ROSS SMITH MEMORIAL. THE UNVEILING ON SATURDAY

The Ross Smith Memorial in Creswell Gardens perpetuates a nation's admiration for South Australia's "most distinguished son," as the Lieutenant-Governor termed Sir Ross Smith on Saturday.

As the Lieutenant-Governor (Sir George Murray) was unveiling the memorial, the drone of circling aeroplanes recalled the deeds with which Sir Ross Smith won distinction as the first Australian air pilot in Palestine during the war, and carried the thoughts of the spectators back to the 12,000 miles pioneer flight with which the Smith brothers and their mechanics placed the seal of achievement on an audacious ambition.

With the face of Sir Ross Smith's figure to the rising sun, the statue is placed between the pathway to the Adelaide Oval entrance and the bank of the Torrens. To a large crowd of people the Lieutenant-Governor told how Sir Ross Smith had his mind turned to aviation from the time he landed in Egypt, and how he became the most famous pilot and observer in the East. His was the only aeroplane to take part in Lord Allenby's triumphal march into Cairo after the war.

In a letter to his mother during the war he spoke of the joy he would experience in flying straight to Australia to take Mr P Waite for a flight to Mutooroo Station, probably the germ of the famous enterprise.

Dr A A Lendon related Sir Ross Smith's desire, expressed to his mother during his last visit to Adelaide, that a monument to the Third Light Horse should occupy the place chosen for his own. The doctor went on to point out how fitting it was that the Ross Smith memorial should be placed there, and associated that gallant corps with it.

Sir George Murray was also filling the position of Lieutenant-Governor when Sir Ross Smith reached Adelaide after the flight, and at the time the aviator was killed while preparing for a flight around the world and his performance of the ceremony on Saturday was a natural completion of such notable coincidences. The time of the ceremony was an inconvenient one, but the crowd which assembled testified to the place Sir Ross Smith occupied in public esteem. At the conclusion of the ceremony there was a general movement inward to inspect the statuary, admiration of which was openly expressed. A guard of honour was provided by Queen's School, the present pupils of which were thus linked with a former scholar, whose name has become imperishable. [Ref: Register 12-12-1927]

Sir Ross Macpherson Smith KBE, MC & Bar, DFC & Two Bars, AFC was an Australian aviator. He and his brother, Sir Keith Macpherson Smith, were the first pilots to fly from England to Australia, in 1919.

The brothers were born on 20 December 1890 in Adelaide, and on 4 December 1892 at Semaphore, Adelaide, sons of Scottish-born Andrew Bell Smith, station manager, and his wife Jessie, née Macpherson, born in Western Australia. In 1897 Andrew Smith became the manager of the Mutooroo Pastoral Co. and Mutooroo station, a property of some 3000 sq. miles (7700 km²). Both Keith and Ross were educated at Queen's School, Adelaide (as boarders), and for two years at Warriston School, Moffat, Scotland, their father's birthplace.

Ross Smith had served in the cadets and the militia before he left Australia as a sergeant in the 3rd Light Horse Regiment in October 1914: he was at Gallipoli the following year. He was later commissioned and was at the battle of Romani (in the Sinai) in August 1916. The next year he volunteered for the Australian Flying Corps.

Flying with No 1 Squadron AFC, Smith took part in attacks, aerial photography missions, and bombing raids on Turkish forces. On one occasion he landed in the face of the enemy to rescue a downed comrade. During his extensive war service he was twice awarded the Military Cross, received the Distinguished Flying Cross three times, as well as the Air Force Cross.

A gifted flyer, Smith became experienced in flying his squadron’s twin-engined Handley Page 0/400 bomber: on occasion Lawrence of Arabia was his passenger. While still with the flying corps, he made pioneering flights from Cairo to Calcutta, and from Calcutta to Timor.

On 12 November 1919, assisted by his brother Keith and two mechanics, Wally Shiers and Jim Bennett, he set out to fly from England to Australia in a large Vickers Vimy bomber. It was an epic 28 day flight, completed at an average speed of 137 kilometres per hour, but not without mishap. On their arrival, the pioneering flyers were welcomed home as national heroes. The brothers were knighted. Their mechanics were commissioned and awarded Bars to their Air Force Medals. The £10,000 reward offered by the South Australian Government was divided into four equal shares.

In April 1922, while preparing for a record breaking around the world flight, Smith and Bennett were killed in a crash. Keith Smith witnessed the death of his brother, who was not yet 30. Their famous Vimy aircraft was displayed at the Australian War Memorial, but is now in the Smiths’ home town of Adelaide.

Flight of 1919

In a Vickers Vimy (a type similiar to the 0/400 bomber), supplied by the manufacturer, and with Keith as assistant pilot and navigator and accompanied by two mechanics, the attempt began from Hounslow, England, on 12 November 1919. Flying conditions were very poor and most hazardous until they reached Basra on 22 November. From Basra to Delhi, a distance of 1600 miles (2575 km), they spent 25½ hours in the air out of 54. A poor landing-area at Singora and torrential rain almost brought disaster on 3 December. Disaster again almost came at Sourabaya where the aircraft was bogged and had to take off from an improvised airstrip made of bamboo mats. By 9 December, however, they were at Timor, only 350 miles (563 km) from Darwin. The crossing was made next day and at 3.50 p.m. on 10 December they landed in Darwin. The distance covered in this epic flight was 11,340 miles (18,250 km). It took just under 28 days with an actual flying time of 135 hours at an average speed of 85 mph (137 kmph).

SIR ROSS SMITH'S ARRIVAL

According to the latest official information Sir Ross Smith and his party are expected to arrive in Adelaide on Thursday afternoon next, assuming that the overhaul of the aeroplane proves to be satisfactory. After the aviators have flown over the metropolitan area, including Malvern, Hawthorn, Unley, Henley Beach, Port Adelaide, Woodville, Norwood, and Goodwood, they will soar above soar above Gilberton and Prospect, and thence proceed to the Northfield aerodrome, escorted by whatever aeroplanes may be able to meet them.

At the aerodrome they will be met by their parents and the official party, including the members of the Welcome Committee—the Premier (Hon A H Peake), who is Chairman, the Lord Mayor of Adelaide (Mr F B Moulden), the District Commandant (Brig-Gen Antill CB CMG), the Director of the Tourist Bureau (Mr V H Ryan), the secretary of the committee, and the secretary of the Aero Club (Captain Matthews).

The Premier has asked that the time of the arrival of the aviators shall be as nearly as possible 2.30pm.

The District Commandant, with the aid of the police and members of the Australian Army Reserve, will keep the enclosure at Northfield clear.

After the greeting and formal introductions there the party will proceed to the city. From St Peter’s Cathedral they will be escorted by mounted police, and on arriving at Parliament House, where the Returned Soldiers' Association Band will be in attendance, addresses of welcome will be delivered by the Lieutenant-Governor (Sir George Murray) and the Premier.

In the evening Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith will be entertained by their old comrades of the 3rd Light Horse at the Town Hall: on the following day there will be a civic reception by the Lord Mayor. The Welcome Committee desires particularly to warn the public against the danger of crowding the enclosure at Northfield, and points out that the machine will not come to a full stop immediately it reaches the ground. [Ref: Journal (Adelaide) 13-3-1920]

SIR ROSS SMITH IN ADELAIDE

Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith were given a civic reception this morning. The Lord Mayor (Mr F B Moulden) said that in the Smith family there were three sons, and all enlisted: in the Shiers family six sons, and five enlisted, while the other mechanic, Sergeant Bennett, was an only son. The Lord Mayor handed to Sir Ross Smith an address of welcome and congratulations from the inhabitants of the Northern Territory. [Ref: Argus (Melbourne) 25-3-1920]

ROUND of FESTIVITIES

Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith spent a quiet morning, although the telephone to their home has been ringing almost continuously with messages of congratulation from friends and strangers.

They spent yesterday afternoon inspecting the Vickers-Vimy at Northfield, where a military picket of 12 men is posted to protect the machine.

This afternoon the aviators are being entertained by the Commonwealth Club. A tremendous crowd was present, and the reception to the guests lasted for several minutes. Tonight their friends are giving them a private dance in a large city hall.

Mr F B Moulden, the Lord Mayor is arranging a party in their honour at the Town Hall on Monday.

On Saturday afternoon Sir Ross Smith will lay the foundation stone of the War Chapel at St Peter's Church, Glenelg.

Sir Keith Smith goes to the races on that day. [Ref: Herald (Melbourne) 25-3-1920]

THE ROSS SMITH SEASON

The Adelaide Town Hall has been too limited in capacity for intending patrons, many of whom have been unable to gain admission to hear the story and see the films of “The Great Flight”.

The programme is divided into two sections, the first being from Darwin to Adelaide, photographed from the Vickers-Vimy by Captain Frank Hurley. In the second half Sir Ross Smith relates his experiences in racy vein between the 'story' with screen illustrations.

No one returning to Adelaide has ever been given a more enthusiastic ovation than Sir Ross Smith received on Monday night. [Ref: Register 10-5-1920]

Sir Ross Smith will make his final appearance in Adelaide at the St Peters Town Hall, on Thursday night prior to leaving on Friday for Tasmania. The story of the flight will be told for the last time in South Australia, and as Sir Keith and Sir Ross will be leaving for England early in August there is no likely return visit of the flight pictures in Adelaide.

The plan of reserve seats [is] at Dorling’s Sweet Shop, next to the Town Hall, St Peters. [Ref: Daily Herald 26-5-1920]

SHY AUSTRALIA FLIERS. Two rather shy-looking young men, bronzed and smiling (states The London Daily Mail of February 24), yesterday received endless congratulations from unknown people, autographed menu cards, and made two speeches— “more dangerous” they said, 'than flying to Australia’.

They were Sir Ross Smith and his brother, Sir Keith Smith— both of Adelaide— who flew to Australia in 1919 and were entertained at luncheon yesterday by the Overseas Club and Patriotic League at The Hyde Park Hotel. Memories of their romantic 11,000 miles journey were recalled when they spoke. With hardly a reference to their difficulties, both of them spoke in the first breath of their two mechanics, and avowed they would never have “got through” without them. When Sir Keith Smith mentioned his father and mother, who were waiting for them in their own home at the end of the journey, applause drowned the rest of the sentence.

Major-Gen Seely, who presided, recalled that the Air Ministry classified the day on which the brothers left England (November 12 1919) as “Class 5” which meant it was totally unfit for flying. [Ref: Register 5-4-1921]

Flight of 1922

The next proposal, to fly round the world in a Vickers Viking amphibian, ended in disaster. Both brothers travelled to England to prepare for the trip and on 13 April 1922, while Ross and his long-serving crew member Bennett were test flying the aircraft at Weybridge near London, it spun into the ground from 1000 feet (305 m), killing both. Keith, who arrived late for the test flight witnessed the accident. The flight was abandoned. The bodies of Sir Ross Smith and Lieutenant Bennett were brought home to Australia.

SIR ROSS SMITH

BODY TAKEN TO ADELAIDE

Wednesday—The Commonwealth liner ‘Largs Bay’ has brought home the bodies of Sir Ross Smith and Lieutenant Bennett. Sir Keith Smith was present at the Outer Harbor to watch the landing of the casket containing his brother's remains. Both bodies were conveyed from London in the forward hold of the vessel, but were kept separate from the cargo.

The casket holding the embalmed body of Sir Ross Smith was encased in a lead coffin, on the outside of which was a wooden case to prevent damage. Both coffins were under the direct care of the ship’s officers.

There was a large gathering on the wharf when the ship's siren gave a salute as the casket was lifted from the hold. As it came into the view of the crowd, draped with the Australian flag, every head was bared, and silence prevailed as it was lowered to the wharf. A band of sailors from the ship bore the coffin to the conveyance which was to take it to St Peter's Cathedral.

The first floral tribute to the dead hero from this State was a bunch of red geraniums, which was put on the coffin as a mark of respect from the sailors at the Outer Harbor. The flags on all the vessels and buildings at the harbor were at half-mast. No ceremony was attached to the conveyance to Adelaide of the coffin. After it had been removed from the case it was transferred to a hearse and was taken to the cathedral.

Although the public had been notified that there would be no admission to the cathedral until three o'clock in the afternoon a number of people had collected in the vicinity.

The Dean of Adelaide met a small official procession at the cathedral gates. Inside the building the precentor (Dr Milne) and Archdeacon Bussell preceded the coffin to a position between the choir stalls, where trestles had been placed to receive it. The coffin is of oak, lead lined and sealed, and bears the following inscription:

"Captain Sir Ross Macpherson Smith, KBE, MC, DFC, AFC died at Brooklands, 13th April, 1923 aged 29 years."

Nearly 30 airmen will participate in the funeral. [Ref: Recorder (Port Pirie) 15-6-1922]

THE LATE SIR ROSS SMITH

FUNERAL IN ADELAÏDE TODAY

THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ATTEND

Adelaide. Thursday.

General Leane represented Lord Forster, the Governor-General, at the late Sir Ross Smith's funeral in Adelaide today. Thousands of people viewed the body lying in state at the Cathedral yesterday, and thousands watched the funeral procession today The city was deserted. The public offices, business places, and hotels were closed. The Town Hall bells were tolled, and flags were at half-mast. Mr Bickersteth, headmaster at St. Peter's College, delivered a brief address. Seventy Australian airmen participated. An aircraft trailer was used to carry the coffin and another carried the flowers.

The firing party at the graveside consisted of 40 men.

Three military aeroplanes flew over the route as the procession was making its way to the cemetery.

