Dear friends,
Thanks to a suggestion from OutaSpaceman, we journeyed down to the Hollycombe Steam Collection in Hampshire for their Festival of Steam. My youngest son is obsessed with trains, but even he was occasionally enticed off the rails onto the fabulous Edwardian steam-powered fairground rides today. A wonderful day out and a great hit with the kids. If you’re ever in the area, please pay them a visit.
My pictures are here.
Cheers,
Fzz
Dear friends,
It’s midsummer and we had a beautiful sunny day today. Perfect to demonstrate the awe-inspiring power of the sun, focused through our giant lens into the heat ray of death (at least to any ants that wander into its path). Cardboard catches fire instantaneously, wood burns in a few seconds, plastic melts and water boils. And the swirling smoke in the sunlight makes the focus of the light wonderfully clear. Lots of fun for apprentice pyromaniacs.
Cheers,
Fzz
More pictures are here.
Dear friends,
My son and I had a wonderful time last weekend making a short film about a certain mad scientist. Hope you enjoy it.
Cheers,
Fzz
Dear friends,
What better to entertain the young steamers at the steampunk picnic than a steam rocket! We knocked this together in a couple of evenings, and didn’t have time to test it before heading off to deepest darkest Penge. Read more about its construction and public debut here.
Yours,
Fzz
Dear friends,
Today saw us journey to the far reaches of Penge on the trail of the elusive thunder lizards. Pictured below is the inestimable Herr Döktor, our expedition leader, having just found the first sign of their presence. We have many more pictures from the Safari and picnic.
Yours,
Fzz
Every Easter my brother and I have a friendly competition - together with our kids the challenge is to build some crazy device to throw an egg as far as possible. The criteria are simple - either build it from whatever is in Dad’s garage (which is full of useful building materials), or it has to fit in the back of the car together with the suitcases, kid’s strollers, etc. In the past we’ve built a trebuchet and a ballista. But this year my son and I decided to build an egg cannon. Read the rest…
Dear friends,
On Sunday my son and I were forced down from the mountains early by a huge snow storm, so we took the opportunity to call in at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento on our way back to San Francisco. The museum isn’t huge, and as it was winter they didn’t have any locomotives in steam, but what they do have is a glorious celebration of the pioneering years of rail in California. Lots of lovely shiny brass; almost too shiny in a way - these engines somehow don’t quite seem as real to me as they would have if they’d been a little more dirty. But they’re still wonderful nonetheless.
Many more pictures are here.
Yours,
Fzz
Dear friends,
December found me in Vancouver, one of my favorite cities with its stunning location overlooking both the sea and the mountains. Vancouver is also home to the rather wonderful Gastown Steam Clock. The clock is fairly recent, being built in 1977, but it’s decidedly steampunk nonetheless. A small steam engine is powered from the steam supply used for commercial heating, and raises two-inch steel balls to the top of the clock. These then fit into hooks on a descending chain, and drive a conventional pendulum clock in the same way that the falling weights power our grandfather clock at home. The steam whistles on the top of the clock then sound the quarter hours in style. What a wonderful idea!
More pictures are over here.
Yours,
Fzz
Now with a little more steampunk style, and considerably less risk of electrocution, here is my rebuilt desktop Jacob’s Ladder. Ah, the smell of ozone in the morning!
More pictures and video here. Construction details are here.
Every mad scientist should have their own machines for making big sparks. This one only generates inch-long arcs, but it’s still noisy, dangerous and rather fun. More photos and some video are over here.
