Latest Flibweb News

I’m about to add not 1 but 2 ‘Holy Grails’ of Leica cameras to my collectioon: The Leica IIIcK, one grey-paint version issued in 1943, the other chrome-finished issued in 1945. This’ll gobble up most of my funds for this year, but I’ll be happy as a pig in sh!t with them.

Also the Fotografica Market in Doesburg is coming up again on the 21st of August. Should be a lot of fun too.

Take care,

Rick

Time for another write up

Rick — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 20:09:04 +0000

Had some complaints; people didn’t know I updated the gallery in between the blog posts.

So here is a summery of updates since the last entry:

Time to catch up on the backlog of images from last year too.. The sequence of the gallery numbers is screwed up so I can’t guarantee these are in chronological order

Finally the photo’s from Blubbertreffen 2010

In February it was time to face the Ardennes again. A couple of the guys and I did the 24km hike. It wasn’t that bad until it started to rain

Footsteps of the 82nd Airborne March

At the camera fair in Doesberg, a lady friend and I both bought an Agfa Box 50 camera (5 euro’s for a box camera, what a rip-off! ) A shot a roll of ilford XP2 through during a visit to Fort Vechten and a bicycle trip through the local area

A test roll through an Agfa Box 50 camera

A couple of months ago I bought a Perfex 55 after I saw a review on one. Mine was of course a complete wreck when I got it. It took a lot of Liquid Electrical Tape, a bit of wire and a cotton handkerchief to fix

What a mess!

But eventually I got it working well enough to run some film through it….sort of…

A test roll through a Perfex 55 RF camera.

I was given a Agfa Silette L by the guys from my 1-hour photo service (thanks guys…I think) Took a while before I got round to running some film through it.

A test roll through an Agfa Silette L

Also working on repairing another Zorki, but I really have to take my time to replace the shutter curtains….Time…a relative commodity that I can’t seem to find.

Zorki Repair

And to keep things Russian, today I was at Fort Vechten again. This time for a friendly photoshoot with the folks from the Red October group and a few extras to fill in some boots.

Za rodinu! Urrah!

Should be some more pictures added to it soon when I have them developed and found the time to scan them.

Cheers,

Rick

New Year’s Update

Rick — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 20:35:26 +0000

More then a week overdue too!

Anyway, I’ve been slacking off a lot lately on scanning and posting pictures. Also on Updating this blog. I’m thinking about taking it down in the new incarnation of the site. Nothing written down yet though.

Here are the new and updated galleries

The LPLG Weekend, I spent 2 days sitting in a trench, chatting, cooking and firing blanks

LPLG Weekend, all three photo’s worth!

Friends asked if I wanted to come to Blubbertreffen, a little biker/music festival. Plenty of beer and a major hang-over were the result. I got to take pictures on stage with “Sweet Vendetta”

Blubbertreffen

A weekend at the beach, though it was windy to cold for sunbathing

A few snaps from the family weekend trip to Domburg

A roll of film through my KW Pilot-6

Miniature Speed Graphic arrived..now I need a few metal clamps to stick the roll film adapter to it.

A new Toy

In October I was at several services for the fallen Polish soldiers who liberated Breda and the surrounding towns.

Commemorating the Polish Liberators

Instead of going to Bastogne, this year our group and a few others banded together and stayed at a nice 1940s style hotel in Ligneuville. 2 days of snow, cold and rain. With some interesting pictures

Sankt Vith

That should hold you over for the next for months

At last, an update!

Rick — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 13:02:15 +0000

Can’t believe it’s been over 4 months since my last update. It’s mostly due to LTPS (Lack of Time because of Play Station ).

I’ve been keeping busy with holidays, living history events and general mischief. I’ve uploaded quite a number of pictures in some new galleries. Not all of them equally interesting. But I’m sure you’ll enjoy them just the same.

First up is a roll of film I ran through a freshly acquired Zorki I. It was in a bad state when I received it. Slow shutter and holes in the shutter curtains. Nothing a little perserverance couldn’t fix (and some Liquid Electrical Tape)

Zorki I Test reel (From the Beach Volleyball tournament)

Next up are some shots from a holiday in Ireland…Well it was a Shamrocker tour, which involved a lot of bus-time and pub-time. But it was great! I can recommend it to anyone young of heart.

