January 24, 2007
...And this is my friend, Tanqueray
Thanks, Dave, for this extra-special link. You know, I bet the parents wanking about this so-called "fitness accessory" are the same white-trash (chavy, if you will) parents who are letting, and in some cases encouraging, their 9 year-old girls run around emulating this latest bunch of pop-tart whores? Whaddya bet?
Too harsh?
Naaaah.
Here's your link o' the day! Thanks again, Dave. By the way, act now 'cause it's on SALE!
Too harsh?
Naaaah.
Here's your link o' the day! Thanks again, Dave. By the way, act now 'cause it's on SALE!
// posted by wayne @ 1/24/2007 05:04:00 AM 
January 23, 2007
OUCH!
Alrighty then! Here's the quick pic I promised. It would seem my day tomorrow just got a bit longer since I'll have to run my original errands and call the insurance people again to see if they were able to contact the other insurance company. I love insurance companies.
Anyway, here's the quick and dirty version: I was headed to work and turned westbound on to E. Rock Creek from NE 12th street. There was a green jeep liberty a good distance in front of me who turned right on to Desert Willow, but then stopped. However, right when I was passing that intersection, she made the world's fastest U-turn, came back into traffic and smacked me broadside. I saw what she was doing, but had only enough time to swerve into the other lane of traffic, thereby avoiding the head-on collision, but it was still too late. She was watching another car, or so she said, and smacked me good, as the photo shows. I never saw the other car that she was trying to beat, but this is probably a good thing because that means I didn't hit said car. Her jeep was knocked back into the intersection a bit, but I fishtailed left, then back to the right and around 180 degrees and slid off the south side road into the bar ditch facing back to the east. This all happened amazingly fast. Crazy fast, even. Once I realized I was intact, I popped out to see if she was OK. She said she was, so I took a quick look at the truck and asked if she had a cell. Nope. Guess what? Neither did I. Or so I thought. I had completely forgotten about the work cell phone in my computer bag (I was on call last weekend) but knew for sure that I had not grabbed my cell because I wouldn't need it. The roads are clear, after all, right? Fortunately, two people in one of the houses along Rock Creek heard all the commotion and came running out with portable in hand.
The rest is pretty much standard stuff; we exchanged info, she got a ticket, I changed the rear passenger tire, which is absolutely hosed, and continued on to work. Thank God no one was hurt. I didn't see him initially, but her 24 month old son in the car with her. I shudder to think what could have happened if I had T-boned them instead of swerving. That would've been bad. Very bad. I was only doing about 40-something, but they would've taken the direct impact of all of it right across the passenger compartment of that Jeep. And if the condition of the front end on her car was any indicator then it would've been bad. As it was, she had to have it towed. And that's about it. Now that you've had to read the entire post, here's what my 98 model F150 looks like after the fact. Lovely, don't you think?
HERE's what The Big Black Truck looked like back in happier, simpler times.
Anyway, here's the quick and dirty version: I was headed to work and turned westbound on to E. Rock Creek from NE 12th street. There was a green jeep liberty a good distance in front of me who turned right on to Desert Willow, but then stopped. However, right when I was passing that intersection, she made the world's fastest U-turn, came back into traffic and smacked me broadside. I saw what she was doing, but had only enough time to swerve into the other lane of traffic, thereby avoiding the head-on collision, but it was still too late. She was watching another car, or so she said, and smacked me good, as the photo shows. I never saw the other car that she was trying to beat, but this is probably a good thing because that means I didn't hit said car. Her jeep was knocked back into the intersection a bit, but I fishtailed left, then back to the right and around 180 degrees and slid off the south side road into the bar ditch facing back to the east. This all happened amazingly fast. Crazy fast, even. Once I realized I was intact, I popped out to see if she was OK. She said she was, so I took a quick look at the truck and asked if she had a cell. Nope. Guess what? Neither did I. Or so I thought. I had completely forgotten about the work cell phone in my computer bag (I was on call last weekend) but knew for sure that I had not grabbed my cell because I wouldn't need it. The roads are clear, after all, right? Fortunately, two people in one of the houses along Rock Creek heard all the commotion and came running out with portable in hand.
The rest is pretty much standard stuff; we exchanged info, she got a ticket, I changed the rear passenger tire, which is absolutely hosed, and continued on to work. Thank God no one was hurt. I didn't see him initially, but her 24 month old son in the car with her. I shudder to think what could have happened if I had T-boned them instead of swerving. That would've been bad. Very bad. I was only doing about 40-something, but they would've taken the direct impact of all of it right across the passenger compartment of that Jeep. And if the condition of the front end on her car was any indicator then it would've been bad. As it was, she had to have it towed. And that's about it. Now that you've had to read the entire post, here's what my 98 model F150 looks like after the fact. Lovely, don't you think?
HERE's what The Big Black Truck looked like back in happier, simpler times.
// posted by wayne @ 1/23/2007 04:18:00 AM
January 22, 2007
BREAKING NEWS!
The Big Black Truck has been assaulted! I was driving to work today when someone smacked right in to the passenger side and made quite the mess.
Pics and details later tonight.
Pics and details later tonight.
// posted by wayne @ 1/22/2007 09:22:00 PM
January 21, 2007
Alright, so that wasn't as bas as I thought...
We're speaking of Borat, of course. You see, I saw Borat back when Sacha was doing that shtick on the second season of Da Ali G show on the HBO. Back then, Borat was about a seven minute sketch in a fifty minute show, and I decided that was just about as much Borat as I could handle in one sitting. This explains why, even though Da Ali G Movie killed, I was in no big hurry to see this latest offering. Friday, Jason hooked me up and I really figured we'd watch it when we got around to it, or when (yet again) Netflix "lost" one of our returned movies--thereby holding up our movie queue. (Yeah, those guys are getting canceled [again] at the end of this month). To my surprise, Aimee wanted to watch it tonight, so we did just that. To tell you the honest truth, it wasn't that bad. It wasn't that great, but we didn't have to stop it twenty minutes in, like with A Scanner Darkly. Ugh. It is pretty raunchy though, so keep the kiddies far away. Seriously, unless you fancy the idea of having to explain why two grown men are wrestling in a hotel room--naked--then keep them far, far away.
In completely unrelated news, we're not buried under 5" to 10" of snow, as originally forecast, so that's a good thing. So good, in fact, that tomorrow I'm going to do my best to get out of bed at a reasonable hour, mount the bench vise to the bench and start filing on the .45, regardless of internal temperature. Aimee bought a radiant heater last week but I didn't want to use it because it's going back to the store. Then she reminded me it's going back to Sam's Club so it doesn't matter if the thing has melted itself into a grilled sheet-metal sandwich. We've got the receipt, so they get it back! Obviously I'm not going to abuse it or anything, we just want a heater with a bit more heat to it, and preferably one that will work WITHOUT electrical power should we finally get that snow or another ice shellacking. I figure that thing should raise the temperature to the point where a nice hoodie should be sufficient to keep from freezing to death, since there is no wind in the garage. None from outside anyway.
Well, I'm going to download some music from a Russian website or something so you guys have yourself a great Sunday!
In completely unrelated news, we're not buried under 5" to 10" of snow, as originally forecast, so that's a good thing. So good, in fact, that tomorrow I'm going to do my best to get out of bed at a reasonable hour, mount the bench vise to the bench and start filing on the .45, regardless of internal temperature. Aimee bought a radiant heater last week but I didn't want to use it because it's going back to the store. Then she reminded me it's going back to Sam's Club so it doesn't matter if the thing has melted itself into a grilled sheet-metal sandwich. We've got the receipt, so they get it back! Obviously I'm not going to abuse it or anything, we just want a heater with a bit more heat to it, and preferably one that will work WITHOUT electrical power should we finally get that snow or another ice shellacking. I figure that thing should raise the temperature to the point where a nice hoodie should be sufficient to keep from freezing to death, since there is no wind in the garage. None from outside anyway.
