# I go past this every morning. What the fook is it?



## palinurus (22 Mar 2011)

--It is by the perimeter fence at Leavesden Studios, although it's been there a long time so perhaps it, whatever it is, dates from before the studios when it was Leavesden airfield. What we have is (a) some sort of armoured vehicle and (b) the thing- whatever it is. Can't get closer due to the fence and camera limitations. 

Thing:





-

The armoured vehicle, just in case anyone is more interested in that than the thing:






Anyway, I don't expect anyone to know what it is but hopefully there will be some good suggestions. As I was looking at it this morning another cyclist stopped, they didn't know what it was- but I promised to let them know if I find out.


----------



## BrumJim (22 Mar 2011)

Its a virus. A very big one.


----------



## palinurus (22 Mar 2011)

I haven't seen any anarcho-punk teletubbies, although perhaps they get up late. Or really early. Or they are scared of cyclists (although this seems less likely, anarchists generally like bicycles). Either way they ruined that trailer when they came in to land.


----------



## Gerry Attrick (22 Mar 2011)

I've no idea what class of bird laid that, but I bet its eyes watered


----------



## Davidc (22 Mar 2011)

Of course I know what it is. But if I tell you I'll have to kill you!


----------



## rustychisel (23 Mar 2011)

It rings a vague bell... hmmm Czech or Russian infantry carrier, like a BMP, to judge from the hatches.

looking... Soviet BTR-80 a possibility, 8 wheels?


----------



## slowmotion (23 Mar 2011)

It's "The Gall Stone". A fiendishly cunning 1950's Cold War weapon that incapacitates the enemy with crippling pain and ,when passed, diverts their sewers into their fresh water supplies and renders them incapable through gastroenteritis.

Maybe....


----------



## Aperitif (23 Mar 2011)

Looks like it has fallen off the waggon, whatever it is.

It was probably used in the film 'Escape From Rififi' starring Sean Connery and Brigit Bardot. They hid inside as they rolled downhill after blowing up the villain, Vlad Kapoor's nightclub hideout. (The nightclub was played by Baileys in Watford - there is a blue plaque on the wall to this day.)
The bobbly ball was filmed rolling down the Watford By-Pass in the early hours and film crews had trouble with the crowd scenes, keeping the residents, employed as extras, out of camera shot. They insisted wearing Hornets replica shirts over their guerilla gear... Elton John played a cameo role.

Or maybe not.


----------



## Deb13b (23 Mar 2011)

It's a toy for Clifford the big red dog. Or ( showing my age here ) digby the biggest dog in the world.


----------



## ThePainInSpain (23 Mar 2011)

This is really annoying, because I have seen one of those before, in context. But I'm b8ggered if I can remember where.


----------



## 661-Pete (23 Mar 2011)

Hmmm.. looks like what I had for breakfast yesterday. _Thought_ it was a bit chewy...


----------



## Norm (23 Mar 2011)

I'm guessing that the Teletubby mobile home thingy is from a film, although looking at the list of films made there doesn't offer many clues as it's mainly been Harry Potter and post-'95 James Bond, other than Mortal Kombat, which I haven't seen.

The APC looks like fun, though I'm not sure it's a BTR as I think that had more definite wheel-arches (like this model) whereas the image appears to have slopping lowers and be a more traditional hexagon.


----------



## jnb (23 Mar 2011)

When spring comes it will uncurl and you'll realise it's a woodlouse.


----------



## palinurus (23 Mar 2011)

Good work, keep 'em coming.


----------



## Mad Doug Biker (23 Mar 2011)

It is a surplus Soviet Space Capsule, and has been used in several films such as reconstructions of Komarov's fateful final mission. 

Or something like that.


----------



## ferret fur (23 Mar 2011)

I think they are rose hips


----------



## 661-Pete (23 Mar 2011)

jnb said:


> When spring comes it will uncurl and you'll realise it's a woodlouse.


This woodlouse, perhaps?
_*Warning*: Not Phobia Safe._


----------



## Deb13b (23 Mar 2011)

661-Pete said:


> This woodlouse, perhaps?
> _*Warning*: Not Phobia Safe._



I HAD to click on that link 0.o


----------



## palinurus (23 Mar 2011)

ThePainInSpain said:


> This is really annoying, because I have seen one of those before, in context. But I'm b8ggered if I can remember where.



Damn, that is annoying. The suspense!

_Think_, man, _think!_


----------



## palinurus (23 Mar 2011)

661-Pete said:


> This woodlouse, perhaps?
> _*Warning*: Not Phobia Safe._



OK for most viewers; more than eight legs.


----------



## palinurus (23 Mar 2011)

Deb13b said:


> Or ( showing my age here ) digby the biggest dog in the world.



Christmasses aren't the same since they stopped showing that one.-


----------



## Chilternrides (23 Mar 2011)

It's a Triffid with blue anti-roll bars.


----------



## Clandy (23 Mar 2011)

It's the olive from the BFG's martini.


----------



## palinurus (23 Mar 2011)

--It's close enough to the road to be on streetview.


----------



## palinurus (23 Mar 2011)

-On the other side of that line of trees there's something else visible on streetview- I've never noticed it when riding past!

Looks like another armoured vehicle to me.

it's like blow up!






I'll have a look tomorrow.


----------



## 139NI (23 Mar 2011)

The green subject on the LEFT is a Soviet BTR series Wheeled armoured personnel carrier. Cannot tell from the photo whether its a BTR 60, BTR 70 or BTR 80 cos the middle of the vehicle and rear side exhaust pipe is obscured.


----------



## palinurus (23 Mar 2011)

139NI said:


> The green subject on the LEFT is a Soviet BTR series Wheeled armoured personnel carrier. Cannot tell from the photo whether its a BTR 60, BTR 70 or BTR 80 cos the middle of the vehicle and rear side exhaust pipe is obscured.



