The Hobby/Project thread

[YtseBitsySpider]

Im learning to grow weed

I have a “guy” I go to for advice.
Started with five CBD only seeds bought from a store (or so I thought)
Three died (I overwatered the seedlings). Two of them took and grew to about 3 feet.
I learned about the different stages. Light times. Etc etc. didn’t feed this first batch with nutrients.
Until the flowering stage. And then....suddenly...there was bud!! 
All in all from seed to smoke. October to March. I ended up with one ounce. Most of it went to making an oil by my guy and he said he decided to give it a smoke to see how it tasted and he said it had a little “pop” and was definitely not cbd only. I don’t smoke it personally—I just like plants. And it’s legal to grow it now.  My 72 year old mother was annoyed I wasn’t growing “the good stuff”.

I will say that only 4 plants per household is very restrictive. It is quite labor intensive to grow from seed or even clones. And by labor intensive I mean having enough growing at different stages so that you always have some on hand for personal use.....it would be a lot of work. So much easier to go online and buy the finished product especially with all the innovative ways thc is being delivered to the body. Food, beverages, vape, smoke, tabs on tongue, oils and creams.

I have a tent. And a ventilation system to keep my house from smelling like a skunk farm. Batch two
Is going very well. I can post pics if you’d like to see.

[TempusVox]

Great work, Gary. Nicely done. My maternal grandfather was among many thing's a master woodworker/ carpenter. I wish I had the patience.

As for my hobbies, I have a bunch.

I started experimenting with and making my own bitters a few years ago. I make several gallons of about 6 or 7 different types now each year. I distribute them to family and friends.I've become quite the expert on their production.

My wife and I travel fairly frequently when I'm not writing. My goal now is to attend at least 3 international concerts each year.

I also tie my own fly fishing flies. I've been tying trout flies for several years now. Last year, inspired by the magnificent salt water flies, by the late Megan Boyd, I've been trying to create art pieces, like hers were.

I also collect scotch whisky. I have over 240 bottles now. Most are investment purchases. I've traveled to Scotland many times, and met with literally dozens of master distillers. I received my Certificate of Expertise from the Scotch Whisky Training School in Edinburgh last year.

My son and i are visiting all 30 MLB parks.We started several years ago and are up to 25 now this year.We've also hit 18 NFL stadiums, and 6 NHL arenas. It would be great to see them all someday.

I also collect fossils, but the room I display them in is filling up fast. In the same room, I also collect old farmers almanacs. I have over 400 of them.The earliest dating back to 1803.

To replace the need for competition that I had lost after finishing my college football days, I used to fence competitively through my early 30's. Last month, I bought a practice foil and some new shoes from Triplette. I've been playing around with some footwork drills a few times. My arthritic knees don't let me move like I used too.

I've also been in a pretty competitive fantasy baseball league for the last 18 years, and three fantasy football leagues each fall.

[gmillerdrake]

Thanks TV    BTW.....that’s my Grandfather who is the 33rd Degree Mason I told you about years ago.

[gmillerdrake]

How is the top held to the base?

Here are the 'Z' brackets. My grandpa says these allow for the expansion and contraction of the wood through the year....they'll just give the wood some 'slack' to move. I don't know....he knows all this stuff.     We cut some small slits on the inside of the apron to nest the bottom of the bracket then drilled small pilot holes and screwed them in to the top. There are (10) total holding the top to the base

Quoting to make sure Gregg sees these clips.

[Podaar]

I saw them yesterday, but didn't have the opportunity to comment.

I really like this system! Left to my own devices, I probably would have installed a diagonal cleat at the corners and run a screw through them into the bottom of the table-top. This looks like a far superior option since, as your Pawpaw points out, it allows for expansion and contraction. Well done! 

[jingle.boy]

DTF.

DTF is my hobby.

[Chino]

Damn, nice work Gary!

Few things in life are as satisfying as getting to sit down and enjoy something that you pulled out of your head and used the raw materials of the Earth to create.   



I'm not sure I ever posted my "Table Town" on this forum, but one day I hope to build a huge version (that includes building the table) for the center of a future living room. I'd like it to have a functioning a model train inside it as well.

