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There is a lot of stuff in my stream which is only dedicated to open minded people ;-)
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Finally.... she's finished! Inspired by the awesomeness of DerPuppe's blonde Disney on Ice Rapunzel, I decided to update my beloved Punz with some nice rooted eyelashes (and some of that snazzy new gloss varnish I got on her eyes).
However - it wasn't plain sailing this time. At one point last night, I thought I'd messed her up for good! In the last two days, she's had pretty much three repaints. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to just zap her with the Mr Super Clear between stages, rather than leaving it all to the end. I usually work fairly quickly, but this time I made mistake after mistake after mistake. Her eyes weren't aligned. There was a speck of fluff on her face (ARRRRGH). Her lashes had removed paint gunk stuck in them. Ugh.
Anyway, all's well that ends well. I'm really pleased with how she's turned out, and really do love her more than ever (aw). She's wearing the nice new dress she stole from 2014 Disney Store Deluxe Singing Rapunzel, altered to fit her J-doll bod. Pascal comes from the tiny little tower play set from the Disney Store from earlier this year - the tiny scale of Pascal from this set seems to work that much better.
Challenges to oasis agriculture, biodiversity and cultural identity are currently addressed by a number of national and local initiatives, including sustainable agricultural practices, improved irrigation management, the protection of wildlife in and around the oasis as well as sustainable tourism..Taken @Siwa, Egypt
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The G.91Y was an increased-performance version of the Fiat G.91 funded by the Italian government. Based on the G.91T two-seat trainer variant, the single Bristol Orpheus turbojet engine of this aircraft was replaced by two afterburning General Electric J85 turbojets which increased thrust by 60% over the single-engine variant. Structural modifications to reduce airframe weight increased performance further and an additional fuel tank occupying the space of the G.91T's rear seat provided extra range. Combat manoeuvrability was improved with the addition of automatic leading edge slats. The avionics equipment of the G.91Y was considerably upgraded with many of the American, British and Canadian systems being license-manufactured in Italy.
Flight testing of three pre-production aircraft was successful, with one aircraft reaching a maximum speed of Mach 0.98. Airframe buffeting was noted and was rectified in production aircraft by raising the position of the tailplane slightly.
An initial order of 55 aircraft for the Italian Air Force was completed by Fiat in March 1971, by which time the company had changed its name to Aeritalia (from 1969, when Fiat aviazione joined the Aerfer). The order was increased to 75 aircraft with 67 eventually being delivered. In fact, the development of the new G.91Y was quite long, and the first order was for about 20 pre-series examples that followed the two prototypes. The first pre-series 'Yankee' (the nickname of the new aircraft) flew in July 1968.
AMI (Italian Air Force) placed orders for two batches, 35 fighters followed by another 20, later cut to ten. The last one was delivered around mid 1976, so the total was two prototypes, 20 pre-series and 45 series aircraft. No immediate export success followed, though, and the Italian G.91Ys’ service lasted until the early '90s as attack/recce machines, both over ground and sea, until the AMX replaced them until 1994.
However, upon retirement some G.91Ys were still in good condition and the airframes had still some considerable flight hours left, so that about thirty revamped aircraft were put up for sale from 1992 onwards. At the same time, Poland was undergoing a dramatic political change. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union the Eastern European country immediately turned its political attention westward, including the prospects of joining NATO. The withdrawal of Russian forces based in Poland and partly obsolete military equipment of the Polish forces themselves led to a procurement process from 1991 onwards, which, among others, included a replacement for the Polish MiG-17 (domestic Lim-5, Lim-6 and Lim-6bis types), which had been operated by both Polish air force and navy since the late Sixties, primarily as fighter bombers in their late career, but also for reconnaissance tasks.
The G.91Y appeared, even though a vintage design, to be a suitable replacement option, since its performance envelope and the equipment outfit with three cameras in the nose made it a perfect package – and the price tag was not big, either. Especially the Polish Navy showed much interest, and after 10 months of negotiations Poland eventually bought 22 G.91Y from Italy, plus five G.91T two-seaters for conversion training, which were delivered between June 1993 and April 1994.
For the new operator the machines only underwent minor modifications. The biggest change was the addition of wirings and avionics for typical Polish Air Force ordnance, like indigenous MARS-2 pods for 16 unguided 57mm S-5 missiles, iron bombs of Russian origin of up to 500 kg (1.100 lb) caliber, SUU-23-2 gun pods as well as R-3 and R-60 missiles (which were very similar to the Western AIM-9 Sidewinder and actually date back to re-engineered specimen obtained by the USSR during the Korea war!). All machines were concentrated at Gdynia-Babie Doły in a newly founded, dedicated fighter bomber of the 1 Naval Aviation Squadron, which also operated MiG-21 fighters and PZL Iskra trainers. The Polish G.91Ys, nicknamed “Polski Fiat” by their crews (due to their compact size and overall simplicity, in reminiscence of the very popular, locally license-built Fiat 126), not only replaced the vintage MiG-17 types and some Polish Navy MiG-21 fighters, but also the handful of MiG-15UTI trainer veterans which were still used by the Polish Navy for observation duties over the Baltic Sea.
When Poland joined NATO on 12 March 1999, the G.91Ys (18 were still in service, plus all five trainers) received another major overhaul, a new low-visibility paint scheme, and they were updated with avionics that ensured inter-operability with other NATO forces, e .g. a GPS positioning sensor in a small, dorsal hump fairing. In 2006, when deliveries of 48 F-16C/D fighters to Poland started, the G.91Ys were to be retired within 12 months. But problems with the F-16s’ operability kept the G.91Y fleet active until 2011, when all aircraft were grounded and quickly scrapped.
General characteristics:
Crew: one
Length: 11.67 m (38 ft 3.5 in)
Wingspan: 9.01 m (29 ft 6.5 in)
Height: 4.43 m (14 ft 6.3 in)
Wing area: 18.13 m² (195.149 ft²)
Empty weight: 3,900 kg (8,598 lb)
Loaded weight: 7,800 kg (17,196 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 8,700 kg (19,180 lb)
Powerplant:
2× General Electric J85-GE-13A turbojets, 18.15 kN (4,080 lbf) each
Performance:
Maximum speed: 1,110 km/h (600 kn, 690 mph, Mach 0.95) at 10,000 m (33,000 ft)
Range: 1,150 km (621 nmi, 715 mi)
Max. ferry range with drop tanks: 3,400 km (2,110 mls)
Service ceiling: 12,500 m (41,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 86.36 m/s (17,000 ft/min)
Wing loading: 480 kg/m² (98.3 lb/ft² (maximum)
Thrust/weight: 0.47 at maximum loading
Armament:
2× 30 mm (1.18 in) DEFA cannons with 120 RPG
4× under-wing pylon stations with a capacity of 1,814 kg (4,000 lb)
The kit and its assembly:
This whiffy Yankee Gina was inspired by a profile that had popped up during WWW picture search a while ago. Tracking it back, I found it to be artwork created and posted at DeviantArt by user “Jeremak-J”, depicting a G.91Y in polish markings and sporting a two-tone grey camouflage with light blue undersides and a medium waterline. I found the idea bizarre, but attractive, and, after some research, I found a small historic slot that might have made this “combo” possible.
When I recently delved through my (growing…) kit pile I came across a Matchbox G.91Y in a squashed box and with a cracked canopy – and decided to use that kit for a personal Polish variant.
The Matchbox G.91Y bears light and shadow galore. While it is IIRC the only IP kit of this aircraft, it comes with some problem areas. The fit of any major kit component is mediocre and the cockpit tub with an integral seat-thing is …unique. But the overall shape is IMHO quite good – a typical, simple Matchbox kit with a mix of (very fine) raised and engraved panel lines.
The OOB canopy could not be saved, but I was lucky to find a replacement part in the spares box – probably left over from the first G.91Y I built in the early Eighties. While the donor part had to be stripped from paint and was quite yellowed from age, it saved the kit.
It was built almost OOB, since major changes would not make sense in the context of my background story of a cheap 2nd hand purchase for an air force on a lean budget. I just added some details to the cockpit and changed the ordnance, using missile pods and iron bombs of Soviet origin (from a Kangnam/Revell Yak-38).
The exhausts were drilled open, because OOB these are just blank covers, only 0.5 mm deep! Inside, some afterburners were simulated (actually main wheels from an Arii 1:100 VF-1).
The flaps were lowered and extended, which is easy to realize on this kit.
