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

[TheChronicOne]

Finished up the Flying Ram for the one week GB. Check the details over there if interested. 




























Didn't do a damn thing to the BAC 111. This Ram deal took the whole day to finish. A lot of detail and making things look good. It's surprising how long all that can take. I wasn't even distracted and stay on task the whole while and it took some hours! But, when I do, I think I have a bit of a gap along the upper fuselage seam that needs to be skim coated. It could very well work itself out with the coats of paint but I'm not brushing this one so I may as well address this now. It may be inaccurate as hell but it's going to look good!

I'll work on that later, though. If anything, now, I'm going to poke around my DC-3 kits and see if I really want to build one and then ruminate on this upcoming GB . .  . ..

[zenrat]

Best thing i've learnt through suffering with my back is to get it looked at rather than ignore it and hope it'll go away.
Keeping active is good but avoid lifting and twisting.  Prolly hard to do seeing what you do for a crust.
All the best, fingers are crossed but you'll be good.  Sleep is the best medicine.

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks, bud!! It's feeling better today, for sure. Still a bit borderline but I think I'll be ship-shape by tomorrow. 

I need to watch where I'm going. This all started when I was walking through the kitchen and brushed against a chair or something. It was unexpected so I reflex-jerked away and BAM there went the back.   


SO, I took a look at the DC-3 kits. I've read up on them (bad bad bad to do, I should just build them without tainting the well with information that makes me want to shelf the kit) and learned that they were made by a firm that had never done such a thing and went off of a model that was incorrect, etc etc etc. BUT, the thing of it is, it LOOKS like a DC-3 to me so I wasn't going to sweat it and was going to build it anyway but then I started to look at the kit plastic and.....what the hell, man... lots and lots of flash including on the tiny parts.

So now I'm thinking, if I do all that, I may as well build my F-RSIN ATR-72 American Eagle.  This is one of about 5 pet projects of mine of planes that I grew up seeing flying all the time. I REALLY want to build this one and it's been a long time coming. It took a long time to get to a point where I could afford one. Had to order the transfers from over-seas. 

So what I have is the F-RSIN (they specialize in resin kits but do injection molded ones as well) kit which is generally rough ... well.. QUITE rough in some areas....  BUT maneageable with the skills I've acquired to this point. There's a bit more of it to do but nothing really new that hasn't had to be done to other kits at various stages. NAZCA Decals made the American Eagle transfers. They will need to be trimmed right up to the edge. I had gotten used to doing this anyway after having transfers bump into things from being too wide or whatever; it's really not as bad as it sounds. I use scissors but have to pay close attention to keep things straight at the last bit of cut. 




"SUPER ATR"   Damn right it's super!!!!!!!!!!   


Pretty sure I heard about these things having a bit of a bad reputation due to mechanical problems or crashes or something but I can't recall specifics. I think they're really cool, though.

So that's that. It's either this one or a Delta Airlines C-130.

[PR19_Kit]

Pretty sure I heard about these things having a bit of a bad reputation due to mechanical problems or crashes or something but I can't recall specifics. I think they're really cool, though.

IIRC the ATRs had some problems with icing a while back. I guess it's all fixed now as I've not heard in mentioned in recent years.

[TheChronicOne]

Well that's good to know! I guess like with most aircraft, it had its growing pains.

I think I'm pretty convinced to build this one. I know it's going to be some work but I'm actually really anxious to get started and see just how up to the task I am. When I get back home from work today we'll open 'er up and I'll take some pictures of the plastic so we can all see what the score is.

Also, time to star the Spitfire! I looked at the kit a little bit yesterday. Seems pretty nice for being the age that it is. The transfers even look usuable although I might hop on the internet and see if I can find an aftermarket set if I can get them cheap enough.

Next, I aim to get the BAC 111 into paint today. I need to check up on/ fix a couple things but it shouldn't take too much to get out of the PSR phase. Hopefully the new transfers for it show up today.

[TheChronicOne]

Back home! No lawns! Feeling much better with my back, too. Didn't wake up as early this morning, either, so feeling well rested and energetic. Time to make this BAC happen.

I now have a solid game plan to get to work on this. The doors... every one.... look terrible so I'm going to just fill them in completely. I also need a wee bit of filler on the nose where the plastic seemed to split up by the wind screens and a couple spots on the spine where there's a bit of valley. That's about it.

