Thread: Another OZ MK2 PDRacer build in Sydney "Wood Duck"

The cleaning-up of the centreboard slot is the only thing that I've done on the boat in the last two days. How slack is that :(. I've been have a sort of holiday (the elbow is still slightly sore, and I'm trying to favour it a bit until I'm happy that it's better again).

We either have the return of an old pet, or a new one: the - or another - mound-building male scrub turkey. It is creating a frightful mess, and I've naturally called it the Terrible Turkey. The Dreadful Dog has a lovely time barking at it, but as long as the dog is on the deck, the turkey doesn't take a blind bit of notice of him. The beastie is rather hard to take decent photos of as it moves very rapidly - the camera isn't quick enough to focus on it properly before it has moved out of shot. The boat is rather slower-moving, so I can take better pictures of it.

Some photos, however:

1. Not content with making a total mess of the garden, the turkey is trawling in stuff from across the road. This is one of its many efforts at doing that - I gave up raking it back after the first one. It has very powerful legs, and can flick quite a bit of leaf litter quite a long way in one go...





2. Sprung! There you are... The turkey about to start up on yet another patch of garden





3. Here is the previous patch just above the bit in the previous photo. We are going to have a serious erosion problem if we get some decent rain soon; but as it seems to have essentially given up raining seriously in Sydney these days I think we're probably OK





4. Rearranging some leaf litter on the top of his castle. The Dirty Rascal is trying to get a decent photo of the King, but failing miserably





5. This is the best snap of the turkey so far, showing off his fine red neck and head, yellow wattle, and bright beady eye


Follow this link to my Flickr account, where you can see humungous versions of these photos in glorious technicolour



You never know, I might get a coat of undercoat on the boat tomorrow. You never know...

Next time someone accuses me of being slack or 'creative in discovering reasons not to build', please refer to this post, I'm an amateur compared to Alex

Besides, I pay the deposit for my custom frame soon ... and yes, that DOES mean something to me. Anyone like to buy a half built boat?

Richard

Hey Alex, that last piccy looks like you, you didn't make a mistake with the links did you?

Originally Posted by AlexN

We either have the return of an old pet, or a new one: the - or another - mound-building male scrub turkey. ---snipe--- .

You are genuinely a luckly bastard Alex, I hope you realise that

Richard

Originally Posted by Daddles

You are genuinely a luckly bastard Alex, I hope you realise that :wink:

Richard

Ahem, yes I do: although the animal is creating a mess, we are at least in a position to observe at close range the creature that is making the mess! We saw it sitting on the mound yesterday morning, just like a bird on a nest, which of course is exactly what it is. We might even get some turkey kittens, pups, or chicks, or whatever the things are called. That will be interesting, and if I don't get a wriggle on with the boat, might even be a part of this thread. Although we don't actually know if there are in fact any eggs in the mound, or if the turkey is just having fun... Btw, it's a turkey, not a snipe <snigger> ;).

I assume that the frame will be part of a new (or even an old) bike? Yes?

Actually, I didn't add in my previous post that another recent procrastinatory activity has been getting a plan for an OS2U Kingfisher ( a seaplane ;) blown up boom! to make a decent sized (1:5) plane out of. For when I've finished the 'Duck, he added hurriedly ;). Oh, and finished sorting out the workshop, rebuilding the lathe and mill, cleaning up after the turkey, etc., etc. ...

Originally Posted by Daddles

<snip>

Hey Alex, that last piccy looks like you, you didn't make a mistake with the links did you?

Blast! My secret is finally discovered! Curses! What can I do now?

Honk honk wark!

Hmm, These are imported turkeys or do you just have some native birds that look alarmingly like north american turkeys?

Hi David,

As far as I have been able to find out, they are native birds. Actually "brush", not "bush", zoological name Alectura lathami. They are related to Mallee fowls, although a lot more colourful: the mallee fowls live in arid regions (I actually used to live just up the road from one that appeared - along with its mound - in one of David Attenborough's documentaries, possibly "Trials of Life"). By contrast, A. lathami is supposed to inhabit wet sclerophyll forest and rainforest, the latter certainly being what we are in (a very small remnant pocket thereof).

The book I found the brush turkey in describes it voice as "a low grunt", which is a pretty accurate description. The distribution of the bird is from the northeastern tip of Oz (Cape York) down as far as southern NSW (originally). It seems that with the removal of predators (foxes and cats) they are moving back into their old ranges. I suppose it isn't inconceivable that they might have migrated up - or down - the western Pacific rim and into (or out of) North America via Alaska and the Aleutians, but that is likely to be drawing a very long bow and is really only (very) idle speculation ;).

They are very strong fliers - I have some video taken a couple of years ago of one up the top of a very tall tree in the next-door neighbour's garden ;). They are pretty good at perching, too...

I believe that some of the American turkey species are supposed to be very smart as in clever. The turkey here is very dogged and persistent...

Cheers,
Alex.

That is so cool. The similarity is amazing. We have a smaller version close to where I live called a chachalaca which is not related either. Amazingly raucous critters. Between those and the little green parrots, their fussing can be quite amazing.

Brush Turkey?

Sounds like an inept painter to me

(sorry Alex, too tempting a line - but maybe your one is a Roller Turkey, which makes me think of Roller Derby.....)

Originally Posted by jmk89

Brush Turkey?

Sounds like an inept painter to me

Hi Jeremy,

I have been dealing with another example of the ineptitude this arvo, sanding off the top radii of the stern and bow transoms, excavating the blue-tape masks and dry-sanding back the paint to the high-build and beyond. Things now look a bit better, and I couldn't have started with the undercoats until this lot got sorted. Which I think it now is. A bit.

Masks are back under the gunwales, and I'll the re-do the transom tops later. Tomorrow is a visit to the Mountains to visit the In-Laws, so I have a Cast-iron Excuse(TM) not to do any painting until Monday. Does anyone else get the impression that I'm avoiding the painting as well? I do ...

Cheers,
Alex.

I didn't get to go up to the Mountains yesterday after all - the cold returned, or one of its relatives popped up, so nothing got done yesterday although not for the reason originally quoted. And today, the batteries for my headlight were flat, and having lost my close-up reading glasses, I decided to hold over the final masking until tomorrow. So I might get something done then, it depends on whether I can pluck up sufficient courage, I suspect...

Originally Posted by AlexN

I didn't get to go up to the Mountains yesterday after all - the cold returned, or one of its relatives popped up, so nothing got done yesterday although not for the reason originally quoted. And today, the batteries for my headlight were flat, and having lost my close-up reading glasses, I decided to hold over the final masking until tomorrow. So I might get something done then, it depends on whether I can pluck up sufficient courage, I suspect...

Alex,

"Don't give up the ship (boat)"

So what if nothing got done.

We have all the confidence in the world
(the Whole World is reading about your struggle)
And we agree, that you are doing the best on "Wood Duck".

"Keep on Keeping on."

Stephen

Hi Stephen,

Good to hear from you again :). Thank you for the kind thoughts. I get a bit grumpy when things don't go as planned - or in my case, "planned" - but that can be said of us all. Well, most of us. Some, at least ;).

What I would really love to do is get the working space such that it is uncluttered and nicer to work in - but that won't happen until the boat is finished, so I have to grin (or something) and bear it. And that is really just another excuse!

Cheers,
Alex.

Robert Pirsig in his Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance states there are two types of good motorbike mechanic.

One has an immaculate shop, with everything in the right place, tightly organised.

The other type has a shambolic workshop with things all over the place. However he/she can put their hands on things almost without looking.

How I wish I was one of these rather than banging around in the middle.

Best wishes
Michael