The clumsy, molded guns were cut away, to be later replaced with free-standing, hollow steel needles.
In order to add some more exterior detail I also scratched the thin protector frames around the nozzles with thin wire.
Since the replacement canopy looked quite old and brittle, I did not dare cutting the clear part in two, so that the cockpit remained closed, despite the effort put into the interior.
A personal extra is the pair of chaff/flare dispensers on the rear fuselage, reminiscent of Su-22 installations.
Painting and markings:
The inspiring profile was nice, but I found it to be a bit fishy. The depicted tactical code format would IMHO not be plausible for the aircraft’s intended era, and roundels on the fuselage flanks would also long have gone in the Nineties. Therefore, I rather looked at real world benchmarks from the appropriate time frame for my Polish Gina’s livery, even though I wanted to stay true to the artist’s original concept, too.
One direction to add more plausibility was the scheme that Polish Su-22 fighter bombers received during their MLU, changing the typical tactical camouflage in up to four hues of green and brown into a much more subdued two tone grey livery with lighter, bluish-grey undersides, combined with toned-down markings like tactical codes in white outlines only. Some late MiG-21s also received this type of livery, and at least one Polish Fishbed instructional airframe received white low-viz national insignia.
For the paint scheme itself I used the MiG-21 pattern as benchmark (found in the Planes & Pilots MiG-21 book) and adapted it to the G.91Y as good as possible. The tones were a little difficult to define – some painting instructions recommend FS 36118 (US Gunship Grey) for the dark upper grey tone, but this is IMHO much too murky. Esp. on the Su-22s, the two upper greys show only little contrast, and the lower grey does not stand out much against the upper tones, either. On the other side, I found a picture of a real-life MiG-21U trainer in the new grey scheme, and the contrast between the grey on the upper surfaces appeared much stronger, with the light grey even having a brownish hue. Hmpf.
As a compromise I settled for FS 36173 (F-15E Dark Grey) and 36414 (Flint Grey). For the undersides I went for FS 35414 (Blue Green), which comes close to the typical Soviet underside blue, but it is brighter.
After basic painting, the kit received a light black ink wash and subtle post-shading, mostly in order to emphasize single panels, less for a true weathering effect.
The cockpit was painted in Dark Gull Grey (Humbrol 140), with a light blue dashboard and a black ejection seat. The OOB pilot was used and received an olive drab suit with a light grey helmet, modern and toned down like the aircraft itself. The landing gear as well as the air intake interior were painted in different shades of aluminum.
The decals were, as so often, puzzled together from various sources. The interesting, white-only Polish roundels come from a Mistercraft MiG-21. I also added them to the upper wing surfaces – this is AFAIK not correct, but without them I found the model to look rather bleak. Under the wings, full color insignia were used, though. The English language “Navy” markings on the fuselage might appear odd, but late MiG-21s in Polish Navy service actually had this operator designation added to their spines!
The typical, tactical four-digit code consists of markings for Italian Tornados, taken from two different Italeri sheets. The squadron emblem on the fin came from a Mistercraft Su-22, IIRC.
Most stencils were taken from the OOB sheet, some of them were replaced with white alternatives, though, in order to keep a consistent overall low-viz look.
Finally the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish.
An interesting result. Even though this Polish Gina is purely fictional, the model looks surprisingly convincing, and the grey low-viz livery actually suits the G.91Y well.
Seneca Improved View 8x10, 8.5" Kodak Commercial Ektar f/6.3 + Yellow #12 filter, Ilford Multigrade IV Glossy Paper
ISO 0.8
Tray developed in D-76 @ 68F/20C for 5 mins.
Accidentally forgot to stop down the lens and this ended up being the best and only shot to come out well exposed! Live and learn.
RT @Web_improve: #WebDesign #Marketing #SEO 5 Simple Ways to Measure the Success of a… ift.tt/2bD3whC t.co/O9vRQuKmBP (via Twitter twitter.com/onkarchoudsh/status/768101026343772160)
A Leeds to York local service arrives at Cattal. The 20 Class 141 Leyland/BREL 2-car Pacer Railbuses were built 1983-4 being a development of the earlier Class 140 consisting of Leyland National bodies mounted on four wheeled underframes with a seating layout of 2+2. Unit 141 005 comprises DMSL 55526 & DMS 55506.
These units proved to be not only unreliable but also provided a rough ride, especially over pointwork. Between 1988 & 1989 modifications were made by Hunslet-Barclay and reliability was improved. During 2001/2 a number of the units were sold to Islamic Republic of Iran Railways and the unit illustrated was one of a pair exported to the Netherlands.
All images on this site are exclusive property and may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, transmitted, manipulated or used in any way without expressed written permission of the photographer. All rights reserved – Copyright Don Gatehouse
On my son's graduation trip, we decided to visit the Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. It was tough to schedule things, especially the train rides in Colorado, due to Covid. Fortunately, we were able to work in being near Moab, UT on a Friday.
His mom and sister wanted an off day to do nothing but sit by the hotel pool. We planned that for a Friday. Friday's are typically when the UP runs a local down their Cane Creek Branch (Green River Subdivision) to Potash, UT. This branch offers some of the most amazing railroad scenery in the US.
As the Cane Creek Branch gets closer to Moab, the more dramatic the scenery becomes.
Volkswagen type 82 'Kübelwagen'.
www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=461830
Build your own:
www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Piglet/Kubelwagen/build1.jpg
www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Piglet/Kubelwagen/build2.jpg
www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Piglet/Kubelwagen/build3.jpg
used Kirill Simerzin's Guideline Missile to finally finish off my launcher. now to build 5 of them to make a SAM complex
Seneca Improved View 8x10, Kodak 8.5" Commercial Ektar f/6.3 + Circular Polarizer, Arista EDU Ultra 100, ADOX APH-09 (Rodinal) 1+25, 5 minutes
f/22, 1 second
This nice creek was behind our campsite. The polarizer really killed the reflections. Unfortunately the dappled lighting didn't really come through. My lens shutter needs servicing. 1/2s acted as 1s in this instance. I knew that going in but thought more exposure is better than too little. I bet I could've gotten away with half the exposure.
Here's another try at Space. I'll leave it intact for a few more days in case I decide to improve it (there is enough room for that).
Remembrance Sunday, 8 November 2015
Bill Speakman VC in the first wheelchair.
He was born in 1927 and brought up in Altrincham, Cheshire, and educated at Wellington School.
On 4 November 1951, William Speakman, a 25-year-old Private serving with 1st Battalion The King’s Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB), displayed one of the most outstanding examples of leadership and courage in British military history, recognised with the award of the Victoria Cross. His was one of only four awarded for the Korean War and the first VC to be invested by Queen Elizabeth II.
The Battalion had taken over the defence of a tactically important hill, nicknamed “United”, which had been captured by the Australians. The KOSB quickly set about improving the defences, taking in a plentiful supply of ammunition, particularly grenades, to withstand the expected Chinese counter attack. Following a heavy artillery barrage, a full scale assault from a Chinese Division of 6,000 men was pressed forward with great ferocity reports. For over four hours of intense fighting, Speakman rallied a group of five other soldiers, most senior to himself, and repeatedly charged the attacking waves of Chinese infantry. Outnumbered by at least ten to one, Speakman was reckoned to have thrown or rolled over 100 grenades at the enemy.
Having exhausted their ammunition and taken considerable casualties, the company was ordered to retire under cover of artillery and mortar fire, whilst in a final charge Speakman threw smoke grenades. The withdrawal with as many wounded as possible was accomplished in an orderly manner. Speakman and his Company Sergeant Major, both badly wounded, helped each other down the hill, before being evacuated by field ambulance.
The remainder of his military career was spent with the KOSB. He rose to the rank of Sergeant, serving in Malaya, Aden, Borneo, Germany and the UK. He retired from the Army in 1968.
After various false starts in ill-suited jobs, he joined the Merchant Navy where he had a successful second career as a Master at Arms with the Union Castle Line.
He emigrated to South Africa and took up flying microlights over game reserves. He later returned to Britain and spent a year as a pensioner at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, before going back to South Africa for a second time. Eventually he returned to Altrincham before retiring permanently as a Chelsea pensioner in 2015.
He died on 20 June 2018 in Chelsea, aged 90. His Victoria Cross is displayed in the National War Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh Castle. His ashes were buried in the United Nations Memorial Cemetery, South Korea on 19 February 2019.
