Manuals:
4492 - Star Destroyer
7708 - Uplink
7711 - Sentry
7711 - Sentry
8102 - Blade Titan
8103 - Sky Guardian
10721 - Iron Man vs. Loki
30531 - Sons of Garmadon
41629 - Boba Fett
71700 - Jungle Raider
71720 - Fire Stone Mech
71738 - Zane's Titan Mech Battle
75101 - First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter
75137 - Carbon-Freezing Chamber
75144 - Snowspeeder
75153 - AT-ST Walker
75156 - Krennic's Imperial Shuttle
75165 - Imperial Trooper Battle Pack
75168 - Yoda's Jedi Starfighter
75169 - Duel on Naboo
75179 - Kylo Ren's TIE Fighter
75189 - First Order Heavy Assault Walker
75197 - First Order Specialists Battle Pack
75199 - General Grievous' Combat Speeder
75208 - Yoda's Hut
75209 - Han Solo's Landspeeder
75210 - Moloch's Landspeeder
75214 - Anakin's Jedi Starfighter
75228 - Escape Pod vs. Dewback Microfighters
75235 - X-wing Starfighter Trench Run
75246 - Death Star Cannon
75293 - Resistance I-TS Transport
76031 - The Hulk Buster Smash
76034 - Batboat Harbour Pursuit
76101 - Outrider Dropship Attack
76102 - Thor's Weapon Quest
76104 - The Hulkbuster Smash-Up
76107 - Thanos: Ultimate Battle
76124 - War Machine Buster
76140 - Iron Man Mech
76141 - Thanos Mech
76146 - Spider-Man Mech
76164 - Iron Man Hulkbuster versus A.I.M. Agent
76168 - Captain America Mech Armor
76170 - Iron Man vs. Thanos
80010 - Demon Bull King
MOCS:
MOCTFOSF_jaroslawksiaczyk_brickvault_001 - First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter
MOC - Reys landspeeder

T-shirt No. 1 - Motorbike T-shirt.

​Initially, I created all of my T-shirt designs in GIMP, but I wanted to take things to the next level and produce something far more intricate. I had several concepts floating around in my head, but I simply didn't have the artistic ability to turn them into reality.
My first concept was a new motorbike T-shirt.
​
The idea:

I wanted an image of someone riding a Suzuki DR-Z400 through the Australian bush.
Since I didn't have any suitable photos of myself, I borrowed one from the interwebz as the basis for the concept. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but I found a photo of a rider on a DR-Z400 stopped in the middle of a dirt road. As I didn't own the image, I made substantial changes to ensure the final design became its own original artwork. I wasn't creating the shirt for commercial resale, but I still wanted to avoid simply reproducing someone else's photograph.

My first step was to ask ChatGPT to convert the image into a black-and-white comic book illustration, which matched the style I had in mind.
From there, I removed the Alpinestars branding from the rider's jersey and replaced it with my Explorerist logo. I also removed a few distracting details, added a race number to the bike's side plate, and inverted the image colours so it would work better on the black T-shirt.
Although it looked good, something still wasn't quite right.

Then it hit me: I much prefer the look of manga artwork over traditional Western comic books.
So I went back to ChatGPT and had it rework the image into a clean manga style. That completely changed the feel of the design and was much closer to what I had envisioned from the beginning. By this stage, the artwork had evolved so significantly that it had become an original illustration rather than a stylised copy of the original reference photo.
The finishing touch was adding some Japanese text. ChatGPT enthusiastically embraced the manga theme and even included furigana, which was a little more authentic than I had anticipated! After a bit of back-and-forth tweaking the wording and layout, I finally achieved the look I was after.

With the artwork complete, it was back into GIMP to add a rectangular border with rounded corners. (No, Apple—despite the Samsung court case, you didn't invent rounded rectangles!)
The final step was the front of the shirt. I wanted my Explorerist logo to match the manga aesthetic on the back, so I once again turned to ChatGPT to transform it into a manga-style graphic.

With that, my first T-shirt design was complete.

T-shirt No. 2 - Gunnie T-shirt

The second T-shirt followed much the same process as the first. Once again, I had a clear concept in my head, but this time I already knew the finished design had to be in a manga style.

