kits
I still have the 1/32 scale Roscoe Turner Special on the shelf. I would need drawings to check how accurate it is but many of these old racing types are very poorly documented. Bill Shuey
Comfortably flush, I'd guess. Aurora is one of those manufacturers that have 'it' right now. Awhile back I sold a started Comet X-18 and received a nice compensation for it but I'd have made more had it come in an Aurora box. Funny since Comet was the originator of the mould.
Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.
kits
There is a book (auther- Mendenhall or something like that comes to mind) about racing planes. Is basically a collection of three-views. There must be hundreds in there- consequently they are pretty small, but better than nothing. I'll see if I can find more on it.
kits
Have it; the drawings run between 1:72 and 1:48 scales and are pretty good. Another source (if you can find them) are the Paul Matt drawings. Larger scale and ~very~ detailed.
That probably explains why it was better done than most of the Aurora kits. ;-) The one that threw me was the Aurora P-51 in 1/48 that had all the working parts on it. (most of which didn't work right when it was done, but it was a major change for them to even try to do something without a cockpit consisting of half a pilot's head molded into each fuselage half.) I wish I'd kept this kit from my childhood for nostalgia purposes:
Pat
purposes:
it:
I'm working on one right now. I got lucky and found one on ePay for just over $600.00 at a time when I actually HAD the money (8-D.). About six months later, I found a guy selling replacement decals for this and the XSL-01 (last year's Grail Kit build). I've been lucky, so far, I've only run across two parts missing, a cabinet in one of the labs and a ladder in the airlock ( was able to replicate both and have had a ball painting the model in a black/white roll pattern with silver and insignia red trim. I'd like to post photos, but can't call up alt.binaries.anything (Google doesn't support it) so I'll probably go over to Starship Modeler or Fantastic Plastic and leave some in their Galleries Section. I'll leave a note here when I'm done (it'll take a while - I'm savoring this build like it's a fine wine, one sip at a time).
Oh, by the way, accoreding to a 1952 copy of Air Trails magazine, somebody at the Pentagon evidently thought that that Aurora design was for real, it was included in a listing of 3-view drawings (as a MiG-15bis) and on the same page was listed a "Russian Fighter" with a
3-view of the Tank Ta.183.
On that one, is there supposed to be anything inside the side pods or are they just engine/tank assemblies?
The Ta-183 did have an influence on its original design, and it would have looked even more like that if the British hadn't given the Soviets the Nene jet engine.
Pat
For the most part, they were fuel tanks. On the top of the upper fuel tank (smaller diameter, offset cone over the dorsal fin) the cone had doors that were supposed to open to reveal some sort of "experiment" or mercury solar cells. At any rate, the locating pins on mine were broken off, so I built it closed and sanded it smooth.
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