Other Hobbies / Interests

[airsweden]

Wow small world, that was a high school friend of mine's college buddy and he was up in vt this past week for the funeral. Apparently they had a game of shooting each other with bb guns and that time it went horribly wrong. Why anyone would keep a loaded gun in their home is beyond me, but I also don't know how you could mistake a .22 for a bb gun. My friends with guns always tell me never point a gun, loaded or not, at something you don't want destroyed. Still a really sad story though.

Sounds like we have some mutual friends.... big surprise!

Anyway, totally a big ass bummer. I hear there was a quite a bit of drinking going on the night before..... another big suprise! Still, such a sad situation, the parents are devastated and a ton of folks around town are really hurt by the stupidity of the loss.

[Hans]

Holy crap, I have to post something more positive after reading about the shooting. That breaks my heart.

I've got an early '80s Motobecane Grand Jubilee awaiting rehab. I've owned it since '82, put tons of touring miles on it, and commuted on it for awhile, too. It's got front/rear Blackburns, Bleumels fenders, etc.

I like snow, too. Grew up skiing podunk CT hills (longtime passholder at Mohawk), and I'll date myself by letting you know I skied Round Top in VT as a kid, in addition to Stratton, Magic, Snow, Suicide Six(!!), Pico. Lived at Alta for a couple winters, but now spend my time in the Cascades, lots of backcountry but still get a pass to keep in shape. Knees are still good, so I tele:

[Crazyswede]

I grew up racing for Suicide Six and then I stopped racing when I was a Senior in High School and took up Tele...have been teleing ever since. 16 years total

[SwedeSport]

Guns in the wrong hands are a recipe for disaster. I bought mine after a robbery attempt one night as I was leaving my business with the weeks take. 3 gangbangers rolled up on me as I was locking the door. One guy approached me from the front and the other 2 flanked me. They asked if I had a few bucks for busfare. Luckily the neighboring business was closing up at the same time and all the employees spilled out the front door. When the police came and told me most of the time they respond to these things they find one of 2 things, dead store owners with empty pockets, or dead thugs and store owners with an NRA card. The cop asked me which one I want to be. So I got a gun the next day. There are shootings at least every couple weeks in my town. There is a drug war going on between 2 rival gangs. The police can only collect revenue for the state... citizens need to learn to protect themselves.


Anywho.... Skiing. I have done it a few times, haven't tried it since I crushed a disk the last time I was out. At first it didnt bother me, but once inside, I started to warm up, and I began to think something was wrong. I dont have health insurance, so I never really did anything about it. I feel it every morning. So I have had to resort to less extreme hobbies like the RC stuff and the low and slow bicycle cruisin.

[Crazyswede]

is that a chevette?

[SwedeSport]

It is actually. A 1/24 scale plastic model put on a Radio Shack X-mod RC car. The fender flares came from a 70s custom van kit, as well as the rocker skirts. The hood scoop and front air dam is scratchbuilt from sheet plastic. The rear valence has been smoothed and corvette taillights added. It has alot of modeling putty in it. It has a whaletail off a 280zx kit, and a set 2 twin monza tips exiting the rear. Before putting the shell on the rc car it had a v6 turbo engine that came out of a Buick Grand National kit. I originally built it as a static display model. It was yellow with white SS stripes, and had minilite wheels on it.

I have built close to 100 model kits, mostly cars but a few planes and boats too. I think I have at least another 100 to finish. This is how I got to daydream about customizing cars when I was too young/broke to play with the real thing.

The Chevette connection is that I owned 2 real ones, a 76 and an 84. I had plans to put a 4.3 V6 in one with a 5 spd stick, flare out the fenders and go road racing in it. I was 17 and couldnt afford to see it happen.

[Crazyswede]

Snakes and I were just talking about Chevettes yesterday....and were talking about these:








pretty cool looking for a chevette. There is in fact a 2 door near me I see up on blocks in someones front yard...the rear drive shaft is hanging out of it.

[Geoff]

Jason, all that modeling glue is starting to explain some things...

I like the snow too :-) I skied for 12 years then started snowboarding when skiing got boring. I picked up a used set of skis and boots a few years ago for $12. I also do a fair amount of XC skiing. I have a snowboard, splitboard, one pair of downhill skis, back country XC skis and I just picked up a new pair of lightweight classic touring skis that I'm excited to try out.

Mountain biking is fun too but some injuries have prevented me from doing much since early summer and now it's the time of year to put the bikes away. If I can ride more next spring I might pick up a road bike.

Another "hobby" is home improvements. It looks nice (or keeps me warmer in winter) when I'm done and once in a while I enjoy it but I wish I could get all the work done in 10% of the time it actually takes.

[SwedeSport]

Are you accusing me of sniffing model glue????? I always liked paint fumes better, but the propellant out of Redi Whip cans has always been a personal fave.


Heres a few shots of my Chevettes. The gray one is a 76 and the blue one is an 84.

[SwedeSport]

Heres an early shot of my Cafe Racer project. Since this was taken I have made progress. Ill have to pull the cover and take a few new pics. Its an 83 Honda CM250. I scratchbuilt the rear fairing, and seat pan. It has the footpegs flipped around and the foot controls shortened. Moves the controls rearward . With the new seat and cafe handlebars, you lean forward more, and the few inches difference is appreciated. It has a fairing on the blue dot tri-bar headlight. Misc other details will make up the finished bike.

