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6079. Another Gearing Class destroyer with a Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernisation [FRAM} conversion, USS ROGERS is also seen from HMAS BRISBANE [II] on the Vietnam gunline in 1971. USS ROGERS was built by Consolidated Steel Corporation at Orange, Texas, and completed on Mar. 26, 1945. She earned five battle stars off Korea and three of Vietnam, in addition to a Meritorious Unit Commendation for her actions in Hawaiian waters on Jan. 14, 1969, when she helped fight raging fires of the super carrier USS ENTERPRISE, caused by an accidental Mk-32 Zuni aircraft rocket ignition.
ROGERS - named for three brothers killed killed in action on board USS NEW ORLEANS during the Battle of Tassafaronga in the Solomons in 1942 - had pulled close alongside and trained six hoses on the fires in the face of exploding bombs and shrapnel. ENTERPRISE itself lost 27 men in the fires, with 314 injured and 15 aircraft destroyed,
ROGERS was decommissioned on Oct 1, 1980 and transferred to the Republic of Korea in July the following year. Renamed ROKS JEONG JU, she served until Dec. 31, 1999, and survives now as a museum ship at SapKoyohp National Sightseeing Resort at Dangjin-Gun, Chung Nam Province, South Korea [details from Wikipedia].
Her combined service life was almost 55 years, longer than USS SHELTON. Another likely record .
Photo: Bob Westthorp, RAN 1964-1988, with permission.
Tzeentch Herald conversion using the WHFB plastic VC Necromancer. Should be completing the rest of the army in a week or so, going for a 1990's horror/shock video game vibe with these.
The kit and its assembly:
Sweden is a prolific whiffing territory, and the Saab 29 offers some interesting options. This highly modified Tunnan, which is actually rather a kitbashing than a mere model kit modification, is/was a submission to the “More or less engines” group build at whatifmodelers.com in summer 2019.
I actually had the idea of a two-engine J29 in the back of my mind for a long time, spawned by a resin conversion set for the Hasegawa B-47 Stratojet kit that came with new intakes and exhaust sections for the four engine pods. The single engine pod parts had been spent a long time ago, but the twin engine parts were still waiting for a good use. Could the exhaust fit under/into a Tunnan…?
I even had a Matchbox J29 stashed away for this experiment long ago, as well as some donor parts like the wings, and the GB eventually offered the right motivation to put those things together that no one would expect to work.
So I pulled out all the stuff and started – a rather straightforward affair. Work started with the fuselage, which was, together with the (very nice) cockpit assembled OOB at first, the nose filled with as much lead as possible and with the lower rear section cut away, so the B-47 resin jet nozzles would end up at the same position as the original RM2B exhaust. Due to the pen nib fairing between them, though, the profile of the modified tail became (visually) more massive, and I had to fill some gaps under the tail boom (with styrene sheet and putty). The twin engines also turned out to be wider than expected – I had hoped for straight flanks, but the fuselage shape ended up with considerable bulges behind the landing gear wells. These were created with parts from drop tank halves and blended into the rest of the lower hill with PSR work. In the same wake the area under the fin was sculpted and re-created, too.
At that point it became clear that I had to do more on the fuselage, esp. the front end, in order to keep the aircraft visually balance. A convenient solution became an F-100 air intake, which I grafted onto the nose instead of the original circular and round-lipped orifice – with its sharp lip the Super Sabre piece was even a plausible change! The fuselage shapes and diameters differed considerably, though, more PSR became necessary.
Next came the wings: I had already set apart a pair of trapezoid wings with a 45° sweep angle – these were left over from a PM Model Ta 183 conversion some time ago. With their odd shape and size they were a perfect match for my project, even more so due to the fact that I could keep the original J29 wing attachment points, I just had to shorten and modify the trailing edge area on the fuselage. The result was very conclusive.
With the new nose and the wings in place, the overall proportions became clearer: still tail-heavy, but not unpleasant. At this time I was also certain that I had to modify the tail surfaces. The fin was too small and did not have enough sweep for the overall look, and the stabilizer, with its thick profile, rounded edges and the single, continuous rudder did not look supersonic at all. What followed was a long search in the donor banks for suitable replacements, and I eventually came up with a MiG-15 fin (Hobby Boss) which was later clipped at the top for a less recognizable profile. The stabilizers were more challenging, though. My solution eventually became a pair of modified stabilizers from a Matchbox Buccaneer(!), attached to the MiG-15 fin.
The design problems did not stop here, though: the landing gear caused some more headaches. I wanted to keep the OOB parts, but especially the main legs would leave the aircraft with a very goofy look through a short wheelbase and a rear axis position too much forward. In an attempt to save the situation I attached swing arms to the OOB struts, moving the axis maybe 5mm backwards and widening the track by 2mm at the same time. Not much in total, but it helped (a little, even though the aircraft is still very tail-heavy)
As a final addition – since the original, wing-mounted pitots of the J29 were gone now and would not go well with the wing-switching idea – I gave the P29G a large, nose-mounted pitot and sensor boom, placed on top of the nose. This part come, like the air intake, from an F-100.
If you have not read Conversion Part#1 and Part#2 then read these first and come back here....
Conversion.... Continued....
Me: Come on, you are contradicting yourself! You say god is love and he forgives then why does he have to DESTROY the people who are not with him... why cant he forgive if what you are saying is for real...
Missionary: (pissed off since i asked a checkmate question) well becuase satan is luring in us, he is evil god cant accept evil...
Me: (now im lafin my ass off and thinking thats the best excuse i've had in a long time) im not sure.... ?!?!?!
Missionary: So would you come tomorrow to our church and pray with us.
Me: listen im gonna act like an ass and lie to you that im gonna come, i teach children at an orphanage every sunday 9 AM - 5PM, if im done early i may turn up but no guarentue's
Missionary: Okay, i appreciate you being honest....
Me: :)
Missionary: (by this time her husband joins in) Hi this is peter....
Me: Hi peter, good evening....
