Other Interests and Hobbies

[Robster]

Very cool - love the different layers and colours as well.!!

[enworb]

It looks like a iron rich rock with those black bubbles possible being haematite.

[Unicorn]

Thanks Enworb. I'm not sure whether I tried my metal detector on it or not (before it stopped working), I think I did and there was no reaction (I thought that most, not all, meteor material would react). Just tried a really powerful tiny magnet on it and it doesn't stick at all. Was thinking of sending a piece of it off to the person who did the metal test on the coin for Shane on CCF to see what came back. (Except I'm not sure how Í'd get the token payment of alcohol to them :laugh2:)

[enworb]

Is the rock stripy with red/brown and grey layers? Looks a bit like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banded_iron_formation

It would be make sense if they are haematite bubbles. I have a piece of that banded iron rock which has had one side cut and polished. It looks amazing.

[Unicorn]

Looking from side on it looks pretty much solid black with no real layering on the side. I might give it a soak and a wash to see how it looks then. From memory on one side of the other piece it had a real grain to it that was at a right angle to the face. ie: instead of being horizontal it was vertical.

You might be on the money with iron stone as there was some in the area where it was found.
Enworb, this was originally a piece of iron stone that I found about 500 yards from the other rocks. From memory most of the ironstone in the area was this colour. I did this in lapidary in high school around 1976. It was a mongrel to do as it would often chip when ground. Funny isn't it, I came across this a few weeks ago and had it sitting on my desk.

[Fulvio]

(I hope I wasn't feeding the rat).

You were, yeah.
They got such a bad name, I see they've changed it recently. Still the same guy though.
BTW, love the rock pics. You got that teacher's address? You should pay him a visit and introduce him to your "lil' frien" (can't do the Al Pacino accent here, dammit)

[Unicorn]

Sorry about feeding the fat rat.

Lol Fulvio! Al Pacino sounds like a plan!
Perhaps a phone call, with a mouth full of chips ...... "This is a friend of Danny Clark" ........ come on, now name that Movie!!

[Fulvio]

Meanwhile, back at the hobbies:

Trains - After falling in love with this beast:


Alco's PA-1 in AT&SF's beautiful Warbonnet paint scheme...

The railroad bug really bit, hard. There weren't a lot of railfanning opportunities in Carlton in the 1960's and 1970's, so I turned to the miniaturised version:

Model Railroading - I still recall secretly buying small items, none of which made any sense in relation to each other, before discovering the Melbourne Model Railway Society around 1970. Here was an opportunity to do some modelling and run trains without needing real estate for my own layout. My attempts at building one were severely cramped by those hairy-nosed beasts called parents, and the best I ever managed was about a 4'x6' N-scale loop which was somewhat unimpressive.

But at the club, there were unlimited vistas. Through the birth and destruction of four sprawling empires, I got to hone my skills building all sorts of structures and scenery. Rolling stock was another matter though. Lacking the proper tooling, most of my efforts were somehow disappointing, so I stuck with commercial offerings.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, a drivers licence and some wheels gave me the mobility to chase trains all over the place. Not my beloved Santa Fe of course, but VicRail was a passable stand-in. I even got to drive a locomotive around Dynon Yard once, which was awesome.

Nowadays, things are a bit quiet on both fronts, mostly thanks to the coin bug. I still get my monthly NMRA magazines, having bought a life membership for the outrageous sum of $200 fourty years ago. About three years worth of dues at today's rates, so not a bad deal I reckon. And once in a blue moon I visit the MMRS, which is now under Auburn station. But regrettably my days only comprise 24 hours each, and those all get spent on noodling and talking to you lot.

[Unicorn]

Very nice Fulvio! :good:

Unforunately the closest I get to that is my 2yo daughter's daily dose of Thomas & Friends on ABC2!

[Fulvio]

Unforunately the closest I get to that is my 2yo daughter's daily dose of Thomas & Friends on ABC2!

Ah.. Thomas.. There has been  much debate about whether he's good or bad for the hobby. On the one hand, Model Railroads are precision miniatures, not toys, and Thomas is the exact opposite. On the other hand, in our virtual world, anything that gets kids interested in physical objects they can play with may lead to future hobbyists. Given that much of the baby-boomer modellers got started with toy trains under the xmas tree, there may be some validity to this hope.

[Unicorn]

Fulvio, probably as close as I can get to a train / stamp crossover. I did want to post a pic of my rail freight stamps but I can't put my hands on them?

[Fulvio]

Fulvio, probably as close as I can get to a train / stamp crossover. I did want to post a pic of my rail freight stamps but I can't put my hands on them?

Very nice. I'd forgotten we had RPOs in Oz.

[Robster]

"Nice cover, good keepsake.!!

[czark]

I collect DVD's (mostly limited edition releases from all around the world) and the odd movie prop replica from some of my favorite movies.
Hopefully I win the lotto this week so I can buy Jack Sparrow's original screen used costume and Doc's Delorean!

[Fulvio]

I collect DVD's (mostly limited edition releases from all around the world) and the odd movie prop replica from some of my favorite movies.
Hopefully I win the lotto this week so I can buy Jack Sparrow's original screen used costume and Doc's Delorean!

Hmm, did I mention I owned three video stores? Still got maybe 800 DVD's which are, as they say, surplus to requirements.