Build the Back to the Future Time Machine - Issues 055-058

Another delay in shipping as, according to some sources, there were shortages of Issue 56.  Well, I guess they have their supply and the next shipment was received.  Only month (January) delay, much better than the gap...crevasse...that was between the late June and December shipment.

Issues 055-058

Lots of small parts in this shipment. Oh, also, this parcel came with another binder.

Issue 055 - Lower Bulkhead

Contents of Issue 055

This parts include speakers that are located behind the seats.  I did not know there were speakers located behind the seats.   In a DeLorean, the speakers are located on the inside of the B-pillar.  Maybe they upgraded to better speakers and placed them just behind your butt for better bass.

Out of focus photo of speaker behind passenger seat

I am not sure there is enough room on a real DeLorean to place speakers behind the passenger seat. They would have to move some things around to accommodate. 

Issue 056 - Circuit Board

Contents of  Issue 056

Yay, more wires.  But this time, you get to plug them into the circuit board. 

Focus, damn it!

Actually, this is a good place for the circuit board.  The area behind the passenger seat is where the fuses and relays are. So, this kinda looks like the fuse and relay box.  Too bad my photo is way out of focus.

Issue 057 - Upper Bulkhead

Contents of Issue 057

This gets Issue is pretty exciting.  The upper bulkhead gets a lot of screen time in the movies, so everyone recognizes this area of the car.  Simple assembly here, pretty straight forward.

Kinda in focus

Most of the upper bulkhead is complete after this issue, there are still a few elements that are missing.  Which brings us to...

Issue 058 - Flux Capacitor

Contents of Issue 058

A lot of people are disappointed in how the flux capacitor is represented in the build.  I would have to agree, it is not that great.  It gets most of the elements and details but leaves a lot to be desired.  For such and icon part of and iconic car, they could have done a lot better.

Uh, okay

Well, there you have it, a flux capacitor.  While it is supposed to make time travel possible, needless to day, this time machine, with this flux capacitor is not going anywhere.

There are a few more pieces that need to be installed before, the bulkhead gets mounted to the interior.  Those parts will come in the next issue.  Until then, here is your screw count up to Issue 058

54-AP, 15-BP, 2-CP, 12-AM, 11-BM, 4-EM, 4-CM, 18-DM, 2-DP, 1-FM, 3-GM, 3-HM, 2-IM, 2-EP, 17-FP, 2-JM, 3-HP, 3-GP, 3-NM, 1-MM, 3-KM, 1-LM, 1-IP

to be continued...

FUCK YOU, STOP CALLING ME - February 2019

Well here we go, another month and no time wasted.  It had been over a week since our last call.

 1 February 2019
  213-807-1922  Los Angeles, CA - At least this call was intercepted by AT&T.

213-807-1922

I wonder if they will call repeatedly on Groundhogs Day.  Fuck you!

4 February 2019
  310-849-5651  Beverly Hills, CA - Early morning call at 7:06.  They did leave a message:

310-849-5651

By the way, this is the same robo message left by multiple callers.  Well...partial message, since I have a long greeting to my voicemail.  That generally cuts off most of the robo messages and lets me know if 'missed' calls are legit.  Fuck you!

7 February 2019
  310-849-6415  Beverly Hills, CA - Oh, we all know who this is...I mean, we do not know who it is, be we know who it is.  Fuck you!

10 February 2019
  310-547-8135  Los Angeles, CA - Point to AT&T for flagging this one as a telemarketer.

310-547-8135

Keep in mind that this call came in on a Sunday at 11:03.  I mean, what if I was at church...not likely.  If there was a god, there would be no telemarketers.  Fuck you!

11 February 2019
  310-849-8376  Beverly Hills, CA - Something about these Beverly Hills numbers allow them to sneak pass the AT&T Alert system.  Fuck you! 

12 February 2018
  443-853-8092  Maryland - Not one...

  443-853-8092  Maryland - ...but two calls from this number.

443-853-8092

Both calls caught by Call Protect...and labeled by AT&T Alert!  Bam, bitch!  That is a double sack!  fuck you!

13 February 2019
  310-849-8851  Beverly Hills, CA - This call slipped through the cracks.   Oh no, I did not answer...just like ever suspicious call, I ignored it.  Fuck you!

