Category: Miscellaneous

I Made This!

September 12, 2017

It’s been a while since a craft post, so here we go!

BFS sent me this. He’s always sending me these metal kits since he knows they’re a chore to put together and he uses me as his proxy! There seems to be two companies making them, the ‘metal miniatures’ guys (that you see in stores everywhere) and these less common Chinese models, which are more difficult and have slightly lower quality control.

To put it bluntly, this thing was excruciatingly frustrating to assemble. The pieces were miniature and mostly black or very reflective gold – both colours seemingly chosen to make it impossible to see the sub-millimeter tabs and slots with the naked eye! Furthermore the instructions left a lot to be desired.

I struggled on though, cut myself more than once on sharp edges and made two critical structural errors that essentially doomed the thing. But I was able to pose it in a more or less finished state regardless:

Verdict: way way too fiddly. Save this one for when you’ve built all 500 other similar kits 🙂

I bought the above in Japan. It was a new release and as you can see quite cheap for what it is. Which is a Gundam? A girl kit? A girl Gundam?!? Who knows!

I love the colouring and the pearlescent plastic and the soft parts and the fact the manual is – for the first time that I’d seen – printed in both Japanese and English! Look at all those eyes though…

She was an easy build because Bandai has long since mastered these sorts of things. As a bonus she comes with a stand!

She’s a little creepy isn’t she? Maybe it’s just the lack of a pose. She’s got joints everywhere and her wings can spread out fully behind her so I suppose I should make her a little more dynamic. Overall a great kit for under US$20 and a lot of fun to assemble.

We also purchased the above in Japan, and it even cost more than the Gundam! As you can see it’s a ‘Real Scale’ plastic bonsai kit, which seems a bit of a lie since it’s actually quite small.

The instructions are very cute but also very short since the kit itself was only 5 pieces! I was a bit mystified by the manufacturing though: how did they get the tufts of green into the brown plastic like that?

Assembly was trivial and I skipped the painting advice in the instructions. Even so, I think it looks pretty good assembled:

That’s a normal sized Lego guy next to it for scale. See what I mean about small?! This was expensive for what it is but I suspect it may have been partially ‘garage’ built (i.e. handmade) and it’ll look good in our curio so I’m glad I bought it.

I think the next one of these posts may focus on electronic crafts. Look for it in a month or two 🙂

Ten Things I Saw At The Fair

August 18, 2017

I went to the local fair today, and this post is a sample of what I saw. Since I do these every year I’m guessing it’ll seem familiar, but I always enjoy going… even in the middle of a biblical rainstorm 🙂

As usual the circus was there. They had all sorts of animals on show including these guys, camels ($10 per ride!), kangaroos and even apparently tigers (who were locked in their coach). The pretty carny-girl was cutting carrots in silence and bagging them for sale ($2) as a gaggle of goats looked on eagerly.

I couldn’t work out the theme of the scarecrow exhibit this year, but this was the winner. Is he holding cotton candy? I took this photo shortly after I arrived and the rain had started to fall.

I liked this horned sheep. He actually comes from Delmar, so he may live nearby. The sheep-shearing show (which I enjoyed last year) was canceled due to the weather, and the barns for livestock were full of miserable damp people and happy dry animals!

This satanic decoration – about 2m in diameter – was in the circus museum. It’s nose flashed like an evil angler fish, trawling for the souls of children. There were several like this, each as nightmarish as the others.

The art contest never disappoints but I wouldn’t have expected that string-and-nail art would win the 13-17 age bracket! Maybe I should try to make something like this?

The photography section includes a category of photos taken at the fair. Next year I should enter one of these…

This is a screech owl. He’d been shot and left to die, but was rescued and now has a pin in his wing. He was a short stubby beast that looks like he’s been through the wars but that’s only because he’s molting. He loved posing for the camera, leaning toward the lens every time 🙂

As you know I love the rides. Because it was overcast all the lights were on, which was great, but because of the rain (and the fact almost no one was there) very few were running. This photo was taken shortly after I arrived, but when I returned to the midway a couple of hours later most of the rides had closed since the rain had become too heavy.

This was probably my favourite thing of the show: two baby porkers in a pen with a fantastic Charlottes Web themed piece of art on the wall behind them. I had to contort myself to get the above photo, and am pleased how it worked out. The piglets were hyperactive; it was a momentary miracle that one flopped down and feigned resting long enough for the photo 🙂

I missed the start of the circus, and only saw a weird silent clown and the trapeze artist. By this point the intensity of the rain was incredible, and the sound of it falling onto the big top roof almost drowned out the audio. It also meant they couldn’t do the animal shows at all, so the whole performance was quite short. By the time it ended the puddles at the entrance were so large and deep they were unjumpable. My entire shoe was underwater as I walked through, and I gave up caring 🙂

Everywhere was wet. It had become impossible to avoid puddles, and even my umbrella was useless (the rain cane through and ran down the handle). Most of the vendors and food stands had closed up, and I sloshed my way to the rides for another gander but turned back when it was clear they had closed as well.

I’d been here in rain before, but not like this!

It was obviously time to leave, and on the way out I saw some truly miserable people with no umbrellas or rain gear and sogged to the core. I waded through a temporary river toward the carpark chuckling to myself; I’d seen more rain these two hours at the fair than in the entire two weeks we were in Ireland!

But I like rain, and I like the fair, and as always had a pretty good time 🙂

Old Mate Cork

July 31, 2017

KLS was all worky-work today so I shuffled my regal self down south to the port town of Cork. The train took about two hours, mostly through fields of cows. It was peaceful.

That’s a little church – called St Anne’s – up on a hill just north of the CBD. For a measly sum you can climb the bell tower and ring the bells. Naturally I partook.

I’ve climbed many towers on several continents and I have to say that while shortish – only 132 steps – this one was pretty grand. The stairs were steep and narrow, and the (natural) lighting gave it a bit of a dungeon feel. I approved.

The bells were wonderful! I’ve seen many in towers before but never actually rung them myself. I ‘played’ Ode To Joy using the provided songbook by pulling the ropes connected to the eight bells. For miles around Corkonians likely raised their heads: “An angel“, they no doubt mused, “is on the bells today.”

Then I climbed to the balcony and saw Cork from high above. The headphones were lest some lesser musician played the bells while I was up top, but no one dared follow my lead. I was alone atop the tower in the breeze, and soaked in the Irish air.

I used to like butter, and would eat it by itself on bread. I’m not a fan now, but that didn’t stop me from entering the Butter Museum when I stumbled upon it.

Cork used to the the world epicenter of butter production, and exported it even to Australia! I learned more about butter today than any man has a right to know, but this:

Perhaps animated me most. Where’s the nearest ring fort? I want to see fairies! I’m in the land of the Tuatha Dé Danaan and I hadn’t really thought about it. Maybe the fairies are hiding themselves from even my thoughts? Stay tuned…

Another cathedral, this time south of the island that holds the CBD. It was raining when I took the above, and my plan to ride it out indoors was thwarted by a service that had just begun.

So I hopped and skipped over to the Catholic Church and just had enough time to light a candle and snap a quick photo before a service began there as well: