RC10Talk - The Net's Largest Vintage R/C Community

I’ve had so many other hobbies & interests over the years, probably the longest running (40yrs) was playing guitar & bass which I’ve only recently given up. Coupled to that I had a home studio for a while but there’s also been bikes, cars, 4x4s, live steam, clay pigeon shooting, airguns, motocross, scalextric & collecting diecast. I’m 56 now though & cba with much except messing about with rc cars lol.

I am surprised this thread didn't take off. Seems like a good topic.

I have RC cars of course ( 4 buggies and 1 rock crawler), RC planes, an RC sailboat, a 63 Comet, a Miata, a drag race Pinto, a GSXR, a bunch of things that go BANG!, a road bike, and some hiking boots. As soon as I click "submit", I will think of something else.

I started over from scratch 2 years ago, so I can't afford hobbies at the moment, but I'm getting closer to doing so.

I got into Clodbusters in 1999 and had them through around 2010.

I enjoy cars, would love a light project vehicle to work on and have fun with. I'd like a 4x4, what I call a boony cruncher, something to take offroad and have fun with on occasion. Capable, but not a super serious rig. With the advent of Covid and the ridiculous price of the used vehicle market, I've not been able to pursue this at this time.

I love heavy equipment, would love to have some, though money and space prevents that at this time.

Fire pits!!!
Electrician/instrumentation technician by trade but I do love welding and tinkering.
Made a few on quiet back shifts but thought I'd try out these to reduce the smoke.
Bought this for our summer, double skinned "smokeless" firepit, they didn't stock a large diameter lid so made one out of some .7mm 304 and some brass cupboard handles I repurposed, and some automotive rubber edge seal to keep edges safe and the rain out, obviously when its cold.

https://wizardfirepits.co.nz/

And BBQ Repair, somehow?
A good friend of mine was dumping this stainless bbq, so i rescued it and over several evenings of podcasts and bourbon, cleaned it up in my shed as a surprise for my lovely lady.
Came out great, i expoxy'd new magnets onto the door latches, replaced screws with new stainless items, and had to cut and fold up some more flame deflectors as the original replacement parts were no longer supported by the manufacturer, Leak tested, and even replaced the battery ignitor for $3, thanks aliexpress.
Was a $2500 bbq when new, apart from the magnets and ignitor, maybe $20 in oven cleaner and sliced knuckles.
Just sourcing a new cover for it.
It is a large piece of gear though, not sure you'd ever need all those burners and side burner going at once, note the leak testing, just in case.
I did run some new 1/4" stainless tubing and swagelok fittings around too, but i do that for fun at work also.

I collect O gauge trains. Prewar trains are my favorite followed by Postwar. Lionel mostly but some other companies. I am a retired firearms instructor for the biggest police department in the US so I have a decent size collection of work tools as well. Reloading for the previously mentioned tools is another thing that I do but prices are so high right now I have to be careful about what I use from my inventory. And I have a small sized Star Wars collection from figures to lightsabers to a helmet and a tattoo.

This week, it's restoring a 1987 Apple Macintosh SE with new capacitors, and a BlueSCSI v2 hard drive replacement board, for faster operation with an SD card.




Had to open the original hard drive as it was stuck and not spinning, pushing on the stepper motor by hand got it spinning again, but it still wouldn't boot.


Pulled and tested the power supply caps, only one was physically leaking after nearly 40 years.


Replaced all caps in the PSU with Nichicon and Kemet 105°C caps.






Ready for another 40 years.

The other boards in this SE will also be recapped when the parts get here Friday.

Badly yellowed from sitting in the sun, long before it was given to me, about 18 years ago. The bottom of the Mac SE still shows the original color, in comparison to the rest.


It was gray/white originally.


Used 12% peroxide hair cream to remove the yellowing.


Three 20 minute treatments, in the direct sunlight, while covered in the peroxide cream.


Only had 40 minutes of sunlight left today for the top of the keyboard, but what a difference.


Should look like new, and be faster than it was originally with the new SD card hard drive replacement.


If you need to get the yellow off your vintage plastics, this 12% peroxide cream works incredibly well in direct sunlight, uncovered, and reapplied every 20 minutes to keep it even and wet.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SVTJKGK

GreenBar0n wrote: ↑Wed Sep 25, 2024 9:10 pm If you need to get the yellow off your vintage plastics, this 12% peroxide cream works incredibly well in direct sunlight, uncovered, and reapplied every 20 minutes to keep it even and wet.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SVTJKGK

Not to take this thread off into a completely weird direction, but I use the Salon Care 40 products (both 12%), in both "clear" (ie liquid) and creme. Expensive on Amazon, but about $8-9 for 32oz, and $17-19 for a gallon at Sally Beauty Supply.

The Nintendo guys do the same to restore the plastics

I never had a need to bleach yellow plastic before, but always heard how messy and difficult and spotty the process can be, so many negative things I read about this, and yet it was very easy with the right product. That cream stuck to the odd curves and shapes, unlike submerging in liquid peroxide and covering in plastic, the cream left a really uniform original color behind, no spots or streaks. Couldn't believe how effective and easy this was. Going to get the case bleached tomorrow when the sun is out.

Even though I'm a Windows guy... er was. (It's all crap these days.) Macs in the '80s were my first introduction to computers that has lasted me a lifetime. I even found a certificate a few years ago that stated I was my schools computer lab manager in 1985. I fondly remember Stickybear, Word/Number Munchers, and Mystery House.

Building dual tube (PVS31) Nods.

The green is my first set of gen 2, the white phosphorus is my 2nd set of gen 3 build. Way better, not the simplest but not the worst thing to learn. Hella cool when you get it right

Race car stuff when I have time or motivation

Lowgear wrote: ↑Thu Sep 26, 2024 3:30 am Even though I'm a Windows guy... er was. (It's all crap these days.) Macs in the '80s were my first introduction to computers that has lasted me a lifetime. I even found a certificate a few years ago that stated I was my schools computer lab manager in 1985. I fondly remember Stickybear, Word/Number Munchers, and Mystery House.

This is actually my first Mac ever . I was lucky to afford a Commodore 64 back when I was a kid, C64 in '85-'87 had so many games for it back then, I ran a dial-up BBS for Commodore 64 warez back then too, 1200 baud. But I've been a Windows guy since building my first PC in '94, DX2 66MHz, complete with Windows 3.11 for Workgroups .

My interactions with computers were mainly at schools until '95 when we got our first home computer. It was a DFI (Diamond Flower Inc) with a Cyrix 686 processor, and 14.4k modem. I would have loved to be a part of the BBS era but alas, I was a bit too young. I did catch the very tail end of it though likely in '95 as well when my friend and I would dial into some to play games.