Oh... the nose gear managed to be pushed up into the fuselage (I wallowed out the hole too much early in the build) so I had to cut the wheels off and will have to splice in a piece of sprue to get it back to the proper length. This thing was sitting like a DRAGSTER!    Kind of cool? Maybe? But not cool, at all, really.    I'll save that until the end though because I'm positive It'll break off later if I fix it now.


ATR 72 is confirmed as a new build and I'll start on it today.

Spitfire (RW) also confirmed.

Having thoughts about picking out one of my Amodel kits and building it just to see what all the hype is about......   seems like everyone says they're crap so I want to see for myself.

[TheChronicOne]

PSR work has been done on the BAC 111 and it has been primed again. I think I'll have to do it one more time before it's ready for paint but we're going in the right direction at least!

New livery came in today, as well:




I've also built most of the Spitfire. All but the tail planes are on aside from fiddly bits and canopy. I slathered glue all along the wing root seams so I'll let those dry up a couple days then start sanding.


I found an Amodel kit to build. I'll get into that later because I sort of forgot about it just now as I was getting things together for this post. It's a Yak 53 in some really interesting decorations!


The "main event" now, though, is the ATR-72.    I had a choice of a few different airlines when I bought it. I knew from the get-go I wasn't going to use it, but, I still wanted one I liked best so I can put it on something else so naturally went with KLM:



The new transfers I got from Nazca have all the common markings but so do the kit transfers. Whichever ones seem easiest to use or work best will be the ones I use and I'll save the others into the stash. It's good to have such an option. Also, from what I gather, not ALL sheets from Nazca come with common markings so I guess I lucked out with this American Eagle stuff. 






Now, for the plastic. On the whole, it's really not that bad. Some parts are pretty rough like the panel stuff around the gear wells and the props. In fact, it would appear they give you a bunch of extra prop blades to make up for the miscasted ones, which there are a few:




There are two different kinds. PRetty sure I will be using the curving looking ones on this. The others are for different engines or something and probably go on the 42. Maybe the instructions will say more (I'm sure). I haven't opened those yet but will right after this post! But anyway..... they give a bunch extra so it will be easy to pick the best ones and nice to have a bunch of back ups (and stuff for the parts stash!)


The rest:


Everything.


A bit of engine cowling and the gear well surrounds.


Wing uppers, spinners, doo-dads.


Wing lowers,  ? , malarkey.


Engine cowlings, spinners (they're are 4 in total... I'll have to be sure to use the right ones if they are different) .


Part of the fuselage, triangle stuff. Can't really see the "slag" on the fuselage but there's a moderate amount of it. Good thing is, it should be simple to sand away!    And... overall, the fuselages look really nice!!! Detail looks good, but not overbearing (and pretty crisp, as well). The plastic seems soft, but is nice and thick. Not sure if this is good or bad but sometimes sanding softer plastic makes for easier PSR and thick plastic means extra wiggle room and surface for gluing so .... whatever.

So there we are! ATR-72 in 1/144. I think only just recently Italeri put out their ATR-42 but as far as 72's go this is the only game in town as far as I'm aware without spending ridiculous money or dealing in mediums that I don't like such as resin or vac.


Time to swill a beer and read these instructions a bit then we'll look at this Amodel kit..   

[TheChronicOne]

As promised, the Amodel Yak-53:





"DOSAAF (Russian: ДОСААФ), full name Volunteer Society for Cooperation with the Army, Aviation, and Navy (Russian: Добровольное Общество Содействия Армии, Авиации и Флоту), was a paramilitary sport organisation in the Soviet Union, concerned mainly with weapons, automobiles and aviation. The society was established in 1927 as OSOAVIAKhIM and from 1951 to 1991 carried the name of DOSAAF."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOSAAF













Of the three Amodel kits I have, this one is not only the best looking one by far (concerning flash and quality of the molding), but the simplest one because of it having zero armament or anything at all hanging from it. This group is akin the United States' Civil Air Patrol, yet, a little bit more "less-voluntary." If that makes sense....      Pretty interesting stuff. I've only done cursory research but this is very intriguing and I'll be doing some more to see what I can dig up. Not only is this stuff interesting, but I really like how they decorated these planes! 