It was a trip that took us from Dublin to Kilkenny, Ennis, Galway, Inis Mor, Derry, Belfast, all the way back to Dublin in 7 days

Shamrocker Ireland Tour

And there’s a rare couple of Rolleicord shots from the Timberwolves Retreat Camp. The trip there and back home on Sunday were bigger adventures.

Timberwolves Retreat Camp 2010

Some living history pictures from Fort Veldhuis this year. Nice weekend with plenty of visitors.

Fort Veldhuis - Heemskerk

2 months ago I bought a Zorki C from a friend in Groningen. I was more interested in the KMZ Turret finder he was selling with it. But you know I can’t leave a camera untested. The second shutter curtain was dragging a little though.

Zorki C test roll

There was this camera over at KEH.com I had been eyeballing for a couple of weeks. It was a Leica I (Standard model E). And it was marked inoperative. The only thing that is not working as it should is the slip-spring on the main take up spool. But that hasn’t stopped me from using the camera to take pictures:

‘Inoperative’ Leica I test reel

Friend of mine asked if I was interested to go to the Louwman Automobile museum, early September. Good chance to dust off the R-D1 and use it’s low-light capabilities

Louwman Car Museum

Then we’re coming up to more current times. Open Monument Weekend, Fort Vechten. I spent only Saturday there, taking pictures and chatting with friends. But some shots worked out REALLY well

Fort Vechten 2010

That should hold you over for now. More pictures will be added in the upcoming week, if I can find the time.

Until the next time,

Enjoy!

Mayday! Mayday!

Rick — Wed, 26 May 2010 06:36:18 +0000

Ever wonder why they say Mayday? Not February Day? or Black Winter Night for that matter? (Yes I know it’s from the French “M’aidez”, so no need for all kinds of comments, I just needed an opening for this months blog entry).

It’s been a few hectic months since my last entry. What with my car about to die and all these unexpected bills that have fallen on my mat. Some good times too with our 12 day trip in the Czech Republic, though half of it was very wet and cold.

And there was Jasper & Suus’s Bachelor party too. The Highland Games and the Sweet Vendetta Concert are all pictures you’re going to have to wait for though, as I’ve been busy scanning 13 rolls of film from the Czech Trip.

AAAAND, I’ve still got a trip to Ireland ahead of me in 4 weeks or so. Definitely looking forward to that. I hope that extra film I ordered gets here in time!

Right, first some galleries.

My fellow shutterbug Kenny spent an evening at my place to play games and drink beer, and watch some “The Pacific”. The next day we went for a walk through the Loonse & Drunense Dunes with our cameras.

The Children of Dune

The re-enactment season started of with our annual event at The Royal Dutch Engineer Museum in April. Great to see and talk to the familiar faces again. The BBQ provided by the museum is always a great treat.

Open Museum Weekend

Testing another camera from my growing Argus Family. This time the Argus C-44.

Argus C-44 Test Roll

The Memorial Museum Passchendaele in Zonnebeke opened its doors on ANZAC Day weekend for several WW1 re-enactment groups. We enjoyed a well organized weekend with good food and drink. It’s a shame all the pictures that Ed took with my cameras were fuzzy

Memorial Museum Passchendaele 2010

And lastly some Pictures from the “Road To Victory” Trip in the Czech Republic. The gallery is still growing as I make my way through the backlog of images:

Road to Victory After Action Report

Our group consisted of about a 100 men of different nationalities; British, American, German, Dutch, French, Swiss, Belgian and a missplaced Auzzie.

The column of armored vehicles concisted of a Sherman Tank, 6 M8 Greyhounds, 9 Jeeps, 3 halftracks, 3 GMCs, 2 Dodge weapon carriers and 2 Harley Davidsons

Our little contingent of Dutch participants (mainly from the MARS group) arrived at the Tapijn Barracks in Maastricht around noon on Wednesday.

Here we waited for some folks to arrive and we spent the afternoon in the city enjoying a meal and some drinks. Later back at the Barracks we shared a BBQ dinner with a group of Soldiers who had just returned from Afghanistan. The Beer supply was drained in short order and many took that as a cue to retire. It was going to be an early morning.

