Inside the Heartwarming World of Hot Wheels Collecting

From a quintessential swap meet purchase to collecting, to the customizationn of her finds the author shares her passion for Hotwheels vechicles.

A HO Scale Wooden Shed in Disrepair

Perhaps the shed was just forgotten through the annals of time. However it still stands disused, and decrepit. I had a great time building this shed. It is primarily constructed from balsa and measures a scale square six feet and eight feet tall.

Specifications

Dimensions: 6’, 6’, 6’, 6’ by 8’tall. The roof slopes from 8 down to 7 foot.
Foundation: Foam-core
Internal Construction: Basswood framework
External Construction: Balsa random width boards
Roofing: Balsa slats, bits of toilet paper and corrugated paper

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<--Previous mention

Satisfaction Scale: 5 out of 5

Mini Screw Drivers for Delicate Work

Five miniature screwdriver heads are included under the cap of the machined aluminum handle. There are three types of star-heads, those that are more commonly used by manufacturers, a streight and a philips all geared for electronic devices.

Like I have already mentioned the handle is made from machined aluminum and is quite substantial in its build.

Explore The World of Japanese Miniatures

The world of Japanese miniatures is unique and whimsical.

Short and Narrow Rails

My recent queries have not turned-up any refference to the Short and Narrow Rails periodical.. Illustrated above is my small collection of S&NR magazines. I believe they were published four times a year. They are not dated, however judging from some of the events listed within they five consective copies I own were printed sometime in the early nineties.

Featured content changed and every volumne had a collection of images of mostly narrow gauge steam, but also featured small industrial locomotives. There are maps, drawings, and articles on various topics.

In this particular volumne are the following features:

Mini Layout Winner
18th Nat. NG Convention
Deslanso Alpine & Pacific
Three Little Critters
Fireless Cookers

I am reading through the small stack and am being inspired.

The Foundation and Framing Have Been Completed

Continuing with that ramshackle idea I threw the framing up, trying to give its framing the same touch I hope to achieve in its exteror. A complete neleglet to its upkeep and in total degradation.

I just left the quirky things happened. I am trying to protray a shed that may be in disrepair now, but when constructed it was just "thrown" together. It was never to have lasted as long as it has. Actually, it may still be standing, but it has outlived its usefulness.

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Karhidish Days of the Month

Where as the Karhidish calendar year is fourteen months long, a month consists of twenty-six days. Usually for clarity, the name of the day is given followed by the month. For an example- Eps in the month of Moth. Local dialects may pronounce these differently.

Number of the month	Name of day	Number of the month	Name of day
1	Getheny	14	Odgeheny
2	Sordny	15	Odsordny
3	Eps	16	Odeps
4	Arhad	17	Odarhad
5	Netherhad	18	Onnetherhad
6	Streth	19	Odstrath
7	Berny	20	Obberny
8	Orny	21	Odorny
9	Harhahad	22	Odharhahar
10	Guyny	23	Odguyrny
11	Yrny	24	Odyrny
12	Posthe	25	Opposthe
13	Tormenbod	26	Ottormenbod

The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. LeGuin

The Karhidish Calendar

The planet named Winter has 14 a month year. “The solar and lunar calendars concur so closely that adjustment is required only once in 200 years.” The 14 months coincide with four seasons and are named as follows:

Winter:

1. Thern
2. Thanero
3. Nimmer
4. Anner

Spring:

5. Irrem
6. Moth
7. Tuwa

Summer:

8. Osme
9. Ockre
10. Kus
11. Hakanna

Autumn:

12. Gor
13. Susmy
14. Grende

Although you would suspect winter like weather to start in the month of Thern, however snow usually start to fall in the month of Grenda. With up to five months of winter, the planet Winter revieves between twenty and thirty feet of snow.

The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. LeGuin

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The Karhidish names for the twenty-six days of the month

I Got it Covered - Shingles from a Fiskars Paper Edger

I was experimenting with a Fiskars Paper Edger. I was trying to cut some shingles for a project I had in mind.

Although the material looked perfect for my purposes the edger didn't take so well to the waxey like surface.

However, in the end, I did get enough material, with what I have here and what is still on my workbench, to shingle a small roof.

Meshe is the Center of Time

"Meshe is the center of Time...And in the center there is no time past and no time to come. In all time past it is. In all time to come it is. It has not been nor yet, will it be. It is. It is all."

On Time and Darkness, The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. LeGuin

Ekumenical School Saying

“As they say in Ekumenical School, when action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable sleep.”

