DIY Life

Batman kicks butt in his latest movie, The Dark Knight, a gloomy yet action-packed flick that scored big at the box office this weekend. A summer blockbuster has been born, to be sure. The stunningly cool vehicles used in the movie are attracting interest all on their own, especially the sleekly menacing Bat-Pod motorcycle.

It turns out the bike was a bit of a DIY job on the part of the film's creators. According to an article in Popular Mechanics, the 'Pod is actually a motorcycle-ATV hybrid, all wrapped up with plumbing parts and some creative duct-work. The entire exhaust frame was custom built especially for the movie, while those massive wheels suffered blow-out after blow-out until the steering was just right. Another cool little factoid: the footrests disguise the bike's radiator.

Speaking of The Dark Knight, the movie's star, Christian Bale, seems to have gotten himself into a spot of bother with the police. Read all about it at our sister site, Cinematical.

What do you do when you have one too many toys to fit in the garage? You could put the canoe on saw horses behind the garage and the Harley could go on the porch, but that would just reinforce those rumors saying someone heard that you might be a red neck.

There are a lot of ways to build quick shelter cheaply if you are just interested in keeping something dry. Although PVC pipe isn't as cheap as it used to be, it still delivers a fairly good value as a building material. That is why I really like these plans for a PVC pipe mini garage from pvcplans.com . I checked out the PDF file instructions provided on the site and they give a clearly understandable description of the project.

If you want to build a PVC framed storage cover for use in windy conditions, you may wish to adapt the above plan to allow a cross buck to go diagonally across each panel segment. I would also recommend considering rigid plastic sheeting as roof material in areas which might experience snow load. Be sure to stake or sand bag the entire bottom edge so your shelter doesn't blow away like a tumble weed.

For a cornucopia of ideas about some excellent things you can build, take a look at our DIYLife build it yourself file. It's growing bigger every week! You can find leads on interesting projects such as how to Build Your Own Coffin, from M.E.Williams or building a humidor with Francesca Clarke . Please feel free to tell us about projects you are building!