Stupid Wind

Today we went out to shoot the rockets that we did not shoot yesterday at the cub scout launch. It was windy, but I found a field that gave us a full half-mile of recovery space.

At first it wasn't too bad. We shot a couple of low-power engines that arc'd over, but still landed downwind. I felt confident that we could shoot my big black rocket with an E engine, but even with rocks holding down the launch pad, the wind was too strong. The 1/8 launch rod was bending.

We gave up on the big rocket and went back to GP's little one with a large hole cut out of its small chute. I chased it a quarter mile. Stupid wind.

Cub Scout THOR Launch

We spent Saturday down near Pickrell with the cub scouts and THOR http://www.nerocketry.org/ shooting rockets up into the deep blue sky. THOR was having a contest to see who could get closest to 5500 feet. It's amazing seeing a 5-foot tall rocket blast straight up for a mile in only a few seconds.

In total, the scouts launched over 100 shots. We were able to see a dozen THOR high-power shots as well. The picture above is a huge (7+ feet tall) nitrous-oxide powered beast thundering off the pad.

By the time we left, even our streamer-recovery rockets were drifting 1/4-mile on B6-4 engines. We didn't shoot anything other than what the boys are holding here.

Tempest Marquee

Tonight I put together a DIY marquee for the Mame cabinet. I found a nice hi-res scan of a marquee and printed it out on the color laser printer at work. The colors are off, but it fills in the big void I had a the top of the cabinet and the backlight makes it look like a real arcade machine. All I have left is to get the glass (next payday) and then go thru everything and sanitize it. The wiring is a mess, the paint needs touching up, the control panel doesn't fit quite right, etc.
I have been playing Tempest every night, and I have to say that the original spinner kicks butt.

Original Tempest Control Panel

I found an original Tempest control panel on ebay for $30. It has everything, including the LED volcano switches and a spinner with bad bushings that goes brrrrrrrr when it spins. It's all in rough shape, but it really adds to the machine.

I spent this weekend converting the control panel over to USB. I built a circuit board around a Holtek 3D USB mouse IC. It should have been a no brainer, but the output from the spinner was goofy (the output would only go left, regardless of which way the encoder phases were connected). I had to build another circuit board to clean up the signal. Thank goodness for Radio Shack. I drove across town and bought a $.19 chip for $1.49 and burned $6 in fuel doing it.

I got the circuit working and the control panel is now semi-installed in the cabinet. I need to tidy things up a bit, but tempest is working better than ever. My homebrew spinner has too much inertia and the knob is too small. The original spinner is way better (and it's not made out of wood).

Birthday Legos

GP scored some nice bionicles. This is a spaceship/gun thing that has 700+ tiny parts.

CP got the republic gunship. It has over 1000 tiny pieces. The boys are almost to the point of being able to assemble these large kits on their own, but not quite.

CP's B-Day

CP opened a big gift on his actual birthday, and then had his party Friday night. JP pulled together a Star Wars theme that coincided perfectly with the premiere of the new Star Wars cartoon.

This is CP's big gift: a full-auto motorized nerf heavy machine gun. It was belt fed and could fire 3 rounds per second. It lasted until I got home that evening, and then some gears inside stripped out and JP took it back to Target. CP used all of his birthday funds to purchase some fancy Halo 3 action figures.

GP's B-Day Party

The Grammas came out for the boys' birthdays. We did GP's party at the skating rink. Everyone had a good time skating and being crazy.

Car Repair - MAME woes

Tonight, GP helped me replace a worn shock bushing on my car before he jumped on the MAME machine. His attention span lasted thru jacking, removing all six lug nuts and rolling the tire around for a while.

I worked Friday night on a 22" flat-screen CRT monitor that I bought from work for $10. It fits into the cabinet perfectly and looks like it was designed especially for me. Trouble is, when I plugged it in, it refused to work at all. My friend at work suggested that I part it out and make an electric squirt gun (similar to peeing on an electric fence, but with more control over who gets shocked). I need to hit the library and see if it would be worth learning TV repair. Until then, we will have to put up with the 17" screen.

GP's 1st B-Day

GP's birthday officially marks the beginning of the fall birthday season. We have his real birthday, then his celebrated birthday and party with the Grammas at the skating rink, then CP's party with friends, then CP's official B-Day, and finally, a multi-boy celebration with Gramma & Grampa when they pass through Lincoln.

