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

[TheChronicOne]

You'd be amazed at how quickly and often Airline liveries are 'tweaked'... listening to the fella that makes NZ airliner decals, it's almost a case of "This is the scheme between July and Sept '15, when they added a splodge on the tail, which was gone 3 months later; then the scheme changed again 6 months after...", or similar!
And they change all the time, and at different times, when the individual aircraft goes through maintenance.

I always have to look at a photo 3 or 4 times, and make notes, or I'll see something I missed when the model is done... and even then it's no guarantee.

It's cool someone likes your older stuff, it can make you take another look and appreciate it afresh, yourself. 


And hang in there, things will get better... or so I keep telling myself... 

Thanks, Rick!  Today has been a MUCH better day. It's Sunday, a holiday, & tomorrow is a Federal holiday.... so there's no point in worrying about things right now because I couldn't do anything about it anyway with everything closed down. I guess that made the difference. I'm sure when Tuesday rolls around I'll be in a pissy mood once again if that damn check doesn't show up. 

[Rick Lowe]

Maybe you could send in the Repo men? 

[TheChronicOne]

I'll get on the bird dog today if the check doesn't arrive in the mail. One main reason to press the issue now is that I'm exhausted of my rainy day funds and my loan sources. Short of starting to sell my stuff and pawn things I can't get any more money and I'll be damned if I'm up and selling all my stuff away like some dope head because OTHER PEOPLE can't be bothered to pay their bills on time. I'll just be out of fuel and I'll stay at home until I get that check. When the trash starts piling up and they start getting phone calls of people complaining I'll say, "Well, don't look at me... I went 6 weeks with no pay but eventually the well dries up." It's not on purpose.. if I were to stay at home as some sort of protest I would have already done it. I'm just at the point now where I have run out of mine and other peoples' money so.......


Plans today...  I was going to paint the gear on my 737 the other day but I discovered I need to paint the tail planes as well and find the gear doors so I stopped short. I'm going to work at this stuff today in some fashion. I'll probably start by trying to find the gear doors. There's less than normal because of the way the 737's wheels fold up (half exposed) so they may be even more difficult to find than "normal." I have some ideas, though and I'm certain I'll find them. If not, I can scratch build some. Gear doors are pretty easy to make.

I need to finish the touch up paint on the ATR-72 then I'd like to start the decals. I'm going to do the big ones first... the ones that will need relief cuts to go from flat to curve without creating some sort of tent effect. I'm thinking I'll just put the things on, get them posititioned, then use hobby blade to make the slices then use Micro Sol to get everything in place then later if I have to patch it up some, I can do so with the spare material on the decal sheet.

Could start painting on the F-52 and also need to work more on the weapons. I'm not entirely decided on how to do the paint job yet so I'll likely do the weapons first.

Back to work on the Racing glider... check that thread for that over in the Racing GB forum.

Might start on one of the new projects I have on deck but like the other day, I'm determined to advancce all the other builds first before I allow myself to start tinkering with new things. The other day I accomplished this goal but was having fun with them so I kept going all day and didn't reach a point where I could start anything new. Might happen again today and that's completely fine.

[TheChronicOne]

Ran into a bit of a hiccup all of a sudden. I'm trying to figure out some things here.... I'd LIKE to put a gravel kit on my 737-200, but, I'm wondering:  with Saudia, were all the 737s with gravel kits (and from what I can gather, ALL of them did have the kits..) ALSO the advanced models or did regular stock 200s have them?

So, if I need to upgrade mine to ADV, what do I do? It's just matter of upgraded engines, right? So, who sells them? Also, who sells 1/144 gravel kits? I heard once before months ago that someone put out gravel kits in 1/144 but are defunct now.

[TheChronicOne]

No check today.....    I'm going to wait until after lunch to make the phone call because I don't want to slip up and be angry trying to conduct business. I'm usually much more docile after lunch. 

Lucky for me, mama got her money yesterday so she loaned me some more so I can get some fuel and pay that bill I have in two days. Of course, I never leave mama hangin' when it comes time to pay it back so she'll be getting every penny of it.... but uhhh... that means more than half of this stupid , short, late check will be gone the minute I get it. Whatever. Beats the alternative which would be selling my stuff and/or pawning it with ridiculous interest rate.     If I can make it to next week, I start mowing lawns again. It'll be the last week, I'm sure, but I should be able to fill up each day with at least one lawn so this will be welcome. 

