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A northbound flask train stands in the centre roads at Workington on 7 June 1984. Between the two RBX barrier wagons is MJJ flatrol 550003 built in 1969 at Shildon. The TOPS codes for these wagons seemed to change frequently and were always a bit confusing to me. The batch that included 550003 (seen here) is often quoted in railway publications as XKB (until 1983 when they became air brake only and designated FNA). The TOPS panel on this picture is unclear but has obviously been overpainted to (possibly) FKB or FXB. This overpainting probably reflects the modification made to this wagon when it had a sliding cover added.
In the 1980s BNFL decided they wanted flasks to be covered. This gave an extra level of security but also weather protection. In the 1970s, radioactive contamination was occasionally detected on flasks in transit. The levels were extremely low, but one source of the contamination was thought to be rainwater flushing out small amounts of material from areas of the flask that were normally inaccessible. Keeping the flasks dry also ensured nothing could be flushed off the wagon.
The new design of stainless clad FNAs were introduced in 1984 but - as an interim measure - older open, steel framed wagons like this one were converted, with the new girder work to support the sliding cover clearly visible here. Also, note the fillet inserted to block the gap between the sliding cover support girder and the floor of the well.
Hover conversions for classic vehicles! Keep those old cars on the new roads with hover-drive retrofit kits from Sirius Cyberdine Industries! Don't be bound to the ground any longer! No more expensive tires! Greater comfort and ride-handling! Each kit is custom-designed for the classic auto of choice, and once prototyped, will be available in SCI inventory until all documented examples of that make/model are extinct. From cruisers, to sports cars, to utility vehicles, let SCI become your vendor of choice for updating your ride!
Yet another one that's spent many months awaiting completion! This is another client commission which sees the OOC Wright Eclipse 1 converted into the low entry, high floor version christened the Commuter by Wrights.
An interesting concept that never took off with very few hitting the road - one as a demonstrator with Translink, a couple with Stagacoach and other odd examples spotted in Yorkshire and Scotland. According to 'The Wright Way' book, there were only four actually built.
I doubt I will exceed that number of conversions!!
Thanks are particularly due here to Paul Dudfield and James Dawkins without whose help in providing essential information, the conversion would still be on the outstanding job list. Thanks Guys!!
Time to move on from the Streetdeck I think! It's a complex conversion to achieve with every version demanding something different , and it's getting very time consuming at the expense of other projects. With a real danger now that it will become a chore rather than an enjoyable exercise.
So there will be no more Streetdeck conversions done for the forseeable future.
There are other interesting projects lined up for the new year, some very complex, others routine - but for now at least, they won't include Streetdecks in any variation.
Looks great , rides beautifully and ready for two weeks in France from Saturday! Just needs racks fitted.
Hover conversions for classic vehicles! Keep those old cars on the new roads with hover-drive retrofit kits from Sirius Cyberdine Industries! Don't be bound to the ground any longer! No more expensive tires! Greater comfort and ride-handling! Each kit is custom-designed for the classic auto of choice, and once prototyped, will be available in SCI inventory until all documented examples of that make/model are extinct. From cruisers, to sports cars, to utility vehicles, let SCI become your vendor of choice for updating your ride!
This squad member is reloading his lasgun. The left shoulder armour is more extensive to protect the forward firing arm and has the brass etched inquisition symbol
An exhibit at the British Motor Museum.
Car: Land Rover Series II 109 Cuthbertson conversion.
Engine: 2000cc in-line 4.
Year of manufacture: 1958.
Place of registration: Berkshire.
Date taken: 16th April 2024.
while in albay, bicol, philippines my son and i came across this old cemetery , which is always a lure for a taphophile like me. took photos of some niches and gravestones, some dating back to the 19th century. after some research and investigation i found out that the land of this cemetery had been sold and will be due for conversion and development into a mall or a shopping centre. well, i'm lucky i was able to take some photos for posterity. here are some images of this moment
NS 1801 which is part Norfolk Southern's newest rebuild projects, has been converted from NS 2548. These units were replaced with SD70ACe style cabs, new control stands, AC traction motors were installed, as well as PTC system and other various electronic equipment.
