Exposures from left to right:

8 mins, 4 mins, 2 mins, 1 min. all @ f/8.

 

Some progress and some setbacks.

 

The black deposits have all but disappeared thanks to filtering my tannic acid preservative with a cotton ball before making plates. However, now there seem to be weird drip marks that may be from the tannic acid drying weird.

 

Development this time was complete crap and because of that I can't even tell if my exposures were any good. The strong color of the plate suggests too much pyro has stained it and/or overdeveloped it. The incredible density suggests too much silver nitrate in the developer causing too much density too fast.

 

I have a holder loaded with two more plates but now I'm a little gun shy to even use them. This was supposed to be the plate that parted the heavens for me and taught me what I was missing. It's confused me more than my previous attempts...

It's been raining a lot this week and even snowed a bit. But as the saying goes "after rain comes sunshine."

 

My contribution for this week's theme «setback»; for the Swedish photo group Fotosondag.

 

Mitt bidrag till Fotosöndag och veckans tema «bakslag».

Frame:*CRUST BIKES* evasion lite frame

Wheel:s :*WHITE INDUSTRIES* G25A rim × *WHITE INDUSTRIES* XMR disc hub

Tire:*ULTRADYNAMICO* mars robusto tire

Crank:*WHITE INDUSTRIES* eno single speed crank × bash guard ring

Handle:*CRUST BIKES* jungle runner bar

Stem:*THOMSON* elite X4 stem

Grip:*RITCHEY* wcs true grip

Seat Post :*THOMSON* elite setback seatpost

Seat Clamp :*DKG*

Saddle:*BROOKS* cambium C17 special

Shifter:*SRAM* RIVAL bar end controller

RD :*SRAM* RIVAL

Bag:*SWIFT INDUSTRIES* every day caddy

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

With Scotland’s independence from Great Britain in late 2017, “Caledonian International Airlines” (or just “Caledonian” or “CI”) quickly emerged as a privately-owned national flag carrier. The airline followed in the footsteps of Caledonian Airways, an independent Scottish charter airline formed in April 1961, which evolved into British Caledonian Airlines (a.k.a. “BCal”). During the 1970s and '80s, British Caledonian became the UK's largest independent, international scheduled airline, with an extensive global route network serving over 40 destinations in around 25 countries on five continents. However, a series of major financial setbacks during the mid-1980s combined with the airline's inability to grow sufficiently to reach a viable size put the airline at serious risk of collapse. BCal began looking for a merger partner to improve its competitive position, and, in December 1987, British Airways (BA) gained control of the airline. In April 1988 BCal was officially dissolved and the brand disappeared.

 

Caledonian International Airlines was a completely new company, though, and received its Air Operator's Certificate on December 31, 2017. Caledonian had, except for the name and the use of the Scottish “Lion Rampant” emblem (the Royal Standard of the King or Queen of Scots), no connections with BCal, and also not to British Airways. In the second quarter of 2018, CI leased two Airbus A319s from Lessors Avolon and Apollo and started deploying to several national destinations from its home base Glasgow, taking over domestic flight slots to Scottish destinations (primarily Glasgow and Edinburgh) from British Airways. In 2019, the airline added a third A319 for connections to Continental Europe as well as a single Airbus A318 and an A330 for transatlantic destinations and charter flights, respectively.

 

CI’s A318-100 (SC-ABG) was primarily scheduled for the direct Glasgow/Edinburgh – New York (3210 ml/5170 km) routes. The Airbus A318 was the smallest airliner in the Airbus A320 family, carrying 107 to 132 passengers with a maximum range of 5,700 km (3,100 nmi). Overall, the A318 was over six meters shorter and around 3 t (6,600 lb) lighter than the A320, and to compensate for the reduced moment arm, it had a larger vertical stabilizer. While initial concepts depicted the aircraft with a Boeing 737-300-style dorsal fin extension, the final design incorporated a fin tip extension, making it 75 centimeters (30 in) taller than the other A320 variants and easily identifiable. Pilots who were trained on the other variants might fly the A318 with no further certification, since it featured a common flight deck and the same type rating as its sister aircraft.

 

The A318 was available with a variety of different maximum take-off weights (MTOW) ranging from a 59-tonnes (58 long tons; 65 short tons), 2,750 kilometres (1,480 nmi) base model to a 68-tonnes (67 long tons; 75 short tons), 6,000 kilometres (3,200 nmi) version. The lower MTOW enabled it to operate regional routes economically while sacrificing range and the higher MTOW allowed it to complement other members of the A320 family on marginal routes. On the other side, the lighter weight of the A318 gave it an operating range 10% greater than the A320, allowing it to serve some routes that the A320 would be unable to, e. g, London – New York, Perth–Auckland and Singapore–Tokyo, for instance. Its main use for airlines, however, were on short, low-density hops between medium-sized cities.

 

The airline also ordered two long-haul wide-body Airbus A330-900neos in November 2019 at the Dubai Air Show. The first plane is scheduled to arrive in January 2022 after a delivery flight from Toulouse and will operate on routes to Asia, e. g. Hong Kong and Tokyo, and to intercontinental destinations in North America and Brazil. A further order for six EMBRAER ERJ-190s was placed at the same time – these will replace the leased A320s on regional and domestic routes, and with these additional aircraft Caledonian International Airlines follows a slow but steady expansion strategy.

  

General characteristics:

Cockpit crew: Two

Length: 31.44 m (103 ft 2 in)

Wingspan:34.10 m (111 ft 11 in)

Wing area: 122.4 m² (1,318 sq ft)

Wing sweepback: 25°

Tail height: 12.56 m (41 ft 2 in)

Cabin width: 3.70 m (12 ft 2 in)

Fuselage width: 3.95 m (13 ft 0 in)

Operating empty weight: 39,500 kg (87,100 lb)

Maximum zero-fuel weight (MZFW): 54,500 kg (120,200 lb)

Maximum landing weight (MLW):57,500 kg (126,800 lb)

Maximum take-off weight (MTOW): 68,000 kg (150,000 lb)

 

Capacity:

Exit Limit:136

1-class max. seating: 132 at 29–30 in (74–76 cm) pitch

1-class, typical: 117 at 32 in (81 cm) pitch

2-class, typical: 107 (8F @ 38 in, 99Y @ 32 in)

Cargo capacity: 21.2 m³ (750 cu ft)

Fuel capacity: 24,210 L (5,330 imp gal; 6,400 US gal)

 

Performance:

Cruising speed: Mach 0.78 (829 km/h; 515 mph)

Maximum speed: Mach 0.82 (871 km/h; 541 mph)

Range (typical payload): 5,740 km (3,100 nmi)

ACJ range:4,200 nmi (7,800 km)

Takeoff (MTOW, SL, ISA): 1,780 m (5,840 ft)

Landing (MLW, SL, ISA): 1,230 m (4,040 ft)

Ceiling: 39,100–41,000 ft (11,900–12,500 m)

 

Engines:

2xCFM56-5B9/P turbofans with 23,300 lbf (100 kN) thrust each

  

The kit and its assembly:

I have been pondering the idea of an independent Scotland for some time and already built some what-if models with this background. But then arose the question: what could a national carrier airline be or look like?

 

This turned out to be a more complex question than initially ever thought of and led to more than a dozen potential design layouts, with the plan to avoid the much-too-obvious blue from the Scottish flag and rather incorporate the Scottish coat-of-arms (with a standing red lion on a yellow shield/background) but also based on limited decal resources. The small Airbus 318 was chosen because it would be a rather small airline, and the type’s extended range vs. it bigger brethren (making flight to America possible) made it a good choice for trans-Atlantic flights.

 

I settled for the Eastern Express A318 kit, which is BTW the only option for this airliner in 1:144. Upon an initial glance the kit looked quite O.K. – very simple and straightforward, and somewhat looking like a clone of the Revell A319/320 model (but it isn't). However, closer inspection confirmed the impression of a rather poor copy quality level. Most surface details (engraved) are there, but they are soft and somewhat blurred, and any fine details like pitots or blade antennae are missing or just hinted at. The material is also dubious, a very waxy and soft styrene. It can be glued together easily, but it is very sensitive to scratches or cuts.

 

However, things turned really ugly when I tried to build it! NOTHING of the major elements fits together, the worst flaws became apparent when I tried to glue the fuselage halves together, which turned out to be wavy along the seams and heavily dented, esp. along the spine. Massive PSR was necessary to fill the worst gaps, and even then, the result is barely acceptable.

 

Another disaster area is the wing/fuselage intersection. Unlike the Revell A320, the Eastern Express kit comes with separate, asymmtretical lower wing halves, which carry a part of the lower fuselage. Raised surface details and air scoops justify this construction, but the poor fit of everything involved in this area left me with a ventral 2mm(!!!) gap and further misalignments that called for even more PSR. Horrible.

 

The final major problem zone was the fin – in consists of a base, which is molded into the fuselage halves, and the extended fin tip as well as the rudder are a separate part. This could work, if the fin’s base halves were not about 1mm too thick when assembled, resulting in a crippled fin that called for more PSR to create even surfaces on both sides (and fill gap’s at the rudder’s base)…

 

Beyond that, there were some sinkholes on the wings and the (otherwise pretty clear) cockpit glazing did not fit at all, being much too narrow and leaving considerable gaps at its base. Since I had decals for the complete cockpit glazing at hand I short-handedly blended the clear part into the hull with some more PSR. No, this kit is NOT recommended – I guess that cutting an A319/320 from another manufacturer and scratching the longer fin leads to better results than the Eastern Express A318 kit!

  

Painting and markings:

I wanted to develop a personal livery for Scotland’s potential flag carrier, and this took a while. The process was inspired and also limited by decal options, and I wanted to avoid the obvious color blue. I rather took inspiration from the Scottish coat of arms, which shows a standing red lion on a deep yellow background. For potential layouts I took the burden to create profile drawings, which soon revealed that yellow and red would make the airliner look like a Spanish charter carrier, so more and more black crept into the design, eventually fully replacing the yellow, together with white as basic color for the fuselage and a little red from the lion as contrast. After more than a dozen layouts the one I chose reminds of the late BEA scheme (with the black fin and trim) or Air Canada. However, I wanted to avoid a contemporary livery with a uniform/featureless fuselage, so I incorporated a black window cheatline that visually stretches the fuselage. The design has a certain retro appeal, even though this was not intended.

 

The fuselage was prepared with grey primer and received a coat with pure white paint from the rattle can. The wings were painted with Humbrol 40 (Gloss Light Gull Grey) and 126 (FS 26270) for the Corroguard areas. Fin and engine nacelles were painted black (Humbrol 21). The small winglets were painted in red (Humbrol 19), as small color highlights. Black ink was used to emphasize the panel lines (esp. of the flaps and rudders) on the wings, the white fuselage remained clean, though, in order to avoid a dirty or worn look.

 

The cheatlines and the windows come from a TwoSix Decals sheet for a retro British Airways A319 with a BEA red square livery, the decals had to be tailored to the A318’s shorter fuselage. The black nose section was retained, because it reminds of the elegant livery of British Caledonian Airlines. The red “Caledonian” letterings and the smaller sublines come from a TwoSix Decals sheet for a Sixties’ Caledonian Airways DC-6B. I had hoped to use the sheet’s large red lions for the Airbus’ fin, but they were only printed on clear carrier film and lacked opacity, so that I had to improvise. I found a suitable alternative in a MicroScale H0 scale sheet for Cape Brenton & Nova Scotia Diesel locomotives.

The stencils are a mix from the (very nice) Eastern Express and the TwoSix Airbus sheet, and I printed the registration code with the Scottish flag as well as the “independence” tag on the nose myself.

 

Finally, the model was sealed with an overall coat of glossy acrylic varnish.

 

On the road to becoming my true self, I will (and have) come across bumps in the road along the way.

 

Whether it's a temporary setback such as travel distance or in the community, I often overcome and find solutions to the problems that I face, day in, day out.

 

But sometimes, those problems can become a big issue.

 

As the Beast from the Disney classic, Beauty and the Beast, once said:

 

"The day, my life, ended."

 

A while ago, I was in the Beast's shoes, going through and processing a devastating, life alterating event which hit me for six.

 

A five year, drug filled, neighbourhood war in my part of town (and my unit complex) was all but too much for me in all aspects.

 

So, I had to ask for help from a local charity for assistance, which, although I was at my lowest point, had an op shop and this sparkly dress just happened to be half price....

The Lloyd's building is the home of the insurance institution Lloyd's of London, and is located at 1 Lime Street, in the City of London. It is a leading example of radical Bowellism architecture in which the services for the building, such as ducts and lifts, are located on the exterior to maximise space in the interior.

 

The Willis Building was designed by architect Norman Foster and developed by British Land. It stands opposite the Lloyd's building and is 125 metres tall, with 26 storeys. The skyscraper features a "stepped" design, which was intended to resemble the shell of a crustacean, with setbacks rising at 97 m and 68 m.

HAIR: Cozy TRUTH

BODY: Reborn eBODY

OUTFIT: Ainara NEW!! NIKO BODY SHOP in FETISH FAIR

(For LaraX, Legacy and Reborn rolls. Fatpack included top, panties and Hud with 8 colors)

SHOES: Frogs NEW!! DIABOLI DESIGN in TOKYO ZERO

(For LaraX, Legacy M/F, Reborn, Kupra, GenX, Jake and Signature.

Fatpack included Hud with 7 colors, 35 textures and 7 metals)

POSE: Be Your Valentine NEW!! B(U)Y ME in COSMOPOLITAN EVENT

(Pack included 5 bento poses, mirror and props)

Spring usually comes to Toronto in fits and starts, featuring multiple wintry setbacks which frustrate the locals. When summer comes, however, it seems to arrive overnight. Residents, with their bicycles, rollerblades, skateboards, kiteboards, picnic gear, flip flops and sunscreen are more than ready.

 

Such was the case today.

 

The Beaches, East End Toronto.

Willow has had some setbacks in her life, but she seems to be

heading to infinity and beyond!

Keep on heading up, Willow!

Its corrupting influence over Makuta severed and its status unknown, the Mask of Ultimate Power no longer seemed a threat to the peace of Okoto. But the loss of its servant was only a setback. With its dark power over the elements, the forbidden mask created a fearsome body for itself. Now the Ultimate Being walks Okoto unsuspected, preparing for revenge upon its inhabitants...

 

My entry in The Legend Continues contest on BZPower. One of my favorite G2 theories was that the Big Bad was in fact not Makuta but the Mask of Ultimate Power. Combined with the Ultimate Mask concepts in The Art of Bionicle (page 42), it was fairly clear to me that I should build something along those lines. The shooter does work, and in addition there's a linkage function to swing the arms back and forth. (Also, in case anyone is curious, the glowing eyes are accomplished during photography with merely a laser pointer - no third-party lights or photoediting.) I look forward to your feedback, and hope you enjoy!

