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My first attempt of home-developing E-6 in a 3-bath Tetenal kit using Jobo CPP-2 with FAILED temperature regulation.
Yes, the color balance isn't spot on, partially due to chemical process and temperature but there are some scanner software tweaks to blame as well. From what I saw through the film against the window and on the scanner, it's pretty close. Some ppl scared me not to expect much from a 3-bath kit but I can live with the result.
Processing went like this:
- 1st developer 7'00" at 39C
- aprox 2'30" washing, total of 3 rinses (same temperature)
- 2nd color developer 7'00" at already dropped 38.5C
- aprox same washing procedure as before
- bleach 7'00" at now close to 38C
- aprox 6'00" washing with 4 or 5 rinses of water at the same 38C +/- 1C
- dipped in a tank with stabilizer for a minute, afterwards dipped in a distilled water and hanged to dry
Jobo failed to regulate temperature so I used tapped hot water to reach a bit over 40C then let it naturally cool down. At point when chemicals were at 39C I started with the first bath, following as stated.
[BjD] Belial Japan Develop.
slurl.com/secondlife/Gomorra/150/252/2299
[BjD] Customer's gallery.
www.flickr.com/groups/1332562@N25/
Eros et Thanatos
Belial Japan Develop
The first of June, 2015. Moscow.
Pentax-SV / Super-Takumar 55:1.8 / Native AGFA-Gevaert APX-100 / nothing of any exposure-meter - pretty experience only / Developed by selfmade metol-hydroquinone developer.
Minolta XD7 on Kentmere 400, developed with Adox XT-3, scanned by Minolta Scan Elite II and post-processed via Darktable.
With apologies for my previous post which was not of a Passion Fruit but of a Clematis. Taken at home in Malvern Link on 30-6-22.
Ref: IMG_4262 30-6-22
This 35mm Fomapan 100 Classic film photo was developed at Caffenol Lab, using Cawanol developer.
Cawanol is available online via: www.caffenollab.com for you to develop black and white film at home.
( Photograph made with the Canon AL-1 camera and a Canon FD 50mm F1.8 S.C. lens. Location: The Big Apple )
Developed for use against the Othaen federation, the HCF-180 was used in a primarily close support role with UNE infantry. The walkers provided a much needed morale boost for foot soldiers facing larger, stronger and decidedly alien foes.
Sue me for actually putting an engine compartment on a mech.
With fully developed facilities for picnicking, camping, hiking, swimming, fishing, boating, horseback riding and hunting, the 1,687-acre Moraine View State Recreation Area, with its 158-acre lake, is a beautiful, convenient and accessible locale for relaxation and recreation.
When the glaciers of the last Ice Age moved through central Illinois 15,000 years ago, they pushed massive amounts of rock and earth before them, leaving in their wake long and expansive ridges that ripple across the landscape. These irregular crests are called moraines, and on their gentle swells and their broad valleys are scattered groves of white oak, red oak, black walnut, maple, hickory, ash and elm.
One of the four largest of these moraines in Illinois, the Bloomington Moraine stretches across the state from Elgin to the Illinois River at Peoria east to Saybrook. In the middle of this sprawling feature, Moraine View State Recreation Area just minutes east of Bloomington/Normal off I-74 provides an ideal opportunity to enjoy both the tranquil natural beauty of Midwestern woodland and refreshing outdoor activity.
I always get a corn dog at street fairs. This one was at Norris City Dairy Days, back in September.
Camera: Minolta XD11
Lens: Minolta MD Zoom 28-70mm, f/3.5 @70mm 1:4 macro
Film: Kodak Gold 100 Bright Light (expired 11/2001, shot @25 ISO)
Shooting Program: Manual (Of course! No batteries)
Aperture: f/11
Shutter Speed: “O” (mechanical 1/100th of a sec.)
Date: September 25th, 2021, 2.48 p.m.
Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A.
Developing Chemicals: Unicolor C-41
Water pre-soak: 1 minute at 102 degrees
Developer: 3 ½ minutes at 102 degrees
Water rinse: 2 minutes (to keep chemicals clean)
Blix: 6 ½ minutes at 102 degrees
Water rinse: 2 minutes at approx. 100 degrees
Stabilizer: 1 minute at room temperature
Water rinse: 2 minutes
Kodak Photo-Flo 200: 1 minute
Minolta XD11 Kodak Gold 100 Fall Tree 2021 03gf
Natural arch developed in Jurassic sandstones in Utah, USA.
These are eolian sandstones of the Navajo Sandstone, a thick, Mesozoic-aged unit representing ancient sand dune deposits. The Navajo is a prominent cliff-forming unit in much of western America. The coloration is from hematite (Fe2O3 - iron oxide). Laterally-equivalent units are known by other names, but are all the same deposit: Glen Canyon Sandstone, Nugget Sandstone, and Aztec Sandstone.
Rock arches are rare features - they form by differential weathering and erosion of many different types of rocks, but often sandstone. If a creek or river passes underneath, it is a natural bridge. If no creek or river is present, it is a natural arch. Along lakeshores and ocean coastlines, they are called lake arches and sea arches. Very small erosional openings in rocks are called windows.
This example is Corona Arch, also known as Little Rainbow Bridge. It is not in Arches National Park, which is located northeast of here.