In the United Kingdom, Remembrance Sunday is held on the second Sunday in November, which is the Sunday nearest to 11 November, Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of hostilities in the First World War at 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918. Remembrance Sunday is held to commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts.
Remembrance Sunday is marked by ceremonies at local war memorials in most cities, towns and villages, attended by civic dignitaries, ex-servicemen and -women, members of local armed forces regular and reserve units, military cadet forces and uniformed youth organisations. Two minutes’ silence is observed at 11 a.m. and wreaths of remembrance poppies are then laid on the memorials.
The United Kingdom national ceremony is held in London at the Cenotaph in Whitehall. Wreaths are laid by Queen Elizabeth II, principal members of the Royal Family normally including the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of York, the Princess Royal, the Earl of Wessex and the Duke of Kent, the Prime Minister, leaders of the other major political parties, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Commonwealth High Commissioners and representatives from the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force, the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets and the civilian services, and veterans’ groups. Two minutes' silence is held at 11 a.m., before the laying of the wreaths. This silence is marked by the firing of a field gun on Horse Guards Parade to begin and end the silence, followed by Royal Marines buglers sounding Last Post.
The parade consists mainly of an extensive march past by veterans, with military bands playing music following the list of the Traditional Music of Remembrance.
Other members of the British Royal Family watch from the balcony of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
After the ceremony, a parade of veterans and other related groups, organised by the Royal British Legion, marches past the Cenotaph, each section of which lays a wreath as it passes. Only ticketed participants can take part in the march past.
From 1919 until the Second World War remembrance observance was always marked on 11 November itself. It was then moved to Remembrance Sunday, but since the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in 1995, it has become usual to hold ceremonies on both Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday.
Each year, the music at the National Ceremony of Remembrance remains the same, following a programme finalised in 1930:
Rule, Britannia! by Thomas Arne
Heart of Oak by William Boyce
The Minstrel Boy by Thomas Moore
Men of Harlech
The Skye Boat Song
Isle of Beauty by Thomas Haynes Bayly
David of the White Rock
Oft in the Stilly Night by John Stevenson
Flowers of the Forest
Nimrod from the Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar
Dido's lament by Henry Purcell
O Valiant Hearts by Charles Harris
Solemn Melody by Walford Davies
Last Post – a bugle call
Beethoven's Funeral March No. 1, by Johann Heinrich Walch
O God, Our Help in Ages Past – words by Isaac Watts, music by William Croft
Reveille – a bugle call
God Save The Queen
Other pieces of music are then played during the march past and wreath laying by veterans, starting with Trumpet Voluntary and followed by It's A Long Way To Tipperary, the marching song of the Connaught Rangers, a famous British Army Irish Regiment of long ago.
The following is complied from press reports on 8 November 2015:
"The nation paid silent respect to the country's war dead today in a Remembrance Sunday service. Leading the nation in remembrance, as ever, was the Queen, who first laid a wreath at the Cenotaph in 1945 and has done so every year since, except on the four occasions when she was overseas.
Dressed in her customary all-black ensemble with a clutch of scarlet poppies pinned against her left shoulder, she stepped forward following the end of the two-minute silence marked by the sounding of Last Post by 10 Royal Marine buglers.
The Queen laid her wreath at the foot of the Sir Edwin Lutyens Portland stone monument to the Glorious Dead, then stood with her head momentarily bowed.
She was joined by King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, who was invited to the Cenotaph for the first time to lay a wreath marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands by British troops.
Watched by his wife Queen Maxima, who stood next to the Duchess of Cambridge in the Royal Box, the King laid a wreath marked with the simple message, 'In remembrance of the British men and women who gave their lives for our future.'
Wreaths were then laid by members of the Royal Family, all wearing military uniform: Prince Philip; then Prince Andrew, Prince Harry and Prince William at the same time ; then Prince Edward, Princess Anne and the Duke of Kent at the same time.
Three members of the Royal Family laying wreaths at the same time was an innovation in 2015 designed to slightly reduce the amount of time of the ceremony and thereby reduce the time that the Queen had to be standing.
Prince Charles attended a remembrance service in New Zealand.
The Prime Minister then laid a wreath. The Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, appeared at the Cenotaph for the first time. He wore both a suit and a red poppy for the occasion.
His bow as he laid a wreath marked with the words 'let us resolve to create a world of peace' was imperceptible – and not enough for some critics. Yet unlike the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Battle service earlier this year, Mr Corbyn did join in with the singing of the national anthem.
Following the end of the official service at the Cenotaph, a mammoth column more than 10,000-strong (some 9,000 of whom were veterans) began marching along Whitehall, saluting the Cenotaph as they passed, Parliament Street, Great George Street, Horse Guards Road and back to Horse Guard Parade. The Duke of Cambridge took the salute from the column on Horse Guards Parade.
Time takes its inevitable toll on even the most stoic among us, and this year only a dozen World War Two veterans marched with the Spirit of Normandy Trust, a year after the Normandy Veterans' Association disbanded.
Within their ranks was 95-year-old former Sapper Don Sheppard of the Royal Engineers. Sheppard was of the eldest on parade and was pushed in his wheelchair by his 19-year-old grandson, Sam who, in between studying at Queen Mary University, volunteers with the Normandy veterans.
'It is because of my admiration for them,' he says. 'I see them as role models and just have the utmost respect for what they did.'
While some had blankets covering their legs against the grey November day, other veterans of more recent wars had only stumps to show for their service to this country during 13 long years of war in Afghanistan.
As well as that terrible toll of personal sacrifice, the collective losses – and triumphs - of some of the country’s most historic regiments were also honoured yesterday.
The Gurkha Brigade Association - marking 200 years of service in the British Army – marched to warm ripples of applause. The King’s Royal Hussars, represented yesterday by 126 veterans, this year also celebrate 300 years since the regiment was raised.
They were led by General Sir Richard Shirreff, former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander of Nato and Colonel of the regiment who himself was marching for the first time.