Frame:*BLACK MOUNTAIN CYCLES* la cabra

Headset:*PHILWOOD* 1-1/8 headset

Wheel:*VELOCITY* blunt ss rim x *WHITE INDUSTRIES* cld boost hub

Tire:*SCHWALBE* g-one allround tire

Stem:*THOMSON* elite x4 stem

Handle:*SALSA* cowchipper deluxe bar

Bartape:*BROOKS* microfiber bartape

Saddle:*SELLE ITALIA* flite 1990 saddle

Seatpost:*THOMSON* elite setback seatpost

Crank: *WHITE INDUSTRIES* m30 crank arm

Chainring:*WHITE INDUSTRIES* mr30 tsr chainring

Bottom bracket*WHITE INDUSTRIES* bsa bb

Pedal:*MKS* solution

Brake housing:*NISSEN*

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuttgart

 

Stuttgart (Swabian: Schduagert) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Stuttgart is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known locally as the "Stuttgart Cauldron." It lies an hour from the Swabian Jura and the Black Forest. Its urban area has a population of 609,219, making it the sixth largest city in Germany. 2.7 million people live in the city's administrative region and another 5.3 million people in its metropolitan area, making it the fourth largest metropolitan area in Germany. The city and metropolitan area are consistently ranked among the top 20 European metropolitan areas by GDP; Mercer listed Stuttgart as 21st on its 2015 list of cities by quality of living, innovation agency 2thinknow ranked the city 24th globally out of 442 cities and the Globalization and World Cities Research Network ranked the city as a Beta-status world city in their 2014 survey.

 

Since the 6th millennium BC, the Stuttgart area has been an important agricultural area and has been host to a number of cultures seeking to utilize the rich soil of the Neckar valley. The Roman Empire conquered the area in 83 AD and built a massive castrum near Bad Cannstatt, making it the most important regional centre for several centuries. Stuttgart's roots were truly laid in the 10th century with its founding by Liudolf, Duke of Swabia, as a stud farm for his warhorses. Initially overshadowed by nearby Cannstatt, the town grew steadily and was granted a charter in 1320. The fortunes of Stuttgart turned with those of the House of Württemberg, and they made it the capital of their county, duchy, and kingdom from the 15th century to 1918. Stuttgart prospered despite setbacks in the Thirty Years' War and devastating air raids by the Allies on the city and its automobile production during World War II. However, by 1952, the city had bounced back and it became the major economic, industrial, tourism and publishing centre it is today.

 

Stuttgart is also a transport junction, and possesses the sixth-largest airport in Germany. Several major companies are headquartered in Stuttgart, including Porsche, Bosch, Mercedes-Benz, Daimler AG, and Dinkelacker.

 

Stuttgart is unusual in the scheme of German cities. It is spread across a variety of hills (some of them covered in vineyards), valleys (especially around the Neckar river and the Stuttgart basin) and parks. This often surprises visitors who associate the city with its reputation as the "cradle of the automobile". The city's tourism slogan is "Stuttgart offers more". Under current plans to improve transport links to the international infrastructure (as part of the Stuttgart 21 project), the city unveiled a new logo and slogan in March 2008 describing itself as "Das neue Herz Europas" ("The new Heart of Europe"). For business, it describes itself as "Where business meets the future". In July 2010, Stuttgart unveiled a new city logo, designed to entice more business people to stay in the city and enjoy breaks in the area.

 

Stuttgart is a city with a high number of immigrants. According to Dorling Kindersley's Eyewitness Travel Guide to Germany, "In the city of Stuttgart, every third inhabitant is a foreigner." 40% of Stuttgart's residents, and 64% of the population below the age of five, are of immigrant background.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuttgart_Spring_Festival

 

Stuttgart Spring Festival (in German called Stuttgarter Frühlingsfest or sometimes vernacular Cannstatter Wasen or just Wasen) is an annual fair that takes place in the German city of Stuttgart between the middle of April and the beginning of May. The festival takes place on the Cannstatter Wasen, traditional fairgrounds in Stuttgart's Bad Cannstatt district. It is slightly smaller than the festival in the autumn (and therefore occasionally also called the "small Wasen"), but it is the largest spring festival in Europe. Like the autumn fair, the Frühlingsfest offers a variety of fairground attractions. The tallest attraction is the 47 metre Ferris wheel and the fair almost invariably features a major roller coaster.

 

The Frühlingsfest starts on a Saturday with the traditional opening of a beer barrel by the Stuttgart mayor.

 

The Fruit Column, a tall wooden structure decorated with fruits, was introduced to the Stuttgarter Frühlingsfest in 1995. Originally it was only present at the autumn Volksfest but in 1995 it was left to stand on the festival site all year round. However, in recent years, this practice was changed and once again the column began to be dismantled in the autumn of each year, leaving just the base. This carries a large can during the Stuttgarter Frühlingsfest.

INSTAGRAM TWITTER

  

The John and Frances Angelos Law Center

 

architects: Behnisch Architekten, Ayers Saint Gross, 2013

architectural style: Modern

 

University of Baltimore

Midtown - Charles North neighborhood

1401 North Charles Street

Baltimore, Independent City, Maryland

 

A typical sight in my garden in the morning. Ramses was dozing on the path and used the (wet) grass as a pillow. He didn't even open an eye when I stepped over him. Ramses is very active during the night and drives my sister crazy because he brings home all kinds of "presents", mostly mice but also rats, snakes and recently even a magpie (who could be rescued).

 

Update on Luan: Although he eats slightly better I still have to feed him part of his meals with a syringe. He has lost a lot of weight and is quite skinny but you don't see it because of his thick coat. We are slowly trying to reduce his medication and I'm worried that he might suffer a setback but of course we can't leave him on antibiotics and cortisone forever. It's difficult to say if the weight loss is due to his current sickness or to the fact that due to his diabetes he still loses huge amounts glucose via the urine. We urgently need to adapt his insulin dose but that's only possible if we have everything else under control.

J.B. Hunt DCS(Dedicated Contract Services) Peterbilt 567 4 axle daycab parked at the Pioneer Villa TruckStop in Halsey, OR in January 2020.

The phoenix has lost its wings once more. Ready to take flight but another setback put me back in the hangar. As they say when it rains it does pour.

I try to cope with the situation, but it just gets harder and harder everyday. Leading an extraordinary happy life is all that i wanted but I guess it is always very difficult to achieve.

I don't want to give up my passion. I don't want to give up but sometimes the world gives up on you. I try to stay positive and just move on but it just hurts so much.

I guess I am just getting emotional, but losing the things and people that mean to you the most is not an easy hurdle.

This photo is another ode to my emotions. Another piece that reflects my feelings. Just putting my emotions all together and throwing them into a pot to make my art.

 

You will be my inspiration, you will always be loved, you will always be in my heart. You are amazing, you have brought me to new heights with my passion. You have made me happier. You are the blessing amidst all the chaos and sad things in my life. Thank you for making me happy, Thank you for the good times and the bad. Thank you for being my fan.

 

I love you . . .

 

I just wanna be found . . .

 

strobist info: One AB1600 with large softbox camera right feathered off the model at 1/8 power and triggered via pocket wizards

On the road to becoming my true self, I will (and have) come across bumps in the road along the way.

 

Whether it's a temporary setback such as travel distance or in the community, I often overcome and find solutions to the problems that I face, day in, day out.

 

But sometimes, those problems can become a big issue.

 

As the Beast from the Disney classic, Beauty and the Beast, once said:

 

"The day, my life, ended."

 

A while ago, I was in the Beast's shoes, going through and processing a devastating, life alterating event which hit me for six.

 

A five year, drug filled, neighbourhood war in my part of town (and my unit complex) was all but too much for me in all aspects.

 

So, I had to ask for help from a local charity for assistance, which, although I was at my lowest point, had an op shop and this sparkly dress just happened to be half price....

no setbacks with light and air shafts

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuttgart

 

Stuttgart (Swabian: Schduagert) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Stuttgart is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known locally as the "Stuttgart Cauldron." It lies an hour from the Swabian Jura and the Black Forest. Its urban area has a population of 609,219, making it the sixth largest city in Germany. 2.7 million people live in the city's administrative region and another 5.3 million people in its metropolitan area, making it the fourth largest metropolitan area in Germany. The city and metropolitan area are consistently ranked among the top 20 European metropolitan areas by GDP; Mercer listed Stuttgart as 21st on its 2015 list of cities by quality of living, innovation agency 2thinknow ranked the city 24th globally out of 442 cities and the Globalization and World Cities Research Network ranked the city as a Beta-status world city in their 2014 survey.

 

Since the 6th millennium BC, the Stuttgart area has been an important agricultural area and has been host to a number of cultures seeking to utilize the rich soil of the Neckar valley. The Roman Empire conquered the area in 83 AD and built a massive castrum near Bad Cannstatt, making it the most important regional centre for several centuries. Stuttgart's roots were truly laid in the 10th century with its founding by Liudolf, Duke of Swabia, as a stud farm for his warhorses. Initially overshadowed by nearby Cannstatt, the town grew steadily and was granted a charter in 1320. The fortunes of Stuttgart turned with those of the House of Württemberg, and they made it the capital of their county, duchy, and kingdom from the 15th century to 1918. Stuttgart prospered despite setbacks in the Thirty Years' War and devastating air raids by the Allies on the city and its automobile production during World War II. However, by 1952, the city had bounced back and it became the major economic, industrial, tourism and publishing centre it is today.

 

Stuttgart is also a transport junction, and possesses the sixth-largest airport in Germany. Several major companies are headquartered in Stuttgart, including Porsche, Bosch, Mercedes-Benz, Daimler AG, and Dinkelacker.

 

Stuttgart is unusual in the scheme of German cities. It is spread across a variety of hills (some of them covered in vineyards), valleys (especially around the Neckar river and the Stuttgart basin) and parks. This often surprises visitors who associate the city with its reputation as the "cradle of the automobile". The city's tourism slogan is "Stuttgart offers more". Under current plans to improve transport links to the international infrastructure (as part of the Stuttgart 21 project), the city unveiled a new logo and slogan in March 2008 describing itself as "Das neue Herz Europas" ("The new Heart of Europe"). For business, it describes itself as "Where business meets the future". In July 2010, Stuttgart unveiled a new city logo, designed to entice more business people to stay in the city and enjoy breaks in the area.

 

Stuttgart is a city with a high number of immigrants. According to Dorling Kindersley's Eyewitness Travel Guide to Germany, "In the city of Stuttgart, every third inhabitant is a foreigner." 40% of Stuttgart's residents, and 64% of the population below the age of five, are of immigrant background.

 

Source: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgholzhof

 

The Burgholzhof (formerly also Holzburg ) is a district of the Baden-Württemberg state capital Stuttgart . Together with the districts Altenburg, Birkenäcker, Hallschlag , Neckarvorstadt and Pragstraße on the one hand, and Cannstatt-Mitte, Espan, Im Geiger, spa gardens, Muckensturm, Schmidener suburb, Seelberg, Sommerrain , Steinhaldenfeld, Veielbrunnen, Wasen and Winterhalde on the other hand, he forms the district Bad Cannstatt . The first group of districts lies on the left, the "Old Stuttgart" Neckarseite. The Burgholzhof is partially military by US forces used. Since the late 1990s, there was a 12.7-acre development area.

Back again from seeing my son in hospital, where he continues to have setbacks to his progress since he was attacked.

The Tupolev Tu-144 (NATO reporting name: "Charger") was one of the world's only two supersonic transport aircraft (SST) to enter civilian service, along with the Concorde, and was constructed under the direction of the Soviet Tupolev design bureau headed by Alexei Tupolev.

 

The Tu-144 was outwardly similar to the Aérospatiale / British Aircraft Corporation Concorde, under development at the same time, and there were frequent allegations that Soviet espionage played a key role, giving the Tu-144 the nickname "Concordski". The Tu-144 was Tupolev's only supersonic commercial airliner venture, as the company's other large supersonic aircraft were designed and built to military specifications. All these aircraft benefited from technical and scientific input from TsAGI, the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute. McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed and Boeing were three other manufacturers who attempted to design SST airliners for the US market during the 1960s, but without success.

 

A prototype (OKB: izdeliye 044 - article 044) first flew on 31 December 1968 near Moscow, two months before the Concorde. The Tu-144 first broke the speed of sound on 5 June 1969, and on 15 July 1969 it became the first commercial transport to exceed Mach two. However, a crash at the 1973 Paris Air Show was a major setback to development. The Tu-144 was introduced into passenger service on 1 November 1977, almost two years after the Concorde, but was soon withdrawn after just 55 scheduled passenger flights due to potentially severe problems with aircraft safety and was not re-introduced to service.

 

Although the Tu-144 was technically broadly comparable to the Concorde, it lacked a passenger market within the Soviet Union and service was halted after only 102 scheduled flights (55 passenger flights, the rest cargo). The Concorde remained in service until 2003, being withdrawn three years after a crash near Paris (25 July 2000), the only loss of an SST in civilian service.

The Soviets published the concept of the Tu-144 in an article in the January 1962 issue of the magazine Technology of the Air Transport. The air ministry started development of the Tu-144 on 26 July 1963, following approval by the Council of Ministers 10 days earlier. The project started two years later than the Concorde. The plan called for five flying prototypes to be built in four years. The first aircraft was to be ready in 1966.

 

Despite the close similarity in appearance of the Tu-144 to the Anglo-French supersonic aircraft, there were significant differences in the control, navigation and engine systems. In areas such as range, aerodynamic sophistication, braking and engine control, the Tu-144 lagged behind the Concorde. While the Concorde utilized an electronic engine control package from Lucas, Tupolev was not permitted to purchase it for the Tu-144 as it could also be used on military aircraft. The Concorde's designers used the fuel of this airliner as the coolant for air conditioning the cabin and the hydraulic system (see Concorde#Heating issues for details). Tupolev installed additional equipment on the Tu-144 to accomplish this, increasing the weight of the airliner.

 

Tupolev continued to work to improve the Tu-144. Many substantial upgrades and changes were made on the Tu-144 prototype (serial number 68001). While both the Concorde and the Tu-144 prototype had ogival delta wings, the Tu-144's wing lacked the Concorde's conical camber. Production Tu-144s replaced this wing with a double-delta wing including conical camber, and they added an extra simple but practical device: two small retractable canard surfaces one on either side of the forward section on the aircraft to increase lift at low speed.

 

Moving the elevons downward in a delta-wing aircraft increases the lift, but that also pitches its nose downward. The canard cancels out this nose-downwards moment, thus reducing the landing speed of the production Tu-144s to 315–333 km/h (170-180 kn, 196-207 mph) - however, still faster than that of the Concorde. The NASA study lists final approach speed during performed Tu-144LL test flights as 170 to 181 knots (315 to 335 km/h), however these were approach speeds exercised during test flights specifically intended to study landing effects at maximum possible range of speeds, regardless of how hard and stable the landing can be. As to regular landings, FAA circular lists Tu-144S approach speed as 178 knots (330 km/h), as opposed to BAC/Aerospatiale Concord(e) approach speed of 162 knots (300 km/h), based obviously on the characteristics declared by the manufacturers to Western regulatory bodies. However it is open to an argument how stable was Tu-144S at the listed airspeed. In any event, when NASA subcontracted Tupolev bureau in the 1990s to convert one of the remaining Tu-144D to a Tu-144LL standard, the procedure set by Tupolev for landing defined the Tu-144LL "final approach speed... on the order of 360 km/hr depending on fuel weight." Brian Calvert, the Concorde's technical flight manager and its first commercial pilot executing several inaugural flights, cites final approach speed of a typical Concorde landing to be 155 to 160 knots, i.e. 287 to 296 km/h. Lower Concorde landing speed compared to Tu-144 is due to the Concorde's more refined design of the wing profile that provides higher lift at low speeds without degrading supersonic cruise performance — a feature often mentioned in Western publications on the Concorde and acknowledged by Tupolev designers as well.

