Rusted

24 minutes ago, JamesF said:

Aha!  A joke that almost no-one under fifty will understand

James

Least of all those in the colonies. 

Looks like an 0-6-2.  I was wondering where the boiler and firebox had gone.

I still think water will run under [or be wind driven under] the weather board unless you lift it on a batten and provide a [nasal] drip.

A flashing over the weather board from under the cladding would be better but expensive in ally profiles.

Difficult to see from the drawing, but shouldn't the moisture barrier at the foot of the wall rise up inside it?
Just to ensure rain running down the outside face of the wall is eventually ejected.
You would seem to allow such moisture access to the underfloor from below the weather board level.
I'm just going by the weight of the lines in your drawing.

G-cramps, C-clamps and F-clamps have a nasty habit of working loose in the wind.
I had a 6" iron clamp drop from the top of the dome where it was temporarily holding the shutters together.
Luckily it only hit me on the knee rather than damaging anything valuable or making a big dent in the larch floor.  ?
 

An opening at the top alone will not circulate enough air. Think of a holding bottle under water. The air can't get out.

Shading southern aspects works. My open shutters block the sun from reaching the dome panels they cover.
The covered panels are at the dome's ambient air temperature. Those still exposed to the sun are at 90-95F or more.

So I've been thinking about louvres. Or even adding a complete stand-off surface with a gap for air movement.
The latter would need netting all around to stop vermin, birds and insects taking up residence.

Then there's reflective foil but it needs an air gap on its outer surface to work properly.
That air gap can be inside the closed wall. Battens can move the outer surface away from the foil.

Shade plants for a southern wall would need to be dense evergreens. Fastigiate conifers in pots?
A sack truck could move them as needed.

If stuff was meant to be thrown away you wouldn't want it in the first place.

Tracks on wheels makes more sense than wheels in tracks.

Upward facing channels are what is known as "gutters" in the trade. 

I use a padlock and hasp with concealed coach bolts too.
Large metal plates hidden out of sight inside the door spread the bolt loads over a huge area.
It should really spoil the day of any crowbar swinging low life who fancies a free fix.

Never leave exposed heads on hinges or hasps or any other vulnerabilities!

The cheapest hasps can be levered off with an electrical screwdriver!

The best hasps actually hide the padlock inside a little box to protect against bolt cutters.

I needed bolt cutters to trim my sturdy veranda fencing and found them as cheap as 20 quid.
Though I went for better quality in a slightly larger size to make [my] life much easier.

 

5 hours ago, Adam J said:

That end wall behind the desk is crying out for a 32 inch 4k monitor. 

Interesting idea, as imaging wallpaper, but Is that really the best option for an observatory even with PIP?
At such a short  viewing distance your eyes would be having to constantly refocus from centre to edge.
A pair of monitors [or even three?] with some dihedral would be easier to set up and use.
Better than a curved monitor with all the problems of surface reflections and multitasking.

Even with my modest 34x52cm monitor it sometimes feels as if I am having to cover a lot of acreage with my eyes.
Particularly when typing text.  The tendency is to want to move backwards away from the screen viewed at 110cm.
This is probably why I use a lot of newlines and shorten my sentences to avoid 18" long lines of text.
 

I found a custom motorcycle workshop stocked black wrinkle paint.
Which was what was originally used on Fullerscopes stuff.
NOT crackle paint which is quite different and used on retro furniture.

The old paint was rather toxic according to my source.

He emphasised that warmth was vital to a good wrinkle or it would stay boring and glossy.
A heat gun was suggested.

In the end I never used it and went for Hammerite.
Hammerite needs its own special primer to last well on aluminium.

No primer necessary on iron or steel, I believe.
Though it does chip and rust through the paint if left too long outdoors.

I say, Chaps, that's a bit posh! And so empty!

Like people used to have a "best" front room for entertaining the vicar to tea and biscuits once a year.

Two up two down and they wasted all that space when it could easily have been filled with lots of really "nice" junk.

Lovely, but I don't like the look of that "forest" of saplings to your south! Talk about priorities!

They'll be 100 feet high and similarly across by the time you're finished playing about! 

With a preservation order slapped on them to protect the herd of rare deer, rare birds and endangered mammals, to boot.

47 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

Nah, I'd say yours is definitely "Retro Steam Punk"....

Is that what you call it?

Thanks! I have the dark glasses with side shades.

They'd be ideal for solar! ?

All these "interior designer" finishes are making me feel so inadequate.
I wonder if I can get the stepladder gilded for a nice bit of Louis 14th bling?

Don't forget leg and foot room!  Try stacking some cardboard boxes under there first to check how much room you really need.
I thought I'd make a cupboard or even shelves but then I couldn't get near enough to use the laptop.
Mouse mat space is also important on your desk top if you use one. Same with keyboards if you use a PC.
Mock up possible desk tops with scrap material on any handy props. I even had to shuffle stuff around on the rear surface.
Otherwise I couldn't open the laptop against the pier. I had already drilled holes for the cables and wished I hadn't afterwards.
You need big holes for non-removable drive plugs! Make haste slowly before committing to anything at this stage. 

I climbed on the Isaac Newton when it was still in Gravely Blighted.

So they had to flog it off as secondhand with "minor cosmetic issues."

1 hour ago, Astrokev said:

The wealth of response regarding that corner has got me thinking and I think you're all probably right. Sharp things in the dark are asking for an unpleasant incident. I'll put my thinking hat on and see what I can do. That's got to be good for another few thread pages ?

Kevin Dostoevsky? It has a definite ring to it! 

Hi Kev,

If that is the door opened right back to the wall then I'd put a 45° mitre on the end of that shelf.

There is a potential risk of injury from being trapped between the door and the sharp corner of the shelf.

Well, let's say there would be, if that was my door and my shelf. 

That cat looks extremely jealous! So watch out!

It will be sneaking up on you in the dark and rubbing up against your tripod! 

Life has a habit of pulling the rug. I'm sure, we all share, our condolences for your loss.


 

1 hour ago, Astrokev said:

If it concerns you, you may be pleased to hear I won't be filling any of the screw holes.

Shock, horror, what will the neighbours think! ?

I'm telling!! 

Blimey! Real door handles, locks and posh mouldings for the architraves? ?

I feel so inadequate. I don't even have any architraves! 

I went for the rustic, sawn finish, 4x4s and an untidy gap.

Do you think anybody will notice?

It might only take a few months to train a mouse to "fetch!" ?

Binoculars and tripods are not [often] a match made in heaven. Fine for level viewing. Poor for anything above tree height.
Any "stalks" on the tripod head will only get in the way. While the owner's neck is apt to complain above quite modest pointing altitudes.
You don't even have the luxury of being able to tilt your head sideways to look upwards through a single eyepiece.
Which probably explains the plethora of astronomical binocular mounts [usually parallelograms] designed for reclining chairs.
I really wouldn't start from here. A binoviewer on a star diagonal with a small refractor is very likely to be far more satisfactory.
Though much more expensive, unless you already own top end binos.  Like Zeiss, Swarovski, Leica, et al.

Unbelievably poor packaging! There is no excuse not to use the stiffness of the OTA to reinforce the box.
Think of the box as a fuselage. Not a container. Half circles cut from squares to extend the tube out to the box corners.
Why place the OTA square in the box when the vulnerable focuser knob extension could be safely be housed in a corner on the diagonal of the box
The box could easily be made smaller that way. Smaller box dimensions are self-stiffening planes. 
Less vulnerable to penetration damage or crushing in transit. The packaging designer is working well above his pay grade.