'We are joined by a golden thread to all those generations who have gone before us,” he said. “We are who we are, because of those that have gone before us.' "
Cenotaph Ceremony & March Past - 8 November 2015
Summary of Contingents
Column Number of marchers
B (Lead) 1,754
C 1,298
D 1,312
E 1,497
F 1,325
A 1,551
Ex-Service Total 8,737
M (Non ex-Service) 1,621
Total 10,358
Column B
Marker Detachment Number
1 Reconnaissance Corps 18 Anniversary
2 43rd Reconnaissance Regiment Old Comrades Assoc 10
3 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery Association 60
4 Royal Artillery Association 18
5 Royal Engineers Association 37
6 Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal Association 65 Anniversary
7 Airborne Engineers Association 24
8 Royal Signals Association 48
9 Army Air Corps Association 42
10 Royal Army Service Corps & Royal Corps Transport Assoc 54
11 RAOC Association 18
12 Army Catering Corps Association 48
13 Royal Pioneer Corps Association 54 Anniversary
14 Royal Army Medical Corps Association 36
15 Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers Association 48
16 Royal Military Police Association 100
17 The RAEC and ETS Branch Association 12
18 Royal Army Pay Corps Regimental Association 36
19 Royal Army Veterinary Corps & Royal Army Dental Corps 18
20 Royal Army Physical Training Corps 24
21 Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps Assoc 48
22 Royal Scots Dragoon Guards 30
23 Royal Dragoon Guards 78
24 Queen's Royal Hussars (The Queen's Own & Royal Irish) 12
25 Kings Royal Hussars Regimental Association 126
26 16/5th Queen's Royal Lancers 36
27 17/21 Lancers 30
28 The Royal Lancers 24 New for 2015
29 JLR RAC Old Boys' Association 30
30 Association of Ammunition Technicians 24
31 Beachley Old Boys Association 36
32 Arborfield Old Boys Association 25
33 Gallipoli & Dardenelles International 24
34 Special Observers Association 24
35 The Parachute Squadron Royal Armoured Corps 24 New
36 Intelligence Corps Association 48
37 Women's Royal Army Corps Association 120
38 656 Squadron Association 24
39 Home Guard Association 9
40 British Resistance Movement (Coleshill Research Team) 12
41 British Limbless Ex-Service Men's Association 48
42 British Ex-Services Wheelchair Sports Association 24
43 Royal Hospital Chelsea 30
44 Queen Alexandra's Hospital Home for Disabled Ex-Servicemen & Women 30
45 The Royal Star & Garter Homes 20
46 Combat Stress 48
Total 1,754
Column C
Marker Detachment Number
1 Royal Air Force Association 150
2 Royal Air Force Regiment Association 300
3 Royal Air Forces Ex-Prisoner's of War Association 20
4 Royal Observer Corps Association 75 Anniversary
5 National Service (Royal Air Force) Association 42
6 RAFLING Association 24
7 6 Squadron (Royal Air Force) Association 18
8 7 Squadron Association 25
9 8 Squadron Association 24
10 RAF Habbaniya Association 25
11 Royal Air Force & Defence Fire Services Association 30
12 Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Association 30
13 Units of the Far East Air Force 28 New
14 Royal Air Force Yatesbury Association 16
15 Royal Air Force Airfield Construction Branch Association 12
16 RAFSE(s) Assoc 45 New
17 Royal Air Force Movements and Mobile Air Movements Squadron Association (RAF MAMS) 24
18 Royal Air Force Masirah & Salalah Veterans Assoc 24 New
19 WAAF/WRAF/RAF(W) 25
19 Blenheim Society 18
20 Coastal Command & Maritime Air Association 24
21 Air Sea Rescue & Marine Craft Sections Club 15
22 Federation of RAF Apprentice & Boy Entrant Assocs 150
23 Royal Air Force Air Loadmasters Association 24
24 Royal Air Force Police Association 90
25 Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service Association 40
Total 1,298
Column D
Marker Detachment Number
1 Not Forgotten Association 54
2 Stoll 18
3 Ulster Defence Regiment 72
4 Army Dog Unit Northern Ireland Association 48
5 North Irish Horse & Irish Regiments Old Comrades Association 78
6 Northern Ireland Veterans' Association 40
7 Irish United Nations Veterans Association 12
8 ONET UK 10
9 St Helena Government UK 24
10 South Atlantic Medal Association 196
11 SSAFA 37
12 First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal's Volunteers Corps) 12
13 Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen & Women 48
14 British Nuclear Test Veterans Association 48
15 War Widows Association 132
16 Gurkha Brigade Association 160 Anniversary
17 British Gurkha Welfare Society 100 Anniversary
18 West Indian Association of Service Personnel 18
19 Trucial Oman Scouts Association 18
20 Bond Van Wapenbroeders 35
21 Polish Ex-Combatants Association in Great Britain 25
22 Stowarzyszenie Polskich Kombatantów Limited 18 New
23 Royal Hong Kong Regiment Association 12
24 Canadian Veterans Association 10
25 Hong Kong Ex-Servicemen's Association (UK Branch) 24
26 Hong Kong Military Service Corps 28
27 Foreign Legion Association 24
28 Undivided Indian Army Ex Servicemen Association 11 New
Total 1,312
Column E
Marker Detachment Number
1 Royal Marines Association 198
2 Royal Naval Association 150
3 Merchant Navy Association 130
4 Sea Harrier Association 24
5 Flower Class Corvette Association 18
6 HMS Andromeda Association 18
7 HMS Argonaut Association 30
8 HMS Bulwark, Albion & Centaur Association 25
9 HMS Cumberland Association 18
10 HMS Ganges Association 48
11 HMS Glasgow Association 30
12 HMS St Vincent Association 26
13 HMS Tiger Association 25
14 Algerines Association 20
15 Ton Class Association 24
16 Type 42 Association 48
17 Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service 36
18 Association of WRENS 90
19 Royal Fleet Auxiliary Association 10
20 Royal Naval Communications Association 30
21 Royal Naval Medical Branch Ratings & Sick Berth Staff Association 24
22 Royal Naval Benevolent Trust 18
23 Yangtze Incident Association 24
24 Special Boat Service Association 6
25 Submariners Association 30
26 Association of Royal Yachtsmen 30
27 Broadsword Association 36
28 Aircraft Handlers Association 36
29 Aircrewmans Association 40 Anniversary
30 Cloud Observers Association 10
31 The Fisgard Association 40
32 Fleet Air Arm Armourers Association 36
33 Fleet Air Arm Association 25
34 Fleet Air Arm Bucaneer Association 24
35 Fleet Air Arm Field Gun Association 24
36 Fleet Air Arm Junglie Association 18
37 Fleet Air Arm Officers Association 30
38 Fleet Air Arm Safety Equipment & Survival Association 24
39 Royal Navy School of Physical Training 24
Total 1,497
Column F
Marker Detachment Number
1 Blind Veterans UK 198
2 Far East Prisoners of War 18
3 Burma Star Association 40
4 Monte Cassino Society20
5 Queen's Bodyguard of The Yeoman of The Guard 18
6 Pen and Sword Club 15
7 TRBL Ex-Service Members 301
8 The Royal British Legion Poppy Factory 4
9 The Royal British Legion Scotland 24
10 Officers Association 5
11 Black and White Club 18
12 National Pigeon War Service 30
13 National Service Veterans Alliance 50
14 Gallantry Medallists League 46
15 National Malaya & Borneo Veterans Association 98
16 National Gulf Veterans & Families Association 30
17 Fellowship of the Services 100
18 Memorable Order of Tin Hats 24
19 Suez Veterans Association 50
20 Aden Veterans Association 72
21 1st Army Association 36
22 Showmens' Guild of Great Britain 40
23 Special Forces Club 12
24 The Spirit of Normandy Trust 28
25 Italy Star Association, 1943-1945, 48
Total 1,325
Column A
Marker Detachment Number
1 1LI Association 36
2 Royal Green Jackets Association 198
3 Parachute Regimental Association 174
4 King's Own Scottish Borderers 60
5 Black Watch Association 45
6 Gordon Highlanders Association 60
7 Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Regimental Association 12
8 Queen's Own Highlanders Regimental Association 48
9 London Scottish Regimental Association 30
10 Grenadier Guards Association 48
11 Coldstream Guards Association 48
12 Scots Guards Association 48
13 Guards Parachute Association 36
14 4 Company Association (Parachute Regiment) 24
15 Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment 72
16 Royal East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) Past & Present Association 30
17 Prince of Wales' Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) Regimental Association 24
18 Royal Hampshire Regiment Comrades Association 14
19 The Royal Hampshire Regimental Club 24 New for 2015
20 Royal Northumberland Fusiliers 48 New
21 Royal Sussex Regimental Association 12
22 Green Howards Association 24
23 Cheshire Regiment Association 24
24 Sherwood Foresters & Worcestershire Regiment 36
25 Mercian Regiment Association 30
26 Special Air Service Regimental Association 4
27 The King's Own Royal Border Regiment 100
28 The Staffordshire Regiment 48
29 Rifles Regimental Association 40
30 The Rifles & Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire & Wiltshire Regimental Association 30
31 Durham Light Infantry Association 60
32 King's Royal Rifle Corps Association 50
33 King's African Rifles 14 New for 2015
Total 1,551
Column M
Marker Detachment Number
1 Transport For London 48
2 Children of the Far East Prisoners of War 60
3 First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal's Volunteers Corps) 24
4 Munitions Workers Association18
5 Evacuees Reunion Association48
6 TOC H 20
7 Salvation Army 36
8 Naval Canteen Service & Expeditionary Force Institutes Association 12 Previously NAAFI
9 Royal Voluntary Service 24
10 Civil Defence Association 8
11 National Association of Retired Police Officers 36
12 Metropolitan Special Constabulary 36
13 London Ambulance Service NHS Trust 36
14 London Ambulance Service Retirement Association 18
15 St John Ambulance 36
16 British Red Cross 12
17 St Andrew's Ambulance Association 6
18 The Firefighters Memorial Trust 24
19 Royal Ulster Constabulary (GC) Association 36
20 Ulster Special Constabulary Association 30
21 Commonwealth War Graves Commission 12
22 Daniel's Trust 36
23 Civilians Representing Families 180
24 Royal Mail Group Ltd 24
25 Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals 24
26 The Blue Cross 24
27 PDSA 24
28 HM Ships Glorious Ardent & ACASTA Association 24 Anniversary
29 Old Cryptians' Club 12
30 Fighting G Club 18 Anniversary
31 Malayan Volunteers Group 12
32 Gallipoli Association 18
33 Ministry of Defence 20
34 TRBL Non Ex-Service Members 117
35 TRBL Women's Section 20
36 Union Jack Club 12
37 Western Front Association 8
38 Shot at Dawn Pardons Campaign 18
39 Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes 24
40 National Association of Round Tables 24
41 Lions Club International 24
42 Rotary International 24
43 41 Club 6
44 Equity 12
45 Romany & Traveller Society 18
46 Sea Cadet Corps 30
47 Combined Cadet Force 30
48 Army Cadet Force 30
49 Air Training Corps 30
50 Scout Association 30
51 Girlguiding London & South East England 30
52 Boys Brigade 30
53 Girls Brigade England & Wales 30
54 Church Lads & Church Girls Brigade 30
55 Metropolitan Police Volunteer Police Cadets 18
56 St John Ambulance Cadets 18
57 YMCA 12
Total 1,621
Design: Ghazanfar Abbs
Link: youtu.be/s4skR54bZ6s
Level: Intermediate
This is an improved version of the basket, I added one more strip and it looks much better and simmetric. Overall size is 5" diameter by 6" high.
