As poor health limits my workshop time, I decided to start a project that can be split between the workshop and the house. Some of you may have seen a model spitfire advertised on TV that will cost £1200.00, and take 2 years to build. The TV model is very poorly animated using small plastic rods and as soon as my wife saw it, she said, I am sure you could do better than that. Gauntlet having been thrown down, I bought a plastic model kit that I can build in the house, and I can devise an animation mechanism and build it in the workshop when health permits.

Dek.

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I have never had enough time to do all the things I want to do! – every day something else gets added to the mental list. Medical reasons caused early retirement (at 61), so me and the missus bought some land, built a house and have never stopped since (53rd wedding anniversary last year). I haven't even had chance to go hang-gliding yet. I genuinely have trouble understanding how people can claim they are bored – whatever that means.

I am more worried that when I finally kick the bucket, no-one will ever be able to work out what half the things I was working on are for – but then I suppose they won't care anyway – I guess I would go with Hopper in another thread on this forum – people are more important.

I have a couple of LED strip-lights to fit in the shed and also very recently bought a resin 3D printer, my first.

Take care all.
Ed.

Hi Fizzy,

I'll try to add a couple of photos to a seperate thread later tonight. I've done a couple of prints so far, with warts unfortunately! from models I've drawn up in Fusion 360…but ok as a first attempt I think.

I have just started to rebuild a Matchless 650 been in a shed since 69, it is rotten but it will give me plenty to do, only downside there was Bantam stuck to it so I had to buy the two, oh well.

Colin

Am going through my thousands of 35mm slides, and discarding those without family members.

The scrap slides are then stripped so the frame plastics can go for recycling, but the film has to go to landfill.

Sad to ditch so many memories, but it will save our daughter from the job in, hopefully, many years to come

Might get out the bike and pump up the tyres so that I can go out and find some long lost muscles!.

Then to the shop to :

Make a holder so that Blacksmiths Drills can be sharpened on the Worden First job is to find some metal that will suit!

Continue work on making a small dividing head to fit onto the mini lathe.

Evenings will probably be occupied, eventually, by watching the programmes on the video recorder. Never had the time before!

Howard

I did that a while ago when sorting my Mum's estate..bought a cheap scanner to digitise them and load on the PC (essentially just takes a backlit pic). Not too bad as far as results. If I can find where i stuck it and I still have the software you'ld be welcome for the postage (assuming I combine it with a needed shopping trip where there's a post service).

pgk

Today tried scanning a couple of slides of fellow club members onto the PC

The nscanner is supposeed tom, be compatible mwith XP, Vista and mWindows 7 Not W7 Professional, it ain'ti

But the old XP machine is happy. Scan, send to memory stick Move stick to W7 machine, insert into E mail and send!

Is this what they call progress? or planned obsolescence.

Howard

Reinforcing my lathe bench with some 40mm angle. Heavy work lugging that steel around, angle grinding, etc. An hour or two was enough to pull me up. Don't know how I used to do it 12 hours a day, 10 stories up a power station under construction.

I think little engines with a 20mm bore and stroke are more my class of work these days. Heaviest thing to lift then is my cup of tea. Will be glad to get the Myford finally set up on a decent bench and get back to the lightweight stuff.

Just enjoyed 30 mins chat with my Daughter, Son in Law and Grandson who is one today, we had a video call with an APP called Houseparty, wife amazed what we can now do, not bad for a Technophobe now off out side to clean a drain that I unblocked last night then back in the garage for some more tinkering.

Martin P

Fine work one those photos, Peter!

You've all probably seen that humorous poster Walker Midgeley sell, about being put on Earth to complete a certain number of project so making immortality likely…

I know how that cartoon character feels! Six or seven engineering-related projects including slowly completing fitting out the workshop itself. Still, in Week One of Staying At Home ( a new version of the Bee Gees' song there? It even scans) I've –

Washed the car.

Started sorting and cataloguing the multi-drawer storage units in the body of a bench-height trolley I made as the stand for a Warco sheet-metal former. Rather than individually labelling each little drawer I have lettered the 4 units and numbered the drawers in each (A 1 to 60, B 1 to 24…), with the contents on a spread-sheet print, so it's easy to alter. Also I've found card labels never stay in their mouldings on those plastic drawers.

Mowed the lawn.

Planted onion seeds whose packet bears the legend "Plant before Sept. 2014".

Had a tentative attempt to enter the void under the house, the eventual aim being to secure cables and pipes some bodge-artist has left merely hanging in mid-air across the space. Not sure if being a caver for over 40 years has encouraged me to think I can get down there, or made me more wary!

Rang a few friends to keep in touch in these difficult times. I've heard people on the radio say the present restrictions being the most onerous in the UK "in peace-time". From what I can make out, they are more onerous than in war-time too: in WW2 the main obstacle to ordinary life seems to have been rationing – pubs, cinemas, etc. were all still open a far as possible.

Continued working on the steam-wagon is the vague hope of having it in at least steam-raising condition for a rally that so far at least has not been cancelled as far as I can determine.