Photo Taken : 27.06.1987.

31 463 is seen under threatening skies at Long Marston Ministry of Defence establishment with the SEG/LCGB 'Walsall Concerto' railtour. The train had been booked for class 50 haulage throughout but after leaving London Waterloo behind 50 023 it promptly failed at Reading. The only spare loco available to take over was Type 2 no.31 463 which worked the train from Reading to Long Marston when two Army 'Steelman' locos took over to cover the internal network of lines. This photo was taken after 31 463 had been re-attached in Long Marston Exchange Yard for the onward journey back onto the BR Network. The 31 took the train as far as Worcester Shrub Hill where it was replaced by a fresh class 50 no.50 031. There was doubt the 50 had enough fuel to complete the rest of the tour itinerary but thankfully did do and worked back to London Waterloo.

This shot was taken through the open slider door on June 10, 2010 in Columbia County, New York, USA. As I continued to try to explain to Missy that she is a nocturnal feeder (It was about 2;15 pm at the time) & should come back later, she continued to advance till she was too close for me to focus. Although it doesn't look like it from this picture, she *did* get the idea, went away, & came back at about 8:45 pm. I haven't been able to get any decent shots of her after dark, but she is really cute! She is a very dainty eater, picking up 1 kibble at a time with her little, hand-like paws. She always seems to appreciate the water bowl, too. I've given her a few grapes on a couple of occasions & she loves those! Our other little female raccoon wasn't interested in them at all. It's very interesting to see what happens when another raccoon approaches the deck while one is feeding. A frontal approach is not met in a friendly spirit of sharing. Two approaches do seem to work, however. One is when the raccoon on deck spills kibbles on the deck surface. The second raccoon is allowed to eat the spilled kibbles, but not the touch the bowl. The second approach is when the new raccoon backs onto the deck. S/he, literally, needs to back completely into the bowl. If s/he does so, the other raccoon will yield. It's very interesting to watch. So what are the ethics of feeding wild creatures? Some of you may remember that the kibbles came onto the scene, a year ago January, during the visit by the rare Bullock's Oriole. At that time, a rather pitiful opossum came onto the deck during the day. I felt sorry for him & started feeding him. When a gang of raccoons took over the town, I put the kibbles away. For the past year, they've been taking up half of my bird seed storage space. When raccoons showed up this Spring, I decided to put out the kibbles till they were gone. Recently, we came to the end of the kibbles & found that we're attached to the raccoons. Guess who went out & bought a new bag of kibbles? (No, it wasn't me.) I have nightmares that, if I leave on vacation, the raccoons will organize & knock down the slider door with a battering ram! What do you think?

Painted in 1495. According to a legend, St Eligius, a 7th century French saint who was also a blacksmith, once cured a horse who was possessed by the devil by cutting off its leg, shodding it with an iron, then miraculously reattaching it. The painting shows the moment in the story when Eligius is about a re-attach the leg. A witch appears, trying to prevent the leg from being re-attached by casting a spell, but Eligius uses his blacksmith tongues to squeeze her nose, supposedly stopping her from interfering. Who knew you could disable a witch by catching her nose?

We all love cute TLRs like Baby Rollei and Sawyer/Topcon that produce 4x4 images using 127 film. But 127 film is no longer available commercially, so here is my way of hand rolling 127 film from 46mm bulk roll film.

1. Prepare all the material and tools needed

- Backing paper Reuse from other official 127 rolls (Rerapan, Efke, Agfa)

- 2 metal 127 spools

- One large and heavy clamps, and 2 wooden clothe pin

- 12” plastic ruler or paracord for measurement in the dark

- Scissors, masking tape

2. Procedure (in daylight)

- Roll the beginning part of backing paper onto one metal spool, use big heavy clamp to secure the top bundle, put near edge of table.

- Put fresh masking tape (thicker, slightly narrower than backing paper) where film should start. Keep half of the masking tape unattached.

- Use another metal spool for the bottom end: pre-wind some backing paper until “Stop” sign, use wooden cloth pin to secure the bottom bundle. Let it hang from side of working table.

- Put additional wooden cloth pin in the middle of the backing paper (to avoid tangles)

3. Procedure (in total darkness)

- Measure and cut 25” length of film (e.g. use paracord)

- Tape film to the backing paper on the top end, keep the film straight all the way to the bottom end. Use wooden clothe pin to secure the middle (along the length of backing paper) to avoid tangle.

- Roll tightly starting from the bottom end, all the way to the top end

- Adjust or re-attach masking tape where the beginning of the film is attached tol the backing paper

- Tightly rolling all the way to the beginning, spin the spool to get rid of any slack

4. Back in daylight

- Use another masking tape or rubber band to seal the backing paper

- Keep the 127 roll film in aluminum foil or light-tight canister

- Clearly mark the type of film on the container

Lovely sunset at Halnaker windmill in West Sussex this evening. I missed the fabulous red sky the night before, so felt compelled to make the effort this evening. I was rewarded :-) . The windmill is being renovated and is due to have the sails re-attached soon.

This picture intends to show how I angled the intakes my old Skyhawk model, which much to my own amazement, is almost six years old, already. They're attached using Technic pins, which is easy enough, but positioning them was tricky.

The picture also shows some of the design work I'm doing for my next build: a 1/32 scale SH-14 Lynx for a friend of mine.

Corners were taken off. I then sanded, and painted the top w/ cream, black and red acrylics as a base. Various paper elements were glued to it. Rubber stamp images and inks added. Finished w/2 coats crystal clear Krylon.

Then the brass corners were re-attached.

A pretty famous landmark, that I have been meaning to stop and photograph for ages.

There are pics on the net of this beauty going back years, if you look at them you can see how she has slowly deteriorated over the passing of time.

Balderton, Nottinghamshire - side of A1

The Lightning, serial number XN728, served with 92 Squadron at RAF Gutersloh in Germany – on the front line between Western Europe and Warsaw Pact countries

Thanks to Gary Parsons for the full story below:

www.airsceneuk.org.uk/oldstuff/2002/sentinel/sentinel.htm

Lightning F2A XN728/V (c/n 95105) was built during 1961 at English Electric's Samlesbury facility.

She first flew on 26 October of that year, piloted by test pilot T. M. S. Ferguson, and was issued to 92 Squadron at RAF Leconfield on 1 April 1963.

She was to spend her whole career with 92 Squadron, initially coded 'B', later 'F' and finally 'V'. Her career was unremarkable, except for an undercarriage collapse on 3 April 1968, during the repair of which she was converted to F2A standard, basically a Mk6 but still retaining her guns.

31 of the original 44 F2s were converted from 1968 onwards - the engines were upgraded to the Avon RA211R but the armament fit was retained.

External features were the most noticeable, comprising the cambered wing, square-cut fin and much enlarged ventral tank of the F6. XN728 went on to serve the RAF in Germany until 92 Squadron disbanded in March 1977, prior to re-equipping with the Phantom FGR2. She then made her final flight to RAF Coningsby where she served as a decoy aircraft for a number of years with the maintenance serial 8546M.

On 3 October 1983 she was purchased by G.A. Wilks, and transferred to the yard of A1 Commercial Vehicles in Balderton, near Newark. The method of transfer was brutal, the wings and tail being cut near the root, so that she would not be able to support herself once put back together - a trestle support, placed under the ventral belly tank, kept her properly poised once at the yard. The wings and tail were re-attached using large metal plates, which sadly went unpainted and proved to be a bit of an eyesore.

During the nineties the vehicle yard fell on hard times and eventually closed, falling into disrepair. Being so close to Newark, anything that had a tangible value was swiftly removed (including the fence) and XN728 eventually became abandoned and alone, available for the attention of anyone wandering by. Removal of the wheels and the radar radome hurried the collapse of the ventral tank, causing the now tail-heavy aircraft to settle back into her present attitude, as if clawing to get airborne once more.

Attacked by vandals and graffiti 'artists', she remains more as testimony to man's wanton desire for destruction, rather than a proud sentinel of the Cold War in which she played a major part at the sharpest end.

It's been a little while since I kept you all updated! I've been so busy with the kits and college, but I'm ready to start showing a commission I'm working on for an excellent client.

This is the 1/72nd Finemolds Millennium Falcon which is a really incredible kit (900 parts!!) but we decided to correct as much as possible and accurize it to the filming model. So far John and I have created a new jawbox, and today I laser-cut a specially designed MDF frame structure for the correct mandibles to be set into (I forgot to take any photos of it oh dear).

The rear engine deck has been cut out, and will be re-attached with a magnetic frame so that all the electronics can be easily accessed

Test of concept kind of thing. The principle works OK, but needs some way to stop as much light hitting the bare sensor whilst the lens is re-attached to do the spiral. You get the idea...

My updated version of my past sniper. This version's suit can be removed and easily be reattached. I like that this is re-attachable but though not sure which suit is better.

Took me a minute to twig, but this is one of those RMs that got converted to lengthened 33 foot ERM status as open-toppers in the 1990s. Now with a roof re-attached, she's in the Brigit's fleet, offering London afternoon tea tours.

London, Strand, 26/02/2023.

So we have had more snow so far this year than in the last 4 years since I've been here. Still, it isn't like NY winters, especially because the roads don't get plowed or sanded.

Friday morning I was racing out the door in the dark to start my car, to thaw it, when my overwintering hummingbird flew right up in my face and was buzzing around frantically. I looked over at feeder, because when this has happened in the past, it was because the nectar had frozen.

The feeder wasn't there. It had fallen on the concrete patio. It landed right-side up and the nectar didn't even spill, but the piece with the four perches had fallen off. I went back in the house and cleaned it up, re-attached the perch piece and went back out to re-hang it...only to discover that the hook was missing and I couldn't see it in the dark.

So I was standing there (sans coat, hat and mittens) wondering what I could use to fix the problem, when this little female, buzzed around nervously for a moment and then settled down for a good long drink. I was astounded and trying to stand very still and not shiver. I think she must have been really cold and hungry.

I almost never see the females, as the males always guard the feeder....which doesn't make sense biologically. You'd think he would share so she'd be willing to hang around and umm... partner up.

I just wanted to share an amazing moment and to let you know that I'm a good hanger and she and I are BFF.

Some Background:

Fang of the Sun Dougram (太陽の牙ダグラム Taiyō no Kiba Daguramu) is a 75-episode anime television series, created by Ryosuke Takahashi and Sunrise, and aired in Japan from October 23, 1981 to March 25, 1983 on TV Tokyo.

The series begins in a desert on the colony planet Deloyer, where the remains of a destroyed robot are resting as a red-haired woman is standing in front of it. The woman hallucinates what appears to be a group of armed soldiers alongside the robot in a non-destroyed state. A man named Rocky appears, leading to the woman running into his embrace where she cries tears of joy. After this, the series flashes back to an earlier time, in order to explain the circumstances leading up to the first episode.

Malcontents on the Deloyer colony agitate for the independence of their world from the Earth Federation. In an unexpected coup, the elected Governor declares martial law and sets himself up as absolute dictator. With the approval of the Federation, he rules the planet with an iron fist. In reaction, a ragtag group (including the governor's estranged son) rises in open rebellion, using a powerful prototype Combat Armor: the Dougram. Their goal is the end of the dictatorship and total independence from the Federation's influence.

The story follows the actions of the guerilla freedom fighters known as "The Deloyer 7." The war is fought across the planet Deloyer as the Federation vigorously pursues the rebels. The series is noted for its realistic use of not just the combat armors and support vehicles, but also military tactics. The series also followed a wide range of characters and political intrigue, with many shady characters switching sides throughout the series.

Crinn Cashim is the show's main character. Son of Governor Donan Cashim, he becomes trained in piloting the Soltic H8 “Roundfacer” standard army robot by Jacky Zaltsev, a Federation Ace, because of his father's political connections. When his father appears to be overthrown by a coup led by Colonel Von Stein, he pilots a Roundfacer while Federation forces battle Garcia's forces. He is stunned to learn that his father has actually sided with Von Stein in a secret plan, and eventually becomes angry at his father's forces in how they deal with the rebellion following the coup. Following a meeting with Dr. David Samalin, who introduces him to a combat armor he has designed, the Dougram, Cashim and his friends form The Fang of the Sun and join the rebellion against the Federation.

general characteristics

Unit type: CB (combat) armor

Manufacturer: Soltic Company

Crew: 1 pilot

Overall height: 10.02 meters

Base weight: 30.5 metric tons

Generator type: Rolls-Royce N8E x 1

Generator output: 54 points per second

Maximum running speed: 45 km/h

Continuous operational time: 324 minutes

Armament:

1x hand gun (various types, incl. a grenade launcher or a linear gun)

4x 25mm chain guns in the lower arms

1x shoulder-mounted 9-tube missile pod

Optional equipment: hang glider, camouflage suit, shield

Mechanical designer: Kunio Okawara

The kit (and its revival):

This is another model of an 1:72 Soltic H8 "Roundfacer" (there’s already one in my mecha collection), but it's not an original Takara kit, but rather comes from the Revell re-boxing in the mid Eighties among their Robotech line. It was there part of a kit set, called "Armored Combat Team", and came together with a wheeled vehicle set.

