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For some people bantam chickens are seen as useless, from the fact that there is not very much to eat on a bantam that at best, would not exceed more than a pound in weight. However the bantam chicken has meat which is rich and delicate, and their eggs, though small, are truly delicious...well it doesn't apply to me exept for eggs
Bantams are often abandoned here in Taranaki, mostly Males..my guess this is a Male too who got chucked out and had to fight for itself..people friendly, everybody took a pic and he enjoyed that
This is my take on the beautiful 'lone tree' situated in Lake Wanaka. I shot this exposure over a few minutes and was shocked at how still the birds were in the tree. There was in fact a large moon in the sky that night so I decided to shoot the moon separately and add a little more impact to the image.
Carnaval Festival 20/05/2023 15h20
The Carnival Festival ride is split into twenty scenes, in which fifteen countries are portrayed through typical, clichéd features and changes in the arrangements of the music. The first three scenes are the Netherlands and the fourth is Belgium. The gondola makes a gentle turn to the left. The walls are covered with mirrors and colored balls hang in the air. Jokie sits on a fountain surrounded by Jet, a number of floating Belgian flags and bags of chips; in front of it a number of figures, including one with a brush moustache, a camera and a hat with an image of the Walloon rooster.
Carnaval Festival
Carnival Festival is a darkride in Reizenrijk. The attraction is a ride in a cart that, via the Omnimover system, transports visitors through the building, where cheerful scenes of different cultures of the world are portrayed through music, sets and around 275 dolls.
The spiritual father of the Carnival Festival is Joop Geesink, who devised and designed the attraction just before his death. The attraction, referred to in a 1984 advertisement by the Efteling as 'a life-size viewing box', is primarily nationally known for its music. The recognizable tune was created by Toon Hermans. Ruud Bos searched for the harmonies and notes and processed the main melody into various arrangements. Bos thus had his first collaboration with Efteling and remained the house composer of the park in the following fourteen years. Carnival Festival is the first time the park does not use existing music, but has it composed specially.
The ride is split into about twenty scenes, in which fifteen countries are portrayed through typical, clichéd features and changes in the arrangements of the music.
FACTS AND FIGURES
Opening: 01/06/1984
Location: Reizenrijk
Type: Darkride
Manufacturer: MACK Rides - Joop Geesink Studios
Renovations: 2005, 2012, 2019
Theme: Carnaval - Travelling
Music: Toon Hermans - Ruud Bos
Dolls: 275
Costs: 9 million guilders (4.5 million euros)
Speed: 1.8 km/h
Length: 240 meters
Duration: 8 minutes
Number of buggies: 118
Capacity: 1600 riders / hour
Just when the photo appear in explore as the number one of the 29th these number were on the stats:
666 Views
66 Comments
66 favorites
And my personal info:
My birthday is the 25th of December
Im 33 years old
Link to the original photo:
A full view of my main altar. This isn't for anything other then devotions, so I guess it could really be called a shrine, but I tend to think of shrines as sacred places dedicated to the worship and honor of one God or Goddess in particular. I do not use this altar for spell work on any kind of a regular basis, but as you can see, there are some spaces where spell work can be done. You may also note that I do not have any of the "regular" tools often associated with pagans or wiccans such as an athame, cauldron, chalice, etc... I do have all of those items, but they are on other altars or they are put away for when or if I need them. @:)
I purchased this table from the Christmas Tree shop and put it together myself. I love how it has a bottom shelf for my woven baskets. I use them for storage for any tools or candle holders that I may have need of for the altar. As this whole room is a library/ritual room, I have plenty of storage space everywhere. In fact many folks have said that this room has a combination witch cottage/pagan store feel to it.
Some of you may have noticed that, unfortunately, owing to the fact that a certain person who sells truck photos on eBay commercially has been lifting my images from this album and selling them I have had to remove 2300 photos that didn't have a watermark. I have now run around 1700 through Lightroom and added a watermark with the intention of bulk uploading them again. Rather than watermark the existing (hidden) files in Flickr one at a time it will be easier to do it this way. I definitely won’t be adding individual tags with the make and model of each vehicle I will just add generic transport tags. Each photo is named after the vehicle and reg in any case. For anyone new to these images there is a chapter and verse explanation below. It is staggering how many times I get asked questions that a quick scan would answer or just as likely I can’t possibly answer – I didn’t take them, but, just to clarify-I do own the copyright- and I do pursue copyright theft.
This is a collection of scanned prints from a collection of photographs taken by the late Jim Taylor A number of years ago I was offered a large number of photographs taken by Jim Taylor, a transport photographer based in Huddersfield. The collection, 30,000 prints, 20,000 negatives – and copyright! – had been offered to me and one of the national transport magazines previously by a friend of Jim's, on behalf of Jim's wife. I initially turned them down, already having over 30,000 of my own prints filed away and taking space up. Several months later the prints were still for sale – at what was, apparently, the going rate. It was a lot of money and I deliberated for quite a while before deciding to buy them. I did however buy them directly from Jim’s wife and she delivered them personally – just to quash the occasional rumour from people who can’t mind their own business. Although some prints were sold elsewhere, particularly the popular big fleet stuff, I should have the negatives, unfortunately they came to me in a random mix, 1200 to a box, without any sort of indexing and as such it would be impossible to match negatives to prints, or, to even find a print of any particular vehicle. I have only ever looked at a handful myself unless I am scanning them. The prints are generally in excellent condition and I initially stored them in a bedroom without ever looking at any of them. In 2006 I built an extension and they had to be well protected from dust and moved a few times. Ultimately my former 6x7 box room office has become their (and my own work’s) permanent home.
I hope to avoid posting images that Jim had not taken his self, however should I inadvertently infringe another photographers copyright, please inform me by email and I will resolve the issue immediately. There are copyright issues with some of the photographs that were sold to me. A Flickr member from Scotland drew my attention to some of his own work amongst the first uploads of Jim’s work. I had a quick look through some of the 30 boxes of prints and decided that for the time being the safest thing for me to do was withdraw the majority of the earlier uploaded scans and deal with the problem – which I did. whilst the vast majority of the prints are Jims, there is a problem defining copyright of some of them, this is something that the seller did not make clear at the time. I am reasonably confident that I have since been successful in identifying Jims own work. His early work consists of many thousands of lustre 6x4 prints which are difficult to scan well, later work is almost entirely 7x5 glossy, much easier to scan. Not all of the prints are pin sharp but I can generally print successfully to A4 from a scan.
You may notice photographs being duplicated in this Album, unfortunately there are multiple copies of many prints (for swapping) and as I have to have a system of archiving and backing up I can only guess - using memory - if I have scanned a print before. The bigger fleets have so many similar vehicles and registration numbers that it is impossible to get it right all of the time. It is easier to scan and process a print than check my files - on three different PC’s - for duplicates. There has not been, nor will there ever be, any intention to knowingly breach anyone else's copyright. I have presented the Jim Taylor collection as exactly that-The Jim Taylor Collection- his work not mine, my own work is quite obviously mine.
Unfortunately, many truck spotters have swapped and traded their work without copyright marking it as theirs. These people never anticipated the ease with which images would be shared online in the future. I would guess that having swapped and traded photos for many years that it is almost impossible to control their future use. Anyone wanting to control the future use of their work would have been well advised to copyright mark their work (as many did) and would be well advised not to post them on photo sharing sites without a watermark as the whole point of these sites is to share the image, it is very easy for those that wish, to lift any image, despite security settings, indeed, Flickr itself, warns you that this is the case. It was this abuse and theft of my material that led me to watermark all of my later uploads. I may yet withdraw non-watermarked photos, I haven’t decided yet. (I did in the end)
To anyone reading the above it will be quite obvious that I can’t provide information regarding specific photos or potential future uploads – I didn’t take them! There are many vehicles that were well known to me as Jim only lived down the road from me (although I didn’t know him), however scanning, titling, tagging and uploading is laborious and time consuming enough, I do however provide a fair amount of information with my own transport (and other) photos. I am aware that there are requests from other Flickr users that are unanswered, I stumble across them months or years after they were posted, this isn’t deliberate. Some weekends one or two “enthusiasts” can add many hundreds of photos as favourites, this pushes requests that are in the comments section ten or twenty pages out of sight and I miss them. I also have notifications switched off, I receive around 50 emails a day through work and I don’t want even more from Flickr. Other requests, like many other things, I just plain forget – no excuses! Uploads of Jim’s photos will be infrequent as it is a boring pastime and I would much rather work on my own output.
"Now girls, I say, I'm telling you the natural facts,
'Cause finding a good man, girls, is like finding a needle in a haystack."
The velvelettes sing this.. here!
(I love girl groups from the 1960s!)
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the model, the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
In the aftermath of the Second World War, Sweden required a strong air defense, utilizing the newly developed jet propulsion technology. This led to a pair of proposals being issued by the Saab design team, led by Lars Brising. The first of these, codenamed R101, was a cigar-shaped aircraft, which bore a resemblance to the American Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. The second design, which would later be picked as the winner, was a barrel-shaped design, codenamed R 1001, which proved to be both faster and more agile upon closer study.
The original R 1001 concept had been designed around a mostly straight wing, but after Swedish engineers had obtained German research data on swept-wing designs, the prototype was altered to incorporate a 25° sweep. In order to make the wing as thin as possible, Saab elected to locate the retractable undercarriage in the aircraft's fuselage rather than into the wings.
Extensive wind tunnel testing performed at the Swedish Royal University of Technology and by the National Aeronautical Research Institute had also influenced aspects of the aircraft's aerodynamics, such as stability and trim across the aircraft's speed range. In order to test the design of the swept wing further and avoid any surprises, it was decided to modify a single Saab Safir. It received the designation Saab 201 and a full-scale R 1001 wing for a series of flight tests. The first 'final' sketches of the aircraft, incorporating the new information, was drawn in January 1946.
The originally envisioned powerplant for the new fighter type was the de Havilland Goblin turbojet engine. However, in December 1945, information on the newer and more powerful de Havilland Ghost engine became available. The new engine was deemed to be ideal for Saab's in-development aircraft, as not only did the Ghost engine had provisions for the use of a central circular air intake, the overall diameter of the engine was favorable for the planned fuselage dimensions, too. Thus, following negotiations between de Havilland and Saab, the Ghost engine was selected to power the type instead and built in license as the RM 2.
By February 1946 the main outline of the proposed aircraft had been clearly defined. In Autumn 1946, following the resolution of all major questions of principal and the completion of the project specification, the Swedish Air Force formally ordered the completion of the design and that three prototype aircraft be produced, giving the proposed type the designation J 29.
On 1 September 1948, the first of the Saab 29 prototypes conducted its maiden flight, which lasted for half an hour. Because of the shape of its fuselage, the Saab J 29 quickly received the nickname "Flygande Tunnan" ("The Flying Barrel"), or "Tunnan" ("The Barrel") for short. While the demeaning nickname was not appreciated by Saab, its short form was eventually officially adopted.
A total of four prototypes were built for the aircraft's test program. The first two lacked armament, carrying heavy test equipment instead, while the third prototype was armed with four 20mm automatic guns. Various different aerodynamic arrangements were tested, such as air brakes being installed either upon the fuselage or on the wings aft of the rear spar, along with both combined and conventional aileron/flap arrangements.
The flight test program revealed that the J 29 prototypes were capable of reaching and exceeding the maximum permissible Mach number for which they had been designed, and the flight performance figures gathered were found to be typically in excess of the predicted values.
In 1948 production of the type commenced and in May 1951 the first deliveries of operational production aircraft were received by F 13 Norrköping. The J 29 proved to be very successful and several variants and updates of the Tunnan were produced, including a dedicated reconnaissance variant and an all-weather fighter with an on-board radar.
A trainer variant was deemed to be useful, too, since the transition of young pilots from relatively slow, piston-engine basic trainers to jet-powered aircraft was considered to be a major step in the education program. At that time, the only jet-powered two-seater in Swedish inventory was the DH 115 Vampire. 57 of these, designated J 28C by the Swedish Air Force, had been procured from Great Britain in the late Forties, but an indigenous alternative (and a more capable successor) was politically favored.
In 1952 initial wind tunnel tests with scaled-down models were conducted, since it was not clear which layout would be the best from an aerodynamic, structural and educational point of view. After a thorough inspection of wooden 1:1 mock-ups of alternative tandem and a side-by-side cockpit layouts, as well as much political debate between Saab, the Swedish Air Force and the Swedish government concerning the costs and budget for a dedicated Saab 29 trainer fleet’s development and production, a compromise was settled upon in early 1953: No new trainer airframes would be produced. Instead, only existing airframes would be converted into two seaters, in an attempt to keep as much of the existing structure and internal fuel capacity as possible.
The side-by-side arrangement was adopted, not only because it was considered to be the more effective layout for a trainer aircraft. It also had the benefit that its integration would only mean a limited redesign of the aircraft’s cockpit section above the air intake duct and the front landing gear well, allowing to retain the single-seater’s pressurized cabin’s length and internal structure. A tandem cockpit would have been aerodynamically more efficient, but it would have either considerably reduced the J 29’s internal fuel capacity, or the whole aircraft had had to be lengthened with a fuselage plug, with uncertain outcome concerning airframe and flight stability. It would also have been the more costly option,
However, it would take until 1955 that the first trainer conversions were conducted by Saab, in the wake of the major wing and engine updates for the J 29 A/B fleet that lasted until 1956. The trainer, designated Sk 29 B, was exclusively based on the J 29 B variant and benefited from this version’s extra fuel tanks in the wings and fully wired underwing weapon hardpoints, which included two wet pylons for drop tanks and made the Sk 29 B suitable for weapon training with the J 29’s full ordnance range.
The trainer conversions only covered the new cockpit section, though. The Sk 29 B did not receive the new dogtooth wing which was only introduced to the converted J 29 D, E and F fighters. The upper pair of 20mm cannon in the lower front fuselage was deleted, too, in order to compensate for the two-seater’s additional cockpit equipment weight and drag. Performance suffered only marginally under the enlarged canopy, though, and the Sk 29 B turned out to be a very sound and useful design for the advanced jet trainer role.
However, budgetary restraints and the quick development of aircraft technology in the Fifties limited the number of fighter conversions to only 22 airframes. The aging Vampire two-seaters still turned out to be adequate for the advanced trainer role, and the Sk 29 B did not offer a significant advantage over the older, British aircraft. Another factor that spoke against more Sk 29 Bs was the simple fact that more trainer conversions would have reduced the number of airframes eligible for the running fighter aircraft updates.
All Sk 29 Bs were concentrated at the F 5 Ljungbyhed Kungliga Krigsflygskolan training wing in southern Sweden, where two flights were equipped with it. Unofficially dubbed “Skola Tunnan” (literally “School Barrel”), the Sk 29B performed a solid career, even though the machines were gradually retired from 1966 onwards. A dozen Sk 29 B remained active until 1972 in various supportive roles, including target tugging, air sampling and liaison duties, while the final Vampire trainer was already retired in 1968. But by the early Seventies, the trainer role had been taken over by the brand new Saab 105/Sk 60 trainer, the long-awaited domestic development, and Sk 35 Draken trainers.
General characteristics:
Crew: 2
Length: 10.23 m (33 ft 7 in)
Wingspan: 11.0 m (36 ft 1 in)
Height: 3.75 m (12 ft 4 in)
Wing area: 24.15 m² (260.0 ft²)
Empty weight: 5,120 kg (11,277 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 8,375 kg (18,465 lb)
Powerplant:
1× Svenska Flygmotor RM2 turbojet, rated at 5,000 lbf (22.2 kN)
Performance:
Maximum speed: 1,010 km/h (627 mph)
Range: 1,060 km (658 mi)
Service ceiling: 15,500 m (50,850 ft)
Rate of climb: 30.5 m/s (6,000 ft/min)
Armament:
2x 20mm Hispano Mark V autocannon in the lower front fuselage
Underwing hardpoints for various unguided missiles and iron bombs, or a pair drop tanks
The kit and its assembly:
Another Saab 29 conversion of a variant that was thought about but never materialized, much like the radar-equipped all-weather fighter. The impulse to tackle this stunt was a leftover D. H. Vampire trainer fuselage pod in my stash (from the ‘Mystery Jet’ conversion a couple of months ago, from an Airfix kit). The canopy’s shape and dimensions appeared like a sound match for the tubby J 29, and so I decided to try this stunt.
The basis is the Heller J 29 kit, which is, despite raised surface details, IMHO the better kit than the rather simple Matchbox offering. However, what makes things more hazardous, though, is the kit’s option to build the S 29 C reconnaissance variant – the lower front fuselage is a separate part, and any surgery around the cockpit weakens the kit’s overall stability considerably. Unlike the J 29D all-weather fighter built recently, I had no visual reference material. The only valid information I was able to dig up was that a side-by-side cockpit had been the preferred layout for this paper project.
