"Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!" I never intended to collect badges. Really.

March 8, 2018

#238

Gentle reader,

IMPORTANT: This article and the items shown and/or described are not nor have they ever been worn, nor will they ever be worn in public nor brandished in any way. Impersonating a local or federal official of any kind is a serious offense and should never be considered or attempted by anyone.

 

It all started with a joke badge my wife bought for me. I believe it was a catalog company named, U.S. Cavalry. 

 Yes, that is a genuine badge and ID for an "OFFICIAL UNITED STATES TAXPAYER".  

In case you can't read it: "HONORARY MEMBER ETERNAL REVENUE SERVICE THIS IS TO CERTIFY (Insert your name here on the line, I mistakenly signed it) IS PRIVILEGED TO PAY HIS FULL SHARE OF ALL FEDERAL, STATE, COUNTY AND CITY TAXES. MAKING IT POSSIBLE FOR THESE GOVERNING BODIES TO CARRY ON THEIR FUNCTIONS INCLUDING THE LEVYING OF MORE AND MORE TAXES. IN RETURN, MEMBERS OF ETERNAL REVENUE SERVICE ARE ENTITLED TO AN UNLIMITED SUPPLY OF SYMPATHY. ASPIRIN AND TRANQUILIZERS."

I used to keep my work ID in the window in front of this "official" ID. Reaching in to pull my ID out when needed caused the paper to wear in that one edge. I kept the wallet folded so the badge was hidden when showing my ID to the Special Police. I have never seen another one of these and it has a 1972 copyright on the paper. But then, I've never looked for another one either.

For a while, I collected past and present U.S. Military uniforms. A year or so ago, I did a photo shoot of myself wearing each of them as well as other shirts mentioned in this article. I did a blog article about it. 

In the days before 9/11 happened, one could buy all kinds of official looking things from U.S. Cavalry and other catalogs. I have a FEDERAL AGENT T-shirt that I never wear in public, but it looks just like a real one. 

National Geographic Society's television channel has a show called BORDER WARS. We became fans of it and I found on eBay fake U.S. Border Patrol green T-shirts. But, I have also found genuine ones. One is blue and has a representation of their badge on the front and on the back, U.S. BORDER PATROL and a quote from Ernest Hemingway, something about hunting men. Again, I never wear it outside the house. The other one is black and is from their SRT or something like that and is from "El Centro Sector". The sellers in both cases made the same point that I did at the top of the article that these are for collectors and do not imply any official powers. I also found and bought a prop badge, and PROP is what the seller called it:

Now, ICE: Immigration & Customs Enforcement, like CBP: Customs & Border Protection, are BOTH part of Homeland Security. But they are not the same and only work together in certain circumstances. So, aside from this having ICE's shield on it, they are NOT Border Patrol and this would not fool anyone. It sits in a drawer with the rest of these.

The various NCIS  television series are fun to watch as long as one suspends their knowledge of police procedures and any knowledge of U.S. military operations. One easily gained prop via eBay is an NCIS badge. If you watch the show the badges are all gold, smaller than most without other colors or embellishments. Thanks to eBay, I bought one and here it is:

(It is sometimes difficult to photograph shiny objects. When I looked at the photos of it, one shot with a flash, and one without, it was hard to see details in either. But this, non-flash one is clearer.)

Here's the catch, real NCIS badges have colors added to them as ALL real badges do:

As you can see, if I could find these images, Chinese metal working people could find them too. Below is one of their shoulder patches.

On the converse, I bought what the seller touted as official, an NCIS hat, and in my search I found the same logo as the hat has:

As you can see the badge on the hat is much simpler. I also was able to buy an official Border Patrol patch, which I sewed to a green hat:

Guide Gear, another catalog company that sells all kinds of outdoors stuff and military surplus things were selling official CBP hats and my wife bought one for me. I do not have a photo of it, however. 

