus. The M21 would have allowed a pre-programmed selection and fire sequence of different ammunition types from the magazine’s chambers, plus better range and super-elevation correction. However, this did not happen because the M77 had become obsolete through the simple depletion of its exotic 120 mm ammunition from the army’s stocks. Therefore, another plan examined the possibilities of replacing the T179 gun with the 105 mm M68 rifled anti-tank gun, a license-built version of the British L7 gun, which had, despite the smaller caliber, a performance comparable to the bigger 120 mm T179. But since the M48 chassis and its armor concept had become outdated by the time, too, the M77A1 fleet was by 1986 fully replaced by the M60A3, the US Army’s new standard MBT.
Specifications:
Crew: 4 (commander, driver, loader, gunner)
Weight: 51 tons
Length: 6.946 m (22 ft 9.5 in) hull only, 10,66 m (34 ft 11 in) overall w. gun forward
Width: 3.63 m (11 ft 11 in)
Height: 3.08 m (10 ft 1 in)
Suspension: Torsion-bar
Ground clearance: 1 ft 6.2 in (0.46 m)
Fuel capacity: 385 US gal (1,457 l)
Armor:
0.5 – 5.3 in (13 – 137 mm)
Performance:
Speed:
- Maximum, road: 30 mph (48 km/h)
- Sustained, road: 25 mph (40 km/h)
- Cross country: 9.3 to 15.5 mph (15 to 25 km/h)
Climbing capability:
- 40% side slope and 60% max grade
- Vertical obstacle of 36 inches (91 cm)
- 102 inches (2.59 m) trench crossing
Fording depth: Unprepared: 4 ft (1.219 m), prepared: 8 ft (2.438 m)
Operational range: 287 ml (463 km) on road
Power/weight: 16.6 hp (12.4 kW)/tonne
Engine:
1× Continental AVDS-1790-2 V12, air-cooled twin-turbo diesel engine, 750 bhp (560 kW)
Transmission:
General Motors CD-850-3, 2-Fw/1-Rv speed GB
Armament:
1× 120 mm T179 L/60 rifled anti-tank gun with an autoloader and a total of 29 rounds
1× co-axial 7.62 mm M240C machine gun with 3.000 rounds
1× .50 cal (12.7 mm) M2 Browning (600 rounds) or .30 cal (7.62 mm) M73 machine
anti-aircraft machine gun (1.000 rounds) on the commander’s cupola with 600 rounds
The kit and its assembly:
This is another fictional creation, but, like many of my whif builds, it is rooted in reality and an extrapolation of what could have been. The oscillating tower with the M103’s 120 mm cannon and an autoloader was actually developed, and there were several tank projects that made use of it. The T77 was the final proposal, but, like the T57 on the M103 basis and other designs from the Rheem Company, the T77’s development was arduously slow, so that the project was finally canceled in 1957 by the US Ordnance Department. Two turrets were actually built, though, but they were scrapped in February 1958, and the T77 only existed on paper or in model form.
The impulse for this build actually came from a 1:72 resin turret for the T57 project from ModelTrans/Silesian Models. I found the concept cool and the turret had a very futuristic look, so that I bought a set with the vague intention to use it for a mecha conversion someday. Then it gathered dust in the stash, until I recently stumbled upon the 1:72 M103 kit from Dragon and considered a T57 build. But this kit is very rare and expensive, at least here in Germany, so I shelved this plan again. However, I started to play with the idea of a U.S. Army vehicle with a Rheem Company turret. Then I found a Revell M60 kit in the stash and considered it for a whiffy build, but eventually rejected the idea because a turret concept from the late Fifties would hardly make its way onto a tank from the late Seventies or later. When I did further research concerning the Rheem turret, I came across the real T77 project on the basis of the M48, and dug out an ESCI M48A5 from the pile (realizing that I had already hoarded three of them…!), so the M77 project was finally born.
Otherwise, the build was a straightforward affair. The T57 turret is a massive resin piece with a separate barrel and very fine surface details. Some of them, delicate lugs, were unfortunately broken off, already OOB but also by me while handling the pieces. They could be easily replaced with brass wire, though, which was also used to add small rails to the collar. The very long and thin barrel was replaced with a white metal aftermarket piece. It’s actually a barrel for a Soviet T-10 with a complex muzzle brake (made from brass), but the size was just fine and looks very good on this fictional tank.
Some details were added to the turret or transplanted from the M48 kit, e. g. the prominent IR searchlight or the machine gun on the commander cupola. Furthermore, I added a textile seal to the gap between the turret sections and to the barrel’s root, made from paper tissue drenched in thinned white glue. The same method was used to create the searchlight cover, too.
Since the turret base had a smaller diameter than the M48’s attachment opening, I had to improvise a suitable adapter with styrene strips. The M48A5 hull itself was taken OOB.
Painting and markings:
I was happy that I could place this model into a later time frame, so that the U.S. Army’s uniform Olive Drab times were already over. In the 1970s, the US Mobility Equipment Research & Design Command (MERDC) developed a system of camouflage patterns for US Army vehicles. These consisted of a set of standardized patterns for each vehicle, to be used with a set of twelve colours. The local terrain conditions and colours decided which of the paints were to be used, and on which parts of a vehicle. Then, if conditions altered, for example by a change in the weather, or by the unit moving into a new area of operations, the scheme could be quickly adjusted to suit them by replacing only one or two colours by different ones.
For example, if a vehicle was painted in the US & European winter scheme, which had a dark green and a medium brown as its predominant colours, and it started to snow, by overpainting either the green or the brown with white, one of the two snow schemes could be created. This gave a high degree of flexibility, though in practice it was hardly ever actually made use of—most vehicles were painted in one scheme and kept that.
