Battery operated, charge and go. Remains to be seen whether these will ever replace the smoke belching Jeepneys and trikes.

2014 Gore Aussie Muscle Mania Car Show (12-4-14)

 

GTR-XU1

 

Overview:

The Giant Killer GTR XU1 was the work of Harry Firth and the Holden engineers with parts availability and price in mind. The cost to do a home grown six cylinder with after market and factory bits was going to be about half the cost of going the American V8 way. What they achieved was an amazing little car that in 186 cid form with it's triple stromberg 150CD carbs and the twin branch headers had a claimed output of 160 bhp. The Aussie 4 speed (M21) which was special in it's design replaced the weaker Opel units, they were also given heavy duty radiators. After proving that it was a competitive race car the 186ci it was replaced by the newly developed 202ci and the carbs were increased in size to the 175CD's along with larger valves, ported head with combustion chamber modifacations, revised camshaft, roller rockers, lighter flywheel (approx 20 pounds) and larger exhaust system. That was where the XU1 was going to end for the XU2 V8 was well under way until it was terminated which forced Harry Firths team to produce the ultimate six cylinder Holden race car, these cars at Bathurst were putting out in excess of 240 bhp (twin throat webber carbs). Just 150 Bathurst Specials were built with random engine numbers from JP 386598 to JP 404176, the public were never told of these but were given to dealers to pass them on to the right type of person. The unmistakable signs of an original 1973 Bathurst Model are, extra stiffening down the centre tunnel and braces under the front guards, these bodies were intended for the V8 version, the XU-2.

 

The Reason:

The history of the GTR XU-1 really began with the GTS 350 Monaro. The Monaro, as good as it was, was going to be expensive to build into a good handling, braking and power-to-weight race car. It would also have to source it's parts from GM in America which would make things even more expensive and against GM company rules about racing so it was decided to build a home-grown light weight car that used easily acquired parts! This way it could be hidden as a sports alternative to the family cars. GM in America was dead against any involvment in racing and frowned on even the suggestion of a team to do this.

 

The Beginning of a legend:

The first car was built early 1970 and raced in the sports sedan class by Anthony (Tony) Roberts under the guise of the HDT with a 186ci engine it had a small chamber blueprinted 161ci head to increase compression, and had triple Stromberg carburettors. HDT (Holden Dealer Team) was a group of dealerships who banded together to race the cars that they sold in the showrooms. GM-H did not back racing officially but did decide to build a Torana and called it 'GTR XU-1' which they released to the public on 19th August 1970 so enough would sell to allow it race under the homolagation rules. The price for these cars was just A$3148 which made it an easily acquired race car for many privateers.

 

Racing begins:

 

The XU-1 was not an instant success on the track and a lot work went into the handling and steering of the early cars which had understeer. A balance between tyres, shocks and springs sorted this out without going beyond the rules. Harry Firth who was snapped up by HDT after working for the Ford racing team saw the Torana as a potent racing machine. He also saw a young man in a Monaro GTS 350 that could be moulded into a sensational driver, Peter Brock. Sandown saw the first race of the now named GTR XU-1 in the annual September 250 mile race, Ford also debuted it's new GT Falcon, so a lot of interest was developed in the meeting of these two brand new cars. The fastest XU-1 which was driven by Colin Bond was four seconds a lap slower than the fastest GT and could only manage 6th position on the grid. The Falcon's were dominating the race but one by one fell by the wayside with mostly engine failures and when the chequered flag dropped the XU-1 of Colin Bond finished in second place, one lap down from Alan Moffats Falcon and in front of Norm Beechey's Valiant Pacer with Peter Brock in fourth.

 

Bathurst 1970:

Bathurst 1970 saw 12 Torana XU-1's, 3 were from the HDT in which Colin Bond had one to himself, Peter Brock and Bob Morris paired in another plus the pairing of Women drivers Christine Cole(later Gibson) and Sandra Bennett. The other makes were represented well with 14 GT Falcons and 6 Valiant Pacers among others. Just before the race CAMS (Confederation

of Australian Motor Sport) allowed some adjustments to the XU-1 to help it become competitve. Some of these adjustments included a revised camshaft profile (specifications bottom of this page), new axle tube baffles, modified clutch & pressure plate, modified rear suspensionbump stops, front suspension alignment settings, baffling in the fuel tank, front guard lips were rolled to allow for wider front tires and wheel spacers.

Practice: The fastest Torana was the HDT car of Colin Bond with a best lap of 2:54s which put him in fourth spot on the grid with Alan Moffat taking pole some 5 seconds quicker. During the practice sessions many of the Falcons suffered engine problems and the Torana's were running reliably so the feeling was high that the Falcons could breakdown during the running and allow the reliable cars in!

Race day: And they're off with Bond in hot pursuit of Moffat up the hill, over the top and Bond is sitting on Moffat's exhaust, then down Conrod Straight where the big Falcon could stretch it's legs until the end where the big car took some stopping and Bond dived in front under brakes. Going along the front straight the crowd gave a huge cheer of approval to the little Torana, the dice between Bond and Moffat went on for 5 laps until Moffat regained the lead and wasn't headed. The Torana's with Bond and Brock were 2nd and 3rd for quite a while but eventually succumbed to mechanical problems and dashed any hope of a HDT Torana being on the Podium but the privateer entry of Don Holland took third outright and a class win. In fact five privately entered XU-1's were in the top ten, third, sixth, seventh, ninth, and tenth outright plus the HDT all women pairing of Cole/Bennett taking 13th outright, this showed that the six cylinder 186ci Torana was close to the 351ci Falcon's but needed a bit more work to become a superior package! It turned out that the mechanical problems with HDT cars were a manufacturer fault with the valves, this also affected some private entries as well.

 

Torana GTR XU-1 1971.

1971 was very successful for the XU-1 with successes in rallies, hill climbs, rally-cross and circuit races, it also became very popular with the privateers due to the competitiveness and the cost of maintaining it compared to the GTHO. This year saw the introduction of a Manufacturers Championship in which the first round was the Easter Bathurst meeting, Peter Brock took third place and Colin Bond fourth. The second round was at Warick Farm and this time Colin Bond won it from Peter Brock coming second.

Sandown 250: The third round saw the debut of the new Bathurst XU-1 at the Sandown 250, also on debut was the new Phase III GTHO Falcon. After the previous years engine failures, Ford had tested the 351 Cleveland extensively and claimed the power to be 300 bhp (224kW) but in race trim was around 380 bhp (284kW). In practice Moffat (pole 1m21.4s) was 1.9 seconds faster than Bond (3rd) and a huge 3.4 seconds faster than Brock. In the race though both Moffat and French had mechanical problems and Bond ran strongly to take the win and finished a tremendous 5 laps in front of second place Murray Carter (GTHO) with Tony Roberts 3rd (XU-1) and Bruce McPhee (XU-1) 4th.

Bathurst: This was not part of the Manufacturers Championship but was the next race and of course all eyes were on the 'Great Race'. Bathurst saw a new foe in the Valiant E38 harger with it's triple webbers on the Hemi 265 engine which produced 280 bhp (209kW) and until recently held the title as the fastest Australian production car in a straight line! But as fast as the Valiant was it was limited with only a 3-speed gearbox and unpower assisted brakes so the mountain was not very kind to this car. The Bathurst race wasn't kind on the HDT and saw Moffat on pole with 2m38.9s and the fastest XU-1 was Brocks car with a 2m46.3. Moffat led from flag to flag with Bond finishing 4th and Brock coming in 6th with some problems.

Phillip Island: The 500 km race at Phillip Island resumed the Manufacturers Championship and was just three weeks after the demoralising Bathurst race. The Big Falcons had big problems here, as they cooked and ripped there tyres up the Torana XU-1's of Bond and Brock did a 1-2 for the HDT with Doug Chivas well behind in his Valiant Charger. Even a privately entered Torana beat the 5th placed Moffat home!

Surfers Paradise: The Rothmans 250 was the final race to find honours in the Manufacturers Championship and Moffat took the win, with Brock in 3rd and Bond in 4th it was enough to win the title for GM-H.

 

1972 Bathurst

The next time on the podium was 1972 and it was Peter Brocks turn, he won convincingly in what was a tremendous battle against Alan Moffat who had won the previous two Bathursts. Brocky did the 500 mile race solo which started in the wet and with team mate Colin Bond crashing very early in the race the next hour was spent dicing with Moffat, up the hill the Torana would catch the Falcon and then down Conrod the Falcon would pull away, lap after lap until Moffat aquaplaned almost the same place Bond crashed and although Moffat got going again Brock was never going to be beaten. The Legend of the Bathurst Winning Torana had begun with the biggest legend in Australian motor sport although he was a junior at this stage with a third in a Monaro in 1969 previous. The 1973 Bathurst was the Torana's but for an error of judgment trying to stretch the fuel, while out in front Doug Chivas was asked to do another lap and while coming over the top of the hill the car started to cough until it ran out of fuel along Conrod Straight. He coasted all the way and when in the pit entry tried a clutch start but all this did was to take any momentum the Torana had away and without the rest of team being allowed to help him until the car actually entered there designated pit area they stood, watched and yelled encouragement while Chivas (not a large person by any means), pushed the wide tyred Torana up the hill in the pits. Brocky put up an almighty fight but it wasn't enough and the rest is history.

(Ref: holden.itgo.com/gtrxu1.html)

Replaces the 737 Service

Replaced the original BW version with this one in desaturated color to better show the discoloration and age. The dolls looked very dingy and forlorn to me.

The Tay Rail Bridge

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

The Tay Bridge (sometimes unoffically the Tay Rail Bridge) is a railway bridge approximately 2.75 miles (3.5 kilometers) long that spans the Firth of Tay in Scotland,between the city of Dundee and the suburb of Wormit in Fife.

 

As with the Forth Bridge,the Tay Bridge has als been called the Tay Bridge since the construction of the road bridge over the Firth of Tay,the Tay Road Bridge.The rail bridge replaced an earl train ferry.

 

"Tay Bridge" was also the codename for the funeral plans for Queen Elizabeth,The Queen Mother.

 

The First Tay Bridge

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

The original Tay Bridge was designed by noted railway engineer Sir Thomas Bouch,who received a knighthood following the bridge's completion.It was a lttice-grid design,combining cast and wrought iron.The design was well known,having been used first by Kennard in the Crumlin Viaduct in South Wales in 1858,following the innovative use of cast iron in Crystal Palace of London England.However,the Crystal Palace was not as heavil loaded as a railway bridge.A previous cast iron desing,the Dee Bridge in Chester,England which collapsed in 1847,failed due to poor use of cast-iron cirders.Later,Alexander Gustave Eiffel used a similar design to create several large viaducts in the Massif Central ,France (1867).

 

Proposal for constructing a bridge across the River Tay date back to at least 1854.The North Britsh Railway (Tay Bridge) Act receiving the Royal Assent on July 15,1870 and the foundation stone was laid on July 22,1871.

 

The Bridge Design -The Basic Concept

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

The original design was for lattice griders supported by brick piers resting on bedrock shown by trail borings to lie at no great depth under the river.At either end of the bridge the single track rail ran on top of the bridge girder,most of which therefore lay below the pier tops.However,in the center section of the bridge,(the "high girder") the railway ran inside the bridge,which could then run above the pier tops to give the required clearance to allow passage of sailing ships upriver(e.g. to Perth).To accommodate thermal expansion there were few rigid connectiions between girders and piers.

 

However as the bridge extended out into the river,it became clear (December 1873) that the bedrock really much deeper,to act as a foundation for the bridge piers.Sir Thomas Bouch had to redesign the bridge.

 

He reduced the number of piers and correspondingly increased the span of the girders.The pier foundations were no longer taken down to bedrock,instead they were constructed by sinking brick-lind wrought-iron caissons onto the riverbed,removing sand until the caissons rested upon the consoildated gravel layer which had been misreported as rock,and then filling the caissons with concrete.To reduce the weight the ground under the caissons would have to support the brick piers were replaced by lattice iron skeleton piers(each pier had multiple cast-iron columns taking the weight of the bridge girder,with wrought iron horizontal braces and diagonal tiebars lining the columns of the pier to give rigidity and stability). the basic concept was well known,having been used first by Kennard in the Crumlin Viaduct in South Wales in 1858;Sir Thomas Bouch had used it for Viaducts (notable the Beelah Viaducts (1860) on the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway line over Stainmore,England,but for the Tay Bridge,even with the largest praticale caissons pier dimensions were significantly constrained by the caissons in a hexagon; this maximsed the pier widtgh but not the amount of diagononal bracing directly resiting sidewalk forces.

 

The Bridge Design -- Design Details

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

The engineering details on the Tay Bridge was considerably simpler,lighter,and cheaper then on earlier Viaducts.On these the machined based of each column section docked securely into a machine enlarged section of the top of the section below.The joint was then secured by bolts through matching holes on lugs (Crumlin) or flanges (Belah) on the two sections.This 'spigot and faucet' configuration was used (apparently without machining) on some Tay Bridge pier columns,but on some the bolts were relied upon to ensure correct alignment.(In the event,the joint were using undersized bolts.This give greater tolerances when assembling the column,but the less positive alignment of the column joints as initially assembled and after any subsequent 'working' of the joint would have weakened the column).

 

On the Tay Bridge the diagonal bracing was by means of flat bars running from one lug at the column section top (and integral part of the column casting) to two sling plates bolted to the diagonally opposite lug.Bar and sling plates all had a matching longditudinal slot in them; the tie bar was placed between the sling plates with all three slots aligned and overlapping and a gib driven through all three slots and secured.Two cotters (medal wedges) were then positioned to fill the rest of the slot overlap,and driven in hard to put the tie under tension.Horizontal Bracing was provided by (wrought iron) channel iron.The various bolt head were too close to each other,and to the column for easy tightening up with spanners;this coupled with lack of precision in the preparation of the channeliron braces led to various on the site fitting expedients (one of them described by a witness to the enquirey as "about' as alovently a piece of work as ever i saw in my life').

 

On the Crumin Viaduct and Belah Viaduct,however,horizontal bracing was provided by substantial fitting cast-iron girders securely attached to the columns with the diagonal braces the girders.The Chairman of the court of Inquiry quoted at length from a contemporary book praising the detailed engineering of the belah Viaduct pier (and describing the Viaduct as one of the lightest and cheapest of the kind that had ever beenerected.)

 

...it is a distinguished feature in the Viaduct that the cross,or distance girders of the piers encircle the columns,which are turned up at that point,the girder being bored oput to fit the turned part with great accuracy.No cement of any kind was used in the whole structure,and the piers when completed,and the vertical horizontal wrought-iron bracing keyed up,are nearly as riged as though they were one solid piece...

 

...The fitting was all done by machines,which were specially designed for the purposed,finshed the work with mathematical accuracy.The flanges of the column were all faced up and their edges turned,and ever column was stepper into the one below it with a lip of about 5/8 of an inch (1.5 centimeters) in depth,the lip and socket for it being actualyly turned and bored,That portion of the column against which the cross girders rested was also turned.The whole operations were performed at one time,the column being centered in a hollow mandriil lathe.After being turned the column passed on to a drilling machine,in which all the holes in each flange were drilled out the solid simultaneously.And as this was done with them all in the same machine,the holes of couse,perfectly coincided when the columns were placed on the other in the progress of erection.Similar care was taken with the cross-girders,which were bored out at the ends by machines designed for the purpose.Thus,when the pieces of the Viaduct had to be put together at the place of erction these was literally not a tool required,and neither chipping or filing to retard the program to work.

 

Either,said the Chairman,the Belah Viaduct had been over-engineered.

 

Bridge Construction

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

Whilst Sir Thomas Bouch was revising his design,A Grothe C.E.G,manage of the Tay Bridge contract,the company which had the contract for construction went out of business and the contract passed (June 1874) to Hopkins Gilkes and Company,successors to the Middlesbrough Company which had made the ironwork for the Belah Viaduct Hopkin Gilkes and Company originally intended to produce all the bridge ironwork on Teesside,but in the event continued to use a foundry at Wormit to oroduce the cast-iron components,and carry out limited post-casting machine operations.

 

The change in design increased cast and necessitated dalay,intensified after two of the high girders fell when being lifted into place (Fedruary 1877).

 

The fallengirders had to be removed and new ones built.One of the fallen griders was recovered and reused and piers to be earcted again;and this threatened seirously to interfere with the expection of having the bridge finshed passage of a train by September.Only eight months were now available for the erection and floating out of six,and the lifting of ten 245 feet (74.6 meters) spans.Five andseven respectively of the 145 feet (44.1 meters) spans had yet to go through the same process.Seven large piers and three small piers had to be built.The weight of the iron which to be put in its place was 2,700 tons,and it seemed incredible that all could he done in eight months.A good deal would depend on the weather but this was far from favourable.

 

Dispite this,the first enging crossed the bridge on September 22,1877,and upon its completion in early 1878 the Tay Bridge was the longest in the world.While visiting the city former United States Presidend Ulysses Simpon "SAM" Grant commented that was "a big bridge for a small city".

 

Inspection and opening

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

Like all rail lines,the Tay Bridge was subject to a Board of Trade inspection before it could carry passenger trains.The inspection was conducted Febuary 25,1878 -- February 27,1878 by Major General Charles Scrope Hutchinson Corps of Royal Engineers Companions of the Order of Bath of the Railway Inspectorate,who measured the deflection of the 245 feet (774.6 meters) bridge girder under a distributed load of 1.5 tons per foot (5 T/M) due to heavy locomotives (travelling at up to 40 miles per hour (65 kilometers per hour) as less then 2 inchs 50 milimeters).He reported that "these results are in my opinion to be satisfactory.The lateral oscillation,as observed by the theodolite ehen the engines ran over at speed,was very slight and the stucture overall showed great stiffness.He required some minor remedial work and 'recommended' a 25 miles per hour speed limit over the bridge.(Major General Charles Scrope Hutchinson Corps of Royal Engineers Comanions of the Order of Bath subsequently explained to the Inquire that he had suggested the speed limit because of minimal taper on the piers.) The inspection report added '... when again visiting the sport should whish,if possible,to have an opportunity of observing the effects of high wind when a train of carriages is running over the bridge...'.

 

The bridge was opened for passenger traffic on June 1,1878,formal opening cememonies having taking place the previous day,in the couse of which Sior Thomas Bouch was made a Burgess of Dundee "in respect of his meritorious service as engineer of the bridge...".

 

The following year (une 20,1879)Her Majesty Queen Victoria of Great Britain crossed the bridge to return south from Balmoral Castle;Sir Thomas Bouch was presented to Her Majesty before she did so,on June 26,1879 he was knighted by Her Majesty Queen Victoria of Great Britain at Windsor Castle.

 

The Tay Bridge Disaster

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

On the night of December 28,1879 at 7:15 pm,the first bridge collapsed after its central span gave way during high winter gales.A train with six carriages carry seventy-five passengers and crew,crossing at the time of the collapse,plunged into the icy waters of the River Tay.All seventy-five were lost.The disaster stunned the whole contry and sent shock waves through the Victorian engineering community.The ensuring enquiry revealed that the bridge did not allow for high winds.At the time gale estimated at force ten or eleven (Tropical Storm force winds: 55 miles per hour -- 75 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour -- 117 kilometers per hour0 had been blowing down the River Tay estury at right angles to the bridge.The engine itself was salvaged from the river and restored to the railway service.The collapsed of the bridge,opened only nineteen months earlier and passed as safe by the Board of Trade,is still the most famous bridge disaster of the British Isles.The disaster was commenorated in "The Tay Bridge Disaster",one of the best-known verse efforts of William Topaz McGonagall.German pote Theodor Fontane within 10 days of the disaster wrote his famous poem Die Bruck'am Tay.

 

The stumps of the original bridge piers are still visible above the surface on the River Tay even at high tide.

 

The Second Tay Bridge

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

A new double-track bridge was designed by William Henry Borlow and built by Sir William Arrol & Company 18 meters (59 feet) upstream of ,and parallel to the original bridge.The bridge proposal was formally incorported in July 1881 and the foundation stone laid on July 6,1883.Contruction involed 25,000 metric tons (28,000 short tons) of iron and steel,70,000 metric tons 77,000 short tons) of concrete ten million bricks (weighing 37,500 metric tons (41,300 short tons) and three million rivets.Fourteen men lost their lives during construction,most by browning.

 

The second bridge opened on July 13,1887 and remain's in use.A $33,516,60.00 million strenghtening and refurbishment project ($32,976,480.00 million),on the bridge won the Bridge Construction Industy Civil Engineering Award,in consideration of the staggering scale logistics involed.More than 1,000 metric tons (1,100 short tons) of bird broppings were scraped off the bridge ironwork lattice of the bridge using hand tools,and bagged into 25 kllogram (55 pound) sacks.Hundeds of thousands of riviets were removed and replaced,all work being done in very exposed conditions high over a Firth of Tay with fast -running tides.

 

Double-heading of locomotives is prophibited across the bridge;consecutive locomotives must be separated by at 60 feet (18 meters) using barrie or reach wagons.

I finally had the three broken windows replaced. Damn expensive, but really makes a difference how the house feels.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

 

Some background:

Both the T-62 and T-64 were innovative in their own ways, but not successful in the long run because of their cost, complicated features, rushed production, or primitive FCS. The T-54/55 had been a highly successful export for the Soviet Union, but so far, nothing replaced it in this area. Due to their age and the never-ending competition between ammo and armor with the west, a new MBT with a large gun was needed. This model had to incorporate some innovations but had to be mature enough to exploit them fully and be fast enough to catch up with other vehicles. Overall, WARPAC quickly needed a replacement for its aging fleet of T-54/55s (the T-62 was only adopted by Bulgaria and the T-64 was even denied to the Warsaw Pact allies). So a “mobilization” model was called for, even though the T-64 was still in development.

 

Although in its general shape the T-72 superficially resembled previous designs, and especially the T-62 (small turret, low hull, very long gun), there were many differences in the drivetrain, turret design, engine, main gun and equipment. Compared to western standards, its specifics were regarded as drawbacks, being too small, cramped and uncomfortable. It was believed in the west the crewmen had to be of small stature (1.60 m or 5ft 3in), but after the fall of the iron curtain, it appeared to have been officially 1.75 m (5ft 9in). For its designers and commanders, the vehicle was in line with the experience of the Soviet armored forces during the “Great Patriotic War”. The USSR modeled its tanks along a specific tactical use. Tanks were generally low, nimble and fast, being difficult to hit, contrary to western tanks, which were, comparatively, at least 50 cm (1ft 8in) taller – and the T-72 was even 60 cm lower than its potential opponents!

 

The height requirement also helped to keep the total weight largely under the NATO practice. This allowed a great deal of mobility despite an aged V-12 diesel. For example, two T-72 could cross a bridge instead of waiting in line to cross it one at a time. This low profile was a problem when fording rivers more than 5 meters (16 ft) deep and a comprehensive sealing procedure, a snorkel and tightly waterproof interior were needed. These fittings also helped NBC protection, rendered possible by a synthetic fabric made of boron compound lining which reduced (but did not) radiations. There was also an extensive air filter system with safety valves and constant over-pressure. This helped eliminate any poisonous contamination as well as residual fumes that could leak out from the autoloader. Overall vision was not outstanding, with a set of extremely small periscope viewports. The hull construction called for an RHA (rolled homogenous armor) hull made of cast steel.

 

Crew comfort was seen as unnecessary, due to the survivability rates on the battlefield. The same law applied to a relatively non-refined interior and the simple, rugged, but efficient firing equipment, which was designed for mass production and easy maintenance. Any fragile and/or non-standard piece of equipment was therefore eliminated before production. This explained not only the production scale itself - much bigger than their western counterparts - but also the tank’s export success. Such manufacturing principles allowed costs to be kept very low, and at the same time produced a rugged piece of equipment which was durable, with part standardization (= interchangeability) and relatively low-tech, which was an advantage in many pre-industrial countries, both for maintenance and upgrades.

 

The hull’s basic RHA construction was augmented by spaced armor, which was upgraded to the T-64 standard composite armor in 1979. In the early 1980s, T-72s received additional add-on armor along with rubber side skirts, and, in the late 1980s, full ERA made of active protective tiles was generalized. At the origin, the basic cast armor was about 280 mm (11 in) at the thickest, with the nose up to 80 mm (3.1 in) and the glacis made of a 200 mm (7.9 in) thick laminated armor, well inclined. This gave a virtual equivalent of 500–600 mm (20–24 in) thickness against direct fire.

 

The turret was small in comparison to the T-62 and even the T-55, due to the elimination of the loader and its replacement by an auto-loader. The latter picked-up its rounds directly from a horizontal storage area (horizontally auto-fed), contrary to the faster and much more complex vertical actuators of the T-64 main gun automatic loader. The commander cupola was situated to the right rear, with four vision blocks, one periscope (later equipped with infrared sight), and a standard night illuminator. The gunner’s hatch was situated on the right-hand side and slightly angled down to the turret side.

 

The V12 was basically derived from the WW2 era 500 hp T-34 engine. Rugged and well-tested, it was also shared with the T-54/55 and T-62 families, meaning a lot of parts were interchangeable. It was capable of 780 hp (582 kW), which made the T-72 look underpowered compared to western tanks of the time, but its performances were kept high due to the lightweight hull. It was also much faster and nimbler than the T-62 and even the T-55. This engine was coupled to a synchromesh, hydraulically assisted, seven forward/one reverse gears transmission. The steering system is a traditional dual-tiller layout, rather than the steering wheel/yoke familiar in the west, imposing constant two-hands handling. By the 1980s, the powerplant upgraded to the new 840 bhp (630 kW) V-84 diesel.

 

The suspension set was a moderately new one, combining traditional torsion bars and shock dampers on the last and two first roadwheel sets. There were six evenly spaced sets of rubberized roadwheels per side. These roadwheels were completely redesigned and partly hollow, like the T-64 roadwheels, but made of steel rather than aluminum, due to costs and durability. They were also smaller and much lighter than the traditional “starfish” model, imposing four sets of return rollers to support the upper tracks. The tracks themselves were similar to the previous models, but not advanced like those of the T-64.

 

By 1973, the T-72 was accepted for service and over 25,000 units were built, but the production lines never really shut down. The T-72, in its modernized form, now represents the bulk of the Russian armored forces, and was adopted by the best armored units in all Eastern Europe forces. It was widely exported despite its price -double of that of a T-55- because it represented a good compromise, not complicated to operate and maintain, with many commonalities with previous models. It was a real upgrade in firepower, protection, speed and even fire accuracy compared to previous models, and even contemporary western MBTs. Unlike the T-62, the T-72 became an instant hit, was well-modernized over decades and is still frontline today, in thirty-six armies, including the Iraq.

 

Due to a ban on weapons deliveries after the Iran-Iraq war (where Iraq lost some 60 T-72Ms), a covert agreement was found to pass Czech-built M1 parts for a local assembly which was done as the “Asad Babil” or “Lion of Babylon”. There were armed with downgraded FCS and LRF, and a poor-quality glacis plate armor. Like the “Saddam”, a local adaptation of the M1 (downgraded for desert warfare), some suspensions’ shock absorbers were removed and a local-built searchlight was added on the right-hand-side. Saddams and Asad Babils were seen in action by 1991 and again in 2001 gulf war. Iraq had about 1000 T-72s, M, M1, but also the locally built Saddam and Asad Babil in 1990. After 2003, their numbers had dwindled to 375, and only 125 were listed in the new Iraqi Army - even though there were negotiations to procure up to 2.000 revamped T-72 by 2009.

 

But this deal did not come to fruition, and in 2010 twelve mothballed Iraqi T-72 survivors, mostly only hulls with engines but without a turret or armament, were modified into anti-aircraft systems, through the adaptation of the British Marksman short range air defense system developed by Marconi.

 

The Marksman system consists of a turret which carries a Marconi Series 400 radar and two Swiss Oerlikon 35 mm anti-aircraft autocannons. It is similar to the German Gepard system in terms of performance, ammunition carried and effective range of the ammunition, and intended to provide low-level air-defense for tank battalions.

The Marconi 400 series frequency agile surveillance and tracking X/J-band radar is able to detect targets out to 12 km in search mode and 10 km in tracking mode. The additional laser distance measure device functions up to 8 km. The turret can traverse a full 360 degrees and has an elevation range of −10 to +85 degrees. The magazines hold 460 fragmentation rounds and 40 armor-piercing anti-tank rounds. The vehicle is operated by only three crew members: commander, gunner, and driver. The commander and the gun operator in the turret both have gyro-stabilized optical aiming devices, and there are three communication radios in the vehicle for fire guidance and communications. The Swiss 35 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns have a rate of fire of 18 rounds per second and the fragmentation round has a muzzle velocity of 1,175 m/s. The effective range of the weapons is 4,000 meters. For self-defense, the vehicle is also equipped with eight Wegmann 76 mm smoke dischargers, a 7.62 mm assault rifle, and a flare gun.

 

In 2014 the Iraqi Army's T-72 battle tanks and the Marksman SPAAGs were actively involved in the Iraqi Civil War, an armed conflict which began in January 2014 with the Iraqi insurgency and which escalated into a civil war with the conquest of Fallujah, Mosul, Tikrit and in the major areas of northern Iraq by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS or IS). Even though no enemy aircraft were deployed, the T-72 Marksman SPAAGs proved to be very effective against lightly or unarmored vehicles and semi-fortified dugouts at medium range. The conflict ended in December 2017.

  

Specifications:

Crew: Three (commander, gunner, driver)

Weight: 47.2 tonnes (52.1 short tons)

Length: 8.06 m (26 ft 3 in) with turret forward and guns in march position

6.95 m (22 ft 10 in) hull only

Width: 3.59 m (11 ft 9 in)

Height: 4.46 metres (14 ft 7 1/2 in)

Suspension: torsion-bar

Ground clearance: 0.49 m (19 in)

Fuel capacity: 1,200 L (320 U.S. gal; 260 imp gal)

 

Engine:

V-92S2F V12 Diesel engine with 1,130 hp (840 kW)

 

Transmission:

Synchromesh, hydraulically assisted, with 7 forward and 1 reverse gears

 

Armor:

Steel and composite armour with ERA

250 mm (10 in) maximum in the hull front

 

Performance:

Speed:

- Maximum, road: 80 km/h (50 mph)

- Sustained, road: 60 km/h (37 mph)

- Cross country: up to 45 km/h (28 mph)

Operational range: 460 km (290 mi)

700 km (430 mi) with additional fuel drums

Power/weight: 18 hp/t

 

Armament:

2× 35 mm Oerlikon autocannon with 460 fragmentation rounds and 40 anti-tank rounds

  

The kit and its assembly:

Well, this is a rather simple, whiffy tank model. I have always been a fan of AA tanks, but there are only a few model kits in 1:72 scale, esp. of modern vehicles like the German Gepard, the American Sargeant Baker or the Finnish T-55 Marksman.

 

However, recently the German short run producer Silesian Models released a resin aftermarket conversion set with the Marksman turret, and I immediately was hooked and started wondering with which hull I could combine it? The resin set is actually intended for an M60 chassis, and while I found it to be a good idea I wanted a personal alternative. Using the Finnish T-55 variant as benchmark, I wondered if the Marksman system could be combined with a more modern hull of Soviet/Russian origin, and the omnipresent T-72 became an almost natural choice. Searching for a potential operator I eventually came across the New Iraqi Army, which operated the T-72 since the Eighties kept it in service until today.

 

The conversion is very simple and straightforward. The Modelcollect T-72 chassis was built OOB, using optional parts from the kit for the eight spoke wheels and a simple glacis plate without ERA. The side skirts were cut back.

A curious feature of the kit is the lower hull: it is a white metal piece instead of injected plastic, and the suspension parts are an integral part of this piece. This creates no major problem, though, and lowers the kit's CoG. You just need some superglue in order to attach the wheels and the upper hull parts, even though the latter can simple be attached in a snap-fit style. Overall detailling is superb and the fit is very good, too.

 

The nicely detailed Silesian Models resin Marksman turret went together well, too, even though the gun barrels were slightly bent. Some cleaning was necessary, but that has to be expected from such a short run kit. The turret also comes with an adapter plate for the M60 turret bearing, but it turned out to be too wide for the T-72 hull. So I simply cut out the T-72 kit's turret underside and glued it under the Marksman turret - and this worked very well and even had the bonus that I did not have to modify the kit's original turret bearing.

The only other addition are the wire antennae on the Marksman turret, made from heated sprue material.

  

Painting and markings:

Very straightforward, too. I used real life Iraqi T-72s as benchmark and chose a typical desert scheme, with an overall sand tone on top of which some brown mottles had been added. For the sand tone I used a car color: a Sixties Volkswagen tone called "Mexicobeige", applied with a rattle can. The brown mottles were later added with a small brush and they were mixed from Humbrol 29 (RAF Dark Earth) and 66 (Olive Drab) in a 2:1 ratio.

