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

TheChronicOne · April 11, 2018, 03:09:32 PM

Busier than ever at work. I stopped advertising last year and stopped taking on new jobs but my existing customers having been adding yards! What am I going to do, tell them, "No?" Some of these people own more than one home or piece of property so it would be bad business to say, "no, I'm just going to keep cutting your original lawn and you'll have to find someone else to do the others." So.... here I was thinking I might have an easier year this year which is what I wanted because I can barely walk sometimes but I have more work than last along w/ the contract doing the trash pick up and irrigation system work for the shopping center. BUT, the good news is, the adjustments I've been making to fight the sciatica have been WORKING and I've felt better the last couple of weeks, pain wise, than I have since June 2017 so I'm not too bothered by the workload right now.

Wait 'til August when it's 113 degrees outside and no wind or clouds and then we'll see how I feel about it...

But anyway, I'm caught up at work now after being a bit behind and feeling better than this morning for sure, so I'm also getting a lot of other stuff done.

Worked on all 3 current builds. (I'm not counting the NAVY F-15 any more as all I've done, literally, is make a thread about it and clip out the two fuselage halves.

I'll get underway soon.... )

The lil 737 has been moved all the way to clear coat and I'll likely start the transfers on it here in a little bit. (IT IS CAUGHT UP JUST LIKE WORK IS! YAY!)

Just before I put a couple more coats of blue on. It is currently hanging in the utility room to let the clear dry adequately.

Also, I grabbed the liberty and assessed what all I need to do to PSR the cockpit area. It's not too bad... not as bad as I remember it and shouldn't take too much to fix. I also noticed the giant pool of glue I dumped into the nose with the weight has caused it all to shrink up and deform AGAIN. God, I'll never do that again. PVA only from now on. I thought I'd be alright using the "cold" blue bottler of glue but hell no.... this one and 737 both I did this too and both have had severe melting, shrinking, and have had to be filled and sanded numerous times.

For a minute I thought my putty was shrinking but I forgot about the stupid, massive pools of glue I dumped inside that started the problem long before I even used any putty!!

Raptor: It doesn't look much different but the last bit of tape is on and I put down another coat of the base color to keep seepage at bay so. I've also been going through the stuff the stores sit on and figuring that out. Also, cutting the missile bays doors in half and getting the sanded down and I also painted the things the Sidewinders mount to.

TheChronicOne · April 11, 2018, 04:09:39 PM

Ugggh... I knew it.. every time I have a good day, someone ruins it. EVERY STINKIN' TIME. I never make it all the way through a day where I'm feeling good and in a good mood. Hasn't happened in years. (It is nice while it lasts, don't get me wrong.. it's just... I NEVER actually complete a day in a good mood) It's like.... people can pick up on it, yeah? I need to learn how to "cloak" when I'm having a great day and make it appear as if I'm miserable as usual then maybe people won't come at me sideways with the bullcorn.

Long story short, I've been sapped of motivation and all I can do is sit here.

I'm putting all this stuff up and will mess with it another day. I was looking forward to decorating this airliner but not any more.

I'll come around in a few hours, I'm sure, but by then it'll be too late and I'll be tired, etc. No point in ruining my airplane trying to force the issue.

zenrat · April 12, 2018, 03:07:24 AM

You need something to take out your frustration on.
I like to split firewood. I name (out loud) each log for someone who has pi**ed me off and then take a swing imagining I am splitting their head. Very satisfying.
Also, no one else will mess with you - why go near an angry ranting man with an axe in his hands?

NARSES2 · April 12, 2018, 05:55:27 AM

On the upside - at least you have work and more coming in which proves that people are happy with your work

TheChronicOne · April 13, 2018, 03:02:15 AM

Quote from: zenrat on April 12, 2018, 03:07:24 AM
You need something to take out your frustration on.
I like to split firewood. I name (out loud) each log for someone who has pi**ed me off and then take a swing imagining I am splitting their head. Very satisfying.
Also, no one else will mess with you - why go near an angry ranting man with an axe in his hands?

"No, Don't chop wood, Chopping wood is ignorant." -Michael Jackson.

I usually like to burn wood but I never have to chop it... well..... I cut it down sometimes to make it fit but the way pecan trees work and the Oklahoma wind ... oh and all the stuff I drag home from landscaping jobs.. there's ALWAYS piles of wood sitting around needing to be burned. That generally tires me out, for sure.... lot of work hauling it all around and stacking it and standing next to the fireball in the heat. Problem is right now, the weather people are calling the fire danger levels around here "historic" and the wind is blowing about 30 MPH so I'll be leaving them piles be.

