This is another motorized and remotely controlled hot rod - 100% LEGO

VIDEO: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjPqg0OhQlA

 

Regarding size and functions it is somewhere in between my models “Fire bucket” and “Lucky 13”.

Dimensions: 41 studs long, 19 studs wide, 13 – 14.5 studs high and weighs 804 g.

PF components: 1 L motor - driving, 1 M motor - steering, 1 8878 battery, 1 IR receiver

Motorized functions: driving and steering

Other functions:

Working suspension:

Front: solid axle, leaf spring

Rear: Height-adjustable, live axle, leaf spring

Working steering wheel – drag link steering

Working pistons, radiator fan and generator - custom made fake v8 engine

Working door handles – openable suicide doors

Retractable rear license plate – controlled with a fake handbrake lever inside the cabin

Trunk door can be opened – behind it is a mechanism for adjustment of rear height of the vehicle (manually controlled gear) and battery (easy to turn on/off and charging)

Roof can be removed easily

Features:

Custom chrome parts – wheels, headlights, door handles and rear view mirrors

Interior – red seats and dashboard

I hope you like it :)

 

"The Natimuk Pavilion Classroom was constructed by the Victorian Public Works Department in 1914 as an open air classroom for school children at Natimuk Primary School. It consisted of a rectangular timber structure 20’ x 30’ with a gabled roof.

 

The room was intended to accommodate 48 children in dual seater desks. Three sides of the classroom are boarded with weatherboards to the height of three feet; above that height, adjustable canvas shutters were fitted right to the roofline. The back wall, on which the blackboard was mounted, was boarded from floor to ceiling. The room was built on sleeper plates for easy removal.

 

44 of these classrooms were constructed for Victorian schools between 1911 and 1914, but after World War I, the Education Department discontinued their construction. They were unpopular with teachers in winter weather. However they were used for additional accommodation in schools for many years.

Natimuk Primary School moved from Main Street to a site in Jory Street in 1961. The pavilion classroom was relocated by the Education Department to the Australian House Museum at Deakin University in 1988, because it was under threat. The building was returned to Natimuk in 2002 and is now located in the grounds of the present Natimuk Primary School in Jory Street.

 

Open air classrooms were designed to provide a healthy environment for delicate children, and resulted from the hygiene movement in education at the beginning of the 20th century. It was hoped that improvements in lighting and ventilation aimed at improving the child’s physical conditions would lead to better educational and health outcomes. The open air classroom reflected the preoccupation with the benefits of light and fresh air for the health and education of young children.

 

Medical opinion of the time favoured fresh air and a bracing environment for all, derived from the ideas behind the open air sanatoriums used for the treatment of tuberculosis patients. The spread of tuberculosis, known as the 'white plague’ was a constant concern, it was responsible for one death in nine in Victoria in 1902, and in 1904 was declared a notifiable disease.

 

This classroom is architecturally significant, as the only surviving, relatively intact and rare example of an open air classroom."

 

Source: wimmera-w-b-w.blogspot.com.au/2012_09_01_archive.html

The 2016 Mazda CX-3 is 5-passenger subcompact cross-over SUV accessible in Sport, Touring and Grand Touring trim ranges. The base Sport begins with 16-inch steel wheels, automatic headlights, rear roof spoiler, double exhaust outlets, cloth upholstery, variable intermittent wipers, height-adjustable driver seat, push-button ignition, full power accessories, tilt and telescoping steering wheel, cruise control, Bluetooth (phone and audio), air-conditioning, rear-view camera, USB port, 6-speaker audio system (with a CD player, auxiliary audio jack and Aha/Pandora/Stitcher Internet radio), voice controls and 7-inch touchscreen interface with a repetitive rotary control knob on the center console.

The 2016 Mazda CX-3 Touring contributes heated mirrors, keyless entry and ignition, blind-spot monitor with rear cross-traffic alert, front-row center armrest, leatherette (premium vinyl) and cloth upholstery, heated front seats and leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob.

The 2016 Mazda CX-3 Grand Touring provides 18-inch alloy wheels, adaptive LED headlights, sunroof, LED foglights and taillights, enhanced instrumentation, leather and synthetic suede upholstery, head-up display, navigation system, steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters, automatic climate control, rear cargo cover and 7-speaker Bose audio system with a HD radio and satellite radio.

Provided solely on the 2016 Mazda CX-3 Grand Touring is an i-Activsense bundle that consists of automatic high beam headlight control, auto wipers, lane departure warning, forward collision mitigation system with automatic braking and adaptive cruise control.

 

Powertrains and Performance

2016 Mazda CX-3 is prepared with a 2.0 liter 4-cylinder engine ranked at 146 hp and a matching 146 pound-feet of torque. A 6-speed automatic is the only accessible transmission. Front-wheel drive (FWD) is standard, with all-wheel drive (AWD) provided as an choice on all trim levels.

Safety

Every 2016 Mazda CX-3 arrives standard with anti-lock brakes, front side airbags, stability and traction control, rear-view camera and side curtain airbags. As mentioned above, the Touring contributes a blind-spot monitor with rear cross-traffic alert, although the Grand Touring can be prepared with an i-Activsense package that consists of advanced technologies like a forward collision mitigation system with automated braking.

  

2016 Mazda CX-3 Interior Features

2016 Mazda CX-3's cabin unveils excellent performance overall, with great quality materials and a smooth dashboard that conveys style and complexity. The Grand Touring's large central tachometer and incorporated digital speedometer are simple to read and look great; the head-up display seems tacked on, however, and lower trims must create do with a more common gauge cluster. All trims advantage from a 7-inch touch-screen interface. It has crisp graphics, and we like the handy auxiliary control knob on the center console, though we've found that certain easy tasks, switching between satellite radio stations, for occasion require multiple steps to achieve.

Driving Impressions

2016 Mazda CX-3 is absolutely a top athlete in this class, beaten only by the turbocharged Juke. Handling is exceptional thanks to accurate steering and nimble reflexes. The 146-hp engine sounds rather rough above 4,000 rpm, but it gets the job done, serving up over average acceleration in tandem with the sleek and sensitive 6-speed automatic.

 

[thecarspecs] thecarspecs.com/2016-mazda-cx-3-review/

YELLOW AND MARO, 1988 CITROEN 2CV6 DOLLY 4 DOOR SALOON

 

The Citroën 2CV (French: "deux chevaux" i.e. "deux chevaux-vapeur" (lit. "two steam horses"), "two tax horsepower") is a front-engine, front wheel drive, air-cooled economy car introduced at the 1948 Paris Mondial de l'Automobile and manufactured by Citroën for model years 1948–1990.

 

Conceived by Citroën Vice-President Pierre Boulanger to help motorize the large number of farmers still using horses and carts in 1930s France, the 2CV is noted for its minimalist combination of innovative engineering and utilitarian, straightforward metal bodywork — initially corrugated for added strength without added weight. The 2CV featured a low purchase cost; simplicity of overall maintenance; an easily serviced air-cooled engine (originally offering 9 hp); low fuel consumption; and an extremely long travel suspension offering a soft ride, light off-road capability, high ground clearance, and height adjustability via lengthening/shortening of tie rods. Often called "an umbrella on wheels", the bodywork featured a distinctive and prominent full-width, canvas, roll-back sunroof, which accommodated oversized loads and until 1955 reached almost to the car's rear bumper, covering its trunk.

 

The 2CV was one of the first vehicles equipped with the newly developed radial tire.

 

Manufactured in France between 1948 and 1989 (and its final two years in Portugal 1989–1990), over 3.8 million 2CVs were produced, along with over 1.2 million small 2CV-based delivery vans known as Fourgonnettes. Citroën ultimately offered a number of mechanically identical variants including the Ami (over 1.8 million); the Dyane (over 1.4 million); the Acadiane (over 250,000); and the Mehari (over 140,000). In total, Citroën manufactured over 8.8 million "A Series" cars, as 2CV variants are known.

 

A 1953 technical review in Autocar described "the extraordinary ingenuity of this design, which is undoubtedly the most original since the Model T Ford". In 2011, The Globe and Mail called it a "car like no other". Noted automotive author L. J. K. Setright described the 2CV as "the most intelligent application of minimalism ever to succeed as a car",[5] calling it a car of "remorseless rationality"

This K12 Micra in grey, is a 5 door S model and is in great shape and well looked after for a 53 reg.

The S model has the 1.2-litre engine, side airbags, a 60/40 split sliding rear seat, drivers seat height adjustment and CD player.

This one is seen here at Ocean Terminal, Edinburgh.

18x9.5" ET22 FL-5 Wheels in Satin Black

275/35/18 R888 Tires

10mm Spacer to clear KW Suspension H.A.S. Kit (Height Adjustable Spring)

 

Rear:

18x11" ET44 FL-5 Wheels in Satin Black

305/35/18 R888 Tires

5mm Spacer in the rear

 

Owner:

www.instagram.co/alpine_beastm3

 

Photos by:

www.instagram.com/breadrollsmedia

This K12 Micra in grey, is a 5 door Acenta Plus model and is in good condition for a 57 reg.

The Acenta Plus model has the 1.2-litre engine, side airbags, a 60/40 split sliding rear seat, drivers seat height adjustment, air con, lumbar support, sports seats, colour coded spoiler, service indicator and 15-inch alloys.

This one is seen parked up at Craigleith Retail Park.

This is a modification of my hot rod pickup. It still has everything that you might like (motorized/remotely controlled driving/steering, lights, turn signals, working steering wheel, working V8 and radiator fan, working door handles, gearbox…) and some new features (wheels, suspension, engine, roof, front lights, interior, fuel tank, movable license plate, chrome details…). Like the old one, it is 50 studs long and 28 studs wide but it is heavier - it weighs 1285g.

VIDEO: youtu.be/jR0rCEck7_0

Characteristics:

-Leaf spring suspension with height-adjustable rear

-License plate with simple mechanism to hide it (manual)

-Lights (front and rear) manually controlled with a lever connected to a speed dial of 8878 battery (which allows you to switch between low and high beam)

-Turn signals (front and rear) connected to a servo motor via coupled PF switches (2 switches)

-Working steering wheel

-Manual gearbox – 4 gears (5:1, 3:1, 5:3, 1:1)

-Suicide doors with working door handles

-It is powered by two L motors and 7.4 V (8878) rechargeable battery box.

-Servo motor for steering

-Working V8 fake engine with some details to make it resemble real V8 engine, connected directly to the driving motors so it works at the same speed no matter what gear you choose (in neutral also)

-Working radiator fan, connected directly to a V8 engine

-Rear doors can be opened.

-Roof window, fire extinguisher, fuel tank…

-Front tires from 8070 supercar, and rear from 42000 Grand Prix Racer.

 

I hope you like it, feel free to comment…

 

p.s. it has been blogged: thelegocarblog.com/2014/07/03/rod-mod/

Citroen DS21 Convertible (2nd Series) (1955-75) Engine 2175cc S4 OHV Production 1,415,719 (all DS)

Production 1,455,746 (all models Worldwide) (1,330,755 France)

Registration Number TER 140 (Cherished number 1st allocated for Cambridge)

CITROEN SET

 

www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623776731490...

 

After an eighteen year developement the DS was unveiled at the 1955 Paris Motorshow, styled by Italian sculptor and industrial designer Flaminio Bertoni it had an aerodynamic body design and innovative technology, including hydro pneumatic self levelling suspension. Initially deemed expensive the DS was joined by a cheaper less technical ID model in 1957. The DS was third in the 1999 Car of the Century and during it's twenty year production sold nearly 1.5 million.

 

In 1962 the DS received a more streamlined nose to increase the aerodynamic efficiency, still retaining the the round head lights.

 

In 1967 a second restyle brought in the streamlined covered lights on this example. The design had a pair of lights under each cover, the inner set swivelled with the steering wheel to allow drivers to see hazards on turns, this was not allowed in the USA at the time so a version with four exposed fixed head lamps was made for the US market.

In 1965 a luxury upgrade, the DS Pallas (after Greek goddess Pallas), was introduced. This included comfort features such as better noise insulation, a more luxurious (and optional leather) upholstery and external trim embellishments. From 1966 the Pallas model received a driver's seat with height adjustment.

 

Many thanks for a fantabulous

47,860,821 views

 

Shot at the NEC Classic Car Show 13:11:2015 Ref. 112-158

The steel column can be adjusted in height to properly fit the clamping rod to the sliding table t-slot and ensure just the right clamping force. In normal use, this column sits on top of one of the plywood panel components, and the clamping rod extends down through the slot in the panel and down into the t-slot of the sliding table. The height adjustment is used to adjust the clamping range and force applied. When the steel column is used without the plywood panel underneath, and sitting right on top of the sliding table, the height of the steel column must be increased with this knurled adjustment knob.

7DOS That's boring Sunday

 

After many days of rain, a glorious, sunny Sunday.

 

A Hills Hoist is a height-adjustable rotary clothes line, manufactured in Adelaide, South Australia by Lance Hill since 1945. The Hills Hoist and similar rotary clothes hoists remain a common fixture in many backyards in Australia and New Zealand. They are considered one of Australia's most recognisable icons, and are used frequently by artists as a metaphor for Australian suburbia in the 1950s and 1960s. Although originally a product name, the term "Hills Hoist" became synonymous with rotary clothes hoists in general, throughout Australia.

 

189/365 2018

118 pictures in 2018/67 Household chore

This is a modification of my hot rod pickup. It still has everything that you might like (motorized/remotely controlled driving/steering, lights, turn signals, working steering wheel, working V8 and radiator fan, working door handles, gearbox…) and some new features (wheels, suspension, engine, roof, front lights, interior, fuel tank, movable license plate, chrome details…). Like the old one, it is 50 studs long and 28 studs wide but it is heavier - it weighs 1285g.

VIDEO: youtu.be/jR0rCEck7_0

Characteristics:

-Leaf spring suspension with height-adjustable rear

-License plate with simple mechanism to hide it (manual)

-Lights (front and rear) manually controlled with a lever connected to a speed dial of 8878 battery (which allows you to switch between low and high beam)

-Turn signals (front and rear) connected to a servo motor via coupled PF switches (2 switches)

-Working steering wheel

-Manual gearbox – 4 gears (5:1, 3:1, 5:3, 1:1)

-Suicide doors with working door handles

-It is powered by two L motors and 7.4 V (8878) rechargeable battery box.

-Servo motor for steering

-Working V8 fake engine with some details to make it resemble real V8 engine, connected directly to the driving motors so it works at the same speed no matter what gear you choose (in neutral also)

-Working radiator fan, connected directly to a V8 engine

-Rear doors can be opened.

-Roof window, fire extinguisher, fuel tank…

-Front tires from 8070 supercar, and rear from 42000 Grand Prix Racer.

 

I hope you like it, feel free to comment…

 

p.s. it has been blogged: thelegocarblog.com/2014/07/03/rod-mod/

This K12 Micra in silver, is a 5 door Tekna model and is in great shape and well looked after.

The Tekna model has the 1.4-litre engine, side airbags, a 60/40 split sliding rear seat, drivers seat height adjustment, audio remote, sat nav, parking sensors, heated mirrors, sports seats dark tinted headlights, colour coded spoiler, service indicator and 16-inch alloys.

This one is seen parked up at Eastfield bus terminus

The PF Tribute.

An electronic 8 speed sequential gearbox

Ride height adjustment

V10 fake engine

Fully motorized, single button, convertible roof.

More information can be found on jeroenottens.com

And a video of the amazing roof mechanism can be found here: youtu.be/oy2zIEsv410

The Custom StuG 3 Ausf-G is a replica of the German DAK WW2.

 

- It consists of 577 bricks

- Cannon is height adjustable

- Side panels for removing

- Portable chain runs

- Adaptation of the chains on the ground

- Many small details and its shape make it authentic

- Dimensions (W / H / D): 13,1 / 7,3 / 17,1 cm (without antenna)

  

Instructions PDF + XML available.

 

For more information look on my Homepage or watch on our YouTube Channel.

CustomBricks-YOUTUBE

 

Thanks for visiting!

The PF Tribute.

An electronic 8 speed sequential gearbox

Ride height adjustment

V10 fake engine

Fully motorized, single button, convertible roof.

More information can be found on jeroenottens.com

And a video of the amazing roof mechanism can be found here: youtu.be/oy2zIEsv410

INSTRUCTIONS AVAILABLE

 

Launched April 20th, 2022.

 

The Ferrari 296 GTS, the evolution of Ferrari’s mid-rear-engined two-seater berlinetta spider concept, is powered by the new 120° V6 engine coupled with a plug-in (PHEV) electric motor that debuted on the 296 GTB.

 

Power lives and breathes at the rear of the car, with the combined V6 turbo and electric output delivering 830cv to the rear wheels, sending the car from 0 -100 km/h in 2.9s, reaching 200 km/h in 7.6s and onwards to a top speed of 330 km/h. And in pure electric mode the car can reach 135 km/h before the V6 kicks in.

 

Lighter than a conventional soft top, and extremely compact, Ferrari’s extensive experience with RHTs means they can sculpt surfaces that work in tandem with the car’s lines, guaranteeing the effect of a truly convertible coupé. The folding roof splits into two sections that fold flush over the front of the engine. This has allowed the designers to introduce a window in the rear section of the engine cover through which the new V6 is clearly visible. When the top is retracted, the cabin and the rear deck are separated by a height-adjustable glass rear screen which guarantees cabin comfort, even at exhilarating speeds.

 

The RHT can be deployed in just 14 seconds at speeds of up to 45 km/h, but even with the roof up, Ferrari’s patented exhaust resonator system (otherwise known as the Hot Tube and positioned just before the exhaust system) channels the engine’s pure sound directly up into the cabin. With the roof down the harmonics from the single tailpipe exhaust are even more dramatic.

 

Every Prancing Horse is rooted in 75 years of racing innovation, and there are elements throughout the 296 GTS of technological advancements found on other models. The active spoiler is inspired by LaFerrari for example, integrated into the rear bumper to generate a high level of rear downforce. The brake cooling system was developed around the Aero callipers that debuted on the SF90 Stradale, with ventilation ducts integrated into their castings, while the design itself - sporty, sinuous and compact - references the likes of the 1963 250 LM, a perfect marriage of simplicity and functionality.

The PF Tribute.

An electronic 8 speed sequential gearbox

Ride height adjustment

V10 fake engine

Fully motorized, single button, convertible roof.

More information can be found on jeroenottens.com

And a video of the amazing roof mechanism can be found here: youtu.be/oy2zIEsv410

Shown with MSS F97 X3M / F98 X4M Height Adjustable Spring Kit / IND Appearance Package

This is a modification of my hot rod pickup. It still has everything that you might like (motorized/remotely controlled driving/steering, lights, turn signals, working steering wheel, working V8 and radiator fan, working door handles, gearbox…) and some new features (wheels, suspension, engine, roof, front lights, interior, fuel tank, movable license plate, chrome details…). Like the old one, it is 50 studs long and 28 studs wide but it is heavier - it weighs 1285g.

VIDEO: youtu.be/jR0rCEck7_0

Characteristics:

-Leaf spring suspension with height-adjustable rear

-License plate with simple mechanism to hide it (manual)

-Lights (front and rear) manually controlled with a lever connected to a speed dial of 8878 battery (which allows you to switch between low and high beam)

-Turn signals (front and rear) connected to a servo motor via coupled PF switches (2 switches)

-Working steering wheel

-Manual gearbox – 4 gears (5:1, 3:1, 5:3, 1:1)

-Suicide doors with working door handles

-It is powered by two L motors and 7.4 V (8878) rechargeable battery box.

-Servo motor for steering

-Working V8 fake engine with some details to make it resemble real V8 engine, connected directly to the driving motors so it works at the same speed no matter what gear you choose (in neutral also)

-Working radiator fan, connected directly to a V8 engine

-Rear doors can be opened.

-Roof window, fire extinguisher, fuel tank…

-Front tires from 8070 supercar, and rear from 42000 Grand Prix Racer.

