Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 21-Apr-23.

 

Fitted with blended winglets.

 

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 as PK-CMT the following month.

 

The aircraft was withdrawn from service and stored at Jakarta-CGK in Jun-20 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and financial problems relating to non-payment of maintenance and leasing charges. It was permanently retired and broken up at Jakarta-CGK, Indonesia in Jul-22. Updated 21-Apr-23.

The Journey so far.

 

New Model Army played their first gig in Bradford on October 23rd 1980. Its founding members were Justin Sullivan, Stuart Morrow and Phil Tompkins. The threesome had already been together for a couple of years in a number of Bradford bands with other musicians and singers but in the Autumn of 1980, they decided to form a stripped-down three-piece, their music drawing on a wide collection of influences and fuelled by their passions for Punk Rock and Northern Soul. Within a few months drummer Phil Tomkins had left to be replaced by Rob Waddington. The band slowly built up a local following and created a unique style based on Justin's song-writing and Stuart's virtuosity on lead-bass.

 

In Summer 1982, whispers about this band reached London and they were invited to perform at a couple of showcases. But in a scene hungry for "the next big thing" (the coming "New Romantics"), NMA's fearsome music and northern style did not win over the Major Record Companies and they returned to Bradford empty-handed. Rob Waddington left to be replaced by Robert Heaton, who had been working as a drum tech and occasional drummer for the band ‘Hawkwind‘. Undeterred by the indifference of the Music Business, NMA began to perform more and more around the country and frequently featured as opening act on a series of all-day concerts at the London Lyceum which heralded many of the "Post-Punk" bands. Although this meant traveling for several hours to play a twenty-five minute set for no money, the band embraced the opportunity and their reputation as a live act grew. A first small-label independent single "Bittersweet" was released in the summer of 1983, followed by "Great Expectations" on Abstract Records that autumn, both played frequently on late night radio by John Peel. Suddenly the band had a "Following", people who would travel to every concert around the country to see them.

 

Early in 1984, the producer of "The Tube", the most important live music show on TV, had seen NMA in concert and invited them to fill the ‘unknown' slot on the programme. Having originally asked the band to perform their provocative anti-anthem, "Vengeance", the TV Company suddenly got cold feet about the song's lyrics minutes before broadcast and asked the band to change songs. It made no difference. Somehow twenty to thirty followers had managed to get into the TV studio and when NMA began with "Christian Militia" the crowd went wild and an electric atmosphere was transmitted around the country. Suddenly NMA were underground news. Their first mini-album, "Vengeance" knocked "The Smiths" from the top of the Independent Charts and the major record companies, who had rejected them less than two years earlier, were now begging to sign the band.

 

The autumn of 1984 was a time of political turmoil in Britain. After five years of Mrs Thatcher's right-wing government, which had already fuelled so much of NMA's early fury, a final showdown with the National Union of Mineworkers (the strike that had begun in March and had split the country), entered a critical phase and much of Northern England began to resemble a Police State. NMA's last Independent EP "The Price" also featured "1984" a song written directly about the strike and, with their declared left-wing views, NMA's concerts became increasingly intense.

     

At the end of the year, NMA signed a contract of "complete artist control" with EMI (which included EMI giving a donation to a miners fund). The move surprised many people but the band were already looking beyond the confines of Britain and considered the deal to be the right one. In the Spring of 1985 the album "No Rest For The Wicked" and the single "No Rest" both reached the national top 40, but this success and now relative financial security had done little to soften NMA's confrontational attitude. They appeared on Top Of The Pops wearing T-shirts with a motif reading "Only Stupid Bastards Use Heroin" (a reaction against the fashionable drug of the time).

 

Then, halfway through the "No Rest" tour, the day after their hometown gig, Stuart Morrow decided to leave the band for personal reasons. Frantic negotiations were made (by a strange unhappy co-incidence, on the very same day as the Bradford City fire disaster killed 56 people at a football match), but to no avail. As a result, Justin and Robert decided to follow up the success of "No Rest" with an acoustic song from the album "Better Than Them" which had not involved Stuart and accompanied it with three specially recorded acoustic tracks, a move of principle which dumbfounded EMI. By the summer, Stuart had been replaced by 17 year-old Jason 'Moose' Harris, whose first gig was at a benefit for the families of the fire tragedy, and the "No Rest" tour continued.

 

Thatcher's victory over the miners, and by extension over all organised opposition, marked a new political reality. This, coupled with the shock of Stuarts's departure and increasing media hostility, resulted in the band taking an ever more defiant posture, exemplified by a typically fiery performance at the Glastonbury Festival. Then, despite being signed to Capitol Records in North America, all attempts to tour there were prevented when the band were refused visas. Many people, on both sides of the Atlantic, believed that this was for political reasons although this was never possible to prove. Instead, that autumn NMA set out on their first long tour of the European mainland, which unlike many UK acts, they found much to their liking, and later a trip to Japan. The year ended with yet another UK tour in support of a newly recorded EP: "Brave New World", a savage portrait of the Thatcher's Britain and "RIP", an equally furious study of the band's history thus far.

 

If 1985 had been a traumatic year, then 1986 saw one of the band's many resurrections, with the legendary Glyn Johns agreeing to produce their third album. Though relations between band and producer were often difficult, Justin recalls the sessions as "the biggest musical learning curve of my life". "The Ghost Of Cain" was well received by the critics and audience and many people began to see a band that were capable of developing and changing and adjusting to new realities while still staying true to their own principles; this was a band that were now pursuing their own musical agenda, completely unmoved by the whims of the music industry or the expectations of fans. Outside Britain, their name was slowly becoming known and in December of 1986, they finally made a first short tour of America.

 

1987 was a year of full bloom. In January, Justin and Robert recorded an album with the poet Joolz Denby. Joolz had been the band's first manager and has remained as a driving force and responsible for all of the band's artwork from the beginning to the present day. She had previously made spoken word albums and a series of EPs with Jah Wobble but it was inevitable that she would collaborate with NMA. The album "Hex" was recorded at the very special Sawmills Studio, a unique place in Cornwall, only reachable at high tide by boat. Although the studio is now well known, at that time it was infrequently used and accommodation was in primitive cabins deep in the woods. From this new setting, and freed from the pressures of "being New Model Army", Justin and Robert were able to explore all kinds of ideas and musical avenues that their experience with Glyn Johns had opened up. Later, they both considered "Hex" to have been one of the creative highlights of their musical partnership, with its strong, romantic soundscapes acting as the perfect accompaniment to Joolz' poetry.

 

Much of the writing of "Hex" had been done using samplers and the use of this new tool continued to take the band in unexpected directions. That summer they recorded the "Whitecoats" EP with its ecological lyric and mystical atmosphere. An interest in mysticism and spirituality had been becoming more and more apparent in Justin's lyrics (though this was no surprise to those who knew of his family's Quaker roots). The same summer, Red Sky Coven was born out of a group of friends who shared these interests and ideas. It included Justin, Joolz, singer-songwriter and storyteller Rev Hammer and musician Brett Selby. Together, the foursome decided to create a performance based on this friendship, a unique show which continues to tour on an occasional basis.

 

1987 also saw plenty more NMA concerts, including Reading Festival, a gig with David Bowie in front of the Reichstag in Berlin and a show-stopping performance at the Bizarre Festival at Lorelei in Germany. From time to time, the band added their friend Ricky Warwick as a second guitarist and also enlisted Mark Feltham, the legendary harmonica player who had graced "The Ghost Of Cain" and "Hex" to join them. At the very end of the year and the beginning of 1988, they returned to the Sawmills for two more inspired writing sessions, which laid the foundations for "Thunder and Consolation".

 

The following months, though, were far more difficult, while NMA chose a producer, another music legend - Tom Dowd - and set about recording the album. It was a long drawn-out process and relationships between band members became increasingly strained, only really maintained by the knowledge that they were making something truly special. "Thunder and Consolation" was finally released early in 1989, striking a perfect balance between the band's fascinations with rock, folk and soul music and Justin's lyrical interest in spirituality, politics and family relationships. The album brought critical praise and new levels of commercial success and the band toured Europe and North America, joined by Ed Alleyne Johnson playing electric violin and keyboards and Chris Mclaughlin on guitar. However, despite the success, relationships at the heart of the band had not really mended and even after Jason Harris left that summer, stresses remained.

 

By autumn Justin and Robert were back in the Sawmills working towards another album and, in the new year, they were joined by a new (and still current) bass player, Nelson, previously of a number of East Anglian cult bands, and a new second guitarist, Adrian Portas from Sheffield. The new musicians brought a stronger atmosphere to the touring band while, in the studio, Justin and Robert continued to explore different musical ideas. Partly self-produced, "Impurity" was finally finished and mixed by Pat Collier in the summer of 1990. Still featuring Ed Alleyne Johnson' violin, the album was more eclectic than "Thunder" but continued to win new fans and the world-wide tour that followed its release lasted the best part of a year, culminating in a rolling Festival in Germany involving David Bowie, Midnight Oil, The Pixies and NMA.

 

In mid-1991, "Raw Melody Men", a live album from the tour, was put together and released. It was to be NMA's last album for EMI. Unusually, given the history of the music business, the relationship between band and record company had always remained cordial but had now simply grown stale. There were minor dissatisfactions on both sides and, after lengthy negotiations, it was agreed to simply terminate the contract. NMA's own Management Company also imploded at this time and new management was drawn up. The band was not short of new record company offers and eventually chose Epic, for reasons to do with support in the US.

 

Although Mrs Thatcher had been ousted by her own Party in 1990 (a memorable night coinciding with NMA's first visit to Rome), the Conservative monolith that had ruled the country for so long remained in power and, against all expectations, won a further election in 1992. Outside Britain though, much was changed: there was recession and instability and a so-called "New World Order" in the wake of the collapse of Soviet Communism and the 1st Gulf War. Already the band was embarked upon a very dark album, driven equally by personal traumas, including Justin's near-death electrocution on stage in Switzerland and the changes in the world around them. Produced by Niko Bolas and mixed by Bob Clearmountain, "The Love Of Hopeless Causes" was not what anyone was expecting. Just as folk-rock, pioneered and inspired in part by NMA, became a fashionable and commercial sound, the band made a deliberate move away from it and straight and into guitar-driven rock music.

 

Replacing Adrian with Dave Blomberg on guitar, they embarked on the album tour and the European section featured their most successful concerts yet. However NMA's relationship with their new record company quickly deteriorated. Worse still, they found themselves caught in corporate dispute between London and New York, which was in no way related to them. By June, the band found themselves on an exhaustive US tour, in which they had invested much of their own money, with no support of any kind from Epic or any other source. The tour featured many outstanding concerts but it was a bittersweet experience. By the end of the summer, it had been agreed that there should be a year off for everyone to rest and consider the future, while the contract with Epic was quickly terminated.

 

Justin used 1993-4 to produce other artists (a second collaboration with Joolz entitled "Weird Sister", Rev Hammer's "Bishop Of Buffalo" album and also the unusual Berlin combo, The Inchtabokatables), tour with Red Sky Coven and create another way of performing NMA songs - in a duo with new guitarist Dave Blomberg. Together they went back to Justin's first love - small club touring - and eventually released an album of the live show entitled "Big Guitars in Little Europe", an album, which has proved enduringly popular. Robert's main wish was to spend more time at home with his family, which he was now able to do and Nelson formed a new band "Nelson's Column" which toured England. Ed Alleyne Johnson followed up his first solo album "The Purple Electric Violin Concerto" which had been so successful with a second entitled "Ultraviolet".

 

After the year was up, Justin and Robert tentatively began work on a new project and in December 1994, the band (with Dean White on keyboards replacing Ed Alleyne Johnson) reassembled to play a short series of concerts. However, the next two years were lost while Justin and Robert, plagued by ill health and personal-life distractions tried unsuccessfully to pin down hundreds of new musical ideas into an album. It became increasingly obvious to both of them (and everyone else in and around the band) that they were now on very different musical paths. In 1997, Tommy Tee who had been the band's Tour Manager in the 1980s returned to take control of the band's drifting affairs. He enlisted producer Simon Dawson to help finish the project and by the autumn "Strange Brotherhood" was completed. Unsurprisingly, it's an album full to the brim with different and contrasting musical ideas while the lyrics range from the politics of the British Road Protest movement (in which Sullivan had been actively involved during 1996) to the deeply personal and sometimes unusually obscure. During the mixing, it was agreed that Justin and Robert would go their separate ways after the tour.

 

Then, suddenly Robert was diagnosed as having a brain tumour, and though the operation to remove it was successful, any prospect of touring was impossible. So he suggested that his place be taken by Michael Dean, a young drummer who had been working as his technician since 1993. Having watched Robert for some years, Michael was immediately comfortable with the role of drummer and with all other aspects of the band. The "Strange Brotherhood" tour began in the spring of 1998 and, happy to be back on the road at last, for the first couple of months, the band embarked on an ambitious programme of doing two sets each night, a 50 minute acoustic set followed by a full 90 minute rock. The tour continued on and off through to the end of the year.

 

By now Justin and Tommy Tee had restructured New Model Army's set-up to take account of the changes that the Internet was bringing to the whole music industry. This included making sure that the band owned every aspect of their work, and included their own record label (Attack Attack) to be distributed by different companies in different territories. 1999 began with a review of live shows recorded the previous year and their amalgamation into a live double album entitled "New Model Army and Nobody Else". After this Justin (assisted by Michael) began to write new songs for the next album. This was done quickly and easily for the first time since "Thunder", with Justin claiming to be "reborn as a song-writer." To keep up the momentum, it was decided to self-produce and to record the album in the band's own studio. Again this was done quickly with mostly Justin, Michael and Dean at the controls. (Living 250 and 300 miles from Bradford meant that Nelson and Dave were more occasional contributors for purely geographical reasons). The whole process was very much a reaction to the slow progress of "Strange Brotherhood", with the album given the simple name "Eight" to go with its whole stripped-down approach. It was released in the Spring of 2000 and was followed by more touring.

 

On October 23rd 2000, the band celebrated their 20th anniversary by playing another two set marathon at Rock City in Nottingham and then three months later, further special concerts in London and Koln which featured four completely different sets spread over two nights - a 57 song marathon in each city attended by over 7000 people.

 

One of the legacies of the lost years of the mid 1990s was a lot of unfinished material and next, Justin, Michael and Dean worked to finish and assemble this into accessible form, a double album "Lost Songs" released in 2002. Another ‘unfinished' project was Justin's long promised solo album and it was at this moment that he decided to pursue it. Meant to take just a few weeks to record and tour, "Navigating By The Stars" became another marathon. Hooking up with film and TV music producer, Ty Unwin, the first week of working coincided with ‘9/11'. Rather than making a political or angry response to unfolding events, the album's purpose was to ‘make something beautiful in an increasingly ugly World'. The album came out in 2003 to surprised and favourable reaction. At first touring alone with Dean (including a long awaited return to America), Justin was then joined by Michael playing percussion and the threesome bought a large mobile home and set off across Europe. The live album "Tales of the Road", released in 2004 captures their unique sound and stripped-down rearrangements of some of NMA's lesser known songs.

 

In 2004, an exhibition of all Joolz' artwork for the band plus collected memorabilia was assembled for a touring exhibition. Entitled ‘One Family, One Tribe' it has been on display in art galleries in Otley, York, Bradford and Hamm in Germany and there are plans for more future showings. Meanwhile, the band work began work on a new NMA album, at first focused around Michael's increasing creativity as a drummer. "Carnival" was recorded with producer Chris Tsangerides and mixed by Nat Chan. It's lyrical subjects and musical roots were as usual very eclectic but included many people's favourite NMA track, "Fireworks Night", Justin's emotional response to the sudden and unexpected death of Robert that Autumn. "Carnival" was released in September 2005, but when it came to the tour, Dave Blomberg was unable to participate for family reasons and his place was taken by Marshall Gill, a blues guitarist from Ashton Under Lyne, completing the band's current line-up in what Sullivan calls “the best version of NMA since 1985”.

 

The Carnival Tour marked another dynamic new beginning for the band, with Nelson sometimes playing as a second drummer, Dean sometimes as third guitarist and Michael and Marshall's energy much in evidence. Such was the sense of momentum and togetherness that for the first time in years, NMA moved quickly on to making another album with major contributions from all members. "High" was written and recorded in five months at the beginning of 2007, produced by old friend (and another production star, Chris Kimsey) and was ‘angrier' than any releases for a while and lyrically very much in tune with current realities.

 

The "High" tour rolled through 4 continents with the new line up now firmly in tune with itself and Marshall bringing a tougher edge to the band's sound - even managing to re-arrange the classic violin led anthem "Vagabonds" into a guitar led version. This and 16 other songs were released on a new live album, "Fuck Texas, Sing For Us", in November 2008 (the title taken from a chant at the band's New Orleans show that serves as the intro to the album).

 

The year ended with tours in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and the customary December run of London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Koln with the band playing a fiery set of recent material. Remarkably, the band’s main 17 song set featured only two pre-2000 songs, as well as brand new material, a sure sign of the band’s forward momentum - and with their ticket sales up everywhere. Then, at Christmas, manager Tommy Tee died suddenly and unexpectedly. This was a major shock to everyone in and around the band, not only because as he ran all aspects of the band's affairs but also as a major part of the NMA family and history since 1982.

 

It took a while before the band could refocus but by Spring 2009, they were back in the studio working on their eleventh studio album, “Today Is A Good Day”. Mostly written in the wake of the 2008 Wall Street Collapse (an event celebrated in the white-hot opening title track), it was recorded in the band’s own studio in Bradford with Chris Kimsey once more at the controls. Chris wrote “the NMA 'family business' is back in full swing. The boys sound brave & united.” The album was hailed as one of their very best and the album tour began with a month in North America and went on for a further six months ending with a triumphant return to Glastonbury and other Festivals in the summer.

 

In the Autumn of 2010, the band celebrated their 30th Anniversary with the release of boxsets, books, DVDs and a full set of retrospective material and set out on the curious and challenging schedule. Promising to play a minimum of four songs from each of their 13 albums (including the two B-sides compilations) over two nights, they performed this marathon in different cities on four continents every weekend from September until Christmas. The final weekend in London was recorded and released in full as a five hour DVD.

 

After such a hectic year, 2011 was always going to be relatively quiet with the band concentrating on writing material for their next project. Consciously looking for something new after two convincing great rock band recorded live in a studio albums. this is a work in progress interrupted only by a handful of full band shows and rather more of the semi-acoustic Justin and Dean duo concerts. But then, as the year ended, disaster once again struck with a fire, started in the next door furniture outlet, raging through the band's Bradford base destroying pretty their whole studio set-up. No one was injured and the band have remarkably been able to salvage some of their touring gear from inside flight-cases. However, while remaining characteristically upbeat about the future, the band acknowledge that the loss of so much gear and a place to work will delay their plans for 2012. Meanwhile, in the background, BBC/Channel Four diector, Matt Reid, has been putting together a documentary film about the group for release sometime this year.

 

This is a remarkable band - as hungry and focused as ever, with a continually regenerating audience and insatiable creative ambition.

 

The Riley RM Series was the last automobile series developed independently by Riley. RM vehicles were produced from 1945, after the Second World War, through the 1952 merger of the Riley's Nuffield Organisation with Austin to form BMC. They were originally made in Coventry, but in 1949 production moved to the MG works at Abingdon. The RM models were marketed as the Riley 1½ Litre and the Riley 2½ Litre.[1]

There were three types of RM vehicles produced. The RMA was a large saloon, and was replaced by the RME. The RMB was an even larger car, and was replaced by the RMF. The RMC and RMD were limited-production roadsters.

All of the RM vehicles featured the pre-war Riley designed 1.5 L (1496 cc) 12 hp (RAC Rating) or 16 hp (RAC Rating) 2.5 L "Big Four" straight-4 engines with twin camshafts mounted high at the sides of the cylinder block and hemispherical combustion chambers

Garden City

Enter Ironhide. This epic leader class figure is one of my favorites by far. Always have been a fan of Ironhide, and Hasro's done him just with this 9½ inch Leader Class figure from the Dark of the Moon movie. This is a non-transforming representation of the character.

 

I went to town on this guy. Here's a list of the upgrades and modifications :

 

- Added articulated custom hands, which pivot and combine parts from the existing fists (brass knuckles!)

- 2 scratch built custom cannons attached to the backs of his forearms, each has 2 LEDs, his left cannon lights up red, his right cannon lights up blue

- repositioned chest truck wheels

- rebuilt head (added larger "wings" on sides)

- Swapped in bright BLUE LED in his eyes

- Head is now on a ball joint

- Face shield/mouth plate pops on using a small, yet powerful rare earth magnet

- Removed some excess plastic from inside the knees allowing Ironhide to stand up straighter and taller

- Custom license plate

- Completely custom built back using all the hacked off parts un-needed

- Working LEDs in front headlights and orange turn signals

- Ankles replaced with ball joints

- Feet rebuilt, added toes and heels

  

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 22-Nov-21 (DeNoise AI).

 

This aircraft was delivered new to Channel Airways in Mar-69 as G-AWKJ. It was leased to BUA British United Airways in Apr-69 and returned to Channel Airways at the end of the summer season in Oct-69.

 

At the end of Feb-72, Channel Airways ceased trading and the aircraft was returned to the British Aircraft Corporation and stored. In Jan-74 it was re-registered G-BIII and sold to Air Hanson Helicopters who fitted it out for their VIP Charter operation.

 

Obviously it wasn't terribly lucrative and in Jul-74 it was sold to the Philippine Government as RP-C1. In May-85 it was sold to Bryan Aviation and returned to the UK as G-NIII. It was stored at Manchester, UK, and remained there.

 

In Nov-86 it was sold to Okada Air, Nigeria, however it remained stored until Sep-87 when it became 5N-AYV. It operated for Okada Air for another 10 years until it was retired and stored at Benin City, Nigeria in Dec-97. It was eventually broken up.

 

I also have a photo of this aircraft with British United as G-AWKJ taken in May-69, see...

www.flickr.com/photos/kenfielding/6785559629

Great Sampford, Essex

 

The beautiful church of St Michael the Archangel at Great Sampford is not the first church to stand on the rising ground at the centre of the village overlooking the cornfields along the valley of the river Pant. It is possibly sited on an ancient place of cult or religious significance. The proximity of the Stow farm may be of some importance, for the word ‘Stow’ in Old English can mean a ‘holy place’ or ‘place of assembly’. A pre-Conquest church, presumably of timber and thatch construction, followed perhaps, by a simple stone-built church, was replaced by the 13c on the same site by a major church building of which one of the transepts remains as the vestry of the present church which was built between 1320 and 1350. The original dedication of the church, if different, is not known as the first documentary reference to St Michael occurs as late as 1540 in a Sampford will. Dedications were sometimes changed and the use of the proper style, St. Michael the Archangel, is in fact quite rare. However, dedications to St. Michael or St. Michael and All Angels are numerous and were popular as the Archangel is an important figure in Christian tradition and art, symbolising the victory of God over evil, as an intercessor for the sick and as a leader of the Church militant. Churches dedicated to him, as at Great Sampford, are often found on hill—top sites or on high ground .a possible allusion to St. Michael’s pre-eminence in the Angelic Host of Christian belief. His Feast Day is 29th September.

 

Knowledge of the origins of the Christian Church in Essex relies largely on the fragile but growing evidence of archaeology and landscape interpretation. An ill-defined and mobile pattern of contemporaneous pagan and early Christian practices in the Roman era comes into historical focus with the missionary endeavours of the Roman and Celtic Churches when such names as Augustine, Mellitus and Cedd are prominent in Essex history. Within that tradition there are various, as yet unproven, theories about the establishment of a church at Great Sampford.

 

On entering the church the first impression that the visitor receives is of its elegant dignity; the next, the incongruence of its scale in such a tiny rural community. An interesting aspect of this enigma is the search for a convincing explanation of its status, from the mid-13c until 1907, as a deanery church serving twenty-one surrounding parishes in the Freshwell Hundred and in part of Uttlesford. It may have been a consequence of an early ‘minster’ (i.e.: missionary) role or as the result of a parochial compromise in an area with more important communities such as (Saffron) Walden. We do not know. However, it is a fact that the missionary work of the early minsters often extended to and beyond the boundaries of the administrative hundreds and became the sites of the hundredal centres themselves. There may well be historic linkages, not yet understood, between the Freshwell and Uttlesford Hundreds and the Sampford Deanery that relate to the early status of the church at Great Sampford.

 

The earliest historical fact about St. Michael’s is the grant by William Rufus, son and successor of William the Conqueror, of the church at Sampford along with the subordinate chapel at Hempstead with their lands and tithes to Battle Abbey in 1094. According to Philip Morant, the most famous of Essex historians, this was a formal confirmation of the Conqueror's original royal grant. This act of confirmation was a necessary and regular practice in regard to the efficacy of grants and early charters which were frequently forged. The church at Hempstead was within the jurisdiction of the vicar of Great Sampford until as late as 1979. Great Sampford remained in the hands of Battle Abbey until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 when it was transferred to the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury. In 1836 it passed to the newly-established Church Commissioners. In 1982 Great Sampford was combined with the parish of Little Sampford.

 

For perhaps a thousand years, even more, the Church at Sampford pursued its mission and, like others of medieval foundation, did not escape the consequences of religious, political and parochial events or circumstances. An astonishing flowering of spiritual faith and social commitment led to the building and re-building of these lovely churches. This phase was followed by the painful disruption of the Reformation, the Commonwealth and the Restoration, all of which led to anxious change and despoliation. In the course of these events much of the magnificence of the church at Great Sampford and its furnishings was lost or abandoned. All his was compounded by periods of neglect and the chronic problems of maintaining a great building in a small village bereft of wealthy resident patrons.

 

The loss, confiscation or sale of the rood, images, church plate and "such other goods as could be spared" was mirrored by decay of the fabric as is evident from the Parochial Inventories and Visitations of the l6c and l7c. The l7c saw the introduction of new arrangements for the railing of the Lord’s Table and seating for the congregation, a school was held in the south transept and the village musicians performed in a gallery under the tower. The inevitable ‘restorations’ by the Victorians led to the removal of furnishings, the installation of new pews, patterned floor tiling and the stripping of the stucco from the exterior walls of the church to expose the original flint and rubble surfaces. In more recent times the spiral staircase in the tower was removed and the roof structure of the south aisle replaced. We are, fortunately, left with a church of beauty and distinction.

 

It is hoped that the following brief notes on the architectural features and minor objects and details of interest in the church will help visitors to enjoy their visit.

  

The significance of St. Michael the Archangel in the village scene is apparent from the scale of the building, its strong profiles and conspicuous English Gothic idiom of the Decorated period. Internally, the major architectural theme is that of a restrained, uncomplicated elegance that is enhanced by the ample light admitted by plain glass windows. A dominant feature is the fine range of trefoiled, cinquefoiled and sexfoiled lights of the nave, chancel and aisle windows all dating from the period c. 1320-50. The cusped tracery of the windows is complemented by the symmetrical refinement of the arcading which is only lightly embellished by mouldings and carved capitals, typical of the period, and among the best in the county. Although not devoid of interesting detail, there is nothing to detract from the simple elegance and spatial qualities with which the fenestration and graceful arcading endow this fine building.

