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

[TheChronicOne]

All glossed up and hanging to dry.

I think I may as well throw in the towel. I'll uhh.......... retcon the "rules." So long as I have 24 hours or less in the build its still a "day" build..... eh??     Just not finished in the same day.  I could sit around and wait then fumble with the red-ring for an hour and another couple on transfers and then another hour on glueing fiddly bits but... like I was mentioning earlier.. this would have me at 10 or later at night!!

Oh well... it was a valiant effort. I tried!   

If the gloss dries up really fast I might give it a go anyway but I doubt it. I don't want to rush things so badly that this thing looks bad. I'm hurrying up, sure, but I still want it to look good!

Anyway... I'll check the plane in about 45 minutes and see how it's doing and go from there.

[TheChronicOne]

Well.... I have failed. 

I just checked it and....... it's dry enough to touch... but still seems tacky and definitely has smell to it. I could put transfers on it easily but,  they could go bad as this clear coat continues to out-gas or whatever.  These transfers look really nice so I'd hate to mess them up!!

I'm blaming all the delays on the rain (HUMIDITY) but if I'm being perfectly honest with myself... I would still be pressed for time and stressed to get it done before some late hour. Doubt I would have finished anyway is what I'm sayin'!   

I'll try this again some day but will choose more wisely. The problems with this one are:

*  The red paint. This acrylic stuff I have is terrible and I'm an idiot that refuses to find a vessel to contain it and thin to proper consistency.  I need to find a bunch of small little cups or something.. disposable or easily cleaned.. for putting tiny amounts of paint into so I can properly thin them. (notice how a lot of problems come back around to me being a lazy tool  )

* Having to extend the red onto the fuselage right to the front of the exhaust... this means masking, avoiding ripping off under layers, and dealing with a build up of red paint from all the layers creating a "step."  This single problem right here is what hit me the hardest... no quick or easy way out with the materials and tools I have.

*  Two color paint scheme. I said I wanted a single color.. I saw this and it was close.. all the olive drab but .... there's a level of focus and time involved in making the bottom grey and doing it correctly. Next time I will definitely choose a single color wrap-around.



ANYWAY.. I had a lot of fun and.... hell... if I want to look at it this way... I'm waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead on what would normally be about a week long build. 



EDIT:  Oh, and for the record... local time is now 7:24 PM.

[TheChronicOne]

Well, I've always been "wish-washy" and have problems making up my mind.

This time it was easy. I was done; no more modelling, time for video games. --Time to hop in my P-47 lend-lease or my Pe-8 and tear some stuff up in War Thunder. Well... this was a good idea until I was met with a FOUR HOUR update!

Wuhhhh? 

Bored to tears... I'm not going to sit around for 4 hours waiting on this mess. I could have played another game while it downloaded but I was looking forward to the gloriously slow paced action of high altitude bombing runs in my Pe-8 in Realistic Battles where everything is in real time. I can sit back... fly to a waypoint for 10 minutes.... chill... drink my beer, etc.  I enjoy slower paced gaming these days.

But anyway.. since that doesn't work, I don't want to play anything else, and I'm staying up late tonight and need something to do. I may as well work on this P-51 a bit more. Nothing "planned"... I just want to start putting on the transfers. If I get them all on, great!! If I only put on a couple... that's great, too. (I'll worry about the stupid red ring later... not sure how the tape will react on the "fresh" varnish).

Found a light, too, finally. Now my work area is nice and bright! 

[TheChronicOne]

Oh holy hell...

These transfers LOOK really nice.. but...  I soaked one for nearly 10 minutes and it wouldn't come off the backing paper until I clutched the little corner that did come happen to come loose. I was sure it would rip apart. It didn't, thankfully, but I don't relish the idea of peeling 10 minute soaked transfers off like they were stickers.

Then... part of the clear edge on the outside was OPAQUE.. Most was good, but there were sections that were milky white and they showed up clearly on the OD paint. So, I had to take this wet, 10 minute soaked transfer and peel it off the wing then trim that garbage off with my scissors.

I put it back on........ then it hit me.. I can just move this disaster to the BOTTOM of the wing, on the grey, and it won't be so obvious. Either way, lesson learned, I will trim the transfers right down to the edge... no clear stuff.

As far as the damn things not coming off the backing paper?! Well.. I don't know.. I'll play it by ear I guess. \

I don't feel so bad now for not finishing up all in one day.....  with the realization of this terrible transfer problem there's no way in hell I would have finished in time any way.

[Old Wombat]

Mate, you're doing well!

I'd probably still be at the cleaning up the parts & gluing the major components together stage.

[TheChronicOne]

I went a little heavy with the Dawn dish soap in my decal-solution. Not had problems before like this but maybe too much dish soap is causing these problems.

