Zenrat's Flying Circus

[PR19_Kit]

Is that ute the Ford equivalent of a Holden Maloo?

It looks pretty good, and doing like your mate's truck is a brill idea.

[zenrat]

It was his idea.  I should have said.

Its an XR6.  That's the hot six cylinder Ute.  The hot V8 was the XR8.

[Nick]

That's a fine looking ute there. Making it up to a real vehicle is a grand idea.

[su27rules]

      Nice decaling job!!

[zenrat]

Thanks folks.

[NARSES2]

That chassis looks terrific   

[PR19_Kit]

That chassis looks terrific   

What Chris said, it's really flash looking, as a good rod should do.

Sadly seeing that Jag IRS reminds me of the awful time I had trying to fit one in the back of my Bedford CF van, and failing, but through no fault of mine however.

[zenrat]

Thanks folks.

A diversion from modelling today.
As the days have lengthened again it's now light enough to cycle to work once more (even with hi viz and lights I don't cycle in the dark - too many psychos behind the wheel) so I decided to reroute the gear cable on the bike as it hadn't been getting all 7 gears.  I could have 1 to 6 or 2 to 7.  The cable was routed through the frame which while being neat put too many sharp bends in it which was restricting its movement.
With the bike upside down on my workmate I did this and then adjusted it so it shifted properly up and down.
Sorted.  No problems.
So I took it out to the street for a test ride.
At which point it refused to shift.
Back to the shed where examination of the fancy thumb operated indexed ratchet shifter showed that between the shed and the road a screw had dropped out.
It wasn't on the shed floor and I didn't even bother looking in the garden or the street.  No hope of finding it there.
No point of looking either because it was the main pivot of the shifting ratchet mechanism and when I tried to shift with it missing everything inside went out of alignment and jammed up and as far as I can see they are not designed to be dismantled and repaired and even if i did manage to get it apart I would expect an explosion of springs and small parts (you develop a feel for things you shouldn't take to bits - don't ask me how).
However, these shifters are readilly available online and I have ordered one for $40 including postage.  Thats $40 I would have better spent elsewhere but it could have been worse.
And after all that I got a whole hour at the bench.

[Rick Lowe]

Ouch. I feel your pain, having experienced similar.
As you say, not an expensive fix, but frustrating.

But on the upside, you did get Bench Time, so not all was lost. 

[NARSES2]

Thanks folks.

A diversion from modelling today.
As the days have lengthened again it's now light enough to cycle to work once more (even with hi viz and lights I don't cycle in the dark - too many psychos behind the wheel) so I decided to reroute the gear cable on the bike as it hadn't been getting all 7 gears.  I could have 1 to 6 or 2 to 7.  The cable was routed through the frame which while being neat put too many sharp bends in it which was restricting its movement.

Now the last bike I had as a teenager had 5 gears and then you could get 10 via what we called a double clanger, so seeing 7 gears is a surprise. The internal housing arrangement even more so. Would this be like the old Sturmey Archer gears which were in the hub back in my day and not taken seriously by "real" cyclists ? How technology changes eh ?

Oh and our days are drawing in as they say 

[zenrat]

Thanks folks.

A diversion from modelling today.
As the days have lengthened again it's now light enough to cycle to work once more (even with hi viz and lights I don't cycle in the dark - too many psychos behind the wheel) so I decided to reroute the gear cable on the bike as it hadn't been getting all 7 gears.  I could have 1 to 6 or 2 to 7.  The cable was routed through the frame which while being neat put too many sharp bends in it which was restricting its movement.

Now the last bike I had as a teenager had 5 gears and then you could get 10 via what we called a double clanger, so seeing 7 gears is a surprise. The internal housing arrangement even more so. Would this be like the old Sturmey Archer gears which were in the hub back in my day and not taken seriously by "real" cyclists ? How technology changes eh ?

Oh and our days are drawing in as they say 

Not Sturmey Archer but Deralleur.  In the old days when we were young(er) you shifted these by moving a lever which pulled the cable which moved the chain to the next sprocket.  You stopped moving the lever when you were in the next gear.  If you moved it too far you got the gear after the one you wanted.  You learnt to judge how much to move the lever.
This is apparently too difficult for modern cyclists who have to have indexed push button ratchet devices that enable them to click up and down without paying attention to what they are doing.  This is what went wrong, not the gears.
I could go and get the bits to backdate everything to the old way of doing things (or pinch them from my beaten up, matt black, non electric 30 year old mountain bike) but I know from previous experience that it would not be as simple to fit as I think it should be and there would be lots of fiddlearseing about.

Plenty of bench time today.  I'm reading Flash for Freedom by George MacDonald Fraser in which there is mention of the China clipper the Sea Witch.  This inspired me to actually do some work on the model of it i'm building for my BiL.  I glued an entire set of ratlines.  Took about 2 hours.  Four sets down, two to go.  And then I'll start on the upper sets.

I also put a coat of Alclad Aqua Clear on the Fire Truck chassis.  This has dulled the shine a little but its preferable to rubbing off the "chrome" through handling it.  Alclad Chrome is very easilly damaged and I almost always damage it if I don't clear it.

[PR19_Kit]

Now the last bike I had as a teenager had 5 gears and then you could get 10 via what we called a double clanger, so seeing 7 gears is a surprise. The internal housing arrangement even more so. Would this be like the old Sturmey Archer gears which were in the hub back in my day and not taken seriously by "real" cyclists ? How technology changes eh ?

Oh yes Sturmeys were taken seriously by real cyclists! I had one on my original Moulton Safari in 1963, and I'm still riding the SAME bike now, and it STILL has a Sturmey, albeit a 5 speed now with a 4 speed block on the outside giving it 20 gears.

And I'm building another Moulton with a Sachs 3 speed hub gear, with a 7 speed block on the outside, AND a triple chain ring at the front so it'll have SIXTY THJREE gears! 

Why?

Just because I can. 

[Rick Lowe]

Why?

Just because I can. 

Now Kit, that way lies all sorts of Madness... oh yes, that's right... very well, on you go, then. 

[zenrat]

Now the last bike I had as a teenager had 5 gears and then you could get 10 via what we called a double clanger, so seeing 7 gears is a surprise. The internal housing arrangement even more so. Would this be like the old Sturmey Archer gears which were in the hub back in my day and not taken seriously by "real" cyclists ? How technology changes eh ?

Oh yes Sturmeys were taken seriously by real cyclists! I had one on my original Moulton Safari in 1963, and I'm still riding the SAME bike now, and it STILL has a Sturmey, albeit a 5 speed now with a 4 speed block on the outside giving it 20 gears.

And I'm building another Moulton with a Sachs 3 speed hub gear, with a 7 speed block on the outside, AND a triple chain ring at the front so it'll have SIXTY THJREE gears! 

Why?

Just because I can. 

There'll be a lot of overlap.  But you've a good reason to do it.

[PR19_Kit]

There'll be a lot of overlap.  But you've a good reason to do it.

A VAST understatement I'm sure.