Missionary: (she continues) so would you come tomorrow....
Me: (unpacking gear, grrr.... what the ***** my day is screwed and not one shot fired) like i said "Probably"
Missionary: ok then nice talkin to you, jesus loves you...
Me: Good night....
Out of the whole context what i dont understand is the reason why no missionary i have talked to has never been able to put forth one sane andf logical reason as to why conversion to christianity is a better option that hinduism. Frankly im literally tired of this hinduism bashing churches here promoting conversion with the aid of funding from abroad....
Here are some extracts from Francous Gautier, i decided to quote him since he has the exact ways to describe my feelings in this regards and yes, im lazy of typing :-P
I have seen with my own eyes how conversions in India are not only highly unethical -- that is, using unethical means of conversion -- but also that they threaten a whole way of life, erasing centuries of tradition, customs, wisdom, teaching people to despise their own religion and look Westwards to a culture which is alien to them, with disastrous results. In Kerala, particularly in the poor coastal districts, you find 'miracle boxes' in local churches. The gullible villager writes out a paper mentioning his wish: A fishing boat, a loan for a pucca house, fees for the son's schooling, etc. And a few weeks later, the miracle happens! Of course, the whole family converts, making others in the village follow suit. During the tsunami, entire Dalit villages in Tamil Nadu were converted to Christianity with the lure of money. Then there is this rapid Westernisation of India. There are good things in the West -- its material consciousness, care for nature, logical mind -- but it is nevertheless in crisis. If you have a look at most of the mainstream English-speaking Indian magazines and newspapers today, you will notice that all their cover stories deal with Western concepts, that they are looking at India from a Western point of view, such as
talking about 'New Age' spirituality. As if spirituality is new to India!You will notice that there is never any reference to India's great past, or to India's philosophy, or medicine -- which, by the way, is becoming fashionable in the West.
Having said all of this i studied in an Anglo Indian School, 90% of my friends are anglo indians (chirstians) and i admire thier way of living. No one can life cool and take it as easy as it comes like an anglo but the illegal conversions have to stop...
I would like to go more on this but i think i will Blog this sometime later since flicker is not really the place for this.
Dalit girl takes oath during conversion to Buddhism,at the 'Buddha Dharma Dikhsa Golden Jubilee Celebration' where 20,000 Dalits ( low caste Hindus) embraced Buddhism at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse in Mumbaion 27 May 2007.Photo/Sebastian D'souza.
+++ 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 Air Corps is the air component of the Defence Forces of Ireland. With the establishment of the Defence Forces in 1924, the Air Service became the new Army's Air Corps and remained part of the Army until the 1990s. After the 2nd World War, the Irish Air Corps started to modernize its modest fleet: the Hurricanes were replaced by Supermarine Seafires and a few two-seat Spitfire trainers. Avro Anson light transports were operated as communications aircraft between 1946 and their retirement in 1962. The Percival Provost was introduced in the mid 1950s as the Air Corps initial training aircraft. The de Havilland Dove became the Corps' transport aircraft.
The jet age arrived on 30 June 1956 when the Corps took delivery of de Havilland Vampire T.55 trainers. The jet fleet was augmented in November 1963, when the Air Corps took delivery of twelve BAC Jet Provost trainers. Furthermore, the first helicopters, SA.316B Alouette IIIs, arrived, of which seven remained in service until 2007.
Even though the Jet Provosts were ab initio jet aircraft trainers, it was clear that the aircraft were also intended for light ground attack and COIN duties – the rising tensions in Northern Ireland fueled the desire for an armed air arm. This was reflected by the procured Jet Provost variant: the T.51. This was an armed export version of the RAF's T.3 trainers. It could be outfitted with a pair of 0.303" machine guns in compartments under the air intakes, and underwing hardpoints allowed a wide range of ordnance to be carried, including bombs, drop tanks, machine gun and missile pods as well as unguided missiles. appropriate aiming equipment in the cockpit ensured the proper deployment of the weapons.
The Jet Provosts became the founding equipment of the Irish Air Corps's Light Strike Squadron, even though they were more frequently used for advanced and armed training sorties. However, unlike the Vampire, which were operated purely in an educational role and thus were left in bare metal finish with high visibility markings, the Irish Jet Provosts received a tactical paint scheme.
In 1975 several Fouga Magister CM-170 jet aircraft were purchased secondhand from France. They were used for training, partly replaced and augmented the Jet Provost fleet in the light attack role and were allocated to the Silver Swallows display team. They were withdrawn from service in 1998 and not replaced, leaving the Irish Air Corps without any jet combat aircraft.
In 1977 ten SIAI-Marchetti SF.260WE Warriors were delivered for light training and ground attack roles, and thsi type gradually replaced the Jet Provosts, which were retired together with the Fouga Magister.
General characteristics:
Crew: Two
Length: 34 ft 0 in (10.36 m)
Wingspan: 35 ft 4 in (10.77 m)
Height: 10 ft 2 in (3.10 m)
Wing area: 213.7 sqft (19.80 m²)
Empty weight: 4,888 lb (2,222 kg)
Loaded weight: 6,989 lb (3,170 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 9,200 lb (4,173 kg)
Powerplant:
1× Armstrong Siddeley Viper (ASV.8) Mk-102 turbojet, rated at 1,750 lbf (7.78 kN
Performance:
Maximum speed: 440 mph (382 knots, 708 km/h) at 25,000 ft (7,620 m)
Range: 603 mi (524 NM, 970 km)
Service ceiling: 36,750 ft (11,200 m)
Rate of climb: 4,000 ft/min (20.3 m/s)
Wing loading: 32.7 lb/ft² (160 kg/m²)
Armament:
2× 0.303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns with 600 RPG
Underwing hardpoints for a total ordnance load of 2.160 lb (980 kg), incl.
