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“Minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from it.” Joshua Becker, Simplify
also please take a moment to visit my website
I made a product box and tested it out using this old bold and washer. The picture was good but boring so I decided to have some fun using some Topaz plugins I recently purchased. This is using Simplify.
Also please take a moment to visit my website
This one for sure looks better on B l a c k M a g i c
Todays challenge for the daily shoot was Experiment in the digital darkroom today. Make a photo and post-process it any way you like to unleash your creativity.
So it was a nice day here and we had some things we had to do, but by about 2:30 we were done so decided to jump in the car and go somewhere we hadnt been before and ended up in Snug Harbor Park on Staten Island a lovely quaint little park which we enjoyed a leisurely stroll around, and this is one of the shots I got today
This shot I played around with in Topaz Simplify, the shot in the first comment is how I would normally have done this shot
ODC- Wave for 9 November. I used Topaz Simplify 4 to change what was a black and white cushion pattern.
My brand new 2013 Classic Aurora doll has been fully deboxed. She is posed standing, supported by a Kaiser doll stand (not included with the doll). She is photographed from various angles. As the sun was low in the sky, most of the photos used the built-in camera flash.
The 2013 Classic Aurora is mostly the same doll as the 2012 model. She has the same face and almost the same dress. The few changes are the return of her iconic curly bang, a swirly glittery pattern in her dark pink satin skirt, and glently curly hair. The skirt is not as wide or as long as the 2012 model. The hair is not as voluminous, but the gentle curls are easy to even out with your fingers after deboxing. Since there is no need to comb the hair to make it neater, there is no tendency for it to get frizzy and poofy, as was the case for the 2012 Aurora. I like the new Aurora much better than the older version.
A major change, common to all the 2013 Classic Princess dolls, is the replacement of the fully articulated legs with the old rubber legs, with fixed angled feet and internal knee joints. I would rather that they fixed the problems with the 2012 legs, but when exposed the rubber legs do look a lot better, with the disadvantage of being much less posable. Also the glitter tends to stick to the rubber legs, and it cannot simply be brushed off.
The packaging for the dolls is much improved. The box art has been completely redesigned, with beautiful decorations unique to each Princess (actually for each movie), and a cameo of the animated movie character. Also the way the dolls are packaged is much simplified, making it much easier and quicker to remove them from the box. Gone is the large plastic spacer between the head and the cardboard backing. Also gone are the tiny plastic T-bar fasteners, which secured the outfits to the backing and left little holes and sometimes runs in the fabric. There are still large T-bar fasteners tacking the back of the doll's head to the backing. Also the dolls with free flowing hair no longer have them flattened and sectioned into two parts, making it hard to even out the back of their hair after deboxing. Instead, their hair is gathered up and placed to one side of the doll, and secured by thread. It looks good as is in the box. Or if the doll is deboxed, it is easy to shake out the hair and even it out using just your fingers.
I just got the new Aurora, Mulan and Tiana Classic dolls from my local DS, on June 18, 2013. They were the only ones they have so far. I got two Auroras because one was fully glittered, and the other had very little glitter (the factory must have missed putting glitter glue on the swirl patterns). Also the less glittery Aurora had a much better curly bang than the other. The dolls all look better than the stock photos on the Disney Store website. And the boxes are beautiful. I will eventually get two copies of each doll, one to debox, the other to keep boxed.
The 2013 Disney Princess Classic Doll Collection, released on June 10, 2013. They consist of 11-12'' articulated dolls of the 11 official Disney Princesses, from Snow White to Merida, as well as Princes, Villains and Sidekicks. When I get the dolls in person, I will photograph them boxed, during deboxing and fully deboxed. I will also post reviews and comparative photos.
Classic Disney Princess Aurora Doll - 12''
US Disney Store
Released online June 10, 2013.
Purchased in store June 18, 2013.
$14.95
Classic Dolls $10 each when you buy 2 or more
APPROXIMATE RELEASE DATE: 2025-
HEAD MOLD: "Josefina"
IMPORTANT NOTES: This doll is a simplified version of the 2023 Collector Belle. She has a different outfit and accessories, and does not have the same gold glitter makeup seen on the collector edition.