Thursday 5am, I’m awoken by the sound of a camera-click and a smirking Sidney standing over my cot with his mobilefoon. Time to get up. The coach has arrived, but unfortunately the drivers have to rest for another 5 hours before they are allowed to sit behind the wheel again. Grmbl.

Then we are told we will first drive to Oostende (200km the other way) to pick up the British Contingent, only to return here to the Tapijn Barracks to pick up those that have to load their vehicles here.

Roll around 7pm. Huzzah, we’re finally on our way to Pilzen.

I’m not a fan of traveling by Coach, certainly not for more than a few hours, so I was mightily pleased when we rolled into sunny Plzen around 5am on Friday.

A park in front of the local sport stadium was fenced in with barbed wire. Here we could stay in 3 5×10 tents, that we had to put up ourselves. Not a problem. After breakfast we went into the city center to do some reconnaissance.

Saturday the weather was just as good and the column moved into town to fight it out with a group of “Germans” from the VC Sturm group. They would be providing us with resistance for the rest of the week. The Mock Battle in the center of Plzen was spectacular to watch, with lots of explosions and smoke effects.

That evening there was live music in the city center and we paid a visit to Dolce Vita Pizza Parlour.

Sunday was spent parading through the center with our convoy, reinforced with local Vehicle Clubs (including 2 extra Shermans). A couple of Gentlemen from the ACES group joined us in our 5×10 tent, relieving the Polish re-enactors who were heading back home.

That evening more live music was performed in the square and the partying GIs swarmed through the city. Some managed to find their way to Pamela’s Strip club.

Monday was spent breaking down the camp. The convoy was split into 2 groups and the first group left early to be on time for an act-de-presence on Liberty Square in Susice. The second group remained behind to clean up the camp and preform some maintenance on a broken-down M8. A few more MARS members joined us in Plzen that afternoon. It wasn’t until late in the afternoon that the two groups rejoined. I came up with the 2nd group riding in a Halftrack.

After refueling the column moved to its campsite, an isolated valley near the city. It started to rain the temperature dropped noticable that night. We were warned of the chance of enemy contact so all lights were doused, which meant we could not work on the newspaper with the Press-group. Some of the group spent the night in foxholes up in the tree line.

Tuesday it was still raining and cold all the way up to the Ski Town of Strazny. We went through the towns of Kvilda and another village where we met with resistance. Every time our Armor proved the solution in driving the Germans out of their positions.

Unfortunatly during the last battle in Strazny, 2 M8 Armored Cars sank to their axles in the mud and it wasn’t until a local tractor-owner came up that they’ve were pulled free. By that time were were all cold, wet and miserable.

Thankfully Lt Sidney managed to secure a supply of wood and with the help of some Diesel a Camp-fire was started. Also the hearth in the local pub did wonders to raise moral and dry our clothes. unfortunately the cold rainy weather endured.

Wednesday we spent touring through the area, including towns like Nova Pec and Volary, before returning to Strazny for the evening. During the mock Battle in Nova Pec another M8 got stuck in the mud. After the Battle in Volary the press group raced back to the camp to finish a two page edition with the photos of the day.

The weather showed signs of improving early Thursday morning. As we left for Kaspersky Hory the sun was breaking through the clouds and morning mist. Again an M8 managed to get stuck in a Ditch which took some time to be hoisted out, another M8 suffered a fuelpump problem. But eventually we made it to the town with its castle dominating the landscape. A fierce firefight with the enemy followed to clear the enemy from our camp ground. We enjoyed the warmth of the sun, but the nights were still chilly. The remainder of the wood helped keep the campfires going.

Velky Bor was next on the agenda, here we spent the afternoon on the main square. The mayor provided us with free coffee, thee and cookies. Around 4pm another battle was fought with some sneaky ‘Germans’. They had waylaid a supply train and hoped to trap other American forces in similar fashion, unfortunately the power of the Allied armor was too much for them.

After the battle and the Vin-d’honeur it was time for us to leave for Mystliv. here we were given another warm welcome with home-made pastries and a warm dinner in the form of Sauerkraut and Dumplings.

The campsite was behind the local Fire Station and gave us our first chance to shower. That evening there was also a Dance at a hall on the other side of the village (a 2km walk). A chance for us to wear our Class A Uniforms and mingle with the residents. The Band played some well-known covers.

