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

Old Wombat · August 16, 2018, 03:01:27 AM

Range is something else to take into consideration there. If the plane can make it to a ground-based landing strip/field or airport the flying part is relatively easy, so they'd have a better surface to land on, too - one that wasn't bouncing about on the ocean.

zenrat · August 16, 2018, 03:45:48 AM

Mythbusters did indeed try being talked down using a flight simulator.
They decided it was plausible.
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/mythbusters-database/person-with-no-flying-experience/

TheChronicOne · August 17, 2018, 02:16:18 AM

Hmmmmm..... I guess I'll work on the Hustler today. The humidity around here is in the 90s and has been for days so the BAC 111 is taking eons to dry. I'll sniff it again today and see if it's ready to sand on.

Not much else planned yet. When I get home I have to start re-arranging things on the property to move my truck and trailer. The "City" is up my arse to move things because it's illegal to park your own vehicles/trailers inside your own backyard here in the "land of the free." Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

TheChronicOne · August 17, 2018, 05:08:04 PM

Surprise!!!! Working on the ATR-72 again all of a sudden. The BAC-111 is nearly ready to be sanded on but not quite. A couple more days then we're off to the races, though! It should be a simple affair... maybe an hour of sanding then a quick wipe down and re-spray with the white paint.

But yeah, ATR-72........ So.. I'm working on the fuselage trying to get it done before I proceed with anything else. Using big wood file and my sanding sponges I've gotten most of it in good shape but the caved in place on the side needs filling so I've done that. It's a bit thick so I'll let it dry and do any shrinking it may do then will sand it and see if I need to add more. Most likely will but after that I can glue the wings and tailplanes on. While that stuff dries up I'll try to work on the engines like I had planned way back when I left off on this build.

Not sure what to do now.

zenrat · August 18, 2018, 12:48:39 AM

Quote from: TheChronicOne on August 17, 2018, 05:08:04 PM
...Not sure what to do now.

Start something new.

TheChronicOne · August 19, 2018, 01:27:29 AM

If anything, I'll pick up the F-52 again and do some work on that. I need to de-compress the bench a little more. I need to finish off one more something-or-other then I'll start something. I'm thinking of doing the Laotian Fennec pretty soon.

For today, I'm not sure how things are going to pan out. I dragged my azz out of bed at 2AM so I could get some mowing done before the heat arrives but there's a big mess o' rain coming down and looks to keep coming down for a few hours. I still might manage to do something, though, and that will eat up a fair amount of time potentially. BUT, in reality, it's looking like I'll only be picking up trash so that won't take too long then I need to hit a couple stores. I can go grocery shopping this morning about 5AM because the store is open 24hours a day. I love it.

So after that I'll be home pretty early and probably won't be able to work outside in my backyard so it'll be time to work on models. BAC-111 is the one I'd like to make progress on. I should be able to sand it now then I can paint it and may be able to start on transfers as early as this evening. Not entirely sure because I still need to do some of the paint touch up like on the engines and stuff. We'll see..

TheChronicOne · August 19, 2018, 03:29:03 PM

Taking a lil break so I figure I'd update.

Sanded the BAC-111 and the paint is all warming up and ready to go by now. I stopped working on it and have been messing with the Hustler ever since. But anyway!! If I can stay focused, I plan to spray it up with the first coat here in a bit then let it sit for 5 minutes then add another. That should do it, and if I sanded well, I can let it sit and dry then it will be time for transfers.

Here's a question I have... since I'm using the rattle cans, should I let the paint finish gas out all the way and dry up pretty thoroughly before I put transfers on? It's been awhile since I've gone this route so I can't remember how I did it last time. Honestly, I think the last time I did rattle cans then transfers was the SEA Camo U2 Spyplane I made, and that was nearly two years ago.

