Effective: 60mm @ F/0.88

102 MP

Matt's Fiesta ST in brenizer style

So I watched a YouTube Video called “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Artists”.

If you want to watch and get inspired please click here: youtu.be/vM39qhXle4g . The one habit that really stood out to me was “Daily Creation”. His story goes that he wasn’t very good at 2D drawing and he made a bet with his cousin to get a set amount of likes for his drawings in a set amount of time. To achieve this he started drawing every day for 6 months and by the end of the 6 months his drawings were phenomenal!

Watching this was timed very nicely with purchasing a new camera (Panasonic G7). I bought this for our business (www.SongBuddha.com) because our main form of communication is video and I want the videos to be super high quality. I quickly realised that I wasn’t that great and that there’s a huge amount to learn. How to operate the camera, lighting, aperture, shutter, ISO, lens choice, white balance, time of day, natural vs unnatural light, sound, editing, colour grading…phew such a long list of things to learn! I figured the only way to learn is to do a bit at a time and learn steady but slowly which is why I decided to take one photo and video a day. Also over time I’ll have a library of stills and videos that I can create larger videos with some inspirational quotes…I love to inspire! The videos and photos you see are all part of the learning.

It’s a fascinating journey of discipline and focus and one that I would love to share with you. So if you’re ready to commit to your craft whether it be photo, video, drawing, music, whatever your medium, and create a small piece every day then please join me in the "Arty Life - Daily Creation" Facebook group. I would love to see your progress too! To join in just hop onto the Facebook page and you will see a link to apply to the group pinned to the top of the feed.

www.facebook.com/artylifedailycreation/

Thanks for reading and hope to see you there!

To see the daily photos on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/149604824@N07/

Instagram: www.instagram.com/arty.life.daily.creation/

My Personal Facebook: www.facebook.com/tony.songbuddha

Business (SongBuddha): www.SongBuddha.com

Daily Creation Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/artylifedailycreation/ Me and My Beloveds Art (Sound and Light) www.RhA-ShA.com

via WordPress bit.ly/2MzZ0U4

The issue, Possibility of Perfect Research, brings up some significant issues on a research yield or research process. What is research? What is the total premise of research? Why research is started? How research is directed? How research is assessed? What is flawlessness? Is flawlessness during research process reasonable? What is viable research the executives? What is research paper? We will try to address the previously mentioned inquiries.

Oxford Dictionary characterizes research as, a cautious investigation of a subject, particularly so as to find new actualities or data about it. A research is either synopsis of data or assessment of some effectively found data. Truly, research includes “looking once more” the subject what others have composed on it. A research is mix of data, assessment, and development. Initially, it gives data on a specific subject or matter, also, assesses the previous research or audits significant writing, lastly, the new work includes some creative angles, both pragmatic just as applied.

Man is mix of three essential substances, i.e., body, brain, and soul. Human exercises are molded by physical needs, mental impulses, and soul desires. At physical level, a significant physical need is recreation or unwinding. At mental level, a significant mental impulse is interest. Once more, at otherworldly level, a significant soul desire is flawlessness. The different reasons of research are physical interest for more recreation, scholarly push because of instinctual interest, stickler yearning of soul because of imbued inclination of soul towards flawlessness. The very establishment of human life systems is subsequently extreme premise of research, with the goal that research will proceed until the end of time. There isn’t probability of ideal research in any order.

Life has two levels, individual and group. Aggregate life is authoritative plan of pioneers and devotees. Establishments are inescapable part of aggregate life. A foundation works under the stewardship of pioneers. Pioneers start different projects to keep up their power over adherents or to keep up going great of organizations. A devotee may alter her perspective towards initiative by virtue of static, poor, and degenerate administration. The answer for formal or non-performing institutional arrangement is presentation of developments, both reasonable just as pragmatic. Thus, developments are acquainted from time with time. The very establishment of development is inception of new and new research. So as to keep up the texture of aggregate life, pioneers (social or monetary or political) starts research now and again. At scholarly level, the led research is inclined towards flawlessness however for all intents and purposes it accomplishes just a reasonable yield because of different requirements, monetary and non-money related, forced by pioneers.

A research is led by savvy people. Intelligent people/Scientists are imaginative gathering of a general public. They get thoughts from numerous life occasions, every so often. The gathering of thought is exceptional psycho-social quality of educated people/researchers. A thought resembles a seed of a plant. They think-reevaluate on it and survey the practicality of thought. Finally, they are sure towards profitability of their thought. They independent/mastermind assets for thought acknowledgment. Sharing of thought with business visionary (social or monetary or political) is a significant advance for asset course of action. A thought acknowledgment movement is self-flawlessness of scholarly/researcher. It is significant that proactive methodology of a business person or society towards new thoughts is essential for the emergence of scholarly innovativeness.

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Asclepeions were healing temples located in ancient Greece (and in the wider Hellenistic and Roman world), dedicated to Asclepius, the first doctor-demigod in Greek mythology. Asclepius was said to have been such a skilled doctor that he could even raise people from the dead. So stemming from the myth of his great healing powers, pilgrims would flock to temples built in his honour in order to seek spiritual and physical healing. Asclepeions included carefully controlled spaces conducive to healing and fulfilled several of the requirements of institutions created for healing. Treatment at these temples largely centered around promoting healthy lifestyles, with a particular emphasis on a person's spiritual needs. Characteristic of the Asclepeion was the practice of incubatio, also known as 'temple sleep.' This was a process by which patients would go to sleep in the temple with the expectation that they would be visited by Asclepius himself or one of his healing children in their dream. During this time, they would be told what it is that they needed to do in order to cure their ailment. At the very least, they would wake up having not been directly visited by a deity and instead report their dream to a priest. The priest would then interpret the dream and prescribe a cure, often a visit to the baths or a gymnasium. The preliminary treatment for admission into the Asclepions was Katharsis, or purification. It consisted of a series of cleansing baths and purgations, accompanied by a cleansing diet, which lasted several days. Despite these methods being regarded as ‘faith healing,’ they were highly effective, as is evident by the numerous written accounts by patients attesting to their healing and providing detailed accounts of their cure. In the Asclepeion of Epidaurus, three large marble boards dated to 350 BC preserve the names, case histories, complaints, and cures of about 70 patients who came to the temple with a problem and shed it there. Some of the surgical cures listed, such as the opening of an abdominal abscess or the removal of traumatic foreign material, are realistic enough to have taken place, with the patient in a dream-like state of induced sleep known as "enkoimesis" (Greek: ἐγκοίμησις), not unlike anesthesia, induced with the help of soporific substances such as opium. Asclepeions also became home to future physicians as well. Hippocrates is said to have received his medical training at an asclepeion on the isle of Kos. Prior to becoming the personal physician to the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Galen treated and studied at the famed asclepeion at Pergamon.

Sunrise, Destin, Florida

See this shot, for relative scale.

See my Destin, 8-10-07 set here.

Nikkor 500mm f8 Reflex, with Nikon 2X converter (1,600mm effective).

Tripod, with mirror lock-up and remote release.

The Effective Formostar System at Sunset Tans & Spa.

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Moss growing on a car can get really good spore dispersal. At the left-hand end of this badge, and on top of the O, there's an acrocarp without hairs on the leaf tips. I didn't find any capsules on it.

Installation in the streets of Luxemburg City

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Book covering effective leadership in life and in the workplace on the field or in the home.

Effective Negotiations

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All truth, in the long run, is only common sense clarified ~

-Copyright © 2009 S.Aba-alqloub

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

Some background:

The Panther tank, officially Panzerkampfwagen V Panther (abbreviated PzKpfw V) with ordnance inventory designation Sd.Kfz. 171, was a German medium tank of World War II. It was used on the Eastern and Western Fronts from mid-1943 to the end of the war. The Panther was intended to counter the Soviet T-34 medium tank and to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV. Nevertheless, it served alongside the Panzer IV and the heavier Tiger I until the end of the war. It is considered one of the best tanks of World War II for its excellent firepower, protection, and mobility although its reliability in early times were less impressive.

The Panther was a compromise. While having essentially the same Maybach V12 petrol (700 hp) engine as the Tiger I, it had better gun penetration, was lighter and faster, and could traverse rough terrain better than the Tiger I. The trade-off was weaker side armor, which made it vulnerable to flanking fire. The Panther proved to be effective in open country and long-range engagements.

Between 1964-1973 the USSR rebuilt the entire Syrian military from the ground up, reorganizing it along Warsaw Pact lines and equipping it with gear strictly of Soviet origin. There was no place for ex-Wehrmacht tanks and in any case, Czechoslovakia had ended spares & ammo support for the Panzer IV and the Panthers, so the types had no future. The surviving tanks were scrapped in Syria, except for a single Panzer IV survivor sold to a collector in Jordan.

Specifications:

Crew: Five (commander, gunner, loader, driver, radio operator)

Weight: 50 tonnes (55.1 long tons; 45.5 short tons)

Length: 6.87 m (22 ft 6 in) hull only

7.52 m (24 ft 7¾ in) overall with gun facing forward

Width: 3.42 m (11 ft 3 in) hull only

3,70 m (12 ft 1¾ in) with retrofitted side skirts

Height: 2.99 m (9 ft 10 in)’

Ground clearance: 56 cm (22 in)

Suspension: Double torsion bar, interleaved road wheels

Fuel capacity: 720 liters (160 imp gal; 190 US gal),

some Syrian Panthers carried two additional external 200 l fuel drums

Armor:

15–80 mm (0.6 – 3.93 in)

Performance:

Maximum road speed: 56 km/h (35 mph)

Operational range: 250 km (160 mi) on roads; 450 km (280 mi)with auxiliary fuel tanks

100 km (62 mi) cross-country

Power/weight: 14 PS (10.1 kW)/tonne (12.7 hp/ton)

Engine & transmission:

Maybach HL230 V-12 gasoline engine with 700 PS (690 hp, 515 kW)

ZF AK 7-200 gearbox with 7 forward 1 reverse gear

Armament:

1× 7,5 cm KwK 40 (L/48) with 87 rounds

2× 7.92 mm MG 34 or 42, or similar machine guns;

one co-axial with the main gun, another in the front glacis plate

with a total of 5.100 rounds (not always mounted)

Provision for a 12.7 mm DShK or Breda anti-aircraft machine gun on the commander cupola

The kit and its assembly:

A rather exotic what-if model, even though it’s almost built OOB. Inspiration came when I stumbled upon the weird Syrian Panzer IVs that were operated against Israel during the Six Day War – vehicles you would not expect there, and after more than 20 years after WWII. But when I did some more research, I was surprised about the numbers and the variety of former German tanks that Syria had gathered from various European countries, and it made me wonder if the Panther could not have been among this shaggy fleet, too?

I had a surplus Dragon Panther Spähpanzer in The Stash™, to be correct a “PzBeobWg V Ausf. G”, an observation and artillery fire guidance conversion that actually existed in small numbers, and I decided to use it as basis for this odd project. The Dragon kit has some peculiarities, though: its hull is made from primed white metal and consists of an upper and lower half that are held together by small screws! An ambiguous design, because the parts do not fit as good as IP parts, so that the model has a slightly die-cast-ish aura. PSR is necessary at the seams, but due to the metal it’s not easy to do. Furthermore, you have to use superglue everywhere, just as on a resin kit. On the other side, surface details are finely molded and crisp, even though many bits have to be added manually. However, the molded metal pins that hold the wheels are very robust and relatively thin – a feature I exploited for a modified running gear (see below).

For the modified Panther in my mind I had to retrograde the turret back to a late standard turret with mantlet parts left over from a Hasegawa kit – they fitted perfectly! The PzBeobWg V only comes with a stubby gun barrel dummy. But I changed the armament, anyway, and implanted an aftermarket white metal and brass KwK 40 L48, the weapon carried by all Syrian Panzer IVs, the Jagdpanzer IVs as well as the StuG IIIs. This standardization would IMHO make sense, even if it meant a performance downgrade from the original, longer KwK 42 L70.

For a Syrian touch, inspired by installations on the Panzer IVs, I added a mount for a heavy DShK machine gun on the commander’s cupola, which is a resin aftermarket kit from Armory Models Group (a kit that consists of no less than five fiddly parts for just a tiny machine gun!).

To change and modernize the Panther’s look further, I gave it side skirts, leftover from a ModelCollect T-72 kit, which had to be modified only slightly to fit onto the molded side skirt consoles on the Panther’s metal hull. A further late addition were the fuel barrels from a Trumpeter T-54 kit that I stumbled upon when I looked for the skirts among my pile of tank donor parts. Even though they look like foreign matter on the Panther’s tail, their high position is plausible and similar to the original arrangement on many Soviet post-WWII tanks. The whip antennae on turret and hull were created with heated black sprue material.

As a modern feature and to change the Panther’s overall look even more, I replaced its original solid “dish” road wheels with T-54/55 “starfish” wheels, which were frequently retrofitted to T-34-85s during the Fifties. These very fine aftermarket resin parts (all real-world openings are actually open, and there’s only little flash!) came from OKB Grigorovich from Bulgaria. The selling point behind this idea is/was that the Panther and T-54/55 wheels have almost the same diameter: in real life it’s 860 vs. 830 mm, so that the difference in 1:72 is negligible. Beneficially, the aftermarket wheels came in two halves, and these were thin enough to replace the Panther’s interleaved wheels without major depth problems.

Adapting the parts to the totally different wheel arrangement was tricky, though, especially due to the Dragon kit’s one-piece white metal chassis that makes any mods difficult. My solution: I retained the inner solid wheels from the Panther (since they are hardly visible in the “3rd row”), plus four pairs of T-54/55 wheels for the outer, more rows of interleaved wheels. The “inner” T-54/55 wheel halves were turned around, received holes to fit onto the metal suspension pins and scratched hub covers. The “outside” halves were taken as is but received 2 mm spacer sleeves on their back sides (styrene tube) for proper depth and simply to improve their hold on the small and rounded metal pin tips. This stunt worked better than expected and looks really good, too!

Painting and markings:

Basically very simple, and I used pictures of real Syrian Panzer IVs as benchmark. I settled for the common green livery variant, and though simple and uniform, I tried to add some “excitement” to it and attempted to make old paint shine through. The hull’s lower surface areas were first primed with RAL 7008 (Khakigrau, a rather brownish tone), then the upper surfaces were sprayed with a lighter sand brown tone, both applied from rattle cans.

On top of that, a streaky mix of Revell 45 and 46 – a guesstimate for the typical Syrian greyish, rather pale olive drab tone - was thinly applied with a soft, flat brush, so that the brownish tones underneath would shine through occasionally. Once dry, the layered/weathered effect was further emphasized through careful vertical wet-sanding and rubbing on all surfaces with a soft cotton cloth.

The rubber side skirts were painted with an anthracite base and the dry-brushed with light grey and beige.

The model then received an overall washing with a highly thinned mix of grey and dark brown acrylic artist paint. The vinyl tracks (as well as the IP spare track links on the hull) were painted, too, with a mix of grey, red brown and iron, all acrylic paints, too, that do not interact chemically with the soft vinyl.

The decals/markings are minimal; the Arabian scribble on the turret (must be a name?), using the picture of a Syrian Panzer IV as benchmark, was painted in white by hand, as well as the white circle on the turret roof. The orange ID triangles are a nice contrast, even though I was not able to come up with real-life visual evidence for them. I just found a color picture of a burned T-34-85 wreck with them, suggesting that the color was a dull orange red and not florescent orange, as claimed in some sources. I also found illustrations of the triangles as part of 1:35 decal sets for contemporary Syrian T-34-85s from FC Model Trend and Star Models, where they appear light red. For the model, they were eventually cut out from decal sheet material (TL-Modellbau, in a shade called “Rotorange”, what appears to be a good compromise).

Dry-brushing with light grey and beige to further emphasize edges and details followed. Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic vanish overall, and some additional very light extra dry-brushing with silver was done to simulate flaked paint. Dirt and rust residues were added here and there with watercolors. After final assembly, the lower areas of the model were furthermore powdered with mineral pigments to simulate dust.

The idea of a modernized WWII Panther: a simple idea that turned into a major conversion. With the resin DShK machine gun and T-54/55 wheel set the costs of this project escalated a little, but in hindsight I find that the different look and the mix of vintage German and modern Soviet elements provide this Panther with that odd touch that sets it apart from a simple paint/marking variation? I really like the outcome, and I think that the effort was worthwhile - this fictional Panther shoehorns well into its intended historical framework. :-D

At the back of the complex, southwest of the mosque, stands an L-shaped construction, consisting of Alauddin Khilji's tomb dating ca 1316 AD, and a madrasa, an Islamic seminary built by him. Khilji was the second Sultan of Delhi from Khilji dynasty, who ruled from 1296 to 1316 AD.

The central room of the building, which has his tomb, has now lost its dome, though many rooms of the seminary or college are intact, and since been restored. There were two small chambers connected to the tomb by passages on either side. Fergusson in his book suggested the existence, to the west of the tomb, of seven rooms, two of which had domes and windows. The remains of the tomb building suggest that there was an open courtyard on the south and west sides of the tomb building, and that one room in the north served as an entrance.

It was the first example in India, of a tomb standing alongside a madarsa. Nearby stands the Alai Minar, an ambitious tower, he started constructing to rival the Qutub Minar, though he died when only its first storey was built and its construction abandoned thereafter. It now stands, north of the mosque.

The tomb is in a very dilapidated condition. It is believed that Ala-ud-din's body was brought to the complex from Siri and buried in front of the mosque, which formed part of the madrasa adjoining the tomb. Firoz Shah Tughluq, who undertook repairs of the tomb complex, mentioned a mosque within the madrasa.

________________________________________________

MADRASA

Madrasa (Persian: مدرسة‎‎, madrasah, pl. مدارس, madāris, Turkish: Medrese) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious (of any religion). The word is variously transliterated madrasah, madarasaa, medresa, madrassa, madraza, medrese, etc. In the West, the word usually refers to a specific type of religious school or college for the study of the Islamic religion, though this may not be the only subject studied. Not all students in madrasas are Muslims; there is also a modern curriculum.

DEFINITION

The word madrasah derives from the triconsonantal Semitic root د-ر-س D-R-S 'to learn, study', through the wazn (form/stem) مفعل(ة)‎; mafʻal(ah), meaning "a place where something is done". Therefore, madrasah literally means "a place where learning and studying take place". The word is also present as a loanword with the same innocuous meaning in many Arabic-influenced languages, such as: Urdu, Bengali, Hindi, Persian, Turkish, Azeri, Kurdish, Indonesian, Malay and Bosnian / Croatian. In the Arabic language, the word مدرسة madrasah simply means the same as school does in the English language, whether that is private, public or parochial school, as well as for any primary or secondary school whether Muslim, non-Muslim, or secular. Unlike the use of the word school in British English, the word madrasah more closely resembles the term school in American English, in that it can refer to a university-level or post-graduate school as well as to a primary or secondary school. For example, in the Ottoman Empire during the Early Modern Period, madrasas had lower schools and specialised schools where the students became known as danişmends. The usual Arabic word for a university, however, is جامعة (jāmiʻah). The Hebrew cognate midrasha also connotes the meaning of a place of learning; the related term midrash literally refers to study or learning, but has acquired mystical and religious connotations.

