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.

Presented with far less processing than the previous two posts. Just standard raw conversion in ACR.

Qualiti conversions, Curdridge, Botley - formerly FHD 34249, apparently being converted for charity use "in africa"

Conversion by The Recycle Group in S,.Antonin

Here is an explanation of this exhibit:

recycleartgroup.com/exhibitions/conversion/

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas,_West_Virginia

Drawn and converted 2D>3D

Giovanna Casotto is a great designer and author of erotic comics, of which she is also the model. My drawing is taken from a photo of her.

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.

HDR from 4 shots, then BW conversion on SIlverEffex

See large

Cyberleader: Begin the upgrade process immediately.

Tonight is a corporate job for Shmitz cargobull the Trailer and truck body people,Seen outside the Copthorne Hotel in Birmingham is tonights ride Mercedes Benz Sprinter C12F. The dinner/dance is at the national motorcycle museum. Photo taken 14/09/16

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The Douglas F3D Skyknight (later designated F-10 Skyknight) was a United States twin-engined, mid-wing jet fighter aircraft manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company in El Segundo, California. The F3D was designed as a carrier-based all-weather night fighter and saw service with the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. The mission of the F3D-2 was to search out and destroy enemy aircraft at night.

The F3D was not intended to be a typical sleek and nimble dogfighter, but as a standoff night fighter, packing a powerful radar system and a second crew member. It originated in 1945 with a US Navy requirement for a jet-powered, radar-equipped, carrier-based night fighter. The Douglas team led by Ed Heinemann designed around the bulky air intercept radar systems of the time, with side-by-side seating for the pilot and radar operator. The result was an aircraft with a wide, deep, and roomy fuselage. Instead of ejection seats, an escape tunnel was used.

As a night fighter that was not expected to be as fast as smaller daylight fighters, the expectation was to have a stable platform for its radar system and the four 20 mm cannon mounted in the lower fuselage. The F3D was, however, able to outturn a MiG-15 in an inside circle. The fire control system in the F3D-1 was the Westinghouse AN/APQ-35.

The AN/APQ-35 was advanced for the time, a combination of three different radars, each performing separate functions: an AN/APS-21 search radar, an AN/APG-26 tracking radar, both located in the nose, and an AN/APS-28 tail warning radar. The complexity of this vacuum tube-based radar system, which was produced before the advent of semiconductor electronics, required intensive maintenance to keep it operating properly.

The F3D Skyknight was never produced in great numbers but it did achieve many firsts in its role as a night fighter over Korea. While it never achieved the fame of the North American F-86 Sabre, it did down several Soviet-built MiG-15s as a night fighter over Korea with only one air-to-air loss of its own against a Chinese MiG-15 on the night of 29 May 1953.

In the years after the Korean War, the F3D was gradually replaced by more powerful aircraft with better radar systems. The F3D's career was not over though; its stability and spacious fuselage made it easily adaptable to other roles. The Skyknight played an important role in the development of the radar-guided AIM-7 Sparrow missile in the 1950s which led to further guided air-to-air missile developments.

In 1954, the F3D-2M was the first U.S. Navy jet aircraft to be fitted with an operational air-to-air missile: the Sparrow I,an all weather day/night BVR missile that used beam riding guidance for the aircrew to control the flight of the missile. Only 38 aircraft (12 F3D-1Ms, and 16 F3D-2Ms) were modified to use the missiles, though.

One of the F3D's main flaws, which it shared with many early jet aircraft, was its lack of power and performance. Douglas tried to mend this through a radical redesign: The resulting F3D-3 was the designation assigned to a swept-winged version (36° sweep at quarter chord) of the Skyknight. It was originally to be powered by the J46 turbojet, rated at 4.080 lbf for takeoff, which was under development but suffered serious trouble.

This led to the cancellation of the J46, and calculated performance of the F3D-3 with the substitute J34 was deemed insufficient. As an alternative the aircraft had to be modified to carry two larger and longer J47-GE-2 engines, which also powered the USN's FJ-2 "Fury" fighter.

This engine's thrust of 6.000 pounds-force (27 kN) at 7,950 rpm appeared sufficient for the heavy, swept-wing aircraft, and in 1954 an order for 287 production F3D-3s was issued, right time to upgrade the new type with the Sparrow I.

While the F3D-3's outline resembled that of its straight wing predecessors, a lot of structural changes had to be made to accommodate the shifted main wing spar, and the heavy radar equipment also took its toll: the gross weight climbed by more than 3 tons, and as a result much of the gained performance through the stronger engines and the swept wings was eaten away.

Maximum internal fuel load was 1.350 US gallons, plus a further 300 in underwing drop tanks. Overall wing surface remained the same, but the swept wing surfaces reduced the wing span.

In the end, thrust-to-weight ratio was only marginally improved and in fact, the F3D-3 had a lower rate of climb than the F3D-2, its top speed at height was only marginally higher, and stall speed climbed by more than 30 mph, making carrier landings more complicated.

It's equipment was also the same - the AN/APQ-35 was still fitted, but mainly because the large radar dish offered the largest detection range of any carrier-borne type of that time, and better radars that could match this performance were still under construction. Anyway, the F3D-3 was able to carry Sparrow I from the start, and this would soon be upgraded to Sparrow III (which became the AIM-7), and it showed much better flight characteristics at medium altitude.

Despite the ,many shortcomings the "new" aircraft represented an overall improvement over the F3D-2 and was accepted for service. Production of the F3D-3 started in 1955, but technology advanced quickly and a serious competitor with supersonic capability appeared with the McDonnell F3H Demon and the F4D Skyray - much more potent aircraft that the USN immediately preferred to the slow F3Ds. As a consequence, the production contract was cut down to only 102 aircraft.

But it came even worse: production of the swept wing Skyknight already ceased after 18 months and 71 completed airframes. Ironically, the F3D-3's successor, the F3H and its J40 engine, turned out to be more capricious than expected, which delayed the Demon's service introduction and seriously hampered its performance, so that the F3D-3 kept its all weather/night fighter role until 1960, and was eventually taken out of service in 1964 when the first F-4 Phantom II fighters appeared in USN service.

In 1962 all F3D versions were re-designated into F-10, the swept wing F3D-3 became the F-10C. The straight wing versions were used as trainers and also served as an electronic warfare platform into the Vietnam War as a precursor to the EA-6A Intruder and EA-6B Prowler, while the swept-wing fighters were completely retired as their performance and mission equipment had been outdated. The last F-10C flew in 1965.

General characteristics

Crew: two

Length: 49 ft (14.96 m)

Wingspan: 42 feet 5 inches (12.95 m)

Height: 16 ft 1 in (4.90 m)

Wing area: 400 ft² (37.16 m²)

Empty weight: 19.800 lb (8.989 kg)

Loaded weight: 28,843 lb (13.095 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 34.000 lb (15.436 kg)

Powerplant:

2× General Electric J47-GE-2 turbojets, each rated at 6.000 lbf (26,7 kN) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 630 mph (1.014 km/h) at sea level, 515 mph (829 km/h) t (6,095 m)

Cruise speed: 515 mph (829 km/h) at 40,000 feet

Stall speed: 128 mph (206 km/h)

Range: 890 mi (1.433 km) with internal fuel; 1,374 mi, 2,212 km with 2× 300 gal (1.136 l) tanks

Service ceiling: 43.000 ft (13.025 m)

Rate of climb: 2,640 ft/min (13,3 m/s)

Wing loading: 53.4 lb/ft² (383 kg/m²)

Thrust/weight: 0.353

Armament

4× 20 mm Hispano-Suiza M2 cannon, 200 rpg, in the lower nose

Four underwing hardpoints inboard of the wing folding points for up to 4.000 lb (1.816 kg)

ordnance, including AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missiles, 11.75 in (29.8cm) Tiny Tim rockets, two

150 or 300 US gal drop tanks or bombs of up to 2.000 lb (900 kg) caliber, plus four hardpoints

under each outer wing for a total of eight 5" HVARs or eight pods with six 2 3/4" FFARs each

The kit and its assembly:

Another project which had been on the list for some years now but finally entered the hardware stage. The F3D itself is already a more or less forgotten aircraft, and there are only a few kits available - there has been a vacu kit, the Matchbox offering and lately kits in 1:72 and 1:48 by Sword.

The swept wing F3D-3 remained on the drawing board, but would have been a very attractive evolution of the tubby Skyknight. In fact, the swept surfaces resemble those of the A3D/B-66 a Iot, and this was the spark that started the attempt to build this aircraft as a model through a kitbash.

This model is basically the Matchbox F3D coupled with wings from an Italeri B-66, even though, being much bigger, these had to be modified.

The whole new tail is based on B-66 material. The fin's chord was shortened, though, and a new leading edge (with its beautiful curvature) had to be sculpted from 2C putty. The vertical stabilizers also come from the B-66, its span was adjusted to the Skyknight's and a new root intersection was created from styrene and putty, so that a cross-shaped tail could be realized.

The tail radar dish was retained, even though sketches show the F3D-3 without it.

