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some people can build anything in their
backyards from scratch
here are four diy stories that will
inspire you
to dream big
i build models sometimes with weird
materials and
i've always found aviation to just be
really kind of magical just because
airplanes are engineering marvels
and i wanted to marry that with the
unconventional building technique
for my day job i work in i.t
and management but i've just always been
creatively minded i've always been drawn
to those kinds of
projects i've been making
things since i could figure out what
tape and string were
i was super young i probably drove my
parents crazy
i'm best known for the paper airplane
models that i make
what i use to build the models is manila
folder glue
an exacto and a straight edge
essentially
it's hard to know exactly how many
folders i've gone through
but i would say it's in the hundreds for
this project and there's a lot of
scrap left over i kept it to
a minimal set of materials just because
i like the challenge of
building something from only one thing
and having to figure out how to make
that
serve many purposes
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the model began on a much less detailed
scale
but i did over time realize that i could
start building in more
articulating functions more details in
the interior and inside
there are tissues in the bathroom there
are lights on the seats
nothing actually moves in the cabin but
all the detail is there
i've always just found the triple seven
to be a really
elegant nicely proportioned plane and so
it was partly an issue of
aesthetics i've always just been a fan
of that particular model
i studied pictures online some technical
drawings
and actually create my own plans and
there's just no guide for how to do that
so i'm basically learning along the way
it's simultaneously kind of freeing and
also really
frustrating not to have plans i can
really take it in any direction
but you have to be incredibly inventive
about how you solve problems because
it really hasn't been done
a lot of people probably think that my
end game was
absolute perfection with a model but in
fact it was more just about the process
of making it
it's the thought of the completed
product that
inspires me and just being able to solve
such a complex problem it's just what i
derive a lot of satisfaction from
now on
m
most of rural kenya doesn't have access
to electricity
this means the evenings are full of
darkness
here families rely on kerosene lamps
which are expensive and produce harmful
fumes
john wongary wanted to change that my
name is john
mahiro angari i am the founder of
maguiro mean hydro electricity
water paisa villa estima
inspired by the dynamo on his brother's
bicycle that generated light whilst the
wheel turned
john had an idea what if that simple
mechanism could be made bigger
and what could turn that wheel
this is what we call the liver and
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fungus
from there john started to make his
power plant with pieces of scrap
using the river john was able to move
the turbine thus generating electricity
slowly but surely magiro power started
to produce clean energy
this is my power station per house
are in a produce about 250
kilowatts in a supply about 250
households they are connected
my way you have a 10 degrees
condensed highways katherine
welcome to the world of backyard science
once a year 50 or 60 amateur scientists
gather at my home from all over the
united states
and every year they have new inventions
to share
we have lasers vacuum pumps 20 000 volt
transformers this might just be the best
place to learn about high level science
outside of an mit lab
tucked away in lakeside virginia is a
man who's dedicated his life to science
i've always looked at eating and
sleeping
as a waste of life i could have been
reading in physics
doing something in chemistry something
with my hands
my name is richard hull i am a retired
electronics engineer i was an amateur
scientist from
about eight years of age growing up
during the space race richard became
fascinated with nuclear science
eisenhower gave a speech before the u.n
he urged the american people and the
world in general to become deeply
involved in what was going to be our
atomic
future and that initial spark led
richard to become the first amateur
scientist in the united states
to build his own fusion reactor
the first time i ever did fusion i was
elated
fusion is the complex nuclear reaction
that powers the sun
and richard recreated it in a shed
behind his house
the fuser as such requires no
general license to make because it's not
considered
a dangerous technology a lot of people
look at it as the ultimate
diy it would be nice if you've welded
before
you're going to be handling flammable
gases in gas
lines you're going to have to do some
wiring because the fuser needs 30 and 40
000 volts and those intense x-rays
they'll certainly
go through you this is the indication
that we're doing fusion
despite fusion's complexity serious
amateur scientists like richard
are working through their own backyard
projects
so i formed heas high energy amateur
science
group local group here in richmond we
have people from
all walks of life people like myself
electronics engineers
the chair of chemistry at a local
university
a janitor another one that works for
greyhound bus rebuilding
engines we are a community
collaborating with amateur scientists
and working with your hands
is what the group is all about that's a
little bit of the nitrogen
interacting with the xenon i'm
constantly searching
for something that will amaze me and
that i can carry
forward so did that grow as you pulled
it out it was already under there and i
lifted it out
see just like i was saying the high
energy amateur science group
allowed me to teach or to transfer some
of my knowledge
to other people who were thirsty for it
and wanted
more pressure you have the more fusion
you get the effort itself
is part of the thrill the challenge and
each time no matter what happens you
wind up learning something
the very first time i left the ground in
the gyro plane i knew it was over
my life was done it was all going to be
about gyroplanes and it was
not just because i was in the air but i
was depending upon myself
so my safety was in my own hands it was
one of the most exhilarating
sensations that i've ever received in my
life
my name is george jacob and i'm known as
gyro jake
i build gyroplanes from scratch
what a gyro plane is basically a hybrid
airplane helicopter but it's neither of
the two
how many gyroplanes i would say i built
close to 20.
i lost count around 13 a few years back
i imagine what i want and what
components should fit together then i
machine
out and weld up the parts that are
necessary to get the
job completed so sometimes it can take
two months sometimes it can take a year
there's times i look at it and i go man
i did that and it works and i'm gonna
fly it
when i first started it was a pretty
small click in florida
and so we'd get together on the weekends
today
the gyro community has probably
increased by a hundred fold
especially with the new revolution of
the factory-built gyros
the do-it-yourself builders are kind of
like the dinosaurs they're on their way
to being extinct
there aren't many people that spend most
of their free time
building a gyro plane one after the
other after the other
there's no incentive like money that
compels me to do this it's just because
this is
my pleasure this is my joy this is my
passion
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hey everybody my name is drew beebe and
i'm here in my terrible
home studio that i've made during
quarantine
and i wanted to tell you about our new
podcast called great big story
it's got more surprising and delightful
stories just like this one
so head over to apple podcast to spotify
wherever you get your favorite podcasts
and download
great big story