View allAll Photos Tagged Propeller
Propeller cloud.
Tried to find a name, and when backlit, each 6 teardrop group appears to have a 3 blade propeller in the midde.
And the back, with the triangle twist has a similar effect.
Molecule: glassine paper, hexagon from 20x20 cm square, 32 division grid.
Box: star paper lid, 32 division grid, Eh bottom.
Tessellation: tant paper, hexagon from 30x30 cm square, 64 division grid.
Planning to fold another one, refining the border folds.
CP: 2 version, 1 for thw 64 division grid, the other one for 32, 64 and 96 division grid.
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Object information:
Other Designations: Caldwell 44, NGC7479, Propeller Galaxy, Superman Galaxy
Constellation: Pegasus
Distance: 120 M LY
Apparent Magnitude (V): 11
Description:
The Propeller Galaxy (NGC 7479) is a barred spiral galaxy located about 120 million light-years away from Earth in the northern constellation of Pegasus (the Winged Horse), while it is racing away from us at some 2381 kilometers per second.
It has a very asymmetric spiral structure with a bright, long bar. Its tightly wound arms create an inverted ‘S’, as they spin in an
anticlockwise direction. However, at radio wavelengths, it spins the other way, with a jet of radiation that bends in the opposite direction to the stars and dust in the arms of the galaxy.
This radio jet in the Propeller Galaxy was probably put into its
bizarre backwards spin by a recent minor merger with another galaxy.
NGC 7479 is also classified as a Seyfert galaxy, a galaxy with an
extremely bright, active galactic nucleus (AGN), that contains a
supermassive black hole.
[Last year I imaged this galaxy 1314mm focal length (f/6.3). I am now able to image it at 2165mm (f/10). Even at f/10 the galaxy is small, so I have cropped this image slightly.]
================================
Location: backyard, Richmond, VA
Date: 9-14-2023
Conditions: Clear and cool.
Seeing: average
Equipment:
Scope: Celestron C-8
Camera: ASI294MM
Mount: iOptron CEM-70
Filters: Astonomik Deep-Sky RGB, Astronomik L-2 Luminance
Software: Astro Pixel Processor, Pixinsight, Gimp
Imaging Settings:
Binning: 2x2
Gain: 120
Temp: -10C
focal length: 2165mm
subs:
L 84 x 120s
R 16 x 180s
G 16 x 180s
B 15 x 180s
Total integration time: 5 hr 9 min
Ncomment blogspamed:
ncomment.com/blog/2008/09/23/propeller/
Gerard Barberi experimentally submits it to Propeller:
www.propeller.com/story/2008/09/24/propeller-design-flaw/
Added to Mixx by cGt2099:
Boeing's B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated, propeller-driven, bomber to fly during World War II, and the first bomber to house its crew in pressurized compartments. Boeing installed very advanced armament, propulsion, and avionics systems into the Superfortress. During the war in the Pacific Theater, the B-29 delivered the first nuclear weapons used in combat. On August 6, 1945, Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., in command of the Superfortress Enola Gay, dropped a highly enriched uranium, explosion-type, "gun-fired," atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, Major Charles W. Sweeney piloted the B-29 Bockscar and dropped a highly enriched plutonium, implosion-type atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance weather reconnaissance aircraft that day. On August 14, 1945, the Japanese accepted Allied terms for unconditional surrender.
In the late 1930s, U. S. Army Air Corps leaders recognized the need for very long-range bombers that exceeded the performance of the B-17 Flying Fortress. Several years of preliminary studies paralleled a continuous fight against those who saw limited utility in developing such an expensive and unproven aircraft but the Air Corps issued a requirement for the new bomber in February 1940. It described an airplane that could carry a maximum bomb load of 909 kg (2,000 lb) at a speed of 644 kph (400 mph) a distance of at least 8,050 km (5,000 miles). Boeing, Consolidated, Douglas, and Lockheed responded with design proposals. The Army was impressed with the Boeing design and issued a contract for two flyable prototypes in September 1940. In April 1941, the Army issued another contract for 250 aircraft plus spare parts equivalent to another 25 bombers, eight months before Pearl Harbor and nearly a year-and-a-half before the first Superfortress would fly.
Among the design's innovations was a long, narrow, high-aspect ratio wing equipped with large Fowler-type flaps. This wing design allowed the B-29 to cruise at high speeds at high altitudes but maintained comfortable handling characteristics during slower airspeeds necessary during takeoff and landing. More revolutionary was the size and sophistication of the pressurized sections of the fuselage: the flight deck forward of the wing, the gunner's compartment aft of the wing, and the tail gunner's station. For the crew, flying at altitudes above 18,000 feet became much more comfortable as pressure and temperature could be regulated in the crew work areas. To protect the Superfortress, Boeing designed a remote-controlled, defensive weapons system. Engineers placed five gun turrets on the fuselage: a turret above and behind the cockpit that housed two .50 caliber machine guns (four guns in later versions), and another turret aft near the vertical tail equipped with two machine guns; plus two more turrets beneath the fuselage, each equipped with two .50 caliber guns. One of these turrets fired from behind the nose gear and the other hung further back near the tail. Another two .50 caliber machine guns and a 20-mm cannon (in early versions of the B-29) were fitted in the tail beneath the rudder. Gunners operated these turrets by remote control--a true innovation. They aimed the guns using computerized sights, and each gunner could take control of two or more turrets to concentrate firepower on a single target.
Boeing also equipped the B-29 with advanced radar equipment and avionics. Depending on the type of mission, a B-29 carried the AN/APQ-13 or AN/APQ-7 Eagle radar system to aid bombing and navigation. These systems were accurate enough to enable relatively accurate bombing through cloud layers that completely obscured the target. The B-29B was equipped with the AN/APG-15B airborne radar gun sighting system mounted in the tail to assist in providing accurate defense against enemy fighters attacking at night. B-29s also routinely carried as many as twenty different types of radios and navigation devices.
The first XB-29 took off at Boeing Field in Seattle on September 21, 1942. By the end of the year the second aircraft was ready for flight. Fourteen service-test YB-29s followed as production began to accelerate. Building this advanced bomber required massive logistics. Boeing built new B-29 plants at Renton, Washington, and Wichita, Kansas, while Bell built a new plant at Marietta, Georgia, and Martin built one in Omaha, Nebraska. Both Curtiss-Wright and the Dodge automobile company vastly expanded their manufacturing capacity to build the bomber's powerful and complex Curtiss-Wright R-3350 turbo supercharged engines. The program required thousands of sub-contractors but with extraordinary effort, it all came together, despite major teething problems. By April 1944, the first operational B-29s of the newly formed 20th Air Force began to touch down on dusty airfields in India. By May, 130 B-29s were operational. In June, 1944, less than two years after the initial flight of the XB-29, the U. S. Army Air Forces (AAF) flew its first B-29 combat mission against targets in Bangkok, Thailand. This mission (longest of the war to date) called for 100 B-29s but only 80 reached the target area. The AAF lost no aircraft to enemy action but bombing results were mediocre. The first bombing mission against the Japanese main islands since Lt. Col. "Jimmy" Doolittle's raid against Tokyo in April 1942, occurred on June 15, again with poor results. This was also the first mission launched from airbases in China.