 

I hope you like it, feel free to comment…

 

p.s. it has been blogged: thelegocarblog.com/2014/07/03/rod-mod/

NEC's SmartScan is different. It starts with a modern user interface and intuitive screen utilizing Microsoft Windows 10 with modern touch, pinch-and-zoom and swipe features now common on all devices. Then it is housed in a visually pleasing, height adjustable, ergonomically designed kiosk with larger foot pedals for improved fingerprint and palmprint capture. #biometrics Learn more today - goo.gl/vDvaWH

This is a modification of my hot rod pickup. It still has everything that you might like (motorized/remotely controlled driving/steering, lights, turn signals, working steering wheel, working V8 and radiator fan, working door handles, gearbox…) and some new features (wheels, suspension, engine, roof, front lights, interior, fuel tank, movable license plate, chrome details…). Like the old one, it is 50 studs long and 28 studs wide but it is heavier - it weighs 1285g.

VIDEO: youtu.be/jR0rCEck7_0

Characteristics:

-Leaf spring suspension with height-adjustable rear

-License plate with simple mechanism to hide it (manual)

-Lights (front and rear) manually controlled with a lever connected to a speed dial of 8878 battery (which allows you to switch between low and high beam)

-Turn signals (front and rear) connected to a servo motor via coupled PF switches (2 switches)

-Working steering wheel

-Manual gearbox – 4 gears (5:1, 3:1, 5:3, 1:1)

-Suicide doors with working door handles

-It is powered by two L motors and 7.4 V (8878) rechargeable battery box.

-Servo motor for steering

-Working V8 fake engine with some details to make it resemble real V8 engine, connected directly to the driving motors so it works at the same speed no matter what gear you choose (in neutral also)

-Working radiator fan, connected directly to a V8 engine

-Rear doors can be opened.

-Roof window, fire extinguisher, fuel tank…

-Front tires from 8070 supercar, and rear from 42000 Grand Prix Racer.

 

I hope you like it, feel free to comment…

 

p.s. it has been blogged: thelegocarblog.com/2014/07/03/rod-mod/

We have more of these wonderful Toeldo stools, which are height adjustable. Here you can see one in front of our vintage typesetting cabinet. That you want SO BAD. You know you want it. A LOT.

Length 127cm, depth 65cm, height 122.5cm

Description will be added later

Discription

 

- A replica of the American Vought F4U

- It consists of 530 individual parts

- Aerodynamic and true to shape

- Lower the landing gear

- Wings for standing up

- Mg's and rockets as armament

- Many small details make them authentic

- Dimension of the F4U (W / H / T): 35.4 / 12.4 / 29.3 cm

 

- Optional with stand for optimal alignment

- The stand consists of 96 parts

- It is a three-jointed foot with height adjustment

- Dimension of the foot (W / H / D): 12.7 / 10.8 / 13.3 cm

 

When buying, including custom sticker

You will get the instructions on CD

 

For the complete series show here - STORE CB WW2 Warplane

 

Thanks for visiting!

This is a modification of my hot rod pickup. It still has everything that you might like (motorized/remotely controlled driving/steering, lights, turn signals, working steering wheel, working V8 and radiator fan, working door handles, gearbox…) and some new features (wheels, suspension, engine, roof, front lights, interior, fuel tank, movable license plate, chrome details…). Like the old one, it is 50 studs long and 28 studs wide but it is heavier - it weighs 1285g.

VIDEO: youtu.be/jR0rCEck7_0

Characteristics:

-Leaf spring suspension with height-adjustable rear

-License plate with simple mechanism to hide it (manual)

-Lights (front and rear) manually controlled with a lever connected to a speed dial of 8878 battery (which allows you to switch between low and high beam)

-Turn signals (front and rear) connected to a servo motor via coupled PF switches (2 switches)

-Working steering wheel

-Manual gearbox – 4 gears (5:1, 3:1, 5:3, 1:1)

-Suicide doors with working door handles

-It is powered by two L motors and 7.4 V (8878) rechargeable battery box.

-Servo motor for steering

-Working V8 fake engine with some details to make it resemble real V8 engine, connected directly to the driving motors so it works at the same speed no matter what gear you choose (in neutral also)

-Working radiator fan, connected directly to a V8 engine

-Rear doors can be opened.

-Roof window, fire extinguisher, fuel tank…

-Front tires from 8070 supercar, and rear from 42000 Grand Prix Racer.

 

I hope you like it, feel free to comment…

 

p.s. it has been blogged: thelegocarblog.com/2014/07/03/rod-mod/

As with all Zacuto camera packages, the key feature is the ability to place them in the case fully assembled and at the same time have a somewhat universal case to work with your various cameras, matte boxes, and other accessories. Zacuto, as usual, has created a universal case that keeps the camera package assembled for shipment. The ability to transport and set up quickly saves huge time as you don’t have to assemble the camera at every company move and disassemble at every company wrap. This is a complete solution that separates Zacuto from all of the rest.

 

Want to learn more? Watch Zacuto's new HD video featuring Steve Weiss and Jens Bogehegn, Co-Designers Zacuto USA, talk about how to use DSLR's to create digital HD cinematography.

 

Zacuto’s DSLR baseplate kits is universal and quick-releasable; and will work with all cameras and accessories. Zacuto kits allow users to make DSLR’s work much like camcorders. All kits are balanced, which is critical for smooth movement and less user fatigue in both tripod and handheld use. They can be used with any 15mm lightweight accessories, follow focuses & matte boxes. The kits are designed to be used with current and future models of cameras & camcorders.

 

Our DSLR Filmmaker Kit allows for tripod and shoulder mount use of your DSLR camera for smooth, comfortable shooting. Zacuto kits allow users to make DSLR’s work much like camcorders.The rig can be easily balanced with a few quick adjustments and gives DSLR cameras the stability of a larger shoulder-mounted camera, which will produce smoother shots. The combination of our height adjustable Universal Baseplate and Z-Spacer allows you to mount any matte box and the Zacuto Z-focus. The Z-spacer not only raises the camera but also moves it forward so the lens mount is over the rods. You can mount any matte box, but you can make your matte box a swing away matte box by using the Zwing-away adapter included in this kit. The key features of the DSLR Filmmaker kit is the ability to mount a Beachtek audio adapter (DXA-5D), a special unit for the Canon 5D Mark II with audio meters and a headphone jack for monitoring audio; and control the levels of your outboard microphones easily. You can also mount an on-board monitor for both handheld and tripod use.

 

Zacuto kits give you all the components you need for your camera package right out of the box and at a discounted price verses buying the components ala carte, which is also an option. With various price points, no confusion, and the ability to be used with a tripod, steadicam, dolly, jib, handheld or shoulder mount; you can purchase the kit that is perfect for you and your type of shooting.

 

Designed and manufactured by Zacuto. Made in the USA. Zacuto lifetime warranty.

 

The DSLR Filmmaker Baseplate Kit Includes:

-Universal Baseplate

-Z-Spacer

-Shoulder Pad

-Lunchbox

-Zgrips

-Zicromount III

-Zamerican V3 Large Arm

-Zmount II (2)

-Wireless Plate

-Wireless Bracket

-15mm Z-Lock

-Z-Focus

-Zip Gear Prime Lens Kit

-6" Zwhip

-Universal Donut

-Zwing Away

-DSLR Foam Insert & IM-2975 Storm Case

Very excited to announce that The Lego Tesla Cybertruck instructions is now available to order on Rebrickable.

 

rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-32403/lego911/tesla-cybertruck-l...

 

The matching Cyberquad bike and Elon Musk figurine will also be available separately.

 

This Cybertruck model is built inminiland 1:21 scale. It features height adjusting suspension on all four wheels, opening doors, frunk, load tub cover, tailgate, in-tub stowage, adjustable seating and more.

 

Probably the most exciting car launch for many a year, the Cybertruck looks like nothing else (at least nothing that is for sale).

 

The Cybertruck features an all-electric powertrain and battery systems. The performance figure are also extraordinary for this type of vehicle.

 

How do I buy?

 

Follow the link at the top of the text to go to rebrickable. This link will take you to the design instruction purchase page. Included are the design files, parts list and general guide.

 

If you need to save yourself the hassle of buying the parts yourself, please DM me for a quote.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Peter Blackert // lego911

   

Shown at the 2014 Geneva Auto Show alongside the Production Rhino Mk IV is the Team Magnus Racing, Paris Dakar Rally-Raid offroad racing truck.

 

Magnus Racing will be campaigning the Rhino in the 2015 Dakar Rally, and other extreme offroad racing events.

 

The forth generation of the Rhino has been developed in conjunction with the British firm Bowler.

 

The Rhino utilises the latest edition of the JLR V8 powertrains. The 5.0 litre Supercharger V8 petrol produces 375 kw and 625 Nm or torque. The 4.4 litre turbo-diesel produces 250 kW and 700 Nm of torque. Both engines are backed by the ZF 8HP automatic transmission, incorporating the advance Bosch/ZF Electric Hybrid drive to reduce CO2 emissions and fuel consumption in the on-road edition - for racing, this extends the range and reduces the amount of fuel that must be carried.

 

The Rhino has height-adjustable suspension to increase ground clearance, along with short front and rear overhangs to aid offroad maneuverability and traction. The Rhino's Dakar-bred chassis has a proven track record in offroad racing and durability events.

 

And, of course, the trademark 'X' for Xavier, the founder of the Ralston Corporation is displayed proudly and prominently in the 21st century interpretation of the the traditional grille. The tail profile of the Rhino is enhanced by the 'X'-form incorporated into rocket-pod tail lamps flanking the additional tire.

 

The 2015 Ralston Rhino MkIV Rally-Raid racing truck featured here has been produced as part of the Flickr LUGNuts 77th build challenge, - 'Designing the Ralston Rhino'.

A junk is a type of Chinese sailing ship with fully battened sails. There are two types of junk in China: Northern junk which is developed from Chinese river boats, and southern junk which is developed from Austronesian ship designs, examples of which have been trading with the Eastern Han dynasty since the 2nd century AD. They continued to evolve in the later dynasties, and were predominantly used by Chinese traders throughout Southeast Asia. They were found, and in lesser numbers are still found, throughout Southeast Asia and India, but primarily in China. Found more broadly today is a growing number of modern recreational junk-rigged sailboats. Chinese junks referred to many types of coastal or river ships. They were usually cargo ships, pleasure boats, or houseboats. They vary greatly in size and there are significant regional variations in the type of rig, however they all employ fully battened sails.

 

The term "junk" (Portuguese junco; Dutch jonk; and Spanish junco) was also used in the colonial period to refer to any large to medium-sized ships of the Austronesian cultures in Island Southeast Asia, with or without the junk rig. Examples include the Indonesian and Malaysian jong, the Philippine lanong, and the Maluku kora kora.

 

ETYMOLOGY

Views diverge on whether the origin of the word is from a dialect of Chinese or from a Javanese word. The term may stem from the Chinese chuán (船, "boat; ship") — also based on and pronounced as [dzuːŋ] (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chûn) in Minnan Chinese — or zhōu (舟), the old word for a sailing vessel.[citation needed] The modern Mandarin Chinese word for an ocean-going wooden cargo vessel is cáo (艚).

 

Pierre-Yves Manguin and Zoetmulder, amongst others, point to an Old Javanese origin, in the form of jong. The word can be traced from an Old Javanese inscription in the 9th century. It entered the Malay and Chinese languages by the 15th century, when a Chinese word list identifies it as a Malay word for "ship." The Malay Maritime Code, first drawn up in the late 15th century, uses jong frequently as the word for freight ships. European writings from 1345 through 1601 use a variety of related terms, including jonque (French), ioncque (Italian), joanga or juanga (Spanish), junco (Portuguese), and jonk (Dutch). These terms were applied to all large ships in Southeast Asia, not only to Chinese ships.

 

The origin of the word "junk" in the English language can be traced to the Portuguese word junco, which is rendered from the Arabic word j-n-k (جنك). This word comes from the fact that the Arabic script cannot represent the digraph "ng". The word was used to denote both the Javanese/Malay ship (jong or djong) and the Chinese ship (chuán), even though the two were markedly different vessels. After the disappearance of jongs in the 17th century, the meaning of "junk" (and other similar words in European languages), which until then was used as a transcription of the word "jong" in Malay and Javanese, changed its meaning to exclusively refer to the Chinese ship (chuán).

 

CONSTRUCTION

The historian Herbert Warington Smyth considered the junk as one of the most efficient ship designs, stating that "As an engine for carrying man and his commerce upon the high and stormy seas as well as on the vast inland waterways, it is doubtful if any class of vessel… is more suited or better adapted to its purpose than the Chinese or Indian junk, and it is certain that for flatness of sail and handiness, the Chinese rig is unsurpassed."

 

SAILS

The sail of Chinese junks is an adoption of the Malay junk sail, which used vegetable matting attached to bamboo battens, a practice originated from South East Asia. The full-length battens keep the sail flatter than ideal in all wind conditions. Consequently, their ability to sail close to the wind is poorer than other fore-and-aft rigs.

 

HULL

Classic junks were built of softwoods (although after the 17th century teak was used in Guangdong) with the outside shape built first. Then multiple internal compartment/bulkheads accessed by separate hatches and ladders, reminiscent of the interior structure of bamboo, were built in. Traditionally, the hull has a horseshoe-shaped stern supporting a high poop deck. The bottom is flat in a river junk with no keel (similar to a sampan), so that the boat relies on a daggerboard, leeboard or very large rudder to prevent the boat from slipping sideways in the water. Ocean-going junks have a curved hull in section with a large amount of tumblehome in the topsides. The planking is edge nailed on a diagonal. Iron nails or spikes have been recovered from a Canton dig dated to circa 221 BC. For caulking the Chinese used a mix of ground lime with Tung oil together with chopped hemp from old fishing nets which set hard in 18 hours, but usefully remained flexible. Junks have narrow waterlines which accounts for their potential speed in moderate conditions, although such voyage data as we have indicates that average speeds on voyage for junks were little different from average voyage speeds of almost all traditional sail, i.e. around 4–6 knots. The largest junks, the treasure ships commanded by Ming dynasty Admiral Zheng He, were built for world exploration in the 15th century, and according to some interpretations may have been over 120 metres in length. This conjecture was based on the size of a rudder post that was found and misinterpreted, using formulae applicable to modern engine powered ships. More careful analysis shows that the rudder post that was found is actually smaller than the rudder post shown for a 70' long Pechili Trader in Worcester's "Junks and Sampans of the Yangtze".

 

Another characteristic of junks, interior compartments or bulkheads, strengthened the ship and slowed flooding in case of holing. Ships built in this manner were written of in Zhu Yu's book Pingzhou Table Talks, published by 1119 during the Song dynasty. Again, this type of construction for Chinese ship hulls was attested to by the Moroccan Muslim Berber traveler Ibn Battuta (1304–1377 AD), who described it in great detail (refer to Technology of the Song dynasty). Although some historians have questioned whether the compartments were watertight, most believe that watertight compartments did exist in Chinese junks because although most of the time there were small passageways (known as limber holes) between compartments, these could be blocked with stoppers and such stoppers have been identified in wrecks. All wrecks discovered so far have limber holes; these are different from the free flooding holes that are located only in the foremost and aftermost compartments, but are at the base of the transverse bulkheads allowing water in each compartment to drain to the lowest compartment, thus facilitating pumping. It is believed from evidence in wrecks that the limber holes could be stopped either to allow the carriage of liquid cargoes or to isolate a compartment that had sprung a leak.

Benjamin Franklin wrote in a 1787 letter on the project of mail packets between the United States and France:

 

As these vessels are not to be laden with goods, their holds may without inconvenience be divided into separate apartments, after the Chinese manner, and each of these apartments caulked tight so as to keep out water.

— Benjamin Franklin, 1787

 

In 1795, Sir Samuel Bentham, inspector of dockyards of the Royal Navy, and designer of six new sailing ships, argued for the adoption of "partitions contributing to strength, and securing the ship against foundering, as practiced by the Chinese of the present day". His idea was not adopted. Bentham had been in China in 1782, and he acknowledged that he had got the idea of watertight compartments by looking at Chinese junks there. Bentham was a friend of Isambard Brunel, so it is possible that he had some influence on Brunel's adoption of longitudinal, strengthening bulkheads in the lower deck of the SS Great Britain. Bentham had already by this time designed and had built a segmented barge for use on the Volga River, so the idea of transverse hull separation was evidently in his mind. Perhaps more to the point, there is a very large difference between the transverse bulkheads in Chinese construction, which offer no longitudinal strengthening, and the longitudinal members which Brunel adopted, almost certainly inspired by the iron bridge and boiler engineering in which he and his contemporaries in iron shipbuilding innovation were most versed.

 

Due to the numerous foreign primary sources that hint to the existence of true watertight compartments in junks, historians such as Joseph Needham proposed that the limber holes were stopped up as noted above in case of leakage. He addresses the quite separate issue of free-flooding compartments on pg 422 of Science and Civilisation in Ancient China:

 

Less well known is the interesting fact that in some types of Chinese craft the foremost (and less frequently also the aftermost) compartment is made free-flooding. Holes are purposely contrived in the planking. This is the case with the salt-boats which shoot the rapids down from Tzuliuching in Szechuan, the gondola-shaped boats of the Poyang Lake, and many sea going junks. The Szechuanese boatmen say that this reduces resistance to the water to a minimum, though such a claim makes absolutely no hydrodynamic sense, and the device is thought to cushion the shocks of pounding when the boat pitches heavily in the rapids, as it acquires and discharges water ballast rapidly supposedly just at the time when it is most desirable to counteract buffeting at stem and stern. As with too many such claims, there has been no empirical testing of them and it seems unlikely that the claims would stand up to such testing since the diameter or number of holes needed for such rapid flooding and discharging would be so great as to significantly weaken the vulnerable fore and aft parts of the vessel. The sailors say, as sailors all over the world are inclined to do when conjuring up answers to landlubbers' questions, that it stops junks flying up into the wind. It may be the reality at the bottom of the following story, related by Liu Ching-Shu of the +5th century, in his book I Yuan (Garden of Strange Things)

 

In Fu-Nan (Cambodia) gold is always used in transactions. Once there were (some people who) having hired a boat to go from east to west near and far, had not reached their destination when the time came for the payment of the pound (of gold) which had been agreed upon. They therefore wished to reduce the quantity (to be paid). The master of the ship then played a trick upon them. He made (as it were) a way for the water to enter the bottom of the boat, which seemed to be about to sink, and remained stationary, moving neither forward nor backward. All the passengers were very frightened and came to make offerings. The boat (afterwards) returned to its original state.

 

This, however, would seem to have involved openings which could be controlled, and the water pumped out afterwards. This was easily effected in China (still seen in Kuangtung and Hong Kong), but the practice was also known in England, where the compartment was called the 'wet-well', and the boat in which it was built, a 'well-smack'. If the tradition is right that such boats date in Europe from +1712 then it may well be that the Chinese bulkhead principle was introduced twice, first for small coastal fishing boats at the end of the seventeenth century, and then for large ships a century later. However, the wet well is probably a case of parallel invention since its manner of construction is quite different from that of Chinese junks, the wet well quite often not running the full width of the boat, but only occupying the central part of the hull either side of the keel.

 

More to the point[24] wet wells were apparent in Roman small craft of the 5th century CE.

 

LEEBOARDS AND CENTERBOARDS

Leeboards and centerboards, used to stabilize the junk and to improve its capability to sail upwind, are documented from a 759 AD book by Li Chuan. The innovation was adopted by Portuguese and Dutch ships around 1570. Junks often employ a daggerboard that is forward on the hull which allows the center section of the hull to be free of the daggerboard trunk allowing larger cargo compartments. Because the daggerboard is located so far forward, the junk must use a balanced rudder to counteract the imbalance of lateral resistance.