However, in English, the term madrasah usually refers to the specifically Islamic institutions. A typical Islamic school usually offers two courses of study: a ḥifẓ course teaching memorization of the Qur'an (the person who commits the entire Qurʼan to memory is called a ḥāfiẓ); and an ʻālim course leading the candidate to become an accepted scholar in the community. A regular curriculum includes courses in Arabic, tafsir (Qur'anic interpretation), sharīʻah (Islamic law), hadiths (recorded sayings and deeds of Muhammad), mantiq (logic), and Muslim history. In the Ottoman Empire, during the Early Modern Period, the study of hadiths was introduced by Süleyman I. Depending on the educational demands, some madrasas also offer additional advanced courses in Arabic literature, English and other foreign languages, as well as science and world history. Ottoman madrasas along with religious teachings also taught "styles of writing, grammary, syntax, poetry, composition, natural sciences, political sciences, and etiquette."

People of all ages attend, and many often move on to becoming imams. The certificate of an ʻālim, for example, requires approximately twelve years of study. A good number of the ḥuffāẓ (plural of ḥāfiẓ) are the product of the madrasas. The madrasas also resemble colleges, where people take evening classes and reside in dormitories. An important function of the madrasas is to admit orphans and poor children in order to provide them with education and training. Madrasas may enroll female students; however, they study separately from the men.

EARLY HISTORY

The first institute of madrasa education was at the estate of Hazrat Zaid bin Arkam near a hill called Safa, where Hazrat Muhammad was the teacher and the students were some of his followers. After Hijrah (migration) the madrasa of "Suffa" was established in Madina on the east side of the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi mosque. Hazrat 'Ubada bin Samit was appointed there by Hazrat Muhammad as teacher and among the students. In the curriculum of the madrasa, there were teachings of The Qur'an, The Hadith, fara'iz, tajweed, genealogy, treatises of first aid, etc. There were also trainings of horse-riding, art of war, handwriting and calligraphy, athletics and martial arts. The first part of madrasa based education is estimated from the first day of "nabuwwat" to the first portion of the "Umaiya" caliphate.

Established in 859, Jāmiʻat al-Qarawīyīn (located in al-Qarawīyīn Mosque) in the city of Fas, Morocco, is considered the oldest university in the world by some scholars, though the existence of universities in the medieval Muslim world is debated. It was founded by Fāṭimah al-Fihrī, the daughter of a wealthy merchant named Muḥammad al-Fihrī. This was later followed by the establishment of al-Azhar in 959 in Cairo, Egypt.

During the late ʻAbbāsid period, the Seljuk vizier Niẓām al-Mulk created one of the first major official academic institutions known in history as the Madrasah Niẓāmīyah, based on the informal majālis (sessions of the shaykhs). Niẓām al-Mulk, who would later be murdered by the Assassins (Ḥashshāshīn), created a system of state madrasas (in his time they were called the Niẓāmiyyahs, named after him) in various ʻAbbāsid cities at the end of the 11th century.

During the rule of the Fatimid and Mamluk dynasties and their successor states in the medieval Middle East, many of the ruling elite founded madrasas through a religious endowment known as the waqf. Not only was the madrasa a potent symbol of status but it was an effective means of transmitting wealth and status to their descendants. Especially during the Mamlūk period, when only former slaves could assume power, the sons of the ruling Mamlūk elite were unable to inherit. Guaranteed positions within the new madrasas thus allowed them to maintain status. Madrasas built in this period include the Mosque-Madrasah of Sultan Ḥasan in Cairo.

Dimitri Gutas and the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy consider the period between the 11th and 14th centuries to be the "Golden Age" of Arabic and Islamic philosophy, initiated by al-Ghazali's successful integration of logic into the madrasah curriculum and the subsequent rise of Avicennism.

At the beginning of the Caliphate or Islamic Empire, the reliance on courts initially confined sponsorship and scholarly activities to major centres. Within several centuries, the development of Muslim educational institutions such as the madrasah and masjid eventually introduced such activities to provincial towns and dispersed them across the Islamic legal schools and Sufi orders. In addition to religious subjects, they also taught the "rational sciences," as varied as mathematics, astronomy, astrology, geography, alchemy, philosophy, magic, and occultism, depending on the curriculum of the specific institution in question. The madrasas, however, were not centres of advanced scientific study; scientific advances in Islam were usually carried out by scholars working under the patronage of royal courts. During this time,[when?] the Caliphate experienced a growth in literacy, having the highest literacy rate of the Middle Ages, comparable to classical Athens' literacy in antiquity but on a much larger scale. The emergence of the maktab and madrasa institutions played a fundamental role in the relatively high literacy rates of the medieval Islamic world.

The following excerpt provides a brief synopsis of the historical origins and starting points for the teachings that took place in the Ottoman madrasas in the Early Modern Period:

Taşköprülüzâde's concept of knowledge and his division of the sciences provides a starting point for a study of learning and medrese education in the Ottoman Empire. Taşköprülüzâde recognises four stages of knowledge - spiritual, intellectual, oral and written. Thus all the sciences fall into one of these seven categories: calligraphic sciences, oral sciences, intellectual sciences, spiritual sciences, theoretical rational sciences, and practical rational sciences. The first Ottoman medrese was created in İznik in 1331, when a converted Church building was assigned as a medrese to a famous scholar, Dâvûd of Kayseri. Suleyman made an important change in the hierarchy of Ottoman medreses. He established four general medreses and two more for specialised studies, one devoted to the ḥadīth and the other to medicine. He gave the highest ranking to these and thus established the hierarchy of the medreses which was to continue until the end of the empire.

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

In the medieval Islamic world, an elementary school was known as a maktab, which dates back to at least the 10th century. Like madrasas (which referred to higher education), a maktab was often attached to an endowed mosque. In the 11th century, the famous Persian Islamic philosopher and teacher Ibn Sīnā (known as Avicenna in the West), in one of his books, wrote a chapter about the maktab entitled "The Role of the Teacher in the Training and Upbringing of Children," as a guide to teachers working at maktab schools. He wrote that children can learn better if taught in classes instead of individual tuition from private tutors, and he gave a number of reasons for why this is the case, citing the value of competition and emulation among pupils, as well as the usefulness of group discussions and debates. Ibn Sīnā described the curriculum of a maktab school in some detail, describing the curricula for two stages of education in a maktab school.

PRIMARY EDUCATION

Ibn Sīnā wrote that children should be sent to a maktab school from the age of 6 and be taught primary education until they reach the age of 14. During which time, he wrote, they should be taught the Qur'an, Islamic metaphysics, language, literature, Islamic ethics, and manual skills (which could refer to a variety of practical skills).

SECONDARY EDUCATION

Ibn Sīnā refers to the secondary education stage of maktab schooling as a period of specialisation when pupils should begin to acquire manual skills, regardless of their social status. He writes that children after the age of 14 should be allowed to choose and specialise in subjects they have an interest in, whether it was reading, manual skills, literature, preaching, medicine, geometry, trade and commerce, craftsmanship, or any other subject or profession they would be interested in pursuing for a future career. He wrote that this was a transitional stage and that there needs to be flexibility regarding the age in which pupils graduate, as the student's emotional development and chosen subjects need to be taken into account.

HIGHER EDUCATION

During its formative period, the term madrasah referred to a higher education institution, whose curriculum initially included only the "religious sciences", whilst philosophy and the secular sciences were often excluded. The curriculum slowly began to diversify, with many later madrasas teaching both the religious and the "secular sciences", such as logic, mathematics and philosophy. Some madrasas further extended their curriculum to history, politics, ethics, music, metaphysics, medicine, astronomy and chemistry. The curriculum of a madrasah was usually set by its founder, but most generally taught both the religious sciences and the physical sciences. Madrasas were established throughout the Islamic world, examples being the 9th century University of al-Qarawiyyin, the 10th century al-Azhar University (the most famous), the 11th century Niẓāmīyah, as well as 75 madrasas in Cairo, 51 in Damascus and up to 44 in Aleppo between 1155 and 1260. Many more were also established in the Andalusian cities of Córdoba, Seville, Toledo, Granada (Madrasah of Granada), Murcia, Almería, Valencia and Cádiz during the Caliphate of Córdoba.

In the Ottoman Empire during the early modern period, "Madrasas were divided into lower and specialised levels, which reveals that there was a sense of elevation in school. Students who studied in the specialised schools after completing courses in the lower levels became known as danişmends."

While "madrasah" can now refer to any type of school, the term madrasah was originally used to refer more specifically to a medieval Islamic centre of learning, mainly teaching Islamic law and theology, usually affiliated with a mosque, and funded by an early charitable trust known as waqf.

LAW SCHOOL

Madrasas were largely centred on the study of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). The ijāzat al-tadrīs wa-al-iftāʼ ("licence to teach and issue legal opinions") in the medieval Islamic legal education system had its origins in the 9th century after the formation of the madhāhib (schools of jurisprudence). George Makdisi considers the ijāzah to be the origin of the European doctorate. However, in an earlier article, he considered the ijāzah to be of "fundamental difference" to the medieval doctorate, since the former was awarded by an individual teacher-scholar not obliged to follow any formal criteria, whereas the latter was conferred on the student by the collective authority of the faculty. To obtain an ijāzah, a student "had to study in a guild school of law, usually four years for the basic undergraduate course" and ten or more years for a post-graduate course. The "doctorate was obtained after an oral examination to determine the originality of the candidate's theses", and to test the student's "ability to defend them against all objections, in disputations set up for the purpose." These were scholarly exercises practised throughout the student's "career as a graduate student of law." After students completed their post-graduate education, they were awarded ijazas giving them the status of faqīh 'scholar of jurisprudence', muftī 'scholar competent in issuing fatwās', and mudarris 'teacher'.

The Arabic term ijāzat al-tadrīs was awarded to Islamic scholars who were qualified to teach. According to Makdisi, the Latin title licentia docendi 'licence to teach' in the European university may have been a translation of the Arabic, but the underlying concept was very different. A significant difference between the ijāzat al-tadrīs and the licentia docendi was that the former was awarded by the individual scholar-teacher, while the latter was awarded by the chief official of the university, who represented the collective faculty, rather than the individual scholar-teacher.

Much of the study in the madrasah college centred on examining whether certain opinions of law were orthodox. This scholarly process of "determining orthodoxy began with a question which the Muslim layman, called in that capacity mustaftī, presented to a jurisconsult, called mufti, soliciting from him a response, called fatwa, a legal opinion (the religious law of Islam covers civil as well as religious matters). The mufti (professor of legal opinions) took this question, studied it, researched it intensively in the sacred scriptures, in order to find a solution to it. This process of scholarly research was called ijtihād, literally, the exertion of one's efforts to the utmost limit."

MEDICAL SCHOOL

Though Islamic medicine was most often taught at the bimaristan teaching hospitals, there were also several medical madrasas dedicated to the teaching of medicine. For example, of the 155 madrasa colleges in 15th century Damascus, three of them were medical schools. No medical degrees were granted to students, as there was no faculty that could issue them. Therefore, no system of examination and certification ever developed in the Islamic tradition, in contrast with medieval Europe.

In the Early Modern Period in the Ottoman Empire, "Suleyman I added new curriculums ['sic'] to the Ottoman medreses of which one was medicine, which alongside studying of the ḥadīth was given highest rank."

MADRASA AND UNIVERSITY

Note: The word jāmiʻah (Arabic: جامعة‎) simply means 'university'. For more information, see Islamic university (disambiguation).

There is disagreement whether madrasas ever became universities. Scholars like Arnold H. Green and Seyyed Hossein Nasr have argued that starting in the 10th century, some medieval Islamic madrasas indeed became universities. George Makdisi and others, however, argue that the European university has no parallel in the medieval Islamic world. Darleen Pryds questions this view, pointing out that madrasas and European universities in the Mediterranean region shared similar foundations by princely patrons and were intended to provide loyal administrators to further the rulers' agenda. Other scholars regard the university as uniquely European in origin and characteristics.

al-Qarawīyīn University in Fez, Morocco is recognised by many historians as the oldest degree-granting university in the world, having been founded in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri. While the madrasa college could also issue degrees at all levels, the jāmiʻahs (such as al-Qarawīyīn and al-Azhar University) differed in the sense that they were larger institutions, more universal in terms of their complete source of studies, had individual faculties for different subjects, and could house a number of mosques, madrasas, and other institutions within them. Such an institution has thus been described as an "Islamic university".

Al-Azhar University, founded in Cairo, Egypt in 975 by the Ismaʻīlī Shīʻī Fatimid dynasty as a jāmiʻah, had individual faculties for a theological seminary, Islamic law and jurisprudence, Arabic grammar, Islamic astronomy, early Islamic philosophy and logic in Islamic philosophy. The postgraduate doctorate in law was only obtained after "an oral examination to determine the originality of the candidate's theses", and to test the student's "ability to defend them against all objections, in disputations set up for the purpose." ‘Abd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī also delivered lectures on Islamic medicine at al-Azhar, while Maimonides delivered lectures on medicine and astronomy there during the time of Saladin. Another early jāmiʻah was the Niẓāmīyah of Baghdād (founded 1091), which has been called the "largest university of the Medieval world." Mustansiriya University, established by the ʻAbbāsid caliph al-Mustanṣir in 1233, in addition to teaching the religious subjects, offered courses dealing with philosophy, mathematics and the natural sciences.

However, the classification of madrasas as "universities" is disputed on the question of understanding of each institution on its own terms. In madrasas, the ijāzahs were only issued in one field, the Islamic religious law of sharīʻah, and in no other field of learning. Other academic subjects, including the natural sciences, philosophy and literary studies, were only treated "ancillary" to the study of the Sharia. For example, a natural science like astronomy was only studied (if at all) to supply religious needs, like the time for prayer. This is why Ptolemaic astronomy was considered adequate, and is still taught in some modern day madrasas. The Islamic law undergraduate degree from al-Azhar, the most prestigious madrasa, was traditionally granted without final examinations, but on the basis of the students' attentive attendance to courses. In contrast to the medieval doctorate which was granted by the collective authority of the faculty, the Islamic degree was not granted by the teacher to the pupil based on any formal criteria, but remained a "personal matter, the sole prerogative of the person bestowing it; no one could force him to give one".

Medievalist specialists who define the university as a legally autonomous corporation disagree with the term "university" for the Islamic madrasas and jāmi‘ahs because the medieval university (from Latin universitas) was structurally different, being a legally autonomous corporation rather than a waqf institution like the madrasa and jāmiʻah. Despite the many similarities, medieval specialists have coined the term "Islamic college" for madrasa and jāmiʻah to differentiate them from the legally autonomous corporations that the medieval European universities were. In a sense, the madrasa resembles a university college in that it has most of the features of a university, but lacks the corporate element. Toby Huff summarises the difference as follows:

From a structural and legal point of view, the madrasa and the university were contrasting types. Whereas the madrasa was a pious endowment under the law of religious and charitable foundations (waqf), the universities of Europe were legally autonomous corporate entities that had many legal rights and privileges. These included the capacity to make their own internal rules and regulations, the right to buy and sell property, to have legal representation in various forums, to make contracts, to sue and be sued."

As Muslim institutions of higher learning, the madrasa had the legal designation of waqf. In central and eastern Islamic lands, the view that the madrasa, as a charitable endowment, will remain under the control of the donor (and their descendent), resulted in a "spurt" of establishment of madrasas in the 11th and 12th centuries. However, in Western Islamic lands, where the Maliki views prohibited donors from controlling their endowment, madrasas were not as popular. Unlike the corporate designation of Western institutions of higher learning, the waqf designation seemed to have led to the exclusion of non-orthodox religious subjects such a philosophy and natural science from the curricula. The madrasa of al-Qarawīyīn, one of the two surviving madrasas that predate the founding of the earliest medieval universities and are thus claimed to be the "first universities" by some authors, has acquired official university status as late as 1947. The other, al-Azhar, did acquire this status in name and essence only in the course of numerous reforms during the 19th and 20th century, notably the one of 1961 which introduced non-religious subjects to its curriculum, such as economics, engineering, medicine, and agriculture. It should also be noted that many medieval universities were run for centuries as Christian cathedral schools or monastic schools prior to their formal establishment as universitas

scholarium; evidence of these immediate forerunners of the university dates back to the 6th century AD, thus well preceding the earliest madrasas. George Makdisi, who has published most extensively on the topic concludes in his comparison between the two institutions:

Thus the university, as a form of social organization, was peculiar to medieval Europe. Later, it was exported to all parts of the world, including the Muslim East; and it has remained with us down to the present day. But back in the middle ages, outside of Europe, there was nothing anything quite like it anywhere.

Nevertheless, Makdisi has asserted that the European university borrowed many of its features from the Islamic madrasa, including the concepts of a degree and doctorate. Makdisi and Hugh Goddard have also highlighted other terms and concepts now used in modern universities which most likely have Islamic origins, including "the fact that we still talk of professors holding the 'Chair' of their subject" being based on the "traditional Islamic pattern of teaching where the professor sits on a chair and the students sit around him", the term 'academic circles' being derived from the way in which Islamic students "sat in a circle around their professor", and terms such as "having 'fellows', 'reading' a subject, and obtaining 'degrees', can all be traced back" to the Islamic concepts of aṣḥāb ('companions, as of Muhammad'), qirāʼah ('reading aloud the Qur'an') and ijāzah ('licence [to teach]') respectively. Makdisi has listed eighteen such parallels in terminology which can be traced back to their roots in Islamic education. Some of the practices now common in modern universities which Makdisi and Goddard trace back to an Islamic root include "practices such as delivering inaugural lectures, wearing academic robes, obtaining doctorates by defending a thesis, and even the idea of academic freedom are also modelled on Islamic custom." The Islamic scholarly system of fatwá and ijmāʻ, meaning opinion and consensus respectively, formed the basis of the "scholarly system the West has practised in university scholarship from the Middle Ages down to the present day." According to Makdisi and Goddard, "the idea of academic freedom" in universities was also "modelled on Islamic custom" as practised in the medieval Madrasa system from the 9th century. Islamic influence was "certainly discernible in the foundation of the first deliberately planned university" in Europe, the University of Naples Federico II founded by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor in 1224.

