Zenrat's Flying Circus

[ericr]

Oh well, c'est la whiff...

[zenrat]

I'm fluent en francais me...

So today, other than more fiddley bits of El Beau I progressed with the Kraz.
Takom have really outdone themselves with the parts breakdown of the seats.  Is it really necessary to provide in 1/35 scale an exact replica of the drivers seat suspension system complete with prototypical parts breakdown?  Given that it's invisible when the cab is all closed up?
I think not.
So because of this annoying obsession with many tiny parts the progress was really rather minimal.

[zenrat]

Close to finishing El Beau.
Today I painted 8 rockets, the outside of the UC doors and the props.
Props need clearing, rockets need a second colour & clearing and UC doors might need a second coat & deffo need clearing.

H21 doors are now painted and everything a got a coat of clear in preparation for decals.

And, I did something to the Sea Witch.  I'd stalled with this after re-priming it following the paint removal debacle while masking the hull.  But it's been sitting there staring at me every time I go into the shed (it's too big to ignore) so today I roughly masked off the top part of the hull with the railings (bulwarks?) and sprayed the keel bit with red oxide primer.  I'll be making it properly later to paint it with Hull Red paint (and the top part black) but this is just to give it an undercoat.
I've decided to go with the colours shown on the box art and in the instructions.  Mainly because that is what my Brother-in-Law will be expecting it to look like and it's his model.
Mind you, I could easilly change my mind and whiff things a bit by using different colours.

[zenrat]

Just decals today.
Piaseki H-21 WIP 25-06-18 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[NARSES2]

And your next patient was ? 

All looks very surgical. She is a nice looker, looking forward to the finished article 

[zenrat]

Heh heh.  I was operating in the kitchen so I brought everything I needed (except the scissors - pinched the nail scissors from the bathroom) up from the shed in the takeaway food container I use as a decal water bath.

I thought I had done all the decals but then while watching a Jet Ranger chasing the General Lee in The Dukes of Hazzard (S05E21 - Farewell, Hazzard) today I was inspired to put large rego letters sideways on the underside.

Sea Witch progress.  I masked the hull and put on some flat black as an undercoat.
I also build the very fancy stand...
sea witch WIP 26-06-18 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[TheChronicOne]

Cracking stand, m8.

[zenrat]

Thanks Brad C.  Took me hours to hand craft that.   

Cleared the H-21 today and started on the fiddley bits.  I then de-masked it.  Canopy masks worked perfectly (first time i've used them) but some sanding dust managed to work it's way inside somehow.  Not much, but I know its there.
My "cut with exacto" masks on the fuselage windows also did the job although there is some flaking to repair after removing them.

El Beau should be finished tomorrow.  Unless i've forgotten something I just have to attach the rockets, UC doors, wingtip lights and a length of Ezy Line for the radio aerial.  And maybe a few licks of satin clear.

[zenrat]

I worked the afternoon shift today so the only time for modelling  was this morning.
When I went out to the shed at 0900 the outside temperature was 0.6 ℃.
Inside the shed it was a balmy 4 ℃.
Did you know that the setting time of gel superglue is retarded at such temperatures?

In the short time I had available (before hypothermia kicked in) I fitted the missiles and UC doors to El Beau, undercoated Javleina's attachments and painted some of the H-21s fiddley bits.

[NARSES2]

but some sanding dust managed to work it's way inside somehow.  Not much, but I know its there.

Yup and the explanation for how it does is surely the basis for someone's doctorate ?

El Beau should be finished tomorrow.  Unless i've forgotten something I just have to attach the rockets, UC doors, wingtip lights and a length of Ezy Line for the radio aerial.  And maybe a few licks of satin clear.

When I get to this stage of the build I make a list and tick them off. Getting old or what ?

Did you know that the setting time of gel superglue is retarded at such temperatures?

Yup, and I had something similar happen yesterday but in temperatures of almost 30C

[zenrat]

Superglue must be like paint and have a "sweet spot" temperature range.
Speaking of which, when driving to work Tuesday and Wednesday (I was on Mornings those days) there were council workers painting the white picket fence around the cemetery in the mist (Wednesday) or drizzle (Tuesday).
Now that's going to be an "interesting" finish.  I must go for a walk and have a closer look.

The fiddley bits i'm painting for the H-21 include the wheels.  There are masks for these included in the eduard masking set I used for the nose glazing so I will be trying them out.  Another first for me.

[NARSES2]

Council workers the world over  "It's on the time sheet gov' so it's got to be done" 

I use Eduard masks sometimes, but have problems with centering the wheel masks so gave up. That is probably down to my eye condition however.

[zenrat]

Did you paint the tyres first and then mask them off to paint the hubs or paint the hubs first and mask them off the paint the tyres?
There are masks to do it both ways but the instruction sheet shows the first way so I painted the tyres today.

[NARSES2]

I tried both methods and still got problems. In all honesty I find it quicker and easier to paint the hubs first and then use a cocktail stick to "run" paint into the defined edge between hub and tyre (assuming there is one) then paint the rest of the tyre as per normal.

Probably my eyes, so be interesting to see how you find them

[zenrat]

Thanks Chris.  I'll let you know how I get on.