However, this model was originally not built and painted by me. It's rather a generous donation from a good friend who made an attempt into mecha when these kits were distributed. It was built roundabout 30 years(!!!) ago and, AFAIK, never 100% finished; for instance, the hoses around the neck were never mounted, and the handgun had never been never painted.

As the only one of its kind it never found a true place in my friend’s model kit collection, and after some years of disregard it even got damaged: the delicate hip joint got broken, the Roundfacer lost one of its legs. In this sorry status the model rested in a dark corner, collected dust...

...until it was given to me many years ago, unfortunately after I had already gone through my hot mecha phase in the Nineties, in which I resurrected many of my own builds for a second life. So the Roundfacer lay (again) around in my spare parts deposit for some more years, until I finally decided to tackle and revamp it in early 2018. Inspiration strikes in unexpected occasions.

At first I thought that I could just repair the leg and add some parts in order to finish the model, but this plan was soon foiled. However, the biggest issue remained the broken attachment point for the left leg - and it turned out to be more severe than first expected. Initially I tried to mend the problem with a metal pin reinforcement, so that the original pintle could be re-attached again. But then the right leg came off, too, and the whole joint turned out to have become so brittle (it literally fell apart) that it had to be replaced completely!

So I scratched a completely new hip joint and a sturdy attachment construction from styrene profiles and plastic-coated steel wire, which would allow a similar range of movement as the original construction, even though not as flexible - but the Roundfacer would be displayed anyway.

The rest of the kit was otherwise in good shape, and the joints free from paint for high movability. I made some changes and improvements, though. This included the cleaning of the seams on both legs (PSR) and the addition of some surface details with IP profile material. This meant that the original paintwork would have at least party to be renewed, but fortunalety I knew the paints and respective tones my friend had used when he had built the kit.

Another challenge were the characteristic hoses that lay around the Roundfacer's neck like a scarf. I was lucky to find leftover parts from a vintage 1:144 Gundam Zaku in my stash, the fit almost perfectly. Otherwise, they had had to be scratched.

The original missile launcher was re-fitted, even though it had to be fixed since the original attachment construction had also fallen victim to the styrene's brittleness over the ages. The handgun - while complete and available - was replaced by the weapon from a H-102 Bushman, which looks a bit more beefy, like a grenade launcher instead of the OOB assult rifle.

Painting and markings:

I was not certain whether I would re-paint the Roundfacer, which would have meant stripping it off of of its original enamels - but I eventually rejected this for two reasons: First of all I thought and still think that the brittle material of the finished kit made any surgery or chemical intervention hazardous. Esp. the joints were delicate, the loss of the hip joint was already trouble enough. And then I liked the fictional scheme the Roundfacer had been given, a kind of winter camouflage in black and light grey, separated by thin white lines. I simply wanted to keep the original concept, since it looks pretty unusual - and also in order to honor my friend's original approach.

So, instead of a new or additional layer of paint I limited my work to the areas with PSR and added details, and the original (and highly translucent!) decals had to go, too.

The original colors are Humbrol 64 (Light Sea Grey), 33 (Flatblack) and 34 (Flat White). For the repairs the same tones were used, just the pure black (which had suffered in the meantime) was replaced by Revell 6 (Tar Black). The result is pretty good, you hardly recognize the touch-ups.

In order to take the model a step further I also did some thorough weathering, at first with a dark grey acrylic wash, which was also texturized with vertical brush streaks along the flanks, and some later dry-brushing on the edges, emphasizing the robot's shape and details.

The new markings were puzzled together from various sheets, including some Dougram models.

For an even more unique look, and in order to hide some flaws, I decided to add a thin coat of snow – also in line with the small base I created for display (an somewhat in order to justify/explain the paint scheme).

The display base:

This is certainly not a diorama, but I wanted a small, scenic setting that would show surroundings in order to justify the Roundfacer’s strange black/grey scheme.

The foundation is a small MDF wood board, 8” x 6” in size, leftover from a street base gone bad many moons ago. On top of the wooden base, the landscape was sculpted with Styrofoam, using the Roundfacer as benchmark for the overall layout. The idea was to show an unpaved path or street, flanked by rock formations. Due to the base’s small size the rocks had to be limited in size. Since the robot would dominate the scene, anyway, I placed it further in the background.

In the foreground, some space was saved for a small vehicle, which would add some variety and create some kind of scene. Since I did not want to invest too much effort into building or even converting or scratching a scout car or something similar.

After some search I settled upon a modern Bundeswehr “Dingo” from Panzerstahl, a completed plastic model. I found it to be a very good match for the base and the Roundfacer – and for the scene I took it OOB and just re-painted it in black with light grey mottles and dusted it with snow (see below), too.

With the positions of the vehicles determined it was time to add details to the landscape. Most inspiration came from Antarctica and Iceland – you have volcanic rock formations, namely black basalt, with hexagonal structures, and ice and snow on top. Anything that the Roundfacer’s livery reflects.

The hexagonal rocks would be the most prominent structure on the base, and these were created with bits from …pencils. They were tailored to size with the help of a paper cutting machine, then glued into bundles and finally stuck into the Styrofoam ground and arranged into bigger structures.

Once dry the rest of the surface was covered and sculpted with plaster. A coat of thinned plaster was also spread over the pencils, blurring their shapes. On the street, track marks were created with a truck model kit wheel and the Roundfacer.

Once the plaster had dried, the diorama received a coat of thinned white glue, mixed with black paint, into which different grains of sand were strewn. Around the rock formations, broken shell gravel (from a home decoration shop) was used to mimic bigger chunks of rock. Again, things had to dry thoroughly.

Next came an overall basic coat of black – applied with a rattle can, so that the paint would evenly reach all recesses. After more drying time the landscape received washes with dark grey and dull olive green. Into the wet paint some grass fiber and wood pieces were glued, in areas behind the rock formations which would offer some protection against the weather.

Another drying period followed, for the second-to-last treatment: a thin coat of snow (which was also added to the Roundfacer and the car). I prefer white tile grout for this task, because it is easy to handle, sticks well to wet surfaces and remains white and stable in the course of time. For application, I put some of the dry material in a glass and cover it with a nylon stocking, and shake it over the wetted (water with drop of detergent) surface. This makeshift device is easy to handle and has the charm that you can gradually adjust the grit and amount of tile grout that rains down.

The street area received some additional treatment with thinned black and grey paint, simulating a mix of snow and dirt.

In a final step, the base and the vehicles received a coat of acrylic matt varnish from the rattle can for protection and snow fixation.

On the top floor of the abandoned Armour meat packing plant, there's a room full of surreal light fixtures. They're attached to these long vertical pipes, meaning that they were at this height (or close to it) when the place was actually in operation. What's more, they're staggered in this apparently-random configuration throughout the room.

What was happening here that required illumination so close to the floor? What was happening three feet away that required illumination so close to the ceiling? And is that stain on the wall what I think it is?

On the feast of the Finding of the True Cross on May 3rd, the cross on top of the facade of St. John Cantius Church was solemnly blessed and re-attached to the top of the church pediment.

After years of standing against the elements, the cross was in need of restoration. Days earlier, the cross was taken down and re-gilded in time to be blessed and re-attached on May 3rd.

From the solemn blessing of the Cross: "Here on the cross may the splendor of your only-begotten Son, our Lord, sparkle in the gold of your glance; may our redemption from death, the purification of our life, be reflected in the effulgent crystal of the cross."

The British Railways Class 52 is a class of 74 Type 4 diesel-hydraulic locomotives built for the Western Region, of British Railways, between 1961 and 1964. All were given two-word names, the first word being "Western" and thus the type became known as Westerns. They were also known as Wizzos and Thousands. They were built at BR Swindon Works(30) and BR Crewe Works(44), this being completed in 01/1963. It entered service in the unique 'Golden Ochre' livery being allocated to Cardiff, Wales. They had a maximum speed of 90 mph. This fine 'Western' is seen here Oxenhope running around its stock having worked the delayed 11:15 Keighley - Ingrow West - Damems - Damems Jct. - Oakworth - Haworth - Oxenhope service during the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway Diesel Gala, on 21/06/2024. On running around, it would then re-attach and work the 12:10 return service. © Peter Steel 2024.

Chapter Two.. The Brass Doorbell…The Man In The White Clapboard House

A few months on, in the early summer I came across a CCM single speed bike in half decent condition at those same steel bins on Bethune Street. I took it home and found it to be in reasonable running condition. We parked the bike with the dozen or so others, then one day it dawned on me where the bike could go, to that man Fred. At the rickety house on Downie Street nobody answered the door, I remembered it was Monday night and his habit was to attend the free meal put on by the Food Not Bombs group on the steps of City Hall. Sure enough there he was with a huge portion of vegetarian fare on a plate standing as he ate. Quite a bit of the food was slopped on his clothes, he didn’t seem to care. Most of us would take a cloth or napkin and wipe it away, I remember saying to Fred one time about the excess food on his sweater, “are you saving that for later?” The comment went way over his head. When I told him of the purpose of the visit he hurried the rest of his meal and gathered the ‘to go’ containers in his arms and put them in the basket of the bike he was riding. He said, “it’s good thing you have brought me another bike as this one is on its last legs” at which point he showed me the four broken spokes in the rear wheel and the detached cable that operated the derailleur. We walked over to the red Mazda half size pick up truck and placed his old bike in the box at the back along side the new old bike. We stood there and he admired the old CCM giving it more than a casual glance then he hopped in the front passenger seat with his containers of food, I could see he was happy to have a lift, the way two boys would be happy going for a ride in any old jalopy. Back up on the City Hall steps I could see this short woman sneakily looking at us in an odd way as if they were concerned I might bring harm to Fred. The act itself felt somewhat indiscreet I thought, and I thought that a good deed such as I was doing usually went with applause and not apprehension, I wondered why.

At this juncture in life I was doing many acts of service in the community for people who grace the streets, keeping folk on the fringes company requires a keen sense of timing, one cannot always push themselves into a situation. By now my reputation as the Bike Man had begun to follow me around and I must say that the small charity of donating bikes to folk has gone a long way in paving the road of accessibility to folks who for the most part might just shun someone. There are times when in that line of work I questioned my motivations, sure, from time to time I would capture an interesting photograph, a reward for me, but it went much deeper this motivation. I think I had an Epiphany of sorts while doing that little stretch of community service earlier that year in March. The city hosted a St.Patricks day parade, I recall standing out front of the Youth Shelter on Brock Street across from the then named Price Choppers grocery store and observing the streams of folk pouring past heading to George Street to watch and listen to the marching bands, to peer at the floats going by, to show off their Irish colours as well. There were literally thousands of folk filling the sidewalks, poor folks, plain folks, maybe folks one would not see living in a leafier part of town. After that parade I was around the back of the facility in that squared off parcel of land bordered by the Brock Towers, the Youth Shelter, a squat of a rooming house and the Brock Mission. The lot was a no mans land it was strewed with debris, broken bikes, beer bottles, garbage, the odd syringe, it reminded me of late 60’s Detroit after the ghetto was torched. I watched various characters stop in the unfenced area between the Brock Mission and the Youth Shelter and the Brock Towers apartment. A pair of guys lit up a bit of herb which wasn’t so cool as a bunch of the clients at the Shelter were supposed to be drug free. I walked over, like a dick and asked them to move elsewhere explaining my concerns, they obliged me. I recall looking around and seeing all this poverty mixed in with the disgrace that those parcels of land were in and well, like I said, I didn’t feel I needed to feel sorry for my sad set of affairs. The folk I was witnessing did not look as if they would ever be capable of changing their circumstances, it was as if they were caught in a web and well, I guess they were, if you think that life is like a spider.