 

At the Paris Air Show on 3 June 1973, the development program of the Tu-144 suffered severely when the first Tu-144S production airliner (reg 77102) crashed.

 

While in the air, the Tu-144 underwent a violent downwards maneuver. Trying to pull out of the subsequent dive, the Tu-144 broke up and crashed, destroying 15 houses and killing all six people on board the Tu-144 and eight more on the ground.

 

The causes of this incident remain controversial to this day. A popular theory was that the Tu-144 was forced to avoid a French Mirage chase plane which was attempting to photograph its canards, which were very advanced for the time, and that the French and Soviet governments colluded with each other to cover up such details. The flight of the Mirage was denied in the original French report of the incident, perhaps because it was engaged in industrial espionage. More recent reports have admitted the existence of the Mirage (and the fact that the Russian crew were not told about the Mirage's flight) though not its role in the crash. However, the official press release did state: "though the inquiry established that there was no real risk of collision between the two aircraft, the Soviet pilot was likely to have been surprised." Howard Moon also stresses that last-minute changes to the flight schedule would have disoriented the pilots in a cockpit with notable poor vision. He also cites an eyewitness who claims the co-pilot had agreed to take a camera with him, which he may have been operating at the time of the evasive maneuver.

 

Another theory claims that the black box was actually recovered by the Soviets and decoded. The cause of this accident is now thought to be due to changes made by the ground engineering team to the auto-stabilisation input controls prior to the second day of display flights. These changes were intended to allow the Tu-144 to outperform the Concorde in the display circuit. Unfortunately, the changes also inadvertently connected some factory-test wiring which resulted in an excessive rate of climb, leading to the stall and subsequent crash.

 

A third theory relates to deliberate misinformation on the part of the Anglo-French team. The main thrust of this theory was that the Anglo-French team knew that the Soviet team were planning to steal the design plans of the Concorde, and the Soviets were allegedly passed false blueprints with a flawed design. The case, it is claimed, contributed to the imprisonment by the Soviets of Greville Wynne in 1963 for spying. Wynne was imprisoned on 11 May 1963 and the development of the Tu-144 was not sanctioned until 16 July. In any case, it seems unlikely that a man imprisoned in 1963 could have caused a crash in 1973.

 

Although its last commercial passenger flight was in 1978, production of the Tu-144 did not cease until six years later, in 1984, when construction of the partially complete Tu-144D reg 77116 airframe was stopped. During the 1980s the last two production aircraft to fly were used for airborne laboratory testing, including research into ozone depletion at high altitudes.

 

In the early 1990s, a wealthy businesswoman, Judith DePaul, and her company IBP Aerospace negotiated an agreement with Tupolev and NASA, (also Rockwell and later Boeing). They offered a Tu-144 as a testbed for its High Speed Commercial Research program, intended to design a second-generation supersonic jetliner called the High Speed Civil Transport. In 1995, Tu-144D [reg 77114] built in 1981 (but with only 82 hours and 40 minutes total flight time) was taken out of storage and after extensive modification at a total cost of US$350 million was designated the Tu-144LL (Russian: Летающая Лаборатория — where LL is an abbreviation for Flying Laboratory). It made a total of 27 flights in 1996 and 1997. In 1999, though regarded as a technical success, the project was cancelled for lack of funding.

 

The Tu-144LL was reportedly sold in June 2001 for $11 million via online auction, but the aircraft sale did not proceed after all — Tejavia Systems, the company handling the transaction, reported in September 2003 that the deal was not signed. The replacement Kuznetsov NK-321 engines (from the Tupolev Tu-160 bomber) are military hardware and the Russian government did not allow them to be exported.

 

At the 2005 Moscow Air & Space Show, Tejavia founder Randall Stephens found the Kuznetsov NK-321 engine on display, and the Tu-144LL rusting on Tupolev's test base at the Gromov Flight Test Center. In late 2003, with the retirement of the Concorde, there was renewed interest from several wealthy individuals who wanted to use the Tu-144LL for a transatlantic record attempt; but Stephens advised them of the high cost of a flight readiness overhaul even if military authorities would authorize the use of NK-321 engines outside Russian Federation airspace.

 

The last two production aircraft remain at the Tupolev production plant in Zhukovsky, reg 77114 and 77115. In March 2006, it was announced that these airframes had been sold for scrap. Later that year, however, it was reported that both aircraft would instead be preserved. One of them could be erected to a pedestal near Zhukovsky City Council and TsAGI or above the LII entrance from the Tupolev avenue.

 

General characteristics

 

* Crew: 3

* Capacity: 120-140 passengers, but normally 70~80 passengers

* Length: 65.50 m (215.54 ft)

* Wingspan: 28.80 m (94.48 ft)

* Height: 10.50 m (34.42 ft)

* Wing area: 438.0 m² (4,715 ft²)

* Empty weight: 85,000 kg (187,400 lb)

* Loaded weight: unknown ()

* Max takeoff weight: 180,000 kg (397,000 lb))

* Powerplant: 4× Kolesov RD-36-51 afterburning turbojet, 200 kN (44,122 lbf) each

* Fuel capacity: 70,000 kg (154,000 lb)

 

Performance

 

* Maximum speed: Mach 2,35 (2,500 km/h, 1,550 mph)

* Cruise speed: Mach 2,2 (2,300 km/h, 1,430 mph)

* Range: 6,500 km (3,500 nm, 4,000 mi : 2,920 km with full afterburner)

* Service ceiling: 18,000 m (59,100 ft)

* Rate of climb: 9,840 ft/min (3,000 m/min) (ft/min)

* Wing loading: 410.96 kg/m² (84.20 lb/ft²)

* Thrust/weight: 0.44

  

Already disappointed by the shipyard assuming that the plans for his vessel were in millimetres, Prince Henry the Navigator receives another setback.

 

Monument of the Discoveries, Belém, Lisbon.

David Stott was a wealthy flour merchant. This late 1920s skyscraper has a series of brick and terra cotta setbacks at its upper stories. The architects were the firm of Donaldson and Meier.

© Saúl Tuñón Loureda

 

twitter.com/Woody_Twitt

www.facebook.com/stloureda

 

El Puente del Milenio es un puente colgante, peatonal y fabricado con acero que cruza el río Támesis, a su paso por Londres, en Inglaterra, uniendo la zona de Bankside con la City. Se localiza entre el Puente de Southwark y el Puente de Blackfriars. Fue el primero que cruzó el Támesis desde que se construyera el Tower Bridge, o Puente de la Torre, en 1894. Es propiedad de la Bridge House Estates una fundación benéfica que también se encarga de su mantenimiento, y que es supervisada por la City of London Corporation.

 

El lado sur del puente se encuentra cerca del teatro The Globe, de la Galería de Bankside y del Tate Modern. El lado norte del puente se encuentra cerca de la School of London City y de la Catedral de San Pablo. El alineamiento del puente es tal, que nos ofrece una clara vista de la fachada sur de la Catedral de San Pablo, enmarcada por los soportes del puente, que constituye uno de los lugares mas fotogénicos de la Catedral.

 

Diseño

 

El diseño del puente fue elegido por concurso, en 1996 por el concilio de Southwark. El diseño ganador fue muy innovador, y fue realizado por Arup, por Foster and Partners y por sir Anthony Caro. Debido a las restricciones de peso, y para mejorar la vista, la suspensión del puente tuvo que tener cables de apoyo bajo el nivel de la cubierta, dando una sensación de poca profundidad en las aguas. El puente tiene dos plataformas de soporte y está hecho en tres secciones de 81 m, 144 m, y 108 m (de norte a sur) con una estructura resultante de 325 m; la cubierta de aluminio mide 4 m de ancho. Los 8 cables que mantienen el puente en suspensión, están tensados para poder sostener 2000 toneladas de peso, lo suficiente para soportar a 5000 personas en el puente al mismo tiempo.

 

La construcción comenzó a finales de 1998, pero los principales trabajos comenzaron el 28 de abril de 1999. El coste económico del puente fue de 18,2 millones de Libras, 2,2 millones por encima del presupuesto anunciado. Fue abierto el 10 de junio de 2000, dos meses más tarde de lo esperado, y unas inesperadas vibraciones y fallos estructurales, hicieron que éste tuviera que ser cerrado el 12 de junio, dos días después de su apertura, para realizar modificaciones. Estos movimientos eran producidos por el gran número de personas, 90.000 el primer día y más de 2.000 en el puente al mismo tiempo. Las primeras pequeñas vibraciones animaron (o incluso obligaron) a los viandantes a caminar de manera sincronizada con el balanceo, incrementando el efecto, incluso cuando el puente se encontraba relativamente poco transitado al comienzo del día. Estos balanceos hicieron que el puente se ganase el apodo de Wobbly Bridge.

 

Se intentó limitar el número de personas cruzando el puente en el mismo momento. La clausura del puente solo 3 días después de que se abriese produjo una gran crítica pública, como otro gran proyecto del sentir británico que sufría un revés vergonzoso, semejante al del Millennium Dome.

 

Tras unas obras que duraron desde mayo de 2001 hasta enero de 2002 y que costaron 5 millones de libras, el problema se arregló, y tras un periodo de prueba, se reabrió el 22 de febrero de 2002.

 

Desde entonces no se han vuelto a tener noticias de movimientos extraños en el puente, y sólo se volvió a cerrar durante la tormenta Kyrill, una especie de ciclón.

Cultura Popular

 

El Puente del Milenio aparece en una de las primeras escenas de acción en la película Harry Potter y el misterio del príncipe, que aparece mientras es destruido por algunos seguidores(mortífagos) de Lord Voldemort antes de caer al Támesis. Obviamente, no se derrumbó el puente, sino que se filmaron planos desde helicópteros, y después se usaron potentes efectos especiales para modificar la imagen y hacer parecer que cae al río. Véase el vídeo www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXhDwxxSOTI&feature=related / www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo-U5iOinM8

El puente también apareció en el comienzo del primer episodio de Ashes to Ashes.

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Bridge

 

The Millennium Bridge, officially known as the London Millennium Footbridge, is a steel suspension bridge for pedestrians crossing the River Thames in London, linking Bankside with the City of London. It is located between Southwark Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge. It is owned and maintained by Bridge House Estates, a charitable trust overseen by the City of London Corporation. Construction began in 1998 and it initially opened in June 2000.

 

Londoners nicknamed the bridge the "Wobbly Bridge" after pedestrians felt unexpected swaying motion. The bridge was closed later on opening day and, after two days of limited access, it was closed for almost two years while modifications were made to eliminate the motion. It reopened in 2002.

 

The southern end of the bridge is near the Globe theatre, the Bankside Gallery, and Tate Modern, the north end next to the City of London School below St Paul's Cathedral. The bridge alignment is such that a clear view (i.e. a "terminating vista") of St Paul's south façade is presented from across the river, framed by the bridge supports.

 

Design

 

The design of the bridge was the subject of a competition organized in 1996 by Southwark council and RIBA Competitions. The winning entry was an innovative "blade of light" effort from Arup, Foster and Partners, and Sir Anthony Caro. Due to height restrictions, and to improve the view, the bridge's suspension design had the supporting cables below the deck level, giving a very shallow profile. The bridge has two river piers and is made of three main sections of 81 m (266 ft), 144 m (472 ft), and 108 m (354 ft) (north to south) with a total structure length of 325 m (1,066 ft); the aluminium deck is 4 m (13 ft) wide. The eight suspension cables are tensioned to pull with a force of 2,000 tons against the piers set into each bank — enough to support a working load of 5,000 people on the bridge at one time.

Construction

London Millennium Bridge at night. This image shows the well known and much photographed illusion of St. Paul's Cathedral being supported by one of the bridge supports.

 

Ordinarily, bridges across the River Thames require an Act of Parliament. For this bridge, that was avoided by the Port of London Authority granting a licence for the structure obtaining planning permissions from the City of London and London Borough of Southwark.[1] Construction began in late 1998 and the main works were started on 28 April 1999 by Monberg & Thorsen and Sir Robert McAlpine.[2] The bridge was completed at a cost of £18.2M (£2.2M over budget), primarily paid for by the Millennium Commission and the London Bridge Trust.[3] It opened on 10 June 2000 (two months late).

 

Unexpected lateral vibration (resonant structural response) caused the bridge to be closed on 12 June 2000 for modifications. Attempts were made to limit the number of people crossing the bridge. This led to long queues but was ineffective to dampen the vibrations. Closure of the bridge only two days after opening attracted public criticism of it as another high-profile British Millennium project suffered an embarrassing setback, akin to how many saw the Millennium Dome. Vibration was attributed to an under-researched phenomenon whereby pedestrians crossing a bridge that has a lateral sway have an unconscious tendency to match their footsteps to the sway, exacerbating it. The tendency of a suspension bridge to sway when troops march over it in step was well known, which is why troops are required to break step when crossing such a bridge.[4]

 

The bridge was temporarily closed on 18 January 2007, during the Kyrill storm due to strong winds and a risk of pedestrians being blown off the bridge.

 

The bridge's movements were caused by a 'positive feedback' phenomenon, known as synchronous lateral excitation. The natural sway motion of people walking caused small sideways oscillations in the bridge, which in turn caused people on the bridge to sway in step, increasing the amplitude of the bridge oscillations and continually reinforcing the effect.[6] On the day of opening, the bridge was crossed by 90,000 people, with up to 2,000 on the bridge at any one time.

 

Resonant vibrational modes due to vertical loads (such as trains, traffic, pedestrians) and wind loads are well understood in bridge design. In the case of the Millennium Bridge, because the lateral motion caused the pedestrians loading the bridge to directly participate with the bridge, the vibrational modes had not been anticipated by the designers. The crucial point is that when the bridge lurches to one side, the pedestrians must adjust to keep from falling over, and they all do this at exactly the same time. Hence, the situation is similar to soldiers marching in lockstep, but horizontal instead of vertical.

 

The lateral vibration problems of the Millennium Bridge are very unusual, but not entirely unique.[7] Any bridge with lateral frequency modes of less than 1.3 Hz, and sufficiently low mass, could witness the same phenomenon with sufficient pedestrian loading. The greater the number of people, the greater the amplitude of the vibrations. For example, Albert Bridge in London has a sign dating from 1873 warning marching ranks of soldiers to break step while crossing.[8] Other bridges which have seen similar problems are:

 

Birmingham NEC Link bridge, with a lateral frequency of 0.7 Hz

Groves Suspension Bridge, Chester, in 1977 during the Jubilee river regatta

Auckland Harbour Bridge, with a lateral frequency of 0.67 Hz, during a 1975 demonstration[9]

 

After extensive analysis by the engineers,[10] the problem was fixed by the retrofitting of 37 fluid-viscous dampers (energy dissipating) to control horizontal movement and 52 tuned mass dampers (inertial) to control vertical movement. This took from May 2001 to January 2002 and cost £5M. After a period of testing, the bridge was successfully reopened on 22 February 2002. The bridge has not been subject to significant vibration since. In spite of the successful fix of the problem, the affectionate "wobbly bridge" epithet remains in common usage among Londoners.

