It is a matter of huge pride that the ‪#‎SAD‬ led Government of Punjab has played a pivotal role in setting up of Indian School of Business (ISB) campus in Mohali. With Punjabi youth aiming for the world, we will surely bring more such world-class education institutions in Punjab in times to come.

#ShiromaniAkaliDal #ProudtobeAkali #SADDelivered #SADCommittted #SADforPunjab #SukhbirSinghBadal #ISBMohali

Developed in Ilford lc29 for 6 1/2 min

The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser was a large long-range airliner developed from the C-97 Stratofreighter military transport, itself a derivative of the B-29 Superfortress. The Stratocruiser's first flight was on July 8, 1947. Its design was advanced for its day; its innovative features included two passenger decks and a pressurized cabin. It could carry up to 100 passengers on the main deck plus 14 in the lower deck lounge; typical seating was for 63 or 84 passengers or 28 berthed and five seated passengers.

The Stratocruiser was larger than the Douglas DC-6 and Lockheed Constellation and cost more to buy and operate. Its reliability was poor, chiefly due to problems with the four 28-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major radial engines and structural and control problems with their propellers. Only 55 Model 377s were built for airlines, along with the single prototype. The 377 was also converted into the Aero Spacelines Pregnant Guppy by John M. Conroy for NASA’s Gemini space program.

Design and development-

The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser was a civil derivative of the Boeing Model 367, the Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter, which first flew in late 1944. William Allen, who had become president of the Boeing Company in September 1945, sought to introduce a new civilian aircraft to replace reduced military production after World War II. Boeing saw in their large-bodied, fast, and long-ranged military transport potential for a passenger aircraft suited for premium service on long transoceanic routes, expanding on the precedent set by their Boeing 314 Clipper with Pan American World Airways. Despite a recession in late 1945, Allen ordered 50 Stratocruisers, spending capital on the project without an order from an airline customer. His gamble that customers would be interested in Boeing's unique and expensive new airplane turned out to be correct for a brief period.

On November 29, 1945 Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) became the launch customer with the largest commercial aircraft order in history, a $24,500,000 order for 20 Stratocruisers. Earlier in 1945 a Boeing C-97 had flown from Seattle to Washington, D.C. nonstop in six hours and four minutes; with this knowledge, and with Pan Am President Juan Trippe's high regard for Boeing after their success with the Boeing 314 Clipper, Pan Am was confident in ordering the expensive plane.

The 377 shared the distinctive design of the C-97, with a "double-bubble" fuselage cross-section, resembling an inverted figure-8, with 6,600 ft³ (187 m³) of interior space shared between two passenger decks. Outside diameter of the upper lobe was 132 inches, compared to 125 inches for the DC-6 and other Douglas types (and 148 inches for today's 737). The lower deck served as a lounge, seating 14. The 377 had innovations such as higher cabin pressure and air conditioning; the superchargers on the four Pratt & Whitney R-4360 engines increased power at altitude and allowed constant cabin pressure. The wing was the Boeing 117 airfoil, regarded as the "fastest wing of its time". In all, 4,000,000 man-hours went into the engineering of the 377. It was also one of but a few double deck airliners, another being its French contemporary, the Breguet Deux-Ponts, as well as Boeing's own 747 and the Airbus A380. A total of 56 were built, one prototype (later reconditioned) and 55 production aircraft.

First flight of the 377 was on July 8, 1947, two years after the first commercial order. The flight test fleet of three 377s underwent 250,000 mi (217,000 nmi; 402,000 km) of flying to test its limits before certification.

Adoption of the Stratocruiser got a boost from the US government, with a controversial incentive package offered to Northwest Orient Airlines for its purchase. Its components were unusually generous mail contracts offered to Northwest for opening new routes to Hawaii and points in the western Pacific region that they were invited to apply for, and a Reconstruction Finance Corporation loan earmarked for the purchase of a fleet of Stratocruisers. Pan-Am saw Northwest's mail contract deal and appealed for new terms in their own international mail contracts, which were granted much to the consternation of Trans World Airlines, who were able to provide the same Atlantic mail services as Pan-Am with lower operating costs. The Northwest deal led to allegations of graft and political favoritism towards Boeing. The other carriers who adopted the Stratocruiser were British Overseas Airways Corporation, American Overseas Airlines (merged with Pan Am in 1950) and United Airlines. The last 377 was delivered to BOAC in May 1950. On this delivery flight, Boeing engineer Wellwood Beall accompanied the final 377 to England, and returned with news of the de Havilland Comet, the first jet airliner, and its appeal. The tenure of the Stratocruiser with United ended in 1954, when United had the opportunity to sell them to BOAC after finding them unprofitable without the extra mail subsidies enjoyed by Pan Am and Northwest.

Operational history-

As the launch customer, Pan Am was the first to begin scheduled flights, from San Francisco to Honolulu in April 1949. At the end of 1949 Pan Am, BOAC and American Overseas Airlines (AOA) were flying 377s transatlantic, while Northwest Orient Airlines was flying in the United States; in January 1950 United began flights from San Francisco to Honolulu. Stratocruisers were pressed into emergency military service after the onset of the Korean War. In late 1950 Northwest Stratocruisers were serving New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Milwaukee, Spokane, Seattle, and Honolulu. By late 1952 Northwest Stratocruisers replaced DC-4s to Tokyo via Anchorage, Alaska; Northwest replaced the Stratocruiser on the Honolulu run in 1953 and to Tokyo in 1955. For a short time Pan Am 377s flew to Beirut, Lebanon, but after 1954 no 377 was scheduled east of Europe or west of Singapore. In 1954, United Stratocruisers flew Los Angeles to Honolulu and between Seattle and San Francisco; United's B377 flights to Honolulu were all first class. In 1955 BOAC 377s had 50 First Class seats (fare $400 one way New York to London) or 81 Tourist seats (fare $290). In 1956 Pan Am 377s flew from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Sydney with stops at Honolulu, Canton Island and Suva (via Nadi Airport in Fiji). By 1958 Pan Am was operating the Stratocruiser between Seattle, Washington and Fairbanks, Juneau and Ketchikan, Alaska and between Seattle and Whitehorse, Yukon. Within six years of first delivery, the Stratocruiser had carried 3,199,219 passengers; it had completed 3,597 transcontinental flights, and 27,678 transatlantic crossings, and went between the United States and South America 822 times. In these first six years, the Stratocruiser fleet had flown 169,859,579 miles (273,362,494 km).

The 377 was one of the most advanced and capable of the propeller-driven transports, and among the most luxurious, but it was troubled by reliability issues and maintenance costs. Problems included catastrophic failures of propellers, failures of propeller pitch control leading to overspeed incidents, problems related to the poor thermal design of the engine, and aerodynamic problems arising from design constraints imposed by the engine's thermal problems. Its service record was marred by a high incidence of in-flight emergencies and hull-loss accidents related to those issues. The propellers were the subject of Airworthiness Directives in 1955, 1957, and 1958.