On a summer night in early July Julie and I were making the rounds downtown, looking for scrap bikes at Albert’s Bins on Bethune, cruising down George Street, checking things out counting people, seeing who was around. We cut up Charlotte Street then right on Bethune then just past Simcoe Street we ran into old Fred riding the Red CCM bike, he flagged us over. “How ya doin?” he drawled, “you’re that fellow, Wilbur isn’t it that gave me that bike some time back, who’s this with you?” referring to Julia. I introduced them. I knew there was a situation to look after just by the sound of his voice and his downcast look. Yet at the same time he showed signs of friendship and welcoming. “Do you think you could come over to my house at 342 Downie Street and take a look at the front porch some students have fooled around with the pillar that holds it up?” He put his bike that was now adorned with that big metal delivery basket into the rear of the red truck and hopped in the front seat after Julia had moved to one of the small fold up rear seats in the back of the Mazda. We were at his place in no time, a few minutes at most. On this drive I realized how ripe Fred was and I looked at the sweat that had come right through his green work shirt, there was not a dry spot on the shirt. His head was wet like a mop and beads of sweat ran down his face into a good weeks growth of gray beard.

At the home we immediately noticed that one of the wooden pillars that holds the front porch up had been knocked off, it rested now against the house, the porch sagged above us, I think the porch may have sagged forever. There was a place in the porch floor’s infrastructure for the four by four pillar to be set into, I bent down and felt the wood, it was so punky, it felt like a marshmallow. Fred insisted I put the pillar where it had come out. Julie and I drove home to our house, I picked up some three and four inch spikes and a hammer and headed back to 342 Downie Street. I pulled for the first time on the antique brass doorbell, it made this incredibly beautiful sounding ring, something like a church bell on a Sunday morning. Fred came to the door, I heard him say “hello, who is it”. I needed him to help hold the pillar while I re tacked it. The nails caught just barely enough to hold the pillar in place, what was important was the placement of the pillar on the ground and the slight effort it required to be set against the outer joist of the heavy porch, it looked as if it would work, again. There was a piece of the last flooring board that had been broken off, a piece about four feet long by a half inch thick, it had splintered. I did not have fine finishing nails to tack it in. Fred was beside himself that this piece was not re attached. I offered to come back in the morning to finish the work as it was getting dark. We said goodbye. He thanked me. I think at that time I became the ‘Head of Maintenance’ at the old white clapboard house.

Pinning down the time a new friendship is born can be a difficult matter. My thinking is that they, friendships that is, form over time, much like a birth of a child. Fred and I seemed to bond almost immediately. That summer I would see him around always with his red CCM bicycle at the Free meals, at Our Space, downtown, midtown, on the bench at the Chamber of Commerce where I once saw him having a chat with Crazy Rita the woman who walked all over town, sticking her finger up at anyone that was caught in her mad glance. It was so odd, there they were on that since removed city bench yakking away in normal English. I said hello to them, “hi Fred, hi Rita” and she blurted out, my name’s not Rita, and she got up and sort of snarled and spit on the ground and left in a huff, it was the oddest thing, the way she spoke in normal tones with Fred, the angry, nasty, ‘go fuck yourself Crazy Rita’ was not in there for those few moments. Fred headed over to the No Frills store to buy some Chapmans ice cream that was on sale for a dollar, nothing else just a rectangle carton of ice cream. I suppose he drove home and ate it all as I would later find out in life that though there were four fridges in the house, none of them worked. Oh, the one upstairs, the stairs that were like an Alfred Hitchcock movie, there was an old Frigidaire that hummed, it did not keep things cold except in Fred’s imagination.

The summer was hot, Fred had asked where we lived and from time to time he would drop by, it got to be that he was dropping by a lot and well, he was making leering sorta comments about our youngest daughter Jade who was a mere sixteen at the time, well, I thought it was inappropriate that a man in his late sixties would have his eye on a kid. I’d tell him about that behavior, it was unacceptable. To stop it, I banned him from coming over for a full month. We found out from an outside source that Fred had been seen in the area and that made me very cautious with him. When the month was up both Julie and I put him on probation, one visit a week, Friday afternoons between three and five, an added regulation was that he not mention either of our daughters names, Jade or Catherine (which was actually Christine). The bike shop called Lumpy Bikes is in full swing in the summers so we were used to company. As ripe as he was Fred seemed to be filling some friendship gaps in my life that had been created by the untimely deaths of three brothers and a few good friends, Hime and Dirk. Close friends are very difficult to replace, I don’t know that you ever do, I have this odd theory that when a friends space is made open suddenly by a death another person will come and fill it in time, as if sent from somewhere, at least, that has been my experience.

On these visits I would feed Fred chips or pretzels and a cold can of ginger ale. One time he come over and he helped himself to a can of pop in the garage fridge. I chastised him, and asked him to wait for the host to offer a drink, he seemed to understand, he never went in the fridge again without my say so. I worried when he would choke on the dry pretzels and turn purple, he had a swallowing problem. You could not share food that his hands had been in, at times there were brown spots on them and I must admit it was difficult to be close to him. Other friends would come by the shop and make those whew grimaces and give me the look, they knew better than to say anything, Fred was the way he was, and well, you took him that way or you could leave. He loved the dog Bud E. Bud E would lick him in the face and lie at his feet knowing that sooner or later Fred would drop a chip or other such morsel. One day I gave Fred a plate of fresh ripe strawberries, it was one of those times after I had begun giving him shaves and haircuts. I went in the house for something and when I came out, the berries were no longer on the plate. Then I happened to see these two big red globs on the ground in front of the dogs nose. I said to Fred, “how were the berries?” he looked at me and said, “they were good!” At which point he looked on the ground the same time I did and realized the dog had not ate the berries. We would have tea, Earl Grey tea and this one time I went in the garage and caught Fred out of the corner of my eye scooping the two tea bags from the outside garbage where I had placed them and watched him sticking them in his pocket, now that’s frugal! I never said a word, he knew me by then and he volunteered, “I’ll have a cup of tea with them tonight at home.”

That entire summer I was working on the first photography exhibit, Dark Hallways and Other Lost Places in my Soul-Candid Reflections on the Fringes of Town. It remains my masterpiece. Five years later on I am asked to provide copies of photos of the men in the essay for various purposes, to mark a death, to use in yet another crusade to improve the lives of Street People, those who grace our streets. The images were collected over a twenty year period and it is not wrong to say that those images somehow reflect a part of my soul. Religious folk have been heard whispering, ‘he is the Witness’, a term used I believe in Evangelical circles, others have said in hushed tones, ‘He’s doing the work of Christ the Saviour’ in fact a former Catholic priest said as much when he saw one of the essays of a particularly downtrodden man. Good Work does not in itself have to have a religious source, it can just be Good Work.

Sunday mornings I made it a habit to give Fred a call and ask him gentle questions about his life. This research traces itself back to my first meeting with Fred. I was awestruck by his abilities to recollect inate details about persons lives. That day at the Albert’s Bins he told me about his dad, how old he was when he died, where he died, the cause of death, the time of death, the date of the death, the department he worked in at the GE. He also told me about his Uncle John Grisdale, when he died, how old he was, where he worked, where he was buried, his relationship with Freds mom Eleanor and so on and so on. I can’t really say he was showing off that day, just that there was a certainty to what he was saying along with a degree of pride that he could recall these facts. My old mom has only been dead about four years and darn, well, I can’t recall the date she died. Just this week one of my nicer Facebook friends posted about the death of her mom, thirty or so years back, and well, I thought that was pretty neat, not just that she posted it and thereby set off hundreds of others searching for the sorrow and love that accompanies a moms passing but that she remembers that date.

We figured out after a bit of chatting about Fred that he has a degree of autism, today they have another name for it, I think it is Aspergers Spectrum which covers a lot of folk who behave in a way different than the norm. On one of the first Sunday morning calls I asked Fred about going to school. As a young boy he lived over by Lock Street, his family, the Maybees shared about a third of this big place that looked as if it was once a mansion, I know this because there is a concrete area where a horse drawn coach wagon would pull up and let the passengers out on a raised platform, it’s still there, a century later. Fred could recall his teachers name in Grade Six, Sister Theresa. He said the nuns were very strict. That school burned down he said, the conversation roamed all over the place, I found out that he had worked for almost three years at the Brinton Carpet factory in the south end near Lock 19. He told me he quit because he was not being offered a day shift as other workers had been. Fred knew exactly to the minute when he left the plant for good, I could look it up on the tape I made of that conversation and tell you, not only that he knew the wage he made on evening shift, it wasn’t much, about a dollar an hour or so, there was a shift premium for evening work. I’m told that every penny he made he would put in a bank account. When I asked what the lake was like then, did he go swimming in summers or skating on it in the winter he did not respond. He never spoke of games, of baseball or hockey, never and I find that quite sad. I know from historical photos that the lake was different then, with a large lumber yard where the red brick condo is located and a meat processing plant on the lakes edge and other plants further up towards the town.

Summer turned into fall then fall became winter, for safety on the road reasons we asked Fred to curtail his visits, besides the bike shop was now closed and the family had made a decision to keep him out of the house, they said “his smell lingers, has he been in here?” I could not out vote them, though I was by this time accustomed to his odours the others were not, as well there was that thorny issue with his lechering, a few times over the summer I had chastised him when he brought the girls names up. The woman who had been observing us at the City Hall the night I gave him the bike, warned me that she had seen him lurking near our home, so that put an end to any uninvited visits. Everyone here at home was more comfortable. If I wanted to see Fred I could run into him at the Our Space day shelter where folk went for meals and company. Late that year, it closed down which affected a lot of people who had found some semblance of life at the shelter. There were bad feelings between the directors of the Brock Mission and the Our Space group. From my observations, many of the calls to police were for folk who were in a jam at Our Space. Some of their clients were into drugs and the issues that can have, there was also fighting on adjacent properties, the old legion building that house the two groups had a spacious front area that overlapped onto the street, many clients of both groups would sit out front, have smokes and come and go into the facility. I would think a lot of calls were made to the Brock about this scenario and to politicians as well. The relaxed atmosphere reflected poorly on the group managing the building. Their mandate was to provide a bed for the men in a dorm like setting who were without places to sleep, wash and take meals. The two groups were like water and oil. It was a sad day when Our Space closed but given the situation no other solution was available. Not only were those folks without a day shelter and a soup kitchen, I found myself without the opportunities to mingle and observe which was important at that time as I was busy assembling a portfolio of photos to use in an upcoming exhibit. Around that time a couple of the benches in the downtown area were removed by the city.

To be continued..look for Chapter Three..Where did all the Benches Go

I'll enjoy these later. If you're attached, hope you have a good night. If you're not, don't give up ;-)

Back on 7th January 1995 and a delightful little tour, the Teign-Dart run by Pathfinder with a Class 31/4 from Wolverhampton down to Devon for a couple of Branches including the South Devon Railway.

The train was restricted to 7 vehicles so a single 31/4 (31417) sufficed (Just!) It took a staggering - and I mean staggering - 20mins to cover the 9 miles from Newton Abbot to Totnes! Here the train was propelled onto the South Devon railway for 20110 (D8110) to take it up to Buckfastleigh.

We see the train at Totnes after coming off the SDR with 37695 doing the honours, whilst 31417 re-attaches itself to the front of the train again for the return run to the Midlands via the Heathfield branch.

These insects clearly "belong" on this butterfly weed seed pod. They're attached to it, and they are colored like the flowers. They are nymphs (not mature) because later, the wings were larger, and the insects appeared darker. South Carolina, Pickens County, upstate, Summer 2005. The pod is roughly a decimeter/3 inches long. Like milkweed, a close relative, butterfly weed seed pods split open and seeds, each with its own parachute, are released.

Larger sizes available.

To see more flowers on this plant, see this photo.

Go here for a close-up of the flowers of butterflyweed, and of what I believe is the same kind of insect, also in my wife's flower garden (perhaps the same plant) in a different year.

CAMELIA (Japonica).

Ontluikende camelia, budding camellia, camélia en herbe,angehende Kamelie.

Budding camellia, budding camellia, camellia and re-attached camellia.

Camélia bourgeonnant, camélia bourgeonnant, camélia et camélia recollé.

Angehende Kamelie, angehende Kamelie, Kamelie und wiederangesetzte Kamelie.

The cable frayed a few weeks ago. I thought maybe i could pop it open, cut and re-attach it, but opening the plastic case was not easy.

Let me know if you think the skirt pieces are worth keeping! I quite liked the way she was before (see tumblr link for her old version) - a little slimmer looking. But when I stuck the Surge helmets on, I thought "Oh no, this is...good??" so I'm tempted to keep it. Even with the non-purist connection. They're attached via a hairtie :P

The kit (and its revival):

This is another model of an 1:72 Soltic H8 "Roundfacer" (there’s already one in my mecha collection), but it's not an original Takara kit, but rather comes from the Revell re-boxing in the mid Eighties among their Robotech line. It was there part of a kit set, called "Armored Combat Team", and came together with a wheeled vehicle set.

However, this model was originally not built and painted by me. It's rather a generous donation from a good friend who made an attempt into mecha when these kits were distributed. It was built roundabout 30 years(!!!) ago and, AFAIK, never 100% finished; for instance, the hoses around the neck were never mounted, and the handgun had never been never painted.

