A Sandia researcher displays a mockup of a new barrier system he and his team are developing to provide a physical security barrier at the so-called land/water interface. The sensor-embedded barrier blocks unwanted penetration while still allowing tide and small wildlife full pass-through capability. The photograph here was shot in front of the 285,000-gallon ocean tank at the Albuquerque Aquarium, a facility of the Albuquerque Biological Park. (More information.)

(Photo by Randy Montoya)

CHANGI NAVAL BASE, Singapore (Jan. 13, 2016) Hull Maintenance Technician 1st Class James Strotler secures a bolt in place for the retractable bit for towing aboard USS Fort Worth (LCS 3). Currently on a rotational deployment in support of the Asia-Pacific Rebalance, Fort Worth is a fast and agile warship tailor-made to patrol the region’s littorals and work hull-to-hull with partner navies, providing 7th Fleet with the flexible capabilities it needs now and in the future. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Antonio Turretto Ramos/Released)

A bull elk listens to the bugling of another bull elk in the early morning hours in the Smoky Mountains

As I walked down St Clements Lane to the church yesterday, the nursery rhyme came into my head, Oranges and Lemons. How many of the churches, I wondered, have I visited now?

The City in the working week is a very different beast, very different. Pavements overflowing with people, all rushing to be somewhere, shouting into mobile phones, sucking on a cigarette, or sipping at coffee from a paper cup.

Diving into the church, it was an oasis of calm, even if half of it is now offices for a charity, it is uncluttered, and the beauty of Wren's design can be seen clearly.

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

Oranges and lemons,

Say the bells of St. Clement's.

You owe me five farthings,

Say the bells of St. Martin's.

When will you pay me?

Say the bells of Old Bailey.

When I grow rich,

Say the bells of Shoreditch.

When will that be?

Say the bells of Stepney.

I do not know,

Says the great bell of Bow.

Here comes a candle to light you to bed,

And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!

Chip chop Chip chop the last man is dead

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

I guess Old Bailey is St Sepelcre now?

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

St Clement Eastcheap is a Church of England parish church in Candlewick Ward of the City of London. It is located on Clement's Lane, off King William Street and close to London Bridge and the River Thames.[1]

Clement was a disciple of St Peter the Apostle and was ordained as Bishop of Rome in the year 93 AD. By legend, Clement was martyred by being tied to an anchor and thrown into the Black Sea, which led to his adoption as a patron saint of sailors. The dedication to St Clement is unusual in London, with only one other ancient church there dedicated to this saint, namely St Clement Danes, Westminster. It is also located a little north of the Thames, but further west from Eastcheap and outside the old City boundary, just beyond the Temple Bar on the Strand.

Eastcheap was one of the main streets of medieval London. The name 'Eastcheap' derives from the Saxon word 'cheap', meaning a market, and Eastcheap was so called to distinguish it from Westcheap, later to become Cheapside. The southern end of Clement's Lane opened onto Eastcheap until the 1880s when the construction of King William Street separated Clement's Lane from Eastcheap, which still remains nearby as a street.

The parish of St. Clement Eastcheap, London, and its surrounding area as shown in Johann Homann's 'Ad Norman prototypi Londinensis edita curis Homannianorum Heredum C.P.S.C.M', Homann Heirs: London (1736)

The church's dedication to a Roman patron saint of sailors, the martyr Bishop Clement, coupled with its location near to what were historically the bustling wharves of Roman London, hints at a much earlier Roman origin. Indeed Roman remains were once found in Clement's Lane, comprising walls 3 feet thick and made of flints at a depth of 12–15 feet together with tessellated pavements.[2]

A charter of 1067 given by William I (1028–87) to Westminster Abbey mentions a church of St. Clement, which is possibly St. Clement Eastcheap, but the earliest definite reference to the church is found in a deed written in the reign of Henry III (1207–72), which mentions 'St Clement Candlewickstrate'. Other early documents refer to the church as "St Clement in Candlewystrate", 'St Clement the Little by Estchepe' and 'St Clement in Lumbard Street'. Until the dissolution of the monasteries - during the reign of Henry VIII - the parish was in the 'gift' of the Abbot of Westminster, then patronage of the parish passed to the Bishop of London. Now the patronage alternates with the appointment of each successive new parish priest (Rector), between the Bishop of London and the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's.