The wings were take 1:1 from the B-66 and match well. They just had to be shortened, I set the cut at maybe 5mm outwards of the engine pods' attachment points. They needed some re-engraving for the inner flaps, as these would touch the F3D-3's engines when lowered, but shape, depth and size are very good for the conversion.

On the fuselage, the wings' original "attachment bays" had to be filled, and the new wings needed a new position much further forward, directly behind the cockpit, in order to keep the CoG.

One big issue would be the main landing gear. On the straight wing aircraft it retracts outwards, and I kept this arrangement. No detail of the exact landing gear well position was available to me, so I used the Matchbox parts as stencils and placed the new wells as much aft as possible, cutting out new openings from the B-66 wings.

The OOB landing gear was retained, but I added some structure to the landing gear wells with plastic blister material - not to be realistic, just for the effect. A lot of lead was added in the kit's nose section, making sure it actually stands on the front wheel.

The Matchbox Skyknight basically offers no real problems, even though the air intake design leaves, by tendency some ugly seams and even gaps. I slightly pimped the cockpit with headrests, additional gauges and a gunsight, as well as two (half) pilot figures. I did not plan to present the opened cockpit and the bulbous windows do not allow a clear view onto the inside anyway, so this job was only basically done. In fact, the pilots don't have a lower body at all...

Ordnance comprises of four Sparrow III - the Sparrow I with its pointed nose could have been an option, too, but I think at the time of 1960 the early version was already phased out?

Painting and markings:

This was supposed to become a typical USN service aircraft of the 60ies, so a grey/white livery was predetermined. I had built an EF-10B many years ago from the Matchbox kit, and the grey/white guise suits the Whale well - and here it would look even better, with the new, elegant wings.

For easy painting I used semi matt white from the rattle can on the lower sides (painting the landing gear at the same time!), and then added FS 36440 (Light Gull Grey, Humbrol 129) with a brush to the upper sides. The radar nose became semi matt black (with some weathering), while the RHAWS dish was kept in tan (Humbrol 71).

In order to emphasize the landing gear and the respective wells I added a red rim to the covers.

The cockpit interior was painted in dark grey - another factor which made adding too many details there futile, too...

The aircraft's individual marking were to be authentic, and not flamboyant. In the mid 50ies the USN machines were not as colorful as in the Vietnam War era, that just started towards the 60ies.

The markings I used come primarily from an Emhar F3H Demon, which features no less than four(!) markings, all with different colors. I settled for a machine of VF-61 "Jolly Rogers", which operated from the USS Saratoga primarily in the Mediterranean from 1958 on - and shortly thereafter the unit was disbanded.

I took some of the Demon markings and modified them with very similar but somewhat more discrete markings from VMF-323, which flew FJ-4 at the time - both squadrons marked their aircraft with yellow diamonds on black background, and I had some leftover decals from a respective Xtradecal sheet in the stash.

IMHO a good result with the B-66 donation parts, even though I am not totally happy with the fin - it could have been more slender at the top, and with a longer, more elegant spine fillet, but for that the B-66 fin was just too thick. Anyway, I am not certain if anyone has ever built this aircraft? I would not call the F3D-3 elegant or beautiful, but the swept wings underline the fuselage's almost perfect teardrop shape, and the thing reminds a lot of the later Grumman A-6 Intruder?

LARGE ON BLACK

Saskatchewan Stylization. "Too cooked" for some friends heh.

An abandoned barn conversion near Margaret Roding, Essex.

www.facebook.com/nigadwphotography/

© Walter Glover All rights reserved. No reproduction rights granted.

I spent a lot of time doing this conversion just because I didn't know quite what needed to go where. I'm in the middle of the first roll right now, and things are going smoothly so far.

The camera takes 6cm x 10.5cm negatives, so I get 6 per roll right now. I may make a mask later so I can get that to a more manageable 6x9 format if I don't like the results.

Notice all the felt. I removed quite a few components and I'm worried it's gonna leak light like crazy. hopefully I've sealed it up.

25 January is the feast of the Conversion of St Paul. This mosaic by Boris Anrep is in St Paul's chapel in Westminster Cathedral. In Acts 22:6-16, St Paul recounts his conversion story to the people of Jerusalem:

"As I made my journey and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone about me.

And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, `Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' And I answered, `Who are you, Lord?' And he said to me, `I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting.' Now those who were with me saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. And I said, `What shall I do, Lord?' And the Lord said to me, `Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.' And when I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and came into Damascus.

And one Anani'as, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me, and standing by me said to me, `Brother Saul, receive your sight.' And in that very hour I received my sight and saw him. And he said, `The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Just One and to hear a voice from his mouth; for you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.' "

In this 2000th anniversary year of St Paul's birth, we thank God for the wonders he worked through Paul and for the preaching of the Gospel which has been handed down to all Christians that they may follow in St Paul's example of love and zeal for Christ.

The ZIL-157 is a general purpose 2 1⁄2-ton 6x6 truck, produced in post-World War II Soviet Union ZiL. It was the standard Soviet truck.

Der ZIL-157 (russisch ЗИЛ-157), gelegentlich auch als SIL-157 transkribiert, ist ein dreiachsiger mittelschwerer Lastkraftwagen, der 1958 bis 1994 in der Sowjetunion beziehungsweise Russland zuerst vom Sawod imeni Lichatschowa gebaut wurde.

Hex and Makster's Dodge Ram 250

Los Angeles, 2011.

Fifty-ninth in a series.

Requires RED / CYAN 3D Glasses

Most favourite conversion so far, the poster for Akira

I made a heatmap in Photoshop, then used Stereo Photo Maker v.5 to import the depth map and create two stereo composites. Light adjustments where then made.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVSf22VT1t4

My personalized 3D / Anaglyph Kit:

MPO Split

StereoPhoto Maker

Manual / Guide I Wrote

This is one of the things I've been busy with ho ho ho

Build thread

Beng Mealea, Cambodia. Fujifilm X-E1 + Fujinon 35mm. ƒ/3.6. iso400. No alteration (minus B&W conversion)

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The APS-4 was a light-weight, pod-mounted airborne search Radar which was suitable for either Airborne Interception (AI) or Air-to-Surface-Vessel (ASV) applications. It was a member of a series of early air-borne radar equipment and was initially designated as AS-H (“Air-to Surface, version H”). This very advanced equipment for its time was first used by the US Navy on board of carrier-borne night fighter aircraft like respective F6F Hellcat and F4U-2 Corsair variants. The Royal Air Force was impressed enough with the system's performance that it was adopted in 1943 for domestic airframes, too, as an alternative to the British AI radars used on board of early Mosquito, Beaufighter and Defiant night fighters.

The operational use of the machines was hampered by localized skin wrinkling on the wings and fuselage at load attachment points, a problem the type shared with the Mk. XIV day fighter. Even though Supermarine advised that the machines had not been seriously weakened, nor were they on the point of failure, the RAF nevertheless issued instructions in early 1945 that all F and FR Mk XIVs were to be retrospectively fitted with clipped wings to counter the threat. The NF.XX kept their elongated wing tips, however, and were simply limited to a top speed of 370 mph (600 km/h) and not allowed to dive anymore.

General characteristics:

Crew: 2 (pilot, radar operator)

Length: 32 ft 8 in (9.96 m)

Wingspan: 40 ft 2 in (12.2 m)

Height: 10 ft 0 in (3.05 m)

Wing area: 249.7 sq.ft (23.2 m²)

Airfoil: NACA 2213 (root), NACA 2209.4 (tip)

Empty weight: 8,680 lb (3,937 kg)

Gross weight: 10,700 lb (4,853 kg)

Max takeoff weight: 12,530 lb (5,683 kg)

Powerplant:

1× Rolls-Royce Griffon 65 supercharged V12, 2,050 hp (1,530 kW) at 8,000 ft (2,438 m),

driving a 5-bladed Jablo-Rotol propeller

Performance:

Maximum speed: 400 mph (640 km/h; 353 kn) in FS supercharger gear at 29,500 ft.

Combat range: 460 mi (741 km/400 nmi) with internal fuel only

850 mi (1,370 km/757 nmi)

Ferry range: 1,093 mi (1,759 km/950 nmi)

Service ceiling: 43,500 ft (13,259 m)

Rate of climb: 4,300 ft/min (21.8 m/s) in MS supercharger gear at 2,100 ft.

3,100 ft/min (15.8 m/s) in FS supercharger gear at 22,100 ft.

Time to altitude: 8 mins to 22,000 ft (at max weight)

Wing loading: 32.72 lb/sq ft (159.8 kg/m²)

Power/mass: 0.24

Armament:

4× 20 mm (0.787-in) Hispano Mk II cannon with 120 RPG in the wings

Provision for an auxiliary underfuselage tank, either a fixed conformal 90 gal tank or a

100 gal drop tank.

The kit and its assembly:

Well, Spitfire fans might call it crude to create a whiffy variant that incorporates so many ugly details. But this fever creation came into being through the simple thought: "What would a dedicated Spitfire night fighter with a radar look like?" From this initial creative spark I tried to build this fictional NF.XX variant with available late WWII technology from a Griffon-powered Spitfire.