 

The Arabian tactical code number actually belongs to a MiG-29 (from a Begemot sheet), while the New Iraqi Army flag and the grey/green marking were printed with an inkjet at home on white decal paper.

 

The kit received a light dry-brushing treatment with Humbrol 168 (Hemp) and also a light wash with a highly thinned mix of red brown and grey. A coat of matt acrylic varnish sealed the model.

 

After the track segments had been mounted, the running gear was dusted with fine artist pigments, and another dusting treatment was finally applied to the upper hull, too, once the tank model had been fully assembled.

  

An interesting result, and even though the T-72/Marksman combo is fictional, the resulting SPAAG looks very plausible, even "natural"? The modern Iraqi colors and markings suit it well, too. Besides, a relatively quick and pleasant build/conversion, completed in less than five days.

Arbeia was a large Roman fort in South Shields, Tyne & Wear, England, now ruined, and which has been partially reconstructed. It was first excavated in the 1870s. All modern buildings on the site were cleared in the 1970s. It is managed by Tyne and Wear Museums as Arbeia Roman Fort and Museum.

 

Name

"Arbeia" may mean the "fort of the Arab troops" referring to the fact that part of its garrison at one time was a squadron of Mesopotamian boatmen from the Tigris, following Emperor Septimius Severus securing the city of Singara in 197.

 

Otherwise it could mean "(fort by a) stream noted for wild turnips".

 

History

The fort was built in 129 AD as a small cohort fort, a few years later than most of the Hadrian's Wall forts, on the Lawe Top overlooking the mouth of the River Tyne and four miles beyond the eastern end of Hadrian’s wall, from where it guarded the flank and main sea supply route to the Wall and the small port on the south of the Tyne.

 

Its garrison was reduced during the occupation of Scotland in the reign of Antoninus Pius. Early in Marcus Aurelius's reign (161 to 180) it was reoccupied and from 198 it was considerably altered in plan and usage. A dividing wall between the northern and southern halves of the fort allowed the north part to store supplies from sea-going ships, while the southern part remained a garrison. The modifications are associated with Septimius Severus' Roman invasion of Caledonia (208–211), a series of campaigns against the troublesome Caledonian tribes, in which the fort may have served as his headquarters.

 

From 220-235 a new principia (headquarters) with new barracks were built in the southern part of the fort, probably to house the new garrison of Cohors V Gallorum of double size (nominally 1000 men) while the original principia were converted to a granary and 9 more granaries were built in the southern part of the fort, bringing the total to 24. It contains the only permanent stone-built granaries yet found in Britain.[10] It shows that Arbeia became the main supply base for the whole of Hadrian’s Wall rather than obtaining its supplies from the local region by purchase, taxation or requisition which was the usual assumption.

 

In later 3rd century occupants of the vicus appear to have moved into the empty fort.

 

After a fire in about 300, 8 of the granaries were converted to barracks, the principia were enlarged and a new large praetorium (commanding officer’s house) built. The fort was finally abandoned around 400.

 

It is said to be the birthplace of the Northumbrian King Oswin.

 

When the fort was unexpectedly discovered in 1875 by an unknown amateur it made national news as the numerous finds near the centre of a Northern industrial town were of a quality that shocked archaeologists who found it hard to believe such a site could yield these treasures. The Roman remains attracted crowds that flocked to the town and despite some believing that they were forgeries, further excavations proved that it was a sensational archaeological discovery.

 

Garrison

The Ala Primae Pannoniorum Sabiniana was the first garrison, a nominally 500-strong cavalry regiment from the Pannonian tribes of modern Hungary. When they were transferred to Onnum later in the 2nd century, another cavalry regiment replaced them, the Ala I Hispanorum Asturum from the Astures tribe of north-western Spain. After it moved to Benwell, they were replaced before 222 by the Cohors V Gallorum, a nominally one-thousand strong infantry regiment possibly from Fort Cramond on the Forth.

 

The final garrison was the Numerus Barcariorum Tigrisiensium who were transferred from Lancaster Roman Fort and originally barge-men from the River Tigris in the Middle-East recorded in the Notitia Dignitatum.

 

Praetorium

The later commanding officer’s house built after 300 resembled elegant 3rd and 4th century houses from the Mediterranean area and included an atrium at the entrance leading to a colonnaded courtyard with fountain around which most of the rooms were organised. Many of the rooms were decorated with frescoes. A private thermal baths suite included hypocausts for the heated rooms.

 

Museum

Two monuments in the museum at Arbeia testify to the cosmopolitan nature of its shifting population. One commemorate Regina, a British woman of the Catuvellauni tribe (approximately modern Hertfordshire). She was first the slave, then the freedwoman and wife of Barates, an Arab merchant from Palmyra (now part of Syria) who, evidently missing her greatly, set up a gravestone after she died at the age of 30 in the second half of the second century. (Barates himself is buried at the nearby fort at Corbridge in Northumberland.) The second commemorates Victor, another former slave, freed by Numerianus of the Ala I Asturum, who also arranged his funeral ("piantissime": with all devotion) when Victor died at the age of 20. The stone records that Victor was "of the Moorish nation".

 

The museum also holds an altarpiece to a previously unknown god and a tablet with the name of the Emperor Severus Alexander (died 235) chiselled off, an example of damnatio memoriae.

 

Reconstruction

The West Gate of the fort was reconstructed in 1986 to give an impression of the place. The Reconstruction of the fort has been accomplished using research which was undertaken following excavations, standing where it had originally existed during the Roman occupation of Britain.

 

A Roman gatehouse, barracks and Commanding Officer's house have been reconstructed on their original foundations. The gatehouse holds many displays related to the history of the fort, and its upper levels provide an overview of the archaeological site.

 

Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of Britannia after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410.

 

Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 and 54 BC as part of his Gallic Wars. According to Caesar, the Britons had been overrun or culturally assimilated by the Belgae during the British Iron Age and had been aiding Caesar's enemies. The Belgae were the only Celtic tribe to cross the sea into Britain, for to all other Celtic tribes this land was unknown. He received tribute, installed the friendly king Mandubracius over the Trinovantes, and returned to Gaul. Planned invasions under Augustus were called off in 34, 27, and 25 BC. In 40 AD, Caligula assembled 200,000 men at the Channel on the continent, only to have them gather seashells (musculi) according to Suetonius, perhaps as a symbolic gesture to proclaim Caligula's victory over the sea. Three years later, Claudius directed four legions to invade Britain and restore the exiled king Verica over the Atrebates. The Romans defeated the Catuvellauni, and then organized their conquests as the province of Britain. By 47 AD, the Romans held the lands southeast of the Fosse Way. Control over Wales was delayed by reverses and the effects of Boudica's uprising, but the Romans expanded steadily northward.

 

The conquest of Britain continued under command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola (77–84), who expanded the Roman Empire as far as Caledonia. In mid-84 AD, Agricola faced the armies of the Caledonians, led by Calgacus, at the Battle of Mons Graupius. Battle casualties were estimated by Tacitus to be upwards of 10,000 on the Caledonian side and about 360 on the Roman side. The bloodbath at Mons Graupius concluded the forty-year conquest of Britain, a period that possibly saw between 100,000 and 250,000 Britons killed. In the context of pre-industrial warfare and of a total population of Britain of c. 2 million, these are very high figures.

 

Under the 2nd-century emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, two walls were built to defend the Roman province from the Caledonians, whose realms in the Scottish Highlands were never controlled. Around 197 AD, the Severan Reforms divided Britain into two provinces: Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. During the Diocletian Reforms, at the end of the 3rd century, Britannia was divided into four provinces under the direction of a vicarius, who administered the Diocese of the Britains. A fifth province, Valentia, is attested in the later 4th century. For much of the later period of the Roman occupation, Britannia was subject to barbarian invasions and often came under the control of imperial usurpers and imperial pretenders. The final Roman withdrawal from Britain occurred around 410; the native kingdoms are considered to have formed Sub-Roman Britain after that.

 

Following the conquest of the Britons, a distinctive Romano-British culture emerged as the Romans introduced improved agriculture, urban planning, industrial production, and architecture. The Roman goddess Britannia became the female personification of Britain. After the initial invasions, Roman historians generally only mention Britain in passing. Thus, most present knowledge derives from archaeological investigations and occasional epigraphic evidence lauding the Britannic achievements of an emperor. Roman citizens settled in Britain from many parts of the Empire.

 

History

Britain was known to the Classical world. The Greeks, the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians traded for Cornish tin in the 4th century BC. The Greeks referred to the Cassiterides, or "tin islands", and placed them near the west coast of Europe. The Carthaginian sailor Himilco is said to have visited the island in the 6th or 5th century BC and the Greek explorer Pytheas in the 4th. It was regarded as a place of mystery, with some writers refusing to believe it existed.

 

The first direct Roman contact was when Julius Caesar undertook two expeditions in 55 and 54 BC, as part of his conquest of Gaul, believing the Britons were helping the Gallic resistance. The first expedition was more a reconnaissance than a full invasion and gained a foothold on the coast of Kent but was unable to advance further because of storm damage to the ships and a lack of cavalry. Despite the military failure, it was a political success, with the Roman Senate declaring a 20-day public holiday in Rome to honour the unprecedented achievement of obtaining hostages from Britain and defeating Belgic tribes on returning to the continent.

 

The second invasion involved a substantially larger force and Caesar coerced or invited many of the native Celtic tribes to pay tribute and give hostages in return for peace. A friendly local king, Mandubracius, was installed, and his rival, Cassivellaunus, was brought to terms. Hostages were taken, but historians disagree over whether any tribute was paid after Caesar returned to Gaul.

 

Caesar conquered no territory and left no troops behind, but he established clients and brought Britain into Rome's sphere of influence. Augustus planned invasions in 34, 27 and 25 BC, but circumstances were never favourable, and the relationship between Britain and Rome settled into one of diplomacy and trade. Strabo, writing late in Augustus's reign, claimed that taxes on trade brought in more annual revenue than any conquest could. Archaeology shows that there was an increase in imported luxury goods in southeastern Britain. Strabo also mentions British kings who sent embassies to Augustus, and Augustus's own Res Gestae refers to two British kings he received as refugees. When some of Tiberius's ships were carried to Britain in a storm during his campaigns in Germany in 16 AD, they came back with tales of monsters.

 

Rome appears to have encouraged a balance of power in southern Britain, supporting two powerful kingdoms: the Catuvellauni, ruled by the descendants of Tasciovanus, and the Atrebates, ruled by the descendants of Commius. This policy was followed until 39 or 40 AD, when Caligula received an exiled member of the Catuvellaunian dynasty and planned an invasion of Britain that collapsed in farcical circumstances before it left Gaul. When Claudius successfully invaded in 43 AD, it was in aid of another fugitive British ruler, Verica of the Atrebates.

 

Roman invasion

The invasion force in 43 AD was led by Aulus Plautius,[26] but it is unclear how many legions were sent. The Legio II Augusta, commanded by future emperor Vespasian, was the only one directly attested to have taken part. The Legio IX Hispana, the XIV Gemina (later styled Martia Victrix) and the XX (later styled Valeria Victrix) are known to have served during the Boudican Revolt of 60/61, and were probably there since the initial invasion. This is not certain because the Roman army was flexible, with units being moved around whenever necessary. The IX Hispana may have been permanently stationed, with records showing it at Eboracum (York) in 71 and on a building inscription there dated 108, before being destroyed in the east of the Empire, possibly during the Bar Kokhba revolt.

 

The invasion was delayed by a troop mutiny until an imperial freedman persuaded them to overcome their fear of crossing the Ocean and campaigning beyond the limits of the known world. They sailed in three divisions, and probably landed at Richborough in Kent; at least part of the force may have landed near Fishbourne, West Sussex.

 

The Catuvellauni and their allies were defeated in two battles: the first, assuming a Richborough landing, on the river Medway, the second on the river Thames. One of their leaders, Togodumnus, was killed, but his brother Caratacus survived to continue resistance elsewhere. Plautius halted at the Thames and sent for Claudius, who arrived with reinforcements, including artillery and elephants, for the final march to the Catuvellaunian capital, Camulodunum (Colchester). Vespasian subdued the southwest, Cogidubnus was set up as a friendly king of several territories, and treaties were made with tribes outside direct Roman control.

 

Establishment of Roman rule

After capturing the south of the island, the Romans turned their attention to what is now Wales. The Silures, Ordovices and Deceangli remained implacably opposed to the invaders and for the first few decades were the focus of Roman military attention, despite occasional minor revolts among Roman allies like the Brigantes and the Iceni. The Silures were led by Caratacus, and he carried out an effective guerrilla campaign against Governor Publius Ostorius Scapula. Finally, in 51, Ostorius lured Caratacus into a set-piece battle and defeated him. The British leader sought refuge among the Brigantes, but their queen, Cartimandua, proved her loyalty by surrendering him to the Romans. He was brought as a captive to Rome, where a dignified speech he made during Claudius's triumph persuaded the emperor to spare his life. The Silures were still not pacified, and Cartimandua's ex-husband Venutius replaced Caratacus as the most prominent leader of British resistance.

 

On Nero's accession, Roman Britain extended as far north as Lindum. Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, the conqueror of Mauretania (modern day Algeria and Morocco), then became governor of Britain, and in 60 and 61 he moved against Mona (Anglesey) to settle accounts with Druidism once and for all. Paulinus led his army across the Menai Strait and massacred the Druids and burnt their sacred groves.

 

While Paulinus was campaigning in Mona, the southeast of Britain rose in revolt under the leadership of Boudica. She was the widow of the recently deceased king of the Iceni, Prasutagus. The Roman historian Tacitus reports that Prasutagus had left a will leaving half his kingdom to Nero in the hope that the remainder would be left untouched. He was wrong. When his will was enforced, Rome[clarification needed] responded by violently seizing the tribe's lands in full. Boudica protested. In consequence, Rome[clarification needed] punished her and her daughters by flogging and rape. In response, the Iceni, joined by the Trinovantes, destroyed the Roman colony at Camulodunum (Colchester) and routed the part of the IXth Legion that was sent to relieve it. Paulinus rode to London (then called Londinium), the rebels' next target, but concluded it could not be defended. Abandoned, it was destroyed, as was Verulamium (St. Albans). Between seventy and eighty thousand people are said to have been killed in the three cities. But Paulinus regrouped with two of the three legions still available to him, chose a battlefield, and, despite being outnumbered by more than twenty to one, defeated the rebels in the Battle of Watling Street. Boudica died not long afterwards, by self-administered poison or by illness. During this time, the Emperor Nero considered withdrawing Roman forces from Britain altogether.

 

There was further turmoil in 69, the "Year of the Four Emperors". As civil war raged in Rome, weak governors were unable to control the legions in Britain, and Venutius of the Brigantes seized his chance. The Romans had previously defended Cartimandua against him, but this time were unable to do so. Cartimandua was evacuated, and Venutius was left in control of the north of the country. After Vespasian secured the empire, his first two appointments as governor, Quintus Petillius Cerialis and Sextus Julius Frontinus, took on the task of subduing the Brigantes and Silures respectively.[38] Frontinus extended Roman rule to all of South Wales, and initiated exploitation of the mineral resources, such as the gold mines at Dolaucothi.

 

In the following years, the Romans conquered more of the island, increasing the size of Roman Britain. Governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola, father-in-law to the historian Tacitus, conquered the Ordovices in 78. With the XX Valeria Victrix legion, Agricola defeated the Caledonians in 84 at the Battle of Mons Graupius, in north-east Scotland. This was the high-water mark of Roman territory in Britain: shortly after his victory, Agricola was recalled from Britain back to Rome, and the Romans initially retired to a more defensible line along the Forth–Clyde isthmus, freeing soldiers badly needed along other frontiers.

 

For much of the history of Roman Britain, a large number of soldiers were garrisoned on the island. This required that the emperor station a trusted senior man as governor of the province. As a result, many future emperors served as governors or legates in this province, including Vespasian, Pertinax, and Gordian I.

 

Roman military organisation in the north

In 84 AD

In 84 AD

 

In 155 AD

In 155 AD

 

Hadrian's Wall, and Antonine Wall

There is no historical source describing the decades that followed Agricola's recall. Even the name of his replacement is unknown. Archaeology has shown that some Roman forts south of the Forth–Clyde isthmus were rebuilt and enlarged; others appear to have been abandoned. By 87 the frontier had been consolidated on the Stanegate. Roman coins and pottery have been found circulating at native settlement sites in the Scottish Lowlands in the years before 100, indicating growing Romanisation. Some of the most important sources for this era are the writing tablets from the fort at Vindolanda in Northumberland, mostly dating to 90–110. These tablets provide evidence for the operation of a Roman fort at the edge of the Roman Empire, where officers' wives maintained polite society while merchants, hauliers and military personnel kept the fort operational and supplied.

 

Around 105 there appears to have been a serious setback at the hands of the tribes of the Picts: several Roman forts were destroyed by fire, with human remains and damaged armour at Trimontium (at modern Newstead, in SE Scotland) indicating hostilities at least at that site.[citation needed] There is also circumstantial evidence that auxiliary reinforcements were sent from Germany, and an unnamed British war of the period is mentioned on the gravestone of a tribune of Cyrene. Trajan's Dacian Wars may have led to troop reductions in the area or even total withdrawal followed by slighting of the forts by the Picts rather than an unrecorded military defeat. The Romans were also in the habit of destroying their own forts during an orderly withdrawal, in order to deny resources to an enemy. In either case, the frontier probably moved south to the line of the Stanegate at the Solway–Tyne isthmus around this time.

 

A new crisis occurred at the beginning of Hadrian's reign): a rising in the north which was suppressed by Quintus Pompeius Falco. When Hadrian reached Britannia on his famous tour of the Roman provinces around 120, he directed an extensive defensive wall, known to posterity as Hadrian's Wall, to be built close to the line of the Stanegate frontier. Hadrian appointed Aulus Platorius Nepos as governor to undertake this work who brought the Legio VI Victrix legion with him from Germania Inferior. This replaced the famous Legio IX Hispana, whose disappearance has been much discussed. Archaeology indicates considerable political instability in Scotland during the first half of the 2nd century, and the shifting frontier at this time should be seen in this context.

 

In the reign of Antoninus Pius (138–161) the Hadrianic border was briefly extended north to the Forth–Clyde isthmus, where the Antonine Wall was built around 142 following the military reoccupation of the Scottish lowlands by a new governor, Quintus Lollius Urbicus.

 

The first Antonine occupation of Scotland ended as a result of a further crisis in 155–157, when the Brigantes revolted. With limited options to despatch reinforcements, the Romans moved their troops south, and this rising was suppressed by Governor Gnaeus Julius Verus. Within a year the Antonine Wall was recaptured, but by 163 or 164 it was abandoned. The second occupation was probably connected with Antoninus's undertakings to protect the Votadini or his pride in enlarging the empire, since the retreat to the Hadrianic frontier occurred not long after his death when a more objective strategic assessment of the benefits of the Antonine Wall could be made. The Romans did not entirely withdraw from Scotland at this time: the large fort at Newstead was maintained along with seven smaller outposts until at least 180.

 

During the twenty-year period following the reversion of the frontier to Hadrian's Wall in 163/4, Rome was concerned with continental issues, primarily problems in the Danubian provinces. Increasing numbers of hoards of buried coins in Britain at this time indicate that peace was not entirely achieved. Sufficient Roman silver has been found in Scotland to suggest more than ordinary trade, and it is likely that the Romans were reinforcing treaty agreements by paying tribute to their implacable enemies, the Picts.

 

In 175, a large force of Sarmatian cavalry, consisting of 5,500 men, arrived in Britannia, probably to reinforce troops fighting unrecorded uprisings. In 180, Hadrian's Wall was breached by the Picts and the commanding officer or governor was killed there in what Cassius Dio described as the most serious war of the reign of Commodus. Ulpius Marcellus was sent as replacement governor and by 184 he had won a new peace, only to be faced with a mutiny from his own troops. Unhappy with Marcellus's strictness, they tried to elect a legate named Priscus as usurper governor; he refused, but Marcellus was lucky to leave the province alive. The Roman army in Britannia continued its insubordination: they sent a delegation of 1,500 to Rome to demand the execution of Tigidius Perennis, a Praetorian prefect who they felt had earlier wronged them by posting lowly equites to legate ranks in Britannia. Commodus met the party outside Rome and agreed to have Perennis killed, but this only made them feel more secure in their mutiny.

 

The future emperor Pertinax (lived 126–193) was sent to Britannia to quell the mutiny and was initially successful in regaining control, but a riot broke out among the troops. Pertinax was attacked and left for dead, and asked to be recalled to Rome, where he briefly succeeded Commodus as emperor in 192.

 

3rd century

The death of Commodus put into motion a series of events which eventually led to civil war. Following the short reign of Pertinax, several rivals for the emperorship emerged, including Septimius Severus and Clodius Albinus. The latter was the new governor of Britannia, and had seemingly won the natives over after their earlier rebellions; he also controlled three legions, making him a potentially significant claimant. His sometime rival Severus promised him the title of Caesar in return for Albinus's support against Pescennius Niger in the east. Once Niger was neutralised, Severus turned on his ally in Britannia; it is likely that Albinus saw he would be the next target and was already preparing for war.

 

Albinus crossed to Gaul in 195, where the provinces were also sympathetic to him, and set up at Lugdunum. Severus arrived in February 196, and the ensuing battle was decisive. Albinus came close to victory, but Severus's reinforcements won the day, and the British governor committed suicide. Severus soon purged Albinus's sympathisers and perhaps confiscated large tracts of land in Britain as punishment. Albinus had demonstrated the major problem posed by Roman Britain. In order to maintain security, the province required the presence of three legions, but command of these forces provided an ideal power base for ambitious rivals. Deploying those legions elsewhere would strip the island of its garrison, leaving the province defenceless against uprisings by the native Celtic tribes and against invasion by the Picts and Scots.

 

The traditional view is that northern Britain descended into anarchy during Albinus's absence. Cassius Dio records that the new Governor, Virius Lupus, was obliged to buy peace from a fractious northern tribe known as the Maeatae. The succession of militarily distinguished governors who were subsequently appointed suggests that enemies of Rome were posing a difficult challenge, and Lucius Alfenus Senecio's report to Rome in 207 describes barbarians "rebelling, over-running the land, taking loot and creating destruction". In order to rebel, of course, one must be a subject – the Maeatae clearly did not consider themselves such. Senecio requested either reinforcements or an Imperial expedition, and Severus chose the latter, despite being 62 years old. Archaeological evidence shows that Senecio had been rebuilding the defences of Hadrian's Wall and the forts beyond it, and Severus's arrival in Britain prompted the enemy tribes to sue for peace immediately. The emperor had not come all that way to leave without a victory, and it is likely that he wished to provide his teenage sons Caracalla and Geta with first-hand experience of controlling a hostile barbarian land.

 

Northern campaigns, 208–211

An invasion of Caledonia led by Severus and probably numbering around 20,000 troops moved north in 208 or 209, crossing the Wall and passing through eastern Scotland on a route similar to that used by Agricola. Harried by punishing guerrilla raids by the northern tribes and slowed by an unforgiving terrain, Severus was unable to meet the Caledonians on a battlefield. The emperor's forces pushed north as far as the River Tay, but little appears to have been achieved by the invasion, as peace treaties were signed with the Caledonians. By 210 Severus had returned to York, and the frontier had once again become Hadrian's Wall. He assumed the title Britannicus but the title meant little with regard to the unconquered north, which clearly remained outside the authority of the Empire. Almost immediately, another northern tribe, the Maeatae, went to war. Caracalla left with a punitive expedition, but by the following year his ailing father had died and he and his brother left the province to press their claim to the throne.

 

As one of his last acts, Severus tried to solve the problem of powerful and rebellious governors in Britain by dividing the province into Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. This kept the potential for rebellion in check for almost a century. Historical sources provide little information on the following decades, a period known as the Long Peace. Even so, the number of buried hoards found from this period rises, suggesting continuing unrest. A string of forts were built along the coast of southern Britain to control piracy; and over the following hundred years they increased in number, becoming the Saxon Shore Forts.

 

During the middle of the 3rd century, the Roman Empire was convulsed by barbarian invasions, rebellions and new imperial pretenders. Britannia apparently avoided these troubles, but increasing inflation had its economic effect. In 259 a so-called Gallic Empire was established when Postumus rebelled against Gallienus. Britannia was part of this until 274 when Aurelian reunited the empire.

 

Around the year 280, a half-British officer named Bonosus was in command of the Roman's Rhenish fleet when the Germans managed to burn it at anchor. To avoid punishment, he proclaimed himself emperor at Colonia Agrippina (Cologne) but was crushed by Marcus Aurelius Probus. Soon afterwards, an unnamed governor of one of the British provinces also attempted an uprising. Probus put it down by sending irregular troops of Vandals and Burgundians across the Channel.

 

The Carausian Revolt led to a short-lived Britannic Empire from 286 to 296. Carausius was a Menapian naval commander of the Britannic fleet; he revolted upon learning of a death sentence ordered by the emperor Maximian on charges of having abetted Frankish and Saxon pirates and having embezzled recovered treasure. He consolidated control over all the provinces of Britain and some of northern Gaul while Maximian dealt with other uprisings. An invasion in 288 failed to unseat him and an uneasy peace ensued, with Carausius issuing coins and inviting official recognition. In 293, the junior emperor Constantius Chlorus launched a second offensive, besieging the rebel port of Gesoriacum (Boulogne-sur-Mer) by land and sea. After it fell, Constantius attacked Carausius's other Gallic holdings and Frankish allies and Carausius was usurped by his treasurer, Allectus. Julius Asclepiodotus landed an invasion fleet near Southampton and defeated Allectus in a land battle.

 

Diocletian's reforms

As part of Diocletian's reforms, the provinces of Roman Britain were organized as a diocese governed by a vicarius under a praetorian prefect who, from 318 to 331, was Junius Bassus who was based at Augusta Treverorum (Trier).

 

The vicarius was based at Londinium as the principal city of the diocese. Londinium and Eboracum continued as provincial capitals and the territory was divided up into smaller provinces for administrative efficiency.

 

Civilian and military authority of a province was no longer exercised by one official and the governor was stripped of military command which was handed over to the Dux Britanniarum by 314. The governor of a province assumed more financial duties (the procurators of the Treasury ministry were slowly phased out in the first three decades of the 4th century). The Dux was commander of the troops of the Northern Region, primarily along Hadrian's Wall and his responsibilities included protection of the frontier. He had significant autonomy due in part to the distance from his superiors.

 

The tasks of the vicarius were to control and coordinate the activities of governors; monitor but not interfere with the daily functioning of the Treasury and Crown Estates, which had their own administrative infrastructure; and act as the regional quartermaster-general of the armed forces. In short, as the sole civilian official with superior authority, he had general oversight of the administration, as well as direct control, while not absolute, over governors who were part of the prefecture; the other two fiscal departments were not.

 

The early-4th-century Verona List, the late-4th-century work of Sextus Rufus, and the early-5th-century List of Offices and work of Polemius Silvius all list four provinces by some variation of the names Britannia I, Britannia II, Maxima Caesariensis, and Flavia Caesariensis; all of these seem to have initially been directed by a governor (praeses) of equestrian rank. The 5th-century sources list a fifth province named Valentia and give its governor and Maxima's a consular rank. Ammianus mentions Valentia as well, describing its creation by Count Theodosius in 369 after the quelling of the Great Conspiracy. Ammianus considered it a re-creation of a formerly lost province, leading some to think there had been an earlier fifth province under another name (may be the enigmatic "Vespasiana"), and leading others to place Valentia beyond Hadrian's Wall, in the territory abandoned south of the Antonine Wall.

 

Reconstructions of the provinces and provincial capitals during this period partially rely on ecclesiastical records. On the assumption that the early bishoprics mimicked the imperial hierarchy, scholars use the list of bishops for the 314 Council of Arles. The list is patently corrupt: the British delegation is given as including a Bishop "Eborius" of Eboracum and two bishops "from Londinium" (one de civitate Londinensi and the other de civitate colonia Londinensium). The error is variously emended: Bishop Ussher proposed Colonia, Selden Col. or Colon. Camalodun., and Spelman Colonia Cameloduni (all various names of Colchester); Gale and Bingham offered colonia Lindi and Henry Colonia Lindum (both Lincoln); and Bishop Stillingfleet and Francis Thackeray read it as a scribal error of Civ. Col. Londin. for an original Civ. Col. Leg. II (Caerleon). On the basis of the Verona List, the priest and deacon who accompanied the bishops in some manuscripts are ascribed to the fourth province.

 

In the 12th century, Gerald of Wales described the supposedly metropolitan sees of the early British church established by the legendary SS Fagan and "Duvian". He placed Britannia Prima in Wales and western England with its capital at "Urbs Legionum" (Caerleon); Britannia Secunda in Kent and southern England with its capital at "Dorobernia" (Canterbury); Flavia in Mercia and central England with its capital at "Lundonia" (London); "Maximia" in northern England with its capital at Eboracum (York); and Valentia in "Albania which is now Scotland" with its capital at St Andrews. Modern scholars generally dispute the last: some place Valentia at or beyond Hadrian's Wall but St Andrews is beyond even the Antonine Wall and Gerald seems to have simply been supporting the antiquity of its church for political reasons.

 

A common modern reconstruction places the consular province of Maxima at Londinium, on the basis of its status as the seat of the diocesan vicarius; places Prima in the west according to Gerald's traditional account but moves its capital to Corinium of the Dobunni (Cirencester) on the basis of an artifact recovered there referring to Lucius Septimius, a provincial rector; places Flavia north of Maxima, with its capital placed at Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to match one emendation of the bishops list from Arles;[d] and places Secunda in the north with its capital at Eboracum (York). Valentia is placed variously in northern Wales around Deva (Chester); beside Hadrian's Wall around Luguvalium (Carlisle); and between the walls along Dere Street.

 

4th century

Emperor Constantius returned to Britain in 306, despite his poor health, with an army aiming to invade northern Britain, the provincial defences having been rebuilt in the preceding years. Little is known of his campaigns with scant archaeological evidence, but fragmentary historical sources suggest he reached the far north of Britain and won a major battle in early summer before returning south. His son Constantine (later Constantine the Great) spent a year in northern Britain at his father's side, campaigning against the Picts beyond Hadrian's Wall in the summer and autumn. Constantius died in York in July 306 with his son at his side. Constantine then successfully used Britain as the starting point of his march to the imperial throne, unlike the earlier usurper, Albinus.

 

In the middle of the century, the province was loyal for a few years to the usurper Magnentius, who succeeded Constans following the latter's death. After the defeat and death of Magnentius in the Battle of Mons Seleucus in 353, Constantius II dispatched his chief imperial notary Paulus Catena to Britain to hunt down Magnentius's supporters. The investigation deteriorated into a witch-hunt, which forced the vicarius Flavius Martinus to intervene. When Paulus retaliated by accusing Martinus of treason, the vicarius attacked Paulus with a sword, with the aim of assassinating him, but in the end he committed suicide.

 

As the 4th century progressed, there were increasing attacks from the Saxons in the east and the Scoti (Irish) in the west. A series of forts had been built, starting around 280, to defend the coasts, but these preparations were not enough when, in 367, a general assault of Saxons, Picts, Scoti and Attacotti, combined with apparent dissension in the garrison on Hadrian's Wall, left Roman Britain prostrate. The invaders overwhelmed the entire western and northern regions of Britannia and the cities were sacked. This crisis, sometimes called the Barbarian Conspiracy or the Great Conspiracy, was settled by Count Theodosius from 368 with a string of military and civil reforms. Theodosius crossed from Bononia (Boulogne-sur-Mer) and marched on Londinium where he began to deal with the invaders and made his base.[ An amnesty was promised to deserters which enabled Theodosius to regarrison abandoned forts. By the end of the year Hadrian's Wall was retaken and order returned. Considerable reorganization was undertaken in Britain, including the creation of a new province named Valentia, probably to better address the state of the far north. A new Dux Britanniarum was appointed, Dulcitius, with Civilis to head a new civilian administration.

 

Another imperial usurper, Magnus Maximus, raised the standard of revolt at Segontium (Caernarfon) in north Wales in 383, and crossed the English Channel. Maximus held much of the western empire, and fought a successful campaign against the Picts and Scots around 384. His continental exploits required troops from Britain, and it appears that forts at Chester and elsewhere were abandoned in this period, triggering raids and settlement in north Wales by the Irish. His rule was ended in 388, but not all the British troops may have returned: the Empire's military resources were stretched to the limit along the Rhine and Danube. Around 396 there were more barbarian incursions into Britain. Stilicho led a punitive expedition. It seems peace was restored by 399, and it is likely that no further garrisoning was ordered; by 401 more troops were withdrawn, to assist in the war against Alaric I.

