I hate throwing anything out untill I have exhausted my mind, searched the web or visited Instructables for other potential uses. I have not found a hot air collectors made from light fixtures so here you go.
Electric Car Conversion;
http://goeving.blogspot.com/
YouTube Solar Hot Air Collectors;
http://www.youtube.com/user/EcoGreenGroup
Making a solar hot air collector out of free used 2 x 4 metal light fixtures, free old glass and free black paint to reduce our carbon body tape outline, reduce our untility bills and save money. We are building and installing 14 of these hot air collectors on our south wall of our 140 year old house in Ontario, Canada. During sunny days in the winter these will completely heat our house for about 6 hours. After we make these, we will join them together venting the cold air from the bottom of the rooms and exhaust the top vents to the top of rooms. The fans will help increase the air flow to these rooms. The next collectors that we make will also be insulated and have a metal baffle inside to help concentrate the heat. The collectors then will be connected to the house and flexable dryer duct inside the house will vent heat to various rooms . Check out our You tube home page for more info. • Free Heat. • No Fuel Needed. • Renewable. • Cost effective. • Green. • Recycled.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
What could I do with $369 per month?. . .
News item: The average that a U.S. family spent on gas in April, 2011 was $369 (quoted in the Oakland Tribune, which cited AAA Oil Price Information Service)
Now let’s see--$369 per month x 12 months = $4,428 per year. That amount of money would pay for a 15 year loan at 4% interest (as of May 26, 2011 the Wells Fargo 15 year loan rate is 3.75%) worth $49,200!!! In other words you could pay for an entire Chevy Volt plus tax just for the cost of the average U.S. expenditure on gas.
Oh, yes, there is the cost of charging the car. $369 at $4 per gallon and the U.S. average of 20 miles per gallon is 1,845 miles per month. At 2 cents per mile (the cost of charging from midnight to 7 am at 6 cents per kilowatt hour) that comes to $36.90 for electricity. Subtracting that brings the value down to a mere $44,000, still enough to buy a Volt.
Oh, yes again, that doesn't even count the $7500 tax credit. Plus the money you can get by selling your old car--somebody may still be foolish enough to want one of those leafblowers. How about taking all that cash and putting up some solar panels--that will save you money too!
And people still say electric cars are too expensive?!
(Now there is a catch to this: The Volt can only go about 35 miles per day on electricity, unless you have a way to charge it during the day. Otherwise 30 days per month x 35 miles per day equals 1050 miles per month--quite a bit less than the 1,845 miles mentioned above. I suggest that you buy one Volt and one Leaf if you do go more than 1,050 miles per month.)
Now let’s see--$369 per month x 12 months = $4,428 per year. That amount of money would pay for a 15 year loan at 4% interest (as of May 26, 2011 the Wells Fargo 15 year loan rate is 3.75%) worth $49,200!!! In other words you could pay for an entire Chevy Volt plus tax just for the cost of the average U.S. expenditure on gas.
Oh, yes, there is the cost of charging the car. $369 at $4 per gallon and the U.S. average of 20 miles per gallon is 1,845 miles per month. At 2 cents per mile (the cost of charging from midnight to 7 am at 6 cents per kilowatt hour) that comes to $36.90 for electricity. Subtracting that brings the value down to a mere $44,000, still enough to buy a Volt.
Oh, yes again, that doesn't even count the $7500 tax credit. Plus the money you can get by selling your old car--somebody may still be foolish enough to want one of those leafblowers. How about taking all that cash and putting up some solar panels--that will save you money too!
And people still say electric cars are too expensive?!
(Now there is a catch to this: The Volt can only go about 35 miles per day on electricity, unless you have a way to charge it during the day. Otherwise 30 days per month x 35 miles per day equals 1050 miles per month--quite a bit less than the 1,845 miles mentioned above. I suggest that you buy one Volt and one Leaf if you do go more than 1,050 miles per month.)
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Out of the closet
Hello Everyone
The Electric Pontiac Fiero will see the public for the first time at a private Canadian Tire Show and Shine on June 12 2011 at the Canadian Tire Family Fun Day. Many employees who heard and saw the project start as an idea come reality with many employees’ comments and ideas helping in the design will have a chance to see, sit touch and learn. We will have handouts, flyers and answer any and all questions. The car is licensed, insured and all legal. It again was made with all recycled parts, most coming from used forklift parts and batteries.
Hope to see you there.
Stephen Smith
A.K.A Eco Steve
The Electric Pontiac Fiero will see the public for the first time at a private Canadian Tire Show and Shine on June 12 2011 at the Canadian Tire Family Fun Day. Many employees who heard and saw the project start as an idea come reality with many employees’ comments and ideas helping in the design will have a chance to see, sit touch and learn. We will have handouts, flyers and answer any and all questions. The car is licensed, insured and all legal. It again was made with all recycled parts, most coming from used forklift parts and batteries.
