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| Moderated by: chrisbet, | ||
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blackfox
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i know i made a few of these as a youngster ,i wonder if todays youth could or would ?? http://avisolo.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/diy-steam-copper-coil-engine-boat.html |
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Robert
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I haven't made one of those but I have been pretty creative in my time. I will try my hand with the boys during the half term break next week. Might keep them quiet for a while? I made a lot of Meccano things when I was a lad, We lived in a pub and my bedroom was over the dining room. I needed a power source but didn't have an electric motor for the Meccano so I improvised and made a drum winch in reverse like a clock weight drive. I hung a can of paint on some string wound around the drum and it slowly unwound and was lowered as the string unwound from the drum. The can of paint went up and down past the dining room window causing huge amusement among the guests dining below. I used this mechanism through gears and clutches with ratchets and brakes to operate a crane in my bedroom. |
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Ed Hutchinson
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Hi Very cool Robert, I did have at least one of those boats. I was more into electronics, and aircraft and car models. I did wire the house so I could tap into the phone line for a phone in my room (more private than in the living room) and i built a stereo and speakers and some radios, a pa system to harass the neighbor girls. A friend and I built a rc switch that we could shut off something remotely, worked great for shutting down a car, great fun at the submarine races  Be well Ed Archie Bunker for president !!!!!!!! |
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jk
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Ed Hutchinson wrote: Archie Bunker for president !!!!!!!!Yes. Gets my vote at least we know that when he says something there is no spin around it.  |
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blackfox
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suppose i went through the lot model boats ,balsa wood rubber powered planes and gliders ,plastic airfix models galore ,meccano ,train sets etc the model making did me some good as it got me a job on special effects at MGM elstree studios ,i worked on 2001,plus bits on the prisoner and we had to do a quick re-build of the chateau in the dirty dozen as it burned down during filming ,best bit was driving round the sets/lots in the mini mokes from the prisoner . went on in my late twenties to r/c model yachts and did quiet well at that competing in a world championship at gosport .also managed to keep a healthy interest in photography and d&p through this period .alas all records now lost due to the vagaries of divorce  |
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jk
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blackfox wrote:suppose i went through the lot model boats ,balsa wood rubber powered planes and gliders ,plastic airfix models galore ,meccano ,train sets etc the model making did me some good as it got me a job on special effects at MGM elstree studios ,i worked on 2001,plus bits on the prisoner and we had to do a quick re-build of the chateau in the dirty dozen as it burned down during filming ,best bit was driving round the sets/lots in the mini mokes from the prisoner . You are a dark horse Jeff. Sounds great. I used to make model yachts when I was a lad. They were not radio controlled but had a self steering vane and the mast was taller than me. It had a huge head weight on the keel to keep it trimmed. Happy days. |
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Ed Hutchinson
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I have done some r/c 10th scale Nascar, (ya ya I know but it was great fun ) indoor track. I did it for 1 year and went from 28th to 8th place in that year, not bad for a newby. I now have a small helli and that is a kick to fly. i worked in a hobby shop in the 60s so no end of thing to build and try, trains, planes,and automobiles. Huuuuummmm I think I have heard that somewhere before, if only to remember Be well Ed A flexible person is easy to bend and twist!! |
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blackfox
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the yachts i had were marbleheads 50" long ,10 raters anything up to 8 -9 feet long ,and A CLASS big bulky things ,most stood about 12 feet high from the keel to mast tip and yes copious amounts of lead were used to keep them up right ,i made quiet a few plus most of the fittings and sails ,it was time consuming but luckily i had my own miniature lathe and milling machine so i could make most parts myself ,casting the lead weights had some hairy moments if the mould was damp at all . the hardest part we had in those days was making efficient sail winches but a good friend of mine figured it out and we made quiet a few using old cine-camera motors .unfortunately all of this fell by the wayside as it became popular and commercial firms started turning out stuff in the late 70's that we couldn't compete with and it seemed to take all the fun out of it .but at least i still had my darkroom under the stairs and a mamiyaflex c330 .  |
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jk
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Marbleheads...... That was them. I remember now. I used to build the hull from 1mm marine ply. I then used to cover the hull with thin cotton glued on with Cascamite. Then sand it to make a mirror finish. |
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blackfox
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ah good old cascamite ,and proper araldite that took 3 days to cure and needed a sledgehammer to break it once set ,plus it was waterproof ,not like the poncy stuff they sell these days ,even UHU could be used to glue sail cloth then, they banned it in case a dick head sniffed it .have we progressed or just sunk back into a protective shell .no wonder the chinese run circles round us |
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KenRay
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Never saw of of those steam engines but did make a crystal radio from a coil wound on a toilet paper core a set of headphones and a small pot of crystal with a wire finger. It was my first radio and I spent many hours at night listening to it. Actually worked quite well. You could actually buy a crystal,headphones and instructions at the Boy Scout store. This was around 1943 when the war was on and it was exciting. |
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blackfox
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my whole point really ken ,WHAT do kids make these days to develop curiosity |
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Robert
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blackfox wrote:my whole point really ken ,WHAT do kids make these days to develop curiosity I can't speak for others but my two boys, Michael and Christopher despite constantly arguing and disagreeing are both quite creative. Christopher is keen on making furniture out of scraps of wood and metal he salvages from skips and recently he built an eight wheel cart. It keeps him occupied all day. Michael is also keen to make things but perhaps more stuff like cards and indoor things like his wire man he made from scraps of copper wire. Attachment: The Wire Man 0192.jpg (Downloaded 17 times) |
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Robert
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And Christopher making a chair, which he still uses. Attachment: Christopher Making.jpg (Downloaded 17 times) |
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jk
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blackfox wrote: my whole point really ken ,WHAT do kids make these days to develop curiosity I think that curiosity is not encouraged as this can lead to challenges of authority and teachings. Education also does not encourage extra-syllabus activity as this is dangerous or time consuming and requires a teacher to conduct a skill and risk assessment for each activity and this has to be lodged prior to the event and parental approval is also required for participation. We must have lived in such dangerous times prior to all this Health and Safety bullsh1t that it is a wonder that there are enough people on the planet of breeding age!!! Many organisations also dont want creative people as they can be both challenging to manage and to business processes as they find ways around the system. |
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blackfox
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hmmm you could be right there ,i think right through my working years i have been in quiet a lot of instances working for firms but always under my own initiative ,or running my own business .i cant really recall anytime during my working years i have had to follow the system ,or do as i was told . these days i suppose they want robots to the job according to the book .perhaps thats why the world seems to be getting duller . |
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