Stratigraphy: Navajo Sandstone, Glen Canyon Group, Lower Jurassic
Locality: Corona Arch, north of Bootlegger Canyon & east of the Colorado River, west of the town of Moab, eastern Utah, USA (38° 34' 47.66" North latitude, 109° 37' 12.35" West longitude)
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a World War II American fighter aircraft built by Lockheed. Developed to a United States Army Air Corps requirement, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms and a single, central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament. Named "fork-tailed devil" (der Gabelschwanz-Teufel) by the Luftwaffe and "two planes, one pilot" (2飛行機、1パイロット Ni hikōki, ippairotto?) by the Japanese, the P-38 was used in a number of roles, including dive bombing, level bombing, ground-attack, night fighting, photoreconnaissance missions, and extensively as a long-range escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks under its wings.
The P-38 was used most successfully in the Pacific Theater of Operations and the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations as the mount of America's top aces, Richard Bong (40 victories) and Thomas McGuire (38 victories). In the South West Pacific theater, the P-38 was the primary long-range fighter of United States Army Air Forces until the appearance of large numbers of P-51D Mustangs toward the end of the war.
The P-38 was unusually quiet for a fighter, the exhaust muffled by the turbo-superchargers. It was extremely forgiving, and could be mishandled in many ways, but the rate of roll in the early versions was too slow for it to excel as a dogfighter. The P-38 was the only American fighter aircraft in production throughout American involvement in the war, from Pearl Harbor to Victory over Japan Day.
Design and development[edit]
Lockheed designed the P-38 in response to a February 1937 specification from the United States Army Air Corps. Circular Proposal X-608 was a set of aircraft performance goals authored by First Lieutenant Benjamin S. Kelsey (later Brigadier General) and First Lieutenant Gordon P. Saville (later General) for a twin-engine, high-altitude "interceptor" having "the tactical mission of interception and attack of hostile aircraft at high altitude." Kelsey recalled in 1977 that he and Saville drew up the specification using the word interceptor as a way to bypass the inflexible Army Air Corps requirement for pursuit aircraft to carry no more than 500 lb (227 kg) of armament including ammunition, as well as the restriction of single-seat aircraft to one engine. Kelsey was looking for a minimum of 1,000 lb (454 kg) of armament. Kelsey and Saville aimed to get a more capable fighter, better at dog-fighting and at high-altitude combat. Specifications called for a maximum airspeed of at least 360 mph (580 km/h) at altitude, and a climb to 20,000 ft (6,100 m) within six minutes, the toughest set of specifications USAAC had ever presented. The unbuilt Vultee XP1015 was designed to the same requirement, but was not advanced enough to merit further investigation. A similar single-engine proposal was issued at the same time, Circular Proposal X-609, in response to which the Bell P-39 Airacobra was designed. Both proposals required liquid-cooled Allison V-1710 engines with turbo-superchargers and gave extra points for tricycle landing gear.
The Lockheed design team, under the direction of Hall Hibbard and Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, considered a range of twin-engine configurations, including both engines in a central fuselage with push-pull propellers.
The eventual configuration was rare in terms of contemporary fighter aircraft design, with only the preceding Fokker G.1, the contemporary Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Luftwaffe reconnaissance aircraft, and the later Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter having a similar planform. The Lockheed team chose twin booms to accommodate the tail assembly, engines, and turbo-superchargers, with a central nacelle for the pilot and armament. The XP-38 gondola mockup was designed to mount two .50-caliber (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns, with 200 rpg, two .30-caliber (7.62 mm) Brownings, with 500 rpg, and a T1 Army Ordnance 23-mm (.90 in) autocannon with a rotary magazine as a substitute for the non-existent 25-mm Hotchkiss aircraft autocannon specified by Kelsey and Saville. In the YP-38s, a larger John Browning-designed, Colt-made M9 37-mm (1.46 in) autocannon with 15 rounds replaced the T1. The 15 rounds were in three 5-round clips, an unsatisfactory arrangement according to Kelsey, and the M9 did not perform reliably in flight. Further armament experiments from March to June 1941 resulted in the P-38E combat configuration of four M2 Browning machine guns, and one Hispano 20-mm (.79 in) autocannon with 150 rounds.
P-38 armament, concentrated in the nose of the aircraft
Clustering all the armament in the nose was unlike most other U.S. aircraft, which used wing-mounted guns with trajectories set up to crisscross at one or more points in a convergence zone. Nose-mounted guns did not suffer from having their useful ranges limited by pattern convergence, meaning that good pilots could shoot much farther. A Lightning could reliably hit targets at any range up to 1,000 yd (910 m), whereas other fighters had to pick a single convergence range between 100 and 250 yd (230 m). The clustered weapons had a "buzz saw" effect on any target at the receiving end, making the aircraft effective for strafing as well. The rate of fire was about 650 rounds per minute for the 20×110-mm cannon round (130-gram shell) at a muzzle velocity of about 2,887 ft/s (880 m/s), and for the .50-caliber machine guns (43–48-gram rounds), about 850 rpm at 2,756 ft/s (840 m/s) velocity. Combined rate of fire was over 4,000 rpm with roughly every sixth projectile a 20-mm shell. The duration of sustained firing for the 20-mm cannon and .50-caliber machine guns was approximately 14 seconds and 35 seconds, respectively.