With the fall of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam in the Mariana Islands chain in August 1944, the AAF acquired airbases that lay several hundred miles closer to mainland Japan. Late in 1944, the AAF moved the XXI Bomber Command, flying B-29s, to the Marianas and the unit began bombing Japan in December. However, they employed high-altitude, precision, bombing tactics that yielded poor results. The high altitude winds were so strong that bombing computers could not compensate and the weather was so poor that rarely was visual target acquisition possible at high altitudes. In March 1945, Major General Curtis E. LeMay ordered the group to abandon these tactics and strike instead at night, from low altitude, using incendiary bombs. These firebombing raids, carried out by hundreds of B-29s, devastated much of Japan's industrial and economic infrastructure. Yet Japan fought on. Late in 1944, AAF leaders selected the Martin assembly line to produce a squadron of B-29s codenamed SILVERPLATE. Martin modified these Superfortresses by removing all gun turrets except for the tail position, removing armor plate, installing Curtiss electric propellers, and modifying the bomb bay to accommodate either the "Fat Man" or "Little Boy" versions of the atomic bomb. The AAF assigned 15 Silverplate ships to the 509th Composite Group commanded by Colonel Paul Tibbets. As the Group Commander, Tibbets had no specific aircraft assigned to him as did the mission pilots. He was entitled to fly any aircraft at any time. He named the B-29 that he flew on 6 August Enola Gay after his mother. In the early morning hours, just prior to the August 6th mission, Tibbets had a young Army Air Forces maintenance man, Private Nelson Miller, paint the name just under the pilot's window.
Enola Gay is a model B-29-45-MO, serial number 44-86292. The AAF accepted this aircraft on June 14, 1945, from the Martin plant at Omaha (Located at what is today Offut AFB near Bellevue), Nebraska. After the war, Army Air Forces crews flew the airplane during the Operation Crossroads atomic test program in the Pacific, although it dropped no nuclear devices during these tests, and then delivered it to Davis-Monthan Army Airfield, Arizona, for storage. Later, the U. S. Air Force flew the bomber to Park Ridge, Illinois, then transferred it to the Smithsonian Institution on July 4, 1949. Although in Smithsonian custody, the aircraft remained stored at Pyote Air Force Base, Texas, between January 1952 and December 1953. The airplane's last flight ended on December 2 when the Enola Gay touched down at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. The bomber remained at Andrews in outdoor storage until August 1960. By then, concerned about the bomber deteriorating outdoors, the Smithsonian sent collections staff to disassemble the Superfortress and move it indoors to the Paul E. Garber Facility in Suitland, Maryland.
The staff at Garber began working to preserve and restore Enola Gay in December 1984. This was the largest restoration project ever undertaken at the National Air and Space Museum and the specialists anticipated the work would require from seven to nine years to complete. The project actually lasted nearly two decades and, when completed, had taken approximately 300,000 work-hours to complete. The B-29 is now displayed at the National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
The first sod on the Memorial Garden, Kilmore Quay, Co. Wexford, Ireland, was turned by Peggy Murphy, as the sun set on the old millennium on December 31st 1999, on a site near Forlorn Point overlooking the area aptly named ‘The Graveyard of a Thousand Ships’.
The Garden incorporates this propeller blade from the ship “Lennox”, lost off the Saltee Islands in 1916. The blade was recovered from the wreck by Edmund O’Byrne and his team of divers.
All photo rights are owned by Doc's Friends, Inc. and use of the photos on this site for publication must be approved by Doc's Friends, Inc. For more information, contact: www.b-29doc.com/media-contact/
All photo rights are owned by Doc's Friends, Inc. and use of the photos on this site for publication must be approved by Doc's Friends, Inc. For more information, contact: www.b-29doc.com/media-contact/
All photo rights are owned by Doc's Friends, Inc. and use of the photos on this site for publication must be approved by Doc's Friends, Inc. For more information, contact: www.b-29doc.com/media-contact/
Designer: Seiji Nishikawa
Diagram: Essential Origami book by Steve & Megumi Biddle
Unit: 2 squares
Paper: Kraft Paper
The book says, "In Japan this model is folded when congratulations are given, such as at New Year or at a wedding".
All photo rights are owned by Doc's Friends, Inc. and use of the photos on this site for publication must be approved by Doc's Friends, Inc. For more information, contact: www.b-29doc.com/media-contact/
All photo rights are owned by Doc's Friends, Inc. and use of the photos on this site for publication must be approved by Doc's Friends, Inc. For more information, contact: www.b-29doc.com/media-contact/
All photo rights are owned by Doc's Friends, Inc. and use of the photos on this site for publication must be approved by Doc's Friends, Inc. For more information, contact: www.b-29doc.com/media-contact/
All photo rights are owned by Doc's Friends, Inc. and use of the photos on this site for publication must be approved by Doc's Friends, Inc. For more information, contact: www.b-29doc.com/media-contact/
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Lockheed L300 was originally conceived as a military strategic airlifter that served under the designation C-141 Starlifter with the Military Air Transport Service (MATS), its successor organization the Military Airlift Command (MAC), and finally the Air Mobility Command (AMC) of the United States Air Force (USAF).
In the early 1960s, the United States Air Force's Military Air Transport Service (MATS) relied on a substantial number of propeller-driven aircraft for strategic airlift, such as the C-124 Globemaster II and C-133 Cargomaster. As these aircraft were mostly obsolescent designs and the Air Force needed the benefits of jet power, the USAF ordered 48 Boeing C-135 Stratolifters as an interim step. The C-135 was a useful stop-gap, but only had side-loading doors and much of the bulky and oversize equipment employed by the U.S. Army would not fit.
In the spring of 1960, the Air Force released Specific Operational Requirement 182, calling for a new aircraft that would be capable of performing both strategic and tactical airlift missions. The strategic role demanded that the aircraft be capable of missions with a radius of at least 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km) with a 60,000 pounds (27,000 kg) load. The tactical role required it to be able to perform low-altitude air drops of supplies, as well as carry and drop combat paratroops. Several companies responded to SOR 182, including Boeing, Lockheed, and General Dynamics.
Lockheed responded to the requirement with a unique design: the Lockheed Model 300, the first large jet designed from the start to carry freight. The Model 300 had a swept high-mounted wing with four 21,000 pounds-force (93 kN) thrust TF33 turbofan engines pod-mounted below the wings. An important aspect was the cabin's floor height of only 50 inches (130 cm) above the ground, allowing easy access to the cabin through the rear doors. The two rear side doors were designed to allow the aircraft to drop paratroops (in August 1965 the aircraft performed the first paratroop drop from a jet-powered aircraft). The rear cargo doors could be opened in flight for airborne cargo drops. The high-mounted wings gave internal clearance in the cargo compartment of 10 feet (3.0 m) wide, 9 ft (2.7 m) high and 70 ft (21 m) long. The size enabled the Starlifter to carry, for example, a complete LGM-30 Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile in its container. The aircraft was capable of carrying a maximum of 70,847 pounds (32,136 kg) over short distances, and up to 92,000 pounds (42,000 kg) in the version configured to carry the Minuteman, which lacked other equipment. The aircraft could also carry up to 154 troops, 123 paratroops or 80 litter patients.
President John F. Kennedy's first official act after his inauguration was to order the development of the Lockheed 300 on 13 March 1961, with a contract for five aircraft for test and evaluation to be designated the C-141. One unusual aspect of the aircraft was that it was designed to meet both military and civil airworthiness standards, since Lockheed hoped to sell the aircraft, much like the C-130 Hercules, to airlines, too. The prototype C-141A (s/n 61-2775) was manufactured and assembled in record time. The prototype was rolled out of the Lockheed factory at Marietta, Georgia on 22 August 1963 and first flew on 17 December, the 60th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first flight. The company and the Air Force then started an operational testing program and the delivery of 284 C-141 aircraft.
The effort to sell the aircraft on the civilian market included some detail changes like a different yoke and cockpit equipment. Two versions were offered: the original aircraft (designated L300-100 StarLifter), based on the C-141’s hull, and a strongly stretched version, 37 feet (11 m) longer than the L300-100, and marketed as the L300-200 SuperstarLifter. Specialized versions like an aerial firefighting water bomber were proposed, too, and an initial L300-100 prototype made a global sales tour (which was later donated to NASA).