This unit is in Altoona getting it's final testing, and will be completely repainted, and put into service.
Lens: Jupiter 8 50mm f/2.
Temporarily retiring this bike as I steal parts for a different build. May get some brazing work done on the frame to make it feel less clunky, but have to sit with it and see if it's worth it.
Hover conversions for classic vehicles! Keep those old cars on the new roads with hover-drive retrofit kits from Sirius Cyberdine Industries! Don't be bound to the ground any longer! No more expensive tires! Greater comfort and ride-handling! Each kit is custom-designed for the classic auto of choice, and once prototyped, will be available in SCI inventory until all documented examples of that make/model are extinct. From cruisers, to sports cars, to utility vehicles, let SCI become your vendor of choice for updating your ride!
My last batch of Polaroid pinhole conversions. Another project for friend / fine art photographer, Shaun Gothwaite. I believe she was to use these in a class she was teaching.('04)
A: chopped and capped bodies, prepped for mounting shutters.
B: front halves in various focal lengths.
C: 28mm F.L.
D: 35mm F.L.
E: 48mm F.L.
F: 73mm F.L.. this one requires no chopping. it is equivalent to
a 26mm focal length on a 35mm camera.
I should add that i am not posting these as a promotion to my building services ("'sorry"). Rather, as ideas for anyone interested.
The Class 153 "Super Sprinters" are single car multiple units (if that is not a contradiction in terms), but their origin is in the old British Rail Class 155 two car sets, from which these were converted in 1991/92. The 155s had been built for BR by British Leyland, and were introduced between 1987 and 1988. The conversions were done by Hunslet-Barclay at Kilmarnock.
This particular example, pulling into Barnetby (Lincolnshire) on a service to Grimsby Town, is number 153 379.
Tandem Axel Crown Coach RV conversion near Swan Valley, Idaho.
Found some info on Instagram of the guy who did the conversion.
www.instagram.com/shelleythetinybus/
10/05/2021
Carried out by the late Bill Thomas (Diesel Bill) of Broadstoke Engineering at Churchstoke, Powys. September 1995
Hover conversions for classic vehicles! Keep those old cars on the new roads with hover-drive retrofit kits from Sirius Cyberdine Industries! Don't be bound to the ground any longer! No more expensive tires! Greater comfort and ride-handling! Each kit is custom-designed for the classic auto of choice, and once prototyped, will be available in SCI inventory until all documented examples of that make/model are extinct. From cruisers, to sports cars, to utility vehicles, let SCI become your vendor of choice for updating your ride!
Hover conversions for classic vehicles! Keep those old cars on the new roads with hover-drive retrofit kits from Sirius Cyberdine Industries! Don't be bound to the ground any longer! No more expensive tires! Greater comfort and ride-handling! Each kit is custom-designed for the classic auto of choice, and once prototyped, will be available in SCI inventory until all documented examples of that make/model are extinct. From cruisers, to sports cars, to utility vehicles, let SCI become your vendor of choice for updating your ride!
Newport Bus is in the process of receiving a batch of Pointer-bodied 10.2m Dennis Darts as replacements for the seven remaining Wright Axcess Floline-bodied Scanias, new in 1998.
Those that have arrived so far have been sourced from Dawsonrentals, and were new in dual-door configuration to London operators Armchair and Thorpes for LRT contracted services.
Two have entered service in all-over white livery and still with their centre doors, though will presumably receive fleet colours and single door conversion in due course.
Former Armchair 327 is one of these, and carries a Pointer body that was technically built by Alexander during the days when Alexander, Plaxton and Dennis were owned by TransBus and retained their separate identities.
She is captured at the Old Green Interchange in the City Centre in January 2015.
Newport Borough Transport is no stranger to dual-door buses, having bought large numbers of Metro Scanias in the early 1970s and choosing not to convert the batch of Alexander Royale-bodied Volvo Olympians acquired from Lothian a few years back.
The curlews , genus Numenius, are a group of eight species of birds, characterised by long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. They are one of the most ancient lineages of scolopacid waders, together with the godwits which look similar but have straight bills. In Europe "curlew" usually refers to one species, the Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata.
Curlews feed on mud or very soft ground, searching for worms and other invertebrates with their long bills. They will also take crabs and similar items.
