(FINISHED!) United Federation of Planets Historical Society Beechcraft Bonanza

[TheChronicOne]

The year: 2293
The place: Earth

(UFP AP newswire, San Francisco)
Following the planet wide destruction wrought by the Whale Seeking Cylinder Probe and massive clean up efforts, a previously lost Air Museum was un-earthed, thought to be destroyed following the atomic holocaust of WWIII. The first aircraft to be removed to safety was identified as a "Beechcraft Bonanza," an ancient Earth era 1950's personal transportation craft. Consuming a staggering 2 and half days, the aircraft was repaired to pristine working condition and presented to the President of the United Federation of Planets 8 September, 2287 followed by a tour around the globe with the Federation Arts Recovery and Community Enhancement program (FARCE). 



28 August, 2287. Beechcraft Bonanza post beaming to UFPHS maintenance yards in Utah.

Following the morale boosting tour, the plane was moved to UFP Headquarters where it was beamed into the lobby. Here the plane sat until in turn presented to Admiral James Kirk by the President following the success of the Khitomer Accords in 2293.

As luck would have it, soon after, a group of shifty Klingons loosened the oil cap just prior to a contest between the Admiral and a Mugatu trained to operate an internal combustion engine affixed to a bi-wheeled in line personal transportation device. Midway through the contest the Bonanza suffered mechanical failure after which emergency beam-out was initiated, sending the driver-less plane to plummet to the earth and come to rest in a heap just outside of New New York City.


5 April, 2293. Partially submerged UFPHS Beechcraft Bonanza following sabotage by Klingon Nationalists

At current, the craft has once again been beamed to the UFPHS maintenance yards where repair work is under way. The Society will seek to forego contemporary engineering methods this time around in lieu of archaic means of craftsmanship in order to pay homage to the ancient engineers and builders of the era.

The project is estimated to be completed by the end of the year.



 

[TheChronicOne]

Other than the one(s) that came with the Yak 9 this is the only picture I have so far of my work. The control panel and yokes.

Check out the highly precise instructions. . .

[TheChronicOne]

Wow that's tiny, what scale?

1:72, believe it or not, and certainly the smallest thing I've ever tried to do.

The kit itself is old but the molds used to make it must be even older. QUITE a bit of flash but having said that.... I really dig the construction of it. It should go together quite well once I get past work on the main fuselage which will require putty and etc for a seam down the middle. (and masking of windows and such.. if anywhere, these two places will be where I mess up).  That said, the way this thing goes together sort of lends itself to novices like me and I'm thinking this will be my best one yet! 

[Captain Canada]

Neat stuff ! Nice little read there, cheers ! Just be sure to sea meant parts rightly.

[TheChronicOne]

Neat stuff ! Nice little read there, cheers ! Just be sure to sea meant parts rightly.

LOL!

Those instructions....

Thanks! I figured that the build itself wasn't whif enough, I had to come up with a story.    I ain't no writer, it took almost two hours to put it together but it was -FUN- and I'm really happy with the outcome. It's "Star Trek World" accurate and I put an airplane movie reference in there that I will still leave un spoiled as to let y'all guess to figure out.

[zenrat]

No oil?  The engine canna take it captain...

[Captain Canada]

I just re-read it and still can't figure out the reference 

[TheChronicOne]

No oil?  The engine canna take it captain...

I'm giving her all she gots!    LOL

[TheChronicOne]

Klingons loosened the oil cap, Capt'n. She blew.

I'm not interested in excuses, Mr. Scott!!   

[TheChronicOne]

I just re-read it and still can't figure out the reference 

I'll just be out with it.  In the movie "Iron Eagle", early on there is a scene where the hero flies a Cessna 150 or.. 172 or something... in a race against some teenager on a dirtbike. Before the race started one of the "Snakes," the gang or crew the dirt bikers is a part of, loosened up the hero's oil cap and it causes all sorts of problems.

Here, check out the video on youtube, always a fun scene.. pay real close attention to the morphing livery.... The video starts just after the scene showing the guy loosening the oil cap. I had another video posted a minute ago but it was weird and headache inducing.. something weird in that video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeMzhlRXDe4


Also, bear in mind,also, this is a Mugatu:

[TheChronicOne]

Well, here's an update. I'm lazy at taking "in the process" photos but I'm trying. Had a huge crazing problem with the paint that I actually started a whole separate thread about in the tips tools and techniques forum.

I treated all the pieces identically and did all the work on them at the same exact time yet... with wildly varying results. I just don't get it.  But anwyay, here's some new pics:


CRAZE-y.....   




Top pic the fuselage is un painted although it looks like it is.. I had to do some putty work and such on that and then it's off to be primed. But... see what I mean about the crazing? It boggles my mind because look how nice the wing tops turned out on the right....  like I said, I did it all at the exact same time with the exact same methods and materials.. yet....  ??!??!

Bottom picture is of some of the near microscopic crap I've been doing. Little anetnnas and gear and.... I REMEMBERED TO PUT NOSE WEIGHT IN IT!!! Three cheers!! hahahha  The interior is all painted up and installed so I jammed post-it note pieces and masking tape inside to cover it all up. I have to sand down a seam on the bottom then it's going to get washed, dried, and primed.

Cheers!

[TheChronicOne]

Alright, going to try again.....sanded all the canyones and ridges off of the crazed surfaces and put down a mist coat already. 5 minutes away from second mist coat, so far so good from what I saw before I covered the parts with a dust shield.

Here's the stuff after I sanded it down (looks like it was in a fire or something! One day I might do a whole plane like this and put a super shiny gloss coat on it. . . ) 

[TheChronicOne]

Success! Could be better but I can definitely live with this:

[TheChronicOne]

Before and after. I still had some mistakes but over all I'm getting better. I'm happy with it. Seeing as how I am getting better and progress is being made I'm not going to keep sanding and stripping and filling. I'll just make sure on the next one that I don't make the same mistakes as on this one.







Brad

[TheChronicOne]

Alright, I've been letting the C.R.A.P. dry for a few days, so on to the final stages of the refurbish so we can get this thing back to the Society at UFP headquarters. Seems the decision was made not to put her back in the hands of Mr. Kirk at his own suggestion considering the persistent nature of the grudge holding Klingon lurk-abouts trying to collect the various bounties on Kirk's head . . .. . .



Right now I'm coating everything in floor polish then I have one final bit to mask in order to apply some red frame work to the V tail. I keep having problems with paint running under my masking so, after I mask, I'm going to put another coat of floor polish in the areas to be pained to "build up" the height and seal the edges. If anything, the future will seep under the tape, but, will create a barrier so the red paint does not. A little trick I learned elsewhere. Also can be done with paint itself, of course... mask, lay down another coat of the base paint, then let it dry and paint the second color.  I've mentioned this before a time or two but I thought it was a neat trick and very useful so I want to make sure people see it.   

ANYWAY!!  Look at this, the plane is small enough I can dunk the entire fuselage in the floor polish:




Good times...