As the saying goes, fair warning. I am thinking about the Mini Sprint-T again. I realize this does not carry the same imminent danger to life and limb as its larger counterpart, unless you are the guy with the scalpel-sharp knife cutting plastic to bring the thoughts to fruition. Then fingers might be at renewed risk, but only mine. I did almost lose the end off one about 50 years ago while building a plastic model. But that is a tale for and from a different time.
One of the things I need to think about is stuff connecting the front and rear axle to the frame. In most kits this is usually molded as a single piece that gets glued to the frame and axle(s), but I have to build mine from raw stock and sometimes from hardware from a 3rd party like Ted’s Modeling Marketplace or Dirt Modeler . But mostly it is a matter of putting the axle in place and then figuring out where is a good place on the frame to tie in the locating links. And possibly adding more uprights and diagonals to the frame to prevent flexing IRL because we are trying to “model” something to make IRL. This is just “old school” 3D modeling, with actual physical pieces getting cut and built in actual physical space. And also because I like cutting material and gluing stuff together. So, indirectly thinking about the Mini Sprint-T is actually thinking about the full-size Sprint-T, just thinking in more achievable circumstances. I have the skills to make a presentable engineering model, but it might not be a display quality model. And what I really want is a display quality engineering model. But I will accept an ugly engineering model in lieu of a display quality engineering model if it means I have a representation of the Sprint-T in physical form.
Along those lines I bought new model-building tools as I can’t use the tools I did have because age has hampered my abilities and the new ones will fit my hands better (I hope). At any rate what I have now are jury-rigged from tools made for other things, or just flat out never intended to use for making models but can be forced into the role if you have the physical dexterity, which I don’t anymore. As an example there’s this one cut I need to make that requires rolling your wrist just right while holding the razor blade to get the desired curve, and my wrist no longer moves that way while imparting enough force to make the cut. When the tools get here I’m hoping I can make that cut. That’s the thing I’m dealing with because of my accumulated damages over the last 60 years. It’s not the tools, it’s the fact that I can’t make the tools do the thing any more. And this is why I’m sad/angry, sadgry? What is the word for that emotion. And Amazon was of no help in finding equivalent bits that I can spend my gift cards on…
And I just got a box the size of a shoebox containing a few plastic rods and sheets and lots of paper padding. Which was the first of the many packages I’m getting from the same order. I guess this is to prevent damage to the rods from bending as they can develop a permanent set if held in a flexed position. And now I need to find my butane torch and a can of fuel to use it so I can bend the rods without breaking them. This seems like a good place to stop writing and maybe start doing again.
Witch on a Bicycle 