TheChronicOne · April 13, 2018, 03:11:31 AM

Quote from: NARSES2 on April 12, 2018, 05:55:27 AM
On the upside - at least you have work and more coming in which proves that people are happy with your work

Oh yeah! One thing I've always managed to do is put out the most top notch work. Last year I was getting 5-6 people a week wanting me to give them estimates to start doing theirs. I had to start turning people down and pulled all my advertising (including that which was on my truck). I tried hiring people but back to back I had people refuse to actually show up to work so all that money went somewhere else.

But yeah.... it's pretty good! I'm busier than last year and I've been looking at my books and I ought to double my income this month versus last month. "Winter Break" is over! In fact, I have two today after I go pick up garbage. Going to be kind of warm, too. I got up at 3:15 AM.

I'd LIKE to finish up the 737 today. I might wind up too tired, though, so no promises.

Going to be a little bit warm and plenty of sunlight today and that combo always steals away my energy and makes me feel ill. Cool and cloudy, I can work all damn day and not be too bothered.

Also be working more on the Raptor, too. Told myself I need to get some of the work on the missiles and missile bay doors and missile mounts done before I allow myself to paint.

TheChronicOne · April 13, 2018, 02:27:40 PM

Well, good and bad news. Transfers are going on but the stupid windows and cheatlines ones are TOO SHORT. Like... I had to put small gaps in each one so the doors would line up on the doors.... I'll have to add in some paint there and also up on the nose where those didn't come together. It would be easy to say "user error" but it's not me, this time.... Either the spacing of the doors is wrong or the transfers are wrong. No problem there, though, but I noticed after I glue one engine on that the pylon for it had an upward angle.... ALL JACKED UP.. can't have that so I tried to adjust is downward and of course the whole thing snapped off so I've had to re-glue that into the correct angle and will need to sand and re-paint it. Lastly, the red transfers for the tail are acting up.... I'll need to use a wee bit of PVA to get them to settle down and STICK and I'll also be needing to come through with some red paint to touch up where they didn't go over the top.

Otherwise, it's starting to look really good!!! Gloss coat came out looking pretty nice, as well. It looks like an airliner for sure and if the last gloss coat works as well as the first this thing is going to look great, despite all my mistakes.

I wasn't going to take a picture of it AT ALL but I figure since it's flipped upside-down it won't ruin the "big reveal" too much to snap a quick, low quality picture of it.

I'm ALREADY looking forward to the next airliner. I think I'll do a little bitty one. This 737 is pretty small but I have one even smaller; BAC 111! Lil feller is about half the length of the 737.

I can choose British Caledonia or Aer Lingus.... Both are quite nice old school liveries with proper cheat lines and none of this wavy swooshy crap. I'm leaning on Aer Lingus . . .. .

This was a bonus kit. I bought a Trident 1C for $22 after shipping and the box seemed heavy..... turns out this lil guy was in there with it!

That's it for now I guess. I think I'll start working on the Liberty a little more or something . I can sand right now and that's what it needs.

TheChronicOne · April 15, 2018, 04:53:21 AM

Doing my taxes, AGAIN. The hell... I did this already almost 2 months ago but apparently it didn't "take." I sort of remember the thing wanting me to make an account, AT THE END, AFTER I ALREADY DID IT ALL, and I think I might have just gave up at that point? I can't remember so I'm just doing everything again and this new eFile site I'm using is somewhat frustrating. It won't let me put it any information about all the money I spent to make the business run. SURELY that stuff is important? All the fuel and new equipment I bought? The losses I incured from people not paying me? The million dollars of general liability insurance? My vehicle liability insurance?

Good God, this stupid thing says I owe the federal government over $2,000 and when I did it last time it said I owed $340!?! This is frustrating to no end.... I've been working on it for two hours now and am no closer to the end than when I started. I'm thinking I'm going just have to file an extension then try to find out why in the hell it is that a business owner is expected to eat business costs when if I was employeed by someone else all this stuff would be deductible.

Not a good way to start the day!!!

Otherwise, I have to go pick up garbage then I have one lawn to mow (It's below freezing right now, I sure picked a good day

) then I'll either be back messing with this tax stuff or try to get the 737 finished.

zenrat · April 15, 2018, 05:04:08 AM

I feel for you Brad C. I can only imagine how badly designed that website must be.

TheChronicOne · April 15, 2018, 05:19:58 AM

Thanks, bud.

It's terrible. I gave up and will try another. 2.5 hours down the drain. I'm so frustrated right now. It pages for... "Enter income and expenses" but it would ONLY let my put in my income. No matter how I tried to do it, it would never let me input anything about my expense. So, I'll go back to the IRS page and pick another "trusted" eFile vendor and do it all over again. If I can't get it to work I'll just file an extension. I only have until midnight on the 17th to get this done so.........

