Let's talk other hobbies....

[blueskydriver]

Hey Everyone,

With Scott mentioning other hobbies and posting pics of his telescope, it gave me a great idea that we should start a thread about it here in the off topic discussion area.

Since Cockpit Builders is a place of sharing, how about sharing what your other hobby(ies) is/are? No matter what it is. With one caveat though!

You got to post some pics or at least one pic, because "a picture is worth a thousand words". And, if your other hobby is "pole dancing"...uh, well it might be worth a million words...lol! 

I will start by saying my other hobby is building Lego sets. Some of you know this already, but mainly I just build stock out of the box sets like Lego City and Star Wars. Karen also builds and she does Lego City along with Harry Potter sets. Then, throw in some Creator and Speed sets for the both us; especially, since those are a part of our Lego City Display.

Speaking of which, our city display is 12'x48' and all setup on IKEA tables. We started about 4-5 years ago, around the time I sold all my RC planes... My other hobby is videography and stop motion animation, and both tie into the Lego aspects. I use those as the talent and scenery sets.

Here is a link to our YouTube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa1sLrhQhFQ9H-lt0LjEFWA

Beyond that, I will post some more pics later, once we get done moving the projectors forward...it's taking longer than I thought....

John

[FSAddon_boss]

Wow, that's truly awesome right there !!! You must be one of those Russian billionaires that went AWOL....             

My OTHER hobbies are somewhat more modest I'm afraid..... I love(d) riding my BMW motorcycle, read and write reviews on WW2 books, scale modeling (of WW2 models), photography, play computer games, remain proficient with my firearms,and draw/paint (some pictures included).

I used to be big in mountain hiking, skiing and tennis, but those have all fallen down the wayside because of failing body 
Also website building and other computer tinkering has lost my interest after 40 years at it....

[RayS]

This should turn into a great thread!

When I'm not working/flying the sim, I dabble in a few other interests:

1. Learned to drum back in 2017 and play (Horribly) still today.

2. Love picking up my camera gear to shoot airshows which sadly there haven't been any since the pandemic hit.

3. Picked up playing the piano. This is something I've wanted to do for awhile. With great pianists like Chilly Gonzalas and the Icelandic Post-Rock group Sigur Rós, I've really wanted to try this.

4. Golf

Sometimes I dabble in astronomy but I don't have a decent scope. Not even close. (Anyone have a used Cassegrain unit they want to donate? ;-) )

 

[blueskydriver]

Hey Ray, Wow! I never knew you did any of these things after all these years...just amazing!

Hey Francois, I gotta say that's some awesome modeling and painting! The M4 was the first tank I crawled up on as a kid back in the 70's and it literally rubbed off on me; joined the Army in 1983 because of it 

Anyway, thanks guys for posting the pics!

For everyone else, come on post those hobby stories and pics...we'd all love to see and hear about it....

John

[FSAddon_boss]

Great picture of the Blue Angles Ray !! I've been doing air show photography too for many years. Took me to some great places !!!

[Flying_Fox]

Speaking of telescopes, I also have one.



Doing some planet photography with it. Not recently though, the planets positions these years are not favorable for photography in my latitude, but here are some pictures from previous years:













More pictures you can see here:

Nick's astronomy pictures

[sagrada737]

This seems like a fun thread...   We all reflect on the hobbies we have had over the years, and the ones we are engaged in now.

One hobby I had was building Experimental Aircraft.  We built a turbo-prop aircraft called the Turbine Lebend; and a two-place helicopter, which was a Rotorway 162F.  This post is about our Turbine Legend project, which required 9 years to complete.  Perhaps someday I can build a Sim version of this "fighter-like" aircraft.

The Turbine Legend was a kit aircraft, but turned into a massive engineering project, with modification I made to the Engine Mount, Canopy System, Fuel System, Landing Gear System, Flaps System, and Wing Wash-out.  These kind of major changes were important for safety and efficiency.  When all was completed, we had an aircraft that performed very well, with cruise speeds of 320 kts,, and a max climb rate of 6,000 FPM.   As a turbo-prop, it used a Walter 601D jet engine producing 724 SHP to an AVIA 3-Blade Prop.  Once completed, both my wife Carol and I did some transition training where we could both solo this powerful aircraft. 

Below is a short video of a flight from Santa Paula Airport to Camarillo Airport, which is where we were based.  Carol is Pilot-in-Command, and I am riding along as passenger.  You gotta trust your wife!   Enjoy the flight...

Also here are a few photos showing the Turbine Legend in final yellow paint scheme, with Carol and I during a photo-shoot; the Instrument panel layout, in which I used SolidWorks to establish correct layout; and a photo of Carol just after her Solo Flight.  For the Record, Carol flew this high-performance aircraft much better than me.

The Turbine Legend was a serious aircraft to fly, but a whole lot of fun!  Fuel burn on take-off was about 70 GPH, and about 35 GPH to 45 GPH in cruise, depending on power settings.  We kept this aircraft for a couple of years, then sold it as part of a down sizing plan (Read that, build a 737 Sim... )

I'll share a few more hobbies over the coming weeks...

Keep your airspeed up!
Mike

[FSAddon_boss]

WOW !!!!   

[sagrada737]

Adding to this hobby thread...

