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Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 seen here on a planned Metro Rail Replacement Service.
22nd October 2017.
The rather inclement weather had me pondering whether or not to venture out to Basingstoke today (05/01/2025) but in the end curiosity won again! A good few captures here for you to enjoy.
Chester Railway Station - no trains that day between Chester and Crewe
Coach - 2013, Scania K360EB4/Irizar i4, ex-Doig's of Glasgow.
Scania L94UB - Wrightbus Solar B43F .
New to First PMT ( Wirral Division) 65735 during August-2005 .
Subsequently passing to Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire 28547 , with the take over of various Chester area services etc.
Finally coming to this Operator during the Spring of 2018 .
At Bishop’s Stortford Station , Hertfordshire working on a Railway Replacement Service on behalf of Abellio Greater Anglia Trains .
Sunday 06th-January-2019 .
I’ve been meaning to replace the wrist joints on my Super Action Jenny body since I really dislike the hinge joints’ aesthetic since theyre clunky as heck but I’ve never been able to find replacement hands for all the years I’ve owned this body since the skin tone was super peachy and such.
I was gonna redonate the 2013 Bratz doll I had but I noticed the skin tone was really peachy as well and the hand was sculpted really similar to the SAJ body as well having the wrist joint being a similar length lol.
So yeah, I cut off the hinged wrists and shoved the Bratz heads into them so now I’m happy with the body…
LD68 KYG seen on it's last day in service at Wolverhampton railway station. A brand new replacement was delivered the following day.
Benmore Botanic Garden (formerly known as the Younger Botanic Garden) is a large botanical garden situated in Strath Eachaig at the foot of Beinn Mhòr, on the Cowal peninsula, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The gardens are on the west side of the A815 road from Dunoon, between the Holy Loch and Loch Eck, and include footbridges across the River Eachaig. It is one of the sites of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
Features include a Redwood Avenue of Giant Sequoias planted in 1863, large square walled gardens, a waterfall, a fernery, ponds and walks up the hillside to where you can look out across the Holy Loch. The garden is located within the Argyll Forest Park, which is itself within the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park.
Most of Cowal, originally Clan Lamont territory, was taken over by Clan Campbell, including lands in Strath Echaig shortly after 1400. The area once called "Innasraugh", meaning "the sheltered valley", was part of the hunting grounds of the Dukes of Argyll, belonging to the Campbells of Ballochyle. It was reached by a ford across the River Eachaig at Uig, near modern Eckford house.
Around 1820, Ross Wilson introduced tree planting with the first known coniferous plantation of forest trees in Cowal. In 1849 the estate was bought by John Lamont, a wealthy sugar planter and slaveowner in Trinidad who had emigrated from Toward (near Dunoon) 48 years earlier. He arranged replacement of the previous manor house with the larger Benmore House, but died in 1850, a year before the house was completed. His nephew James Lamont inherited the estate, but then sold it and it went to various other owners in succession.
Benmore Estate was bought in 1862 by James Piers Patrick, a wealthy American who carried out extensive work to Benmore House, including construction of the tower, designed in the Scottish baronial style by the architect Charles Wilson. He developed the garden, and in 1863 planted the Redwood Avenue of Giant Sequoias.
In 1870 the Greenock sugar refiner and philanthropist James Duncan bought Benmore Estate, which he extended to include the adjacent Kilmun and Bernice Estates. He arranged extensive plantings in the grounds, including more than six million trees around the estate, and added paths leading up a ravine 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) to the south on the east side of the road, making Puck's Glen a scenic attraction. He extended the east wing of the house with a gallery to house his major collection of paintings: during the summers of the summers of 1881 and 1882, these were seen by more than 8,000 visitors. In 1889 he had to sell his assets, including Benmore.
Henry Younger of the Edinburgh brewer Younger's bought the estate in 1889, and with his son Harry George Younger made many improvements to the woods and gardens, with 40 staff employed to carry out maintenance. They introduced many exotic shrubs and trees, and also demolished the gallery and conservatory at the house. In 1924 Harry George Younger gifted the estate to the nation for science and education purposes: the Forestry Commission took over most of the woodlands.
In commemoration of the improvements James Duncan had made to the estate, Younger provided a hut high on the hillside above the gorge of Puck's Glen, to a special design by Sir Robert Lorimer, and "Puck's Hut" was dedicated to the memory of the botanist Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour.
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) was looking for a place to take the large collection of plants which the botanist George Forrest had brought from China, and the high rainfall at Benmore was ideal. In 1929 the Younger Botanic Gardens were opened as the first outstation of the RBGE. In the 1930s the Forestry Commission established Kilmun Arboretum, to try out tree species in the humid climate conditions, planting large groups of trees rather than individual specimens. Benmore house was used by the Forestry Commission for apprentice training, then in 1965 Edinburgh Corporation took it over as a schools outdoor education centre.
