1/48 CP-140M Aurora -

[jenshb]

Quote a task you've taken on, but you seem to have the skills and motivation to see it through. I have used Maketar to get custom masks cut #(from my own dxf files) on a couple of occasions, and I have had no problem with them. Alek provides a quick turnaround once payment (via PayPal) is cleared - recommended without hesitation.

Jens

[Aurora Mark]

Jens,

First off, thank you kindly. This is my first vacuform, and first kit of this grand size. The span of a single wing half is almost as long as the wingspan of the Shturmovik I'm working on, so it certainly is bringing with it some challenges. But that's the fun, right?

Maketar definitely caught my eye, and knowing that they would be willing to do custom work certainly offers up an even greater plan B should my buddies be unable to make the cuts. And, being able to get specific numbers, rather than buying 300 and only using 12, well, that also seems like a very appealing option!

More planning going on tonight with this build. Having both fuselage halves together, as much as I tried to sand them flat on a mirror, there are definitely some gaps that will need work. But, it's nothing major. I'm very happy that the shapes and lengths of the fuselage at least line up very nicely, so that's certainly a bonus.

There are some down sides though that will need work, so here is a quick overview of the fuselage shapes - the good, the bad, and then the approach I'm planning... which I'm really looking for your guys input on:

Here is an overall shot of the fuselage halves together underneath... first off, looking at all those cm lines, she's big... but overall, the shape isn't too bad. Really, for her size, I'm pretty happy with quite a bit of the fuselage itself.

Looking under the nose, the two ram air intakes, although will need to be completely replaced, their placement is not only in line, but also spot on with their location based on the diagrams I have. So, right on! Not much to worry about here. But you do see the gap underneath. Pinching these closed causes the top of the flight deck area to open up, so the simple route will be to fill with some plasticard when I get there.

Please excuse the blur. The focus of this image - pun intended - was first the alignment of the wing joints - pretty darn symmetrical. Although I wasn't able to measure out to see the length, they do both look fairly accurate. The shape of the front windscreen however is off and lopsided. Unfortunately, the more complex portion of the fuselage shape will need some pretty good reworking...

The bulge here is the location of the bomb bay, and it's nicely lined up. It is a bit rough, but with a little filler, sanding, and careful shaping, there wont be any issues here that I can see.

The attachment points for the horizontal stabs are right out of 'er. This was a bit of a surprise - with the wings being as symmetrical as they are, it was a surprise to see something like this so far off. I've cropped an image of an Aurora poster I have here at home (which also shows Casey), just to show how sharp the joint actually is:

So, the plan is straight forward I hope with the shape issues here - but I would like to get your guys feedback on these ideas.

Windscreen Shape:

I'm thinking that the best way to approach this is to simply cut the whole thing out, and then measuring the windscreen frames and angles on the real thing, construct a frame and then sand the fuselage around it smooth to match the profile and shape of the real deal. This frame would then be used to "sandwich" the clear plastic windscreen pieces with the inner frame pieces once it was time to install the windscreen pieces.

Horizontal Stabs:

As it it would be much easier to construct the horizontal stabs as a single piece, with the elevators as a second piece, I'm thinking that I'll simply cut off the parts pictured on the fuselage half, sand the fuselage nice and smooth with the round contour it would have, and then construct the horizontal stabs and glue them in place. As the stabs would match the dimensions on the diagram, and then being able to mount them in with the proper dihedral, and simply use filler and sand paper to add the rounded fairing shape where they match up with the fuselage.

That's about it for tonight. Thanks for looking, and looking forward to hearing back with your advice and suggestions. Cheers.

Edited December 12, 2014 by Aurora Mark

[Aurora Mark]

Well,

All the information for the stencils, reference photographs, and charts were sent off this evening to the company I'm hoping can do the stencil work. Should be about 1-3 weeks they said before they come back with a quote, so I'm crossing my fingers. No doubt that a quote will come back... it's the pricetag attached to that quote that I'm worried about. With a lot of the background research well underway, and once some of the short comings of the fuselage halves are taken care of, then the nitty-gritty of the build will actually be able to get started!

