Testing the waters.....or is that rails?

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flightops

flightops

Active Member
First off, I'm not a "model train guy", so go easy on me.

I'm retired Military (30 years SAR, helicopters) and a lifelong gear-head. In the garage is a Corvette, a Mustang, a Mini Cooper and several "liter bikes" either in riding state or in some phase of a "project". There's also my truck and the wife's EV, but those are our driving vehicles. The only car that's still a project is the Mustang, and that will be wrapping up soon.

As far as modelling goes, I build RC 4x4's and HO slot car tracks. In the works right now is a road track and a drag strip.

Picked up a cheap, old Bachmann box set the other day and have posted a more thorough thread in the HO sub-forum.

:)
 
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Welcome aboard, we are glad to have you with us!

Feel free to share pictures of any of your hobbies, we love pictures.
 
Welcome…🌵

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Hello and Welcome flightops!
First off, thank you for your service.
I have loved model trains as long as I can remember, but one of my other favorite hobbies (I actually have quit a few...:rolleyes:) is RC cars, diecast customs (In part, because I love real life cars) and would like to start collecting slot cars. Can't wait to see what you do. 👍
The Ford Mustang is one of my favorite cars (If not my all time favorite!). What generation is it? I like so many...
Gosh. You could even make a continues thread on the form for anyone to put anything car related! :D
Anyway, If you ever want to talk other hobbies, I am open! Maybe you could give me some pointers on slot cars, as I embark on this journey.

Welcome again. And Regards.
 
Cars:
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That's a 2025 AWD EV. First EV we're ever owned. We did the math and it saves us around $500 CAD a month in fuel costs. That's accounting for the electricity charges as well (we charge off peak hours). I gotta say, the thing accelerates like a bat out of hell. I swear I can feel my eyeballs going out of round when I stomp it! I test drove an Ford Lighting EV truck last year and that thing was even more hellacious in acceleration. I know EV can be a very divisive thing, but if this is the kind of performance they offer....sign me up! ;)

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Tools. I both rebuild, modify and update them as well as use them. My "Crown jewel" is the 1954 Atlas lathe with a Baldor DC motor conversion:

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Mill:

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I love the old jacobs superchucks and snatch them up and rebuild them whenever I find them:

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Best chucks I've ever used. Pre-offshore parts chucks only though,
 
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I enjoy rebuilding the old Eagle oiling cans. Hard to find around here and I snatch 'em up when I can. They work great with the oiling points on the Atlas lathe. Modern cans are junk (by comparison) and just don't cut it for me:

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3d printing is another hobby that enables my other hobbies:

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Look carefully and you'll see the 3d printed gear in the drive-train. Been there about 5 years now and works great! it even damped a lot of the "ringing" out of the metal gear-train, making the lathe much more pleasant to spend time around.
 
Some RC stuff:

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That's a WPL body, the rest is aftermarket or custom. the electronics are custom as well. Hobbywing quickrun 1080 esc No longer a toy, its a serious crawler, even if it is quite small.

Working on 3d printing a Landrover wagon RC:

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This ones a bigger scale:

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It's also going to be a serious crawler. Portal axles, hobbywing Quicrun Fusion motor/esc, etc.

Have a couple other prerunner and rock bouncer styles.
 
I also like to mess with old sewing machines.

Industrial walking foot converted to servo motor drive:

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More "retail" versions:

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And my favorite and most complex one. A Singer 319W from 1957:

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Rebuild is nearly complete. The amount of tasks this thing can do with just levers and cams is amazing. No computerization or electronics whatsoever (besides the motor and pedal that is).

As you can probably guess by now, I have a slight pref for that "metallic teal" color...;)
 
I also dabble in amateur astronomy. I use a Dobsonian 10" reflector (sometimes referred to as a "light bucket") with Synscan "GoTo" hardware/software:

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Here's one from the last solar eclipse. I use a special Badder film over the aperture for safe sun viewing. Never look at the sun without protection!

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Those are sunspots on the sun, not something on the lens.

Jupiter and it's four major moons. Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto:

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Looks better in the eyepiece, those are just quick iPhone pictures.
 
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Lastly, a little offload fun when I feel like it:

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8x8 Argo. Canadian created toy. Amphibious. Tracks are for snow or swamp. Certainly not fast (about 10mph topped out) but it literally goes anywhere. You wouldn't want it to go any faster anyways. High speed and skid steering is a sure recipe for sphincter tightening fear. And there's no suspension other than the tires. But that's also why it's rated to haul 1500 lbs of cargo. And it runs for 8 hours on a tankful...

Friends with quads often call me to come get them when they break down as the Ago will drag them out of the woods upside down if it has too. We go for rides and the blast past me, only to watch me catch them and cruise on by when they hit bad mud or water. They're covered head to toe and I'm wearing a tshirt and drinking a coffee......I tell them I ride smarter, not harder. Only bad thing about the Argo is if it gets stuck or you break down somewhere. the only thing that's going to get you out of another Argo......or a helicopter! ;)

From the back of our property:

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And the wife and I decided a few years ago that I was just getting too old to deal with the yard and clearing snow, even if using a walk behind snowblower. We came into a little extra money when her mom passed and decided to put it to a use her Mom would approve of:

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We also have the plow, the 5" deck and the 3 bagger catcher for it. Honestly, if I had known how much better/easier it was going to make my lie, I would have found a way to buy one decades ago...
 
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TheXModelRailroader said:
I am honestly amazed! :eek:
The Foxbody looks cool, as well as the corvette! The bikes are sick. 👍
Click to expand...
Well, this is the other end of a lifetime of occupations and obsessions. A lot of it we saved up for, other pieces we were fortunate (in some cases unfortunate) to have a little extra money at the right place/time and a lot of the rest of it I buy used/broken and refurbish myself.

I also have a tendency to keep something when I buy it as well as keep up on the maintenance requirements. The Fox I've had since 83 (it's an 83). The corvette I paid a little over 5g (with problems) from a small severance package I got and fixed it myself. The Mini was also bought for under 5g and I rebuilt it. My wife always wanted a mini and when she had a little bit of her parents estate money left, I said buy one. It can be a "last gift" from her Mom.

Same with most of my tools, bought quality all along, took care of them as the years went on. Except the Mill, which I had to buy new.

Heck, I still have the socket set I bought when I was 16 years old! I bought quality when I bought tools and just keep them up. I was an auto mechanic in my late teens/early 20's. Then went military aviation and eventually into SAR aircrew.

I'm that "he can fix anything guy". If it's broke I either know how to fix it or can figure it out. If you can buy parts for something, fixing it is a doodle. If you can't, I can make them.

I prefer to buy tools and learn skills rather than pay someone else to fix something. Because when it's done, I have the skills to fix it if it breaks again and already have any needed "special tools" in one of my boxes.

We're certainly not wealthy by any means, but we are smart with the money we have earned over our lifetimes. In truth, the credit goes to my missus. She's much better with money than I am. I keep and eye on things just to be aware, but she's the real money master for us. She's just got and amazing head and discipline when it comes to money. Between our pensions and her management of our funds, money will never be an issue for us. But we're definitely "comfortable" in retirement. Best thing I ever did was marry that woman...;)

Not wealthy, but we don't have to deny ourselves mush and we're "comfortable". We don't take trips, we just don't feel the need to. I covered most of the globe in my service anyways. Other than Russia and China, not many places I haven't been. Wife is also military and she still serves in the Reserves.

I was medically retired from service, so my "golden parachute" is actually pretty generous, all things considered.
 
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