The interment was in the North-road cemetery, the grave being dug in a plot of green lawn close to the entrance of the picturesque little chapel. [Ref: Barrier Miner (Broken Hill) 15-6-1922]

LAID TO REST

SIR ROSS SMITH'S FUNERAL

The remains of Sir Ross Macpherson Smith, aviator and soldier, were laid to rest this afternoon in soil of his beloved homeland. Enormous crowds of sorrowing people assembled in the vicinity of St. Peter's Cathedral and thronged the route to the North Road Anglican Cemetery, desiring to pay a last tribute of respect to the memory of the illustrious airman. At the Cathedral the solemn service of mourning was held, immediately after which the body was borne from the edifice by members of the Royal Australian Flying Corps and placed on an aeroplane trailer at the head of the State Funeral cortege, which was of unprecedented dimensions.

From an early hour this morning a continuous procession of thousands of people filed quietly and sadly past the body as it lay in state in the Cathedral, draped with the British colours and guarded by members of the RAFC with arms reversed.

At the Cathedral the service, which was of a most impressive character, was conducted by Dean Young, and was attended by Mr and Mrs Andrew Smith, parents of Sir Ross Smith, and also by Mr and Mrs John Fordyce, of Melbourne (uncle and aunt of the deceased), and Sir Keith Smith and Lieutenant W Shiers, who flew with Sir Ross and Lieutenant Bennett to Australia in the Vickers Vimy. There was a fine muster of Sir Ross Smith's former comrades in the Third Light Horse, and other branches of the AIF.

We are not unmindful of his comrade, Lieutenant Bennett, who died with him, and whose body is to be laid to rest on Saturday, in Melbourne. [Ref: Daily Telegraph (Sydney) 16-6-1922]

Drawing of Mars in red Sharpie, on the big machine. This is a drawing for my show, 10th - 17th June, FRAMED Gallery, Gayfield Square, Edinburgh. www.polargraph.co.uk

The ‘Pataphysical Slot Machine is on exhibit at the Mill Valley Library this month. Visitors to this unique art project seem to really enjoy the experience: their faces tell the whole story in this photo album. Overall, the slot machine seems to have a positive social impact: it makes people happy, gets them inspired -- and can help some of them become art makers.

Come see the slot machine this month! Our poetic oracle awaits you every weekend, to share words of wisdom about your life and future.

The exhibit is open from 1 to 5pm every Saturday and Sunday in October, in the downstairs conference room of the Mill Valley Library.

Pataphysical Studio members will be on hand to demo the Slot Machine and share what they have learned while building this interactive art project.

Learn more: pataphysics.us/join-the-unveiling-of-the-slot-machine

View more photos of the exhibit: www.flickr.com/photos/fabola/albums/72157659147117739

Welcome to another installment of...{drumroll} THE WAY WAY BACK MACHINE

This here is my dad(on the left) and my grandfather(on the right) from some time in the late 70s. There's no real story to go along with this one, this shot was found some months ago by accident, but do you really need a story to go with this shot? Look at the hairlines, at the outfits, the jewelery. Look at the way my dad's tie matches his vest perfectly. Notice how their hairlines are virtually identical. why didn't i get that hairline? would that have been too much to ask? instead i get the ole' "hair slowly stops growing in various places, including that part where it creates that island of hair in the front". you think i want to shave my head every week? such a hassle. and these two, they taunt me! taunt me with the even retreat of hair on their head. and their mustaches. no, i don't want a mustache. but i'd like the option!

anyway. ain't this picture hilarious? damn them.

Erano le 13 e lungo una strada vidi il deposito di un piccolo cavatore...tra le altre macchine questo vecchio Fiorentini.

Boara Pisani (PD) 25-02-2013

It's 1 pm when, on the side of a road, I saw a little warehouse of a small quarryman... Among other machines this old Fiorentini.

This is a photo of the Mammoet LT 1160, another of my all time favourites and such a graceful looking machine. This is a photo I aquired many years ago and sadly the origin of the picture is unknown.

+++ 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 Gloster Gladiator (or Gloster SS.37) was a British-built biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA, as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. The Gladiator was the RAF's last biplane fighter aircraft and was rendered obsolete by newer monoplane designs even as it was being introduced. Though often pitted against more formidable foes during the early days of the Second World War, it acquitted itself reasonably well in combat.

These unique machines were primarily used in general observation, weather reconnaissance and 'hack' duties, e. g. as document couriers between the Azores and passing ships. But this episode lasted only for two years: in 1950, the remaining aircraft (a total of seven were still airworthy) were returned to Portugal and served as advanced training aircraft at Tanco.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 27 ft 5 in (8.36 m)

Wingspan: 32 ft 3 in (9.83 m)

Height: 11 ft 9 in (3.58 m)

Wing area: 323 ft2 (30.0 m²)

Empty weight: 3,217 lb (1,462 kg)

Loaded weight: 4,594 lb (2,088 kg)

Powerplant:

1× Bristol Mercury VIIIAS radial engine, rated at 840 hp (619 kW)

Performance:

Maximum speed: 253 mph (220 knots, 407 km/h) at 14,500 ft (4,400 m)

Cruise speed: 210 mph

Stall speed: 53 mph (46 knots, 85 km/h)

Endurance: 2 hours

Service ceiling: 32,800 ft (10,000 m)

Rate of climb: 2,300 ft/min (11.7 m/s)

Climb to 10,000 ft (3,050 m): 4.75 min

Armament:

Four .303 in Vickers machine guns; two synchronized in fuselage sides,

two under the lower wings outside of the propeller arc

The kit and its assembly:

Another entry for the “Old Kit” Group Build at whatfifmodelers.com in late 2016 – no such event would IMHO be complete without a vintage Matchbox kit, and the Gladiator dates back to 1973.

Anyway, despite its age it is a very good rendition of the biplane, even with engraved details. The engine is well detailed, the fabric structure looks very good and not over-emphasized, just the cockpit lacks a dashboard and the clear canopy is only a single piece and utterly thick.

But the Gladiator would not remain an OOB build: inspiration for this literal “Sea Gladiator” dates back to a CG rendition of an FAA Gladiator on twin floats I came across while browsing the web for detail pics of the real aircraft (for a real world Hellenic machine). This looked pretty neat, reminding of a baby Fairey Swordfish, esp. with a typical FAA paint scheme.

A hardware build of this concept had been on my idea list for VERY long, the rigging process just kept me from tackling the project, despite a suitable kit in the stash…

The GB was a good motivator, though – but while starting work, the ultimate question arose: classic twin floats, or a bigger, central float with outriggers? Both would be possible under the Gladiator…

For a twin-float layout, a Hasegawa Heinkel He 51 B as donor bank lay ready in the kit pile. For a central float, I had a single float from a Matchbox Fairey Seafox in the spares box, together with a pair of stabilizer floats from a Matchbox Supermarine Walrus.

I settled for the more unusual single float variant – because it would be different from the inspiring CG layout, and its more exotic look. The Walrus floats were too big, though, so I cut away a lengthwise 2mm “slice” (eliminating formerly drilled holes for toothpick struts; the floats were formerly used under a Mitsubishi Zero turned into a scratched Nakajima A6M2-N Rufe many years ago…) which gave an overall reduction in size that would match the compact Gladiator.

The Seafox float was just perfect in size and shape, it even comes with nice surface details and a rudder, but had to be cleaned from masses of old enamel paint at first with a thorough foam oven cleaner bath (for several weeks…).

The aircraft itself was built OOB, just with an added dashboard in the cockpit and the canopy cut into three pieces for an open position (in fact, the sliding part was totally left away). Under the lower rear fuselage a stabilizer fin was added and the OOB wooden propeller was replaced by a cuffed three-bladed alternative, IIRC from a Hobby Boss Grumman F4F Wildcat.

Mounting the floats was more complicated. The streamlined struts were taken from a donor Eastern Express Blackburn Shark (reboxed vintage NOVO kit) and adapted to the new use. From the Shark I also took the longer exhaust pipes.

Work started with the outriggers, both placed on two struts each, and once these were in place the central float was mounted on four pylons, putting it in a slightly “deeper” position than the outriggers and far enough away from the propeller arc. A lot of dry-fitting and trial & error was necessary to define the float’s and struts’ position under the Gladiator’s fuselage, as well as their relative length.

Since the area in front of the cockpit is hard to reach once the upper wing is in place, some partial early painting was done in this area. The wings themselves are pretty easy to mount if you take time for dry-fitting and thorough drying of the sub-assemblies – but the real horror comes with the (optional) rigging!

I did not want to leave the kit without this detail – it just looks much better with stabilizing wires, and these actually stiffen the kit! There are several methods/materials, including fine yarn, wire or fishing line. I tried all of these, and personally prefer heated and elongated, leftover sprues. The benefit is that the styrene is easy to glue and bonds well with the rest of the kit. Thin threads (which can be torn into individual strength) have innate stability, so that no tension has to be applied while trying to stick the stuff into place. And with the proper color of the styrene (e. g. in silver, black or grey), the wiring even looks pretty realistic in itself without any further paint, which, by tendency, can leave drops and simply makes the wires visibly thicker.

Despite experience with former biplane builds, the rigging process was still a tedious thing - the Gladiator, despite being a relatively modern design, still carried a lot of wires between its wings…

I also scratched a beaching trolley, from styrene profiles, leftover parts from a ship display and wheels from the scrap box. Proper and stable hold of the aircraft model was later achieved through cushions made from paper tissue dipped in thinned white glue.

Painting and markings:

A bit of “carte blanche”. While an FAA Gladiator would have been a nice and plausible option, I rather searched for something exotic – and found the Gladiator’s long career with the Portuguese Air Force well beyond WWII and the engagement of the type in the Azores. The archipelago location made a home-made floatplane conversion even more plausible.

But I did not stick to the original Portuguese paint scheme – the real Gladiators were painted in a uniform dark green on all upper surfaces (and alternatively a RAF Dark Green/Dark Earth scheme, AFAIK), with light grey wing undersides.

I created a fictional mix, with classic FAA colors (Dark Sea Grey/Extra Dark Slate Grey/Sky Grey) and a high waterline, plus counter-shaded, lighter upper surfaces of the lower wings, plus fictional Portuguese markings.

The basic colors I used were Humbrol 224 and 123 on the top sides, plus FS 16473 (ADC Grey) from ModelMaster for the lower surfaces. The counter-shaded lower wings were painted with Faded Olive Drab and Dark Gull Grey (FS 36231) from Modelmaster.

The floats were painted in a NMF – I was not certain whether to paint them with camouflage (either upper or lower scheme?), and in order to underline the conversion aspect of the build I just left them without paint at all. I used Steel and Brushed Aluminum Metallizer (Modelmaster and Humbrol), and the result looks quite good.

Some overall drybrushing was done to emphasize the surface structure, even though the rigging made things rather hazardous.

The markings are conservative and minimal, mostly from a PrintScale aftermarket sheet for the Gloster Gladiator and from a Carpena “Exotic Spitfire” sheet.

AFAIK, 3. Esquadrilha de Caça aircraft did not carry any squadron emblem – hence I invented the nicknames and the respective nose art (from a Revell Dassault Mystère with Patrouille de France markings). Another type in EC3 service, the Spitfires, featured an RAF-style 2-letter-squadron code (“XZ”, AFAIK) an individual letter for the respective aircraft, and a serial number. For the Gladiator I stuck to the original serial numbers, though, added the national markings on the fuselage and used re-arranged code numbers from an Irish Air Corps Spitfire on fuselage and under the wings. From the Spitfire the red fuselage band was used, too, it adds some color to the overall rather dull and simple aircraft.

The rigged kit was carefully sealed with matt acrylic varnish, a delicate affair. The floats received a varnish coat, too, but with a slightly glossy finish, in order to underline the metallic surface.

A relatively simple conversion, but effective and the Gladiator on floats does not look as fictional as I expected – even though the sheer height of the overall arrangement turned the otherwise sleek fighter aircraft into a pug-like utility vehicle, despite the relatively slender, single Fairey Firefox float. The Portuguese markings look good on it, too, adding to the exotic touch of this whif.

Nice wheeled excavator hi-rail machine. This vehicle was parked on the east leg of the wye track.

Just added to my collection of equipment, a Studio/Broadcast Tascam 42NB mastering deck. The 42 is a half track 15ips tape machine. This model offers a full microprocessor tension, quartz locked direct drive servo tape handling system. This tape deck makes my Sony TC-758 look like a toy. The sound quality is the best I've heard of any format.

I made some half pants out of this grey cord fabric I found in the discount isle, they are so awesome.

I love my new sewing machine... this would not have been possible on the old one.

Sorry for the wonky picture, another miniature drawing.

This one is really small, I was going to draw some other pieces but I got bored and left it. I love the bit with sewing machine, If only I had a real sewing machine :) This is sort of a craft space for crafty people :) Drawn in Black Gel Ink.

Hatred is not overcome by hatred; hatred is conquered by love, and so is the order of things from eternity. Unless your name is Henry Ford and Enzo Ferrari just let you down by having lunch with his lawyer and then not returning to the negotiating table. The story is of course known to every Ford and Ferrari enthusiast. Ford developed the GT40 and beat Ferrari fair and square at Le Mans. But the chance of ever buying a Ferrari has gone forever since that afternoon. Fortunately, both brands are still going strong today and Ford uses the GT40 every few years as an excuse to put the most extravagant and excellent sports car on the market. The previous Ford GT was actually a slightly larger GT40 with a huge V8 and a supercharger. This generation of Ford GT, on the other hand, is not a retro car but a futuristic spaceship that forgot to return to the pits after a successful race at La Sartre and pulled into your parking space. What a beautiful machine. This 2021 copy is a so-called Carbon Series. This means that the car is slightly lighter than the already very light “standard” Ford GT, the car has extra visible carbon, a Lexan engine compartment cover, no cup holders, carbon wheels, titanium wheel bolts and a stripe over the hood consisting of blank carbon.

