Still no decals but I received a tracker. The decals should arrive by Tuesday. 

In the meantime--I needed a project to work on over this holiday weekend. I started building the Jonny Quest Dragonfly Model Kit. It's a simple build, or it should be.

The kit has various sink marks and one is located on a wing, and it is huge. Typical. Once again, I am wasting time fixing things that I shouldn't have to fix. Just a pet peeve of mine, excuse the rant. As well-- some of the other components need shaping for a proper profile. The canopy assembly for one, along with the engine intake. The 1 big positive is that the fuselage fits together nicely. With some careful gluing--I ought to be able to minimize gaps in the join that runs along the airframe. Ooze out some melted plastic followed by a sanding and the thing should be mostly good to go.

Of course... I can't keep things simple. I plan to light the model. The interior and engine exhaust will be lighted. I will run wiring through the stand. I have already created a notch along its spine. Once done-- I'll close that gap with CA followed by a clean up. I notched out the windows as well. That was a process that I will not explain here. Needless to say--there are openings for light.

There are a few other customs done but not anything worth mentioning. 

I am moving this model to top priority because I want it finished before Christmas. I hope to gift it to my brother who is a big fan of this jet. I think he'll be not only surprised, but pleased with it. And what the heck. The Icarus fought me, made me wait, now Icarus can wait for me. I will show that Icarus who is boss.

That is the plan unless the winds of December change my direction.

Btw. I am enjoying this build a bunch. It is simple and it brings out the kid in me.

Oh cool! Hope you're not scratchbuilding an interior for her too Bakster!!! 

Yeah Bakster: It kinda does don't it? Could be a very light Bronze - Burnt Aluminum finish. I really am not sure. They didn't show it enough in the film.

I understand your switch. I went to paper because the Resin and Plastic Bamboo Bomber is fighting me.

Gamera

Oh cool! Hope you're not scratchbuilding an interior for her too Bakster!!! 

 

Lol.  H*** no! 

Tanker-Builder

I understand your switch. I went to paper because the Resin and Plastic Bamboo Bomber is fighting me.

 

Yeah it happens that way sometimes. On some days it's like fighting the devil himself! I'll go back to building it for sure, but the change is very refreshing.

Tanker-Builder

Yeah Bakster: It kinda does don't it? Could be a very light Bronze - Burnt Aluminum finish. I really am not sure. They didn't show it enough in the film.

 

I may as well share the Dragonfly build until I flip back to the Icarus. Afterall--Nino likes it when I make a mess of things. Right? Nino? 

There were two large locators that would either be in the way of the LED assemblies or block the lights path. You can see an example of them with the one remaining in the image below. I started the night by cutting them out. Thank goodness for Dremel type cutters and grinders. It makes quick work.

Next, I fabricated the LED holders. I cut them out of Evergreen styrene.

The engine LED will be a flickering tealight sort, yellow. The forward LED will output continuous, probably a white. I will mount an on/off pushbutton in the supplied base.

I suppose I will work on soldering the LEDs next and then route  wires through the stand. Soon after that I can close the airframe.

End of update

She's coming along well, best of luck! 

I thought I commented on this. Please tell me there is another thread about Jonny's Dad's ride.

Greg

I thought I commented on this. Please tell me there is another thread about Jonny's Dad's ride.

 

You crack me up, Greg. It was mentioned in my, "What was I thinking" thread in the FSM ready room.

Dr Quest appreciates your Dragonfly enthusiasm. Jonny, HadjI, and Race say hello as well. Even Bandit barks hello.

The cartoon ruined me for all others. The Flintstones paled in comparison. Lol.

Speaking of the cockpit, Gam....

That's a relief. There are some very simple and typical forum features went missing that would be a big help finding threads around here.

Oh wow, the spider-monster thingie, and the invisible blob......two classics for sure.

Bakster

I suppose I will work on soldering the LEDs next and then route wires through the stand. Soon after that I can close the airframe.

I can't find it now, but there's  YT vid out there by a dude who installs a bunch of electronics in SF kits.

One of the cool things I learned from those vids is that you can use USB sockets for power and skip batteries entire (as long as 5VDC is good).  The other thing is that the Model railroad DCC market has offered up a much of cool things like programmable sound cards and micro-sized speaker units.  Oh, and USB remotes, or WiFi to phone apps.

Now imagine being able to play the Johnny QUest theme song, or the engine sound, at the push of a button.

Greg

Oh wow, the spider-monster thingie, and the invisible blob......two classics for sure.

Lol. Well said. 

CapnMac82

Now imagine being able to play the Johnny QUest theme song, or the engine sound, at the push of a button.

I like that idea, A LOT! Not sure I am up to the task on this build, but I'll chew on this a bit. This would be a really cool thing to do.

Now how cool is that! 

CapnMac82

Now imagine being able to play the Johnny QUest theme song, or the engine sound, at the push of a button.

I like that idea too.

One of the guys in our club is always whipping up cool stuff like that. 

Don't look at me, I have no idea how he does it. 

