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

Rick Lowe · February 28, 2019, 11:51:55 PM

Nope, I think the cockpit painting is just fine.

Keep on keepin' on...

TheChronicOne · March 01, 2019, 08:49:29 AM

Thanks!! This one is pretty neat, as even though it is old as the hills, the kits cockpit tub there came with all the panel outlines and gauges and stuff molded in so all I had to do was get the colors right and "stay in between the lines" as it were. Makes it a lot easier to keep it all accurate.

Next I'll be doing the control panels. After that, I'll start considering putting it all into the fuselage halves then I do believe this will need 50 billion pounds of nose weight.

Rick Lowe · March 01, 2019, 01:40:41 PM

Yeah, the old Heller, and sometimes Airfix, from back in the day had some nice detailing on occasion.
When it seemed it was a favoured subject for the pattern masters, they went as all-out as they could for the scale/price.

I have become a huge fan on toothpicks for painting small bits, such as cockpit details.
You can't get much paint on the tip without the risk of blobbing or smearing, but you can always go over again, and you have more control than a brush. Or with my shaky, sausage fingers I can, anyway.

NARSES2 · March 02, 2019, 01:55:44 AM

Quote from: Rick Lowe on March 01, 2019, 01:40:41 PM

I have become a huge fan on toothpicks for painting small bits, such as cockpit details.

Agree totally, but they seem to work better with enamels than acrylics. I think it's because the porous nature of my (admittedly £1 Store special) toothpicks absorb acrylics far easier. I also used to used them for detail painting on wargamme's figures, buttons, lining etc

PR19_Kit · March 02, 2019, 09:55:41 AM

I never thought of doing the toothpick thing before, what a brill idea!

Thanks so much.

TheChronicOne · March 02, 2019, 10:14:45 AM

I use tootkpicks as well. Sometimes even on larger areas if I'm doing is a touch up or something and don't want to have to clean a brush. Good thing about the picks is between sand paper and files you can "adjust" the tips into different shapes for different things. Fatter or skinnier for dials and gauges, sand it really thin on one side only for wispy pin lines, etc.

I once use part of a toothpick to make new gear strut when I lost one.

DogfighterZen · March 02, 2019, 12:48:28 PM

Toothpicks are very handy tools for detail painting and even to apply CA glue on some smaller bits where you just need the tiny drop on the right spot.

I also loved to do toothpicks on my bmx bike...

zenrat · March 03, 2019, 02:11:27 AM

The gear knob and pivots in the Stoopid Taxi body hinges are pieces of toothpick. Sometimes one uses what one has lying on ones cutting mat in front of one...

TheChronicOne · March 03, 2019, 10:27:59 AM

If necessity is the mother of all invention, laziness is certainly the father.

Laziness has lead to my latest, greatest "creation" which was simply to hammer a few nails into various places on my computer desk to hang things like sprue cutters and scissors. I love it. Times wasted has gone done, productivity gone up. Being lazy is an underrated character trait.

TheChronicOne · March 03, 2019, 03:34:11 PM

Looks like I sold them 1/48 kits, and managed to do it without leaving the confines of WIM! Very good.

Also working more on the AT-28D Nomad and the cockpit tub and guts are all painted and assembled now.

Some more "refined" modellers will say it's sloppy but *I* think it's just fine and looks great. I need to fix the canopy, however... it has some scratches and marks and stuff but if I can polish it up and dunk it in some floor polish it should clear up nicely and it will be very easy to see inside.

Found an oddity on the kit... on the bottom of the wings, there are two... uhh... things... that aren't on ANY reference photos of ANY variant. Turns out they're about where the gun pods would go so with some clever cutting and re-shaping I ought to be able to re-purpose them instead of cutting them off.

I also will be needing to "make" the bomb racks. One comes with the kit attached to the (terribly moulded) rocket pods so at least there's that, but I still need a couple more. Hopefully I can get my hands on some 250 pounds iron bombs as well.

Also... will be needing to put nose weight in here. I hope there's enough room for it.

TheChronicOne · March 03, 2019, 06:26:42 PM

Now I'm working on the 737 some more. I decided to just get over my anxiety and jump right into moulding this nose gear fairing. It's working very well so far! This Miliput stuff is very easy to work with and I prepared a bit by having a few tools handy to help shape it. It will need a fair amount of filing/sanding but it should work very well!

Any day now I should finally have some $$$$$$ so I will finally go and get some gel CA. Once that happens and I have a free afternoon, it'll be time to cut out all the pieces that go with the gravel deflector plate. I have my trusty sheet styrene but I really ought to get some new hobby blades.

On THAT note... I'm looking at buying a medical grade handle and blades. I've seen this type of thing mentioned multiple times as being ideal for the hobby so I'm going to try it myself. Swann Morten... scalpels.

Lastly, a shout-out to my brother Bryon who was killed 15 years ago today. (vehicle accident, with contributing factors) He was my only sibling. Things have never been the same since. Personally, I have anxiety and don't like certain social situations such as family gatherings. He was pretty much the same way... but... when we teamed up everything was so much better. We were like a binary pair and ever since he has gone it's truly like a part of me is gone as well and like I said, things have never been the same. I miss him very much.

So that's that. Tomorrow should prove to be interesting... I'm relying upon the check I receive for picking up garbage to arrive and if it does, it means I have a day filled with running errands in way below freezing temperatures. If it does NOT, I have a day filled with doing less errands, but still having to borrow money to get essentials like gas and food. Either way, it's going to be a pain in me arse.

Shouldn't last much longer than noon or 1PM however, so I'm planning to dedicate some time to working more on my builds!