The second generation Ford GT, as this car is referred to, is a car built at Multimatic in Canada. The base is a carbon fiber monocoque that is not only extremely stiff but also feather-light. The drive is provided by a 3.5 litre Ford Ecoboost V6. The engine produces 647 hp and enables the car to reach a top speed of no less than 347 kilometres per hour. The car was unveiled in 2016 and Ford immediately announced that it would be taking another shot at victory at Le Mans 50 years later. The Ford GT is therefore also one of the few cars that is basically designed as a race car and not as a street car. This means that for the designers the objectives were very clear in advance: this car must be able to drive as fast as possible at Le Mans and then we must be able to make the car street-legal with not too many adjustments. Finally, it should be noted that this is an almost unique opportunity to obtain a Ford GT Carbon Series. When Ford opened the order books for the GT, it was not the case that everyone could buy such a car, no, buyers had to go through a real application procedure to get a Ford GT. If Ford didn’t think the story was good enough, or the buyer didn’t like the GT, it wasn’t possible to buy one. In addition, buyers of the Ford GT were not allowed to resell the car shortly after purchase.

This copy has German papers and is in absolute mint condition. The car comes with delivery miles and is beautifully executed. Black goes perfectly with the car’s sinister looks. The body is unmistakably recognizable as a Ford GT and yet almost incomparable with its predecessors. The carbon wheels are not only very beautiful but also very light. The finish of the car is of course as you would expect from a top product of this calibre. The paint is beautifully sprayed, the finish on the wheels is exceptional, the panels fit together sublimely everywhere and we are only talking about the exterior of the car. The interior is pure practicality. The steering wheel is equipped with many buttons to operate many vital functions of the car and makes driving the car a breeze. The ergonomics are of course perfect for each other and finding a good seating position is child’s play because the seat cannot be adjusted, but the steering column and the pedal box have to be adjusted. Unlike previous hardcore versions of the Ford GT, the Carbon Series is still equipped with the Ford Sync 3 system. This makes covering longer distances a wonderful activity. Things like air conditioning and an excellent sound system make the party complete.

In short, an exceptionally rare opportunity to acquire a Ford GT Carbon Series and an absolute top opportunity for the serious investor.

I've been away for quite a while so I figure a really nice post is in order ! The Street Classics cruise night continued this summer and attracts some fantastic machines. This hot rod is one of them.

This truck was owned by a subcontractor who used it on the northern beaches to deal with SITA's front lift work on a daily basis. A very nice machine this Scania, the green and signage wasn't as sharp a couple of years after taking this picture though.

A staff pick from Caroline for our favourites album!

Taken from: The Longreach Leader, 23 July 1926

Stock and Station.

Some men have only a hazy idea of what is meant by the term "tops." Referring to this ignorance "Elder's Weekly," Perth, remarks that to get a better understanding it is best to start at the time wool is classed in the shed. The fleeces are put into the classes known as combing and clothing. The former is the longer wool that is suitable for putting through the combing machine. The wool is first of all put through the scour and thoroughly cleaned, after which it is put into the combing machine. This is a most intricate piece of machinery with many very fine teeth which pass through the wool, and take out all die foreign matter and cross fibres. The stuff that is combed out is called nolls. The rest of the wool is then brought out in a long ribbon, known as tops, which undergoes a number of processes of spinning until it is brought down to a thread, the size of the thread depending on the fineness of the wool. Wool, when it is made into tops, is known by the terms 60's, 64's, 70's. 74's, 80's, and in few cases over that. The average run of merino wool would come into 60's count, and go on up to the other courts, until a very fine wool would be known as 80's. These counts mean that a wool known as 80's, and which as before stated would be very fine, would spin into 80 hanks each, consisting of 560 yards. That means that 1 lb. of this count would spin into 44,880 yards, that is 80 times 560 yards. A lb. of these tops would glean thread of 25 miles. Crossbred wools being so much stronger in the fibre than merino cannot be expected to give anything like the same thread as a merino wool. Their counts start for the coarsest of Lincoln wool at about 32's, ordinary Lincoln's 36's, Leicesters 40s. Therefore a Leicester wool would give a thread of nearly 13 miles.

Queensland State Archives Item ID 392327, Photographic material

The ‘Pataphysical Slot Machine is on exhibit at the Mill Valley Library this month. Visitors to this unique art project seem to really enjoy the experience: their faces tell the whole story in this photo album. Overall, the slot machine seems to have a positive social impact: it makes people happy, gets them inspired -- and can help some of them become art makers.

Come see the slot machine this month! Our poetic oracle awaits you every weekend, to share words of wisdom about your life and future.

The exhibit is open from 1 to 5pm every Saturday and Sunday in October, in the downstairs conference room of the Mill Valley Library.

Pataphysical Studio members will be on hand to demo the Slot Machine and share what they have learned while building this interactive art project.

Learn more: pataphysics.us/join-the-unveiling-of-the-slot-machine

View more photos of the exhibit: www.flickr.com/photos/fabola/albums/72157659147117739

I mowed the entire farm on Saturday while Windchiime was at work - so - she let me take her brand new 70D for a walk around the farm (I had to wash my hands first)!! What a 'machine'!!! This is a 7 frame HDR - all 7 frames taken in a one-second burst!!!! Also - it was a magnificent evening on the farm and the sky was beautiful - it was hard to stay focused on the task at hand.

A doctor inspects a woman's throat using a two million volt deep therapy X-ray machine. This machine was used to give localised treatment to cancerous areas in the 1960s.

(Douglas Grundy/Three Lions/Getty Images)

Via :

coach.nine.com.au/latest/vintage-xray-machines/41736461-7...

Our middle-school students at Tam High are building a City of the Future together, using arts and electronics to make a model of what our world may be like in 100 years.

In our seventh class, students continued to work in teams to make public spaces for their city: underwater mines, rich and poor areas, surface rubbles and skyscrapers for the rich.

In their post-apocalyptic city of the future, called 15A, the rich are separated from the poor, who mine the sea floor and are oppressed by a government run by machines. This week’s creations included a new fence between rich and poor, a toxic river, trees and bushes.

I am teaching this after-school course with my partners Geo Monley and Cynthia Gilbert. They filled in for me for this class, as I was at a maker ed convening the day of the class. These pictures were taken two days later, with our art cart in a storage space.

We are really happy to see our students so engaged in this project. They are developing a wide range of skills, from creative expression to science and engineering. And they are learning to create interactive art with simple electronics, in a playful and collaborative way that makes learning more fun.

Learn more about our City of the Future course: fabriceflorin.com/2016/02/23/city-of-the-future/

View our slides for this City of the Future course:

bit.ly/city-of-the-future-slides-tam-high-1

View more photos of our Maker Art course at Tam High:

www.flickr.com/photos/fabola/albums/72157666710348841

Learn more about our Maker Art courses:

fabriceflorin.com/2016/02/14/teaching-maker-art/

Learn more about Tam Makers:

www.tammakers.org/

Interior of Truss-Roof Stock Shed Chicago Hydraulic Pressed Brock Co.'s Plant

Date: 1906

Source Type: Photograph

Publisher, Printer, Photographer: The Clay-Worker, March 1906

Postmark: Not Applicable

Collection: Steven R. Shook

Remark: In 1890, the Chicago Hydraulic Pressed Brick Company established a large production facility at Porter. Two additional facilities were erected in Porter over the next decade. On October 21, 1904, the plant was destroyed by fire, with the exception of the barns, clay sheds, and some minor buildings. The fire resulted in a loss reported to be $50,000. Early in the spring of 1905 the plant was rebuilt, and the buildings were made to be more fire proof. The image shows the brick manufacturing facility in 1906 after it was rebuilt. The facility ceased operations in 1924 when clay was becoming scarce, and thereby too expensive, to make brick manufacturing profitable in the area.

This image was obtained from the following article published in the March 1906 issue in The Clay-Worker:

A MODEL PRESSED BRICK PLANT.

A MODEL PLANT, unique in more than one detail, is that put into commission by the Chicago Hydraulic Pressed Brick Co., at the beginning of the season just closed. Located at Porter, Ind., it has risen, Phoenix-like, (with apologies for that thread-bare phrase) from the ashes of the company's first plant, which was destroyed by fire October, 1904.

A device for using the waste heat from the cooling kilns in a dryer into which the brick are run on rack cars directly from the presses and again directly to the kilns, a truss roof stock shed absolutely without center supports to interfere with handling, and a movable shelter shed under which the clay is dug out from the rich clay bank, are among the features which make the Hydraulic's plant at Porter, remarkable among the other pressed brick plants in the country.

The Chicago Pressed Brick Company was incorporated February, 1890. It is controlled by the Hydraulic Pressed Brick Company of St. Louis, which, prior to 1890, had furnished practically ninety per cent. of the face brick of all colors used in Chicago. Operating at Porter, Ind., prior to 1890 were the Purington-Kimbell Brick Company, the Thomas Moulding Company, and the Hinchcliff and Owen Brick Company.

The Chicago Hydraulic Pressed Brick Company purchased the yards from the parties last named, and other acreage comprising a total of 420 acres. This area contains the only deposits of clay burning a deep red, within 150 miles of Chicago. As Porter is only 45 miles from Chicago, and with an unlimited supply of clay, the object of the Chicago Hydraulic Pressed Brick Company in securing this property is self-evident.

The plant up to October 1904 had a capacity of 20,000,000 brick a year. Then came the fire, entirely destroying this valuable and productive plant, at the close of a season when it had been worked to its limit. The Company was not long in preparing the recoup this loss and rebuild the plant. Rebuilding operations commenced March 2, 1905, were completed the following May, and the plant is now the most modern pressed brick plant owned by any company, according to Chicago experts. No expense was spared in rebuilding, and every advantage given be recent patents in handling the product in an up-to-date manner, was eagerly seized by the alert management. E. C. Kimbell himself, had immediate oversight of almost every detail, and spent the greater part of his time down at Porter during the building of the new plant.

The output of the plant during its first year was practically 18,000,000. Being located on the Michigan Central, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railways, with switch connections with the Pere Marquette and the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern, the shipping facilities are perfect. The plant is equipped to run winter and summer, and since rebuilding, has been run continually to its full capacity.

The officers of the company are: E. C. Eliot, president, St. Louis; F. G. Middlekauff, first vice-president, St. Louis; F. L. Joy, second vice-president and secretary, St. Louis; G. F. Baker, treasurer, St. Louis; and E. C. Kimbell, assistant secretary and general manager, Chicago.

At the Hydraulic's new plant it has been demonstrated for the first time that a pressed brick manufactured by the hydraulic process can be successfully passed through a dryer in which the waste heat from the cooling kilns is used, and this process in addition to turning out a superior product of brick, lessens the cost considerably, as the brick have only one handling from machine to kiln, ready to set. Reference to the cut will show the position of the rack car as bricks are being loaded onto the pallets direct from the machine. This will make it clear to any one interested in the manufacture of pressed brick wherein the advantage of handling brick in this manner lies.

A 50,000 per day Potts machine for the manufacture of sand molded brick, which are also handled through the dryer, is another feature of the plant, and the cut shows also the sand mold clay pit with the track cars are drawn up the incline by cable direct to the disintegrating hopper.

One of the prize features of the plant, however, is the temporary shelter shed which has been installed. This follows along the clay bank as the clay is dug out, enabling the shovelers to work in any kind of weather. This shed is thirty-two feet square. The corner supports are six by eight timbers. The "bank side" of the shelter is seven feet high and runs along the top of the bank on a grooved wheel which rides a track set on a plank. The low side is sixteen feet high and also rides along on grooved wheels set at the two lower corners, these also running on a track bent to a plank. This shed keeps twelve feet of the clay bank under operation. Two tracks run through it and the cars carry the clay away as it is "mined." A volcano stove rests on a platform which is hung from a truss in the roof by rods. The mean leave their dinner pails around this stove and have hot dinners, while on an ordinary winter day the temperature is so hot that the men work with their coats off. The shelter is equally good against the heat of summer, however. The shed is so strong that it has been found possible to explode a two-pound charge of dynamite under it without effecting [sic] it at all, and one man with a crowbar can "pinch," the whole structure along by working at the front wheel.

Another cut shows the main passageway into the kilns, and the track used to bring brick from the dryers direct to the kiln. Three transfer tracks run from the main kiln track, and each car on these tracks is a double transfer car. These double cars run on a four-foot guage [sic]. The pallet or rack cars are on a two-foot guage [sic]. These run out from the dryers to the double transfer cars, aboard the double transfer cars, down the movable tracks, running into the kilns. These movable tracks are also two-foot guage [sic], and the cars are run off the transfer car direct to the kilns.

The interior of the stock shed is also shown in a cut. It is 290 feet long and sixty-four feet wide. Its truss roof and absence of center posts make it absolutely unique. A loading track runs through the center of the shed. It is the first stock shed of its kind used for this purpose.

This model plant is in charge of W. J. Soper, the superintendent, who, with the exception of three years has been with the company since its organization.

Source:

Anonymous. 1906. A Model Pressed Brick Plant. The Clay-Worker 45(3):475-476.

Copyright 2021. Some rights reserved. The associated text may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Steven R. Shook.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

Some background:

The Dornier Do 319 was directly inspired by the (modest) successes experienced by the Messerschmitt Me 262 fighter, the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Design work started before World War II began, but problems with engines, metallurgy and top-level interference kept the aircraft from operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944.

Production numbers remained low, though, reaching roundabout 20 aircraft (even this number is uncertain) until the end of the war, and no Do 319 survived the hostilities.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1 pilot plus up to 2 passengers

Length: 10.80 m (35 ft 4 1/2 in)

Wingspan: 12.60 m (41 ft 6 in)

Height: 3.78 m (12 ft 4 1/2 in)

Wing area: 26.8 m² (288 ft²)

Aspect ratio: 7.32

Empty weight: 4,120 kg (9,075 lb)

Loaded weight: 6,830 kg (15,044 lb)

Max. take-off weight: 7,385 kg (16,266 lb)

Powerplant:

2× Junkers Jumo 004 B-1 turbojets, 8.8 kN (1,980 lbf) each

Performance:

Maximum speed: 820 km/h (510 mph)

Range: 1,200 km (652 mi)

2,100 km (1,300 mi) with extra internal fuel cells

Service ceiling: 10,850 m (35,538 ft)

Rate of climb: 1,000 m/min (At max weight of 7,130 kg) (3,275 ft/min)

Armament:

Provisions for 4× 30 mm MK 108 cannon in the nose, but rarely mounted

The kit and its assembly:

Another entry for the “Flying Boat, Seaplane and Amphibian” Group Build at whatifmodelers.com in late 2017, and the result of a spontaneous inspiration from a drawing of a Luft’46/fantasy creation of a Me 262 fuselage with a planning bottom, a parasol(!) wing and a single jet engine exhausting right above the cockpit, and no (visible) stabilizing floats at all. Rather spurious.

