Early Risers.

[TheQ]

Hmm, not a lot of garden with the house, I suspect Mr and Mrs Gwiwer will be putting in for an allotment.

 

If Gwiwer gets a move in there's an unmentionable show on in Barnstable on the 29th July and one in yealmpton  7th Oct other than that , that's your lot for this year within 100 miles. Same problem as Norfolk they don't hold unmentionable shows in the sea.

Edited June 14, 2023 by TheQ

[froobyone]

2 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

LEGO was too expensive for my parents when I was young.

 

I similarly went straight to Airfix and model railways (at least as far as I could afford myself). LEGO introduced their Space and Castle themes (which came with small pocket money sets rather than the old big bucket of house bricks) in the 1970s in time for my youngest brother. While in theory I had 'aged out', in my later teenaged years I probably played with them more than he did.

 

As an adult, the Lord of the Rings theme lured me to LEGO. This was followed by the reintroduced Harry Potter theme.

 

While they're not very good for anything truly to scale the ability to reinterpret / rebuild without the frustration of messed up scale models through poor application of glue and/or paint makes them fun. If things break - they are fixable. If you don't like the way something turned out - they can be rebuilt.

Same for me in the 70s. I had a bucket of assorted Lego only. Every house, every spaceship, every space pirate enclave I built, looked like Pride month. Not necessarily a bad thing, except when you want to build a world based on hue consistency. 

I too was drawn back into Lego as an adult but by the Technics sets. Starting with the pneumatic back hoe digger in 2005, since then I have built the entire range of the the big electronic kits. I traditionally get a set for Christmas and I know of no greater joy, apart from unboxing a train set, than spending the next few days of the festive season staring furiously at some instructions and having to rebuild a gearbox four times because I can't actually read instructions apparently. I've now run out of space to house them sadly, so my Lego days are over I think.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Another busy day here, the workshop door has now been repaired. There is still a little more work to do before it’s ready for painting, but at least it looks a lot better. After gluing the new pieces to the workshop door, I had a good look at the area that I’m thinking would be suitable for a sump pump. Measurements were taken and plans sketched out. Whilst I was doing so, I measured the area outside the cellar, to see what the volume is, and then worked out roughly how much water I bailed out, somewhere in the region of 85 - 95 gallons (imperial), that’s a lot of water! 

 

Just before dinner, a man from United Utilities called to see if we’d been affected by the rain on Monday evening. I said we had and he then came in to have a look. He agreed and added us to the list of other households and said we’d get some compensation. 

 

Once I’d packed up for the day, I placed a click and collect order with Screwfix for a sump pump and 7m of hosing. The pump is capable of pumping 10,000 litres an hour, or almost 167 litres of water a minute. This is approximately 2222 gallons an hour, or 37 gallons of water a minute. This means that it would have pumped out the water that was filling the area in front of the cellar doors, in less than 5 minutes, I think should do. 

 

After I’d watered the plants this afternoon, I picked some strawberries, this is the largest amount I’ve picked in one o since planting then a few years ago, they were consumed after tea with some vanilla ice cream, mmmmmmm. 
 

Edited June 14, 2023 by BSW01

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO moment cos' that means all the architraving is now completed,  Very Happy Bear.

 I can concur with this. I was just testing out the updated camera software  on my phone by zooming in on @polybear in his newly-decorated  lounge  room, and here he is  singing away  happy as a lark. Love the new decor, 5 stars from me.

 

 

Edited June 14, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land.  Quite an evening, I must have a water infection, I can't stop peeing. Just as well I've got plenty of clean under crackers. Not sure of the cause, perhaps an infection and I will give my GP a call in the morning. Seems to have settled down now.

[Ozexpatriate]

6 hours ago, TheQ said:

An occasional needle or pin has  disappeared from SWMBO's current task of the time. Absolutely nothing else happens till it is found again

That was plan A, which failed when I gave up looking.

 

Plan B is try not to step/sit on the needle - wherever it is.

 

It can't have gotten far.

 

EDIT:

All's well that ends well. Needle found - hiding under spools of thread in the sewing kit.

 

Edited June 15, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The number one selling beer in the US is presently ... drumroll ... Mexican.

 

Constellation Brands' Modello Especial (Mexilager genérica) hit 8.4% of retail beer sales for the four weeks ending June 4.

 

CNN Business: Bud Light loses its title as America’s top-selling beer 

I guess   no one  from the LBGQTIA community advertises it.

[Ozexpatriate]

37 minutes ago, froobyone said:

I've now run out of space to house them sadly, so my Lego days are over I think.

Bit like model railways - space is always a premium. You can at least disassemble them and store them away, to enjoy rebuilding them one day. They take up much less room that way. Always good to keep the instructions, though these days instructions for newer sets are all online.

[Ozexpatriate]

26 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

here he is  singing away  happy as a lark

But where are the architraves?

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[monkeysarefun]

48 minutes ago, froobyone said:

I've now run out of space to house them sadly, so my Lego days are over I think.

