Hi all,

I've been messing about with making my own Camera Stabilizer, Mic Boom, Dolly etc, based on The Frugal Filmaker's tutorials on YouTube. To those unfamiliar with his tutorials, he basically shows how to make pretty much anything using PVC pipe.

Well, to be honest, in a way I wish I hadn't started...

In UK, it is such a painful experience getting any bits to build your own stuff, no wonder we're quickly becoming the a** of manufacturing in Europe. Hoping back and forwards between Wickes and B&Q just to get simple T and Elbow joints really took it out of me. They didn't seem to have anything in stock. As for Stop-Ends, they don't even stock them (22mm). By the time I bought all the PVC fittings and some pipe (ebay mostly), I was already about £30 down on parts just to build a simple PVC cube rig. It's painful watching all the US guys building a full setup for under $20 etc.

Today I just got back from visiting Wickes, B&Q and Halfords on a quest to get a Whitworth bolt for the middle of the rig to mount the camera. Guess what, they don't do them, they only have Metric...

Does anyone know of any UK blog / YouTube channel that does DIY DSLR builds using "UK components"? No point trying to get the stuff US guys have because it's almost impossible to find and extremelly pricey in RIP-OFF Britain.

Thanks, and apologies for the rant.