Response from the civil market was rather lukewarm, though, and resulted only in orders from Flying Tiger Line and Slick Airways for four aircraft each. Nevertheless, production of the civil StarLifter was launched in 1966, since the differences to the military aircraft were only minimal and Lockheed considered the financial risks to be acceptable. However, only twelve aircraft were initially ordered when production was greenlighted, but there was the expectation to attract more sales once the aircraft proved itself in daily business.
Despite a very good service record, this did not happen. To make matters worse, unexpected legal problems seriously threatened the newly introduced transport aircraft: In the early 1970s, strict noise limits for civil aircraft threatened operations, esp. in the USA. Several American L300 operators approached Lockheed for suitable noise reduction modifications, but the company did not react. However, third parties that had developed aftermarket hush kits for other airliners like the Boeing 707 or the Douglas DC-8 chimed in and saw their opportunity, and in 1975 General Electric began discussions with the major L300 operators with a view to fitting the new and considerably quieter Franco-American CFM56 engine to the transport aircraft. Lockheed still remained reluctant, but eventually came on board in the late 1970s and supported the conversion kit with new nacelles and pylons. This engine kit was unofficially baptized the “StarSilencer” program, which was offered as a retrofit kit and as an option for newly built aircraft, which were designated L300-1100 and -1200, respectively.
The kit was well received and all operational private L300s were upgraded with the fuel-efficient 22,000 lb (98.5 kN) CFM56-2 high-bypass turbofans until 1984, preventing a premature legal end of operations in wide parts of the world. The benefits of the upgrade were remarkable: The new engines were markedly quieter than the original Pratt & Whitney TF33-P-7 turbofans, and fuel efficiency was improved by 20%, resulting in a higher range. The CFM56s also offered 10% more thrust than the TF33-P-7s’ 20,250 lbf (90.1 kN each) output, and this extra thrust improved the aircraft’s take-off performance, too.
The USAF did not adopt the “StarSilencer” upgrade and rather focused on the fuselage extension program that converted all existing C-141As into C-141Bs from 1979 onwards, so that the aircraft’s payload potential could be better exploited. However, the new CFM56 engines made the L300 more attractive to civil operators, and, beyond the upgrade program for existing airframes, a second wave of orders was placed for both the L300-1100 and -1200: until 1981, when civil L300 production was stopped, eighteen more aircraft had been ordered, primarily for operators in North America and Canada, bringing total production to 40 machines, plus the initial demonstrator prototype.
One of these late buyers outside of the American continent was Air Greenland. Founded in 1960 as Grønlandsfly, the airline started its first services with Catalina water planes and within the decade expanded to include DHC-3 Otters as well as Sikorsky S-61 helicopters, some of which remain in active service. Grønlandsfly also picked up a Danish government contract to fly reconnaissance missions regarding the sea ice around Greenland.
During the 1970s, Grønlandsfly upgraded its airliner fleet, and mining in the Uummannaq Fjord opened new business opportunities beyond passenger services. To enter the bulk cargo business for mining companies with routes to Canada, North America and Europe as well as civil freight flights for the U.S. Army in Greenland (e. g. for the USAF’s Sondrestrom and Thule Air Bases), the purchase of a dedicated transport aircraft was considered. This eventually led to the procurement of a single, new L300-1100 StarLifter with CFM56-2 engines in 1980 – at the time, the biggest aircraft operated by Grønlandsfly. Domestic as well as international passenger service flourished, too: By the end of 1979, the number of Grønlandsfly passengers served annually exceeded 60,000 – this was more than the population of Greenland itself! However, the airline’s first true jet airliner, a Boeing 757-200, began operation in May 1998. Before, only propeller-driven aircraft like vintage Douglas DC-4 and DC-6 or the DHC Twin Otter and Dash 7 turboprop aircraft had been the main passenger types. In 1999, the airline already served 282,000 passengers, nearly triple the number at the end of the previous decade.
In 2002 the company rebranded itself, anglicizing its name to Air Greenland and adopting a new logo and livery. The L300-1100 was kept in service and remained, until the introduction of a single Airbus A330 in 2003 (purchased after SAS abandoned its Greenland service and Air Greenland took these over), Air Greenland’s biggest aircraft, with frequent cargo flights for the Maarmorilik zinc and iron mines.
StarLifters remained in military duty for over 40 years until the USAF withdrew the last C-141s from service in 2006, after replacing the airlifter with the C-17 Globemaster III. In civil service, however, the L300, despite its small production number, outlasted the C-141. After the military aircraft’s retirement, more than twenty StarLifters were still in private service, most of them operating under harsh climatic conditions and in remote parts of the world.
General characteristics:
Crew: 4 - 6 (2 pilots, 2 flight engineers, 1 navigator, 1 loadmaster)
Length: 145 ft (44.27 m)
Wingspan: 160 ft 0 in (48.8 m)
Height: 39 ft 3 in (12 m)
Wing area: 3,228 ft² (300 m²)
Empty weight: 136,900 lbs (62,153 kg)
Loaded weight: 323,100 lbs (146,688 kg)
Max Payload, 2.25g: 94,508 lb (42.906 kg)
Max Takeoff Weight, 2.25g: 343,000 lb (155,722 kg)
Powerplant:
4× CFM International CFM56-2 high-bypass turbofans, delivering 22,000 lb (98.5 kN) each
Performance:
Maximum speed: 567 mph (493 kn, 912 km/h)
Cruise speed: 495 mph (430 kn, 800 km/h)
Range: 4,320 mi (2,350 nmi, 6,955 km)
Ferry range: 7,245 mi (6,305 nmi, 11,660 km)
Service ceiling: 41,000 ft (12,500 m)
Rate of climb: 2,600 ft/min (13.2 m/s)
Wing loading: 100.1 lb/ft2 (490 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 0.25
The kit and its assembly:
This is another project I had on my agenda for a long time, it was inspired by a picture of the civilian L300 demonstrator and the question what a StarLifter in civil service could look like? Such a type (like the C-130) would only make sense for bulk cargo transport business, and probably only for rather remote locations, so I went up North with my thoughts and initially considered Air Canada or Buffalo Airways as an operator, but then remembered Air Greenland – a very good fit, and the current livery would make the L300 a colorful bird, too.
The basis is Roden’s C-141B kit, AFAIK the only affordable IP kit of this aircraft when I had the idea for this build a while ago; A&A Models released in the meantime a C-141A in June 2021, but it is prohibitively expensive, and Anigrand does a C-141A resin kit. The Roden kit is a sound offering. The parts fit well, even though the seams along the long fuselage and the wing roots need attention and PSR, and at the small 1:144 scale the (engraved) surface details are just fine. It’s not a stellar model, but a sturdy representation with surprisingly massive parts, esp. the fuselage: its walls are almost 3mm thick!
However, I did not want to build the stretched USAF version. The original civil L300 had the same fuselage as the C-141A, and I found this option to be more plausible for the haul of singular heavy equipment than the stretched version, and the decision to shorten the C-141B also had logistic reasons, because I’d have to store the model somewhere once finished… And, finally, I think that the original, short C-141 is just looking good. ;-)
So, I simply “de-plugged” the fuselage. In real life, the C-141B had two extensions: a 160” plug in front and another 120” insert behind its wings. This translated into 2.8 and 2.1 cm long sections on the model that were simply sawed off from the completed fuselage. Thanks to the massive fuselage walls, gluing the parts back together was an easy task, resulting in a very stable connection. The seams were hidden under some PSR, as well as two windows. The C-141B’s fairing for the refueling receptive was also sanded away. The front plug was easily hidden, but the rear plug called for some body sculpting, because the fuselage has a subtle bulge around the cargo door and its ramp – the shapes in front and behind it don’t differ much, though.