Hope to see you there.
Stephen Smith
A.K.A Eco Steve
The True Cost of Chevron
The main point of this blog is to work toward a solution to global warming by encouraging solar power and electric cars. But there are other reasons for switching to solar power and electric cars besides global warming. I learned firsthand about one critical reason to get off of fossil fuels at the True Cost of Chevron (see www.TrueCostofChevron.com) teach-in tonight in Berkeley.
The speakers were people from all over the world who had been devastated by Chevron’s and other’s extraction of oil (Ecuador, Indonesia, Nigeria, Canada, Angola, Australia) shipping (Alaska), and refining (Richmond, CA). At every stage of the process Chevron promises jobs and prosperity, but delivers pollution and death. The speakers were in town to attend the Chevron annual board meeting and present an Alternative Annual Report for Chevron in San Ramon, CA on May 25. Here is a sample of what the panelists had to say at the teach-in:
· Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin reported that “every Chevron supported candidate in Richmond lost in the last election” and that the new progressive city council had won a court case demanding a new environmental impact report for an expansion of the refinery, the 2nd largest in California
· Greg Karras further explained that the Richmond case had beaten Chevron on the science, on the law, and on the organizing but that it will still be a fight. “We need them to stop making us sick” and to “invest in green energy and stop cooking the planet”, he added.
· Humberto Piguaje, speaking through an interpreter, and followed by Mitch Anderson of Amazon Watch, explained that there had been no leukemia or cancer before Texaco (now owned by Chevron) came in 1964 and created a massive health crisis by reckless production and dumping billions of gallons of toxic water into the Ecuadorian Amazon. They won “one of the most historic verdicts in history” when Chevron was found guilty and fined billions of dollars. But Chevron insists they will fight “until hell freezes over” not to pay a penny.
· Elias Isaac said that he has learned by joining in the Chevron protests that Chevron is “messing up lives not just in Angola, but also in Mississippi, Alaska, California, and all over the world.” He said that “the survival of the human race” is at stake.
· Emem Okon described 40 years of “environmental devastation” in the Niger Delta of Nigeria, and said, “If they can’t clean up the environment, leave the oil in the soil”
· Gitz Crazyboy described the tar sands as the “dirtiest, most energy intensive” way to get oil. They have to heat the sand to get the oil out of it, and they leave huge ponds of polluted water—tailings-- that are toxic to all animal life. He referred to the tar sands as “industrial genocide.” “Everything about our culture in northern Alberta will be gone in 20 years,” he explained.
· Mardan Pius Ginting explained that the oil in Indonesia comes from one of the poorest provinces. Indonesia’s oil provides perhaps 1 million jobs, but fishing provides 40 million jobs.
· Tom Evans comes from a village of 240 residents in Alaska. He broke down as he explained, “My people are dying; it’s not safe to eat local food.” He brought the audience of about 100 people to a standing ovation as he said, “we have to stand our ground together.”
· Bryan Parras explained that his hometown, Houston, is an oil city. “Anyone who does this work are true heroes. . . Try to get a job when you are an activist working against big oil. . . It makes no sense to do this work unless it’s really true and honest. . . People just don’t believe that the U.S. would allow all this to happen—but it’s true. . .all we’re asking is for them to clean it up
· Rev. Davis (sorry, I didn’t catch his first name) told about being arrested last year at the Chevron meeting in Houston. “All they know is profit and loss. . .Chevron is one of the biggest thieves that we know of. . .they put their money in offshore banks, while we in Richmond are putting people in the ground.
All in all it was a very powerful evening of sharing experiences and showing that the problems with oil are very profound. If the price of gas reflected the true cost of all these environmental impacts, it would surely add another dollar or more to the price. And these are real costs that the oil companies should be required to pay.
So while I’ve tried to make the point that, with the right financing, the price of an electric car and solar panels is lower than driving a car that gets 20 miles per gallon, all of this environmental devastation, makes it clear that solar panels and electric cars are a much better deal than the price alone can demonstrate.
Below are photos of speakers at the Teach-in:
Richmond, CA Mayor Gayle McLaughlin
Greg Karras, Senior Scientist, Communities for a Better Environment
Tom Evans--Sugpiat People, Alutitiq Tribe, Alaska; Antonia Juhasz--author of Tyranny of Oil and Black Tide, True Cost of Chevron organizer; Rev. Davis--Richmond, CA
Humberto Piaguaje--Amazon Defense Coalition, Ecuador
Teri Shore--Turtle Island Restoration Network; Mardan Pius Ginting--Friends of the Earth, Indonesia; Gitz Crazyboy (Ryan Deranger)--First Nation Dene/Pikini (Blackfoot), Alberta, Canada; Emem Okon--Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Center, Niger Delta, Nigeria
Paul Donowitz--Earth Rights International, Washington, DC
Elias Isaac--Open Society Initiative, Angola
Friday, May 20, 2011
Some thoughts on biofuels. . .
