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

[scooter]

I've also found over time that if I write something down, I remember it. Came in very useful when I was sitting at exams.

That's why I took all my college notes longhand while my classmates were tapping away on their laptops.  It was annoying when the Profs would shift the slide halfway through

[TheChronicOne]

Organizing stuff can be enjoyable. But can also be a pain sometimes. I think it all depends on the motivation (forced to do it versus voluntarily) and at what point of the process you're in. There for awhile in the beginning after it was all tore up and I barely had room to even exist in here I was a bit put-off by it all but at that point where things start clicking together like playing Tetris it started to be more fun.

Now I'm at the point where I'm just doing the final bits of refinement and organization on the kit stash itself. Currently I'm trying to cram 2.5 Galaxies into one box and if that is successful I'm going to take a look at this last little pile that is behind me here where I sit.

Here's that stuff with a lot of the Thunderbird stuff. I also have a little 1/72 T-bird car kit and the big Hasegawa multi-kit box "History of Set" and the C-54 to add to that stuff.... and a bunch of transfers sheets:



The last couple of little piles behind me:




It's a bit sloppy but not too bad at all and won't take much effort to get whipped into shape. All the kits will be placed elsewhere then the open space remaining is where I will stack all the boxes of my current projects and a couple boxes of most used supplies.

All the stuff for my huge USAF Thunderbirds project up there I'm going to try to cram into my Hasegawa "History of" Box (not pictured). I don't think this is going work, at all, maybe just sheets of transfers...........buuuuuut, I'm going to at least investigate the possibility. If I could get a couple of the smaller kits stuffed in there, though, that would be nice. I done goofed and crammed the C-54 kit under my bed already so I guess I'll fish that back out to go with the rest. At current I'm only missing 3 items for the project (aside from any whif things I can dream up):  The sheet of transfers for the aforementioned C-54, another for the C-123..... and lastly, the 1/72 scale C-123 kit itself which is taking forever to locate for less than $50. I will NOT be paying that. If I have to sit around and wait for 2 or 3 years then so be it.

I'll be done with this today, certainly! Probably could be done within an hour but I find it prudent to vacuum, dust, organize, and clean up everything not model related I come across as I go because it would be stupid and lazy not to....  so... it's taking awhile. Furniture and surfaces, etc. Two birds with one stone and all that..

[TheChronicOne]

All done!! This whole shooting match has been gone through and organized. When I started I had to tear it all apart and put it back together again but in doing so I didn't skip anything. I've laid eyes on every kit I own during this (aside from 10-12 1/48 ones in the storage room that I have earmarked for trade or sale) and opened up a ton of room and it all looks 100% better.


Not pictured are the ones I crammed under the bed, the two Trumpeter behemoths (1/72 Tu-160 and Tu 95) I have on "display", and the airliner collection which sits at the head of my bed behind the headboard. Also not pictured is the little area behind me. I went and ahead and left my Albatros/Delfin collection there and the 1/72 civil birds but the rest of the kits were integrated with the two "main piles." All the boxes and various things that go with current ongoing projects are now snugly secured there.   

Here're the two piles together, framed up the best I could without accidentally throwing myself down the flight of stairs: 


Still messy but it's quite decent and being a "living" space that changes all the time I can't expect perfection anyway.



Baby Pile.


Big Bertha Pile.

This concludes the model kit and supplies re-organization project 2018. Hopefully I won't get lazy and let it get all out of whack again. I kept telling myself over and over that I would organize it all and simply never did until it was a massive problem. Baaaaaad habit.



NOW WHAT?!      I think I'll start painting on the Raptor. I was going to glue things into the weapons bay but if I HAVE to glue onto already painted surfaces I'd rather do so after the first gloss coat instead of onto flat acrylic craft paint. The CA works better this way.......    don't ax me how I know. ( ) So anyway since I can't do that I think all I CAN do right now is paint. I can paint on the plane body itself, the landing gear, and I think weapons bay doors. I think what I'll do is just start with the plane itself and get the belly painted in blue then I can shoot a spot shot of clear gloss into the weapons bays so that can start drying then later I can glue in the stuff I want to put in the bays. I'm trying to get some of the fiddly stuff out of the way rather than have a giant pile of it to do at the end. 




EDIT:  Tacking this on to this post so I don't have to keep digging for it.     

[TheChronicOne]

Back to work!! 


Here's one we haven't seen in awhile:



Yeah!!       It's coming along well all of a sudden. I had to add a wee bit more filler around the canopy toward the rear left side but it's close to being ready to be sanded smooth then I can put the second coat of primer on and see how it looks. I hope it will be good to go. It looks good to me!  It would make my day if this thing was ready for actual paint... . .. .      to that end, I'm going to sand that little section then take it outside for another coat of primer then we'll see what the score is!   


Also.... coats of blue going on the bottom of the Raptor. It needs 2-3 or more then I think I can start on the top.






At some point this decade I'd like to start my Cold War GB build....   

[TheChronicOne]

Oh man!!! I didn't get nearly as much work done as I would have liked because the 'hood erupted!!!!   All within a couple hundred feet there was a gun battle and a couple of people shot themselves then just a while after that a high speed car chase ensued and that person went right through the very same intersection closest to the shooting. I'm sitting here watching all this crap, mind you......   I took some video and there is also other video of this car chase.     Nutty.. If I can figure out how, I'll try to share the videos.

Wooo...the stories I could tell about this neighborhood. And, I mean, right HERE. The stories of things I've seen all happening withing 500 feet of this house...  Fire bombings, people stabbed to death, police officers being shot, dead hookers tossed out in the street, drive by shootings, people out in the street beating each other with baseball bats and pitchforks, crazy lady walking down the street shooting a gun into an occupied vehicle, etc.  It's embarrassing but also immensely entertaining. I have a dozen more stories..... all sorts of weird things like whacked out crack heads trying to break in, nutters walking down the street naked and stealing things, you name it.

Long story short, all this actions brought my modelling to a halt but...   It's worth mention because it's interesting. 

[zenrat]

Just as long as you don't get caught in the crossfire.

[TheChronicOne]

Every time I hear a pop I move away from the windows for a moment.       'Merica!     


'Merica to the max: 6 months ago one of my buddies accidentally shot himself to death. His brother wants to go shoot guns. (AWKWARD)  Gun culture here is nutty! I do love mine though.   But man.... the way some people go around with them all willy nilly and stuff??? Like.... as if it were a toy or a monkey wrench or something? I was pretty PISSED at that one broad that was out here shooting.  She's only 100 feet away just shooting at these people in the SUV with NO REGARD for everything behind that SUV. It was sheer luck that it wasn't MY house as the back stop. 

Anyhow!!     And don't anyone get me wrong... I love my guns and love my 'Merica, 2A, too. 

Oddly enough, with all the drama, I DO have one thing to report and that is aside from touch up work, this is a glorious solid shade of blue on the bottom of the Raptor!!! It took like 8 coats though... maybe next time I won't thin the stuff so much but I think it does make for a smoother finish in the end this way? Perhaps?  It should in theory...

Nothing else to be done, however. I'm going to relax and watch TV all day and rest up for what is going to be a Malarkey Monday because of this rain. Garbage will be soggy, grass will be difficult to cut. 

[NARSES2]

Just as long as you don't get caught in the crossfire.

Absolutely, take care mate

[TheChronicOne]

Roger that! I try to mind my own business and a lot of people wouldn't wind up in sticky situations if they would, too. And with youngsters they're all full of piss and vinegar and don't know how to chill out sometimes it seems. Turns out these two that were shot were just teenagers. 16 years old one of them. Anyway.... one of them died yesterday so the whole thing has been upgraded to a murder case. 2nd murdered person in three years less than 300 feet from my property. As I type this the locals news station just pulled up for something.. I guess they're going to make a report on the upgraded severity of the incident. They're on my lawn now setting up a camera.  The news reporter lady is practicing her lines.




Cray cray! 


I'm going to be working on the Raptor and Liberty both again today I do believe. I'm going to start painting the top colors because the blue bottom is finished, I think. I suppose I could stop and do the pylons and stuff like I was planning, though...  I'll figure it out after lunch then boogy on down. 

[TheChronicOne]

Nice smooth blue belly on here! Lots of touch up work to be done and I'll have to repaint those gear and stuff but the bottom is done being painted and I'm moving on to the top:



I'm going to just keep the paint pretty thin and layer it until it's solid. Takes extra time but makes for a better end product I think.

I might get as far as transfers on this but I sort of doubt it. I know that doing this thin paint layering jive is time consuming then I have a ton of cutting in and doing touch up work, not to mention going back through references and checking against my transfers in order to paint or omit all the small details. The exhaust stuff will need work then I think there's some nav lights and other minutiae that will need to be gone over. Buuuuuuuuuut... if I can manage to get all that wrapped up I'll settle out of court for ending the day with this thing glossed.  Then, a couple days from now when I get started again, I can do the transfers and I'll be on the down hill slide for sure.

[PR19_Kit]

They're on my lawn now setting up a camera.  The news reporter lady is practicing her lines.

Remember to bill them then.

[TheChronicOne]

      I've often thought of charging people to park in some of the free spaces here every time they have a big event at the city park a block North. Without fail the entire area fills to the brim with vehicles lined up and down the sides of the street sometimes 3-4 blocks away. I could get my claws into a couple of families with like 6 kids and say, "Hey, secured parking space a couple blocks closer -$20!" 



Tan color is solid and smooth on the Rapto!!!!   Next up: The doo-doo brown camo then I can try my hand at the splotchy green stuff! 

[TheChronicOne]

[NARSES2]

Good progress

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks!!! This one is nearing completiong all of a sudden. I'm estimating another week but that's pretty conservative.

Still.. I always seem to look for and find a ton of tiny details to do toward the end so I'm allowing for that and I imagine the finer detail painting will take awhile, too, because it takes a while to even realize it exists let alone do the actual work. This is stuff like little panels and knobs and things of that nature. Here's the thing, though: there are transfers for a lot of these things, especially panels, so I'm going to have to cross-reference my research with my transfers as I go. I'd rather use transfers any place I can over painting because as good as I may wit' me brush I'll never be as crisp as a transfer. For these reasons, I've settled on a week rather than 3-4 days.


When I get started again, I have a couple areas that need a bit more of the brown but all that is done aside from going back in with tan to clean up a couple areas where the brown went out of bounds. Then... on to the green!! This will be interesting because I want to duplicate the mottled outer region of the splotches. It should be fun stabbing things instead of swiping them. 



EDIT:   WOOPS!!! I forgot about the exciting new stuff going on. I now have 3 components out of..... 4 or 5? that I need to CREATE MY OWn CUSTOM AIRLINER!!!           It's going to be a good one, too. No Airturd 565 for Dull Airlines here... no way, we're taking flight in a Vickers VC-10. 

I bought a VC-10 fuel tanker for $30 cheaper than an actual airline kit then turned around and bought a set of windows for $4. I already have a bunch of green squares stuff that I will try to use to make my airline's logo. All I need to do is finalize the actual design of said logo (I might spend a few hours this morning looking Saul Bass stuff and things like that) and figure out what to do in the way of a paint job. Being that the windows are the way they are I don't think I could get a cheatline across them without it taking 18 trillion hours so I'll have to move it below the windows or come up with something else..







THIS is going to be some fun $%&$%*. 


"Chronic Airlines, We Always Come Back."