Another change for a more fictional civil variant: the engines. This was a lucky coincidence, because I had a complete set of four CFM56 turbofan nacelles left over from my shortened Minicraft DC-8 build a while ago, and the StarLifter lent itself to take these different/more modern engines, esp. for the civilian market. The swap was not as easy as expected, though, because the C-141’s nacelles are much different, have longer pylons and their attachment points in the wings were OOB not compatible at all with the CFM56 pods. I eventually filled the attachment slots in the wings and glued the complete CFM56 nacelles with their short DC-8 pylons directly under the wings, blending these areas with PRS. The engines’ position is now markedly different (higher/closer to the wings and further forward), but the engines’ bigger diameter IMHO justifies this change – and it turned out well.
The rest of the Roden model was left OOB, I just added a ventral display adapter for the flight scenes.
Painting and markings:
As mentioned above, I was looking for a “bush pilot” operator of suitable size in the Northern hemisphere, and Greenland Air was chosen because of its exoticism and the airline’s distinctive and simple livery. Does anyone know this rather small airline at all? Potential freight for the US Army as well as for private mining companies with lots of heavy equipment made the StarLifter’s operation plausible.
To make the plan work I was lucky that Draw Decal does an 1:144 sheet for the airline‘s (sole) Boeing 757, and its simple post-2002 all-red paint scheme was easily adapted to the StarLifter. The fuselage and the nacelles were painted with brushes in Humbrol 19 (Gloss Red, it comes IMHO close to the rich real-world tone), while the wings and the engine pylons became Humbrol 40 (Glossy Light Gull Grey). For some variety I added a medium grey (Humbrol 126, FS 36270) Corroguard panel to the wings’ upper surface, later framed with OOB decals. The white door markings came from a generic PAS decals sheet. All decals were very thin, esp. the Draw Decals sheet, which had to be handled with much care, but they also dried up perfectly and the white print inks turned out to have very good opacity. Adapting the Boeing 757 decals to the very different C-141 hull was also easier than expected, even though the "Air Greenland" tag on the nose ended up quite far forward and the emblem on the fin lots its uppermost white circle.
The cockpit, which comes with no interior, was painted in black, while the landing gear wells and struts were painted in a very light grey (Humbrol 196, RAL 7035) with white rims.
Panel lines were emphasized with a little black ink, and the cockpit glazing turned out to be a bit foggy - which became only apparent after I added the red around it. In order to hide this flaw I just laid out the window panels with Tamiya "Smoke".
Finally the model finally received an overall coat of gloss acrylic varnish from a rattle can.
A colorful result, even though the bright red C-141 looks unusual, if not odd. The different engines work well; with the shorter fuselage, the new, wider nacelles change the StarLifter’s look considerably. It looks more modern (at least to me), like a juiced-up Bae 146 or a C-17 on a diet?
All photo rights are owned by Doc's Friends, Inc. and use of the photos on this site for publication must be approved by Doc's Friends, Inc. For more information, contact: www.b-29doc.com/media-contact/
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background
With the ending of World War II in 1945, the Valtion Lentokonetehdas and other state owned factories were merged into the company Valtion Metallitehtaat Lentokonetehdas (State Metal Factories, often abbreviated to V.M.T. or VMT). This company did not only focus on aircraft but on anything from general house-hold machinery to engines.
At that time the Ilmavoimat, the Finnish air Force, was left with Messerschmitt 109 Gs and some other obsolete types. The Finnish aircraft design declined during a number of years and it was not until 1947 when a new design was flown – the VMT
The aircraft was not completely new. It was based on the VL Pyörremyrsky (Hurricane) from 1944, a local evolution of the Me 109 G. The use of wood in the construction of the aircraft was maximised due to the sparseness of metals. The goal was to create a fighter with similar flight qualities to the German Messerschmitt Bf 109G. The engine and the propeller were directly taken from the Bf 109G. The landing gear was significantly widened in order to address one of the German fighter's most noteworthy shortcomings, the handling on ground.
Like its stillborn progenitor, the VL Pyörremyrsky, the new Salama (‘Lightning’) would share most of its airframe with a proven model, and in fact the Salam's structure was by more than 60% based on the Bf 109G airframe. Unfortunately for the design team around Torsti Verkkola, the Salama's proposed DB 603A engine was not available anymore due to the Paris peace talks of 1947. These forbade the use of German technology and put other limitations on the FAF, so the Finnish designers and engineers had to look for an alternative and chose the French SNECMA 12H00 engine, ultimately a derivative of the German Jumo 213A engine from WWII.
This different inverted V-12 engine required some reconstruction of the engine cowling. The supercharger intake was relocated to the starboard side of the cowling, and cooling system had to be adapted, too. Furthermore, the new aircraft featured an enlarged wing area, a taller tail, an Erla Haube-style canopy of later Bf 109G variants, a broad-track landing gear which improved ground handling considerably, and an annular radiator for the inline engine which gave the aircraft a superficial resemblance to a radial engine and to the very similar installation on the German WWII Focke-Wulf Fw 190D.
As the project progressed, the Salama I evolved from a simple, enhanced version of the Bf 109 to a progressively more capable fighter - a measure to keep up with the fast jet fighter development after WWII. The Salama I lacked the high turn rate and higher rate of roll of the Bf 109, but it was faster, however, with a maximum speed of more than 700km/h (434 mph) at 6,600 meters (21,650 ft), and it handled well.
Serial production started in December 1949. The Salama featured armament of one engine-mounted 30 mm (1.18 in) ADEN 30 cannon with 65 RPG, plus two 20 mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannons in the wing roots with 250 RPG. The machines also featured three weapon hardpoints: one under the fuselage, for a drop tank or bombs up to 500kg, one under each wing, for lighter bombs, unguided rockets or podded 20mm guns with 135 RPG each.
Only 55 Salamas I were built, and none survived the type's short career: after only 5 years it was clear that the piston-engined fighter was outdated. Together with the remaining Finnish Me 109 G the Salama continued in service until spring 1954 when the FAF entered the Jet Age. The last flight was on 21 March 1954.
General characteristics
Crew: One pilot
Length: 9.74 m (31 ft 11 in)
Wingspan: 10.95 m (35 ft 11 in)
Height: 4.00 m (13 ft 1 in)
Wing area: 17.2 m² (185 ft²)
Empty weight: 3,200 kg (7,050 lb)
Loaded weight: 4,085 kg (8,987 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × SNECMA 12H00 inverted V-12 piston engine with 1,750 PS (1,726 hp, 1,287 kW); the engine could produce 2,100 PS (2,071 hp, 1,545 kW) of emergency power with MW 50 injection
Performance
Maximum speed: 724 km/h (450 mph)
Service ceiling: 11,600 m (38,030 ft)
Wing loading: 238 kg/m² (49 lb/ft²)
Power/mass: 0.36 kW/kg (0.22 hp/lb)
Armament
1 × 30 mm (1.18 in) ADEN 30 cannon, 65 RPG
2 × 20 mm (.78 in) Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannon, 250 RPG
Up to 900kg (2.000 lbs) extrenal ordnance on three hardpoints under the wings and fuselage
The kit and its assembly
Finland is another country with a relatively rich aircraft industry and with one of the oldest air forces in the world. So, why not "contribute" a fictional whif aircraft?
Anyway, the pitfall is that the use of a German aircraft as a development basis in Finland after WWII was rather unlikely after the Paris peace talks of 1947. The Fins were inventive, though, and why shouldn’t they have taken the Pyörremyrsky fighter from 1944 further – only 1 prototype had ever been assembled? It would have certainly looked like the Me 209 V5. And the Fins could have used the import loophole for the Jumo 213 from France, so: why not?