TheChronicOne · March 05, 2019, 08:27:30 AM

Not much has been getting done lately thanks to a human element assaulting my mood and robbing me of my energy and motivation. Now on top of it I'm broke, behind on bills, and the stupid check for picking up garbage is late. This is making things even worse, OBVIOUSLY. But what are ya gonna do?! I'm just going to sit around the house all day I guess and with that in mind, I'd like to pick up work again on the Nomad. Yesterday I managed to glue in a few pieces of lead but I think I need a lot more in there. I will transition to BBs somehow (out of lead) and cram as many up front as I can. Glued the wings together yesterday using my new Tamiya Extra Thin. That's some good stuff!! It will take getting used to but I think this will work great when it comes time to glue the miles of seam on the 1/72 B-707.

I also need to cut out the bomb racks.

I figure if I get those two items sorted (nose weight and bomb racks) and I can get back to work on the gunship. Haven't been messing with it lately because it needs a bunch of sanding and I haven't been able to do that in DAYS because of the weather. Even if I can't sand any today, I'll try to find some aspect to work on. I might start "filling" that huge 2mm gap in the wing root now by adding to the wing some putty, then mashing it into the fuselage to cut it off flush where it needs to be. Sound like it should work pretty well and will be easier than working on it later.

TheChronicOne · March 05, 2019, 11:17:11 AM

Heard back from my "people" in Oklahoma City who I contract with. My POC (not person of color, "point of contact"

) straight up failed to submit the damn bill last month. This was after he received it and even sent me an email BACK saying he rec'd it. He fully admitted to it all and owned the mistake but I was pretty heated with him earlier. He said I was right to be upset with him but I told him it wasn't him specifically, it's just that this has reached the point where I'm tired of dealing with it... as it happens 5-6 times a year. Anyway.... check will be here in 2-3 days.

Back to building I guess!

TheChronicOne · March 05, 2019, 05:56:22 PM

The 1/48 kit purge project is 95% done! I sold the kits and all I've left now is to ship them off tomorrow. The sum I am getting is more than fair, considering, so I am very happy! In house, as well, all done right here at WIM.

This is great because of the whole late check situation. Funny, also, how my mood has been improving quite a bit as well.

Anyone who tells you "money doesn't buy you happiness" is full of crap. Try being poor for awhile, then suddenly not being poor, and see for yourself.

But anyway...

Before I get to bloviating and being philosophical I'd rather get back to talking about some builds.

More work on the Nomad, today, indeed. Sad part is, I don't think I was "all with it" and started to make mistakes and now I have a bunch of super glue in a bunch of places I wish it weren't.

Talking about on the outside of the model on the fuselage, etc. This happened as I was adding weight, but long story short, I'm going to have to gently sand it away without destroying the raised detail. I wish I had not been so clumsy but oh well!

Some of the process.

All of a sudden my thoughts are on this new group build and I'd like to participate. So let's see here... I'm already having builds that are quite trying so I'd like to opt for something EASY. So, I'm hoping this idea will work!

I have a favorite Micro-Machine from childhood. I loved the color scheme. So, I figure, I can simply build this kit, transfers and all, but put this neat paint scheme on it! It's a four color wrap around affair.... white, black, blue, grey... Should be fun!

I went and had a look at a review by a feller that had only built on helo kit, and this was it, and he said it was pretty easy so it should work for me as a nice, relaxing build.

Different lighting:

The kit:

If I don't change my mind about it within a day or two, I'll make a thread about it in the GB forum.

TheChronicOne · March 06, 2019, 11:15:31 AM

Back home and stuffing me fat arsed face with McDonalds.

Trying to quit smoking but I AIN'T giving up my McDonald's.

Speaking of, the smoking thing ain't going so well. I had a very very very frustrating series of days/events and a certain person upsetting me greatly and I fell off the wagon pretty hard and reverted to my prior rate. I was doing well, down to 1.5 pack per week and went back to about 2.5 per week. I've gotten it back down again now... but holy crap... it wasn't a walk in the park, but it was "easy" to get down to 1.5 per week but I'm finding it very difficult to get down less than 4-5 a day. I'm so close, you'd think it would be easier, but it just isn't. Oh well... I ain't giving up, I just hope this doesn't drag on forever. I'm going to have to break down and ask my doctor for help at my next appointment if I can't get this done on my own.

But enough of that. I'm having a much better day today. Depression sucks BALLS and I hate it but coming out of the other side is almost like being born again. It's sunny out, I went and got some exercise, I had money finally to buy some groceries and pay back the money used for gas and knowing the check is on the way is all helping and I'm glad to be back home!! Watching James Bond movies and working on builds.

Got them 1/48 kits mailed out this morning. ONE HUNDRED FREAKING DOLLARS to ship them.

Next time I'll just attach some helium balloons and launch into the jet stream and take my chances!

I'm still pleased as punch over the whole thing, so I'm not sweating it. We split the cost of it so it wasn't that bad.

Yesterday I tried Tamiya putty for the first time on my gunship. Good stuff!

This is just the "intermediary" I needed between my glazing putty and Miliput. I do believe, now, with my CA and talc, Miliput, Bondo Glazing Putty, and this Tamiya Putty I have all my fillers covered and should be able to address any situation I come across.

Today I'd like to work some more on the 737. I can finally sand with my exhaust fan on again so I'll try to finish shaping the new nose fairing I made then I'm going to start cutting/finding pieces to make the widgets that attach to my gravel plate. I TRIED to buy some gel CA this morning at the store but they didn't have any and I'm tired of waiting so I'm just going to use regular CA and be very sparing/careful with it.