I gave the M77 the “Winter Verdant” MERDC scheme, which was frequently used in Germany. It consists of Forest Green (FS 34079), Earth Red (FS 30117), Sand (FS 30277) and Black (FS 37038). The pattern itself was adapted from the standardized M60 MERDC scheme. Colors used were ModelMaster 1701 and 1710, plus Humbrol 238 and Revell 06. The seals on the turret and the searchlight cover were painted in a faded olive drab, the track segments with a mix of iron, dark grey and red brown.
After basic painting with brushes, the kit received a washing with thinned black and red brown acrylic paint. Decals (taken from the ESCI kit) came next, then the model received an overall dry brushing treatment with Humbrol 72 (Khaki Drill) and 168 (Hemp). Finally, everything was sealed with matt acrylic varnish from the rattle can and the lower hull areas were dusted with mineral pigments, simulating dust and mud.
Another relatively simple conversion, since only the (oscillating) turret was swapped. However, I was skeptical at first because the turret was originally intended for an M103 hull - but mounting it on a smaller M48 chassis worked well, just like in real life!
National Trust, Hidcote Manor
This is why I'm often seen at these kind of places lugging round a tripod. For maximum in focus detail, F22 DoF meant a half second exposure; impossible to do hand held.
MS Queen Victoria was completed 08/2007 by Fincantieri Marghera, Italy. She was laid down on 12/05/2006, launched on 15/01/2007 and Christened by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, now Queen Consort following the recent sad death of HRH Queen Elizabeth II, on 07/12/2007 with her maiden voyage on the 11/12/2007. She is from the Vista Class of cruise ships and is registered in Hamilton, Bermuda after originally being Southampton from 2007-11. She has a GTW of 90,049, has sixteen decks of which twelve are passenger accessible giving a maximum passenger capacity of 2,081 and 900 crew. She is powered by Sulzer ZA40 diesel engines and is capable of 23.7 knots and a cruising speed of around 18 knots. She is seen here departing from Queen Elizabeth II Terminal, Southampton, on 04/09/2022, when about to begin a 19-night Grand Mediterranean Cruise; Southampton - Cartegena, Spain - Corfu, Greece - Dubrovnik, Croatia - Hvar Town, Hvar Island, Croatia - Trieste, Italy - Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy - Gibraltar, Southampton.
This photo was taken, from P&O Cruises - MV Britannia - IMO: 9614036. MV Britannia was completed on 26/02/2015 by Fincantieri, Monfalcone, Italy. She was laid down on 15/05/2013, launched on 14/02/2014 and Christened by the late HRH Queen Elizabeth II, on 10/03/2015 with her maiden voyage on the 14/03/2015. She is from the Royal Class of cruise ships and is British registered in Southampton. She has a GTW of 143,730, has seventeen decks of which fourteen are passenger accessible giving a maximum passenger capacity of 3,647 and 1,398 crew. She is powered by Wärtsilä 12V46F x 2 & Wärtsilä 14V46F x 2 & propulsion electric motors - 2 x VEM Sachsenwerk GMBH and is capable of 21.9 knots and a cruising speed of around 19 knots.
MV Britannia was awaiting departure from Ocean Cruise Terminal for a lovely 14-night Mediterranean Cruise; Southampton - A Coruna, Spain - Valencia, Spain - La Seyne-sur-Mer(Toulon), France - Barcelona, Spain - Cadiz, Spain - Southampton. © Peter Steel 2022.
Mediterranean Rainbow Wrasse (Coris julis) Primary Phase is a small, colourful fish in the family Labridae. It can be found in the Mediterranean Sea and in the northeast Atlantic Ocean from Sweden to Senegal (though it is a rare wanderer to the southern British Isles).
Like many wrasses, the Mediterranean Rainbow Wrasse is a sequential hermaphrodite: all start in the smaller initial phase. These initial-phase individuals (both females and males) can turn into the larger secondary-phase males. At a length of about 18 cm (7.1 in), all individuals are secondary-phase males. The maximum length for the species is 25 cm (9.8 in).
There is a marked difference in the appearance of the two phases. In the Mediterranean Sea, the secondary-phase male is green, blue, or brown, with white belly, a dark blue spot over the ventral fin, and a bright orange band on the side, while the smaller primary-phase females and males are brown with yellowish sides and white bellies.[5] Populations in the Atlantic differ in colour and genetics from the Mediterranean population, but are maintained in a single species at present.
Photo by Nick Dobbs, White Tower Bay, Malta 07-08-2024
Home based Class 37 37109 heads out of Ramsbottom with the 15.25 departure to Rawtenstall (14.30 ex-Heywood). This locomotive provided one of the highlights of the day with a terrific full-powered English Electric 'thrash' from Bury up to Ramsbottom. An extremely busy service - standing room only.
Filled to the brim with great science. Setting up a workbench microscope in the Kibo laboratory.
Bis unters Dach voll mit großartigen Experimenten. Baue ein Mikroskop im japanischen Kibo Labor auf.
Credits: ESA/NASA
892_8487
Test photo from this freakish lash-up. Not too surprising with just a quickie test fit, there are still a couple of light leaks in the lens barrel somewhere. Depending how you figure it, the coverage is something like a 35mm-equivalent
Recently refurbished Citaro 3901 (BX56 VTU) arrives into Guildford on the 37. Enviro 4013 (GN58 BTV), itself recently retrimmed and repainted, brings in the 101 behind.
From 30th August 2015, the Sunday service on the 36 and 37 was increased to hourly on each route. Previously it was two-hourly each way around.
Friary bus station, Guildford, Surrey.
© Jim Gilbert 2006 all rights reserved.
Another dark and rainy day shot. Northern Cardinal in the front yard, Bernardsville, NJ
He got over the flash pretty quickly.
The fairly dramatic increase in solar activity from 2009 to the present is easy to see in a side-by-side comparison from then and now taken by SOHO's C3 instrument (Aug. 4-10, 2012). Back in 2009, the Sun was still close to solar minimum period, with very little solar activity. At solar minimum, the visible-light corona is confined nearly to a plane, but closer to solar maximum, features appear at all solar latitudes. Currently, there is usually some activity every day, as witnessed in this one-week video. The maximum of this cycle of solar activity is expected next year.