In 1953 "United's Ray Ireland ...described the Stratocruiser as unbeatable in luxury attraction but is uneconomical. Ireland said PAA's Stratocruiser competition to Hawaii induced United to buy the plane originally." In 1950 United's seven 377s averaged $2.46 "direct operating cost" per plane-mile, and "Indirect costs are generally considered to be equal or greater than the direct costs." Most operators were using Stratocruisers on long-range routes where higher prices could be charged, off-setting the higher operating costs. The exception to this was Northwest Airlines, who managed to keep the aircraft competitive on shorter U.S. domestic routes where the aircraft's higher payload capacity benefited from lower fuel weights. United however could not integrate their six-plane fleet of 377s. By 1954 the lack of spares and the inability to cross-train their Douglas crews with the type relegated their Stratocruisers primarily to their Hawaii route, where they faced stiff competition from Pan American and Northwest. By the end of that year the six United 377s were all sold to BOAC in a deal orchestrated by Douglas Aircraft. BOAC, which was short of aircraft after the grounding of the Comet 1, paid between US$895,000 and US$995,000 per unit and spares for what were essentially five-year-old aircraft. An equivalent brand new Douglas DC-7 cost US$775,000 in 1954.

Boeing set never-exceed speed at 351 mph (305 kn; 565 km/h) IAS but in testing, the 377 reached 409 mph (355 kn; 658 km/h) IAS (about 500 mph (430 kn; 800 km/h) TAS) in a 15–20 degree dive at 13,500 ft (4,100 m); another report said it reached 498 mph true air speed while diving from 21000 feet altitude to 12000 feet in 50 seconds using "full rated power". Typical airline cruise was less than 300 mph (260 kn; 480 km/h); in August 1953, Pan Am and United 377s (and United DC-6s) were scheduled between Honolulu and San Francisco (2,398 mi (3,859 km)) in 9 h 45 min each way.

The longest (by distance) 377 nonstop flights were made by Pan Am from Tokyo to Honolulu during four winter seasons beginning in 1952–1953. In January 1953, two nonstops a week were scheduled with a flight time of 11 hr 1 min due to tailwinds; the following August all flights took 19 hours, with a stop at Wake Island Airfield. In winter 1953-54 one Tokyo-Honolulu flight took 9 hr 35 min for 3853 great-circle miles.

By 1960 Stratocruisers were being superseded by jets: the de Havilland Comet, Boeing 707, and Douglas DC-8. The last flight of the 377 with United was in 1954, the last with BOAC was in 1959, and the last with Northwest was in September 1960. In November 1960 only a weekly Pan Am Honolulu to Singapore flight remained, and the 377 was retired by Pan Am in 1961. High operating costs (notably the fuel consumption and maintenance of the Wasp Major engines) led to rapid abandonment of the 377 with the onset of the jet era. Its contemporaries such as the Douglas DC-6 and the Lockheed Constellation continued longer, on secondary routes or rebuilt as freighters. A few 377s were sold to smaller airlines, used as freighters, or converted by Aero Spacelines into heavily modified enlarged freighters called Guppies. During 1959 and 1960, Transocean Airlines assembled a fleet of fourteen at bargain prices. In 1960 TOA went bankrupt and only four were in operable condition. The hulks were stored at Oakland International Airport through the 1960s and cannibalized for parts, contributing some to the Aero Spacelines Guppies. Five remaining 377s were modified by Bedek Aviation to resemble former U.S. Air Force Model 367 Stratofreighters and pressed into service with the Israeli Defense Force. Two were shot down during the course of their service and the three remaining 377Ms were retired in 1978 and later scrapped. None of the 56 377s built were preserved for display; the IAF Museum in Israel has a C-97 (4X-FPM) on display painted to resemble their most famous 377M, 'Masada'.

Accidents and incidents-

This aircraft type suffered 13 hull-loss accidents between 1951 and 1970 with a total of 139 fatalities. The worst single accident occurred on April 29, 1952. The aircraft type also experienced a significantly high rate of in-flight emergencies related to engine and propeller failure, resulting in Airworthiness Directives. Faults included structural failures of neoprene-cored propellers, failures of propeller pitch control resulting in overspeed, and failures related to engine cooling. Six propeller failures between 1950 and 1955 resulted in separation or near-separation of engines from mounts, with two resulting in hull-loss accidents. Directives were issued in 1950, 1955, and 1958 regarding enhanced maintenance and fault detection, in-flight vibration monitoring, and propeller replacement. A Directive concerning the pitch control system was issued after the October 16, 1956 hull-loss accident. A June 1957 overspeed incident occurred on Romance of the Skies, after the compliance date of the Directive and less than six months before its fatal accident of November 8, 1957. No hull-loss accidents after the loss of the Romance have been attributed to an overspeed incident.

developed

Classic cell structure

August 25, 2013.

Shot with Fuji GW690III on Shanghai GP3 100 film, expiry date April, 2013. Developed in Fomadon R09 ("Rodinal" clone), 1+50 solution, for 18 minutes, 20 seconds water rinse and 6 minutes fix. Developing minutiae: 15 seconds every minute for the first 3 minutes, then 15 seconds of inversions every 3 minutes. – View at least large.

Praktica L

Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 50mm f/1.4 + Yellow-Green

Ilford FP4+ ISO125

-------------

Developed with Agfa Rondinax 35U in Agfa Rodinal

1-40 10:15 mins at 22c

developed at home with Tetenal C-41 kit.

You'll see him soon in PRELUDE TO FAME with Guy Rolfe, Kathleen Byron and Kathleen Ryan

Magazine cutting from Picturegoer : The National Film Weekly (Alan Ladd cover), Week ending April 29, 1950. Every Thursday. Threepence.

The photographs were taken by the stills photographer Ian Jeayes.

Bought from an eBay seller in Wardle, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom.

Jeremy Spenser (1937-), British actor, active 1948-1967.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prelude_to_Fame

C. A. Lejeune, The Observer, 7 May 1950:

"The film is based on a story by Aldous Huxley called Young Archimedes. It is about a small boy, an Italian farmer's son, who turns out to be a musical prodigy. But for that light chance that touches off the direction of an artist from his earliest years, he might have been a poet. He is not a creator, but an interpreter. His ear picks out the concert of everyday sounds, and correlates the beat of a passing train with the rhythmic crowing of cocks and the whisper of wind in the grass. There is nothing fancy about this idea. Test it for yourself. Sit quite still for a moment, and listen. You will find the inner ear is filled with layer upon layer of sound. I am writing, for instance, beside a gas stove in a room with a wide open window. I can hear, at one and the same time, the faint hiss of gas, the bark of a dog, the mad song of innumerable birds, the distant drone of an aeroplane, a man crying rag-and-bones, a motor-car changing gear: my subconscious mind is bothered with a half-remembered tune, and my conscious mind is trying to compose words into some sort of dominant theme. By nature, we are all living in the heart of a vast orchestral score. But only a few of us, by special gift or training, can hope to make musical order out of it.

The small hero of Prelude to Fame has this natural gift. Rich patrons give him the training to develop it. He becomes the most celebrated child conductor in the world, but suddenly the strain gets too much for him, and he wants either to kill himself or go home. He goes home, leaving the nastiest of his rich patrons fulminating.

The child and the music are the main things, and in all that concerns them I cannot find a fault. A small boy called Jeremy Spenser plays the musical prodigy and manages to be wholly convincing without being in any way a blot. All children are natural mimics, but it is an unusually talented or receptive child who can simulate an intellectual passion. This child does just that. It is highly improbable that Jeremy Spenser could actually conduct the Royal Philharmonic or the San Carlo Theatre Orchestra with success. The impression of the film is that he could and that is all that matters.