In the winds brought by Storm Ali in September 2018, four large trees at the Garden were felled.
Benmore is a satellite garden under the management of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, as is its sister garden Logan Botanic Garden and Dawyck Botanic Garden.
The Fernery, constructed in the early 1870s, fell into ruin after James Duncan lost his fortune. In 1992, Historic Scotland designated the fernery a category B listed building, describing it as "a rare structure and important as an integral part of the gardens at Benmore". It has since been restored, and re-opened to the public in September 2009.
Benmore Outdoor Centre, in the former Benmore House, is an outdoor training centre for school groups, and for other organisations and family groups. It is managed by the Children and Families Department of the City of Edinburgh Council.
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) (Scottish Gaelic: Gàrradh Luibh-eòlais Rìoghail Dhùn Èideann) is a scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction. Founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants, today it occupies four sites across Scotland—Edinburgh, Dawyck, Logan and Benmore—each with its own specialist collection. The RBGE's living collection consists of more than 13,302 plant species (34,422 accessions), whilst the herbarium contains in excess of 3 million preserved specimens.
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. The Edinburgh site is the main garden and the headquarters of the public body, which is led by Regius Keeper Simon Milne.
History
The Edinburgh botanic garden was founded in 1670 at St. Anne's Yard, near Holyrood Palace, by Robert Sibbald and Andrew Balfour. It is the second oldest botanic garden in the UK after Oxford's. The plant collection used as the basis of the garden was the private collection of Sir Patrick Murray, 2nd Lord Elibank, moved from his home at Livingston Peel in 1672 following his death in September 1671. The original site was "obtained of John Brown, gardener of the North Yardes in the Holyrood Abby, an inclosure of some 40 foot of measure every way. By what we procured from Levingstone and other gardens, we made a collection of eight or nine hundred plants yr." This site proved too small, and in 1676 grounds belonging to Trinity Hospital were leased by Balfour from the City Council: this second garden was sited just to the east of the Nor Loch, down from the High Street.
In the spring of 1689, for certain strategic military reasons, the Nor Loch which lay west of the Physic Garden was drained, resulting in the flooding of the garden (which at this stage had wholly relocated to the Trinity Hospital site), with much mud and general rubbish being deposited, to the ruination of many of the plants. Partly for this reason and partly due to necessary expansion the facility relocated to the Holyrood site in 1695.
John Ainslie's 1804 map shows it as the "Old Physick Garden" to the east of the North Bridge. The site was subsequently occupied by tracks of the North British Railway, and a plaque at platform 11 of the Waverley railway station marks its location.
In 1763, the garden's collections were moved away from the city's pollution to a larger (five acre) "Physick Garden" on the west side of Leith Walk, covering the area now called Bellevue, all under the control of Prof John Hope. This site is shown in Ainslie's 1804 map. The site is today known as Hopetoun Crescent Gardens and is one of the collection of New Town Gardens.
Some time prior to Hope's death (1786) he was brought Turkish rhubarb seeds by Bruce of Kinnaird and this was the first rhubarb grown in Great Britain. As this proved successful over 3000 plants were grown as rhubarb was previously an expensive import (used as a medicine).
A cottage from the garden's original site remained on Leith Walk for over one hundred years. In 2008, the building was moved brick by brick to a site within the current gardens. The project was completed in 2016. The garden was a popular destination for botanists and supplied plants to other gardens such as Kew. Hope erected a monument to Carl Linnaeus on the site in 1778.
In the early 1820s under the direction of the Curator, William McNab, the garden moved west to its present location (adjacent to Inverleith Row), and the Leith Walk site was built over between Hopetoun Crescent and Haddington Place. The Temperate Palm House, which remains the tallest in Scotland, was built in 1858.
In 1877, the city acquired Inverleith House from the estate of Cosmo Innes and added it to the existing gardens, opening the remodelled grounds to the public in 1881.
The botanic garden at Benmore became the first Regional Garden of the RBGE in 1929. It was followed by the gardens at Logan and Dawyck in 1969 and 1978.
