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Aurora Mark

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Posts posted by Aurora Mark

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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 showing how much.

    As a side to this, there are also a very interesting set of circumstances that some of our aircraft have had that leads them to sit with some really odd looking tones to the two tone grey. Anyone who wants to build a Canadian Aurora in the two tones needs to keep in mind that usong just 2 greys and no variance in shades would be doing the same as painting a natural metal finish with only one sheen of aluminum.

    To get the skinned look, one thing I saw on old ship models that worked great was using high-heat metal tape. The same stuff used for heating ducts and furnaces. You apply it on like bare metal foil, and then any rivets can be pressed in with a needle. Any popped rivets were just dots of thick glue onto the plastic, and then the foil rubbed on overtop of this. After that, a coat of paint. I feel that this is going to be a very effective approach to skinning this 48 scale model.

    I'm going to go through the box containing all the CP-140 items, and thin it down to just what I'll be using. For all I know, it might very well be nothing.

    Cheers!

    Mark.

  4. 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 galore... ah, yes, we fly these ladies hard. THAT is something I'm honestly looking forward to.

    But, I'm trying not to put one aspect of the model over another. To me, it's the aircraft in its entirety that is important. From the parts and pieces I work on, and other crew members, to the areas that ground crew work on. I want to show it all, as it is so much a team effort.

    Yeah, this one's going to be fun, that's for sure!

    Cheers,

    Mark.

  5. 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 get it done, and I don't want to risk damaging anything.

    On the other hand, if I work on the exterior first, I can avoid all of that, but the finer details will still need to wait until the end of the fuselage construction. Some of the small planning things... that's all.

    With time, hahaha.

    Cheers,

    Mark.

  6. Hi Mark,

    Great build, I read your post about George Lafleur of Engine and Things. George used to give me his rejects. Perhaps we have crossed paths? He was a great guy, I made sure I made the trip from Cold Lake for his funeral.

    George shared with me many of his Vietnam stories, he flew Chinooks and the Cayuse in Vietnam. He did two tours. I now work with pilots who flew with him at Canadian Helicopters. It's a small world.

    Perhaps you know my roommate from my early days in the CAF? Todd Wallace has done most of his 25 plus years with the Aurora in Comox. I have lost touch with him though.

    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.

    Mark,

    Glad to see that you're almost back at the bench, that is once it's built. Looking forward to following your scratch build form day one.

    Joel

    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 studio up there (she is an amazing artist, and really needs a place of her own) with my own dedicated work space up there as well.

    As for the build, although there aren't any update photographs to post, there has been some work happening with this kit in the last little bit. I've been practicing with using clay, baking it, and making molds for parts and pieces that will be cast out of resin. For things like the main landing gear wheels, and how they'll be multiple pieces, I want to make sure I get this just right. The smaller details, like how most CP-140's (and I can't speak to other P-3's) could have different tread patterns in the mains. Same rims, same size, same everything except for the tread pattern.

    Other plans also include how to proceed with the issue with the wings as mentioned in previous posts that pretty much had me wanting to toss this aside. The fuselage is going to be shaved on the outside. Basically it's going to be one complete tube. The wings on this vac-kit are going to be completely discarded, and I'll be making new ones from scratch. But, as the tube of the fuselage has a lot of correct elements, the inaccuracies can certainly be worked over. Much easier this way (and more sense) than building right from scratch.

    Other things that have also started in the background of all of this fall towards the more technical side of the build. The lighting with this build will be interesting to try and complete. With all the details that are planned to be put into the flight deck, the observer stations and the ordnance bay, along with the tac-tube where the starboard over-wing emergency exit would be opened up, along with the other areas (like the hydraulic service centre), why waste those details because of bad light? On the actual aircraft, there is plenty of lighting to help illuminate the inside for us even on the darkest of nights. My plan is simply to replicate the lighting that would be used, but there are some tricks to work around.