In other news.... I've been troubled about my financial state and it's sort of putting a damper on things. Over the course of the last two weeks things have conspired to make me at unease. I've experienced things like this before so I recognize the "symptoms." It's like a "3 strikes" thing. So, uhh.. this contract I have picking up garbage for the company 100 miles NE of here in OKC.... They mow the grass at the shopping center where I pick up garbage. They also maintain the trees and flower beds, etc. So strike one I noticed is that the new stuff they planted about a month and a half ago has long since gone tits-up and they haven't made an attempt to come and rectify any of it. Strike two is that on both occassions that I have sent correspondence to them I have gotten nothing back. I usually get at least a quick note to indicate that my message had been rec'd. One was me sending in the monthly bill and the next was to let them know of a couple of items they need to address the next time they arrive for service, things that happened in recent storm. Strike three is the fact that is has now been over two weeks since they have mowed. Now, I've seen them take a week and a half or two weeks a couple times before, but I was under the impression that they mowed once a week. So, now, these three things combined are having me think they are considering or already have pulled out of the contract, but are failing to tell me about it. Naturally, I am to continue to do my part until the end of the month.

This happened to me once before in 2012. I was contracting at first but then wound up hired on to a company out of San Antonio but that's only slightly relevant. I mowed the entire Ft. Sill National Cemetery (same thing as Arlington Nat'l, just down here) and I found out by pure happenstance about a week prior to end of a contract that was supposed to run 5 years minimum.... at the end of only 2, that they were pulling out of their contract with the VA, so my job evaporates 3 years early with no notice. So... here I was, with only one week of work remaining and no clue that I was out of a job. No chance to prepare. But anyway... some of the same things I noticed then I am noticeing now, in particular the could shoulder treatment in communicating and the sense that they no longer seem to care about the contract... . .. .. .. . I hope all to hell I'm fretting over nothing but having been through it before and once again seeing all these signs has me worried. If I lose this trash gig my income goes ALL THE WAY TO ZERO.... NO MONEY. $0. I don't mow in the winter. Nothing grows for over 4 months.

Bad stuff. I hope I'm wrong, but if it walks, talks, quacks, and acts like a duck... then it's a duck.

So anyway.... back to gluing things to the Hustler. Check me over there in that thread, I'm going to try to take pictures of it all.

TheChronicOne · August 19, 2018, 05:54:08 PM

BAC on track:

It looks better than ever! I may start sanding between coats of paint (like one is supposed to in many instances) from now on.

It feels nice being "caught up" and back on track with this one. Now, I'll let it sit around and dry, probably a week or more, then I can decal it.

AFter decalling the fuselage and fin I'll have to mask a bunch of stuff then I need to spray gloss black and then NMF for engine pylons and whatever other areas call for metal finish. Also will have to do a bit of a mask job on the wings to get the silver strip along the front. De-icer I guess...

NARSES2 · August 20, 2018, 06:19:31 AM

Glad you got back on track with the 111

Can't offer any help with the work situation I'm afraid. Similar things happen in the UK, but the law will be different. So here's fingers crossed for you.

TheChronicOne · August 20, 2018, 07:03:40 AM

Nothing I can do as a contractor. I'm just out of that particular job. If I were actually employed with them, then I'd have options. As it is, I can't do things such as file for unemployment. I'm going to attempt to not worry about it too much until tomorrow morning at least when I'm back out there and can check to see if they finally mowed or not.

I could be worrying over nothing! They could just be behind as I've been before in the past and I know they've had stormy weather up in OKC so, who knows.

Good news is I still have a couple months of mowing left! It starts to slow down a little by Oct but still mow clear into November.

So that will give me time to try to come up with something and at least get my azz back on them food stamps.

BAC 111.. she's a looker, I damn near want to leave it all white, wheels and all, and set it on the shelf. It looks sort of neat like a computer program model or something. Alas, it will look even better with the PACIFIC EXPRESS crap on it, though.

I'll give it a few days to dry up.... could take more.. it's so humid around here.

Otherwise, I have opened up my Bobkit thing of 1/72 scale Airport Vehicles.

And, yay, they come with figures! I'll get pictures of everything tomorrow.... and man, what a colorful pile of C.R.A.P. it is! Ericr would get a kick out of these. They are molded in the 3 glorious primary colors red/blue/yellow as the vehicles are painted, although the blue color is "off" and the yellow looks "off" as well. Not ugly colors, just not exactly primary and not exactly accurate for the vehicles they potray.