As someone born in the 1950's we watched The Andy Griffith Show every week. We have been streaming the entire eight seasons on Netflix. So, I decided to see if I could find a Sheriff of Mayberry badge on eBay. They have them.  As eBay is wont to do, they show other things related, and to my surprise, there are all kinds of official looking U.S. government badges, sold as props or "cosplay" by Chinese sellers on eBay. Sure enough, one can get: FBI, U.S. Marshal, CIA, ICE, Homeland Security and all kinds of military ones too. They are not as cheap as the NCIS badges go for, however. So, I bid on a Border Patrol one and the other day it finally got here from China:

Last night, I researched CBP badges and this is exactly like them. A little background on CBP and their various uniforms. The PATROL agents, which is what this badge replicates, wear olive green military-style uniforms and cloth hats. Always, they long sleeves no matter how hot it is. The agents that MAN (and WOMAN) the Border checkpoints wear blue uniforms that also look like military fatigues. Their hats have CBP embroidered in large gold letters on the front and "U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION" embroidered around the opening on the back of the caps. BUT, their titles AND their badges are different. Watch Border Wars, it is informative and very interesting.

Now, there is one badge that I have not shown to you yet. I bought it last Saturday at a huge flea market show for $25.00. It is genuine and was never issued, so I have kept it in the plastic it came in from the factory.

Every police agency that is involved in Presidential Inauguration ceremonies in Washington, D.C., gets a special badge that they wear for only two weeks and get to keep. This one is from 1997 and Bill Clinton's swearing in. Pretty cool, yes? Well, that's it, my small badge collection. None of which will I ever wear. Remember:
IMPORTANT: This article and the items shown and/or described are not nor have they ever been worn, nor will they ever be worn in public nor brandished in any way. Impersonating a local or federal official of any kind is a serious offense and should never be considered or attempted by anyone.

Thanks for looking, I really appreciate you taking the time to read my humble blog. Pageviews are approaching 150,000! I still can't believe it.

Scott

March 8, 2018  

  

I took apart the World's Smallest SLR Camera: Pentax Auto 110

March 6, 2018

 #236

Gentle reader,

Kodak may have invented drop-in film called "Instamatic" during the 1960's for their first iteration of easy-loading-no-rewinding films that utilized 35mm film (missing the usual sprocket holes) and in black plastic cartridges (or cassettes if you prefer). The film was paper-backed with frame numbers showing through a rectangular hole in the back of the cartridge. The film's number was 126. IT produced square images. A few years later, they came out with "Pocket Instamatic" that used 16mm in the same manor, but was called #110 film.

Other camera makers took up the banner (or jumped upon the bandwagon) by making cameras of their own that used 126 and 110 film. Other film companies made 126 and 110 film, no doubt having to pay Kodak royalties, too. As far as the latter film, Japanese makers, Minolta and Pentax made SLR cameras to use the tiny film cartridges.

Pentax Auto 110 is on the left with it's 24mm "normal" lens similar to 35mm cameras 50mm lens. Minolta is on the right. Much bigger camera with a large zoom lens. But still tiny compared to 35mm film and digital SLR cameras.

Below is another, non-working, Pentax Auto 110 camera that I decided to disassemble to find out why it stopped working and, frankly, to see how they crammed a working Single Lens Reflex camera with interchangeable lenses into such a tiny body.

The battery box is one the left of the main body, it's contents: two A76 batteries had been left in the camera and started leaking corrosion. They fit in the device below the battery box (looks like a B) which cleverly held the two batteries facing opposite directions and made for easy removal and installation. The cancer of corrosion spread throughout the camera's components. It can be clearly seen on the flat metal piece to the right of the black lens housing frame. The components that attached to that would not move as a result. Untold numbers (millions?) of cameras died a similar fate through ignorance. Easy to do, how many flashlights have you had that were thrown out because the batteries started leaking? Flashlights are cheap, cameras are not. Technology has helped by making rechargeable batteries and devices that let us know it's time to recharge them.

The part with all the wires attached (above) to it is the electronic brain of the camera. I have removed those circuit boards and placed them in the box I take to the local Haz-Mat facility for proper disposal. I decided to photograph the "heart" of the camera and show those images below:

Starting with the viewfinder opening. We are looking into it and see the image on the mirror. That image is blurry because there is no lens attached to it.

From the photographer's perspective (behind the camera) this is the mechanisms on the left side of the heart. The viewfinder and prism are on the left in the image above.

The other side with the viewfinder and prism on the right. Two levers only for actuating the mirror/shutter mechanisms.

This is the bottom components. This (and all SLR cameras) is extremely complex and I salute the Pentax engineers that created this tiny jewel. These components connected to the other levers and gears seen below the camera's bottom plate in the photo (above) of all the parts. They wound the film and reset the shutter.

