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

[TheChronicOne]

Never mind the stash stuff. I'm going to press on at least for awhile with the Liberty! It's all glossed up and ready for Chronic-Blend (TM) transfer water. 


Painted canopies are a death sentence for builds... but.... I don't care. I think this little feller is looking pretty nice! If anything, all the work blending the disastrous canopy and surround came out great so there's that.









The canopy makes me sad, but I did the best I could to make it look decent as far as straight lines and stuff. I wasn't about to re-mask anything so I did it free hand... but I like it!  Beats the hell out of 30 more hours of "fixing" it and buying a new set of glass. 



Bordering on spamming the place, aye? At least I'm not repeating myself any more and have pictures this time. 



EDIT: No... no, I will not be continuing with this. I haven't trimmed or made a plan of action for the transfers and looking at them just now they have un-even fat borders of clear that will need to be closely trimmed away. Also, It'll take some concentration to pick and choose the ones I want along with the extras from my separate letters and numbers sheet. These transfers came from an A4 but it's an aggressor so they're not the same as regular USN markings. Some are smaller, some are absent. This will require my full attention.  I'm not wanting to do all that, so, rather than force the issue, I'm going to stuff all this into a box and go bomb Nazis or something.     

TTYL

[strobez]

Geez... I haven't checked-in for a while and look what I've been missing!  That F-22 is fabulous.

I'm not sure what the deal is with the painted canopy is (and I'm a little afraid to ask), but the Liberty looks like a prime candidate to just "go to town" and try some stuff.

[NARSES2]

That F.22 has come out well sir 

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks!!  That was an interesting build. It's not THAT new any more but overall one of the newest kits I've built and it was pretty interesting to work on. I have to say, I think it's really nice! Model kits have come quite a ways. More parts than I'm used to. A ton of transfers. A ton of steps. Miles of tape.   --- I need a 40 year old Warbird build to cleanse the palette. 


The Liberty... welllllllll..............  after I had got the glass on then did a mountain of PSR work and the like it was fine but the FUMES from some of my putty got inside and fogged it up.        So I had to tint that bad boy.  Win some, lose some.      At this point I'm happy with the overall production because it's quite a bit different from an F-5 so even if the fuel probe looks like the guts from a ballpoint pen (totally unintended but there it is!  ) and there's a Vampire driving it I'm fine with it. I even dig the high gloss. Normally I'd tone that jive down at the end but I think I'm going to turn this into like a high gloss desk ornament type of model.     

"If ya can't beat 'em, join 'em." 




NOW, I have a stack of kits to open up. Last weeks spoils.     

[TheChronicOne]

Glorious stuff I opened!!!  Still waiting on some more so I'd rather post it all at once. Stuff from Canada always takes a long time to get here for some reason.



Not a whole lot of plans for today yet. Work is going to be treacherous. I'm still behind with the lawns because of the rain last week but having multiples each day means I'm making money!! More bills paid, more kits bought.     IT's going to be HOT and bright today so I got up at 2:45 this morning and will leave out to pick up trash at 5:15 or so. Should be able to get all the trash picked up while it's dark (for the most part, lots of light out there) and hit the first lawn as close to 7AM as possible which is the earliest time legally allowed in Lawton. One lawn I have today is a beastly Don King affair but the other would should be pretty easy. Hopefully I can make it home by 11AM.  By then it's pretty hot.



So, the main thing today, obviously, is to start the transfers on the Liberty. Plenty of time today to do it right. I'm glad I didn't try to force the issue the other night.

After that, I'm finally going to start my glorious Sea Eagle. Seagle?   I'm not sure what I'd like to do first. I might "switch things up a bit" by trimming out and painting all the fiddly bits first to get it all out of the way before I start main construction.

Here's the cool thing about this project: I took a look at my two F-14A kits and between them I have 6 Phoenix missiles. That's good because I can cram 4 onto my up coming real world Jolly Rogers build. That is................. IF it's historically accurate that way!!! I need to do some research. But anyway...... 4 on that then I have two left over to put on the F-15! Nice!   The remaining F-14 will have NO phoenix missiles when I eventually build it, but that's alright, as it will be a whif.


There's the agenda for the day... let's see if I can stick to it! 

[TheChronicOne]

This thing just won't die!  The transfers will not work. Falling to pieces. Only ones that worked are the out of register roundels. I guess the layering is holding them together. SO..... now, I find myself unable to finish this silly thing so I'm just going to throw it on the shelf of doom and one of these days some usable Navy stuff will find its way to me and I can finish it up.