Around 1:30am I felt I had had enough to drink and Jimmy Bean was in my feet as well as my head. I hiked back to the camp site, poked up the fire and had a last beer before retiring to my cold sleeping bag.

The plan had been to drive up to Strakonice and return to the camp at Mystliv before heading towards Pisek and Podolski Bridge. This would’ve added a lot of unnecessary mileage to the trip. So it was decided to go to another camp site a few miles from Pisek.

In Strakonice we had another Meet&Greet. The convoy set up near the building where had General Patton negotiated with the Russians. We passed the time by playing Crown & Anchore, napping and shopping.

Then we drove up to the planned spot for the camp. It was a piece of terrain under a bridge over a cold fast flowing river. It was damp, had lots of gravel, mosquitoes and a lonely run-down chapel.

Instead of going to a nearby pub I spent the evening drawing some more cartoons for the “Armored Tribune”. Proceeded to strengthen the inner man with some Rum provided by our Czech hosts before crawling into my bug-ridden tent.

Sunday, the press gang and I drove ahead of the column to a small bridge (where a GI had carved his company details into the concrete back in 1945). We filmed and photographed the vehicles as they ran across the bridge.

Then we moved on together to Pisek and the Podolski Bridge; our final destination of our long trip. At the bridge a few group photos were made as well as a Then&Now picture with the tanks looking towards the other side.

On this historic spot the 4th Armored Division ended their eastward push. They had to wait 2 long weeks before the Russians made an appearance.

After a few hours the convoy left for Pisek to prepare the vehicles for transport, while the Press Gang and I raced to finish the last edition of the paper so we could hand these out before everyone returned home.

Around 8pm everything was ready to go and we boarded the coach back to the Netherlands. It was 9am next morning when I arrived back at my place.

In conclusion, it had been a great tour. Lots of miserable weather, but luckily some days of sun to dry out. Great to see al the mud-caked vehicles and crew, a chance to shoot some realistic photos.

I feel the trip was planned too quickly after the Roll on the Maas tour, so unfortunately not as many people came along this time. But then again, the 66th anniversary of the liberation doesn’t have the same ring as the 65th

Road to Victory, 65th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Czech republic

More pictures to be added later, so check back often.

Rick

As promised

Rick — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:46:12 +0000

More frequent updates.

It won’t be long now. Spring, or 2nd autumn as some call it, is nearly here. Time for events, concerts, BBQs, poolparties, soirées, hikes, bike rides, city trips and anything else one can do when the weather is nice. Good Times!

But you’re not reading this for my violent mood swings…..PICS!

First some ADOX 100 film that I ran through an Argus A,

Argus A test Roll

The Argus came with a few surprises, from ebay it’s never really a surprise though. The slow-speed escapement in the shutter wasn’t working because of a worn spring, And the pressure plate was missing. The foam had disintegrated fallen off. All in all it was very easy to repair. With some new foam and a plate cut from a double layer of plasticard.

Not too happy with the results on the test roll. The way the camera is designed it is very prone to camera shake. A cable release and a tripod are a must.

Next, we find that the War Gaming Stuff has returned to Flibweb. My b’day gift to myself was a Leica reflex housing with bellows and a 135mm Elmar lens head. Great for making those close-ups of miniatures and scenery, especially with my R-D1 hooked up to it. Expect the folder to grow a little this year:

War Game Stuff

Now we come to another troublesome camera I’ve acquired these past few months. A Rolleiflex Standards. It was well-used and well-abused. Lots of paint loss, missing screws and someone tried to fix the backplate with a soldering iron.

This one required a bit more work to restore. Shutter speeds were off, Back was out of shape (and not quite light tight). Film advance was slipping too annoyingly. This turned out to be one expensive roll of Kodak BW400CN

Rolleiflex Standard Test Roll

In February a bunch of us went to the Ardennes again, for the Footsteps of the 82nd Airborne March. Only two of us (myself included) would do the hike while the others manned a Roadblock along the route. It was pretty tough. Lots of snow and mud. I didn’t stop too often to take pictures. I recall that back in 2005 this route wasn’t THAT tough. Of course I was 20Kg lighter and was in way better shape….I need to exercise dangit!