As the only one of its kind it never found a true place in my friend’s model kit collection, and after some years of disregard it even got damaged: the delicate hip joint got broken, the Roundfacer lost one of its legs. In this sorry status the model rested in a dark corner, collected dust...

...until it was given to me many years ago, unfortunately after I had already gone through my hot mecha phase in the Nineties, in which I resurrected many of my own builds for a second life. So the Roundfacer lay (again) around in my spare parts deposit for some more years, until I finally decided to tackle and revamp it in early 2018. Inspiration strikes in unexpected occasions.

At first I thought that I could just repair the leg and add some parts in order to finish the model, but this plan was soon foiled. However, the biggest issue remained the broken attachment point for the left leg - and it turned out to be more severe than first expected. Initially I tried to mend the problem with a metal pin reinforcement, so that the original pintle could be re-attached again. But then the right leg came off, too, and the whole joint turned out to have become so brittle (it literally fell apart) that it had to be replaced completely!

So I scratched a completely new hip joint and a sturdy attachment construction from styrene profiles and plastic-coated steel wire, which would allow a similar range of movement as the original construction, even though not as flexible - but the Roundfacer would be displayed anyway.

The rest of the kit was otherwise in good shape, and the joints free from paint for high movability. I made some changes and improvements, though. This included the cleaning of the seams on both legs (PSR) and the addition of some surface details with IP profile material. This meant that the original paintwork would have at least party to be renewed, but fortunalety I knew the paints and respective tones my friend had used when he had built the kit.

Another challenge were the characteristic hoses that lay around the Roundfacer's neck like a scarf. They had to be scratched, and this was done with short pieces cut off of a 3mm styrene tube which were threaded onto a wobbly mech hose - which is actually Xmas decoration material. But thanks to the material's rather fluid consistency the hoses remain very flexible and can sit tightly along the head.

The original missile launcher was refitted, even though it had to be fixed since the original attachment construction had also fallen victim to the styrene's brittleness over the ages. The handgun - while complete and available - was replaced by the weapon from a H-102 Bushman, which looks a bit more beefy.

I was not certain whether I would re-paint the Roundfacer, which would have meant stripping it off of of its original enamels - but I eventually rejected this for two reasons: First of all I thought and still think that the brittle material of the finished kit made any surgery or chemical intervention hazardous. Esp. the joints were delicate, the loss of the hip joint was already trouble enough. And then I liked the fictional scheme the Roundfacer had been given, a kind of winter camouflage in black and light grey, separated by thin white lines. I simply wanted to keep the original concept, since it looks pretty unusual - and also in order to honor my friend's original approach.

So, instead of a new or additional layer of paint I limited my work to the areas with PSR and added details, and the original (and highly translucent!) decals had to go, too.

The original colors are Humbrol 64 (Light Sea Grey), 33 (Flatblack) and 34 (Flat White). For the repairs the same tones were used, just the pure black (which had suffered in the meantime) was replaced by Revell 6 (Tar Black). The result is pretty good, you hardly recognize the touch-ups.

In order to take the model a step further I also did some thorough weathering, at first with a dark grey acrylic wash, which was also texturized with vertical brush streaks along the flanks, and some later dry-brushing on the edges, emphasizing the robot's shape and details.

The new markings were puzzled together from various sheets, including some Dougram models.

For an even more unique look, and in order to hide some flaws, I decided to add a thin coat of snow – also in line with the small base I created for display (an somewhat in order to justify/explain the paint scheme).

This picture isn't perfect. The ones I couldn't take a few seconds later could have been because this beauty proceeded to pose for me on a nearby branch with nothing in between.

But the Nikon stopped.

After 2 years of on-and-off-again trying I just don't really 'love' my D7100. Metering is inconsistent. Maybe I should just shoot in manual mode and set everything manually. I don't know. But it's also made a habit of stopping unexpectedly, usually at the worst possible moments, and then only working again once the lens has been removed and re-attached. (Yes, tried different lenses and different memory cards too, but the problem persists).

The D7100 is the best Nikon make unless you go full-frame. But I wish it was better in a few areas. And why should we have to go full frame to get a higher-level camera, and have fewer pixels on the actual bird. Makes little sense to me.

Doubt mine could be repaired because the problem is intermittent. So now tried cleaning camera-vs-lens contacts, which shouldn't be necessary because they looked very clean, and we'll see if things improve, or not.

Almost all my Nikons had a mind of their own, but none more than this one. They take excellent pictures, when it suits them.

Now the reason for trying D7100 again = Tamron 150-600mm. The lens seems good so far. Actually think it's quite a winner for the money!

dbz2305 and dbz2301 try to rectify a issues,wellard,11/5/2025

From back when he still had a tail! (Hopefully the tail will be re-attached soon.)

We put a shelf that we got from a yardsale in the window to create a lot of extra private storage space that only exists behind the old shutters of the window. It kicks ass. It's also possible to put stuff behind the top of the shelf too -- though we lost a few items down the sides, then plugged those up with old plastic bags {and a flat piece of coardboard at tht top}.

(If I really wanted to do it right, I would remove the shutters, and re-attach them about a half inch forward. They don't quite close perfectly. Yard sale shelf is just slightly too deep.)

painting.

construction, shelves, shutters, window.

bedroom, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.

May 17, 2016.

... Read my blog at ClintJCL at wordpress.com

... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL at wordpress.com

BACKSTORY: We started out trying to paint the radiator in the bedroom brown, because it was looking pretty awful, but eventually we realized the futility of removing the old paint, or even bothering. We weren't even using the radiator as we had switched away from the boiler heat to a heat pump when we had the addition built in 2006. So we finally removed it for good. Our friend Angel's boyfriend, Grayson, took it, because he plans to melt it down and make art out of it!

14th Apr 1984

F & W Railtours

Locos Used - 25042, 25083, 37038, 37089, 50007 & 50040

Locos & Route

50007 Plymouth – Exeter St Davids – Taunton – Bristol Temple Meads – Bristol Parkway – Cheltenham Spa – Worcester Shrub Hill – Droitwich Spa – Kidderminster – Stourbridge Junction – Aston – Stechford – Coventry where I joined the tour, and where the pair of Rats took over

25042 + 25083 Coventry – Rugby – Bletchley – Claydon LNE Jn – Aylesbury – Amersham – London Marylebone a storming run reaching 97mph at one point (with 90mph max Mk. 1 stock :)

50040 London Marylebone – Neasden South – West Ruislip where the loco ran round, returning into London -

West Ruislip – Greenford West Jn – Ealing Broadway – Acton Wells Jn – Willesden Junction HL – Kensal Rise – Gospel Oak – Junction Road Jn – South Tottenham East Jn – Channelsea Jn – Stratford Low Level – North Woolwich At North Woolwich, the train was taken over by a pair of 37s

37038 + 37089 North Woolwich – Stratford Low Level – Channelsea Jn – Temple Mills East – Lea Bridge At Lea Bridge, 50040 was re-attached at the rear of the train and picked up the tour again...

50040 Lea Bridge – Channelsea Jn – Stratford – Forest Gate Jn – Barking East Jn – Rainham – West Thurrock Jn where the 50 ran round the train and for the return leg

50040 West Thurrock Jn – Ockendon – Upminster - Barking East Jn – Forest Gate Jn – Stratford – Dalston Western Jn – Camden Road – Gospel Oak – Willesden Junction HL – Acton Wells Jn – Ealing Broadway – Reading (where I left the tour) – Didcot Parkway – Swindon – Westerleigh Jn – Bristol Parkway – Filton Jn – Stapleton Road – Bristol Temple Meads – Weston-super-Mare – Taunton – Exeter St Davids – Plymouth

The railtour, organised by F & W Railtours, covered some interesting track, the highlight for me being a Class 50 '50040 Leviathan' to North Woolwich! More on the railtour here: www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/80s/840414fw.htm

Disregard the large mural of the Cadillac Escalade and concentrate on the little billboard of the kid at the right of the green building. VIEW LARGE to see the ad for Visa cards. The kid is sticking his tongue on something frozen (like a pole?). It looks more like it will take VISA and a team of surgeons to re-attach the poor little kid's tongue! (LOL!)

D200/40122 at Kings Lynn on Saturday 9 May 1987 after arrival from Liverpool Street on 1G50, the "Anglian Diesel Farewell" railtour. After running round its train here D200 would haul the tour to Harwich Town station, where 37138 would take over for a trip to Lowestoft, and then to Norwich. D200 would be re-attached at Norwich for a non-stop run back to Liverpool Street.

The N-1 was a heavy lift rocket intended to deliver payloads beyond low Earth orbit, acting as the Soviet counterpart to the NASA Saturn V rocket. This heavy lift booster had the capability of lifting very heavy loads into orbit, designed with manned extra-orbital travel in mind. Its first stage is the most powerful rocket stage ever built.

The N1-L3 version was developed to compete with the United States Apollo Saturn V to land a man on the Moon.

N1-L3 was under-funded and under-tested, and started development in October 1965, almost four years after the Saturn V. The project was badly derailed by the death of its chief designer Sergei Korolev in 1966. After four failed launch attempts, the program was suspended in 1974, and in 1976 was officially cancelled.

This is a Block V and Soyuz L3 complex of the third stage.

Soyuz L3 complex ( Soyuz LOK spaceship , LK lunar excursion module ,Block D ) is equipped with in the fairing.

're Attached to the tip is the escape rocket.

In our veg box this week we had these purple Kohl Rabi, my children call them the alien vegetable (hence the title!).

One of numerous members of the brassica family, a pale green or purple, bulb-shaped vegetable that tastes a bit like a mild turnip. It's grown more for its bulb-like stem than for its greens leaves, although these can be eaten too if they're attached when you buy it. Kohlrabi can be substituted for turnip in any recipe, and is good steamed or boiled, sliced and stir-fried and added to stews or soups. [bbc.co.uk food glossary]

These baby screech owls were younger and in a separate habitate from the first ones I saw. The one on the left was making some noise, as if to let me know he was looking out for this fluffy lot!! There were also a couple of adults in with them to watch over them and mentor them in the ways of the Screech Owl!

Today was the day! It was my first trip to Save Our Seabirds in Sarasota, FL. www.saveourseabirds.org Wow! I am still reeling! I think it may be one of the most awe inspiring experiences of my life. I know, I’m a nerd, but I am utterly sincere. My husband Derrick went as well, so that made it all the more fabulous, sharing the experience.

Our new friend Lynn, the Certified Wildlife Rehabilitator and in my book Certified Sandhill Crane Wrangler, met us there. We got an inside look at this fantastic facility. I have to tell you, I was OVER THE TOP impressed with its cleanliness and their philosophy of operation. The absolute goal is re-entry into the wild, though of course there are some who can never go back. Lee (Leigh? I’m sorry if I am spelling your name incorrectly) who operates the facility is one of the best people I have ever met. She showed us everything, and at every turn, she was feeding a bird. I felt like a child, as I saw so many things for the first time, and I loved Lee on sight!

Lee took us to some wood enclosures where baby and young screech owls were housed. To my surprise, she ushered me in and left me alone inside with them. I felt like I was stepping into the labyrinth, and I thought “Where will this take me, literally, emotionally, spiritually?” It was dark, and I could not, nor would not use my flash on dozing baby owls, of course. I didn’t start shooting for a couple of minutes. I was taking them all in. Some were in the shadows, some in dappled sunlight, some up at the top of the habitat, and all looking at me with their BIG pale eyes! It was like being in a house of Furbys! It was utterly surreal, and I am getting goose bumps just thinking about it. I cried…tears of joy when I came out their space.

Of course we also saw Sandhill Cranes, my personal connection to Lynn and Save Our Seabirds through Mama Cherry and her paperclip incident. The injuries are tough stuff to see my Flickr friends, and most of them happen on golf courses! Broken legs which often have to be amputated, head injuries, blindness, broken beaks…it is heart wrenching.

They make prosthetic legs for them, which helps, but have to be re-attached often. This prosthetic leg thing has had me puzzling ever since. This is going to be a long ongoing story, so step in if you dare!

I asked Lee, what she needed besides money and chicken? A joke because they go through so much chicken for the birds of prey it would blow your mind, and money being obvious!! She said she needs a computer, preferably a lap top so she can work on it at the sanctuary and at her home. She documents all of these birds, their injuries, their care and their outcome, and I think she does it all on paper, or on a PC so old that she can hardly open the internet!!! My wheels are turning, and I have a lot of ideas, but of course I welcome any input and ideas you all may have as well!