 

Other innovations included the square-pallet bilge pump, which was adopted by the West during the 16th century for work ashore, the western chain pump, which was adopted for shipboard use, being of a different derivation. Junks also relied on the compass for navigational purposes. However, as with almost all vessels of any culture before the late 19th century, the accuracy of magnetic compasses aboard ship, whether from a failure to understand deviation (the magnetism of the ship's iron fastenings) or poor design of the compass card (the standard drypoint compasses were extremely unstable), meant that they did little to contribute to the accuracy of navigation by dead reckoning. Indeed, a review of the evidence shows that the Chinese embarked magnetic pointer was probably little used for navigation. The reasoning is simple. Chinese mariners were as able as any and, had they needed a compass to navigate, they would have been aware of the almost random directional qualities when used at sea of the water bowl compass they used. Yet that design remained unchanged for some half a millennium. Western sailors, coming upon a similar water bowl design (no evidence as to how has yet emerged) very rapidly adapted it in a series of significant changes such that within roughly a century the water bowl had given way to the dry pivot, a rotating compass card a century later, a lubberline a generation later and gimbals seventy or eighty years after that. These were necessary because in the more adverse climatic context of north western Europe, the compass was needed for navigation. Had similar needs been felt in China, Chinese mariners would also have come up with fixes. They didn't.

 

STEERING

Junks employed stern-mounted rudders centuries before their adoption in the West for the simple reason that Western hull forms, with their pointed sterns, obviated a centreline steering system until technical developments in Scandinavia created the first, iron mounted, pintle and gudgeon 'barn door' western examples in the early 12th century CE. A second reason for this slow development was that the side rudders in use were, contrary to a lot of very ill-informed opinion, extremely efficient. Thus the junk rudder's origin, form and construction was completely different in that it was the development of a centrally mounted stern steering oar, examples of which can also be seen in Middle Kingdom (c.2050–1800 BCE) Egyptian river vessels. It was an innovation which permitted the steering of large ships and due to its design allowed height adjustment according to the depth of the water and to avoid serious damage should the junk ground. A sizable junk can have a rudder that needed up to twenty members of the crew to control in strong weather. In addition to using the sail plan to balance the junk and take the strain off the hard to operate and mechanically weakly attached rudder, some junks were also equipped with leeboards or dagger boards. The world's oldest known depiction of a stern-mounted rudder can be seen on a pottery model of a junk dating from before the 1st century AD, though some scholars think this may be a steering oar; a possible interpretation given is that the model is of a river boat that was probably towed or poled.

 

From sometime in the 13th to 15th centuries, many junks began incorporating "fenestrated" rudders (rudders with large diamond-shaped holes in them), probably adopted to lessen the force needed to direct the steering of the rudder.

 

The rudder is reported to be the strongest part of the junk. In the Tiangong Kaiwu "Exploitation of the Works of Nature" (1637), Song Yingxing wrote, "The rudder-post is made of elm, or else of langmu or of zhumu." The Ming author also applauds the strength of the langmu wood as "if one could use a single silk thread to hoist a thousand jun or sustain the weight of a mountain landslide."

 

HISTORY

2nd CENTURY (HAN DYNASTY)

Chinese ships were essentially fluvial before the Song dynasty.[1] However, large Austronesian trading ships docking in Chinese seaports with as many as four sails were recorded by scholars as early as the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE). They called them the kunlun bo or kunlun po (崑崙舶, lit. "ship of the [dark-skinned] Kunlun people"). They were booked by Chinese Buddhist pilgrims for passage to Southern India and Sri Lanka.

 

The 3rd century book "Strange Things of the South" (南州異物志) by Wan Chen (萬震) describes one of these Austronesian ships as being capable of 600-700 people together with more than 10,000 hu (斛) of cargo (250-1000 tons according to various interpretations - 600 tons deadweight according to Manguin).[8]:262 The ships could be more than 50 meters in length and had a freeboard of 5.2–7.8 meters. When seen from above they resemble covered galleries. He explains the ships' sail design as follows:

 

The people beyond the barriers, according the size of their ships, sometimes rig (as many as) four sails which they carry in row from bow to stern. (...) The four sails do not face directly forward, but are set obliquely, and so arranged that they can all be fixed in the same direction, to receive the wind and to spill it. Those sails which are behind the most windward one receiving the pressure of the wind, throw it from one to the other, so that they all profit from its force. If it is violent, (the sailors) diminish or augment the surface of the sails according to the conditions. This oblique rig, which permits the sails to receive from one another the breath of the wind, obviates the anxiety attendant upon having high masts. Thus these ships sail without avoiding strong winds and dashing waves, by the aid of which they can make great speed.

— Wan Chen,

 

A 260 CE book by K'ang T'ai (康泰) described ships with seven sails called po for transporting horses that could travel as far as Syria. He also made reference to monsoon trade between the islands (or archipelago), which took a month and a few days in a large po. Southern Chinese junks were based on keeled and multi-planked Austronesian jong (known as po by the Chinese, from Javanese or Malay perahu - large ship). Southern Chinese junks showed characteristics of Austronesian jong: V-shaped, double-ended hull with a keel, and using timbers of tropical origin. This is different from northern Chinese junks, which are developed from flat bottomed riverine boats. The northern Chinese junks had flat bottoms, no keel, no frames (only water-tight bulkheads), transom stern and stem, would have been built out of pine or fir wood, and would have its planks fastened with iron nails or clamps.

 

10–13th CENTURY (SONG DYNASTY)

The trading dynasty of the Song developed the first junks based on Southeast Asian ships. By this era they also have adopted the Malay junk sail. The ships of the Song, both mercantile and military, became the backbone of the navy of the following Yuan dynasty. In particular the Mongol invasions of Japan (1274–84), as well as the Mongol invasion of Java (both failed), essentially relied on recently acquired Song naval capabilities. Worcester estimates that Yuan junks were 11 m in beam and over 30 m long. In general they had no keel, stempost, or sternpost. They did have centreboards, and watertight bulkhead to strengthen the hull, which added great weight. Further excavations showed that this type of vessel was common in the 13th century. By using the ratio between number of soldiers and ships in both invasions, it can be concluded that each ship may carry 20-70 men.[

 

14th CENTURY (YUAN DYNASTY)

The enormous dimensions of the Chinese ships of the Medieval period are described in Chinese sources, and are confirmed by Western travelers to the East, such as Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta and Niccolò da Conti. According to Ibn Battuta, who visited China in 1347:

 

. . . We stopped in the port of Calicut, in which there were at the time thirteen Chinese vessels, and disembarked. On the China Sea traveling is done in Chinese ships only, so we shall describe their arrangements. The Chinese vessels are of three kinds; large ships called chunks (junks), middle sized ones called zaws (dhows) and the small ones kakams. The large ships have anything from twelve down to three sails, which are made of bamboo rods plaited into mats. They are never lowered, but turned according to the direction of the wind; at anchor they are left floating in the wind. A ship carries a complement of a thousand men, six hundred of whom are sailors and four hundred men-at-arms, including archers, men with shields and crossbows, who throw naphtha. Three smaller ones, the "half", the "third" and the "quarter", accompany each large vessel. These vessels are built in the towns of Zaytun (a.k.a. Zaitun; today's Quanzhou; 刺桐) and Sin-Kalan. The vessel has four decks and contains rooms, cabins, and saloons for merchants; a cabin has chambers and a lavatory, and can be locked by its occupants. This is the manner after which they are made; two (parallel) walls of very thick wooden (planking) are raised and across the space between them are placed very thick planks (the bulkheads) secured longitudinally and transversely by means of large nails, each three ells in length. When these walls have thus been built the lower deck is fitted in and the ship is launched before the upper works are finished. - Ibn Battuta

 

15–17th CENTURY (MING DYNASTY)

From the mid-15th to early 16th century, all Chinese maritime trading was banned under the Ming Dynasty. The shipping and shipbuilding knowledge acquired during the Song and Yuan dynasties gradually declined during this period.

 

EXPEDITION OF ZHENG HE

The largest junks ever built were possibly those of Admiral Zheng He, for his expeditions in the Indian Ocean (1405 to 1433), although this is disputed as no contemporary records of the sizes of Zheng He's ships are known. Instead the dimensions are based on Sanbao Taijian Xia Xiyang Ji Tongsu Yanyi (1597), a romanticized version of the voyages written by Luo Maodeng [zh] nearly two centuries later. Maodeng's novel describes Zheng He's ships as follows:

 

Treasure ships, used by the commander of the fleet and his deputies (Nine-masted junks, claimed by the Ming Shi to be about 420 feet long and 180 feet wide).

Horse ships, carrying tribute goods and repair material for the fleet (Eight-masted junks, about 340 feet long and 140 feet wide)

Supply ships, containing food-staple for the crew (Seven-masted junks, about 260 feet long and 115 feet wide).

Troop transports (Six-masted junks, about 220 feet long and 83 feet wide).

Fuchuan warships (Five-masted junks, about 165 feet long).

Patrol boats (Eight-oared, about 120 feet long).

Water tankers, with 1 month's supply of fresh water.

 

Some recent research suggests that the actual length of the biggest treasure ships may have been between 119–124 m long and 49–51 m wide, while others estimate them to be 61–76 m in length.

 

CAPTURE OF TAIWAN

In 1661, a naval fleet of 400 junks and 25,000 men led by the Ming loyalist Zheng Chenggong (Cheng Ch'eng-kung in Wade–Giles, known in the West as Koxinga), arrived in Taiwan to oust the Dutch from Zeelandia. Following a nine-month siege, Cheng captured the Dutch fortress Fort Zeelandia. A peace treaty between Koxinga and the Dutch Government was signed at Castle Zeelandia on February 1, 1662, and Taiwan became Koxinga's base for the Kingdom of Tungning.

 

JAVANESE

The physical description of Javanese junk differed from Chinese junk. It was made of very thick wood, and as the ship got old, it was fixed with new boards, with four closing boards, stacked together. The rope and the sail was made with woven rattan. The jong was made using jaty/jati wood (teak) at the time of this report (1512), at that time Chinese junks are using softwood as the main material. The jong's hull is formed by joining planks to the keel and then to each other by wooden dowels, without using either a frame (except for subsequent reinforcement), nor any iron bolts or nails. The planks are perforated by an auger and inserted with dowels, which remains inside the fastened planks, not seen from the outside. On some of the smaller vessels parts may be lashed together with vegetable fibers. The vessel was similarly pointed at both ends, and carried two oar-like rudders and lateen-rigged sails (actually tanja sail),[note 1] but it may also use junk sail, a sail of Malay origin. It differed markedly from the Chinese vessel, which had its hull fastened by strakes and iron nails to a frame and to structurally essential bulkheads which divided the cargo space. The Chinese vessel had a single rudder on a transom stern, and (except in Fujian and Guangdong) they had flat bottoms without keels.

 

Encounters with giant jongs were recorded by Western travelers. Giovanni da Empoli said that the junks of Java were no different in their strength than a castle, because the three and four boards, layered one above the other, could not be harmed with artillery. They sailed with their women, children, and families, with everyone mainly keeping to their respective rooms. Portuguese recorded at least two encounters with large Djongs, one was encountered off the coast of Pacem (Samudera Pasai Sultanate) and the other was owned by Pati Unus, who went on to attack Malacca in 1513. Characteristics of the 2 ships were similar, both were larger than Portuguese ship, built with multiple plankings, resistant to cannon fire, and had two oar-like rudders on the side of the ship. At least Pati Unus' jong was equipped with three layers of sheathing which the Portuguese said over one cruzado in thickness each. The Chinese banned foreign ships from entering Guangzhou, fearing the Javanese or Malay junks would attack and capture the city, because it is said that one of these junk would rout twenty Chinese junks.

 

Main production location of Djong was mainly constructed in two major shipbuilding centres around Java: north coastal Java, especially around Rembang-Demak (along the Muria strait) and Cirebon; and the south coast of Borneo (Banjarmasin) and adjacent islands. A common feature of these places was their accessibility to forests of teak, this wood was highly valued because of its resistance to shipworm, whereas Borneo itself would supply ironwood. Pegu, which is a large shipbuilding port at the 16th century, also produced jong, built by Javanese who resided there.

 

ACCOUNTS OF MEDIEVAL TRAVELLERS

Niccolò da Conti in relating his travels in Asia between 1419 and 1444, describes huge junks of about 2,000 tons in weight: They build some ships much larger than ours, capable of containing 2,000 tons in size, with five sails and as many masts. The lower part is constructed with of three planks, in order to withstand the force of the tempest to which they are much exposed. But some ships are built in compartments, that should one part is shattered, the other portion remaining intact to accomplish the voyage.Other translations of the passage give the size as a 2000 butts, which would be around a 1000 tons, a butt being half a ton.Also, in 1456, the Fra Mauro map described the presence of junks in the Indian Ocean as well as their construction:

 

The ships called junks (lit. "Zonchi") that navigate these seas carry four masts or more, some of which can be raised or lowered, and have 40 to 60 cabins for the merchants and only one tiller. They can navigate without a compass, because they have an astrologer, who stands on the side and, with an astrolabe in hand, gives orders to the navigator.

— Text from the Fra Mauro map, 09-P25,

 

Fra Mauro further explains that one of these junks rounded the Cape of Good Hope and travelled far into the Atlantic Ocean, in 1420:

 

About the year of Our Lord 1420 a ship, what is called an Indian Zoncho, on a crossing of the Sea of India towards the "Isle of Men and Women", was diverted beyond the "Cape of Diab" (Shown as the Cape of Good Hope on the map), through the "Green Isles" (lit. "isole uerde", Cabo Verde Islands), out into the "Sea of Darkness" (Atlantic Ocean) on a way west and southwest. Nothing but air and water was seen for 40 days and by their reckoning they ran 2,000 miles and fortune deserted them. When the stress of the weather had subsided they made the return to the said "Cape of Diab" in 70 days and drawing near to the shore to supply their wants the sailors saw the egg of a bird called roc, which egg is as big as an amphora.

— Text from Fra Mauro map, 10-A13,

 

ASIAN TRADE

Chinese junks were used extensively in Asian trade during the 16th and 17th century, especially to Southeast Asia and to Japan, where they competed with Japanese Red Seal Ships, Portuguese carracks and Dutch galleons. Richard Cocks, the head of the English trading factory in Hirado, Japan, recorded that 50 to 60 Chinese junks visited Nagasaki in 1612 alone.

 

These junks were usually three masted, and averaging between 200 and 800 tons in size, the largest ones having around 130 sailors, 130 traders and sometimes hundreds of passengers.

 

19th CENTURY (QING DYNASTY)

Large, ocean-going junks played a key role in Asian trade until the 19th century. One of these junks, Keying, sailed from China around the Cape of Good Hope to the United States and England between 1846 and 1848. Many junks were fitted out with carronades and other weapons for naval or piratical uses. These vessels were typically called "war junks" or "armed junks" by Western navies which began entering the region more frequently in the 18th century. The British, Americans and French fought several naval battles with war junks in the 19th century, during the First Opium War, Second Opium War and in between.

 

At sea, junk sailors co-operated with their Western counterparts. For example, in 1870 survivors of the English barque Humberstone shipwrecked off Formosa, were rescued by a junk and landed safely in Macao.

 

20th CENTURY

In 1938, E. Allen Petersen escaped the advancing Japanese armies by sailing a 11 m junk, Hummel Hummel, from Shanghai to California with his wife Tani and two White Russians (Tsar loyalists). In 1939, Richard Halliburton was lost at sea with his crew while sailing a specially constructed junk, Sea Dragon, from Hong Kong to the World Exposition in San Francisco.

 

In 1955, six young men sailed a Ming dynasty-style junk from Taiwan to San Francisco. The four-month journey aboard the Free China was captured on film and their arrival into San Francisco made international front-page news. The five Chinese-born friends saw an advertisement for an international trans-Atlantic yacht race, and jumped at the opportunity for adventure. They were joined by the then US Vice-Consul to China, who was tasked with capturing the journey on film. Enduring typhoons and mishaps, the crew, having never sailed a century-old junk before, learned along the way. The crew included Reno Chen, Paul Chow, Loo-chi Hu, Benny Hsu, Calvin Mehlert and were led by skipper Marco Chung. After a journey of 9,700 km, the Free China and her crew arrived in San Francisco Bay in fog on August 8, 1955. Shortly afterward the footage was featured on ABC television's Bold Journey travelogue. Hosted by John Stephenson and narrated by ship's navigator Paul Chow, the program highlighted the adventures and challenges of the junk's sailing across the Pacific, as well as some humorous moments aboard ship.

 

In 1959 a group of Catalan men, led by Jose Maria Tey, sailed from Hong Kong to Barcelona on a junk named Rubia. After their successful journey this junk was anchored as a tourist attraction at one end of Barcelona harbor, close to where La Rambla meets the sea. Permanently moored along with it was a reproduction of Columbus' caravel Santa Maria during the 1960s and part of the 1970s.

 

In 1981, Christoph Swoboda had a 65 feet (LoA) Bedar built by the boatyard of Che Ali bin Ngah on Duyong island in the estuary of the Terengganu river on the East coast of Malaysia. The Bedar is one of the two types of Malay junk schooners traditionally built there. He sailed this junk with his family and one friend to the Mediterranean and then continued with changing crew to finally finish a circumnavigation in 1998. He sold this vessel in 2000 and in 2004 he started to build a new junk in Duyong with the same craftsmen: the Pinas (or Pinis) Naga Pelangi, in order to help keep this ancient boat building tradition alive. This boat finished to be fitted out in 2010 and is working as a charter boat in the Andaman and the South China Sea.

 

WIKIPEDIA

This K12 Micra in grey, is a 5 door Acenta model and is in good nic for an 08 reg.

The Acenta model has the 1.2-litre engine, side airbags, a 60/40 split sliding rear seat, drivers seat height adjustment, air con, heated mirrors, sports, seats dark tinted headlights, colour coded spoiler, service indicator.

This one is seen here at Holy Corner, Edinburgh

This is a modification of my hot rod pickup. It still has everything that you might like (motorized/remotely controlled driving/steering, lights, turn signals, working steering wheel, working V8 and radiator fan, working door handles, gearbox…) and some new features (wheels, suspension, engine, roof, front lights, interior, fuel tank, movable license plate, chrome details…). Like the old one, it is 50 studs long and 28 studs wide but it is heavier - it weighs 1285g.

VIDEO: youtu.be/jR0rCEck7_0

Characteristics:

-Leaf spring suspension with height-adjustable rear

-License plate with simple mechanism to hide it (manual)

-Lights (front and rear) manually controlled with a lever connected to a speed dial of 8878 battery (which allows you to switch between low and high beam)

-Turn signals (front and rear) connected to a servo motor via coupled PF switches (2 switches)

-Working steering wheel

-Manual gearbox – 4 gears (5:1, 3:1, 5:3, 1:1)

-Suicide doors with working door handles

-It is powered by two L motors and 7.4 V (8878) rechargeable battery box.

-Servo motor for steering

-Working V8 fake engine with some details to make it resemble real V8 engine, connected directly to the driving motors so it works at the same speed no matter what gear you choose (in neutral also)

-Working radiator fan, connected directly to a V8 engine

-Rear doors can be opened.

-Roof window, fire extinguisher, fuel tank…

-Front tires from 8070 supercar, and rear from 42000 Grand Prix Racer.

 

I hope you like it, feel free to comment…

 

p.s. it has been blogged: thelegocarblog.com/2014/07/03/rod-mod/

This is a modification of my hot rod pickup. It still has everything that you might like (motorized/remotely controlled driving/steering, lights, turn signals, working steering wheel, working V8 and radiator fan, working door handles, gearbox…) and some new features (wheels, suspension, engine, roof, front lights, interior, fuel tank, movable license plate, chrome details…). Like the old one, it is 50 studs long and 28 studs wide but it is heavier - it weighs 1285g.

VIDEO: youtu.be/jR0rCEck7_0

Characteristics:

-Leaf spring suspension with height-adjustable rear

-License plate with simple mechanism to hide it (manual)

-Lights (front and rear) manually controlled with a lever connected to a speed dial of 8878 battery (which allows you to switch between low and high beam)

-Turn signals (front and rear) connected to a servo motor via coupled PF switches (2 switches)

-Working steering wheel

-Manual gearbox – 4 gears (5:1, 3:1, 5:3, 1:1)

-Suicide doors with working door handles

-It is powered by two L motors and 7.4 V (8878) rechargeable battery box.