Implanting a new cockpit is always hazardous, and I have never tried to integrate a side-by-side arrangement into a single seater. The Vampire cockpit was finished first, and also mounted into the Vampire’s original cockpit pod halves, because I was able to use its side walls and also had the original canopy parts left over – and using the Vampire’s cockpit opening would ensure a good fit and limit PSR work around the clear parts. Once the Vampire cockpit tub was complete, the “implant” was trimmed down as far as possible.
Next step was to prepare the Tunnan to accept the donor cockpit. In order to avoid structural trouble I finished the two fuselage halves first, mounted the air intake with the duct to the front end, but left the fighter version’s gun tray away (while preparing it with a load of lead). The idea was to put the Vampire cockpit into position from below into the Tunnan’s fuselage, until all outer surfaces would more or less match in order to minimize PSR work.
With the Vampire cockpit as benchmark, I carefully tried to draw its outlines onto the upper front fuselage. The following cutting and trimming sessions too several turns. To my surprise, the side-by-side cockpit’s width was the least problem – it fits very well inside of the J 29 fuselage’s confines, even though the front end turned out to be troublesome. Space in length became an issue, too, because the Airfix Vampire cockpit is pretty complete: it comes with all pedals, a front and a rear bulkhead, and its bulged canopy extends pretty far backwards into an aerodynamic fairing. As a result, it’s unfortunately very long… Furthermore, air intake duct reaches deep into the Tunnan’s nose, too, so that width was not the (expected) problem, but rather length!
Eventually, the cockpit lost the front bulkhead and had to trimmed and slimmed down further, because, despite its bulky fuselage, the Tunnan’s nose is rather narrow. As a consequence the Vampire cockpit had to be moved back by about 3mm, relative to the single-seater’s canopy, and the area in front of the cockpit/above the air intake duct had to be completely re-sculpted, which took several PSR stages. Since the Vampire’s canopy shape is very different and its windscreen less steep (and actually a flat glass panel), I think this change is not too obvious, tough, and looks like a natural part of the fictional real-life conversion. However, a fiddly operation, and it took some serious effort to blend the new parts into the Tunnan fuselage, especially the windscreen.
Once the cockpit was in place, the lower front fuselage with the guns (the upper pair had disappeared in the meantime) was mounted, and the wings followed suit. In this case, I modified the flaps into a lowered position, and, as a subtle detail, the Tunnan kit lost its retrofitted dogtooth wings, so that they resemble the initial, simple wing of the J 29 A and B variants. Thanks to the massive construction of the kit’s wings (they consist of two halves, but these are very thin and almost massive), this was a relatively easy task.
The rest of the Tunnan was built mostly OOB; it is a typical Heller kit of the Seventies: simple, with raised surface detail, relatively good fit (despite the need to use putty) and anything you could ask for a J 29 in 1:72 scale. I just replaced the drop tanks with shorter, thicker alternatives – early J 29 frequently carried Vampire drop tanks without fins, and the more stout replacements appeared very suitable for a trainer.
The pitots on the wing tips had to be scratched, since they got lost with the wing modifications - but OOB they are relatively thick and short, anyway. Further additions include a tail bumper and extra dorsal and ventral antennae, plus a fairing for a rotating warning light, inspired by a similar installation on the late J 29 target tugs.
Painting and markings:
As usual, I wanted a relatively plausible livery and kept things simple. Early J 29 fighters were almost exclusively left in bare metal finish, and the Swedish Vampire trainers were either operated in NMF with orange markings (very similar to the RAF trainers), or they carried the Swedish standard dark green/blue grey livery.
I stuck to the Tunnan’s standard NMF livery, but added dark green on wing tips and fin, which were widely added in order to make formation flight and general identification easier. However, some dayglow markings were added on the fuselage and wings, too, so that – together with the tactical markings – a colorful and distinct look was created, yet in line with typical Swedish Air Force markings in the late Fifties/early Sixties.
The NMF livery was created with an overall coat of Revell 99 acrylic paint (Aluminum), on top of which various shades of Metallizer were dry-brushed, panel by panel. Around the exhaust, a darker base tone (Revell 91, Iron Metallic and Steel Metallizer) was used. Around the cockpit, in order to simulate the retrofitted parts, some panels received a lighter base with Humbrol 191.
The raised panel lines were emphasized through a light black in wash and careful rubbing with grinded graphite on a soft cotton cloth – with the benefit that the graphite adds a further, metallic shine to the surface and destroys the uniform, clean NMF look. On the front fuselage, where many details got lost through the PSR work, panel lines were painted with a thin, soft pencil.
The cockpit interior became dark green-grey (Revell 67 comes pretty close to the original color), the landing gear wells medium grey (Revell 57). The dark green markings on fin and wing tips were painted with Humbrol 163 (RAF Dark Green), which comes IMHO close to the Swedish “Mörkgrön”. The orange bands were painted, too, with a base of Humbrol 82 (Orange Lining) on top of which a thin coat of fluorescent orange (Humbrol 209) was later added. Even though the NMF Tunnan did not carry anti-dazzle paint in front of the windscreen, I added a black panel because of the relatively flat area there on the modified kit.
Decals come from different sources: roundels and stencils come from the Heller kit’s sheet, the squadron code number from a Flying Colors sheet with Swedish ciphers in various colors and sizes for the late Fifties time frame, while the tactical code on the fin was taken from a Saab 32 sheet.
Finally the kit was sealed with a “¾ matt”, acrylic varnish, mixed from glossy and matt varnishes.
An effective and subtle conversion, and a bigger stunt than one might think at first sight. The Tunnan two-seater does, hoewever, not look as disturbing as, for instance, the BAC Lightning or Hawker Hunter trainer variants? The rhinoplasty was massive and took some serious PSR, though, and the livery was also more demanding than it might seem. But: this is what IMHO a real Saab 29 trainer could have looked like, if it had left the drawing boards in the early Fifties. And it even looks good! :D
The United States Congress designated January as Cervical Health Awareness Month.
Image sources: Magnolia Womens Care via the Quality Assurance Project.
Our posts tagged cervical cancer, pap tests, screening.
I was tagged by the awesome Abbie, or ayowhatupkrees :3
lol this pic xD of course I can't post a normal one xD
So 20 facts, huh? Let's gooooooooooo!
1. I am a blue(grey)-eyed blonde(ish). And I don't like it XD I feel too usual. Which is why I emphasize that my eyes are GREY-blue (I honestly don't know if they're more grey or blue these days :P) and partially why I like to put colored bits in my hair. I think it makes me more unique and helps me stand out from the crowd ^_^
2. That being said, I really hate to have attention drawn to me. I like to be... different but I don't like to be noticed xD It's complicated lol. The thing I hate the most is presenting projects in school. I get really nervous and fumble over my words and turn super red. Also if a teacher gets mad at me xD
3. Again, relating to the last fact, I try very hard to be good student :3 So teachers hardly get mad at me. I hate upsetting my teachers, and I care what they think of me more than anyone else. I always do my work and I'm very quiet and attentive in class.
4. (I think almost all my facts are going to relate to the one above xD) I have very high standards for my marks, and I beat myself up for it a lot. I have to get A+ in everything, and sometimes I'm even disappointed with under like, a 95%. And I feel like a lot of people don't quite get why. I truly feel like it's the only thing I'm good at sometimes, and I feel like if I want to get somewhere in the future I need to do well in school and be smart since I don't have all that much else going for me... (this is getting deep O.o)
5. I'm normally a fairly unemotional person. I mean, like I'm happy but I don't show if I'm upset or whatever. I just don't like all the sappy business and whatnot :p
6. I'm also pretty easy-going and happy-go-lucky. It takes a lot to get me really mad. I mean, I can get slightly irritated fairly easily but you know I shrug it off xD You can pretty much say whatever to me and I won't get worked up but you insult my friend(s)? I go full hulk mode on yo face xD
7. I've put up with a lot of crap in my life, and I've never done anything to deserve it as far as I'm aware :/ I've always been that shy kid who keeps to herself but I guess that made me a target.
8. I'm painfully shy and slightly socially awkward. Since starting high school I will say I've improved slightly. I still find it hard to start/carry on a normal conversation, and hate getting up in front of a class, but I can now respond in a mostly normal way to people who try to talk to me :p
(alright let's get that srs stuff away)
9. I'm in tenth grade, 15 and about 5'5. Which is pretty tall for my family xD
10. I have glasses and contacts but 90% of the time when in public I will wear contacts. I don't particularly dislike my glasses, and I think they suit me pretty well, but contacts will always be my first choice :p
11. As you may have noticed, I tend to use more complex or formal sounding(?) words. Even in real life. My friends will be like "what's with the fancy words?" xD But I do it all the time, and I've basically always done it :p
12. I really like wrestling(watching, not doing). I know it's weird. xD WWE is great and I've been missing it a lot lately ;_; But I'll always love it nonetheless. I don't know where it started but my brother used to like it so I guess it came from there... I picked up a lot from him.
13. I'm canadian. Eh. Basically none of the stereotypes apply to me xD I say Eh on very rare occasions. And I don't mind hockey or maple syrup. But that's as far as it goes xD
14. I spell most things the american way instead of canadian. Ex color, favorite, etc.
15. I like good grammar. And I am one of those people who corrects other people's mistakes *judge me if you will xD* I don't really care much online but in real life it drives me crazy. And for goodness sakes PRESENTATE IS NOT A WORD!!!!!! XDDD
16. I like music *duh*. I tend to prefer rock'n'roll or indie. But I'll pretty much listen to anything. Not the biggest country fan though.
17. My favorite band is, and has been so far for 7 years, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I like a lot of their songs due to the.. raw emotion of them. Like I said, I'm not very emotional but music is one way I feel like I can express my emotions(?). And also just because of the great tunes :p My favorite song of theirs is Dani California (for 7 years as well) but I'll listen to ANYTHING by them. I've been on a huge Bon Jovi kick recently though *random* xD
18. I don't have many friends, and for years I've basically just had one(night). I finally have kind of a "group" now, but I still sometimes question if I really fit. I think I'll always be more of a loner type :p I've just been betrayed and abandoned by so many friends in the past I find it hard to really trust in people. (woah this is getting srs again)
19. I am a HUGE nerd. I love Superheroes, A LOT. My favorites: Daredevil, The Hulk (I'm the hulk btw xD), Iron Man (who is Em/Night), the other Avengers, basically ALL X-Men (namely Rogue, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler) {Marvel} and Batman and Superman ;) {DC}.
I also love Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mario, Slenderman, Lego Games, Big Bang Theory, Star Trek, etc (just to name a few) and YOUTUBE. 'Specially gaming videos x3
20. My favorite actors are Russell Crowe and Johnny Depp. I love them both and Johnny has been a fave for longer, but I have more of a (very strange) obsession with Russell Crowe. He's too cool xD
BONUS FACT
21. I'm SOOOO happy to have met all of you guys on flickr. I really feel like I've made amazing friends who are SO much like me, and i hope we'll stay friends forever. I feel like I can always count on you guys. And I'll NEVER thank you enough for that.
I'll tag a few of you peeps :3 But feel free to do this anyways, even if I didn't tag you!
Baked beans are the shizz!!
I love baked beans. They are so delicious. My family eats them at least 3 times a week.
For The Record: Yes, I did actaully cut out a heart and stick it in my beans. lol. No photoshop used. Its real.
I could tell that Aggie Ring was impressed. After several moments of silence he spoke out and said, “If my Eyes of Texas aren’t deceiving me, that’s the biggest damn lightbulb I’ve ever seen! I guess it’s true… Everything IS bigger in Jersey!”
The Aggie Ring woke me up early this morning. In fact it was even before 11:30 a.m. so I knew he wanted to do something. I asked the Aggie Ring, “What do you want to do Aggie Ring?” The Aggie Ring replied, “I want to go see the lightbulb!” I wasn’t sure what he was talking about so I said, “What lightbulb?” The Aggie Ring said with emphasis, “Let there be LIGHT!” Then it hit me. Aggie Ring wanted to drive him up the Parkway to the site of Thomas A. Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory so he could see the Art Deco Edison Memorial Tower and “Big Ass Lightbulb!”
Other than the time he told me that he thought Elvis took our change in a tollbooth on the New Jersey State Turnpike, Aggie Ring has great ideas. It’s only about a 20 to 25 minute drive up the Parkway from our house so Aggie Ring and I set off to see the Edison Memorial Tower. The last time we’d been there it had been in horrible shape and they were beginning work on restoring it. That was a bit over a year ago so I assumed that Aggie Ring figured out that they would be finished with the conservation work on the historical site.
When we drove down the little side street where the tower is located the Aggie Ring was overwhelmed with awe at the restored site. Aggie Ring was truly “speechless!” It’s just as beautiful as the day it was built. They did an incredible job on the restoration. After a few moments sitting in the car just looking out the window Aggie Ring broke his silence and asked me, “Did you bring a cigar? Edison loved his cigars and I think he’d have wanted you to smoke a cigar while you’re looking the place over.” Unfortunately I had left my cigars at home so the Edison “smoke out” will have to happen on a future date.
The laboratory building is no longer at this site but it’s still impressive to think of not only the electric lightbulb, but all of the other great inventions that Mr. Edison invented here. Aggie Ring said, “Imagine. He did all this stuff without the help of an Aggie Ring!”
The Aggie Ring and I walked around the tower and took some photos of the “Big Ass Lightbulb” and the historical plaques at its base. The Aggie Ring and I are planning on going back some evening when the lightbulb is illuminated. Aggie Ring said, “It would be cool if you could get a photo during a thunderstorm when there’s lightning behind the tower.” I told Aggie Ring, “You’re crazy! I’m not standing out in a field during a lightning storm with an Aggie Ring on my finger! Maybe if we can get a VMI grad to come with us. Their rings are so damn big a lightning bolt would hit one of them before us!”
Aggie Ring said, “It’s a good thing Edison invented the lightbulb or there’d be a lot of Waggies drinking their tequila shots by candlelight!” I told the Aggie Ring, “True… Those Waggies love their tequila the invention of the lightbulb makes it a lot easier for them to pour the tequila and do body shots!”
Aggie Ring asked me to provide some info on the Edison “Big Ass Lightbulb” Memorial Tower for your educational enlightenment (“Get it?” Aggie Ring said):
Thomas Alva Edison Memorial Tower and Menlo Park Museum, New Jersey
"Let there be light." Thomas Alva Edison's Menlo Park Laboratory and Memorial Tower. Those of us on the Jersey Shore call it the "Big Ass Lightbulb!”
The Edison Tower, located on the site of the original laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey, to which Thomas Alva Edison moved in 1876, was erected in 1937 as a monument to the great inventor. The Tower is the gift of William Slocum Barstow to the Thomas Alva Edison Foundation Incorporated in behalf of the Edison Pioneers. It was dedicated on February 11, 1838, the ninety-first anniversary of the inventor's birth.
Rising 131 ft. 4 in. above the ground, the tower looms as the highest discernible object for many miles. Surmounting the 117 ft. 8 in. concrete-slab structure is a 13 ft. 8 in. replica of the original incandescent lamp which, when illuminated, can be seen for a distance of several miles. It once served as an airplane beacon. The Tower is designed for pressure of wind at a velocity of 120 miles per hour. In its construction, which consumed slightly less than eight months, approximately 1200 barrels of Edison Portland cement and 50 tons of reinforced steel were used.
The large bulb on top of the Tower was cast by the Corning Glass Works. The replica bulb contains 153 separate pieces of amber tinted Pyrex glass, 2 in. thick, set upon a steel frame. The bulb is 5 ft. in diameter at the neck and 9 ft. 2 in. in diameter at the greatest width and weighs, without the steel frame on which it is placed, in excess of three tons. Before the restoration, inside this Pyrex glass bulb were four 1000 watt bulbs, four 200 watt bulbs, and four 100 watt bulbs. A duplicate of each was arranged as automatically to cut in should its companion bulb fail.
The Edison Tower has been completely restored and when complete, the bulb is now illuminated with modern Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology. Mr. Edison would be pleased with this, I’m sure.
While we don’t have any records of exactly what was said when Mr. Edison perfected his invention, I suspect one of his workers shouted out something like this: “Holy Mother of Baby Jesus on a Donkey!” “Mr. Edison, You’ve done it!!! You’ve perfected the Electric Light!!! You truly are King of Kings!!!!”
The tower is located on a mysterious plot of land and exactly at midnight on the night of a full moon, it would be a perfect site for the ritual sacrifice of virgins. Too bad we don’t have any of those in New Jersey! :-)
*********************
Aggie Ring says, “The Road Goes On Forever, and the Party Never Ends!”
=====
** Origin and facts of the Hungry Ghost Festival:
The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
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More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
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Photo shot with Nikon D600 + AF-S NIikkor 50mm f/1.8G
Processed with Photoshop CS5
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Geisterschloss 28/12/2022 18h06
One of the many scenes during the ride wich takes about 4 minutes in one of the 70 doombuggies.
Geisterschloss
Geisterschloss (English: Haunted Castle) is a haunted house decorated as darkride in the German amusement park Europa-Park located in theme area Italy.
