Scorpiomikey

We tried everything that was recommended. Pea's, blood worms, isolation and starvation. But nothing worked.

On the bright side, my mum got her service medal today, and dad might be getting some hearing aids paid for by the NZDF.

So Mike, you want to elaborate on the service medal?

Ken

Rich: Cool, looking forward to seeing her.

Did you see this post where this guy recast the pilot in transparent plastic in such a way he can build a lighted helmet like in the series!

Man, I just spent most of today offline.  Our provider didn't get the bill money so they locked us out before they let us know they didn't get it.  Nice guys eh...?  Anyways.  Still no camera, but the P39 is done.  I am now working on a classic BSG Viper kit.  It's the 30th. anniversary kit, with the clear parts, so I will be lighting it.  Lots of drilling and painting needs to be done to the cockpit interior to light it up more.  Those viper cockpits are way out of range, so I'm doing it old school..  I hope it comes out. Last night I basically got the brown and tan on the pilot, and did the dark gray cockpit interior.  BTW, the instructions for the kit has incorrect colors.  The basic interior of the cockpit is not black, it's a dark gray.  Some of the instrument panels are black, but most are a slightly lighter shade of gray.  I popped in my BSG DVD to make sure I was remembering it correctly.  I'll send up images as soon as the camera is replaced.

Rich

Ack, sorry too to hear about your Tetra Mike, hope if he was sick it doesn't spread to the other little guys.

And congrad to your Mum and hope your Dad gets some help there.

We tried everything that was recommended. Pea's, blood worms, isolation and starvation. But nothing worked.

On the bright side, my mum got her service medal today, and dad might be getting some hearing aids paid for by the NZDF.

Scorpiomikey

Thats him, right before the swim bladder went. He was only tiny, but it was still sad.

As for my workbench. Nope. First week back at work, havent even thought about it. Might wade in there this weekend and have a tidy up.

Mikey, I have been keeping fish for over 40 years, and I know that their illnesses can be mysterious and can bafle you. Sometimes they can happy one day and gone the next. From the looks of your little fella, it might have been a couple of things: egg binding in which a female (not a fella!) is unable pass accumulated eggs in the belly. I have heard of a few cures for this, though often the cure is worse than the disease. Sometimes the fish will readsorb the eggs.

I think it may be more likely some sort of internal bacterial infection could be to blame. Difficult to diagnose, even harder to treat.

Swim bladder problems usually show up as a fish unable to maintain their equalibrium. Unable to stay upright, and I've had a few that could not dive and would float to the surface. They soon became exhausted trying reach lower depths.

In any case you probably did the right thing for him.

Weve got a 5.3gal tank. 5 Neon Tetras (Was 6) 3 Rummy nose and a chinese loach.

So sad Mikey.

I love those Neon Tetras. I had a tiny 2-3 gallon tank as a teenager, and at least half a dozen of those.

Even a newbie would automatically school with the incumbents. Then they got this weird mold, and they all died even though we bought the anti-fungal water treatment.

I loved it when they all swam and turned and all their colours would flash.....

Bastiches......I never fed them mushrooms......

Good luck with the rest of the school......

-Dom

Scorpiomikey

Thats him, right before the swim bladder went. He was only tiny, but it was still sad.

As for my workbench. Nope. First week back at work, havent even thought about it. Might wade in there this weekend and have a tidy up.

Poor little guy.  That is sad.

Ken

Nope, not pregnant. We thought so too at first, right up until it started sitting on the bottom of the tank. It would get up and swim a bit, then float to the bottom. Talked to the local pet store and a few guys online about it and they all said the best thing we could do was humanly kill it. So fished it out with a net, donked it on the head. Bye bye mr fatty pants

Scorpiomikey

Thats him, right before the swim bladder went. He was only tiny, but it was still sad.

As for my workbench. Nope. First week back at work, havent even thought about it. Might wade in there this weekend and have a tidy up.

Wasn't your Neon Tetra just pregnant?

Like, you are a mass murderer pal???....lol....

-Dom

Thats him, right before the swim bladder went. He was only tiny, but it was still sad.

As for my workbench. Nope. First week back at work, havent even thought about it. Might wade in there this weekend and have a tidy up.

Scorpiomikey

Well bugger. Maybe there was something there that made the paint not stick?

Well last night we had to do something a little sad. One of our Neon Tetras (Fish) has been quite sick, swollen tummy, gasping etc. Then the last couple days hes started resting on the bottom. Swim bladder had gone. So instead of letting him suffer, we pulled him out and conked him on the head. So now we only have 5 tetras left.

Bummer Scorpio Mike, even with fish it is sad to see a pet depending on our care pass away.

So have you regained possession of your workbench yet?

Ken

jimbot58

What A night! Had to stop by my sisters to look at the turn signal lens on the car which came off. Looks like I will need to cement it somehow, but when I went to start my truck....click, click, click....no battery! I managed to jump it and drove over to Checker to buy a new one! Goodbye $100! When I got home, I sat to do some work at the desk and proceeded to drop one of the F-15 instrument panels on the floor! After laying on the floor for 15 minutes with a high power light, I was finally reunited with it! Carpet monster was foiled this time!

I then masked and painted one of the side panels on the cockpit tub. I am making an attempt to finish the sides instead of using the decals. I decided to just do one section at a time as it was enough as it was to almost put me into a straight-jacket!

I then breathed a sigh of relief, and turned to the A-7 and .....

WTF!!!!!!

I don't know what happened. I wasn't masking, don't remember knocking anything over or anything like that! It's the spot I repaired earlier and it looks like my patch didn't stick!

Not a good night for modeling so guess I'll turn off the light and just say...

GOOD NIGHT!!!

