Friday Thread

[Superluminal 3750]

sunday;

Mot and service on the car tomorrow morning. Its just stopped raining long enough to go out and top up the screen wash. Bonnet release catch snaps off in my hand now bonnet stuck shut. Bad times.

[Mad Ax 9329]

I keep forgetting about this thread, especially when I've got all kinds of cool and unusual stuff lined up.  But not today!

Today - another 35 mins at the desk, then an early finish because the timesheet balances.  Straight up to the workshop to get some things sorted on the scale crawlers, then walk into town for a pint and catch-up with a mate who I haven't seen since probably February 2020.

Saturday - wife is out for the day, so having a lazy one at home with my daughter.  Walk to the library to change some books.

Saturday Evening - Ax's Saturday Solo Film Night.  Choose something off Prime or Netflix.  Maybe finish with an episode of Lower Decks.

Sunday - Southern Scale Trail - at last a National-level event taking place within 35 mins of home.  For once I don't have to travel up the night before or be up before 5am.  Just an easy run across the hills to a disused quarry for a long day of shepherding toy cars through kebab sticks with bits of paper on, #becausecrawler

Sunday Evening - this time I won't be spending the evening driving home from the event, which means I'll probably spend it scraping mud off the scalers and dropping 3-in-1 oil on all the moving bits to stop them rusting.  Probably a couple of beers and some work on the novel before bedtime.

Anyone else doing anything fun?

[Superluminal 3750]

Now - Been laying in bed and can hear a scraping noise in the loft. Just had a look up in the hatch and theres a nice big brown mouse wandering around the chipboard paying absolutlely no attention whatsoever to me looking and my phone torch shining at him. Ballsy *******er!!!

Saturday - buy mouse traps then? But I sort of feel bad about killing him. Do the humane ones work? Theres a few different types on ebay in plastic or metal.

[Wooders28 4723]

On 9/11/2021 at 12:45 AM, Superluminal said:

Do the humane ones work?

Found the humane ones worked better tbh. They managed to nick the chocolate off the spring traps, set them off, and still get away.

Only issue I had with the humane, was that you need to put the trap, with the live mouse, in your car, and take it on a couple of mile drive to let it go, as seemingly, they'll just come back otherwise, which didn't sit that well, as I didn't know if the wee mouse had a family to look after. 

It had eaten all my poly bush set for my project car though, so......😬

[Superluminal 3750]

1 minute ago, Wooders28 said:

It had eaten all my poly bush set for my project car though, so......

Thats what im worried about - all my Tamiya kit boxes are in the loft and i dont want them nibbled or covered in mouse wee.

I went shopping yesterday but all they had were the old fashioned wooden spring traps. Might need to make something instead.

[Wooders28 4723]

6 minutes ago, Superluminal said:

Might need to make something instead.

Think my 'L' shaped traps (food at the end, and when the mouse walks up ,it tips, and the door shuts behind it), where only a few quid of amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Airlove-Catcher-Effective-Reusable-Families/dp/B08KY4LB56/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=humane+tip+mouse-trap&qid=1631436535&sr=8-4

 

[Wooders28 4723]

(Sorry its a bit late...)

Being off work this weekend, I had nice new silicone hoses delivered last week , to just 'throw on'.......😳

Turns out, the (new, 4 core...) radiator is wrong for the engine (engine swaped), I'm a port down, so need to tap off the port on the water pump, and the after market headers are in the way of the oil heater/cooler too.....,looking like out of the whole hose set, 2 of them might fit...... the joys 🥺

 

 

So after , spitting the dummy, on Friday night, I figured I'd put the new wiper motor on, it's been sat for over a year, and should be an easy bolt on.

Well, it would be, if I wasn't using the wiring loom for the engine, which isn't for the car, with the newer style, using a circuit board for the pulse wipe....🤦‍♂️

 

 Of course ,the newer style doesn't quite fit, so, I've the choice of address the bulk head/firewall with a big persuader and a welder, or rewire.....🔨🔨🔨🙄

[alvinlwh 5895]

Friday: took my M-05Ra and SU-01 out for a drive. Found the M-05Ra veering to the right frequently. Posted the problem here and got a few helpful suggestions. 

Saturday: acted on the suggestions, discovered the problem relates to the drivetrain and not the electronics or diff. Further tests shows that it was only affecting one side. 

Sunday: swapped the stock parts in, bench tests seems to show the problem solved and was caused by the rather expensive aluminium front uprights. Going to take it out for a test drive soon. 