6× 60 lb (27 kg) or 12× 25 lb (11 kg) rockets or 28x 68 mm SNEB rockets in four pods,
or 4× 540 lb (245 kg) bombs
The kit and its assembly:
This fictional Jet Provost is, after a long search for a proper aircraft model, finally the result of the attempt to build an Irish what-if aircraft. Inspiration struck when I recently read a book about the Jet Provost’s and Strikemaster’s development and service (which also spawned the BAC Bushmaster single seater) – I thought that an armed Jet Provost would have been a highly probable aircraft for the Irish Air Corps, and from the start I wanted to add a tactical touch to the model, not just a pure trainer.
The armed export variants appeared the most suitable option, and thankfully Airfix recently released a new T.3 kit, which is virtually identical to its armed T.51 brethren. The kit itself is excellent. The molds are crisp, you get recessed panel lines and minute detail where it’s needed – but it is still a very simple kit. Other selling points are two very good pilot figures and seats, two optional canopies (for closed or open display) as well as a superb overall fit of everything. A really pleasant affair!
The kit was built OOB, with just a few minor mods: under the air intakes, machine gun ports were added as well as casing ejector fairings. I also added a pair of underwing pylons (for a pair of 250 lb training bombs) and a pair of R80 SURA missile packs (from a Matchbox Strikemaster). Some antennae were also added, as well as gunsights on the cockpit dashboard.
Painting and markings:
Even though I wanted the Provost to be a trainer, I did not want a flashy livery - instead I adopted a tactical camouflage that would be suited to the greenish environment of Eire. The only "official" Irish camouflage is a uniform dark green, though, and I wanted something more flashy.
Another factor was a tin of "RAF Lichen Green" (Xtracolor) that I found in my collection - a tone whioch I wanted to incorporate. I eventually settled upon a three-tone scheme, somewhat inspired by the SEA scheme that Strikemasters from New Zealand and Singapore carried. I recycled the pattern, but changed the colors so that the green hues became more prominent:
- FS 30219 (Tan) became Lichen Green (Xtracolor X024)
- FS 34102 (Medium Green) was replaced with FS 34079 (Modelmaster 1710)*
- FS 34079 (Forest Green) became RAL 8027 Lederbraun (Revell 84)
- FS 36622 underneath was replaced with Fs 36375 (Humbrol 127), a tone that comes close to RAL 7040 "Fenstergrau", another color that has been in use on Irish Air Corps vehicles
*This was used to simulate the dark green tone "Akzo Nobel 042002" that some real Irish aircraft carried allover; FS 34079 is virtually identical
The cockpit interior was painted in Revell 9 (Anthrazit), the landing gear wells was painted in RAF Light Aircraft Grey (Humbrol 166).
The roundels and some other markings came from a Max Decals sheet (#7220) for Irish aircraft and tanks, the tactical code was created with single white digit decals in various sizes from a Begemot sheet for modern Russian aircraft and the fin flash (without it the tail looked somewhat bleak) was improvised with decal and paint. The stencils were taken from the OOB sheet.
Only light post-shading was done, and the engraved panel lines were emphasized through a thinned black ink wash. As a final step the model received a coat of matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).
After a long search for a project, finally an Irish whif aircraft in the collection! While I was painting the model the three-tone camouflage appeared a little odd, but with the decals everything fell into place, and the result even looks quite natural? It’s certainly an eye-catcher, since the many colored markings, stencils and the ordnance break up the murky military look – even though this Jet Provost still looks purposeful with its training ordnance. And: the Airfix kit turned out to be a highly pleasant build, it’s been a long time that I experienced so few problems during a kit’s assembly.
www.medilaw.tv - demonstrative evidence art, This movie illustrates the technique for performing a percutaneous thermal cervical discectomy. This movie shows patient positioning, skin preparation, local anesthetic injection, cannula insertion, the conversion of some nucleus material, instrument removal, herniation retraction and wound dressing.
Sudden trauma or gradual degeneration can weaken the annulus fibrosis or wall of the intervertebral disc. This can then bulge outwards, forming a disc protrusion or a contained disc herniation. The pressure of the bulge against the surrounding structures causes neck pain and the pressure against the nerve root causes arm pain.
Percutaneous discectomy is a minimally invasive disc decompression technique which is performed through a needle. The discectomy removes some nucleus material from the intervertebral disc whilst minimizing damage to the adjacent tissues. The removal of nucleus material decreases the pressure within the disc, which can result in the contained disc herniation retracting. This in turn can lead to a decrease in neck and arm pain. The percutaneous approach decreases the pain, complications and recovery time, and maximizes the spine's strength and stability after the procedure.
INDICATIONS
The indications for a percutaneous discectomy are
- neck or arm pain, caused by
- a contained disc herniation seen on radiological imaging
- that has not responded to at least three months of conservative treatment including pain relief medication, bed rest, physical therapy and pain relieving injections.
ALTERNATIVES
The non-surgical alternatives to percutaneous discectomy may be
-- activity modification
-- weight loss
-- aerobic exercise, such as walking, cycling, and swimming
-- strength and flexibility exercises
-- physical therapy
-- hydrotherapy
-- heat and cold pads
-- acupuncture
-- pain-relieving medications such as acetaminophen or paracetamol, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, glucosamine, chondroitin
The surgical alternatives to percutaneous discectomy may be
-- steroid and local anesthetic injections
-- open or minimally-invasive microdiscectomy
-- surgical fusion
-- disc replacement.
INFORMED REFUSAL
It is your right to delay or refuse the recommended treatment for your condition. However, this delay or refusal may lead to the worsening of your symptoms, such as increased arm pain, pins and needles, weakness or numbness. You should ask your doctor what might happen should you choose not to undertake the recommended treatment.
BEFORE
Before the percutaneous discectomy
- a doctor will perform a medical examination and any necessary tests to ensure that your general health will permit an anesthetic to be given and the procedure to be performed
- you will be advised when to stop any medications that will increase your bleeding risk ie aspirin, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, anti-coagulants, vitamin E, glucosamine and any herbal medicines (chamomile, danshen, garlic, gingko, devil's claw, ginseng, fish oil, willow bark, feverfew, and goji berries)
- you may be admitted into the hospital on the day before or on the morning of the procedure
- don't eat or drink anything for six hours before the procedure
- wear loose-fitting clothes that are easy to take off and put on. Do not wear any jewelry.
