I just thought about this, we all share a hobby together, which is gaming. But everybody got more stuff he does in his spare time. Kinda similar to other topics, this one is meant so we can get to know each other better.
Everybody can just explain what is hobby is, maybe share some pictures of it, or even explain what it is.
I will start this, let's see where this goes.
PapercraftA hobby of crafting three-dimensional models out of paper, not too different from origami. The difference is that papercraft involves cutting out shapes and holding them together with glue, whereas origami involves folding a model from a single sheet of paper without glue or cutting.
When did it start?I started this about 8 years ago, when I found out about it. The first actual papercraft model I found and build was a
CubeeCraft, these are little box modell figures of famous tv shows or games. They are easy to cut out and need no glue. From there, things went fast: With every model you do, you search for a more challenging one. You can find a lot of templates online. You print them on high quality paper and cut them out. Then comes folding and scoring, and finally glue everything together.
In the spoiler, there are some of the builds I have done:
[spoiler= Pictures]
(The squares on the black cutting mat are 1cm for scale)
Some flowers I build for mothers day. My mom at first didn't even realize they were paper.
Here are two Star Wars Vehicles, the Millenium Falcon and an AT-AT with movable legs.
Then I experimented with lamps, the square one was originally a little candle light. I scaled it up and did it with a DIN A1 poster instead of DIN A4. So at daylight it is plain white, when switched on you can see the colorful pattern from the inside.
And right now, I'm really interested in moving or mechanical papercrafts. I already did one with a working iris mechanism, powered by gears.
First picture is after cutting out all the parts. All in all 29 DIN A4 pages of parts.
And this is the finished mechanical iris, with an outer diameter around 30 cm.
My recent project is the moving gear cube. Often called one of the most difficult mechanical papercrafts which exist today. When it's finished, it will look something like this:
[youtube]qfspDCpVDTw[/youtube]
Right now, I already have the whole bottom mechanism (a little box with 2 gears for transmission from handle to vertical rotation) and 6 of 12 gears. This is what they look like:
And finally, this is all the gear I use for it:
[/spoiler]
Why are you doing this?I think I have two reasons for doing it. First is, because I like to create stuff and enjoy watching stuff form and grow over time. Secondly, doing papercraft is like meditation, you can just switch off your brain and it is actually quite relaxing (if you are into it and have steady hands).
MopedI bought a Simson KR51/1 about a year ago, also known as "Schwalbe", a moped from former East Germany. Mine was build in 1972, so more than 40 years old. It has a 50 ccm two-stroke engine with 4 gears (foot shifting) and makes legally up to 60 km/h.
When did it start?I saw the moped from a friend and just liked the whole thing. The look, the build, the manual shifting. I drove his Schwalbe 2-3 times, then waited far too long. After some time, I finally had a place to put the moped and bought the one my friend drove.
Here is a pictures of it:
[spoiler=Pictures]
And this is the shit you have to repair/deal with, when you own a 40 year old moped. One of the previous owners wrecked the back light. His solutions was to just solder the bulp to the cable (fucking moron...):
[/spoiler]
Why are you doing this?Because I like the moped. I have little to none experience in repairing a vehicle of any sort, so it is kinda learning by doing. I only had some little rides with it last year and still have to repair a lot, but this summer I sure will cruise with it through town or to work.
So, what are your hobbies?