The attraction opened in 1982 under the name Spukschloss, but both the interior and exterior looked completely different. In both 1996 and 2005 the attraction has been redecorated. Today the theme of Geisterschloss is the Italian Renaissance.
Visitors enter the attraction via the central square of the theme area. At the entrance stands an animatronic of a Mythical being. Dressed in a brown robe with hood. In one hand he carries a bird and in the other a candlestick. In German, the being says that he has been living in the haunted house for years. The talking is sometimes interrupted by being coughed by the being, water being sprayed out of his mouth. After passing the creature, visitors enter a hall where they serve the waiting for the lifts where the front show will take place. A chandelier consisting of bones hangs in the hall. There are singing busts of a few centimeters in the wall. The same busts are arranged in a larger format along one of the scenes during the ride. Once in the show the visitors are addressed in German. The space turns out to be a lift. When the elevator has reached its destination, a "hanged person" falls down from a hole in the ceiling.
After the show the visitors walk via a staircase to a turntable where one can take place in one of the doombuggies. Visitors are guided through the castle during the ride. However, there is no story in the scenes. This way you pass the dining room, dance hall, garden and execution room.
FACTS & FIGURES
Opening: 1982
Builder: MACK Rides
Length: 192 meters
Speed: 3,96 km/u
Duration: 4 minutes
Number of doombuggies: 70
Capacity: 2500 riders/hour
[ Source and more information: Wikipedia - Geisterschloss ]
+++ 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 Focke-Wulf Project VII Flitzer ("streaker" or "dasher", sometimes incorrectly translated as "madcap") was a jet fighter under development in Germany in World War II.
The design began as Focke-Wulf Project VI which had a central fuselage and two booms carrying the rear control surfaces having great similarity with the de Havilland Vampire. Project V had the air inlets still positioned on either side of the nose, just below the cockpit.
The estimated horizontal speed was not satisfactory and in the next development, Project VII, the jet intakes were situated in the wing roots. Further improvements over Project VI were a narrower fuselage and a changed pilot's canopy. In order to improve the rate of climb, a Walter HWK 109-509 hypergolic liquid-propellant rocket was added.
In spite of the fact that a complete mock-up was built and all construction and assembly plans finished, the aircraft was not accepted by the RLM (Reich Air Ministry, or Reichsluftfahrtministerium).
But the design was not shelved, though: with the Project VIII, Focke-Wulf began a design study for a turboprop-powered fighter-bomber. It was based on the work previously done on Project VII, but became a very different aircraft.
Biggest change of the Project VIII was its turboprop engine, based on the Heinkel S 011 jet engine. While the engine was still placed in the section behind the wing main spar, the power shaft that ran through the lower fuselage and drove a three-bladed variable pitch propeller required major changes. For instance, the front wheel had to be lengthened in order to make enough room for the propeller.
To accomodate the new gearbox and a bigger front landing gear well, the whole aircraft nose had to be modified, too. The front wheel now retracted backwards and rotated by 90°, so that it could lie flat under the power shaft, flanked by two machine cannons. Two more were mounted in the wings, which were at an initial stage taken over wholesale from the P.VII, and a heavy 30mm MK 108 autocannon fired through the propeller hub.
Due to the aircraft's "nose-up" position on the ground, the tail arrangement was changed and simplified, too: the Flitzer's twin boom gave way to a more conventional single boom above the jet exhaust, ending in a simple tail with swept surfaces. This had the positive side effects of better aerodynamics, as well as a reduced overall weight.
The design was submitted to the RLM in November 1944 and quickly accepted, despite serious delays with the DB 109-021 turboprop engine. This was eventually ready in May 1945, when first tests and the Fw 260's maiden flight (how the type was now officially designated, the two prototypes having the suffix A-0) took place.
The turboprop was a very effective engine, especially at low and medium altitude, where the Project VIII would outperfrom any contemporary pure piston engine fighter. It was also more manoueverable than comparable jet fighters (esp. concerning acceleration and rate of climb - the aircraft was able to climb twice as fast as the former pure jet Flitzer design), and operations only required much shorter runways for operations.
The initial Fw 260 A-1 was delivered to front line units in late 1945 and immediately thrown into the defensive battles at the Eastern front, where they flew missions against point targets and even night time missions.
An improved version with new, thinner wings and a slightly increased sweep for even better performance, the A-2, was scheduled to enter production in summer 1946, but the end of hostilities limited overall production to less than 100 Fw 260 A-1.
General characteristics:
Crew: One pilot
Length: 10,30 m (33 ft 8 3/4 in)
Wingspan: 8.00 m (26 ft 2 in)
Wing sweep: 30° at quarter chord
Height: 3,31 m (10 ft 10 in)
Wing area: 17.0 m2 (183 ft2)
Empty weight: 3.396 kg (7.486 lb)
Gross weight: 4.900 kg (10.802 lb)
Powerplant:
1× Daimler-Benz DB 109-021 turboprop, rated at 1,491 kW (2,000 hp)
plus 770 kp (1.697 lb) residual thrust
Performance:
Maximum speed: 900 km/h (559 mph) at 9.000 m (30.00 0ft)
Range: 1.020 km (633 miles) on internal fuel at 7.000 m (23.000 ft)
Endurance: 1 hour 17 min at full load and at 7.000 m (23.000 ft)
Service ceiling: 13,000 m (42,500 ft)
Rate of climb: 39 m/s (128 ft/sec)
Armament:
1× 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 cannon (40 RPG), firing through the propeller hub
4× 20 mm MG 213 cannons, one pair in the lower front fuselage and one in each wing,
each with 100 RPG.
Up to 1.000kg (2.202 lb) of external ordnance at two wing hardpoints, including bombs
of up to 500 kg (1.100 lb) caliber, drop tanks, racks with unguided missiles, or podded
cannons
The kit and its assembly:
I had this Luft '46 project on the list for a while, and while waiting for parts for other projects I decided to dig a Revell "Flitzer" kit out of the pile and start a quick conversion.
Yes, this one is based on a real German project: Fact is that this one was a turboprop-powered derivative of the pure jet Flitzer, with swept surfaces and a conventional tail boom. And it was intended as an attack aircraft, not a fighter.
Its designation, be it internally or through the RLM, varies widely, though. Some sources call it "Project VIII" (because the Flitzer was Project VII), but that's doubtful because there were several iterations with twin and single boom arrangements, as well as different wing shapes (ranging from the Flitzer's clipped delta shape to swept, slender wings that remind of the F-86).
Unicraft did a resin kit of this paper project, calling it "P.127" for whatever reason, and they also did a kit of its twin-boom predecessor - the latter being christened Fw 258 by Unicraft, even though this number had not been allocated by the RLM.
I took that idea up and gave my creation the fictional designation Fw 260 - the "260" was never used by the RLM, too, and it is even uncertain which number the Flitzer would have had, had it been built or accepted for Luftwaffe service.
Anyway, changing the Revell Flitzer into its successor was not an easy task. It started with a new nose that would not only carry the scratched propeller, it would also have to blend into the trapezoid diameter of the original "pod" fuselage. The solution was found through a rear drop tank end from a vintage Revell F4U that was cut in two pieces: the rear tip would become the propeller spinner (onto which single, deep blades from a vintage Frog Ta 152 were glued), while the rest replaced the original Flitzer nose and holds a 6x6mm, square styrene tube inside that carries the propeller on a round styrene axis. It's even spinning!
Because this scratched arrangement needed space, the original front landing gear well had to be cut away, as well as parts of the cockpit floor. Lots of putty created some new nose lines, and before the hull was glued together as much lead as possible was hidden behind the cockpit and even inside of the front landing gear well.
The cockpit was taken almost OOB: I just used a deeper seat - the original part looks tiny, but the cockpit is really cramped so that a replacement was not easy to fit in.
At the pod's rear end, a new tail had to be created. First measure was to "reverse" the original exhaust position, flipping it from top to bottom, and adding a tail boom as a spine extension. The boom is actually a tail from a Hobby Boss P-39, which was considerably modified and cut into shape. Again, lots of putty smoothed out the lines.
With the tail in place and the new, longer nose, the wings' position was not right anymore. Consequently, the wings were moved forward by 7mm - an easy task, thanks to the kit's construction. New stabilizers were scratched from the spares box, too.
Speaking of the wings: the Flitzer's toeholds for the twin tail booms had to disappear, too - done through cutting and putty inserts on/in the wings' trailing edges. Worked pretty well.
The landing gear was taken OOB from the original kit. The front wheel wa not inserted as deep as in the Flitzer (there's no space anymore, anyway...) and slightly offset - profile drawings from Focke Wulf suggest such an arrangement, probably due to the power shaft that had to run somewhere under the cockpit floor.
Another issue became the new, forward position of the wings: this would push the tail even more down. So, I added a 3mm console at the main gear struts' bases - just enough to get the tail high enough for a plausible ground position. The real aircraft would have had a high nose, too, so the odd look is not as farfetched as it might seem.
Final touches included additional underwing hardpoints and a pair of 250 kg bombs (IIRC, from an Italeri Ju 188), outfitted with scratched fuze extensions for soggy ground, suitable ordnance for the intended ground attack role.
Painting and markings:
The late WWII canon for German aircraft leaves not much room for paint scheme experiments, but I did not want to repeat myself. So I was lucky to find a real Me 262 in the rather odd night paint scheme that I eventually used - and the result is... interesting.
Top cammo basically consists of RLM 81 and 82 (Braunviolett and Light Green enamels, from Modelmaster's Authentic line) in wavy, but sharply defined fields. On the fuselage flanks, RLM 81 and 82 also feature "counter-blotches" of the respective other tone. The undersides are painted black (RLM 22) - originally, this could also have been dark grey (RLM 66), but I found black more attractive, also as a contrast to the dark grey landing gear.
Markings were minimal on the Me 262 paradigm: all insignia in a simplified version, and even in black on the flanks. The only code was red number (outlined in white) - that's all! On the kit I added the heart emblems and the red spinner with a white spiral as a personal touch, but the aircraft still looks murky and purposeful - for night attack sorties.
The basic tones were shaded with lighter colors, including Humbrol 120, 155 and 32. Since the putty work on the fuselage made almost any engraving disappear, I added painted panel lines (with the help of some Tamiya "Smoke").
The exhaust area was painted with Modelmaster Metallizer and treated with grinded graphite, which was also used to add soot stains around the many gun nozzles.
The decals were puzzled together, stencils were taken over from the Flitzer Sheet - and these many red bits make the dark aircraft a bit more lively. Finally, everything was sealed under a coat of matt Revell Acrylics varnish.
Even if this model does not look like it: it was a major surgery job, especially the nose and the landing gear caused severe headaches. But the result looks pretty cool and sleek, and the unique paint schem adds to the mysterious look of this Luft '46 whif.
The small, northern constellation Triangulum harbours this magnificent face-on spiral galaxy, M33. Its popular names include the Pinwheel Galaxy or just the Triangulum Galaxy. M33 is over 50,000 light-years in diameter, third largest in the Local Group of galaxies after the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), and our own Milky Way. About 3 million light-years from the Milky Way, M33 is itself thought to be a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy and astronomers in these two galaxies would likely have spectacular views of each other's grand spiral star systems. As for the view from planet Earth, this image nicely shows off M33's star clusters and pinkish star forming regions along the galaxy's loosely wound spiral arms. In fact, the cavernous NGC 604 is the brightest star forming region, seen here at about the 2 o'clock position from the galaxy centre.
~~~~~
Telescope: Celestron C11-A XLT Schmidt Cassegrain OTA
Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro
Controller: ZWO ASIAIR Pro
Main Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -10C
Filter: Optolong L-Pro filter
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI174MM Mini guidecam
Guide via: ZWO OAG
Stacked from:
Lights 60 at 120 seconds, gain 101, temp -10C
Darks 30 at 120 seconds, gain 101, temp -10C
Flat 30 at 100 ms, gain 101, temp -10C
Dark Flat 30 at 100 ms gain 101 temp -10C
Bortle 4 sky.
Integrated the saved frames in Astro Pixel Processor.
Adjusted in Photoshop CS4 and Topaz DeNoise AI
+++ 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 G.91Y was an increased-performance version of the Fiat G.91 funded by the Italian government. Based on the G.91T two-seat trainer variant, the single Bristol Orpheus turbojet engine of this aircraft was replaced by two afterburning General Electric J85 turbojets which increased thrust by 60% over the single-engine variant. Structural modifications to reduce airframe weight increased performance further and an additional fuel tank occupying the space of the G.91T's rear seat provided extra range. Combat manoeuvrability was improved with the addition of automatic leading edge slats. The avionics equipment of the G.91Y was considerably upgraded with many of the American, British and Canadian systems being license-manufactured in Italy.
Flight testing of three pre-production aircraft was successful, with one aircraft reaching a maximum speed of Mach 0.98. Airframe buffeting was noted and was rectified in production aircraft by raising the position of the tailplane slightly.
An initial order of 55 aircraft for the Italian Air Force was completed by Fiat in March 1971, by which time the company had changed its name to Aeritalia (from 1969, when Fiat aviazione joined the Aerfer). The order was increased to 75 aircraft with 67 eventually being delivered. In fact, the development of the new G.91Y was quite long, and the first order was for about 20 pre-series examples that followed the two prototypes. The first pre-series 'Yankee' (the nickname of the new aircraft) flew in July 1968.
AMI (Italian Air Force) placed orders for two batches, 35 fighters followed by another 20, later cut to ten. The last one was delivered around mid 1976, so the total was two prototypes, 20 pre-series and 45 series aircraft. No immediate export success followed, though, and the Italian G.91Ys’ service lasted until the early '90s as attack/recce machines, both over ground and sea, until the AMX replaced them until 1994.
However, upon retirement some G.91Ys were still in good condition and the airframes had still some considerable flight hours left, so that about thirty revamped aircraft were put up for sale from 1992 onwards. At the same time, Poland was undergoing a dramatic political change. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union the Eastern European country immediately turned its political attention westward, including the prospects of joining NATO. The withdrawal of Russian forces based in Poland and partly obsolete military equipment of the Polish forces themselves led to a procurement process from 1991 onwards, which, among others, included a replacement for the Polish MiG-17 (domestic Lim-5, Lim-6 and Lim-6bis types), which had been operated by both Polish air force and navy since the late Sixties, primarily as fighter bombers in their late career, but also for reconnaissance tasks.
The G.91Y appeared, even though a vintage design, to be a suitable replacement option, since its performance envelope and the equipment outfit with three cameras in the nose made it a perfect package – and the price tag was not big, either. Especially the Polish Navy showed much interest, and after 10 months of negotiations Poland eventually bought 22 G.91Y from Italy, plus five G.91T two-seaters for conversion training, which were delivered between June 1993 and April 1994.
For the new operator the machines only underwent minor modifications. The biggest change was the addition of wirings and avionics for typical Polish Air Force ordnance, like indigenous MARS-2 pods for 16 unguided 57mm S-5 missiles, iron bombs of Russian origin of up to 500 kg (1.100 lb) caliber, SUU-23-2 gun pods as well as R-3 and R-60 missiles (which were very similar to the Western AIM-9 Sidewinder and actually date back to re-engineered specimen obtained by the USSR during the Korea war!). All machines were concentrated at Gdynia-Babie Doły in a newly founded, dedicated fighter bomber of the 1 Naval Aviation Squadron, which also operated MiG-21 fighters and PZL Iskra trainers. The Polish G.91Ys, nicknamed “Polski Fiat” by their crews (due to their compact size and overall simplicity, in reminiscence of the very popular, locally license-built Fiat 126), not only replaced the vintage MiG-17 types and some Polish Navy MiG-21 fighters, but also the handful of MiG-15UTI trainer veterans which were still used by the Polish Navy for observation duties over the Baltic Sea.
When Poland joined NATO on 12 March 1999, the G.91Ys (18 were still in service, plus all five trainers) received another major overhaul, a new low-visibility paint scheme, and they were updated with avionics that ensured inter-operability with other NATO forces, e .g. a GPS positioning sensor in a small, dorsal hump fairing. In 2006, when deliveries of 48 F-16C/D fighters to Poland started, the G.91Ys were to be retired within 12 months. But problems with the F-16s’ operability kept the G.91Y fleet active until 2011, when all aircraft were grounded and quickly scrapped.
