Well, my camera is acting up. I imagine it just needs new batteries. So here's the only pic that came out.

WHAT! ARE YOU KIDDING ME,,  you are such a tease,, sheesh,, one stinkin wing, thats all we get to see. Man we been waiting for what a month now,, and all we get is one wing,, a pretty one to be sure,, but, I mean really,, get off your but drive to the store and get some batteries man,, you got people waiting

Looks good buddy, dare I ask how the weight is looking?

Holy cow! I bow to the master masker... After gaining some recent experience with masking a much, MUCH simpler scheme, I can truly appreciate what I'm looking at now. My lower back hurts just looking at it!  (though Byron Barkers paint stand does make it a lot less painful than before)

Can't wait to see the final buffed out centerfold shots! Looking great Randy.
EricV

Thanks, Guys.

As Eric noted in his thread about his new ship, it seems all I can see are the errors, bad spots and things I should have done better. I suppose it keeps you humble.

With luck, it will warm up here today and I can finish up the inklines and shoot the clear. We'll see.

DANG!!!!!!!!!!! A new challenge.

DANDY-RANDY!!! SHAME SHAME ON YOU!!!!
After "POPPIN MY DEMENTED EYE BALLS BACK INTO MY HEAD THIS MORN!!" I would bet my britches....that after seeing such artistic work on such a beautiful new creation such as yours....
that every stunt grunter who in the past...has gleaned a spot on the  coveted appearence point front line up---
SUDDENLY NOW FEELS A SUDDEN NEED TO DIG A BIG DEEP HOLE, AND BURY THEY  BEAUTIFUL OLDSTUNT JEWELS DEEP N' OUT OF SIGHT!

BECAUSE OUR RANDY...HAS RAISED THE BEAUTY BAR...A HOLE BUNCH OF NEW NOTCHES!

CONGRATS! U DURRRDY RATTY-RANDY!!!
SHAME- SHAME ON YOU!!

Ty,

60 MPH, 4 feet off the pavement, inverted. Isn't that what you do with these things?

At least it won't disappear in the trees. I hope.

Uh, thanks Donnie. I think.

  H^^The Crown Jewel of PA, belongs to you on this one, Randy!

Doc,

Yea, I heard the same thing from my wife. It's simpler to do than it looks. One of the fun things about using transparent colors is, you can shoot over various undercoats and the color on top changes. This is a neat idea. I'm thinking about shooting a plane white then using various colors of pearl in clear to add trim shapes then shooting the whole thing over with a candy topcoat. This could be interesting since it would change to all kinds of colors with a minimum of taping. Could be fun.

The next plane I'm working on already has the paint scheme laid out. Just 3 colors: a base color and two trim colors. All transparent. It will be a very simple paint scheme.

To quote Axel Foley: "Trust Me". 

Steve,

I wasn't thinking so much about flight trim as stability. I rebuilt the nose after it fractured at Centralia, worked out a new pipe setup and works better than the old one and finally fixed the wag in hard, outside turns. It doesn't vibrate now and is back to going where you point it with improved power.

I hope the new plane does as well.

Randy,
I seem to remember you talking about the wag in the corners, you were goin to make a change in the adjustable leadouts or is that what fixed it???
TIA...Greg

Greg,

Yea, I put in independently adjustable pieces that allows each leadout to be adjusted. That, in combination with the repairs to the nose seem to have fixed the problem.

Dennis,

A bit of black was it. Just finish inking it last night (mostly outlining stars and such). If the weather holds up, I'll shoot topcoat on today or tomorrow. I can think of a couple of things that probably would have been cool, but I'm sort of out of energy in working on this. We'll see.

Mark,

 

Thanks, Bob. I suppose I'm hyper critical. As I said above, all I see are the flaws and screw-ups. I have really got to quit trying new techniques every time and just go with stuff I know how to do. This will be OK, I think, but not the show piece it could have been. Sigh... At least it's light and straight.

I couldn't resist tonight and pulled it off the rack and weighed everything. If I can keep from adding too much weight with the topcoat, it will be near 50oz. Complete weight right now including tank, engine, spinner, etc. is 48.5oz. If I can keep the top coat to 2oz. (usual for me), it will come in at 50.5oz. on 640 square inches with a RO-Jett 65. Hope to shoot clear in the next day or so if I get some decent weather.

I guess we'll find out if there is such a thing as too light.   

Just a note. I managed to pick up a stomach bug and I doubt I'll be in the shop for the next couple of days. spending too much time in the head. Sheesh!

Aw, Randy, just another pretty jet style stunter! I don't like it cause it ain't mine. I got battries in my camera!

"Remember, no finish is ever completed; only abandoned."

