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

[TheChronicOne]

No plans!! I'm coming home today and I want to work out in the yard doing yard chores and other things that are outside since the weather will be nice. Won't be many nice days left. The mowing season dragged on a little later that it used to so I'm not having much of a window here before Winter really sets in.

Buuuuuuut.... I'm going to stop at the store this morning and get my paint so more than likely when I'm done with the outside chores, the stuff requiring primer and black paint can be sprayed. 


Man, I wished one of yous lived closer. I lure you in with subterfuge and the promise of coffee and herb and next thing you know you're raking my leaves for me.      (aka, I wish I had some help )

[zenrat]

You wouldn't have to try very hard to lure me.

However, the tyranny of distance...

[TheChronicOne]

Man oh man.  I started at 6:45. It's 11AM and I'm still on the front yard.    I'm trying to do a really thorough job because I won't have to mow it again this year so however it is left today is how it will look for the next 3 months or better.   I'm already half-assing things by mulching the leaves instead of bagging them. Still looks like a millioin bucks and turns into lawn food but it ALWAYS looks better bagged.. oh well...  I have to pick my battles here.

Thanksgiving tomorrow... so... I need to roll off to the liquor store and grab some beer.  Time to eat lunch, as well. My check showed up today but I wasn't counting on it until Friday. Not sure I'll even put it into the bank. I was thinking of doing my shopping on black friday so I can possibly get a discount but for all I know the vape store and the video game store might not be doing a damn thing as far as discounts so I could be wasting my time. I don't want to do that because I need all the time I can get to do this lawn!!! But then again, I suppose nothing is stopping me from getting back to work on it in a day or two???   Only thing is is that I haven't checked the weather for Friday so not sure if I can work that day or not.  That' something I can do over lunch I guess....     

[TheChronicOne]

Well, I went and bought Red Dead Redemption II and even installed it (takes a couple hours, game is HUGE). But, I'm so worn out from yard work that I'm blase about it right now. I would prefer to be ...  I dunno... more enthusiastic? Right now, I wouldn't enjoy it!  So.... I opted for a more relaxing and more familiar turn of events and started working on builds. I went and got my primer this morning so I ran through all the kits I'm working on and picked out anything ready for primer and got them sprayed up.

So:

737 Fuselage. It looks good... boy does it look good but I did notice one place where a window hole used to be that will need addressing and I haven't finished work on the undercarriage housing yet either (on purpose, I decided to go ahead and prime and then fix the stuff the primer highlights at the same time I finish the housing thing).

Main wings of the 737, so that takes care of all the flight surfaces. Only thing left now are the engines but I have neglected to sand the seams down so they'll have to wait.



Primed most of the props and spinners for the ATR-72. All that is left is the rest of the prop that was covered by the clothespin I used to hold it.

Primed the uhhh... laser cannon or whatever in the hell it is that goes on the F-52.

Primed the gear for the ATR-72.

Forgot to spray all the doors I lost then found the other day!! Paint has gotten cold, now, though... oh well... .next time.



I think that it's! So, I have plenty of stuff to paint on next time I get to work on these. 


In other news, the yard is coming along nicely. I almost called it quits around 2:30 but lunch started to take effect and my energy was coming back so I kept going to 4. I'll be back at it Friday and I don't know if I'll finish or not but I'll work all day again if I can. I'm determined to wait to play my new game AFTER I get this yard work done. Hell, I was delayed two weeks getting it anyway so what's a couple more days..  work before play.

Also... Friday.....   time to go Vape shopping. I'm going Friday because I'm hoping to get some sort of sweet Black Friday discount or something. That'll be my opening salvo, in fact, "hey, I was hoping you might have some sort of thing going on for Black Friday....  "   Now.... whether they do or not, they might cut me a break ANYWAY just to get my business. In fact, I pulled the same sort of trick today when I bought that video game and got about $15 knocked off the price.     So that's that, if it's not somehow beyond my budget, I'll have one of the final things in place in my plan to quit smoking ciggies.  Stay tuned for that. I'll be busy Friday with the yard and my game but at some point within a couple days after I'll get all the vape mess figured out and then it will be official and I'll be legitimately trying to quit the blasted ciggies. 



