Telling the Teacher

Kaelynn: If you don't stop this, I will tell Teacher Shanti
Kristine: Go la,
Kaelynn: Then, I will tell her on Tuesday.

This is a short conversation where Kristine as her usual self, caused problems for Kaelynn which then fought back. I like this because, now, (apart from physical retributions) Kaelynn knows when to stand on her ground. And not only that, I think she knows why it has to be a Tuesday since there is no school on Monday which is a Federal Territory Day.

That LED strip IV

Basket. Today (or was it yesterday?) is Saturday and although I had the time, I could not go to Pasar Road for some components for that LED strip since Wife and my parents had plans for weekend shopping. I hate it when it happens when I am missing some components. I do not want to strip it off the prototype board as I need to use it as reference. If only my Salary comes out faster, hopefully by next week too.....

So, what do I do at home? Yeah, translating the circuit
because I lost the notes. And watched some Star Trek
DVDs as well (OK, so I need to know their lights timing
sequences)

Finally, when everyone's sleeping, I got the circuit
done. Which is not easy as I have diarrhea as well

Simple or not? Yeah, I have to go on Monday since
that particular shop is not open on Sunday. And I
need to stock up more on those stripboards which
you can see on the bottom right. This version has
solder mas on it so when you solder, the melted
solder do not go all over the tracks. I hate using
stripboards but they are a fast and simple solution
for those emergency and last minute circuits.

OK, time to sleep. Its four twenty in the morning. Haiyo.

Clocking out

I have been in this industry since 1995 and to tell you the truth, I do get tired of this job sometimes. But in other times, I really do enjoy it. In a nutshell, who else would pay you to drive and go around the whole of Malaysia just to play with systems and chat people up?

Yeah, OK, so the pay isn't that good but the perks that made up for it. I mean, for a young turk like me back then, I had no motivation about getting more pay or higher positions. Here are some highlights I could remember:

1) While I was at Metrovision, I get to see the CEO, get free Cokes, see the video tape archive room robots in action.

2) At one of the prominent cosmetic company, I get to sit next to Miss Malaysia (at that time) Ariana Teoh, and record her voice.

3) As I was one of the 'stable' Engineers working on software solutions, I get to screw my Boss and put things into perspective (i.e. My Way)

4) I get to go to Singapore for training and was the only guy who was not 'bonded'.

5) I get to participate in Company projects and a member of the Annual Dinner Committee.

6) I am the Company's (forced) cameraman and get to escape a lot of team-activity functions.

7) I get to go to a lot of restricted areas such as customer's CEO's private rooms, mistresses houses, etc.

8) I get to go to outstation trips a lot and made many toll claims

Reasons for Leaving
Sometimes, things are not as rosy or fun as it seemed. For example, my ex-Boss would try a lot of ideas and schemes to get me back to the Department and humiliate me. This was because I was finally transferred up to Sales as a Product Consultant which opened up a whole World for me. I no longer see things in Black and White. But I was very bitter because I found out later that while I was one of the few who 'got away', my ex-Boss withheld my transfer for three years while I slaved and solved his problems. And so, I was very thankful for the (then) Sales Manager who helped me 'escape'. Even after we moved to Shah Alam, things did not stop there until he got his break by taking over my (second replacement) Sales Manager's place. And so, things got so bad that I had to see the CEO almost every morning which really puzzled me. On the bright side, although everyone pitied my situation, deep inside, I was happy because when the CEO is very interested at you, there is a bright future ahead. Alas, I chose not to stay on because of three things:

1) My ex-Boss inherited the (second) resigned Sales Manager's prized for achieving a Sales Target, which is actually a trip to Hannover Germany for the CES Show. And what he did there was to take a three week leave after the show. Fine, but when he came back, not only did he not get the brochures we needed, (saying they're too heavy to take back) but the selected ones he got was used to put the parent company in Singapore in a bad light for not giving our company (which is just a Main Distributor) better brochures. This soured the relationship for a while.

2) After he came back, he ordered us into his room for nearly an hour so he can show us his holiday shots on the LCD projector. After that, I was chided for still being in the office when I continued getting my things ready before that interruption.

3) During one of the meetings with the CEO, when I answered one of his questions, he called my ex-Boss immediately stating that what I answered is not what HE told the CEO. You can see his panicking face as he rushed up. From then on, everytime I see the CEO, he rushed up with me as well. In other words, I have found the source of my 'troubles'.

