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An old Chinese woman and her granddaughter sitting in the Beijing Subway.
Originally, this was meant to be a whole series but due to my limited time in China, I didn't manage to shoot it. I hope I can finish it next time I go there.
This is where I live! We are living in the little 'hovel' on the LHS of the picture whilst we renovate the main old house . The little 'house' we live in at present is a strange two-roomed structure built under the tin-roofed hangar/barn. We reckon that it was built sometime in the 30s-40s and 'modernised' with an add-on shower-room inside toilet in the 60s-70s. The old house was abandoned when this little house was built, we reckon cause the old couple who lived here could no longer live in the old house that has no running water or kitchen or bathroom etc. It really is very original French peasant house of the region and practically unspoilt with later "improvements". I can't wait to move in. We plan to do very little to it that would change it. We need to build a spiral stair-case (in oak) to gain access to the upstairs to create two rooms. We will be incorporating some little add-on buildings that were used for animal housing to the LHS of the house as you look at it here to provide a bathroom/wet room and separate toilet and also a back door leading onto a south-facing terrace. You can just make out at the extreme left of theold housea little door in a lean-to building that houses the recently completed composting toilet. This humble little room houses an exhibition of some of my photos!!!!The building on the RHS of the old house is the old bread-oven -the 10 cats are fed in here ( the old stair-gate is to prevent the dogs and the hens stealing their food!) unfortunately, the huge wood-fired oven no longer functions as when the building was re-roofed some years ago the chimney was knocked down. We plan to make this building into a dairy and food preparation room which will house the freezers also. We grow all our own food here that has to be washed, chopped up and prepared for freezing, bottling etc and I also make cheese from our goat's milk. At present I do all this in the little 'hovel'!!
We welcome volunteers from all over the world, mainly through WWOOF and HelpX throughout the year to assist in this venture, so we have to grow and process enough food to feed ourselves and these voluntary workers also! We have two hectares of woodland that provides all our firewood and some construction material, fenceposts etc. This is the work we are doing at present - when the snow clears!!
Two experiments in one!
Testing Skinsuit and MobileHR for exercise monitoring.
To eksperimenter i et! Test af Skinsuit og MobileHR til bevægelsesovervågning.
Credits: ESA/NASA
131Q4332
Street shooter or travel(ing) photographer? Click through to DearSusan - a Web site specifically for travellers and street shooters. That means lots of urban images, some landscapes and the latest camera and lens reviews.
Also on DearSusan you will find the InSight city guides; informative where-to-go and what-to-see PDF-based books for the travelling photographer. If you're planning to visit London, Tokyo, Singapore, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Cape Town, George Town (Penang) or Istanbul, these guides are available for immediate sale/download and show you a city the tourists don't see. Coming soon are Paris and Edinburgh. The InSight Guides are here: www.dearsusan.net/dearsusan-insight-guides/
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Two faces on both sides of a piece of basswood. I got this wood for my b-day. Hoping it was really special I just started carving. I messed up while measuring, wanted to do one face but now I could fit in another face on the other side. The wood is ok too carve but not alot better then the chessnut I've been using. Until I finished the work with lineseed oil and suddenly all the grains in the wood showed up. Pretty happy with the end result!
Two of Five of a series I did called "Future of Fashion" for Mens Wear Fashion Week blog: mwfw2013.nywdc.com Models are Steele and World
Always born blind, hairless and pink, and nursed in the warm, dark corners. The mother often gathers straw or bits of foam to make a cosy layer for her babies.
Discovered a litter when the repairmen came to work on the engine of a long used car. Seven pups total. Other places house mouse is likely to raise babies include barns, stores and long used kitchen appliances especially the baking compartment of ovens.
(See links). During the boom of Route 66 in the 1900s, Two Guns was a popular trading post but it's been abandoned since 1971. In 1926, a man shot and killed the owner of the land over a contract dispute, and a later attempt to rejuvenate the area was destroyed by a fire. Today, Two Guns, which is easily accessible from an interstate, has nothing but a series of empty buildings — and a lot of spooky history.