However, all of these facets of medieval university life are considered by standard scholarship to be independent medieval European developments with no tracable Islamic influence. Generally, some reviewers have pointed out the strong inclination of Makdisi of overstating his case by simply resting on "the accumulation of close parallels", but all the while failing to point to convincing channels of transmission between the Muslim and Christian world. Norman Daniel points out that the Arab equivalent of the Latin disputation, the taliqa, was reserved for the ruler's court, not the madrasa, and that the actual differences between Islamic fiqh and medieval European civil law were profound. The taliqa only reached Islamic Spain, the only likely point of transmission, after the establishment of the first medieval universities. In fact, there is no Latin translation of the taliqa and, most importantly, no evidence of Latin scholars ever showing awareness of Arab influence on the Latin method of disputation, something they would have certainly found noteworthy. Rather, it was the medieval reception of the Greek Organon which set the scholastic sic et non in motion. Daniel concludes that resemblances in method had more to with the two religions having "common problems: to reconcile the conflicting statements of their own authorities, and to safeguard the data of revelation from the impact of Greek philosophy"; thus Christian scholasticism and similar Arab concepts should be viewed in terms of a parallel occurrence, not of the transmission of ideas from one to the other, a view shared by Hugh Kennedy.

Tony Huff, in a discussion of Makdisi's hypothesis, concludes:

It remains the case that no equivalent of the bachelor's degree, the licentia docendi, or higher degrees ever emerged in the medieval or early modern Islamic madrasas.

FEMALE EDUCATION

Prior to the 12th century, women accounted for less than one percent of the world’s Islamic scholars. However, al-Sakhawi and Mohammad Akram Nadwi have since found evidence of over 8,000 female scholars since the 15th century.[64] al-Sakhawi devotes an entire volume of his 12-volume biographical dictionary al-Ḍawʾ al-lāmiʻ to female scholars, giving information on 1,075 of them. More recently, the scholar Mohammad Akram Nadwi, currently a researcher from the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, has written 40 volumes on the muḥaddithāt (the women scholars of ḥadīth), and found at least 8,000 of them.

From around 750, during the Abbasid Caliphate, women “became renowned for their brains as well as their beauty”. In particular, many well known women of the time were trained from childhood in music, dancing and poetry. Mahbuba was one of these. Another feminine figure to be remembered for her achievements was Tawaddud, "a slave girl who was said to have been bought at great cost by Hārūn al-Rashīd because she had passed her examinations by the most eminent scholars in astronomy, medicine, law, philosophy, music, history, Arabic grammar, literature, theology and chess".[68] Moreover, among the most prominent feminine figures was Shuhda who was known as "the Scholar" or "the Pride of Women" during the 12th century in Baghdad. Despite the recognition of women's aptitudes during the Abbasid dynasty, all these came to an end in Iraq with the sack of Baghdad in 1258.

Women played an important role in the foundations of many Islamic educational institutions, such as Fatima al-Fihri's founding of the University of Al Karaouine in 859. This continued through to the Ayyubid dynasty in the 12th and 13th centuries, when 160 mosques and madrasas were established in Damascus, 26 of which were funded by women through the Waqf (charitable trust) system. Half of all the royal patrons for these institutions were also women.

According to the Sunni scholar Ibn ʻAsākir in the 12th century, there were opportunities for female education in the medieval Islamic world, writing that women could study, earn ijazahs (academic degrees), and qualify as scholars and teachers. This was especially the case for learned and scholarly families, who wanted to ensure the highest possible education for both their sons and daughters. Ibn ʻAsakir had himself studied under 80 different female teachers in his time. Female education in the Islamic world was inspired by Muhammad's wives, such as Khadijah, a successful businesswoman. According to a hadith attributed to Muhammad, he praised the women of Medina because of their desire for religious knowledge:

How splendid were the women of the ansar; shame did not prevent them from becoming learned in the faith.

While it was not common for women to enroll as students in formal classes, it was common for women to attend informal lectures and study sessions at mosques, madrasas and other public places. While there were no legal restrictions on female education, some men did not approve of this practice, such as Muhammad ibn al-Hajj (d. 1336) who was appalled at the behaviour of some women who informally audited lectures in his time:

[Consider] what some women do when people gather with a shaykh to hear [the recitation of] books. At that point women come, too, to hear the readings; the men sit in one place, the women facing them. It even happens at such times that some of the women are carried away by the situation; one will stand up, and sit down, and shout in a loud voice. [Moreover,] her 'awra will appear; in her house, their exposure would be forbidden — how can it be allowed in a mosque, in the presence of men?

The term ʻawrah is often translated as 'that which is indecent', which usually meant the exposure of anything other than a woman's face and hands, although scholarly interpretations of the ʻawrah and ḥijāb have always tended to vary, with some more or less strict than others.

WIKIPEDIA

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One of the most effective tools for a prolonged spanking ... this 2.5" wide belt provides good coverage of a lad's arse ... because of the width, doubled over it reddens the arse, rather than leaving any welts. It is most effectively administered when the lad is bent over a sawhorse with his arse in the air, firstly on briefs and then bare bottom. When I am satisfied that his arse is sufficiently 'warmed' I will thread this big belt (known to my lads as 'the scorcher') back through the belt loops of my jeans and buckle it, as the lad watches on. This gives him time to prepare for the second course - a dose of one of my 2" wide bridle leather belts or leather tawses. At least ten strokes will be administered. Depending on the misdemeanors, it could be a lot more. I always apply the belt singly, with the buckle end in my hand as it leaves more effective welts than when doubled over. I love seeing the imprint of my belt on my lad's arses as I know they'll be feeling the sting for days to come. For the third course, the lad will bend over my knee - he'll feel the leather and buckle of my belt next to his bare skin. I proceed with a firm hand spanking, making sure his hind is blazing before I allow him to stand up and apologise for his misdemeanors. He then has the task of putting his briefs and jeans on whilst his arse is sizzling.

I'm always interested to hear how fellow disciplinarians go about correcting errant lads.

www.bareoaks.ca/glen-echo/

Glen Echo Family Nudist Park was the home of the Toronto Gymnosophical Society (TGS)

1955 – 2009

Glen Echo Park was the name of the property north of Toronto that hosted the Toronto Gymnosophical Society (TGS). The group had been without a permanent location until Eddy and Mary Todorowsky purchased the 100 acre property on their behalf in 1955. Initially, the Todorowskys developed and managed the land and facilities while TGS collected fees, paid Glen Echo Park for use, organized events and promoted the club. In 1967, the Todorowskys took over TGS and assumed control of all facets of the club. When it closed, Glen Echo featured a 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) clubhouse with indoor pool, sauna, whirlpool, snack bar and recreation space. The park also had a swimming pond, an outdoor children’s swimming pool, a playground, two tennis courts, two beach volleyball courts, a pétanque court, a five-unit motel, a washroom/shower area and a number of unserviced campsites.

See pictures of Glen Echo from September 2009; just a few weeks prior to its close. www.flickr.com/GlenEcho

In a letter dated August 21st, Mary and Edward Todorowsky announced that the park would be closed effective October 1st, 2009. This came as quite a shock to the membership since it was always understood that the park would be sold to someone who would maintain the land as a nudist club. A 1962 agreement to that effect was signed between the members and the Todorowskys. Further commitments to that effect were repeated in both verbal and written communications over the years. After the Todorowskys formally indicated that they were looking to sell in their 2005 newsletter, several offers were made by various parties in the community. A few were even accepted but for reasons that were never clear, the Todorowskys never concluded any of them. Consequently, the August 2009 announcement of the sale and closure came as quite a surprise. Given only a month’s notice, many members felt betrayed. Some had significant investments in elaborate cabins that could not easily be moved. As a result, some of them contested the sale using various legal methods. While they has some initial successes, they ultimately failed.

Brisbane's recorded history dates from 1799, when Matthew Flinders explored Moreton Bay on an expedition from Port Jackson, although the region had long been occupied by the Yugara and Turrbal aboriginal groups. First Nations Australians lived in coastal South East Queensland (SEQ) for at least 22,000 years, with an estimated population between 6,000 and 10,000 individuals before European settlers arrived in the 1820s.

At this time the Brisbane area was inhabited by the Turrbal people, (Turrbal also being the name of the language they spoke) who knew the area that is now the central business district as Mian-jin, meaning "place shaped as a spike". Archaeological evidence suggests frequent habitation around the Brisbane River, and notably at the site now known as Musgrave Park.

The first convict jail was built in Redcliffe in 1824 and that was moved to the site of the present-day CBD in 1825. Officials believed the natural bend in the river provided an effective barrier against escape.

Its suitability for fishing, farming, timbering, and other occupations, however, caused it to be opened to free settlement in 1838. Civilian occupation of the area began in 1842, and by the late 1880s Brisbane became the main site for commerce, and the capital-to-be began to develop distinct architectural features and culture.

With an abundance of sunshine and laid-back lifestyle, Brisbane quickly drew people eager to settle in its environs. The city grew steadily over the years and a turning point in its advancement was during World War II when it housed the main allied headquarters in the South Pacific for Australian and American service personnel.

The post-war population boom brought a spurt in industry and Brisbane staked a claim as the third-largest city in Australia.

Despite its rapid progress, Brisbane was often seen as lagging culturally behind Sydney and Melbourne. But two landmark events in the 1980s brought about a major change and accelerated Brisbane towards Australia’s new world city it is today.

The Commonwealth Games came to Brisbane in 1982, and this resulted in a massive injection of new infrastructure and sporting facilities. Then the eyes of the world turned to Brisbane in 1988 and thousands of visitors flocked to Expo 88. The subsequent birth of South Bank on the Expo site has resulted in a thriving cultural hub and Brisbane is more than matching it with its southern counterparts.

ABORIGINAL HISTORY

Prior to European colonisation, the Brisbane region was occupied by Aboriginal tribes, notably clans of the Yugara, Turrbal and Quandamooka peoples. The oldest archaeological site in the Brisbane region comes from Wallen Wallen Creek on North Stradbroke Island (21,430±400 years before present), however, settlement would likely occurred well prior to this date.

The land, the river and its tributaries were the source and support of life in all its dimensions. The river's abundant supply of food included fish, shellfish, crab, and prawns. Good fishing places became campsites and the focus of group activities. The district was defined by open woodlands with rainforest in some pockets or bends of the Brisbane River.

A resource-rich area and a natural avenue for seasonal movement, Brisbane was a way station for groups travelling to ceremonies and spectacles. The region had several large (200–600 person) seasonal camps, the biggest and most important located along waterways north and south of the current city heart: Barambin or 'York's Hollow' camp (today's Victoria Park) and Woolloon-cappem (Woolloongabba/South Brisbane), also known as Kurilpa. These camping grounds continued to function well into historic times, and were the basis of European settlement in parts of Brisbane.

TOWN PLAN

Buildings were constructed for the convict settlement, generally at right angles to the river's shoreline in the direction of Queen Street, and along the shoreline south-east of today's Victoria Bridge. The outstanding surviving building is the Commissariat Store (1828-29), originally two storeys, in William Street. The street layout, however, developed from a thoroughfare from the river's edge running north-east to the prisoners' barrack near the corner of today's Queen and Albert Streets. When a town survey was done in 1840 that thoroughfare was chosen as the main street – Queen Street – and the grid pattern of square blocks moved out from the Queen Street axis. There were several versions of the town survey. The proposed streets varied in width from 20 to 28 metres but Governor Gipps, anticipating an inauspicious future for the settlement, trimmed them back to the lesser figure. Streets running parallel to Queen Street were named after British and related royalty, among them Queen Mary II, Queen Charlotte (wife of George III) and Queen Adelaide (wife of William IV). William, George, Albert and Edward Streets, running at right angles, had similar royal antecedents. Creek Street's position approximated the course of a minor stream, Wheat Creek.

The town survey occurred about three years after a select committee of the British Parliament had concluded that transportation had ceased to deter crime and, in any event, was tainted with inhumanity. By 1839 Moreton Bay was being transformed from a convict settlement to a free settlement, and in July 1842 the first sales of Brisbane land took place in Sydney. Nearly 60 allotments, each of 36 perches, in North and South Brisbane were offered. Twelve months later blocks in Kangaroo Point were sold. Little care was taken to reserve land or space along the river's edge for public purposes, but the government farm at the south-east end was kept and in time became the botanic gardens.

OUTER SETTLEMENTS

The scatter of urban land sales detracted from North Brisbane's role as a central place in Moreton Bay. Wharves were set up on both sides of the river, and there was an Ipswich-Cleveland 'axis' backed by rural interests which wanted the administrative centre and a port at those places. Probably it was the building of a customs house in 1849 on the river in North Brisbane which had a decisive effect: wharf interests moved, to be closer to the customs house, which in turn influenced the location of warehouses and merchandising. South Brisbane remained at a disadvantage until a permanent Victoria Bridge (1874) replaced ferry crossings.

Four years after the first land sales North and South Brisbane's populations were 614 and 346 respectively. The town was nothing much to look at: convict buildings were dilapidated, new structures had been roughly built and mainly it was the steady inflow of new inhabitants which held the best prospects for improvement. A Catholic school had been opened in 1845 and the Moreton Bay Courier weekly newspaper began publication in 1846, but it was not until the end of the decade that noticeable civic amenities emerged. Coinciding with the arrival of the Fortitude immigrants in 1849 (who were settled outside the town boundary, north of Boundary Street), an Anglican school was opened and a Wesleyan church built in Albert Street. A school of arts was established, moving into its own hall in Creek Street in 1851. Regular postal deliveries were introduced in Brisbane in 1852.

During the 1850s most Churches constructed substantial buildings: St Stephens Catholic in Elizabeth Street (1850), St Johns Anglican, William Street, Presbyterian, Ann Street (1857) and Baptist, Wharf Street (1859). There were three ferry services, to South Brisbane, Kangaroo Point and the 'middle' service from Edward Street, also to Kangaroo Point. The Brisbane Municipal Council was proclaimed, just before colonial self-government, in 1859.

There had been land sales well beyond the town boundaries, but in the early 1860s allotments were cut up for working-class cottages in Spring Hill, Petrie Terrace and Fortitude Valley. In 1861 a census recorded over 8000 people in Brisbane and another 5000 in adjoining areas. An Ipswich to Brisbane telegraph began operation and the unused convict windmill (1828) up in Wickham Terrace was converted to a signal station with a time ball.

TOWN IMPROVEMENTS

Municipal improvements were brought in with improved town lighting from the Brisbane gas works (1864) in Petrie Bight, north of the customs house, and the widely felt need for recreation space was officially recognised by a survey of Yorks Hollow (where the Fortitude migrants had been sent) for Victoria Park. Progress there was slow, with the council using the site for sewage disposal until 1886. Fires rid parts of Queen Street of time-worn commercial buildings in 1864, clearing the way for better structures built under the supervision of fire-protection bylaws. The council also found the need to divide its area into four wards, expanding it into six in 1865 (East, West, North, South, Valley and Kangaroo Point). The council also expanded to a new town hall in Queen Street (1866), by when a short-lived bridge to South Brisbane (1865-67) was in operation. The water supply ponds were hopelessly inadequate, and in 1866 a supply from Breakfast Creek, Enoggera, was turned on.

Gympie gold (1867) brought prosperity to the colony, but the rural-dominated legislature spent the money outside Brisbane, a prime example being the Darling Downs railway to Ipswich (1867) with the intent of having a port on the Bremer River. Legislative shenanigans could not stop the growth of the capital city's population (15,000 in 1871, 23,000 in 1881) nor that of the adjoining suburbs. Brisbane's 1881 population of 23,000 included South Brisbane. Ten years later, after South Brisbane had been made a separate municipality in 1887, their combined populations were 49,000. By 1891 Brisbane and suburbs had a population of over 100,000.

With population and export income from gold there came pressure for public buildings appropriate to the town's growing prosperity. The first of them was the general post office in Queen Street (1872), followed by the government printing office (1874) near the Commissariat Store in William Street. A torrent came in the 1880s, with the Queensland National Bank at the corner of Queen and Creek Streets, the Margaret Street Synagogue, Finney Isles Big Block emporium in Adelaide Street, and in 1889 the new Customs House, the Treasury Building in William Street and the Ann Street Presbyterian church. The legislature aspired to grandeur quite early, in 1868, with its Parliament House near the botanic gardens.

TRAINS AND TRAMS

The Ipswich railway line was joined to Brisbane by a bridge across the river at Chelmer and Indooroopilly in 1876. Ten years later a line to the South Coast was under construction, but the lines were at first organised with rural freight rather than suburban passengers in mind. Suburban transport services started with a horse tram out to New Farm (1885-86), and across the Victoria Bridge to West End. Electric powered trams began in 1887. Central Brisbane was crossed by a Queen Street tram, connected to termini at Newstead, West End and Logan Road at Buranda. The main shopping centre was around Queen, George and Adelaide Streets, competing with Brunswick and Wickham Streets in Fortitude Valley. The south side had shopping at Five Ways, Woolloongabba, and at South Brisbane, although the latter declined after the 1893 floods.

Northside tram lines from Red Hill, Kelvin Grove, Clayfield and Hamilton were opened during 1897-1902, coming into the city via Edward Street in most cases. By 1890 there were also suburban railway lines, to Sandgate via Nundah (1882), to Enoggera and to Cleveland (1889). Brisbane Central station (1889) brought northside travellers right into Brisbane, as before then the Sandgate line had ended at Roma Street via a cost saving line through Victoria Park. The line to Brisbane Central station also passed through busy Fortitude Valley.

With the addition of a tram line to Lutwyche and Kedron in 1913 the pressure of traffic led to the construction of a line along Adelaide Street (1915), which in turn required the Council to widen Adelaide Street by four metres between George and Creek Streets in 1922-23.

HOUSE SIZES

Since 1885 minimum house allotments had been set at 16 perches (10m x 40m). Residents could therefore look forward to more airy, spacious houses outside the city and its adjoining suburbs such as Spring Hill and Petrie Terrace. The better-off population invariably sought out the higher ridges on elevated sites overlooking the river, making Hamilton (with a tram in 1899) one of the most sought after suburbs. It was the new upper-working and middle-class suburbs, however, that showed the change most clearly.

CENTRAL CITY SHOPPING

Central Brisbane had grand department stores, Finney Isles, and Allan and Stark, but not as many as Fortitude Valley. A third one came later in George Street, near the Roma Street railway station: McDonnell and East built a low-rise emporium there in 1912. Commercial and government buildings, usually of a modest height, sometimes had a massive footprint. An exception to the prevailing height practice was the Queensland (later Commonwealth) Bank administration building of eight storeys at the corner of George and Elizabeth Streets (1920) clad with sandstone and granite. The CML building, next to the GPO, went to the legal limit of 11 storeys in 1931 and was exceeded in height only by the Brisbane City Hall tower (1930).

