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

[Rick Lowe]

Oops, you're quite correct - I saw the opening doors and assumed.

The tailfin and the fact the cabin steps down after the wing are obviously 172. Or 150.
And the odd parts I didn't remember from the 180 I built should have been another clue...

Still, the idea of using a long paperclip (or other wire) would still be viable.

WRT the canopy, if you do decide to scale-o-rama it, one idea I've seen is to plate over most of the canopy opening and just inset a smaller, 1/72 scale unit.
This has the effect of hiding the original scale a wee bit more, and it means also you can build the area up until it fits the canopy part, rather than altering the canopy to fit.

[TheChronicOne]

Oh I'm definitely scale-o-ramaing it. I don't build in 1/48.  I don't think I'll need to go that direction; helicopters are all about visibility up front so a large windscreen would be advantageous and in fact I might have to make the opening even larger because it's sort of small, to be honest (reference pic with the Apache). I'll know more when I drag out some of my helo kits and start trying the windscreens (Seaking first!  Huey next!)  I also would like to add some more window area, in fact, down low to help with landing and low alt. maneuvering. This is where rulers come into play.   


All this said I may wind up not even doing it if it starts to look complicated. I'm only just barely starting back into more "involved" projects after the MiG-8 "therapy build."   

Anyway... if I don't FORGET I plan to stop in the dolla sto today because I need some things not specifically for play-time so I can justify the trip in the ol' pandemic here.

[Rick Lowe]

Cool, I look forward to seeing what you come up with. 

[DogfighterZen]

The "To chopper from plane" idea is great! That is thinking OOB and i like it a lot! Gonna be cool no matter what. 

[TheChronicOne]

Cheers, gents.  It's 50/50 at best whether or not I proceed with it. I've ruminated some more on it today and it's doable, I just don't know whether or not I'm wanting to deal with the work load it will present.

In other news, I've been prepping to saw apart the Viper.... I'm going to do it in a way that should leave enough of the remnants to be used on something else in the future but I'm going to leave quite a bit, too, if I need it for blending the T-38 nose/cockpit into the airframe. I guess I'm committed to this one now.     About time to make a thread for it I guess....     (I even picked out some paint that I'll need on it later).

[TheChronicOne]

Welp, that's it. I'm definitely committed to this F-16/T-38 mashup. I've now "destroyed" two perfectly good kits so if I'm going to do that, I guess I'm in for the long haul. This should be much simpler than the helicopter thing(which is increasing in difficulty seemingly by the hour) but there's still a certain amount of challenge involved forcing two different kits into one.

I guess this will be the last "detailed" account of efforts on this project posted here since I will be making a separate thread for it.... but here's the latest.

I finished the cuts in the F-16. I still have more to trim from the belly but I'm taking a phased approach which will ensure that I don't repeat recent mistakes of not dry-fitting to check for tolerances.    So far, so good.







I'll have more pictures of the actual cuts I made in the stuff (without all the tape and pic-staging in the way) in the thread for it when I get around to making it. With things lately(this year), that could be tomorrow or a week from now.

Other news:  I've made good on my talk about getting some cold builds going again and have applied some detail paint work and a good coat of clear to my 737. 

[Rick Lowe]

Looking interesting. 

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks, bruh!!!   I can't wait to wrap up the cutting and get the masking tape out of the way. I think it's going to work well. Hopefully I won't have to monkey with weight or moving the front landing gear of the Viper. This WILL be longer than an F-16 (which I envisioned and is a point of appeal to me!) but it will only be marginally so and the much smaller nose cone (sans radar) shouldn't throw the weight off much real-world or as far as my plastic is concerned.

It does raise an awkward question: Has anyone ever had to put weight in the REAR of an aircraft model?! I can't recall ever having had to do so.

[Flyer]

Cannot see any reasons why weight would need to be added to the rear of a static model, unless it's a paper model of a taildragger with a white metal engine or something... Flying models on the other hand, yes I've had to add weight to the rear of some of those before for CG reasons.