Since I was youngster, I always enjoyed drawing and painting.  My favorite subjects were the old sailing ships, and seascapes.  When I was a teenager, we moved to a ranch near the central coast of California.  There I painted quite a few seascapes.  The photo below showing the crashing waves, depicts the typical coastline near where we lived.  I painted this when I was 17 years old, and gave it as a gift to my mother.  It is titled "Point Conception".  Mom has passed on, and I now have it hanging in our living room.

Over the years, I have always painted -- mostly in oils, but also used watercolors and pastels.  For a time as a teenager, I turned this hobby into some cash, by doing occasional commission paintings of landscapes, seascapes, cats, dogs, kids, etc..  I would setup on the beach and just paint...

When I shifted gears and got involved in the computer industry, I was involved in Venture funded computer start-up companies, designing and building large format Engineering Printer/Plotters. I didn't have too much time for doing painting... 

However, when my start-up days were over, I joined a Japanese company called Japan Digital Laboratories (JDL), based in Tokyo, Japan.  I ran their US Subsidiary operations.  At that time, I did a lot of R&D for them, traveling to Japan 34 times.  On one R&D assignment, Carol and I lived in Japan for six months.

It was while I was living in Japan, that I did take a few days, and painted a seascape for the CEO of JDL.  One bonus on that assignment was, he allowed me to join his company's aero club, and that is where I learned how to fly in the company AeroSpatile ASTAR 350 jet helicopter.  It was on one ocassion, we flew the ASTAR to the island of Shikine-Jima, about 100 miles off the coast of Tokyo, to spend a relaxing few days.   There, I sketched a coastal scene, which I later painted in oils, and gave it as a gift to the CEO.  It is titled "Shikine-Jima" shown below.  This painting is now hanging in JDL's corporate headquarters in Tokyo, Japan.

Now that my 737-800 Sim project is coming to its completion, I have sold my CNC Mill and CNC Lathe.  This has freed up a lot of space, which I plan on turning into an Art Studio.  There I will get back into oil painting as a hobby once again, where I plan on painting a series of biblical scenes.

That's it for my art hobby.  I hope you enjoy these two paintings...

Mike

[FSAddon_boss]

Mike, your seascapes are truly awesome !!

[Joe Lavery]

Lovely oils Mike.

I'm a coloured pencil guy myself, I tried watercolours but I prefer the detail drawn with a pencil.

This is just a couple of my efforts, as you see it's mainly animals.

Joe.

[FSAddon_boss]

Wow, we got some REAL artists here !!! Awesome Joe !

[FredK]

Mike...

My wife Barbara wants to commission you for a seascape!

Fred K

[sagrada737]

Hello All,

Special thanks to John and Trevor for opening up this tread for folks here to share other aspects of their lives, in terms of their hobbies aside from Sim activities.  I think there is a real need for this, as the "Covid ERA" has had many of us locked down and isolated for some time.  There is a certain healing in expressing our interests to others...

My reply to those who have posted something about their hobbies is a bit over due...   But it has been on my mind to reply.

John -- Thanks for sharing your Lego hobby with us.  I never knew that this was so popular.  I have watched your video, and I am amazed by how you have grown your Lego City.  Pretty cool...!

Francois -- Thanks for sharing about your diverse interests.  Your models and artwork of WWII tanks is really nice.  I like the ship painting as well...   It's good that you stay proficient with your firearms, as proficiency helps you to not only to be accurate, but maintaining good safety practices.

Ray -- I knew Ray was an accomplished photographer, from his work at WorldFlight -- taking photos of Sam's Sim.  Along those lines...  the Air Show photo is excellent.   I didn't know that you had musical talent also.  Practice makes perfect...  Best wishes with your golf game, and your astronomy activities.

Nick -- Thanks for sharing your Planetary Images.  Very nice work!  The detail you have captured is amazing!

Joe -- Good to see that you are quite an accomplished artist.  The expressions in your puppy dog sketches are priceless.   These are really nice compositions!  You have developed some good sketching techniques.  Keep up the good work!

I'm looking forward to more sharing of hobbies within the Group.  We all have been gifted with various talents and abilities...  Great to share with others.

All the Best,
Mike

Fred - Nice of Barbara to desire a seascape.  I'll consider it...

[blueskydriver]

Unbelievable of the cool hobbies that we all do! The raw talent here is just amazing!!!

John

[blueskydriver]

Already mentioned the Lego hobby that I'm into, but my plan is too do stop motion animation with them. Although, it's really taking a long long time to get there...lol!

My newest hobby is now doing Electronic Dance Music (EDM). Recently acquired an Ableton Push 2...thanks Scott...and getting started on learning the Ableton Studio Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software.

Like this artist here, who's really awesome!

https://youtu.be/1nfVFngLhnE

Look at the big device that's forward and under her right hand, that's what I just got....

Any hoot let's hear from some of the other members who haven't posted yet 

John

[Joe Lavery]

Hey John, with the best will in the world you are never going to look as good as her.... LOL.

Stunning performer with such skill and style in her performance, I enjoyed watching something I've never seen or heard about before.

Thanks, Joe.

[blueskydriver]

Hey Joe, nope I'll never look that good, but hope too play like her...in another lifetime maybe...LOL!

You're definitely right, she's an amazing artist and I just stumbled onto her channel. Now, I can't get enough of her.

John