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

[Old Wombat]

... I build for ME, damnit! ...

The ONLY attitude to have for a hobby!

[TheChronicOne]

Sho' 'nuff, and here comes another one that fits the criteria!      I finished my B-Cal. F-4F. That's two builds completed in two days.  It feels so nice to get things done and keep the bench breathing.

I need to get outside pictures but I took some inside ones anyways of which these are a couple:





More pics and stuff here for this one: https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=46510.0



In other news, I actually started and did a fair amount of work last night on the PSA L-1011. I clipped out and refined parts as I went and managed to glue in a few doors.... the larger ones if IIRC. I also got the wings and tailplanes together. I can probably sand now along the edges to eliminate the seams. They went together well and I used my TET and I think this will save me quite a bit of time later. A lot of the "gaps" will be just fine and dandy after primer and paint. Decent fitment wins the day...     I'd like to increase my build speed on these and I think this is a step in the right direction (opposed to using the slower drying, more "bulky" glue I'm used to).

Haven't done anything to the F-111 yet. I'm pretty motivated right now though. I wanted to play some video games (Cities Skylines..... anyone else play?   ...  It's a City building and management sim) but I dunno if I will or not because I'm having too much fun with my kits right now. So.... might go glue some more doors on the Tristar or finally break out the plastic of the F-111. 

[TheChronicOne]

Yeah buddy!!! lots of folks are out partying and "doing it up" or whatever on a Friday night... I'm comfortably at home working on models!!!       

So I finished the little F-4. Now I'm working on my Tristar again. I'm gluing in all the doors. Having learned a lesson from prior builds I'm gluing them in a fashion that leaves them sitting slightly proud of the fuselage. This will eliminate any future "the area where that door was at is sunken in.. " problems.  I'm going to glue in the windows then fill them in and sand the entire fuselage anyway so this is a good solution. It's taking awhile, though....    BUT, a little time spent on the front end will save a lot of time on the back end.



Sort of large, kind of difficult to work with at my computer desk. I'll make it happen, though. If I can build a 1/72 B-29 here, I can build this contraption. 

[Old Wombat]

The F-4 looks great!

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks!!!! Best F-4 on the planet, I guarantee. 

Work proceeds on the Tristar. I managed to get all the doors in last night. More importantly, they're in correctly! Next phase will be to but some reinforcement glue on them (I couldn't put too much on at the time or they "float" in the glue and "sink" to the "bottom" of the hole creating a depression). I could have done it the regular way and then put putty on them but uhhh... this method, while slower, ensure there will be no sunken areas to begin with.  So after I do that, I guess I'll be plunking the windows in so I can turn around and cover them up. A couple bulkheads go in I think then it's time to put in the windscreen and add some weight to the nose.

While all that crap dries up I'll start working on the gears and gear doors.

This is the plan tomorrow for the Tristar. Whether or not I get started on the F-111 remains to be seen but I'd like to get started on it in some capacity at least. 

[TheChronicOne]

Got better pictures of the Phantom. Go check them out in that thread, here's a couple:






More work done on the Tristar. All the windows are now glued in. Those and the doors are all reinforced. The gear doors that remain closed with the gear extended are also in. Just going to let this stuff dry however long it needs to then Tamiya putty everything and get to sanding. In the mean time, I'll put in the forward bulkhead and cut it in half so I can fill up the nose with BBs. The engines have also been assembled and I'll glue them on the wings after I sand the seams on them. Also, all the gear have been assembled and primed along with the remaining gear doors that do stay open with the gear extended.





So far, this is moving along rapidly. Things will slow down when it comes time to paint, for sure, but I've already been brainstorming ideas to make the masking process run smoother. But....... still, this is moving along much quicker than any "smaller" airline build I've done. Yay for Tri-Jets!

[TheChronicOne]

Need some help! I'm building the F-111 Testbed.



I've done some research but I haven't hit the mother lode yet so if anyone has any links to good sites with information and pictures of this I'd appreciate it. I can find bits and pieces here and there such as where this photo came from, but haven't found a nice "pile" of info.

I'm trying to work out what things I can do away with from the kit. I'm assuming things like weapons rails can go (I sure don't see any in this picture) and probably a couple other things if I'm lucky.


In other news, I've finished working on the Tristar for the day. I glued in the little backing plate thing that goes in the S-curve intake for the #2 engine. A shame that isn't open with a wee bit of a "noodle" to give the faux appearance of the actual intake.

I've also measure and sawed in half both the forward bulkhead and windscreen and glued those in. Reason being, I now have two "cups" to pour weight into. The windscreen will be smoothed over anyway and I highly doubt I'll lose any structural inegrity by halving that bulkhead. It's a tidy solution to adding enough weight.


I can pour weight into both sides and balance it. Couldn't do that with the bulkhead as a whole glued to only one side.

It was at this point I ran into my first "true" problem with this kit. I verified it by holding it up to the other halve, too, but you can probably see there that the roof over the windscreen on the port side is short shot. I'll have to cut out a strip of sheet styrene and weld it in there.