- before the procedure, the skin on your neck will be cleaned and you will be given a general health check. The skin on your neck may be shaved.
- an intra-venous line will be placed into a vein in your arm to administer fluid and medications
- you may be given a sedating medication to make you drowsy before being given your anesthetic
- you will be given a general anesthetic that will put you to sleep
- let your doctor know if you develop a fever, cold or flu symptoms before your scheduled procedure.
GOALS
The goal of a percutaneous discectomy is to cause the disc herniation to retract, which in turn can lead to a decrease in neck and arm pain.
TECHNIQUE
You will be lying on your back. Your neck will be cleaned. A local anesthetic injection will numb the skin. This may sting for a couple of seconds. A cannula will be introduced into the intervertebral disc. Fluoroscopy, an X-Ray TV, is often used to help guide the cannula to the correct location. The device will be advanced from the cannula, and will remove some nucleus pulposus to decrease the pressure within the disc. Then the cannula will be removed. A small bandage will be placed on the skin.
+++ 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 Char B1 was a French heavy tank manufactured before World War II. It was conceived as a specialized offensive vehicle, armed with a 75 mm howitzer in the hull. Later a 47 mm gun in a turret was added, to allow it to function also as a Char de Bataille, a ‘battle tank’ fighting enemy armour, equipping the armoured divisions of the Infantry Arm. Starting in the early twenties, its development and production were repeatedly delayed, resulting in a vehicle that was both technologically complex and expensive, and already obsolescent when real mass-production of a derived version, the Char B1 "bis", started in the late thirties.
The outer appearance of the Char B1 reflected the fact that development started in the twenties: like the very first tank, the British Mark I tank of World War I, it still had large tracks going around the entire hull and large armour plates protecting the suspension—and like all tanks of that decade it had no welded or cast hull armour. The similarity resulted partly from the fact that the Char B1 was a specialized offensive weapon, a break-through tank optimized for punching a hole into strong defensive entrenchments, so it was designed with good trench-crossing capabilities and therefore the hull and the tracks had considerable length. The French Army thought that dislodging the enemy from a key front sector would decide a campaign, and it prided itself on being the only army in the world having a sufficient number of adequately protected heavy tanks. The exploitation phase of a battle was seen as secondary and best carried out by controlled and methodical movement to ensure superiority in numbers, so that the heavy tank’s mobility was of secondary concern. Although the Char B1 had a reasonably good speed for the time of its conception, no serious efforts were made to improve it when much faster tanks appeared.
More important than the tank's limitations in tactical mobility, however, were its limitations in strategic mobility. The low practical range implied the need to refuel very often, limiting its operational capabilities. This again implied that the armoured divisions of the Infantry, the Divisions Cuirassées, were not very effective as a mobile reserve and thus lacked strategic flexibility. They were not created to fulfill such a role in the first place, which was reflected in the small size of the artillery and infantry components of the divisions.
Another explanation of the similarity to the British Mark I lies in the Char B1's original specification to create a self-propelled gun able to destroy enemy infantry and artillery. The main weapon of the tank was its 75 mm howitzer, and the entire design of the vehicle was directed to making this gun as effective as possible. When in the early 1930s it became obvious that the Char B1 also had to defeat counterattacking enemy armour, it was too late for a complete redesign. The solution was to add the standard cast APX-1 turret which also equipped the Char D2 and the Somua S35. Like most French tanks of the period the Char B thus had a small one-man turret. The commander not only had to command the tank, but also to aim and load the anti-tank gun, and if he was a unit leader, he had to command his other tanks as well. This was in contrast with the contemporary German, British and to a lesser extent Soviet policy to use two or three-man turret crews, in which these duties were divided amongst several men, or to use dedicated command vehicles.
Among the most powerfully armed and armoured tanks of its day, the Char B1 was very effective in direct confrontations with early German armour during the Battle of France. The 60 mm (2.36 in) frontal armor was sloped, giving it an effective strength of near 80 mm (3.15 in), and it proved to be almost invulnerable to the 1940 Panzer II and III as well as the early Panzer IV with its short 75mm close-support gun. There were no real weak spots, and this invulnerability helped the B1 to close on targets, then destroy them with the turret 47 mm (1.85 in) or the brute force of the howitzer HE shells. However, its slow speed and high fuel consumption made it ill-adapted to the war of movement then being fought.
In the meantime, plans had taken shape to improve the Char B1, and this led to two developments that eventually entered the hardware stage: A further up-armoured version, the Char B1 "ter", was designed with sloped and welded 70 mm armour, weighing 36.6 tonnes and powered by a 350 hp (260 kW) engine. It was meant to replace the B1 bis to accelerate mass production, a change first intended for the summer of 1940 but later postponed to March 1941 and finally abandoned.
In the course of the redesign, space was provided for a fifth crew member, a "mechanic". Cost was reduced by omitting the complex Neader transmission for aiming the howitzer and giving the hull gun a traverse of five degrees to each side instead. The first prototype was shown in 1937, but only three prototypes could be partly finished before the defeat of France. Serial production was rejected due to the need to build totally new production lines for the much-modified Char B1 ter, so that this development was a dead end, even more so because it did not really cure the vehicle’s weakness of the overburdened commander and the split armament.
The latter issues were addressed with another development, a modernized variant of the existing Char B1 bis with a new weapon layout, the Char B1 “tetre”. Work on this variant started in 1936, as an alternative concept to the one-man turret and as an experimental carrier for a new high velocity semi-automatic 75 mm multi-purpose gun with a long barrel. Such a weapon was direly needed, because the biggest caliber of an anti-tank gun was a mere 47 mm, the SA 35 gun. The only recent alternative was the infantry’s 47 mm APX anti-tank gun from 1937, which could pierce 60 mm (2.4 in) at 550 meters (600 yd) or 80 mm (3.1 in) at 180 meters (200 yd), but it had not been adapted to vehicle use yet and was not regarded to be powerful enough to cope with tanks like the Char B1 itself.
