And it ended with the USB...

Finally, I bought the USB replacement part today and it was so expensive. For that price, I can buy a lot of resistors for that same amount. Yes it was RM1.00 and if it went any higher than RM100.00, I would have bought a new printer instead.

But it didn't.

And so, here I am.

In my room.

Taking the stupid PCB out yesterday was really frustrating. Its like trying to fish out a loose screw in the hot engine bay of your car..

Just to replace this snapped off USB port

Guess where all you extra ink went?

Yep. Its black, rubberish, soggy and when you step on it, you need to clean the floor on the whole house.

Before putting it back, some cleaning first. This is one of those alingment strip which tells the printer its current position. Since its the family printer, it is not funny to draw extra lines on it.

There. All done and off it goes to Papa Room for testing!

@#$&*! Its not working! And after an hour of doing this, one of the frail ribbon cable snaps and that's it. No matter how I tried to repair it, it won't connect. And this is not the main problem where the printer head just goes to one side and the rollers made stupid sounds.

And so, because someone snapped the USB connected, the printer literally died a gruesome death in the hands of a clumsy fat gorilla. Although it lasted us about nearly seven years, I don't think we're going back to HP so soon. It does its job well but there were no heavy jobs to make it stand out from the rest of the competition.

But then again, this is generally for home use and for the printer to last that long, it is actually very, very good.

Three motors

While we were discussing about stuff today, Kenny mentioned that he wanted some of the small motors I bought for Bruce for his SFTPMS Battle of Britain Group Build. I bought a lot because Bruce said he wanted about 20 but in the end, I was left with about 16 motors...

Soldered and tested the motor for Kenny for pick up.

I told Kenny he could have some because there are still a lot left. Not only that, I am worried that he might find the motors spinning a little bit too fast since these are designed to be vibrator motors for early mobile phones and pagers.

[Update: End August]
I really hope he finds the motor's speed just right because the last of the PCB boards which I used to control the motor's speed has been sold to another friend... as a welding flicker. Ha!

 [Update: Early Sept]
Whoa... just found that the last PCB I sold to my friend has been sold to another guy because he wanted it more than him. One thing that he told me that its sometimes very hard to describe things to people unless they see it and sometimes, when they do see it, they still don't understand... I offered to make another one for him but he said, no hurry. OK, so this PCB design might be a hit.

Trip to HHQ 27082012

I decided to spend the remaining hours of the day here after my Wife said she will pick up the kids. It was a long day, something which I would not want to mention for the time being.

These were on sale and they're very very old. I mean, look at the box. Its Matchbox/AMT, back during the days when they were very strong on the hobby scene. I like the Road Boss.

Although the parts looks the age, I would not want to build it but to frame it if possible.

I have not seen this before and again, this is nice but I would have problems fitting it into a diorama since most of the model kits nowadays are of modern types. Yes, do it as an antique show on a revolving stage, I suppose.

Quality-wise, the parts are very good but since I am spoilt by crisp details nowadays, its very hard to convince myself to get these anymore.

Aha... what a nice little place. This C-160. I was not sure why I am attracted to it but well, its better than a Hercules. Oh, hey, it has those landing ramps!

And so do these! The Spartan looks promising since the undercarriage looks 'fierce' and also, it looks massive from the box.

OK, a flying wing. If I did not check on the box, I would assume the size is the same as the box. But its when fully built. Which is 71.8cm, a little bit too big for me. But to be honest, I don't even know where to display it and because its silver, airbrushing it is also another problem since I do not have one.

It all started with the USB...

Yep. It all started with the USB port.

My Dad asked why he could not print from the printer and so, I was asked to help troubleshoot. Everything checked out OK. On the printer's status, there was some document waiting to print and as usual, I restarted the PC since this was a very common problem with Windows 7.

And yes!

It still did not work.

After some time, I probed around and discovered this...

A broken USB connection. The middle plastic parthas been snapped off and one of the connectors has been pushed back until it crumpled. Who did this, I am not sure. So, I need to take this part out to search for a perfect fit.