Apache Death Cave is a historical landmark located in Two Guns, Arizona. It's on Old Route 66, at the Two Guns interchange, between Flagstaff and Winslow, Arizona. The battles between the Navajos and the Apaches were constant. The group of Apache warriors hid in a cave located in Two Guns. In 1878, they attacked a Navajo camp and murdered everyone with the exception of three Navajo girls who were taken as prisoners. The Apaches not only murdered the Navajos, whom they raided, they also looted the area. The Navajos from another camp sent warriors after the Apaches, however they failed in their quest to find them. When the Apaches attacked another Navajo camp, the Navajo warriors went to Canyon Diablo and saw hot air coming out of the ground.
After taking a closer look, the Navajos discovered that there was a cave and that the raiding Apaches were hiding in it with their horses. The Navajos began to throw burning dry wood into the cave. The Apaches then slit the throats of their horses in an attempt to put out the fire after they ran out of water. When the Navajos found out from an Apache who came out of the cave, that the three Navajo girls were murdered, they threw him into the fire and murdered 42 Apaches in the cave. The cave became known as the "Apache Death Cave". Altogether forty-two Apaches lost their lives in the cave.
Apache Death Cave In Arizona Is a haunted mass grave site with nearly 50 bodies - Only In Your State
Apache Death Cave / Two Guns Arizona
Apache Death Cave is located on the side of a canyon with an abandoned gas station. The abandoned gas station also used to operate a zoo full of desert animals. Many of the ruins around the gas station are parts of the zoo. It's also rumored they used to sell artifacts from the Apache Death Cave at the gift shop.
Apache Death Cave - Atlas Obscura
What happened at the Apache Death Cave? The group of Apache warriors hid in a cave located in Two Guns. In 1878, they attacked a Navajo camp and murdered everyone with the exception of three Navajo girls who were taken as prisoners. The Apaches not only murdered the Navajos, whom they raided, they also looted the area.
Apache Death Cave - She Explores
List of historic properties in Two Guns, Arizona - Wikipedia
Apache Death Cave - Exploring Apache Death Cave (2020) (Road Venture) - You Tube
Apache Death Cave - Abandoned Route 66 Gas Station, Campground . . . and APACHE DEATH CAVE! (Wonderhussy / You Tube)
Apache Death Cave - Trip Advisor
ariel map of Two Guns, Arizona
Two Guns, Arizona - The Wave
Two Guns, Arizona - The Route - 66 . com
Two Guns, Arizona - ghosttowns.com
Two Guns' sordid history off I-40 - Azdot.com
Untold Arizona: Two Guns Ghost Town Marks End Of An Era - Fronteras
Two Guns is also a ghost town in Coconino County, Arizona. Located on the east rim of Canyon Diablo approximately 30 miles east of Flagstaff, Two Guns prospered as a tourist stop along Route 66.
Two Guns, Arizona. 102121.
Tomo el tren a Pirna. Con bicicleta también. El boleto está aquí en Pirna también válido para autobuses o ferries. Inmediatamente me subo al autobús para Pirna-Sunstone y él se va. El conductor del autobús no parece arrogante, sino enojado. Es gordo y tiene pérdida de cabello, cabello negro y ojos. Él siempre comienza a toda velocidad. Conduce hasta la rotonda y gira 90 grados a 20 o 30 km / h. Casi caes en el vaso. Se siente como un maestro. Luego llego a la terminal de Sonnenstein. Luego se dirige a mí y dice que está aquí, a donde quiero ir. Como he dicho, conduce por aquí. Debería haber dicho que esto es un obstáculo y que no puede continuar aquí. Terminé con la