Credit: NASA/GSFC/SOHO
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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Chassis 1110
Moteur 102380
Ultra léger et performant, le coach D.B révèle une agilité remarquable en compétition. A l'époque, le coach D.B brille sur différents fronts en matière de compétition : l'endurance, les courses de côte et bien sûr le rallye. Pilote chevronné et agent Panhard à Chambéry, André Guilhaudin va disputer une multitude d'épreuves au volant de Panhard spéciales et de D.B à mécanique Panhard. Ce dernier est convaincu du potentiel du coach D.B et pense qu'un développement drastique peut optimiser encore davantage ses performances. Aussi convainc-t-il son ami le pilote Jacques-Edouard Rey de passer commande auprès de D.B d'un coach HBR4 neuf, destiné à être modifié selon ses idées. Rey prend possession de la voiture en juin 1959. Cette dernière arbore une teinte " bleu lumineux ". Elle est immatriculée 765 CM 73 le 28 Août 1959. L'étude d'André Guilhaudin vise un allègement maximal et une amélioration considérable du coefficient aérodynamique à travers l'abaissement du maître-couple.
La voiture est modifiée sur ses directives par la carrosserie Chalmette, basée à Grenoble. La première phase consiste à un abaissement du pavillon de l'ordre de 12 cm. Le tronçonnage de la carrosserie se poursuit avec la suppression de la baie de pare-brise originelle. Celle-ci est remplacée par un encadrement de lunette arrière de Panhard Dyna Z1. L'inclinaison de cette dernière a été adaptée à une recherche aérodynamique maximale. Les portières sont formées en aluminium dans un mouvement prolongeant l'inclinaison de la partie avant. Côté freinage, André Guilhaudin a fait usiner et modifier des tambours par l'Aluminium Français à partir des modèles équipant les Panhard de série. Ces derniers seront dotés d'ailettes rapportées, ce qui les rapproche, tout au moins d'un point de vue graphique des modèles Al-Fin qui seront utilisés par D.B.
Ce coach modifié fait ses premiers pas en compétition dès septembre au Tour de France Auto sous le N° 111. Sur cette épreuve, l'équipage Guilhaudin / Rey dispose d'un moteur de 747 cm3. Ultra performante, la voiture se classe 8ème au scratch et remporte l'indice en GT. Le 11 octobre suivant, le même équipage prend part au Critérium des Cévennes. Il y remporte sa catégorie et se classe 5ème au scratch. Les performances et les résultats obtenus par cette voiture privée ne manquent pas d'attirer l'attention de René Bonnet. Si l'on s'en réfère à certains témoignages, c'est à cette époque et au sein même de l'équipe D.B que cette voiture sera surnommée " Le Monstre ". Dans la foulée, René Bonnet demande à Jacques Hubert d'étudier une version surbaissée du coach, qui aboutira sur la production d'une dizaine de voitures.
En fin de saison, " Le Monstre " fait l'objet de quelques modifications chez Chalmette. Aussi les passages de roues avant sont-ils fortement modifiés et formés en aluminium, visant un aérodynamisme affiné. Au passage, de petites grilles rectangulaires en acier sont apposées sur la partie supérieure des ailes en remplacement des sorties latérales supprimées par les nouveaux passages de roues, afin de favoriser l'écoulement de l'air. Au cours de cette opération, les pare-chocs sont supprimés, à l'avant comme à l'arrière. Seule l'extrémité des pare-chocs arrière est conservée. Au passage, le dessous de la voiture est entièrement caréné en tôle d'aluminium. Les roues arrière bénéficient quant à elles d'un carénage rapporté, constitué de panneaux de contreplaqué.
La saison 1960 s'amorce avec le Rallye Monte-Carlo auquel la voiture participe sous le N°4. Le binôme Guilhaudin / Rey y sera contraint à l'abandon. Le 5 et 6 mars suivants, l'équipage prend part au Rallye Lyon-Charbonnières, puis prend part au Tour de France du 15 au 23 septembre sous le N°109 et se classe 4ème à l'indice en GT et 12ème au scratch.
En 1961, " Le Monstre " fait ses premiers pas en endurance en participant aux 24 Heures du Mans. Elle est équipée d'un moteur d'usine de 848 cm3 préparé chez D.B. Véritable poids plume, l'auto pèse 559 kg, répartis comme suit : 367 kg sur l'avant et 192 kg sur l'arrière. Une copie du carnet de pesage sera remise à l'acheteur. Menée tambour battant par André Guilhaudin et Jean-François Jaeger, l'auto se classe brillamment. Elle décroche en effet la deuxième place à l'indice énergétique et 20ème au général après avoir parcouru 3268, 860 km à la moyenne de 136, 203 km/h. Du 14 au 23 septembre 1961, elle dispute le Tour Auto pour la 3ème fois consécutive, toujours aux mains d'André Guilhaudin et Jacques-Edouard Rey. Sa mécanique est un 695 cm3. L'équipage est contraint à l'abandon. Le 22 octobre suivant, l'auto est engagée aux 1000 km de Paris. Menée par Jacques-Edouard Rey et Marcel Picart, elle dispute l'épreuve sous le N°42. L'équipage est contraint à l'abandon suite à une sortie de piste. L'aile avant gauche est endommagée. Une fois la voiture rapatriée en Savoie, elle est remise en état et l'aile est réparée à l'aide de tôle d'aluminium.