The basis is the Airfix Spitfire PR.XIX kit, a nice and clean offering, even though the use of this photo recce variant meant some additional work. The radar pod comes wholesale from an F4U night fighter (Fujimi), since the wing installation appeared to me to be the only plausible (and proven) option.

The second cockpit and the "double bubble" canopy come from an RS Models Spitfire Mk.IX UTI trainer, which is/was a domestic conversion made in the Soviet Union. The kit comes with an extra two seater fuselage, so that, despite body donors, almost a complete Spitfire remains (just the cockpit missing, but this can be taken from the Airfix kit).

I also considered the Spitfire TR.IX arrangement, with a stepped bubble canopy, but found that the risen rear cockpit for the instructor would not make sense in a night fighter, so the UTI arrangement with separate canopies on the same level appeared to me to be the most suitable solution for this aircraft and its task.

Surgery was not easy, though: The whole cockpit area was dissected from the RS Models trainer and – together with the internal parts like the bulkheads, dashboards and seats – transplanted into an appropriate gap, cut into the Airfix kit fuselage. The windscreen position on both airframes was used as orientation benchmark.

Basically a simple idea, but, even though you have two Spitfire kits at hand, both models differ slightly from each other in many ways. Material thickness is different, as well as panel lines, which are all there on both models but simply do not fall in line. Internal width and available space is also different, esp. the rear bulkhead was not easy to integrate into the Airfix fuselage. It worked, somehow, but it consequently took some PSR effort and rescribing (at least, both donor kits have engraved details) in order to create this Griffon-powered two-seater.

The extended wings were created through the simple implantation of high altitude wing tips from an AZ Model Spitfire I/II/V/VI kit. They match very well with the Airfix PR.XIX wings, which were simply clipped at the correct position outside of the ailerons. Since the recce Spitfire comes without any weapons I added four brass barrels (Pavla) to the wings, plus respective bulges for the magazines (scratched from sprue) and casing ejector fairings under the wings.

I also changed the vertical rudder. Instead of the separate OOB part from the Spitfire PR.XIX I used a deeper and higher rudder from a late Seafire mark (left over from a Special Hobby kit, IIRC). The part lost its hook and the notch for its deployment mechanism, replaced by a piece of styrene that was PSRed into the rest of the rudder. It’s not an obvious change, but the bigger fin area is a good counterpart to the enlarged wings and the bulkier rear fuselage.

The conformal belly tank was scratched from the upper half of a Matchbox A-10 inner wing. There are aftermarket solutions available, but I simply did not want to spend as much money on a single resin part that no one will clearly see and that’s just as expensive as the whole Airfix basis kit. Some things are just ridiculous.

Painting and markings:

Very simple: classic late war RAF night fighter colors, with Medium Sea Grey and Dark Green (Humbrol 165 and 163, respectively) on the uppers surfaces, plus Night (I used Revell Acrylics 06, Tar Black, which is actually a very dark grey tone) underneath, with a high waterline and a black fin. Looks weird on a Spitfire, but also somewhat cool!? The model received a light black ink wash and some panel post-shading, using a blue-ish hue for the Night undersurfaces.

The interior is classic RAF Cockpit Green (Humbrol 78), the only catchy marking is the red propeller spinner – originally I just wanted to keep the spinner black, too, but found that to be too dull overall.

The markings come from different sources; the codes were created with single Dull Red letters from Xtradecal, roundels and other markings come from various other sheets. The added “G” to the serial number is, BTW, an indication that the aircraft had to be guarded all the time. A nice and appropriate detail for this high tech aircraft of its time. The roundels/fin flashes were taken from another Xtradecal sheet, IIRC they belong to an FAA SB2C Helldiver.

Finally, some wear marks were added with dry-brushed light grey and silver. Exhaust stains were added with dry-brushed dark and light grey, as well as some grinded graphite. A coat of matt acrylic varnish (Italeri) sealed the kit.

I feel a bit guilty of creating the probably ugliest Spitfire possible, with all the add-ons and the weird proportions through the second cockpit and the belly tank. Very massive, at least for this sleek aircraft. The night fighter paint scheme suits the Spitfire surprisingly well, though. Anyway, it’s whifworld, after all, and I tried to go through with the night fighter idea as good and consequential as possible – the fictional NF.XX is just my personal interpretation of the theme.

Isolette camera pinhole conversion.

25mm focal length.

0.18mm pinhole diameter. Brass shim from a barely used Zero 135.

f/138

6x6 format.

Anyhoo, I haven't been posting lately as I am scannerless. Hope to have one by the end of the week.

Timberbush Tours of Edinburgh operate this March 2014 Mercedes Sprinter 516CDi converted to a 16 seater mini-coach by Excel Conversions Ltd of Doncaster. pictured on 18th September, 2015 in Pitlochry Coach Park.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the model, the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

Alexander Martin Lippisch (November 2, 1894 – February 11, 1976) was a German aeronautical engineer, a pioneer of aerodynamics who made important contributions to the understanding of flying wings, delta wings and the ground effect.

Anyway, the Li 383's overall impact was not significant. Production numbers remained low, and all in all, only a total of 80-100 machines were completed and made operational when the hostilities ended.

General characteristics:

Crew: one

Length: 7.78 m (25 ft 5 1/2 in)

Wingspan: 12.67 m (41 ft 6 in)

Height: 3.86 m (12 ft 8 in)

Wing area: 46.8 m² (502.1 ft²)

Empty weight: 4,600 kg (10,141 lb)

Loaded weight: 6,912 kg (15,238 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 8,100 kg (17,857 lb)

Powerplant:

1× BMW 018A turbojet, 25kN (5.200 lb)

Performance:

Maximum speed: 977 km/h (estimated) (607 mph) at 12,000 meters (39,000 ft)

Service ceiling: 16,000 m (estimated) (52,000 ft)

Rate of climb: 22 m/s (estimated) (4,330 ft/min)

Wing loading: 147.7 kg/m² (20.2 lb/ft²)

Thrust/weight: 0.34

Armament:

4× 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 cannons around the air intake with 75 RPG

2x underwing hardpoints for two 300l drop tanks or 2x 250 kg (550 lb) bombs;

alternatively, various weapon sets (Rüstsätze) were available, including racks for 8× (R1) or 12× (R3)

R 65 “Föhn” or for 24x R4M unguided missiles (R2), or for 2× Ruhrstahl X-4 Wire Guided AAMs (R4)

The kit and its assembly:

This fictional Luft ’46 aircraft was inspired by the question what a further developed Ta 183 could have looked like, and it was also influenced by the many tailless Lippisch designs that never left the drawing board.

From the hardware perspective, the design is more or less the salvage of the most useable parts of the PM Model Horten IX/Go 229 kit – namely the outer wing sections. The PM Model Ta 183 is only marginally “better”, and I had one of these in the stash (Revell re-boxing), too. So, why not combine two dreadful kits into something …new?

Well, that was the plan, and building was rather straightforward. In the cockpit, I added simple side consoles, a dashboard, some oxygen flasks, a different seat and a pilot figure (seatbelts simulated with tape strips) – the kit would be finished with closed canopy.

An exhaust pipe was integrated and the air intake filled with a better compressor fan (from an Airfix D.H. Venom, IIRC, fits perfectly). The inner walls of the landing gear wells (well, they are not existent) were cut away and replaced with leftover jet engine parts, so that there was some structure and depth. The landing gear was taken OOB, though, I just used slightly bigger wheels, since the “new” aircraft would have considerably more mass than the Ta 183.

The highly swept, long Ta 183 tail was cut off and replaced by a surplus Me 262 fin and tail section (Matchbox). Despite the different shape and size, and the resulting side view profile reminds strangely of the Saab 29?

The original Ta 183 wings were not mounted and their attachment points on the fuselage cut/sanded away. Instead, I used the outer wing sections from the Go 229, with clipped wing tips for a different shape.

When I held the wings to the fuselage, the whole thing looked …boring. Something was missing, hard to pinpoint. After consulting some Luft ’46 literature I adapted a trick for better stability: a gull wing shape. This was achieved through simple cuts to the wings’ upper halves. Then the wings were bent down, the gap filled with a styrene strip, and finally PSRed away. Looks very dynamic, and also much better!

Another late addition was the underwing armament. I was about to start painting when I again found that something was missing… The new wings made the aircraft pretty large, so I considered some underwing ordnance. Anyway, I did not want to disrupt the relatively clean lines with ugly bombs or drop tanks, so I installed a pair of racks with six launch tubes for R 65 “Föhn” unguided AAMs into the lower wing surfaces, in a semi-recessed position and with a deflector plate for the rocket exhausts.

Painting and markings:

As a high altitude interceptor and late war design, this one was to receive a simple and relatively light livery, even though I stuck with classic RLM tones. The Li 383 was basically painted all-over RLM 76 (Humbrol 247), onto which RLM 75 (from Modelmaster) was added, in the form of highly thinned enamel paint for a cloudy and improvised effect, applied with a big and soft brush. On top of the wings, a typical two-tone scheme was created, while on the fuselage’s upper sides only some thin mottles were added.

