Moments of Zen

[frank2056]

I think SLUF in Portuguese would be CPF? (Curto. Pequeno. Feio. ?)  Not sure what the equivalent for the two meanings of english "F" are, though.

[scooter]

I think SLUF in Portuguese would be CPF? (Curto. Pequeno. Feio. ?)  Not sure what the equivalent for the two meanings of english "F" are, though.

And I'm not going to trust Google Translate on this.

[DogfighterZen]

Yep, Short is Curto, Little is Pequeno, Ugly is Feio and the F... well, i guess one has to use a different expression in Portuguese to have a similar meaning to the English word because there is no direct translation like there is for the other words.
The word that would probably be the most direct translation would be a "Amigo"...that's if the F stands for Friend...
If you're thinking of swear words, then the Portuguese slang word for the visible parts of the male genitalia would likely be the most direct translation... 
This is making me think of the weird fact that Faith No More have a song in their "King for a day, fool for a lifetime" album which has that slang word in the name... and even weirder is that the meaning of that song's name is "Flying male sex organ"...     
This is the song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsm9VlnRJdM&list=RDtsm9VlnRJdM&start_radio=1

So, the acronym in Portuguese would either be CPFA or CPFC... doesn't have the same ring to it, not even close but would still be funny. 

[NARSES2]

So, the acronym in Portuguese would either be CPFA or CPFC... doesn't have the same ring to it, not even close but would still be funny. 

CPFC ? My football team. Crystal Palace - "Come on you Eagles"   

[DogfighterZen]

Very bad start of the day... 
Makes me look back at when i joined the forum... When i got back into scale modelling over twelve years ago and found this place, i wasn't expecting to find what i've come to call my modelling family.
I've come across a great bunch of people along the way and i say that not just because one simply offered me a truckload of resin parts with a full kit i wanted to build but couldn't find, or because one other mate took the time and went through the hassle to buy stuff and send it to me because it's only available in his country and another one sold me one of my "holy grail" kits for a symbolic amount...
Some may think i'm just saying this to look good but it's real to me. I've actually learned a lot regarding so many different subjects, not just hobby-related stuff but general life experiences related by folks on here and everyone else's related comments, have educated me by making me think about things with their perspectives, even if i end up disagreeing.
Reading the news of the passing of two of ours has left me sad... really sad... never met them in person but both left their mark in me, in different ways, as almost everyone on this forum does but maybe a bit more than some.

Rickshaw was one of the first to welcome me on here and always knew how to motivate folks with his comments. I saw him as one of "my older brothers" in this family, and as so, looked up to him as an example on how to behave around here and for his modelling.

Like Rickshaw, Phill was also a member before i got here but because he was absent for a long time, i only got to "know" him and interact when he got back in the hobby a few years ago.
It's safe to say we got along well and i admired him as a scale modeller, superb skill, imagination and sense of humor...

I will be raising a glass in their name today... brothers will be missed, may they rest in peace.

[Old Wombat]

Amen, Brother Rui!

[PR19_Kit]

You've just written my thoughts about this wonderful place, almost word for word Rui. 

99% of the time here we're all one big happy 'family', and that's so unusual on modelling Forums (Forii?) where often so many divide up into conflicting 'camps'. We don't have any of that most of the time here, it's very 'comfortable', for me anyway.

[NARSES2]

Extremely well put sir. Thankyou 

I will be raising a glass in their name today... brothers will be missed, may they rest in peace.

As will I.

[DogfighterZen]

So, after some weeks of no modelling at all, i have been slowly getting back into the only model i have on the bench right now, the Fujimi 1/72 A-7A.
To build the PoAF's A-7P/TA-7P, work is needed on any of the existing kits so, for my first SLUFF, i went with Fujimi's A kit... BTW, note that i use two Fs on the A-7's nickname because i've read or heard somewhere i can't remember now, that it actually was Short Little Ugly Fat Fu...riend but i guess it doesn't really matter as i find it an attractive beast anyway.
So far i've had to rescribe a lot of panel lines after some heavier sanding was done to clean the seams after the fuselage halves were joined. Still trying to decide if i want to engrave some rivets on some areas or not...
Had to steal parts from Italeri's A-7E(late D/E antennas for the top and bottom of the fin/rudder and belly doppler radar bulge) and scratchbuild some details on the instrument panel's cover and the two small RWR antennas on the sides of the intake lip.
Also had to carve out a triangular inlet on the right side of the fuselage as well as adding a small vent on top, to the right of where the huge black TACAN antenna(sourced from the spares box and still to be added) is located.
Lastly, i also drilled out the 20mm cannon ports, which will not need the gun barrels as they're barely visible on the real aircraft.
Next will be scratchbuilding the HUD, glue the seat and pilot inside the cockpit, mask clear parts before gluing them on and then i'll decide if i'll try doing anything to the poor nose gear bay or just ignore it and move on to the wings, stabs and the rest of the details still left to add.

I've also been thinking of building Fujimi's 1/72 Alpha Jet A as one of the real world PoAF examples and the fact that threw me off at first was the horrible pair of ejection seats in the kit. Anyone who's built this kit probably knows how weird these things are.
The PoAF's jets had the Stencel S-III-S or SJU-4 and the kit's parts look like they belong in a spaceship or something similar, definitely not inside the AJ's cockpit.
I ordered a couple of Quickboost resin seats but while waiting for that order, i got the kit's seats out and started hacking, sanding and shaping the massive lumps of plastic that they were into the seats you can see if front of the A-7's fuselage...
You cannot view this attachment.

