OK, this is the package from the Post Office. And when I picked it up, I was relieved and also disappointed at the same time. Relieved because there was nothing to 'pay' and disappointed because of the condition of the package. Still, now you know why everyone is padding their packages when it comes to shipping.
This is quite a large box and its about 2.5 times of an A3
Edge crush of 23Lbs/in. Right. So for the edge of this box to collapse, it must have been placed under a great weight
Perhaps someone sat on it?
Now, comes the weird part. When I opened it, there was no padding of any kind. No styrofoams, newspapers or even those bubble-wraps. And guess what? The package inside was NOT crushed or even scratched.
And so, this is how the package looks like
Inside the box, you have (from left to right) the car, its protective case, a USB cable, some mounting brackets and a strap. No software CD, which I need to download the 183Mb file from their site and fucks up after 13-18Mb into the download. And I've tried that five times.
Everything is really protected in this box but I really do wish they had included the installation CD.
The Videoracer is almost 3.75 inches long
This is the front of the Videoracer. The big hole is the camera. And the small hole is just a small hole, although I wished it was an Infra-red light source.
This is the rear view of the Videoracer. The plastic part is to protect the USB port but once you opened it, its very hard to close it again.
This is the only side of the Videoracer which is worth mentioning because it has the ON/OFF switch.
Anyway, I am going to stop for now as the toy's internal 3.7lithium battery needs to be charged up for at least 45 minutes before I can get anything out from it. When I first opened it, there was some minute charge in the battery which gave me some precious seconds to have a quick play with it. Not bad.
Finally, I got this elusive Solar Car. Two years ago, it was on sale in Hobby HQ but I missed the chance. Then, sometime later, there was another being sold in ICW but then, I again, missed the opportunity. It was not so much of the chance to get it but more of, spare cash. And so, yesterday, when Hobby HQ announced that the solar car was still available (from a recent shipment), I jumped at the chance to get it.
And so, the 1/24 Solar car is finally mine. Still, I am not sure why it was called a car when it is clearly a van.
The parts from the box. The reason why it was so expensive was due to the Solar cells which was stuck to a thick fibreglass material but hey, all of a sudden, this model looks very familiar...
Its the same model I got from ICW a month ago, when rayloke came back with some shipment. Its the Subaru Samba K-88
In other words, I got two Subary Sambas now. Oh, heck. But then again, I am sure I can use the extra van for my project. If you look carefully, these two parts are actually very different. The body on the left (Solar Car) turned yellow due to age.
Instruction manuals which tells you what the Solar Car (left) will use and what the Subaru samba (right) will use. This means I now have two TVs and two Radio sets...
Not understanding the language, the dial at the bottom is for the motor and you get two 'free' figures, just as long as you can cut them out carefully.
And the best part is, this. See the Price list? That is obscene and from a shop which is now closing down. I got it for RM50.00, thanks to Mr. Low.
So, while I did have a happy night, but I could not help but wonder about the future of the model kit hobby over here. The shop above is actually closing down, what with news fro a fellow friend that their shutters in Mid-Valley are closed with the staff counting the stocks. This shop, when it first started, did have quite a following but it was the prices which forced my role as a window shopper. In the late 2000, it was doing very badly as most of the toys are really cheap stuff from China. I wanted to help by buying some stuff but although I tried as hard as I can, I still could not buy anything 'worth' my time. Also, no thanks to their staff following me all over the place, as if I was about to steal something.
After performing our prayers, it was time to continue with my schedule. The weird thing was that while my Dad was sitting outside to wait for the joss sticks to finish, there was no Postman. And only when I reversed my wife's car, then did the Postman on his bike came and delivered some letters.
Oh well, I thought. No parcel for me, then. This was because I have ordered three items from the Internet and this package would be the last. It was not until after I passed the stack of letters to my Dad did he say that there was a card for me.
