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Man Builds Replicas of Iconic Movie Cars for Fun



Jerry Patrick, an automobile enthusiast from Newnan, Georgia, has been building cars for the last three decades, but a few years ago he got bored with the usual Camaros and Mustangs, so he decided to test his skills on some truly unique vehicles. Now his garage houses amazingly accurate replicas iconic cars like KITT from Knight Rider, Scooby Doo’s Mystery Machine and the Batmobile.
A few years ago, Jerry Patrick decided it would be a great idea to combine his love for cars with his passion for films, so he started building functional replicas of some of the most popular vehicles in movie and TV history. The experienced builder typically has 25 to 35 cars on hand at any one time, as his projects usually require parts from multiple vehicles to create the finished product. His creations start out as beat-down old cars he finds on Craiglist, eBay or by word of mouth, but after months or sometimes years of work they become dream rides that any movie buff would consider themselves lucky to drive. Patrick’s amazing collection includes replicas of Eleanor from Gone in 60 Seconds, Herbie the Love Bug, KITT from Knight Rider, the Mystery Machine from Scooby-Doo and an awe-inspiring Batmobile complete with retractable machine-guns.


The Batmobile alone took Jerry three years to complete, since everything you see had to be custom built, but the attention he gets whenever he takes it out for a spin is payment enough for his efforts. Every time he works a replica, he and his team try to make it as close to the original as possible, both on the outside and on the inside. Although he builds them for fun, the automotive enthusiast often takes his replicas to community events where people can see them up close.


Although he already has more famous movie cars than anyone could ever wish for, Jerry plans to add some more four-wheel wonders to his collection, and he already has his sights set on Mater from the movie Cars, an A-Team van and Bumblebee from the Transformers movie.




Russia’s Reinventing Its Most Iconic Weapon For The 21st Century



The Kalashnikov is one of the most well-known and widely used weapons in history. More than 75 million of the Russian assault rifles have been produced since it entered service in 1949. And while AKs are renowned for their simplicity and durability, the 64 year old line is long overdue for a design update. But can modern materials and production techniques really build a better AK?

The new platform model is designated the Kalashnikov AK-12 (“Avtomat Kalashnikova, 2012″) and is produced in the famed Izhmash factory, which was formed by decree of Tsar Alexander I in 1807 and produced the original line of Kalashnikovs. Russian authorities plan to phase out the existing AK-74M and AK-100 lines in favour of the AK-12, should it pass acceptance testing later this year. Development on the AK-12 began prior to 2010, but it wasn’t until May of that year that the Russian Defence Ministry announced the existence of the project and that initial testing would begin in 2011. Political wrangling — and questions of what to do with the massive surplus of perfectly good AK-74 rifles — delayed trials until the end of 2012, whereupon the results of the tests revealed “range of defects” on the prototypes. Luckily, engineers at the the Izhmash corporation were confident they could fix all of the rifle’s issues and are currently working to do so ahead of acceptance trials and the expected series production launch at the end of the year.
“In the interests of the Defence Ministry, Izhmash is working on the modernisation of the AK-74 (shown below) and AK-100 assault rifles in service with the Russian army, as well as developing a [new] standard assault rifle on the AK-12 platform which will undergo state acceptance trials in June 2013,” Vladimir Zlobin, Izhmash’s chief designer, told Defence Talk Monday.

The new AK-12 will feature nearly two dozen design improvements over its predecessor while retaining the rifle’s versatility and reliability. It will be available to military forces in both light and heavy versions. The Light variant will be able to fire 5.45×39, 5.56×45, 6.5 Grendel and 7.62×39 rounds while the Heavy version will shoot 7.62×51 NATO rounds. Both variants will feature three select-firing modes similar to the American M-16 — single shot, three round burst, full auto — rather than the AK’s binary semi- or full-auto options. What’s more, the old right-handed fire-select switch has been replaced with an ambidextrous selector lever. The magazine release, ejector port and cocking handle can all be adapted for righties or lefties alike.
The muzzle has also been redesigned to fire 22mm NATO-standard barrel-mounted grenades rather than the 40 mm GP-25 grenades utilized by the AK-47. In addition, improved rifling has reportedly improved the new model’s accuracy from the older’s rating of “good enough”. A new Picatinny rail for mounting optical and IR sights, target indicators, and other equipment has also been added. The Ministry of Defence is reportedly also looking into developing carbine, compact carbine, submachine gun, and sniper rifle variants as well.
Russian civilians are even getting a .223 Remington semi-automatic model of their own by year’s end.