In order to lighten the scheme up and add a unique twist, I added further mottles to the flanks and the fin, but this time with RLM 77. This is a very light grey – originally reserved for tactical markings, but also “abused” in the field for camouflage mods, e. g. on high-flying He 177 bombers. I used Humbrol 195 (RAL 7035), again applied with a brush and highly thinned for a rather cloudy finish.

The air intake section and the intake duct were painted in aluminum, while the engine exhaust section as well as the missile racks and the areas around the gun ports were painted with Revell 99 (Iron Metallic) and Steel Metallizer.

The cockpit interior became dark grey (RLM 66) while the landing gear, the wells and the visible engine parts inside became RLM 02.

The kit was lightly weathered with a thin black ink wash and some dry-brushing.

The markings were puzzled together; due to the light basic tones of the model, the upper crosses became black, with only a very small cross on the flanks due to the lack of space, and for the wings’ undersides I used “old school” full color markings in black and white. The red color for the tactical code was basically chosen because it would be a nice contrast to the bluish-grey overall livery.

Finally the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish and some gun soot stains added with grinded graphite, as well as some traces of flaked paint on the wings’ leading edges and around the cockpit.

Well, the attempt to bash two mediocre (at best) kits into something else and hopefully better worked out well – the Li 383 does not look totally out of place, even though it turned out to become a bigger aircraft than expected. However, the aircraft has this certain, futuristic Luft ’46 look – probably thanks to the gull wings, which really change the overall impression from a simple kitbash to a coherent design which-could-have-been. The livery also fits well and looks better than expected. Overall, a positive surprise.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on authentic facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The Austrian Air Force in its current form was created in May 1955 by the victorious Allied powers, subject to restrictions on its use of guided missiles. The Austrian State Treaty of 1955 committed Austria to permanent neutrality. Pilot training started out with a four Yak-11 Moose and four Yak-18 Max aircraft donated by the Soviet Union, and Austria purchased further light trainer types under the Military Assistance Program. Until 1960 Austria purchased training and support aircraft under the MAP, but no modern fighter aircraft; the role of a fighter was rather inadequately filled by thirty already outdated Saab 29 Tunnan, bought second-hand from the Swedish Air Force in the early 1960s which equipped two fighter bomber squadrons.

The Austrian Lightnings’ planned service period of 10 years was almost doubled, though, due to massive delays with the Eurofighter’s development: In 2002, Austria had already selected the Typhoon as its new “Phase II” air defense aircraft, having beaten the F-16 and the Saab Gripen in competition, and its introduction had been expected to occur from early 2005 on, so that the Lightnings could be gradually phased out. The purchase of 18 Typhoons was agreed on 1 July 2003, but it would take until 12 July 2007 that the first Typhoon would eventually be delivered to Zeltweg Air Base and formally enter service with the Austrian Air Force. This operational gap had to be bridged with twelve F-5E leased from Switzerland for EUR 75 mio., so that Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) duties for the Austrian airspace could be continued.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 55 ft 3 in (16.84 m)

Wingspan: 34 ft 10 in (10.62 m)

Height: 19 ft 7 in (5.97 m)

Wing area: 474.5 sq ft (44.08 m²)

Empty weight: 31,068 lb (14,092 kg) with armament and no fuel

Gross weight: 41,076 lb (18,632 kg) with two AIM-9B, cannon, ammunition, and internal fuel

Max takeoff weight: 45,750 lb (20,752 kg)

Powerplant:

2× Rolls-Royce Avon 301R afterburning turbojet engines,

12,690 lbf (56.4 kN) thrust each dry, 16,360 lbf (72.8 kN) with afterburner

Performance:

Maximum speed: Mach 2.27 (1,500 mph+ at 40,000 ft)

Range: 738 nmi (849 mi, 1,367 km)

Combat range: 135 nmi (155 mi, 250 km) supersonic intercept radius

Range: 800 nmi (920 mi, 1,500 km) with internal fuel

1,100 nmi (1,300 mi; 2,000 km) with external overwing tanks

Service ceiling: 60,000 ft (18,000 m)

Zoom ceiling: 70,000 ft (21,000 m)

Rate of climb: 20,000 ft/min (100 m/s) sustained to 30,000 ft (9,100 m)

Zoom climb: 50,000 ft/min

Time to altitude: 2.8 min to 36,000 ft (11,000 m)

Wing loading: 76 lb/sq ft (370 kg/m²) with two AIM-9 and 1/2 fuel

Thrust/weight: 0.78 (1.03 empty)

Armament:

2× 30 mm (1.181 in) ADEN cannon with 120 RPG in the lower fuselage

2× forward fuselage hardpoints for a single AIM-9 Sidewinder AAM each

2× underwing hardpoints for 1.000 lb (454 kg) each

2× overwing pylon stations for 2.000 lb (907 kg each),

typically occupied with 260 imp gal (310 US gal; 1,200 l) ferry tanks

The kit and its assembly:

This was another submission to the “Hunter, Lightning and Canberra” group build at whatifmodellers.com in 2022 and intended as a rather simple build since it was based on an alternate reality plot: the weird story that Austria was offered a revamped fleet of ex-Saudi Arabian Lightnings is true(!), but the decision eventually fell in favor of revamped Saab J 35Ds from Sweden. For this what-if build I used the real historic timeline, replaced the aircraft, and built both story and model around this – and the result became the BAC Lightning F.56 in Austrian Air Force service.

Initially I wanted to use an Airfix BAC Lightning in The Stash™, a really nice model kit and a relatively new mold, but it turned out to be the kit’s F.2A variant. While very similar to the F.6, changing it into a F.53 analogue with the OOB parts turned out to be too complex for my taste. For instance, the F.2A kit lacks the ventral gun bay (it just comes with the auxiliary tank option since the guns are already located in front of the cockpit) and the cable conduits on the lower flanks. Procuring a suitable and priceworthy Airfix F.6 turned out to be impossible, but then I remembered a Hasegawa Lightning F.6 in The Stash™ that I had shot at ev!lbay many moons ago for a laughable price and without a concrete plan. However, this kit is pretty old: it has raised (yet quite fine, less robust than the Matchbox kit) panel lines and even comes with a pilot figure, but also many weak spots like the air intake and the jet exhausts that end in flat walls after some millimeters depth and a very basic cockpit. But for this rather simple what-if project the kit appeared to be a suitable basis, and it would eventually find a good use.

The Hasegawa Lightning was basically built OOB, even though I made some cosmetic amendments like a better seat for the pilot, hydraulic fluid lines on the landing gear made from wire or opening the flat walls inside of the air intake opening and the jet nozzles. Behind the radome, a simple splitter plate was added as well as a recessed bulkhead in front of an implanted Me 262 cockpit tub (the Hasegawa kit just offers a bare floor panel, nothing else!), the afterburners were extended inwards with parts from a Matchbox A.W. Meteor night fighter.

The Red Top AAMs and the in-flight refueling probe were omitted. Instead, I added extra F.53-style forward-swept pylons under the outer wings, scratched from 1.5 mm styrene sheet due to their odd, raked shape, and I added Sidewinder launch rails plus suitable missiles from a Hasegawa air-to-air weapons set to all four stations. After long consideration I also retained the ‘overburger’ tanks, partly because of the unique layout on the Lightning, and also because of operational considerations.

Chaff dispensers were scratched from styrene profiles and placed at the fin’s base. A fairing for the retrofitted radar warning sensor was added to the fin tip, created from 1.5 mm styrene sheet.

Painting and markings:

To reflect the “alternate reality” role of the Lightning I gave the model a livery similar to the Saab J 35Ö that were actually procured: an adaptation of the USAF “Egypt One” scheme, carried primarily by the USAF F-16s. Adapting this simple three-tone camouflage from the flat F-16 to the Draken was easy and straightforward, but applying it to a Lightning with its many vertical surfaces turned out to be a tough challenge. I eventually came up with a paint scheme that reminds of the late RAF low-viz Lightning liveries, which existed in a wide range of patterns and graduations of grey.

The colors were authentic, FS 36118, 36270 and 36375 (using Humbrol 125, 126 and 127), and I decided to emphasize the camouflage of the flanks against the horizon, so that the vertical surfaces and the fin became FS 36270. The undersides of wings, stabilizers and fuselage became FS 36375. The dark FS 36118 was only applied to the upper sides of the wings and the stabilizer, and to a high dorsal section, starting at the wing roots. As a small contrast, the tank area on the spine was painted in light grey, simulating unpainted fiber glass. The radome was painted with a streaky mix of Humbrol 155 and 56.

As usual, the model received a light black ink washing, some post-panel-shading in lighter tones, and, due to the raised panel lines, was very lightly rubbed with graphite. The cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Revell 47) with an olive drab fabric fairing behind the black pilot seat, which received ejection handles made from thin wire as eye candy. The landing gear and the respective wells were painted in Humbrol 56 (Aluminum Dope).

The decals are a wild mix: The fuselage roundels are actually wing markings from a Hasegawa J 35OE, as well as the huge orange "06" on the wings (I could not resist; they will later be partly obscured by the overwing tanks, but the heck with it!). The roundels on the wings come from a generic TL Modellbau sheet - I found that I needed larger markings than those on the Draken.

