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

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks!!! It took quite a while because I was more confused than a cow on astro-turf. The thing itself is so unorthodox and then the instructions were entirely in Japanese so I had to just fly by the seat of my pants. It was kind of weird there for awhile!   


Plans for today???  Hell, I don't know... .  F-84?  My painting expiriment on the glider isn't going well... the net stuff is too thin, and also, it's not working well because it's not directly on the surface. I'm going to try a couple other things before having to resort to a more traditional paint job (nothing wrong with that!). 

[TheChronicOne]

My camera is acting up so no pictures. This time, I actually took some, too! Often times I don't take pics of some of the intermediate steps.


Oh well! I'll try again tomorrow.


So, on the gunship... I managed to get some good work done. I made a series of supports to hold the floor I made. I had to be careful to keep it all level but now I can glue the floor into one fuselage halve instead of trying to cram it in later. This should be much easier.

I primed then painted a couple of the fiddly things on the glider. This one has no wheels... there's a skid that goes up front so I painted that. The tow cable post was primed.. I'll paint it after it's glued on.

Finished cleaing up then primed all the fiddly bits on the Nomad! That's the completed gear and all the doors, the pistons, engine cowling, props, etc.

More work on the 737! Sanding and more sanding then I primed it again. I'm at the point where "tricks of light" are starting to make it difficult to tell how close to "perfect" it is. I'm close to having it ready for paint but the next step will be the nose gear fairing. Now that I have the putty I need, I can start soon.

On that note... I got my feet wet with said putty. I used Miliput to create the absent part of the nose on the F-84. Used water and just plain ol' common sense to get it all shaped and looking good. I masked the windscreen, as well, and mashed it into the putty to get the proper shape. It looks pretty good.



So anyway, I do believe I worked on all current projects including the one refurb so that alone is grounds to celebrate. I always like to do at least *something* to each project when I hit the bench.   

[TheChronicOne]

No clue why I can't get pictures to work. My camera phone is getting quite old and is probably starting to become less and less compatible with current updated versions of my OS so I suspect that has something to do with it. That said, I've found a work-around. I can still download the pictures directly to my computer so I can do that, THEN upload them to the hosting site. It seems like more work, but actually isn't, because I download them at certain points anyway as a back-up. It's just now, I'll be doing it first instead of last. (hell, turns out this works faster!!!!  )

So anyway, the Miliput on the F-84:




Nomad ejection system:




Floor supports in the An-12:




And today I glued the wings together on the An-12:




I did a fair amount of work today, too. I further refined the repair work on the f-84. I started painting the cockpit interion on the An-12. I've sanded on the glider and applied a new coat of red paint. I've done a few other little odds and ends as well but I can't recall what they are.

Also, I'm doing some thing to make my work space much better! Simply hammering little brad nails into my computer desk structure has allowed me to fine homes for both of my pairs of scissors that I always use, my "fine" sprue cutters, my "for larger cutting" pair of dykes, and my flat tipped needle nose "snapping" pliers. I also made a place to hang my 6mm Tamiya tape. It's going to be GLORIOUS not always having to fish for these things when I need them. Not only that, they're now "out of the way" so that the spots they used to be are better now, too.


TTYL

[TheChronicOne]

Going to try to work on the glider today. I got the red paint back on and it looks very nice so I'll cease my experimenting lest I don't get the thing finished in time. Still not sure how I want to do it, but uhhh... maybe red and gold?  Red, gold, and black?  Red and silver??? ....and black?? ehh???  I dunno, we'll see.

[TheChronicOne]

Decided on a livery for the glider. Nice and simple, classic design. Running out of time to make it fancy but this should look good enough based on the finish because it seems to be pretty decent for such a rush job. All that's really left now are transfers, gluing on the skid, tow post, and canopy. Won't even have to clear over the transfers because I can't clear onto some of the paint I used.

Maybe a little more work on the gunship? 

Not sure.... going to get into the brand new Ace Combat game today and start that off in earnest so I'm wanting to devote a fair chunk of time to it if I can.

[TheChronicOne]

Well that worked out I guess, the glider is done.








Not too shab! Stupid-arse paint experiments weren't working so I went back to the drawing board and went with a classic!   


Cool.... so I said I'd start on the gigantic 707 once I finished off two more projects. I suppose I can do that, but I'm not going to TODAY. Besides, before I actually get into it I'd like to also finish my F-84 Refurbish project. It's getting mighty close, now. I just need to refine some stuff around the wind screen area but it and the canopy are on the plane now. It already looks better!! I'm cutting some corners w/ re: getting everything matched up but it's going to look so much better than it did.    The little touch ups then paintng the frame work (sans the netting reinforcement jive...  it's whif-world and I can do that to save time!).  But... man... having that clear glass on there imrpoves the hell out of it!!!



I've done a wee bit of sanding on the 737 and going to prime it for the last time here in a minute. I'm definitely happy with the windows now...  if I try very hard I can still see slight indentations where the door is but it's not worth driving myself nuts over. Once all the transfers on and it's finished it'll be next to impossible to notice, period.  Also, I've finally scanned all the air stairs and gravel kits parts into a computer file so I can finally start actually working on them! I didn't want to disturbe the sheet until I got it scanned and believe it or not, this is MUCH easier said than done for me. Let's just say I do not have easy access to printer/scanner. Regardless, it's done now so I'm going to be balls-deep into some reference materials and will drag out the things I need to do fine work. This ought to be interesting, but I'm looking forward to it.