Well, I'm going to download some music from a Russian website or something so you guys have yourself a great Sunday!
// posted by wayne @ 1/21/2007 03:37:00 AM
January 16, 2007
YOU try it and let me know how that works out for ya.
Okay, tough guys, I just had Aimee check the temp in the garage and it is a summery 37 degrees farenheit. Maybe you're tough enough to sit there with cold files in your hands working on cold metal, but not this guy. Maybe after we get a garage heater, but for now, I'm going to play the weenie card.
// posted by wayne @ 1/16/2007 08:18:00 PM
January 15, 2007
Thirty Second Movie Reviews
Since things are on hold with the .45 (until it is climbs above 40 degrees in the garage) so I figured it was time for another installment of (insert regal-sounding trumpet music here) Thirty Second Movie Reviews!
First up is Open Water. You know, the one about two divers who are left behind because of the stunning incompetence of the dive boat crew? Needless to say, if you are going on a dive cruise, make sure YOU charter the boat or at least make sure to stay with the group. M'kay? Anyway, the movie was better than expected and the two newbies--the lead characters--did a pretty good job. Not super good, but good enough that they might actually have careers after this one, unlike those poor kiddies in the Blair Witch Project. Not that they haven't been working, mind you, they just haven't been able to repeat the success of that little indie sweetie. I enjoyed Open Water and have to say I even admire it a bit, given that they were able to pull it off without a proper film crew. A good watch, but not for everyone.
Second is an old favorite: Boondock Saints. This is the move, ladies and gents, which redeemed one of our close friends after he had brought over one of the most unbelievably bad movies I've ever had the bad fortune of viewing--Shrunken Heads. Saints is a story of Irish brothers living in Boston who decide that the "indifference of good men" is just as bad as being plain evil. This movie, for my dollar, is every bit as good as Reservoir Dogs or even Pulp Fiction, without the sometimes prattling Tarantino dialog. Willem DaFoe is amazingly funny as a gay FBI agent who becomes increasingly disheveled and obsessed as the case goes on. Billy Connolly is Pure genius as "Il Duce" and the rest of the case does equally well. The ONLY flaw with this move comes at the end with an excessively long-winded and preachy speech which practically begs for a sequel that, to my knowledge, has not been made. And that's just as well, because they wouldn't be able to recapture all the elements which made this one such a success.
First up is Open Water. You know, the one about two divers who are left behind because of the stunning incompetence of the dive boat crew? Needless to say, if you are going on a dive cruise, make sure YOU charter the boat or at least make sure to stay with the group. M'kay? Anyway, the movie was better than expected and the two newbies--the lead characters--did a pretty good job. Not super good, but good enough that they might actually have careers after this one, unlike those poor kiddies in the Blair Witch Project. Not that they haven't been working, mind you, they just haven't been able to repeat the success of that little indie sweetie. I enjoyed Open Water and have to say I even admire it a bit, given that they were able to pull it off without a proper film crew. A good watch, but not for everyone.
Second is an old favorite: Boondock Saints. This is the move, ladies and gents, which redeemed one of our close friends after he had brought over one of the most unbelievably bad movies I've ever had the bad fortune of viewing--Shrunken Heads. Saints is a story of Irish brothers living in Boston who decide that the "indifference of good men" is just as bad as being plain evil. This movie, for my dollar, is every bit as good as Reservoir Dogs or even Pulp Fiction, without the sometimes prattling Tarantino dialog. Willem DaFoe is amazingly funny as a gay FBI agent who becomes increasingly disheveled and obsessed as the case goes on. Billy Connolly is Pure genius as "Il Duce" and the rest of the case does equally well. The ONLY flaw with this move comes at the end with an excessively long-winded and preachy speech which practically begs for a sequel that, to my knowledge, has not been made. And that's just as well, because they wouldn't be able to recapture all the elements which made this one such a success.
