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

[PR19_Kit]

That'll be a Fishtom or a Phanbed then. 

[TheChronicOne]

 

I like Phanbed...

Update..... the canopy that came with the Fishbed kit is an atrocity. I can't say enough bad things about it...

The frame detail is molded on the inside.

It's scratched and marred all to hell

It's TOO WIDE.

It's TOO LONG.

It's NOT TALL ENOUGH

The SHAPE IS WRONG.



I'm trying to file and sand it into shape but already I've taken off enough material that some of the problems I mentioned are better while others are WORSE. This thing is straight embarrassing...I know it was the 70's, I know they didn't have good specs and info, but the fitment of this canopy is just garbage.   I think I can sort most of the problems aside from it being too wide...  I'm just going to keep filing and sanding and hope for the best.

These are the little (little, ha) problems that drive me nuts.

[TheChronicOne]

The more I look at this, the worse it gets, and I can't add material back. Looking down the fuselage from front to back this thing is also CROOKED. It's "tilted" to one side.

I'm sort of at the point now where I think I need to just glue the canopy on, mask the majority of it, and fill in with putty, PSR, then scribe the area where canopy meets fuselage. Easier said than done.. I'm no good at this type of work.

No wonder these MiG-21 kits go for like $4 on eBay....   

The other option is to pose the canopy open.. but that would mean cutting this thing in half. In doing so not only would I lose the material where I cut, but could possibly damage the rest of it depending on HOW I cut... beit old fashioned saw or some type of rotary blade in a drill.

Anyway... some suggestions would be nice.      I'm a bit lost right now... 

[zenrat]

... some suggestions would be nice.      I'm a bit lost right now... 

Ditch the $4 MiG and look for a better one?
You should be able to get an Airfix one cheaply.  They have flimsy undercarriage but the rest is OK although it has raised detail.

[Rheged]

Diorama as a crashed aircraft?

[Rick Lowe]

Hey, Brad

(Uh-oh, He's Baa-aack... yeah, even I'm a little worried... !)

Nice work on the painting of the previous projects, looking forward to seeing more of them.

As far as separating the canopy parts goes, what if you posed the movable part hinged at the rear, so any shortness in the length wouldn't be immediately apparent?
Or, if you wanted to keep it as a side-hinging type, maybe a card shim attached to the rear of the opening where the solid part of the fuselage starts would make up any shortness?

Can't help with the saw, not knowing what you have in the toolbox, but these ideas might work even if you have to use the hacksaw you pictured.

What I would recommend though, is to run a piece of tape over the canopy either side of the intended cut (like a cutting guide), to protect the rest of the canopy - I made that mistake only the once (ok, twice...) and never trust my 'eye' or 'skills' to that degree anymore.

As far as the saw I use, I found one of the CMK photo-etch ones (looks like an old razor blade in size and shape) and the teeth are tiny and the blade is impressively thin - like only about 10 thou thick.

HTH FWIW

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks everyone. After considering all options, I kept fumbling with it. I looked at US.eBay and the like and no new kit or vacuform canopy could be had for a price I could live it. The more I think the less I want to do open canopy. In my mind where things have to make a bit of sense that would mean a bare bones no-detail cockpit mixed with open canopy don't jive.

Anyway, since I kept fiddling with it, I came to a compromise, I think. I thought, "instead of trying to make the canopy fit the fuselage, make the fuselage fit the canopy."  So, between doing both it's getting closer and closer to looking good.

[DogfighterZen]

Good call, hope you manage to save it.

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks, me too! 

I'm going to leave it all alone today, though, and play Borderlands 2 instead. 

When I looked at this stuff this morning before work it didn't look as bad as I remembered it. "Study long, study wrong." Ya know? The more I ruminate on a problem the worse it seems to get sometimes and that's part of what is going on here. I'm falling back into the same overly-critical thinking and perfection-seeking stuff that I tried to shake off with my one day group build. ANYWAY... point being, taking little breaks from the projects acts like a "re-set" button to get me back on track so I'm just going to drop everything and play video games this weekend instead. 

[Rick Lowe]

That sounds like a plan.

I understand what you mean, I've been guilty of overthinking things on way too many occasions and having the project drift to the back of the Shelf 'o' Doom.
Sometimes a 'just make it work and get it completed whatever' attitude is the thing.

[TheChronicOne]

That sounds like a plan.

I understand what you mean, I've been guilty of overthinking things on way too many occasions and having the project drift to the back of the Shelf 'o' Doom.
Sometimes a 'just make it work and get it completed whatever' attitude is the thing.

You nailed it!! 

When I can focus on "just do it, it'll be alright" I turn out some stuff I'm completely happy with. Logic would say spending an extra 10 hours should put out a better end result. Having watched billions of hours of Star Trek I know that "logic" isn't always what it's cracked up to be.

My Molossian F-84 is case in point. After 6-8 months of stall I decided to just finish it and live with the flaws and in the end it was something I really like! Sometimes burning 4-6 hours brainstorming or constantly sanding on a seam that just won't get right is just a waste of time. Sometimes things are more than good enough; it just takes stepping away from the project for awhile to realize it.

[zenrat]

Sometimes you are so closely focussed on a part or join or detail that you forget you've got your face shoved right up close to it and that no-one else is going to do that and that if you sit up and hold it out infront of you at a sensible distance then it'll look a lot better.

[Rick Lowe]

Zigactly Right! 

[NARSES2]

Sometimes you are so closely focussed on a part or join or detail that you forget you've got your face shoved right up close to it and that no-one else is going to do that and that if you sit up and hold it out infront of you at a sensible distance then it'll look a lot better.

Absolutely mate  And if they do try and do "that" at a show or something you can "object" 

[DogfighterZen]

That sounds like a plan.

I understand what you mean, I've been guilty of overthinking things on way too many occasions and having the project drift to the back of the Shelf 'o' Doom.
Sometimes a 'just make it work and get it completed whatever' attitude is the thing.

Dead right, exactly why it took me over 2 years to finish my F-16W. Had to shift into that attitude cause it just felt wrong to let all the work done go to waste.