Almost did the thing I’ve been thinking about in the garage. I did build myself a second shelf under my work bench, and tear down most of the old work bench that I keep behind my table saw. I took 50% of it a part, and then cut it down so it’s now just an 8 inch high shelf with heavy drawers and my textiles tool box on it. So “technically” I have more visual space to manoeuvre around, but I still have spots for things I need to keep up off the floor. I do, however, have more clearance around my table saw, just not 100% of what i was hoping for. I have my eye on building extra shelves at the head of my garage, which should allow me to disassemble at least one permanently parked cart. So making progress, just slowly.
I didn’t have any work emails until after 9:00am, so I was working quickly to get it done. A brand new report has come in. So I’ll be busy for several days atleast. Getting hot out there today! Wind us kicking up something nasty too. Got the kids laundry in, but not sorted. Wee!
One of the few things that bothers me while doing syrup is a face full of heat and wind blown ash while tending to the evaporator. Catch a faceful and then your eyes water, and later on it feels as though you’ve sunburned your eyes. They go scratchy & dry. Day one was better, the air was very still, no wind gusts to catch you by surprise. Day two – not so much. Gusty, breezy, blowey even. Sunny and warm though. I got a whole winter’s worth of vitamin D direct from the sun after a five hour mid day shift. I have to imagine given the quantity of sap buckets left over that we will continue to boil sap throughout the day today aswell. Bring on those double digit spring sun shiny days! I’d crack a beer if I drank it. An icy cold Radler would go down a treat in this weather. Light beer and fruit juices. Very European. Apparently.
I believe today is Monday. I’m going to have tonnes of laundry to do tomorrow. I imagine quite a bit of work to do as well. I’m still going over in my head how to break down various objects in my shop to reclaim space, but not have to buy more stuff to accommodate the items that I need to move around and store. I think that I can build more shelves with the items I break down to maximize what I all ready have in place. I just need to be bold or impulsive and start! Decisions – decisions.
The kids will be up looking for chocolates any moment now. This day will be chaotic, and full of mayhem & mischief. Looking forward to getting the sap boiled down into syrup over the next few days. The sun is up & shining on another wonderful day.
Ringette is here for a brief stint, so the kids are busy skating their hearts out. I was up before 7:00am on a Saturday, the sun is shining, and it’s a long weekend. Hallelujah!
Reclaiming space by decluttering and purging junk is a favored pass time of mine. Cardboard, broken stuff, wood chunks, old crappy particle board furniture, you name it, I love to break it down and throw it away once it has finished being useful. Although in regards to particle board, if the pieces are big enough, and still smooth, I may save a panel or two for making jigs for wood working, but the item itself will no longer be around. Waste not – want not. Reduce, reuse, recycle, and all that jazz.
I am really wrestling with what I’d like to do with my garage shop space. It is very tight in there. I need to sell off a tool or two that I don’t really use (namely the radial arm saw) as that could be replaced by upgrading my mitre saw to a 12″ saw blade version, with a sliding feature. I regain a few feet of open space on the floor around my table saw, and can remove one mostly unused item from the shop. Now I do use the radial arm saw because it has a 16 inch reach to it, but a larger chop saw would just about do the same, so rather than hauling items from one station to another, I could do them all in one spot, forever more. Sounds great. One – slight hitch. New sliding compound mitre saws are expensive. Like nearly $1,000.00 expensive. So not going to happen any time soon.
I also toy with getting rid of my mastercraft work bench in favour of a two tiered rolling tool box. But, this may be a vanity thing, rather than a necessity. I would like to have more room in the drawers to not have to pile wrenches, and sockets on top of each other, but do I need a full tool chest to do so? I can easily justify it to myself, but… you know. Probably shouldn’t. My garage isn’t just a wood shop. It’s also where I maintain my lawn mower and weed eater. Where we store exterior lights and decorations for several holidays, it’s where I work on minor (very minor) car stuff, like light bulbs, coolant, brake fluid, power steering fluid, and the wheels. It’s also where I have my arc welding machine, and angle grinder and such. So I like having this stored together by activity, but separated by task. I want to reclaim space, but on the other hand I want to maintain separate zones too. It’s a mess – my head. I want, I want, wah-wah-wah.
