Aurora Mark

Folks, I recently came across a company named Letraset that made dry transfer stencils with/for/under the Squadron name. Has anyone used these, and if so, what did you think of them (quality wise, crispness of text, etc). Thanks in advance, Mark.

Fantastic build Colin! Really makes me want to go out and buy this kit! I really, really like your weathering as well! Cheers, Mark.

Absolutely incredible. I've read this now from start to here and now this post. Wow!

Everything I have JS, indicates 50 cals. It also makes sense too, as this was the period when all US aircraft (USAAF/UNS) began an extensive program of uparmouring their equipment. By that I mean, the reality of combat and lessons learned the hard way began to show that 30 cals weren't up to snuff for air-to-air. Turrents, tail stingers and larger calibre weapons became the norm. Cheers, Mark.

Joel, Please excuse me as I'm writing this from my phone, so any type-o's are not intended. My approach was always planned to be the same as my previous builds, and weather it much like a real aircraft. So if something can be removed with a rag and cleaner (like exhaust soot) it would be applied with a brush and powder. The basics (and in no way is this approach reinventing the wheel). The base colours fade in the sunlight, and it becomes VERY evident of any newly painted panel present on the aircraft. Surprisingly evident. I will do my best to pooat photographs in the near future showin

Oh! This is going to be fun!!

Joel, The exterior will be a huge part of this build. When I get closer to that point, I'll post up some safe pictures showing just how much of a modelers gold-mine the exterior of these aircraft are. Anyone who paints them a single tone of grey will be shocked at just how much change there is in shade, gloss, and patch work. The paint seems to darken with age, so you very easily see any new panels, patch work, etc. There's orange/red PVC under the wings in some areas around the fuel tanks, stains, dents, rivets, panels, exhaust stains on the turtle shell panels over the nacelles, streaks g

Joel, Yeah, there's always something for sure! With the build, the biggest question I have to answer, is whether I want to complete the outside of the fuselage first, or the interior. By that I mean specifically with all the panel lines, access panels, and rivets that'll go in. Sure, it'd be easier to build the interior in sections and assemble the whole thing together, but once the fuselage is together, that's it, there's no getting in there. So dust and crud from making panel lines etc could get in there. There is also the constant handling of the fuselage once it's all together to ge

Scooby, We very well may have crossed paths. He certainly was a great guy. For someone who had gone through what he had, he was amazingly humble, and very welcoming. As for your roommate, the name rings a bell. Tell you what, send me a PM, and in the mean time I'll talk to some of the older generation in my trade, and see if we can't get you two connected. Cheers. Joel, thank you kindly! With the house reno's coming along, I'm thinking that in the near future (read: next 6 months or so) work is going to get started on finishing off the attic upstairs. My wife and I plan on building our stud

Thank you my friend. Yes, I've been back for a bit. The last few weeks have been interesting, and quite busy as well. Right now I'm away from home again, hahaha. I will be for a bit of time here, but I'll be finishing off a few things first (the Il-2 for one thing), and then clear the work bench (once it's built) to work on the Aurora. Cheers. Mark.

Hello folks, Just an update to things. The project isn't dead, I simply have not had a chance to get any work done at all. But, as I plan on having the Aurora and a 405 Lancaster side-by-side, size limitations are going to have me build her up as a 1/48 scale model. As much fun as a 1/32 CP-140 and Lancaster would be... no desk would be big enough to hold both of them. Hopefully I can get back to work on these sometime in November. Cheers, Mark.

Thanks! I'll be sending you a quick little PM here. Cheers, Mark.