-Servo motor for steering

-Working V8 fake engine with some details to make it resemble real V8 engine, connected directly to the driving motors so it works at the same speed no matter what gear you choose (in neutral also)

-Working radiator fan, connected directly to a V8 engine

-Rear doors can be opened.

-Roof window, fire extinguisher, fuel tank…

-Front tires from 8070 supercar, and rear from 42000 Grand Prix Racer.

 

I hope you like it, feel free to comment…

 

p.s. it has been blogged: thelegocarblog.com/2014/07/03/rod-mod/

Completing the line-up of soft-top Porsche 911s, the Speedster revived a charismatic model from Porsche's past when it arrived in 1989, the name previously having been applied to that most stylish of the many Type 356 variants. Based on the 911 Turbo Cabriolet, though normally aspirated, the 3,2-litre Speedster was launched immediately prior to the introduction of the new Type 964 bodyshell, and thus was the last 911 model to feature the old style body based on the original design of 1963.

 

The latter was reworked by chief stylist Tony Lapine, incorporating numerous references to the original 356 Speedster as well as a pair of controversial 'camel hump' cowlings behind the seats that concealed the stowed-away manual hood, a simplified affair described by the factory as for 'temporary' use. One of the rarest of the 911 family, the Speedster was built during 1989 only, a mere 2.065 cars being completed.

 

This 'triple black' Porsche 911 Speedster was delivered new to the late Donald Simpson in November 1989 in Los Angeles and registered there in his name. Born in 1946, Don Simpson was a legendary Hollywood film producer, whose box-office successes included 'Cannonball', 'Flashdance', 'Beverly Hills Cop', 'Top Gun', 'Bad Boys', etc. Simpson was a die-hard Porsche aficionado, and reputedly one of the first to take delivery of a 911 Speedster. This car's custom audio system is said to have been installed at his instigation, while other noteworthy features include the factory options of a short gear lever; electrically height-adjustable seats; cruise control; air-conditioning; and a storage compartment behind the seats, the latter a rare fitting. Following Don Simpson's death, the Porsche was sold to Keith Melton, prominent author of more than 25 non-fiction works including 'The Ultimate Spy Book', and was registered in his name in Florida in December 1997.

Purchased by the current owner in 2013, the car has since formed part of a select collection of 'special black Porsches' in Holland. A matching-numbers, matching-colours example, it appears accident-free and undamaged, and is believed never to have been repainted. The current odometer reading is circa 19.900 miles (approximately 32.000 km) and the Speedster is presented in highly original and generally excellent condition.

 

The car comes with its original pouch containing instruction books and the service booklet, while accompanying documentation consists of a Carfax recording the mileage at various dates; Porsche Geburtsurkunde listing the factory specification; taxation report (September 2016) confirming the car's originality; invoices in the names of both Don Simpson and the current owner; and current Dutch registration papers.

 

Les Grandes Marques du Monde au Grand Palais

Bonhams

Sold for € 287.500

Estimated : € 275.000 - 475.000

 

Parijs - Paris

Frankrijk - France

February 2017

This is a modification of my hot rod pickup. It still has everything that you might like (motorized/remotely controlled driving/steering, lights, turn signals, working steering wheel, working V8 and radiator fan, working door handles, gearbox…) and some new features (wheels, suspension, engine, roof, front lights, interior, fuel tank, movable license plate, chrome details…). Like the old one, it is 50 studs long and 28 studs wide but it is heavier - it weighs 1285g.

VIDEO: youtu.be/jR0rCEck7_0

Characteristics:

-Leaf spring suspension with height-adjustable rear

-License plate with simple mechanism to hide it (manual)

-Lights (front and rear) manually controlled with a lever connected to a speed dial of 8878 battery (which allows you to switch between low and high beam)

-Turn signals (front and rear) connected to a servo motor via coupled PF switches (2 switches)

-Working steering wheel

-Manual gearbox – 4 gears (5:1, 3:1, 5:3, 1:1)

-Suicide doors with working door handles

-It is powered by two L motors and 7.4 V (8878) rechargeable battery box.

-Servo motor for steering

-Working V8 fake engine with some details to make it resemble real V8 engine, connected directly to the driving motors so it works at the same speed no matter what gear you choose (in neutral also)

-Working radiator fan, connected directly to a V8 engine

-Rear doors can be opened.

-Roof window, fire extinguisher, fuel tank…

-Front tires from 8070 supercar, and rear from 42000 Grand Prix Racer.

 

I hope you like it, feel free to comment…

 

p.s. it has been blogged: thelegocarblog.com/2014/07/03/rod-mod/

Scheepscategorie

NaamRapido

ENI nr02312567

Bouwjaar1957

ScheepswerfSchiffs und Maschinebau A.G. Neckarwerft, Neckarsulm

AfbouwwerfSchiffs und Maschinebau A.G. Neckarwerft, Neckarsulm

Afmetingen

Lengte74,92 meter

Breedte8,23 meter

Diepgang0,80 / 2,80 meter

Holte2,83 meter

Hoogte den0,67 meter

Kruiphoogte zonder ballast5,50 meter

Laadvermogen

Max tonnage1.090,129 ton

Ruim / Beun

Buikdenningstalen laadvloer, 8 mm. Hardox

Aantal beunen2

Machinerieën

HoofdmotorDetroit Diesel, 12 V 92 TA, 441 kW / 600 pk., 1996

KeerkoppelingMasson oliedrukkoppeling, RSD 281, 1981

BoegschroefVan Wijk, kanalensysteem, Ø 700 mm., 2001

BoegschroefmotorDAF DKT 1160, 162 kW / 220 pk., gereviseerd ingebouwd in 2001

Generatoren

Middenherft, fabrikaat Stamford:

Hatz, 35 kVA en

Perkins, 42 kVA.

 

StuurwerkHydraulisch, fabrikaat De Waal, met pomp op hoofdmotor, 380 Volt hulppomp en 24 Volt noodpomp.

Roeren1 dubbelplaats, vrijhangend balansroer, fabrikaat Becker, elektrisch/hydraulisch

BallastpompLeiding vanaf het boegschroefkanaal.

PompenMiddenschip: 45 m³ dekwaspomp, 2x 85 m³ ballastpompen en 3" dubbelwerkende membraanpomp. Achterschip: 2" dekwaspomp en 3" dubbelwerkende membraanpomp.

AnkerlierenVoor: dubbelschijfs oliebadlier met 2 verhaalkoppen, fabrikaat Liessen, met een pool- en een klipanker en twee kortschalmkettingen. Achter: oliebadlier met draadtrommel, klipanker met staaldraad. Beide aangedreven door een 380 Volt elektromotor.

Autokraanop achterschip aan bakboord, fabrikaat Van Wijk, gieklengte 10 m., hydraulisch toppend en zwenkend, elektrisch hijsend, hijscapaciteit 1.600 kg., bj. 1979, voorzien van radiografische en vaste bediening.

SchroefVijfblads CuNiAl, Ø 1.330 mm., klasse 2 en reserveschroef.

Accommodatie

StuurhuisStalen, betimmerde onderbouw met vaste teakhouten bovenbouw, fabrikaat Hoogendoorn, voorzien van zithoek, ingang binnendoor, zonnescreens en verwarming. Hydraulisch in hoogte verstelbaar.

Nautische installatie

Automatische (combi)piloot met bocht- en roerstandaanwijzer: Radio Holland, Sigma 500

AIS

Clinometer

Echolood/kompas: Alphatron, type Alphanav

GPS: JRC met Tresco kaartsysteem

Intercom: Heftronic, HT 1120

Marifoons: 2x Radio Holland, RT 2048

Radar: Racall Decca, rivierradar 2050

 

Hefkolom0,80 m.

Woning voor

Gedeeltelijk ingezonken stalen roefbak met woonkamer en open keuken.

Badkamer met douche, wastafelmeubel en toilet.

Slaapkamer met 1x eenpersoons en 1x tweepersoons slaapplaats.

 

Woning achter

Hal met trap naar stuurhut,

woonkamer met open keuken,

3 slaapkamers, waarvan 2x tweepersoons en 1 stapelbed.

Badkamer met ligbad, wastafelmeubel, toilet en opstelplaats voor wasmachine en droger.

Airconditioning in de woonkamer, fabrikaat Maxicool.

Westerschelde, beroepsvaart, water, zeeland, Nederland, General

Ship category

Name Rapido

ENI no 02312567

Asking price On request

Built in 1957

Shipyard Schiffs und Maschinebau A.G. Neckarwerft, Neckarsulm

Finishing yard Schiffs und Maschinebau A.G. Neckarwerft, Neckarsulm

Dimensions

Length 74.92 meters

Width 8.23 meters

Draft 0.80 / 2.80 meters

Cavity 2.83 meters

Height pine 0.67 meters

Creep height without ballast 5.50 meters

Load capacity

Max tonnage 1,090.129 tons

Spacious / Beun

Belly denning steel loading floor, 8 mm. Hardox

Number of hoppers 2

Machinery

Main engine Detroit Diesel, 12 V 92 TA, 441 kW / 600 hp., 1996

Reversing gear Masson oil pressure clutch, RSD 281, 1981

Bow thruster Van Wijk, channel system, Ø 700 mm., 2001

Bow thruster motor DAF DKT 1160, 162 kW / 220 hp., overhauled built in 2001

Generators

Mid-brain, make Stamford:

Hatz, 35 kVA and

Perkins, 42 kVA.

 

Hydraulic steering, make De Waal, with pump on main engine, 380 Volt auxiliary pump and 24 Volt emergency pump.

Rudders 1 double place, free-hanging balanced rudder, make Becker, electric/hydraulic

Ballast pump Pipe from the bow thruster channel.

Pumps Midship: 45 m³ deck wash pump, 2x 85 m³ ballast pumps and 3" double-acting diaphragm pump. Aft ship: 2" deck wash pump and 3" double-acting diaphragm pump.

Anchor winches For: double sheave oil bath winch with 2 warping heads, make Liessen, with a pole and a clip anchor and two short link chains. Aft: oil bath winch with wire drum, clip anchor with steel wire. Both powered by a 380 Volt electric motor.

Truck crane on the stern on the port side, make Van Wijk, boom length 10 m., hydraulically topped and slewing, electrically hoisted, lifting capacity 1,600 kg., bj. 1979, equipped with radio and fixed controls.

Propeller Five-bladed CuNiAl, Ø 1,330 mm, class 2 and spare propeller.

Accommodation

Wheelhouse Steel, paneled substructure with fixed teak superstructure, made by Hoogendoorn, with sitting area, entrance through the interior, sun screens and heating. Hydraulic height adjustable.

Nautical installation

Automatic (combi)pilot with turn and rudder position indicator: Radio Holland, Sigma 500

AIS

Clinometer

Echo sounder/compass: Alphatron, type Alphanav

GPS: JRC with Tresco map system

Intercom: Heftronic, HT 1120

VHF: 2x Radio Holland, RT 2048

Radar: Racall Decca, river radar 2050

 

Lifting column 0.80 m.

House for

Partly sunken steel cabin with living room and open kitchen.

Bathroom with shower, washbasin and toilet.

Bedroom with 1x single and 1x double bed.

 

House behind

Hall with stairs to wheelhouse,

living room with open kitchen,

3 bedrooms, of which 2x double and 1 bunk bed.

Bathroom with bath, washbasin, toilet and space for washing machine and dryer.

Air conditioning in the living room, Maxicool.

Western Scheldt, commercial shipping, water, Zeeland, the Netherlands

Shown at the 2014 Geneva Auto Show in March, is the latest offroad and rough terrain vehicle from the Ralston Corporation.

 

Deliveries to Ralston's exclusive customers will begin at the end of 2015, complementing the Ralston Tigre IV series.

 

The forth generation of the Rhino has been developed in conjunction with the British firm Bowler. The Rhino is a much more luxurious and refined version of the Bowler EXR semi-Dakar offroad racer. The Rhino utilises the latest edition of the JLR V8 powertrains. The 5.0 litre Supercharger V8 petrol produces 375 kw and 625 Nm or torque. The 4.4 litre turbo-diesel produces 250 kW and 700 Nm of torque. Both engines are backed by the ZF 8HP automatic transmission, incorporating the advance Bosch/ZF Electric Hybrid drive to reduce CO2 emissions and fuel consumption.

 

The Ralston Rhino has been developed for the discerning customer who wishes to journey to places unreachable by normal cars. The Rhino has height-adjustable suspension to increase ground clearance, along with short front and rear overhangs to aid offroad maneuverability and traction. The Rhino's Dakar-bred chassis has a proven track record in offroad racing and durability events.

 

And, of course, the trademark 'X' for Xavier, the founder of the Ralston Corporation is displayed proudly and prominently in the 21st century interpretation of the the traditional grille. The tail profile of the Rhino is enhanced by the 'X'-form incorporated into rocket-pod tail lamps flanking the additional tire.

 

The 2015 Ralston Rhino MkIV featured here has been produced as part of the Flickr LUGNuts 77th build challenge, - 'Designing the Ralston Rhino'.

INSTRUCTIONS AVAILABLE

 

Launched April 20th, 2022.

 

The Ferrari 296 GTS, the evolution of Ferrari’s mid-rear-engined two-seater berlinetta spider concept, is powered by the new 120° V6 engine coupled with a plug-in (PHEV) electric motor that debuted on the 296 GTB.

 

Power lives and breathes at the rear of the car, with the combined V6 turbo and electric output delivering 830cv to the rear wheels, sending the car from 0 -100 km/h in 2.9s, reaching 200 km/h in 7.6s and onwards to a top speed of 330 km/h. And in pure electric mode the car can reach 135 km/h before the V6 kicks in.

 

Lighter than a conventional soft top, and extremely compact, Ferrari’s extensive experience with RHTs means they can sculpt surfaces that work in tandem with the car’s lines, guaranteeing the effect of a truly convertible coupé. The folding roof splits into two sections that fold flush over the front of the engine. This has allowed the designers to introduce a window in the rear section of the engine cover through which the new V6 is clearly visible. When the top is retracted, the cabin and the rear deck are separated by a height-adjustable glass rear screen which guarantees cabin comfort, even at exhilarating speeds.

 

The RHT can be deployed in just 14 seconds at speeds of up to 45 km/h, but even with the roof up, Ferrari’s patented exhaust resonator system (otherwise known as the Hot Tube and positioned just before the exhaust system) channels the engine’s pure sound directly up into the cabin. With the roof down the harmonics from the single tailpipe exhaust are even more dramatic.

 

Every Prancing Horse is rooted in 75 years of racing innovation, and there are elements throughout the 296 GTS. The Assetto Fiorano package exploits the car's extreme power and performance thanks to significant weight reduction and aero content, while the special livery is inspired 1963 250 LM, a perfect marriage of simplicity and functionality.

A junk is a type of Chinese sailing ship with fully battened sails. There are two types of junk in China: Northern junk which is developed from Chinese river boats, and southern junk which is developed from Austronesian ship designs, examples of which have been trading with the Eastern Han dynasty since the 2nd century AD. They continued to evolve in the later dynasties, and were predominantly used by Chinese traders throughout Southeast Asia. They were found, and in lesser numbers are still found, throughout Southeast Asia and India, but primarily in China. Found more broadly today is a growing number of modern recreational junk-rigged sailboats. Chinese junks referred to many types of coastal or river ships. They were usually cargo ships, pleasure boats, or houseboats. They vary greatly in size and there are significant regional variations in the type of rig, however they all employ fully battened sails.

 

The term "junk" (Portuguese junco; Dutch jonk; and Spanish junco) was also used in the colonial period to refer to any large to medium-sized ships of the Austronesian cultures in Island Southeast Asia, with or without the junk rig. Examples include the Indonesian and Malaysian jong, the Philippine lanong, and the Maluku kora kora.

 

ETYMOLOGY

Views diverge on whether the origin of the word is from a dialect of Chinese or from a Javanese word. The term may stem from the Chinese chuán (船, "boat; ship") — also based on and pronounced as [dzuːŋ] (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chûn) in Minnan Chinese — or zhōu (舟), the old word for a sailing vessel.[citation needed] The modern Mandarin Chinese word for an ocean-going wooden cargo vessel is cáo (艚).

 

Pierre-Yves Manguin and Zoetmulder, amongst others, point to an Old Javanese origin, in the form of jong. The word can be traced from an Old Javanese inscription in the 9th century. It entered the Malay and Chinese languages by the 15th century, when a Chinese word list identifies it as a Malay word for "ship." The Malay Maritime Code, first drawn up in the late 15th century, uses jong frequently as the word for freight ships. European writings from 1345 through 1601 use a variety of related terms, including jonque (French), ioncque (Italian), joanga or juanga (Spanish), junco (Portuguese), and jonk (Dutch). These terms were applied to all large ships in Southeast Asia, not only to Chinese ships.

 

The origin of the word "junk" in the English language can be traced to the Portuguese word junco, which is rendered from the Arabic word j-n-k (جنك). This word comes from the fact that the Arabic script cannot represent the digraph "ng". The word was used to denote both the Javanese/Malay ship (jong or djong) and the Chinese ship (chuán), even though the two were markedly different vessels. After the disappearance of jongs in the 17th century, the meaning of "junk" (and other similar words in European languages), which until then was used as a transcription of the word "jong" in Malay and Javanese, changed its meaning to exclusively refer to the Chinese ship (chuán).

 

CONSTRUCTION

The historian Herbert Warington Smyth considered the junk as one of the most efficient ship designs, stating that "As an engine for carrying man and his commerce upon the high and stormy seas as well as on the vast inland waterways, it is doubtful if any class of vessel… is more suited or better adapted to its purpose than the Chinese or Indian junk, and it is certain that for flatness of sail and handiness, the Chinese rig is unsurpassed."

 

SAILS

The sail of Chinese junks is an adoption of the Malay junk sail, which used vegetable matting attached to bamboo battens, a practice originated from South East Asia. The full-length battens keep the sail flatter than ideal in all wind conditions. Consequently, their ability to sail close to the wind is poorer than other fore-and-aft rigs.

 

HULL

Classic junks were built of softwoods (although after the 17th century teak was used in Guangdong) with the outside shape built first. Then multiple internal compartment/bulkheads accessed by separate hatches and ladders, reminiscent of the interior structure of bamboo, were built in. Traditionally, the hull has a horseshoe-shaped stern supporting a high poop deck. The bottom is flat in a river junk with no keel (similar to a sampan), so that the boat relies on a daggerboard, leeboard or very large rudder to prevent the boat from slipping sideways in the water. Ocean-going junks have a curved hull in section with a large amount of tumblehome in the topsides. The planking is edge nailed on a diagonal. Iron nails or spikes have been recovered from a Canton dig dated to circa 221 BC. For caulking the Chinese used a mix of ground lime with Tung oil together with chopped hemp from old fishing nets which set hard in 18 hours, but usefully remained flexible. Junks have narrow waterlines which accounts for their potential speed in moderate conditions, although such voyage data as we have indicates that average speeds on voyage for junks were little different from average voyage speeds of almost all traditional sail, i.e. around 4–6 knots. The largest junks, the treasure ships commanded by Ming dynasty Admiral Zheng He, were built for world exploration in the 15th century, and according to some interpretations may have been over 120 metres in length. This conjecture was based on the size of a rudder post that was found and misinterpreted, using formulae applicable to modern engine powered ships. More careful analysis shows that the rudder post that was found is actually smaller than the rudder post shown for a 70' long Pechili Trader in Worcester's "Junks and Sampans of the Yangtze".