General characteristics:
Crew: one
Length: 11.67 m (38 ft 3.5 in)
Wingspan: 9.01 m (29 ft 6.5 in)
Height: 4.43 m (14 ft 6.3 in)
Wing area: 18.13 m² (195.149 ft²)
Empty weight: 3,900 kg (8,598 lb)
Loaded weight: 7,800 kg (17,196 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 8,700 kg (19,180 lb)
Powerplant:
2× General Electric J85-GE-13A turbojets, 18.15 kN (4,080 lbf) each
Performance:
Maximum speed: 1,110 km/h (600 kn, 690 mph, Mach 0.95) at 10,000 m (33,000 ft)
Range: 1,150 km (621 nmi, 715 mi)
Max. ferry range with drop tanks: 3,400 km (2,110 mls)
Service ceiling: 12,500 m (41,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 86.36 m/s (17,000 ft/min)
Wing loading: 480 kg/m² (98.3 lb/ft² (maximum)
Thrust/weight: 0.47 at maximum loading
Armament:
2× 30 mm (1.18 in) DEFA cannons with 120 RPG
4× under-wing pylon stations with a capacity of 1,814 kg (4,000 lb)
The kit and its assembly:
This whiffy Yankee Gina was inspired by a profile that had popped up during WWW picture search a while ago. Tracking it back, I found it to be artwork created and posted at DeviantArt by user “Jeremak-J”, depicting a G.91Y in polish markings and sporting a two-tone grey camouflage with light blue undersides and a medium waterline. I found the idea bizarre, but attractive, and, after some research, I found a small historic slot that might have made this “combo” possible.
When I recently delved through my (growing…) kit pile I came across a Matchbox G.91Y in a squashed box and with a cracked canopy – and decided to use that kit for a personal Polish variant.
The Matchbox G.91Y bears light and shadow galore. While it is IIRC the only IP kit of this aircraft, it comes with some problem areas. The fit of any major kit component is mediocre and the cockpit tub with an integral seat-thing is …unique. But the overall shape is IMHO quite good – a typical, simple Matchbox kit with a mix of (very fine) raised and engraved panel lines.
The OOB canopy could not be saved, but I was lucky to find a replacement part in the spares box – probably left over from the first G.91Y I built in the early Eighties. While the donor part had to be stripped from paint and was quite yellowed from age, it saved the kit.
It was built almost OOB, since major changes would not make sense in the context of my background story of a cheap 2nd hand purchase for an air force on a lean budget. I just added some details to the cockpit and changed the ordnance, using missile pods and iron bombs of Soviet origin (from a Kangnam/Revell Yak-38).
The exhausts were drilled open, because OOB these are just blank covers, only 0.5 mm deep! Inside, some afterburners were simulated (actually main wheels from an Arii 1:100 VF-1).
The flaps were lowered and extended, which is easy to realize on this kit.
The clumsy, molded guns were cut away, to be later replaced with free-standing, hollow steel needles.
In order to add some more exterior detail I also scratched the thin protector frames around the nozzles with thin wire.
Since the replacement canopy looked quite old and brittle, I did not dare cutting the clear part in two, so that the cockpit remained closed, despite the effort put into the interior.
A personal extra is the pair of chaff/flare dispensers on the rear fuselage, reminiscent of Su-22 installations.
Painting and markings:
The inspiring profile was nice, but I found it to be a bit fishy. The depicted tactical code format would IMHO not be plausible for the aircraft’s intended era, and roundels on the fuselage flanks would also long have gone in the Nineties. Therefore, I rather looked at real world benchmarks from the appropriate time frame for my Polish Gina’s livery, even though I wanted to stay true to the artist’s original concept, too.
One direction to add more plausibility was the scheme that Polish Su-22 fighter bombers received during their MLU, changing the typical tactical camouflage in up to four hues of green and brown into a much more subdued two tone grey livery with lighter, bluish-grey undersides, combined with toned-down markings like tactical codes in white outlines only. Some late MiG-21s also received this type of livery, and at least one Polish Fishbed instructional airframe received white low-viz national insignia.
For the paint scheme itself I used the MiG-21 pattern as benchmark (found in the Planes & Pilots MiG-21 book) and adapted it to the G.91Y as good as possible. The tones were a little difficult to define – some painting instructions recommend FS 36118 (US Gunship Grey) for the dark upper grey tone, but this is IMHO much too murky. Esp. on the Su-22s, the two upper greys show only little contrast, and the lower grey does not stand out much against the upper tones, either. On the other side, I found a picture of a real-life MiG-21U trainer in the new grey scheme, and the contrast between the grey on the upper surfaces appeared much stronger, with the light grey even having a brownish hue. Hmpf.
As a compromise I settled for FS 36173 (F-15E Dark Grey) and 36414 (Flint Grey). For the undersides I went for FS 35414 (Blue Green), which comes close to the typical Soviet underside blue, but it is brighter.
After basic painting, the kit received a light black ink wash and subtle post-shading, mostly in order to emphasize single panels, less for a true weathering effect.
The cockpit was painted in Dark Gull Grey (Humbrol 140), with a light blue dashboard and a black ejection seat. The OOB pilot was used and received an olive drab suit with a light grey helmet, modern and toned down like the aircraft itself. The landing gear as well as the air intake interior were painted in different shades of aluminum.
The decals were, as so often, puzzled together from various sources. The interesting, white-only Polish roundels come from a Mistercraft MiG-21. I also added them to the upper wing surfaces – this is AFAIK not correct, but without them I found the model to look rather bleak. Under the wings, full color insignia were used, though. The English language “Navy” markings on the fuselage might appear odd, but late MiG-21s in Polish Navy service actually had this operator designation added to their spines!
The typical, tactical four-digit code consists of markings for Italian Tornados, taken from two different Italeri sheets. The squadron emblem on the fin came from a Mistercraft Su-22, IIRC.
Most stencils were taken from the OOB sheet, some of them were replaced with white alternatives, though, in order to keep a consistent overall low-viz look.
Finally the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish.
An interesting result. Even though this Polish Gina is purely fictional, the model looks surprisingly convincing, and the grey low-viz livery actually suits the G.91Y well.
Taught a lesson on the difference between facts and truth today in my science methods course. Seems so germane...and not just in relationship to science...
these are REAL facts, so dont complain the badassity of it ;)
1.nick jonas can do an awesome australian accent.
2. when nick jonas gets nervous, he pulls on his jacket.
3. Kevin Jonas wanted to be an extreme skate boarder at age 17.
4. Kevin Jonas loved Usher when he was 17
5. Denise Jonas loved dressing the boys as sailors when they were younger.
6. Nick Jonas is captain of his Road Dogs team
7. Nick dislikes when his cupcakes have too much icing.
8. Joe Jonas screams the loudest
9. Joe Jonas is an excellent roller blader
10. Joe Jonas loves dipping his apples in peanut butter.
11. Teen PopStar Magazine lost 24% of their sales, because the magazine features more Justin Bieber & less Jonas Brothers.
12. Joe Jonas will be playing the bass in the 2010 summer world tour.
13. Kevin Jonas loves it when it's windy.
14. Kevin, Nick & Joe Jonas hope to be working on solo albums after the World Tour 2010.
&
15. Joe jonas takes the longest to get ready.
hope you liked them!
will be posting more soon.
+++ 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:
In September 1952, the United States Navy announced a requirement for a new fighter. It was to have a top speed of Mach 1.2 at 30,000 ft (9,144.0 m) with a climb rate of 25,000 ft/min (127.0 m/s), and a landing speed of no more than 100 mph (160 km/h). Korean War experience had demonstrated that 0.50 inch (12.7 mm) machine guns were no longer sufficient, and as the result the new fighter was to carry a 20 mm (0.79 in) cannon. In response, the Vought team led by John Russell Clark, created the V-383. Unusual for a fighter, the aircraft had a high-mounted wing which necessitated the use of a fuselage-mounted short and light landing gear.
The Crusader was powered by a Pratt and Whitney J57 turbojet engine. The engine was equipped with an afterburner that, unlike on later engines, was either fully lit, or off (i.e. it did not have "zones"). The engine produced 18,000 lb of thrust at full power, enough to allow the F-8 to climb straight up in clean configuration. The most innovative aspect of the design was the variable-incidence wing which pivoted by 5° out of the fuselage on takeoff and landing (not to be confused with variable-sweep wing). This allowed a greater angle of attack, increasing lift without compromising forward visibility. This innovation helped the F-8's development team win the Collier Trophy in 1956. Simultaneously, the lift was augmented by leading-edge slats drooping by 25° and inboard flaps extending to 30°. The rest of the aircraft took advantage of contemporary aerodynamic innovations with area-ruled fuselage, all-moving stabilators, dog-tooth notching at the wing folds for improved yaw stability, and liberal use of titanium in the airframe.
The armament, as specified by the Navy, consisted primarily of four 20 mm (.79 in) autocannons, and the Crusader happened to be the last U.S. fighter designed with guns as its primary weapon. They were supplemented with a retractable tray with 32 unguided Mk 4/Mk 40 Folding-Fin Aerial Rocket (Mighty Mouse FFARs), and cheek pylons for a pair of IR-guided AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles. In practice, AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles were the F-8's primary weapon, because the 20mm guns were "generally unreliable."
In May 1953, the Vought design was declared a winner and in June, Vought received an order for three XF8U-1 prototypes (after adoption of the unified designation system in September 1962, the F8U became the F-8). The first prototype flew on 25 March 1955 with John Konrad at the controls, exceeding the speed of sound during its maiden flight. On 4 April 1956, the F8U-1 performed its first catapult launch from Forrestal.
In US service, the F-8 served principally in the Vietnam War and several versions, including all-weather fighters with improved radar and photo-recce versions, were developed. An update program between 1965 and 1970 prolonged the fighters’ time of active duty into the late Seventies. The RF-8 reconnaissance aircraft served longer and were retired in 1987.
Despite its qualities, only a few foreign countries operated the F-8. Beyond France and the Philippines, Argentina bought twelve revamped Crusaders plus two additional airframes for spares from US surplus stock for its carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo (V-2) in 1975. The ship previously served in the Royal Navy as HMS Venerable and the Royal Netherlands Navy as HNLMS Karel Doorman and had been put into Argentine service in 1969. It could carry up to 24 aircraft and initially operated with obsolete F4U Corsairs and F9F Panthers and Cougars. These were soon replaced by A-4Q Skyhawks (modified A-4Bs, also from US stock), but these machines were rather fighter bombers than interceptors that could not effectively guard the ship or its surrounding fleet from air strikes. This led to the procurement of Argentina’s small F-8 fleet, a process that started in 1973, just after the Skyhawks had entered service.
The Argentinian Crusaders (locally known as “Cruzados”) were based on the F-8E all-weather fighter variant. This type was the ultimate evolution of the original F-8 series, before the modernization program that turned these machines into F-8Js in US service. The F-8E was, beyond its four 20mm cannon, able to carry up to four AIM-9 Sidewinder AAMs on Y-shaped fuselage pylons. The original unguided missile pannier had been replaced by an extra fuel tank, and two dry underwing pylons allowed the carriage of unguided bombs or missiles. The USN’s F-8Es also had extra avionics in a shallow dorsal hump for the deployment of the radio-guided AGM-12 Bullpup air-to-ground missile, so that the aircraft could also carry out strike duties against small target – in theory, since the AGM-12 had to be visually guided by the pilot all the way while flying at lower levels in the combat environment.
However, the Argentine Navy requested some peculiar modifications for its aircraft, which were quite similar to the French Navy’s F-8E (FN), the last Crusaders that had left the production lines in 1965. This special Crusader variant became the F-8Q. It retained the F-8E’s J57-P-20A engine as well as the AN/APQ-94 fire-control radar and the IRST sensor blister in front of the canopy. A Martin-Baker ejection seat was fitted and the cockpit instruments were updated to Argentinian standards.
In order to ease operation and especially landing on the relatively small Veinticinco de Mayo, the F-8Q was, like the French Crusaders, modified with the maximum angle of incidence of the aircraft's wing increased from five to seven degrees, and blown flaps were fitted, too. This reduced the rate of descent to 11’ (3.35 m) per second and limited the force of gravity during landings to 3.5 G. The approach speed was also considerably reduced, by roundabout 15 knots (17.5 mph or 28 km/h).
Since Argentina did not operate the AGM-12 Bullpup and wanted a dedicated interceptor, the missile avionics were deleted and the hump disappeared, in an effort to save weight. Furthermore, the wing pylons received plumbing so that drop tanks could be carried, beyond the standard unguided ordnance of bombs or unguided missile pods. The F-8Q’s total payload was 5,000 lb (2,270 kg), but when operating from Veinticinco de Mayo, any external ordnance beyond the four Sidewinders was ever carried because the F-8’s TOW was at the ship’s catapult limits. When operating from land bases, the F-8Qs would frequently carry drop tanks in order to extend their range.
Upon delivery in late 1975, the F-8Q’s sported the standard US Navy scheme of Light Gull Grey upper surfaces over white undersides, just like the Skyhawks and other operational aircraft types of the Argentinian Navy. Typically, six F-8Qs were always based on board of Veinticinco de Mayo and rotated with the rest of the machines, which were, together with A-4Qs, based at BAN Rio Grande.
The F-8Qs formed the 1st Flight of the 3 Escuadrilla Aeronaval de Caza y Ataque that operated from Veinticinco de Mayo, and the machines received tactical codes between “101” and “112”. However, this gave in 1980 way to a more toned-down paint scheme in dark blue-grey over white, at a phase when Argentina tried to acquire Dassault Super Étendards and Exocet missiles from France. The new paint scheme was gradually introduced, though, the first to be re-painted were “107”, “108” and “110” in summer 1981.
Despite their availability, the F-8Qs did not actively take part in the Falklands War of 1982. This was primarily because ARA Veinticinco de Mayo was initially used in support of the Argentine landings on the Falklands: on the day of the invasion, she waited with 1.500 army soldiers outside Stanley harbor as first submarine and boat-landed commandos secured landing areas, and then Argentine marines made the main amphibious landing. Her aircraft were not used during the invasion and remained at land bases.
Later, in defense of the occupation, the carrier was deployed in a task force north of the Falkland Islands, with ARA General Belgrano to the south, and this time the usual six F-8Qs were on board and provided air cover. Out of fear from losing the carrier, though (the British had assigned HMS Splendid (S106), a nuclear-powered submarine, to track down Veinticinco de Mayo and sink her if necessary), the ship and its aircraft remained mostly outside of the direct confrontation theatre and rather acted as a distraction, binding British resources and attention.
However, after hostilities broke out on 1 May 1982, the Argentine carrier attempted to launch a wave of A-4Q Skyhawk jets against the Royal Navy Task Force after her S-2 Trackers detected the British fleet. What would have been the first battle between aircraft carriers since World War II did not take place, though, as winds prevented the heavily loaded jets from being launched. After the British nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror sank General Belgrano, Veinticinco de Mayo returned to port for her own safety. The naval A-4Q Skyhawks flew the rest of the war from the airbase in Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego, and had some success against the Royal Navy, sinking HMS Ardent, even though three Skyhawks were shot down by Sea Harriers. The Crusaders were held back for homeland defense from Río Gallegos air base, since Argentina’s limited air refueling capacities (just a pair of C-130s, and all buddy refueling packs for the Skyhawks were out of order) had to be saved and concentrated on the Skyhawks.
After her involvement in the Falklands/Malvinas conflict, Veinticinco de Mayo resumed regular service and was in 1983 modified to carry the new Dassault Super Étendard jets (which had turned out to be too heavy for the original catapult, which also barely got the F-8Qs into the air), but soon after problems in her engines largely confined her to port. She was deemed more or less unseaworthy and this confined the Argentinian Navy’s jet force to land bases.
From this point on, the F-8Qs lost their raison d’être, since the Argentinian air force already had, with the Mirage III and IAI Nesher/Dagger, capable and less costly land-based interceptors available. Due to lack of spares and funds, the remaining Argentinian Crusaders (after several accidents, only eight F-8Qs were still in service and only five of them actually operational) were in 1988 transferred to Villa Reynolds air base in Western Central Argentina, grounded and stored in the open, where they quickly deteriorated. Eventually, all F-8Qs were scrapped in the early Nineties. Only one specimen survived and has been preserved in its original Gull Grey/White livery as a gate guard at the Naval Aviation Command headquarters at Comandante Espora Airport, Bahía Blanca.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 54 ft 3 in (16.54 m)
Wingspan: 35 ft 8 in (10.87 m)
Height: 15 ft 9 in (4.80 m)
Wing area: 375 sq ft (34.8 m²)
Aspect ratio: 3.4
Airfoil: root: NACA 65A006 mod;
tip: NACA 65A005 mod
Zero-lift drag coefficient: CD0.0133
Drag area: 5.0 sq ft (0.46 m²)
Empty weight: 17,541 lb (7,956 kg)
Gross weight: 29,000 lb (13,154 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 34,000 lb (15,422 kg)
Fuel capacity: 1,325 US gal (1,103.3 imp gal; 5,015.7 L)
Powerplant:
1× Pratt & Whitney J57-P-20A afterburning turbojet engine
with 10,700 lbf (48 kN) dry thrust and 18,000 lbf (80 kN) with afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: 1,066 kn (1,227 mph, 1,974 km/h) at 36,000 ft (10,973 m)
Maximum speed: Mach 1.86
Cruise speed: 495 kn (570 mph, 917 km/h)
Combat range: 394 nmi (453 mi, 730 km)
Ferry range: 1,507 nmi (1,734 mi, 2,791 km) with external fuel
Service ceiling: 58,000 ft (18,000 m)
Rate of climb: 19,000 ft/min (97 m/s)
Lift-to-drag: 12.8
Wing loading: 77.3 lb/sq ft (377 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 0.62
Armament:
4× 20 mm (0.79 in) Colt Mk 12 cannons in lower fuselage, 125 RPG
2× side fuselage mounted Y-pylons for up to four AIM-9 Sidewinders and/or Zuni rockets
2× underwing pylon stations with a capacity of 4,000 lb (2,000 kg)
The kit and its assembly:
This relatively simple build was triggered by the “In the navy” group build at whatifmodelers.com in April/May 2020, even though I started it too late for the deadline.