The Lockheed design incorporated tricycle undercarriage and a bubble canopy, and featured two 1,000-hp (746 kW) turbo-supercharged 12-cylinder Allison V-1710 engines fitted with counter-rotating propellers to eliminate the effect of engine torque, with the superchargers positioned behind the engines, with the exhaust side of the units exposed along the dorsal surfaces of the booms. Counter-rotation was achieved by the use of "handed" engines, which meant that the crankshaft of each engine turned in the opposite direction of its counterpart. The V-12 engines required changing only the spark plug firing order in order for the direction of the crankshaft to be reversed, according to the General Motors Allison V-1710 Service School Handbook.
It was the first American fighter to make extensive use of stainless steel and smooth, flush-riveted butt-jointed aluminum skin panels. It was also the first fighter to fly faster than 400 mph (640 km/h).
Pacific theater
Wartime poster encouraging greater production of P-38s
The P-38 was used most extensively and successfully in the Pacific theater, where it proved ideally suited, combining excellent performance with very long range, and had the added reliability of two engines for long missions over water. The P-38 was used in a variety of roles, especially escorting bombers at altitudes between 18–25,000 ft (5,500-7,600 m). The P-38 was credited with destroying more Japanese aircraft than any other USAAF fighter. Freezing cockpits were not a problem at low altitude in the tropics. In fact, since there was no way to open a window while in flight as it caused buffeting by setting up turbulence through the tailplane, it was often too hot; pilots taking low altitude assignments would often fly stripped down to shorts, tennis shoes, and parachute. While the P-38 could not out-turn the A6M Zero and most other Japanese fighters when flying below 200 mph (320 km/h), its superior speed coupled with a good rate of climb meant that it could utilize energy tactics, making multiple high-speed passes at its target. Also, its focused firepower was even more deadly to lightly armored Japanese warplanes than to the Germans'. The concentrated, parallel stream of bullets allowed aerial victory at much longer distances than fighters carrying wing guns. It is therefore ironic that Dick Bong, the United States' highest-scoring World War II air ace (40 victories solely in P-38s), would fly directly at his targets to make sure he hit them (as he himself acknowledged his poor shooting ability), in some cases flying through the debris of his target (and on one occasion colliding with an enemy aircraft which was claimed as a "probable" victory). The twin Allison engines performed admirably in the Pacific.
Postwar operations[edit]
The end of the war left the USAAF with thousands of P-38s rendered obsolete by the jet age. The last P-38s in service with the United States Air Force were retired in 1949.[82] A total of 100 late-model P-38L and F-5 Lightnings were acquired by Italy through an agreement dated April 1946. Delivered, after refurbishing, at the rate of one per month, they finally were all sent to the AMI by 1952. The Lightnings served in 4 Stormo and other units including 3 Stormo, flying reconnaissance over the Balkans, ground attack, naval cooperation and air superiority missions. Due to unfamiliarity in operating heavy fighters, old engines, and pilot errors, a large number of P-38s were lost in at least 30 accidents, many of them fatal. Despite this, many Italian pilots liked the P-38 because of its excellent visibility on the ground and stability on takeoff. The Italian P-38s were phased out in 1956; none survived the inevitable scrapyard.
Surplus P-38s were also used by other foreign air forces with 12 sold to Honduras and 15 retained by China. Six F-5s and two unarmed black two-seater P-38s were operated by the Dominican Air Force based in San Isidro Airbase, Dominican Republic in 1947. The majority of wartime Lightnings present in the continental U.S. at the end of the war were put up for sale for US$1,200 apiece; the rest were scrapped. P-38s in distant theaters of war were bulldozed into piles and abandoned or scrapped; very few avoided that fate.
Variants:
Over 10,000 Lightnings were manufactured in all, becoming the only U.S. combat aircraft that remained in continuous production throughout the duration of American participation in World War II. The Lightning had a major effect on other aircraft; its wing, in a scaled-up form, was used on the L-049 Constellation.
Popular culture
1950 Studebaker Champion
Harley Earl arranged for several of his designers to view a YP-38 prototype shortly before World War II, and its design directly inspired the tail fins of the 1948–1949 Cadillac
The P-38 was also the inspiration for Raymond Loewy and his design team at Studebaker for the 1950 and 1951 model-year Studebakers.
The whine of the speeder bike engines in Return of the Jedi was partly achieved by recording the engine noise of a P-38, combined with that of a North American P-51 Mustang.
Studebaker Champion Convertible (1950)
Studebaker was proud to be "First by Far With a Postwar Car," but after three years on the market, its vehicles very much needed a distinctive new look for their carried-over bodies. In fact, the 1950-1951 Studebaker origins were as a counterpoint to the post-war car, when celebrated styling consultant Raymond Loewy decided his staff should look to the heavens for inspiration.
Perhaps no automaker is more identified with a single design than Studebaker with its 1950-1951 "bullet-nose" cars. The feisty South Bend independent didn't invent the "spinner" front end -- the 1948 Tucker and 1949-1950 Ford used similar themes, as have several European models. Studebaker's styling differed mainly in degree.
Ads called it "The Next Look," implying it would start a trend. It didn't, but that mattered little to company executives, who were content to chalk up sales unmatched in Studebaker's previous 48 years of auto production and in any of the next 16.
When Studebaker contracted Loewy Associates to design all-new 1947 models, Exner and Cole worked up their own proposal in secret -- with the advantage of engineering parameters not made available to the "official" Loewy team. It was this design that management ultimately chose and introduced in mid 1946. Studebaker was two years ahead of the competition -- "First by Far With a Postwar Car," as ads blared. To Exner's chagrin, advertising credited Loewy with the new styling.