4) Then shortly after that, he told me that my current position is no more (even though other Department's are still have Consultants) and I have to choose between going back as an Engineer or a Salesperson.

There and then, I know that this is last and final move. I could not get a cross transfer to other Departments without jeopardising my other friends who are starting to be successful. And after being married for a few months, after talking and convincing my Wife, I decided to leave rather than play his game. So, I told him to give me a month to decide and secretly wrote my letter, taking my excess leave into consideration. Knowing his style of keeping those letters in his drawer as a means of delaying things, on the calculated day, I gave the letter to him, then to the CEO and the HR Manager. And you can tell the CEO was in a very bad mood after that.

Reasons for Joining
And with that, I tried other avenues from being a partner with my pet sister's husband but left quickly after as there is no MOUs or proper documentation for the partnership. A short stint with my Brother in Law also ended with a simple tea ceremony as he prefers to be his own Boss. By then, whatever savings I had, was almost gone. And so, at this time, I was starting to panic since my Wife told me the baby was on the way.

And so, after nine years, I moved on to another company, this time it was (already) set up by my Boss (and also a friend). Was it luck or fate? I am not sure but another ex-colleague, told me to look for him but after sometime, I'd forgotten all about it until he called me up instead. And so, for five years, I worked with him, learnt from him about dealing with people and saw through a lot of changes from failed partnerships to almost family fights. It was him who told me that I should never hold a grudge against my ex-Boss but be thankful instead for 'showing' me other challenges and arriving at another path. Here, I also realised that however hard I worked, I can see the results and also be responsible for them, a privilege I did not have in the previous company. And not only do I get to fly to Sabah & Sarawak, drive like mad to Kota Bahru, Rantau Panjang, Grik, and took boats to Langkawi, etc. I get to be a Manager too.

A lot of people thought I was a partner which I was not and after experiencing these, I told my Boss that I only want to be an employee instead since I need all the money I could get for our first baby. And so, time passed very quickly for us. However, problems are starting to crop up, which was the result of the past Director's actions (or lack of them) and loss of businesses to a main clients are starting. Not only that, there are cracks in the relationship as well. What with the Economic Crisis, its getting harder for the company to collect monies due and pay our salary on time. Even with the sale of my Boss's only car, it was still not enough. And with my two girl's future at stake, I had to make the decision. It was very sad not because I like the job but this would affect a lot of people and in turn, affect the company which is already on uneven ground.

I did tell my Boss not to announce it to everyone except that I am going on a long holiday, from my Techs to our vendors to our clients. This is because (and I am not boasting) my existence as a technical personnel ensures clients know where to turn to for services, competitors are kept at bay and more importantly, our vendors know who to seek for solving their technical woes. Ultimately, I left it to him to make the decision.

This is my spot in the technical office. This spot has
been changed almost yearly. In the first office, I was
at the 1st floor, along with the stocks all to myself.
Then, after the 'flood', I went down while the whole
office shifted up. And finally, everyone was back on
the ground floor. By the time we moved to the new
office, I had my own space again. And last year, it
was partitioned to what you see today. Behind me
is the air-con and test bench, while on my right, I
have my personal wall note pad. Heh.

There you go. Its a bit messy at the moment as I
was busy teaching my tech on the finer things of
how to use a Notebook to program an Automated
Attendant which was hooked up to a PABX system
And last night, I was testing some serial data with
a software vendor until seven in the evening.

And so, without much ceremony, I did what was
necessary. Gave my Boss back the tools, and
explained the stuff in my drawers, plus the stack
of papers on my desk. But I get to keep my, uh,
uniforms (OK, so it stinks after a while)

For me, the hand-over ceremony is very simple.
I returned the company's SIM card.....

Upload my last customer data to the network archive

Take some last minute photos.....
Nothing special. No ceremony. No fuss.

And then clock out. But it does not end there as I
still have two customers (Sg. Buloh & PJ8) to go to.

After performing my last two service calls, I melted
into the Friday evening jam and into my family's
loving embrace.

As one chapter closes and another will be opening soon. I am happy this time I left with friendship. And I hate farewells and ceremonies. We know this had to happen sooner or later and it was no one's fault in particular.

And so, for the next six days, I really have to sit down and plan for the future, whatever it may be. And I hope I will be up to the challenge.

