300rag
It's Not Going to Shift Itself
OK. Now we need to find the brain surgeon in our midst.
Say, What's that Avatar?
- Thread starter amazinblue82
- Start date
70_NPORT
Well-Known Member
Wollfen
Old Man with a Hat
I had to do a double take when I first thought that was a babies head facing away from the camera in the lap of the guy sitting. Small baby!!
What's your avatar? Comments about them are sprinkled through lots of threads but I didnt find ONE thread on just our avatars (if its there, I'll ask Tallhair to kill this thread).
They are so small its hard to tell what they sometimes. Others are easy and obvious what they are. Many are beggin' for a story to be told -- if you decide to
I know people change them up from time to time (i have used three in three years, but kept the one i have now for 2 1/2 of those years). I plan to keep mine as is.
So is there anything to tell about your avatar? Why that photo/image in particular? Do you have a bigger version of it or related photos/images? This is intended to be fun so we'll see if it goes anywhere -- and still remains fun.
I'll start.
View attachment 132847
This is the St. Louis Gateway Arch, standing directly beneath it, one brutally muggy morning (8am, 86 degrees, dew point 76, RH in the 90's) in July 2011.
I picked it because if the "shiny stainless steel" look of the arch against the beautiful "amazinblue" sky. Simple as that.
Here's a photo on approach to the arch from the South a few minutes earlier. Mississippi River (unseen) is on the right.
View attachment 132848
Love it
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
Your dad named you 67-Fury?
A picture of my 78 NYB the day I got the rust, vinyl, and back half painted.
65sporty
Old Man with a Hat
BING!!!!
78Brougham
"Chump"
My '78 NYB, and my beautiful wife, Sammie, who puts up with me and all of my car ****! Lord knows I've got enough of them. Sometimes I might change cars in my avatar but she'll always be in my heart and avatar.
70_NPORT
Well-Known Member
Jeez that would never play today, boah. Lol
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
Damn PC world we live in today.
You can't even stereotype a Southern redneck Sheriff anymore.
MarPar
Meat Man with a Hat
70_NPORT
Well-Known Member
Are you.....cursing?!. Your micro-aggressive hetero-normative behavior is scaring me. I demand that you cease and desist. I need a safe space.
70_NPORT
Well-Known Member
That is one of the most hilarious scenes in the entire movie, hahaha.
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
HA! You beat me to it!
tbm3fan
Old Man with a Hat
In the mid-90's there were few forums out there and the ones I knew about where dealing with travel in a manner of speaking. At the time there were three I knew of and now only one is left. On all three the screen name was and still is "cougar". I could show up today in the Philippines, where I haven't been in 8 years, and someone will yell out "cougar" when they see me on the street.
I walked onto the Hornet during Memorial weekend of 1998 when the ship was just undergoing restoration. In late 1999 the Chief Engineer asked me if I would restore the Avenger they had just purchased form the owner. History shows in to be an Eastern TBM-3E model built in January 1945 and delivered to Guam in July 1945 where it was put into a Composite Squadron. After the war the plane was delivered to Litchfield Park, AZ. for long term storage. Two years later the plane was pulled and turned into a Navy COD or carrier-onboard-delivery. She served till 1956, last aboard the Coral Sea and then was mothballed again.
In 1960 she was purchased by Sacramento Crop Dusters for $1. Several years later the plane made it into the Fire Service as a retardant bomber. The plane was eventually retired when rules changed and fire bombers need to be twin engine planes. The plane was then purchased by a fellow who had an aircraft business at Oakland Airport. He also dabbled in restoration with a house, large private hanger, and shared a private runway south of Sacramento. He also owned one of the six flying F-7 Tigercats in existence. He flew the plane into Oakland in 1990 and one could say that it needed a tune up at the time. It was stored at Western Aerospace Museum for that decade. The plane's original turret was long gone but he sourced another one and stored it at his private hanger. Western Aerospace disassembled the instrument panel and the gauges were never seen again. In 1999 the plane was sold to the Hornet much to the displeasure of Western Aerospace. The owner then had an untimely death due to throat cancer.
It sat for about six months after which I was asked to do the work. Two of us drove out to see his wife, now at the shared airfield, to pick up the turret as she had no gauges. Now you talk about walking into a barn with a bunch of old cars and going wow. I walked into a hanger to see eight planes from the late 30's though WWII not to mention walls stacked with rudders, ailerons, radial engines, propellers, boxes of instruments to name a few. Must not forget the two prop airliners outside. Outside, overhead were flying British Sea Furies before landing on the runway and the two of us driving down to see them and be invited into a professional aircraft restoration shop to see another collection of warbirds.
Back at the ship I went to work stripping down the plane, cleaning, fabricating a couple of new cowling panels, a couple of machine gun housing covers, and about a dozen wing panels that had corrosion and recovering the ailerons with the correct fabric. Never did any of this in my life, but read, watched a few pros and then learned myself while on the plane. Needless to say my first cowling panel, very difficult, didn't end up fitting after drilling the many holes for the Zeus fittings. It still hangs in my work area today. A young woman was working on the F-8 Crusader and was coming up with instruments for her cockpit. I asked where and she said eBay and her user name was CrusaderFan. I had never heard of eBay in 1999 but checked it out and found stuff I could use for my restoration. Consequently I picked the name "tbm3fan" for use on eBay and then started using it everywhere where "cougar" wasn't used.