Curlews enjoy a world-wide distribution. Most species show strong migratory habits and consequently one or more species can be encountered at different times of the year in Europe, the British Isles, Iberia, Iceland, Africa, Southeast Asia, Siberia, North America, South America and Australasia.
The distribution of curlews has altered considerably in the past hundred years as a result of changing agricultural practices. Reclamation and drainage of marshy fields and moorland, and afforestation of the latter, have led to local decreases, while conversion of forest to grassland in some parts of Scandinavia has led to increases there.
The stone-curlews are not true curlews (family Scolopacidae) but members of the family Burhinidae, which is in the same order Charadriiformes, but only distantly related within that
Gardner engine conversion ex Crosville Leyland National, July 1986.
Blackpool transport LMA 413T rt23A 42x86 20. to 27. 7.86 Blackpool bus station b
From a my flat photo taken in Chengyang, Guangxi, China
CROSSVIEW
To view 3D pics cross your eyes focusing between at the pictures until both images overlap one another in the middle.
Per vedere le foto in 3D incrociare (strabuzzare) gli occhi fino a che le due immagini si sovrappongono formandone una sola centrale.
East Anglia has some quirky villages which we have taken to occasionally visiting. One of the places we visited today was Mellis in Suffolk.
This former public payphone, bought by Mellis Parish Council for £1, has had its windows replaced with coloured stained glass made by villagers.
The panels, inspired by the flora and fauna of Mellis Common, were made under the guidance of artist Hilary Beal.
+++ 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:
When, towards late 1945, the Einheits-Chassis for the German combat tanks (the "E" series of medium and heavy tanks) reached the front lines, several heavily armed anti-aircraft turrets had been developed, including the 30mm Kugelblitz, based on the outdated Panzer IV, the "Coelian" turret with various armament options for the Panzer V Panther hull, and there were twin 55 mm as well as single and even 88mm cannon systems for the new E-50, E-75 and E-100 chassis'.
With these new weapons for medium- and high-altitude targets, Firepower was considerably increased, but the tank crews still had to rely on traditional visual tracking and aiming of targets. One potential solution in which the German Heeresleitung was highly interested from the start was the use of the Luftwaffe’s new radar technology for early target identification and as an aiming aid in poor weather conditions or even at night. The German Luftwaffe first introduced an airborne interception radar in 1942, but these systems were bulky and relied upon large bipolar antenna arrays. These were not suitable for any use in a ground vehicle, lest to say in a tank that would also carry weapons and ammunition.
A potential solution appeared in late 1944 with the development of the FuG 240 "Berlin". It was an airborne interception radar, too, but it was the first German radar to be based on the cavity magnetron, which eliminated the need for the large multiple dipole-based antenna arrays seen on earlier radars, thereby greatly increasing the performance of the night fighters. The FuG 240 with a rotating dish antenna was introduced by Telefunken in April 1945, primarily in Junkers Ju 88G-6 night-fighters, behind a plywood radome which considerably improved aerodynamics. This so greatly reduced drag compared to the late-model Lichtenstein and Neptun systems that the fighters regained their pre-radar speeds and made them competitive again. The FuG 240 was effective against bomber-sized targets at distances of up to 9 kilometers (5.5 mi), or down to 0.5 kilometer, which eliminated the need for a second, short-range radar system.
Right before the FuG 240's roll-out with the Luftwaffe, the Heer insisted on a ground-based derivative for its anti-aircraft units. Political pressure from Berlin convinced the RLM to share the new technology, and Telefunken was ushered to adapt the radar system to an armored ground vehicle in February 1945.
It soon became clear that the FuG 240 had several drawbacks for this task. On one side, ground clutter and the natural horizon limited the system's range and low-level effectiveness, but its 9 km range in free space made high altitude surveillance possible – just enough for the effective interception of Allied bombers that attacked important point targets. Furthermore, the whole system, together with its power supply and a dirigible dish antenna, took up a lot of space, so that its integration into a tank-based anti-aircraft vehicle like an SPAAG as an autonomous, stand-alone solution was ruled out.
