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coding coding and coding. I like the logic needed to structure workflows and defining data relations, but then its too much coding! hehe.
Reduction in emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). Can REDD save the Amazon? Can REDD stop mistakes like this? Does forest carbon pay?
KPL Code Camp: Kids and parents work together to solve problems and learn basic computer coding skills, then craft a "binary bracelet" to wear and take home. www.kpl,.gov
+++ 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 Bell P-39 Airacobra was a fighter produced by Bell Aircraft produced for the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. It was one of the principal American fighters in service when the United States entered combat. It had an unusual layout, with the engine installed in the center fuselage, behind the pilot, and driving a tractor propeller in the nose with a long shaft. Although its mid-engine placement was innovative, the P-39 design was handicapped by the absence of an efficient turbo-supercharger, preventing it from performing high-altitude work, and it only had a limited fuel capacity. For this reason, it was rejected by the RAF for use over western Europe but adopted by the USSR, where most air combat took place at medium and lower altitudes.
The P-39 was an all-metal, low-wing, single-engine fighter, with a tricycle undercarriage and an Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled V-12 engine mounted in the central fuselage, directly behind the cockpit. The Airacobra was one of the first production fighters to be conceived as a "weapons system"; in this case the aircraft (known originally as the Bell Model 4) was designed to provide a platform for the 37 mm (1.46 in) T9 cannon. This weapon, which was designed in 1934 by the American Armament Corporation, a division of Oldsmobile, fired a 1.3 lb (0.59 kg) projectile capable of piercing .8 in (20 mm) of armor at 500 yd (460 m) with armor-piercing rounds. The 90 in (2,300 mm)-long, 200 lb (91 kg) weapon had to be rigidly mounted and fire parallel to and close to the centerline of the new fighter. The complete armament fit consisted of the T9 cannon with a pair of Browning M2 .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns mounted in the nose. This changed to two .50 in (12.7 mm) and two .30 in (7.62 mm) guns in the XP-39B (P-39C, Model 13, the first 20 delivered) and two .50 in (12.7 mm) and four .30 in (7.62 mm) (all four in the wings) in the P-39D (Model 15), which also introduced self-sealing tanks and shackles (and piping) for a 500 lb (230 kg) bomb or drop tank.
It would have been impossible to mount the weapon in the fuselage, firing through the cylinder banks of the Vee-configured engine and the propeller hub as could be done with smaller 20mm cannon. Weight, balance and visibility considerations meant that the cockpit could not be placed farther back in the fuselage, behind the engine and cannon. The solution adopted was to mount the cannon in the forward fuselage and the engine in the center fuselage, directly behind the pilot's seat. The tractor propeller was driven with a 10-foot-long (3.0 m) drive shaft made in two sections, incorporating a self-aligning bearing to accommodate fuselage deflection during violent maneuvers. This shaft ran through a tunnel in the cockpit floor and was connected to a gearbox in the nose of the fuselage which, in turn, drove the three- or (later) four-bladed propeller by way of a short central shaft. The gearbox was provided with its own lubrication system, separate from the engine; in later versions of the Airacobra the gearbox was provided with some armor protection.
The glycol-cooled radiator was fitted in the wing center section, immediately beneath the engine; this was flanked on either side by a single drum-shaped oil cooler. Air for the radiator and oil coolers was drawn in through intakes in both wing-root leading edges and was directed via four ducts to the radiator faces. The air was then exhausted through three controllable hinged flaps near the trailing edge of the center section. Air for the carburetor was drawn in through a raised oval intake immediately aft of the rear canopy. Because of the unconventional layout, there was no space in the fuselage to place a fuel tank. Although drop tanks were implemented to extend its range, the standard fuel load was carried in the wings, with the result that the P-39 was limited to short-range tactical strikes.
The fuselage structure was unusual and innovative, being based on a strong central keel that incorporated the armament, cockpit, and engine. Two strong fuselage beams to port and starboard formed the basis of the structure. These were angled upwards fore and aft to create mounting points for the T9 cannon and propeller reduction gearbox and for the engine and accessories respectively. A strong arched bulkhead provided the main structural attachment point for the main spar of the wing. This arch incorporated a fireproof panel and an armor plate between the engine and the cockpit. It also incorporated a turnover pylon and a pane of bullet-resistant glass behind the pilot's head. The arch also formed the basis of the cockpit housing; the pilot's seat was attached to the forward face as was the cockpit floor. Forward of the cockpit the fuselage nose was formed from large removable covers. A long nose wheel well was incorporated in the lower nose section – the Airacobra was the first fighter fitted with a tricycle undercarriage. The engine and accessories were attached to the rear of the arch and the main structural beams; these too were covered using large removable panels. A conventional semi-monocoque rear fuselage was attached aft of the main structure.
Because the pilot was above the extension shaft, he was placed higher in the fuselage than in most contemporary fighters, which in turn gave the pilot a good field of view. Access to the cockpit was by way of sideways opening "car doors", one on either side. Both had wind-down windows. As only the right-hand door had a handle both inside and outside, this was used as the normal means of access and egress. The left-hand door could be opened only from the outside and was for emergency use, although both doors could be jettisoned. In operational use, as the roof was fixed, the cockpit design made escape difficult in an emergency.
The Airacobra saw combat throughout the world, particularly in the Southwest Pacific, Mediterranean and Soviet theaters. In both western Europe and the Pacific, the Airacobra found itself outclassed as an interceptor and the type was gradually relegated to other duties. It often was used at lower altitudes for such missions as ground strafing. Beyond the USAAF and the USSR, other major users of the type included the Free French, the Royal Air Force, and the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force. Minor operators were Australia, the Netherlands (the ML-KNIL) and New Zealand.