The changing commercial centre was thought to need a distinctive civic space and an Anzac Square was proposed in 1915. It was completed in 1930, coinciding with the City Hall and the construction of a second bridge out of the city, across the river to South Brisbane. Named after William Jolly, first Lord Mayor of the amalgamated Brisbane Metropolitan Council (1925), the bridge was opened in 1932. A third bridge was opened in 1940 from the other (eastern) end of the city across to Kangaroo Point. Neither bridge had trams, but each integrated with the metropolitan council's planned arterial road system.

The opening of the Story Bridge was followed by 20 years of building quietude in central Brisbane. The war and postwar recovery explains part of the inactivity, but central Brisbane made do with its prewar building stock during the 1950s. Suburban expansion was the focus of activity, exemplified by Allan and Stark building a drive-in shopping centre at Chermside in 1957. Another change was the removal of the wholesale food market from Roma Street to Rocklea in 1962.

After recovery from the 1961 credit squeeze, commercial pressure and interstate example succeeded in raising the building height limit. The Pearl Assurance building (1966) at Queen Street was 15 storeys and the Manufacturers Mutual Insurance building (1967), also in Queen Street, was 22 storeys. The SGIO building (1970) in Turbot Street was an even more significant structure.

A lack of building activity in central Brisbane in the 1950s did not detract from its role as a retailing destination. Central city shopping boomed while there were low postwar car ownership and strong radial public transport services. The 1953 retail census for metropolitan Brisbane showed that the city and inner suburbs (Fortitude Valley, Bowen Hills, South Brisbane etc) had 74% of total retail sales.

OFFICES AND SHOPS

Set against the decline in retailing was the growth in high-rise office and commercial buildings. By the late 1980s central Brisbane had about 1.75 million sq metres of office space, ten times the amount of retail floor space. Its share of metropolitan office space was over 70%, and fringe areas such as Spring Hill, Fortitude Valley, Milton and Woolloongabba had another 25%. The change in Brisbane's skyline was evident from across the river, an example being the view from Kangaroo Point to the Riverside Centre office building (1987) at Eagle Street. The eastern commercial end of Ann, Adelaide and Queen Streets began to resemble the closed in narrow streets of Sydney's office precinct.

In contrast to office high rise, the Queen Street retailing centre has kept many of its old buildings. The facades are partly concealed by pedestrian mall shade sails and other structures, but the shops and arcades generate plenty of activity. The most significant addition was the Myer Centre (1988) with eight cinemas and 200 other stores, bounded by Queen, Albert and Elizabeth Streets. It replaced Allan and Stark (Queen Street, opposite side) and McWhirters, Fortitude Valley, which had both been taken over by Myer several years before. When opened, the Myer Centre's retail floor area was nearly 108,000 sq m, 26% more than the largest competing regional drive-in centre, at Upper Mount Gravatt.

PARKS AND RESIDENTS

By the 1960s the growth of metropolitan population and motor traffic was putting central Brisbane's streets under strain. All three river bridges fed into the central business district, although the Centenary Bridge (1960) at Jindalee gave temporary relief. Closer in, relief came in 1969 with the widening of the Story Bridge approaches, and the opening of the fourth Victoria Bridge, often known as the Melbourne Street Bridge. The Riverside Expressway was completed in 1976, a close-in ring road along the western edge of central Brisbane, from Victoria Bridge to the new Captain Cook Bridge, and leading to the south-eastern suburbs. The Expressway decisively altered the appearance of Central Brisbane. The tram crossing had ceased to function when trams were replaced by buses, but a railway crossing came very belatedly with the Merivale Bridge, linking South Brisbane and Roma Street stations in 1978. Prior to that the lines from Beenleigh and Cleveland and the trunk standard gauge from Sydney terminated at the South Brisbane station.

Roma Street had been the site of the wholesale food market, and for decades the land had remained under-used. The central city had incrementally added open spaces to its fabric – King George Square enlarged in 1975 and the Post Office Square opened in 1984 – and in 2001-03 the largest addition, the 16 ha Roma Street Parkland was completed.

Along with Albert Park and Wickham Park, the Parkland gives inner city residents generous open space. The residential population of central Brisbane, however, changed little between 1981 and 2001. The inner city (approximately between Ann and Elizabeth Streets) had just 45 dwellings in 1981 and 689 in 2001. The resident populations for the respective years were 1174 and 976, a decrease. Apartments had replaced boarding houses and rooms. The rest of central Brisbane (including Petrie Terrace) also saw an increase in dwellings (758 to 1282) and a decrease in population (3511 to 1797). Single person apartments had increased, multi-person dwellings had decreased and some of each were not lived in full time, often being held for prospective capital gain. The boom in apartment building from 2001 has added thousands of apartments, many rented by overseas students.

The distinctive features of twenty-first century Brisbane are its increasing resemblance to other capital city office precincts, with forecourts, sub-tropical decorative plants and outdoor cafes. Queen Street's signature silver bullet trams last ran in 1969, but the street's unusual width (Andrew Petrie apparently persuaded Governor Gipps on this point) has provided for a signature shopping mall with generous outdoor seating and dining areas. Out of the central retail area elegant sandstone government and commercial buildings have survived, surely an iconic architectural form. Some buildings have removed their clerks and accountants, substituting hotel patrons, tourists and casino visitors. The historic customs house was purchased by The University of Queensland from the federal government, and includes meeting, dining and gallery space. The City Hall (1930), once the tallest building, has been dwarfed by surrounding skyscrapers, so its clock tower no longer affords a commanding view over Central Brisbane. In 2008 the Brisbane City Council agreed to underpin City Hall which was in danger of gradual sinking on inadequate foundations.

The gothic-style St Johns Anglican Cathedral, commenced in 1901-06, was finally completed in 2009. Bounded by Ann and Adelaide streets, the cathedral roof and other buildings sustained extensive damage in a storm in 2014.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brisbane & www.visitbrisbane.com.au/information/about-brisbane/histo... & queenslandplaces.com.au/brisbane-central

---

1990 heralded a new decade with momentous change and significant events unfolding internationally and at home in Queensland. German reunification was achieved following the ‘fall’ of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. The Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in turn declared their independence from the Soviet Union. Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years of imprisonment in South Africa, and Margaret Thatcher resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after more than 11 years in office. British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee created the first web server and web browser, and the Hubble Space Telescope was launched from the space shuttle ‘Discovery’.

The Australian Labor Party’s federal election campaign was launched in Brisbane in early March before Prime Minister Bob Hawke’s government was returned later that month for a historic fourth term. Andrew Peacock resigned the leadership of the federal Liberal Party after the election defeat and was replaced by Dr John Hewson. Earlier in March, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) was founded. The inaugural Cape York Aboriginal Land Conference took place at Lockhart River in September, leading to the formation of the Cape York Land Council.

The nation’s first women Premiers were sworn into office this year, firstly Western Australia’s Carmen Lawrence in February followed by Victoria’s Joan Kirner in August. On the day of Kirner’s swearing in, the Hawke government announced Australia would join the international naval blockade of Iraq in the Persian Gulf. A specially convened ALP national conference in September endorsed the privatisation of Qantas and other assets, ahead of deregulation of the domestic aviation market in November. Near that month’s end, Treasurer Paul Keating declared Australia was enduring “the recession we had to have”.

The 1990s was a decade of transformation as infrastructure connected the state, the Internet changed how we worked and Agro was a prime-time star. These photographic highlights come from a collection of thousands of images captured by Transport and Main Roads, documenting the plans, programs and growth of Queensland throughout the decade.

Find this series in our catalogue: www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au/series/S20086

The Transport and Main Roads Visual Resource Library collection contains over 200.000 photographs and other resources from the 1920’s to 2005 from the many and varied road, transport and maritime departments over that time. It is mostly the work of the Photographic Branch and Graphic Reproduction Services Unit between the 1930s and the 1990s. Photographers Les Dixon, Bob Reid, Ian Williams, Murray Waite and Ray Burgress recorded works and events of the Department.

Subjects covered include road construction projects, environmental science, road fittings, public transport and road users, people at work, community engagement, official openings, sod turnings, new structures (bridges, dams and Queensland University), awards, department initiatives, safety campaigns, exhibitions and displays.

#ICASA2019: Effective Partnership for Cervical Cancer Prevention

Looks like Mrs. Boner's Witch's Brew was pretty effective at perking her up this morning!!

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

Some background:

The Flakpanzer Coelian comprised a family of self-propelled anti-aircraft gun tanks, designed by Rheinmetall during World War II for the German armed forces. In the first years of the war, the Wehrmacht had only little interest in developing self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, but as the Allies developed air superiority, the need for more mobile and better-armed self-propelled anti-aircraft guns increased.

Roundabout 300 Coelian tanks reached frontline units, two third of them were factory-built, and in the course of early 1945 the Coelian family had gradually replaced most of the outdated Panzer IV AA variants and SPAAGs with open turrets. The Coelian tanks were soon joined by the newly produced, dedicated Flakpanzer variants of the Einheitspanzer family, including a twin 55 mm gun on the E-50 chassis and also a monstrous 140 ton anti-aircraft variant of the heavy E-100 chassis, equipped with an automatic twin 8.8cm Flak in a fully enclosed and heavily armored turret.

Specifications:

Crew: Five (commander, gunner, loader/2nd gunner, driver, radio-operator/hull machine gunner)

Weight: 44.8 tonnes (44.1 long tons; 49.4 short tons)

Length: 6.87 m (22 ft 6 in)

Width: 3.42 m (11 ft 3 in) with side skirts

Height: 3.13 m (10 ft 3 in)

Suspension: Double torsion bar, interleaved road wheels

Fuel capacity: 720 litres (160 imp gal; 190 US gal)

Armor:

15–80 mm (0.6 – 3.15 in)

Performance:

Maximum road speed: 46 km/h (29 mph)

Operational range: 250 km (160 mi)

Power/weight: 15.39 PS (11.5 kW)/tonne (13.77 hp/ton)

Engine:

Maybach HL230 P30 V-12 petrol engine with 700 PS (690 hp, 515 kW)

ZF AK 7-200 gear; 7 forward 1 reverse

Armament:

4× 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 103 machine cannon with 3.600 rounds

1× 7.92 mm MG 34 machine gun in the front glacis plate with 2.500 rounds

The kit and its assembly:

This was a spontaneous build, in the wake of other recent whif tanks and using some leftover parts from the kit pile(s). Things started with a KORA 1:72 resin conversion kit with a 2x 37mm FlaK Coelian turret for a Panther chassis – but with broken and bent gun barrels. I had actually stashed the parts away for a potential mecha build/conversion, long ago, but while doing legwork for late German WWII tanks I recently came again across the various anti-aircraft tank designs. And I wondered if mounting the Coelian turret on a Panzer IV chassis would be possible and lead to a compact (and whiffy) new vehicle?

Well, it would not work, because the Coelian turret needs a considerably bigger turret bearing diameter than anything the Panzer IV hull could realistically handle (even the Panther’s Schmalturm is actually a little too wide…), and so I folded the idea up again and put it onto the “vague ideas” pile.

…until I stumbled upon the leftover hull from a Hasegawa Panther Ausf. F in the donor kits pile, which had originally given both of its OOB turrets (a Schmalturm and a standard model) to other conversions. While mating the Coelian turret with its originally intended hull was not a sexy project, I eventually did so, because I could effectively use two leftovers for something sound and well-balanced.

Concerning the assembly phase, there’s not much to tell about the Hasegawa Panther Ausf. F. Fit is good, a simple kit, and it comes, as a benefit, with optional all-steel wheels which I used for my conversion, changing the overall look to a true late war model. Only the opening for the turret had to be widened in order to accept the new resin turret.

The latter only consists of two parts: the massive core section and a separate weapon mount. The latter was in so far modified that I added a simple metal peg which can be switched between two holes in the turret hull, for two gun positions.

Since the original gun barrels had to be replaced, anyway, I did a thorough (and fictional) modification: I used four 1:48 20 mm brass barrels for a Flak 38 Flakvierling (from RB Models) and mounted them in two staggered pairs onto the original cannon fairing. The resulting gun array looks impressive and even realistic, and, thanks to the scale-o-rama effect, the 1:48 parts have the perfect size for 30 mm cannon barrels in 1:72!

Painting and markings:

Something “German”, but nothing spectacular, so I ended up with another variant of the Hinterhalt scheme, found on a Jagdpanther from the Ardennenoffensive period. In this case, the prominent colors are Dunkelgelb and Olivgrün in broad stripes, separated by blurred, thin lines made of Rotbraun.

As a little twist I wanted to modify the scheme in so far that this vehicle was to show its conversion heritage in a workshop, so hull and turret received different basic tones as an initial step.

The hull and all wheels were painted with matt RAL 7028 (a modern equivalent to the WWII Dunkelgelb), while the turret received a red primer coat with Oxidrot (RAL 3009). On top of these, wide green bands (RAL 6003 from Modelmaster) and separating russet (Humbrol 113) stripes were painted with brushes. In order to brighten up the relatively dark turret, some yellow mottles were added on the Oxidrot areas (using Revell 16).

Once dry, the whole surface received a sand paper treatment, so that the RAL 7028 would shine through here and there, as if worn out. After a dark brown wash, details were emphasized with dry-brushing in light grey and beige. Decals were puzzled together from various German tank sheets, and the kit finally sealed with matt acrylic varnish.

The black vinyl tracks were also painted/weathered, with a wet-in-wet mix of black, iron and red brown (all acrylics). Once they were mounted into place, mud and dust around the running gear and the lower hull was simulated with a greyish-brown mix of artist mineral pigments.

A bit of recycling and less exotic than originally hoped for – but it’s still a whiffy tank model, and its proximity to the real but unrealized Coelian project makes this one even more subtle. Pile reduction, one by one…

The kit and its assembly:

This whif is the incarnation of a very effective kitbashing combo that already spawned my fictional Japanese Ki-104 fighter, and it is another submission to the 2018 “Cold War” group build at whatifmodelers.com. This purely fictional Soviet escort fighter makes use of my experiences from the first build of this kind, yet with some differences.

The kit is a bashing of various parts and pieces:

· Fuselage, wing roots, landing gear and propeller from an Academy P-47D

· Wings from an Ark Model Supermarine Attacker (ex Novo)

· Tail fin comes from a Heller F-84G

· The stabilizers were taken from an Airfix Ki-46

· Cowling from a Matchbox F6F, mounted and blended onto the P-47 front

· Jet exhaust is the intake of a Matchbox Me 262 engine pod

My choice fell onto the Academy Thunderbolt because it has engraved panel lines, offers the bubble canopy as well as good fit, detail and solid material. The belly duct had simply been sliced off, and the opening later faired over with styrene sheet and putty, so that the P-47’s deep belly would not disappear.

The F6F cowling was chosen because it looks a lot like the ASh-73TK from the Tu-4. But this came at a price: the P-47 cowling is higher, tighter and has a totally different shape. It took serious body sculpting with putty to blend the parts into each other. Inside of the engine, a styrene tube was added for a metal axis that holds the uncuffed OOB P-47 four blade propeller. The P-47’s OOB cockpit tub was retained, too, just the seat received scratched armrests for a more luxurious look.

The Attacker wings were chosen because of their "modern" laminar profile. The Novo kit itself is horrible and primitive, but acceptable for donations. OOB, the Attacker wings had too little span for the big P-47, so I decided to mount the Thunderbolt's OOB wings and cut them at a suitable point: maybe 0.5", just outside of the large main wheel wells. The intersection with the Attacker wings is almost perfect in depth and width, relatively little putty work was necessary in order to blend the parts into each other. I just had to cut out new landing gear wells from the lower halves of the Attacker wings, and with new attachment points the P-47’s complete OOB landing gear could be used.

With the new wing shape, the tail surfaces had to be changed accordingly. The trapezoid stabilizers come from an Airfix Mitsubishi Ki-46, and their shape is a good match. The P-47 fin had to go, since I wanted something bigger and a different silhouette. The fuselage below was modified with a jet exhaust, too. I actually found a leftover F-84G (Heller) tail, complete with the jet pipe and the benefit that it has plausible attachment points for the stabilizers far above the jet engine in the Gu-1’s tail.

However, the F-84 jet pipe’s diameter turned out to be too large, so I went for a smaller but practical alternative, a Junkers Jumo 004 nacelle from a Me 262 (the ancestor of the Soviet RD-20!). Its intake section was cut off, flipped upside down, the fin was glued on top of it and then the new tail was glued to the P-47 fuselage. Some (more serious) body sculpting was necessary to create a more or less harmonious transition between the parts, but it worked.

The plausible placement of the air intakes and their shape was a bit of a challenge. I wanted them to be obvious, but still keep an aerodynamic look. An initial idea had been to keep the P-47’s deep belly and widen the central oil cooler intake under the nose, but I found the idea wacky and a bit pointless, since such a long air duct would not make much sense since it would waste internal space and the long duct’s additional weight would not offer any benefit?

Another idea were air intakes in the wing roots, but these were also turned down since the landing gear wells would be in the way, and placing the ducts above or below the wings would also make no sense. A single ventral scoop (looking like a P-51 radiator bath) or two smaller, dorsal intakes (XP-81 style) behind the cockpit were other serious candidates – but these were both rejected because I wanted to keep a clean side profile.

I eventually settled for very simple, fixed side intakes, level with the jet exhaust, somewhat inspired by the Lavochkin La-200B heavy fighter prototype. The air scoops are simply parts from an Italeri Saab 39 Gripen centerline drop tank (which has a flat, oval diameter), and their shape is IMHO a perfect match.

An idea for Christmas' Tree...

Labor Reporting Module (LRP) uses data from your accounting package to generate a complete LM-2 report without interrupting your daily accounting activity.

completesoftware.net/

Conexus Arts Centre

Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Toyo View 45F Large Format 4"x5" monorail view camera - bag bellows, Yankee fresnel ground glass

Nikkor SW 75mm f4.5 lens in Copal #0 shutter (~20mm effective vs 35mm film)

tilt and swing for selective focus, front rise

Kodak TMax 400 ISO B&W sheet film exposed at f16 for 1/160 sec

stand developed in BTZS tube using 1.25ml of PQ Universal at 1:128 16 C. for 1 hour without agitation

Ilfostop at 1:19, Rapid fixer at 1:4 for 5 minutes, Ilford Washaid in rinse

Epson Perfection 4490 at 4800 dpi 48 bit

Scanned in two halves and stitched with MS Image Composition Editor

120 notes

Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Toyo Omega View 45F Large Format 4"x5" monorail view camera

Nikkor SW f4.5 75mm lens in Synchro-Compur #0 shutter (~20mm effective)

Instax Wide 800 ISO film by Fuji (10.6x8.4cm) in 4x5 holder, got a little squirrely

exposed for 1/4s at f22 with front swing and shift for selective focus

"scanned" with Nikon D5100 DSLR and macro 35mm f2 lens

an effective marketplace AR app in the form of FYIAR. It is an immersive experience AR app that provides an efficient platform for brands to engage their customers and generate effective B2C leads. www.fyiar.com/

The setup I used to observe the transit of Venus. I used the telescope to project the sun's image on a suitable screen.