piedra solar después de un tiempo. Los pensionistas me han estado esperando en ciertos puntos: Boleslawiecer Straße, Struppener Straße, Reutlinger Straße. Eran como nazis. Me miró como si fuera un criminal. Uno de ellos resultó estúpido por mi bandera argentina, el de Struppener Strasse parecía loco y su vecino incluso se detuvo para hurgarse la nariz. Masivamente fueron perseguidos en la carretera de Longuyoner o incluso informados por teléfono. También había un informador con un perro inglés y se quedó a mi lado para observarme. Spitzeln está aquí de forma gratuita. Extraño es que los parques en la piedra del sol no tienen nombres. Un árabe ha sido dirigido por la milicia de Pirna a través de un teléfono inteligente. Eso fue en la calle de la juventud. En la escuela primaria, Sonnenstein fue nuevamente una educación de tránsito para niños. Había dos policías. Se trata de pensar que el estado solo quiere hacer el bien. Así que si no funciona, entonces lo tienes tú mismo. Luego conocí a las abuelas y les hablé brevemente. Voy a bajar de nuevo porque he terminado. Esta vez va directo a Pirna-Neundorf. Comienzo en el Gimnasio Protestante. El conductor del autobús me grita hostil: "¿Qué tal si se muestra el boleto?" Voy a él y le digo: ¿Tienes un director o algo así? Él: "¡No los hemos tenido en mucho tiempo!". Así que han abolido sus fichas para que más personas estén desempleadas y no tengan familias. Inmoral. La sala de juntas es probablemente corrupta. El dinero es suficiente está allí. Entonces estoy en Neundorf. Aquí hay algunos amigos de élite que han sintonizado automóviles y conducen por allí. Todos se ven bonitos también. Está limpio, pero un edificio prefabricado necesita una nueva capa de pintura. Las ventanas parecen quemadas. La escuela aquí es más grande de lo que pensabas. Llegan furgonetas que miran. Yo conduzco de regreso En el castillo de Rottwerndorf, los propietarios vienen a verme. Una mujer muy hermosa. Ellos llevan un piso alrededor. Ellos reconstruyen el castillo solo. Olvidé un camino. La calle Brahms. El "barrio de los músicos" / asentamiento Rottwerndorf ahora está fotografiado. Por extraño que parezca, las personas reaccionan a mí de una manera diferente que antes. Ahora son más abiertos o sonrientes. Es muy rápido aquí. En Mühlenstraße, un anciano conduce el ciclomotor y me mira con enojo. Él sale del restaurante y se parece al dueño. Luego conduzco a Waschhausstraße, donde un Nazi me insulta como un maricón. También se me acerca por la pequeña bandera argentina. Su jardín está totalmente descuidado y es una pena para la reputación de la ciudad. Ese fue un barrio elitista aquí. Con demasiada frecuencia se han encontrado nazis bien alimentados aquí. Su madre rubia y gorda lo besa por abuso verbal en mi contra. Tiene ojos negros, pelo alto y negro. Me quedo allí y pienso ahora. Los minutos pasan. Una mujer pelirroja viene en bicicleta. Como si ella hubiera conducido aquí por mí. Ella me mira sin comprender. Conduzco desde Max Schwarze Straße ahora en Erich Sagittarius Pirna. Allí me sigue durante unos minutos una furgoneta en blanco y negro. Se ve poco atractivo e inmoral. Su coche tiene máscaras y esposas de Jason. Otro espía está de vuelta en la práctica, donde siempre observaba desde el balcón y toda la Kohlbergstraße tiene a la vista y siempre me registra directamente. Aquí estoy hecho. Luego me dirijo a la estación de Pirna. Compro un café allí y me pregunto por qué es tan barato. Cuando lo bebo, me doy cuenta de que sabe a agua. El café en la Dippoldiswalder Straße, al lado de la LIDL no está mal. La mujer es muy agradable allí.