Further to that, there's going to be a significant delay come spring when I take one of these with a few of my best friends to go and play for a while. So I'm thinking that my question of which fuselage number I will be using will certainly be answered by the time I return. Until that point, the build will continue... ...focusing on the fuselage has made things a bit boring with this build, and I can't wait to actually start building some of the interior and getting some of the details underway. As boring as it's been up to this point to work on this aircraft model, there really hasn't been much exciting stuff to read from your end, but thank you very much for following along.

Cheers.

[Aurora Mark]

As well, here's a great little article written about the CP-140 out here. Don't know the guy, but certainly would like to meet him and thank him for writing such a nice piece:

http://www.aeroresource.co.uk/articles/2014/cp-140-aurora-modernization/

Cheers.

[Aurora Mark]

...research... holy frig. Ii don't know how you big sized vac model builders do it...

[82Whitey51]

Looks like you're doing a great job planning this all out.

Going back to the fuselage cut (to make up for a 1/4"). Why not make up for it at the aft radome? Make the cut there and insert the plug, no structural integrity issues back there and there is a natural seam line there as well.

Keep plugging away! The plastic gods will be appeased and Revell will give the rest of us an injection molded 1/48 P-3/CP-140.

[Aurora Mark]

This update comes with a bit of sadness. I had ordered the E&T T-56, and Linda LaFluer was very kind to put it together and fire it out my way. In this transaction, I had learned that George had passed away, which had caught me by surprise. I remember meeting him as a young kid, and being amazed! Keep in mind, this was when his 1/48 R-2800's were a pretty darn good option, and I had used them in a few aircraft I had built. To meet someone like George, as a young kid who looked up to anyone involved in model making, was, well... ...pretty darn cool!

Thankfully Linda still keeps things going, and today the package arrived. I have to say, yes, not the same quality of what you can get with other companies these days, but this little sucker sure has a lot of potential to it. More than anything, it was a lot of fun opening it up, and looking over everything, and all the details. It sure did bring back a lot of memories of doing the same thing many years ago.

Inside you have a quick write up on safely working with resin, along with a good reference photo, a photo of the assembled engine, and a line drawing diagram showing key bits of the T-56:

Here is a bit of a closeup of the reference print:

Here are the 4 resin pieces you get. They'll need a bit of work to get dressed up, but, you know what? I'm really going to be looking forward to it:

So, time to start digging into some reference material for this as well. However, things are progressing. I hope to have some pretty good work started by this time next week. Thanks for looking.

Mark.

[Aurora Mark]

Looks like you're doing a great job planning this all out.

Going back to the fuselage cut (to make up for a 1/4"). Why not make up for it at the aft radome? Make the cut there and insert the plug, no structural integrity issues back there and there is a natural seam line there as well.

Keep plugging away! The plastic gods will be appeased and Revell will give the rest of us an injection molded 1/48 P-3/CP-140.

Thank you good Sir! As for the 1/4" cut, and where it will be going in, I want to put it where I mentioned as that is a nice, straight forward tube that will be extended - the aft portion around the tail has a nice profile that is pretty darn spot on.

As for Revell, NUTS to them, hahaha. I think I voted for their P-3 idea enough times to make my fingers bleed from clicking the mouse - and yet, as we all know - nothing is being done. Here's the voting link for anyone who wants vote as well:

Our Pipe Dream

My hope is that if they do come out with a 1/48 P-3, that at least by that point, folks can come back here and refer to this thread to hopefully help in any way. But, if they do come out with a scale kit in 1/48 of this aircraft, before I finish this one, I can assure you, I will quickly box this one up and pretend like the Vac never happened... Hahahaha... yeah... right.

In another bit of great news, the research side is coming one step closer to the point where I can start getting at it. Lockheed was kind enough to fire the scale schematics of the main and nose landing gear! Although the fuselage may not be started yet, I do need to know exactly how and where I'll be mounting this gals lovely legs, so that the internal framing and mount points will be well placed to support the weight. She is going to be a HEAVY tail sitter right now, so, the stronger I can get the legs and spar framing, the better!

I promise there's going to be less talking, and more photo's soon! As always, thanks for looking.

Mark.