Epilogue
And what happened to my ex-Boss? Five years ago, I heard he unsuccessfully tried to pass my work off as his own to the CEO, who knows about it since he worked with me on it. Three years ago, he was transferred to another Department as the Sales kept falling. Last year, he was again transferred to another department as there were a lot of customer complaints. And three weeks ago, I found out that all his 'friends' have been promoted except him so he cannot have lunch with them anymore.I am not sure but one of the factors was the result of his threatening a young Salesperson with gangster talk (at that time he wanted to resign) who was so scared, he made a Police report instead. There was also an ongoing Industrial Court case in which an ex-technician (also my friend) is claiming for wrongful/constructive dismissal. There are also rumours about being investigated too. The reason for all these? I am not sure and I don't care anymore (but its still a nice topic over a cup of coffee) but as they say about karma.........

CNY Food

While I was depositing the cheques for the company, I noticed that some of the 'regular' stalls outside the bank are already in Chinese New Year mood. I was not interested in those cookies and tit-bits. Until I saw these seaweed crackers. I love these and if I am not mistaken, they came about in the late 90's. But now, here, on this stall, there was another variation: 'spicy'.

Whoa! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Me: How much for this (one?)
Seller: RM14.00. Got hot one also.
Me: Really? Wow. How much for both, then?
Seller: I give you RM27.00.
Me: OK.

So, technically, if I bought 28, it might be free......

Anyway, now I have to hide these along with the chocolate stash I got in Seremban. Don't want the girls to find these out and finish them before Chinese New Year or else visitors would have nothing to eat...... If they come, that is. Ha ha ha ha!

That LED strip III

OK, the prototype's working now, except for a minor problem which is that it glows in the opposite compared to the chip's output. I.e. when the test LED is lit, the strip is not and vice-versa. So, you will notice this very much especially on the slow setting. Not only that, in the video its flickering but in reality, it does not flicker..... much.

Anyhow, tomorrow evening I will try to get it soldered into a stripboard if possible. And the power fed into it must be at 12 volts and no more.

No, this is not the total component as there is
another circuit sharing the same proto-board
and not paying any rent either.

Toshiba Strata DK56

I got a call from the vendor today to have a look at one of their customer's incoming line which is causing a lot of problems for them. Anyway, the vendor hinted that its a very old system. And when it comes to old system, dirt, dust and hidden away are usually the words of the day.

However, when I arrived at the premises, I was pleasantly surprised because the system was very well kept. This is a Toshiba Strata DK56, a 1990's system and its still working fine!

So, it was nicely kept, and properly
Maintained. Whoever did this was
very very good.

Just look at the cabling and you know
what I mean.

And this is how it looks like from the inside. At the
top would be the power supply and battery charger
while at the bottom, starting from the left, would
be the processor card, then the five interface cards
followed by the incoming line card. Even the cabling
is neat and tidy. Wow.

Write it again, Sam.

Kristine's homework this time is to practice writing words. However, at this age, she has problem with making sure each word is consistent.

And so, she uses a ruler to make sure her words
are straight, neat and tidy.

FAIL

And she has to write, erase, write, erase, etc.
Again and again and again until Mommy is
satisfied with the quality. Luckily tonight's
homework is only a few pages long.

How to make your kid feed themselves

Right after Mommy caught them and gave them for a haircut, it was time for dinner. Which is fine except that both girls would like their Mommy sit between them and take turns being fed. Its nice when you're young but as they get older, this has got to stop. And so, I hit on a brilliant plan........

Me: Kristine, eat your food.
Kristine: But I want Mommy to feed me.
Me: You are six years old now, so you should know how to feed yourself
Kristine: I want Mommy!
Me: If you still continue, I will go to your school tomorrow and tell your friends that Mommy still feed you.....
Kristine: Om... nom... nom... nom... See? I feed myself now. Om... nom... nom...

As for Kaelynn, well, she's still young so, Mommy
can still feed her for another 2 years. Ha ha ha ha

The Taking over of Nasi Lemak Resepi

Feeling a bit peckish, I decided to have a nice lunch since my oats ran out yesterday. No point getting a new bag and doing the Tuna as there's only two days left. And so, while I was walking towards the corner Mamak, I noticed a 'new' restaurant. Since they still have economy rice, I decided to try. There was nothing peculiar anout this place except its a bit too dark for a normal Chinese economy shop and they're not even Old Town. But once I finished my meal, it suddenly dawned on me.

This was a very ambitious Malays shop which opened for less than three months and closed. And opening the shop in an area where 90% are Chinese and one Mamak, they do faced a lot of competition. even the local Malay customers prefer the Mamak just two doors away. Maybe ite because the interior looked so posh, it gave the impression that the food could be expensive too. So, the new tenant saw that the decor was still intact and decided to keep it that way. How do I know, apart from the usual decor? Their WiFi name was still the same, that's why.