A workable solution eventually came as a technical and tactical compromise: the army’s anti-aircraft tanks were to be grouped together in so-called Panzer-Fla-Züge, which consisted of several (typically four) SPAAGs and an additional, dedicated radar surveillance and command unit, so that the radar could guide the tank crews towards incoming targets – even though the gun crews still had to rely on visual targeting.
Two respective guidance vehicles developed, a light and a heavy one. The light one, intended against low-flying targets like the Ilyushin Il-2 on the Eastern front, became the 8x8 Funkmess-/Flak-Kommandowagen Sd.Kfz. 234/6. The heavy variant, with a bigger antenna and a more powerful emitter, became the Mittlerer Funkmess-/Flak-Kommandopanzer Sd.Kfz. 282. In contrast to the light and compact Sd.Kfz. 234/6, the Sd.Kfz. 282’s complete radar and observation system was installed in a new turret, so that it could be simply mounted onto the new E-50 Einheitspanzer battle tank hull.
This new, box-shaped turret had been developed by Rheinmetall, together with Telefunken, and was based on the turret design for the new 55 mm twin anti-aircraft cannon. It had a maximum armor of 60mm at the front and held all of the radar equipment, christened "Basilisk", after the monster from medieval mythology with a petrifying sight. The turret held a crew of three: a commander, a radar operator, and an observer for the optical rangefinder. The rest of the crew, the driver and a radio operator, sat in the hull. No armament was fitted, even though a light machine gun could be mounted on the roof for self-defense, even though it could not be operated from the inside. A heavier armament was not deemed necessary since the vehicle would stay close to the heavily armed tanks/SPAAGs it would typically accompany.
The Basilisk radar’s rotating dish antenna had a diameter of 90 cm (35 ½ inches) and was installed at the turret's front under a hard vinyl cover. Power of the modified FuG 240 was 25kW, with a search angle of +80/− 5° and a frequency range: 3,250–3,330MHz (~10 cm). Range was, due the bigger antenna and a higher emitter output, increased to 0.5–11.0 kilometer, even though only under ideal conditions. Power came from a dedicated generator that was connected to the E-50’s V-12 Maybach HL 234 gasoline engine.
Beyond the radar system, the vehicle was furthermore equipped with a powerful visual coincidence range finder in the turret, combined with an analogue computer, the Kommandogerät (KDO) 40 Telemeter. This system had been introduced in 1941 as a guidance tool for stationary anti-aircraft units equipped with the 88 mm and the 105 mm Flak, but it had so far – due to its size and bulk – only been deployed on an unarmored trailer
The KDO 40 and similar sights worked as follows: Light from the target entered the range finder through two windows located at either end of the instrument. At either side, the incident beam was reflected to the center of the optical bar by a pentaprism, and this optical bar was ideally made from a material with a low coefficient of thermal expansion so that optical path lengths would not change significantly with temperature. The reflected beam first passed through an objective lens and was then merged with the beam of the opposing side with an ocular prism sub-assembly to form two images of the target which were viewed by the observer through the eyepiece. Since either beam entered the instrument at a slightly different angle the resulting image, if unaltered, would appear blurry. Therefore, in one arm of the instrument, a compensator was integrated which could be adjusted by the operator to tilt the beam until the two images matched. At this point, the images were said to be in coincidence. The degree of rotation of the compensator determined the range to the target by simple triangulation, allowing the calculation of the distance to the observed object.
Fixed target reading with the device mounted in the Sd.Kfz. 282 turret was possible on targets from 3,000 to 20,000 m. Aerial courses could be recorded at all levels of flight and at a slant range between 4,000 and 18,000 m - enough for visual identification beyond an anti-aircraft group's effective gun ranges and perfectly suitable for long range observation, so that the Sd.Kfz. 282 also had excellent reconnaissance and observation capabilities. The rangefinder’s optical bar had a massive span of 400 cm (157.5 in) and went right through the turret, just above the radar device installation. The whole device, together with its armored fairing, was 4,60 m (15 ft 1 in) wide, so that it protruded from the turret on both sides over the lower hull. The odd and unwieldy installation quickly earned the vehicle nicknames like "Hirsch (stag)", "Zwo-Ender" (a young stag with just two antlers) or “Ameise” (ant). None of these were official, though. In order to protect the Telemeter on the way, the turret was normally turned by 90° and hidden under a tarpaulin, in order not to give away any details of the highly classified equipment.