Muir Mathieson, the best man of music that British films have permanently employed, makes sure that the musical basis is sound. It is very clear indeed that the score of Prelude to Fame has been built up, deliberately, by a man who knows what's what. He doesn't believe in the fiction of musical groundings. He doesn't kow-tow to the foibles of musical highbrows. He contrives his film music-plot, from Neapolitan love-songs to Weber to Bach to Beethoven to Borodin, with a truly magnificent sense of drama. His best job, and the picture's is to grant a good orchestra the courtesy of allowing them to play the 'Oberon' overture without interruption. This passage of Prelude to Fame, wonderfully cut, beautifully played, with the child conducting in an apparent glory of possession, is so right that I should like to see it carved out of the heart of an inconspicuous picture and kept for posterity."

- www.powell-pressburger.org/NFT/Prelude.html

Camera: FED 3B with Skink Pinhole Pancake, 24mm, f110. Film: Kodak Ultramax 400, home-developed with the Rollei DIGIBASE C41 Film Kit.

Developed using darktable 3.8.0

The Tracked Raper system started life as a US M548 Tracked Carrier, developed by BAe Systems for Iran, however with the fall of the Shah's government BAe offered the system to the Royal Air Force. The first Tracked Rapier's entered service with the British Army's 11 (Sphinx) Air Defence Battery of 22 Air Defence Regiment , Royal Artillery in 1982-83. The Tracked Rapier was slow, cramped and generally uncomfortable to be in due to the fact the driver, commander and operator lived in the vehicle. To add insult to injury the crew had to deal with the Optical Tracking Unit inside the cab along with personal kit and rations. However deployment time of the Tracked Rapier without Test & Adjustments was just 30 seconds compared to the 30 minutes of the towed Rapier System. The Tracked Rapier was accompanied by a Support Vehicle which carried arms, fuel and water however the support vehicle was much faster over rough terrain and crewed by two rather than three men.

The original Rapier FSA saw use in the Falklands Conflict with less than rosy results. It was deployed against low flying aircraft . In 1982 T Battery joined 3 Commando Brigade as part of the Falklands Task Force, they landed at San Carlos Bay. Early post-war results were favourable indicating 14 kills and 6 probables. Later analysis however showed as few as 3 aircraft were actually downed by the Rapier FSA.

The main problem of the Rapier FSA was range and the lack of of a proximity fuse, a deficiency which required the operator to directly strike the target aircraft. Rapier also suffered problems with Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) although this didn't contribute to the poor performance. However the Batteries in the Falklands were permitted to fire on any target unless specifically instructed otherwise.

The issues of the original Rapier FSA were however dealt with and the Rapier missile remains in service with the British Army as the Rapier FSC ( Field Standard C) which was developed by MDBA, the Rapier FSC is used in a combined system with the Blindfire 2000 Tracking Radar and Dagger Surveillance Radar.

Eight Rapier Missiles can be carried ready to fire, each with a high explosive warhead and missiles (designated MK2B) are fitted with a proximity fuse. Rapier FSC propulsion system is a two-stage enhanced solid-propellant rocket motor capable of Mach 2.5. The guidance is automatic infra-red and radar command to line of sight.

Rockaway Beach, Oregon

Putting some pieces back together, I think this roll was on top when I developed. So it was more suceptible to underdevelopment due to the time required to fill the tank and lower temperature if it was sticking out of the top of the bath. I think that explains why the images are green and "thin". ♪ The more you know ♪

Minolta X-700

Kodak Gold 200

C-41/Blix/Stabilizer/Photoflo, 39°C sink, hand tank

The Golf Club at Wescott Plantation, North Charleston's premier golf facility was developed keeping the richest traditions of Lowcountry golf. The 27-hole course was designed by Dr. Michael Hurdzan with an attempt to capture the old traditional flavor of low flowing earthworks, classic bunkering, and each hole separated and framed by the vegetation.

The routing of the golf course, combined with the abundant trees provides a sense of isolation in that you rarely ever see another golf hole other than the one you are playing. Golfers can choose from at least five tees on each hole, depending on their ability, so that they can truly enjoy their golf at Wescott Plantation.

Photo by Ryan Johnson

Decided the other day to work on other things, but I have this one hanging around....

Crease pattern available.

Amazingly, they cut out a section of the egg wall and replace it seamlessly with a clear window. Visitors can then watch the embryonic sharks developing and moving around inside until they hatch normally.

MADURAI to THENI Vazhi ANDIPATTI Taluk,T.SUBBULAPURAM is our Native Place - We love our Native place and very proud to say about it - My Mother A.ALAGARSAMY Retd PC and My Mother A.ALAMELU AMMAL in my Colour Pencil Art - Artist VASU engira KARTHIKEYAN ( AniKartick,Chennai)Tamil Nadu,India

I studied my school time 7th Std to 10th Std in my Native place govt high school,then I finished my Higher secondary at Aundipatti Govt.Hr.Sec.School and I Finished my school studies I worked in Madurai as a Sign board Artist then I came to Chennai and I joined as a 2d Animation Trainee at Nest Communication,Valluvarkottam through my well wisher Mr.Nangaiappan and Preethi Paul ( Head of Nest Animation Studio ) and I developed my Anatomy Drawing skills through our Animation Head of Nest Animation Studios Mr.Siju Thomas Phoenix and One of my Best Friend MuthuKumarasamy.Later I developed my Animation skill through Millitoon Animations Studio - A Branch of Millimages,France,TIL Animation Studios in Chennai and DataQuest Animation Studio,Gameshastra in Hyderabad,Bluemoon studio,Aura Animation Studio,Shemanoor Animation Studio,I Power Animation Studio,Design works,Minveli Media works and Pyramid Animation Studio in Chennai.

In Animation Field I started my career as a In-between Artist,then Clean-up Artist,Asst.Animator,Animator, Animation Supervisor and Director from step by step.So now I am a Freelancing Animation Artist and Painter,Illustrator,Designer etc,

And Argentina Famous Animation Director and One of the Creator of Nickelodeon Animation Series Director and Supervisor Mr.Jaime Diaz appreciated my art and animation skill and he gave his one greeting card and he wrote on that 'A GREAT TALENT from TIL STUDIOS' and ALL THE BEST to KARTICK to me.And one more memorable is Skaramoose AAnimation Studios Creative People also appreciate my Animation level and Our Millitoon Team and Millimages team got BAFTA AWARDS for TV Serials and also Dataquest Animation Studio in Hyderabad,And our Team got National Award for SFX Visual Effects and Animations for ABHAY (ALAVANDAN Tamil and Hindi Version Movie}