Well, nevertheless, the Me 262 jet fighter has a very shark-like profile and shape, and it has already been converted into flying boats or even submarines by modelers, and I decided to create my personal interpretation of the theme. I remembered a lone He 115 float in my stash (maybe 35 years old or even more!), and when I held to a Me 262 fuselage the parts had almost the same length and width. So, creating a flying boat jet fighter seemed like a realistic task.

Things started straightforward with an 1:72 Smer Me 262 fighter, which is actually the vintage Heller two-seater night fighter with a new fuselage and canopy. My kit of choice would have been the Matchbox kit, but the Heller kit is also O.K., due to its simplicity and simple construction.

Creating something amphibian from a Me 262 is not a trivial task, though. With its low wings and underslung engine nacelles there’s a lot to be changed until you get a plausible floatplane. Another challenge is to integrate some form of stabilizer/outrigger floats, what also influences the wings’ position. Placing the engines where they are safe from spray ingestion is also a serious matter – you have to get the high and the intakes as far forward as possible.

Doing some legwork I found some similar builds, and they all did not convince me. And, after all, I wanted to create my own “design”; in order to incorporate some realism I eventually settled on Dornier’s typical WWII designs like the Do 18 and Do 24. These elegant aircraft had a common, elegant trait: low stub wings as stabilizer floats, paired with high wings (in the case of the Do 18 held by a massive central pylon) which carried the engine out of the water’s reach. This appeared like a feasible layout for my conversion, even though it would mean a total re-construction of the kit, or rather assembling it in a way that almost no part was glued into the intended place!

Work started with the cockpit, which had to be moved forward in order to make room for the wings behind the canopy, placed high on a pylon above the fuselage. For this stunt, the cockpit opening and the place in front of it (where the original front fuselage tank would be) were cut out and switched. The cockpit tub was moved forward and trimmed in order to fit into the new place. The nose section was filled with lead, because the stub wings/floats would allow a retractable landing gear to be added, too, making the aircraft a true amphibian!

The He 115 float was cut down in order to fit under the OOB Me 262 fuselage, and a front wheel well was integrated for a tricycle landing gear. Once the fuselage was closed, the planning bottom was added and the flanks sculpted with putty – lots of it.

In the meantime the Me 262 wing received a thorough re-arrangement, too. Not only were the engine nacelles moved to the upper wing surface (cutting the respective wing and intake sections of the nacelles off/out and turning them around 180°), the original connecting ventral wing part with the landing gear wells were turned upside down, too, the landing gear covers closed (with the respective OOB parts) and the inner wing sections modified into a gull wing, raising the engines even further. VERY complex task, and blending/re-shaping everything took a lot of PSR, too.

Under the central wing section I added a pylon left over from a Smer Curtiss SC Seahawk kit, because a massive Do 18-esque construction was out of question for a fast jet aircraft. The gaps were filled with putty, too.

In order to keep the stabilizers free from water spray they were moved upwards on the fin, too. The original attachment points were sanded away and hidden under putty, and the OOB stabilizers placed almost at the top at the fin.

Finding suitable stub wings/floats became a challenge: they have to be relatively thick (yielding buoyancy and also offering room for the retractable landing gear), but also short with not-so-rounded tips. It took a while until I found suitable donor parts in the form of the tips of an 1:32 AH-64 Apache (!) stabilizer! They were simply cut off, and openings for the main landing gear cut into their lower sides.

Once glued to the lower flanks and the stabilizers in place it was time to place the wing. In the meantime the moved cockpit had been blended to the fuselage, and initial tests indicated that the pylon would have to be placed right behind the canopy – actually on top of the end of the clear part. As a consequence the canopy was cut into pieces and its rear section integrated into the fuselage (more PSR).

However, the relatively thin and slender central pylon from the Curtiss SC indicated that some more struts would be necessary in order to ensure stability – very retro, and not really suited for a jet-powered aircraft. And the more I looked at the layout, the more I became convinced that the wings and engines were in a plausible position, but placed too high.

What started next were several sessions in which I shortened the pylon step by step, until I was satisfied with the overall proportions. This went so far that almost everything of the pylon had gone, and the wings almost rested directly on the Me 262’s spine!

However, this new layout offered the benefit of rendering the extra struts obsolete, since I decided to fill the small gap between wing and fuselage into a single, massive fairing. This would also mean more internal space, and consequently the original idea of a jet-powered combat aircraft was modified into a fast multi-purpose amphibian vehicle for special tasks, capable of transporting personnel behind enemy lines with a quick move.

More PSR, though, and after some finishing touches like a scratched landing gear (front leg/wheel from an Italeri Bae Hawk, main struts from a Mistercraft PZL Iskra trainer, wheels from an Academy OV-10 Bronco and with improvised covers), several antennae and mooring lugs made from wire, the aircraft was ready for painting. On the downside, though, almost any surface detail had been lost due to the massive, overall body sculpting – but the application of the light zigzag pattern helped to recreate some “illusionary” details like flaps or panel lines. ;-)

Painting and markings:

Originally, when the Seeschwalbe was still conceived as a fighter, the model was to receive a daylight scheme in typical German naval aircraft colors (RLM 72/73/65). But this plan changed when the aircraft’s role became a ‘special purpose’ transporter for covert operations.

Nocturnal operations appeared plausible, so that the scheme became much more murky: from above, a splinter scheme with RLM 73 and RLM 74 (naval dark green and dark, greenish grey, both from the ModelMaster Authentic enamel paint range) was applied as a basis, and the undersides became black – as if standard daylight colors had been overpainted, a frequent practice.

Since this black paint was made from soot, it easily wore away and many Luftwaffe machines with improvised black undersides quickly gained a rather shaggy look. I wanted to re-create this look, and built up the lower paint accordingly: In an initial step, RLM76 (I used Humbrol 87, which is a tad darker than the RLM tone, for less contrast with the black) was painted on the lower wing surfaces, the fuselage with a medium waterline and the fin. Once dry, the national marking decals were added. Then a coat of thinned Revell Acrylics 6 Tar Black was applied on top of the lower surfaces, including the lower decals, and later wet-sanded in order to reveal some of the grey underneath for a worn look.

In order to break up the aircraft’s outlines, esp. at low altitude, a disruptive meander pattern in light grey (RLM 76) was painted on top of the upper surfaces. For this task, I thinned Humbrol’s 247 enamel and used a simple brush, painting the curls free-handedly. The finish looks pretty convincing, and it mimics well the technique with which those improvised patterns were applied in the field in real life: quickly, with anything at hand. The way the finish turned out, the pattern could have been applied with a broad brush – the use of a spray gun was rather uncommon, and IMHO the use of an airbrush on a model to recreate such a zigzag pattern rarely leads to convincing results?

This pattern was painted tightly around all the upper markings, and the markings themselves were kept at a minimum. For instance, the tactical code only comprises the aircraft’s individual letter “Blue O” behind the fuselage cross, which indicates an air staff machine. This would, following the official German squadron code system, be confirmed by an “A”, following as a fourth digit. The squadron’s code (“P7”, which is fictional, just like the aircraft’s sea reconnaissance squadron itself) was omitted, too. Such minimal markings became a frequent practice towards the final war stages, though, and it fits the aircraft’s special duty role well. The only individual marking is a squadron badge under the cockpit – lent from an Italian night fighter and placed on a dark blue disc. Another, subtle indicator for the aircraft’s operator are the blue air intake center bodies, repeating the staff flight’s blue color code.

Only some light weathering was done, with dry-brushed light grey on the leading edges, and finally the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri). In a final step, some very light dry-brushing with aluminum was done on some of the fuselage edges, esp. the spray dams, and the position lights were painted with translucent paint over a silver base.

A messy project, in many ways, but I am happy with result. Most stunning is IMHO the fact that all major parts for this compact flying boat actually come from a single, simple Me 262 kit – but visually there’s not much of the left from the jet fighter. But it’s also amazing that the proportions look right, and the whole thing quite plausible and Dornier-esque! Turned out better than expected.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

Some background:

The Dornier Do 319 was directly inspired by the (modest) successes experienced by the Messerschmitt Me 262 fighter, the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Design work started before World War II began, but problems with engines, metallurgy and top-level interference kept the aircraft from operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944.

Production numbers remained low, though, reaching roundabout 20 aircraft (even this number is uncertain) until the end of the war, and no Do 319 survived the hostilities.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1 pilot plus up to 2 passengers

Length: 10.80 m (35 ft 4 1/2 in)

Wingspan: 12.60 m (41 ft 6 in)

Height: 3.78 m (12 ft 4 1/2 in)

Wing area: 26.8 m² (288 ft²)

Aspect ratio: 7.32

Empty weight: 4,120 kg (9,075 lb)

Loaded weight: 6,830 kg (15,044 lb)

Max. take-off weight: 7,385 kg (16,266 lb)

Powerplant:

2× Junkers Jumo 004 B-1 turbojets, 8.8 kN (1,980 lbf) each

Performance:

Maximum speed: 820 km/h (510 mph)

Range: 1,200 km (652 mi)

2,100 km (1,300 mi) with extra internal fuel cells

Service ceiling: 10,850 m (35,538 ft)

Rate of climb: 1,000 m/min (At max weight of 7,130 kg) (3,275 ft/min)

Armament:

Provisions for 4× 30 mm MK 108 cannon in the nose, but rarely mounted

The kit and its assembly:

Another entry for the “Flying Boat, Seaplane and Amphibian” Group Build at whatifmodelers.com in late 2017, and the result of a spontaneous inspiration from a drawing of a Luft’46/fantasy creation of a Me 262 fuselage with a planning bottom, a parasol(!) wing and a single jet engine exhausting right above the cockpit, and no (visible) stabilizing floats at all. Rather spurious.

Well, nevertheless, the Me 262 jet fighter has a very shark-like profile and shape, and it has already been converted into flying boats or even submarines by modelers, and I decided to create my personal interpretation of the theme. I remembered a lone He 115 float in my stash (maybe 35 years old or even more!), and when I held to a Me 262 fuselage the parts had almost the same length and width. So, creating a flying boat jet fighter seemed like a realistic task.

Things started straightforward with an 1:72 Smer Me 262 fighter, which is actually the vintage Heller two-seater night fighter with a new fuselage and canopy. My kit of choice would have been the Matchbox kit, but the Heller kit is also O.K., due to its simplicity and simple construction.

Creating something amphibian from a Me 262 is not a trivial task, though. With its low wings and underslung engine nacelles there’s a lot to be changed until you get a plausible floatplane. Another challenge is to integrate some form of stabilizer/outrigger floats, what also influences the wings’ position. Placing the engines where they are safe from spray ingestion is also a serious matter – you have to get the high and the intakes as far forward as possible.

Doing some legwork I found some similar builds, and they all did not convince me. And, after all, I wanted to create my own “design”; in order to incorporate some realism I eventually settled on Dornier’s typical WWII designs like the Do 18 and Do 24. These elegant aircraft had a common, elegant trait: low stub wings as stabilizer floats, paired with high wings (in the case of the Do 18 held by a massive central pylon) which carried the engine out of the water’s reach. This appeared like a feasible layout for my conversion, even though it would mean a total re-construction of the kit, or rather assembling it in a way that almost no part was glued into the intended place!

Work started with the cockpit, which had to be moved forward in order to make room for the wings behind the canopy, placed high on a pylon above the fuselage. For this stunt, the cockpit opening and the place in front of it (where the original front fuselage tank would be) were cut out and switched. The cockpit tub was moved forward and trimmed in order to fit into the new place. The nose section was filled with lead, because the stub wings/floats would allow a retractable landing gear to be added, too, making the aircraft a true amphibian!

The He 115 float was cut down in order to fit under the OOB Me 262 fuselage, and a front wheel well was integrated for a tricycle landing gear. Once the fuselage was closed, the planning bottom was added and the flanks sculpted with putty – lots of it.

In the meantime the Me 262 wing received a thorough re-arrangement, too. Not only were the engine nacelles moved to the upper wing surface (cutting the respective wing and intake sections of the nacelles off/out and turning them around 180°), the original connecting ventral wing part with the landing gear wells were turned upside down, too, the landing gear covers closed (with the respective OOB parts) and the inner wing sections modified into a gull wing, raising the engines even further. VERY complex task, and blending/re-shaping everything took a lot of PSR, too.

Under the central wing section I added a pylon left over from a Smer Curtiss SC Seahawk kit, because a massive Do 18-esque construction was out of question for a fast jet aircraft. The gaps were filled with putty, too.

In order to keep the stabilizers free from water spray they were moved upwards on the fin, too. The original attachment points were sanded away and hidden under putty, and the OOB stabilizers placed almost at the top at the fin.

Finding suitable stub wings/floats became a challenge: they have to be relatively thick (yielding buoyancy and also offering room for the retractable landing gear), but also short with not-so-rounded tips. It took a while until I found suitable donor parts in the form of the tips of an 1:32 AH-64 Apache (!) stabilizer! They were simply cut off, and openings for the main landing gear cut into their lower sides.

Once glued to the lower flanks and the stabilizers in place it was time to place the wing. In the meantime the moved cockpit had been blended to the fuselage, and initial tests indicated that the pylon would have to be placed right behind the canopy – actually on top of the end of the clear part. As a consequence the canopy was cut into pieces and its rear section integrated into the fuselage (more PSR).