 

In 1769 Peter Muilman referred to the church at Great Sampford which "stands pleasantly on a small eminence by the roadside". Pleasantly indeed, the church is handsomely set in the Essex cornfields and seen to advantage from the high ground on the opposite side of the river. Close to, the sturdy profiles and somewhat severe external textures, relieved by some decorative areas of knapped flint flushwork, offer little hint of the quality of its Gothic interior. The main structure is built with random-faced flint and rubble set in lime mortar with limestone and clunch dressings. The roof is tiled and slated. The prominent west tower was built in the mid-l4c and, like the south aisle, has an embattled parapet. The south porch is of the same period. Unhappily, the window tracery of the 13c transept has been lost and is now disfigured by brickwork of two phases which seem to date from the late-18c to early-19c. Conspicuous in the churchyard are the fine lime trees planted in about 1835. The only monument of significance is the obelisk near the east wall of the churchyard which commemorates members of the Watson Family of Sampford. Colonel Jonas Watson was a distinguished soldier who was killed in action at the siege of Cartagena in 1741. But spare a moment to look at the adjacent grave stone of William Ruffle who died in 1881, a village worthy who served Great Sampford as shopkeeper, constable, clerk and in other public offices for over half a century.

 

External details of note are a rare series of consecration crosses of varying designs around the church, an early scratch dial, now displaced and seen on a doorstep in the north wall, a benchmark and the slot for the surveyor’s bench on the south-west buttress of the tower and miscellaneous graffiti mainly in the porch. Other details of interest include the rainwater heads, the vigorous carvings on the label of the south transept and niches in the south transept and the north and west walls. The clock on the church tower was installed in l9ll to mark the coronation of King George V.

 

On entering, visitors will appreciate the impressive dimensions and architectural refinement of this handsome village church. Standing in the centre of the nave the dominant curvilinear idiom of the Gothic styling will be apparent. The nave is flanked by north and south arcaded aisles with plain two-centred arches datable to the l4c. The piers of the north arcade are quatrefoil in plan with slender engaged shafting; those of the south arcade are octagonal in plan. All of the piers have moulded bases and capitals.

 

The 14c west tower is constructed in four stages. Internally it is open to the nave under a two-centred moulded arch. There is access to the belfry but, sadly, the brick-built circular Tudor staircase was removed about fifty years ago. The carved head of a woman recovered from this staircase, although it presumably originated from elsewhere in the church, can be seen in the vestry. But the finest aspects of this church are to be seen in the early chancel which is remarkable for its size and the splendour of its architectural expression. It dates from the first decades of the l4c. This fine chancel is framed by an exceptionally large east window of five cinquefoiled lights, the curvilinear bar tracery and verticality of which enhance the powerful impact of this aspect of the building. Most interesting, and presumably deriving from the deanery status of the church, there is a series on the north and south walls of twenty-one stalls recessed under a canopied arcade with mouldings and cusping. At the east end of the south arcade there are the piscina and sedilia. The chancel arch, of the same period and sprung from the capitals of clustered shafts, shows residual traces, near the base on either side of the step, of a former stone screen which is possibly significant in view of the rare stone screens in the nearby churches of Stebbing and Great Bardfield. Note also the small blocked low window by the north side of the arch. The panels behind the altar on which the Creed, Lords Prayer and Commandments are painted were made in 1837 for the church at Danbury and brought to Great Sampford in 1894.

 

The vestry, formerly a chapel, is of great interest as a surviving major element of the previous church of the late - 13c (however when I visited this was locked). In the east wall there are good coupled windows of two trefoiled lights with two quatrefoil and sexfoil circular openings, interesting examples of pierced plate-tracery. The large brick-filled window in the south wall is of the mid-13c with good mouldings and the surviving arch and shafting in the splays. Below this window, fragments of medieval glass were found buried in the ground outside. The contemporary archway in the west wall has some intriguing carved capitals richly adorned with robust oak-leaf foliage and vibrant figures including an owl, snail, pig and a human face in a good state of preservation. One is assumed to be a representation of a ‘Green Man’ a symbolic figure of English folklore. The north wall has four quatrefoil openings. There is, under the south window, a triple gabled recess with crockets and linear moulding, pinnacles and a neat acanthus motif which was probably once a fine tomb of an important local family, perhaps a member of the de Kemesek family. It is said to have served as a fireplace in the time when the vestry housed the village school! The battened and studded oak door leading into the chancel is 16c.

 

The open church roof structures are well worth close study. The best is in the vestry which is roofed with twelve pairs of collared scissor-braced trusses supporting the steep-pitched rafters on moulded wall plates. The chancel roof is also of trussed-rafter construction of seven cants, as is that of the nave roof which also has three tie-beams which may have been installed at a later date, perhaps when, as we know from church records, the roof was repaired in the 16c. The lean-to roof of the north aisle is attractively braced with graceful curved members sprung from a good moulded wall-plate. Unfortunately, the original roof of the south aisle has been replaced by a modern structure, but three of the amusing stone corbels which supported it remain. The trussed-rafter roof of the south porch with seven cants should be noted as it rests on extremely fine early moulded plates. Visitors should not miss the intriguing carved medieval wooden head which is fastened onto the wall above the chancel arch at the north-west corner facing the nave. This appears to have been repositioned, perhaps from a figure that was once part of church statuary. On the south side in the clerestory will be seen an attractive 15c Perpendicular style rectilinear and cinquefoiled window of three ogee lights which was devised to throw light onto the former rood.

 

Originally the church would have been resplendent with a comprehensive range of wall paintings for visual instruction depicting scenes of biblical or religious significance. A few fragments survive, having been discovered during restoration work in 1979, above the arches on the walls of the north arcade. Although faint and incomplete the two remaining paintings are of interest. One represents the seven deadly sins in the form of a diagrammatic tree which is comparatively rare. The other may be of St. Christopher, a saintly figure normally positioned, as possibly here, opposite the church entrance as a reassuring gesture to the worshippers. There are traces, too, possibly of another period, that suggest a dragon was depicted which would imply an association with St. Michael to whom the church is dedicated or, possibly, St. Margaret. Traces of colour in the wall plaster of the vestry may eventually yield further paintings.

 

Worthy of note are some special features beginning with the door at the church entrance. This is thought to be contemporary with the building of the church in the early l4c and, although damaged at the base, is still a fine example and retains the original wrought iron strap-work and studding. According to expert opinion it is the most elaborate of all saltire-braced doors in Essex. The boards of which it is constructed are pegged together. The font in the south aisle has a plain moulded octagonal bowl of the 15c. Its stem is earlier and has complex decoration which combines ogee-headed panels with intricate tracery on a chamfered 14c plinth. The Victorian pews were recently detached and the nave flooring paved. The beautiful series of kneelers worked with flower motifs were recently embroidered by local people. The lovely embroidered runner on the step of the sanctuary was made in 1990 and is an exact copy of the Victorian runner it replaced.

 

It is valid to observe that St. Michael’s benefits aesthetically from the absence of monumental clutter which, although sometimes historically useful, can be detrimental to the architectural purity of the building as a whole. The only remaining monuments of antiquity in the church are the tomb slabs (Calthorp and Burrows) of the 17c and 18c in the chance]. They commemorate a family whose name persists at a local farm and another of textile merchants who lived opposite the church. There is another (Gretton) in the south aisle. The pulpit, the provenance of which is unknown, is Victorian. There are also a few notable pieces of furniture. These include a 17c desk with a writing slope and cupboard which once served the school in the church. There is also a standing cupboard or hutch of the late 16c and a 16c church chest, iron-banded with strap hinges and an interior ‘till’ which may have been built-in as a response to a Parochial Visitation of 1686 which ordered it to be provided and lockable. The modern portable altar at the east end of the north aisle was given to the church by an anonymous donor in 1991. The small bronze of the Madonna and Child is of German provenance.

 

The five church bells which were once rung for church services as well as for special village occasions like harvest and gleaning can no longer be pealed. This is because of structural weaknesses in the belfry though they are still hung on the original stocks. Nowadays one is chimed for church services, as a Sanctus bell and used to ring the hours for the clock. The first, third and fourth bells were cast by William Land in 1624; the second (which bears the Royal Arms and a medallion with a bust of Charles II) by Henry Yaxley in 1684; the fifth by John Hodson in 1664. The church plate includes an interesting early Elizabethan silver cup of 1562 with a paten cover of c1567 and another paten dated 1630. None of these is inscribed although they carry makers' marks. An electro-plated flagon of 1854 was purchased by the vicar for five guineas in 1856. The organ, installed in 1976, is said to have come from a nonconformist chapel and to have been built in c1830 by G.M. Holdich. The eagle lectern in the south aisle was placed in the church in 1909 as a tribute to the incumbency of the Rev. Robert Eustace, vicar from 1850 to 1905.

 

Almost every ancient church has a range, most of which cannot be satisfactorily explained, of markings and graffiti, ostensibly symbolic figuring, idle scratchings and numerous initials and dates. Great Sampford has a generous quota of such. Of genuine interest is a 3-men’s (or 9-men's) Morris cut into the second stall on the north side of the chancel inside the altar rail. These are gaming boards of some antiquity, the play having affinities with ludo and allegedly used to relieve the boredom of long sermons or tedious ritual. On the opposite side one of the sedilia has a set of unexplained grooves, possibly another game.

 

This guide has so far been concerned mostly with events, architecture and objects of beauty or interest. More important are the people, clergy, church officers and villagers who have worked for and worshipped in the church. They all emerge from the obscurity of the past through the church records and the village archives as personalities or in human situations which help us to share their hopes, commitment or despair. The clergy, ever since Thomas de Sampford, dean in 1163, have served the church and ministered to the people throughout the ages and struggled with the traumas of turbulent and anxious times. The churchwardens, like Richard Petytt and John Mylner in the l6c and their successors, have striven to preserve the church from decay and neglect and carried out their onerous and multifarious duties with devotion if not always with alacrity. There have been too the countless parishioners whose recurring family names fill the registers recording the joy of marriage and birth and the sadness of illness and death. They are all part of the story and the reality of the church and its life in the village. They too were familiar with the building we admire. They sat in the pews and looked upon the beauty that is now our heritage. Their responsibility has passed to successive generations, and now to us. We hope that they would have approved of this little booklet and that it will play its part in safeguarding the continuity of that inheritance.

. . . sadly Non-Hindus are not allowed inside the temple complex

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The Jagannath Temple of Puri (Odia: ଜଗନ୍ନାଥ ମନ୍ଦିର) is a famous, sacred Hindu temple dedicated to Jagannath and located on the eastern coast of India, at Puri in the state of Odisha.

 

The temple is an important pilgrimage destination for many Hindu traditions, particularly worshippers of god Krishna and god Vishnu, and part of the Char Dham pilgrimages that a Hindu is expected to make in one's lifetime.

 

Even though most Hindu deities that are worshiped are made out of stone or metal, the image of Jagannath is wooden. Every twelve or nineteen years these wooden figures are ceremoniously replaced by using sacred trees, that have to be carved as an exact replica. The reason behind this ceremonial tradition is the highly secret Navakalevara ('New Body' or 'New Embodiment') ceremony, an intricate set of rituals that accompany the renewal of the wooden statues.

 

The temple was built in the 12th century atop its ruins by the progenitor of the Eastern Ganga dynasty, King Anantavarman Chodaganga Deva. The temple is famous for its annual Rath Yatra, or chariot festival, in which the three main temple deities are hauled on huge and elaborately decorated temple cars. Since medieval times, it is also associated with intense religious fervour.

 

The temple is sacred to the Vaishnava traditions and saint Ramananda who was closely associated with the temple. It is also of particular significance to the followers of the Gaudiya Vaishnavism whose founder, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, was attracted to the deity, Jagannath, and lived in Puri for many years.

 

DEITIES

The central forms of Jagannath, Balabhadra and the goddess Subhadra constitute the trinity of deities sitting on the bejewelled platform or the Ratnabedi in the inner sanctum. The Sudarshan Chakra, deities of Madanmohan, Sridevi and Vishwadhatri are also placed on the Ratnavedi. The deities of Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Sudarshan Chakra are made from sacred Neem logs known as Daru Brahma. Depending on the season the deities are adorned in different garbs and jewels. Worship of the deities pre-date the temple structure and may have originated in an ancient tribal shrine.

 

ORIGINS OF THE TEMPLE

According to the recently discovered copper plates from the Ganga dynasty, the construction of the current Jagannath temple was initiated by the ruler of Kalinga, Anantavarman Chodaganga Dev. The Jaga mohan and the Vimana portions of the temple were built during his reign (1078 - 1148 CE). However, it was only in the year 1174 CE that the Oriya ruler Ananga Bhima Deva rebuilt the temple to give a shape in which it stands today.

 

Jagannath worship in the temple continued until 1558, when Odisha was attacked by the Afghan general Kalapahad. Subsequently, when Ramachandra Deb established an independent kingdom at Khurda in Orissa, the temple was consecrated and the deities reinstalled.

 

LEGENDS

Legendary account as found in the Skanda-Purana, Brahma Purana and other Puranas and later Oriya works state that Lord Jagannath was originally worshipped as Lord Neela Madhaba by a Savar king (tribal chief) named Viswavasu. Having heard about the deity, King Indradyumna sent a Brahmin priest, Vidyapati to locate the deity, who was worshipped secretly in a dense forest by Viswavasu. Vidyapati tried his best but could not locate the place. But at last he managed to marry Viswavasu's daughter Lalita. At repeated request of Vidyapti, Viswavasu took his son-in-law blind folded to a cave where Lord Neela Madhaba was worshipped.

 

Vidyapati was very intelligent. He dropped mustard seeds on the ground on the way. The seeds germinated after a few days, which enabled him to find out the cave later on. On hearing from him, King Indradyumna proceeded immediately to Odra desha Orissa on a pilgrimage to see and worship the Deity. But the deity had disappeared. The king was disappointed. The Deity was hidden in sand. The king was determined not to return without having a darshan of the deity and observed fast unto death at Mount Neela, Then a celestial voice cried 'thou shalt see him.' Afterwards the king performed a horse sacrifice and built a magnificent temple for Vishnu. Sri Narasimha Murti brought by Narada was installed in the temple. During sleep, the king had a vision of Lord Jagannath. Also an astral voice directed him to receive the fragrant tree on the seashore and make idols out of it. Accordingly, the king got the image of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Chakra Sudarshan made out of the wood of the divine tree and installed them in the temple.

 

INDRADYUMNA´S PRAYER TO LORD BRAHMA

King Indradyumna put up for Jagannath the tallest monument of the world. It was 1,000 cubits high. He invited Lord Brahma, the cosmic creator, consecrate the temple and the images. Brahma came all the way from Heaven for this purpose. Seeing the temple he was immensely pleased with him. Brahma asked Indradyumna as to in what way can he (Brahma) fulfill the king's desire, since was very much pleased with him for his having put the most beautiful Temple for Lord Vishnu. With folded hands, Indradyumna said, "My Lord if you are really pleased with me, kindly bless me with one thing, and it is that I should be issueless and that I should be the last member of my family." In case anybody left alive after him, he would only take pride as the owner of the temple and would not work for the society.

 

THE EPISODE OF THE LORD´S GRACE DURING A WAR WITH KANCHI

At one time, a king of Kanchi in the down south remarked that the king of Orissa was a chandala (a man of very low caste or status) because, he performs the duties of a sweeper during the Car Festival. When this news reached the ears of the king of Orissa, he led an expedition to Kanchi. Before that, he implored the mercy of Lord Jagannath. The soldiers of Orissa marched towards Kanchi from Cuttack (earlier capital city of Orissa, located on the banks of Mahanadi, at a distance of 30 km from Bhubaneswar. It so happened that when the soldiers, headed by the king Purusottam Dev, reached a place near the Chilika lake, a lady, who was selling curd (yogurt) met him (the king) and presented a golden ring studded with precious gems and submitted. "My Lord, kindly listen to me. A little earlier, two soldiers riding over two horses (white and black in colour), approached me and said we are thirsty give us curds to drink.' I gave them curds. Instead of giving me money, they gave me this ring and said,'the king of Orissa will come here, after some time, on his way to Kanchi. You present it to him and he will pay you the money.' So my Lord, you take it and give me my dues.

 

It took no time for the king to know that the ring belongs to Lord Jagannath. He was convinced that Jagannath and Balabhadra were proceeding to the battle field ahead of him to help him there. To perpetuate the memory of this great incident, the king founded a village in the Chilika lake area. As the name of the lady was Manika, the name given to the village was Manika Patana. Even to this day, the curds of this village are famous.

 

LEGEND SURROUNDING THE TEMPLE ORIGIN

The traditional story concerning the origins of the Lord Jagannath temple is that here the original image of Jagannath (a deity form of Vishnu) at the end of Treta yuga manifested near a banyan tree, near seashore in the form of an Indranila nilamani or the Blue Jewel. It was so dazzling that it could grant instant moksha, so the god Dharma or Yama wanted to hide it in the earth, and was successful. In Dvapara Yuga King Indradyumna of Malwa wanted to find that mysterious image and to do so he performed harsh penances to obtain his goal. Vishnu then instructed him to go to the Puri seashore and find a floating log to make an image from its trunk.

 

The King found the log of wood. He did a yajna from which god Yajna Nrisimha appeared and instructed that Narayana should be made as fourfold expansion, i.e. Paramatma as Vasudeva, his Vyuha as Samkarshana, Yogamaya as Subhadra, and his Vibhava asSudarsana. Vishwakarma appeared in the form of artist and prepared images of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra from the tree. When this log, radiant with light was seen floating in the sea, Narada told the king to make three idols out of it and place them in a pavilion. Indradyumna got Visvakarma, the architect of Gods, to build a magnificent temple to house the idols and Vishnu himself appeared in the guise of a carpenter to make the idols on condition that he was to be left undisturbed until he finished the work.

 

But just after two weeks, the Queen became very anxious. She took the carpenter to be dead as no sound came from the temple. Therefore, she requested the king to open the door. Thus, they went to see Vishnu at work at which the latter abandoned his work leaving the idols unfinished. The idol was devoid of any hands. But a divine voice told Indradyumana to install them in the temple. It has also been widely believed that in spite of the idol being without hands, it can watch over the world and be its lord. Thus the idiom.

 

INVASIONS AND DESECRATIONS OF THE TEMPLE

The temple annals, the Madala Panji records that the Jagannath temple at Puri has been invaded and plundered eighteen times. The invasion by Raktabahu has been considered the first invasion on the temple by the Madalapanji.

 

RANJIT SINGH´S WILL

Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh, had donated massive amounts of gold to the Jagannath temple. In his last will, he also ordered that Koh-i-noor, the most precious and greatest diamond in the world, to be donated to this temple, but the diamond could never actually make its way to the temple because the British, by that time, had annexed the Punjab and all its royal possessions. Thus, claiming that the Koh-i-noor was theirs. It is currently a part of British crown jewels and is located in the Tower of London.

 

ENTRY AND DARSHAN

Temple has 4 entrances in all directions.Temple security is selective regarding who is allowed entry. Practicing Hindus of non-Indian descent are excluded from premises, as are Hindus of non-Indian origin. Visitors not allowed entry may view the precincts from the roof of the nearby Raghunandan Library and pay their respects to the image of God Jagannath known as Patitapavana at the main entrance to the temple. There is some evidence that this came into force following a series of invasions by foreigners into the temple and surrounding area. Buddhist, and Jain groups are allowed into the temple compound if they are able to prove their Indian ancestry. The temple has slowly started allowing Hindus of non-Indian origin into the area, after an incident in which 3 Balinese Hindus were denied entry, even though Bali is 90% Hindu.

 

The temple remains open from 5 am to 12 midnight. Unlike many other temples devotees can go behind the idols(go round the idols).All devotees are allowed to go right up to the deities during the Sahana Mela without paying any fees . The Sahana mela or the public darshan is usually following the abakasha puja between around 7 to 8 am in the morning. Special darshan or Parimanik darshan is when devotees on paying 50 Rupees are allowed right up to the deities. Parimanik darshan happens after the dhupa pujas at around 10 am, 1 pm and 8 pm . At all other times devotees can view the deities from some distance for free. The rathyatra occurs every year some time in the month of July. 2 or 6 weeks before Rathyatra (depending upon the year) there is a ritual of Lord undergoing "Bhukaar" (sick) hence the idols are not on "Darshan". Devotees to make a note of this before they plan to visit the lord.

 

CULTURAL INTEGRITY

Shrikshetra of Puri Jagannath, as is commonly known, can verily be said to be a truthful replica of Indian culture. To understand this culture, one has to have some idea of the history of this land, which again is different from that of other countries of the world.

 

Starting from Lord Jagannath himself, history has it that he was a tribal deity, adorned by the Sabar people, as a symbol of Narayan. Another legend claims him to be Nilamadhava, an image of Narayana made of blue stone and worshipped by the aboriginals. He was brought to Nilagiri (blue mountain) or Nilachala and installed there as Shri Jagannath in company with Balabhadra and Subhadra. The images made of wood are also claimed to have their distant linkage with the aboriginal system of worshipping wooden poles. To cap it all the Daitapatis, who have a fair share of responsibilities to perform rituals of the Temple, are claimed to be descendants of the aboriginals or hill tribes of Orissa. So we may safely claim that the beginning of the cultural history of Shrikshetra is found in the fusion of Hindu and Tribal Cultures. This has been accepted as a facet of our proud heritage. The three deities came to be claimed as the symbols of Samyak Darshan, Samyak Jnana and Samyak Charita usually regarded as Triratha (of the Jain cult), an assimilation of which leads to Moksha (salvation) or the ultimate bliss...

 

Jagannath is worshipped as Vishnu or Narayana or Krishna and Lord Balabhadra as Shesha. Simultaneously, the deities are regarded as the bhairava with Vimala (the devi or the consort of Shiva) installed in the campus of the temple. So ultimately we find a fusion of Saivism, Shaktism and Vaishnavism of the Hindu religion with Jainism and up to an extent Buddhism in the culture of Jagannath and the cultural tradition so reverently held together in Shrikshetra.

 

ACHARYAS AND JAGANNATHA PURI

All of the renowned acharyas including Madhvacharya have been known to visit this kshetra. Adi Shankara established his Govardhana matha here. There is also evidence that Guru Nanak, Kabir, Tulsidas, Ramanujacharya, and Nimbarkacharya had visited this place. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of Gaudiya Vaishnavism stayed here for 24 years, establishing that the love of god can be spread by chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. Srimad Vallabhacharya visited Jagannath Puri and performed a 7-day recitation of Srimad Bhagvat. His sitting place is still famous as "baithakji." It confirms his visit to Puri. A famous incident took place when Vallabhachrya visited. There was a discourse being held between the Brahmins and 4 questions were asked. Who is the highest of Gods, What is the highest of mantras, What is the highest scripture and What is the highest service. The discourse went on for many days with many schools of thought. Finally Shri Vallabh said to ask Lord Jagannath to confirm Shri Vallabh's answers. A pen and paper were left in the inner sanctum. After some time, the doors were opened and 4 answers were written. 1) The Son of Devaki (Krishna) is the God of Gods 2) His name is the highest of mantras 3) His song is the highest scripture (Bhagavat Geeta) 4) Service to Him is the Highest service. The king was shocked and declared Shri Vallabh the winner of the discourse. Some of the pandits who participated became jealous of Shri Vallabh and wanted to test Him. The next day was Ekadashi, a fasting day where one must fast from grains. The pandits gave Shri Vallabh rice Prasad of Shri Jagannathji (The temple is famous for this). If Shri Vallabh ate it, He would break His vow of fasting but if He did not take it, He would disrespect Lord Jagannath. Shri Vallabh accepted the prasad in his hand and spent the rest of the day and night explaining slokas of the greatness of Prasad and ate the rice the next morning.

 

CHAR DHAM

The temple is one of the holiest Hindu Char Dham (four divine sites) sites comprising Rameswaram, Badrinath, Puri and Dwarka. Though the origins are not clearly known, the Advaita school of Hinduism propagated by Sankaracharya, who created Hindu monastic institutions across India, attributes the origin of Char Dham to the seer. The four monasteries lie across the four corners of India and their attendant temples are Badrinath Temple at Badrinath in the North, Jagannath Temple at Puri in the East, Dwarakadheesh Temple at Dwarka in the West and Ramanathaswamy Temple at Rameswaram in the South. Though ideologically the temples are divided between the sects of Hinduism, namely Saivism and Vaishnavism, the Char Dham pilgrimage is an all Hindu affair. There are four abodes in Himalayas called Chota Char Dham (Chota meaning small): Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri - all of these lie at the foot hills of Himalayas The name Chota was added during the mid of 20th century to differentiate the original Char Dhams. The journey across the four cardinal points in India is considered sacred by Hindus who aspire to visit these temples once in their lifetime. Traditionally the trip starts at the eastern end from Puri, proceeding in clockwise direction in a manner typically followed for circumambulation in Hindu temples.

 

STRUCTURE

The huge temple complex covers an area of over 37,000 m2, and is surrounded by a high fortified wall. This 6.1 m high wall is known as Meghanada Pacheri. Another wall known as kurma bedha surrounds the main temple. It contains at least 120 temples and shrines. With its sculptural richness and fluidity of the Oriya style of temple architecture, it is one of the most magnificent monuments of India. The temple has four distinct sectional structures, namely -

 

- Deula, Vimana or Garba griha (Sanctum sanctorum) where the triad deities are lodged on the ratnavedi (Throne of Pearls). In Rekha Deula style;

- Mukhashala (Frontal porch);

- Nata mandir/Natamandapa, which is also known as the Jagamohan (Audience Hall/Dancing Hall), and

- Bhoga Mandapa (Offerings Hall).

 

The main temple is a curvilinear temple and crowning the top is the 'srichakra' (an eight spoked wheel) of Vishnu. Also known as the "Nilachakra", it is made out of Ashtadhatu and is considered sacrosanct. Among the existing temples in Orissa, the temple of Shri Jagannath is the highest. The temple tower was built on a raised platform of stone and, rising to 65 m above the inner sanctum where the deities reside, dominates the surrounding landscape. The pyramidal roofs of the surrounding temples and adjoining halls, or mandapas, rise in steps toward the tower like a ridge of mountain peaks.

 

NILA CHAKRA

The Nila Chakra (Blue Discus) is the discus mounted on the top shikhar of the Jagannath Temple. As per custom, everyday a different flag is waved on the Nila Chakra. The flag hoisted on the Nila Cakra is called the Patita Pavana (Purifier of the Fallen) and is equivalent to the image of the deities placed in the sanctum sanctorum .

 

The Nila Chakra is a disc with eight Navagunjaras carved on the outer circumference, with all facing towards the flagpost above. It is made of alloy of eight metals (Asta-dhatu) and is 3.5 Metres high with a circumference of about 11 metres. During the year 2010, the Nila Chakra was repaired and restored by the Archaeological Survey of India.

 

The Nila Chakra is distinct from the Sudarshana chakra which has been placed with the deities in the inner sanctorum.

 

Nila Chakra is the most revered iconic symbol in the Jagannath cult. The Nila Chakra is the only physical object whose markings are used as sacrament and considered sacred in Jagannath worship. It symbolizes protection by Shri Jagannath.

