Kevin's Watch

As there isn't a hobby thread here on KW here then is a place to talk about, post thoughts, ideas, and pictures, of your hobbies.

I was reading an Evangeline comic book the other day in which a caption displayed a rocket ship with an extremely simply design, line-drawn with a wash of colour. So I get's to thinking that the shapes of the rocket weren't too far removed from a some airfix kits I've had stashed away for months on end in the back of a cupboard.
Sure enough, some cutting with a junior hacksaw and trimming with a newly acquired hobby knife the Eurofighter Typhoon is taking shape as an interstellar space craft. The exciting part is that I'll get to use the frames from which the parts are fixed, to make a gantry from the engine section at the rear to the flight deck assembly at the front.



The whole point to all this is just of having a very relaxing time as one does, whether from reading,
writing, drawing, or painting. So I wanted to put this out there in case there're any other Watchers
who like modelling airfix kits into something other than their original parts.
Will supply picture updates if there's any interest.

The models being used are a Then and Now double kit.
The Eurofighter Typhoon and the Supermarine Spitfire.
This means there is a chunky base for propping up the two models.
Which also means that the idea of installing small LED's inside
the rocket ship can now be realized.
(To be honest, I actually thought the plastic bag contained a Stealth Fighter Jet -
I need to wear my glasses more often ).



As you can see, a 9v battery
is too bulky for this project.



The breadboard circuit shows a design for
a 3 LED traffic lights, using two 555 timers with
several small additional components. Not too
difficult to install in a small space. As this circuit operates
on a 12v supply the chunky base can be easilly fitted with
a mains power adapter socket and wires run from the base
and the stem to the model.



So it's off to Maplin's to get some (pcb) stripboard.

Rune wrote:
...The whole point to all this is just of having a very relaxing time as one does, whether from reading, writing, drawing, or painting. So I wanted to put this out there in case there're any other Watchers
who like modelling airfix kits into something other than their original parts.

This description is delightful.
Even though I'm not someone who's likely to end up doing -that- specific hobby... it's still relevant to me, because it gives me an idea of stuff that you -can- do, the possibilities that are out there.
It's something creative.
Creative hobbies are so delightful, because you can just relax, mess around, play with something... and it's not like the world is depending on you to get it right.

I'll join in the process of starting this thread off in an appropriately geeky way.
I mud, apparently.
(Someone just got me re-started playing a Middle-Earth mud.
Text-based... you walk around. You type "k boar" to kill a boar, etc.
Right now it's a delightful diversion.)

I have a need to read... I love fiction, but I don't allow myself enough time to just chill and read a book.
Doing art - like drawing - is my happy place.
Was experimenting with tempera paints or something recently and attempted this sunrise: <3

And started this one:


[Edit: decided to get a photobucket account, so... pictures now! there are more productive things I coulda been doing with those seven minutes of my life, buuuuuut..]

The GF was recently doing quite a bit of stuff with tempera. Except she wasn't mixing it, but using it in powder form instead. I think it involved blowing the powder through a straw at a wet canvas, but can't recall...will ask her if you care.

Rune wrote:...the Supermarine Spitfire.

Hey, I built a 1:72nd of one of those once.

Hobbies...I dunno if I do anything that can be classified as a hobby...at least, there are several things I do for enjoyment, but almost none of them regularly enough to classify.

I read and play games a lot...do those qualify? Technically we climb, but haven't been out on the rock for so long that I can barely claim it.

I guess I have more than enough books to count as a collection, but I don't think of them that way. I collect knives and similar edged weapons too, but I'm not obsessive about it. And like the books, it's a pretty passive hobby...I don't even display them...the ones that fit are in a bag in my cupboard, and the rest are scattered about the house collecting dust as the GF likes to point out.

--A

I collect books, too, but not like I used to. I used to keep everything I read. Now I take most of the dead-tree books over to the used bookstore.

Other than writing, my other hobby is knitting. I'll have to post a few pics here when I get home. Although I think you can browse my project page on Ravelry, even if you're not a member.

www.ravelry.com/projects/lynnecm

Avatar wrote:The GF was recently doing quite a bit of stuff with tempera. Except she wasn't mixing it, but using it in powder form instead. I think it involved blowing the powder through a straw at a wet canvas, but can't recall...will ask her if you care.

Yeahhh! it might randomly encourage me to do more if hear what someone else is doing with art!
That descriptions you gave sound awesome for color and texture.

Of course reading and playing games a lot count as hobbies.
You're not getting paid for it, are you?

Oh, and I liked this:

rune wrote:
To be honest, I actually thought the plastic bag contained a Stealth Fighter Jet...

ali- hmm, ravelry.com didn't seem to want to let me go to your link without being a member...
...but I approve of their webpage's art... sheepies and bunnies and llamas and a buffalo bouncing around in a giant pile of yarn.

Heh. Thanks for the opportunity to engage in my hobby of following links to buffalo pictures/art.

Apropos to rune's earlier post, I used to do a somewhat similar hobby of "kit-bashing" model rocket kits (and various other materials) to create odd-but-flyable rockets. Was useful back when Dam-et was in Scouting and I was running the district's annual rocket launch. While we had a fleet of Estes Alphas for the lads to borrow and fly, the highlights were often the unique birds I would mix in every so often, like the pyramid I made from a deconstructed FedEx box. Didn't go high, but it made an impression and was never hard to find.

Linna Heartlistener wrote:Yeahhh! it might randomly encourage me to do more if hear what someone else is doing with art!

I'll ask her.

aliantha wrote:I collect books, too, but not like I used to. I used to keep everything I read. Now I take most of the dead-tree books over to the used bookstore.

I can't do that...otherwise how would I re-read anything?

--A

I also like the photoshop-type program that I can spend way too much time on.
Linna I copied and pasted some of your pictures to play with ...

Oooh, I like that.

Linna Heartlistener wrote:ali- hmm, ravelry.com didn't seem to want to let me go to your link without being a member...
...but I approve of their webpage's art... sheepies and bunnies and llamas and a buffalo bouncing around in a giant pile of yarn.

Well, phooey. Here are a few photos, then. I actually knitted myself a blazer.


Lately I've been making a bunch of little shawls to wear to work. Here are a couple of them. First, the Lady Morgana helps me show off the Adirondack.


Here's part of the Canyonlands shawl.


And this one is probably my favorite thing that I've knitted ever. It's called the Eden Prairie, and it's a proper shawl -- much bigger than the others.

Those are very good bits of work Ali. The last is very art deco and the swirl (with the cat sitting above) looks a very technically accomplished piece with its zig-zag edge.

Nice shawls.

--A

Thanks, guys. All I do is follow the directions, honest.

Peter, the last one is meant to mimic Prairie Style and/or Frank Lloyd Wright. But I can see Art Deco, too.

I like all of those, but especially the colors on the Canyonlands shawl. The last one reminds me of a butterfly. Actually a specific type of butterfly, but I don't know the proper name for it and Google wasn't helpful. Or maybe Google was too helpful.

I don't think I really have any hobbies these days. Does WoW count? WoW probably counts. I don't count writing. That's more of an affliction.

Sorus wrote:Does WoW count? WoW probably counts.

Wikipedia says hobbies such as stamp collecting are more rare these days because of dvd games. So yes, computer gaming is classified as a hobby.
It went on to say that writing and updating Wikipedia pages is also considered a hobby. This read like it was kinda folding in on itself, and was where I stopped.

Seems like a wise choice, Rune.

So posting on the Watch must be a hobby too.

--A

Decidedly. That hobby/ habit has been both undoing and redemption for various Watchers over the years.

We're still having fun...