 

End of Roman rule

The traditional view of historians, informed by the work of Michael Rostovtzeff, was of a widespread economic decline at the beginning of the 5th century. Consistent archaeological evidence has told another story, and the accepted view is undergoing re-evaluation. Some features are agreed: more opulent but fewer urban houses, an end to new public building and some abandonment of existing ones, with the exception of defensive structures, and the widespread formation of "dark earth" deposits indicating increased horticulture within urban precincts. Turning over the basilica at Silchester to industrial uses in the late 3rd century, doubtless officially condoned, marks an early stage in the de-urbanisation of Roman Britain.

 

The abandonment of some sites is now believed to be later than had been thought. Many buildings changed use but were not destroyed. There was a growing number of barbarian attacks, but these targeted vulnerable rural settlements rather than towns. Some villas such as Chedworth, Great Casterton in Rutland and Hucclecote in Gloucestershire had new mosaic floors laid around this time, suggesting that economic problems may have been limited and patchy. Many suffered some decay before being abandoned in the 5th century; the story of Saint Patrick indicates that villas were still occupied until at least 430. Exceptionally, new buildings were still going up in this period in Verulamium and Cirencester. Some urban centres, for example Canterbury, Cirencester, Wroxeter, Winchester and Gloucester, remained active during the 5th and 6th centuries, surrounded by large farming estates.

 

Urban life had generally grown less intense by the fourth quarter of the 4th century, and coins minted between 378 and 388 are very rare, indicating a likely combination of economic decline, diminishing numbers of troops, problems with the payment of soldiers and officials or with unstable conditions during the usurpation of Magnus Maximus 383–87. Coinage circulation increased during the 390s, but never attained the levels of earlier decades. Copper coins are very rare after 402, though minted silver and gold coins from hoards indicate they were still present in the province even if they were not being spent. By 407 there were very few new Roman coins going into circulation, and by 430 it is likely that coinage as a medium of exchange had been abandoned. Mass-produced wheel thrown pottery ended at approximately the same time; the rich continued to use metal and glass vessels, while the poor made do with humble "grey ware" or resorted to leather or wooden containers.

 

Sub-Roman Britain

Towards the end of the 4th century Roman rule in Britain came under increasing pressure from barbarian attacks. Apparently, there were not enough troops to mount an effective defence. After elevating two disappointing usurpers, the army chose a soldier, Constantine III, to become emperor in 407. He crossed to Gaul but was defeated by Honorius; it is unclear how many troops remained or ever returned, or whether a commander-in-chief in Britain was ever reappointed. A Saxon incursion in 408 was apparently repelled by the Britons, and in 409 Zosimus records that the natives expelled the Roman civilian administration. Zosimus may be referring to the Bacaudic rebellion of the Breton inhabitants of Armorica since he describes how, in the aftermath of the revolt, all of Armorica and the rest of Gaul followed the example of the Brettaniai. A letter from Emperor Honorius in 410 has traditionally been seen as rejecting a British appeal for help, but it may have been addressed to Bruttium or Bologna. With the imperial layers of the military and civil government gone, administration and justice fell to municipal authorities, and local warlords gradually emerged all over Britain, still utilizing Romano-British ideals and conventions. Historian Stuart Laycock has investigated this process and emphasised elements of continuity from the British tribes in the pre-Roman and Roman periods, through to the native post-Roman kingdoms.

 

In British tradition, pagan Saxons were invited by Vortigern to assist in fighting the Picts, Scoti, and Déisi. (Germanic migration into Roman Britannia may have begun much earlier. There is recorded evidence, for example, of Germanic auxiliaries supporting the legions in Britain in the 1st and 2nd centuries.) The new arrivals rebelled, plunging the country into a series of wars that eventually led to the Saxon occupation of Lowland Britain by 600. Around this time, many Britons fled to Brittany (hence its name), Galicia and probably Ireland. A significant date in sub-Roman Britain is the Groans of the Britons, an unanswered appeal to Aetius, leading general of the western Empire, for assistance against Saxon invasion in 446. Another is the Battle of Deorham in 577, after which the significant cities of Bath, Cirencester and Gloucester fell and the Saxons reached the western sea.

 

Historians generally reject the historicity of King Arthur, who is supposed to have resisted the Anglo-Saxon conquest according to later medieval legends.

 

Trade

During the Roman period Britain's continental trade was principally directed across the Southern North Sea and Eastern Channel, focusing on the narrow Strait of Dover, with more limited links via the Atlantic seaways. The most important British ports were London and Richborough, whilst the continental ports most heavily engaged in trade with Britain were Boulogne and the sites of Domburg and Colijnsplaat at the mouth of the river Scheldt. During the Late Roman period it is likely that the shore forts played some role in continental trade alongside their defensive functions.

 

Exports to Britain included: coin; pottery, particularly red-gloss terra sigillata (samian ware) from southern, central and eastern Gaul, as well as various other wares from Gaul and the Rhine provinces; olive oil from southern Spain in amphorae; wine from Gaul in amphorae and barrels; salted fish products from the western Mediterranean and Brittany in barrels and amphorae; preserved olives from southern Spain in amphorae; lava quern-stones from Mayen on the middle Rhine; glass; and some agricultural products. Britain's exports are harder to detect archaeologically, but will have included metals, such as silver and gold and some lead, iron and copper. Other exports probably included agricultural products, oysters and salt, whilst large quantities of coin would have been re-exported back to the continent as well.

 

These products moved as a result of private trade and also through payments and contracts established by the Roman state to support its military forces and officials on the island, as well as through state taxation and extraction of resources. Up until the mid-3rd century, the Roman state's payments appear to have been unbalanced, with far more products sent to Britain, to support its large military force (which had reached c. 53,000 by the mid-2nd century), than were extracted from the island.

 

It has been argued that Roman Britain's continental trade peaked in the late 1st century AD and thereafter declined as a result of an increasing reliance on local products by the population of Britain, caused by economic development on the island and by the Roman state's desire to save money by shifting away from expensive long-distance imports. Evidence has been outlined that suggests that the principal decline in Roman Britain's continental trade may have occurred in the late 2nd century AD, from c. 165 AD onwards. This has been linked to the economic impact of contemporary Empire-wide crises: the Antonine Plague and the Marcomannic Wars.

 

From the mid-3rd century onwards, Britain no longer received such a wide range and extensive quantity of foreign imports as it did during the earlier part of the Roman period; vast quantities of coin from continental mints reached the island, whilst there is historical evidence for the export of large amounts of British grain to the continent during the mid-4th century. During the latter part of the Roman period British agricultural products, paid for by both the Roman state and by private consumers, clearly played an important role in supporting the military garrisons and urban centres of the northwestern continental Empire. This came about as a result of the rapid decline in the size of the British garrison from the mid-3rd century onwards (thus freeing up more goods for export), and because of 'Germanic' incursions across the Rhine, which appear to have reduced rural settlement and agricultural output in northern Gaul.

 

Economy

Mineral extraction sites such as the Dolaucothi gold mine were probably first worked by the Roman army from c. 75, and at some later stage passed to civilian operators. The mine developed as a series of opencast workings, mainly by the use of hydraulic mining methods. They are described by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History in great detail. Essentially, water supplied by aqueducts was used to prospect for ore veins by stripping away soil to reveal the bedrock. If veins were present, they were attacked using fire-setting and the ore removed for comminution. The dust was washed in a small stream of water and the heavy gold dust and gold nuggets collected in riffles. The diagram at right shows how Dolaucothi developed from c. 75 through to the 1st century. When opencast work was no longer feasible, tunnels were driven to follow the veins. The evidence from the site shows advanced technology probably under the control of army engineers.

 

The Wealden ironworking zone, the lead and silver mines of the Mendip Hills and the tin mines of Cornwall seem to have been private enterprises leased from the government for a fee. Mining had long been practised in Britain (see Grimes Graves), but the Romans introduced new technical knowledge and large-scale industrial production to revolutionise the industry. It included hydraulic mining to prospect for ore by removing overburden as well as work alluvial deposits. The water needed for such large-scale operations was supplied by one or more aqueducts, those surviving at Dolaucothi being especially impressive. Many prospecting areas were in dangerous, upland country, and, although mineral exploitation was presumably one of the main reasons for the Roman invasion, it had to wait until these areas were subdued.

 

By the 3rd and 4th centuries, small towns could often be found near villas. In these towns, villa owners and small-scale farmers could obtain specialist tools. Lowland Britain in the 4th century was agriculturally prosperous enough to export grain to the continent. This prosperity lay behind the blossoming of villa building and decoration that occurred between AD 300 and 350.

 

Britain's cities also consumed Roman-style pottery and other goods, and were centres through which goods could be distributed elsewhere. At Wroxeter in Shropshire, stock smashed into a gutter during a 2nd-century fire reveals that Gaulish samian ware was being sold alongside mixing bowls from the Mancetter-Hartshill industry of the West Midlands. Roman designs were most popular, but rural craftsmen still produced items derived from the Iron Age La Tène artistic traditions. Britain was home to much gold, which attracted Roman invaders. By the 3rd century, Britain's economy was diverse and well established, with commerce extending into the non-Romanised north.

 

Government

Further information: Governors of Roman Britain, Roman client kingdoms in Britain, and Roman auxiliaries in Britain

Under the Roman Empire, administration of peaceful provinces was ultimately the remit of the Senate, but those, like Britain, that required permanent garrisons, were placed under the Emperor's control. In practice imperial provinces were run by resident governors who were members of the Senate and had held the consulship. These men were carefully selected, often having strong records of military success and administrative ability. In Britain, a governor's role was primarily military, but numerous other tasks were also his responsibility, such as maintaining diplomatic relations with local client kings, building roads, ensuring the public courier system functioned, supervising the civitates and acting as a judge in important legal cases. When not campaigning, he would travel the province hearing complaints and recruiting new troops.

 

To assist him in legal matters he had an adviser, the legatus juridicus, and those in Britain appear to have been distinguished lawyers perhaps because of the challenge of incorporating tribes into the imperial system and devising a workable method of taxing them. Financial administration was dealt with by a procurator with junior posts for each tax-raising power. Each legion in Britain had a commander who answered to the governor and, in time of war, probably directly ruled troublesome districts. Each of these commands carried a tour of duty of two to three years in different provinces. Below these posts was a network of administrative managers covering intelligence gathering, sending reports to Rome, organising military supplies and dealing with prisoners. A staff of seconded soldiers provided clerical services.

 

Colchester was probably the earliest capital of Roman Britain, but it was soon eclipsed by London with its strong mercantile connections. The different forms of municipal organisation in Britannia were known as civitas (which were subdivided, amongst other forms, into colonies such as York, Colchester, Gloucester and Lincoln and municipalities such as Verulamium), and were each governed by a senate of local landowners, whether Brythonic or Roman, who elected magistrates concerning judicial and civic affairs. The various civitates sent representatives to a yearly provincial council in order to profess loyalty to the Roman state, to send direct petitions to the Emperor in times of extraordinary need, and to worship the imperial cult.

 

Demographics

Roman Britain had an estimated population between 2.8 million and 3 million people at the end of the second century. At the end of the fourth century, it had an estimated population of 3.6 million people, of whom 125,000 consisted of the Roman army and their families and dependents.[80] The urban population of Roman Britain was about 240,000 people at the end of the fourth century. The capital city of Londinium is estimated to have had a population of about 60,000 people. Londinium was an ethnically diverse city with inhabitants from the Roman Empire, including natives of Britannia, continental Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. There was also cultural diversity in other Roman-British towns, which were sustained by considerable migration, from Britannia and other Roman territories, including continental Europe, Roman Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa. In a study conducted in 2012, around 45 percent of sites investigated dating from the Roman period had at least one individual of North African origin.

 

Town and country

During their occupation of Britain the Romans founded a number of important settlements, many of which survive. The towns suffered attrition in the later 4th century, when public building ceased and some were abandoned to private uses. Place names survived the deurbanised Sub-Roman and early Anglo-Saxon periods, and historiography has been at pains to signal the expected survivals, but archaeology shows that a bare handful of Roman towns were continuously occupied. According to S.T. Loseby, the very idea of a town as a centre of power and administration was reintroduced to England by the Roman Christianising mission to Canterbury, and its urban revival was delayed to the 10th century.

 

Roman towns can be broadly grouped in two categories. Civitates, "public towns" were formally laid out on a grid plan, and their role in imperial administration occasioned the construction of public buildings. The much more numerous category of vici, "small towns" grew on informal plans, often round a camp or at a ford or crossroads; some were not small, others were scarcely urban, some not even defended by a wall, the characteristic feature of a place of any importance.

 

Cities and towns which have Roman origins, or were extensively developed by them are listed with their Latin names in brackets; civitates are marked C

 

Alcester (Alauna)

Alchester

Aldborough, North Yorkshire (Isurium Brigantum) C

Bath (Aquae Sulis) C

Brough (Petuaria) C

Buxton (Aquae Arnemetiae)

Caerleon (Isca Augusta) C

Caernarfon (Segontium) C

Caerwent (Venta Silurum) C

Caister-on-Sea C

Canterbury (Durovernum Cantiacorum) C

Carlisle (Luguvalium) C

Carmarthen (Moridunum) C

Chelmsford (Caesaromagus)

Chester (Deva Victrix) C

Chester-le-Street (Concangis)

Chichester (Noviomagus Reginorum) C

Cirencester (Corinium) C

Colchester (Camulodunum) C

Corbridge (Coria) C

Dorchester (Durnovaria) C

Dover (Portus Dubris)

Exeter (Isca Dumnoniorum) C

Gloucester (Glevum) C

Great Chesterford (the name of this vicus is unknown)

Ilchester (Lindinis) C

Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum) C

Lincoln (Lindum Colonia) C

London (Londinium) C

Manchester (Mamucium) C

Newcastle upon Tyne (Pons Aelius)

Northwich (Condate)

St Albans (Verulamium) C

Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) C

Towcester (Lactodurum)

Whitchurch (Mediolanum) C

Winchester (Venta Belgarum) C

Wroxeter (Viroconium Cornoviorum) C

York (Eboracum) C

 

Religion

The druids, the Celtic priestly caste who were believed to originate in Britain, were outlawed by Claudius, and in 61 they vainly defended their sacred groves from destruction by the Romans on the island of Mona (Anglesey). Under Roman rule the Britons continued to worship native Celtic deities, such as Ancasta, but often conflated with their Roman equivalents, like Mars Rigonemetos at Nettleham.

 

The degree to which earlier native beliefs survived is difficult to gauge precisely. Certain European ritual traits such as the significance of the number 3, the importance of the head and of water sources such as springs remain in the archaeological record, but the differences in the votive offerings made at the baths at Bath, Somerset, before and after the Roman conquest suggest that continuity was only partial. Worship of the Roman emperor is widely recorded, especially at military sites. The founding of a Roman temple to Claudius at Camulodunum was one of the impositions that led to the revolt of Boudica. By the 3rd century, Pagans Hill Roman Temple in Somerset was able to exist peaceably and it did so into the 5th century.

 

Pagan religious practices were supported by priests, represented in Britain by votive deposits of priestly regalia such as chain crowns from West Stow and Willingham Fen.

 

Eastern cults such as Mithraism also grew in popularity towards the end of the occupation. The London Mithraeum is one example of the popularity of mystery religions among the soldiery. Temples to Mithras also exist in military contexts at Vindobala on Hadrian's Wall (the Rudchester Mithraeum) and at Segontium in Roman Wales (the Caernarfon Mithraeum).

 

Christianity

It is not clear when or how Christianity came to Britain. A 2nd-century "word square" has been discovered in Mamucium, the Roman settlement of Manchester. It consists of an anagram of PATER NOSTER carved on a piece of amphora. There has been discussion by academics whether the "word square" is a Christian artefact, but if it is, it is one of the earliest examples of early Christianity in Britain. The earliest confirmed written evidence for Christianity in Britain is a statement by Tertullian, c. 200 AD, in which he described "all the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons, inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ". Archaeological evidence for Christian communities begins to appear in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Small timber churches are suggested at Lincoln and Silchester and baptismal fonts have been found at Icklingham and the Saxon Shore Fort at Richborough. The Icklingham font is made of lead, and visible in the British Museum. A Roman Christian graveyard exists at the same site in Icklingham. A possible Roman 4th-century church and associated burial ground was also discovered at Butt Road on the south-west outskirts of Colchester during the construction of the new police station there, overlying an earlier pagan cemetery. The Water Newton Treasure is a hoard of Christian silver church plate from the early 4th century and the Roman villas at Lullingstone and Hinton St Mary contained Christian wall paintings and mosaics respectively. A large 4th-century cemetery at Poundbury with its east–west oriented burials and lack of grave goods has been interpreted as an early Christian burial ground, although such burial rites were also becoming increasingly common in pagan contexts during the period.

 

The Church in Britain seems to have developed the customary diocesan system, as evidenced from the records of the Council of Arles in Gaul in 314: represented at the council were bishops from thirty-five sees from Europe and North Africa, including three bishops from Britain, Eborius of York, Restitutus of London, and Adelphius, possibly a bishop of Lincoln. No other early sees are documented, and the material remains of early church structures are far to seek. The existence of a church in the forum courtyard of Lincoln and the martyrium of Saint Alban on the outskirts of Roman Verulamium are exceptional. Alban, the first British Christian martyr and by far the most prominent, is believed to have died in the early 4th century (some date him in the middle 3rd century), followed by Saints Julius and Aaron of Isca Augusta. Christianity was legalised in the Roman Empire by Constantine I in 313. Theodosius I made Christianity the state religion of the empire in 391, and by the 5th century it was well established. One belief labelled a heresy by the church authorities — Pelagianism — was originated by a British monk teaching in Rome: Pelagius lived c. 354 to c. 420/440.

 

A letter found on a lead tablet in Bath, Somerset, datable to c. 363, had been widely publicised as documentary evidence regarding the state of Christianity in Britain during Roman times. According to its first translator, it was written in Wroxeter by a Christian man called Vinisius to a Christian woman called Nigra, and was claimed as the first epigraphic record of Christianity in Britain. This translation of the letter was apparently based on grave paleographical errors, and the text has nothing to do with Christianity, and in fact relates to pagan rituals.

 

Environmental changes

The Romans introduced a number of species to Britain, including possibly the now-rare Roman nettle (Urtica pilulifera), said to have been used by soldiers to warm their arms and legs, and the edible snail Helix pomatia. There is also some evidence they may have introduced rabbits, but of the smaller southern mediterranean type. The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) prevalent in modern Britain is assumed to have been introduced from the continent after the Norman invasion of 1066. Box (Buxus sempervirens) is rarely recorded before the Roman period, but becomes a common find in towns and villas

 

Legacy

During their occupation of Britain the Romans built an extensive network of roads which continued to be used in later centuries and many are still followed today. The Romans also built water supply, sanitation and wastewater systems. Many of Britain's major cities, such as London (Londinium), Manchester (Mamucium) and York (Eboracum), were founded by the Romans, but the original Roman settlements were abandoned not long after the Romans left.

 

Unlike many other areas of the Western Roman Empire, the current majority language is not a Romance language, or a language descended from the pre-Roman inhabitants. The British language at the time of the invasion was Common Brittonic, and remained so after the Romans withdrew. It later split into regional languages, notably Cumbric, Cornish, Breton and Welsh. Examination of these languages suggests some 800 Latin words were incorporated into Common Brittonic (see Brittonic languages). The current majority language, English, is based on the languages of the Germanic tribes who migrated to the island from continental Europe

due to a large tumor, the mandibula has been replaced with a bone transplant (fibula) from 3-6 to 4-6.

 

image one shows the patient prior to surgery; the tumor in the base of mouth has grown to a disfiguring size within just a few weeks.

 

image two is a bone 3D volume rendering, image three is a skin 3D volume rendering (digital volume tomography).

 

image four shows the patient five days after surgery; the area - especially the cheeks - is very swollen; yet, the cosmetical outcome is likely very good (notice / compare the chin!). functional outcome is unknown, but things are looking good so far.

 

the full story can be seen in this set.

 

update 24th november 2009: recent image (rightmost).

WSDOT has marked a major milestone in its effort to replace the aging and vulnerable State Route 520 floating bridge. After 13 years of thorough analysis and input from thousands of people, the state has announced a preferred alternative for the I-5 to Medina: Bridge Replacement and HOV Project.

 

Major safety, transit and environmental improvements are in store for the SR 520 corridor from I-5 in Seattle across Lake Washington to Medina. The SR 520 preferred alternative takes key steps to get ready for future light rail, help manage traffic in the Arboretum and transform the future highway with a landscaped lid and median for a parkway experience.

 

The new floating bridge and highway will have six lanes, including two general-purpose lanes and a new transit/HOV lane in each direction. Adding transit/HOV lanes makes travel in the corridor faster and more reliable for buses and carpools and supports regional plans for completing the HOV system to reduce the number of single-occupancy vehicles.

 

Details are on our website, including images of what a new, larger landscaped lid at Montlake Boulevard would look like. The preferred SR 520 alternative directly responds to input we received from the public, the City of Seattle, the University of Washington and environmental regulatory agencies. Work continues on design refinements for the Montlake area with those groups as well as transit agencies.

 

Highlights include:

 

Room for future light rail: The bridge deck will accommodate future light rail trains and the west end of the floating bridge will have room for trains to leave the corridor and head to the University of Washington area. Pontoons could be added to the floating bridge in the future to carry the weight of the trains.

 

Less traffic in the Arboretum: The project removes the ramps that currently carry traffic directly to Lake Washington Boulevard and the Washington Park Arboretum. Westbound off-ramps instead will carry buses and general purpose traffic to 24th Avenue E. and continue on to Montlake Boulevard.

 

Buses and a lid at Montlake: New direct-access ramps will carry buses to a new landscaped park lid at the Montlake Boulevard interchange. The open space will extend from Montlake Boulevard into the Arboretum.

 

Parkway on Portage Bay: A slimmed-down Portage Bay Bridge will be built as a 45-mph landscaped parkway with a 6-foot-wide planted median. The 105-foot-wide bridge is narrower than the 154 feet previously planned in the 2006 draft environmental impact statement.

 

Identifying a preferred design keeps us on track for opening a new bridge to traffic in 2014.

 

www.wsdot.wa.gov/Communications/ExpressLane/2010/05_07.htm

 

www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR520Bridge/I5ToMedina/Default....

 

SR 520 - I-5 to Medina: Bridge Replacement and HOV Project

 

Status

February 2011

 

ESSB 6392 reports now available

  

We've sent two final reports to the governor and state legislators (High Capacity Transit Planning and Financing and the Washington Park Arboretum Mitigation Plan). This completes the requirements of Senate Bill 6392.

Floating bridge construction

  

Three teams have until spring to submit their bids and proposals for the new SR 520 floating bridge. Construction starts in 2012 and the bridge opens in 2014.

Overview

 

The I-5 to Medina: Bridge Replacement and HOV Project will replace the interchanges and roadway between I-5 in Seattle and the eastern end of the floating bridge.

   

Why is WSDOT pursuing this project?

About 115,000 vehicles and more than 190,000 people cross Lake Washington every day on the SR 520 floating bridge. It’s a key regional route for commuters and freight.

 

After floating for nearly 50 years, the four-lane bridge is often clogged by traffic and is showing its age.

 

The floating bridge pontoons are vulnerable to windstorms, and bridge support columns are vulnerable to earthquakes.

  

The End Result

  

The I-5 to Medina Bridge Replacement and HOV Project includes a new floating bridge and highway with six lanes, including two general-purpose lanes and one new transit/HOV lane in each direction.

 

The project also takes key steps to get ready for future light rail, help manage traffic in the Arboretum and transform the future corridor from Montlake to I-5 into a city parkway with landscaped lids and medians.

  

Project Benefits

  

The new SR 520 corridor through Seattle will:

 

Provide transit connections and priority.

Create a pedestrian-friendly urban interchange at Montlake Boulevard.

Restore park area and connections next to the Washington Park Arboretum.

Reduce noise levels from the Portage Bay Bridge.

Be ready for light rail if the region chooses to fund it in the future.

 

What is the project timeline?

  

Spring 2011: Publish final environmental impact statement

Mid-2011: Select contractor team for new SR 520 floating bridge

2012: Begin construction of floating bridge

2014: Open new floating bridge to drivers

The schedule for constructing the segments of the corridor west of Lake Washington is pending additional funding.

  

Financial Information

 

We are moving forward with construction on a new SR 520 floating bridge, which is fully funded by a variety of state and federal sources, including SR 520 tolling that is set to begin in spring 2011.

 

We are continuining to work with the Legislature to fund the elements of the project from I-5 to the floating bridge.

 

Visit the SR 520 Costs, Funding and Tolling page for additional information.

  

How can I get more information?

Contact:

E-mail: SR520bridge@wsdot.wa.gov

 

Phone: 206-770-3500

 

Infoline: 1-888-520-NEWS (6397)

 

Mail: I-5 to Medina: Bridge Replacement and HOV Project

SR 520 Bridge Replacement and HOV Program

600 Stewart Street, Suite 520

Seattle, WA 98101

Here is the former Pathmark General Merchandise area, which has been replaced in the new Superfresh by an international foods section which was impressive in its depth and selection. This area should do very well, considering the area's demographics and the fact that the local Stop & Shop's idea of international foods selection is carrying both Ortega and Old El Paso.

 

The Superfresh does have a few aisles of Health and Beauty, but it seems to concentrate on food and grocery, and leave the rest to the Rite Aid up the road.

 

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

 

A new Superfresh opened this week in this former Pathmark on the Belleville/Newark/Bloomfield border in New Jersey. The store is located in a very ethnically diverse neighborhood and sits adjacent to the Silver Lake stop on the Newark Light Rail.

 

This architecturally boring Pathmark comes in at a 53,000 sq ft. It was built and opened in 1971, during Pathmark's early days and was so successful that Pathmark built a second store in Belleville (now ShopRite). It no doubt lost tons of sales volume when Edwards (now Stop & Shop) built a store on adjacent property which previously housed a Bambergers Furniture Warehouse, but this store was still incredibly popular with the local Latin and Caribbean communities right up until it closed last year.

 

The store is the fourth Superfresh to open since Key Food acquired the concept from A&P in February, 2016. Stores in Paterson, NJ; Bloomfield, NJ; and New York City have already opened, with additional stores in Glen Rock, NJ; Irvington, NJ and Edison, NJ opening soon.

Some background:

The Bentley 4½ Litre was a British car based on a rolling chassis built by Bentley Motors. Walter Owen Bentley replaced the Bentley 3 Litre with a more powerful car by increasing its engine displacement to 4.4 L (270 cu in).

Bentley buyers used their cars for personal transport and arranged for their new chassis to be fitted with various body styles, mostly saloons or tourers. However, the publicity brought by their competition programme was invaluable for marketing Bentley's cars.

 

At the time, noted car manufacturers such as Bugatti and Lorraine-Dietrich focused on designing cars to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a popular automotive endurance course established only a few years earlier. A victory in this competition quickly elevated any car maker's reputation.

A total of 720 4½ Litre cars were produced between 1927 and 1931, including 55 cars with a supercharged engine popularly known as the Blower Bentley. A 4½ Litre Bentley won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1928. Though the supercharged 4½ Litre Bentley's competitive performance was not outstanding, it set several speed records, most famously the Bentley Blower No.1 Monoposto in 1932 at Brooklands with a recorded speed of 222.03 km/h (138 mph).

 

Although the Bentley 4½ Litre was heavy, weighing 1,625 kg (3,583 lb), and spacious, with a length of 4,380 mm (172 in) and a wheelbase of 3,302 mm (130.0 in), it remained well-balanced and steered nimbly. The manual transmission, however, required skill, as its four gears were unsynchronised.

 

The robustness of the 4½ Litre's lattice chassis, made of steel and reinforced with ties, was needed to support the heavy cast iron inline-four engine. The engine was "resolutely modern" for the time. The displacement was 4,398 cc (268.4 cu in): 100 mm (3.9 in) bore and 140 mm (5.5 in) stroke. Two SU carburetters and dual ignition with Bosch magnetos were fitted. The engine produced 110 hp (82 kW) for the touring model and 130 hp (97 kW) for the racing model. The engine speed was limited to 4,000 rpm.

A single overhead camshaft actuated four valves per cylinder, inclined at 30 degrees. This was a technically advanced design at a time where most cars used only two valves per cylinder. The camshaft was driven by bevel gears on a vertical shaft at the front of the engine, as on the 3 Litre engine.

 

The Bentley's tanks - radiator, oil and petrol - had quick release filler caps that opened with one stroke of a lever. This saved time during pit stops. The 4½ was equipped with a canvas top stretched over a lightweight Weymann body. The hood structure was very light but with high wind resistance (24 Hours Le Mans rules between 1924 and 1928 dictated a certain number of laps for which the hood had to be closed). The steering wheel measured about 45 cm (18 in) in diameter and was wrapped with solid braided rope for improved grip. Brakes were conventional, consisting of 17-inch (430 mm) drum brakes finned for improved cooling and operated by rod. Semi-elliptic leaf springs were used at front and rear.

  

Building the kit and its display box:

I normally do not build large scale kits, except for some anime character figures, and I especially stay away from car models because I find it very hard to come close to the impression of the real thing. But this one was a personal thing, and I got motivated enough to tackle this challenge that caused some sweat and shivers. Another reason for the tension was the fact that it was intended as a present - and I normally do not build models for others, be it as a gift or on a contract work basis.

 

The background is that a colleage of mine will retire soon, an illustrator and a big oldtimer enthusiast at the same time. I was not able to hunt down a model of the vintage car he actually owns, but I remembered that he frequently takes part with his club at a local car exhibition, called the "Classic Days" at a location called Schloss Dyck. There he had had the opportunity some time ago to take a ride in a Bentley 4.5 litre "Blower", and I saw the fascinationn in his eyes when he recounted the events. We also talked about car models, and I mentioned the 1:24 Heller kit of the car. So, as a "farewell" gift, I decided to tackle this souvenir project, since the Bentley drive obviously meant a lot to him, and it's a quite personal gift, for a highly respected, artistic person.

 

Since this was to be a gift for a non-modeler, I also had to make sure that the car model could later be safely stored, transported and displayed, so some kind of base or display bon on top was a must - and I think I found a nice solution, even with integrated lighting!

 

As already mentioned, the model is the 1:24 Heller kit from 1978, in this case the more recent Revell re-boxing. While the kit remained unchanged (even the Heller brand is still part of the molds!), the benefit of this version is a very nice and thin decal sheet which covers some of the more delicate detail areas like gauges on the dashboard or the protective wire mesh for the headlights.

 

I had huge respect for the kit - I have actually built less than 10 car models in my 40+ years of kit building. So the work started with detail picture research, esp. of the engine and from the cockpit, and I organized appropriate paints (see below).

Work started slowly with the wheels, then the engine followed, the steerable front suspension, the chassis, the cabin section and finally the engine cowling and the mudguards with the finished wheels. Since I lack experience with cars I stuck close to the instructions and really took my time, because the whole thing went together only step by step, with painting and esp. drying intermissions. Much less quickly than my normal tempo with more familiar topics.

 

The kit remained basically OOB, and I must say that I am impressed how well it went together. The car kits I remember were less cooperative - but the Heller Bentley was actually a pleasant, yet challenging, build. Some issues I had were the chrome parts, which had to be attached with superglue, and their attachment points to the sprues (the same green plastic is used for the chrome parts, too - a different materiallike silver or light grey would have made life easier!) could only hardly be hidden with paint.

 

The plastic itself turned out to be relatively soft, too - while it made cleaning easy, this caused in the end some directional issues which had to be "professionally hidden": Once the cabin had been mounted to the frame and work on the cowling started, I recognized that the frame in front of the cabin was not straight anymore - I guess due to the engine block which sits deep between the front beams. While this was not really recognizable, the engine covers would not fit anymore, leaving small but unpleasant gaps.

The engine is OOB not über-detailed, and I actually only wanted to open the left half of the cocling for the diorama. However, with this flaw I eventually decided to open both sides, what resulted in having the cowling covers sawn into two parts each and arranging them in open positions. Quite fiddly, and I also replaced the OOB leather straps that normally hold the cowling covers closed with textured adhesive tape, for a more voluminous look. The engine also received some additional cables and hoses - nothing fancy, though, but better than the quite bleak OOB offering.

 

Some minor details were added in the cabin: a floor mat (made from paper, it looks like being made from cocos fibre) covers the area in front of the seats and the steering wheel was wrapped with cord - a detail that many Bentleys with race history shared, for a better grip for the driver.