Notable staff and residents
Garden Edinburgh
John Hope, Keeper of the Leith Walk site
John Mackay (1772-1802), laid out the Leith Walk site
William Roxburgh, Keeper in 1814
Francis Buchanan, Keeper from 1814 to 1829
Cosmo Innes, original owner of Inverleith House
Daniel Rutherford, Keeper
William Wright Smith, Regius Keeper
Robert Graham, Regius Keeper
Roland Edgar Cooper, curator
George Taylor, director
John Hutton Balfour, lived in Inverleith House
Isaac Bayley Balfour, linked to site
William Evans, born here (son of William Wilson Evans, Curator)
Harold Roy Fletcher, Regius Keeper
William Gregor MacKenzie, Curator, Chelsea Physic Garden
Matthew Young Orr, botanist
Douglas Mackay Henderson, 12th Regius Keeper
Stephen Blackmore, Regius Keeper 1999-2013
Prof Simon Milne, Regius Keeper 2014 onwards
The garden at Edinburgh
Edinburgh's skyline as seen from "The Botanics" at Inverleith
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is also a place to relax and enjoy
The Botanic Garden's main site in Edinburgh is a hugely important player in a worldwide network of institutions seeking to ensure that biodiversity is not further eroded. Located one mile from the city centre it covers 70 acres (28 ha).
The RBGE is actively involved in, and coordinates numerous in situ and ex situ conservation projects both in the UK and internationally. The three main cross-cutting themes of scientific work at the RBGE are: Scottish Biodiversity, Plants & Climate Change, and Conservation.
In addition to the RBGE's scientific activities the garden remains a popular destination for both tourists and locals. Locally known as "The Botanics", the garden is a popular place to go for a walk, particularly with young families. Entrance to the botanic garden is free, although a small entry charge exists for the glasshouses. During the year the garden hosts many events including live performances, guided tours and exhibitions. The RBGE is also an important centre for education, offering taught courses across all levels.
In 2009, the John Hope Gateway was opened. John Hope was the first Regius Keeper of RBGE.
Living collection
Nearly 273,000 individual plants are grown at the Botanics in Edinburgh or its three smaller satellite gardens (known as Regional Gardens) located in other parts of Scotland. These represent around 13,300 species from all over the world, or about 4% of all known plant species.
The RBGE Living Collection catalogue is available here and updated nightly.
Some notable collections at the botanic garden Edinburgh include:
Alpine Plants
Chinese Hillside
Cryptogamic Garden
The Glasshouses
Palmhouse
Temperate Palms
Tropical Palms
Orchids and Cycads
Ferns and Fossils
Plants and people (including Giant Water Lily pond)
Temperate lands
Rainforest Riches
Arid Lands
Montane tropical house (including Carnivorous plants)
Wet Tropical House
Peat Walls
The Queen Mother's memorial garden.
Rock Garden
Scottish Heath Garden
Woodland Garden
Herbarium
The RBGE herbarium (situated in a purpose-built facility at the Edinburgh site) is considered a world-leading botanical collection, housing in excess of 3 million specimens. Prior to the formation of the Herbarium, plant collections tended to be the private property of the Regius Keeper. The Herbarium in its present form came with the fusion of the collections of the University of Edinburgh and the Botanical Society of Edinburgh in 1839–40. RBGE's Herbarium moved into its present, purpose-built home in 1964.
Over the years, a large number of collections have been added, belonging to individuals such as R.K. Greville and John Hutton Balfour, and institutions including the Universities of Glasgow, St Andrews and Hull. The most important historical collection is that of George Walker Arnott, which came with the University of Glasgow's foreign herbarium deposited on permanent loan in 1965. This collection contains specimens from all the major mid-19th century collectors, especially from India, North and South America, and South Africa, including type material of species described by 'Hooker & Arnott'. From the early 20th century, collections have been made by members of staff.
Approx a third of the herbarium is in a searchable database. The Index Herbariorum code assigned to the RBGE herbarium is E and it is used when citing housed specimens.
Library
RBGE's Library is Scotland's national reference collection for specialist botanical and horticultural resources. Housing around 70,000 books and 150,000 periodicals, the research library is one of the country's largest. It has been built up to support the specific subject fields researched and taught at RBGE. Garden staff and students are its main users, along with visiting researchers. However, as a national reference collection, the Library is also open to members of the public, either in person or by telephone or e-mail.
Inverleith House
Inverleith House is an 18th-century building, located centrally in the modern botanic gardens. From 1960 to 1984 it was the original base of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, with exhibits in the house and in the gardens, before it moved to larger premises in Belford Road. Since then, Inverleith House has functioned as a contemporary art gallery, showing a programme of temporary exhibitions by invited artists. Its spring programmes feature works and specimens from the historical collections of the Botanics, together with exhibitions by modern and contemporary artists. The gallery is curated by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
Regional specialist gardens
Benmore
Situated on the West Coast of Scotland, Benmore Botanic Garden experiences a wetter and milder oceanic climate than the main site in Edinburgh. Benmore grows trees and shrubs from high rainfall areas, especially conifers and rhododendrons. Highlights of the collection include an avenue of Sequoiadendron and a recently refurbished Fernery, exhibiting rare ferns from both Britain and abroad.