The basic kit is HUMA’s German Me 209 V5 from WWII. In the real world only four prototypes were eventually built, and the design was superseded by the Focke Wulf Ta 152 and the evn more promising Me 262 jet fighter. Just in the whiffy outline above, a great aircraft just came to late.
HUMA's kit is simple, with recessed panel lines and a sprue with very fine injected styrene materials (instead of etched parts). Fit is average, though, the HUMA kit is more or less like a good Mtahcbox kit. You need some experience and dedication to make something from it, and for what you get it is IMHO overpriced, despite being an exotic aircraft.
I did not modify much, just the spinner was exchanged for a longer, more pointed piece (from a Matchbox Wellington), and the tail wheel received a well with covers - the original Me 209 V5 only had a semi-retractable tail wheel. The gun pods come with the original kit. I just added a pilot figure and cut the canopy open, and some struts were added inside of the landing gear wells. Other small changes include the omitted engine-mounted machine guns (just filled them with putty), as well as lowered flaps and slats for a non-static look.
Painting
I must admit that I love the unique, typical Finnish WWII camouflage scheme very much. Officially, the upper colors are called Oliivinvihreä (Olive Green), Musta (Black) and Vaaleansininen (Light Blue) or Vaaleanharmaa (Very Light Grey) for the undersides, separated by a wavy demarcation.
Finding appropriate tones is not easy, manufacturers' recommendations are contradictive, so checking pictures of real life aircraft is IMHO the best way to go. My choice fell on Testors 2027 (FS 34096, a grayish-green tone, originally used on SAC B-52s!) and mix of Humbrol 66 with 33, for a very dark olive drab color with potential for some even darker shades. Pure black is just too dark, and many pictures show the dark tone in a very deteriotated state, yielding a greenish hue. For the lower sides I went for Testors 2078 - this is German RLM 65 from WWII, and the authentic tone for light blue Finnish aircraft underside. The Testors paint is not as bright as the Humbrol color, adding to a rather worn and faded look. This was further enhanced by some shading with lighter basic tones on the upper surfaces (including Humbrol 86 and some RLM 02 from Testors, plus some Humbrol 168, Hemp), as well as a light emphasis of panel lines with darker tones and a light black ink wash.
The interior was painted with Humbrol 225 (Mid Stone) and 81 (Chromate Yellow) - not certain if this would fit, but I know that Finnish P-36 had this color inside, and I did not want a uniform greyish tone like RLM 02, since the exterior bears a similar basic color.
The black and yellow spiral on the spinner is a fantasy detail, even though I found several Bf 109Gs with similar decorations, or with black spinner of which a 1/3 segment has been painted white. Anyway, it's a nice, colorful detail on the otherwise simple aircraft.
The Finnish roundels and the squadron emblem were puzzled together from the scrap box, from various MiG-21 kits. The bort numbers were improvised with single aftermarket decal letters/digits from TL Modellbau. Overall, the aircraft was supposed to look simple and reveal its whiffy nature only at second glance.
Not a spectacular whif, but IMHO a good story for an aircraft that failed to live up to its expectations.
Hacking a digital bathroom scale to use as a general-purpose weight sensor or input device.
Explained in more detail at:
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Made from salvaged junk from my local scrapyard. The base is made a spun stainless steel half sphere..I found two of them but have no clue what they were from or for. The section on top of the base is ceramic, originally was used at a power station... also from the scrap yard, some kind of vintage propeller fan blade, there some auto transmission parts and a few other scrap yard finds.
A propeller from HMS "Cavalier" on the Esplanade, East Cowes. HMS "Cavalier" is a WWII "C" class destroyer, now preserved at Chatham Historic Dockyard.
"Arara" it's her name, Portugália's airplane which flies from Lisbon-Valência-Lisbon directly.
First time I have ever flied on a propeller airplane and I liked it. Was very smooth.
Boeing's B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated, propeller-driven, bomber to fly during World War II, and the first bomber to house its crew in pressurized compartments. Boeing installed very advanced armament, propulsion, and avionics systems into the Superfortress. During the war in the Pacific Theater, the B-29 delivered the first nuclear weapons used in combat. On August 6, 1945, Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., in command of the Superfortress Enola Gay, dropped a highly enriched uranium, explosion-type, "gun-fired," atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, Major Charles W. Sweeney piloted the B-29 Bockscar and dropped a highly enriched plutonium, implosion-type atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance weather reconnaissance aircraft that day. On August 14, 1945, the Japanese accepted Allied terms for unconditional surrender.
In the late 1930s, U. S. Army Air Corps leaders recognized the need for very long-range bombers that exceeded the performance of the B-17 Flying Fortress. Several years of preliminary studies paralleled a continuous fight against those who saw limited utility in developing such an expensive and unproven aircraft but the Air Corps issued a requirement for the new bomber in February 1940. It described an airplane that could carry a maximum bomb load of 909 kg (2,000 lb) at a speed of 644 kph (400 mph) a distance of at least 8,050 km (5,000 miles). Boeing, Consolidated, Douglas, and Lockheed responded with design proposals. The Army was impressed with the Boeing design and issued a contract for two flyable prototypes in September 1940. In April 1941, the Army issued another contract for 250 aircraft plus spare parts equivalent to another 25 bombers, eight months before Pearl Harbor and nearly a year-and-a-half before the first Superfortress would fly.
Among the design's innovations was a long, narrow, high-aspect ratio wing equipped with large Fowler-type flaps. This wing design allowed the B-29 to cruise at high speeds at high altitudes but maintained comfortable handling characteristics during slower airspeeds necessary during takeoff and landing. More revolutionary was the size and sophistication of the pressurized sections of the fuselage: the flight deck forward of the wing, the gunner's compartment aft of the wing, and the tail gunner's station. For the crew, flying at altitudes above 18,000 feet became much more comfortable as pressure and temperature could be regulated in the crew work areas. To protect the Superfortress, Boeing designed a remote-controlled, defensive weapons system. Engineers placed five gun turrets on the fuselage: a turret above and behind the cockpit that housed two .50 caliber machine guns (four guns in later versions), and another turret aft near the vertical tail equipped with two machine guns; plus two more turrets beneath the fuselage, each equipped with two .50 caliber guns. One of these turrets fired from behind the nose gear and the other hung further back near the tail. Another two .50 caliber machine guns and a 20-mm cannon (in early versions of the B-29) were fitted in the tail beneath the rudder. Gunners operated these turrets by remote control--a true innovation. They aimed the guns using computerized sights, and each gunner could take control of two or more turrets to concentrate firepower on a single target.
Boeing also equipped the B-29 with advanced radar equipment and avionics. Depending on the type of mission, a B-29 carried the AN/APQ-13 or AN/APQ-7 Eagle radar system to aid bombing and navigation. These systems were accurate enough to enable relatively accurate bombing through cloud layers that completely obscured the target. The B-29B was equipped with the AN/APG-15B airborne radar gun sighting system mounted in the tail to assist in providing accurate defense against enemy fighters attacking at night. B-29s also routinely carried as many as twenty different types of radios and navigation devices.