In 1942, the threat of attack seemed real: the city of Darwin was bombed, New Guinea was invaded, and Japanese reconnaissance aircraft overflew Auckland and Wellington. The New Zealand Government hurriedly formed 488 Squadron's pilots, battle-experienced from the fall of Singapore in February 1942, into the RNZAF's first active fighter unit: No. 14 Squadron. The unit was established under Squadron Leader John MacKenzie at Masterton on 25 April 1942, equipped with North American Harvards, a handful of P-40 Kittyhawks and leftover Brewster Buffaloes from the disbanded 488 Squadron, and with 23 re-conditioned P-39D Airacobras, on loan from the U.S. Fifth Air Force (5 AF) after having been repaired in Australia. The Airacobras were initially used by the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) as a stop-gap interceptor in rear areas until more P-40s could be obtained, but the lack of first-line aircraft soon forced them into battle.
The Allied plan was for the Americans to defeat the Japanese by island hopping north across the Pacific. This plan involved bypassing major Japanese bases, which would continue to operate in the allied rear. The RNZAF was given the job of operating against these bypassed Japanese units. At first, maritime patrol and bomber units moved into the Pacific, followed by 15 Squadron with Kittyhawks. In April 1943, a year after forming, 14 Squadron moved to the rear base at Espiritu Santo to resume action against the Japanese. The unit was now primarily equipped with P-40s, which became the primary RNZAF fighter of the era. But 14 Squadron also received thirty-six new P-39Qs, too, which had the wing-mounted pairs of 0.30 in (7.62 mm) machine guns replaced with a 0.50 in (12.7 mm) with 300 rounds of ammunition in a pod under each wing and 231 lb (105 kg) of extra armor. Due to their limited performance at altitude and their tendency to stall in a tight turn and possibly go into a flat spin (due to the engine behind the center-of-gravity), which many a pilot did not recover from, the P-39s were primarily used for ground attack and reconnaissance missions, and against naval targets close to the shorelines, e .g. troopships.
For the remainder of the war, 14 Squadron rotated between forward and rear bases in the Pacific and 6-week periods of home leave in New Zealand. On 11 June 1943, 14 Squadron moved to the forward base of Kukum Field on Guadalcanal—on its first contact with the enemy, the following day, six Japanese aircraft were destroyed. The squadron later deployed to different bases in the South Pacific as demanded: In November 1943, 14 Squadron moved for the first time to New Georgia, followed by Bougainville in February 1944, Green Island in December, and Emirau in July 1945. In 1944, No. 14 Squadron became one of thirteen RNZAF squadrons re-equipped with Vought F4U Corsairs, which replaced all remaining P-39s. By this time the Japanese fighters had been all but eliminated and the unit increasingly attacked ground targets.
General characteristics:
Crew: One
Length: 30 ft 2 in (9.19 m)
Wingspan: 34 ft 0 in (10.36 m)
Height: 12 ft 5 in (3.78 m)
Wing area: 213 sq ft (19.8 m²)
Empty weight: 6,516 lb (2,956 kg)
Gross weight: 7,570 lb (3,434 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 8,400 lb (3,810 kg)
Powerplant:
1× Allison V-1710-85 V-12 liquid-cooled piston engine,
delivering 1,200 hp (890 kW) at 9,000 ft (2,743 m) at emergency power,
driving a 3-bladed constant-speed propeller
Performance:
Maximum speed: 389 mph (626 km/h, 338 kn)
Stall speed: 95 mph (153 km/h, 83 kn) power off, flaps and undercarriage down
Never exceed speed: 525 mph (845 km/h, 456 kn)
Range: 525 mi (845 km, 456 nmi) on internal fuel
Service ceiling: 35,000 ft (11,000 m)
Rate of climb: 3,805 ft/min (19.33 m/s) at 7,400 ft (2,300 m), using emergency power
Time to altitude: 15,000 ft (4,600 m) in 4 minutes 30 seconds, at 160 mph (260 km/h)
Wing loading: 34.6 lb/sq ft (169 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.26 kW/kg)
Armament:
1× 37 mm (1.5 in) M4 cannon with 30 rounds, firing through the propeller hub
4× 0.5 in (12.7 mm) Browning M2 machine guns,
two synchronized with 200 RPG in the nose, one with 300 RPG under each outer wing
1× ventral hardpoint for up to 500 lb (230 kg) of bombs or a drop tank
The kit and its assembly:
This was a quick project, a simple “livery whif” based on a profile drawing of a fictional RNZAF P-39, created by fellow board member PantherG at whatifmodellers.com and published in June 2021. Since the fictional livery aspect of this build would be the centerpiece, I chose the cheap and simple Hobby Boss P-39 kit from 2007 as basis. There are two Hobby Boss kits of the P-39: an N and a Q boxing, but both are identical and only differ through the decals. To build an N, you leave away the underwing gun pods, and for a Q you cut away the machine gun barrels from the wings.
The kit is rather primitive and sturdy, but it still needs some PSR around the fuselage seams. However, from the outside the Hobby Boss kit is a decent representation of a P-39 – if you want a (really) quick build and/or you are on a budget, it’s O.K. The kit was built OOB, I just added a pilot figure to the (primitive) cockpit with seat belts made from masking tape, since this would be the only detail inside to be recognizable, and I added a radio set behind the seat to fill the empty space above the engine cover. The openings for the fuselage-mounted machine guns had to be carved into the hull. I used the OOB propeller mount with its thin steel axis, because it is more compact than my own usual styrene tube arrangement – the leftover space in the nose was filled with lead to keep the front wheel on the ground. However, the literally massive tail of the model necessitated even more nose weight, so that the front landing gear well was partly filled with lead, too. Not pretty, but the lead beads are only visible directly from below – and it was eventually enough to keep the nose down!