The other thing is an Estes model rocket with a wheel from rc plane in the nose and rc car tires in the back. I know I can say goodbye to the thing if I ever launched it. Thats why if I was to launch it, there would have to be at least a dozen of my friends with video cameras getting footage for a youtube vid.

[matt]

I do some photography, have dabbled in RC cars, built some computers and plan to own a gun in the future mostly for range shooting but will get a carry permit "so I can"
But my latest thing is paintball, it's a lot of fun, gets me out of the house and forces me to run around. My current stable looks something like this:



I don't plan on buying anymore paintball related toys, but we all know how that goes.
If anyone nearby wants to play in the snow Feb. 19th (the field is in nassau, ny) I've got gear you can borrow. Or if you'd rather wait til spring the field opens up every other weekend starting in April.

[SwedeSport]

I have been tinkering with the boat a little lately. My current interest comes and goes. Right now Im gung-ho to get the bottom half of the boat together. I need to complete glueing in and glassing up all the new wood. The boat was built in 72 and all the wood with the exception of the stringers was completely rotted. I replaced all the wood with 5 ply exterior grade plywood. It all gets sealed in epoxy anyway. Thats what was originally used and it lasted 30 years without sealer. Im currently glueing up the top panels of the berths. I drilled a bunch of 2 inch holes for expanding poly flotation foam. All closed cavities will be filled with that to add bouyancy. Once thats complete Ill seal it all up with a layer of cloth and epoxy resin. If I can get the hull done this month, Ill likely have the top deck glued back on by the end of February, and and the final interior construction done by the end of March.

Still a ton to do before she floats again. Once I complete that hurdle, I have to flip it over and repair, fair, seal and finish paint the the hull. At the same time Ill paint the interior ceiling as it will be easier to do while its still upside down. It will get flipped right side up, then go back on the trailer, the swing keel will get rehung, and the topside will be faired, sealed, and finish coated.

After that there is a ton of hardware to install, and all the rigging has to go on. All the Stainless stuff, all the woodwork has to be mounted. Maybe Ill get to sail it before I go into a nursing home.

[SwedeSport]

I never got into the paintball stuff, at least not in an organized way. My buddy had one that we would paintball up signs and such, and pelt the random jogger or bicyclist... (just kidding).


Here are a few more pics of RC car projects.

One is a Kyosho Silver Fox. Its a 4wd with a gas airplane motor. Its all stock, and extremely valueable. It was one of the first cars built by Kyosho, and I believe is circa 79-80 ish. I have driven it once or twice, but Im afraid to break it. Parts are scarce, and it will do about 60mph.


The next is a Team Associated RC10L. The body is a Barbie corvette I picked up at a yardsale. I lengthened it 1/2 inch to fit the RC chassis. Rest assured it will be some other color than pink. Im gonna pull a mold, and make fiberglass copies of the body. The chassis is stock with the exception of a slightly warm 27 turn motor.

Next is a TRC Pro 10. ( I have a couple of these). It has an 87 Camaro body with Penske Sunoco Camaro livery. The decals are custom screen printed in my shop. It has a 17 turn motor and is quite fast. This one was built more for show, although it does get run from time to time.

[SwedeSport]

Here is a Tamiya Blitzer Beetle with some custom touches. The tires and wheels are off another model. The body has been custom painted. It has a AE stock motor that I replaced the bronze bushings with ball bearings. The headlights have been modified to accept l.e.d.'s, as well as the taillights. ( I vacuum formed clear lenses and painted them with translucent paint to accept the l.e.d. The license plate light works too. I plan to replace the shocks with aluminum units off an RC10. Lastly I would like to add some polished aluminum rod nerf bars and bumpers. I have been hunting for the super rare Duratrax sand paddle tires for years.

Next is a Tamiya Fox. IMHO one of the best gearboxes in 1/10 scale at the time. This one is built using period correct upgrades (late 80s). It has an aftermarket front bumper, and CRP spike tires on stock rims. Parma gold anodized nerf bars. Parma sway bars front and rear. Parma aluminum rear shock tower, and dual shock conversion. It also has the adjustable camber front A-arms. This one runs a slightly warm motor as well.

Last is a TRC pro 10 project that is in its early stages. Its getting a Monte Carlo SS body. Im making this one as a scale representation of my dads real 86 Monte. Most likely to be just a fun runner with a mild motor/gear setup.

[hutch]

So I made a new batch of beer this past weekend, a hopefully delicious lager with a hint of honey and remembered to take some pictures. An ale is typically fermented around 65-70 degrees so you pretty much just have to stick it in a closet but a lager is fermented with different yeast that works around the 50-55 degree range. People used to stick them in caves because of the pretty steady all year temperature which is why I waited to do this until the winter so I could get it down to the right temperature, people make elaborate temperature controlled refrigerators but I wanted to give the basement approach a shot.

Heres some of the recent attempts:
5 Horsemen of the Hopocalypse IPA (named because of the 5 different types of Hops I put in there), I've also just finished another batch of this stuff that should be ready to drink in about 2 weeks.


Chocolate Stout, never really thought of a goofy name, its a clone of a Rogue chocolate stout and pretty good but I don't love stout too much so I've been drinking it pretty slowly.


And although its not exactly special, heres a shot of the lager while it is being made, it will be at least 6 weeks before I can try it but I can't wait as its my first lager.


Hopefully I'll finally make it to a rally sometime soon and you guys can try some but until then if anyone ever gets the urge to try this themselves feel free to ask me any questions and I can even send you the recipes for some of my favorite batches.