A card from the Post Office means, you have to collect the parcel because of some Customs matter. I was right because, on the card, it was ticked as "You need to pay tax" or something of that kind. Now, I am worried because I am broke. And there is a limit of 15 days before it gets sent back/destroyed/eaten. So, the only thing I can do right now is to go there (unfortunately, it say to collect at the Post Office in Dayabumi and not Brickfields or Bangsar), see how much it costs and then maybe borrow some cash from a friend.
The girls decorating the siew yuk from the payers for lunch
Hee hee hee hee hee....
In the end, I managed to get the parcel out without paying anything except for the RM3.00 parking. But walking there was really painful since the gout has not gone from my leg. What more, we had to go around the renovation area but since they saw my limping, I showed me a shortcut.
So, what is the package all about? Watch out for the later post, y'all!
Bear with me. I just need to vent out because I am very disappointed with the progress and help. Also, I think this is my swansong on the world of modeling & electronics.
OK. I am back on track or rather, sort of. This is my second product. I was scheduling it to be released by September this year but now, it seems to be too optimistic. To be honest, it should have been out in August. I cannot use the excuse of my Mom anymore nor my sudden depression.
To tell you the truth, my business venture is a failure. I was initially so excited when we were doing the first product which is for a Cylon Raider. A lot of delays and missed opportunities happened. And in the end, I am very frustrated that the kit is not selling as well as I thought it would be and I still do not have a fully painted model to show. I was such a fool to believe in all the Sales talk. And I am months behind in my Bills. As predicted, my car would be the first to go. Its alright for the rest of them because they have a job and so, they can take their own sweet time do help me. Or not. It is very frustrating to be given excuses again and again why there were so many delays. I really feel like a dog, waiting at the table, begging for favours. Oh, if only I had an airbrush or even a proper place to cast resins!
And so, I am actually having second thoughts about coming up with the second product. It took me so long as I was literally scraping up enough cash to pay for the prototyping. But let me show you what I have done so far...
This is the 'teaser' video which we have put out quite sometime ago.
I have reworked the circuit by adding in more
components. The end result is that the leftmost LED is now very bright.
But the additional components now makes the circuit board very dense.
Although the circuit diagram looks very simple, its the design of the board that is important.
My initial spec was to use normal components which would speed up manufacturing times but now, I have to resort back to using SMD components. Here, you can see the size difference between a normal transistor (Left) and its SMD counterpart (right)
Initial mockup of the board looks promising. Just a little tweak here and there.
This is a what if should the user decides to mount the board on the sloping bottom. Not encouraged.
And this is how the board mounts on the other model
So far, I have checked and made sure the circuit is correct before sending them off to be prototyped. With any luck, it should be ready for me to work on it by next week. But i think, that is as far as I can go with this there are a few problems which is stopping me:
1. No money. For the first product, it wiped out some four figure sum which left me broke. So, for this product, the startup cost would be the same if not, more. Where to get the money? I am not sure. I was planning on the first product being able to help but I was wrong. All it got me was a month's grace on my car's installment.
2. The special surprise is not ready and I have not heard from them yet. The first guy is waiting for his cheque and the second guy, well, I do not want to elaborate. All I need is just to test if the part can reflect light and if it works, I will work out a business deal with you. Its that simple.
3. I hate asking people for help. It took me more than four months and there is still nothing to show. In fact, this is the greatest obstacle I am facing. If you cannot do it or this is not on your priority list, at least tell me earlier. Don't disappoint me every time I come to see you. Yes, I have COME to see you. I need YOUR help. I am BEGGING you. And it is not easy for me to keep on smiling amd listening to your whims and stories while being slapped on the face.
My Wife sums it all up when I talked to her, "Are you really sure you want to do this, again?"
You know, I think I should stop all this and start looking for a job. No more model kits. Even if there is, I will do it for myself. The first product was very difficult to assemble and is labour intensive. I mean, what is the point of telling me that everyone will buy and I am getting famous, etc when at the end of the day, the kits are stockpiling behind me.
