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

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks bud!! I'm about to do a little of my own asymmetry with this one with one wing painted a different shade of green.   

[Tophe]

Thanks! Asymmetry is more than good!

[TheChronicOne]

WELL THEN, hey hey hey! Asymmetry on the way! 

The once again nation-less test bed has an identity crisis:









While we're on the subject, I had a thought last night of creating a nutty camo using a nice matte tan spray paint then using individual brush strokes from water colors to make a sort of "grassland" looking mutli colored camo. Add that to the marble effect stuff that I want to try..   Mister Test bed here won't be these colors forever! 

On other news, I think I will hold my own "Clear the Bench" group build uhh...solo build if no one else will join me....       to get a couple of items finished and move on. With this bomber and now heading into spring I'm going to have my hands full. Spring? Yeah because that's when the grass starts growing again and I mow lawns for a living so...         Yeah. I decided to take the mistakes and all on my USS Enterprise NCC 1701 and also my Republic of Molossia F-84G and just finish them up. I don't want to keep fixing mistakes any longer and they're just gathering dust right now so the sensible thing is to just move on and get them done.  There will be plenty more builds and kits in the future to dote on. It's time to tie up loose strings.

With that in mind, the Enterprise just needs a coat of gloss then I can decal it. The F-84 just needs a simple wash with water and dish soap to remove aforementioned dust then I can decal it, as well, then glue on the landing gear and doors and it will be done.

Also came to a conclusion that all but just a small hand full of my 1/48 kits have to go. I would like to trade them for 1/72 kits (at 2:1 or better ratio perhaps?   Just depends I guess on what the individual kits are.. )   That or I need to sell them or something... No room to store the kits and no room to store the finished products, either.  I'll probably get a list together and post them here to see if I could get some tradin' goin on. I've never shipped over seas before but I guess I'm open to doing so but prefer US. Not looking to get rich or even make money at all.. I just want kits that aren't so big. 

Thanks for stopping by.   

[Tophe]

WELL THEN, hey hey hey! Asymmetry on the way! 

Good!

[TheChronicOne]

Interesting new development!  I'm a member of a Facebook group, "Facebook Scale Modellers" and one of the founders passed away last year I think it was, so they are having a group build in his honor (Rod Buchanan, perhaps rings a bell? Former RAF, etc) and by golly I want to participate. The GB will run for one month with a suggested emphasis on RAF.  Well, I want to do something nice but not too involved (I am obviously deep into the Soviet GB here and with work etc, time is at a premium) then it hit me! Tucano!  RAF, lovely little plane, should be simple and fast... it's a simple paint scheme, etc. 



SO, I'd like to get started on this today and see just how far along I can get just today. I whipped out the last F-4 in 4 days with a complicated camo scheme and tons of ordinance so I'll see if I can get this done in TWO days. (laughing laughing laughing here..... I got the other done in 4 days because I was HIGHLY motivated and had a ton of free time that week... might not be the case THIS time , but hey, shoot for the stars, right?!!? )   

Still will be working on the Tu-4 Bomber today, too, I think. I'm pretty caught up on chores and work stuff so I can afford to spend some time sitting on my donkey making models. 

EDIT:  Actually, this looks like a pain in the butt to paint!  What did I get myself into?!!      The props, the spinner, the area around the wing roots... I have no idea how to do that area.... elliptical shape cut out of the red that has to be white...  yeeesh... I'll figure something out. Any tips would be appreciated. 

[TheChronicOne]

The wings are glued together. (the halves, upper and lower, to themselves)

Pilots are mostly painted, I need to do their visors... either black or silver.  Just trying to figure out what colors I can use on the helmets for a mid to late 80's pilot in training flying a Tucano in the RAF.  (go figure, I'm doing historically acurate and already things are on hold!!     )  What I *want* to do is paint one yellow and one blue to add a splash of color to the whole thing. Mainly I'm finding a lot of green helmets, however.

Added a bunch of nose weight.. I'll fill in the gaps with PVA for that much more weight and also when I glue the two pieces together I might be able to add a bit more lead and PVA again.



Wheels are painted.  (well, maybe....  the rims I'm trying to leave the original styrene color but I need to get ahold of some better pics, I think the rims may need to be white, along with the gear itself... )

Seats are painted.

I think next I'll glue the cowling pieces there (or whatever...  where the engine is at... engine compartment? you know me and the names for some of this stuff.. . . .    )

I'm trying to get a lot of the gluing done so it can dry up and I can file and sand. This blue style of Testors takes 24 hours + to properly dry up. I've worked with it still "tacky" in a pinch but it's never fun and fouls the files and sand paper. Beyond that, trimming up more parts and then maybe I'll prime some of the stuff like the tree with all the gear doors and the one with the little widgets like antennas and exhaust pipes. Also the tailplanes are one piece and I can prime them.

Also, I figured a way around the painting problem at the wing roots... I'm just going to have the red in that area and will transition to white right where the wing attaches. Super easy and I looked at another person's model that did this and it looks perfectly fine. Not exactly accurate but I guarantee you if I try to make it accurate, it will not look right. I suppose I could try to cut the shape out of masking tape but it looks like a lot of trial and error to do so and I'm not sure my tape would work around the curves and such. 

[TheChronicOne]

Blazing on this one, for now. I have all the small stuff primed and some even has final paint. Pilots are done and glued to the seats and the base.. I could go ahead and seal up the fuse halves but I'm stopping work for now after I paint the tail planes red. Speaking of the halves, I trimmed and have the burrs filed away. Prop and spinner are painted black and now on to the goofy lopsided paint scheme which I've noticed quite a few modelers (out on the net during my research) have gotten wrong despite the plethora of pictures available!  (do I sound JMN enough yet??     ) Case in point:



See how the two sets of blades are different from the others? I think it's damn cool and really want to get this part right. I think it's a signature thing for this plane and it would be a shame not to do it justice. It makes a cool looking effect whilst spinning, too, check it out:



Next up I'm about to paint the tail planes red and that will be the last thing I do today. I'm forgetting some other things...  I'm sure of it. I've made headway on my research, which is good.. uhh.........  let's see here...........  uhh......   Oh yeah, got the engine housing piece glued together and it's nice and heavy. Should do the job. Re-bagged the clear pieces and transfers into their own seperate bag for safe keeping. Glued the wing tip things that house nav lights on the wing tips. Addressed plenty of flash...   etc.

I got a lot done is what I'm saying! I like getting a good head start like this. Next time I think about doing more work it will be pleasant to think, "hey, at least it's started!" Probably will be a few days before I do more.


IN OTHER NEWS. Once AGAIN I'm changing my mind, but only half way this time. I forgot about the dumb raised windows on the side of my 1/2500 Enterprise. I can't just up and say it's done even with the glue cluster and paint globs, because I can't put the transfers on with that travesty on the side. Good news is, the anxiety about it is probably much worse than the actual task. I imagine it won't take more than 10 minutes to sand that garbage away and while I'm there get the glue cluster and the overly thick paint.

That's all for now I guess.   

[NARSES2]

I've not seen this kit in the flesh but depending on the fit of the wings and tailplanes you might be able to paint them and the fuselage before fitting them together ?

[TheChronicOne]

That's the plan for now! I hope like hell the fitment is good at the wing roots. I have a nice build page http://modelingmadness.com/review/mod/fordhamtucano.htm here that I'm referencing and he states,

"All joins needed a little cleaning up due to the fact that all the moldings were "soft" as in the edges were rounded rather than nice and sharp , even careful sanding 'al la vacuform' didn't fix the problem completely and a small amount of filler was used on the fuselage to wing join and tail-planes."

I have the advantage of having this knowledge before hand, which is nice, so what I'll do is file, sand, and dry fit (repeat) to get those joins as best as possible before I paint... then hope for the best when I glue. It'll be a disaster if I have to fill in seams AFTER I paint!     If I can't get those areas into an acceptable state I'll have to re-visit paint masking options or just get totally crazy and attempt the areas free hand.

[TheChronicOne]

Prop and spinner painted, all by hand with two different small brushes, no masking.   






Practice and good brushes help!  Maybe I should strike while the iron is hot and do the canopy now? I told myself I'd only do the prop and a couple other small paint jobs but who knows.      

Also, glued the fuse halves together. 

[PR19_Kit]

When you look at those black/white Tucano props going it's enough to give you a headache at certain revs. The blades seem to phase in and out with other. It certainly works to get them noticed! 

[TheChronicOne]

When you look at those black/white Tucano props going it's enough to give you a headache at certain revs. The blades seem to phase in and out with other. It certainly works to get them noticed! 

You'd have to be loose in the head to walk into them things!   

Ever fly one of these Toucans?  Such neat little airplanes. 

[TheChronicOne]

I found a twenty dollar bill on the ground today so decided that "easy come easy go" and bought a bottle of vodka, a cheap meal, and some modeling stuff!

Not pictured is the pack of sandpaper. Used to be they sold a pack of one variety of grit, now the pack has 3 different styles? Works for me. It's shitty but it actually has its uses! I'm glad to have it and at $1 can't go wrong. Other stuff was gel and non gel CA... I'm not out of it, but one can't have too much. At a dollar a piece why not. Also a $1 hack saw!! Yes! I was wanting something like this..   

Other stuff are the roundels and fin flash and stuff for Cuban air force. I'll repeat myself from what I said in my Soviet GB Tu-4 Bull thread:

OK, got the transfers in today in the mail. Just opened them up. Under light I can see all kinds of veins and spider webbing across the surface. Doesn't look the same as old dried transfers that explode in water, but still troubling. I'll cut one from an area with a lot of the veining and try it on my test plane. I hope these are viable.



I don't have much experience with "made" or "printed" transfers. Another thing of note is the roundels themselves (the white stars in the middle of.. ) have a pixelated look.. because they are. I'm not too bothered by it personally, but the quality could be better. That said, the other sheet with the fin flash and stuff looks much more crisp with the stars. If they stay on the model and don't fall apart I'm happy!   

Let's hope these work out because I spent $8 on 'em and in my world that's actually a fair sum of money.

[Rick Lowe]

If you have some clearcoat, or some of the Micro Decal Film, brush some of that over the markings - it should stop them breaking up when you come to use them.

[TheChronicOne]

If you have some clearcoat, or some of the Micro Decal Film, brush some of that over the markings - it should stop them breaking up when you come to use them.

Will do! I have some clear coat I that I can use.