One of Lee’s most important messages is that if you hook a seabird when you’re fishing, “DON’T CUT THE LINE!!” Please to go their website for capture and removal information. You can do this, and if you do not, it is VERY likely they will experience grievous damage and most likely death.

***All rights to my images are STRICTLY reserved. Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing my images or if you are an educator or non-profit interested in use. copyright KathleenJacksonPhotography 2009***

I made this one of a kind sweater by reconstructing this out of a vintage, over-sized cardigan sweater made for men

This Lovely, button-front sweater features a V neckline. I removed the original sleeves and made them more fitted. Sleeves have cuffs. To give this sweater a more indie look (see photo 2 & 3 for reference), I re-attached the sleeves by placing the stitches on the outside of the shoulder seam. I surrounded the front-neckline with a series of handcrafted flowers. Each flower has a black beaded center. Two pockets located near hem. I removed the original cuffed hem & re-applied it with the stitching on the outside-Very unique & pretty cardigan for layering :-)

So do you think he came up with this meme as he was being wheeled into surgery to have his penis re-attached?

This project was inspired by Gwen Marston's work and by a bundle of fabrics I curated for the Fabric Spark's October Monthly Sparks and then it just developed. I think I will take that bottom white piece off and re-attach it without the waves. My improv work is susceptible to wavy borders as I cut the pieces free hand for the most part and those that had ruler cuts, I cut again to make them not quite straight. It is about 60" square and I am eager to quilt it next.

3237 HAS ARRIVED IN JUNEE FROM GRIFFITH, IT WILL BE TURNED & SERVICED IN THE JUNEE ROUNDHOUSE BEFORE RE-ATTACHING TO THE TOUR TRAIN & HEAD BACK TO GRIFFITH.

It's been a little while since I kept you all updated! I've been so busy with the kits and college, but I'm ready to start showing a commission I'm working on for an excellent client.

This is the 1/72nd Finemolds Millennium Falcon which is a really incredible kit (900 parts!!) but we decided to correct as much as possible and accurize it to the filming model. So far John and I have created a new jawbox, and today I laser-cut a specially designed MDF frame structure for the correct mandibles to be set into (I forgot to take any photos of it oh dear).

The rear engine deck has been cut out, and will be re-attached with a magnetic frame so that all the electronics can be easily accessed

A Photo Where I Recognize Myself…

March 8, 2023: This week, I’ve been #reading about #love and the concept of #LettingGo. If you follow my highlights here, you’ve likely seen my sharing of posts that examine #selflove and #selfcare.

Embedded in the concept of unconditional love is the idea of letting go, or of letting things be. Kain Ramsay, in his @udemy course, #Mindfulness Practitioner Diploma, describes how: “Letting go is a way of simply accepting things as they are. Let your experience be what it is and practice observing it from #moment to moment. Sometimes things end, and sometimes people end.”

It’s one of the nine attitudinal foundations of mindfulness, as described by Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn. Specifically, Kabat-Zinn notes how this process can be painful, “… but the letting go is actually the doorway to freedom, and it’s something you don’t do once - it’s something you practice over and over and over again, moment by moment by moment. Every time you catch yourself clinging to something you remind yourself that it’s possible to just let it be, and to just let it go. The breath can remind us of that because every time we take a breath in, we have to let it go.”

@leeoralexandra notes how, “…whenever a challenge comes up, just let go, and you’ll open more. And that’s my path, it’s the path of the ocean, of love, of seeing God in everybody. And one of the things stops us from seeing God in everybody is attachment. Attachments come from the ego. Do you feel you can only be happy if you have this person in your life? Or this thing? Or this experience? Or this event? Or maybe it’s an attachment to who you want to be or who you see yourself as, to who you think you are.“ Alexandra also notes how “Our attachments are nightmares. When we’re attached, we are at the whim of our attachments and that’s such a heavy way to live…“

It’s something I’ve thought a lot about in recent weeks, especially as I find myself at a kind of a crossroads in my life - one where I can continue on the path where anxiety and depression continue to weigh down my life and muddy up my reflections and decisions. @aarondoughty44 explains, “…the key to this is realizing that it’s the #power of coming back to self, and not #abandoning yourself any longer. The most #magnetic thing you can do is to pull back your #energy, to be and feel safe in your own body… that allows you to heal (and in situations where another is involved), and it allows them (to heal), go through and get the space they’re asking for.”

It’s something that terrifies me. In a @coursera program on mindfulness I’ve been working through, it asked us to rate the level of difficulty we found an attitudinal foundation to be in terms of implementing it in our life. In terms of actualized practice, I rated it a 9/10, or very difficult. But ultimately, it’s a concept I know I need to do some serious work on.

67/365.

#beyourownbeloved #recognizingourselves

I worked close to Warrington Arpley for many years and would always have a look over to the stabling point when I arrived in the morning. Monday February 19th 1996 had a surprise in store with three European Passenger Services (EPS) 37's lined up. Suffice it to say at lunchtime they got recorded.

My friend Harry Needle informs me he now owns all three.

* They were once a fleet of twelve locomotives involved in what transpired to be a rather unfortunate chapter in Channel Tunnel passenger service history.

In November 1990, "European Passenger Services Ltd" (EPS) was set-up as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the British Rail Board to manage the proposed daytime international passenger services between London, British provincial cities, Paris, and Brussels. These were to be procured as a joint effort between EPS, SNCF, and SNCB, and the wheels were set in motion on 18th December 1989 when a contract was signed with GEC-Alsthom for the construction of thirty Trans Manche Super Trains.

In addition to the daytime services, a series of overnight sleeper trains were also planned to run through the Chunnel. These were promoted under the "Nightstar" brand and to manage this project, "European Night Services Ltd" (ENS) was established in 1992. ENS was a collaboration between EPS, SNCF, Deutsch-Bahn (DB), and Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Netherlands Railways). London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Plymouth, Swansea, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Cologne, Dortmund, and Frankfurt were all outlined as potential recipients of the sleeper trains, these of which are looked at in greater detail in the Nightstar section of the website. However, to set the scene, a £120,000,000 order was placed with a reluctant GEC Alsthom at Washwood Heath, Birmingham, for the construction of 139 passenger vehicles for the sleeper operation.

"Nightstar" services from Glasgow and Edinburgh would head south via West Coast and East Coast Main Lines respectively, and remarshalling of the trains would take place at Kensington Olympia before onward travel to the Chunnel. To haul the sleepers along these electrified routes and for passage through the Chunnel, seven Class 92 locomotives were ordered from Brush Traction Ltd at Loughborough in July 1990, each costing £3,000,000. However, those "Nighstar" trains emanating from Plymouth and Swansea, which used the Great Western Main Line to reach London, required diesel power as far as Kensington Olympia. The option of procuring a brand new diesel locomotive for this purpose was initially considered, but subsequently dropped. This was because the cost of building a relatively small number of diesel locomotives equipped with Electric Train Supply (ETS) to form a dedicated "Nightstar" fleet would be very expensive. As a result, ENS turned to the existing British Rail pool of diesels and in 1994, twelve Class 37 locomotives were selected from the TrainLoad freight sector to form a dedicated fleet for the Nightstar operation.

British Rail Maintenance Limited (BRML) Doncaster was awarded the contract to overhaul and modify the selected Class 37 locomotives. This included a complete overhaul of mechanical components, separation of the crank shaft from the engine, and bodywork restoration; known in the trade as a "G" exam. The bogie sets on all twelve were replaced by those salvaged from withdrawn Class 50 diesels and re-gearing increased the top speed from 80 MPH to 90 MPH. Fitted with vacuum braking when first introduced, all Class 37s were later converted to dual braking (i.e. vacuum and air); however, the vacuum equipment was removed from the "Nightstar" locomotives during overhaul and UIC (Union International des Chemin de fer) air brake pipes incorporated. ENS 61-way through train jumper connections were installed to make the locomotives and "Nightstar" carriages compatible with each other, Railway Clearing House (RCH) communication jumpers fitted, and standard coupling gear was retained.

In addition to those modifications already mentioned, the selected Class 37s were also wired for Electric Train Supply. However, the power for this would not come from the locomotives themselves, but rather a pool of generator vans dedicated to the "Nightstar" service. Five BR Mk 3 ex-sleeper cars were selected for conversion to this role. Originally, 120 of these vehicles had been ordered for construction at Derby from 1981 to 1984 for a market which was already in steady decline. Faster InterCity daytime services, combined with competing air travel, had eaten into the railway sleeper train business and the provision of Mk 3 vehicles for the latter, capable of 100 MPH running, was an attempt to regain some ground. Sadly, the demand never reached a level to justify such a large carriage fleet, which saw many of the Mk 3 sleeping cars become surplus to requirements early on.

For their new role on the Nightstar services, the ex-sleeper Mk 3 vehicles were to be equipped with a pair of diesel generators and associated fuel tank, and be re-wired for ETS operation. Technical details aside, the most interesting aspect of these carriages was how they would work in conjunction with the Class 37/6 fleet. To ensure the schedules of the Swansea and Plymouth sleepers ran to time, the plan was to have two diesel locomotives fronting each "Nightstar" formation, the latter of which would comprise seven passenger vehicles. The customary arrangement would then have been to sandwich the Mk 3 generator car in-between the sleeper stock and locomotives on all workings. However, from an operational viewpoint, this would result in a complex shunting arrangement at the end of each journey: not only would the Class 37s have to run round the coaching stock, but they would also have to switch to the opposite end of the generator car in a separate movement and re-attach it to the front of the train. The solution devised was novel and the final proposal was to have the generator car sandwiched in-between the locomotives, as per the below formation:

Therefore, this "top-and-tailing" of the generator car ensured that simple runaround manoeuvres at the end of each journey ultimately had a locomotive leading.

The Class 37/6 fleet would also not necessarily be limited to the "Great Western" lines. Engineering works on the ECML/WCML which required traversing non-electrified sections of route would call for diesel haulage on Scottish sleepers. On the daytime side of the operation, the locomotives could also be used, too: should the usual West London Line course between North Pole Depot and Waterloo International be blocked, Class 37/6s were intended to front TMSTs on a diversionary route from Kensington Olympia to Clapham Junction, via Willesden, Acton Central, and Barnes Bridge. The diesels could also be used to haul any failed "Eurostar" units. Given that the locomotives kept standard coupling gear, "barrier" wagons were procured to enable the fleet to be coupled to the TMSTs.

On 31st January 1995 the first of the overhauled "Nightstar" Class 37s, No. 37601, was formally handed over to EPS at Doncaster Works. The upper third of the bodyside was painted in "Executive Grey", the lower bodyside in light grey, and the roof in dark blue. Cast Channel Tunnel roundels were carried on both sides, and at one end the locomotive number and "EPS" branding was applied below the cab window. Snowploughs were fitted, but by May 1995 these had been removed, and by October of the same year the "Executive Grey" of the upper bodyside had been replaced by a lighter "Flint Grey" shade.

Official allocation of the type from the outset was to St Philips Marsh Depot (Bristol), which was geographically suitable to cover Plymouth and Swansea sleepers from a single base. Whilst the fleet could also be stabled at North Pole Depot for any Class 373 drags, maintenance work on them here was prohibited, because the site did not have the required environmental protection in the event of a diesel spillage. Therefore, some members were stationed at nearby Old Oak Common.

For the electric side of the operation, the first Class 92 was formally handed over to EPS at Waterloo International on 1st February 1995. On 29th February of the following year, the British Rail portions of EPS and ENS entities became part of the private consortium "London & Continental Railways", which had been announced as the preferred bidder to build and operate the proposed Channel Tunnel Rail Link. Whilst daytime London to Paris/Brussels services had been running since 14th November 1994, the "Regional Eurostar" and "Nightstar" operations were still distant.

L&CR made known that the existing "Eurostar" services were carrying much lower passenger numbers than originally forecast and soon after construction of the CTRL got underway, the company found itself in financial difficulties. This resulted in the Government stepping in to assist in February 1999, taking a large share of the firm at this time. Cost-cutting was the order of the day and in 1997, both "Nightstar" and "Regional Eurostar" schemes were put on hold. Their fate was sealed on 9th July 1999, when the two were formally cancelled.

What now for the stock procured for the "Nightstar" operation? The sleeper vehicles were placed into secure storage at MOD Kineton, Warwickshire, and the Class 92s offered for sale. No buyer could be found for the latter and the seven-strong fleet went into storage at Crewe Electric Depot. The Class 37/6 fleet had started to disband as early as 1997, when the "Nightstar" scheme was initially put on hold. In that year, Nos. 37607 to 37612 were taken on by "Direct Rail Services" (DRS), a freight operator established in 1995 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of "British Nuclear Fuels" for the movement of nuclear material. The rest were retained by EPS for TMST drags, although the pool was further reduced in size in 2002 when another three class members, Nos. 37602, 37605, and 37606, became part of the DRS fleet.

