Spasm

Gents

If I hadn't bought something else just recently that got me into fairly warm water with her indoors, I'd have bought these, no bother

http://www.bidorbuy....AND_EXTRAS.html

The photos are enough to have a go for them

Go buy them and show off

Spaz

Chris

A couple of pros and cons

The cameras were fairly bulky at that time but not overly so. The cameraman looks like he was tucked in pretty well to the side of the trench and is keeping well below the top. The sun is pretty low in the sky, directly behind the defenders from the shadow, and rises in the East. So looks like it could have been an early morning trench raid coming from the West.

But I think there's more cons. The cameramen always seem to catch the shot with the grenade still in the hand (perhaps because it wasn't thrown). The sun is pretty low in the sky and behind the cameraman (a shot any cameraman would want for the light) so any advancing enemy would be looking straight into it (maybe the officers didn't care too much about that and there may be a smoke screen that we can't see) but not a good ploy. Is the Rifleman's weapon actually above the trenchline? If the raiding party were close enough to chuck grenades at (ie about 20yds) then would the war correspondent/cameraman still be there? I'd have buggered off or thrown the thing away.

It doesn't look like a front line trench construction. It's fairly newly dug and could be a forward OP but still seems very shallow with minimal reinforcement. You wouldn't want to get out of the position in too much of a hurry if its the finished article. Front line trench digging would be to full depth not a couple of feet from the top down as the sappers would be exposed during the work.

Lots of kit, especially helmets hanging around. Why would the owners not be wearing them if a raid is coming in and why would the defenders want all that gear getting in the way?

So, Dr Watson, I don't think its for real, sorry. I'm off to play the violin and smoke me pipe for a bit, now where's that deerstalker gone.......

Spaz

Arthur

Looks like you got that one nailed.

This is an officers' badge of the Worcestershire Rifle Volunteers from 1859 (from their site - thanks ya'll)

Cheers

Spaz

Gents

Does anyone know what this is? Is it victorian militia? Or could it be from when the Light Infantry within regiments were grown in size to see off the French skirmishers? Unit and date-ish would be nice as I can't seem to find much about it.

Thanks in advance

Spaz

You then need to look up tank paint jobs on the model you have, paint the camo and then whitewash to make it look authentic. Don't take this hobby up, it'll make you try to get a thing that weighs 3 ounces to look like it actually weighs 40 ton. Madness is in this direction.

The soldiers don't come complete with straps on pouches, gas masks or weapons and you need to fiddle around with cutting paper and sticking on. Its a right faff

I don't recommend doing this. It opens new hobby doors, you need glue, paint, polyfilla for the snow, very tiny brushes to do the even smaller medals on the weeny figures and hair cut from some voluteer (or not) to make the reeds :whistle:

I 'spect its because you become a bit more finicky as you get older

I don't remember it taking this long when I was younger. A 4" brush and some green paint and voila!

The chaps and chapesses in the office go out of their way to ensure they know everyone's birthday. They then buy a small present as the birthday's come round. It costs me a fortune as it seems as though there's a birthday every week or so.

So, mine came round in September and they bought me a model tank! I haven't built one of these for many years. When younger in SA I used to build these, shoot them with my pellet gun and blow them up with the chinese crackers that you could seperate into individual tiny sticks of dynamite with fuses to boot.

I was just gonna stash in the loft but I'm gonna take it back in to give to the ringleader. Serves him right.

Monkeyman

Instead of filling in the "reply to this topic" below go to the top of the page and click the black button "reply to this topic" on the right. This will then let you browse and add pictures (as long as you keep them under the size requirements (less than 100kb works well) no need to reduce the actual picture measurements just reduce the quality. If quality is required due to seeing the detail, crop the picture down to the section of picture needing the detail.

You can use this button to keep loading up pictures to the thread (you'll need to give a minute or so before loading the next one)

Good luck

Spaz

Monkeyman

The 10th were part of the 53rd Brigade, 18th (Eastern) Divison that served in France during the First World War. You can read up on the battles, formation etc here:

http://www.1914-1918.net/18div.htm

You should be able to check up on William at the National Archives or on Ancestry (unless thats what your Mum has done already), it'll save a lot of searching if you have his service number. I'll have a quick look to see if I can find anything and let you know.

Cheers

Spaz

dcollect

Sorry mate, bad news I think.

The Air Crew Europe Star looks like a copy to me. The letter U in Europe looks to be too wide. Some better pictures would help a lot and then we could help you. The France and Germany Star is a certain copy.

If they were all original, the Air Crew Europe Star would be worth all of the others put together. But a copy is a copy is a copy. Sorry.

Spaz

Looks like Zulu King Goodwill Zwelethini is about to get run over by that car swerving at high speed behind him :lol:

Check this site

http://www.iagiforum.info/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=12620

Spaz

Dear Paulus

Thanks for your short letter of the 21st. This morning we arrived at the battery from camp. Worked hard all day long. Wonderful evening now. Hopefully Frida will soon be better again.. And, as always, your officers' corps? Is greeted cordially

Otto

(I think that's pretty close, maybe the last line is a bit of micky taking?)

Gents

You can actually read it like a book online, complete with all the pictures, sheet music, letters and poems, here:

http://www.archive.o...age/n0/mode/2up

Enjoy

A wonderful book sold to raise money for the "Belgian Fund" to support a country "with nothing to gain by taking up arms, with no territory to annex, no commerce to capture, no injury to revenge, having neither part nor lot in any European quarrel, desiring only to be left alone......confronted by the choice of allowing her soil to be invaded.....or of protecting her independence as a seperate nation by the whole strength of her armed resistance" - the introduction is dated Christmas 1914.

It contains tributes of admiration from many well known people from across the world. Two, from hundreds, I've shown here.

A letter from the Rt. Hon. H. H. Asquith, the British Prime Minister and a painting by H. Chandler Christy called "On the Field of Honour".

I also have, hanging around on the shelves upstairs, "A tribute to the Belgian King and People from representative men and women throughout the world". It's called "King Albert's Book":

Been looking around on t'tinternet and it seems as though these are from Belgium! Didn't know they had any Looks like I've put the pictures in the wrong thread.

Moderator - can you push this to Belgium please - ta

And Trooper with weapon peeking in at the edge (looking a bit sneaky - what's he up to?)

Third

Second with Colours

First Dude

Grenadiers I think, big shoulders and turned back coats. Not the best looking uniform with the star trek short trousers I gotta say.