Aurora Mark

Joel, your weld line does look much better than the straight molded line, that's for sure! Your approach is one that I'm going to keep for myself as well! Brilliant. Mark

Andrew, Whenever we do just PPF's (Pilot Proficiency Flights), as a 4th crewman checking the back end, we don't have to show up until just before the flight. I can't do that. I always enjoy going out before the flight, and working with the FE's to do checks, get her ready, and then doing the final checks before taking off, yeah. Whenever I walk down that ladder to remove the pin from the bomb-bay and close her up, it's always the same thing going through my mind... "pilot sees me, good, there's the thumbs up, walking up, duck under the air blast, remove the pin, yep, close the cover, one

I may just have to take you up on that offer! Lol. Or seat and stap in my mind, as it seems that I've lost the bloody thing, hahahaha. Hi Emil, I certainly will be giving him a call. As for the stencils, no they are painted on the outside of the aircraft. There are a number of placards inside that are the peel-and-stick type, but on the exterior, everything is painted. Thanks! Mark.

Ken, Thank you kindly. I will certainly be getting in touch with them. There are quite a number of placards inside the aircraft that would be needed as well, and decals for these areas would be absolutely ideal. I'm going to keep this thread updated as things go along, with who was able to help, and for what part, so that if anyone down the road has the same questions, hopefully they'll be able to find the answers here. Cheers, Mark.

Jennings, and I say this with a great deal of respect for someone who is very knowledgeable in this hobby, but you posted a very similar comment the last time I asked about this. I do understand the costs associated with the dry transfers. Quotes are expected to be about $150-$250 for a one-off of dry transfers with over 150 stencils. But if I'm going to be putting the hours into this specific project that I plan on, and going as far as I can to get it as accurate as I can, I'm willing to save my pennies up for these, to make sure they look just right. I am looking for someone who would be a

Emil, Those are some fantastic builds! As Joel said, the Bronco is just out of this world! Thank you for posting those up! I think this is going to be a real fun project now, and the ideas are turning in my head like no tomorrow. I've looked into pressure pots (the pressurized paint containers) and some vacuum options to help with resin casting to avoid the bubbles that sometimes come with pouring. Further to that, I am really starting to like the idea of using polymer clay to make the masters for the molds for pretty much everything except the larger surfaces. Prop spinners and props fo

Ben, I had tried going with a very highly recommended group that do a fantastic job with stencils (dry transfers) for RC aircraft. Unfortunately, some of the "tests" I had sent them came back with negative results. It wasn't their fault at all, but rather, limitations with what they can do. Their software and stencil makers are geared towards much larger scales (with 1/24th being their smallest scale that can do great stencil work). They just came out looking like blurred lines. Following their advice after speaking with them, they suggested finding someone else who would be better suited for

Ken, Thank you. It is going to be approx 150 stencils that I want to have done. The big thing for me is crisp, neat stencils, with a thin carrier film (thin enough to disappear under a coat of future). I know that most will be unable to be read in 1/48, however, I want them to be as close to legible (and the grey colours) as possible. Cost on this one isn't a big concern - quality is what I'm looking for. Cheers, Mark

Gents, I'm hoping to pick your brains about who to look at for custom decals - specifically for stencils in 1/48. I have all the information on the stencils for the CP-140 I'm working on (font/size/locations), and am looking for someone who will be able to print the nearly 150 stencils on very thin carrier film, made in black, white, some in red, and the large majority in one of two very specific FS Grey colours. Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any and all help, Mark.

Well David, I promise to share what I know and do with this build. But, I'd say I'm quite far from a master right now. I'm at the point where one plays with clay and play-doh and am trying my best to make a decent enough representation of the aircraft. I'm a bit nervous - going from never having built a vac-form, to now scratch building one of the biggest models I've ever made. I'm laughing, right now at least. Given the timelines, I'm thinking it would be best to finish up a couple things on the work bench first. The Il-2KR is actually fairly close to being finished, so I'd like to clear th

From start to finish, a truly enjoyable build to follow along to. Thank you. Mark.

This is some absolutely fantastic work you've got going on here! Really something else. This COD is going to look awesome.

Wow! Impressive work there Joel! Can't wait to see more of it.

