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

[DogfighterZen]

I guess it depends on what each prefer to do but i normally try to reduce the cuts to a minimal so i'll cut some angles before putting the tape on the canopy, then if the tape is wider than it should, just run the tip of the x-acto blade along the framing, but very slowly and gently at first to score the tape exactly where it will be cut, then apply some more pressure on the blade to properly cut through. If you prefer, run a sharp toothpick along the lines before using a blade. Take your time, do it under good lighting and you'll be fine.

[TheChronicOne]

I guess it depends on what each prefer to do but i normally try to reduce the cuts to a minimal so i'll cut some angles before putting the tape on the canopy, then if the tape is wider than it should, just run the tip of the x-acto blade along the framing, but very slowly and gently at first to score the tape exactly where it will be cut, then apply some more pressure on the blade to properly cut through. If you prefer, run a sharp toothpick along the lines before using a blade. Take your time, do it under good lighting and you'll be fine.

Nice, thanks!! I'm going to give it a try on this one and see how it goes. 

[TheChronicOne]

Down to a lone build ongoing at the moment and it's cloes to being half way done so it's time to get at LEAST one more going and better would be to get TWO going.

So, I'm officially announcing the start of the Somali F-22 Raptor!     I already have everything I need to do it.


Man this sucker looks nice!! I've seen some people across the internet kind of talk and act like Revell is some sort of "B Grade" kit maker or some such and try to down play what they do but I don't see anything wrong with this stuff?? Looks real nice to me.. lots of details and parts and stuff for for things.. you know... good ol' ejection seat and wheel well detail and all that malarkey. I'm just sayin this looks like a really damn nice kit to me!

Anyway...  will be OOB, no extras for it although I imagine there are some out there! I figure after having built so many 50 year old kits with next to no detail including some I purposely leave off or don't even paint that this thing will be a huge step up in the "fine detail" department anyway without having to shell out for extras.

I have a paint scheme, too!! I suppose this project is a collaboration between PantherG and myself. I claim credit for the initial idea but can't claim credit for THIS:



 

Glorious! Many thanks to him for whipping this up on pretty short notice from an existing Somali F-16 he had already made. Service with a smile, I tell ya.

How cool, right? It's one thing seeing all the killer profiles but when someone turns around and uses one to make a physical model it's like coming full circle! It's great to be able to put a cool scheme to paint. 

That's all for now I guess. Just thought I'd take a break and type this out as paint dries on the F-16.   (see here.. only one project means I'm "wasting" time here so I need to get another started soon!)  I'm going to get back to that for a bit then I'll stop at some point to finish this "introduction" with some pictures of the kit sprue and stuff.

[DogfighterZen]

Well, that makes two whif Raptors on the go in the forum, we could almost call it a group build... or buddy build?
From what i've seen and read so far, Revell has some very nice kits in terms of price/quality ratio, some are very well molded with some shape issues, others are reboxings of kits from other makers like Monogram, ICM, Matchbox, etc., and some of those are old and others are pretty recent like Zvezda's Su-27, which Revell boxes as the Su-27SM... More of those are coming out this year like the Su-33...
I guess that they have the quality on some kits but others are very disappointing so it's a matter of reading some reviews to know what's in the box you wanna buy.
The F-22 kit has some problems, check the weapons bays doors, sink marks all over on the exterior surface... somehow, they forgot to engrave the radome, which makes it very hard to mask for painting... and be careful when installing the weapons bays/intakes sub-assembly, if that's not properly fitted, it'll create gaps on the top/bottom fuselage seams around the intake area so, dry fit is the key.
With that said, i think it's a pretty good kit and you should be able to do a pretty good job.
Re the F-16's canopy, the Fujimi is a one piece job, right? It's just a line across, you'll do that in no time.

[TheChronicOne]

Hell yeah, I think that's the whole shooting match and the bottom frame work is on the roof-plate I already glued on I do believe so should be just a matter of masking for that single strip across there and then just getting the tape lined up along the bottom edge. This is why I'm going to try it.. I don't think it gets any more basic than this so it's good to practice on.    It's curved, however, so that's going to be a bit tedious I suppose but that's just the type of thing I need to practice about.



Thanks for the tips on the Raptor. I'm planning to take my sweet, sweet time on it and try to pay attention.. I guess that's going to be required instead of just a precaution knowing these things!

I need to decide whether or not to have the missile bays open or closed... and...  I found some 1/72 RPG launchers.....   



In other news.... RED STRIPE!, HOORAY BEER!

[Rick Lowe]

RPGs on an F-22 - that's a hoot right there!

But very fitting for something Somali... 

