Say Hello to Oscar and Daisy!
Monday, March 26, 2007
Who are the last of my new acquisitions for the time being - my two lovely kittens given to me for my birthday by Cath! Oscar is about twice the size of Daisy already, but they're both still absolutely tiny! You can expect to be seeing a lot of pictures of these two! Cuteness overload springs to mind...!
Oscar
Daisy
Posted at 12:19 | Comments (0)
New Off Roader: Land Rover
Friday, March 23, 2007
Given the levels of mud I'd covered it in after owning it for less than a day, I don't think I can introduce it as my shiny new toy, but it's my new toy none the less!
She's a 1983 Series III Land Rover - 2.25 Petrol, SWB. It runs fine, and will be staying on the road, unlike the Spitfire! But it's an off road project, and I've plenty of ideas for what I'll be doing with it - watch this space!
Posted at 10:11 | Comments (1)
New D-SLR: Canon EOS 400D
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Whenever I have any money, it seems to burn a hole in my pocket, or rather, my bank managers pocket! So in January I ended up treating myself to a new camera, a Canon EOS 400D.
At the moment I'm sticking with the 18-55mm kit lens - it's not spectacular, but it's capable enough. When needs must, I'll probably pop for a Sigma 70-300mm or something of a similar spec.
Expect plenty more pictures to come, with any luck!
Posted at 13:57 | Comments (0)
New Shotgun: Yildiz SPZ ME
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
I bought a new shotgun back in November, a Yildiz SPZ ME - a 12 gauge over-and-under. Initially, I disregarded it in favour of a Betinsolli and a second hand Beretta, as the Yildiz was a touch under my budget, but of the three, the Yildiz felt far more natural to hold.
The alloy action and 28 inch barrels mean it's lovely and light at 2.8kg, and it comes up perfectly for me. The main criticism in reviews tends to be the rather strange stock dimensions - but it's fine for me, so I've obviously a strange shape of body to match!
Whilst it's a relatively low end gun, and hardly anything special, I'm very pleased with the gun, and Yildiz, the Turkish manufacturer, certainly seem to offer good value for money in my eyes!
Knowing what I'm like, I imagine when funds allow I'll end up going for something more expensive and relegating the Yildiz back to the gun cabinet, but it'll keep me shooting for the time being! Now, where did I leave my clay shooting vest...?!
Posted at 07:55 | Comments (0)
Another Six Months Gone...
Sunday, March 18, 2007
...with no updates to the site! Not my biggest break from posting, but a sizeable one none the less! I've not even managed to gather much news to post in that time, but I've got a few new acquisitions I can mention - you'll see...
Last Sunday I went along with a friend to the filming of Top Gear of the Pops but I stupidly forgot my camera, so not much to report really! Enjoyed seeing and talking to the Top Gear presenters, but the music was a bit of a washout besides Supergrass (with Ade Edmondson on guitar!) so I'll be looking out for more stuff from them in future!
The Spitfire has more or less been ignored since the summer, time, enthusiasm, funds and decent weather have all been somewhat lacking! It was never planned for a quick turn around, but I've realised I need a project to get some enjoyment from in the present, not a few years down the line! I've got plans for something else to work on for the time being, but the Spitfire will be going nowhere, I'll have it finished one day!
Posted at 11:39 | Comments (0)
Could Have Been Expensive!
Saturday, October 7, 2006
I had a phone call this morning from my credit card company to query an attempted transaction - someone had tried to spend a few thousand pounds at computing store Dabs.com (not a company I'd ever use, going on past experiences!). Fortunately it would have gone over my credit limit, so the transaction was declined.
I'm tech savvy enough to keep my computer secure and not to go putting my details into phishing sites, but was obviously concerned that someone had my credit card details sitting about. Turns out that it was a genuine transaction, as the payment was later made correctly, so the buyer had managed to typo his own credit card details for my own - quite an achievement. Annoyingly though, it means the card has been barred and I need to wait for a new one to turn up... usually takes an age!
Just the one Spitfire picture today... forgot to charge the camera batteries! Nothing too dramatic from yesterday evening's session in the garage... Mainly tidying up/trimming back the A pillar and floor to weldable metal.
Unfortunately the top mounting for the front of the sill (the clean metal at the bottom of what's left of the A pillar in the below shot) is completely past it, so I'll probably snip a few cm off that and fabricate a bit of steel to run right the way round. I'll also need to fabricate a bit of the bulkhead (about the right hand third here) where past repairs have made a mess of the metal I need to weld to.
Held a few panels in place to get an idea for the fit - the floor and sill look to line up, but I'm struggling to fit the A pillar repair panels between them, so will need to take some measurements to work out what's out of line before I snip anything to fit! Just the floor sat in place on its own:
Posted at 20:41 | Comments (1)
The Metal Cutting Continues
Friday, October 6, 2006
Here we have the layers of metal from the inside of the A pillar, right behind the front of the sill which you saw cut off earlier. Not brilliantly clear, but that's five, where there should be one! Fun getting through that with the angle grinder in four different places to shift it all!
This is the foremost section of the rear wing... The red paint had a centimetre or so of filler underneath it, a fairly recent repair panel for that section of the wing, the original wing, and about two inches of filler where an interior panel should join it.
And this I suppose is the point of no return...
Posted at 16:39 | Comments (0)
The Metal Cutting Begins!
Thursday, October 5, 2006
Started some cutting on Sunday morning... I've not much room either side of the car, so the photos are all at silly angles! They don't seem to show up the rust brilliantly, but it's gory, to say the least!
Cutting the front end of the driver's side sill away, peeling back reveals some old repair panels that have definitely seen better days:
Cutting the rest of the sill away reveals a manky old patch panel running all the way along the length of the sill where the sill strengthener should be... maybe it's still underneath? It'd been made with three panels welded end to end, and you can see where it's been marked up with pencil - it's a piss poor fit. These panels cost a tenner, so god knows why they made their own.
Once I'd cut the sill along the top, the only thing holding it onto the car was the filler along the bottom, there was no welding. I pulled at it gently and away it came... considering these are bits that seem to have been replaced, I dread to think what else I'll come across!
Cutting away the repair panel reveals the old strengthener underneath... nice and solid as you can see!
It was at this point that I realised there was nothing attaching the floor to the sill, other than filler! A quick stamp with my size nines proves this quite effectively...
And this is where I left it before coming in to give my back a rest...
I'm starting to think I made a good decision buying so many replacement panels, but I can already see I haven't got nearly as many as I'll need. I really should have bought a nice rust free Californian bodyshell instead, shouldn't I? Oh, and if you're wondering... the passenger side is the worse of the two. Lots of fun to come, it seems!
Posted at 18:51 | Comments (0)
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