Painting and markings:
This model is not a 1:1 hardware rendition of PantherG’s drawing, rather a personal interpretation of the idea that the RNZAF had operated the P-39 in the PTO around 1943. However, I took over the basic USAAF livery in overall Olive Drab 41 with Neutral Grey 43 (FS 36173) undersides, plus generous Medium Green 42 (~FS 34094) contrast blotches on the edges of the aerodynamic surfaces to break up the aircraft’s outlines.
The paints became Tamiya XF-62 (IMHO the best rendition of the USAAF tone) with Humbrol 105 (FS 34097) for the additional wing cammo, and Humbrol 165 (RAF Medium Grey, a lighter tone than Neutral Grey) underneath. 105 was chosen because it gives a good contrast to the Olive Drab background, and it is not too bluish. The cockpit interior and the landing gear wells were painted in zinc chromate green - Humbrol 159 was used.
A black ink washing and some post-panel-shading followed, with stronger weathering on the upper surfaces to simulate sun-bleaching. The markings are roughly based on a contemporary RNZAF P-40M, and it is a wild mix. The ex-USAAF camouflage would not be used by the RNZAF, but the white ID bands on wings and fuselage as well as the white spinner are typical for the time. The same goes for the roundels, which still contained tiny red discs at the fuselage roundels’ center. Oddly, very different roundels were carried above and below the wings. As a repaired and re-badged ex-USAAF aircraft, I added overpainted markings of this former operator – the serial number on the fin as well as the former bars of the American markings were painted over with (a sort of) Foliage Green (Humbrol 172).
The national markings, the serial number and the small nose art came from a Rising Decals sheet for various RNZAF aircraft types, while the white stripes were improvised with generic decal sheet material (TL Modellbau). The RAF-style tactical code was not carried by the RNZAF’s machines, but I added them, anyway, because they might have been left over from early RNZAF operations. However, together with the white ID bands, there’s a lot going on along the fuselage – white code letters would certainly have been “too much”. The code letters in Medium Sea Grey came from an Xtradecal sheet, and due to the little space on the rear fuselage the unit code “HQ” was placed on the nose – in a fashion similar to the RAAF’s few P-39s.
After a light black ink washing and some post shading and weathering (e. g. exhaust stains with graphite), the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish and wire antennae from heated sprue material added.
Well, from the construction perspective, this was a very simple project, and despite the Hobby Boss kit’s basic constriction, the result looks quite good. Even the canopy – normally a weak spot of these kits – looks decent. And I was lucky that I could cramp enough weight into the nose space that the model actually rests on all of its wheels. The camouflage is not spectacular, either, just the markings, esp. the ID bands, caused some headaches, but thanks to generic white decal stripes even such details lose their horror. A nice-looking what-if Airacobra, and I feel inclined to create a contemporary ML-KNIL machine someday, too. :D
An aerial photo looking north above Bayers Road and its surroundings, including rail yards, and grocery store under construction. The direction of traffic coming in and out of the shopping centre is indicated in red.
Date: 1970
Photographer: Nova Scotia Information Service
Format: 1 photograph : b&w print ; 8 x 10 in.
Retrieval Code: Shopping Centres – Bayers Road Shopping Centre, 102-105-3-SC8-1
KPL Code Camp: Teens work together to solve problems while learning basic computer programming skills, www.kpl.gov
Alphabetically ordered dropdown, but country code prefix is shown first, making keyboard navigation impossible and visual scanning awkward!
Some background:
The idea for a heavy infantry support vehicle capable of demolishing heavily defended buildings or fortified areas with a single shot came out of the experiences of the heavy urban fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942. At the time, the Wehrmacht had only the Sturm-Infanteriegeschütz 33B available for destroying buildings, a Sturmgeschütz III variant armed with a 15 cm sIG 33 heavy infantry gun. Twelve of them were lost in the fighting at Stalingrad. Its successor, the Sturmpanzer IV, also known by Allies as Brummbär, was in production from early 1943. This was essentially an improved version of the earlier design, mounting the same gun on the Panzer IV chassis with greatly improved armour protection.
While greatly improved compared to the earlier models, by this time infantry anti-tank weapons were improving dramatically, too, and the Wehrmacht still saw a need for a similar, but more heavily armoured and armed vehicle. Therefore, a decision was made to create a new vehicle based on the Tiger tank and arm it with a 210 mm howitzer. However, this weapon turned out not to be available at the time and was therefore replaced by a 380 mm rocket launcher, which was adapted from a Kriegsmarine depth charge launcher.
The 380 mm Raketen-Werfer 61 L/5.4 was a breech-loading barrel, which fired a short-range, rocket-propelled projectile roughly 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) long. The gun itself existed in two iterations at the time. One, the RaG 43 (Raketenabschuss-Gerät 43), was a ship-mounted anti-aircraft weapon used for firing a cable-spooled parachute-anchor creating a hazard for aircraft. The second, the RTG 38 (Raketen Tauch-Geschoss 38), was a land-based system, originally planned for use in coastal installations by the Kriegsmarine firing depth-charges against submarines with a range of about 3.000 m. For use in a vehicle, the RTG 38 was to find use as a demolition gun and had to be modified for that role. This modification work was carried out by Rheinmetall at their Sommerda works.
The design of the rocket system caused some problems. Modified for use in a vehicle, the recoil from the modified rocket-mortar was enormous, about 40-tonnes, and this meant that only a heavy chassis could be used to mount the gun. The hot rocket exhaust could not be vented into the fighting compartment nor could the barrel withstand the pressure if the gasses were not vented. Therefore, a ring of ventilation shafts was put around the barrel which channeled the exhaust and gave the weapon something of a pepperbox appearance.