So, that's the latest on the oddball real world stuff going on! Frustrating but I'll survive. 

On to the scale world...    I stopped and "worked on" my 737 this morning in the way of doing some research into the whole gravel kit mess. I'm going to take a break in a minute and get lunch started then I'll sit down and do that painting I talked about earlier. Found the gear doors!     

After that I'm going to work on my glider I think. I need to sand things on the F-52 and I like to open my window and let the exhaust blow it out but I can't today because of the weather. I supposed I could wet sand it. Might be a good time to get into that habit. Also, the ATR-72 plans still stand as far as trying to get started on the decals after I tidy up the paint work.   Sooooooo... . most plans are the same as when I made them this morning I guess. Just slow to get moving on them is all. 

[TheChronicOne]

Time to make a plan! I got a lot of work done the other day, I just didn't come back and talk about it. I wound up going to bed early!  I sort of forget what it was but I remember getting work done on all four current builds. Sanded on the weapons on the F-52. Cleaned up some of the detail paint on the ATR-72. Painted the landing gear on the 737. Dry fitted and cleaned up the wings and wing roots on the lil glider. Still didn't start on any new projects, though.

Today, I have TWO plans only: Try to get the cheatlines/windows on the ATR-72. I have to deal with the crazy curve business and I want to get that out of the way. I'm still not exactly sure how to approach this but what I'll do is cut out the decal and likely trace it onto paper, cut THAT out and use it to do some dry runs and see what, where, and how much I should cut out of the real one to make the thing sit flat and straight on the fuselage but also have that little portion turn and go over the wheel well.

The other plan is to start to figure out the paint program for the F-52. I can't do a whole lot more to it until I do. It's primered right now so I'll likely figure out some way to mask it to leave a bunch of the primer grey as detail.

That's all for now... still no check. Had to get another loan so I can pay my bill due today. But... I have food and fuel and paid the bill so I'm alright for a few days!     Lawn mowing starts again next week, too, so even if the stupid check still doesn't show up, at least some money will be trickling in. 

[TheChronicOne]

I was hoping the transfers would line up in a way to hide a flaw on the port side of this ATR-72 but it's just not meant to be.... so......  right on top of me beautiful finish.....   I square things off for plastic surgery and apply some glazing putty. Here's the cool part, if I do it CAREFULLY I won't have to re-spray it... I can just paint over with white acrylic, put some floor polish on top, then the cheatline transfers will go over it and cover it up. Trying to respray would be problematic because if the tiniest bit of overspray gets anywhere else it means I basically have to re-paint the whole damn thing then it's back to waiting another 2 weeks for it to dry.

EDIT: Oh yeah, had to fix a thing on the wing, too. You can see it there. I left it alone thinking something glues on there but turns out nothing does so I had to fill it. This is the same as the other area I fixed, though. If I'm careful, I won't have to re-spray it because the de-icers go there so once again the transfers will cover it up.



Next up I've started masking stuff on the F-52. It's slow going because I'm trying my best to picture how things will look in the future. Easier said than done. Also, some of it itty bitty and rather tedious. But, I started on the tedious stuff first and got it out of the way. All I'm doing now is selecting a few places I want to mask to leave grey for the final finish so there won't be too much. I'm thinking the next round of masking will be more "widespread."  Anyway, I still have a couple little things to mask to keep grey then I can work on getting some of the main color down. Still not sure how to approach that but I guess I should grab my little Ju-88 test bed plane and try mixing up some paint and see what I can some up with. Nose is also masked off and the radome will remain grey.




Ain't do a damn thing to the 737 than brain storm. I'm going to clear coat the wings, but this time use matte clear, then after, I'll use enamel silver to paint those parts. Should look great!!! I even started warming up paint and stuff (although I don't think I put the wrong ones on the hi-fi) but I'm done. I'm going to play some video games. I'm painfully close to finishing one. 

