Smitty's Junk

Montana Smith

Active member
Junk, junk never stops.


When a ship was sent to the wreckers they would often make small souvenirs from the teak decking which contributed to sailors charities.


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HMS Queen Elizabeth was the lead ship of the Queen Elizabeth-class of dreadnought battleships, named in honour of Elizabeth I of England. She saw service in both World Wars. She and the other super-dreadnought battleships were the first of their type to be powered by oil instead of coal.

First World War

She was launched on 16 October 1913 at Portsmouth, Hampshire, and entered service in January 1915 during World War I.

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While still undergoing testing in the Mediterranean, the Queen Elizabeth was sent to the Dardanelles for the Allied attempt to knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war. The Queen Elizabeth was the only modern battleship to participate, though a number of battlecruisers and pre-dreadnought battleships were also involved. She became the flagship for the preliminary naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign, leading the first line of British battleships in the battle of 18 March 1915. During the attempted military invasion of the Gallipoli on 25 April, the Queen Elizabeth was the flagship for General Sir Ian Havmilton, commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. However, after the sinking of HMS*Goliath by a Turkish torpedo boat on 12 May, the Queen Elizabeth was immediately withdrawn to a safer position.

She joined Admiral Hugh Evan-Thomas's 5th Battle Squadron (consisting of Queen Elizabeth-class battleships) of the Grand Fleet based at Scapa Flow, but she missed the Battle of Jutland due to being in dock for maintenance.

Inter war period

Between the wars she wvas the flagship of the Atlantic Fleet from 1919 to 1924. The future First Sea Lord John H. D. Cunningham served aboard her as Master of the Fleet, in 1922. From 1924 she was the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet. Following a refit, she rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet in 1927, went to the Atlantic Fleet in 1929, and later that year returned to the Mediterranean, where she served until 1937. During the 1930s she participated in the non-intervention blockade during the Spanish Civil War.

She was rebuilt twice between the world wars; in 1926?1927 bulges were added, the funnels were trunked, four 4*inch guns were added, and a new foretop was installed. In her 1937?1941 rebuild she was fitted with a tower bridge in place of her old bridge; her 6*inch (152*mm) guns were removed and in their place received 20 4.5*in (114*mm) guns and several smaller anti-aircraft guns; horizontal armour was added; engines and boilers were replaced; and the elevation of her main battery was increased to 30 degrees. Deck armour was increased to 5*inches over the magazines, 2.5*inches over the machinery, while the new 4.5" guns had between 1 and 2*inches of armour. She also received facilities for aircraft with a launching catapult amidships. New fire control equipment was installed, including the HACS MkIV AA fire control system and the Admiralty Fire Control Table Mk VII for surface fire control of the main armament. This reconstruction was completed in January 1941, when Britain had been at war for over a year.

Second World War

HMS Queen Elizabeth in Alexandria harbour surrounded by anti-torpedo nets

When her reconstruction was complete, Queen Elizabeth rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet, covering the evacuation of Crete in June 1941. She, along with HMS*Valiant, was mined and seriously damaged by Italian frogmen (Antonio Marceglia and Spartaco Schergat), in an attack on 19 December 1941 in shallow water in the harbour at Alexandria, Egypt, with the loss of nine men of her complement.

Although grounded on the harbour bottom, her decks were clear and the Italian crews were captured. For this reason, the British maintained the illusion of full operational status, to conceal the weak British position in the Mediterranean during the period the two ships were patched and refloated. However, this concealing action lasted through a few days only, whereas the Valiant went back into service after many months and the Queen Elizabeth after more than a year and half. Following completion of temporary repairs in an Alexandria drydock in June 1942, she steamed through the Suez Canal and around Africa to the Navy Yard in Norfolk, Virginia in the United States. From September of that year until June 1943, she was comprehensively repaired.

Queen Elizabeth went to the Home Fleet in July 1943, and in December she left for the Eastern Fleet, which she joined in January 1945. She took part in raids on Japanese bases in Indonesia, and was placed in reserve in August 1945.

The vessel was paid off in June and scrapped in July 1948.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Queen_Elizabeth_(1913)

Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO, PC (17 January 1871 ? 11 March 1936...escorted the German High Seas Fleet to internment at Scapa Flow in November 1918 giving the order from his flagship HMS*Queen Elizabeth that "the German Flag will be hauled down at sunset and will not be raised again without permission". This was not a lawful order, as the fleet remained the property of the German Government having been interned rather than having surrendered, but nevertheless Beatty enforced it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Beatty,_1st_Earl_Beatty



And more junk...


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This is a genuine Mk. IX Marching Compass made by J.M. Glauser of London.

The back bears the War Office arrow, serial number, Mk. IX and the date 1940.
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While referred to only as the Mk. IX, this compass is based on the Verners Pattern: a prismatic dry card compass with both a momentary bearing lock and automatic transit lock activated by lid closure.

As such it might be regarded as the final evolution of the Verners before it was superceded by the liquid filled Mk. III prismatic compass during the Second World War.

It has a floating mother of pearl dial - for low light reading - on a jewlelled pivot.

The black paint or lacquer has worn away.

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J.M. Glauser & Sons Ltd. was a British manufacturer. They were contractors to the War Office, Air Ministry, Government of India, amongst others.

The company was established in 1929 by Jean Maurice Glauser, a Naturalized British subject of Swiss origin.

In 1938/39, due to the expansion in business, the company bought the old St. James's Laundry in Bensham Manor Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey, and set up a new works (Bridge Buildings). A couple of years later, the company also took over the lease of shops at 349-351 Whitehorse Road, Croydon, where they set up their Head Office.

