Aside From Coins, Do You Have Any Other Hobbies?

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Aethelred, Jan 28, 2017.

  1. Sallent

    Sallent Live long and prosper

    It's funny you posted that. A few days ago I ordered about 60 dollars worth of model kit building tools and accessories and paints, plus two models to build for my 7 year old son's room for decoration.

    I'm going to build my son a Mercury Redstone (probably the Alan Shepard flight version)

    2004 Mercury-Redstone 3-View Large.jpg

    And the John Glenn version of the Mercury Atlas rocket....

    2002 Mercury-Atlas Illustrations Large.jpg

    They also have a kit of the Convair SM-65D Atlas, which was the nuclear version of the Atlas rocket, and that one comes with three different nuclear warhead options. I think I'll probably order myself that one to build it as decoration for my office, though I'll wait until after I'm done building and painting the civilian NASA Mercury Atlas version for my son before tackling that project.
     
    RAGNAROK, Curtisimo, KevinM and 6 others like this.
  2. Avatar

    Guest User Guest



    to hide this ad.
  3. Aethelred

    Aethelred The Old Dead King

    Sal,

    I share you interest in the 1960s space program. One of the greatest disappointments in my life is that I am not old enough to have witnessed a Saturn V launch in person (I was there for STS-1 in 1981 and that was a great thrill for me at not quite ten years old).

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2018
  4. Kasia

    Kasia Got my learning hat on

    Genealogy. Researching and utilizing dna matches to find 'cousins'.
     
  5. Sallent

    Sallent Live long and prosper

    Yeah, I wish I had seen a Saturn V taking off too. I think Apollo 17's night launch must have been incredible...night turning to daylight as that mighty rocket roared into the sky.

    I suck at arts and crafts, but I figured it would be fun to build and paint my own rockets instead of buying a pre-built model. Even if I botch anything I think I would still view my own hand-built model with more love than something someone else built.

    I see you went to see STS-1, the first flight of Columbia. RIP John Young and RIP Columbia :(.
     
  6. Aethelred

    Aethelred The Old Dead King

    John Young was my favorite astronaut. Not just because he commanded the first Shuttle launch. He flew on the first manned Gemini flight in 1965, also flew Gemini 10 in 1966. He was one of only three people to have flown to the Moon twice, first on Apollo 10 (with Gene Cernan who also flew to the moon twice). On his second flight to the Moon (Apollo 16) he landed, becoming one of only 12 people to have walked on the Moon. He then flew the Space Shuttle Columbia twice. Although his last flight was in 1983, he didn't retire from NASA until 2004. I was really sad when I learned of his death, what an amazing career!

    [​IMG]
    John Young during Apollo 16
     
  7. JGGonzalez

    JGGonzalez Well-Known Member

    My daughter liked dinosaurs when she was little. I buried a fake raptor claw in a bare spot of my wife's garden and let her dig it up. She was so happy she went back later and dug up the rest of the garden!

    My other hobbies are reading sci-fi/fantasy/historical fiction, cats, swords/knives, and collecting junk.
     
    RAGNAROK and Theodosius like this.
  8. Bing

    Bing Illegitimi non carborundum Supporter

    I seem to have a reading hobby as well. I read two to three books per week, mostly historical fiction. It's much better than the boob tube or holywood's imagination. My imagination is so much better!
     
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2018
    RAGNAROK, Theodosius, alde and 7 others like this.
  9. TIF

    TIF Always learning.

    Yes!!
     
    RAGNAROK likes this.
  10. JGGonzalez

    JGGonzalez Well-Known Member

    Definitely agree with Bing and Tif! If you like historical fiction, try "Marching with Caesar" by R.W. Peake. If you like a blend of history and horror, check out "The Devil's Auction" by Robert Weinberg or "Lost Souls" by Jeffrey Sackett. All are on Kindle.
     
    RAGNAROK and Theodosius like this.
  11. Nathan401

    Nathan401 Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

    My Wife does this, and for others. She's really amazing at it..
     
    LaCointessa and Kasia like this.
  12. Sallent

    Sallent Live long and prosper

    @Aethelred I received the models today. Looking at the extensive paint jobs on all the pieces...which I can only do on the weekends as I get home late during weekdays and I don't want to stink the house up with paint fumes, and the tiny sizes of some of the pieces and stickers, I think it's safe to say each rocket will end up being a 4 weekend project (ie. a month each).

    However, looking at my son's excitement at the thought of seeing his dad put them together sure makes it worth it. He even asked me to tell him the history of each rocket, and listened as I told him about the Mercury 7 and the Mercury Program.