Thanks Joel. I can't say enough how much fun I have doing what I do. I know full well I wont be flying forever, so every time I get to go up I treat it like the last time - not sad, but quite the opposite. Have as much fun as I can and ensure that if that were my last flight, I'd end it on a high note, know what I mean? Trips like yesterday, oh, wow... I grew up with aviation, and as a little kid, walking into a Hangar and seeing an aircraft for the first time, that feeling of excitement and wonder, and wanting to just run up and touch the aircraft - fast forward to yesterday, and that's exa

Here's a quick bit of work with the starboard profile of the fuselage, and how I plan on doing this. A bit more sectioned than the single piece fuselage. The image hopefully makes sense. Going at it this way will certainly make the overall construction and internal details of this build much, much easier. The biggest change really, from where things were, was splitting the fuselage compartment into three areas - the flight deck, tac-tube, and the galley area/aft of the pressure bulkhead. Otherwise, the construction approach is similar to what it was before with regards to the nose cone, vertic

Oh, Joel, first off, thank you very much for your kind words. I think you give me a bit too much credit. This is slowly turning into a "scrap the pieces and cut my losses" and simply make my own. As it stands right now, to move forward, the nose cheek, radome, and upper flight deck roof need to be redone. The wing roots need to be redone, and the bomb-bay area needs to be cleaned up some. The Area of the vertical stab joint needs to be redone. The horizontal stabs and vertical stabs will be made new. The issue with the chord length is going to need to have the wings redone as well... so, gue

Thanks guys! Mark.

Aimed at my Canadian friends, where can I readily find sheet plastic (plasticard), in various thicknesses, which measure larger than what the Evergreen stands at LHS's provide? Min size would be 14x14, and 24x24 inches would be ideal. I did a few Google searches, but everything is either mailed from outside of Canada, or is about 10x10 size. Cheers, Mark.

It definitely is Joel. The wing fairing is an interesting bit. The entire wing is going to need a substantial section removed from it, so perhaps the best option is going to simply be to scrap the wings, and not try to fit them into place. With the fairing and the wing root, doing to it exactly what I planned on doing with the horizontal stabs might be the only option here. As for the support box, I think I can salvage the fuselage enough to keep the idea of the support box holding up the fuselage just the same, but rather than using the wing roots, it'll need something different. I'm ok

So, quickly - and this isn't intended for precise measurements, but simply a comparison between scale 1/48 P-3/CP-140 from Lockheed prints, to the kit. This will hopefully show the wing root issue a little better. Using the scaled outline drawing of the Top Down view of the CP-140, I first lined up the fuselage half. The forward observer blister was lined up: Then the rear observer/main cabin door points were lined up (the two tick marks just aft of the fairing are the left/right of the main cabin door - the "box" is going to be rear blister: So, not making a mountain out of a mole h

Joel, Thank you my friend. You guys are right, a whole new fuselage doesn't make any sense. But getting the wing fairing and trailing edge is important to do. The fairings themselves on the kit are very exaggerated. The height looks right, but the fairing goes out way too far, and that, with the stretched chord on the wing, is the biggest issue. I'm going to take a few shots here shortly that I'm hovering over right now, and it'll show the conundrum. Again, if it were just a few mm's, no problem. But, not being able to put the ladder in, because they would bump up against the flaps, that'

David, thank you for your comments. No pressure felt though, it is still fun, and there will be a 1/48 CP-140M Aurora, there is no doubt about that. Whether I go with this vac-kit, or make my own, that'll be the question. That is definitely a possibility. One that I am strongly considering. I'll touch more on that later. Tom, there are certainly parts that can be ignored. Absolutely. Where I can though, I try and get it as close to the real thing as possible. If I'm going to make a cut into plastic, why not make it as close to the real thing as I can, right? But this wing issue is mo

Thanks David. I really appreciate it. Right now I'm thinking I have two ways of going at this build: 1. Hack & Slash white plastic like there is no tomorrow: -Cut out the entire center section where the wings mount up, and vac-form a smooth fuselage, so that it is effectively one big tube. From there, make a new wing spar box. Cut off the front section where the fuselage canopy is, making a new one, with the right shape on both sides, again, by vac-forming over a wooden master. The same approach would be used for the vertical stabilizer, horizontal stabs, and wings; or 2. Using the m

Thanks guys. I'm at that point where I'm ready to box this one up, and leave it for good. There are certain frustrations with this build, a few mm's here, a 1/4 inch there... but, well... this one is going to be interesting. I started mapping things out on the fuselage as I mentioned, and got to the main cabin door. Where those two guide pins were (left and right sides of the door), something didn't look right. I measured the distance between it and the port aft observer, they matched up. Measured the distance between the main cabin door and the port over-wing emergency exit, and they ad

It's been a bit long since my last update. There wasn't much that went on specifically with the plastic, but I thought I would share some of the stuff that has been happening in the background. First, it was getting all the measurements taken of various things on paper, and scaled down from 1:1 in inches, to mm, and then to 1:48 scale in mm as well. Here is the sheet for the observation blisters, with no less than 17 measurements per window: Referencing those with the scale drawings for the CP-140, the next step was to get things ready. I couldn't get the scale drawings to fit over top o