So in my career Many of my friends and my teachers,parents and family members helped and helping till now to achieve my goals...Thanks a lot and I know this is not enough to them.So I dedicate my all works to them and also my Inspiration Artists of Famous Tamil Illustrators and Mr.Maruthi,Mr.Jayaraj,Mr.K.Madhavan,Mr.R.Natarajan,Mr.Gopulu,Mr.Ramu,M r.Maniam and his son Mr.Ma.Se.Mr.Silpi,Mr.Sivakumar (Popular Actor and Artist)Mr.Adhimoolam,Mr.Chandru,Mr.Trotsky Marudu,Mr.Chellam,Mr.Shyam,Mr.Shankar,Mr.Vinu,Mr.Latha,Mr.Umapathy,Mr. Madhan(cartoonist) Mr.Pathy,Mr.Maali,Mr.Karo,Mr.RaviVarma,Mr.Raju,Mr.KondalRaj,Mr.Murugak ani and my School drawing Master P.K.Kamatchi and my Father N.Alagarsamy and my elder Sisters R.Leelavathy,A.Dhanalaxmi,R.Rani,G.Dhavamani and my elder brother A.Jayachandran,A.Soundararajan and my friends Mr.S.Thangavel (T.Subbulapuram),V.Rajasekar and G.Paulpandi (Aundipatti) Mr.N.Tamilselvan,Mr.A.Sachithanandan,Mr.Naveen,Mr.SriKanta,Mr.G.Senthi lkumar,Mr.Suresh,Mr.Jay Kay,Mr.R.Anand,Mr.Saravanan and Mr.Muthu,Mr.Janakiraman,( Villivakkam,Chennai) Mr.Gudu,Mr.Sridhar and Mr.Paramasivam,Mr.Chandru and Mr.Balaji,Mr.Senthil,Mr.Munivel and Mr. Nithyanandan etc....etc and Also Art G of Madurai Mr.Venkatachalam my elder brother and his sons Mr.Ganesh,Mr.Senthil,Mr.Kumar and mr.Mani everyone is there in my way of Art life and I couldn't mention all here at this time and till now I learn a lot from lot of Inspiration Artists and great Artists through internet and books collections of our libraries..,

"Thanks a lot to all....!!!" - Artist Anikartick.BSc.Viscom ( Vasu engira Karthikeyan )

+++ 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 Lockheed F-94 Starfire was a first-generation jet aircraft of the United States Air Force. It was developed from the twin-seat Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star in the late 1940s as an all-weather, day/night interceptor, replacing the propeller-driven North American F-82 Twin Mustang in this role. The system was designed to overtake the F-80 in terms of performance, but more so to intercept the new high-level Soviet bombers capable of nuclear attacks on America and her Allies - in particular, the new Tupelov Tu-4. The F-94 was furthermore the first operational USAF fighter equipped with an afterburner and was the first jet-powered all-weather fighter to enter combat during the Korean War in January 1953.

After their replacement through the F-102 the Hellenic F-94Bs were still used as advanced trainers, primarily for aspiring WSOs but also for weapon training against ground targets. But by the mid Seventies, all Hellenic F-94Bs had been phased out.

General characteristics:

Crew: 2

Length: 40 ft 1 in (12.24 m)

Wingspan: 38 ft 9 in (12.16 m)

Height: 12 ft. 2 (3.73 m)

Wing area: 234' 8" sq ft (29.11 m²)

Empty weight: 10,064 lb (4,570 kg)

Loaded weight: 15,330 lb (6,960 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 24,184 lb (10,970 kg)

Powerplant:

1× Allison J33-A-33 turbojet, rated at 4,600 lbf (20.4 kN) continuous thrust

and 6,000 lbf (26.6 kN) thrust with afterburner

Performance:

Maximum speed: 630 mph (1,014 km/h) at height and in level flight

Range: 930 mi (813 nmi, 1,500 km) in combat configuration with two drop tanks

Ferry range: 1,457 mi (1,275 nmi, 2,345 km)

Service ceiling: 42,750 ft (14,000 m)

Rate of climb: 6,858 ft/min (34.9 m/s)

Wing loading: 57.4 lb/ft² (384 kg/m²)

Thrust/weight: 0.48

Armament:

4x 0.5"0 (12.7 mm) machine guns in the lower nose section

2x 165 US Gallon (1,204 litre) drop tanks on the wing tips

2x underwing hardpoints for

- two pods with a pair of 0.5" (12.7 mm) machine guns each, or

- two pods with a total of 24× 2.75” (70 mm) Mk 4/Mk 40 Folding-Fin Aerial Rockets, or

- two 1.000 lb (454 kg) bombs (instead of the wing tip drop tanks)

The kit and its assembly:

This is a rather simple entry for the 2018 "Cold War" GB at whatifmodelers.com, in the form of a more or less OOB-built Heller F-94B in a fictional guise. The original inspiration was the idea of a camouflaged F-94, since all USAF machines had been left in bare metal finish with more or less colorful additions and markings.

That said, the kit was built almost completely OOB and did – except for some sinkholes and standard PSR work – not pose any problem. In fact, the old Heller Starfire model is IMHO a pretty good representation of the aircraft. O.K., its age might show, but almost anything you could ask for at 1:72 scale is there, including a decent, detailed cockpit. I just added a wire pitot under the nose and opened the gun ports, plus some machine gun barrels inside made from hollow steel needles. The main wheels had to be replaced due to sinkholes, and they appeared to be rather narrow for this massive aircraft, too. I found decent replacements from a Tamiya 1:100 F-105D.

Painting and markings:

Even though the F-94 never wore camouflage in real life, I chose to add some (more) color to this Hellenic Starfire. In fact, the RHAF adopted several schemes for its early jet types, including grey undersides to otherwise NMF machines grey/green NATO colors, all-around ADC Grey, the so-called Aegean Grey or the USAF's South East Asia scheme. I chose the latter, since I expected an unusual look, and the colors would be a good match for the Hellenic landscape, too.

The basic colors (FS 30219, 34227, 34279 and 36622) all come from Humbrol (118, 117, 116 and 28, respectively), and for the pattern I adapted the USAF’s recommendation for the C-123 Provider transport aircraft. Beyond a black ink wash and some post-shading for weathering effects the whole surface of the kit received a wet-sanding treatment for additional wear-and-tear effects, exploiting the fact that the kit is molded in silver plastic which, in the end, shines through here and there. The result is a shaggy look, but it’s not rotten and neglected.

The machine gun pods received black front ends (against glare), which was also added to the tip tanks’ front end inside surfaces. The radome and the fin tip were painted with a mix of Humbrol 168 (RAF Hemp) and 28, and the gun ports as well as the afterburner section were painted with Steel Metallizer.

Using a 340th Mira’s early F-84G for further inspiration, I decided to add some bright squadron markings to the aircraft in the form of yellow-black-checkered tip tanks. These were created with black decal squares (cut from TL Modellbau generic material) over a painted, yellow base (Humbrol 69). I considered even more markings, e.g. a checkered fin rudder or an ornamental decoration, but eventually rejected this idea in favor of the aircraft’s camouflage theme.

Other decals come primarily from a HiScale F-84G sheet. Some elements were taken from the Heller OOB sheet and some additional stencils were gathered from various sources, including an Xtradecal T-33 and a PrintScale F-102 sheet.

After some soot stains around the exhaust were added with graphite, the kit was sealed under a coat of matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).

An interesting result, since a camouflaged F-94 is literally unusual. I am positively surprised how good the aircraft looks in the USAF SEA livery.

Because the box rests on the table with three tips touching, your food stays hot longer.

