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

[Rick Lowe]

Yeah, for a smaller manufacturer, or a short-run kit, I can see their point.
Still, if the part is close enough or can be modified to look the same I'd do that, rather than introducing a weak(er) glue joint... ::shrug::

Diff'rent Strokes...

[DogfighterZen]

I've always wondered what it would be like to be standing around in one of those giant drug agency burns..... like... a forrest fire but it's just weed burning. 

A colossal waste but damn... would be a hell of a deal. 

You mean, like this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLYVTdiACRA

[DogfighterZen]

What is this "Accurate" concept of which you speak?

Keep tellin' ya, I'm more of the 'Close enough is good enough', or 'bored now, let's just git-r-DONE' mentality... 

Well, within reason of course, but I've never let concerns over how much better one kit is over another hold me back... Cheap Is Fine...

Well, there are some aircraft of which i don't even bother looking for the best kit out there but, if it's an aircraft i really like, i will look for the best kit of said aircraft... I made up my mind when i bought my first Italeri F-16 and also a ZTS Mig-19, which left me very disappointed as soon as i opened the box, some details are simply gross and i prefer to spend more money but be much more pleased with the kit itself and the results obtained, instead of wasting money on crap kits and then spend money on a better kit cause i don't have any motivation to build the cheap kit because of the time and effort consumed trying to correct it and then be less than satisfied with it. I like well represented detail and as i'm not a master modeller, i'm not able to pick up a pig and make it shine so i choose the easier way.

[Rick Lowe]

What is this "Accurate" concept of which you speak?

Keep tellin' ya, I'm more of the 'Close enough is good enough', or 'bored now, let's just git-r-DONE' mentality... 

Well, within reason of course, but I've never let concerns over how much better one kit is over another hold me back... Cheap Is Fine...

Well, there are some aircraft of which i don't even bother looking for the best kit out there but, if it's an aircraft i really like, i will look for the best kit of said aircraft... I made up my mind when i bought my first Italeri F-16 and also a ZTS Mig-19, which left me very disappointed as soon as i opened the box, some details are simply gross and i prefer to spend more money but be much more pleased with the kit itself and the results obtained, instead of wasting money on crap kits and then spend money on a better kit cause i don't have any motivation to build the cheap kit because of the time and effort consumed trying to correct it and then be less than satisfied with it. I like well represented detail and as i'm not a master modeller, i'm not able to pick up a pig and make it shine so i choose the easier way.

Fair enough, it's your hobby after all. 

I understand the reasoning for a good kit of a favourite whatever, but as I usually want multiples of my favourites, that's a good way to overspend badly... 
Thinks: $30+/- for a Tamiya M3 h/t, + $30 for the Mouse House M5 conversion, + scratch plastic card tracks vs. $100 or more for a DML M3... Guess which I chose...
Never mind, to each their own.

[DogfighterZen]

Ouch... 100$ is more than double than most of the kits cost me. I only build aircraft so i'd have to buy a 1/32 F-16 (which is on my most wanted list)to top that... I understand your atitude, i'd do the same if most good aircraft kits were that expensive... Most expensive kit i bought so far was almost 70€ But being the Skunkworks 1/48 F-16XL, i consider it worth the money.   

[TheChronicOne]

I've always wondered what it would be like to be standing around in one of those giant drug agency burns..... like... a forrest fire but it's just weed burning. 

A colossal waste but damn... would be a hell of a deal. 

You mean, like this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLYVTdiACRA

[Rick Lowe]

Ouch... 100$ is more than double than most of the kits cost me. I only build aircraft so i'd have to buy a 1/32 F-16 (which is on my most wanted list)to top that... I understand your atitude, i'd do the same if most good aircraft kits were that expensive... Most expensive kit i bought so far was almost 70€ But being the Skunkworks 1/48 F-16XL, i consider it worth the money.   

Yeah, I can understand that. As I said, if it's a real favourite, or something you'll only get the one of, I can agree with getting the best kit you can.
But that's the (retail) price we pay for living in the Southern Ocean... even if you can find what you want elsewhere, postage is usually the deal breaker.

Sorry Brad, we seem to have sidetracked your blog... 

[TheChronicOne]

Knock yourselves out. I like traffic up in here. 

Ya see, I'm easily amused....   

[Rick Lowe]

Knock yourselves out. I like traffic up in here. 

Cool, we'll have at it, then. 

