5 October 2010 Images
5 December 2010 Notes from Miyazaki, Nippon. Douga to shashin wa shita desu.
Thumbnails of the project in general, hastily captured in poor lighting conditions the day before another four month trip to Miyazaki, Nippon (Japan), and Ilsan, Korea. Click on a thumbnail to see the images. Number 23 was redundant, so it was removed. Portrait oriented images often seem to load sideways, alas. I'll try to correct that later if time permits. But no promises - I'm very badly overloaded.
The trench images aren't really related to the aircraft, but rather document trench work for new power lines which serve an outdoor electrical power receptacle (located so as to provide a convenient connection for a dehydrator which was placed in the adjacent storage van) and the water well. Those images don't serve much purpose here, but I failed to remove them from the group - sorry.
As you can see, the derelict old mobile home is being dismantled for scrap metal and other recyclable materials. The entire structure will be gone and the site thoroughly cleaned a bit later (though I'm uncertain of the precise timing).
The aircraft's interior now provides a modest sized and humble but generally functional living environment in the aft section. The only serious limitations are that there's no working shower nor hot water. However, most components for them are in place, and I expect to have them installed before the end of February 2011. The shower will be rather large, and attached to the wall of the right aft lavatory. You can see the shower base, with some construction flotsam on its surface, in images 15, 17, and others. I plan to extend the shower wall to the windows, forming a curved inner surface if practical.
The left aft lavatory's toilet is now fully functional, though I intend to replace the current brown passive seat with a white washlet seat later. However, the construction of the outdoor sewer line, though currently sealed and sanitary, is incomplete. The riser from the 727's connection port to the trenched conduit is currently a temporary flexible pipe with very little play, and no local vent. The materials to complete a permanent riser with a long spiral connection, which will allow the aircraft to dance quite freely in an earthquake, a gas vent, and an integrated cold water connection (for the toilets only) are on site, and simply need to be assembled. That may only require a couple of days of work, but I doubt that I'll try to attend to it when I'm home in February due to cold and inclement weather - it'll probably have to wait until summer 2011.
The toilet works beautifully. And it was fairly easy to modify so that it would flush using domestic water pressure rather than the original 400 Hz flush pump. It was simply a matter of inserting a 28 V electrically activated water valve into the water line which feeds the tank spray ring, and rerouting the toilet's annular water ring pipe from its original connection to the flush pump, to the same water line which feeds the tank spray ring (the water line which is turned on by the electrically activated water valve). The electrical water valve wires were connected to the flush switch, which is a mechanically timed electrical switch which remains on for 10 seconds after the flush handle is pressed. That was very easy, as was most of the plumbing work. The only awkward element was dealing with the marriage of hydraulic connections to domestic plumbing connections - I had to locate adapters to accomplish that due to the differing thread pitches. Otherwise the process was pretty easy, and the results completely satisfying - the toilet works beautifully, as you might be able to perceive by image number 10. I'm very happy with the left aft toilet, and I'll modify the right aft toilet in the same manner as soon as time permits. And then, later, the forward toilet (but it will require separate sewer and water connections, which I suspect I'll leave disconnected most of the time due to the messy outdoor visual impact they'll cause).
The brown futon sofa easily flattens to a bed suitable for two (or is comfortable for one in sofa position as shown). Many thanks to a very dear friend for her excellent taste, and a truly delightful day of shopping. And so much more...
The support pillar for the front landing gear was replaced by a new support structure a bit aft as you can see. I hope to build a permanent or at least semi-permanent support pillar for the nose gear in the summer of 2011, after which the temporary pillar behind it will be dismantled. I hope to have a permanent left main gear support pillar built at about the same time, though that's a much bigger job. But it's important - I no longer fully trust the existing temporary support pillar. The right main gear rests at ground level, so a permanent pad for that landing gear can wait if necessary.
Further utilities connections involving the main stanchion on the left side of the aircraft have been completed, or nearly so, but no image of that area was captured on 5 October 2010 - sorry.
There are numerous other stories to relate, including both high drama and, for outsiders, insipid and desperately boring melodrama. A taste of the bitter melodrama is linked rather prominently from my home page. That problem persists unabated, and is one element (though certainly not the only element) that motivates me to spend most of my time in Miyazaki, Nippon (Japan), and some time in Ilsan, Korea. I have wonderful and very dear friends here in Miyazaki, and now consider this my spiritual home. Ilsan has a similar appeal (though Miyazaki feels most like home). There's another very important element too which, though no secret at all here in Miyazaki, is, by social necessity, a carefully guarded secret in Oregon. And there are other elements. But all these stories are, mercifully for you, beyond the scope of this page.
But this displacement between my infrastructure home and my spiritual home obviously creates a very big practical problem which has a considerable impact upon my airplane home project. But I just have to manage the situation as best I can. And ultimately try to reconsolidate my spiritual and infrastructure homes, if possible. That won't be easy. It might even prove impossible...
We all just try to do the best we can...
Thanks everyone and regards, Bruce
Contact InformationUCECage@AirplaneHome.com. Report mail misconduct to UCE@FTC.Gov.