[82Whitey51]

As for Revell, NUTS to them, hahaha. I think I voted for their P-3 idea enough times to make my fingers bleed from clicking the mouse - and yet, as we all know - nothing is being done. Here's the voting link for anyone who wants vote as well:

Our Pipe Dream

Oh hey, look who put the P-3 up as a suggestion to Revell!! haaaa

I heard from a guy, on one of these forums, who is an associate of the Kinetic heads. After the 1/48 E-2C and C-2A, they proposed a 1/48 P-3...but opted to do the 1/32 Hawk T1 instead. :(/>

It'll happen someday! In the mean time keep doing what you're doing. I think yours is going to look fantastic when complete. Good call on where to make the cut, being that it is a more simple shape to deal with.

[Aurora Mark]

I wonder if it is a potential bust, to make one that large... There are a few kits that you always see sitting on the top shelves with more dust on them than any other. Kits like the 1/48 Catalina, B-29, Liberator (and to a lesser extent, the Flying Fort), and the Lancaster (which in my honest opinion is a combination of size & cost), once in stock at a LHS, tend to be slow movers.

Would an initial batch sell? Heck ya! But who will take the risk? This is my build thread, so I can hijack it if I want, and I will for a few minutes here... ...there are risks to a mainstream injection molding of the P-3 (similar to any other project, but made larger by, well... size).

1. Size of the kit - the. Sheer size! The kit would be, by comparison, a few inches shorter in fuselage length than the B-29's wingspan, and sit with her tail about 10 inches off the table. That is a lot of plastic! Mess this one up and thats a large amount of plastic sitting on a shelf.

2. Messing it up - we have a number of countries flying this old Lady. A large fan base for her. So, if you botch the development and design, there will be another reason not to purchase the large bird.

3. Bang for your buck, detail wise - two ways to go at it - pack her full of detail, or leave her empty like the 1/72 version. On one hand, you go the route of B-17/24/29 and pack them with everything (even bunk beds in the -29) and have the extra cost when little will be seen... ...or you leave it sparse and concentrate on flight deck and the exterior, with a bit back in the aft for ordnance? The Ju 52 "pop-top" apprach works with a square fuselage, but a round one that size?

Pack it full of goods and we will have the same problem with some Trumpeter kits - unseen details elevating the cost. Leave it too sparse, and it's going to require a lot of scratch building.

A happy medium would perhaps be to have the skeleton of the kit (flight deck/fuselage/wings) be a standard set of trees, and offer seperate trees for different versions. For example, have the standard USN setup to cover USN, German, and other P-3's with that layout inside, different boxing for the AP-3C, and the CP-140A, as another boxing.

It is a univeral aircraft for both military and civilian as well - the Electra is another option. So much can be done, but the dollar value to a company, when looking at returns may simply not be there.

Don't get me wrong, as I as well would love to see a 1/48 mainstream kit of this aircraft, and hope there will be one. Can we expect to see one available in the next 2-3 years? Not that soon I think, but eventually, we will. Heck, there are 1/32 B-17's available!

For the near future at least, we are pretty limited in what we can do. So, the vac build goes on. Planning things out I can see that this will not be a cheap build, or an easy one. I can only imagine what a model manufacturer would be facing to creat an injection kit of this size.

What do you all think?

Edited December 24, 2014 by Aurora Mark

[yvesff]

Too big for me, at some point, when they start to be the size of RC kits, they loose their appeal for me...

[82Whitey51]

Yeah, agree, all valid points for sure. I don't think size is a major issue to a manufacturer, like you said, the 1/32 B-17s and soon Lancaster, 1/24 Typhoon and Mosquito. The Testors 1/48 C-130 has been a pretty good seller over the years for a lot of the same reasons I think a P-3 would sell...variety of users (marking options :)/> ), variety of different types.

As for the interior. Doing the different configurations would drive up production costs. I'd go with a flight station and a full floor back to the aft bulkhead. If a builder wants to detail it out then the basic structure is there (I did a scratch built interior of the aft section on a Hasegawa kit from the sono rack on back to the galley on one I built). Provide a full bomb bay as well...maybe an open engine nacelle option too.

Who knows, if I came across a vac form P-3 I'd probably pick it up and start into it.