However, the relatively thin and slender central pylon from the Curtiss SC indicated that some more struts would be necessary in order to ensure stability – very retro, and not really suited for a jet-powered aircraft. And the more I looked at the layout, the more I became convinced that the wings and engines were in a plausible position, but placed too high.

What started next were several sessions in which I shortened the pylon step by step, until I was satisfied with the overall proportions. This went so far that almost everything of the pylon had gone, and the wings almost rested directly on the Me 262’s spine!

However, this new layout offered the benefit of rendering the extra struts obsolete, since I decided to fill the small gap between wing and fuselage into a single, massive fairing. This would also mean more internal space, and consequently the original idea of a jet-powered combat aircraft was modified into a fast multi-purpose amphibian vehicle for special tasks, capable of transporting personnel behind enemy lines with a quick move.

More PSR, though, and after some finishing touches like a scratched landing gear (front leg/wheel from an Italeri Bae Hawk, main struts from a Mistercraft PZL Iskra trainer, wheels from an Academy OV-10 Bronco and with improvised covers), several antennae and mooring lugs made from wire, the aircraft was ready for painting. On the downside, though, almost any surface detail had been lost due to the massive, overall body sculpting – but the application of the light zigzag pattern helped to recreate some “illusionary” details like flaps or panel lines. ;-)

Painting and markings:

Originally, when the Seeschwalbe was still conceived as a fighter, the model was to receive a daylight scheme in typical German naval aircraft colors (RLM 72/73/65). But this plan changed when the aircraft’s role became a ‘special purpose’ transporter for covert operations.

Nocturnal operations appeared plausible, so that the scheme became much more murky: from above, a splinter scheme with RLM 73 and RLM 74 (naval dark green and dark, greenish grey, both from the ModelMaster Authentic enamel paint range) was applied as a basis, and the undersides became black – as if standard daylight colors had been overpainted, a frequent practice.

Since this black paint was made from soot, it easily wore away and many Luftwaffe machines with improvised black undersides quickly gained a rather shaggy look. I wanted to re-create this look, and built up the lower paint accordingly: In an initial step, RLM76 (I used Humbrol 87, which is a tad darker than the RLM tone, for less contrast with the black) was painted on the lower wing surfaces, the fuselage with a medium waterline and the fin. Once dry, the national marking decals were added. Then a coat of thinned Revell Acrylics 6 Tar Black was applied on top of the lower surfaces, including the lower decals, and later wet-sanded in order to reveal some of the grey underneath for a worn look.

In order to break up the aircraft’s outlines, esp. at low altitude, a disruptive meander pattern in light grey (RLM 76) was painted on top of the upper surfaces. For this task, I thinned Humbrol’s 247 enamel and used a simple brush, painting the curls free-handedly. The finish looks pretty convincing, and it mimics well the technique with which those improvised patterns were applied in the field in real life: quickly, with anything at hand. The way the finish turned out, the pattern could have been applied with a broad brush – the use of a spray gun was rather uncommon, and IMHO the use of an airbrush on a model to recreate such a zigzag pattern rarely leads to convincing results?

This pattern was painted tightly around all the upper markings, and the markings themselves were kept at a minimum. For instance, the tactical code only comprises the aircraft’s individual letter “Blue O” behind the fuselage cross, which indicates an air staff machine. This would, following the official German squadron code system, be confirmed by an “A”, following as a fourth digit. The squadron’s code (“P7”, which is fictional, just like the aircraft’s sea reconnaissance squadron itself) was omitted, too. Such minimal markings became a frequent practice towards the final war stages, though, and it fits the aircraft’s special duty role well. The only individual marking is a squadron badge under the cockpit – lent from an Italian night fighter and placed on a dark blue disc. Another, subtle indicator for the aircraft’s operator are the blue air intake center bodies, repeating the staff flight’s blue color code.

Only some light weathering was done, with dry-brushed light grey on the leading edges, and finally the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri). In a final step, some very light dry-brushing with aluminum was done on some of the fuselage edges, esp. the spray dams, and the position lights were painted with translucent paint over a silver base.

A messy project, in many ways, but I am happy with result. Most stunning is IMHO the fact that all major parts for this compact flying boat actually come from a single, simple Me 262 kit – but visually there’s not much of the left from the jet fighter. But it’s also amazing that the proportions look right, and the whole thing quite plausible and Dornier-esque! Turned out better than expected.

Still sorting transfer of data from Windows XP machine to 8.1 machine. This is test of media card slot.

A quickie using the on board timer, the lull in the snow fall changed to rain as I stood out there! I need a water resistant K50 or K5.2.

Recent Levis Type 1 Jacket, market purchase in the snow!

Levis Type 1, Jacket (Stafford Market)

Levis Type 1 901 Jeans (E-bay!)

Williams F1 Shirt (TKMaxx)

Dr Martens - Steel Toe - 1940z - Black Fine Haircell (Cloggs Uk)

PENTAX K-M

smc PENTAX-DAL 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL

This is yet again ANOTHER Updated version of my Windows XP machine. This time I changed the Wallpaper, thanks to theworldisasheep (http://flickr.com/photos/32901002@N03/

) Hover over to see the link to the wallpaper among other information about skins used in the Rainmeter Display

AS they were leaving the Toowoomba Showgrounds in Glenvale, heading where ever it is they head. Noted some new machines this year.

Permit To Travel machines were originally a Network Southeast innovation at locations where proper ticket machines may not have been cost effective or where machines or ticket offices were only open at certain times of the day. Rendered generally obsolete in the mid-2000's by chip and pin credit card ticket machines they may still be used when these machines may be out of order. These machines have sometimes caused controversy as they will issue a permit to travel for as little as 5p and if travelling from one unbarriered station to another holders of the permit who are not challenged and choose not to pay their fare at a working ticket machine or office can in theory travel 'legally' for only a fraction of the actual fare.

Ruggedly built by Almex and similar in design to 1980's style parking ticket machines this surviving machine is seen here on the Hertford Loop outside the station at Watton-at-Stone, on 2nd August 2016.

In what turned out to be quite a Solo-heavy couple of minutes, the next appearance was another CT4N machine, this time with an 18 as 1003 is shown here on its way down Wollaton Street on 30.3.22

via Instagram ift.tt/1kjbk8s

+++ 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 Gloster Gladiator (or Gloster SS.37) was a British-built biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA, as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. The Gladiator was the RAF's last biplane fighter aircraft and was rendered obsolete by newer monoplane designs even as it was being introduced. Though often pitted against more formidable foes during the early days of the Second World War, it acquitted itself reasonably well in combat.

These unique machines were primarily used in general observation, weather reconnaissance and 'hack' duties, e. g. as document couriers between the Azores and passing ships. But this episode lasted only for two years: in 1950, the remaining aircraft (a total of seven were still airworthy) were returned to Portugal and served as advanced training aircraft at Tanco.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 27 ft 5 in (8.36 m)

Wingspan: 32 ft 3 in (9.83 m)

Height: 11 ft 9 in (3.58 m)

Wing area: 323 ft2 (30.0 m²)

Empty weight: 3,217 lb (1,462 kg)

Loaded weight: 4,594 lb (2,088 kg)

Powerplant:

1× Bristol Mercury VIIIAS radial engine, rated at 840 hp (619 kW)

Performance:

Maximum speed: 253 mph (220 knots, 407 km/h) at 14,500 ft (4,400 m)

Cruise speed: 210 mph

Stall speed: 53 mph (46 knots, 85 km/h)

Endurance: 2 hours

Service ceiling: 32,800 ft (10,000 m)

Rate of climb: 2,300 ft/min (11.7 m/s)

Climb to 10,000 ft (3,050 m): 4.75 min

Armament:

Four .303 in Vickers machine guns; two synchronized in fuselage sides,

two under the lower wings outside of the propeller arc

The kit and its assembly:

Another entry for the “Old Kit” Group Build at whatfifmodelers.com in late 2016 – no such event would IMHO be complete without a vintage Matchbox kit, and the Gladiator dates back to 1973.

Anyway, despite its age it is a very good rendition of the biplane, even with engraved details. The engine is well detailed, the fabric structure looks very good and not over-emphasized, just the cockpit lacks a dashboard and the clear canopy is only a single piece and utterly thick.

But the Gladiator would not remain an OOB build: inspiration for this literal “Sea Gladiator” dates back to a CG rendition of an FAA Gladiator on twin floats I came across while browsing the web for detail pics of the real aircraft (for a real world Hellenic machine). This looked pretty neat, reminding of a baby Fairey Swordfish, esp. with a typical FAA paint scheme.

A hardware build of this concept had been on my idea list for VERY long, the rigging process just kept me from tackling the project, despite a suitable kit in the stash…

The GB was a good motivator, though – but while starting work, the ultimate question arose: classic twin floats, or a bigger, central float with outriggers? Both would be possible under the Gladiator…

For a twin-float layout, a Hasegawa Heinkel He 51 B as donor bank lay ready in the kit pile. For a central float, I had a single float from a Matchbox Fairey Seafox in the spares box, together with a pair of stabilizer floats from a Matchbox Supermarine Walrus.

I settled for the more unusual single float variant – because it would be different from the inspiring CG layout, and its more exotic look. The Walrus floats were too big, though, so I cut away a lengthwise 2mm “slice” (eliminating formerly drilled holes for toothpick struts; the floats were formerly used under a Mitsubishi Zero turned into a scratched Nakajima A6M2-N Rufe many years ago…) which gave an overall reduction in size that would match the compact Gladiator.

The Seafox float was just perfect in size and shape, it even comes with nice surface details and a rudder, but had to be cleaned from masses of old enamel paint at first with a thorough foam oven cleaner bath (for several weeks…).

The aircraft itself was built OOB, just with an added dashboard in the cockpit and the canopy cut into three pieces for an open position (in fact, the sliding part was totally left away). Under the lower rear fuselage a stabilizer fin was added and the OOB wooden propeller was replaced by a cuffed three-bladed alternative, IIRC from a Hobby Boss Grumman F4F Wildcat.

Mounting the floats was more complicated. The streamlined struts were taken from a donor Eastern Express Blackburn Shark (reboxed vintage NOVO kit) and adapted to the new use. From the Shark I also took the longer exhaust pipes.

Work started with the outriggers, both placed on two struts each, and once these were in place the central float was mounted on four pylons, putting it in a slightly “deeper” position than the outriggers and far enough away from the propeller arc. A lot of dry-fitting and trial & error was necessary to define the float’s and struts’ position under the Gladiator’s fuselage, as well as their relative length.

Since the area in front of the cockpit is hard to reach once the upper wing is in place, some partial early painting was done in this area. The wings themselves are pretty easy to mount if you take time for dry-fitting and thorough drying of the sub-assemblies – but the real horror comes with the (optional) rigging!

I did not want to leave the kit without this detail – it just looks much better with stabilizing wires, and these actually stiffen the kit! There are several methods/materials, including fine yarn, wire or fishing line. I tried all of these, and personally prefer heated and elongated, leftover sprues. The benefit is that the styrene is easy to glue and bonds well with the rest of the kit. Thin threads (which can be torn into individual strength) have innate stability, so that no tension has to be applied while trying to stick the stuff into place. And with the proper color of the styrene (e. g. in silver, black or grey), the wiring even looks pretty realistic in itself without any further paint, which, by tendency, can leave drops and simply makes the wires visibly thicker.

Despite experience with former biplane builds, the rigging process was still a tedious thing - the Gladiator, despite being a relatively modern design, still carried a lot of wires between its wings…

I also scratched a beaching trolley, from styrene profiles, leftover parts from a ship display and wheels from the scrap box. Proper and stable hold of the aircraft model was later achieved through cushions made from paper tissue dipped in thinned white glue.

Painting and markings:

A bit of “carte blanche”. While an FAA Gladiator would have been a nice and plausible option, I rather searched for something exotic – and found the Gladiator’s long career with the Portuguese Air Force well beyond WWII and the engagement of the type in the Azores. The archipelago location made a home-made floatplane conversion even more plausible.

But I did not stick to the original Portuguese paint scheme – the real Gladiators were painted in a uniform dark green on all upper surfaces (and alternatively a RAF Dark Green/Dark Earth scheme, AFAIK), with light grey wing undersides.

I created a fictional mix, with classic FAA colors (Dark Sea Grey/Extra Dark Slate Grey/Sky Grey) and a high waterline, plus counter-shaded, lighter upper surfaces of the lower wings, plus fictional Portuguese markings.

The basic colors I used were Humbrol 224 and 123 on the top sides, plus FS 16473 (ADC Grey) from ModelMaster for the lower surfaces. The counter-shaded lower wings were painted with Faded Olive Drab and Dark Gull Grey (FS 36231) from Modelmaster.

The floats were painted in a NMF – I was not certain whether to paint them with camouflage (either upper or lower scheme?), and in order to underline the conversion aspect of the build I just left them without paint at all. I used Steel and Brushed Aluminum Metallizer (Modelmaster and Humbrol), and the result looks quite good.

Some overall drybrushing was done to emphasize the surface structure, even though the rigging made things rather hazardous.

The markings are conservative and minimal, mostly from a PrintScale aftermarket sheet for the Gloster Gladiator and from a Carpena “Exotic Spitfire” sheet.

AFAIK, 3. Esquadrilha de Caça aircraft did not carry any squadron emblem – hence I invented the nicknames and the respective nose art (from a Revell Dassault Mystère with Patrouille de France markings). Another type in EC3 service, the Spitfires, featured an RAF-style 2-letter-squadron code (“XZ”, AFAIK) an individual letter for the respective aircraft, and a serial number. For the Gladiator I stuck to the original serial numbers, though, added the national markings on the fuselage and used re-arranged code numbers from an Irish Air Corps Spitfire on fuselage and under the wings. From the Spitfire the red fuselage band was used, too, it adds some color to the overall rather dull and simple aircraft.