I realize how particular I am, don’t you worry about that. I see it every day in my kids. Stubbornness comes from the wife, particularity from my side of the family. Pragmatic, pedantic & particular. I’m fun at parties. So yeah. Spring cleaning is great. I have big plans, no budget, and the tastes of a trillionaire Saudi King. Ha. The real question is, would a single or double cabinet actually save me space in the end? I like the idea of my unused rags, and finishes, and paint not being covered in dust and debris. And then being able to tear down the now motionless tool carts I build. They haven’t moved an inch since I parked them in their current locations about 6 years ago. I can reclaim the castor wheels off of at least 2 carts for future projects.
Something I need to consider is: do I really intend to optimize the work space, or am I bored and looking to introduce something new to the mix just because? Ooh. That’s a tough one. I do get angry when building some items because of how little space there is, but I am also a notorious room rearranger to make things feel new again. There’s more here than I care to get into. So happy Easter Long Weekend, Good Friday, etc etc… Ciao Bella!
Can’t be resting on those laurels for long, so today we acknowledge what we’ve finished, and then we turn to face the front and keep on truckin’. I managed to finish book number eleven (11) of my twelve books in a calendar year challenge. Mo Hayder’s “Ritual”, which was… anticlimactic at best? A 400 plus page book about two or more adults who are unable to deal with loss, whether it was recent or from their childhood. And a sub plot about ghastly mutilation & murder. I thought there was going to be a bigger build up to pay off, but, eh! Not bad, not awful. I mean I finished it, and we all know I have no problem giving up on books part way in. But… a bit of a let down in the end. I think that is the third or fourth Mo Hayder book I’ve read. The others were far superior. This one was more melancholy than suspenseful. Tick it off the list. Book eleven is in the can! So I turn to another Richard Morgan book to complete the twelve. His 2008 novel “The Steel Remains”. More light hearted and humorous than “Black Man” or any of the Altered Carbon series. Let us hope it stays good so that I can complete my 12 book challenge. Although if I get enough pages between multiple unfinished books, I’d take the page count of what was read, add it up, and if it crosses 250, I’d call my challenge done. If I’m being honest. Cover to cover is the goal, but I’ll take partial credit for pages read in a pinch.
Second item on the list was to finally sit down and watch Sony Studios’ “Morbius”. Which felt much like “Venom”, in that it was ok. Obviously lower budget than standard MCU fare, but not horrendous. It wasn’t a Uli Boll film, so it wasn’t unwatchable. Slightly better than Venom 2, the Carnage one with Woody Harrelson. It even had one of the actors from Andor in it. I’ve had that dvd in my possession since Christmas, so I’m glad to finally take that off of my personal to do list. The kids had dance last night, and costume fittings, and dinner with Grandma, so I had an additional 90 minutes on my hands. Nearly three hours of free time to watch a movie, eat, finish my book, and shower in peace.
Also, I finished all the sanding on the Urn. Up to 800 grit with hand sanding using a rubber hand block. Buttery smooth. I used a torch to make the grain pop, and then needed to move through the grits again back up to 800 grit. No matter. Looks good. I’m happy with it. I even managed to get some Osmo finish on it, and buff it off with my polisher. Very nice! Today I want to add feet, and perhaps some spacers to stop the lid sliding around. We’ll see how we feel later on. But I can see the end of the tunnel on this one. Glad to put it behind me. I have since learned that the recipient is not sure if they want it anymore, so I may keep it for myself, for future use. I’m not afraid of that kind of preparation. Live and learn.
I have burgundy, yellow, emerald green, and this blue felt to choose from. Think HP House colours.
I’m also just about ready to rewash my resin kit in warm soapy water, to make sure all of the mould release is gone. I don’t want any part of this thing to peel or puckers or wear off prematurely. Given how much time and effort it takes to test fit, sand, and scribe lines, and fill holes, and pin together, and find work around for misshapen joints, I don’t fancy my expensive paints peeling off of it just hours after laying it down because I missed a spot.
So here we are, Thursday. Looking at the four day long weekend for Easter. By next Wednesday the temperatures supposed to reach above 20°C. That’s wild. I’d settle for three to five weeks at the 14°C range, and rains over night, and storms while we’re all sound asleep. As I understand Ottawa had an ice storm recently, with parts of the city without power. Yikes.