Brian Duffy (British, 1933-2010)

Jean Shrimpton with Cat for Vogue Magazine, 1961

Gelatin silver 10-5/8 x 7 inches (27.0 x 17.8 cm)

Dated and annotated by an unknown hand in pencil verso.

PROVENANCE:

Chris Beetles Limited, London.

Jeffrey M. Kaplan, Washington, D.C. (acquired directly from the above in 2009).

EXHIBITED:

"Duffy," Chris Beetles Gallery, London, October - November, 2009, exhibition no. 24.

The inventive and innovative photographer Brian Duffy shot some of the best known pictures of the Swinging Sixties for magazines such as Vogue, Queen, Town and Nova in Britain, and Elle in France, and became as infamous as his friends and contemporaries David Bailey and Terence Donovan. His dynamic style of fashion photography and his playful portraits of Michael Caine, John Lennon and Harold Wilson leapt off the pages and embodied the free spirit of the era. In the 1970s, this irreverent, occasionally cantankerous character, moved into advertising and devised intriguing, effective and memorable posters and full-page ads for Benson & Hedges cigarettes and Smirnoff vodka, as well as the striking cover for David Bowie's first chart-topping album, Aladdin Sane.

Yet, at the end of 1979, something seemed to snap in Duffy when he walked into his studio and was told by an assistant that they had run out of toilet paper. "I realised I was chairman, CEO and senior stockholder of my business and I was now responsible for toilet paper," he later reflected. "Ninety-nine per cent of my work was advertising and crap. The people who were hiring me I didn't like. Keeping a civil tongue up the rectum of a society that keeps you paid is an art which I was devoid of. I had nothing more to say in photographs. I'd taken all the snaps I needed to take. Maybe I didn't think I was good enough."

Whatever triggered this breakdown, it resulted in Duffy sending his staff home and attempting to burn boxes of his negatives in the garden. A neighbour objected to the acrid, black smoke and called the council who sent round an official to put a stop to this act of lunacy. This fortuitous intervention meant that, even though Duffy stopped working as a photographer and spent the last three decades of his life restoring furniture, his son Chris could eventually catalogue the remaining negatives and talk his father into agreeing to his first exhibition, held at the Chris Beetles Gallery in London last autumn. Earlier this year, Duffy was also the subject of a BBC4 documentary, The Man Who Shot The Sixties, which reunited him with the actress Joanna Lumley, a favourite model of his in his heyday, and Lord Puttnam, the film producer who had been his agent between 1966 and 1969.

Duffy was born to Irish parents in north London in 1933. The family moved to East Ham and remained there throughout the Second World War. After two attempts at evacuating him and his two brothers and sister – another sister died of meningitis aged three – his mother resolved that they would not be separated again. He became an unruly child and troublesome teenager, cutting school and running amok on bomb sites, until an attempt at social engineering by teachers at a progressive school in South Kensington introduced him to the opera, ballet and art galleries. In 1950, he enrolled at St Martins School of Art to study painting, but soon switched to dress design because of the added attraction, as he recalled, of "a lot of good-looking girls doing it."

After graduating he began working as an assistant designer at Susan Small Dresses and at Victor Stiebel. In 1955 he was offered an apprenticeship with the Balenciaga haute couture house in Paris but turned it down as his soon-to-be-wife June was pregnant with Chris, their first child. Instead, he freelanced for Harper's Bazaar as a fashion illustrator and then decided to take up photography "as an easy way to make money." He assisted Adrian Flowers and in 1957 bluffed his way through an interview with Audrey Withers, the formidable Vogue editor.

"The arrogance!" he admitted. "I showed them a bunch of off-the-wall snaps I had, including one of a glass eye with a snail on it. I don't know how I had the nerve."

While shooting Otto Klemperer for his first Vogue assignment, he forgot to take the lens cap off his Leica camera but the boys in the dark room spoiled the film accidentally on purpose and he photographed the German conductor again during rehearsals and got away with it. Duffy stayed at Vogue for six years, and photographed the leading fashion models of the day, Jean Shrimpton, Jennifer Hocking and Pauline Stone. He encouraged them to drink or sing and often preferred the streets to the more formal environment of the studio.

Dubbed the Black Trinity or the Terrible Trio, Bailey, Donovan and Duffy enjoyed a healthy rivalry and brought a sense of fun and irrevence to what had been a staid provision. Indeed, they shook up the world of fashion and publishing nearly as much as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones revolutionised the music industry. Duffy had an uncanny eye for detail and the unusual, as well as a knack for solving technical problems which made him stand out in the pre-Photoshop era. He was also something of an enfant terrible and a mischief-maker, and illustrated a Nova article entitled "How To Undress For Your Husband" with a series of photos of Amanda Lear, a model whose true gender was the object of much speculation.

From 1964, Duffy freelanced for a host of magazines like Glamour and Esquire in the US as well as the Daily Telegraph, The Times and The Observer newspapers. In particular, he was celebrated for his black and white portraits of such well-known figures of the sixties as Jane Birkin, William Burroughs, Sammy Davis Jnr, Charlton Heston, Christine Keeler, Reggie Kray, Sidney Poitier, Nina Simone, Terence Stamp and Keith Waterhouse. In 1965, he shot his first Pirelli Calendar in Monaco and went to Mexico to document the filming of Louis Malle's madcap comedy-adventure Viva Maria! starring Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau.

Duffy developed an interest in film and started a production company with the novelist Len Deighton. In 1968, they produced an adaptation of Deighton's crime caper Only When I Larf, directed by Basil Dearden and starring Richard Attenborough and David Hemmings. After seeing a performance of Oh! What A Lovely War at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, Duffy convinced Bailey to invest in a film version of Joan Littlewood's anti-war musical. However, Deighton, who wrote the screenplay, had his name taken off the credits, and Duffy dismissed the 1969 film, Attenborough's directorial debut, and its cast – including John Mills, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Michael Redgrave, Maggie Smith and Susannah York – as the work of "a gang of luvvies."

Diplomacy was never Duffy's forte, and he famously fell out with the British pop artist Allen Jones over the 1973 Pirelli calendar they collaborated on. However, the mixture of techniques employed for that project inspired the powerful and distinctive cover of Bowie's Aladdin Sane. "Tony DeFries, his [then] manager, wanted to make the most expensive cover you could possibly get a record company to pay for," Duffy recalled. "He couldn't have come to be a better con artist than my good self. Dye transfer is a genius method of being able to spend the most amount of money to get reproduction from a colour transparency on to a piece of paper. And we went to Switzerland, the most expensive place to get a plate made. Bowie was interested in the Elvis ring which had the letters TCB [taking care of business] as well as the lightning flash. I drew the design on his face. We used lipstick to fill in the red. To me, it [the cover] was competent, very competent, but I wouldn't take it much beyond that."

Bowie hired Duffy again to help create the covers of two of his subsequent albums; 1979's Lodger, with the British pop artist Derek Boshier, and Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), with the British graphic designer and painter Edward Bell, the following year.

By then, the photographer and his Duffy Design Concepts company had become over-reliant on commercial clients and, even if his eye-catching, playful, surreal campaigns for Smirnoff and Benson & Hedges – the golden cigarette packet as mousetrap, in a bird cage or inside a bird's egg – won awards, he grew tired of the medium and the sycophants and quit in spectacular fashion with the attempted burning of his negatives.

Duffy brought the same single-mindedness and perfectionism to restoring antiques in his workshop in Camden. This line of work continued the family tradition since his father, who had spent time in prison for his IRA activities, had been a cabinet-maker. Duffy also lectured for the British Antique Furniture Restorers' Association. He died of pulmonary fibrosis.

"I never wanted to be famous," Duffy said in the BBC documentary. "Artists are always talking drivel, including moi, because the work is the statement." When asked how he'd like to be remembered in the annals of photography, he replied: "He wasn't as steady as a tripod."

+++ 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 T-34, a Soviet medium tank, had a profound and lasting effect on the field of tank design. At its introduction in 1940, the T-34 possessed an unprecedented combination of firepower, mobility, protection and ruggedness. Its 76.2 mm high-velocity tank gun provided a substantial increase in firepower over any of its contemporaries while its well-sloped armour was difficult to penetrate by most contemporary anti-tank weapons. Although its armour and armament were surpassed later in the war, it has often been credited as the most effective, efficient and influential tank design of the Second World War.

The T-34 was the mainstay of Soviet armoured forces throughout the Second World War. Its design allowed it to be continuously refined to meet the constantly evolving needs of the Eastern Front: as the war went on it became more capable, but also quicker and cheaper to produce. Soviet industry would eventually produce over 80,000 T-34s of all variants, allowing steadily greater numbers to be fielded as the war progressed despite the loss of tens of thousands in combat against the German Wehrmacht. Replacing many light and medium tanks in Red Army service, it was the most-produced tank of the war, as well as the second most produced tank of all time (after its successor, the T-54/55 series). T-34 variants were widely exported after World War II, and even as recently as 2010, the tank has seen limited front-line service with several developing countries

One of the unusual and rather unknown operators of the T-34 was Austria. 25 tanks (some sources claim 27 or even 37) of the late T-34/85 variant came as a gift from (well, they were actually left behind by) the Soviet Union in 1955 when the Red Army left the country, meaning that the Austrian Bundesheer was re-established. These vehicles became the young army's initial backbone, until more modern equipment (e. g. M41 and M47 tanks procured from the USA and AMX-13/75 tanks from France) replaced them in frontline service. Due to their ruggedness and simplicity, they were kept in service, though - primarily for training, and some vehicles were in the 1970s integrated into hidden bunkers, defending strategically vital "security space zones".

A revival of the Austrian T-34/85 fleet came in the late Sixties, though, when the Austrian Army recognized a lack in long range attack capabilities (at 1.000 m range and more) against hardened targets like enemy tanks, paired with high mobility and low costs, similar to the German Jagdpanzer profile from WWII. At that time, Austria operated roundabout 50 Charioteer tanks with 83.4 mm guns in this role, but these British vehicles were outdated and needed a timely replacement.

Another limiting factor were severe budget restrictions. The eventual solution came from the Austrian company Saurer: a relatively simple conversion of the indigenous Saurer APC, armed with a version of the French AMX-13's FL-12 oscillating turret, armed with a powerful 105mm cannon, which had just become available in an export version. However, in order to bridge the new tank hunter's development time and quickly fill the defense gap, the Austrian T-34/85s were checked whether it was possible to modernize them with the new turret, too.

The first conversion was carried out by Saurer in 1963 and proved to be successful. Since the light FL-12 turret had a smaller bearing diameter than the old T-34/85 turret, the integration into the hull went straightforward with the help of a simple adapter ring. What made the conversion even simpler was the fact that the FL-12, with its integrated cannon and an automated loading system, was a complete, self-sufficient unit.

The French turret was only lightly armoured, since the tank was not supposed to engage heavily-armed enemies at close range. The turret's front armour protected the crew from 20mm armour-piercing rounds over its frontal arc, while all-round protection was against small arms bullets only. The commander was seated on the left of the turret and the gunner on the right. The commander was provided with seven periscopes and a periscopic sight. The commander's infrared night sight had a magnification of x6. The gunner had two observation periscopes, a telescopic sight and a one-piece lifting and swiveling hatch cover. Due to the design of the oscillating turret, all sights were always linked to the main and secondary armament (a standard NATO machine gun). For engaging targets at night, an infrared periscopic sight was provided for the commander. In order to simplify and lighten the tank, the T-34’s bow machine gun in the hull was deleted and its opening faired over and the crew was reduced to three.

The 105 mm gun could penetrate 360 mm of armour, and the internal magazines of 2x 6 shots allowed a very high rate of fire (up to 12 shots per minute), even though a crew member had to leave the tank in order to fill the magazines up again from the outside. Once the gun had been fired the empty cartridge cases were ejected out of the rear of the turret through a trapdoor hinged on the left. Beyond the 12 rounds in the turret, a further 42 rounds were stored in the tank's hull, primarily in a stowage rack for 30 shots where the former second crew member in the front hull had been placed, and a further twelve rounds in magazines at the turret’s base.

The T-34/85’s engine and transmission were not changed, since an update was beyond the conversion budget limit, but lighter “skeleton” wheels from Czech T-34 post-war production were introduced, so that the modified tank weighed roundabout 30 tons, 2 less than the standard T-35/85.

After highly successful field tests with the prototype in the course of 1963 and 1964, a further conversion program for 16 tanks was approved and carried out until early 1965. The modified tanks received the official designation T-34/105Ö and allocated to two tank battalions. Most of the time these tanks were only used for training purposes, though, in preparation of the arrival of the "real" tank hunter, the SK-105 "Kürassier" (Cuirassier) with almost identical weapon systems. The SK-105’s first prototype was eventually ready in 1967 and delivery of pre-production vehicles commenced in 1971, but teething troubles and many detail problems delayed the type's quick and widespread introduction. Lighter and much more agile than the vintage T-34s, it became a big success and was produced in more than 700 specimen, almost 300 of them for the Austrian Army and the rest for export (Argentina, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Morocco and Tunisia). In consequence, the small T-34/105Ö fleet was soon retired and by 1976, when the Kürassier was in service and other, heavy tanks had become available, none of the converted tanks was still active anymore. Nevertheless, a few Austrian T-34s that had become part of the hidden bunker installations soldiered secretly on, the last ones were dug out of their positions and scrapped in 2007(!).

Specifications:

Crew: Three (commander, gunner, driver)

Weight: 29.7 t combat load

Length: 8.21 m (26 ft 10 ½ in) with turret forward

6.10 m (19 ft 11 ¾ in) hull only

Width: 3.00 m (9 ft 10 in)

Height: 2,74 m (8 ft 11 ½ in)

Suspension: Christie

Ground clearance: 0.4 m (16 in)

Fuel capacity: eight internal tanks, total capacity of 545 l (145 U.S. gal; 118 imp gal),

plus up to four external fuel drums à 90 l each (24 U.S. gal; 19.5 imp gal)

Engine:

Model V-2-34M 38.8 l V12 Diesel engine with 520 hp (370 kW) at 1.800 rpm

Transmission:

5 forward and 1 reverse gears

Armor:

16 - 45 mm steel (plus composite armour in the turret)

Performance:

Speed:

- Maximum, road: 58 km/h (36 mph)

- Cross country: up to 40 km/h (28 mph)

Operational range: 250 km (155) on streets with internal fuel only,

up to 330 km (250 mi) with four additional fuel drums

Power/weight: 17.5 hp/t

Armament:

1× 105 mm CN 105-57 rifled gun with a total 54 rounds, 12 of them ready in the turret's magazines

1× 7.62mm (0.3") co-axial NATO machine gun with 2.000 rounds

2× 2 smoke grenade dischargers

The kit and its assembly:

This weird, fictional combo was originally spawned by an Israeli idea: some vintage M4 Sherman tanks had been outfitted with the AMX-13's swiveling turrets and armed with French CN-75-50 75mm a cannon, creating the so-called "Isherman". I kept this concept in the back of my mind for a long time, with the plan to build one some day.

Then I came a couple of weeks ago across a picture on FlickR that showed a T-34/85 with Austrian markings. At first I thought that it had been a fictional museum piece in fake markings, but upon some legwork I found out that Austria had actually operated the T-34!

So, why not combine both ideas into a new and fictional one...? The rest was straightforward kitbashing: the FL-12 turret with a 105 mm cannon came from a Heller AMX-13 (a shaggy thing with dubious fit, but it was cheap) and for the chassis I tried the relatively new Zvezda T-35/85. The latter is actually a very crisp snap-fit kit, just some light flash here and there. Detail and proportions are very good, though, as well as fit. I was only surprised by the construction of the tracks, because it is a different approach from both of the traditional vinyl tracks or IP track segments. Instead, you get complete, rather thin and delicate IP tracks, and Zvezda expects the builder to bend them around the wheels and stick them between the wheels' halves during the construction process. You actually have to mount the “inner” half of the wheels first, then the track is attached to a locator pin on one of the main wheels, bent into shape, and finally the wheels' “outer” halves are added. Sounds complicated, and it actually is, and it also makes painting the whole running gear quite difficult, but it works – even though the result is IMHO not better than the traditional solutions.

The AMX-13 turret’s integration was easier than expected. Building the turret was a little complicated, because all side walls are separate and there are no locator pins or other aides for orientation. Some PSR became necessary to fill some minor gaps, but nothing dramatic. Mounting the AMX-13 turret to the T-34 hull was made easy through a very convenient design detail of the Zvezda kit: the T-34 comes with a separate turret ring that could be used as an adapter for the Heller turret. Three ejection/sprue residues inside of the ring could be used as a foundation for the AMX-13 turret, and the turret’s lower half/ring was, after some sanding to reduce the gap between the turret and the hull, was also glued onto the adapter. Worked like a charm, and the resulting combo looks very natural!

In order to improve the turret’s look I added a cloth seal between the lower and the upper, oscillating turret section, simulated with paper tissue drenched in thinned white glue (OOB the turret cannot be moved vertically at all). A similar seal was added at the barrel’s base.

Other changes were only minimal: the machine gun port in the front hull was sanded away and faired over, and I omitted the spare track links attached to the front hull. For a modernized look I gave the tank an additional pair of front lights as well as stoplights at the rear, scratched from styrene bits.

Painting and markings:

Basically a very simple affair, because there is ONLY one possible livery and color that suits an Austrian Bundesheer vehicle or item from the Seventies: RAL 7013 (Braungrau). This is a very ugly tone, though, "greenish, fresh mud" describes it well: a dull, brownish olive drab, but definitively not a green (like the omnipresent NATO tone Gelboliv RAL 6014, which was used by the German Bundeswehr until the standardized NATO three-tone camouflage was introduced around 1984). I organized a rattle can of this special color, since the tank model would receive a simple, uniform livery.

Due to the kit's , err, unique running gear construction, painting became a little complicated. I had to paint the hull and the (still) separate wheel parts in advance, so that the pre-painted elements could be assembled around the tracks (see above). The tracks themselves were painted with a cloudy mix of iron metallic, black and leather brown (Revell 99, 8 and 84). The turret was painted separately.

After the kit’s major sections had been assembled they received a light wash with a mix of highly thinned black with some red brown added, and the washing was immediately dabbed off of the surfaces so that most of the pigments ended up in recesses and around details, while the rest received an blurry, light dirt filter.