The main point to remember that we humans have to cut our CO2 down to about 1 ton per person if we want to avoid catastrophic global warming. That means we need to eliminate fossil fuels from our transportation system.
Now solar power and electric cars go a long way toward that goal, but they don’t get us all the way there. After 4 months of owning the Volt, we have driven 4,380 miles and used 45.5 gallons of gas—96 miles per gallon. Most of that gas was for a trip to San Diego in January. Since then, just driving around Oakland for 3,017 miles, we have used 13 gallons of gas for 233 miles per gallon. But the option to take longer drives is why we bought the Volt—it is nice to be able to make those occasional long distance trips that an all-electric car can’t do.
One solution to this problem of longer range driving is to build battery swap stations as envisioned by Better Place--
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/05/better-place/
However, this seems to me to be a long way off.
A more immediate solution is to run the cars on biofuels after the batteries have been run down. Biofuels (mostly alcohol and biodiesel) emit no net CO2 since the plants they are made from absorb CO2 while they are growing and then give it off when they are burned.
One of the most common criticisms of biofuels is that they will compete with land used to produce food, or that they will destroy forests that are already important carbon sinks. That’s what appeals to me about combining biofuels with the Volt. Since our overall mileage is around 100 miles per gallon, the total fuel needed is much less than if it goes into a conventional internal combustion engine car. For example, changing the fuel consumption for all cars from 20 miles per gallon (current average) to 100 miles per gallon would reduce total fuel needed by 80%, from 150 billion gallons to 30 billion gallons. Current alcohol production in the U.S. is about 7 billion gallons annually.
I’ve also been aware that alcohol as currently made from corn has only a modest (say 20%) reduction in greenhouse gases compared to fossil fuels because of the intense use of fossil fuels to grow the corn. However, sugarcane, as grown in Brazil, reduces greenhouse gases by nearly 90%, so that is a much more promising use.
Also, I’ve just been reading Alcohol can be a Gas, by David Blume, and it is providing me with a whole lot of new information. Here are some of the points I’ve been learning:
• The residue from distilling corn for ethanol—Distiller Dried Grains with Solubles/DDGS—is a very good food for cattle. And 87% of corn is used to feed cattle, so it doesn’t really compete with food production
• There are many crops that would be better for alcohol production than corn, especially if they are grown together. E.g. Sugar beets produce three times as much alcohol per acre and can be rotated with cassava and sugarcane.
• Given the predictions of increasing drought across the U.S. in the years to come, drought resistant plants are important to consider. For example, mesquite trees with an undergrowth of buffalo gourd could produce even more alcohol per acre than corn, in land that currently can’t be used for any other crop. Blume points out that an area the size of the Texas panhandle could provide 5.5 billion gallons of alcohol growing mesquite.
• Blume has many great ideas such as using cattails to treat sewage and transform that into alcohol.
• He also says that most cars can run on 50% alcohol, right now, with no conversion. I’m not ready to try that out on our new Volt, but it is interesting.
The holy grail of alcohol production is cellulosic alcohol—e.g. using the whole corn plant, rather than just the kernals. Cellulose can be any plant material from lawn clippings to municipal waste to wood chips. Blume argues that coppiced (aggressively pruned) red river gum trees could produce 2000 gallons of alcohol per acre. Advances have been made in distilling cellulose, but more government support is needed.
A company called Mascoma is planning to build a plant in upper Michigan that would produce 40 million gallons of alcohol per year from woodchips, harvested sustainably from the adjacent forest. Their CEO, Bill Brady, spoke to U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on April 7, 2011 asking for loan guarantees, tax credits, and more flex fuel requirements. He pointed out that the U.S. spends $560 billion annually on importing oil—why not invest in an alternative. He claimed their alcohol would be competitive with oil at $75 per barrel. Since the current cost of oil is around $100 per barrel, that seems very positive.
I found it ironic that Valero was one of the investors in Mascoma. Valero, you may recall, was behind a ballot measure last November in California to try to derail the state’s global warming law. I was surprised to see them jumping into the cellulosic alcohol business—stay tuned.
Another big attraction of biofuels is that they can take care of the 40% of transportation that is not cars and light duty vehicles--big rig trucks, airplanes, trains, & boats. This would get us another 10% closer to our goal of eliminating CO2 sources (Transportation is 28% of all CO2 emissions; 40% of 28% is 11%--source: Moving Cooler published by the Urban Land Institute, citing the EPA)
This discussion of biofuels is to suggest that those of us supporting solar power and electric cars need to build alliances with the farmers and industries in the biofuels arena. I was disheartened to see some very hostile exchanges between the Renewable Fuels Association and the Environmental Defense Fund. I’d like to think were in this together—we need to find alternatives to fossil fuels. Constructive criticism is always important, but let’s not treat each other as the enemy.