La voiture effectue son ultime saison de course en 1962. Aussi est-elle engagée au Tour de France Automobile sous le N°102. Menée par Jacques-Edouard Rey et Guy Druguet, elle est équipée d'une mécanique de 695 cm3. Sur cette épreuve, l'équipage sera contraint à l'abandon. Le 2 septembre, la voiture est engagée sur la Course de côte de Chamrousse sous le N°64 où elle est équipée d'une mécanique de 848 cm3. Le résultat ne nous est pas connu. Le 2 décembre suivant, " Le Monstre " prend le départ du Critérium des Cévennes, toujours aux mains de Rey et Druguet. Elle termine 11ème au scratch, seconde de sa classe et 9ème des GT. Très attaché à son auto, Jacques-Edouard Rey la conservera pieusement dans son garage.
A l'occasion des 24 Heures du Mans 1973, la voiture viendra de nouveau fouler le circuit de la Sarthe le 9 juin lors d'une rétrospective. Jacques-Edouard Rey conservera la voiture jusqu'au 19 septembre 1989 où il la cède à Alain Lacheze et Bernard Morel. La voiture est immatriculée le 230 AEG 91 le 4 octobre 1989. Elle passe ensuite entre les mains de Moïse Ohayon. Stockée dans un parking parisien, la voiture est victime d'un accrochage endommageant quelque peu sa carrosserie.
Elle est acquise dans cet état par son propriétaire actuel le 12 Octobre 1994. Elle est immatriculée 998 QM 41 le 9 décembre 1994. Ce dernier entreprend sa remise en état dans la foulée, dont témoigne un dossier de photos. Le moteur 848cm3 usine qui l'anime fait l'objet d'une révision. Il est doté d'un volant moteur allégé, d'une distribution acier, d'un embiellage poli et d'un arbre à cames spécial. La partie carrosserie est restaurée avec la contribution de Jean-Paul Humbert, éminent spécialiste du V12 Matra et des carrosseries en matériau composite. A l'issue de cette remise en état, la voiture effectue son premier roulage à Montlhéry le 14 Septembre 1996 à l'occasion des Damiers sur l'anneau où les sportives à mécanique Panhard sont à l'honneur. André Guilhaudin aura d'ailleurs l'occasion de la piloter lors de cette journée mémorable.
En février 1997, les visiteurs du Salon Rétromobile auront l'occasion de découvrir " Le Monstre " dans la configuration des 24 H du Mans 1961, qu'elle arbore toujours aujourd'hui. Par la suite, et durant plus de vingt ans, son propriétaire la pilotera sur de nombreux circuits, en démonstration exclusivement, afin de préserver au maximum l'authenticité de cette pièce d'histoire.
Toujours décorée dans la configuration des 24 Heures du Mans 1961, la voiture témoigne d'un niveau d'authenticité rare. La mécanique qui l'équipe aujourd'hui est toujours le moteur d'usine auquel nous avons fait référence précédemment. Le volant, la planche de bord en aluminium et ses sièges baquets sont ceux qui ont accompagné la voiture tout au long de sa carrière.
Roulant et ayant bénéficié d'une remise en état ancienne, " Le Monstre " représente une pièce exceptionnelle. Il sera accompagné d'une boîte de vitesses à rapports longs et d'une tubulure d'admission à 2 carburateurs double corps. Destinée à un amateur averti, cette voiture indissociable de l'histoire des 24 Heures du Mans représente une opportunité unique à bien des égards. Eligible au Mans Classic et au Tour de France Automobile, son poids plume et ses performances exceptionnelles sont représentatives d'une toute autre époque où le sport automobile laissait la part belle aux petites écuries et aux voitures de cylindrée modeste.
Guillaume Waegemacker
Edogawa - The Woman Bride.
Taken with SONY DSC-W830.
Location: Temanggung, Indonesia
Date: January 19, 2015.
Edited by: GIMP Image Editor.
note: about using maximum 8x optical zoom
Lamborghini Egoista Concept
An emotional moment in Sant'Agata Bolognese at the culmination of the gala celebrating Lamborghini's 50th anniversary: Walter De Silva's incredible vehicle made its entry in front of a thousand invitees, the Head of Design for the Volkswagen Group's homage to celebrating the House of the Raging Bull's half century. "I am very attached to this Italian brand, being an Italian myself. I wanted to pay homage to and think up a vehicle to underline the fact that Lamborghinis have always been made with passion, and with the heart more than the head," said an emotional De Silva.
Indeed the Egoista, as the vehicle has been christened, is a car forged from a passion for innovation and alternative solutions, the same passion which has always set the Lamborghini brand apart. "This is a car made for one person only, to allow them to have fun and express their personality to the maximum. It is designed purely for hyper-sophisticated people who want only the most extreme and special things in the world. It represents hedonism taken to the extreme, it is a car without compromises, in a word: egoista (selfish)," De Silva further explained.
The supercar's debut was equally spectacular, with a cinematic entry announced by a trailer projected onto the nine big screens in the room. The stage was transformed into a landing strip, with a top model in a flight suit guiding the Egoista's arrival with ground crew light paddles, and the roar of the V10 engine shaking the 20-meter-tall tensioned event structure: this is the spectacle the VIP guests were treated to when Lamborghini President and CEO Stephan Winkelmann entered at the wheel of the Egoista, before inviting its creator, Walter De Silva, to join him on stage.
Lamborghini Egoista Concept (2013)
2013 Lamborghini Egoista Concept
Concept and technology
Powered by a 5.2-liter V10 engine supplying it with 600 horsepower, the Lamborghini Egoista is an intentionally extreme and unusual vehicle with absolutely unique characteristics, created by the Volkswagen Group design team - Alessandro Dambrosio responsible for the exterior and Stefan Sielaff for the interior, in particular. De Silva's team chose to create a single-seater, pushing all the characteristics in Lamborghini's make-up meaning pure driving pleasure, performance and style beyond their limits. The cockpit, designed like a tailor-made suit for the driver, is a removable section which, once combined with the rest of the vehicle, creates a perfect technical, mechanical and aerodynamic unit. Inspiration, as per Lamborghini tradition, once again comes from the world of aviation, and in particular the Apache helicopter, where the cockpit can be ejected in an emergency.