According to the London historian John Strype (1643–1737) St. Clement's church was repaired and beautified in 1630 and 1633

In 1666 the church was destroyed by the Great Fire of London, and then rebuilt in the 1680s. According to Strype the rebuilt church was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and this would seem to be confirmed by the fact that in the parish account for 1685 there is the following item: To one third of a hogshead of wine, given to Sir Christopher Wren, £4 2s.[4]

In 1670, during the rebuilding of London that followed the fire, the parish was combined with that of St Martin Orgar, which lay on the south side of Eastcheap. At the same time the City planners sought to appropriate a strip of land from the west of St Clement's property to widen Clement's Lane. This led to a dispute with the parish authorities, who claimed that the proposed plan left too little room to accommodate the families of the newly combined parishes. The matter was resolved by permitting the addition of a 14 ft. building plot, formerly occupied by the churchyard, to the east of the church. It was not until 1683, however, that building of the church began, and was completed in 1687 at a total cost of £4,365.[5]

Although nearby St Martin Orgar had been left in ruins by the Great Fire, the tower survived and, following the unification of the parish with St Clement's, the St Martin's site was used by French Huguenots who restored the tower and worshiped there until 1820. Later in the decade the ruins of the body of St Martin's church were removed to make way for the widening of Cannon Street, but the tower remained until 1851 when it was taken down, and – curiously – replaced with a new tower. The new tower served as a rectory for St. Clement Eastcheap until it was sold and converted into offices in the 1970s; it still survives on the present-day St. Martin's Lane.

In May 1840 Edward John Carlos wrote in the The Gentleman's Magazine, protesting about the proposed demolition of St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange and St. Benet Fink, following a fire in 1838 that had razed the Royal Exchange and damaged those two churches. In his article, Carlos referred to earlier plans to reduce the number of City churches, from which we learn that in the 1830s St Clement's had been under threat of demolition.

The sweeping design of destroying a number of City churches was mediated in … 1834, and for the time arrested by the resolute opposition to the measure in the instance of the first church marked out for sacrifice, St. Clement Eastcheap, it may be feared is at length coming into full operation, not, indeed in the open manner in which it was displayed at that period, but in an insidious and more secure mode of procedure.[6]

While St Clement's was spared, the 19th century saw many other City churches being destroyed, particularly following the Union of Benefices Act (1860), which sought to speed-up the reduction in the number of City parishes as a response to rapidly declining congregations; the result of the resident population moving in ever larger numbers from cramped City conditions to the more spacious suburbs.

In 1872 William Butterfield, a prominent architect of the gothic-revival, substantially renovated St. Clement's to conform with the contemporary Anglican 'High Church' taste.[7] The renovation involved removing the galleries; replacing the 17th-century plain windows with stained glass; dividing the reredos into three pieces and placing the two wings on the side walls; dismantling the woodwork to build new pews; laying down polychrome tiles on the floor and moving the organ into the aisle.

In 1933 the architect Sir Ninian Comper revised Butterfield's layout, moving the organ to its original position on the west wall and reassembling the reredos behind the altar, although before he did so, he had the reredos painted with figures in blue and gold.

St. Clement's suffered minor damage from bombing by German aircraft during the London Blitz in 1940 during the Second World War. The damage was repaired in 1949-50, and in 1968 the church was again redecorated.

Today St Clement's holds weekly services and, from 1998 to 2011, it was the base of The Players of St Peter, an amateur theatre company devoted to performing medieval mystery plays in the church, around early December each year.[8] The Players are now based at the church of St George in the East.

Adam and Eve are expelled from Paradise in 'The Fall of Man' from the so-called N-Town plays, performed by the Players of St Peter in St Clement's, 2004

A number of charities have their administrative offices at St Clement's including the Cure Parkinson's Trust.

St Clement Eastcheap considers itself to be the church referred to in the nursery rhyme that begins "Oranges and lemons / Say the bells of St Clement's". So too does St Clement Danes Church, Westminster, whose bells ring out the traditional tune of the nursery rhyme three times a day.