PERSONAL FUN FACT written by my sister: There aren't many Disney movies that I don't like. In fact, I simply LOVE most Disney movies--ones older than me, ones that came out WAY after I grew up...all of them. At some point, 101 Dalmatians was my favorite. At some point before that, it was Bambi. (Why, Colleen, why?) We watched Aladdin so many times that we destroyed multiple copies of it from over watching, and I feel that if the Princess and the Frog had been out in our youth, it would've met the same fate. However, I think my true favorite Disney movie out of them all is Beauty and the Beast. I AM Belle--an odd girl, lost in a book (or five books all at once), who doesn't fit in. A dazed dreamer walking through regular life, but thinking she's somewhere else. Emma Watson truly got to live out my fantasy--not of being Hermione Granger, because I pretty much did live that out in real life (bobbing up and down, hand in the air to answer ever question), but to play Belle on screen! My "favorite" Disney movie has changed (though Beauty and the Beast never left the top five, and Belle has always been my favorite princess) from time to time, but you can't change what your FIRST Disney movie was--and Beauty and the Beast was the first Disney movie we owned on VHS! The two cartoons I remember owning farthest back (though we rented plenty when I was little too) were Beauty and the Beast and a Little Mermaid VHS from the TV series. I know for a fact that we had to have gotten Beauty and the Beast first and, when I say "we" I mean me, because I don't think Shelly was even born yet. I remember when/where we got the Little Mermaid VHS--it was from my Pepere, Shelly was already born, and he gave me the charm bracelet that went with it (it's on Shelly's Forever Hair Ariel doll as a decorative sash). But I don't remember when or where we got Beauty and the Beast, it just WAS. In fact, I had it so long that, as far back as I remember, the beginning was so fuzzy it looked like it was raining. (And because I can't recall a time when it wasn't messed up, I thought it WAS raining, you can imagine my shock when I put in the DVD for the first time as an adult to discover, "It's not raining!") I watched it ALL the time when I was little! In fact, I remember being five, six, and seven, being on the playground or at the grocery store, trying to sing like Belle. I think I was convinced that, if I channeled Belle often enough, that it would manifest and I would BECOME Belle. I also had a fantasy of getting to do Belle's voice for the movie. I didn't have a full understanding of how home video worked back then, but I did know someone drew the pictures. I thought that whoever voiced a character also drew that character's pictures and that, whenever you put the tape in, the voice actor would basically be summoned to perform. (Not sure why I thought that would work--what if the voice actor was in bed or in the shower?) So, I greatly envy Emma Watson for getting to BE Belle for real! And it says something that I saw Beauty and the Beast as a very small child for the first time and that it STILL resonates with me like it did over 30 years ago! (The same can't be said of Bambi--which frankly I now find depressing. Or the Fox and the Hound--also depressing. Or 101 Dalmatians, which I still find cute, but I don't get why I liked it so much between fourth grade and sixth.) I may have enjoyed Aladdin more at times, but, as much as I loved Jasmine, I could never pretend that she was the princess I was most like.
I can relate 100% to how Belle felt when Gaston proposed. He's this gross, overly macho guy, with two many muscles, and a giant ego. He'd be bad enough if he was your stereotypical 21st century jock, but he's worse because he's a hunter, not a football player. There's nothing less attractive to me than someone hanging dead animals on the wall! Yuck. But he didn't take away from the movie. He's so objectionable that I love to hate him and my favorite song has to be "Gaston!" ("Le Fou I'm afraid I've been thinking..." "A dangerous past time" "I know.") The only thing that could make Beauty and the Beast even better is if she never got married to a prince and just stayed in the enchanted castle with the living objects forever! I mean, she'd never have to cook and clean. Shelly likes princesses who cook and clean for a hobby. I like the idea of letting the enchanted kitchen do the cooking and cleaning for me better.
In 2023, American Girl did their first collab with Disney, releasing Belle, Rapunzel, and Jasmine as 18 inch collector dolls. Like some of the holiday collector dolls, these were limited edition dolls bedazzled with swarovski crystals and a three hundred dollar price tag. I thought Rapunzel was really cool and looked most like the movie character. I thought Jasmine was also cool, but looked less like the movie character. Naturally, the one that spoke to me was Belle! However, I couldn't justify spending three hundred dollars on one doll. I'm not saying it's wrong for everyone, but it was just more than I felt comfortable spending. In 2024, they issued three more Disney girls--Tiana, Cinderella, and Ariel. They each were marketed with two separate fashions and weren't much more money than a regular American Girl. I was struck by two things the minute I found out about the second wave of Disney AG: One, Shelly would LOVE Tiana. Two, the price and separately marketed Disney fashions were PERFECT and I was really sad that Belle had launched with the earlier, more expensive dolls with less incentive to purchase them (I see extra fashions as a huge incentive). While Shelly was ordering Tiana (because we lucked out with a HUGE rewards certificate shortly after her release), I felt a pang of regret that Belle would never be.
However, shortly after Shelly purchased Tiana, hope rose anew: I noticed that Rapunzel was reissued as a simplified version, sans swarovski crystals and for a more affordable price tag! If Rapunzel was issued as a playline doll, could it mean that someday...I had to hope, and Shelly said that she read rumors that Belle would indeed be issued as a playline doll too. Rapunzel was issued with two accessories sets sold separately, rather than fashions, but still...so much fun for play. I was disappointed, however, when Moana was released because I was afraid that maybe they weren't going to get to Belle after all. Belle continued to be a pipe dream...a fantasy. Seeing another princess getting released who was NOT Belle? Huge disappointment. We didn't film our American Girl collection video in 2024 because, once Shelly purchased Nicki Hoffman, I had to have her twin, Isabel. It seemed pointless to film without one of the Hoffman twins, when we knew I'd get Isabel. I got Isabel as a "Christmas present" for myself in 2024 and we planned to film our American Girl collection shortly thereafter. But then...BELLE WAS RELEASED!
Shelly was happy for me, but also exasperated that this would put our plans to film our collection on hold yet again. I couldn't WAIT to get Belle. I thought it might take an ETERNITY for her to go on sale. The $70 we had in rewards points that we put toward Tiana was a fluke, unlikely to happen ever again. However, I knew Belle would eventually go on sale. It is so hard to be patient for things one really wants. Belle didn't qualify for a sale they ran over my February break, but Summer Mckinny did and Shelly really liked Summer, so we ordered Summer. It didn't make sense to buy Belle when she'd eventually go on sale, even though I was wildly impatient to finally possess my favorite Disney princess and Shelly wanted to be able to film our AG collection.