 

An artistic expression of the higher-frequency resonances within the cables of the bridge were explored by Bill Fontana's 'Harmonic Bridge' exhibition at the Tate Modern museum in mid-2006. This used acoustic transducers placed at strategic locations on the cabling of the Millennium Bridge and the signals from those transducers were amplified and dynamically distributed throughout the Turbine Hall of the Tate by a programme which Fontana entered into the sound diffusion engine of the Richmond Sound Design AudioBox.

 

In popular culture

 

The Millennium Bridge was featured in the sixth installment of the Harry Potter film franchise, where the bridge collapsed following an attack by Death Eaters.[14]

 

The Bridge also appeared in the 2014 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Guardians of the Galaxy during the climactic battle on Xandar.[15]

 

The Bridge also appeared in the video to the Olly Murs song "Heart on My Sleeve."

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Bridge,_London

 

The Postcard

 

A postcard bearing no publisher's name that was printed in Great Britain. The card was posted on Wednesday the 1st. September 1971 using a 3p stamp featuring the 50th. Anniversary of the British Legion.

 

The British Legion was in fact formed on the 15th. May 1921, bringing together four national organisations of ex-Servicemen that had established themselves to support those who had suffered as a result of service during the Great War.

 

The card was posted to:

 

Mrs. D. Hunt,

250 Victoria Drive,

Eastbourne,

Sussex.

 

The message on the divided back was as follows:

 

"Dear All,

Glad to say that we got

our 'property' back, all

intact, for the payment

of a small sum.

It was so nice to see you

all again and thanks for

the nice lunch.

Love,

Eva & Reg K."

 

Hastings

 

Hastings is a large seaside town in East Sussex on the south coast, 24 miles (39 km) east of the county town of Lewes, and 53 mi (85 km) south east of London.

 

The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings.

 

In the 19th. century, Hastings was a popular seaside resort, as the railway allowed tourists and visitors to reach the town.

 

Today, Hastings is a fishing port with the UK's largest beach-based fishing fleet. The fleet has been based on the same beach, below the cliffs, for at least 400, and possibly up to 600, years. Its longevity is attributed to the prolific fishing ground of Rye Bay nearby.

 

The town had a population of 92,855 in 2018.

 

Hastings in Pre-History

 

Evidence of prehistoric settlements has been found at the town site, including flint arrowheads and Bronze Age artefacts.

 

Iron Age forts have been excavated on both the East and West Hills. The settlement was already based on the port when the Romans arrived in Britain for the first time in 55 BC. They began to exploit the iron (Wealden rocks provide a plentiful supply of the ore), and shipped it out by boat.

 

Iron was worked locally at Beauport Park, to the north of the town. It employed up to a thousand men, and is thought to have been the third-largest mine in the Roman Empire.

 

With the departure of the Romans, the town suffered setbacks. The Beauport site was abandoned, and the town suffered attacks from nature and early adversaries.

 

The Sussex coast has always suffered from occasional violent storms, and with the additional hazard of longshore drift (the eastward movement of shingle along the coast), the coastline has been frequently changing. The original Roman port is probably now under the sea.

 

Medieval Hastings

 

The Battle of Hastings heralded the start of the Norman Conquest. The battle was fought on the 14th. October 1066, although it actually took place 8 miles (13 km) to the north at Senlac Hill, and William had landed on the coast between Hastings and Eastbourne at Pevensey.

 

Muslim scholar Muhammad al-Idrisi, writing circa 1153, described Hastings as:

 

"A town of large extent and many inhabitants,

flourishing and handsome, having markets,

workpeople and rich merchants".

 

Hastings and the Sea

 

By the end of the Saxon period, the port of Hastings had moved eastward to near the present town centre in the Priory Stream valley, whose entrance was protected by the White Rock headland (since demolished).

 

It was to be a short stay: Danish attacks and huge floods in 1011 and 1014 motivated the townspeople to relocate to the New Burgh.

 

In the Middle Ages Hastings became one of the Cinque Ports.

 

Much of the town and half of Hastings Castle was washed away in the South England flood of February 1287.

 

During a naval campaign of 1339, and again in 1377, the town was raided and burnt by the French, and seems then to have gone into a decline. As a port, Hastings' days were finished.

 

Hastings had suffered over the years from the lack of a natural harbour. Attempts were made to build a stone harbour during the reign of Elizabeth I, but the foundations were destroyed by the sea in terrible storms. Accordingly the town's fishing boats are still stored on, and launched from, the beach.

 

Hastings was then just a small fishing settlement, but it was soon discovered that the new taxes on luxury goods could be made profitable by smuggling; the town was ideally located for that purpose.

 

Near the castle ruins, on the West Hill, are St. Clement's Caves, partly natural, but mainly excavated by hand by smugglers from the soft sandstone.

 

Their trade came to an end with the period following the Napoleonic Wars, for the town became one of the most fashionable resorts in Britain, brought about by the so-called health-giving properties of seawater, as well as the local springs and Roman baths.

 

The double decker promenade that runs from Hastings Pier beyond Marine Court, with a break at Warrior Square, was built by the borough engineer Sidney Little.

 

The building of Pelham Crescent necessitated cutting away of the Castle Hill cliffs. Once that move away from the old town had begun, it led to the further expansion along the coast, eventually linking up with the new St. Leonards.

 

Judges Postcards

 

Between 1902 and 1919, Fred Judge FRPS photographed many of the town's events and disasters. These included storms, the first tram, the visit of the Lord Mayor of London, Hastings Marathon Race, and the pier fire of 1917.

 

Many of these images were produced as picture postcards by the firm he founded which is now known as Judges Postcards.

 

Hastings' Bathing Pool

 

In the 1930's, an Olympic-sized bathing pool was erected. Regarded in its day as one of the best open-air swimming and diving complexes in Europe, it later became a holiday camp before closing in 1986. It was demolished, but the area is still known by locals as "The Old Bathing Pool".

 

Hastings' Sunshine

 

Hastings, tied with Eastbourne, recorded the highest duration of sunshine of any month anywhere in the United Kingdom - 384 hours - in 1911.

 

A new record temperature of 34.7 °C (94.5 °F) was recorded for the town on the 19th. July 2022.

 

St. Leonards

 

The original part St. Leonards was bought by James Burton and laid out by his son, the architect Decimus Burton, in the early 19th. century as a new town: a place of elegant houses designed for the well-off.

 

It also included a central public garden, a hotel, an archery, assembly rooms and a church. Today's St. Leonards has extended well beyond that original design, although the original town still exists within it.

 

Priory Meadow Shopping Centre

 

Hastings' main shopping centre is the Priory Meadow Shopping Centre. It was built on the site of the old Central Recreation Ground which had played host to some Sussex CCC first-class fixtures, and famous cricketers such as Dr. W. G. Grace and Sir Don Bradman.

 

The Central Recreation Ground was one of England's oldest, most scenic and most famous cricket grounds. The first match was played there in 1864, and the last in 1989, after which the site was redeveloped into the shopping centre. The centre houses 56 stores, and covers around 420,000 square feet.

 

Marine Court

 

On the seafront at St. Leonards is Marine Court, a 1938 block of flats in the Art Deco style that was originally called 'The Ship' due to its style being based upon the ocean liner RMS Queen Mary.

 

Marine Court can be seen from 20 miles (32 km) away on a clear day from Eastbourne.

 

The Memorial

 

An important former landmark was the Memorial, a clock tower commemorating Albert the Prince Consort which stood for many years at the traffic junction in the town centre, but was demolished following an arson attack in the 1970's.

 

The Hastings Miniature Railway

 

The Hastings Miniature Railway operates along the beach from Rock-a-Nore to Marine Parade, and has provided tourist transport since 1948. The railway was considerably restored and re-opened in 2010.

 

Hastings' Tram Network

 

Hastings had a network of trams from 1905 to 1929. The trams ran as far as Bexhill, and were worked by overhead electric wires.

 

Notable People

 

Many notable figures were born, raised, or lived in Hastings, including computer scientist Alan Turing, poet Fiona Pitt-Kethley, actress Gwen Watford, comedian Jo Brand and Madness singer Suggs.

 

Additionally :

 

-- John Logie Baird lived in Hastings in the 1920's where he carried out experiments that led to the transmission of the first television image.

 

-- Robert Tressell wrote 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' in Hastings between 1906 and 1910.

 

-- Gareth Barry, who holds the record number of appearances in the Premier League, was born in Hastings.

 

-- The author who worked as Grey Owl was born In Hastings and lived there for several years.

 

-- Harry H. Corbett (Steptoe & Son) lived in Hastings up until his death in 1982.

 

-- Anna Brassey, a collector and feminist pioneer of early photography, was based in Hastings until her death in 1887.

 

Anna Brassey

 

Baroness Anna "Annie" Brassey was born in London on the 7th. October 1839. Annie was an English traveller and writer. Her bestselling book 'A Voyage in the Sunbeam, our Home on the Ocean for Eleven Months' (1878) describes a voyage around the world.

 

Anna Brassey - The Early Years

 

Annie Brassey was born Anna Allnutt. As a child, she faced serious health problems. In his preface to Annie's book 'The Last Voyage', her husband recalled that she suffered from an inherited "weakness of the chest", apparently a form of chronic bronchitis.

 

As a young woman, she also suffered severe burns when she stood too close to a fireplace and her skirt caught fire. It took six months for her to recover from them.

 

Annie's Marriage to Lord Brassey

 

In 1860, she married the English Member of Parliament Thomas Brassey (knighted in 1881, becoming Earl Brassey in 1886), with whom she lived near his Hastings constituency. Thomas was born in 1836 and died in 1918.

 

The couple had five children together before they travelled aboard their luxury yacht Sunbeam. The yacht was said to have been named after their daughter - Lady Constance Alberta - who was nicknamed Sunbeam; she died of scarlet fever, aged four, on the 24th. January 1873.

 

The golden figurehead of the yacht depicting Constance is at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.

 

Annie's Travels and Publications

 

'A Voyage in the Sunbeam', describing their journey round the world in 1876–1877 with a complement of 43, including family, friends and crew, ran through many English editions, and was translated into at least five languages.

 

Her accounts of later voyages include 'Sunshine and Storm in the East' (1880); 'In the Trades, the Tropics, and the Roaring Forties' (1885); and 'The Last Voyage' (1889, published posthumously).

 

Annie had published privately earlier works including 'A Flight of the Meteor', detailing two cruises in the Mediterranean on their earlier yacht Meteor, and 'A Voyage in the Eothen', a description of their travels to Canada and the United States in 1872.

 

In July 1881, King Kalākaua of Hawaii, who had been greatly pleased with her description of his kingdom, was entertained at Normanhurst Castle, and invested Lady Brassey with the Royal Order of Kapiolani.

 

Annie was also involved with the publication of Colonel Henry Stuart-Wortley's 'Tahiti, a Series of Photographs' (1882).

 

The Death and Legacy of Lady Brassey

 

Lady Brassey's last voyage on the Sunbeam was to India and Australia, undertaken in November 1886 in order to improve her health. On the way to Mauritius, Annie died of malaria at the age of 47 on the 14th. September 1887, and was buried at sea.

 

At home in England, she had performed charitable work, largely for the St. John Ambulance Association. Her collection of ethnographic and natural history material was shown in a museum at her husband's London house until it was moved to Hastings Museum in 1919. There are also several photograph albums and other ephemera held at Hastings Library.

 

However, the vast majority of her photograph albums are now housed in the Huntington Library, San Marino, California. The collection of 70 albums, each containing 72 to 80 thick board pages, contains pre-eminent examples of historical travel.

 

The albums contain works by Annie and others she collected, including those of commercial photographers. Annie herself was an accomplished photographer. She joined the Royal Photographic Society in 1873 and remained a member until her death. She exhibited some of her work in its exhibitions in 1873 and 1886.

 

Lady Brassey was survived by four of her five children:

 

-- Thomas Brassey, 2nd Earl Brassey

-- Lady Mabelle Brassey

-- Muriel Sackville, Countess De La Warr

-- Marie Freeman-Thomas, Marchioness of Willingdon.

 

The Federation of Arab Republics

 

So what else happened on the day that Eva and Reg posted the card?

 

Well, on the 1st. September 1971, voting took place simultaneously in Egypt, Syria and Libya on a referendum of whether to join the proposed Federation of Arab Republics.

 

On paper ballots, citizens had to mark a red circle if they were in favour, and a black circle if they were against the union, and participation in the voting was mandatory.

 

Voters approved the loose federation that would bring together 42 million of the 100 million Arab people in the Middle East, with a reported 96.4% approval in Syria, 98% in Libya, and "99.956%" in Egypt (meaning that only 422 out of 7,776,837 voted no).

 

Independence for Qatar

 

Also on that day, a radio broadcast from Qatar announced the intention of the rulers of the Arab sheikdom to declare independence, with the announcement that:

 

"Qatar is going to terminate special treaty

relations and all agreements, engagements

and arrangements arising therefrom that

were concluded with the British government."

 

The Death of 'Assault'

 

The day also marked the death of the 28 year old American thoroughbred racehorse Assault.

 

Assault, who was the 1946 Triple Crown winner, was humanely euthanized at the King Ranch in Kingsville, Texas after breaking his left front leg in a fall.

 

Diana Ross

 

Also on the 1st. September 1971, the Number One chart hit record in the UK was 'I'm Still Waiting' by Diana Ross.

 

Edificio Acqua is a six-story luxury residential complex that faces the South Atlantic Ocean in Uruguay’s beachfront resort of Punta del Este. Located adjacent to the main oceanfront roadway, this L-shaped, thirty-four-unit building responds to an irregularly shaped site with dense, context-sensitive development, introducing an unprecedented level of construction quality and architectural refinement to the high end of the Uruguayan housing market.

 

The building features a terraced elevation that steps back floor by floor, resembling a large staircase leading residents directly to the water’s edge. These setbacks not only minimize the structure’s overall mass when viewed from the beach, but also enable the creation of four “manor” and two “penthouse” apartments—spacious, single-floor units that include private terraces and swimming pools, with a total living area ranging from 6750 to 9050 gross square feet (627 to 841 gross square meters). With the combination of infinity pools that seem to extend to the ocean, abundant glazing on the three ocean-view sides, and the building setbacks that obscure views of the other units, each “manor” seems like an isolated residence.

 

The building contains a variety of other living configurations as well, including five double-height lofts and twenty-four single-floor apartment units. Living and dining areas typically face the ocean, and bedrooms, bathrooms, and other private spaces are situated along the glass exterior wall toward the rear and sides of the building, though many of these rooms enjoy ocean views as well. Nearly every bedroom features a walk-in closet and private bathroom. A series of terraces, alternately cantilevered out or set back into the building volume, animates the exterior and provides outdoor space for the apartments.

 

Passing through both wings of the building at ground level, a vehicular road provides access to ground-level parking bays, located adjacent to the seven elevator cores. A fitness center, spa, and outdoor pool are available to all residents.

 

“For me, Edificio Acqua has a special meaning,” says Rafael Viñoly, “as it is the first project I have completed in my native country of Uruguay. Its design reflects the uniqueness and beauty of its fashionable surroundings. Spectacular views create a sense of openness and accessibility, and the innovative use of materials and space produces a timeless architectural message.”

