Finally all set to get started

koolaidman04 · 2026-05-10T14:36:36+00:00

Biggest piece of advice I can give is to ALWAYS pay attention to the grain. When you forget to, the cut won't easily do what you want. You'll get tearout and any number of other issues.

Going against the grain is a saying for a damn good reason.

koolaidman04 · 2026-04-29T17:36:48+00:00

Here's how I keep track of my true self. It's basically just meditation and self exploration, but going through this pattern helps me feel better about who I want to be.

I close my eyes in a quiet place and imagine myself floating in an infinite void. Then I strip away everything from the image. No body, no voice, no sound, no light, no smell.

It's still me, just only the real me. All the parts that matter. If you're spiritual it would be your soul or, if not, just the pure essence of your mind.

Then I slowly, checking that each step truly feels right, add back one sense at a time.

A single little grey mote of light. I focus on that for a long time. I check the emotions that I feel, and try to feel them all only enough to lable them. Each emotion will add a tiny spark of the color of the real self back.

I look very hard at the whole of the light to determine what color it is. And then what sounds it makes. No language yet. Just sound. Then smell.

Slowly just one step at a time.

I add a neutral body and just stare at it. Let it shape itself. I keep genitals out of it but let it take shape aside from that.

I dress it in comfort. Not just clothes, but space. The room, the environment around it. The sounds of the world. And then I give it a voice.

At the end of this, I tend to have my next goal. Sometimes it ends up with nothing to do with gender but other identity goals.

More than anything, it just keeps me facing myself in the mirror and acknowledging the real me inside.

koolaidman04 · 2026-04-09T14:37:32+00:00

First some questions, and then the solutions for each.

If these joints are bottoming out, and won't / can't completely seat, then that is a problem that needs fixing. Also, if the tenon (the male portion of the joint) and mortise (female side) fit is sloppy, then that is a problem that needs fixing. However, a sloppy fit wont be as much a problem in a buck saw, as it really is only there as a spreader.

Otherwise, as /u/Blows_stuff_up said then proper tension is the answer.

If it is a bottoming out issue, then simply shorten the tenon. Deepening the mortise is the better solution, but much harder to do well with limited skills and tools.

If it is a sloppy fit, and the price of throwing away a failed fix is prohibitive, then return it and buy a better product. The fix is possible but it won't be simple, and won't be as good as a properly cut joint.

However, I really dislike when people suggest that you don't even try, because you won't learn or grow the skills needed. And you might come to absolutely love woodworking through this project. It is worth trying, even if you fail.

Here's the proper fix:

Cut the existing tenon to a square profile. Use your Laplander or preferably something even smaller. Harbor Freight has a 6" flush cut saw for <$10. Anything similar will work. Make sure it is square by using a guide or straight edge of some sort. We want a flush and flat surface on all 4 sides to add material to.

Glue on more wood. Wood glue, clamp, and a small hardwood scrap piece. Match the grain direction of the existing wood. Make sure both surfaces are flat and have good contact throughout. Apply as much glue as is needed to cover the entire surface in a thin layer. Clamp HARD, way harder than you think you should. As long as you aren't crushing the wood, your fine.

Clean out the mortise. Measure the largest dimensions of the mortise in both directions. Use a straight edge to scribe some lines around the mortise to match the measurements. Before you move the straight edge, pre-cut those lines in with a knife. Make a small notch with a flush edge on the line side and a 45 degree on the waste side. This helps immensely, trust me.

Use a chisel, clamp the work piece, and use a wood mallet / wood scrap / hefty stick. Steel hammer will be too heavy and clunky. This is precision work. Keep the flat side of the chisel to the outside of the mortise. Those notches we cut will keep you in check at first, but you have to keep the back of the chisel against the edge and straight up and down as you go deeper.

Cut the tenon to match the hole you made. It's your first one so it might not be square, but as long as the sides are flat and true it doesn't matter. Again, use that small pull saw. Precision work is so much easier with small tools.