After having recently read a lot of stuff about the Falklands/Malvinas conflict, I wondered if Argentina could not have procured a dedicated fighter for its single carrier – and the F-8 from US surplus stocks was a perfect candidate for the potential timeframe of the Seventies, when the type was retired from USN/USMC service or, in part, modernized and/or put up for sale, like the machines for the Philippines. The only real-world problem would have been the weight: the F-8E weighed up to 15 tons, while the Super Étendard, which was reportedly already hard to launch from Veinticinco de Mayo, had a MTOW of “only” 12 tons. Not certain if the F-8’s afterburner engine and the wings’ raised angle of incidence would have been enough to launch a Crusader? Well, it’s whifworld, after all. 😉
The basis is the Hasegawa F-8E, a kit that I had originally stashed away as a donor for a different project.
The model was built mostly OOB, I just sanded the dorsal avionics hump away and gave the machine a pair of drop tanks under the wings (from an A-4) – a rather unusual sight on a Crusader, and it looks even more weird with the wings in the raised position! The Sidewinders, relatively simple pieces, too, were taken OOB, since they look very much like early AIM-9Bs.
The kit goes together well, but it is a simple affair and you see the mold’s age. You get raised (though fine) panel lines, a rather simple cockpit tub with flat dashboards (for decals), a clumsy seat and no cockpit back wall at all. Fit is basically O.K., but the windscreen refused to fit well, and the hatch turned out to be somewhat too narrow for the rear bulkhead you are supposed to glue into it. Furthermore, the fuselage halves, especially on the underside, have shallow shrink areas close to the seams, so that PSR is mandatory. I would, not call the kit my first choice for the F-8 (which would rather be the Academy kit), but you get the Hasegawa kit at reasonable prices, and I originally purchased it as a body donor bank.
Since the kit lacks a proper air intake duct, sanding the fuselage halves inside of the respective orifice is not easy - I used a soft acrylic putty and left the radome away until the job was done. Furthermore, I added a visual blocker inside of the intake, a piece of black foamed styrene under the cockpit tub - otherwise you have direct sight down the empty interior in a head-on view.
Further small additions are some blade antennae on the hull and on the fin, inspired by the Argentinian Skyhawks.
Painting and markings:
Again, I wanted a rather subtle, semi-authentic look. The most natural choice would certainly have been a Light Gull Grey/White livery like the A-4Qs, but for a twist and because I like the late French F-8Ps in their all-over dark grey livery, I settled upon something that resembles the French/Argentinian Super Étendards: a dark, bluish-grey upper surface with white undersides and the upper colors well wrapped around the wings’ leading edges.
Concerning the French grey tone there are many different opinions and recommendations – ranging from Dark Gull Grey (FS 36231, which is IMHO much too light) over Gunship Grey (FS 36118) to dark blue.
I settled for Humbrol 79 (Blue Grey) as basic tone, which is AFAIK Humbrol’s interpretation of the German RAL 7012 (Basaltgrau), a tone that is very close to the British Dark Sea Grey. The undersides, including the landing gear, were painted with acrylic semi-gloss white from a rattle can. This was done as the first step, with a masked low waterline. Then the grey was applied by brush, and also wrapped around the wings’ leading edges. In order to improve the camouflage effect from above, the pylons as well as the outer sides of the stabilizers under the tail were painted in blue grey, too.
The flags on the rudder as well as the on the stabilizers were painted with white and Humbrol 48 (Mediterranean Blue), too, just the sun emblems on the fin are decals. Since the F-8 has, unlike the A-4 or the Sue, all-mowing stabilizers, I decided to paint the whole tail surface in white and blue and not just the trailing edge. This looks quite bright, but it is IMHO a great detail that sets this whif really apart and shows some pride.
The afterburner fairing was painted with a mix of Humbrol 27002 and 27003 (Polished Aluminum and Steel Metallizer) and later treated with graphite for a burnt look.
After an overall black ink wash the upper surfaces were treated with dry-brushed post shading (Humbrol 106 and 156). The decals come primarily from an Academy Super Étendard, augmented by markings from various decals from an Airfix Falklands War kit set sheet (e.g. the sun icons for the fin flash).
The silver leading edges of the wings, stabilizers and the fin were created with decal sheet material. the same material in black was used for walkway markings.
Decals come primarily from an Acedemy Super Étendard sheet, the tactical code was modified. Only the sun icons on the fin flash had to be procured from a different source (an Airfix A-4 Skyhawk sheet). The stencils come from the Hasegawa OOB sheet.
Finally, the kit received an all-over coat of matt acrlyic varnish.
fact: i am a lot taller than my babe. he is 5'4 while i am 5'7.
before, i met babe, height was a big issue for me. ever since i was young, i have been the tallest girl in class. everytime we have school performances and we needed to partner up, i always end up having a girl for a partner and me for a guy. it sucked being so tall. then high school came and i met babe. we fall in love and we were happy. yet, deep in me, i was self conscious. sometimes, i worry at night that he might not like the fact that i am so tall. he proved me wrong. even though i am this giantess, he still loves me :) it was a bit awkward when we saw our first movie together. he tried putting his arm around me, but i was too tall. so, i had to slide down i tiny bit so he can, haha!
oh, and i am happy that we met when i wasn't wearing make up yet, haha! so he does love me for me, without any add ons or anything, haha!
and nope, i am not wearing any make up on this pic either :) so i hope you guys like me for me as well :)
Jackson was, in fact, a wonderful place to be a kid or adult. Life there was so full of normalcy that people never really gave change any thought.....why would you upset the status quo when it was working just fine, after all? All the bad people were in the prison on the north side of town, one of the world's largest, so there was little crime. Most everyone had a lifetime job. And we kids could ride our bikes all over town without checking in with our parents until supper. Baseball on a vacant lot was the order of the day, unless we were playing hide-and-seek in the abandoned zoo or at one of the many nearby little lakes. So, in its complacent, peaceful state of bliss, Jackson slowly slid behind lesser but more hungry cities on the rise. When, after 3 joyous years, my father decided to move to Lansing for a better paying job with the State of Michigan, i thought the world had started turning the wrong way and moped for at least a year. I didn't return to Jackson until i played a high school tennis match there against one of my old 5th grade friends. Sadly, although i won the match, it was a bittersweet triumph because, unlike in my dreams, the girl that i had harbored a secret love for, was not there to see the magnificent achievement and rekindle our fantasy romance. The next time i went to Jackson was after finishing college, and the town was starting to look very worn out.....vacant downtown stores, broken sidewalks, unpainted houses and litter blowing across the streets. Stopping to see another fifth grade friend, i heard that the girl of my dreams had recently married, accepted a teaching position and moved far away.
sorry me for such an old May's photo, but he is still not ready at all. that`s rather sad, yes.
but it's much easier for me to tell something about him than about Umi.
1. May is early spring. the most suitable feeling for him is inspire, awaking and beginning of somethin new.
2. he doesn't use his eyes as much as others use to. Not see - feel is his important idea.
3. he is magician as Umi.
4. Umi is May's elder brother
5. not realy about spending a lot of time with people
6. loves music a lot, but never sing or play it himself
7. looks too far weaker than he realy is
8. everyone who talked with him felt like everything is good. he's peaceful mind and quiet voice make people fell like they are in a safe place
9. remembers lots of different worlds and lifes
10. he is introvert and ways of his mind are often closed even for his brothers
sorry my english please, if there are a lot of mistakes here.
trying my best but still not good enough in writing a lot and grammar
+++ 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 Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star was the first jet fighter used operationally by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Designed and built by Lockheed in 1943 and delivered just 143 days from the start of the design process, production models were flying, and two pre-production models did see very limited service in Italy just before the end of World War II.
Designed with straight wings, America's first successful turbojet-powered combat aircraft, it helped usher in the "jet age" in the USAF. The US Navy was also keen to enter the jet age, so several P-80A Shooting Stars were transferred beginning 29 June 1945, retaining their P-80 designations. At Naval Air Station Patuxent River, one Navy P-80 was modified with required add-ons, such as an arrester hook, and loaded aboard the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt at Norfolk, Virginia, on 31 October 1946.
The following day the aircraft made four deck-run takeoffs and two catapult launches, with five arrested landings, flown by Marine Major Marion Carl. A second series of trials was held on 11 November. The tests were passably successful, but the P/F-80A C was not a very suitable carrier aircraft. Even with the arresting hook and the bridle attachment points it still lacked a lot desired for carrier operations: No wing fold (greatly hampering parking on the deck and below in the hangar deck, and elevator handling), not protected against the salt water environment, not optimized for low speed handling around the carrier, and perhaps most troublesome it did not have a structure robust enough for sustained carrier operations.
In parallel, the U.S. Navy had already begun procuring its own jet aircraft, but the slow pace of delivery was causing retention problems among pilots, particularly those of the Marines who were still flying Vought F4U Corsairs. To increase land-based jet-transition training in the late 1940s, 50 F-80Cs were transferred to the U.S. Navy from the U.S. Air Force in 1949 as jet trainers. Designated TO-1 by the Navy (changed to TV-1 in 1950), 25 were based at Naval Air Station North Island, California, with VF-52, and 16 assigned to the Marine Corps, equipping VMF-311 at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro. These aircraft were eventually sent to reserve units. The success of these aircraft led to the procurement by the Navy of 698 T-33 Shooting Stars (as the TO-2/TV-2) to provide a two-seat aircraft for the training role.
Concerning the single-seat fighter, the US Navy was by late 1948 impressed (or desperate) enough to order a navalized version of the F-80C, with an uprated J-33-A-35 engine, an ejection seat and fitted with 260 US gal (220 imp gal; 980 l) tiptanks. This became the F2V, which addressed many of the early carrier trial shortcomings. For instance, the wings were modified with folding hinges at about half the wings' span, and tanks in the outer wing panels were deleted. This structural weakness precluded the carriage of the F-80C's large tip tanks, though, so that smaller, integral tip tanks were added to the wing tips. Internal structure and landing gear were reinforced, externally recognizable through a slightly higher stance of the aircraft on the ground. An arrester hook was added under the rear fuselage as well as catapult launch cable hooks under the air intakes. For better low-speed handling the flaps could be lowered more strongly than on the F-80, and slats were added to the outer wing panels. In order to provide the pilot with a better field of view esp. during carrier landings, a bigger and taller teardrop canopy was fitted, with a raised position for the pilot. The armaments consisted of six 0.5" machine guns with 300 RPG, plus underwing hardpoints fo up to eight five inch HVARs or two 1.000 lb bombs, similar to the USAF's F-80C.
In 1951, immediately after the first F2V-1s had been delivered and sent to Korea, a second order for an upgraded variant was placed. Basically, the F2V-2 did not differ much from its predecessor, it was just outfitted with a slightly uprated J33-A-35A engine and the internal armament was changed to four 20mm Colt Mk. 12 cannon with 100 RPG in the nose. 32 F2V-2s were ordered, plus 12 additional F2V-2Ps, an unarmed photo reconnaissance version which had a similar camera nose as the RF-80. The standard equipment included a K-17 camera with a 6" lens and two split vertical K-22 cameras with 24" lenses. While the F2V-2P did not carry any offensive capability anymore, the underwing hardpoints were retained for photo flash cartridge dischargers, allowing a limited night photography capability.
USAF F-80Cs as well as USN F2Vs saw active combat service in the Korean War and were among the first aircraft to be involved in jet-versus-jet combat. They flew both air-to-air and air-to-ground sorties, claiming several aerial victories against North Korean Yak-9s and Il-10s. But despite initial claims of success, the speed of the straight-wing F-80s was inferior to the 668 mph (1.075 km/h) MiGs, and the heavier F2V fared even worse. A further problem of the F2Vs was their poor resistance against sea water-related aircraft wear. Even though Lockheed had tried to save the airframe and the internal systems from higher humidity and salt exposure, corrosion and electrical defects plagued the aircraft during its whole career, which was relatively short. The fighters were soon replaced by the more capable Grumman F9F Panther, and type that had been from the start been designed as a naval aircraft and was built by a company with more experience in this field of work.
When sufficient Sabres were in operation to counter the MiG-15s, the Shooting Stars flew exclusively ground-attack and photo reconnaissance missions. For the latter task, 20 surplus F2V-1s were modified in field workshops to F2V-1Ps. These were basically of the same technical standard as the F2V-2P, but retained the weaker engine. In fact, by the end of hostilities, the only Shooting Stars in USAF and USN service still flying in Korea were photo-reconnaissance variants. After the Korean War, the F2V fighters were quickly phased out, just the photo reconnaissance versions were still flying in reserve units, but were also soon replaced by Grumman Panthers and Douglas Banshee recce variants. By 1958, all F2Vs were already retired.
Lockheed's experience with the F2V was not futile, though. The USN's persisting need for a carrier-compatible trainer led to a further, more advanced design development of the P-80/T-33 family, which came into being with the Lockheed designation L-245 and USN designation T2V. Lockheed's demonstrator L-245 first flew on 16 December 1953 and production deliveries to the US Navy began in 1956.
Compared to the T-33/TV-2/F2V, the T2V was almost totally re-engineered and fully optimized for carrier landings and at-sea operations. This included a redesigned tail, naval standard avionics, a further strengthened undercarriage (with catapult fittings) and lower fuselage (with a retractable arrester hook), power-operated leading-edge flaps (to increase lift at low speeds) to allow carrier launches and recoveries, and an elevated rear (instructor's) seat for improved instructor vision, among other changes. The T2V eventually had a much higher ability to withstand sea water-related aircraft wear from higher humidity and salt exposure.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 34 ft 5 in (10.49 m)
Wingspan: 40 ft 9 1/2 in (12,45 m) incl. tip tanks
Height: 11 ft 3 in (3.43 m)
Wing area: 234.8 sq ft (21.81 m²)
Aspect ratio: 6.37
Airfoil: NACA 65-213
Empty weight: 9,273 lb (4,210 kg)
Gross weight: 14,392 lb (6,534 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 17,280 lb (7,846 kg)
Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0134
Frontal area: 32 sq ft (3.0 m²)
Powerplant:
1× Allison J33-A-35A centrifugal compressor turbojet with 4,900 lbf (22 kN) dry thrust
and 6,100 lbf (27.2 kN) with water injection'Allison J33-A-24/24A turbojet,
Performance:
Maximum speed: 590 mph (950 km/h, 513 kn) at sea level
Maximum speed: Mach 0.75
Cruise speed: 439 mph (707 km/h, 381 kn)
Range: 825 mi (1,328 km, 717 nmi)
Ferry range: 1,380 mi (2,220 km, 1,200 nmi)
Service ceiling: 46,800 ft (14,300 m)
Rate of climb: 6,870 ft/min (34.9 m/s)
Time to altitude: 20,000 ft (6,100 m) in 5 minutes 30 seconds
Lift-to-drag: 17.7
Wing loading: 51.3 lb/sq ft (250 kg/m²
Thrust/weight: 0.364
0.435 with water injection.
Armament:
No cannons installed
Underwing hardpoints for up to 2× 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs, but typically left empty or outfitted with photo flash
cartridge dispensers for night photography
The kit and its assembly:
This build is another submission the "In the Navy" group build at whatifmodellers.com in early 2020, and it was a spontaneous decision, following the discussions under a "F-80 in USN service" thread elsewhere in the forum (www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=33956.0).
I remembered that I had an Airfic F-80C in the stash, and the idea was born to build a kind of a missing link between the USN's purely land-based TO/TV-1 and the later, dedicated T2V-1 carrier-capable trainer.
I wanted the modified Shooting Star to stay close to the land-based original, but with some upgrades. These included foldable wings (hinted at with profiles on the upper wings surfaces, hiding the respective joints), a raised cockpit in the form of a new/bigger canopy (from a Hasegawa F9F Panther, with an added dorsal fairing) and a modified landing gear. For the latter, the main gear was taken over, but I raised the main legs by maybe 2mm - not much, but I wanted a rather stalky, Skyhawk-esque look that conveys the upgraded landing gear. For the same reason I replaced the front leg with a leftover donor piece from a Matchbox A-4M - it has a different construction and is also longer, so that the F2V now had a nose-up stance for a better angle of attack when launching from a carrier. I contemplated and actually tried a fin fillet, but found after hardware trials that this, together with the more bulbous canopy, totally ruined the F-80's elegant lines, so it went off again.
