The new baby!

[Bob Purton]

Update.... Removed the engine today and the clutch pressure plate is warped , also the diaphram looks like it has been poping out one sided as well. Looks like this is the problem. Now to find a new pressure plate and diaphram. Any ideas anyone? 

p.s. Once you know what you are doing it only takes about 30 mins to get the little thumper out of the car.

[Jim Janecek]

http://oldtimerteile.net
look under ENGINE section

or try Isetta Owner's Club of GB

or try http://bromleybubble.com/

[Bob Purton]

Thanks Jim. I stumbled across the oldtimerteile site last night. They seem to have just about everything!

[Bob Purton]

Update.... my Isetta clutch problem turned out to be a warped pressure plate spring, I sourced a good used one from Bromley Bubble and now I can change gear!! Also I discovered where the free play in the steering was coming from, It wasnt the steering box after all but the shaft bushes that are pressed in the chassis tube under the steering box. Oh well, I'm learning all the time!

I know its silly but I like to name my cars, especially if I plan to keep them long term, my X schmitt was primrose for obvious reasons and I have decided that the Isetta is "Thumper", partly because of the engine tone and partly after the rabbit in Disneys Bamby. Sad isnt it!

[Big Al]

Slightly worrying as to what might be Flower. A Barkus dustbin lorry?

Part of the fun of a new car is understand its foilbles. Perhaps when that phase is passed I loose interest like some and move on to the next. Others are content to have long ownership and less hassle.

[marcus]

Well my Trojan is called DUF, because that's it's registration letters. And it's Duff no more, many thanks to Goggo for amazing help. Just back from passing its MOT test, now breakfast then on to renew Road Tax and insurance, AND the new cover arrived even though I only ordered it yesterday, so today I am a VERY happy bunny despite appalling toothache!

[Bob Purton]

New cover? Whats that then? I want a weather proof one for Thumper. Whilst I have your attention marcus as one prop maker to another I had to make an Electric Egg this week and I delivered it to a set yesterday. I forgot to photograph it but they were so pleased with it that they have ordered another so will send you a pic of the second one when its done. Anyway, I digress, when at the studio a group called The Penguin Cafe Orchestra were being filmed in a Victorian operating theater! Very weird! Even weirder than the Fezzheads! Are you familiar with them?

[Jim Janecek]

I have heard of Penguin Cafe Orchestra, they have been around for quite a while.

I also used to make props for TV commercials as well.  (not really elaborate ones but some weird stuff nonetheless)

One day I will post some behind the scenes videos of stuff I used to do.

[marcus]

Oh the cover is just a basic nylon throw over, 2 years of sun and cats' claws have seen to the old one which Jackie P gave me from her Dad's garage. This one came from Amazon dealer M & A Roshan, Luton. With delivery it was £13.99 (Halfords charge over £20 for similar). DUF has a dust cover, then a tarpaulin, then one of these to hold it all down. Only ordered it yesterday. Not fully weatherproof, but with tarps and dust cover it works out fine for me.

Look forward to seeing pics of Electric Egg!

I LOVE the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, met the violinist a while back, he has played with lots of top bands and musicians. Their music is very popular on TV ads, they have been going for ages, and have released plenty of CDs, but a few years ago their founder and main writer died, still relatively young. Their music is simple, somewhere between pop/rock/New Age/Ambient/Folk/World and classical! Quite a mix, usually about 6-9 in the band, with guitars, keys, bass, ukuleles, synths, violin and percussion. Which studio was that? What programme?

NOTHING IN THE WORLD is weirder than The Fabulous Fezheads:  Mulipli-Untalented Middle-Aged Men Behaving Stupidly With Far Too Little Blood In Their Alcohol Streams.

[Bob Purton]

I make things for the scientific props supplier "Curious Science" Park Royal. At the premises they have two permanent sets, one is the Victorian operating theater and the other is the Victorian doctors study. The Penguins were just finishing up when I arrived, it was film only, not a sound recording, there were props everywhere, human torsos, top hats , you name it!! Dont know what it was in aid of but as you are a fan I will find out. By the way, have you been watching  the series "The History of Science"? Remember the enormous four leyden jar Wimshurst machine? It was one of mine, I bought it when about 20% complete and built the rest up, it produces one hell of a crack!! I will post a pic of an electric egg later, an old one.

Looks like there is a trio of props makers now what with Jims revelation.