The Mad King, The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. LeGuin

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<--The Left Hand of Darkness

Building a Highly Distressed Shack

After viewing this ram-shackled shack on Pinterest, I knew I would have to create one for myself. I haven’t done enough deep digging to find the original picture online, but I do believe where it can be found, Although the image on Pinterest is not credited, it has a certain authors signature methods used in its creation. I will have to make an effort to find this project on his website.

I have started by scoring random width boards from 3” to 12” HO scale from some small Balsa slabs. These balsa bits measure a scale 5.5 by 14.25 feet. I like using balsa because it it very easy to distress.

I made sure to cut some irregular boards. So far I have used a razor saw to add grain to the boards. This left a lot fuzz, which I believe I will try to burn off by passing them through a candle. After that process is completed I will go back and add some splits to the boards and board ends and add some knot holes to a few boards.

Other Books by Charles S. Small

Far Wheels (Narrow gauge around the world)
Rails to the Rising Sun (Private narrow gauge railroads of Japan)
Rails to the Setting Sun (More narrow gauge railroads around the world)
Rails to the Mines (Taiwan’s very narrow lines to the coal mines)
Rails to Doomsday (The tragic story of Corregidor’s three-footers)
Rails to the Diggings (The five gauges used to build the Panama Canal)
Military Railroads of the Panama Canal Zone (The rial lines for the guns)
California's Railway Guns (The Army’s 365 ton railway guns)
Rails to the Front (World War I’s two foot trench railroads)
Far Wheels II (Partial reprint with much new material)
The Summer of 1941 (Denver, Rio Grande & Western with John Maxwell)
Brazilian Steam Album I (Plus and minus two-footers)
Brazilian Steam Album II (Premier Brazilian lines with C. Hahmann)
Brazilian Steam Album III (Ready 1987)
Brazilian Steam Album IV (Ready 1987)

The Left Hand of Darkness

"Our entire pattern of soco-sexual interaction is non-exsistant here. The Gethenians do not see one another as men or woman. This is almost impossible for our imaginations to accept. After all, what is the first question we ask about a newborn baby.

Yet you cannot think of a Gethenian as "it". They are not neuters. They are potentials during each sexual cycle - they may develope in either direction for the duration of that cycle. No physiological habit is established, and the mother of several children may be the father of several more."

The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. LeGuin, (c) 1969, Ace Books

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My other LeGuin posts

Creating your own Greeble

Greeble is used to add effects and thus to add interesting facets to a model. So many model and special effect makers use parts from scale model kits for their greeble. I am not under no contract, nor do I have a large budget for these kits.

A Greeble Day

The greeble on the left were creating by cutting small pieces from a square tube. The greeble on the left are either under construction or have been completed using bits of left over plastic from other projects.

Greeble can be something as simple as adding geometrical shapes, such as vertical and horizontal strips to a scratch built model. Patterns can be created by stacking strips vertically or horizontally. You could also add small bits of round or square rods into some some sort of simple pattern.

Greeble can be created from just about anything. Take these two pieces of sprue and the inter-workings of a deodorant applicator.

Far Wheels II

Front cover of Far Wheels II, Charles S. Small, A Railroad Monograph Book, (c) 1986

It was this book and the many railways listed within its covers perked my interest in narrow gauge railroading.

Far Wheels II is an updated edition of Charles S. Small’s Far Wheels I. Small has traveled world and visited the many narrow gauge railways that once trans-versed many localities around the world. Far Wheels II is a 102 page collection of text, maps, and images on many of these narrow gauge railways.

Small gives us a glimpse into the workings, equipment types, geographical features, history, and even some thoughts on the accommodations available at some of these locations. Here is one of my favorites:

“In British Africa one finds clean rooms, comfortable beds, water-borne sanitation and the worst food ever prepared by human hands. In French Africa the beds are stuffed with hay, old railways ties and scrap iron. The water and showers are unreliable, but you can eat in the most miserable hamlet like a civilized man and in larger towns like a king.”

Below is the table of contents and the many railways, their gauge, and locations of these narrow gauge railways:

1. Japan 2’ – 6” gauge

Kiso Forest Railway
Japan Sulphur Company
Kosaka Copper Company
Kusakaru Electric Railway

2. Eritrea 950mm gauge

Ferrovia Eritree

3. Madagascar 1000mm gauge

Chemin De Fer Madagascar

4. Fiji, 2’ – 0 gauge

Colonial Sugar Company

5. Portuguese East Africa, 2’ – 5.1/2 “, 3’ 6” gauges

Caminho DeFerri Mozambique

6. Australia, Tasmania, 3’6” gauge, AbtRack

7. Jamaica, 4’ 8 ½ gauge

Jamaican Government Railway

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Other books by Charles S. Small