Now solar power and electric cars go a long way toward that goal, but they don’t get us all the way there. After 4 months of owning the Volt, we have driven 4,380 miles and used 45.5 gallons of gas—96 miles per gallon. Most of that gas was for a trip to San Diego in January. Since then, just driving around Oakland for 3,017 miles, we have used 13 gallons of gas for 233 miles per gallon. But the option to take longer drives is why we bought the Volt—it is nice to be able to make those occasional long distance trips that an all-electric car can’t do.
One solution to this problem of longer range driving is to build battery swap stations as envisioned by Better Place--
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/05/better-place/
However, this seems to me to be a long way off.
A more immediate solution is to run the cars on biofuels after the batteries have been run down. Biofuels (mostly alcohol and biodiesel) emit no net CO2 since the plants they are made from absorb CO2 while they are growing and then give it off when they are burned.
One of the most common criticisms of biofuels is that they will compete with land used to produce food, or that they will destroy forests that are already important carbon sinks. That’s what appeals to me about combining biofuels with the Volt. Since our overall mileage is around 100 miles per gallon, the total fuel needed is much less than if it goes into a conventional internal combustion engine car. For example, changing the fuel consumption for all cars from 20 miles per gallon (current average) to 100 miles per gallon would reduce total fuel needed by 80%, from 150 billion gallons to 30 billion gallons. Current alcohol production in the U.S. is about 7 billion gallons annually.
I’ve also been aware that alcohol as currently made from corn has only a modest (say 20%) reduction in greenhouse gases compared to fossil fuels because of the intense use of fossil fuels to grow the corn. However, sugarcane, as grown in Brazil, reduces greenhouse gases by nearly 90%, so that is a much more promising use.
Also, I’ve just been reading Alcohol can be a Gas, by David Blume, and it is providing me with a whole lot of new information. Here are some of the points I’ve been learning:
• The residue from distilling corn for ethanol—Distiller Dried Grains with Solubles/DDGS—is a very good food for cattle. And 87% of corn is used to feed cattle, so it doesn’t really compete with food production
• There are many crops that would be better for alcohol production than corn, especially if they are grown together. E.g. Sugar beets produce three times as much alcohol per acre and can be rotated with cassava and sugarcane.
• Given the predictions of increasing drought across the U.S. in the years to come, drought resistant plants are important to consider. For example, mesquite trees with an undergrowth of buffalo gourd could produce even more alcohol per acre than corn, in land that currently can’t be used for any other crop. Blume points out that an area the size of the Texas panhandle could provide 5.5 billion gallons of alcohol growing mesquite.
• Blume has many great ideas such as using cattails to treat sewage and transform that into alcohol.
• He also says that most cars can run on 50% alcohol, right now, with no conversion. I’m not ready to try that out on our new Volt, but it is interesting.
The holy grail of alcohol production is cellulosic alcohol—e.g. using the whole corn plant, rather than just the kernals. Cellulose can be any plant material from lawn clippings to municipal waste to wood chips. Blume argues that coppiced (aggressively pruned) red river gum trees could produce 2000 gallons of alcohol per acre. Advances have been made in distilling cellulose, but more government support is needed.
A company called Mascoma is planning to build a plant in upper Michigan that would produce 40 million gallons of alcohol per year from woodchips, harvested sustainably from the adjacent forest. Their CEO, Bill Brady, spoke to U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on April 7, 2011 asking for loan guarantees, tax credits, and more flex fuel requirements. He pointed out that the U.S. spends $560 billion annually on importing oil—why not invest in an alternative. He claimed their alcohol would be competitive with oil at $75 per barrel. Since the current cost of oil is around $100 per barrel, that seems very positive.
I found it ironic that Valero was one of the investors in Mascoma. Valero, you may recall, was behind a ballot measure last November in California to try to derail the state’s global warming law. I was surprised to see them jumping into the cellulosic alcohol business—stay tuned.
Another big attraction of biofuels is that they can take care of the 40% of transportation that is not cars and light duty vehicles--big rig trucks, airplanes, trains, & boats. This would get us another 10% closer to our goal of eliminating CO2 sources (Transportation is 28% of all CO2 emissions; 40% of 28% is 11%--source: Moving Cooler published by the Urban Land Institute, citing the EPA)
This discussion of biofuels is to suggest that those of us supporting solar power and electric cars need to build alliances with the farmers and industries in the biofuels arena. I was disheartened to see some very hostile exchanges between the Renewable Fuels Association and the Environmental Defense Fund. I’d like to think were in this together—we need to find alternatives to fossil fuels. Constructive criticism is always important, but let’s not treat each other as the enemy.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
An imaginary conversation. . .