Oh in work related news, we managed to get just about all items off to the printers. Some items that require a third parties input were held up, but that’s honestly to be expected at this point. So yeah! Fantastic news. Ciao Bella!
I have finally managed to get all three pieces built, sanded up to 800 grit, and now it has one coat of clear coat on it that has been buffed to a higher than usual (for me) sheen. I have it drying in the garage, where it can spend the next 36 hours off gassing before I hand it off. All that is left to add are the tiny rubber feet for the bottom, so as not to scuff the surface where it will reside.
I added one tiny step, by using a blow torch to add some colour, and visual texture to the central column. I am glad I did a test burn on some scrap red Oak, so that I could change my plan up a bit mid stream to work on the central column and not the cap/case topper. A darker base makes it feel more grounded, and less visually monotone. The grain pops with the Osmo finish I used, so it looks pretty sharp. I do like how the blue felt looks against the red/tan tones of the red oak. I could have gone a bit more fancy, by using dove tails or a box joint for the central column, but the butt joints are sturdy. So C’est la vie.
I will need to blow off the felt with my compressor to get rid of the dust, and add four feet, then it’s off to the future resident. Tick that one off the to-do list!
No finish, but assembled.Lid off central column with tray still inside.Lid, central column and removable tray.All three pieces with clear coat finish applied.
Needs a touch more clean up, and out the door it goes! Happy Easter weekend everybody!
For some reason, unknown to me now, I thought I had written a post already today. But low and behold, I had not! Calamity averted. But still – don’t look at me. I’m embarrassed. Such folly. To go about your day, in full chest swelled glory thinking you have done something you most absolutely have not. Just showing my whole ass out there. Whistling in the wind.
In other news, been a busy one so far today. Nothing crazy. Not run off my feet. But busy enough to have forgotten to eat breakfast. Though I did get the kids off to school. Unless they are sat in the car patiently waiting. Hold up. Gimme a sec… nope. Nope, I dropped them off. No attendance reminders from the school board, we’re all good. Good in the hood.
I started the lengthy sanding process for The Urn build. Yes – that is still ongoing. I’d love to get it out the door for Friday. So far I’m all sanded up to 600 grit. I am toying with 800. Not totally certain if it’s worth it or not. Can you tell the different between 600 grit and 800 grit on Red Oak? Feels buttery smooth as is. Is another 1.5 hrs of sanding going to improve the whole by that much? I still have to wipe on the oil finish, and buff it off to a healthy sheen. Then screw the rubber feet on and hand it off for a few bucks.
Hope you are having a better Tuesday than I. Although, I will say this, I did manage to get ALL of my tax stuff sorted yesterday. So that has taken some stress off of my mind/shoulders. Glad I saved my pennies for tax time. I didn’t go gang busters, but I had a better year than usual in 2022. Let us hope we maintain or increase that this year!
Something to keep in mind when you choose to work with resin, and resin based kits. The material is brittle, doesn’t handle torque particularly well, and warps like a mother fucker. Nothing a bit of hot water, clamps and a flat surface can’t handle, but expect delays, and lots, and lots of additional work that you wouldn’t find with a Bandai quality plastic snap fit model.
Also, rule #2, for anybody keeping track, casting quality. Pay the premium for high quality casts from the original developer, don’t chince out and buy a recasting, as the quality will suffer, and add considerable time to your build. That’s IF you can over come the casting deficiencies you encounter. I can sculpt, but I don’t do hard edged mechanical stuff, so my best hope is that the outer armor has better casting quality that will hide much of the misshapen, or poorly defined details of the internal structure. Round holes are oblong, octagonal holes for nuts, are off centre and warped, details are lumpy masses, so… yeah. Don’t get suckered into buying the 1/3 priced stuff, as it’s going to cost you in the end anyway.
But, having said that I have managed, over the last five or six days, to build up roughly 80% of the internal structure for this massive (comparatively) model kit. I have the feet, legs, waist, lower torso, arms & shoulders built. I just need to figure out the upper torso and electronic wiring harness portion, and then I can wash (again – to remove all of the mould release agent) and begin to prime the internal bits. I’m ok if test fitting armor panels rubs off the primer, it will help me achieve a better fit. Plus painting won’t start for a while, beyond the priming stage. I may get this to a point where I can leave it for a good stretch, for a rainy day, or the cold weather again.
