Blue Mule resto in Malawi

[Colorado Boy-74-FJ40]

Parkas?

Courtesy of the US taxpayers (that includes me ) Small 3-BR on one acre, with one car garage, small carport, and staff/servant quarters, garden shack, guard shack, and generator shack (our genset powers two houses). Very nice. Our 2 dobermans love the large yard. My does too - she gardens.

It's fall here now, so daytime temps are running around 75-78F, nights 65F, clear blue skies (this is also the dry season). By June/July daytime temps will be 70-75F, nights 60-65F and our guards will be wearing parkas and ski masks . This is a great time of year to run the 40 w/o top or doors. Summer (rainy season) gets up to 85F or a little higher, nights 80F and humid. Overall, very benign. I like it!

Funny! Thanks for the answer. Are the "panel beaters" gonna paint it too? I was curious what they had in the way of a paint booth. They seem so creative on the other things.

 

[M5driver]

Funny! Thanks for the answer. Are the "panel beaters" gonna paint it too? I was curious what they had in the way of a paint booth. They seem so creative on the other things.

Yep - parkas. Down or fiberfill. Our gardener favors a full length heavy! wool overcoat when the temps go below 70F

The panel beater shop is a full-service (no, really!) body and paint shop. I'll be there all day Monday. I'll try to get a pic of the paint booth, since I expect we'll be using it to shoot RB

 

[M5driver]

I hope no one is getting tired of all these pix yet. I'm enjoying showing the results of the little sand blaster and lots of African ingenuity.

The blasting will be done in another day. We're planning to shoot RB again (the right way this time ) on Monday. Won't get it all done, but we should make some good progress.

Here are a few more pix of parts:

 

[M5driver]

Hard to believe that skid plate was rust brown all over when it came off. Surface rust only A lot of these pieces looked much worse when they came off than they really are. That was especially true of the door bottoms. I'm a lucky man!

 

[M5driver]

We didn't escape the rust monster completely. That rear sill is a little rough. The skin obviously held in water and other nasties in there, and this is a place that obviously did not get any primer or paint at the factory, so the amount of rust is no surprise. The good news - it's only that side that is bad. the rest of the metal is in good shape, so cutting and patching should work fine. Once that's done and everything cleaned and coated with RB, it should work good, last long time

(Oh, yeah - the old Apple bag is mine )

 

[M5driver]

The little holes around the wheel wells (from the flares that we installed a few years back) welded up and cleaned up nicely. This work is good.

 

[M5driver]

Two steps forward, two steps back

Well, !!! !!!

Today was a day of "failures". The foreman "failed" to do as the owner/manager instructed him on Friday, so we "failed" to make any progress today. He "failed" to have anything ready for shooting this morning; he "failed" to prep the booth; he "failed" to degrease the frame, etc... Of course, I had taken this day off from work, because the owner asked me to be there.

The foreman wanted to spray outside where the guy is still sandblasting!!! WTF? I protested, but he does not take instruction or advice from me - only the boss.

So the boss was summoned, and plans suddenly changed. He ordered panels to be moved to the booth, but found out the booth wasn't ready. Then we found out the panels weren't ready, either - still full of sand. So the sand was blown out of the cracks and crannies. Then it was discovered there was no degreaser available, so the foreman had to "organize" some. By 11:30, the only thing that had actually been accomplished was the bits of prep and clean up I had done, and the destruction of a couple of my shock absorbers. Somehow, they got laid out in the middle of the yard along with several other parts, and when the Bedford (big tow truck) was called out, he ran over two of my shocks. I got pix of the least damaged one. The other had the shaft bent, and the seal blew out. The guy that ran them over offered to have the shields hammered back into shape, and the one that lost its gas and oil to have a hole drilled, filled up with hydraulic fluid, and welded shut, rather than taking it to the boss. I declined his offer. Replacing those shocks will run around $400. Hope the owner is ready to pay up.

Then, this afternoon, we were supposed to shoot RB. Instead, the painter's apprentice refused to take advice from me on how to mix/thin and over thinned it. When that happens the metallic part of the RB (aluminum and lead powders) comes out of suspension, and you end up with a chunky, nasty mess that splatters when you try to spray it, and can't be brushed. Of course, when this happened, the painter tried to fix it by adding more paint to the mix, got it too thick, then over diluted it, and yada yada yada. End result - $130 (2 pints) of RB wasted so far, and still nothing to show for it - not one drop on the FJ parts the panel beater is supposed to start painting this week!

By 4:30, the only things that had really changed since morning were several more parts blasted, some stuff moved into the paint booth, and my blood pressure was sky high.

And when I got home, there was an e-mail waiting telling me that after my plane went in for its annual, the prop was found to be run out, so I need to replace the prop. That'll run me another $7-$8,000.

To paraphrase Groucho Marx - I had a great day, but this wasn't it!

 

[M5driver]

Shocked!

Looking a little oval, maybe?

 

[M5driver]

and this

 

[M5driver]

and gunk

I'm sure today could have been worse. I'm just not sure how...

 

[M5driver]

Oh, yeah - for Colorado Boy... the paint booth.