[Chino]

Im learning to grow weed

If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a PM. I got you fam 

[Phoenix87x]

I'm not sure when, but at some point this summer I would definitely like to try surfing

[gmillerdrake]

Brian, that town is awesome!! I've thought about doing something like that. I've often thought of creating a couple of the major civil war battlefields like Gettysburg or Vicksburg or something. I think that'd be a fun thing to do. Or, even thought of creating Solomon's temple. I know these things have been done by greater artists or model makers....but I think it's something I could get in to.

[Chino]

Brian, that town is awesome!! I've thought about doing something like that. I've often thought of creating a couple of the major civil war battlefields like Gettysburg or Vicksburg or something. I think that'd be a fun thing to do. Or, even thought of creating Solomon's temple. I know these things have been done by greater artists or model makers....but I think it's something I could get in to.

Thanks

Yeah, that's something I'd like to try my hand at one day too. When I used to model railroad, the trains were my least favorite part (and they were absurdly expensive). Creating the scenery was always what I enjoyed doing the most.

[cramx3]

My mom is a real estate agent and as a kid she would take me with her into like new housing developments and you'd see in the office someone would build something exactly like what Chino made of their vision of the development.  I was always so fascinated looking at them as a kid.  That's really cool, but holy heck that is so detailed and small that I feel like it must be frustrating to build.

[Chino]

My mom is a real estate agent and as a kid she would take me with her into like new housing developments and you'd see in the office someone would build something exactly like what Chino made of their vision of the development.  I was always so fascinated looking at them as a kid.  That's really cool, but holy heck that is so detailed and small that I feel like it must be frustrating to build.

I actually find the smaller the easier. When you're doing large scale stuff, it's really easy to pick out imperfections. If I tried to paint a figurine that was an inch tall, it'd look like shit because I'm not that steady of a hand, but when I'm painting a person that's only 1/3 of an inch tall, the little details needed for realism are too small to even exist. It's harder to screw up something tiny, if that makes sense.

[cramx3]

I guess so, just feels like similar to working on a model plane, I'd get so frustrated trying to use the little glue just because it was small.

[Chino]

Oh yeah, for sure. Gluing on a tiny scale is a whole different ball game. I've had to use one of these before to hold tiny pieces together while applying glue with the head of a pin.   

[Chino]

Been working on this thing a bunch lately. I'm almost ready for paint. Hoping to have it done for the weekend of October 4th for an annual event.

Was dicking around with a little bit of cardboard the other night and something came of it.

[gmillerdrake]

Looking good. Been following along when you post to Instagram. Can't wait to see the finished product. 

[Chino]

I started painting the truck I've been working on. I still have to wire up the headlights and paint the logs that are going in the bed.

[Lonk]

Looks great!

[gmillerdrake]

Yeah, Looking good Brian! 

[Chino]

Thanks fellas. The grill came out like trash, so I'm going to have to soak that in paint thinner and give it another go. I'm still completely clueless as to how I'm going to go about painting the trees. I printed a couple extras for practice.

[Chino]

I finally finished my dream truck build and got to take it out last weekend. The thing performed flawlessly and was far more capable than I expected it to be. The plan was to take it easy and treat her respectfully as a shelf queen, but my confidence in its abilities skyrocketed about 5 minutes in, and I wasted no time exposing it to some punishment.   

I did manage to snap a side mirror (repaired with hot glue in the pits), but luckily I can print those out in about 20 minutes per.






 

My next endeavor is going to be a 3lb combat robot.

[cramx3]

Pretty cool looking, looking forward to seeing the combat robot

[JustJen]

Thought it would be interesting to see what people do as hobbies, or whatever side projects (i.e. non-work) people have.

I play a lot of Pokemon GO, so that's my main hobby, but this summer I decided to take my decades-old love of rollerskating (quad, not blade) and bring it outdoors and into skate parks. Turns out that outdoor skating is a lot harder than rink skating and you have to really consider your bearings (I use Bones Reds) and wheels (98A hardness is great for outdoors but way too soft/sticky for rinks), so I ditched my ancient cheaper quality skates and grabbed some lovely new leather Riedells. Started out a little rough since skating on asphalt and over grit and rocks and sticks is really hard on quads, but at this point I can skate almost anywhere that has some sort of pavement. I wear safety gear of course - I'm too old (46) to take a fall without gear, due to the fact that I'm impatient to heal lol. Definitely have been enjoying going to skate parks locally as well as out of town and practicing on ramps and whatnots. I can't do a lot yet as far as that stuff goes but I'm having a blast. I don't have many pics of myself but here's what I've got of me, my gear, and my skates:







Bonus pic of my skates when they were about a week old and I took my first really good fall on the downslope of a metal ramp:



Ah well. At first I was like "dangit those were over $200!!" but then I realized that's like being upset when football gear gets dirty. At least I'm not sitting on the bench all day!