"The cockpit, made completely of carbon fiber and aluminum, represents a sort of survival cell, allowing the driver to isolate and protect themselves from external elements," De Silva explained."We kept an eye on the future when designing the Egoista, with the idea that its cockpit could have been taken from a jet aircraft and integrated into a road vehicle, to provide a different travel option."
The design
The exterior is characterized by two fundamental aspects: its architecture, and the materials used. The design is determined by a highly muscular structure, in which empty and solid areas fit together with strength and vigor. The bodywork is dominated, on its sides, by the stylized profile of a bull preparing to charge, its horns lowered. The bull is driving towards the front wheels, conferring a futuristic dynamism and lines which are already, in themselves, highly aggressive. Naturally, this is a homage, a bold stylistic citation which can only be a reworking of the Lamborghini brand icon, the well-known raging bull. The challenge of efficiently inserting the Lamborghini symbol as an integral part of the bodywork was met courageously and artistically. The plan view reveals a trimaran profile, where the central hull forms a unique section with the cockpit, underlined by the carbon-fiber cover on the front hood.
The upper part of the vehicle does not have aerodynamic appendages, but rather flaps integrated in the bodywork profile which act automatically depending on the driving conditions. Two rear flaps activate automatically at high speeds to increase stability, while a series of air intakes on the back of the engine hood provides the cooling air flow to the powerful V10 power plant. While the front of the vehicle has a profile intended to increase downforce, the rear is fully open with the mechanics in view, reducing weight but also with the result of creating a more aggressive look. The Lamborghini Egoista's lights are more like an aircraft's than a road vehicle's. It does not have traditional headlights, rather LED clearance lights which determine its position not just on a single plane such as the road, but rather in three dimensions, as is required in airspace. Two white front lights, two red rear lights, a red flashing light in the upper part of the tail, two orange bull's eyes as side markers, and a further two lights on the roof, red on the left and green on the right, make this four-wheeled UFO unique even in the dark. Finally, hidden behind the front air intakes at the base of the join between the central body and the two side sections, are two powerful xenon headlamps, two eagle's eyes able to scan the darkness for great distances. As it is made from lightweight materials such as aluminum and carbon-fiber, the vehicle has no-walk zones, duly marked like on airliners. The parallels with the world of aeronautics do not end here, however, as the body is made from a special antiradar material, and the glass is anti-glare with an orange gradation. The rims are also made from antiradar material, flat and rough, embellished with carbon-fiber plates to improve their aerodynamics.
Interior
The cockpit's interior is extremely rational, its functionality taken to the extreme. There is a racing seat with a four-point seatbelt, each strip a different color, the airbags, and the bare minimum of instruments. The focal point of these is a head-up display, typical of jet fighters. To get out of the vehicle, the driver must remove the steering wheel and rest it on the dashboard, open the dome with an electronic command, stand up in their seat, sit down on a precise point of the left-hand bodywork, then swivel their legs 180 degrees from the inside of the cockpit to the outside of the vehicle. At this point they can set their feet down and stand up. Even in getting out of the vehicle, the Lamborghini Egoista requires a pilot more than a driver, a real top gun.
The philosophy
The Egoista contains, in Walter De Silva's opinion, all the product criteria which are part of Lamborghini's make-up. "It's as if Ferruccio Lamborghini were saying: I'm going to put the engine in the back, I don't want a passenger. I want it for myself, and I want it as I imagine it to be. It is a fanatical vehicle, Egoista fits it well."
If Lamborghinis are cars for the few, this one goes further. It is a car for itself, a gift from Lamborghini to Lamborghini, resplendent in its solitude. The Egoista is pure emotion, Never Never Land, which no one can ever possess, and which will always remain a dream, for everyone.
Taken 6.32am. Used just under maximum optical zoom. As well as Camera's standard settings. I thought this looked like a good pose for them!
Steel stamp personalized with custom US FLAG to use by hammer.
Size: 5/8" - 15mm diameter and 4" - 100mm long
Maximum marking area: 5/6" - 8mm diameter
Material: Steel 1.2379 tempered to 60HRC
Custom punch to mark by hammer all kinds of metal, steel , stainless steel, iron, brass , bronze , copper ... it's a light punch, agile and ultra durable stamp for smaller brands such as names, codes, references...
It's fully customized with your US FLAG and made with the best steel quality and tempering process.
Along with the punch we deliver a rubber stopper to avoid shocks to other punches and instructions for proper use.
HardStamps Engravers since 1957
More info at: hardstamps.patternbyetsy.com/ hardstamps.patternbyetsy.com/listing/248325381/steel-stam...
Stone shrimp, or slender Palemon (Palaemon elegans)
Stone shrimp or Slender palemon - Palaemon elegans is a large translucent crustacean. The slender palemon has a transparent shell, which allows you to see all the internal organs of the shrimp to the smallest detail.
The maximum body size of an adult shrimp is about 7 cm (although I have not yet met such large ones, and in home aqua, they do not grow to this size). However, thanks to the long whiskers and outgrowths of the shell, the size of the Stone Shrimp visually increases.
The blue and orange bands on the legs are striking in their beauty.
These shrimps are very beautiful, but ..........
But how fascinating it is: to watch a flock of stone Palemon, by water - into the sea, - somewhere in a crevice, in good calm weather, in the rays of the sun ... - There they are for sure: Beauties !!!
Keeping in the aquarium:
In aqua, this shrimp is unpretentious.
Palaemon elegans - Very well suited for a reef aquarium.
But you can also keep in an aquarium without a heater, at room temperature.
You can feed these palemons:
Any food: for both shrimp and fish.
Eggs in females appear under the abdomen - regardless of fertilization, but if not fertilized, then. maximum, after a couple of days - the caviar will be discarded.