The first XB-29 took off at Boeing Field in Seattle on September 21, 1942. By the end of the year the second aircraft was ready for flight. Fourteen service-test YB-29s followed as production began to accelerate. Building this advanced bomber required massive logistics. Boeing built new B-29 plants at Renton, Washington, and Wichita, Kansas, while Bell built a new plant at Marietta, Georgia, and Martin built one in Omaha, Nebraska. Both Curtiss-Wright and the Dodge automobile company vastly expanded their manufacturing capacity to build the bomber's powerful and complex Curtiss-Wright R-3350 turbo supercharged engines. The program required thousands of sub-contractors but with extraordinary effort, it all came together, despite major teething problems. By April 1944, the first operational B-29s of the newly formed 20th Air Force began to touch down on dusty airfields in India. By May, 130 B-29s were operational. In June, 1944, less than two years after the initial flight of the XB-29, the U. S. Army Air Forces (AAF) flew its first B-29 combat mission against targets in Bangkok, Thailand. This mission (longest of the war to date) called for 100 B-29s but only 80 reached the target area. The AAF lost no aircraft to enemy action but bombing results were mediocre. The first bombing mission against the Japanese main islands since Lt. Col. "Jimmy" Doolittle's raid against Tokyo in April 1942, occurred on June 15, again with poor results. This was also the first mission launched from airbases in China.
With the fall of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam in the Mariana Islands chain in August 1944, the AAF acquired airbases that lay several hundred miles closer to mainland Japan. Late in 1944, the AAF moved the XXI Bomber Command, flying B-29s, to the Marianas and the unit began bombing Japan in December. However, they employed high-altitude, precision, bombing tactics that yielded poor results. The high altitude winds were so strong that bombing computers could not compensate and the weather was so poor that rarely was visual target acquisition possible at high altitudes. In March 1945, Major General Curtis E. LeMay ordered the group to abandon these tactics and strike instead at night, from low altitude, using incendiary bombs. These firebombing raids, carried out by hundreds of B-29s, devastated much of Japan's industrial and economic infrastructure. Yet Japan fought on. Late in 1944, AAF leaders selected the Martin assembly line to produce a squadron of B-29s codenamed SILVERPLATE. Martin modified these Superfortresses by removing all gun turrets except for the tail position, removing armor plate, installing Curtiss electric propellers, and modifying the bomb bay to accommodate either the "Fat Man" or "Little Boy" versions of the atomic bomb. The AAF assigned 15 Silverplate ships to the 509th Composite Group commanded by Colonel Paul Tibbets. As the Group Commander, Tibbets had no specific aircraft assigned to him as did the mission pilots. He was entitled to fly any aircraft at any time. He named the B-29 that he flew on 6 August Enola Gay after his mother. In the early morning hours, just prior to the August 6th mission, Tibbets had a young Army Air Forces maintenance man, Private Nelson Miller, paint the name just under the pilot's window.
Enola Gay is a model B-29-45-MO, serial number 44-86292. The AAF accepted this aircraft on June 14, 1945, from the Martin plant at Omaha (Located at what is today Offut AFB near Bellevue), Nebraska. After the war, Army Air Forces crews flew the airplane during the Operation Crossroads atomic test program in the Pacific, although it dropped no nuclear devices during these tests, and then delivered it to Davis-Monthan Army Airfield, Arizona, for storage. Later, the U. S. Air Force flew the bomber to Park Ridge, Illinois, then transferred it to the Smithsonian Institution on July 4, 1949. Although in Smithsonian custody, the aircraft remained stored at Pyote Air Force Base, Texas, between January 1952 and December 1953. The airplane's last flight ended on December 2 when the Enola Gay touched down at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. The bomber remained at Andrews in outdoor storage until August 1960. By then, concerned about the bomber deteriorating outdoors, the Smithsonian sent collections staff to disassemble the Superfortress and move it indoors to the Paul E. Garber Facility in Suitland, Maryland.
The staff at Garber began working to preserve and restore Enola Gay in December 1984. This was the largest restoration project ever undertaken at the National Air and Space Museum and the specialists anticipated the work would require from seven to nine years to complete. The project actually lasted nearly two decades and, when completed, had taken approximately 300,000 work-hours to complete. The B-29 is now displayed at the National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
Passenger Ship of the Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes.
Identical to LAOS. but the eldest of the 3 ships of the so-called Japan ''white Passenger Ships"
CF: Book by Dr. Paul BOIS '';The Grand Century of les Messageries Maritimes''; page 306
Quick joint liner turbines and two propellers, fireplace, two masts, six blocks, eighteen derricks, a short and high central castle with balcony cabins, a curved stem and a round back.
Built by the yards of La Ciotat in 1952
Maiden voyage on July 17, 1953 to the Japan
FEATURES:
162.10 mHT x 22 m - 7.9 m of TE - 15150 GRT - 24000 cv 22 nds.
Like Cambodia (2) and LAOS (2)
PASSENGERS:
1st 117 - 110 in 2de - 120 3rd - 184 in steerage.
CREW:
Officers 18 - Crew 173 men
Embarked as engineer officer of the 20.07.1964 to the 8.3.1965 and the 29.5.1965 to the 23.10.1965
These ships up the Saigon River and be swing at the port of Saigon, their draught and length HT have been adapted to this imperative
1961 Transformation in Marseille. Teugue deleted and replaced by a bridge joined to a largest orlop for 3rd classes that go from 120 to 214 passengers
1966 - Leased to Club Méditerranée but the closure of the Suez Canal breaks the contract after 3 trips on the expected 8.
29.09.1967 - Change of identity by becoming the Pacific from 1967 to 1970
She sailed for Tahiti via Cape Town then because a few connections with the Australia and the far East.
1970 August 27 sold under Pavilion Panamanian Princess ABETO made the transport of pilgrims on the Hajj
1971 sold after bankruptcy becomes MALAYSIA BARU and in 1972 the MALAYSIA KITA
Burns on road to Singapore on May 12, 1974
Refloated in November 1975 irreparable is demolished in Taiwan.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
CDT LANFANT: 'history of the fleet of the Messageries Maritimes 1851-1975'
Dr. PAUL BOIS '';The great century of the Messageries Maritimes''
Mr Xavier ESCALLIER for permission to use photos from his private collection
The Forum of the Messageries Maritimes
-----------------
VIET-NAM :
Commandé aux Chantiers Navals de La Ciotat.
1950.07.31 Mis sur cale
1951.10.14 Lancement à La Ciotat. Marraine Mme Graille
1952.10.27 Livré aux Messageries Maritimes. Commandant Juteau
1953 le 17 juillet. Voyage inaugural sur le Japon. Commandant Juteau pour Singapour 2 août – Saïgon 7 août – Hong-Kong 12 août - Yokohama 19 août – Kobé le 21 août. Soit 36 jours pour rallier Kobé.
Premier d'une série de trois paquebots mixtes de type MC destiné à la ligne Marseille-Japon
CARACTÉRISTIQUES :
Longueur : 163.60 m ht et 148.75 m hpp (Longueur limitée par la nécessiter d'éviter en rivière dans le port de Saïgon.)
Largeur : 22 m
Jauge brute : 12200 tjb - Puis 13473 tjb après les modifications de 1961
Port en lourd : 6400 tonnes dont 3900 t pour les marchandises. – Puis 5820 tonnes après modifications.
Capacité : 8780 m3 dont 60 m3 en frigos.
Déplacement : 15240 tonnes
6 cales avec panneaux Mac Gregor single pull.
16 mâts de charge de 5 tonnes
1 bigue de 30 tonnes
1 bigue de 50 tonnes
PROPULSION :
2 groupes turbines C.E.M. Parsons Construits par les Ateliers et Chantiers de Bretagne
3 Chaudières Penhœt P41. Pression 62 kg/cm² - 35 tonnes de vapeur par heure – Surchauffe 480°c – Chauffe au mazout – Tirage forcé – Réchauffeur d'air – Économiseur.
Puissance : 24000 cv aux essais – 18000 cv en service continu
Vitesse : 23 nœuds aux essais – 21 nœuds en exploitation
Puissance avec deux chaudières (marche habituelle) 19500 cv Mise en service avec 3 chaudières pour assurer l'heure d'arrivée.
Deux lignes d'arbres et deux hélices.