Edited December 25, 2014 by 82Whitey51

[Joel_W]

As I get older, I tend to buy and build only 1/48 scale kits that only a few years ago would have been a 1/72 build do to space considerations. I've got a 1/48 scale PBY-5A just about ready to go. Just waiting for the Belcher resin AM tail conversion. I already allocated display space if I can figure out how to actually do it. I'm going to make a wall plaque with a map of some section of the pacific, and have the Cat either flying over it by a few inches or attached to it with gear and pontoons in the down configuration. An acrylic cover will be custom made by a glazer. A few more wall mounted larger kits will be displayed that way over the coming years. The idea solves a lot of problems, but like I said, the execution is another issue.

Joel

[Aurora Mark]

Too big for me, at some point, when they start to be the size of RC kits, they loose their appeal for me...

I can appreciate what you mean. For me, I don't mind this build being this size, only because, well... I work on this aircraft. If I'm going to give up the shelf space for one aircraft, it'll be this one. But, the smaller builds are a lot of fun!

Yeah, agree, all valid points for sure. I don't think size is a major issue to a manufacturer, like you said, the 1/32 B-17s and soon Lancaster, 1/24 Typhoon and Mosquito. The Testors 1/48 C-130 has been a pretty good seller over the years for a lot of the same reasons I think a P-3 would sell...variety of users (marking options :)/>/>/> ), variety of different types.

As for the interior. Doing the different configurations would drive up production costs. I'd go with a flight station and a full floor back to the aft bulkhead. If a builder wants to detail it out then the basic structure is there (I did a scratch built interior of the aft section on a Hasegawa kit from the sono rack on back to the galley on one I built). Provide a full bomb bay as well...maybe an open engine nacelle option too.

Who knows, if I came across a vac form P-3 I'd probably pick it up and start into it.

Yeah, the 1/48 Herc being available, but not the P-3 is a bit of a surprise. Especially after all this time.

You are right, different configs would be more expensive, and your suggested setup does make a world of sense. Hopefully someone else *cough-cough* Revell *cough* is listening...

If you come across a vac form P-3, I say give 'er!

As I get older, I tend to buy and build only 1/48 scale kits that only a few years ago would have been a 1/72 build do to space considerations. I've got a 1/48 scale PBY-5A just about ready to go. Just waiting for the Belcher resin AM tail conversion. I already allocated display space if I can figure out how to actually do it. I'm going to make a wall plaque with a map of some section of the pacific, and have the Cat either flying over it by a few inches or attached to it with gear and pontoons in the down configuration. An acrylic cover will be custom made by a glazer. A few more wall mounted larger kits will be displayed that way over the coming years. The idea solves a lot of problems, but like I said, the execution is another issue.

Joel

Joel, that sounds like a fantastic setup you're planning on making! Looking forward to seeing it.

WORK! HA! I'm excited! I actually cut plastic today!

To get started, this kit needed a bit of a small tool to be made. In order to ensure that the tube fuselage shape is maintained, and that everything remains square, I needed to cut the circular profiles. The first one was made using a compass with a piece of pencil and a point. Cutting it out by scissors caused some shape inaccuracies, so I used a second compass, with a small knife point. I used the one from the X-Acto pen knife set:

From there, the height of the fuselage was measured:

The height was divided by 2, and then on a caliper it was measured out, and the width of the tool was set:

Now, it was just a matter of spinning a piece of plastic around a few times:

And done! Round piece ready!

The profile was then measured up and the floor level that was determined before was marked off, double checked, and compared to the plans, and I was very happy with where the floor was to be marked off:

All the key bulkhead areas were marked off (the small blue dots):

And using a drafting ruler, the floor was marked off. Here are both sides completed:

The spar box was roughly drawn out, so that I could prepare the structure of the fuselage/wingspar joint:

So, now that both floor levels are marked off, work can progress.

[Aurora Mark]

As I mentioned before, the horizontal stabs were a bit of a bone of contention for me. Time to take care of that!