Loewy promptly fired Exner for his treachery and replaced him with Bob Bourke, Exner's subordinate and friend. Bourke, who made significant contributions to the '47 design, would head Loewy's South Bend studio into 1955, after which Studebaker and Loewy parted company.
People loved the 1947 Studebakers, the little-changed '48s, and the modestly updated '49s. Though the fresh styling concealed mostly prewar mechanical concepts, refinements were made to improve longevity and reliability.
For example, the low-price Champion had arrived in spring 1939 with a lightweight L-head six of 164.3 cubic inches. This went to 169.6 cubic inches and 80 horsepower for 1941-49, then added five horsepower. The costlier Commanders used a larger six dating from Studebaker's 1932 Rockne. By 1949, this engine was up to 245.6 cubic inches and 100 horsepower.
The 1947-1949 models were a great sales success, lifting Studebaker to eighth in the U.S. industry with a market share of 4.12 percent. Production was at record levels. So were corporate profits -- $27.56 million in calendar 1949 alone. Things looked great, and were about to get even better.
The bullet-nose idea had been on Bourke's drawing board since 1940-1941, when he first sketched several elements of the eventual 1950 Studebaker. Chief among them was a protruding nose with flanking pontoon fenders suggesting the front of an airplane.
Public reaction is what matters in the auto industry, and "The Next Look" 1950 Studebaker, featuring the company's signature "bullet-nose" look for the first time, was a winner -- more popular than even the 1947. Sales began in August 1949, nearly a month ahead of other 1950 cars.
For all this hoopla, the 1950s were identical to the 1947-49 models except for the bullet nose, minor trim, and vertical instead of horizontal taillights. However, the new front end added an inch to wheelbases, taking Champions to 113, Commanders to 120. Both lines again offered two- and four-door sedans, a convertible, and a five-passenger Starlight coupe with its distinctive panoramic rear window.
Demand for the bullet-nose '50s proved so strong that Studebaker added a third shift at its large South Bend factory and ran its Southern California and Hamilton, Ontario, assembly plants at or near capacity. A 14-month model "year" (July 15, 1949, to September 27, 1950) produced 343,164 cars -- the most for any vehicle in Studebaker's long history. By the end of 1950, company employment was up to 25,000, a peacetime record.
Text for the Lockheed P-38 Lightning has been taken from Wikipedia. Text regarding the 1950 Studebaker Champion Convertible has been reproduced from sections of the website "How Stuff Works".
This Lockheed P-38 Lightning from 1941, and 1950 Studebaker Champion Convertible has been created in Lego miniland-scale for Flickr LUGNuts 79th Build Challenge, - "LUGNuts goes Wingnuts", - featuring automotive vehicles named after, inspired by, or related to aircraft.
Snatched from the streets of San Diego in late March 2016 by a group of masked assailants, Diz has been spending some time (voluntarily) working on a guest post covering motion picture film development at home.
If you've ever thought about shooting and developing your own motion picture stock ...
emulsive.org/articles/developing-motion-picture-film-dark...
Articles, Experiments
#C41, #Darkroom, #Developing, #Diz, #ECN2, #Kodak, #Kodak_250D_5207, #Kodak_500T_5219, #Kodak_50D_5203
Lubitel 166+, fomapan 100, developed standing for 60 minutes, fomadon R09 1:125, fixed for 5 minutes. Scanned on Epson V600.
Some background:
The VF-1 was developed by Stonewell/Bellcom/Shinnakasu for the U.N. Spacy by using alien Overtechnology obtained from the SDF-1 Macross alien spaceship. Its production was preceded by an aerodynamic proving version of its airframe, the VF-X. Unlike all later VF vehicles, the VF-X was strictly a jet aircraft, built to demonstrate that a jet fighter with the features necessary to convert to Battroid mode was aerodynamically feasible. After the VF-X's testing was finished, an advanced concept atmospheric-only prototype, the VF-0 Phoenix, was flight-tested from 2005 to 2007 and briefly served as an active-duty fighter from 2007 to the VF-1's rollout in late 2008, while the bugs were being worked out of the full-up VF-1 prototype (VF-X-1).
The space-capable VF-1's combat debut was on February 7, 2009, during the Battle of South Ataria Island - the first battle of Space War I - and remained the mainstay fighter of the U.N. Spacy for the entire conflict. Introduced in 2008, the VF-1 would be out of frontline service just five years later, though.
The VF-1 proved to be an extremely capable craft, successfully combating a variety of Zentraedi mecha even in most sorties which saw UN Spacy forces significantly outnumbered. The versatility of the Valkyrie design enabled the variable fighter to act as both large-scale infantry and as air/space superiority fighter. The signature skills of U.N. Spacy ace pilot Maximilian Jenius exemplified the effectiveness of the variable systems as he near-constantly transformed the Valkyrie in battle to seize advantages of each mode as combat conditions changed from moment to moment.
The basic VF-1 was built and deployed in four minor variants (designated A, J, and S single-seater and the D two-seater/trainer) and its success was increased by continued development of various enhancements including the GBP-1S "Armored" Valkyrie exoskeleton with enhanced protection and integrated missile launchers, the so-called FAST (“Fuel And Sensor Tray”) packs that created the fully space-capable "Super" Valkyries and the additional RÖ-X2 heavy cannon pack weapon system for the VF-1S “Super Valkyrie”.