Dawyck
Situated to the south of the Scottish Border town of Peebles, Dawyck Botanic Garden is particularly suitable for hardy plants from the world's cooler, drier areas. Dawyck is also renowned for its high diversity of fungi and cryptogamics.
Logan
Logan, Scotland's most exotic garden, has an almost sub-tropical climate, and provides ideal growing conditions for southern hemisphere plants.
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Medal, instituted in 2010, is awarded from time to time to recognise an outstanding individual contribution in any field related to the work of the RBGE (either by a member of staff or by any other person). The medal, struck in silver, has a sibbaldia motif on one face and a portrait of Robert Sibbald on the other.
2010: Edward Kemp
2011: Sir Tim Smit
2013: Vernon H. Heywood
2015: Peter H. Raven
2022: Jin Chen
2023: Sandra Díaz
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At a casting plant in Frederickson, Wash., workers smooth the surface of one of the reinforced concrete segments that will form the outer walls of the SR 99 tunnel. Ten of these segments will connect to make one of the 1,450 concrete rings that will make up the tunnel. Learn more about the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program at www.alaskanwayviaduct.org or follow Bertha on Twitter @BerthaDigsSR99.
Dennis Javelin T999 ASH of Jervis Coaches has had a respray since I saw it last whilst behind is Volvo C12 CYM of Cymru Coaches.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
Slovenian contact with military aviation began during World War I, when the army and navy air services of Austria-Hungary conscripted large numbers of personnel from throughout the Empire. As the Empire began to collapse during 1918, Slovenian aircrew and ground crew switched their allegiance to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Aircraft found on Slovenian territory were taken over by the Slovenian authorities and formed into a fledgling air arm. The new air arm was soon involved in the conflict with Austria over the border provinces of Carinthia and south Styria. Later in 1919, the Slovenian air units were absorbed into the Royal Yugoslav Air Force.
In 1968 a reserve volunteer force, the Teritorialna Obramba (Territorial Defence of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia), was established to defend local key locations in time of crisis. The Slovenian Territorial Defence HQ had a small auxiliary aviation unit stationed at Ljubljana-Polje airfield by 1969, when Government Factories Type 522 advanced trainers were being operated. These aircraft were borrowed from the Yugoslav Air Force and not owned by Slovenia. Slovenian Territorial Defence ceased to be a part of the Yugoslavian auxiliary forces on 21 June 1991, (four days prior of the proclamation of independence), when the Yugoslav army seized 12 Soko J-20 Kraguj aircraft from them.
On 28 June 1991 a Yugoslav Air Force Gazelle defected to Slovenia, providing the first helicopter for the Territorial Defence Force. During the war, it also was equipped with three ex-Police Bell 412s and an Agusta A-109A. On 9 June 1992 the Air Force Unit of the Slovenian Army was renamed into 15 Brigada Vojaskega Letalstva. The 15 Brigada was divided into two squadrons, one fixed-wing and one helicopter squadron, flying from two bases, Brnik airport and Cerklje ob Krki.
Slovenia’s independence and the aftershock of the war in Yugoslavia soon led to a major expansion of the Slovenian Air Force’s capabilities through the acquisition of 18 former East German MiG 21M and MF fighters, which had recently been retired as a consequence of the re-unification of Germany and the dissolution of the NVA-LSK. As armament, Wympel R-60 (NATO reporting name AA-8 “Aphid") IR-guided short range AAMs were bought from German surplus stock, too.
The machines were disassembled and transported by train to Romania in 1995, where 12 of them were re-built and outfitted with modern avionics from Israel, bringing them more or less to the Romanian Air Force’s “Lancer C” standard and capable of carrying Western weapons like the AIM-9 Sidewinder or the Rafael Python (even though the Wympel R-60, also procured from ex-East German stocks, was the interceptor’s prime weapon. The rest of the airframes were kept as spares and for potential replacements.
In Slovenian service, the MiG-21 became, under the newly introduced military serial number system, designated “L21” (L for Letalska = Aircraft). The first machines were delivered in 1996 and exclusively operated as interceptors. In this role, they were allocated to the newly founded Slovenian Air Force’s interceptor squadron, which was at that time still part of the 15 Brigada. In 1997, this new unit made its first deployment outside of the country: two aircraft were sent to the Mildenhall Air Fete in the UK.
When Slovenia joined NATO in 2004, the country took over most of the responsibility for protecting Slovenian airspace from other NATO units, even though foreign forces’ deployments were still frequent. In order to prolong the L21’s service life and ensure interoperability with friendly, foreign forces, the Slovenian Fishbed fleet was overhauled and updated by Aerostar in Romania in 2003 with NATO-compatible avionics (primarily communication and IFF systems), similar to the Croatian Air Force’s MiG-21BisD/UMD standard.
