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

[NARSES2]

So, I guess now I'm going to probably wind up cutting apart a Hasegawa Tweet (well, I'm going to use the Dragonfly kit) and that new Airfix Vampire T.11 and smash it all together somehow to make a twin boom Tweet and a single fuselage Vampire. This may be as simple as a nose/cockpit transplant but if air worthy... I'd like to keep the Tweet's skinnier (compared to the Vamp.) wings and then just put the booms and rear air surfaces from the Vampire on it... then vice versa if I do decided to make the single fuselage Vampire. 

Sounds interesting

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks, Chris! I think so, too. I'm going to get underway with it soon I'm hoping.

Rick Lowe! Thank you for the package... arrived today. PERFECT!  That's attention to detail and damn straight I am definitely going to repair that bad boy and with the parts you sent it will be FAR easier. What a complete surprise! I had no clue what it was when I saw the parcel. Turns out it was just what I needed... so.. yeah.. good on you for catching and remembering that. Damn water heater... I wasn't expecting my model to MELT but I should have known...I placed it very near the vent. 


Woops! 

It's funny because I was looking at it.... hell, just 2-3 days ago. I brought it out and placed it nearby so I could start planning the repair work. Nice coincidence, that.


See.... look.... it's totally "not that bad" and I can repair it. Glad I didn't just bin it or something, yeah? And get this... the stabs are bullcorn anyway, from another kit so now I can have stock parts added back.

In other news.... I've indeed been contemplating the Twitt (or Twitter, or whatever 'n the hell I'll call the twin-boom-tweet) a little more as I mentioned and finally struck inspiration on something for the Recce GB. This was mere hours ago... it's been a "modeling" day apparently... completely unplanned but with the arrival of the parcel of repair parts for my Lysander and the sudden inspiration for the GB it's hard to deny that the hobby is calling for attention.

I'll get further into detail about the Recce GB project here in a bit after I get stuff organized better. I will say this, though, that I've already comitted to the damn thing because I bought the kits for it.     

[TheChronicOne]

Alright. Here's the plan for the Recce airplane. The motivation happened that way it was supposed to.... out of the blue, completely random, and when I wasn't looking for it and didn't expect it. I was simply scrolling down the ol' Social Media when I came across this picture taken by Jerry Phillips up in Dayton, OH.




"Hell, there we go! Why not make a dedicated recon bird out of the X-29."  I can call it the R-29 or something. I figure it could be an on-call recon platform attached to the A-10 units in Europe in the 80's.... you know... the stuff that was around to stop 1,000s of Soviet tanks pouring into Western Europe across Germany, etc. So... it'll likely have a Euro-1 paint job and I'll have to find some decals for it after I do my research and figure out what bases are appropriate. Probably wind up buying an A-10 sheet, I suppose, seeing as how the R-29's will be attached to those squadrons.

So anyway... I bought a kit... I already have one but have other plans for it then I was thinking... well, "I need a nose..... " I got to thinking of the Su-25TM nose... with the sensor thing up front then I thought about the RF-5 "Tiger Eye" and it has a really nice, decidely recce looking nose...  then it struck me how perfect that actually is because they're all deriviatives of one another. So... it seems this project was meant to be so I went and bought another Tigereye kit.




Should be a pretty straight-forward conversion... just.... cut the noses off and swap them.. shore 'em in... then that's a wrap and on to paint.

[DogfighterZen]

Brad, that Greek FW-190 came out so cool! I've been away from the forum for too long once again...
Also, the R-29 idea is sounding very interesting, i bet it'll look great in the Euro-1 camo, can't wait to see it done. 

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks, brotha!!  You won't believe this... but...... the alternate scheme for the 29, if the camo doesn't work for whatever reason...... is the grey stuff.     I think it would look badass in the grey air superiority paint scheme. I think the Euro-1 is probably more suitable for it.. but man I am tempted to Go With Grey. ....   

[DogfighterZen]

You know i'm sucker for them boring grey schemes so, whatever you choose is fine with me.
The Euro 1 camo is one of my favorite camo schemes and i find myself wondering why i've never done it on anything...

[NARSES2]

On the right aeroplane greys can look right 

[TheChronicOne]

I agree....  I really love it on the Phantom II. It makes it look more "modern" and seems sort of like a fish out of water type of thing. So used to seeing camo or the NAVY markings..... seeing one dressed up like an F-16 or Raptor or something is really cool.

[DogfighterZen]

Yup, the Phantom looks so good with the heater-ferris camo. It was also one of the first F-4 I saw back when I was a kid. I had the Italeri F-4S and absolutely loved it.

[TheChronicOne]

Not much to say recently. Overwhelmingly depressed lately and nothing ever gets done. Still trying, though!  Probably won't get the recce build finished but like I said, I'm going to TRY and I plan to devote some decent time to it this weekend if all goes better. That's all that's going on really. If I get it finished I think I'll find a little 1/144 something to build.

In the meantime!

Check this out...... deconstruct a lighter to make a model car out of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EpSyUBcwPI


Then... there's this goofy picture on a TV box. Apparently we have a rocket powered Lanc that shoots from the engines at F-14s.




All I have to show for my recce build is my cockpit seat thing.

     

Not that I haven't done more... I just don't have pictures of it.

[DogfighterZen]

Hang tough and keep your head up, brotha. Like the song says, it won't rain all the time.

Edit: Looking at the cockpit tub, it's pretty much the same as the RF-5E's pit. Since we both failed to finish our projects for the Recce GB, maybe we can feed off each other's builds and get them finished. The X-29 had the nose of an F-5 so they're close relatives. I'd really like to see the R-29 in that Euro1 camo so, get working on it to take your mind off of the worries and relax.

[TheChronicOne]

Great advice, thank you! I'm slowwwwwwly working on it right now. I've busted up my knee and the gout has set in! Very painful and now I can't walk but despite this everything is going really well with the build so I'm suddenly a lot more confident about not blowing the deadline. I was worried something would go wrong with the whole cutting process but apparently I measured correctly and blah blah blah and now I'm already getting close to paint. What a relief!



Just gotta glue the nose on and glue the canopy and windscreen on. Tomorrow after the glue has dried I'll do a little sanding on the nose join then I can start painting. In the meantime while that dries I can start on the ALQ pod and refueling schlong.

[NARSES2]

As has been said keep your head up and it'll come together again. The one thing to your advantage is that you have a hobby 

[TheChronicOne]

Thank you! True that!  It's helping...    distraction is at a premium. If you can just distract yourself long enough it helps to start bringing the mood around. Compelling entertainment.... relaxing and enjoyable hobby.... etc.  I managed both today. Had enough fun that I even got a little bit more done than I planned on! The X-29 has a new nose and I should be painting it very soon. A ton of work left but all the really troubling things should be behind me now and that's good news.



Looks a little weird at this angle but then again the whole thing is a bit odd in any regard.

[zenrat]

Looking good Brad C.