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4 stage compressor for air. Manufactured at DEMAG in the 60s. Freshly overhauled it still runs today....
Ilford HP5+ exposed like 1600ISO, developed in Kodak's HC110.
Mamiya645 proTL, Sekor45/2.8
Deep in the well which once held a compressor wheel at the Mohawk #6 hoist house. Closer up, it looks like this.
Yet another photo from the long lost archives.
I've started using this method for sealing now - still perfecting it on my own dolls for now but once the new website is up I should be ready :)
Compressor rotors and inlet guide vane (IGV) housings from Westinghouse J34 turbojet engines.
These parts were probably removed from J34s that were once installed on Lockheed P2V / P-2 Neptune maritime patrol aircraft. Minden Air used to operate P2V / P-2 fire-fighting air tankers, such as Tanker 55:
Westinghouse J34 (Wikipedia):
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westinghouse_J34
Photographed at Minden-Tahoe Airport (MEV / KMEV)
Struck by a run-away tire, Mr. Compressor lies in wait of assistance.
I found this while out for a walk, quite unexpectedly. And, by sheer coincidence, We're Here looking for unexpected objects in unexpected places. I think it was unexpected by Mr. Compressor also!
Designed upon the chassis and incorporating many features of the Courser auto truck, the Onager provides a highly-mobile means of launching super-light aircraft, such as the Dragonfly, in the absence of landing fields and other aeronautical infrastructure. When not in transmission with the wheels, the robust Courser engine is used to power the loading winch, wind powerful torsion springs housed within the frontal section, and drive pneumatic compressors to operate the pistons that actuate the rear loading rails. Because the standard Courser cab has been deleted, the vehicle is controlled by a pair of drivers in simple, open compartments to either side of the engine, similar to the setup employed in the Ox auto truck.
Operational Steps:
1)Upon reaching the desired launch site, the Onager’s pulley arms and launch rails are swung forward from their travel positions. The side ladder is assembled to permit access to the winch niche.
2)The rear rails are depressed to facilitate loading of the aircraft, which is pulled up by the loading winch. The rear rails are then elevated to horizontal. The launch cart is locked into position.
3)The steel ropes are drawn back and placed around the launch cart pulleys. The torsion springs are wound and the aircraft’s engine started.
4)The lock is released and the pulley arms drop as the aircraft advances down the rails and rope tension decreases. The aircraft leaves the rails and the launch cart falls away, to be recovered and reused. The process is then repeated from Operation 2 if launching multiple aircraft.
While the Dragonfly and other super-light aircraft saw much use with post-war adventurers, a surplus Onager was only ever purchased by the most extravagantly-funded expeditions.
Play Features:
-Steering in four frontal wheels
-Pistons pump and levers rock when rear wheel turns
-Pulley arms pivot when front bars spun
-Loading winch operates when rear bars spun
-Hinged rear rails
-Rear wheel shock absorbers
-Pivoting embarkation ladders
-Hinged crankshaft access hatches
-Rubber bands launch cart and aircraft*
*And how! It uses the stretchiest bands in my collection and implants the launched vehicle and cart into the opposite wall. I left them off for the photo shoot and shopped them in to avoid the possibility of an accidental flight and the subsequent reconstruction required.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Nakajima J9N Kitsuka (中島 橘花, "Orange Blossom", pronounced Kikka in Kanji used traditionally by the Japanese) was Japan's first jet aircraft. In internal IJN documents it was also called Kōkoku Nigō Heiki (皇国二号兵器, "Imperial Weapon No.2"). After the Japanese military attaché in Germany witnessed trials of the Messerschmitt Me 262 in 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy issued a request to Nakajima to develop a similar aircraft to be used as a fast attack bomber. Among the specifications for the design were the requirements that it should be able to be built largely by unskilled labor, and that the wings should be foldable. This latter feature was not intended for potential use on aircraft carriers, but rather to enable the aircraft to be hidden in caves and tunnels around Japan as the navy began to prepare for the defense of the home islands.
Nakajima designers Kazuo Ohno and Kenichi Matsumura laid out an aircraft that bore a strong but superficial resemblance to the Me 262. Compared to the Me 262, the J9N airframe was noticeably smaller and more conventional in design, with straight wings and tail surfaces, lacking the slight sweepback of the Me 262. The triangular fuselage cross section characteristic of the German design was less pronounced, due to smaller fuel tanks. The main landing gear of the Kikka was taken from the A6M Zero and the nose wheel from the tail of a Yokosuka P1Y bomber.
The Kikka was designed in preliminary form to use the Tsu-11, a rudimentary motorjet style jet engine that was essentially a ducted fan with an afterburner. Subsequent designs were planned around the Ne-10 (TR-10) centrifugal-flow turbojet, and the Ne-12, which added a four-stage axial compressor to the front of the Ne-10. Tests of this powerplant soon revealed that it would not produce anywhere near the power required to propel the aircraft, and the project was temporarily stalled. It was then decided to produce a new axial flow turbojet based on the German BMW 003.