The inside of the stabilizer location was sized up:

A piece of 1.0 mm plasticard was cut out to overlap the tail section:

Then using medium superglue, the pieces were stuck in and glued matching the inner contour of the fuselage:

The stab-nubs were cut off with a rough cut from the outside:

The outside was then sanded down with a 220 grit sanding block:

Plasticard "plugs" were made to fill in the gap, and glued in with medium glue:

It was then sanded down with the 220 grit again, and some more superglue was added as a gap filler to smooth things over:

And sanded down with 220 grit, and finished off with 600 grit wet sandpaper:

So, now with those done, and once completely cured, they will hopefully be strong enough to support the horizontal stabilizer spars that will be going through those plugs. It is the easiest way to also ensure that the right dihedral is maintained.

That is it for now. Thanks for looking.

Mark.

[Trojan Thunder]

Love what you are doing with this one Mark. I have a stash full of 1/72 P-3s to build and a CP-140 is on the list. 1/72 is big enough for me though.

SO will you be making the wings removable so you can transport/store it?

[Joel_W]

Mark,

Interesting modification to the Horizontal Stabilizers. But how do you know that they are square and plumb to both axes?

Joel

[Aurora Mark]

Love what you are doing with this one Mark. :thumbsup:/>/>/> I have a stash full of 1/72 P-3s to build and a CP-140 is on the list. 1/72 is big enough for me though.

SO will you be making the wings removable so you can transport/store it?

Thank you TT. I appreciate your comments. The 1/72 kits are all-in-all, pretty darn good, in the typical Hasegawa workmanship. That is, straight from the box, they really do build up nice. Some have complained about the raised panel lines, but truth be told, most of the lines they have are indeed raised, with only a few being recessed (around the engine). The work on the ladder alone is pretty well done, giving great attention to this awkward piece. Even as a 1/72, you're right, it is fairly large, building up to be roughly the same size as a 1/48 B-25.

As for the removable wings, no. They'll be build solid onto the aircraft fuselage. One reason for this is the planned running of electrical wiring that will be going through the landing gear in order to power the lights in the fuselage and the nav/anti-collision lights. I doubt I will be transporting it that much, but having built a few larger kits in the past, I've found a few good ways to safely transport these size models safely. Aside from maybe a trip up to Halifax, she'll be pretty much sitting put where I plant her once complete.

Mark,

Interesting modification to the Horizontal Stabilizers. But how do you know that they are square and plumb to both axes?

Joel

Thanks Joel. The mod wasn't really for mounting purposes, but rather, to remove the stubs that were formed on the fuselage halves. They were both inaccurate (by a large amount) and were also asymmetrical between the fuselage halves. So, by removing them, and having the fuselage halves completely flush, this gives me a clean slate to work with. I plan on building the horizontal stabs as two pieces (stab and elevator) rather than the single piece that the kit had. The actual stab itself will be mounted into the fuselage by using brass rods in a male/female type of connection, much like the wings.

Tubes will first be made to mount into the fuselage, and set inside at the correct dihedral angle. Inside the horizontal stabilizers, a brass rod will be mounted to act as both a spar (for strength), and also as the main mounting point for each tail feather. Once it is on, the fairing around the horizontal stab will be made using plasticard and superglue, to match the profile of the actual tail (which had a much smaller and more blunt fairing than the vac-formed kit had).

So, this mod again was to simply plug the hole left by removing the old stubs. The actual alignment and dihedral will be determined using the Lockheed P-3 fuselage plans. The very same approach will also be used for the vertical stabilizer and rudder. The wings on the other hand, will be a full spar box (main and secondary spar).

The primary (forward) spar will also be what the main landing gear legs will mount to, or rather, have the weight of the fuselage rest upon, where the secondary spar will keep the wing from twisting, and bending. All will be made using a combination of hexagonal brass tube/rod, soldering, brass plate, and plasticard.

More to come on that shortly I hope!

Thanks for looking, and I appreciate the comments, questions and feedback.

Mark.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Aurora Mark

[falcon20driver]

Mark, your a true craftsman. I'm continually impressed with your attention to detail and problem solving abilities. Keep up the great work.

[Barneydhc82]

Mark: Many years ago I built the 1:48 scale Herc with electrical set up. It is on my website and possibly might give you some ideas. Keep in mind that this was first attempt at doing the electrical design and construction.