Hello folks, I'm hoping someone can help me out with this one. I'm looking for accurate scale drawings that can be used to help make a CF-105 Arrow. Preferably a digital format, so that they can be printed out to scale. The hope is to be able to use these to make an accurate outer shell for a scale model of a CF-105. I have searched google, and have found some images that are of limited help, but I've been unable to find exactly what I'm looking for. There are from time to time CD's that are available on eBay as well, that have blueprints, cutaway drawings, and scale 3D drawings of airc

Now that I'm back home, work will progress on this one. My hope is to at least get this one done as a static model, and then when I get home I'll get to the diorama aspect of it. But, the next step will be scratch building the radio for the back, finishing up the lower flaps, and getting everything ready to be painted up. More to come soon - very soon - I hope. Cheers, Mark.

Just a bit of an update. A while ago, the part arrived from Eduard. They were FANTASTIC in helping to get this taken care of. Me being away though, not much has progressed. But I thought it would be appropriate to say that their customer service is absolutely great! More to come soon hopefully. Cheers, Mark.

Back home now. Just a quick update. So, it will be a 1/32 CP-140M, and the bird will be No. 117. However, due to a lot of work going on at home and getting ready to step out the door for a stint coming up here sooner rather than later, this one is on hold until I at least get home. In the mean time there will be a lot of work going on in researching everything I need, and then, yeah, once I'm home, it'll be off to the races with this one. Cheers, Mark.

I came across this article today, and was blown away. At What Point Does The USAF's War Against The A-10 Become Sabotage? I was an Infantier with the 2nd Battalion PPCLI deployed in Afghanistan in from August to February of 2006-2007 and again from February-September a year later. We had A-10 support (as well as Apaches) and I have to say that we loved that aircraft. I was there at BP 101 when November Company (of the RCR's) was hit with the A-10 friendly fire, and truth be told, those of us on the ground hold the FAC responsible, not the A-10 Pilots. Years later, I still hold the A-10 with

Any chance of 405, 404, or MP&EU markings in the near future?

Andrew, I tried to send you a PM, but no joy. Thank you for posting up that video my friend! I took an 8 minute video of us beating up the coast line out here in the Bay of Fundy for my little aviator to see later. He loves the idea of "Dads Plane". The trick as the back-ender is to develop the skill set needed to pour your coffee while looking out the galley window and seeing sky, then looking back through the dinette windows and seeing the water a little about 300 feet away, and not spill a drop of coffee... then do the heavy-footed shuffle back up to the flight deck to sit back and watch

Sooooo... what I gather from your last update is that... how to put this... ...it will look as though they actually work like the real thing! Fantastic work and attention to detail.

YAY!!! This is one pretty interesting build! Cheers, Mark.

Amazing how quickly things can turn around. The last post (No. 16) in this thread has some great news: Custom Decal or Dry Transfer Stencil Questions It will be paint masks for the Roundels, Aircraft Number, "Canada" on the fuselage, Canadian Flag on the vertical stabs, and the tail number. The stencils on the exterior of the aircraft will be dry transfers (also known as rubdowns), and the placards inside will be decals from an ALPS printer. The last bit of the equation comes down to the instrument faces, but that'll be sorted out quite soon I hope. Okay, I'm very happy! Cheers for now,

I would like to start out by thanking David at Canuck Models for his help. I regret that we are unable to find a solution that works with silk screened decals and his quality of work - due to the practicality of cost and minimal orders. That being said, he was absolutely fantastic to talk to, and he was more than happy to share some great advice and insight. David, thank you for taking the time to answer all my questions and numerous e-mails. Perhaps, if we're lucky, we'll someday see a 1/48 Scale CP-140 mainstream kit (as I'm sure we will never see one in 1/32), and the stencil info on the Bl

If I could only show you what we were doing yesterday... lol Seems that the killer of a scratch built aircraft project like this comes down to the markings. Paint masks are a dime a dozen, and easy to get made. No problem. No minimum orders. As for the dry transfers, or silk screened decal options, cripes... but, I'll plug away trying to figure it out. This may be the last post for a few weeks, but I'll be back soon enough. I might be able to squeeze one more in before I head out. Cheers for now, Mark.

I'm going to send you a PM here with regards to this shortly. Thank you again! Mark.