Toward the end of March, they ran another sale. I saw an ad for it in my email while I was on lunch at work. (American Girl probably emails me five times a day...Desperation is such an attractive quality in a retailer.) I highly doubted that Belle would qualify, but I hoped! That night, I checked and discovered that, to my delight, Belle qualified! Why she qualified for the sale but Lila, who was the Girl of the Year from the previous year, did not, I don't know! Also, Summer's clothes qualified! We felt really guilty contemplating it, what with buying Summer so recently AND some other outfits we caught on a sale (if we'd known Belle would be on a later sale, we wouldn't have done the other sale, but who'd have thought they'd run TWO consecutive 20% off sales!?). We said we'd think about it...but of course Shelly ordered Belle for me the next day when I was at work! She also snagged one of Summer's fashions and Belle's blue dress so that we'd qualify for free shipping (which is every shopaholics favorite excuse in the world). The end of March 2025 was very much like the end of March 2024--I spent a lot of time eagerly waiting for someone very special to come in the mail, a princess. "A princess is coming to my house!" The 2024 "princess" who arrived was Megan Ryder, my first Magic Attic doll. She is not a princess in the traditional sense, but she will always be as much a princess as Belle to me! I didn't think it would be possible to top the arrival of Megan...but BELLE! Not just a princess, but the first princess I adored.
Shelly ordered Belle on the last Thursday of March. She was supposed to arrive the following Tuesday, the first day of April, but she was two days late! She missed a scan, so I was starting to worry that she'd been lost in the mail--until Shelly texted me and said Belle had arrived! It was also a Thursday, a week after we ordered her. When I moved some things around in the shipping box to prepare to open her on camera, I accidentally saw her lovely face for the first time (I forgot that her box had a window). She took my breath away! So pretty! I love that she uses the Josefina sculpt, just like my Rebecca. It is the perfect look for Belle--very heart shaped, great for her hairline, and very full lips. Her eyes are similar to Rebecca's too, also perfect. Her eyebrows are really unique and I love her extra lashes! She did not disappoint! She is truly a work of art. Her hair is gorgeous too. The color is so perfect. It was a mess though--the lower half of the style was very dry. The bun part...they put it in a separate hairnet which was impossible to safely remove without messing up the style. Shelly thinks they put the bobby pins in after they put the net over it, which is probably true (how else were the pins outside of the net?). So, she had to attend Shelly's Salon for a restyle and conditioning, but she is perfect in every way. I love that she came with her ears already pierced. Shelly could have pierced them, but it was one less step. I love the earrings Shelly made to go with this dress--the flowers she put on the bottom under the yellow ones are PERFECT! They are similar to the ones she made for Tiana's dress.
Getting Belle was a really big deal for me. Back when I was a kid, American Girl didn't do collabs with big companies like Disney. I'm not saying that girls like Molly and Addy aren't just as famous as Belle to me, because they are, but it's really cool that they've expanded to make dolls of our favorite Disney characters. It might not be the traditional way that Pleasant Rowland started the company in the 80s. However, I read in one of our collector books that she wanted to focus on girls and things that mattered to girls. Belle mattered so much to me as a little girl, and I never stopped loving her or forgot about her, even in my late 30s. Belle still resonates with children today and I think she's a good role model. (She uses her brain and she knows that you don't have to marry the best looking man in town if he's a total jerk, even if everyone else thinks you should.) Characters like Moana, Tiana, Rapunzel, Ana, and Elsa may be "after my time," but they are impacting the lives of children (and even adults--I love all of them too) and some of them have already been around long enough that children who grew up with them the way I did with Belle are already grown and might love to have one of them (or more than one of them) as a keepsake. I will cherish Belle--I love her so much! It is still completely surreal to me that American Girl has released Disney princesses, the right size to play with Molly!
© Saira Bhatti
This is what these cherry blossoms induced in my thoughts while walking among them.....“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.” ~ Henry David Thoreau #Canon #Photography
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Panther tank, officially Panzerkampfwagen V Panther (abbreviated PzKpfw V) with ordnance inventory designation Sd.Kfz. 171, was a German medium tank of World War II. It was used on the Eastern and Western Fronts from mid-1943 to the end of the war. The Panther was intended to counter the Soviet T-34 medium tank and to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV. Nevertheless, it served alongside the Panzer IV and the heavier Tiger I until the end of the war. It is considered one of the best tanks of World War II for its excellent firepower, protection, and mobility although its reliability in early times were less impressive.
The Panther was a compromise. While having essentially the same Maybach V12 petrol (700 hp) engine as the Tiger I, it had better gun penetration, was lighter and faster, and could traverse rough terrain better than the Tiger I. The trade-off was weaker side armor, which made it vulnerable to flanking fire. The Panther proved to be effective in open country and long-range engagements.