Barney http://www.barneysairforce.com

[Joel_W]

Mark,

Thanks for your in depth reply to my question. You can see that I'm not very familiar with vacuforms.

Joel

[Aurora Mark]

Mark, your a true craftsman. I'm continually impressed with your attention to detail and problem solving abilities. Keep up the great work.

Thank you so very much for your compliments. They are greatly appreciated.

Mark: Many years ago I built the 1:48 scale Herc with electrical set up. It is on my website and possibly might give you some ideas. Keep in mind that this was first attempt at doing the electrical design and construction.

Barney http://www.barneysairforce.com

Barney,

Your builds have certainly captured my attention some time ago! A fantastic collection of some incredible RCAF/RCN subjects. As for the C-130, this gem really did come out looking spectacular! I really like how your build incorporated the electrical within the frame structure. I'll shortly do a quick write up on the electrical/light plan that I've got in mind for this build.

Mark,

Thanks for your in depth reply to my question. You can see that I'm not very familiar with vacuforms.

Joel

Joel, no worries my friend. I'm about as familiar with them as you are! Many hours have been spent reading articles, websites, and forums to answer a lot of questions I have as to how to tackle this one. I am far from any sort of expert, but rather enjoy sharing the answers here that I've found to many little riddles. What I have learned through reading these articles, is that there is most certainly a wrong way at going at things, while there are countless right ways of going at the same issue.

The structural framing for example, is one that has a general way of going at it, with many different methods to achieve the same result. The spar in the wings is important. Just as some larger kits with long wingspans. Where for example, you take a Catalina/Canso in 1/48 - the 3 sections of wing are solid enough due to the thickness of the molded plastic, the size and shape of the wing (I.e., long thick chord for instance), and that the 3 sections work well to sit on top of the pylon above the FE and makes for a solid bracing. Looking at a 1/48 B-29 for example, with relatively long and thin wings, and you certainly need to have the boxed spar setup to keep the wings from drooping.

A 1/48 P-3 wing setup is unique and very builder friendly, with two features that lend themselves nicely. First off, the wings are short (in relation to the rest of the aircraft). The thickness of the vac-form plastic, and the short span of each wing leaves me with little concern about the wings "drooping" at the tips. They simply aren't long enough to do that. If the chord was shorter, or the wings were thinner, I would be concerned. So the spars don't need to support the wings, just the weight of the model.

The second helpful piece was already hinted at - the long and thick profile of the wing cross section, specifically between the fuselage and the No. 2 and 3 engines. Building a spar setup here going to be easier due to the relative thickness of the wing, and being able to have two spars fairly far apart (nearly 2.5 inches apart). One spar needs to sit over the main gear (so that the weight goes directly over top of the gear legs) while the other is there to distribute the weight, and prevent the wing from twisting. Although the Main Landing Gear legs themselves do not sit directly under a spar, a simple soldered brass plate between the spars will allow the weight to be distributed between both spars, centering almost directly above her main legs.

The downside is the dihedral. Instead of being able to have a single solid piece of rod (acting as a spar) run through the fuselage, the dihedral needed will require two spar pieces joined at the center of the fuselage, creating a potential weak point. There again are many ways of eliminating this, and my hope is that by using brass, rather than plastic, it is going to be a one time solution, and that is it. Here is a quick diagram of the cross section at the MLG. The red boxes represent my intended spar layout (rather than having a 3-piece spar which is far more complicated and difficult to obtain a symmetrical dihedral) and the lighter angled piece over tip will be a brass support brace soldered over of the spars to ensure they don't bend at the weak point:

Inside the No. 2 & 3 nacelles, the forward and rear spars will be connected with a brass plate, as I mentioned, which the landing gear legs will mount to. This should all be more than strong enough to support the weight for the life of the model.

This is just the first of many sketches, and I'm sure there will be refinements, however, I hope it gives the basic idea. The trick is also to be able to build the spars up in such a way that they can be incorporated into the design of the main hydraulic service center, which will be opened up from above (the cabin floor), and below (the bottom of the fuselage) where you'll be able to see quite a bit of the "guts" in that area. I hope to avoid showing a big brass box spar here.