There is a canard that the earliest mention of the rhyme occurs in Wynkyn de Worde's "The demaundes joyous" printed in 1511.[9] This small volume consists entirely of riddles and makes no allusion to bells, St. Clement or any other church.

According to Iona and Peter Opie,[10] the earliest record of the rhyme only dates to c.1744, although there is a square dance (without words) called 'Oranges and Limons' in the 3rd edition of John Playford's The English Dancing Master, published in 1665.

St Clement Eastcheap's claim is based on the assertion that it was close to the wharf where citrus fruit was unloaded. Yet, a perusal of a map of London shows that there were many churches, even after the Fire, that were closer to the Thames than St. Clement's (St. George Botolph Lane, St Magnus the Martyr, St. Michael, Crooked Lane, St Martin Orgar, St Mary-at-Hill, All Hallows the Great. All these would have been passed by a load of oranges and lemons making its way to Leadenhall Market, the nearest market where citrus fruit was sold, passing several more churches on the way. Thus, it would appear that the name of St. Clements was selected by the rhymer simply for its consonance with the word ‘lemons’, and it now seems more likely that the melody called ‘Oranges and Limons’ predates the rhyme itself.

St. Clement Eastcheap has an irregular plan. The nave is approximately rectangular, but the south aisle is severely tapered. The ceiling is divided into panels, the centre one being a large oval band of fruit and flowers. The main façade is on the west, on Clement's Lane, and comprises four bays. The main bay has a blocked pedimented round-headed window over the door. This is flanked by matching bays with two levels of windows. The tower to the south west forms the fourth bay. This is a simple square tower, with a parapet, but no spire. Each bay has stone quoins and is stuccoed, except for the upper levels of the tower where the brick is exposed.

A small churchyard remains to the east of St. Clement's hemmed-in by the backs of office buildings and contains tombstones whose inscriptions have, over time, become illegible. The churchyard is approached by a narrow alley along the church's north wall, at the entrance of which is a memorial plaque to Dositej Obradović, a Serbian scholar who lived next to the church.[11]

In July 1645, so it is said, the poet John Milton was reconciled with his estranged wife Mary Powell, in the house of a Mrs Weber, a widow, in St Clement's churchyard where Mary was then lodging. Milton's description in Paradise Lost of the reconciliation of Adam and Eve draws, apparently, on the real life reconciliation between Milton and his wife.[12]

She, not repulsed, with tears that ceased not flowing

And tresses all disordered, at his feet

Fell humble, and, embracing them, besought

His peace.

[...]

Soon his heart relented

Towards her, his life so late, and sole delight,

Now to his feet submissive in distress.

The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.

The present organ's oak case is the same one made to enclose the organ that was built for St Clement's in 1696, probably by Renatus Harris who maintained the instrument until 1704.[14] While the case has remained largely intact, the organ itself has been variously rebuilt and restored; in 1704 by Christian Smith, and in 1711 by Abraham Jordan (c.1666–1716)—who it is thought added the swell organ to the two manual instrument. From 1838 the organ was in the care of Messrs Gray and Davison, who in 1872—as part of the renovation of the building—moved the organ from the west gallery to the south aisle. Care of the organ was transferred to Henry Wedlake that same year. In 1889 he rebuilt the instrument. Further work was undertaken in 1926 by Messrs J. W. Walker, and in 1936 by Messrs Hill, Norman and Beard, whew the instrument was moved back to an approximation of its original west-end location. The same company overhauled the organ in 1946, and in 1971 made 'neo-baroque' tonal revisions, which remain to this day. The instrument was last cleaned and repaired in 2004 by Colin Jilks of Sittingbourne, Kent.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Clement%27s,_Eastcheap

Good to know my period is secure.

Pattaya beach is speckled with people, sun umbrellas (thousands of them, creating a roof for the sand) and assorted debris. The water provides a home for even more of the detritis of today's life along with jet skis, banana boats and charter vessels. Where the water laps up against the sand, ropes like this provide a secure connection between the two.