 

Another characteristic of junks, interior compartments or bulkheads, strengthened the ship and slowed flooding in case of holing. Ships built in this manner were written of in Zhu Yu's book Pingzhou Table Talks, published by 1119 during the Song dynasty. Again, this type of construction for Chinese ship hulls was attested to by the Moroccan Muslim Berber traveler Ibn Battuta (1304–1377 AD), who described it in great detail (refer to Technology of the Song dynasty). Although some historians have questioned whether the compartments were watertight, most believe that watertight compartments did exist in Chinese junks because although most of the time there were small passageways (known as limber holes) between compartments, these could be blocked with stoppers and such stoppers have been identified in wrecks. All wrecks discovered so far have limber holes; these are different from the free flooding holes that are located only in the foremost and aftermost compartments, but are at the base of the transverse bulkheads allowing water in each compartment to drain to the lowest compartment, thus facilitating pumping. It is believed from evidence in wrecks that the limber holes could be stopped either to allow the carriage of liquid cargoes or to isolate a compartment that had sprung a leak.

Benjamin Franklin wrote in a 1787 letter on the project of mail packets between the United States and France:

 

As these vessels are not to be laden with goods, their holds may without inconvenience be divided into separate apartments, after the Chinese manner, and each of these apartments caulked tight so as to keep out water.

— Benjamin Franklin, 1787

 

In 1795, Sir Samuel Bentham, inspector of dockyards of the Royal Navy, and designer of six new sailing ships, argued for the adoption of "partitions contributing to strength, and securing the ship against foundering, as practiced by the Chinese of the present day". His idea was not adopted. Bentham had been in China in 1782, and he acknowledged that he had got the idea of watertight compartments by looking at Chinese junks there. Bentham was a friend of Isambard Brunel, so it is possible that he had some influence on Brunel's adoption of longitudinal, strengthening bulkheads in the lower deck of the SS Great Britain. Bentham had already by this time designed and had built a segmented barge for use on the Volga River, so the idea of transverse hull separation was evidently in his mind. Perhaps more to the point, there is a very large difference between the transverse bulkheads in Chinese construction, which offer no longitudinal strengthening, and the longitudinal members which Brunel adopted, almost certainly inspired by the iron bridge and boiler engineering in which he and his contemporaries in iron shipbuilding innovation were most versed.

 

Due to the numerous foreign primary sources that hint to the existence of true watertight compartments in junks, historians such as Joseph Needham proposed that the limber holes were stopped up as noted above in case of leakage. He addresses the quite separate issue of free-flooding compartments on pg 422 of Science and Civilisation in Ancient China:

 

Less well known is the interesting fact that in some types of Chinese craft the foremost (and less frequently also the aftermost) compartment is made free-flooding. Holes are purposely contrived in the planking. This is the case with the salt-boats which shoot the rapids down from Tzuliuching in Szechuan, the gondola-shaped boats of the Poyang Lake, and many sea going junks. The Szechuanese boatmen say that this reduces resistance to the water to a minimum, though such a claim makes absolutely no hydrodynamic sense, and the device is thought to cushion the shocks of pounding when the boat pitches heavily in the rapids, as it acquires and discharges water ballast rapidly supposedly just at the time when it is most desirable to counteract buffeting at stem and stern. As with too many such claims, there has been no empirical testing of them and it seems unlikely that the claims would stand up to such testing since the diameter or number of holes needed for such rapid flooding and discharging would be so great as to significantly weaken the vulnerable fore and aft parts of the vessel. The sailors say, as sailors all over the world are inclined to do when conjuring up answers to landlubbers' questions, that it stops junks flying up into the wind. It may be the reality at the bottom of the following story, related by Liu Ching-Shu of the +5th century, in his book I Yuan (Garden of Strange Things)

 

In Fu-Nan (Cambodia) gold is always used in transactions. Once there were (some people who) having hired a boat to go from east to west near and far, had not reached their destination when the time came for the payment of the pound (of gold) which had been agreed upon. They therefore wished to reduce the quantity (to be paid). The master of the ship then played a trick upon them. He made (as it were) a way for the water to enter the bottom of the boat, which seemed to be about to sink, and remained stationary, moving neither forward nor backward. All the passengers were very frightened and came to make offerings. The boat (afterwards) returned to its original state.

 

This, however, would seem to have involved openings which could be controlled, and the water pumped out afterwards. This was easily effected in China (still seen in Kuangtung and Hong Kong), but the practice was also known in England, where the compartment was called the 'wet-well', and the boat in which it was built, a 'well-smack'. If the tradition is right that such boats date in Europe from +1712 then it may well be that the Chinese bulkhead principle was introduced twice, first for small coastal fishing boats at the end of the seventeenth century, and then for large ships a century later. However, the wet well is probably a case of parallel invention since its manner of construction is quite different from that of Chinese junks, the wet well quite often not running the full width of the boat, but only occupying the central part of the hull either side of the keel.

 

More to the point[24] wet wells were apparent in Roman small craft of the 5th century CE.

 

LEEBOARDS AND CENTERBOARDS

Leeboards and centerboards, used to stabilize the junk and to improve its capability to sail upwind, are documented from a 759 AD book by Li Chuan. The innovation was adopted by Portuguese and Dutch ships around 1570. Junks often employ a daggerboard that is forward on the hull which allows the center section of the hull to be free of the daggerboard trunk allowing larger cargo compartments. Because the daggerboard is located so far forward, the junk must use a balanced rudder to counteract the imbalance of lateral resistance.

 

Other innovations included the square-pallet bilge pump, which was adopted by the West during the 16th century for work ashore, the western chain pump, which was adopted for shipboard use, being of a different derivation. Junks also relied on the compass for navigational purposes. However, as with almost all vessels of any culture before the late 19th century, the accuracy of magnetic compasses aboard ship, whether from a failure to understand deviation (the magnetism of the ship's iron fastenings) or poor design of the compass card (the standard drypoint compasses were extremely unstable), meant that they did little to contribute to the accuracy of navigation by dead reckoning. Indeed, a review of the evidence shows that the Chinese embarked magnetic pointer was probably little used for navigation. The reasoning is simple. Chinese mariners were as able as any and, had they needed a compass to navigate, they would have been aware of the almost random directional qualities when used at sea of the water bowl compass they used. Yet that design remained unchanged for some half a millennium. Western sailors, coming upon a similar water bowl design (no evidence as to how has yet emerged) very rapidly adapted it in a series of significant changes such that within roughly a century the water bowl had given way to the dry pivot, a rotating compass card a century later, a lubberline a generation later and gimbals seventy or eighty years after that. These were necessary because in the more adverse climatic context of north western Europe, the compass was needed for navigation. Had similar needs been felt in China, Chinese mariners would also have come up with fixes. They didn't.

 

STEERING

Junks employed stern-mounted rudders centuries before their adoption in the West for the simple reason that Western hull forms, with their pointed sterns, obviated a centreline steering system until technical developments in Scandinavia created the first, iron mounted, pintle and gudgeon 'barn door' western examples in the early 12th century CE. A second reason for this slow development was that the side rudders in use were, contrary to a lot of very ill-informed opinion, extremely efficient. Thus the junk rudder's origin, form and construction was completely different in that it was the development of a centrally mounted stern steering oar, examples of which can also be seen in Middle Kingdom (c.2050–1800 BCE) Egyptian river vessels. It was an innovation which permitted the steering of large ships and due to its design allowed height adjustment according to the depth of the water and to avoid serious damage should the junk ground. A sizable junk can have a rudder that needed up to twenty members of the crew to control in strong weather. In addition to using the sail plan to balance the junk and take the strain off the hard to operate and mechanically weakly attached rudder, some junks were also equipped with leeboards or dagger boards. The world's oldest known depiction of a stern-mounted rudder can be seen on a pottery model of a junk dating from before the 1st century AD, though some scholars think this may be a steering oar; a possible interpretation given is that the model is of a river boat that was probably towed or poled.

 

From sometime in the 13th to 15th centuries, many junks began incorporating "fenestrated" rudders (rudders with large diamond-shaped holes in them), probably adopted to lessen the force needed to direct the steering of the rudder.

 

The rudder is reported to be the strongest part of the junk. In the Tiangong Kaiwu "Exploitation of the Works of Nature" (1637), Song Yingxing wrote, "The rudder-post is made of elm, or else of langmu or of zhumu." The Ming author also applauds the strength of the langmu wood as "if one could use a single silk thread to hoist a thousand jun or sustain the weight of a mountain landslide."

 

HISTORY

2nd CENTURY (HAN DYNASTY)

Chinese ships were essentially fluvial before the Song dynasty.[1] However, large Austronesian trading ships docking in Chinese seaports with as many as four sails were recorded by scholars as early as the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE). They called them the kunlun bo or kunlun po (崑崙舶, lit. "ship of the [dark-skinned] Kunlun people"). They were booked by Chinese Buddhist pilgrims for passage to Southern India and Sri Lanka.

 

The 3rd century book "Strange Things of the South" (南州異物志) by Wan Chen (萬震) describes one of these Austronesian ships as being capable of 600-700 people together with more than 10,000 hu (斛) of cargo (250-1000 tons according to various interpretations - 600 tons deadweight according to Manguin).[8]:262 The ships could be more than 50 meters in length and had a freeboard of 5.2–7.8 meters. When seen from above they resemble covered galleries. He explains the ships' sail design as follows:

 

The people beyond the barriers, according the size of their ships, sometimes rig (as many as) four sails which they carry in row from bow to stern. (...) The four sails do not face directly forward, but are set obliquely, and so arranged that they can all be fixed in the same direction, to receive the wind and to spill it. Those sails which are behind the most windward one receiving the pressure of the wind, throw it from one to the other, so that they all profit from its force. If it is violent, (the sailors) diminish or augment the surface of the sails according to the conditions. This oblique rig, which permits the sails to receive from one another the breath of the wind, obviates the anxiety attendant upon having high masts. Thus these ships sail without avoiding strong winds and dashing waves, by the aid of which they can make great speed.

— Wan Chen,

 

A 260 CE book by K'ang T'ai (康泰) described ships with seven sails called po for transporting horses that could travel as far as Syria. He also made reference to monsoon trade between the islands (or archipelago), which took a month and a few days in a large po. Southern Chinese junks were based on keeled and multi-planked Austronesian jong (known as po by the Chinese, from Javanese or Malay perahu - large ship). Southern Chinese junks showed characteristics of Austronesian jong: V-shaped, double-ended hull with a keel, and using timbers of tropical origin. This is different from northern Chinese junks, which are developed from flat bottomed riverine boats. The northern Chinese junks had flat bottoms, no keel, no frames (only water-tight bulkheads), transom stern and stem, would have been built out of pine or fir wood, and would have its planks fastened with iron nails or clamps.

 

10–13th CENTURY (SONG DYNASTY)

The trading dynasty of the Song developed the first junks based on Southeast Asian ships. By this era they also have adopted the Malay junk sail. The ships of the Song, both mercantile and military, became the backbone of the navy of the following Yuan dynasty. In particular the Mongol invasions of Japan (1274–84), as well as the Mongol invasion of Java (both failed), essentially relied on recently acquired Song naval capabilities. Worcester estimates that Yuan junks were 11 m in beam and over 30 m long. In general they had no keel, stempost, or sternpost. They did have centreboards, and watertight bulkhead to strengthen the hull, which added great weight. Further excavations showed that this type of vessel was common in the 13th century. By using the ratio between number of soldiers and ships in both invasions, it can be concluded that each ship may carry 20-70 men.[

 

14th CENTURY (YUAN DYNASTY)

The enormous dimensions of the Chinese ships of the Medieval period are described in Chinese sources, and are confirmed by Western travelers to the East, such as Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta and Niccolò da Conti. According to Ibn Battuta, who visited China in 1347:

 

. . . We stopped in the port of Calicut, in which there were at the time thirteen Chinese vessels, and disembarked. On the China Sea traveling is done in Chinese ships only, so we shall describe their arrangements. The Chinese vessels are of three kinds; large ships called chunks (junks), middle sized ones called zaws (dhows) and the small ones kakams. The large ships have anything from twelve down to three sails, which are made of bamboo rods plaited into mats. They are never lowered, but turned according to the direction of the wind; at anchor they are left floating in the wind. A ship carries a complement of a thousand men, six hundred of whom are sailors and four hundred men-at-arms, including archers, men with shields and crossbows, who throw naphtha. Three smaller ones, the "half", the "third" and the "quarter", accompany each large vessel. These vessels are built in the towns of Zaytun (a.k.a. Zaitun; today's Quanzhou; 刺桐) and Sin-Kalan. The vessel has four decks and contains rooms, cabins, and saloons for merchants; a cabin has chambers and a lavatory, and can be locked by its occupants. This is the manner after which they are made; two (parallel) walls of very thick wooden (planking) are raised and across the space between them are placed very thick planks (the bulkheads) secured longitudinally and transversely by means of large nails, each three ells in length. When these walls have thus been built the lower deck is fitted in and the ship is launched before the upper works are finished. - Ibn Battuta

 

15–17th CENTURY (MING DYNASTY)

From the mid-15th to early 16th century, all Chinese maritime trading was banned under the Ming Dynasty. The shipping and shipbuilding knowledge acquired during the Song and Yuan dynasties gradually declined during this period.

 

EXPEDITION OF ZHENG HE

The largest junks ever built were possibly those of Admiral Zheng He, for his expeditions in the Indian Ocean (1405 to 1433), although this is disputed as no contemporary records of the sizes of Zheng He's ships are known. Instead the dimensions are based on Sanbao Taijian Xia Xiyang Ji Tongsu Yanyi (1597), a romanticized version of the voyages written by Luo Maodeng [zh] nearly two centuries later. Maodeng's novel describes Zheng He's ships as follows:

 

Treasure ships, used by the commander of the fleet and his deputies (Nine-masted junks, claimed by the Ming Shi to be about 420 feet long and 180 feet wide).

Horse ships, carrying tribute goods and repair material for the fleet (Eight-masted junks, about 340 feet long and 140 feet wide)

Supply ships, containing food-staple for the crew (Seven-masted junks, about 260 feet long and 115 feet wide).

Troop transports (Six-masted junks, about 220 feet long and 83 feet wide).

Fuchuan warships (Five-masted junks, about 165 feet long).

Patrol boats (Eight-oared, about 120 feet long).

Water tankers, with 1 month's supply of fresh water.

 

Some recent research suggests that the actual length of the biggest treasure ships may have been between 119–124 m long and 49–51 m wide, while others estimate them to be 61–76 m in length.

 

CAPTURE OF TAIWAN

In 1661, a naval fleet of 400 junks and 25,000 men led by the Ming loyalist Zheng Chenggong (Cheng Ch'eng-kung in Wade–Giles, known in the West as Koxinga), arrived in Taiwan to oust the Dutch from Zeelandia. Following a nine-month siege, Cheng captured the Dutch fortress Fort Zeelandia. A peace treaty between Koxinga and the Dutch Government was signed at Castle Zeelandia on February 1, 1662, and Taiwan became Koxinga's base for the Kingdom of Tungning.

 

JAVANESE

The physical description of Javanese junk differed from Chinese junk. It was made of very thick wood, and as the ship got old, it was fixed with new boards, with four closing boards, stacked together. The rope and the sail was made with woven rattan. The jong was made using jaty/jati wood (teak) at the time of this report (1512), at that time Chinese junks are using softwood as the main material. The jong's hull is formed by joining planks to the keel and then to each other by wooden dowels, without using either a frame (except for subsequent reinforcement), nor any iron bolts or nails. The planks are perforated by an auger and inserted with dowels, which remains inside the fastened planks, not seen from the outside. On some of the smaller vessels parts may be lashed together with vegetable fibers. The vessel was similarly pointed at both ends, and carried two oar-like rudders and lateen-rigged sails (actually tanja sail),[note 1] but it may also use junk sail, a sail of Malay origin. It differed markedly from the Chinese vessel, which had its hull fastened by strakes and iron nails to a frame and to structurally essential bulkheads which divided the cargo space. The Chinese vessel had a single rudder on a transom stern, and (except in Fujian and Guangdong) they had flat bottoms without keels.

 

Encounters with giant jongs were recorded by Western travelers. Giovanni da Empoli said that the junks of Java were no different in their strength than a castle, because the three and four boards, layered one above the other, could not be harmed with artillery. They sailed with their women, children, and families, with everyone mainly keeping to their respective rooms. Portuguese recorded at least two encounters with large Djongs, one was encountered off the coast of Pacem (Samudera Pasai Sultanate) and the other was owned by Pati Unus, who went on to attack Malacca in 1513. Characteristics of the 2 ships were similar, both were larger than Portuguese ship, built with multiple plankings, resistant to cannon fire, and had two oar-like rudders on the side of the ship. At least Pati Unus' jong was equipped with three layers of sheathing which the Portuguese said over one cruzado in thickness each. The Chinese banned foreign ships from entering Guangzhou, fearing the Javanese or Malay junks would attack and capture the city, because it is said that one of these junk would rout twenty Chinese junks.

 

Main production location of Djong was mainly constructed in two major shipbuilding centres around Java: north coastal Java, especially around Rembang-Demak (along the Muria strait) and Cirebon; and the south coast of Borneo (Banjarmasin) and adjacent islands. A common feature of these places was their accessibility to forests of teak, this wood was highly valued because of its resistance to shipworm, whereas Borneo itself would supply ironwood. Pegu, which is a large shipbuilding port at the 16th century, also produced jong, built by Javanese who resided there.

 

ACCOUNTS OF MEDIEVAL TRAVELLERS

Niccolò da Conti in relating his travels in Asia between 1419 and 1444, describes huge junks of about 2,000 tons in weight: They build some ships much larger than ours, capable of containing 2,000 tons in size, with five sails and as many masts. The lower part is constructed with of three planks, in order to withstand the force of the tempest to which they are much exposed. But some ships are built in compartments, that should one part is shattered, the other portion remaining intact to accomplish the voyage.Other translations of the passage give the size as a 2000 butts, which would be around a 1000 tons, a butt being half a ton.Also, in 1456, the Fra Mauro map described the presence of junks in the Indian Ocean as well as their construction:

 

The ships called junks (lit. "Zonchi") that navigate these seas carry four masts or more, some of which can be raised or lowered, and have 40 to 60 cabins for the merchants and only one tiller. They can navigate without a compass, because they have an astrologer, who stands on the side and, with an astrolabe in hand, gives orders to the navigator.

— Text from the Fra Mauro map, 09-P25,

 

Fra Mauro further explains that one of these junks rounded the Cape of Good Hope and travelled far into the Atlantic Ocean, in 1420:

 

About the year of Our Lord 1420 a ship, what is called an Indian Zoncho, on a crossing of the Sea of India towards the "Isle of Men and Women", was diverted beyond the "Cape of Diab" (Shown as the Cape of Good Hope on the map), through the "Green Isles" (lit. "isole uerde", Cabo Verde Islands), out into the "Sea of Darkness" (Atlantic Ocean) on a way west and southwest. Nothing but air and water was seen for 40 days and by their reckoning they ran 2,000 miles and fortune deserted them. When the stress of the weather had subsided they made the return to the said "Cape of Diab" in 70 days and drawing near to the shore to supply their wants the sailors saw the egg of a bird called roc, which egg is as big as an amphora.

— Text from Fra Mauro map, 10-A13,

 

ASIAN TRADE

Chinese junks were used extensively in Asian trade during the 16th and 17th century, especially to Southeast Asia and to Japan, where they competed with Japanese Red Seal Ships, Portuguese carracks and Dutch galleons. Richard Cocks, the head of the English trading factory in Hirado, Japan, recorded that 50 to 60 Chinese junks visited Nagasaki in 1612 alone.

 

These junks were usually three masted, and averaging between 200 and 800 tons in size, the largest ones having around 130 sailors, 130 traders and sometimes hundreds of passengers.

 

19th CENTURY (QING DYNASTY)

Large, ocean-going junks played a key role in Asian trade until the 19th century. One of these junks, Keying, sailed from China around the Cape of Good Hope to the United States and England between 1846 and 1848. Many junks were fitted out with carronades and other weapons for naval or piratical uses. These vessels were typically called "war junks" or "armed junks" by Western navies which began entering the region more frequently in the 18th century. The British, Americans and French fought several naval battles with war junks in the 19th century, during the First Opium War, Second Opium War and in between.

