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

[TheChronicOne]

OY!!!


Cut that out, you dirty Klingons!!

Despite putting lead weight in the very tip of the nose, she still sits on her tail. Luckily, I didn't actually glue the wings to the fuselage. They connect nicely together sans glue and I'm not filling between them, etc.  Makes it good for storing and stuff... but anyway... I plopped the wings back off and I THINK I can take a drill to it... under there... and drill a hole and put some more fishing weight up into the nose... 

Also, I'm --->||<--- this close to popping all the glass out and cleaning it up. It looks terrible up close. I'm confident if I fix those windows this will look really sharp.



EDIT:  Thank God!!!  Ok...  I popped the nose gear assembly off. Got lucky big time. Direct access to glue more weight in....




I still want to do something about the clear parts, however.

[TheChronicOne]

All done, folks....












I LIKE IT!! Right now this is probably my favorite model of all the models I have completed. 

I hope you like it. It was mainly a fun build and I brushed my skills up on it. Had a dozen set backs but managed to over come them all. Well, aside from the winders... they could have been taken off and cleaned up better but I decided not to as they don't look too bad until you get within mere inches. 

Live Long & Prosper,
Brad

[zenrat]

Not bad for a human.

Good job Brad.  Kirk would like it - plenty of leg-over room in the back.

[TheChronicOne]

LOL!!! And... ohhhhh yeahhhhhh....    plenty of room for all that alien "action" huh.......  Orion Slave Girls and morphing shape shifters...   

I'm really happy with how this turned out. I love it...  this is my first ever civil air build and I want to do more now. Not everything needs to be about blowing things up. 

Thanks, Fred!   

[TheChronicOne]

Thank you!  This little plane will go down in history as one of my more memorable builds. It's such a neat little model now and it was good to use up old left over decals and to create a custom scheme. This is what I love about whif art. When people say, "I like it!" I can say, "There's literally not another just like it in the entire universe." 

[Weaver]

Well it was a struggle but you got there in the end and learned some stuff in the process, so a good result all round I'd say. Certainly looks nice now it's done.

[TheChronicOne]

Well it was a struggle but you got there in the end and learned some stuff in the process, so a good result all round I'd say. Certainly looks nice now it's done.

Thanks, Weaver!  There were times, indeed, I wanted to "let it slide" and leave some of the things that went wrong as they were. I'm glad I didn't. As you said, I learned quite a bit. 

My kits will get better from here and with the help from you all I'm becoming more confident in my skills. Some of how this turned out wasn't just my own trial and error, but with the helpful advice from the forum members.

If not for y'all, I don't think I would have had the motivation to take on my mistakes and try to correct them.

I started out wanting this to be really nice; this one wasn't "just practice." Ideally I would have practiced on something else first, but, I WANTED to build this thing really badly, so I couldn't wait...  lol   I'm just happy to say that not waiting didn't prove to be a mistake. I will love and display this little Bonanza for years.   

[Cobra]

You did a Top Notch Job What's next for You? This was Cool & Well Done,IMHO! Dan

[TheChronicOne]

Hi, Dan! Thank you so much, that makes me smile! I'm glad you like my airplane.

I started a blog here. In it I try to not only talk about what I'm up to, but also inject some amount of humor or other neat anecdotes as I post pictures of my builds while I go along. I talk about my methods and such but I also try to keep things interesting with my pictures by not only showing my build in progress but showcasing a kit from my stash as the background in some of the pictures I post. 

I try to make it fun for everyone who might happen to my thread. Even if my current build is run of the mill, perhaps the kit in the background is interesting! Win/win, as far as I'm concerned. I think it's a neat way to carry on about my business. Interesting things for ALL modelers and enthusiasts.

Here's the link to that:
http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,42778.0.html

Before I started this "blog," I posted about and completed a couple of weird builds:

http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,42694.0.html

http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,42665.0.html

Here's the first whif I did, a "Terran Empire" p 51



And this weird Yak



More info about both in those links.

From here forward the majority of what I do will be in the Chronic's Research and Aeronautics Project thread.

[TheChronicOne]

Back to answer, "what's next?"

I'm eagerly awaiting 1 October.  That's when the Old Kit Group Build begins! I've begun two separate threads there:

http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,42766.0.html

http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,42808.0.html


Good stuff goin on, bro! 

[Librarian]

Hey Brad, that's a lovely little plane. Ballsier than me....I hate mixing red and white on any model. Even on the workbench (top of an old atlas propped precariously in what little space is left to me by the rest of the family) I try to keep the tins separate.

Anyone else noticed that all you have to do is touch a tin of red paint and your fingers have mysteriously become caked in it .

[TheChronicOne]

My man.... it was a constant battle.   THANKFULLY I coated the thing in floor polish before I painted the red. Sprayed on the white and let it dry up real good, then, brushed the red. Every time I got red all over the wings or what not, if I was fast, I could take a paper towel and dip it in thinner and take it right off. No problems and the thinner didn't eat into the white  thanks to the floor polish.

That said, I had to do it numerous times and... good lord, I know what you mean!!  I even decided that I might go pick up a box of latex gloves. It was getting old to have to constantly to wash my hands or drape my hands with paper towels before picking up the model.

Thanks, I'm glad you like my plane. She's my favorite.