While standing in line at a coffee house in Brooklyn last week I heard someone say, "We always say, 'Wait 'til Mother's Day' to make sure it won't freeze."
My thought was to say, "But that was before global warming--now the spring has moved up about 10 days." But then I thought I would see a familiar look of skepticism, a weary--"Oh, no, not more of that global warming crap" kind of expression that I've seen on other faces when this topic comes up. Since all the media from the New York Times to Fox News are unwilling to say or are outright denying that extreme weather events are symptoms of global warming, why should people think otherwise? So, of course, I didn't say anything.
And after all, there are still cold days, even with global warming. I checked and found that so far this year in the U.S. there have been 3,222 record cold days at the 180,000 or so weather stations across the country. However, there have been 6,699 record high temperatures. And the month of April--remember, the one with all the tornadoes--had 2,728 record highs compared to only 675 record lows.
So, while there is a chance of very cold weather somewhere after Mother's Day, there's a much greater chance of very warm weather. Welcome to a new planet (and Happy Mother's Day)!
PS--the Republican answer to all this is to cut funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; all this pesky data keeps showing that the climate is changing, and if people pay attention that would be bad for the oil business.
PPS--the data can be found at the National Climatic Data Center
My thought was to say, "But that was before global warming--now the spring has moved up about 10 days." But then I thought I would see a familiar look of skepticism, a weary--"Oh, no, not more of that global warming crap" kind of expression that I've seen on other faces when this topic comes up. Since all the media from the New York Times to Fox News are unwilling to say or are outright denying that extreme weather events are symptoms of global warming, why should people think otherwise? So, of course, I didn't say anything.
And after all, there are still cold days, even with global warming. I checked and found that so far this year in the U.S. there have been 3,222 record cold days at the 180,000 or so weather stations across the country. However, there have been 6,699 record high temperatures. And the month of April--remember, the one with all the tornadoes--had 2,728 record highs compared to only 675 record lows.
So, while there is a chance of very cold weather somewhere after Mother's Day, there's a much greater chance of very warm weather. Welcome to a new planet (and Happy Mother's Day)!
PS--the Republican answer to all this is to cut funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; all this pesky data keeps showing that the climate is changing, and if people pay attention that would be bad for the oil business.
PPS--the data can be found at the National Climatic Data Center
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
One rumor dispelled. . .
While standing in line to see "Revenge of the Electric Car" on April 22 in New York, I was talking with people about the Volt. One person said, "I hear that if you let the Volt sit for two weeks, the battery goes dead." I replied, "I guess I'm going to find out if that's true when I get back home in two weeks!"
Anyway, we got back home to Oakland yesterday, and, of course I was very curious to see how the car was doing. It turns out there was no problem--it started right up and showed 35 miles on the battery, which is what I think it had when we left.
So much for that rumor.
Anyway, we got back home to Oakland yesterday, and, of course I was very curious to see how the car was doing. It turns out there was no problem--it started right up and showed 35 miles on the battery, which is what I think it had when we left.
So much for that rumor.
Autos Aus Deutschland Roundup
So...we've gone all German on you and made a build challenge strictly based on German cars. It was bound to happen really, what with the German auto industry being so strong...and contrary to Henry Ford would like to think, Germany is the birthplace of the automobile. In spite of our love for the German automakers, the entries were a little sparse at first. I was going to crack some joke about this roundup being as quick and efficient as the German people themselves, but a lot of entries poured in at the last minute, rounding out this challenge to be a pretty good one. So, how do we fare when the challenge is based on a place where they make great cars, the beer is good and plentiful and David Hasselhoff is king? Lets get to it!
Jmaokoen is the first off the starting line with appropriately might be the fastest car of the whole lot...this Mercedes GP W02 F1 racer. He proves to stay well within his comfort zones on this one by building yet another F1 racer. Some people are like that. Eh, at least its German.
You might say he veered just a little outside his comfort zones with this rather neat little Porsche 908/3 LeMans racer. Its chock full of that slick rounded Porsche goodness. Jmaokoen tells us it took all kinds of victories in its dozen year history. Alright!
Dohoon Kim shows us all how the 1980 Audi Quattro is done. Turns out its done by trying to build the Audi R8, failing miserably, then cranking out this instead. Good to know whenever I'm trying to build the 1980 Audi Quattro...start it as an R8, throw it against the wall, then build Quattro. Thanks for the tip!
Next he shows us an entire Mercedes-Benz racing team...or rather a group of vehicles that would be a team had they all been the same color scheme. The black truck is the Actros Tractor Trailer, the blue is a '54 Renntransporter "Blue Wonder" towing a Silver Arrow racer. The F1 racer in a slightly different scale is a Mercedes-McLaren MP4-24. Its a whole mismatched team!
