Other hobbies/Obsessions?

just got ghost riders delivered to me during the week, looking forward to reading, which of the three did you find the most interesting?

I actually found Ghost Riders to be the most interesting of the three. Won't give away spoilers but I had known about the events in the other two.

Ghost Riders was something I wasn't aware had happened, like what the monuments men did only for.... Well it's on the cover;) Watch Mark Feltons videos and was interested to try his books. Anyone interested in them, send me a PM

Not the best photos 😉 but this is a model I've being trying to find in diecast for quite a while.

It's a Chengdu J20 in 1:144 , smaller than my usual preferred scale but given the trouble I had finding it at a reasonable price? I'll take it.

I also picked up an Italeri Chengdu J10 in 1:72 that's bumping up my PLAAF contingent 😉

I really am out of space for any more now tho...

I have the ear bent off of Italeri for that one but, it's out of production. I think they also retailed under "Dreamwings" moniker They also have a 1:100 Pak-FA that is very well made.

The original price of the Italeri version was @€18 and they are now changing hands for up to €100. There are some in the €35 range in Italy on eBay with €20+ shipping. If I could find a seller that a range of what I'm after? I'd certainly buy quickly. Very desirable and well modelled.

I keep up with their emails and check at least once a week. I picked up their J10 via an Italian reseller and have him on the hunt for more for me. Their Gripen and tbh all of their Chinese and russian stuff are on my hunting list.

There is a German eBay seller and a couple of Italian and Polish lads that have some of the bits at reasonable pricing but far too rarely.

Ray in DiecastModels4U in Galway is always willing to try and find bits too but Brexit really has made a dent in what he can lay hands on recently.

**Edited to add**

Forgot to say LD, if you want links to those eBay sellers just throw me a PM, happy to share them.

Had missed that post at the time with how bad notifications are now on the site. That's some beast of a keyboard! Worth it over the Unicomp for you?

I'm blaming you for showing me Chyrosran22! Had been thinking of building a desktop the last year or so. Haven't had one in over 15 years just using laptops in that time. The graphics card shortage and general price increases put that on the long finger. Was keeping an eye and had trackers set up on graphic cards and try snag one close to RRP but ended getting bargain prebuilt Lenovo  i5 10400, 16gb Ram, 512gb M2 drive and a GTX 1660 Super for €329! Long term plan is still to take the Graphics card out and build something. I'm used to laptop keyboards but the one that came with the Lenovo really was a POS.

Was just planning on a Cherry Mx keyboard of some description. But then I went down the rabbit hole. Far to much time spent reading on r/MechanicalKeyboards and looking at youtube. Went from to budget Gateron Brown boards to Blue. Started looking at higher end boards and reading far to much about switches.

So that's probably my main hobby researching the sh!t out of things when I want something new! Same with nearly everything, TV, speakers, headphones or any gadget I decide I need! Was part of what sent me down the rabbit hole when I wandered into this forum I can get a bit obsessed! Main interest though is cycling which I haven't had much time for the last few years but do want to get back training properly for. Motorcycles which I spent most of my 20's on and Fishing which I spent a good bit of my teenage years at are two I always say I will get back to some day. What I do have time for that I still do is listening to music and still love to watch movies when the kids will go to bed early enough and get off the TV. That was part of the reason for getting the PC. It's given me my own space to stick on headphones and listen to music, watch movies and tv series. Still need to get a amplifier/DAC to use a pair of old bookshelf speakers with the PC which is another maze of research I've wandered into!

Very nearly ended up getting the Unicomp Model M, if the new Mini M was available I may have gone for it. The full size is a little big for the desk space I have though. Was hard decide though as I have little experience with mechanical keyboards. Shops here mostly only have boards with Red liner switches on display with the odd Razer green or Logitech Blue clicky and pawing demo models at the moment is kind of frowned upon!

