What does everyone collect or do for a hobby?

RichardAaronlx2610

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Lx2610 Cab, Fel, Backhoe, Grapple, Box Grader, Forks
Aug 3, 2021
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RichardAaronlx2610

Well-known member

Equipment
Lx2610 Cab, Fel, Backhoe, Grapple, Box Grader, Forks
Aug 3, 2021
413
469
63
New Jersey
if I'm not out in the woods, flying for work, or tinkering in shop...

I love windsurfing and fishing
The white was released of course, tuna eaten.





That’s awesome man!! My neighbor is an avid tuna fisher. He enters tournaments all tue time and catches some yummy dinner
 

RichardAaronlx2610

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Lx2610 Cab, Fel, Backhoe, Grapple, Box Grader, Forks
Aug 3, 2021
413
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New Jersey
like that red toyota SR5. would like to find a 1st gen tacoma rc... got any recommendations?
here's my 03 tacoma 4 banger, used it as a gopher truck back when i had my construction co. started collecting parts for a full stock restoration. i paid 8k for the truck over 10yrs ago. bout 2-3 times a month some kid will ask if i wanna to sell it. most i was offered was 8k... ole trucks been good little investment! View attachment 69701
Nice! That thing would look good with a solid axle and 39.5’s as for the Rc. I’d check out Rc4wd.com and see what they have. They make some killer scale trucks
 
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bird dogger

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Back in the '80s-'90s I did a lot of landscaping jobs as a side business. My workhorse optics were a Sokkisha level and transit. When "total stations" started to become popular, you could find some high end old school optics for a cheap price. I started collecting some Wild Heerbrugg, Kern, Sokkisha, etc. Some I've sold or given to friends/relatives. Here's a few I dug out while cleaning & organizing a storage cabinet. There's a bunch more stuffed in different places.

Wild Heerbrugg levels: N1, NK1, N2, NK2,NAK2,N3 (one with erect eyepiece), Kern.
T2 & T3 Theodolites
Wild Heerbrugg and Kern.JPG Wild N3 Levels.JPG Wild T2 T3 Theodolites.JPG

When #1 son graduated with a civil engineering degree I gave him this for his office. The world's smallest theodolite: Kern DKM1 If you look close, on top center you can see the North finding compass that I found years later after buying the little theodolite.
Kern DKM1 Theodolite (2).JPG

I've also collected some WW2 optics. US Navy "Quarter Master Spyglass" (16x mag.) "Officer of the Deck Spyglass" (10x mag.) Both with exceptional optics and matching # cases. The QM glass is wrapped with tarred cord and fancy braid.
US Navy WW2 Spyglasses.JPG Tarred Cord Wrapping.JPG US Navy Quarter Master Spyglass.JPG
That's a small Japanese optical distance range finder in front of the boxes. Cleverly packed away somewhere here, I have a Japanese military trench binoculars and I believe the counterpart to the US Navy QM Spyglass: A very high quality 40x Japanese draw telescope. I'll have to find them and post some pics along with some other oddities.

Here's a WW2 Japanese Army (I think) Engineers/Artillery ? transit with a precision compass and other goodies. The case is its own backpack with pad and straps for its soldier. It has individual magnifiers to read the altitude & azimuth circles. Pretty fair optics for a wartime Japanese transit.
Japanese Theodolite Backpack Straps.JPG Japanese WW2 Theodolite Set Up.JPG Japanese Precision Compass.JPG
If anybody can read Japanese "Kanji" I'd like to find out the translation of the case's Kanji lettering. I can take a pic of just that.
 
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RichardAaronlx2610

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Lx2610 Cab, Fel, Backhoe, Grapple, Box Grader, Forks
Aug 3, 2021
413
469
63
New Jersey
Back in the '80s-'90s I did a lot of landscaping jobs as a side business. My workhorse optics were a Sokkisha level and transit. When "total stations" started to become popular, you could find some high end old school optics for a cheap price. I started collecting some Wild Heerbrugg, Kern, Sokkisha, etc. Some I've sold or given to friends/relatives. Here's a few I dug out while cleaning & organizing a storage cabinet. There's a bunch more stuffed in different places.



Wild Heerbrugg levels: N1, NK1, N2, NK2,NAK2,N3 (one with erect eyepiece), Kern.
T2 & T3 Theodolites
View attachment 69914 View attachment 69915 View attachment 69916

When #1 son graduated with a civil engineering degree I gave him this for his office. The world's smallest theodolite: Kern DKM1 If you look close, on top center you can see the North finding compass that I found years later after buying the little theodolite.
View attachment 69917

I've also collected some WW2 optics. US Navy "Quarter Master Spyglass" (16x mag.) "Officer of the Deck Spyglass" (10x mag.) Both with exceptional optics and matching # cases. The QM glass is wrapped with tarred cord and fancy braid.
View attachment 69918 View attachment 69919 View attachment 69920
That's a small Japanese optical distance range finder in front of the boxes. Cleverly packed away somewhere here, I have a Japanese military trench binoculars and I believe the counterpart to the US Navy QM Spyglass: A very high quality 40x Japanese draw telescope. I'll have to find them and post some pics along with some other oddities.