Great gift to anyone.
Thanks Ghazanfar for a wonderful design.
After noticing my War Machine didn't have matching armor to the movie, and mt Iron Man's armor fell apart I made new ones. The armor is made out of sculpy. it was painted by me. The Iron man is based off of the Mark III; correct me if I'm wrong. the sculpy is in the shape of a triangle, bit the LED is not :(.
A BURROWING OWL from Cape Coral of Florida a couple of months ago (June). VIEW LARGE SIZE.
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NO comment is necessary. This image will replace the last image...Thanks.
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Hey guys, I built another cyberpunk build. I haven’t uploaded in a while because of the size, and only spending about an hour a day working on it.
(Title pronounced ON-TEE-ON)
HOW I BULIT IT:
I started with the two stalls near the satellite dish, building the shopkeepers and the sign greenling. I used the jay arcade machine as a shop, taking inspiration from Finn Roberts “Shift Change at Pier 3”. I built the walkway above them, and then the moai head next to the arcade stall. I built the empty shop, then the wall behind it, then the two far left shops. The balcony-walkway is help up flimsily on its own when I built the stairs up to the right hand walkway. The stairs are built on a ladder, using multiple 1x3 plates with clips underneath as steps. I built the closed-off-shop and a wall to connect it to the walkway, and then started on the 2nd story alley. I then built a wall of the 2014 train set 60051 and surrounded it with curved windows to show a train passing through the subway. I then built the Japanese kanji “肉”, which means “meat”. I couldn’t find room for a meat shop, so I improved. I then finished the top off and added all the final touches.
FUNNY STORY:
Before the photo shooting, my friend offered to come over and I told him to bring his fog machine. About 2 photos in, the fog had triggered the fire alarms because of the small room, and set everyone in the house into panic. We unplugged it and left the window open for the rest of the shoot, but I thought that was pretty funny.
PREPARATION:
There was no prior preparation like all my projects up-to-date, and was all on the spot. I say this worked well for the first level, but not so much going up.
QUESTION:
Do you guys prefer one big build that takes long to release, or a small build that takes less time?
THANK YOU!
Thanks for your support! I’m only a freshman as of now and want to reach a true master builder level, and so far has been going good!
ET2 and improved ET2M EMU commuter trains were built by the Torzkovsky carriage plant (Торжокский вагоностроительный завод) located in Torzhok city of Tver region at 1993-2010. ET2 design was in general based on the original project of the ER2 family of trains developed and built in Soviet Latvia by the RVR (Rīgas Vagonbūves Rūpnīca, Riga, Latvia). 26 commuter trains of ET2 model and 109 ones of modernised ET2M were built in the ten-car configuration. After cancelling of trainset production Torzhok wagon-building plant fell into bancrupcy in 2016.
TEM18 shunting locomotives are produced in Russia from 1992 y by the Bryansk Machine-Building Plant (JSC BMZ located in Bryansk, Russia; Брянский машиностроительный завод) there they succeeded long produced switchers of the TEM2 family. Today more than 2000 of TEM18 were built in different modifications. It preserved main dimensions of TEM2 predecessor. In later versions produced from 2004 (TEM18D) and 2007 yy (TEM18DM) it is equipped with improved 1-4PDD diesel, new cab and more. 1200 hp (882 kW) 1-4PDD diesel is the improved version of the D50 family of diesels developed at the end of 1940 yy on the base of american ALCO 539T diesel. In the rare "В(V)" variant, built at 2011-14 yy in short series of 39 ones, the Finnish Wartsila diesel (882 kW Wärtsilä W6L20LA) replaced classic but problem 1-4PDD diesel built in Pensa. TEM18V have a clear visual distinction to standard TEM18DM models - the exhaust stack on long hood is situated more distantly from cab.
Some background:
The idea for a heavy infantry support vehicle capable of demolishing heavily defended buildings or fortified areas with a single shot came out of the experiences of the heavy urban fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942. At the time, the Wehrmacht had only the Sturm-Infanteriegeschütz 33B available for destroying buildings, a Sturmgeschütz III variant armed with a 15 cm sIG 33 heavy infantry gun. Twelve of them were lost in the fighting at Stalingrad. Its successor, the Sturmpanzer IV, also known by Allies as Brummbär, was in production from early 1943. This was essentially an improved version of the earlier design, mounting the same gun on the Panzer IV chassis with greatly improved armour protection.
While greatly improved compared to the earlier models, by this time infantry anti-tank weapons were improving dramatically, too, and the Wehrmacht still saw a need for a similar, but more heavily armoured and armed vehicle. Therefore, a decision was made to create a new vehicle based on the Tiger tank and arm it with a 210 mm howitzer. However, this weapon turned out not to be available at the time and was therefore replaced by a 380 mm rocket launcher, which was adapted from a Kriegsmarine depth charge launcher.
The 380 mm Raketen-Werfer 61 L/5.4 was a breech-loading barrel, which fired a short-range, rocket-propelled projectile roughly 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) long. The gun itself existed in two iterations at the time. One, the RaG 43 (Raketenabschuss-Gerät 43), was a ship-mounted anti-aircraft weapon used for firing a cable-spooled parachute-anchor creating a hazard for aircraft. The second, the RTG 38 (Raketen Tauch-Geschoss 38), was a land-based system, originally planned for use in coastal installations by the Kriegsmarine firing depth-charges against submarines with a range of about 3.000 m. For use in a vehicle, the RTG 38 was to find use as a demolition gun and had to be modified for that role. This modification work was carried out by Rheinmetall at their Sommerda works.
The design of the rocket system caused some problems. Modified for use in a vehicle, the recoil from the modified rocket-mortar was enormous, about 40-tonnes, and this meant that only a heavy chassis could be used to mount the gun. The hot rocket exhaust could not be vented into the fighting compartment nor could the barrel withstand the pressure if the gasses were not vented. Therefore, a ring of ventilation shafts was put around the barrel which channeled the exhaust and gave the weapon something of a pepperbox appearance.
The shells for the weapon were extremely heavy, far too heavy for a man to load manually. As a result, each of them had to be carried by means of a ceiling-mounted trolley from their rack to a roller-mounted tray at the breech. Once on the tray, four soldiers could then push it into the breech to load it. The whole process took 10 minutes per shot from loading, aiming, elevating and, finally, to firing.
There were a variety of rocket-assisted round types with a weight of up to 376 kg (829 lb), and a maximum range of up to 6,000 m (20,000 ft), which either contained a high explosive charge of 125 kg (276 lb) or a shaped charge for use against fortifications, which could penetrate up to 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) of reinforced concrete. The stated range of the former was 5,650 m (6,180 yd). A normal charge first accelerated the projectile to 45 m/s (150 ft/s) to leave the short, rifled barrel, the 40 kg (88 lb) rocket charge then boosted this to about 250 m/s (820 ft/s).
In September 1943 plans were made for Krupp to fabricate new Tiger I armored hulls for the Sturmtiger. The Tiger I hulls were to be sent to Henschel for chassis assembly and then to Alkett, where the superstructures would be mounted. The first prototype was ready and presented in October 1943. By May 1944, the Sturmtiger prototype had been kept busy with trials and firing tests for the development of range tables, but production had still not started yet and the concept was likely to be scrapped. Rather than ditch the idea though, orders were given that, instead of interrupting the production of the Tiger I, the Sturmtigers would be built on the chassis of Tiger I tanks which had already been in action and suffered serious damage. Twelve superstructures and RW 61 weapons were prepared and mounted on rebuilt Tiger I chassis. However, by August 1944 the dire need for this kind of vehicle led to the adaptation of another chassis to the 380 mm Sturmmörser: the SdKfz. 184, better known as “Ferdinand” (after its designer’s forename) and later, in an upgraded version, “Elefant”.