The Panther was far cheaper to produce than the heavy Tiger I. Key elements of the Panther design, such as its armor, transmission, and final drive, were simplifications made to improve production rates and address raw material shortages. Despite this the overall design remain described by some as "overengineered". The Panther was rushed into combat at the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943 despite numerous unresolved technical problems, leading to high losses due to mechanical failure. Most design flaws were rectified by late 1943 and early 1944, though the bombing of production plants, increasing shortages of high-quality alloys for critical components, shortage of fuel and training space, and the declining quality of crews all impacted the tank's effectiveness.
Though officially classified as a medium tank, at 44.8 metric tons the Panther was closer to a heavy tank weight and the same category as the American M26 Pershing (41.7 tons), British Churchill (40.7 tons) and the Soviet IS-2 (46 tons) heavy tanks. The Panther's weight caused logistical problems, such as an inability to cross certain bridges, otherwise the tank had a very high power-to-weight ratio which made it highly mobile.
The Panther was only used marginally outside of Germany, mostly captured or recovered vehicles, some even after the war. Japan already received in 1943 a specimen for evaluation. During March–April 1945, Bulgaria received 15 Panthers of various makes (D, A, and G variants) from captured and overhauled Soviet stocks; they only saw limited (training) service use. In May 1946, Romania received 13 Panther tanks from the USSR, too.
After the war, France was able to recover enough operable vehicles and components to equip its army and offer vehicles for sale. The French Army's 503e Régiment de Chars de Combat was equipped with a force of 50 Panthers from 1944 to 1947, in the 501st and 503rd Tank Regiments. These remained in service until they were replaced by French-built ARL 44 heavy tanks.
In 1946, Sweden sent a delegation to France to examine surviving specimens of German military vehicles. During their visit, the delegates found a few surviving Panthers and had one shipped to Sweden for further testing and evaluation, which continued until 1961.
However, this was not the Panther’s end of service. The last appearance by WWII German tanks on the world’s battlefields came in 1967, when Syria’s panzer force faced off against modern Israeli armor. Quite improbably, Syria had assembled a surprisingly wide collection of ex-Wehrmacht vehicles from a half-dozen sources over a decade and a half timeframe. This fleet consisted primarily of late production Panzer V, StuGIII and Jagdpanzer IVs, plus some Hummel SPAAGs and a handful Panthers. The tanks were procured from France, Spain, and Czechoslovakia, partly revamped before delivery.
All of the Panthers Syria came from Czechoslovakia. Immediately after Germany’s collapse in May 1945, the Soviet army established a staging area for surrendered German tanks at a former Wehrmacht barracks at Milovice, about 24 miles north of Prague, Czechoslovakia. By January 1946, a total of roughly 200 operational Panzer IVs and Panthers of varying versions were at this facility. Joining them was a huge cache of spare parts found at a former German tank repair depot in Teplice, along with ammunition collected from all over Czechoslovakia and the southern extremity of the Soviet occupation zone in Germany. Throughout 1946, the Czechoslovak government’s clean-up of WWII battlefields recovered more than one hundred further tank wrecks, of which 80 were pieced back together to operational status and handed over to the Czechoslovakian Army,
In early 1948, the now-nationalized CKD Works began a limited upkeep of the tanks, many of which had not had depot-level overhauls since the war. A few were rebuilt with a Czechoslovak-designed steering system, but this effort was halted due to cost. These tanks remained operational in the Czechoslovak army until the end of 1954, when sufficient T-34s were available to phase them out.
A Syrian military delegation visited Prague from 8 April – 22 April 1955. An agreement was struck for the sale, amongst other items, of 45 Panzer IVs and 15 Panthers. Despite their obsolescence the Czechoslovaks were not about to just give the tanks away and demanded payment in a ‘hard’ western currency, namely British pounds. The cost was £4,500 each (£86,000 or $112,850 in 2016 money), far above what they were probably worth militarily, especially considering the limited amount of foreign currency reserves available to the Damascus government. The deal included refurbishment, a full ammunition loadout for each, and a limited number of spare parts. Nonetheless, the deal was closed, and the tanks’ delivery started in early November 1955.
The Syrians were by that time already having dire problems keeping their French-sourced panzers operational, and in 1958, a second contract was signed with CKD Works for 15 additional Panzer IVs and 10 more Panthers, these being in lesser condition or non-operational, for use as spare parts hulks. An additional 16 refurbished Maybach engines for both types were also included in this contract, as well as more ammunition.
The refurbished Panthers for Syria had their original 7.5 cm KwK 42 L70 replaced with the less powerful Rheinmetall 7.5 cm KwK 40 L48 gun – dictated by the fact that this gun was already installed in almost all other Syrian tanks of German origin and rounds for the KwK 42 L70 were not available anymore. and the Panther’s full ammo load was 87 rounds. The KwK 40 L48 fired a standard APCBC shell at 750 m/s and could penetrate 109 mm (4.3 in) hardened steel at 1.000 m range. This was enough to take out an M4 Sherman at this range from any angle under ideal circumstances. With an APCR shell the gun was even able to penetrate 130 mm (5.1 in) of hardened steel at the same distance.
Outwardly, the gun switch was only recognizable through the shorter barrel with a muzzle brake, the German WWII-era TZF.5f gunsight was retained by the Syrians. Additionally, there were two secondary machine guns, either MG-34s or MG-42s, one coaxial with the main gun and a flexible one in a ball mount in the tank’s front glacis plate.