This new 75 mm tank gun was already under development at the Atelier de Construction de Rueil (ARL) for a new medium 20-ton-tank, the Char G1 from Renault, that was to replace the Char B1. The gun, called “ARL 37”, would be mounted in a new three-man turret, and ARL was developing prototypes of both a turret that could be taken by the Char B1’s and S35’s limited turret ring, as well as the gun itself, which was based on the 75 mm high velocity gun with hydro-pneumatic recoil compensation from the vintage heavy FCM 2C tank
The ARL 37 had a mass of 750 kg (1,653.5 lb) and a barrel length of 3,281 mm (129.2 in) with a bore of 43 calibers. Maximum muzzle velocity was 740 m/s (2,400 ft/s). The gun was fitted with an electric firing mechanism and the breech operated semi-automatically. Only one-piece ammunition was used, and both HE and AP rounds could be fired – even though the latter had to developed, too, because no such round was available in 1937/38 yet. However, with early experimental Armour Piercing Capped Ballistic Cap (APCBC) rounds, the ARL 37 was able to penetrate 133 mm (5.2 in) of vertical steel plate at 100 m range, 107 mm (4.2 in) at 1.000 m and still 85 mm (3.3 in) at 2.000 m, making it a powerful anti-tank weapon of its era.
Since the new weapon was expected to fire both HE and AP rounds, the Char B1’s howitzer in the hull was omitted, its opening faired over and instead a movable 7.5 mm Reibel machine gun was added in a ball mount, operated by a radio operator who sat next to the driver. Another 7.5mm machine gun was mounted co-axially to the main gun in the turret, which had a cupola and offered space for the rest of the crew: a dedicated commander as well as a gunner and loader team.
The hexagonal turret was cast and had a welded roof as well as a gun mantlet. With its 70 mm frontal armor as well as the tank’s new hull front section, the conversions added a total of four net tons of weight, so that the Char B1 tetre weighed 36 tons. To prevent its performance from deteriorating further, it received the Char B1 ter’s uprated 350 hp (260 kW) engine. The running gear remained unchanged, even though the fully rotating turret made the complex and expensive Neader transmission superfluous, so that it was replaced by a standard heavy-duty piece.
Although promising, the Char B1 tetre’s development was slow, delayed by the lack of resources and many teething troubles with the new 75 mm cannon and the turret. When the war broke out in September 1939, production was cleared and began slowly, but focus remained on existing vehicles and weapons. By the time there were perhaps 180 operational B1 and B1 bis in all. They were used for the Sarre offensive, a short-lived burst without serious opposition, with a massive force of 41 divisions and 2.400 tanks. The Char B1 served with the armoured divisions of the infantry, the Divisions Cuirassées (DCr). The First and Second DCR had 69 Char B1s each, the Third 68. These were highly specialized offensive units, to break through fortified positions. The mobile phase of a battle was to be carried out by the Divisions Légères Mécaniques (mechanised light divisions) of the cavalry, equipped with the SOMUA S35.
After the German invasion several ad hoc units were formed: the 4e DCr with 52 Char B1s and five autonomous companies (347e, 348e, 349e, 352e and 353e Compagnie Autonome de Chars) with in total 56 tanks: 12 B1s and 44 B1 bis; 28e BCC was reconstituted with 34 tanks. By that time, a very limited number of Char B1 tetre had been produced and delivered to operational units, but their tactical value was low since sufficient 75 mm AP rounds were not available – the tanks had to use primarily the same HE rounds that were fired with the Char B1’s howitzer, and these posed only a limited threat to German tanks, esp. the upgraded Panzer III and IVs. The Char B1 tertre’s potential was never fully exploited, even though most of the tanks were used as command vehicles.
The regular French divisions destroyed quite a few German tanks but lacked enough organic infantry and artillery to function as an effective mobile reserve. After the defeat of France, captured Char B1 of all variants would be used by Germany, with some rebuilt as flamethrowers, Munitionspanzer, or mechanized artillery.
Specifications:
Crew: Five (driver, radio operator/machine gunner, commander, gunner, loader)
Weight: 36 tonnes (40 short tons, 35 long tons)
Length: 6.98 m (22 ft 10½ in) overall with gun forward
6.37 m (20 ft 11 in) hull only
Width: 2.46 m (8 ft 1 in)
Height: 2.84 m (9 ft 3¾ in)
Ground clearance: 40 cm (1 ft 3¾ in)
Climbing: 93 cm (3 ft ½ in)
Trench crossing: 2,4 m (7 ft 10½ in)
Suspension: Bogies with a mixture of vertical coil and leaf springs
Steering: Double differential
Fuel capacity: 400 liters
Armour:
14 to 70 mm (0.55 to 2.75 in)
Performance:
28 km/h (17 mph) on road
21 km/h (13 mph) off-road
Operational range: 200 km (124 mi) on road
Power/weight: 9.7 hp/ton
Engine:
1× Renault inline 6 cylinder 16.5 litre petrol engine with 350 hp (260 kW)
Transmission:
5 forward and 1 rear gear
Armament:
1x 75 ARL 37 high-velocity cannon with 94 rounds
2x 7.5 mm (0.295 in) Reibel machine guns with a total of 5,250 rounds
The kit and its assembly:.
This fictional Char B1 variant was based on the question what the tank could have looked like if there had been a suitable 75 mm gun available that could replace both its howitzer in the hull and the rather light anti-tank gun in the turret? No such weapon existed in France, but I tried to extrapolate the concept based on the standard Char B1 hull.