In my opinion an all German challenge would be nothing without an old or new VW Beetle. Luckily Dohoon pulls through on his final entry with this little red 2005 convertible Cabrio. Just look at that pudgy, round little form! We can all die happy now. But before we do...
You know who likes the BMW 635 CSI? Jason Son, that's who! I think I've got two of these parked under my carport...both owned by my landlord and both in rough shape collecting dust. Dust so thick there are words and phrases smudged into the grime. Words like "wash me", "I love daddy" and "vagina". Its true. Thankfully this one is pristine, well constructed and dust free.
And speaking of pristine and well constructed, Jason son,s second entry is the iconic Bugatti Veyron. This shows you what I know. Bugatti sounds like a fine wine you'd drink with a nice Italian fettucini alfredo but its a French car brand, an Italian creator, hence its name, and is parented by the Volkswagen Group, making it indeed a German car. Thats a truly international fine wine!
Also fine is Jason Son's final entry...the Mercedes-Benz SLS Roadster complete with flip up doors and a red on white color scheme. Its multiple entries like this that turn what would have been an otherwise sparse challenge into something pretty special. Thanks all those who have submitted multiple entries.
Chiming in with only one entry but no less important is new guy Nboston with his 1990 BMW E30 M3 complete with engine on a hoist. The blue lighting effect makes it look like its nighttime in a florescent lit cardboard garage. Yep, that's what I'm going with...florescent lit cardboard garage.
If you need a stubby truck to hall all your...um...stubby things, look no further than this 1975 Mercedes Unimog 406 built by hgaphoto. Funny word, Unimog. If only LEGO would team up with Mercedes to come out with a future Technic set of an Unimog preferrably in orange with new never before seen tires and a working winch. Sigh...If only. A boy can always dream. ;)
Also with Unimogs on the brain is dockfisher98 with this fire Unimog. It almost sounds like Oh my God, its a Unimog! Yeah, thats all I got for a joke on this one. Yeah, I know...probably the most deserving of some good jokes is this entry and I've got nothing. Oh well.
Ralph Savelsberg knows that sometimes even the most practical and efficient of German people get a little rowdy on occasion...usually during Oktoberfest. This is when they recruit the help of this Polizei BMW wagon. Ralph tells us this is a German car found only in Germany. He also tells us "Ich habe es geschafft", which according to google translator means "I did it!"
Lino Martins had low expectations for this Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss Edition. Its gray, sort of plain looking, not my usual thing. But it quickly got within the top ten of your faved images of all time...and that was before making it onto Brothers Brick. This ended my 9 month losing streak on BB, 11 months if you consider only cars. Thanks for all the faves and the confidence, guys!
There's a phenomenon online where you yell (or rather type) FIRST! when you're the first to comment on something. Vmln8r did this but he wasn't first to enter our challenge, but rather 12th. In this case he's referring to something much more profound...the first gas powered automobile, the 1886 Patent Motorwagen as invented by Karl Friedrich Benz. I'm sure Mr. Benz yelled FIRST! once he got this baby rolling!
Lego911's childhood must have been full of fine german automobiles as he presents a selection of renders from his childhood. First is the Porshe 928-S4. Kinda like Return of the Jedi, this is the mid-eighties update to the 1977 original. Also like the original Star Wars series (not the prequels) this car design withstood the test of time remarkably well.
Also from his childhood is this 1976 BMW E24 6-Series Coupe. It must have been good being Lego911 as a kid in the 70's My childhood was mostly spent in the backseat of a 1970 Pinto moving from one Navy base to another. And with the reputation for the Pinto to explode and its legacy of being one of the world's all-time crap cars its a wonder I turned out even remotely OK.
I sometimes wear aluminum foil wrapped around my head to keep the aliens from stealing my brainwaves. And I like to sleep with my head in a catcher's mitt. So much for me turning out even remotely OK then. But what turned out more than OK is this third entry by Peter, the Audi R8. It shares some design cues from the Italian Lambo, that's because VW owns Lamborghini. Who knew?! But one thing they don't own is my brainwaves thanks to this foil hat. They'll never get me!
If its cool, refreshing and yellow, it might be a tall glass of lemonade...or this classic 1972 BMW 3.0CSL built by Legogil. There is no mistaking that iconic BMW grille or its tart, lemony goodness. I'm talking about the car and a glass of lemonade, not one thing...ah never mind! Just enjoy the bright yellow car pic.
Also with bright yellow cars on the brain (and if he knows what's good for him, an aluminum foil hat) is Raphy with his Audi Quattro. Whatever happened to the LEGO line for babies called Quatro? They were like 8 times the size in volume of Duplo bricks but I'm sure some dumb kid found a way to get hurt with them anyway. This is why we can no longer have Easy-Bake Ovens or Snoopy Sno-cone Machines.