In the meantime, while waiting for the Circuit boards to be ready, I want to show you how additional components made the White LED brighter. This is because while I was trying to design the circuit to use as little voltage as possible, these White LEDs did not agree with me.
So, with additional components, they got brighter as the White LEDs now get their main power from the batteries direct and not from the chip. But on the down side, this means I have to add 6 more components into the already cramped board.
As a test, the White LED on the left is brighter then the other two on the right.
But to tell you the truth, I have been doing this design for so long, its success did not even make me happy. Maybe its the long developing stage for such a simple circuit, or maybe I am running out of money. So, I don't thing this is going to hit the market
Kaeylnn kept reminding me that on Friday night, at 2030 on some Astro Channel, they would be showing Ice Age 4.
Which is funny because Ice Age 4 just finished its run on the cinemas. And Unker Ho also mentioned that they do not have any copies yet. So, the only show would either be Ice Age 3 or, the 'Making of' which is as usual, a waste of time.
Long ago, when these shows started, they really showed you how it was done. Interviews with the Effects people, the actors plus some sample behind the scenes footage really made me glued to the TV. However, since 2000 or so, it was more of a long commercial. If you do not believe me, go watch one now. The show would have a repeat of the trailers after each 5 minutes commercial followed by a repeat of the same scenes, and if you're lucky, you get to hear about actors saying what fun it was to be working with so and so.
The girls were all ready at their seats and they were at it for hours
Mommy cooked some potatoes (of my favourite kind)
And some roasted chickens
Anyway, how did the show go?
Kaelynn said the TV got it wrong and the show was supposed to be at 1900 instead. Oh well, guess I'll have to see Unker Ho for the real deal.
Felt a bit peckish and so I mixed my Milo with some instant oats. Then, I spied the opened bag on Corn Flakes...
That's the problem with the girls.When they spy some unopened bag of crisps or foodstuff, they will come to you to get them opened. Oh yeah, they're very smart now, because if YOU opened the bag instead of them, you get the blame when things went bad.
Just like getting a pet, they will say a lot of sweet things and promises to achieve their goal. And once you cave in, no thanks to your spouse who is giving you that look, they win. Oh, when they win, they win it big.
Just watch that bag of corn flakes for instance. Once its opened, they take delight into eating them. OK, SOME of them before realising what corn flakes are really all about. And yep, you're left with the bag of corn flakes which neither one of them want to touch it anymore...
Finally, another friend has offered to help me in painting the Cylon Raider since I do not have one myself. What is even better is that he will come to my place to take it off me. But he will just paint it like that, with no missile bays and accurate paintjob or parts, which I agree with him as these do not take up time. Hopefully, it will be ready in a week or two and I can then close the chapter on this and get on with other projects.
Its not easy doing other stuff when the model lies unfinished in front of you. The finished model means a lot to me but some people do not really understand the reason why. With this model, I can shoot another video to show how it would look like completed. This, I hope, would encourage more sales which can help me from getting my car repossessed and also, fund the second product.
So, some people really do walk the talk and the others, ... just talk and talk.
Kaelynn standing outside the gate with me to see who is this kind friend of mine.
I had some time to kill and so, HHQ was the place to hang out. Actually, I wanted to just hand around Kristine's school and use the Notebook which I had brought along but on hindsight, it is safer to just hide from the outside World here.
When I came in, there are still some model kits left form the latest shipment which arrived a few days ago.
To other modelers these are restocks but to me, I have never seen most of them before.
For example, a 1/350 accessory set for ships, which has the a harrier jet, Ospreys, Abrams tanks, and even the AAVP-7.
This is how small 1/350 scale is against my index finger
This is the first time I have seen the 'Bushmaster' and for 1/35, it is quite large.I am not sure who the manufacturer was but the box really attracted my attention. Oh, and the Emu is not included in the kit in case you're asking.
Looking inside, I liked what I saw, specially the interior where the seating looked more like it was armoured.
But once the euphoria dies down, I realised the details are not really that crisp and there are some flash
Next are Master Box's Vietnam series.