 

Overall, the car model was painted with pure Humbrol 239 (British Racing Green) enamel paint, except for the passenger section. Here I found Revell's instructions to be a bit contradictive, because I do not believe in a fully painted car, esp. on this specific Le Mans race car. I even found a picture of the real car as an exhibition piece, and it rather shows a faux leather or vinyl cladding of the passenger compartment - in a similar dark green tone, but rather matt, with only a little shine, and with a lighter color due to the rougher surface. So I rather tried to emulate this look, which would also make the model IMHO look more interesting.

As a fopundation I used a mix of Humbrol 239 and 75 (Bronze Green), on top of which I later dry-brushed Revell 363 (Dark Green). The effect and the gloss level looked better than expected - I feared a rather worn/used look - and I eventually did not apply and clear varnish to this area. In fact, no varnish was applied to the whole model because the finish looked quite convincing!

 

The frame and the engine were slightly weathered with a black ink wash, and once the model was assembled I added some oil stains to the engine and the lower hull, and applied dust and dirt through mineral artist pigments to the wheels with their soft vinyl tires and the whole lower car body. I wanted the car to look basically clean and in good shape, just like a museum piece, but having been driven enthusiastically along some dusty country roads (see below). And this worked out quite well!

  

Since I wanted a safe store for the model I tried to find a suitable display box and found an almost perfect solution in SYNAS from Ikea. The sturdy SYNAS box (it's actually sold as a toy/Children's lamp!?) had very good dimensions for what I had in mind. Unfortunately it is only available in white, but for its price I would not argue. As a bonus it even comes with integrated LED lighting in the floor, as a rim of lights along the side walls. I tried to exploit this through a display base that would leave a 1cm gap all around, so that light could be reflected upwards and from the clear side walls and the lid onto the model.

 

The base was created with old school methods: a piece of MDF wood, on top of which I added a piece of cobblestone street and grass embankment, trying to capture the rural atmosphere around Schloss Dyck. Due to the large scale of the model I sculpted a light side slope under the pavement (a Tamiya print with a light 3D effect), created with plaster and fine carpenter putty. The embankment was sculpted with plaster, too.

The cobblestone cardboard was simply glued to the surface, trimmed down, and then a fairing of the base's sides was added, thin balsa wood.

Next came the grass - again classic methods. First, the surface was soaked with a mix of water, white glue and brown dispersion paint, and fine sand rinsed over the surfaces. Once dry, another mix of water, white glue and more paint was applied, into which foamed plastic turf of different colors and sizes was dusted. After anothetr drying period this area was sprayed with contact glue and grass fibres were applied - unfortunately a little more than expected. However, the result still looks good.

 

At the border to the street, the area was covered with mineral pigments, simulating mud and dust, and on the right side I tried to add a puddle, made from Humbrol Clearfix and glue. For some more ambiance I scratched a typical German "local sight" roadsign from cardboard and wood, and I also added a pair of "Classic Days" posters to the mast. Once in place I finally added some higher grass bushels (brush fibres) and sticks (dried moss), sealing everything in place with acralic varnish from the rattle can.

 

In order to motivate the Bentley's open cowling, I tried to set an engine failure into scene: with the car abandoned during the Classic Days' demo races along the local country roads, parked at the side of the street, and with a puddle of engine below and a small trail of oil behind the car (created with Tamiya "Smoke", perfect stuff for this task!). A hay bale, actually accessory stuff for toy tractors and in fact a square piece of wood, covered with straw chips, subtly hint at this occasion.

 

Finally, for safe transport, the model was attached to the base with thin wire, the base glued to the light box' floor with double-sided adhesive tape and finally enclosed.

  

Quite a lot of work, the car model alone took four patient weeks to fully materialize, and the base in the SYNAS box took another two weeks, even though work proceeded partly in parallel. However, I am positively surprised how well this build turned out - the Heller kit was better/easier to assemble than expected, and many problems along the way could be solved with patience and creative solutions.

 

Replaced the rocker cover gasket as I noticed traces of oil underneath the car and at the back of the rocker cover.

 

Not too bad of a job and worth it in the end. Also replaced the rusty bolts with new stainless hex bolts & new rubber washers.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

During the Second World War, the Slovak Air force was charged with the defense of Slovak airspace, and, after the invasion of Russia, provided air cover for Slovak forces fighting against the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front While engaged on the Eastern Front, Slovakia’s obsolete biplanes were replaced with German combat aircraft, including the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the Focke Wulf Fw 190. The air force was sent back to Slovakia after combat fatigue and desertion had reduced the pilots' effectiveness. Slovak air units took part in the Slovak National Uprising against Germany from late August 1944.

 

Towards the end of the war, General Alois Vicherek left Britain for the Soviet Union, where he was supposed to take over command of the Czechoslovak Air Force in the USSR. However he only arrived on May 1, 1945, when the war was almost over. Vicherek was happy to serve an Eastern Bloc Czechoslovakia, and on May 29, 1945, he was appointed the Commander of the Czechoslovak Air Force.

 

Initial equipment of the Czechoslovak Air Force directly after WWII consisted mainly of surviving German aircraft, and parts and tools in the factory sites on Czechoslovak territory. One of these “indigenous” types were the Avia S-99 (a Bf 109G-6) and the S-199, a Bf 109 derivate with a Junkers Jumo 211 F engine that actually belonged to the He 111 bomber. Another similar family consisted of the Avia S-90 and S-91: the S-90 was a Fw 190 A-8, while the S-91 was built from unfinished Fw 190 A-8 airframes and spare parts, and due to the lack of engines outfitted with a Soviet Shvetsov ASh-82FNU engine and other Soviet equipment.

 

All these aircraft were built or made airworthy by the two aircraft factories in Czechoslovakia: one of them officially called závod Avia (Avia Plant) (1946–48) and závod Avia-Jiřího Dimitrova (Avia-George Dimitroff-Plant, 1948–49) in Čakovice near Prague, as a post-war corporative part of the Automobilové závody, n.p. [Automotive Works, National Corp.], and the other one called závod Vysočany (Vysočany Plant, 1948–49) in Prague, as a corporative part of Letecké závody, n.p. [Aviation Works, National Corp.] They were effectively constructed with parts and plans left over from Luftwaffe aircraft production that had taken place under the country's German occupation during the war.

 

While around 550 S-199s were built and even exported to Israel, the S-90 and S-91 were only produced in small numbers, and only for the Czechoslovak Air Force. About 40 S-90 were taken into service in 1946, while the assembly of the S-91 with its different engine and other adaptations started in 1948, and less than 20 were built from existing materials – none was actually newly manufactured.

 

The S-91 was easy to recognize by its bigger fin with a square outline, as well as the different cowling with its oil cooler underneath the ASh-82FNU. This was an improved M-82FN with more boost pressure and RPM and the power output increased to 1,380 kW (1,850 hp). The different engine and its radiator fan called for a different spinner, too, so that the nose profile differed considerably from the Fw 190 A-8, even though most of the internal structure was still the same.

 

Armament of the S-91 consisted of four Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 23 mm cannons in the wings (one pair in the wing roots, synchronized to fire through the propeller disc, and another pair outside of the landing gear wells) with 125 RPG, the fuselage-mounted machine guns of the Fw 190 A-8 were omitted to save weight. The original underfuselage hardpoint for a drop tank or a bomb of up to 500 kg (1.102 lb) caliber was retained, as well as optional hardpoints under the wings for bombs or other ordnance of up to 250 kg (551 lb) weight, even though the S-90 and S-91 were almost exclusively used in the fighter role. Both types were very popular among the crews, as they were both much more agile and better armed than the rather sluggish S-199, which was cheaper to produce, though.

 

The S-90’s and S-91’s service career was short, though: from 1955 Czechoslovakia became a member of the Warsaw Pact. Because of this, the Czechoslovak Air Force started to use Soviet aircraft, doctrines, and tactics, and with the purchase of equipment of Soviet origin the leftover WWII relics were soon retired. Nevertheless, both received the NATO ASCC reporting names ‘Finch A & B’, respectively. The S-90 was phased out until 1958, the slightly superior S-91 followed soon in 1960, when both were replaced by MiG-15 jet fighters.

  

General characteristics

Crew: 1

Length: 9.10 m (29 ft 7 in)

Wingspan: 10.51 m (34 ft 5 in)

Height: 3.95 m (12 ft 12 in)

Wing area: 18.30 m² (196.99 ft²)

Empty weight: 3.170 kg (7.010 lb)

Loaded weight: 4.400 kg (9.700 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 4,900 kg (10,800 lb)

 

Powerplant:

1× Shvetsov ASh-82FNU air-cooled radial engine with a two-stage supercharger and fuel injection, rated at 1,380 kW (1,850 hp)

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 685 km/h (426 mph) at 6,600 m (21,655 ft), 710 km/h (440 mph) at 37,000 ft (11,000 m)

Range: 950 km (590 mi), clean and with internal fuel only

Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,370 ft)

Rate of climb: 758 m/min (2,487 ft/min)

Wing loading: 241 kg/m² (49.4 lb/ft²)

Power/mass: 0.29-0.33 kW/kg (0.18-0.21 hp/lb)

 

Armament:

4× Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 23 mm cannons with 125 RPG in the wings

Up to 1.000kg (2.202 lb) of external ordnance on three hardpoints under the fuselage and under the outer wings (rarely used)

  

The kit and its assembly:

Another whif inspired by someone else’s idea. This time, the model was inspired by Czech-based fellow user PantherG at whatifmodelers.com, who posted a profile of a Fw 190 A-8 in Czechoslovak Air Force markings, the Avia S-90 - the latter must have been an authentic designation, but I could not find any proof for a service use of the Fw 190 A-8 in the Czechoslovak Air Force?

Anyway, the post-WWII idea had its charm, and I liked PantherG's idea of a rather ugly livery in RLM colors. So much that I decided to build it in hardware form! But, as things evolved, I decided to add a personal twist to the model, taking the original idea one step further.

 

This led directly to “my” S-91: a re-engined variant of the S-90 – I found parts for a Shvetsov ASh-82 engine in my scrap box, and thought THAT could be a fine alternative…?

 

The basic kit is the Academy Fw-190 A-8, a solid model with some flaws (e .g. a rather clumsy landing gear), but with good fit and overall details. It is mostly built OOB, with only minor mods: The engine cowling was re-shaped with putty, two ram air scoops for the twin turbochargers were added and a chin oil cooler was mounted added. A new propeller with the typical, different radiator fan was scratched from various single parts (I assume there are He 100D, Spitfire and I-210 parts in it!).

 

As an additional design twist the Fw 190 fin was replaced by a leftover Me 163 donation part, making it taller and slightly larger in area. This change was not really necessary, but I wanted to change the Fw 190's classic outline a little, for a more modern and Lavochkin La-9/11-like look.

Unfortunately the model suffered from a major crash from the work bench, just before I wanted to apply decals - the fin was ripped apart. I tried to fix it, but the damage can still be recognized.

 

The fuselage hardpoint comes from a Hobby Boss Fw 190, but it was left empty. In the cockpit a different seat was added, as well as a Matchbox pilot figure and a scratched gun sight. Hollow steel needles were used as gun barrels on the wings.

  

Painting and markings:

As already mentioned, I liked the rather ugly choice of camouflage that PantherG suggested for his S-90: RLM 75 & 81 (Grauviolett & Braunviolett, yuck!) from above and RLM 76 for the lower sides. Despite the kit mods I decided to stick to PantherG's original design as much as possible - I just changed the aircraft's squadron, since I found appropriate emblems in the stash (see below). Another motivation was that I wanted to see how sick this would actually look like on a Fw 190…

 

I used ModelMaster Authentic enamels for the upper surfaces authentic RLM tones (2085 & 2090), and I tried the new RLM 76 from Humbrol (#247) for the lower sides.

Compared with the Modelmaster enamel, Humbrol 247 is slightly lighter and recognizably more turquise, almost like RLM 65, and close to Humbrol 128 (FS 36320). In contrast to the poor RLM 83 (Humbrol 253) which I recently used and which failed miserably, the RLM 76 paint is fine: Opaque, good to apply with a synthetic brush, dries up quickly and with an even, matt finish. I hope the horrible 253 enamel is/was just a one-off!

 

After basic painting, the kit received a black ink wash and some dry painting on panels for weathering and visual drama (with Humbrol 155, 140 and 127), as well as some very light dry-brushed silver on leading edges – the aircraft was supposed to look used, but not too worn. Exhaust an soot stains were also added, with grinded graphite.

 

All interior surfaces were painted in Extra Dark Slate Grey, as a dull alternative to RLM02.

 

The markings were puzzled together, according to the original profile sketch; the Czechoslovakian roundels come from KP Arado Ar 96 and Yak-23 kits. Unfortunately I did not have roundels with white outlines in appropriate size in store, but the blue alternative does not look bad at all.

The tactical code was made from single letters from TL Modellbau. The unit badge, a black bat on yellow ground (a full moon?), comes from the Bilek MiG-21PF kit. The few other stencils etc. were taken from the OOB sheet of the Academy Fw 190 kit.

  

So, a double tribute: first of all to Czech fellow modeler PantherG (who also inspired my German Marineflieger Super Étendard last year), and it is also a suitable contribution to a recent Group Build in memoriam of a deceased fellow user at whatifmodelers.com.

 

I have been to Throwley on at least three previous occasions, the fourth was going to be during Ride and Stride in September, but another crawler told me it had failed to open as per the list.

 

St Michael and All Angles is a large and from the outside and interesting looking church, looked like it had a story to tell. So, last week, I contacted the wardens through the CofE A church Near You website, I got a reply and a date and time agreed for Saturday morning.

 

We arrived 15 minutes early, and it was as locked as ever, but on a fine if frosty morning took the time to study the church ad churchyard, and saw yet more fine details we had missed previously.

 

Dead on time the warden arrived, and was very welcoming indeed. They loved to have visitors she said. Now I know how to contact them, I can see that.

 

She was clearly proud of the church, and rightly so, most impressive was the south chapel with a pair of kneeling couples on top of chest tombs, staring at each other for all eternity.

 

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

 

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

 

St Michael & All Angels is the parish church of Throwley. The first church on the site was probably built between 800 and 825. This would have been a small wooden structure, barely distinguishable from a farm building.

 

After the Norman Conquest in 1066 this was replaced by a Romanesque stone structure.

 

This was still small, but as the population of the parish increased the church was enlarged, until in about 1510 it reached its present size. Since then its appearance has changed little, although an extra storey was added to the tower - now far seen - in the 1860s.

 

The church has an elaborate Romanesque west entrance; its east window in the chancel, by Curtis, Ward & Hughes of Soho, London, is a memorial to Throwley men who gave their lives in the First World War.

 

In the Harris chapel is the church's newest stained-glass window, commemorating Dorothy Lady Harris who died in 1981. It was designed and executed in the Canterbury Cathedral Workshops by Frederick Cole (see pictures on left).

 

The church has more than its fair share of fine 16th to 19th century monuments, mainly to members of the local Sondes and Harris families, and these are all described.

 

www.faversham.org/community/churches/throwley.aspx

 

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

 

TQ 95 NE THROWLEY THROWLEY

ROAD

(west side)

4/181

Church of

St. Michael

and All

24.1.67 Angels

 

GV I

 

Parish Church. C12, C13 north chapel, C14 south chapel, C15

nave arcades, restored 1866 and tower heightened. Flint and

plain tiled roofs. Chancel, north and south chapels, nave and

aisles, south tower and south porch. West doorway, C12, with

attached shafts and 3 orders, the outer panelled with X's on

circles, the centre roll moulded with the blocks offset and

alternately projecting, the inner with more X's on circles,

with 2 offset buttresses either side of doorway. South aisle

with plinth, string course and parapet, 3 offset buttresses and

C15 Perpendicular windows. South tower of 2 stages with square

south-eastern stair turret and C16 moulded brick surround

sundial. Water spouts on each corner in the 4 Evangelical

symbols. Half-timbered C19 south porch, south doorway with

rolled and double hollow chamfered surround, and outer surround

with label and quatrefoil spandrels. North aisle under 1 roof

with nave, with C15 fenestration, and C19 chimney to north west.

North and south chapels with C14 cusped 'Y' tracery fenestration,

with hollow chamfered and ogee drip moulds. Chancel east

window C19 curvilinear style. Interior: 2 bay nave arcades,

double hollow chamfered arches on octagonal piers. C12 single

arches to north and south eastern bay, that to south recessed

and double chamfered through tower wall. Barrel roof.

Chamfered arch on corbels from south aisle to tower, itself

with corbel table on south wall, and triple arch through to south

chapel C19 chancel arch. Chancel with 2 bay double chamfered

arcade to north chapel with octagonal capitals on round piers, and

single double chamfered arch on round responds to south chapel.

Fittings: hollow chamfered piscina and sedile in window reveal in

chancel and cusped recess in north wall. C19 reredos and altar

rail. Cusped piscina and four centred arched wall recess in

south chapel. Choir stalls, some C19, the four on the south C15

with carved misericords. Monuments: south chapel C16 chest tomb,

with shields in panelled sides, moulded plinth, lozenge-shaped

flowers, fluting and frieze. Chest tomb, Sir George Sondes,

Earl of Faversham, d.1677. Black marble with blank panelled sides.

Inscription on the top panel (made 1728). Standing monument,

Sir Thomas Sondes, died 1592. Marble tomb chest, gadrooned with

achievements on side panels. Kneeling alabaster figures of

knight and his Lady on opposite sides of central prayer desk,

carrying inscription. Mary Sondes, died 1603. Smaller and

identical to Sir Thomas Sonde's monument, with 2 adults and 2

infant sons and daughters on either side of sarcophagus. Misplaced

scrolled and enriched carved achievement on floor to east of

those monuments. Wall plaque, Captain Thomas Sondes, died 1668.

Black and white marble, with draped apron, swagged and draped

sides with military trophies. Broken segmental pediment with male

bust. Signed W.S. (B.0.E. Kent II, p.477 suggests William Stanton).

North chapel C16 chest tomb, moulded plinth, panelled sides with

shields (1 panel reset in south chapel south wall). Early C16

tomb recess with moulded jambs, with rope work, crenellated,

with late Perpendicular motifs in spandrels, and tomb with 3

panelled recesses with 2 shields on each panel. Wall plaque,

Charles Harris, d.1814, by Flaxman. White plaque on white

background; dead soldier lifted from the grave by Victory, with

palms and cannon in background. Statue, to George, first Lord

Harris, life size soldier with sword and plans, on four foot

plinth. By George Rennie, 1835. Nave, wall plaque, Stephen

Bunce, d.1634. Black plaque on coved base and apron. Foliated

sides. Scrolled nowy cornice and pediment with achievement.

(See B.O.E. Kent II, 1983, 476-7.)

  

Listing NGR: TQ9883454254

 

www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-176587-church-of-st-m...

 

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LIES the next parish north-eastward from Stalisfield. It is called in the record of Domesday, Trevelei, in later records Truley and Thruley, in Latin ones Trulega and Truilla; it is now written both Throwley and Throwleigh.

 

THROWLEY is mostly situated on high ground, it is a more pleasant and open country than that last described, for though wild and romantic among the hills and woods, it is not so dreary and forlorn, nor the soil so uncomfortable, being much drier. Besides it has a more chearful and brighter aspect from the width of the principal valley which leads through it, from north to south, whence the hills rise on each side, with smaller delves interspersed among them. There is a good deal of wood-ground, mostly of beech, interspersed at places with oak and hazel, with some good timber trees of oak among them, especially in the northern and southern parts; much of the former belongs to the dean and chapter of Canterbury. The soil is mostly chalk, the rest a heavy tillage land of red cludy earth, the whole mixed with quantities of flint stones. There are some level lands, especially in the disparked grounds of Throwley park, which are tolerably good, much more so than those in the other parts of the parish; on the east side of the park are the foundations of the antient seat of the Sondes's, with the church close to them, the whole lying on high ground, with a good prospect of the surrounding country; not far from it is Town place, now only a farm-house. There is no village, excepting the few houses in Abraham-street may be so called, the rest of the houses, which are mostly cottages, standing dispersed throughout it, either single, or built round the little greens or softalls, of which there are several in different parts of the parish. On a larger one of these called Wilgate-green, there is a house belonging to the estate of Mr. Philerenis Willis's heirs, and another larger antient one, which with the estate belonging to it, was formerly the property of the Chapmans, and sold by them to Christopher Vane, lord Barnard, in 1789, gave it, with his other estates in this county, to David Papillon, esq. of Acrise, the present owner of it. (fn. 1)

 

There was a family named Wolgate, from whose residence here this green seems to have taken its name of Wolgate, or Wilgate-green. After they had remained here for some generations they ended in a daughter, for Mr. Ralph Wolgate dying in 1642, his daughter Anne married Mr. William Genery, and entitled him to her father's possessions here, at Posiers, in Borden, and other parts of this county. The Woodwards seem afterwards to have possessed their estate here, several of whom lie buried under a tomb in Throwley church-yard.

 

About half a mile distant south-westward from Wilgate-green, in Abraham-street, there is a seat, called, from its high situation and expensive prospect, BELMONT; it was built in the year 1769, by Edward Wilks, esq. storekeeper of the royal powdermills at Faversham, who inclosed a paddock or shrubbery round it, and occasionally resided here, till he alienated it in 1779 to John Montresor, esq. the present proprietor, who resides in it.

 

THE BEECH TREE flourishes in the greatest plenty, as well single to a large size, as in stubs in the coppice woods, which consist mostly of them, as well in these parts as they do in general on the range of chalk hills throughout this county, in some places extending two or three miles in width, and in others much more. The large tracts of ground in this and other counties, overspread with the beech-tree, the random situation of their stubs, and other circumstances which occur in viewing them, are strong proofs of their being the indigenous growth of this island, notwithstanding Cæfar's premptory assertion, in his Commentaries, of there being none here in this time. The Britons, he says, had every material for use and building, the same as the Gauls, excepting the fir and the beech. The former there is positive proof of his being grossly mistaken in, which will in some measure destroy that implicit credit we might otherwise give to his authority, as to the latter; indeed, the continued opposition he met with from the Britons, during his short stay here, assorded him hardly a possibility of seeing any other parts of this country than those near which he landed, and in the direct track through which he marched to wards Coway-stakes; too small a space for him to form any assertion of the general products of a whole country, or even of the neighbouring parts to him. Of those he passed through, the soil was not adapted to the growth of the beech tree; from which we may with great probability suppose, there were none growing on them, nor are there any throughout them, even at this time, a circumstance which most likely induced him to suppose, and afterwards to make the assertion beforementioned.

 

The slints, with which the cold unfertile lands in these parts, as well as some others in this county, are covered, have been found to be of great use in the bringing forward the crops on them, either by their warmth, or somewhat equivalent to it. Heretofore the occupiers of these lands were anxious to have them picked up and carried off from their grounds, but experiencing the disadvantage of it in the failure of their crops, they, never practice it themselves, and submit to the surveyors of the highways taking them off with great reluctance.

 

In the parish there are quantities of the great whitish ash coloured shell snail, which are of an unusual large size; they are found likewise near Darking, in Surry, and between Puckeridge and Ware, in Hertsordshire. They are not originally of this island, but have been brought from abroad, many of them are at this time observed in different parts of Italy.

 

MR. JACOB, in this Plantœ Favershamienses, has enumerated several scare plants observed by him in this parish, besides which, that scarce one, the Orchis myodes, or fly satrition, has been found here, growing on the side of the path, in a small wood, midway between the church and Wilgate green.

 

THIS PLACE, at the taking of the general survey of Domesday, about the 15th years of the Conqueror's reign, was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, and earl of Kent, the king's half brother, under the general title of whose lands it is thus described in it:

 

Hersrid holds Trevelai. It was taxed at three sulings. The arable land is eight carucates. In demesne there is one, and twenty-four villeins, with five borderers having six carucates and an half. There is a church, and five servants. Wood for the pannage of twenty bogs, and in the city three houses of thirty-two pence. In the time of king Edward the Conssessor it was worth seven pounds, and afterwards six pounds. Ulnod held it of king Edward.

 

On the bishop of Baieux's disgrace, about four years afterwards, this among his other estates, became consiscated to the crown.

 

After which it was held of the king in capite, by barony, by Jeffry de Peverel, and together with other lands made up the barony of Peverel, as it was called, being assigned to him for the defence of Dover-castle, for which purpose he was bound to maintain a certain number of soldiers from time to time for the desence of it, and to repair and defend at this own charge a particular tower or turret there, called afterwards Turris Gattoniana, or Gatton's tower.

 

In the reign of king Henry III. Robert de Gatton, who took his name from the lordship of Gatton, in Surry, of which his ancestors had been some time owners, was in possession of the manor Thrule, and died in the 38th year of that reign, holding it by knight's service of the king, of the honor of Peverel, by reason of the escheat of that honor, &c. (fn. 2) He was succeded in it by this eldest son Hamo de Gatton, who resided here, and served the office of sheriff in the 14th year of Edward I. His eldest son of the same name left one son Edmund, then an instant, who afterwards dying under age, his two sisters became his coheirs, and divided his inheritance, of which Elizabeth entitled her husband William de Dene to this manor, and all the rest of the estates in Kent; and Margery entitled her husband Simon de Norwood to Gatton, and all the other estates in Surry.

 

William de Dene had a charter of free warren for his lands in Thurley, in the 10th year of Edward II. He died anno 15 Edward III. then holding this manor by the law of England, as of the inheritance of Elizabeth his late wife deceased, of the king in capite, as of the castle of Dover, by knight's service, and paying to the ward of that castle. His son Thomas de Dene died possessed of it in the 23d year of that reign, leaving four daughters his coheirs, of whom Benedicta, the eldest, married John de Shelving, and entitled him to this manor, on whose death likewise without male issue, his two daughters became his coheirs, of whom, Joane married John Brampton, alias Detling, of Detlingcourt, and Ellen married John de Bourne, the former of whom, in his wife's right, became possessed of this manor. He lest only one daughter Benedicta his heir, who carried it in marriage to Thomas at Town, who was possessed of much land about Charing, and bore for his arms, Argent, on a chevron, sable, three crosscrostess, ermine, which coat is in the windows of Kennington church, impaled with Ellis, of that place. He removed hither in the reign of Henry VI. and built a feat for his residence in this parish, about a quarter of a mile from the church, which he named, from himself, Town-place, soon after which he died, leaving his possessions to his three daughters and coheirs, of whom Eleanor was married to Richard Lewknor, of Challock; Bennet to William Watton, of Addington, and Elizabeth to William Sondes, of this parish and of Lingfield, in Surry, in which county his ancestors had been seated as early as the reign of Henry III. at Darking, where their seat was named, from them, Sondes-place. (fn. 3) Upon the division of their inheritance, the manor of Throwley was allotted to William Sondes, and Town-place, with the lands belonging to it in Throwley, to Richard Lewknor, who sold it to Edward Evering, the eldest son of Nicholas, third son of John Evering, of Evering, in Alkham, and his daughter and heir Mary marrying in 1565, with John Upton, of Faversham, entitled him to this estate, which he very soon afterwards alienated to Shilling, from whom it as quickly afterwards passed by sale to Anthony Sondes, esq. of this parish, whose ancestor William Sondes, on the division of the inheritance of the daughters and coheirs of Thomas at Town as before mentioned, had become possessed of the manor of Throwley, and the antient mansion of it, in which he afterwards resided, and dying in 1474, anno 15 Edward IV. was buried in the north chapel of this church, though he ordered by his will a memorial for himself to be put up in the church of Lingfield. The family of Sondes bore for their arms, Argent, three blackmores heads, couped, between two chevronels, sable, which, with the several quarterings borne by them, are painted on their monuments in this church.

 

His descendant, Anthony Sondes, esq. of Throwley, in the 31st year of Henry VIII. procured his lands in this county to be disgavelled, by the act then passed, and died in 1575, having married Joane, daughter of Sir John Fineux, chief justice of the king's bench, by whom he had two sons, Thomas and Michael, and two daughters.

 

He was succeeded by his eldest son Sir Thomas Sondes, sheriff anno 22 Elizabeth, who founded the school in this parish. He died in 1592, leaving issue only by his second wife, one daughter Frances, married to Sir John Leveson, so that on his death without male issue, his only brother Sir Michael Sondes, of Eastry, succeeded to this manor and seat of his ancestors, in which he afterwards resided. He was sheriff in the 26th year of queen Elizabeth's reign, and died in the 16th year of king James I. having had by his first wife Mary, only daughter and heir of George Fynch, esq. of Norton, six sons and six daughters.

 

Sir Richard Sondes, the eldest son, resided at Throwley, where he died in the 8th year of Charles I. having had by his two wives a numerous issue, of both sons and daughters. He was succeeded in this manor and seat, with the rest of his estates, by his eldest son Sir George Sondes, who was made a knight of the Bath at the coronation of king Charles I. soon after which he began to rebuild his seat of Lees-court, in Sheldwich, and fixed his residence there, under the description of which a more particular account of him and his descendants may be seen. Not long after which this seat was entirely pulled down, and the park adjoining to it disparked. The foundations of the former still remain, and the disparked lands still retain the name of Throwley park.

 

Sir George Sondes was afterwards created Earl of Faversham, Viscount Sondes, of Lees court, and Baron of Throwley, whose two daughters became his coheirs; Mary was married to Lewis, lord Duras, marquis of Blanquefort, and afterwards earl of Faversham, and Katherine to Lewis Watson, esq. afterwards earl of Rockingham, who each successively, in right of their respective wives, inherited this manor and estate, which has since descended in like manner as Lees-court, in Sheldwich, to the right hon. Lewis-Thomas, lord Sondes, and he is the present possessor of this manor, with Town-place and the estate belonging to it. Acourt baron is held for this manor.

 

The denne of Toppenden, alias Tappenden, in Smarden, in the Weald, is an appendage to the manor of Throwley, and is held of it.

 

WILDERTON, alias Wolderton, called also in antient deeds Wilrinton, is a manor in this parish, which was once part of the possessions of the eminent family of Badlesmere, of which Bartholomew de Badlesmere was possessed of it in the reign of Edward II. of whom, for his services in the Scottish wars, he obtained in the 9th year of it many liberties and franchises for his different manors and estates, among which was that of free-warren in the demesne lands of this manor of Wolrington. (fn. 4) Having afterwards associated himself with the discontented barons, he was taken prisoner, and executed in the 16th year of that reign. By the inquisition taken after his death, which was not till anno 2 Edward III. at which time both the process and judgement against him was reversed, it was found that he died possessed of this manor, among others, which were then restored to his son Giles de Badlesmere, who died in the 12th year of Edward III. s. p. being then possessed of this manor. Upon which his four sisters became his comanor fell to the share of Margery, wife of William, manor fell to the share of Margery, wife of William, lord Roos, of Hamlake, who survived her husband, and died in the 37th year of Edward III. possessed of it, as did her grandson John, lord Roos, in the 9th year of Henry V. leaving no issue by Margaret his wife, who survived him, and had this manor assigned to her as part of her dower. She afterwards married Roger Wentworth, esq. whom she likewise survived, and died anno 18 Edward IV.

 

On the death of John, lord Roos, her first husband, s. p. the reversion of this manor, after her death, became vested in Thomas his next surviving brother and heir, whose son Thomas afterwards became a firm friend to the house of Lancaster, for which he was attainted anno 1 Edward IV. and his lands were consiscated to the crown.

 

On the death of Margaret, the widow of Roger Wentworth, esq. the manor of Wulrington, but whether by grant or purchase, I have not found, came into the possession of Richard Lewknor, of Challock, owner likewise of Town-place, as before-mentioned, who sold it to Edward Evering, already mentioned before, whose daughter and heir Mary marrying in 1565 with Mr. John Upton, of Faversham, entitled him to it. He joined with his brother Nicholas Upton, in 1583, in the sale of the manor-house, with all the demesne lands belonging to it, excepting one small piece called the manor-croft, and a moiety of the ma nor, which, from its situation, from that time was known by the name of NORTH-WILDERTON, to Anthony Terry, of North Wilderton, yeoman, upon whose death it came to his four sons, Arnold, William, Thomas, and George Terry, who in 1601 made a partition of their father's estates, in which this manor was allotted to Arnold Terry, and William his brother, from whom it descended to Anthony Terry, of Ospringe, who in 1689 sold it to Mr. Thomas Knowler, of Faversham, who devised it to his sister Abigail for her life, and after her death to John Knowler, gent. of Ospringe, in fee. She afterwards married John Bates, and they, together with John Knowler above-mentioned, about the year 1694, joined in the sale of it to Mr. Edward Baldock, of Aylesford, and Bennet his wife. He survived her, and by deed of gift in 1717, vested the fee of it in his son Edward Baldock, who passed it away to Mr. Thomas Greenstreet, of Norton, whose niece Elizabeth marrying with Mr. Thomas Smith, of Gillingham, entitled him to this manor, which has been since sold to John Montresor, esq. of Belmont, in this parish, the present owner of it. A court baron is held for this manor.

