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Topics - faldomak

78
Birtija / Utjecaj starih rimljana (i dvije konjske guz...) na Space Shuttle


The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.

Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the US railroads.

Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

Why did 'they' use that gauge then?  Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

Okay! Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?  Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads? The first long distance roads in Europe (and England) were built by Imperial Rome for their legions. The roads have been used ever since.

And the ruts? Roman war chariots first made the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels and wagons. Since the chariots were made for, or by Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.

Thus, we have the answer to the original question. The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original specification for an Imperial Roman war chariot.  Specifications and bureaucracies live forever.

So, the next time you are handed a specification and wonder which horse's rear came up with it, you may be exactly right.

Because the Imperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war-horses.


And now, the twist to the story...

There's an interesting extension to the story about railroad gauges and horses' behinds. When we see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs.

Thiokol makes the SRBs at their factory at Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs might have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory had to run through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel.

The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track is about as wide as two horses behinds.So, the major design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined by the width of a Horse's [rear]!
79
Mjesta za letenje / Padina Radoboj - kod Krapine
Ima li tko letačkog iskustva na toj padini?

http://goo.gl/maps/7H07j

Znam da od tamo lete paraglideri. Na slici (slike sa Googla) izgleda zanimljivo.

U Radoboju postoji paragliding klub koji na toj padini ima registrirano letilište. Budem njih kontaktirao - smije li se tamo uopće RC letiti.

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80
Jedrilice / Omega
Zanima me ima li tko osobnog iskustva s modelom Nan Omega. Pogledao sam po ostalim forumima - znači molim neki Vaš osobni dojam tog modela.

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Tražim allround model 2-2,5 m kompozitni (nije nužno ali mora biti čvrst i stabilan). Ne mislim raditi hotliner, nego tražim model koji će biti dobar u termici, podnositi vjetar, biti dobar na padini i ponešto akrobatičan. Pogon dovoljan da penje okomito ali ne više od toga. Cjenovno za prazan model oko 300€.  Dovoljno velik da ga vidim u zraku te dovoljno mali da se može lagano pospremiti u auto ili nositi u ruksaku.

Omega je za sada favorit - ako možda znate za neki koji zadovoljava navedene uvjete, molim lijepo.
84
Letenje na kanalu / Malo sutra - 13_14.04.13
Sutra i preksutra (popodne) zovu skoro pa idealno. Temperature do 20, vjetar minimalan ili 0.

Vidi mi se da će ovo biti vikend jedriličarstva.  ;D

btw. ako ima zainteresiranih (apsolutnih) početnika rado ću odvojiti sat-dva za školicu.

Potrebno je imati:  - samo dobru volju.

Leti se sa EasyGliderom i dva predajnika u tandemu.

Ako ima takvih - molim da se jave ovdje kako bi znao pripremiti opremu.
85
Letenje na kanalu / Čehinja
Sutra zovu lijepo vrijeme i stvarno je vrijeme da Čehinja poleti u Čehima.

Kupljena kao 'gotov' model i evo nije prošlo ni četiri mjeseca i već spremna.

Sutra iza 17:00 sam na kanalu i leti pa kaj bu bu.


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90
Samogradnja / Balza 3D
Opet me malo uhvatio virus gradnje. Trošeči vrijeme na internetu natrčao sam na
http://http://www.easycnc.it/  i potpuno impulzivno kupio  http://www.easycnc.it/SchedaTheButterFly.aspx

Čovjek se zove Paolo i dugogodišnji je modelar. Ovo mu je posao sa strane i radi ga apsolutno izvrsno. Izbor balze prva liga a cnc rezanje bez i jedne zamjerke.

Nakon kratkih formalnosti kit je stigao vrlo brzo ali udaren. Kutija sprešana a unutra su nastradale dvije cijele ploče balze i bočne stranice trupa. Zaključio sam da je popravljivo bez velikih posljedica i preuzeo paket.


Kit po vađenju iz kutije.

Englezi za takav kit kažu: pobacaš dijelove u kutiju, ubaciš bočicu caka, protreseš i van ispadne  gotov model - i nije daleko od istine.

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Nacrt

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Ojačavanje bokova - dvije lijeve stranice

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A di to ide?

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Trup složen na suho

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Osnova trupa zaljepljena.


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Turtle deck

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Skoro gotovo

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