Well, finally, some progress.

Below: Black is laid down for targeted chrome. The thing I struggled with here was getting a glass smooth surface. Try as I may, specs and paint build up kept me from the goal. So, I took the long way home. I laid the black, once cured, followed with a light sanding to knock down peaks. This was followed with a coating of Testors Gloss. Then, this was followed by a sort of polish by using successively finer and finer grits until smooth. This got me there. The areas I want to chrome are the dash panel, the box that the terrain scanner rests on, and the aft box where the robot rests on.

Below: Prepping for color.

Below: Some color. 

From here I must paint the cushions and the floor. The cushions blackish, the floor probably an aluminum, dirtied from all the planetary excursions.

After that, pull some tape and paint some chrome. Much can go wrong in all this, fingers crossed. There is hope, though.

As I said before I really mind doing stuff no matter how much trouble is involved but I really really REALLY HATE redoing stuff again!!! 

Gam, same here my friend.

Bakster: Sorry to hear about you having to strip the paint. As I said before I really mind doing stuff no matter how much trouble is involved but I really really REALLY HATE redoing stuff again!!! 

It ought to stick the first time dangit!!!! 

Cool but the eclipe, I've only been though one total one. Having things go dark at noon is kinda spooky... 

It's warming up here too, went to see the new version of 'Dune' late Sunday and took the top off the car. Not looking forward to all the pollen though. It never bothered me as a youngster but now that I'm old it plays havoc with my sinuses. 

Hey Capn, I don't envy anyone dealing with air travel. The example you provide speaks to the issue. I'd hate it.

Speaking of eclipse. I don't recall what area of Texas you are in, and Texas is a big state. Are you in a direct path for the 4/8 eclipse? If not, will you travel to get there? How far roughly? 

Bakster

And there is wisdom.

Dunno from wisdom, perhaps forced lessons in humility, like my last trip back from Boston which was scheduled to leave Logan at 1420, and did not pushback until 1535.  And was diverted by a Ground Stop about 30 minutes from DFW, to be diverted to Austin, landing there at 2200, then not leaving again until 2330.  So, I did not get home until 0130 Friday morning.

Oh, and oboth the out and the back, there was a Kaptain Konsideration in front of me who had to recline their seta the full 8" into my space so not tray table use, and thus, no laptop use.  So, three hours of nothing but my own thoughts.

But did allow for recalling the words of a smart person, "Shared joy is increased; shared misery is decreased."  Which is fundamentally based in how friendship works in the voluntary givign and taking.

To veer this back to things spatial, my view of yesterday's Eclipse

The dog Does Not Approve

Used high-tek to get this:

Some days you get rain, some you get sunshine.

And yet, we still read it, and with interest.

Thanks, Capn. Good to hear!

Cool pics btw of the local pestilence. Pestilence... like Dr Zaius might refer to a human form of pest. 

Yes! It is warmer up here too! I just came back from an errand, the car window open, and I heard frogs croaking in the ditches. Holy cats. We just exited February, and it feels like April. For us, a typical end of February is still at sub freezing. This could be a wild ride for Spring and Summer. I read somewhere that elnino is supposed to flip in the next few months. Time will tell.

Hard to believe that 6 weeks or so back, I was looking at this:

I tell ya. This storm was something else to behold. It was like a snowbomb went off. My power was knocked offline for near 24 hours but others faced 3 to 4 days of it. And the temps dropped to sub zero. When I managed to get out, I went to the nearest kwik trip for some coffee and chow. They had power. I had never seen them so busy because many others faced the same demise. After scarfing down food, I took a short drive of the area and my gosh, every tree branch was collapsed and straining under the weight. It was a surreal scene. The worst part in all this is what you can't do. No power means no heat, no lights, no tv, no internet, no stove to cook, no coffee pot for coffee, no nothing. All you can do is wrap up in a blanket and be bored silly.  And btw, my electric recliner didn't work either. lol. It sucked. I felt badly for the others where it went beyond a day. Some of those poor souls would spend their time at local grocery sucking on coffee. Better than in a freezing house.

So, the focus and attention to detail to get a proper coat of paint on the Chariot is to be commended, not lamented.

And there is wisdom. I always appreciate that in you.

Bakster

More than you wanted to know.

And yet, we still read it, and with interest.

We here in Texas are in the middle of el niño "spring" which is sore distracting.  Instead of it being 64°F for the high, it's been mid 70s to near 80.