 

THE SINGHADWARA

The Singahdwara, which in Sanskrit means The Lion Gate, is one of the four gates to the temple and forms the Main entrance. The Singhadwara is so named because two huge statues of crouching lions exist on either side of the entrance. The gate faces east opening on to the Bada Danda or the Grand Road. The Baisi Pahacha or the flight of twenty two steps leads into the temple complex. An idol of Jagannath known as Patitapavana, which in Sanskrit, means the "Saviour of the downtrodden and the fallen" is painted on the right side of the entrance. In ancient times when untouchables were not allowed inside the temple, they could pray to Patita Pavana. The statues of the two guards to the temple Jaya and Vijaya stand on either side of the doorway. Just before the commencement of the Rath Yatra the idols of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra are taken out of the temple through this gate. On their return from the Gundicha Temple they have to ceremonially placate Goddess Mahalakshmi, whose statue is carved atop the door, for neglecting to take her with them on the Yatra. Only then the Goddess allows them permission to enter the temple. A magnificent sixteen-sided monolithic pillar known as the Arun stambha stands in front of the main gate. This pillar has an idol of Arun, the charioteer of the Sun God Surya, on its top. One significant thing about Arun stambha is that prior it was located in the Konark Sun temple, later, the Maratha guru Brahmachari Gosain brought this pillar from Konark. The Puri Jagannath Temple was also saved by Maratha emperor Shivaji from being plundered at his times from the Mughals.

 

OTHER ENTRANCES

Apart from the Singhadwara, which is the main entrance to the temple, there are three other entrances facing north, south and west. They are named after the sculptures of animals guarding them. The other entrances are the Hathidwara or the Elephant Gate, the Vyaghradwara or the Tiger Gate and the Ashwadwara or the Horse Gate.

 

MINOR TEMPLES

There are numerous smaller temples and shrines within the Temple complex where active worship is regularly conducted. The Vimala Temple (Bimala Temple) is considered one of the most important of the Shaktipeeths marks the spot where the goddess Sati's feet fell. It is located near Rohini Kund in the temple complex. Until food offered to Jagannath is offered to Goddess Vimala it is not considered Mahaprasad.

 

The temple of Mahalakshmi has an important role in rituals of the main temple. It is said that preparation of naivedya as offering for Jagannath is supervised by Mahalakshmi. The Kanchi Ganesh Temple is dedicated to Uchchhishta Ganapati. Tradition says the King of Kanchipuram (Kanchi) in ancient times gifted the idol, when Gajapati Purushottama Deva married Padmavati, the kanchi princess. There are other shrines namely Muktimandap, Surya, Saraswati, Bhuvaneshwari, Narasimha, Rama, Hanuman and Eshaneshwara.

 

THE MANDAPAS

There are many Mandapas or Pillared halls on raised platforms within the temple complex meant for religious congregations. The most prominent is the Mukti Mandapa the congregation hall of the holy seat of selected learned brahmins. Here important decisions regarding conduct of daily worship and festivals are taken. The Dola Mandapa is noteworthy for a beautifully carved stone Torana or arch which is used for constructing a swing for the annual Dol Yatra festival. During the festival the idol of Dologobinda is placed on the swing. The Snana Bedi is a rectangular stone platform where idols of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra are placed for ceremonial bathing during the annual Snana Yatra

 

DAILY FOOD OFFERINGS

Daily offerings are made to the Lord six times a day. These include:

 

- The offering to the Lord in the morning that forms his breakfast and is called Gopala Vallabha Bhoga. Breakfast consists of seven items i.e. Khua, Lahuni, Sweetened coconut grating, Coconut water, and popcorn sweetened with sugar known as Khai, Curd and Ripe bananas.

- The Sakala Dhupa forms his next offering at about 10 AM. This generally consists of 13 items including the Enduri cake & Mantha puli.

- Bada Sankhudi Bhoga forms the next repast & the offering consists of Pakhala with curd and Kanji payas. The offerings are made in the Bhog Mandapa, about 200 feet from the Ratnabedi. This is called Chatra Bhog and was introduced by Adi Shankaracharya in the 8th century to help pilgrims share the temple food.

- The Madhyanha dhupa forms the next offering at the noon.

- The next offering to the Lord is made in the evening at around 8 PM it is Sandhya Dhupa.

- The last offering to the Lord is called the Bada Simhara Bhoga.

 

The Mahaprasad of Lord Jagannath are distributed amongst the devotees near the Ratnavedi inside the frame of Phokaria, which is being drawn by the Puja pandas using Muruj, except for the Gopal Ballav Bhog and Bhog Mandap Bhoga which are distributed in the Anabsar Pindi & Bhoga Mandap respectively.

 

ROSAGHARA

The temple's kitchen is considered as the largest kitchen in the world. Tradition maintains that all food cooked in the temple kitchens are supervised by the Goddess Mahalakshmi, the empress of Srimandir herself. It is said that if the food prepared has any fault in it, a shadow dog appears near the temple kitchen. The temple cooks, or Mahasuaras, take this as a sign of displeasure of Mahalakshmi with the food, which is, then, promptly buried and a new batch cooked. All food is cooked following rules as prescribed by Hindu religious texts, the food cooked is pure vegetarian without using onions and garlic. Cooking is done only in earthen pots with water drawn from two special wells near the kitchen called Ganga and Yamuna. There are a total of 56 varieties of naivedhyas offered to the deities, near Ratnabedi as well as in Bhoga Mandap on five particular Muhurta. The most awaited Prasad is Kotho Bhoga or Abadha, offered at mid-day at around 1 pm, depending upon temple rituals. The food after being offered to Jagannath is distributed in reasonable portions as Mahaprasad, which is considered to be divine by the devotees in the Ananda Bazar (an open market, located to the North-east of the Singhadwara inside the Temple complex).

 

FESTIVALS

There are elaborate daily worship services. There are many festivals each year attended by millions of people. The most important festival is the Rath Yatra or the Chariot festival in June. This spectacular festival includes a procession of three huge chariots bearing the idols of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra through the Bada Danda meaning the Grand Avenue of Puri till their final destination the Gundicha Temple. Early European observers told tales of devotees being crushed under the wheels of these chariots, whether by accident or even as a form of meritorious suicide akin to suttee. These reports gave rise to the loan word juggernaut suggesting an immense, unstoppable, threatening entity or process operated by fanatics. Many festivals like Dol Yatra in spring and Jhulan Yatra in monsoon are celebrated by temple every year.Pavitrotsava and Damanaka utsava are celebrated as per panchanga or panjika.There are special ceremonies in the month of Kartika and Pausha.

 

The annual shodasha dinatmaka or 16 day puja beginning 8 days prior to Mahalaya of Ashwin month for goddess Vimala and ending on Vijayadashami, is of great importance, in which both the utsava murty of lord Madanmohan and Vimala take part.

 

- Pana Sankranti: Also known or Vishuva Sankranti and Mesha Sankranti: Special rituals are performed at the temple.

 

RATH YATRA AT PURI

The Jagannath triad are usually worshiped in the sanctum of the temple at Puri, but once during the month of Asadha (Rainy Season of Orissa, usually falling in month of June or July), they are brought out onto the Bada Danda (main street of Puri) and travel (3 km) to the Shri Gundicha Temple, in huge chariots (ratha), allowing the public to have darśana (Holy view). This festival is known as Rath Yatra, meaning the journey (yatra) of the chariots (ratha). The Rathas are huge wheeled wooden structures, which are built anew every year and are pulled by the devotees. The chariot for Jagannath is approximately 45 feet high and 35 feet square and takes about 2 months to construct. The artists and painters of Puri decorate the cars and paint flower petals and other designs on the wheels, the wood-carved charioteer and horses, and the inverted lotuses on the wall behind the throne. The huge chariots of Jagannath pulled during Rath Yatra is the etymological origin of the English word Juggernaut. The Ratha-Yatra is also termed as the Shri Gundicha yatra.

 

The most significant ritual associated with the Ratha-Yatra is the chhera pahara." During the festival, the Gajapati King wears the outfit of a sweeper and sweeps all around the deities and chariots in the Chera Pahara (sweeping with water) ritual. The Gajapati King cleanses the road before the chariots with a gold-handled broom and sprinkles sandalwood water and powder with utmost devotion. As per the custom, although the Gajapati King has been considered the most exalted person in the Kalingan kingdom, he still renders the menial service to Jagannath. This ritual signified that under the lordship of Jagannath, there is no distinction between the powerful sovereign Gajapati King and the most humble devotee.

 

Chera pahara is held on two days, on the first day of the Ratha Yatra, when the deities are taken to garden house at Mausi Maa Temple and again on the last day of the festival, when the deities are ceremoniously brought back to the Shri Mandir.

 

As per another ritual, when the deities are taken out from the Shri Mandir to the Chariots in Pahandi vijay.

 

In the Ratha Yatra, the three deities are taken from the Jagannath Temple in the chariots to the Gundicha Temple, where they stay for nine days. Thereafter, the deities again ride the chariots back to Shri Mandir in bahuda yatra. On the way back, the three chariots halt at the Mausi Maa Temple and the deities are offered Poda Pitha, a kind of baked cake which are generally consumed by the Odisha people only.

 

The observance of the Rath Yatra of Jagannath dates back to the period of the Puranas. Vivid descriptions of this festival are found in Brahma Purana, Padma Purana, and Skanda Purana. Kapila Samhita also refers to Rath Yatra. In Moghul period also, King Ramsingh of Jaipur, Rajasthan has been described as organizing the Rath Yatra in the 18th Century. In Orissa, Kings of Mayurbhanj and Parlakhemundi were organizing the Rath Yatra, though the most grand festival in terms of scale and popularity takes place at Puri.

 

Moreover, Starza notes that the ruling Ganga dynasty instituted the Rath Yatra at the completion of the great temple around 1150 AD. This festival was one of those Hindu festivals that was reported to the Western world very early. Friar Odoric of Pordenone visited India in 1316-1318, some 20 years after Marco Polo had dictated the account of his travels while in a Genoese prison. In his own account of 1321, Odoric reported how the people put the "idols" on chariots, and the King and Queen and all the people drew them from the "church" with song and music.

 

CHANDAN YATRA

In Akshaya Tritiya every year the Chandan Yatra festival marks the commencement of the construction of the Chariots of the Rath Yatra.

 

SNANA PURNIMA

On the Purnima of the month of Jyestha the Gods are ceremonially bathed and decorated every year on the occasion of Snana Yatra.

 

ANAVASARA OR ANASARA

Literally means vacation. Every year, the main idols of Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra & Sudarshan after the holy Snana Yatra on the jyestha purnima, go to a secret altar named Anavasara Ghar where they remain for the next dark fortnight (Krishna paksha). Hence devotees are not allowed to view them. Instead of this devotees go to nearby place Brahmagiri to see their beloved lord in the form of four handed form Alarnath a form of Vishnu. Then people get the first glimpse of lord on the day before Rath Yatra, which is called 'Navayouvana. It is said that the gods fall in fever after taking a huge bath and they are treated by the special servants named, Daitapatis for 15 days. During this period cooked food is not offered to the deities.

 

NAVA KALEBARA

One of the most grandiloquent events associated with the Lord Jagannath, Naba Kalabera takes place when one lunar month of Ashadha is followed by another lunar month of Aashadha. This can take place in 8, 12 or even 18 years. Literally meaning the “New Body” (Nava = New, Kalevar = Body), the festival is witnessed by as millions of people and the budget for this event exceeds $500,000. The event involves installation of new images in the temple and burial of the old ones in the temple premises at Koili Vaikuntha. The idols that are currently being worshipped in the temple premises were installed in the year 1996. Next ceremony will be held on 2015. More than 3 million devotees are expected to visit the temple during the Nabakalevara of 2015 making it one of the most visited festivals in the world.

 

NILADRI BIJE

Celebrated on Asadha Trayodashi. Niladri Bije is the concluding day of Ratha yatra. On this day deities return to the ratna bedi. Lord Jagannath offers Rasgulla to goddess Laxmi to enter in to the temple.

 

GUPTA GUNDICHA

Celebrated for 16 days from Ashwina Krushna dwitiya to Vijayadashami. As per tradition, the idol of Madhaba, along with the idol of Goddess Durga (known as Durgamadhaba), is taken on a tour of the temple premises. The tour within the temple is observed for the first eight days. For the next eight days, the idols are taken outside the temple on a palanquin to the nearby Narayani temple situated in the Dolamandapa lane. After their worship, they are brought back to the temple.

 

THE NAME PURUSHOTTAMA KSHETRA AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

Lord Jagannath is the Purushottama as per the scripture, Skanda Purana. In order to teach human beings how to lead a life full of virtue, he has taken the form of Saguna Brahman or Darubrahman. He is the best brother to his siblings, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra. He is the best husband to goddess Shri. The most noteworthy aspect is still in the month of Margashirsha, on three consecutive days during amavasya he does Shraddha to his parents (Kashyapa-Aditi, Dasharatha-Kaushalya, Vasudeva-Devaki, Nanda-Yashoda), along with the king Indradyumna and queen Gundicha. As a master he enjoys every comfort daily and in various festivals. He grants all wishes to his subjects, and those who surrender before him he takes the utmost care of.

 

CULTURE AND TRADITION OF PURI

Puri is one of the fascinating littoral districts of Orissa. The Cultural heritage of Puri with its long recorded history has its beginnings in the third century B.C. The monuments, religious sanctity, and way of life of the people with their rich tradition is the cultural heart of Orissa. Indeed, Puri is considered the cultural capital of Orissa. The culture here flourished with its manifold activities.

 

The District has the happy conglomerate of different religions, sects and faith. In the course of history, Hindu, Buddhist, Jaina, Muslim, Christian, and Sikh are found here in the District.

 

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, an incarnation of Lord Krishna, appeared 500 years ago, in the mood of a devotee to taste the sublime emotions of ecstasy by chanting the holy name of Krishna. Stalwart scholars of Puri like Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya (a priest & great Sanskrit pandit) and others followed His teachings. Even kings and ministers of His period became His disciples. Especially King Prataparudra became His great admirer and ardent follower. Thus all cultures and religion became one in Puri after his teachings were given to all with no consideration of caste and creed.

 

MANAGEMENT

After independence, the State Government, with a view to getting better administrative system, passed " The Puri Shri Jagannath Temple (Administration) Act, 1952. It contained provisions to prepare the Record of Rights and duties of Sevayats and such other persons connected with the system of worship and management of the temple. Subsequently Shri Jagannath Temple Act, 1955 " was enacted to reorganize the management system of the affair of the temple and its properties.

 

SECURITY

The security at the 12th century Jagannath Temple is increased ahead of Ratha Yatra, the homecoming festival of the deities of Jagannath temple. In the wake of terror alert on 27 June 2012, the security forces were increased to ensure smooth functioning of the crowded Ratha Yatra and Suna Besha.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Blanchetown and Paisley.

This usually bypassed Murray River town is one of the oldest river towns in SA but with two modern bridges across the Murray few ever venture into the old town. It was named after Lady Blanche, wife of our 6th Governor, Sir Richard MacDonnell. Blanchetown replaced an earlier settlement a few kms south of this spot called Moorundie. More of that later. Blanchetown was a very isolated spot being the only settlement between Truro and Wentworth in NSW when it was established. The nearest settlement was Mannum established in 1856 and the earliest town along settled along the Murray was Wellington established in 1840. Blanchetown was surveyed as a government town and laid out in 1855 and like Wellington it had a police presence and a police station from 1859 as there were no other law officials between Wellington and Blanchetown. This was frontier country. The government had decided to act and create a town at this place because of the birth of the River Murray boat trade after 1854 (Captains Randell and Cadell had had their race up the Murray to Wellington with paddle steamers and the Governor of SA Sir Henry Fox in 1853). Suddenly this areas were more attractive to pastoralists and traders. And as noted above the government had commissioned a rail survey and feasibly plan in 1856 for the extension of the railway line from Kapunda to Blanchetown. This was a very preliminary study as the railway line from Adelaide did not reach Gawler until 1857 and although it had been planned earlier the railway did not reach Kapunda until 1860! Despite this drawback the town of Blanchetown progressed because of the river boat trade and the opening up of trade links to the pastoralists up the Darling River beyond the early settlement of Wentworth. But its dreams of being a rail terminus and major port along the Murray never eventuated. Morgan got that prize and consequential wealth in 1878.

 

Blanchetown was created out of Edward John Eyre’s 1839 Moorundie Special Survey of around 4,000 acres. Town lots were first sold in 1857 and the town soon had a hotel (1858), which was the license from Eardley Heywood’s Old Whipstick Inn which was first licensed in 1845 on his Portee Station. In Blanchetown it was named the Heywood arms which was later changed to the Blanchetown Hotel. Later came a Post Office and Telegraph Station (1865), a general store and Police Station. The current Police Station built in 1969 is not in the town but on the main highway near the roadhouse. A proposed Customs house for the river trade to NSW in 1856 never eventuated as it was later built in Morgan. Attempts were made to build paddle steamers in Blanchetown but only two ever completed. But the commercial ferry service across the river (from 1869) bought some business and trade to the town as did the mail and coach service from Truro to Wellington and sheep stations away from the riverbanks via Blanchetown. The government took over the punt service in 1879 as a sop to the town after the opening of the port of Morgan and the town losing its Sub Collector of Customs. In the same year 1879 the state school was built. No early churches were built here despite the growing size of the town. But like later Riverland towns Blanchetown would have been serviced the church paddle steamers. The Methodists had the paddle steamer Glad Tidings from 1894. This was a very appropriate name for a church boat. This was later replaced by the Endeavour in 1909. Once the Riverland towns were established between 1910 and 1920 the church paddle steamers were stopped. The Anglicans had the paddle steamer the Etona which operated up and down the river, including stops at Blanchetown, from 1891 to 1914 conducting baptisms, marriages, masses and even occasional funerals if they were in port when needed. Eventually Blanchetown got a church – the Paisley Lutheran Church on the eastern bank of the Murray which opened in 1903. Paisley was an early area for irrigated fruit orchards at Blanchetown. The Hundred of Paisley was declared in 1860 but it attracted few settlers until irrigation was possible after the completion of Lock One at Blanchetown in 1922. This new Lutheran church at Paisley had its own cemetery but the town cemetery of Blanchetown had opened in 1865. For many years Blanchetown was also serviced by the paddle steamer Pyap which was run by Eudunda Farmers a floating general store between 1908 and 1940.

 

The big event in the history of Blanchetown was the erection of this first lock, number one at Blanchetown from 1915. The Prime Minister of Australia and our state Premier attended, as did many other state and national politicians when the start of work on the lock commenced in 1915. Such was the national importance of this event for all states using the Murray River. But lock number one was not completed until 1922 as the first of around 30 locks to control the flows of the river to ensure it was always navigable for paddle steamers. Alas, by the time the lock at Blanchetown was completed the river boat trade was already dying as motor transport was taking over. But this lock and the others up to Albury all helped with flood control, except in the years of major floods such as 1956. The second bridge across the Murray in SA was opened at Blanchetown in 1963. Unfortunately it was built on unstable land and the pre-stressed concrete bridge began to sink into the river by the early 1990s. It was consequently replaced with the current and second Blanchetown bridge in 1998. South of the road bridge and east of the Lock are 19 recorded Aboriginal canoe trees indicative of the importance of this place to Aboriginal people.

 

Edward John Eyre and Moorundie and Portee Station.

The real importance of Blanchetown lies with the settlement at Moorundie just to its south which began with Edward John Eyre but has now all been swept away by time and Murray River floods. Just the memorial to Moorundie and Eyre remains in Blanchetown. In 1839 explorer Edward John Eyre took out a Special Survey of 4,000 acres of land for £4,000 with Osmond Gilles along the Murray at this spot. He got the money for this from his profit of overlanding cattle to SA in 1838. It was a narrow 12 mile stretch along the banks of the river in an area with substantial river flats. Eyre also took out another Special survey further south with Osmond Gilles at the spot where Mannum now stands along the Murray. Eyre established the first white settlement anywhere in Australia along the Murray in 1842 at Moorundie. A fine sketch of his station homestead, really just a good hut, was drawn by General Edward Frome, the third Survey General of SA from 1839 to 1849 and it is in the Art Gallery of SA. Eyre was out to make money in the colonies hence his decision to be the second person to overland cattle from NSW to SA in 1838 after Charles Bonney and Joseph Hawdon had done the inaugural run earlier in 1838. His overlanding of cattle had shown him the country along the Murray so he knew where he wanted to select his Special Survey. Eyre subdivided part of his land to create the tiny settlement of Sturt (named after his explorer friend who had also overlanded cattle in 1838 to SA) but only one person appears to have joined him there as a land owner! He was one of the Hawker brothers of Bungaree, James Hawker who visited Eyre in December 1842 and purchased one acre of land from him in early 1843 on which to raise pigs. Hawker did not stay for long.

 

After Eyre moved onto his 350 aces of freehold land in 1842 he planted lucerne, corn and wheat on irrigated river flats for fodder for his cattle. He built little weirs and channels to divert some of the river course. He also used a native grass which produced flowers heads similar to millet for his horses. It was this grass the pigs liked and partly explains why James Hawker wanted to raise pigs there. Eyre’s first crop of wheat grew to over six feet high. Eyre was respectful of the local Aboriginals but trouble had erupted with them by other white overlanders especially further up the Murray near the NSW border. Eyre was appointed a Sub Protector of Aborigines in 1841 and a small police presence and barracks were established at his Moorundie station. Eyre’s first houses was made of reeds but his £300 a year salary as Sub Protector of Aborigines allowed him to replace that with a stone house. The front rooms for the house were used as a Courthouse. He also had stone military barracks built. 13 soldiers and a Sergeant from the 96th Regiment were stationed at Moorundie and 3 policemen. With Eyre’s servants and workmen the settlement of Moorundie had 43 residents by October 1841. Eyre had some of his materials and supplies brought up the river from the Murray Mouth so that he would have a couple of boats to use on the Murray. Eyre resigned as Sub Protector of Aborigines in 1843 once white dominance and peace was restored along the Upper Murray. Eyre was restless and soon left his friend Edward Scott to look after Moorundie whilst Eyre went exploring again in 1844. Then a flood in late 1844 swept away Eyre’s small weirs, irrigation channels and the crops. At this point Eyre gave up on trying to farm at Moorundie and returned to England early in 1845. He then disposed of his lands in SA and in NSW where he had land near Queanbeyan. In 1846 he was sent to NZ as Lieutenant Governor with a large salary package before ending up as a very controversial Governor of Jamaica in the 1860s where he brutally suppressed a black rebellion. The ruins of the police barracks and his homestead at Moorundie were finally swept away by the great Murray flood of 1870 which was similar to the flood of 1956. But Eyre’s contribution to the exploration of SA is acknowledged by the many place names bearing his name. His farming efforts were not successful and did not bring him great wealth. Eyre’s friend and assistant E Scott who looked after Eyre’s Moorundie property when Eyre was away or exploring stayed on after Eyre left SA. Scott stayed at Moorundie until 1859 when he moved to property he had acquire at Nor West Bend- Morgan. Between 1854 and 1859 Scott ran a Post Office at Moorundie. A pound keeper operated at Moorundie for some year too and his name which is Nott was recorded in Notts Well near Blanchetown. The pound operated from 1856 to around 1861.

 

Next to Moorundie station J Henderson took out a large leasehold property in 1841 which he named Portee station. This was acquired in 1845 by Eardley Heywood who held Portee station until his death in 1877. After Eyre left Moorundie in 1845 Heywood acquired the land as leased land which he added to his adjacent Portee station. Heywood then controlled the land from Blanchetown to Swan Reach along the Murray. He built a solid stone homestead for Portee near the river but this was swept away in a flood of 1852 so he built another homestead further away from the river atop some cliffs in 1853. It is still the Portee station homestead. Portee grew to 110 square miles of pastoral lease. The old homestead and outbuildings buildings still remain in private hands. For some years in the 1850s a district pound for straying sheep and cattle was operated by William Nott at Moorundie which was by then part of Portee station. In 1845 some of Eyre’s Special Survey lands to the north of Blanchetown (and Portee station) at Roonka were acquired as lease land by Lachlan McBean of Baldon station back near Truro.

 

Heywood arrived in SA in 1842 at age 20 years but with considerable capital. He entered the pastoral industry with a cattle property at Beefacres near Adelaide in 1844 before taking up Portee. He also had houses in Adelaide, Gawler and Goolwa and his own paddle steamer for getting to Goolwa and back. Heywood’s properties were sold in 1879 two years after his death in 1877. His Portee station at that time covered 110 square miles; his Swan Reach and inland Murray Mallee runs covered 330 square miles; and he had 2,475 acres of freehold land at Portee. He also had stations both sides of the Victorian border north of Bordertown. Eardley had married but unfortunately his first wife and three of his five children all died of diphtheria within one week. Eardley Heywood died in North Adelaide and was buried at Gawler where he had donated generously to the St George’s Anglican Church organ fund. His land between Portee and Sandleton was resumed upon his death for closer settlement. Mainly German background settlers took up these marginal lands further north than Swan Reach.

 

Replacing the original number 19, this Leyland National was previously East Kent NFN71M then National Welsh N1504. It came to the Isle of Man in 1985. Seen in Douglas on 23 May 1986,

+++ 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 Kawasaki Ki-121 was an experimental fighter aircraft that used a license-built (Kawasaki) DB 601 liquid-cooled engine, the Ha-40, augmented by a turbosupercharger. This was at that time an unusual choice because the majority of Japanese aircraft at that time used air-cooled radial engines.

 

The Ki-121 was designed by Takeo Doi and his deputy Shin Owada of Kawasaki Aircraft Industries (Kawasaki Kokuki Kogyo K.K.) in 1942, who had already designed the Ki-60 and Ki-61 interceptors in 1940. The emphasis in the requirements was for a high speed and a good rate of climb, along with a cannon armament. This was in due response to a complete change from the usual IJAAF penchant for lightly armed, highly manoeuvrable fighters with lightweight structures, which proved to be unsatisfactory against heavy bombers and their escort fighters.

 

The first prototype of the Ki-121 emerged in March 1943 as a compact, all metal, stressed skin monoplane, bearing a strong resemblance to the Ki-61. Its tapered wings featured initially square wing tips and were built around a system of three spars; a Warren truss main spar and two auxiliary spars. The rear spar carried the split flaps and long, narrow chord ailerons, while the front spar incorporated the undercarriage pivot points. The undercarriage track was 3 metres (9 ft 10 in). The pilot's seat was mounted over the rear spar, the cockpit sported a bubble canopy, another innovative feature that allowed the pilot excellent view.

 

The first prototype was powered by an imported DB 601A-1 with a radial compressor, rated at 960 hp. This was soon replaced by an Aichi AE1 Atsuta 12 engine (a license-built, modified version of the DB 601) which was mated with a turbo supercharger, installed on the port fuselage side, right behind the engine block. This new engine put out 1.560 hp and drove a four-bladed propeller. This especially improved performance at greater heights.

Another innovative feature of the Ki-121 was the steam vapour cooling system for its engine, which had been successfully tested in parallel for the heavy Ki-64 fighter on a Ki-61 test bed. The system was installed in the outer wings. It effectively reduced drag and made an external radiator superfluous. The oil cooler was mounted under the engine (the first prototype sported a single radiator bath, which was later replaced by two drum coolers). A total fuel capacity of 550 l (121 Imp gal) was carried in self-sealing fuel tanks in the lower hull and inner wings, which could be augmented by 2 x 200 l (44 Imp gal) drop tanks under wing hardpoints.

 

The armament consisted of two synchronized, fuselage mounted 12.7 mm calibre Ho-103 machine guns which were set in a "staggered" configuration (the port weapon slightly further forward than that to starboard) just above and behind the engine. In the prototype, one German-made Mauser MG 151/20 20 mm cannon was housed in each wing, just outside of the landing gear wells and the propeller’s radius. The wing hardpoints could, alternatively to the drop tanks, carry a maximum bomb weight of 160kg each or unguided 60 lbs. air-to-air rockets.