On 8 November 2004 the 15 Brigada was officially disbanded, and four new units were formed in its place: the 15 Helicopter Battalion, the Air Force School, the Air Force Base and the Interceptor Squadron.
The 151st Rotary Wing Squadron is located at the Brnik air base and the unit is equipped with eight Bell 412 helicopters as well as four AS-532 Cougar helicopters. The unit’s duties are to organize training courses for pilots and technical staff, to organize search and rescue missions and operate within the System of Civil Protection, Help and Rescue, to secure cargo transportation to mountain areas, to extinguish fires, and to provide air support for SAF units.
The Air Force Military School is located at the Cerklje ob Krki air base. The school conducts the basic and advance training programs for future air force pilots in two Zlin 142L and eight Zlin 242L planes and four Bell 206 Jet Ranger helicopters, organizes practices for air force pilots, provides fire support, and carries out various tasks for other branches of the armed forces by using the two PC-9 and nine PC-9M planes. A part of the Air Force Military School is also the parachute squad, located at the Brnik air base, which organizes basic and advanced parachute training for SAF members.
The Air Force Base, located at the Cerklje ob Krki air base and designated 152nd Fixed Wing Squadron, carries out logistic support, such as fuel supply. The unit is equipped with two PC-6 planes and one L-410 plane. The Air Force Base unites the air supply squad and the technical support unit whose main tasks are to plan and conduct the second stage of aircraft maintenance, carry out technical personnel training, update aircraft documentation, etc.
Finally, Cerklje ob Krki also became the home of the country’s sole jet fighter squadron, officially the 154th Fixed Wing Squadron, but semi-officially and more commonly dubbed “Letalska Lovec Eskadrila” (= Interceptor Squadron). From Cerklje ob Krki, the Slovenian Air Force conducts airspace patrols in close collaboration with and support from Italian and Hungarian air forces, since the Slovenian fleet of twelve L21s is not big enough to ensure an independent 24/7 fulfillment of this task.
In 2014 the Slovenian MiG-21s were refurbished again, after two of the original machines had been lost in accidents. They were replaced with material from the mothballed airframe stock and the L21 fleet will probably remain in active use until 2019/2020, when they will be replaced by a new 4th generation fighter – candidates are F-16C/Ds, bought from US surplus stocks, or leased Saab Gripen (JAS 39C), similar to the Czech and Hungarian Air Force.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 15.76 m (51 ft 7½ in) incl. pitot
Wingspan: 7.15 m (23 ft 6 in)
Height: 4.13 m (13 ft 6½ in)
Wing area: 23.0 m² (247.3 ft²)
Empty weight: 6,000 kg (13,215 lb)
Gross weight: 8,200 kg (18,060 lb)
Max. TOW: 9,400 kg (20,700 lb)
Powerplant:
1× Tumansky R-13-300 turbojet, rated at 40,30 kN (9,040 lbf) dry thrust
and 60,70 kN (13,650 lbf) with afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: 2,230 km/h (1,385 mph/1,205 kts) at 11.000 m
1,300 km/h (807 mph/702 kts) at sea level
Cruising speed: 1,200 km/h (745 mph/650 kts)
Landing speed: 350 km/h (217 mph/190 kts)
Range: (internal fuel) 1,210 km (751 miles)
Combat radius with two AAMs and three drop tanks: 465 ml (750 km)
Service ceiling: 19,000 m (62,200 ft)
Rate of climb: 180 m/s (35,375 ft/min)
Thrust-to-weight ration: 1.03 maximum
Armament:
1x internal 23 mm GSh-23 cannon with 200 rounds
5x hardpoints for a wide range of ordnance of up to 3.310 lb (1.500 kg);
Typically, the Slowenian L21 carried a pair of Wympel R-60 IR-guided short range AAMs
and 1-3 supersonic PTB-490 drop tanks.
The kit and its assembly:
A relatively simple project, just a cosmetic whif. It is actually based on a CG skin, created by user “Thor77” and posted at digitalcombatsimulator.com, upon which I came across when I was browsing for the Slovenian Air Force’s current paint scheme and information concerning its colors. Among several whiffy creations (including an A-10 and a Mirage 2000) there was a MiG-21MF, and it caught my attention because it appeared very plausible. Since I was curious about the “new” Kopro MiG-21 with modernized molds from the company’s era under the KP label, I used this inspiration for a build.
The vintage KP MiG-21MF was/is actually a very good model of the aircraft, even though the production finish has never been very good and the original kit came with raised surface details, (lots of) flash and sinkholes here and there.
In order to see how the modernized Kopro kit compares, it was built mostly OOB with just minor changes or additions (air scoops, antennae, canopy cut into two pieces for display).
