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

[TheChronicOne]

Plans for today: try to work out the paint on the F-52. Before I get carried away, however, I need to catch-up some of the pieces. The tailplanes still need a bit of black paint and I haven't done much of anything to the engine pieces which need a base of black before I mask and paint the rest in silver color.

Also, working on the F-84 again. I've been painting and cleaning up the cockpit and intake.    Up next is to fix a patch on one fuel tank that is missing and then do some detail work inside.

Time to start working on the PE and modifications on my 737 to turn it into an advanced. Still no luck finding a set of Authentic Airliners engines, however. Until I do, there's still a ton of things to be done. Getting tired of waiting on a check so instead of buying stock styrene sheet and stuff I guess I'll start making the housing out of stuff I have laying around. May as well! If it don't work out too well, I can always try again later.

Later on thoughts: Try to find my Ferrari car kit or whatever in the hell it was so I can think about making it for the Racing GB. I hid that sucker somewhere with thoughts of not building it any time soon or selling it off or something so I dunno where it is. Good time to re-organize the stash I suppose...

Also later on thoughts: Find the other little glider I have and start on it.

One last thought: Grab my Vatican City Centaur and fix the control surfaces where I tried to paint the inside facing bits. Should be simple enough to paint it back white but I may have to clear it again to make it look the same as the rest. Would be a good time to tone down the sheen. Back then all I had at my disposal was gloss and for such a worn and weathered aircraft it just doesn't look right.

Ambitious! Who knows how much I'll get done but at least I have a plan. 

[TheChronicOne]

Completed the "refurb" on my Vatican City G.55 Centaur.

All I did was put white paint onto the surfaces I tried to paint black last time then also painted black into the intake thing on the port side (it was prior all silver.. ) then also painted openings for the exhaust. Pretty obvious omissions in hindsight! 

Anyway....   it looks better now. Could be even MORE better if I were to spend more time but I'm happy with this:






Still grimy as hell but with a look of having been washed at least. It has been a bad war against the Vampires of the Transylvanian Empire...   



I've also done quite a bit on the Ultra Hornet, go check out the thread for it!   

Did some paint work on the cockpit of the F-84 in preparation for the new canopy. I also painted the inside of the intake. The whole thing is looking better already! Next, I'll be going through my spare parts stash to find the seat for it and some other stuff to make the greeblies that go behind the seat on the rear deck. I'll also paint some control panels and guages onto the sides of the cockpit proper. I'll try to put in some wiring and neat stuff to go with it. It also needs a gunsight and I'm sure I'll find other things to put in there. I'll have to dig up some references first.

737 has more primer. I'm trying to sand and prime my way out of the former windows broadcasthing through the paint. Not sure it's going to work. I may have to go back in for for more skim coat. Again... I'll NEVER do windows the way I did these ever again! Milliput and stuff like that from now on! 


Nothing else has been done but I think I'll try to find my little glider real fast and see if maybe I can remember where the Lambo or  whatever it is went. 

[Rick Lowe]

IMHO the talcum powder and superglue slurry could be what you need for filling a lot of windows. Doesn't shrink like Tamiya, sets much more quickly than Milliput and stays as soft as the plastic, due to the talc mixed in.
Very messy to file and sand (and apply), but what filler isn't? Also clogs files quickly but again, what filler doesn't?
Also works for building up shapes; simply use more talc for a stiffer mix.
(Make sure it's well mixed without any lumps, as they will create a pit that has to be filled again. Don't ask how I know.)

Flour could be a viable alternative, or some other inert powder. Don't recommend baking soda...

[TheChronicOne]

HUH....     That's a method I'm familiar with but had forgotten about. I'll have to give that a whirl!!  At one point I put a bunch of baking soda into a baggy to use with CA for this purpose and then never really used it....       Best laid wishes and all that.  It's going to create one funky smell when I mix up a big batch because it'll take a lot to fill all them windows.     Miles cheaper than buying putty though!          

ON that note...... baking soda v. talcum powder?