F-16/T-38 kitbash look's promising

[PR19_Kit]

I vaguely remember doing something like that ages ago, but I can't think which model it was. Something with a long, narrow nose and a short tail perhaps?

The only type that comes to mind is that crazy Swiss triple finned turbo-prop target tug, but I've never built a model of it, I'm not even sure if there's a kit of one....

Apparently there is, Kora do one in 1/72.

So now I'll HAVE to get one, if only to see if it needs tail weight! 

[TheChronicOne]

HA!   Thanks, fellas, for the input. The reason I ask is because the F-16 is somewhat unique with the positioning of it's "nose" gear which is actually nowhere near the nose. It's back under the intake. I read once that they stuck it way back there to keep it from kicking up FOD and the engine sucking it up.  So...... while not likely, if anything could "nose sit" it might be the Ninja Star, especially seeing as I'm extending the nose.      It just got me to thinking is all.... 

Oh hey I get to drag this out and show it around again.   





Anyway..... I have plans today to work more on the 737. I guess going months and months between clear coats is a bad idea because the last one I put on did some weird.... something... on top... that makes the finish look like it has scratches... like really scratched glasses type. Fine scratches. Weird! I've never seen this before. I've seen plenty of crazing but this seems different. ANYWAY. now I have to wet send the stupid thing and try again. Typical! Going backward again. 

[Rick Lowe]

As a thought, you could say they stuffed a cropped F-16 radar into the smaller nose, as we did in the Skyhawk 'Kahu' upgrade...

Still like the 'retro' F-16 colours, I should really get on with mine before I completely lose enthusiasm for anything 'Yawn Dart'-related...

Yeah, the Turboprop Stosser is crazy-long - if anything needs tail weight, that'll be it!

[PR19_Kit]

Yeah, the Turboprop Stosser is crazy-long - if anything needs tail weight, that'll be it!

I succumbed and bought the Kora kit from the Big H. I'll report back, before the end of the century I expect.

[TheChronicOne]

As a thought, you could say they stuffed a cropped F-16 radar into the smaller nose, as we did in the Skyhawk 'Kahu' upgrade...

Still like the 'retro' F-16 colours, I should really get on with mine before I completely lose enthusiasm for anything 'Yawn Dart'-related...

Yeah, the Turboprop Stosser is crazy-long - if anything needs tail weight, that'll be it!

Hmmm..... interesting! I hadn't considered changing anything with the radar. I was just going to let whatever was in the T-38 nose "ride" but you're right and maybe I need to consider something. Perhaps as well as an advanced flight maneuver trainer it could also do actual combat training and need more than a weather radar? This is back-story stuff, though, and I haven't even started on that yet.  I'm thinking of it as sort of an intermediate trainer between the Talon and the Viper. Perhaps some pilots have difficulty transitioning so instead of washing them out, the AF places them into the "intermediate" program which features this wacky plane I'm making. That's as far as I've got.    I hadn't even considered trying to explain the guts of the airplane or expand its role but when/if I write a story for it I'll need to make it plausible so definitely needs considering.   

Meanwhile.... a lot more of the battery operated mini drill and I'm closing in on getting the two aircraft merged. I'm pretty confident at this point that this project WILL work. That's a relief because ... like I said a couple posts back.... this is TWO kits down the crapper if I can't make it happen. 


In other news.... I did the wet-sanding of my poor, poor Boeing 737. It's ready for the next coat of clear and I'm confident that after this sand down it'll go down without a hitch then in a couple days I can mask off the top half and finally get the bottom half painted.   

[zenrat]

...Anyway..... I have plans today to work more on the 737. I guess going months and months between clear coats is a bad idea because the last one I put on did some weird.... something... on top... that makes the finish look like it has scratches... like really scratched glasses type. Fine scratches. Weird! I've never seen this before. I've seen plenty of crazing but this seems different. ANYWAY. now I have to wet send the stupid thing and try again. Typical! Going backward again. 

I think I have posted this before, but this is what a cracking clear coat looks like when you mix paint types and the enamel down below continues to gas out after the clear has hardened.
Charger Cracks 004 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr