Chronic's Research and Aeronautics Project (C.R.A.P.)

[TheChronicOne]

I have yard work and outside work planned for today but If I DO get to work on projects today, other than what I'm doing this morning before work, I plan to get on with the Shiny Mitsu. It will be time to grab me sanding pads/polishing pads, some water, and start in polishing on this. The whole idea of sanding on something and it not winding up more dull is admittedly one I can't grasp yet. Supposedly, at some stage of working up the grit-ladder, the subject goes back to shiny and eventually becomes better than ever. We'll see!  The article I was looking at also mentioned the plastic polish, a liquid stuff, that he used so I need to look further into that, too.

[TheChronicOne]

*************HERE'S THE ARTICLE YOU KEEP LOSING, BRAD***********************


http://www.scaleautomag.com/how-to-models/how-to/2008/12/great-paint-from-spray-cans-part-i

[zenrat]

That's a good article.  I remember that issue and I thought he cheated by using a car body with the minimum of sharp edges.   They are my achilles heel as I am always polishing through the paint on the corners.

IMO though "contest quality" car models usually exhibit an unrealistic, out of scale level of shine.  Something that would only really be accurate if you are building a show car that had many many layers of hand polished lacquer.  Mass produced cars simply are not that shiny.
That's my opinion and it's based solidly on observation and has nothing to do with the fact that I rarely get my car models as shiny as I want...

[PR19_Kit]

That's my opinion and it's based solidly on observation and has nothing to do with the fact that I rarely get my car models as shiny as I want...

But it's nevertheless true. 

[TheChronicOne]

Won't catch no arguments from me!  I'm just interested in getting rid of orange peel. Only thing about the shine that I'm worried about is getting what I have now back after I start sanding. If it somehow gets MORE shiny, I won't complain, though, but that's not my goal at all... I'm just on a quest to hunt down that Orange Whale. . . 

According to ol' boy here, though, like magic, at some point during the process the sanding pads stop dulling the thing and suddenly start making it shinier again. Like a bell curve if we were graphing the level of sheen.      And, of course, I don't even know if this type of paint is even compatible with the process.. It's quite a bit different than "normal" paint. I mean... simply touching it can ruin it...so.. what's going to happen when we put polishing pads on it?! 

Here's the thing though; at the very end of this experiment, if it fails, how will I know whether it was because I did something wrong or the paint?!      I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get there but I hope the whole sanding and polishing WON'T wreck the paint. It's no biggie if it does because a couple more coats sprayed on will get me right back where I am now, it just means that interpreting the result will be a crap shoot.. 

[TheChronicOne]

[zenrat]

Not wanting to be a negative nelly but I think by trying to polish the chrome paint you'll remove it.
I base this on my experiences with Alclad chrome which comes off just from handling.
However, I hope I am wrong and you end up with something so shiny you gotta wear shades.

[TheChronicOne]

That's what has recently been giving me pause.. when I re-found that article it made me think about the difference in paint. I think I'll stop work on it and dig up some more information about this specific brand and style of paint.


I DO know this...... the stand I painted up to see what the paint was about? Well, I took one of the sanding pads to it, and I think it was the big grit one even, and it dulled the poo-poo out of it.   Now.....  I wasn't following the process... but still, seeing as how this paint is different.... I just don't know. I'm suffering from lack of info about this specific paint. 

If  anything, I'll start on one wing only, on the underside, and do it all the way to see what happens. Then I won't have to repaint the whole thing. 

[TheChronicOne]

Oh hey!!! I almost forgot, but I finally came up with a name for the RAF Anti-Flash Aerothing.


Morningstar!!       I just need to settle on manufacturer. Existing one or a brand new made-up alternate universe one?   


I guess I ought to take the time for an update real quick.... 

Not sure how much I'll get done today as I plan on doing more yard work, BUT, I need to sand off a bit of the green paint I sprayed on the Mustang then I can go ahead and glue the pontoons and struts onto the plane itself. This is the part where I hope all the connecting points line up well with the fuselage.     At this point I'm probably going to let it sit for a couple days so nothing gets knocked loose.