A few incomplete Panther hulls without turret were also outfitted with surplus Panzer IV turrets that carried the same weapon, but the exact share of them among the Syrian tanks is unknown – most probably less than five, and they were among the batch delivered in the course of the second contract from 1958.
As they had been lumped all together in Czechoslovak army service, the Syrians received a mixed bag of Panzer IV and Panther versions, many of them “half-breeds” or “Frankensteins”. Many had the bow machine gun removed, either already upon delivery or as a later field modification, and in some cases the machine gun in the turret was omitted as well.
An obvious modification of the refurbished Czech export Panthers for Syria was the installation of new, lighter road wheels. These were in fact adapted T-54 wheels from Czechoslovakian license production that had just started in 1957 - instead of revamping the Panthers’ original solid steel wheels, especially their rubberized tread surfaces, it was easier to replace them altogether, what also made spare parts logistics easier. The new wheels had almost the same diameter as the original German road wheels from WWII, and they were simply adapted to the Panther’s attachment points of the torsion bar suspension’s swing arms. Together with the lighter main gun and some other simplifications, the Syrian Panthers’ empty weight was reduced by more than 3 tonnes.
The Czechoslovaks furthermore delivered an adapter kit to mount a Soviet-made AA DShK 12.7mm machine gun to the commander cupola. This AA mount had originally been developed after WWII for the T-34 tank, and these kits were fitted to all initial tanks of the 1955 order. Enough were delivered that some could be installed on a few of the Spanish- / French-sourced tanks, too.
It doesn’t appear that the Czechoslovaks updated the radio fit on any of the ex-German tanks, and it’s unclear if the Syrians installed modern Soviet radios. The WWII German Fu 5 radio required a dedicated operator (who also manned the bow machine gun); if a more modern system was installed not requiring a dedicated operator, this crew position could be eliminated altogether, what favored the deletion of the bow machine gun on many ex-German Syrian tanks. However, due to their more spacious hull and turret, many Panthers were apparently outfitted with a second radio set and used as command tanks – visible through a second whip antenna on the hull.
A frequent domestic Panther upgrade were side skirts to suppress dust clouds while moving and to prevent dust ingestion into the engines and clogged dust filters. There was no standardized solution, though, and solutions ranged from simple makeshift rubber skirts bolted to the tanks’ flanks to wholesale transplants from other vehicles, primarily Soviet tanks. Some Panthers also had external auxiliary fuel tanks added to their rear, in the form of two 200 l barrels on metal racks of Soviet origin. These barrels were not directly connected with the Panther’s fuel system, though, but a pump-and-hose kit was available to re-fuel the internal tanks from this on-board source in the field. When empty or in an emergency - the barrels were placed on top of the engine bay and leaking fuel quite hazardous - the barrels/tanks could be jettisoned by the crew from the inside.
Inclusive of the cannibalization hulks, Syria received a total of roughly 80 former German tanks from Czechoslovakia. However, at no time were all simultaneously operational and by 1960, usually only two or three dozen were combat-ready.
Before the Six Day War, the Syrian army was surprisingly unorganized, considering the amount of money being pumped into it. There was no unit larger than a brigade, and the whole Syrian army had a sort of “hub & spokes” system originating in Damascus, with every individual formation answering directly to the GHQ rather than a chain of command. The Panthers, Panzer IVs and StuG IIIs were in three independent tank battalions, grossly understrength, supporting the normal tank battalions of three infantry brigades (the 8th, 11th, and 19th) in the Golan Heights. The Jagdpanzer IVs were in a separate independent platoon attached to a tank battalion operating T-34s and SU-100s. How the Hummel SPGs were assigned is unknown.
The first active participation of ex-German tanks in Syrian service was the so-called “Water War”. This was not really a war but rather a series of skirmishes between Israel and Syria during the mid-1960s. With increasing frequency starting in 1964, Syria emplaced tanks on the western slope of the Golan Heights, almost directly on the border, to fire down on Israeli irrigation workers and farmers in the Galilee region. Surprisingly (considering the small number available) Syria chose the Panzer IV for this task. It had no feature making it better or worse than any other tank; most likely the Syrians felt they were the most expendable tanks in their inventory as Israeli counterfire was expected. The panzers were in defilade (dug in) and not easy to shoot back at; due to their altitude advantage.
In 1964, Syria announced plans to divert 35% of the Jordan River’s flow away from Israel, to deprive the country of drinking water. The Israelis responded that they would consider this an act of war and, true to their word, engaged the project’s workers with artillery and sniper fire. Things escalated quickly; in 1965, Israeli M4 Shermans on Israeli soil exchanged fire with the Syrian Panzer IVs above inconclusively. A United Nations peacekeeping team ordered both sides to disengage from the border for a set period of time to “cool off”, but the UN “Blue Berets” were detested and considered useless by both the Israelis and Syrians, and both sides used the lull to prepare their next move. When the cooling-off period ended, the Syrians moved Panzer IVs and now some Panthers, too, back into position. However, the IDF had now Centurion tanks waiting for them, with their fire arcs pre-planned out. The Cold War-era Centurion had heavy armor, a high-velocity 105mm gun, and modern British-made optics. It outclassed the WWII panzers in any imaginable way and almost immediately, two Syrian Panzer IVs and a Panther were destroyed. Others were abandoned by their crews and that was the end of the situation.