I take the train to Pirna. With bike too. The ticket is here in Pirna also valid for buses or ferries. I immediately get on the bus for Pirna-Sunstone and he leaves. The bus driver does not look arrogant, but angry. He is fat and has hair loss, black hair and eyes. He always starts at full throttle. He drives into the roundabout and 90 degrees turns at 20 or 30 km / h. You almost fall into the glass. He feels like a master person. Then I arrive at the terminus Sonnenstein. Then he addresses me and says that it's over here, where I want to go. Like I said, drive around here. He should have said that this is a roadblock and you can not continue here. I was done with the sunstone after some time. Pensioners have been waiting for me at certain points: Boleslawiecer Straße, Struppener Straße, Reutlinger Straße. They were like Nazis. Looked at me as if I was a criminal. One of them proved stupid because of my Argentina flag, the one from Struppener Strasse looked like crazy and his neighbor even stopped to pick his nose. Massively they were pursued on the Longuyoner road or even reported by telephone. Also an informer with an english dog was there and stayed extra beside me to watch me. Spitzeln is here for free. Strange is that the parks on the sunstone have no names. An Arab has been led by the Pirna militia via smartphone. That was on the street of youth. In the primary school Sonnenstein was again a traffic education for children. There were two policemen. It is about thinking that the state wants to do only good. So if it does not work, then you have it yourself. Then I met grandmas and talked to them briefly. I'm going down again because I'm done. This time it goes straight to Pirna-Neundorf. I start at the Protestant Gymnasium. The bus driver shouts unfriendly to me: "How about ticket showing !?" I go to him and say: You have a conductor or something? He: "We have not had them for a long time!". So they have abolished their checkers so that more people are unemployed and have no families. Immoral. The boardroom is probably corrupt. Money is enough is there. Then I'm in Neundorf. Here are some elite friends who have tuned cars and drive around there. They all look pretty too. It's clean, but a prefab building needs a new coat of paint. The windows look like burned out. The school here is bigger than you thought. There arrive vans that take one's view. I drive back. At the castle Rottwerndorf the owners come to me. A very pretty woman. They carry a floor around. They rebuild the castle alone. I forgot a road. The Brahms Street. The "musicians quarter" / settlement Rottwerndorf is now photographed. Strangely enough, people react to me in a different way than before. They are now more open-minded or smiling. It is very fast here. On Mühlenstraße an old man drives off on the moped and looks at me angrily. He comes out of the restaurant and looks like the owner. Then I drive to Waschhausstraße, where a Nazi insults me as a fagot. He also approaches me because of the small Argentina flag. His garden is totally neglected and is a shame for the reputation of the city. That was an elitist quarter here. Too often you have run well-nourished Nazis here. His fat blonde mother kisses him for verbal abuse against me. He has black eyes, tall, black hair. I stand there and think now. The minutes pass. A red-haired woman comes on a bicycle. As if she had just driven here for me. She looks at me blankly. I drive from the Max Schwarze Straße now on the Erich Sagittarius Pirna. There I am followed for a few minutes by a black and white van. He looks unattractive and immoral. His car has Jason masks and handcuffs. Another spy is back at the practice, where he always observed from the balcony and the entire Kohlbergstraße has in view and always logs me straight. Here I am done. Then I make myself to the station Pirna. I buy a coffee there and wonder why it's so cheap. When I drink it, I realize that it tastes of water. The coffee on the Dippoldiswalder Straße, next to the LIDL is not bad. The woman is very nice there.