And for his next stunt, Raphy goes with this mostly badly built unspecified year (his words, not mine) Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL 6.9. Badly built or not, he's going a little avant-garde with the photography...placing the car small and to the lower right like a lonely orphan on a field of gray. And I've gone a little avant-garde with that writing description!
Next Raphy went with the also unspecified year NSU Ro80. He tells us he "chose something a little more less known for this one, he didn't want to make only mainstream cars, even though it's not totally obscure - they made about 80,000 of 'em." He also tells us this was the only German car powered by a rotary. Is that like those oldschool rotary phones?
Last on the Raphy slab is this BMW 2002 Turbo...also built in an unspecified year. Nope, 2002 is not the year, but rather its class. The years in production of this model was 1968-1976. The production for this particular model was probably an hour or so sometime in the last week of April. See what I did there?
Ace tells us the unspecified year Porsche 935 is the fastest 911 in history and also the ugliest. I don't know, the real Porsche 935 isn't without its charms. This one...not a very faithful replica but considering its small scale its not bad either. Its just alright. It leaves me no jokes about lemonade or foil hats so...lets just segue into the final paragraph.
There has been a lot of unspecified year entries late in this challenge but for next month, all entries must be year specifc. Let me explain...we're calling it Plus Or Minus Ten. You take the year you were born, then build any car, truck, or bike from either ten years before or ten years after your birth year. We can all choose from two vastly different eras exactly twenty years apart. Already we're seeing a generational divide between many LUGNuts members. Youngins will probably build something either super modern or...also modern while the oldsters may likely go retro with ten years before their birth. Everyone seems to agree that they'll skip the 80's. As of writing this passage we have very little entries, but the month is still young so stay tuned to see how we pull this one off. Until next time, I'll keep my foil hat on so no one knows what I'll be entering. I suggest you all do the same.
Jmaokoen is the first off the starting line with appropriately might be the fastest car of the whole lot...this Mercedes GP W02 F1 racer. He proves to stay well within his comfort zones on this one by building yet another F1 racer. Some people are like that. Eh, at least its German.
You might say he veered just a little outside his comfort zones with this rather neat little Porsche 908/3 LeMans racer. Its chock full of that slick rounded Porsche goodness. Jmaokoen tells us it took all kinds of victories in its dozen year history. Alright!
Dohoon Kim shows us all how the 1980 Audi Quattro is done. Turns out its done by trying to build the Audi R8, failing miserably, then cranking out this instead. Good to know whenever I'm trying to build the 1980 Audi Quattro...start it as an R8, throw it against the wall, then build Quattro. Thanks for the tip!
Next he shows us an entire Mercedes-Benz racing team...or rather a group of vehicles that would be a team had they all been the same color scheme. The black truck is the Actros Tractor Trailer, the blue is a '54 Renntransporter "Blue Wonder" towing a Silver Arrow racer. The F1 racer in a slightly different scale is a Mercedes-McLaren MP4-24. Its a whole mismatched team!
In my opinion an all German challenge would be nothing without an old or new VW Beetle. Luckily Dohoon pulls through on his final entry with this little red 2005 convertible Cabrio. Just look at that pudgy, round little form! We can all die happy now. But before we do...
You know who likes the BMW 635 CSI? Jason Son, that's who! I think I've got two of these parked under my carport...both owned by my landlord and both in rough shape collecting dust. Dust so thick there are words and phrases smudged into the grime. Words like "wash me", "I love daddy" and "vagina". Its true. Thankfully this one is pristine, well constructed and dust free.
And speaking of pristine and well constructed, Jason son,s second entry is the iconic Bugatti Veyron. This shows you what I know. Bugatti sounds like a fine wine you'd drink with a nice Italian fettucini alfredo but its a French car brand, an Italian creator, hence its name, and is parented by the Volkswagen Group, making it indeed a German car. Thats a truly international fine wine!
Also fine is Jason Son's final entry...the Mercedes-Benz SLS Roadster complete with flip up doors and a red on white color scheme. Its multiple entries like this that turn what would have been an otherwise sparse challenge into something pretty special. Thanks all those who have submitted multiple entries.
Chiming in with only one entry but no less important is new guy Nboston with his 1990 BMW E30 M3 complete with engine on a hoist. The blue lighting effect makes it look like its nighttime in a florescent lit cardboard garage. Yep, that's what I'm going with...florescent lit cardboard garage.
If you need a stubby truck to hall all your...um...stubby things, look no further than this 1975 Mercedes Unimog 406 built by hgaphoto. Funny word, Unimog. If only LEGO would team up with Mercedes to come out with a future Technic set of an Unimog preferrably in orange with new never before seen tires and a working winch. Sigh...If only. A boy can always dream. ;)
Also with Unimogs on the brain is dockfisher98 with this fire Unimog. It almost sounds like Oh my God, its a Unimog! Yeah, thats all I got for a joke on this one. Yeah, I know...probably the most deserving of some good jokes is this entry and I've got nothing. Oh well.
