Gamera

Like the Millennium Falcon great big engines and no where for a gas tank... 

INDEED.

Perhaps this is a good time for a Bakster story. Nino inspired me, you can blame Nino. 

The gas guage is on E, it is time to refuel. I set course to the nearest refueling depot. (Good thing they have a station every few light years)

Good fortune smiles on me because it isn't long when I see one. It's a Stuckeys too, my favorite. Gas, food, trinkets, they got it all. I barely get the ship into park and the window down when an attendant runs up, "how may I be of service?"

Bakster: Cornelius? Is that you?

Cornelius: Bakster? What brings you to this part of interstellar space?

Bakster: Nevermind that. What are you doing here? And why are you working this refueling station?

Cornelius: Well... if you must know. After we released you to the Forbidden Zone, we were captured and tried for treason. Our sentence is to work this Stuckeys outpost.

Bakster: I am sorry about that.

Cornelius: Oh, it's not so bad. Zira runs the register and she doubles as a waitress. My job is to refuel ships and such.

Bakster: If you are happy, that is all that counts. Btw. Whatever happened to Zaius?

Cornelius: This might amuse you. The court found him guilty of conspiracy. He works here too. They have him working in the oil change pit. 

Bakster: Zaius is changing oil? In the pit? This I have to see. 

Cornelius: He will be surprised to see you.

Bakster: In that, I am sure.

Cornelius: Actually sir, he is a changed ape. He quite enjoys the work. With every oil change he provides a free reading from the sacred scrolls. And you know how he likes quoting the scrolls.

Bakster: Cough! You know ...maybe I will say howdy on another visit. I am in a bit of a rush. 

Cornelius: Oh, ok. Should I wipe your windows for you? 

Bakster: Just look at all those bugs. Sure!

End of transmission....

littletimmy

                                              FOR SALE

 

             One "Slightly used" Icarus / Liberty 1 spacecraft.

                           ( only used for re-entry Once.)

Custom radar / vecter/ infra-Red/ thingy has been installed on nose ( factory option)

Spacious cabin area hold's 4...

Errrrr... three and their luggage...

In case of a water landing , your seat back will work as a "Flotation device".

Asking $3000.00  O. B. O. 

                                     MY RESPONSE

Im sorry, but I find myself short on fund's at the moment. I just bought the LONDON BRIDGE on E-bay and am patiently waiting on delivery.

I usually do pretty good on E-bay .... just traded a Cow for some "Magic Bean's "

( cant wait to see what they do ...)

 

 

 

Btw. This beautiful model is still for sale. I can't believe the luck of some adventurous individual to own this one of kind, highly crafted item. Should we start the bidding? Anyone? Lol.

As you can see, work is slow today. Filling time.

Bakster

Btw. This beautiful model is still for sale. I can't believe the luck of some adventurous individual to own this one of kind, highly crafted item. Should we start the bidding? Anyone? Lol.

As it turned out, the "magic bean's " I got from E-bay sprouted  little baby SPIDER MONKEY'S !!!!!

Can we work out some sort of trade ?

( I have 788 of these little guy's ......... )

Hey !   Baxter like's ape's ,  He has Banana's you know ...

Yea, .... I thought that would get your attention......

BAXTER: apperently their's a heard of 788 Spider monkey's on their way to your house.......

You're Welcome.

littletimmy

BAXTER: apperently their's a heard of 788 Spider monkey's on their way to your house....... You're Welcome.

Holy Spider Monkeys, Tim. Thanks for not leaving me hanging. I can't understand people's reluctance to bid on this quality item. I knew I could count on you. Well, when I get the Spider monkeys, I'll ship you your highly coveted, finely crafted, one of a kind, Icarus 1. Btw. If it comes to you broken in a 1000 pieces, well, UPS did it. 

L O L 

Considering the damage they did here,  I would be shocked if the kit  arrives at all.

BTW:   Still laughing !!!

littletimmy

Considering the damage they did here,  I would be shocked if the kit  arrives at all.

Lol. Well said!!! I still want to make a video of putting a bullet through it. It would be pure genius. Sort of like this....