Lastly, I've finally opened and looked at the F-111.    I've started clipping a few things up, too and cleaning up the sprues a bit (clipping away un necessary gates and getting rid of blank bits of tree; getting rid of "visual clutter").   Man... I done stepped off in it again. A lot of this looks rather poorly moulded and the amount of parts and..... stuff.... is a bit confusing. I recal doing a Hasegawa MiG-27 and while not the same thing it's still a very similar configuration overall (swing wing, two poster, top and bottom fuselage with seperate nose piece, etc.) and this thing has a lot more going on. It'll be a challenge.

[PR19_Kit]

Interestingly that 111 is an FB-111 so it has the longer wings and the early Triple Plow 1 intakes, so you'll need to convert it first as your kit looks like a 111E. The FB-111s had three wing pylons to carry the BIG tanks they used, but as you say the one in the pic shows no sign of them.

In the pic the bomb bay doors are open too, I wonder why?

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks!! You save me a world of pain. I've looked further into this and I'll need to make a TON of modifications to this kit. Not happening! I'm seeking a simpler build here...        This is going back on the shelf. I still want to build an F-111 perhaps? Maybe make a whif and not worry about modifying ANYTHING.    Maybe not onto the shelf but I need to come up with a new plan.

[TheChronicOne]

BLURGH..  Back to "summer schedule" for me which means getting up at 3 AM and such. So, early morning updates are back while I wait for all my medicine taking and coffee drinking to elapse. (this never happens any quicker than 1.5 hour and usually a solid two...so, if I want to leave at 5AM I have to be up at 3.    Beats frying alive in the heat, though... )  SO.... 

Tristar....  time for Tamiya putty. Also time for nose weight. I'll do the putty first so it can be drying up while I do the other. Every little bit of short-cut helps. Trying to up my build speed on these Airliners. Since I'm slowly learning all the secrets of the trade I can more safely pick up speed. So far, so good.......  In fact, I'm moving quick enough that I may reach the point where I need to stop and wait on the transfers as a part of the masking and painting has to come after they're on. Still, I can get quite a bit done and there's a lot of work between now and then but the site says they might have to make them first so could be a couple months after order date before I get them so I'll still be wanting to order them as soon as I can.

Need to come up with a final decision on the F-111. I am NOT doing the plethora of mods necessary to make an FB-111A out of this old airfix kit. Damn near everything needs some sort of modification according to just preliminary reading and no telling what other finer details and aspect exist. Trying to get out of complicated builds right now (probably should have steered clear of this kit then... ). I'm going to take a dive through the transfers stash and see if I can find something African or South American. Might cancel this thing all together though if I can't find something that sparks interest. 

737 is still on hold while I find myself a battery operated rotary tool.

[PR19_Kit]

Need to come up with a final decision on the F-111. I am NOT doing the plethora of mods necessary to make an FB-111A out of this old airfix kit. Damn near everything needs some sort of modification according to just preliminary reading and no telling what other finer details and aspect exist. Trying to get out of complicated builds right now (probably should have steered clear of this kit then... ). I'm going to take a dive through the transfers stash and see if I can find something African or South American. Might cancel this thing all together though if I can't find something that sparks interest. 

Oh hell, I'd forgotten the MPC kit was originally Airfix! 

I did the review of that kit for Scale Models Magazine back in '72 I think, and started off by saying the first thing you had to do was convert it into an F-111E! 

Ron Moulton said I'd have to re-write it, so I did, a bit, but it still needs a lot of work. The intakes aren't correct for ANY F-111 variant, which doesn't help. It's a 'Whiff-in-a-box' really, just as it is.

[TheChronicOne]

Brilliant. I'll just leave this sucker for that purpose then. Perfect for a what-if! I guess Hasegawa is the way to go with Aardvarks? I have one of those but it's going to be built as the box shows. I think my EF-111 Spark-vark is Revell? 

I did the review of that kit for Scale Models Magazine back in '72 I think, and started off by saying the first thing you had to do was convert it into an F-111E! 

       You weren't a-bullshittin' with that one. That's funny. I love it. 

MPC...   I've gotten to the point where in my mind, any time I see "MPC" my brain subconsciously replaces it with "Airfix." I don't know when this started but I didn't even notice I was doing it until just recently.

[PR19_Kit]

I've got a Sparkvark too, but I think it's ESCI, or it was at one stage anyway.

[TheChronicOne]

OK........  South African??  I have some roundels and fin flash from an AT-6 Micro Scale sheet. Two color green/tan camo over pale grey......      Not sure how plausible it is but it's not TOO wacky of an idea (I damn near went with Nicaragua  ). Would be nice to put them funky little roundels on something and I THINK this would be my first African build of any type... oh... wait... no, I did that Somali F-22 Raptor.. ....    *snicker* 

As an alternate, I have the Italeri Mig-29 on deck with Microscale transfers for the last East German MiG 29 flight.

[TheChronicOne]

Slathered up the sides of the Tristar wit' Tamiya Putty. Not too much, though. I'm going to let this dry a couple days, sand on it, then do another round then repeat. I want to layer it and give it time to air to prevent mishaps.

That's about it I guess.     Normally I'd ruminate about other things and talk about my day but I'm distracted right now. I'll blow hot air later...