A Coke, some potatoes, a slice of luncheon meat
and the vege, plus free bland soup. RM6.00. ugh

Lots of flies. Can't judge the lunchtime crowd as I
was two hours late.

Nice interiors

But here in Kepong, no one gives a hoot.

The truly Malaysian ICE Speaker

While I was at a friend's place, I spotted this speaker design which I believe is for local cars. Apart from the suble "Made in Malaysia" wordings, I believe it was the design which gave it away. A good example would be my car, which after more than a decade, is really rusting. And the speakers are always the first few component that needs replacing. This is because although they are located within the car door, it is still (technically) exposed to the environment. Rain water will seep into the car door and splashes onto the speakers. This was how my speaker connectors deteriorated as the voltage/current reacted with the water and caused very bad rust to the point the speaker connectors were gone. Right now, its still working thanks to a pair of crocodile clips. I can't even solder them.

So, you ask yourself, why is so great about this?
Its not the speaker I am interested in but the
design. The plastic piece (top left) is to shield
the speaker from the rain that comes through
the door and splashes on to the speaker.

And the connectors are shielded too since water
combines with current gives you a very bad
problem.

I don't mind getting them but its only 15watts.
But it has given me ideas. I wanted to make
them long ago but never got around to it. So,
once I get new speakers, I will do them.

Small little squares

While I was at this place, when it comes to tiles, its nothing special. The most exciting would be a set of translucent ones. But here, its not about the design of the tiles (which is also very different) but in the sense of how it was displayed. This place gave me a lot of ideas and if I had a lot of money, I know where to go for these tiles.

OK, so its nothing to do with tiles but I am always
attracted to clear resin stuff. Here, they stacked
some small pebbles ...... nice. How it was done, I'm
not sure. But it would cost a lot, I assume.

Nice or not? Not only are they clear
but they have texture too.

The colours for these tiles are nice but they
remind me of the 70's colour scheme.

And this is the one which impressed me
a lot. Its a very simple idea but the
result speaks volumes.

Apart from gold, they also had shiny
silver which made the floor looked as
if it was made of metal. I don't have
the photos for this one as there were
some people in that area.

You might not notice this but this wall is
made from clear resin, which is fragile
and very heavy. Not for clumsy people.

Unfortunately the Nokia 5800's camera
got confused with the background. The
green stuff are actually fluffy plants that
were encased in the clear resin wall.

You get what you pay for

While I was up on the ladder, my cable tracer fell down onto the hard marble floor with a sickening crack. So, I came down to pick it up. At first glance, the was nothing wrong but the moment I flipped the switch, it was loose. Great. Now I have to get the switch replaced.

This is a very expensive tool and in this case, it really gives you what you paid for. Maybe I should get one for myself but its very rare in the market now, even in the rest of the World, if you do get one, its expensive.

This is a RM800.00 to Rm1200.00 cable tracer. Its
expensive. Its durable. It saves time. And it can pay
for itself hundred times over. Oh, how I wished I
had one too.

It seems the impact has jolted the whole circuit
board loose which in turn pulled the red switch's
casing off since its legs was soldered to the circuit
board. One quick push upwards solved the problem
and I do not have to replace anything. If this was
any other brand, it can go straight to the bin.

Enterprise Navigation Lights Update

The Story so far.....

The boards have arrived! And it was done in less than a week! I had some money which I got from some CCTV business in 2004. I need to close the account anyway, since I am not doing business anymore after I got a 9 to 5. Nothing much but it was enough to pay for the PCBs. And so, after paying the cash, they actually rushed my design to the PCB shop in Shah Alam. How I got my board so quickly was that another customer was in a rush and so, Mr. Tan sent his guy over to pick it up rather than wait for the delivery and my boards were actually just finished.

All I can say is, I am quite happy with the service, which is much economical and better than the first one I went to years ago. There is not such thing as a minimal order but more like, they will give you as much boards as possible on a single plate, which is the same size as their standard film. So, depending on your design, for the same amount you might get more or less unless you needed a specific number. So, my design of roughly 1 inch x 2 inch yielded me a lot of boards. Lots more than I know what to do with it besides making them into key-chains.