J.M. Glauser & Sons' scope of production also included equipment such as Braillewriters for the Royal National Institute for the Blind.

The company was wound up in 1956 when the founder retired.

http://www.compassmuseum.com/diverstext/profiles.htm#GLAUSER


Due to the glow in the dark Radium the compass is apparently highly radioactive:

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I elected not to keep it in the house, and banished it to the summer house along with my second world war General Service/Temporary Pattern pocket watch.
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Montana Smith

Active member
A quick sixth scale toy rundown:

Very Cool's 'Female Shooter', who bears a resemblance to Milla Jovovich so I had to add her to the collection:

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Medicom's version of the younger Hit Girl, Mindy Macready, from Kick Ass (2010):

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Sideshow's Exclusive Echo Base Luke and Han:

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Han being available in two versions: the correct brown coat as worn by Harrison Ford on set; and the blue one for fans who remain deluded by blue filters; blue stage lighting; the blue-coated stop-motion Tauntaun-riding minature; blue-coated Kenner figures, Marvel comic book adaptations and pre-production sketches.

Or just because blue looks good.

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And their exclusive un-hatted heads put to use:

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Hot Toys' Guardians of the Galaxy Star-Lord:

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Montana Smith

Active member
This is a replica Winchester M1892 Saddle Ring Carbine .44-40 made by Kolser, a Spanish company who have been reproducing historic replica firearms since 1970.

It has the correct weight and length, but Kolser neglected to add the saddle ring:

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Dummy rounds can be loaded through the gate:

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They'll fill the under barrel tube, but there's no spring in there to feed them back. But the lever will bring the round up to the barrel opening:

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Montana Smith

Active member
I forgot about this cut down shell case:

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I managed to identify it from the 105/28, which is the Italian designation for the French canon de 105 mle 1913 Schneider, which France gave or sold to Italy late in 1918.

The full Italian designation was Cannone da 105/28 Modello 1913.

935 = 1935, since Italian markings drop the first digit of the year.

MI = Società Metallurgica Italiana (Manufacturer)

AM and Crown over AP are unknown.

Canon de 105 mle 1913 Schneider

History

In the early 1900s, the French company Schneider began a collaboration with the Russian company Putilov. For this collaboration, it had developed a gun using the Russian 107 mm round, which was ordered by the Russian Army to be produced in Russia (though the initial batch of guns was made in France). Schneider then decided to modify the design for the French 105 mm (4.134 inches) round and offer it to France as well. Initially the French army were not interested in this weapon as they already had plenty of 75 mm field guns. However in 1913 the French army purchased a small number under the designation Canon de 105 mle 1913 Schneider; it was also known by the service designation L 13 S.

The lighter 75 mm guns were of limited use against trenches, so once the western front in World War I had settled down to trench warfare, the French army ordered large numbers of the L 13 S, which with its larger 15.74 kg (34.7 lb) shell was more effective against fortified positions and a range of 12,000 metres (7.5 mi).

After the end of World War I, France sold or gave many Schneider 105 mm guns to various other countries, including Belgium, Italy, Poland, and Yugoslavia. In Italy the 105 mm was re-designated the Cannone da 105/28 and saw service until 1943. Guns were also produced under license in Italy by Ansaldo.[2] Poland also used new model of Schneider's gun with a split trail, called the wz. 29; both were in service at the beginning of WW II in 1939.

The German conquests of Poland, Belgium, France, and Yugoslavia during World War II gave them large numbers of captured 105 mm Schneider guns. 854 L 13 S's were in service in France and a large number were captured. Many of these were installed in the Atlantic Wall system of coastal defenses.[3]

Finland was able to buy 12 of these guns from France during the Winter War, plus rebarrel 6 Russian 107mm Schnieders (4 1910 and 2 1913 models) to 105mm. In addition they were able to purchase 54 captured Polish Armata 105 mm wz. 29 Schneider guns from Germany.[4]

Designations

Because the gun was used by a large number of countries, it had a large number of official designations.

Canon de 105 mle 1913 Schneider - French designation
105 L - designation by French army during World War I
The Italian designation was Cannone da 105/28 modello 1913, often shortened to Cannone da 105/28
Armata 105 mm wz. 13 Schneider and Armata 105 mm wz. 29 Schneider were Polish designations for the original gun and a modernised version respectively
German designations include: 10.5 cm K 331(f) for guns captured from France
10.5 cm K 333(b) for guns captured from Belgium
10.5 cm K 338(i) for guns captured from Italy
10.5 cm K 338(j) for guns captured from Yugoslavia
10.5 cm K 13(p) and 10.5 cm K 29(p) for guns captured from Poland

105 K/13, 105 K/10 and 105 K/29 were the Finnish designations for the guns. 105 K/13 was the original French Gun, 105 K/10 was the 107mm Russian Gun rebarrelled to 105mm, while 105 K/29 were modernised Polish Armata 105 mm wz. 29 Schneider guns (These were captured guns which had been sold to Finland by Germany).[5]

Cannone da 105/28:

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Information from the Italian Wiki varies, and is more detailed:

http://translate.google.co.uk/trans...tp://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/105/28&prev=search
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Indy wasn't the only cool dude in a brown leather jacket.

There is another.

The King of Cool, the 'Cooler King': Steve McQueen's USAAF Captain Virgil Hilts from The Great Escape.

Star Ace, a relatively new toy company, or maybe just a relatively new company name in a world where companies masquerade under numerous names, produced this fully licensed sixth scale figure:

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The set includes the St. Christopher that was a gift from McQueen's wife, and, also in sixth scale, the 'SM' monogrammed signet ring that he wore in a number of films:

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