Just beautiful objects
Discussion
Thread revival here!
The last few nights, I've been carefully photocopying my Grandfather's RAF Mechanic's Training Manual from his national service days, before it become too fragile to read. The chapters in it are from the School of Technical Training and date from in the war, and most of it was 10 years and 4 custodians old before he got given it in 1951 - now that's value for taxpayer's money
Anyway, as you'd expect, there are many illustrations of in it, and these really caught my eye. Long before the days of graphic design, somebody somewhere once sat down with a black ink pen, a ruler and a compound curve to produce some of the most intricate and detailed diagrams I've ever seen. They really are beautiful! Here's just 2 examples:
If you zoom to enlarge the second one, even what looks like solid shading on that carburettor cutaway is in fact just very precise, totally symmetrical cross-hatching!
Bit silly looking.
That's the Blastolene (the engineering geniuses and metalwork artists behind Jay Leno's Tank Car) B-702 Roadster, a lovely bit of art-deco tribute. Note that the grille at the front is not chrome strips, but actually cut and polished sheets of glass for added wow-factor (wouldn't want to knock it though!)
The last few nights, I've been carefully photocopying my Grandfather's RAF Mechanic's Training Manual from his national service days, before it become too fragile to read. The chapters in it are from the School of Technical Training and date from in the war, and most of it was 10 years and 4 custodians old before he got given it in 1951 - now that's value for taxpayer's money
Anyway, as you'd expect, there are many illustrations of in it, and these really caught my eye. Long before the days of graphic design, somebody somewhere once sat down with a black ink pen, a ruler and a compound curve to produce some of the most intricate and detailed diagrams I've ever seen. They really are beautiful! Here's just 2 examples:
If you zoom to enlarge the second one, even what looks like solid shading on that carburettor cutaway is in fact just very precise, totally symmetrical cross-hatching!
NDA said:
irocfan said:
Edited by ChemicalChaos on Tuesday 22 December 21:56
BreakingBad said:
Excellent thread and some truly amazing examples of design, engineering and beauty.!
There are about 100 things I can think of to contribute but one that always stands out for me is this:
To take something's so "right" and then improve it...
IMO anyway but may offend the purists?
Even as a fan of the spider I like the retromod look he's given it but my god his build thread was epically naff There are about 100 things I can think of to contribute but one that always stands out for me is this:
To take something's so "right" and then improve it...
IMO anyway but may offend the purists?
one such excerpt;narlydudespiderbuilder said:
Well, into the night I rolled with my Bro Montano again and we were blazing down a street that has heavy nightclub action. At one of the intersections we were approaching, I was coming in hard in second at about 5500 rpm. I let off and braked for the light when I spotted 3-4 5.0 on foot, hanging out at the intersection keeping an eye on the traffic.
I thought to myself, yup, here we go...
As I was sitting at the light to make my left, I could see 2 of the cops making a beeline for the Spider before I made my left. Did I have to turn around? Nope. I saw them coming a mile away from the driver's side monitor. My Bro Montano was just laughing cause he just pointed to the monitor and said, "Bro, we've got company comin'!!"
So one of the 5.0 says, "Sir, It seems like you have a problem with your exhaust, You should look into fixing it asap."
I said, "Actually, it's built to sound that way, you see the camshafts have this overlap that when....
Then the cop interrupts me and says, "Ok, ok, I get it....just get some lights on your rear tag, OK"
Then the other cop could give a s
t. He just kept asking about the car. With special attention to the monitors.
"What's that?", he says.
"Monitors that eliminate all my blind spots", I say.
"Cool! Love the car man!" And he walks away.
After that we rolled by one of my Bros that was doing security at a club and another that works at a hotel. All within the downtown core. It was an awesome night for flossin!! Warm 28 degrees and not a cloud in the night sky. We lit up the road with some sparks while the 3.7 made it sound like it was prime-time on the Gaza Strip!!
For the avoidance of doubt, not of that was written tongue in cheek.I thought to myself, yup, here we go...
As I was sitting at the light to make my left, I could see 2 of the cops making a beeline for the Spider before I made my left. Did I have to turn around? Nope. I saw them coming a mile away from the driver's side monitor. My Bro Montano was just laughing cause he just pointed to the monitor and said, "Bro, we've got company comin'!!"
So one of the 5.0 says, "Sir, It seems like you have a problem with your exhaust, You should look into fixing it asap."
I said, "Actually, it's built to sound that way, you see the camshafts have this overlap that when....
Then the cop interrupts me and says, "Ok, ok, I get it....just get some lights on your rear tag, OK"
Then the other cop could give a s
t. He just kept asking about the car. With special attention to the monitors."What's that?", he says.
"Monitors that eliminate all my blind spots", I say.
"Cool! Love the car man!" And he walks away.
After that we rolled by one of my Bros that was doing security at a club and another that works at a hotel. All within the downtown core. It was an awesome night for flossin!! Warm 28 degrees and not a cloud in the night sky. We lit up the road with some sparks while the 3.7 made it sound like it was prime-time on the Gaza Strip!!
I love machined & engineered things, that toolbox at the start is just wonderful. I have this on my wall, its all machined in aluminium, individual blades & an engineering masterpiece, incredible to think it was designed & made like this for a one way journey! found by complete accident on ebay for a £1
cptsideways said:
I love machined & engineered things, that toolbox at the start is just wonderful. I have this on my wall, its all machined in aluminium, individual blades & an engineering masterpiece, incredible to think it was designed & made like this for a one way journey! found by complete accident on ebay for a £1
Torpedo? 
jr6yam said:
Voldemort said:
countachman said:
2, anything that is visible or tangible and is relatively stable in form.
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