I still don't have bomb bay doors I can install. When these were turned into fire bombers those doors where removed and thrown away. We have acquired enough pieces, or remnants, to make a set but the braces and stringers are a nightmare. The interior is not done because I transitioned to the Island to save and restore given it's exposure to the elements and popularity to museum visitors. One day I will get to it though as I have acquired every piece of missing equipment from gauges, to radios, to cables, to O2 regulators in either very good used condition to NOS. Just try to find a unmodified ART-13 radio which is one large box.
We just finished an FM2 Wildcat that was dragged up from the bottom of Lake Michigan and made the Avenger look spotless. One wouldn't recognize that plane today. Spectacular.
I walked onto the Hornet during Memorial weekend of 1998 when the ship was just undergoing restoration. In late 1999 the Chief Engineer asked me if I would restore the Avenger they had just purchased form the owner. History shows in to be an Eastern TBM-3E model built in January 1945 and delivered to Guam in July 1945 where it was put into a Composite Squadron. After the war the plane was delivered to Litchfield Park, AZ. for long term storage. Two years later the plane was pulled and turned into a Navy COD or carrier-onboard-delivery. She served till 1956, last aboard the Coral Sea and then was mothballed again.
In 1960 she was purchased by Sacramento Crop Dusters for $1. Several years later the plane made it into the Fire Service as a retardant bomber. The plane was eventually retired when rules changed and fire bombers need to be twin engine planes. The plane was then purchased by a fellow who had an aircraft business at Oakland Airport. He also dabbled in restoration with a house, large private hanger, and shared a private runway south of Sacramento. He also owned one of the six flying F-7 Tigercats in existence. He flew the plane into Oakland in 1990 and one could say that it needed a tune up at the time. It was stored at Western Aerospace Museum for that decade. The plane's original turret was long gone but he sourced another one and stored it at his private hanger. Western Aerospace disassembled the instrument panel and the gauges were never seen again. In 1999 the plane was sold to the Hornet much to the displeasure of Western Aerospace. The owner then had an untimely death due to throat cancer.
It sat for about six months after which I was asked to do the work. Two of us drove out to see his wife, now at the shared airfield, to pick up the turret as she had no gauges. Now you talk about walking into a barn with a bunch of old cars and going wow. I walked into a hanger to see eight planes from the late 30's though WWII not to mention walls stacked with rudders, ailerons, radial engines, propellers, boxes of instruments to name a few. Must not forget the two prop airliners outside. Outside, overhead were flying British Sea Furies before landing on the runway and the two of us driving down to see them and be invited into a professional aircraft restoration shop to see another collection of warbirds.
Back at the ship I went to work stripping down the plane, cleaning, fabricating a couple of new cowling panels, a couple of machine gun housing covers, and about a dozen wing panels that had corrosion and recovering the ailerons with the correct fabric. Never did any of this in my life, but read, watched a few pros and then learned myself while on the plane. Needless to say my first cowling panel, very difficult, didn't end up fitting after drilling the many holes for the Zeus fittings. It still hangs in my work area today. A young woman was working on the F-8 Crusader and was coming up with instruments for her cockpit. I asked where and she said eBay and her user name was CrusaderFan. I had never heard of eBay in 1999 but checked it out and found stuff I could use for my restoration. Consequently I picked the name "tbm3fan" for use on eBay and then started using it everywhere where "cougar" wasn't used.
I still don't have bomb bay doors I can install. When these were turned into fire bombers those doors where removed and thrown away. We have acquired enough pieces, or remnants, to make a set but the braces and stringers are a nightmare. The interior is not done because I transitioned to the Island to save and restore given it's exposure to the elements and popularity to museum visitors. One day I will get to it though as I have acquired every piece of missing equipment from gauges, to radios, to cables, to O2 regulators in either very good used condition to NOS. Just try to find a unmodified ART-13 radio which is one large box.
We just finished an FM2 Wildcat that was dragged up from the bottom of Lake Michigan and made the Avenger look spotless. One wouldn't recognize that plane today. Spectacular.
Last edited:
mr. fix it
Old Man with a Hat
Took a trip into the arch a few years back. It was really cool and I have a healthy respect for heights...What's your avatar? Comments about them are sprinkled through lots of threads but I didnt find ONE thread on just our avatars (if its there, I'll ask Tallhair to kill this thread).
They are so small its hard to tell what they sometimes. Others are easy and obvious what they are. Many are beggin' for a story to be told -- if you decide to
I know people change them up from time to time (i have used three in three years, but kept the one i have now for 2 1/2 of those years). I plan to keep mine as is.
So is there anything to tell about your avatar? Why that photo/image in particular? Do you have a bigger version of it or related photos/images? This is intended to be fun so we'll see if it goes anywhere -- and still remains fun.
I'll start.
View attachment 132847
This is the St. Louis Gateway Arch, standing directly beneath it, one brutally muggy morning (8am, 86 degrees, dew point 76, RH in the 90's) in July 2011.
I picked it because if the "shiny stainless steel" look of the arch against the beautiful "amazinblue" sky. Simple as that.
Here's a photo on approach to the arch from the South a few minutes earlier. Mississippi River (unseen) is on the right.
View attachment 132848
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