[Superluminal 3750]

On 9/12/2021 at 9:50 AM, Wooders28 said:

Think my 'L' shaped traps (food at the end, and when the mouse walks up ,it tips, and the door shuts behind it), where only a few quid of amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Airlove-Catcher-Effective-Reusable-Families/dp/B08KY4LB56/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=humane+tip+mouse-trap&qid=1631436535&sr=8-4

 

Not friday yet.....but theyve arrived. Now to find something to bait them with as I dont really have any food in my house.

[Wooders28 4723]

2 minutes ago, Superluminal said:

Not friday yet.....but theyve arrived. Now to find something to bait them with as I dont really have any food in my house.

I used chocolate, or peanut butter.

[Superluminal 3750]

5 minutes ago, Wooders28 said:

I used chocolate, or peanut butter.

Hmmmm.....i probably need to go shopping then unless mice are dead keen on whiskey, rum, pot noodles or an ancient bottle of chillo sauce.

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

After an infuriating, stressful week at work, it's finally FRIDAY FRIday friday... (echoing)

Time to assemble the bagger for my yard tractor; leaf season is upon us soon...

Time to give our minivan some love with lots of maintenance items to address..

The cooler, less humid weather makes me think about painting RC shells again...

[Mad Ax 9329]

It's Friday, peeps   what you all up to?

One of the benefits of working from home is I can get my weekly hours in early and have an easy day on Friday*, so I'm going to try to do a bit of housework in a long lunchbreak and possibly get to the local bargain store to get a wrestler figure for the BOM, and also stock up on Lemsip and throat spray because the local headcold has found its way into our home.  Tonight I'm going to re-write the 4th act of my novel for probably the 4th time this week, and if that doesn't take until midnight then I might start working on an interior for the BOM.

Saturday is daddy-daughter day, they're a bit more precious now that she's in school 5 days a week, but as I've got a headcold and the weather is supposed to be poor, hopefully we'll have a lazy day watching Disney+.  Unless she wants me to play some random game that she makes up on the spot and doesn't explain the rules for and gets upset about when I break them, in which case it will be a long, painful day.

Saturday eve is Solo Film Night, I normally open a few tins of Bud (except Tesco are all out of Bud so I'm forced to drink Stella Artois, unless I grab some ale at the bargain store today), kick back and watch something of my choosing.  Quite a lot of good stuff on Netflix to pick through.

Sunday is Workshop Sunday!  Also possibly the last Workshop Sunday before the Scaler Nationals in a fortnight, as there's supposed to be a truck meet next weekend, so I need to make sure all the important stuff is done, like getting some metal driveshafts on the CFX-W, fitting the winch to the BOM and wiring up the LEDs, get the driver figure in and possibly even getting part of an interior built.  Fingers crossed it's all done and ready by the end of Sunday, otherwise I'll have to burn some evenings.

I'm off-duty all day Sunday, that means once I'm done in the workshop I can chill out in the studio all by myself, which means I'll probably be back on the novel, possibly re-writing act 4 again 

Have a great weekend everybody  

 

*except I have to figure out how to put it on my timesheet, because today is also the start of the month, so it's a split week, but the system won't let me close a "week" (even a one-day week) with less than my quota'd hours on it and all my extra hours are already booked on yesterday's timesheet, and I shouldn't complain about this because I wrote the system, but only in spite of my repeated protestations**

*and don't get me started on being contractually obliged to submit my timesheet before the working period is complete because how do I know what I'm going to work on tomorrow when I submit my timesheet today goshdarnit I warned you not to get me started on the timesheets again...

[InsaneJim69 1584]

It's Friday, so for me I still have work tonight. Usual Friday jobs, check Hydrogen FC Buses for FC Coolant, Battery Coolant and Heater Coolant levels tonight. Don't finish till 6am Saturday morning 🙄😕. Might take the Cen Monster Truck to work to have a mess around on my breaks 😂👍

As regards Netflix, "Midnight Mass" is really good, just finished watching the series, Def worth a watch. 

James.

[Frog Jumper 3664]

Haven't been back to my hometown of Vabeeyatchy in a few years.

Heading back for a funeral.  My wife's roommate from college, who (as it turns out) went to another HS in my hometown.  Breast cancer...

Instead of having a wake, that are having a party.  Its at the same resort where I went for Prom...

Terry

 

[Mad Ax 9329]

It's Friday already.  What you all up to?  I'm currently letting my dinner go down and preparing to start a long night on the novel.  Might not be up late as I've had a bad (non-Covid) cough all week and have barely slept in the last few days.