After the end of Space War I, the VF-1 continued to be manufactured both in the Sol system and throughout the UNG space colonies. Although the VF-1 would be replaced in 2020 as the primary Variable Fighter of the U.N. Spacy by the more capable, but also much bigger, VF-4 Lightning III, a long service record and continued production after the war proved the lasting worth of the design.
In the course of its career the versatile VF-1 underwent constant upgrade programs. For instance, about a third of all VF-1 Valkyries were upgraded with Infrared Search and Track (IRST) systems from 2016 on, placed in a streamlined fairing in front of the cockpit. This system allowed for long-range search and track modes, freeing the pilot from the need to give away his position with active radar emissions, and it could be used for target illumination and guiding precision weapons. Many Valkyries also received improved radar warning systems, with receivers, depending on the systems, mounted on the wingtips, on the fins and/or on the LERXs. Improved ECR measures were also mounted on some machines, typically in conformal fairings on the flanks of the legs/engine pods. Specialized reconnaissance and ECM sub-versions were developed from existing airframes, too.
The VF-1 was without doubt the most recognizable variable fighter of Space War I and was seen as a vibrant symbol of the U.N. Spacy even into the first year of the New Era 0001 in 2013. At the end of 2015 the final rollout of the VF-1 was celebrated at a special ceremony, commemorating this most famous of variable fighters. The VF-1 Valkryie was built from 2006 to 2013 with a total production of 5,459 VF-1 variable fighters with several variants (VF-1A = 5,093, VF-1D = 85, VF-1J = 49, VF-1S = 30, VF-1G = 12, VE-1 = 122, VT-1 = 68). However, beyond this original production several “re-built” variants existed, too, and remained active in many second line units and continued to show its worthiness years later, e. g. through Milia Jenius who would use her old VF-1 fighter in defense of the colonization fleet, even after 35 years after the type's service introduction!
General characteristics:
All-environment variable fighter and tactical combat Battroid, used by U.N. Spacy, U.N. Navy, U.N. Space Air Force. 3-mode variable transformation; variable geometry wing; vertical take-off and landing; control-configurable vehicle; single-axis thrust vectoring; three "magic hand" manipulators for maintenance use; retractable canopy shield for Battroid mode and atmospheric reentry; option of GBP-1S system, atmospheric-escape booster, or FAST Pack system
Accommodation:
Single pilot in Marty & Beck Mk-7 zero/zero ejection seat
Dimensions:
Battroid Mode:
Height 12.68 meters
Width 7.3 meters
Length 4.0 meters
Fighter Mode:
Length 14.23 meters
Wingspan 14.78 meters (at 20° minimum sweep)
Height 3.84 meters
Empty weight: 13.25 metric tons
Standard take-off mass: 18.5 metric tons
MTOW: 37.0 metric tons
Power Plant:
2x Shinnakasu Heavy Industry/P&W/Roice FF-2001 thermonuclear reaction turbine engines, output 650 MW each, rated at 11,500 kg in standard or in overboost (225.63 kN x 2);
4x Shinnakasu Heavy Industry NBS-1 high-thrust vernier thrusters (1 x counter reverse vernier thruster nozzle mounted on the side of each leg nacelle/air intake, 1 x wing thruster roll control system on each wingtip);
18x P&W LHP04 low-thrust vernier thrusters beneath multipurpose hook/handles
Performance:
Battroid Mode: maximum walking speed 160 km/h
Fighter Mode: at 10,000 m Mach 2.71; at 30,000+ m Mach 3.87
g limit: in space +7
Thrust-to-weight ratio: empty 3.47; standard TOW 2.49; maximum TOW 1.24
Transformation:
Standard time from Fighter to Battroid (automated): under 5 sec.
Min. time from Fighter to Battroid (manual): 0.9 sec.
Armament:
1x Mauler RÖV-20 anti-aircraft laser cannon in the "head" unit, firing 6,000 pulses per minute
1x Howard GU-11 55 mm three-barrel Gatling gun pod with 200 RPG, fired at 1,200 rds/min
4x underwing hard points for a wide variety of ordnance, including
12x AMM-1 hybrid guided multipurpose missiles (3/point), or
12x MK-82 LDGB conventional bombs (3/point), or
6x RMS-1 large anti-spaceship reaction missiles (2/outboard point, 1/inboard point), or
4x UUM-7 micro-missile pods (1/point) each carrying 15 x Bifors HMM-01 micro-missiles,
or a combination of above load-outs and other guided and unguided ordnance
The kit and its assembly:
After a long time, I found enough mojo to tackle another ARII 1:100 VF-1, but this time in Battroid mode. Unlike the simple Fighter mode kits, ARII’s Battroid kit of the iconic Valkyrie is more demanding and calls for some structural modifications to create a decent and presentable “giant robot” model – OOB, the model remains quite two-dimensional and “stiff”. The much newer WAVE kit in 1:100 scale is certainly a better model of the VF-1, but I love the old ARII kits because of their simplicity.
The kit is a “Super Valykrie” model, but it donated its FAST pack extra parts to a space-capable VF-1 Fighter build a long time ago and has been collecting dust in The Stash™ (SF/mecha sub-department at the Western flank) since then. The complete Battroid model was still left, though, even with most of the decals, and when I recently searched for artwork/visual references for another Macross project I came across screenshots from the original TV series of a canonical VF-1 that I had been planning to build for some years, and so I eventually set things in motion.