Ich fahre mit dem Zug nach Pirna. Mit Fahrrad dazu. Die Fahrkarte ist hier in Pirna auch gültig für die Busse oder Fähren. Ich steige sofort in den Bus für Pirna-Sonnenstein ein und er fährt los. Der Busfahrer schaut nicht arrogant, sondern böse. Er ist dick und hat Haarausfall, schwarze Haare und Augen. Er fährt immer mit Vollgas los. Er fährt in den Kreisverkehr und 90 Grad Kurven mit 20 oder 30 km/h. Man fällt fast in die Scheiben. Er fühlt sich als Master-Mensch. Dann komme ich an der Endstation Sonnenstein an. Da redet er mich an und sagt, dass es hier zuende sei, wo ich denn hinwill. Als hätte ich gesagt, fahr mich mal hier herum. Er hätte sagen müssen, dass hier eine Straßensperre ist und man hier nicht mehr weiter kann. Ich war mit dem Sonnenstein nach einiger Zeit fertig. An bestimmten Punkten haben Rentner auf mich gewartet: Boleslawiecer Straße, Struppener Straße, Reutlinger Straße. Die waren wie Nazis. Haben mich angesehen, als wenn ich kriminell sei. Einer belegte mich wegen meiner Argentinienfahne dumm, der von der Struppener Straße schaute wie verrückt und sein Nachbar blieb sogar stehen, um die Nase zu mir zu pflücken. Massiv wurde man an der Longuyoner Straße verfolgt oder gar mit dem Telefon gemeldet. Auch ein Spitzel mit einem englischen Hund war dort und blieb extra neben mir stehen, um mich zu beobachten. Spitzeln ist hier für umsonst zu haben. Seltsam ist, dass die Parkanlagen auf dem Sonnenstein keine Namen haben. Ein Araber ist unter Anleitung von der Pirna-Miliz per smartphone geleitet worden. Das war auf der Straße der Jugend. In der Grundschule Sonnenstein war wieder ein Verkehrslehrgang für Kinder. Da waren zwei Polizisten. Es geht hierbei darum, dass man denken soll, dass der Staat einen nur Gutes tun will. Also wenn es nicht klappt, dann man selber daran schul sei. Dann traf ich Omas und habe mit denen kurz geredet. Ich fahre wieder runter, weil ich fertig bin. Diesmal geht es gleich nach Pirna-Neundorf. Ich steige am Evangelischen Gymnasium ein. Der Busfahrer schreit mich unfreundlich an: "Wie wäre es einmal mit Fahrkarte-Vorzeigen!?" Ich gehe zu ihm hin und sage: Sie haben doch Schaffner oder so? Er: "Die haben wir schon lange nicht mehr!". Also die haben ihre Kontrolleure abgeschafft, damit mehr Leute arbeitslos sind und keine Familien haben. Unmoralisch. Wahrscheinlich ist die Chefetage korrupt. Geld ist genug ist da. Dann bin ich in Neundorf. Da kommen nun ein paar elitäre Freunde an, die getunte Autos haben und dort herum fahren. Die sehen auch alle schön aus. Es ist sauber, aber der eine Plattenbau braucht einen neuen Anstrich. Die Fenster sehen aus wie ausgebrannt. Die Schule hier ist größer als man gedacht hat. Da kommen Transporter an, die einen die Sicht nehmen. Ich fahre zurück. Am Schloss Rottwerndorf kommen mir die Besitzer an. Eine sehr schöne Frau. Sie tragen einen Fußboden herum. Sie bauen das Schloss alleine wieder auf. Eine Straße habe ich vergessen. Die Brahms Straße. Das "Musikerviertel" / Siedlung Rottwerndorf wird nun abfotografiert. Seltsam ist, dass die Leute ganz anders auf mich reagieren als vorher. Sie sind nun aufgeschlossener oder lächeln. Es geht hier sehr schnell. An der Mühlenstraße kommt ein alter Mann auf dem Moped losgefahren und schaut mich böse an. Er kommt aus dem Restaurant und sieht aus wie der Besitzer. Dann fahre ich zur Waschhausstraße, wo ein Nazi mich als schwuchtel beschimpft. Er geht mich auch an, wegen der kleinen Argentinienfahne. Sein Garten ist total verwahrlost und ist eine Schande für das Ansehen der Stadt. Das war mal hier ein elitäres Viertel. Zu oft hat man hier gut genährte Nazis laufen. Seine dicke, blonde Mutter küsst ihn dafür, dass er verbale Gewalt gegen mich ausführt. Er hat schwarze Augen, groß, schwarze Haare. Ich stehe da und denke nun nach. Es vergehen die Minuten. Eine rothaarige Frau kommt mit dem Fahrrad angefahren. Als wenn sie nur wegen mir hier hergefahren sei. Sie schaut mich leer an. Ich fahre von der Max Schwarze Straße nun auf den Erich-Schütze-Weg Pirna. Dort verfolgt mich einer Minutenlang mit einem schwarz-weißen Transporter. Er sieht unattraktiv und unsittlich aus. Sein Auto hat Jason-Masken und Handschellen. Ein anderer Spitzel steht wieder an der Praxis, wo er auch vom Balkon immer observiert und die gesamte Kohlbergstraße im Blick hat und mich immer gleich meldet. Hier bin ich fertig. Dann mache ich mich zum Bahnhof Pirna. Ich kaufe mir einen Kaffee dort und wundere mich, warum der so billig ist. Als ich ihn trinke, merke ich, dass er nach Wasser schmeckt. Der Kaffee an der Dippoldiswalder Straße, neben dem LIDL ist nicht schlecht. Die Frau dort ist sehr lieb.
two routes between inner South London and the city have their stands round the back of Norton Folgate. The B7TL Gemini on the 42 is an exception for what is normally a single-decked route.
The city of Two Rivers, as seen from the Rogers Street Fishing Village (which as of last Saturday still has the Québecois flags out). Dominating the scene across the East Twin River is the massive Hamilton Manufacturing factory (now Thermo-Fisher Scientific), located in the center of town.