  310-849-9791  Beverly Hills, CA - Two calls in less than an hour.  The day is young...bring it on.  Fuck you!

15 Februray 2019
  849-949-4755 Dominican Republic - No kidding.  Someone from, or pretending to be from, the fucking Dominican Republic called me.  I shit you not.

849-949-4755

 Like, who do I know that is from the Dominican Republic?  Better question, do I even know where the Dominican Republic is?  Fuck you!

849-947-3151  Dominican Republic - What!  This is awesome. Not only getting more than one call today, but more that one call from the Dominican Republic.

849-947-3151

Did they run out of number from the US to spoof or call from?  Fuck you!

18 February 2019
  310-849-6976  Beverly Hills, CA - Ah, good old Beverly Hills!  None of that 'Santo Domingo' bullshit.  Oh, they left a robo message:

310-849-6976

I mean, it sounds legit, right?  Of course not!  Fuck you!

  510-906-2793  Alameda, CA - Interesting.  Hey, today is supposed to be a holiday of some sort.  Fuck you!

19 February 2019
  310-598-4832  Beverly Hills, CA - Oh, I guess they ran out of 849 prefixes and had to spoof some other numbers.  Fuck you!

  559-884-5930  Riverdale, CA - This was intercepted by AT&T Alert and branded as a Telemarketer.  I am too lazy to take a screenshot, but just take my word for it.  So, thumbs up to AT& T, and for the telemarketers on the other end, the usual...fuck you!

Build the Back to the Future Time Machine - Issues 051-054

Finally got a new shipment of parts! 

Well, it has been a quite a while.  How long, you ask?  Five months.  My last (real) shipment was from July 2018, Issues 047-050.  This new shipment was received in December 2018.  I was out on holiday most of December, so here we are in January with this update. 

Issues 051-054

More fun wires and for the interior and finally a place for the passenger to sit.

Issue 051 - Passenger Seat

Contents of Issue 051

If you remember way back in July, we worked on the driver's seat.  This is exactly the same.  But, there is a difference between the driver and passenger seat.  The detail of the folding lever is correctly molded on the outside of both seats.  So, 050 is the driver's seat and 051 is the passenger seat.

Issue 052 - Driver Side Door Sill

Contents of Issue 052

Oh looky, more wires.  This is the set of wires that lay across the door sill.  You also have the the parking brake.  Yep, while most cars have their parking brake handle at the center console, the DeLorean has the parking brake handle located on the left of the driver.

Issue 053 - Passenger Side Door Sill

Contents of Issue 053

Surprise, more wires.  The passenger side has the bonus of a corrugated tube that runs beneath the wires. Like the driver side these should be the last of the wires in the cabin...until we get to the...

Issue 054 - Bulkhead

Contents of Issue 054

While there are no wires in the parts, you will have to deal with existing wires. But this is when it gets exciting again.  The rear shelf of the DeLorean was (rumoured to have been) designed to carry a set of golf clubs as the bonnet was to small and shallow to fit anything thicker than a pizza box.

The bulkhead is where some of the cool stuff is in the interior of the Time Machine. There will be lights in the future...which means more wires.

Assembled parts up to Issue 054

Not too bad.  The interior is slowly...and I mean slowly...coming together.  Hoping the next shipment will arrive on schedule and not half a year later.

Fun fact:  John DeLorean was born on 6 January 1925.  Did I just happen to upload this post on 6 January, at 19:25?  Maybe.

Oh, I have waited since summer for this.  Screw count!

49-AP, 12-BP, 2-CP, 12-AM, 11-BM, 4-EM, 4-CM, 18-DM, 2-DP, 1-FM, 3-GM, 3-HM, 2-IM, 2-EP, 16-FP, 2-JM, 3-HP, 2-GP, 3-NM, 1-MM, 3-KM, 1-LM, 1-IP

to be continued...

FUCK YOU, STOP CALLING ME - January 2019

It sure had been a while.  Well, not really.  I have been on holiday and had my phone turned off for most of December.  You know, too cheap to pay for roaming charges.  So, there is no telling how many times the telemarketers have tried to contact me.  But here we are, as the saga continues.