 

At sea, junk sailors co-operated with their Western counterparts. For example, in 1870 survivors of the English barque Humberstone shipwrecked off Formosa, were rescued by a junk and landed safely in Macao.

 

20th CENTURY

In 1938, E. Allen Petersen escaped the advancing Japanese armies by sailing a 11 m junk, Hummel Hummel, from Shanghai to California with his wife Tani and two White Russians (Tsar loyalists). In 1939, Richard Halliburton was lost at sea with his crew while sailing a specially constructed junk, Sea Dragon, from Hong Kong to the World Exposition in San Francisco.

 

In 1955, six young men sailed a Ming dynasty-style junk from Taiwan to San Francisco. The four-month journey aboard the Free China was captured on film and their arrival into San Francisco made international front-page news. The five Chinese-born friends saw an advertisement for an international trans-Atlantic yacht race, and jumped at the opportunity for adventure. They were joined by the then US Vice-Consul to China, who was tasked with capturing the journey on film. Enduring typhoons and mishaps, the crew, having never sailed a century-old junk before, learned along the way. The crew included Reno Chen, Paul Chow, Loo-chi Hu, Benny Hsu, Calvin Mehlert and were led by skipper Marco Chung. After a journey of 9,700 km, the Free China and her crew arrived in San Francisco Bay in fog on August 8, 1955. Shortly afterward the footage was featured on ABC television's Bold Journey travelogue. Hosted by John Stephenson and narrated by ship's navigator Paul Chow, the program highlighted the adventures and challenges of the junk's sailing across the Pacific, as well as some humorous moments aboard ship.

 

In 1959 a group of Catalan men, led by Jose Maria Tey, sailed from Hong Kong to Barcelona on a junk named Rubia. After their successful journey this junk was anchored as a tourist attraction at one end of Barcelona harbor, close to where La Rambla meets the sea. Permanently moored along with it was a reproduction of Columbus' caravel Santa Maria during the 1960s and part of the 1970s.

 

In 1981, Christoph Swoboda had a 65 feet (LoA) Bedar built by the boatyard of Che Ali bin Ngah on Duyong island in the estuary of the Terengganu river on the East coast of Malaysia. The Bedar is one of the two types of Malay junk schooners traditionally built there. He sailed this junk with his family and one friend to the Mediterranean and then continued with changing crew to finally finish a circumnavigation in 1998. He sold this vessel in 2000 and in 2004 he started to build a new junk in Duyong with the same craftsmen: the Pinas (or Pinis) Naga Pelangi, in order to help keep this ancient boat building tradition alive. This boat finished to be fitted out in 2010 and is working as a charter boat in the Andaman and the South China Sea.

 

WIKIPEDIA

The Citroën DS (French pronunciation: ​[si.tʁɔ.ˈɛn de ɛs]) is a front-engine, front-wheel-drive executive car manufactured and marketed by the French company Citroën from 1955 to 1975 in sedan, wagon/estate and convertible body configurations. Italian sculptor and industrial designer Flaminio Bertoni and the French aeronautical engineer André Lefèbvre styled and engineered the car. Paul Magès developed the hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension.

 

Noted for its aerodynamic, futuristic body design and innovative technology, the DS set new standards in ride quality, handling, and braking—and was the first production car equipped with disc brakes.

 

Citroën sold 1,455,746 examples, including 1,330,755 built at the manufacturer's Paris Quai André-Citroën production plant.

 

The DS came third in the 1999 Car of the Century poll recognizing the world's most influential auto designs and was named the most beautiful car of all time by Classic & Sports Car magazine

 

MODEL HISTORY

After 18 years of secret development as the successor to the Traction Avant, the DS 19 was introduced on 5 October 1955 at the Paris Motor Show. In the first 15 minutes of the show, 743 orders were taken, and orders for the first day totalled 12,000. During the 10 days of the show, the DS took in 80,000 deposits; a record that has stood for over 60 years.

 

Contemporary journalists said the DS pushed the envelope in the ride vs. handling compromise possible in a motor vehicle.

 

To a France still deep in reconstruction after the devastation of World War II, and also building its identity in the post-colonial world, the DS was a symbol of French ingenuity. The DS was distributed to many territories throughout the world.

 

It also posited the nation's relevance in the Space Age, during the global race for technology of the Cold War. Structuralist philosopher Roland Barthes, in an essay about the car, said that it looked as if it had "fallen from the sky". An American advertisement summarised this selling point: "It takes a special person to drive a special car".

 

Because they were owned by the technologically aggressive tire manufacturer Michelin, Citroën had designed their cars around the technically superior radial tire since 1948, and the DS was no exception.

 

The car featured a novel hydropneumatic suspension including an automatic leveling system and variable ground clearance, developed in-house by Paul Magès. This suspension allowed the DS to travel quickly on the poor road surfaces common in France.

 

In addition, the vehicle had power steering and a semi-automatic transmission (the transmission required no clutch pedal, but gears still had to be shifted by hand), though the shift lever controlled a powered hydraulic shift mechanism in place of a mechanical linkage, and a fibreglass roof which lowered the centre of gravity and so reduced weight transfer. Inboard front brakes (as well as independent suspension) reduced unsprung weight. Different front and rear track widths and tyre sizes reduced the unequal tyre loading, which is well known to promote understeer, typical of front-engined and front-wheel drive cars.

 

As with all French cars, the DS design was affected by the tax horsepower system, which effectively mandated very small engines. Unlike the Traction Avant predecessor, there was no top-of-range model with a powerful six-cylinder engine. Citroën had planned an air-cooled flat-6 engine for the car, but did not have the funds to put the prototype engine into production.

 

The DS placed third in the 1999 Car of the Century competition, and fifth on Automobile Magazine's "100 Coolest Cars" listing in 2005. It was also named the most beautiful car of all time by Classic & Sports Car magazine after a poll of 20 world-renowned car designers, including Giorgetto Giugiaro, Ian Callum, Roy Axe, Paul Bracq, and Leonardo Fioravanti.

 

NAME

Both the DS and its simpler sibling, the ID, used a punning name. "DS" is pronounced in French as "Déesse" (goddess); "ID" is pronounced as "Idée" (idea). An intermediate model was called the DW.

 

MOTORSPORT

The DS was successful in motorsports like rallying, where sustained speeds on poor surfaces are paramount, and won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1959. In the 1000 Lakes Rally, Pauli Toivonen drove a DS19 to victory in 1962.

 

In 1966, the DS won the Monte Carlo Rally again, with some controversy as the competitive BMC Mini-Cooper team was disqualified due to rule infractions. Ironically, Mini was involved with DS competition again two years later, when a drunk driver in a Mini in Sydney Australia crashed into the DS that was leading the 1968 London–Sydney Marathon, 98 miles from the finish line. The DS was still competitive in the grueling 1974 London-Sahara-Munich World Cup Rally, where it won over 70 other cars, only 5 of which even completed the entire event.

 

TECHNICAL INNOVATION - HYDRAULIC SYSTEMS

In conventional cars, hydraulics are only used in brakes and power steering. In the DS they were also used for the suspension, clutch and transmission. The cheaper 1957 ID19 did have manual steering and a simplified power-braking system. An engine driven pump pressurizes the closed system to 2,400 pounds per square inch.

 

At a time when few passenger vehicles had independent suspension on all wheels, the application of the hydraulic system to the car's suspension system to provide a self-levelling system was an innovative move. This suspension allowed the car to achieve sharp handling combined with very high ride quality, frequently compared to a "magic carpet".

 

The hydropneumatic suspension used was pioneered the year before, on the rear of another car from Citroën, the top of range Traction Avant 15CV-H.

 

IMPACT ON CITROEN BRAND DEVELOPMENT

The 1955 DS cemented the Citroën brand name as an automotive innovator, building on the success of the Traction Avant, which had been the world's first mass-produced unitary body front-wheel-drive car in 1934. In fact, the DS caused such a huge sensation that Citroën was apprehensive that future models would not be of the same bold standard. No clean sheet new models were introduced from 1955 to 1970.

 

The DS was a large, expensive executive car and a downward brand extension was attempted, but without result. Throughout the late 1950s and 1960s Citroën developed many new vehicles for the very large, profitable market segments between the 2CV and the DS, occupied by vehicles like the Peugeot 403, Renault 16 and Ford Cortina, but none made it into production. Either they had uneconomic build costs, or were ordinary "me too" cars, not up to the company's high standard of innovation. As Citroën was owned by Michelin from 1934 to 1974 as a sort of research laboratory, such broad experimentation was possible. Michelin after all was getting a powerful advertisement for the capabilities of the radial tire Michelin had invented, when such experimentation was successful.

 

New models based on the small, utilitarian 2CV economy car were introduced, notably the 1961 Ami. It was also designed by Flaminio Bertoni and aimed to combine Three-box styling with the chassis of the 2CV. The Ami was very successful in France, but less so on export markets. Many found the styling controversial, and the car noisy and underpowered. The Dyane, was a modernised 2CV with a hatchback, competed with the 2CV inspired Renault 4 Hatchback. All these 2 cylinder models were very small, so there remained a wide market gap to the DS range all through the 1960s.

 

In 1970, Citroën finally introduced a car to target the mid-range - the Citroën GS, which won the "European car of the Year" for 1971 and sold 2.5 million units. It combined a small 55 horsepower flat-4 air-cooled engine with Hydropneumatic suspension. The intended 106 horsepower Wankel rotary-engined version with more power did not reach full production.

 

REPLACING THE DS

The DS remained popular and competitive throughout its production run. Its peak production year was 1970. Certain design elements like the somewhat narrow cabin, column-mounted gearstick, and separate fenders began to seem a little old-fashioned in the 1970s.

 

Citroën invested enormous resources to design and launch an entirely new vehicle in 1970, the SM, which was in effect a thoroughly modernized DS, with similar length, but greater width. The manual gearbox was a modified DS unit. The front disc brakes were the same design. Axles, wheel bearings, steering knuckles, and hydraulic components were either DS parts or modified DS parts.

 

The SM had a different purpose than replacing the 15-year-old DS design however - it was meant to launch Citroën into a completely new luxury grand touring market segment. Only fitted with a costly, exotic Maserati engine, the SM was faster and much more expensive than the DS. The SM was not designed to be a practical 4-door saloon suitable as a large family car, the key market for vehicles of this type in Europe. Typically, manufacturers would introduce low-volume coupés based on parts shared with an existing saloon, not as unique models, a contemporary example being the Mercedes-Benz SLC-Class.

 

The SM's high price and limited utility of the 2+2 seating configuration, meant the SM as actually produced could not seize the mantle from the DS.

 

So, while the design funds invested would allow the DS to be replaced by two cars - a 'modern DS' and the smaller CX, it was left to the CX alone to provide Citroën's large family or executive car in the model range.

 

The last DS came off the production line on 24 April 1975 - the manufacturer had taken the elementary precaution of building up approximately eight-month's of inventory of the "break" (estate/station wagon) version of the DS, to cover the period till Autumn 1975 when the estate/station wagon version of the CX would be introduced.

 

DEVELOPMENT

The DS always maintained its size and shape, with easily removable, unstressed body panels, but certain design changes did occur. During the 20-year production life improvements were made on an ongoing basis.

ID 19 submodel to extend brand downwards (1957–69)

 

The 1955 DS19 was 65% more expensive than the car it replaced, the Citroën Traction Avant. This affected potential sales in a country still recovering economically from World War II, so a cheaper submodel, the Citroën ID, was introduced in 1957.

 

The ID shared the DS's body but was less powerful and luxurious. Although it shared the engine capacity of the DS engine (at this stage 1,911 cc), the ID provided a maximum power output of only 69 hp compared to the 75 hp claimed for the DS19. Power outputs were further differentiated in 1961 when the DS19 acquired a Weber-32 twin bodied carburettor, and the increasing availability of higher octane fuel enabled the manufacturer to increase the compression ratio from 7.5:1 to 8.5:1. A new DS19 now came with a promised 83 hp of power. The ID19 was also more traditional mechanically: it had no power steering and had conventional transmission and clutch instead of the DS's hydraulically controlled set-up. Initially the basic ID19 was sold on the French market with a price saving of more than 25% against the DS, although the differential was reduced at the end of 1961 when the manufacturer quietly withdrew the entry level ID19 "Normale" from sale. A station wagon variant, the ID Break, was introduced in 1958.

 

D SPECIAL AND D SUPER (1970–75)

The ID was replaced by the D Spécial and D Super in 1970, but these retained the lower specification position in the range. The D Super was available with the DS21 2175ccm engine and a 5 speed gearbox, and named the D Super 5.

 

SERIE 2 - NOSE REDESIGN IN 1962

In September 1962, the DS was restyled with a more aerodynamically efficient nose, better ventilation and other improvements. It retained the open two headlamp appearance, but was available with an optional set of driving lights mounted on the front fenders. All models in the range changed nose design at the same time, including the ID and station wagon models.

Series 3 - Nose redesign in 1967 with Directional headlights

 

In late 1967, for the 1968 model year, the DS and ID was again restyled, by Robert Opron, who also styled the 1970 SM and 1974 CX. This version had a more streamlined headlamp design, giving the car a notably shark-like appearance. This design had four headlights under a smooth glass canopy, and the inner set swivelled with the steering wheel. This allowed the driver to see "around" turns, especially valuable on twisting roads driven at high speed at night.

 

Behind each glass cover lens, the inboard high-beam headlamp swivels by up to 80° as the driver steers, throwing the beam along the driver's intended path rather than uselessly across the curved road. The outboard low-beam headlamps are self-leveling in response to pitching caused by acceleration and braking.

 

However, this feature was not allowed in the US at the time (see World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations), so a version with four exposed headlights that did not swivel was made for the US market.

 

This 'turning headlight' feature was new to the market - it had only been seen before on the very rare three headlight 1935 Tatra 77A. The Tucker, which never was mass-produced, had a central headlight that turned with the steering. 45 years later, it is now a commonly available feature, even in the United States.

 

NEW GREEN HYDRAULIC FLUID

The original hydropneumatic system used a vegetable oil liquide hydraulique végétal (LHV), similar to that used in other cars at the time, but later switched to a synthetic fluid liquide hydraulique synthétique (LHS). Both of these had the disadvantage that they are hygroscopic, as is the case with most brake fluids. Disuse allows water to enter the hydraulic components causing deterioration and expensive maintenance work. The difficulty with hygroscopic hydraulic fluid was exacerbated in the DS/ID due to the extreme rise and fall in the fluid level in the reservoir, which went from nearly full to nearly empty when the suspension extended to maximum height and the six accumulators in the system filled with fluid. With every "inhalation" of fresh moisture- (and dust-) laden air, the fluid absorbed more water.

 

For the 1967 model year, Citroën introduced a new mineral oil-based fluid LHM (Liquide Hydraulique Minéral). This fluid was much less harsh on the system. LHM remained in use within Citroën until the Xantia was discontinued in 2001.

 

LHM required completely different materials for the seals. Using either fluid in the incorrect system would completely destroy the hydraulic seals very quickly. To help avoid this problem, Citroën added a bright green dye to the LHM fluid and also painted all hydraulic elements bright green. The former LHS parts were painted black.

 

All models, including the station wagon and ID, were upgraded at the same time. The hydraulic fluid changed to the technically superior LHM in all markets except the US and Canada, where the change did not take place until January 1969, due to local regulations.

 

INTERNATIONAL SALES AND PRODUCTION

The DS was primarily manufactured at the Quai André-Citroën in the Javel neighborhood of Paris, with other manufacturing facilities in the United Kingdom, South Africa, the former Yugoslavia (mostly Break Ambulances), and Australia.

 

Australia constructed their own D variant in the 1960s at Heidelberg, Victoria, identified as the ID 19 "Parisienne." Australian market cars were fitted with options as standard equipment such as the "DSpecial DeLuxe" that were not available on domestic European models.

 

Until 1965, cars were assembled at the manufacturer's Slough premises, to the west of London, using a combination of French made knock down kits and locally sourced components, some of them machined on site. A French electrical system superseded the British one on the Slough cars in 1962, giving rise to a switch to "continental style" negative earthing. After 1965 cars for the British market were imported fully assembled from the company's French plant. The British-built cars are distinguished by their leather seats, wooden (early ID19 models) one piece plastic (early DS19 models) dashboards, chromed number plate mount let into the front bumper, and (on pre-1962 cars) Lucas-made electrics. These were all right hand drive cars.

 

The DS was built and sold in South Africa from 1959 to 1975.

 

The DS was sold in Japan, but the models were built in France and left hand drive.

 

DS IN NORTH AMERICA

The DS was sold in North America from 1956 to 1972. Despite its popularity in Europe, it didn't sell well in the United States, and little better in Canada. While promoted as a luxury car, it did not have the basic features that American buyers expected to find on such a vehicle, such as an automatic transmission, air conditioning, power windows, or a powerful engine. The DS was designed specifically to address the French market, with punitive tax horsepower taxation of large engines, as well as very poor roads – it's no great mystery that it was a fish out of water when those constraints were removed.

 

Jay Leno described the sporadic supply of spare parts as a problem for 1970s era customers, based on his early experiences working at a Citroën dealer in Boston.

 

The DS was expensive, with a 115 hp (86 kW) vehicle costing $4,170 in 1969, when the price was $4,500 for a 360 hp (268 kW) Buick Electra 225 4 door sedan. For all years, 38,000 units were sold.

 

US regulations at the time also banned one of the car's more advanced features: its composite headlamps with aerodynamic covered lenses. Based on legislation that dated from 1940, all automobiles sold in the U.S. were required to have round, sealed beam headlamps that produced a meager 75,000 candlepower. The powerful quartz iodine swiveling headlamps designed for the 1968 model DS represented so many performance improvements at once that they were far beyond what the regulations could allow.[50] Even the aerodynamic headlight covers were illegal – as seen on the 1968 Jaguar E-Type. It took the lobbying muscle of Ford to point out that the government was requiring two contradictory things – safety, by ensuring that all headlights were best-of-breed circa 1940, and fuel economy through the CAFE standard – by definition, cars with poor aerodynamics are sacrificing fuel economy. Composite bulb lamps and aerodynamic covered headlights were not permitted until 1983.

 

The European lamps were legal in Canada, including the directional headlamps.

 

The hydraulic fluid change in 1967 was another brain teaser for U.S. automotive regulators at the Department of Transportation. NHTSA follows the precautionary principle, also used by the Food and Drug Administration, where new innovations are prohibited until their developers can prove them to the regulators; this stifles the experimentation that automakers need to advance their products. NHTSA had already approved a brake fluid they considered safe – DOT 3 brake fluid, which is red and hygroscopic to promote internal rust. This completely different fluid, used in aircraft applications – the technically superior green LHM (Liquide Hydraulique Mineral) – took NHTSA two years to analyze for automotive use. Approval finally came in January 1969, so half the U.S. cars of the 1969 model year use red fluid and half use green fluid.

 

DESIGN VARIATIONS

PALLAS

In 1965 a luxury upgrade, the DS Pallas (after Greek goddess Pallas), was introduced. This included comfort features such as better noise insulation, a more luxurious (and optional leather) upholstery and external trim embellishments. From 1966 the Pallas model received a driver's seat with height adjustment.

 

STATION WAGON, FAMILIALE AND AMBULANCE

A station wagon version was introduced in 1958. It was known by various names in different markets (Break in France, Safari and Estate in the UK, Wagon in the US, and Citroën Australia used the terms Safari and Station-Wagon). It had a steel roof to support the standard roof rack. 'Familiales' had a rear seat mounted further back in the cabin, with three folding seats between the front and rear squabs. The standard Break had two side-facing seats in the main load area at the back.

 

The Ambulance configuration was similar to that of the Break, but with a 60/30 split in the rear folding seat to accommodate a stretcher. A 'Commerciale' version was also available for a time.