The rigged kit was carefully sealed with matt acrylic varnish, a delicate affair. The floats received a varnish coat, too, but with a slightly glossy finish, in order to underline the metallic surface.

A relatively simple conversion, but effective and the Gladiator on floats does not look as fictional as I expected – even though the sheer height of the overall arrangement turned the otherwise sleek fighter aircraft into a pug-like utility vehicle, despite the relatively slender, single Fairey Firefox float. The Portuguese markings look good on it, too, adding to the exotic touch of this whif.

+++ 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 Gloster Gladiator (or Gloster SS.37) was a British-built biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA, as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. The Gladiator was the RAF's last biplane fighter aircraft and was rendered obsolete by newer monoplane designs even as it was being introduced. Though often pitted against more formidable foes during the early days of the Second World War, it acquitted itself reasonably well in combat.

These unique machines were primarily used in general observation, weather reconnaissance and 'hack' duties, e. g. as document couriers between the Azores and passing ships. But this episode lasted only for two years: in 1950, the remaining aircraft (a total of seven were still airworthy) were returned to Portugal and served as advanced training aircraft at Tanco.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 27 ft 5 in (8.36 m)

Wingspan: 32 ft 3 in (9.83 m)

Height: 11 ft 9 in (3.58 m)

Wing area: 323 ft2 (30.0 m²)

Empty weight: 3,217 lb (1,462 kg)

Loaded weight: 4,594 lb (2,088 kg)

Powerplant:

1× Bristol Mercury VIIIAS radial engine, rated at 840 hp (619 kW)

Performance:

Maximum speed: 253 mph (220 knots, 407 km/h) at 14,500 ft (4,400 m)

Cruise speed: 210 mph

Stall speed: 53 mph (46 knots, 85 km/h)

Endurance: 2 hours

Service ceiling: 32,800 ft (10,000 m)

Rate of climb: 2,300 ft/min (11.7 m/s)

Climb to 10,000 ft (3,050 m): 4.75 min

Armament:

Four .303 in Vickers machine guns; two synchronized in fuselage sides,

two under the lower wings outside of the propeller arc

The kit and its assembly:

Another entry for the “Old Kit” Group Build at whatfifmodelers.com in late 2016 – no such event would IMHO be complete without a vintage Matchbox kit, and the Gladiator dates back to 1973.

Anyway, despite its age it is a very good rendition of the biplane, even with engraved details. The engine is well detailed, the fabric structure looks very good and not over-emphasized, just the cockpit lacks a dashboard and the clear canopy is only a single piece and utterly thick.

But the Gladiator would not remain an OOB build: inspiration for this literal “Sea Gladiator” dates back to a CG rendition of an FAA Gladiator on twin floats I came across while browsing the web for detail pics of the real aircraft (for a real world Hellenic machine). This looked pretty neat, reminding of a baby Fairey Swordfish, esp. with a typical FAA paint scheme.

A hardware build of this concept had been on my idea list for VERY long, the rigging process just kept me from tackling the project, despite a suitable kit in the stash…

The GB was a good motivator, though – but while starting work, the ultimate question arose: classic twin floats, or a bigger, central float with outriggers? Both would be possible under the Gladiator…

For a twin-float layout, a Hasegawa Heinkel He 51 B as donor bank lay ready in the kit pile. For a central float, I had a single float from a Matchbox Fairey Seafox in the spares box, together with a pair of stabilizer floats from a Matchbox Supermarine Walrus.

I settled for the more unusual single float variant – because it would be different from the inspiring CG layout, and its more exotic look. The Walrus floats were too big, though, so I cut away a lengthwise 2mm “slice” (eliminating formerly drilled holes for toothpick struts; the floats were formerly used under a Mitsubishi Zero turned into a scratched Nakajima A6M2-N Rufe many years ago…) which gave an overall reduction in size that would match the compact Gladiator.

The Seafox float was just perfect in size and shape, it even comes with nice surface details and a rudder, but had to be cleaned from masses of old enamel paint at first with a thorough foam oven cleaner bath (for several weeks…).

The aircraft itself was built OOB, just with an added dashboard in the cockpit and the canopy cut into three pieces for an open position (in fact, the sliding part was totally left away). Under the lower rear fuselage a stabilizer fin was added and the OOB wooden propeller was replaced by a cuffed three-bladed alternative, IIRC from a Hobby Boss Grumman F4F Wildcat.

Mounting the floats was more complicated. The streamlined struts were taken from a donor Eastern Express Blackburn Shark (reboxed vintage NOVO kit) and adapted to the new use. From the Shark I also took the longer exhaust pipes.

Work started with the outriggers, both placed on two struts each, and once these were in place the central float was mounted on four pylons, putting it in a slightly “deeper” position than the outriggers and far enough away from the propeller arc. A lot of dry-fitting and trial & error was necessary to define the float’s and struts’ position under the Gladiator’s fuselage, as well as their relative length.

Since the area in front of the cockpit is hard to reach once the upper wing is in place, some partial early painting was done in this area. The wings themselves are pretty easy to mount if you take time for dry-fitting and thorough drying of the sub-assemblies – but the real horror comes with the (optional) rigging!

I did not want to leave the kit without this detail – it just looks much better with stabilizing wires, and these actually stiffen the kit! There are several methods/materials, including fine yarn, wire or fishing line. I tried all of these, and personally prefer heated and elongated, leftover sprues. The benefit is that the styrene is easy to glue and bonds well with the rest of the kit. Thin threads (which can be torn into individual strength) have innate stability, so that no tension has to be applied while trying to stick the stuff into place. And with the proper color of the styrene (e. g. in silver, black or grey), the wiring even looks pretty realistic in itself without any further paint, which, by tendency, can leave drops and simply makes the wires visibly thicker.

Despite experience with former biplane builds, the rigging process was still a tedious thing - the Gladiator, despite being a relatively modern design, still carried a lot of wires between its wings…

I also scratched a beaching trolley, from styrene profiles, leftover parts from a ship display and wheels from the scrap box. Proper and stable hold of the aircraft model was later achieved through cushions made from paper tissue dipped in thinned white glue.

Painting and markings:

A bit of “carte blanche”. While an FAA Gladiator would have been a nice and plausible option, I rather searched for something exotic – and found the Gladiator’s long career with the Portuguese Air Force well beyond WWII and the engagement of the type in the Azores. The archipelago location made a home-made floatplane conversion even more plausible.

But I did not stick to the original Portuguese paint scheme – the real Gladiators were painted in a uniform dark green on all upper surfaces (and alternatively a RAF Dark Green/Dark Earth scheme, AFAIK), with light grey wing undersides.

I created a fictional mix, with classic FAA colors (Dark Sea Grey/Extra Dark Slate Grey/Sky Grey) and a high waterline, plus counter-shaded, lighter upper surfaces of the lower wings, plus fictional Portuguese markings.

The basic colors I used were Humbrol 224 and 123 on the top sides, plus FS 16473 (ADC Grey) from ModelMaster for the lower surfaces. The counter-shaded lower wings were painted with Faded Olive Drab and Dark Gull Grey (FS 36231) from Modelmaster.

The floats were painted in a NMF – I was not certain whether to paint them with camouflage (either upper or lower scheme?), and in order to underline the conversion aspect of the build I just left them without paint at all. I used Steel and Brushed Aluminum Metallizer (Modelmaster and Humbrol), and the result looks quite good.

Some overall drybrushing was done to emphasize the surface structure, even though the rigging made things rather hazardous.

The markings are conservative and minimal, mostly from a PrintScale aftermarket sheet for the Gloster Gladiator and from a Carpena “Exotic Spitfire” sheet.

AFAIK, 3. Esquadrilha de Caça aircraft did not carry any squadron emblem – hence I invented the nicknames and the respective nose art (from a Revell Dassault Mystère with Patrouille de France markings). Another type in EC3 service, the Spitfires, featured an RAF-style 2-letter-squadron code (“XZ”, AFAIK) an individual letter for the respective aircraft, and a serial number. For the Gladiator I stuck to the original serial numbers, though, added the national markings on the fuselage and used re-arranged code numbers from an Irish Air Corps Spitfire on fuselage and under the wings. From the Spitfire the red fuselage band was used, too, it adds some color to the overall rather dull and simple aircraft.

The rigged kit was carefully sealed with matt acrylic varnish, a delicate affair. The floats received a varnish coat, too, but with a slightly glossy finish, in order to underline the metallic surface.

A relatively simple conversion, but effective and the Gladiator on floats does not look as fictional as I expected – even though the sheer height of the overall arrangement turned the otherwise sleek fighter aircraft into a pug-like utility vehicle, despite the relatively slender, single Fairey Firefox float. The Portuguese markings look good on it, too, adding to the exotic touch of this whif.

Some background:

The Rolls-Royce Griffon engine was designed in answer to Royal Navy specifications for an engine capable of generating good power at low altitudes. Concepts for adapting the Spitfire to take the new engine had begun as far back as October 1939; Joseph Smith felt that "The good big 'un will eventually beat the good little 'un." and Ernest Hives of Rolls-Royce thought that the Griffon would be "a second power string for the Spitfire". The first of the Griffon-engined Spitfires flew on 27 November 1941. Although the Griffon-powered Spitfires were never produced in the large numbers of the Merlin-engined variants they were an important part of the Spitfire family, and in their later versions kept the Spitfire at the forefront of piston-engined fighter development. The first Griffon-powered Spitfires suffered from poor high- altitude performance due to having only a single stage supercharged engine. By 1943, Rolls-Royce engineers had developed a new Griffon engine, the 61 series, with a two-stage supercharger. In the end it was a slightly modified engine, the 65 series, which was used in the Mk. XIV, the first Spitfire mark with a Griffon engine to enter service. The resulting aircraft provided a substantial performance increase over the Mk IX. Although initially based on the Mk VIII airframe, common improvements made in aircraft produced later included the cut-back fuselage and tear-drop canopies, and the E-Type wing with improved armament.

However, following the 14 July Revolution of 1958, which resulted in the end of monarchy in Iraq, the influence of the Iraqi Communist Party grew significantly. The first commander of the Iraqi Air Force (the "Royal" prefix was dropped after the revolution), Jalal Jaffar al-Awqati, was an outspoken communist, and encouraged prime minister Abd al-Karim Qasim to improve relations between Iraq and the USSR. The Soviets reacted quickly, and in the autumn of 1958 a series of arms contracts was passed between Iraq and the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. These stipulated the delivery of MiG-15UTI trainers, MiG-17F fighters, Ilyushin Il-28 bombers, and Antonov An-2 and An-12 transports. The first aircraft arrived in Iraq in January 1959; during the late Sixties and the early Seventies additional MiG-17s may have been purchased and then forwarded to either Syria or Egypt.

General characteristics

Crew: 1

Length: 32 ft 8 in (9.96 m)

Wingspan: 36 ft 10 in (11.23 m) with full span elliptical tips

Height: 10 ft 0 in (3.05 m)

Wing area: 242.1 sq ft (22.49 m²)

Airfoil: NACA 2213 (root), NACA 2209.4 (tip)

Empty weight: 6,578 lb (2,984 kg)

Gross weight: 7,923 lb (3,594 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 8,400[53] lb (3,810 kg)

Powerplant:

1× Rolls-Royce Griffon 65 supercharged V12, 2,050 hp (1,530 kW) at 8,000 ft (2,438 m),

driving a 5-bladed Jablo-Rotol propeller

Performance:

Maximum speed: 441 mph (710 km/h, 383 kn) in FS supercharger gear at 29,500 ft.

391 mph in MS supercharger gear at 5,500 ft.

Combat range: 460 mi (740 km, 400 nmi)

Ferry range: 1,090 mi (1,760 km, 950 nmi)

Service ceiling: 43,500 ft (13,300 m)

Rate of climb: 5,040 ft/min (25.6 m/s) in MS supercharger gear at 2,100 ft.

3,550 ft/min in FS supercharger gear at 22,100 ft.

Time to altitude: 7 mins to 22,000 ft (at max weight)

Wing loading: 32.72 lb/sq ft (159.8 kg/m²)

Power/mass: 0.24

Armament:

2× 20 mm (0.787-in) Hispano Mk II cannon, 120 rpg

4× 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns, 350 rpg,

Underwing hard points for 8× 60 lb (27 kg) rockets, 2 x 250 lb (113 kg) bombs or slipper tanks,

1× ventral hardpoint for a 500 lb (227 kg) bomb or a drop tank

The kit and its assembly:

This was a rather spontaneous interim build. The Academy Spitfire was left over from a D-Day combo that contained a Hawker Typhoon, too, and I lacked an idea for the Spitfire for a long time) since I am not a big fan of the aircraft, at least what-if-inspiration-wise). However, when pondering about a potential operator from the very early pos-war period I remembered the Royal Iraqi Air Force and its later Hawker Hunters which retained their NATO-style camouflage (RAF green/grey) despite being primarily operated in a desert environment. This, on a Spitfire…?

From this idea the Academy Spitfire was built almost OOB. Because the kit offers them as an option and for the cool look, I gave the Spitfire four RPGs under each outer wing. The ventral drop tank was taken from a Special Hobby late Spitfire kit. The only other additions are the antenna mast and the non-standard DF loop antenna behind the cockpit, created from thin wire and mounted on a small, streamlined socket.

Painting and markings:

The upper surfaces were painted in standard RAF WWII colors, Dark Green and Ocean Grey, using a mix of Humbrol 163 and 30 for a slightly more bluish WWII-style green and a mix of 106 and 145 for a lightened grey tone, respectively. As an individual contrast and paint scheme variation the undersides and the spinner were painted in RAF Azure Blue (Humbrol 157, lightened up with 47), more appropriate than the standard WWII Medium Sea Grey from the European theatre of operations. The cockpit interior became RAF cockpit green (Humbro,78) while the inside surfaces of the landing gear were painted in Medium Sea Grey (Humbrol 165), reflecting the original undersides’ tone in former RAF service.