Nos. 37601, 37603, and 37604 remained at North Pole Depot as "Thunderbird" locomotives. On 7th October 2007, maintenance of the Class 373 formations was transferred to Temple Mills Depot prior to Section 2 of the CTRL from St Pancras to Southfleet Junction opening to scheduled passenger traffic. That saw No. 37604 being cast off to DRS in the previous week. Section 2 of the CTRL opened on 14th November 2007, which resulted in the last two EPS Class 37/6s, Nos. 37601 and 37603, being taken off L&CR's books. They became part of the DRS fleet early the following year.

** With thanks to Kent Rail for information.

Couldn't resist the eggs again, but unfortunately, they're attached. No idea what's in the sack or the bottle.

Today's story and sketch "by me" you see Provis Gofish piloting the GX1000 Sport Orbiter, on it's first successful,

test flight here at the GX (Gofish Xperimental intergalactic Scooter factory), Secret beach test track,

near Encintas California.

This is actually the third test, the first two were piloted by their regular test pilot, 007 Rescue Randy, but after the

second mishap, and pretty serious explosion, Randy was shipped up to Bayside Idaho to the Test Dummy rehab center, in

the care of agent 002 Larry, who has just sent, a message, Randy will be fine after applying a fresh batch of flesh

coating, and re attaching a leg and both arms. Amazing what 002 can do with a Dummy, some flex flesh bondo and a spray gun.

But those are stories for another time. This new super GX1000 was the year long collaboration of Fast Fred the human

glider designer, and the Provis Galaxy scooter manufacturing, and moon pie rush delivery company. The Moon Pie division

was in need of nimble get in and out of orbit quick machine, for those small less than a thousand dozen

moon pie deliveries.

Which are quite a lot, (thousands), during the Lippo (the Blue Moon) "Moon Ball", (Lippo Rugby) season.

"moon ball" is a registered trade mark all rights reserved.

The GX1000 is quite a nimble little number, which can reach sub light speed in seven point five seconds, with a full load

(seven to eleven hundred tasty pies), We here at the blog are not sure how they pack them, but they do get them all

on board, we are told there is a lot more room inside than meets the eye. Until we get a delivery here at the Blog

we will have to take there word for it. You may be lucky enough to see one, the next time you order up a quickie moon pie

home delivery. Until tomorrow and a new and exciting Alien tale Taa ta the Rod Blog

Trust me, it looks even better on black!

Burn out the day

Burn out the night

I can't see no reason to put up a fight

I'm living for giving the devil his due

I'm living for giving the devil his due

— Burning For You by Blue Öyster Cult

(NOTE: Every lyrics site I found showed "besides" and not "B-sides" and I'm convinced that this is B-sides, as in the second side of an old 45rpm single. The hits were always on the A-side, and some inferior song was on the B-side.)

Because I let the camera decide on where focus, it chose to focus on my burning hand. The end result is that if you view this image large, my face is a wee on the blurry side, but at least the camera caught the reflections of the flame in my eyes! Very cool! I'm gonna go soak my hand in some ice now, and then re-attach my prosthesis — been putting my hand through hell lately :P —, and while I'm doing that, why don't you enjoy the following list of 16 random things about myself that I was recently tagged to do by the lovely Jezikalyn...

#1 — As with the British Empire, the Sun never sets on my family, as I've relatives in Hong Kong, Australia, South Africa, England, and, here in the U.S., New York (although these are rather distant relatives), Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, and probably a couple of other places I've forgotten.

#2 — I want to visit all the countries in the European Union.

#3 — In addition to English, I speak un peu français and um pouco de Português. A little French, because I wanted to learn another language, and a little Portuguese because my girlfriend is Portuguese. Ultimately, I'd like to learn to speak both of them fluently.

#4 — I'm part Chippewa Indian (a.k.a. Ojibwe or Ojibway) and own an English/Ojibwe dictionary. (I'm a language freak, what can I say? How about ... nin wikwandjige, which means "I suck." :P)

#5 — I'm a bit ambidextrous, although I'm primarily right-handed. (I can write legibly with my left, but it looks like the handwriting of a 7- or 8-year-old. Nothing a little more practice wouldn't cure.) I guess this means that almost half of the time I'm in my right mind. The rest of the time I'm where I'd really rather be. :P

#6 — If I could live in a world of my own making, it'd be a very steampunkish sort of world. Think Jules Verne (author of Journey to the Center of the Earth, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in 80 Days and others) and the old TV show Wild Wild West, and you'll be on the right track.

#7 — Despite the above, I actually prefer to furnish my living space in a rather minimalist fashion (kinda sorta à la Japanese, although my clutterbug ways really kill that aesthetic), and with the clean lines of Scandinavian furniture.

#8 — I'm an official Mac-Head, as all I've ever owned have been Apple computers. My first was an old Apple IIe, which I bought mere months before the first Mac was introduced. My current computer is an old iBook G4. (However, the nature of my job — telecommunications — has required me to use PCs, Sun Microsystems workstations, as well as SGI (Silicon Graphics) workstations.)

#9 — I'm a huge tennis fan. I play it, I watch it on TV, and I've gone to the local tournament here in the DC area, the Legg Mason Tennis Classic. It's one of ten tournaments in the US Open Series leading up to the US Open in New York in August every year. Last year I got to see newcomer John Isner play, and Andy Roddick, as well. A couple of years ago I got to see Brit Tim Henman win in the final.

#10 — For several years now, I've traveled to Europe once a year, every Spring. Last year, I went to Portugal (Porto) and Italy (Pisa and Florence). The year before, Portugal (Porto, Guimarães, and Lisbon) and Ireland (Dublin). The year before that, Portugal (Porto), Spain (Santiago de Compostela), and England (London and Sheffield). You can find in my photostream photos from my trip to Portugal, Spain and England. I really need to upload photos from the other trips. :P Where will I go this year, besides Portugal? Dunno, but I've said for years that I'd love to go see either Belgium or the Netherlands.

#11 — This is becoming a travel-heavy list, as what now comes to mind is the fact that I cannot stand to live in one place for very long, unless I make a point to do a lot of traveling. When I hear of people who have lived in one place all their lives (or even in the same postal/zip code! WTF???), I get all cross-eyed at the thought of how boring that's got to be, and a zany sort of claustrophobia begins to cloud my vision. If I don't make a point to travel frequently, then I end up moving frequently. It's a condition that I've never had diagnosed, and I plan to keep it that way.

#12 — I'm afraid of heights, especially if I'm standing on a ladder, or climbing stairs in some old medieval ruin (and there's no SECURE railing to make me feel secure). I get the same way in tall buildings, too. I was able to handle the Empire State last year, but it still left me feeling a bit woozy. Getting on a plane, though, and staring out the window doesn't bother me one bit. In fact, I prefer window seats. Weird, I know.

#13 — I love the cold. Heat makes me melt. Probably because I spent a good part of my youth in the Deep South (read Biloxi, Mississippi), as well as in Bangkok, Thailand (read 90°F/32°C or better, with 90%+ humidity — bleargh!).

#14 — When I was 12 (and living in Thailand), I came close to dying from blood poisoning. I distinctly remember the doctor telling me and my parents that if we had waited another day or two it would have reached a major artery, and... x_x!

#15 — In 2001, I suffered a ruptured disc in my neck and had to have bone fusion surgery — the ruptured disc was replaced with a piece of my left hip. Oh yeah! The hip bone is connected to the... neck bone! :P I was home recovering from that surgery when 9/11 happened.

#16 — And finally! I love mythology... of all sorts.

I may (or may not) tag one or more of you tomorrow. :P

It’s not possible to “overcharge” the vacuum brake system in the same way that it can on air brake trains. Therefore, when engines are detached and re-attached, the system has to be reset by “pulling the strings” to release the vacuum, which is what is happening in this photo at Bahraich.

The top rather random layout is nearer to the first end-point I reached when putting the jigsaw together. The image wraps so a large number of arrangements with different outlines are possible from the tessellating adjacent square twosie pieces. I'll investigate a few and post photos. The most compact solution will be the 21x14tile rectangle - and any of the 294 pieces could be in the lower left corner.

One thing that threw me when I was putting together the blue fish in the centre - there is a colour change and very slight mismatch along the cut - indicating that the jigsaw was printed in two halves.

The path I took through the problem led initially to a much more diagonal solution - I had two growing lumps and when the first chance of joining them together emerged the 'hole' and 'knob' were on very different 'levels'. As this is my largest board I needed to bring several lumps from the top of the left lump down and re-attach them to the lower edge so that the 'joining point' moved to the centre of the board.

Laying out all the pieces for a photo gave me a good idea of the kind of colours and details involved but I wouldn't do it the next time for this puzzle. Laying out twenty then stacking similar pieces on top of each, then 'dealing' twenty more to get sorted upright piles feels much more useful to me than throwing them in a container.

The first grouping I took out was the purple sea-urchin/jellyfish, then I worked on the pink threadlike coral and the green plant-like coral. It was soon clear that I had to check every detail across the junction as partial image matches were common. The corals were a good choice allowing me to put reasonably large areas together, but also highlighted that I needed to clear the working board to make any further progress. I started stacking pieces of similar colours on top of each, picking groups out and working on them on separate boards. The stacks are then consolidated to free a growing area of the main board for new lumps of puzzle.

I was working on top of the 1500pc Portapuzzle cover which was soon shown to be a mistake as it is far too slippy. Things might slide easily but they come apart instantly because the pieces have no 'necks' and so there is no cohesion between groups of pieces. When they came apart rebuilding often took several attempts because the pieces would also spin!

The nature of the image makes it impossible that all the creatures can be kept together.

Some Background:

Fang of the Sun Dougram (太陽の牙ダグラム Taiyō no Kiba Daguramu) is a 75-episode anime television series, created by Ryosuke Takahashi and Sunrise, and aired in Japan from October 23, 1981 to March 25, 1983 on TV Tokyo.

The series begins in a desert on the colony planet Deloyer, where the remains of a destroyed robot are resting as a red-haired woman is standing in front of it. The woman hallucinates what appears to be a group of armed soldiers alongside the robot in a non-destroyed state. A man named Rocky appears, leading to the woman running into his embrace where she cries tears of joy. After this, the series flashes back to an earlier time, in order to explain the circumstances leading up to the first episode.

Malcontents on the Deloyer colony agitate for the independence of their world from the Earth Federation. In an unexpected coup, the elected Governor declares martial law and sets himself up as absolute dictator. With the approval of the Federation, he rules the planet with an iron fist. In reaction, a ragtag group (including the governor's estranged son) rises in open rebellion, using a powerful prototype Combat Armor: the Dougram. Their goal is the end of the dictatorship and total independence from the Federation's influence.

The story follows the actions of the guerilla freedom fighters known as "The Deloyer 7." The war is fought across the planet Deloyer as the Federation vigorously pursues the rebels. The series is noted for its realistic use of not just the combat armors and support vehicles, but also military tactics. The series also followed a wide range of characters and political intrigue, with many shady characters switching sides throughout the series.

Crinn Cashim is the show's main character. Son of Governor Donan Cashim, he becomes trained in piloting the Soltic H8 “Roundfacer” standard army robot by Jacky Zaltsev, a Federation Ace, because of his father's political connections. When his father appears to be overthrown by a coup led by Colonel Von Stein, he pilots a Roundfacer while Federation forces battle Garcia's forces. He is stunned to learn that his father has actually sided with Von Stein in a secret plan, and eventually becomes angry at his father's forces in how they deal with the rebellion following the coup. Following a meeting with Dr. David Samalin, who introduces him to a combat armor he has designed, the Dougram, Cashim and his friends form The Fang of the Sun and join the rebellion against the Federation.

general characteristics

Unit type: CB (combat) armor

Manufacturer: Soltic Company

Crew: 1 pilot

Overall height: 10.02 meters

Base weight: 30.5 metric tons

Generator type: Rolls-Royce N8E x 1

Generator output: 54 points per second

Maximum running speed: 45 km/h

Continuous operational time: 324 minutes

Armament:

1x hand gun (various types, incl. a grenade launcher or a linear gun)

4x 25mm chain guns in the lower arms

1x shoulder-mounted 9-tube missile pod

Optional equipment: hang glider, camouflage suit, shield

Mechanical designer: Kunio Okawara

The kit (and its revival):

This is another model of an 1:72 Soltic H8 "Roundfacer" (there’s already one in my mecha collection), but it's not an original Takara kit, but rather comes from the Revell re-boxing in the mid Eighties among their Robotech line. It was there part of a kit set, called "Armored Combat Team", and came together with a wheeled vehicle set.

