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

[TheChronicOne]

Yay! The Nomad is an airplane now. I just need to sand some stuff and make the bomb pylons and glue them on then I think I can prime it. Thankfully, all the fiddly bits are finished so I could be nearing the downhill stretch.



I'm also working more on the Gunship. This kit is having TERRIBLE fitment and it's making things rough. I'm trudging along, however. I'll update the thread for it and I even have a picture of some of the work I've done to attempt to correct some of the ridiculous flaws.

737 is also getting more work done. I'm now starting the process of chiseling out the interior section of the new nose fairing. I'm going to take this slow to keep anything from breaking off...  "what's left" will be pretty thin and easy to damage.


I need something "easy" to do..... with the GB running right now, I think I'll go ahead with my Super Cobra build. Should be easy enough. The painting is a bit tedious being 4 color camo but I'm hoping the construction is a breeze. I haven't looked at any of it yet but I think I'm finally ready to break the seal and see what's inside... .. .

[NARSES2]

It would be hilarious if this was actually what they did, but this is just someone's made-up picture posted on the internet poking fun at the vape community.  Its a piss-take.  It's sort of "in" right now to make fun of people who "vape."   

Yea I knew that....wasn't fooled at all  Shows how easy it can be to fool people, especially over international boundaries where the mores and standards you are used to may differ even if the language is supposed to be common ? There that's my excuse and I think it's a good one 

[TheChronicOne]

      Yeah, I mean.... it fits and works so well that it nears plausible territory!!   I see things more and more often that, considering the day and age, I can't tell if someone is joking or not.


Not too long ago it was going around that a company made a pool float that was shaped and looks exactly like a damned Maxipad sanitary napkin for ladies.        I was like.... "yeah whatever, they just held it (an actual pad) up really close to the camera; forced perspective, they didn't really make a pool float that looks like one... "     Well, turns out they DID. So.... if you want to float around on a giant maxi pad, head to Wal-Mart....   


No clue what is going on today. I need to update my thread on the gunship. I also need to update my long defunct "chronics builds" thread. I keep forgetting about it.     Hell, I have 5-6 things to add to it at this point going back nearly a year I think.

Also, I'm going to go ahead and start thread for my Super Cobra. I started on it last night so I guess it's official. Please Lord let this be something easy and swift.    I seem to be putting my hands on every difficult piece of plastic I can for some reason... F-RSIN, Amodel, Eastern Express, etc.  I've not even been back at the hobby 3 years now and I always said I'd try to do easier kits and work my way up to more difficult ones. SO... YES... please be an easy build.....

Might be able to prime the Nomad today if the PSR work somehow goes swiftly. I still need to make the 4 pylons but that should go rather swiftly. Rule, knife, plastic card... swipe swipe, bend bend, sand sand, glue glue........   Of course, you know what they say, wish in one hand....   

[TheChronicOne]

My better judgment got the best of me and I decided to actually make the nose fairing correct, instead of just "superficial" on the 737. So, for the last hour I've been lovingly chiseling out the interior section and it's now looking pretty close! At some point I will sand the well, prime it, and re-evaluate but for now I just need to make a couple notches in the back part of that forward chunk and it will be finished. I still need to add the bulges to the gear doors, however.



Having gone this far without busting those thin edges, I'm going to put this up and work on my helo. Man, I sure do like Miliput! 

[TheChronicOne]

"Lazy Modeler;" I've been working on the super huey thing for awhile now and haven't made a thread for it yet. Boy, this is fun! I think this is just what I needed to relax. I almost lost my sh~t yesterday when  I found out the third wispy gun barrel was horrible short-shot so ......     I had to make a replacement out of stretched sprue. Guess it was a good thing I made some the other day when I went through my 5 minute crash course on how to do it (super easy).

That's all I worked on, though. Tearing down the building and picking up garbage have taken up the whole day. I am now 98% done with that building, though. One more run to the dump and cleaning up some odds and ends and I can finally cash that one in. Just in time, too, because TODAY is the last day of Winter schedule. Going back on the Summer schedule now and my first yards to more are on Thursday with more to follow through the weekend. In other words, I'm just barely scraping by and keeping the schedule and the season isn't even really started. I can't wait for next winter!

