The Hindsight of building a balloon

The last post was getting long and boring so i split it in half.

I had a call from a friend the other day. We talked about how my build was going, It really got me thinking about the process of building your own balloon. Initially you need a fair bit of gear if you don't have a support network such as Australia, for example 4 balloons have been cut in Barbs shed in Leeton and Mitch's spend a week there ticking along with his.

Getting your hands on equipment such as tables, sewing machines, materials for the balloon is a very lengthy and testing time for a first time builder that is geographically isolated. I can only now really grasp why homebuilt balloons take so long to be finished. Its all the little things and setbacks that dishearten or tie you up for months on end. I got asked recently when it will be finished. Sadly i give up on putting down dates because its a painfully slow process and overall i have learnt a lot.

Now i have a machine that seems to be running right i have a few little projects to get done like sewing up tank straps and possibly building some tank covers (when the thread arrives). I figured it would be a great time to get to know the machine and get myself up to speed before jumping into sewing.... When i get to that part because at this point i still have to fix one of the panel templates, cut a load of remaining panels, label and sort all the panels.

Besides the balloon i have a survey that recently finished up that i am slowly crawling through the results and graphing everything for the BallooningNZ website that has yet to be finished. It seems a lot of little projects are progressing however larger projects such as the balloon are being thrown to the sideline.