Ralph Savelsberg knows that sometimes even the most practical and efficient of German people get a little rowdy on occasion...usually during Oktoberfest. This is when they recruit the help of this Polizei BMW wagon. Ralph tells us this is a German car found only in Germany. He also tells us "Ich habe es geschafft", which according to google translator means "I did it!"
Lino Martins had low expectations for this Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss Edition. Its gray, sort of plain looking, not my usual thing. But it quickly got within the top ten of your faved images of all time...and that was before making it onto Brothers Brick. This ended my 9 month losing streak on BB, 11 months if you consider only cars. Thanks for all the faves and the confidence, guys!
There's a phenomenon online where you yell (or rather type) FIRST! when you're the first to comment on something. Vmln8r did this but he wasn't first to enter our challenge, but rather 12th. In this case he's referring to something much more profound...the first gas powered automobile, the 1886 Patent Motorwagen as invented by Karl Friedrich Benz. I'm sure Mr. Benz yelled FIRST! once he got this baby rolling!
Lego911's childhood must have been full of fine german automobiles as he presents a selection of renders from his childhood. First is the Porshe 928-S4. Kinda like Return of the Jedi, this is the mid-eighties update to the 1977 original. Also like the original Star Wars series (not the prequels) this car design withstood the test of time remarkably well.
Also from his childhood is this 1976 BMW E24 6-Series Coupe. It must have been good being Lego911 as a kid in the 70's My childhood was mostly spent in the backseat of a 1970 Pinto moving from one Navy base to another. And with the reputation for the Pinto to explode and its legacy of being one of the world's all-time crap cars its a wonder I turned out even remotely OK.
I sometimes wear aluminum foil wrapped around my head to keep the aliens from stealing my brainwaves. And I like to sleep with my head in a catcher's mitt. So much for me turning out even remotely OK then. But what turned out more than OK is this third entry by Peter, the Audi R8. It shares some design cues from the Italian Lambo, that's because VW owns Lamborghini. Who knew?! But one thing they don't own is my brainwaves thanks to this foil hat. They'll never get me!
If its cool, refreshing and yellow, it might be a tall glass of lemonade...or this classic 1972 BMW 3.0CSL built by Legogil. There is no mistaking that iconic BMW grille or its tart, lemony goodness. I'm talking about the car and a glass of lemonade, not one thing...ah never mind! Just enjoy the bright yellow car pic.
Also with bright yellow cars on the brain (and if he knows what's good for him, an aluminum foil hat) is Raphy with his Audi Quattro. Whatever happened to the LEGO line for babies called Quatro? They were like 8 times the size in volume of Duplo bricks but I'm sure some dumb kid found a way to get hurt with them anyway. This is why we can no longer have Easy-Bake Ovens or Snoopy Sno-cone Machines.
And for his next stunt, Raphy goes with this mostly badly built unspecified year (his words, not mine) Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL 6.9. Badly built or not, he's going a little avant-garde with the photography...placing the car small and to the lower right like a lonely orphan on a field of gray. And I've gone a little avant-garde with that writing description!
Next Raphy went with the also unspecified year NSU Ro80. He tells us he "chose something a little more less known for this one, he didn't want to make only mainstream cars, even though it's not totally obscure - they made about 80,000 of 'em." He also tells us this was the only German car powered by a rotary. Is that like those oldschool rotary phones?
Last on the Raphy slab is this BMW 2002 Turbo...also built in an unspecified year. Nope, 2002 is not the year, but rather its class. The years in production of this model was 1968-1976. The production for this particular model was probably an hour or so sometime in the last week of April. See what I did there?
Ace tells us the unspecified year Porsche 935 is the fastest 911 in history and also the ugliest. I don't know, the real Porsche 935 isn't without its charms. This one...not a very faithful replica but considering its small scale its not bad either. Its just alright. It leaves me no jokes about lemonade or foil hats so...lets just segue into the final paragraph.
There has been a lot of unspecified year entries late in this challenge but for next month, all entries must be year specifc. Let me explain...we're calling it Plus Or Minus Ten. You take the year you were born, then build any car, truck, or bike from either ten years before or ten years after your birth year. We can all choose from two vastly different eras exactly twenty years apart. Already we're seeing a generational divide between many LUGNuts members. Youngins will probably build something either super modern or...also modern while the oldsters may likely go retro with ten years before their birth. Everyone seems to agree that they'll skip the 80's. As of writing this passage we have very little entries, but the month is still young so stay tuned to see how we pull this one off. Until next time, I'll keep my foil hat on so no one knows what I'll be entering. I suggest you all do the same.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)