Photos:- Various Subjects.

Here are a few pics I have snapped over the past week.

Anyone who has read my early blogs will remember my first car was a series IIIa Sunbeam Rapier. Last week we had a similar model come into the workshop of the motor dealer I work at. It was in for its 6 monthly WOF (that's MOT for any poms viewing this site). The owner told me he had inherited it from his father whom had owned it since 1965. It has now covered 116,000 miles and is in superb condition. It has required very little maintenance and although the overdrive has been overhauled the rest of the gearbox has not been touched. It has had some small rust spots tidied up, but has only been repainted from the centre moulding down.

Looking through my old photos I discovered I already had a photo of the same car taken at a British Car Club Day a few years ago, with the owner standing at the rear of it.

Saturday morning I woke up to a large diesel engine idling in our street. Nearby neighbour were getting a site hut placed in their back yard by crane. I don't think any construction is taking place so I am guessing they have bought or hired it as an extra room.

Once the hut was in the air the smartly painted Cat powered Kenworth headed back to Napier.

On Sunday I took the BM for a ride (with wife on pillion) to the Manawatu area. We explored the roads west of Palmerston North, passing through the settlements of Glen Oroua, Rongotea and stopped for lunch at Sanson.
This is the garage at Rongotea.

Two of the most precious things in my life outside the old bank (now community centre and  library ) at Rongotea.

Meccano Exhibition

Over Easter my daughters were home so didn't manage to go very far, although on Monday I took one daughter back to Wellington and looked in at the Meccano display at Te Papa.
Te Papa is NZ's national museum in Wellington.

Very detailed paddle steamer with cute little loco in the foreground.

The showman's traction engine looks like something you wouldn't build in one evening.

This early motorcycle and sidecar was made from plans from the very early days of Meccano.

Formula One race-car and........

....Sir Malcolm Campbell's Bluebird.

Much smaller than some of the other replica machinery, but still very detailed is this truck-mounted crane.

Lots of working detail for this combine harvester made from Meccano parts in immaculate condition.

Neat tracked bucket loader.

Big Caterpillar bull dozer in appropriate colours. Holes in Meccano are centred at half an inch, so are bit of careful counting will give you some indication of size.

This motor chassis was very detailed and based on a Bentley (I think) with a...

....working gearbox.

I appreciate the simple small models as well, like this smart little float-plane.

Not made from immaculate parts, but still easily recognisable as a Mini-Moke.

WHERE IS THE STONEFIELD?

I posted this picture of a very rare Stonefield some months ago, which led to me being contacted by a Stonefield enthusiast in the UK. It turns out that this was the only Stonefield imported into New Zealand.
It was imported for the NZ Army to assess. Eventually the Army decided on another brand of vehicle and the Stonefield was put up for sale. It was purchased by the DSIR and used as a mobile seismic laboratory, as it was when I took the photo. The UK Stonefield enthusiasts are very keen to know of its whereabouts and condition today. I have had contact from an ex-army engineer who was part of the team which dismantled and assessed it and also from an ex-owner who sold it around 2000, but no-one seems to know where it is now. If you know please e-mail me as I would be interested in getting some photos of it in its present state, to forward to my contacts in the UK.

RNZAF 75th Anniversary Air Show

This weekend was the Royal New Zealand Air Force's 75th Anniversary Air Show at Ohakea air base. I chose not to buy film for my SLR and just shoot with the digital camera as I already have a large number of aircraft photos. This is a choice that I now regret as the conditions were perfect for photographing aircraft in the air with a bright blue sky dotted with crisp white clouds. Digital cameras without view-finders should be illegal. They are impossible to follow moving objects with and it can be impossible to see their screen in certain bright lights. However here is what I managed.
This first photo shows the cockpit of one of the RNZAF's new NH90 helicopters.

This is the cockpit of one of their new A109 helicopters, built by Agusta Westland.

A Royal Australian Air Force C 17 Globemaster.

The Armee de l'air (French Air Force) displayed a CASA 235-200M which originates from Spain.

Wings, tailplanes, tailfins and people.

Lockheed C-130 Hercules operated by the Republic of Singapore Air Force.

Another C-130, this time from the Royal Australian Air Force.

The enthusiasts queue up to view the interior of the Hercules.

A nicely kept DC-3....

...and an even nicer example in RNZAF livery.

The Britten-Norman Trislander BN.2A MkIII-2 is a strange looker.

RNZAF NH-90.

From Wanaka Helicopters in the South Island comes this Eurocopter EC 130 B4.

Four Yakovlev Yak 52s in an aerobatic display. The red and white one (ZAH) belongs to well known TV weatherman Jim Hickey, but not flown by him in this display.