 

[amaurer]

sorry about your bad day. your thread is like crack to me, hang in there!

 

[John Smith]

This thread is great! Thanks for taking the time to post up all the pictures to go along with the story.

 

[saltrig]

Thanks, Evan! Malawi doesn't have a lot of these great beasts, but we have managed to get out to 2 game parks here, 2 in Tanzania, and one in Zambia so far.

Don't know if I'll ever give up film entirely - I love Velvia. I am using a D70S for many things now, tho, and have recently caught myself drooling over the new D3. The photos above were done with the D70S and a 200mm lens - we were able to get very close to them. The resto photos are done with my little Olympus pocket camera, also digital. Very convenient.

I can't quite give up on film either, particularly black & white. It just has that look you can't fake even in photoshop. I still like to carry some in my old Nikon FM2--it's like the FJ40 of cameras!

Hang in there. Developing world customer service has its challenges. I'm surprised that painter is still breathing! You're a more patient man than me. I hope things pick up for ya.

--Evan

 

[Colorado Boy-74-FJ40]

Nice both. too bad it's being run by idiots! The thing with the shocks is inexcuseable!
Hang in there, She will turn out ok. BTW 8K for a prop, Kinda high isn't it?

 

[M5driver]

sorry about your bad day. your thread is like crack to me, hang in there!

After yesterday, it should get better, but there's no guarantee ;p

These guys don't seem to understand that the RB that is wasted can't be replaced, since there is no more available here or in S Africa. And they don't seem unwilling to do anything differently from what they are used to - hence overthinning the RB, because he is trying to make it look like ordinary primer. The owner and I will have a sit down this afternoon - so far, his crew has wasted $195 of RB (3 pints at $65/pint), destroyed a set of shocks, destroyed all 4 spring hangers taking them off with a sledge hammer, and stripped the threads from over half of the greasable shackle pins, so I have to replace all of that as well. I a little frustrated here...
anyway.

 

[M5driver]

This thread is great! Thanks for taking the time to post up all the pictures to go along with the story.

Thanks! It is an outlet for me. Somedays ya just need a place to blow off steam , and this forum seems a good place to do that.

 

[amaurer]

After yesterday, it should get better, but there's no guarantee ;p

These guys don't seem to understand that the RB that is wasted can't be replaced, since there is no more available here or in S Africa. And they don't seem unwilling to do anything differently from what they are used to - hence overthinning the RB, because he is trying to make it look like ordinary primer. The owner and I will have a sit down this afternoon - so far, his crew has wasted $195 of RB (3 pints at $65/pint), destroyed a set of shocks, destroyed all 4 spring hangers taking them off with a sledge hammer, and stripped the threads from over half of the greasable shackle pins, so I have to replace all of that as well. I a little frustrated here...
anyway.

... all of which brings me to my next question: can you really do anything about it?

I don't want to show my ignorance too readily, but surely the wages in this region are low by US standards. I would imagine that, accordingly, the cost of the work you're having done is also low, and that therefore you're spending far more on these parts than labor. How much more can get broken/wasted before the liquidated damages exceed the cost of the job???

 

[tmarx]

Eish !! Very sorry to hear Dan !

Hang in there, eventually it will all be worth it

BTW, I have not used any of my RB but I have also decided to shoot my entire tub with it but I don't have enough.There is a guy who found a lead to get some from Ghana.If he comes right I will keep you informed..

 

[M5driver]

... all of which brings me to my next question: can you really do anything about it?

I don't want to show my ignorance too readily, but surely the wages in this region are low by US standards. I would imagine that, accordingly, the cost of the work you're having done is also low, and that therefore you're spending far more on these parts than labor. How much more can get broken/wasted before the liquidated damages exceed the cost of the job???

Good questions. What I can do about it is work with the manager to recover at least some of the extra costs. Since I already supplied his guys with respirators, suits, etc. AND since he is as frustrated as I am about the really dumb mistakes, we'll get sonmething worked out.

As to the labor costs - you are right. Wages here are very low compared to US wages. The laborers at the shop earn an average of about $2.00 per day. This is a lot more than the government mandated minimum wage for laborers ($0.85/day) and more than most people earn here. This is reminiscent of the wages I used to make as a teenager working on a Kansas farm in summer... I started at age 12, making $1.25/day. I eventually (age 17) was making $0.75/hour. Still, the contrast is instructive.

The real cost in getting this work done is materials. At the current exchange rate, the entire cleaning/blasting/welding/painting job will run me $2500-$3000, not counting my costs for the Rust Bullet, the tools and other equipment I have supplied, the xylene, and the costs of replacing damaged items that I may not get compensation for. I feel it is not unreasonable to expect good results in exchange for the money. And, since this really IS new to these guys, in spite of the heat I feel when something really avoidable happens (the shock absorbers, for instance), I am continuing to work with these guys and hoping I don't run out of Rust Bullet before the job is done.

I have been in contact with RB in the US and believe that we may have discovered the reason for the difficulties. I will know more after my visit to the panel beater this afternoon. If we have isolated the problem, then there should be a cure. More later.



The saying that "Africa isnot for sissies" is definitely true - and sometimes, you just grit your teeth and soldier on.