Other hobbies

[jmcgliss]

This little guy appeared in our driveway last winter, unharmed. For some reason he waited around while I went inside for the camera, and let me take two pictures from the rear 3/4 view before he rotated his head around with this expression. We hear owls at night, and also have coyotes and foxes in the neighborhood (north suburb of Chicago).

[Barklessdog]

Beautiful owl, nice picture.

[Highlander]

Outstanding picture, and so out of place...

(now if you were slightly further north, and a "Snowy" landed in your garden, I would be sooooooooooooooooo jealous... )

[Lightyear]

This little guy appeared in our driveway last winter, unharmed. For some reason he waited around while I went inside for the camera, and let me take two pictures from the rear 3/4 view before he rotated his head around with this expression. We hear owls at night, and also have coyotes and foxes in the neighborhood (north suburb of Chicago).

Geez, am I ever jealous!  Our old house was a block away from the creek and was heavily wooded, even though there were houses built along it.  THe neighborhood was about 30 years old so there were plenty of trees.  We did have owls as well - there is nothing cooler that looking into the night sky and seeing an owl, silently, fly over you at about 15 feet.

[Denis]

... there is nothing cooler that looking into the night sky and seeing an owl, silently, fly over you at about 15 feet.

They ARE stealthy, aren't they!

[Highlander]

The flat we lived in when we first got together was in an old part of the town and we had several mature trees... we knew there were owls in the area but never saw one... the last night before we moved here (Feb '92) surrounded in boxes we were both laying in bed and heard a male tawny calling (the classic owl hoot hoot - the female's respond with a "kee-wick") - we both sat bolt-upright and said "OWL!" and sure enough, in the big oak tree in the corner of the garden, there he was, silhouetted in the light, almost as if he was saying "been here all the time..."

If you know you have a specific breed of owl in your area I can teach you a neat trick, if you can locate a recording of the male calling... other tools you need is a night-light (a big torch with a thick piece of red plastic to shine it through will do - if you really want to show off - night-sights...!).
You play the recording on a loud "ghetto box" for a couple of minutes... owls are very territorial, and if a male is in the area, he WILL come to investigate, and then you can do the spotting with the torch without blinding his night-vision...

[Highlander]

There was mention of the Eurofighter, but does anyone know about the predecessor, the British Aerospace EAP (Experimental Aircraft Project)...

Here's a couple of pics... bears a more than passing resemblance, don't she... I forgot that I have a 1/72 "garage" kit of this one to build, too...



and some other... the last visit to Europe by the F117...


and some aerobatic artists with some older birds...

[Highlander]

... and here's me saying "pictures" and I hadn't posted any myself...

The Airfix 1/72 TSR2 is a pig to build because of the poor fit of some components, but I'm reasonably happy with this...



The monstrous scandal (as far as the RAF is concerned) is what they did to TSR2 (a "sister" to Concorde, and also powered by Olympous turbines) ... when they cancelled the project in '66 they (the Labour Government) ordered the destruction of all parts, all jigs, all information... literally burnt in front of the staff, and the then only flying prototype, XR219, was taken to RAF Shoeburyness and used for target practice...! this was always considered to be "suspect" and the the ordering of the F1-11 made it even more suspicious... (conspiracy theorists abound)



Two (non flying) prototypes survived... this is XR222 at Duxford, sandwiched between G-AXDN (the all-time fastest Concorde) and a rather nice Vulcan...

[Highlander]

... And last but not least...

My wife reminded me of something else I do (but not at the moment)... encaustic art, which is painting with wax... My sister-in-law asked for this to match the decor in her house... it's about A4 sized...



This took about 20 minutes...

[Psycho Bass Guy]

There was mention of the Eurofighter, but does anyone know about the predecessor, the British Aerospace EAP (Experimental Aircraft Project)...

Yep... enough to know the Eurofighter was supposed to be the "EFA" until France pulled out of the EAP program and came out with the Rafale. I've got a few books with pictures of the first prototypes.

The monstrous scandal (as far as the RAF is concerned) is what they did to TSR2 (a "sister" to Concorde, and also powered by Olympous turbines) ... when they cancelled the project in '66 they (the Labour Government) ordered the destruction of all parts, all jigs, all information... literally burnt in front of the staff, and the then only flying prototype, XR219, was taken to RAF Shoeburyness and used for target practice...! this was always considered to be "suspect" and the the ordering of the F1-11 made it even more suspicious... (conspiracy theorists abound)

I thought it was common knowledge that the US leveraged the F-111 on the UK because Grumman was floundering under the weight of the naval version of the F-111 and the early failures in the F-14 test program in the early 70's.  Once the early terrain-following radar issues of the F-111 were worked out, it performed quite well for the UK, even with the lesser powered engines than its US counterpart, until the Tornado took over in the role of supersonic strike.

[Denis]

If you know you have a specific breed of owl in your area I can teach you a neat trick, if you can locate a recording of the male calling... other tools you need is a night-light (a big torch with a thick piece of red plastic to shine it through will do - if you really want to show off - night-sights...!).
You play the recording on a loud "ghetto box" for a couple of minutes... owls are very territorial, and if a male is in the area, he WILL come to investigate, and then you can do the spotting with the torch without blinding his night-vision...

This site has TONS of owl calls...
http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Strix&species=varia

[eb2]

That is cool. I am going to have to play some owl calls, as we have a gray owl flying around at night.  Very disturbing to catch a glance in a tree.  We had a bunch of those smaller brown owls a few years ago.  When there is colder weather up in Blue Bomber territory, they head south a bit.  The problem is they don't get cars and roads, so they get nailed a lot.

[godofthunder]

... and here's me saying "pictures" and I hadn't posted any myself...

The Airfix 1/72 TSR2 is a pig to build because of the poor fit of some components, but I'm reasonably happy with this...



The monstrous scandal (as far as the RAF is concerned) is what they did to TSR2 (a "sister" to Concorde, and also powered by Olympous turbines) ... when they cancelled the project in '66 they (the Labour Government) ordered the destruction of all parts, all jigs, all information... literally burnt in front of the staff, and the then only flying prototype, XR219, was taken to RAF Shoeburyness and used for target practice...! this was always considered to be "suspect" and the the ordering of the F1-11 made it even more suspicious... (conspiracy theorists abound)



Two (non flying) prototypes survived... this is XR222 at Duxford, sandwiched between G-AXDN (the all-time fastest Concorde) and a rather nice Vulcan...

Nice build that TSR2 Kenny ! I had never heard of the plane before, nice to learn something.

[Highlander]

I thought it was common knowledge that the US leveraged the F-111 on the UK because Grumman was floundering under the weight of the naval version of the F-111 and the early failures in the F-14 test program in the early 70's.  Once the early terrain-following radar issues of the F-111 were worked out, it performed quite well for the UK, even with the lesser powered engines than its US counterpart, until the Tornado took over in the role of supersonic strike.

You probably have mixed up with the Royal "Australian" Air Force... it is "common" knowledge that someone, somewhere, benifited from the cancellation of TSR2, but if that happened, it is deeply hidden - The "Aardvark" was ordered, but due to issues and delays the order was cancelled, and the RAF went for F4's - these where superceded by the Tornado...

Here's an unusual RAAF F111 landing...



Scott... TSR2 only flew about 24 times, only once supersonically... they looked beautiful... here's some in-flight footage - film is very rare, as most material was destroyed... always reminded me of a bird-of-prey...

[Highlander]

Forgot... there is a TSR2 flight sim, included in an RAF anniversary CDrom - 50 different marques and UK military fields, works with MS civil and military sim progs... oops, is that another hobby...?