 

From the start of flight testing it became apparent that the original design was seriously flawed in several key areas. The take-off run was unacceptably long, while in flight the aircraft displayed some directional instability, excessively heavy controls and poor control response. The spinning characteristics were described as 'dangerous' and the stalling speed was very high. On the positive side, the re-engined Ki-121 prototype showed an impressive top speed of 640 kilometres per hour (400 mph) and a very good rate of climb. Additionally, the cooling system worked well and reliably, only the oil cooler capacity had to be improved.

 

As a result the second prototype, which was still being built, was hurriedly modified in an attempt to mitigate some of the more undesirable traits. Some 100 kilograms (220 lb) was removed, primarily by replacing the MG 151 cannons with Ho-5 machine guns and through structural simplifications. The stabilizer areas were tremendously enlarged (both vertical and horizontal fins). Coupled with a slight increase in wing area to 16.80 m² (180.8 ft²) through rounded wing tip extensions this resulted in a slightly lower wing loading and better handling characteristics. Detail changes were also made to airframe sealing and to the contours of the oil cooler air intakes.

Flight tests carried on, and while most shortcomings could be ironed out, the modified prototypes still displayed most of the shortcomings, just to a lesser extent. The supercharged engine also caused teething troubles – maintenance requirements were high. By this time Kawasaki's Ki-100, which had also been designed as a dedicated interceptor as a Ki-61 derivate, was also beginning to show promise and the Koku Hombu selected this type in fulfilment of its requirements.

 

Nevertheless, the Ki-121 was approved by the Koku Hombu as 'Army Type 6 Fighter' because of its high speed. An order was placed for one additional prototype and eighteen pre-production aircraft with even more enlarged tail fins. These bore the designation Ki-121-I and were named "Hitofuki" (‘gust of wind’ or ‘blast’). A further version with enlarged wing span as a high altitude interceptor, the Ki-121-II, was also in the design stage, but did not become hardware. The use of 2 × 30 mm (1.18 in) Ho-155 cannon in the wings was also envisioned.

 

The war's soon end however stopped the construction of further planes. The number of prototypes remained two, and twelve Ki-121-I pre-production aircraft with marginal improvements reached frontline squadrons in April 1945. It is not known if the Ki-121 was actively involved in homeland defence, it never received an allied code name - active planes will probably have been mistaken for Ki-61 fighters. Eventually, the Ki-121 did not progress any further. Its place was taken by the less complicated and more promising Ki-100 with a radial engine.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 8.90 m (29 ft 2 in)

Wingspan: 10.58 m (34 ft 9 in)

Height: 3.05 m (10 ft 0 in)

Wing area: 16.80 m² (180.8 ft²)

Empty weight: 2.580 kg (5.690 lb)

Max. take-off weight: 3,900 kg (8,600 lb)

 

Maximum speed: 640 km/h (345 kn, 400 mph) at 7,500 m (24,600 ft)

Range: 950 km (515 nmi, 590 mi)

Service ceiling: 11,500 m (37,730 ft)

Time to 5,000 m altitude: 4 min 47 sec

Engine: 1 supercharged Aichi AE1T Atsuta 12 twelve-cylinder inverted vee liquid-cooled engine, rated at 1,560 hp for take-off, 1,340 hp at 2,100 m and 1,190 hp at 5,800 m.

 

Armament:

2 × 12.7 mm Ho-103 machine guns, 400 rpg, in the nose

2 × 20 mm Ho-5 cannon, 250 rpg, in the wings

Bombs: 2 × 160 kg (350 lb) bombs or 2 x 200 l (44 Imp gal) drop tanks on underwing hardpoints

  

The kit and its assembly

In case you are in doubt: this is a whiff! The fictional Ki-121 actually is an Italian Macchi C.205 'Veltro' (an Italeri kit). I settled on this machine since it can easily be mistaken for a Ki-61 – e. g. both planes used the same DB 601 engine, and originally I just wanted to create a colour version in Japanese markings. But with building progress, things turned more and more Frankenstein, so that only hull and wings are original.

 

Cosmetic surgery and replacement parts include:

 

● Bubble canopy from an A-1 Skyraider single seater (a bit large, took some putty work…)

● Rear fuselage section was lowered for the new bubble canopy

● Horizontal stabilizers from a DH.88 Comet

● Vertical stabilizer is the tip of a Ju 188 elevator

● New wheels on the original (though reversed) main landing gear struts

● Scratch-built, semi-recessed turbocharger on port side

● Relocating the original air intake to starboard, w/o the sand filter

● For-bladed propeller and spinner from a Spitfire Mk. XVI

● Wing hardpoints (empty, though, for the sake of the plane’s clear lines)

● The original C.205’s radiator bath was omitted

● Flaps were lowered/opened, with some interior details

 

No dramatic change was intended, since the C.205's lines are pretty elegant and IMHO match Kawasaki’s designs of the era, like the Ki-61 or Ki-64, well. The result is a compact machine, reminiscent of a heavily shrunk Blackburn Firebrand prototype?

  

Painting

Since the fictional history of the Ki-121 only saw a couple of fighters in uncertain front line use, I settled on a typical late IJAAF livery based on various sources and references: overall blank metal (Testor’s Metallizer Aluminium Plate #1401) with a black anti-glare panel (Humbrol 33), coupled with an improvised, dark green camouflage on the upper surfaces and some colourful squadron markings.

 

Cockpit interior surfaces were painted in ‘Aodake Iro’, simulated with a base of Aluminium (Humbrol 56) and a coat of translucent blue paint on top of that. The landing gear wells were painted in a mix of Humbrol 225 (Mid Stone) and 155 (Olive Drab), for a greenish tan colour.

 

Hinomaru and squadron emblems come from the scrap box. The blue markings are fictional, the red dragon head emblems come from an aftermarket decal sheet. They belong to the JASDF 105 Sqn, which flew Ki-61 from Aug.’44-Aug. ’45, so it is IMHO a potential/plausible user for the Ki-121-I. This sentai later switched to F-86D interceptors - and from these machines come the emblems.

 

Since the improvised camouflage easily chipped/weathered (no primer was applied), a slightly ratty look was intended. Hence, decals were already applied onto the aluminium base coat, after basic markings like the glare panel or the yellow identification marks (with Humbrol 69) on the wings’ leading edges had been painted. Then, Humbrol’s Maskol was dabbed onto certain areas with a toothbrush and a fine, stiff-bristled brush around markings and hinomaru.

On top of that, green mottles and streaks (Humbrol 159, Khaki Drab, as a simultaion of the IJAAF's "A.2 Olive Green" tone) were applied with a small brush. The idea was to create a hand-painted look, with aluminium shimmering through and many extra worn areas that show even more bare metal skin.

 

After rubbing the Maskol off, the metal surface was sealed with a semi-matte, water-based varnish, while the glare panel remained matte, as well as the propeller (spinner in Red Brown, Humbrol 160, blades in Testor’s ‘Rubber’, #1183). Worn look and details were augmented by a light wash with black ink and some light dry painting, e .g. for exhaust marks and gun smoke residues.

 

As an addendum...I normally do no update to finished projects, but the Ki-121 deserved one. Somebody mentioned that the canopy (came from a 1:72 Airfix A-1) looked a bit too bulbous for the slender aircraft - and that was right.

 

It bugged me, so I decided to replace the canopy with a vacu piece which actually belongs to a Hawker Sea Fury (Special Hobby). The shape is similar, but it is shorter and smaller in any dimension.

 

Blending it into the fuselage without ruining too much of the paintwork was not easy, but worked quite fine.

 

While the difference is only recognizable at cloe look I think the smaller hood improves the model's overall silhouette considerably?

 

I also used that opportunity to shoot some (new) beauty pics, which replace the old ones in the "Japanese Whifs" album.

 

All in all, this small and rather simple model kit was built in a couple of days.

 

+++ 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:

The Waffenträger (Weapon Carrier) VTS3 “Diana” was a prototype for a wheeled tank destroyer. It was developed by Thyssen-Henschel (later Rheinmetall) in Kassel, Germany, in the late Seventies, in response to a German Army requirement for a highly mobile tank destroyer with the firepower of the Leopard 1 main battle tank then in service and about to be replaced with the more capable Leopard 2 MBT, but less complex and costly. The main mission of the Diana was light to medium territorial defense, protection of infantry units and other, lighter, elements of the cavalry as well as tactical reconnaissance. Instead of heavy armor it would rather use its good power-to-weight ratio, excellent range and cross-country ability (despite the wheeled design) for defense and a computerized fire control system to accomplish this mission.

 

In order to save development cost and time, the vehicle was heavily based on the Spähpanzer Luchs (Lynx), a new German 8x8 amphibious reconnaissance armored fighting vehicle that had just entered Bundeswehr service in 1975. The all-wheel drive Luchs made was well armored against light weapons, had a full NBC protection system and was characterized by its extremely low-noise running. The eight large low-pressure tires had run-flat properties, and, at speeds up to about 50 km/h, all four axles could be steered, giving the relatively large vehicle a surprising agility and very good off-road performance. As a special feature, the vehicle was equipped with a rear-facing driver with his own driving position (normally the radio operator), so that the vehicle could be driven at full speed into both directions – a heritage from German WWII designs, and a tactical advantage when the vehicle had to quickly retreat from tactical position after having been detected. The original Luchs weighed less than 20 tons, was fully amphibious and could surmount water obstacles quickly and independently using propellers at the rear and the fold back trim vane at the front. Its armament was relatively light, though, a 20 mm Rheinmetall MK 20 Rh 202 gun in the turret that was effective against both ground and air targets.

 

The Waffenträger “Diana” used the Luchs’ hull and dynamic components as basis, and Thyssen-Henschel solved the challenge to mount a large and heavy 105 mm L7 gun with its mount on the light chassis through a minimalistic, unmanned mount and an autoloader. Avoiding a traditional manned and heavy, armored turret, a lot of weight and internal volume that had to be protected could be saved, and crew safety was indirectly improved, too. This concept had concurrently been tested in the form of the VTS1 (“Versuchsträger Scheitellafette #1) experimental tank in 1976 for the Kampfpanzer 3 development, which eventually led to the Leopard 2 MBT (which retained a traditional turret, though).

 

For the “Diana” test vehicle, Thyssen-Henschel developed a new low-profile turret with a very small frontal area. Two crew members, the commander (on the right side) and the gunner (to the left), were seated in/under the gun mount, completely inside of the vehicle’s hull. The turret was a very innovative construction for its time, fully stabilized and mounted the proven 105mm L7 rifled cannon with a smoke discharger. Its autoloader contained 8 rounds in a carousel magazine. 16 more rounds could be carried in the hull, but they had to be manually re-loaded into the magazine, which was only externally accessible. A light, co-axial 7,62mm machine gun against soft targets was available, too, as well as eight defensive smoke grenade mortars.

 

The automated L7 had a rate of fire of ten rounds per minute and could fire four types of ammunition: a kinetic energy penetrator to destroy armored vehicles; a high explosive anti-tank round to destroy thin-skinned vehicles and provide anti-personnel fragmentation; a high explosive plastic round to destroy bunkers, machine gun and sniper positions, and create openings in walls for infantry to access; and a canister shot for use against dismounted infantry in the open or for smoke charges. The rounds to be fired could be pre-selected, so that the gun was able to automatically fire a certain ammunition sequence, but manual round selection was possible at any time, too.

 

In order to take the new turret, the Luchs hull had to be modified. Early calculations had revealed that a simple replacement of the Luchs’ turret with the new L7 mount would have unfavorably shifted the vehicle’s center of gravity up- and forward, making it very nose-heavy and hard to handle in rough terrain or at high speed, and the long barrel would have markedly overhung the front end, impairing handling further. It was also clear that the additional weight and the rise of the CoG made amphibious operations impossible - a fate that met the upgraded Luchs recce tanks in the Eighties, too, after several accidents with overturned vehicles during wading and drowned crews. With this insight the decision was made to omit the vehicle’s amphibious capability, save weight and complexity, and to modify the vehicle’s layout considerably to optimize the weight distribution.

 

Taking advantage of the fact that the Luchs already had two complete driver stations at both ends, a pair of late-production hulls were set aside in 1977 and their internal layout reversed. The engine bay was now in the vehicle’s front, the secured ammunition storage was placed next to it, behind the separate driver compartment, and the combat section with the turret mechanism was located behind it. Since the VTS3s were only prototypes, only minimal adaptations were made. This meant that the driver was now located on the right side of the vehicle, while and the now-rear-facing secondary driver/radio operator station ended up on the left side – much like a RHD vehicle – but this was easily accepted in the light of cost and time savings. As a result, the gun and its long, heavy barrel were now located above the vehicle’s hull, so that the overall weight distribution was almost neutral and overall dimensions remained compact.

 

Both test vehicles were completed in early 1978 and field trials immediately started. While the overall mobility was on par with the Luchs and the Diana’s high speed and low noise profile was highly appreciated, the armament was and remained a source of constant concern. Shooting in motion from the Diana turned out to be very problematic, and even firing from a standstill was troublesome. The gun mount and the vehicle’s complex suspension were able to "hold" the recoil of the full-fledged 105-mm tank gun, which had always been famous for its rather large muzzle energy. But when fired, even in the longitudinal plane, the vehicle body fell heavily towards the stern, so that the target was frequently lost and aiming had to be resumed – effectively negating the benefit from the autoloader’s high rate of fire and exposing the vehicle to potential target retaliation. Firing to the side was even worse. Several attempts were made to mend this flaw, but neither the addition of a muzzle brake, stronger shock absorbers and even hydro-pneumatic suspension elements did not solve the problem. In addition, the high muzzle flames and the resulting significant shockwave required the infantry to stay away from the vehicle intended to support them. The Bundeswehr also criticized the too small ammunition load, as well as the fact that the autoloader magazine could not be re-filled under armor protection, so that the vehicle had to retreat to safe areas to re-arm and/or to adapt to a new mission profile. This inherent flaw not only put the crew under the hazards of enemy fire, it also negated the vehicle’s NBC protection – a serious issue and likely Cold War scenario. Another weak point was the Diana’s weight: even though the net gain of weight compared with the Luchs was less than 3 tons after the conversion, this became another serious problem that led to the Diana’s demise: during trials the Bundeswehr considered the possibility to airlift the Diana, but its weight (even that of the Luchs, BTW) was too much for the Luftwaffe’s biggest own transport aircraft, the C-160 Transall. Even aircraft from other NATO members, e.g. the common C-130 Hercules, could hardly carry the vehicle. In theory, equipment had to be removed, including the cannon and parts of its mount.

 

Since the tactical value of the vehicle was doubtful and other light anti-tank weapons in the form of the HOT anti-tank missile had reached operational status, so that very light vehicles and even small infantry groups could now effectively fight against full-fledged enemy battle tanks from a safe distance, the Diana’s development was stopped in 1988. Both VTS3 prototypes were mothballed, stored at the Bundeswehr Munster Training Area camp and are still waiting to be revamped as historic exhibits alongside other prototypes like the Kampfpanzer 70 in the German Tank Museum located there, too.

  

Specifications:

Crew: 4 (commander, driver, gunner, radio operator/second driver)

Weight: 22.6 t

Length: 7.74 m (25 ft 4 ¼ in)

Width: 2.98 m ( 9 ft 9 in)

Height: XXX

Ground clearance: 440 mm (1 ft 4 in)

Suspension: hydraulic all-wheel drive and steering

 

Armor:

Unknown, but sufficient to withstand 14.5 mm AP rounds

 

Performance:

Speed: 90 km/h (56 mph) on roads

Operational range: 720 km (445 mi)

Power/weight: 13,3 hp/ton with petrol, 17,3 hp/ton with diesel

 

Engine:

1× Daimler Benz OM 403A turbocharged 10-cylinder 4-stroke multi-fuel engine,

delivering 300 hp with petrol, 390 hp with diesel

 

Armament:

1× 105 mm L7 rifled gun with autoloader (8 rounds ready, plus 16 in reserve)

1× co-axial 7.92 mm M3 machine gun with 2.000 rounds

Two groups of four Wegmann 76 mm smoke mortars

  

The kit and its assembly:

I have been a big Luchs fan since I witnessed one in action during a public Bundeswehr demo day when I was around 10 years old: a huge, boxy and futuristic vehicle with strange proportions, gigantic wheels, water propellers, a mind-boggling mobility and all of this utterly silent. Today you’d assume that this vehicle had an electric engine – spooky! So I always had a soft spot for it, and now it was time and a neat occasion to build a what-if model around it.

 

This fictional wheeled tank prototype model was spawned by a leftover Revell 1:72 Luchs kit, which I had bought some time ago primarily for the turret, used in a fictional post-WWII SdKfz. 234 “Puma” conversion. With just the chassis left I wondered what other use or equipment it might take, and, after several weeks with the idea in the back of my mind, I stumbled at Silesian Models over an M1128 resin conversion set for the Trumpeter M1126 “Stryker” 8x8 APC model. From this set as potential donor for a conversion the prototype idea with an unmanned turret was born.

 

Originally I just planned to mount the new turret onto the OOB hull, but when playing with the parts I found the look with an overhanging gun barrel and the bigger turret placed well forward on the hull goofy and unbalanced. I was about to shelf the idea again, until I recognized that the Luchs’ hull is almost symmetrical – the upper hull half could be easily reversed on the chassis tub (at least on the kit…), and this would allow much better proportions. From this conceptual change the build went straightforward, reversing the upper hull only took some minor PSR. The resin turret was taken mostly OOB, it only needed a scratched adapter to fit into the respective hull opening. I just added a co-axial machine gun fairing, antenna bases (from the Luchs kit, since they could, due to the long gun barrel, not be attached to the hull anymore) and smoke grenade mortars (also taken from the Luchs).

 

An unnerving challenge became the Luchs kit’s suspension and drive train – it took two days to assemble the vehicle’s underside alone! While this area is very accurate and delicate, the fact that almost EVERY lever and stabilizer is a separate piece on four(!) axles made the assembly a very slow process. Just for reference: the kit comes with three and a half sprues. A full one for the wheels (each consists of three parts, and more than another one for suspension and drivetrain!

Furthermore, the many hull surface details like tools or handles – these are more than a dozen bits and pieces – are separate, very fragile and small (tiny!), too. Cutting all these wee parts out and cleaning them was a tedious affair, too, plus painting them separately.

Otherwise the model went together well, but it’s certainly not good for quick builders and those with big fingers and/or poor sight.

  

Painting and markings:

The paint scheme was a conservative choice; it is a faithful adaptation of the Bundeswehr’s NATO standard camouflage for the European theatre of operations that was introduced in the Eighties. It was adopted by many armies to confuse potential aggressors from the East, so that observers could not easily identify a vehicle and its nationality. It consists of a green base with red-brown and black blotches, in Germany it was executed with RAL tones, namely 6031 (Bronze Green), 8027 (Leather Brown) and 9021 (Tar Black). The pattern was standardized for each vehicle type and I stuck to the official Luchs pattern, trying to adapt it to the new/bigger turret. I used Revell acrylic paints, since the authentic RAL tones are readily available in this product range (namely the tones 06, 65 and 84). The big tires were painted with Revell 09 (Anthracite).

 

Next the model was treated with a highly thinned washing with black and red-brown acrylic paint, before decals were applied, taken from the OOB sheet and without unit markings, since the Diana would represent a test vehicle. After sealing them with a thin coat of clear varnish the model was furthermore treated with lightly dry-brushed Revell 45 and 75 to emphasize edges and surface details, and the separately painted hull equipment was mounted. The following step was a cloudy treatment with watercolors (from a typical school paintbox, it’s great stuff for weathering!), simulating dust residue all over the hull. After a final protective coat with matt acrylic varnish I finally added some mineral artist pigments to the lower hull areas and created mud crusts on the wheels through light wet varnish traces into which pigments were “dusted”.

  

Basically a simple project, but the complex Luchs kit with its zillion of wee bits and pieces took time and cost some nerves. However, the result looks pretty good, and the Stryker turret blends well into the overall package. Not certain how realistic the swap of the Luchs’ internal layout would have been, but I think that the turret moved to the rear makes more sense than the original forward position? After all, the model is supposed to be a prototype, so there’s certainly room for creative freedom. And in classic Bundeswehr colors, the whole thing even looks pretty convincing.

 

Replaced the belt tensioner, tensioner pulley and belt whilst the Mini is in front end service mode.

[11:48] Ayr Bosatsu thunks her down onto the bed, going to grab the shit from the drawers.

 

[11:49] Fluffy Snoodle is thunked down and tries to pull her cuffs off, though it's probably a good thing she has it. Though the blood from the bullet began to seep through the bandage. Delicious, no?

 

[11:50] Ayr Bosatsu reaches down slowly - his finger stretching out as he tried to rip off the bandages and replace'em with his finger in her hole. Even more delicious. "Lay still, i'll take those cuffs off in a second."

 

[11:51] Fluffy Snoodle does her best to lay still though she'd let out a loud cry as his fingers when in her hole. Traveling upwards towards the bullet, it was in there pretty deep.

 

[11:51] Ayr Bosatsu presses his finger in deeper, fumbling with his lock pick with the other hand as he tried to roll her about with his elbow to expose the cuffs, his eyes - despite his actions - showing nothing but kindness towards her.

 

[11:54] Fluffy Snoodle groans in pain while she'd roll in any which-way. She wasn't in a fighting position anyways. She'd hold her hands out to him, still trying to pull the cuffs apart as she began to panic, she didn't like to be confined.

 

[11:55] Ayr Bosatsu fiddles with the lock - teasing and twitching at the things 'til they opened with a soft clicking crunch. Pocketing the pick he'd lean over behind him for a pair of tweasers on the counter - withdrawing his finger from her hole before shoving them in their stead, searching about for the bullet. "Oh, you saucy girl. You're dripping all over me."

 

(( While that happened...we died of laughter OOCly ))

 

[11:58] Fluffy Snoodle coughs at that, it was the only thing she understood right now. Awkward huh? Not really. She'd let out yet another cry - Thanks for the pain meds, by the way. Though she'd utter out raspily, "You...you like it." Yep, she actually talked. The pain made her sane-ish? Odd.

 

[12:00] Ayr Bosatsu nods, "of course i do. Pain has a way of sobering up even the most outlandish beings," lifting his hand up he'd stroke her hair a moment - caked with dried blood though it was. "Even in this state you're still beautiful, you know." Finally catching the bullet he'd tease at the flesh beside it to see if it had hit any arteries or anything else serious business. Gently tugging it out he'd mrr, keeping his eyes on thuh hole of Fluff so recently made by Kiri - assumingly - since she was the gun nut.

 

[12:02] Fluffy Snoodle laughs airly, "Even though I smell like death?" She was even disgusted by her own scent. Fluffs tails just hung there limply before whimpering out to him as he fingered her hole. Yes, I just said that. "I don't wanna die!" There was fear behind her words, making whatever she'd say crack. As if she was about to cry.

 

[12:06] Ayr Bosatsu "even though you smell like Death." Flicking the tweasers and bullet into the bin he'd nod - finally beginning to gather materials to stitch up her wound. Threading needle and dousing the area with water and a light alcohol solution - he'd begin to work on tying together the flesh without anaesthetic. But first, of course, he'd fill the hole with a polymer substance to stifle bleeding and encourage tissue regrowth

 

[12:09] Fluffy Snoodle smiles and just kinda lays there, she could take it without any pain meds though it still hurt like a bitch. She'd look up to him from behind her bangs, the rabies took her over scary-fast. Faster than most of the others it seemed, "Don't let me die." One of her biggest fears - death. Her eye twitched as he began to sew her up, not fun.

 

[12:11] Ayr Bosatsu lifts his eyes up from her wound a moment, freezing in his stitching. The machines. That simple statement - dont let me die - had flung him back thousands of years to every instance he'd heard that phrase uttered. A frown broke moreso over his face, lifting one hand to pat her cheek. "No one dies when I'm around. I won't let them." Lowering his hand again to work away at the wound, he'd pull and tease at the flesh moreso to tighten it up - thumbing the stitches as he sealed her wound

 

[12:15] Fluffy Snoodle curls up into a ball after that and groans, "The vaccine-" She'd say slowly, "made me normal...for a couple hours." She was basically asking for it to be injected into her again, though she hasnt seen Yewh or Amara around today. Though with Ayr here, she actually felt like she wouldn't die, anytime soon anyways. Big, bad protecter - Grr!

 

[12:17] Ayr Bosatsu twists his mouth and leans against the table she lay on for a moment or two in thought. Leaning his head back, he'd stare up at the roof - his wild as fuck hairstyle frozen in that position. "..Hm. Alright." clapping his hands together he'd shove a bandage over her wound, planting a kiss on it lightly with his mask before going to go 'n grab the syringes with the vaccine. "It won't really stop the virus since you're already infected. But it may inhibit it for a while. Who knows. I don't. This goes beyond even my expertise." Flicking the syrry to get the air - hah - out of it he'd turn back to her.

 

[12:20] Fluffy Snoodle watches him and exposes her back, right above her tail to him, where Amara had shoved it in yesterday. Her eye twitched again with the slapping of the bandage, at least he was more gentle than Shiro was at that part...not punching her bullet wounds anyways. "Anything helps." She wanted to help work on the cure, she really didn't want to die.

 

[12:21] Ayr Bosatsu scrunches up his nose, "Wow. Thats sick. Your tail bone?" Shuddering he'd draw back his hand before launching it at her, "FALLCOOOOOOOO!!!....SYRINGE!" THUD. Hopefully he'd got her. That or he just put a hole in the table. Given that he wasn't looking when he did it, it was a bit uncertain. Turning slowly back to see if he -had- got her he'd perk a brow at the whip marks. "...Shit dude. What the hell."

 

[12:24] Fluffy Snoodle coughs at that as he didn't get her...not even close and blinks a couple times feeling a thud next to her on the table, "You missed." She'd say before shrugging. "Dolls...I bit one yesterday, I think." She paused again to think that over, "They wernt happy." She also got a faceful of synthnip too after that.

 

[12:26] Ayr Bosatsu peeks at the needle. "..Hm. Shit." Grunts and pulls it from the table before grabbing a second. "A doll whipped you? That's pretty funny. Why you'd stay around to let them do that i do not know." Shrugging he'd go for the ass again with the syringe. Well, tailbone/spine rather. Taking it easier this time he'd press the cold tip to her skin before gently going to try and ease it into her chalky flesh. "I'm sending out a clean up crew tonight. To bleach the streets and also capture any outstanding packies. We'll also be administrering the Vaccine."

 

[12:29] Fluffy Snoodle nods slowly, "I guess I have to stay in here then?" She'd ask quietly, "And yes, a doll whipped me. I left right after that though...I bit one of them, If I remember correctly." She'd just shrug and yelp as she got a cold shiver as the blue glowing vaccine was injected into her. And with that, came more vomit, aiming for the biohazard bucket this time though. "I think I need a bath."

 

[12:33] Ayr Bosatsu "It would be recommended that you stay here until them. As for the dolls - well - i spoke to Rhaps so we should of stemmed the potential growth of the virus in that sector. I might contact MPD and, perhaps, the uh..." drifting off a moment he'd try to think about that. "...Not sure who else deserves to know." Watching her cute lil self vomit he'd hold back her hair, sighing. Though he was still infected with rabies and he still had tennis shoe drool hanging from his mask he'd shrug indifferently to the whole affair - "If you keep that up you're gonna need a blood transfusion too."