 

There was antiently a chapel at this manor of Wilrintune, as appears by a charter, dated anno 1217, lately in the treasury of St. Bertin's monastery at St. Omers, concerning the privilege of a bell to it.

 

BUT THE REMAINING MOIETY of the manor, with a small crost called the manor-croft, lying at the west end of Hockstet green, remained with John Upton, and thenceforward acquired the name of SOUTH, alias GREAT WILDERTON. After whose death it came to his eldest son John Upton, who died possessed of it in 1635, and was buried with his ancestors in Faversham church. They bore for their arms, Quarterly, sable, and or; in the first and fourth quarters, a cross flory, argent, each charged with a trefoil, azure. (fn. 5)

 

John Upton, his eldest son, inherited this manor, and at his death in 1664, by his will gave it to his daughter Anne, wife of Charles Castle, gent. who in 1688 devised it to her brother-in-law George Naylor, and George White, the former of whom becoming solely possessed of it, in 1705 devised it to his nephew Mr. John Dalton, gent. of St. Edmundsbury, for his life, and afterwards to his son Thomas Dalton, and his issue, in consequence of which it descended to Benjamin Shuckforth, of Diss, in Norfolk, who in 1741 sold it to Mr. Giles Hilton, of Lords, in Sheldwich, on whose death it descended to his three sons, John, William, and Robert Hilton, the youngest of whom, Mr. Robert Hilton, as well as by the devise of his two elder brothers, afterwards became the sole proprietor of this manor. He died in 1782, and his son Mr. John Hilton, of Sheldwich, as next in the entail, succeeded to it, and is the present possessor of it.

 

IN THE REIGN of king Stephen there was AN ALIEN PRIORY established in this parish, as a cell to the Benedictine abbey of St. Bertin, at St. Omers, the capital of Artois, in Flanders, William de Ipre, in 1153, having given this church, with that of Chilham, to it for that purpose; which gift was confirmed by king Stephen the same year, as it was by the several archbishops afterwards, and by the charters of Henry II. and III. The charter of this gift was till lately in the treasury of the monastery of St. Bertin, as were all the others hereafter mentioned relating to this church and priory.

 

There are very few formal foundations of these cells, the lands of them being usually granted to some monastery abroad, as an increase to their revenues, after which, upon some part of them they built convenient houses, for the reception of a small convent. Some of these cells were made conventual, having a certain number of monks, who were mostly foreigners, and removeable at pleasure, sent over with a prior at their head, who were little more than stewards to the superior abbey, to which they returned the revenues of their possessions annually; others were permitted to chuse their own prior, and these were entire societies within themselves, and received their revenues for their own use and benefit, paying perhaps only a yearly pension as an acknowledgement of their subjection, or what was at first the surplusage to the foreign house.

 

The cell at Throwley was of the former sort, for which reason, during the wars between England and France, as their revenues went to support the king's enemies, these kind of houses were generally seized on by the king, and restored again upon the return of a peace. (fn. 6)

 

In the 25th year of king Edward I. Peter, prior of Triwle, as it was spelt in the record, made fine to the king at Westminster, and had a privy seal for his protection, by which he had the custody of his house and possessions committed to his care, to retain them during the king's pleasure, answering to his exchequer for the profits of them, according to the directions of him and his council.

 

The scite of this priory was that of the parsonage of the church of Throwley, which, with that of Chilham, seems to have been all their possessions in this kingdom. These were valued in the 8th year of king Richard II. anno 1384, each at forty pounds annually, and their temporalities at 20s. 6d. at which time the parsonage of Throwley was become appropriated to this cell, and a vicarage was endowed in it. In which situation this priory remained till the general suppression of the alien priories throughout England, in the 2d year of Henry V. anno 1414, which was enacted in the parliament then held at Leicester, and all their houses, revenues, &c. were given to the king and his heirs for ever. (fn. 7)

 

This priory, with its possessions, seems to have remained in the hands of the crown till Henry VI. in his 22d year, settled them on the monastery of Sion, in Middlesex, founded by his father Henry V. with which they continued till the general suppression of religious houses, this being one of those greater monasteries dissolved by the act of the 31st year of king Henry VIII. How this priory was disposed of afterwards by the crown, may be further seen hereafter, under the description of the parsonage of the church of Throwley.

 

The only remains left of this priory are some few foundations, and two walls of flint, which support a building, standing behind the parsonage-house and garden.

 

THERE IS A FREE SCHOOL in this parish, the house of which is situated adjoining to the church-yard, which was founded by Sir Thomas Sondes, who died in 1592, who by his will devised a house and six poundes per annum to the master of it, to dwell in, and as a recompence for his pains; but having charged his executors and not his heirs to the fulfilling of this bequest, and charged the payment of the above sum, among other charitable legacies, on several leasehold estates, the terms of which expired in his nephew Sir Richard Sondes's time, and the house having tumbled down for want of repairs, Sir George Sondes, son of Sir Richard above-mentioned, thought it unreasonable, as he had none of the estates, that he should be bound to maintain the school; however, he voluntarily paid the master his salary, and gave him a house to live in, both which have been continued by the possessors of Throwley manor to this time, as far as I can learn, as of their own free gift.

 

The present right hon. lord Sondes appoints the schoolmaster as such during pleasure, and pays him a salary of twelve pounds per annum, besides which, he allots him an house and garden, worth about six pounds per annum, which his lordship repairs from time to time, and for which no parochial or church-dues are paid. There are at present fourteen boys taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, gratis, in this school, which though taken mostly from the parishes of Throwley, Badlesmere, and Leveland, are not confined to those parishes.

 

Charities.

 

CATHERINE, LADY SONDES, gave by will the sum of 40s. a year, to be received yearly on St. Barnabas's day, towards the relief of the poor, payable from a farm in it, called Bell-horn, now belonging to lord Sondes, and now of that annual produce.

 

THERE WERE three alms-houses in this parish, the gift of one of the Sondes family; one of them was some time since burnt down, and has not been rebuilt, but lord Sondes allows the person nominated to it the value of it in money yearly.

 

The poor constantly relieved are about thirty, casually double that number.

 

THROWLEY is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Ospringe.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Michael, consists of three isles and three chancels. The steeple is a square tower, and stands in the centre of the south side of it, in which there is a peal of six bells, given in 1781, at the expence of Mr. Montresor, of Belmont. In the south isle is a memorial for Francis Hosier Hart, gent. obt. 1761, leaving three daughters, Mary, Elizabeth, and Diana Hosier. In the middle isle is a small monument for Stephen Bunce, esq. of this parish, one of the Antients of New-Inn, who died there in 1634, and was buried in St. Clement's church, London. In the middle chancel there are two stalls of wood, which are not fixed, and in the north isle three more of the like sort, joined together, with a desk before them, which seem to have been removed from the chancel, and were both intended for the use of the religious of the priory here. In the middle of this chancel is a memorial for Dr. Thomas Horsemonden, patron and rector of Purleigh, in Essex, prebendary of Lincoln, &c. who died anno 1632. In the north and south chancel are several monuments for the family of Sondes, with their essigies, arms and quarterings; one of them in the latter, a plain altar tomb of black marble for Sir George Sondes, earl of Faversham, his lady and descendants; many more of this family, as appears by the parish register, are buried in the vault underneath, but the family of Watson burying at Rockingham, this vault has not been opened for several years. The north and south chancels above-mentioned belonged, one to the possessors of Throwley manor, the other to those of Townplace, but they both belong now to lord Sondes.

 

There were formerly in the windows the arms of Sondes, Finch, and Gatton, and in the north window this inscriptin, Pray for the good estate of Alice Martyn, the which did make this window, MCCCCXLV.

 

In the church yard, at the west end of the north isle, there is a circular door-case of stone, having several bordures of Saxon ornaments carved round it. In the church-yard is an altar tomb for William Woodward, gent. of Wilgate-green, obt. 1681, and Anne his wife.

 

It appears by the will of William Sondes, esq. anno 1474, that this church had then constantly burning in it lights, dedicated to St. Michael, the Holy Trinity, the Holy Cross, St. Mary, St. Thomas, St. Christopher, St. George, St. Katherine, St. Margaret, St. Mary Magdalen, and St. Nicholas.

 

An account of the antient patronage of the church of Throwley has already been given, as first belonging to the alien priory here, and then to the monastery of Sion, to the time of the dissolution of the latter in the 31st year of Henry VIII. the year after which, the king granted the rectory, with the advowson of the vicarage of the church of Throwley, to the prebendary of Rugmer, in the cathedral church of St. Paul, London, in exchange for lands belonging to that prebend, to be inclosed within the king's park of Marybone, in pursuance of an act then passed. Since which this parsonage and advowson have continued part of the abovementioned prebend. The former is leased out by the present prebendary to the right hon. lord Sondes, but the advowson of the vicarage he retains in his own hands, and is the present patron of it.

 

¶There was a rent of 4l. 18s. 4d. reserved from the parsonage by king Henry VIII. nomine decimœ, which was granted by queen Elizabeth, in her third year, to archbishop Parker, among other premises, in exchange for several manors, lands, &c. belonging to that see, which rent still continues part of the revenue of the archbishopric.

 

A vicarage was endowed here in 1367, anno 42 king Edward III. by archbishop Langham, at which time the chapel of Wylrington belonged to it. (fn. 8)

 

It is valued in the king's books at 7l. 11s. 8d. and the yearly tenths at 15s. 2d.

 

In 1578 there were one hundred and eighty communicants here. In 1640 it was valued at forty-five pounds, communicants two hundred and twenty.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol6/pp445-461

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 08-Sep-25.

 

This aircraft was delivered to China Southern Airlines as B-2822 in Jun-92. 20 years later, in Mar-12, it was withdrawn from service and stored at Guangzhou, China.

 

It was sold to SCAT Airlines, Kazakhstan as UP-B5704 in Mar-13 and operated on behalf of Sunday Airlines, Kazakhstan. It was withdrawn from service and stored at Almaty, Kazakhstan in Oct-21. It was noted still stored at Almaty in Apr-23 in poor condition. Now 33 years old it's presumably permanently retired. Updated 08-Sep-25.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

The Ling-Temco-Vought A-7 Corsair II was a carrier-capable subsonic light attack aircraft introduced to replace the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. The A-7 airframe design was based on the successful supersonic Vought F-8 Crusader, although it was somewhat smaller and rounded off. The Corsair II initially entered service with the United States Navy during the Vietnam War. It was later adopted by the United States Air Force, including the Air National Guard, to replace the Douglas A-1 Skyraider and North American F-100 Super Sabre. The aircraft was also exported to several foreign countries, including Greece, Portugal, Thailand and New Zealand.

 

For the latter operator, the Corsair II was part of a major modernization campaign in the early 1970s. For instance, in 1970 14 McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawks were purchased to replace the Vampire FB5's, which had been the primary light attack aircraft for the RNZAF for years, but the type was hopelessly outdated.

Furthermore New Zealand was also looking for a replacement of its similarly ageing Canberra fleet. These 31 aircraft were also phased out of service in mid 1970, and the A-7 chosen as the RNZAFs new fighter bomber because of its proven all-weather strike capability and advances avionics.

 

The RNZAF bought and operated 22 LTV A-7 Corsair II aircraft primarily in the coastal defense/anti-ship and sea patrol roles, air interdiction and air defense roles being secondary duties. The RNZAF Corsair II was very similar to the US Navy’s A-7E, even though the machines would only be operated form land bases. Designated A-7N, the machines featured an AN/APN-190 navigational radar with a Doppler groundspeed and drift detector plus an AN/APQ-128 terrain following radar. For the deployment of smart weapons, the machines were outfitted with a Pave Penny laser target acquisition system under the air intake lip, similar to the USAF’s A-7D, and could carry a wide range of weaponry and sensors, including AN/AAR-45 FLIR pods for an improved all-weather performance. Against enemy ships and large ground targets, visually guided smart bombs (AGM-62 and the more modern GBU-8 HOBOS) were bought, as well as AGM-65 Maverick against smaller, high priority targets.

 

Active service lasted between 1975 and 1999, and the A-7Ns were originally allocated between RNZAF 2 and 75 Squadron at Ohakea, where they were operated together with A-4K and TA-4K. The latter were also emplyed for A-7N pilot conversion training, since the RNZAF did not operate any Corsair II two seaters.

Several times the Squadron deployed to Clark Air Base in the Philippines and to Hawaii with both of the Corsair IIs and Skyhawks to exercise with the United States Air Force. Furthermore, the annual deployments as part of the Five Power Defence Agreement (called Exercise Vanguard) had the Squadron visit Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand to practice with those countries. Two RNZAF A-7s of 75 Squadron even made visits to Great Britain.

 

In the early Nineties the Corsair IIs started to suffer from numerous maintenance and logistic problems due to the lack of spare parts and general financial problems. This also prevented a major avionics update and the procurement of AGM-84 Harpoon missiles for the A-7Ns and the RNZAF P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft. The maintenance situation became so dire that several aircraft were cannibalized for spare parts to service other fighters. In 1992 only sixteen A-7Ns remained operational. This resulted in the available fighters no longer being assigned and dedicated to one specific squadron, but shared and assigned to one of the RNZAF combat squadrons (2, 14 and 75 Squadron, respectively), as needed.

 

During its 24 years of duty in the RNZAF, the A-7 fleet suffered 8 severe accidents with aircraft losses (and two pilots being killed). Nevertheless, the introduction of the A-7 was seen as a success due to the evolution that it allowed the Air Force in aircraft maintenance, with focus in modern computer and electronic systems, and in the steady qualification of pilots and technicians.

 

In 1999, the National Government selected an order of 28 F-16A/B Fighting Falcon aircraft to replace the complete fleet of A-4 Skyhawks and A-7 Corsair IIs, but this procurement plan was cancelled in 2001 following election by the incoming Labour Government under Helen Clark. This was followed by the disbanding of several fixed wing aircraft squadrons, with the consequence of removing the RNZAF's air combat capability. The last A-7 flight in RNZAF service took place on 1st of October 2001. Subsequently, most of the RNZAF's fighter pilots left New Zealand to serve in the Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal Air Force.

 

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 46 ft 2 in (14.06 m)

Wingspan: 38 ft 9 in (11.8 m), 23 ft 9 in (7.24 m) wings folded

Height: 16 ft 1 in (4.9 m)

Wing area: 374.9 sq ft (34.83 m²)

Airfoil: NACA 65A007 root and tip

Empty weight: 19,127 lb (8,676 kg)

Max takeoff weight: 41,998 lb (19,050 kg) overload condition.

Fuel capacity: 1,338 US gal (5,060 l; 1,114 imp gal) (10,200 lb (4,600 kg)) internal

 

Powerplant:

1 × Allison TF41-A-2 non-afterburning turbofan engine, 15,000 lbf (66.7 kN) thrust

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 600 kn (690 mph; 1,111 km/h) at Sea level

Range: 1,070 nmi; 1,231 mi (1,981 km) maximum internal fuel

Ferry range: 1,342 nmi; 1,544 mi (2,485 km) with maximum internal and external fuel

Service ceiling: 42,000 ft (13,000 m)

Wing loading: 77.4 lb/sq ft (378 kg/m²)

Thrust/weight: 0.50

Take-off run: 1,705 ft (519.7 m) at 42,000 lb (19,000 kg)

 

Armament:

1× M61A1 Vulcan 20 mm (0.787 in) rotary cannon with 1,030 rounds

6× under-wing and 2× fuselage pylon stations (for mounting AIM-9 Sidewinder AAMs only)

with a total ordnance capacity of 15,000 lb (6,803.9 kg)

  

The kit and its assembly:

An idea that had been lingering on my project list for some years, and a recent build of an RNZAF A-7 by fellow modeler KiwiZac at whatifmodelers.com eventually triggered this build, a rather simple alternative livery whif. I had this idea on the agenda for some time, though, already written up a background story (which was accidently deleted early last year and sent the project into hiatus - until now) and had the kit as well as decals collected and stashed away.

 

The basis is the Hobby Boss A-7, which is available in a wide range of variant in 1:72 scale. Not cheap, but IMHO the best Corsair II kit at the moment, because it is full of ample surface details, goes together nicely and features a complete air intake, a good cockpit tub and even some maintenance covers that can be displayed in open position, in case you want to integrate the kit in a diorama. In my case it’s the A-7E kit, because I wanted a late variant and the US Navy’s refueling probe instead of the A-7D’s dorsal adapter for the USAF refueling boom system.

 

For the fictional RNZAF A-7N no fundamental changes were made. I just deliberately used OOB parts like the A-7D’s Pave Penny laser targeting pod under the air intake. As a personal addition I lowered the flaps slightly for a more lively look. Around the hull, some blade antennae were changed or added, and I installed the pair of pitots in front of the windscreen (made from thin wire).

 

The FLIR pod came with the kit, as well as the drop tank under the inner starboards wing pylon and the AIM-9Bs. Only the GBU-8s were externally sourced, from one of the Hasegawa USAF ordnance sets.

 

For the finalized kit on display I mounted the maintenance covers in open position, but for the beauty pics they were provisionally placed in closed position onto the kit’s flanks. The covers had to be modified for this stunt, but since their fit is very good and tight they easily stayed in place, even for the flight scenes!

 

Painting and markings:

This was the more interesting part – I wanted „something special“ for the fictional RNZAF Corsair II. Upon delivery, the USAF SEA scheme would certainly have been the most appropriate camouflage – the A-4K’s were painted this way and the aforementioned inspiring build by KiwiZac was finished this way.

 

Anyway, my plan had been from the start a machine in late service with low-viz markings similar to the A-4Ks, which received an attractive three-tone wrap-around scheme (in FS 34102, 34079 and 36081) or a simple all-around coat of FS 34079.

 

Both of these schemes could have been a sensible choice for this project, but… no! Too obvious, too simple for my taste. I rather wanted something that makes you wonder and yet make the aircraft look authentic and RNZAF-esque.

 

While digging for options and alternatives I stumbled upon the RNZAF’s C-130 Hercules transporters, which, like Canadian machines, carry a wrap-around scheme in two tones of grey (a light blue grey and a darker tone with a reddish hue) and a deep olive green tone that comes close to Dark Slate Grey, together with low-viz markings. A pretty unique scheme! Not as murky as the late A-4Ks and IMHO also well suited for the naval/coastal environment that the machine would patrol.

 

I was not able to positively identify the original tones on the CAF and RNZAF Hercs, so I interpreted various aircraft pictures. I settled upon Humbrol 163 (RAF Dark Green) 125 (FS 36118, Gunship Grey) and Revell 57 (RAL 7000, similar to FS 35237, but lighter and “colder”). For the wraparound scheme I used the C-130s as benchmark.

 

The cockpit became Dark Gull Grey (Humbrol 140) while the landing gear and the air intake duct became – behind 5mm of grey around the intake lip - white. The maintenance hatches’ interior was painted with a mix of Humbrol 81 and 38, for a striking zinc chromate primer look.

 

After a light black ink wash the kit received some panel post-shading for more contrast esp. between the dark colors and a slightly worn and sun-bleached look, since the aircraft would be depicted towards the end of its active service life.

 

Decals were the most challenging task, though: finding suitable RNZAF roundels is not easy, and I was happy when Xtradecal released an appropriate sheet that offers kiwi roundels for all positions (since motifs for port and starboard have to be mirrored). The Kiwi squadron emblem actually belongs to an RNZAF A-4K (from an Old Models sheet). The serial codes were puzzled together from single letter (TL Modellbau), most stencils come from the Hobby Boss OOB sheet.

  

A simple build, yet a very interesting topic and in the end also an IMHO very cool-looking aircraft in its fictional livery. Building the Hobby Boss A-7 was easy, despite some inherent flaws of the kit (e .g. totally blank dashboard and side consoles, and even no decals included!). The paint scheme lent from the RNZAF Hercs suits the SLUF well, though.

This is City Hall in Norwich. The home of Norwich City Council. It is near the markets.

 

I think it was built to replace the old Guildhall nearby, as it was too small for the local political needs of Norwich.

 

The tower of the City Hall from St Giles Street, with 1930s clock face and topped off in copper.

 

It is an Art Deco building finished in 1938. Designed by the architects Charles Holloway James and Stephen Rowland Pierce, after Robert Atkinson had prepared a layout for the whole Civic Centre site at the request of Norwich City Council.

 

It was opened in 1938 by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

 

It is a Grade II* listed building.

 

City Hall with attached police station. 1932-38 by C. H. James and S. R. Pierce. Brick with stone dressings, lower 2 storeys of stone. Flat roof. 5 storeys, with tower to right-hand side. Twenty-five 4th floor windows. Central entry with 6 polygonal columns above rising from the first-floor balcony and supporting entablature. Triple doors and steps up flanked by lions. Metal casement windows with glazing bars throughout. Small semi-circular balconies in penultimate end bays with small fan-lights above doors. The three end bays project. Parapet. Square clock tower topped with square cupola and finial. The exterior also has applied and freestanding sculpture in stone and stone. The bronze lions either side of the main stairs are by Alfred Hardiman, and the three pairs of main bronze doors with 18 plaques depicting Norwich history and trades were sculpted by James Woodford. The Bethel Street façade has the entrance to the Rates Hall with a stone relief panel of the City arms by Eric Aumonier who was also responsible for London Underground station sculpture. The former entrance to the Police Station within this wing has an ornate bronze lantern and relief stone panels depicting police helmets by H. Wilson Parker. The left of the wing, the police station, was extended 1965-7 in a similar style by the City Architect, David Percival. The north wing was unfinished but the Council Chamber projects to the rear in the middle of the main range and the wall facing the rear has, as well as decorative brickwork, three tall narrow niches from which project sculptures also by Alfred Hardiman of Recreation, Wisdom and Education.

 

INTERIOR: The extremely impressive interior includes an entrance hall with stone and marble clad walls and columns, stairs lit by a window with textured engraved and painted glass and a ceiling painting designed by Eric Clarke and painted by James Michie. The hall above is also marble clad, and leads to a long suite of committee and reception rooms including the Lord Mayor's parlour. This suite stretches all along the main front and there is a long (365') balcony outside and most rooms are finely panelled with various varieties of wood, including inlay, and have original fine fireplaces, fittings and textiles. The Lord Mayor's Parlour is very fine being an octagon with shallow vaulted ceiling and fully panelled in sycamore with the veneers cut using the highest expertise to produce a brilliant effect of intensely rich dado figuring and lighter cloud-like wall figuring. In addition the Council Chamber itself is very fine with curving seating in mahogany with inlaid brass edges and mahogany entrance wall columns, and also wall panelling to half height with a variety of panel designs. Many light fittings which were designed for the building by the architects also survive.

 

Other elements of the fine interior include the third floor hall with lift entrance, lantern and balcony, all in austere classical Art Deco styling, and the former marriage suite on the lower ground floor.

 

HISTORY:

Norwich City Hall was designed in 1931 and built in 1937-8. The design by the architects James and Pierce was the winning entry in a public competition which attracted 143 entries. The there had long been felt a need for a fitting city hall and an area to the north of the market place was cleared to provide a suitable space which would be still at the very centre of the city. Following discussions with the R.I.B.A., Robert Atkinson was appointed as the supervisor of the development of the Market Place and produced his own plans. In the end there was competition with Atkinson as the sole judge and his ground plan was retained as one of the many conditions.

 

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE:

Norwich City Hall is one of the landmarks of the city and one of the finest municipal buildings of the interwar period in England. It is in an austere Classical style with Art Deco detailing and makes reference also to Scandinavia and in particular Stockholm City Hall. The prominent tower contrasts successfully with the long principal front standing above the sizeable Market Place. The exterior is very impressive, being on 5 storeys with a prominent portico and applied and freestanding sculpture in stone and bronze. The interior is also impressive with a long suite of committee and reception rooms including the Lord Mayor's Parlour. The rooms are finely panelled with various varieties of wood and original fine fittings and textiles. In addition the Council Chamber itself is very fine with curving seating in walnut with inlaid brass edges and wall panelling to half height with a variety of panel designs. The sculpture and plaques in bronze and stone include work by Alfred Hardiman and Eric Aumonier. The totality of the exterior and interior, complete with fine sculpture in stone and bronze and the finest interior fittings in contemporary style, is particularly successful.

 

City Hall, Norwich - Heritage Gateway

412 Pantsergenie Compagnie Zwaar

 

The YPR will soon be replaced by the Boxer.

“Cherry blossom stone” (9 mm across) - pinite (= muscovite mica replacing intergrown cordierite-indialite) from Kameoka, west of Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, southwestern Honshu Island, southern Japan. The small, central, hexagonal structure represents where indialite used to be. The “petals” of the cherry blossom flower (= the 6 wedge-shaped masses surrounding the center hexagon) represent where cordierite used to be.

-----------

One of the most famous & visually intriguing geologic materials collected in Japan is the cherry blossom stone. These interesting structures have a complex geologic history.

-----------

What are they now?

Cherry blossom stones are relatively small, subhexagonal-shaped masses of fine-grained muscovite mica that show a flower-like pattern in transverse cross-section.

-----------

What did they used to be?

The muscovite mica is not the original material making up these structures. Before the growth of muscovite mica, these were complex intergrowths of six cordierite crystals and one indialite crystal. So, cherry blossom stones represent muscovite mica replacing cordierite-indialite (muscovite pseudomorphs after cordierite-indialite). Such complex pseudomorphs have been referred to as pinite.

-----------

What is the host rock?

Cherry blossom stones are hosted in a matrix of hornfels, a fine-grained, contact metamorphic rock. Hornfels form by intense alteration (heating & chemical alteration) of shales by nearby lava or magma.

-----------

How did they form?

The hornfels host rocks were originally fine-grained siliciclastic sedimentary rocks (shales) of the Tamba Group (Triassic-Jurassic-lowermost Cretaceous). In the mid-Cretaceous (early Cenomanian Stage, ~98 m.y.), underground igneous activity resulted in granites and granodiorite intrusions altering the shales into hornfels by contact metamorphism. These hornfels had decent-sized masses of intergrown cordierite-indialite.

 

Indialite is a magnesium aluminosilicate mineral (Mg2Al4Si5O18). Cordierite is an iron magnesium aluminosilicate mineral ((Fe,Mg)2Al4Si5O18). The subhexagonal-shaped masses of cordierite-indialite in the hornfels consist of seven individual crystals. At the center of each mass is a dumbbell-shaped indialite crystal - very narrow at the center, and relatively wide at the ends (look at the varying sizes of the center hexagon in the cherry blossom stones in this photo album). Surrounding the indialite crystal are six prism-shaped cordierite crystals. They are widest at the center of each cherry blossom stone and narrowest at the ends.

 

A second metamorphic event altered the cordierite-indialite masses. Hydrothermal metamorphism resulted in fine-grained muscovite mica replacing the original minerals.

-----------

Much info. from:

 

Rakovan et al. (2006) - Sakura Ishi (cherry blossom stones): mica pseudomorphs of complex cordierite-indialite intergrowths from Kameoka, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. in Minerals from Japan. Rocks & Minerals Reprint 2006: 31-39.

 

Replacing rail ties and spikes. www.dailydieseldose.com for more!

In order to replace the lovable 328 of the late 90's, Ferrari's next product really had to get inventive. The 348 was an interesting product of the company, but often forgotten, overshadowed mostly by the successful F355 that replaced it, and the classical lines of the 328 it replaced.

 

The 348, badged as the rather unfortunately chosen 348TB for the coupé, Trasversale Berlinetta (or Tuberculosis, okay I'm sorry!) and 348TS, Spider, for the Targa versions, entered the market in 1989 to replace the 1985 328, which itself was a development of the 308 that dated back to 1975. The 348 featured a naturally aspirated 3.4L version of the Ferrari quad-cam, four-valve-per-cylinder V8 engine. As with its predecessors, the model number was derived from this configuration, with the first two digits being the displacement and the third being the number of cylinders.

 

The engine, which produced 300hp, was mounted longitudinally and coupled to a transverse manual gearbox, like the Mondial T with which the 348 shared many components. This was a significant change for Ferrari, with most previous small Ferraris using a transverse engine with longitudinal transmission. The T in the model name 348TB and TS refers to the transverse position of the gearbox. Overall, 2,895 examples of the 348 tb and 4,230 of the 348 ts were produced.

 

The 348's styling differed from previous models with straked side air intakes and rectangular taillights resembling the Testarossa. The F355 that replaced it returned to the styling cues of the 328 with round tail lights and rounded side air scoops. Fifty-seven "Challenge" models were built for owners who wanted a more "track-ready" car.

 

The 348 was fitted with dual-computer engine management using twin Bosch Motronic ECUs, double-redundant anti-lock brakes, and self-diagnosing air conditioning and heating systems. Late versions built after 1993 have Japanese-made starter motors and Nippondenso power generators to improve reliability, as well as the battery located within the front left fender for better weight distribution.

 

However, all these developments and more to the Ferrari formula eventually came to the development of the company's next big hit to show that it wasn't an ageing automotive dinosaur producing the same archaic designs. In 1994, the company's latest magnum-opus, the F355, burst onto the scene and set the entire motoring world ablaze. A car more manageable than the F40, but still possessing that spark that had kept the Ferrari badge going through those slow years in the late-70's and through the 80's.

 

With the release of the F355, the 348 seemed almost pedestrian and was axed in 1995 after 8,844 members had been built. Although some felt that the 348 would be blessed with instant classic status like the 328 it replaced, the 348 had trouble finding a gap in the preservation market, leaving it to fall into comparative obscurity. Like the Mondial, the 456 and the Testarossa, the 348 is a car that is often forgotten, outdone by the stylish F40 and the mighty F355's of the 1990's. Because of this, the 348 is a hard car to come by, and even when people do come across it, it's often mistaken for a 355 or a Testarossa.

 

But to be honest, hopefully someday the 348 will find itself some true classic status among the many great Ferrari cars that have preceded and succeeded it, after all, it's still a Ferrari, and on merit alone that's worth the price of admission!

At Wembley 66067 was replaced by two class 90s numbers 037 and 021 the wagons continuing on to Daventry under headcode 6B41.

 

DB Schenker Rail (UK) Ltd's class 66 (JT42CWR) number 66067 in English, Welsh and Scottish Railway maroon livery with zigzag gold band, large number and EWS logo works 6B20 from Dollands Moor to Wembley European Freight Operations Centre on 20 January 2015 hauling 27 Tonne (tare du wagon) G.E. Rail Services owned IZA (GE117CT Hfirrs 3) semi-perminantly coupled 4-wheeled CARGOWAGGON vans with shared running numbers built by Duewag. Having started out in France and passed through the channel tunnel each pair of vans is used to transport approximately 59,000 litters (59 Tonnes) of Danone bottled mineral water (eau minerale) in crates of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles such as Evian imported from Évian-les-Bains in the French Alps and Volvic from the Massif Central. Evian bottled at the SAEME plant Post is transported by train (for a map of the route click here) from Évian-les-Bains to the UK via Publier, (Bellegarde Longeray or Annemasse?), Culoz, Ambérieu-en-Bugey, Bourg-en-Bresse, Louhans, Gevrey-Chambertin, Dijon-Perrigny, Chalons-en-Champagne, Reims, Longueau and Calais-Frethun. For Volvic the route is thought to be from the SEV bottling plant in Riom to the UK via Gannat, Saincaize, Vierzon, Valenton (Paris), Longueau and Calais Frethun. From Wembley this train continues on route to Crick under headcode 6B41 and is ultimately unloaded at a distribution warehouse at Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT).

 

A similar set of cargowaggon vans was photographed by Nicolas Villenave on 9 May 2014 returning empty passing through Écaillon (department Nord) on their way from Calais Frethun to Culoz railway junction in the Ain department in the Rhône-Alpes region of France, by Mattias Catry at Boisleux-au-Mont on 9 September 2012 and by Laurent Knop at Béthisy-St.-Pierre, Picardie in the Oise department on 12 March 2014. 66067 (works number 968702-067) was built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division, London, Ontario, Canada in 1998 and unloaded from the Heavy Lift Ship MV "Fairlift" at Newport Docks on 5 February 1999.