The Idea

If I was going to embrace manga, I wanted a character with unmistakable Japanese roots to represent the Gunnie trade. What better place to start than Astro Boy?

As before, I sourced an Astro Boy image from the interwebz as the starting point for the concept. To make it obvious that the character was an armourer, I wanted him holding some recognisable trade items. I found an image of a Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) for one hand and suggested a spanner for the other.

Of course, Astro Boy is a trademarked character, so I couldn't simply use him. Instead, I asked ChatGPT to transform him into a new manga-style character that captured the same spirit without infringing on copyright. There were a few hiccups along the way—the spanner wasn't being held correctly—so I worked with ChatGPT to refine the pose until it looked natural. During this process, the military clothing also found its way into the design.

Astro Gunnie was born!

This time I fully embraced the manga aesthetic by keeping the furigana alongside the kanji, as it helped explain the slogan. If you're curious about what it says, feel free to point Google Lens at it.

My wife also made a great suggestion. The star on the character's sleeve had to go. The Explorerist logo was a little too intricate to reproduce well at T-shirt size, so I replaced it in GIMP with my bomb logo. It was a small change, but one that made the design both cleaner and more personal.

The front of the T-shirt also needed a matching manga-style logo. I already had one that I'd designed in GIMP for an earlier Gunnie shirt, so I updated the font to better suit the manga theme before asking ChatGPT to convert it into the same illustration style as the artwork on the back.

With that, my second T-shirt design was complete.

Astro Gunnie isn't finished yet, though. Another piece of Astro Gunnie artwork is currently making its way from the United States as I write this. Watch this space; I'll reveal it as soon as it arrives.

It has taken nearly a year and lots of to and fro-ing with the DJI forum. In the end, I just bought a new mic and this has sorted out my drop out issues. Now I just need to allow a couple of seconds before I start talking to allow the mics to sync up and I should be all good.

I've had nothing but trouble with indicators on this bike.

The first set weren't road legal because they didn't meet the minimum spacing requirements, so I had to move them further apart on the rear of the bike.

Next, I fitted a set of Click'n Ride indicators. They seemed like a clever idea, using a guitar jack plug to allow the indicators to be quickly removed. Unfortunately, the jack plugs wore out over time, causing the indicators to rotate while riding or simply fall out altogether.

Round three was a set of flexible, waterproof indicators from Amazon. They sounded promising, but on the very first ride they filled with mud, and the mounting tube pulled straight out of the indicator body. So much for "adventure ready."

At that point I'd had enough. I decided to stop wasting money on cheap alternatives and bit the bullet, spending around $200 on a set of Tuff Light Full Flex Blinkers, made in the USA.

Straight out of the box, the difference in quality was obvious. They use a proper spring-loaded mounting system that allows the indicators to flex instead of snapping or working loose, and the construction is leagues ahead of everything I'd tried previously.

As an added bonus, the indicators also incorporate rear running lights and brake lights, making the bike far more visible to traffic from behind. Hopefully this is the last set of indicators I'll have to buy.

Watch my YouTube short, where I show how they operate.

While processing the photos from my Swallow Tail Pass ride, one particular grave in St Andrew's Anglican Church Cemetery at Tirrannaville caught my attention. It belonged to Arthur Blomfield, and something about the headstone piqued my curiosity.

Naturally, I decided to do a little digging.

My first stops were two of my go-to genealogy and historical research websites: Find a Grave and Trove. Between them, I was able to uncover the story behind Arthur Blomfield and the tragic circumstances that led to his untimely death.

This is from Find a Grave:

ARTHUR BLOMFIELD, a son of Thomas Valentine Blomfield, the first holder of what is now Coolamatong Station, was born at Dagworth, Maitland, in 1831. He came to Monaro in 1853 and took over the management of his father's property. In 1856 he married Annie, a daughter of Col. J. K Mackenzie, of the 4th Queen's Own Regiment, who is said to have at one time owned Dangelong Run, which was managed by his son, Alexander. In 1873 he sold his property to two young Englishmen, Messrs. Edward and Arthur Higgens, who in turn sold it to Mr. W. R. Hepburn. Following upon his disposal of Coolamatong, Mr. Blomfield acquired Murranumbla from Mr. William Rutherford. This he held until his death, which took place at Goulburn in 1887 at the age of 56, following upon a fall from his horse.
​
​Three sons and three unmarried daughters survive. His eldest. son, E. H., is Manager of the Commercial Bank at Werris Creek, the second, T.V., is Chief of the Dairy Branch of the Department of Public Health, and the remaining one, Hugh Mackenzie, is Cooma's well-known Inspector of Stock. In 1891, some four years after Mr. Arthur Blomfield's death, his property was disposed of by Messrs. Garratt and Blomfield (the latter one of his sons), Auctioneers of Cooma, for 14,500 pounds, and almost immediately resold at an advance to Messrs. Morrice Bros., of Marulan. The present owner of the station is Mr. W. Morrice.

This from Trove:

FATAL FALL FROM A HORSE.

On Thursday afternoon a magisterial inquiry was held at the courthouse by Mr. C. S. Alexander P.M., touching the death of Mr. Arthur Blomfield, who died from injuries received by being thrown from his horse on the previous day near the Cooma Hotel. The following evidence was adduced:--

Dr. Morton deposed that on Wednesday evening about half-past six he was sent for to see Mr. Blomfield, and went without delay to the Cooma Hotel, where he was lying; upon examination witness found that deceased was suffering from concussion and compression of the brain; witness also diagnosed a fracture at the back of the skull; considering the case almost a hopeless one, he sent for Dr. Ray to hold a consultation, the result of which was that he and Dr. Ray cut down where they believed the fractured bone to be, and discovered a fracture of the occipital bone with depression; Dr. Ray and witness both considered it a most critical case; the operation of trephining was deceased's only chance of life, and with the consent of Mr. Blomfield's relatives that operation was performed, but without avail; the cause of death was the injuries to the brain described; deceased never regained consciousness after witness saw him.

Andrew G. Finlay deposed to having viewed the body lying at the Cooma Hotel; it was that of Arthur Blomfield, grazier of Marranumbla, near Cooma; he was connected with witness' family, and was at his house on Wednesday afternoon, about five o'clock; when leaving witness' house he said he was going to Tirranna; had was then in good health; about half-past eight witness heard that he had met with an accident; he then went to the Cooma Hotel and remained there till half-past ten; Drs. Morton and Ray were at the hotel; left the hotel at half-past ten, and did not see the deceased alive again; deceased was about fifty-six years of age and leaves a widow and six children.

Benjamin Williams, labourer, living with the late Mr. Blomfield deposed that he came to Goulburn with some sheep for Mr. Blomfield; came to Goulburn on Tuesday night; witness was at the saleyards on Wednesday with Mr. Blomfield; about half-past five on Wednesday evening witness was at the Cooma Hotel, and Mr. Blomfield came to the hotel; he dismounted from his horse, and had some conversation with witness and another man; he gave witness instructions as to what work he was to do when he went back; witness saw that the horse he was riding was rather fresh, and advised him not to ride him; Mr. Blomfield however insisted on riding the horse; witness took hold of the horse's head to try to steady him until deceased had mounted; the horse became restive, and before Mr. Blomfield had his leg across, some one called out to witness to let the horse go, and he did so; the horse then swerved round, and Mr. Blomfield fell from the off side of the horse; he appeared to fall on the back of his head; witness and others immediately picked him up, and carried him into the hotel, and sent for the doctor; Dr. Morton came in about half-an-hour afterwards; deceased was unconscious when picked up; deceased fell on the hard metal road in front of the hotel.

To the police: Two or three others besides witness were present when the accident took place.

Philip Primmer, labourer in the employ of the late Mr. Blomfield, corroborated the evidence of the previous witness.

The Police Magistrate found that the deceased, Arthur Blomfield, met his death by accidentally falling from his horse.

1887 'FATAL FALL FROM A HORSE.', Goulburn Herald (NSW : 1881 - 1907), 5 February, p. 4.