Syria’s participation in the Six Say War that soon followed in 1967 war was sloppy and ultimately disastrous. Israel initially intended the conflict to be limited to a preemptive strike against Egypt to forestall an imminent attack by that country, with the possibility of having to fight Syria and Jordan defensively if they responded to the operations against Egypt. The war against Egypt started on 5 June 1967. Because of the poor organization of the Syrian army, news passed down from Damascus on the fighting in the Sinai was scarce and usually outdated by the time it reached the brigade level. Many Syrian units (including the GHQ) were using civilian shortwave radios to monitor Radio Cairo which was spouting off outlandish claims of imaginary Egyptian victories, even as Israeli divisions were steamrolling towards the Suez Canal.
Syrian vehicles of German origin during the Six Day War were either painted overall in beige or in a dark olive drab green. Almost all had, instead of tactical number codes, the name of a Syrian soldier killed in a previous war painted on the turret in white. During the Six Day War, no national roundel was typically carried, even though the Syrian flag was sometimes painted to the turret flanks. However just as the conflict was starting, white circles were often painted onto the top sides of tanks as quick ID markings for aircraft, and some tanks had red recognition triangles added to the side areas: Syrian soldiers were notoriously trigger-happy, and the decreased camouflage effect was likely cancelled out by the reduced odds of being blasted by a comrade!
During the evening of 5 June, Syrian generals in Damascus urged the government to take advantage of the situation and mount an immediate invasion of Israel. Planning and preparation were literally limited to a few hours after midnight, and shortly after daybreak on 6 June, Syrian commanders woke up with orders to invade Israel. The three infantry brigades in the Golan, backed up by several independent battalions, were to spearhead the attack as the rest of the Syrian army mobilized.
There was no cohesion at all: Separate battalions began their advance whenever they happened to be ready to go, and brigades went forward, missing subunits that lagged behind. A platoon attempting a southern outflank maneuver tried to ford the Jordan River in the wrong spot and was washed away. According to a KGB report, at least one Syrian unit “exhibited cowardice” and ignored its orders altogether.
On 7 June, 24 hours into their attack, Syrian forces had only advanced 2 miles into Israel. On 8 June, the IDF pushed the Syrians back to the prewar border and that afternoon, Israeli units eliminated the last Egyptian forces in the Sinai and began a fast redeployment of units back into Israel. Now the Syrians were facing serious problems.
On 9 June, Israeli forces crossed into the Golan Heights. They came by the route the Syrians least expected, an arc hugging the Lebanese border. Now for the first time, Syria’s panzers (considered too slow and fragile for the attack) were encountered. The next day, 10 June 1967, was an absolute rout as the Syrians were being attacked from behind by IDF units arcing southwards from the initial advance, plus Israel’s second wave coming from the west. It was later estimated that Syria lost between 20-25% of its total military vehicle inventory in a 15-hour span on 10 June, including eight Panthers. A ceasefire was announced at midnight, ending Syria’s misadventure. Syria permanently lost the Golan Heights to Israel.
By best estimate, Syria had just five Panthers and twenty-five Panzer IVs fully operational on 6 June 1967, with maybe another ten or so tanks partially operational or at least functional enough to take into combat. Most – if not all – of the ex-French tanks were probably already out of service by 1967, conversely the entire ex-Spanish lot was in use, along with some of the ex-Czechoslovak vehicles. The conflict’s last kill was on 10 June 1967 when a Panzer IV was destroyed by an Israeli M50 Super Sherman (an M4 Sherman hull fitted with a new American engine, and a modified turret housing Israeli electronics and a high-velocity French-made 75mm gun firing HEAT rounds). Like the Centurion, the Super Sherman outclassed the Panzer IV, and the Panther only fared marginally better.
Between 1964-1973 the USSR rebuilt the entire Syrian military from the ground up, reorganizing it along Warsaw Pact lines and equipping it with gear strictly of Soviet origin. There was no place for ex-Wehrmacht tanks and in any case, Czechoslovakia had ended spares & ammo support for the Panzer IV and the Panthers, so the types had no future. The surviving tanks were scrapped in Syria, except for a single Panzer IV survivor sold to a collector in Jordan.
