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Posts posted by Dave Hunt
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4 hours ago, Tony_S said:
I needed to cut some short pieces of brass tube and I am now the possessor of a tiny brass tube cutter. I was thinking it was a pity there wasn’t a mini version of my one for plumbing and it was nice to find there was.
Tony, any chance of more details such as make, size range of tubes it will cut, availability etc?
Dave
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Regarding my previous, it has just occurred that my suggestion would only be correct if the spring was wound clockwise.
I do realise that I should get out more......
Dave
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If he learns to do it properly, would it then be 'the rights of spring'?
Dave
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A lovely thing to see, Douglas. Well done that man!
Dave
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Went to see Dad at 2130 last night and sat with him until nearly midnight. He was happy to see me but I'm not sure it really helped with his sleeping trouble. Jill is going to see him this afternoon then I'll be going back tonight. We're hoping that the endoscopy he's due to have on Tuesday will indicate some way forward for his treatment.
Apart from visiting Dad I managed to get some workshop time in yesterday but managed to make a botch of what I was doing so it will have to be redone today. As our Northern Heights of Leeds correspondent would put it - Pah!
Havea good Sunday all and get the loins girded for another week ahead.
Dave
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4 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:
If you look at the above video, you can see the sizable exhaust plumage coming from the engine. Mine has a much much smaller plume, meaning I’m guessing that there is less steam in the system. Or it could be a blocked line. However, on the very first time I ever ran the engine, it was about the same as it is now, will run but no power.
Do we have any ideas?
Douglas
I'm expert on small steam engines but it strikes me that your problem can be narrowed down to: lack of steam production and therefore low system pressure; leak(s) in the steam circuit; or restrictions/blockage(s) in the circuit. Your efforts with the burner and fuel would suggest that sufficient heat is being applied so I would tend to discount the first option, leaving leaks and/or restrictions as the probable culprits. It should possible to apply some sort of pressure test to the circuit to expose any leaks but I will leave it to HH and others more knowledgeable than me to suggest how that can be done; similarly, methods of clearing restrictions (maybe caused by limescale build-up?) are the province of those more familiar with the subject.
I hope that the above, despite not offering direct advice, can add to the debate. I sympathise with your frustration to get the Mogul performing as it should.
Dave
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We once considered moving to Cornwall and Jill remarked that with my love of Cornish pasties it could be damaging to my waistline. Having seen the Cornish cake report I think that we're I to live there I would soon be rivalling HH in body mass, or if not that much at least PB proportions.
Went to see Dad last night at 2130 and stayed until just short of midnight. He was glad to see me but I'm not sure whether it helped him get to sleep. The doctor there has arranged for both of us to be allowed to visit (independently that is) so Jill is going this afternoon and I'll go again tonight.
Happy Sunday people.
Dave
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Some years ago we went on a guided tour of the Caol Isla distillery on the northern tip of Islay and were told, like Northmoor, that a lot of the production went for blending. The guide, who was an ex-chief distiller, said that the most highly paid people in the whisky producing business are the chief blenders for the big names as they have to be able to produce the same taste year after year when the availability of the different distillations varies a lot.
He also told us that the supposed effect that local water supplies have on the taste of single malts is a myth and that in dry years his distillery had sometimes received deliveries of fresh water in tankers. The two things that do affect the taste more than anything else are how the barley is dried and the shape of the necks of the distillation vessels, which govern exactly what the distillate is. Apparently the latter is so important that when new distillation vessels are required it is common for the necks to be cut off and left in situ whilst new bodies are welded on underneath.
The most surprising thing, though, was that he was teetotal and had never tasted what he had spent a working lifetime producing, basing his judgement of the distillates purely on smell.
Dave
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Bit of a downer of a day regarding Dad (full story over on ERs) and I'm beginning to fear the worst. However, nil desperandum I guess and I'm trying to keep the black dog in his kennel as it wouldn't help anyone if he got out.
Sorry to be a bit of a wet blanket.
Night all.
Dave
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It's been a very mixed day. This morning started with a small victory when my campaign to get Dad taken for his second Pfizer vaccine succeeded - the hospital have so far declined to do this as they weren't prepared to fund transport to take him to the vaccination hub on the basis that it wasn't essential treatment but after I managed via a very helpful nursing sister at the hub to contact the Trust CEO they changed their minds.
Then the hospital doctor rang and asked me to go and see her (it's only a 24 bed community hospital with a single visiting doctor). She told me that Dad's general health has declined markedly, particularly his eating, and he is only able to take in liquids. Hence he is going on Tuesday for an emergency endoscopy and she warned me that on the basis of her examination the results may be not exactly encouraging.
I then went to see Dad and he was quite distressed by the trouble he has getting to sleep. The ward sister said that he keeps asking for Jill or me at night so as of tomorrow they are allowing either of us to go in the late evening at about 2130 and sit with him in an attempt to get him to sleep. Jill is doing it tomorrow then we are taking it in turns.
Funnily enough, despite all this and the black dog trying to get out of his kennel my modelling mojo is still flickering and I actually managed to do an hour in the workshop this evening. Is that strange?
Dave
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Douglas, you have no idea how encouraging it is to read what you have just posted. Thank you.
Dave
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7 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:
That reminds me of when I was stationed at the NAD Souda Bay, Crete in the ground support shop...
When were you at Souda Bay, Dave? I passed through there several times in the '70s and '80s flying F4s.
Dave
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1 hour ago, simontaylor484 said:
Castings
Its all in the pour allegedly
It used to fascinate me (and still does) how the molten iron just flows through the mould and settles.