Development of the engine was troubled, based on little more than photographs and a single cut-away drawing of the BMW 003. A suitable unit, the Ishikawa-jima Ne-20, was finally built in January 1945. By that time, the Kikka project was making progress and the first prototype made its maiden flight. Due to the worsening war situation, the Navy considered employing the Kikka as a kamikaze weapon, but this was quickly rejected due to the high cost and complexity associated with manufacturing contemporary turbojet engines. Other more economical projects designed specifically for kamikaze attacks, such as the simpler Nakajima Tōka (designed to absorb Japanese stock of obsolete engines), the pulsejet-powered Kawanishi Baika, and the infamous Yokosuka Ohka, were either underway or already in mass production.
The following month the prototype was dismantled and delivered to Kisarazu Naval Airfield where it was re-assembled and prepared for flight testing. The aircraft performed well during a 20-minute test flight, with the only concern being the length of the takeoff run – the Ne 20 only had a thrust of 4.66 kN (1,047 lbf), and the engine pair had barely sufficient power to get the aircraft off the ground. This lack of thrust also resulted in a maximum speed of just 623 km/h (387 mph, 336 kn) at sea level and 696 km/h (432 mph; 376 kn) at 10,000 m (32,808 ft).
For the second test flight, four days later, rocket assisted take off (RATO) units were fitted to the aircraft, which worked and gave the aircraft acceptable field performance. The tests went on, together with a second prototype, but despite this early test stage, the J9N was immediately rushed into production.
By May 1945 approximately forty airframes had been completed and handed over to IJN home defense frontline units for operational use and conversion training. These were structurally identical with the prototypes, but they were powered by more potent and reliable Ne-130 (with 8.826 kN/900 kgf) or Ne-230 (8.679 kN/885 kgf) engines, which finally gave the aircraft a competitive performance and also made the RATO boosters obsolete - unless an 800 kg bomb was carried in overload configuration. Most were J9N1 day fighter single seaters, armed with two 30 mm Type 5 cannons with 50 rounds per gun in the nose. Some operational Kitsukas had, due to the lack of equipment, the 30 mm guns replaced with lighter 20 mm Ho-5 cannon. A few were unarmed two-seaters (J9N2) with dual controls and a second seat instead of the fuselage fuel tank. This markedly limited the aircraft’s range but was accepted for a dedicated trainer, but a ventral 500 l drop tank could be carried to extend the two-seater’s range to an acceptable level.
A small number, both single- and two-seaters, were furthermore adapted to night fighter duties and equipped with an experimental ”FD-2” centimeter waveband radar in the nose with an “antler” antenna array, similar to German radar sets of the time. The FD-2 used four forward-facing Yagi style antennae with initially five and later with seven elements (the sideway facing rods) each. These consisted of two pairs, each with a sending (top and bot) and a receiving antenna (left and right). The set used horizontal lobe switching to find the target, an electrical shifter would continuously switch between the sets. The signal strengths would then be compared to determine the range and azimuth of the target, and the results would then be shown on a CRT display.
In order to fit the electronics (the FD-2 weighed around 70 kg/155 lb) the night fighters typically had one of the nose-mounted guns replaced by a fixed, obliquely firing Ho-5 gun ("Schräge Musik"-style), which was mounted in the aircraft’s flank behind the cockpit, and the 500l drop tank became a permanent installation to extend loiter time, at the expense of top speed, though. These machines received the suffix “-S” and flew, despite the FD-2’s weaknesses and limitations, a few quite effective missions against American B-29 bombers, but their impact was minimal due to the aircrafts’ small numbers and poor reliability of the still experimental radar system. However, the FD-2’s performance was rather underwhelming, though, with an insufficient range of only 3 km. Increased drag due to the antennae and countermeasures deployed by B-29 further decreased the effectiveness, and the J9N2-S’s successes could be rather attributed to experienced and motivated crews than the primitive radar.
Proposed follow-on J9N versions had included a reconnaissance aircraft and a fast attack aircraft that was supposed to carry a single bomb under the fuselage against ships. There was also a modified version of the design to be launched from a 200 m long catapult, the "Nakajima Kikka-kai Prototype Turbojet Special Attacker". All these proposed versions were expected to be powered by more advanced developments of the Ne-20, the Ne-330 with 13 kN (1.330 kg) thrust, but none of them reached the hardware stage.
The J9Ns’ overall war contribution was negligible, and after the war, several airframes (including partial airframes) were captured by Allied forces. Three airframes (including a two-seat night fighter with FD-2 radar) were brought to the U.S. for study. Today, two J9N examples survive in the National Air and Space Museum: The first is a Kikka that was taken to the Patuxent River Naval Air Base, Maryland for analysis. This aircraft is very incomplete and is believed to have been patched together from a variety of semi-completed airframes. It is currently still in storage at the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration and Storage Facility in Silver Hill, MD. The second Kikka is on display at the NASM Udvar-Hazy Center in the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar.