Opening the printer stumped me because for this one, it uses hex screws. After some fiddling, I managed to get it opened and yes, the worse is to come as the USB port is located on the PCB which is under all the mechanism. Which is not a good thing since I hate dealing with gears. Not because its ditry or oily but there is always that fear of not able to put it back together again. Anyone can put it back but its those little hooks or sensors or even alingment that they craftily set traps for which you would not know. After spending quite some time looking and taking photos, I finally bit the bullet.

Despite its age, the seven year old printer still looks very clean inside (apart form the areas around the ink wells). But what is troublesome was the fiddly short cables which was hard to put back after this and I think, this printer was completed by a kid because you need very small hands to put the ribbon cables.

Desoldering the stupid USB port was also another problem. As my Soldering Iron was only 18watts. it was very difficult to generate enough heat to remove the metal alignment tabs and also one of the pins since I believe, the metal on both the port and the PCB was actually absorbing the heat away from the iron. I don't think this was a ROHS printer though or else I would be in even more trouble.

I have a Longshot!

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Yes, now I have a Longshot, courtesy of Richard from The Outpost. Its a bit of a long story too. When 'The Outpost' changed their company direction last year, I did ask Richard if there were any Longshots in their inventory, working or not. There was one but it was not to be given away. Then this time, NERF Community asked if I could assist them in designing a Shotgun grip for the Longshots and I had to ask around for one to do some R&D stuff. Long story short, Richard gave me one, but it could not fire. Which is still fine by me because, I only need the shell for measurements.

The good news is that, he also gave me a Raider Clip 'clipper'
(Don't ask me, I have no name for that part either)

After doing some play...er, measurements, my itchy finger got very very itchy and I started to wonder why it could not shoot since the plunger works when I insert a chopstick into it...

Found out that the 'Jam Clearing Door' was the cause. It sort of skipped out of place which results in all safety locks preventing me from pulling the trigger.

No, I did not warp the Longshot. I was merely testing the Panoramic function on my Nokia n8.

I know feeling from the screws and all, this Longshot has been opened before and after about 105 minutes, it was as good as new. But, when I accidentally dry fired, the sounds were not that good...

Still, I have my very own Longshot now and next, I am going to R&D on it. That is, when I have some R&D funds...

New and leftover Toys

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A visit to the local Toys r Us this afternoon. Nothing much there since there are no new movies coming in. And so, these are the only 'latest' toys. I pity the GI Joe ones whose movie was delayed to next year. Not only that, the prices were steeper compared to their previous movie's offering, it really made them into non-movers on the shelves. Too bad.

This is something I have not seen earlier, must be from a 'late' shipment. This is from the Avenger's SHIELD Helicarrier. The size is impressive but somethow, when I looked back at the stills, this is not close enough.

New Transformers figures from the game, 'Fall of Cybertron'. Optimus and Bee was there but after seeing them in so many variations, it tends to be boring. Most notable was Jazz which in it vehicle mode was very nice. And then you have Shockwave which, with its Tri-Barrel gun, makes it look nasty and this evil looking tried to tempt me to buy it so I can light it up. But oho, I have learnt my lesson with Red Alert who was using ball-joints.

Legacy Harley Quinn from the Batman 'Arkham City' game. Nice but, meh. Not into figures and above all else, I do not have a Playstation3 to get into the mood.

Trip to KWC

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Richard asked me if I wanted to follow him to the Jalan Hang Tuah Fashion Mall. I fully know what he meant (Kenanga Wholesale Centre aka KWC) after he passed me a broken NERF Longshot.

Since the promised freelance work was well, not promised, I said yes.

Nice customised car. Too bad about the front

These 'leather' jackets were being sold at RM60.00. They're not real and after some scuffing, it would come off in days. For that price, RM25.00 should be more like it. It was tempting for Richard's latest project but there were no matching pants.

Lunch at the Foodcourt. I ordered an ABC Special which was quite tall and all the contents/ice were starting to fall off just as soon as you dig you spoon into it. Yep, my sugar fix for the month.