Both unit and individual aircraft identifiers are single black DIN font digits, also from TL Modellbau. The unit badges on the fin are authentic, even though from an earlier era: they came from an Austrian J 29 of Fliegerregiment 2 from a PrintScale sheet, and all stencils were taken from the OOB low-viz RAF markings sheet, plus four small warning triangles for the underwing pylons.

A ‘what-if’ model in the purest sense, since this model depicts what could really have been: ex Saudi-Arabian export BAC Lightnings over the Austrian Alps! However, refurbished Saab J 35D Draken made the race (and later followed by the Eurofighter Typhoon at ‘Stage 2’), so that this Lightning remains fictional. It does not look bad in the ‘Egypt One’ paint scheme, though, better than expected!

On popular demand... more pics of the conversion/doujinshi kit. ^^

This Rei Ayanami model was inspired by an illustration I found here on FlickR, posted by Awee_19 - for reference, check the posted picture below (since I cannot add it here).

I am not sure what this illustration actually is? Just a semi-official sketch or design version by Ikuto Yamashita, a cover of a fan magzine or a dojinshi? If anyone knows, please let me know!

Anyway, the illustration left a deep impression and I found this alternative Rei design very interesting: the deep blue, asymmetric plugsuit, the red contrasts (reminds me a bit of a Bubblegum Crisis' Priss in her Hardsuit?), the ice blue hair...

Very cool and different, but still "on character" and a unique contrast to the classic white TV series version. Right from the start I knew I would build this character.

First obstacle was to find and actually hunt down an approriate 1:6 scale resin kit for this project. Finally, I got my hands on a cheap recast kit. The kit itself is very good: it offers alternative arm and head pieces for different plugsuit versions, ranging from a "clean" look (which became the basis here) to a bandaged arm in various poses to an alternative, bandaged head. The kit is very nicely detailed, e. g. it features a seperate satchel piece for the back with openings, so that the spine protector (looks like a row of scales) on the figure's back can actually be seen.

So far, so good, but... using a recast kit means that you have to pay a different price than just raw money. The kit came complete, but its casting quality was rather so so. Fit of the bigger parts was good, but upon closer inspection I found a lot of casting flaws. Small, but they summed up, including bubbles at ridges, a hole/depression in one leg where resin was simply missing, poor surfaces with waves and ripples, and bent thin parts (e. g. the seperate rims under the figure's breasts). As a consequence: lots of putty work became necessary - in multiple stages! Ugh...

Building the kit:

For the kit's conversion according to the illustration, two major areas of work had to be dealt with:

First and most obvious detail was the left leg, which is - judging the illustration - a "boot", separated from the rest of the suit and only connected through a tube with somewhere on the back of the figure.

The tube adapter on the left upper leg was built from scratch and putty. Since it is a bulging part and the kit's "natural" left arm position would block sight onto the piece, I moved the left elbow into a different angle - easy task, since the kit's arm consists of two separate parts.

Since no back side view of the figure was available, I assumed that the tube from the hip ends at the satchel unit on the figure's back. Matching connectors and details were added there, too, from Plastruct and Vollmer profile material, putty and bits from the scrapbox.

The second big design challenge was to find good material for the characteristic tubes, which I wanted to include in the figure. I assume that these are pressure tubes which enhance the plug suit's vacuum function, for its tight fit? Not sure, but they look cool...

What made the task quite tricky was the fact that these tubes appear to be (at least in some parts) transparent on the illustration? Through sheer luck I found a neat solution among picture frame equipment: round 3mm diameter cables made from a transparent plastic material - probably polycarbonate. The material is stiff and strong, hard to cut, but can be formed and bent through heat (and patience). I used boiling water and a simple hair dryer for this task, and it turned out that this material was just excellent for shaping the various cables that run along the figure.

Plugs and other stuff along the clear tubes were again made from Plastruct profiles, thread, duct tape and more pieces from the junk box.

Painting and finishing the kit:

For painting, I completely went for the brush. The illustration looks simple, but upon closer inspection I found lots of different shades of blue and violet.

After fillering and priming (a tedious task - the recast surface was more uneven than expected, and with each primer turn more flaws became visible...), I laid out the red contrasts first with Humbrol 153 (Insignia Red; FS 31136) and 174 (Signal Red), and some detail areas like the soft knee guards in flat black (Humbrol 33) with dry brushing in Oxford Blue (Humbrol 104).

Next, the suit received a base color of RAL 5010 "Lufthansa Blue". I used 350 from Revell - I had preferred Humbrol's 198, since I hate Revell colors for their pasty consistency, but this tone is out of production... Finding a good, "pure" blue tone that would match the illustration was pretty tough, because many stock tones just are too grey or have a greenish hue.

Violet contrast areas, e.g. the "belt" under the breasts and the areas in the armpits and on the lower arms, received a basic coat of a mix of an obscure bluish purple from Humbrol's antique Authentic Color line (NO idea what name or number it is) and the basic RAL 5010. The result was a greyish purple/violet, that still matches up with the basic Lufthansa blue.

From there, the suit received a second coat of paint to simulate light effects - this time applied in a wet-in-wet technique, because dry brushing would make the surface look too "dirty". RAL 5010 was used again, but mixed with Revell 51 (RAL 5002, "Ultramarine Blue"). Up to 100% of the latter tone was finally used for highlighted areas like the shoe tips, breasts or folds. The effect is very subtle, but with kit's size and the later semi-matte varnish coat this was enough.

The violet contrast areas also received a treatment with lighter shades of the original color mix, plus some final dry brushing with Testors 2013 ("Napoleonic Violet" from the Figure Series).

Other areas of the suit like the knees or the shoulder protectors received a darker base color, a mix of RAL 5010 plus black (Humbrol 33) and some purple (Humbrol 68). This would not have been necessary, but it made the figure look more interesting and not just plain blue.

The tubes were to remain clear, the added sectors and rims were painted in light grey and purple. Some parts of the tubes (e. g. at the shoulder connectors) received a semi-translucent coat of a mix of matte varnish and Humbrol's 122 (IAF light blue).

After the basic works were done, a thin black ink wash was applied to the suit to enhance contrasts and make the blue highlights stand out a bit more (e. g. at the fingers and around details).

On the head, the almost white hair was also painted with mixed colors: the basic tone is a mix of flat white (Humbrol's 34) and Revell's 350, in order to keep the tone in line with the plugsuit. The pleasant result is a very cold and clean blue.

Dry painting with lighter shades of this mix, even with some pure flat white and a mix of white and purple as well as some darker streaks with Humbrol 128 (Compass Grey, FS 36320) completed the hairdo.

Skin is, as on almost any of my character figures, Testor's 2001 ("Skin Tone, Light"), even though some areas had to be lightened up with some added white to the basic tone because the hair is so light. The original, already pale tone, looked as if this Rei just had come right out of a solarium...!

For the eyes I tried to incorporate as much bright and clear red as possible, plus big reflex points (which almost cancel the red...). Through the light hair and the dark plugsuit this contrast looks very interesting and compelling.

Finally, a clear semi-matte coat on the suit for more light reflexes and matte varnish on the bare skin parts and the hair finished the kit.

The base is a standard design of mine - a 10x10cm piece of wood from the DIY market, with a laminated black wood structure urface. The sides of the base were covered with matching black cladding, and it finally received a coat of semi-matte varnish. A soft iron wire from below holds the figure in place.

It rather amazes quite how much trial and error seems to be an inevitable and unavoidable part of getting a build about right-- even with a fairly focused goal, as was the case here, with the chrome, circa 1950 mystery frame I bought this past February (at what seemed an irresistible bargain price).

In any event the goal was to convert a bare vintage 700c frame to 650B and build it up as something vaguely in what might be called an Alex Herse-ish style, a bit more "gentlemanly" than porteuresque, and equally well to suited running errands in the neighborhood, an evening out, or a leisurely afternoon ride in the park.

And in addition to creating a fanciful new identity for it as a Brooklyn built "Mareze," I rather hoped if I could get the component mix about right, the overall impression might be something that plausibly could have been, even if it never was.

A Radios Nº16 front light, a modern Dutch Nordlicht dynamo, and the tedious task of wiring are still to come. But it is surprisingly lightweight, and on today's first shakedown cruise, it showed considerable promise of becoming a nimble and rather plush ride. The real surprise has been the set of Grand Bois Lierre 38mm tires-- which almost magically soak up bumps even better than the 42mm Hetres I have on my two other 650B bikes.

Cross view

Conversion 2D>3D

Conversion by Horseless Carriage Shop of Dunedin, Florida

Binoculars are taken from the tau hammerhead kit, the converted carbine is a pulse rifle with a shortened barrel (part of the cut out barrel forms the magazine) and an upside down pulse grenade launcher for a sight.

An abandoned barn conversion near Margaret Roding, Essex.

www.facebook.com/nigadwphotography/

The white livery and work-stained appearance of ATI 767 N791AX shows up the window configuration from its passenger days. This aircraft started its working career with All Nippon Airways in Japan back in 1985. It is seen taxiing at Houston for a cargo flight to Wilmington Air Park Airport, Ohio.

