Steam, Brass and Fzz

Dear friends,

This Sunday was the Celebration of Steam weekend at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, and a good an excuse as any to take my younger son to play with steam. Read on…

– Fzz

Dear friends,

We found a new use for the electric go-kart today. Thought it might amuse you.

Cheers,
Fzz

Dear friends,

Hallowe’en has rolled around again, and my eldest is developing more refined tastes. No longer is it sufficient just to be a wizard; now he wants to be a steam robot, sidekick to Doctor Steam. And so it shall be.

Click here for pictures, video and construction details.

Cheers,
Fzz

Dear friends,

It’s Easter, and in the Fzz family that can only mean one thing:  the Easter Challenge.  Last year we built an Egg Cannon, but this year the challenge was to build a device to take an aerial photograph of my father’s house.  Extra points are awarded for style and the use of mad science.

With those bonus points in mind, my son and I set out to build a hydrogen reconnaissance balloon, complete with a remote control camera and mounting.  But we only had a week from idea to challenge, so we had to work fast.

Read on for how we faired, or look here for construction details.

A sneak preview of my Halloween costume. More pictures are here.

Dear friends,

Before our Steam Rocket leaked fuel into the top of it, I used to have a wireless basestation on my desk, and I’d got it the habit of looking at the activity lights when a download was taking longer than it should to see if anything was actually happening. Being a creature of habit, I kept glancing at where it used to be whenever I was waiting for a web page; clearly a replacement was needed. Well, here at last it is: a steam gauge to measure the pressure in the tubes of the Internet. Read on for how it works…

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.