sweasel.com

My wife & I received a thank-you card, for housing a friend & some of her stuff. Well, the card said “(TANKS!)” & had a picture of two M-3 Lee tanks. Yeah!

I just got home from graduation, where we feted the class of 2013. Our valedictorian has a 4.7something gpa, and was accepted to nine ivies. He chose Harvard for the win, along with a full ride scholarship. You can read about him here:http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/30/5457373/elk-grove-teen-goes-9-for-9-in.html

He’s a great kid. Sometimes my job doesn’t entirely suck. 🙂

Happy with the Fayre pix…tired of politics.

Madame Weasel, I for one would be quite content to look at “Fayre” pictures all week.

Lord knows I could use the break from the rest of world’s general assholery.

So whats the tank on the far right? Just a big mortar with treads? The barrel is shorter than the width of the projectile?

I can’t imagine the fun at the Fayre!

That tank on the far right is a Sturmtiger. Germany built 18 of them for use in city fighting. The shell it could launch weighed 759 pounds. Front armor was about 6 inches thick. Gave our planners nightmares, but like so much German hardware, they never made enough of it to matter.

Thank GAWD those occur over there, and not here in the US. Do you know how hard it would be to keep my husband from magically acquiring one of those tanks? >_<

Hmmmmm

Sweasel could go for a drive around Brixton and get some Muzzie in her treads!

🙂

RC tanks are decently common around the US. It’s progressed to the point some people put BB mechanisms inside the tank and have mini-tank duels. Which is Badass.

It doesn’t look big enough to be a Sturmtiger, it looks more like a Brummbar, based on the PzkwIV. Same idea, though

Hmmmm France has had a Nagger Attack!

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/french-foreign-minister-pledges-support-niger-19270315#.UahxDUCG1v8

I’ll be at Faire–or fayre, if you prefer–this weekend, in 100 degree heat. In 16th Century garb.

The things I do to make the magic. 🙂

Comment from Nina
Time: May 31, 2013, 7:50 pm

I’ll be at Faire–or fayre, if you prefer–this weekend, in 100 degree heat. In 16th Century garb.

The things I do to make the magic. 🙂

Been there, done that, in a slightly different context. Heavy wool Dragoon uniform, 110 degree heat at Bent’s Fort at the National Park on the Colorado plains, standing sentry under arms outside the tent of “Col. Kearney” in between other period demonstrations for the tourists.

The goal being to make history real to people who have no conception of history.

It’s much more fun [albeit no cooler] to do it at Boy Scout encampments; because they appreciate it and want to learn.

Subotai Bahadur

Maps.

If you are looking for something to post about other than Fayres, Fetes, Chickens, Owls, Ferrets, Farm implements (all of which I find delightful, btw), you really you cannot go wrong in posting some randomly selected old-style map. They are beautiful, and there’s always some sort of story behind or about them. And, they aren’t about current political events.

Nina, Subotai –
Here in the small piece of Eden called New Jersey, we’ve got a bit of Revolutionary War history called the Battle of Monmouth. Both sides suffered as much heatstroke from their heavy woolen uniforms in the summer heat as they did from combat. So be careful with that “historical accuracy” stuff.

Stoaty,

Question for you re:CCTV cameras. I was watching “BroadChurch” the other night (Tennant!!!!!) and was surprised to see that CCTV cameras were used out in the middle of B.F.E. and the DI was lamenting that there weren’t more. I’ve gotten used to “seeing” them in the shows taking place in the higher population areas, but are they actually putting them in small towns?
The other thing,that made me cringe, was the police request to watch your family and neighbors and report any “suspicious” behavior and changes in character. Other than “Sherlock,” this is the first contemporary non-scifi British drama that I have watched, so I don’t know if this is boilerplate but I found it disconcerting.

On further reflection, Randy is right, it’s a Surmtiger, ( look at the muzzle ). The size must be accounted for by scale difference.

Sturmpanzer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmpanzer_IV

Sturmtiger: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmtiger

scottthebadger: My first thought was also Brummbar.

It’s sort of silly that there’s a model of the Sturmtiger, of which there were all of 18 built, but not of, say, the StuG III, of which there were thousands.

The weapon on the Sturmtiger was a 15″ (38cm) rocket launcher (sometimes described as a mortar). Either way, it was intended to lob a big charge of HE a relatively short distance, for demolishing fortifications or occupied buildings of heavy construction.

I don’t think the Allies were especially worried by it. It wasn’t dangerous to anything that could move, and the Allies weren’t defending any fixed positions very often.

It did have an interesting vulnerability, in that the weapon was a 15″ hole in the frontal armor. A shot could easily go in the barrel, and if it did was likely to tear through the breach and mess up the insides.

I have always had a great fondness for Stugs, particularly the STUG IV. Tamiya makes a STUG III.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://militarymodels.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/100_3965.jpg&imgrefurl=http://militarymodels.co.nz/2010/04/27/kit-review-tamiya-sturmgeshutz-iii-ausf-g-fruhe-early-production/&h=307&w=528&sz=76&tbnid=WIB3Lc-3EbPwqM:&tbnh=70&tbnw=120&zoom=1&usg=__v4AeCpvJW9kv4awlD38g16Ghwu8=&docid=B7OC-a7NQK5qKM&sa=X&ei=Rv2pUdbiK-faywGB3YGwAg&ved=0CC8Q9QEwAA&dur=9917