I used to love watching the processes in the foundry
In the mid 1990s I talked to a chap at the California State Railroad Museum who had worked at ALCO and who had seen the cast- steel beds for some of the Big Boys being poured. Apparently it took days to set up and involved a large team of very skilled men under the direction of one of the most senior foundry supervisors. The chap I was talking to said that nowadays it wouldn't be possible to do it as the necessary expertise simply doesn't exist.
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When I was on my first Squadron in Singapore in 1968 there was a rather amusing incident when a spare part for one of our Hunters wasn't locally available and had to be ordered from UK on the 'Early Bird' priority system. I don't recall exactly what the part was except that it was something fairly small so the engineers were somewhat surprised to receive a signal saying that it was being despatched by a special flight. A couple of days later a Belfast arrived and a very large crate was unloaded, which was found to contain............. a Canberra tailplane. The stock number on the order had been a tad inaccurate but no-one had apparently realised that a Hunter Squadron requesting a large bit of Canberra was, shall we say, unusual.
Fortunately there was a Canberra Squadron about two hundred yards away that took the tailplane off our hands and the part we needed arrived on a scheduled VC10 flight a day or so later.
Dave
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Gorgeous bits of the model maker's art aren't they?
Dave
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Another windy and wet day in North Hipposhire. The fall of blossom from the cherry tree in the front garden makes it look as though we've had very localised snow.
Off to visit Dad shortly and with luck have a word with the staff to see what the immediate future holds.
TTFN
Dave
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And the really sad thing is that while prices are spiralling in China etc. we in the western world are losing (have lost?) the skills and wherewithal to be able to resurrect the manufacturing and repair facilities we used to possess. I guess that this is all down to the bean counters who have concentrated purely on today's balance sheet/profit with wilful disregard for the future. As my Grandad used to say, "Think what you're doing if it's just for today; it can bite you on the bum tomorrow if you aren't careful."
Dave
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Returning to the theme of my old Fords when in Singapore in the late 60s, they were kept going by a gent called Mr. Hong, who had a garage just outside the airfield. Hong and his lads could perform minor miracles with cars and I had cause to thank him on more than one occasion. For instance, my Consul developed an alarming stutter and kept cutting out one evening when I was on my way home. I managed to get it as far as Hong's where it was diagnosed with a cracked baseplate for the points and I asked if he had a spare. No, he replied, but one of the lads would fix it; would I like a beer while it was done? The outcome was that while Hong and I sat in the sun and chatted, one of the lads made a new baseplate, fixed all the bits to it and had the car running again in about 45 minutes. The cost was minimal. Oh that such service could be available here today.
Dave
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22 hours ago, PhilJ W said:
Probably former taxi's.
The taxis were nearly all Mercedes; it was only us underpaid servicemen who ran the rust bucket Fords.
Dave
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Dave Harris is an amazing bloke. He is Secretary of both the Executive Committee and the Collections Committee of the Midland Railway Society as well as being the Co-ordinator of the Midland Railway Study Centre in the Derby Museum of Making in the Silk Mill. He fields a great number of enquiries that the Study Centre receives and the amount of work he does for the MRS is colossal. It is no exaggeration to say that he is the main reason that both the Society and the Study Centre run as well as they do.
He's also a really nice bloke.
Dave
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6 hours ago, Northmoor said:
7 or 8 miles - Pah!
One day many years ago I was driving into Dunfermline. On a not especially large roundabout, it was dry on the way in, on the exit the whole road was wet with standing water deep enough to give the steering a slight "kick". It had actually rained heavily in one location and not at all probably less than 100 feet away.
Something like that cost me the first car I bought when I was posted to Singapore in 1968. It was a Mk 2 Consul and after paying for it I drove off in bright sunshine on a dry road but on rounding a bend about 200 yards away the road was flooded and I aquaplaned into the monsoon drain at the side, ending upside down but in one piece and fortunately above the water level. The car was a write off and I'd only owned it about two minutes. Unfortunately I hadn't got round to insuring it (not many of us ever did) so when I bought another Mk. 2 Consul the next day I was a bit more careful.
Dave
PS, the cars were second hand and not in what could be described as in prime condition so the expense wasn't as great as would first appear.
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Mike, what type of suspension will you be using on this wagon?
Dave
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8 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:
They are General Motors, around 1968 to 1972 era. I think that the blue one is a Pontiac, possibly a GTO.
I suppose the next question is does that tie in with the type and condition of the locomotive? Over to the experts in that field.
I saw Dad yesterday at Whitchurch and although he still can't stand unaided he seemed better than before. The scans he had ruled out blood clots as a cause of his pain when trying to stand but the medics haven't come up with any further ideas as yet. The next time he will see a doctor is on Tuesday morning so I've booked a visit for later in the day and hope to be able to discuss his case with someone.
The nurse who looked after him before the ambulance arrived at the Oswestry vaccine centre when he had the fall has sent him a get well card with the message that as soon as he is able she will personally organise a second injection for him and look after him when he attends. Aren't some people lovely?
Enjoy Sunday folks.
Dave
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52 minutes ago, polybear said:
It wasn't us, we weren't there and we nothing about it....
Heard that one before - "Some big bears did it and ran away - honest."
Hearty congratulations and many thanks to Bill for what he has been doing for the benefit of all of us. I'll buy you a beer (or several) when next we meet ( I would offer cake and whisky but you know the sort that attracts....)
Dave
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The Night Mail
in Modelling musings & miscellany
Posted
Some breaking news Chez Hunt. The water heater in the kitchen just made a sort of groaning noise followed by a loud pop and the ring main CB tripped. There is also a strong smell of burning plastic. I suspect that it has become an ex water heater.
Bu**er.
Dave