The Elefant (German for "elephant") was actually a heavy tank destroyer and the result of mismanagement and poor planning: Porsche GmbH had manufactured about 100 chassis for their unsuccessful proposal for the Tiger I tank, the so-called "Porsche Tiger". Both the successful Henschel proposal and the Porsche design used the same Krupp-designed turret—the Henschel design had its turret more-or-less centrally located on its hull, while the Porsche design placed the turret much closer to the front of the superstructure. Since the competing Henschel Tiger design was chosen for production, the Porsche chassis were no longer required for the Tiger tank project, and Porsche was left with 100 unfinished heavy tank hulls.
It was therefore decided that the Porsche chassis were to be used as the basis of a new heavy tank hunter, the Ferdinand, mounting Krupp's newly developed 88 mm (3.5 in) Panzerjägerkanone 43/2 (PaK 43) anti-tank gun with a new, long L71 barrel. This precise long-range weapon was intended to destroy enemy tanks before they came within their own range of effective fire, but in order to mount the very long and heavy weapon on the Porsche hull, its layout had to be completely redesigned.
Porsche’s SdKfz. 184’s unusual petrol-electric transmission made it much easier to relocate the engines than would be the case on a mechanical-transmission vehicle, since the engines could be mounted anywhere, and only the length of the power cables needed to be altered, as opposed to re-designing the driveshafts and locating the engines for the easiest routing of power shafts to the gearbox. Without the forward-mounted turret of the Porsche Tiger prototype, the twin engines were relocated to the front, where the turret had been, leaving room ahead of them for the driver and radio operator. As the engines were placed in the middle, the driver and the radio operator were isolated from the rest of the crew and could be addressed only by intercom. The now empty rear half of the hull was covered with a heavily armored, full five-sided casemate with slightly sloped upper faces and armored solid roof, and turned into a crew compartment, mounting a single 8.8 cm Pak 43 cannon in the forward face of the casemate.
From this readily available basis, the SdKfz. 184/1 was hurriedly developed. It differed from the tank hunter primarily through its new casemate that held the 380 mm Raketenwerfer. Since the SdKfz. 184/1 was intended for use in urban areas in close range street fighting, it needed to be heavily armoured to survive. Its front plate had a greater slope than the Ferdinand while the sides were more vertical and the roof was flat. Its sloped (at 47° from vertical) frontal casemate armor was 150 mm (5.9 in) thick, while its superstructure side and rear plates had a strength of 82 mm (3.2 in). The SdKfz.184/1 also received add-on armor of 100 mm thickness, bolted to the hull’s original vertical front plates, increasing the thickness to 200 mm but adding 5 tons of weight. All these measures pushed the weight of the vehicle up from the Ferdinand’s already bulky 65 t to 75 t, limiting the vehicle’s manoeuvrability even further. Located at the rear of the loading hatch was a Nahverteidigungswaffe launcher which was used for close defense against infantry with SMi 35 anti-personnel mines, even though smoke grenades or signal flares could be fired with the device in all directions, too. For close-range defense, a 7.92 mm MG 34 machine gun was carried in a ball mount in the front plate, an addition that was introduced to the Elefant tank hunters, too, after the SdKfz. 184 had during its initial deployments turned out to be very vulnerable to infantry attacks.
Due to the size of the RW 61 and the bulkiness of the ammunition, only fourteen rounds could be carried internally, of which one was already loaded, with another stored in the loading tray, and the rest were carried in two storage racks, leaving only little space for the crew of four in the rear compartment. To help with the loading of ammunition into the vehicle, a loading crane was fitted at the rear of the superstructure next to the loading hatch on the roof.
Due to the internal limits and the tactical nature of the vehicle, it was intended that each SdKfz. 184/1 (as well as each Sturmtiger) would be accompanied by an ammunition carrier, typically based on the Panzer IV chassis, but the lack of resources did not make this possible. There were even plans to build a dedicated, heavily armored ammunition carrier on the Tiger I chassis, but only one such carrier was completed and tested, it never reached production status.
By the time the first RW 61 carriers had become available, Germany had lost the initiative, with the Wehrmacht being almost exclusively on the defensive rather than the offensive, and this new tactical situation significantly weakened the value of both Sturmtiger and Sturmelefant, how the SdKfz 184/1 was semi-officially baptized. Nevertheless, three new Panzer companies were raised to operate the Sturmpanzer types: Panzer Sturmmörser Kompanien (PzStuMrKp) ("Armored Assault Mortar Company") 1000, 1001 and 1002. These originally were supposed to be equipped with fourteen vehicles each, but this figure was later reduced to four each, divided into two platoons, consisting of mixed vehicle types – whatever was available and operational.
PzStuMrKp 1000 was raised on 13 August 1944 and fought during the Warsaw Uprising with two vehicles, as did the prototype in a separate action, which may have been the only time the Sturmtiger was used in its intended role. PzStuMrKp 1001 and 1002 followed in September and October. Both PzStuMrKp 1000 and 1001 served during the Ardennes Offensive, with a total of four Sturmtiger and three Sturmelefanten.
After this offensive, the Sturmpanzer were used in the defence of Germany, mainly on the Western Front. During the battle for the bridge at Remagen, German forces mobilized Sturmmörserkompanie 1000 and 1001 (with a total of 7 vehicles, five Sturmtiger and two Sturmelefanten) to take part in the battle. The tanks were originally tasked with using their mortars against the bridge itself, though it was discovered that they lacked the accuracy needed to hit the bridge and cause significant damage with precise hits to vital structures. During this action, one of the Sturmtigers in Sturmmörserkompanie 1001 near Düren and Euskirchen allegedly hit a group of stationary Shermans tanks in a village with a 380mm round, resulting in nearly all the Shermans being put out of action and their crews killed or wounded - the only recorded tank-on-tank combat a Sturmtiger was ever engaged in. After the bridge fell to the Allies, Sturmmörserkompanie 1000 and 1001 were tasked with bombardment of Allied forces to cover the German retreat, as opposed to the bunker busting for which they had originally been designed for. None was actually destroyed through enemy fire, but many vehicles had to be given up due to mechanical failures or the lack of fuel. Most were blown up by their crews, but a few fell into allied hands in an operational state.
Total production numbers of the SdKfz. 184/1 are uncertain but, being an emergency product and based on a limited chassis supply, the number of vehicles that left the Nibelungenwerke in Austria was no more than ten – also because the tank hunter conversion had top priority and the exotic RW 61 launcher was in very limited supply. As a consequence, only a total of 18 Sturmtiger had been finished by December 1945 and put into service, too. However, the 380 mm Raketen-Werfer 61 remained in production and was in early 1946 adapted to the new Einheitspanzer E-50/75 chassis.
Specifications:
Crew: Six (driver, radio operator/machine gunner in the front cabin,
commander, gunner, 2× loader in the casemate section)
Weight: 75 tons
Length: 7,05 m (23 ft 1½ in)
Width: 3,38 m (11 ft 1 in)
Height w/o crane: 3,02 m (9 ft 10¾ in)
Ground clearance: 1ft 6¾ in (48 cm)
Climbing: 2 ft 6½ in (78 cm)
Fording depth: 3 ft 3¼ (1m)
Trench crossing: 8 ft 7 ¾ in (2,64 m)
Suspension: Longitudinal torsion-bar
Fuel capacity: 1.050 liters
Armour:
62 to 200 mm (2.44 to 7.87 in)
Performance:
30 km/h (19 mph) on road
15 km/h (10 miles per hour () off road
Operational range: 150 km (93 mi) on road
90 km (56 mi) cross-country
Power/weight: 8 hp/ton
Engine:
2× Maybach HL120 TRM petrol engines with 300 PS (246 hp, 221 kW) each, powering…
2× Siemens-Schuckert D1495a 500 Volt electric engines with 320 PS (316 hp, 230 kW) each
Transmission:
Electric
Armament:
1x 380 mm RW 61 rocket launcher L/5.4 with 14 rounds
1x 7.92 mm (0.312 in) MG 34 machine gun with 600 rounds
1x 100 mm grenade launcher (firing anti-personnel mines, smoke grenades or signal flares)
The kit and its assembly:.
