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

[Rick Lowe]

Yeah, I tried a normal 1/4" flat for curves and it wasn't pretty - course back then (like 3-4 months ago  ) I didn't know any better...
The Filbert makes it easier to do a curved edge without having stray bits outside where you want them.

[NARSES2]

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.

Undoubtedly as long as you look after them. Apart from the usual cleaning processes during regular use, every now and then I give them a really good deep clean using Deluxe Materials Brush Magic https://www.deluxematerials.co.uk/gb/rc-modelling/20-brush-magic-5060243901354.html. (you can get it cheaper) You need to be careful as it's very strong and will strip the paint off the handles  You can probably get something similar Stateside, but test it on an old brush first.

They always say "you are never to old to learn" ? Well I never thought of using a Filbert brush for curves before. Think I'll give it a try. Cheers Rick 

[TheChronicOne]

I was having that problem on the Mayan Empire kitbash plane I made... lots of circles and curves. The brushes I used would be fine on the sloping stuff but when it came time to make a sharper turn the edges of the brush would sometimes "lose grip" and kind of "flare out" and it would make a protrusion sticking out of the outside edge of the curve. Lots of going back in to "repair." The time saved not having to deal with this will pay for the new brush!

What's going on today??? HMMM... well..... weather is not good enough to do anything outside so I guess I'm just forced to build models all day! 

Going to go to F16.net or some such so I can have a look at reference photos so I can see what littler details I can paint onto the plane. I know I need to glue on some of the nobs and stuff. A couple are the nav lights and some others are for antennas or something. Some will be painted fuselage color but I think I might need to leave some of them grey. I also need to maske off and paint the nose. I could leave it primer but I got some blue paint on it so I may as well just go ahead and do it right with a new coat. I'll have to sand down the "ridge" of blue paint that built up first, however.

Glider gets more work done to the wing roots then I can prime it again and start painting. Looking forward to that because I'm going to try this Model Master paint.

Somali F-22 and the High Altitude RAF P-40 are up in the air as I probably won't work on them unless I find myself completely unable to work on the others. So far that hasn't really happened and I've just been switching between F-16/Glider but I imagine at some point soon I'll get back to the F-22 and finally start the Warhawk.

[TheChronicOne]

Painting detail work.



I could probably find a lot more little things than those black whatevers.... but uhhh.. this is good enough.    I still need to paint the nav lights then I'm going to stop and actually put the roundels on the bottom side because it will be easier to do so now rather than after I put all the pylons on. To that end, I sprayed a bit of gloss on the undersides of the wings and they have been drying the past hour.

I have to finish painting the Aim-9s..... I'm done painting the canopy... uhmmmmm.......  Let's see.. I have two doo-dads to glue on the side near the nose.... I need to glue on all the pylons.... uhmmm... then I guess It's time to glue on all the wingy-bits then I can clear it and start doing transfers! 

If things go PERFECTLY I could be done today but I really doubt it. Won't stop me from trying though!

[TheChronicOne]

Things are going well!! I'm done with all the painting that I'm aware of aside from the missiles. I even went back and painted the refueling inlet door. Put on antennas and doo-dads, navs lights, and painted them all. Roundels on the bottoms of the wings. I forgot about "US ARMY" so I'll put those on, too.

After that I can glue on all the pylons then it's time to put the wings on and gloss.  I'm making good time but I still don't know if I'll finish tonight or not...   as always, "the closer to being finish, the longer it seems to take."

[TheChronicOne]

Can someone tell me what color the Aim 9 is up front? I know it's grey and the color bands in the back but I can't tell if the forward part is a dark grey or a greenish color.... 



It's always stupid little things like this that obliterate my time schedule. It would take about 3 minutes to paint it but I've already sank no less than 20 minutes into just trying to get the stupid color right!! 

[TheChronicOne]

Well, the whole missile color thing wound up chain-reacting and I wound up mainly just sitting here for an hour and a half but I'm back at it now. 

