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Ashleigh Morris in No. 77, with Andrew Winchester in No. 87 tucked in behind, competing in the early rounds of the 2015 Scottish BMW Compact Cup at Knockhill Racing Circuit.
I've been wanting to try a standing workstation for quite a while now and I finally took the plunge a few weeks ago. Like the author of this post on Web Worker Daily, I didn't want to spend a lot of money setting it up. After experimenting to find just the right height, I discovered that I could obtain that height simply by using an empty cardboard box from our food delivery service (I even get a new box each week with my fruits & veggies delivery).
The best thing about this compact setup in my kitchen is that at the end of each day I tear it down and pack it up, which takes all of 5 minutes and puts a firm cap on the number of hours that I end up working.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
Even while the heavy T43 (M103) tank was still in development during the early Fifties, the U.S.A. was not done with attempts at making better heavy tanks. The primary concern were the Soviet heavy tanks that were expected to roll over Western Germany in the case of a Cold War escalation. Development was split into two schools of thought: One based its work on the T43, leading to the T57 and T58 auto loading tanks, while the other started from scratch, trying to mount a heavy weapon that could engage enemy tanks at long range in a more compact hull than the large and heavy T43.
In June 1954, the Detroit Arsenal held its third Question Mark Conference, the goal of which was brainstorming ideas for new heavy tanks. Conditions these proposals had to meet were that a prototype had to be constructed within two years, and the vehicle had to be able to fit within the confines of the Berne International Clearance Diagram, a code of standardization for rail tunnels established at the international conference at Berne, Switzerland, in 1913.
Various designs were submitted and discussed: The TS-2 and TS-5 were both armed with a 105 mm (4.13 in) T210 smoothbore gun; in a turret on the TS-2, and in a fixed casemate on the TS-5. The TS-6 and TS-31 were armed with the 120 mm (4.72 in) T123E1 gun; again in a turret on the TS-6, and casemate on the TS-31. Power for the tanks would have been supplied by either a 700 hp Continental AOI-1490-1 engine with an XT-500 transmission (TS-2 and TS-5), or an 810 hp Continental AVI-1790-8 with an XT-500 transmission (TS-6 and TS-31).
In the end, the TS-31, outfitted with a gimbal gun mount and estimated to weigh 45 tons, was chosen for further development, because it promised the most compact outlines. Chrysler was assigned to the development of the TS-31, which was given the project designation “120mm gun tank T110”; at the same time, the T43 was entering pre-production as the M103.
The original TS-31/T110 had a driver in the hull, a gunner to the left of the gun, a commander and his machine gun cupola to the right of the gun, and two loaders. It was rear-engined and had six road wheels on either side. Armor was to be as thick as 9 inches (228.6 mm) on the gun mantlet. Despite the TS-31 concept being chosen as the winner, it still was slightly too big to fit through the Berne Clearance Dimensions. Additional problems were found with the off-center commander’s cupola: the field of view was poor and the additional metal to support it added to the tank’s weight and increased its size. These flaws led to Chrysler redesigning the tank.
The second draft, the T110E1, was an improvement over the original TS-31. It was slightly smaller, becoming shorter and the front becoming flat. The driver was moved into the casemate, to the left of the gun, with the gunner being moved to the right of the gun. Behind the driver and gunner were two loaders and the commander behind them. The commander was placed directly in the middle of the tank, leaving him to sit almost directly atop the engine and with his feet worryingly close to the gun breech. Despite all this, it was still too big to fit through the Berne Clearance Dimensions. Size, in addition to the Detroit Arsenal’s disapproval of the driver’s position, led to a second redesign.
The third draft, the T110E2, was sort of a reversion to the original; the driver was moved back to the hull outside of the casemate, and the gunner was moved back to the left of the gun. The commander’s turret was moved slightly forward, so he would no longer have to sit on top of the engine, but was now forced to sit in a very awkward and cramped position in order to avoid being crushed by the gun’s recoil every time it fired. The casemate reverted to being rounded at the front. Unfortunately, the third draft was no smaller in size than the second.
The Detroit Arsenal replied to Chrysler’s unsatisfactory proposals with the fourth draft of the T110 on its own (even though this proposal did not receive a dedicated designation): The casemate was moved to the back, hanging over the rear of the tank. The transmission was moved to the rear as well, joining the engine. In its place up front was a massive fuel tank, nearly encompassing the driver. The power plant (which was now a Continental 700 hp AOI-1490) was pushed to the left to afford the commander a more comfortable (but still probably hot) position on the far rear right. The suspension was changed to a more conventional (for the Americans) type, with smaller road wheels; although the original draft was without them, return rollers would have been necessary.