An extra of this conversion is the camera nose, taken from the Heller T-33/RT-33 kit, a straightforward mod because the same nose was also mounted onto the RF-80C photo recce variant of the Shooting Star. However, once again the challenges of body transplants on model kits should not be underestimated. While, in theory, the RT-33 nose should have been easy to graft onto the F-80 body, it was not. While the dorsal area would fit quite well, the lower shapes, esp. in front of the air intakes, differ considerably between the models. I assume that the Airfix F-80C is slightly too narrow/sleek at its front end. Integrating the different nose necessitated some serious PSR, and while the parts do not match as good as one might have suspected, the outcome looks fine and I am happy that I now have "something different", not just a standard fighter.
I also wanted to add wing tip tanks, but neither the early underwing tanks that come with the Airfix kit, nor the large tanks from the T-33 - I found them both to be too big for a carrier-borne aircraft. Finding suitable donor parts was not easy, though; initially I dug out a pair of leftover tip tanks from a Matchbox T-2 Buckeye. which are pretty slender, but they eventually looked too modern and streamlined for an aircraft from the early Fifties. I tried some further mods but eventually rejected them. The final choice became a pair of underwing drop tanks from a Hobby Boss MiG-15 that lost their fins.
Painting and markings:
Once more, a conservative approach. While the real TO/TV-1s of the US Navy retained their bare metal finish with black markings, I gave the T2V a classic all-blue livery, because I thought that it would suit the elegant lines of the F-80 well.
The F2V was painted overall in FS 35042 (from Modelmaster), later treated with a black ink wash and some post-shading. The interior surfaces of cockpit, air brakes and landing gear wells were painted with an individually mixed zinc chromate green, consisting of Humbrol 80 and 159 in a roughly 1:1 ratio. The silver wing leading edges were created with decal material, a more convenient solution than trying to mask and paint them. The landing gear struts and wheel discs were painted in aluminium (Humbrol 56).
Decals and markings were puzzled together. The "Stars and Bars" come from an Artmodel F8F Bearcat, as well as the "Navy" tag on the fuselage. The VC 61 markings come from a Hobby Boss F9F Panther, and I added some F-80/T-33-specific markings from various aftermarket sheets. The red highlights on nose and fin were done with paint (Revell 330), framed by thin white decal strips. The ranging radar was framed with similar material, just in silver.
Even though I considered opening the camera windows in the nose and glazing them, I left them closed, since a lot of lead had to be hidden inside for a proper stance. Instead, the windows were simply filled with black, clear paint, for a glossy finish. The rest of the aircraft was sealed with a mix of matt and semi-gloss Italeri acrylic varnish, which turned out duller than hoped for - but I left it that way.
A relatively simple project - or so I thought! The rhinoplasty was more complicated than expected, the wing tip tanks became a trial-and error odyssey and the different landing gear and the canopy were also not without trouble. The resulting fictional aircraft is very subtle, though - even more so through the standard USN livery, which suits the Shooting Star VERY well and might onlookers mislead to see a Fifties Banshee or a Panther. The F2V just blends right between these types.
From left to right: Lisa Guernsey, Deputy Director, Education Policy Program, New America, Director, Learning Technologies Project, New America;
Aleksander Dardeli, Senior Vice President, IREX;
An-Me Chung, Senior Fellow, Mozilla Foundation;
Alan Page, Government teacher, Oklahoma City Public Schools
Involved with Generation Citizen;
Patricia Hunt, Government teacher, Arlington County Public Schools, Involved with the News Literacy Project
This is a cutie-fied chibi drawing of myself.
Tagged by DXAngel.
Favorite color? Red.
Biggest dream? Have enough money to live a comfortable life with friends and family and be able to support my hobbies.
Lucky number? Don't have one.
Celebrity crush? Can he be fictional? Because then I have lots.
Sexuality? Straight.
If you could meet anyone on earth, who would it be? Hayao Miyazaki.
Middle name? Not telling!
Believe in love at first sight? Not really. At least not the love that lasts for a lifetime.
Allergies? Seasonal, so dust, pollen, the works.
Addiction? Dolls, drawing, saving photos, crafting, manga.
Typical weekend? Trying to delay waking up for as long as possible by lying in bed, doing homework, eat, do some more homework, eat, do some more homework, back to bed. Then sprinkle with a healthy dose of procrastination.
Favorite serial killer? Why would I have a favourite serial killer? I'm not that sort of crazy.
Birthday? Not telling!
Best friends? Online ones are DXAngel. Real life ones have not given permission to be featured in this tag.
Favorite food? I love most food.
Milkshakes or yogurt? I've only had a milkshake once, so yogurt.
Cheetos or Fritos? Cheetos, never had Fritos.
Would you rather eat tentacles or *Bleep* a donut? I've eaten tentacles before and they're good. Heard of calamari? Yeah, if you haven't tried it, you haven't properly enjoyed food. And why would I waste a perfectly good donut? Don't be wasteful, there are people starving out there. So I'l eat the tentacles and when I finish, I'll eat the donut too.
Favorite social media? None.
Current mood? Rushed.
Have you ever stolen anything? Candy and cheap Christmas ornaments.
Weirdest food you like? Yogurt Nutella sandwich, or bell peppers with yogurt, or frog legs, or snake, or--yeah, I like food.
Would you rather kiss Satan or a monkey? Monkey.
How long have you waited before you took a shower? Maybe two days? Not sure.
Ever been in love with "just a friend"? Can't remember.
How many girls have you dated? None.
How many boys have you dated? None.
What is your favorite movie? Spirited Away.
Do you remember a lot of your dreams? Not really.
What do you like about yourself? What a narcissistic question. I'm not sure. I rarely spend time to deeply think about myself. But first response would be that I don't hold grudges for long, unless they're serious ones.
Favorite sport? Figure skating.
Smoke? No. Love my lungs. And that stuff is expensive!
Drink? Don't like alcohol, love my liver.
Video games? I don't have the reflexes for it, but I like watching other people play..
What do you think about Valentine's Day? Don’t think much of it, but I love the cheap chocolate sales after.
What do you think about tattoos? Low pain tolerance, so I can’t get one. But they’re cool.
Do you like anyone? I like my friends, my family—oh, you mean romantically? No.
Perfect first date? Going around the city, chatting, hanging out at a bookstore. He let’s me look at trinkets I like without getting impatient.
Ever broken a bone? Nope.
What deodorant? I always smell good, with or without deodorant.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? Somewhere with less snow.
Biggest regret? Not telling!
Age? How dare you ask a lady her age?
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I want better vision.
Fears? Not having money or a job, among others.
Favorite toy as a kid? My Jessie doll from Toy Story.
Favorite sugary cereal? I like cornflakes, but they’re not sugary.
Do you like cheese? Yup, except the super stinky lumpy type. I like smooth cheeses.
Who are you talking to right now? Real life bestie.
When did you go to sleep last night? Around 3:00 AM.
Favorite TV show? BBC Sherlock.
If you could travel anywhere in the world where would it be? Wanna go visit DXAngel, or go to Japan and get more Pullips. Giverny would be nice in June too.
Favorite song? Karakuri Piero sung by Nero.
What do you want to be when you grow up? Content and independent.
What’s your favorite animal? I have a lot, but I love lynxes.
Would you rather have love or a million dollars? A million dollars. I’m already pretty happy with the love of my friends and family.
How many kids do you want? Two, a boy and a girl.
Ten years from now what do you want to be doing? Hopefully working and getting more dolls.
Do you like massages? Depends on who’s giving it.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
After the success of the Soviet Union’s first carrier ship, the Moskva Class (Projekt 1123, also called „Кондор“/„Kondor“) cruisers in the mid 1960s, the country became more ambitious. This resulted in Project 1153 Orel (Russian: Орёл, Eagle), a planned 1970s-era Soviet program to give the Soviet Navy a true blue water aviation capability. Project Orel would have resulted in a program very similar to the aircraft carriers available to the U.S. Navy. The ship would have been about 75-80,000 tons displacement, with a nuclear power plant and carried about 70 aircraft launched via steam catapults – the first Soviet aircraft carrier that would be able to deploy fixed-wing aircraft.
Beyond this core capability, the Orel carrier was designed with a large offensive capability with the ship mounts including 24 vertical launch tubes for anti-ship cruise missiles. In the USSR it was actually classified as the "large cruiser with aircraft armament".
Anyway, the carrier needed appropriate aircraft, and in order to develop a the aircraft major design bureaus were asked to submit ideas and proposals in 1959. OKB Yakovlev and MiG responded. While Yakovlev concentrated on the Yak-36 VTOL design that could also be deployed aboard of smaller ships without catapult and arrester equipment, Mikoyan-Gurevich looked at navalized variants of existing or projected aircraft.
While land-based fighters went through a remarkable performance improvement during the 60ies, OKB MiG considered a robust aircraft with proven systems and – foremost – two engines to be the best start for the Soviet Union’s first naval fighter. “Learning by doing”, the gathered experience would then be used in a dedicated new design that would be ready in the mid 70ies when Project 1153 was ready for service, too.
Internally designated “I-SK” or “SK-01” (Samolyot Korabelniy = carrier-borne aircraft), the naval fighter was based on the MiG-19 (NATO: Farmer), which had been in production in the USSR since 1954.
Faster and more modern types like the MiG-21 were rejected for a naval conversion because of their poor take-off performance, uncertain aerodynamics in the naval environment and lack of ruggedness. The MiG-19 also offered the benefit of relatively compact dimensions, as well as a structure that would carry the desired two engines.
Several innovations had to be addresses:
- A new wing for improved low speed handling
- Improvement of the landing gear and internal structures for carrier operations
- Development of a wing folding mechanism
- Integration of arrester hook and catapult launch devices into the structure
- Protection of structure, engine and equipment from the aggressive naval environment
- Improvement of the pilot’s field of view for carrier landings
- Improved avionics, esp. for navigation
Work on the SK-01 started in 1960, and by 1962 a heavily redesigned MiG-19 was ready as a mock-up for inspection and further approval. The “new” aircraft shared the outlines with the land-based MiG-19, but the nose section was completely new and shared a certain similarity to the experimental “Aircraft SN”, a MiG-17 derivative with side air intakes and a solid nose that carried a. Unlike the latter, the cockpit had been moved forward, which offered, together with an enlarged canopy and a short nose, an excellent field of view for the pilot.
On the SK-01 the air intakes with short splitter plates were re-located to the fuselage flanks underneath the cockpit. In order to avoid gun smoke ingestion problems (and the lack of space in the nose for any equipment except for a small SRD-3 Grad gun ranging radar, coupled with an ASP-5N computing gun-sight), the SK-01’s internal armament, a pair of NR-30 cannon, was placed in the wing roots.
The wing itself was another major modification, it featured a reduced sweep of only 33° at ¼ chord angle (compared to the MiG-19’s original 55°). Four wing hardpoints, outside of the landing gear wells, could carry a modest ordnance payload, including rocket and gun pods, unguided missiles, iron bombs and up to four Vympel K-13 AAMs.
Outside of these pylons, the wings featured a folding mechanism that allowed the wing span to be reduced from 10 m to 6.5 m for stowage. The fin remained unchanged, but the stabilizers had a reduced sweep, too.
The single ventral fin of the MiG-19 gave way to a fairing for a massive, semi-retractable arrester hook, flanked by a pair of smaller fins. The landing gear was beefed up, too, with a stronger suspension. Catapult launch from deck was to be realized through expandable cables that were attached onto massive hooks under the fuselage.
The SK-01 received a “thumbs up” in March 1962 and three prototypes, powered by special Sorokin R3M-28 engines, derivatives of the MiG-19's RB-9 that were adapted to the naval environment, were created and tested until 1965, when the type – now designated MiG-SK – went through State Acceptance Trials, including simulated landing tests on an “unsinkalble carrier” dummy, a modified part of the runway at Air Base at the Western coast of the Caspian Sea. Not only flight tests were conducted at Kaspiysk, but also different layouts for landing cables were tested and optimized as well. Furthermore, on a special platform at the coast, an experimental steam catapult went through trials, even though no aircraft starts were made from it – but weights hauled out into the sea.
Anyway, the flight tests and the landing performance on the simulated carrier deck were successful, and while the MiG-SK (the machine differed from the MiG-19 so much that it was not recognized as an official MiG-19 variant) was not an outstanding combat aircraft, rather a technology carrier with field use capabilities.
The MiG-SK’s performance was good enough to earn OKB MiG an initial production run of 20 aircraft, primarily intended for training and development units, since the whole infrastructure and procedures for naval aviation from a carrier had to be developed from scratch. These machines were built at slow pace until 1968 and trials were carried out in the vicinity of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.
The MiG-SK successfully remained hidden from the public, since the Soviet Navy did not want to give away its plans for a CTOL carrier. Spy flights of balloons and aircraft recognized the MiG-SK, but the type was mistaken as MiG-17 fighters. Consequently, no NATO codename was ever allocated.
Alas, the future of the Soviet, carrier-borne fixed wing aircraft was not bright: Laid down in in 1970, the Kiev-class aircraft carriers (also known as Project 1143 or as the Krechyet (Gyrfalcon) class) were the first class of fixed-wing aircraft carriers to be built in the Soviet Union, and they entered service, together with the Yak-38 (Forger) VTOL fighter, in 1973. This weapon system already offered a combat performance similar to the MiG-SK, and the VTOL concept rendered the need for catapult launch and deck landing capability obsolete.
OKB MiG still tried to lobby for a CTOL aircraft (in the meantime, the swing-wing MiG-23 was on the drawing board, as well as a projected, navalized multi-purpose derivative, the MiG-23K), but to no avail.
Furthermore, carrier Project 1153 was cancelled in October 1978 as being too expensive, and a program for a smaller ship called Project 11435, more V/STOL-aircraft-oriented, was developed instead; in its initial stage, a version of 65,000 tons and 52 aircraft was proposed, but eventually an even smaller ship was built in the form of the Kuznetsov-class aircraft carriers in 1985, outfitted with a 12-degree ski-jump bow flight deck instead of using complex aircraft catapults. This CTOL carrier was finally equipped with navalized Su-33, MiG-29 and Su-25 aircraft – and the MiG-SK paved the early way to these shipboard fighters, especially the MiG-29K.
General characteristics:
Crew: One
Length: 13.28 m (43 ft 6 in)
Wingspan: 10.39 m (34 ft)
Height: 3.9 m (12 ft 10 in)
Wing area: 22.6 m² (242.5 ft²)
Empty weight: 5.172 kg (11,392 lb)
Max. take-off weight: 7,560 kg (16,632 lb)
Powerplant:
2× Sorokin R3M-28 turbojets afterburning turbojets, rated at 33.8 kN (7,605 lbf) each
Performance:
Maximum speed: 1,145 km/h (618 knots, 711 mph) at 3,000 m (10,000 ft)
Range: 2,060 km (1,111 nmi, 1,280 mi) with drop tanks
Service ceiling: 17,500 m (57,400 ft)
Rate of climb: 180 m/s (35,425 ft/min)
Wing loading: 302.4 kg/m² (61.6 lb/ft²)
Thrust/weight: 0.86
Armament:
2x 30 mm NR-30 cannons in the wing roots with 75 RPG
4x underwing pylons, with a maximum load of 1.000 kg (2.205 lb)
The kit and its assembly:
This kitbash creation was spawned by thoughts concerning the Soviet Naval Aviation and its lack of CTOL aircraft carriers until the 1980ies and kicked-off by a CG rendition of a navalized MiG-17 from fellow member SPINNERS at whatifmodelers.com, posted a couple of months ago. I liked this idea, and at first I wanted to convert a MiG-17 with a solid nose as a dedicated carrier aircraft. But the more I thought about it and did historic research, the less probable this concept appeared to me: the MiG-17 was simply too old to match Soviet plans for a carrier ship, at least with the real world as reference.
A plausible alternative was the MiG-19, esp. with its twin-engine layout, even though the highly swept wings and the associated high start and landing speeds would be rather inappropriate for a shipborne fighter. Anyway, a MiG-21 was even less suitable, and I eventually took the Farmer as conversion basis, since it would also fit into the historic time frame between the late 60ies and the mid-70ies.
In this case, the basis is a Plastyk MiG-19 kit, one of the many Eastern European re-incarnations of the vintage KP kit. This cheap re-issue became a positive surprise, because any former raised panel and rivet details have disappeared and were replaced with sound, recessed engravings. The kit is still a bit clumsy, the walls are very thick (esp. the canopy – maybe 2mm!), but IMHO it’s a considerable improvement with acceptable fit, even though there are some sink holes and some nasty surprises (in my case, for instance, the stabilizer fins would not match with the rear fuselage at all, and you basically need putty everywhere).
Not much from the Plastyk kit was taken over, though: only the fuselage’s rear two-thirds were used, some landing gear parts as well as fin and the horizontal stabilizers. The latter were heavily modified and reduced in sweep in order to match new wings from a Hobby Boss MiG-15 (the parts were cut into three pieces each and then set back together again).
