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

[TheChronicOne]

Well!! Lots of fun stuff going on today. 

The PSR work on the F-16 has come to an end as it looks pretty darn good now. I'm very glad I decided to do it correctly instead of going with the ugly gaps and steps. That's what I was doing at 6AM this morning.... got it all sanded smooth and then put more primer on it. It's been drying about 5 or more hours so I can start painting on it! 



Also painting the fuel tanks. I had them primed and wanted to spray gloss black before the NMF but the stupid nozzle flew off and went out the window onto the roof. I'm damn sure not going out there to retrieve it so I went and grabbed an old can of gloss grey and used it instead. If anything it'll be interesting to see how different it looks to the stuff I'd done on gloss black so stay tuned for comparison pictures at some point....    I'll let dry then spray them with my glorious NMF paint soon.

Also going on today will be more work on the glider! I found some walkin'-around money so the trip to the store was put back on the list of things to do and I wound up buying three new brushes and a couple things of Model Masters acrylic. They didn't have a drop of acrylic in the regular cube bottles though!! Rats!! They did have a set of them however that came with a nifty try thing and some other doo-dads including those cheap brushes they make (that I happen to like, actually... for what I use them for they do a fine job).



I had been contemplating green but couldn't make up my mind what colors to buy so I just played it safe and got a couple of my favorites.     A really lovely shade of blue called "French Blue" and the green one is called "Green Gloss."  Nice. Goofy names for paint colors is for painting living rooms. Don't give me no "sun warmed dandelion" or no "green apple cobble dessert" and all that nonsense. 

SO ANYWAY, I guess now we know somewhat what colors the glider will be. I just need to come up with a scheme. I'm thinking all green bottom and then do something with masking tape and all that on the top. Probably be using white as a third color but would be nice to maybe do something with grey or black as accents or a pin stripe or something... I don't kno, we'll see.  I like the GREEN I'm using because it's bad luck in the racing world and since I think superstitions are male bovine excrement and I like to be contrary... well..... that's going to be a winner.  Of course... I might wind up NOT doing a "racing glider" because all the transfers might be too big.     

[TheChronicOne]

Getting work done on both the SZD 16 glider and the Artsy Fartin' Falcon.

The main construction is all done on the glider... only things left to glue on are the wheel, canopy, and what I'm assuming is the thing that attaches to the tow-line that sticks out of the nose. Those obviously all to be glued on at the end of course. For now I've been working on getting the gaps on the wing roots taken care of and I've puttied and sanded a bit. I decided to prime it up to see what I'm lacking so now it's hanging to dry:


AWWW IT'S SO CUTE!!!       It's like a little bean with wings! 

Finally painting the fuselage of the AFF:



Wow!! Look at the exquisite cockpit detail. IPMS national I'm on my way!! You can go ahead and call the plaque 'n trophy company now and there's no E in "Brad!"   


Amazing!

More to come later!  I feel like I'm forgetting something... I have the F-16 going... the F-22 is started but just barely.... and the glider is under way..  I swear it feels like I was working on something else.....   OH YEAH.... the RAF P-40N!      For shame, I haven't even started clipping out parts.     I'll try to get some of the done this evening so I can at least get the ball rolling. This isn't going to be some huge project (by design and preference) but I'm thinking it will be very cool once completed. 

EDIT: Yes, I see the problem with the canopy frame on the F-16... I'm going to deepen it a bit where I have too much paint build up to have it all looking uniform. Let's all pray I don't butcher it because 'scribing isn't my strong suit. At least here I already have a groove to work with.


EDIT AGAIN: Keeping myself honest and to avoid chickening out I just jumped in head first and started fixing the problem:

[TheChronicOne]

Sure is quiet around WIM today!     I've been holed up here out of the wind storm ( a bit below freezing and winds that rarely go below 30MPH and often gust up around 50 since about 6:30 this morning, now coming up on 8PM) and modelling all day so I've been here and can't help noticing the members list and it's apparent than I'm a loser and everyone else is out handling business or living it up.   

Work proceeds on the F-16 while the bean hangs from the ceiling fan.