Two big changes were made: the first concerned the hull howitzer, which was deleted, and its recessed opening faired over with 1 mm styrene sheet and putty. This sound easier as it turned out to be because the suspension for the front right idler wheel had to be retained, and the complex shape of the glacis plate and the opening called for patchwork. A fairing for the co-driver was added as well as a ball mount for the new hull machine gun. New shackles were added to the lower front and, finally, new rows of bolt heads (created with white glue).
The turret was completely replaced with a cast turret from a 1943 T-34/76 (Zvezda kit). While its shape and gun mantlet are quite characteristic, I still used it mostly OOB because its size and shape turned out to be a very good match to contemporary French tank turrets. However, the gun barrel was moved and a fairing for a hydro-pneumatic recoil damper was added, as well as a French commander cupola. And an adapter had to be scratched to attach the new turret to the hull, together with small fairings for the wider turret ring.
Painting and markings:
I wanted a rather unusual paint scheme for this Char B1 derivative, and found inspiration in an operational museum tank that depicts vehicle “311/Rhin”: it carries a three-tone livery in two greens and brown, instead of the more common sand, dark green and earth brown tones or just two-tone schemes.
The colors were adapted to an irregular pattern, and the paints I used were Humbrol 120 (FS 34227, a rather pale interpretation of the tone), 10 (Gloss Dark Brown) and ModelMaster 1764 (FS 34092). As a personal twist, the colors were edged in black, enhancing the contrast.
The markings were puzzled together from various sources in an attempt to create suitable tactical codes of the early 1940 era. The “Ace of Spades” emblem on the turret is, for example, are a marking of the 1st section. The dot in front of the “K” probably indicated a command vehicle, but I am not certain.
Some post-shading was done as well as dry-brushing with light earth brown to emphasize edges and details. Then the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish and received some dusting with grey-brown artist pigments, simulating dust around the running gear.
Well, not too much was changed, but the new, bigger turret changes the Char B1’s look considerably – it looks somewhat smaller now? Its new silhouette also reminds me of a duck? Weird, but the conversion worked out well – esp. the modified glacis plate without the howitzer’s recessed opening looks very natural.
Record Strada cranks converted to single ring mount with proper 12mm counter-bore for nut.
Surface cleaned up and polished.
24-2-2020 - Fe y Desarrollo celebra la semana de Ecología en la Sala Borja para compartir y reflexionar juntos del compromiso en el cuidado de la Casa Común. Charla con Margarida Alvim en la Sala Borja de Valladolid
Rob's fixie (Old Holdsworth road frame now retro-cool city bike.)
Oh, and Santa left me a little present too...
MERRY CHRISTMAS
I removed more of the back of the lens to get more access to the iris mechanism in the center. All of the body controlled aperture mechanics were gone, so the internal body aperture lever was free floating. I taped the lever in place with a scrap of adhesive flocking.
Sunnyvale, CA
Prior-Design BMW 3-series E92 PD-M Widebody
Prior Design Widebody Conversion for the E92 Non M. This kit will convert your Non-M E92 coupe or E93 Convertible to a M3 Style kit. It is also about 2-3" wider on each side then the factory E92 allowing you to put some seriously wide tires on the rear of the vehicle. It is perfect for you 335i guys that have more power then the M3s, but cannot fit a wide enough tire to get good traction in the rear. You can easily run a 315 tire and possibly wider with the proper offset on the rear.
The kit includes full replacement front bumper, front fenders, side skirts, rear bumper and rear fender flares.
This kit may also be fitted to the M3 although it would require modification as it is not an exact fit.
For more information please visit our website at www.PriorDesignNA.com.
You can also give us a call at
(866) 997-2336
Prior Design North America
(866) 997-2336
<a href="http://www.PriorDesignNA.com"
Next on my Desk. The Avatar of Khaine. I changed the proportions of this figure by extending the arms, legs and torso. I also created a display base for it.
Part of my Eldar "Army in a Year" Project
A tigercat loader mounted on an old K4L Chassis. Near Slave Lake, AB
Photo:Between the Branches May 2004
"The fact is, brothers, and I want you to realise this, the Good News I preached is not a human message that I was given by men, it is something I learnt only through a revelation of Jesus Christ. You must have heard of my career as a practising Jew, how merciless I was in persecuting the Church of God, how much damage I did to it, how I stood out among other Jews of my generation, and how enthusiastic I was for the traditions of my ancestors.
Then God, who had specially chosen me while I was still in my mother’s womb, called me through his grace and chose to reveal his Son in me, so that I might preach the Good News about him to the pagans. I did not stop to discuss this with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were already apostles before me, but I went off to Arabia at once and later went straight back from there to Damascus. Even when after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him for fifteen days, I did not see any of the other apostles; I only saw James, the brother of the Lord, and I swear before God that what I have just written is the literal truth. After that I went to Syria and Cilicia, and was still not known by sight to the churches of Christ in Judaea, who had heard nothing except that their one-time persecutor was now preaching the faith he had previously tried to destroy; and they gave glory to God for me."
- Galatians 1:11-24
Detail from the Pauline Jubilee doors in the basilica of San Paolo fuori le mura in Rome. Today, 25 January, is the feast of St Paul's Conversion.
This is the M3 Non Widebody conversion for the E92 E93 Non M3 3 Series. All parts available separately and work individually.
Stock M3 parts will not fit on the E92/E93 to covert it to an M3. We have developed these parts for the customers that are looking to get the M3 look, while having a car that has good gas mileage for daily driving.
Polaroid 95B "600SE" conversion. Notes telling me the correct aperture/time combinations of EV numbers 10 to 17. Also, feet to meters conversion table (for the focusing).
+++ 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:
Buffalo Airways is a family-run airline based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, established in 1970. Buffalo Airways was launched by Bob Gauchie and later sold to one of his pilots, Joe McBryan (aka "Buffalo Joe"). It operates charter passenger, charter cargo, firefighting, and fuel services, and formerly operated scheduled passenger service. Its main base is at Yellowknife Airport (CYZF). It has two other bases at Hay River/Merlyn Carter Airport (CYHY) and Red Deer Regional Airport (CYQF). The Red Deer base is the main storage and maintenance facility. The company slogan is “Your passage to the North”.