Lastly, forgot the bottom of the Centaur in the last post. Can't be forgetting the holy water bombs!:

[zenrat]

...or use a two part filler.  Single part fillers dry by evaporation and so are always going to shrink somewhat because they are losing volume through this process.
Two part fillers set by a chemical reaction and so there s no volume loss.
There you go Granny, that's how you suck eggs...

When I want to apply a lot of filler in a single application with no shrinkage I use Tamiya Polyester Putty.  This is yellow and stinks to high heaven (smells like fibreglass resin) and is mixed from a large tube of white stuff and a small tube of yellow catalyst.
This is what i'd use on airliner windows.

Papal vampire fighter looks smart.  Did you ever build a Transylvanian aircraft or do they not need to use them?  I can picture an He 111 with batwings finished in black red and purple camo over a sickly "fish belly" white underside.

If only my idea for a "Global Religious War" GB hadn't been deemed too likely to cause forum uproar (and with good reason)...

[TheChronicOne]

Agreed, that GB would be glorious. Imagine the possibilities... all the funky aircraft or -whatever-; all the wonderful markings, roundels, colors, and back stories. Could go wild... Shinto ... Rasta... Hindu... it could be so fun if it wouldn't devolve into chaos. And it would... immediately I imagine. 

Two part fillers....  Miliput is that, right? I think that's why I picked up on "Miliput" because of the no shrinkage bit. Pretty vital when the entire side of the aircraft is littered with possible future indentations.

Yeah I built an Aircraft for the Transylvanian Emperial Air Corp. I even went so far as to have it with blacked out canopy for day time flying. It obviously has lots of cameras and such. I even used a decal from a sheet produced back in WWII on it (port side). This was a couple years back when I was still a pup.

 









Wow, I really HAVE gotten better at taking pics, thank God for that!      These were the best ones I could find of it.       I wouldn't settle for this type of pic qualites these days with my high falutin' azz.



EDIT:  Oh yeah, happy to report that for a change, I went into my parts stash and literally the first parts I pulled out were the very ones I was needing. Them greeblies I mentions, and also the seat. The pilot is from something else, however, but he'll work. In fact, this is one of the best looking 1/72 pilots I've ever seen. I'll try to get a close up later.

[zenrat]

As soon as you mentioned the blacked out canopy I remembered it.
D'oh!
I'd forgotten about the sunlight issue.  Maybe an He 111 wouldn't be the best choice given how much glass there is in the nose.

[TheChronicOne]

This is the only real "universe" I have created. I'd like to make more stuff to go with it. I wish others would, too. 

Purely coincidence but I watched the John Carpenter "Vampires" movie today.

[Rick Lowe]

ON that note...... baking soda v. talcum powder?

Talc is inert, Baking Soda is an accelerator/catalyst that sets superglue superfast. And it can leach and discolour over time. I used it to build up a superstructure once and it looked really nasty when I came back to the project after leaving it for a few months. Glad I hadn't put a layer of paint over it in that case, though.

I agree 2-part putty is probably easier and maybe less messy, but the drying time is why I was recommending the talc/sg mix.

Depends how much time you're happy to spend letting it dry. ::shrug::

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks!  I'm going to try it on the next thing I come across with windows. Thankfully the next project doesn't have any!   



Plans for today... I don't know! Hard to plan.. I have either almost zero, OR, will have a TON of errands to run today. Depends on whether my check shows up for the trash contract. Speaking of, that shizz is late again. 8 days late so far. Next time I'm sending it in about 7-10 days early I guess.. it's consistently a week or more late so maybe this will get it back to where in the hell it's supposed to be.

Anyway...    Also, I have a job planned tearing down a pretty large shed. This is will net me a nice pay day but my back is killing me today. If it doesn't feel better by time I'm through with trash I may have to cancel that. It's too bad, too, because today is going to be the nicest day this week.