However, this model was originally not built and painted by me. It's rather a generous donation from a good friend who made an attempt into mecha when these kits were distributed. It was built roundabout 30 years(!!!) ago and, AFAIK, never 100% finished; for instance, the hoses around the neck were never mounted, and the handgun had never been never painted.

As the only one of its kind it never found a true place in my friend’s model kit collection, and after some years of disregard it even got damaged: the delicate hip joint got broken, the Roundfacer lost one of its legs. In this sorry status the model rested in a dark corner, collected dust...

...until it was given to me many years ago, unfortunately after I had already gone through my hot mecha phase in the Nineties, in which I resurrected many of my own builds for a second life. So the Roundfacer lay (again) around in my spare parts deposit for some more years, until I finally decided to tackle and revamp it in early 2018. Inspiration strikes in unexpected occasions.

At first I thought that I could just repair the leg and add some parts in order to finish the model, but this plan was soon foiled. However, the biggest issue remained the broken attachment point for the left leg - and it turned out to be more severe than first expected. Initially I tried to mend the problem with a metal pin reinforcement, so that the original pintle could be re-attached again. But then the right leg came off, too, and the whole joint turned out to have become so brittle (it literally fell apart) that it had to be replaced completely!

So I scratched a completely new hip joint and a sturdy attachment construction from styrene profiles and plastic-coated steel wire, which would allow a similar range of movement as the original construction, even though not as flexible - but the Roundfacer would be displayed anyway.

The rest of the kit was otherwise in good shape, and the joints free from paint for high movability. I made some changes and improvements, though. This included the cleaning of the seams on both legs (PSR) and the addition of some surface details with IP profile material. This meant that the original paintwork would have at least party to be renewed, but fortunalety I knew the paints and respective tones my friend had used when he had built the kit.

Another challenge were the characteristic hoses that lay around the Roundfacer's neck like a scarf. I was lucky to find leftover parts from a vintage 1:144 Gundam Zaku in my stash, the fit almost perfectly. Otherwise, they had had to be scratched.

The original missile launcher was re-fitted, even though it had to be fixed since the original attachment construction had also fallen victim to the styrene's brittleness over the ages. The handgun - while complete and available - was replaced by the weapon from a H-102 Bushman, which looks a bit more beefy, like a grenade launcher instead of the OOB assult rifle.

Painting and markings:

I was not certain whether I would re-paint the Roundfacer, which would have meant stripping it off of of its original enamels - but I eventually rejected this for two reasons: First of all I thought and still think that the brittle material of the finished kit made any surgery or chemical intervention hazardous. Esp. the joints were delicate, the loss of the hip joint was already trouble enough. And then I liked the fictional scheme the Roundfacer had been given, a kind of winter camouflage in black and light grey, separated by thin white lines. I simply wanted to keep the original concept, since it looks pretty unusual - and also in order to honor my friend's original approach.

So, instead of a new or additional layer of paint I limited my work to the areas with PSR and added details, and the original (and highly translucent!) decals had to go, too.

The original colors are Humbrol 64 (Light Sea Grey), 33 (Flatblack) and 34 (Flat White). For the repairs the same tones were used, just the pure black (which had suffered in the meantime) was replaced by Revell 6 (Tar Black). The result is pretty good, you hardly recognize the touch-ups.

In order to take the model a step further I also did some thorough weathering, at first with a dark grey acrylic wash, which was also texturized with vertical brush streaks along the flanks, and some later dry-brushing on the edges, emphasizing the robot's shape and details.

The new markings were puzzled together from various sheets, including some Dougram models.

For an even more unique look, and in order to hide some flaws, I decided to add a thin coat of snow – also in line with the small base I created for display (an somewhat in order to justify/explain the paint scheme).

The display base:

This is certainly not a diorama, but I wanted a small, scenic setting that would show surroundings in order to justify the Roundfacer’s strange black/grey scheme.

The foundation is a small MDF wood board, 8” x 6” in size, leftover from a street base gone bad many moons ago. On top of the wooden base, the landscape was sculpted with Styrofoam, using the Roundfacer as benchmark for the overall layout. The idea was to show an unpaved path or street, flanked by rock formations. Due to the base’s small size the rocks had to be limited in size. Since the robot would dominate the scene, anyway, I placed it further in the background.

In the foreground, some space was saved for a small vehicle, which would add some variety and create some kind of scene. Since I did not want to invest too much effort into building or even converting or scratching a scout car or something similar.

After some search I settled upon a modern Bundeswehr “Dingo” from Panzerstahl, a completed plastic model. I found it to be a very good match for the base and the Roundfacer – and for the scene I took it OOB and just re-painted it in black with light grey mottles and dusted it with snow (see below), too.

With the positions of the vehicles determined it was time to add details to the landscape. Most inspiration came from Antarctica and Iceland – you have volcanic rock formations, namely black basalt, with hexagonal structures, and ice and snow on top. Anything that the Roundfacer’s livery reflects.

The hexagonal rocks would be the most prominent structure on the base, and these were created with bits from …pencils. They were tailored to size with the help of a paper cutting machine, then glued into bundles and finally stuck into the Styrofoam ground and arranged into bigger structures.

Once dry the rest of the surface was covered and sculpted with plaster. A coat of thinned plaster was also spread over the pencils, blurring their shapes. On the street, track marks were created with a truck model kit wheel and the Roundfacer.

Once the plaster had dried, the diorama received a coat of thinned white glue, mixed with black paint, into which different grains of sand were strewn. Around the rock formations, broken shell gravel (from a home decoration shop) was used to mimic bigger chunks of rock. Again, things had to dry thoroughly.

Next came an overall basic coat of black – applied with a rattle can, so that the paint would evenly reach all recesses. After more drying time the landscape received washes with dark grey and dull olive green. Into the wet paint some grass fiber and wood pieces were glued, in areas behind the rock formations which would offer some protection against the weather.

Another drying period followed, for the second-to-last treatment: a thin coat of snow (which was also added to the Roundfacer and the car). I prefer white tile grout for this task, because it is easy to handle, sticks well to wet surfaces and remains white and stable in the course of time. For application, I put some of the dry material in a glass and cover it with a nylon stocking, and shake it over the wetted (water with drop of detergent) surface. This makeshift device is easy to handle and has the charm that you can gradually adjust the grit and amount of tile grout that rains down.

The street area received some additional treatment with thinned black and grey paint, simulating a mix of snow and dirt.

In a final step, the base and the vehicles received a coat of acrylic matt varnish from the rattle can for protection and snow fixation.

Some Background:

Fang of the Sun Dougram (太陽の牙ダグラム Taiyō no Kiba Daguramu) is a 75-episode anime television series, created by Ryosuke Takahashi and Sunrise, and aired in Japan from October 23, 1981 to March 25, 1983 on TV Tokyo.

The series begins in a desert on the colony planet Deloyer, where the remains of a destroyed robot are resting as a red-haired woman is standing in front of it. The woman hallucinates what appears to be a group of armed soldiers alongside the robot in a non-destroyed state. A man named Rocky appears, leading to the woman running into his embrace where she cries tears of joy. After this, the series flashes back to an earlier time, in order to explain the circumstances leading up to the first episode.

Malcontents on the Deloyer colony agitate for the independence of their world from the Earth Federation. In an unexpected coup, the elected Governor declares martial law and sets himself up as absolute dictator. With the approval of the Federation, he rules the planet with an iron fist. In reaction, a ragtag group (including the governor's estranged son) rises in open rebellion, using a powerful prototype Combat Armor: the Dougram. Their goal is the end of the dictatorship and total independence from the Federation's influence.

The story follows the actions of the guerilla freedom fighters known as "The Deloyer 7." The war is fought across the planet Deloyer as the Federation vigorously pursues the rebels. The series is noted for its realistic use of not just the combat armors and support vehicles, but also military tactics. The series also followed a wide range of characters and political intrigue, with many shady characters switching sides throughout the series.

Crinn Cashim is the show's main character. Son of Governor Donan Cashim, he becomes trained in piloting the Soltic H8 “Roundfacer” standard army robot by Jacky Zaltsev, a Federation Ace, because of his father's political connections. When his father appears to be overthrown by a coup led by Colonel Von Stein, he pilots a Roundfacer while Federation forces battle Garcia's forces. He is stunned to learn that his father has actually sided with Von Stein in a secret plan, and eventually becomes angry at his father's forces in how they deal with the rebellion following the coup. Following a meeting with Dr. David Samalin, who introduces him to a combat armor he has designed, the Dougram, Cashim and his friends form The Fang of the Sun and join the rebellion against the Federation.

general characteristics

Unit type: CB (combat) armor

Manufacturer: Soltic Company

Crew: 1 pilot

Overall height: 10.02 meters

Base weight: 30.5 metric tons

Generator type: Rolls-Royce N8E x 1

Generator output: 54 points per second

Maximum running speed: 45 km/h

Continuous operational time: 324 minutes

Armament:

1x hand gun (various types, incl. a grenade launcher or a linear gun)

4x 25mm chain guns in the lower arms

1x shoulder-mounted 9-tube missile pod

Optional equipment: hang glider, camouflage suit, shield

Mechanical designer: Kunio Okawara

The kit (and its revival):

This is another model of an 1:72 Soltic H8 "Roundfacer" (there’s already one in my mecha collection), but it's not an original Takara kit, but rather comes from the Revell re-boxing in the mid Eighties among their Robotech line. It was there part of a kit set, called "Armored Combat Team", and came together with a wheeled vehicle set.

However, this model was originally not built and painted by me. It's rather a generous donation from a good friend who made an attempt into mecha when these kits were distributed. It was built roundabout 30 years(!!!) ago and, AFAIK, never 100% finished; for instance, the hoses around the neck were never mounted, and the handgun had never been never painted.

As the only one of its kind it never found a true place in my friend’s model kit collection, and after some years of disregard it even got damaged: the delicate hip joint got broken, the Roundfacer lost one of its legs. In this sorry status the model rested in a dark corner, collected dust...

...until it was given to me many years ago, unfortunately after I had already gone through my hot mecha phase in the Nineties, in which I resurrected many of my own builds for a second life. So the Roundfacer lay (again) around in my spare parts deposit for some more years, until I finally decided to tackle and revamp it in early 2018. Inspiration strikes in unexpected occasions.

At first I thought that I could just repair the leg and add some parts in order to finish the model, but this plan was soon foiled. However, the biggest issue remained the broken attachment point for the left leg - and it turned out to be more severe than first expected. Initially I tried to mend the problem with a metal pin reinforcement, so that the original pintle could be re-attached again. But then the right leg came off, too, and the whole joint turned out to have become so brittle (it literally fell apart) that it had to be replaced completely!

So I scratched a completely new hip joint and a sturdy attachment construction from styrene profiles and plastic-coated steel wire, which would allow a similar range of movement as the original construction, even though not as flexible - but the Roundfacer would be displayed anyway.

The rest of the kit was otherwise in good shape, and the joints free from paint for high movability. I made some changes and improvements, though. This included the cleaning of the seams on both legs (PSR) and the addition of some surface details with IP profile material. This meant that the original paintwork would have at least party to be renewed, but fortunalety I knew the paints and respective tones my friend had used when he had built the kit.

Another challenge were the characteristic hoses that lay around the Roundfacer's neck like a scarf. I was lucky to find leftover parts from a vintage 1:144 Gundam Zaku in my stash, the fit almost perfectly. Otherwise, they had had to be scratched.

The original missile launcher was re-fitted, even though it had to be fixed since the original attachment construction had also fallen victim to the styrene's brittleness over the ages. The handgun - while complete and available - was replaced by the weapon from a H-102 Bushman, which looks a bit more beefy, like a grenade launcher instead of the OOB assult rifle.

Painting and markings:

I was not certain whether I would re-paint the Roundfacer, which would have meant stripping it off of of its original enamels - but I eventually rejected this for two reasons: First of all I thought and still think that the brittle material of the finished kit made any surgery or chemical intervention hazardous. Esp. the joints were delicate, the loss of the hip joint was already trouble enough. And then I liked the fictional scheme the Roundfacer had been given, a kind of winter camouflage in black and light grey, separated by thin white lines. I simply wanted to keep the original concept, since it looks pretty unusual - and also in order to honor my friend's original approach.

So, instead of a new or additional layer of paint I limited my work to the areas with PSR and added details, and the original (and highly translucent!) decals had to go, too.

The original colors are Humbrol 64 (Light Sea Grey), 33 (Flatblack) and 34 (Flat White). For the repairs the same tones were used, just the pure black (which had suffered in the meantime) was replaced by Revell 6 (Tar Black). The result is pretty good, you hardly recognize the touch-ups.

