willedoo

Nev, you're still shouting. Either that or your caplock is sticky. Caps are a poor way of emphasis and irritating to most readers. That's the last I have to say on that matter.

Thanks Marty, that's a well reasoned, thoughtful and balanced reply. I don't want to put anyone's nose out of joint, but your post is the standard of debate this forum needs as a lot of the political posts have been bordering on childish at times. It would be nice to see forum members stick to the play the ball, not the man rule.

Just to clarify, it's not a pleasant experience reading posts riddled with capitalised words. In print form, it looks agressive and overbearing. There's a lot of forums that would ban you for continually doing it.

It might add to the quality of the debate. Try leaving the caplock alone as well, it's the online version of shouting at someone and is classed as rudeness in the internet world. If you must emphasise a word, italics, while not ideal is a lot more palatable than a shouty post full of caps.

Nev, with all due respect, you didn't answer his question.

I could use one of those articulated ones about the place.

It reached US $5,000 an ounce yesterday, or AUD 7,000.

Crazy prices for split window Kombis. I remember them as an underpowered tin box on wheels. But they had a lot of character.

That's ok Nev, enjoy your junk free retirement. I haven't quite got to that stage yet; achieved the retirement part but still haven't cured the junk addiction.

To each his own. Nev, you do what you enjoy in life and I'll do the same.

I think I'll enjoy this project for a couple of reasons. Firstly, by it's nature it will be a fairly long term project and a nice way to play around in the shed on rainy days. It's all about the journey, not the destination. Secondly, it's not a registered road bike project. Not having to be road legal means one important thing - total freedom to do want I want. No concern about rules and regulations, no dealing with difficult bureaucrats and naysayers, and not having to march to someone else's drumbeat. It also helps a lot that I have a passion for rusty junk, which is how this thing will most likely be described.

I just noticed in those photos the gal trailer looks rusty. It's only 12 months old and it's not rust, it's leaf tannin stain from when I parked it under a tree for a while without a cover.

Picked up some ratty bike bits today. 2x 1984 model CBX750F Honda 4's. One assembled that's a potential runner and a second complete one in bits, motor with a stuffed crankshaft. There's bits and pieces there I can use and might part some of it out eventually. All the plastics and fairings are there (in the back seat). It cost bugger all.

The man who would be king is a good old movie. He was good in the hunt for red october as well.

A bit off topic, but on the subject of workplace accommodation, here's ours in early 1985 - a two man maggot camp. For those not familiar with the terminology, a fly camp is a junior off shoot of a main camp and a maggot camp is further down the pecking order from a fly camp; the term obviously comes from a maggot being the offspring of a fly. A fairly basic setup - a swag, a foldup shearer's cot, a cardboard box of tinned food and a golden circle pineapple tin for a billy. The reason we chose this spot is because we could have a shower after work. There was a small turkey nest full of water where the drillers had been filling their water truck and they'd left the pump and lay flat hose there. After getting back to the camp after work we could fire up the pump and there were enough holes in the lay flat hose to provide a good spray jet to have a bogey.

Didn't 007 have one in the passenger seat of the Aston Martin, or am I imagining that? I remember it had the pop up bulletproof shield at the back.

I need to make up the inside part. At the moment it's just an empty steel shell and is like putting a bucket on your head. A mate of mine is a leatherworker and does a lot for the medieval reenactment fraternity that he's a part of. He said the inner liner is a stand-alone separate part and not built in like the leather strap harness style you see in some flight helmets.

They might not fit inside the copper boiler/sidecar body. There's a MK.2E Martin Baker (or part thereof) in the shed that might be narrow enough though. Sans headbox, but the main seat is there.

This bike build project will have to progress in tandem to the shed renovation project. Until the 6x6 metre workshop space is properly sorted not much mechanical work can go on. There's a fair bit of structural alterations needed in there. A few more steel diagonal braces will have their brackets relocated so shelving and benches will sit against the wall better. One set of braces will be removed and the timber frame wall between the steel upright shed poles will be upgraded to a bracing wall to compensate for the loss of the diagonal braces. That section already has a timber wall frame attached to the poles, which also serves as a wall for an attached 3x3 metre room, so it's just a matter of fitting some more tie down and adding bracing ply. If I put bracing ply on both sides of the wall, the kN of bracing should exceed the original diagonals. In the short term, I've been clearing out the attached 3x3 metre room to put some shelving in to hold components for the bike project. As per the attached photo, the inside wall is unlined, so I'll insulate that and cover it with bracing ply, paint the wall, then put the shelves in. Before the shelving goes in, the adjoining wall at right angles to it (the one mentioned above) will have the corrugated iron cladding removed and be replaced with bracing ply (it's the rear side of the wall where the steel diagonals will be removed). In a fit of madness years ago, I fastened that corrugated iron internal cladding with roofing nails instead of roofing screws, so that's added a lot of extra work to removing it.

I don't think I'd like have that horse on the right with the big white blaze. It would be a perfect target; Jacko would see it miles away.

That colourised photo definitely shows water in the background. It would either be the coast near Gaza or possibly the Sea of Galilee where they stationed after the fighting to rest and reorganise. This photo is one of the ones at the Sea of Galilee, also called Lake Tiberias. The horses look like they could do with a rest to fatten those ribs up a bit.

That's great thanks Peter; I'll send that one back to my sister.

This is an interesting video featuring an original, unrestored 1948 Indian Chief.

My sister found this negative in a packet of old family photos and had it reversed on one of those online sites. I can only do 35mm with the attachment on my scanner whereas these old photos are are much bigger size negative. Among all the old photos there's a few like this one that have no corresponding prints. It would have been taken by my great uncle, but have no idea who the bloke on the horse is. It looks like the beach at Gaza in the background, which is one place they were in 1917.