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"armored vehicle"

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THawk

Crazy Martian Cat
GotMead Patron
Probably one of the most famous armored vehicles in the world. This one was build here in the Philippines for his visit during World Youth Day.

Yes, it's the Pope Mobile... Blessed John Paul II's car... came upon it while I stopped by for my morning Starbucks.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150185455197752.319509.505932751&l=c2f8ff99ea

It's probably usually behind a barrier... I had the rare honor and privilege to be able to just walk up to it and touch it...
 

THawk

Crazy Martian Cat
GotMead Patron
The most famous "mobile" I've up close is the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile.

oh that one's cool -- the giant hot dog on wheels! :)

It's not obvious in the photo, but the passenger compartment is regular plexiglass now instead of the original armored glass... they swapped it out as the armor was too heavy... there is also a large crack in the front (something armored glass shouldn't do)!! :eek:

Read that this version far exceeded the requirements of the Swiss guard... they just wanted something that will stop small arms fire... this one is supposed to have stopped M-16 ammunition and fragmentation from hand grenades...
 
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AToE

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 8, 2009
4,066
3
0
Calgary AB Canada
That's some high quality plexi then! I've seen the stuff lose to a hickey puck more than once! (and one time it lost to a stunningly hard hit from player to player into the glass... kabooom! Part of why hockey is awesome).
 

wayneb

Lifetime Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Yeah, I'd expect the material to actually be a thin sheet of polycarbonate (aka Lexan) rather than plexiglas (an acrylic - polymethyl methacrylate). While plexiglas is reasonably strong, it tends to craze and crack easily especially when exposed to UV light, and in no way would a reasonable thickness of it (say less than 1 cm thickness) even stop a .22 round fired up close. Lexan is the "original" bulletproof plastic material, having a molecular structure which actually stiffens in response to pressure - making it useful for all kinds of things, like shatterproof windows and astronaut helmet visors, for example. It will form stress cracks if subject to sheer force rather than compression, however, which might explain the crack in the window, and also explains why your CDs or DVDs (made of a composite layered material incorporating polycarbonate layers) can shatter if you flex them too much! ;D

BTW - although polycarbonate sounds like just the thing for a mead fermentation vessel, it isn't necessarily so. The plasticizer in polycarbonate is a material called bisphenol-A, which has been shown to leach out of containers (such as water bottles and baby bottles), which may be potentially hazardous to humans - since it chemically resembles human estrogen. Additionally, once enough BPA starts to leach out of the plastic, then the other material in the polymer (carbonyl dichloride, also known by its trade name coined by the Germans when it was used in WW-I for an entirely different purpose: phosgene), can also be freed in minute quantities. :p
 

Echostatic

NewBee
Registered Member
Apr 5, 2011
468
1
0
Dallas, Tx
It will form stress cracks if subject to sheer force rather than compression, however, which might explain the crack in the window, and also explains why your CDs or DVDs (made of a composite layered material incorporating polycarbonate layers) can shatter if you flex them too much! ;D

I learned this the hard way as a kid >.> I wanted to see what would happen if I flexed a CD as far as I could. Short version, I ended up with a face full of jagged CD chunks and shards. My eyes were lucky. I wouldn't recommend it!
 

THawk

Crazy Martian Cat
GotMead Patron
That's some high quality plexi then! I've seen the stuff lose to a hickey puck more than once! (and one time it lost to a stunningly hard hit from player to player into the glass... kabooom! Part of why hockey is awesome).

actually, swapped out meaning "retired" and replaced with something else that probably won't stop a rock at short range... :)
 

sarend

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 24, 2010
102
0
0
Arizona
That is pretty cool. What an experience to have in your memory when you get older and have grandkids to impress.

My brother had a similar experience when he had his own aviation business in Flagstaff, Arizona. One of the presidential planes landed and my brother befriended the pilot with flying talk. My brother got a tour. He even received a packet of peanuts with the presidential seal on it. To this day, Greg still has that packet of peanuts unopened.

I don't think it was the actual AF 1, but it was of the jets used to transport someone of importance. Greg has a picture with he and the pilot.
 

TheAlchemist

I am Meadlemania
GotMead Patron
Sep 9, 2010
2,464
8
0
near a lake
BTW - although polycarbonate sounds like just the thing for a mead fermentation vessel, it isn't necessarily so. The plasticizer in polycarbonate is a material called bisphenol-A, which has been shown to leach out of containers (such as water bottles and baby bottles), which may be potentially hazardous to humans - since it chemically resembles human estrogen. Additionally, once enough BPA starts to leach out of the plastic, then the other material in the polymer (carbonyl dichloride, also known by its trade name coined by the Germans when it was used in WW-I for an entirely different purpose: phosgene), can also be freed in minute quantities. :p

Is this what Better Bottles are made of? I went with the Better Bottle b/c I'm a lightweight and didn't feel like lifting (and potentially shattering) glass bottles to siphonheight...

Sorry, I know this is off topic.
 

Good4TheCompany

NewBee
Registered Member
Apr 20, 2011
28
0
0
Bay Area, CA
I can't help to notice the quote on the license plate... not to offend anyone, but isn't that what the catholic church tries to distance itself from...?
 
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