I hear ya Randy!

GOOD GADSLEEEE, RANDY!!!!!!
I HAVE HEARD OF BATS IN THE BELFREE' BUT NEVA IN THE PIT HANGA??

(Think of all this in perspective...Just perhaps, that little critter was not well...and decided to leave "his mark" on that beautiful new work of art of yours. For example....I had a friend who had his model wing autographed by the late Jim Walker...and although the pen that Jim signed it with....melted the top coat pretty badly, Tim charished that messed up wing panel, just simply for the memories.
Maybe that SICK-SIC' little critter knew he was about to "cross over into bat-poop heaven or hell...and wanted to be remembered. Maybe he was just ENVUS....since Bats are the most aerobatic and quick turning creatures on planet earth and wanted to christen this beautiful one of a kind piece of flying art?
My condolences...and just to say...." I have saved "a pill" from my last post hand surgery that will surely make all your pain, agony and troubles..."go away" at least for the good part of a day....n'allthat jazz.

I glanced at it on the way out today. I suspect the only answer is going to be a can of Jasco stripper and a new finish. sigh... Nothings ever lost, I guess. I learned a lot.

Eric,

Well, the little snot (I assume) must have dive bombed the thing. Didn't break the silkspan, but the feet didn't walk in it, it sort of smeared the undercoat around. It's a real mess. I suspect the only answer is going to be stripper and start over. Sigh... I imagine it will go up in rafters and I'll build my next project, then get back to it and start the process.

I plan to sand the topcoat over the damaged areas first and see just how deep the damage goes. It looks like it's right into the color coat, but you never really know till you sand something like this. Could just be refraction through the clear (me, wishful thinking).

I suppose it's just as well. I wasn't happy with the cowl fit after painting anyway (this is me justifying the need to refinish).

Man, sometimes it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.

This one may be abandoned earlier than expected.I had a bit of a disaster last night. Sigh...

Apparently, another bat snuck into the shop. I would have thought they would be hibernating by now. I went to check on the plane last evening and, well, I'm not sure it's repairable short of complete refinish. I'll leave it a day or two then decide what to do. Only reason I know it was the bat was, he was dead by the door, pretty much covered in catalyzed polyurethane. all over his feet (the tracks of which can be seen in the upper surface of the wing).

I'd be crushed if it wasn't so darned silly. Reminds me of a Loony Toons cartoon. Sheesh!

I'll shoot some pics when I can stand to look at it.

Man Randy, I'd be livid!!! But it does remind me of something that happened to me many moons ago. I was had just shot the last coat of candy blue on a motorcycle tank when the friggin' moth flys in and lands on it. It struggled and flapped its way across the tank finally falling off. I was so mad I locked up and went to find massive quantities of beer. The next moring I went out to start sanding and noticed as I walked past it the sunlight glanced across it and it looked like a butterfly flying across the tank, COOL!!! So I shot 7 coats of clear on it and rubbed it out. When asked by many admirer how I did it, I told them it was a secret process I was going to patent. Hope you can make something cool out of yours too.

Randy...if you have to repaint it...for God's sake, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE....paint it just like it is/was. I'm sure you'll want to do it completely different, but I (for one) want to see it just the way it was going to be, before the bat ran amok in your shop.  Steve

Randy sorry to hear of your misfortune. You were so close. I'm sure you will get it fixed right.
I have to ask you though. Did you ever look up?? Was he hanging above the airplane waiting for Halloween when he was overcome with iso fumes! Kind of unbelievable, its like a campfire story or its the canary in the coal mine,. I guess you don't need a reminder to wear your mask!

After I spray on my auto clear I turn the plane upside down to cure. The bat would have messed up the bottem. Still bad but not as bad.

I get less bugs & dust on top.

I feel for ya man! It seems like you get a great plane going and then some strange thing happens. I like the paint layout so well I am going to use a little of the design variant on my V8. I am still plugging along  I hope the extra effort is going to be worth it. Still slated for mid 40tys. When I get the airframe done and I start to finish I will post it here. I will say this I have everything covered and 3 coats of dope on them. Still in the assembly stage and when its on its wheels I will post a picture.

OK, I've gone ahead and fixed it, more or less. It will never be as pretty as it was, buy it will be sort of presentable. I sort of patched over the areas the little monster screwed up. Man, metallic and candy is impossible to fix, really. I already had a few spot that I had the peeling candy color problem and so it wasn't going to be perfect anyway (should have shot some heavily thinned clear over the metallic before I shot the candy). Now, with the latest bat issues, it's far from a show piece. But it should be sort of OK. I'm rubbing it out right now. Another couple of sessions and it will be done.