 

Ref: www.rvapc.com/works/703-edificio-acqua

  

Punta del Este, Uruguay

 

Camera: NIKON D810

Lens: Zeiss Apo Sonnar T* 2/135 ZF.2

Focal Length: 135 mm

Exposure: ¹⁄₁₂₅₀ sec at f/4.0

ISO: 400

While attending a family event in Atwood, Ontario, a small rural town in Western Ontario's farmland, I noticed an old-fashioned gas bar/gas station and general store with a canopy on the edge of South end of the village. The style is now almost completely gone from the landscape as more modern designs are brought in to lure customers. This particular building is likely only here for a few more years as updated building codes, highway renovations and their associated setbacks and other regulatory changes, make it pretty much impractical for owners to do much of anything to the existing properties while preserving the classic look. The gas bar is owned by Ralph Bowman, or so it says on the sign above the front door. It is actually run by his sons, or so I have been led to understand. I have to say the ability to fill up the gas tank while under the protective canopy was a nice innovation in its day and appears to be a direct descendent of the architecture seen in one of Ontario's earliest gas stations, as seen in Port Colborne, Ontario (www.flickr.com/photos/jwvraets/12370145595/ ), the historically listed Shickluna Service Station. I enjoy capturing these remnants of the past before they disappear forever. - JW

 

Date Taken: 2014-07-19

 

Tech Details:

 

Taken using a tripod-mounted Nikon D7100 fitted with a Nikkor 12-24mm lense set to 16mm, ISO100, Aperture priority mode, f/7.1, three auto-bracketed exp0sures spaced at EV+/-2 around a base exposure of 1/100 sec. HDR processing in free Open Source Luminance/Qtpfsgui: used the Mantiuk'06 tone mapping model to make a conventional HDR image which emphasizes textures (see below for settings). PP in free Open Source GIMP: load the HDR image as two layers, top layer named main, bottom layer named sky, use the tone curve tool to adjust the tonality of the sky layer to get a good strong sky and bring out the storm clouds moving in, disregarding the impact on the rest of the image, use the tone curve tool to adjust the tonality of the main layer to get the building looking good while disregarding the impact on the sky area, use a large soft-edged eraser tool to remove the sky area from the top/main layer revealing the better sky from the layer below, create new working layer from the visible result, do localized adjustment to the tonality and contrast under the canopy to bring out window details, boost overall saturation slightly, boost overall contrast slightly, reduce red channel saturation slightly to tone down the red pumps and signage above, dodge the green lights in the canopy ceiling to brighten them, do some colour balance adjustment to compensate for the odd lighting from the storm sky, sharpen, add fine black and white frame, add bar and text on left, scale to 1800 wide for posting.

 

= = = =

Luminance HDR 2.3.0 tonemapping parameters:

Operator: Fattal

Parameters:

Alpha: 1

Beta: 0.9

Color Saturation: 1

Noise Reduction: 0

------

PreGamma: 1.4

Market Square & Patten Parkway is located in Downtown Chattanooga adjacent to Georgia Avenue, one of downtown's main thoroughfares. The spatial arrangement of the district consists of two blocks of buildings with uniform setbacks, centered around the site of the old City Market, which is now a park. The street arrangement around the district is the traditional grid pattern. The northern block is composed of commercial shops, terminating on the western side with the Ross Hotel. The southern block is primarily composed of a life insurance company (building seen in the photograph above) and its parking garage, which were constructed around two earlier structures. One of the most prominent features of the district is the terraced park in the center of the district, one of only a few public "green spaces" in the Central Business District. The nine contributing buildings in this district were constructed over a forty-year period during the peak of development in this area. The construction of the City Market was a catalyst for other development in this area as can be seen in the parallel development of a series of row buildings to the north of the City Market for use as small shops as an adjunct to the market. Even though the buildings have changed ownership over the years, they are still primarily used for small shops or offices. Also, Volunteer Life's office building and garage are still used for their original purpose. And, the construction of these buildings reflect the traditional architectural influences of that period and are thus representative examples of late nineteenth and early twentieth century commercial architecture.

 

The building shown above is the Volunteer State Life Insurance Company. It is the largest contributing building in the historic district that was constructed in 1916 in a u-shape with a Neo-Classical Revival design. It consists of twelve stories faced with brick, a flat roof, and a concentration of classical detailing at ground and roof levels including pilasters, oval medallions, and a heavy cornice with brackets. There is an ornate entrance on Georgia Avenue with an arched opening with a keystone, ornamented spandrels, and over the door is a circular bronze tablet of Andrew Jackson (symbolizing the Volunteer State and the Volunteer's motto of "Strength, Stability and Integrity"). On the interior is an elaborate interior lobby with enriched moldings on ceiling and lavish use of marble. All of these details still exist today and contribute to the historical integrity of this building in particular and the historic district overall. The Market Square/Patten Parkway Historic District and the Volunteer State Life Building were added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on May 1, 1980. All of the information above (and much more about the district and the other contributing buildings) was found on the original documents submitted for listing consideration and can be viewed here:

npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail/052f95ae-a155-4358-b5b...

 

Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D7200 and combined with Photomatix Pro to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.

 

"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11

 

The best way to view my photostream is through Flickriver with the following link: www.flickriver.com/photos/photojourney57/

Pen and ink illustration based on a quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

This is a unique and rarely seen truck, it is a Western Star 4900 SB (setback axle) EX (extended hood) Marmon Herrington 6x6. The Marmon Herrington four wheel drive truck conversion company was formed in 1931 when the cash strapped Nordyke & Marmon Company formed a partnership with WW1 Army veteran and engineer Arthur William Sidney Herrington.

The Chrysler Building, at 405 Lexington Avenue, was built from 1928-1930 to the art-deco design of architect William Van Alen. Standing at 1,046-feet high, it was the first structure in the world to surpass the 1,000-foot threshold. Despite being overtaken by the Empire State Building as the tallest building in the world eleven months later, the Chrysler Building is still the tallest brick building in the world. Although built and designed specifically for the Chrysler Corporation, the company did not pay for its construction and never owned it. Walter P. Chrysler self-financed the project so that his children could inherit it.

Some background:

The Nakajima A6M2-N (Navy Type 2 Interceptor/Fighter-Bomber) was a single-crew floatplane. The Allied reporting name for the aircraft was 'Rufe'.

 

The A6M2-N floatplane was developed mainly to support amphibious operations and defend remote bases. It was based on the Mitsubishi A6M-2 Model 11 fuselage, with a modified tail and added floats. Despite the large central float and wing pontoons, the A6M2-N was aerodynamically a very clean aircraft: compared with its land-based A6M2 cousin, its performance degraded only by about 20%, and for a contemporary single engine floatplane its performance was outstanding.

 

The aircraft was deployed in 1942, referred to as the "Suisen 2" ("Hydro fighter type 2"), and intended for interceptor, fighter-bomber, and short reconnaissance support for amphibious landings, among other uses. However, when confronted with the first generation of Allied fighters, the A6M2-N was no match in aerial combat and rather employed in supportive roles.

 

Effectively, the A6M2-N was mostly utilized in defensive actions in the Aleutians and Solomon Islands operations. They were used with good efficiency against Allied positions: marking patrol elements, aiding warship guns, engaging convoys, and reconnoitering areas over-the-horizon.

The A6M2-Ns were also effective in harassing American PT boats at night, and they could drop flares to illuminate the PTs which were vulnerable to destroyer gunfire, and depended on cover of darkness. However, when Allied fighter coverage became more numerous and effective, the value of the A6M2-N dwindled and losses began to naturally mount.

 

In the Aleutian Campaign this fighter engaged with RCAF Curtiss P-40, Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighters and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers, but the A6M2-N inventory suffered a severe setback when, on August 7th, 1942, a seaplane base was destroyed by Allied fighter-bombers, taking with it most of the available A6M2-Ns stationed there.

 

The seaplane also served in defense of fueling depots in Balikpapan and Avon Bases (Dutch East Indies) and reinforced the Shumushu base (North Kuriles) in the same period.

Beyond their use from dispersed and improvised bases, A6M2-N fighters also served aboard seaplane carriers Kamikawa Maru in the Solomons and Kuriles areas and aboard Japanese raiders Hokoku Maru and Aikoku Maru in Indian Ocean raids.

Later in the conflict the Otsu Air Group utilized the A6M2-N as an interceptor alongside Kawanishi N1K1 Kyofu ('Rex') aircraft based in Biwa lake in the Honshū area, defending the Japanese home land against Allied raids.

 

A total of 327 were built, including the original prototype, before being halted in September 1943.

The last A6M2-N in military service was a single example recovered by the French forces in Indochina after the end of World War II. It crashed shortly after being overhauled, though.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 1 (Pilot)

Length: 10.10 m (33ft 1⅝ in)

Wingspan: 12.00 m (39 ft 4⅜ in)

Height: 4.30 m (14ft 1⅜ in)

Wing area: 22.44 m² (251.4 sq ft)

Empty weight: 1,912 kg (4,235 lb)

Loaded weight: 2,460 kg (5,423 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 2,880 kg (6,349 lb)

 

Powerplant:

1× Nakajima NK1C Sakae 12 air cooled 14 cylinder radial engine,

delivering 950 hp (709 kW) at 4,200 m (13,800 ft)

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 436 km/h (235 knots, 270.5 mph) at 5,000 m (16,400 ft)

Cruise speed: 296 km/h (160 knots, 184 mph)

Range: 1,782 km (963 nmi, 1,107 mi)

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

Climb rate: 6 min 43 s to 5,000 m (16,400 ft)

 

Armament:

2 × 7.7 mm Type 97 machine guns in forward fuselage

2 ×20 mm Type 99 cannons in outer wings

Underwing hardpoints for 2× 60 kg (132 lb) bombs

  

The kit and its assembly:

This is a real world model, despite the weird looks (see below), and an entry for the Arawasi blog's "Japanese Aircraft Online Model Contest 005 - Japanese Seaplanes & Flying Boats" contest in summer 2017. Even though whifs were allowed to enter, I used the opportunity to build a kit I had originally bought for a few bucks and stashed away in the donor bank: a vintage LS Model Nakajima A6M2-N.

 

The mould dates back to 1963(!), and the kit was re-issued several times, also under the ARII label. You get a tiny box, with only two sprues moulded in a pale baby blue, and the number of parts is minimal. It's truly vintage and pretty toylike at first sight. Consequently, you have to face some real old-school issues, e. g. moulded markings for the roundels on the wings, general mediocre fit of anything and lots of sinkholes and flash. Then there are toylike solutions like the single-piece propeller or separate, moveable ailerons with bulging joints.

 

The cockpit interior is non-existent, too: there's just a blank place for a dashboard (to be cut out from the printed BW instructions!), and a spindly pilot figure which is held in mid air by some pins. Furthermore, the kit was designed to take a small electric motor in the nose (sold separately) to drive the propeller. Wires, as well as respective internal ducts, and an AA battery holder are included.

 

Sounds scary? Well, maybe, if you just build it OOB. But all these flaws should not keep the ambitious modeler away because the LS Model kit is (still) a sound basis to start from, even though and by today's standards, it is certainly not a match-winner for a rivet counter-esque competition.

 

For its age and the typical solutions of its time, it is actually surprisingly good: you get very fine engraved surface details (more delicate than many contemporary moulds!), a pretty thin, three-piece clear (yet blurry) canopy and, as a bonus to the elevons, separate flaps – a unique detail I have never come across before! Proportions are IMHO good, even though the cowling looks a bit fishy and the engravings are rather soft and shallow. Anyway, on the exterior, there’s anything you can ask for to be found, and as another bonus the kit comes with a beaching trolley, which makes display and diorama fitting easier.

 

Thanks to the kit's simplicity, the build in itself was pretty straightforward and simple. Cleaning the parts and checking fit was the biggest issue. Upon gluing the old styrene showed signs of serious reaction to the dissolving effect of modern glue: it took ages for the material to cure and become hard again for further work!? Weird…

 

The many sinkholes and overall displacements were corrected with some NC putty/PSR, the protruding elevon/flap joints sanded away as good as possible, and due to the wobbly nature of the kit’s styrene I added blobs of 2C putty inside of the wing halves as stabilizers.

 

Some mods and improvements were made, though. After cleaning the OOB propeller from tons of flash the piece turned out to be pretty usable, and it was put on a metal axis. A styrene tube adapter was added behind the relatively flat engine dummy, so that the prop can spin freely – for the later beauty pics, because no CG effect beats IMHO the real thing.

 

A cockpit interior was created from scratch and donor parts, using the new Airfix A6M model's cockpit as benchmark. It’s not an exact replica, because not much would later be visible, but I wanted, as a minimum, “something” inside. A better pilot figure was used, too, and strapped to the new seat with thin strips of adhesive masking tape as seatbelts.

 

Under the wings, the hardpoints were simulated with some bits of styrene and wire as shackles, but left empty Under the stabilizer fin I added a lug(?), made from thin wire, too.

 

The elevons were fixed in place, the seams to the wings filled with white glue in order to conceal the gaps as good as possible. The movable flaps remained, though, adding life to the model. The dolly was also taken more or less OOB, since it fits well. I just improved it with some sinkhole fillings and some other details, including cushions on the float stabilizers, made from paper tissue soaked with thinned white glue, and a towing bar.

  

Painting and markings:

The reason why I settled for an A6M2-N is mostly the weird paint scheme which can be applied, while still being a real world model: a lilac livery!

 

As far as I could find out, the A6M2-Ns initially carried an all-over IJN Grey livery, which was later, in late 1942, modified with dark green upper sides for a better concealment on the ground, and the Hinomaru received white edges for better contrast.

Anyway, during the Aleutian campaign and more or less in between these two major standards, several aircraft must have received a special camouflage with lilac upper surfaces, and this model depicts such a machine, based on various profiles but no color picture as reliable reference.

 

The sources I consulted, as well as pictures of finished A6M2-N models, show a wide variety of shades and paint scheme layouts, though. Upper colors range from pale pink through more or less bright shades of purple to a pale, rusty-reddish brown (maybe primer?), while the undersides show a wide range of greys or even light blue. Some depictions of Aleutian A6M2-Ns as profile or model even show a uniform wraparound scheme! Choice is yours, obviously...

 

Because of the corny information basis, I did my personal interpretation of the subject. I based my livery more or less on a profile by Michele Marsan, published in Aerei Modelismo Anno XII (March 1991). The unit information was taken from there, too – the only source that would provide such a reference.

 

My idea behind the livery and the eventual finish was that the machine once was fully painted in IJN Grey. Then, the violet upper color was added in the field (for whatever reason?), resulting in a slightly shaggy look and with the light grey shining through here and there in areas of higher wear, e. g. at the leading edges, cockpit area and some seams.

 

Painting started with an initial coat of aluminum under the floats, around the cockpit and on the leading edges. Then the undersides and some areas of the upper surfaces were painted with IJN grey. The latter is an individual mix of Humbrol 90 (Beige Green/RAF Sky) and a bit of 155 (Olive Drab, FS 34087). On top of that I added a thin primer layer of mauve (mix of ModelMaster’s Napoleonic Violet and Neutral Grey, Humbrol 176) on the still vacant upper surfaces – both as a preparation for the later weathering treatments (see below).