Also worked on my little glider. I'll update the thread for that in the Racing GB forum. (later or something    )

[TheChronicOne]

Plans for today are to paint the F-52! I'm go to try some things concerning mixing up some paint, mainly black.. like 90% black or more but with colors and perhaps some metallic stuff mixed in to give it some character. I might not look very good, however, so I reserve the option play of just covering it all up with regular ol' black and then making it interesting with the use of silver later on. (and other colors too if I can)

The patch work I did on the ATR-72 is dry now and I can sand it back down, paint it with white acrylic, then put some floor polish on this little area. Should work out fine and the cheatline transfer will cover it up and hide the fact that the finish is different from the rest of it which is the appliance epoxy. This is the plan for now. I hope it works because once that transfer hits water, I'm committed! 

Sanding work on the Glider. I need to update the thread for it.... 


That's it for now. I have to go to work today then when I get home it's time to get caught up on household chores but when I'm done with that, I can have a nice relaxing Saturday tinkering until I decide to finally finish up this video game. I'm really close to being done but it keeps going! Good game, lots of content. I'm at 95% completion and not very many missions left however so maybe I can finally finish it. When my check finally arrives if there's enough left over I'm going to get Red Dead Redemption 2 and I'll likely be shifting some of my build time over to game time because..... it's Red Dead Redemption 2.....       The New Ace Combat is coming out in two months, as well, so that's another one that will be taking up my time. Both of these are blockbuster games many years in the making. Normally I'd pile on the builds during winter with all the extra free time I have but not this year. 

[TheChronicOne]

Welllllll...  I said I wasn't going to mask much more but then spent all afternoon doing just that. I don't want to get carried away, however. Too much and this thing will look tacky. I think this is good for now because there are still going to be silver parts painted on at the end. For now, it's ready for paint. I've had some second thoughts about it all, however. I was going to try mixing stuff up and all that to make fancy colors but it's SOOOOOOOOOOO tempting to shoot this black with spray and be done with it in <5 minutes opposed to what could amount to a couple hours or more of painting by hand (considering I'll be doing all the trial and error bit).



Putting it away for now before I suffer burnout. I'm going to grab my ATR-72 for now and start scrubbing on that patch... this is doing to be a wee bit delicate to keep from "scrubbing" too far into my paint finish. As I've mentioned, if I do this right, the cheatlines will go over top so any variation in the finish won't even be seen. Just has to be white like the rest and I'm good...

[TheChronicOne]

YAAAAAWWWWWWNNNNN...   smack, smack, smack.      OK, plans for today!!!! I'm going to get the paint onto the F-52. I finally came up with a plan that I'm eager to try. I'm going to spray it with flat black and after it dries whip up a really thin acrylic blend of mainly water, silver paint to get a bit of metallic effect, and maybe some color if it works. Then I'll basically wash the black aeroplane with this thin mixture and hopefully it'll give it a nice bit of color and depth instead of being a plain jane black affair.

Going to stop in at the store this morning and when I do, I'm going to go ahead and snag a can of primer and a $1 can of the flat black. Mowing lawns today so I can afford to blow $5!   

Wind was all messed up the other day so I didn't do any sanding. However, it's back in another direction today so my exhaust fan should work again and I can get the ATR-72 sanded down and can continue that whole process.

[Rheged]

How goes the reducing your cigarette intake?  Are you at a stage where  we need to offer further encouragement and/or congratulations?

[TheChronicOne]

Disaster!!! Waiting on my check for the contract work I do at a local shopping center. With that check I was going to go buy a really nice vape thing because I know damn well I can't just quit cold turkey. So.... the fact that this check is now TWO WEEKS late is not only infuriating, but I can't get any of the stuff I would like to have to aid in my battle.

This whole mess was depending on that check. When I said within a few days, it's because I normally get paid around the 1st, second, or 3rd of the month. It is now the 19th. I sent the bill a week late, however, but that still means the payment was due on the 7th which was 12 days ago. Not quite two weeks, I guess, but close enough.

So... I'm a combination of high stress, being highly pissed off (today, I wasn't really THAT pissed off until today when I was expecting it after an apparently ignored phone call last Wednesday) and broke.


That said, I've already started doing "prep work." I've ordered and got in two boxes of minty nicotine lozenges and some literature to read. I've also EVER SO SLIGHTLY been reducing my intake as a result of having less money.     As it sits right now... I can make a pack last 3.5 days instead of the normal 3 so that's a small victory?  Better than nothing, damnit!     