Other markings were minimal. The Iraqi triangles were taken from a Balkan Models Su-25 sheet, because their green was rather pale, for more contrast to the surrounding camouflage. RIrAF fin flash was taken from a PM Model Hawker Fury two-seater (a.k.a. “Bagdad Fury”). The tactical code came from an Airfix Hawker Hunter (from an optional Kuwaiti machine). This looked O.K. but somewhat bleak, so I added more markings. I could not find any evidence for special ID markings on Iraqi aircraft during the Arab-Israel war, but to add an eye-catcher I gave the aircraft white ID bands on the wings and on the fuselage – inspired by markings carried by Egyptian aircraft (e. g. Spitfires) during the conflict, but somewhat simplified, without black trim. They were created from generic white decal sheet material.

After some soot stains around the gun ports and the exhausts, the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish.

A relatively simple project and just a fictional livery - but the Iraqi Spitfire looks pretty cool, especially the ID stripes add a special touch. The European RAF scheme looks a bit off on an aircraft that would be delivered to the Middel East, but the Iraqi Air Force operated British types like the Hunter in this guise, and later Su-22 fighter bombers carried a similarly murky camouflage in very dark green and earth brown.

+++ 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 Gloster Gladiator (or Gloster SS.37) was a British-built biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA, as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. The Gladiator was the RAF's last biplane fighter aircraft and was rendered obsolete by newer monoplane designs even as it was being introduced. Though often pitted against more formidable foes during the early days of the Second World War, it acquitted itself reasonably well in combat.

These unique machines were primarily used in general observation, weather reconnaissance and 'hack' duties, e. g. as document couriers between the Azores and passing ships. But this episode lasted only for two years: in 1950, the remaining aircraft (a total of seven were still airworthy) were returned to Portugal and served as advanced training aircraft at Tanco.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 27 ft 5 in (8.36 m)

Wingspan: 32 ft 3 in (9.83 m)

Height: 11 ft 9 in (3.58 m)

Wing area: 323 ft2 (30.0 m²)

Empty weight: 3,217 lb (1,462 kg)

Loaded weight: 4,594 lb (2,088 kg)

Powerplant:

1× Bristol Mercury VIIIAS radial engine, rated at 840 hp (619 kW)

Performance:

Maximum speed: 253 mph (220 knots, 407 km/h) at 14,500 ft (4,400 m)

Cruise speed: 210 mph

Stall speed: 53 mph (46 knots, 85 km/h)

Endurance: 2 hours

Service ceiling: 32,800 ft (10,000 m)

Rate of climb: 2,300 ft/min (11.7 m/s)

Climb to 10,000 ft (3,050 m): 4.75 min

Armament:

Four .303 in Vickers machine guns; two synchronized in fuselage sides,

two under the lower wings outside of the propeller arc

The kit and its assembly:

Another entry for the “Old Kit” Group Build at whatfifmodelers.com in late 2016 – no such event would IMHO be complete without a vintage Matchbox kit, and the Gladiator dates back to 1973.

Anyway, despite its age it is a very good rendition of the biplane, even with engraved details. The engine is well detailed, the fabric structure looks very good and not over-emphasized, just the cockpit lacks a dashboard and the clear canopy is only a single piece and utterly thick.

But the Gladiator would not remain an OOB build: inspiration for this literal “Sea Gladiator” dates back to a CG rendition of an FAA Gladiator on twin floats I came across while browsing the web for detail pics of the real aircraft (for a real world Hellenic machine). This looked pretty neat, reminding of a baby Fairey Swordfish, esp. with a typical FAA paint scheme.

A hardware build of this concept had been on my idea list for VERY long, the rigging process just kept me from tackling the project, despite a suitable kit in the stash…

The GB was a good motivator, though – but while starting work, the ultimate question arose: classic twin floats, or a bigger, central float with outriggers? Both would be possible under the Gladiator…

For a twin-float layout, a Hasegawa Heinkel He 51 B as donor bank lay ready in the kit pile. For a central float, I had a single float from a Matchbox Fairey Seafox in the spares box, together with a pair of stabilizer floats from a Matchbox Supermarine Walrus.

I settled for the more unusual single float variant – because it would be different from the inspiring CG layout, and its more exotic look. The Walrus floats were too big, though, so I cut away a lengthwise 2mm “slice” (eliminating formerly drilled holes for toothpick struts; the floats were formerly used under a Mitsubishi Zero turned into a scratched Nakajima A6M2-N Rufe many years ago…) which gave an overall reduction in size that would match the compact Gladiator.

The Seafox float was just perfect in size and shape, it even comes with nice surface details and a rudder, but had to be cleaned from masses of old enamel paint at first with a thorough foam oven cleaner bath (for several weeks…).

The aircraft itself was built OOB, just with an added dashboard in the cockpit and the canopy cut into three pieces for an open position (in fact, the sliding part was totally left away). Under the lower rear fuselage a stabilizer fin was added and the OOB wooden propeller was replaced by a cuffed three-bladed alternative, IIRC from a Hobby Boss Grumman F4F Wildcat.

Mounting the floats was more complicated. The streamlined struts were taken from a donor Eastern Express Blackburn Shark (reboxed vintage NOVO kit) and adapted to the new use. From the Shark I also took the longer exhaust pipes.

Work started with the outriggers, both placed on two struts each, and once these were in place the central float was mounted on four pylons, putting it in a slightly “deeper” position than the outriggers and far enough away from the propeller arc. A lot of dry-fitting and trial & error was necessary to define the float’s and struts’ position under the Gladiator’s fuselage, as well as their relative length.

Since the area in front of the cockpit is hard to reach once the upper wing is in place, some partial early painting was done in this area. The wings themselves are pretty easy to mount if you take time for dry-fitting and thorough drying of the sub-assemblies – but the real horror comes with the (optional) rigging!

I did not want to leave the kit without this detail – it just looks much better with stabilizing wires, and these actually stiffen the kit! There are several methods/materials, including fine yarn, wire or fishing line. I tried all of these, and personally prefer heated and elongated, leftover sprues. The benefit is that the styrene is easy to glue and bonds well with the rest of the kit. Thin threads (which can be torn into individual strength) have innate stability, so that no tension has to be applied while trying to stick the stuff into place. And with the proper color of the styrene (e. g. in silver, black or grey), the wiring even looks pretty realistic in itself without any further paint, which, by tendency, can leave drops and simply makes the wires visibly thicker.

Despite experience with former biplane builds, the rigging process was still a tedious thing - the Gladiator, despite being a relatively modern design, still carried a lot of wires between its wings…

I also scratched a beaching trolley, from styrene profiles, leftover parts from a ship display and wheels from the scrap box. Proper and stable hold of the aircraft model was later achieved through cushions made from paper tissue dipped in thinned white glue.

Painting and markings:

A bit of “carte blanche”. While an FAA Gladiator would have been a nice and plausible option, I rather searched for something exotic – and found the Gladiator’s long career with the Portuguese Air Force well beyond WWII and the engagement of the type in the Azores. The archipelago location made a home-made floatplane conversion even more plausible.

But I did not stick to the original Portuguese paint scheme – the real Gladiators were painted in a uniform dark green on all upper surfaces (and alternatively a RAF Dark Green/Dark Earth scheme, AFAIK), with light grey wing undersides.

I created a fictional mix, with classic FAA colors (Dark Sea Grey/Extra Dark Slate Grey/Sky Grey) and a high waterline, plus counter-shaded, lighter upper surfaces of the lower wings, plus fictional Portuguese markings.

The basic colors I used were Humbrol 224 and 123 on the top sides, plus FS 16473 (ADC Grey) from ModelMaster for the lower surfaces. The counter-shaded lower wings were painted with Faded Olive Drab and Dark Gull Grey (FS 36231) from Modelmaster.

The floats were painted in a NMF – I was not certain whether to paint them with camouflage (either upper or lower scheme?), and in order to underline the conversion aspect of the build I just left them without paint at all. I used Steel and Brushed Aluminum Metallizer (Modelmaster and Humbrol), and the result looks quite good.

Some overall drybrushing was done to emphasize the surface structure, even though the rigging made things rather hazardous.

The markings are conservative and minimal, mostly from a PrintScale aftermarket sheet for the Gloster Gladiator and from a Carpena “Exotic Spitfire” sheet.

AFAIK, 3. Esquadrilha de Caça aircraft did not carry any squadron emblem – hence I invented the nicknames and the respective nose art (from a Revell Dassault Mystère with Patrouille de France markings). Another type in EC3 service, the Spitfires, featured an RAF-style 2-letter-squadron code (“XZ”, AFAIK) an individual letter for the respective aircraft, and a serial number. For the Gladiator I stuck to the original serial numbers, though, added the national markings on the fuselage and used re-arranged code numbers from an Irish Air Corps Spitfire on fuselage and under the wings. From the Spitfire the red fuselage band was used, too, it adds some color to the overall rather dull and simple aircraft.

The rigged kit was carefully sealed with matt acrylic varnish, a delicate affair. The floats received a varnish coat, too, but with a slightly glossy finish, in order to underline the metallic surface.

A relatively simple conversion, but effective and the Gladiator on floats does not look as fictional as I expected – even though the sheer height of the overall arrangement turned the otherwise sleek fighter aircraft into a pug-like utility vehicle, despite the relatively slender, single Fairey Firefox float. The Portuguese markings look good on it, too, adding to the exotic touch of this whif.

+++ 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 Gloster Gladiator (or Gloster SS.37) was a British-built biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA, as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. The Gladiator was the RAF's last biplane fighter aircraft and was rendered obsolete by newer monoplane designs even as it was being introduced. Though often pitted against more formidable foes during the early days of the Second World War, it acquitted itself reasonably well in combat.

These unique machines were primarily used in general observation, weather reconnaissance and 'hack' duties, e. g. as document couriers between the Azores and passing ships. But this episode lasted only for two years: in 1950, the remaining aircraft (a total of seven were still airworthy) were returned to Portugal and served as advanced training aircraft at Tanco.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 27 ft 5 in (8.36 m)

Wingspan: 32 ft 3 in (9.83 m)

Height: 11 ft 9 in (3.58 m)

Wing area: 323 ft2 (30.0 m²)

Empty weight: 3,217 lb (1,462 kg)

Loaded weight: 4,594 lb (2,088 kg)

Powerplant:

1× Bristol Mercury VIIIAS radial engine, rated at 840 hp (619 kW)

Performance:

Maximum speed: 253 mph (220 knots, 407 km/h) at 14,500 ft (4,400 m)

Cruise speed: 210 mph

Stall speed: 53 mph (46 knots, 85 km/h)

Endurance: 2 hours

Service ceiling: 32,800 ft (10,000 m)

Rate of climb: 2,300 ft/min (11.7 m/s)

Climb to 10,000 ft (3,050 m): 4.75 min

Armament:

Four .303 in Vickers machine guns; two synchronized in fuselage sides,

two under the lower wings outside of the propeller arc

The kit and its assembly:

Another entry for the “Old Kit” Group Build at whatfifmodelers.com in late 2016 – no such event would IMHO be complete without a vintage Matchbox kit, and the Gladiator dates back to 1973.

Anyway, despite its age it is a very good rendition of the biplane, even with engraved details. The engine is well detailed, the fabric structure looks very good and not over-emphasized, just the cockpit lacks a dashboard and the clear canopy is only a single piece and utterly thick.

But the Gladiator would not remain an OOB build: inspiration for this literal “Sea Gladiator” dates back to a CG rendition of an FAA Gladiator on twin floats I came across while browsing the web for detail pics of the real aircraft (for a real world Hellenic machine). This looked pretty neat, reminding of a baby Fairey Swordfish, esp. with a typical FAA paint scheme.

A hardware build of this concept had been on my idea list for VERY long, the rigging process just kept me from tackling the project, despite a suitable kit in the stash…

The GB was a good motivator, though – but while starting work, the ultimate question arose: classic twin floats, or a bigger, central float with outriggers? Both would be possible under the Gladiator…

For a twin-float layout, a Hasegawa Heinkel He 51 B as donor bank lay ready in the kit pile. For a central float, I had a single float from a Matchbox Fairey Seafox in the spares box, together with a pair of stabilizer floats from a Matchbox Supermarine Walrus.

I settled for the more unusual single float variant – because it would be different from the inspiring CG layout, and its more exotic look. The Walrus floats were too big, though, so I cut away a lengthwise 2mm “slice” (eliminating formerly drilled holes for toothpick struts; the floats were formerly used under a Mitsubishi Zero turned into a scratched Nakajima A6M2-N Rufe many years ago…) which gave an overall reduction in size that would match the compact Gladiator.

The Seafox float was just perfect in size and shape, it even comes with nice surface details and a rudder, but had to be cleaned from masses of old enamel paint at first with a thorough foam oven cleaner bath (for several weeks…).

The aircraft itself was built OOB, just with an added dashboard in the cockpit and the canopy cut into three pieces for an open position (in fact, the sliding part was totally left away). Under the lower rear fuselage a stabilizer fin was added and the OOB wooden propeller was replaced by a cuffed three-bladed alternative, IIRC from a Hobby Boss Grumman F4F Wildcat.

Mounting the floats was more complicated. The streamlined struts were taken from a donor Eastern Express Blackburn Shark (reboxed vintage NOVO kit) and adapted to the new use. From the Shark I also took the longer exhaust pipes.

Work started with the outriggers, both placed on two struts each, and once these were in place the central float was mounted on four pylons, putting it in a slightly “deeper” position than the outriggers and far enough away from the propeller arc. A lot of dry-fitting and trial & error was necessary to define the float’s and struts’ position under the Gladiator’s fuselage, as well as their relative length.

Since the area in front of the cockpit is hard to reach once the upper wing is in place, some partial early painting was done in this area. The wings themselves are pretty easy to mount if you take time for dry-fitting and thorough drying of the sub-assemblies – but the real horror comes with the (optional) rigging!