Buffalo also operates a courier service as Buffalo Air Express which started in 1982-1983. It offers service throughout the Northwest Territories (NWT) and Northern Alberta. In association with Global Interline Network it can ship around the world from bases in Yellowknife, Edmonton and Hay River.
Under contract for the NWT Government, Buffalo Airways also operates and maintains aircraft used in the aerial firefighting program. The waterbombers are assisted by smaller aircraft known as "bird dogs" which are used to help spot wildfires as well as guide waterbombers during operations.
One of these aircraft were two Noorduyn Norseman bush planes, also known as the C-64, a Canadian single-engine shoulder wing aircraft designed to operate from unimproved surfaces. Distinctive stubby landing gear protrusions from the lower fuselage made it easily recognizable. Norseman aircraft are known to have been registered and/or operated in 68 countries and also have been based and flown in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
Designed by Robert B.C. Noorduyn, the Noorduyn Norseman was produced from 1935 to 1959, more than 900 were sold. With the experience of working on many ground-breaking designs at Fokker, Bellanca and Pitcairn-Cierva, Noorduyn decided to create his own design in 1934. Along with his colleague, Walter Clayton, Noorduyn created his original company, Noorduyn Aircraft Limited, in early 1933 at Montreal while a successor company was established in 1935, bearing the name Noorduyn Aviation. Noorduyn's vision of an ideal bush plane began with a high-wing monoplane airframe to facilitate loading and unloading passengers and cargo at seaplane docks and airports; next, a Canadian operator utilizing existing talents, equipment and facilities should be able to make money using it; last, it should be all-around superior to those already in use there. From the outset, Noorduyn designed his transport to have interchangeable wheel, ski or twin-float landing gear. Unlike most aircraft designs, the Norseman was first fitted with floats, then skis and, finally, fixed landing gear.
The final design looked much like Noorduyn's earlier Fokker designs: a robust high-wing braced monoplane with an all-welded steel tubing fuselage. Attached wood stringers carried a fabric skin. Its wing was all fabric covered wood, except for steel tubing flaps and ailerons. The divided landing gear were fitted to fuselage stubs; legs were secured with two bolts each to allow the alternate arrangement of floats or skis. The tail strut could be fitted with a wheel or tail skid, and sometimes a fin was added in this place on aircraft of floats to improve directional stability.
Until 1940, the Noorduyn company had sold only 17 aircraft in total, primarily to commercial operators in Canada's north and to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. With the outbreak of war in Europe, demand for a light utility transport and liaison aircraft that could operate on unprepared airfields close to the European frontlines led to major military orders. The Royal Canadian Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces became the two largest operators, and several versions, the Norseman Mk. II-IV, which primarily differed in their powerplants, were produced.
In postwar production, the Canada Car and Foundry in Fort William, Ontario acquired rights to the Norseman design, producing a version known as the Norseman Mk V, a civilian version of the wartime Mk IV. To exploit the market further, the "Can Car" factory designed and built the Norseman Mk VII. This version had a bigger engine, a new all-metal wing and greater cargo capacity but was fated never to go into production. With large Korean War commitments at that time, the company put it into temporary storage where it was destroyed in a hangar fire in September 1951.
In 1953, Noorduyn headed a group of investors who bought back the jigs and equipment from Canada Car and Foundry and started a new company called Noorduyn Norseman Aircraft Ltd. Bob Noorduyn became ill and died at his home in South Burlington, Vermont, on 22 February 1959. The company continued to provide support for operating Norseman aircraft and built three new Mk Vs before selling its assets in 1982 to Norco Associates. Norco provided support services only, as Norseman aircraft manufacture was labor-intensive and very expensive, and this ended the production of the rugged aircraft after almost 30 years.
The last Noorduyn Norseman to be built was sold and delivered to a commercial customer on January 19, 1959. A total of 903 Norseman aircraft (Mk I - Mk V) were produced and delivered to various commercial and military customers. The two aircraft operated by Buffalo Airways (CF-NMD and -NME) were refurbished WWII USAAF machines that had formerly flown in Alaska and on the Aleutian Islands. They were initially procured by the company only as light transport and feederliner passenger aircraft for regional traffic around the Great Slave Lake. During this early please the Norsemen carried an overall white livery with pastel green trim.
