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

[TheChronicOne]

Getting some work done today on the 737.

I'm through painting the wings... I just need to mask them off and spray on some gloss clear where the wing walk decals will go.


Not too shabby airplane wing if I say so myself. 


Next I'm trying to recover the shape of the windscreen area. It had gotten to the point where it was just a sort of blob of undefined area up there and not only that, it was ballooned out on the left side so even if I were going for a more cartoonish look it would still look ridiculous. This is where I'm at now but it's still difficult to tell so I'll sand the area to get it smoother then prime it to see what the deal is. As far as the rest of the fuselage, it's finally coming together as far as the finish and it shouldn't take too many more passed with sand paper.

[PR19_Kit]

That wing DOES look good Brad, nice job. 

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks! One day I might try to tackle the whole extended slats, dropped flaps, and all that jive. People really "ooh" and "ahh" at those. 

I did a wee bit more work on the windscreen shaping and I think they're looking pretty good. Probably not perfect yet, but MUCH improved over the "Blob."

At this point I stopped and decided to scour the 'net for some more specific pictures and knowledge about the specific aircraft I am modelling, HZ-AGA. Turns out it was the first one Saudia took on delivery. How cool! Found some pictures if it, too, along with some of other 737s in the fleet to use for reference or just to have. 

So, in the spirit of fair use:


Not my bird, but is a useful photo for painting the belly.




My bird, port and starboard.


Not sure what this is from, but handy.


I believe this is shortly after delivery.

Pretty neat stuff!

[TheChronicOne]

I ain't got no clue what in the hell is going on today.     I have a lot of errands to run and things like that but when I'm done and make my way back home I think I might grab my ATR-72 and see what I'm missing as far as painting. I think there's a radome I'm missing and maybe some air duct things or something. Other than that, the ONLY thing I have left to paint are the props and spinners that I finally cleaned up the other day. The fit well onto the nacelles now and all the roughness on the spinners has been sanded down. Now it's just a matter of painting them and getting the clear coated. I suppose gloss finish will be appropriate for these? I've recently started MATTE clearing my wheels and gear because shiny tires seems stupid when I can make them matte instead. 

Might do a little more on the 737 as well. I got the cockpit area looking a lot better and hit it with another coat of primer. I may just do a light sanding on that and prime it once more then it should be good to go. Could be able to get into Appliance White today or... within the next few days or whatever. Then the thing will sit for a couple weeks. I guess this would be a fine time to start a new project but I still need to do quite a bit on the F-52 in the way of sanding away all the disaster that happened with the paint so we'll see.

[TheChronicOne]

Short run shenanigans afoot! Nazca decals on a short run F-Rsin kit. If I screw this up, that's a chunk of money in the toilet (and waiting time, they come from Germany!!) so let's hope this goes well the first time.

I've cut the cheatlines into 1/3s with the middle section being the part that sits atop the reversed curve that I need the decals to conform to. I have my micro set and micro sol on the ready so....    I have all I need aside from prior experience with NAZCA and limited experience forcing flat things into curves that would elongate them under normal circumstances. I predict I will likely be needing to use some of the spare decal material that came on the sheet, so I'm glad it's there!

[TheChronicOne]

[kerick]

Wow! That is a lot smaller than I thought! Looks like the decals worked out OK.

[TheChronicOne]

Hell yeah, thank god!     They're very good!!!  The finish is a bit strange but I'm hoping that lines out with clear coat. On that note, I'm going to have to slap some of the spares from the sheet on something and clear that first to make sure everything works well together.



I had to fix the little red wing tip piece. It's no longer crooked. 


Yeah, she's pretty small! Hasn't made matters any easier. This is short-run hell, also, and were it not a pet project, I wouldn't be nowhere near as far along right now. 

[TheChronicOne]

Quitting while I am ahead. I have pressed through some of the most difficult parts of decalling this thing without any major mishaps. Feeling VERY relieved at this point.

Nothing else has been worked on, however, but somehow I am not bothered in the least!

Here she is for now:

[Old Wombat]

Good job, mate!

[kerick]

Enough gu for sure me day! Let it rest overnight and pick it up in the morning.

[PR19_Kit]

Very nice, the ATR looks great in that scheme too. 

[NARSES2]

Wow! That is a lot smaller than I thought! Looks like the decals worked out OK.

I'd like to be associated with both those comments 

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks y'all! I love this little thing. I got to thinking one day.... "if you could have any model kit in any decorations what would it be?? " Imagine how pleased I was when I not only found the kit but the livery as well. It's like someone handed you a blank check and told you to go wild building the ultimate house.

It's all downhill from here!  Well, not really, I have other pet projects, but this one was at the top. 

Now I ought to think about the predecessor to this one which I believe are ER-190s. They fly right past the house on occasion. I guess it all depends on wind direction. I'm North of the airport and the winds are all out of the North lately so they're landing from the South so I haven't seen anything in awhile. 


Pretty boring to a lot, but fascinating to some.

Not a terrible looking lil plane but the paint scheme is pretty bogus. I DO like the tail but the rest of it is... mediocre. Still.. could be worse!! And... I bet it would look great in model form. I have a 190 kit already (Revell) it's just a matter of getting the decals. I'm certain they're out there (although i haven't looked yet).

[TheChronicOne]

^Damn! I think the ones we have around here are CRJ-900s, not the ER-190s so....   hmmm.. . different ball game there. Oh well. BPK makes 'em I think but they are costly. 


Very little plans today as we are in the midst of dumpster weather and the wind is from the wrong direction to use my exhaust fan so I'm limited to things like painting. Well, as luck would have it, I did a ton of that the other day and don't really have any left. I could potentially paint my glider but I still haven't made up my mind how to approach fixing it and I want to be sure before I paint because it would be lousy to wreck the finish and have to patch it up!

So, what I AM doing is trying to get more transfers onto the ATR-72. Having to use reference photos as the stuff that came with the decals is less than comprehensive. The thought process, I'm sure, is that the type of builder that would be using this type of stuff are the ones that would have actual reference photos on the go anyway rather than rely solely on the directions. This is good practice ANYWAY so I can't fault them for that.

This leads to my next point which is that in looking for reference photos I have become confounded by the registry on this aircraft that returns zero results so far for an actual ATR-72 or ANYTHING that flew for AE an fact comes back to a Gates Learjet.     The offending number is N4EA. Shorter than a typical reg and like I said.... searching it provides nothing assoc. w/ American Eagle. Sooooooo.....  someone help me with this. What the hell is up with this N- number?!  I find it hard to believe Gaston would put out fictitious markings on these sheets so I'm at a loss as to what the deal is here.