BUCKLEY'S CROSSING.
THE BLOMFIELD MEMORIAL
(From our own Correspondent.)
A meeting of gentlemen interested in the proposed memorial to the late Mr. Arthur Blomfield was held at Mr. J. H. Quill's Dalgety Store on Saturday last, the 28th May. It had been previously decided that a tablet, suitably inscribed, should be erected in Boloco Church, as a fitting tribute of the esteem in which the deceased gentleman was held by persons of all stations and denominations in the district. The meeting of the 28th May was called to make final arrangements as to cost and choice of the proposed memento, and after Mr. H. C. Merritt had been elected chairman, the hon. secretary (Mr. W. Crisp) stated that upwards of £35 had been subscribed, and that promises of some few pounds more had been made. Mr. Paul Garratt, of Matinumbla, who has shown the greatest interest in the movement, then produced designs, &c, And after considerable inspection and discussion the gentlemen present decided to procure from Sydney a very handsome tablet, at a cost of between £35 and £40. A suitable inscription having been chosen, Messrs. Garratt, J. Crisp, and G. F. Litchfield were elected a sub-committee to carry into effect the wishes of the subscribers, and arrange all the details of the matter. The meeting then terminated in the usual manner.

1887 'BUCKLEY'S CROSSING.', The Manaro Mercury, and Cooma and Bombala Advertiser (NSW : 1862 - 1931), 1 June, p. 3.

After weeks off the bike, I finally had my plaster removed and completed my first physiotherapy session. Needless to say, I was itching to get back out for a ride. I didn't want to tackle anything too technical while my thumb was still recovering, but I was keen to get some kilometres under the tyres.

It also gave me the perfect excuse to explore one of New South Wales' hidden gems—Swallow Tail Pass, near Bannaby.

This adventure bike-friendly route winds its way through some of the Southern Tablelands' most picturesque countryside, linking the charming towns of Gundaroo, Collector, Towrang, Big Hill, Taralga, Crookwell and Gunning before looping back to the ACT.

With a mix of scenic backroads, easy gravel, and spectacular rural landscapes, it promised to be the ideal ride to ease myself back into the saddle while discovering another fantastic route close to home.

Watch my Swallow Tail Pass video on YouTube.

I now know that I have not dislocated my thumb, but have actually fractured it. I am now off the bike for six (6) weeks!

This is a segment cut from the kdenlive render, showing no stutters

This is where it stutters on YouTube.

I probably should’ve taken the hint after the first issue (assuming I can recover the video evidence).
I was “just riding along” </mtb-oz> when, without much warning, I found myself picking both the bike and myself up off the ground. In the immortal words of Pontius Pilate: “Stwike him, Centuwion. Stwike him vewy wuffly!” — and struck I was.
The damage? Hard to say for certain. I may have dislocated my thumb and had it pop back in, or I’ve given it a solid sprain — possibly even a small fracture, though I’m less convinced of that. My elbow feels much the same: somewhere between a sprain and something a bit more serious.
It was too late to do much about it at the time, so that’s a problem for tomorrow.
On the bright side, I didn’t split the stitches from the recent surgery — the thumb seems to have taken one for the team.

I picked up a motorbike carrier the other day from a mate who had one going spare—brand new in the box and too good a deal to pass up. Thanks, Tarik. Today was the day to put it together and bolt it onto the car, which all went smoothly enough. Feeling quietly confident, I moved on to loading the bike, encouraged by the manufacturer’s optimistic claim: “Just walk your bike up the ramp.” Yeah… not quite.

Attempt one involved pushing the bike up the ramp under my own steam. That quickly turned into several attempts, each ending the same way—halfway up, out of puff, and carefully backing it back down before things got awkward. So, plan B: use the engine. Simple, right? Not exactly.

First hurdle—the side stand. Of course, it was on the far side. I figured I’d hop on, flick it up, then dismount on the opposite side. Turns out, convincing your brain to casually dismount the “wrong” way is harder than it sounds. Add in feathering the clutch and throttle while stretched up like a chimp trying to reach the bars, and it all became a bit of a circus.

Eventually, I managed to get the bike up there, but securing it was another juggling act—trying to hold the bike upright while fiddling with straps isn’t exactly graceful. Lesson learned: a set of shackles on the footpegs (Thanks, Stu) is definitely on the shopping list to make this process a lot easier next time.

As for getting the bike back off the rack… that’s a problem for future me.

Oh—and I’ve still got to sort out a number plate mount and lights. Always something.