Once dry, I applied the decals. The tiny Austrian roundels come from a generic TL Modellbau sheet (never expected to find any use for them!), the tactical code comes from another tank kit sheet. In order to add some more highlights I also added some small, white markings on the fenders.

Then I gave the model an overall dry-brushing treatment with olive drab, medium grey and finally some ochre, just emphasizing details and edges.

Since the uniform livery appeared a bit dull to me, I decided to add a few camouflage nets to the hull, which also hide some weak points of the Zvezda kit, e.g. the missing rails along the hull. The nets were created from gauze bandages: small pieces (~1”x1”) of the material were dipped into a mix of white glue and olive drab acrylic paint and then carefully placed on hull, turret and barrel. Once dry, they were also dry-brushed.

As final steps, the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (rattle can again) and I dusted the lower areas with a greyish-brown pigment mix, simulating dust and some mud crusts.

What started as a weird idea turned into a very conclusive what-if project – in fact, the T-34 with the French FL-12/44 turret does not look bad at all, and the Austrian colors and markings make this piece of fiction IMHO very convincing. Adding the camouflage nets was also a good move. They hide some of the details (e.g. the omitted bow machine gun station), but they liven up the rather clean and bleak exterior of the tank. I am positively surprised how good the T-34/105Ö looks!

Investing is a good option an individual can take to roll his money. In fact, there have been numerous or countless notable successful investments made by people who gamble their money hoping to fold it many times. But why do other investments fail? Could it be because they don't have the game plan to make it work? Or they just don't listen to opinions and advices given by experts and just do what they think is right but not totally sure if it works?

Read full article here: Effective Communication: A Factor for Successful Investments

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+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

Some background:

The Parder was a successor of the Tiger I & II tanks, combining the latter's thick armor with the armor sloping used on the Panther medium tank (which was, in fact, inspired by Soviet designs, most of all by the T-34). While several Entwicklungspanzer designs were under development, the Parder was a short-term attempt to overcome the Tiger II's main shortcoming: its weight of almost seventy metric tons (it was protected by up to 180 mm/7.1" of front armor!), the resulting lack of mobility and an overburdened drivetrain originally intended for a lighter vehicle. Leaking seals and gaskets also took their toll on reliability.

The Parder was issued to heavy tank battalions of the Army (Schwere Heerespanzerabteilung – abbreviated s.H.Pz.Abt) where it replaced the Tiger I & II.

Specifications:

Crew Four (commander, gunner, loader, driver)

Weight 54 tonnes (60 short tons)

Length 7.02 metres (23 ft in) (hull only)

10.64 metres (34 ft 10 1/3 in) with gun forward

Width 3.88 metres (12 ft 9 in)

4.14 metres (13 ft 6 3/4 in) with optional Thoma shields

Height 2.84 metres (9 ft 4 in) w/o AA machine gun

Suspension torsion-bar

Ground clearance: 495 to 510 mm (1 ft 7.5 in to 1 ft 8.1 in)

Fuel capacity: 820 l (180 imp gal; 220 US gal)

Armor:

30–120 mm (1.2 – 4.7 in)

Performance:

Speed

- Maximum, road: 41.5 km/h (25.8 mph)

- Sustained, road: 38 km/h (24 mph)

- Cross country: 15 to 20 km/h (9.3 to 12.4 mph)

Operational range: 240 km (150 mi)

Power/weight: 12,96 PS/tonne (11,5 hp/ton)

Engine:

V-12 Maybach HL 230 P30 gasoline with 700 PS (690 hp, 515 kW)

Transmission:

Maybach OLVAR EG 40 12 16 B (8 forward and 4 reverse)

Armament:

1× 8.8 cm KwK 43 L/71 with 80 rounds

1× co-axial 7.92 mm Maschinengewehr 34 with 3.000 rounds

The kit and its assembly:

Something different… a whif tank! This was spawned from curiosity and the “wish” to build a German vehicle that would fit right into the E-25… E-100 range of experimental tanks.

It was to become a battle tank, and while browsing options and donation kits, I settled upon a replacement for the formidable but heavy and cumbersome Tiger B, also known as Tiger II, Königstiger or (wrongfully translated) King Tiger.

Anyway, creating a tank that would look (late war) German and still be whiffy was trickier than expected, and finally easier than expected, too. My solution would be a kit bashing: using many Tiger B parts (including the stylish Porsche tower and the running gear) and combining it with a hull that would offer better armor angles and look less “boxy”.

I effectively bashed two kits: one is the excellent 1:72 early Tiger B from Dragon, the other is Roden’s Soviet IS-3 tank – also very nice, even though the styrene is somewhat brittle.

My biggest fear was the running gear – combining the IS-3 hull with the Tiger B’s totally different legs scared me a lot – until I found that the parts from both kits (the Tiger B’s lower hull with all the suspension and the IS-3’s upper hull) could be combined rather easily combined. Just some cuts and improvised intersections, and the “new” tank hull was done!

As a side effect, the huge turret moved forward, and this considerably changes the silhouette. The IS-3’s opening had only to be widened slightly in order to accept the Porsche turret. Things matched up pretty well, also concerning size and proportions.

Otherwise, not much was changed. All wheels and tracks come from the Trumpeter Tiger B, the turret was also borrowed wholesale. I just changed some details (e. g. moving the spare track elements to the hull front), added some handles and also a heavy AA machine gun on the commander’s cupola, which is OOB, too.

Too simple? Well, for me it was not enough. For a more personal edge to the kit I decided to add Thoma skirts! Not the massive 5mm plates you frequently see on late Panzer IV tanks and its derivatives, rather the mesh type – lighter, less material-consuming, and a very special detail.

These were scratched. There are PE sets available, but that was too expensive and I was not certain if such items would fit in shape and size? So I made a cardboard template for the flanks and built a pair of skirts from styrene strips and a fine PET mesh that I had salvaged from a wallet long time ago.

The stuff is hard to glue onto something, so the styrene frame had to carry the mesh parts – and it works! The attachments to the hull were also scratched from styrene.

The Thoma shields add more width to the flat tank, but I think that they set the kit even more apart than just the borrowed IS-3 hull?

Painting and markings:

Hmmm, not totally happy with the finish. This was supposed to become a simple Hinterhalt (Ambush) paint scheme in Dark Yellow, Olive Green and Red Brown, but I did so much weathering that not much from the scheme can be recognized…

Painting was straightforward, though – I used Humbrol 94 and 173 as well as Modelmaster’s RAL 6003 as basic colors. The scheme’s benchmark is the official Tiger B scheme.

The basic colors received mottles in green on the yellow and yellow on the green and brown, and then the thing was thoroughly weathered with a black ink wash, dry-brushing, some aquarelle paint to simulate dust, and finally some pigments that simulate mud.

The tracks are made from soft vinyl, and also received a paint treatment in order to get rid of that shiny vinyl look: at first, with a mix of black and silver, which was immediately wiped off again, and later with a second, similar turn with silver and dark brown.

The mud was added just before the whole running gear was mounted as one of the final assembly stages, and final retouches were made with acrylic umbra paint.

Alas, I think I overdid it – much of the formidable and very attractive paint scheme was lost, even though the yucky, brownish finish now also works fine and looks like rough duty?

So, an experiment with good and bad results. Certainly not the last whif tank (at least one more on the agenda), and after so many aircraft a new kind of challenge. ^^

June 2014

Illustration of The Armed Man composed by Karl Jenkins

June 2014

Illustration of The Armed Man composed by Karl Jenkins

SECTION 1: L'Homme Arme

This piece is based on the 15th century French Renaissance song of the same title. It is thought to have been composed for the lead up to a new crusade against the Turks. It roughly translates to ‘The man, the man, the armed man, the armed man, the armed man should be feared, should be feared. Everywhere it has been proclaimed, that each man shall arm himself, with a coat of iron mail.’ As chainmail is so heavily referenced, I decided to start with this. I went to the National Army Museum in Chelsea and looked at different kinds of uniform and armour, but found most of it was too contemporary for this piece, although much of it was of use for later sections of the scroll. I then went to the Wallace Collection, also in London, and looked particularly at the European armour and chainmail. I drew some examples and wrote notes about which types were particularly useful for the design I wanted to create, so I looked at the 4-1 method of chainmail manufacture, as it was used closest to the time of the song, and also looks aesthetically pleasing. From the 14th century onwards, rivets were used so that the structure of the mail is strong, enabling it to stand the blows of swords and arrows. The repetitive structure of the chainmail links well to the music, as it is a repeated melody. The actual score of the music has repeated motifs, the notes are equidistant and follow a pattern. This instantly made me look into print making, in order to achieve the effect of chainmail and demonstrate my understanding of rhythm in the composition and the music. I also looked into Morse code as this is a typical ‘language’ associated with warfare. However, I found that circles of chainmail was more effective to use when printing. I measured my section of the scroll and found that in order to have a successful pattern, I needed to have each circle roughly 1 inch diameter and a half drop pattern, fitting in with the 4-1 pattern of chainmail. I also used imagery from a famous World War One photograph, showing exhausted soldiers walking in a line. I chose to show just their silhouettes, and to rip the paper to show the damage war has inflicted on them, and to contrast with the cleaner prints of the chainmail.

SECTION 2: Adhaan

This piece is the Islamic call to prayer, or Adhaan, sang by a Muezzin soloist. My choir performed this in a church, which gave an interesting contrast to the traditional Christian architecture and imagery, by having this beautiful Arabic voice praising Allah. I went to the V&A museum in London to look at the screens and tiles on display, focusing mainly on geometric repeating patterns. I happened to discover the Jameel Prize exhibition on my way out, which is a collection of modern Islamic art, often inspired by more traditional pieces. One piece was an installation looking at a prayer’s soundwaves, and how the sound looks when printed out. Another looked like a huge, moving machine made up of many different pieces of calligraphy arranged in circles. I found these pieces extremely influential to my work, and used both traditional and contemporary research to develop my own pattern and design for this section. Also, in the summer, I went to an exhibition in Amsterdam on Escher and his works relationship with Islamic art. I found one particular screen that I felt captured the essence of war; the pattern is beautiful, yet the shape used could be seen as an axe, a hammer or another weapon. I tried to replicate the pattern using graph paper, like Islamic architects used when designing their patterns, then used stencil card, string blocks and tracing paper to transfer the design onto the scroll. I also used a photo of a typical Islamic skyline to break up the pattern, and give a border to the two tones used; a sandy earth colour, and grey scale.

SECTION 3: Kyrie

Kyrie refers to a lamp lighting ceremony in Jerusalem, so I decided to look at effects of dark and light in contrast. I used ink, paint and charcoal for the dark, and wax, paint and bleach for the light. It reminded me of a quote from Anne Frank, ‘look how this candle both defies and defines the darkness’, which I thought summarises this section perfectly. You cannot have light without dark, just as you cannot have peace without war. This piece is probably the most influenced by my mark making drawings of the music. The direction for the piece is ‘compassionate, pitying’, and I wanted to reflect this in my work. ‘Kyrie eleison’ (lord, have mercy) is the main repeated phrase, which I found had a particular set of marks in my drawing, so I used these lines to represent each time the phrase is sang. When at the V&A I noticed a display highlighting the similarities in a sun motif between a catholic priests robe and an Islamic pattern. I wanted to show that my motif was similar to written Arabic, particularly to the call of prayer. This links Islam and Catholicism in my work, also as the two sections are next to each other. Impressionism was the style I was aiming to reference, as the music is blurred and beautiful, and I wanted to suggest a feeling, rather than state one. Debussy’s view on impressionist music supports my ideas, as he used chords for the colours, and harmonies for tone. Music and art are the same thing, just using different words.

SECTION 4: Save Me From Bloody Men

This piece uses text from the Book of Psalms, documenting a plea for God’s help. The piece is sung in the style of a Gregorian Chant, so all male voices (TB) and no orchestra. It is extremely powerful and sounds incredible in a church, as it echoes and creates a feeling of menace and foreboding. The percussion beat at the end made a lot of people jump when we performed it, as it’s incredibly loud and sudden, like a gunshot. I wanted to focus on this key moment, so I looked at William Klein’s Tokyo series of a boxer punching a wall with paint. I wanted to recreate this violence, so made myself a boxing/paint brush, and experimented by listening to the track and punching the wall on the drum beat. I used lots of paint on the glove to give a spattering effect, to show the echo of the music, but also of war. War is not a single clean battle, it is the echoes of conflict that continue the destruction. I used my mark making to describe the voices singing, and found that sharp lines and square shapes worked best for the rich, low tone of the music. It also reminded me of morse code, so I combined some words in code into the marks. I wanted to find a way of incorporating the punch, so I used fragile tissue paper as an overlay. This is in contrast to the strong, thick lines and large punch mark.

SECTION 5: Sanctus

This piece is also a part of the traditional Catholic mass, but uses a repeating bass line of ‘Sanctus’ (Holy) as a beat, giving it an ever more sinister and menacing feel as the music goes on. For this reason, I decided to use red paint sparingly at the left side, then more frequently and finally culminating in a frenzy of slashes and spatters. To reference the Catholic roots, I decided to observe church spires, both locally and worldwide, as traditionally these were very high to link God and the congregation, or heaven and earth. This also links to the line ‘Hosannah in excelsis’ which is sudden, loud and high pitched, especially in the part I sing as I am a first soprano. I used very careful observations of church spires and towers to the left, then gradually getting more fractured and shattered as the piece goes on. Both the music and art get steadily more sinister and abstract, giving a sense of unease to the viewer, and suggesting that battle is imminent.

SECTION 6: Hymn Before Action

The text from this piece is taken from the first two stanzas of Rudyard Kiplings poem of the same title. The words conjure a lot of imagery surrounding war, preparing for battle and patriarchy. The last line, ‘lord grant us strength to die’ is repeated three times, highlighting the plea and linking to the previous piece, ‘Save Us From Bloody Men’. I have been inspired by ‘The Book Thief’ by Markus Zusak, in which Death, the narrator, describes his experience of war. This book has been very influential, as its descriptions use colour and strong imagery to describe war, rather than conventional writing techniques, for example, ‘A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spat blues. Murky darknesses. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them. ‘ I wanted my work to give a similar effect; not using figurative studies, instead creating a feeling using colours and shapes. I went to the Wallace Collection and looked at mostly Iranian, Indian and European daggers and swords, both functional and ceremonial. I drew some of these, and found the detail used on these horrific weapons to be incredibly intricate, which caused a juxtaposition of creation and destruction on the same object. There was even a gun, beautifully carved with inlay of gold, pearl and coral, which had a small detail on the barrel of a couple having sexual intercourse. I felt this shocking contrast was important to explore in my work, so experimented by using destructive techniques to create art. Destruction is creation. After all, a drawing is a destroyed pencil and paper. I used a white background of acrylic paint to give a base to this section, as I wanted a greater contrast between black and white, war and peace. I simplified the intricate swords into simpler shapes suitable for printing, and cut stencils. I used black and crimson to symbolise blood, giving the viewer a sense of foreboding about the next section.\

SECTION 7: Charge!

I chose to use this piece of music for my final piece because it is central to the message of the music. It is the 7th in 13 songs, so in the middle, and is also the longest and most dramatic. It covers the lead up to battle, preparations and arming, and then the charge, increasing in tempo and volume until 8 drum beats, then a crescendo of screaming. The direction in the music score has no notes; just a written description, ‘sing any notes and randomly gliss. up & down until ‘J’, then hold. Breathe individually as necessary. Convey horror.’ Jenkins culminates this section with an ffff direction for all voices and instruments- very very loud. Then, a roughly 30 second long silence gives time for the audience to reflect, and the echoes to die down. A lone bugler plays ‘The Last Post’ offstage. I left a large space of blank wood to symbolise the silence, then interpreted The Last Post into small black marks around the edge.The other side features camouflage typically used by the French in the Somme in the First World War. Continuing on this theme, I researched the trenches and incorporated a map of Flanders into the left side. This emotionally harrowing piece struck me as something that was not contained in the bounds of the scroll, and therefore I decided to use a larger piece to convey the emotion, horror and overall power that this piece has. I chose a circle because it remarks on the fact that war and peace are a never ending cycle, and that you cannot have one without the other. I also wanted it to look similar to some of the weapons I have been researching, chiefly the shields in the Wallace collection. I noticed that a great deal of them had large spikes pushing out from the centre. From the side, these were sharp and but not particularly menacing; yet from the front on, it seemed that the spike was coming directly at you, giving an extremely threatening feel. I wanted to recreate this feeling of terror when something is advancing straight for you, and so made my own spike for the centre of my shield. I chose a particular shape when creating it, to reference how a crescendo is written in music (<) as this piece continually gets louder towards the climax. I experimented with the Ready Morse method typography to write ‘Charge’ on the spike, and used photograms to capture it. I felt this was appropriate because a photogram switches black and white, light and dark, just as war turns everything on its head. I want the viewer to feel frightened, confused and like they are in the middle of the conflict. For this reason, I chose to incorporate a broken mirror into my design, as the viewer will move along the scroll, feeling somewhat separate from the action, as none of this horror happened in their life. Then, at eye level, a broken mirror puts them directly inside the artwork, and they see that anyone can be affected by war. I broke it because I wanted to explore violence in creation, and the act of smashing something creates a new effect. It also means that the viewer may not initially recognise themselves in the reflection, as they are distorted and manipulated, similar to wars effect on people and nature. Broken mirrors were also used by a group of rebel fighters, The West Side Boys, in the Sierra Leone conflict. They used the mirrors to deflect attention from their positions and confuse the enemy. Additionally, I want to remind people that war is not something separate to humans; it is started, fought and ended by us. Yet the effects of war render us dehumanised. As Death, the narrator of The Book Thief remarks, ‘A small but noteworthy note. I've seen so many young men over the years who think they're running at other young men. They are not. They are running at me.’

SECTION 8: Angry Flames

Angry flames was written by Sankichi Toge, who survived the Hiroshima bombings. It documents the destruction he saw, and his feelings. I have always been interested in photojournalism, particularly work by Don McCullin, so decided to research more photos like his. I focused mainly on black and white ones, and most importantly, images that told a story. I compiled all these images using pinterest (www.pinterest.com/pshelleysmith/the-armed-man/ ) and used emulsion printing to capture these on my scroll. This printing technique symbolises the strange effect that the atomic blast had on humans; it would cast a sort of black shadow of their form onto the ground, wherever they fell, as the heat of the explosion was so great. I chose to use white paint to capture the images to contrast with this horrific phenomenon, photographs of this can be seen on my pinterest board. I then used charcoal, as it is burnt wood, to draw a mushroom cloud over the images, and chalk to create highlights. When standing back, the full mushroom cloud is visible, and when up close, the photographs come into focus. This is similar to how the bomb was created; it was designed to destruct, but the true horror is only visible when up close. Photojournalism is the bridge between the victims and the public, just as my work is a bridge between music and art. I also wanted the photos incorporated in my piece to create a sort of memorial to the suffering that was endured in the lead up to each photo, during, and afterwards; not just the subject of the photo but also the photographer, who is often forgotten. A great many journalists risk and sometimes lose their lives to report on conflict.