It is good to feed young larvae:
Artemia, brine shrimp nauplii and spirulina.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The P-51H (NA-126) was the final production Mustang, embodying the experience gained in the development of the lightweight XP-51F and XP-51G aircraft. This aircraft, brought the development of the Mustang to a peak as one of the fastest production piston-engine fighters to see service in WWII.
In July of 1943, U.S. Army approved a contract with North American Aviation to design and build a lightweight P-51. Designated NA-105, 5 aircraft were to be built and tested. Edgar Schmued, chief of design at NAA, began this design early in 1943. He, in February of 1943, left the U.S. on a two-month trip to England. He was to visit the Supermarine factory and the Rolls Royce factory to work on his lightweight project.
Rolls Royce had designed a new version of the Merlin, the RM.14.SM, which was proposed to increase the manifold pressure to 120 (from 67 max) and thus improve military emergency horsepower to 2,200. Schmued was very eager to use this powerplant, since the new Merlin was not heavier than the earlier models. In order to exploit the new engine to the maximum, he visited the engineers at Rolls Royce in Great Britain. However, British fighters were by tendency lighter than their U.S. counterparts and Schmued also asked for detailed weight statements from Supermarine concerning the Spitfire. Supermarine did not have such data, so they started weighing all the parts they could get a hold of and made a report. It revealed that the British had design standards that were not as strict in some areas as the U.S, and American landing gear, angle of attack and side engine design loads were by tendency higher. When Schmued returned, he began a new design of the P-51 Mustang that used British design loads, shaving off weight on any part that could yield. The result was an empty weight reduction by 600 pounds, what would directly translate into more performance.
This design effort led to a number of lightweight Mustang prototypes, designated XP-51F, XP-51G and XP-51J. After their testing, the production version, NA-126 a.k.a. P-51H, was closest to the XP-51F. The project began in April 1944 and an initial contract for 1,000 P-51Hs was approved on June 30, 1944, which was soon expanded.
The P-51H used the V-1650-9 engine, a modified version of the new Merlin RM.14.SM that included Simmons automatic supercharger boost control with water injection, allowing War Emergency Power as high as 2,218 hp (1,500 kW) and a continuous output of up to 1,490 hp (1.070 kW).
Even though the P-51H looked superficially like a slightly modified P-51D, it was effectively a completely new design. External differences to the P-51D included lengthening and deepening the fuselage and increasing the height of the tailfin, which reduced, together with a lower fuel load in the fuselage tank, the tendency to yaw. The landing gear was simplified and lightened. The canopy resembled the P-51D bubble top style, over a raised pilot's position. The armament was retained but service access to the guns and ammunition was improved, including the introduction of ammunition cassettes that made reloading easier and quicker. With the new airframe several hundred pounds lighter, extra power, and a more streamlined radiator, the P-51H was faster than the P-51D, able to reach 472 mph (760 km/h; 410 kn) at 21,200 ft (6,500 m), making it one of the fastest piston engine aircraft in WWII.
The high-performance P-51H was designed to complement the P-47N as the primary aircraft for the invasion of Japan, with 2,000 ordered to be manufactured at NAA’s Inglewood plant. Variants of the P-51H with different versions of the Merlin engine were produced in limited numbers, too, in order to ramp up production and deliveries to frontline units. These included the P-51L, which was similar to the P-51H but utilized the V-1650-11 engine with a modified fuel system, rated at maximum 2,270 hp (1,690 kW), and the P-51M, or NA-124. The P-51M, of which a total of 1629 was ordered, was built in Dallas and utilized the V-1650-9A engine. This variant was optimized for operations at low and medium altitude and lacked water injection, producing less maximum power at height. However, it featured attachment points for up to ten unguided HVAR missiles under the outer wings as well as improved armor protection for the pilot against low-caliber weapons esp. from ground troops, which ate up some of the light structure’s weight benefit.
Most P-51H and L were issued to USAF units, while the P-51M and some Hs were delivered to allied forces in the Pacific TO, namely Australia and New Zealand. Only a few aircraft arrived in time to become operational until the end of hostilities, and even less became actually involved in military actions during the final weeks of fighting in the Pacific.
The RAAF received only a handful P-51Hs, since Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) had recently started license production of the P-51D (as CA-18) and the RAAF rather focused on this type. However, there were plans in early 1945 to build the P-51H locally as the CA-21, too, but this never came to fruition.
New Zealand ordered a total of 370 P-51 Mustangs of different variants to supplement its Vought F4U Corsairs in the PTO, which were primarily used as fighter-bombers. Scheduled deliveries were for an initial batch of 30 P-51Ds, followed by 137 more P-51Ds and 203 P-51Ms. The first RNZAF P-51Ms arrived in April 1945 and were allocated to 3 Squadron as well as to the Flight Leaders School in Ardmore (near Auckland in Northern New Zealand) for conversion training. The machines arrived as knocked-down kits via ship in natural metal finish, but the operational machines were, despite undisputed Allied air superiority, immediately camouflaged in field workshops to protect the airframes from the harsh and salty environment, esp. on the New Guinean islands. The RNZAF Mustangs also received quick identification markings in the form of white tail surfaces and white bands on the wings and in front of and behind the cockpit, in order to avoid any confusion with the Japanese Ki-61 “Hien” (Tony) and Ki-84 (Frank) fighters which had a similar silhouette and frequently operated in a natural metal finish.
During the final weeks of the conflict, the RNZAF only scored three air victories: two Japanese reconnaissance flying boats were downed and a single Ki-84 fighter was shot down in a dogfight over Bougainville. Most combat situations of 3 Squadron were either fighter escorts for F4U fighter bombers or close air support and attacks against Japanese strongholds or supply ships.
