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Night Watch

FLEET TO COMMANDER WESTERN SQUADRON, TEXAS NAVY: SUBJ: VESSEL ACQUISITION: CLASS: CLEAR: Dear WO Cash, Considering the current new build budget restraints (and delays and cost overruns on the Western Fleet's new sea going tug!😐) Night Watch command has no objection whatsoever to the acquisition of a vessel, suited to our mission profiles, which is surplus to the requirements of a friendly navy. This is the way that most minor navies around the world survive. (With the exception of some small navies of oil rich countries who can afford new build!) Before my elevation to my current command posting I worked on the refits / upgrades of many examples of vessels 'sold down the line' and re-flagged while the hulls still had life in them. Most fun was on an ex RN Colossus class carrier in Brazil😊 Looking forward to the sea trials and commissioning ceremony of your flagship. I may have found a source of scale Champagne for that😉 I'll let you know. Congrats on repelling your 'boarders', although I wasn't aware that cauldrons of boiling oil were still in our armoury!! Or that cannibalism was legal in Texas😮 Looking forward to your 'battle recipe' 👍😋 All the best for your build and fitting out. FLEET// 😎

4 years ago by RNinMunich

Forum

Night Watch

Mornin' Marky, "when we were wee boys my mum made it that thick you could dance on it ." Brings back memories! When I was a kid Mum was ill (an exceptional instance!) and Dad took over the 'cooking' for a week or so 🙄 First attempt at porridge he offered us "One slice or two?"😮 Same thing happened on Sunday, roast beef and potatoes were acceptable but the gravy was again "One slice or two?" Dear ol' Dad, Gone but not forgotten 😊 I soon learned to make creamier porridge myself. My Sis and I used to fight over the cream off the milk (top o the milk) to put on top of the porridge with a splodge of Tate & Lyle Golden Syrup. Back in the days of real milk in on the doorstep, before the thin homogenised stuff packed in cardboard boxes. I still make it the same way, in a pot on the hot plate, and with cream (now sold separately!) and brown sugar, or when I can find it here, Golden Syrup😋😋😋 Microwave porridge? No! But scrambled eggs go pretty well once you get the timing right😋 Otherwise it can quickly become another case of "One slice or two?" 😁 Here endeth the culinary dissertation from Munich for today (tonight!?)😉 😎

4 years ago by RNinMunich

Forum

Night Watch

FLEET TO ALL UNITS: Good news Gadies and Lentlemen😊 My captors were fool enough to lock me in the Wine & Spirits cellar under the restaurant. While my guard nipped out for a drag (the tobacco variety!!) I managed to slip several of hi-proof vodka into the staff beer barrel. They are now all comfortably 💤💤💤💤💤💤ing so it was a doddle to obtain the keys 😁 and trundle home in the manager's Merc. With a few choice cartons of wine of course😋 Many thanks all for offers of assistance👍 and Meeeow to Errol, no rabbits in the park but several squirrels, grey and red-brown. Looking forward to Texan Bratwurst & Schnitzel Cash, Chorizo Sausage?🔥😛 For future reference, in case they try something again, a small seaplane (Alaska style) could probably make it in to the larger southern part of the lake. Tie up to bridge on eastern side of the island. Clearing south of the lake suitable for small troop glider, or LL Drop from the Herc. Tree cover and high ground east of the lake suitable for stealth approach to the restaurant at the north end. Avoid Biergarten (for obvious reasons🙄) until after successful conclusion of action!! After this ordeal (locked up in a wine cellar, Hic😁) Surgeon Commander has insisted on signing me off for a weeks rest.😊 Now I'm hungry (all the suggestions of food!) so I'm off to the galley to make me a Chicken Sweet n Sour with Splecial Flied Lice 😋😋 Cheers All, thanks again: FLEET// 😎

5 years ago by RNinMunich

Forum

Night Watch

Admiralty Original for calm to moderate conditions Lt. Nerys. Gunpowder for Beaufort Force 8 and above.😮 15 Year for special occasions and celebrations😉😋 I'll have a word with Rear Admiral Logistics, if I can ever find him!🙄 Like Granny used to say (rolling her eyes!) 'Bin round the again🙄😠' 😁😎 TIP: Open pics in a photo App capable of GIF pics, they're animated 😉

5 years ago by RNinMunich

Forum

Plans for Billings African Queen

Apologies - should have engaged mind and checked before writing - had a good look at a few completed ones in the past and noted the shortage of a few bits including the gas and in one instance the case of Gin...... Brings to mind reading about someone complaining that the kit should be wooden hulled like the original - then someone pointing out it was a metal hull...........