And if there is anything left of it, let my cat finish it off.

Dang Bakster I was going to offer three rolls of toilet paper but I can't beat 788 spider monkey's. 

Hey spiders eat bees don't they, maybe I could borrow a few???

And okay make that FOUR rolls of toilet paper... 

Gamera

Dang Bakster I was going to offer three rolls of toilet paper but I can't beat 788 spider monkey's. 

 

Hey spiders eat bees don't they, maybe I could borrow a few???

 

And okay make that FOUR rolls of toilet paper... 

 

That is pretty tempting. Four rolls of TP is pretty generous. How about I take the four rolls of TP, I send you say... 100 spider monkeys? I have way more spider monkeys than I need. That Timmy--788 of them is over the top generous. Problem is, kind of more than I need and hey--who doesn't need some TP these days. 

Sounds like a deal here.  I am kind of sad at losing the opportunity to blast Icarus 1 into kingdom come but... hey...we are all friends here.

Now I need to figure out what I can offset Timmys deal of spider monkeys. What do I have that I can send him... we'll figure something out.

What you need Timmy...

I'm mulling over the deal. I want to hear what Timmy thinks first.

Gamera

I'm mulling over the deal. I want to hear what Timmy thinks first

A wise decision. These are complex negotiations indeed. How about this? I give Timmy the Icarus 1 as planned, I get the 788 spider monkeys as planned, you give me 4 rolls of TP, and I send you 100 spider monkeys not as on loan, but to keep.  No muss--no fuss. I should have proposed this to begin with. It seems I'm a bad negotiator. 

Laughing about the graphic. Even Yoda isn't happy.

Bakster

It's a Stuckeys too,

Just don't get the pecan log, it's always a disappointment after all the billboards bragging about ti . . .

CapnMac82

 

 

Bakster

It's a Stuckeys too,

 

 

Just don't get the pecan log, it's always a disappointment after all the billboards bragging about ti . . .

 

Lol. You see? This is why I write my stupid stories. Inevitably, something good comes from  them. Today, I now know, and so do the other readers, don't get the pecan log. That is a valuable tip there, Capn.

Lol. You crack me up sir.

Time for more model stuff.

Below: I soldered 30 awg magnet wire to a red-- flashing-- 0607 size LED chip. The leds arrive sitting in a plastic led shaped form that I repurposed into a holder. I used two to make the assembly. One holder is to set the led in and another is used as a cover. I cut holes in the bottom piece allowing for wire routing. I epoxied the led in place. For the cover piece, I cut an opening in the shape of the led, and then sandwiched the two together with epoxy. The bezel is repurposed plastic. It is from a TBM 3 gun turret canopy. The structure was cut out and fitted. Amazingly, the opening fit perfectly around the led form.

I tinkered with trying to cut a clear insert to fill the opening, but that became futile. It was too small and I had nothing to anchor to, really. Ultimately, I gambled on mixing up some clear epoxy resin. I carefully filled the void, and it worked well. It does not show well in the photo, nor even to the human eye. Not unless ambient light is positioned just right, then you can see the glare. That begs the question; was it worth the effort? The answer is yes because without it, your eye could easily see that there was a void, and that made the assembly look unfinished. The resin adds something to this that is hard to quantify.

Below: The assembly is epoxied in place. I used half round Evergreen styrene stock to cover the wires, like a conduit, or a wire raceway. The thing about this is that the styrene is concave at its bottom. The packaging shows it should be flush. That defect, if it is a defect, allowed me to tuck the wiring underneath. 

As mentioned, the led is a flashing type. It pulses once every second. The color is red. Cameras don't translate led color very well. 

And that's that.

Update. I forgot to mention that I painted the bezel and holder green.

In this separate post I want to mention a product that seems to work well. 

Over the years I have tried various clear resins that in the end, all cast yellow. Several months back I purchased a product called, Puduo. So far, I am impressed with this stuff. In the photo below you can see some of the more popular brands. Yes--there is a shelf life to those, but not only does the product go bad by turning yellow, but so do your casts. Look at the samples casts I did a few years back. They were never that yellow. Over time they became much more yellow. What junk!