// posted by wayne @ 1/15/2007 03:55:00 AM
January 11, 2007
Starting to look like something that might shoot.
First of all, it is far too late to put up pics, so I apologize in advance for that. I wanted to share but not enough to spend the next hour fighting with blogger, trying to force it to upload pics. In any event, here's what's been happening: LOTS--and let me say that again--LOTS of filing. I think the Essex frame was a good deal, but I don't think it is exactly 100% to specs. The only reason I'm even bringing it up is because I've spent a lot of time fitting parts that should need no fitting. A good example is the trigger. I had to remove metal from the back of the trigger to allow it to move rearward enough to move the sear enough to release the hammer. This should not have to be done. Or at least none of the literature I've read mentioned this. Second is the hammer pocket on the grip safety. I had to enlarge the pocket to allow the hammer enough room to fully cock. When I didn't feel comfortable removing any more metal from the safety, I removed some from the back of the hammer. Originally, the hammer would cock, but it pushed down on the grip safety so far that it actually deactivated the safety! This is supposed to be accomplished by the meaty part of your hand when you take a proper firing grip on the pistol, NOT by the hammer.
So far, I'm pleased with my progress, but I'm leaving things a little tight, rather than remove too much metal. The thing will break in and everything will seat itself when I finally begin to shoot it. Even Kimber's cs department recommends a 500 round break-in period for their guns. I wonder if I could lube the whole thing with lapping compound when it's done and then hand cycle it 3 or 4 hundred times instead of shooting up 500 rounds. That should get everything smoothed out! I'll have to check into that and let you know.
I'm just about to the point where I am ready to fit the slide to the frame rails, but I don't want to attempt that without a digital-read micrometer. Sure, I could get a dial read, but everywhere I look all they have is the ultra-cheesy plastic crap and I am not buying a plastic micrometer. I'm just not going there. So I'll wait a bit and get one from Midway USA the next time I make an order. In the mean time, there are some little nit-picky things I can fine-tune or polish--things that are technically done, but perhaps not 110% to my liking. I guess the very next step is to blend the frame tangs to the grip safety. I'm still trying to decide how much, if any, breaking of the edges I want to do, so I could start on that too, I suppose, while I'm trying to source a micrometer.
If your playing along on the home version, here's the labor so far:
OCT06, 1 hour: Break hammer edges and chamfer hammer hole. Straighten and deepen thumb grooves and polish hammer.
23NOV06, .2 hour: Fit link pin to barrel lugs and install link and pin.
2DEC06, 1 hour: Cut and polish hammer hooks to .025, cut and polish relief angle on sear. Lightly stone contact surfaces on disconnector.
30DEC06, 2.2 hours: Polished hammer sides to fit frame. Enlarged magazine release keyhole, shaped and polished mag catch slightly. Cut frame to fit barrel lugs, polished barrel lugs. Cut slide stop lug to clear slide.
31DEC06, 3.5 hours: Fit grip safety lug. Fit thumb safety lug. Enlarged hammer pocket on thumb safety. Removed metal from back of trigger to allow full travel. Fit disconnector to channel in frame. Attached hammer strut to hammer.
1JAN07, 3 hours: Contoured end of safety plunger and polish. Tried to polish inside of plunger tube. Slightly contoured plunger engagement surface of thumb safety. Removed even more metal from hammer pocket and corresponding metal on hammer. Lightly polished engagement lug on grip safety to eliminate drag on trigger bow, polished corresponding surface on trigger bow. Light detail polish on sear and thumb safety contact surfaces. Removed two coils from mainspring, polished contact surfaces on sear spring.
10JAN07, 1.5 hours: Fit barrel to slide, fit bushing to slide. Hardened safety plunger.
11JAN07, 1.5 hours: Fit Novak sights to slide.
