Dave those Haunebus are awesome! I got my ham radio license when I was 13 - WB6PJZ. Haven’t been active in years… like 40 years but I’ve renewed my license over the years but currently don’t have a rig.
Glad to see some fellow hams on here!
I got my license 64 years ago- K9LCI- and intend to renew it if I am still around for its 70th year!
My interest in ham radio was my springboard into getting an electrical engineering degree, and a decent career that followed.
I have very fond memories of building transmitters and receivers, and all the friends I made in the process.
73, OM!
Oh that’s soooooooooo cool Bakster! Somehow I missed this! Love how she’s going!
Somehow I’d pictured her as a sorta verdigris green or whatever you call the greenish colour you get when copper or bronze oxidizes. Not sure if that was from the movie or the ride at Disney World.
Dlh: Oh WOW! Those saucers are so cool too! Love 'em!
Glad you found it. Was beginning to think I was banished to the forbidden zone. Lol.
Not sure where you saw that but it sounds good to me as a viable option.
Back in my day I’d have to learn morse code to get a ham radio license. Or, so I thought so. I hear they no longer require that So, at that time, I had a CB base station. Not as cool as ham, but I did have fun. Much to my families chagrin it messed up the TV signal when I keyed the mic.
Bakster, enjoying the insight into build process for this model, as well as the sneak peak into early fitting. [:)]
DLH, thanks for sharing the link to MM. Their oxidation effects are impressive. Also, excellent choice in reading materials. Orson Scott Card’s “Speaker for the Dead” was a very good follow up to “Ender’s game”.
Sounds good!
Bakster, yes, way back in those days you had to pass a profiency test in sending and receiving morse code, as well as a written test on electronics as applied to ham radio. I remember my Dad driving me and a friend to a federal building in Chicago to take those tests way back in the 1950’s. Needless to say, we were both quite apprehensive, but we both passed the exams and got our ham licenses.
Then my memory hasn’t failed me. Hats off to you for going through that and passing! That is pretty cool. Why do you suppose they had such criteria for Ham Radio? They treated it as serious business.
I started work on the bulkhead door. Drawing from what I learned in the Bullion Express build, I set out to cast a door.
The frame made from styrene, the clay is Sculpey.
The mold compound is Smooth-On.
Casted using Smooth Cast 300.
Both the mold compound and resin are leftover and several months old. Fortunately, it was still useable.
Next step is to remove the door from both the resin and the kit piece. Then, I need to fashion the resin door so that it has two sides to it. Thus, two casts. After that, it’s a matter of mounting it in an open position.
I need to start collecting paint I will need for the interior. A trip to HobbyTown is in the offing.
And that is where I am at.
Coolness!!!
Glad you learned a lot about casting from the gold truck. Still crossing my fingers you’ll be ready to get back to her one day!
Still crossing my fingers you’ll be ready to get back to her one day!
Keep them crossed, I will need the encouragement!
OMG, my brain completely overlooked that the Bullion Express resin casting project was yours! I stumbled across it a little while back and read the whole thread to learn about your experiences. It is such an informative post. I’ve been greatly enjoying following your work on it.
Great to see how your efforts there have paid off here. [Y][8-|]
Bakster- Yes, it was serious business. Way back before WWII, the government considered it a vital means of emergency communications in case the usual channels were shut down during an attack. Morse code can be used under high noise and low signal strength conditions that would render voice communication impossible.
Hey Chuck-- Now I understand! That is very cool to know, I always wondered what the deal was. Thanks for educating me!
Just signing on after a road trip, I am so happy to find this thread. Nothng quite like a Bakster WIP to keep things lively around here! Looking forward to it, and at first glance, that interior is nicely detailed as it is, should be fun to see what you do with it.
Interested to see some familiar names here are hams, active or not. I’m a new one, and not really very active.
K9GCR
Yup-- that was me. [8-)]
Glad you benefited from it! I have said it before, that is why I detail the good, the bad, and the ugly. We all learn from it! And let me tell you–that was a struggle learning that. In the end, I learned a new skill, and I have a pressure pot taboot!
I cast the door in my last post using the PP. I’d probably be fighting bubbles without the pot. Though, this cast was an much easier mold and cast. So, maybe, bubbles would not have been an issue. Hard to know without trying, but the PP almost guarantees a good cast. I am glad I have it because it will continue to pay dividends.
Btw, I will share an oops. The resin I have has a 3-minute pot time. The clock starts ticking the second you pour part A and part B together. You then have to mix it quick and thoroughly. That takes maybe 1.5 minutes. That leaves me with 1.5 minutes to put the mold into the PP, position the lid, clamp down the four clamps, and slowly feed air into the pot. It’s a race. So, I get the lid secured and I attached the hose. In the rush, I failed to notice that the valve on the lid was in an open position. Guess what happened when I attached the hose? Poof! It was 40lbs pressure into the tank all at once. Well, too late to do anything about it now, so it was a wait and see.
Later, I released the air, unscrewed the clamps, and lift the lid. Oh boy…the mold is laying on its side. The air shot into the tank with such velocity it blew the mold on its side. And that is how it cured. LOL. But here is the thing. There was enough resin left in the mold that I got a cast out of it. Albeit a very thin cast. Since I must sandwich two together, it should still work. In fact-- because it is so thin, there will be no sanding for that cast. This could be a silver lining. And if I must cast another one - no big deal. 10 minutes work and it’s done. Just thought I’d share the latest debacle.
The next time I order resin from them I will get their 10-minute pot time. 3 minutes is crazy! [:|]
You’re most welcome!
Back in my high school days, our radio club participated in many civil defense drills. We worked with other emergency agencies like the National Guard, Red Cross, Civil Air Patrol, local sheriff and police departments., etc. We would set up a HQ base in some public building, as well as establishing outdoor field bases in tents, powered by generator sets, and spend a whole Saturday simulating an atomic attack on our area, practicing organizing emergency operations and communications. There were many people and their portable and fixed radio bases involved.
I really enjoyed it, and it felt good to be doing some community service.
We really should have started a separate thread for this ham radio discussion. It just grew, starting with a brief comment from someone.
Sorry, I did not mean to hi-jack this excellent Nautius thread!
Back to the main topic, I built that Nautius recently and gave it an antique finish. I started with a base of titanium gold, then started working in related colors like copper, green, various shades of rust, really just winging it free-hand and blending in layers of color, even finishing up with some weathering powders.
My wife said this is the best model I ever made, and I tend to agree with her!
You know- I envy you. I would have loved to be part of something like that. It would make for a more rewarding life experience. More recent technology has in ways connected people, but it’s digitally connected. Is has isolated people at the same time. We are not spending time together and I miss that. Or maybe it’s just me getting old. Family members passing, health issues and such. Of course, the covid debacle doesn’t help any of this.
Anyway-- thanks for sharing that too. I love hearing life stories like that.