+++ 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 Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' first operational jet aircraft during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turbojet engines, pioneered by Sir Frank Whittle and his company, Power Jets Ltd. Development of the aircraft itself began in 1940, although work on the engines had been underway since 1936. The Meteor first flew in 1943 and commenced operations in 1944 with the RAF.
Several major variants of the Meteor incorporated technological advances during the 1940s and 1950s. In order to replace the increasingly-obsolete de Havilland Mosquito as a night fighter, the Meteor was adapted to serve in the role as an interim aircraft. The new night fighter was designed to specification F.24/48 for a two seat, twin-engine, night fighter capable of intercepting contemporary bombers.
Gloster had initially proposed a night fighter design to meet the Air Ministry specification for the Mosquito replacement, based on the two-seater trainer variant of the Meteor, with the pilot in the front seat and the navigator in the rear. Once accepted however, work on the project was swiftly transferred to Armstrong Whitworth to perform both the detailed design process and production of the type; the first prototype flew on 31 May 1950.
Although based on the T.7 twin-seater, the night fighter used the fuselage and tail of the F.8 and the longer wings of the F.3. An extended nose contained the AI Mk 10 Air Intercept radar (the 1940s Westinghouse SCR-720). As a consequence the 20 mm cannons had to be moved from the fuselage flanks into the wings, outboard of the engines. A ventral fuel tank and wing mounted drop tanks completed the Armstrong Whitworth Meteor NF.11.
As radar technology developed, a new Meteor night fighter was developed to use the improved US-built APS-21 system. The NF.12 first flew on 21 April 1953. It was similar to the NF 11 but had a nose section 17 inches (43.2 cm) longer; the fin was enlarged to compensate for the greater keel area of the enlarged nose and to counter the airframe reaction to the "wig-wag" scan of the radar which affected the gunsight.
An anti-tramp motor operating on the rudder was fitted midway up the front leading edge of the fin. The NF.12 also had the new Rolls-Royce Derwent 9 engines and the wings were reinforced to handle the new engine. Deliveries of the NF.12 started in 1953, with the type entering squadron service in early 1954. The NF.12 was also exported, e. g. to Belgium, France or Denmark. In RAF service, however, the type was already replaced over 1958–59.
The final Meteor night fighter was the NF.14 (The NF.13 was a tropicalized variant of the NF.11, which served in Egypt, Syria and Israel). First flown on 23 October 1953, the NF.14 was based on the NF.12 but had an even longer nose, extended by a further 17 inches to accommodate new equipment, and a larger bubble canopy to replace the framed T.7 version.
Just 100 NF.14s were built; they first entered service in February 1954 beginning with RAF No. 25 Squadron and were being gradually replaced as early as 1956 with the Gloster Javelin. Overseas, they remained in service a little longer, serving with No. 60 Squadron at Tengah, Singapore, until 1961.
With only few flying hours on the clock several NF.14 were earmarked for being revamped and offered for export. 14 of these aircraft stayed in the UK, though, and were converted to training aircraft as NF(T).14 and given to No. 2 Air Navigation School on RAF Thorney Island where they served until 1965.
But some of the young NF.14s In 1955 Sweden ordered 22 of these surplus machines as replacement for its obsolete J30 (Mosquito NF.30) fleet that had entered service in 1948 and which was already due to be phased out. The Meteors were allocated only intended to act as stopgaps, though, just as in RAF service, while the Saab J32 Lansen (specifically its dedicated, radar-equipped all-weather fighter variant ‘B’) was still under development.
The batch of revamped Meteor NF.14s was gradually delivered and allocated to F 17 at Kallinge and F 21 at Luleå, starting in late 1956 when the first retired RAF aircraft trickled back to Armstrong Whitworth, and the last one was handed over to the Flygvapnet in mid-1957. In Swedish service the Meteor NF.14 received the domestic designation J31 (‘Jakt’). The machines differed only slightly from the RAF NF.14, main armament remained the four 20mm cannons in the wings. The external tanks were kept, too, in order to provide a sufficient range for patrol flights.
The J31s career was short and unspectacular, though. When the J32B finally reached the fighter units in 1958, the Swedish Meteors were gradually replaced and retired. Six machines were kept for radar operator training, and in this second line role six machines eventually served until 1965.