[marcus]

...and then there were 3!
I nearly got a job of making a Wimshurst Machine, with a 2 foot glass disc. Deadline 3 days. They wanted it totally puckha, with ornate wood. I politely declined, and they hired one. THREE DAYS! That included sourcing all the materials and components, building, finishing, testing and getting it to the studios. I suppose I could go on to make a fully operational Concorde in a week!
When we re-created Perkin's Ice Maker, the first patented ice-making machine, I had to source valves which could tolerate the ether, and almost all modern valves have nylon seals which disintegrate very quickly. Worked with South Thames Poly. Got it registering pressure (and therefore temperature) differences, delivered it to location. Kew Gardens. In Summer. Guess where the producer had decided to film the Ice Making machine. That's right, the GREENHOUSE! 5 pumps of the handle..."Where's the ice then?" Even the best modern fridge would take days to get cold and still would probably not make ice in a hothouse! Fortunately Adam Hart-Davis DOES have a BSc, so he told her that ice would be unlikely, and that the indicated pressure difference meant that the prop WAS working!

TV people!

[Bob Purton]

3 days?! They are not as easy as they look, the correct materials are crucial as to it actually working or not.

[marcus]

Yup, just you try telling things like that to some TV people though!
We almost got a contract to recreate the World's first ever Submarine. Made by Cornelius Drebbel in 1620 it went down the Thames, carried King James 1 underwater, and could submerge for up to 3 hours because of the re-oxygenating equipment which Drebbel designed. Just as we were about to get the commission, another BBC crew started making a replica, so our show was cancelled. The one they made worked fairly well, despite all the restrictions of modern Health and Safety regs.

[Jim Janecek]

A few of my life accomplishments for TV commercials and such:

Make a Lariat that ANYONE could use.

Make a box of Ghostbusters Breakfast Cereal not only light up and glow from all sides through selected portions of the box but also magically float out of the cabinet while rotating....

Make it appear that a dog is walking across a living room floor that happens to be covered 2 feet deep in Bark Mulch and all you see is his wagging tail.

Make a model Alka Seltzer tablet fizz like a real one.
Despite being over 10 years old and the wide ability and use of Computer Graphics over the last 10 years, I still see my Tablet TV commercials on occasion.  Looks quite real.  And when it is not in the water, fizzing for an unlimited amount of time (with variable fizz of course), it looks horrible sitting on a table.  Everyone was whispering that they had made a huge mistake when they first saw it.  That is until it actually went into the fishtank and began to Act Properly!

Turn the Lobby of a school into a replica of NASA's Mission Control Center. (I think I had 5 days on that one after we were turned down for actually filming at NASA...)

Make a standard Alarm Clock walk (with feet) across the tabletop set and actually hit it's mark.  It also had to execute a right or left 90 degree turn sometimes.

Make a pod-like contraption that cracked open like an egg for the host of a TV show to get out of.  They wanted me to use a VW Beetle.
I had a better idea, I used an Isetta that I had found.  And that was how I got into Microcars!

[marcus]

Great stuff Jim. I made a "Humane Creepy Crawly Catcher" for Discovery Kids. It had to be triggered electrically by the minimal weight of the spider. There was a ramp for it to walk up: TV wanted the ramp to make it look fun, but they did realise that animals do not always do what we want them to, but they did set my mind at rest by saying they might use a fake spider on a stick.

If they used a real one I made a floor hinged with paper and with electrical contacts, so with leverage advantage even the lightest spider would make a contact, turn on an electric motor which wound in a thread which pulled out a pin from a string loop on which a trap door hung; when the pin came out, down came the door, trapped the spider inside the box. The hinged floor had to be well inside the box so that the spider would not be hurt by the dropping door.

Knowing that as soon as the cameras were rolling this would all fail, I added extra hidden wires at the back of the box so someone could make the contact if the spider failed to.

Knowing that few people in TV have the skill to touch 2 wires together at the right time (!), and knowing that even if they DID, it would be bound to fail as soon as the cameras were rolling, I also added a fine hidden thread which would pull out the pin if all else failed. All in the one day I was given.

It got to the studio, and they decided they WOULD use a real spider, which would obviously know EXACTLY what it had to do!

And guess what? IT DID! They got the perfect shot first take, genuine and unfaked, the spider walked up the ramp, through the opening, into the box, made the contact and down came the door, and I have a video of the show. No faking needed, but they were extremely grateful that I had included two emergency back-up options for them.