 

The following, basic lilac tone comes from Humbrol’s long-gone "Authentics" enamel line. The tin is probably 30 years old, but the content is still alive (and still has a distinctive, sour stench…)! I cannot identify the tone anymore with certainty, but I guess that it is 'HJ 4: Mauve N 9', one of the line’s Japanese WWII tones which was later not carried over to the standard tones, still available today.

 

Anyway, the color is a dull, rather greyish violet, relatively dark (a bit like RAF Ocean Grey), and it fits well as a camouflage tone on this specific model. Since there’s no better alternative I could think of except for an individual mix or garish, off-the-rack pop art tones, I went with it.

 

After overall basic painting was done and thoroughly cured, weathering started with a careful wet sand paper treatment, removing the salt grain masks and revealing some of the lower IJN Grey and aluminum layers. While this appears messy, I found that the result looks more realistic than artificial weathering applied as paint effects on top of the basic paint.

 

The engine cowling was painted separately, with a mix of black and a little dark blue. The propeller received an aluminum spinner (Humbrol’s Matt Aluminum Metallizer), while the blades received aluminum front sides (Revell acrylics), and red brown (Humbrol 160) back sides. Two thin, red stripes decorate the propeller tips (Decals, left over from an AZ Model Ki-78, IIRC).

 

As a standard procedure, the kit received a light wash with thinned black ink, revealing the engraved panel lines, plus some post-shading in order to emphasize panels and add visual contrast and ‘drama’.

 

Decals and markings were improvised and come from the spares box, since I did not trust the vintage OOB decals - even though they are in so far nice that the sheet contains any major marking as well as a full set of letter so that an individual tail code could be created. Anyway, the model's real world benchmark did not carry any numeric or letter code, just Hinomaru in standard positions and a horizontal, white-and-red stripe on the fin.

 

The roundels actually belong to a JSDAF F-4EJ, some stencils come from a leftover Hobby Boss A6M sheet. The fin decoration was created with generic decal sheet material (TL Modellbau). Similar stuff was also used for the markings on the central float, as well as for the yellow ID markings on the inner wings' leading edges. I am just not certain whether the real aircraft carried them at all? But they were introduced with the new green upper surfaces in late 1942, so that they appear at least plausible. Another argument in this marking‘s favor is that it simply adds even more color to the model!

 

The cockpit interior was painted in a light khaki tone (a mix of Humbrol 159 and 94), while the flaps' interior was painted with Aodake Iro (an individual mix of acrylic aluminum and translucent teal paint). Lacking good reference material, the beaching trolley became IJA Green, with some good weathering with dry-brushed silver on the edges and traces of rust here and there (the latter created with artist acrylics.

 

Close to the (literal) finish line, some soot and oil stains were added with graphite and Tamiya's 'Smoke', and the kit finally received a coat of matt acrylic varnish (Italeri); to the varnish on the engine cover a bit of gloss varnish was added, for a sheen finish.

  

In the end, quite a challenging build. Not a winner, but …different. Concerning the LS Model kit as such, I must say that - despite its age of more than 50 years now - the A6M2-N model is still a worthwhile offer, if you invest some effort. Sure, there are certainly better 1:72 options available (e. g. the Hasegawa kit, its mould was created in 1995 and should be light years ahead concerning detail and fit. Not certain about the Revell/Frog and Jo-Han alternatives, though), but tackling this simple, vintage kit was fun in itself. And, based on what you get out of the little box, the result is not bad at all!

 

Beyond the technical aspects, I am also pleased with the visual result of the build. At first glance, this antiquity looks pretty convincing. And the disputable, strange lilac tone really makes this A6M2-N model …outstanding. Even though I still wonder what might have been the rationale behind this tone? The only thing I could imagine is a dedicated scheme for missions at dusk/dawn, similar to the pink RAF recce Spitfires in early WWII? It would be plausible, though, since the A6M2-Ns were tasked with nocturnal reconnoitre and ground attack missions.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

With Scotland’s independence from Great Britain in late 2017, “Caledonian International Airlines” (or just “Caledonian” or “CI”) quickly emerged as a privately-owned national flag carrier. The airline followed in the footsteps of Caledonian Airways, an independent Scottish charter airline formed in April 1961, which evolved into British Caledonian Airlines (a.k.a. “BCal”). During the 1970s and '80s, British Caledonian became the UK's largest independent, international scheduled airline, with an extensive global route network serving over 40 destinations in around 25 countries on five continents. However, a series of major financial setbacks during the mid-1980s combined with the airline's inability to grow sufficiently to reach a viable size put the airline at serious risk of collapse. BCal began looking for a merger partner to improve its competitive position, and, in December 1987, British Airways (BA) gained control of the airline. In April 1988 BCal was officially dissolved and the brand disappeared.

 

Caledonian International Airlines was a completely new company, though, and received its Air Operator's Certificate on December 31, 2017. Caledonian had, except for the name and the use of the Scottish “Lion Rampant” emblem (the Royal Standard of the King or Queen of Scots), no connections with BCal, and also not to British Airways. In the second quarter of 2018, CI leased two Airbus A319s from Lessors Avolon and Apollo and started deploying to several national destinations from its home base Glasgow, taking over domestic flight slots to Scottish destinations (primarily Glasgow and Edinburgh) from British Airways. In 2019, the airline added a third A319 for connections to Continental Europe as well as a single Airbus A318 and an A330 for transatlantic destinations and charter flights, respectively.

 

CI’s A318-100 (SC-ABG) was primarily scheduled for the direct Glasgow/Edinburgh – New York (3210 ml/5170 km) routes. The Airbus A318 was the smallest airliner in the Airbus A320 family, carrying 107 to 132 passengers with a maximum range of 5,700 km (3,100 nmi). Overall, the A318 was over six meters shorter and around 3 t (6,600 lb) lighter than the A320, and to compensate for the reduced moment arm, it had a larger vertical stabilizer. While initial concepts depicted the aircraft with a Boeing 737-300-style dorsal fin extension, the final design incorporated a fin tip extension, making it 75 centimeters (30 in) taller than the other A320 variants and easily identifiable. Pilots who were trained on the other variants might fly the A318 with no further certification, since it featured a common flight deck and the same type rating as its sister aircraft.

 

The A318 was available with a variety of different maximum take-off weights (MTOW) ranging from a 59-tonnes (58 long tons; 65 short tons), 2,750 kilometres (1,480 nmi) base model to a 68-tonnes (67 long tons; 75 short tons), 6,000 kilometres (3,200 nmi) version. The lower MTOW enabled it to operate regional routes economically while sacrificing range and the higher MTOW allowed it to complement other members of the A320 family on marginal routes. On the other side, the lighter weight of the A318 gave it an operating range 10% greater than the A320, allowing it to serve some routes that the A320 would be unable to, e. g, London – New York, Perth–Auckland and Singapore–Tokyo, for instance. Its main use for airlines, however, were on short, low-density hops between medium-sized cities.

 

The airline also ordered two long-haul wide-body Airbus A330-900neos in November 2019 at the Dubai Air Show. The first plane is scheduled to arrive in January 2022 after a delivery flight from Toulouse and will operate on routes to Asia, e. g. Hong Kong and Tokyo, and to intercontinental destinations in North America and Brazil. A further order for six EMBRAER ERJ-190s was placed at the same time – these will replace the leased A320s on regional and domestic routes, and with these additional aircraft Caledonian International Airlines follows a slow but steady expansion strategy.

  

General characteristics:

Cockpit crew: Two

Length: 31.44 m (103 ft 2 in)

Wingspan:34.10 m (111 ft 11 in)

Wing area: 122.4 m² (1,318 sq ft)

Wing sweepback: 25°

Tail height: 12.56 m (41 ft 2 in)

Cabin width: 3.70 m (12 ft 2 in)

Fuselage width: 3.95 m (13 ft 0 in)

Operating empty weight: 39,500 kg (87,100 lb)

Maximum zero-fuel weight (MZFW): 54,500 kg (120,200 lb)

Maximum landing weight (MLW):57,500 kg (126,800 lb)

Maximum take-off weight (MTOW): 68,000 kg (150,000 lb)

 

Capacity:

Exit Limit:136

1-class max. seating: 132 at 29–30 in (74–76 cm) pitch

1-class, typical: 117 at 32 in (81 cm) pitch

2-class, typical: 107 (8F @ 38 in, 99Y @ 32 in)

Cargo capacity: 21.2 m³ (750 cu ft)

Fuel capacity: 24,210 L (5,330 imp gal; 6,400 US gal)

 

Performance:

Cruising speed: Mach 0.78 (829 km/h; 515 mph)

Maximum speed: Mach 0.82 (871 km/h; 541 mph)

Range (typical payload): 5,740 km (3,100 nmi)

ACJ range:4,200 nmi (7,800 km)

Takeoff (MTOW, SL, ISA): 1,780 m (5,840 ft)

Landing (MLW, SL, ISA): 1,230 m (4,040 ft)

Ceiling: 39,100–41,000 ft (11,900–12,500 m)

 

Engines:

2xCFM56-5B9/P turbofans with 23,300 lbf (100 kN) thrust each

  

The kit and its assembly:

I have been pondering the idea of an independent Scotland for some time and already built some what-if models with this background. But then arose the question: what could a national carrier airline be or look like?

 

This turned out to be a more complex question than initially ever thought of and led to more than a dozen potential design layouts, with the plan to avoid the much-too-obvious blue from the Scottish flag and rather incorporate the Scottish coat-of-arms (with a standing red lion on a yellow shield/background) but also based on limited decal resources. The small Airbus 318 was chosen because it would be a rather small airline, and the type’s extended range vs. it bigger brethren (making flight to America possible) made it a good choice for trans-Atlantic flights.

 

I settled for the Eastern Express A318 kit, which is BTW the only option for this airliner in 1:144. Upon an initial glance the kit looked quite O.K. – very simple and straightforward, and somewhat looking like a clone of the Revell A319/320 model (but it isn't). However, closer inspection confirmed the impression of a rather poor copy quality level. Most surface details (engraved) are there, but they are soft and somewhat blurred, and any fine details like pitots or blade antennae are missing or just hinted at. The material is also dubious, a very waxy and soft styrene. It can be glued together easily, but it is very sensitive to scratches or cuts.

 

However, things turned really ugly when I tried to build it! NOTHING of the major elements fits together, the worst flaws became apparent when I tried to glue the fuselage halves together, which turned out to be wavy along the seams and heavily dented, esp. along the spine. Massive PSR was necessary to fill the worst gaps, and even then, the result is barely acceptable.

 

Another disaster area is the wing/fuselage intersection. Unlike the Revell A320, the Eastern Express kit comes with separate, asymmtretical lower wing halves, which carry a part of the lower fuselage. Raised surface details and air scoops justify this construction, but the poor fit of everything involved in this area left me with a ventral 2mm(!!!) gap and further misalignments that called for even more PSR. Horrible.

 

The final major problem zone was the fin – in consists of a base, which is molded into the fuselage halves, and the extended fin tip as well as the rudder are a separate part. This could work, if the fin’s base halves were not about 1mm too thick when assembled, resulting in a crippled fin that called for more PSR to create even surfaces on both sides (and fill gap’s at the rudder’s base)…

 

Beyond that, there were some sinkholes on the wings and the (otherwise pretty clear) cockpit glazing did not fit at all, being much too narrow and leaving considerable gaps at its base. Since I had decals for the complete cockpit glazing at hand I short-handedly blended the clear part into the hull with some more PSR. No, this kit is NOT recommended – I guess that cutting an A319/320 from another manufacturer and scratching the longer fin leads to better results than the Eastern Express A318 kit!

  

Painting and markings:

I wanted to develop a personal livery for Scotland’s potential flag carrier, and this took a while. The process was inspired and also limited by decal options, and I wanted to avoid the obvious color blue. I rather took inspiration from the Scottish coat of arms, which shows a standing red lion on a deep yellow background. For potential layouts I took the burden to create profile drawings, which soon revealed that yellow and red would make the airliner look like a Spanish charter carrier, so more and more black crept into the design, eventually fully replacing the yellow, together with white as basic color for the fuselage and a little red from the lion as contrast. After more than a dozen layouts the one I chose reminds of the late BEA scheme (with the black fin and trim) or Air Canada. However, I wanted to avoid a contemporary livery with a uniform/featureless fuselage, so I incorporated a black window cheatline that visually stretches the fuselage. The design has a certain retro appeal, even though this was not intended.

 

The fuselage was prepared with grey primer and received a coat with pure white paint from the rattle can. The wings were painted with Humbrol 40 (Gloss Light Gull Grey) and 126 (FS 26270) for the Corroguard areas. Fin and engine nacelles were painted black (Humbrol 21). The small winglets were painted in red (Humbrol 19), as small color highlights. Black ink was used to emphasize the panel lines (esp. of the flaps and rudders) on the wings, the white fuselage remained clean, though, in order to avoid a dirty or worn look.

 

The cheatlines and the windows come from a TwoSix Decals sheet for a retro British Airways A319 with a BEA red square livery, the decals had to be tailored to the A318’s shorter fuselage. The black nose section was retained, because it reminds of the elegant livery of British Caledonian Airlines. The red “Caledonian” letterings and the smaller sublines come from a TwoSix Decals sheet for a Sixties’ Caledonian Airways DC-6B. I had hoped to use the sheet’s large red lions for the Airbus’ fin, but they were only printed on clear carrier film and lacked opacity, so that I had to improvise. I found a suitable alternative in a MicroScale H0 scale sheet for Cape Brenton & Nova Scotia Diesel locomotives.

The stencils are a mix from the (very nice) Eastern Express and the TwoSix Airbus sheet, and I printed the registration code with the Scottish flag as well as the “independence” tag on the nose myself.

 

Finally, the model was sealed with an overall coat of glossy acrylic varnish.