Aircraft: Air Transport International (8C/ATN) Boeing 767-200BDSF N791AX.

Location: Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH/KIAH), Texas, United States of America.

2D-3D conversion to Anaglyph. Red/Cyan filtered 3D glasses required to view. Image from a wallpaper site on the web. The artist name is Ciruelo Cabral. Signed as "Ciruelo".

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet is a light attack jet and advanced trainer aircraft co-manufactured by Dassault Aviation of France and Dornier Flugzeugwerke of Germany. It was developed specifically to perform the trainer and light attack missions, as well as to perform these duties more ideally than the first generation of jet trainers that preceded it.

Following a competition, a design submitted by a team comprising Breguet Aviation, Dassault Aviation, and Dornier Flugzeugwerke, initially designated as the TA501, was selected and subsequently produced as the Alpha Jet.

Both the French Air Force and German Air Force procured the Alpha Jet in large numbers, the former principally as a trainer aircraft and the latter choosing to use it as a light attack platform. In July 1978, Dassault signed an agreement with American aircraft manufacture Lockheed to market the Alpha Jet in the US market, the arrangement included provisions for Lockheed to manufacture the Alpha Jet under license. The Alpha Jet was considered as a candidate for the US Navy's VTXTS advanced trainer program, which was eventually won by the McDonnell Douglas T-45 Goshawk, a modified version of the Hawker Siddeley Hawk. Proposed modifications included undercarriage changes for nose-tow catapults and a stronger arrestor hook, as well as various US-sourced avionics and other equipment.

As a result of post-Cold War military cutbacks, Germany already elected to retire its own fleet of Alpha Jets in the 1990s and has re-sold many of these aircraft to both military and civilian operators. The Alpha Jet has been adopted by a number of air forces across the world and has also seen active combat use by some of these operators.

General characteristics:

Crew: two

Length: 13.23 m (43 ft 5 in)

Wingspan: 9.11 m (29 ft 10¾ in), folded:

Height: 4.19 m (13 ft 9 in)

Wing area: 17.50 m² (188.4 ft²)

Empty weight: 3,515 kg (7,750 lb)

Loaded weight: 5,000 kg (11,000 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 7,500 kg (16,535 lb)

Powerplant:

2× SNECMA Turbomeca Larzac 04-H-20 non-afterburning turbofans,

delivering 4.12 kN of thrust (3,173 lbf) each

Performance:

Maximum speed: 1,000 km/h (540 kn, 621 mph) at sea level

Stall speed: 167 km/h (90 knots, 104 mph) (flaps and undercarriage down)

Combat radius: 610 km (329 nmi, 379 mi) lo-lo-lo profile with full ordnance

Ferry range: 2,940 km (1,586 nmi, 1,827 mi)

Service ceiling: 14,630 m (48,000 ft)

Rate of climb: 57 m/s (11,220 ft/min)

Armament:

1× optional 30 mm (1.18 in) GIAT 30/M791 autocannon with 125 rounds in a centerline pod

Four underwing hardpoints for a total load of 2,500 kg (5,506 lb), including up to six Matra rocket pods

with eighteen SNEB 68 mm rockets each or six CRV7 rocket pods with nineteen 70 mm rockets each;

Two AIM-9 Sidewinders or two Matra Magic IIs air-to-air missiles

Up to two AM.39 Exocet anti-ship missiles, or four AGM-65 Mavericks

or other TV-, laser or IR-guided Smart Weapons

The kit and its assembly:.

Another entry for the “Old Kit Group Build” at whatifmodelers.com, #4 to be precise. The basis for this conversion is the venerable Heller Alpha Jet in 1:72 scale from 1979, even though in a much more recent Revell re-boxing as a Belgian aircraft with a black/yellow/silver anniversary paint scheme.

Anyway, the moulds must have suffered a lot in the meantime, because the Revell offering comes with lots of flash, ugly ejector pin markings and even some sinkholes. I have built an old, original Heller kit a while ago, and this was much more crisp and defined!

However, the conversion of the kit was only cosmetic, including:

• A new, longer and more massive nose– actually the front end of a Tornado drop tank

• A completely new twin front wheel, including the well in the nose section

• Modified main landing gear with new wheels and a higher stance

• Engraved seams for the wings’ folding mechanism

• Appropriate ordnance, including…

- an Exocet missile (Academy Super Étendard)

- a drop tank (Academy OV-10 Bronco)

- a Barracuda 2 ECM pod and a Matra Phimat flare dispenser (Heller SEPECAT Jaguar)

• Some new antennae and pitots, and a more massive arrestor hook

• The laser rangefinder in its unusual (but correct!) fairing

• Some chaff/flare dispensers at the tail

Building the fuselage was no fun – nothing would fit, and the kit’s construction is really complicated. O.K., the Alpha Jet’s shape with its engine nacelles and the curved belly is complex, but the kit’s solution is far from perfect.

Another true weak point are the air intakes: they end after 3-4mm in a staggered, vertical wall. Really ugly, so I drilled the intakes open and moved the still necessary view blocker (black foamed styrene) a bit further back.

Painting and markings:

IMHO, the only potential operator for this fictional yet rather complex and expensive Alpha Jet variant would be France, and so the Lancier M ended up in the hands of the Aéronavale.

Consequently, I gave the aircraft a Nineties paint scheme inspired by the two-tone grey livery of the late Super Ètendard – also a bit of an unusual, yet familiar, touch. The basic colors I used are Humbrol 164 (Dark Sea Grey) and 165 (Medium Sea Grey), because I wanted to prevent a US look – and the frequently recommended tones of FS36118 and FS35237 are IMHO just wrong, Gunship Grey being too dark, and the grey blue being …simply much too bluish. The British tones work quite well, though, even though I still wonder about the “true” colors of this paint scheme?

The cockpit interior was painted in very dark grey (Humbrol 67) for some contrast to the outside, the landing gear wells and the struts became Aluminum (Humbrol 56), as well as the air intakes. The interior of the landing gear covers was painted in chrome yellow primer (Humbrol 81), for some more color contrast.

The Barracuda 2 pod was painted in dark green, while the chaff dispenser became dark grey – as a small color contrast to the grey aircraft. The Exocet missile became white with a light grey radome, according to the real thing, but as another disruption the single drop tank received the old Aéronavale scheme in dark bluish grey and white, together with a red tip (marking the flight the aircraft belongs to).

The decals come mostly from a Berna Decals aftermarket sheet for French Bréguet Alizés. The sheet features, among others, a late, dark grey aircraft, and this option provided the small roundels and the grey codes. Escadrille 59S was chosen, since it was available in the sheet (with the squadron’s emblem) and originally a unit for night/all-weather training, disbanded in early 1997.

A simple conversion, yet very thorough and surprisingly convincing. The Lancier’s longer and more massive nose changes the character of the sleek Alpha Jet a lot, and the grey-on-grey paint scheme with the toned-down markings adds a unusual touch to the normally much more colorful aircraft. The scheme looks very natural on the Alpha Jet, too.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The origins of the mighty Hawker Harpy date back until the late 1940ies, when the British MoD issued a specification for "an interceptor fighter with supersonic performance" under the handle F.23/49. In May 1949 OR.268 was prepared and finally issued in April 1950. It called for a twin-engine single-seat supersonic fighter to operate in Europe and desirably any other part of the world. The initial design requirements were not too demanding: a top speed of at least Mach 1.2 was called for, with climb to 50.000' (15.240m) in no more than 360 seconds. The fighter had to have a rate of climb of at least 1.000'/min (305m/min) and a minimum endurance from take-off to landing of at least 60min. At least two 30mm Aden cannon were to be carried.

Both Harpy and Lightning were hard to replace, though, as the RAF Phantoms initially also had to fill out an attack and reconnaissance role (a gap which was to be filled with the SEPECAT Jaguar), so both interceptors soldiered on until the early 1980ies. Both were replaced by the Phantoms, the large Harpy made its final flight in May 1982 while the last Lightning was retired in 1988, as the Tornado ADV was under development and would unite what even the couple of Harpy and Lighning never achieved in their service career.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 21.52 m (70 ft 7 in)

Wingspan: 9.34 m (30 ft 8 in)

Height: 5.41 m (17 ft 9 in)

Wing area: 42.2 m² (454 ft 3 in)

Empty weight: 10,371 kg (22,864 lb)

Loaded weight: 15,288 kg (33,704 lbf)

Max. take-off weight: 18,879 kg (41,621 lbf)

Powerplant:

2× reheated Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire Sa.7LR engines, rated at 11.000lb (48.9kN) dry thrust and at 15.400lb (68.4kN) with afterburner

Performance:

Maximum speed: Mach 2.1

Combat radius with 5 min combat: 647 nmi (746 mi, 1,200 km)

Ferry range: 1.403 nmi (1.615 mi, 2.600 km) with 3 external fuel tanks

Service ceiling: 18.100 m (59.383 ft)

Rate of climb: 83 m/s (16.405 ft/min)

Wing loading: 447.4 kg/m² (MAX T-O Weight) (91.63 lb/ft² (MAX T-O Weight))

Thrust/weight: 0.5; 0.91 with afterburner (MAX T-O Weight)

Armament:

2× Aden 30mm (1.18”) cannons under the air intakes with 120 RPG

7× hard points (6 under wing and one centerline hard point) for air-to-air missiles (Firestreak or, from 1965 on, primarily Red Top), fuel on three wet pylons, or bombs, Matra pods with 18 unguided 68mm SNEB rockets, for a total maximum load of 10.000 lb (4.540 kg)

The kit and its assembly:

Hopefully royalists will forgive me for this... but did you ever see an aircraft and get the spontaneous idea what it actually could be or have been? Well, the Chinese J-8II is such a case. In fact, the J-8 was born as a scaled-up MiG-21F with two engines, and it was later modified to carry a nose radome and lateral air intakes. Somehow this large jet fighter had IMHO a British look about it… I couldn't help, it HAD to become an RAF aircraft! Totally anachronistic, but worth the try ;).