Now if my cuttin' and pastin' is correct, that should come up to 13.9 hours so far. I figure there's another 10, or so, to go--not counting parkerizing, test firing and troubleshooting. Sure, I'd like to believe it's going to work perfectly the first time at the range, but that's just not realistic. Possible, but not probable, as they say. I really wanted to put up a link to the google spreadsheet I'm using to keep track of this project, but so far I haven't see a "share this page" link so this will have to do.
I'm sure there will be more to come and sooner or later I'll have to put up a post that isn't related to this project. Believe it or not, there has been a lot going on lately, but it'll keep.
So far, I'm pleased with my progress, but I'm leaving things a little tight, rather than remove too much metal. The thing will break in and everything will seat itself when I finally begin to shoot it. Even Kimber's cs department recommends a 500 round break-in period for their guns. I wonder if I could lube the whole thing with lapping compound when it's done and then hand cycle it 3 or 4 hundred times instead of shooting up 500 rounds. That should get everything smoothed out! I'll have to check into that and let you know.
I'm just about to the point where I am ready to fit the slide to the frame rails, but I don't want to attempt that without a digital-read micrometer. Sure, I could get a dial read, but everywhere I look all they have is the ultra-cheesy plastic crap and I am not buying a plastic micrometer. I'm just not going there. So I'll wait a bit and get one from Midway USA the next time I make an order. In the mean time, there are some little nit-picky things I can fine-tune or polish--things that are technically done, but perhaps not 110% to my liking. I guess the very next step is to blend the frame tangs to the grip safety. I'm still trying to decide how much, if any, breaking of the edges I want to do, so I could start on that too, I suppose, while I'm trying to source a micrometer.
If your playing along on the home version, here's the labor so far:
OCT06, 1 hour: Break hammer edges and chamfer hammer hole. Straighten and deepen thumb grooves and polish hammer.
23NOV06, .2 hour: Fit link pin to barrel lugs and install link and pin.
2DEC06, 1 hour: Cut and polish hammer hooks to .025, cut and polish relief angle on sear. Lightly stone contact surfaces on disconnector.
30DEC06, 2.2 hours: Polished hammer sides to fit frame. Enlarged magazine release keyhole, shaped and polished mag catch slightly. Cut frame to fit barrel lugs, polished barrel lugs. Cut slide stop lug to clear slide.
31DEC06, 3.5 hours: Fit grip safety lug. Fit thumb safety lug. Enlarged hammer pocket on thumb safety. Removed metal from back of trigger to allow full travel. Fit disconnector to channel in frame. Attached hammer strut to hammer.
1JAN07, 3 hours: Contoured end of safety plunger and polish. Tried to polish inside of plunger tube. Slightly contoured plunger engagement surface of thumb safety. Removed even more metal from hammer pocket and corresponding metal on hammer. Lightly polished engagement lug on grip safety to eliminate drag on trigger bow, polished corresponding surface on trigger bow. Light detail polish on sear and thumb safety contact surfaces. Removed two coils from mainspring, polished contact surfaces on sear spring.
10JAN07, 1.5 hours: Fit barrel to slide, fit bushing to slide. Hardened safety plunger.
11JAN07, 1.5 hours: Fit Novak sights to slide.
Now if my cuttin' and pastin' is correct, that should come up to 13.9 hours so far. I figure there's another 10, or so, to go--not counting parkerizing, test firing and troubleshooting. Sure, I'd like to believe it's going to work perfectly the first time at the range, but that's just not realistic. Possible, but not probable, as they say. I really wanted to put up a link to the google spreadsheet I'm using to keep track of this project, but so far I haven't see a "share this page" link so this will have to do.
I'm sure there will be more to come and sooner or later I'll have to put up a post that isn't related to this project. Believe it or not, there has been a lot going on lately, but it'll keep.
// posted by wayne @ 1/11/2007 05:10:00 AM