 

According to Realtime Trains the route and timings for 6B20 were;

Dollands Moor Sidings .........0707.........0727..........20L

Ashford International UML...0723.........0746 3/4..23L

Maidstone East [MDE] 1.........0750 1/2..0814 1/4....23L

Otford Junction[XOT]............0817 1/2....0839 1/2...22L

Swanley [SAY] 1.......................0829 1/2..0851...........21L

St Mary Cray Junction...........0835.........0856 1/4....21L

Bickley Junction[XLY]............0836 1/2..0859 1/4...22L

Bromley South [BMS].............0840.........0904 1/2...24L

Shortlands [SRT].....................0842.........0907.........24L

Shortlands Junction...............0843.........0909 1/2...26L

Voltaire Road Junction.........0906 1/2..0922..........15L

Latchmere Junction...............0911 1/2....0931 1/2....20L

Imperial Wharf [IMW] 2..........0915 1/2...0934 1/4....18L

West Brompton [WBP] 4.......0918..........0936 1/4....18L

Kensington Olympia .............0922........0938 3/4...16L

Shepherds Bush [SPB] 2.......0923.........0942..........19L

North Pole Signal Vc813.......0924 1/2..0944..........19L

North Pole Junction...............0925........0943 1/2....18L

Mitre Bridge Junction............0926 1/2..0946..........19L

Willesden West Londn Jn.....0928.........0947 1/2....19L

Wembley Eur Frt Ops Ctr.....0939.........0952..........13L

 

At Wembley 66067 was replaced by two class 90s numbers 037 and 021 the wagons continuing on to Daventry under headcode 6B41.

Wembley Eur Frt Ops Ctr................1143..........1308...........85L

Wembley Central [WMB] 5..............1148 1/2...1312 1/2......84L

Harrow & Wealdstone 5..................1154 1/2...1317 1/2......83L

Watford Junction [WFJ] 8................1202........1323 1/2......81L

Apsley [APS] 3....................................1209 1/2..1329 1/2.....79L

Hemel Hempstead [HML] 3............1211 1/2....1331.............79L

Bourne End Junction(Herts) ...........1213..........1332............79L

Berkhamsted [BKM] 3.......................1216 1/2...1335............78L

Tring [TRI] 3.........................................1222........1340 1/4.....78L

Ledburn Junction[XOD]...................1228.........1347............79L

Leighton Buzzard [LBZ] 3................1230.........1351 3/4......81L

Bletchley [BLY] 3...............................1237.........1400...........83L

Denbigh Hall South Junction.........1238 1/2..1401 1/4......82L

Denbigh Hall North Junction..........1240.........1402 1/4.....82L

Milton Keynes Central 3..................1242.........1403 3/4.....81L

Hanslope Junction[XHN].................1248.........1410 1/4......82L

Northampton [NMP] 1.......................1259........1428 1/2.....89L

Northampton Mill Lane Junction...1300 1/2..1501 1/4....120L

Long Buckby [LBK]............................1311...........1511 3/4....120L

Daventry South Junction.................1318..........1520 3/4..122L

  

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 04-Apr-22 (DeNoise AI).

 

An early B777-200ER (line No:78), this aircraft was delivered to Malaysia Airlines as 9M-MRC in Jun-97. It was sold to GECAS in Jun-99 and leased back to Malaysia Airlines. It was returned to the lessor as N284CG in Nov-15 and stored at San Bernardino, CA, USA.

 

It was thought to have been permanently retired (not many ageing aircraft come back out of San Bernardino!) but it was ferried to Shanghai-PVG in Jun-16 for further storage. It was re-registered VP-BDX in Dec-16 to Wells Fargo Bank Northwest (owner trustee) and leased to VIM Airlines (Russia) in Mar-17.

 

VIM ceased operations in Oct-17. The aircraft was returned to the lessor and stored at Teruel, Spain in Nov-17. In Jan-18 it was re-registered N821JT and remained stored at Teruel until it was moved to Goodyear, AZ, USA in Mar-18.

 

It was stored at Goodyear until Nov-18 when it was ferried to Kansas City, MO, USA and stored again. The aircraft was sold to Avolon Aerospace in Jan-19 and remained stored. It was sold to Eastern Airlines in Oct-20, still in full VIM livery.

 

It's now 25 years old and has been in storage for the last 5 years. I can't see it returning to service, although with Eastern Airlines you never know! More likely that it's being used for spares. Updated 04-Apr-22.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 08-Jan-21.

 

First flown in Aug-00 with the Boeing test registration N1786B, it was re-registered N1015B two days later for Boeing test flights.

 

The aircraft was delivered to Hapag-Lloyd Airlines as D-AHFT in Dec-00. It was fitted with blended winglets in Apr-01. The aircraft was sold to a lessor in Dec-03 and leased back to Hapag-Lloyd.

 

Hapag-Lloyd was renamed Hapagfly.com in Nov-05 and renamed again in Nov-06 as TUIfly.com. It was wet-leased to CanJet Airlines (Canada) in Dec-08, returning to TUIfly in May-09.

 

In Nov-10 the aircraft was wet-leased to TUIfly Nordic for the winter, returning to TUIfly.com in Apr-11. TUIfly.com was renamed TUI Airlines Germany at the end of Oct-17. The aircraft was withdrawn from service and stored at Hanover, Germany in Mar-20 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

 

It returned to service in early Jul-20. The aircraft was withdrawn from service in Nov-21 and parked at Hannover, Germany. It was ferried to Roswell, NM, USA in Dec-21, returned to the lessor as EI-GYO and stored.

 

The aircraft was ferried to Vilnius, Lithuania in Jul-22 for further storage. In Apr-23 it was leased to Go2Sky Airlines (Slovak Republic) as OM-GTJ and wet-leased to TUI Airlines Germany three days later.

 

At various times during the 2023 summer season it also operated for TUI Nordic, TUI Netherlands, TUI Belgium and TUI UK, returning to Go2Sky in Sep-23. During the 2023/24 winter season the aircraft was wet-leased to JetTime (Denmark), TUI Germany, Seven Air (Denmark) and Air Explore (Czechia).

 

In Apr-24 the aircraft was leased to TUI Airways UK for the 2024 summer season. Current, updated 11-Aug-24.

Replaced August 2021 after adding more blacks and contrast.

"The building replaced an older one on the site known as "India Building's", built in the 1830s for George Holt, the father of Alfred. The new building was constructed in two stages, the first stage being alongside the earlier building, and the second stage demolishing and replacing it. The two stages straddled the former Chorley Street. Before the design was approved, Liverpool Corporation stipulated that an arcade of shops should run through the centre of the building on the route of the street, and this was incorporated into the design. The original occupants included Lloyds Bank, a Post Office, commercial and insurance companies, solicitors, and government offices. Alfred Holt and Company occupied most of the sixth, seventh and eighth floors. Also in the building were a public hall and a constitutional club. India Building was badly damaged by bombing in 1941, and was later restored to its original condition under the supervision of Herbert J. Rowse."

www.indiabuilding.co.uk/

The entire roof, ceiling and plasterwork were replicated in their entirety to replace that lost in the fire. The new roof is an all-timber construction based on traditional mortise and tenon joints using queen post-trusses for its basic structure and finished with Blue-Bangor slates each measuring 600mm x 900mm. Below that, a barrel vault ceiling was also installed, constructed of timber and overlaid with riven chestnut lathes to which the base plaster was applied. Plastering was carried out by George O’Malley Plastering Ltd and the work supervised by master-plasterer George O’Malley, who has many years expertise in restoring and creating decorative plasterwork. Traditional methods using lime plaster mixed with goat-hair/horsehair to reproduce as far as possible the original designs as well as new moulds. There were also the 28 plaster angels originally produced by local plasterer Terence Farrell (1787-1876) for the sum of £150. All were damaged in the fire and 26 angels were recoverable which were restored by George O’Malley, the remaining two were reproduced. These were hung back in their original positions above the free-standing limestone columns.

 

This photo shows the northern part of the nave and above are semicircular Diocletian windows containing leaded stained glass by James Scanlon. Those opposite on the southern side have art-glass windows by Kim en Joong, a Dominican priest based in Paris.

 

St Mel’s of Longford town is the cathedral church for the diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise. Ambitious plans for a fine church building in Longford began to take form after the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 and became a reality when sufficient funds had been collected. Construction began in 1840 with the laying of the foundation stone which was taken from the original cathedral of St. Mel at Ardagh, only a few miles from Longford. The main body of the new cathedral was completed in 1856 to a neo-classical design by the architect Joseph Benjamin Keane, work having been delayed during the period of the Great Famine (1846 and recommenced 1853). After Joseph’s death in 1849, work was continued after by his assistant John Bourke (d.1871) who was also responsible for the belfry tower completed in 1860, but with major alterations to its original design. The neo-classical portico was designed by George Coppinger Ashlin (1837-1921) and completed in 1889 with its pediment and sculpted tympanum depicting the enthronement of St. Mel as Bishop of Ardagh along with three statues above the pediment. By this time, the cathedral building has taken on its definitive form with no further major alterations until its refurbishment after the devastating fire of 2009.

 

On 25th December 2009, the entire building was gutted by a fire which accidently started within the boiler chimney flue at the rear and quickly spread. The alarm was raised just after 5am but fire-fighting attempts were hampered by frozen pipes as the country was in the grip of one of its worst and prolonged periods of freezing temperatures for decades. By daylight, the entire building had been reduced to a burnt-out shell with the loss of all its furnishing, fittings and diocesan museum. The museum contained many priceless artefacts that included the Crozier of Saint Mel and the book-shrine of St. Caillin (1536), the latter damaged beyond restoration but it may be possible to conserve some of the remnants. The 28 supporting columns were also damaged beyond repair and had to replaced anew. Very little was recoverable that survived the worst of the 1,000 deg.C fire and even these suffered some degree of fire damage such as The Bell of Fenagh which is undergoing conservation treatment at the National Museum of Ireland and the original baptismal font with its brass fittings and surrounding mosaic floor. But the most puzzling of all and described by many as nothing short of a miracle was the survival of the Holy Family painting in the northern transept and the undamaged Eucharistic Host still inside the fire damaged tabernacle. The Holy Family oil painting on a cotton-based canvas should have readily gone up in flames due to its highly combustible materials but somehow survived relatively unscathed despite the intense fire around it. This painting was of Italian origins by an unknown artist and is now back on display requiring little more than a cleaning!

 

After five years of work by many expert disciplines using traditional methods, the cathedral building has been totally refurbished and which included quarried blue-limestone for 28 columns with hand-carved capitals that support the roof. Both Harry Clarke Studio windows were salvaged from the transepts and restored to their former glory by Abbey Stained Glass Ltd of Dublin, a company with much experience in the restoration of stained glass windows. Other replacements such as the wooden pews, alter, stained glass, Stations of the Cross tablets, pipe-organ, fixtures and fitting were all made in a modern style to the best materials and craftsmanship available. It is also planned to open a diocesan museum in the cathedral’s new crypts. The total cost of refurbishment and fitting out came to around €30 million, funded mostly from the insurance cover and after five years of hard work the cathedral was reopened for services at Christmas 2014.

 

Photos taken Thursday 22nd January 2015.

  

References:

 

www.facebook.com/StMelsRestoration (St Mel’s Cathedral restoration – Facebook page).

 

www.rte.ie/news/special-reports/2014/1215/667007-longford... (RTE News article about TV program The Longford Phoenix).

 

www.longfordtourism.ie/event/st-mels-cathedral-rise-from-...

 

irishcatholic.ie/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/... (Sculptor Ken Thompson working on one of his Stations of the Cross panels).

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mel%27s_cathedral,_Longford

 

l7.alamy.com/zooms/5e9904767cdb4317b39e15ee189488c3/shrin... (Image of St. Caillin book shrine created in 1536 before it was damaged beyond repair in the 2009 fire at St. Mel’s cathedral).

 

www.alamy.com/stock-photo-st-mels-crozier-longford-cathed... (Image of the 10th century St. Mel’s Crozier and sadly, completely destroyed in the cathedral fire of 2009).

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVb7TQy4QAM (Engineers Ireland presentation titled Recreating the Historical Roof of St. Mel's Cathedral).

  

Holroyd Pressure Booster Station and Gasholder of the Australian Gas Light Co (AGL Co) at Holroyd in Sydney. Made redundant in the 1980s by the advent of natural gas in this region. The site was demolished and was sold off and replaced with a ‘industrial park’ - housing imported goods!!.

Replaced the old and worn window trim, as it deteriorated by the influence of the weather. Its a small repair and looks so much better and will aid in guiding the water from the car.

The factory premium sound system was buggered. My friend Will donated this old Pioneer in dash and I reworked the original faceplate to hold it.

By mistake I ended up in West Malling, but it was a good thing, as the village is chocolate box pretty, and the church very fine indeed. The only church I visited that had no wardens to welcome (I think, sorry if I have mis-remembered). Anyway, a fine church, amazing coat of arms, and glad I visited.

 

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A story of all's well that ends well. A Norman tower and thirteenth-century chancel are linked by a twentieth-century nave that had in its turn replaced one erected to replace its medieval predecessor in the eighteenth century! The west window and those in the south aisle are by C.E. Kempe and Co. Ltd, and of special note is the one depicting the Three Kings. On the south side of the chancel, backing on to a medieval lean-to vestry, is the splendid tomb of Sir Robert Brett (d. 1620), which has recently been restored. The colours are superb and show how churches must have looked when these monuments were new. In the north aisle is a large painting of the Last Supper by Francis Slater, the eighteenth-century artist who painted the ceilings of nearby Mereworth Castle. Hanging on the front of the west gallery are the outstanding Royal Arms of James II, of carved and painted wood. The twentieth-century rebuilding of the church was financed by the sale of an Elizabethan stoneware jug (now in the British Museum), the transaction being recorded on an inscribed stone in the north porch.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=West+Malling

 

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WESTWARD from East Malling lies the town and parish of West Malling, now most commonly called Town Malling.

 

It is written in Domesday, MALLENGETIS, and in the Textus Roffensis, MELLINGES. In many deeds after the conquest, it is stiled MILLINGES PARVA, to distinguish it from East Malling, then the larger and more noted village of the two.

 

The town and parish of West Malling, excepting the borough of St. Leonard, which is under the jurisdiction of the constables of the hundred of Larkfield, is under the jurisdiction of its own constables, of which there are two chosen yearly.

 

THE PARISH of Town Malling, as it is usually called, is situated equally pleasant and healthy. It lies on high ground, and though dry is well watered, the soil of it being in the northern part a sand, the rest of it a loam, covering the quarry rock, which is very fertile, as has been frequently noticed before in the like situations. The high road from London through Wrotham to Maidstone, at the twenty-ninth mile stone leads along the northern boundaries of the parish, being called in king Edmund's grant of this place to the bishop of Rochester, the military way, no doubt from its having been used as such by the Romans, southward of it the ground gently rising; at less than a quarter of a mile's distance is the town of Malling, which is well built, having many genteel houses in it, the streets of a handsome width, and well paved. At the east end of it is the abbey, to which the approach is by a venerable antient gateway. Although the house itself was almost all of it pulled down and rebuilt by Mr. Honywood, yet many of the antient buildings and offices be longing to it are still remaining, and are made use of as such at present. A handsome tower of the church, the front of which is decorated with intersecting arches and zig-zag ornaments, similar to those on the west front of Rochester cathedral, built by the same founder, bishop Gundulph, is still remaining, as is an antient chapel or oratory, now made use of as a dwellinghouse.

 

From the foundations discovered in levelling the ground by Mr. Honywood, it appears, that this abbey consisted of two quadrangles or courts, with cloysters, and a spacious hall; and that the church had another tower, of the like size to that now standing. The burying-place seems to have been on the south side of the church, as in digging there, great quantities of human bones have been thrown up, and two stone coffins with skeletons in them, the lids of them had no inscriptions on them, but were ornamented each with a cross, having a quaterfoil pierced at the upper end, the stem of which was crossed more than once with foliage, several rings and trinkets, and some old coins have likewise been found at different times in cleaning away the rubbish.

 

Over the west end of the grand gateway, which stands at the entrance into the precinct of the abbey from the town, at the west end of the building, there is carved in stone, a heart distilling drops of blood, and on the other side, in a shield, Ermine, a crozier in bend sinister, on a chief three annulets.

 

In the meadows above the gardens, are large square excavations still visible, where the fish ponds of the aunnery formerly were.

 

The precinct of this monastery is washed by a rivulet of excellent clear water, which rising in the hamlet of St. Leonard, runs by the house, and through the gardens of it, whence gushing through the wall with a cascade, it crosses the road towards the Rev. Mr. Brooke's gardens. There is a view of this abbey in its present state published by Mr. Grose, in his Antiquities of England.

 

Near the abbey gate there is a good house, with a large garden, canal, and pleasure grounds, behind it, reaching down to the London road. It has been many years the residence of the Brooke's, from whom it passed by the will of Joseph Brooke, esq. who died in 1792, after the decease of his widow in 1796, to the Rev. John Kenward Shaw, brother of Sir John Gregory Shaw, bart. who has since, in pursuance of the above will, and by the king's licence, taken the name of Brooke, and now resides in it. A little further westward there is a very antient stone building, called the Old Gaol, having narrow gothic windows, and the walls of great thickness. It is reported to have been the prison belonging to the abbey, and is now used as an oast for the drying of hops. About the middle of the street stands the church, and a little distance from it a good house, late the residence of Benjamin Hubble, esq. whose family have been inhabitants of this town for some length of time, several of them lying buried in this church. He died in 1780, leaving his widow, sister of Richard Savage, esq. of Boughton Monchelsea, surviving, and two daughters, his coheirs, one of whom having married Thomas Augustus Douce, esq. he now resides in it; further southward is the hamlet of St. Leonard, now making part of the town, and called St. Leonard's-street, in which is an antient seat, some years ago the residence of Charles Stewart, esq. whose father admiral Stewart purchased it of judge Twisden. This district had once a cell in it, belonging to the abbey, with a chapel. It was given at the time the manor and church was to it, as has been already mentioned. The whole of it has been long since desecrated, and in ruins; the square tower of the chapel which stands in the next field south-west from the late Mr. Stewart's house, is all that remains of it. It was purchased by him some years ago, of Sir John Honywood, in exchange for other premises near the abbey, and is now made use of as a stowage for hops. Mr. Stewart died in 1780, and was buried near his father in this church, and he was succeeded here by the hon. admiral John Forbes, who lately died posfessed of it. A market is held in the principal highstreet every Saturday, which is plentifully supplied and well frequented. There are three fairs, which are held by the alteration of the stile on August 12, October 2, and November 17, yearly, for horses, cattle, toys, &c. The whole town is excellently well watered with fine springs, which having supplied the town and abbey, collect themselves into one stream, and passing northward through Mr. Brooke's grounds, cross the high Maidstone road, and runs from thence into the Addington brook, just above Leyborne mill.

 

About half a mile south-east from the abbey there is a good modern-built house, called New Barne, which formerly belonged to Mr. Alchin, from whom it passed to Graham, the present possessor, who resides in it.

 

Above St. Leonard's street is the high road from Teston over East-Malling-heath, and through this parish to Offham, southward of which this parish extends into the large tract of coppice woods which reach to West Peckham and Mereworth.

 

Dr. William Briggs, an eminent physician, resided at the latter end of the last century at Town Malling, where he died, Sept. 1704, æt. 64, and was buried in this church, He was a great traveller into foreign countries, and was greatly esteemed for his skill in his profession, as well as for his learning, of which the several writings he published are sufficient testimonies. He was physician in ordinary to king William, and to St. Thomas's hospital, and bore his arms, Gules, three bars gemelles, or, a canton sable. (fn. 1)

 

THIS PLACE was given, about the year 945, by Edmund, king of the Angles and of Mercia, to Burhric, bishop of Rochester, by the description of a small portion of his land, called Meallingas, containing three plough lands; and he granted it to him, for the good of his soul, in perpetual inheritance, in augmentation of the revenues of his monastery of St. Andrew, with all its rights, liberties, members, and appurtenances, and this he did with the consent of his nobles and princes, whose names were subscribed to it. After the names of king Edmund, Edred his brother, and Eadgife his mother, are those of the archbishops and bishops, and then that of Ælgifu, the king's concubine, Ego Ælgifu Concubina Regis affui, and after her the dukes, &c. The bounds of this land are thus described in Saxon, viz. from the south part of it to the king's plaine, and from thence to the bounds of the parish of Offaham, and thence to the military way, and so along the said way over Lilleburne to the bounds of the parish of Est Meallinges, and so directly southward from the east of the cross or gallows to the broad way towards the south, in a direct line along the said way to the king's plaine. To which the king added certain denberies for the pannage of hogs.

 

This land did not continue long in the possession of the church of Rochester, being wrested from it in the time of the Danish wars; and when William the Conqueror had attained the crown, he gave it to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his half brother, from whom it was recovered, together with the church of Mallinges, in the solemn assembly of the whole county held on this occasion, by the king's command, at Pinenden heath, in 1076, by archbishop Lanfrance, who afterward restored it to bishop Gundulph, and the church of St. Andrew; which gift was confirmed by archbishops Anselm and Boniface. (fn. 2)

 

In the survey of Domesday, taken about four years afterwards, this manor is thus described, under the general title of the bishop of Rochester's lands:

 

The same bishop (of Rochester) holds Mellingetes, it was taxed, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, at three sulings, and now at one and an half. The arable land is three carucates. In demesne there is one, and five villeins, with fix borderers, having two carucates. There is a church, and one mill of two shillings, wood for the pannage of twenty hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth forty shillings, and now four pounds.

 

Bishop Gundulph, in the 4th year of the reign of king William Rufus, anno 1090, having founded an abbey of Benedictine nuns in this parish, to the honor of the Virgin Mary, gave this manor and church to it, with other possessions for the endowment of it; (fn. 3) and although it was, about one hundred years after its being first erected, with the adjoining village, destroyed by fire, yet it was again soon afterwards re-edified, and continued to increase in a flourishing state.

 

In the 7th year of king Edward I. anno 1278, the abbess of Malling claimed sundry liberties in this parish, by grant from king Henry III. and a market weekly throughout the year on a Saturday and Wednesday; and she claimed by grant from king John to have warren in all her lands at Malling, by grant from king Henry, from time beyond memory; and to have fairs in the parish on the eve, day, and morrow of St. Matthew the apostle, and the like on the eve, and day of St. Leonard, and the like on the eve, and day of St. Peter, ad vincula.

 

By which, and such like favours granted to it, this place, which at the first foundation of the monastery was plain fields, and almost without an inhabitant, became notwithstanding its former calamity mentioned before, exceedingly populous from the numbers who flocked to it from all parts, who building themselves houses here, increased the village to a large size, well suited for trade, to the no small emolument of the nuns; whence it soon lost its name of Malling Parva, which was for some time transferred to the neighbouring parish of East Malling, as appears by some grants, &c. of this time, and king Edward III. (fn. 4)

 

In the 15th year of king Edward I. the temporalities of the abbess of Malling in this parish and East Malling were valued at forty-five pounds.

 

There was an annual pension of ten pounds of wax, and one boar, paid by the abbess to the bishop of Rochester, as an acknowledgment of her subjection to that see.

 

In the year 1321, the bishop of Rochester, at the king's request, to whom the nuns had made a complaint, that their monastery was ruined by the bad management of their abbess, sister of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, visited it, and heard the complaints against her; in consequence of which she resigned, and the lady Agnes de Leyborne, was chosen in her room. Three years after which she died, and the bishop, at the unanimous request of the nuns, appointed Lora de Retling abbess here, though much against his will, knowing her to be very ignorant, and unfit for the office. However, he inhibited her giving a corredy to her maid servant, as had been the custom, and sequestered their common seal, inhibiting her from using it without his licence.

 

A great pestilence raging in the year 1348, the bishop made two abbesses here, who presently died; nor were there more than four nuns professed, and four not professed, remaining in this monastery; and he com mitted the custody of the spirituals and temporals to two of them, as there was not a proper person for the office of abbess.

 

In the year 1493, anno 9 Henry VII. Joane Moone was abbess of this monastery. (fn. 5)

 

This abbey was surrendered into the king's hands, with all its possessions, (fn. 6) among which were the manors of East and West Malling, with the precincts of Ewell and Parrock annexed to the latter, by Margaret Vernon, abbess, and the convent of it, in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. at which time it was valued at 245l. 10s. 2½d. annual rent, according to Speed, and 218l. 4s. 2½d. clear value, according to Dugdale, and there was granted to the abbess a pension of forty pounds yearly, and to eleven nuns from 31. 6s. 8d. down to 2l. 13s. 4d. yearly pensions, each for their lives.

 

After which that king, by his letters patent, in his 31st year, granted and sold, in exchange, among other premises, to Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, the scite of the abbey, with the precinct and circuit of it, and the manors of West Malling, Ewell, and Parocke, and the parsonage of West Malling, late appropriate to it, excepting to the king all advowsons, presentations, &c. to hold by knight's service, at the yearly rent therein mentioned; and as the king was entitled to the tenths of these premises, he discharged the archbishop of them, and all other outgoings whatsoever, except the rent therein mentioned. Which grant was in consequence of an indenture made between the king and the archbishop, inrolled in the Augmentation-office.

 

These manors and premises were again exchanged with the crown in the beginning of the reign of queen Elizabeth, in the 12th year of which she granted them in lease to Sir Henry Brooke, alias Cobham, fifth son of Sir George Brooke, lord Cobham; after which they were held by the same possessors, as the manor of East Malling before described, till at length, after the death of Sir Robert Brett, anno 1621, king James granted the manor of West, alias Town Malling, with the precinct of Ewell annexed, the scite of the late monastery, with the house, buildings, and ground within the precinct of it with all their appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of the late monastery, in fee, to John Rayney, esq. which was further confirmed to Sir John Rayney, his eldest son, in the 2d year of king Charles I. He was of Wrothamplace, in this neighbourhood, and was created a baronet of Nova Scotia, in 1641, and his son of the same name, about the time of the restoration, conveyed these premises to Isaac Honywood, gent. of Hampsted, Middlesex, who was the only son of Edward, third son of Sir Thomas Honywood, of Elmsted, ancestor likewise of the present Sir John Honywood, of Elmsted, baronet, and he continued to bear the same coat of arms; whose second son, Isaac Honywood, esq. of Hampsted, succeeded him in this manor and estate. Frazer Honywood, esq. of Hampsted and London, his only son and heir, rebuilt the abbey house of Malling in the antient gothic taste, at a very great expence, making it one of the seats of his residence, and having thus greatly improved it, he died possessed of this seat and manor, with the estate belonging to it, in 1764, leaving no issue by his wife, the daughter of Abraham Atkins, of Clapham. He gave them, as well as the rest of his estates here and elsewhere, by will, to his kinsman, Sir John Honywood, bart. of Elmsted, and his heirs male, with divers remainders over to the family of Honywood. Sir John Honywood, bart. is since deceased, and his grandson of the same name is the present owner of this manor, with the precinct of Ewell annexed, and the seat of Malling abbey, with the lands and appurtenances in this parish belonging to it, but Mr. Foote resides in it.

 

The family of Say antiently possessed THE MANOR of CLEMENTS IN EWELL, in this parish. Geoffry de Say held it in the 7th year of king Edward II. as half a knight's fee. His son, Geoffry de Say, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as half a knight's fee, which John at Forde held before in Ewell, in Malling, of the bishop of Rochester. This manor was afterwards in the name of Coveney, (fn. 7) and in the latter end of king Henry VIII. it was in the possession of Mr. William Fowle. Since which it has sunk into such obscurity, that neither the scite nor the owners of it can be traced out even by the most diligent enquiries.

 

CHARITIES.

 

THERE is a lecture founded in this church of a sermon every fortnight, on the Saturday; two of the preachers to be the ministers of East and West Malling, who are to be paid 10s. for every sermon they preach; the other preachers are appointed at the will of the trustees.

 

FRANCIS TRESSE, gent. of this town, who died in 1632, by his will gave a piece of land, and 40l. towards the building of a free school in this parish; and he charged one of his houses in Town Malling with the sum of 13s. 4d. per annum, for the keeping of it in repair; and appointed that four principal freeholders of this parish should be trustees for the execution of this part of his will for ever. This school was accordingly erected, and was made use of for the teaching of boys writing and arithmetic. The charity is veisted in the minister and tour substantial freehold inhabitants, and the estate out of which it is paid in Mr. Robert Sutton, of this parish, but there being no master, the school-house is at present let to the late master's widow at 2gs. perannum, which with the 13s. 4d. is applied towards the maintaining of the building. He also gave two silver cups for the use of the holy communion, and 6s. 8d. payable yearly out of a piece of land, called Cousin's Plat, now vested in Mary Brome, widow.

 

SIR ROBERT BRETT, by will in 1620, gave land sufficient to pay yearly 10s. per week, to be bestowed in bread and meat to twenty poor persons, or else to be distributed in money to them. His executors accordingly conveyed lands in Tewksbury, in Gloucestershire, for this purpose, which is now vested in lord Romney, and twenty-three others, trustees, of the annual produce of 26l. but of late years the annual produce has been but 19l. 14s.

 

TOWN MALLING is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURIDISCTION of the diocese of Rochester, and gives name to the deanry of Malling, in which it is situated.

 

The church, which is a handsome building, with an elegant spire steeple, is dedicated to St. Mary.

 

At the latter end of the year 1778, some of the main pillars of the body of it giving way, the whole roof of it fell in, leaving only the steeple and chancel at the two extremities of it standing. It has since been repaired, and thoroughly finished by a brief, which was obtained for that purpose.

 

The church of West Malling was given, with the manor, to the church of Rochester, by king Edmund, in 945; and having afterwards been taken from it, was again restored by archbishop Lanfranc to bishop Gundulph, in the time of the Conqueror, who gave it to the monastery here, at his foundation of it, and this gift was confirmed by several succeeding kings, archbishops of Canterbury, bishops of Rochester, &c. as has been already mentioned.

 

It was appropriated to the abbess and convent by bishop Gundulph, at the time it was given to them; which appropriation was specially confirmed by Simon, archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 1351.

 

In the reign of king Edward III. great discutes arising between the abbess and nuns of this monastery, and Robert de Beulton, perpetual vicar of this church, especially concerning the receiving of the tithes of flax and hemp, and the payment of archidiaconal procurations, they were at last settled by Hamo, bishop of Rochester, who in the year 1339, decreed, that, saving the due and accustomed portion of the prebend of the great mass in the conventual church of Malling, and the portion of the vicar, as undermentioned, the religious should take all tithes of corn within the parish, and all oblations and obventions belonging to their conventual church, and the cell of St. Leonard; and that they should not be bound to pay to the vicar the tithes of their hay, woods, or mills. And whereas the bishop was informed, and it was allowed, that the above-mentioned prebendary, and other domestics, serving in the monastery, or in the houses of the prebendary, or perpetual chaplain, celebrating for the dead, as also the brothers and sisters, and other persons dwelling in the monastery, or house of the prebendary, who, when they were without the monastery and houses, were not housekeepers in the parish, were wont to receive the sacraments and sacramentals, in life and in death, and to be buried there, if they happened to die within the monastery or houses, unless by chance they chose to be buried elsewhere; in which case, the religious had the first mass for the body before them, in their monastery, and received all the oblations then and there made, so that no portion was left for the vicar of the parish church. And further, that the prebendary for the time being had been used to receive antiently, and to that time, in part of the portion due to him, all the great and small tithes of the demesne lands of the religious, and of the food of their cattle, and also the great tithes arising from many of the crofts of their tenants situated in the said parish, and also the small tithes of his house, and of the house and land of the perpetual chaplain aforesaid, and all the predial tithes arising from the houses or messuages, curtilages and gardens, late of Thomas atte Shoppe and William Cake, in the street, called Holirode-strete, of this parish of Malling, situated above the house of the prebendary; and of all the houses, messuages, curtilages, and gardens whatsoever, from thence towards the east and north in Holirode-street, and in the street, called Tan-street, as far as the end of the parish of Malling on that side; and that the religious and prebendary had possessed all and singular the premises aforesaid, in certain distinct portions, peaceably and without contradiction, from the time beyond memory. (fn. 8)

 

The bishop, therefore, that none of the premises should be altered, decreed, saving all and every matter as aforesaid, that the vicar should receive for his portion all other small tithes, oblations, obventions and profits belonging to the parish church more especially, viz. the tithe of herbage, silva cedua, apples, pears, flax, hemp, wool, milk, cheese, calves, lambs, pigs, pidgeons, geese, ducks, bees, eggs, merchandizings, fowlings, fishings, swans, pulse, and other fruits, and also of corn growing in orchards or gardens, as he had-been accustomed to receive them.