OH well... moving on!!

I have a question and maybe someone can help me out here. I know for certain I've seen heavy objects on the outer rails on planes and lighter ones closer to the body so..... I'm just wondering... is there some sort of rule for putting weapons on an Eagle? I want to put AIM-9x2 on the inner weapons stations on the wings and put AIM-54 on the outers. Doing so simply because the pieces work better this way as designed and if I switch them I'll have cut some stuff. Nothing major but still.... and..... I think it would be neat to have the AIM-54 on the outside rails so that they are easily seen! 

[scooter]

I have a question and maybe someone can help me out here. I know for certain I've seen heavy objects on the outer rails on planes and lighter ones closer to the body so..... I'm just wondering... is there some sort of rule for putting weapons on an Eagle? I want to put AIM-9x2 on the inner weapons stations on the wings and put AIM-54 on the outers. Doing so simply because the pieces work better this way as designed and if I switch them I'll have cut some stuff. Nothing major but still.... and..... I think it would be neat to have the AIM-54 on the outside rails so that they are easily seen! 

Real world, the inboard stations are closest to the thickest part of the spars, so the heavier ordinance goes there (I think).  Why not 2x Phoenix on inboard stations, 2x AIM-9, 2x AIM-120 on the T-pylons, and 2x Phoenixs on pallets on the fuselage? 

[TheChronicOne]

I have a question and maybe someone can help me out here. I know for certain I've seen heavy objects on the outer rails on planes and lighter ones closer to the body so..... I'm just wondering... is there some sort of rule for putting weapons on an Eagle? I want to put AIM-9x2 on the inner weapons stations on the wings and put AIM-54 on the outers. Doing so simply because the pieces work better this way as designed and if I switch them I'll have cut some stuff. Nothing major but still.... and..... I think it would be neat to have the AIM-54 on the outside rails so that they are easily seen! 

Real world, the inboard stations are closest to the thickest part of the spars, so the heavier ordinance goes there (I think).  Why not 2x Phoenix on inboard stations, 2x AIM-9, 2x AIM-120 on the T-pylons, and 2x Phoenixs on pallets on the fuselage? 

Real world, the inboard stations are closest to the thickest part of the spars, so the heavier ordinance goes there (I think).

That's what I was thinking and makes the most sense but I've seen loadouts with the heavy junk on the outside and the lighter stuff on the inside. Like....  a Sparrow or something inboard and a big heavy MG pod on the outside. Either way, having looked closer at the wings and the slots for the pylons I'm going to have to put the Phoenixes inboard anyway or they'll either be poking out too far in the front or will interfere wit' me control surfaces on the backs of the wings. So... it's academic now. I'll have to cut off the rear 1/4 of the AIM-9 pylons (so they also don't run into the control surfaces) but I don't see how that would hurt anything. I'll go back over all this and double check right before I do the actual work to be sure.

Why not 2x Phoenix on inboard stations, 2x AIM-9, 2x AIM-120 on the T-pylons, and 2x Phoenixs on pallets on the fuselage?

AIM-120s won't work because they're too new, this thing is 1991 Vintage. That leaves me with the Sidewinders, Phoenixes, and 4 Sparrows.

So, for now from your help, I'm rolling with the 4 sparrows on the belly, 2 Phoenixes inboard, and 4 AIM-9 on the outboard T-pylons. I think that ought to work.     Many thanks for the help. It's good to have someone bounce ideas off of and help me get things straight!!!  Never fails, just when I think I have things all figured out......   


Now.. I think the only other "oddball" thing I'm needing to do to this thing in the way of modifications is figure out how to do a new tailhook. I snagged a nice beefy one from the Raptor I just built to replace the flimsy Fisher-Price Baby's First Tailhook on the kit, but I'm not sure if I want to just attach the new one back there just hanging off the trench between the engines, build a housing for it, or just cut the head off and glue it in place where the old one is.

[scooter]

Why not 2x Phoenix on inboard stations, 2x AIM-9, 2x AIM-120 on the T-pylons, and 2x Phoenixs on pallets on the fuselage?

AIM-120s won't work because they're too new, this thing is 1991 Vintage. That leaves me with the Sidewinders, Phoenixes, and 4 Sparrows.

So, for now from your help, I'm rolling with the 4 sparrows on the belly, 2 Phoenixes inboard, and 4 AIM-9 on the outboard T-pylons. I think that ought to work.     Many thanks for the help. It's good to have someone bounce ideas off of and help me get things straight!!!  Never fails, just when I think I have things all figured out......   