I tried another roundel. After 10 solid minutes completely submerged in my water/vineger/soap solution it wouldn't budge. After prying and coaxing I finally got it loose only to see more opaque garbage all around the edges. Again, I trim with scissors.

Not going to keep pushing the issue. The problem arose, I tried again, it persisted. I'll try once more tomorrow or the next day with a simple water, much less soap, and less vinegar solution. If the problem is still here, I know it's the transfers. (I suspect that's the problem anyway because my solution ain't never let me down before even when I dump too much soap in there.    )

Ah well... people are probably getting annoyed now seeing my "CRAP BLITZ BLAH BLAH" showing up so I'm calling it for now. 

TTYL!   

[TheChronicOne]

Mate, you're doing well!

I'd probably still be at the cleaning up the parts & gluing the major components together stage.

Thanks, Wombie..         It was a lot of fun. Got more done than normally would be possible I think, despite the problems.     Like I ruminated on a bit earlier.. I think I'm going to try again some day soon, but I will pick an even simpler build. 

[TheChronicOne]

Ah hell, thanks Brad....   Certainly lots going on!      Today, especially, was weird.. and I was a right motor-mouth about it. 

[PR19_Kit]

But did you really fail? Was your 'day' the time between when you got out of bed to when you got back in, or was it the whole 24 hrs? it was certainly a great blitzing attempt and it looked pretty darn good as far as you went.

[NARSES2]

Mate, you're doing well!

I'd probably still be at the cleaning up the parts & gluing the major components together stage.

Absolutely  I'd probably still be looking at the box art 

I love the amount of times you use the word "fun", what it's all about 

[zenrat]

You did well Brad C.  You got further than I would in 24 hours.
I feel your decal problem is prolly due to the age of the decals rather than anything you are doing.

How's your thumb?

[TheChronicOne]

But did you really fail? Was your 'day' the time between when you got out of bed to when you got back in, or was it the whole 24 hrs? it was certainly a great blitzing attempt and it looked pretty darn good as far as you went.

Thanks!! 
I was initially planning on the day being time between bed but.. I like the sound of the other, too. I can easily have less than 24 hours in this!    I'm not too torn up about it either way especially considering the stupid transfers. I'm going to try one later in straight water and see how it acts. If it won't cooperate??? Well... last minute change of decorations then! I'll grab some spare transfers and turn this into a whif all of a sudden. Looking forward to it, really. I mean... I like this plane a lot as is but I'm not going to fight those transfers..

Mate, you're doing well!

I'd probably still be at the cleaning up the parts & gluing the major components together stage.

Absolutely  I'd probably still be looking at the box art 

I love the amount of times you use the word "fun", what it's all about 

And it certainly was!!  There for awhile I was just listening to the radio... then... put movies on in the background. Just worked on the lil Mustang all day and it was a fun, relaxing time.

I plan another attempt soon... maybe sooner than later. Just need to make sure the whole project is maybe one or two notches simpler and that I use transfers I know for a fact will work. 

You did well Brad C.  You got further than I would in 24 hours.
I feel your decal problem is prolly due to the age of the decals rather than anything you are doing.

How's your thumb?

That's a bummer, man, because these LOOKED flawless. That, and I think the overal scheme of the entire aircraft is a really good one!! It looks great (a non NMF Mustang, sign me up, it's not that NMF sucks, it's that as Mustangs go, I see 10 NMF to every painted one it seems) but oh well! If the transfers don't work in straight water I'm throwing them out the window and digging around for more in the stash. I may even strip the two I already applied off because they don't look that good close up. You could tell I had to trim them... and... doing that while they were wet and trying to curl up was uhhh..     

MUCH better, thanks for asking!  100% improved and has been so for 2-3 days now. Not even any residual pain this time. 

[TheChronicOne]

[PR19_Kit]

One speed increasing idea might be to use faster drying varnish. In the UK lots of us use Johnson's Klear, which I think is called Pledge in the US (can anyone confirm that please?) and it dries very quickly indeed. 10 minutes will be good enough to put the decals on.

I've also used it over 'quick drying' paint that refuses to dry, Xtracolor being a particular problem, and the Klear seems to soak up the 'wetness' in the same time frame.

[TheChronicOne]

Oooooh.... yeah, that is a good idea. I have some here in fact. That's what I'll do next time!!!  Thanks! Saved me an hour, easily! 

I think the next one will be a Yak 58 (I think it was ) North Korean night fighter. Entire thing is black. Could be done, likely, in one coat, dries fast itself, then the floor polish, then good to go. 

Only problem is it is an Amodel kit and I've heard hear and there that sometimes they don't go together too well....      One great thing about this Mustang is that Airfix made a damn fine mold (engineering wise anyway) and it went together great.