Anyway, this leads to me now...  I got home and once I discovered no check in the mail I called up there and they call back talking about wanting to CHARGE ME for sending the check down EARLY. I damn near fainted. I had tunnel vision and had a bit of vertigo. Now I'm $W&%$&#Q$%%#%6  irate. I had been keeping my cool very well up until this point. Now, all of a sudden the damn thing is nearly 2 weeks late and they want to charge ME money. FOH with that bullshit. They weren't even AWARE of the bill I sent them all the way back on October 8. I told them... NO.... we're not talking about THIS month's bill, we're talking about the one I sent for october which was DUE on Nov. 7. (net 30)

Good Lord man. This is so typical.... this is supposed to be the most stress free time of year because by now all the chaos of keeping up with constantly mowing lawns in the growing season is gone but yet, here we are!      I could snap someone's neck right now.


Now, with THAT said.................I got up at 3AM. It is now noon. So, I've been up, working, pissed off, and stressed, but I've still only smoked 4 ciggies today.      So... ya know.. that's not bad. 4 ciggies in 9 hours?   Pretty decent. I didn't smoke ANY yesterday!   

[Rheged]

That said, I've already started doing "prep work." I've ordered and got in two boxes of minty nicotine lozenges and some literature to read. I've also EVER SO SLIGHTLY been reducing my intake as a result of having less money.     As it sits right now... I can make a pack last 3.5 days instead of the normal 3 so that's a small victory?  Better than nothing, damnit!     



Now, with THAT said.................I got up at 3AM. It is now noon. So, I've been up, working, pissed off, and stressed, but I've still only smoked 4 ciggies today.      So... ya know.. that's not bad. 4 ciggies in 9 hours?   Pretty decent. I didn't smoke ANY yesterday!   

Well done sir!  That is a victory on your way to being smoke-free (and thus having more cash to spend on whiffery).  We are all cheering for you

[TheChronicOne]

Thank you! I appreciate it. The plan is to gradually decrease the ciggies, replaced more and more by vapor contraption, so in a way I'm already started on my "quit plan" but it's not official yet. Just a matter of days (AGAIN). Supposedly this stupid late check is in the mail tomorrow. In typical fashion, though, Thursday is a holiday so the mail won't run so there's yet another day that it will be late but.......... it should be here Saturday so I get to go vape shopping then or Monday and then I'll be OFFICIALLY underway!       

I can't wait to puff humongous cumulus vape clouds like a douchey hipster! 


For now I'm going to dig up some DVD movies (I've had to cancel all my streaming services, I WONDER WHY) so I have some entertainment this afternoon.....  then I'm going to get to work on my pet project, the ATR-72. If things go well, It'll finally have some transfers on...     If I can manage the cheatlines/windows/windscreens (which are all combined in one decal per side of the aircraft) then I'll consider it a victorious afternoon!

[TheChronicOne]

Now that I'm not ready to rip someones head off, I've relaxed and had a pretty nice afternoon of watching aviation videos on Youtube (DVD selection was looking grim) and working on bits and pieces of things.

The repair work on the ATR-72 looked like this at one point:



But I had to do this:



It was a good job of keeping it isolated and a noble attempt. Alas, the cheatlines would not have covered the lower portions so I bit the bullet, masked (kind of) and re-sprayed. It LOOKS alright but I'll have to re-evaluate once I take this diaper off. If I have to re-spray the whole thing, it's no big deal. I'll mask the engines nice and tight and just get after it but hopefully this gets the job done.

I've also matte cleared the landing gear for the 737.... one main gear flew off the clothespin, out the window, and two stories into the yard but I found it quickly (which is downright amazing, to be honest, the way it popped loose from the clothespin sent it flying in an unpredictable direction!) .

I've also sanded the PSR work on the glider smooth. I still need to update that thread but I won't until I actually have some pictures which will come after I finally prime it. Should try that soon. I have just enough of my old matte black paint that I can prime it with that until I get to the store. I was going to go this morning and buy more black and more primer but I decided to ditch on that. I was pressed for time this morning.

This is a good place to stop. Things have gone well today with these builds but have started to creep toward the negative side (things flying out the window, specks of dust landing on fresh paint, etc) so I will quit while I'm ahead!!  Time to go finish some more stuff in the video game which is now at just under 96% completion.      Trying to get it done because when the blasted check finally arrives, other than paying off all the damn loans and getting a vape, I'm buying RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2.