This fictional tank model is not my own idea, it is rather based on a picture of a similar kitbashing of an Elefant with a Sturmtiger casemate and its massive missile launcher – even though it was a rather crude model, with a casemate created from cardboard. However, I found the idea charming, even more so because the Ferdinand/Elefant was rather a rolling bunker than an agile tank hunter, despite its powerful weapon. Why not use the same chassis as a carrier for the Sturmtiger’s huge mortar as an assault SPG?
The resulting Sturmelefant was created as a kitbashing: the chassis is an early boxing of the Trumpeter Elefant, which comes not only with IP track segments but also alternative vinyl tracks (later boxing do not feature them), and casemate parts come from a Trumpeter Sturmtiger.
While one would think that switching the casemate would be straightforward affair, the conversion turned out to be more complex than expected. Both Elefant and Sturmtiger come with separate casemate pieces, but they are not compatible. The Sturmtiger casemate is 2mm wider than the Elefant’s hull, and its glacis plate is deeper than the Elefant’s, leaving 4mm wide gaps at the sides and the rear. One option could have been to trim down the glacis plate, but I found the roofline to become much too low – and the casemate’s length would have been reduced.
So, I used the Sturmtiger casemate “as is” and filled the gaps with styrene sheet strips. This worked, but the casemate’s width created now inward-bent sections that looked unplausible. Nobody, even grazed German engineers, would not have neglected the laws of structural integrity. What to do? Tailoring the casemate’s sides down would have been one route, but this would have had created a strange shape. The alternative I chose was to widen the flanks of the Elefant’s hull underneath the casemate, which was achieved with tailored 0.5 mm styrene sheet panels and some PSR – possible through the Elefant’s simple shape and the mudguards that run along the vehicle’s flanks.
Some more PSR was necessary to blend the rear into a coherent shape and to fill a small gap at the glacis plate’s base. Putty was also used to fill/hide almost all openings on the glacis plate, since no driver sight or ball mount for a machine gun was necessary anymore. New bolts between hull and casemate were created with small drops of white glue. The rest of the surface details were taken from the respective donor kits.
Painting and markings:
This was not an easy choice. A classic Hinterhalt scheme would have been a natural choice, but since the Sturmelefant would have been converted from existing hulls with new parts, I decided to emphasize this heritage through a simple, uniform livery: all Ferdinand elements would be painted/left in a uniform Dunkelgelb (RAL, 7028, Humbrol 83), while the new casemate as well as the bolted-on front armor were left in a red primer livery, in two different shades (Humbrol 70 and 113). This looked a little too simple for my taste, so that I eventually added snaky lines in Dunkelgelb onto the primer-painted sections, blurring the contrast between the two tones.
Markings remained minimal, just three German crosses on the flanks and at the rear and a tactical code on the casemate – the latter in black and in a hand-written style, as if the vehicle had been rushed into frontline service.
After the decals had been secured under sone varnish the model received an overall washing with dark brown, highly thinned acrylic paint, some dry-brushing with light grey and some rust traces, before it was sealed overall with matt acrylic varnish and received some dirt stains with mixed watercolors and finally, after the tracks had been mounted, some artist pigments as physical dust on the lower areas.
Again a project that appeared simple but turned out to be more demanding because the parts would not fit as well as expected. The resulting bunker breaker looks plausible, less massive than the real Sturmtiger but still a menacing sight.
A Challenger Main Battle Tank with improved armour, is shown taking part in the Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) Equipment Demonstration at Salisbury Plain in September 2008.
The demonstration displayed the full range of equipment that is in use by the Army, on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Involved in the display were actual soldiers who had used the equipment in an operational environment.
This image is available for non-commercial, high resolution download at www.defenceimages.mod.uk subject to terms and conditions. Search for image number 45149015.jpg
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Photographer: Cpl Russ Nolan RLC
Image 45149015.jpg from www.defenceimages.mod.uk
The Los Angeles Fashion District is a design, warehouse, and distribution nexus of the clothing, accessories and fabric industry in Downtown Los Angeles. The Fashion District spans 90 blocks and is the hub of the apparel industry on the West Coast of the United States.
Thousands of fast-fashion wholesale vendors line the streets of the Los Angeles Fashion District. Fast-fashion vendors stock the most recent fashion trends straight from the catwalk.
Clothing companies that manufacture in the Fashion District include American Apparel and Andrew Christian.
In March and October, the district is recognized for Los Angeles Fashion Week. Crowds. Celebrities, designers, media, guests, and VIP’s from all over the country come to sneak the first peek at new collections and trends. The LA Fashion Magazine highlights new designers, trend reports, fashion news, collections, and photos straight from the catwalk during fashion week.
The District is also home to the Los Angeles Flower District and Santee Alley, the downtown open air bazaar.
Designer showrooms and wholesale businesses are trade-only, but the district is open to the public, specifically Santee Alley and businesses in the surrounding area. Many businesses on the west side of the district are open to the public on the last Friday of the month for sample sales.
The Los Angeles garment industry was established early in the 20th century, and grew substantially in the 1920s and 1930s. In the 1950s, the area became a center for sportswear and women's clothing, partly with the contributions of Jewish entrepreneurs who had moved to the area from New York City.
The garment district’s evolution to include retailing in addition to manufacturing and wholesale sales, began in the Santee Alley. An alley that serviced the back doors of manufacturing and wholesale businesses, these businesses would open retail outlets out their back doors for one or two days a week. These retail operations grew into full-time businesses along four blocks and transformed the alley into a bazaar.
In 1995, a group of business owners in the Garment District established a business improvement district to improve the neighborhood. In 1996 the new group formally changed the name of the Garment District to the Los Angeles Fashion District. At the time, the Garment District consisted of 56 blocks.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Fashion_District
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...
When it comes to reading, most of us are aware of its benefits. It enhances imagination, fosters creativity, provides motivation, makes us better writers, reduces stress, improves concentration also Improves your Communication Skills.
Impov-ish entertainment from high schoolers. In this episode, a young man visits the doctor for a checkup, but as one patient after another checks in after him, he starts to acquire their diseases: cough, abdominal pain, etc. The last straw occurs when a pregnant woman walks in: he races out!
Improved and replaced by this image:
www.flickr.com/photos/edwinland/5056669620/
Rendered into a painting using Dynamic Auto Painter (combination of watercolor and drawing).
I added in some antique calligraphy and chop stamps from a Japanese scroll I have. I photographed the scroll, selected the text and then copied it in. The scroll is quite ancient, so the text is quite hard to decipher. If anyone can read it, I would definitely appreciate a translation.
So goes the age old saying: Why on Earth doesn’t a Fashionista Barbie body get the same amount of motion as her Pivotal cousin, Fashion Royalty rivals or even Monster High despite having a similar system of joints? Well, turns out the only reason why this is so is because there’s WAY too much plastic around the joints. This gives a smoother appearance but it definitely affects the play value of the bodies to me.
I’ve been meaning to test this theory for awhile but in between lacking a good carving knife, moving, and having a lack of test bodies I haven’t been able to properly put to the test.
But then I picked up a Fashionista body from Savers today before crashing at my boyfriend’s house, with the intentions of painting it to match my Wicked Witch doll’s head. But I realised with the current Fashionista joints it would chip really badly, so I figured i put my theory of expanding her motion range AND limiting how much joint friction there would be for this test body.
So I asked my bf if he had any sharp knives I could whittle my doll body with and he whipped out this crazy sharp knife cuz he’s into that kind of hunting biz.
I first turned her upper arm elbow socket from a U shaped socket to a completely straight line so her arm could turn inwards at a 90 degree. I then carved a crescent moon shape on her forearm following her elbow joint so the arm could in deeper. I whittled her upper arms to taper to her lower arms to look nicer aesthetically but to also minimise the amount of plastic between the joint so she could get the maximum fold.
I then carved the plastic around her wrist to expose as much of the hand post as I could without exposing her wrist post so she could get at least a 90 degree bend.
I left the arm on (our) left untouched to show how limited the range of movement is in comparison to what I did to her right arm.