5 years ago by redpmg

Forum

Hints on Ballast

I'm with you Nerys👍 Sounds good but sand is simply too bulky for my ships. And as you say the lower the better for stability. Guess the sand works well for large wide beam boats, but not so good for my high LoA to Beam ratio naval ships, up to 10 to 1 or so. I also use lead shot, bought in 1kg from Krick, to do the ballast test. When I know how much weight I need I still have some chunks of lead left from a visit to an MBB (now part of EASA / ESA?) scrap metal shed. Guy who took me there was a neighbour and friend of mine who was responsible for the machine shop which made the motor casings and burner tubes for the ARIANE 5 rockets. Some exotic metals in that shed! For final trimming, also on aircraft, I have cards of several 5gm lead trim weights, also from Krick. Cheers, 😎

5 years ago by RNinMunich

Media

Short video of the first test of the new vacuum table

I built this vacuum table and heater mainly to make a large canopy for a project scratch built plane I was building, (plus I thought it might be handy for other things). I had to use 1mm PTEG (same stuff they make coke /packaging etc out of) as no one in the country stocks .5mm so the result was not the best, (need to get it very hot) Heater box uses the guts of a 2 bar halogen heater in the bottom, plus a 500w halogen work lamp in the side (1500W total) but still needs to be hotter. Will try and do a build post later.

5 years ago by jbkiwi

Forum

EeZeBilts From Keil Kraft

You are right of course - in the UK you would also have to have a safe extractor/collector unit for the fumes/dust - however the US made table top models are self contained - BUT you only have a A3 sized bed whereas ours has an A1 and can take objects up to a foot high for engraving, plus a rotary attachment for glasses , etc. The water cooler is a separate unit which now costs the better part of R10k. Better half had her aluminum tubed Universal 200 re-gassed (they run on CO2 at about 38kv - at 80w so minimal current) and that set her back about R80k some 22 years ago. Pyrex type glass tubes are only about R12k now however. You also keep the lid tightly closed unless you are an idiot - plus they all have a safety switch to shut the laser off if the lid is lifted (which I have seen bypassed). There is always some stray laser beam about and deflection off the bed which does not do one much good. Especially eyesight. So the machine has a thick dark yellow/orange perspex inset on the lid and you should wear safety type glasses the same coloration which act a bit like polarised lens. As a matter of interest ours ran for a year in the spare bedroom - with the extractor unit venting through a french door panel - would be severely frowned upon by 'elf & saveless'.

5 years ago by redpmg

Forum

two part epoxy resin

Doug , brake repaired thanks, I use Zap Z-Poxy 15 min 8oz Epoxy Resin which comes in two , however to ensure a correct mix I weigh the two components using jewelry scales which measure small amounts very accurately. I also use this method when weighing glass fibre resins and have never had any curing problems, and yes warming the (or tubes) will help with dispensing. PS. jewelry scales are really cheap (£4.50) on ebay and very useful.

5 years ago by mturpin013

Response

Re: Schooner

Hi Colin, Thank you, No it is just a static model. I should of mentioned that in the harbour post, I will change it now. It was a bit fiddly to make, the rigging was a bit of a challenge. The wife keeps saying that I should make ships in . So I made one and then I made a boat in a bicycle light bulb, but it was not my thing. Martin.

5 years ago by Martin555

Forum

Glue

That is indeed a bargain! I have noticed that my small of MEK tend to disappear through evaporation more rapidly than through use! Have you noticed any such issue?

5 years ago by DodgyGeezer