Preview.

These are more "dissasembled toy" than model parts. The constructions of them is snap-together and they are build just like little toy cars would be. For instance, the clear parts for the windows are just one piece that snaps in, opposed to individual window pieces, or sides, etc.

Still, if they are truly in scale they will be a welcome addition to the shelf and it will be killer having some support vehicles and people to stage with newly completed models.

Besides, I haven't built a car model in eons... early 1990's. It'll be fun.

Oh, what else.... let's see here.... the instructions are very nice! Full color exploded diagrams. They are definitely copying from LEGO's homework on this one and I'm not surprised as Bobkit stuff was marketed toward kids, right? (I also have a Bobkit 1/72 C-160 Transall somewheres.... it came with a load of figures, too).

Notice the little "hey, this stuff snaps together" symbol up by the numbers.

Transfers are neato, and look to be in good shape:

I might go on ahead and start working on these tomorrow. Finish one a week or something. Can't wait to use them next to stuff. I know they all French and all but this stuff could potential be at any airport or airbase in the world and should be alright to be posed with damn near anything aside from anochronistic type things like a .... Zepplin or.... tri wing something or other...

TheChronicOne · August 21, 2018, 01:37:01 AM

No plans yet but I'll likely be working mainly on the Hustler today. It's ready to have the putty sanded. Also, will try to start on the little 1/72 Airport vehicles and stuff. I opened up the one bag. So odd... why was this stuff in a bag, yet the other stuff just tossed in the box? It was factory sealed, as well.... so it's not like previous owner did it. SHRUG. Oh well, like I said, I opened it up and took a couple pictures of the figures.

Lady figure:

The others:

Pretty cool!! It'll be nice having these Wee People and Lil Buddies to pose along with the vehicles. I guess I need to finally break down and create some sort of airfield thing or something for my models to sit on. The tiles are nice but I think some airport shenanigans are in order.

zenrat · August 21, 2018, 02:21:29 AM

All the best with the litter contract.

The people may have been in a bag because they were made by a different sub-contractor to the rest?

TheChronicOne · August 21, 2018, 02:29:05 AM

Makes sense. There were other things in the bag as well. All the yellow stuff. It's made like the red and blue vehicles in design, yet, different in that the tires are also present and molded in yellow as opposed to the tires for the other two being on separate sprues and molded in black. So, it would seem you are correct.

I may as well dig out my T-34 Mentor and build that little tractor as well.

EDIT: Oh yeah, the trash!! I'll see if anyone has mowed today. If not, I'll check again Thursday as they would typically try to mow on Wednesdays. Problem with this is that, at some point, if it IS mowed that could just mean someone new has done it, rather than the people I'm contracting with. Also coming up soon is that I will get the check from them for this months service. I suppose if at any time they would let me know anything it would be along with that check. I'm trying to sit on my hands and not have to call up there...

Old Wombat · August 21, 2018, 06:56:39 AM

Can you get in touch with the people the company you're sub-contracted to are contracted to & see if you can get a direct-contract continuance should the other guys pull out?

TheChronicOne · August 21, 2018, 10:29:11 AM

Doubtful. The main contract includes all the rest of the stuff such as mowing, flowerbeds, irrigation, etc. I'm not equipped for all that so most likely not. I would definitely try, though! That was to be one of my next moves--- figure out who the management company is and try to get in contact. This said, I'm not worried now. When I left out of there at 6:30 this morning nothing had been mowed. After I went and got my arse handed to me on the lawn I did (took 4.5 hours FOR THE LOVE OF $&$^#$^$) I went BACK out there at 11:30 and....... found them there mowing. Them boys didn't look too thrilled to be there but I was pretty damn happy about it. Hopefully it's not them just finishing out the month. I'd like to see the trees and hollies that died be replaced, then I'll feel even better.

In other news.. I'm so tired I might not get much model stuff done. Looks to be another day of me sitting in this chair barely moving whilst I watch TV and glue on half a tire every couple of hours.