After this it's time to research my silvery paint to see how receptive it is to polishing or if I should just leave it alone. If I need to leave it alone... I need to glue back in/on all the stuff I busted loose then I need to re-paint the interior and glue the windows back in. Then I can start decalling it I guess.

Need to do some more sanding on the ridiculous seams on the Morningstar then it may be time to finally glue on the wings. I still need to do a little work on the Ailewrongs, as well, so I can glue them to the aforementioned wings. I can also glue on the tail fin. After that..... here comes the fun part... putty for the wing roots.

[TheChronicOne]

Well, I didn't get ANYTHING done that day as I sat around the entire time waiting on a check to arrive that never did. When something like that happens, it saps all my energy and puts me in a really foul mood. I didn't do anything but just sit here waiting on the mail man. He never showed but it wasn't until nearly 5 PM that I threw in the towel.

Check didn't arrive yesterday, either. I'm not a fit throwing baby so I've been working this contract the last two and a half weeks without pay anyway. Well, this contract requires money to do... I have to buy the bags and of course I have to GET THERE and this place is on the opposite side of the city. Well, after 2.5 weeks of no money coming in (other than ONE $40 lawn) I've burned through my rainy day fund and exhausted my line of credit. Long story short... I've no fuel to get to work. They're not going to like it, but I'll be on the phone this morning once 8AM arrives to let them know that I can't get to work, even if I wanted to. I sure as hell ain't about to walk out there.

Consolation prize? I'm going to sit here and work on models.    Not like I can do anything else anyway.... no one is awake.... no stores or businesses are open that would help me in anyway.... sun won't be up for another hour or more.... so.....   not like I have a lot of options here.

To that end, I'm working on my Floatplane GB aircraft. I'm at the point now where I can glue the plane itself to the pontoons but I'll need to let it sit for a few hours so I guess I'll be back to these other projects.

I'm going to go ahead and do the research on this silver paint project to ascertain whether or not this stuff is able to be sanded/polished. Just before this, however, I'd like to get the wings glued onto the Morningstar so they can sit for awhile and them maybe later I can start putty on the wing roots. 

[DogfighterZen]

Sucks when people "forget" their part of the deal... hang tough, better days will surely come.

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks, man. It is tough... especially when I make phone calls about it. Tired of having to baby-sit people. Phone calls don't seem to do much good. Typically a company in my position wouldn't start in on the "really annoying phone calls every 6 hours" type of thing until the payment is more than a month late so I've only made 3 calls. I was told the check was mailed a full week ago and here's the thing... they come from Oklahoma City, which is just 100 miles up the road. There's no way in hell something mailed from there would take more than 2-3 days to get down here. I could have WALKED up there and gotten the damn thing and walked back by now. 

[scooter]

Sounds like the check is stuck in a Walking Dead time warp.  You know, where it takes 7 seasons to get from Georgia to Virginia.  Also sounds like this contractee when to the DJT School of Business and majored in shafting contractors.

My father had the same problem with some of his customers.  If they hadn't paid or picked it up, and the car was still sitting in our driveway, he'd bring it back to them, but with something wrong...like the key superglued in the ignition.

[TheChronicOne]

 

Agreed on ALL counts. 

[PR19_Kit]

One of my customers once got uptight about paying for my travelling time to his site to do a calibration job, even though it was firmly noted in the contract.

After six months waiting my boss got upset and suggested I '....do something about it.....' so I went onto the site to see another customer there, went round to the system that I'd calibrated, put my small screwdriver in the adjustment pot  hole and then phoned the guy who wouldn't pay. I suggested that he came up with a cheque pretty fast or I'd UN-calibrate it. 

It took maybe an hour, and lots of people coming to try and tell me it was going to be paid etc. until they finally showed up with the cheque. RESULT!