Editing in my derby skates. I don't do derby yet but I decided it would be fun so that's next on my list. Love my kangaroo leather Bonts. I feel sad but still. So soft.



video from earlier this summer. Remember, I'm still learning to do ramps. don't expect much lol https://i.imgur.com/9U4JxP4.mp4

[cramx3]

Pretty cool, I used to love skating when I used to play roller hockey.  For some reason I was way better in blades than on my own feet but I'm sure I'd be terrible if I tried to throw skates on now, my ankles and knees just aren't what they used to be.

[Chino]

I could never figure out how to stop on those things. I messed myself up so many times as a kid.

[The Walrus]

I went skating outside once as a kid

Broke my wrist and never did it again

[cramx3]

I also broke my wrist in a bad spill, 10 stitches to the chin as well.  That actually times with my ending of skating but not really for that reason, I just stopped playing sports all together around that time as I am not physically gifted for athletics.

[Stadler]

Roller derby was kind of a minor thing in Philly for a while.  I have to say, it's old school, and kind of an odd "sport" (more like wrestling than, say, football or baseball) but wildly entertaining.   

[cramx3]

Roller derby was kind of a minor thing in Philly for a while.  I have to say, it's old school, and kind of an odd "sport" (more like wrestling than, say, football or baseball) but wildly entertaining.

A girl I dated at PSU is big into roller derby apparently.  I see her pics on facebook, she lives in the burbs of Philly.  I was thinking that when I saw Jen's pics that it seems to still be a thing even though I don't really see any of it locally to me in NJ.

[Lonk]

Skating (ice or roller) is one thing I've never been good at. Maybe I didn't practice enough but I was never able to do more than go forward. Whenever it was time to turn or stop, there are a 50-50 chance that I would do what I was trying to do or end up on the floor.

[Chino]

Roller derby was kind of a minor thing in Philly for a while.  I have to say, it's old school, and kind of an odd "sport" (more like wrestling than, say, football or baseball) but wildly entertaining.

A girl I dated at PSU is big into roller derby apparently.  I see her pics on facebook, she lives in the burbs of Philly.  I was thinking that when I saw Jen's pics that it seems to still be a thing even though I don't really see any of it locally to me in NJ.

Roller derby is still incredibly popular all over. Connecticut Roller Derby is at Roller Magic in Waterbury CT quite a bit.

[Chino]

I just recently finished the smallest radio control truck I've put together to date. It's fully functional and cute as hell. It took about 11 hours to assemble before paint (not counting all the times I had to stop building to search for a part that I dropped  ). It's a 1/35 scale and was a heck of a challenge. I was putting together the internals of the differentials and transfer case with a pair of tweezers in each hand. It was a lot of fun though, and if you already have spare receivers and a radio gear (I have a remote that can store and be bound to 20 vehicles), you can get a kit for about $85.





Little video from testing:
https://www.facebook.com/brian.mendicino/videos/10162721723300111/

[YtseBitsySpider]

That big red truck is bad ass.....I could see it driving through “table town”

lol

Jen I’m also an avid Pokémon Go player. I bought an electric kick scooter to zoom around to raids in the summer time.

[Chino]

My dad has been getting bored in retirement, and since he's decided that 20+ guitars is enough, he's started putting his money elsewhere. In the last year, he's started collecting watches and has bought 12 or 13 pretty nice ones since. He's got them in a display case in his office. I have dozens of rolls of PLA filament with little material left on them, so they aren't ideal for use if I'm doing a big print that requires a lot of material. I decided to start a project with a ton of little pieces (131 to be exact) that get assembled into something larger. I decided to make him a large watch that will act as a clock for his office. I think it'll look cool next to his display case.

I started working on the band/links last night. This is going to be a doozy. I hope it all comes together in the end.