Chronic's Research and Aeronautics Project (C.R.A.P.)

[Rick Lowe]

That's a good score. I was contemplating getting some for intakes & bulges, but hadn't thought of canopies...
I think you may have given me the answer to my dilemma in finding something suitable & cheap for the Hawk T.1 into a 200 conversion... 

And you've picked up more work? Well done, you! 

[TheChronicOne]

Thank ye, kindly! Indeed... it's that time of year again and as I like to say, "The spice is flowing!" All uphill from here. I'm also planning to expand into pressure washing service after I get everything else stabilized. One thing I need to do is build a wooden floor for then construct my metal storage shed. I've been putting it off for about 5 months waiting on lumber prices to come down (YIKES!) but I need to get on with it... once that thing is built, I can put the pressure washer together and have a place to store it... THEN.....  when it's the hottest of all in mid Summer I can take on some pressure washing jobs and stay cool playing in the water. 

[Rick Lowe]

Yep, always good to have a plan... or in my case, a vague idea of a nebulous outline of a stray thought...

And having another 'string to your bow' is a Good Thing.

Yeah, timber prices... shortages are going to hit here soon, they're talking about problems for the building industry. As for DIY-ers? Fuhgeddaboudit!
I mean, the stuff is hard to get, after all - anyone would think it grew on trees, or something. 

And yet, there are still piles and piles of logs sitting on the wharves waiting to go overseas for pulping... and more being sent for export all the time.
(Though as we've dismantled most of the milling industry, we'd have problems processing it here... )

[NARSES2]

Those acrylic nails look amazingly useful, cracking idea 

Pressure washing sounds like a good string to have to the bow

[PR19_Kit]

They are remarkably clear too, like a canopy is when you've dunked it in Klear.

And they're also quite heavily curved, so using them as canopies could really work with a suitable Whiff. I got some with the intent to replace the canopy on my Aeronavale Mirage F1 some time back, but eventually stayed with the 2 seat canopy in the kit.

[TheChronicOne]

Another good thing is the nails are soft enough that they could be cut (carefully, of course) to get the shape honed in and not shatter but also stout enough that the edges can be filed/sanded if need be. Just having these things makes me want to start a scratch build!

WOOD PRICES. Driving me nuts...   it was like a perfect storm of driving the prices up (they're just ever so slightly under TRIPLE right now). For us in the US; wildfires.... Then the pandemic... lots of people stuck at home deciding to do projects so they helped snatch up the wood.... of course, the market didn't anticipate that so they did nothing to prepare for it. I'm dreading buy the stupid wood but I have that unemployment now so it's not so bad but DAMN... all the crap I need to buy (i'm also refurbing a couple benches and a couple picnic tables) would have cost a wee bit over $100 a year ago...  my last calculation was ~$300 for the same wood. Oh well....  I'm getting it bought this weekend I hope and pick it up on Monday. I'll try to take a picture of it so we can all marvel at the small pile of lumber that cost three hundred freaking dollars. 

[NARSES2]

I know most of your timber probably comes from USA/Canada but it's still probably not helped by the way container and general shipping costs are going through the roof. Certainly affecting us in Europe so I'm told by people who know.

[PR19_Kit]

And why are they going through the roof?

Who is '...driving up the costs...'?

[NARSES2]

And why are they going through the roof?

Who is '...driving up the costs...'?

How long you got Kit ? There's some genuine economic reasons behind it (and my economics qualifications are a long, long time ago, so I doubt if I could explain) plus there's some speculation and probably market manipulation. Add Covid to that and then the growing problem of world trade becoming steadily more of a one way traffic stream (although nowhere near as such as some of the popular press would have you believe) and we have a perfect storm. And that's before the current Suez situation kicks in to a full extent, although it would have started impacting costs as soon as it happened.

[Nick]

Thank ye, kindly! Indeed... it's that time of year again and as I like to say, "The spice is flowing!" All uphill from here. I'm also planning to expand into pressure washing service after I get everything else stabilized. One thing I need to do is build a wooden floor for then construct my metal storage shed. I've been putting it off for about 5 months waiting on lumber prices to come down (YIKES!) but I need to get on with it... once that thing is built, I can put the pressure washer together and have a place to store it... THEN.....  when it's the hottest of all in mid Summer I can take on some pressure washing jobs and stay cool playing in the water. 

There's a few guys around here that specialize in washing wheelie bins inside and out. One I saw last week had a complete setup on his pickup with the pressure washer, water tank, water recycler and a spray booth all in one unit.

[TheChronicOne]

Thank ye, kindly! Indeed... it's that time of year again and as I like to say, "The spice is flowing!" All uphill from here. I'm also planning to expand into pressure washing service after I get everything else stabilized. One thing I need to do is build a wooden floor for then construct my metal storage shed. I've been putting it off for about 5 months waiting on lumber prices to come down (YIKES!) but I need to get on with it... once that thing is built, I can put the pressure washer together and have a place to store it... THEN.....  when it's the hottest of all in mid Summer I can take on some pressure washing jobs and stay cool playing in the water. 

There's a few guys around here that specialize in washing wheelie bins inside and out. One I saw last week had a complete setup on his pickup with the pressure washer, water tank, water recycler and a spray booth all in one unit.

Wow... that is genius...   HMMMM.... that gives me something to think about. Not having to always go on fishing expeditions to find a hook-up and dealing with hundreds of feet of hose every time sounds nice. Imagine the time and hassle saved. 

For the wood.. yeah...my man already touch on some of the tons of factors that go into it but at the end of the day it boils down to simple supply and demand. Everyone wants it, but there's not nearly enough to go around, so the price increases. Bummer for me... this is probably the first time in history I've set out to buy a bunch. How typical. 

[Rick Lowe]

Finding one of those plastic 44 gallon drums to use as a water tank could be a start? Or there's probably something on the market already that would save you time and hassle.

Supply and Demand, yes - but let's not forget plain old-fashioned Greed.
Strange isn't it, how when there's a crisis all the stock they already had on hand - and paid for - suddenly increases in price, because... well, because they can.
Happens all the time with petrol.
And the prices going down after the crisis is over is slower than Molasses in January - if it ever happens.

[PR19_Kit]

Corporate Greed yet again. 

I couldn't do that with my pay packet and I can't with my pension either, why should they get away with it?

[The Wooksta!]

Probably because their paid lackeys are in positions of power.

[TheChronicOne]

Price fixing, too. Not a lot of "discount" lumber going around. I most definitely agree....  Money isn't the root of all evil, greed is. It would be nice if that, no matter how many of an item you had, it didn't matter and the price stayed the same. If you only make 10 model kits they should be the same price as if you have 10 million (or should they?    ). Then again, the customer does a lot to set prices, too. If people are willing to pay a price, sellers will gladly take it so scarcity is tied to value. It's like an auction... if only one item exists, people will be willing to fight over it and pay higher prices whereas if there are enough of the things for everyone to have, people don't view it the same and it will be cheaper in order to get people to purchase it at all. But yeah, it's dirty in so many cases... punishing the end user to make up for lower profits is pretty scummy. If a burger joint runs low on burger patties, they don't suddenly triple the price of a burger, they simply run out. If a cattleman runs low on livestock, however, all of a sudden the price of beef goes up. It's a form of price gouging if you ask me.