The Transpennine Route Upgrade is a massive infrastructure project aimed at dramatically improving the rail line between Manchester and Leeds and on to York. Inevitably it involves major disruptions, including weekend line and station closures; on several dates Huddersfield station has been completely closed, leading to extensive bus substitution. This was the case on Saturday 1 February 2025 and, as usual with such operations, a wide variety of vehicles was drafted in from operators near and far. This Scania/East Lancs OmniDekka belonging to Lethers Travel of Leeds is still in the livery of Go North East but was originally a Brighton & Hove bus. The photograph shows it loading in Railway Street, probably bound for Brighouse, although, rather unhelpfully, few rail replacement buses disclose their destinations. (Photo taken 1 Feb 2025, posted 2 Feb 2025)
Finally, I decided to change the custom legs to minifig legs I am not lego-purist, but...just I like it more :)
Custom minifig made on the basis of appearance of SARDAUKAR from TV series. Here is the link to photo :
The weather conditions had not improved any by the time 7H38, the Far North Speedlink freight service was due to leave Lairg for the return to Inverness with 37260 Radio Highland on 5th May 1987. A truly miserable day in weather terms, the photographs turned out better than I could ever have expected.
Louis IX of FranceFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile. He worked with the Parliament of Paris in order to improve the professionalism of his legal administration.
He is the only canonised king of France; consequently, there are many places named after him, most notably St. Louis, Missouri and Mission San Luis Rey de Francia in the United States, São Luís do Maranhão, Brazil and both the state and city of San Luis Potosí, in Mexico. Saint Louis was also a tertiary of the Order of the Holy Trinity and Captives (known as the Trinitarians).[citation needed] On 11 June 1256, the General Chapter of the Trinitarian Order formally affiliated Louis IX at the monastery of Cerfroid, which had been constructed by Felix of Valois north of Paris.
Early life
Louis was born on 25 April 1214 at Poissy, near Paris, the son of Prince Louis the Lion and Blanche of Castile, and baptised in La Collégiale Notre-Dame church.His grandfather was King Philip II of France. He was 9 years old when his grandfather died and his father ascended as Louis VIII.[2] A member of the House of Capet, Louis was twelve years old when his father died on 8 November 1226. He was crowned king within the month at Reims cathedral. Because of Louis's youth, his mother ruled France as regent during his minority.
His younger brother Charles I of Sicily (1227–85) was created count of Anjou, thus founding the second Angevin dynasty.
No date is given for the beginning of Louis's personal rule. His contemporaries viewed his reign as co-rule between the king and his mother, though historians generally view the year 1234 as the year in which Louis began ruling personally, with his mother assuming a more advisory role. She continued as an important counselor to the king until her death in 1252.
On 27 May 1234, Louis married Margaret of Provence (1221 – 21 December 1295), whose sister Eleanor was the wife of Henry III of England.
Crusading
When he was 15, Louis' mother brought an end to the Albigensian Crusade in 1229 after signing an agreement with Count Raymond VII of Toulouse that cleared the latter's father of wrongdoing. Raymond VI of Toulouse had been suspected of murdering a preacher on a mission to convert the Cathars.
Louis went on two crusades, in his mid-30s in 1248 (Seventh Crusade) and then again in his mid-50s in 1270 (Eighth Crusade).
He had begun with the rapid capture of the port of Damietta in June 1249,[3] an attack which did cause some disruption in the Muslim Ayyubid empire, especially as the current sultan was on his deathbed. But the march from Damietta toward Cairo through the Nile River Delta went slowly. During this time, the Ayyubid sultan died, and a sudden power shift took place, as the sultan's wife Shajar al-Durr set events in motion which were to make her Queen, and eventually place the Egyptian army of the Mamluks in power. On 6 April 1250 Louis lost his army at the Battle of Fariskur[4] and was captured by the Egyptians. His release was eventually negotiated, in return for a ransom of 400,000 livres tournois (at the time France's annual revenue was only about 1,250,000 livres tournois), and the surrender of the city of Damietta.[5]
Following his release from Egyptian captivity, Louis spent four years in the Crusader kingdoms of Acre, Caesarea, and Jaffa. Louis used his wealth to assist the Crusaders in rebuilding their defences and conducting diplomacy with the Islamic powers of Syria and Egypt. Upon his departure from the Middle East, Louis left a significant garrison in the city of Acre for its defence against Islamic attacks. The historic presence of this French garrison in the Middle East was later used as a justification for the French Mandate.[citation needed]
Louis exchanged multiple letters and emissaries with Mongol rulers of the period. During his first crusade in 1248, Louis was approached by envoys from Eljigidei, the Mongol ruler of Armenia and Persia.[6] Eljigidei suggested that King Louis should land in Egypt, while Eljigidei attacked Baghdad, to prevent the Saracens of Egypt and those of Syria from joining forces. Louis sent André de Longjumeau, a Dominican priest, as an emissary to the Great Khan Güyük Khan in Mongolia. However, Güyük died before the emissary arrived at his court, and nothing concrete occurred. Louis dispatched another envoy to the Mongol court, the Franciscan William of Rubruck, who went to visit the Great Khan Möngke Khan in Mongolia.
It has taken me a couple of days to process this data (with grateful thanks to Geof Lewis for reworking and improving my IR image from my raw data). The Jet stream had movced overhead so I had no great expectations but managed a twilight session with IR and RGB with steady conditions before clouds moved in. I used LSW to do all the processing steps.
It has taken a while but I am beginning to warm to Lucky Stack Worker!
Peter
Sydney, AUSTRÀLIA 2023
George Street is one of Sydney's most iconic and oldest streets, running through the heart of the city. This historic street is known for being a major commercial hub, with shops, restaurants, and architecturally significant buildings. Along George Street, you'll find several landmarks such as Town Hall, the Queen Victoria Building, and Sydney's central train station. It is also a major transportation route, with buses and the new tram system. The street has undergone urban renewal, improving pedestrian infrastructure and accessibility. It is a vibrant spot for both tourists and locals and continues to be a symbol of Sydney's historical and modern development.
An improved version of a pic previously posted to Flickr - Class 37 no. 37425 "Sir Robert McAlpine/Concrete Bob" calls at Bangor on the 14.24 Crewe-Holyhead.
37425 was originally numbered D6992 and was new from EE Vulcan Foundry in July 1965. It was renamed "Pride of the Valleys/Balchder y Cymoedd" in November 2005 and carried this name until March 2011.
37425 is still active in 2018 as part of the DRS fleet - it has recently been working in East Anglia hauling the "short set" on local passenger services.
GENESIS OF CLASS
The M-class were an improved variant of L type destroyers. Destroyers were built by various yards and had differences in appearance. So, Mansfield, Mentor, Mastiff, Meteor, Miranda, Minos, Manly, Moon, Morning Star, Mauncey, Musketeer, Nerissa, Relentless and Rival were equipped with two-shafts machinery and first two were four-funnelled.
HMS ORHEUS belonged to the group of Twenty more 'M' class were ordered in September 1914, 16 of them to the Admiralty standard design but without the cruising turbines (to accelerate delivery - except in Fairfield, Swan Hunter and Fairfield boats). Another improvement was to put No 2 102mm gun on a 'bandstand' as in the 'L' class. The doubling on the stempiece fitted as an emergency measure to the early 'M' class was now made standard to facilitate ramming of U-boats, but in the form of a single casting. The Yarrow 'specials' were similar to the Miranda but were 0.3m longer on the waterline and had raked stems and sloping sterns. The only other variants built thereafter were Thornycroft 'specials', which resembled the Admiralty boats but had flat-sided funnels and higher freeboard. In the later Admiralty-designed boats the stem was raked and the bows were given more flare to improve seakeeping. Machinery was non-standard, with geared-turbines in a few, triple screws in most, and twin screws in some. In July 1916 the Admiralty restored order to a chaotic situation by ordering that all 3-shaft destroyers building were to be listed as Admiralty 'M' class and future 2-shaft boats would be Admiralty 'R's; as a result Redmill and Redwing became Medina and Medora (renamed Medway two weeks later). Although there were some complaints about poor finish they proved sturdy craft and gave good value in four hard years of war. Because of hard driving and particularly because their hulls had not been galvanized they were worn out by 1919 and very few survived the wholesale scrappings in 1921. In all 90 were built, 79 Admiralty boats, and 11 'specials'.
HMS ORPHEUS
Class:M-class Destroyer Admiralty design, 3rd order (late 11/1914)
Built by:William Doxford,Pallion, UK
Launched:17 June 1916
Completed:September 1916
Fate:1921: Sold to Fryer of Sunderland for breaking up.
Pennant Numbers Allocated
G43……Sept 1915 – Jan 1917
F17……Jan1917 – Jan 1918
F35……Jan 1918 – April 1918
H28……April 1918 - October 1919
GA9……??
HMS ORHEUS photographed in period 1918-1919
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