However, development of the Einheitspanzer family lagged behind schedule, and in early 1945 no E-50 chassis was available for the highly specialized Sd.Kfz. 282 – battle tanks and SPGs were in higher demand. As an alternative, the turret was quickly adapted for different tank hulls, namely the Sd.Kfz. 171, the Panzer V ‘Panther’ medium tank and the heavy Sd.Kfz. 181 ‘Tiger I’. Tests with both hulls in spring 1945 were successful, but only the lighter ‘Panther’ hull was chosen because it was lighter overall, more mobile and available in sufficient numbers for a quick roll-out. In this configuration, the system received the designation Sd.Kfz. 282/1, while the original Sd.Kfz. 282 designation was reserved for the originally planned E-50 chassis variant.
The first vehicles reached, together with the new FlaK tanks, the front units in September 1945. Operating independently, they were primarily allocated to the defense of important production sites and the city of Berlin, and they supported tank divisions through early warning duties and visual long-range reconnaissance. Operationally, the Sd.Kfz. 282’s sensor setup with its combined visual and radar input turned out to be surprisingly successful. The combination of the Basilisk radar with the KDO 40 rangefinder allowed a time from initial target acquisition to the first AA shot of less than 20 seconds, which was impressive for the time – typically, simple visual target acquisition took 30 seconds or more. First shot hit probability was appreciably improved, too, and even quick passes of aircraft at low altitudes could be precalculated, if the radar was not obstructed.
However, the radar remained capricious, its performance rather limited and the unarmored antenna fairing at the turret’s front was easily damaged in combat, even by heavy machinegun fire. But the Sd.Kfz. 282 offered, when the vehicle was placed in a location with a relatively free field of view (e. g. on a wide forest clearance or in an open field), a sufficient early warning performance against incoming bombers at medium to high altitudes, and it also appreciably mobilized the bulky but valuable KDO 40 device. It now could easily be moved around and keep up with the pace of motorized battle groups that the Panzer-Fla-Züge units were supposed to protect.
Until the end of hostilities, probably thirty Sd.Kfz. 282/1s were completed from newly built (Ausf. F, recognizable through the simpler all-metal wheels) or from refurbished earlier Panzer V chassis of various types before production switched in early 1946 to the E-50 chassis which had eventually become available in sufficient numbers.
Specifications:
Crew: Five (commander, radar operator, observer, driver, radio-operator/hull machine gunner)
Weight: 41.2 tonnes (40.4 long tons; 45.3 short tons)
Length (hull only): 6.87 m (22 ft 6 in)
Width: 3.42 m (11 ft 3 in) hull only
4,60 m (15 ft 1 in) overall
Height: 2.95 m (9 ft 8 in)
Suspension: Double torsion bar, interleaved road wheels
Fuel capacity: 720 litres (160 imp gal; 190 US gal)
Armor:
15–80 mm (0.6 – 3.15 in)
Performance:
Maximum road speed: 48 km/h (30 mph)
Operational range: 250 km (160 mi)
Power/weight: 15.39 PS (11.5 kW)/tonne (13.77 hp/ton)
Engine:
Maybach HL230 P30 V-12 petrol engine with 700 PS (690 hp, 515 kW)
ZF AK 7-200 gear; 7 forward 1 reverse
Armament:
1× 7.92 mm MG 34 machine gun in the front glacis plate with 2.500 rounds
Optional MG 34 or 42 machine gun with 1.500 rounds on the turret
The kit and its assembly:
Another submission to the “Recce & Surveillance” group build at whatifmodellers.com in July 2021, and actually a good occasion to tackle a project that I had on my list for some years. A long while ago I bought a resin conversion set with a (purely fictional) Heer ‘46 anti-aircraft surveillance radar system, based on an E-50 chassis. Unfortunately, I cannot identify the manufacturer, but this 1:72 conversion set was/is nicely molded, with delicate details, no bubbles or flash and it even came with a commander figure for an optional open hatch on top as well as a pair of delicate brass antennae.