Bye bye, Pattaya. Our check-out is in an hour and the packing still needs to be done. Or rather, my packing needs to be done - the kids have just taken great pride in reminding me that theirs is complete. :)

From the My Thai - a cocktail of shots set.

Here you can see the four high strength steel hanging bars used to secure each guideway segment to the launching truss. Once the segments have been secured traffic is safe to travel under the launch truss as was done on the Canada Line and Millennium Line.

This was the highlight and reason for my Southern Arizona Adventure 2024. This is stage 8 of 9.

I was lucky to secure permits for the once monthly photography tour of Kartchner Caverns. Kartchner Caverns State Park strictly forbids any cameras or cellphones in the Caverns. Except for one trip per month for 12 to 15 photographers currently $125. I planned a 4 day 3 night road trip around Southern Arizona anchored by my Kartchner Cavern permit.

As we were waiting in the Visitor Center, I saw this on the wall and grabbed a quick shot. Looking at it now and looking back at my time in the Caverns, I wish I had shot a better photo.

nocache.azcentral.com/travel/arizona/southern/articles/20...

The Kartchner Caverns, rated one of the world's 10 most beautiful caves, is an eerie wonderland of stalactites and stalagmites still growing beneath the Whetstone Mountains 40 miles southeast of Tucson.

The limestone cave has 13,000 feet of passages and hundreds of formations built over the past 200,000 years, including some that are unique and world-renowned. It's a "living cave," with intricate formations that continue to grow as water seeps, drips and flows from the walls and slowly deposits the mineral calcium carbonate.

The caverns were discovered by amateur spelunkers Randy Tufts and Gary Tenen in 1974 on land owned by the Kartchner family. They kept the cave a secret until 1988, when the Kartchners sold it to the state to become a state park.

The highlights of the Big Room tour are a stretch of strawberry flowstone, which has been colored red by iron oxide (rust) in the water, and a maternity ward for 1,800 female cave myotis bats, with black grime on the ceiling where the bats hang and piles of guano on the floor. Visitors who look closely will see a bat's body embedded in one of the cave's formations.

Though not all are available on the tours, the caverns' unique features include a 21-foot, 2-inch soda straw that's one the world's largest (Throne Room), the world's most extensive formation of brushite moonmilk (Big Room), the first reported occurrence of "turnip" shields (Big Room), the first cave occurrence of "birdsnest" needle quartz formations (Big Room) and the remains of a Shasta ground sloth from the Pleistocene Age (Big Room).

azstateparks.com/Kartchner

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kartchner_Caverns_State_Park

Kartchner Caverns State Park is a state park of Arizona, United States, featuring a show cave with 2.4 miles (3.9 km) of passages.[1] The park is located 9 miles (14 km) south of the town of Benson and west of the north-flowing San Pedro River. Long hidden from view, the caverns were discovered in 1974 by local cavers, assisted by state biologist Erick Campbell who helped in its preservation.

The park encompasses most of a down-dropped block of Palaeozoic rocks on the east flank of the Whetstone Mountains.

The caverns are carved out of limestone and filled with spectacular speleothems which have been growing for 50,000 years or longer, and are still growing. Careful and technical cave state park development and maintenance, initially established by founder Dr. Bruce Randall "Randy" Tufts, geologist, were designed to protect and preserve the cave system throughout the park's development, and for perpetuity.[3]

The two major features of the caverns accessible to the public are the Throne Room and the Big Room. The Throne Room contains one of the world's longest (21 ft 2 in (6.45 m))[5] soda straw stalactites and a 58-foot (18 m) high column called Kubla Khan, after the poem. The Big Room contains the world's most extensive formation of brushite moonmilk. Big Room cave tours are closed during the summer for several months (April 15 to October 15) each year because it is a nursery roost for cave bats, however the Throne Room tours remain open year-round.[8]

Other features publicly accessible within the caverns include Mud Flats, Rotunda Room, Strawberry Room, and Cul-de-sac Passage. Approximately 60% of the cave system is not open to the public.[9]

Many different cave formations can be found within the caves and the surrounding park. These include cave bacon, helictites, soda straws, stalactites, stalagmites and others.[12] Cave formations like the stalactites and stalagmites grow approximately a 16th of an inch every 100 years.[13]

Haiku thoughts:

Beneath earth's cool veil,

Stalactites in silence grow,

Whispers of stone deep.