"The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less." ~ Socrates

chiotsrun.com/2010/03/13/sunny-spring-days/

+++ 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:

Due to increasing tensions in Europe which led to World War 2, AVRO Aircraft started developing combat aircraft, and as a subsidiary of Hawker, they had access to the Hurricane plans. At the time that the Hurricane was developed, RAF Fighter Command consisted of just 13 squadrons, each equipped with either the Hawker Fury, Hawker Demon, or the Bristol Bulldog – all of them biplanes with fixed-pitch wooden propellers and non-retractable undercarriages. After the Hurricane's first flight, Avro started working on a more refined and lighter aircraft, resulting in a similar if not higher top speed and improved maneuverability.

Several machines were retained as trainers, messenger aircraft or instructional airframes. 20 late production Mk. IIs were sold to the Irish Air Corps, and a further 50 aircraft were sent to Canada as advanced fighter trainers, where they served until the end of the hostilities in 1945.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 28 ft 1 in (8.57 m)

Wingspan: 33 ft 7 in (10.25 m)

Height: 8 ft 6 in (2.60 m)

Wing area: 153 ft² (16.40 m²)

Empty weight: 3,722 lb (1,720 kg)

Gross weight: 5,100 lb (2,315 kg)

Powerplant:

1× Rolls-Royce Merlin III liquid-cooled V-12, rated at 1,310 hp (977 kW) at 9,000 ft (2,700 m)

Performance:

Maximum speed: 366 mph (590 km/h) at 20,000 ft (6,096 m)

Range: 320 miles (515 km)

Service ceiling: 36,000 ft (10,970 m)

Rate of climb: 2,780 ft/min (14.1 m/s)

Wing loading: 29.8 lb/ft² (121.9 kg/m²)

Power/mass: 0.15 hp/lb (0.25 kW/kg)

Armament:

2× 0.787” (20mm) Hispano Mk II cannon with 60 RPG

4× 0.303” (7,7mm) Browning Mk. II machine guns with 350 RPG

The kit and its assembly:

This is actually a remake of a whif that I have built some time ago for the Battle of Britain Group Build at whatifmodelers.com. This fictional machine – or better: the model – is based on a profile drawing conceived by fellow forum member nighthunter: an Avia B.135, outfitted with a Merlin engine, a ventral radiator in the style of a Hawker Hurricane, and carrying RAF markings.

I had another B.35 kit at hand, as well as other ingredients, so I decided to re-create the same aircraft, just in a later variant that differs in some minor details from the first one. The basis is, once again, a vintage KP Models kit of the early B.35 fighter with a fixed landing gear. It’s a sleek and pretty aircraft, but the kit’s quality is rather so-so (the molds date back to 1974). Details are quite good, esp. on the exterior. You get a mix of engraved and raised surface details, but fit is mediocre, there is lots of flash and the interior is quite bleak. But, with some effort, things can be mended.

Many donation parts for the Swallow, including the Merlin engine, propeller, landing gear and radiator, were taken from an AZ Models Spitfire Mk. I/II/V, from a Joy Pack, which comes with three of these kits without decals.

New landing gear wells had to be carved out of the massive lower wing halves. Since the original Swallow profile did not indicate the landing gear design, I went for an inward-retracting solution, using parts from an early Spitfire. Due to the oil cooler in one of the wing roots, though, the stance ended up a little wide, but it’s still acceptable and I stuck to the same solution as on my first build of the Swallow. But now I know why the real world B.135 prototype had its landing gear retract outwards – it makes more sense.

The Merlin fitted very well onto the B.35 fuselage, diameter and shape match very well, even though the Spitfire Merlin and its respective fuselage intersection is a little too deep for the B.35. As a consequence, some light sculpting with putty was necessary under the fuselage – nothing dramatic, though.

Inside of the cockpit, this time I used more Spitfire material than during my first Swallow build, namely the floor, seat and rear bulkhead/headrest. Like before, I added a tank behind the seat in order to fill the OOB void there, and used the B.35’s OOB headrest struts, as well as the dashboard.

The blurry, single-piece canopy was cut into three pieces for optional open display on the ground, but this was not a smart move since the material turned out to be very thin and, even worse, brittle – cracks were the unfortunate result. L

Since one of the B.35’s wing tips was missing (there’s a deep edge at the tips, and one tip had been broken off and got lost), I reduced the span of both wings, resulting in a square shape that resembles a narrow Hawker Tempest wing.

Another change concerns the armament: trying to beef it up, I added a pair of Hispano cannon to the wings, with the barrels protruding from the wings’ leading edges, reminiscent of the Spitfire’s “B” wing – even though I kept the outer machine guns at the Swallow’s original position.

Finally, I installed my trademark propeller adapter: a styrene tube inside of the fuselage that holds a long metal axis with the propeller, so that it can spin freely.

Painting and markings:

Once again I went for a conservative route, this time I chose the new standard “Day Fighter” camouflage that the RAF introduced in summer 1941: Dark Green/Ocean Grey (using Humbrol 116 and 106, respectively) with Medium Sea Grey (Humbrol 64) undersides.

The typical fuselage ID band and the spinner became Sky (Revell 59) and yellow ID bands were added to the outer wings’ leading edges, created with yellow decal sheet material.

The roundels were chosen to match the 1941 era, with A.1 roundels on the fuselage, B roundels on top of the wings and Type A underneath, they actually belong to P-40s in RAF service and come, including the fin flash, from a Sky Models sheet. The code letters in Sky come from an Xtradecal sheet, the serial number actually belongs to a contemporary RAF P-40C – I was too lazy to create an individual serial number that actually fills a gap in the RAF’s inventory list.

Some light weathering and panel shading was done, as well as some light soot stains around the exhausts and the gun ports on the wings (grinded graphite). Finally, everything sealed under a coat of matt acrylic varnish (Italeri) and wire antennae (stretched sprue material) added.

A simple project, realized in a couple of days – thanks to the experience gathered during the first build of this fictional aircraft. However, the Avro Swallow looked already promising in nighthunter's original profile, almost like a missing link between the sturdy Hurricane and the more glorious Spitfire. The result looks very convincing, and with the clipped wingtips, born as a makeshift solution, it looks even faster than the original build!

I am amazed how good this thing looks overall, with its elegant, slender wings and the sleek fuselage lines. At first glance, it looks like an early Spitfire, but then you notice the different wings, the low canopy and the shorter but deeper tail. Then you can think it was a travestied Yak-3 or LaGG aircraft, but again the details don’t match. It’s a quite subtle creation. Maybe, someday, a third one will join my RAF Swallow duo, but this time in Irish Air Corps colors.

BSG training for Countries (SG1) for SG Effectiveness. 19-01-2016

©ITU/A.Mhadhbi

Barnard Castle is a well-documented example of a ringwork which developed into a shell keep. It is one of the largest castles in the north of England and its importance lies not only in the good state of preservation of its standing remains but also in the wide range of ancillary features which survive as buried features within its four wards. Equally important are its associations with the Balliols and the Earls of Warwick, the former being one of the most important families in Scottish medieval history and the latter in later medieval English history.