I know i won't achieve a level of detail close to the QB seats but with a little extra work these might actually do the trick with the one-piece closed canopy. Frees up one the QB seats for my Hasegawa AV-8B+, which is a nicer kit and also deserves a nice seat under that wide canopy.

But what about the whifs?
Well, several in mind but for most, i still want to buy some stuff like masks or resin bits or decals...
Jusr ordered another kit with a whif in mind, the Meng 1/48 F/A-18F that will be getting most of the aftermarket i've bought for the single seat kit like the CFTs, the stealthy Enclosed Weapons Pod, Block III instrument panels, etc...
I know these were all tested on the F bug but that's a testbed jet and mine will be in service, just not sure in which country...
The Portuguese Army recently announced that they'll be reactivating their air arm and will be operating Blackhawk helos so, why not give them the whif AH-64E Apache? Obviously, i had these in mind for a long time so now, i'll just add the AH-1Z
Also, Vipers... Yup, there's been a Viper in my mind lately and it's telling me to buy up the parts to tart up the Lonestar resin F-16XL#2 conversion set i've bought around 10 years ago...
Thoughts of PoAF Scooters have been scooting around in my brain lately...  

So, there's plenty of ideas, just have to buy what i need and find the time and energy to build them in between taking care of my girls and my dog, work, music and still ride my bmx once in a while...

 

[NARSES2]

  

[DogfighterZen]

Well, i've already gone for a walk with the dog, it's still early and the girls are still asleep so i'll just write up some thoughts i have about the whifs i have in mind...

#1 - The F-16XL#2 conversion set... it's designed to be used with the 1/72 Hasegawa F-16 kits, where you will need the intake, cockpit bits and canopy, wheels and landing gear bits minus the nose gear bay and main gear firewalls, engine nozzle and pylons...
So, i chose the F-16I SUFA to donate the bits but some of these parts are not exactly what modern Vipers are using, especially the landing gear, weapons pylons and cockpit IPs.
Although i have the excellent 1/48 Kinetic/Skunkworks kits in my stash, these 1/72 conversion sets are special to me because they were both expensive and i don't think i'll be buying any more of them in this lifetime so, i really want to do the best i can with them.
They're done by one very nice human who's also a dedicated modeler, all by himself in his garage, not a mainstream model company. Because of that and the fact that the XL Vipers are some of my top 10 favorite aircraft ever, these kits deserve my best efforts.
The aftermarket for these kits is available and covers most, if not all the bits i'd need from the Hasegawa kit so, i've made a list of stuff i'll buy to spice it up and i can't wait to have everything ready to start building it.
I'd already bought Rob Taurus Vacformed canopies for the Hase Vipers so that's taken care of. I've enough modern pilot figures to use but i also want some 3D cockpit decals in there.
I've also thought of doing something different to get what i believe would be the best possible (but somewhat expensive) result without scratchbuilding and that would be to combine the beauty of resin cockpit sets like Aires, with the precision and ease of use of 3D decals, similar to what Reskit offers with their simpler 3D printed cockpit sets with 3D decals but the fact that the pit is molded inside the XL's resin one-piece fuselage, makes it a bit more challenging as there's no way i can insert a complete resin pit into the fuselage in one piece through the canopy opening of an F-16... but i can do it if it's in separate bits...
I think that using the ejection seats, sidewalls and the area behind the seats and IP covers with the color printed 3D decals on the IP displays and side consoles will make it look very nice... This will probably mean separating each panel/surface of a resin pit and sand down the backside of each part down to hair thickness in order to get stuff to fit without having to trim the XL's cockpit surfaces. All this because i suck at painting 1/72 instrument panels...  
With that said, i'll probably choose the easier way and just use 3D decals and minor scratchbuilding for the rest and, leave the resin pit/3D decals mix for the 1/48 kits...
Then there's the engine nozzle... As mentioned earlier, it's a conversion set designed to be used with the Hase Vipers so it means that the engine afterburner section is not long/deep enough. That will require some heavy drilling of the resin fuselage's rear end to be able to fit a 3D printed nozzle with an accurate afterburner section.
The intake is a simple affair with a DSI from the same brand, the wheels will probably be the Eduard set for late Vipers for Tamiya kits... Yes, because i'm also using the SAC white metal gear for Tamiya kits.
I've already used one of these white metal sets on my F-16V Block 70, built with the Hase F-16E and the mods needed are simple so, i'll do it on this one too.

#2 - Also thinking of the stuff i need to build the Academy 1/72 Apache as a Portuguese Army helo and i'll probably just buy the Quinta Cockpit 3D decals because the cockpit is a bit bare and some masks essentially because of the wheels.
I'll also use a pair of the very nice crew figures from Reedoak rubber composites, which sadly is no longer in operation as they closed up earlier this year...
Having such great figures to use on this kit certainly requires that the level of detail is maintained for the exterior of the kit so i'm thinking of buying a few more resin items...

Well that's enough blogging from me for the next two months... at least!

 

[NARSES2]

Obviously taking the dog for a walk enables you to get your thought processes into gear   

[zenrat]

Obviously taking the dog for a walk enables you to get your thought processes into gear   

It depends on the level of beans in the dog (mine, being 5 months old is always full) but it can be conducive to meditation.  Especially if one has a regular route one takes.

[scooter]

Obviously taking the dog for a walk enables you to get your thought processes into gear   

It depends on the level of beans in the dog (mine, being 5 months old is always full) but it can be conducive to meditation.  Especially if one has a regular route one takes.

Stop standing downwind

[NARSES2]

Especially if one has a regular route one takes.

Yup and once they get middle aged you try and divert from that regular route