 

The Safari saw use as a camera car, notably by the BBC. The hydropneumatic suspension produces an unusually steady platform for filming while driving.

 

CONVERTIBLE

Rarest and most collectable of all DS variants, a convertible was offered from 1958 until 1973. The Cabriolet d'Usine (factory convertible) were built by French carrossier Henri Chapron, for the Citroën dealer network. It was an expensive car, so only 1,365 were sold. These DS convertibles used a special frame which was reinforced on the sidemembers and rear suspension swingarm bearing box, similar to, but not identical to the Break (Station Wagon) frame.

 

CHAPRON VARIATIONS

In addition, Chapron also produced a few coupés, non-works convertibles and special sedans (including the "Prestige", same wheelbase but with a central divider, and the "Lorraine" notchback).

 

BOSSAERT COUPE

Between 1959 and 1964, Hector Bossaert produced a coupé on a DS chassis shortened by 470 mm. While the front end remained unchanged, the rear end featured notchback styling.

 

THE REACTOR

In 1965, noted American auto customizer Gene Winfield created The Reactor, a Citroën DS chassis, with a turbocharged 180 hp (130 kW) flat-six engine from the Corvair driving the front wheels. Since the DS already had the engine behind the front wheels, the longer engine meant only one row of seats. This was draped in a streamlined, low slung, aluminum body.

 

The Reactor was seen in American Television programs of the era, such as Star Trek: The Original Series episode 2.25 ("Bread and Circuses)," Batman episodes 110 ("Funny Feline Felonies") and 111 (driven by Catwoman Eartha Kitt), and Bewitched, which devoted its episode 3.19 ("Super Car") to The Reactor.

 

MICHELIN PLR

The Michelin PLR is a mobile tire evaluation machine, based on the DS Break, built in 1972, later used for promotion.

Technical details

 

SUSPENSION

In a hydropneumatic suspension system, each wheel is connected, not to a spring, but to a hydraulic suspension unit consisting of a hydraulic accumulator sphere of about 12 cm in diameter containing pressurised nitrogen, a cylinder containing hydraulic fluid screwed to the suspension sphere, a piston inside the cylinder connected by levers to the suspension itself, and a damper valve between the piston and the sphere. A membrane in the sphere prevented the nitrogen from escaping. The motion of the wheels translated to a motion of the piston, which acted on the oil in the nitrogen cushion and provided the spring effect. The damper valve took place of the shock absorber in conventional suspensions. The hydraulic cylinder was fed with hydraulic fluid from the main pressure reservoir via a height corrector, a valve controlled by the mid-position of the anti-roll bar connected to the axle. If the suspension was too low, the height corrector introduced high-pressure fluid; if it was too high, it released fluid back to the fluid reservoir. In this manner, a constant ride height was maintained. A control in the cabin allowed the driver to select one of five heights: normal riding height, two slightly higher riding heights for poor terrain, and two extreme positions for changing wheels. (The correct term, oleopneumatic (oil-air), has never gained widespread use. Hydropneumatic (water-air) continues to be preferred overwhelmingly.)

 

The DS did not have a jack for lifting the car off the ground. Instead, the hydraulic system enabled wheel changes with the aid of a simple adjustable stand. To change a flat tyre, one would adjust the suspension to its topmost setting, insert the stand into a special peg near the flat tyre, then readjust the suspension to its lowermost setting. The flat tyre would then retract upwards and hover above ground, ready to be changed. This system, used on the SM also, was superseded on the CX by a screw jack that, after the suspension was raised to the high position, lifted the tire clear of the ground. The DS system, while impressive to use, sometimes dropped the car quite suddenly, especially if the stand was not placed precisely or the ground was soft or unlevel.

 

SOURCE AND RESERVE OF PRESSURE

The central part of the hydraulic system was the high pressure pump, which maintained a pressure of between 130 and 150 bar in two accumulators. These accumulators were very similar in construction to the suspension spheres. One was dedicated to the front brakes, and the other ran the other hydraulic systems. (On the simpler ID models, the front brakes operated from the main accumulator.) Thus in case of a hydraulic failure, the first indication would be that the steering became heavy, followed by the gearbox not working; only later would the brakes fail.

 

Two different hydraulic pumps were used. The DS used a seven-cylinder axial piston pump driven off two belts and delivering 175 bar (2,540 psi) of pressure. The ID19, with its simpler hydraulic system, had a single-cylinder pump driven by an eccentric on the camshaft.

 

GEARBOX AND CLUTCH

HYDRAULIQUE OR CITROMATIC

The DS was initially offered only with the "hydraulique" four-speed semi-automatic (bvh—"boîte de vitesses hydraulique") gearbox.

 

This was a four-speed gearbox and clutch, operated by a hydraulic controller. To change gears, the driver flicked a lever behind the steering wheel to the next position and eased-up on the accelerator pedal. The hydraulic controller disengaged the clutch, engaged the nominated gear, and re-engaged the clutch. The speed of engagement of the clutch was controlled by a centrifugal regulator sensing engine rpm and driven off the camshaft by a belt, the position of the butterfly valve in the carburettor (i.e., the position of the accelerator), and the brake circuit. When the brake was pressed, the engine idle speed dropped to an rpm below the clutch engagement speed, thus preventing friction while stopped in gear at traffic lights. When the brake was released, the idle speed increased to the clutch dragging speed. The car would then creep forward much like automatic transmission cars. This drop in idle throttle position also caused the car to have more engine drag when the brakes were applied even before the car slowed to the idle speed in gear, preventing the engine from pulling against the brakes. In the event of loss of hydraulic pressure (following loss of system fluid), the clutch would disengage, to prevent driving, while brake pressure reserves would allow safe braking to standstill.

 

MANUAL - FOUR SPEED AND FIVE-SPEED

The later and simpler ID19 had the same gearbox and clutch, manually operated. This configuration was offered as a cheaper option for the DS in 1963. The mechanical aspects of the gearbox and clutch were completely conventional and the same elements were used in the ID 19. In September 1970, Citroën introduced a five-speed manual gearbox, in addition to the original four-speed unit.

 

FULLY AUTOMATIC

In September 1971 Citroën introduced a 3-speed fully automatic Borg-Warner 35 transmission gearbox, on the DS 21 and later DS 23 models. It is ironic that the fully automatic transmission DS was never sold in the US market, where this type of transmission had gained market share so quickly that it became the majority of the market by this time. Many automatic DSs, fuel-injected DS 23 sedans with air conditioning, were sold in Australia.

 

ENGINES

The DS was originally designed around an air-cooled flat-six based on the design of the 2-cylinder engine of the 2CV, similar to the motor in the Porsche 911. Technical and monetary problems forced this idea to be scrapped.

 

Thus, for such a modern car, the engine of the original DS 19 was also old-fashioned. It was derived from the engine of the 11CV Traction Avant (models 11B and 11C). It was an OHV four-cylinder engine with three main bearings and wet liners, and a bore of 78 mm and a stroke of 100 mm, giving a volumetric displacement of 1911 cc. The cylinder head had been reworked; the 11C had a reverse-flow cast iron cylinder head and generated 60 hp (45 kW) at 3800 rpm; by contrast, the DS 19 had an aluminium cross-flow head with hemispherical combustion chambers and generated 75 hp (56 kW) at 4500 rpm.

 

Like the Traction Avant, the DS had the gearbox mounted in front of the engine, with the differential in between. Thus some consider the DS to be a mid engine front-wheel drive car.

 

The DS and ID powerplants evolved throughout its 20-year production life. The car was underpowered and faced constant mechanical changes to boost the performance of the four-cylinder engine. The initial 1911 cc three main bearing engine (carried forward from the Traction Avant) of the DS 19 was replaced in 1965 with the 1985 cc five-bearing wet-cylinder motor, becoming the DS 19a (called DS 20 from September 1969).

 

The DS 21 was also introduced for model year 1965. This was a 2175 cc, five main bearing engine; power was 109 hp This engine received a substantial increase in power with the introduction of Bosch electronic fuel injection for 1970, making the DS one of the first mass-market cars to use electronic fuel injection. Power of the carbureted version also increased slightly at the same time, owing to the employment of larger inlet valves.

 

Lastly, 1973 saw the introduction of the 2347 cc engine of the DS 23 in both carbureted and fuel-injected forms. The DS 23 with electronic fuel injection was the most powerful production model, producing 141 hp (105 kW).

 

IDs and their variants went through a similar evolution, generally lagging the DS by about one year. ID saloon models never received the DS 23 engine or fuel injection, although the Break/Familiale versions received the carburetted version of the DS 23 engine when it was introduced, supplemented the DS20 Break/Familiale.

 

The top of the range ID model, The DSuper5 (DP) gained the DS21 engine (the only model that this engine was retained in) for the 1973 model year and it was mated to a five-speed gearbox. This should not be confused with the 1985 cc DSuper fitted with an optional "low ratio" five-speed gearbox, or with the previous DS21M (DJ) five-speed.

 

IN POPULAR CULTURE

President Charles de Gaulle survived an assassination attempt at Le Petit-Clamart near Paris on August 22, 1962, planned by Algerian War veteran Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry. The plan was to ambush the motorcade with machine guns, disable the vehicles, and then close in for the kill. De Gaulle praised the unusual abilities of his unarmoured DS with saving his life – the car was peppered with bullets, and the shots had punctured the tyres, but the car could still escape at full speed. This event was accurately recreated in the 1973 film The Day of the Jackal.

 

Beyond de Gaulle and the French aristocracy, the roomy DS also appealed to French taxi drivers.

 

Outside France, the car drew an eclectic customer mix, such as Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, Pope John XXIII, painter Marc Chagall, and actors Ken Berry, Jeff Bridges, and Rosamund Pike.

 

The DS appeared in several episodes of contemporary television series Mission: Impossible, including substantial appearances in 'The Slave' (ep. 2.06) and 'Robot' (ep. 4.09).

 

An ode to Jane Child's DS21 appears on her 1989 self-titled album.

 

In 1989, the film Back to the Future Part II featured a modified Citroen DS as a flying taxicab, when the main characters travel 30 years into the future (2015). Scarface (1983 film) with Al Pacino and the 2009 television series The Mentalist both feature the DS in key roles. According to Internet Movie Cars Database, the DS/ID has made over 2,000 film and television appearances so far.

 

Two films focus on the DS, including The Goddess of 1967 about a Japanese man purchasing a DS (goddess or déesse in French) in Australia, and 1995's Icelandic-Japanese road movie Cold Fever.

 

LEGACY

Citroën DS values have been rising – a 1973 DS 23 Injection Electronique "Decapotable" (Chapron Convertible) sold for EUR €176,250 (USD $209,738) at Christie's Rétromobile in February 2006. and a similar car sold by Bonhams in February 2009 brought EUR €343,497 (USD $440,436). On 18 September 2009 a 1966 DS21 Decapotable Usine was sold by Bonhams for a hammer price of UK£131,300. Bonhams sold another DS21 Decapotable (1973) on 23 January 2010 for EUR €189,000.

 

The DS's beloved place in French society was demonstrated in Paris on 9 October 2005 with a celebration of the 50th anniversary of its launch. 1,600 DS cars drove in procession past the Arc de Triomphe.

 

From 2005 to 2008, a young Frenchman named Manuel Boileau travelled around the world in a 1971 DS ambulance. It was an 80,000 kilometer journey across 38 countries called Lunaya World Tour. While traveling through Laos, he located the forlorn 1974 DS Prestige belonging to Sisavang Vatthana, the last King of the Kingdom of Laos, which is now preserved and restored by specialists in Bangkok.

 

In 2009, Groupe PSA created a new brand - DS Automobiles, intended as high quality, high specification variations on existing models, with differing mechanics and bodywork. This brand ranges across four models, the DS3, DS4, DS5, and the China-only SUV DS 6. The DS3, launched in March 2010, is based on Citroen's new C3, but is more customisable and unique, bearing some resemblance to the original DS, with its "Shark Fin" side pillar. These have created their own niches, with the DS4 being a mix of a crossover and a coupe and the DS5 mixing a coupe and an estate. Many feature hybrid-diesel engines to maximise efficiency.

 

WIKIPEDIA

M-289.

Escala 1/43.

Citroën 2CV (1966) - Pop Cross (1974).

Paris (France), Vigo (Spain).

Pilen.

Hecho en España / Made in Spain.

Año 1975. (?) (2/74)

 

Miniatura con suspensión, apertura de capó y faros redondos de diamante (en mi miniatura faltan los cristales de diamante de los faros, una pérdida bastante habitual en los modelos jugados).

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

 

Aunque el primer modelo del Citroën 2 CV de Pilen (M-511) apareció en el catálogo del año 1974, esta variante Pop Cross

(M-289) pudo verse por 1ª vez en el catálogo de Pilen del año 1975 (?) y se mantuvo en catálogo hasta el año 1980. (?) Pertenece a la 1ª serie fabricada por Pilen, que se caracteriza principalmente por:

 

- Los faros delanteros son redondos, con imitación de cristal en su hueco interior (faros de diamante).

- Los intermitentes están en los laterales (ver parte posterior del lateral en las fotos).

- Los pilotos traseros son pequeños.

 

- En esta variante, la parrilla delantera, los parachoques, los pilotos traseros y la placa de matrícula trasera están pintados del mismo color que la carrocería.

 

More info:

pilen.jimdofree.com/cat%C3%A1logos/

www.gamas43.com/Dinky_SP/DinkyEsp.html

www.hobbydb.com/marketplaces/hobbydb/catalog_items?type_i...

 

Nota:

En el Citroën 2CV real, los faros redondos fueron sustituidos por faros cuadrados en el año 1974.

 

Fuente: www.forocoches.com/foro/showthread.php?t=130408&page=30

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

 

Pop Cross: El mítico 2CV, estrella de la competición más loca de los 70.

 

"Pop Cross tuvo lugar en junio de 1974 en España, desde donde se extendería a Portugal, italia y Francia, donde aún se siguen celebrando carreras.

Bastaba con poseer un Citröen 2CV, quitarle las puertas traseras e instalarle un arco de seguridad. Su peculiar suspensión y la pasión de los pilotos hacían el resto sobre los circuitos de tierra."

 

Fuente: www.lasexta.com/motor/noticias/pop-cross-el-mitico-2cv-es...

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PILEN - Historia

 

"Pilen nació en Ibi (Alicante) a finales de los 60, creada por Pilar y Enrique Climent (de ahí Pil-En); éste ya comercializaba en compañía de sus hermanos los juguetes Clim.

Al principio fabricaron miniaturas de Fórmula 1 a escala 1:36, pero en seguida se pasaron a la 1:43 copiando moldes de las marcas Corgi, Tekno, Politoys, Mebetoys...

Obtuvieron de la casa francesa Dinky el permiso para fabricar sus modelos en España.

Sus coches tuvieron numerosas variantes (hasta cromados), distintos tipos de ruedas, etc. Se asociaron a otras marcas, como las holandesas AHC, Artec, Oto y Doorkey, la venezolana Juguinsa y la española Guiloy."

(...)

 

"Los fundadores de PILEN son Enrique Climent Gisbert y su esposa, Pilar.

 

De ahí el logotipo de la marca, formado por las primeras letras de sus nombres. Debajo, las iniciales del fundador, Enrique Climent Gisbert. [ECG]

(...)

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

 

"Hacia 1962, uno de los socios fundadores de la fábrica juguetera Climent Hermanos, S.L, D. Enrique Climent Gisbert, decide abandonar la firma familiar para crear su propia empresa junto a su mujer Pilar (PIL-ar y EN-rique)."

(...)

 

"La primera línea de productos estará compuesta por una serie de pistolas y revólveres hechos de fundición de material zamack."

El 23 de enero de 1970 se regularizarán como sociedad anónima bajo la marca comercial PILEN."

(...)

 

"Poco a poco fueron abandonando la primera gama de juguetes para centrarse de manera completa en la fabricación de miniaturas de metal reproducidos a escala."

(...)

 

"Fue una empresa que tuvo gran protagonismo al gozar sus juguetes de mucha aceptación.

En el año 1983 cesó sus actividades (...). Desde la propia firma se auspiciaría poco después la creación de otra sociedad llamada Artec, que abrió sus actividades en el año 1988 y que (...) seguían ofreciendo unos juguetes de gran calidad (consiguieron un Molinillo de Plata el mismo año que se lanzaron al mercado como marca."

 

Fuentes:

pilen.jimdofree.com/

"La industria juguetera en Ibi, 1905-2005", edición del Ayuntamiento de Ibi, 2005.

 

More info:

pilen.jimdofree.com/coches-1-43/

myspace.com/pilenmania/mixes/classic-mis-fotos-569751

foro.autoescala.net/index.php?threads/miniaturas-espa%C3%...

www.paolorampinieditore.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/AUT...

wikivisually.com/wiki/Auto_Pilen

minicarmuseum.com/database/pdf/autopilen1977.pdf

thevintagetoyadvertiser.org/tag/auto-pilen/

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Auto Pilen

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

"Auto Pilen was a diecast line of model cars made in Ibi, Alicante, in southeastern Spain by Pilen S.A..

Models were produced from the 1970s through the mid-1990s mostly in 1:43 scale.

A majority of the castings were inherited from French Dinky. The company was started in the 1960s, diecasting items like colorful metal sailboats and key chains.

In the late 1980s. Pilen was apparently bought by AHC of the Netherlands."

(...)

 

"Pilen made at least 50 different models, in the most convoluted story of diecast seconds and recasts of any successful diecast manufacturer (Colleccion Auto Pilen. No date).

Dies were apparently used or copied from a variety of other companies including French Dinky, Corgi Toys, Solido, Mebetoys, Tekno, Politoys (Polistil), and possibly some Mercury models."

(...)

 

"Pilen's model selection appears taken (whether by direct copying from blueprints or through available dies) from a variety of other producers, especially French Dinky Toys. Some tools from Meccano s.a. were transferred from Calais to Pilen in Spain so the models made by Pilen were Dinky castings – the base plate of which had been modified from MADE IN FRANCE to MADE IN SPAIN. For example, the Talbot/Simca/Chrysler 1100 saloon, Renault 12 saloon, Mercedes 250 coupe, Ferrari P5, Citroën CX Pallas, and Matra-Simca Bagheera were French Dinky castings (Dinky Toys Encyclopaedia). Later versions of these cars, though, did not say Dinky anywhere on the base plates.

 

So, from 1974 until 1981, several French Dinky Toys passenger cars were made by Pilen.

Bickford says that originally there was an agreement to market the French Dinkys in Spain, but most were sold under the Pilen brand name (Bickford 2009).

The French dies were used, but of course the base plates were altered, hiding that fact. These cars were almost exactly similar to the French dies, but with Pilen's own paint finishes."

(...)

 

"Auto Pilen also made a line of Matchbox-sized 1/64 scale cars, but these are more rare. Besides a SEAT 131 Wagon, a SEAT Ritmo, a Renault 4F (Van), a Peugeot 504, and a Range Rover – among others – were made but little is known about them."

(...)

 

"Pilen maintained a close association with other Spanish toy makers also headquartered in Alicante like Joal, Guiloy, Guisval, and Mira."

(...)

 

"Around 1980 there was a Pilen connection with Holland OTO, which had taken over Dutch Efsi Toys.

A 1980 Auto Pilen catalog shows many of the revered Efsi vehicles like the Model T series and many Efsi trucks continued as a line Pilen 1980 (Bras 2012).

Around 1990, there was also a connection with the Dutch diecast company AHC which appears to have bought Holland Oto and thus Auto Pilen (Bickford 2009). AHC has since shared dies and traditionally Pilen stamped cars can be found in both AHC and Holland OTO labeled boxes (Bickford 2009; Johnson 1998, p. 15)."

(...)

 

"With the bankruptcy of Doorkey in the early 1990s, Auto Pilen disappeared.

The last new models with the Pilen name appeared at this time.

In its time, Auto-Pilen was the king of the knock-off and die-cast second. Perusal of the model lineup shows castings were copies or closely copied vehicles from several different companies (Collection Auto Pilen).