Sheesh, I really ought to start putting pictures in these long winded posts. Must be boring as hell reading this sometimes.    I'm too tired to be arsed with pics of the stuff I primed (and ... well, that's nothing quite worthy of pictures anyway, to be honest...  who hasn't seen a primer grey wing....   )  but I could put like... pictures of cute dogs or... something..       

Ahh well...  TTYL.   

[TheChronicOne]

Random image to spice things up:




So... huh... let's see here... it's going to be in the low 70's today. Yard work!! I need the exercise and the yard would benefit from tidying up so I will continue this process.

98% on that video game I'm trying to finish. I'd reeeeally like to finish it before I start the new one because I'll likely not come back to it if I don't.

I'd also like to do a tiny bit of model work to at least advance something. I have some small stuff to work on. That landing gear that flew out the window needs a bit of fixing concerning the paint. Then, on the ATR-72 landing gear, I can paint them. I can continue the process of PSR on the 737 as the primer has dried now and I can see the flaws. It's not so bad, really. Still very rough but that's easily fixed with the sanding. I was more worried about the windows and doors and those are for the most part in good shape. They will, however, need some fixing on. Probably some skim coat of filler here and there and definitely needs more sanding and likely will get a couple more coats of primer to help things along. Otherwise it's just a matter of sanding down scratched and marks from earlier use of coarser grade sandpaper.

Random Picture:

New Staple City.

I figure if I get all that done, then I'll start on the aforementioned 98% finished game (something like 6-7 missions left) THEN, if it's not too late, star Red Dead Redemption II!!!! 

Real world: I have to go to work, of course. Today is Black Friday so I'd like the shopping center to look nice so I'll do that but then I need to stop and get fuel, stop and get groceries, then , yes, I'm away to the vape store!!! If want I want isn't too expensive I'll get one and then I'll start puffing on that bast@rd and smoking less and less actual ciggies!! 

Lots to do today.... wish me luck. Something is likely to not get done but I'll try to get it all in there. It's nice and early, though, so I should have a good shot at it. (not even 4:30 AM yet so I'm not pressed for time by any means     )

[TheChronicOne]

22-23 hours and I'm STILL not done with the yard but it sure looks good. I could call it done if I wanted but I think I'll get back to work on it Sunday if it's not windy/ too cold. I'm at the point now where I'm having fun with it because I've invested so much time and I'm seeing very delightful results. I should have taken "before" pictures of it. Too late to bother now with "After" pictures because without a frame of reference, the message is lost. I might snap some anyway.. we'll see.

Still, I was wanting to be done with this by 1PM and it's now 5 so I've lost 4 hours. Something in my plan has to give so I guess it'll be Red Dead Redepmtion because I need to finish the other one first!!! BUT.... this way......... I can ACTUALLY start it and get into it Sunday after work and have the whole day to mess with it (aside from any yard work I do and since all the grass but a tiny bit is cut and three major clean-up projects were done I can knock-off any ol' time I want and come inside!). Also, I think I'll dispense with working on any builds and get right into the game. That's sort of OK though because I worked on it (737) a little this morning before I left so...at least SOMETHING was done!


Glass Sculptures.