Above is the top of the prism. See how they made a way to attach it without scratching the delicate mirror coating that reflects the light inside the prism? The viewfinder is at the top.

Above is the opening that the light travels through from the lens to the mirror and film. The darker piece worked the two leaves of the aperture. The aperture controls the size of the opening needed to correctly expose the film. You can see the mirror and what is behind the viewfinder in the hole.

The front of the prism. These SLR prisms reverse the image and turn it right-side-up for the photographer. All with no moving parts. Below is another view of the top with the viewfinder at the right edge of the photo.

While it looks like the inside of a chimney as seen looking up from the fireplace, it is the back of the mirror with a second door/shutter that drops down the same time the mirror is flipping up to make the image on the film. Opens and closes like a clam's shell. This design kept the body thickness shallower.

Metric above and Inches below for scale.

This final image best shows the back of the camera's heart. The viewfinder window at top and two-piece shutter door at the bottom. 

I hope you enjoyed this look into the tiny Pentax Auto 110 camera and it's central component that I have dubbed it's heart.

Thanks for looking,

Scott

March 6, 2018    

Justified's Raylan Givens, Timothy Olyphant, immortalized in 1:6th scale!

March 5, 2018

#236

Gentle reader,

Justified, was an American television series on the FX network and starred Timothy Olyphant. You can read more here: Justified (TV series) - Wikipedia But please come back! 

Prior to my finding the series on Amazon Prime, our only experience with him or his work was his voicing an aged Clint Eastwood in the hysterical animated film, Rango. We were sure that Mr. Eastwood had done the voicing himself, and were surprised someone else had.

OK, so, he looks a little jaundiced in this photo. I've been trying out a new LED ring light and despite it being "white" LEDs, they have a green cast in photos.

Here is an autographed photo of him in his epic role as Deputy United States Marshal Raylan Givens. This 1/6th scale, 12" tall figure was created by a recently deceased man that specialized in making extremely realistic and accurate figures. He actually had a museum filled with them. His son has been passing on his many custom creations on eBay. In his own words, here is how this one came about:

"The figure was culled together by my father who died last year. It was part of his MASSIVE 12" custom figure collection that I'm currently selling on eBay. In fact, it was one of the figures he really enjoyed putting together the most. He obsessed over many of the details. I think the reason was that he really enjoyed meeting and getting to know Timothy Olyphant on the set of Deadwood. My sister in law was the script supervisor on the entire run of that show. So when Mr. Olyphant became the star of Justified, my dad started watching that show as well. He also made figures from Deadwood as well. Glad to know that his figure is going to a good home."

My wife and I got completely hooked on Justified. The characters are believable, the acting superb, the drama gripping and the interplay of the characters and their past believable. Plus, there is eye candy in the actors for men and women. Just saying.

I was looking for something special for my wife for her birthday and I decided to see what might be available. To my surprise and utter delight was this figure. I bid high, no one else was going to get this guy. I won and it arrived on her birthday as did the autographed picture.

This photo of it really shows how incredible the face is and how perfectly he captured the actor's appearance right down to the thin van dyke beard that Raylan sported.

Note the holster is exactly like the one he wore. Some more photos of the figure in various poses:

Every article of clothing from his Stetson to his cowboy boots are exactly replicated in 1:6th scale.

Raylan carried a Glock 17 and so does the character. The Marshal badge is accurate as well.

Note, the holster even has a tiny snap exactly as the real one. The only thing they cannot shrink is fabric stitches. But look at the incredibly tiny knitting of his tan shirt.

Here is the stand the holds him up, it wasn't needed for the photos. If one thinks of how small our feet are compared to our trunk, the feet have a lot to do to keep us upright.

Nancy, of course had no idea what I was up to and absolutely thrilled with what I found for her. She was incredulous at the details and lifelike appearance. She's a gun enthusiast and has many pistols. First one she bought was a Glock 17. 

As a result of what the seller on eBay told me (above) we watched the first episode of Deadwood. We are not sure if we can get into it. It first came out in 2004, so Mr. Olyphant was quite a bit younger then. 

I hope that you have enjoyed seeing this superb creation and sincerely invite you to watch Justified on Amazon. The series is also available on DVDs.

Thanks for looking,

Scott

March 5, 2018