Last week, the 70-something fellow running the coating machines announced (quite reasonably) that he was retiring. I was asked to take over his spot. I gave a resounding "Hell no!" to straight afternoons, but the lure of a raise and the offer of alternating shifts with the day guy got a firm "Let me talk to Mrs Rabbitman."
So this week I find myself working 10 hour shifts learning how to use old Russian equipment, faith and science to coat machined pieces of steel.
The machines, being second hand, are each subtly different. And they are all McGyvered together with solder and hope.
And being Russian, the controls are in, well, Russian.
To my surprise those lights and dials are actually beginning to make sense to me. At least the lights and dials that still work.
The blades come in various sizes from tiny to 9 kg.
The gold is a coating of titanium nitride and the black blade is coated with aluminium oxide over a layer of titanium nitride. Yes, I put on a mask when vacuuming out the vacuum chambers before reloading.
But punching out at 0200 hours and being back in for 1530 hours means the hours of wakefulness are mostly spent drinking tea and eating.
A three day weekend every other week will be a good thing however, and this weekend there is a holiday Monday here in Ontario, so extra bonus.
So every other week is going to be a wash for painting however, just when I was resolving to spend more time at my painting table.
Last week was also a painting washout due to fatigue, Hotlead prep and prep for a navigation FTX this past weekend with the cadets.
Sigh.
But no longer being the utility guy who is trying to keep (and look) busy will be another good thing.
I hope it works out for you.
ReplyDeleteAlan
Hot Lead has spurred me to get moving on finishing my 28mm Germans. In theory, I could field a full Russian company in 1-1 scale against a full German company but I think that would be too many toys on the table. So I'll settle on double platoons on both sides.
ReplyDeleteJust trying to look busy can be as exhausting as actually being busy.
Best of luck with your new position. The machines look graet,real Heath Robinson. I listened to a programme about the space station a while ago, more specifically the training in Russia, their solutions to complex problems appeared to be so simple that they had to be bonkers, but they work and carry on working forever. Continued good luck with your personal soviet détente. I would love to know how the machinery got to be in your neck of the woods.
ReplyDeleteIt's really nice when someone posts a little bit about what's going on in the non-miniature-painting world, so thanks for sharing this. Glad to hear about this new opportunity. I hope the Russian machines treat you well. They look like they'd fit into any sci-fi game from Star Frontiers to Fallout. Which is to say, they look cool. But this from a man who can barely figure out a toaster.
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