Even though I could have mounted this replacement turret onto a Trumpeter or Modelcollect E-50/75 chassis, I rather decided to create an earlier (1945 time frame) interim vehicle on a late Panzer V ‘Panther’ basis, mostly because it would be more compact and I doubt that brand new E-50/75s would have been “wasted” on second line/support vehicles like this mobile surveillance/commando post for anti-aircraft units?
The Panther chassis is the old Hasegawa kit for an Ausf. G tank from 1973, chosen because of its good fit, simplicity and the vinyl tracks, which I prefer. However, the kit clearly shows its age and some weak/soft details (e. g. the gratings on the engine deck), but it was enough for my plans and easy to handle.
Both turret and hull were built separately and basically OOB, combined with an adjusted turret ring. The Kdo 40’s “antlers” are to be glued directly to the turret’s flanks, but I reinforced the connections with wire. I also replaced the set’s brass antennae with heated sprue material and used a surplus PE detail set from a Modelcollect E-50/75 to hide the crude engine openings and change the overall look of the Panther a little. Some storage boxes as well as spare track links were added to the flanks, stuff collected from the scrap box.
To emphasize the refurbished character of the vehicle I left away the Panther’s side skirts – these were easily lost in battle, anyway, and probably have rather been allocated to battle tanks than to 2nd line support vehicles, despite leaving the Panther’s lower hull under the mudguards vulnerable.
Painting and markings:
Even though the paint scheme on this model is based on German standard colors, it is a little special. Late in real-world WWII some Panzer Vs received a unique, uniform RAL 6003 (Olivgrün) factory finish instead of the usual all-over RAL 7028 (Dunkelgelb) or the bare oxide red primer finish, onto which the frontline units would add individual camouflage, depending on the theatre of operations and whatever paint or application tool was at hand. This special green livery was adopted for the model, including the new turret. The individual camouflage consists of diagonal stripes in Dunkelgelb and Rotbraun (RAL 8017), added on top of the green basis with rather sharp and straight edges and only to the vertical surfaces. The practice to leave out the horizontal surfaces was called “Sparanstrich” (literally “economy paintwork”), an attempt to save the more and more scarce paint.
This rather odd style was actually applied to several late war Panther tanks – even though I am personally not certain about this pattern’s effectiveness? Maybe a kind of dazzle effect was sought for?
The basic green became a modern-day RAL 6003 from the rattle can (which is very close to FS 34102, just a tad lighter), applied in a rather cloudy fashion on top of an initial coat of Oxide Red primer (RAL 3009) overall, also from the rattle can. On top of that the stripes were painted with a brush, partly masked but mostly free-handedly. For some variation I used this time Tamiya XF-60 (a rather pale interpretation of Dunkelgelb which IMHO lacks a greenish hue and rather looks like a desert sand tone) and XF-64 (a rich whole milk chocolate tone) to create the additional camouflage, not fully opaque so that the impression of thinly/hastily applied paint was reinforced.
Once dry, the whole surface received a very dark brown washing with thinned acrylic paint and surface details were emphasized through dry-brushing with earth brown and beige.
For a different look (and to break up the tank’s bulky outlines) I applied camouflage nets to the model, realized with gauze bandages drenched in Tamyia XF-62 (Olive Drab) and mounted into place around the turret and at the front of the hull while still slightly wet.
Decals were puzzled together from various German tank sheets. The kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish, what also fixed the cammo nets in place. The originally shiny black vinyl tracks were also painted/weathered, with a wet-in-wet mix of grey, iron, black and red brown (all acrylics). Once mounted into place, mud and dust were simulated around the running gear and the lower hull with a greyish-brown mix of artist mineral pigments.
Not a spectacular build, but I am happy that I eventually had the opportunity and motivation to tackle this project that had been lingering for years in the The Stash™. The result looks really good – the anonymous resin set is/was excellent, and combined with the Panther hull, the whole thing looks very credible. I am only a bit sad that the odd, almost artistic camouflage got a little lost under the cammo nets and the equipment on the hull, and the dust/dirt on the lower areas blurs the three basic colors even more. Well, you cannot have everything at once, and I might re-use this scheme on a “cleaner” future build.