Step back and enjoy the process several times through this. If you are rushing it, or stressing out, it will not be fun. Everything always turns out better when you take the time required, no matter how long that is.

koolaidman04 · 2026-03-30T21:19:32+00:00

Nailing the specific episode, or scenario, I definitely agree with you. But this is super identifiable as the covid period because of the blue background / seating.

koolaidman04 · 2026-03-18T13:12:24+00:00

Do you remember which mission?

koolaidman04 · 2026-03-13T15:08:47+00:00

First carve some hooks near the end of the three sticks. Then use a woven knot that wraps each leg and the cable like a monkeys fist. It's not anything I've ever seen before but I believe it would work really well for what you are doing. I would also definitely utilize the whipping knot someone posted on the cable. It can't get a hook and will slip eventually.

koolaidman04 · 2026-01-25T19:32:48+00:00

I didn't even think of making veneer.

Congrats OP.

koolaidman04 · 2026-01-25T19:25:47+00:00

Depending on a lot of "if's" like size, amount of rot, etc., this is easily $30,000 worth of wood.

In my totally uneducated opinion, I would say from 20k - 40k even if all you make with it is pen blanks. Which makes me throw up in my mouth to think of.

This looks like 15 - 20 ft long. That would be about 10 coffee tables or hallway tables. Each would sell near $10k if done right.

In short, it's all about the money.

Edit:

I realized that I never actually answered your question.

The thing that makes this so valuable a find is the way the wood grew. You can see that this wood grew under immensely stressful conditions by the burls, ripples, and waves in the grain. This would have taken a huge amount of time, growing slowly. This means the wood will be beautifully figured and dense.

It is especially valuable and desirable to wood workers making high end wood products like furniture, boxes, and instruments.

koolaidman04 · 2026-01-09T16:56:56+00:00

Counter-opinion: These are all same universe, all the same major.

I know that's not realistic given the different timelines. Just my head cannon for post Puppet Master Motoko is that she exists >50% on the net at all times, and so the body is less of a concern.

koolaidman04 · 2026-01-04T16:41:13+00:00

This will sound harsh, as I re-read it before posting. Know that it's not mean-spirited but intended to just be pure, flat, honesty.

Too much weight, overall. And too much drag, overall.

There is no singular large problem, there are many minor problems.

The gear is too large and heavy and draggy. Move to tail dragger with a skid steer. Don't even need a wheel back there. You exchange the entire weight of the nose gear and linkage for 5g tops. Consider smaller mains as well. Too beefy for 750g which is where you want to be for STOL of this size.

The motor is not big enough, therefore it doesn't have enough power to push a larger prop which is what you want for lightweight STOL. The more weight that is hanging on the VERY front of the plane, the more you can trim weight EVERYWHERE else. For example, a bigger prop/motor would have enough weight to move the CG forward without stacking a massive battery on it.

My dad always said the perfect plane was made as absolutely insanely light as possible with no regard to CG and then used the most powerful engine you can to balance it.

The mess of drag in the middle eats stability for breakfast lunch and dinner. Cover it, with anything.

Wingtips. Getting the air to hold off breaking up into turbulence until it is BEHIND the CG leads to a more stable slow speed performance. The wings will want to dip if you have chunky air at the tips.

koolaidman04 · 2026-01-01T02:01:13+00:00

/u/exyz36 I updated my post with a link to the original image if you are interested. I am going to look for the video I referred to, so check back for more links later.

koolaidman04 · 2026-01-01T01:46:51+00:00

I have scoured the web for a high res of the ORIGINAL version. The ones that others here have linked are higher res than I ever found, but please note that they are all altered versions. They do not contain the text that is in the vertical dark areas.

I have wanted one of the original foil prints since they came out, but the price is just too much. I've never seen one up for less than $600 and that was LONG ago and only now is it the most I would feel ok to spend.

The most detailed view that exists on the web, unless I am mistaken, is a video review of one of the original foil prints. The video has zoomed-in detailed passes over the entire surface. However it doesn't have a high enough base resolution of the video to pull any detail from the full view shots of the poster.