Holy cow Jim!  Man you deserve a beer!    But I have faith in you!  You fixed it before, I know you can do it again.  You have that new F-15 to destract you for a few days, which by the way nice job so far on the tub!

Surely tonight will be a better night!

Ken

Well bugger. Maybe there was something there that made the paint not stick?

Well last night we had to do something a little sad. One of our Neon Tetras (Fish) has been quite sick, swollen tummy, gasping etc. Then the last couple days hes started resting on the bottom. Swim bladder had gone. So instead of letting him suffer, we pulled him out and conked him on the head. So now we only have 5 tetras left.

Jim: OUCH! Yeah sometimes it works better to simply walk away from it.

I've had paint chip like that, not very often but once in a blue moon. And I thought I washed the model off good before painting so I dunno what caused it.

What A night! Had to stop by my sisters to look at the turn signal lens on the car which came off. Looks like I will need to cement it somehow, but when I went to start my truck....click, click, click....no battery! I managed to jump it and drove over to Checker to buy a new one! Goodbye $100! When I got home, I sat to do some work at the desk and proceeded to drop one of the F-15 instrument panels on the floor! After laying on the floor for 15 minutes with a high power light, I was finally reunited with it! Carpet monster was foiled this time!

I then masked and painted one of the side panels on the cockpit tub. I am making an attempt to finish the sides instead of using the decals. I decided to just do one section at a time as it was enough as it was to almost put me into a straight-jacket!

I then breathed a sigh of relief, and turned to the A-7 and .....

WTF!!!!!!

I don't know what happened. I wasn't masking, don't remember knocking anything over or anything like that! It's the spot I repaired earlier and it looks like my patch didn't stick!

Not a good night for modeling so guess I'll turn off the light and just say...

GOOD NIGHT!!!

Hi, Ken,

No problem, bud, and thanks a lot for the information. I really do appreciate your help.

Russ

Son Of Medicine Man

Striker8241

Hey Guys,

I'd like to join, but I'm still working on this B-52D if that's ok. BTW, how do you get a badge into your posts?

Russ

I can tell you later this evening, I have to get ready for work now.

Ken

Hi Russ,

Sorry, I hope I didn't come across short this morning when I wrote that.  I was simply really in a hurry.

Anyway, here is a link that tells some ways about creating your signature with a badge (or badges)

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/feedback_help_and_testing/f/39/t/149668.aspx 

There are several ways to do it.  I made mine by turning the entire signature into one jpeg.

Ken

Hi Everyone!

Wednesday is finally here and so the enamel is finally hardened enough to complete the final step of the 2 color photo-etch.

First we need mineral spirits:

We use this because it is not nearly as aggressive as other paint removers which will allow us to get more control on the process.

Next we need a straight edged spreader:

This is the type used to apply different types of putty and is made of plastic.  I believe this one came from an auto body & paint supply store, I can't remember.  I have had it for so long.

The next thing you will need is some very tightly woven cloth material, like a handkerchief.  Take the material, soak an area of it with mineral spirits, then wrap it tight around the spreader like this:

Then start scraping across the photo-etch watching carefully how much paint you are removing.  You only want to remove the last color from the flat "shiny" surface (or what would have been the shiny surface) to expose the color underneath.  You want to leave the last color painted in the "etched" area of the photo-etch.

For example, in the above picture, the last color was black and the first color was yellow.  So we want to remove the black from the upper non etched area exposing the yellow but leaving the black in the lower etched areas like in the next photo:

And here is a shot of the reverse color photo-etch after I was done:

Pretty cool huh?  Like I said, just keep an eye on how much paint you are removing.  The thing is, if you screw up, you can always take the laquer thinner and remove all of it and start all over!

Ken 

Slow? Hes going faster than me.

Jim: Looks good! You may be slow but that's some fine work there.

Striker8241

Son Of Medicine Man

Gamera

Lol, I still haven't finished my kit for this GB...

Now Cliff, you know that you can just bring it on over to the next one!

Well, it is posted.  Come on over and sign up.

Ken

Hey Guys,

I'd like to join, but I'm still working on this B-52D if that's ok. BTW, how do you get a badge into your posts?

Russ

I can tell you later this evening, I have to get ready for work now.

Ken

And by the way, it will be just fine to finish late on this build if you want it to be included on the first page of this build instead of the next one.  I will put it on which ever page you want.  No problem, no stress.

Ken

Son Of Medicine Man

Gamera

Lol, I still haven't finished my kit for this GB...

Now Cliff, you know that you can just bring it on over to the next one!

Well, it is posted.  Come on over and sign up.

Ken

jimbot58

Just a test.....

And updated signature badge...

Hi Jim,

I was going to say, you don't have to wait to take the badge.  Nice work on your A-7D!!  That is looking SHARP!!

Ken

Just a test.....

And updated signature badge...

Wow! I need to get done with the A-7 before the end of the build!

Tonight I repainted the nose as it got a little beat-up due to handling during the decal phase. You can just make out the gear bay doors in the background:

Unmasked! The windscreen framing and antiglare panel is supposed to be flat black. The hole you see is for the pitot tube. I left it till last so I don't break them off!

I hope I can still take a badge even if I don't get 100% by the deadline?

I still have much to do:

1. Dullcoat remainder of plane, masking areas to be left glossy (nose, antennae on tail)

2. Paint and install tail hook.

3. Assemble, paint and install landing gear.

4. Install gear doors

5. add remainder of PE parts to inside of avionics bay doors, install.

6. touch up engine nozzle-a bit of paint damage here as well.

7. open cockpit. Kit provided no parts to pose canopy open. Devise a means hold it open

8. remove canopy masking.

9. Fuel tank, FLIR pod, weapons, maybe an ECM pod, rails and Sidewinders for sides of fuselage.

Aaarrrggg! At pace I build, I'll never get r' done!