DPMS AR10

Alrighty another week, that was fast. This week I finished listing books on Amazon, even sold a couple. Total there are 143 on there now, hopefully they will sell, then I can forget I ever tried that. One could make extra money selling books on Amazon, but if your time is valuable it isn't worth it. Going to FOL sales at libraries and scanning books to see which ones are not selling for a penny, then going through and listing all the books you buy, it is a little tedious. Somehow people sell books for a penny and think they are making money... Since Amazon takes a cut about the same amount as shipping, they are making like thirty cents per book at the most.

I also cleaned out the garage, it gets a little cluttered even though I try to clean up after all my projects. Finished getting all the relevant files off of my computer, I replaced it with a tablet, since it can do everything I did on my computer with one exception. Word possessing has not really reached the tablets yet, the apps available are about the same technology as word in 1990. So I use my wife's laptop for that. Say goodbye to the tower computer folks! I managed to paint the walking stones outside before it snowed last night. They were a hideous color and now they are red to match other elements of our yard.

The cool thing I did this week was finish putting together my new rifle. A couple weeks ago I sold my FNAR heavy barrel because it was super heavy. I think the only purpose of that rifle is if you are in a SWAT team and sit with it on rooftops a lot. Certainly it is not useful as a battle rifle (self defense, Chinese/zombie invasion ext..) or for hunting. Here is a shot of it:

I replaced it with a DPMS AR10 Sportical. this is a bit shorter and lighter, useful for home protection, zombie/Chinese invasions and hunting. Here it is as I bought it:

I proceeded to add stuff to it. A quad rail hand-guard for attaching accessories, Magpul magazines which are lighter and better than metal ones, a bi-pod that folds, a folding front grip, a Magpul sling mount on the front, a 550 cord sling mount, a slide fire stock, a primary arms 4x scope, a blue laser, and a Magpul MS3 sling. You cannot see the blue laser, it had not shown up when I took the pictures yet. You can see everything else, I think this is a good addition to my collection.

*******Warning, Rant ahead!**********
Now a short rant, I believe in the Second Amendment, I have written papers on the subject. It boils down to a few points. One, a rifle is not more dangerous because it has more features or is black. The same as a black car is not more dangerous than a white one. This stems from the definition of an assault rifle: mainly there isn't one. It is different every time a law is written for them. Two, make as many laws as you want, your only hurting law abiding citizens. In city after city, country after country, banning firearms leads to higher crime and more murders. How is that possible? Well criminals are called criminals for a reason, they don't follow the law, they will buy things even if banned. Meanwhile disarming law abiding citizens puts them at a disadvantage. If you were a criminal would you attack a place with guns, or without? Reminds me of the guy who held up a gun store and fired a coupe rounds off, ya, he is dead. Make no mistake, if I had been in that theater a couple months ago that guy would be dead too and less people would have died. Three, the Second Amendment protects all weapons for all legal reasons. Not just hunting, not just home defense. If I want to spend every penny I own on the best weapons for killing zombies, that is my right as an American. It does not matter if they are useful for hunting or not. One of the reasons for including the Second was that the founding fathers knew that all governments have the potential to become tyrannical and put their citizens last. Even the government they drafted they knew it was possible, that is one reason why they inserted the Second, another reason is that General Washington did not defeat the British with his right to free speech, he shot them. The Japanese didn't even consider invading mainland America because "there would be a gun behind every blade of grass". I have more points and quotes, but then this wouldn't be a short rant.
*********/End Rant**********

Darth Vader

Here is what I accomplished this week. I re-ordered my truck title for the third time (sigh). Got my lawn aerated and sprinklers blown out, still on track in all my classes, listed more books for sale (I bought a bunch of books to sell on Amazon a couple years ago and they were inactive for a little over a year since I moved to Kalifornia for awhile. Now I am slowly re-listing them), and tried out a new paint for outside on the walking stones. That last one is drying right now.

However, in interesting news, I finished my manican rework! A couple years ago I built a manican for my Darth Vader costume. I figured a $2500 costume should be displayed. What I did was run to the hardware store and pick out PVC parts that would make a body. A connector for the hips that also worked for the shoulders, some elbow joints, a knee joint (only one, the other leg is straight), some feet, pipe for the bones, and a Styrofoam ball for a head. After a bit of measuring my parts I began cutting on the pipe. I added some inches to the spine and the legs since Vader is 6'7 and I am only 6"1. The boots add two inches, so I only needed to add four. Then I put all the parts together and glued some of the joints.

At this point I had a skeleton, so I added some skin and muscle. I ended up using an old pair of long johns which I filled with pillow stuffing. Then an old stocking cap over the Styrofoam so one wouldn't see the white thought the helmet. Next I made the hands. I took some wire coat hangers and bent them into fingers, then taped them into the wrist pipes and made a fist on one and a Vader like crushing pose on the other. Next I took some dish-washing rubber gloves,stuffed them and put them over the fingers. Viola, hands. These I might replace some day since they don't quite look right.