 

[12:35] Fluffy Snoodle groans and vomits out what rest of that she could, blood mixed with the chocolate he gave her. "Not like I can help it right now." She'd say just kinda laying there limply on her stomach, looking down into the bin now. "What did she say?" Talking of Rhaps, of course.

 

[12:44] Ayr Bosatsu scrunches up his nose, "Rhaps didnt say much. Just wanted to ask what was going on. The usual. Business only." Softly dropping his head in a nod he'd turn and lean up against the table - each of his tails swaying about lazily. "She told me Cora was bitten and taken into Ashagi labs though."

 

[12:47] Fluffy Snoodle smiles innocently and coughs up some more blood. "I um...oops?" She'd say trying her best to not laugh. Hoping that doll was STD free. Fluffy would let out a content sigh as she began to feel a little bit better already. "This rabies thing ahs turned into a huge mess. I was in the MCMC last night, theres a ton more people with it." She'd say as she moved one of her hands out slowly to stroke his tails.

 

[12:50] Ayr Bosatsu grins broadly behind the mask. Viciously no less. Something in him stirred at the mention of that. The city and it's denizens. Infected. Infected with what he had brought home. Nevermind the hurricane virus - this was the real deal which had begun to grip the city. Wrapping his tails around her hand lightly he'd look on at her, "I suspected as much." The non-chalant charade was maintained, offering a quick glance about the den then back to her. Empty. No one was here. No one to stop him. "Hey, do you want a sedative? I imagine you must be in pain."

 

[12:53] Fluffy Snoodle blinks a couple times wondering why he had to look around before asking, "If you could, please." She'd say, letting her hand stay wrapped in his tails. "I think this is only just begining." She'd say looking up to him from behind her blood-caked bangs. The rabies was traveling through Midian fast.

 

[12:55] Ayr Bosatsu looks down at her, smiling as his hand extended up her body slowly. Cupping it on her cheek he'd look on, something gripping his skull. Icy fingers took hold of him like a puppet as he stared on at her. Leaning forward slowly he'd go to press his cheek to hers, "I'll get you it in a second. I just need a hug for now.." Sliding his left hand up he'd press it to her cheek if he could - stroking lightly as the right began to drift down her arm slowly, his body shifting up onto the table to sit.

 

[12:58] Fluffy Snoodle stares to him for a second before making room on the table for him. She really didn't notice anything wrong just yet. A quiet sigh would escape her lips as she looked to him, pressing her cheek back against his before muttering out, "You alright?" He was acting a little bit weird.

 

[12:59] Ayr Bosatsu nods, "Truly." And then his hand was up on her neck if he could get it - trying to grab a hold of her throat passionately - but not aggressively - as he vaulted onto the table to try 'n straddle her, pinning her legs beneath her. Fuck subtlety. "I'm fine. I miss you is all...I think we've goofed off enough. Your lips. I miss the feel of them."

 

[13:02] Fluffy Snoodle lets out a tiny yelp as she looks up to him, not expecting this at all. "Ayr-" She'd say blinking as she stared up to him. Yeah, something was up. -No shit-. And well she'd try to not fight back, not yet. She was still a little weak from the Vaccine. Drowsiness hitting her hard.

 

[13:04] Ayr Bosatsu "they say freak when you're singled out," nudging his mask to the side softly he'd press the flesh of his cheek to hers - sinking his body closer as his intent became apparent in a split second. Changing his grip to actually constrict her throat he'd try and pin her down onto the bed - hissing loudly against her ear as spasms twitched in his gut, his reddened eyes resting on her. The worst kind of violence was that like this - unexpected and vicious. Lasting mere moments, but with effects that spanned years of hell for the victim.

 

[13:07] Fluffy Snoodle wouldn't move to try and press ehr cheek back to his. In all honesty, she was scared. And the throat pinning just made that fear even worse. She'd try to choke out, 'Ayr, stop! You're hurting me!' though it came out as lowsy gasps for air. Yeah, she was pretty damn defensless right now. THANKS A LOT!

 

[13:08] Ayr Bosatsu hisses louder in her ear - "Shut up you bitch. Shut the fuck up." Squeezing her body with his legs - the muscle in his legs like iron against her tiny and already weakened form. Moving his lips more to hers he'd go to force them to her own roughly - his own already parted, canine trying to get a grip of her lip to bite it roughly, smooshing her lipstick on his own lips if he'd gotten her.

 

[13:12] Fluffy Snoodle lets out a whimper as her eyes begin to water. This wasn't the Ayr she knew - damn rabies. Fluffy tried her best to get away from him, punching and kicking if she could. His lips did infact meet with hers even after trying to flick her head from his, letting out another cry as he bit down on her lip. "Get off me!" She managed to squeak out.

 

[13:14] Ayr Bosatsu grins as she parts her lips. Opportunity. Jerking his body, something rolled up his spine as his gut gurgled. Each kick and punch landed beautifully on his body - though he was so pumped with adrenaline and intent on this it wouldn't matter as much as normal. This wasn't -him- it was something else entirely. Tightening his grip on her neck, he'd squeeze moreso as if trying to open up a bin - blood erupting from his mouth as the mask was fully nudged aside. Infectious. Delightfully infectious blood gushed from him in a stream - all of it for her. If not into her mouth, then all over her face. It mattered not - she was getting blood money-shotted one way or the other.

 

[13:18] Fluffy Snoodle coughs again as she squeezed her eyes shut as she got a shower of Ayrblood. Delicious. Just to make that more delicious, it did land in her mouth. She wailed out a cry which ended in a gurgling fit of choking and...blood. Though her face started to turn colors from a lack of oxygen. Worst type of face-rape EVAR.

 

[13:20] Ayr Bosatsu would of cackled if he were in a malicious or mischevious state of mind. But, sadly, alas, all he would do was bring his hand to her mouth to try and clamp it shut. "Swallow. SWALLOW!" Screaming in her face as the last streams of blood, drool and vomit dribbled down his chin and face. Leaning down once more he'd go to drag the thick of his tongue over her face roughly.

 

[13:23] Fluffy Snoodle swallowed all that was in her mouth before ending in a fit of crying, gagging and...crying. That was disgusting. She'd curl back into that little ball if she could, if Ayrs dead-weight wasnt holding the poor girl down. And well, here came her normal self, "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?!" She'd scream out looking to him. Grr, angry Fluff.

 

[13:25] Ayr Bosatsu rolls off her immediately, staring down at her. Already the mask wa sback on his face, a hand dragging across his lips to wipe away the smears of disgusting goo upon his face. Exposing his back to her - and leaving her with no answer - he'd simply begin to wash his hands as if nothing had happened at all.

 

[13:27] Fluffy Snoodle curls up into that tiny ball after recieving no answer and just sighed. She felt more sick than before and she was pretty disgusted, scared even. Her face coated in his blood still as she layed there silently, other than a few sniffles and gags though, of course.

 

[13:29] Ayr Bosatsu glances to the den exit - mission complete - and he'd begin to mosey on over to it. Throwing a coin over his shoulder he'd grin: "Keep the change."

 

(( Again, Luls in OOC chat. Cause..yeah...long story. ))

Replace the original image with a better one I found the following year. Thanks to travelingwild for ID help and Tim for additional info.

 

kswildflower.org/details.php?flowerID=232

I have been through the village many times, but not found the church ope, but after driving by recently, I saw the west porch door open, so found a place to park nearby.

 

The church stands on high ground over the village's famous ford, and beside what was once the high road, but is still busy.

 

The porch is underneath the tower on the west end of the church, and upon entering the building is filled with light. The pews have been replaced by modern seating, an there is a fairly new alter, but the apse is clean and light.

 

A couple were visiting from up north, and were delighted to have met another visitor, especially one who has visited close to 350 Kentish churches.

 

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

 

Sitting on high ground above the famous ford, this is a light and well cared for church. Saxon in origin, but with a character now of the thirteenth century, it is currently (2005) being reordered to make it more adaptable. Already the north aisle is not part of the church but proposals to remove pews and change the layout will result in an even more flexible space. The finest part of the church is the south transept - with its very tall lancet windows and modern altar.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Eynsford

 

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EYNSFORD.

SOUTHWARD from Farningham lies Eynsford, sometimes written Aynsford, so named from a noted ford here over the river Darent.

 

THIS PARISH extends about four miles from east to west, and about three miles from north to south; on the north side it reaches almost up to the village of Farningham, near to which stood the antient mansion of Sibell's; and towards the west, over the hills, by Wested-farm and the obscure and little known hamlet of Crockenhill, both within its bounds, among a quantity of woodlands. The soil is in general chalky, except towards the west, where there is some strong heavy land. The village of Eynsford, through the eastern part of which the high road leads from Dartford through Farningham, and hence towards Sevenoke, is situated near the south-west bounds of the parish, in the valley on the banks of the Darent; over it there is a bridge here, repaired at the public charge of the county. At the north end of the village, near the river, are the remains of Eynsford castle, (fn. 1) and at the south end of it the church; beyond which this parish extends southward, on the chalk hills, a mile and an half; where, near the boundaries of it, is Afton lodge.

 

THIS PLACE was given to Christ church, in. Canterbury, in the time of archbishop Dunstan, who came to the see in 950, by a certain rich man, named Ælphege; after whose death one Leossune, who had married the widow of Eadric, Elphege's nephew, retained this land as his own, notwithstanding this devise of it. Upon which the trial of it was appointed at Ærhede, before Uulsi, the priest seir-man, or judge of the county, in presence of archbishop Dunstan, the parties themselves, the bishops of London and Rochester, and a multitude of lay people; and there, in the presence of the whole assembly, the archbishop taking the crossin his hand, made his oath upon the book of the ecclesiastical laws to the scir-man, who then took it to the king's use, as Leossune himself refused to receive it, that the right use of these lands was to Christ church; and as a farther confirmation of it to future times, it had the ratification of a thousand of the choicest men out of Suthex, Westsex, Middlesex, and Eastsex, who took their oaths also on the cross to the truth of it after him. (fn. 2)

 

At the time of taking the general survey of Domesday, Eynesford was held of the archbishop of Canterbury, by knight's service, and accordingly it is thus entered, under the general title of Terra Militum Archiepi, in that record.

 

Ralph Fitz Unspac holds Ensford of the archbishop. It was taxed at six suling. The arable land is. In demesne there are five carucates and 29 villeins, with nine borders, having 15 carucates. There are 2 churches and nine servants, and two mills of 43 shillings, and 29 acres of meadow; wood for the pannage of 20 hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth 16 pound, and now it is worth 20 pounds.—Of this manor Richard de Tonebridge holds as much wood as 20 bogs may go out from, and one mill of five shillings, and one fishery in this lowy.

 

In the reign of king Henry II. a family of the name of Eynsford was in the possession of this place, one of whom. William de Eynesford, was sheriff of London in that reign. (fn. 3) They bore for their arms, A fretty ermine, which coat is carved on the roof of the cloisters, at Canterbury. William de Eynesford, whether the same as above mentioned does not appear, held the MANOR and CASTLE of Eynsford of the archbishop, at which time archbishop Becket, having given the church of Eynsford to one Laurence, William de Eynesford dispossessed him of it, for which he was excommunicated by the archbishop, which offended the king exceedingly; (fn. 4) another of the same name possessed this manor and castle in the 12th and 13th years of king John. (fn. 5) In the reign of king Edward I. this estate was become the property of the family of Criol, in the 21st year of which, as appears by the Tower records, John de Criol and Ralph de Sandwich claimed the privileges of a manor here; Nicholas de Criol, a descendant of this John, died possessed of it, anno 3 king Richard II. (fn. 6) after which it passed by sale to the Zouches, of Harringworth. William Zouche died possessed of it in the 5th year of that reign, and left three sons, Sir William le Zouche of Braunfield, Edmund. and Thomas; which last and this castle and manor, of which he was possessed at his death, anno 6 king Henry IV. (fn. 7) After which it passed into the name of Chaworth; and Elizabeth, wife of William Chaworth, was found to die possessed of it in the 17th year of king Henry VII. Soon after which, it was conveyed by sale to Sir Percival Hart, of the body of Henry VIII. His son, Sir George Hart, died anno 22 queen Elizabeth possessed of this castle and manor, with the mill, called Garsmill, holding them of the king, as of his manor of Otford, by knights service; (fn. 8) since which they have descended in the same manner that Lullingstone has, to Sir John Dixon Dyke, bart. the present possessor of them.

 

There are large ruins still remaining of Eynsford castle. The walls, which are built of squared flint, are near four feet thick, being entire for near forty feet in height. The circuit of these walls are of a very irregular form, and contain about three quarters of an acre of ground, in the middle of them is a strong keep or dungeon. It stands at a small distance eastward from the river Darent, between which and the castle, as well as for the same space about it, there is much rubbish and foundations of buildings, and there are remains of a broad moat round it, now quite dry.

 

Many lands in Eynsford are held of this manor by annual quit rents. A constable is chosen at the court leet, held for it, for the liberty of Eynsford, which extends over the parish of Eynsford, and great part of the south side of Farningham-street.

 

SOUTH-COURT is a manor here, which was antiently part of the estate of the family of Eynesford, already mentioned, and was formerly parcel of Eynsford-castle. John de St. Clere possessed this manor in the 20th year of king Edward III. at which time he paid aid for it. In the reign of king Henry VII. it was come into the name of Dinham; and John Dinham died possessed of the manor of South-court, with its appurtenances, in Eynsford, which he held of the archibshop, as of his manor of Otford, by knights service, in the 17th of king Henry VIII. (fn. 9) From Dinham it passed by sale to Sir Thomas Wyatt of Allington-castle, from which family it was sold to Hart; and Sir John Hart, son and heir of Sir Percival Hart, knight of the body to king Henry VIII. (fn. 10) died possessed of it in the 22d year of queen Elizabeth, holding it of the queen, as of her manor of Otford, by knight service.

 

Since this unity of possession, the style of these manors has been, the castle and manor of Eynsford cum Southcourt; by which title they have descended, in the same manor as Lullingstone, to Sir John Dixon Dyke, bart. the present possessor of them.

 

The MANOR of ORKESDEN, the mansion of which is now called, by corruption, Aston-LODGE, was antiently possessed by a family, who took their surname from their residence here. William de Orkesden, in the 12th and 13th years of king John's reign held half a knight's see in Eynsford, by knight's service of the archbishop. He was one of the Recognitores Magna Assise, or justices of the Great Assize. (fn. 11)

 

In the reign of king Edward III. Reginald de Cobham was become possessed of this manor; in the 14th year of which he obtained a charter of free warren in all the demesne lands within his lordship of Orkesdenne; and in the next year he obtained licence to castellate his house here. He was son of Reginald de Cobham, who was son of John de Cobham of Cobham, by his second wife, Joane, daughter of Hugh de Nevill. (fn. 12)

 

This Reginald de Cobham was a great warrior; and in the 18th year of king Edward III. was constituted admiral of the king's fleet, from the Thames mouth westward. In the 20th of king Edward III. he paid aid for one quarter of a see in Orkesden, which he held of William de Eynesford, as of his manor of Eynsford. He died of the pestilence in the 35th year of that reign possessed of this manor, leaving Regihald his son and heir, and Joane his wife, daughter of Sir Maurice de Berkeley surviving, who possessed this manor at her death, anno 43 king Edward III. (fn. 13) Her son, Reginald, was lord of Sterborough, castle, in Surry, from whence this branch of the Cobhams was henceforward called, Cobhams of Sterborough-castle. (fn. 14)

 

His grandson, Sir Thomas Cobham, left a sole daughter and heir, Anne, who carried this manor in marriage to Sir Edward Borough, who survived him, and died possessed of it in the 20th year of king Henry VIII. then holding it of the lord Zouche, as of his manor of Eynsford, by knights service. (fn. 15)

 

Thomas, their son and heir, was summoned to parliament, as lord borough, anno 21 Henry VIII. He left Thomas his son and heir, who bequeathed this manor of Orkesden to his youngest son, Sir William Borough; and he, in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, passed it away by sale to Francis Sandbache, esq. who sold it to John Lennard, esq. custos brevium of the court of common-pleas, who purchased it for his second son, Samuel Lennard, who was afterwards knighted, and was of West Wickham, in this county. On his death, in 1618, he was succeeded here by his son, Sir Stephen Lennard, who was created a baronet in 1642; he sold it to Richard Duke, esq. from whom it passed to Nathaniel Tench, esq. who died in 1710, and was buried at Low Leyton, in Essex. His only surviving son, Fither Tench, was created a baronet in 1715. (fn. 16) and died possessed of Orkesden manor in 1736; soon after which it was conveyed by sale to Percival Hart. esq. of Lullingstone, whose grandson, Sir John Dixon Dyke, bart. is the present owner of it.

 

Many lands in Eynsford, Lullingstone, and Sevenoke, are held of this manor by small annual quit rents.

 

On the western side of this parish, next to St. Mary Cray, lies the HAMLET of CROCKENHILL, which, as appears by a writ, Ad quod damnum, brought against the prioress of Dartford, in the 11th year of king Edward IV. was in the possession of that prioress and convent; with whom it staid till their suppression, in the reign of king Henry VIII. when their lands and revenues were surrendered into the king's hands; all which were confirmed to him and his successors by the general words of the act of the 31st of his reign, the year after which the king granted to Percival Hart, esq. among other premises, the manor of Crekenhill, alias Crokenhill, with its appurtenances, to hold of him in capite by knights service. (fn. 17) His son, Sir George Hart, of Lullingstone, died possessed of it, being then stiled Crockenhill, alias Court-hawe, in the 22d year of queen Elizabeth, holding it by the above tenure. Since which it has descended, in the same manner as the rest of his estates in this parish, to Sir John Dixon Dyke, bart. the present possessor of it.

 

This manor pays a yearly fee-farm rent to the crown of eleven shillings and five-pence.

 

LITTLE-MOTE and PETHAM-COURT are two manors, situated at the two opposite sides of this parish; the former being at the north east corner of it, near Farningham; and the latter at the north-west corner of it, near adjoining to Crokenhill and St. Mary Cray. These manors were, for many generations, part of the possessions of the family of Sibell, who resided at a mansion, called after them Sibell's, situated in Little or Lower Mote, and bore for their arms, Argent, a tiger gules, viewing himself in a glass or mirror, azure. Their estate here was much increased in the reign of king Henry VIII. by one of them marrying the female heir of Cowdale. These Cowdales bore for their arms, Argent, a chevron gules between three cows heads caboshed sable; which coat, both impaled and quartured with Sybill, Philipott says was remaining in the mansion here, both in painted glass and carved work, in his time. (fn. 18)

 

One of this family, John Sibell, died in the 17th year of queen Elizabeth, possessed of these estates, and also of the demesne lands of the manor of Hiltes bury; all which were held of the manor of Eynsford. He left an only daughter and heir, Elizabeth, and Jane his wife surviving, who held these estates for her life, and afterwards married Francis Hart, esq.

 

Elizabeth Sibell, the daughter, in the 24th year of queen Elizabeth, married Robert Bosevile, esq. afterwards knighted, the younger brother of Henry Bosevile of Bradborne, and son of Ralph Bosevile, of that place, clerk of the court of wards; and he, on her mother's death, became, in her right, possessed of Sibell's, with the manors of Littlemote and Petham. His descendant, Sir Thomas Bosevile, was of Littlemote, and had been a colonel in the king's army, and knighted by king Charles I. at Durham, in May 1642. He died the next year, and was buried in St. Mary's church, Oxford. (fn. 19) By Sarah, his wife, who afterwards married Col. Richard Crimes, he had a son, Thomas, who possessed these manors and Sibell's on his father's death. He married Elizabeth, only daughter of Sir Francis Wyat, of Boxleyabbey, and died in 1660, leaving an only daughter and heir, Margaretta, who carried the manor of Petham-court in marriage to Sir Robert Marsham, bart. of Bushey-hall, in Hertfordshire; and his great grand son, the Right Hon. Charles Marsham, lord Romney, is the present possessor of it.

 

But the manor of Littlemote, with Sibell's, became the property of Sir Henry Bosevile, who died in 1702, (fn. 20) without issue, and devised this manor and estate to his kinsman, Robert Bosevile, esq. of Staffordshire, whose family was originally of Ardesley, in Yorkshire, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, a younger branch of them settled in Kent, at Bradborne, in Sevenoke, and here at Eynsford; and a younger branch of these again in Staffordshire; they bore for their arms, Argent, a fess lozengy gules, in chief three bears heads erased sable.

 

His son of the same name, in the year 1755, sold it, in several parcels, to different persons, since which it has been of no consequence worth mentioning, and the old mansion of Sibell's has been pulled down some years ago, and two tenements have been erected on the scite of it.

 

Charities.

PERCIVAL HART, esq. gave by will, for the benefit of the poor, an annuity out of lands, vested in Sir John Dyke, bart. and of the annual produce of 2l.

 

AN UNKNOWN PERSON gave for the like use, a house, let by the parish to Philip Weller, and of the annual value of 4l.

 

SIR ANTHONY ROPER and . . . . . . . . HATCLIFF, esq. (as is supposed) gave for the benefit of the same, lands and houses in Greenwich, the rents to be divided, to the parish of Farningham threefifths, to Horton Kirkby one-fifth, and to this parish of Eynsford one-fifth, the annual produce being to this parish, on an average, 7l.

 

EYNSFORD is in the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION OF THE diocese of Rochester, and being a peculiar of the archbishop, it is as such in the deanry of Shoreham. The church, which is dedicated to St. Martin, is situated at the south-east end of the village.

 

It seems from the form of it to be one of our early Norman structures, and coeval with the castle. It is built in the form of a cross, with two large wings or side chancels; that on the south side belonged to the Sibell's, and afterwards to the Bosevile's, many of whom lie buried in it, several of whose gravestones and inscriptions are now so covered with fifth and rubbish that they are illegible; and the place itself, through continued neglect, is hastening to a total ruin. The north chancel is kept in good repair, and is filled with pews and a neat vestry room. In this chancel, according to Weever, was a stone, on which was engraved, in wondrous antique characters, Ici gis. la famme de la Roberg de Eckisford, perhaps it may have been so spelt for Einesford, or one of his mistakes for it, and if so, this chancel might belong to the Eynesfords, lords of this manor and castle; the stone is now hid by the wooden flooring over it. At the west end of the church is a spire steeple, underneath which is a curious circular door way of Saxon or very early Norman architecture. (fn. 21)

 

Among other monuments and inscriptions in this church, in the chancel, a gravestone, arms, a lion passant guardant, in chief three stirrups, for George Gifford, esq. obt. 1704, æt. 85; another for Thomas Gifford, esq. obt. 1705, æt. 59. In the chancel, on the south side of the church, a gravestone for lady Sarah Bosevile, wife of Col. Richard Crimes, obt. 1660; another for Tho. Bosevile, esq. of Littlemote, in Eynsford, only son of Sir Thomas Bosevile; he married Elizabeth, only daughter of Sir Francis Wiat of Boxley-abbey, by whom he left Margaretta, his sole daughter and heir; obt. 1660; another, arms, five lozenges in fess, in chief three bears heads erased, impaling two bends engrailed, and a canton, for Sir Henry Bosevile, of Littlemote, and dame Mary his wife; she died 1693, he died 1702. On the south wall, a monument with the above arms, for Mrs. Margaret Bosevile, only daughter and heir of Sir Henry Bosevile, of Littlemote, ob. 1682, æt. 26. (fn. 22)

 

William de Eynesford, lord of this parish, gave the church of Eynsford to the monks o Christ-church, in Canterbury, when he became a monk there; which was confirmed by William de Enysford, his grandson. (fn. 23) Archbishop Richard, in the reign of king Henry II. appropriated this church to the almonry of Christ church. (fn. 24) In the time of Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury, there was a dispute, whether the church of Farningham was a chapel to the church of Eynsford or not ?

 

In consequence of which, the archbishop, by his decree, made with the consent of all parties in 1225, ordained, that the rector of Eynsford and his successors, should possess entirely the whole church of Eynsford, with all its tythes, as well great as small, houses, lands, gardens, and all other things belonging to it, which the rector of it was wont to have before; and that the almoner of Christ-church, and not the monks, should possess, to the use of the almonry, the chapel of Farningham, with its appurtenauces, &c. belonging to it, as is therein mentioned; and that the rector of this church of Eynsford should, on a vacancy, present to the vicarage of this church; and that further than this, neither should intermeddle, or claim a right in the above premisess. (fn. 25)

 

Thus this rectory became a fine cure, the parson of this church from that time having presented to the vicarage, the incumbent of which has had the cure of souls, in which situation the rectory still remains, being esteemed as a donative of the patronage of the archbishop of Canterbury.

 

In the 15th year of king Edward I. this church was valued at thirty marcs. (fn. 26) In 1575, Henry Withers, clerk, parson of the parish church and benefice of Eynsford, leased this rectory to Thomas Dunmoll, yeoman, at 12l. 6s. 8d. per annum. In 1633, John Gifford, D. D. rector, let the same to Thomas Gifford, his son, at forty pounds per annum rent.

 

By virtue of the commission of enquiry into the value of church livings, in 1650, issuing out of chancery, it was returned, that Eynsford was a donative, with a house, and one hundred acres of glebe, and the great tythes, worth altogether one hundred and ten pounds per annum, then in the possession of George Gifford, esq. that the vicarage had a house, but no glebe land, and was worth thirty-five pounds per annum, one master Heriot enjoying it, and preaching there. (fn. 27)

 

Francis Porter, rector in 1674, let to George Gifford, esq. of Pennis, this rectory, or parsonage of forty pounds per annum, and of twenty pounds to the vicar, Edward Tilson, which last sum is mentioned to be an augmentation made in pursuance of the king's letters recommendatory, which lease was confirmed in 1707, in pursuance of like letters of queen Anne.

 

¶George Gifford, esq. of Pennis, continued lessee till his death, in 1704, when his interest in it devolved to his son, Thomas Gifford, who died the next year, and left three daughters and coheirs, viz. Margaret, married to Thomas Petley; Mary to John Selby, and Jane to Finch Umsrey; this parsonage being let by them at one hundred and forty-five pounds per annum.

 

The interest of this lease passed by sale from them to Percival Hart, esq. of Lullingstone, whose grandson, Sir John Dixon Dyke, bart. a few years ago, suffered the lease to expire.

 

The rectory of Eynsford is valued in the king's books at 12l. 16s. 8d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 5s. 8d. the vicarage at twelve pounds, and the tenths at 1l. 4s. (fn. 28)

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol2/pp527-539

 

Railway Gazette reported on the 16th December 2016 that the leaders of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority had givene the go-ahead for a £460m project to replace the Merseyrail suburban electric multiple-unit fleet. This includes the selection of Stadler to supply a fleet of 52 trainsets for entry into service from the end of 2020. Contracts are expected to be signed in early 2017.

‘This is a once in a generation opportunity for custom-built trains that will be safer and carry more people more quickly’, said Chair of the combined authority and Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson. ‘Unusually, these trains will be owned by us locally, meaning we can make sure the trains are exactly what passengers want and that they are ready for our future plans.’

The project is being financed from a reserve fund which had been established for the purpose, as well as loans which the combined authority is to secure from sources including the European Investment Bank. Transport authority Merseytravel will own the trains and lease them to the operating concessionaire, which will be paid a lower operating fee to account for the expected increase in revenue and lower running costs.

The fleet renewal programme also includes power supply, track, and station upgrades and refurbishment of the Kirkdale and Birkenhead North depots. The reduced journey times and better reliability means the decision has been made to order 52 EMUs to replace the current fleet of 59 trains.