Furthermore, the complete front section from a Novo Supermarine Attacker was transplanted, because its short nose and the high cockpit are perfect parts for a carrier aircraft. The Attacker’s front end, including the air intakes, fits almost perfectly onto the round MiG-19 forward fuselage, only little body work was necessary. A complete cockpit tub and a new seat were implanted, as well as a front landing gear well and walls inside of the (otherwise empty) air intakes. The jet exhausts were drilled open, too, and afterburner dummies added. Simple jobs.
On the other side, the wings were trickier than expected. The MiG-19 kit comes with voluminous and massive wing root fairings, probably aerodynamic bodies for some area-ruling. I decided to keep them, but this caused some unexpected troubles…
The MiG-15 wings’ position, considerably further back due to the reduced sweep angle, was deduced from the relative MiG-19’s landing gear position. A lot of sculpting and body work followed, and after the wings were finally in place I recognized that the aforementioned, thick wing root fairings had reduced the wing sweep – basically not a bad thing, but with the inconvenient side effect that the original wing MiG-15 fences were not parallel to the fuselage anymore, looking rather awkward! What to do? Grrrr…. I could not leave it that way, so I scraped them away and replaced with them with four scratched substitutes (from styrene profiles), moving the outer pair towards the wing folding mechanism.
Under the wings, four new pylons were added (two from an IAI Kfir, two from a Su-22) and the ordnance gathered from the scrap box – bombs and rocket pods formerly belonged to a Kangnam/Revell Yak-38.
The landing gear was raised by ~2mm for a higher stance on the ground. The original, thick central fin was reduced in length, so that it could become a plausible attachment point for an arrester hook (also from the spares box), and a pair of splayed stabilizer fins was added as a compensation. Finally, some of the OOB air scoops were placed all round the hull and some pitots, antennae and a gun camera fairing added.
Painting and markings:
This whif was to look naval at first sight, so I referred to the early Yak-38 VTOL aircraft and their rather minimalistic paint scheme in an overall dull blue. The green underside, seen on many service aircraft, was AFAIK a (later) protective coating – an obsolete detail for a CTOL aircraft.
Hence, all upper surfaces and the fuselage were painted in a uniform “Field Blue” (Tamiya XF-50). It’s a bit dark, but I have used this unique, petrol blue tone many moons ago on a real world Kangnam Forger where it looks pretty good, and in this case the surface was furthermore shaded with Humbrol 96 and 126 after a black in wash.
For some contrast I painted the undersides of the wings and stabilizers as well as a fuselage section between the wings in a pale grey (Humbrol 167), seen on one of the Yak-38 prototypes. Not very obvious, but at least the aircraft did not end up in a boring, uniform color.
The interior was painted in blue-gray (PRU Blue, shaded with Humbrol 87) while the landing gear wells became Aluminum (Humbrol 56). The wheel discs became bright green, just in order to keep in style and as a colorful contrast, and some di-electric panels and covers became very light grey or bright green. For some color contrast, the anti-flutter weight tips on the stabilizers as well as the pylons’ front ends were painted bright red.
The markings/decals reflect the early Soviet Navy style, with simple Red Stars, large yellow tactical codes and some high contrast warning stencils, taken from the remains of a Yak-38 sheet (American Revell re-release of the Kangnam kit).
Finally, after some soot stains with graphite around the gun muzzles and the air bleed doors, the kit was sealed with a coat of semi-matt acrylic varnish and some matt accents (anti-glare panel, radomes).
A simple idea that turned out to be more complex than expected, due to the wing fence troubles. But I am happy that the Attacker nose could be so easily transplanted, it changes the MiG-19’s look considerably, as well as the wings with (much) less sweep angle.
The aircraft looks familiar, but you only recognize at second glance that it is more than just a MiG-19 with a solid nose. The thing looks pretty retro, reminds me a bit of the Supermarine Scimitar (dunno?), and IMHO it appears more Chinese than Soviet (maybe because the layout reminds a lot of the Q-5 fighter bomber)? It could even, with appropriate markings, be a Luft ’46 design?
Some of you may have noticed that, unfortunately, owing to the fact that a certain person who sells truck photos on eBay commercially has been lifting my images from this album and selling them I have had to remove 2300 photos that didn't have a watermark. I have now run around 1700 through Lightroom and added a watermark with the intention of bulk uploading them again. Rather than watermark the existing (hidden) files in Flickr one at a time it will be easier to do it this way. I definitely won’t be adding individual tags with the make and model of each vehicle I will just add generic transport tags. Each photo is named after the vehicle and reg in any case. For anyone new to these images there is a chapter and verse explanation below. It is staggering how many times I get asked questions that a quick scan would answer or just as likely I can’t possibly answer – I didn’t take them, but, just to clarify-I do own the copyright- and I do pursue copyright theft.
This is a collection of scanned prints from a collection of photographs taken by the late Jim Taylor A number of years ago I was offered a large number of photographs taken by Jim Taylor, a transport photographer based in Huddersfield. The collection, 30,000 prints, 20,000 negatives – and copyright! – had been offered to me and one of the national transport magazines previously by a friend of Jim's, on behalf of Jim's wife. I initially turned them down, already having over 30,000 of my own prints filed away and taking space up. Several months later the prints were still for sale – at what was, apparently, the going rate. It was a lot of money and I deliberated for quite a while before deciding to buy them. I did however buy them directly from Jim’s wife and she delivered them personally – just to quash the occasional rumour from people who can’t mind their own business. Although some prints were sold elsewhere, particularly the popular big fleet stuff, I should have the negatives, unfortunately they came to me in a random mix, 1200 to a box, without any sort of indexing and as such it would be impossible to match negatives to prints, or, to even find a print of any particular vehicle. I have only ever looked at a handful myself unless I am scanning them. The prints are generally in excellent condition and I initially stored them in a bedroom without ever looking at any of them. In 2006 I built an extension and they had to be well protected from dust and moved a few times. Ultimately my former 6x7 box room office has become their (and my own work’s) permanent home.
I hope to avoid posting images that Jim had not taken his self, however should I inadvertently infringe another photographers copyright, please inform me by email and I will resolve the issue immediately. There are copyright issues with some of the photographs that were sold to me. A Flickr member from Scotland drew my attention to some of his own work amongst the first uploads of Jim’s work. I had a quick look through some of the 30 boxes of prints and decided that for the time being the safest thing for me to do was withdraw the majority of the earlier uploaded scans and deal with the problem – which I did. whilst the vast majority of the prints are Jims, there is a problem defining copyright of some of them, this is something that the seller did not make clear at the time. I am reasonably confident that I have since been successful in identifying Jims own work. His early work consists of many thousands of lustre 6x4 prints which are difficult to scan well, later work is almost entirely 7x5 glossy, much easier to scan. Not all of the prints are pin sharp but I can generally print successfully to A4 from a scan.
You may notice photographs being duplicated in this Album, unfortunately there are multiple copies of many prints (for swapping) and as I have to have a system of archiving and backing up I can only guess - using memory - if I have scanned a print before. The bigger fleets have so many similar vehicles and registration numbers that it is impossible to get it right all of the time. It is easier to scan and process a print than check my files - on three different PC’s - for duplicates. There has not been, nor will there ever be, any intention to knowingly breach anyone else's copyright. I have presented the Jim Taylor collection as exactly that-The Jim Taylor Collection- his work not mine, my own work is quite obviously mine.
Unfortunately, many truck spotters have swapped and traded their work without copyright marking it as theirs. These people never anticipated the ease with which images would be shared online in the future. I would guess that having swapped and traded photos for many years that it is almost impossible to control their future use. Anyone wanting to control the future use of their work would have been well advised to copyright mark their work (as many did) and would be well advised not to post them on photo sharing sites without a watermark as the whole point of these sites is to share the image, it is very easy for those that wish, to lift any image, despite security settings, indeed, Flickr itself, warns you that this is the case. It was this abuse and theft of my material that led me to watermark all of my later uploads. I may yet withdraw non-watermarked photos, I haven’t decided yet. (I did in the end)
To anyone reading the above it will be quite obvious that I can’t provide information regarding specific photos or potential future uploads – I didn’t take them! There are many vehicles that were well known to me as Jim only lived down the road from me (although I didn’t know him), however scanning, titling, tagging and uploading is laborious and time consuming enough, I do however provide a fair amount of information with my own transport (and other) photos. I am aware that there are requests from other Flickr users that are unanswered, I stumble across them months or years after they were posted, this isn’t deliberate. Some weekends one or two “enthusiasts” can add many hundreds of photos as favourites, this pushes requests that are in the comments section ten or twenty pages out of sight and I miss them. I also have notifications switched off, I receive around 50 emails a day through work and I don’t want even more from Flickr. Other requests, like many other things, I just plain forget – no excuses! Uploads of Jim’s photos will be infrequent as it is a boring pastime and I would much rather work on my own output.
+++ 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 TIE/LN starfighter, or TIE/line starfighter, simply known as the TIE Fighter or T/F, was the standard Imperial starfighter seen in massive numbers throughout most of the Galactic Civil War and onward.
The TIE Fighter was manufactured by Sienar Fleet Systems and led to several upgraded TIE models such as TIE/sa bomber, TIE/IN interceptor, TIE/D Defender, TIE/D automated starfighter, and many more.
The original TIEs were designed to attack in large numbers, overwhelming the enemy craft. The Imperials used so many that they came to be considered symbols of the Empire and its might. They were also very cheap to produce, reflecting the Imperial philosophy of quantity over quality.
However, a disadvantage of the fighter was its lack of deflector shields. In combat, pilots had to rely on the TIE/LN's maneuverability to avoid damage. The cockpit did incorporate crash webbing, a repulsorlift antigravity field, and a high-g shock seat to help protect the pilot, however these did next to nothing to help protect against enemy blaster fire.
Due to the lack of life-support systems, each TIE pilot had a fully sealed flight suit superior to their Rebel counterparts. The absence of a hyperdrive also rendered the light fighter totally dependent on carrier ships when deployed in enemy systems. TIE/LNs also lacked landing gear, another mass-reducing measure. While the ships were structurally capable of "sitting" on their wings, they were not designed to land or disembark their pilots without special support. On Imperial ships, TIEs were launched from racks in the hangar bays.
The high success rate of more advanced Rebel starfighters against standard Imperial TIE Fighters resulted in a mounting cost of replacing destroyed fighters and their pilots. That, combined with the realization that the inclusion of a hyperdrive would allow the fleet to be more flexible, caused the Imperial Navy to rethink its doctrine of using swarms of cheap craft instead of fewer high-quality ones, leading to the introduction of the TIE Advanced x1 and its successor, the TIE Avenger. The following TIE/D Defender as well as the heavy TIE Escort Fighter (or TIE/E) were touted as the next "logical advance" of the TIE Series—representing a shift in starfighter design from previous, expendable TIE models towards fast, well armed and protected designs, capable of hyperspace travel and long-term crew teams which gained experience and capabilities over time.
The TIE/E Escort, was a high-performance TIE Series starfighter developed for the Imperial Navy by Sienar Fleet Systems and it was introduced into service shortly before the Battle of Endor. It was a much heavier counterpart to the agile and TIE/D fighter, and more of an attack ship or even a light bomber than a true dogfighter. Its role were independent long range operations, and in order to reduce the work load and boost morale a crew of two was introduced (a pilot and a dedicated weapon systems officer/WSO). The primary duty profile included attack and escort task, but also reconnoiter missions. The TIE/E shared the general layout with the contemporary TIE/D fighter, but the cockpit section as well as the central power unit were much bigger, and the ship was considerably heavier.
The crew enjoyed – compared with previous TIE fighter designs – a spacious and now fully pressurized cockpit, so that no pressurized suits had to be worn anymore. The crew members sat in tandem under a large, clear canopy. The pilot in front had a very good field of view, while the WSO sat behind him, in a higher, staggered position with only a limited field of view. Both work stations had separate entries, though, and places could not be switched in flight: the pilot mounted the cockpit through a hatch on port side, while the WSO entered the rear compartment through a roof hatch.
In a departure from the design of previous TIE models, instead of two parallel wings to either side of the pilot module, the TIE Escort had three quadanium steel solar array wings mounted symmetrically around an aft section, which contained an I-s4d solar ionization reactor to store and convert solar energy collected from the wing panels. The inclusion of a third wing provided additional solar power to increase the ship's range and the ship's energy management system was designed to allow weapons and shields to be charged with minimum loss of power to the propulsion system.
Although it was based on the standard twin ion engine design, the TIE/E’s propulsion system was upgraded to the entirely new, powerful P-sz9.8 triple ion engine. This allowed the TIE/E a maximum acceleration of 4,220 G or 21 MGLT/s and a top speed of 144 MGLT, or 1,680 km/h in an atmosphere — almost 40 percent faster than a former standard TIE Fighter. With tractor beam recharge power (see below) redirected to the engines, the top speed could be increased to 180 MGLT in a dash.
In addition to the main thrusters located in the aft section, the TIE Escort's triple wing design allowed for three arrays of maneuvering jets and it featured an advanced F-s5x flight avionics system to process the pilot's instructions. Production models received a class 2, ND9 hyperdrive motivator, modified from the version developed for the TIE Avenger. The TIE/E also carried a Sienar N-s6 Navcon navigation computer with a ten-jump memory.
Special equipment included a small tractor beam projector, originally developed for the TIE Avenger, which could be easily fitted to the voluminous TIE Escort. Models produced by Ysanne Isard's production facility regularly carried such tractor beams and the technology found other uses, such as towing other damaged starfighters until they could achieve the required velocity to enter hyperspace. The tractor beam had limited range and could only be used for a short time before stopping to recharge, but it added new tactics, too. For instance, the beam allowed the TIE/E crews to temporarily inhibit the mobility of enemy fighters, making it easier to target them with the ship's other weapon systems, or prevent enemies from clear shots.
The TIE Escort’s weapons systems were primarily designed to engage bigger ships and armored or shielded targets, like armed freighters frequently used by the Alliance. Thanks to its complex weapon and sensor suite, it could also engage multiple enemy fighters at once. The sensors also allowed an effective attack of ground targets, so that atmospheric bombing was a potential mission for the TIE/E, too.
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The TIE Escort Fighter carried a formidable array of weaponry in two modular weapon bays that were mounted alongside the lower cabin. In standard configuration, the TIE/E had two L-s9.3 laser cannons and two NK-3 ion cannons. The laser and ion cannons could be set to fire separately or, if concentrated power was required, to fire-linked in either pairs or as a quartet.
The ship also featured two M-g-2 general-purpose warhead launchers, each of which could be equipped with a standard load of three proton torpedoes or four concussion missiles. Depending on the mission profile, the ship could be fitted with alternative warheads such as proton rockets, proton bombs, or magnetic pulse warheads.
Additionally, external stores could be carried under the fuselage, which included a conformal sensor pallet for reconnaissance missions or a cargo bay with a capacity for 500 kg (1.100 lb).
The ship's defenses were provided by a pair of forward and rear projecting Novaldex deflector shield generators—another advantage over former standard TIE models. The shields were designed to recharge more rapidly than in previous Imperial fighters and were nearly as powerful as those found on capital ships, so that the TIE/E could engage other ships head-on with a very high survivability. The fighters were not equipped with particle shields, though, relying on the reinforced titanium hull to absorb impacts from matter. Its hull and wings were among the strongest of any TIE series Starfighter yet.
The advanced starfighter attracted the attention of several other factions, and the Empire struggled to prevent the spread of the technology. The ship's high cost, together with political factors, kept it from achieving widespread use in the Empire, though, and units were assigned only to the most elite crews.
The TIE/E played a central role in the Empire's campaign against rogue Grand Admiral Demetrius Zaarin, and mixed Defender and Escort units participated in several other battles, including the Battle of Endor. The TIE Escort continued to see limited use by the Imperial Remnant up to at least 44 ABY, and was involved in numerous conflicts, including the Yuuzhan Vong War..
The kit and its assembly:
Another group build contribution, this time to the Science Fiction GB at whatifmodelers.com during summer 2017. Originally, this one started as an attempt to build a vintage MPC TIE Interceptor kit which I had bought and half-heartedly started to build probably 20 years ago. But I did not have the right mojo (probably, The Force was not strong enough…?), so the kit ended up in a dark corner and some parts were donated to other projects.
The sun collectors were still intact, though, and in the meantime I had the idea of reviving the kit’s remains, and convert it into (what I thought was) a fictional TIE Fighter variant with three solar panels. For this plan I got myself another TIE Interceptor kit, and stashed it away, too. Mojo was still missing, though.
Well, then came the SF GB and I took it as an occasion to finally tackle the build. But when I prepared for the build I found out that my intended design (over the years) more or less actually existed in the Star Wars universe: the TIE/D Defender! I could have built it with the parts and hand and some improvisation, but the design similarity bugged me. Well, instead of a poor copy of something that was more or less clearly defined, I rather decided to create something more individual, yet plausible, from the parts at hand.