Ya see, I'm easily amused....   

Hey, I resemble that remark... 

[DogfighterZen]

Ouch... 100$ is more than double than most of the kits cost me. I only build aircraft so i'd have to buy a 1/32 F-16 (which is on my most wanted list)to top that... I understand your atitude, i'd do the same if most good aircraft kits were that expensive... Most expensive kit i bought so far was almost 70€ But being the Skunkworks 1/48 F-16XL, i consider it worth the money.   

Yeah, I can understand that. As I said, if it's a real favourite, or something you'll only get the one of, I can agree with getting the best kit you can.
But that's the (retail) price we pay for living in the Southern Ocean... even if you can find what you want elsewhere, postage is usually the deal breaker.

Sorry Brad, we seem to have sidetracked your blog... 

One of my holy grail kits, in fact, might even be the one i've got on the bench right now, one of the 2 Hasegawa 1/72 F-16E kits, came from Freetime hobbies, excellent shop, great service indeed. But then the kit got to Portugal and Customs stepped in because it was over 41€(anything you import will be charged a fee) so i had to pay another 12€ to get it out of their hands...

See, Brad doesn't mind we're ranting on here, so we might as well break out the sixpack and get the BBQ going...   

[TheChronicOne]

I've been a bad bad boy! 


Time for full disclosure!!! These "corners" that I "cut" on this Viper just won't work. I caught a glimpse of the thing twisting around under the light of my ceiling fan (I hang builds to dry from the chandalier sometimes and if light enough from a ceiling fan arm) and the light hit this seam and made it look like a trench.



Looking at it dead on and in ideal light has it looking just fine but any variation of either makes this look like azz. I can't abide this aggression, suh! I'll just mask off all the panel lines and stuff in the vicinity and go ahead and putty it up from the canopy frame on back. It looks perfect as the gap on the bottom of the canopy frame but further aft of that its not supposed to be like this at all so.... yeah.

Then here's the next corner I cut:



I won't even mention what it is because it's blatantly obvious... so yeah.... that won't work either so I'll fix that as well. Shouldn't take more than an hour or two to fix both then get this thing back in primer then I can start throwing blue paint on here.

In other news, I've came up with an idea to try out my Testors paint (see my thread out in the paint forum where I asked about upgrading the quality of paints I use) without getting into some involved build: 

A glider!!! I have three lil 1/72 gliders and I figure I'll just put one of those together and and that way I can try out my paints and also have a neat little project to boot. I'm thinking of making it a "Racing Glider" and put some racing transfers on it that I have sitting around from car kits. If none of those transfers will work I'll come up with another idea but I'd like to make a whif out of it some how or another.   

[TheChronicOne]

OK... not wasting any time I've already masked everything off, ran some putty, and filed and sanded the intake as well.



Going to let the putty set up a while longer then I'll sand it and see where I'm at.

In the meantime...

SURPRISE BLITZ BUILD!

It is a "SZD-25A Lis" made in Poland in the 50's. Kit looks to be Polish itself. The language LOOKS like the Polish language but since I can't read it I'm just making an educated guess. I'm thinking early 80's vintage on the kit.



Either way... it's going down. I've already started trimming and filing parts and have started to dry fit and adjust the fuselage halves for a good fit. Once that is done I'll paint the interior and glue the seat in then close everything up. It's already late in the day but I fully intend to finish this completely by the end of the night. Assembly should be a breeze. 

\

How many whif gliders do we have floatin' around here I wonder? Might be a few but I imagine there's not a heck of a lot of them on the whole. Should be interesting!

[PR19_Kit]

How many whif gliders do we have floatin' around here I wonder? Might be a few but I imagine there's not a heck of a lot of them on the whole. Should be interesting!

I've got the superb Revell 1/32 gliders, the ASK21 and Duo Discus, both of which I've flown, and the LS8, which I haven't as it's a single seater. I've also got an Italeri 1/72 Horsa too which has been in build for at least a decade..... 

[TheChronicOne]

No better time than the present to get back into it, brotha!    Of course, that said, the Horsa is considerably more substantial than this little thing.  (I know because I just went and googled it! Neat looking bird.    )

[PR19_Kit]

You should see the Duo Discus, it's about 2 FEET wingspan. 

I have a few of those 1/72 Polish gliders too, including a Bocian, and a Zephyr. As you say, very small but not bad mouldings.