[TheChronicOne]

No work on models today! I spent the whole day finishing the shed tear down thing and then got everything ready to go mow lawns. Short and easy to say, much more difficult to do. I came down to minutes to spare....  less than an hour from sunset and I finally had all my lawn stuff running, then loaded. But, now, I will be able to just hop in my truck then drive off and go to work without worrying about "is this thing loaded, is this thing running properly."

That's all I have to say I guess.     I like Winter because I have more time to work on models.    I'm happy to be back to work mowing lawns and making money but I'm going to miss my bench time.   

Well, that said, after work when I'm done for the day, I should find a couple hours here and there for some guilt-free modelling!   

[NARSES2]

I'm happy to be back to work mowing lawns and making money but I'm going to miss my bench time.

But hopefully the Summer earns the cash to pay for the models for Winter 

[TheChronicOne]

Certainly!!! You're right, and now that I think about it, that's what happened last year and it meant I stayed busy all winter despite adding next to nothing to the stash. 


Actually, I think this year I'm going to continue to NOT buy a whole lot of kits and if anything, keep buying supplies and tools. Ever since I started trying stuff that is made specifically for model building I'm finding that it's NOT a "rip-off" and "they're just re-branding common crap and saying to use it on models." Turns out, a lot of this stuff really IS geared and tailored for working on models and winds up saving me loads of time and frustration. Last thing I bought were these sprue cutters:



Sure enough, at $17.50 they seem a bit pricey (at least not the $35 for the Tamiya and other super fancy ones...  I plan to buy a set of them, too) but they're worth it because I'm not mangling the wee delicate parts and the "clean up" after sanding down the remnants of sprue gates is much quciker, etc. These things will pay for themselves in time saving very quickly.

So, yeah, the plan this year is less kits, more kit.

[Old Wombat]

Not a bad plan, Young Brad!

[NARSES2]

Ever since I started trying stuff that is made specifically for model building I'm finding that it's NOT a "rip-off" and "they're just re-branding common crap and saying to use it on models." Turns out, a lot of this stuff really IS geared and tailored for working on models and winds up saving me loads of time and frustration. Last thing I bought were these sprue cutters:

That's very true for some articles Brad and sprue cutters are a great example of you get what you pay for. There are some things where the generic version can be as good and sometimes even the £/$ Store item can be as good, but the latter is quite rare. One of those things where you learn by your experience.

[TheChronicOne]

Yeah buddy. I love my dollar store glue and sanding blocks. The sanding blocks... man.... brilliant.....  I buy 5 at a time and "stock up" in case they for some reason they stop carrying them. 

[NARSES2]

and "stock up" in case they for some reason they stop carrying them. 

Non modelling, but I did exactly the same thing this morning. Our local £ Store does a particular type of kitchen paper roll that I find does its job brilliantly. They had a new stock this morning so I bought 5 just in case 

[TheChronicOne]

I like having a home "store" and I keep things in their original packaging as long as possible and do like you did, buy in bulk. It's good to walk from one room to another to get something instead of having to go out.

In fact, I bought enough weedeater string to last about 2 years and it arrived this morning.     A bit pricey on the front end? Sure! But I save a lot buying in bulk and also won't have to worry about it again for a long time and the money I save driving and taking time to repeatedly buy smaller rolls over time has gone away.

Also bought a 4 pack of deodorant the other day.     SHOULD get me to winter I'm hoping although I've never really paid attention to how long one of them lasts so who knows. 

[zenrat]

Carefull, it's a fine line between bulk buying and hoarding...

[NARSES2]

Carefull, it's a fine line between bulk buying and hoarding...

Very true. I was wondering if I crossed that line myself the other day. One of our "cheap" stores was selling Lens Wipes for 25p a box. I went to 4 of my local branches and ended up with 40 of them just in case they ran out  Really did have to stop myself going back again.