The first EMU is scheduled to be delivered in summer 2019 for several months of testing ahead of the delivery of series-built trains by the end of 2020. A new timetable will be introduced in 2021 once the existing Class 507 and 508 units dating from the 1970s have been withdrawn; the new trains’ better acceleration and braking is expected to enable Hunt’s Cross – Southport journey times to be reduced by 9 min.

The 65 m long four-car EMUs will have the same number of seats as the existing three-car sets, but will be 4 m longer with wide through gangways to provide an increase in standing space. This will increase total capacity per EMU from 303 to 486 passengers.

There will be a mix of airline and facing seats, with more space for bicycles, pushchairs and persons with reduced mobility. The train body will be designed specifically for the Merseyrail network, with lower floors and a sliding step to provide near-level access.

There will be a passenger intercom and CCTV linked to the driver and control room. The doors will be illuminated red, amber and green inside and out to show when they are opening or closing and when it is safe to board and alight.

At 99 tonnes, the EMUs will be lighter than the current 105 tonne trains, and energy consumption is expected to be 20% lower, including regenerative braking; options for energy storage are to be studied.

The 750 V DC third-rail EMUs will be capable of conversion to dual-voltage operation for use on 25 kV 50 Hz lines with a view to serving Skelmersdale, Warrington and Wrexham in the longer term.

The trains will be equipped for driver controlled operation, which the combined authority said was ‘put forward by all bidders’ as way to meet the requirements of a report into a fatal incident in 2011. The driver will be responsible for opening and closing the doors and for train dispatch, eliminating the need for guards. Roving customer service roles will be created, with staff available to assist passengers ‘at key locations and times’. There will be fewer customer service roles than guards positions, and while the combined authority envisages there will be natural wastage over the next four years, it has endorsed proposal to guarantee continued employment for all guards currently permanently employed.

‘In an ideal world we’d like to have a second member of staff on every train to ensure the highest level of customer service, but there aren’t the resources to do that’, said Councillor Liam Robinson, Chair of the Merseytravel Committee. ‘Some guards will have the opportunity to be employed in a new on-board customer service role and others will be able to take advantage of other redeployment opportunities, all on the same terms and conditions as now.’

 

The contract came in slightly over budget (£460m vs target of £400m)

52 units, slightly over the tender requirement of 50 but a reduction from current fleet of 59 (increased reliability and faster journey speeds anticipated to compensate)

65m versus tender specification of 60m to allow doubling up, though that wasn't expected to be normal operating practise just for event strengthening (3m longer than current 62m fleet) and they have significantly higher capacity (60%) from being a wide aisle articulated design.

No mention of earlier proposed fleet extension options, the tender called for 60 options on top of original 50

99 tonnes, 6 tonnes lighter than existing trains and 20% more energy efficient.

DOO but with driver aides such as radar to detect obstructions and people standing too close.

The single doors in the end cars appear to be to allow them to work in multiples without having to extend the platforms. By having a single door in the middle of the car the front and or back could potentially overhang the platform ends to provide a capacity uplift without the additional infrastructure costs.

 

Images- Merseytravel/Stadler.

 

replaced.

Replaced the chrome side scuttles with the low profile R50 side scuttles.

 

Originally, they come with orange/amber side indicators, but decided to upgrade them with dynamic side indicators which look awesome!

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

Now replaced on the Two, these Volvo B7RLE Wright Eclipses work on the Comet, which currently has no branded vehicles, which was formerly Red Arrow between Derby and Chesterfield. Here is 746 FJ09XPE

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.

This bus is one of several 2002/03 IC CE 200's & 300's bought used from Goshen Local Schools (Petermann) in the fall of 2017. This bus replaced a 1998 Crown by Carpenter International. This bus has since been removed from service

Beamish Museum is the first regional open-air museum, in England, located at Beamish, near the town of Stanley, in County Durham, England. Beamish pioneered the concept of a living museum. By displaying duplicates or replaceable items, it was also an early example of the now commonplace practice of museums allowing visitors to touch objects.

 

The museum's guiding principle is to preserve an example of everyday life in urban and rural North East England at the climax of industrialisation in the early 20th century. Much of the restoration and interpretation is specific to the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, together with portions of countryside under the influence of Industrial Revolution from 1825. On its 350 acres (140 ha) estate it uses a mixture of translocated, original and replica buildings, a large collection of artefacts, working vehicles and equipment, as well as livestock and costumed interpreters.

 

The museum has received a number of awards since it opened to visitors in 1972 and has influenced other living museums.[citation needed] It is an educational resource, and also helps to preserve some traditional and rare north-country livestock breeds.

 

In 1958, days after starting as director of the Bowes Museum, inspired by Scandinavian folk museums, and realising the North East's traditional industries and communities were disappearing, Frank Atkinson presented a report to Durham County Council urging that a collection of items of everyday history on a large scale should begin as soon as possible, so that eventually an open air museum could be established. As well as objects, Atkinson was also aiming to preserve the region's customs and dialect. He stated the new museum should "attempt to make the history of the region live" and illustrate the way of life of ordinary people. He hoped the museum would be run by, be about and exist for the local populace, desiring them to see the museum as theirs, featuring items collected from them.

 

Fearing it was now almost too late, Atkinson adopted a policy of "unselective collecting" — "you offer it to us and we will collect it." Donations ranged in size from small items to locomotives and shops, and Atkinson initially took advantage of a surplus of space available in the 19th-century French chateau-style building housing the Bowes Museum to store items donated for the open air museum. With this space soon filled, a former British Army tank depot at Brancepeth was taken over, although in just a short time its entire complement of 22 huts and hangars had been filled, too.

 

In 1966, a working party was established to set up a museum "for the purpose of studying, collecting, preserving and exhibiting buildings, machinery, objects and information illustrating the development of industry and the way of life of the north of England", and it selected Beamish Hall, having been vacated by the National Coal Board, as a suitable location.

 

In August 1970, with Atkinson appointed as its first full-time director together with three staff members, the museum was first established by moving some of the collections into the hall. In 1971, an introductory exhibition, "Museum in the Making" opened at the hall.

 

The museum was opened to visitors on its current site for the first time in 1972, with the first translocated buildings (the railway station and colliery winding engine) being erected the following year. The first trams began operating on a short demonstration line in 1973. The Town station was formally opened in 1976, the same year the reconstruction of the colliery winding engine house was completed, and the miners' cottages were relocated. Opening of the drift mine as an exhibit followed in 1979.

 

In 1975 the museum was visited by the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and by Anne, Princess Royal, in 2002. In 2006, as the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, The Duke of Kent visited, to open the town masonic lodge.

 

With the Co-op having opened in 1984, the town area was officially opened in 1985. The pub had opened in the same year, with Ravensworth Terrace having been reconstructed from 1980 to 1985. The newspaper branch office had also been built in the mid-1980s. Elsewhere, the farm on the west side of the site (which became Home Farm) opened in 1983. The present arrangement of visitors entering from the south was introduced in 1986.

 

At the beginning of the 1990s, further developments in the Pit Village were opened, the chapel in 1990, and the board school in 1992. The whole tram circle was in operation by 1993. Further additions to the Town came in 1994 with the opening of the sweet shop and motor garage,Beamish Museum 2014 followed by the bank in 1999. The first Georgian component of the museum arrived when Pockerley Old Hall opened in 1995, followed by the Pockerley Waggonway in 2001.

 

In the early 2000s two large modern buildings were added, to augment the museum's operations and storage capacity - the Regional Resource Centre on the west side opened in 2001, followed by the Regional Museums Store next to the railway station in 2002. Due to its proximity, the latter has been cosmetically presented as Beamish Waggon and Iron Works. Additions to display areas came in the form of the Masonic lodge (2006) and the Lamp Cabin in the Colliery (2009). In 2010, the entrance building and tea rooms were refurbished.

 

Into the 2010s, further buildings were added - the fish and chip shop (opened 2011) band hall (opened 2013) and pit pony stables (built 2013/14) in the Pit Village, plus a bakery (opened 2013) and chemist and photographers (opened 2016) being added to the town. St Helen's Church, in the Georgian landscape, opened in November 2015.

I've replaced my trusty but aging Tamron 18-250 superzoom walk-around lens with a swanky new Sigma 18-250 macro with HSM focusing. Popped out this evening to take a few sample shots with it. Very happy so far. The HSM is superb!

 

Certainly can't complain about this handheld shot. Has picked up a terrific amount of detail on the moon's surface. It also locked focus first time even shooting through the branches of the tree.

   

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.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 06-Jan-23.

 

Additional '50 years' sticker.

 

First flown with the Boeing test registration N6069B, this aircraft was delivered to Condor Flugdienst as D-ABOC in May-99.

 

The airline was renamed Thomas Cook Airlines Germany in Jun-02 but the name change didn't go down well with the German public and in Jun-04 it returned to being called Condor.

 

Blended winglets were fitted in Apr-10. The Thomas Cook Group UK ceased operations on 23-Sep-19, however Condor Flugdienst managed to keep going with a bridging loan from the German Government. In May-21 a 51% majority stake in the company was purchased by Attestor Capital, a German Investment company.

 

It was withdrawn from service and sored at Tel Aviv, Israel at the end of Oct-20 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and returned to service in Jun-21. After 23 years in service this aircraft was stored at Dusseldorf in Aug-22. It was ferried to Ciudad Real, Central Spain in Nov-22 for further storage. Permanently retired? Updated 27-Oct-24.

+++ 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:

The Panther tank, officially Panzerkampfwagen V Panther (abbreviated PzKpfw V) with ordnance inventory designation Sd.Kfz. 171, was a German medium tank of World War II. It was used on the Eastern and Western Fronts from mid-1943 to the end of the war. The Panther was intended to counter the Soviet T-34 medium tank and to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV. Nevertheless, it served alongside the Panzer IV and the heavier Tiger I until the end of the war. It is considered one of the best tanks of World War II for its excellent firepower, protection, and mobility although its reliability in early times were less impressive.

The Panther was a compromise. While having essentially the same Maybach V12 petrol (700 hp) engine as the Tiger I, it had better gun penetration, was lighter and faster, and could traverse rough terrain better than the Tiger I. The trade-off was weaker side armor, which made it vulnerable to flanking fire. The Panther proved to be effective in open country and long-range engagements.

 

The Panther was far cheaper to produce than the heavy Tiger I. Key elements of the Panther design, such as its armor, transmission, and final drive, were simplifications made to improve production rates and address raw material shortages. Despite this the overall design remain described by some as "overengineered". The Panther was rushed into combat at the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943 despite numerous unresolved technical problems, leading to high losses due to mechanical failure. Most design flaws were rectified by late 1943 and early 1944, though the bombing of production plants, increasing shortages of high-quality alloys for critical components, shortage of fuel and training space, and the declining quality of crews all impacted the tank's effectiveness.

 

Though officially classified as a medium tank, at 44.8 metric tons the Panther was closer to a heavy tank weight and the same category as the American M26 Pershing (41.7 tons), British Churchill (40.7 tons) and the Soviet IS-2 (46 tons) heavy tanks. The Panther's weight caused logistical problems, such as an inability to cross certain bridges, otherwise the tank had a very high power-to-weight ratio which made it highly mobile.

 

The Panther was only used marginally outside of Germany, mostly captured or recovered vehicles, some even after the war. Japan already received in 1943 a specimen for evaluation. During March–April 1945, Bulgaria received 15 Panthers of various makes (D, A, and G variants) from captured and overhauled Soviet stocks; they only saw limited (training) service use. In May 1946, Romania received 13 Panther tanks from the USSR, too.

After the war, France was able to recover enough operable vehicles and components to equip its army and offer vehicles for sale. The French Army's 503e Régiment de Chars de Combat was equipped with a force of 50 Panthers from 1944 to 1947, in the 501st and 503rd Tank Regiments. These remained in service until they were replaced by French-built ARL 44 heavy tanks.

In 1946, Sweden sent a delegation to France to examine surviving specimens of German military vehicles. During their visit, the delegates found a few surviving Panthers and had one shipped to Sweden for further testing and evaluation, which continued until 1961.

 

However, this was not the Panther’s end of service. The last appearance by WWII German tanks on the world’s battlefields came in 1967, when Syria’s panzer force faced off against modern Israeli armor. Quite improbably, Syria had assembled a surprisingly wide collection of ex-Wehrmacht vehicles from a half-dozen sources over a decade and a half timeframe. This fleet consisted primarily of late production Panzer V, StuGIII and Jagdpanzer IVs, plus some Hummel SPAAGs and a handful Panthers. The tanks were procured from France, Spain, and Czechoslovakia, partly revamped before delivery.

 

All of the Panthers Syria came from Czechoslovakia. Immediately after Germany’s collapse in May 1945, the Soviet army established a staging area for surrendered German tanks at a former Wehrmacht barracks at Milovice, about 24 miles north of Prague, Czechoslovakia. By January 1946, a total of roughly 200 operational Panzer IVs and Panthers of varying versions were at this facility. Joining them was a huge cache of spare parts found at a former German tank repair depot in Teplice, along with ammunition collected from all over Czechoslovakia and the southern extremity of the Soviet occupation zone in Germany. Throughout 1946, the Czechoslovak government’s clean-up of WWII battlefields recovered more than one hundred further tank wrecks, of which 80 were pieced back together to operational status and handed over to the Czechoslovakian Army,

 

In early 1948, the now-nationalized CKD Works began a limited upkeep of the tanks, many of which had not had depot-level overhauls since the war. A few were rebuilt with a Czechoslovak-designed steering system, but this effort was halted due to cost. These tanks remained operational in the Czechoslovak army until the end of 1954, when sufficient T-34s were available to phase them out.

 

A Syrian military delegation visited Prague from 8 April – 22 April 1955. An agreement was struck for the sale, amongst other items, of 45 Panzer IVs and 15 Panthers. Despite their obsolescence the Czechoslovaks were not about to just give the tanks away and demanded payment in a ‘hard’ western currency, namely British pounds. The cost was £4,500 each (£86,000 or $112,850 in 2016 money), far above what they were probably worth militarily, especially considering the limited amount of foreign currency reserves available to the Damascus government. The deal included refurbishment, a full ammunition loadout for each, and a limited number of spare parts. Nonetheless, the deal was closed, and the tanks’ delivery started in early November 1955.

 

The Syrians were by that time already having dire problems keeping their French-sourced panzers operational, and in 1958, a second contract was signed with CKD Works for 15 additional Panzer IVs and 10 more Panthers, these being in lesser condition or non-operational, for use as spare parts hulks. An additional 16 refurbished Maybach engines for both types were also included in this contract, as well as more ammunition.

 

The refurbished Panthers for Syria had their original 7.5 cm KwK 42 L70 replaced with the less powerful Rheinmetall 7.5 cm KwK 40 L48 gun – dictated by the fact that this gun was already installed in almost all other Syrian tanks of German origin and rounds for the KwK 42 L70 were not available anymore. and the Panther’s full ammo load was 87 rounds. The KwK 40 L48 fired a standard APCBC shell at 750 m/s and could penetrate 109 mm (4.3 in) hardened steel at 1.000 m range. This was enough to take out an M4 Sherman at this range from any angle under ideal circumstances. With an APCR shell the gun was even able to penetrate 130 mm (5.1 in) of hardened steel at the same distance.

 

Outwardly, the gun switch was only recognizable through the shorter barrel with a muzzle brake, the German WWII-era TZF.5f gunsight was retained by the Syrians. Additionally, there were two secondary machine guns, either MG-34s or MG-42s, one coaxial with the main gun and a flexible one in a ball mount in the tank’s front glacis plate.

A few incomplete Panther hulls without turret were also outfitted with surplus Panzer IV turrets that carried the same weapon, but the exact share of them among the Syrian tanks is unknown – most probably less than five, and they were among the batch delivered in the course of the second contract from 1958.

 

As they had been lumped all together in Czechoslovak army service, the Syrians received a mixed bag of Panzer IV and Panther versions, many of them “half-breeds” or “Frankensteins”. Many had the bow machine gun removed, either already upon delivery or as a later field modification, and in some cases the machine gun in the turret was omitted as well.

An obvious modification of the refurbished Czech export Panthers for Syria was the installation of new, lighter road wheels. These were in fact adapted T-54 wheels from Czechoslovakian license production that had just started in 1957 - instead of revamping the Panthers’ original solid steel wheels, especially their rubberized tread surfaces, it was easier to replace them altogether, what also made spare parts logistics easier. The new wheels had almost the same diameter as the original German road wheels from WWII, and they were simply adapted to the Panther’s attachment points of the torsion bar suspension’s swing arms. Together with the lighter main gun and some other simplifications, the Syrian Panthers’ empty weight was reduced by more than 3 tonnes.

 

The Czechoslovaks furthermore delivered an adapter kit to mount a Soviet-made AA DShK 12.7mm machine gun to the commander cupola. This AA mount had originally been developed after WWII for the T-34 tank, and these kits were fitted to all initial tanks of the 1955 order. Enough were delivered that some could be installed on a few of the Spanish- / French-sourced tanks, too.

 

It doesn’t appear that the Czechoslovaks updated the radio fit on any of the ex-German tanks, and it’s unclear if the Syrians installed modern Soviet radios. The WWII German Fu 5 radio required a dedicated operator (who also manned the bow machine gun); if a more modern system was installed not requiring a dedicated operator, this crew position could be eliminated altogether, what favored the deletion of the bow machine gun on many ex-German Syrian tanks. However, due to their more spacious hull and turret, many Panthers were apparently outfitted with a second radio set and used as command tanks – visible through a second whip antenna on the hull.

 

A frequent domestic Panther upgrade were side skirts to suppress dust clouds while moving and to prevent dust ingestion into the engines and clogged dust filters. There was no standardized solution, though, and solutions ranged from simple makeshift rubber skirts bolted to the tanks’ flanks to wholesale transplants from other vehicles, primarily Soviet tanks. Some Panthers also had external auxiliary fuel tanks added to their rear, in the form of two 200 l barrels on metal racks of Soviet origin. These barrels were not directly connected with the Panther’s fuel system, though, but a pump-and-hose kit was available to re-fuel the internal tanks from this on-board source in the field. When empty or in an emergency - the barrels were placed on top of the engine bay and leaking fuel quite hazardous - the barrels/tanks could be jettisoned by the crew from the inside.

 

Inclusive of the cannibalization hulks, Syria received a total of roughly 80 former German tanks from Czechoslovakia. However, at no time were all simultaneously operational and by 1960, usually only two or three dozen were combat-ready.

Before the Six Day War, the Syrian army was surprisingly unorganized, considering the amount of money being pumped into it. There was no unit larger than a brigade, and the whole Syrian army had a sort of “hub & spokes” system originating in Damascus, with every individual formation answering directly to the GHQ rather than a chain of command. The Panthers, Panzer IVs and StuG IIIs were in three independent tank battalions, grossly understrength, supporting the normal tank battalions of three infantry brigades (the 8th, 11th, and 19th) in the Golan Heights. The Jagdpanzer IVs were in a separate independent platoon attached to a tank battalion operating T-34s and SU-100s. How the Hummel SPGs were assigned is unknown.

 

The first active participation of ex-German tanks in Syrian service was the so-called “Water War”. This was not really a war but rather a series of skirmishes between Israel and Syria during the mid-1960s. With increasing frequency starting in 1964, Syria emplaced tanks on the western slope of the Golan Heights, almost directly on the border, to fire down on Israeli irrigation workers and farmers in the Galilee region. Surprisingly (considering the small number available) Syria chose the Panzer IV for this task. It had no feature making it better or worse than any other tank; most likely the Syrians felt they were the most expendable tanks in their inventory as Israeli counterfire was expected. The panzers were in defilade (dug in) and not easy to shoot back at; due to their altitude advantage.

 

In 1964, Syria announced plans to divert 35% of the Jordan River’s flow away from Israel, to deprive the country of drinking water. The Israelis responded that they would consider this an act of war and, true to their word, engaged the project’s workers with artillery and sniper fire. Things escalated quickly; in 1965, Israeli M4 Shermans on Israeli soil exchanged fire with the Syrian Panzer IVs above inconclusively. A United Nations peacekeeping team ordered both sides to disengage from the border for a set period of time to “cool off”, but the UN “Blue Berets” were detested and considered useless by both the Israelis and Syrians, and both sides used the lull to prepare their next move. When the cooling-off period ended, the Syrians moved Panzer IVs and now some Panthers, too, back into position. However, the IDF had now Centurion tanks waiting for them, with their fire arcs pre-planned out. The Cold War-era Centurion had heavy armor, a high-velocity 105mm gun, and modern British-made optics. It outclassed the WWII panzers in any imaginable way and almost immediately, two Syrian Panzer IVs and a Panther were destroyed. Others were abandoned by their crews and that was the end of the situation.

 

Syria’s participation in the Six Say War that soon followed in 1967 war was sloppy and ultimately disastrous. Israel initially intended the conflict to be limited to a preemptive strike against Egypt to forestall an imminent attack by that country, with the possibility of having to fight Syria and Jordan defensively if they responded to the operations against Egypt. The war against Egypt started on 5 June 1967. Because of the poor organization of the Syrian army, news passed down from Damascus on the fighting in the Sinai was scarce and usually outdated by the time it reached the brigade level. Many Syrian units (including the GHQ) were using civilian shortwave radios to monitor Radio Cairo which was spouting off outlandish claims of imaginary Egyptian victories, even as Israeli divisions were steamrolling towards the Suez Canal.

 

Syrian vehicles of German origin during the Six Day War were either painted overall in beige or in a dark olive drab green. Almost all had, instead of tactical number codes, the name of a Syrian soldier killed in a previous war painted on the turret in white. During the Six Day War, no national roundel was typically carried, even though the Syrian flag was sometimes painted to the turret flanks. However just as the conflict was starting, white circles were often painted onto the top sides of tanks as quick ID markings for aircraft, and some tanks had red recognition triangles added to the side areas: Syrian soldiers were notoriously trigger-happy, and the decreased camouflage effect was likely cancelled out by the reduced odds of being blasted by a comrade!

 

During the evening of 5 June, Syrian generals in Damascus urged the government to take advantage of the situation and mount an immediate invasion of Israel. Planning and preparation were literally limited to a few hours after midnight, and shortly after daybreak on 6 June, Syrian commanders woke up with orders to invade Israel. The three infantry brigades in the Golan, backed up by several independent battalions, were to spearhead the attack as the rest of the Syrian army mobilized.

There was no cohesion at all: Separate battalions began their advance whenever they happened to be ready to go, and brigades went forward, missing subunits that lagged behind. A platoon attempting a southern outflank maneuver tried to ford the Jordan River in the wrong spot and was washed away. According to a KGB report, at least one Syrian unit “exhibited cowardice” and ignored its orders altogether.

 

On 7 June, 24 hours into their attack, Syrian forces had only advanced 2 miles into Israel. On 8 June, the IDF pushed the Syrians back to the prewar border and that afternoon, Israeli units eliminated the last Egyptian forces in the Sinai and began a fast redeployment of units back into Israel. Now the Syrians were facing serious problems.

On 9 June, Israeli forces crossed into the Golan Heights. They came by the route the Syrians least expected, an arc hugging the Lebanese border. Now for the first time, Syria’s panzers (considered too slow and fragile for the attack) were encountered. The next day, 10 June 1967, was an absolute rout as the Syrians were being attacked from behind by IDF units arcing southwards from the initial advance, plus Israel’s second wave coming from the west. It was later estimated that Syria lost between 20-25% of its total military vehicle inventory in a 15-hour span on 10 June, including eight Panthers. A ceasefire was announced at midnight, ending Syria’s misadventure. Syria permanently lost the Golan Heights to Israel.

 

By best estimate, Syria had just five Panthers and twenty-five Panzer IVs fully operational on 6 June 1967, with maybe another ten or so tanks partially operational or at least functional enough to take into combat. Most – if not all – of the ex-French tanks were probably already out of service by 1967, conversely the entire ex-Spanish lot was in use, along with some of the ex-Czechoslovak vehicles. The conflict’s last kill was on 10 June 1967 when a Panzer IV was destroyed by an Israeli M50 Super Sherman (an M4 Sherman hull fitted with a new American engine, and a modified turret housing Israeli electronics and a high-velocity French-made 75mm gun firing HEAT rounds). Like the Centurion, the Super Sherman outclassed the Panzer IV, and the Panther only fared marginally better.

 

Between 1964-1973 the USSR rebuilt the entire Syrian military from the ground up, reorganizing it along Warsaw Pact lines and equipping it with gear strictly of Soviet origin. There was no place for ex-Wehrmacht tanks and in any case, Czechoslovakia had ended spares & ammo support for the Panzer IV and the Panthers, so the types had no future. The surviving tanks were scrapped in Syria, except for a single Panzer IV survivor sold to a collector in Jordan.

  

Specifications:

Crew: Five (commander, gunner, loader, driver, radio operator)

Weight: 50 tonnes (55.1 long tons; 45.5 short tons)

Length: 6.87 m (22 ft 6 in) hull only

7.52 m (24 ft 7¾ in) overall with gun facing forward

Width: 3.42 m (11 ft 3 in) hull only

3,70 m (12 ft 1¾ in) with retrofitted side skirts

Height: 2.99 m (9 ft 10 in)’

Ground clearance: 56 cm (22 in)

Suspension: Double torsion bar, interleaved road wheels

Fuel capacity: 720 liters (160 imp gal; 190 US gal),

some Syrian Panthers carried two additional external 200 l fuel drums

 

Armor:

15–80 mm (0.6 – 3.93 in)

 

Performance:

Maximum road speed: 56 km/h (35 mph)

Operational range: 250 km (160 mi) on roads; 450 km (280 mi)with auxiliary fuel tanks

100 km (62 mi) cross-country

Power/weight: 14 PS (10.1 kW)/tonne (12.7 hp/ton)

 

Engine & transmission:

Maybach HL230 V-12 gasoline engine with 700 PS (690 hp, 515 kW)

ZF AK 7-200 gearbox with 7 forward 1 reverse gear

 

Armament:

1× 7,5 cm KwK 40 (L/48) with 87 rounds

2× 7.92 mm MG 34 or 42, or similar machine guns;

one co-axial with the main gun, another in the front glacis plate

with a total of 5.100 rounds (not always mounted)

Provision for a 12.7 mm DShK or Breda anti-aircraft machine gun on the commander cupola

  

The kit and its assembly:

A rather exotic what-if model, even though it’s almost built OOB. Inspiration came when I stumbled upon the weird Syrian Panzer IVs that were operated against Israel during the Six Day War – vehicles you would not expect there, and after more than 20 years after WWII. But when I did some more research, I was surprised about the numbers and the variety of former German tanks that Syria had gathered from various European countries, and it made me wonder if the Panther could not have been among this shaggy fleet, too?

 

I had a surplus Dragon Panther Spähpanzer in The Stash™, to be correct a “PzBeobWg V Ausf. G”, an observation and artillery fire guidance conversion that actually existed in small numbers, and I decided to use it as basis for this odd project. The Dragon kit has some peculiarities, though: its hull is made from primed white metal and consists of an upper and lower half that are held together by small screws! An ambiguous design, because the parts do not fit as good as IP parts, so that the model has a slightly die-cast-ish aura. PSR is necessary at the seams, but due to the metal it’s not easy to do. Furthermore, you have to use superglue everywhere, just as on a resin kit. On the other side, surface details are finely molded and crisp, even though many bits have to be added manually. However, the molded metal pins that hold the wheels are very robust and relatively thin – a feature I exploited for a modified running gear (see below).

