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

[NARSES2]

but I finished the rest of the fiddly bits on the Skyraider. I kept finding more and more!

It is amazing how much there is still to do when you actually think you "are there". I keep a list so I can tic them off, also means that where possible you can group similar jobs, paint etc.

[TheChronicOne]

I bought a notebook for that per your advice. I think I'm going to crack it open when I do my 1/72 Boeing 707 build. The Skyraider would have been a good one for it, though, for sure!!!  Little parts everywhere.

[TheChronicOne]

Didn't do a whole lot today. The no-check situation is making my mood worse each day. Tomorrow it will be 7 weeks since I last saw a check from my main contract people for picking up trash and doing porter service stuff. I can tolerate this type of thing in the Summer but right now the lawn mowing side of the business has gone dormant with the grass so I rely on that trash money.    Just about used up all of my "cushion" money, rainy day fund, and loan sources. Pretty soon I'll be forced to start pawning my belongings.

BUT!  I have managed to do some valuable work on the 737 engines and while I was at it did some REALLY needed work on the Tristar engines.  They're all closer to being finished now and I'm glad I managed to put in some quality work on them. The Tristar engines were wrecked pretty badly so having them going better now is really nice.




Sktraider glue was still not dried so I couldn't work on it but I went through my decals stash to find suitable markings and found a whole pile of prospects. The goal here is not to have to buy a new sheet of transfers. Someone will complain about something like the registration or whatever but these people seem to forget that this is fictional anyway.... "What-if when this aircraft was made, the registration went to IT instead of the real world plane the decal came from?" 


Looking forward to tomorrow. Should be able to able to sand the Skyraider and glue the wings on. 

[NARSES2]

Didn't make it to the 737 but I finished the rest of the fiddly bits on the Skyraider. I kept finding more and more! All I have left now is to finish painting the engine stuff.  Main construction can start today.

Yup you just find your own way of doing it, as formal or as loose as you like as long as you are comfortable with it 

I worked with data all my life and thus tend to be a little on the formal side  Indeed sad to say I've even considered constructing some form of pro-forma spreadsheet, sad I know  , but I did say "considered" 

I'm enjoying watching your civilian stuff come together....stop tempting me Satan 

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks!! Hell yeah..... come over to the light side!! 


Haven't gotten anything done today. Stupid late check finally arrived so I've been running errands. They didn't pay the late fee and I was pretty pissed about it so I shot off an email....  polite, mind you, but I just said that it was bad business for them to shaft me like that and the owner of the company got all pissy and shot an email back that was full of lies. He said it was "crappy" that I'd ask for late fee when the thing was only one day late and that they NEVER pay me late. I damn near blacked out and got tunnel vision at that point. I had to set the record straight and I told him that the reason why I threw the late charge on the bill was because after dozens of phone calls and my check being WEEKS late on NUMEROUS occasions that I ran out of options and that the late fee was more of a "message" than anything. This is so typical, I'm the one over here getting screwed but yet *I'M* the bad guy. Sick of it.

This is like ........ say..... someone walks by a yard with a dog in it... Every day this person walks by and punches the dog. After being punched 42 times the dog finally snaps and bites back. "OH, LOOK AT THAT TERRIBLE MEAN VIOLENT VICIOUS DOG!!!!"   But wait, you conveniently forget to mention punching it in the face every day until it snapped? I feel like I've been ambushed or something.

[TheChronicOne]

Good news! The 737 engines are starting to really look like something decent!  I'm in a test fit stage to see what my mods have done to the fitment. One is perfect as-is while the other was off considerably so I've since been whittling on it and I spotted a couple sink spots that I tossed some Tamiya putty into. They need to dry then I do one last quick sand and last coat of primer then it's time for silver paint.   


Also been working more on the Skyraider. Sanded away 90% of the blemishes but found a couple issues on one end of the bomb-bay door, midget hatch, or whatever the hell it is.

Lastly I have a final report on the condition of the Tristar engines which were mangled almost to the point of no return. I've seen people bin builds for FAR less but I decided to just "stick with it"and now they look magnificent. A combination of spirits and later on, sanding, has them back in shape finally. Going to SKIP the black paint this time and go straight into silver.