The Revell Me-262 is a lovely little kit, IIRC the ones that came out in the mid-late 90s were very good: Me-262, Me-109, Spit and Fw-190.
Others can be a bit 'hit and miss' - or even 'swing-and-a-miss', especially the Tempest... nice new boxart, but the same old rivetty badness inside.

You pays your money and takes your chances... specially when you don't know better or do research.
That's where Scalemates or Modelling Madness are very good resources.

[DogfighterZen]

That's the spirit, gotta try to know what it's like.  That Viper is coming along quickly, and the wings are looking very good, nice job with the masking.

The Revell Me-262 is a lovely little kit, IIRC the ones that came out in the mid-late 90s were very good: Me-262, Me-109, Spit and Fw-190.
Others can be a bit 'hit and miss' - or even 'swing-and-a-miss', especially the Tempest... nice new boxart, but the same old rivetty badness inside.

You pays your money and takes your chances... specially when you don't know better or do research.
That's where Scalemates or Modelling Madness are very good resources.

I've built the 262 and it is a beauty in detail, although a bit hard to fit some bits and the canopy is crap... Re Scalemates, i think it's excellent, very useful site, but Modelling madness reviews are also like Revell's kits, some hit and others miss but that's just my opinion.

[TheChronicOne]

RPGs was Fred's idea and .. uhh... I think it's hilarious so I just might snag these deals and go for it. I'm sure they'll fit snuggly in the missile bays. 

All I have to do then is replace the bang seat with a milk crate and then I'm off to IPMS nationals to compete wit' me 100% accurate real-world Raptor! 

[TheChronicOne]

Next phase of masking/painting is complete! So, now, I have all thirteen red and white stripes and the blue bars that line the leading edges of said (like an American flag, yeah!).



I'll let this sit for another 10 minutes or so to be sure it's actually dry then I'll mask it off and paint the yellow. I can't wait to see how it looks!

[TheChronicOne]

Got my wings and fin done. 




WHEW!! With this out of the way I can carry on in earnest with the plane body. I've already done bits and pieces of PSR on it so I'm a bit ahead of the game so hopefully it won't be long before I can prime and start painting it. I can't wait. I'm dying to see this all together..

[NARSES2]

I've built the 262 and it is a beauty in detail, although a bit hard to fit some bits and the canopy is crap... Re Scalemates, i think it's excellent, very useful site, but Modelling madness reviews are also like Revell's kits, some hit and others miss but that's just my opinion.

Agree re the 262. The canopies on the early toolings were ok, but after that they got poorer with age, spoilt the whole kit  The new tool Airfix one is very good.

[DogfighterZen]

Agree re the 262. The canopies on the early toolings were ok, but after that they got poorer with age, spoilt the whole kit  The new tool Airfix one is very good.

That Airfix kit looks very good, will probably buy it.

[TheChronicOne]

Yay!! Settled on a simple project to balance out the more involved Raptor build that I'll be getting into any day now(if not today). 

I'm going to take this here Monogram P-40N and cram a high-altitude RAF livery on it. Pale grey upper, PRU blue lower and all the roundels and fin flash you can shake a stick at.



I don't typically think of light, brighter colors when I think of Warhawks so this should be pretty neat.

Not much else to report for now! Just been doing a tiny bit of PSR on the Viper body.  Not moving fast today.    I'm spending more time watching tele and reading up on the 'net.

It would be nice to get this primed today. I'd at least like to throw some on it to see how much more PSR work I need to do. If all goes well I can paint the cockpit then start painting wheel wells and things like that.

[TheChronicOne]

Time for another pile of C.R.A.P.! 

The RoG F-22 Raptor parts:











The paint job:



This should be a lot of fun! I'm going to take my time on it and try to make it really nice. 



In other news, I'm been getting a lot of stuff done on the Viper. Lots of trimming, filing, and sanding of things then I also glued the fuel tanks (x3) together. Those will be nice shiny NMF! I think the "flash" of NMF amongst the other colors will work nicely. Also have the wheels painted and glued onto the gear.. all of which got the same trimming and filing, etc.

I think next I might go ahead and try to mask the canopy.. It's just that one bit so I'm pretty sure I can handle it and it'll be another notch in my masking belt and that much more practice. It's nice that I don't have to mask the bottoms of it. It's also nice that I don't need to actually attach it. Frame work is already on the plane so no need for all that. I'll just mask and paint that one stripe then glue it on to the thing at the end of the build.

Also painted the interior. 

[PR19_Kit]

At least you won't have to do any PSR on the wing joints. Those must be BIG bits of plastic!