I started late because I was intimidated by all the resin (And Covid), and just how much fixing, and rejiggering I knew I was going to need to do. But now that I’m in it, and not in a rush, I am not too overwhelmed by it anymore. Funny how that works. Also for one thing the pour spouts on every single piece of armor need to be cut off, and sanded, which is several weeks worth of work. I can do that when I stop going outdoors due to the cold. I now, as the temperatures rise, want to work outside, or in my garage shop. I’ve made considerable headway on my Urn build, and I need to sand, test fit, pilot hole drill, and paint the Moose fence topper for my parents. Then figure out shipping across Canada to Campbell River BC.
So I promised some pictures, here they are in no particular order.
The feet, legs, groin, waist portion loosely assembled as a cohesive unit. With the arms and shoulders set on the table, elbows facing up.A closer look at the messy details of the resin castings on the internal frame. Yikes!A size comparison of the legs & waist to a finished MG Gundam ZZ. This thing should be between 16-18 inches tall when all is said and done. A real chonker.
I spent some time on Saturday while it was warm working through the Urn build. I used wood filler to plug the pin head nail holes. I also touched up one mitered corner on the tray, and assembled the cover that goes over the main chamber & nesting tray. I have an obscene amount of sanding to do, and then a wipe on, polish off wax finish that I hope makes it all look cohesive, and wonderful. No stain for this one, just clear coat. I am toying with the idea of using a bit of trim around the base, but we’ll see how it all turns out after sanding, and rounding over some edges with a router. Easter weekend quickly approaches. I wanted to hand it off then. So I best get cracking! Ciao Bella!
Oh boy! She sure is shining sunny and bright this morning, it must be absolutely lovely outside! FALSE! It is currently minus eleven (-11) heading to the balmy temperature of minus nine (-9) to then hover somewhere around minus four (-4) for the rest of the day, that is until the sun sets once more and the temperatures plummet again. Spring, especially early spring around here is a nightmare to plan for. Will it be hotter and sunny, windy and cool, rainy and cold, blustery and frigid? Sun, rain, wind, snow all on the same day? Sure thing pal, we got it coming right up. Special order just to ruin your day. Start the afternoon at the park sweating through your sweater, leave shivering in the freezing rain and flurries, and deeply plunging temps. Such fun! The ground is a soft mush, that smells awful. Puddles are stagnant and salty from the road grit getting pushed up onto the lawns.
I was thinking of taking my older child to see the new D&D movie, but I think it may be too scary. Lots of dead ghouls and jumping mimics and such. Not sure she can take that sort of a theater experience just yet. I wish that Mario Bros movie was out all ready. That looks silly, and colourful, and kinda fun.
I was going to do a brief write up about my resin build, but I will do that later this coming week, with photos! Oh, colour photos. Nice. So sit tight for that juicy piece.
I did something yesterday, I bought something for the house. No not a water softner or fridge. Though I feel the softner will come into play within the next two to three weeks. Don’t you worry about that. No, what I bought was a smaller generator for the house. Something that can run the fridge, and charge a phone & tablet for 11 hours on a single tank of regular 87 proof gasoline. Coming up on one year since the May 2-4 Djerecho wind storm, and twenty six plus hours without power. Now I didn’t buy a huge, nor massively expensive machine, so I can’t keep the AC going, nor fully power a house. But I can atleast keep our food from going bad. Which cost me half of what I paid for the generator, so I think it’ll be worth it over a few years of use. Plus – I can take it to the cottage, or out and about to run smaller power tools, where cords won’t reach. Utility. Functionality. A pre-planned preparation for the frequent black outs and power outages that we get here in Whitchurch-Stouffville every single summer. Now that’s what I call smarts. Plan ahead!
So nothing much on the docket for this lazy Sunday in what is now April. Didn’t see or hear too many April Fools jokes this year. They seem to fall flat during this time of Covid, and the mass waves of disinformation efforts coming from every conceivable grift opportunity. I saw what turned out to be AI generated images for an infant’s sky diving school. I saw Dave Bautista’s faux comedy special ad on Twitter, and there was something else but I can’t remember it, so it must not have been that funny/memorable. Maybe next year! Ciao Bella.
Greatwall Studios Graphic Design 
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