After the war, many USAF P-51Hs were immediately retired or handed over to reserve units. The surviving P-51Js were, due to their smaller production numbers, were mostly donated to foreign air forces in the course of the Fifties, in order to standardize the US stock. Despite its good performance, the P-51H/J/M did not take part in the Korean War. Instead, the (by the time re-designated) F-51D was selected, as it was available in much greater numbers and had a better spares supply situation. It was considered as a proven commodity and perceived to be stouter against ground fire – a misconception, because the vulnerable ventral liquid cooling system caused heavy losses from ground fire. The alternative P-47 would have been a more effective choice. The last American F-51H Mustangs were retired from ANG units in 1957, but some of its kin in foreign service soldiered on deep into the Sixties. The F-51D even lasted into the Eigthies in military service!
After the end of hostilities in the PTO, the RNZAF’s forty-two operational P-51Ms met different fates: The twenty-six survivors, which had reached frontline service in New Guinea, were directly scrapped on site, because their transfer back to New Zealand was not considered worthwhile. Those used for training in New Zealand were stored, together with the delivered P-51Ds, or, together with yet unbuilt kits, sent back to the United States.
In 1951, when New Zealand’s Territorial Air Force (TAF) was established, only the stored P-51D Mustangs were revived and entered service in the newly established 1 (Auckland), 2 (Wellington), 3 (Canterbury), and 4 (Otago) squadrons. Due to the small number, lack of spares and communality with the P-51D, the remaining mothballed RNZAF F-51Ms were eventually scrapped, too.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 33’ 4” (10.173 m)
Wingspan: 37‘ (11.28 m)
Height: 13‘ 8” (4.17 m) with tail wheel on ground, vertical propeller blade
Wing area: 235 sq ft (21.83 m²)
Airfoil: NAA/NACA 45-100 / NAA/NACA 45-100
Empty weight: 7.180 lb (3,260 kg)
Gross weight: 9,650 lb (4,381 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 11,800 lb (5,357 kg)
Fuel capacity: 255 US gal (212 imp gal; 964 l)
Aspect ratio: 5.83
Powerplant:
1× Packard (Rolls Royce) V-1650-9A Merlin 12-cylinder liquid cooled engine, delivering 1,380 hp
(1,030 kW) at sea level, driving a 4-blade constant-speed Aeroproducts 11' 1" Unimatic propeller
Performance:
Maximum speed: 465 mph (750 km/h; 407 kn) at 18,000 ft (5,500 m)
Cruise speed: 362 mph (583 km/h, 315 kn)
Stall speed: 100 mph (160 km/h, 87 kn)
Range: 855 mi (1,375 km, 747 nm) with internal fuel
1,200 mi (1,930 km, 1,050 nmi) with external tanks
Service ceiling: 30,100 ft (9,200 m)
Rate of climb: 3,200 ft/min (16.3 m/s) at sea level
Wing loading: 30.5 lb/sq ft (149 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.19 hp/lb (315 W/kg)
Lift-to-drag ratio: 14.6
Recommended Mach limit 0.8
Armament:
6× 0.50 caliber (12.7mm) AN/M2 Browning machine guns with a total of 1,880 rounds
2× underwing hardpoints for drop tanks or bombs of 500 pounds (227 kg) caliber each,
or 6 or 10 5” (127 mm) T64 HVAR rockets
The kit and its assembly:
A relatively simple project, a whiffy color variant based on RS Model’s 1:72 P-51H kit – which I quickly turned into a P-51M, which was planned as mentioned in the background, but never produced in real life.
The model was strictly built OOB, and while this short-run kit goes together quite well, I encountered some problems along the way:
- There are massive and long ejector pin markers, sometimes in very confined locations like the radiator intake. Without a mini drill, getting rid of them is very difficult
- Somehow the instructions for the cockpit are not correct; I put the parts into place as indicated, and the pilot’s seat ended up way too far forward in the fuselage
- The canopy, while clear, is pretty thick and just a single piece, so that you have to cut the windscreen off by yourself if you want to show the otherwise very nice cockpit.
- The separated windscreen section itself includes a piece of the cowling in front of the window panes, which makes its integration into the fuselage a tricky affair. However, this IMHO not-so-perfect construction became a minor blessing because the separated windscreen turned out to be a little too narrow for the fuselage – it had to be glued forcibly to the fuselage (read: with superglue), and the section in front of the window panes offered enough hidden area to safely apply the glue on the clear piece.
- While there are some resin parts included like weighted wheels, it is beyond me why tiny bits like the underwing pitot or most delicate landing gear parts have been executed in resin, as flat parts of a resin block that makes it IMHO impossible to cut them out from.
- The tail wheel is a messy three-piece construction of resin and IP parts, with a flimsy strut that’s prone to break already upon cutting the part from the IP sprue. Furthermore, there’s no proper location inside of the fuselage to mount it. Guess and glue!
- The fit of the stabilizers is doubtful; it’s probably best to get rid of their locator pins and glue them directly onto the fuselage
- The propeller consists of a centerpiece with the blades, which is enclosed by two spinner halves (front and back). This results in a visible seam between them that is not easy to fill/PSR away
On the positive side I must say that the engraved surface details, the cockpit interior and the landing gear are very nice, and there is even the complete interior of the radiator and its tunnel included. PSR requirements are also few, even though you won’t get along well without cosmetic bodywork.
The only personal modification is a styrene tube inside of the nose for the propeller, which was mounted onto a metal axis for free rotation; OOB, the propeller is not moveable at all and is to be glued directly to the fuselage.
While the kit comes with optional ordnance (six HVARs or a pair of 500 lb bombs, both in resin), I just used the bomb pylons and left them empty, for a clean look.
Painting and markings:
Even though the model was a quick build, finding a suitable color concept took a while; I had a whiffy P-51H on my agenda for a long time (since the RS Models kit came out), and my initial plan was to create an Australian aircraft. This gradually changed to an RNZAF aircraft during the last weeks of WWII in the PTO, and evolved from an NMF finish (initial and IMHO most logical idea) through am Aussie-esque green/brown camouflage to a scheme I found for a P-40: a trainer that was based in New Zealand and (re)painted in domestic colors, namely in Foliage Green, Blue Sea Grey and Sky. This might sound like a standard RAF aircraft, but in the end the colors and markings make this Mustang look pretty exotic, just as the P-51H looks like a Mustang that is “not quite right”.