Now look at the Puduo. The first thing you see is that both bottles are yellow free. You start with a mix that has no yellow. This was never true for me with the other products. And look at the cast. No yellow whatsoever. 

A few more things to note:

1. It cures slow. The instructions say 40 minutes, and that may be true, but it is still tacky. My experience is 24 hours.

2. It has a very low odor.

3. The casts are solid. For a low odor product I am impressed that the castings become rock hard.

4. If you heat the mixtures in warm water before mixing it loosens the viscosity. That is true with any resin like this but with this product, one of the mixtures become almost like water. This helps to reduce bubbles, they can escape more readily. With that said, there are still bubbles, but much smaller. That is still to my disliking but-- I think the only way around that with any of these products is to use a pressure pot. One day I'd like to get one.  

Thought you might be interested.

Bakster

Laughing about the graphic. Even Yoda isn't happy.

That graphic is funny on so many levels.

Bakster

 

 

CapnMac82

 

 

Bakster

It's a Stuckeys too,

 

 

Just don't get the pecan log, it's always a disappointment after all the billboards bragging about ti . . .

 

 

 

 

Lol. You see? This is why I write my stupid stories. Inevitably, something good comes from  them. Today, I now know, and so do the other readers, don't get the pecan log. That is a valuable tip there, Capn.

Lol. You crack me up sir.

 

So you goof balls just sent me on an online trip researching Stuckey's, a familiar name being the road trip fan I am, but I don't think I've ever been there (unless as a kid and I've forgotten).

So now I'm going to have to make a point of stopping on my next adventure, if the world ever opens back up, that is. I'll have to buy a pecan roll, first of of imaginary nostalgia since until now, I wasn't even aware of them, second to see if I agree with the Cap's assessment, and third because I have no self control over sweets, and we've been on a glazed pecan kick lately anyhew.

Model building, oh, yeah.....

Nice job on the LED installation. So with Radio Shack being either gone or really, really hard to find, where do we go these days for neat things like flashing red LED's?

I sure miss Radio Shack.

Greg

So you goof balls just sent me on an online trip researching Stuckey's, a familiar name being the road trip fan I am, but I don't think I've ever been there (unless as a kid and I've forgotten). So now I'm going to have to make a point of stopping on my next adventure, if the world ever opens back up, that is. I'll have to buy a pecan roll, first of of imaginary nostalgia since until now, I wasn't even aware of them, second to see if I agree with the Cap's assessment, and third because I have no self control over sweets, and we've been on a glazed pecan kick lately anyhew.

Laughing. Yet another vortex has opened from our collective goof-ball-ness. And good luck with that pecan thing. 

Thanks about the led light. Regarding where to get them, check out the link below. I feel the prices are fair and even though they are on the west coast, from date of order I received the leds here in the Midwest in only 3 days. Heck. Most places won't even get to  shipping the order in three day. Receiving the order in 3 days is pretty dang good, and they charged me only $3 something for shipping. Their website is nicely designed too. You can buy resisters there as well, and most of the leds sold have data sheets available to download, and some even have circuit drawings. They also have a sheet telling you what resistors you need based on what voltage you are using. You can also get prewired leds. I went and purchased a bunch of colors, sizes, chip, and standard, all for less than $20. I didnt get resistors from them only because I had already purchased a multi-value resistor kit off Amazon. 

https://lighthouseleds.com

Thanks for the tip. Looks like a good source.

Greg

Thanks for the tip. Looks like a good source.

 

No problem.

Greg

I'll have to buy a pecan roll, first of of imaginary nostalgia since until now, I wasn't even aware of them, second to see if I agree with the Cap's assessment, and third because I have no self control over sweets, and we've been on a glazed pecan kick lately anyhew.

Stuckeys used to be all over Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, up into Wisconsin and Minnesota, and right down south to Texas (I want to remembe no further south than Waco, though).

The billboards for them were at Bura-Shave frequency, and usually the lead product advertized was the Pecan log.  So, when stuck in the back of the station wagon on a long road trip, there could be nothing more enticing than the oft-mentioned sweet.

