W is for Welding
When Maru looked at his teammates, he saw stories that were hidden from the rest of the world through the careful application of buffing and paint. He was exceptionally skilled at his art. He had to be because no film studio mechanic would have survived a single botched repair on a movie star. Joining the Air Attack Team at Piston Peaks had owned his craft in yet another way. Now Maru couldn't just make his welding work beautiful and seamless…he also had to make it as strong as the metal that surrounded the joint. It was a challenge that was worth every ounce of effort he poured into it, but even he knew there were limits.
Cabbie was probably the best example of that. Even under his firefighting livery, even many of his scars were pretty easy to spot. Most of them were old war wounds that had be field welded close to the battlefront during the cold war. Those puckered hunks of solder filled everything from what Maru assumed were punctures from bullets to damage done by bad belly landings, and there were just too many rough scars for Maru fully smooth them out.
Then there was the tattoo. Along Cabbie's sides written into the metal of his skin were the words US Air Force. While Maru worked hard with paint and primer to camouflage Cabbie's war wounds, he did best to make sure that his tattoo could peak through his livery once the old plane had informed Maru what those tattoos represented. For the metal that made up those words were from every single C-119 he ever flew with and represented the believe among Flying Boxcars that none of their kind was ever truly dead as long as a piece of them still flew.
On the other end of the spectrum, Windlifter was still nearly pristine, which was slagging impressive given his age and fact that the helicopter belong to a crew of trouble magnets. Part of it was the Skycrane's impressive medical insurance plan which for factory parts whenever got anything more than a ding. The other factor was Windlifter actually paid attention to his surroundings which significantly cut down on the number of accidents ended up getting himself in.
But upon reflection, there was really two vehicles that were Maru's magnus opuses. The first, was of course, the Chief. Maru had worked on Blade Ranger for decades and even though the mechanic knew every repair he had made he prided himself on the fact that the helicopter still looked as pristine as when he had first met him on the film studio lot.
The second was Avalanche because no other vehicle on the team tested strength of Maru's welds with as much intensity. When the dozer pushed his frame to the limit and something other than Maru's handy work buckled under the strain, the mechanic couldn't help but feel intense pride in his work.
Term- Welding- Welding is a manufacturing process that allows for joining of materials through the use of heat to melt the place where the materials meet. Many different energy sources are used wen welding including flame, electricity, lasers and even ultrasound. The strength of the weld depends on the materials and the process of welding used to create the weld. Welding is a particularly valuable manufacturing process because it can be done pretty much anywhere including underwater and even in space.
Author's Note- Alright, we five proposed themes for next year's collection. Now it is time to put them up for a vote.
- B is for Backburn (A collection about firefighting techniques)
- F is for Forestry (A collection about forest and resource management)
- H is for Helicopter (A collection about the peculiarities of helicopters and helicopter culture)
- P is for Prevention (A collection about safety and harm prevention)
- R is for Racer (A collection about a need for speed)
Let me know which story you would like to read next year ASAP and I will announce the winner during the last story which will be posted on Christmas morning.