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It was great to see Bob and Doug at the Ordnance Museum yesterday. It was one of Bob's usual great tours, plus there were a few new items of interested to be seen...

First off, the M2A2E3 under restoration. The floor and much of the upper deck had to be entirely replaced. The interior is almost completely empty...









The Vickers Mk VIB is now undergoing restoration as well, although the hull is just slightly earlier in the process... The turret looks pretty good though...





This M7 Priest showed up outside the warehouse. Bob says the track will be canabilized for another vehicle...





Is that SN 2623 or 26 and 23?



And Sd.Kfz. 10 that just showed up in the museum warehouse... And I had thought (been told) that all the museum's softskins were gone...





This M1917 also showed up... I believe it is the FIRST M1917 - the "First US Sample Tank,� made from mild steel, on loan from the Smithsonian Institution to the Marine Corps (previously on display in the old Marine Air-Ground Museum). I would like to think it will now be part of the Ordnance Museum collection, but suspect it is simply about to go through restoration like other items from Quantico...











There was also lots of "new" artillery (formerly in storage) around, I'll post the WWI pieces on a seperate thread.

Unfortunately the group shot is with Doug and my friend Kevin (I'll try to get that one).

Neil

What's the deal with the green lights in the Warehouse? Any of you photographers out there have any idea how to get rid of the green? I had this greenish tint to all my photos in there.

I think it has something to do with the somewhat odd lighting conditions...

Neil

- armyjunk2

What's the deal with the green lights in the Warehouse? Any of you photographers out there have any idea how to get rid of the green? I had this greenish tint to all my photos in there.

Just guessing, AJ, but the greenish tint may be a byproduct of fluorescent lighting, much the same as incandescent lighting gives off an orange tint.

Digital cameras usually have a menu for 'white balance' which allows you to select the type of lighting you'd like the camera to compensate for.

My digital camera is a Sony DSC-V1 sub-compact, and although the default setting is "Auto", I can select "daylight", "cloudy", "fluorescent",
"incandescent", "flash", or "one push". This is the same concept as using screw-on glass filters on a 35mm SLR, except you're now making the compensation electronically.

Your user manual will have detailed info on each of these settings, assuming you're shooting with a digital camera. On the off chance you're still using a film camera, you should immediately go out a purchase a good quality digital camera with a minimum of 5.0 megapixels...heheheh.

BTW, there is a new Arcadia Publishing Images of America book on Aberdeen Proving Ground. It has some interesting pictures of the Ordnance Museum over time... I'll add some commentary...

This is the original Ordnance Museum - Building 314... Notice... How BIG it is...



It appears it held much of the collection - with some good displays...



Ah but the Army decided in 1967 to convert the building to a headquarters building Current maps still show a Building 314 - I'll have to see if it is the same one on my next trip.



Its little surprise that in the aftermath of the Vietnam war that the museum got a much, much smaller building that couldnt come close to holding the collection....

Neil

'Twas indeed a fantastic visit and I'm glad I finally got around to it. I would add that for those who haven't made it yet, you'd be wise to not dawdle as if you've all the time it the world because it became clear that the collection WILL follow the Ordnance School and the transition will likely be disruptive and possibly not as complete as what we have access to now. For sure we're not likely to have the benefit of Bob's hospitality indefinitely so I'd strongly suggest acting sooner rather than later. This is not an idle suggestion.

Rather than duplicate Neil's post, I'll just augment his pics with some unique angles or aspects of the M2A2E3 that maybe illuminate some facets that are different, since we took many of the same angles. Not least of all, I'd like to recognize the crew who does the restoration work on many of these vehicles, who I prevailed upon to pose in front of the vehicle as it stands in the paint booth. These guys deserve all the recognition they can get and I really admire the dedication and effort they put into these vehicles (as you can tell from the Vickers, it's really amazing what they can do, considering what they have to work with sometimes). Maybe Bob can provide us with the names...

I also have a semi-overhead view and a view of the interior that lets you put the turret locations in perspective relative to the engine. They had fabricated two very convincing PVC machine gun replicas that easily pass the "ten foot test". There was debate about whether the other gun on this vehicle was a 50mm or 37mm originally, but Dr. Atwater had apparently determined that it should be a 37mm, if I recall correctly and that's what will be going in the left side turret.

thank you

- Neil_Baumgardner

The Vickers Mk VIB is now undergoing restoration as well, although the hull is just slightly earlier in the process... The turret looks pretty good though...
Neil

Somebody take a heap of images of that before they reassemble it...

Please?

Hi all
regard the effect of Flouescent lights, If your digital camera can't compensate or you would like to cover a much wider range of filter effects there is a freeware proram here
www.mediachance.com/di...tersim.htm

called Filtersim that enables you to achieve just about all of the old glass filters effects in your computer

here is the same shot of the Skdfz from above with a slight tweakfrom the mprogram to kill off some of the green



Jeff Lewis

The M-22 Locust. I want one of these (because it will fit neatly in my garage and even on a trailer). This must be the Austin Seven/Fiat Cinquecento/Honda CRX of tanks...so cute. "CIA" agent included for scale....

- Doug_Kibbey

The M-22 Locust. I want one of these (because it will fit neatly in my garage and even on a trailer). This must be the Austin Seven/Fiat Cinquecento/Honda CRX of tanks...so cute. "CIA" agent included for scale....

Nice rugged looking piece of equipment. What's that thing in the background?

- A-109E

Nice rugged looking piece of equipment. What's that thing in the background?

Thats an M22 Locust

Because I liked it....

I believe that is the MBT prototype that APG got from the Patton Museum in exchange for the Tiger II.

Thats correct. Its actually painted incorrectly - its painted as pilot #5 that was tested at APG (now at the Military Museum of Southern New England in Danbury CT); as opposed to its actual identity - pilot #3.

Neil