Just to keep it perspective, 57th FIS, the F-15 squadron up in Iceland, had 120s when I was there in 92-93, so they'd still fit in your timeline.  They also had one of the MiG-killers from Desert Storm assigned to the squadron.  Damn, I wish I had had my camera with me that shift.

[TheChronicOne]

Why not 2x Phoenix on inboard stations, 2x AIM-9, 2x AIM-120 on the T-pylons, and 2x Phoenixs on pallets on the fuselage?

AIM-120s won't work because they're too new, this thing is 1991 Vintage. That leaves me with the Sidewinders, Phoenixes, and 4 Sparrows.

So, for now from your help, I'm rolling with the 4 sparrows on the belly, 2 Phoenixes inboard, and 4 AIM-9 on the outboard T-pylons. I think that ought to work.     Many thanks for the help. It's good to have someone bounce ideas off of and help me get things straight!!!  Never fails, just when I think I have things all figured out......   

Just to keep it perspective, 57th FIS, the F-15 squadron up in Iceland, had 120s when I was there in 92-93, so they'd still fit in your timeline.  They also had one of the MiG-killers from Desert Storm assigned to the squadron.  Damn, I wish I had had my camera with me that shift.

Oh nice!!!  I didn't know that.. I thought they were first used sometime in the mid to late 90s. Shows what I know!  Knowing this, I think I will go ahead and swap the Sparrows out for the 120s.   Having them aboard will be neat. Cutting edge brand new stuff at the time so I'm digging it.   

I feel your pain on the MiG killer...   That's like being in the same room as a movie star!   (well, to nerds like us anyway.. . ..    )

[TheChronicOne]

Yay!!!      I've finally started my Eagle! 

Since it's a Group Build "thing" I'll mainly be talking about it over there so if you're interested, check it out!!   :    http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,45075.new.html#new



My poor lil Liberty....  I'm going to have to find some transfers for it before I can finish it off. It's so close, too, what a shame!!!  Oddly enough, I have very little USN stuff in my stash so I'm just going to have to find a cheap A-4 set to buy or have a kit come my way in an eBay lot with what I need. I have a couple odds and ends but they are either wrong size (stuff from an F-14) or from the wrong thing (Goshawk) and just won't work.  I'll figure it out eventually....   


Next things to consider are the BAC 111 and the Cousteau PBY-6. Not sure which I'll start first but look forward to seeing pics of this stuff soon, along with standard copious bloviating!   

[zenrat]

I'm sure I have more than one USN set Brad C.  And as I rarely build US you are welcome to one.
Let me know if you are interested and i'll list what I have for you.

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks, mate.  Emphasis on smaller subjects as these and the Skyhawks are itty bitty. With the cruciform tail and slender fuselage a lot of stuff simply won't fit.     Man this entire thing is fraught with danger. lmao 

I was just going to wait and buy another A-4 in a couple weeks and use those but then again I hate to see good decales go to waste. 

Doesn't hurt to see what you have, for sure, so yes, please!!

     

[zenrat]

Okey dokey.  I'll do it at the weekend.

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks! If you don't find anything, no worries. I'll find a nice little Skyhawk kit on eBay in a couple weeks and buy it to turn into a whif and put the RW transfers on the Liberty. 


Plans for today.... HMMMM...   I don't know. I think I'll go ahead and not make TOO many plans other than I will definitely want to finish painting on the missiles on my Sea Eagle. All but the Phoenixes, that is. They'll be done later because I'd like to do them and make sure I get all the markings and stuff right. These AMRAAMS and Sidewinders I just grab a model I've already completed and copy the missiles by looking at that because I know they're accurate.

I'll get more into that over in that thread though.



For here, I suppose, it's about time to get started on another build! I'm going to stay at three this time and try to keep them all simple until Summer time is over at least. I think what I'll do is kind of blitz through the initial stages of the BAC 111.   Most of it already trimmed out and some things already done by the previous owner but not much... I think the wings are together and that's it other than the fuselage already being clipped out. I'd like to go ahead and put any weight into the nose that I need. PVA ONLY on that stuff!!! I learned my lesson last time!!!

Then, it's time for some flyin' boat action!!! Time to build the PBY-6!!!!  I have no idea yet on how to approach that build beyond the obvious and I'd rather not even think about it until I have the stuff in my hands. I just know it's going to be a neat project. So far, if I can stomach the rivets I seem to recall (sometimes they bother me, sometimes they don't! ) I'm planning to build it completely stock OOB. That's the whole point. Keep it all original for my Cousteau display that I have imagined in my head.