I did not want to leave the kit without this detail – it just looks much better with stabilizing wires, and these actually stiffen the kit! There are several methods/materials, including fine yarn, wire or fishing line. I tried all of these, and personally prefer heated and elongated, leftover sprues. The benefit is that the styrene is easy to glue and bonds well with the rest of the kit. Thin threads (which can be torn into individual strength) have innate stability, so that no tension has to be applied while trying to stick the stuff into place. And with the proper color of the styrene (e. g. in silver, black or grey), the wiring even looks pretty realistic in itself without any further paint, which, by tendency, can leave drops and simply makes the wires visibly thicker.

Despite experience with former biplane builds, the rigging process was still a tedious thing - the Gladiator, despite being a relatively modern design, still carried a lot of wires between its wings…

I also scratched a beaching trolley, from styrene profiles, leftover parts from a ship display and wheels from the scrap box. Proper and stable hold of the aircraft model was later achieved through cushions made from paper tissue dipped in thinned white glue.

Painting and markings:

A bit of “carte blanche”. While an FAA Gladiator would have been a nice and plausible option, I rather searched for something exotic – and found the Gladiator’s long career with the Portuguese Air Force well beyond WWII and the engagement of the type in the Azores. The archipelago location made a home-made floatplane conversion even more plausible.

But I did not stick to the original Portuguese paint scheme – the real Gladiators were painted in a uniform dark green on all upper surfaces (and alternatively a RAF Dark Green/Dark Earth scheme, AFAIK), with light grey wing undersides.

I created a fictional mix, with classic FAA colors (Dark Sea Grey/Extra Dark Slate Grey/Sky Grey) and a high waterline, plus counter-shaded, lighter upper surfaces of the lower wings, plus fictional Portuguese markings.

The basic colors I used were Humbrol 224 and 123 on the top sides, plus FS 16473 (ADC Grey) from ModelMaster for the lower surfaces. The counter-shaded lower wings were painted with Faded Olive Drab and Dark Gull Grey (FS 36231) from Modelmaster.

The floats were painted in a NMF – I was not certain whether to paint them with camouflage (either upper or lower scheme?), and in order to underline the conversion aspect of the build I just left them without paint at all. I used Steel and Brushed Aluminum Metallizer (Modelmaster and Humbrol), and the result looks quite good.

Some overall drybrushing was done to emphasize the surface structure, even though the rigging made things rather hazardous.

The markings are conservative and minimal, mostly from a PrintScale aftermarket sheet for the Gloster Gladiator and from a Carpena “Exotic Spitfire” sheet.

AFAIK, 3. Esquadrilha de Caça aircraft did not carry any squadron emblem – hence I invented the nicknames and the respective nose art (from a Revell Dassault Mystère with Patrouille de France markings). Another type in EC3 service, the Spitfires, featured an RAF-style 2-letter-squadron code (“XZ”, AFAIK) an individual letter for the respective aircraft, and a serial number. For the Gladiator I stuck to the original serial numbers, though, added the national markings on the fuselage and used re-arranged code numbers from an Irish Air Corps Spitfire on fuselage and under the wings. From the Spitfire the red fuselage band was used, too, it adds some color to the overall rather dull and simple aircraft.

The rigged kit was carefully sealed with matt acrylic varnish, a delicate affair. The floats received a varnish coat, too, but with a slightly glossy finish, in order to underline the metallic surface.

A relatively simple conversion, but effective and the Gladiator on floats does not look as fictional as I expected – even though the sheer height of the overall arrangement turned the otherwise sleek fighter aircraft into a pug-like utility vehicle, despite the relatively slender, single Fairey Firefox float. The Portuguese markings look good on it, too, adding to the exotic touch of this whif.

Increase your packaging speed with 6 packer machine. This machine works on both 12 and 16 ounce beer cans. Contact us for more information: www.mummcraftproducts.com.

At a later date this was put into London FB livery by a TV company for the funeral of Recall in "London's Burning" and kept this registration.

This is confusing as London FB did have three similar Camivas of its own in real life.

E870JYV

E869JYV

E868JYV

It was Dennis/Camiva demonstrator, and had a shorter wheelbase than London machines.

This Merseyside appliance also had a cage mounted at the ladder head, it was severely damaged in a contretamps with a "Fareway" Leyland Olympian double decker rear in Central Liverpool. Widely seen as a fairly underpowered appliance.

It was bought by Merseyside to replace C3-Tango, Canning Place's A54KHC Dennis DFD133 with the short lived XRL30 Ladder which was Merryweather's attempt to re-enter the UK ladder market.

It is preserved by Ron Bradley in livery of LFB as E463 Shadbrook TL as it was used on Londons Burning.

Camiva ladders were not a great success in the UK and were soon phased out.

from a brigade postcard

This is all *I* have accomplished at the sewing machine this week. Staring. Sigh.....

Poor Millie. I feel your pain. :o)

My image stolen by the Tories for their propaganda machine.

This is at least the second time this has happened.

It takes a lot of muscle to lift pieces of the world’s largest-diameter tunnel boring machine. This floating crane is being used to assemble the machine that will dig the SR 99 tunnel beneath downtown Seattle starting in summer 2013. The machine is being assembled in Japan, and will arrive in Seattle in early 2013.

I built this six-wide Delorean time machine from a Youtube tutorial awhile ago, and I can't wait to put it on my Western layout to be pushed around. The model sports several changes from the original custom model, such as printed parts that are not so expensive as the original parts, such as the flux capacitor, license plate, and time arrival / departure indicator. Also, unlike set 21103 (the official LEGO set of the DeLorean Time Machine this model can fit only one mini-figure, which in this case is Marty McFly.

Included in the LDD file is everything added to the model in Parts I, II, and III except for the 2015 flying hover wheels. This means the 1955 hook assembly (I) replacement time circuits (III), the 2015 Mr Fusion (II) and train-track ready wheels from 1885 (III) are all beside the main Delorean model and Marty mini-figure.

(Hachirouk24's original model can be seen here: www.flickr.com/photos/91426193@N02/34492482955/in/faves-5... )

LDD file at Bricksafe: bricksafe.com/pages/Murdoch17/1985-delorean-time-machine-...

The 'pataphysical crew prepares for the first public exhibit of the Pataphysical Slot Machine. This unique art installation will be on display every weekend at the Mill Valley Library in October 2015. Learn more at htttp://pataphysics.us

In November 1908, wealthy aviation enthusiast Baron Pierre de Carters made the first controlled flight over Belgium. His aircraft was a Voisin built biplane, fitted with a Belgian engine. He later went on to fly at ‘Air Shows’ in Istanbul, Cairo and India.

This replica was built in France in 1973 for the TV movie “Les faucheurs de marguerites” (“The Daisy Cutters”). The remains were later acquired from the Jean Salis collection were rebuilt to more accurately represent the 1908 ‘de Caters’ machine. This was completed in October 2008, just in time for the centenary of the original 1908 flight.

The aeroplane remains on display at what is known as the Brussels Air Museum, although it is actually the Air and Space Section of the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History.

Brussels, Belgium.

26th June 2016

Re-take of this Washtec Softcare EvoR machine, this is a surprisingly old bugger well into its mid-teens having been originally installed by Total with red brushes in the mid-2000s.

It has been increasingly unreliable in the last few months, of course it had to be working when we didn't need a wash, sod's law. This car wash recently had a snazzy coat of promotional 'wash n' drive wallpaper put on the bay windows, replacing the bubble stickers.

Street view

UPDATE: replaced with Washtec Easywash on 24/05/22

Meet a very youthful Yusha. At five and half months, he is a perpetual motion machine. This is a good indication of a healthy child, not so good for still (emphasis on the word "still") photography.

At this instant I was lucky enough to capture his attention, momentarily, by rhythmicly snapping my fingers over my head, before he went back to never ending exploration of his immediate space.

Painting and markings:

Originally, when the Seeschwalbe was still conceived as a fighter, the model was to receive a daylight scheme in typical German naval aircraft colors (RLM 72/73/65). But this plan changed when the aircraft’s role became a ‘special purpose’ transporter for covert operations.

Nocturnal operations appeared plausible, so that the scheme became much more murky: from above, a splinter scheme with RLM 73 and RLM 74 (naval dark green and dark, greenish grey, both from the ModelMaster Authentic enamel paint range) was applied as a basis, and the undersides became black – as if standard daylight colors had been overpainted, a frequent practice.

Since this black paint was made from soot, it easily wore away and many Luftwaffe machines with improvised black undersides quickly gained a rather shaggy look. I wanted to re-create this look, and built up the lower paint accordingly: In an initial step, RLM76 (I used Humbrol 87, which is a tad darker than the RLM tone, for less contrast with the black) was painted on the lower wing surfaces, the fuselage with a medium waterline and the fin. Once dry, the national marking decals were added. Then a coat of thinned Revell Acrylics 6 Tar Black was applied on top of the lower surfaces, including the lower decals, and later wet-sanded in order to reveal some of the grey underneath for a worn look.

In order to break up the aircraft’s outlines, esp. at low altitude, a disruptive meander pattern in light grey (RLM 76) was painted on top of the upper surfaces. For this task, I thinned Humbrol’s 247 enamel and used a simple brush, painting the curls free-handedly. The finish looks pretty convincing, and it mimics well the technique with which those improvised patterns were applied in the field in real life: quickly, with anything at hand. The way the finish turned out, the pattern could have been applied with a broad brush – the use of a spray gun was rather uncommon, and IMHO the use of an airbrush on a model to recreate such a zigzag pattern rarely leads to convincing results?

This pattern was painted tightly around all the upper markings, and the markings themselves were kept at a minimum. For instance, the tactical code only comprises the aircraft’s individual letter “Blue O” behind the fuselage cross, which indicates an air staff machine. This would, following the official German squadron code system, be confirmed by an “A”, following as a fourth digit. The squadron’s code (“P7”, which is fictional, just like the aircraft’s sea reconnaissance squadron itself) was omitted, too. Such minimal markings became a frequent practice towards the final war stages, though, and it fits the aircraft’s special duty role well. The only individual marking is a squadron badge under the cockpit – lent from an Italian night fighter and placed on a dark blue disc. Another, subtle indicator for the aircraft’s operator are the blue air intake center bodies, repeating the staff flight’s blue color code.

Only some light weathering was done, with dry-brushed light grey on the leading edges, and finally the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri). In a final step, some very light dry-brushing with aluminum was done on some of the fuselage edges, esp. the spray dams, and the position lights were painted with translucent paint over a silver base.

Time Warner shopping mall. Illy was giving free espresso away to promote their new espresso machine. This is a sculpture made of espresso cups.

Yashica 124G. Kodak 400VC.

Our middle-school students at Tam High are building a City of the Future together, using arts and electronics to make a model of what our world may be like in 100 years.

In our seventh class, students continued to work in teams to make public spaces for their city: underwater mines, rich and poor areas, surface rubbles and skyscrapers for the rich.

In their post-apocalyptic city of the future, called 15A, the rich are separated from the poor, who mine the sea floor and are oppressed by a government run by machines. This week’s creations included a new fence between rich and poor, a toxic river, trees and bushes.

I am teaching this after-school course with my partners Geo Monley and Cynthia Gilbert. They filled in for me for this class, as I was at a maker ed convening the day of the class. These pictures were taken two days later, with our art cart in a storage space.

We are really happy to see our students so engaged in this project. They are developing a wide range of skills, from creative expression to science and engineering. And they are learning to create interactive art with simple electronics, in a playful and collaborative way that makes learning more fun.

Learn more about our City of the Future course: fabriceflorin.com/2016/02/23/city-of-the-future/

View our slides for this City of the Future course:

bit.ly/city-of-the-future-slides-tam-high-1

View more photos of our Maker Art course at Tam High:

www.flickr.com/photos/fabola/albums/72157666710348841

Learn more about our Maker Art courses:

fabriceflorin.com/2016/02/14/teaching-maker-art/

Learn more about Tam Makers:

www.tammakers.org/

'There's a drumming noise inside my head

That starts when you're around.

I swear that you could hear it

It makes such an all mighty sound.

And hotter than hell'

- 'Drumming', Florence and the Machine.

This song is always on at work, and I do like Florence and the Machine, and I've been meaning to do a shoot inspired by these lyrics for a while. This wasn't exactly what I had in mind but It's close. I'll maybe re-shoot at a later date.

On the way up to Okaya the wheel became suddenly bent. I found a place

to stop for cover to see what was wrong with my bike. What a weird and

wonderful place... a porn game centre. Video UFO catchers, strip poker

machines, potluck prizes that vibrate, magazine and video vending

machines. This roadside stop off was deserted, totally unattended, so

I took some photos.

チャールズ・ワードが自転車で日本一周の旅へと出発したのは、2006年の春でした。彼は1年間の旅の間に、何千枚もの写真をとりました。この写真はその中の1つです。最初は有機農場でボランティアとして働きながら旅を続けていましたが、ある日、それをやめ、「きゅうちゃん」という名の折り紙の小鳥といっしょに、自分なりの平和活動を開始しました。

このチャーリーの冒険が、『チャーリーです地球人です』という一冊の本を生みました。彼は新たな世界を発見し、同時に、平和活動のために今やるべきことを明確にしました。

www.ex1st.com/book

This photo is one of 1000s taken by Charles Ward as he cycled around Japan for a year (2006-2007). Half way though his trip he gave up working as a volunteer in organic farms to start his own peace movement with a little paper bird called Kyu Chan.

Follow Charlie in his adventure to change the world in his new book "Charlie desu, Chikyujin desu" and find out what he is doing now to promote peace.

It's time for the Gacha Guild ~Spirited Festival~!

Come enjoy this beautiful Japanese festival and try your luck at lots of wonderful gacha machines~!

This Chinese style top is cute and fancy, perfect for when you need to be dressy and stand out! The rares are even shiny!

~Taxi~