Zenrat's Flying Circus

[PR19_Kit]

Then of course there was the two headed/ double engined Mini Moke.  I understand that originally it had two gear levers, and if the driver got it wrong it tried to set off in diametrically opposed directions..............and ended up going nowhere (and possibly producing a smell of burning clutch-plate)

I did exactly that too. 

We had one of the Twini-Mokes at PSF as they were intending to make the 'body' in fibreglass as it was meant as an off road vehicle, but that never came to anything.

In the meanwhile it became a handy runabout for us, and I loved driving it, with TWO engines and not much weight it went like the clappers!  Originally the two gear levers were separate and you could put one engine in a forward gear and the other in reverse. Full throttle like that produced CLOUDS of tyre smoke, no motion at all and much thinner tyres. 

Later they linked the two levers, and one of the other Twini-Mokes had an automatic box for the rear engine, which made gear shifting easier, but you could still do the 'one in forward and one in reverse' trick of course. The car I drove was the one that's in the Museum at Gaydon today.

On other 'Twins', there's the exceptional Rover 150, a custom built car made from the front end of TWO Rover 70s joined back to back, but with only one V6 engine and transmission, and only one driver's position too. I got to speak to the guy who built it, and he was fascinating to chat to.

[kerick]

That will confuse some people on the highway! Like the person who looks up from their phone while driving and thinks a car is about to crash head on!

[zenrat]

...

This one is giving me ideas...


At some point between lunchtime Thursday and thisarvo my #1 pin vise disappeared from the bench in my shed.  I've searched the bench, and the floor in the immediate vicinity, and tried asking out loud for it back, but it is nowhere to be seen.
I have ordered another but wouldn't be surprised to see it in the middle of the bench in plain sight when I walk in there next...

[NARSES2]

At some point between lunchtime Thursday and thisarvo my #1 pin vise disappeared from the bench in my shed.  I've searched the bench, and the floor in the immediate vicinity, and tried asking out loud for it back, but it is nowhere to be seen.
I have ordered another but wouldn't be surprised to see it in the middle of the bench in plain sight when I walk in there next...

Yup I'm convinced the older I get that there is no such thing as an inanimate object 

[zenrat]

I've had it happen with an Allen key.
I was installing a toilet roll holder and put it down on the floor in front of me.  When I needed it again it was gone.  Nowhere to be seen.  Vanished.
I went down to the shed to get another one and on the way back up the garden said out loud "OK, you can put it back now".
When I got back into the bathroom there it was in plain sight in the middle of the floor...

[PR19_Kit]

 

[zenrat]

So over the weekend I was inspired to make progress on the Sea Witch and installed he lower shrouds on the foremast.
This was after making good the damage I caused while packing for Model Expo by sitting my cardboard box full of old sprues on the tip of the bowsprit.  I had to straighten bent parts and remove and replace some rigging which had become slack.

[NARSES2]

Progress is progress 

[zenrat]

It certainly is.

I got in about an hour at the bench today.  No sign of the missing pin vise but as it's replacement arrived today I fully expect to see it there front and centre tomorrow.
I also received a box of 50 #11 blades and a soldering iron (something else I appear to have lost - although the last time I remember using the old one was 20 years and 12,000 miles ago).

Today I mostly worked on the X-wing Gnat and the Red Rattler.

[NARSES2]

Last time I used a soldering iron (very badly) it had a large copper head and was heated in a gas ring 

[zenrat]

Last time I used a soldering iron (very badly) it had a large copper head and was heated in a gas ring 

I remember doing that at school.  Flame colour was important IIRC.

[NARSES2]

Last time I used a soldering iron (very badly) it had a large copper head and was heated in a gas ring 

I remember doing that at school.  Flame colour was important IIRC.

Yup, it was at school during an exercise in metalwork which involved 3 different types of join on tinplate. One was (obviously) soldering, another involved some thin rod being used to form a join and the other involved a rather large mallet I seem to recall. Needless to say I failed  Mind you old Sprake would have failed me even if my joins had been perfect, we didn't get on. Often wonder what his reaction would have been to me spending most of my working life in the steel industry ? 

[zenrat]

My #1 Pin Vise has turned up as I knew it would.
I opened a container to get a sanding pad and there it was.

Oh well, it's good to have a spare...

Some progress on the Me 410 - tyres and guns painted, props & spinners primed.

[zenrat]

Looking at the pushmepullyou car again has me wondering what one built using the rear halves of a pair of Beetles would look like...

[Mossie]

Looking at the pushmepullyou car again has me wondering what one built using the rear halves of a pair of Beetles would look like...

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