 

Go virtual!  You can create Lego components in3D modelling  software such as sketchup, theres many tutorials that cover it on youtube. There are websites that have blueprints and/or descriptions of pretty much every Lego component out there, then just download the instructions for whatever kit you like (those too are out there) and off you go!   A fun way to learn 3D software. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[froobyone]

1 minute ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

Go virtual!  You can create Lego components in3D modelling  software such as sketchup, theres many tutorials that cover it on youtube. There are websites that have blueprints and/or descriptions of pretty much every Lego component out there, then just download the instructions for whatever kit you like (those too are out there) and off you go!   A fun way to learn 3D software. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:) I'm a professional CGI artist, or was at least, until the end of last year. I worked for Foundry London, building 3D assets for footwear companies around the world. I agree, virtual is definitely an option, but there's no substitute for walking past your Lego cabinet and admiring your hard work.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

You can create Lego components in3D modelling  software

I assume you are talking about 'assemblies' (MOCs* in LEGO fan-speak) rather than the components.

 

* My Own Creations

 

Theoretically you could build LEGO-compatible components (elements in LEGO-speak) with 3D printers, but they won't have the same manufacturing tolerances.

 

Have you seen any of these 3D structural rendering tools include 'usage tutorials' for non-obvious LEGO element interactions. (I'm thinking particularly of gearing, but there's also a lot of creative ways to use the geometry that is not 'studs up'.)

[monkeysarefun]

1 minute ago, froobyone said:

:) I'm a professional CGI artist, or was at least, until the end of last year. I worked for Foundry London, building 3D assets for footwear companies around the world. I agree, virtual is definitely an option, but there's no substitute for walking past your Lego cabinet and admiring your hard work.

 

Maybe someone should come up with the Lego equivalent of N scale.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 minutes ago, froobyone said:

there's no substitute for walking past your Lego cabinet and admiring your hard work

Physically handling the bricks is very therapeutic. There's something comforting in the tactile nature of it. Like 3D jigsaws, only so much better.

 

Way better than ballasting.

[froobyone]

1 minute ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

Maybe someone should come up with the Lego equivalent of N scale.

That sir, is an astonishingly good idea.

[monkeysarefun]

Just now, Ozexpatriate said:

I assume you are talking about 'assemblies' (MOCs* in LEGO fan-speak) rather than the components.

 

No, i meant the individual Lego basic building bits -  bricks, half bricks, little lego man heads etc etc. These become components  (sketchup-speak) in sketchup that you just join together like real lego to build virtual versions of actual lego kits. 

[Coombe Barton]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

So - subject to contract - it appears we have bought ourselves a good sized granite cottage in a vibrant small town that we know well. 

Right under the path of the German bomber that crashed in St Just in WWII. You can see the evidence on a building in Cape Cornwall Street, and it crashed in Chapel Road.

[monkeysarefun]

34 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

That was plan A, which failed when I gave up looking.

 

Plan B is try not to step/sit on the needle - wherever it is.

 

It can't have gotten far.

Plan C - giant magnet!

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

25 minutes ago, froobyone said:

That sir, is an astonishingly good idea.

There are plenty of micro-sized LEGO 'concept' bricks.

 

Nanoblock is one.

 

Darn fiddly if you ask me. About 1/8 the size of LEGO geometry and incompatible.

 

(Their stud pitch is 4mm. LEGO stud pitch is 8mm.)

 

EDIT:
Nanoblock doggy. LEGO 1x2 brick.

 

Edited June 14, 2023 by Ozexpatriate
Added photograph

[The Johnster]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

Lego I never have had or been involved in

 

You can, or perhaps can't now due to inflation, buy a plastic bucket of Lego in a Lego shop.  It's about 9" deep and perhaps 5" diameter, and you can fill it with whatever selection of bricks you want, for £6.

 

I have found my bricks to be highly useful on and around the layout, and for modelling job  They make excellent formers for buildings and kit wagons/vans that have to be square, cane be made into temporary loco cradles and supports for jobs,  made into towers to hold things up while you're fiddling about underneath them, and buffers for fy roads. 

[Ozexpatriate]

3 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

I have found my bricks to be highly useful on and around the layout, and for modelling job  They make excellent formers for buildings and kit wagons/vans that have to be square, cane be made into temporary loco cradles and supports for jobs,  made into towers to hold things up while you're fiddling about underneath them, and buffers for fy roads. 

Duplo - the 'toddler' LEGO is useful for such things as well. 8X bigger than LEGO bricks. (2x dimensions).

 

Duplo and LEGO bricks are compatible.

[monkeysarefun]

Also great for making moulds for castable resin. Easily broken apart afterwards to remove casting.

[Ozexpatriate]

36 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

No, i meant the individual Lego basic building bits -  bricks, half bricks, little lego man heads etc etc. These become components  (sketchup-speak) in sketchup that you just join together like real lego to build virtual versions of actual lego kits. 

There are any number of LEGO-related 3D CAD tools - just search "lego cad". There's a ton of them.

 

LEGO Group had their own which is now retired. They now refer people to Bricklink Studio.

 

It is integrated with the Bricklink's second-hand brick market.