Some snow early in the week but it has been over 10C the second half of the week. It finally feels like spring. Unfortunately, with four dogs, that means a lot of backyard clean up as the snow melts.
We got Copper's test results back. He doesn't have cancer! So it appears his enlarged prostate is simply age. We had been switched to a new diet to help him poop, and a painkiller has been added to help with the shaking. He seems to be taking it all in stride.
Monday, April 25th will be our 30th anniversary in Fort McMurray. I still distinctly remember the drive up. It was a warm Saturday, and we set out early. Marie was in her MR2, while I was in my little black Corolla. Both cars were fully loaded with the things the moving van wouldn't take, and I was up to my eyeballs in plants and boxes. I wasn't a newbie to long distance driving, and knew that it was an 8 hour plus drive, but still wasn't prepared for how long it felt. I remember hitting Boyle and cringing that we were only half way. We arrived just about supper time, and Marie's parents welcomed us with a steak and lobster dinner. Our first apartment, supplied by the company , was in the brown 3 story on Signal Road, just past the Safeway. It was a little 1 bedroom, and I mean little, probably only 600 sq ft. Most of our boxes had gone to storage, but we had 10 - 12 boxes, all 5 ft3, that the movers had taken directly to the apartment. We arrived after dinner to find it literally full of our "few" boxes. We didn't get much sleep that night, as the apartment was boiling hot, and our room was right next to the stairs. Every time someone went up or down it shook our apartment and sounded like elephants were using the stairs. I don't know if we would have made it if we had to stay in that apartment for a month. I talked to Bob Cartwright on my first day at work, explained the situation , and we were moved to Thompson Manor on Rosshaven. We stayed in that apartment for three months before moving to a 3 bedroom unit in the same building, where we stayed for another year. Time sure flies!
The river ice flowed on Thursday afternoon, and the Athabasca broke on Friday. The Clearwater broke later in the day. As often happens, the ice jammed on the Athabasca just downstream of Mac Island, which then jammed the Clearwater. So far, both rivers are high but water is flowing thru the jams, and there hasn't been any flooding. The two pictures below were taken on Saturday afternoon. The first was from the highway bridge, looking north. The ice jam can be seen at the top of the picture. The second picture was taken from the north end of Mac Island, looking north. The Athabasca is to the left, and the Clearwater is to the right. Hopefully, both rivers continue to flow and there is no flooding.
Cosmopolitan
The Cosmo is finished! I am very pleased with how it turned out.
I attempted to make a horseshoe antenna using punches and 0.020" plastic. It looked pretty good until it was on the plane. It's probably a little small but those were the biggest punches I had.
The upper wing roundels are from the spares box. The kit roundels were printed on the white decal paper. It obviously gave a white center to the decals but it also meant the outside diameter had to be cut out or it would be visible on the wrong. I clearly lack the skill to cleanly cut a 1/4" diameter circle and failed on all four attempts. Enjoy the pictures.
DC-6
Cockpit
The clear cockpit insert was slightly larger than the fuselage opening, requiring some sanding under the copilot's window. Filler was also needed along the front edge. Things looked pretty good after the first primer coat.
Bottom of wing
The joints on the bottom of the wing were pretty good but still needed work to get a smooth transition. Four rounds of filling and sanding were needed before it looked okay. The first primer layer showed that more work was needed, and more filler was applied and sanded out. The second primer showed an improvement but there was still a noticeable dishing at the rear joint. As shown in the third photo, more filler and more sanding got a satisfactory result on the third primer attempt.
Top of wing
The fuselage to wing joint had a large gap on both sides that was filled with stretched sprue. It was then sanded, filled with putty, and sanded again. A couple applications of Perfect Plastic Putty finished it off. PPP is great stuff. It is a chalk based filler that can be shaped and cleaned up with a wet finger or Q-tip, meaning you don't have to sand. Photos 1-3 below show progress. Unfortunately, the first primer coat showed things weren't as smooth as they appeared. Two more sessions of filler and sanding was needed to get a decent result.
Engines
The engines took a lot of work. Unlike the wings and the fuselage, the engines had raised details. Joining the two engine halves resulted in a steps along the top and bottom that had to be sanded. The internal diameter was also very rough, and needed a lot of filling and sanding at the joints.
The engines are primed in grey in photo 1. They are shown in silver in the second photo. The silver has shown more work is needed, especially around the inside of the cowlings. You can see a bad joint on the left side of the bottom engine cowling as an example.
Painting
This is easily the largest thing I have ever painted. It took 3 refills of my largest paint cup to get the first primer coat done. Thank goodness I have a fan spray adapter for my airbrush.
Overall things looked pretty good after the first layer of primer, but primer always shows areas that need more work. Most noticeable was that plastic had a slight pebble and this is visible thru the primer. The wings in particular needed to be sanded to get a smoother surface.
There is a faint seam still visible along the top of the fuselage that can be seen in Photo 2 if you look carefully. The cockpit area looks good. The wing to fuselage joints, shown in photo 3, look pretty good but will benefit from a light sanding. They pebble texture is very noticeable in Photo 3. The filled joint us shiny, and very visible compared to the rougher texture of the wing
The underside of the wing will need some work at the wing to fuselage joints (Photo 4) and at the wing to wing joints (Photo 5).
Probably a good time to explain the various colours now showing up. The first primer was grey. The second primer was black, intended as a base coat for the silver. It was applied mainly on what would be the silver areas. It left a distinct graininess, especially on the wings. The result was discouraging, especially given the heavy pebble already on the plastic. Much sanding was needed to get a smoother surface. The third primer layer was white, to prep for the final white upper fuselage. Photo 6 shows the initial grey primer sanding back after repairs noted above. Photo 7 shows the black primer after a lot of sanding, with everything covered in a fine layer of dust. Photo 8 shows the white primer, which looks pretty good.
After all the sanding on the wings, a test patch of silver was tried to gauge progress. Photo 9 shows the underside of the wing. The graininess is gone, giving a smooth gloss. But the underside joint, shown in Photo 5, still looks awful, and will need more work.
That's it for this week. Stay safe everyone!.
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