 

For the modified Panther in my mind I had to retrograde the turret back to a late standard turret with mantlet parts left over from a Hasegawa kit – they fitted perfectly! The PzBeobWg V only comes with a stubby gun barrel dummy. But I changed the armament, anyway, and implanted an aftermarket white metal and brass KwK 40 L48, the weapon carried by all Syrian Panzer IVs, the Jagdpanzer IVs as well as the StuG IIIs. This standardization would IMHO make sense, even if it meant a performance downgrade from the original, longer KwK 42 L70.

 

For a Syrian touch, inspired by installations on the Panzer IVs, I added a mount for a heavy DShK machine gun on the commander’s cupola, which is a resin aftermarket kit from Armory Models Group (a kit that consists of no less than five fiddly parts for just a tiny machine gun!).

To change and modernize the Panther’s look further, I gave it side skirts, leftover from a ModelCollect T-72 kit, which had to be modified only slightly to fit onto the molded side skirt consoles on the Panther’s metal hull. A further late addition were the fuel barrels from a Trumpeter T-54 kit that I stumbled upon when I looked for the skirts among my pile of tank donor parts. Even though they look like foreign matter on the Panther’s tail, their high position is plausible and similar to the original arrangement on many Soviet post-WWII tanks. The whip antennae on turret and hull were created with heated black sprue material.

 

As a modern feature and to change the Panther’s overall look even more, I replaced its original solid “dish” road wheels with T-54/55 “starfish” wheels, which were frequently retrofitted to T-34-85s during the Fifties. These very fine aftermarket resin parts (all real-world openings are actually open, and there’s only little flash!) came from OKB Grigorovich from Bulgaria. The selling point behind this idea is/was that the Panther and T-54/55 wheels have almost the same diameter: in real life it’s 860 vs. 830 mm, so that the difference in 1:72 is negligible. Beneficially, the aftermarket wheels came in two halves, and these were thin enough to replace the Panther’s interleaved wheels without major depth problems.

Adapting the parts to the totally different wheel arrangement was tricky, though, especially due to the Dragon kit’s one-piece white metal chassis that makes any mods difficult. My solution: I retained the inner solid wheels from the Panther (since they are hardly visible in the “3rd row”), plus four pairs of T-54/55 wheels for the outer, more rows of interleaved wheels. The “inner” T-54/55 wheel halves were turned around, received holes to fit onto the metal suspension pins and scratched hub covers. The “outside” halves were taken as is but received 2 mm spacer sleeves on their back sides (styrene tube) for proper depth and simply to improve their hold on the small and rounded metal pin tips. This stunt worked better than expected and looks really good, too!

  

Painting and markings:

Basically very simple, and I used pictures of real Syrian Panzer IVs as benchmark. I settled for the common green livery variant, and though simple and uniform, I tried to add some “excitement” to it and attempted to make old paint shine through. The hull’s lower surface areas were first primed with RAL 7008 (Khakigrau, a rather brownish tone), then the upper surfaces were sprayed with a lighter sand brown tone, both applied from rattle cans.

 

On top of that, a streaky mix of Revell 45 and 46 – a guesstimate for the typical Syrian greyish, rather pale olive drab tone - was thinly applied with a soft, flat brush, so that the brownish tones underneath would shine through occasionally. Once dry, the layered/weathered effect was further emphasized through careful vertical wet-sanding and rubbing on all surfaces with a soft cotton cloth.

The rubber side skirts were painted with an anthracite base and the dry-brushed with light grey and beige.

 

The model then received an overall washing with a highly thinned mix of grey and dark brown acrylic artist paint. The vinyl tracks (as well as the IP spare track links on the hull) were painted, too, with a mix of grey, red brown and iron, all acrylic paints, too, that do not interact chemically with the soft vinyl.

 

The decals/markings are minimal; the Arabian scribble on the turret (must be a name?), using the picture of a Syrian Panzer IV as benchmark, was painted in white by hand, as well as the white circle on the turret roof. The orange ID triangles are a nice contrast, even though I was not able to come up with real-life visual evidence for them. I just found a color picture of a burned T-34-85 wreck with them, suggesting that the color was a dull orange red and not florescent orange, as claimed in some sources. I also found illustrations of the triangles as part of 1:35 decal sets for contemporary Syrian T-34-85s from FC Model Trend and Star Models, where they appear light red. For the model, they were eventually cut out from decal sheet material (TL-Modellbau, in a shade called “Rotorange”, what appears to be a good compromise).

 

Dry-brushing with light grey and beige to further emphasize edges and details followed. Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic vanish overall, and some additional very light extra dry-brushing with silver was done to simulate flaked paint. Dirt and rust residues were added here and there with watercolors. After final assembly, the lower areas of the model were furthermore powdered with mineral pigments to simulate dust.

  

The idea of a modernized WWII Panther: a simple idea that turned into a major conversion. With the resin DShK machine gun and T-54/55 wheel set the costs of this project escalated a little, but in hindsight I find that the different look and the mix of vintage German and modern Soviet elements provide this Panther with that odd touch that sets it apart from a simple paint/marking variation? I really like the outcome, and I think that the effort was worthwhile - this fictional Panther shoehorns well into its intended historical framework. :-D

 

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.

We had a weekend in Borrowdale recently, a Christmas present that we tagged a day on to. After calling at work on Saturday morning to open for business we headed up the motorway to Penrith. The road through the central lakes was washed away in the recent floods and it is going to be a long job replacing it. This made the diverted journey around 145 miles but we had a good run up there. We wanted to get walking ASAP so we pulled in at Threlkeld with a view to heading up Clough Head, and subject to conditions, head over the Dodds and back by the Old Coach Road. We had left appalling weather at home, wind, rain, fog and sleet on the tops. Thankfully it was better further north. There was laying snow on the summits, it was fairly calm low down and some summits were cloud free.

 

We left the car at 11.10 in our winter gear, straight up through the quarries and the steep scree slope (another Red Screes), by now we were into the snow line. The cloud was down, the wind gale force and the summit frozen hard – a different world up here. South next to Calfhow Pike, the wind made it difficult to talk and it was around -4 so the there was a fair wind-chill factor. It was tough going to our next top – Great Dodd, part of the Helvellyn massif – It was to icy to walk in places which meant deviating from the path, and losing our bearings, visibility was around ten yards with spindrift creating a whiteout at times. We battled on to the top and found the summit cairn. Great Dodd isn’t the easiest top to find your way off in low visibility, we would have gone further but in these conditions it was pointless so we retraced our steps to Calfhow and clear conditions. From here we followed Mosedale beck to Mariel Bridge, which is on the Old Coach Road, this gave us a circular route back to our start. The Old Coach Road has been wrecked by the floods and the 4x4 off roaders are making it a lot worse. 9.25 miles in 3 ¼ hours and we were in Brysons Tearooms in Keswick for Coffee and cake by 3.45pm. We carried on to Borrowdale and checked in at our hotel, not a bad day really.

 

After a poor night in a poor bed we were breakfasted and out for 8.30. We drove the few miles up to Seatoller and we were kitted up and away at 9.10. A bitterly cold and icy morning, there was some sun but not as much as promised. We could see the summit of Great End covered in cloud, we were heading up there on to the Sca Fell massif. We followed the valley to the east of Seathwaite Fell, a new path for us. Once in the snow the going was very icy with the path ice covered in places. The snow was dry and powdery and in places it had blown over the underlying ice. At this point I might add, we do own crampons. After a winter of splashing around soaked we didn’t expect to need them and they were at home – very clever! This was our first real winters day this winter, other than an hour on Sca Fell Pike on Christmas Day, we haven’t seen winter conditions this winter. By the time we got to Esk Hause it was difficult to stay upright and on our way to Great End we had to pick our way very carefully around the worst of the ice. The spindrift made it difficult to see the ground at times, spinning around our feet in a mist. Once on the summit the cloud was thick and the wind speed high. We had been here fairly recently so I knew the layout of the summit and we had little difficulty finding the summit cairn. We were cursing our lack of crampons and the cloud. Instead of heading into the cloud along the Sca Fell Pike path we decided to get under the cloud, back to Esk Hause and head over Allen Crags and Glaramara. At this point we both took some heavy falls, as did others up there, a lot turned around and headed back down, it was deadly. The cloud had thickened, there wasn’t a ray of sun to soften things. Our chosen route was one of the hardest afternoons we had ever had. Everywhere was frozen solid, we had to kick toe or heel holes to move on slopes that we wouldn’t have broken stride on normally. Minor rock scrambles down steep crags had become life threatening in places and we proceeded with extreme care. The knees were creaking on the long descent to Seathwaite. 10.3 miles in six hours, almost half the speed of yesterday. We made it Keswick for afternoon tea – and bought some Micro Spikes for unfinished business to deal with tomorrow. A beautiful day was forecast so fingers crossed we headed back for a soak in the tub.

 

Day three, a gorgeous icy, sunny winters day. Things looked promising. We left along yesterday’s route at the same start time – with walking poles and Micro Spikes! At the top of the valley we met a guy who had set off before us, two guys known to him were picking their way through the crags, tiny specks on the 800 foot rocky crag. Some appeared to have tried to climb the snow filled chimney that runs to the summit but we heard later that conditions weren’t suitable. Even though it was minus four the sun had softened the snow just enough to get a grip and it was easier to avoid the worst of the ice, unlike yesterday. The summit of Great End was incredible with never ending vistas. We could see a steady stream of walkers on every path by now. Word had got out that we were in for a rare treat today, plus it was school half term so a lot of people were off work. I visited every possible viewpoint as we went to the summit of Ill Crag , Broad Crag and finally Sca Fell Pike. It was 1.00 PM by now and a steady stream of elated walkers were arriving on England’s highest point. It was bitter but beautiful. We had around five miles back to the car along the Corridor Route to Styhead, Stockley Bridge and Seathwaite. Part of this route we had covered recently on Christmas Day and despite the snow and ice we powered along. We would have been back in two hours but! A mile from the car, following the manmade path down Taylorgill Force to Stockley Bridge Jayne Stumbled. It’s not often she walks in front. I normally lead and relay instructions and warnings back to her. She hit the rock path with her head and face really hard, stunned, she rolled off the path over a drop. She was vertical, resting on a rock on her knees and clinging on to the edge of the path with her fingertips. I grabbed her rucksack and held her whilst I checked her injuries. She had a bad bump on her temple, another on her forehead, split the bridge or her nose, her glasses had gone flying but would straighten. Being left handed she had stuck her left hand out and it had been bent back, it was swelling and discolouring pretty fast. When I had established that nothing was serious enough to stop her moving I got her back on to the path to see to her injuries. The pain initially made her think that she was in a worse state than ( I thought) she really was. She could move her fingers and wrist, albeit with some pain but not enough for it to be broken. The wound to the bridge of her nose although very painful wasn’t going to be a problem. The bumps on her head were turning into eggs by now. I gave her Ibuprofen and Paracetemol and she sat and composed herself for the final mile. We made it to the café in Keswick and got a slightly later afternoon break, our first of the day again. 11.3 miles today in 6 ¼ hours and fairly tough going. It was nothing more than a careless, tired perhaps, stumble on one of the horrible ( our own opinion, I might add) manmade paths made out of irregular stones which are laid at odd angles and are a nightmare to descend when wet on tired legs. A few days later and Jayne is sat on reception at the doctors looking like she’s been boxing, with a purple eye and nose, her left hand swollen and purple – otherwise she’s OK. I came down with mild food poisoning during the night and had to drive 145 miles home at 8.00 the morning after feeling extremely ill. I was due to start fasting for a Colonoscopy in three days. I ended up eating six slices of toast over a four day period – Monday evening to Thursday evening- Having had over 40 stomach endoscopies in twenty years the colonoscopy was nothing more than uncomfortable and , subject to biopsy results, everything looked OK. The trapped wind was another matter – for two days! All in all a very traumatic week. Needless to say we didn’t use the Micro Spikes.

 

Corduroy (Nelvana TV series) season 2-present, Timothy Goes to School More Disney Snow White and Pinocchio contents, and early classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons such as The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Top Cat, Yogi Bear, and Huckleberry Hound will all replace Arthur and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends because Arthur's younger sister D.W. always scream and throw temper tantrums and she is evil and she is also even worse than Caillou in season 1 of Caillou. Caillou became mature but D.W. didn't so the PBS Kids TV series Arthur MUST BE BANNED and get replaced by Corduroy the Bear which is the friendly TV show I am writing and producing at Nelvana and Timothy Goes to School. So I agree with Tbone Animate for this one. Arthur's younger sister D.W. screaming and throwing temper tantrums is why Arthur Gets Grounded on Vyond is way better than the PBS Kids TV series Arthur. And the reason why I am banning Arthur is because in one episode Arthur punched D.W. which is one of the reasons why D.W. always screams and throws temper tantrums and this goes for the same thing as that Frankie Foster yells, screams, makes freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes when she gets mad which is not okay to do when you get mad whereas Corduroy (Nelvana TV series), Timothy Goes to School, Walt Disney's animated films Snow White and Pinocchio, and early classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons like The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Top Cat, Yogi Bear, and Huckleberry Hound are are entirely kind-spirited (school appropriate) and especially a lot of the underscore music in Walt Disney's animated films Snow White and Pinocchio are kind-spirited (School appropriate). Frankie Foster MUST BE BANNED Frankie Foster yells, screams, makes freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes replicating that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends and meanly gnashing her teeth when she gets mad which is mean-spirited because it is okay to get mad but it is not okay to yell, scream, make freaky spikey eyelashes triangular eyes, aim guns, destroy people's toys and belongings or any other mean spirited things when getting mad whereas Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy MUST BE KEPT FOREVER because Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy are kind-hearted, caring, respectful, helpful and other kind-spirited stuff just like the Disney Character Pinocchio which makes Raggedy Ann, Raggedy Andy, and the Disney Character Pinocchio extremely school appropriate because media does have to be kind-spirited like Walt Disney's animated films Snow White and Pinocchio, Corduroy The Bear with two buttons on his overalls, Blue's Clues, and Raggedy Ann and Andy and other kind-spirited media in order for it to be school appropriate not with mean inappropriate anger with freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes etc replicating that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends like Frankie Foster does in Forster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Mean teachers getting students arrested for having autism or other disabilities MUST BE BANNED because that is very mean and hurtful and causes trauma to students with autism and other disabilities especially in modern Simpsons (The Simpsons seasons 19 to 30) Chief Wiggums was getting people arrested for having autism and other disabilities is why modern Simpsons MUST END IMMEDIATELLY and that Nelvana's version of Corduroy the Bear MUST BE REVIVED with the premiere of Two Buttons again and Forever IMMEDIATELY and a lot of big schools with Bogen Multicom 2000 also have mean teachers getting students arrested for having autism or other disabilities is another reason why Bogen Multicom 2000 is a very mean-spirited PA System along their bell tones not sounding like a bell at all especially the in this picture of a mean teacher getting a boy arrested for having autism is in a school with a Bogen Multicom 2000 and allowing mean spirited stuff and allowing an ice cream truck to keep the bad old outdated red trapezoid children slow crossing warning blades that word IF-SAFE STOP THEN-GO is why I am dead furious with Bogen Communications and Fox Broadcasting and getting students arrested for having autism or other disabilities is one of the extremely bad impact modern Simpsons (The Simpsons seasons 19 to 30) has gave us along with reusing bad things they used to make in the past and how to be mean and scary which are extremely bad. So this is why all broadcasts of The Simpsons MUST BE BY LAW MANDATED to be ONLY reruns of classic Simpsons (first 18 seasons of The Simpsons). This is why all schools MUST BE BY LAW MANDATED to be set up like Middleborough, Hilltop School from Timothy Goes to School, and or my DeVry building in North Brunswick, NJ and all with green chalkboards, electric mechanical wall bells, and Corbeil school buses and other school buses with electric stop arms, and only kind-spirited stuff like Disney Snow White and Pinocchio stuff and Corduroy the Bear with two buttons on his green corduroy overalls and Steve Notebooks etc, and no mean-spirited stuff like Bogen Multicom 2000 and that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends and no processed foods in the school lunches. This is why McDonald's restaurants MUST BE BY LAW MANDATED to be McEyebrows with the yellow and orange striped awnings, arch wedge the new aluminum exterior I have created, or the original 1970s version of the iconic double sloped mansard roof and better and safe updated indoor PlayPlaces with low and safe steps and slides and green chalkboards and or just the dining room option (no playplace), This is why all ice cream trucks MUST BE BY LAW MANDATED to be all updated to the current updated yellow trapezoid children slow crossing warning blades that word CHILDREN SLOW CROSSING and or school bus stop signs and that all ice cream trucks MUST BE BY LAW MANDEDTED TO GET RID of the bad old outdated red trapezoid children slow crossing warning blades that word IF-SAFE STOP THEN-GO for good, This is why Crayola Crayon boxes MUST BE BY LAW MANDATED to be new modern 1997 boxes. This is why school PA systems MUST BE BY LAW MANDATED to be Rauland Telecenter or PA systems with no bell tones. And this is why Nelvana and Hanna-Barbera MUST TAKE OVER Warner Bros. Animation and Fuzzy Door Productions. And from now on the only childrens' books from the McDonald's double-sloped mansard era people MUST reuse in schools, republish, restore, reprint, and re-create are ONLY little golden books with the classic character train back cover template with Tootle pulling the long train of characters and Donald duck waving the flag saying "The World of Little Golden Books" not any of those old Thomas books with pictures from the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends so we will never ever have to deal with that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends ever again. That mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes, triangular eyes, and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends is the worst mean spirited anger imagery because the way how that face is modeled was depicting Gordon the Big engine about to kill people by running over them and about to come out of the TV and kill the viewers of the show by running over them which is very bad and murding is the worst crime. Original photo credited to TrustaMann on Deviantart.com. Parents and Teachers being mean to them and destroying their kid's toys and belongings and yelling "GOD DAM HELL" and "GOD IN HELL" as a punishments MUST BE BANNED AND ILLEGAL EVERYWHERE FOREVER!!!!!!!! because Parents and Teachers taking away and destroying kid's toys and stuff as a punishment is being mean to kids and hurts their feelings real bad and cry which is extremely bad and parents and teachers use scary inappropriate behaviors like yelling "GOD DAM HELL" and meanly yell I'm so god dam cross with you whey they take away kid's toys and stuff needs to stop forever. And at Holly Springs school in my 5th grade school year there were mean teachers that got mean and super mad at me and took away my Steve notebook and forced me to see the freaky spikey eyelashes, razor blade forehead wrinkles, and triangular eyes they used to had on Gordon's grumpy face in the old model version of Thomas and Friends which scared me and other kids real bad when they meanly called me bad just because I made one bad choice and I am a good boy and always try to be kind and respectful. And in the old model version of Thomas and Friends, Gordon looked like an evil man with a gun when he gets grumpy is why I hate the old model version of Thomas and Friends and say that the old model version of Thomas and Friends MUST BE BANNED and good thing I the kind and respectful teachers gave me back my Steve Notebook. Also in my 5th grade year at Holly Springs there was a preschool class with a secondary teachers being mean and got super mad at the little kid and took away his toys and stuff and destroyed them and made the little kid sit in the hallway and and forced and made the little kid to see the freaky spikey eyelashes, razor blade forehead wrinkles, and triangular eyes they used to had on Gordon's grumpy face in the old model version of Thomas and Friends and the little kid cried real hard and I felt bad for the little kid but at least Santa mended the little kids destroyed toys back together at his workshop and gave the toys back to the little kid and at also it is a good thing Thomas and Friends moved to from live action models to CGI animations which is better and friendlier and made Gordon have a more accurate grumpy face similar to Homer Simpson in classic Simpsons episodes. This is why Bogen Multicom 2000 systems MUST BE BANNED from schools and that Bogen Communications MUST SHUT DOWN FOREVER. Especially, that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes, triangular eyes, and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends is the worst mean spirited anger imagery because the way how that face is modeled was depicting Gordon the Big engine about to kill people by running over them and about to come out of the TV and kill the viewers of the show by running over them which is very bad and murding is the worst crime. Eventhough I am not worried about the mean teachers at Holly Springs school anymore, I still occasionally have nightmares about the mean teachers at Holly Springs school, one night I had 2 nightmares of the mean teachers at Holly Springs school and the first nightmare was in Mrs. Monic's room with the mean teachers at Holly Springs threatening to give me a punishment day by destroying my Steve notebook and forcing me to see that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends and the mean then the mean teachers told me to shut up in a slow monster voice with teeth sticking together and then I woke up and realized it was only a dream and the second nightmare with the mean teachers at Holly Springs school the mean teachers were forbidding me to revive Nelvana's version of Corduroy the Bear with the premiere of Two Buttons again and Forever fixing Betty Quan's upsetting mistake for good and the mean teachers then were calling me a bad boy and then destroyed my Steve notebook and had Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends kill me by running me over with that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends and sending my soul to where the devil lives but good thing God came and angrily confronted the mean teachers at Holly Springs school and angrily destroyed that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends and angrily put a grinning smile face on the live action model version of Gordon the Big engine and made the live action model version of Gordon the Big engine inanimate forever as his punishment and revived me and mended my Steve notebook back together and God told me that I am not a bad boy and then allowed me to revive Nelvana's version of Corduroy the Bear with the premiere of Two Buttons again and Forever fixing Betty Quan's upsetting mistake showing that they did get Corduroy's button out of the storm drain and put Corduroy's button back on Corduroy the Bear's green corduroy overalls and Corduroy the Bear does have two buttons on his green corduroy overalls forever. Especially when I was in 5th grade at Holly Springs, my anxiety had in my head of the mean teachers making evil magic giant steel crates to lock kids in with slamming lift doors forcing kids to see that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends and the mean teachers having live action model version of Gordon the Big engine shoot a gun at the kids in the steel crate with that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends and the mean teachers having the live action model version of Gordon the Big engine kill the kids in the steel crate by running them over with that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes and triangular eyes and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends and I had been having this scary thought since 5th grade at Holly Springs when the mean secondary teachers from Mrs. Monic's room was giving a little kid a punishment day in the hall and was giving me the idea of killing myself by setting my own body on fire I had this bottled up since 5th grade at Holly Springs school. This is why I am collaborating to make everything great again as when I revive Nelvana's version of Corduroy the Bear with the premiere of Two Buttons again and Forever fixing Betty Quan's upsetting mistake for good by showing that they did get Corduroy's button out of the storm drain and put Corduroy's button back on Corduroy the Bear's green corduroy overalls and Corduroy the Bear does have two buttons on his green corduroy overalls forever. This is why Bogen Multicom 2000 systems MUST BE BANNED from schools and that Bogen Communications MUST SHUT DOWN FOREVER. Especially, that mean scary looking grumpy face with the freaky spikey eyelashes, triangular eyes, and razor blade forehead wrinkles they used to have on Gordon in the old live action model version of Thomas and Friends is the worst mean spirited anger imagery because the way how that face is modeled was depicting Gordon the Big engine about to kill people by running over them and about to come out of the TV and kill the viewers of the show by running over them which is very bad and murding is the worst crime. And parents and teachers being mean to kids and destroying their kid's toys and belongings as punishments was giving me the idea of killing myself by setting my own body on fire. And schools with a Bogen Multicom 2000 even recommend the inappropriate phrases about body parts from American Dad and Family Guy and the goofs Mickey Mouse's iconic red short overalls with yellow buttons and no shoulder straps being low waisted and looking like a loincloth they used to make Before Blue's Clues was ever created they used to make minor goofs of Mickey Mouse's iconic red short overalls with yellow buttons and no shoulder straps occasionally being low waisted and looking like a loincloth and having the buttons marking the human penises referencing the inappropriate phrases about body parts from American Dad and Family Guy is extremely vulgar and reminds me of when Corduroy's button was in a storm drain at the end of Cute as a Button which made me extremely upset but good thing I am working for Nelvana reviving Nelvana's version of Corduroy the Bear with the premiere of Two Buttons again and Forever fixing Betty Quan's upsetting mistake for good by showing that they did get Corduroy's button out of the storm drain and put Corduroy's button back on Corduroy the Bear's green corduroy overalls and Corduroy the Bear does have two buttons on his green corduroy overalls forever. They MUST CENSOR the inappropriate phrases about body parts in ALL future American Dad and Family Guy broadcasts because the inappropriate phrases about body parts from American Dad and Family Guy are so gross and inappropriate and so annoying and cringy like Dee Dee's laugh from Dexter's Laboratory and the inappropriate phrases about body parts from Family Guy are making me worried for Corduroy's button and the author of the Corduroy (Nelvana TV series) episode Betty Quan was also watching Dexter's Laboratory and having on DeeDee laughing in the episode of Dexter's Laboratory she was watching while writing the Corduroy episode Cute as a Button is why the Corduroy episode Cute as a Button does have an upsetting ending where Corduroy's button fell in a storm drain across the street from Lisa and Corduroy's apartment Building and forgot to show that they did get Corduroy's button out of the storm drain and put Corduroy's button back on Corduroy the Bear's green corduroy overalls and that Corduroy the Bear does have two buttons on his green corduroy overalls forever and in that storm drain, right after when the button fell in DeeDee from Dexter's Laboratory made Mowgli from Disney's 1967 animated film The Jungle Book fall on Corduroy's button and lay his stomach on the bottom of the storm drain and Corduroy's button was going on the front of Mowgli's bright red cotton fabric loincloth shorts and DeeDee was laughing about it which made me super upset which caused me to have guilt of Corduroy the Bear on December 2009 and what made my guilt of Corduroy the Bear worse was that a student at my middle school Dean Rusk in Canton Georgia named Jessie Burris told me a mean lie that an alligator ate Corduroy's button, yelled out the inappropriate phrases about body parts from American Dad and Family Guy at me, and then she punched me in the shoulder, then she told me to move on from my golden nostalgic toddler stuff like riding on school buses and bring back the bad things from the early 90s such as pear-shaped wrecking balls and ice cream trucks with the bad old outdated red trapezoid children slow crossing warning blades that word IF-SAFE STOP THEN-GO (which are extremely confusing to people who are deaf, color blind, can't read, or don't speak English and we need to help out those people out too) and then she told me that she liked DeeDee's annoying idiotic laugh from Dexter's Laboratory and the inappropriate phrases about body parts from American Dad and Family Guy which made me even more upset and worried for Corduroy and his button causing me to have anxiety with my guilt of Corduroy the Bear and all of that I was overeating so much food on December 2009 by making my bowl of Fruity Pebbles super big, munching giant stacks of salt and Vinegar Pringles Potato ships, and having a lot of extra school lunches and I was eating all of these foods all at once nervously for Corduroy and his button and then on exams week on my 8th grade school year on December 2009, I was having a sick stomach with green spots from overeating and then I had to rush to the restroom at my middle school Dean Rusk in Canton, Georgia and I was puking in the restroom bin at my middle school Dean Rusk in Canton Georgia and they had to send me home and skip the exam eventhough I wanted to take the exam and succeed in school. But good thing I am fixing Betty Quan's upsetting mistake by reviving the Nelvana TV show Corduroy with the premiere of an entirely new episode titled Two Buttons again and Forever which is the sequel to Cute as a Button showing that they did get Corduroy's button out of the storm drain and put Corduroy's button back on Corduroy the Bear's green corduroy overalls and that Corduroy the Bear does have two buttons on his green corduroy overalls forever and that I am writing and producing a lot more entirely new Corduroy episodes with Corduroy the Bear having two buttons on his green corduroy overalls instead of one and I am re-editing all season 1 episodes with Corduroy the Bear having two buttons on his green corduroy overalls instead of one and re-editing Betty Quan's Cute as a Button with the beginning of Two Buttons again and Forever as the alternative ending. Good thing I have decided to give up Family Guy because the inappropriate phrases about body parts from American Dad and Family Guy are making me worried for Corduroy's button and the other reason why I have decided to give up Family Guy is because I will have kids of my own when I live in Toronto reviving Nelvana's version of Corduroy the Bear with the premiere of Two Buttons again and Forever fixing Betty Quan's upsetting mistake for good by showing that they did get Corduroy's button out of the storm drain and put Corduroy's button back on Corduroy the Bear's green corduroy overalls and Corduroy The Bear does have two buttons on his green corduroy overalls forever. And my own kids will be a son named Pinocchio William Joseph Rich and a daughter named Pollyanna Wendy Lisa Rich. Good thing Disney now always have the waist of Mickey Mouse's iconic red short overalls with yellow buttons and no shoulder straps have the waist going all the way up to the chest and no longer having minor goofs of the overalls being low waisted and looking like a loincloth and I know for a fact all pants with two buttons going horizontally up in the front are overalls no matter if they have shoulder straps or not because pants always have the waist going all the way up to the chest if they have two buttons going horizontally up in the front no matter if they have shoulder straps or not. As one of my collaborations when I revive Nelvana's version of Corduroy the Bear with the premiere of Two Buttons again and Forever Fixing Betty Quan's upsetting mistake for good I will censor these stupid minor goofs of Mickey Mouse's overalls.