3 January 2019

  424-375-2327  Gardena, CA -  First call of the new year.  How exciting is this?  I am sure this is the first of many to come this year...heck, it should be the first of many to come this month. So, fuck you!

4 January 2019
  206-480-1729  Seattle, WA - Wait, Seattle?  Is it the new NHL team calling me with a job offer?  I could be a scout, coach, or general manager.  Wait, no...it is a telemarketer.  Fuck you!

8 January 2019
  213-807-5417  Los Angeles, CA -  Could be a legit wrong number...

  213-807-5417  Los Angeles, CA - ...but they called twice in less than a minute, and did not leave a message.  Sure that totally sounds like a wrong number, but we know how telerobomarketers work.  So, just to be safe, fuck you!

9 January 2019
  310-978-4499  Hawthorne, CA - Yeah, I am going with spoofed number on this one. Fuck you!

  310-849-7770  Beverly Hills, CA - No speculation here, this definitely a spoofed number.  Fuck you!

10 January 2019
  310-849-9876  Beverly Hills, CA - These last three numbers have pretty cool 'last four' digits.  Nice and easy to remember, so that makes it easy for me to ignore.  By the way, they seem to be really poring it on thick, three days in a row with three calls.  Fuck you!

11 January 2019
  505-666-3675  Santa Fe, NM - Kudos to AT&T

What a lovely sight.  Love it when the phone and/or provider intercepts the call.  Even better, they branded the caller as telemarketer.  Ha, fuck you!

15 January 2019
  410-826-0092  Baltimore, MD - Holy shit, is this going to be a new thing from AT&T?  I love this!

Oh...and, fuck you!

17 January 2019
  310-849-2409  Beverly Hills, CA - The phone is still ringing as I type this, I wounder if I can get to the end before they...ah, shit...not fast enough.  Fuck you!

  310-849-2409  Beverly Hills, CA - Oh shit, they called twice in less than a minute.  I should have been able to finish typing.  Guess I need to work on my typing skills.  Fuck you!

21 January 2019
  310-849-4275  Beverly Hills, CA - Today is a holiday.  But do not let that stop the telemarketers:

310-846-4275

...calling at 7:37 in the morning.  Fuck you!

  510-906-2690  Alameda, CA - Three things Alameda is famous for.

• Used to be the home port of the USS Enterprise CVN-65. 
• Same Naval Base was used to film Matrix Reloaded, freeway chase scene.

510-906-2690

• Home of telemarketers.

Fuck you!

  926-273-8032  Sacramento, CA - Third call today.  At lease they are from different numbers. Even better, from three completely different regions (of California).  Fuck you!

23 January 2019
  310-849-2769  Beverly Hills, CA - Did you know today is National Pie Day?  Obviously there is a Pi (π) Day, March 14 (3.14), so that should also be pie day.  It makes no sense that a random day in late January is pie day.

Oh, telemarketer. I totally forgot. Fuck you!

Fitbit Memory Storage

I think I mentioned way back that I have a Fitbit Alta HR.  I have been using this fitness tracker for almost two years.  The wife also sports a Charge 3...and both of us really need to be more athletic.

Recently, we were on holiday for nearly a month.  The problem with going to foreign lands is getting internet service...for free.  I am kinda cheap.  Sure, one can pay for roaming charges or acquire a SIM card for phone.  But, these things cost money and sometimes a vacation from social media is just as important as vacation from work.

Where am I going with this? You need access to the internet to sync your Fitbit fitness tracker.  Like most people I just sync with the app on my phone. Again, no internet on phone means no syncing.

The last time I synced my Fitbit was on 1 December, before leaving on this trip.  I should also mention that our destination was Southeast Asia, a 16 hour difference.  Another reason not to sync was time zone issues.  Would I loose/gain more hours in a the days I am flying?  How can I hit my step goals if I only had 8 hours?

Anyway...we just wore our trackers for over three weeks without syncing.  We charged every week like normal.  When we got back to our time zone and had internet service, on 28 December, we synced and all the data for the past four weeks was there.  Four weeks of data was not lost.  This is awesome since we did a lot of walking and set personal bests during our trip.

Fun fact.  I got sick during the trip. Noticed that my resting heart rate was 50% higher than normal while my body was fighting off whatever virus I had. Once I was feeling better, my heart rate went back to normal.

