Introduction

[skintkarter]

Hi, my name is Richard Pykett and I'm a 57 year old bald, porky, grumpy insurance broker from Auckland New Zealand. Used to be an engineer in a former life, before owning a small panel and paint shop and then stumbling into selling life insurance. Because I'm stupid and stubborn (ex-Yorkshire UK) I built a piece of software to run our insurance business and then allowed myself to be coerced into commercialising it. So now you know where all the money has gone. For sanity I have a half-decent workshop - 4 post hoist, tig, mig and arc, 8 foot folder, 4 foot guillotine, 4 foot rollers, Stanko NT40 Universal Mill, Graziano SAG180 lathe and a Stanko 500mm stoke shaper called Olga... Kids have given up karting and we are building a Group 5 BMW 320 replica with E46 M3 power as a track day car to keep them off the streets. Big box flares and a giant wing. Also am part way through building a Bugatti Type 35 replica from some old drawings. Alfa running gear with a supercharger, but externally should be pretty much spot on. Gradually building up my sheetmetal gear, have just finished my wheeling machine and an air planishing hammer. Next project is a decent bead roller or swage as we call them in this part of the world. Thanks for having me.