If with the least touh of y'all's last cold snap to bring things down to more realistic February temps. 

Not at all ideal time to be indoors for any reason.  We've had Texas Independance Day on 2 March, and the weather has been spectacular.  If rife with crane flies

and mud dauber wasps

(very benign and unconcerned about humans unless they swat or over-react) all brought out by the warmth.
The dog is followed by a cloud of shed fur at near every step, too.
Sadly, we'll have skeeters in a week.
The dogwoods have bloomed, so Texas Wildfower season is mere weeks away.
As if amy more distractions were wanted.

So, the focus and attention to detail to get a proper coat of paint on the Chariot is to be commended, not lamented.

Gamera

Great to see the new painting booth coming along so well! 

 

indeed! I used it again last night..worked great. Barely smelled anything and not until I opened the front panel. Working with lacquer. I attribute this to my mostly closed system. The booth pulled overspray well too, no paint fogging in the booth. And as I mentioned earlier, easy cleanup with the smooth metal surface. I am venting to my garage and holy cats, when I went through it to throw something out, it smelled to high heaven. The booth is doing its job. If I was not venting it as such, all those fumes would be in my basement. Not good. And when the furnace would kick in, circulate the fumes throughout the house. After every spray session I open the main garage door to vent it outside. A very long story short, it was worth the effort!

Making some progress on the model. Sadly, I decided to strip my paintwork on the tub insert. I had used Alclad, their black, for their chrome process. It is an older bottle and I think it was going bad. Bits were coming through in the spray. I had managed to eventually get a good smooth surface but then I was not happy how it was curing. It is an enamel. With all the handling yet to do, I decided not to take the chance, strip it, and use lacquer instead. This is the third time I have stripped that piece and all because of the Alclad. This hobby has a way of slapping you in ways you'd never expect. I don't think I will do another restrip on this model. There is a limit to my patience. The good news is, I might not need to. I got the black down, and last night I cleared coated it. I can finally start to paint the other colors.

More than you wanted to know.

Later. 

Great to see the new painting booth coming along so well! 

Apparently tidying the shop is also contagious. I must have caught it from you. ;)

Indeed!

Getting the ventiliation for the new booth straightened out is a certainy a big step in the right direction.  Such a weird issue for the stock fan to have...

Yes for sure. I can't explain the stock fan. Very odd.

The good news is my new booth is working great. The replacement fan and removing the bottleneck at the exaust port has it dialed in. I like that it's metal because it's easy to clean, and kind of easy to spot lint and dust.

Work continues on the Chariot at a snails pace. This build has been fighting me. Will keep pushing forward. 

Bakster, sorry you had a bout of COVID but glad to hear you are on the mend.

Apparently tidying the shop is also contagious. I must have caught it from you. ;)

Thankfully it seems to have run it's course and I should be able to get back to things again in the near future.

I hope things continue to improve.  Getting the ventiliation for the new booth straightened out is a certainy a big step in the right direction.  Such a weird issue for the stock fan to have...

Well, while the eye of the storm hovers over me, I made some hay. I cleaned up my bench/work area and did some putty work on the model. Nothing to show at this point.

For the sake of something to show, here is a little more info on the spraybooth revamp.

Below: The black tube is my in-line fan replacement. The manufacturers fan was installed in the silver box to the right of it. I pulled that out. It was a fairly easy update because I only needed to get angle brackets, the duct reducer, drill two holes in the fan housing, and screw the assembly down. I was even able to use two of the preexisting screw holes in the booth housing. After that, I added a bead of silicone calk.

As mentioned previously, I revamped the exaust port. Where as before I had a reducer to simplify drywall damage, I have expanded the opening. I pulled down the assembly and proceeded to cut a bigger hole. And I have to tell ya, that ended up being a bigger pain due to wood bracing in the wall and all the clutter in front of it. The hose is 4 inch and you need to get that cutout perfectly centered or you will never fit a duct connection through to the other side. It was not as clean an install as my picky self would have liked it, but it is functionaly fine. 

That's all I gots for today.

CapnMac82

 

 

Bakster

Egads, brother. Not good.

 

 

That was spanning four years, call it 40 months, and none much longer than 3-4 days.

 

Glad to hear it was not the kind that sent one to a hospital. I know one or two people that had very serious bouts of it. Heck, that is not including my losing two family members to it. Shaking my head here.

Bakster

Egads, brother. Not good.

That was spanning four years, call it 40 months, and none much longer than 3-4 days.