As for the electrics, I'm going to have a lot of fun here. Not only to have the overhead lighting inside the fuselage, but as well as anywhere else that lights would be turned on. This means that the flight deck, visible parts of the cabin, galley, bomb bay, nose gear well, hydraulic service center will all have light (to be able to better see the details), while I think I'll also try to have the TACNAV and Acoustic screens "on" with the typical displays, simply for the fun of it. With the exterior, I'm not sure if I can get the taxi lights on the nose gear to work, but the landing lights, nav and anti collision lights will be working as well (I hope). There is PLENTY of room in the fuselage for all the wiring and lighting to sit appropriately, but the power source will need to come from outside the aircraft, so the wiring will run up through the gear legs. Why not, right?

I'm going to avoid using wheat-bulbs simply because of the heat they put off, and will be going with LED's and some fiber-optic cable to help with the finer lights. And it is at this point where reading this, I think I have actually lost my mind.

Anyway, as always, thank you for reading, and following along. More to come soon!

Mark.

[Joel_W]

Mark,

Thanks again for your response. I actually understood it!! I did find the mention of the Revell 1/48 scale PBY-5A more then interesting, since it's my next scheduled build after the F-15C. The model is on the ready shelf now. Up until a few days ago, I hadn't considered the need for any internal bracing for the massive top wing, since it's a rather robust 3 piece unit, but I did find reference to wing sagging after a period of time, and a central spar seems to be the answer to that. So I'm going to go that route. Certainly a one piece square piece of tubing is a lot easier the then the two pieces you'll need to maintain the correct angle.

As for the electronics, I know how to turn on a light, and change a bulb. That's about it. So I'll be following along with more then a casual interest.

Joel

[Aurora Mark]

Joel, thanks as always for your response. I think you're absolutely right about the single spar for the PBY-5 Wing. Boy am I looking forward to seeing your build. The Catalina is my fathers favorite aircraft, and has been as long as I can remember. It'll be fun to see one being built up!

She's stretched! Finally went at putting in the 1/4 in stretch in the rear fuselage. The first step was to make a "form" so that I could draw out a completely flush and vertical cut line:

The cut line was practiced a few times on the tape to make sure it was right, and then drawn onto the fuselage at the decided location:

From there, the saw came out, and the fuselage was cut in two:

I then went and cut three pieces of plasticard. Two 1/4 inch strips, and a 3/4 inch strip:

The 3/4 inch strip was wide enough to give enough of an overlap to keep things nice and firm. The reason I wanted to go with multiple 1/4 inch strips was that between each layer, thin CA was applied, to give a bit of a sandwich of plastic and glue. I find this makes a stronger bond than just a single piece of 2.0 mm plastic to fill the gap. The other good thing about this, is that once the strips are glued down, they offer a stiff support to the fuselage, but still enough flexibility that if you ding it off something it won't crack.

The 3/4 inch strip was glued to the inside of the fuselage with medium thickness glue, to give me time to make sure it was not only lined up right, but was completely flush against the inside of the fuselage half:

The first 1/4 inch strip was glued in place the same way as the 3/4, making sure it was butted up against the front half of the fuselage. It will also prevent the rear half of the fuselage from being glued down either to far out or to far in:

From here, the two halves were glued back together, and I used the top of the fuselage line as a guide to make sure that the right profile was maintained:

The second 1/4 inch piece was then glued down using medium CA at first, and then thin CA as before. There was a small problem, in that the kit plastic was varying thickness, so some parts were filled with the second strip (at the top and bottom of the fuselage), but mid way there was still a gap:

A third strip was cut, and glued down. Once it was in place, the whole section was filled with thin CA to fill any gaps, and then medium CA was laid down over the edges as a gap filler:

From here, it was off to the sink, to sand the whole thing down nice and flush with the fuselage:

[Aurora Mark]

One thing I didn't show before was the alignment with the floor line would also ensure that the fuselage was glued back together nice and square:

The whole process was repeated for the other half, and now, with the 1/4 stretch completed, it will be time to move onto the floor and various cut-outs in the fuselage. Thanks for looking!

Mark.