I am amazed that these wrist mounted devices can hold so much memory.  Next time, we should plan a longer trip. 

FUCK YOU, STOP CALLING ME - December 2018

A little disappointed that we are five days into the new month and five days since the last call.  What gives?

5 December 2018
  816-897-6519 Kansas City, MO - Wait, there is a Kansas City in Kansas and Missouri?  What, they are the same city?  Who makes a city border two states?  This is madness.  I wonder (too lazy to Google) if other cities straddle state, province, country line.  Where was I?  Oh, telemarketers...fuck you!

  513-715-8780  Harrison, OH - This is good.  I like it when they use random numbers from random locations.  It keeps me on my toes like a graceful ballerina.  But, as usual, if I see numbers and not a name associated in the Caller ID, that shit gets ignored, like a chubby ballerina.

Oh, they left a "message":

513-715-8780

I love how the phone transcribes the message.  That was it.  It pays to have a long outgoing message so the robocallers are unable to start or finish their propaganda.  Fuck you!

7 December 2018
  613-593-4396  Greenport, NY - What, no more spoofed numbers?  Did your spoofing contact run out at the end of the year?  Did not pay your bills. Ah, fuck you!

  310-849-2210  Beverly Hills, CA - Nevermind. I guess you are going back to spoofing numbers. Awesome!  This makes it way easier for me to ignore. Thanks, and...fuck you!

FUCK YOU, STOP CALLING ME - November 2018

Can you believe it is already November?  I actually hate when people say that.  It basically means that they have no concept of time and have little responsibilities.

Of course I know it is November.  I have stuff due on certain dates, Halloween just happened, and it is time for another month long blog about telemarketer calls.

1 November 2018
  305-995-0099  Florida - I like this number, so does Call Protect.  Call Protect even marked this as "Potential Fraud".  Fuck you!

  305-995-0099  Florida - Call Protect blocked two calls from this number.  It is a 'catchy' number.  A number you can give someone and they should be able to remember it. "Three-Oh-Five, Nine-Nine-Five, Oh-Oh, Nine-Nine".  How about "Double-Oh, Double-Nine"?  How about, fuck you!


2 November 2018
  818-309-1766  Los Angeles, CA - Kudos to the phone for tagging this as "Suspected Spam".  Saved be the trouble of even caring.  Fuck you!

5 November 2018
  302-232-9640  Bridgeville, DE - A few rings and self disconnected.  Good, saves me the trouble.  Fuck you!

9 November 2018
  310-849-7471  Beverly Hills, CA - Who the fuck is this?  Oh, of course...another call from fucking Beverly Hills, another fucking spoofed number (no doubt).  Fuck you! 

10 November 2018
  310-849-5308  Beverly Hills, CA - Good old Saturday morning call.  Same comment as above.  Fuck you!
 
15 November 2018
 310-849-9292  Beverly Hills, CA - Slacking of a bit, I see.  Been a few days.  Fuck you!

16 November 2018
  310-849-4476  Beverly Hills, CA - Usually when I bring up the fact that it has been a few days since I have received a telemarketer call.  They call the next day.  I wonder if they will call tomorrow as well...it is a Saturday.  Fuck you!

17 November 2018
  213-807-1916  Los Angeles, CA - Surprise!  Just like I predicted, a call on a Saturday. After not getting any calls for four days, this makes getting a call three days in a row...and on a Saturday.  Hey fuck nut, why not make it four in a row.  Call me tomorrow, bitch!  Fuck you! 

18 November 2018
  478-419-8001  Swainsboro, GA - Guys, you failed to call me on Sunday.  Now, we have to start from zero.  Lucky me, the phone branded your bullshit call as Suspected Spam

478-419-8001

I like that is says "missed call".  As if I 'missed' the call.  Oh on, we all know calls get ignored...especially ones marked Suspected Spam.  Fuck you!

  251-239-3024 - Bay Minette, AL - Call Protect, bitch!

251-239-3024

Bay Minette sounds like a nice place.  Too bad, fuck you!

20 November 2018
  310-849-5607  Beverly Hills, CA - Right on queue.  I may be jinxing this, but I wonder if they will call on Thanksgiving Day.  I doubt telemarketers have family or friends to hang out with.  So, yeah.  Spend the day working and harassing people.  Stay miserable, and fuck you!