The monument is situated on a cliff above the River Tees and includes an early 12th century ringwork, a 12th to 14th century shell keep castle with four wards or enclosures, a chapel and a dovecote. Formerly, an outer ditch enclosed the east side of the castle between the curtain wall and the Horse Market. Although the remains of this ditch will survive beneath later urban development, it is not included in the scheduling as the extent of the remains is not sufficiently understood. A series of partial excavations carried out within the later castle walls between 1974 and 1982 has shown that the earliest fortification dates to between c.1109 and 1125. It was constructed overlooking the river where the cliff turned eastwards into the mouth of a gully. A ditch was quarried in an arc from the north cliff to the west cliff, enclosing a roughly circular area with a diameter of c.50m. The upcast from the ditch was used to create a rampart along the inside of the ditch and this, together with the cliff edge, was surmounted by a timber palisade. Within this ringwork the remains of wooden outbuildings and a large timber hall have been found beneath the floors of later stone buildings. Access to the interior was via a bridge across the ditch which led through a timber gatehouse located at the junction of the ditch with the west cliff. This gatehouse was soon afterwards rebuilt in stone and was the earliest stone building of the castle. The main period of reconstruction came in two phases between c.1125 and 1170. During the first phase, 1125-1140, the ringwork was strengthened by the excavation of the Great Ditch, a substantial rock-cut feature along the line of the earlier ditch, and the palisade was replaced by a multi-angular curtain wall with a wall walk and an interval tower along the east side. The original entrance was blocked and a new entrance was built alongside it at the head of a wooden bridge across the Great Ditch. The stone gatehouse became incorporated into the larger Headlam Tower and a small rectangular keep was built at the north east angle of the enclosure. In addition, the rampart was widened to create a site for timber buildings along the inside of the east and south curtain. The resultant shell keep, occupying the site of the original ringwork, formed the Inner Ward of the castle. To the south and east were three more wards which originated at the same time as the ringwork though they were not fortified in stone until the second phase of rebuilding between 1140 and 1170. The smallest of these was the Middle Ward, situated south of the Inner Ward with the Great Ditch forming its north side and walls enclosing it on the south, west and east sides. The walls here have been heavily robbed but it is clear that this enclosure acted as a barbican or fortified entry for the Inner Ward. It controlled access to the Inner Ward by means of a gate beneath the Constable Tower, a three storey gate-tower on the south side of the Middle Ward. Little of the Constable Tower remains standing, but its foundations and those of other buildings, located by excavation in the south east corner of the ward, survive as buried remains. The approach to the gate was from the Outer Ward which lay to the south and was the largest of the four wards with an area of c.1.5ha. It was enclosed by a curtain wall on the south, west and east sides, and also by the outer ditch which lay outside the east curtain. On the north side another ditch ran from west to east, below the cross-curtain wall that separated the Outer Ward from the Middle and Town Wards and effectively divided the castle in two. The main route into the castle ran parallel with this ditch before turning north to pass beneath the Constable Tower. The Outer Ward has not been excavated but documentary evidence indicates that a chapel dedicated to St Margaret had been built on the east side by the mid-12th century and bestowed on St Mary's Abbey, York. The remains of this chapel survive incorporated into a later stable. Further remains which survive as buried features beneath the buildings, paddocks, yards and gardens that now occupy the Outer Ward, are the farm buildings belonging to the castle and the gate-tower in the east curtain which controlled the approach from the town. The fourth ward was the Town Ward, located in the north east quarter of the castle and enclosed on the north side by the outer curtain. On the east side it was bounded by the curtain and the outer ditch, on the south side by a cross-curtain wall and, on the west side, by the Great Ditch. Excavations inside the Town Ward have uncovered a number of buildings set against the curtain wall round at least one cobbled courtyard containing a pond and a well. Other buildings and yards occupied the open interior and also the wide bank extending round the inside of the walls. Incorporated into the curtain wall were at least three towers and also a postern or pedestrian gate, located in the east curtain. The east curtain does not survive well round the Town Ward, having in places been replaced by a modern wall. Towards the north angle, however, it survives sufficiently well to illustrate a typical defensive feature of the castle: arrow loops set inside recessed arches. In addition, it includes the remains of Brackenbury Tower, a large rectangular structure of two storeys which projects slightly beyond the wall. The upper storey contained a fireplace, two garderobes or privies, and a window with seats converted from one of three recessed arrow loops. Beneath was a barrel-vaulted basement which also contained a fireplace, a garderobe and cupboards. The arrangements on both floors indicate that the tower had a domestic or administrative function. The curtain wall round the north side of the Town Ward is unusual in that it is too narrow to have carried the usual wall walk. It also contains many nesting boxes for pigeons or doves. Included within it is the north gate, a two storey tower with a chamber above the gate passage and rooms flanking it. Though both ground floor rooms contain fireplaces, that to the right is less elaborate and would have been the guardroom while that to the left opened onto the ward and probably also had an administrative function. The third tower of the Town Ward is a small square structure in the north curtain, adjacent to the Great Ditch. It is known as the Dovecote Tower because the interior, from top to bottom, consists of tiers of nesting boxes. In construction the tower dates, like the rest of the ward, to the later 12th century but, before it was a dovecote, it may have had another function connected with a doorway which now opens into mid-air. The doorway led into another building set against the curtain wall, but nothing of this structure survives above ground. As yet, its buried remains have not been excavated, and so its function and relationship to the Dovecote Tower cannot yet be determined. Between 1170 and 1185, following the second building phase, there was a third period of reconstruction carried out only in the Inner Ward. The timber hall was rebuilt in stone and was connected to the gate-tower by a wall behind which lay kitchens and other ancillary buildings. The keep in the north east angle was replaced by the three-storey Round Tower which had both a military and a domestic function, and, between the tower and the new hall was built the Great Chamber: a three-storey residence for the lords of Barnard Castle. The wall round the Inner Ward was strengthened by the addition of the Postern Tower and the Prison Tower, the latter replacing the earlier projecting tower. A bakehouse was also constructed against the curtain. Following this, there were no further alterations until the 14th century when the hall and service buildings were rebuilt and enlarged by the addition of the Mortham Tower, and the access into the Inner Ward was changed to make it more secure. This was achieved by relocating the bridge over the Great Ditch, so that it now ran alongside the west curtain, and by building a demi-bastion, or semicircular tower, which extended from the original Headlam Tower to the edge of the ditch. The route from the bridge was then walled off so that the way into the Inner Ward was completely covered by the new defences even before it reached the gate under the demi-bastion. Also at this time, a portcullis was inserted into the curtain wall at the bottom of the Great Ditch so that the bridge over the Tees could be protected from the castle. During this period the Outer Ward went out of use and at least one building in the Town Ward was demolished. A wet moat was dug alongside the east wall of the Middle Ward and a tower was built to overlook the moat and protect the drawbridge across it. In this way, the castle was made smaller and more defensible, cheaper to run and also more comfortable for its residents. For the next hundred years no further changes were made, and then modifications were only of a minor and domestic kind, including the insertion of an oriel window into the Great Chamber and the addition of a turret onto the Mortham Tower. The first castle was built by Guy de Balliol to be the caput or chief centre of his estates in the north of England. At that time the site was defended not only by the cliffs alongside the Tees but by a steep gully to the north. This gully has since been infilled but, in the 12th century, it still carried the old Roman road between Bowes and Binchester, and the castle commanded the point where this road forded the river. Guy was succeeded by his nephew Barnard de Balliol who, together with his second son, also called Barnard, was responsible for the reconstruction of the castle and the creation of the borough which bears their name. Throughout the next hundred years, the Balliols grew in power and importance until, in 1290, John Balliol defeated the claim of Robert de Brus and became King of Scotland. In his bid for the Scottish throne, however, he had been dependent on the support of Edward I and, in the war which followed his subsequent refusal to do homage to the English king, he rapidly lost power, was taken prisoner by the English, and lost all his estates save the family lands in Picardy. Meanwhile, Barnard Castle was seized by Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durham, in response to a long-standing claim that the bishops had rights over the estates which included the castle. Edward I tolerated this for a time but, in 1306, confiscated the lordship of Barnard Castle and granted it in 1307 to Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. From being a home and a stronghold, the castle became merely a source of revenue, and, though it was kept on a war-footing due to the ever-present threat from Scotland, the Beauchamps rarely visited it despite the domestic improvement carried out during their period of lordship. In 1445 the Nevilles succeeded to the Earldom of Warwick and, with the death of Richard Neville at the Battle of Barnet in 1471, the castle passed to Richard, Duke of Gloucester who in 1481 became King Richard III. Richard planned to found an ecclesiastical college within the castle, but these plans had not been realised by the time of his death in 1485.

Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries the castle gradually fell into disrepair, as illustrated by surveys done at the time. In 1569 it enjoyed a brief period of importance during the so-called Rising of the North when the Earls of Westmorland and Northumberland, together with the Scropes and Dacres, moved to release Mary, Queen of Scots from Castle Bolton, place her on the throne of England and restore the country to Catholicism. Their rebellion failed, in part due to the time bought by Sir George Bowes, a loyal supporter of Elizabeth I, who moved to Barnard Castle and managed to withstand a ten-day siege before surrendering the castle, thus giving the Earl of Sussex time to muster an army in support of the queen. Following this, the castle and its estate were rented out by the Crown to various tenants, including the Bowes family, until 1603 when James I granted it to Robert Carr, together with the lordship of Raby. By 1630, both Barnard Castle and Raby were in the possession of Sir Henry Vane who proceeded to dismantle the former to provide building material for his improvements to the latter. Since 1952, by a number of Deeds of Gift, the Inner, Middle and Town Wards have been brought into State care. The ruins are also a Grade I Listed Building. (Scheduling Report)

Unusually rapid vertical convection in the lower atmosphere.

Developed & scanned by zone5.

I developed some expired kodak 400tx (2010) in Rodinal 1:50 at 20c. I agitated once 3 mins for the first 20 mins and let it stand for further 30 mins. So 50 mins in total. From the negative I can see the exposure and develop time is about right.

HOWEVER, there's a layer of frost on the emulsion side. The scanned images appear all have such brain like pattern which makes me sick.

Anyway, is there any reason why it happened? is it caused by the film or my developing or both?

Such a shame, I liked a few pictures from this batch.

Developed using darktable 3.8.0

Nikon FG20 & Nikkor 55mm f2.8 Micro AIS

Expired Kodak Portra 160 - shot at ISO100 & Developed as standard.

Shot with a Mamiya C330 in Ilford Delta 100, developed in Kodak XTOL.

Metcheck said 67 % cloud cover for sunrise , it also said rain would stop 30 minutes before sunrise BANG ON ME WEATHER MAN

View On Black

Developed this found film from the 60's a couple of years ago in black and white chems, as the proper process for this old slide film disappeared many years ago. I posted a scan at the time, but I always meant to go back and have another go at pulling out more detail.

On a walk around the city to catch up on what's been happening while I was on Holiday in Australia August 18, 2015 Christchurch New Zealand.

There were lot more buildings going up and seems to be more people about. The day wasn't good weather wise for shots as it was very dull and gloomy.

A developing Supercell across far Northeast Wisconsin on July 1 2017. Only isolated storms were expected, but this beast began to develop along an old outflow boundary from a storm early in the afternoon. Aiding in the development was a lake breeze boundary. The updraft was so explosive.

Home Developed taken with Canon Eos

HP5+ Ilfotech DDX 15 mins at 20 c, Scanned with Pentax DSLR

Bronica ETRSi

Zenzanon 75 mm f 2.8

Kodak Portra ISO 160

Developed at LAB 35, Madrid

EPSON V500

PS CC2015

Developed from the earlier Yakovlev fighters that included the successful Yak-3 and Yak-7, the Yak-9, when it first entered combat in 1942, was simply a lighter version of the former. The Yak-9 eventually was built in many different versions. Most were optimized for ground attack.

The Museum's Yak-9 is a rare, rebuilt original aircraft. Doug Champlin first learned of it during a trip to Russia in 1992. Shortly afterwards, Art Williams was hired to find and acquire it. Williams traveled to Novosibirsk, Siberia, and after consummating the acquisition, arranged for the Yak-9 to be transferred to Moscow via the Siberian railroad. The trip took four days under constant guard.

Once the Yak-9 was safely stored in Moscow, Sergei Kotov arranged for a restoration team to rebuild it. This work took two years to complete. In 1996, the Yak-9 was shipped to The Champlin Museum in Mesa, Arizona.

The Museum's Yak-9 is one of four original aircraft known. It is the only original Yak-9 on display in the West. It is equipped with an original engine and propeller, and all instrumentation and other miscellaneous parts are of original Russian manufacture. The aircraft is painted in the markings of the Russian World War II ace, Gen Maesky.

(C)The Museum of Flight

Some background:

The MBR-04 series were the first combat-ready Destroids and the most successful land-combat weapon Destroids that were built with OverTechnology of Macross. The abbreviation MBR (Main Battle Robot) indicates the model was developed as a walking humanoid weapon emphasizing the heavy armor firepower of an artillery combat vehicle, designed to replace mainline battle tanks. The Type 04 series was developed jointly by Viggers and Chrauler. Unlike the variable fighters, which had to be designed to accommodate transformation mechanisms, the MBR series featured a structure with a large capacity that allowed plenty of room for machinery and armor.

A short-range sub-variant, under the project handle "Cheyenne", was developed in 2010, too, but it was only produced in small number for evaluation purposes. It was based on the Defender's structure, but it carried a different armament, consisting of a pair of 37 mm six-barrel gatling guns plus AMM-1 missiles, and a more clutter-resistant radar system against fast and low-flying targets. The Cheyenne was intended as a complementary aerial defense unit, but the results from field tests were not convincing, so that the project was mothballed. However, in 2012 the concept was developed further into the ADR-04-Mk.XI "Manticore", which was fully tailored to the short-range defense role.

