Medical volunteers currently estimated number of deaths on the Maidan in 780 people


Ua-today.com | News Ukraine 2014/4/10 23:33:01



Number of persons killed during the confrontation at the Independence Square in Kiev , as well as related events up to 780 people , according to the organization of medical volunteers Maidan.

"As far as we know, 780 people were killed . This number includes about 300 people who went to the hospital (BSP , other medical institutions ) , they were taken and further burned in crematoria . According to these people seek , seek , but can not find ... In the House Trade Unions ( 4-8 floors ) were about 200 wounded who could not move independently , could not see with brain injuries - they were burned alive . from there the corpses were taken to an unknown destination VW vans black without numbers , "- said the volunteer medical Anastasia Polishchuk at a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday .

According to her, about 20 people among the dead - police , "Berkut" and other special units. " The rest of the people - is " Heavenly Heroes " , which everyone knows and people who are outside the Maidan - in the woods outside the city - many of them not identified by the police as" maydanovtsy " - she said .

Polishchuk stressed that more than half of the dead passed through the hands of volunteers , doctors, and they voiced figures no doubt . In the organization of volunteer doctors Maidana believe that the authorities deliberately concealing the real number of victims.

It’s a small world: 1/6 scale to be exact

05.04.2014 Firebase Challenger Discuss on Forum

Armortek

I was recently fortunate enough to get invited to the factory of Armortek, tucked away in a beautiful part of the Devon countryside.

Who are they?

Well, any serious modeller would have heard of them, they are, in my opinion, the Rolls Royce of the modelling world. Their reputation for quality, reliability and attention to detail is second to none.

Exclusivity is their middle name: limited numbers (around 30 to 50) of each model are produced, each with a unique serial number. Quality not quantity - this is proven by the sheer fact that 70% of their customers become repeat customers and they ship worldwide.

Remarkably, it’s a two man show, well, two people - Mark and his wife Gill. Mark is the genius behind the research, development and ultimate build. He uses the latest in full three-dimension modelling and software using mainly aluminium alloys in the manufacture. But the mechanical parts (shafts, axles etc.) are machined from steel. Sheet metal parts are all laser cut from steel or aluminium.

This (left) becomes this (right).

The design process is fascinating from the initial ideas, which usually come from customers, to the research which is all conducted using actual vehicles. Mark refuses to use existing documented measurements or research as he simply does not believe it all to be 100% accurate - many details are often contradictory. A prime example of this is their Tiger 1 model (the company’s best-seller) which was built based on the Tiger 1 at Bovington Tank Museum (UK) for the early and mid-production models. In the case of the later model, they built it based on the Tiger 1 in the Musee des Blindes in Saumur, France. 

(Below) Mark –The creative genius.

As a rule of thumb, Mark works on a time frame of 6 weeks for design and prototype and then 4 months for manufacture. This means that the total number of vehicles produced in a year is roughly two and a bit!

(Below) Now that’s attention to detail.

The manufacturing machinery they use is all state-of-the-art, including multi-axis turning machines and machining centres that are all computer controlled.

The MKIV (above), complete with 5000 rivets, was commissioned for the Bovington Tank Museum’s new “Warhorse to Horsepower” exhibition.

On the day of my visit, the final museum model was painted by World of Tanks player Paul (Pictured below), completed and made ready for delivery. 

Every model is available with an “option pack” which truly brings it to life. The motion pack uses industrial control gear and motors to enable the model to move through incredibly rough terrain. The average weight of the tanks is around 170kg and they are powerful enough to pull a 7.5 ton truck.

If you also opt for the special effects packs you also get digitally recorded proportional sound which is about as accurate to the real thing as you will ever get. Add to this the recoil unit and you also get gun sounds and flash.

Foolishly, I was expecting to see a collection comprising every model completed at the factory. The reality was “no” because they all sell well and sell quickly - another indication of both the quality and collectability of these models. In fact, the only model currently in stock is the 25 pounder Field Gun. (Below)

Overall it was a great day with two of the nicest people I have ever met. Their passion for the business and commitment to accuracy is what makes Armortek the best at what they do.