[TheChronicOne]

Ah, thanks! While this one is on the belly, the other two air-brakes that are on the side were moulded the same way with two of each option; open and closed. I discarded the "open" version and glued this panel on. Has to be it.     I was clueless. 

[zenrat]

I like the idea of a midget vertically challenged person hatch.
What are roundels of the Oopaloompa Air Force?

[TheChronicOne]

Recent memory recall has me suggesting that the tripple elephant god Laotian roundels could somehow be modified a bit to work and look like a little Oompa Loompa. 

[TheChronicOne]

   Since I had it handy...  see there, it's almost like a little oompa loompa standing there...   just a little alteration here and there and BAM! Wonka Air Force.


737 engines are looking more and more like they belong, now! The "beefy" section up front actually doesn't look too far off from the real version so I'm stopping on that and have also finished filling small sink marks and stuff.



That was last night. Today I've since moved on and sanded the engines smooth again from the putty I put on and even painted them. PROBLEM!!!! (IT'S ALWAYS THE PAINT!!!)     These blasted wasps, man, I swear!!! These little turds tried to fly in the window so I flipped out and knocked me engines over a couple times swatting and loosing my composure trying not to get stung by this dragon suddenly orbiting my face.      Lucily, I was still in the 15 minute "paint window" so I quickly repaired them but it DID leave a couple blemishes that I'm simply not going to worry about. If memory serves, these things get a couple decals apiece anyway. 



Next, I painted the silver de-icer thing on the tail fin. I almost forgot about this and had been contemplating putting the tail decorations on. That would have been bad. As it is, I'm safe. I didn't even bother getting it all too straight on the sides because it will be overlapped by a decal that covers 98% of the tail.




I also painted the Tristar engines but they look a little rough in spots so I may wet sand them and hit them with another coat of silver before I gloss them over for transfers.



Up next the Oompa Dumper on the Skywanker needs to be sanded one last time and I can glue the wings on. Looking forward to this!! I'll finally have a plane and can prime it and start the paint work which should be pretty fun I hope.

[TheChronicOne]

Last update for the day. I've managed to get the Skywanker together and she looks pretty good I think!!  Won't be long before primer and paint.




Now to go play Mass Effect. I've run up against some husky alien dude that has whooped me about 20 times. I had to retreat, re-arm, and re-equip with better wares. I hope to vanquish this guy. He's tricky... he speeds up outta nowhere and smashes me when my shields and life are low. It's nearly a teleport type of thing the way this dude runs.  But anyway.......   


Oh, wait!!! I did work on something else! I found that I had a tiny bit of white paint in the can left so I sprayed the areas I had to patch and sand when the clear coat crazed on the Tristar. It's much better now and I will try again soon to gloss the nose area and wing roots around the tail so I can apply a few strategic transfers that will aid in plotting out the rest of the paint masking.

[zenrat]

Skywanker.   

The pic of the Saudi plane is giving me flashbacks to when I was 15 and I tried to apply the supplied transfers to a Tamiya Williams Formula One car i'd built.  Of course I didn't know about solvent then and it was a disaster.

[TheChronicOne]

Sucker for them pretty colors just like I am.    That's why I'm FORCING this thing to work. I have my heart set on this livery. 

[TheChronicOne]

Oh man, gotta make this some day:

[TheChronicOne]

This again. But... interesting. This is making INTERNATIONAL news.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7698537/Three-people-dead-shooting-Oklahoma-Walmart.html?fbclid=IwAR3Tuhl0ffg9fvNHPOsNzI3uS3wkuDjenlylHoTTkS85JEGyN07tgnHsjaw

This is about a 30 minute drive from here in a neighboring community. So.. murder/suicide. 3 adults.  BUT... remember about two weeks back there was the same thing but it was FOUR people instead of 3 including two young children. This was only a couple miles away. So.... one of these makes international news, but the other one, the WORSE incident, does not. The only difference? This one today happened in a Wal Mart parking lot. For some reason, that makes it worthy of international media attention whereas the much worse triple murder of a mother and her two young girls followed by a suicide didn't even make STATE news.       This type of thing irks me.