The kit was basically built OOB, but it received some upgrades. More severe surgery would be necessary to create a “good” Battroid model – e. g. creating vertical recesses around the torso – but this is IMHO not worthwhile. These updates included additional joints in the upper arms and legs, created with styrene tubes, as well as a new hip construction made from coated steel wire and styrene tube material that allows a three-dimensional posture of the legs - for a more vivid appearance and more dynamic poses. Other small mods that enhance the overall impression are “opened” exhausts inside of the feet and a different, open left hand. The GU-11 pod/handgun was taken OOB, it just received a shoulder belt created with painted masking tape. The single laser cannon on the head received a fairing made from paper tissue drenched with white glue.
Even though the model kit itself is not complex, it is a very early mecha kit: the VF-1 Battroids already came with vinyl caps (some of the contemporary ARII Macross models did not feature these useful items yet), but the model was constructed in an “onion layer” fashion that makes building and painting a protracted affair, esp. on arms and legs. You are supposed to finish a certain section, and then you add the next section like a clamp, while areas of the initial section become inaccessible for sanding and painting inside of the new section. You can only finish the single sections up to basic painting, mask them, and then add the next stage. Adding some joints during the construction phase helped but building an ARII VF-1 Battroid simply takes time and patience…
Painting and markings:
As mentioned above, this Valkyrie’s livery is canonical and it depicts a so-called “Alaska Guard” VF-1, based at the U.N. Spacy’s headquarters at Eielson Air Force Base in the far North of the United States around 2008/9. Several Battroid mode VF-1s in this guise appear during episode #15 of the original Macross TV series and offer a good look at their front and back, even though close inspection reveals that the livery was – intentionally or incidentally – not uniform! There are subtle differences between the VF-1s from the same unit, so that there’s apparently some room for artistic freedom.
However, this rather decorative livery IMHO works best on a VF-1 Battroid model, because the green areas, esp. on head and arms, mostly disappears when the Valkyrie transforms into Fighter mode – in the original TV livery the VF-1 is completely white from above, just with green wing tips and rudders on the V-tail.
A full profile of an “Alaska Guard” VF-1 with more details concerning markings and stencils can furthermore be found in Softbank Publishing’s (discontinued) “Variable Fighter Master File VF-1 Valkyrie” source book, even though these drawings show further differences to the original TV appearance. In the book the unit is identified as SVF-15 “Blue Foxes”, evolved from the real USAF’s 18th Aggressor Squadron in 2008. Looking at the VF-1’s colors, this unit name appears a bit odd, because the livery is basically all-white with olive-green trim? This could be a simple translation issue, though, because “blue” and “green” are in written Japanese described with the same kanji (青, “ao”). On the other side, the 18th Aggressor Squadron was/is nicknamed “Blue Foxes”? Strange, strange…
To ease painting, the model was built in sub-assemblies (see comments above) and treated separately. To avoid brush painting mess with the basic white, the sub-sections received a coat of very light grey (RAL 7047 Telegrau) and a pure white tone, both applied from rattle cans with an attempt to create a light shading effect. The green trim and further details were added with brushes. I used Revell 360 (Fern Green, RAL 6025), because it is a strong but still somewhat dull/subdued tone that IMHO matches the look from the TV series well. Some detail areas like the air intake louvres, the hollow of the knees and the handgun were painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140), so that the contrast to the rest was not too strong. The “feet” received an initial coat of Humbrol 53 (Iron) as a dark primer.
In “reality”, parts of the VF-1’s torso in Battroid mode are actually open – the kit is very simplified. To create an optical illusion of this trench and to visually “stretch” the rather massive breast section, the respective areas were painted with dark grey (Humbrol 79). There are also many position lights all around the hull; these were initially laid out with silver, the bigger ones received felt tip pen details, and they were later overlaid with clear acrylic paints.
Once the basic painting had been done, a light black ink washing was applied to the parts to emphasize engraved panel lines and recesses. After that the jet exhaust ‘feet’ were painted with Humbrol’s Steel Metallizer and some post-shading through dry-brushing was done, concentrating on the green areas. This was rather done for visual plasticity than for a worn look: this Valkyrie was supposed to look quite bright and clean, after all it’s from a headquarter unit and not an active frontline vehicle.
The feet received a thorough graphite treatment, so that the Metallizer’s shine was further enhanced. Some surface details that were not molded into the parts (esp. around the shoulders and the covers of the main landing gear) were painted with a thin black felt tip pen.
Stencils and markings were taken from the kit’s OOB decal sheet. The thin bands around the arms and legs were created with generic 1mm decal strips and all the vernier thrusters (sixteen are visible on the Battroid) were created with home-printed decals – most of them are molded into the parts and apparently supposed to be painted, but the decals are a tidier and more uniform solution.
Before the final assembly, the parts received a coat with matt acrylic varnish. As final measures some black panel lines were emphasized with a felt tip pen and color was added to several lamps and small windows with clear paints.
I can hardly remember when I built my last VF-1 Battroid, but tackling this one after a long while was a nice distraction from my usual what-if builds. I am pleased that this model depicts a canonical Valkyrie from the original TV series beyond the well-known “hero” liveries. Furthermore, green is a rare color among VF-1 liveries, so that it is even more “collectible”.
While the vintage ARII kit is a rather limited affair, adding some joints considerably improved the model’s impression, even though there are definitively better kit options available today when you want to build a 1:100 Battroid — but these do certainly not provide this authentic “Eighties feeling”.