Here's a WW2 Japanese Army (I think) Engineers/Artillery ? transit with a precision compass and other goodies. The case is its own backpack with pad and straps for its soldier. It has individual magnifiers to read the altitude & azimuth circles. Pretty fair optics for a wartime Japanese transit.
View attachment 69921 View attachment 69922 View attachment 69923
If anybody can read Japanese "Kanji" I'd like to find out the translation of the case's Kanji lettering. I can take a pic of just that.

Now that’s an awesome collection! Love it man
 

bird dogger

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Kubota B2650 and lots of other equipment
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Now that’s an awesome collection! Love it man
Thanks! Here's a few military optical instruments, German and other spotting scopes:

Swiss Wild Heerbrugg G10 aiming circle for artillery fire directing
Swiss Aiming Circle (2).JPG

Vintage Japanese Engineer's Transit or Theodolite. Not sure if this is military, but it must have been very high end in its day. Precision compass, striding level, eye piece for shooting sun's position, and other goodies.
IMG_6927_2.jpg IMG_6929_2.jpg

I believe (because of the paint color) this was Japanese WW2 artillery level to set +/- inclination of large artillery weapons (much like a "gunners quadrant")
Japanese Artillery Level.jpg Japanese Artillery Level_2.JPG

High end 32x Japanese draw telescope. The view and optics are unbelievably sharp! But you really need steady hands and the eye relief is next to nothing.
Japanese Draw Telescope.JPG Japanese Draw Extended.JPG

Two vintage German variable power draw spotting scopes, Wollensak Mirror Scope, and a little beauty....my pristine Carl Ziess 8x30 vintage Monocular:
Spotters Extended.JPG Carl Zeiss Monocular.JPG 8X Zeiss Monocular.JPG
 
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bird dogger

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You never fail to impress 😀.
Thanks, Fordtech!! However, I mentioned in post 143 above about a story behind my home made brass letters for the son's NDSU safe. Here it is..... :ROFLMAO:

I had cut out those letters real early in the build. But I needed to hide them so the son wouldn't come across them and guess what was going on. So I did. Well, many months later when the safe was ready to start finishing, polishing, and mounting those letters.....I couldn't find them! I hunted everywhere for them! Damn, they just disappeared into thin air. Kept looking until I just had to make new letters in order to mount them on the now finished safe in time.

I cut out new letters which took quite a while. Mounted brass threaded studs on the back side of each. Sanded and polished them until my fingers were raw. Got them mounted only a day or two in front of his Civil Engineer's graduation day. Whew!! Just in time.

Graduation day came. Wife made me wear clean dress clothes. I found a new pair of socks in my drawer.
What's this big heavy clump inside? Yup, there were the original letters, all carefully wrapped in cotton and stuffed in a sock. So I now have an extra set of solid brass NDSU college letters!

Or.........If anybody knows of a guy named "Snud", have him "start a conversation" with me!! :ROFLMAO:

First NDSU Brass Letters.JPG Guy Named Snud.JPG
 
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B737

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@bird dogger that first piece of equipment reminds me of the bombing site / computer thing I first saw when I toured a B-17. To think of the young brave men using that thing all while getting shot at and doing all those calculations by hand, on a precision machined manual device, is really incredible.

Even the old shop equipment from the 40's and 50's still amazes me.
 
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bird dogger

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@bird dogger that first piece of equipment reminds me of the bombing site / computer thing I first saw when I toured a B-17. To think of the young brave men using that thing all while getting shot at and doing all those calculations by hand, on a precision machined manual device, is really incredible.

Even the old shop equipment from the 40's and 50's still amazes me.
Was it a Norden Bomb Sight you were allowed to look through? How cool is that!! It does look kinda similar. I still want to find a nice WW2 gyro compass to restore......or even a nice manual "astro compass".

It's mind boggling what those young boys found the courage to do, both in the air and on the ground. I always had our 2 boys to the Memorial Day services when we could. Would make the point that the speakers and the men they were talking about were hardly older than their age when they were flying combat missions or holed up in a bomb crater waiting for support. It was hard for them to grasp that (if they had been alive then) they could have been with ten of their classmates, only a couple of years out of high school, alone in a bomber flying missions and hoping to come back alive.