Anyway, it is still SO retro that I had to put even the modernized version back in time by about 20 years, when it would have been up to date. Just for reference: imagine that the real J-8II entered service in China when the Harpy was retired after 20 years of service in my fictional background story…

Well, to be honest I have had this one on my idea list for a long time, but as it would ‘just’ be an almost OOB build I always held in back, favoring more complicated works. Anyway, as I had a Trumpeter J-8II kit in store AND appropriate decals I decided to work the Harpy out as the first kit in 2014.

As already mentioned, this is an almost OOB build of the Trumpeter J-8II (NATO code 'Finback B'), with only minor modifications. The kit is very nice: Fit is good, you get recessed panel lines, as many details as you can ask for – just some fit issues with the fuselage halves and slight sink holes at the air intakes. While you need some putty, anyway, the thing goes together very easily.

Personal mods to create the Hawker Harpy include a Matchbox pilot figure for the cockpit, two fins ('Finback A' style) instead of the J-8II's single MiG-23 style folding fin, new drop tanks (from a Matchbox Hawker Hunter, with fins added) and four Red Top missiles (from an Eastern Express Sea Vixen) – all for a convincing RAF look.

Other small mods include e. g. getting rid of some typical Soviet-style antennae (even though I kept the almost iconic anti-flutter weights on the tailplane) and the GSh-23-2 cannon fairing under the fuselage, which was replaced by two single gun fairings for 30mm Aden cannons under the air intakes.

Painting and markings:

Classic RAF colors from the Sixties, with Dark Slate Gray/Dark Sea Gray from above and Light Aircraft Gray below (Humbrol 163, 164 and 166, respectively). The aircraft received a light black ink wash in order to emphasize the kit’s fine engraved panel lines, as well as some dry-painting with lighter shades (including Dark Slate Gray/Dark Sea Gray from Modelmaster – these tones are a tad lighter than the Humbrol counterparts, and Humbrol 196, RAL 7035).

The cockpit interior was painted in dark gray, while the landing gear wells and the other interiors were left in Aluminum. The landing gear was painted in Steel, the wheel discs white and the air brakes in red from the inside.

Decals/markings come from an Xtradecal sheet for RAF Phantom FG.1/FGR.2s, "XL196" is, AFAIK, a ‘free’ (never used) RAF serial number that fits around 1962. Some additional stencils and markings were painted onto the fuselage by brush.

After decal application the kit received an overall coat of semi-gloss Tamiya acrylic varnish.

The Hawker Harpy is/was simple kit travesty, but IMHO the resulting ‘British product’ looks very convincing and late-1950ies style?

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the model, the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

After the country's independence from the United Kingdom, after its departure from the European Union in 2017, the young Republic of Scotland Air Corps (locally known as Poblachd na h-Alba Adhair an Airm) started a major procurement program to take over most basic duties the Royal Air Force formerly had taken over in Northern Britain. This procurement was preceded by a White Paper published by the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 2013, which had stated that an independent Scotland would have an air force equipped with up to 16 air defense aircraft, six tactical transports, utility rotorcraft and maritime patrol aircraft, and be capable of “contributing excellent conventional capabilities” to NATO. According to the document, “Key elements of air forces in place at independence, equipped initially from a negotiated share of current UK assets, will secure core tasks, principally the ability to police Scotland’s airspace, within NATO.” An in-country air command and control capability would be established within five years of a decision in favor of independence, it continues, with staff also to be “embedded within NATO structures”.

However, the small fleet of only six helicopters was far from being enough to cover the Scottish coast and the many islands up north, so that the government prolonged the contract with Bristow Helicopters in late 2019 for two more years, and the procurement of further Leumadair HR.1 helicopters was decided in early 2020. Twelve more helicopters were ordered en suite and were expected to arrive in late 2021.

General characteristics:

Crew: 2 pilots and 2 crew

Length: 12,06 m (39 ft 2 1/2 in)

Height: 4 m (13 ft 1 in)

Main rotor diameter: 12,10 m (39 ft 7 1/2 in)

Main rotor area: 38.54 m² (414.8 sq ft)

Empty weight: 3,128 kg (6,896 lb)

Max takeoff weight: 4,300 kg (9,480 lb)

Powerplant:

2× Turbomeca Arriel 2C2-CG turboshaft engines, 636 kW (853 hp) each

Performance:

Maximum speed: 330 km/h (210 mph, 180 kn)

Cruise speed: 240 km/h (150 mph, 130 kn)

Range: 658 km (409 mi, 355 nmi)

Service ceiling: 5,486 m (17,999 ft)

Armament:

None installed, but provisions for a 7.62 mm M240 machine gun or a Barrett M107 0.50 in (12.7

mm) caliber precision rifle in each side door

The kit and its assembly:

Another chapter in my fictional alternative reality in which Scotland became an independent Republic and separated from the UK in 2017. Beyond basic aircraft for the RoScAC’s aerial defense duties I felt that maritime rescue would be another vital task for the nascent air force – and the situation that Great Britain had outsourced the SAR job to a private company called for a new solution for the independent Scotland. This led to the consideration of a relatively cheap maritime helicopter, and my choice fell on the SA365 ‘Daupin’, which has been adapted to such duties in various variants.

As a starting point there’s the Matchbox SA365 kit from 1983, which is a typical offer from the company: a solid kit, with mixed weak spots and nice details (e. g. the cockpit with a decent dashboard and steering columns/pedals for the crew). Revell has re-boxed this kit in 2002 as an USCG HH-65A ‘Dolphin’, but it’s technically only a painting option and the kit lacks any optional parts to actually build this type of helicopter in an authentic fashion - there are some subtle differences, and creating a convincing HH-65 from it would take a LOT of effort. Actually, it's a real scam from Revell to market the Matchbox Dauphin as a HH-65!

However, it was my starting basis, and for a modernized/navalized/military version of the SA365 I made some changes. For instance, I gave the helicopter a fixed landing gear, with main wheels stub wings taken from a Pavla resin upgrade/conversion set for a Lynx HAS.2, which also comes with better wheels than the Matchbox kit. The Dauphin’s landing gear wells were filled with 2C putty and in the same process took the stub wings. The front landing gear well was filled with putty, too, and a adapter to hold the front twin wheel strut was embedded. Lots of lead were hidden under the cockpit floor to ensure that this model would not becaome a tail sitter.

A thimble radome was integrated into the nose with some PSR – I opted for this layout because the fixed landing gear would block 360° radar coverage under the fuselage, and there’s not too much ground clearance or space above then cabin for a radome. Putting it on top of the rotor would have been the only other option, but I found this rather awkward. As a side benefit, the new nose changes the helicopter’s silhouette well and adds to a purposeful look.

The rotor blades were replaced with resin BERP blades, taken from another Pavla Lynx conversion set (for the Hobby Boss kit). Because their attachment points were very different from the Matchbox Dauphin rotor’s construction, I had to improvise a little. A rather subtle change, but the result looks very plausible and works well. Other external extras are two inflatable floating devices along the lower fuselage from a Mistercraft ASW AB 212 (UH-1) kit, the winch at port side was scratched with a piece from the aforementioned BK 117 and styrene bits. Some blade antennae were added and a sensor turret was scratched and placed in front of the front wheels. Additional air scoops for the gearbox were added, too. Inside, I added two (Matchbox) pilot figures to the cockpit, plus a third seat for a medic/observer, a storage/equipment box and a stretcher from a Revell BK 117 rescue helicopter kit. This kit also donated some small details like the rear-view mirror for the pilot and the wire-cutters - not a typical detail for a helicopter operating over the open sea, but you never know...

The only other adition is a technical one: I integrated a vertical styrene pipe behind the cabin as a display holder adapter for the traditional hoto shooting's in-flight scenes.