The shells for the weapon were extremely heavy, far too heavy for a man to load manually. As a result, each of them had to be carried by means of a ceiling-mounted trolley from their rack to a roller-mounted tray at the breech. Once on the tray, four soldiers could then push it into the breech to load it. The whole process took 10 minutes per shot from loading, aiming, elevating and, finally, to firing.
There were a variety of rocket-assisted round types with a weight of up to 376 kg (829 lb), and a maximum range of up to 6,000 m (20,000 ft), which either contained a high explosive charge of 125 kg (276 lb) or a shaped charge for use against fortifications, which could penetrate up to 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) of reinforced concrete. The stated range of the former was 5,650 m (6,180 yd). A normal charge first accelerated the projectile to 45 m/s (150 ft/s) to leave the short, rifled barrel, the 40 kg (88 lb) rocket charge then boosted this to about 250 m/s (820 ft/s).
In September 1943 plans were made for Krupp to fabricate new Tiger I armored hulls for the Sturmtiger. The Tiger I hulls were to be sent to Henschel for chassis assembly and then to Alkett, where the superstructures would be mounted. The first prototype was ready and presented in October 1943. By May 1944, the Sturmtiger prototype had been kept busy with trials and firing tests for the development of range tables, but production had still not started yet and the concept was likely to be scrapped. Rather than ditch the idea though, orders were given that, instead of interrupting the production of the Tiger I, the Sturmtigers would be built on the chassis of Tiger I tanks which had already been in action and suffered serious damage. Twelve superstructures and RW 61 weapons were prepared and mounted on rebuilt Tiger I chassis. However, by August 1944 the dire need for this kind of vehicle led to the adaptation of another chassis to the 380 mm Sturmmörser: the SdKfz. 184, better known as “Ferdinand” (after its designer’s forename) and later, in an upgraded version, “Elefant”.
The Elefant (German for "elephant") was actually a heavy tank destroyer and the result of mismanagement and poor planning: Porsche GmbH had manufactured about 100 chassis for their unsuccessful proposal for the Tiger I tank, the so-called "Porsche Tiger". Both the successful Henschel proposal and the Porsche design used the same Krupp-designed turret—the Henschel design had its turret more-or-less centrally located on its hull, while the Porsche design placed the turret much closer to the front of the superstructure. Since the competing Henschel Tiger design was chosen for production, the Porsche chassis were no longer required for the Tiger tank project, and Porsche was left with 100 unfinished heavy tank hulls.
It was therefore decided that the Porsche chassis were to be used as the basis of a new heavy tank hunter, the Ferdinand, mounting Krupp's newly developed 88 mm (3.5 in) Panzerjägerkanone 43/2 (PaK 43) anti-tank gun with a new, long L71 barrel. This precise long-range weapon was intended to destroy enemy tanks before they came within their own range of effective fire, but in order to mount the very long and heavy weapon on the Porsche hull, its layout had to be completely redesigned.
Porsche’s SdKfz. 184’s unusual petrol-electric transmission made it much easier to relocate the engines than would be the case on a mechanical-transmission vehicle, since the engines could be mounted anywhere, and only the length of the power cables needed to be altered, as opposed to re-designing the driveshafts and locating the engines for the easiest routing of power shafts to the gearbox. Without the forward-mounted turret of the Porsche Tiger prototype, the twin engines were relocated to the front, where the turret had been, leaving room ahead of them for the driver and radio operator. As the engines were placed in the middle, the driver and the radio operator were isolated from the rest of the crew and could be addressed only by intercom. The now empty rear half of the hull was covered with a heavily armored, full five-sided casemate with slightly sloped upper faces and armored solid roof, and turned into a crew compartment, mounting a single 8.8 cm Pak 43 cannon in the forward face of the casemate.
From this readily available basis, the SdKfz. 184/1 was hurriedly developed. It differed from the tank hunter primarily through its new casemate that held the 380 mm Raketenwerfer. Since the SdKfz. 184/1 was intended for use in urban areas in close range street fighting, it needed to be heavily armoured to survive. Its front plate had a greater slope than the Ferdinand while the sides were more vertical and the roof was flat. Its sloped (at 47° from vertical) frontal casemate armor was 150 mm (5.9 in) thick, while its superstructure side and rear plates had a strength of 82 mm (3.2 in). The SdKfz.184/1 also received add-on armor of 100 mm thickness, bolted to the hull’s original vertical front plates, increasing the thickness to 200 mm but adding 5 tons of weight. All these measures pushed the weight of the vehicle up from the Ferdinand’s already bulky 65 t to 75 t, limiting the vehicle’s manoeuvrability even further. Located at the rear of the loading hatch was a Nahverteidigungswaffe launcher which was used for close defense against infantry with SMi 35 anti-personnel mines, even though smoke grenades or signal flares could be fired with the device in all directions, too. For close-range defense, a 7.92 mm MG 34 machine gun was carried in a ball mount in the front plate, an addition that was introduced to the Elefant tank hunters, too, after the SdKfz. 184 had during its initial deployments turned out to be very vulnerable to infantry attacks.
Due to the size of the RW 61 and the bulkiness of the ammunition, only fourteen rounds could be carried internally, of which one was already loaded, with another stored in the loading tray, and the rest were carried in two storage racks, leaving only little space for the crew of four in the rear compartment. To help with the loading of ammunition into the vehicle, a loading crane was fitted at the rear of the superstructure next to the loading hatch on the roof.