My father was 21 when he enlisted in the USMC in '41. He became a rear seat radio/gunner in the 2 man Dauntless dive bomber. His nickname was "Grampa". He would never say a word about his service except that some of his patrols over the pacific were beautiful at night. After he passed away, I sent for his service records and found he was awarded the Air Medal (five combat missions, I think) along with other "stars" on the ribbon signifying an additional number of combat missions each. I doubt those many missions were the same as staring at the Pacific's setting sun on an uneventful patrol. Mind boggling, it is!!

If anyone can or has a chance to go to Dayton, Ohio......a visit to the Wright Patterson National Museum of the USAF is a must see!! It could even be considered a destination vacation if one has an interest in aviation.
 
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B737

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when I googled "Norden Bomb Sight" that looks exactly like it! so cool. I think I want one of those, looking well-used and worn.

My grandfather never spoke of his time in Europe during the war, even to my dad. The museum in Dayton is really great. Been there many years ago.

I brought my Nephew through the B-17 a few years later and told him as we were contorting ourselves through compartments, to imagine doing this in freezing cold, hooked up to oxygen, unpressurized, noisy, bumpy, and while getting shot at. Incredible. Oh and dont forget doing all that math in your head while using the Norden Sight!

I think I just lost my morning reading about Norden Sight.
 
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bird dogger

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when I googled "Norden Bomb Sight" that looks exactly like it! so cool. I think I want one of those, looking well-used and worn.

My grandfather never spoke of his time in Europe during the war, even to my dad. The museum in Dayton is really great. Been there many years ago.

I brought my Nephew through the B-17 a few years later and told him as we were contorting ourselves through compartments, to imagine doing this in freezing cold, hooked up to oxygen, unpressurized, noisy, bumpy, and while getting shot at. Incredible. Oh and dont forget doing all that math in your head while using the Norden Sight!

I think I just lost my morning reading about Norden Sight.
Ha! Me too. But I'll go in on one if you let me look through it, just once!!
Too bad we can't go back in time: DECLINE AND FALL OF A ‘TOP SECRET’; Norden Bombsight Sold as Surplus for $24.50 - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
I need to go outside and think about getting the snowblower mounted to the tractor......or, maybe tomorrow........ 🤔
 
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RichardAaronlx2610

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Lx2610 Cab, Fel, Backhoe, Grapple, Box Grader, Forks
Aug 3, 2021
413
469
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New Jersey
Thanks! Here's a few military optical instruments, German and other spotting scopes:

Swiss Wild Heerbrugg G10 aiming circle for artillery fire directing
View attachment 69981

Vintage Japanese Engineer's Transit or Theodolite. Not sure if this is military, but it must have been very high end in its day. Precision compass, striding level, eye piece for shooting sun's position, and other goodies.
View attachment 69982 View attachment 69983

I believe (because of the paint color) this was Japanese WW2 artillery level to set +/- inclination of large artillery weapons (much like a "gunners quadrant")
View attachment 69984 View attachment 69985

High end 32x Japanese draw telescope. The view and optics are unbelievably sharp! But you really need steady hands and the eye relief is next to nothing.
View attachment 69986 View attachment 69987

Two vintage German variable power draw spotting scopes, Wollensak Mirror Scope, and a little beauty....my pristine Carl Ziess 8x30 vintage Monocular:
View attachment 69988 View attachment 69989 View attachment 69990
That is quite the collection sir! Some beautiful pieces in there!!
 
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DaTow'd

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what ever it takes to get the job done
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Other than working on old VWs and Volvos. I collect and trade license plates I just like how they look on the shop wall. Over 200 so far.
I also collect Brass Plaques I helped tear down a old paper / pulp mill in Ocean Falls BC. When I heard that they were planning on bulldozing the place I started noticing all the plaques. We must have well over 100 . I also found some on sunken ships and boats when I was diving for the Canadian Fisheries doing the Herring dive surveys.
keeps me amused
Hank
 
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RichardAaronlx2610

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Lx2610 Cab, Fel, Backhoe, Grapple, Box Grader, Forks
Aug 3, 2021
413
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New Jersey
Other than working on old VWs and Volvos. I collect and trade license plates I just like how they look on the shop wall. Over 200 so far.
I also collect Brass Plaques I helped tear down a old paper / pulp mill in Ocean Falls BC. When I heard that they were planning on bulldozing the place I started noticing all the plaques. We must have well over 100 . I also found some on sunken ships and boats when I was diving for the Canadian Fisheries doing the Herring dive surveys.
keeps me amused
Hank
That’s awesome! Volkswagens have always been my passion. I’ve had soooo many different ones, split windows, beetles, type 2’s, vanagons, bays, rabbits, rabbit pickups, and now i have A few tdi’s and I’m gathering the parts for build a Tdi powered 31 ford model a. I also Collect license plates. Lost count years ago lol. But i have My front porch ceiling done in them. The rest are just in crates. 0D52066E-69AF-4999-9090-77EC538731A0.jpeg
 