    IMG_20180126_181000319_BURST001.jpg

    And look at what I bought last night to also put together...a 1958 kit of Vanguard. Doesn't get nerdier than this. It even has glass top and bottom of sphere in order to give people a glance into the inner components and machinery of the satellite. How cool is that?

    lnd-603.jpg

    The modeler, Hawk, rushed in 1958 to get this kit out before the first launch of Vanguard, so the internal components are not completely accurate, but they did a decent enough job considering they built this from preliminary drawings of the satellite that NASA made public.

    But as you know, Vanguard blew up spectacularly....

    Vanguard_TV_3.jpg

    Which means that the actual Vanguard I was differently internally from the Vanguard in the model kit, and it wasn't until Vanguard II was launched in February of 1959 (after six or 7 other Vanguard rockets also blew up) that a satellite with similar internals to the model kit was launched. So the model is technically in hindsight actually Vanguard II, America's 8th successful satellite (instead of the 1st as was intended), and the world's first weather Satellite. Still cool no matter what. Oh, and Vanguard II is still in orbit around the Earth, as are most early US Satellites, as the US launched the first few Satellites into fairly high low Earth orbits. Can't say the same about early Soviet satellites. Most of them have already come down. Maybe some day a hundred years from now someone can rescue Vanguard II from orbit and put it in a museum. I hope so.
     
  13. Ajax

    Ajax Well-Known Member

    Man I remember building model cars with my dad when I was a kid... what a blast that was. We did some of those homemade rockets too. That was fun as hell. Good shit Sallent.
     
    Sallent likes this.
  14. Kasia

    Kasia Got my learning hat on

    Models are harder than one would suppose. I worked on some with my son at different times, and to do them where they looked great was a lot of work, and plenty of patience and talent to paint them nicely.
     
    KevinM, Theodosius and Sallent like this.
  15. Sallent

    Sallent Live long and prosper

    Yep, it's hard work. That's part of the reason why I want to do it. It is a good way to unwind and de-stress, helps one learn to be more patient, and really taxes one's brain and helps improve hand-eye coordination and dexterity.

    I used to do models when I was a kid and a teen, so I remember what a tough task it is. Not sure why I ever stopped though, as I used to enjoy it tremendously, but now that I have a kid I guess that's as good a reason as any to pick it up again. I'm hoping him seeing the work in progress will get him interested in science and space. And if it helps to eventually get my son interested in building models instead of watching TV, or gets him interested in history, that would be a huge bonus.
     
    RAGNAROK, KevinM, Kasia and 1 other person like this.
  16. Nathan401

    Nathan401 Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

    Beyond cool. Do these models launch? We built and launched some as kids, iit was a lot of fun.
     
    Sallent likes this.
  17. Nathan401

    Nathan401 Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

    Kudos for getting your boy away from an IPad for a bit, and into a great hobby!!
     
    RAGNAROK, KevinM and Sallent like this.
  18. Sallent

    Sallent Live long and prosper

    Not these particular ones, though a Vostok I I'm thinking of building once I'm done with all these models does have the option of being launched. I doubt I'd want to actually launch one with the amount of work it takes to do one of these things the right way.

    I've always been a space nerd, yet surprisingly these are the first rockets I will ever work on. My model builds when I was a kid and teen were mostly aircraft and ships, and a few cars.

    @Nathan401 Starting two weeks ago I made the decision. TV and/or computer is only for the weekends. I decided I didn't like what tech was doing to him, so for my son it is now reading, drawing, and puzzles during the weekdays, and only 2 hours of TV/tablet/computer time during the weekend, followed by outdoors activities and history/science related activities.
     
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2018
    RAGNAROK, KevinM, Kasia and 3 others like this.
  19. alde

    alde Always Learning

    How in the world do you read 3 books a week? I'm lucky if I can read one book in 3 months. Of course I don't put the time into it either. I do love books and reading though.
     
  20. Sallent

    Sallent Live long and prosper

    I've read a 250 page book in one day. It's possible if you've got a lot of free time on your hand, are a fast reader, and like what you are reading.

    I envy @Bing . I wish I had that much time to read these days. But with work and other stuff, I'm lucky now to get through more than 15 book a year.
     
    alde likes this.
  21. alde

    alde Always Learning

    I need to apply myself to more reading. I'm not a slow reader but seem to have too many irons in the fire so to speak. I'll make a pledge to do better. I have made some other positive changes in my life lately so this will just add to it.
     
    Alegandron likes this.
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page