However, with the company’s commitment to aerial firefighting the robust machines were from 1987 on primarily used for aerial fire patrol in the Yellowknife region during summertime, and for postal service in wintertime. Occasionally, the Buffalo Airways Norsemen were used as air ambulance, too. To reflect their new role the machines received a striking and highly visible new livery in deep orange and dark green, which they carried for the rest of their career. In the firefighting role they operated in unison with other Bird Dogs and Buffalo Airways’ Air Tractor 802 Fireboss and specially converted Lockheed L-188 Electra waterbombers. CF-NME was eventually grounded in 1996 after a severe engine damage and sold (but later revived with a replacement engine), while CF-NMD, nicknamed ‘Anna Louise’ by its crews, soldiered on with Buffalo Airways until 2004.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Capacity: up to 10 passengers
Length: 32 ft 4 in (9.86 m)
Wingspan: 51 ft 6 in (15.70 m)
Height: 10 ft 1 in (3.07 m)
Wing area: 325 sq ft (30.2 m²)
Airfoil: NACA 2412
Empty weight: 4,240 lb (1,923 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 7,400 lb (3,357 kg) ;7,540 lb (3,420 kg) with floats
Fuel capacity: 100 imp gal (120 US gal; 450 L) in two wing root tanks,
plus optional 37.4 imp gal (44.9 US gal; 170 L) or 2x 101.6 imp gal
(122.0 US gal; 462 L) auxiliary tanks in the cabin
Powerplant:
1× Pratt & Whitney R-1340-AN1 9 cylinder air cooled radial piston engine, 600 hp (450 kW),
driving a 3-bladed Hamilton Standard, 9 ft 0.75 in (2.7623 m) diameter constant-speed propeller
Performance:
Maximum speed: 155 mph (249 km/h, 135 kn) as landplane with standard wheels
138 miles per hour (120 kn; 222 km/h) on skis
134 miles per hour (116 kn; 216 km/h) on floats
Cruise speed: 130 mph (210 km/h, 110 kn) KTAS at 10,000 ft (3,000 m)
Stall speed: 68 mph (109 km/h, 59 kn)
Range: 932 mi (1,500 km, 810 nmi) at 10,000 ft (3,000 m)
Service ceiling: 17,000 ft (5,200 m)
Rate of climb: 591 ft/min (3.00 m/s) at 100 miles per hour (87 kn; 161 km/h)
Wing loading: 22.8 lb/sq ft (111 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.08 hp/lb (0.13 kW/kg)
Maximum - Flaps extended (Vfe): 108 miles per hour (94 kn; 174 km/h)
The kit and its assembly:
This project was spawned when, some years ago, I came across a picture of PBV-5A Canso/Catalina CF-NJE/ C-FNJE (ex RCAF 11094) during its use with Buffalo Airways between 1996 and 2004, where it AFAIK flew as a tanker/mobile gas station for other firefighting aircraft. The Canso carried a bright and highly attractive livery in deep orange and dark green with high-contrast white trim on wings and fuselage, and I immediately decided to apply this pretty scheme to another aircraft one day. And what could be more Canadian and an epitome of a bush aircraft than the stubby Noorduyn Norseman (well, O.K., an Otter, a Beaver…) which is available as a 1:72 kit from Matchbox (since 1981, re-released by Revell)? An alternative is AFAIK a full resin kit from Choroszy Modelbud, even though it only offers floats.
Several years after the project’s inception I was able to hunt down a relatively cheap kit (2009 Revell re-boxing), but it rested some more years in The Stash™ until the time was ripe and I collected enough mojo to tackle it. Since this would only be a livery whif and not involve any major conversions, the Norseman kit was basically built OOB, using the optional floats as most suitable landing gear.
The only addition is a scratched semi-elliptic stabilizing fin under the tail, sometimes seen on real world Norsemen with floats. A technical change I made is a metal axis for the propeller with an internal styrene tube adapter behind the engine. Unusual for a Matchbox kit: it comes with separate rudders and flaps, and I mounted the latter in a downward position. For eventual flight scenes I integrated a vertical styrene tube behind the rear cabin bulkhead, as a rigid adapter for a steel rod display holder.
To avoid masking and the danger of losing one or more of the side windows during the assembly or while painting the model, I left them all away and recreated them after painting with Humbrol ClearFix – only the windscreen is an OOB piece. The risk of pushing one of the windows into the hull is IMHO very high, because each pane is a separate piece and none of them have any support to increase the contact area with the hull. This also makes the use of glue to mount and fix them rather hazardous. The ClearFix stunt went better than expected, but I guess that the Norseman’s window might be the limit of what can be created with the gooey stuff.
Overall fit of the kit is good, even though some PSR is needed along seams (esp. at the wing/fuselage intersections) and for some sinkholes along the fuselage seam. A feature Matchbox always did well is the surface structure of fabric-clad areas, and the Norseman is no exception. Mounting the delicate float arrangement was challenging, though, it takes a lot of patience and thorough drying phases to assemble. Because I wanted to paint the floats and the respective struts in aluminum (from a rattle can) I assembled and lacquered them separately, for a final “marriage”.
As additional details I added PE boarding ladders between the floats and the side doors instead of the minimal OOB plastic steps, and some rigging between the fin and the stabilizers as well as between the floats’ struts, created with heated grey styrene material.
Painting and markings:
The real highlight of the model: the bright firefighting livery! I adapted the paint scheme as good as possible from the benchmark Catalina (the same livery was also carried by CL-215 waterbombers) onto the stubby Norseman and used Humbrol 3 (Brunswick Green) and 132 (Red Satin, a rather orange-red tone) as basic colors. A personal addition/deviation is the black belly, and because of the separate cowling I ended the jagged white cheatline behind it and added a white front ring to the cowling.
The wing supports were painted white, similar to the real Canso. Since the floats are an optional landing gear, they were painted (separately) in white aluminum (from a rattle can), with dark gray walkways and black tips. The model did not receive an overall black ink washing, because I wanted to present a clean look, but I did some very subtle post-shading with slightly lightened basic tones along the internal braces. It’s barely noticeable, though.
Most of the white trim was created with generic decal stripe material from TL Modellbau, a very convenient solution, even though a LOT of material (more than 1m in total!) went into the decoration. Aligning all the stripes on the stabilizers and the wings was not as easy as it seems, due to the rib structure of the surfaces. The registration codes on wings and fuselage were created with single white letters (also from TL Modellbau) in different sizes.
The model was sealed with semi-gloss acrylic varnish (Italeri) for a clean and fresh look, the floats received a coat with matt (effectively a bit shiny) varnish from a rattle can, before the model was finally assembled and final struts and the PE boarding ladders were added. The anti-glare panel in front of the windscreen became matt, too.
As one of the final steps, the windowpanes were created with ClearFix (see above) – quite a stunt. Due to their size and square shape, I had to carve some individual tools from chopsticks to apply the thick material properly. Filling the openings this way was quite a challenge, but eventually worked better than expected (or suspected).
A pretty outcome! The firefighting livery suits the Norseman well, it’s a bright spotlight – as intended in real life! :D Building the model took a while, though, mostly because I had to take time for the paint to dry and the extensive use of decal stripes, and I took part in the 2023 “One Week” group build at whatifmodellers.com in the meantime, too. The Matchbox kit is also not to be taken lightly. While things mostly go together well, the delicate floats and the windows are a serious challenge, and I think that replacing the clear parts mostly with Clearfix was not a bad move to avoid other/long-term trouble.