Stacking and blending

This post contains details of two different constructions from the same three images.

1. The Old Track
The Old Track is a stacked and hand blended image.

2. Heartbeat
A couple of days later I came back to create a second 3D composition called Heatbeat, re-separating the in-focus elements and creating small movement.

Wind-farming

Some Australian farms still use metal wind-mills, wind-powered pumps, to drive underwater water to the surface for stock to drink. These are invaluable in the absence of mains power but require constant maintenance – they suffer in the elements, particularly as they age.

While there are some very nice looking wind turbines on the market - promising reasonably high energy production - these come at a very high price. I have wondered how easy/cheap it would be to convert an old bike into a small wind generator – a bike-windmill – and how much power the generator might produce.  I do not propose to use the power for a particular appliance – rather the power will simply be added to a nearby battery bank for general farm use.

Animation

I have been experimenting with a couple of different ways to animate objects - trying to avoid the inevitable problems of huge files and loss of detail.  

Starting to to get acceptable results using Photoshop CC and using different masking color-substitution techniques.

The Nacissus

Here I am using the Nacissus - the Shuttlecraft and lifeboat for the Weyland-Yutani commercial hauler USCSS Nostromo - used by Ripley and her cat to escape the stricken carrier.
I got the last seat in the movie theater on opening night, and have never been so frightened.I built the Halcyon 1/144 scale model and added it to a shot of the milky way from a couple of nights ago.

Narcissus adrift - Alien - 624k

Southern Cross

The Southern Cross is the simplest Southern Hemisphere constellation to find.  It was used as a rallying point by rebelling miners in Victoria in 1854 and the Eureka stockade flag continues to be used as a symbol of protest.  I have the flag used in the 1976 protests against Governor-General Sir John Kerr (but that is another story).

I have a new lens for my camera - a 12" Dobsonian and I am learning to take high magnification shots. Tonight I practiced on the Southern Cross and environs.

Mimosa - Pulsating variable 278 Light Years B0.5III - Bottom Southern Cross

Norma Rising - the Great Attractor

A pitch black night - with the air crisp after the recent rain.  A sad end to the week here in the mountains - a farm-house in the local area burnt down this week.

The constellation Norma (the carpenter's square - lower center) lies in the plane of the Milky Way.  Norma has started to rise in the South-Eastern evening sky.

Norma contains the "Great Attractor", a massive object pulling us all towards it at 600-1000 kilometers per second. We have a little while to go - it is 150-250 million light years away.

Milky Way - Norma

Peter Quinton
Palerang, March 2014

Skyfire - Canberra, Australia - 2014

The bush capital, Canberra, is set on a plain surrounded by mountain ranges.  Each year fireworks light it up.  Shots below from vantage point on Mount Ainslie looking towards the National Library (center) and old & new Parliament Houses (left).

Peter Quinton
Palerang  March 2014

Recipes - Tomato Sauce

My grand aunt, Catherine Victoria Edmonstone, first jotted out her recipe for tomato sauce with blue ink in an un-ruled notebook ninety years ago - back in 1924.  She wrote it out again in 1967 - but the ingredients and her method remained exactly the same.

She grew her tomatoes and supplied her relatives for the next four decades – but kept the recipe to herself. 

Since the notebook fell into my hands, I have followed her recipe carefully. It makes awesome sauce with shop bought ingredients - but, it has never been quite the same sauce as Catherine Victoria Edmonstone produced. 

This year I decided to try something a little different - choosing my ingredients more carefully.  Because today is the first day of autumn and the tomato vines are full of ripe fruit, it is time for make sauce. 

Da Vinci, iL Volo Instrumente, Flying Machine

Da Vinci sketched many partial drawings of wings and fuselages - but did not leave a single complete set of plans for a flying machine.  There is disagreement about whether he ever built a model or actual machine based on his drawings.

Back in 1961 Robert Coyle published plans reconstructing a flying machine based on the drawings in the Codex Atlanticus and the Codex on the Flight of Birds.  The plans were published in a museum series kit by Incunabula and Petri Dish Publications.  Robert's work remains a stunning attempt to breath life into Da Vinci's sketches.

Etrich Taube

Most aircraft built and flown use flaps (ailerons) to turn, rise and drop.  This is not always the case - some modern designs are being tested by CERN and NASA of aircraft with wing surfaces that morph to give the craft better control in high speed situations.

Some of the earliest aircraft or designs also used this type of approach to give stability in extremely low speed situations.  Some of Da Vinci's wings also used this approach.  In the case of designs and actual aircraft, instead of flaps, wings or part of a wing were warped through ropes and pulleys - sometimes with mixed results.

One of the more successful European designs was the Etrich Taube (Dove) which was produced in large numbers before the first world war in Germany and Austria.

I first bumped into the Taube when studying trademark law - it is a classic case of how a designer can loose control of intellectual property.  But it is also an example of what can happen to a market when it is freed from the constraints of paying unproductive licence fees.

I loved this design from the first moment I first saw it.  In 2012 I put aside a couple of weeks to build a replica from local timber.

Da Vinci - articulated wing

Years ago, I stumbled across a sketch by Da Vinci of an articulated wing - where the power provided through a simple circular motion such as turning a pedal was converted into a complex motion - akin to flapping a wing.

The drawing is in the Codex Atlanticus:

I knew that this would not be a pretty creature to build - even Da Vinci only bothered to draw one of the wings.  So before I committed to the build, I tried a simple version - just to see how it might work in action.

Save costs – Building a Home Nuclear Fission Heat Transfer System

Years ago, the clever folk who built my farm installed a Wood Stanley from Waterford in Ireland in my farm kitchen.  It served many purpose - heating the house and cooking all manner of meals.  It also heated the water for the house, through a heat-transference system at the back of the fire box.  

Today, the Stanley now only gets pressed into service occasionally to make scones.

The Wood Stanley

While looking at other ways of providing low cost power to the farm, (specifically, solar electricity panels) I came across a couple of interesting ideas - including a very cheap way of getting hot water.  I was reminded of the old heat transference system used by the Wood Stanley.

The option looked at below does not use a fire-box.  Instead, it plugs directly into an existing hot water heating system.  It should work for gas or electricity water heating systems – either instant or stored water tanks.  

It may not work for you.  I live way out of town on a farm.  This could get expensive if you need a plumber or have to buy some of the components - and I dont think you can buy this solution off the shelf.  I collect my own water, have lots of room to move stuff around and dont mind learning how to do new things, like welding and soldering.