The model was to stay a TIE design, though, in order to use as much donor material from the MPC kits as possible. Doing some legwork, I settled for a heavy fighter – bigger than the TIE Interceptor and the TIE/D fighter, a two-seater.
Working out the basic concept and layout took some time and evolved gradually. The creative spark for the TIE/E eventually came through a Revell “Obi Wan’s Jedi Starfighter” snap fit kit in my pile – actually a prize from a former GB participation at phoxim.de (Thanks a lot, Wolfgang!), and rather a toy than a true model kit.
The Jedi Fighter was in so far handy as it carries some TIE Fighter design traits, like the pilot capsule and the characteristic spider web windscreen. Anyway, it’s 1:32, much bigger than the TIE Interceptor’s roundabout 1:50 scale – but knowing that I’d never build the Jedi Starfighter OOB I used it as a donor bank, and from this starting point things started to evolve gradually.
Work started with the cockpit section, taken from the Jedi Starfighter kit. The two TIE Interceptor cockpit tubs were then mounted inside, staggered, and the gaps to the walls filled with putty. A pretty messy task, and once the shapes had been carved out some triangular tiles were added to the surfaces – a detail I found depicted in SW screenshots and some TIE Fighter models.
Another issue became the crew – even though I had two MPC TIE Interceptors and, theorectically, two pilot figures, only one of them could be found and the second crewman had to be improvised. I normally do not build 1:48 scale things, but I was lucky (and happy) to find an SF driver figure, left over from a small Dougram hoovercraft kit (from Takara, as a Revell “Robotech” reboxing). This driver is a tad bigger than the 1:50 TIE pilot, but I went with it because I did not want to invest money and time in alternatives. In order to justify the size difference I decided to paint the Dougram driver as a Chiss, based on the expanded SW universe (with blue skin and hair, and glowing red eyes). Not certain if this makes sense during the Battle of Endor timeframe, but it adds some color to the project – and the cockpit would not be visible in much detail since it would be finished fully closed.
Reason behind the closed canopy is basically the poor fit of the clear part. OOB, this is intended as an action toy – but also the canopy’s considerable size in 1:50 would prevent its original opening mechanism.
Additional braces on the rel. large window panels were created with self-adhesive tape and later painted over.
The rear fuselage section and the solar panel pylons were scratched. The reactor behind the cockpit section is actually a plastic adapter for water hoses, found in a local DIY market. It was slightly modified, attached to the cockpit “egg” and both parts blended with putty. The tail opening was closed with a hatch from the OOB TIE Interceptor – an incidental but perfect match in size and style.
The three pylons are also lucky finds: actually, these are SF wargaming/tabletop props and would normally be low walls or barriers, made from resin. For my build, they were more or less halved and trimmed. Tilted by 90°, they are attached to the hull with iron wire stabilizers, and later blended to the hull with putty, too.
Once the cockpit was done, things moved more swiftly. The surface of the hull was decorated with many small bits and pieces, including thin styrene sheet and profiles, steel and iron wire in various strengths, and there are even 1:72 tank tracks hidden somewhere, as well as protective caps from syringes (main guns and under the rear fuselage). It’s amazing how much stuff you can add to such a model – but IMHO it’s vital in order to create some structure and to emulate the (early) Star Wars look.
Painting and markings:
The less spectacular part of the project, even though still a lot of work because of the sheer size of the model’s surface. Since the whole thing is fictional, I tried to stay true to the Imperial designs from Episode IV-VI and gave the TIE/E a simple, all-light grey livery. All basic painting was done with rattle cans.
Work started with a basic coat of grey primer. On top of that, an initial coat of RAL 7036 Platingrau was added, esp. to the lower surfaces and recesses, for a rough shading effect. Then, the actual overall tone, RAL 7047, called “Telegrau 4”, one of Deutsche Telekom’s corporate tones, was added - mostly sprayed from abone and the sides onto the model. Fuselage and panels were painted separately, overall assembly was one of the final steps.
The solar panels were to stand out from the grey rest of the model, and I painted them with Revell Acrylic “Iron Metallic” (91) first, and later applied a rather rich wash with black ink , making sure the color settled well into the many small cells. The effect is pretty good, and the contrast was slightly enhanced through a dry-brushing treatment.
Only a few legible stencils were added all around the hull (most from the scrap box or from mecha sheets), the Galactic Empire Seal were inkjet-printed at home, as well as some tactical markings on the flanks, puzzled together from single digits in "Aurebash", one of the Imperial SW languages/fonts.
For some variety and color highlights, dozens of small, round and colorful markings were die-punched from silver, yellow, orange, red and blue decal sheet and were placed all over the hull - together with the large panels they blur into the the overall appearance, though. The hatches received thin red linings, also made from generic decals strips.
The cockpit interior was a bit challenging, though. Good TIE Fighter cockpit interior pictures are hard to find, but they suggest a dark grey tone. More confusingly, the MPC instructions call for a “Dark Green” cockpit? Well, I did not like the all-grey option, since the spaceship is already monochrome grey on the outside.
As a compromise I eventually used Tamiya XF-65 "Field Grey". The interior recieved a black ink in and dry-brushing treatment, and some instruments ansd screens were created with black decal material and glossy black paint; some neon paint was used for sci-fi-esque conmtraol lamps everywhere - I did not pay too much intention on the interior, since the cockpit would stay closed, and the thick clear material blurs everything inside.
Following this rationale, the crew was also painted in arather minimal fashion - both wear a dark grey uniform, only the Chiss pilot stands aout with his light blue skin and the flourescent red eyes.
After an overall black ink wash the model received a dry brusing treatment with FS 36492 and FS 36495, for a weathered and battle-worn look. After all, the "Vehement" would not survive the Ballte of Endor, but who knows what became of TIE/E "801"'s mixed crew...?
Finally, the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish, and some final cosmetic corrections made.
The display is a DIY creation, too, made from a 6x6" piece of wood, it's edges covered with edgebonder, a steel wire as holder, and finally the display was paited with semi-matt black acrylic paint from the rattle can.
A complex build, and the TIE/E more or less evolved along the way, with only the overall layout in mind. Work took a month, but I think it was worth the effort. This fantasy creation looks pretty plausible and blends well into the vast canonical TIE Fighter family - and I am happy that I finally could finish this mummy project, including the surplus Jedi Starfighter kit which now also find a very good use!
An epic one, and far outside my standard comfort zone. But a wothwhile build!
+++ 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 Vickers Vanguard was a British short/medium-range turboprop airliner introduced in 1959 by Vickers-Armstrongs, a development of their successful Viscount design with considerably more internal room. The Vanguard was introduced just before the first of the large jet-powered airliners, and was largely ignored by the market. Only 44 were built and the Vanguard entered service in late 1960.
Even though the Vanguard could match the early passenger jets on short distances, the type was quickly relegated to other roles: In 1966, Air Canada removed all the seats in CF-TKK and refitted the aircraft for pure cargo work, in which role it could carry 42,000 lb (19,050 kg) of freight. Known by the airline as the "Cargoliner," it was the only such conversion, but survived to be the last Canadian Vanguard to be retired in December 1972.
BEA operated nine Vanguards modified to the V953C "Merchantman" all-cargo layout from 1969. A large forward cargo door measuring 139 by 80 inches (350 by 200 cm) was incorporated. The Merchantmen continued in service with BA until late 1979.
Beyond civil use, the most noteworthy military operator was Thailand, with an anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft conversion for the Royal Thai Navy, the SeaGuard MR.1. The need for aerial maritime patrol with proprietary aircraft was first formulated during the withdrawal of United States forces from Thailand in the mid Seventies, when the Thai Air Force assumed use of the installations at Takhli and Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat).
Inspired by similar conversions, e. g. the Canadian CP-107 Argus derived from the Bristol Britannia airliner and the highly successful Douglas P-3 derived from the L-188 Electra, the Thai "SeaGuard MR.1" fleet was created from three former Canadian airliners (ex Air Canada), converted by Canadair in Montreal.
Work started in 1977, and the former airliner underwent considerable modifications. The SeaGuard MR.1's core system became an AN/APS-115 radar, a development of the earlier, analogue AN/APS-80A used in American aircraft like the P-3A .The AN/APS-115 was state of the art technology and the first attempt of digitization by providing digital input into the onboard digital combat system. The system was able to achieve a resolution of 1.5 ft and the typical range against a submarine periscope is 15.5 nautical miles. Since the 42" rotating search antenna necessitated a relatively large fairing. A draggy, ventral position (e. g. like the P-2 or Il-38) was ruled out, for aerodynamic and structural reasons, as well as for space for an internal weapon bay (see below), so that a characteristic "duck bill" radome was added to the SeaGuard's nose.
The SeaGuard MR.1 was also equipped with a magnetic anomaly detector (MAD) in an extended fiber glass tail stinger, far from other electronics and ferrous metals on the aircraft. The MAD enabled the aircraft's crew (a typical crew numbered roughly 9 members) to detect the magnetic anomaly of a submarine in the Earth's magnetic field. The limited range of this instrument required the aircraft to be near the submarine at low altitude, so that it could primarily be used for pinpointing the location of a submarine immediately prior to a torpedo or depth bomb attack.
Streamlined fairings under the outer wings carried extra fuel and a searchlight (starboard) as well as a missile guidance antenna and a 'sniffer' (port) that could detect exhaust fumes and particles from diesel submarines.
Ordnance was to be carried in a single internal bomb bay under the forward fuselage, which was structurally beefed up for the rougher conditions over sea and prolonged low altitude operations. Special care was also given to the structure's protection against the naval environment, too. An additional fuel tank was installed in the wing root section and, while the rear section carried a trim fuel tank, avionics and other, lighter mission equipment.
The 28 ft 4 in (8,64 m) long bay could house conventional Mark 50 torpedoes or Mark 46 torpedoes as well as mines and depth charges. Active and passive sonobuoys could also be carried in the bay, and there were also two vertical ejection shafts with pressure locks in the aft fuselage from which single sonobuoys or other sensor carriers could be manually dropped, e. g. for weather research. Additional underwing stations under the inner and outer wings could carry additional armament and equipment.
The first or a total of three SeaGuard conversions for the Thai Navy was delivered in early 1978, and the trio became fully operational in early 1979, serving in both military and civil duties, e. g. in offshore SAR and pollution control missions.
The Thai SeaGuard MR.1s were kept longer in service than expected. Originally, they were scheduled to serve until 1990, to be replaced by three ex USN P-3A ordered in 1989, but deliveries were delayed because of financial problems and government changes in Thailand, so that the old and well-worn SeaGuards had to soldier on.
In late 1993 the Orions destined for Thailand finally arrived at the NADEP at NAS Jacksonville, where the aircraft were modified to meet RTN requirements, two aircraft were modified to P-3T standard (mainly based on the TAC/NAV Mod version), the third was originally delivered as a UP-3T in late 1995, but was later modified to VP-3T standard with a strengthened floor, passenger seats and a limited SENTAC station enabling the aircraft to perform light surveillance duties. The last flight of a Royal Thai Navy SeaGuard MR.1 took place on October 3rd 1995, and all three aircraft were subsequently scrapped.
General characteristics:
Crew: 11
Length incl. MAD tail boom: 143 ft 5in (43.77 m)
Wingspan: 118 ft 7 in (36.10 m)
Height: 34 ft 11 in (10.60 m)
Wing area: 1,527 ft2 (142 m2)
Empty weight: 82,500 lb (37,421 kg)
Loaded weight: 141,000 lb (63,977 kg)
Powerplant:
4× Rolls-Royce Tyne RTy.11 Mk 512 turboprop, 5,545 hp (4,700 shp, 4,135 kW) each
Performance:
Maximum speed: 425 mph (684 km/h, 367 kn)
Cruise speed at altitude: 378 mph (610 km/h, 328 kn)
Patrol speed: 195 mph (315 km/h, 170 kn)
Range: 4,039 mi (6,500 km; 3,510 nmi) with 3,500 kg (7,709 lb) payload,
maximum fuel and reserves for one hour.
2,299 mi (3,700 km (2,010 nmi) with 5,448 kg (12.000 lb) maximum payload,
at 84 - 85% of maximum continuous power.
Combat radius: 1,546 mi (2,490 km, 1,346 nmi), three hours on-station at 1,500 feet
Endurance: 10 hours
Service ceiling: 28,300 ft[1] (8,625 m)
Wing loading: 92 lb/ft2 (450 kg/m2)
Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.26 kW/kg)
Armament:
Bomb bay with eight internal weapon stations
Six hardpoints under the outer wings for 127 mm (5.0 in) HVARs or missiles like the AGM-12 Bullpup,
AGM-62 Walleye or Martel ASM, or sensor and air sampling pods
Four more hardpoints under the inner wings for gravity bombs of up to 1.000 lb (454 kg) caliber,
various sea mines and depth charges, torpedoes or inflatable life rafts for rescue missions.
Total internal and external ordnance capacity of 12,000 lb (5.448 kg)
The kit and its assembly:
Another contribution to the 2016 “In the Navy” Group Build at whatifmodelers.com, and a build outside the usual comfort zone. This time, I wanted to build a whiffy maritime patrol aircraft, based on a classic post-WWII airliner, since there were and are many benchmarks (e.g. the Lockheed P-3, based on the Aurora, the Canadian CP-140 Argus, based on the Bristol Britannia, or the Il-38, based on the Il-18).
I found the Airfix Vickers Vanguard as potential basis – and there had actually been a maritime patrol proposal for the RAF. At least one respective whif kit had been built – and there’s even a kit conversion set available.
Anyway, I wanted a personal conversion, and the modifications are actually rather modest:
- Closure of many windows
- Implantation of a nose radome from a VEB Plasticart 1:100 Tu-20/95
- Adapted nose landing gear
- An MAD boom, made from heated, thick OOB sprue
- Underwing pods with a starboard search light (modified MiG 15 slipper tanks)
- A cockpit compartment w/o interior was added, primarily to block sight into the fuselage
- Several small radomes, antennae fairings and strakes were added along the upper and lower hull
- Propellers received a metal axis
- A bomb bay was simulated with engravings and semi-circular fairings, simulating door hinges
- External ordnance could have been added, but I resisted and kept the aircraft clean
- The clear styrene windows were omitted, later to be filled with ClearFix
While these mods appear rather simple, getting this vintage Airfix kit together turned out to be a real fight. No part actually matched another, lots of trimming and putty everywhere were necessary. Raised (even though very fine) panel lines, classic flash (not much, but annoying) and some sinkholes were included, too, as well as rather massive trailing edges. To make things worse, the fuselage halves turned out to be somewhat warped: the seam along the fuselage was canted inwards and the windscreen did not fit at all. O.K., it’s an old kit, but not an easy build, despite the limited number of parts.
Painting and markings:
This part turned out to be a true challenge. A self-evident option would have been an RAF aircraft, e .g. in Extra Sea Grey/Sky, white + grey (early Nimrod style), Hemp + Barley Grey or Medium Sea Grey, the latter two with low viz markings. But I found this option to be too obvious – and I wanted something flashy, and exotic.
Tedious legwork eventually revealed the Royal Thai Navy as potential operator, as well as several authentic livery options. The most pleasing (to me) was the flying boat’s (HU-16 and CL-215) design: overall dark blue with a white fuselage upper half and bright, orange-red wingtips and a fuselage band.
This design was simply adapted to the low-winged Vanguard airliner. The basic dark blue is Humbrol 104 (Oxford Blue), while the upper fuselage was painted first in a very light grey and off-white from the rattle can (which reacted with each other and yielded a mottled finish…). The rest was painted with brushes and lots of masking tape.
The orange wing tips and the fuselage band were created with decal sheet (TL Modellbau), in order to avoid the further trouble of masking and creating an opaque paint film. Black trim was added through generic decal stripes.
After basic painting was finished some panel shading/highlighting with pure white, Lufthansa Blau (Revell 350, RAL 5013) and dayglow orange was added for a more lively impression.
The Thai Navy route was further backed by several 1:144 decal sets from Siam Scale, a company from Thailand that offers a range of aftermarket decals for the country’s air force and navy vehicles.
Finally, the kit was sealed with a not-too-matt acrylic varnish, and as final step the fuselage windows were filled with Humbrol’s ClearFix, because this method was IMHO cleaner than the OOB clear styrene windows and the hustle of masking them, together with the risk of losing one or more in the painting process into the fuselage...
After all, and including many troubles, a pretty aircraft, even though the build as well as the paint job was more of a fight. I know why I do not like 1:144 scale as well as airliners either, and combining both turned out to be just as unnerving as expected… And with the duck bill radome, it’s probably the ugliest Vickers Vanguard ever imagined.
This male chestnut sided warbler is enjoying a late afternoon snack on some sort of worm. The woods in New Brunswick are thick with mosquitos and other critters at the moment so this warbler is a welcome sight!
An interesting fact about the chestnut sided is that it sings two basic song types: one is accented at the end (the pleased-to-MEETCHA song), and the other is not. The accented songs are used primarily to attract a female and decrease in frequency once nesting is well under way.