After using him for awhile I decided earlier this year he needed a rework, that Is what I just finished. The main problem I addressed was that he really had no hips, making the cod piece and belt difficult to attach and make look right. It also made him look somewhat funny. Here is how I fixed it, I bought a cheap trash can, round and about the right size for a torso. I turned it upside down and tied shoe laces to the bottom to make it less round and more human shaped. then cut a hole in the top for the "spine" to fit into and tied the same shoe laces to the hip "bones". That mostly worked but the pants wouldn't fit, so a quick trim to the hip area and my Vader looks way better. Plus his belt/pants/cod piece wont fall off anymore! Very embarrassing for a dark lord of the Sith to have his pants falling off all the time. The secondary problem I fixed was that joints were constantly coming apart and very hard to get back together without access to actually touch them. To fix that I simply took the whole thing apart and glued all of the joints except the arm to shoulder joint. That needs to come apart to get his clothes on, so I drilled a hole and stuck a bolt in the hole to hold it when together. So now my manican isn't adjustable to different posses like before, but at least he won't fall apart. Sorry for the lack of pictures, I didn't plan on sharing this when I was building or fixing it. Here are some though of the finished product.

Notice two things in the background, one that shelf to his right is six feet tall, second there is an unfinished Jango Fett helmet on my other shelf that I need to work on. Next though I need to finish this costume. It is a complete ESB Vader, however there are some things I want to change. First the boots are good, but the internal lifts I made myself are uncomfortable. I need to revisit that. Second the straps on the shin guards suck. Third the cape is too long, it drags on the ground a bit. Fourth the helmet mounting system I made needs to be fixed a little. and finally some of the things need adjusted so they fit correctly.

Leave me alone box part 2

Alright, another busy week, so busy in fact I forgot to post yesterday. Today is overflowing already. I have a doctor appointment right after my sons, and my English homework hasn't even been started. I also need to track down my truck title that I should have received by now, and set up the appointment to get windows put into my California house. This week I finished another T-shirt: Here

I also sold my FNAR and bought a DPMS AR10 which I am waiting to show up at the gun store. I spent the rest of the money from that sale on accessories for the AR10, a scope, a laser, a grip with rails, magazines and a bipod. I think I ended up with $50 leftover. My truck got an oil change, and it needs some more work, but it is stuff I can do to save money. (I can do the oil too but since I bought it new the first five years of oil changes were included). All that and some more boring stuff.

The cool thing is I finished my Leave me alone boxes! They wanted to argue about every step of the way. I ended up screwing in some tiny I-bolts and attaching a rubber band to that so they would close right. I also installed a spacer block to raise the finger up so it would hit the switch in the right spot. I had to unsolder the AA battery packs and re-solder in some 9v connectors. I think I might sell one, the other is for my aunt for Christmas. Not sure if I want to sell it or not.

Zip Line

Another week down. I think time is speeding up, seems like weeks are only 24 hours long. Remember being in school and getting the summer off? Back then a couple months lasted forever. These days I dare not blink, I might miss a year.

Anyway the day after my last post I received my birthday present from my mom and step dad. A trip into the Rocky's to go zip lining! They splurged this year, and it was awesome. We went up to Colorado Adventure Center in Idaho Springs. We ended up waiting an hour and a half after we were supposed to start. A lady in the previous group was scared and would not go after tower four. (seriously? who zips three times and then gets scared?) This presents a problem since there are only stairs on the first tower (to keep people off when they are closed). Then her friend chickened out on the fifth tower. Sigh. When it was our turn they bussed us up and got us all rigged up. Practice started on a rope about four feet off the ground, to get the basics down and get comfortable with the rules and equipment. Then up the first tower we went. This course was five zip lines, two short in one direction, then across the river, then a really long one, and finally back to the first tower. This course is brand new, I mean the tags were still on the lumber new. If you drive on I70 now you cannot miss it. I recommend it, it was a blast. Myself and Steve are the ones that did it.

The next day was my party with family. Always good to see everyone, play games and eat cake. Since then I sent off some parts of my shotgun to get polished, and listed another one of my rifles for sale. I want to sell my FNAR and get an AR10 instead. My Vader manican hit a snafu, so I am working on that. The leave me alone boxes are not done, which is what I thought I would be telling you today. One decided to not work at all and the other needed some changes to work properly. It decided to throw the lid all the way open, so I had to rig first a couple magnets (didn't work) then a rubber band. They are so close to done I can taste it. My Halo helm got a little progress as did another T-shirt I am working on. I have a couple papers to peer review today and my VA money didn't come, so I need to find out why I can't pay the bills this month. Sigh. Everbusy is right.