 

¶And that the vicar should also receive the personal tithes of the inhabitants of the houses or messuages of Thomas atte Shoppe and William Cake, and of others, inhabiting in the houses or messuages situated in the streets, called Holirode-strete and Tan-strete, and the oblations due and accustomed to the parish church, and should administer ecclesiastical rights to them, and should have the burial of them in the parish church; and that the vicar should have for his habitation, as assigned to him by the religious, the dwelling with its precinct, which the vicar then inhabited, and his predecessors used to inhabit, which he should repair at his own expence, and preserve in a decent state, and should pay the yearly rents and services, due and accustomed from thence; all which the bishop adjudged to be a sufficient portion for the vicar for the time being. And he further decreed, that the vicar should cause the books to be bound, the vestments to be washed; and the same, and the rest of the ornaments of the parish church, which belonged to the religious to find, as often as need should require, to be repaired, and should cause them to be safely and honestly kept; and that he should provide and find bread, wine, processional tapers, and other lights necessary and accustomed in the chancel, the necessary and accustomed ministers, rochets, surplices, napkins, unconsecrated vessels, basons, and also green rushes to strow the church, if they had been so accustomed, and did not belong to the parishioners to find; and that he should pay the dues to the bishop, and the archidiaconal procurations, and that the vicar should acknowledge and undergo, according to the rate of the taxation of his portion as under-mentioned, all ordinaries and extraordinaries, which, although it might amount to five marcs, being near the moiety of the value of the whole church, according to the estimation then had, he decreed should remain according to the antient taxation of it, as often as burthens of this kind were to be borne, and paid from small benefices. And he decreed, that the religious should acknowledge and undergo all and singular other burthens happening to the parish church, by reason of their portion, which he estimated at twelve marcs, according to the antient taxation of it, notwithstanding this assignation, which was made with the consent of both parties, and which by his episcopal authority, he corroborated and confirmed, &c. and that it might not be called in doubt in future times, or be litigated, he had caused it to be entered in his register, and to be reduced into three different writings, of which he decreed one to remain in the hands of the religious, another in the hands of the vicar, and the third in the hands of the prebendary aforesaid, to perpetuate the memory of it, and had caused it to be authenticated with his seal, &c.

 

This parsonage, prebend, and the advowson of the vicarage, were, on the dissolution of the abbey in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. surrendered into the king's hands. After which the king, next year, granted this parsonage, with the manor of West Malling, and other premises, to Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, to hold by knight's service, at the yearly rent therein mentioned. After which it passed, with the manor of West Malling, in a like succession of ownership, down to Sir John Rayney, bart. who sold these premises, about the time of the restoration, to judge Twisden, and his descendant, Sir John Papillon Twisden, bart. is the present possessor of this parsonage, and the advowson of the vicarage of West or Town Malling.

 

The vicarage is valued in the king's books at ten pounds, and the yearly tenths at one pound.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol4/pp518-533

This is the old Log Cabin Association Consolidated School, located atop a knoll overlooking US 74-441 at the community of Barker’s Creek, near Dillsboro, North Carolina. The building was one of three elementary schools constructed between 1949 and 1952, which consolidated the last remaining rural wood-frame one-room and two-room schools in the county, with the other two schools, with similar designs, being located at the communities Addie (Scott’s Creek Township) and Argura/Sols Creek (Canada Township). The Log Cabin School was the first to be built, with construction starting in 1949 due to the condemnation of the old Barker’s Creek School in 1947, due to how dilapidated it had become. The Log Cabin School opened in 1950, and Consolidated the schools at Dicks Creek (now Dicks Creek Baptist Church), Wilmot, and Barker’s Creek into a single, modern facility with a gymatorium, library, cafeteria, bathrooms, central heating, and separated classroom spaces, none of which were amenities that existed in the schools it replaced. The modernist building features several long window bays that provide ample light to the interior spaces, with the classrooms having glass block to provide diffuse sunlight, and the building heavily using steel-frame awning windows for ventilation. The school also features some interesting detailing, including curved brick faces at the front entrance, pilaster-like facade elements, and a vertical element of bricks turned at an angle that breaks up the center of the massing of the large brick face of the gym’s facade. The school operated from 1950 until 1980, when, prompted by a drop in enrollment, it was Consolidated with nearby Qualla Elementary School to form Smokey Mountain Elementary School. The school sat vacant, with sporadic activity until 1995, when the deteriorated structure was renovated and converted into an antique mall. However, the building was put up for sale about 13 years ago, and has since sat vacant and fallen into serious disrepair, with a failed roof and vandalism taking their toll. It needs serious renovation to be used, but thankfully, it is a well-built structure that is still sound.

 

The school remains on the market, though pictures in the listing are inaccurate as to its current state, which has severely deteriorated from the pristine building it was in 2006, when the antique mall closed. The building needs a new roof, replacement window glass, a thorough cleaning, paint job, new ceilings and floors, and new doors if it is reused. Electrical systems in the building were stolen by scrappers, and need to be completely replaced. Some plumbing fixtures remain, but they have been subject to severe vandalism over the decade the building has sat empty. As for the HVAC system, the building did at one time have a boiler, installed in 1950, and an air conditioning system that was installed circa 1995, but both of these systems are likely non-functional due to water damage and vandalism, and will need to be replaced. The wooden interior structures in the gym also need to be torn out, along with all electrical fixtures. All of this will need to be done if the building is to be used again, but it does have the upside of being a solid concrete, brick, steel, and concrete masonry structure that has taken the elements on remarkably well, and can still be salvaged with the right resources and care put into it. The building is by no means unstable or in a state of collapse, as it was built very solidly, and could make a great adaptive reuse opportunity for the right person or organization. I hope to see this building saved and reused, as it is one of only a few mostly intact modernist school buildings from the late 1940s/early 1950s left in this part of the state.

Sugarbud Williams replaces the head on his hammer.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 10-Jul-19, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 07-Feb-25.

 

Air Europa, leased from / operated by Excel Airways in a hybrid c/scheme during the 2002/03 winter season.

 

First flown in Feb-02 with the Boeing test registration N1786B, this aircraft was re-registered N6055X for some Boeing test flights in early Mar-02. It was delivered to GECAS and leased to Excel Airways as G-XLAF in Mar-02.

 

It was wet leased to Air Europa (Spain) between Nov-02/Apr-03. The aircraft was wet-leased to Ryanair between Nov-03/Mar-04. It was fitted with blended winglets in Apr-06. In Nov-06 Excel Airways was renamed XL Airways UK.

 

The aircraft was leased to Sunwing Airlines (Canada) as C-GOAF in Dec-06. It was sub-leased back to XL Airways UK, operated by Sunwing, in May-07 and returned to Sunwing in Nov-07 for the winter season.

 

It was again sub-leased back to XL Airways UK in May-08. XL Airways UK ceased operations in Sep-08 and Sunwing returned the aircraft to the lessor the following day. It was initially stored at Lasham, UK and re-registered N29883 in Oct-08.

 

In Mar-09 the aircraft was leased to Garuda Indonesia Airlines as PK-GEI. It was returned to the lessor in Jun-16 and was leased to Sriwijaya Airways, Indonesia as PK-CMT the following month. It was stored at Jakarta-CGK, Indonesia in Jun-20 due to a combination of the COVID-19 Pandemic coupled with financial problems.

 

The aircraft never returned to service and was permanently retired. It was broken-up at Jakarta-CGK in Jul-22.

View from the N of Rosendale Road railway bridge "No.2" (Herne Hill and West Dulwich, London) carrying suburban line services to and from London Bridge terminus.

 

The green and grey bridge has recently replaced an older one, during work carried out in the early hours of January 19th 2014. The previous bridge (1950s-1960s) replaced an even older one (1866) supported on the same cast iron columns (not visible here but see accompanying photos in this series). During the present replacement work, the columns were then also removed forever.

 

The railway plaque is the original one, mounted on a new concrete replacement capital. The plaque bears the coat-of-arms of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway on the L, and of the Dulwich Estate on the R. The Dulwich Estate own, or owned, much of the land in this area, including, I assume, the land on which this bridge was built. The shield in the middle of the plaque carries the date "1866", the date of construction the original bridge, though the main span has been replaced at least twice since then. The initials "AC"on the central shield stand for Alleyn College, the former name of Dulwich College (founded 1619 by the Shakespearean actor-manager, Edward Alleyn.)

 

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ROSENDALE ROAD RAILWAY BRIDGES

 

There were three railway bridges over Rosendale Road, two of which still exist. They don't appear to have names, so I have numbered them arbitrarily.

 

"No.1" is the most northern one, close to Brockwell Park, behind the camera viewpoint. It currently carries suburban line services of the Thameslink network between Wimbledon and Sutton and central London (and beyond).

 

This view shows "No.2" orignally built in 1866 for the London Brighton and South Coast Railway. It rested on brick abutments and on red cast iron columns. But the girder bridge itself, and its railings, must have been younger, having apparently replaced the older, more ornate, structure some time after 1952 (compare the photo of its more ornate predecessor in Edwin Course's article, below). The original bridge was designed by Charles Barry Junior. The large sums paid by the then railway company (London, Brighton and South Coast Railway) for construction of its line across the Dulwich Estate, with other bridges matching this one, enabled the Estate to build the present main building of Dulwich College (1857-1866). There were a pair ornamental plaques on each side of the road on this N side of Rosendale Railway bridge, each on its own pilaster - four in all. Some or all of the upper parts of the older pillasters were removed and replaced by modern concrete ones, but the old plaques were retained and remounted on the new pilasters (as here, upper R). It seems that the pilasters had to be replaced by narrower ones (i.e. as measured in the direction away from the camera) to allow for the installation of the access walkway (in grey undercoat on the L) along the outside of the bridge proper.

 

This view also shows the site of "No.3". This bridge was demolished some time after 1966. It was very ornate in cast iron and ran across the road here, in the background immediately beyond "No.2", supported on brick abutments and cast iron columns. The eastern abutment can just be seen through the bridge in the distance (lower L) (see also notes on the picture). The bridge carried coal trains of the former London and North Western Railway into Knight's Hill Sidings and its former coal depot. The sidings included the former bridge, which was therefore much wider than "No.2". The sidings extended to the R beyond the R side of this view behind the embankment of the nearer bridge, where they are now covered by houses of the Lairdale Estate of the London Borough of Lambeth (one of these houses can be seen upper R). Although the depot was an LNWR one, the abutments for the demolished bridge actually bear plaques (not visible here) with the coat-of-arms of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and the Dulwich Estate, and the date "1866" - just as on "No.2". It is clear from the photo in Course's article that the original designs of both bridges also matched each other. However, an iron plaque on the bridge proper bore the date 1891.

 

--- belowtheriver.co.uk/wednesday-picture-the-bridges-of-west...

--- Course, Edwin, 1960. The foreign goods depots of South London. Railway Magazine [vol?] (for November 1960), pp. 761-766. www.semgonline.com/RlyMag/ForeignDepotsofSthLondon.pdf

 

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RAILWAY BRIDGE REPLACEMENT WORK IN DULWICH & HERNE HILL, JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014 (32/39)

  

This bridge, and two further sister bridges carrying the same line over neighbouring streets, had been in poor condition for some time. After a period of preparation work, the replacement work happening here began in January 2014. Two neighbouring streets, one of them a busy main road, were closed to traffic concurrently for about two weeks, and another was closed for work on the third bridge shortly afterwards. To minimise disruption to train services, the main replacement work was carried out night and day in continuous shifts over two weekends. Huge hydraulic cranes had to come from Scotland (James Jack, Ainscough) to do this engineering work because there were no cranes available nearer to London capable of handling the old and new bridges.

 

--- belowtheriver.co.uk/wednesday-picture-the-bridges-of-west...

 

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for COMMUTE ROUTE set:

SERIES 1. MY USUAL ROUTE (& POINTS IN COMMON TO ALL ROUTES).

 

This view looks in the direction of returning to our house. (I've uploaded many other photos of this bridge replacement work, but for the 'Commute Route' set here, I have included only those that I took on the way to work.)

  

My standard outward commuting route:

home > (walk) > Rosendale Road > (walk) > Brockwell Park > (walk) > Herne Hill station > (National Rail suburban service) > London Victoria station > (District/Circle Line) > South Kensington > (walk) > Natural History Museum.

 

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Photo

© Darkroom Daze Creative Commons.

If you would like to use or refer to this image, please link or attribute.

ID: DSC_8701 - Version 2

Replacing the front valve cover gasket is very easy. Simply

 

1. Remove the valve cover,

2. Clean it,

3. Insert a new gasket into the grove along the valve cover rim,

4. Apply RTV sealant at the corners of the gasket,

5. Reinstall the valve cover, making sure the gasket is seated properly.

 

The rear valve cover, however, requires several more steps for removal, which are described below.

Replaced the B&W with the colour version to, well, add a bit of colour :)

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

 

Some background:

The G.91Y was an increased-performance version of the Fiat G.91 funded by the Italian government. Based on the G.91T two-seat trainer variant, the single Bristol Orpheus turbojet engine of this aircraft was replaced by two afterburning General Electric J85 turbojets which increased thrust by 60% over the single-engine variant. Structural modifications to reduce airframe weight increased performance further and an additional fuel tank occupying the space of the G.91T's rear seat provided extra range. Combat manoeuvrability was improved with the addition of automatic leading edge slats. The avionics equipment of the G.91Y was considerably upgraded with many of the American, British and Canadian systems being license-manufactured in Italy.

 

Flight testing of three pre-production aircraft was successful, with one aircraft reaching a maximum speed of Mach 0.98. Airframe buffeting was noted and was rectified in production aircraft by raising the position of the tailplane slightly.

An initial order of 55 aircraft for the Italian Air Force was completed by Fiat in March 1971, by which time the company had changed its name to Aeritalia (from 1969, when Fiat aviazione joined the Aerfer). The order was increased to 75 aircraft with 67 eventually being delivered. In fact, the development of the new G.91Y was quite long, and the first order was for about 20 pre-series examples that followed the two prototypes. The first pre-series 'Yankee' (the nickname of the new aircraft) flew in July 1968.

 

AMI (Italian Air Force) placed orders for two batches, 35 fighters followed by another 20, later cut to ten. The last one was delivered around mid 1976, so the total was two prototypes, 20 pre-series and 45 series aircraft. No immediate export success followed, though, and the Italian G.91Ys’ service lasted until the early '90s as attack/recce machines, both over ground and sea, until the AMX replaced them until 1994.

 

However, upon retirement some G.91Ys were still in good condition and the airframes had still some considerable flight hours left, so that about thirty revamped aircraft were put up for sale from 1992 onwards. At the same time, Poland was undergoing a dramatic political change. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union the Eastern European country immediately turned its political attention westward, including the prospects of joining NATO. The withdrawal of Russian forces based in Poland and partly obsolete military equipment of the Polish forces themselves led to a procurement process from 1991 onwards, which, among others, included a replacement for the Polish MiG-17 (domestic Lim-5, Lim-6 and Lim-6bis types), which had been operated by both Polish air force and navy since the late Sixties, primarily as fighter bombers in their late career, but also for reconnaissance tasks.

 

The G.91Y appeared, even though a vintage design, to be a suitable replacement option, since its performance envelope and the equipment outfit with three cameras in the nose made it a perfect package – and the price tag was not big, either. Especially the Polish Navy showed much interest, and after 10 months of negotiations Poland eventually bought 22 G.91Y from Italy, plus five G.91T two-seaters for conversion training, which were delivered between June 1993 and April 1994.

 

For the new operator the machines only underwent minor modifications. The biggest change was the addition of wirings and avionics for typical Polish Air Force ordnance, like indigenous MARS-2 pods for 16 unguided 57mm S-5 missiles, iron bombs of Russian origin of up to 500 kg (1.100 lb) caliber, SUU-23-2 gun pods as well as R-3 and R-60 missiles (which were very similar to the Western AIM-9 Sidewinder and actually date back to re-engineered specimen obtained by the USSR during the Korea war!). All machines were concentrated at Gdynia-Babie Doły in a newly founded, dedicated fighter bomber of the 1 Naval Aviation Squadron, which also operated MiG-21 fighters and PZL Iskra trainers. The Polish G.91Ys, nicknamed “Polski Fiat” by their crews (due to their compact size and overall simplicity, in reminiscence of the very popular, locally license-built Fiat 126), not only replaced the vintage MiG-17 types and some Polish Navy MiG-21 fighters, but also the handful of MiG-15UTI trainer veterans which were still used by the Polish Navy for observation duties over the Baltic Sea.

 

When Poland joined NATO on 12 March 1999, the G.91Ys (18 were still in service, plus all five trainers) received another major overhaul, a new low-visibility paint scheme, and they were updated with avionics that ensured inter-operability with other NATO forces, e .g. a GPS positioning sensor in a small, dorsal hump fairing. In 2006, when deliveries of 48 F-16C/D fighters to Poland started, the G.91Ys were to be retired within 12 months. But problems with the F-16s’ operability kept the G.91Y fleet active until 2011, when all aircraft were grounded and quickly scrapped.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: one

Length: 11.67 m (38 ft 3.5 in)

Wingspan: 9.01 m (29 ft 6.5 in)

Height: 4.43 m (14 ft 6.3 in)

Wing area: 18.13 m² (195.149 ft²)

Empty weight: 3,900 kg (8,598 lb)

Loaded weight: 7,800 kg (17,196 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 8,700 kg (19,180 lb)

 

Powerplant:

2× General Electric J85-GE-13A turbojets, 18.15 kN (4,080 lbf) each

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 1,110 km/h (600 kn, 690 mph, Mach 0.95) at 10,000 m (33,000 ft)

Range: 1,150 km (621 nmi, 715 mi)

Max. ferry range with drop tanks: 3,400 km (2,110 mls)

Service ceiling: 12,500 m (41,000 ft)

Rate of climb: 86.36 m/s (17,000 ft/min)

Wing loading: 480 kg/m² (98.3 lb/ft² (maximum)

Thrust/weight: 0.47 at maximum loading

 

Armament:

2× 30 mm (1.18 in) DEFA cannons with 120 RPG

4× under-wing pylon stations with a capacity of 1,814 kg (4,000 lb)

  

The kit and its assembly:

This whiffy Yankee Gina was inspired by a profile that had popped up during WWW picture search a while ago. Tracking it back, I found it to be artwork created and posted at DeviantArt by user “Jeremak-J”, depicting a G.91Y in polish markings and sporting a two-tone grey camouflage with light blue undersides and a medium waterline. I found the idea bizarre, but attractive, and, after some research, I found a small historic slot that might have made this “combo” possible.

 

When I recently delved through my (growing…) kit pile I came across a Matchbox G.91Y in a squashed box and with a cracked canopy – and decided to use that kit for a personal Polish variant.

The Matchbox G.91Y bears light and shadow galore. While it is IIRC the only IP kit of this aircraft, it comes with some problem areas. The fit of any major kit component is mediocre and the cockpit tub with an integral seat-thing is …unique. But the overall shape is IMHO quite good – a typical, simple Matchbox kit with a mix of (very fine) raised and engraved panel lines.

 

The OOB canopy could not be saved, but I was lucky to find a replacement part in the spares box – probably left over from the first G.91Y I built in the early Eighties. While the donor part had to be stripped from paint and was quite yellowed from age, it saved the kit.

 

It was built almost OOB, since major changes would not make sense in the context of my background story of a cheap 2nd hand purchase for an air force on a lean budget. I just added some details to the cockpit and changed the ordnance, using missile pods and iron bombs of Soviet origin (from a Kangnam/Revell Yak-38).

The exhausts were drilled open, because OOB these are just blank covers, only 0.5 mm deep! Inside, some afterburners were simulated (actually main wheels from an Arii 1:100 VF-1).

The flaps were lowered and extended, which is easy to realize on this kit.

The clumsy, molded guns were cut away, to be later replaced with free-standing, hollow steel needles.

In order to add some more exterior detail I also scratched the thin protector frames around the nozzles with thin wire.

Since the replacement canopy looked quite old and brittle, I did not dare cutting the clear part in two, so that the cockpit remained closed, despite the effort put into the interior.

A personal extra is the pair of chaff/flare dispensers on the rear fuselage, reminiscent of Su-22 installations.

  

Painting and markings:

The inspiring profile was nice, but I found it to be a bit fishy. The depicted tactical code format would IMHO not be plausible for the aircraft’s intended era, and roundels on the fuselage flanks would also long have gone in the Nineties. Therefore, I rather looked at real world benchmarks from the appropriate time frame for my Polish Gina’s livery, even though I wanted to stay true to the artist’s original concept, too.

 

One direction to add more plausibility was the scheme that Polish Su-22 fighter bombers received during their MLU, changing the typical tactical camouflage in up to four hues of green and brown into a much more subdued two tone grey livery with lighter, bluish-grey undersides, combined with toned-down markings like tactical codes in white outlines only. Some late MiG-21s also received this type of livery, and at least one Polish Fishbed instructional airframe received white low-viz national insignia.

 

For the paint scheme itself I used the MiG-21 pattern as benchmark (found in the Planes & Pilots MiG-21 book) and adapted it to the G.91Y as good as possible. The tones were a little difficult to define – some painting instructions recommend FS 36118 (US Gunship Grey) for the dark upper grey tone, but this is IMHO much too murky. Esp. on the Su-22s, the two upper greys show only little contrast, and the lower grey does not stand out much against the upper tones, either. On the other side, I found a picture of a real-life MiG-21U trainer in the new grey scheme, and the contrast between the grey on the upper surfaces appeared much stronger, with the light grey even having a brownish hue. Hmpf.

 

As a compromise I settled for FS 36173 (F-15E Dark Grey) and 36414 (Flint Grey). For the undersides I went for FS 35414 (Blue Green), which comes close to the typical Soviet underside blue, but it is brighter.

After basic painting, the kit received a light black ink wash and subtle post-shading, mostly in order to emphasize single panels, less for a true weathering effect.

The cockpit was painted in Dark Gull Grey (Humbrol 140), with a light blue dashboard and a black ejection seat. The OOB pilot was used and received an olive drab suit with a light grey helmet, modern and toned down like the aircraft itself. The landing gear as well as the air intake interior were painted in different shades of aluminum.

 

The decals were, as so often, puzzled together from various sources. The interesting, white-only Polish roundels come from a Mistercraft MiG-21. I also added them to the upper wing surfaces – this is AFAIK not correct, but without them I found the model to look rather bleak. Under the wings, full color insignia were used, though. The English language “Navy” markings on the fuselage might appear odd, but late MiG-21s in Polish Navy service actually had this operator designation added to their spines!

 

The typical, tactical four-digit code consists of markings for Italian Tornados, taken from two different Italeri sheets. The squadron emblem on the fin came from a Mistercraft Su-22, IIRC.

Most stencils were taken from the OOB sheet, some of them were replaced with white alternatives, though, in order to keep a consistent overall low-viz look.

 

Finally the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish.

  

An interesting result. Even though this Polish Gina is purely fictional, the model looks surprisingly convincing, and the grey low-viz livery actually suits the G.91Y well.

Replacing a Jonckheere Mistral which used to be on this plate, VanHool T9 Alizée bodied DAF SB4000XF coach R3 YPB is in a new livery for York Pullman as heads along Nunnery Lane, running a Goodwin PLC charter. this had been YJ03 PPF having been with the Southern Vectis coaching arm known as Moss Motors, and also Marchwood Coaches.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 20-Mar-18, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 13-Aug-25

 

Early Lufthansa CityLine livery.

 

First flown with the Fokker test registration PH-EXX, this aircraft was leased to DLT Deutsche Luftverkehrgesellschaft as D-AFKN in Jul-91. DLT was renamed Lufthansa CityLine in Mar-92.

 

It was sold to Lufthansa Leasing GmbH in Jul-92 while the lease to Lufthansa CityLine continued. The 'CityLine' titles were removed in Mar-94 although the aircraft continued to be operated by Lufthansa CityLine.

 

It was returned to Lufthansa Leasing in Jan-97 and leased to Contact Air in Feb-97 when it became part of 'Team Lufthansa' operated by Contact Air. It changed to Lufthansa Regional in Oct-03.

 

The aircraft was returned to Lufthansa Leasing in Apr-04 and sold to Air Iceland - Flugfelag Islands as TF-JMN at the end of the month. It was wet-leased to Air Baltic between Apr-09 / May-10. It was withdrawn from service and stored at Woensdrecht, Netherlands in May-17.

 

In Oct-17 the aircraft was sold to the Avmax Group and leased to Silverstone Air (Kenya) as 5Y-SMO a few days later. It was withdrawn from service in Nov-19 and stored at Nairobi-Wilson. Silverstone Air ceased operations in Mar-20, the aircraft was returned to the lessor and remained stored.

 

Silverstone Air was rebranded as Jetlite Air in Feb-21 and the lease was transferred. It was wet-leased to Saacid Air, Somalia in Aug-23. Jetlite Air appear to have morphed into DragonFly Aviation, Kenya in Nov-23.

 

Details are a bit sketchy, however the aircraft appears to have been sold to an unknown operator in Malawi as 7Q-SMO in May-25. Now 34 years old the aircraft appears to be still active. Updated 13-Aug-25.

Built in 1906-1917, this Beaux Arts-style Capitol Building was designed by George B. Post to house the state house of representatives, state senate, and offices for the Wisconsin State Government. The fourth state capitol to house the state government since the state’s establishment in 1848, the building is the third building to sit on the present site, and replaced the previous state capitol, built in 1857-1869 and expanded in 1882, which burned down in February of 1904. The capitol houses both the Wisconsin State Assembly and the Wisconsin State Senate, as well as the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Office of the Governor of Wisconsin. The first capitol of Wisconsin upon the formation of Wisconsin Territory in 1836 was in the village of Belmont, Wisconsin, with the legislature meeting in a hastily constructed wood-frame building, before deciding to designate the future site of Madison as the state capitol, and holding further sessions of the legislature in the much better-developed Mississippi River port town of Burlington (now in Iowa) until a capitol building could be completed in Madison. Upon Burlington becoming part of the new Iowa Territory, the state legislature moved to a log and stone building on the present site of the state capitol, a relatively humble Greek Revival-style building constructed in 1837, which looked much like older capitol buildings in the eastern United States, with doric columns and a rusticated fieldstone exterior. It was most similar to the Old State House in North Carolina, built only four years prior, and the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois, built in the same year, though these two similar buildings were built almost entirely of stone blocks rather than fieldstone. The small second capitol building was the first state capitol of Wisconsin upon its ascension to statehood in 1848, but had become inadequate for the growing population and government by the 1850s. The original building was demolished and replaced with a larger, Classical Revival-style structure with Romanesque Revival elements constructed in stages between 1857 and 1869, which featured a dome inspired by the United Capitol Building, semi-circular porticoes with corinthian columns, and two short side wings with octagonal towers at the corners, which were modified and extended in 1882 with new wings that increased the Classical Revival aspects of the building and helped to downplay the Romanesque Revival elements that originally were very prominent on the structure. This building was oriented with the semi-circular original porticoes aligned with State Street and King Street, with the wings being oriented towards both sections of Hamilton Street, though the building appeared rather small within the large parklike expanse of Capitol Square. By the turn of the 20th Century, the old Capitol had become inadequate for the growing needs of Wisconsin, which had become wealthy, industrialized, and heavily populated by that point, so study of a replacement capitol building began in 1903. In February 1904, the old State Capitol burned to the ground when a gas jet ignited a newly varnished ceiling inside the building, which spread quickly despite the building featuring a then-advanced sprinkler system, as the reservoir of the nearby University of Wisconsin was empty, which allowed the fire to spread out of control. The north wing of the building, built in 1882, was the only portion that survived, with many relics, records, and important historical items being lost in the fire, though the state law library was saved thanks to efforts by University of Wisconsin students. The fire also happened just after the state legislature had voted to cancel the fire insurance policy on the building, thinking it was a costly and unnecessary folly.

 

The present building was built on the site of the previous building, with the construction process focusing on completing each wing one at a time to provide space to the state government with as much fiscal efficiency as possible due to financial limitations. Due to this, the north wing was built last to allow the remaining portion of the previous capitol to serve as space for the state government during the construction period, with the central rotunda and dome also being built after the other three wings had been completed, as they serve a more symbolic and less utilitarian purpose than the rest of the building. The building stands 284 feet (86 meters) tall to the top of the statue on the dome, which was sculpted in 1920 by Daniel Chester French, and is a personification of the state of Wisconsin, with the outstretched arm of the statue representing the state motto, “Forward”. The exterior of the building is clad in Bethel white granite, sourced from Vermont, with an additional 42 types of stone from a total of eight states and six countries being utilized on the interior of the building. The dome is the largest in the world to be entirely clad in granite, and is the tallest building in Madison, with a state law passed in 1990 stipulating that any building within a one-mile radius of the capitol is limited in height to the base of the columns of the dome, which stand at 187 feet, which preserves the visibility of the building from the surrounding landscape. The building has a greek cross footprint with four five-story wings that are aligned with the compass directions and radial streets following the compass directions that slice through the surrounding street grid, which is at a 45-degree angle to compass directions, instead roughly paralleling the shorelines of nearby Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, with Downtown Madison sitting on an isthmus between the two lakes. This places the building at a unique 45-degree angle orientation relative to the edges of Capitol Square and most buildings on adjacent streets. The building was one of the last works of the prolific architect George B. Post, whom died before the building was completed. The building underwent a major renovation in the 1970s that added modern features to the interior and covered up many original features, with later projects between 1988 and 2002 restoring the building while updating the building’s systems and functions for the modern needs of the state government.

 

The exterior of the building’s wings feature porticoes on the ends with corinthian columns, arched windows on the third floor, rusticated bases with entrance doors and decorative keystones, decorative reliefs featuring festoons over the windows on the porticoes, cornices with modillions and dentils, and pediments with sculptural reliefs, which were created by several sculptors, and have different symbolism embodied by their design. On the east wing, which is home to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the sculpture known as Law, created by Karl Bitter, is located on the portico pediment, on the west wing, which houses the chamber of the Wisconsin Assembly, is a sculpture known as Agriculture, also created by Karl Bitter, on the north wing, which is home to a hearing chamber, is the sculpture known as Virtues and Traits of Character, created by Adolph Alexander Weinman, and on the south wing, which houses the chamber of the Wisconsin Senate, is a sculpture known as Wisdom and Learning of the World, created by Attilio Piccirilli. The sides of the wings feature simpler cornices with dentils, pilasters and recessed window openings with arched openings at the ground floor, windows with decorative pedimented headers on the second floor, arched windows on the third floor, two small two-over-two windows on the fourth floor, and a recessed fifth floor features small paired windows, hidden behind a balustrade that runs around the entirety of the building minus the ends of the wings, concealing a low-slope roof at the setbacks on the sides of the wings and above the corner porticoes. The upper roofs of the wings are low-slope with front gabled portions in the middle punctured by skylights, with the roof being almost entirely enclosed by a parapet. At the center of the building in the inside corners of the greek cross are semi-circular portions of the facade with semi-circular two-story ionic porticos with large terraces and grand staircases featuring decorative copper lampposts, decorative stone balustrades, concealed entrances to the ground floor underneath the terraces, and three doorways on the upper level, with drums surrounded by buttresses featuring small windows and domed roofs above the balustrade on the fifth floor. In the center of the building is the rotunda, which is topped with a large dome that rises from a tall base that terminates in a balustrade, with a low-slope roof at the base of the drum of the dome, which features a level with small windows at the base, with projected pavilions at the corners above the semi-circular porticoes below, which were originally to support four smaller domes, but ended up supporting sculptures by Karl Bitter, symbolizing strength, faith, prosperity, and abundance and knowledge. The drum of the dome is surrounded by a corinthian colonnade with corinthian pilasters on the exterior wall of the dome behind the colonnade, arched windows, and recessed decorative panels at the top of the colonnade below the architrave. Above the architrave is a cornice with modillions and dentils, above which is another balustrade, accessed via doors from the interior space above the inner dome of the rotunda, and ringed by six-over-six windows, pilasters, and a cornice with egg and dart motif at the top. Above this last cornice is the dome, which is ribbed, with the ribs terminating in voluted upside down brackets at the base, and clad in granite, terminating at the top at a balustrade around the base of the lantern. The cylindrical landern features corinthian columns, arched windows, festoons, with a concavely sloped roof featuring rubs terminating in volutes, above which is the base of the Wisconsin statue, which is coated in gold leaf.