Due to the internal limits and the tactical nature of the vehicle, it was intended that each SdKfz. 184/1 (as well as each Sturmtiger) would be accompanied by an ammunition carrier, typically based on the Panzer IV chassis, but the lack of resources did not make this possible. There were even plans to build a dedicated, heavily armored ammunition carrier on the Tiger I chassis, but only one such carrier was completed and tested, it never reached production status.
By the time the first RW 61 carriers had become available, Germany had lost the initiative, with the Wehrmacht being almost exclusively on the defensive rather than the offensive, and this new tactical situation significantly weakened the value of both Sturmtiger and Sturmelefant, how the SdKfz 184/1 was semi-officially baptized. Nevertheless, three new Panzer companies were raised to operate the Sturmpanzer types: Panzer Sturmmörser Kompanien (PzStuMrKp) ("Armored Assault Mortar Company") 1000, 1001 and 1002. These originally were supposed to be equipped with fourteen vehicles each, but this figure was later reduced to four each, divided into two platoons, consisting of mixed vehicle types – whatever was available and operational.
PzStuMrKp 1000 was raised on 13 August 1944 and fought during the Warsaw Uprising with two vehicles, as did the prototype in a separate action, which may have been the only time the Sturmtiger was used in its intended role. PzStuMrKp 1001 and 1002 followed in September and October. Both PzStuMrKp 1000 and 1001 served during the Ardennes Offensive, with a total of four Sturmtiger and three Sturmelefanten.
After this offensive, the Sturmpanzer were used in the defence of Germany, mainly on the Western Front. During the battle for the bridge at Remagen, German forces mobilized Sturmmörserkompanie 1000 and 1001 (with a total of 7 vehicles, five Sturmtiger and two Sturmelefanten) to take part in the battle. The tanks were originally tasked with using their mortars against the bridge itself, though it was discovered that they lacked the accuracy needed to hit the bridge and cause significant damage with precise hits to vital structures. During this action, one of the Sturmtigers in Sturmmörserkompanie 1001 near Düren and Euskirchen allegedly hit a group of stationary Shermans tanks in a village with a 380mm round, resulting in nearly all the Shermans being put out of action and their crews killed or wounded - the only recorded tank-on-tank combat a Sturmtiger was ever engaged in. After the bridge fell to the Allies, Sturmmörserkompanie 1000 and 1001 were tasked with bombardment of Allied forces to cover the German retreat, as opposed to the bunker busting for which they had originally been designed for. None was actually destroyed through enemy fire, but many vehicles had to be given up due to mechanical failures or the lack of fuel. Most were blown up by their crews, but a few fell into allied hands in an operational state.
Total production numbers of the SdKfz. 184/1 are uncertain but, being an emergency product and based on a limited chassis supply, the number of vehicles that left the Nibelungenwerke in Austria was no more than ten – also because the tank hunter conversion had top priority and the exotic RW 61 launcher was in very limited supply. As a consequence, only a total of 18 Sturmtiger had been finished by December 1945 and put into service, too. However, the 380 mm Raketen-Werfer 61 remained in production and was in early 1946 adapted to the new Einheitspanzer E-50/75 chassis.
Specifications:
Crew: Six (driver, radio operator/machine gunner in the front cabin,
commander, gunner, 2× loader in the casemate section)
Weight: 75 tons
Length: 7,05 m (23 ft 1½ in)
Width: 3,38 m (11 ft 1 in)
Height w/o crane: 3,02 m (9 ft 10¾ in)
Ground clearance: 1ft 6¾ in (48 cm)
Climbing: 2 ft 6½ in (78 cm)
Fording depth: 3 ft 3¼ (1m)
Trench crossing: 8 ft 7 ¾ in (2,64 m)
Suspension: Longitudinal torsion-bar
Fuel capacity: 1.050 liters
Armour:
62 to 200 mm (2.44 to 7.87 in)
Performance:
30 km/h (19 mph) on road
15 km/h (10 miles per hour () off road
Operational range: 150 km (93 mi) on road
90 km (56 mi) cross-country
Power/weight: 8 hp/ton
Engine:
2× Maybach HL120 TRM petrol engines with 300 PS (246 hp, 221 kW) each, powering…
2× Siemens-Schuckert D1495a 500 Volt electric engines with 320 PS (316 hp, 230 kW) each
Transmission:
Electric
Armament:
1x 380 mm RW 61 rocket launcher L/5.4 with 14 rounds
1x 7.92 mm (0.312 in) MG 34 machine gun with 600 rounds
1x 100 mm grenade launcher (firing anti-personnel mines, smoke grenades or signal flares)
The kit and its assembly:.
This fictional tank model is not my own idea, it is rather based on a picture of a similar kitbashing of an Elefant with a Sturmtiger casemate and its massive missile launcher – even though it was a rather crude model, with a casemate created from cardboard. However, I found the idea charming, even more so because the Ferdinand/Elefant was rather a rolling bunker than an agile tank hunter, despite its powerful weapon. Why not use the same chassis as a carrier for the Sturmtiger’s huge mortar as an assault SPG?
The resulting Sturmelefant was created as a kitbashing: the chassis is an early boxing of the Trumpeter Elefant, which comes not only with IP track segments but also alternative vinyl tracks (later boxing do not feature them), and casemate parts come from a Trumpeter Sturmtiger.
While one would think that switching the casemate would be straightforward affair, the conversion turned out to be more complex than expected. Both Elefant and Sturmtiger come with separate casemate pieces, but they are not compatible. The Sturmtiger casemate is 2mm wider than the Elefant’s hull, and its glacis plate is deeper than the Elefant’s, leaving 4mm wide gaps at the sides and the rear. One option could have been to trim down the glacis plate, but I found the roofline to become much too low – and the casemate’s length would have been reduced.
