rants and ramblings, sidehacks & bikes, cars, arts, and others.
Monday, 27 February 2012
Gauntlet laid
If these wingnuts could do it back in the day I'm sure we can. Big dubs at Orton maybe?
Friday, 24 February 2012
Rust off
Something for the weekend. The 'Hack, the reason this blog exists, had also been hidden away, for much longer than the Standard, its criminal really but days turn to months and before you know it its next year.
While I was re-shoeing the red bike I thought I'd give the 'Hack a once over. It has been kept dry all through winter but I guess oxidation finds a way, the whole thing was ginger with rust but nothing a bit of wire wool cant sort out.
dust off
I took my sweet sweet mid school 20 out from the garage today, it was dusty and has been unridden for at least 4 months.
My Lady bought me some Holy Rollers for xmas, they were put on and the whole thing lubed and dusted for the weekend.
Look at that big ol cog.
Studio type shots
I took some pics of the RC car post build, all shiny and new, up to this point it had only run in test mode to see if the ESC and servo worked,
they did.
The next day I took it out and gave it a shakedown, the tie rod turnbuckles came loose and it stopped steering but not before I caked it in mud and somehow managed to steer it into the only tree in about a square mile.
they did.
The next day I took it out and gave it a shakedown, the tie rod turnbuckles came loose and it stopped steering but not before I caked it in mud and somehow managed to steer it into the only tree in about a square mile.
Saturday, 18 February 2012
RC Revival. Body n Building.
I didnt take many pics of the chassis build process nor the painting of the body. The chassis building while great to do seems pointless to show, its following a manual and the only thing I 'customised' was the replacement of nylon moulded 'bearings' to sealed metal bearings. hopefully the gearbox and running gear will now last for ages even if i hop up the motor at some point.
here's a couple of pics of the finished chassis.
here's a couple of pics of the finished chassis.
Not much to see here but for those of you unfamiliar with building one of these they are a treat, the quality and engineering of Tamiya's stuff is excellent. I would much rather do this than buy one ready to run.
The body was black ABS plastic, the plan was to make it bare metal, well, look like bare metal, as if the car was once green like the wheels but had been rubbed down until all the green had gone and the surface had just started to oxidise. So first up I sprayed the inside green and matt black, if it were me and it was a real car I'd leave the inside as original paint.
As I said I didnt take many pics, mostly because I didnt really know if what I wanted to do would work having never done this before, I just assumed the same would apply for small scale as it did for large, so I sanded, primed, undercoated with Alclad primer filler, and top coated with Alclad dull aluminium, then over the top of that I dusted Tamiya aluminium over the top of which I dusted Tamiya matt black - but 50/50 thinned so it would sand off easily hopefully leaving dark patches in the dips and panel gaps.
It did, sweet!
Then I detailed with rust and various blacks and greys and made the door and sunroof appear to come from another car by painting them orange and distressing them in the same way.
A couple of waterslides, some paint pens for the window rubbers and chrome trim and it was done.
and here is the body, with nosecone and lights on the chassis.
Lookin good.
I'll shoot this properly tomorrow, see if I can get some nice detailed shots.
Winding back the clock for womankind
There's this girl in the office and a while back she got married, you must have heard she told EVERYONE who would listen, even people who wouldn't or didn't want to listen, in fact I'm pretty sure there was some sort of global broadcast, I'm surprised you hadn't heard...
Anyhoo, she fell pregnant inevitably, I don't think the fella had much choice in the matter but I'm sure he's happy - for now. She also had a global news bulletin for this event working the the fact into every conversation she had, even conversations other people were having. Pick a topic, talk about it within earshot and she would work in some pregnancy related interjection, that in itself isn't so bad of course, I know that, I am a father myself and when my son was still baking I wanted to tell everybody, but I knew if I spoke about it to the same people over and over AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN! it would become very boring and incredibly irritating for them, besides I had work to do, and the people I would be boring with baby facts ALSO HAVE WORK TO DO!
I suppose you cant blame her in some ways though I mean even at 7 or 8 months now its hard to tell, what with all the pie eating an that if she is pregnant at all so maybe she has to keep reminding people its a baby she's carrying and not a belly full of steak and kidney.
I digress.
Recently an announcement was made at work that the disabled spots in the car park were now also 'pregnant women' parking spots. obviously there are a number of issues with this, some legal and some personal, let me touch on a couple of those issues. This came about because someone - I dunno who - is pregnant and apparently finds it hard to walk much further than across the road from the car to the door and due to her timekeeping - or perhaps flexible hours - arrives later than most and has nowhere (close) to park cos all the spots are full with cars who arrive on or before time.
Solution: arrive on time.
Strangely though her job requires her to walk 5 or six times that distance 3 or 4 times a day to which she doesn't complain, or maybe she has one of the postroom wheel her about on a trolley.