Southern Arizona Adventure 2024

Photographed by Christopher J. Vitale

Secure your place on one of the Cent Cols Challenge 2013 event here --> www.rapha.cc/cent-col-challenge-deposit

The design and build of a state of the art, low energy, 45 bedroom medium secure mental health unit

+++ 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 P-74 "Charger" was a fighter aircraft built by Lockheed for the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Its configuration was unusual as it was designed as a twin boom pusher configuration, where the propeller is mounted in the rear of the fuselage, pushing the aircraft forward.

The P-74 entered service with the USAAF in late 1944, its conception dated back to 1939 when the U.S. Army Air Corps requested with the Circular Proposal R40C domestic manufacturers to develop high performance fighter types, allowing (even demanding) unusual configurations. Lockheed did not respond immediately and missed the chance to sign a development contract in mid-1940 until early 1941. Twenty-three proposals were submitted to R40C, and after a fist selection of ideas three companies, Vultee with the large XP-54 Swoose Goose, Curtiss with its XP-55 Ascender and Northrop's XP-56 Black Bullet were able to secure prototype contracts.

Vultee eventually won the competition, but all these innovative new aircraft suffered from various flaws or development delays, missing various performance goals, so that none ever entered service.

In the meantime, Lockheed had been working on the 1939 request in the background on a private venture basis, as it was clear that by 1944 a successor to the company's own P-38 Lightning had to be offered to the USAAC.

The new North American P-51 Mustang was also a sharp competitor, esp. for the Pacific conflict theatre where long range was needed. This role was filled out very well by the P-38, but it was a relatively large and complicated aircraft, so an alternative with a single engine was strived for. Even though jet engines already showed their potential, it was clear that the requested range for the new type could only be achieved through a piston engine.

This aircraft became the XP-74, originally christened “Laelaps”, following Lockheed’s tradition, after a female Greek mythological dog who never failed to catch what she was hunting. It was presented as a mock-up to USAAC officials on August 8th 1942 and immediately found sponsorship: with the disappointing results from the XP-54,55 and 56 was immediately ushered into the prototype stage. Its name, though, was rejected, and the more common name “Charger” was adopted.

Just like Lockheed’s successful P-38 the XP-74 Charger was designed as a twin-boom aircraft, but it was driven by only a single Packard (License-built Rolls Royce Merlin) V-1650 pusher engine in the aft part of the fuselage. The tail was mounted rearward between two mid-wing booms, with a four-bladed 12-ft propeller between them. The design also included a "ducted wing section" developed by the NACA that enabled installation of cooling radiators and intercoolers in the wing root section.

The advantages of a pusher design are that the view forward is unobstructed and armament can be concentrated in the nose, while a major drawback is difficulty in escaping from the aircraft in an emergency, as the pilot could get drawn into the propeller blades. Lockheed deliberated between systems that would eject the pilot, or jettison the propeller or the engine, via a system of explosive bolts. Lockheed eventually installed an early ejector seat which was driven by pressurized air, combined with a mechanism that would blow the canopy off. The system was successfully tested in summer 1943, even though skepticism remained among pilots.

Initial armament comprised one 20mm Hispano cannon and four 12.7mm Browning machine guns, the same as in the P-38, but two machine guns were relocated from the nose into the front ends of the tail booms because of the new aircraft’s smaller overall dimensions.

The first prototype was ready in October 1943, with a different engine and heavier armor fitted. The second prototype was built to this specification from the start, which would become the serial production standard, the P-74A.

The P-74A used the new V-1650-9 engine, a version of the Merlin that included Simmons automatic supercharger boost control with water injection, allowing War Emergency Power as high as 2,218 hp (1,500 kW). Another change concerned the armament: a longer weapon range was deemed necessary, so the gun armament was changed into four 20mm Hispano cannons, two of the placed in the fuselage nose and one in each tail boom front end. Each gun was supplied with 250 RPG.

Alternatively, a nose installment with a single 37mm cannon and two 12.7mm Browning MGs was tested on the first prototype, but this arrangement was found to be less effective than the four 20mm cannons. Another factor that turned this option down was the more complicated logistics demands for three different calibers in one aircraft.