Since I don't know how much "free" time I'll have today, I won't make many plans but I will say that when I get started on model stuff again, it'll likely be right into the F-52. I'm getting close to the finish, comparatively, so it's easier to keep going! I need to get my green wash onto the tailplanes and cannards still but otherwise I need to fix a few places where the paint masking turned into garbage. Sometimes I just don't "get" masking. " I do everything that is said should be done... quality tape, burnish the edges, put more of the base coat down to seal the edge, etc and I still get bleed through. So maddening. But anyway! I need to sand some things down and re-paint them then I can gloss it. I still need to paint the gear and gear doors, ordnance, and probaly a couple other little things but... yeah buddy, we're getting close! 

[TheChronicOne]

I'll be honest... I probably could have went and worked on that shed y'day but I didn't really want to. So, I didn't. In my own defense, I would have had to traipse repeatedly through a mudhole carrying debris. That meant I was working on my F-52 yesterday for quite awhile so go check that thread out. Probably do a little more work on it today here in a bit. I think that's the plan anyway. Going to paint more on the weapons.



Mainly I'm gathering my thoughts on the next projects I want to do. I've already started another build for the Racing GB. I'm up to 3 projects right now. One is getting very close to being finished (F-52) and one shouldn't take very long to do even though I just started (glider), so it's a good time.


So....  next up in the military modelling world:  T-28D Nomad for Laotian Air Force. I have secured the roundels and fin flash thanks to forum member Nick and the rest of the markings can be made from things already in the stash, I do believe. I have the kit. I've not opened it yet but if it doesn't have them, I even have some resin ejection seats for it.    This ought to be a hoot. I've been looking forward to this one.

Next up in the Airliner world: TWA MD-80. This is me graduating from small two engine models into larger, mid range/sized ones. Couldn't have picked a better kit as I hear all over that airliner kits don't get much better, if at all, than the Minicraft MD-80!



This leaves me in danger of having no what if projects going (like I said, glider shouldn't take long) so I've decided to go ahead with my "Avalancer" ("Ava" for avalanche, Lancer for... well... it's a long weapon used to "reach out"). This will be a civilian An-12 Gunship with surplus guns used for avalanche mitigation. *I* think it sounds really cool. I wanted a way to create a civvie gunship and this is the most plausible way to do it that I can think of. I ordered everything I need for this yesterday:



It's Eastern Express. Never built an Eastern Express kit before. From what I can remember, it seems like I've heard that they are hit and miss. Hopefully this is a good one! 

Next, I found a couple of printed 1/144 Howitzer. They look like they should work quite well. The barrel and stuff detaches from the base so I won't have to worry about cutting it all up.


DAK German sFH 18 150mm Howitzer

I just need to figure out how to approach putting them into the plane. I'm thinking about taking the simple route and just having them mounted inside, open-air. In this case, the plane will no longer be pressurized. Perhaps the cockpit and a bit of the forward section could still be pressurized or maybe they make like B-17 in WWII and everyone wears lots of fur and oxygen masks.   

[Rick Lowe]

Lao T-28s?
Check this out:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1104712.The_Ravens

From what I remember, worth your time. Not as good IMHO as "Chickenhawk", but then I'm a sucker for Hueys... 

[NARSES2]

Those printed howitzers look nice 

[Tophe]

Belated congratulations for the dark De Havilland twin-boomer...

[TheChronicOne]

Lao T-28s?
Check this out:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1104712.The_Ravens

From what I remember, worth your time. Not as good IMHO as "Chickenhawk", but then I'm a sucker for Hueys... 

Thanks, Rick!! I'll check that out. Looks like my favorite type of readin'.

I remember the days when we wouldn't even acknowledge that "Laos" and "Cambodia" and all hat had even happened. I also remember way back in the 80's we had dozens of Cambodian refugees housed just across the street here in Lawton.

Those printed howitzers look nice 

Yeah buddy. It's a damn fine time to be a model builder. I'm pretty happy about the hours I will save scratch building howitzers. These were $5.50 a piece after shipping.. well worth the price of admission. Just need a little sanding and we're good to go!!

Belated congratulations for the dark De Havilland twin-boomer...

Thanks! Vlad extends his gratitude, as that is his personal mount.