Aurora Mark

Scooby, I just called them up, and unfortunately, they haven't had a set for quite some time he said. Shoot. Well, I'll keep looking. Regardless, I appreciate your help. Cheers, Mark.

Thank you Tony, I'm going to try and seek out those titles. Any idea what the name of this aircraft would have been? Mark

Time to find a 1/48 Mk 4, and start planning out this fun! Any other available references for the 103 that someone could recommend? Lastly, what about the name? Canuck to the Arrow, but what about the -103? Can't exactly call her the Swept Clunk can I?

As one last quick post tonight before I call it a night, the weight of the fuselage will be supported at the wing roots molded into the fuselage halves, with the 2.0 mm plastic. Although the spar box is sitting on the fuselage floor, once the spar is firmly mounted, it might be a slight bit raised, or touching, but it is in no way intended as any kind of load bearing setup. The kit plastic here is paper thin, and would end up splitting, cracking, or bending. I'm honestly thinking of laying down some thick plasticard on each side of the join just to strengthen the belly a little more. Again,

How much room did I have? Well, here is the box centered and level inside the fuselage: It sits just as I hoped it would, with very little room to play with along the top of the cut outs. So, a little less room that I had initially planned for, but, it worked out better than I expected in the end: So, the spar fits, no worries now. All that is left to do at this stage, is to use the blue template pieces from a few posts back, cut out some 2.0 mm plasticard, cut out the slots for the spar exactly where it will be slid through, glue those in place, and then work can confidently continue

My first words were "you have to be #&@*%&^ kidding me!" At first I thought maybe the wings were heavy and the tape didn't hold them tight in place. So, I took a thin strip of balsa, placed it onto the table I made, and using the spar as a counter balance, I had the aircraft balanced on the bottom of the No. 2 and 3 nacelles... nope, not the plastic or the weight; the kit comes with its own negative dihedral: This is where I started to see how bad the wings actually were. I've pulled back the tape - the top of the wing is about 5 mm lower in its profile (shallower) than the wing r

So, this post has both good news, great news, and some bad news with progress. To get started off, the wing halves were sanded off the backing sheet, and the parts were ready to be mocked up. I want to apologize for the first group of photos. The usual lamp that I have for lighting when I take photos was left on the floor, as this mock up needed some space, and I didn't want to have a round of "Aurora Vs. Desk Lamp" happening. Here are the parts I started with: The wings were taped up along with the fuselage: And here is where the bad news starts - the wings are an absolute disappo

Thank you! I'll be giving them a phone call tomorrow. Cheers Scooby! Mark.

PART 2!! PART 2!! Stunning work. Thank you for the great how-to on your weathered finish. Wow, just all around, wow! Mark.

Don't think for a second I didn't read that a few times over, start to finish, with my notebook out. I kid you not, you're the one that caused me to make the foolish decision and jump over the cliff into the Vac Form building. I'll say thank you right now for that, without an ounce of sarcasm... ...we'll see how I feel about what you've done to me in a few months, hahahaha. The Halifax you made is one incredible build. Cheers, Mark.

I'm thinking that moving towards a Mk 4/5 fuselage, with a bit of a more conical nose shape, and the swept wings would look, well, like a production CF-103, and yet, as I say that, I can picture how bad this aircraft would look. Perhaps a bit more of a swept angle on the intakes to match the rake of the wing a little more... For some reason, the -103 always interested me. The same groups that said the Clunk wouldn't break the sound barrier, also said that a thinner and swept wing variant wouldn't break the sound barrier either. This ugly duckling may have had a lot of potential to it, especi

Emvar, Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Mark.

Joel, I've been called many things, but never a Tommy... ...actually, wait, no, there was that one pub up in Lossiemouth... ...right next to the golf course on the approach, overlooking the water. Neat little place with a bunch of photo's of aircraft on the wall. I was hurt that a French aircraft was up there, but none of the Aurora. As the story from that night goes, she thought I was Tommy, Tommy thought he was a Yankee, and that bloody Victor in the corner swore his name was Oscar. Thank you Joel. I'm laughing, because the glue on the plywood is drying as we speak, lol. Cheers, Mark.

Joel, Tommy and I don't interact - we conspire and plan. Lol. Actually, truth be told Joel, I would love to hear the answer to your question as well, as I'm just in the stages of planning that out. Cheers, and happy conspiring and planning, Mark.

Gents, thank you both. Here's another one I'm going to fire your way then. With the CF-103 being based on the Mk 2/3 (as that was the fuselage available at the time), and I do agree with you completely with the production likely to have had the Mk 4/5 canopy, would it be safe to say that she would very likely have had the modified aerodynamic nose, Mk 4/5 fuselage and planned Orenda 17 engines, and livery seen on the Clunks during '53-55? Cheers, Mark.

I'm going to try this one last time. I am really hoping to find this set. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Mark.

Folks, I'm looking for any and all information on the colours used with the CF-103 Concept Aircraft that was mocked up by Avro Canada. A good summary of some of the information is here, along with the black and white photograph: Wiki Article on CF-103 What I would like to do is to take the 1/48 Hobby Craft CF-100 IV, and back-date that sucker and build either the mocked up CF-103, or go a bit further and make a model of what the prototype may have looked like. For the RCAF fans out there, I would love to have the "Avro Line" done, featuring the CF-100 Prototype, CF-100 IV, V, CF-1

Joel, I'm really happy that they help. Again, it's not THE way to do it, but just simply one way of going at it. It helps as well to have fun with these posts, as it takes away from the monotony and boredom of continually working with white plastic, on white plastic, to get the white plastic ready for the internal scratch building - something I truly am looking forward to. Such a huge part of me wants to simply start building the guts of this model... ...but, the more I can get done right now getting the fuselage ready, the less of a chance that there will be difficulties later on. My appr

Joel, best of luck with the painting, but I doubt you'll need it. If your paint work is anything like the rest of your work, she'll come out looking like a brilliant bit of work! Can't wait to see the progress.

SLOWLY?! Your build is coming along at almost lightning speed, considering all the work you're doing! The build continues to have me amazed at the work that you do, and how you go about doing it. This is a superb guide for what I'm doing. I can't wait to see more of it! Cheers, Mark.

I really like this method because of the locking teeth. I would suggest shorter lengths for smaller kits, for sure, and they don't need to be along the entire length of the fuselage. The down side to this method, is that it does not lend itself well to sharp turns/curves, like the leading or trailing edge of a wing for example. There are certainly times when straight perfect cuts aren't needed, like the locking tabs for example. An approximate width (as you can see from the shot looking inside the fuselage) is definitely close enough. But for areas where very straight cuts are needed on th

Whitey, you're COD looks fantastic. I've never really seen a COD being built up, but from all the reference pictures out there, I think you're certainly setting the bar high up! Cheers, Mark. ps. You should order that 1/48 Vac of the P-3 now... by the time you're wrapping up the COD, your straight-jacket P-3 will be ready for you!

Agreed! Both with the salt weathering and the touch-up technique, but for the touch ups, I would make them a little more pronounced. Still a feathered edge, but just a little sharper and narrower. Your build so far is excellent! Welcome back to the hobby. This site also motivated me to come back recently as well. Pretty great place, eh? Cheers, Mark.

PM Sent with regards to the Banjo. Cheers, Mark.

Ooooooohhhhhhh..... very nice! Very nice indeed. You certainly picked a good one as your only 2014!