THE SECRET ENGINEER
REAWAKENING
THE CHILDHOOD
ENGINEER
57 April 2020 / www.theengineer.co.uk
A significant part of my
childhood was spent
dreaming up crazy
ideas for things to
make, something that
I suspect is shared with most of
you reading this. As I was brought
up in an engineering household
(both parents were involved in
industry throughout their working
lives) these flights of fancy
tended to be based around stuff
powered by internal combustion
engines. Into my teens and pocket
money subsidised by delivering
newspapers meant I could move
on to projects a little more complex
than launching Lego “aircraft”
via a wheeled cart fired down the
coal shed roof, the aerodynamic
properties of these designs
being inversely proportional to
their satisfyingly spectacular
disintegration on contact with
terra firma. As previously related,
to the horror of the assembled
readership, my practical abilities
were never great and this has been
a constant frustration throughout
my life. I can spanner away with
the best of them but whittling
a gear linkage from a couple of
blocks of steel? Unfortunately
not and because of this the more
ambitious dreams inevitably
remained just that.
Along came girls,
unemployment and cars; all of
which distracted somewhat from
childish pursuits. These were
followed in turn by focus and
finally establishing a foothold in
my chosen career with my early
years in engineering, when viewed
from this distance, seeming
to have flashed by. They were
exciting times spent working on
interesting stuff whilst all the time
absorbing as much knowledge and
experience as I could. Of course
it wasn’t completely plain sailing
but every new position was an
opportunity to learn, or to move
up the ladder, or to consolidate
my status overall within our
community. Interestingly, a
constant was colleagues of all ages
who had kept alive and fanned the
sparks from their childhood into
conspicuous achievement. From
re-engineering cars to building
and flying model aircraft or even
creating accurate documentation
of HMS Victory’s rigging.
For myself, I have gradually
improved my own skill sets, but
generally only as required by work.
Spare time has been reserved
for other activities although the
excitement of those early years
with their long held ambitions
still remain, albeit dimmed and
smouldering in the subconscious.
The refrain “one day I will...” has
been a constant accompaniment
throughout my life. Now I’m
the wrong side of 50 yet still
doggedly the right side of death
and a memory rising unbidden
has once again prompted me to
reach back towards the almost
extinguished ambitions of my
younger self. For some unknown
reason I suddenly recalled a
water cooled internal combustion
motor, presumably made for a
model boat, with a water jacket
shrouding its single tiny cylinder.
I ‘d bought it intending to carry
out a refurbishment before
building a model car around it. Its
probably still in my parent’s shed
awaiting its moment of glory and,
after a moment’s consideration,
I came to the conclusion that
now is possibly the time to finally
extinguish all hope of realising
these dormant projects.
Although I now have more
skills to call on, ironically, it
doesn’t really matter any more.
True, I have the ability and
resources at my disposal to design
what I want and can probably
make most of what I design. Not to
any great level, but acceptably so.
What I cannot make I can afford
to get made through specialist
manufacturing services or rapid
prototyping. The only thing
holding me back now is the time
needed to do it, and that’s the one
thing I no longer have. My life has
evolved to the point where it is
filled with something other than
daydreaming about crazy projects,
forcing a necessary acceptance
that these ideas will never be made
real. Yet, you know, I’d almost
forgotten that I always fancied
designing and making a working
miniature liquid fuel rocket motor.
Just something to run on a test
bench, although a scale model of
Blue Flame for it to go in would be
nice. Rather exciting really, when
you think about it, and life would
be terribly dull if we simply gave
up on this sort of stuff. Yes, one
day...
Our anonymous blogger mourns
the lack of time to pursue those
fondly-remembered childhood
engineering projects
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