Models were precisely crafted in a professional and uniform-looking range from leftover castings that had previously been in use elsewhere. Pilen appears to have been the most successful company ever at using second hand castings – yet so very nicely reconfigured."

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_Pilen

 

More info:

www.gamas43.com/Dinky_SP/DinkyEsp.html

myspace.com/pilenmania/mixes/classic-dinky-espa-a-fabrica...

pilen.jimdofree.com/asociaci%C3%B3n-con-otras-marcas-i/

pilen.jimdofree.com/asociaci%C3%B3n-con-otras-marcas-ii/

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Citroën 2CV

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

"The Citroën 2CV (French: "deux chevaux" i.e. "deux chevaux-vapeur" (lit. 'two steam horses'), "two tax horsepower") is a front-engine, front wheel drive, air-cooled economy car introduced at the 1948 Paris Mondial de l'Automobile and manufactured by Citroën for model years 1948-1990.

 

Conceived by Citroën Vice-President Pierre Boulanger to help motorize the large number of farmers still using horses and carts in 1930s France, the 2CV is noted for its minimalist combination of innovative engineering and utilitarian, straightforward metal bodywork — initially corrugated for added strength without added weight. The 2CV featured a low purchase cost; simplicity of overall maintenance; an easily serviced air-cooled engine (originally offering 9hp); low fuel consumption; and an extremely long travel suspension offering a soft ride, light off-road capability, high ground clearance and height adjustability via lengthening/shortening of tie rods. Often called "an umbrella on wheels," the bodywork featured a distinctive and prominent full-width, canvas, roll-back sunroof, which accommodated oversized loads and until 1955 reached almost to the car's rear bumper, covering its trunk.

 

Manufactured in France between 1948 and 1989 (and its final two years in Portugal 1989-1990), over 3.8 million 2CVs were produced, along with over 1.2 million small 2CV-based delivery vans known as Fourgonnettes. Citroën ultimately offered a number of mechanically identical variants including the Ami: (over 1.8 million) the Dyane (over 1.4 million); the Acadiane (over 250,000); and the Mehari (over 140,000). In total, Citroën manufactured over 8.8 million "A Series" cars, as 2CV variants are known.

 

A 1953 technical review in Autocar described "the extraordinary ingenuity of this design, which is undoubtedly the most original since the Model T Ford".

(...)

 

Special edition saloon models

 

"The special edition models began with the 1976 SPOT model and continued in the 1980s:

 

1980 Charleston: inspired by Art-Deco two colour styles 1920s Citroën model colour schemes

1981 007: in association with the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only

1983 Beachcomber: known as "France 3" in France or "Transat" in other continental European markets – Citroën sponsored the French America's Cup yacht entry of that year

1985 Dolly: two colours

1986 Cocorico: meaning "cock-a-doodle-doo" – supporting France in the 1986 Football World Cup. 'Le Coq Gaulois' or Gallic rooster is an unofficial national symbol of France

1987 Bamboo

1988 Perrier: in association with the mineral water company."

  

Manufacturer

Citroën

 

Production

1948–1990

 

Assembly

Forest/Vorst, Belgium

Liège, Belgium

Slough, UK

Jeppener, Argentina (1960–1962),

Buenos Aires, Argentina (1962–1980)

Montevideo, Uruguay (Panel van & pick-up)

Arica, Chile

Mangualde, Portugal

Paris, France

Vigo, Spain

Koper, Yugoslavia

 

Designer

André Lefèbvre

Flaminio Bertoni

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_2CV

C209

Chassis n° WDB2093421F166034

 

Bonhams

Les Grandes Marques du Monde à Paris

The Grand Palais Éphémère

Place Joffre

Parijs - Paris

Frankrijk - France

February 2023

 

Estimated : € 400.000 - 500.000

Sold for € 437.000

 

"... the sheer ease of driving it – at least on public roads – makes it a shockingly fast, massively entertaining road warrior. Of all the AMG beasts I've sampled – and there have been many – this has to be the most exciting." - Richard Bremner, Autocar.

 

Offered here is one of the most exclusive and sought-after limited-edition Mercedes-Benz models of recent years: the CLK DTM AMG Coupé, only 100 examples of which were produced. Developed by Mercedes-Benz's official performance division, AMG, the DTM took its name from the eponymous German touring car race series - the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters - and was built on the platform of the '2nd Generation' C209 CLK (Coupé Leicht Kurz - Coupé Light Short) that had been introduced in 2002. But whereas the DTM competition cars were limited by the regulations to a normally aspirated 4.0-litre V8 engine producing less than 500bhp, AMG's road version came with a supercharged 5.4-litre unit pumping out some 582 horsepower, making it the most powerful in the CLK range. The five-speed semi-automatic transmission is controlled by the 'supercar standard' shift paddles ahead of the steering wheel. Height-adjustable spring/shock absorber units are fitted all round and the suspension bushes are stiffer, while the DTM's redesigned rear suspension owes little to that of the stock CLK. There are also bigger and stronger AMG composite brakes. A bespoke Electronic Stability Programme (ESP) helps keep everything under control, aided by a mechanical limited-slip differential. Weighing 1,742kg, the CLK DTM AMG races to 100km/h in a trifling 3.9 seconds and runs into the rev limiter at 320km/h.

 

The car's aggressive styling was modelled on the racing version used by AMG works driver Bernd Schneider to win the 2003 DTM championship. Its deep front apron, large air intake ducts, prominently flared wheelarches, boot-mounted rear wing and large-diameter (19" front/20" rear) alloy wheels are all elements developed from the DTM cars. Like its racing counterpart, the road car makes liberal use of carbon fibre for its body panels, while the interior is unmistakably that of a competition car, albeit one trimmed and equipped to Mercedes-Benz's highest standards. Carbon fibre is also used for much of the interior fittings including the lightweight leather/Alcantara trimmed bucket seats, while the rim of the AMG sports steering wheel is covered in high-grip buckskin. There are no rears seats in the CLK DTM AMG, which is strictly a two-seater. The instrumentation consists of a digital rev counter, white-faced speedometer, and oil and water temperature gauges, while the CLK's COMAND infotainment system is retained. An aluminium plinth on the centre console surrounding the 'PRND' gear selector is engraved 'CLK DTM One out of 100', and there are 'AMG' logos to the door kick-plates.

 

Despite an asking price of over €240,000, all 100 cars sold out immediately. High-profile owners included Formula 1 drivers Jenson Button and Takuma Sato. A limited-edition run of 80 cabriolets followed.

 

This Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM AMG Coupé was delivered new to Japan and has been imported into the European continent via Switzerland.

 

This is another motorized and remotely controlled hot rod - 100% LEGO

VIDEO: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjPqg0OhQlA

 

Regarding size and functions it is somewhere in between my models “Fire bucket” and “Lucky 13”.

Dimensions: 41 studs long, 19 studs wide, 13 – 14.5 studs high and weighs 804 g.

PF components: 1 L motor - driving, 1 M motor - steering, 1 8878 battery, 1 IR receiver

Motorized functions: driving and steering

Other functions:

Working suspension:

Front: solid axle, leaf spring

Rear: Height-adjustable, live axle, leaf spring

Working steering wheel – drag link steering

Working pistons, radiator fan and generator - custom made fake v8 engine

Working door handles – openable suicide doors

Retractable rear license plate – controlled with a fake handbrake lever inside the cabin

Trunk door can be opened – behind it is a mechanism for adjustment of rear height of the vehicle (manually controlled gear) and battery (easy to turn on/off and charging)

Roof can be removed easily

Features:

Custom chrome parts – wheels, headlights, door handles and rear view mirrors

Interior – red seats and dashboard

I hope you like it :)

 

"The Natimuk Pavilion Classroom was constructed by the Victorian Public Works Department in 1914 as an open air classroom for school children at Natimuk Primary School. It consisted of a rectangular timber structure 20’ x 30’ with a gabled roof.

 

The room was intended to accommodate 48 children in dual seater desks. Three sides of the classroom are boarded with weatherboards to the height of three feet; above that height, adjustable canvas shutters were fitted right to the roofline. The back wall, on which the blackboard was mounted, was boarded from floor to ceiling. The room was built on sleeper plates for easy removal.

 

44 of these classrooms were constructed for Victorian schools between 1911 and 1914, but after World War I, the Education Department discontinued their construction. They were unpopular with teachers in winter weather. However they were used for additional accommodation in schools for many years.

Natimuk Primary School moved from Main Street to a site in Jory Street in 1961. The pavilion classroom was relocated by the Education Department to the Australian House Museum at Deakin University in 1988, because it was under threat. The building was returned to Natimuk in 2002 and is now located in the grounds of the present Natimuk Primary School in Jory Street.

 

Open air classrooms were designed to provide a healthy environment for delicate children, and resulted from the hygiene movement in education at the beginning of the 20th century. It was hoped that improvements in lighting and ventilation aimed at improving the child’s physical conditions would lead to better educational and health outcomes. The open air classroom reflected the preoccupation with the benefits of light and fresh air for the health and education of young children.

 

Medical opinion of the time favoured fresh air and a bracing environment for all, derived from the ideas behind the open air sanatoriums used for the treatment of tuberculosis patients. The spread of tuberculosis, known as the 'white plague’ was a constant concern, it was responsible for one death in nine in Victoria in 1902, and in 1904 was declared a notifiable disease.

 

This classroom is architecturally significant, as the only surviving, relatively intact and rare example of an open air classroom."

 

Source: wimmera-w-b-w.blogspot.com.au/2012_09_01_archive.html

M-279.

Escala 1/43.

Citroën 2CV Safari (1974).

Paris (France), Vigo (Spain).

Pilen.

Hecho en España / Made in Spain.

Año 1977. (?) (2/74)

 

Miniatura con suspensión, apertura de capó y faros cuadrados pintados.

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

 

Aunque el primer modelo del Citroën 2 CV de Pilen (M-511) apareció en el catálogo del año 1974, esta variante (M-279) pudo verse por 1ª vez en el catálogo de Pilen del año 1977 (?) y se mantuvo en catálogo hasta el año 1980. (?)

Pertenece a la 2ª serie fabricada por Pilen, que se caracteriza principalmente por:

 

- Los faros delanteros son cuadrados y pintados.

- Los intermitentes están en la parte frontal (desaparecen los intermitentes laterales del modelo anterior)

- Los pilotos traseros son más grandes y rectangulares, sobresaliendo de la carrocería.

 

More info:

pilen.jimdofree.com/cat%C3%A1logos/

www.gamas43.com/Dinky_SP/DinkyEsp.html

www.hobbydb.com/marketplaces/hobbydb/catalog_items?type_i...

 

Nota:

En el Citroën 2CV real, los faros redondos fueron sustituidos por faros cuadrados en el año 1974.

 

Fuente: www.forocoches.com/foro/showthread.php?t=130408&page=30

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

 

PILEN - Historia

 

"Pilen nació en Ibi (Alicante) a finales de los 60, creada por Pilar y Enrique Climent (de ahí Pil-En); éste ya comercializaba en compañía de sus hermanos los juguetes Clim.

Al principio fabricaron miniaturas de Fórmula 1 a escala 1:36, pero en seguida se pasaron a la 1:43 copiando moldes de las marcas Corgi, Tekno, Politoys, Mebetoys...

Obtuvieron de la casa francesa Dinky el permiso para fabricar sus modelos en España.

Sus coches tuvieron numerosas variantes (hasta cromados), distintos tipos de ruedas, etc. Se asociaron a otras marcas, como las holandesas AHC, Artec, Oto y Doorkey, la venezolana Juguinsa y la española Guiloy."

(...)

 

"Los fundadores de PILEN son Enrique Climent Gisbert y su esposa, Pilar.

 

De ahí el logotipo de la marca, formado por las primeras letras de sus nombres. Debajo, las iniciales del fundador, Enrique Climent Gisbert. [ECG]

(...)

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

 

"Hacia 1962, uno de los socios fundadores de la fábrica juguetera Climent Hermanos, S.L, D. Enrique Climent Gisbert, decide abandonar la firma familiar para crear su propia empresa junto a su mujer Pilar (PIL-ar y EN-rique)."

(...)

 

"La primera línea de productos estará compuesta por una serie de pistolas y revólveres hechos de fundición de material zamack."

El 23 de enero de 1970 se regularizarán como sociedad anónima bajo la marca comercial PILEN."

(...)

 

"Poco a poco fueron abandonando la primera gama de juguetes para centrarse de manera completa en la fabricación de miniaturas de metal reproducidos a escala."

(...)

 

"Fue una empresa que tuvo gran protagonismo al gozar sus juguetes de mucha aceptación.

En el año 1983 cesó sus actividades (...). Desde la propia firma se auspiciaría poco después la creación de otra sociedad llamada Artec, que abrió sus actividades en el año 1988 y que (...) seguían ofreciendo unos juguetes de gran calidad (consiguieron un Molinillo de Plata el mismo año que se lanzaron al mercado como marca."

 

Fuentes:

pilen.jimdofree.com/

"La industria juguetera en Ibi, 1905-2005", edición del Ayuntamiento de Ibi, 2005.

 

More info:

pilen.jimdofree.com/coches-1-43/

myspace.com/pilenmania/mixes/classic-mis-fotos-569751

foro.autoescala.net/index.php?threads/miniaturas-espa%C3%...

www.paolorampinieditore.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/AUT...

wikivisually.com/wiki/Auto_Pilen

minicarmuseum.com/database/pdf/autopilen1977.pdf

thevintagetoyadvertiser.org/tag/auto-pilen/

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

 

Auto Pilen

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

"Auto Pilen was a diecast line of model cars made in Ibi, Alicante, in southeastern Spain by Pilen S.A..

Models were produced from the 1970s through the mid-1990s mostly in 1:43 scale.

A majority of the castings were inherited from French Dinky. The company was started in the 1960s, diecasting items like colorful metal sailboats and key chains.

In the late 1980s. Pilen was apparently bought by AHC of the Netherlands."

(...)

 

"Pilen made at least 50 different models, in the most convoluted story of diecast seconds and recasts of any successful diecast manufacturer (Colleccion Auto Pilen. No date).

Dies were apparently used or copied from a variety of other companies including French Dinky, Corgi Toys, Solido, Mebetoys, Tekno, Politoys (Polistil), and possibly some Mercury models."

(...)

 

"Pilen's model selection appears taken (whether by direct copying from blueprints or through available dies) from a variety of other producers, especially French Dinky Toys. Some tools from Meccano s.a. were transferred from Calais to Pilen in Spain so the models made by Pilen were Dinky castings – the base plate of which had been modified from MADE IN FRANCE to MADE IN SPAIN. For example, the Talbot/Simca/Chrysler 1100 saloon, Renault 12 saloon, Mercedes 250 coupe, Ferrari P5, Citroën CX Pallas, and Matra-Simca Bagheera were French Dinky castings (Dinky Toys Encyclopaedia). Later versions of these cars, though, did not say Dinky anywhere on the base plates.

 

So, from 1974 until 1981, several French Dinky Toys passenger cars were made by Pilen.

Bickford says that originally there was an agreement to market the French Dinkys in Spain, but most were sold under the Pilen brand name (Bickford 2009).

The French dies were used, but of course the base plates were altered, hiding that fact. These cars were almost exactly similar to the French dies, but with Pilen's own paint finishes."

(...)

 

"Auto Pilen also made a line of Matchbox-sized 1/64 scale cars, but these are more rare. Besides a SEAT 131 Wagon, a SEAT Ritmo, a Renault 4F (Van), a Peugeot 504, and a Range Rover – among others – were made but little is known about them."

(...)

 

"Pilen maintained a close association with other Spanish toy makers also headquartered in Alicante like Joal, Guiloy, Guisval, and Mira."

(...)

 

"Around 1980 there was a Pilen connection with Holland OTO, which had taken over Dutch Efsi Toys.

A 1980 Auto Pilen catalog shows many of the revered Efsi vehicles like the Model T series and many Efsi trucks continued as a line Pilen 1980 (Bras 2012).

Around 1990, there was also a connection with the Dutch diecast company AHC which appears to have bought Holland Oto and thus Auto Pilen (Bickford 2009). AHC has since shared dies and traditionally Pilen stamped cars can be found in both AHC and Holland OTO labeled boxes (Bickford 2009; Johnson 1998, p. 15)."

(...)

 

"With the bankruptcy of Doorkey in the early 1990s, Auto Pilen disappeared.

The last new models with the Pilen name appeared at this time.

In its time, Auto-Pilen was the king of the knock-off and die-cast second. Perusal of the model lineup shows castings were copies or closely copied vehicles from several different companies (Collection Auto Pilen).

Models were precisely crafted in a professional and uniform-looking range from leftover castings that had previously been in use elsewhere. Pilen appears to have been the most successful company ever at using second hand castings – yet so very nicely reconfigured."

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_Pilen

 

More info:

www.gamas43.com/Dinky_SP/DinkyEsp.html

myspace.com/pilenmania/mixes/classic-dinky-espa-a-fabrica...

pilen.jimdofree.com/asociaci%C3%B3n-con-otras-marcas-i/

pilen.jimdofree.com/asociaci%C3%B3n-con-otras-marcas-ii/

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

 

Citroën 2CV

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

"The Citroën 2CV (French: "deux chevaux" i.e. "deux chevaux-vapeur" (lit. 'two steam horses'), "two tax horsepower") is a front-engine, front wheel drive, air-cooled economy car introduced at the 1948 Paris Mondial de l'Automobile and manufactured by Citroën for model years 1948-1990.

 

Conceived by Citroën Vice-President Pierre Boulanger to help motorize the large number of farmers still using horses and carts in 1930s France, the 2CV is noted for its minimalist combination of innovative engineering and utilitarian, straightforward metal bodywork — initially corrugated for added strength without added weight. The 2CV featured a low purchase cost; simplicity of overall maintenance; an easily serviced air-cooled engine (originally offering 9hp); low fuel consumption; and an extremely long travel suspension offering a soft ride, light off-road capability, high ground clearance and height adjustability via lengthening/shortening of tie rods. Often called "an umbrella on wheels," the bodywork featured a distinctive and prominent full-width, canvas, roll-back sunroof, which accommodated oversized loads and until 1955 reached almost to the car's rear bumper, covering its trunk.

 

Manufactured in France between 1948 and 1989 (and its final two years in Portugal 1989-1990), over 3.8 million 2CVs were produced, along with over 1.2 million small 2CV-based delivery vans known as Fourgonnettes. Citroën ultimately offered a number of mechanically identical variants including the Ami: (over 1.8 million) the Dyane (over 1.4 million); the Acadiane (over 250,000); and the Mehari (over 140,000). In total, Citroën manufactured over 8.8 million "A Series" cars, as 2CV variants are known.

 

A 1953 technical review in Autocar described "the extraordinary ingenuity of this design, which is undoubtedly the most original since the Model T Ford".

(...)

 

Special edition saloon models

 

"The special edition models began with the 1976 SPOT model and continued in the 1980s:

 

1980 Charleston: inspired by Art-Deco two colour styles 1920s Citroën model colour schemes

1981 007: in association with the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only

1983 Beachcomber: known as "France 3" in France or "Transat" in other continental European markets – Citroën sponsored the French America's Cup yacht entry of that year

1985 Dolly: two colours

1986 Cocorico: meaning "cock-a-doodle-doo" – supporting France in the 1986 Football World Cup. 'Le Coq Gaulois' or Gallic rooster is an unofficial national symbol of France

1987 Bamboo

1988 Perrier: in association with the mineral water company."

  

Manufacturer

Citroën

 

Production

1948–1990

 

Assembly

Forest/Vorst, Belgium

Liège, Belgium

Slough, UK

Jeppener, Argentina (1960–1962),

Buenos Aires, Argentina (1962–1980)

Montevideo, Uruguay (Panel van & pick-up)

Arica, Chile

Mangualde, Portugal

Paris, France

Vigo, Spain

Koper, Yugoslavia

 

Designer

André Lefèbvre

Flaminio Bertoni

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_2CV