Also: stunning magnificent success! Even though I was way behind, I took a hour and went vape shopping. Sure enough, I scored a sweet discount for Black Friday (meager, but, still.... saved me about $20    ) and bought me a vape and this sort tobacco pina collada type vape juice with it. I sprung for a nice model that has lots of options to tune the thing. All sorts of adjustments and settings to control how smooth or harsh it is and how big of cloud you want. The stuff has nicotine in it so that is covered. So far I like it.... but there is a learning curve and I'm going to be fumbling around like an idiot for a few days until I get it all figured out. It's weird smoking on this thing, you're supposed to do it pretty much like how you would a ciggie but it's weird and I keep trying to hit it like it was weed.     Cough cough cough. BUT, I'm getting better and when I do it right, it's nice and smooth, but "hits" good like a ciggie and makes a nice cloud!    So cool!! It already vanquished one ciggie, too. For now, it works!! I still need to figure it all out the rest of the way but I guess it's official now and I'm going to start to smoke less and less ciggies and more and more vape.

(HEY, I CAN SMOKE THIS IN THE HOUSE!!!!!!!      It doesn't stink or anything! lol)    I love this thing!!! I'm making glorious clouds right now! 

[TheChronicOne]

I vanquished two more ciggies last night. Pretty good. In fact, it got to the point where I stopped smoking them I guess. I was drinking beer and I normally smoke with my beer but I did the vape thing instead and I made it the rest of the night without any then went to bed.    So far no ciggies today yet, either, and I've been up 2 hours.    We'll see how it all goes after I take a shower and start drinking my coffee.

Plans for today... well... I was going to do NOTHING in preperation to go to work tomorrow but I've decided to play hooky because I have to shift my schedule by a day in order to make a dr.s appoiintment that I already had to reschedule once. Don't want to be pissing them people off, ya know; they write my prescriptions! Wait'll til the doc hears I'm trying to quit smoking. So... since I moved things around, I have found myself with a free "bonus" day to play around!! No work, though.. I've worked enough lately... I'm going to just paint and work on models for awhile then I'll shift over to finishing this video game I'm trying to finish... again... wow... this thing is dragging on and on. Normally that's good.. .ya know....the game is packed full of content but...  I'm ready to be done with it. 

So that's the plan outline, more specifically now I plan to work on painting the wings of the 737 (I'm already well under way, it's just a matter, now, of putting Boeing grey on the main wings then painting the silver strips on those and the tailplanes with a coat or two of clear mixed in here and there... ) and also to PSR the fuselage some more for the next round of grey primer. I still need to work on the engines and do a small bit of touch-up on the landing gear that flew out the window.

If I can, I'd like to spray the F-52 with the black at leat. I don't have to start the rest of the paint job just yet, but, at least doing this will make me feel better.

Not going to bother the ATR-72. Well, no, I take that back.. I suppose I can paint the props and the gear but the plane itself is in purgatory again waiting on the paint to fully cure. This is a pet project so I do NOT want to screw up the final portions of the finish. If I ruin these decals or wind up with crazing all across the top after the final gloss coat I'm going to be very sad. I seek to avoid this and if it means this thing sits around in the cupboard for weeks at a time, so be it.

Doubt I'll get to the glider. If I get even half of the stuff above done it'll likely mean I'm into the afternoon hours at which point I'll be on the nearly finished video game because I'd like to FINALLY play Red Dead Redemption II by no later than early evening.

EDIT:  Forgot to add a random picture!! I think I'll start posting pictures of old builds instead (until I run out)  but anyway!!

This is what I consider to be an appealing shade of green:

[TheChronicOne]

Hit a snag. I can't tell whether the wings on the 737 are Boeing grey or NMF. In typical fashion, I can find plenty of pictures of the plane on the net just NONE from the top or bottom. One or two sort of from the bottom but it's shadows on the underside make it to where you just can't tell....    From what I can gather, they're NMF all the way around with the Corogard stuff in the middle.

Oh well..   I still got some stuff done. I put more filler on it. Skim coated a bunch on the fuselage and then filled in the gaps on the gear housing. Running low on time so I'll get back to it again another day. I also did the repaint work on the main gear that went out the window and  matte cleared it again. Primed all the gear doors finally. I even put more primer on the fuselage right over the top of the skim coat stuff to help it along by filling in tiny scratches and stuff. I'll let it dry up 2-3 days real good then I'll sand it down and prime it again and it might be ready for appliance paint! 