Cheers. Maybe I can try and get a better shot of that- probably tricky without getting over the fence tho'. I've got a crap camera.


----------



## slowmotion (23 Mar 2011)

A huge albino stuffed olive with an unfortunate skin condition?


----------



## palinurus (24 Mar 2011)

That other thing is probably the same armoured vehicle viewed from an odd angle with something else behind it. There's nothing else there, checked this morning.


----------



## deptfordmarmoset (24 Mar 2011)

Is it what giant golfers put onto one of these when they tee off?


----------



## palinurus (24 Mar 2011)

You mean one of these?


----------



## palinurus (7 Nov 2011)

Well,

The local paper had this in it. It's a bit small, I scanned it at work. My scanner is still boxed up as I'm waiting until I've got the place fixed up before I unpack everything. I can sort of read it, it hurts a bit though.





"it's simply a machine for taking aerial photos of the studio"

_Bollocks_. Why would you need a huge pineapple-shaped lampshade with blue spines sticking out of it to take aerial photographs? I'm not an expert but I suspect what you need is a camera, attached to an aeroplane.

So I'm still none the wiser.


----------



## palinurus (19 Dec 2011)

I was flicking through a book about Leavesden Aerodrome in Waterstones at the weekend and I reckon the armoured vehicle was used in Goldeneye. What I need now is a portable scanner because I don't want to buy the book just to post the evidence here.

No further information regarding large pineapple


----------



## palinurus (19 Dec 2011)

I'm so dumb: I'd likely pay £70 for a portable scanner to save £13 on the book.


----------



## Dayvo (19 Dec 2011)

deptfordmarmoset said:


> Is it what giant golfers put onto one of these when they tee off?



Ah, like one of these?


----------



## jonathanw (20 Dec 2011)

Deb13b said:


> I HAD to click on that link 0.o


 
+1, over breakfast too!!!!!!
yeuch


----------



## mattsr (20 Dec 2011)

This is from the Watford Observer:-

http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/9340395.No_UFO_at_Leavesden_Studios/

" A machine for taking aerial photos". I'm still confused. Why not just use a helicopter?

And that giant woodlouse is disgusting!!! Although I believe it's actually a sea creature of some sort.


----------



## ufkacbln (20 Dec 2011)

BrumJim said:


> Its a virus. A very big one.


 

It would certainly do a lot of damage to your body!


----------



## Headgardener (20 Dec 2011)

It is a giant plastic sea urchin by the look of it but what it was used for I don't know.


----------



## bicyclos (20 Dec 2011)

Dont be fooled, its a part of saddam hussein's weapons of mass destruction ?


----------



## TheDoctor (22 Dec 2011)

Is it a sex toy of some sort?
Some one needs an awful lot of AAs, unless it runs on 3-phase. Or diesel.


----------



## palinurus (10 Jun 2021)

BrumJim said:


> Its a virus. A very big one.



BrumJim called it first.


----------



## vickster (10 Jun 2021)

Covid premonition?


----------



## stoatsngroats (10 Jun 2021)

No idea about the Russian metal thingy, but the globe looks to me like an amusement ride accoutrement, and I’m sure I’ve seen one similar, but not sure where. Definitely a good few years, maybe 2 decades ago….


----------



## DRM (11 Jun 2021)

stoatsngroats said:


> No idea about the Russian metal thingy, but the globe looks to me like an amusement ride accoutrement, and I’m sure I’ve seen one similar, but not sure where. Definitely a good few years, maybe 2 decades ago….


I think some one nailed it earlier, Soviet era 8 wheel BTR, armoured personnel carrier, as for the other thing it’s COVID-11, but it never took off as it made the victims eyes water as it infected them!


----------



## palinurus (11 Jun 2021)

stoatsngroats said:


> No idea about the Russian metal thingy, but the globe looks to me like an amusement ride accoutrement, and I’m sure I’ve seen one similar, but not sure where. Definitely a good few years, maybe 2 decades ago….



Still open for new suggestions- there's housing on that site now but I never really got to the bottom of what that thing was.


----------



## palinurus (11 Jun 2021)




----------



## Drago (11 Jun 2021)

It's a giant testicle from the film Invasion of the Testicle Snatchers.

Or something.


----------



## HLaB (11 Jun 2021)

BrumJim said:


> Its a virus. A very big one.


Wow, prophetic


----------



## HMS_Dave (11 Jun 2021)

It looks like the Americans idea of a football...


----------



## rockyroller (11 Jun 2021)

Drago said:


> Or something.


lol


----------



## rockyroller (11 Jun 2021)

I'm not buying that it flies for photography. looks like art on a wagon, for a parade


----------



## Cycleops (11 Jun 2021)

You guys are a bit slow. It’s obviously a prop from when they were filming Woody Allen’s ‘Everything you wanted to know about sex but we’re afraid to ask’.


----------



## Oldhippy (11 Jun 2021)

I would guess part of a long forgotten film set. I used to trundle bits of stage set home and out of context they looked bizarre.


----------



## captain nemo1701 (1 Jul 2021)

HLaB said:


> Wow, prophetic


Another CV19 variant. Not very infectious, just bloody heavy.


----------



## simongt (1 Jul 2021)

That's a very scarey set of photos palinurus. The way that houses are being 'thrown up' in what seems every available space recently. I'm seeing it on my work commute on a daily basis. One amusing point though. On the edge of the town where I work, about two years ago, a pair of 'exclusive' bungalows was built. The view they had was just fields and trees, probably an excuse to charge a very high price. Then last year, the field was sold and the once 'exclusive view' is now of a bloody great housing estate - !


----------