There are actually a few pieces but I am not going
to tell you how many. Mr. Tan took one piece and
then 'broke' it into half and then again, until there
are four pieces. Yes, each slide yields four fibre-
glass pieces! Not SRBP (Synthetic Resin Bonded
Paper which is fragile to soldering iron heat) but
fibre-glass! Wahoo!

Test fit of some of the components, which everything
is perfect except for the IC and voltage regulator. I
even designed the board to accept smaller resistors.

OK, here it is. The PCB design for the voltage regulator
is out of place and I must have chosen the wrong one
event though on the print out it was OK. So, I had to
bend the legs a little (see red lines)

Another fail is that the board was 1.6m thick and I
made the mistake of not specifying it to be thinner.
But then again, they told me it was 1.6mm since I
asked them last year. I forgot about that. Next, I'm
worried about the overall height after everything is
fitted. It could be as high as one inch and this could
be a problem if I wanted to fit the whole thing into
the sauser area. I could have gone SMT but this is
expensive and some of the parts cannot be bought
locally. I know as I've searched everywhere for it.

Not bad for a DIY SMD pad! I know my eyesight is
getting worse and so, as not to push it, this board
will have only two SMD components. Maybe with
other projects, I might consider going SMT but I
have to see how to overcome my eyesight problem

Another thing I was pleasantly surprised was that
they could etch the lines without any problems. So
this means in my future designs, I can make thinner
tracks. Oh, the solder mask is a standard feature for
them, which is a nice thing. The green mask makes
the board so professional....

So now, I am going to make sure the software for the chip is perfect. Everything is almost complete except for the NCC-1701A Navigation and strobe light timing which is giving me problems as there is limited memory in the microprocessor. Maybe I should try another approach to calculate the timing sequences so that it does not use so much codes.....

The crying

With nothing much else, all of us were preparing for the day's job. And after joking with one of my tech regarding Halal biscuits, I turned around and walked back to my desk. At this time, I heard one of my Tech's mobile phone rang and after a brief conversation, we all heard a very loud moan. As if some captured animal was suffering in pain and losing hope.

Turned out my Tech's Father has passed away. And with the fact that he was unable to reach him in time, he was helpless since his home was quite far. No goodbyes. For the rest of the morning, he locked himself in his room. I am not sure what my Boss will do but then again, the most I can do is to sympathise and go about my business.

Its not the first time I heard a grown man cry. His was very raw and helpless, yet full of regret. It freaked me out a bit.....

This picture has nothing to do with him
but it sort of captures the mood.

Clear shots

Boss: Here, take some pictures of this so I can E-mail the supplier

Me: Its a capacitor.... *snap* *snap*
Boss to clerk: See? He's taking shots and it very clear

Me: Yeah, because I use the kiamsiap stand........
Clerk: hee hee hee

That's the way you do it....
Money for nothing...
And the chicks for free...

(yea, yea, my table's a mess. But not anymore...)

Layman Terms

There was a problem which bugged since yesterday. In fact, this was also a problem which bugged us since December last year. But it was not until the customer 'realised' the problem. And the problem?

Very simple. The Voicemail that we intend to sell to them, has a something which their Boss does not like. We have told them long ago, that this is a hardware not software so, there is a limit to how much customisation that can be done. In fact, this took us more than months because they kept flipping from hardware to software and back again. I was not interested in demo-ing it to them as this is already the second month or so that they have not committed. Anyway, the flow is that the Boss wants the system to tell the caller that they can press a button for more options and another button to leave a message rather than the other way round. So, the only solution, according to the vendor, is to record a so-called personal greeting to override the default announcement.

And therein lies the problem because this would mean either we do the recording for them (which the customer expects us to, since its a demo) or they do it themselves (which is highly unlikely due to consistency problem). I told my Boss that unlike the software solution, there is no way to upload the customised announcement to the system but we have to do it manually for each of the 63 mailboxes. Yea, this would take 2 days to complete. And so, my Boss freaked out.

And so, I modified the 5800's earphone output to
connect to my Digital Keyphone's Mic wiring. All done.

Me: Boss! Boss! I found the solution!
Boss: What is it?
Me: I know how to 'upload' the same voice for all mailboxes!
Boss: You mean the system can do that?
Me: No, we do the recording ourselves.
Boss: I know that but we can't go to every phone....
Me: No. No. Trust me. This works. I just use TTS and output to MP3 on my 5800 and play it back through the phono jack connected to the RJ9 which I then initiate the process view DTMF
Boss: . . . . .