The “new” kit is really nice – its sprues and parts are virtually identical with the old KP molds, and you still get raised panel lines, what might let certain people wrinkle their noses. But these details are very fine and crisp, no more sinkholes - but there’s still a lot of flash that calls for careful and thorough cleaning. And even though the fuselage halves did not match properly (one half turned out to be 0.5mm wider than the other), the Kopro kit is a noticeable step forward and IMHO the best of the many incarnations of this MiG-21MF kit that I have come across so far. It reminds me very much of a classic Heller kit! Just with flash, though.
The ordnance consists of a PTB-490 drop tank (OOB) on the ventral hardpoint, and I gave the Slovenian MiG-21, inspired by Croatian machines, an armament consisting of R-60 AAMs carried on the inner underwing pylons. As a personal twist, however, I increase the missile number to four (all of them taken from an ESCI Ka-34 “Hokum” kit) on double pylons, inspired by real world NVA-LSK equipment. The new launch rails were scratched from styrene profile material.
Painting and markings:
Well, the original reason for this build was the pretty unique paint scheme of Slovenian military aircraft: a rather murky three-tone camouflage, consisting of a deep red brown, forest green and a dull olive green, paired with light grey undersides. This does not sound spectacular, but, like the Austrian two-tone green scheme, it is pretty characteristic.
My build was inspired by a concrete flight simulator skin, but I did not adopt this CG pattern because it looked too “simple” for my personal taste, with only a few bands of different colors that were also extended at right angles from the fuselage onto the wings. Instead, the applied scheme is a personal, more sophisticated guesstimate, based primarily on Slovenian PC-6 transport aircraft and on PC-9 trainers.
My choice for the basic colors fell on Humbrol 170 (Brown Bess), 195 (Satin Dark Green, actually RAL 6020; Chromoxidgrün) and Modelmaster 2015 (Faded Olive Drab), plus Humbrol 129 (FS 36440) for the undersides. The Faded Olive Drab tone turned out to be too light, but I stuck with it since I found the bigger contrast between the upper colors to be quite attractive.
A black anti glare panel was added in front of the cockpit and, instead of the classic bright green, the air intake shock cone became black, too – inspired by the CG benchmark. Other dielectric panels were painted very dark grey, or in the case of the fin, in a slightly different brown tone, matching the surrounding camouflage.
The cockpit interior was painted in an individually mixed greenish-blue tone (great contrast to the murky exterior!), with some dashboards in medium grey.
The landing gear wells were painted in zinc chromate yellow (Humbrol 81), while the legs became light grey (Humbrol 167, Barley Grey) and the wheel discs bright green (Humbrol 2).
The markings come mostly from a very nice Blue Rider Publications sheet for various aircraft in Slovenian and Macedonian service. The booklet that comes with it yields some valuable information about other markings – e.g. the fact, that most Slovenian military aircraft carry city names and their respective crests. While I had to rely on the sheet’s material for this detail, I adopted it for my L21, and my choice fell on the town of Celje, primarily because of its blue and yellow crest.
104/366
Stainless Steel,
Betty Crocker,
1500 watt,
Much faster, than my old, Westinghouse, plastic, 1200 watt, inexpensive, model
Fleet No: 224
Reg No: R224 HCD
Chassis: Volvo B10BLE
Bodywork: Wright Renown
Livery: Seaford & District Standard
Route: Southern Rail Replacement
For the weekend of 25/26 March 2017 the main line between Woking and Basingstoke is closed for engineering works meaning buses replace trains for the duration.
Buses run either fast with a stop at Farnborough, or slow calling at all 5 stations inbetween.
Here, Coliseum of Southampton Neoplan Tourliner VFJ687, new in 2012, passes through Hartley Wintney heading for Winchfield.
I avoid drinking or carrying liquid from a plastic bottle. People who have met me know that I carry a glass bottle when I travel. Alas, my glass bottle was confiscated when we visited the Empire State Building for safety and security reason, so shortly after the Empire State Building visit, I bought a juice not for the juice, but for the glass bottle.
A few photos showing how track replacement was carried out in the 80's, before the introduction of Track Renewel Machines and Ballast Cleaners... Maghull station - Sun 22nd July 1984
40044 slowly propels mixed wagons through the station, dropping new ballast on the freshly laid track
+++ 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 Messerschmitt Bf 94 was a fighter aircraft built in Germany shortly before World War II. It was designed to meet a 1935 requirement by the Czechoslovakian Air Force for a replacement for their B-534 fighter biplanes. It was developed by the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (at which the engineer Messerschmitt led the development of the plane), primarily intended for export customers since the German Luftwaffe already planned more advanced types. It was actually built on a level inferior to the tactical requirements for a single-seat fighter that the RLM had issued in the document L.A. 1432/33 in late March 1933.