The R-D1 performed fine, but the Kodak 35 RF really is lousy compared to anything else I’ve shot in the past. They’re a little fuzzy.

Footsteps 2010 Gallery

And finally on the last Sunday of February I was invited to go to Fort Vechten to help with a Photoshoot. It was a muddy and rainy training day for a few Re-enactment groups. Got to play with one of my Leicas again. And filled up the roll in the Kodak 35 RF…

Fort Vechten Training Day Gallery

That should hold you over until April when the new Re-enactment season starts.

Christmas Update

Rick — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 20:19:09 +0000

From the depths of my deep DEEP winter depression I thought I’d ramble a little bit, and put up the links to the new galleries (though few they are).

Wow, 25th of December 2009, it feels like a year since last …oh wait…never mind. At least it’s another lonely Christmas like before. Family is away doing their Charity thing in Kenya. And all other friends are off gallivanting celebrating their X-mas dinners and whatnot. Bah Humbug!

At least I got some work done, painting up a few Undead miniatures (Yes Nomad, they’re going to crush your pathetic little Dwarven Army!), keeping the hearth going, watching some movies on Sci-fi. Living is not too bad after all.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, mainly concerning what to do with this website. People don’t comment. Heck they don’t comment on any of my pictures when I post them on fora. There are those who borrow them without permission, there are those who borrow them with permission. But overall, I’m not getting the satisfaction out of it any more like before. So either it’s time to get rid of it all or take it all in an entirely new direction…but what exactly. Pay-per-view is not an option (since nobody bothers to read this anyway)…Maybe it’s just time to pack it all in, sell off most of the cameras and call it quits.

Re-enactment, another thing that’s taken up a lot of my thinking. Like my friend Kenny I’ve become rather disillusioned by the current state of affairs, and to be honest my last trip to the Ardennes struck it home especially hard. I miss the good all days. The whole reason I took got involved with the Dutch US Doughboys was to get away from WW2 re-enactment for a while (nobody does WW1, a small group, no big obligations). The WW2 War Photographer thing does allow me to stay close but not involved anything people set up at an event, but because practically nobody says they like my pictures I might as well simply quit. Does this sound like a long-winded whine? why yes it does!

It’s just the week of snow and ice and cold rain I guess. I guess I’ve got a bit of the blues. Should improve when the sun starts shining again.

Anyway, some pictures:

Voigtlander Vitoret D pictures (including the old crappy scanned ones)

General Maczek Museum 2009

Liberation of Waalwijk Commemoration

Battle of the Bulge commemoration 2009

A night out at the Pool Center

Enjoy, I’ll try to blog more frequently in the new year.

Rick

Yay! New update

Rick — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:15:59 +0000

Summer’s gone, Autumn is here. Leaves are falling. Depressing weather. The whole shebang! The whole nine yards! the whole kit and caboodle! What the heck happened. It wasn’t a gradual transition between the seasons at all. One day we have 20 degrees Celsius, the next one it’s raining 50mm average and temperatures have troubles reaching double digits! Global warming? My fuzzy heiny!

But you’re not reading this to hear me whine about the weather, or my unhappiness with the world in general. You’re here for pictures. I think I’ve got some somewhere…

Fort Veldhuis - Heemskerk (Epson R-D1 with 50mm f/1.5 Jupiter-3 goodness, and some Leica IIIc shots with my 50mm f/2 Summar)

Pool Party 2009 (Some Epson R-D1 low-light shots with the J-3)

Roll on the Meuse (9 days worth of Speed Graphic Polaroids, Leica IIIa and IIIc shots and about 8GB worth of Epson shots)

LPLG-weekend Beers (More R-D1 fun, with the J-3 and a 50mm Elmar as well, film pictures forthcoming)

1915 Barr & Stroud Infantry Rangefinder Repair (Oh wow! my Ixus V2 still works, huzzah for Canon)

Enjoy, feel free to tell me how good the pictures are, or how much they suck. I need a little pick-ups/put-me-downs every once in a while.

In other good news, In September I actually went over the bandwidth limit with my flibweb Sohosted account. That means you lot of downloaded 10GB worth of images from my site! Don’t worry I’ve upgraded to Package 3 now, Twice as expensive, but also Twice of everything!

Regards,

Rick