Monday, August 27, 2012

August 27th

I'd bought a copy of Corel Paintshop Pro that came with a rebate.  Now, I'm good with rebates, and very careful to fill in all the forms correctly.  So, imagine my surprise when they said I'd sent the wrong UPC code.  I ended up in an interweb chat session with somebody who rectified that and told me my cheque will be sent in the next 30 days, but still, it looks like they're hoping to thin out a bunch of valid submissions as people won't read the stuff they've been sent until it's too late to do anything.  And that sucks :o(

August 26th

I finished the Vanagon kit, and started looking at the next one I'm going to do - it's a Wallace and Gromit kit I got years ago, couldn't paint and gave up on.  Basically I've sanded it down (so I shouldn't need as much paint) and sprayed the main part of it red - would you believe that the cheapo paint it came with was a) still liquid and b) thinned for spraying really well?  Who'd have thought it?

We watched the MotoGP race from Brno, and the last few laps were great.  I wasn't even too upset that the poison dwarf won, as long as he doesn't win the championship.

Vic's rearranging the art room (again), so I took the opportunity to bend the supports for one of the shelves - it droops.  Sadly it looks like it's been too low because it was welded up badly, so I needed to put a fair amount of force into it.  Still, it looks straighter now.

In the evening we went over to the airfield and I added the earth line from the regulator to the engine grounding point.  It was too gusty to fly (yeah, like yesterday was perfect), so we did a static test, and if all's to be believed, everything's fixed now.  I took the opportunity to pull off the ELT, as it needs new batteries and I want to do them before the inspection in October.

August 25th

I dinked around with the Vanagon model for a little while, and got it almost finished.  I'm still unhappy with the body being twisted, but Don said it wasn't totally noticeable until I pointed it out to him.  That in mind, I went and bought some shinny silver paint to do the wheels and bumpers.  The acrylic stuff of Vic's has blocked my airbrush twice, so I've given up on mixing that well enough.  Wheels and bumpers painted.

I played with the fairing mount on the YSR for a bit, and I think it's a lot closer than it was.  Still not perfect, but the only thing that shows that is the stay that mounts to the head stock - I might well just put a thick washer under that and call it good :o)

In the evening, I went over to the airfield to play with the electrical problem I'm having on the plane.  Basically the engine information system keeps resetting itself - Ken suggested that it sounds like an earthing problem, so I tried tying the two earths on the instrument panel together.  I went for a quick circuit, and that hasn't fixed it.  I then played with the battery connections, and tried again.  Nope, still no luck, but I think I've figured out what the problem is - the earth from the regulator, seeing as that was the last thing I played with.  Of course, I didn't have the tools necessary to fix any of that stuff, so I called it a night.

August 24th

We barbecued after work, and Vince, Don and Lori came to eat and entertain Tilly.  Tilly was actually quite well behaved, despite being desperate to sit on Don's lap.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

August 20th

I started building the van model up a bit, but the body's twisted, and there are a couple of windows missing.  I've tried to get the body to fit properly, but the back's still not looking good, so I clamped in in place so it somewhat fits, and I'm leaving it like that :o(

August 19th

I'd got Gwen to bring her pushbike over, as it needs new tyres.  So, I fitted new tyres to that.

In the evening we went flying, and were up for over an hour.  I did a pretty miserable landing, and I think the wind was doing some weird things, as it seemed to be blowing a lot harder than the AWOS (and windsock) said - it took us forever to get anywhere flying upwind.

August 18th

We watched "The Hunger Games", which I thought was conceptually similar to "Rollerball", just in the woods with medieval weapons rather than rollerskates.

August 17th

We barbecued, and Gwen and Walter came over to play with Tilly. Vince was supposed to be coming over, but didn't show up, so screw him, he can go hungry.

Monday, August 13, 2012

August 12th

Vic dropped the bloody rabbit off at the SPCA, and while she was out I looked at the fairing mount on the YSR - it's holding the fairing too high and  too far out, from what I can tell.  I've drilled the holes bigger to make it easier to relocate, but it's still not playing nice.

We went to lunch with Vince, and as it's Tilly's birthday, got her some special treats, a large beach ball (that she burst) and a bubble maker.  I'd have taken her to the airfield and thrown the frisbee for her for a while, but she's hurt her leg somehow (I can't see anything wrong with it, but she's limping from time to time).

    

In the evening I went and played with the airbrush some more.  I mixed the paint a little thicker this time, and it went on just fine.

August 11th

I spent the day pottering around at home... I played with the airbrush a little, and was just throwing a few coats of paint on my model when Fred came over - Vic was at the SPCA teaching a "petting zoo" class, and was trying to call me, but I was in the garage with my compressor running and couldn't hear her :o)  I took the bag she'd forgotten over, and all was well again.

August 10th

After work we went to dinner at the Outback. Vic likes her steak just this side of charcoal, so when it came from the kitchen bleeding, she sent it back.  The manager came and apologised, and it came back still very pink.  At that point, she gave up.  The manager showed up again, and apologised profusely and comped dinner.  Yay.  After that we went to the Automall so I could look at the Chevy Volt again - they've just had 27 delivered, so Vic got to take a test drive.  I'd really like one of these, but have nowhere to put it at the moment, and they only have the drab colours - I wanted to see a blue or red one, as I'm not that grown up just yet.

Monday, August 6, 2012

August 6th

I finished the first coat of paint on the woodwork in the hallway.  Yay.

August 5th

I did a bunch of fiddling around in the garden, cutting the grass and suchlike.  I then painted some of the woodwork in the hallway - just the first coat, and despite what it says on the tin, I think it'll need another.

In the evening, Vic cooked a brisket, and Vince came over to annoy Tilly and eat.

August 4th

I've bought myself a little airbrush, in a series of comical events.  So I started out with the base kit, only to find some parts missing.  I also found it had a single stage trigger, so it'd be like using a spray can.  I took that back and upgraded to the "deluxe kit", that has a 2 stage trigger (air and paint), but when I opened it I found that it had no air hose.  I was starting to knock something up with 1/8" fuel hose that I had left over from working on the plane when I said "screw it" and went back and bought an air hose.

When we got back from that, we rotated the wheels on the Jeep, so that hopefully all 5 wear out together, rather than end up replacing a spare tyre because it's old and cracked, rather than it's run out of tread.  It does, of course, mean that the tyres are (even) noisier for a little while while they wear in going the other way.

I started playing with the airbrush - from what I've read, I should be able to use Windex(tm) to thin out the acrylic paint that Vic uses, and spray that.  That works for me, as I doubt I'll use much paint, and she has every colour known to mankind.  First I needed to clear off the paint I'd brushed on (with a fork, by the look of things), and after a suggestion from Don, I used degreaser - it takes the paint off without destroying the plastic.  Yay.  Anyway, when it came to throwing paint, it doesn't look like the Windex works... all I threw was very watery, and then the brush blocked.  Still, it's nice to have taken it apart to see how it works, and how to clean it all up.  I then spent a happy little time spraying water on myself.

In the evening we went to dinner with Vince - it's been a little while since we've seen him, as he'd either eaten something bad or had beer flu last weekend.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

August 3rd

After work, we went to dinner with Jim and Kathy.

August 1st

New month, so the solar statistics:

Power we paid for

Power generated