SECTION 9: Torches

This piece has text taken from the Mahabharata, an Indian epic narrative thought to date back to 400BC. It is the longest poem ever written, and documents the conflict of the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pandava princes. This particular section describes animals and humans fleeing from a fire. At the Wallace Collection, I looked at a great deal of armour, particularly European. The helmets were intimidating and dehumanising, showing only a glimpse of eyes beneath a towering mass of metal. They were often distorted and given sharp points and exaggerated features to scare the enemy. Horses were also concealed in this way, given horns or tusks perhaps as weapons, or just decoration. I read poetry documenting the First World War, particularly poems by Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. One poem, Mental Cases, compares the soldiers to animals, ‘Drooping tongues from jaws that slob their relish, Baring teeth that leer like skulls' tongues wicked’ I found this poem extremely powerful and hard hitting, as it shows that war is not a human affair. Therefore I developed unhuman, monstrous creatures to show a more abstract vision of war and destruction, inspired by the helmets, poems and work by Francis Bacon. Another piece that influenced this decision is Guernica by Picasso. The scale of the work is colossal, and must be intimidating to view. I wanted to capture this feeling of discomfort when viewing something truly horrific. I again used charcoal, as it is living flesh destroyed by fire. The majority of this piece of music seems fairly bland in comparison to the other sections; it uses a fairly regular rhythm, and emphasises a few of the phrases, with alto and soprano dominant and occasional use of all four parts. However, at the end, percussion and an ff direction causes the repetition of ‘torches’ to shock the audience. In a way, the slow, chanting rhythm of the rest of the piece bares a contrast to these last few bars, and makes it seem more horrific. A Hindu method of storytelling is to remain completely detached from the story, and let the words speak for themselves. Perhaps Jenkins was using this technique to emphasise the horror.

SECTION 10: Agnus Dei

This piece is also based on the traditional catholic mass, where Agnus Dei translates to ‘Lamb of God’. I decided to look at influential figures and words of war, from both sides as it were, so ranging from Hitler to Anne Frank, Gandhi, Churchill, J.F. Kennedy, protesters boards, Wilfred Owen, Vera Brittain, many other war poems, songs, films and books, and even biblical passages. I separated these by having the more destructive, pro war quotes on the left, towards the destruction, and the positive, pacifist ones on the right. I see this section of music as the turning point in the piece, as it begins to introduce a more positive sound, and soft, lilting melody. It reminded me of rivers or the sea, and the marks I made while listening to it also had this look of ripples and swirls. Therefore, I grouped the text in a similar way, sketching out first then filling in the quotes. They do not all read perfectly in order, as I chose to mix them up slightly. This has the effect of showing that after war, even though the right intentions are there, the world is forever in turmoil, and the order of peace cannot be restored.

SECTION 11: Now The Guns Have Stopped

The lyrics of this piece were written by Guy Wilson, the master of the Royal Armouries museum, as part of a display on the guilt that was felt by surviving soldiers of WW1. It reminded me of the poetry I had studied from the First World War, and I decided to find out more about this time. I researched uniforms, cap badges, gas masks and memoirs, particularly English ones about guilt and grief. I felt the most powerful imagery of this time was the mass graves in France and Belgium, the rows of white crosses. I decided to draw these recognisable symbols, but do so in a style that was rough and free, rather than perfectly measured crosses. I experimented ways of creating these iconic crosses using a variety of media; I used masking tape, masking fluid and wax to leave areas white, and then a black ink wash, and finally white acrylic paint and bleach to reveal sections. The bleach reacted with the paint to give a rusty red colour, reminding the viewer of blood. The dark ink gives a stark contrast to the sections either side of it, and makes the crosses seem even brighter. Appropriately, this is the 11th section of the music and my artwork.

SECTION 12: Benedictus

This piece starts with a long and stunningly beautiful cello solo, with a repeating melody that the choir sings later. However, it also has a sad undertone, specifically when the choir sings ‘Hosanna in Excelsis’. I went to a talk hosted by the Royal British Legion to draw, which had three speakers; a Naval officer from the Cold War, an intelligence worker responsible for electronic CSAR units (combat search and rescue) used from the Vietnamese war up to today’s conflict in Afghanistan. The last speaker impacted me the most, as he was a rear gunner in the RAF. He was 94, yet stood for the duration of his speech, and told many jokes, despite his difficult subject matter. He described his training and first operations, and how he signed up; he went to the registry office, gave his true age, 17, to the officer. The officer told him to walk outside and try again. He came back, said he was 19, and was immediately accepted. I drew him as he spoke, and the sketch that is most poignant in my opinion is the one when he was speaking about the death of his childhood best friend, and his feeling of guilt that he would come home to his family, while at his friend’s house, there would be a feeling of emptiness. His eyes started to water at this point, even after 70 odd years. I felt my drawing captured the beauty and sadness of this piece, and so scaled up and developed the sketch for the final draft of the scroll.

SECTION 13: Better Is Peace

The final piece is a reprise of L’Homme Armé, but is in a major key, giving a more positive sound. The lyrics are sometimes replaced with ‘better is peace than always war’, and the piece is sung by soloists and choir SATB. I chose to look at traditional symbols of peace, particularly the dove, as this is used as the album artwork and on posters relating to the music. I looked at symbolism of birds flying upwards to indicate peace, positivity and happiness, and a bird flying down being a bad omen for war, death and destruction. I therefore decided to draw birds. Unfortunately, while I was studying birds, perhaps as another strange moment of fate, my mum ran over a pure white pigeon (by accident). We took it home and I photographed and drew this beautiful and tragic creature, and developed my idea of having two birds in the image; one to the left, dead and seemingly flying down, to indicate the death and destruction that my piece has journeyed through, and a second bird to the right, flying upwards in a burst of light to symbolise the new hope for peace expressed through the lyrics. Between the two, I decided to give a reprise of the chainmail print from the first section, like the reprise in the music, but this time printed using very light grey and pure white. Additionally, I included the marks I made when listening to the piece, this time done in a white oily pencil. The second part of this piece, ‘God shall wipe away all tears…’ strips back the orchestra for the choir to sing a capella in beautiful harmonies. For our performance, the orchestra joined in to sing with us. In the music score, there is an optional solo part at the very end of this piece for the soprano soloist. The official The Armed Man CD does not include this last note, but in our performance, the soloist decided to do it. It is right at the very end, when all other parts gradually fall into a beautiful harmony, one voice soars above the rest, a very pure and high note. This reminded me of the dove flying upwards, and I wanted to recreate this ascent, perhaps to heaven, to peace, and to hope.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

Some background:

The Panther tank, officially Panzerkampfwagen V Panther (abbreviated PzKpfw V) with ordnance inventory designation Sd.Kfz. 171, was a German medium tank of World War II. It was used on the Eastern and Western Fronts from mid-1943 to the end of the war. The Panther was intended to counter the Soviet T-34 medium tank and to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV. Nevertheless, it served alongside the Panzer IV and the heavier Tiger I until the end of the war. It is considered one of the best tanks of World War II for its excellent firepower, protection, and mobility although its reliability in early times were less impressive.

The Panther was a compromise. While having essentially the same Maybach V12 petrol (700 hp) engine as the Tiger I, it had better gun penetration, was lighter and faster, and could traverse rough terrain better than the Tiger I. The trade-off was weaker side armor, which made it vulnerable to flanking fire. The Panther proved to be effective in open country and long-range engagements.

Between 1964-1973 the USSR rebuilt the entire Syrian military from the ground up, reorganizing it along Warsaw Pact lines and equipping it with gear strictly of Soviet origin. There was no place for ex-Wehrmacht tanks and in any case, Czechoslovakia had ended spares & ammo support for the Panzer IV and the Panthers, so the types had no future. The surviving tanks were scrapped in Syria, except for a single Panzer IV survivor sold to a collector in Jordan.

Specifications:

Crew: Five (commander, gunner, loader, driver, radio operator)

Weight: 50 tonnes (55.1 long tons; 45.5 short tons)

Length: 6.87 m (22 ft 6 in) hull only

7.52 m (24 ft 7¾ in) overall with gun facing forward

Width: 3.42 m (11 ft 3 in) hull only

3,70 m (12 ft 1¾ in) with retrofitted side skirts

Height: 2.99 m (9 ft 10 in)’

Ground clearance: 56 cm (22 in)

Suspension: Double torsion bar, interleaved road wheels

Fuel capacity: 720 liters (160 imp gal; 190 US gal),

some Syrian Panthers carried two additional external 200 l fuel drums

Armor:

15–80 mm (0.6 – 3.93 in)

Performance:

Maximum road speed: 56 km/h (35 mph)

Operational range: 250 km (160 mi) on roads; 450 km (280 mi)with auxiliary fuel tanks

100 km (62 mi) cross-country

Power/weight: 14 PS (10.1 kW)/tonne (12.7 hp/ton)

Engine & transmission:

Maybach HL230 V-12 gasoline engine with 700 PS (690 hp, 515 kW)

ZF AK 7-200 gearbox with 7 forward 1 reverse gear

Armament:

1× 7,5 cm KwK 40 (L/48) with 87 rounds

2× 7.92 mm MG 34 or 42, or similar machine guns;

one co-axial with the main gun, another in the front glacis plate

with a total of 5.100 rounds (not always mounted)

Provision for a 12.7 mm DShK or Breda anti-aircraft machine gun on the commander cupola

The kit and its assembly:

A rather exotic what-if model, even though it’s almost built OOB. Inspiration came when I stumbled upon the weird Syrian Panzer IVs that were operated against Israel during the Six Day War – vehicles you would not expect there, and after more than 20 years after WWII. But when I did some more research, I was surprised about the numbers and the variety of former German tanks that Syria had gathered from various European countries, and it made me wonder if the Panther could not have been among this shaggy fleet, too?

I had a surplus Dragon Panther Spähpanzer in The Stash™, to be correct a “PzBeobWg V Ausf. G”, an observation and artillery fire guidance conversion that actually existed in small numbers, and I decided to use it as basis for this odd project. The Dragon kit has some peculiarities, though: its hull is made from primed white metal and consists of an upper and lower half that are held together by small screws! An ambiguous design, because the parts do not fit as good as IP parts, so that the model has a slightly die-cast-ish aura. PSR is necessary at the seams, but due to the metal it’s not easy to do. Furthermore, you have to use superglue everywhere, just as on a resin kit. On the other side, surface details are finely molded and crisp, even though many bits have to be added manually. However, the molded metal pins that hold the wheels are very robust and relatively thin – a feature I exploited for a modified running gear (see below).

For the modified Panther in my mind I had to retrograde the turret back to a late standard turret with mantlet parts left over from a Hasegawa kit – they fitted perfectly! The PzBeobWg V only comes with a stubby gun barrel dummy. But I changed the armament, anyway, and implanted an aftermarket white metal and brass KwK 40 L48, the weapon carried by all Syrian Panzer IVs, the Jagdpanzer IVs as well as the StuG IIIs. This standardization would IMHO make sense, even if it meant a performance downgrade from the original, longer KwK 42 L70.

For a Syrian touch, inspired by installations on the Panzer IVs, I added a mount for a heavy DShK machine gun on the commander’s cupola, which is a resin aftermarket kit from Armory Models Group (a kit that consists of no less than five fiddly parts for just a tiny machine gun!).

To change and modernize the Panther’s look further, I gave it side skirts, leftover from a ModelCollect T-72 kit, which had to be modified only slightly to fit onto the molded side skirt consoles on the Panther’s metal hull. A further late addition were the fuel barrels from a Trumpeter T-54 kit that I stumbled upon when I looked for the skirts among my pile of tank donor parts. Even though they look like foreign matter on the Panther’s tail, their high position is plausible and similar to the original arrangement on many Soviet post-WWII tanks. The whip antennae on turret and hull were created with heated black sprue material.

As a modern feature and to change the Panther’s overall look even more, I replaced its original solid “dish” road wheels with T-54/55 “starfish” wheels, which were frequently retrofitted to T-34-85s during the Fifties. These very fine aftermarket resin parts (all real-world openings are actually open, and there’s only little flash!) came from OKB Grigorovich from Bulgaria. The selling point behind this idea is/was that the Panther and T-54/55 wheels have almost the same diameter: in real life it’s 860 vs. 830 mm, so that the difference in 1:72 is negligible. Beneficially, the aftermarket wheels came in two halves, and these were thin enough to replace the Panther’s interleaved wheels without major depth problems.

Adapting the parts to the totally different wheel arrangement was tricky, though, especially due to the Dragon kit’s one-piece white metal chassis that makes any mods difficult. My solution: I retained the inner solid wheels from the Panther (since they are hardly visible in the “3rd row”), plus four pairs of T-54/55 wheels for the outer, more rows of interleaved wheels. The “inner” T-54/55 wheel halves were turned around, received holes to fit onto the metal suspension pins and scratched hub covers. The “outside” halves were taken as is but received 2 mm spacer sleeves on their back sides (styrene tube) for proper depth and simply to improve their hold on the small and rounded metal pin tips. This stunt worked better than expected and looks really good, too!

Painting and markings:

Basically very simple, and I used pictures of real Syrian Panzer IVs as benchmark. I settled for the common green livery variant, and though simple and uniform, I tried to add some “excitement” to it and attempted to make old paint shine through. The hull’s lower surface areas were first primed with RAL 7008 (Khakigrau, a rather brownish tone), then the upper surfaces were sprayed with a lighter sand brown tone, both applied from rattle cans.

On top of that, a streaky mix of Revell 45 and 46 – a guesstimate for the typical Syrian greyish, rather pale olive drab tone - was thinly applied with a soft, flat brush, so that the brownish tones underneath would shine through occasionally. Once dry, the layered/weathered effect was further emphasized through careful vertical wet-sanding and rubbing on all surfaces with a soft cotton cloth.

The rubber side skirts were painted with an anthracite base and the dry-brushed with light grey and beige.

The model then received an overall washing with a highly thinned mix of grey and dark brown acrylic artist paint. The vinyl tracks (as well as the IP spare track links on the hull) were painted, too, with a mix of grey, red brown and iron, all acrylic paints, too, that do not interact chemically with the soft vinyl.

The decals/markings are minimal; the Arabian scribble on the turret (must be a name?), using the picture of a Syrian Panzer IV as benchmark, was painted in white by hand, as well as the white circle on the turret roof. The orange ID triangles are a nice contrast, even though I was not able to come up with real-life visual evidence for them. I just found a color picture of a burned T-34-85 wreck with them, suggesting that the color was a dull orange red and not florescent orange, as claimed in some sources. I also found illustrations of the triangles as part of 1:35 decal sets for contemporary Syrian T-34-85s from FC Model Trend and Star Models, where they appear light red. For the model, they were eventually cut out from decal sheet material (TL-Modellbau, in a shade called “Rotorange”, what appears to be a good compromise).

Dry-brushing with light grey and beige to further emphasize edges and details followed. Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic vanish overall, and some additional very light extra dry-brushing with silver was done to simulate flaked paint. Dirt and rust residues were added here and there with watercolors. After final assembly, the lower areas of the model were furthermore powdered with mineral pigments to simulate dust.

The idea of a modernized WWII Panther: a simple idea that turned into a major conversion. With the resin DShK machine gun and T-54/55 wheel set the costs of this project escalated a little, but in hindsight I find that the different look and the mix of vintage German and modern Soviet elements provide this Panther with that odd touch that sets it apart from a simple paint/marking variation? I really like the outcome, and I think that the effort was worthwhile - this fictional Panther shoehorns well into its intended historical framework. :-D

Today in Ireland and in the US new regulations relating to drones has been introduced [effective from the 21st of December 2015]. There are many similarities in the regulations but there is one major differences in that here in Ireland they have not mention the penalties for failure to register but in the US the cost of failure to register appears to be rather extreme … “civil penalties up to $27,500, or criminal penalties up to 3 years in prison and $250,000.” According to the minister the aim here in Ireland is to encourage drone users to be responsible citizens.

I have included the press releases from both administrations, have a read and see what you think.

Thursday, 17th December 2015: The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) today announced a new drone regulation which includes the mandatory registration of all drones weighing 1kg or more from Monday, 21st December 2015.

The use of drones worldwide is expanding rapidly and there are estimated to be between 4,000 – 5,000 drones already in use in Ireland. Ireland has taken a proactive role in this fast emerging area and is currently one of only a handful of EU Member states that has legislation governing the use of drones.

The new legislation is intended to further enhance safety within Ireland and specifically addresses the safety challenges posed by drones.

From 21st December 2015, all drones weighing 1kg or more must be registered with the IAA via www.iaa.ie/drones. Drone registration is a simple two-step process. To register a drone, the registrant must be 16 years of age or older (Drones operated by those under 16 years of age must be registered by a parent or legal guardian). A nominal fee will apply from February 2016 but this has been initially waived by the IAA in order to encourage early registration.

Mr Ralph James, IAA Director of Safety Regulation, said

“Ireland is already recognised worldwide as a centre of excellence for civil aviation and the drone sector presents another major opportunity for Ireland. We’re closely working with industry to facilitate its successful development here. At the same time, safety is our top priority and we must ensure that drones are used in a safe way and that they do not interfere with all other forms of aviation.

Mr James explained that drone registration has been made a mandatory requirement as this will help the IAA to monitor the sector in the years ahead. The IAA encourages all drone operators to take part in training courses which are available through a number of approved drone training organisations.

“We would strongly encourage drone operators to register with us as quickly as possible, to complete a training course and to become aware of their responsibilities. People operating drones must do so in safe and responsible manner and in full compliance with the new regulations”, he said.

Welcoming the introduction of drone regulation, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe TD highlighted the importance of the new legislation and commended the IAA for the efficient manner to have the new registration system in place so quickly.

“The core safety message promoted today advocates the safe use of drones in civilian airspace. The development of drone technology brings opportunities as well as challenges for businesses and services in Ireland. I expect hundreds if not thousands of drones to be bought as presents this Christmas so getting the message to ensure that new owners and operators are aware of their responsibilities and the requirement to register all drones over 1 kg from 21st December 2015 is key. Tremendous potential exists for this sector and Ireland is at the forefront of its development. The speedy response by the IAA to this fast developing aviation area will make sure that drones are properly regulated and registered for use. As a result, Ireland is well placed to exploit the drone sector and to ensure industry growth in this area,” he said.