So what’s next on the production run?

In all seriousness, Mark has no idea. “It all depends on what the customer wants” – he said.

So to finish with a question for all World of Tanks players - what would you like to see them build?

The Chieftain's Hatch: T28 vs T95

12.04.2014 The Chieftain's Hatch

Last week's article on T28 generated a lot of confusion/misinformation on the forum and Facebook on the concept of what is T28 vs what is T95. Usually depending on the number of tracks visible. I've decided to take this week's Hatch and lay it out clearly for all to see. It's a ltitle basic by Hatch standards, but it probably needs clearing up.

First things first. Last week's article was an April Fool's thing. T28 was never sent to Korea, the photographs were of an LST loading test in Virginia in 1948.

OK. Let's sort out a few things.

This is a Super-Heavy Tank T28. See? It says T28 on the back of it.

This is also a Super-Heavy Tank T28. Note it says "T-28" on the side. Point to note: Unlike the previous photo, this vehicle only has one set of tracks, and no skirt.

 

As an aside, note the "-" in "T-28" in the photo above. Although the official nomenclature from Ordnance Committee did not use a "-", it was not uncommon for the "-" to appear in official documentation. The two formats, such as T28 and T-28 were used interchangeably. This was not confined only to T28, but appears on documentation for a number of vehicles.

Now, this is a 105mm Gun Motor Carriage T95, the drawing is from the operator's manual. It says "T95" on it. Twice.

Actually, I'm going to digress momentarily. Something else I keep seeing about the forum is the statement that  T95 is undersized in the game. "It's supposed to be as tall as a Jagtiger!" or something daft like that. That's because they go to Wiki and see 'T28 height" at 9'4", or 2.84m. That's to the top of the .50 cal. The vehicle roof is 6'9" off the ground. That's 2.12m, all of about 4" taller than me. By comparison, the turret roof of a Soviet T-54 is 2.4m, almost a foot higher. T95 is a low vehicle. Anyway, now that I've dealt with that problem here's a photo of GMC T95. See? It says "T95" on the skirt.

This also is a Gun Motor Carriage T95 picture from the manual.

Point to note. Only one set of tracks.

Here's what's going on.

They're the same vehicle. The vehicle was developed as a super-heavy tank designed to breach the Siegried Line fortifications, and so designated in the tank nomenclature, coming somewhere between T26 (Pershing), and T29 (the turreted 105mm tank eveyone at Tier VII loves). (T27 was taken by an armoured car and GMC). About 1945/46, I'd need to check, someone decided that the thing wasn't really a tank, and was more a self-propelled artillery piece. This it was redesignated to a Gun Motor Carriage, and the GMCs were way up the numbering list. T95 was available. Then, a year or so later, they decided that perhaps it actually was a tank after all, and renamed it back to T28. If anyone cares to look up the exact dates, the OCMs in question were OCM 27219 declaring it T95, and OCM 30958 turning it back into T28. Although both T28s and T95s built were identical, to have 12" or so of frontal armour, a number of hulls were cast with only 8" or so of armour. These were only ever called T28 castings, as the decision to build the complete vehicles with the thicker armour basis was done long before the GMC shennanigans started. There was no distinction in the armour basis/nomenclature, as there was in the heavy and lighter armoured tanks T25 and T26. The vehicle only ever carried a 105mm gun.

Now, T28/T95 may not have been a particularly tall vehicle, but it was a particularly wide vehicle. In order to get it onto flatcars, onto LCTs etc, they needed to make it narrower. It's not a unique problem, Tigers, for example, would have to take off the outer roadwheels and put on narrower tracks to go on flatcars.

The method was simple enough. Unbolt one set of outer tracks. Leave it standing, then go drive around the other side of it.

Whoever was in charge of this one wanted it very clear to all who saw it that this was T95 number 2! Heaven forbid they should be mistaken for those rejects in charge of Vehicle #1!

Bolt the two together, then disconnect the second outboard track from the vehicle. Move in front of them, and turn them into a trailer.