Strangely, none of the Swedish J31 Meteors were converted to target tugs. Instead Sweden bought several retired Meteors (T.7 and NF.11) from Denmark and used these aircraft with civil registrations through Svenska Flygtjanst as target tugs.
General characteristics:
Crew: 2
Length: Length: 51 ft 4 in (15.65 m)
Wingspan: Span: 43ft
Height: 13 ft 11 in (4.2 m)
Wing area: 350 ft² (32.52 m²)
Empty weight: 12.620 lb (5.725 kg)
Loaded weight: 21.200 lb (9.625 kg)
Powerplant:
2× Rolls-Royce Derwent 9 engines, rated at 3.800lb/16,9kN each
Performance:
Maximum speed: 585mph (511 knots, 942 km/h, Mach 0.8) at 10.000 ft (3.050 m)
Range: 875 mi (765 nmi, 1.408 km)
Service ceiling: 43,000 ft (13,100 m)
Rate of climb: 5,800ft/min at sea level
Wing loading: 44.9 lb/ft² (218.97 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 0.45
Armament:
4× 20 mm British Hispano Mk. V cannons in the outer wings
The kit and its assembly:
This whif is another tribute to fellow user SPINNERS at whatifmodelers.com who came up with a CG simulation of a Meteor NF.14 in Swedish colors. This looked VERY plausible - see the respective screenshots. I had a Matchbox/Revell Gloster Meteor NF.11, 12 and 14 night fighter in the pile without a real plan – until now!
SPINNERS’ screenshots basically became the design benchmark for my build, even though my hardware differs a bit in scheme and markings in order to match the narrow, historic slot for this whif.
Concerning the Matchbox kit there’s not much to say. It’s a simple kit that has been re-boxed several times and is also offered through Hannants under the Xtrakit brand. Fit is mediocre, how to mount the landing gear is up to the modeler, the cockpit is intended for pygmies (even though with nice dahsboard and radar equipment), you get several sink holes, and the fine, raised panels more or less disappear due to the unavoidable and extensive putty work all over the thing.
Since we have a NF.14 here, the kit was built OOB with the respective option parts. Even the belly and drop tanks are standard, only two pilot figures were added for the photo shooting.
Calling it J31 is a bit of a double, since the 31 had already been used for the Spitfire PR.19 photo reconnaissance variant, domestically called S31 (for ‘Spaning’). Therefore the J31 was theoretically ‘free’, even though not really correct. ;)
Painting and markings:
Basically, no surprises here, too, even though mimicking Swedish Air Force colors is a rather tricky task for the ambitious modeler. Especially the "mörk olivgrön/mörkblå/blågrå" scheme from the late 50ies is described with very contradictive suggestions concerning the tones to use, I even found “Blue Angel Blue” (FS 15050!) as serious paint suggestion from Hasegawa.
The colors themselves obviously varied considerably under light conditions and weathering influences: the blue could turn grey or even into a kind of turquoise, and depending on light and perspective the blue tone would even appear like a dull, very dark grey (think WWII German tank grey). The green, on the other side, also ranges from a dark green (FS 34079 is frequently suggested, but IMHO too "green") to a very dark olive drab, and in real life the tone could turn into an almost brownish khaki drab when thoroughly weathered. Much room for interpretation and speculation, even consulting pics of museum and service aircraft did not yield anything conclusive and consistent.
Well, I tried to find a compromise for the upper sides' basic colors for the and settled for Humbrol 163 (Extra Dark Slate Grey, it has that olive drab, reddish touch) and 77 (Navy Blue, which is discernable as a deep, greenish blue; Humbrol 123 is also often suggested, e. g. through Heller, but it’s IMHO too dark), while I used Model Master's "French Dark Grey Blue" (an authentic WWII tone; it is much less 'dark' than you'd expect) for the undersurfaces.
The authentic tone for the lower sides is supposed to be FS 36173 (US Neutral Grey), and pics from museum aircraft (e. g. close-ups from an J32E at the Linköping Swedish Air Force Museum) confirm that. But I think that the pure/original tone is much too dark for a 1:72 scale model kit. Pictures of real service aircraft rather appear like a pale bluish-grey, almost like RLM76?
The pattern itself was adapted from a late Saab J32 instead of SPINNERS’ RAF scheme with modified colors.