The fuel tanks are painted up but I sprayed them too heavy. Nothing RAN, thank God, but it's a poor job on my part. Considering the weather conditions around here though... I did the best I could and they look quite alright to me!


Thick paint but good enough!

Also... we see the canopy I masked. I used 3mm tape but ideally I would use some of that even narrower bendy curve tape. I'm going to buy some of that soon. I think it will be just fine, though. Any practice at all at doing this is a good thing and being just that one band means it wasn't scary enough to drive me back to just free-handing it.

I think now I'll paint this thing and get back to work on the Glider for awhile. 

[Rick Lowe]

Those're coming on nicely, Brad.
Yep, off doing boring stuff like sleeping, feeding the cat & me (note the priority queue!) and watching a couple episodes of 'Ace of Cakes'... so, yeah. 
But we're here now!

[TheChronicOne]

Starting to come together!!

I mocked this up for a picture and I like it so far!! I still have a bunch of fixing things and detail work to do, including finishing painting the missile, gear bays, vents, lights, antennas, knobs, etc.



I'm having a blast with this thing!!!! Oh man.. I can't wait to start slapping transfers on this thing. I'm especially looking forward to making the black Falcon band work somehow but I'm not exactly sure where to put it. Natural place would be between the main wings and elevators but roundels might go there. Then again, they might not, it's been awhile since I looked at the source material for them. I know a lot of the planes from that era didn't have roundels on the sides of the fuselage at all, just on the wings.

Enough of the Artsy Fartin' Falcon and onto the Winged Bean.   



Not too shab but the gaps on the wing roots are still standing out like crazy so I'll run some more putty through there and sand it again.

I THINK I've come up with a good color scheme for this... I'm trying to envision it in my mind and come up with a good one yet at the same time not get carried away and have it be too complicated. I came to the conclusion that I'll just have to start masking things and see how things develop whilst keeping an overall idea in the back of my mind. Paintin' by the seat of my pants!

[TheChronicOne]

Those're coming on nicely, Brad.
Yep, off doing boring stuff like sleeping, feeding the cat & me (note the priority queue!) and watching a couple episodes of 'Ace of Cakes'... so, yeah. 
But we're here now!

Good to know, Rick!!  Glad you stopped by... I was bloviating so fast and furiously I missed your post at first. 

And yes....  baby always eats first.   

[Rick Lowe]

And yes....  baby always eats first. 

Yup! Specially as she's someone else's Baby...

WRT the "Star-and-Meatball", I think you're correct that they were only on the wings - the fuselage seems to have only had the a/c number.
You could put this forward of the wings, maybe?

[TheChronicOne]

And yes....  baby always eats first. 

Yup! Specially as she's someone else's Baby...

WRT the "Star-and-Meatball", I think you're correct that they were only on the wings - the fuselage seems to have only had the a/c number.
You could put this forward of the wings, maybe?

That's good to know on the meatballs.. that helps considerably to clear up real estate.

The number would look splendid on the sides on the air intakes methinks? I need to drag out these decals again and then maybe trace some onto some paper and do some dry fitting.

Here they are again for posterity, this time I'll include the source material, and outside of the glare producing baggie:





Numbers down at the bottom, the ones I need? (wait, they go on the tail, so I'm good!)   :





EDIT: 



Cool thing is, after I make this F-16, I still have enough on this sheet to make on of the actual Hawks. 

[Rick Lowe]

Hey, those falcons will look really sharp between the wings and tailplanes.
Yeah, the intake for the numbers would work.

Reading your comments on the Stash thread (and trying not to clog it up again), this:

Looking at plans on Goggle, it should be possible to stretch a 172 into a 177 - fiddly in that scale, but doable.
400-odd mm increase in length, under 30mm for the wingspan, 30 or so for the fin; all 1/1 dims so very small changes in 1/72.
You'd have to rake the windscreen a bit and move the front seats forward, also tweak the wing shape a bit, but it shouldn't be too big a deal?
FWIW...

[TheChronicOne]

Most of that actually doesn't sound too bad aside from the windscreen work (especially being familiar with these Arii kits  ) but I'm content to wait around for one to be made by someone else. I know ... it's like wishing in one hand and C.R.A.P.ing into another but I have plenty of time to burn. 