Develop your senses- especially learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.
Hunter Valley Gardens is a privately owned gardens in the heart of Hunter Valley wine country, located in Pokolbin, NSW, Australia. It opened in 2003 and is now open every day of the year except Christmas Day. The gardens span across 14 hectares of land, containing 10 differently themed gardens, accommodation, a shopping village, rides/events and dining. The gardens are a popular venue in the Hunter Valley for weddings and events. Hunter Valley Gardens is the largest display garden in the Southern Hemisphere. Hunter valley gardens was developed and created by the Roche Group, when founder Bill Roche retired he decided that he would finally make his lifelong ambition a reality, building a garden that would be enjoyed for generations to come. Starting construction in 1999, the team of 40–50 landscape gardeners, engineers and architects completed the gardens and it was opened in October 2003 by the premier of New South Wales.
The gardens are composed of ten individually themed gardens, influenced by different locations around the world, containing both native and exotic flora . The display gardens are divided by eight kilometres of wheelchair accessible walking paths. There are over six thousand trees, six hundred thousand shrubs and one million ground-covers populating the gardens.
The themed gardens are;-
•Border Garden- The Border Garden is designed to imitate the classic French Parterre style of garden, with surrounding manicured box hedging, intertwined with Hill's Weeping figs and European boxwood to make interesting shapes and designs. Hand-carved Indian Marble water features and statues that represent the four seasons are displayed throughout the Border Garden.
•Chinese Garden- Patrons enter the Chinese Garden by crossing green Chinese slate and walking through a traditional Moon gate which is flanked by two bronze Temple Guardians. Slow growing grass, rugged rocks and raked decorative gravels are some of the traditional elements to the garden. Some of the many featured plants include Azaleas, Camellia sasanqua, Conifer, Bamboo , Cumquats, Persimmons and Mulberries.
•Formal Garden- Influenced by garden designs of France and England, the Formal garden is one of the largest of its type in Australia. Manchurian Pear Trees border the garden with 3000 bushes of Chameleon roses, a variety of topiary and manicured lawns making up the features of the garden. A Wishing Fountain can also be found in the Formal Garden, with all the proceeds donated to charity.
•Indian Garden- The Indian Garden carries aromas of India, having Curry plants filling the garden with their scent when you enter through the 160-year-old antique Indian Gates with two bronze elephants standing guard. Paths accompanied with Lilly pilly hedges lead to a mosaic of pebbles and ground-covering plants and a garden design, containing Purple Ajuga and Variegated Dwarf Agapanthus. An Indian Tea House with traditional Indian embellishments has an area to sit allowing the visitors to view the garden and topiary elephants.
•Italian Grotto- The Italian Grotto features a statue of Saint Francis of Assisi and is lined with pink Wisterias, red Bougainvillea, lemon, orange and olive trees, lavender, and cascading Geraniums and Pelargoniums.
•Lakes Walk- The Lakes Walk is surrounded by one and a half kilometres of pathways with the waterway being lined by perennial borders, and containing the Lakes Rotunda. This garden is a common place for weddings to be held.
•Oriental Garden- Influenced by Japanese and Korean gardens , the Oriental Garden contains a two-story traditional Japanese pagoda that is surrounded by a koi pond. Zoysia Tenuifolia (Korean velvet grass) fills the garden, mounding itself around rocks and pavers.
•Rose Garden- In the shape of a corkscrew to honour the neighbouring Hunter Valley vineyards, the Rose Garden contains over 8000 roses, including: Blue Moon, Bonica, Charles De-Gaulle, Double Delight, Fragrance, Freesia and Marlena. The middle of the garden displays thirteen bronze statues of Imelda Roche and her twelve grandchildren.
•Storybook Garden- The Storybook Garden contains many statues and murals of nursery rhyme characters including Jack and Jill, Humpty Dumpty, Little Bo Peep and Alice in Wonderland.
•Sunken Garden- The Sunken Garden features a 10-meter high waterfall with a pergola on top as well as a display of evergreen and deciduous trees, shrubs, flowers and pathways surrounded with hundreds of roses
I thought that this photo was the little sister in the second photo (www.flickr.com/photos/addie-b/7701320452/in/photostream/) but now that I've viewed it in a larger size, I'm not 100% sure. If it is, she's got short hair and a romper rather than a dress (though it does have a flower print) . But, it could possibly be a little boy. This is one of very few of the pictures that has no developer's mark on the back, so that might signal it as an earlier picture, but the other ones with blank backs are later. I really don't know what to think and the time frame it was taken in really depends on who's in the picture too. Any opinions?
Whoever it is, he or she seems to be well on his/her way to achieving the level of stoicism that the boy from the first few pictures displays.
There is what looks like a name written on the back which might settle the question if anyone can make it out. I'll post a scan of the reverse below.
On another note, I do believe that's the backside of a rocking horse in the bottom left corner. I didn't notice it until last night when I was taking the picture over to the printer to scan it.
*UPDATE*- After taking a closer look at another one of the pictures ( www.flickr.com/photos/addie-b/7733811116/in/photostream/ ) I think this is the same little girl in that picture, but I'm not quite sure who she is. It's possible that she's the sister of the little boy from the first few pictures, but I'm more inclined to think that she's another little girl altogether. Perhaps a cousin or just a neighborhood kid.