 

The interior of the building is richly decorated with Beaux Arts detailing, utilizing plaster, a diverse array of stone and woodwork, engaged columns and pilasters, murals, vaulted ceilings, decorative balustrades, grand staircases, and modern oak furniture. The interior dome features a mural by Edwin Howland Blashfield, known as Resources of Wisconsin, which sits in the middle of the dome’s coffered ceiling, above the upper balcony at the base of the drum. The rotunda features green and white marble corinthian columns with gold leaf on the capitals, vaulted alcoves on the sides with coffered ceilings, a stone floor, and features marble from Tennessee, Missouri, Vermont, Georgia, New York, and Maryland, granite from Wisconsin and Minnesota, limestone from Minnesota and Illinois, marble from France, Italy, Greece, Algeria and Germany, and syenite from Norway. A large circular opening in the floor of the center of the rotunda allows light into the lower level of the building, and is supported by a ring of square columns underneath. The light fixtures in the space are a combination of lampposts and sconces. The pendentives below the drum of the dome in the rotunda are decorated with glass mosaics by artist Kenyon Cox. The interior’s decoration denotes hierarchy of space, with the level of detail varying throughout the building’s interior from simple offices and service areas to the grand public spaces, such as the rotunda and government meeting chambers. The two-story senate chamber is circular with marble cladding, corinthian columns, and pilasters on the walls, a decorative ceiling with a central shallow domed decorative glass skylight, and coffers with rosettes, with murals above the main podium, and balconies inside the alcoves behind the columns for spectators and observers. The two-story assembly chamber features a similar shallow domed decorative glass skylight on the ceiling, but is square in shape with decorative pendentives and arches on the perimeter of the space opening into alcoves with vaulted ceilings, with wood paneling and a large mural behind the main podium, and balconies in the upper level of the alcoves. The supreme court chamber is square with a square decorative glass skylight in the room’s coffered ceiling, white marble pilasters, paneling, and murals on the walls, and arched niches housing candelabra-type lamppost light fixtures. The north wing hearing chamber features a massive cove ceiling with decorative trim and murals, with a large square decorative glass skylight in the middle, and walls lined with ionic pilasters and stone panels. The Governor’s Conference Room, located in the east wing, features a heavily decorated ceiling with multiple coffers housing murals, decorative stained woodwork, a fireplace with a decorative marble surround flanked by two corinthian columns, and gold leaf on some of the trim. The interior of the building is even more richly detailed than the exterior.

 

The building, which has been fully modernized and restored to some semblance of its original appearance, remains the seat of the government of Wisconsin, presently the 25th largest by land area and 20th largest by population in the United States. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, owing to its historical and architectural significance, and was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 2001. The building visually dominates the isthmus that makes up Downtown Madison, and sits in the city’s central square, one of the most visually impressive and stunning sitings of any capitol building in the United States.

Some background:

The Bentley 4½ Litre was a British car based on a rolling chassis built by Bentley Motors. Walter Owen Bentley replaced the Bentley 3 Litre with a more powerful car by increasing its engine displacement to 4.4 L (270 cu in).

Bentley buyers used their cars for personal transport and arranged for their new chassis to be fitted with various body styles, mostly saloons or tourers. However, the publicity brought by their competition programme was invaluable for marketing Bentley's cars.

 

At the time, noted car manufacturers such as Bugatti and Lorraine-Dietrich focused on designing cars to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a popular automotive endurance course established only a few years earlier. A victory in this competition quickly elevated any car maker's reputation.

A total of 720 4½ Litre cars were produced between 1927 and 1931, including 55 cars with a supercharged engine popularly known as the Blower Bentley. A 4½ Litre Bentley won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1928. Though the supercharged 4½ Litre Bentley's competitive performance was not outstanding, it set several speed records, most famously the Bentley Blower No.1 Monoposto in 1932 at Brooklands with a recorded speed of 222.03 km/h (138 mph).

 

Although the Bentley 4½ Litre was heavy, weighing 1,625 kg (3,583 lb), and spacious, with a length of 4,380 mm (172 in) and a wheelbase of 3,302 mm (130.0 in), it remained well-balanced and steered nimbly. The manual transmission, however, required skill, as its four gears were unsynchronised.

 

The robustness of the 4½ Litre's lattice chassis, made of steel and reinforced with ties, was needed to support the heavy cast iron inline-four engine. The engine was "resolutely modern" for the time. The displacement was 4,398 cc (268.4 cu in): 100 mm (3.9 in) bore and 140 mm (5.5 in) stroke. Two SU carburetters and dual ignition with Bosch magnetos were fitted. The engine produced 110 hp (82 kW) for the touring model and 130 hp (97 kW) for the racing model. The engine speed was limited to 4,000 rpm.

A single overhead camshaft actuated four valves per cylinder, inclined at 30 degrees. This was a technically advanced design at a time where most cars used only two valves per cylinder. The camshaft was driven by bevel gears on a vertical shaft at the front of the engine, as on the 3 Litre engine.

 

The Bentley's tanks - radiator, oil and petrol - had quick release filler caps that opened with one stroke of a lever. This saved time during pit stops. The 4½ was equipped with a canvas top stretched over a lightweight Weymann body. The hood structure was very light but with high wind resistance (24 Hours Le Mans rules between 1924 and 1928 dictated a certain number of laps for which the hood had to be closed). The steering wheel measured about 45 cm (18 in) in diameter and was wrapped with solid braided rope for improved grip. Brakes were conventional, consisting of 17-inch (430 mm) drum brakes finned for improved cooling and operated by rod. Semi-elliptic leaf springs were used at front and rear.

  

Building the kit and its display box:

I normally do not build large scale kits, except for some anime character figures, and I especially stay away from car models because I find it very hard to come close to the impression of the real thing. But this one was a personal thing, and I got motivated enough to tackle this challenge that caused some sweat and shivers. Another reason for the tension was the fact that it was intended as a present - and I normally do not build models for others, be it as a gift or on a contract work basis.

 

The background is that a colleage of mine will retire soon, an illustrator and a big oldtimer enthusiast at the same time. I was not able to hunt down a model of the vintage car he actually owns, but I remembered that he frequently takes part with his club at a local car exhibition, called the "Classic Days" at a location called Schloss Dyck. There he had had the opportunity some time ago to take a ride in a Bentley 4.5 litre "Blower", and I saw the fascinationn in his eyes when he recounted the events. We also talked about car models, and I mentioned the 1:24 Heller kit of the car. So, as a "farewell" gift, I decided to tackle this souvenir project, since the Bentley drive obviously meant a lot to him, and it's a quite personal gift, for a highly respected, artistic person.

 

Since this was to be a gift for a non-modeler, I also had to make sure that the car model could later be safely stored, transported and displayed, so some kind of base or display bon on top was a must - and I think I found a nice solution, even with integrated lighting!

 

As already mentioned, the model is the 1:24 Heller kit from 1978, in this case the more recent Revell re-boxing. While the kit remained unchanged (even the Heller brand is still part of the molds!), the benefit of this version is a very nice and thin decal sheet which covers some of the more delicate detail areas like gauges on the dashboard or the protective wire mesh for the headlights.

 

I had huge respect for the kit - I have actually built less than 10 car models in my 40+ years of kit building. So the work started with detail picture research, esp. of the engine and from the cockpit, and I organized appropriate paints (see below).

Work started slowly with the wheels, then the engine followed, the steerable front suspension, the chassis, the cabin section and finally the engine cowling and the mudguards with the finished wheels. Since I lack experience with cars I stuck close to the instructions and really took my time, because the whole thing went together only step by step, with painting and esp. drying intermissions. Much less quickly than my normal tempo with more familiar topics.

 

The kit remained basically OOB, and I must say that I am impressed how well it went together. The car kits I remember were less cooperative - but the Heller Bentley was actually a pleasant, yet challenging, build. Some issues I had were the chrome parts, which had to be attached with superglue, and their attachment points to the sprues (the same green plastic is used for the chrome parts, too - a different materiallike silver or light grey would have made life easier!) could only hardly be hidden with paint.

 

The plastic itself turned out to be relatively soft, too - while it made cleaning easy, this caused in the end some directional issues which had to be "professionally hidden": Once the cabin had been mounted to the frame and work on the cowling started, I recognized that the frame in front of the cabin was not straight anymore - I guess due to the engine block which sits deep between the front beams. While this was not really recognizable, the engine covers would not fit anymore, leaving small but unpleasant gaps.

The engine is OOB not über-detailed, and I actually only wanted to open the left half of the cocling for the diorama. However, with this flaw I eventually decided to open both sides, what resulted in having the cowling covers sawn into two parts each and arranging them in open positions. Quite fiddly, and I also replaced the OOB leather straps that normally hold the cowling covers closed with textured adhesive tape, for a more voluminous look. The engine also received some additional cables and hoses - nothing fancy, though, but better than the quite bleak OOB offering.

 

Some minor details were added in the cabin: a floor mat (made from paper, it looks like being made from cocos fibre) covers the area in front of the seats and the steering wheel was wrapped with cord - a detail that many Bentleys with race history shared, for a better grip for the driver.

 

Overall, the car model was painted with pure Humbrol 239 (British Racing Green) enamel paint, except for the passenger section. Here I found Revell's instructions to be a bit contradictive, because I do not believe in a fully painted car, esp. on this specific Le Mans race car. I even found a picture of the real car as an exhibition piece, and it rather shows a faux leather or vinyl cladding of the passenger compartment - in a similar dark green tone, but rather matt, with only a little shine, and with a lighter color due to the rougher surface. So I rather tried to emulate this look, which would also make the model IMHO look more interesting.

As a fopundation I used a mix of Humbrol 239 and 75 (Bronze Green), on top of which I later dry-brushed Revell 363 (Dark Green). The effect and the gloss level looked better than expected - I feared a rather worn/used look - and I eventually did not apply and clear varnish to this area. In fact, no varnish was applied to the whole model because the finish looked quite convincing!

 

The frame and the engine were slightly weathered with a black ink wash, and once the model was assembled I added some oil stains to the engine and the lower hull, and applied dust and dirt through mineral artist pigments to the wheels with their soft vinyl tires and the whole lower car body. I wanted the car to look basically clean and in good shape, just like a museum piece, but having been driven enthusiastically along some dusty country roads (see below). And this worked out quite well!

  

Since I wanted a safe store for the model I tried to find a suitable display box and found an almost perfect solution in SYNAS from Ikea. The sturdy SYNAS box (it's actually sold as a toy/Children's lamp!?) had very good dimensions for what I had in mind. Unfortunately it is only available in white, but for its price I would not argue. As a bonus it even comes with integrated LED lighting in the floor, as a rim of lights along the side walls. I tried to exploit this through a display base that would leave a 1cm gap all around, so that light could be reflected upwards and from the clear side walls and the lid onto the model.

 

The base was created with old school methods: a piece of MDF wood, on top of which I added a piece of cobblestone street and grass embankment, trying to capture the rural atmosphere around Schloss Dyck. Due to the large scale of the model I sculpted a light side slope under the pavement (a Tamiya print with a light 3D effect), created with plaster and fine carpenter putty. The embankment was sculpted with plaster, too.

The cobblestone cardboard was simply glued to the surface, trimmed down, and then a fairing of the base's sides was added, thin balsa wood.

Next came the grass - again classic methods. First, the surface was soaked with a mix of water, white glue and brown dispersion paint, and fine sand rinsed over the surfaces. Once dry, another mix of water, white glue and more paint was applied, into which foamed plastic turf of different colors and sizes was dusted. After anothetr drying period this area was sprayed with contact glue and grass fibres were applied - unfortunately a little more than expected. However, the result still looks good.

 

At the border to the street, the area was covered with mineral pigments, simulating mud and dust, and on the right side I tried to add a puddle, made from Humbrol Clearfix and glue. For some more ambiance I scratched a typical German "local sight" roadsign from cardboard and wood, and I also added a pair of "Classic Days" posters to the mast. Once in place I finally added some higher grass bushels (brush fibres) and sticks (dried moss), sealing everything in place with acralic varnish from the rattle can.

 

In order to motivate the Bentley's open cowling, I tried to set an engine failure into scene: with the car abandoned during the Classic Days' demo races along the local country roads, parked at the side of the street, and with a puddle of engine below and a small trail of oil behind the car (created with Tamiya "Smoke", perfect stuff for this task!). A hay bale, actually accessory stuff for toy tractors and in fact a square piece of wood, covered with straw chips, subtly hint at this occasion.

 

Finally, for safe transport, the model was attached to the base with thin wire, the base glued to the light box' floor with double-sided adhesive tape and finally enclosed.

  

Quite a lot of work, the car model alone took four patient weeks to fully materialize, and the base in the SYNAS box took another two weeks, even though work proceeded partly in parallel. However, I am positively surprised how well this build turned out - the Heller kit was better/easier to assemble than expected, and many problems along the way could be solved with patience and creative solutions.

 

VH Produce owner Vue Her is a Hmong farmer on a 10-acre field, who grows several Asian specialty crops in Singer, CA, near Fresno, on November 9, 2018. He has worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) to implement many conservation improvements, including help replacing an old tractor for a more efficient lower emission tractor and installation of seasonal high tunnels.

 

Growing up on a farm and learning the skills was just not possible for Vue Her who was born to farmer parents in a refugee camp in Thailand. He could not put into practice all the farming skills they used in Laos. General schooling in the refugee camps was minimal. At the age of 15, he started working a variety of odd jobs and work as a craftsman in the camp. This 'on the job' experience taught him an appreciation for hard work, and he took pride in being able to contribute to his family. There he married and started his own family.

 

Eager to work, he started with Foster Farms as a janitor. Then he stocked produce at an Asian grocery store. He kept working hard and saved his money. After years of factory work, he started his farm operation on leased land, in 2011, with plans to buy his own land in two years.

 

As a young man with a growing family, starting a farm in the United States was a big challenge and he knew he needed help. While listening to a local Asian language radio station, he heard NRCS soil conservationist Sam Vang’s NRCS radio program (in the Hmong language). Producer Vue Her said, “I am a big fan of the program and without the NRCS radio program, I don’t think I knew USDA programs.” (Note: The radio station is no longer producing the program.)

 

Farming, in the beginning, was hard and not efficient for Vue Her because he had to wait to use a borrowed tractor. This caused the soil to be worked out of schedule, causing the harvest to be out of the schedule for the farmer's markets where he sells his produce. To stay on schedule and meet market needs he purchased his own tractor that was supported by the USDA through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) program. www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/programs/...

 

He quickly learned from Sam Vang that the farming practices his parents used are different from the standard practices in the US. Soil conservationist Sam Vue helped him learn about soil conservation, management skills, business knowledge, and time management. Some examples of this are the practice of rotating the crops in each plot to promote soil health and using standardized tractor attachment settings to save time and effort. For this Mr. Her says, "I'm happy to be part of NRCS programs and to know the staff. I have less stress, and I'm thankful for the farm management skills. Whenever I have a question, I call Sam."

 

The EQIP program also helped him purchase two seasonal high tunnels so that they can grow dozens of different varieties of Asian vegetable in the long arched plastic wrapped structures. In the tunnels, many of the vegetables are planted as seeds and are very sensitive to either frost or heat. High tunnels also helped him to maintain steady production and income year-round.

 

As a family business, his workforce is his seven children who pitch in after school. Each week, they push to pick, clean and box the produce just before the weekend markets. Today, wife Mai Houa Yang, son Bee Her, and daughter Chai Her harvest peanuts for sale tomorrow.

 

"I appreciate being able to produce traditional vegetables for other cultures, says Mr. Her. "I feel good about working hard and being accepted in the community of growers and by my customers."

When asked, what is a good day? He laughs, every day is the best day because I spend more time on the farm than at home.

 

USDA Photo by Lance Cheung.

In the 1890s members of the parish of St. John's Church discussed the prospects of replacing the wooden church they used for worship, that was erected in 1868, with a more substantial structure, but no definite action was taken. The proposal was afterwards revived on various occasions, but it was not until the early 1930s that a preliminary sketch plan of a new building was prepared. However, in the Great Depression era, finance held the project up until 1936, when a definite move was made to erect a new Anglican Church on a site in Downey Street on the same block as the rectory.

 

The St John’s Anglican Church that we see today on Downey Street, Alexandra, opposite the State Offices, is the result. Plans for a notable improvement in local church architecture were prepared by Mr. L. R. Williams of Melbourne, and a contract awarded to Mr. George. A. Payne of Alexandra. The new church is built in Spanish Mission style and is constructed of the 1930s wonder building material; concrete. The current church building, which has a stuccoed treatment to its walls, is a notable landmark in the town because of its elegant lines, its elongated shape and the very tall belfry that stands above the single and double-storey buildings in its immediate vicinity. It has architectural features typical of the Spanish Mission style, including; groups of narrow arched windows, ornamental grillework over some of the windows, decorative parapets on the belfry, a hipped roof and Spanish style tiles. Together with interior furnishings, St John’s Anglican Church cost about £2,400.00.

 

Many pieces of the church’s furnishings, windows and supporting structures were gifts from the generous local community. The memorial gates leading onto the street were given by Mr. and Mrs. George. A. Payne in memory of their mothers – Mrs. Phoebe J. Payne and Mrs. M. A. Haning. Mr. George A. Payne also generously donated over £100.00 in order to provide for a more expensive terracotta tiled roof, instead of the cheaper alternative iron roof, which was provided for in the contract. The tiles give added beauty to the building. The pulpit, altar, and choir rails are outstanding examples of local craftsmanship, and are made from Ruoak timber obtained from the Rubicon forest close by. Mrs. G. Hall, contributed the cost of the pulpit, and the late Mr. Gordon Payne, the altar and rails. Both were dedicated to memory of their parents, the late Mr. and Mrs. G. Payne, of "Summerview," Messrs. Clark and Pearce provided and fixed the dado. The ladies' club supplied the carpet. Mr. G. Sapsford paid for the choir stall, which was dedicated to memory of his mother, the late Mrs. Mary Jane Payne. A Miss Magee had a stained glass window dedicated to the memory of her brothers and sister. A Mr. George A. Payne's family also dedicated a stained glass window, in memory of their mother, Phoebe J. Payne. Mr. E. Trenerry donated a prayer desk and seat. Mr. G. Grant donated a credence table. Miss L. Maddox donated a set of communion cruets. Mrs. Melville gave a pedestal and Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Webb dedicated a pedestal to the memory of their daughter Winifred.

 

St John’s Anglican Church was dedicated on a Saturday afternoon in 1937 by the Bishop of Wangaratta, the Right Rev. J. S. Hart, in the presence of over 350 people, who came from near and far to take part in an historic event of great in interest to the Anglican community around Alexandra. At 2.30 p.m. the choir and members of the clergy marched round the building, singing the hymn, "Through all the changing scenes of life." At the main entrance the Bishop was presented with a petition, on behalf of the congregation, praying that the building be dedicated. After prayers had been said the Bishop blessed the baptismal font, pulpit and altar, and dedicated the pulpit and altar. The church and various gifts were also dedicated, and the Bishop, in his address, said the old structure had outlived its usefulness, and now the people had given a beautiful present to the glory of God in a new church After referring to preliminary steps taken by the Rev, L. G. Ball, the Bishop said that under the able guidance of the present rector, the Rev. Douglas Blake, the work had been planned and carried out. The rector had the real gift of leadership, combined with common sense and artistic taste. The architect had given of his best, and the contractor had realised his dream of building a worthy structure. The visiting clergy included two former rectors – Cannons Scott and Rowed, the Revs. Robertson and Brown (Violet Town and Mansfield respectively) and Mr. Purbrick, Registrar of the Diocese. All present were afterwards entertained by the ladies in the church hall, where a bountiful supply of refreshments was provided.

 

The Spanish Mission style was typically a style that emerged in California during the interwar years and spread across the world.

 

Alexandra is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is located at the junction of the Goulburn Valley Highway (B340) and Maroondah Highway (B360), 26 kilometres west of Eildon. The town was settled in the late 1860s, with a Post Office opening on 15 March 1867 (known until 24 April 1867) as Redgate. The town was originally known as Redgate, or Red Gate Diggings. The current name either derives from Alexandra of Denmark (Queen’s Consort to King Edward VII of England) when given a stature of her to the shire; or from three men named Alexander (Alesander, McGregor, Alexander Don, and Alexander Luckie) who discovered gold in the area in 1866. Charles Jones born Herefordshire also discovered Gold on the Luckie Mine in 1866. He bought a Hotel with John Henry Osborne and was the proprietor of the New York and London Hotel Grant Street Alexandra. The railway to Alexandra arrived in the town via Yea from Tallarook in 1909, and closed on November 18, 1978. The Rubicon Tramway connected Alexandra with the village of Rubicon, at the junction of the Rubicon and Royston Rivers. Today many tourists pass through Alexandra on their way to the Mount Buller ski resort from Melbourne. The town contains the Timber Tramway and Museum (located at the Alexandra Railway Station), and the National Trust classified post office and law courts. There is a local market on the second Saturday of each month from September to May, an annual art show at Easter, an agricultural show and rose festival in November, and the annual Truck, Rod and Ute Show in June.

  

Some background:

The Bentley 4½ Litre was a British car based on a rolling chassis built by Bentley Motors. Walter Owen Bentley replaced the Bentley 3 Litre with a more powerful car by increasing its engine displacement to 4.4 L (270 cu in).

Bentley buyers used their cars for personal transport and arranged for their new chassis to be fitted with various body styles, mostly saloons or tourers. However, the publicity brought by their competition programme was invaluable for marketing Bentley's cars.

 

At the time, noted car manufacturers such as Bugatti and Lorraine-Dietrich focused on designing cars to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a popular automotive endurance course established only a few years earlier. A victory in this competition quickly elevated any car maker's reputation.

A total of 720 4½ Litre cars were produced between 1927 and 1931, including 55 cars with a supercharged engine popularly known as the Blower Bentley. A 4½ Litre Bentley won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1928. Though the supercharged 4½ Litre Bentley's competitive performance was not outstanding, it set several speed records, most famously the Bentley Blower No.1 Monoposto in 1932 at Brooklands with a recorded speed of 222.03 km/h (138 mph).

 

Although the Bentley 4½ Litre was heavy, weighing 1,625 kg (3,583 lb), and spacious, with a length of 4,380 mm (172 in) and a wheelbase of 3,302 mm (130.0 in), it remained well-balanced and steered nimbly. The manual transmission, however, required skill, as its four gears were unsynchronised.

 

The robustness of the 4½ Litre's lattice chassis, made of steel and reinforced with ties, was needed to support the heavy cast iron inline-four engine. The engine was "resolutely modern" for the time. The displacement was 4,398 cc (268.4 cu in): 100 mm (3.9 in) bore and 140 mm (5.5 in) stroke. Two SU carburetters and dual ignition with Bosch magnetos were fitted. The engine produced 110 hp (82 kW) for the touring model and 130 hp (97 kW) for the racing model. The engine speed was limited to 4,000 rpm.

A single overhead camshaft actuated four valves per cylinder, inclined at 30 degrees. This was a technically advanced design at a time where most cars used only two valves per cylinder. The camshaft was driven by bevel gears on a vertical shaft at the front of the engine, as on the 3 Litre engine.

 

The Bentley's tanks - radiator, oil and petrol - had quick release filler caps that opened with one stroke of a lever. This saved time during pit stops. The 4½ was equipped with a canvas top stretched over a lightweight Weymann body. The hood structure was very light but with high wind resistance (24 Hours Le Mans rules between 1924 and 1928 dictated a certain number of laps for which the hood had to be closed). The steering wheel measured about 45 cm (18 in) in diameter and was wrapped with solid braided rope for improved grip. Brakes were conventional, consisting of 17-inch (430 mm) drum brakes finned for improved cooling and operated by rod. Semi-elliptic leaf springs were used at front and rear.

  

Building the kit and its display box:

I normally do not build large scale kits, except for some anime character figures, and I especially stay away from car models because I find it very hard to come close to the impression of the real thing. But this one was a personal thing, and I got motivated enough to tackle this challenge that caused some sweat and shivers. Another reason for the tension was the fact that it was intended as a present - and I normally do not build models for others, be it as a gift or on a contract work basis.

 

The background is that a colleage of mine will retire soon, an illustrator and a big oldtimer enthusiast at the same time. I was not able to hunt down a model of the vintage car he actually owns, but I remembered that he frequently takes part with his club at a local car exhibition, called the "Classic Days" at a location called Schloss Dyck. There he had had the opportunity some time ago to take a ride in a Bentley 4.5 litre "Blower", and I saw the fascinationn in his eyes when he recounted the events. We also talked about car models, and I mentioned the 1:24 Heller kit of the car. So, as a "farewell" gift, I decided to tackle this souvenir project, since the Bentley drive obviously meant a lot to him, and it's a quite personal gift, for a highly respected, artistic person.

 

Since this was to be a gift for a non-modeler, I also had to make sure that the car model could later be safely stored, transported and displayed, so some kind of base or display bon on top was a must - and I think I found a nice solution, even with integrated lighting!

 

As already mentioned, the model is the 1:24 Heller kit from 1978, in this case the more recent Revell re-boxing. While the kit remained unchanged (even the Heller brand is still part of the molds!), the benefit of this version is a very nice and thin decal sheet which covers some of the more delicate detail areas like gauges on the dashboard or the protective wire mesh for the headlights.

 

I had huge respect for the kit - I have actually built less than 10 car models in my 40+ years of kit building. So the work started with detail picture research, esp. of the engine and from the cockpit, and I organized appropriate paints (see below).

Work started slowly with the wheels, then the engine followed, the steerable front suspension, the chassis, the cabin section and finally the engine cowling and the mudguards with the finished wheels. Since I lack experience with cars I stuck close to the instructions and really took my time, because the whole thing went together only step by step, with painting and esp. drying intermissions. Much less quickly than my normal tempo with more familiar topics.

 

The kit remained basically OOB, and I must say that I am impressed how well it went together. The car kits I remember were less cooperative - but the Heller Bentley was actually a pleasant, yet challenging, build. Some issues I had were the chrome parts, which had to be attached with superglue, and their attachment points to the sprues (the same green plastic is used for the chrome parts, too - a different materiallike silver or light grey would have made life easier!) could only hardly be hidden with paint.

 

The plastic itself turned out to be relatively soft, too - while it made cleaning easy, this caused in the end some directional issues which had to be "professionally hidden": Once the cabin had been mounted to the frame and work on the cowling started, I recognized that the frame in front of the cabin was not straight anymore - I guess due to the engine block which sits deep between the front beams. While this was not really recognizable, the engine covers would not fit anymore, leaving small but unpleasant gaps.

The engine is OOB not über-detailed, and I actually only wanted to open the left half of the cocling for the diorama. However, with this flaw I eventually decided to open both sides, what resulted in having the cowling covers sawn into two parts each and arranging them in open positions. Quite fiddly, and I also replaced the OOB leather straps that normally hold the cowling covers closed with textured adhesive tape, for a more voluminous look. The engine also received some additional cables and hoses - nothing fancy, though, but better than the quite bleak OOB offering.

 

Some minor details were added in the cabin: a floor mat (made from paper, it looks like being made from cocos fibre) covers the area in front of the seats and the steering wheel was wrapped with cord - a detail that many Bentleys with race history shared, for a better grip for the driver.

 

Overall, the car model was painted with pure Humbrol 239 (British Racing Green) enamel paint, except for the passenger section. Here I found Revell's instructions to be a bit contradictive, because I do not believe in a fully painted car, esp. on this specific Le Mans race car. I even found a picture of the real car as an exhibition piece, and it rather shows a faux leather or vinyl cladding of the passenger compartment - in a similar dark green tone, but rather matt, with only a little shine, and with a lighter color due to the rougher surface. So I rather tried to emulate this look, which would also make the model IMHO look more interesting.

As a fopundation I used a mix of Humbrol 239 and 75 (Bronze Green), on top of which I later dry-brushed Revell 363 (Dark Green). The effect and the gloss level looked better than expected - I feared a rather worn/used look - and I eventually did not apply and clear varnish to this area. In fact, no varnish was applied to the whole model because the finish looked quite convincing!

 

The frame and the engine were slightly weathered with a black ink wash, and once the model was assembled I added some oil stains to the engine and the lower hull, and applied dust and dirt through mineral artist pigments to the wheels with their soft vinyl tires and the whole lower car body. I wanted the car to look basically clean and in good shape, just like a museum piece, but having been driven enthusiastically along some dusty country roads (see below). And this worked out quite well!

  

Since I wanted a safe store for the model I tried to find a suitable display box and found an almost perfect solution in SYNAS from Ikea. The sturdy SYNAS box (it's actually sold as a toy/Children's lamp!?) had very good dimensions for what I had in mind. Unfortunately it is only available in white, but for its price I would not argue. As a bonus it even comes with integrated LED lighting in the floor, as a rim of lights along the side walls. I tried to exploit this through a display base that would leave a 1cm gap all around, so that light could be reflected upwards and from the clear side walls and the lid onto the model.

 

The base was created with old school methods: a piece of MDF wood, on top of which I added a piece of cobblestone street and grass embankment, trying to capture the rural atmosphere around Schloss Dyck. Due to the large scale of the model I sculpted a light side slope under the pavement (a Tamiya print with a light 3D effect), created with plaster and fine carpenter putty. The embankment was sculpted with plaster, too.

The cobblestone cardboard was simply glued to the surface, trimmed down, and then a fairing of the base's sides was added, thin balsa wood.

Next came the grass - again classic methods. First, the surface was soaked with a mix of water, white glue and brown dispersion paint, and fine sand rinsed over the surfaces. Once dry, another mix of water, white glue and more paint was applied, into which foamed plastic turf of different colors and sizes was dusted. After anothetr drying period this area was sprayed with contact glue and grass fibres were applied - unfortunately a little more than expected. However, the result still looks good.

 

At the border to the street, the area was covered with mineral pigments, simulating mud and dust, and on the right side I tried to add a puddle, made from Humbrol Clearfix and glue. For some more ambiance I scratched a typical German "local sight" roadsign from cardboard and wood, and I also added a pair of "Classic Days" posters to the mast. Once in place I finally added some higher grass bushels (brush fibres) and sticks (dried moss), sealing everything in place with acralic varnish from the rattle can.

 

In order to motivate the Bentley's open cowling, I tried to set an engine failure into scene: with the car abandoned during the Classic Days' demo races along the local country roads, parked at the side of the street, and with a puddle of engine below and a small trail of oil behind the car (created with Tamiya "Smoke", perfect stuff for this task!). A hay bale, actually accessory stuff for toy tractors and in fact a square piece of wood, covered with straw chips, subtly hint at this occasion.

 

Finally, for safe transport, the model was attached to the base with thin wire, the base glued to the light box' floor with double-sided adhesive tape and finally enclosed.

  

Quite a lot of work, the car model alone took four patient weeks to fully materialize, and the base in the SYNAS box took another two weeks, even though work proceeded partly in parallel. However, I am positively surprised how well this build turned out - the Heller kit was better/easier to assemble than expected, and many problems along the way could be solved with patience and creative solutions.

 

I replaced all my Son's Super Hero minifigs with bootlegs, now he can play happily without stressing me out! His original Lego figures will be stored safely in a display frame.

 

I think this is a misprinted Decool figure or perhaps it's a different 'brand'?

Here's the top left screw.

E82

 

Bonhams : the Zoute Sale

Sold for € 57.500

 

Zoute Grand Prix 2017

Knokke - Zoute

België - Belgium

October 2017

 

Introduced in 2004, the 1-Series replaced the 3-Series Compact as the entry-level platform in BMW's line-up, sharing many components with the contemporary (E90) 3-Series. Three- and five-door hatchbacks, a two-door convertible and similar coupé were offered, the latter providing the basis for the high-performance 1M model. Developed by BMW Motorsport and announced in December 2010, the 1M coupé used a tuned version of the N54 twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre straight-six engine producing 335bhp, which was delivered to the road via a six-speed manual gearbox and electronic limited-slip differential. Unusually, there was no optional paddle-shift semi-automatic transmission, making the 1M something of a rarity among modern-day supercars, not that that bothered traditionalists used to shifting gears manually.

 

With its front engine/rear drive layout, traditional sports car handling, and colossal amounts of low-down torque, the 1M was enthusiastically received, particularly by those who felt that BMW's image had become diluted by too many SUVs; indeed, Top Gear's Richard Hammond voted the BMW 1M his 'Car of the Year 2011'. Autocar quoted a 0-60mph time of 4.6 seconds, while the 1M's top speed was limited to 155mph. Production of this critically acclaimed, limited edition model ceased at the end of 2012, cementing the 1M's relative exclusivity and future interest among collectors.

 

Discerning members of the latter fraternity will recognise the exceptional quality of this pampered example, which has covered fewer than 2,000 kilometres in the hands of its sole owner and is presented in pristine condition. The 1M was collected in November 2011 by the vendor directly from BMW Welt in Munich, and taken to his home on the back of a pickup truck, because he did not want any snow, salt or other impurities to contaminate his beautiful new car.

 

As one would expect of such a fastidious owner, the vendor has treated his 1M with great care, driving it only in good weather in order to preserve it in 'as new' condition, and keeping it in a humidity controlled garage. All oil changes and other maintenance tasks have been carried out at the recommended service intervals. The paintwork is as it left the factory, showing no scratches or marks from the car wash as it has only been cleaned with de-mineralised water without using any detergents, sponges, or rags.

 

All parts are like new: the wheel rims show no blemishes, brake discs and callipers show no corrosion, and the headlights and body are free of stone chips. A cover has always been used on the driver's seat to protect it, while the steering wheel has only ever been gripped by gloved hands. The driver's side floor mat has been protected by a towel, and Alcantara interior trim never touched with bare hands. The passenger seat has rarely been used and the rear seats never used; indeed, the entire interior is like new. The engine bay is similarly spotless, and the under-body as clean as it was the day the car left the factory.