Airshow Performed at Night – Aeroshell Aerobatics Team – T6 Texans

The Aeroshell Aerobatics Team performed at night at the The New Smyrna Beach Balloon & Sky Fest on Friday March 23, 2012. It was an incredible sight to see the four T6 Texans performing in pitch dark. NOTE: it is deceiving in the video. My Canon SX30is camera makes the sky look light – it was very dark.  I was hand-holding the camera, zoomed to about 300mm. To watch the video on YouTube, follow this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qu8WsuWcaw

The picture below was taken immediately after the four airplanes landed.  The “smoke” around the plane is a “Nascar-style” burn-out that each plane does when they land after their performance!

 

The picture below is of one of several parachutists landing at dusk to start the night show.

 

 

“Sweet Home Alabama” – Musical Tesla Coils – O.T. (off topic)

Click on the YouTube link below to see and hear “Sweet Home Alabama” played using Tesla Coils. Amazing what clever minds can create!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbLshnfu0wY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

A Tesla coil is an electrical device based on a type of resonant transformer circuit invented by Nikola Tesla around 1891.^[1] It is used to produce high voltage, low current, high frequency alternating current electricity.

Tesla coils produce higher current than the other source of high voltage discharges, electrostatic machines. Tesla experimented with a number of different configurations and they consist of two, or sometimes three, coupled resonant electric circuits.

Tesla used these coils to conduct innovative experiments in electrical lighting, phosphorescence, x-ray generation, high frequency alternating current phenomena, electrotherapy, and the transmission of electrical energy without wires. Tesla coil circuits were used commercially in sparkgap radio transmitters for wireless telegraphy until the 1920s, and in pseudomedical equipment such as electrotherapy and violet ray devices. Today their main use is for entertainment and educational displays.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbLshnfu0wY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

More pictures of  Tesla created displays!

 

 

“The Cabbage Patch” at BikeWeek 2012

This picture above was taken at the “Cabbage Patch”  This is a tradition at Bike-Week. Approximately 2000 pounds of raw cabbage is chopped using the wood chipper on the back of the tractor. Several gallons of cooking oil is mixed in and then 12 volunteers wrestle for a chance to win the $500 first prize.

Pictured below are just SOME of the bikes at one of many events at BikeWeek 2012.

Dogs Love Engines Too

Photgraphed this dog sitting in the passenger’s seat of this yellow street rod at BikeWeek 2012 on Main Street. The dog looked ready to take the wheel at any moment.  He was definately enjoying all of the sights and sounds!

 

 

EZ-GO Electric Golf Cart – “clunking” noise during turns.

This cart was provided with our rental condo. It needed a new battery cable and the batteries needed a lot of “watering” to get it going properly.  I noticed a “clunking” sound when cornering. The entire drive system was shifting about 2″ from side-to-side.

Turns out that all of the flanged bushings (illustration part number 13) are missing. They probably disintegrated from years of use. New parts have been ordered.

My compliments to EZ-GO.  The documentation they provide for a consumer product is amazing. Perhaps that comes from the culture within the company because of their parent companies’ aircraft and other businesses!

Huge Dragline

I saw this huge dragline working in central Florida on a cross-state trip.

It is hard to visualize how large this machine is.  What looks like a tiny glass window below the main boom is the operators cab.  The door with the awning below the upper boom is a full height “man-door”

Mosaic operates four phosphate mines and three fertilizer manufacturing facilities in Central Florida and the Tampa Bay region.

John Deere unstyled model “D” restoration – almost finished

I started this project a long time ago, but got busy with other things. It needs to be finished.

This was my first restoration project, and I learned a huge amount about restoration work doing it.

A close look will reveal some of the things that experts would do differently. For example, I primed some of the individual parts before I assembled the tractor.  This resulted in chipped and scratched primer when I had to fix some ‘bugs’ after assembly!  I also had to remove the head to solve a pesky coolant leak. These are things you learn on the first project, without an expert restorer advising you along the way!

Titusville Warbird Airshow – March 10, 2012

Saturday, March 10th was a beautiful day at the airshow. The temperature was mild and a steady breeze blew which kept the spectators comfortable.

The forecasted rain showers held off.  The static display included a wide variety of vintage aircraft and some newer ones as well.

Seeing the B29 fly was a huge crowd pleaser. Pictured below is the B29 returning to the static display area. The chairs and personal items on the grass belong to the spectators who were quickly moved back by the security team when the B29 was taxi’ing to the static display area.

B2 Flybys:

Another amazing sight was the B2 as it made a few passes at different angles, providing great views of this remarkable airplane, and excellent photo opportunities. This plane is huge.

 

 

“F I R S T” Robotics Competition – Orlando, Florida – March 2012

We really enjoyed our day at the Orlando area event.  It is fasinating to see the creations designed and built by high-school students.

The competition was aggressive. The students were very polite to the adults. The robots performed some amazing tasks.

The following is taken from the organization’s Website: http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/vision

“To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders.”

Dean Kamen, Founder

Mission

Our mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.

One of the Robots:

Robots in action:

 

 

Railfans – Railway Locomotives – Folkston Funnel

I visited the “Folkston Funnel” this winter. This is a very busy line which carries most of the rail traffic out of Florida. There are as many as 60 trains per day passing by the viewing platform on this site. In an 8 hour period, 22 trains passed by including the daily “Tropicana Juice Train”, a daily dedicated “consist” of about 20-30 cars. The site is in the town of Folkston, Georgia, near the Geogia-Florida border, and only about 20 miles off i95 from Kingsland GA.  It is a great spot for railfans – not much else to see though.