 

Overview

 

Heritage Category: Listed Building

Grade: I

List Entry Number: 1308610

Date first listed: 22-Feb-1967

 

Location

 

Statutory Address: St Michael the Archangel Church,Chagford, Newton Abbot TQ13 8BN

County: Devon

District: West Devon (District Authority)

Parish: Chagford

National Park: DARTMOOR

National Grid Reference: SX 70146 87508

 

Details

 

Parish church. It appears to be a complete C15 rebuild of an earlier church (The Church Wardens Accounts record work on the Lady Chapel in 1482); major renovation of circa 1888 followed by a series of lesser works between 1888 and 1925, e.g. vestry by J.W. Rowell and Son of Newton Abbot in 1891 and tower restored in 1915; roofs repaired circa 1960. Coursed blocks of granite ashlar throughout; granite ashlar detail, one window of limestone ashlar; slate roofs. Plan: church is actually set on a north-east - south-west axis but for convenience it is described as if it had a conventional east-west axis. Nave and chancel under a continuous roof with full length north and south aisles, both with east end chapels. The south aisle has the former Lady Chapel (now a Chapel of Remembrance to the dead of the World Wars) and the 1891 vestry at the east end. At the east end of the north aisle St Katherines Chapel was converted to the organ chamber and the aisle was extended an extra bay. C15 south porch. Large C15 west tower. Perpendicular style throughout and renovation work carried out in the same style. Exterior. Tall west tower of 3 stages with internal stair turret in the south-west corner. It has a chamfered plinth, setback buttresses and an embattled parapet without corner pinnacles. Belfry has double lancets on each side to the belfry and a single lancet on the north side to the ringing loft. On the west side the doorway has a 2-centred arch with double chamfered surround. It contains a good quality oak door carved with blind cusped arcades and carved with a Latin quotation and dated 1914. Directly above 3-light window with a pointed arch and containing simple intersecting tracery and a hoodmould. Possibly this window was reused in the C15 from the earlier church. Above this window 2 small arch-headed niche contains a C20 carved figure of St. Michael and above that a painted clockface put there in 1867. There are tiny slit windows on the south side lighting the newel stair. The nave and aisles are similar in style. Their roofs are gable-ended with C19 shaped kneelers, coping and moulded finials. (The west end of the north aisle has no finial). The roof is continuous over nave and chancel but the division is marked by an old ridge tile surmounted by a crude beast (maybe a pig). The aisles have soffit-chamfered eaves cornices and the south aisle has a chamfered plinth. Both have set back buttresses on their corners and buttresses between the windows, all with weathered offsets. The west ends of the aisles are blind although both contain blocked features. The south aisle is roughcast but inside a tall 2-centred arch shows. The north aisle contains a blocked doorway, a 2-centred arch with a double roll moulded surround and above that is a presumably C19 segmental-headed window embrasure. All the original windows have original Perpendicular tracery with plain hoodmoulds. The south aisle and porch. The porch projects left of centre. It has set back buttresses and an embattled parapet. 2-centred outer arch with moulded surround and broach stops. This contains early C20 timber gates containing a row of open quatrefoils containing rosettes along the top. There is a late C17 or C18 slate sundial with a brass pointer. It has shaped corners and the borders are enriched with scrolled foliage and garlands. The porch occupies one of the 5 bays this side. The others contain 3-light windows, and there is another at the east end. In the angle of the south aisle and chancel is the low 1981 vestry built of neater ashlar than the original church. It has a flat roof and embattled parapet over a soffit- moulded dripcourse. Each side contains a square-headed 2-light window with cinquefoil heads and the south side contains a segmental-headed doorway with ovolo surround. Above the vestry, a window built of limestone, with Decorated tracery and hoodmould with carved labels. The east end of the chancel has a large and impressive 5-light window with Perpendicular tracery. It has moulded reveals with carved capitals and hoodmould. The north aisle is 6 bays. The east end bay is a late C19 addition and contains another limestone 2-light window with Decorated tracery, hoodmould and block labels. Contemporary granite Tudor arch doorway in east end. The rest are original 3-light windows similar to those on the south side. The division between aisle and organ chamber (former chapel) is marked by a projecting rood stair turret. Interior. Porch has a good interior. It has stone-flagged floor and benches along each side. Stone vaulted 2-bay roof; the ribs springing from half-engaged piers and with good carved bosses. The piers are granite and although the rest is painted the detail suggests a softer stone, possibly Beerstone. The south doorway is a granite 2- centred arch with double chamfered surround and pyrmaid stops. It contains an ancient folding plank door with studded coverstrips, its original ferramenta and a massive oak lock housing. The roof was repaired circa 1960 but is essentially original. Nave and chancel have continuous wagon roofs with moulded purlins and ribs, good carved oak bosses and a moulded wallplate enriched with 4-leaf bosses. The break between nave and chancel is now marked by the chancel only being ceiled and the timberwork there is painted. Both aisles have similar smaller wagon roofs and must be contemporary with the nave and chancel roof. Both are now open and the south chapel timbers have traces of ancient colour. The bosses are noteworthy some featuring the spiral symbol of the Gorges family and others the tinners mark of 3 rabbits. Church Fabric. Tall tower arch with a narrow chamfered surround and soffit- Chamfered imposts. Inside tower small 2-centred arch doorway to newel stairs but floor to ringing loft replaced 1915. Either side of the tower arch are the blocked apertures described above. Each aisle has an identical 5-bay arcade with 1 overlapping into the chancel. The arches have double chamfered arch rings. Octagonal granite piers made from single pieces of granite and have soffit-chamfered caps and chamfered bases, now on pedestals since the floor has been lowered. The floor is of stone slabs and includes some grave slabs in the chancel (see below). The walls are of exposed granite ashlar. In the south aisle, close to the chancel screen, there is an arch-headed blocked opening for the rood stair. Furniture and fittings. In the chancel the reredos dates from 1888 along with the rest of the sanctuary decoration. It is a painted and gilded triptych; Christ in majesty is flanked by panels containing the Evangelists and the wings contain saints. The wall behind is lined with good polychrome tiles of 1888. The oak stalls (dating from 1913) are in a Tudor Gothic style with blind arcading across the front and carved angel finials. The sedilia dates from 1894. The chancel screen is a fine piece of work. It was erected in 1925 in memory of the young flying officer Noel Hayter-Hames. It is an expert recreation of a C15 Perpendicular oak chancel screen with blind tracery on the wainscotting, Perpendicular tracery to the windows, Gothic cusped coving and a frieze of delicately undercut bands of foliage. The parclose screens are painted and it may be that they are actually C15; built of oak and simpler versions of the main screen. The pulpit (dated 1928) is also built of oak and in the same Perpendicular style; it has an octagonal drum nodding ogee arch on the sides and undercut foliage on the corners, base and frieze. In the former St. Katherines Chapel the late C19 organ has been restored to its original painted scheme. The former Lady Chapel was lined with panelled wainscotting when converted to a Chapel of Rememberance circa 1925. The contemporary figures on the Riddel posts are the patron saints of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Brass lecturn is dated 1871. The benches are also Gothic in style; the bench ends have tracery patterns framed with wreathed foliage. They probably date from the reseating of 1864 and most have been dedicated to members of the congregation who died in the C20. Granite Perpendicular style octagonal font carved by a local mason, John Aggett, and dedicated to the memory of Katherine Hayter-Hames who died less than a year old in 1856. The oak coved canopy is richly carved in Gothic style. Memorials. The oldest and best in the church is the table tomb in the sanctuary in memory of Sir John Wyddon (d. 1575). It is remarkable for its early Renaissance decoration. The tomb base is 3 bays divided by pilasters which are carved with foliage and with a frieze of wreathed foilage. Each bay carved with foliage and with a frieze of wreathed foliage. Each bay contains a frame of formal foliage. Central bay contains an heraldic achievement and the flanking bays have Renaissance vases with cherubs and grotesques. Marble lid with black letter inscription around the edge. Any effigy is now missing. 2-bay arcade above with round arches enriched by scrolled cusping and supported on baluster columns. The arches and spandrels are richly carved with Renaissance ornament. Moulded frieze above and moulded entablature with carved crestwork is supported by carved scroll consoles. The back of the arcade is also richly carved with heraldic achievements surrounded by a dense pattern of expertly carved ornament featuring mermen, grotesques and foliage. Nearby, on the sanctuary steps is a graveslab in memory of Mary Whiddon who died on her wedding day in 1641. South aisle contains a good mural monument in memory of Sir John Prouz (d.1664). Built most of Beerstone, it contains an inscribed rectangular marble plaque flanked by free-standing marble columns with Corinthian caps and entablature with modillion frieze surmounted by a cartouche containing the Prouz arms flanked by other heraldic cartouches. The soffit-moulded sill is supported by scroll brackets carved as grotesque lions heads and with an apron between enriched with strapwork and containing a carved oak heraldic achievement. Above the monument is suspended a helmet bearing the Prouz crest. All the paintwork is C20. To south of the sanctuary a granite recess with double ogee arch in memory of Constance Hayter-Hames (d.1890) and several C19 mural monuments to other members of the same family but the best monument from this period is a mural plaque in memory of Captain John Evans who died aged 23, in 1861 after an active service life. The plaque is a white marble scroll with a symbol of liberty at the top. It is carved as if the scroll is pinned to the end of a chest tomb on which lies his sword and an open Bible and over this is his regimental arms. The black ground has a pointed arch and a moulded limestone frame. It is signed Bedford Sc. 256 Oxford Street, London. Over the south door a board is painted with the arms of Charles II (much restored). To right a painted Benefaction board dated 1791 over an inscribed Beerstone tablet recording the benefactions of the Reverend John Hayter and John Hooper in 1790. Glass. The window of the north chapel contains fragments of C15 glass; St. Andrew and some heraldic achievements. The rest of the stained glass is C19 and most are memorials to members of the Hayter-Hames family. Summary. This is a good C15 granite church although the interior is largely the result of the several late C19 and early C20 renovations. The best feature is the remarkable Whiddon table tomb. Sources. Devon C19 Church Project. Church Guide. (n.a.)

  

© Historic England 2021

As the Germans were losing ground on the Eastern front in the north after their failed siege of Leningrad, they retreated to Estonia. Estonia at the time was an ally of Nazi Germany due to a mutual hatred of the Soviet Union. The Estonian government issued a conscription order and thousands of Estonians joined the Estonian legion. From February to August the Estonians and Germans held off the Soviets on the Narva Isthmus where they suffered massive casualties compared to the Estonians and Germans.

 

However this would not last. The soviets would eventually breakthrough, especially with the help of Finland dropping out of the war. The setback did allow Estonian civilians, the Estonian army and the German army to flee with very little casualties. The soviets invaded Estonia and quickly regained control where they would commit numerous crimes against the Estonian people (and virtually everyone else in Eastern Europe) with killings and forced deportations known as “sovietization”. The soviets would also settle ethnic Russians in Estonia.

 

What you see here is one of the various swamps in the Narva Isthmus in Estonia.

 

Song of the Estonian legion

m.youtube.com/watch?v=4MQhKOX69p4

My new Drifter for the first time in its natural habitat. Getting pretty dusty. Cool riding, loved it (now that I got rid of a clicking from the bottom bracket). As you can see I transferred some of my new learnings from the bike position analysis from last week onto the Drifter. Means: completely slammed stem and putting the saddle max forward. Well, that 2 cm setback seatpost was an experiment anyways. Normally I’m fine with 1 to 1.5 cm setback and the most pleasing seat post designs are from 0 to max 1.5 cm setback anyways. So I ordered a fitting 0 setback seat post now. :)

 

--

 

Mein neues Drifter zum ersten Mal in seinem natürlichen Habitat. Es wurde recht staubig. Tolles Fahren, liebte es (nun, da ich endlich ein Klicken vom Tretlager losgeworden bin).

 

Wie ihr sehen könnt, habe ich einige Erkenntnisse von der letztwöchigen Bikepositions-Analyse auf das Drifter übertragen. Bedeutet: den Vorbau komplett runter auf die Topcap gesetzt und den Sattel maximal nach vorne geschoben. Ok, die 2 cm Setback Sitzstütze war sowieso ein Experiment. Normalerweise komme ich mit 1 bis 1,5 cm setback zurecht und das sind gleichzeitig auch die optisch am gefälligsten Stützen. Deswegen habe ich jetzt eine passende 0 cm Setback Sattelstütze geordert.

Columbus Circle, located at the intersection of Broadway, Central Park West, Central Park South (59th Street), and 8th Avenue, on the southwest corner of Central Park is the official point at which distances to and from New York City are measured. The traffic circle was designed by William P. Eno, a businessman who pioneered many early innovations in road safety and traffic control, as part of Frederick Law Olmsted's vision for the park, which included a circle at its Eighth Avenue entrance. Construction was completed in 1905.

 

About ten thousand people, including Italian, Spanish, and American dignitaries, gathered in Columbus Circle on October 12, 1892, the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Columbus in the “New World.” Together they dedicated the Columbus Monument, designed by Sicilian sculptor Gaetano Russo and donated to the City of New York by the Italian-American community. The monument consists of a statue of Columbus posed on a column mounted on a base surrounded by fountains; an allegorical figure depicting the Genius of Discovery stands on the base. Both Columbus and the latter figure are carved of Carrara marble. Bronze elements include two bas-reliefs (1,2) portraying Columbus’s journey, as well as an American bald eagle and lotus-shaped cresting. In addition, bronze ships’ prows and anchors adorn the granite column. The total height of the plinth, pedestal, column and sculpture is 77 feet, enabling passerby to see the monument from miles away on a clear day.

 

The Time Warner Center, by David Childs, was built in 2000-2004 for the Time Warner media conglomerate. Originally developed under the title New Coliseum or Columbus Centre (then briefly as the AOL Time Warner Center before "AOL" was dropped from the company name in 2003), the building replaced the Robert Moses-era monument, the Coliseum (1954-1956). The development was designed from the beginning with 59th Street demapped, facing Columbus Circle in a sweeping 7-storey curve two blockfronts wide. An extensive six-level retail complex, with the four above-ground floors built around a glass-walled atrium space, form The Shops at Columbus Circle and The Restaurant and Bar Collection. These feature six high-end restaurants and 40 luxury and specialty retailers. Three performance spaces with a total of 2,000 seats comprise the Jazz at Lincoln Center on the 5th and 6th floors underneath the north tower. The atrium wall facing Columbus Circle is made of laminated glass panes attached to a non-rigid, 45 m high and 26 m wide cable mesh frame, the largest glass wall of its kind in the world.Literally topping the whole are the 228.5-meter residential and office towers at 25 and 80 Columbus Circle. The tower shafts rise from 20- and 24-storey setback tower bases, all with parallelogram plans and curtain wall facades of dark glass. The towers, separated by 26 meters and featuring vertical stripes at the top recall the Central Park West apartment towers of the thirties.

 

In 2007, the Time Warner Center was ranked #105 on the AIA 150 America's Favorite Architecture list.

The little guy was searching for acorns -- which -- in numbers were fairly plentiful this year-- except -- something (probably the effects of the drought) caused a great many of them to fall off way too early and thus not much use as a food source. Acorns are an important fall food source for deer, squirrels, birds and the like -- so -- shaping up to be a very difficult winter for area wildlife. As was last year.

 

*

 

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"What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world."

--Paul Hawken

--------

 

Setbacks of the Drumpf Tower in Chicago -- I think they give it a ship-like appearance.

 

Parenthetically, Drumpf is an egotistical, mendacious, loud-mouthed bully. Just saying. Unfortunately, he now occupies the White House -- a true blot on American history.

 

Canon EOS 7D with Canon EFS 50 mm lens

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

With Scotland’s independence from Great Britain in late 2017, “Caledonian International Airlines” (or just “Caledonian” or “CI”) quickly emerged as a privately-owned national flag carrier. The airline followed in the footsteps of Caledonian Airways, an independent Scottish charter airline formed in April 1961, which evolved into British Caledonian Airlines (a.k.a. “BCal”). During the 1970s and '80s, British Caledonian became the UK's largest independent, international scheduled airline, with an extensive global route network serving over 40 destinations in around 25 countries on five continents. However, a series of major financial setbacks during the mid-1980s combined with the airline's inability to grow sufficiently to reach a viable size put the airline at serious risk of collapse. BCal began looking for a merger partner to improve its competitive position, and, in December 1987, British Airways (BA) gained control of the airline. In April 1988 BCal was officially dissolved and the brand disappeared.