    First off, a white LED setup wont work, as the white light is, well, for lack of a better phrase, too white. Having a soft yellow glow would be easily made with wheat-bulbs, but they produce far too much heat, take up far too much room, and draw far too much power for something like this. So, with a little trial and error planned, I'll be testing out what needs to be used as a filter with a white LED and fibre-optic cable/clear plastic sprues to nicely replicate the lighting. The same would go for the landing lights, taxi-lights, bomb-bay lights, and so on.

    Did I mention I've slightly lost it? No? Just wait till you see!

    The other thing I'm studying myself up on comes from something I had seen for large scale RC cockpit kits of modern fighters, where the glass cockpit screens (like maps, etc) are replicated using coloured film. So, why not see if I can't replicate that on the TACNAV screen by doing something similar, but just in a smaller scale.

    It all boils down to this aircraft, the CP-140M is the only subject I'd ever consider doing a model up to this degree. It's going to be a long term project, there's no doubt about that. And there will also be many smaller projects done throughout this build. But, I fly on her, some of the best times I've had so far came while sitting backwards, banking at 300 feet(ish) in the dead of night many miles away from home somewhere over the Atlantic, playing cat-and-mouse. If that's not motivation enough to build "the one" then I don't know what I would need to motivate me.

    Besides... Sea Kings are ugly. P-8's are boring. And who in the world would want to build a Herc?!

    So, yeah... coming along and getting there.

    All the best folks.

    Cheers,

    Mark.

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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 aircraft like the Hurricane, Mustang, Spitfire, etc. Something like this would be fantastic, however I've never been able to find one of the Avro Arrow.

    Any suggestions, advice or help would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks!

    Mark.

  10. 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.

  11. 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.

  12. 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.

  13. 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 incredibly high regard and their Pilots with an incredible amount of respect for what they do.

    That is why articles like this strike me, and leave me wondering "Why?" Why get rid of such a fantastic platform? Am I missing something here?

    Mark.

  14. 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 the show some more.

    If you're ever up around the Greenwood area, you had best send me a message. There's a whole hangar that awaits you getting a tour. I got a feeling the moment I would introduce you to our FE's, the tour would be over and it'd be off to the mess for some drinks.

    It's about time for me to rack out. Cheers!

    Mark.

  15. 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,

    Mark.

  16. 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 Block III's can come to help.

    There has however been a great bit of news, in that I have found a great company out across the pond that can not only create these stencils as dry transfers (or rubdown decals), but also at a fantastic price as well. All said, the entire order of stencils in 5 colours came to an estimate of about £105.00. It may seem a bit much, but taking into account that there are a lot of stencils (112 white stencils on the propellers and spinners alone!), with about another 100 or so stencils after that... ...yeah, you Phantom guys have nothing on the Aurora when it comes to stencils... ...I was really blown away by this. Nigel at Flight Line Graphics is stepping out of his norm with this one, but the images of his work (with stencils being completely legible at 0.6 mm tall), and his willingness to work with me to match the colours up just right, and for a 1-off sheet, really surprised me and made my day.

    That takes care of the exterior decals. For the interior decals (like emergency placards and other placards), I will be looking for someones help with an ALPS printer. There are quite a few groups, companies, and individuals out there who do some pretty fantastic work with the ALPS printing that lends itself perfectly to how I hope to employ the decals inside the aircraft, given that the large, LARGE majority of those are the peel-and-stick type of placards and stencils.

    The instrument faces are going to be fun as well. I`ve approached Peter at Airscale with help for the gauges. Although he is unable to do custom single sheet orders, he was more than generous in offering to help with matching any decals he already produces with the gauges. This may very well help to take care quite a few. It's an approach for now at least.

    So, yes, that's pretty much where it stands for now. Thanks guys for all the help thus far with this. I really appreciate it.

    Nfiler, I'm going to send you an e-mail later on - it may not be sent until mid-Feb, but I would like to get in touch with you about what you offer. I think there may be some great potential for the gauges, as well as a few other areas as well.

    Cheers,

    Mark.

  17. 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.

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