CapnMac82

 

 

Bakster

I got hit with Covid. My first go with it.

 

 

Better once that four times, at least from personal experience.

 

Egads, brother.  Not good.

Bakster

I got hit with Covid. My first go with it.

Better once that four times, at least from personal experience.

Gamera

Oh wow, good to hear you're okay after being sick and the fan issues! 

 

PhoenixG

 

 

Bakster

Hey PG... so glad to hear you have watched a few. They entertain me when I am not able to build. And speaking of not building... I had to stop. Life has different ideas for my time and energy. It has been challenging. Once the onslaught subsides, I will try getting back to it. Thanks for checking in!

 

 

Thanks for sharing them.  I'm currently watching Spureverse build a Battlestar Galactica Shuttle.  I've been bad and haven't tried any of the others yet.

Understand how life has it's own plans for us.  Do the needful and take care of yourself.  Look forward to seeing more when you're once again able to return to the bench. :)

 

Oh wow, good to hear you're okay after being sick and the fan issues! 

Gamera

I hope everything is okay Bakster. No problem with stepping away from the bench for a little bit. Sometimes it helps to recharge the batteries. 

 

CapnMac82

 

 

Bakster

Once the onslaught subsides, I will try getting back to it.

 

 

We each find our own way.

Sometimes that way is neat and direct like a highway.  Sometimes it's as winding and convoluted as the path of a drunken bumblebee.

Often the best we can hope for is a cowpath with half-adequate signage.

Many here might suggest a simple OOB kit build--hey, a modeling site is going to have modeling suggestions, que suprise.  But, given how abominal your local weather has been of late, perhaps not being the basement is a good idea.

Instead, perhaps what's wanted is some very good fiction, some oustanding movies to just sit back on the couch an absorb.  Forbidden Planet.  Ice Station Zebra.  Rear Window.  The Fifth Element.  Raising Arizona. 

Shoot, just get on You Tube where you can watch all four seasons of Farscape, and both of the Peacekeeper Wars which close the series out. 

 

Hey Capn, all good advice. I am taking it slow. If all the other stuff going on was not enough, I got hit with Covid. My first go with it. Fortunately, nothing too severe. Point being... that forced me to dial it back even more.

Today, I worked on some refinements to my spray booth. I am expanding the exit point because I had it stepping down to a smaller diameter hose. I intially did that to minimize impact to my drywall, should I ever move. I know that by reducing it causes some back pressure, and since I revamped the booth, I figured, what the hey... do it right. So, I expanded the hole. 

Speaking of the booth... I made another change. You might recall my saying the air draw seemed good. Well, another issue reared it's ugly head that I didn't see coming. Right out of the gates I noticed an odd electrical smell. I wrote it off as new electronic smell that will eventually go away. Well... after several tests, it didn't go away. It got worse. For the heck of it, I pulled the filter assembly and felt the fan housing. Holy cats, it was hot! You'd burn yourself if you kept holding it. THAT IS NOT GOOD! I don't need volatile vapors flowing over something that is hot. If the fan heats like that during short runs...what will happen if I run it a long time?

The question became... was I causing that with my closed system. Further testing revealed it adds to it, but even with leaving the front wide open, that fan gets hot. I thought for sure it was a bad fan so I wrote the company. They sent a replacement and what do you know, same darn thing. No improvement.

What to do. I never had this issue before using my old system. The fan I had worked fine even under the closed door load. I almost decided to just go with it, my lazy kicked in, but in the end... no...no way.

They are using a computer fan with this like many of these commercial booths. My previous fan housing was pulled off one of those portable units and they used a computer fan too. Yet, I had no heat issue. What it is about this fan that it heats up like that, I do not know.

Long story short. I found a nice fan that is closer to an exhaust fan and it even has a higher CFM. I also like that it has a variable speed control on it. Now, I can dial in air draw. I ran it for a spell and with initial testing, the fan housing gets warm at best. Not hot!

As Walter Cronkite used to say, and that's the way it is. 

I hope everything is okay Bakster. No problem with stepping away from the bench for a little bit. Sometimes it helps to recharge the batteries. 

Bakster

Once the onslaught subsides, I will try getting back to it.

We each find our own way.

Sometimes that way is neat and direct like a highway.  Sometimes it's as winding and convoluted as the path of a drunken bumblebee.

Often the best we can hope for is a cowpath with half-adequate signage.