Also.....   I painted the F-52 black and hung it from the ceiling. I hope no dust bunnies fall on it but it should be alright.



That's it for now. A pretty productive round of model building I'd say. Nothing went wrong and I'm further ahead than I was for sure. The research snag is a bummer and I lost time to that (and productivity.. now I can't paint the wings and the stabs I already painted could well be wrong....  ) but I've had worse problems occur. If it comes down to it, I'll just paint the stuff from what it looks like on the pictures that just barely show the wings. I have one clue already; on one picture I can't actually SEE what color the wings are, but I CAN tell that they are a different from the "Boeing grey" areas on the fuselage. At least there's that.

Here's a pic I took the other day after I piled all current builds aside from the 737 into the same box. Looked sort of neat.

[zenrat]

Good going with the smokes Brad C.

[NARSES2]

Good going with the smokes Brad C.

Yes, indeed. I've never smoked, which is unusual for someone of my generation, but having known many friends and "others" who've gone through the whole giving up thing can appreciate how difficult it can be. I had two good friends who'd tried and tried in the past but never succeeded. Vapes do seem to have helped both give up in the last year or so, so keep up the effort mate. You'll be rewarded by it in the end 

[Rheged]

I'll add my congratulations on what seems to have been a ciggie-free day. I'm another one of the Narses2 generation who never started but I've  several friends who had a real struggle even  getting to the stage you seem to have already reached.

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks y'all! This is a process and I still barely know how to work this vape but I've already "displaced" a bunch of smokes with it so I'm headed in the right direction.    In fact, I'm right on target for now.   I am not foolish enough to set a hard date for when I finally smoke the last actual ciggie but the plan is for it be sometime in the first quarter of next year. I can have it coincide a little bit with the "new years resolutions" malarkey.  Good stuff!!   

Here's the DOWNSIDE. This vape stuff is just as expensive as ciggies. That said, they have two days a week where they run specials. Tuesdays the stuff is 30% off and then Friday you get a free one with a purchase of another so that helps. But uhhh... I was spending $21 a week on ciggies and the vape juice could be about that or more depending on how many cumulus clouds I'm unleashing.

Now.... from TREMENDOUS STUNNING SUCCESS we go to.....


UNMITIGATED HORRIBLE DISASTER!!!!!!       

I Have no clue what went wrong but it's apparent these brands of paint are not compatible. I just can't use this stuff on models I guess. I'm talking about my cheap $1 a can paint that works GREAT until I try to pair it up with the brand I use for priming and clearing.     

What I'm getting at here is that the black I sprayed onto my F-52 has gone tits up. I've never seen anything like some of the weird effects that occurred on the finishe. Braille like bumps, swirls like as if from an oil slick (maybe I should have washed it again but I normal don't "wash" primer), crazing, orange peel, you name it. This whole thing will have to be sanded now. Oh well!  Guess I'll let it dry up a few days then do that. Shouldn't be no big deal then I'll just come through "old shool" with my paint brush and put the black back and go from there.

Nothing else to report! After a day of playing hooky I'm now in rest and relaxation mode so I can go back tomorrow and pick up garbage. Might even cut a lawn. I've been hiding one on my back pocket. Empty lot I can do whenever I feel like and the people who own it stay out of town. I guess I can go do that so I can get the money for it which I need again all of a sudden.                       



EDIT:   Oh yeah!!!    Random picture time!     This time it's a couple of my old builds. Mustangs!!!

[Tophe]

Nice old Mustangs!
Obviously they require company, so keep on making models/painting or try to do so...

[TheChronicOne]

 

Will do!!! I do really like modeling the Mustang. Always fun and relaxing and so many things can be done.

Here's a "modern air superiority" version I made...   

[Tophe]