The pose from these figures are very nice, which is good as normal figures would have very boring poses.
And this is even better. In fact, with them and a Jeep (sold separately) you can create your very own diorama without having to hunt for other suitable figures. The mouth details of the man being shot is quite good.
26072012 1038
Kristine has been wearing Kaelynn's socks because her's deteriorated rapidly. How she can do this, we had no idea. This happened almost every week and we were almost late for her school as she had to search for spare socks. But eventually, she has to wear Kristine's.
"You must keep your own socks so that Chieh-chieh would not take them'
"You mean hide it?"
"No, if you hide it and then forgot about it, no one else can find it again"
"The how?"
"Just put it on one pile and tell Chieh-chieh not to touch them lor..."
See the holes above the ankles? How did Kristine do that?
26072012 1030
While we were rushing to get out of the house, Kaelynn noticed the small little beetle trying to climb out of the sink. And so, being curious, she asked me about it.
I told her that the beetle is doing its best to get out of the sink because it knows that if it does not it will die. Just like in Life, a person always needs to get up or climb to reach their goals and if they do not, they will 'die' too.
The beetle was really adamant about getting out of the sink
Finally, it made it
And what a height too. I am not sure why it did not fly though
Sadly, when I came back, the beetle was still there, at the edge of the sink but its not moving anymore...
Yes, I know what you're thinking. Electronic kits and at my age too.
I used to buy some of these when I was in my teens, learning electronics and being a member of an electronics club. Many a times were spent on figuring out why the kit did not work after I have soldered it. Mind you, if I can locate back some of these kits, it would have answered my question.
For you see, what you see and interpret at that moment in time, will be very different in the future or past. For example, when I look at my soldering in the past, it was perfect but fast forward decades later, my future self would have remarked and critised the very same work which in the past, I would have thought it to be perfect.
And another example in thinking is that when I was going that kid, it was for the purpose of self satisfaction and also the potential to show-off to your friends (provided it worked in the first place). But now, its nothing more than a cheap and fast alternative module to a problem/project i.e. 'Off-the-Shelf' solutions.
Anyway, today is an exercise in futility. This was for a project for a friend who wanted to light up his Aida Cruise ship. The idea is to 'simulate' a laser-light show in the ship and my idea was to suggest a number of LEDs which increasingly lights the area when an outside source was detected. In other words, a VU Meter...
And right off the bat, the said VU Meter electronic kit was not available.
So, I had to get two other electronics kits to perform the same function.
The first was actually the VU Meter section which would light up the LEDs when the Audio signal source is increased
You can tell right away that this is a very cheap kit due to the age of the PCB, its etching quality and also, oxidized copper tracks.
At the same time, please note the cleanliness of my soldering.
OK, this part is done. Normally, you can now plug in a 9 volt battery and solder an audio jack, then connect to your Hi-Fi, MP3 player, etc. But no, not for me because I don't want to waste my audio jacks...
Here is the second part of the citcuit. A Megaphone which consists an amplifier with a mix and no speaker.
Again, please note the wonderful soldering skills of mine
And so, after combining the two circuits together and some component adjustment, it works.
Oh, and the futility?
My friend took one look at it and that's it. The End.
What a waste of time and money. I really have to stop believing stuff when people talk and separate fancy talk from facts.
My dad told me that he dreamt of Mother being back in her room, sleeping on her side of the bed. While she was changing her adult nappy, my Dad came down to get her medications.
Then he woke up.
I asked my dad, "Does this means she came back?". My dad could not answer me.
[Update] A few days later...
Kristine - I dream that Grandma helped me with my homework.
Kaelynn - I dreamt that Grandma bought me ice-cream and I also helped her cross the road.
[Update] A few more days later...
Me - I was a nice morning and the Sun was bright. Mom woke up on the Hospital Bed in that room wearing her grey shirt/dress and she wanted to go to the toilet. She Iooked very healthy but complained that she sprained her shoulders. I know what is going to happen and I advised her to get to the Hospital, which she refused. I called the rest of the Nurses to try persuade her but she still refused, even when we're all at the house's back toilet.