Painting and markings:

It took some time to settle upon a design. I wanted something bright – initially I thought about Scottish colors (white and blue), but that was not garish enough, even with some dayglo additions. The typical all-yellow RAF SAR livery was also ruled out. In the end I decided to apply a more or less uniform livery in a very bright red: Humbrol 238, which is, probably due to trademark issues, marketed as “Arrow Red (= Red Arrows)” and effectively an almost fluorescent pinkish orange-red! Only the black anti-glare panel in front of the windscreen, the radome and the white interior of the fenestron tail rotor were painted, too, the rest was created with white decal stripes and evolved gradually. Things started with a white 2mm cheatline, then came the horizontal stripes on the tail, and taking this "theme" further I added something similar to the flanks as a high contrast base for the national markings. These were improvised, too, with a 6mm blue disc and single 1.5 mm bars to create a Scottish flag. The stancils were taken from the OOB decal sheet. The interior became medium grey, the crew received bright orange jumpsuits and white "bone domes".

No black ink washing or post-panel-shading was done, since the Dauphin has almost no surface details to emphasize, and I wanted a new and clean look. Besides, with wll the white trim, there was already a lot going on on the hull, so that I kept things "as they were". Finally, the model was sealed with a coat of semi-gloss acrylic varnish for a light shine, except for the rotor blades and the anti-glare panel, which became matt.

Quite a tricky project. While the Matchbox Dauphin is not a complex kit you need patience and have to stick to the assembly order to put the hull together. PSR is needed, esp. around the engine section and for the underside. On the other side, despite being a simple model, you get a nice Dauphin from the kit - but NOT a HH-65, sorry. My fictional conversion is certainly not better, but the bright result with its modifications looks good and quite convincing, though.

Test roll picture from Yashica 44 with 35mm film conversion using expired Kodak Gold 200 from 1998.

my neighbour's flat does look like this (more or less)

I completely redid this web image convesion from 2D-3D using SPM and a little help from Photoshop. The anaglyph conversion requires Red/Cyan 3D glasses to view.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The Lavochkin La-11 was an early post-World War II Soviet long-range piston-engine fighter aircraft. One of the recommendations from the government testing of the Lavochkin La-130 (the Lavochkin La-9 prototype) was to further develop the all-metal design into a long-range escort fighter. The resultant La-134 prototype (also sometimes referred to as La-9M) featured increased fuel and oil capacity, and armament was reduced from four to three 23 mm cannons to save weight and improve performance.

The first prototype flew in May 1947, the second prototype, called La-134D, had its fuel capacity increased even further by an additional 275 l (73 US gal) with wing and external fuel tanks. The aircraft was fitted with larger tires to accommodate the increased weight and amenities for long flights such as increased padding in the seat, armrests, and a urinal – missions of seven hours and more were realistic. In addition, a full radio navigation suite was installed.

Not surprisingly, combat performance with a full fuel load suffered. But as the fuel load approached that of the original La-9 during flight, so did the performance. Nevertheless, the aircraft was found to be poorly suited for combat above 7,000 m (23,000 ft). Despite these flaws the new fighter, officially designated La-11 (OKB designation La-140), entered production in 1947, and by the end of production in 1951, a total of 1,182 aircraft were built.

On 7 September, a second unit, the No. 923 fighter regiment, a.k.a. "Yen The Squadron" was formed as a pure jet fighter unit. In May 1965, No. 16 bomber company (Đại đội Không quân Ném bom 16) was formed with Il-28 twin engine bombers. Only one Il-28 sortie was ever flown in 1972 against Royal Laotian forces, which was escorted by La-11s, and this probably marked the end of La-11 operations by the VPAF. The aircraft had reached the end of their service life and had become totally outdated.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 8.62 m (28 ft 3 in)

Wingspan: 9.8 m (32 ft 2 in)

Height: 3.47 m (11 ft 5 in)

Wing area: 17.6 m² (189 sq ft)

Airfoil: TsAGI Laminar Airfoil

Empty weight: 2,770 kg (6,107 lb)

Gross weight: 3,730 kg (8,223 lb)

Max, take-off weight: 3,996 kg (8,810 lb)

Powerplant:

1× Shvetsov ASh-82FN 14-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine

with 2-stage supercharger and fuel injection, 1,380 kW (1,850 hp),

driving a 3-bladed constant-speed propeller

Performance:

Maximum speed: 674 km/h (419 mph, 364 kn) at altitude

Range: 2,235 km (1,389 mi, 1,207 nmi)

Service ceiling: 10,250 m (33,630 ft)

Rate of climb: 12.63 m/s (2,486 ft/min)

Wing loading: 212 kg/m² (43 lb/sq ft)

Power/mass: 0.37 kW/kg (0.23 hp/lb)

Armament:

3× 23 mm Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 cannon with 75 rpg

The kit and its assembly

I have been wanting to build (and whif) a late Lavochkin piston-engine fighter for a while, and a first approach to this subject was a pimped La-7 with new laminar flow wings (from a P-51) in Korean markings a few years ago. The idea did not leave the back of my mind, though, even more so when I found a set of early VPAF markings (the simple yellow stars) on a MiG-17 decal sheet. From this the idea of a VPAF La-11 was born.

The problem: there are not many La-11 IP kits in 1:72 out there. Gran, Siga and Interavia do suitable kits with relatively new molds, but I have never seen any of them in real life or in a review. However, I was lucky to hunt down an affordable MPM La-9/11 model from 1989 (still marked with “Made in Czechoslovakia” and sold in an anonymous white box with just a paper sticker on the lid that identifies the content!) some time ago, a simple but very nice affair. But it took some more years until I got into the right mood to eventually build the model.

The MPM kit was basically built OOB. Even though it looks a bit chunky on its sprue (it’s just a single one, plus two vacu sheets for canopy and landing light), it features very fine recessed panel lines. Surprisingly, the wings, which were designed as two complete halves sitting on each other, have pretty thin trailing edges, and details are good. However, fitting the wings to the fuselage took some tailoring at the wing roots, there are no locator pins, the kit calls for some PSR all around and the chocolate brown styrene was a bit brittle (might be blamed on age, though), so I’d recommend it only for an experienced builder. Despite these challenges, the resulting model looks better than expected, though.

The propeller received a metal axis with a respective adapter behind the cowling, and I replaced the OOB spinner - the only true poor part of the kit - with an alternative leftover from an Italeri He 111, which fits well in size and shape and onto the OOB propeller. I furthermore slightly modified the wheels with extra hub fairings, and because they both broke when I tried to remove them from the massive sprue, the oleo struts had to be replaced with scratched material. Masking tape seatbelts were added to the comfy pilot seat. The vacu canopy was cut into three pieces, so that the cockpit could be displayed open. A HF wave loop antenna was scratched from wire and added behind the pilot seat

Painting and markings:

The paint scheme for the fictional VPAF La-11 was inspired by the North Vietnamese MiG-17 “3020 red”, which carried a rather shaggy two-tone camouflage consisting of a yellowish green base tone with bluish green mottles chaotically applied over it, plus probably NMF underwing surfaces.

I wanted to adapt this livery to an overpainted former grey PLAAF aircraft, so that the model received an initial primer coat of medium grey (Revell 47) and aluminum (Revell 99) on the leading edges and areas like the cowling and the cockpit.

Once dry, a more or less opaque layer with thinned Humbrol 150 (Forest Green) was added, so that some of the grey and the metal would shine through, supported by a hard flat brush drenched with thinner. After another drying period the decals were applied: the pre-1965 VPAF yellow stars came from an Cutting Edge Productions limited edition MiG-15 sheet (CED72019) which primarily focusses on North Korean aircraft, the tactical code was created from single digits from a HAD Models Mi-24 sheet, from a Hungarian Hind.

Then the dark green mottles were added around the markings, with thinned Humbrol 195 (Chromium Oxide Green, RAL 6020). The undersides were painted in blue-grey, and for a good contrast with the yellow stars I used Tamiya XF-23. The kit received a light black ink washing and some post-shading, even though not much on the upper surfaces, due to the disruptive paint scheme.

All interior surfaces were painted in medium grey (again Revell 47), with a dark grey middle section of the dashboard. The louvres in front of the engine became a darker grey (Humbrol 27). As a visual contrast I painted the wheel hubs in bright green (Humbrol 101), and the spinner was painted in red (a mix of Humbrol 19 and 60). After consulting pictures of museum PLAAF La-11s and old pictures in trustworthy literature, the propeller blades became simply painted black with yellow tips.

Finally, the kit was sealed with matt actrylic varnish, and as a final step the position lights were added and he wire antennae were created with heated black sprue material. And instead of the clear vacu bits for the landing light and the star navigation system window beind the cockpit I rather used Clearfix.

Well, a simple build, realized in just two days (plus painting, though) - but not without challenges on the hardware and livery side. However, for a short-run IP kit with almost 35 years on the clock the result looks better than expected, and the exotic pre-1965 VPAF markings add a confusing touch to this what-f model. Together with the bright green jungle camouflage this La-11 even looks quite pretty, despite its worn appearance?

Rogue Disposal got three Bridgeport MSL's two Trinity and one ribbed, probably an old Able Body truck that they sold under Bridgeport. They ran those three trucks for about two years before going automated with the Heil STARR system and used the conversion kits offered by Bridgeport.

How to convert a Polaroid 545 film back for use on a Mamiya Universal and what is need to do so.

Rugby Top 14

Stade Toulousain vs. Clermont (26:20)

Toulouse, France

First try out sports with the Sony RX100 Mk. III