So, I used the Sturmtiger casemate “as is” and filled the gaps with styrene sheet strips. This worked, but the casemate’s width created now inward-bent sections that looked unplausible. Nobody, even grazed German engineers, would not have neglected the laws of structural integrity. What to do? Tailoring the casemate’s sides down would have been one route, but this would have had created a strange shape. The alternative I chose was to widen the flanks of the Elefant’s hull underneath the casemate, which was achieved with tailored 0.5 mm styrene sheet panels and some PSR – possible through the Elefant’s simple shape and the mudguards that run along the vehicle’s flanks.
Some more PSR was necessary to blend the rear into a coherent shape and to fill a small gap at the glacis plate’s base. Putty was also used to fill/hide almost all openings on the glacis plate, since no driver sight or ball mount for a machine gun was necessary anymore. New bolts between hull and casemate were created with small drops of white glue. The rest of the surface details were taken from the respective donor kits.
Painting and markings:
This was not an easy choice. A classic Hinterhalt scheme would have been a natural choice, but since the Sturmelefant would have been converted from existing hulls with new parts, I decided to emphasize this heritage through a simple, uniform livery: all Ferdinand elements would be painted/left in a uniform Dunkelgelb (RAL, 7028, Humbrol 83), while the new casemate as well as the bolted-on front armor were left in a red primer livery, in two different shades (Humbrol 70 and 113). This looked a little too simple for my taste, so that I eventually added snaky lines in Dunkelgelb onto the primer-painted sections, blurring the contrast between the two tones.
Markings remained minimal, just three German crosses on the flanks and at the rear and a tactical code on the casemate – the latter in black and in a hand-written style, as if the vehicle had been rushed into frontline service.
After the decals had been secured under sone varnish the model received an overall washing with dark brown, highly thinned acrylic paint, some dry-brushing with light grey and some rust traces, before it was sealed overall with matt acrylic varnish and received some dirt stains with mixed watercolors and finally, after the tracks had been mounted, some artist pigments as physical dust on the lower areas.
Again a project that appeared simple but turned out to be more demanding because the parts would not fit as well as expected. The resulting bunker breaker looks plausible, less massive than the real Sturmtiger but still a menacing sight.
How code is documented in Ubiquity. For more information see Atul's blog post. For the actual documentation, see here.
MÍDIA ARTE | MEDIA ART
A. Bill Miller - gridSol-precomps - Estados Unidos | United States
A. Bill Miller - gridSol-altar1 - Estados Unidos | United States
Aaron Oldenburg - After - Estados Unidos | United States
Agam (A.) Andreas - La Resocialista Internacional - Holanda | Netherlands
alan bigelow - This Is Not A Poem - Estados Unidos | United States
Alcione Godoy, Camillo Louvise, Bruno Azzolini, Rafael Araujo, Rodolfo Rossi, Marina Maia & Vinicius Nakamura - Hipercepção - Brasil | Brazil
Alex Hetherington - Linda Fratianne - Reino Unido | United Kingdom
Anders Weberg - P2P ART - The aesthetics of ephemerality - Suécia | Sweden
Anders Weberg - JE SUIS PÈRE ET MON PÈRE EST PÈRE I'm a Father and my Father is a Father - Suécia | Sweden
Anders Weberg - Expose Yourself - Suécia | Sweden
Anstey/Pape: Josephine Anstey & Dave Pape - Mrs. Squandertime - Estados Unidos | United States
Balam Soto - Self Portrait Videos - Estados Unidos | United States
Bárbara de Azevedo - VIDEO ESTADO SIMULACRO CINEMATOGRÁFICO - Brasil | Brazil
Ben Baker-Smith - Infinite Glitch - Estados Unidos | United States
Brit Bunkley - Pardox of Plenty - Nova Zelândia | New Zealand
Brit Bunkley - Up River Blues - Nova Zelândia | New Zealand
Brit Bunkley - Springfield Paradox - Nova Zelândia | New Zealand
Bruno Xavier, Fabiane Zambon, Felipe van Deursen, Frederico Di Giacomo & Kleyson Barbosa (Equipe principal) | Ana Freitas, Ana Prado, André Sirangelo, Alisson Lima, André Maciel, Alexandre Versignassi, Dalton Soares, Daniel Apolinario, Douglas Kawazu, Emiliano Urbim, Érica Georgino, Leandro Spett, Gil Beyruth, Gustavo Frota, Marina Motomura, Maurício Horta, Rafael Kenski, Renata Aguiar & Simone Yamamoto (Parceiros e colaboradores) - Newsgames da Superinteressante - Brasil | Brazil
charly.gr - peronismo (spam) - Argentina | Argentina
charly.gr - Joan - Argentina | Argentina
Chen, I-Chun - Measuring Distance Between the Self and Others - Taiwan | Taiwan
chiara passa - the virtual prigione - Itália | Italy
Christopher Otto - PXLPNT - Estados Unidos | United States