OK, so now that we have sorted that out, there remains a question. What the heck is this, that's a T28 in the game?

Compared to the real tank, it has VVSS suspension instead of HVSS, frontal drive-train, and an extended lower front hull.

Well, put frankly, we made it up. I speculate that the thinking was that the US rather gave up on the whole concept of heavy TDs and assault guns and didn't develop much which could survive at Tier VIII while remaining in the tech tree lineage. So, we had to fill in the gap a bit with a little creative license/speculation.

All hail Bob!

                  USА will save the world

The M48 Patton is a main battle tank that was designed in the United States. It was the third tank^[3] to be officially named after General George S. Patton, commander of the U.S. Third Army^[4] during World War II and one of the earliest American advocates for the use of tanks in battle^[5] It was a further development of the M47 Patton tank. The M48 Patton was in U.S. service until replaced by the M60.^[4] The M48 served as the U.S. Army and Marine Corps's primary battle tank during theVietnam War. It was widely used by U.S. Cold War allies, especially other NATO countries.

The M48 Patton tank was designed to replace the previous M47 Pattons and M4 Shermans. Although largely resembling the M47, the M48 Patton was a completely new tank design. Some M48A5 models served well into the 1980s with American forces, and many various M48 Patton models remain in service in other countries. The M48 was the last U.S. tank to mount the 90 mm tank gun, with the last model, the M48A5, being upgraded to carry the new standard weapon of the M60, the105mm gun.

The Turkish Army has the largest number of modernized M48 MBTs, with more than 1,400 M48s in its inventory. Of these, around 1,000 have been phased out or are in storage, or have been modified to ARVs.

ТАНК «Оплот»  готов выгонять РАШИСТОВ с украинской земли!

«Оплот» (до принятия на вооружение — Т-84У) — украинский основной боевой танк. От базовой модели — Т-84 —отличается установкой приборов прицеливания зарубежного производства и увеличенными бортовыми экранами. Разработан Харьковским конструкторским бюро по машиностроению имени А. А. Морозова. 28 мая 2009 года принят на вооружение Вооружённых сил Украины.

Компания "Укрспецэкспорт" подписала контракт с представителями Вооруженных сил Королевства Таиланд на изготовление и поставку 49 танков "Оплот" (Т-84У), говорится в сообщении украинского предприятия. "Общая стоимость контракта существенно превышает 200 млн долларов", - сообщается о сумме сделки. Выполнять заказ будут предприятия, вошедшие в государственный концерн "Укроборонпром".

Сам танк представляет собой боевую машину, способную вести бой как при низких температурах воздуха (−40 °C), так и при высоких (+55 °C). «Оплот» обладает хорошими показателями скорости, маневренности и проходимости. Компоновка классическая — отделение управления располагается в носовой части, боевое отделение — посредине, а моторно-трансмиссионное — в корме танка. По сравнению с Т-80УД, было сделано несколько улучшений:

• новая сварно-катаная башня;
• тепловизионный прицел;
• спутниковая навигационная система;
• динамическая защита 3-го поколения «Нож»;
• комплекс оптико-электронного противодействия «Варта» ["Стража"];
• цифровая технология управления огнём;
• вспомогательный агрегат питания и другое.

Решение о постройке танков было принято в 1915 году практически одновременно в Великобритании , Франции и России . Окончательно первая английская модель танка была готова в 1916 году, когда прошла испытания, и первый заказ на 100 машин поступил в производство. Это был танк Mark I — довольно несовершенная боевая машина, выпускавшаяся в двух модификациях — «самец» (с пушечным вооружением в боковых спонсонах) и «самка» (только с пулемётным вооружением). Вскоре выяснилась низкая эффективность  пулемётных «самок», которые не могли бороться с бронетехникой противника и с трудом уничтожали огневые точки. Тогда была выпущена ограниченная серия «самок», у которых в левом спонсоне по-прежнему был пулемёт, а в правом — пушка.

Солдаты тут же метко окрестили их «гермафродитами». Впервые танки (модели Mk.1) были использованы английской армией против германской армии 15 сентября 1916 года воФранции, на реке Сомме.