Richard's carbo binge

My ABC Special came with Yam Ice Cream (that's the 'special' part) and this is what was left when I finished it. Full of ice and the bottom ingredients (such as beans, corn, etc) were minimal. At best, I was literally eating a bowl of syruped ice.

Top Floor of KWC, which serves as a very good filming area, NERF competitions and so on. Its a little bit windy but it was the unpainted pillars which grabbed our attention the most.

Its good to be working again...

23082012 1419

Even just for two days. I kind of miss this line of work. You sort of go everywhere, minding your own business and also most importantly, do not have to talk to anyone else... much.

Its a very simple job of locating an existing Network cable, set up the cabinet as per the customer's wishes, mount the switches, and do some patch panel cables.

The sign says, "Limau Beracun Tolong Jangan Petik"
-Translated (The Lime is poisonous. Please do not pluck)
I am not sure if this is real or they're using reverse psychology

My friend who is working on the patching

Just working for two days, I get enough to pay for some petrol and buy lunch for the kids. If only I wished there is more...

Termite recovery Part III

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Today is the last day for us here and so, its time to clean things up. I think this is the last of the lot but I know there are still some termite gunk-ed Playmates TNG Tricorders, a Type I TNG Phaser, a Borg cube and an Enterprise-D somewhere. Anyway, here are more recovered models and toys.

Robocop

FFVII's Cloud Strife's Hardy Daytona.
Sadly, I could not find Cloud and chances are, most of the parts are not 100% recoverable. Then again, I think there is still the toy...

Airfix's 2001 Space Clipper.
The unpainted on the left is missing a tail sensor while the one on the right is an embarrassing exercise in hair-brushing

Complete six sides and stand for the Playmates Borg Cube

Although this was marked as those 4WD series, the Vise-Intruder is a very different model. In fact, it looks nice although it cannot be motorised like the other 4WD. But because of the clear body (now yellowing), you can set it as either a Tron vehicle or as a Batmobile. Oh, and all four wheels can fold out except for mine, one of the rear wheel is broken.

Some other 4WD stuff and (now vintage?) Warhammer plastic skeletons

The details are OK but not as sharp as what you see on the current plastic models.

Repeat after me: "This is not earth. There are no termite bodies in there."
OK? These are dried termite gunk.

Just want to share with you on this model. Its Prince Xizor's Virago. It has moving wings/sail.

Why is it so special? The model was left exactly as it was, nearly ten years ago. This is where I found and currently using the model cement.

The pair of cutters that has rusted and grown moldy.

The clothes pegs still on the wings/sail, clamping it while waiting for the glue to set. Its as if it was frozen in time, waiting for me to come back to complete it.

Some resin fantasy girl which I got it for no reason

The beautiful resin crouching Alien. Missing was the throne/base made of bones and facehugger

Finally, found more parts to the Heavy Metal resin kit, "The Embrace"

I think, most of the parts are complete now, what is missing are the instruction sheets, Well, hope to track some reference pictures in the Internet one day...

The classic Monogram Colonial Viper where I spoilt the canopy and ruined the base when I first try out a scriber. I was very impatient then. And still am, now.

The Aoshima (I think) 1/24 Back to the Future 2 DeLorean. The sprue frame of the grey parts in the bag is warped, while the decal is well, spoilt by water and the instruction sheet eaten by the termites.

Russian BMP-1, supposedly bought as kitbashing source. Surprisingly, it survived intact.

Ah, my Enterprise cutaway which I wanted to light it up them. Thank goodness I did not because looking back at my electronics and LED skills, it was more of a work done by a caveman.

Sadly, this Merkava will be a source for kit-bashing now since the tracks, suspensions, wheels, lead parts, etc are all gone.

Erm... some ladies from Silent Mobius. During that time, Silent Mobius, Bubblegum Crisis and AD Police was all the rage and so, the only 'nude' resin kits were of those girls plastered against the AMP Badge. Well this one is very very different. Then again, this resin kit might not be from Silent Mobius since there are supposed to have six characters.

And that's it for now. After clearing so much crap (yes), this one big bag of sadness is what was left. Its going to the bin and I hope this is the last I will remember of the termites saga.