Thread: My propensity for buying faulty goods continues.

Originally Posted by Old Farang

Are you referring to Changi International Airport? The "new" airport opened December 1981. Prior to that the International Airport was Paya Lebar, which did only have a small terminal building, along with the tropical smell that you recall!

(WTF is it with this small print appearing? It has happened a few times)

No, it was 1977 as mentioned O.F. I'd never even heard of Changi in respect of an airport just the POW stuff, & I wouldn't have thought there was enough space for two airfields had I done so. I passed through Changi two years later & even then it was still a bit rough & I guess was still being constructed.

A few year after that when i passed through it seemed much more finished so in '81 it would have been completed..

Small story.

While in the UK I bought 2 Cavalry sabres/swords & I had to declare those on the way in as I had carried them from London as carry on Baggage. NO problem,, they would be held in the Customs Store & handed back when I left for OZ. Fair enough.


On leaving after a few days I had a docket & the Customs bloke said to follow this other guy & he would take me to the Store & retrieve my gear.. So I fell into step with this little uniformed bloke & followed him. As we went along I thought it was curious that he seemed to stop & pass the time of day with the Stall Holders & didn't appear to realise I had a plane to catch. On & On we went & eventually I just had to ask him WTF was he playing at. or words to that effect as it is not the sort of question you can aim at a uniformed servant of the Singers Govt in it's uncensored form.

Turns out he didn't realise he was supposed to be my guide & either bloke #1 didn't tell him or he didn't hear him. Got sorted & it was a bit of a hurried trip back to the gate nearly missing my flight. But I did, but strange things can happen to lonely & forlorn looking travellers.


As it happened your post came on the same day (today) that the Security Alarm bloke called to have a look at the system which started to alarm @ 03.00 for a few mornings & nothing was apparent.. YIKES! Mouse nibbled wiring it was as it turned out, but to get to the cabling I asked him to see if he could see a Sword amongst all the other loft stored junk & detritus there it was under a heap of old books & souvenirs from the days of yore. I knew it was there somewhere but I couldn't hack trying to find it. The first one has always resided in an old Golden North 10 Gallon Galvd milk churn which we use as an umbrella stand & other misc sticks. Now it resides with it's mate & has been cleaned up & the sheath lubricated ready for any malcontents & ne'er do wells that may pass this way with evil intent in future. I wonder how far I would get today going aboard with two cavalry Swords as carry on baggage? Buckley's chance I recon.

The good old days eh.

Originally Posted by p38arover

There were only two in stock at Bunnings and I bought the wrong one.

Guess what?

Yep, you guessed it, this one's faulty in it's own way.

I screwed up the mounting bracket - that was a job in itself. The screws were made of cheese and the heads screwed off.

Anyway, I mounted with my own screws, switched it on, and watched the power cord get dragged down into the fan assembly. It seems it is overlength in the casing and got caught on the motor which, as it rotated, dragged the cable in.

So now I have to dismantle the fan to get the cable out. Gahhh!!

I wonder if that was the reason the first one I picked up had the power cord cut off.

Originally Posted by scarry

You won't believe it,we got a little BA14LMY compresser today,and the rubber bungs were missing out of the pipes.

FFS,i must have run over a black cat.

Or all of a sudden got Rons luck

I bet you laughed while cursing the bastard that supposedly sealed it up.

No, it was 1977 as mentioned O.F. I'd never even heard of Changi in respect of an airport just the POW stuff, & I wouldn't have thought there was enough space for two airfields had I done so. I passed through Changi two years later & even then it was still a bit rough & I guess was still being constructed.

Don't want to labour the point, and it is off topic as well, but I was in and out of Singapore, actually had an office there in 1977, and Changi was still a military airport. I also flew out of the "new" Changi Airport on one of the first flights, which was a few months before the "official" opening in 1981.

There were 2 runways at Changi while it was a military airport, and the (short) north - south runway was still in use after the civilian flights started.

Originally Posted by superquag

First chilly night for a while, turned on the electric blanket..... BANGG ! Frightened the ...... out of me, as flame erupted from the controller. Worst is, it's hardly used though more than a few years old, and never for more than an hour to take the ice off the bed...

Yes, exploded electrolytic capacitor and the vaporised thingy was a diode...
The burn mark was from the switch contact, so i've binned the whole thing.

Question, - why so complex ? - but I suppose it's got TEMP sensing and cut-off in that lot. On board fuse was protected by suicidal cap / diode.

No TEMP sensor
Just an electronic simerstat by the looks of it
What the hell do you need a electric blanket for, you live in Gosnells, it doesn’t get that cold🥶🥶🥶🥶

Originally Posted by scarry

You won't believe it,we got a little BA14LMY compresser today,and the rubber bungs were missing out of the pipes.

FFS,i must have run over a black cat.

Or all of a sudden got Rons luck

Speaking of cats, I notice some of my cat's tinned beef mince looks more like soup these days.

Originally Posted by Old Farang

Don't want to labour the point, and it is off topic as well, but I was in and out of Singapore, actually had an office there in 1977, and Changi was still a military airport. I also flew out of the "new" Changi Airport on one of the first flights, which was a few months before the "official" opening in 1981.

There were 2 runways at Changi while it was a military airport, and the (short) north - south runway was still in use after the civilian flights started.

Nor me OF. It was my first foray to proper OS (apart from PNG) & it was dark when we landed & all the activity was under floodlights NS Runway? how would I have known which direction was which? Changi, Heathrow. Bullamakanka? Who cares? Where ever it was, Jets were screaming in & out on a regular basis but that is not the point of the story. There was no big sign board saying WELCOME TO (insert a name here) I know it wasn't Alaska.

It was just a little story started by someone about the age of Electronic goods if I remember rightly & of my reflections of something I purchased yonks ago which is going ok 40 years later.
You obviously use Airports a lot, I don't these days. Things change.

Originally Posted by 4bee

I wonder how far I would get today going aboard with two cavalry Swords as carry on baggage? Buckley's chance I recon.

The good old days eh.

Back in the mid '70's I bought an ex-military 98K Mauser from a Melbourne gun shop, no license reqd. in those days. I removed the bolt and placed it in my carry bag along with 100 rounds, slung the rifle over my shoulder and walked to Flinders St station in peak hour and caught the train home. Didn't raise an eye brow.

The good old days.