General characteristics:

Equipment Type: aerial defense robot, series 04

Government: U.N. Spacy

Manufacturer: Viggers/Chrauler

Introduction: March 2009

Accommodation: 1 pilot

Dimensions:

Height 11.37 meters (overall)

10.73 meters (w/o surveillance radar antenna)

Length 4.48 meters (hull only)

7.85 meters (guns forward)

Width 8.6 meters

Mass: 27.1 metric tons

Power Plant:

Kranss-Maffai MT828 thermonuclear reactor, output rated at 2800 shp;

plus an auxiliary GE EM10T fuel power generator, output rated at 510 kW

Propulsion:

2x thrust nozzles mounted in the lower back region, allowing the capability to perform jumps,

plus several vernier nozzles around the hull for Zero-G manoeuvers

Performance:

Max. walking speed: 72 kph when fully loaded

Design features:

- Detachable weapons bay (attaches to the main body via two main locks);

- Type 966 PFG Contraves radar and fire control set (a.k.a. Contraves II)

with respective heat exchanger on the upper back

- Rotating surveillance antenna for full 360° air space coverage

- Optical sensor unit equipped with four camera eyes, moving along a vertical slit,

protected by a polarized light shield;

- Capable of performing Zero-G manoeuvers via 16 x thrust nozzles (mounted around the hull);

- Reactor radiator with exhaust ports in the rear;

- Cockpit can be separated from the body in an emergency (only the cockpit block is recovered);

- Option pack featuring missiles or enlarged ammunition bays;

Armament:

2x Erlikon 78mm liquid-cooled high-speed 2-barrel automatic cannon with 200 rounds each,

mounted as arms

The kit and its assembly:

A kind of nostalgia trip, because my first ever mecha kit I bought and built in the Eighties was this 1:100 Destroid Defender! It still exists, even though only as a re-built model, and I thought that it was about time to build another, “better” one, to complete my collection of canonical Macross Destroids.

With this objective, the vintage kit was built basically OOB, just with some detail enhancements. The biggest structural change is a new hip joint arrangement, made from steel wire. It allows a more or less flexible 3D posture of the legs, for a more dynamic “walking” pose, and the resulting gaps were filled with paper tissue drenched in white glue and acrylic paint.

A more cosmetic change concerns the Defender’s optical sensor array on its “head”. OOB it just consists of a wide “slit” with a square window – very basic, but that’s how the defender is depicted in the TV series. However, I have a Macross artbook with original design sketches from Studio Nue, which reveal more details of this arrangement, and these include a kind of louvre that covers the mobile sensor array’s guide rails, and the sensor array itself consists of several smaller optical units – the relatively new 1:72 Defender from WAVE features these details, too, but the old 1:72 Defender from Arii (and later Bandai) also only has a red box, even though under a clear cover, which is IMHO dubious, though. The louvres were created from hemispherical styrene profile bits, the sensor array was scratched with a front wheel from an 1:100 VF-1 and more styrene bits.

The guns/arms were taken OOB, but I reduced the opening at the shoulder (and with it the angle the arms can be swiveled) with styrene profile material, which also hides the foo fit of the shoulder halves that hold the guns and a reinforcement styrene plate inside of them.

While I could have enlarged the ammunition boxes on the Defender’s shoulders (they are extended backwards), I left them in the original and OOB configuration. Another hull mod I eventually did not carry out were clear replacements for the molded searchlights. Having some visible depth and true clear covers would have been nice, but then I doubted the benefits vs. the mess their integration into the body would mean, so that I went for a simple paint solution (see below).

A final cosmetic modification tried to improve the look of the shanks – but it did not help much. On the Defender, there are two continuous ridges that run across the lower legs. This is a molding simplification and wrong because the Defender (and all other 04-Series chassis’) only features the ends of the ridges.

I tried to sand the inner sections away, but upon gluing the parts finally together I realized that the fit of these parts is abysmal, and PSRing on the resulting concave surface between the leftover humps was a nightmare. Did not work well, and it looks poor.

With this in mind, a general word about the Arii 1:100 Destroids with the Series 04 chassis: there are three kits (Defender, Tomahawk and Phalanx), and you’d expect that these used the same lower body just with different torsos. But that’s not the case – they are all different, and the Defender is certainly the worst version, with its odd “toe” construction, the continuous ridges and the horrible fit of the lower leg halves as well as the shoulders that hold the stub arms. The Tomahawk is better, but also challenging, and IMHO, when you are only looking for the lower body section, the Phalanx is the best kit or the trio.

Painting and markings:

This Defender was supposed to remain canonical and close to the OOB finish, so this became a simple affair.

All Macross Destroids tend to carry a uniform livery, and esp. the Tomahawk/Defender/Phalanx family is kept in murky/dull tones of green, brown and ochre: unpretentious "mud movers".

The Defender appears to carry an overall olive drab livery, and I settled on RAL 7008 (Khakigrau), which is - according to the RAL color list - supposed to be a shade of grey, but it comes out as a dull, yellowish green-brown.

This tone was applied overall from a rattle can, and the few contrast sections like the ammunition boxes or the dust guards of the knee joints were painted with NATO olive green (RAL 6014, Gelboliv, Revell 46). The hull was later treated with Modelmaster Olive Drab (FS 34087), which adds a more greenish hue to the basic paint.

The kit received a thorough black ink washing, then some dry-brushing with Humbrol 72 (Khaki Drill) was applied. The decals came next, taken from the OOB sheet, plus four decals for those vernier thrusters that had not been molded into the kit’s surface. The only change is a different piece of “nose art” on the left leg, replacing the original, rather small decal. It actually belongs to a Czech AF MiG-21MF (one of the two famous Fishbeds from Pardubice in 1989, aircraft “1114”) and filled the bumpy area over the lower leg’s seam (see above) well – a kind of visual distraction from the PSR mess underneath...

Finally, the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish, its major sub-assemblies put together. The optical sensors received lenses with clear paint over a silver base. The large searchlights were painted, too, with a silver base plus white and clear blue reflections on top, covered with a generous coat of Humbrol’s Clearfix to mimic a clear, glossy cover.

After final assembly, some mineral pigments were dusted onto the model’s lower areas with a soft, big brush.

I knew that the Defender was trouble, but esp. the legs turned out to be horrible to build. However, the small cosmetic changes really improve the model’s look, and I am quite happy with the result.

Self developed Washi S sound recording film loaded into an Olympus om10.

Part of the less beautiful Stockholm. "Bypass Stockholm" developd. A gigantic show of building and engineering knowledge. A total of 21 km from Kungens Kurva to Häggvik, of which 18 km through tunnel. Expected to be completed in 2026.

En del av det mindre vackra Stockholm. Förbifart Stockholm växer fram. En gigantisk uppvisning av byggnations och ingenjörskonst. Totalt 21 km från Kungens Kurva till Häggvik varav 18 km genom tunnel. Beräknas vara klar år 2026.

Storms developing just west of my location in western Ohio, July 13, 2016.

The logos have been developed by Edinburgh-based digital firm Whitespace, which has been responsible for designs used by Tennent’s Lager, Highland Spring and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The images will appear on the front of each of the 27 trams below the driver’s window and also on the side of several carriages.

Leaflets, timetables and even Ridacards are eventually expected to carry the new designs. The logos will also appear on the new travel shop being opened on Waverley Bridge.

The branding is based on a round circle that contains a simple interconnecting route map.

It has been billed as showcasing the “interchange terminals of passengers and the strategic approach of collaboration between modes of transport within the Transport for Edinburgh family”.

Madder – a deep reddish, purple colour – will feature in all the logos. Transport leaders wanted to retain the distinct colour because of its use historically on Lothian Buses vehicles.

The branding process for the trams has cost about £80,000.

Each 45m-long tram will be “dressed” with the new logos and colour scheme at a cost of £2554 for each vehicle ahead of the line’s operational launch by May next year.

Some new vehicles in the Lothian Buses fleet will display the branding from next month, but logos will only be added to others as they are replaced in efforts to save cash

Developed with RawTherapee