May 2012 Articles (31)

Actually, a day in February is rarer because there aren't as many of them. But that's poetic license, and mine's been revoked. In any case, we now stomp, scat and swing into summer with the latest edition of the Picks:



http://www.pilsnerspicks.blogspot.com/

Featuring a rendition of "On The Good Ship Lollipop" that definitely won't remind you of Shirley Temple!

The slightly annoying registration requirement for…

This is a another in a series of Tank portraits.

This print represents an A9 Cruiser Mk I tank in North Africa with the 7th Armoured Division (The Desert Rats), 1940.

In 1934 Vickers-Armstrong had produced a new medium tank, the A9, which was subsequently designated the Cruiser Tank Mark I. It was…

What's so special about Macchi? Not only their Schneider Trophy fame and world's speed records but also a large family of flying boat fighters and light bombers.

The first successful indigenous type, the Macchi Type L general-purpose flying boat (1915), was a direct copy of a captured…

Aloha!  Hail and welcome to the paradise isle of the Pacific, the home of King Kamehameha and birthplace of Hula, Surfing, and Luau!  Yes, beautiful Honolulu, Hawaii, land of rainbows and pineapples, a string of emeralds in the middle of the mighty Pacific!

It's been so much fun I swear we must have lost three weeks along the way!

Sure, I know tensions with…

All,

  Back in 2005 I created archiveclassicmovies.com to post my old movies. Since that time I've added almost 500 old movies, serials, shorts, and cartoons. With that much content it's been difficult to update, and poor ACM has really been neglected the past couple of years. I've finally developed a CMS that will let me more easily update my content, so I'm going to retire ACM, which will become dieselpunkindustries.com.

  Currently the preview of dielsepunkindustries.com has…

From my own personal collection of Noir films that never were but could have been, again, and even if the inspiration for this one is a little late to qualify for Dieselpunk, strictly speaking, I would like to dedicate it to Mister Pilsner Panther who enjoys Noir…

The Garage is proud to present: the MG T-Series!

The MG TA Midget appeared in the spring of 1936 as a replacement for the MG PB. It featured many components borrowed from Morris. Channel sections replaced the tubular cross-members making the vehicles ride more comfortable. The suspension was provided by leaf springs and beam-axle in the front and rear. The brakes…

So, I make LAMPS in my part time around my 'normal' gigs I work on. I have an infinity towards pre WW2 speed. I recently learned about what Dieselpunk is from a friend who explained a few things and differences of Steampunk. I don't know if it's of any interest or not for the folks here, but I kept hearing people refer to them as Dieselpunk or even Steampunk. I really just…

Magazines come in two basic types, single or double stack, meaning rounds are stacked in a single row or slightly staggered, doubling capacity and creating wider magazine. This is model has been standared for pistols, submachine guns and rifles for 70+ years, with the occasional "stick magazine" aberration.

In…

I don't know how good it's going to be but from seeing the visuals I have to say HOLY CRAP!!! If nothing else the movie looks beautiful. 

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/wb/thegreatgatsby/…

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!

Since hitting the airwaves in August 1930 as part of the "Detective Story" radio show, The Shadow has become one of the most beloved heroes in pulp history.  On Two-Fisted Tuesdays, we'll follow the adventures of The Shadowas he battles a rogues gallery of crooks and villains from around the world.

Click on the link below to download…

Lights out, everybody.

On Miskatonic Mondays, we celebrate the "weird" fiction of HP Lovecraft and the genre of otherworldly horror it spawned.

I’m still playing catch up from Saturday’s presentation at the Steampunk World’s Fair, but I have two awesome bits of Mythos news I need to share today. The first is the Kickstarter effort for a new board game that mixes Cthulhu and the Great Old Ones.  The goal of the game is to rise from the eternal depths and destroy Atlantic…

If you think this column has run out of steam locomotives, you're totally wrong.
 We still have got a whole st(r)eamliner fleet at our shed. And today, after four diesels in a row, it's time to pay a tribute to the forgotten Seabord Air Line locos. The railroad's name is deceptive, suggesting aeroplanes, airports, etc. Actually, SAL had (almost) nothing to do with aviation, their name…

This will be a short one. Meet a Bristol monoplane built in 1922 but looking a good ten years "younger".

Wilfrid Thomas Reid designed this ship in 1921, trying to come up with a "Super Racer" to enter into the Aerial Derby of 1922. The aircraft, designated Type 72, proved to be spirally unstable because of oversensitivity of any…

"The Troubleshooter is a blend of old and new genres that Bard Constantine coined 'dystopian noir'.  Part of the developing Badlands universe, it introduces Mick Trubble, a character Bard describes as "a blend of noir detective and hard boiled antihero, blended with a generous amount of…

The only 1.5-liter Adler to race at LeMans:

The Trumpf Rennlimousine was designed in 1936-1937 by an outstanding German aerodynamics expert Baron Reinhard von Koenig-Fachsenfeld (his other creations, the BMW Wendler Coupe and…

Despite have a long distinguished firearms heritage, Italian smallarms makers during World War II seemed to have floundered in attempts to make the next great advance in weapons designs. They came close quite often, but inevitably fell short when finding that right next generation weapon. And while other weapons makers…

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!

Since hitting the airwaves in August 1930 as part of the "Detective Story" radio show, The Shadow has become one of the most beloved heroes in pulp history.  On Two-Fisted Tuesdays, we'll follow the adventures of The Shadowas he battles a rogues gallery of crooks and villains from around the world.

Click on the link below to download…

Another European diesel-motor railcar.

Isn't it gorgeous?

Traditionally, the Hungarian State Railway, the MÁV (founded in 1868) purchased almost all of its steam locomotives from its own Machine Factory (MÁVAG). The cars, however, were produced by many private companies. These included such…

Hi all, while I was cataloging some of my radio shows I ran across an episode of the Halls of Ivy I hadn't heard before. I've posted stuff here about this show before, if you're not familiar here's a brief rundown. The show first aired in 1950 and revolved around the small college of Ivy that was presided over by it's President Dr. and Mrs. Hall. Played by Ronald Colman and his real life wife Benita. It was written by Don Quinn who was also the head writer for Fibber McGee and Molly. In the…