PRODUCTION ÉLECTRIQUE :
4 Diesel alternateurs de 933 Kw sous 400 v et 50 Htz -
Diesels 2 temps simple effet à injection mécanique. Marque Schneider 6 cylindres 1280 cv à 428 t/mn
Distribution :
Force 280 volts
Auxiliaire : 300 v
Cuisine : 200 v
Éclairage : 110 volts
Lors des transformations de 1960 un turbo alternateur fut ajouté à Bd au parquet principal.
EAU DOUCE :
500 tonnes en réserve et deux bouilleurs Ateliers et Chantiers de Bretagne fournissant 192 tonnes jours d'eau douce potable. Traitement UV et adjonction de sels minéraux.
DIVERS :
Air conditionné. A l'origine uniquement une partie des premières classes et les salles à manger des 1ères Cl et des Sdes Cl
Après les modifications de 1960 les cabines intérieures des Sdes Cl furent climatisées, ainsi que de nombreux autres locaux passagers. Pour l'équipage, seul le carré des Officiers fut climatisé. Une salle avec de nouveaux compresseurs de climatisation de type York et un circuit saumure froide fut installée à bâbord de l'entrée machine.
Stabilisateurs de roulis Denny Brown.
Décorateur André Arbus.
PERSONNEL :
État-major : 18 officiers.
Équipage : 32 marins au pont – 39 mécaniciens – 102 ADSG
PASSAGERS :
1ères Cl : 90 passagers avant modifications puis 119 passagers
Sdes Cl : 110 passagers
3èmes Cl : 52 passagers
Rationnaires : 260 hommes
TRANSFORMATIONS :
1960 – Suppression de la teugue. Prolongation du pont du gaillard au-dessus du panneau de la cale 2 afin de remplacer les troisièmes classes et les rationnaires par 214 couchettes de classe cabine, avec salle à manger et bar etc. Le tout climatisé.
LIGNES :
Jusqu'en 1967, il restera affecté à la ligne Marseille – Japon. Passant par le Cap de bonne Espérance lorsque le Canal de Suez sera fermé en 1956 et en 1967.
Aux premières escales de la ligne originelle : Port Saïd, Suez, Aden (aller), Djibouti (retour), Colombo, Singapour, Saïgon, Hong-Kong, Yokohama et Kobé. Vont s'ajouter Manille, Karachi, Bombay et Bangkok.
1966 Il est loué au Club Méditerranée. Mais suite à la fermeture du Canal de Suez le contrat est rompu et il ne fera que trois voyages sur les huit prévu par le contrat de location.
1967 le 29 septembre - Le VIET NAM est rebaptisé PACIFIQUE il effectuera un voyage autour du monde. Il appareille de Marseille pour Tahiti via Cap Town. Il effectuera quelques voyages sur l'Australie et l'Extrême-Orient. Mais les voyages ne sont plus rentables et la Compagnie va se résoudre à le vendre.
ÉVÉNEMENTS :
1957 le 10 septembre Il arrive à Marseille avec le Roi Sihanouk et la Reine du Cambodge.
1958 le 12 janvier : Durant le séjour à Marseille (21 jours) le feu se déclare dans une cabine. Extinction automatique par le système Grinell.
1959 le 23 juillet : Au départ de Port-Saïd une avarie de bouilleur l'oblige à retourner à Marseille pour réparation. Il perdra un jour sur son itinéraire.
1961 le 8 août : A Aden par fort vent en rafales une amarre s'engage dans l'hélice tribord. Il prendra 24 h de retard.
1962 du 20 au 23 avril à Yokohama. Il doit passer en cale sèche pour dégager des prises d'eau de mer de réfrigération obstruées par une bâche plastique.
1966 Le Club Méditerrané le loue pour y installer un village dans les emménagements des 1ères Cl, et de la Classe touriste. La classe cabine restant à la disposition des Messageries Maritimes.
1966 Le 4 octobre et 22 décembre. Départs des 2 voyages effectués pour le compte du Club Méditerranée seront assurés les Gentils membres n'effectuant qu'une partie du voyage et étant remplacés par des Gentils membres amené par l'avion charter qui ramènera les débarquants. Au 3ème voyage la guerre des 6 jours ayant fermé le Canal de Suez, le VIET NAM devra passer par Capetown et La Réunion. Les traversées sont trop longues et sans intérêts pour les passagers. L'expérience est abandonnée.
1967 Désarmé à Marseille, il sera réarmé pour effectuer trois rotations sur l'Afrique du Nord, affrèté par La COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSMÉDITERRANÉENNE.
RETRAIT :
1970 le 27 août In est vendu à Abeto S.A. Panama il prend le pavillon Panaméen sous le nom de PRINCESS ABETO. Il est utilisé pour le transport des pèlerins sur La Mecque. Mais la Cie fait faillite.
1971 Vendu prend le nom de MALAYSIA BARU puis en
1972 Prend le nom de MALAYSIA KITA
1974 le 12 mai. Prend feu sur rade de Singapour en attendant de rentrer en cale sèche. Remorqué hors du port il se couche et coule en eau peu profonde
1975 en Novembre. Il sera relevé, reconnu irréparable, il partira en remorque à Taiwan pour y être démoli.
(Alophia drummondii). Deep East Texas.
This interesting and beautiful member of the iris family was photographed in a longleaf pine savanna.
this is more or less a rip-off of andy wilson's beautiful double triangle twist molecule.
it uses quite a lot of paper to create relatively little boxed space. looks nice tough. this was folded from an equilateral triangle. it has a nice and simple crease pattern which I will post soon when I find the time.
PictionID:56176294 - Catalog:4-07138-C.tif - Title:Ryan Aeronautical Negative Collection Image - Filename:4-07138-C.tif - - - - Image from the Teledyne Ryan Archives, donated to SDASM in the 1990s. Many of these images are from Ryan's UAV program-----These images were not donated with metadata, so please Tag these images so that the information can be permanently stored with the digital file.---Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum
+++ DISCLAIMER +++Nothing you see here is real, even though the model, the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
On 27th November 1940, Moldova followed closely behind its neighbor and protector, Romania, and joined the Axis Powers. Now eligible for German military equipment, the Royal Moldovan Air Force sought to update its inventory with German types and gain access to German training. In January 1941 an agreement was reached that enabled both; by then, German troops had already entered Moldova to “secure the border [with the Socialist Union] from Red aggression.”
Moldovan air and ground crews were soon sent for training with the Luftwaffe and the first (second-hand) Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3s to enter Moldovan service arrived in May 1941. This first batch of 14 planes was allocated to the 1st Fighter Squadron, where they replaced Romanian-built PZL P.11fs. They were in combat from the first day of Operation Barbarossa, crossing the border into the Transnistrian and Ukrainian republics of the Socialist Union to conduct escort, strafing and fighter sweep missions on 22 June 1941.
Soon thereafter, more and more modern (but still mostly second hand) equipment of German origin was provided. Beyond the Bf 109 E, several Bf 109F and early G fighters were delivered, some Fw 190A and F, a handful of Ju 87 and Hs 123 dive bombers as well as some Ju 52 transporters and Junkers Ju 88 bombers.
Most of these aircraft had formerly taken part in the North Africa campaign or the Mediterranean TO. As a consequence, many Moldovan aircraft were outfitted with special equipment like dust filters, and a high number of machines still carried desert camouflage upon their arrival at the Russian Front. The latter was quickly modified in the field workshops, with whatever alternative paints at hand, but due to the aircrafts’ immediate use in combat, only hasty and minimal adaptations were made.
During its peak in June 1943, the Royal Moldovan Air Force had grown to a total of 150 aircraft. However, its contribution to the Axis forces was not significant, even though some individual Moldovan fighter pilots scored considerable air victory counts.