Specifications:
Crew: Five (commander, gunner, loader, driver, radio operator)
Weight: 50 tonnes (55.1 long tons; 45.5 short tons)
Length: 6.87 m (22 ft 6 in) hull only
7.52 m (24 ft 7¾ in) overall with gun facing forward
Width: 3.42 m (11 ft 3 in) hull only
3,70 m (12 ft 1¾ in) with retrofitted side skirts
Height: 2.99 m (9 ft 10 in)’
Ground clearance: 56 cm (22 in)
Suspension: Double torsion bar, interleaved road wheels
Fuel capacity: 720 liters (160 imp gal; 190 US gal),
some Syrian Panthers carried two additional external 200 l fuel drums
Armor:
15–80 mm (0.6 – 3.93 in)
Performance:
Maximum road speed: 56 km/h (35 mph)
Operational range: 250 km (160 mi) on roads; 450 km (280 mi)with auxiliary fuel tanks
100 km (62 mi) cross-country
Power/weight: 14 PS (10.1 kW)/tonne (12.7 hp/ton)
Engine & transmission:
Maybach HL230 V-12 gasoline engine with 700 PS (690 hp, 515 kW)
ZF AK 7-200 gearbox with 7 forward 1 reverse gear
Armament:
1× 7,5 cm KwK 40 (L/48) with 87 rounds
2× 7.92 mm MG 34 or 42, or similar machine guns;
one co-axial with the main gun, another in the front glacis plate
with a total of 5.100 rounds (not always mounted)
Provision for a 12.7 mm DShK or Breda anti-aircraft machine gun on the commander cupola
The kit and its assembly:
A rather exotic what-if model, even though it’s almost built OOB. Inspiration came when I stumbled upon the weird Syrian Panzer IVs that were operated against Israel during the Six Day War – vehicles you would not expect there, and after more than 20 years after WWII. But when I did some more research, I was surprised about the numbers and the variety of former German tanks that Syria had gathered from various European countries, and it made me wonder if the Panther could not have been among this shaggy fleet, too?
I had a surplus Dragon Panther Spähpanzer in The Stash™, to be correct a “PzBeobWg V Ausf. G”, an observation and artillery fire guidance conversion that actually existed in small numbers, and I decided to use it as basis for this odd project. The Dragon kit has some peculiarities, though: its hull is made from primed white metal and consists of an upper and lower half that are held together by small screws! An ambiguous design, because the parts do not fit as good as IP parts, so that the model has a slightly die-cast-ish aura. PSR is necessary at the seams, but due to the metal it’s not easy to do. Furthermore, you have to use superglue everywhere, just as on a resin kit. On the other side, surface details are finely molded and crisp, even though many bits have to be added manually. However, the molded metal pins that hold the wheels are very robust and relatively thin – a feature I exploited for a modified running gear (see below).
For the modified Panther in my mind I had to retrograde the turret back to a late standard turret with mantlet parts left over from a Hasegawa kit – they fitted perfectly! The PzBeobWg V only comes with a stubby gun barrel dummy. But I changed the armament, anyway, and implanted an aftermarket white metal and brass KwK 40 L48, the weapon carried by all Syrian Panzer IVs, the Jagdpanzer IVs as well as the StuG IIIs. This standardization would IMHO make sense, even if it meant a performance downgrade from the original, longer KwK 42 L70.
For a Syrian touch, inspired by installations on the Panzer IVs, I added a mount for a heavy DShK machine gun on the commander’s cupola, which is a resin aftermarket kit from Armory Models Group (a kit that consists of no less than five fiddly parts for just a tiny machine gun!).
To change and modernize the Panther’s look further, I gave it side skirts, leftover from a ModelCollect T-72 kit, which had to be modified only slightly to fit onto the molded side skirt consoles on the Panther’s metal hull. A further late addition were the fuel barrels from a Trumpeter T-54 kit that I stumbled upon when I looked for the skirts among my pile of tank donor parts. Even though they look like foreign matter on the Panther’s tail, their high position is plausible and similar to the original arrangement on many Soviet post-WWII tanks. The whip antennae on turret and hull were created with heated black sprue material.
As a modern feature and to change the Panther’s overall look even more, I replaced its original solid “dish” road wheels with T-54/55 “starfish” wheels, which were frequently retrofitted to T-34-85s during the Fifties. These very fine aftermarket resin parts (all real-world openings are actually open, and there’s only little flash!) came from OKB Grigorovich from Bulgaria. The selling point behind this idea is/was that the Panther and T-54/55 wheels have almost the same diameter: in real life it’s 860 vs. 830 mm, so that the difference in 1:72 is negligible. Beneficially, the aftermarket wheels came in two halves, and these were thin enough to replace the Panther’s interleaved wheels without major depth problems.
Adapting the parts to the totally different wheel arrangement was tricky, though, especially due to the Dragon kit’s one-piece white metal chassis that makes any mods difficult. My solution: I retained the inner solid wheels from the Panther (since they are hardly visible in the “3rd row”), plus four pairs of T-54/55 wheels for the outer, more rows of interleaved wheels. The “inner” T-54/55 wheel halves were turned around, received holes to fit onto the metal suspension pins and scratched hub covers. The “outside” halves were taken as is but received 2 mm spacer sleeves on their back sides (styrene tube) for proper depth and simply to improve their hold on the small and rounded metal pin tips. This stunt worked better than expected and looks really good, too!
Painting and markings:
Basically very simple, and I used pictures of real Syrian Panzer IVs as benchmark. I settled for the common green livery variant, and though simple and uniform, I tried to add some “excitement” to it and attempted to make old paint shine through. The hull’s lower surface areas were first primed with RAL 7008 (Khakigrau, a rather brownish tone), then the upper surfaces were sprayed with a lighter sand brown tone, both applied from rattle cans.
On top of that, a streaky mix of Revell 45 and 46 – a guesstimate for the typical Syrian greyish, rather pale olive drab tone - was thinly applied with a soft, flat brush, so that the brownish tones underneath would shine through occasionally. Once dry, the layered/weathered effect was further emphasized through careful vertical wet-sanding and rubbing on all surfaces with a soft cotton cloth.