Also what happens if a person with an actual disability needs the space, would the pregnant person have to move their car thus making the whole arrangement pointless?
The biggest problem I have with this though and I'm amazed more women haven't spoken up about this is when did pregnancy become a disability? I totally understand the need for certain allowances when pregnant, its often a tiring uncomfortable time but most women are proud to be able to cope with the discomfort and tiredness, insisting it should make no difference to their working day, but suggesting women need a 'disabled' rating because they are carrying a child seems to me like a backward step for womankind.
I have already been to the doc's, I told him about my crushed vertebrae and how painful it is to walk for long periods, he's writing a note so I can get a disabled badge for my car, I arrive early everyday, I'm gonna proudly wear that badge and park in that spot before anyone else.
Anyhoo, she fell pregnant inevitably, I don't think the fella had much choice in the matter but I'm sure he's happy - for now. She also had a global news bulletin for this event working the the fact into every conversation she had, even conversations other people were having. Pick a topic, talk about it within earshot and she would work in some pregnancy related interjection, that in itself isn't so bad of course, I know that, I am a father myself and when my son was still baking I wanted to tell everybody, but I knew if I spoke about it to the same people over and over AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN! it would become very boring and incredibly irritating for them, besides I had work to do, and the people I would be boring with baby facts ALSO HAVE WORK TO DO!
I suppose you cant blame her in some ways though I mean even at 7 or 8 months now its hard to tell, what with all the pie eating an that if she is pregnant at all so maybe she has to keep reminding people its a baby she's carrying and not a belly full of steak and kidney.
I digress.
Recently an announcement was made at work that the disabled spots in the car park were now also 'pregnant women' parking spots. obviously there are a number of issues with this, some legal and some personal, let me touch on a couple of those issues. This came about because someone - I dunno who - is pregnant and apparently finds it hard to walk much further than across the road from the car to the door and due to her timekeeping - or perhaps flexible hours - arrives later than most and has nowhere (close) to park cos all the spots are full with cars who arrive on or before time.
Solution: arrive on time.
Strangely though her job requires her to walk 5 or six times that distance 3 or 4 times a day to which she doesn't complain, or maybe she has one of the postroom wheel her about on a trolley.
Also what happens if a person with an actual disability needs the space, would the pregnant person have to move their car thus making the whole arrangement pointless?
The biggest problem I have with this though and I'm amazed more women haven't spoken up about this is when did pregnancy become a disability? I totally understand the need for certain allowances when pregnant, its often a tiring uncomfortable time but most women are proud to be able to cope with the discomfort and tiredness, insisting it should make no difference to their working day, but suggesting women need a 'disabled' rating because they are carrying a child seems to me like a backward step for womankind.
I have already been to the doc's, I told him about my crushed vertebrae and how painful it is to walk for long periods, he's writing a note so I can get a disabled badge for my car, I arrive early everyday, I'm gonna proudly wear that badge and park in that spot before anyone else.
Ages
Well its been ages since I wrote on here, not much has happened I just got a little distracted.
The usual things have irked me of course, like for instance a couple of things at work...
We have a survey every year, it asks - in a very non specific way if we, as employees, are having a nice time. Generally the answer is no it would seem. However due to the non specific way the questions are asked and the nature of the submission of the survey - anonymously - the solutions to make us 'happier' in our work are equally non specific, very general and consequently pointless. This was followed up with a Team building exercise where we were asked to solve puzzles (designed for children) and put stickers on a wall to show how we were feeling - my 7 year old has a similar system in his class at school only we are 1 better cos we got free sweets at our tables!
Following our fun packed, team building, problem solving, free sweets session we had a 2 hour meeting where we were talked at about the company's profits and losses for the year, where we are going, where we have been etc. by the end of which I was ready to quit - I mean quit my job not just leave the room - and this was even after I was praised for some of my work, so what does one do when the very processes to help improve your working day actually de-motivate you to the point of quitting?
Is it time to move on?
The usual things have irked me of course, like for instance a couple of things at work...
We have a survey every year, it asks - in a very non specific way if we, as employees, are having a nice time. Generally the answer is no it would seem. However due to the non specific way the questions are asked and the nature of the submission of the survey - anonymously - the solutions to make us 'happier' in our work are equally non specific, very general and consequently pointless. This was followed up with a Team building exercise where we were asked to solve puzzles (designed for children) and put stickers on a wall to show how we were feeling - my 7 year old has a similar system in his class at school only we are 1 better cos we got free sweets at our tables!
Following our fun packed, team building, problem solving, free sweets session we had a 2 hour meeting where we were talked at about the company's profits and losses for the year, where we are going, where we have been etc. by the end of which I was ready to quit - I mean quit my job not just leave the room - and this was even after I was praised for some of my work, so what does one do when the very processes to help improve your working day actually de-motivate you to the point of quitting?
Is it time to move on?
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