Then it's on to Halloween and the rest of the holiday season. My calendar is full until January.

Fall Scout Campout

This past weekend we were blessed with absolutely perfect weather for the Pack 15 Fall Campout at Wagontrain Lake.

Due to the weather and the lack of a Husker home game, the campground was full. We had at least a dozen families from pack 15, plus the boy scouts from troop 15, as well as several other scout groups from the surrounding area.

MAME Progress

This weekend, I worked on the MAME machine. Katrina does not care.

Saturday, I installed an old Gateway 17" CRT. It looks absolutely minuscule in the cabinet. I remember when this monitor was hot stuff. I think they were around $500. Now you can find them for free. When I can afford it, I'll stuff a 22" LCD in the cabinet - that will look about right.

I drew up the control panel and it's in the queue to be lasered. Until then, I built a cheezy plywood panel and used a whisker switch for the fire button (no superzapper). I need to get with it and order some real buttons.

Sunday, I painted all the parts. I used flat black: mistake. The paint is so flat that it shows every spec of dust that blows in on the wind (25 mph all night & day today) and my skin rubs off on it. The sides are primered and waiting for some nice enamel.

I rewired the guitar amplifier I built so that it plugs into the computer and puts out stereo. The crappy little 4" speakers actually sound great and very authentic for an 80's arcade machine. Next: buttons, smoked glass, and a marquee. The side art decals cost $100, which is about $80 more than I am willing to pay, so I am contemplating painting the sides myself.

GP's New Smile

Last night, GP lost his front tooth while eating popcorn. CP overheard that the tooth fairy was coming and yanked out one of his big baby teeth while he was lying in bed.

Husker Football

I spent last week in Kohler, Wisconsin, at the Kohler factory. What a beautiful town! It's right out of a story book. Of course, I forgot my camera. I had lunch at each of the Kohler resort golf courses, as well as tasty beers at the Kohler pub, The Horse & Plow.

Friday night, my neighbor called and asked it I wanted to go to Saturday's game. How could I pass that up? We hooked up with GT, our Budweiser neighbor, and he got us into the Champion's Club for some primo tailgating. After the half, he gave us his club level tickets and we watched the game in style.

The picture above was on the front page of our paper this morning. It was detailed enough that I was able pick out my neighbor and me (circled) in the stands as we cheered on a kickoff-return-touchdown against San Jose State.

After the Husker game, I spent the afternoon at my neighbor's house watching the Penn State game and playing his newly completed skee-ball game. He has a PC running the game and he did all the programming himself, which is fun, because he can create crazy scoring routines and sound effects for the games.

I took some pictures of GP before I went to Kohler, as I was sure that he would be sans a front tooth when I returned. He still has his tooth - I don't know what is holding it in place.

Today I worked on the MAME cabinet. It's assembled now. I need to do some more carving with the belt sander on the control panel to make it fit better. I can't wait to plug it in.

Last night our neighbor had a movie party for the kids. The adults played Galaga on his MAME machine. I really need to practice.

Project Tempest Takes Shape

After sanding and staining half of the swingset this weekend (ran out of stain), I launched into my latest project: building a replica of the 1982 Atari arcade classic, Tempest. It's made out of birch plywood and 2x2's. It will use a junk computer and will run MAME. My neighbor built a beautiful Centipede machine that will be a tough act to follow.

Last week, I assembled my prototype Tempest spinner. I saw some pitcures of the original and copied the steel 72-tooth opto-interrupter disk. It feels really nice and I'm anxious to play it in the finished cabinet.

NE State Fair

Today (Labor Day) was the last day for the 2008 Nebraska State Fair. We took advantage of some free tickets and warm sunshine and enjoyed a couple of hours at the fair. Both of the boys rode the Chinese Dragon, but only GP was brave enough to go with JP on the Wacky Worm.

In a couple of years, the fair is supposed to move out to Grand Island, where it will become a full-day adventure for us to attend.

Offutt Air Show

Last weekend, we took Gampa to the Offutt AFB airshow in Omaha. We saw every cent I've ever paid in taxes, and then some.

My favorite plane was the A-10, which did a straifing demo. There's just something about big guns that fire 6,000 rounds per minute...

We saw 3 P-51's, a couple Zero's, a B-25, A-26, and a B-17 all in the sky at once. GP remarked that they were taking things a little too seriously when they started the straifing and bombing.