Chrysler rejected the Detroit Arsenal’s idea to put the casemate on the very back on the tank and kept it in the middle, leading to the T110E3. The driver was moved back again inside of the casemate, this time to the right of the gun and in an elevated position that offered a very good field of view, and the driver had an M24 infrared periscope.
Chrysler originally tried to simplify maintenance on this design by allowing the engine to be pulled out, on rails, via a hatch in the rear of the tank. But this novel feature created rigidity issues and the engine was returned to a standard position, now turned lengthwise in the tank. This new engine placement again left the commander stuck between the engine and the gun breech. The gun mantlet, which had been relatively tiny before, was much bigger in this iteration, weighing 2 tons and being 9 inches (228.6 mm) thick. The tank was now short and narrow enough to barely fit into the limits of the Berne Tunnel standard.
This version of the T110 was eventually the first deemed worthy enough to be turned into hardware. A wooden mockup was built and engineering diagrams were drawn up. The main weapon was a 120 mm T123E1 rifled anti-tank gun (the same gun that was carried by the M103, later designated M58), combined with an M14 stereoscopic sight. Gun traverse was 15 degrees to each side, with 20 degrees of gun elevation and 10 degrees of gun depression. Frontal armor was 5 inches (127 mm) at a 60 degree slope from vertical. Secondary weaponry comprised as a .30 cal (7.62 mm) machine gun, paired with the main gun, and the commander had a remote-controlled .50 cal (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine gun on the M1 cupola, which could be aimed and fired from the inside.
Interest from the U.S. Army for this tank, which was rather a self-propelled gun carriage than a classic battle tank and rather passé in the U.S. Army’s eyes, was high enough to warrant the build of two prototypes – primarily because the Army was not too enthusiastic about the large M103. While the T110E3 featured basically the same armament as the M103 and offered comparable frontal armor, it was considerably lighter (50 vs. 65 tons) and more compact.
In order to save cost and development time, a modified M48 Patton chassis was chosen for the prototypes, which featured three rollers per side and the early track tension wheel between the last road wheel and the sprocket wheel at the rear. All six road wheel pairs were sprung on independent torsion arms, while the two front pairs and rear ones received extra shock absorbers with dampers to block excessive amplitude from the torsion arms. Power came from an uprated Continental Motors, Inc. AV-1790-3 petrol engine, which delivered 875 hp instead of the early M48’s 810 hp standard output.
The prototypes were built by Chrysler and ferried to the U.S. Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground for field tests and comparison with the current standard tanks, namely the T43/M103 and the standard medium M48 MBT.
Potential service vehicles would have received the designation M90 and were supposed to be powered by a more reliable and longer-range Continental AVDS-1790-2 diesel power plant, but no more than the two T110E3 prototypes were built and tested in the course of 1956. However, no series production ensued, since the tank’s performance did not meet the U.S. Army’s expectations – even though the T110E3 proved to be much more agile than the T43/M103 and the commonality with the M48 made the T110E3 an attractive concept. Alas, the casemate layout was outdated and the ergonomics for the crew were poor and the interior was cramped due to the large cannon and the need for two loaders, because charges and warheads for the 120 mm rounds were separate and weighed 51 lbs (23.1 kg) in total, too much for a single loader and a decent rate of fire. The commander had, despite the cupola, a very limited field of view esp. of the tank’s direct surroundings. Furthermore, the development of improved armor-piercing ammunitions for lighter guns, as well as the advent of guided anti-tank missiles, made the heavy tank, including the M103 as well as the T110E3, obsolete. As a final blow to the project, development of the new medium M60 tank with the powerful Royal Ordnance L7 105mm cannon had just started when the T110E3 finished its trials, and an update of the M48 with the L7 cannon was the eventual solution.
A single T110E3, the first prototype, survived and is preserved at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren, MI.