  251-239-3024 - Bay Minette, AL - Wait same number as yesterday.  Intercepted by Call Protect, like yesterday.  Just like yesterday...fuck you!

21 November 2018
  559-418-6320  Huron, CA - I am pretty excited that this makes it three days in a row with a telemarketer call.  But I am more excited about this - check this out:

AT&T Alert:  Telemarketer

Look how beautiful that is.  You know what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving?  This.  This is a new weapon in the fight against telemarketing.  Kudos to you, AT&T!

559-418-3620

I am so excited that I almost forgot something...fuck you!

24 November 2018
  972-556-3547  Dallas TX - Aw, you missed a few days.  Do robots have Thanksgiving and shop on Black Friday?  I wonder what they were doing these past two days...not really.

972-556-3547

What a bunch of douches.  A 09:15 call on a Saturday morning.  I am loving this new AT&T Alert.  I wonder if this is were callas are originating from before they are spoofed from Beverly Hills numbers.  Meh, whatever.  Fuck you!

29 November 2018
  310-849-8024  Beverly Hills, CA - Another spoofed number from those telemarketers.  Fuck you!

30 November 2018
  310-849-4670  Beverly Hills, CA - End of the week, end of the month.  One more harassment call before the end of the month.  Until next month, fuck you!

Ending Daylight Savings Time

It is that time again.  Yep, time for me to bitch about Daylight Savings Time.  If you are in the UK and (I would guess) most of Europe, you need to "fall back" tonight.

But, if you are in North America (or other places) this stupid ritual does not take into effect until next week.  Good luck to all those international business meetings on Monday.  Better luck to drivers on the road.

It is time to end this practice.  There are two options:

1. Leave the time at Standard Time.  Uh...because that should be the STANDARD
2. My crazy idea that I have said this for decades:  just set the time (in all time zones) a half and hour off and leave it.  We do it once, and that is it.

I will give you a year on Option 2.  All we have to do is lose thirty minutes on 31 December 2019.  Some time before the clocks strike midnight, say at 23:00, we set the clocks ahead to 23:30...making New Years Day 1 January 2020 at 00:00 (wherever you are in the world) the new time.  From then on, we leave time alone.  Remember Y2K?  Well, this is Y2K2X!

Build the Back to the Future Time Machine - Manual Transmission

Yeah, it has been a while.  This is the first update since July, that is four months.  Still nothing, no new shipment.  But, we have an updated and correct transmission.

Issues 016 and 023

Eaglemoss has supplied subscribers a manual transmission.  These are updated Issues 016 and 023.

Contents of Issue 016

The manual transmission, like the automatic transmission, is a simple build.

Contents of Issue 023

If you are further along like I am, you will only need the transmission mounts in this issue.  The tedious part is to remove the already mounted auto transmission.  Here is how I did it in a hundred easy steps (apologies for the blurry photos):

Remove plate

Remove the triangular plate buy removing the three screws.  Set the plate aside

Pro tip:  Screw the screws back in the screw bosses so you do not lose the tiny screws.

Remove engine mounts

Remove the three main screws holding the engine and transmission assembly.  Note that these first few steps can do not need to be in this order.

Remove hoses

The hoses need to be removed.  If you remember, these are just just held in by a mortise and tenon like joints.

Hidden screws under gasket

The two drive shafts (probably not what they are called) need to be removed.  Slide the gasket over and remove the screws.  They should pop right out.  At this point, you should almost be able to remove the engine assembly.

Remove one lower flux box mount

The lower flux box mounts make the engine assembly too wide to fit through the frame.  So, one lower flux box mount needs to be removed.  Now you are ready to ease the assembly out of the frame.

Now that you have freed the engine and transmission assembly from the frame, you will need to remove the transmission.

Remove distributor assembly

First remove the four screws holding the distributor assembly.  Carefully undo the wires from the block and set the six-legged spider aside.

Unhook the the belts

No need to remove the belts, just unhook them.

Remove top of engine

There are two screws way deep in the valley of death that need to be removed.

Remove these screws

Once the top of the engine is removed, remove the two screws holding the transmission assembly.