At this point, if you do not understand what I was saying, neither did my Boss. What I meant to say was:

I have written a text script which I then use a Text-To-Speech software to produce the recording and then save it as a MP3 file. I can then upload it to my Nokia 5800 and play it back via the headphone jack which is modified to connect to the Keyphone's RJ9 Handset connection. In other words, the output of the Nokia 5800 is fed into the Keyphone's Microphone. Then, I just call into the Voicemail system and use the Keyphone's keypad to control and record the MP3.

And I have to do this to all 60-odd mailboxes but this would cut down the time from 2 days to a few hours. And best of all, I do not have to go to every phone. I have done this before but in the wrong way, which is to record the person's voice on the 5800 and then upload it to my Notebook and convert it to a .Wav format. And the sound that came out was awful even though it was perfect when heard though the headphones. But because this time, the customised recording cannot be uploaded, I have to use this method.

Testing The OVI Maps

OK, I lied. This post is not much about testing the free OVI Maps but more on my escapade. This morning, my Wife and girls were invited to a nice buffet meal at the Shangs. I was to drop them off at Second SIL and after that, I... I... Hey, I'm free! Yes! Free! Wahoo!

And so, I used the Nokia OVI Maps to guide me to once special place which I planned to go to since last year. And so, from here, I found the first problem:

Voice guidance.
You have to stop the navigator to get to the main screen and then to the settings screen to change the voice. Boo hoo for you if you have not saved the location. The Malay voice, which is actually Indonesian, is very nice. I loved it when they pronounce the 'r'. As for the Mandarin (China) voice, the lady is very long winded and talkative. While these are the default voices for Asia region, the best of the lot was the British Male. But I regretted not downloading the English Surfer Dude voice earlier or the journey would be very funny indeed.

In this area, this is the disadvantage when being compared to the Garmin XT where you can just go to the main screen and into the settings screen while the route is still active.

Anyway, the route guidance by OVI Maps is quite accurate and personally, that route was the shortest of all. I wanted to use this route (via Brickfields) because I am so used to just swing through the familiar Federal Highway.

OK, so that's it. GPS story is over. Ha ha. I've been itching to visit some of these modelling shops not because I want to waste money but I just feel that I need to go there. Months of just going grocery shopping is boring and sometimes, these normal routines can make me go nuts.

And so, into Jalan Kenanga we go, to this
special place hidden in the urban jungle.

Yes, Miniature Hobby which have relocated
from Section 14 PJ (just before the collapse)
last year. But I was too early and it would
not open until 12 in the afternoon.

Yeah, this guy was devastated as I suspect he
waited since last night. He even have some
spare cash by his side to buy stuff.

As for me, I decided go to the nearest 7-11 for
some drinks. Initially, I wanted to get some
lunch but I decided to wait until after I have
gone into Miniature Hobby.

A very appropriate advice.

Oh, on the way back, I finally
realised why they cannot
procreate and expand except
through normal/natural means

Inside Miniature Hobby. Same stuff, same shelves.
Nothing's changed except that they carry more
on Trumpeteer and Hobby Boss stuff which is more
expensive than Academy. Luckily, there are 40%
discount on certain brands until further notice.
However, the Rm1000 1.350 Tamiya CVN-65
Enterprise Aircraft Carrier is still priced as RM650
after discount. But this time, I really bought
something apart from meeting a SFTPMS member

He did mention to me about the SFTPMS Luncheon
today but I told him I am not a member, just a Forum
member only. Anyway, for RM50.80, I got one 1/35
Strker upgrade parts and a 1/35 Ma.K power suit made
of some Gashapon vinyl rubber.

And this is my RM6.20 lunch which comes with a
bottle of Kickapoo. I was actually looking for some
bergedel and spicy stuff but this chicken merah
and funny dhal was a good compromise.

I say funny dhal because its watery. Did not notice
this until I spilled some on the table.

Here is a close up look of the metal-etch parts
for the Stryker. There are actually five plates
of photo-etch and some very fine tubes and
rods. Since I do not have a 1/35 Stryker, nor
would I want to, this translates as spare parts
for any scratch building projects.

This is the 1/35 Ma.K powered suit.
As you can see, the glue is not very
good because after I touched it, the
shoulder pads have come off. And
the helmet lid cannot be closed.

Is it just me or is the suit powered
by a kap-chai motor at the back?

What I liked about this figure is the
head stuck into the suit.

I think it is a 1/35 model because a normal
1/35 figure would be about 5cm tall. So, in
this picture, this would just be about correct.