In order to take the model a step further I also did some thorough weathering, at first with a dark grey acrylic wash, which was also texturized with vertical brush streaks along the flanks, and some later dry-brushing on the edges, emphasizing the robot's shape and details.

The new markings were puzzled together from various sheets, including some Dougram models.

For an even more unique look, and in order to hide some flaws, I decided to add a thin coat of snow – also in line with the small base I created for display (an somewhat in order to justify/explain the paint scheme).

The display base:

This is certainly not a diorama, but I wanted a small, scenic setting that would show surroundings in order to justify the Roundfacer’s strange black/grey scheme.

The foundation is a small MDF wood board, 8” x 6” in size, leftover from a street base gone bad many moons ago. On top of the wooden base, the landscape was sculpted with Styrofoam, using the Roundfacer as benchmark for the overall layout. The idea was to show an unpaved path or street, flanked by rock formations. Due to the base’s small size the rocks had to be limited in size. Since the robot would dominate the scene, anyway, I placed it further in the background.

In the foreground, some space was saved for a small vehicle, which would add some variety and create some kind of scene. Since I did not want to invest too much effort into building or even converting or scratching a scout car or something similar.

After some search I settled upon a modern Bundeswehr “Dingo” from Panzerstahl, a completed plastic model. I found it to be a very good match for the base and the Roundfacer – and for the scene I took it OOB and just re-painted it in black with light grey mottles and dusted it with snow (see below), too.

With the positions of the vehicles determined it was time to add details to the landscape. Most inspiration came from Antarctica and Iceland – you have volcanic rock formations, namely black basalt, with hexagonal structures, and ice and snow on top. Anything that the Roundfacer’s livery reflects.

The hexagonal rocks would be the most prominent structure on the base, and these were created with bits from …pencils. They were tailored to size with the help of a paper cutting machine, then glued into bundles and finally stuck into the Styrofoam ground and arranged into bigger structures.

Once dry the rest of the surface was covered and sculpted with plaster. A coat of thinned plaster was also spread over the pencils, blurring their shapes. On the street, track marks were created with a truck model kit wheel and the Roundfacer.

Once the plaster had dried, the diorama received a coat of thinned white glue, mixed with black paint, into which different grains of sand were strewn. Around the rock formations, broken shell gravel (from a home decoration shop) was used to mimic bigger chunks of rock. Again, things had to dry thoroughly.

Next came an overall basic coat of black – applied with a rattle can, so that the paint would evenly reach all recesses. After more drying time the landscape received washes with dark grey and dull olive green. Into the wet paint some grass fiber and wood pieces were glued, in areas behind the rock formations which would offer some protection against the weather.

Another drying period followed, for the second-to-last treatment: a thin coat of snow (which was also added to the Roundfacer and the car). I prefer white tile grout for this task, because it is easy to handle, sticks well to wet surfaces and remains white and stable in the course of time. For application, I put some of the dry material in a glass and cover it with a nylon stocking, and shake it over the wetted (water with drop of detergent) surface. This makeshift device is easy to handle and has the charm that you can gradually adjust the grit and amount of tile grout that rains down.

The street area received some additional treatment with thinned black and grey paint, simulating a mix of snow and dirt.

In a final step, the base and the vehicles received a coat of acrylic matt varnish from the rattle can for protection and snow fixation.

Some Background:

Fang of the Sun Dougram (太陽の牙ダグラム Taiyō no Kiba Daguramu) is a 75-episode anime television series, created by Ryosuke Takahashi and Sunrise, and aired in Japan from October 23, 1981 to March 25, 1983 on TV Tokyo.

The series begins in a desert on the colony planet Deloyer, where the remains of a destroyed robot are resting as a red-haired woman is standing in front of it. The woman hallucinates what appears to be a group of armed soldiers alongside the robot in a non-destroyed state. A man named Rocky appears, leading to the woman running into his embrace where she cries tears of joy. After this, the series flashes back to an earlier time, in order to explain the circumstances leading up to the first episode.

Malcontents on the Deloyer colony agitate for the independence of their world from the Earth Federation. In an unexpected coup, the elected Governor declares martial law and sets himself up as absolute dictator. With the approval of the Federation, he rules the planet with an iron fist. In reaction, a ragtag group (including the governor's estranged son) rises in open rebellion, using a powerful prototype Combat Armor: the Dougram. Their goal is the end of the dictatorship and total independence from the Federation's influence.

The story follows the actions of the guerilla freedom fighters known as "The Deloyer 7." The war is fought across the planet Deloyer as the Federation vigorously pursues the rebels. The series is noted for its realistic use of not just the combat armors and support vehicles, but also military tactics. The series also followed a wide range of characters and political intrigue, with many shady characters switching sides throughout the series.

Crinn Cashim is the show's main character. Son of Governor Donan Cashim, he becomes trained in piloting the Soltic H8 “Roundfacer” standard army robot by Jacky Zaltsev, a Federation Ace, because of his father's political connections. When his father appears to be overthrown by a coup led by Colonel Von Stein, he pilots a Roundfacer while Federation forces battle Garcia's forces. He is stunned to learn that his father has actually sided with Von Stein in a secret plan, and eventually becomes angry at his father's forces in how they deal with the rebellion following the coup. Following a meeting with Dr. David Samalin, who introduces him to a combat armor he has designed, the Dougram, Cashim and his friends form The Fang of the Sun and join the rebellion against the Federation.

general characteristics

Unit type: CB (combat) armor

Manufacturer: Soltic Company

Crew: 1 pilot

Overall height: 10.02 meters

Base weight: 30.5 metric tons

Generator type: Rolls-Royce N8E x 1

Generator output: 54 points per second

Maximum running speed: 45 km/h

Continuous operational time: 324 minutes

Armament:

1x hand gun (various types, incl. a grenade launcher or a linear gun)

4x 25mm chain guns in the lower arms

1x shoulder-mounted 9-tube missile pod

Optional equipment: hang glider, camouflage suit, shield

Mechanical designer: Kunio Okawara

The kit (and its revival):

This is another model of an 1:72 Soltic H8 "Roundfacer" (there’s already one in my mecha collection), but it's not an original Takara kit, but rather comes from the Revell re-boxing in the mid Eighties among their Robotech line. It was there part of a kit set, called "Armored Combat Team", and came together with a wheeled vehicle set.

However, this model was originally not built and painted by me. It's rather a generous donation from a good friend who made an attempt into mecha when these kits were distributed. It was built roundabout 30 years(!!!) ago and, AFAIK, never 100% finished; for instance, the hoses around the neck were never mounted, and the handgun had never been never painted.

As the only one of its kind it never found a true place in my friend’s model kit collection, and after some years of disregard it even got damaged: the delicate hip joint got broken, the Roundfacer lost one of its legs. In this sorry status the model rested in a dark corner, collected dust...

...until it was given to me many years ago, unfortunately after I had already gone through my hot mecha phase in the Nineties, in which I resurrected many of my own builds for a second life. So the Roundfacer lay (again) around in my spare parts deposit for some more years, until I finally decided to tackle and revamp it in early 2018. Inspiration strikes in unexpected occasions.

At first I thought that I could just repair the leg and add some parts in order to finish the model, but this plan was soon foiled. However, the biggest issue remained the broken attachment point for the left leg - and it turned out to be more severe than first expected. Initially I tried to mend the problem with a metal pin reinforcement, so that the original pintle could be re-attached again. But then the right leg came off, too, and the whole joint turned out to have become so brittle (it literally fell apart) that it had to be replaced completely!

So I scratched a completely new hip joint and a sturdy attachment construction from styrene profiles and plastic-coated steel wire, which would allow a similar range of movement as the original construction, even though not as flexible - but the Roundfacer would be displayed anyway.

The rest of the kit was otherwise in good shape, and the joints free from paint for high movability. I made some changes and improvements, though. This included the cleaning of the seams on both legs (PSR) and the addition of some surface details with IP profile material. This meant that the original paintwork would have at least party to be renewed, but fortunalety I knew the paints and respective tones my friend had used when he had built the kit.

Another challenge were the characteristic hoses that lay around the Roundfacer's neck like a scarf. I was lucky to find leftover parts from a vintage 1:144 Gundam Zaku in my stash, the fit almost perfectly. Otherwise, they had had to be scratched.

The original missile launcher was re-fitted, even though it had to be fixed since the original attachment construction had also fallen victim to the styrene's brittleness over the ages. The handgun - while complete and available - was replaced by the weapon from a H-102 Bushman, which looks a bit more beefy, like a grenade launcher instead of the OOB assult rifle.

Painting and markings:

I was not certain whether I would re-paint the Roundfacer, which would have meant stripping it off of of its original enamels - but I eventually rejected this for two reasons: First of all I thought and still think that the brittle material of the finished kit made any surgery or chemical intervention hazardous. Esp. the joints were delicate, the loss of the hip joint was already trouble enough. And then I liked the fictional scheme the Roundfacer had been given, a kind of winter camouflage in black and light grey, separated by thin white lines. I simply wanted to keep the original concept, since it looks pretty unusual - and also in order to honor my friend's original approach.

So, instead of a new or additional layer of paint I limited my work to the areas with PSR and added details, and the original (and highly translucent!) decals had to go, too.

The original colors are Humbrol 64 (Light Sea Grey), 33 (Flatblack) and 34 (Flat White). For the repairs the same tones were used, just the pure black (which had suffered in the meantime) was replaced by Revell 6 (Tar Black). The result is pretty good, you hardly recognize the touch-ups.

In order to take the model a step further I also did some thorough weathering, at first with a dark grey acrylic wash, which was also texturized with vertical brush streaks along the flanks, and some later dry-brushing on the edges, emphasizing the robot's shape and details.

The new markings were puzzled together from various sheets, including some Dougram models.

For an even more unique look, and in order to hide some flaws, I decided to add a thin coat of snow – also in line with the small base I created for display (an somewhat in order to justify/explain the paint scheme).

The display base:

This is certainly not a diorama, but I wanted a small, scenic setting that would show surroundings in order to justify the Roundfacer’s strange black/grey scheme.

The foundation is a small MDF wood board, 8” x 6” in size, leftover from a street base gone bad many moons ago. On top of the wooden base, the landscape was sculpted with Styrofoam, using the Roundfacer as benchmark for the overall layout. The idea was to show an unpaved path or street, flanked by rock formations. Due to the base’s small size the rocks had to be limited in size. Since the robot would dominate the scene, anyway, I placed it further in the background.

In the foreground, some space was saved for a small vehicle, which would add some variety and create some kind of scene. Since I did not want to invest too much effort into building or even converting or scratching a scout car or something similar.

After some search I settled upon a modern Bundeswehr “Dingo” from Panzerstahl, a completed plastic model. I found it to be a very good match for the base and the Roundfacer – and for the scene I took it OOB and just re-painted it in black with light grey mottles and dusted it with snow (see below), too.

With the positions of the vehicles determined it was time to add details to the landscape. Most inspiration came from Antarctica and Iceland – you have volcanic rock formations, namely black basalt, with hexagonal structures, and ice and snow on top. Anything that the Roundfacer’s livery reflects.

The hexagonal rocks would be the most prominent structure on the base, and these were created with bits from …pencils. They were tailored to size with the help of a paper cutting machine, then glued into bundles and finally stuck into the Styrofoam ground and arranged into bigger structures.

Once dry the rest of the surface was covered and sculpted with plaster. A coat of thinned plaster was also spread over the pencils, blurring their shapes. On the street, track marks were created with a truck model kit wheel and the Roundfacer.

Once the plaster had dried, the diorama received a coat of thinned white glue, mixed with black paint, into which different grains of sand were strewn. Around the rock formations, broken shell gravel (from a home decoration shop) was used to mimic bigger chunks of rock. Again, things had to dry thoroughly.

Next came an overall basic coat of black – applied with a rattle can, so that the paint would evenly reach all recesses. After more drying time the landscape received washes with dark grey and dull olive green. Into the wet paint some grass fiber and wood pieces were glued, in areas behind the rock formations which would offer some protection against the weather.

Another drying period followed, for the second-to-last treatment: a thin coat of snow (which was also added to the Roundfacer and the car). I prefer white tile grout for this task, because it is easy to handle, sticks well to wet surfaces and remains white and stable in the course of time. For application, I put some of the dry material in a glass and cover it with a nylon stocking, and shake it over the wetted (water with drop of detergent) surface. This makeshift device is easy to handle and has the charm that you can gradually adjust the grit and amount of tile grout that rains down.

The street area received some additional treatment with thinned black and grey paint, simulating a mix of snow and dirt.

In a final step, the base and the vehicles received a coat of acrylic matt varnish from the rattle can for protection and snow fixation.