Specifications:
Crew: Five (commander, gunner, 2× loader, driver)
Weight: 50 tonnes
Length: 6.87 m (22 ft 6 in) hull only
9.29 m (30 ft 5 in) overall
Width: 3.65 m (12 ft 0 in)
Height: 3,02 m (9 ft 11 in)
Suspension: Torsion-bar
Ground clearance: 15.2 in (387 mm)
Fuel capacity: 200 US gal (760 l; 170 imp gal)
Armor:
12.7 – 229 mm (0.5 – 9 in)
Performance:
Speed:
- Maximum, road: 30 mph (48 km/h)
- Sustained, road: 25 mph (40 km/h)
- Cross country: 9.3 to 15.5 mph (15 to 25 km/h)
Climbing capability:
- 40% side slope and 60% max grade
- Vertical obstacle of 36 inches (91 cm)
- 102 inches (2.59 m) trench crossing
Fording depth: Unprepared: 4 ft (1.219 m), prepared: 8 ft (2.438 m)
Operational range: 160 ml (258 km) on road
Power/weight: 17.5 hp/t
Engine:
1× Continental Motors, Inc. AV-1790-3 petrol V12 engine with fuel injection, delivering 875 hp,
plus a 1-cylinder auxiliary generator
Transmission:
General Motors CD-850-4A with 2 ranges forward, 1 reverse
Armament:
1× 120 mm T123E1 (M58) rifled anti-tank gun with 34 rounds
1× co-axial 7.62 mm M73 machine gun with 3.000 rounds
1× 12.7mm M2 Browning anti-aircraft machine gun on the commander’s cupola with 900 rounds
The kit and its assembly:
Yes, this is a whiffy tank, but the T110 project as such actually existed as an alternative to the M103. However, there never was any hardware beyond a wooden mock-up, and after many iterations (T110E5 was the last one!) the project was dropped in favor of classic designs with a fully rotating turret, and the availability of the British L7 cannon made the need for the American 120mm cannon obsolete.
I came across this obscure American tank project when I browsed the online shop of the German tank model/conversion kit manufacturer ModellTrans/Silesian Models, who offer a T110E3 resin conversion kit for an unspecified M48 chassis. I found the concept odd and the kit looked good, so I bought one, together with an ESCI M48A2 kit as chassis donor.
The rest was simple kitbashing. The M48 chassis was built OOB, just the upper hull replaced by the T110 resin parts, which also include the gun barrel and the mantlet, the commander’s cupola and several other small parts. Fit was/is surprisingly good! The T110 hull also went very smoothly onto the ESCI chassis: not plastic or resin had to be cut, just a 2mm gap at the lower rear had to be filled with a styrene strip, and only minor PSR had to be done on the front and the rear.
Some personal improvements include a scratched wall inside of the muzzle brake (made from a simple piece of 0.5 mm styrene sheet) and rails along the sidewalls, made from thin brass wire. Furthermore, some small parts from the ESCI M48 were transferred to the T110, including the barrel support, the housings for the stereoscopic rangefinder and a jerry can. Since this was supposed to become a prototype, I did not want to change too much.
Painting and markings:
The whole vehicle became Olive Drab, a conservative choice. I could not imagine that this outdated tank concept could have seriously entered service, so I decided to represent a prototype. But even if I had wanted a U.S. Army in-service vehicle, it would most probably have been painted all-over Olive Drab, anyway, since more complex paints schemes were only introduced in the late Seventies.
AFAIK there was no clearly defined standard for “Olive Drab” in practice, even though there was a contemporary Federal Standard tone, 24087 (very different from the later, much lighter FS tone with this code), also known as “OD ‘50”. In order to keep things simple, I chose Humbrol 66 (HM3), since it is supposed to represent the typical US Army tone. At first this looked rather dark and murky, but with some dry-brushing (with a mix of 66 and 111) after a washing with a mix of black and red brown, things started to look really good – esp. after the decals had been applied. The latter primarily came from the OOB ESCI sheet, complemented with the markings “TEST” and “T110E3”, created with single white 3mm letters from TL Modellbau and seen on contemporary American test vehicles in a similar fashion.
Further weathering was done through more dry-brushing with Humbrol 72 (Khaki Drill), then the model received a coat of matt acrylic varnish. Once the tracks (painted with a mix of acrylic black, brown and iron beforehand) had been mounted and finishing touches had been made, the lower areas were dusted with a reddish-brown mix of mineral pigments, reflecting the red-brownish washing all over the hull.