Remove pipe

The pipe that goes across the transmission needs to be removed before the assembly can be removed.  There are two screws holding down this pipe.

More screws to unscrew

Remove the three screws holding the plate to the transmission.  Also, it is necessary to remove that black plastic piece.

Last two screws

Take out these last screws and you will have successfully removed the transmission.  That was not that hard, was it?

Here is what the manual transmission looks like versus the automatic transmission

Manual on left, auto on right

Now, the fun part...putting it all back together with the correct transmission.

Finished transmission swap

Once your engine and new transmission is reassembled, it should look like image above.  Yay!

No screw count on this update, since this is a technically a replacement part. 

Now, I just wait until I get new issues from Eaglemoss.  We are approaching November, which would make it five months since my last shipment of parts.  Five months at four issues each...that makes them twenty issues behind.  

If you are wondering...Did I just happen to post this on Back to the Future Day?  Yes.  Yes, I did. NERD!

...to be continued.

FUCK YOU, STOP CALLING ME - October 2018

New month.  Heading into Fall.  For some of you business minded folks, start of the important fourth quarter.

1 October 2018

  310-849-9714  Beverly Hills, CA - Starting off the new month on a Monday means getting a call on the first business day of the week/month.  Well, fuck you!

  310-366-4627  Gardena, CA - This call was marked as "Suspected Spam" by the phone.  Looks like it is going to be one of those days.  Fuck you!

  310-366-4627  Gardena, CA - Second call of the day from same number.  First the phone tags this number.  Now, on the second call, Call Protect intercepts this and tags it as "Potential Fraud". See image below.  Again, fuck you

  323-686-9376  Los Angeles, CA - Wow, four calls in a day.  These guys make more calls to me, in about six hours, than I make in six months.  Fuck you!

Calls from a bunch of assholes

3 October 2018
   323-686-9376  Los Angeles, CA - Surprised I did not get any calls yesterday.  You can always count on these fuckers to call back the next day.  So here we are.  Fuck you!

9 October 2018
  323-686-9377  Los Angeles, CA - You know how Homeland Security gets a little antsy when there is no terrorist activity for a while.  I kinda feel the same when there are no calls from telemarketers for a while.  Something must be up.  Are they planning their attack?  Oh, I just noticed that it is one number up from the last call.  Fuck you!

12 October 2018
  310-849-1552  Beverly Hills, CA - It is 8:23 in the morning.  I am in the middle of actually working and this fucker calls.  That means I have to drop everything to write this shit.  Fuck you!

  310-849-9291  Beverly Hills, CA - They keep calling, I keep ignoring.  Is there a way to block an entire prefix?  Fuck you!

15 October 2018
  310-849-7697  Beverly Hills, CA - Who dis?  Fuck you!

19 October 2018
  650-437-9871  San Mateo, CA - Lori is a CUNT!  Another fucking Door Dash text.  Fuck these guys and their business model.

Lori is a cunt

I hope Lori gets food poisoning...but from something else, since this is not Chipotle's fault.  Like Chipotle needs another food poisoning scandal.  And, I hope Door Dash stock drops to rock bottom.  Fuck you!

Update:  I contacted Door Dash via Twitter, and looks like the issue is being resolved.  Almost three years later...seriously, the first Door Dash text was received in February of 2016.  I have tried to contact via their website with no results.  Luckily, I found social media links and contacted them. We will see if this is the last of texts from Door Dash. Not holding my breath. 

25 October 2018
  800-513-8282 - Ooh, fancy.  An 800 number.  Someone is stepping up.  Too bad your shit was pre-tagged with "Suspected Spam".

800-513-8282

The early morning call is a nice touch.  Fuck you!

26 October 2018
  310-160-2155  United States -  Getting a little creative with the numbers.  Who has ever heard of a 160 prefix.  Not that is matters, this was pre-tagged as Suspected Spam.  Ha, nice try.  Fuck you!

Oh, we have an update.  They left a voicemail...yep, you guessed it. Some robo Chinese message.  Again, I say, fuck you!

30 October 2018
  310-849-9255  Beverly Hills, CA - Who the fuck is this?  Another spoofed number from another terrorist telemarketer.  Fuck you!