Website

I have just finished helping a friend create a website for one of his many model-making exploits: Antheads. As you can see, he makes heads and other accessories for 1/6^th scale model soldiers. He has some excellent photos of some of his finished figures in the Gallery. It is hosted on the free Google Sites platform which means there are no fancy animations and hover effects, just straight pictures and text. However, this also means he can continue to edit the site himself using the rather good web-based editing tools.

Beer (updated)

I have been meaning to test the local brews for some time now, so I started the other day by buying a variety pack of bottled beers from Erie Brewing Company. You get 6 each of Railbender Ale, Presque Isle Pilsner, Misery Bay IPA and Mad Anthony's APA.

First, I tried the IPA (India Pale Ale) to see if it compared to one of my favourites (Deuchars IPA). It was pretty good; quite strong (6.5%) but with the distinctive grapefruity IPA aftertaste. I tried the APA (American Pale Ale) next and it was very good. The bitterness is toned down slightly in favour of more malt. But not too much. And at 4.2%, very drinkable.

Railbender Ale has been brewed in a Scottish style; it is the darkest and strongest beer (6.8%). The high malt content gives it a big flavour, so I'd recommend drinking this with curry rather than, say, fish. The final beer, Presque Isle Pilsner, is the lightest in colour and not too strong (4.2%). Crisp and refreshing, it reminds me of a local brew I had in Munich, when I went to Germany to install software on the grinding machines in the Ford factory. The hotel had the best tomato soup ever.

2010

Yes, this is the new number that you have to get used to writing on your checks/cheques. It is also the name of a sci-fi film that people will be curious to watch to see if the predictions are accurate. My advice: watch the superior original (if you didn't already, nine years ago). Or read the book it's based. It's not that the film is badly made (though Kubrick is a very hard act to follow). It's just a major plot point was changed that severely dates the film back to the 80s, and it wasn't the hair styles. Let this be a lesson to producers who try to make a futuristic film 'more relevant' - you end up looking silly on the actual date when you could have appeared visionary. Leave predictions to the professionals. Happy new year.

Mr. Power Source

The 6.3v tube filament line on the tabletop Stromberg wasn't working so I acquired a replacement from eBay. The seller said it came from an electric organ and had been powering about 25 tubes, so it's more than beefy enough to light up the 14 or so in the radio. First I tested it at low voltage, mainly to see which end was which as there were no markings on the casing. I then hooked it up to the radio; there was a faint signal there briefly before a loud sputtering swamped it. The noise was unaffected by the volume control so I have to assume it is the fault once again of the power transformer, this time the high voltage line. This line goes directly to the rectifier tube, a 5U4G. I looked online for some circuit diagrams that include this tube to confirm what transformer I need to hunt down on eBay. On my travels I found this Japanese company's site which had some very good info, as well as a very charming explanation of a tube power amp:

"Mr. Amp is told like "Hey I am going to send you the audio signal" after the power is on to replay music. Mr. Power Source says "Ok then let's work! First I will make rice!" Mr. Amplifier says "The signal is small, so let's make it bigger". Then Mr. Output is like "Oh OK OK. Here I can shake Mr. Speaker by pulling out power! Here we go! Tada! Look! It's a good sound, isn't it?"

Shop

It's time once again to plug Duamuteffe's Etsy Store. No, there is nothing particularly Halloweeny on sale, unless you are dressing as a Pirate Queen and want a spiffy necklace of gold freshwater pearls. Since my last update there has been the inclusion of several jewelry pieces in addition to some more cute sock animals. The crystal earrings are particularly nice. Go and have a look!

Radio working

Thanks to a fresh shipment of parts, I have resurrected the aformentioned Star Roamer radio. I replaced the large electrolytic caps in the power supply section with nice modern ones which don't dry out. I also bypassed the old selenium rectifier in there, as although it was still rectifying, I read reports of them failing by releasing nasty fumes at you. The modern equivalent is a silicon diode, which can cost upwards of 4 cents each.

The other items that had stopped working since the 60s were all the slide switches that operate things like Auto Noise Limiting, On/Off etc. There were four of them, and they all had intermittant connections; it's weird why such a simple device would fail like this. Perhaps I'll autopsy one of them. Anyway, they still make them, and now it has four new ones.

I rigged up an antenna wire, made from old network cable, around the ceiling and switched on. After waiting a short while for the tubes to warm up I heard a light crackle. I had the band on AM and expected to get something, but the were no stations coming in. But when I switched to one of the three(!) shortwave bands I could hear all sorts of stuff; Canadian, South American, even Italian and Russian programs. I think I heard Chinese once. On later investigation, I found the problem with AM - there was a short on the tuning coil. So all I need to complete this radio now is a replacement signal strength meter, which was missing from the kit, and was probably used to fix another radio...

Animal Shop

Since she got a book about it, over the past few weeks Duamuteffe has been making cute animals from highly colored socks. We can't keep 'em all, so she set up an online store though Etsy. Go have a look; the pics are adorable:)