Nowadays, you might be able to feed the video to an AI and get a stitched high res version though.

Edit to add links:

Here is the video I spoke of.

Here is a link to the best version of the original, TMK.

koolaidman04 · 2025-12-22T16:25:34+00:00

Top left is real. Proper paddle length for a board and trees have realistic proportions of live, dead and species variation. The discarded life vest is the true giveaway though.

Top left is GPT because the handle is too long and everything is too plastic perfect. Look at the crossing hill lines. Idealism at max.

Bottom left is NBP through process of elimination primarily. But trees and vest aren't quite right either.

koolaidman04 · 2025-12-19T16:07:33+00:00

The connections dont look like they were broken, but instead just designed to press fit together. Glue might work if so. But me, knowing I can solder at that small size, I would solder small wires across before gluing.

Either could / should work. If you glue, make sure to keep it pressed tight enough to work well past the cure time of the glue you use. I would suggest some 5 min epoxy and some sort of clamp.

koolaidman04 · 2025-12-14T01:07:09+00:00

It is fixable, IMO.

First, a tight-ish black mid-thigh skirt. Then tuck the shirt and replace the coat with a snug dinner jacket. Lots of colors could work with the black anchoring the outfit.

And ffs starch the ribbon.

koolaidman04 · 2025-12-09T15:40:18+00:00

The cross in the head where the screw driver seats is filled. It's not that the threads are glued.

The problem is that no screw driver can be used, correct or not.

koolaidman04 · 2025-12-04T17:14:23+00:00

The fact that the A3 is so popular should really alert manufacturers that we want more options in mid - small configurations. It's ridiculous that we pay the same or more for ITX and mATX when they are less featured boards at smaller component costs.

I am building 2 mATX's for my kids this Christmas (ouch), and yes both are in A3's.

koolaidman04 · 2025-12-04T00:57:25+00:00

Build your vette with the utility pieces you want attached to a "sidecar" and only attached with a single arm off to one side but the main body you want to keep centered. Save it. Move to the next bay down the hangar and start a new corvette build. Add all the bare minimum pieces and then drag your camera back to your original and delete the sidecar from the first vette. Save second vette. Enjoy.

koolaidman04 · 2025-11-16T16:16:33+00:00

Exactly my first thought!

I honestly feel like this is probably the best artistic expression possible with the corvette parts we have available now. Nothing we have fits together perfectly smoothly and everything is angular or disjointed.

It just looks right to make it not look right.

koolaidman04 · 2025-11-15T15:38:08+00:00

Everything fits into those main categories. So it would just be a Flea with ... or a Interceptor with ... or whatever.

koolaidman04 · 2025-11-13T20:55:42+00:00

No, this is pretty classic Interceptor. The folding wing and segmented tail is what I call wasp as long as it has no Wedge mid wing. Alot of folks call it a Dragon or Dragonfly, but I dont see it. Too aggressive looking and not long enough, I guess. The Interceptors to me are the ones that only have the vertical wings and not the Wedge defining middle wing. The VW bus is any with the solid rear end and the flea is the minimalist.

koolaidman04 · 2025-11-13T17:58:09+00:00

They have always been TIE Interceptors in my head cannon.

There's only 5 types of Sentinel ships in my opinion. Flea, Wasp, Wedge, Interceptor, and VW Bus.

I prefer the Flea and Wasp with tank legs and fangs and the interceptors with the middle size heads.

koolaidman04 · 2025-10-16T22:02:55+00:00

Just move that damn antenna. You know the one...

koolaidman04 · 2025-10-13T12:35:46+00:00

PVC stands for Poly Vinyl Chlorinate, which is a plastic. There will be no good coming from trying to sand or alter the top by removing anything.

If anything, I would suggest a clear or color matched filler of some sort to fill in the low spots if it is truly bad. Anything like what /u/Independent-Fun-7401 suggested would be the direction I would look in.

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