I decided to stop and take a pic of the underside of the wings now before I put the pylons on so we could see "US ARMY" in all its glory on an F-16.   

Going to glue on the pylons now and check back in soon... won't be long now and we'll have a whole plane. 

[Rick Lowe]

Yeehaa! Coming along really well (and quickly!) 
Go, Man, Go!

They always say "you are never to old to learn" ? Well I never thought of using a Filbert brush for curves before. Think I'll give it a try. Cheers Rick 

I was having that problem on the Mayan Empire kitbash plane I made... lots of circles and curves. The brushes I used would be fine on the sloping stuff but when it came time to make a sharper turn the edges of the brush would sometimes "lose grip" and kind of "flare out" and it would make a protrusion sticking out of the outside edge of the curve. Lots of going back in to "repair." The time saved not having to deal with this will pay for the new brush!

Yup, exactly the trouble I was having.
No worries, guys - glad I could add to the knowledge pool... what is it they say, something like "Knowledge not shared is knowledge wasted" or sumpin' like'at? 

...Course, it could also be that I always have to add my .02c... 

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks, Rick!!!

It's definitely moving along now. Minor hiccups here and there and I've slowed my pace considerably (won't be done tonight) but a lot of the headache inducing malarkey is well out of the way.  In fact, at this point, I need to just leave it alone as most of this is only just precariously perched....  the gear especially. I made the mistake a few minutes ago if setting it down on them and one folded in and the other was knocked out of alignment.     Can't do more to this until this stuff all dries up.





There are things that look bad but will in turn be nearly completely obscured by fuels tanks and the such. 

[TheChronicOne]

I REEEEAAALLY should just leave this thing alone before I wreck it but I can't help myself.     

I had to hold it to get a picture but this is the current state of the top of it.



The fuel door thingy isn't crooked I assure you, it's just the angle. (it's molded into the plastic and I followed it precisely  ) .  The edges are a bit shithouse but I have a transfer for that. 

Now.. I need to go put this somewhere well away from me so I don't keep trying to fiddle with it...   

[Rick Lowe]

Go and play a video game to keep yourself occupied and out of mischief... or start another project... 

[TheChronicOne]

Yeah buddy!! I'm going to hop in my Pe-8 bomber again and go smash Nazis. 

I'll have to snag a pic of that... I used the custom decorating mode to turn it into a Sloavikian plane. 

[DogfighterZen]

You should still have a couple of parts to go on the landing gear, those help to support the whole assembly much better, don't rush it.

[TheChronicOne]

Yeah two strut thingies, you're right! I could have put them on last night but I guess I forgot or that was about when I quit. (pretty late at that point!!) Sure would have been better to do it last night though. I gave up right after because I was starting to destroy things like CHRONIC SMASH!         Not on purpose it's just the glue wasn't dried up enough.    I already knocked an antenna loose and the wing got all droopy so I stopped with the gear stuff and swilled some beer instead. 

I don't know what I did to it but uhhh... one wing just doesn't want to sit still. Even this morning still after 10 or more hours drying time it still have flex to it where as the other wing was solid as a rock. I'm going to be hanging all kinds of crap on there so I need it to be more solid.

That leads into the tiny amount of work I've done so far this morning.... cramming more glue into that wing join.... and I glossed the fin.    I'm going to let the plane sit a few hours for insurance so I suppose I may as well go ahead and see if I can put some transfers on the fin. Either that or I work on one of the other 3 projects.

I'm sitting here watching some movie about Russians beating the piss out of each other and stealing things so I'm not getting a whole lot done yet.. ..

[DogfighterZen]

Yup, those bits help to stabilize the whole gear.
That wing join might be taking longer to dry because of paint in the join, if it still doesn't dry up solid after that second dose of glue, maybe try taking the wing of and carefully clean the fuselage and wing matting surfaces, and then glue again. Just my 2 cents.