In the end going going for a hot swappable barebones keyboard seemed an good option. Didn't end up costing too much as the board was a 30% off nearly new Amazon warehouse deal. GMMK TKL Board, Kaihl Box Pink Switches and Tai-Hao PBT switches. Like building things and putting this together seemed just like Lego (Which is another hobby I got back into when my kids did!) Finding good UK ISO PBT keycaps was actually one of the more time consuming choices. Most of the market is for ANSI unless you go custom GMK group buys which is silly money with delivery in 2022 or later!

Possibly should have got a set of switches to try but all the reviews seemed to rate the Pinks highly some even comparing them to being the nearest MX style switch to a buckling spring in feel. Two weeks now and I really like it tactility is great, switches are smooth, keycaps feel great and it's solid with no wobble. Might be a little loud for others in the room but I like the clack out of it! Do sort of miss the numpad its the only part of the keyboard I can touch type on properly but I don't need it much at home. I'll probably still pick up a Unicomp as some stage as I'll set up the Lenovo for the kids when I take the graphics card out and build a new PC.

Starting to realize I have a thing for blue. 5 of my watches have blue on them somewhere! Trying to decide on next purchase black SKX007 is still preferred option but it's over priced now really. I can get a Seiko Turtle for same money and I keep getting drawn to the blue models. Have tried on two Turtles recently Pepsi Padi and I really liked the Save the Ocean version in the flesh.

@Thirdfox I'll be sending you my '22 itinerary and you can work your magic 😉

My input is very much dedicated to selecting the destination and the deal. The planning while we are there is usually left to the Mrs but next year I really do fancy a spread sheet 😉 but no Chichen Itza! Too many yanks 😂

I may have mentioned before, I'm a bit of a motorsport nut. I love the stories of derring do, technological wizardy and mercurial talent.

But, there are also some mad stories from the early years when some people still weren't sure that things with wheels and engines were actually going to catch on.

This is wonderfully characterised by the origin story of what used to be the national racing colour of British drivers: British Racing Green.

My son is starting to get proficient enough to do his own designs for a 3D printer.

He has created base plate to make one of the swords from his favourite animé, Attack on Titan.

I bought this cycling map because it was reasonably priced and in good condition. Normally I'd only buy if it was one of the Irish ones I haven't got.

Watering places refers to seaside resort towns. This one dates from around 1895, the ones that say 'For Motorists & Cyclists' are later and the ones where the illustration shows the woman on a tricycle and the man on a highwheeler are earlier.

There are two ads inside the cover one for a temperance hotel (a common type in Victorian times) and another for a patent medicine that contained cannabis and opium.

A gift from my MIL that I am very taken with at the moment and that's ahead of the book the Mrs got me in the reading list 😉

"Duel for the Sky" by Christopher Shores, this is one of his more accessible books IMO. If one isn't into military history and aviation in particular this book is very easy reading. His usual style is far more technical and detail orientated.

Some lovely airframe views and beautiful paintings. A gift that is very much appreciated and will join my aviation library 😁

Effortless Italian style. 1920s/30s postcard.

English publication 'promoting' cycle touring in Ireland 1990s.

I have a few of those in other editions. One of the very 1st autobiographies I ever read were Boy and Going Solo, they have a very sure place in my heart, Going Solo in particular tbh.

I'll keep an eye out for that collection tho. I keep meaning to head up to Dublin for a visit to Chapters before they close down, but health-wise I probably won't make it up before Feb. I really want to get a pile of aviation books in their sale and I'd advise anyone oval to get in there for a browse before they finally close.

Great haul!👍

I set up the bike trainer in the house and managed 2km on it yesterday.

Doesn't sound like much but I haven't been able to exercise at all since getting covid at the start of August. I'm hoping to build it up to where I was at before but I'll take it slow as I don't want to overdo it.

Happy to be back on the bike at all

Like a lot of watch people I am also a big car fanatic. So today I turned my old car, a patek and two Rolex into something special.

You can spot some dickhead in this photo signing his paperwork