 

Caledonian International Airlines was a completely new company, though, and received its Air Operator's Certificate on December 31, 2017. Caledonian had, except for the name and the use of the Scottish “Lion Rampant” emblem (the Royal Standard of the King or Queen of Scots), no connections with BCal, and also not to British Airways. In the second quarter of 2018, CI leased two Airbus A319s from Lessors Avolon and Apollo and started deploying to several national destinations from its home base Glasgow, taking over domestic flight slots to Scottish destinations (primarily Glasgow and Edinburgh) from British Airways. In 2019, the airline added a third A319 for connections to Continental Europe as well as a single Airbus A318 and an A330 for transatlantic destinations and charter flights, respectively.

 

CI’s A318-100 (SC-ABG) was primarily scheduled for the direct Glasgow/Edinburgh – New York (3210 ml/5170 km) routes. The Airbus A318 was the smallest airliner in the Airbus A320 family, carrying 107 to 132 passengers with a maximum range of 5,700 km (3,100 nmi). Overall, the A318 was over six meters shorter and around 3 t (6,600 lb) lighter than the A320, and to compensate for the reduced moment arm, it had a larger vertical stabilizer. While initial concepts depicted the aircraft with a Boeing 737-300-style dorsal fin extension, the final design incorporated a fin tip extension, making it 75 centimeters (30 in) taller than the other A320 variants and easily identifiable. Pilots who were trained on the other variants might fly the A318 with no further certification, since it featured a common flight deck and the same type rating as its sister aircraft.

 

The A318 was available with a variety of different maximum take-off weights (MTOW) ranging from a 59-tonnes (58 long tons; 65 short tons), 2,750 kilometres (1,480 nmi) base model to a 68-tonnes (67 long tons; 75 short tons), 6,000 kilometres (3,200 nmi) version. The lower MTOW enabled it to operate regional routes economically while sacrificing range and the higher MTOW allowed it to complement other members of the A320 family on marginal routes. On the other side, the lighter weight of the A318 gave it an operating range 10% greater than the A320, allowing it to serve some routes that the A320 would be unable to, e. g, London – New York, Perth–Auckland and Singapore–Tokyo, for instance. Its main use for airlines, however, were on short, low-density hops between medium-sized cities.

 

The airline also ordered two long-haul wide-body Airbus A330-900neos in November 2019 at the Dubai Air Show. The first plane is scheduled to arrive in January 2022 after a delivery flight from Toulouse and will operate on routes to Asia, e. g. Hong Kong and Tokyo, and to intercontinental destinations in North America and Brazil. A further order for six EMBRAER ERJ-190s was placed at the same time – these will replace the leased A320s on regional and domestic routes, and with these additional aircraft Caledonian International Airlines follows a slow but steady expansion strategy.

  

General characteristics:

Cockpit crew: Two

Length: 31.44 m (103 ft 2 in)

Wingspan:34.10 m (111 ft 11 in)

Wing area: 122.4 m² (1,318 sq ft)

Wing sweepback: 25°

Tail height: 12.56 m (41 ft 2 in)

Cabin width: 3.70 m (12 ft 2 in)

Fuselage width: 3.95 m (13 ft 0 in)

Operating empty weight: 39,500 kg (87,100 lb)

Maximum zero-fuel weight (MZFW): 54,500 kg (120,200 lb)

Maximum landing weight (MLW):57,500 kg (126,800 lb)

Maximum take-off weight (MTOW): 68,000 kg (150,000 lb)

 

Capacity:

Exit Limit:136

1-class max. seating: 132 at 29–30 in (74–76 cm) pitch

1-class, typical: 117 at 32 in (81 cm) pitch

2-class, typical: 107 (8F @ 38 in, 99Y @ 32 in)

Cargo capacity: 21.2 m³ (750 cu ft)

Fuel capacity: 24,210 L (5,330 imp gal; 6,400 US gal)

 

Performance:

Cruising speed: Mach 0.78 (829 km/h; 515 mph)

Maximum speed: Mach 0.82 (871 km/h; 541 mph)

Range (typical payload): 5,740 km (3,100 nmi)

ACJ range:4,200 nmi (7,800 km)

Takeoff (MTOW, SL, ISA): 1,780 m (5,840 ft)

Landing (MLW, SL, ISA): 1,230 m (4,040 ft)

Ceiling: 39,100–41,000 ft (11,900–12,500 m)

 

Engines:

2xCFM56-5B9/P turbofans with 23,300 lbf (100 kN) thrust each

  

The kit and its assembly:

I have been pondering the idea of an independent Scotland for some time and already built some what-if models with this background. But then arose the question: what could a national carrier airline be or look like?

 

This turned out to be a more complex question than initially ever thought of and led to more than a dozen potential design layouts, with the plan to avoid the much-too-obvious blue from the Scottish flag and rather incorporate the Scottish coat-of-arms (with a standing red lion on a yellow shield/background) but also based on limited decal resources. The small Airbus 318 was chosen because it would be a rather small airline, and the type’s extended range vs. it bigger brethren (making flight to America possible) made it a good choice for trans-Atlantic flights.

 

I settled for the Eastern Express A318 kit, which is BTW the only option for this airliner in 1:144. Upon an initial glance the kit looked quite O.K. – very simple and straightforward, and somewhat looking like a clone of the Revell A319/320 model (but it isn't). However, closer inspection confirmed the impression of a rather poor copy quality level. Most surface details (engraved) are there, but they are soft and somewhat blurred, and any fine details like pitots or blade antennae are missing or just hinted at. The material is also dubious, a very waxy and soft styrene. It can be glued together easily, but it is very sensitive to scratches or cuts.

 

However, things turned really ugly when I tried to build it! NOTHING of the major elements fits together, the worst flaws became apparent when I tried to glue the fuselage halves together, which turned out to be wavy along the seams and heavily dented, esp. along the spine. Massive PSR was necessary to fill the worst gaps, and even then, the result is barely acceptable.

 

Another disaster area is the wing/fuselage intersection. Unlike the Revell A320, the Eastern Express kit comes with separate, asymmtretical lower wing halves, which carry a part of the lower fuselage. Raised surface details and air scoops justify this construction, but the poor fit of everything involved in this area left me with a ventral 2mm(!!!) gap and further misalignments that called for even more PSR. Horrible.

 

The final major problem zone was the fin – in consists of a base, which is molded into the fuselage halves, and the extended fin tip as well as the rudder are a separate part. This could work, if the fin’s base halves were not about 1mm too thick when assembled, resulting in a crippled fin that called for more PSR to create even surfaces on both sides (and fill gap’s at the rudder’s base)…

 

Beyond that, there were some sinkholes on the wings and the (otherwise pretty clear) cockpit glazing did not fit at all, being much too narrow and leaving considerable gaps at its base. Since I had decals for the complete cockpit glazing at hand I short-handedly blended the clear part into the hull with some more PSR. No, this kit is NOT recommended – I guess that cutting an A319/320 from another manufacturer and scratching the longer fin leads to better results than the Eastern Express A318 kit!

  

Painting and markings:

I wanted to develop a personal livery for Scotland’s potential flag carrier, and this took a while. The process was inspired and also limited by decal options, and I wanted to avoid the obvious color blue. I rather took inspiration from the Scottish coat of arms, which shows a standing red lion on a deep yellow background. For potential layouts I took the burden to create profile drawings, which soon revealed that yellow and red would make the airliner look like a Spanish charter carrier, so more and more black crept into the design, eventually fully replacing the yellow, together with white as basic color for the fuselage and a little red from the lion as contrast. After more than a dozen layouts the one I chose reminds of the late BEA scheme (with the black fin and trim) or Air Canada. However, I wanted to avoid a contemporary livery with a uniform/featureless fuselage, so I incorporated a black window cheatline that visually stretches the fuselage. The design has a certain retro appeal, even though this was not intended.

 

The fuselage was prepared with grey primer and received a coat with pure white paint from the rattle can. The wings were painted with Humbrol 40 (Gloss Light Gull Grey) and 126 (FS 26270) for the Corroguard areas. Fin and engine nacelles were painted black (Humbrol 21). The small winglets were painted in red (Humbrol 19), as small color highlights. Black ink was used to emphasize the panel lines (esp. of the flaps and rudders) on the wings, the white fuselage remained clean, though, in order to avoid a dirty or worn look.

 

The cheatlines and the windows come from a TwoSix Decals sheet for a retro British Airways A319 with a BEA red square livery, the decals had to be tailored to the A318’s shorter fuselage. The black nose section was retained, because it reminds of the elegant livery of British Caledonian Airlines. The red “Caledonian” letterings and the smaller sublines come from a TwoSix Decals sheet for a Sixties’ Caledonian Airways DC-6B. I had hoped to use the sheet’s large red lions for the Airbus’ fin, but they were only printed on clear carrier film and lacked opacity, so that I had to improvise. I found a suitable alternative in a MicroScale H0 scale sheet for Cape Brenton & Nova Scotia Diesel locomotives.

The stencils are a mix from the (very nice) Eastern Express and the TwoSix Airbus sheet, and I printed the registration code with the Scottish flag as well as the “independence” tag on the nose myself.

 

Finally, the model was sealed with an overall coat of glossy acrylic varnish.

 

Passing through what the locals refer to as the setback, Green Mountain's last remaining Alco skirts the Connecticut River with a short tourist train just south of Riverside. Riverside was the station name at Steamtown USA, once home to the largest collection of steam locomotives in the world, located just north of Bellows Falls. Today the former museum site is home to a small yard where the GMRC has a bulk transfer terminal. Hidden between a salt shed and piles of lumber is a small building that sat at the entrance to the museum with the original station board "Riverside" tacked above the door. The only reminder of what Riverside once was. On board the train, the passengers have overcome a setback of their own. Just a few hours earlier their bus took a wrong turn, putting it into a ditch. With the help of a wrecker they were able to stay on schedule and enjoy the rest of a beautiful Fall day.

Congratulations!

I saw the completed form to overcome yesterday's setback

 

Frame :*LOW BICYCLES* MKi road

Wheels :*ZIPP* 303

Tire :*WTB* nano tcs tire 700c×40c

Shift Lever :*SRAM* FORCE

Crankset :*SRAM* FORCE

BB:*CHRIS KING*

FD&RD :*SRAM* FORCE

Brake :*AVID* BB7 SL

Handlebar :*SIM WORKS* smog cutter bar

Stem :*THOMSON* X4

Saddle :*SELLE ITALIA*

Seat Post :*THOMSON* elite setback seatpost

Seat Clamp :*THOMSON*

Bar Tape :*ZIPP*

Skewer :*ZIPP*

Bag:*FAIRWEATHER*

Today when I woke up it had been (and still is) snowing massively... Unusual even in my part of Sweden in the middle of April. Last weekend it was sunshine and +17°C.

Frame :*SURLY* cross check

Fork :*WHISKY* NO.7 CX QR canti fork

Headset :*CHRIS KING* nothreadset

Front wheel :*EASTON* × *PHILWOOD* low flange track

Rear wheel :*EASTON* × *VELO ORANGE* road hub

Tire :*FAIRWEATHER* for CX tire by CG

Stem :*THOMSON* elite x4 stem

Handle :*thomson* alloy road bar

Bartape :*mash* gradient bar tape

Seat Post :*THOMSON* elite setback

Brake :*PAUL* mini moto brake

Frame bag:*SWIFT INDUSTRIES* hold fast frame bag

created for: Surrealart challenge "Setback"

 

Here the story differs from the biblical account, women coming home find the police on the street. I always wanted to create something with this theme and here I got into a bit of black humor.

For a better understanding of the story read: Judith 13-1; 16.

 

created for: Digitalmania group

After:Alexey Kondakov

Picture "Judith-and-her-maidservant" by:Orazio Gentileschi

texture by: SkeletalMess

Police picture is the Google

The first Barbie Exclusives & More book by J. Michael Augustyniak covers exclusives and collector dolls from 1959 to 1996. It is organized by store and then sub organized by release date (Augustyniak never seemed to use box dates). The highlight of this book for me is his inclusion of exclusive fashion packs. Fashions are very difficult to find pictures of, so I truly appreciate that Augustyniak featured them. I feel that this book, like Margo Rana's exclusives guides, lacks depth and focuses on "value" more than anything else. Personally, I find the "values" in all collector books useless since they vary from person to person and become out of date very quickly. Basically, an author will deem values based on his or her bias. On a positive note, like Margo Rana, Augstyniak photographed Barbie's friends and family as well as her ethnic variants. I have noticed that some of his other books fail to mention the existence of ethnic counterparts, so it is very refreshing that they are not only mentioned in both his exclusives books, but also pictured. However, his photographs are significantly smaller since he put a minimum of two dolls on each page (sometimes he put even more). As a result, the photo quality is not the best. It also does not help that he mainly photographed boxed dolls either, since it is even more difficult to see details when a doll is still packaged. There is also miscellaneous Barbie merchandise such as ornaments, mugs, and ceramics. Personally, I would have preferred if these items were excluded so the dolls could have larger photographs. However, these items may be interesting and useful to other collectors. Augustyniak also features a section at the back of this book dedicated to collector Barbie dolls and one of a kind dolls. While I do feel that collector dolls fit with the "exclusives" theme, I really do not know why Augustyniak included them in this book. He wrote several books with the sole emphasis on collector Barbies. I think one of the largest setbacks Augustyniak had as an author was his tendency to overlap information to the point of redundancy. He basically hurt his own book sales since his information was reused time and time again in multiple books, even when it was not appropriate. Sadly, he did include new information in each book, but the repetitiveness of the inclusion of previous dolls and information completely distracts from this.

 

The second edition is set up just like the first, covering the same useful topics. He included everything from fashion packs, playsets, dolls, and other merchandise. It is also organized in the same manner. This book however covers from 1959 to 1999, so many dolls are newly introduced. Like I said before, Augustyniak does repeat many (perhaps all) of the same dolls featured in his first book (see my separate photo of his reused information for reference). In many cases, the pictures themselves seem to be identical. The descriptions are also mostly the same or vastly shortened. I also believe he removed many facial close-ups from this edition since much of the information is repeated. It is because of this fact that owning both books is needless as more or less of all the information is included in the second edition. There is also a third edition available, which is probably the most useful to own, although I do not have it myself so I cannot be sure. I felt very mislead when purchasing these books online because Augstyniak claimed that owning all the editions is vital. He did not say that the information was repetitive. Personally, I would have preferred it if like Margo Rana's books, each edition featured its own unique dolls. This would have sold more books, and made each one a more valuable edition to one's Barbie guide collection. On a positive note though, both his exclusives books feature commonplace play line dolls. I have identified many of my dolls and fashion packs using these books as a result. Even though I do not see a purpose in owning both the first and second editions, both my sister and I find ourselves constantly grabbing for one of these books when identifying dolls. We both recognize the wealth of information provided by them, and for that reason I feel it was money well spent. While both of Margo Rana's exclusives books are better organized and have much better photography, I feel that Augustyniak's books are more useful simply because he dedicated so much space to fashion packs, playsets, and other Barbie items, not to mention his books cover later dolls.

Nikon D600

Nikon 35/1.4 AI-s

 

I think this is the first shot since I replaced the drop bars with the swept back 'albatross' bars from Nitto. I'm a big fan. The frame is still a bit small for me but between the raised handlebars adn the new setback seatpost I've added it is comfortable to ride.