With the advance of Soviet Forces by late 1944 and the liberation of the Crimean peninsula, most Moldovan aircraft had been severely damaged or destroyed. Through the withdrawal of the Axis forces the Moldovan machines became unserviceable, so that the small air arm effectively ceased to exist. The few remaining, airworthy machines were retired to the west and absorbed in Romanian units. It would take until 1991 that the Moldovan Air Force would be re-formed, after the country’s newly gained independence from the dissolved Soviet Union as Republic of Moldova.
(Background and model inspired by fellow modeler comrade harps at whatifmodelers.com)
General characteristics:
Crew: One
Length: 8.95 m (29 ft 7 in)
Wingspan: 9.925 m (32 ft 6 in)
Height: 2.60 m (8 ft 2 in)
Wing area: 16.05 m² (173.3 ft²)
Empty weight: 2,247 kg (5,893 lb)
Loaded weight: 3,148 kg (6,940 lb)
Max. take-off weight: 3,400 kg (7,495 lb)
Powerplant:
1× DB 601 E V12 engine, rated at 1,350 PS (1,332 hp, 993 kW), driving a VDM 9-12010 propeller
Performance:
Maximum speed: 659 km/h (410 mph) at 6,200 m (20,341 ft)
Cruise speed: 590 km/h (365 mph) at 6,000 m (19,680 ft)
Range: 850 km (528 mi) with internal fuel only
Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,370 ft)
Rate of climb: 17.0 m/s (3,345 ft/min)
Wing loading: 196 kg/m² (40 lb/ft²)
Power/mass: 344 W/kg (0.21 hp/lb)
Armament:
2× 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17s with 500 RPG in the upper cowling
1× 20 mm Mauser MG 151/20 with 200 RPG, firing through the propeller hub (Motorkanone)
Underfuselage hardpoint for 1× 250 kg (551 lb) bomb, 4× 50 kg (110 lb) bombs
or 1× 300-litre (79 US gal) drop tank
The kit and its assembly:
A simple, quick build, and effectively the use of leftover material for which I had lacked an idea so far. The kit, the Heller Bf 109F, had been resting very low in the pile for ages, since I had bought it years ago with no real plan – it had just been dead cheap…
Well, this build is more or less a tribute to another modeler’s idea, comrade harps from whatifmodelers.com, who came up with a Moldovan Bf 109E and a respective background story. After all, the Russian Liberation Army (ROA) also operated German aircraft like the Bf 109G, so the idea was not as weird as it might seem at first. I liked the idea of an overlooked Moldovan operator very much, and since I had a surplus set of Moldovan Air Force markings, too…
Concerning the kit and the build, I must admit that I got what I paid for. The Bf 109 F is one of the (really) weak Heller kits: It’s basically of simple construction, like many other Heller kits of its era (1972), but there are some crisp offerings that are still impressive today and a pleasant build. The Bf 109 F is not one of these, though, it reminds me a lot of the “soft” Airfix kits of that time. You get lots of raised rivets and a minimal cockpit interior. The landing gear struts are just a pair of bare, L-shaped stilts. Nothing really fits, esp. the wing/fuselage intersection is questionable, and everything appears somewhat rounded-off. Ugh!
Anyway, I wanted a quick build with focus on the livery, so I did not invest too much effort into improvements. But some things were nevertheless changed, for the better, I hope:
· Foamed plastics inside of the air intakes as radiator bath dummies (& sight blockers)
· Flaps were lowered, for a more lively look
· The main landing gear struts and covers and the tail wheel were replaced (Hobby Boss Bf 109)
· The propeller received a metal axis and an adapter tube in the fuselage
In considered a 300l drop tank under the fuselage, too, but the Bf 109 F is so beautiful and clean, I left it away. No distractions in this case.
Painting and markings:
Since the Bf 109 F base remained untouched, livery and exotic markings make this a whif. I added in my complemented background the idea that withdrawn German aircraft from Northern Africa were transferred to the Eastern Front, matching Heller’s kit of a tropicalized Bf 109 F variant. This is not as fantastic as the idea might sound, such transfers frequently happened within the Luftwaffe at that time.
The livery was to “tell” this story, and I wanted to visualize the rushed period of time between the aircraft’s arrival at the Russian Front from Northern Africa and its immediate employment in Moldovan hands.
Consequentially, the livery would be based on standard German desert colors, but with the former operator’s markings painted over, and an additional makeshift camouflage and markings of the new operator and Axis forces tactical markings in the Eastern TO around late 1941 applied on top. Sounds complicated – but it’s the logical translation of the made-up background, and I think that such a concept makes a whif more convincing than just putting some obscure markings on an off-the-rack kit.
The original German scheme consists of a uniform RLM 79 (Sandbraun) on the upper surfaces and RLM 78 (Himmelblau) from below, with a hard, wavy medium height waterline. I just added some RLM 80 (Olivgrün) blotches to the upper surfaces, a typical field modification in Northern Africa. All RLM tones are enamels from Modelmaster’s Authentic line. Wing tips, propeller spinner and a ring on the cowling right behind it became initially white, because these original markings were to be barely visible on the finished kit.
The next step was to paint over the former German and African TO markings. This would probably have been done by German field crews, so I used RLM 76 (newly introduced in late 1941) and classic all-round RLM 02 for this task. With these tones, a virtual/non-existent white fuselage band was painted over, too. As a weird twist, the propeller boss remained white, though, somewhat reflecting the aircraft’s tactical code.
The new yellow ID markings (wing tip and engine undersides (both painted with Revell 310) and fuselage band (decal) were added at this stage, too. This already created a rather shaggy look. The red rudder is not a tactical marking – it is just a replacement part (basically painted with Humbrol 180), another weird color detail.
Finally, the new Moldovan operator’s markings were added. Since the desert camouflage is rather light, a darker makeshift camouflage was retrofitted. Many upper areas, mostly where the underlying RLM 79 was still visible, were crudely painted over with mottles and streaks in a tone I found in literature, called “Romanian Air Force Dark Green”, which is supposed to be close to classic US Olive Drab.
I used highly diluted Humbrol 108, unevenly applied with a short and hard brush, in an attempt to create a finish that looks as if different 1:72 mechanics had hastily overpainted the aircraft by hand, area by area. This final layer was taken down on the flanks into the RLM 78, as well as over the already overpainted former markings and onto the red replacement rudder, too.
In a final step, after the kit had been treated with a light black ink wash in order to emphasize contrast, the surfaces and esp. the leading edges as well as the cockpit area received a wet sanding treatment, lightening up again the final, dark camouflage and revealing the raised surface details of the Heller kit here and there.
Then the Moldovan markings were applied. The distinct roundels come from a Begemot MiG-29 decal set, the tactical code number comes from a Lend Lease P-40 in Soviet service (Trumpeter kit). On the fin, a flash in blue, yellow and red was added at the tip, too – these come from an Italeri HS 129, IIRC. I could not resist them due to the fact that the colors match up so well with the roundels and add another nice detail to the Bf 109! The yellow fuselage band comes from a Matchbox Me 262 kit, and a few stencils (e.g. the typical gasoline warning markings) were added, too, but not many. The decals also received another light sanding treatment for weathering, and, here and there, some very light dry-brushing with light grey (Revell 75) was done in order to simulate dust and more wear.
Finally the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish and some gun and exhaust soot stains added with grinded graphite, as well as some traces of flaked paint on the wings’ leading edges and around the cockpit.
What started as a quick build eventually became a complex operation – trying to improve the weak kit was one thing, but the multi-layer livery also took some time and effort. The result cannot be called “pretty”, but I think the extra work paid out. The fictional Moldovan Bf 109 F looks really …different, especially in the BW beauty shots, the aircraft looks pretty convincing.