Made it home.

Well I got back across the pond with no drama, I must say the Airlines have done a good job of getting things moving again after the Volcanic ash issues, of course stopping ALL flights was bit of a knee jerk reaction anyway.



I took a couple of bugs back across with me :-)




A World war II era Blue racer deluxe with unchromed base (due to the ongoing war) and a TAC bug which I rather like, Apparently TAC was some company the famous TR McElroy had a interest in.
Bug feels nice, looks nice, and sits very well.

Back to Europe? maybe..

Tomorrow I'm due to fly back to UK then next week to Belgium for a Seafood show, however this is looking not so likely with this Airline nonsense, I decided to put the bits onto the Standard key for safe keeping and good order, here are a couple of pictures of the result, I've not polished the gear up yet.


Okay I had a huge dilemma regarding the pinstrips, to go with the placement I found under the green paint, or to go with the placement of the pinstrips normally found on Standard Radio keys that feature them.

In the end I decided to go with the placement normally found on these bugs, as the strips on mine might not have been original anyway, and I preferred the over all look of the strips further in.

Fred KT5X gave me the placement offset so I must thank him for that and all the input he has given me, highly appreciated!




Also a couple of pictures of the Lefty VP original that I got via ebay, it had its components mounted upside down to make it function Right handed and was a mess covered in some shitty blueish paint, I did not realise it was a Lefty, It had no plate but it appears to be pre 1940 most likely somewhere in the 30's.
I got it for parts, and the only reason I restored the base was as a test bed for the Standard key, I started the standard well before this, actually I think its good working with 2 keys, gives you something to do when the other is drying etc, I have no plans to restore it any further unless for some reason I run into components for it.

During removal of the awful paint.

After.

Standard Radio Bug

Pin stripes applied.

Callsign issued

So this afternoon the FCC issued me with a General class callsign KDØLEJ.
It should do me okay till I sit the Extra class, Just paid a visit to 17 meter put out a few CQs but the band is not in great shape.

Well the Standard Radio key is shaping up nicely, the odd setback now and again but I hope it turns out good, pictures to follow.

I forgot to mention, But on the 10th of April I sat my US Ham ticket, Passed the Technican and the General and I'm now awaiting a US callsign, maybe try the Extra, It would need a bit of study however.

73's

2nd gloss topcoat

Second top coat into the Standard Radio Bug


Standard Radio Bug on the left
Some old VP that was in rather poor shape, on the right, in early primer stages.

Standard Radio Bug

Couple of pictures on the base of the Standard Bug, I expected the bug to have been originally army colour green as some of these bugs are.

However it appears its actually black with pinstripes.

Above it can be seen where I've scraped of the green the placement of the pinstrips.

Sanded down, ready for priming up

After a few coats of primer its coming together.

Zephyr

So far so good, need to get its running gear polished up sometime.

One month since last post

Well I keep meaning to post something, and I've let a whole month, I've started on the Standard Radio key, It appears it was originally black with gold pin stripes, this is good enough for me, I've gotten most of the paint removed from the plastic finger pieces, but the mainspring is a right mess, but can be repaired.

Photos to follow........... sometime :-)

73's