General characteristics:
Crew: 2
Length: 8.13 m (26 ft 8 in) fuselage only
10.30 m (33 ft 8¾ in) with FD-2 antenna array
Wingspan: 10 m (32 ft 10 in)
Height: 2.95 m (9 ft 8 in)
Wing area: 13.2 m² (142 sq ft)
Empty weight: 2,300 kg (5,071 lb)
Gross weight: 3,500 kg (7,716 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 4,080 kg (8,995 lb)
Powerplant:
2× Ishikawajima Ne-130 or Ne-230 axial-flow turbojet engines
each with 8.83 kN/900 kg or 8.68 kN/885 kg thrust
Performance:
Maximum speed: 785 km/h (487 mph, 426 kn)
Range: 925 km (574 mi, 502 nmi) with internal fuel
Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 10.5 m/s (2,064 ft/min)
Wing loading: 265 kg/m² (54 lb/sq ft)
Thrust-to-weight ratio: 0.43
Armament:
1× 30 mm (1.181 in) Type 5 cannon with 50 rounds in the nose
1× 20 mm (0.787 in) Type Ho-2 cannon with 80 rounds, mounted obliquely behind the cockpit
1× ventral hardpoint for a 500 l drop tank or a single 500 kg (1,102 lb) bomb
The kit and its assembly:
This is in fact the second Kikka I have built, and this time it’s a two-seater from AZ Models – actually the trainer boxing, but converted into a personal night fighter interpretation. The AZ Models kit is a simple affair, but that's also its problem. In the box things look quite good, detail level is on par with a classic Matchbox kit. But unlike a Matchbox kit, the AZ Models offering does not go together well. I had to fight everywhere with poor fit, lack of locator pins, ejection marks - anything a short run model kit can throw at you! Thanks to the experience with the single-seater kit some time ago, things did not become too traumatic, but it’s still not a kit for beginners. What worked surprisingly well was the IP canopy, though, which I cut into five sections for an optional open display – even though I am not certain if the kit’s designers had put some brain into their work because the canopy’s segmentation becomes more and more dubious the further you go backwards.
The only personal mods is a slightly changed armament, with one nose gun deleted and faired over with a piece of styrene sheet, while the leftover gun was mounted obliquely onto the left flank. I initially considered a position behind the canopy but rejected this because of CoG reasons. Then I planned to mount it directly behind the 2nd seat, so that the barrel would protrude through the canopy, but this appeared unrealistic because the (utterly tiny) sliding canopy for the rear crewman could not have been opened anymore? Finally, I settled for an offset position in the aircraft’s flanks, partly inspired by “Schräge Musik” arrangements on some German Fw 190 night fighters.
The antennae come from a Jadar Model PE set for Italeri’s Me 210s, turning it either into a night fighter or a naval surveillance aircraft.
Painting and markings:
This became rather lusterless; many late IJN night fighters carried a uniform dark green livery with minimalistic, toned-down markings, e. g. hinomaru without a white high-contrast edge, just the yellow ID bands on the wings’ leading edges were retained.
For this look the model received an overall basis coat of Humbrol 75 (Bronze Green), later treated with a black ink washing, dry-brushed aluminum and post-shading with lighter shades of dark green (including Humbrol 116 and Revell 67). The only colorful highlight is a red fin tip (Humbrol 19) and a thin red stripe underneath (decal). The yellow and white ID bands were created with decal material.
The cockpit interior was painted in a yellowish-green primer (trying to simulate a typical “bamboo” shade that was used in some late-war IJN cockpits), while the landing gear wells were painted in aodake iro, a clear bluish protective lacquer. The landing gear struts themselves became semi-matt black.
The markings are fictional and were puzzled together from various sources. The hinomaru came from the AZ Models’ Kikka single seater sheet (since it offers six roundels w/o white edge), the tactical code on the fin was created with red numbers from a Fujimi Aichi B7A2 Ryusei.
Finally, the kit received a coat of matt acrylic varnish and some grinded graphite around the jet exhausts and the gun nozzles.
Well, this fictional Kikka night fighter looks quite dry, but that makes it IMHO more credible. The large antler antenna array might look “a bit too much”, and a real night fighter probably had a simpler arrangement with a single Yagi-style/arrow-shaped antenna, but a description of the FD-2 radar suggested the layout I chose – and it does not look bad. The oblique cannon in the flank is another odd detail, but it is not unplausible. However, with all the equipment and esp. the draggy antennae on board, the Kikka’s mediocre performance would surely have seriously suffered, probably beyond an effective use. But this is whifworld, after all. ;-)
Once upon a time, pharmacists made up their own medicines and bottled them. Then they had to get a cork into the bottle. This is a cork compressor; the fresh cork is placed in the slot and the handle forced shut to compress it. The cork is quickly put in the bottle neck where it expands to seal the bottle. Not high tech, but it worked!
Upgraded air compressor in action with the landing gear of the ship that's now been in development for what feels like forever.
Dinorwic had 5 air-compressors in the quarry, the most well-known being the Compressor House on the Braich side of the quarry at Australia level. This example is lower down on the Garret side at Penrhydd Level, next to the Smithy and the start of the Foxes Path.