Going to be an unusual one for me, the wife must go to the hospital on Sunday for a quick check-up, but we found out last Friday that we all have to isolate as of yesterday morning so we don't take a certain nasty virus into the hospital.  Which is a bit annoying as I was supposed to be in Bournemouth tonight doing my first drifting session since before the pandemic started, staying over with a friend and doing my first truck meet tomorrow.

But it's all OK, as I still have at least a full day's work to do getting my rigs ready for the Scaler Nats next weekend, so tomorrow I'll be in the workshop all day, getting stuff finished off, then probably a bit more novel-writing in the evening once dinner is eaten.

The wife bought loads of spring bulbs from the garden centre this week, so Sunday morning I'll get my daughter dressed in her outdoor clothes and teach her how to plant bulbs.  Part of this will involve me learning how to plant bulbs.  Then driving the wife into hospital, walking around the park for an hour or so until her check-up is done, and driving home for a takeaway in the evening.  Hopefully a very-much appreciated takeaway, because my wife won't have eaten anything in over 24 hours.

I hope you all have a good one  

[Frog Jumper 3664]

Sitting here trying to figure out how and why our GC poured a buried concrete foundation 6 feet lower than it is supposed to be.  Its a buried fuel tank, not a coffin!

Tomorrow we head to the beach for a swim meet with the kids and some seafood dinners...

Terry

 

[Frog Jumper 3664]

On 10/1/2021 at 11:09 AM, Frog Jumper said:

Haven't been back to my hometown of Vabeeyatchy in a few years.

Heading back for a funeral.  My wife's roommate from college, who (as it turns out) went to another HS in my hometown.  Breast cancer...

Instead of having a wake, that are having a party.  Its at the same resort where I went for Prom...

Terry

 

Turned out to be really sad, but really nice.  It was sullen but festive.  Several nice speeches from family, and some heart-warming storied from her children.  Kids did a butterfly release on the beach and then played in the sand.  Dawn (the roommate) would have liked that...

Terry

 

[Re-Bugged 10161]

Friday actually saw a trip to a hobby shop!!! A rare treat as it’s so far but it still puts a smile on dial doing so.

Stocked up on some paint for a couple of bodies I’ve got that will give me few options. The Spaz Stix colour changing gold/orange/purple/red looks interesting. Picked up a soldering station to.

I was going on my own originally to give the M/bike a run then the Mother in Law offered to watch our shop for the afternoon so the missus could come. Also a rare treat finding non work related time together, so all in all a great Friday for me. 

[Wooders28 4723]

12hr nightshift weekend, so , making the most of the situation....

Trying to get the donated 1/5 scale thing up and running! 😁

The clutch seemed to be locked up, but further inspection revealed it to have taken a few knocks, and then when put in the lathe, looked like someone trying to, Hula Hoop!?! 😳

Couple of knocks with the heavy stick, and a wee skim , sorted 👍

 There's a decent spark, so hopefully just need to find some 2 stroke oil, some juice, and a can of , 'start ya ba$!@£d ' 🤔😃

Thinking its an AoWei Yama ? 

[87lc2 2666]

I love reading this thread so guess I should add to it:

Friday - Home from work early to mow the lawn so the weeked is free (as free as it can be with a 1 year old...).  Mowing season is coming to an end, no complaints from me, I spend 50 hours a year riding that thing around.  After my daughter went to bed I starting tearing down my Barbarian Chassis Grave Digger for a shock rebuild and suspension update.  Have a race coming up in a couple of weeks and have a few trucks to get ready.

Saturday - Spent time with the wife/daughter, and was also able to wash & wax my daily driver Impala.  Tonight I finished the Grave Digger and have the suspension working much better.  The shocks were fully rebuilt (Gmade piggyback units), and raised the ride height a bit which made a huge difference.  It was a big too low and tight before which caused the truck to be bouncy, now a bit higher center of gravity, but suspension is working much better.  Hoping to do some testing tomorrow if the rain holds out.  Also cut a new body and prepped for paint since the original has seen better days.  

Sunday - Mostly just hangng out with my daughter and getting some small things done around the house.  After she goes to bed going to start converting my SMT10 Thunder Chicken to 4-wheel steer.  Currently my only SMT10 with the stock 13.9" wheelbase and it works really well, but the turning radius is awful and the track we're racing on in a few weeks has a few tight turns so it just won't work as-is.  Have a spare front AR60 lying around and will transfer over my HD gearset & locker then get it installed in the truck.  Also hope to paint my new Digger body if no rain.  Being a simple single color paint job won't take long at all. Pretty sure I have a can os PS5 around here somewhere...