Conrails red class marker lights are alight on the 8753 as a west bound freight waits at SEPTA's Cheltenham Station, for the SEPTA' dispatchers permission to proceed.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 15-Nov-21 (DeNoise AI).

 

Named: "Al Riggah".

 

First flown in May-95 with the Airbus test registration F-WWJJ, this aircraft was delivered to Kuwait Airways as 9K-AND in Jul-95.

 

After 22 years in service the aircraft was withdrawn from use and stored at Kuwait City in Jul-17.

 

It was thought to be permanently retired, however, after almost three years in storage it was ferried to Banjul (The Gambia, West Africa) in Mar-20 and sold to an unknown company as C5-AST.

 

It was stored at Banjul for another 19 months before being ferried to Johannesburg (No!) at the end of Oct-21.

 

It might have been flightplanned for Johannesburg but it shows up on FR24 (under 9K-AND) as flying for around 30 minutes. It never got higher than 9,000 feet and the trace was lost at 4,525 feet and descending towards Bissau, Guinea Bissau. Updated 15-Nov-21.

Peugeot replaced the popular 405 line with the gorgeous and sleek looking 406 saloon, estate and coupé in the Fall of 1995. The 406 enjoyed a long career with its replacement, the 407, not showing at the door until 2004. The Coupé, which appeared in 1997 and received two mild updates, one in 2001 and the second in 2003.

 

Most 406s were powered by four-cylinder petrol or diesel engines (88 - 158 PS), though a 3.0-litre 24V V6 with either 190 or 207 PS was available as the range topper.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 23-Jan-21, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 25-Jul-24.

 

Fleet No: "609".

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWJY, this aircraft was delivered to Maple Leaf Leasing and leased to Air Canada as C-FYLU in May-97.

 

It was withdrawn from service in Jan-08 and sub-leased to Swiss International Airlines as HB-JMO in Feb-08. The lease was later transferred direct to Swiss International.

 

The aircraft was sold to Airbus Financial Leasing in Jul-13 while the lease to Swiss International continued. It was returned to the lessor as 2-HJMO at the end of Apr-16 and permanently retired at Lourdes, France. It was broken up there in 2019.

The Austin Maestro may have been launched in 1983, but its beginnings go back to the mid-1970's when manufacturer British Leyland went bankrupt. Coming out of this financial stalling following a government bailout, the company wanted to design a world beating family hatchback to compete with Germany and France's array of modest motorcars. In spirit, designs for the Maestro first came about with 1975's Leyland Princess, after which the car takes its shape. The intention was to have this car replace the many old and outdated designs that were still on the market 10 years after their introduction, including the Morris Ital (a facelifted Marina), the Austin Maxi, the Austin Allegro and the descendant of the Princess itself the Austin Ambassador. After 6 years of development, the Maestro under project name LC10 (Leyland Cars) entered the market in 1983, reducing British Leyland's product range dramatically. The car had taken many leaves out of its replacement's books, mostly from the Austin Maxi, with a new R-Series engine developed from the original and the hatchback design, but sacrificed many of these to save on costs, including the scrapping of Hydragas suspension in favour of regular strut system. The car also had many endearing features including electronic engine management and plastic bumpers.

 

Initial reception was surprisingly positive for the Maestro, with motoring journalists admiring the car's roomy interior, comfortable drive and easy use. The car was launched also with a variety of optional models, including the top ranging Vanden Plas with a styled luxury interior (and thankfully no chrome nose), or the sporty MG Maestro with a 2.0L O-Series engine. Sales did get off to a bit of a good start, but immediately plummeted due to the unreliability of the hashed together R-Series engine that was hastily developed from the engine of the Austin Maxi. The result was that it would suffer heavily from premature crankshaft failure and hot starting problems. The flimsy dashboard was also a point of criticism due to its poorly built nature, making constant squeaking noises and rattling profusely. In 1985 these problems were addressed by the arrival of the Maestro City X, consisting of a new City X 1.3L engine and replacing the dashboard that of the similarly built Montego.

 

In 1986, British Leyland was sold and the Austin name was dropped, simply being dubbed the Maestro. However, sales were still falling rapidly due to the car's outdated design and poor reputation. From the 101,000 cars originally built in 1983, 1989 only saw 60,000 built, with new owners Rover Group looking once again for a replacement. With the introduction of the 1989 Rover 200, the Maestro was pushed back to being the entry-level car, and the car continued to sell poorly, with a majority of sales, like most British Leyland cars, being only in the UK.

 

However, 1989 did see the introduction of the MG Maestro EFi, which went on to become the fastest production hatchback in the world at 130mph. But this was not enough to save the MG Maestro which was discontinued in 1991. In that year alone the sales figures had dropped from 38,762 in 1990 to 18,450 in 1991. By 1993 however the car was selling simply for the fact it was cheap and economical, with no other redeeming factors keeping it truly afloat. Eventually in December 1994, the Maestro, after 11 years of construction, was brought to a close...

 

...for about 6 months.

 

Apparently the Maestro wasn't done yet, as a company in Bulgaria started building Maestro's out of left over kits from the original production run in September 1995, with 2,000 Bulgarian Maestros being built and sold in the UK at a dealership known as Apple 2000 in Bury St Edmunds. Most notoriously however, the most famous reincarnation of the Maestro has been from China, with the Etsong Lubao QE6400, which was built between 1998 and 2005, incorporating the nose of a Montego and the rear design of a Maestro. The result was a very strange hybrid that looked like it was permanently sinking due to the fact that a Montego is a much lower car than a Maestro. Even today, the underpinnings of the Maestro continue to live on in the Yema F12, which means even though production of the car started way back in 1983, it technically is still alive and very much kicking, but with a different body!

 

Today though the Maestro is a rare car to find, with most becoming victims of the Scrappage Scheme in the mid-2000's, where people could trade in their old car for scrap and receive either enough money to buy, or be allowed a choice of an equivalent car. Because of this, the Maestro's original 605,000 strong fleet has been reduced to just 1,012, and went on to become the 9th most scrapped car in Britain.

 

For me though, the Maestro I always considered a nice car, it looks very happy, and many of my friend's parents owned them without much complaint, especially the later Rover models due to their more reliable nature. In the end though, I find the Maestro notorious because of the fact that in one form or another, this humble little family car that wasn't built to conquer the world isn't actually dead yet!

Replacing an eyesore with a lovely little ecosystem pondless recirculating stream

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.

Replacing a soundbar and found a RadioShack cable

Rathfarnham Castle on a sunnier day.

 

Origins:

 

The earlier Anglo-Norman castle which was replaced by the present building was built on lands which were confiscated from the Eustace family of Baltinglass because of their involvement in the Second Desmond Rebellion. It defended the Pale from the Irish clans in the nearby Wicklow Mountains. It is believed the present castle was built around 1583 for Yorkshireman, Adam Loftus, then Lord Chancellor of Ireland and Protestant Archbishop of Dublin. Originally a semi-fortified and battlemented structure, extensive alterations in the 18th century give it the appearance of a Georgian house.

 

The castle consisted of a square building four stories high with a projecting tower at each corner, the walls of which were an average of 5 feet (1.5 m) thick. On the ground level are two vaulted apartments divided by a wall nearly 10 feet (3.0 m) thick which rises to the full height of the castle. On a level with the entrance hall are the 18th century reception rooms and above this floor the former ballroom, later converted into a chapel.

 

Rathfarnham was described as a "waste village" when Loftus bought it. His new castle was not long built when in 1600 it had to withstand an attack by the Wicklow clans during the Nine Years War (Ireland).

 

Civil war:

 

Archbishop Loftus left the castle to his son, Dudley and it then passed to his son Adam in 1616. During Adam's ownership, the castle came under siege in the 1641 rebellion. It was able to hold out against the Confederate army when the surrounding country was overrun. Adam Loftus opposed the treaty of cessation in order the stop the fighting between the Irish Confederates and the English Royalists. Consequently, he was imprisoned in Dublin Castle.

 

During the subsequent Irish Confederate Wars (1641-53), the castle changed hands several times. From 1641 to 1647, it was garrisoned by English Royalist troops. In 1647, Ormonde, commander of the Royalists in Ireland, surrendered Dublin to the English Parliament and Parliamentary troops were stationed at the castle until 1649 when a few days before the Battle of Rathmines, the castle was stormed and taken without a fight by the Royalists. However, the Roundheads re-occupied it after their victory at the Battle of Rathmines. It has also been reported that Oliver Cromwell held council there during his campaign in Ireland before going south to besiege Wexford. Adam Loftus, who recovered his castle and lands under Cromwell, sided with the Parliamentarians and was killed at the Siege of Limerick in 1651.

 

After the English Civil War, the Loftus family retained ownership of the castle. In 1659, Dr. Dudley Loftus, great grandson of Archbishop Loftus, took over the castle. During his lifetime, Dudley held the posts of Commissioner of Revenue, Judge Admiralty, Master in Chancery, MP for Kildare and Wicklow and MP for Bannow and Fethard. His body is interred at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

 

The eighteenth century:

 

The property then passed by marriage to Philip Wharton. The young man lost his money in the South Sea Bubble and in 1723 the castle was sold to the Right Hon. William Connolly, speaker of the Irish House of Commons for £62,000. In 1742, the castle was sold to Dr. Hoadly, Archbishop of Armagh, and on his death four years later it passed to his son-in-law Bellingham Boyle. In 1767, he sold the property to Nicholas Hume-Loftus, second Earl of Ely, a descendant of Adam Loftus, the original builder of the castle.

The castle in 1774

 

Nicholas died within a few years, probably as an indirect result of great hardships which he had suffered in his youth, and the estate passed to his uncle, Hon. Henry Loftus, who was created Earl of Ely in 1771. In commemoration of regaining ownership, the Loftus family constructed another entrance for the castle in the form of a Roman Triumphal Arch. The arch can still be viewed from nearby Dodder Park Road. Henry Loftus, Earl of Ely was responsible for much of the conversion of the medieval fortress into a Georgian mansion and employed renowned architects Sir William Chambers and James 'Athenian' Stuart to carry out these works. The mullioned windows were enlarged and the battlements replaced by a coping with ornamental urns. A semi-circular extension was added to the east side and an entrance porch approached by steps, on the north. The interior was decorated in accordance with the tastes of the period and leading artists, including Angelica Kauffmann were employed in the work. Writers of the period who visited the house have left extravagant descriptions of its splendour.

 

Henry died in 1783 and was succeeded by his nephew Charles Tottenham. He subsequently became Marquess of Ely as a reward for his vote at the time of the Union.

 

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries:

 

In 1812, the family leased the estate to the Ropers and removed their valuable possessions to Loftus Hall in Wexford. The lands and castle were then used for dairy farming and fell into disrepair. To quote a contemporary account from 1838: "Crossing the Dodder by a ford, and proceeding along its southern bank towards Rathfarnham, a splendid gateway at left, accounted among the best productions of that species of architecture in Ireland, invites the tourist to explore the once beautiful grounds of Rathfarnham Castle, but they are now all eloquently waste, the undulating hills covered with rank herbage, the rivulet stagnant and sedgy, the walks scarce traceable, the ice-houses open to the prying sun, the fish-pond clogged with weeds, while the mouldering architecture of the castle, and the crumbling, unsightly offices in its immediate vicinity,…The castle, so long the residence of the Loftus family, and still the property of the Marquis of Ely, subject, however, to a small chief rent to Mr. Conolly, is an extensive fabric,.....The great hall is entered from a terrace, by a portico of eight Doric columns, which support a dome, painted in fresco with the signs of the Zodiac and other devices. This room was ornamented with antique and modern busts, placed on pedestals of variegated marble, and has three windows of stained gloss, in one of which is an escutcheon of the Loftus arms, with quarterings finely executed. Several other apartments exhibited considerable splendour of arrangement, and contained, until lately, numerous family portraits, and a valuable collection of paintings by ancient masters. But, when it is mentioned, that this structure has been for years a public dairy, and the grounds to the extent of 300 acres (1.2 km2) converted to its uses, some notion may be formed of their altered condition.

 

In 1852 it was bought by the Lord Chancellor, Francis Blackburne whose family resided there for three generations. The property developers Bailey & Gibson acquired the castle in 1912 and divided up the estate. The eastern part became the Castle Golf Club, the castle and the southwestern portion were bought in 1913 by the Jesuit Order and the northwestern part was devoted to housing.

 

The Jesuits are an order renowned for their education and one of them; Father O'Leary S.J. constructed a seismograph. This machine could detect earth tremors and earthquakes from anywhere in the world and for a time, Rathfarnham Castle became a source of earthquake information for the national media.

 

To the north of the castle was a long vaulted chamber formerly known as Cromwell’s Court or Fort. This was apparently a barn or storehouse erected as part of the castle farm and had narrow loopholes in its 5-foot (1.5 m) thick walls. In 1922, it was incorporated into the new retreat house, to which it formed the ground story and its character concealed from the outside by a uniform covering of cement plaster.

 

Not far from the Golf Club House was an attractive little temple built of stone and brick, another relic of Lord Ely’s occupation of Rathfarnham. Although rather out of repair, if restored, it would have added much to the charm of this part of the links. Unfortunately, by decision of the committee, it was demolished in 1979.

 

In 1986, the Jesuits sold Rathfarnham Castle but before leaving, they removed the stained glass windows, made in the famous Harry Clarke studios, from the chapel and donated them to Tullamore Catholic Church which had been destroyed by fire in 1983. The other windows were donated to Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross and Temple Street Children's Hospital, Dublin.

 

Preservation:

 

The castle was sold to Delaware Properties in 1985 and it was feared that it was facing demolition. After immense public pressure to save the building, it was purchased by the state in 1987 and was declared a National Monument. Currently, by the Office of Public Works, there is an extensive refurbishment going through the castle but it is still open to the public during the summer months (5th May - 12th October). The Castle is presented as a castle undergoing active conservation, where visitors can see, at first hand, tantalising glimpses of layers of its earlier existence uncovered during research.

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).

  

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

In 1964 the Royal Air Force specified a requirement (Air Staff Target (AST) 362) for a new fast jet trainer to replace the Folland Gnat. The SEPECAT Jaguar was originally intended for this role, but it was soon realized that it would be too complex an aircraft for fast jet training and only a small number of two-seat versions were purchased. Accordingly, in 1968, Hawker Siddeley Aviation (HSA) began studies for a simpler aircraft, initially as special project (SP) 117. The design team was led by Ralph Hooper.

 

This project was funded by the company as a private venture, in anticipation of possible RAF interest. The design was conceived of as having tandem seating and a combat capability in addition to training, as it was felt the latter would improve export sales potential. By the end of the year HSA had submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Defense based on the design concept, and in early 1970 the RAF issued Air Staff Target (AST) 397 which formalized the requirement for new trainers of this type. The RAF selected the HS.1182 for their requirement on 1 October 1971 and the principal contract, for 175 aircraft, was signed in March 1972.

 

Design of the Hawk was conventional by any approach. The two-seat crew - made up of an instructor in the rear cockpit and his student pilot in the front - sat in tandem under a wide field-of-view canopy. Controls at each position were redundant with the instructor having the ability to override student functions as needed. The cockpit was situated well-forward in the design behind a pointed, sloped-down nose assembly. Intakes to aspirate the single engine mounting came in the form of two half-circle openings to either side of the rear cockpit. The turbofan engine was buried deep within the short fuselage which was streamlined with a certain engineering elegance common to British military aircraft.

 

The intake ducts bulged out at the fuselage sides but were absorbed into the fuselage proper to continue the aircraft's smooth design layout. Wings were fitted amidships and sported modest sweep along the leading edge and lesser sweep along the trailing edge. They were also low-mounted assemblies along the fuselage to help increased expediency for ground operation. The empennage was traditional with a single vertical tail fin flanked by a pair of downward-canted horizontal tail planes. The tail planes were all-moving surfaces to add to the Hawk's agility. Small ventral strakes were noted along the empennage base. The undercarriage was conventional in layout and consisted of two main single-wheeled landing gear legs and a single-wheeled nose leg. The main legs retracted inwards towards centerline while the nose leg retracted forwards.

 

Standard armament for the Hawk was an optional gun pod commonly fitted to the centerline hard point under the fuselage (there were, in effect, five total hard points). The gun pod housed a 30mm ADEN series cannon for close-in work but remained an optional fixture. There were originally two underwing hard points (later expanded to four) cleared for the carrying of external munitions including guided/homing missiles, rocket pods and conventional drop bombs with the two inner-most hard points plumbed to accept fuel from external drop tanks. Up to 6,800lbs of external stores could be lifted by the Hawk airframe.

 

The prototype aircraft first flew on 21 August 1974. All development aircraft were built on production jigs; the program remained on time and to budget throughout. The Hawk T1 entered RAF service in late 1976. The first export Hawk 50 flew on 17 May 1976. This variant had been specifically designed for the dual-role of lightweight fighter and advanced trainer. It had a greater weapons capacity than the T.1, featured a total of five hard points, avionics improvements, the ability to carry larger drop tanks of 590 liter (156 US gallon) capacity, and an uprated engine which made the Hawk 50 qualified for 30% greater takeoff weight than the RAF's Hawk T.1.

 

One of the initial foreign customers was the Finnish Air Force (Suomen Ilmavoimat). In January 1978, Britain and Finland announced a deal to in which the Finnish Air Force was to receive 50 Hawk Mk. 51s in 1980. The Finnish Hawk 51s had a unique avionics fit, used a Saab RS-2 gunsight, and were fitted with a VKT 12.7 millimeter gun pod instead of the 30 millimeter Aden cannon pod provided with the T.1. Interestingly, Finnish Hawks are in some cases fitted with the Russian R-60 (AA-8) AAM, and they are also used for reconnaissance, carrying Vinten optical-infrared camera pods. The first four Hawks in the Finnish order were built in the UK, with the other 46 assembled from kits by Valmet of Finland.

 

These aircraft were built in Finland under licence by Valtion lentokonetehdas. At that time. the Finnish Air Force was still limited to 60 first-line fighter aircraft by the Paris Peace Treaty of 1947. But by acquiring Hawks, which counted as trainers rather than fighters, capacity could be increased while continuing treaty compliance. These conditions were nullified during the 1990s by the break-up of the Soviet Union, though.

 

Seven additional Mk. 51As were delivered in 1993–94 to make up for losses, and due to rising levels of metal fatigue, a major structural reinforcement program was carried out to extend the operational life of Finland's Hawks during the 1990s.

 

More variants of the Hawk followed and common improvements to the base design typically include increased range, more powerful engines, redesigned wing and undercarriage, the addition of radar and forward-looking infrared (FLIR), GPS navigation, and night vision compatibility. Later models were manufactured with a great variety in terms of avionics and system compatibility to suit the individual customer nation. Cockpit functionality was often rearranged and programmed, too, in order to be common to an operator's main fighter fleet to increase the Hawk's training value.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 2: student, instructor

Length: 12.43 m (40 ft 9 in)

Wingspan: 9.94 m (32 ft 7 in)

Height: 3.98 m (13 ft 1 in)

Wing area: 16.70 m2 (179.64 ft²)

Empty weight: 4,480 kg (9,880 lb)

Useful load: 3,000 kg (6,600 lb)

Max takeoff weight: 9,100 kg (20,000 lb)

 

Powerplant:

1× Rolls-Royce Adour Mk. 851 non-afterburning turbofan with 23,1 kN (5.200 lbf) static thrust

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: Mach 0.84 (1,028 km/h, 638 mph) at altitude

Range: 2,520 km (1,360 nmi, 1,565 mi)

Service ceiling: 13,565 m (44,500 ft)

Rate of climb: 47 m/s (9,300 ft/min)

Thrust/weight: 0.65

 

Armament:

No internal armament, but an optional VKT 12.7 millimeter gun in a centerline pod;

Up to 2.200 lb (1.000 kg) of weapons on four underwing hard points, including 4× AAMs like

AIM-9 Sidewinder or R-60 (AA-8 'Aphid'), bombs of up to 1.000 lb (454 kg) caliber, unguided rocket

pods, drop tanks or reconnaissance pods with cameras

  

The kit and its assembly:

A simple build, sparked from a short-notice inspiration when I did online legwork for paint schemes. Then I stumbled upon profiles of fictional Finnish MiG-29 and Su-27, posted in 2011 by fellow member Wenzel from the CZ What if SIG a.k.a. PantherG at whatifmodelers.com, featuring interesting, fictional four-tone splinter schemes:

 

i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww303/PoorWhistler/Doodles/Su...

 

i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww303/PoorWhistler/Doodles/Mi...

 

These got me thinking, but instead of building one of the Russian fighters I wondered how this camouflage concept would look on a smaller aircraft already in Ilmavoimat service. This led directly to the Hawk 51!

 

Thankfully, there are several kits available for this aircraft, and I settled upon the relatively new Airfix kit from 2007. It's main selling point was that it actually contains parts and decals for a Finnish aircraft, esp. a set of the modern, very tiny roundels.

Good experience with recent Airfix offerings were confirmed. Effectively, the Airfix Hawk is a nice and simple build, done in just one and a half day. One of the kit’s positive features is the crew: there are actually two modern and well-sculpted pilot figures included, a rarity these days.

 

The kit was mostly built OOB, only mods are a cover inside of the ventral air brake (which can be built into open position, but this leaves an ugly seam visible) and some extra antennae. Fit is good (not perfect, though), and only little PSR was needed - biggest issue was the ventral wing/fuselage intersection, esp. its rear end.

 

One truly tricky feat is the mounting of the protective clear separating screen between the cockpit seats – the clear wall has (somehow) to be glued into the clear canopy, without any reference where to actually place it. Altogether a risky business, and I was lucky to get the wall into place with only a little white glue so that a total mess could be avoided. The positive thing about this construction is that you can mount the canopy in open position with the wall inside.

 

The engraved panel lines appear a little massive at first glance (far from Matchbox' trenches on the Hawk 200, though!), but once you add paint the kit this evens out and looks much better than on the sprues. A nice and literally simple kit!

  

Painting and markings:

The more challenging part of the build - and I stuck closely to the inspiring profiles and their color choice, choosing a pattern of diagonal "splinter stripes" in rather unique tones:

• FS 35042 (USN Sea Blue; Humbrol 181)

• FS 34227 (Intermediate Green; Humbrol 120)

• FS 30118 (US Field Drab; Humbrol 142)

• FS 35622 (IDF Pale Blue; Humbrol 122), which was also used for the undersides

 

Painting was done free-handedly, with brushes and some tape for masking, and I stuck to the original color suggestions except for the pure FS35622 on the upper surfaces: I toned it slightly down with a little RLM76 (Humbrol 247), but it is still very bright and the contrast between all colors is really harsh.

 

Anyway, painting the splinter scheme was easier than it seems, since the areas of each of the four upper side tones was rather small, so that the straight lines were rather short. Only the tight edges needed some corrections, but that was mostly mended during the washing/shading process.

 

As a design twist, the drop tanks (taken OOB, these are the bigger tanks for the Hawk's export versions) and their respective pylons received the colors of the standard Ilmavoimat Hawks: the pylons were painted in a light olive green (Humbrol 159) while the tanks were painted in a murky, dark brown (a mix of Humbrol 10 and 66) with pale grey (Humbrol 166) undersides.

 

The cockpit interior was painted in Gull Gray (FS 36231), while other interior surfaces and the landing gear were kept in lighter RAF Aircraft Grey.

 

For the markings I relied upon the OOB decal sheet; deviating from the inspiring profiles I stuck to the OOB tiny Finnish roundels that were introduced in the Nineties, and they go well with this experimental scheme. Otherwise, markings are rather minimal, just a lot of stencils were applied, the Airfix OOB sheet is pretty exhaustive (with a zillion of stencils, merely 1x1mm in size… There are even decals to be placed on landing gear joints!? Seriously?). As a side benefit, the OOB Finnish aircraft comes with low-viz stencils, placed on a green background. On the fictional splinter livery of my build they blend well into the overall look, the whole aircraft looks very natural (but still original).

 

In order to emphasize the engraved panel line the kit received a black ink wash and some panel shading through dry-brushing on the upper surfaces, with only slightly lighter tones (e. g. RAL 5008 on the dark blue and RAF Cockpit Green on the FS 34227). I just wanted a subtle effect. Finally, after the decals had been applied, the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).

  

A quick and pleasant build, and it's actually a relaxing experience to build something OOB, without transplants, major, Frankenstein-ish surgery and endless PSR sessions. In fact, the Airfix Bae Hawk kit makes it easy for the builder to create a decent model with little effort. You see that some thought went into the moulds and the kit’s construction.

The fictional four-tone splinter scheme looks really weird, though, almost like an anniversary scheme? O.K., it is, according to its creator, actually based/inspired by a pre-WWII Fokker D.VII fighter in Finnish service, but this real life version was created from different and less “loud” colors! Anyway, this Hawk is colorful in a certain way, even though I have doubts concerning its camouflage’s effectiveness? However, it’s a nice, bright addition to the whif collection. :D

 

Will be replaced as soon as I find the time to edit :)

∞

 

PS: I´m halfway through with my project! (Just can´t believe it..!)

As soon as I´ll find the time (which is very hard at the moment), I´ll edit the photo above, I´ll answer to your comments and stuff. :)

"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/

Jaguar cars had bought Daimler in 1960.

The Series I XJ6 was introduced in 1968, replacing most of the old Jaguar saloons. The very similar but more upmarket Daimler Sovereign was sold along side it. The XJ12 version (and Daimler Double Six) was announced in July 1972, featuring simplified grille treatment, and V12 engine.

The 1973 Series II differentiated from its predecessors by raised front bumpers to meet US crash safety regulations, which necessitated a smaller grille, complemented by a discrete additional inlet directly below the bumper. A 2 door Coupe version was produced from 1975-78.

The 1979-92 Series III got rubber bumpers with chrome only on the top edge, flush door handles for increased safety and a revised roofline with narrower door frames and increased glass area.

Engine; 2.8, 3.4, 4.2 6s or 5.3 V12

From 1971, Series I and II were assembled in NZ by NZMC in Nelson

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

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.