The rubber side skirts were painted with an anthracite base and the dry-brushed with light grey and beige.
The model then received an overall washing with a highly thinned mix of grey and dark brown acrylic artist paint. The vinyl tracks (as well as the IP spare track links on the hull) were painted, too, with a mix of grey, red brown and iron, all acrylic paints, too, that do not interact chemically with the soft vinyl.
The decals/markings are minimal; the Arabian scribble on the turret (must be a name?), using the picture of a Syrian Panzer IV as benchmark, was painted in white by hand, as well as the white circle on the turret roof. The orange ID triangles are a nice contrast, even though I was not able to come up with real-life visual evidence for them. I just found a color picture of a burned T-34-85 wreck with them, suggesting that the color was a dull orange red and not florescent orange, as claimed in some sources. I also found illustrations of the triangles as part of 1:35 decal sets for contemporary Syrian T-34-85s from FC Model Trend and Star Models, where they appear light red. For the model, they were eventually cut out from decal sheet material (TL-Modellbau, in a shade called “Rotorange”, what appears to be a good compromise).
Dry-brushing with light grey and beige to further emphasize edges and details followed. Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic vanish overall, and some additional very light extra dry-brushing with silver was done to simulate flaked paint. Dirt and rust residues were added here and there with watercolors. After final assembly, the lower areas of the model were furthermore powdered with mineral pigments to simulate dust.
The idea of a modernized WWII Panther: a simple idea that turned into a major conversion. With the resin DShK machine gun and T-54/55 wheel set the costs of this project escalated a little, but in hindsight I find that the different look and the mix of vintage German and modern Soviet elements provide this Panther with that odd touch that sets it apart from a simple paint/marking variation? I really like the outcome, and I think that the effort was worthwhile - this fictional Panther shoehorns well into its intended historical framework. :-D
ODC, March 9, 2022, B-SIDES. The B-side of the Leica M-10D, no LCD, no video. The LCD and assortment of buttons are replaced by exposure compensation "dial", just like the M7. The most "analog" experience I've ever had with a digital camera, opposite the F5's experience. Even includes a "film advance" lever.
Hasselblad 500 C/M
Zeiss Planar 80mm f/2.8 C
Fomapan 100
Developed with HC110 dilution B
I've been wanting to make a "plus quilt" forever! This pattern is from the Simplify book by Camille Roskelly. Fabrics are mostly Curio by Basic Grey, with other Moda fabrics mixed in.
Re-worked with Topaz Simplify
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No plastic wrap effect, no PS comic book filter, and no b&w conversion like yesterdays post. This is what I saw through my camera and I like the tones, texture and shadows on this Pine tree.
The Tiananmen (simplified Chinese: 天安门; traditional Chinese: 天安門; pinyin: Tiān'ānmén), or Gate of Heavenly Peace, is a famous monument in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is widely used as a national symbol. First built during the Ming Dynasty in 1420, Tiananmen is often referred to as the front entrance to the Forbidden City. However, the Meridian Gate (午门) is the first entrance to the Forbidden City proper, while Tiananmen was the entrance to the Imperial City, within which the Forbidden City was located. Tiananmen is located to the north of Tiananmen Square, across the street from the plaza from Chang'an Avenue.
(C)Wikipedia
At long last, I've worked out all the kinks of my Simplified Interstate Map and made it 700% more interesting and accurate!
You can buy super-lovely hi-res prints of this diagram at my Topatoco store: www.topatoco.com/interstatemap
Ok, I went to town on this one and I think it worked out. Lots of tweaking and playing on this one; eyes, face, sky, simplified the background (bye bye power lines, building and railing). I kind of owe it to Nick as he's waited very patiently since August to get these shots.
I really like how it turned out. My only slight beef is that in lightening the darker side of Nick's face I've actually made him look heavier than he does in the original shot.
Strange isn't it what light can do?
Haven't heard from Nick yet what he thinks. Hopefully he'll like it.
BTW this is not an HDR shot, this is a single shot tonemapped in the method I described in my previous post.
Should I have removed the concrete wall as well?
If you're interested in contacting Nick he can be found on Model Mayhem here
UPDATE: Nick likes it.
AN-124-100
The Antonov-124-100 is the world’s largest civil cargo aircraft, and an acknowledged leader of the air cargo market for the transportation of oversized and super-heavy shipments. The combination of exceptional characteristics such as its cargo compartment size, flight range and uplift capability without using special loading equipment allows the An-124 to carry super-heavy and oversized cargo up to 120 tonnes across the greatest range.
The aircraft’s pressurized cargo cabin, with its total volume of 1050 m³, guarantees unprecedented opportunities for the transportation of different types of cargo, including non-standard and oversized pieces or shipments demanding special transportation conditions.
Multi-leg landing gears equipped with 24 wheels allow to operate the aircraft on unpaved runways as well as to change the angle of the fuselage to simplify loading operations.
The Antonov-124-100 has two loading entrances, at the nose and tail of the aircraft, both equipped with expanding loading ramps. For loading of non-standard cargo the cabin is equipped with two electric winches of 3 tonnes traction each and 4 electric hoists of common carrying capacity up to 30 tonnes.
Volga-Dnepr operates a fleet of 12 Antonov-124-100 aircraft. (info source: Volga-Dnepr Homepage)