How horrible the disappointment in actually getting one, too.  Basically a home-made sort of Payday bar, only using raw pecans rather than salted roast peanuts.  Te caramel was dark, almost to bitter, too.  So, as sweets go, not vey sweet.

Now, if given the opportunity, do stop into a Buc-ee's.  The store is basically a tourist cash separation device at a sophistication level rivalling Disney.  Probably the cleanest restrooms on the highway.  Gas prices so-so.  Food, and especially snacks, beyond par. "Beaver Nuggets" are good, and addictive (a corn puff crosses with caramel popcorn).

Greg

I sure miss Radio Shack

They weren't alwasy the best store, or the best run, and the employees were definitely at the mercy of Management.  But, they had "stuff."  Often stuff you had not imagined you needed.

Grain of wheat lamps, LEDS, reed switches, roller switches, diodes, resistors, capacitors, Oh My!

Also, small breadboard "learning" kits that could have all sorts of repurposing.  Like motion detecting, or being light sensitive.  (A person can save a lot of battery life by having lights only respond when dark, and when someone is nearby; ro to make a screech at the cat if the feline gets too close).

CapnMac82

Stuckeys used to be all over Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, up into Wisconsin and Minnesota, and right down south to Texas (I want to remembe no further south than Waco, though).

The one Stuckeys I was aware of in Wi closed many years ago now. Too bad. Like so many childhood places, they are no longer around. Like Big Boys, Shakeys Pizza, drive in theatres, and yeah, Radio Shack. I'd get my electronic components from them. I even bought my first Tv from them. It had a digital pushbutton channel changer on it. I thought it was the coolest thing. Remote controls were still at a premium, so no remote on it. 

Hey Tim, you might appreciate this tidbit. I am researching figures for the sleep chambers. I think I found some that will work. They are HO scale, slightly bigger than I need, but I think they will work. I purposely made the chambers a little bigger to accommodate HO, for just in case. I know how you liked this aspect of the build, so I am gonna see if I can do the figures. If it works out, I am dedicating this part of the build to you, sir.

On a different note. I worked on the glass doors today. I might get to painting the door frames and installing the glass this week. Kind of my goal for this week.

Bakster: Thanks for the information on the Puduo. I tried casting some stuff a few years ago and really wasn't impressed by the results. I'll have to give that a try.

The Icarus is looking really good!!!

And yeah, you guys aren't the only ones to miss Radio Shack...

Bakster

I purposely made the chambers a little bigger to accommodate HO, for just in case. I know how you liked this aspect of the build, so I am gonna see if I can do the figures. If it works out, I am dedicating this part of the build to you, sir.

I just figured, "you went to all the trouble to build an interior, you might as well put some people in there ". ( plus, I'm DYING to see what you come up with for a Mumifyied woman.)

RADIO SHACK: I use to get all kind's of stuff there. When Sony came out with their miniature TV ( the WatchMan) I got mine at a Radio Shack.  Now the best I can doo is order stuff from Scientific American.... It's just NOT the same !

SHAKY'S PIZZA: Better than Domino's by a LONG SHOT !!!

Stucky's scare's me....

So do the Waffle House's .....

BUT , .... I would "Kill" for a Burgervill cheeseburger smothered in their "Secret sauce" !   ( their a chain of burger joint's only on the west coast ..... they can only be fount on Interstate 5 between Seattle WA. , and Albany OR. )

Their fish sandwich is Expensive, but it's made with  REAL HALABIT !!!!!!!

CapnMac82

They weren't alwasy the best store, or the best run, and the employees were definitely at the mercy of Management.  But, they had "stuff."  Often stuff you had not imagined you needed.

CapnMac82

Grain of wheat lamps, LEDS, reed switches, roller switches, diodes, resistors, capacitors, Oh My! Also, small breadboard "learning" kits that could have all sorts of repurposing.  Like motion detecting, or being light sensitive.

One of my high school "Electronic's " project's was built with part's from Radio Shack.

( it was a TV jammer....... which I took GREAT DELIGHT in using at the Montgomery Ward's television department. I would wait for the salesman to go into his "this one is state of the art " speech, and hit the button . POOF.... static ! )