[Mad Ax 9329]

@87lc2 would love to see some pics of your race if you are able to grab some - I can only dream of proper MT racing

But I can't complain - it's Friday again, and I'm about to embark on a 170 mile journey to the Peak District for the UK Scaler Nationals.  Literally, as soon as I hit Submit, I'll be closing down the works laptop and getting out the door.  I'm meeting some friends at a hotel for a good meal, a couple of warm English beers and a night of listening to other people snore.

Up early tomorrow for a cooked breakfast, then a quick jaunt to the Nationals for a day of crawling around the courses.  My mates go home in the evening, I'm off to another hotel for a good shower and some peace and quiet, a meal on my lemon, probably work on my novel while I've got time to myself, and then hopefully a good long sleep before repeating it all over again on Sunday.

Leaving the site late Sunday afternoon for the 3+ hour cruise home, stopping on the way to hand over a Top Force re-re kit that I'll be couriering from someone at the Nationals to someone I know on the Cotswolds.  (This will be the third kit I've delivered to him while doing my countrywide jaunts).  Finally get home probably quite late on Sunday, beers are already in the fridge (I couldn't get Budweiser so I've got Coors), cook myself a pizza from the freezer and catch up on some TV until I pass out from sheer exhaustion.

I hope you all have a great one, I'll be back online next week with loads of pics and videos  

[InsaneJim69 1584]

Not a great Friday for me. Car part arrived for car fitted and still it didn't pass it emissions test . So now in the hands of Vauxhall customer care. Awaiting a hire car as the nearest date for repair is November 26th !! 😕. So a bit of a downer for me tbh. Trying to stay up beat but with my anxiety it's tuff at times. ,😢😢. 

James.

[El Gecko 1344]

Hang in there @InsaneJim69 we will get through it. I've also been having 1:1 car troubles for the better part of 3 months now, finally (hopefully) getting to the light at the end of the tunnel, but man it's been a long journey.

For stuff going on this weekend, I've got a fun and RC-related honey-do in progress right now. We picked up a cordless hedge trimmer from a neighbor with some wheezy old NiCds in it, which is probably the reason it was free. "Well." I thought. "I can fix that."

I was never aware of "4/5" size sub c batteries before, but apparently they're not very popular. Almost every battery of that size are NiCd--I ended up having to buy a 25-pack to get 4/5 size NiMHs with decent capacity (2200mAh) but at least that means I will have quite a few cells left over for RC projects

Right now six of them are gluing together into formation for the trimmer pack. Tonight is phase 2 of glue, and then hopefully soldering and testing tomorrow. This particular model of hedge trimmer came labeled as a 6.0V (5-cell) system, with a blank 6th cell in the battery pack made out of a roll of paper. Well, since it's got the room, and it runs even better on 7.2V, it's getting More Power! (insert Tim Allen meme)

The last step will be to cut the plug off the old charger to make an adapter that will allow me to charge the hedge trimmer via my RC charger, so there's no need to remove the battery from the unit each time.

@Mad Ax Can't wait to hear how Scaler Nats goes--hope you do a writeup this time as well, I really enjoyed your last one

[Mad Ax 9329]

So, watcha all up to this weekend?

My wife took herself off to Weymouth for a solo break this morning, and my daughter is on school holiday, so this morning I took her to a local woodland for a walk and a picnic.  Then took her over my parents for the weekend, so I now have the place to myself for a couple of days!

When I got back from dropping my daughter off I scraped the mud off the SCX10, then tidied up the parts trays on the workbench so it's totally clear for a weekend of messing around.  Now about to head in to cook myself a pizza and probably kick back with a film.

Tomorrow - might get up early for a walk if the weather is good, otherwise chilling around the house.  I might even switch on the studio and try again to master my latest album - it's been almost ready for release for a couple of years now.  Maybe if I could get my last 3 albums to an acceptable master quality I could release them properly.  Or I might just spend the day in the workshop playing with toy cars.

Tomorrow night - reheat the last of my best ever chilli con carne from the freezer, eat it with nachos and hot salsa, then maybe work on the novel.

Sunday - probably all day in the workshop.  Not sure if I should work on the scale rigs and get them back up together after last week's Nationals, or get my hearse running for Halloween treat delivery duty next weekend, or dig out some axles and iron and start working on another custom monster truck or something.

Sunday eve - probably have to drive to Bristol to collect my daughter, so that's 2 hours there and back, then not sure if the wife will want to sit down and relax with me or if I'll be free for my usual Sunday studio night.

Have yourselves a fab one, whatever you're doing