The Foliage Green is Humbrol 195 (Dark Green Satin, actually RAL 6020 Chrome Oxide Green), which offers IMHO a good compromise between the tone’s rather bluish hue and yellow shades – I find it to be a better match than the frequently recommended FS 34092, because RAL 6020 is darker. The RNZAF “Blue Sea Grey”, also known as “Pacific Blue” or “Ocean Blue”, is a more obscure tone, which apparently differed a lot from batch to batch and weathered dramatically from a bluish tone (close to FS 35109 when fresh) to a medium grey. I settled for Humbrol 144 (FS 35164; USN Intermediate Blue), which is rumored to come close to the color in worn state.
The undersides were painted with Humbrol 23 (RAF Duck Egg Blue), which I found to be a suitable alternative to the more greenish RAF Sky, even though it’s a pretty light interpretation.
Tail and spinner were painted white, actually a mix of Humbrol 22 (Gloss White) and 196 (Light Grey, RAL 7035) so that there would be some contrast room left for post-shading with pure white.
The interior of cockpit and landing gear wells was painted with zinc chromate primer yellow (Humbrol 81), while the landing gear struts became Humbrol 56 (Aluminum Dope). The radiator ducts received an interior in aluminum (Revell 99).
In order to simulate wear and tear as well as the makeshift character of the camouflage I painted the wings’ leading edges and some other neuralgic areas in aluminum (Revell 99, too) first, before the basic camouflage tones were added in a somewhat uneven fashion, with the metallized areas showing through.
Once dry, the model received an overall washing with thinned black ink and a through dry-brushing treatment with lighter shades of the basic tones (including Humbrol 30, 122 and 145) for post-panel-shading and weathering, esp. on the upper surfaces.
The decals are a mix from a Rising Decals sheet for various RNZAF aircraft (which turned out to be nicely printed, but rather thin so that they lacked opacity and rigidity), and for the tactical markings I stuck to the RNZAF practice of applying just a simple number or letter code to frontline aircraft instead of full RAF-style letter codes. The latter were used only on aircraft based on home soil, since the RNZAF’s frontline units had a different organization with an aircraft pool allocated to the squadrons. Through maintenance these circulated and were AFAIK not rigidly attached to specific units, hence there was no typical two-letter squadron code applied to them, just single ID letters or numbers, and these were typically painted on the aircraft nose and/or the fin, not on the fuselage next to the roundel. The nose art under the cockpit is a mix of markings from P-40s and F4Us.
The white ID bands on fuselage and wings are simple white decal strips from TL-Modellbau. While this, together with the all-white tail, might be overdone and outdated towards mid-1945, I gave the Kiwi-Mustang some extra markings for a more exciting look – and the aircraft’s profile actually reminds a lot of the Ki-61, so that they definitely make sense.
Towards the finish line, some additional dry-brushing with grey and silver was done, soot stains were added with graphite to the exhaust areas and the machine gun ports, and the model was finally sealed with matt acrylic varnish.
After the recent, massive YA-14 kitbashing project, this Mustang was – despite some challenges of the RS Models kit itself – a simple and quick “relief” project, realized in just a couple of days. Despite being built OOB, the result looks quite exotic, both through the paint scheme with RNZAF colors, but also through the unusual roundels and the striking ID markings (for a Mustang). I was skeptical at first, but the aircraft looks good and the camouflage in RNZAF colors even proved to be effective when set into the right landscape context (beauty pics).
The P-35, a forerunner of the Republic P-47, was the U.S. Army Air Corps' (USAAC) first production single-seat, all-metal pursuit plane with retractable landing gear and an enclosed cockpit. The USAAC accepted 76 P-35s in 1937-1938, and assigned all but one of them to the 1st Pursuit Group at Selfridge Field, Mich.
Sweden also purchased 60 improved aircraft (designated EP-106), but the United States diverted a second order for 60 to the USAAC in 1940 and assigned them to the 17th and 20th Pursuit Squadrons in the Philippines. These aircraft, redesignated P-35As, were all lost in action early in the war. Ironically, the Japanese Navy ordered 20 two-seat versions of the P-35 in 1938, and these became the only American-built planes used operationally by the Japanese during World War II.
The aircraft on display, the only known surviving P-35, served with the 94th Pursuit Squadron, 1st Pursuit Group. The aircraft was restored by the 133rd Tactical Airlift Wing, Minnesota Air National Guard, with assistance from students of the Minneapolis Vocational Institute. It is marked as the P-35A flown by the 17th Pursuit Squadron commander, 1st Lt. Buzz Wagner, in the Philippines in the spring of 1941.
TECHNICAL NOTES:
Armament: One .50-cal. and one .30-cal. fuselage mounted machine gun plus 320 lbs. of bombs
Engine: Pratt & Whitney R-1830 of 850 hp
Maximum speed: 280 mph
Cruising speed: 260 mph
Range: 625 miles
Ceiling: 30,600 ft.
Span: 36 ft.
Length: 25 ft. 4 in.
Height: 9 ft. 9 1/2 in.
Weight: 5,600 lbs. maximum
Totality is the few absolutely amazing moments where the moon completely covers the sun, allowing the corona to be seen with the naked eye. This image was captured on August 21, 2017 in Scottsville, Kentucky USA.
After being diesel-hauled through the washing facility the previous afternoon for a steam clean, the coupler of Electric Tilt Train 303/304 'City of Rockhampton remains exposed as Tilt Train Q301 passes through Dakabin en route from Brisbane to Rockhampton.
Another round with those snarky chipmunks finally produced the shot I was looking for. Not perfect, but I liked it. Of course, they rarely take direction from us photographers so this pose, although slightly turned was what I wanted. They are so irresistible, and quite tolerant, I just had to keep trying.