Many here might suggest a simple OOB kit build--hey, a modeling site is going to have modeling suggestions, que suprise.  But, given how abominal your local weather has been of late, perhaps not being the basement is a good idea.

Instead, perhaps what's wanted is some very good fiction, some oustanding movies to just sit back on the couch an absorb.  Forbidden Planet.  Ice Station Zebra.  Rear Window.  The Fifth Element.  Raising Arizona. 

Shoot, just get on You Tube where you can watch all four seasons of Farscape, and both of the Peacekeeper Wars which close the series out. 

Bakster

Hey PG... so glad to hear you have watched a few. They entertain me when I am not able to build. And speaking of not building... I had to stop. Life has different ideas for my time and energy. It has been challenging. Once the onslaught subsides, I will try getting back to it. Thanks for checking in!

Thanks for sharing them.  I'm currently watching Spureverse build a Battlestar Galactica Shuttle.  I've been bad and haven't tried any of the others yet.

Understand how life has it's own plans for us.  Do the needful and take care of yourself.  Look forward to seeing more when you're once again able to return to the bench. :)

PhoenixG

Hey Bakster,

Happy 2024 and hope all is well.  It's been a while so thought I would give the thread a ping and see how things are going.

I've been checking out a few of the channels the group recommended.  I enjoyed a few of Aztecdummy's builds and watched Sprueverse do a resin build of the egg scene in Alien.  It turns out I've seen a few of Plasmo's builds in the past.

Such a variety of approaches to scale models.   Looking forward to trying more. My goal is view at least one video from the channels everyone shared.  :)

 

Hey PG... so glad to hear you have watched a few. They entertain me when I am not able to build. And speaking of not building... I had to stop. Life has different ideas for my time and energy. It has been challenging. Once the onslaught subsides, I will try getting back to it.

Thanks for checking in!

Hey Bakster,

Happy 2024 and hope all is well.  It's been a while so thought I would give the thread a ping and see how things are going.

I've been checking out a few of the channels the group recommended.  I enjoyed a few of Aztecdummy's builds and watched Sprueverse do a resin build of the egg scene in Alien.  It turns out I've seen a few of Plasmo's builds in the past.

Such a variety of approaches to scale models.   Looking forward to trying more. My goal is view at least one video from the channels everyone shared.  :)

There are a couple of channels I watch because they only get videos out about once a month and pour clear resin in kilogram quantities.  They are also largely in Monster/horro genres, whic hmakes a nice change of pace

MiniBricks Craft, which from memory is based in Czechia, and ThalassoHobby, which is in SE Asia (with subtitles in Japanese).

I also watch Charlie Bishop's Chadwick Model Railway.  That largely becuase it brings back memories of when I wa part of a model railway club as a scenery builder.  Charlie is a former RN submariner, too.  He's a very good videographer and is committed to his craft in making videos.  Also, he's on a quest to "Be the first Pensioner with 100,000 subscribers."

Hope everyone had a happy holiday weekend and wish y'all a Happy upcoming New Year's!

So many interesting modeling channels to check out!  Going to have to pace myself.  If I don't, I won't get anything done at the bench! 

Yeah those sound great Captain! 

CapnMac82

 

 

Bakster

Here are three of my favorite build channels:

 

 

There's a wealth of great channels out there.

Max_afterburner US (the underscore is required)
His aircraft builds are very considered, seeing as how he's a maintainer for the AZ Air Nat'l Guard.

The Model Shed  UK Steve is a retired RAF maintainer who lives in the far north of England, and builds all kinds of things--often over many episoes (his 1/200 HMS Hood was 50 episodes, IIRC).  He has a following of UK and european modelers with their own channels.

Night Shift  Czrchia Martin Kovak largely builds armor in dioramas--his channel is very much focused on technique. 

Laser Creation-World Germany Thomas builds elaborate models for elaborate dioramas.  The German-to-English captions occasionally will have some uh-ohs.  Decent descriptions of techniques.  His painting style is very definitely more Fine Arts than "modeler's style."  And, that "fine arts" methi=od also extends to research & depiction--it's very much the the Art School adage of "it's a painting, not a polaroid."  Also, it's pretty much the same 4 cuts of no-royalties music in every video.

 

Hey Capn--  I did a cursory check on your links and they look good. I will subscribe to them. 

Plasmo Plastic Models

Here is another good one. His skill level is high. One can learn much from his videos. 

https://www.youtube.com/@idaemonplasmo