The P-74A was ready for service in summer 1944, but its deployment into the Pacific region took until December – the 5th Air Force first units replaced most of its P-38 and also early P-47Ds with the P-74A.These new aircraft had their first clashes with Japanese forces in January 1945.

The P-74 was used in a variety of roles. It was designed as an intreceptor against bombers, but its good range and handling at all altitudes made it suitable for tasks like fighter sweeps against enemy airfields, support for U.S. ground forces and protection of sea convoys and transport routes.

While the P-74 could not out-turn the A6M Zero and most other Japanese fighters when flying below 200 mph (320 km/h), its superior speed coupled with a good rate of climb meant that it could utilize energy tactics, making multiple high-speed passes at its target. Also, its focused firepower was deadly to lightly armored Japanese warplanes.

Because of its late service introduction, only 305 P-74s were ever produced until the end of hostilities, and they were exclusively used in the Pacific theatre. The P-74's service record shows mixed results, but usually because of misinformation. P-74s have been described as being harder to fly than traditional, single-engined aircraft, but this was because of inadequate training in the first few months of service.

Another drawback was the ejection seat system – it worked basically well, but the tank for the pressurized air turned out to be very vulnerable to enemy fire. Several P-74s literally exploded in midair after cannon fire hits, and this poeblem could only be cured when the tank section behind the cockpit received a more rigid structure and additional armor. Anyway, the P-74 was quickly retired after WWII, as the USAAF focussed on P-47 and P-51.

General characteristics

Crew: 1

Length: 10.45 m (34 ft 3 in)

Wingspan: 11.6 m (38 ft 0 in)

Height: 3.97 (13 ft 0 in)

Wing area: 22.2 m² (238.87 ft²)

Empty weight: 3,250 kg (7,165 lb)

Loaded weight: 4,150 kg (9,149 lb)

Max. take-off weight: 4,413 kg (9,730 lb)

Powerplant:

1× Packard (License-built Rolls Royce Merlin) V-1650-9 ,

rated at 1,380 hp (1,030 kW) and 2,218 hp (1,500 kW) w. water injection

Performance

Maximum speed: 640 km/h (343 knots, 398 mph)

Cruise speed: 495 km/h (265 knots, 308 mph)

Range: 1,105 mi (1,778 km)

Ferry range: 1,330 nmi (1,530 mi, 2,460 km)

Service ceiling: 11,000 m (36,090 ft)

Rate of climb: 15 m/s (2,950 ft/min)

Armament

4× 20 mm (0.79 in) Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannons with 250 RPG

2× hardpoints for up to 2,000 lb (907 kg) of bombs, 6 or 10× T64 5.0 in (127 mm) H.V.A.R rockets

The kit and its assembly:

This whif was inspired by a CG rendition of a Saab J21 in a natural metal finish and with (spurious) USAAF markings, probably a skin for a flight simulator. Anyway, I was more or less enchanted by the NMF on the Saab – I had to build one, and it would become the P-74, the only USAF fighter code that had never been used.

The kit is the venerable Heller Saab J21A, an “old style” design with raised panel lines. But it is still around and affordable. No big mods were made to the kit during its transition into a USAAF fighter, even though I changed some minor things:

● Main landing gear was completely exchanged through struts from an Airfix A-1 Skyraider and the wheels from a Hasegawa P-51D; thin wire was added as hydraulic tubes

● New propeller blades: instead of the three-bladed original I added four much broader blades with square tips (from a Heller P-51D) to the original spinner

● Different exhaust stubs, which actually belong to a Spitfire Merlin (Special Hobby kit)

● Underfuselage flap was slightly opened

● A pilot figure was added to the nice cockpit

● The gun barrels were replaced with hollow styrene tubes

Painting and markings:

NMF was certain, but the rest…? I wanted to have a colorful aircraft, and eventually settled for a machine in the Pacific theatre of operations. When I browsed for options I eventually decided to apply broad black stripes on wings and fuselage, typical 5th Air Force markings that were used e. g. on P-47Ds and P-51Ds.

Overall design benchmark for my aircraft is a P-47D-28 of 310th FS/58th FG. The tail would be all white, and the rudder sported red and white stripes, early war insignia. The red nose trim and the deep yellow spinner were taken over from this aircraft, too. The blue individual code number is a personal addition, as well as the nose art, which was puzzled together from a Czech 'Perdubice' Meeting MiG-21 and leftover bits from a Pacific use P-51.

The aircraft was basically painted with Aluminum Metallizer (Humbrol 27002) and Polished Steel Metallizer (Modelmaster), and some panels were contrasted with Aluminum (Humbrol 56).

The anti-glare panel in front of the cockpit was painted in Olive Drab (Humbrol 66), the red nose trim with Humbrol 19. The tail was painted with a mix of Humbrol 34 & 196, for a very light grey, and later dry-painted with pure white.

The black ID stripes as well as the red and blue rudder trim were not painted, but rather created through decal sheet material (from TL Modellbau), cut to size and shape to fit into their respective places. The tail was a PITA, but for the black stripes this turned out to be very effective and convenient - an experiment that willcertainly see more future use.

Cockpit interior was painted in Humbrol 226 (Cockpit Green) and Zinc Chromate Green from Model Master, the landing gear wells received a chrome yellow primer (Humbrol 225) finish.

The landing gear struts were kept in bare Aluminum.

For weathering the kit received a rubbing treatment with grinded graphite, which adds a dark, metallic shine and emphasizes the kit’s raised panel lines. Some dry painting with Aluminum was added, too, simulating chipped paint on the leading edges, and on the black ID stripes some dark grey shading was added.

A relatively simple whif, but I love how the Saab 21 looks in the unusual, shiny NMF finish - and the USAAF markings with the prominent ID stripes suit it well, even though it looks a bit like a circus attraction now?

There's a cured pass of resin underneath this holding the bar above the rubber. This pour will "glue" the rod in place so it won't move during the casting process.

Arose early and a long day of bus travel from Banteay Chhmar to Siem Reap. In the grand scheme of things, it was a comfortable ride watching the traffic unfold.

ISO3200 f5.6 1/1000 250mm LR

It may look old and rusty, but it still works.

DSCU3243gq

Houston, Texas

Uni Ulm

A mooring cleat at Fishermen's Terminal, Seattle.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The Orion boilerplate test vehicle is secured on its cradle in the well deck of the U.S. Navy's USS Anchorage in preparation for Underway Recovery Test 2 in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego. A safety barrier has been installed near the test vehicle to keep it from going further into the well deck as it fills with water. NASA, Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy will conduct the test to prepare for recovery of the Orion crew module on its return from a deep space mission. The underway recovery test will allow the team to demonstrate and evaluate the recovery processes, procedures, new hardware and personnel in open waters. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is conducting the underway recovery test. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of the Orion is scheduled to launch in 2014 atop a Delta IV rocket and in 2017 on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Our security guard looking after us by the beach. Nice high duns though.

SAFE & SOUND....

LUNCH WALKABOUT

OCEAN AVE

BROOKLYN

NY

photoshopped pron

Diplomatic Security Service secure communications and technical experts set up equipment to provide around-the-clock secure communications and support for the 73rd UN General Assembly in New York.

View Large On Black

Another one from the other day, at Trefor, North Wales.Lots of nice little boats on the beach.

This is a shot taken last year of an old ground floor window of a house in the harbour town of Ciutadella on the island of Menorca. I found myself drawn to the details in some of the older buildings on the island for their earthy richness and textures.

Please view on black.

Please do not download, copy, edit, reproduce or publish any of my images in whole or in part. They are my own intellectual property and are not for use without my express written permission.

© All rights reserved

+++ 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.”

(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.

Edinburgh Airport - operating the shuttle service to their car park which also runs via the Holiday Inn Express hotel

attached the modified power brick and VGA cable to the case with sugru for a stable but flexible attachment.

you can't see it well, but i've shaved down the power cord's end to fit snugly into the original round hole. i liked that solution better than routing out a square hole in the backplate.

Minolta Maxxum 7000

Ilford HP5 Plus - 400

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