The Bf 94 was a sleek, low-wing monoplane with a fixed, spatted landing gear. As with the earlier Bf 108, the aircraft was based on Messerschmitt's "lightweight construction" principle, which aimed to minimise the number of separate parts in the aircraft. Examples of this could be found in the use of two large, complex brackets which were fitted to the firewall. These brackets incorporated the lower engine mounts and landing gear pivot point into one unit. A large forging attached to the firewall housed the main spar pick-up points, and carried most of the wing loads. Contemporary design practice was usually to have these main load-bearing structures mounted on different parts of the airframe, with the loads being distributed through the structure via a series of strong-points. By concentrating the loads in the firewall, the structure of the Bf 94 could be made relatively light and uncomplicated, and this principle was later also found in the famous Bf 109 fighter.
The Bf 94's fuselage was constructed from welded steel tube, covered in metal. Only the rudders were covered with fabric. The cockpit was not completely closed - the windscreen was fixed and two side panels could be lowered for access or taxiing, but a roof was missing. Power was to be provided by the new Junkers Jumo 210 engine of about 522 kW (700 hp), driving a wooden 2 blade propeller with fixed pitch.
Despite the rather outdated overall layout, the first prototype, the Bf 94 A-0, displayed excellent flying characteristics and high speed. Testing continued with a total of three prototypes until 22 November 1937. Until then, several orders had been placed, e. g. from Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Estonia and Lithuania. The Czechoslovakian Air Force had lost interest, though, preferring the indigenous Avia B.35 instead.
Total production numbers remained low, since more modern aircraft with retractable landing gear and and more powerful engines and armament were steadily introduced - only about eighty aircraft were produced and entered service with smaller European air forces during the advent of WWII.
The Lithuanian Air Force operated a single squadron with Bf 94 A-1 (a total of 16 aircraft), which were to replace the Gloster Gladiators. The German machines received locally a modified armament consisting of a pair of 0.303” Browning machine guns, so that the standard ammunition could be used. In 1940, the Lithuanian Air Force consisted of eight Air Squadrons, including reconnaissance, fighter, bomber and training units. Air Force bases had been established in the cities and towns of Kaunas /Žagariškės, Šiauliai /Zokniai (Zokniai airfield), Panevėžys /Pajuostis. In the summer time, airports in the cities of Palanga and Rukla were also used. A total of 117 aircraft and 230 pilots and observers were listed in the books at that time.
General characteristics:
Crew: One
Length: 8.70 m (28 ft 6 in)
Wingspan: 9,9 m (32 ft 5 in)
Height: 2,45 m (8 ft 1 in)
Wing area: 16,35 m² (175.41 ft²)
Empty weight: 1,510 kg (3,325 lb)
Loaded weight: 1,940 kg (4,273 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 2,150 kg (4,735 lb)
Powerplant:
1× Jumo 210 D inverted V12 engine, rated at 700 hp (522 kW),
driving a wooden two-blade, fixed pitch propeller
Performance:
Maximum speed: 495 km/h (308 mph)
Range: 500 km (311 miles)
Rate of climb: 13.0 m/s (2,560 ft/min)
Armament:
2× 7,92 mm MG17 on top of the engine, synchronized to fire through the propeller arc
(In Lithuanian machines replaced with a pair of 0.303" (7,7mm) Browning machine guns)
The kit and its assembly:
This whif kit was inspired by a similar build at whatifmodelers.com: an early Bf 109 with spats! This looked so nice and convincing that I had to “try this at home”. As donation parts for the landing gear I also had a pair of Avia B.35 spats from a vintage KP at hand – easy and straightforward.
Basis is the Bf 109 B/C Heller kit, which is rare but available at affordable prices if you are patient. It was mostly built OOB, the only major mod were the closed landing gear wells, using the original covers and some putty, the addition of the B.35 spat, and for an even more retrograded look I also exchanged the canopy. The original, closed cockpit was replaced by an open alternative, taken from a Macchi C.200. This screen is consideraly shorter and not as deep as the Bf 109 parts, so the cockpit walls had to be raised, too, and the spine elongated forward. But it works and adds to the retro look. A HUMA pilot was added in the cockpit, too.
Et voilà, a simple German export aircraft!
As a side note: the “94” is one of the RLM type numbers that had not been used in Germany. It had been allocated to Heinkel though, but I wanted to use the highest possible number before the “109” for this whif, so the manufacturer switch is IMHO acceptable.
Painting and markings:
Finding a potential user was a bit more tricky. I finally settled for Lithuania – exotic, but with a colorful air force before WWII. The whiffy Bf 94 could have been the country's first monoplane fighter!