Cleber Gazana / Daniel Gazana - UNTITLED - Brasil | Brazil
Daniel Duda - Araucaria angustifolia - Brasil | Brazil
David Muth - 1 C A a 01x - Reino Unido | United Kingdom
David Sullivan - Fugitive Emissions - Estados Unidos | United States
Doron Golan - Waking Quad - Israel | Israel
Douglas de Paula - Interfaces Predatórias / Plundering Interfaces - Brasil | Brazil
Elétrico: Ludmila Pimentel, Carolina Frinhani & Bruna Spoladore - Experimento de Corpo - Brasil | Brazil
Grupo Vertigem: Juliana Rodrigues, Natalia Santana & Ygor Ferreira - Downtown 2.0 - Brasil | Brazil
Jarbas Agnelli - Birds on the Wires - Brasil | Brazil
Jason Nelson - Sydney's Sibera - Austrália | Australia
Jessica Barness - Common Sounds: Positive Elements, Negative Spaces - Estados Unidos | United States
Joana Moll & Heliodoro Santos - THE TEXAS BORDER - Espanha | Spain
jody zellen - Lines of Life - Estados Unidos | United States
Jorn Ebner - (L'ultimo turista) - Alemanha | Germany
jtwine - ONSPEED - Estados Unidos | United States
Kenji Kojima - RGB Music News - Estados Unidos | United States
kinema ikon: calin man - kinema ikon - Romênia | Romania
Leyla Rodriguez & Cristian Straub - Isle Of Lox "The face" - Alemanha | Germany
Luca Holland - rain.html - Reino Unido | United Kingdom
Luis Henrique Rodrigues - Internet Series - Brasil | Brazil
Luiz Gustavo Ferreira Zanotello - N.A.V.E - Brasil | Brazil
MALYSSE - THE BIOPERVERSITY PROJECT #1 - Brasil | Brazil
Matt Frieburghaus - Song - Estados Unidos | United States
Maya Watanabe - El Contorno - Espanha I Spain
mchrbn - Afghan War Diary - Suíça | Switzerland
Members: Aymeric Mansoux, Dave Griffiths and Marloes de Valk - Naked on Pluto - Holanda | Netherlands
Michael Takeo Magruder - Data Flower (Prototype I) - Reino Unido | United Kingdom
Nagasaki Archive Committee: Hidenori Watanave, Tomoyuki Torisu, Ryo Osera & others - Nagasaki Archive - Japão | Japan
Nanette Wylde - MettaVerse - Estados Unidos | United States
Nicholas Economos - Apophenia - Estados Unidos | United States
Nicholas Knouf - Journal of Journal Performance Studies (JJPS) - Estados Unidos | United States
Nurit Bar-Shai - FUJI spaces and other places - Estados Unidos | United States
Osvaldo cibils- everything breathes - Itália | Italy
Owen Eric Wood - Return - Canadá | Canada
Paolo Cirio - Drowning NYC - Reino Unido | United Kingdom
Quayola - Strata Series - Bélgica | Belgium
rachelmauricio - [[o]] - Brasil | Brazil
rachelmauricio - 3Y - Brasil | Brazil
rachelmauricio - ldj8jbl - Brasil | Brazil
Rayelle Niemann & Erik Dettwiler - www.citysharing.ch - Suíça | Switzerland
Remco Roes - Everything in between - Bélgica | Belgium
rage - Impermanência Formal - Brasil | Brazil
Representa Corisco: Vj Eletroman - Representa Corisco - Espanha | Spain
Richard J O'Callaghan - 'thechildrenswar' - Reino Unido | United Kingdom
Rodrigo Mello - Faces - Brasil | Brazil
Rosa Menkman - Collapse of PAL - Holanda | Netherlands
Santiago Ortiz - Impure - Espanha | Spain
seryozha kOtsun - Synesthesiograph - Rússia | Russia
Stuart Pound - Green Water Dragon - Reino Unido | United Kingdom
Stuart Pound - Time Code - Reino Unido | United Kingdom
TAMURA YUICHIRO - NIGHTLESS - Japão | Japan
TOMMY PALLOTTA: Submarine Channel - Collapsus: The Energy Risk Conspiracy - Holanda | Netherlands
Vladimir Todorovic - The Snail on the Slope - Singapura | Singapore
Vladimir Todorovic - Silica-esc - Singapura | Singapore
MAQUINEMA | MACHINIMA
André Lopes aka spyvspy aeon - Clockwork - Brasil e Portugal | Brazil and Portugal
André Lopes aka spyvspy aeon & slimgirlfat - MooN - Brasil e Portugal | Brazil and Portugal
Bernard Capitaine aka Iono Allen - Fears - França | France
Bernard Capitaine aka Iono Allen - Fusion - França | France
BobE Schism - Love Is Sometimes Colder Than Ice - Reino Unido | United Kingdom
C.-D. Schulz aka Rohan Fermi - 9 - Alemanha | Germany
C.-D. Schulz aka Rohan Fermi - Order in chaos - Alemanha | Germany
Chat Noir Studios: Sherwin Liu & Kate Lee - Death in Venice - Estados Unidos | United States
Chat Noir Studios: Sherwin Liu & Kate Lee - Incubus - Estados Unidos | United States
David Griffiths aka nebogeo - Missile Command - Finlândia | Finland
Evan Meaney - The Well of Representation - Estados Unidos | United States
Gottfried Haider - Hidden in plain sight - Áustria | Austria
Harrison Heller aka Nefarious Guy & Amorphous Blob Productions - Clockwise: Part 1 - Estados Unidos | United States
Harrison Heller aka Nefarious Guy & Amorphous Blob Productions - Stop, Rewind - Estados Unidos | United States
Henry Gwiazda - history - Estados Unidos | United States
Henry Gwiazda - infectious - Estados Unidos | United States
Iain Friar aka IceAxe - Trichophagia - Reino Unido | United Kingdom
Jun Falkenstein, Ben Covi, Brad Mitchell & Pete Terrill - The Lake - Estados Unidos | United States