The T-160 Thunderbird was an experimental fighter developed by the Palladite Republic. The Palladites, renowned for their inventive but impractical ideas fitted the fighter with twin Arc guns, each one housed in an electrically insulated nacelle at the front of the plane. Each Arc gun was powered by its own generator capable of creating 12,000,000 volts. Although the gun had a range of well over a mile, the weapons were very difficult to aim and pilots eventually resorted to dive-bombing their targets at high speed and firing their weapons when in close proximity to ensure a hit. When they did hit, the Arc guns would cripple their target's electronics, sometimes electrocute the crew, and occasionally ignite the fuel tanks. The guns would often short circuit so eventually a 12mm machine gun was fitted beneath each Arc gun in case the main weapon failed.
Although feared for their unpredictable nature, Thunderbirds did little to effect the outcome of the war and only 152 were ever made.
developed and printed this after months of the roll lying around and was delighted to find snapshots of one of my fave places (brixton in general, not the fishmonger)
I have developed a bit of a fascination for colourful (and busy) restaurant counters and the adjacent work spaces. We had been at local Grimsby, Ontario coffee house (Station One, located in our former downtown fire-hall, hence the name) for a bit of a light supper and I decided to try a hand-held panorama of the main counter. It was a bit of a gamble. Not only was I shooting hand-held in low light, but people had the poor judgement to keep getting into (or leaving) my frames at he most inopportune times. Nothing wrong with photography that getting rid of all the people could not cure! Regardless, I got the three frames I would need, although not without being spotted by one of the staff (see the lady on the left of centre). A bit of computer magic in PP took care of traces of unwanted people in the result (including removal of a second instance of the staff member behind the counter right of centre). A crude but acceptable panorama resulted. In case you are wondering, I did try this with my usual panorama software, free Open Source Hugin) but it kept getting cranky about the fit and that led me to the manual approach. - JW
Date Taken: 2015-06-19
Tech Details:
Three overlapping frames taken using a hand-held Nikon D7100 fitted with a Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX lense, ISO640 (manually set), Auto WB, Aperture priority mode, f/2.2, 1/25 sec. PP of individual frames using free Open Source RAWTherapee from Nikon RAW/NEF source files (all three frames identically processed to optimize matching result): exposure compensation set to 0, contrast set to 60, black level set to 500, vibrance set to 20, saved. PP in free Open Source GIMP: created a new blank canvas large enough to contain the resulting panorama (i.e. 18,000x5000 pixels which was more than enough), all three frames added as layers (left one on top, middle one in middle and right frame on bottom), frames reposition to approximate location in pano and then the middle and right frames were scaled to get matching size at the overlap point, location adjustment fine tuned to optimize fit, large soft-edged eraser tool used to remove right edges of top and middle frames layers to get a smooth overlap, a bit of cloning done to clean up some mall, rough transition areas, new layer created from visible result, image cropped to maximum size that fits inside the full image, sharpened, scaled to 4000 pixels high to obtain the working size I wanted for image prep intended for use online, added fine black and white frame, add bar and text on bottom, scaled to 4000 pixels wide for posting.
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Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
You must give appropriate credit and provide a link to the www.winecountry.com home page.
Develop your senses- especially learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.
Tri-x film developed by Photo Impact in Hollywood. Shot at the Dog House Studio. Hair and makeup by Collier Strong.
Developed frame from my Voigtlander 35mm, taken in Paris in 2017. I used my Canon EOS5d3 with a Tamron 90mm f/2 with the negative on my lightbox.
While browsing through old family photos recently, I came across two old photo-related items that one could find at the Wal-Mart 1-Hour Photo lab in the mid-'90s.
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.
S.S. Badger and S.S. Spartan. Catching up on developing and scanning. Shot a roll of very expired film. This is one of the more interesting images from that roll. Taken with a No. 1A Autographic Kodak Jr camera, manufactured 1914 thru 1925. It takes 116 film, and I came across some very expired Ansco Plenachrome "safety film", expired May 1956. I was not sure if I would get any images at all. Film is definitely very fogged, but I got images! Metered the film at ISO 1. Lens is a Bausch & Lomb Rapid Rectilinear, max aperture f/8. Aperture settings on this lens are very interesting. The aperture numbers go from 4 thru 128. But they are not f-stops, they are relative numbers, so 4 is twice the aperture of 8, 8 is twice the aperture of 16, etc. It works out that number 16 is equal to f/16. So, 4= f/8, 8=f/11, etc. By what I can see, Kodak used to refer to these numbers as the "U.S. system", in contrast to the "normal" aperture settings we are familiar with today, which they called the "F. system". At least, they did back in 1914 :-) Negatives developed in Rodinal 1+100 semi-stand development for 1 hour.
Ichikishiri shrine, Mikasa, Hokkaido.
Owls are symbol of the town.
Fujica AZ-1, Fujinon 55mm F1.8, Kodak Microfilm Imagelink HQ, exposed as ISO 25, developed SPD for 10 minutes with alkaline pushing, scanned with Plustek OpticFilm120 + VueScan, edited with GIMP. Bigger sizes： www.flickr.com/photos/threepinner/50358716801/sizes/ up to 10000 × 6565 pixels compatible. Learn DIY development and upgrade to film !
A combination of straight lines, circle arcs and s-curves on a circle divided in 10.
I know that morning glories are five-sided, but they have a pronounced crease in the middle of each side.