I wonder if there is anything of a 177 even in die-cast? I sort of doubt it but ya never know!

I wish little civvie birds were more popular and we could get kits like this even in short run. 

[Rick Lowe]

In that scale you could possibly get away with not even bothering to replace it - it looks to be only a little more raked, or you could just place the kit part at more of an angle; if you're re-doing the windows by replacing the pillars with sheet plastic, you'll be able to adjust the 'A' pillar to suit - or if you could find some clear sheet (clear school rulers/set squares are good), you'd be able to simply cut the fuselage flush with the bottom of the windows, glue the clear sheet above and use paint to put the pillars where they should be anyway. The rear window could be problematic, but you may be able to use the kit part?
I'd want to use something styrene for the windows anyway, as there might not be too much kit plastic front and rear to hold the wing, and there are no struts to help with that...

And the ailerons and flaps seem to be flat, not slotted, so adjusting the wing planform would be easier.

Cheers

[TheChronicOne]

I tell you what.... I'll send you one of my 172 kits and you can make a 177 for me!    Someone, somewhere would have to print some decals (the lil redbird is absolutely critical) but I think you have a handle on the situation and are a prime candidate for the contract. 

Anyway, how about a story about a measly bum slipping surly bonds:

I was freaked the hell out right after take off and while we were down below 1,000 feet.  That air-buff... or whatever it's called.  It was shaky and at times it was like the bottom fell out. I was a nervous wreck for about 15 minutes then we settled in about 3,500 feet and the rest of the flight was grand for the most part. Later that day we took back off, went to Altus, OK (next to Altus AFB, it was fun listening to the radio and looking at the heavies while we pressed forward in our lil Cessna  ) landed, then came back to a tiny private un-controlled strip on some ol' boys private property (dude with a house and a runway  ) . By the end of it I was over most of the jitters.

It was neat airplane.. my boss's plane. He actually flew me to a town about 50 miles away so I could work... 

Not long before that I took him to OKC to pick it up after he had a shitload of brand new high falutin' glass avionics installed, including autopilot. Back to my ride with him.... I have to say, when he put the auto-pilot on it turned the ride from pleasurable into bunk. The Auto-pilot was apparently too precise for my liking... it adjusting constantly so we never staying in a smooth trajectory for more than a few seconds. I imagine he adjusted the parameters later or something but I kind of think we were both test dummies that flight. 

[Rick Lowe]

Um... bags not? - Too many projects of m'own that I'll probably not get to before I kick off.
(What was that old saw about volunteering?) 

You'll be fine, it's not Rocket Science - or even Dragon Magic... Just (very) fiddly.

[NARSES2]

Glad you got your brushes 

There really is some impressive stuff going on here 

[TheChronicOne]

Um... bags not? - Too many projects of m'own that I'll probably not get to before I kick off.
(What was that old saw about volunteering?) 

You'll be fine, it's not Rocket Science - or even Dragon Magic... Just (very) fiddly.

Thanks for the vote of confidence! I think I'll have a lunch time research session on the Cardinal.    Oddly enough I was, yesterday, looking at the stuff at the hobby store and I was at one point specifically looking for things like sheet styrene and just the type of thing I'd need to do said fiddlyness. Maybe my subconscious is trying to tell me something. 

Glad you got your brushes 

There really is some impressive stuff going on here 

Thanks!! Wait til this gets shines up and transfers on!    The lil bean is neat too and should be a hoot. The color scheme I have planned for it should be both simple and yet busy enough to not look "lazy" and generic.

So glad to have them there brushes. I think if I can get up to 10-12 good brushes in total I'll likely have everything I need.

One of them there is the Filbert (could have gotten a Bright but the damn handle was like 2 feet long!! ) Rick suggested and I can't wait to try that out on some free-hand camouflage shenanigans. One there is for painting large areas and stuff like 1/72 Vulcan wingsand the other just as what I'm hoping will be me replacement "go to" general purpose brush I have so I can throw the shedding attrocity out the window.