The new legislation prohibits users from operating their drones in an unsafe manner. This includes never operating a drone:

• if it will be a hazard to another aircraft in flight

• over an assembly of people

• farther than 300m from the operator

• within 120m of any person, vessel or structure not under the operator’s control

• closer than 5km from an aerodrome

• in a negligent or reckless manner so as to endanger life or property of others

• over 400ft (120m) above ground level

• over urban areas

• in civil of military controlled airspace

• in restricted areas (e.g. military installations, prisons, etc.)

• unless the operator has permission from the landowner for takeoff and landing.

For further information please visit www.iaa.ie/drones and see the IAA’s detailed Q&A sheet.

The Federal Aviation Administration has officially launched the drone registration program first reported in October. Drone operators are required to register their UAVs with the Unmanned Aircraft System registry starting December 21. Failure to register could result in criminal and civil penalties.

Under the new system, all aircraft must be registered with the FAA including those 'operated by modelers and hobbyists.' Once registered, drone operators must carry the registration certificate during operation. This new system only applies to drones weighing more than 0.55lbs/250g and less than 55lbs/25kg. The only exception to the registration requirement is indoor drone flights.

Required registration information includes a mailing address and physical address, email address, and full names; however, no information on the drone's make, model, or serial number is required from recreational users. Non-recreational users will need to provide drone information, including serial number, when that particular registration system goes live.

Failure to register could result in civil penalties up to $27,500, or criminal penalties up to 3 years in prison and $250,000. A $5 registration charge is applied, but will be refunded to those who register before January 20. The registration certificate is sent in an email to be printed at home.

Today in Ireland and in the US new regulations relating to drones has been introduced [effective from the 21st of December 2015]. There are many similarities in the regulations but there is one major differences in that here in Ireland they have not mention the penalties for failure to register but in the US the cost of failure to register appears to be rather extreme … “civil penalties up to $27,500, or criminal penalties up to 3 years in prison and $250,000.” According to the minister the aim here in Ireland is to encourage drone users to be responsible citizens.

I have included the press releases from both administrations, have a read and see what you think.

Thursday, 17th December 2015: The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) today announced a new drone regulation which includes the mandatory registration of all drones weighing 1kg or more from Monday, 21st December 2015.

The use of drones worldwide is expanding rapidly and there are estimated to be between 4,000 – 5,000 drones already in use in Ireland. Ireland has taken a proactive role in this fast emerging area and is currently one of only a handful of EU Member states that has legislation governing the use of drones.

The new legislation is intended to further enhance safety within Ireland and specifically addresses the safety challenges posed by drones.

From 21st December 2015, all drones weighing 1kg or more must be registered with the IAA via www.iaa.ie/drones. Drone registration is a simple two-step process. To register a drone, the registrant must be 16 years of age or older (Drones operated by those under 16 years of age must be registered by a parent or legal guardian). A nominal fee will apply from February 2016 but this has been initially waived by the IAA in order to encourage early registration.

Mr Ralph James, IAA Director of Safety Regulation, said

“Ireland is already recognised worldwide as a centre of excellence for civil aviation and the drone sector presents another major opportunity for Ireland. We’re closely working with industry to facilitate its successful development here. At the same time, safety is our top priority and we must ensure that drones are used in a safe way and that they do not interfere with all other forms of aviation.

Mr James explained that drone registration has been made a mandatory requirement as this will help the IAA to monitor the sector in the years ahead. The IAA encourages all drone operators to take part in training courses which are available through a number of approved drone training organisations.

“We would strongly encourage drone operators to register with us as quickly as possible, to complete a training course and to become aware of their responsibilities. People operating drones must do so in safe and responsible manner and in full compliance with the new regulations”, he said.

Welcoming the introduction of drone regulation, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe TD highlighted the importance of the new legislation and commended the IAA for the efficient manner to have the new registration system in place so quickly.

“The core safety message promoted today advocates the safe use of drones in civilian airspace. The development of drone technology brings opportunities as well as challenges for businesses and services in Ireland. I expect hundreds if not thousands of drones to be bought as presents this Christmas so getting the message to ensure that new owners and operators are aware of their responsibilities and the requirement to register all drones over 1 kg from 21st December 2015 is key. Tremendous potential exists for this sector and Ireland is at the forefront of its development. The speedy response by the IAA to this fast developing aviation area will make sure that drones are properly regulated and registered for use. As a result, Ireland is well placed to exploit the drone sector and to ensure industry growth in this area,” he said.

The new legislation prohibits users from operating their drones in an unsafe manner. This includes never operating a drone:

• if it will be a hazard to another aircraft in flight

• over an assembly of people

• farther than 300m from the operator

• within 120m of any person, vessel or structure not under the operator’s control

• closer than 5km from an aerodrome

• in a negligent or reckless manner so as to endanger life or property of others

• over 400ft (120m) above ground level

• over urban areas

• in civil of military controlled airspace

• in restricted areas (e.g. military installations, prisons, etc.)

• unless the operator has permission from the landowner for takeoff and landing.

For further information please visit www.iaa.ie/drones and see the IAA’s detailed Q&A sheet.

The Federal Aviation Administration has officially launched the drone registration program first reported in October. Drone operators are required to register their UAVs with the Unmanned Aircraft System registry starting December 21. Failure to register could result in criminal and civil penalties.

Under the new system, all aircraft must be registered with the FAA including those 'operated by modelers and hobbyists.' Once registered, drone operators must carry the registration certificate during operation. This new system only applies to drones weighing more than 0.55lbs/250g and less than 55lbs/25kg. The only exception to the registration requirement is indoor drone flights.

Required registration information includes a mailing address and physical address, email address, and full names; however, no information on the drone's make, model, or serial number is required from recreational users. Non-recreational users will need to provide drone information, including serial number, when that particular registration system goes live.

Failure to register could result in civil penalties up to $27,500, or criminal penalties up to 3 years in prison and $250,000. A $5 registration charge is applied, but will be refunded to those who register before January 20. The registration certificate is sent in an email to be printed at home.

Today in Ireland and in the US new regulations relating to drones has been introduced [effective from the 21st of December 2015]. There are many similarities in the regulations but there is one major differences in that here in Ireland they have not mention the penalties for failure to register but in the US the cost of failure to register appears to be rather extreme … “civil penalties up to $27,500, or criminal penalties up to 3 years in prison and $250,000.” According to the minister the aim here in Ireland is to encourage drone users to be responsible citizens.

I have included the press releases from both administrations, have a read and see what you think.

Thursday, 17th December 2015: The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) today announced a new drone regulation which includes the mandatory registration of all drones weighing 1kg or more from Monday, 21st December 2015.

The use of drones worldwide is expanding rapidly and there are estimated to be between 4,000 – 5,000 drones already in use in Ireland. Ireland has taken a proactive role in this fast emerging area and is currently one of only a handful of EU Member states that has legislation governing the use of drones.

The new legislation is intended to further enhance safety within Ireland and specifically addresses the safety challenges posed by drones.

From 21st December 2015, all drones weighing 1kg or more must be registered with the IAA via www.iaa.ie/drones. Drone registration is a simple two-step process. To register a drone, the registrant must be 16 years of age or older (Drones operated by those under 16 years of age must be registered by a parent or legal guardian). A nominal fee will apply from February 2016 but this has been initially waived by the IAA in order to encourage early registration.

Mr Ralph James, IAA Director of Safety Regulation, said

“Ireland is already recognised worldwide as a centre of excellence for civil aviation and the drone sector presents another major opportunity for Ireland. We’re closely working with industry to facilitate its successful development here. At the same time, safety is our top priority and we must ensure that drones are used in a safe way and that they do not interfere with all other forms of aviation.

Mr James explained that drone registration has been made a mandatory requirement as this will help the IAA to monitor the sector in the years ahead. The IAA encourages all drone operators to take part in training courses which are available through a number of approved drone training organisations.

“We would strongly encourage drone operators to register with us as quickly as possible, to complete a training course and to become aware of their responsibilities. People operating drones must do so in safe and responsible manner and in full compliance with the new regulations”, he said.

Welcoming the introduction of drone regulation, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe TD highlighted the importance of the new legislation and commended the IAA for the efficient manner to have the new registration system in place so quickly.

“The core safety message promoted today advocates the safe use of drones in civilian airspace. The development of drone technology brings opportunities as well as challenges for businesses and services in Ireland. I expect hundreds if not thousands of drones to be bought as presents this Christmas so getting the message to ensure that new owners and operators are aware of their responsibilities and the requirement to register all drones over 1 kg from 21st December 2015 is key. Tremendous potential exists for this sector and Ireland is at the forefront of its development. The speedy response by the IAA to this fast developing aviation area will make sure that drones are properly regulated and registered for use. As a result, Ireland is well placed to exploit the drone sector and to ensure industry growth in this area,” he said.

The new legislation prohibits users from operating their drones in an unsafe manner. This includes never operating a drone:

• if it will be a hazard to another aircraft in flight

• over an assembly of people

• farther than 300m from the operator

• within 120m of any person, vessel or structure not under the operator’s control

• closer than 5km from an aerodrome

• in a negligent or reckless manner so as to endanger life or property of others

• over 400ft (120m) above ground level

• over urban areas

• in civil of military controlled airspace

• in restricted areas (e.g. military installations, prisons, etc.)

• unless the operator has permission from the landowner for takeoff and landing.

For further information please visit www.iaa.ie/drones and see the IAA’s detailed Q&A sheet.

The Federal Aviation Administration has officially launched the drone registration program first reported in October. Drone operators are required to register their UAVs with the Unmanned Aircraft System registry starting December 21. Failure to register could result in criminal and civil penalties.

Under the new system, all aircraft must be registered with the FAA including those 'operated by modelers and hobbyists.' Once registered, drone operators must carry the registration certificate during operation. This new system only applies to drones weighing more than 0.55lbs/250g and less than 55lbs/25kg. The only exception to the registration requirement is indoor drone flights.

Required registration information includes a mailing address and physical address, email address, and full names; however, no information on the drone's make, model, or serial number is required from recreational users. Non-recreational users will need to provide drone information, including serial number, when that particular registration system goes live.

Failure to register could result in civil penalties up to $27,500, or criminal penalties up to 3 years in prison and $250,000. A $5 registration charge is applied, but will be refunded to those who register before January 20. The registration certificate is sent in an email to be printed at home.

Effective September 21, 2009, we accept non-hazardous aerosol cans. Examples include: whipped topping; spray cooking oil; deodorant; hair spray; shaving cream and caps.

Aerosol cans must be emptied before recycling.

On 3 December 2019, Her Excellency First Lady Jeannette Kagame along with African First Ladies & members of OAFLAD, the President of UNITAID - Marisol Touraine, the Country Director of Clinton Health Access Initiative - Ms Sidonie Uwimpuhwe, attended the "Effective Partnership for Cervical Cancer Prevention" event co-organised with the Ministry of Health and Imbuto Foundation.

The quarantine spells of the Coronavirus outbreak have proved to be very effective so far. This has not only cured patients that the spread of the virus in others has also reduced.

If you also feel the symptoms of the coronavirus, it is most important that you go to the nearest hospital and get examined and separate yourself till the test report comes.

It is not necessary for you to be isolated from the hospital or the government. You can also quarantine yourself at centers...Read more visit here: www.theworldguideline.com/coronavirus-outbreak-and-self-q...

The nave clerestories are glazed with a sequence of angelic figures (alternatingly robed in blue or red, an effective use of a limited palette) bearing symbolic elements of the Benedicite, the famous hymn in praise of Creation from the Book of Daniel, calling upon all the works of the Lord to give praise to Him. The windows were created by Hardman's (to the designs of John Hardman Powell) and installed in 1897 to commemorate Queen Victoria's jubilee year.

After I left college in 1996 I went to work for a stained glass studio in Redditch (Norgrove Studios) which was undertaking the restoration and releading of this entire scheme of clerestorey windows. It was thus the first major restoration project of stained glass that I worked on and I can still recall getting to know some of these individual angel figures quite intimately while dismantling and releading them in 1997-98.

Frustratingly no easy way could be found at the beginning of the work to remove the thick disfiguring coating of overpaint (applied as a darkening agent during wartime to subdue the penetration of light) thus it was suffered to remain for the remainder of the project, much to my regret. I hope some day it may yet be removed to allow the full beauty of these (and other) windows to be appreciated.

St Mary's is the parish church of the town of Kidderminster and a grand affair it is too, still mostly an early 16th century building of impressive proportions, its extraordinary length in particular. The tower is a major landmark on the northern edge of the town centre, though sadly the construction of the modern ring-road effectively cuts the church off completely from the rest of the town and it can only be reached via a rather uninviting subway beneath the dual-carriageway, thus it doesn't get the footfall it deserves.

The church is usually approached from the south and it is this aspect that makes the biggest impression, most noticeably for its handsome south-west tower and the richly glazed clerestories of the nave (which appears to be composed more of glass than wall), all fine examples of the late medieval Perpendicular style. The length of the building is remarkable as beyond the nave is not only a decent sized chancel but a further chapel to the east as well (an early 16th century chantry chapel, formerly detached but now more integrated and in use as a parish room). There has however been much restoration owing to the fragility of the grey and red sandstones used in the construction, and thus much of the external stonework was renewed in the Victorian period (when the south chapel and vestries connecting to the chantry chapel were added). On the north side of the chancel is a handsome memorial chapel added in the early decades of the 20th century.

Entry is via the porch in the base of the tower at the south-west corner, where the visitor is greeted by a vast interior space whose lighting is somewhat subdued (especially the chancel). the nave is a classic example of the Perpendicular style and of considerable width, culminating above in the bright clerestories and a flat wooden ceiling. There is much of interest to discover here, particularly the monuments which date from the 15th-17th centuries and include several fine tombs, the earliest being a graceful canopied tomb to a noblewoman in the south aisle and a large brass on the north side. The chancel has three more large tombs with recumbent effiges to members of the Cokesey and Blount families, the latter being of post-Reformation date.

Every window of the church is filled with stained glass, mostly of the Victorian period but much of it rather good. The most handsome window is the early 20th century window by Powell's over the main entrance and there is more glass by the same studio in the nave aisles whilst the nave clerestorey has an attractive sequence of angels holding symbols of the Benedicite by Hardmans' installed at the very end of the 19th century. My first encounter with this church was in the late 1990s when working as part of the team that releaded the entire scheme of windows in the nave clerestorey, thus I got to know these angels very well. Sadly however the glass throughout this church suffers from a disfiguring layer of varnish or shellac (applied as 'blackout' at the beginning of World War II and a substance known as 'speltek' according to someone I spoke to at the church). This was smeared over most windows with a rag (the impressions of which were apparent when we worked on the clerestorey windows) and is not easily removed, but small areas where it has detached show how much brightness has been lost while the windows suffocate under this darkening layer. I hope some day the right solvent can be found to remove this stuff with minimal risk to the glass.

Kidderminster's grand parish church rewards a visit and deserves more visitors than it currently receives. It isn't always open but in recent years prior to the pandemic was generally open for a few hours on most days during the summer months (though best to check times before planning a trip). Don't be put off by the seemingly impenetrable barrier of the ringroad, St Mary's is worth seeking out and the nice people who steward their church would I'm sure like to be able to welcome more people to this fine building.

www.worcesteranddudleyhistoricchurches.org.uk/index.php?p...

+++ 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:

Towards the end of WWII, the Swedish Army's main tank was the Stridsvagen 42. It was a medium tank, modern in design and it was also well protected and mobile. It fielded a 75 mm L/34 gun, the first of its size in a Swedish tank and entered service with the Swedish army in November 1941. As a neutral nation in World War II Sweden did not engage in combat; thus its tanks had no battlefield record. Between April 1943 to January 1945, 282 Strv 42s were delivered.

The Strv 50 served on until 1984, when it was phased out together with the Strv 74 and superseded by the Strv 103, the famous and unique, turret-less Swedish “S” tank.

Specifications:

Crew Four (commander, gunner, loader, driver)

Weight 35 tonnes

Length 6.03 metres (23 ft in) (hull only)

8,36 metres (27 ft 5 in) with gun forward

Width 2,95 metres (9 ft 6 in)

Height 2.49 metres (8 ft 1 1/2 in) w/o AA machine gun

Suspension: torsion-bar

Ground clearance: 495 to 510 mm (1 ft 7.5 in to 1 ft 8.1 in)

Fuel capacity: 820 l (180 imp gal; 220 US gal)

Armor:

10–64 mm (0.8 – 2.5 in)

Performance:

Speed:

- Maximum, road: 46 km/h (28.5 mph)

- Sustained, road: 40 km/h (25 mph)

- Cross country: 15 to 25 km/h (9.3 to 15.5 mph)

Operational range: 200 km (125 mi)

Power/weight: 17.14 hp/t

Engine:

VL 570 turbocharged V-8 diesel engine with 570 PS (420 kW)

Transmission:

ZF electromagnetic (6 forward and 2 reverse)

Armament:

1× 90 mm kanon strv 50 L55 with 58 rounds

1× co-axial 8mm ksp m/39 strv machine gun with 3.000 rounds

Optional, but rarely used, another 8mm ksp m/39 strv machine gun anti aircraft machine gun

The kit and its assembly:

Another entry for the “Cold War” Group Build at whatifmodelers.com, and, as a shocker, it’s not a fictional aircraft but a tank! I came across Sweden as an operator because the country tested some German tanks (bought from France) after WWII, including the Panzer V ‘Panther’. While I considered a Swedish Army Panther I eventually went for an indigenous design for the late 50ies – the Strv 50 was born.

The basis is a JGSDF Type 61 tank (Trumpeter kit), more or less the whole body and chassis were taken over. The turret is different/new, a mix of a late WWII M4 Sherman (‘Jumbo’) turret from Wee Friends (resin and white metal) coupled with a white metal gun barrel and some implants from the Type 61 tank like the commander’s cupola or the gun mantle.

The result is a rather generic tank with some retro appeal – like a big brother to the M24 Chaffee or M41 Walker Bulldog, or like a dramatically modernized M4 Sherman?

Painting and markings:

Benchmark were pictures of Swedish post-WWII 42 tanks, painted in a disruptive 3 color scheme of grayish green, black and a light, reddish tan. I used FS 34096, RAL 7021 and French Earth Brown (all Modelmaster enamels) as basic tones. In order to give the vehicle a post WWII look I painted the small wheel hub covers in bright red – a decorative detail inspired by British Army vehicles.

Later the surface received a dark brown wash and some dry-brushing with ochre and grey. After decals were applied (all from the scarp box: the Swedish flags come from a H0 scale Roco Minitanks UN units sheet, the numbers are actually German WWII font), the kits was sealed with matt acrylic varnish.

Finally, the tank was treated with grey and brown artist pigments, simulating dust especially around the lower chassis.