After basic painting the Meteor received serious dry-painting on the upper surfaces in order to create a worn and bleached look, e. g. with Humbrol 86 & 155 on the green, with Revell 79 and Humbrol 230 (PRU Blue!) on the blue as well as some "Italian Light Blue Grey" from Modelmaster on the lower surfaces. A black ink wash was also added to emphasize panel lines and other small details.
In order to add some color variation I painted the drop tanks in Aluminum. The radome was painted in satin black, the landing gear and the air intakes in various Aluminum shades. The cockpit was painted in very dark grey (Humbrol 184) with some medium grey dry painting. Gauges and instruments were added with black clear paint.
Roundels and tactical codes mostly come from an RBD aftermarket sheet from Sweden (great stuff!), which features many options for about a dozen J32 aircraft from all of the type's career. Most stencils come from the Matchbox sheet, though.
The red radome band is personal even though authentic addition. These nose colors were common practice in the Swedish Air Force, matching the tail letter code in earlier times that would indicate the aircraft's division (red for 1st, yellow for 2nd and blue for 3rd), even though this code would disappear with the change to individual aircraft numbers on the fin around 1960.
Finally, the kit was sealed with a coat of matt varnish.
Well, “Röd Niklas” is not a spectacular or complicated whif, rather just a color variant - realised in eactly one week from sprues to pics. But the Swedish colors and markings suit the Meteor SO well that it deserved to be taken to the hardware stage, at least as a 1:72 model kit. :D
Two balloon sculptures created by Elizabeth Starkey. Very well-thought out (and whimsical!) scuptures.
Karen and I have come to appreciate the special beauty and tranquility that a Japanese garden brings to us. We first were introduced to this type of garden at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, Missouri.
On our recent outing to Como Park and Conservatory in St. Paul, Minnesota, we discovered, to our delight, that there was a Japanese garden that is part of the facility. After our tour of the zoo and the main parts of the conservatory, we made our way through a Bonsai collection to the Charlotte Partridge Ordway Japanese Garden.
It is a compact garden with ponds, stone bridges, stone lanterns, Koi fish, paths and lush greenery. Tucked into one corner of the garden is a tea house. They offer tea ceremony sittings a couple times a month, when the tea-master is in residence. We were given a special tour of the area surrounding the tea house and a primer on the ceremony by a very wonderful docent, Debbi.
Debbi was kind enough to point out the best views for taking in the garden, delighting in showing us the planned reflections and that the island in the pond is in the shape of a turtle. She also took this photograph, having placed us in this specific spot, in order to capture our reflection.
Kudos to the Como Park & Conservatory management and benefactors for keeping up such a delightful oasis of peace in the midst of the city. Thank you also to Debbi, for this wonderful memory of our tour.
We saw loads of butterflies on our holiday in Greece, some (like this) we've never seen before.
More shots below - the last isn't a great shot but the only one that shows the inside of its wings.
The Goodyear blimp Wingfoot Two has landed at its base in Suffield Township, Ohio, and the ground crew is working to secure it. The blimp has just landed after a trip from Columbus, Ohio, where it had helped cover an Ohio State football game the night before. Note the duck paddling past in Wingfoot Lake and leaving a trail in its wake.
So close, yet so far.
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A shot I did for www.ThreeSixDownhill.com.
Strobist:
Nikon D7000, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G (exif says 50, but thats wrong), f/1.8, 1/100th, ISO 320
Exif also says flash didn't fire (why/how does that happen?) SB800 Camera Left CLS at 1/8th bare hand held aimed at the space between the two front trucks.
If this year wasn't a leap year, this would be my final photo...
Press L to see the above image with the best presentation. I would also recommend using a good quality (and ideally calibrated) monitor, so that you get to see something approximating what I saw when preparing this image.
This image is from my 2012 Project 365 - please check out the entire set and I welcome encouraging comments as well as constructive critique. Also feel free to explore my personal favourites from my overall photostream. Please ensure your comments are text only - I'd appreciate no images, logos or excessive decoration.
Sometimes I wish, that people around me could be a lot of things, but overall, there's one thing that I apreciate, honesty... there are a lot of two faced people out there and just I feel sad for them for not being brave enough to say things in my face... or anybody else's face... just be brave enough, face it and be honest... with me is that way or the highway...