I am not sure I'd have the space under the stand. It is very limited. It'd take a lot of creative fitting and for sure I'd have to change how I power it.  Still tossing the idea around, but probably not gonna go there.

Bakster

I suppose I will work on soldering the LEDs next and then route  wires through the stand. Soon after that I can close the airframe.

If you are putting LEDs inside the fuselage, be sure to paint the inside of the fuselage either silver or black.  Otherwise you might get light bleeding through the plastic throughout the ship (lesson learned the hard way years ago).

Bob

Luvspinball

 

 

Bakster

I suppose I will work on soldering the LEDs next and then route  wires through the stand. Soon after that I can close the airframe.

 

 

 

 

If you are putting LEDs inside the fuselage, be sure to paint the inside of the fuselage either silver or black.  Otherwise you might get light bleeding through the plastic throughout the ship (lesson learned the hard way years ago).

Bob

 

Thanks for the tip, Bob.

Build Status:

Wiring is installed into the stand, the groove they sit in filled and smoothed over.

LEDs are wired but not permanently installed in the model.

Next: 

Probably the blackening process that Bob mentioned. With luck, I will close up the model within the next few days.

Btw: I received the decals that I ordered for Icarus. The printing is much better than what my personal printer was able to do. The real test will be how they hold up during install. "Proof is in the pudding."  Yes Greg, pudding. 

You are doing things the "easy way".

What happened to the Baxter who would go out of his way to install working computers in his builds???

Do I  dare challenge you to build the Dragonfly as the Venture Brothers jet ?

( yea, I remember Jonny quest....  but the Venture Brothers  "really"  took the  adventure to the next level.  Race Bannon even made a cameo in episode 7 I believe ..... course he was only alive for 2 minutes of the episode...)

littletimmy

You are doing things the "easy way".

What happened to the Baxter who would go out of his way to install working computers in his builds???

Do I  dare challenge you to build the Dragonfly as the Venture Brothers jet ?

( yea, I remember Jonny quest....  but the Venture Brothers  "really"  took the  adventure to the next level.  Race Bannon even made a cameo in episode 7 I believe ..... course he was only alive for 2 minutes of the episode...)

 

There he is... you are always looking to push my envelope! Who am I Yeager? Lol. Dang it.

Venture Brothers? I had to look that up!  Cool jet.

Naw. For this project, I will pass on any major upgrades. I want to keep things somewhat simple or I'll never finish the Icarus. Getting bogged down in a new project kills my motivation. And I tell ya. After two years of Icarus, I am low on motivation. It's more like a cattle prod pushing me along.

Btw. The winds of December have changed direction. I might have blown my Christmas deadline. Why? I turned on my air compressor today to a pop--hissssssssss. The air tank has a hole in it. What the. That is the last thing I'd expect to happen. Not sure what happened. Internal rust? A defect in the tank? The hole looks rectangular. The unit is about 6 years old, I'll probably just buy a new one. Sigh.

Them damn gremlins. They are capable of finding new ways to *** me off. So... this project is on hold now too. Just when I was gonna start painting too. Son of a ...

Another btw... I made a course change with my cabin lighting. I was not happy in the amount of light showing through the windows. It would be fine for dark room lighting, probably, but that just defeats the purpose. I vacillated on adding more leds, but that is just more work, and more current draw. I kept pondering the issue when, Blam! A "light" went off in my head. "You dufus! Fiber optic!" How could I have forgotten about fiber optic!

So I tried it. Oh... heck yeah. That's what I am looking for. It looks sweet! I didn't have to add more LEDs and they look fantastic, better than an led. I'll post a picture when I get them installed, but now I have other problems to deal with. Aka, air compressor.

Ouch! That sucks about your air tank. Guess we should be happy it didn't explode though...

Good luck getting a replacement. What you've done to the Dragonfly sounds cool, looking forward to more photos. 

bad luck about your tank mate , wonder how that came about ?

Gamera

Guess we should be happy it didn't explode though

True! There is always a silver lining. 

steve5

bad luck about your tank mate , wonder how that came about ?

 

Hey Steve, good question. I have no idea. My best guess is there was a flaw in the metal and over time it gave way to metal fatigue. There was some water that came out too. Maybe the tank was rusting internally?  I'd be cureous to know if anyone else has experienced this. Weird stuff.

Bakster

 

 

steve5

bad luck about your tank mate , wonder how that came about ?

 

 

 

 

Hey Steve, good question. I have no idea. My best guess is there was a flaw in the metal and over time it gave way to metal fatigue. There was some water that came out too. Maybe the tank was rusting internally?  I'd be cureous to know if anyone else has experienced this. Weird stuff.

 

Hey Steve, follow this thread to the answer.

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/tools_techniques_and_reference_materials/f/18/p/187085/2142021.aspx#2142021

Bakster

I am not sure I'd have the space under the stand. It is very limited.

They make speakers that fit in the "leftover" spaces in HO locomotives.  Saw a high-fidelity speaker tha measured 5x15x2.5mm (wxlxd)

Sound cards appear to be similar.  Check under DCC supplies and videos.

Also, you seem to need mp3 sound files for best results.