I suspect some Amodel kits are better than others (naturally). It would seem pretty obvious just from looking at the three I have. I would assume that this one here is a newer release whereas the other were a bit closer to the beginnings of Amodel. I could be wrong but it seems like a natural progression for things to get better as time goes along instead of worse but there're always exceptions to the rule.

I'm looking forward to this one. I've been thinking on and off of building an Amodel kit just to see what it's like for a while now so this will be a learning experience in the least.


This and the ATR-72 fly right in the face of my "simpler builds for the summer" rule but I keep finding reasons not to build kits no matter which one I consider so I'm just going to go for it and keep an easy going build alongside to help balance things. Right now that is the Spitfire. When it's done, I'll choose another really simple prop-fighter-jobber to do so that if it take eons to do these others, at least I'm getting SOMETHING done and alleviating the pressure that builds after months of having nothing to put in the "Finished Builds."

[zenrat]

I like the look of the Yak.
Definitely appears to be one of A Model's better kits.

Glad your back is feeling better.  Mines decided to come out in sympathy and has been giving me gyp all day.  I think it's due to twisting and lunging across the counter at work to read the post code on a customers parcel.  I'm carefull when I lift and bend but can catch myself out with things like this.  It's not bad enough to lay me up but is annoying and I am applying heat packs and looking forward to bedtime.

[NARSES2]

Having thoughts about picking out one of my Amodel kits and building it just to see what all the hype is about......   seems like everyone says they're crap so I want to see for myself.

Absolutely the way to do it  Make your own mind up. I've been warned off a couple of manufacturers in the past (or specific kits) and yet when I've attempted them I've found myself enjoying them. The trick is to not let them wind you up. When, and if, they start to get  put them down for a bit

[TheChronicOne]

I like the look of the Yak.
Definitely appears to be one of A Model's better kits.

Glad your back is feeling better.  Mines decided to come out in sympathy and has been giving me gyp all day.  I think it's due to twisting and lunging across the counter at work to read the post code on a customers parcel.  I'm carefull when I lift and bend but can catch myself out with things like this.  It's not bad enough to lay me up but is annoying and I am applying heat packs and looking forward to bedtime.

Funny how it works, right? You'd think something like picking up a big bag of dog food or carrying bricks around would be the source of such a thing when asking someone how they threw their back out and how they got so crippled up for 3 days. "Man you must have been lifting some big heavy stuff."  But no... it can be something like leaning over or stepping wrong. It's the sudden shift.... or whatever. I can lift a bag of grass and toss it in the dumpster if I'm careful about it... but if I brush up against a cobweb it's game over. 

Rest up!! I always recommend it. It's always a great excuse to goof off, too. "Was going to clean the such and such but I'll just work on me builds instead. " 

[TheChronicOne]

Having thoughts about picking out one of my Amodel kits and building it just to see what all the hype is about......   seems like everyone says they're crap so I want to see for myself.

Absolutely the way to do it  Make your own mind up. I've been warned off a couple of manufacturers in the past (or specific kits) and yet when I've attempted them I've found myself enjoying them. The trick is to not let them wind you up. When, and if, they start to get  put them down for a bit

There for awhile I had convinced myself to stop reading up on kit reviews and stuff ....  "gathering intel" as I call it because it was getting frustrating always canceling things.  I think I'll try this some more and go into a few builds "blind" and do my own reckoning. 

[TheChronicOne]

I'm staking my claim on this idea before anyone else does. 



OK, Donald Trump announces new Space Force. Suddenly the "F-52" comment from months earlier makes sense.   --This has been the plan all along! So, hmmm..... I think I could take one of my Macrosse kits and turn it into a USSF F-52 "somethingsomething" STS (Surface To Space) Fighter.     

Should be a hoot. Sounds like something I might try pretty soon. 

[major]

http://ghostmodeler.blogspot.com/2012/09/talons-in-space-northrops-n-205-proposal.html                                                                                                 
Some inspiration for you! 

[TheChronicOne]

http://ghostmodeler.blogspot.com/2012/09/talons-in-space-northrops-n-205-proposal.html                                                                                                 
Some inspiration for you! 

Ahhh yeah, there we go!  Thanks!  I'm going to make the bet F-52 ever!