For the paint scheme I kept things simple, partly inspired by contemporary Bf 109 during the Spanish Civil War and Lithuanian Gloster Gladiators of the pre WWII era. I combined a light grey (RLM 63) upper fuselage, fin and spats with light blue undersides (RLM 65), together with dark Green (FS 34079) upper wing surfaces. This green was also used for the contrast background under the national insignia under the wings, while the rudder became white. It's actually not bright and colorful, but different from typical cammo paint schemes or bare metal, and Lithuanian aircraft appear to have carried such dry schemes.
The decals were puzzled together. The Lithuanian insignia come from a Blue Rider sheet, the tactical code actually belongs to a Hobby Boss F-86 in Luftwaffe markings, and the horse emblem is from an Italian Fiat C.32. The white stripes on the wings are a personal addition, I wanted to add some more contrast to the national insignia, since the overall livery is rather simple and subdued.
The interior was painted in dark grey (Humbrol 111), but the canopy is so tight that you cannot see anything inside except for the pilot's head. For some contrast, all trim tabs were painted in a reddish brown (Humbrol 100), and the two-blade propeller reveiced an aluminum front and a black back side.
A simple whif, but again it's one less on the long idea an project list. Realized in just three days from box to dry varnish, plus some additional time for the pics.
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Well, the long anticipated "Woking Weekender" finally arrived and delivered a magnificent array of vehicles operating rail replacement services out to Weybridge, Guildford, Aldershot and Basingstoke throughout both days. No less than 34 different operators provided in excess of 70 buses, coaches and minibuses across both days including three 75-plates. And Burrows Coaches had "both" their East Lancs Darts out - EDIT - STOP PRESS! On Saturday it was LK55ADX and on Sunday it was J8UFX - first with the news!!
Now then, Woking is not the photographer's friend at this time of year due to high-rise office blocks surrounding the station area. Saturday started wet, eased off but remained rather gloomy all day, and Sunday was almost a write-off with clear blue skies and low sun. The one sunny spot we found came with a time limit as a ruddy great big lamppost shadow edged its way into shot therefore limiting use of that corner. All in all though, it proved to be a belter!! Maybe have it in the Spring next time please Network Rail?
Reading Buses Fleet 760, YY 15 OYB at Brighton Railway Station prior for departing to Three Bridges.
The kids went out and found this. Given the 8 days of over 90 temps I’m amazed that there were any available but the big box stores are getting ready for our tax free weekend in MA, so it was propitious. This is not the make and model they’d gone out in search of but it it’s gotta be better than Mr Leaky.
This is a single replacement reaction with copper replacing silver in solution. The silver forms crystals on the surface of the remaining copper. I've upload a time lapse video of the reaction taken with the canon 7d and using a cheap programmable remote.
For the M4/M16 Replacment contest on PMG and over at SPW.
Oh god this killed my computer, so please be kind on my 4-5 hours work.
Code can be FMed if you like =D
Better in ALL SIZES
Oh god, grouping errors galor =(
Cred to Wes, SPW, Stirling and Amy
The new US 101 Bone River Bridge is constructed of concrete girders, is now 36-feet wide and built to withstand coastal flooding and a 1,000-year seismic event.
Reading Buses provided vehicles for todays Rail Replacement program between Three Bridges and Brighton. Enviro 400 Fleet 751 VX 64 VRL, southbound past Preston Park on route to Brighton Station.
Woking Station (south side), Woking.
Rail replacement Woking-Haslemere.
Arriva 4047 GN09AWY.
Arriva 6461 SN58EOD.
Arriva 4057 GN09AXK.
Stagecoach 36433 GX61AYM.
Arriva 4216 KX61KHC.
On Rail Replacement between Portsmouth Harbour and Fratton Station's
January 19th 2022
© Copyright PD3
Contractor crews are replacing a signal pole at the I-90/SR 18 interchange that was damaged in a crash. The pole, located on the south side of the ramp where it meets SR 18, is secure following temporary repairs our maintenance crews completed shortly after the collision.
Stagecoach Lincoln based Solo 47399 YM55 SVL stands at Kirkby in Ashfield railway station on 17-02-13 awaiting connection with the Robin Hood Line train from Mansfield Woodhouse, the bus will then operate via Newstead, Hucknall, Bulwell, to Nottingham as a rail replacement service.
Rail Replacement coaches from Silverdale, Tiger European and Stagecoach lined up outside Nottingham railway station on 17.8.18
From left to right are JFZ 8619, TT17 GER and BLZ 1424. The Stagecoach one is 53033 and appears to have been brought out of (or used as part of) the training fleet with signs that L plates have been removed from the front.
Other vehicles including another coach and an MCW Metrobus have carried the BLZ 1424 plates.
Sullivan Buses ELV 10 on Putney Bridge bound for Wimbledon on a District line rail Replacement service.