[Old Wombat]

 

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks, bud!!


Uhhh.... let's see..... today...  I'm going to try to finish the F-84. Need to paint the frame work. After that, I'm going to get at least SOMETHING done on the other two ongoing builds before I get into the 707. "Work before play" method of modelling! 

So, with that in mind... I'd like to get the cockpit interior glued into the AN-12 and start to investigate putting weight into it. Might wind up gluing the floor in, too, because it needs to be there so I don't put TOO much weight in and suddenly can't glue down said floor!


737... I didn't get around to priming it again last night, I started playing Ace Combat and started having FUN so I didn't want to screw that up. But uhhh... I'll get that done today then I'm digging out all my reference books and will use post it notes to mark all the pages that have pertinent info about the nose gear fairing and gravel deflector plate. I could start on that plate, if I wanted to, but I'll hold off if I can get the other stuff done. It's going to take some cutting of very tiny parts and I'll need to have gel type AC glue anyway and I need to go buy some first.

Not a bad plan, I guess!  Here's what I was using to bomb stuff last night for awhile:

[63cpe]

Love the gull wings of the Sep-1 Glider. It arches beautifully. Too bad the paining experiment wasn't successfull. Maybe next time?

[TheChronicOne]

Sure enough, man, I ain't giving up on the idea, it just needs a fair bit of refinement. Here's the kicker, I like how it turned out better anyway!!  Agreed on that gull wing...  gives her character and beauty!



Speaking of refining things, I am finished with the F-84G Refurbish. "F-84 Republic of Molossia."

Before and after:







Success!!   Pictures aren't the greatest but for some reason, the brighter the subject, the more problems I and my camera have taking the pictures. Anyway....   the new glass is a million times better than the old. I also painted some missing detail, re-painted the intake, and added weathering. The weathering doesn't really show up in the pictures but it looks good and better than the sanitized aircraft I had before. QUITE pleased with this now! 

So that's three projects wrapped up in the last 4-5 days. Not bad!

Now I am down to three:
   Lao Nomad
   Saudia 737-200
   Civilian Gunship

Two of these are nowhere near being completed. Ironically, the one I JUST started and have only put a couple hours into so far, the Nomad, is much closer to completion than the other two. On it, I'm still working on getting the resin ejection seat put into the tub and once that is done I can start painting the interior and see what I can do about nose weight.  After that, the project should start to move swiftly. There are very few transfers that go on it, and the entire aircraft is painted one solid shade of grey so these two parts of the process will be brief.

So anyhow...    per my earlier plans, I'm going to now find something to do on the remaining builds and perhaps later drag out the Boeing 707 for a look-see! 

[TheChronicOne]

Alright!!!   Good stuff... I've primed the 737 and also started getting my reference materials in order. I've found some pages and marked them in my books but I've still a bit to go (this part is pretty fun!).




I've started painting the gear doors, props, and wheels on the Nomad (and some other stuff... ).

I've glossed the cockpit pieces so the glue will actually work when I put them in the fuselage halves on the AN-12 Gunship.


Now I would work on the 707.... buuuuuuut.. I'm going to go FLY some stuff in Ace Combat 7 instead! 

[TheChronicOne]

One last 737 specific update. Fuselage is really starting to look like it should:



Scanned all the glorious airstairs and gravel plate stuff. If you want, download the picture then you can (try) to make it out of sheet styrene and the like! Now that I have the "master" safely stored digitally, I can dive in and and start working on the plate.



Found some nice full color pics of the stuff I need to work on (this was in the Squadron book, that little 737 book ALSO has some very good pictures and write-up) :




So that's where I'm at now. I need to do a light sand and one last coat of primer on the fuselage  (I had a run earlier...)  then I'll get into the nose fairing and the deflector plate. 

I still need to either find some engines or make my own but I'm not going to waste time fretting about it...  I'd like to make progress on the rest then I can get back to trying to find a solution.


EDIT:   OH YEAH....   so much for video games!!       I guess I'm having too much fun with this stuff.  Going to try again, though, I feel like I've had a pretty damn productive day.. and week for that matter. 

[TheChronicOne]

Well, I guess I need a bigger mat. I really don't need it, but damn, this is just embarrassing!




So uhhhh...  I guess I'm going ahead with this project. This is without a shadow of a doubt the most ambitious build I've ever attempted, both in size and scope. It will have everything from regular styrene, to resin, to photo etch, to white metal, and maybe a couple other things I haven't considered yet. I already have everything together, at least, so I won't be having to search out any parts or spend any more money OTHER THAN for the reference materials I plan to purchase. I'm sure there are numerous books on the 707 out there replete with glorious pictures and notes about the aircraft. I'd like to get my hands on some. 

But any how...  I'm not making any plans of attack yet. I'm still in the brainstorming phase and once I clear the fog I'll come up with a plan to get started. I haven't even really looked at all the parts yet......

[kitnut617]

John Travolta has his own 707, can't remember what the colour scheme is though --

[Old Wombat]

John Travolta has his own 707, can't remember what the colour scheme is though --

QANTAS