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bird dogger

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Kubota B2650 and lots of other equipment
Feb 24, 2019
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North Dakota
Other than working on old VWs and Volvos. I collect and trade license plates I just like how they look on the shop wall. Over 200 so far.
I also collect Brass Plaques I helped tear down a old paper / pulp mill in Ocean Falls BC. When I heard that they were planning on bulldozing the place I started noticing all the plaques. We must have well over 100 . I also found some on sunken ships and boats when I was diving for the Canadian Fisheries doing the Herring dive surveys.
keeps me amused
Hank
Pictures!! We need pictures, please!! The old license plates are really cool and highly collectable these days. But would really love to see pics of your recovered ship plaques, whether they're big or small!

I went on the scuba dive trip of my lifetime back in 1997. We dove Palau from a live aboard, and Chuuk (Truck Lagoon) for about 10 days each place. Truk Lagoon is the Japanese equivalent of our "Pearl Harbor" with all kinds of sunken battleships, submarine, merchant ships, war planes, etc. Live ammo and torpedoes strewn about, equipment galore, could swim through all kinds of rooms/holds in the ships. Sat in the cockpit of some wingless "zeroes" that were in the hold of one ship waiting for unloading. Their props, landing gear, wings, etc. all jumbled together. Holes in the hulls that you could drive a truck through.

But, oh for the want of a screwdriver and a goodie bag! There were brass plaques and tags on everything! All was off limits though, as it was considered a memorial and underwater graveyard for all who died there. A very sobering thought because at that time you could still see bones and partial skeletons that hadn't been collected yet.

David
 
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bird dogger

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Here's a Warren Knight Engineer's Transit I refurbished years ago. I only took pictures to help put things back together so it isn't a great show and tell. But you can still see what you can pick up cheap and put back into useful service and looking mighty cool at the same time.

This was a former USAF item and must have been stowed away for quite some time unused and packed improperly in some reactive foam. Or maybe the glue in the foam was reactive. Whatever the cause, something in the case had done a number on all the brass fittings, reacted with the lube, clouded the optics, etc. IN other words, it was an old but high end basket case for its time. I picked it up as a project from a government surplus site.

Here's some pics (thumbnails) as I found things. Wish I had taken pics of all the gooey foam padding too.
Engineer Transit as Purchased.jpg Disintigrating Foam Packing.JPG 90 Degree Solar Eyepiece.JPG Levels_Plumb Bob_Eye Pieces.JPG Stuck Tarnished Base.JPG Tarnished Brass Knobs.jpg
In the above pics you can see the disintegrating foam packing that was sticking to most everything. Every brass fitting was tarnished and stuck. The solar eyepiece was a mess, as were the level vials and plumb bob. The transit base was all tarnished, stuck and inoperable.

Non Functioning Compass.JPG Permanent Marker Labeling.jpg Stuck Horizontal Circle.JPG
The precision compass didn't work and the glass was cloudy. You can see black permanent marker labeling on the standard framework. Not a good pic of, but the horizontal degree circle was stuck (very bottom of 3rd pic above, under the little white cover.)

A complete dismantling was needed. All the brass fittings were cleaned and polished. Same for the base and it's fittings. The internal fittings, gears, degree circles were freed up and cleaned. Re lubed properly and put back together. Here's an interesting FYI we discovered at work years ago: Black permanent marker isn't really permanent! There is something in "DeepWoods Off" mosquito repellant that cuts it like butter. Q tips wet with Deepwoods Off removed all the black permanent marker label residue on the transit framework.

The compass came apart for cleaning and repair. The needle post was flattened from years of travel without using the "needle lift" parking feature. No replacements for the post. It was fixed by reshaping and polishing with valve grinding paste under a microscope. After rebalancing the needle, it's now probably more sensitive than new.

All the optics were carefully removed, cleaned and re installed after cleaning and lubing the focusing mechanism. All put back together with no extra parts! Looking a little better now than it did coming out of the gooey foam padding material. Still need to do some final calibration on the level vials.

Here's the only picture I could find after I had finished. I gave it to the Civil Engineer son, so it's now in his office or somewhere.
Warren Knight Transit Refurbished.jpg


David
 
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DaTow'd

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what ever it takes to get the job done
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Bella Coma BC Canada
This Atlas brass plaque I salvaged from a sunken boat off the Government wharf in Bella Bella BC.
The other plaque from the Ocean Falls paper mill site
brass-plaque-Attlas.jpg
brass-plaque-westinghouse.jpg
ruf-alder.jpg
VW-RC-airplanes.jpg
.
 
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