Not a very complex project, the most tedious aspect of this build was the M48 running gear. However, the latter went together well with little resistance, and the T110 hull from ModellTrans/Silesian Models was easy to integrate, too. I am actually very impressed by the good fit, the details and the molding quality of the resin parts. Even thin and delicate parts and areas like the mudguards have been crisply molded and they are not distinguishable from the IP counterparts from the ESCI kit! And I like the result: the T110E3 looks very retro, a design fallen out of time, and a worthy post-WWII what-if model.
The Ford Ranger is a compact pickup truck that was manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company between 1982 and 2011 for the 1983 to 2012 model years. Introduced as a replacement for the Mazda-produced Ford Courier sold from 1971 to 1982, the Ranger was produced in three generations. Introduced a year after the Chevrolet S-10, the Ranger would go on to become the best-selling compact truck in the United States from 1987 to 2004.
Production of the Ranger was sourced from three different assembly plants. Twin Cities Assembly Plant in St. Paul, Minnesota produced the Ranger for its entire model run; the last vehicle produced at Twin Cities Assembly was the final 2012 Ford Ranger. But from 1983 to 1999, production was supplemented at Louisville Assembly Plant in Louisville, Kentucky and from 1993 to 2004, Edison Assembly in Edison, New Jersey.
Although Ford began to use the Ranger name on all compact trucks worldwide starting in 1998, global export of the North American version was primarily limited to South America, including Argentina, Brazil, and Chile; South American versions of the Ranger were produced in Argentina from 1998 to 2012.
Rebadged variants of the second-generation Ford Ranger were marketed by Mazda as the B-Series with Mazda using engine displacement for their model designation: the B2500 had the 2.5-liter inline-four engine and the B4000 has a 4.0-liter V6. For 2002, the B-Series was renamed to simply Mazda Truck in the United States.
Second generation
1992–1997
The redesign in 1992 for 1993 featured mild restyling, flush-mounted door glass, wider doors, and slight fender flares. The 1989-style dashboard remained, but the seats and door panels were new. The 2.9-liter engine was discontinued. For the first time, every model was produced with a flareside bed. The engines offered were offered in displacements of 2.3-, 3.0- and a 4.0 liters. The Mazda M5OD-R1 was now the sole manual transmission option. A new "Splash" model was introduced, which had a flare side bed, unique chrome wheels, 1 inch (25 mm) lowered rear suspension and a 2 inch lowered front suspension (on 4x2 models), and special vinyl "Splash" decals on the sides and the tailgate.
The 1993 Splash trim level was offered with regular cab in arctic white, gloss black, red orange, and sky blue. The Mazda B-Series became a re-badged Ranger for the 1994 model year, but the Mazda B-Series did not offer an equivalent to the Splash model. While 1993 Rangers used R-12 Freon, 1994 model year saw the transition to CFC-free air-conditioning systems in compliance with the Clean Air Act. For the 1994 model year, the Splash trim had options which all included; a 1 in (25 mm) lowered rear suspension and 2 inch lowered front suspension (on 4x2 models), flare side bed, an extended cab, and unique chrome wheels. The decals also underwent subtle changes. While the 1993–1994 models sported red, yellow and blue stripes, the 1995–1996 models had lime green stripes. Additionally, the available colors for the Splash model changed from the 1993–1994 models to the 1995–1997 models. The latter were offered in Maroon Red, Gloss black, White, and Canary Yellow.
Ford Ranger jump seat open
Fall 1994 production (1995 model year) included a steering wheel modified to include a driver's side airbag and a redesigned dashboard which included a double DIN radio head unit. Also for 1995 (model year), SuperCab trucks could have a power driver's seat. The A4LD transmission was updated. 2.3 L and 3.0 L models got the 4R44E, while 4.0 L trucks got the 4R55E. The front brakes were changed to use the same 2-piston brake calipers as the second-generation Explorer, and four-wheel anti-lock brakes were added as standard on 4x4 and 4.0 L models. From October 1995 (1996 model year), an optional passenger airbag (the first compact truck to offer one) became available, with a key-operated cutoff switch that allowed the airbag to be turned off for smaller passengers riding in the front seat. In October 1996, the 1997 model year brought in the first ever five-speed automatic transmission to be used by an American manufacturer. The 4.0-liter models were equipped with the 5R55E, while the 3.0-liter was still mated to the 4R44E.
[Text from Wikipedia]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Ranger_(North_America)
This miniland-scale Lego Ford Ranger X Cab Pickup (1996 - North America Offroad Custom) has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 92nd Build Challenge, - "Stuck in the 90's", - all about vehicles from the decade of the 1990s.