I was at Hobby HQ today and met one of the regulars there. I do not know his name but indirectly, we call him, "Khou Lou", which is Cantonese for Tall Fella. The topics discussed ranges from Politics to modeling and finally, to a really off-topic: Rats
1. There was this one time, when he came home, he spied a pair of tiny rodents literally dancing on his table. And they really looked like those from Mickey Mouse because of their large ears. So when he opened the door even more, the rats noticed him and started to run. Or jumped as in their panicked state, they wanted to get away and as far from him as possible. So, when they
2. His friend has a better method of disposing rodents. Normally, what people do was to trap them in and then either dropped the cage into the water to drown the rats or, left the cage in the Sun. According to him, the former is very cruel because the rats have to gasp for air, which is really suffering. But let's come back to his friend's method, which was the highlight of this topic.
What his friend does is to take the trapped rats into the middle of a field, and then, soak them with petrol. Next, he place the cage's entrance in front of an open flame. As soon as the door to the cage was opened, by reflex, the scared rat would rush out, thinking it is free.
Instead, it became and instant fireball on four legs....
Apparently, I was deal a fatal Lightsaber blow just under my stomach, slightly on the left hips (I know because I saw it on the mirror). Although the wound has started to heal, I am afraid I do not have much time left.
So, I know I am going to the Other Side and told my assistant not to worry. I am glad to go over there but its the pain of dying that I am afraid of. Because we're Jedis (WTF?) we can communicate to each other when we brush our teeth (really, WTF....?)
A little girl and her father were crossing a bridge. The father was kind of scared so he asked his little daughter: "Sweetheart, please hold my hand so that you don't fall into the river." The little girl said: "No, Dad. You hold my hand." "What's the difference?" Asked the puzzled father. "There's a big difference," replied the little girl.
"If I hold your hand and something happens to me, chances are that I
may let your hand go. But if you hold my hand, I know for sure that no
matter what happens, you will never let my hand go." :')
Just got a set of those 1/72 Pilot figures for whatever reasons you think is valid. This is one of those 'stock-up' buying spree which, to me, does not need any explanation save for the fact that I was desperate for some 1/72 figures which, do not look like any ground infantry. Of course I can go to eBay, the infamous eBay, that eBay... but then, not only would it costs me three times more, I would not be supporting my LHS (Local Hobby Shop)
And so, here it is, the big wonderful box, with colourful pictures of all the WWII pilots
The funny part is that the box is big but the contents were... Anyway, you get six figures. But Hasegawa has generously included another identical set in case you wanted to make twin pilots
So, rule of thumb is, 1/35 is about two finger ridges tall while 1/72 is 3/4 single finger ridge.
They just arrived today and I am quite happy as I thought they would come in May. There is a reason why I need these two items now since its not easy to get them here.
1. The 1/150 scale figures
Actually, they can be bought locally but for the price of RM10.00, you get just a bit. So, for a few more ringgit, I get 100 figures instead, but with the same quality . These will be used for Revell's 1/144 u-2540 Cutaway Submarine. But of course, knowing that this is too good to be true (the price), I suspect it could be recasted from some other model kits...
2. The 100 White OSRAM TopLEDs
Ha. This is a sure winner. I have checked the OSRAM website and it costs about USD2.00 per LED and you have to contact their local distributors. So, one click of the mouse, I get 100 for less than 65 sen each. How about that?
I am going to 're-activate' my registered company. It went dormant after I went into my two last jobs. Yeah, I should have paid more attention to it. Goodness knows how much fine i am going to get...
Anyway, just set up a gmail email account for it today.
[Update: August 2012]
OK. I am not going to reactivate it after speaking to a very experienced person now am I going to start a new company now despite my itchy fingers wanting to do so. Because I am not so certain on this path I am taking.
Yeah, might as well start looking for a job and stop this electronic lighting for model kit nonsense.
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