I've done my own taxes the last two years but I've moved into a new tax bracket and the fact that it comes from a sole proprietorship instead of me working for someone else, it's monkeys things all about in big ways. Even after I get it all figured out and get my deductions, I'm still miffed about the fact that a person making the same exact amount of money working for themselves as a person who works for someone else has to pay wildly different taxes. I don't get it... that person gets to keep a lot more of their income than I do because I have to put back ~30% of all I earn into overhead... all that gas, repair work, oil, insurance, etc. JUST SO STUPID.

But anyway.... next year I'm going to go back to using the free tax prep people that I had been using and see if that works. Probably wont because all the forms and stuff are different. If not that, I'm going to just hire a CPA or something. I wish there were a way to hire myself as an employee and give myself a W-2 instead of doing all this 1099 crap but I think that may constitute fraud or something.

TheChronicOne · April 15, 2018, 09:46:02 AM

Extension filed. This is making me in too much of a foul mood and whether or not I get it filed today, tomorrow or the next day, I won't be able to PAY on it until later anyway so I need to file the extension regardless because I won't know WHAT to pay until I actually file and now this way I have time for that if things keep going wrong. What's stupid is they say, "Oh, you still need to PAY by the 17th of April, but you have until October 15th to file." UHHHH, how the hell do I know what to pay if I haven't filed?! So stupid. One has to come before the other. Turbo-worthless says I should just GUESS at it and mail it to the government not knowing what I ACTUALLY owe. So stupid.

To hell with this nonsense, though. I'm going to finish my last cup of coffee then see what's going on around here. Going to find something to paint on or something. It's windy again, so no sanding and yesterday before I WAS going to sand the wind kicked up so I didn't get that done, either.

Typical...I mention that I'm going to sand so the wind changes direction in under 15 minutes to where I can't.

TheChronicOne · April 15, 2018, 12:23:31 PM

The other night after I decalled the 737-400, I took the opportunity to do all the transfers that were ready on the Raptor stuff. Wasn't a whole lot, but it's another 10-12 transfers out of the way and less to worry about.

Turns out what I thought were "little" fuel tanks that stored inside the weapons bay (why I came to this conclusion??? I'm not sure!!!) are actually JDAMS.

Well, I already painted the damn things Doo-Doo Brown so .... ... ... I don't want to change it. Maybe the Somalis painted them all so they wouldn't stick out so much in satellite photos or something. Who knows... I might paint the fins a different color, though.

Now.... we having the RED STUFF on the tail of the 737 go all to hell so I'm going to have to paint that on. Laaaaaaaame.

I wanted to use PVA to get the ends stuck down.... they are supposed to wrap around the curves at the front and rear of the fin but wouldn't stick on their own. So, I tried to put the PVA on them today (done this plenty in the past with no problems) but these things just wouldn't stay together and started crumbling. Oh well!! I'll clean it up some more then get to painting I guess.

Huh!

Oh well, the rest of the transfers seem to be working fine and look stellar!

TheChronicOne · April 15, 2018, 04:02:51 PM

Throwing in the towel on the infernal Boeing 737!!!!! Gloss clear started to eat my transfers. They were all crackling and bubbling and stuff so I just put the thing in the corner to dry. Hopefully it won't be so bad after everything dries up. All I have left is to take of the remaining masking tape and do away with any ridges that built up along the edges. Uhhhh..... there for a minute I was having a really nice, shiny and decently smooth finish but this thing just won't die and is determined to kick my azz no matter what. Still... I'd wager it probably looks OK.

We'll have a look at that later but for now I FINALLY got some half way decent pictures of the Fokker D.XXI.

"That'll do, pig."

I know it's too glossy but for some reason I couldn't tone it down. Some did, but a lot started turning into a candy coat!

Oh well.. For now I'm going to swill some beer because it's my weekend and I am CAUGHT UP at work thank God!

Here in about half an hour or so I'll peel the masking off the 737 and see what kind of end product we have...

TheChronicOne · April 15, 2018, 05:32:17 PM

Book me a flight and get me the hell out of here!

Mistakes and problems all the way to the very end, including after lifting the last masking tape! It's STILL not right!

But, you know what?

I looooooove it!

Mistakes galore.... but.. I picked up a great deal of knowledge on this one and some tricks, to boot. Next one will be even better. Gimme some more!!!!! I love me some airliners.

NARSES2 · April 16, 2018, 06:11:05 AM

Fokker looks good mate, as does the U.S. Airways bird

I sympathise re your tax returns. I have to admit however that my experience of filing my Tax on line with H.M.'s Inland Revenue was pretty good. The online form was easy to use and fairly quick. Now that I'm retired they don't want to play with me however