This model was a 'By Request' offered up by Lino, for a Ford 1996 Ranger customised to the gills. I chose for this model to present the vehicle as specified by a horse-riding enthusiast. Styling-wise, my two daughters assisted in how the car should look, including the matching horse trailer.
The Ranger sports a custom full-width chrome grill treatment, including headlight covers. The paintwork is two-tone aqua and white, and appears as a miniland-scale version of what Lego 'Friends' vehicular sets would look like (without some of the colour-blindness which blights them). The Ranger also boasts moon-disc wheels, chrome tube side steps. White lifting cover for the pickup tray, monochrome tail lamps and a tow hitch, for the one-horse trailer.
A really nice 3-series that looked like it had been cherished, backed up by the current low mileage (47k).
'Fawdington BMW Newcastle' window sticker look original too.
Engineering of the compact fluorescent light bulbs
Canadian federal government has adopted a national standard for lighting efficiency that came into effect in 2014. Most, if not all conventional, incandescent light bulbs do not meet the required performance level. The objective was to make sure...
Sometimes Life can be tough, it can be too much.
Olympus XA2 compact 35mm camera (cost 50p)
AgfaPhoto Vista Plus 200 film from Poundland.
Goldline AW8000
35mm compact camera with 4.5/28 lens
With its fancy collapsible mirror for selfies it looks like a cheap toy camera. Cheap for sure, but it can more like a toy camera. It hasn't a fixfocus lens but zone focus. It has no automatic flash, you have to decide on your own between the four flash modes: on, off, fill-in and night-shot. Furthermore it sports a data back.
In the manual is written, that the lens consists of 3 aspheric elements in 3 groups. Mmmh, I have my doubts, but perhaps the elements are made of plastic at all. A red-eye-reduction is also hidden: it is activated when you press the shutter button half-way for 2 sec. before your shot. The position of the zone focus lever like in the picture above is not documented, but you can observe the position of the lens. It is equal to the group position, so I assume, it is a snap shot mode.
Warranty is provided by "Keyphoto Limited", which is a brand of Concord, a company which sales low-budged cameras made in China, like "Le Clic", etc.
After one roll of film: really unique camera, also the lens.
Pictures: Into The Sun and Moe's.
Our subdivision, General Santos City, Mindanao, Philippines. Complete photo collection at WorldHistoryPics.com.
"Is that what you want?". Wisbech Auctions.
The 50p Camera Project
Olympus XA2 35mm film compact camera
Agfa Gevaert / FirstCall 400S b/w film
Home developed in R09.
Story: After I put up the video of my retouching on the Jonnie Walker shot I got a meeting with a company that makes cosmetics. Since I didn't really have any cosmetics in my book I spent some quality time shooting specifically for that meeting. This was actually the shot that I started with. I knew I wanted a shot of a compact and this was basically the most difficult compact to shoot I could find. The entire thing is mirrored.
Lighting: The compact is sitting on a white seamless and there are two lights. There is a bare dynalite 2040 head from camera left providing the hard shadow. Then there is another bare head from camera right pointed to the seamless and that is what is providing the light fall off for the top. If the seamless is one color then the chrome doesn't look chrome so you have to get some light fall off. In addition to the two lights there is also a reflector right in front and a reflector overhead. The camera is just able to get between the two reflectors which is why the compact is small on the sensor in the before shot. I really needed that bit of light on the edge around the actual makeup.
www.m25audi.co.uk/audi/q3.html
Compact SUV, Paintwork/Amalfi White
The Audi Q3 is now available for ordering, you can download the price and specification brochure from the M25 Audi website using the link above. Enquiries welcome.
www.m25audi.co.uk/audi/q3.html
Compact SUV, Paintwork/Cobalt Blue metallic.
The Audi Q3 is now available for ordering, you can download the price and specification brochure from the M25 Audi website using the link above. Enquiries welcome.
A real small super compact from Canon, it is one of the world's smallest super zoom cameras. It is roughly the same size as Canon's Prima-Mini, a fxed lens compact. Here we have a beautiful body covered in aluminium and a mighty 38-130 mm zoom.
The best are the specs for this little thing: 16 zone evaluative metering, 7 point AF system, true exposure compensation (not just back light), all the usual modes and a flash that moves with the zoom. There are custom functions but I have yet to find them. Last nice detail, the zoom command is located on the door.