Kerria Seabrooke & Paul Jannicola - Tiny Nation - Estados Unidos | United States
LES RICHES DOUANIERS: Gilles RICHARD & Fabrice ZOLL - The Lonely Migrant - França | France
Nonsense Studio: Drozhzhin, TimaGoofy, ultraviolet, ElGrandeBigB, Radiated & Takuhatsu - Johnny Cash - God's gonna cut you down - Finlândia | Finland
Pierre Gaudillere, Thomas Van Lissum, Oliver Delbos, Audrey Le Roy & Jonnathan Mutton - Unheimliche - França | France
Piotr Kopik - Psychosomatic rebuilders animation #002 - Polônia | Polland
Piotr Kopik - Psychosomatic rebuilders emoticons machinima - Polônia | Polland
Pooky Amsterdam, Draxtor Despres & Samuel's Dream - I'm Too Busy To Date Your Avatar! - Estados Unidos | United States
Saskia Boddeke aka Rose Borchovski - Lost in counting - Holanda | Netherlands
Saskia Boddeke aka Rose Borchovski - WHY IS THERE SOMETHING? Part 5: Greek Myth, The Battle of the Gods - Holanda | Netherlands
Saskia Boddeke aka Rose Borchovski - WHY IS THERE SOMETHING? Part 6: Israel Myth, The punishment - Holanda | Netherlands
Tom Jantol - Dear Fairy - Croácia | Croatia
Tom Jantol - Duel (Part) - Croácia | Croatia
Tom Jantol - The Remake - Croácia | Croatia
Tony Bannan aka ammopreviz - Selfish Gene - Austrália | Australia
Trace Sanderson aka Lainy Voom - Ctrl-Alt-Del - Reino Unido | United Kingdom
Trace Sanderson aka Lainy Voom - Dagon - HP Lovecraft - Reino Unido | United Kingdom
Tutsy Navarathna - My familiar dream - Índia | India
FILE TABLET
Aircord: Toshiyuki Hashimoto, Masato Tsutsui & Koichiro Mori – REFLECTION – Japão | Japan
Alex Komarov & Sergey Rachok – ACCORDION – Estados Unidos e Rússia | United States and Russia
Cruz-Diez Foundation - CRUZ-DIEZ "INTERACTIVE CHROMATIC RANDOM EXPERIENCE" – Venezuela | Venezuela
Fingerlab: Antoine Lepoutre & Aurélien Potier – MULTIPONG – França | France
Jason Waters – SPIROGROW – Estados Unidos | United States
Jay Silver & Eric Rosenbaum - SINGING FINGERS – Estados Unidos | United States
Nate Murray & TJ Fuller - IPAD GAME FOR CATS - Estados Unidos | United States
Pavel Doichev - ART IN MOTION – Estados Unidos | United States
Pavel Doichev - LINE ART – Estados Unidos | United StatesPavel Doichev – TESLA – Estados Unidos | United States
Rob Fielding – MUGICIAN – Estados Unidos | United States
RunSwimFly - Richard Harrison – GLOOP - Austrália | Australia
Scott Snibbe – ANTOGRAPH (ou MYRMEGRAPH) – Estados Unidos | United States
Scott Snibbe – BUBBLE HARP – Estados Unidos | United States
Scott Snibbe – GRAVILUX – Estados Unidos | United States
Scott Snibbe – OSCILLOSCOOP – Estados Unidos | United States
Scott Snibbe – TRIPOLAR – Estados Unidos | United States
Smule - MAGIC FIDDLE – Estados Unidos | United States
Spaces of Play: Mattias Ljungstrom, Marek Plichta, Andreas Zecher & Martin Strak – SPIRITS – Alemanha | Germany
Ted Davis - TEXT2IMAGE – Estados Unidos | United States
Typotheque / Resolume - DANCE WRITER – Estados Unidos | United States
FILE INSTALAÇÃO I INSTALLATION
Ben Jack - Elucidating Feedback - Nova Zelândia / New Zealand
Bruno Zamborlin - Mogees - Reino Unido e França / United Kingdom and France
Hye Yeon Nam - Please Smile - Coréia do Sul e Estados Unidos / South Korea and United States
Karina Smigla-Bobinski - ADA (analog interactive kinetic sculpture) - Polônia e Alemanha / Poland and Germany
Memo Akten - Body Paint - Turquia e Reino Unido / Turkey and United Kingdom
Raquel Kogan - XYZ - Brasil / Brazil
Rejane Cantoni & Leonardo Crescenti - Solo (Soil) - Brasil / Brazil
Reynold Reynolds - Six Easy Pieces - Alemanha / Germany
Yuri Suzuki - Beatvox - Inglaterra / England
FILE SYMPOSIUM:
Bruno Zamborlin - Mogees – França e Reino Unido / France and United Kingdom
Hye Yeon Nam – Robô Artístico "Please Smile" / Artistic Robot "Please Smile" - Coréia do Sul e Estados Unidos / South Korea and United States
Karina Smigla-Bobinski - ADA - analoge interactive kinetic sculpture - Polônia e Alemanha / Poland and Germany
Raquel Kogan & Alexandre Ribeiro de Sá – so_ar – Brasil / Brazil
Yuri Suzuki – Interjeição de Som / Sound Interjection - Reino Unido / United Kingdom
The handmade QR code of the painting Palermo by Fabrice de Nola. QR code size: cm 120 x 120.
To see the full painting go to: flic.kr/p/8WxM1o
Cite as: Fabrice de Nola, 2010. Palermo, detail on painted QR code.
This work is part or the Palermu Project.
There's a Flickr group about the Genius of Palermo, please feel welcome to join! flic.kr/g/qJgY7
Signs promoting the Burren Code in English, French, Italian, Polish, Spanish and German. Apparently visitors to the Burren tend to break pieces of the limestone pavement to make little cairns. I've no idea why. In the background you can see two of the Aran Islands in the distance.
Here's a link to the Burren Code online:
www.burrenconnect.ie/burren_code/burren_code.html
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