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A Nostagic Restoration / Conversion Aurora Beech 18


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I was 17-ish (65 now!), mad keen on aviation and regularly posted letters to aircraft manufacturers requesting pictures. Those were the days I got loads of the stuff,all of it gone in all my moves through life..except one, this one I kept all these years:
8795561070_2526bfc043_b.jpg

Then for years I sought the rare and long out of production Aurora kit (it came in two scales this is the larger one about 1/60 from memory). I then found a kit but also managed to get a "junker" a veritable glue bomb that had been put together using military grade nuclear cement, my attempts to dismantle for a rebuild were almost terminal but I persisted on and off for a couple of years. Now this rebuild is very ordinary, full of flaws and scars, the only modelling of any merit maybe are the home made decals but nevertheless,I still like it,
it is going to sit on my desk and gather dust, I am going to excuse all it's faults,
26163857449_0a0ff4ad50_h.jpg for those that are interested the model was modified with a new nose and repositioned maingear to get this trigear super H18 version.
I did this one as "proof of concept" besides wanting to resurrect the old junker.. I may now do the same conversion on my "mint" kit, scratch building an undercarriage for a wheels down model...maybe, maybe not

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That is a fine desktop "trophy " Wally and well worth the effort. Thank you for sharing it. I had a bright yellow Beech 18 for my birthday about 1968/9 , I think from memory that it too was Aurora and possibly about  1/80th?

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7 minutes ago, Britman said:

That is a fine desktop "trophy " Wally and well worth the effort. Thank you for sharing it. I had a bright yellow Beech 18 for my birthday about 1968/9 , I think from memory that it too was Aurora and possibly about  1/80th?

Hiya Britman,

the model was issued in 2 scales, the larger one (mine) was 1/60 scale, the smaller one was in the vicinity of 1/80 ish, my memory is dim but I think I read it was 1/84?  nope found it, it was 1/88

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A good looking model. Well done on a very neat restoration.

I particularly like the use of the Airfix stand. There's a debate as to which way round the stand sits, would you believe. To my mind the opposite to your use looks right. The problem then being, the plane falls over! 

 

Tony.

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13 minutes ago, TonyW said:

A good looking model. Well done on a very neat restoration.

I particularly like the use of the Airfix stand. There's a debate as to which way round the stand sits, would you believe. To my mind the opposite to your use looks right. The problem then being, the plane falls over! 

 

Tony.

Interesting thought on the stand Tony but I am totally 180 degrees from you here.. my reasoning is that in the old Airfix kits that featured a stand there was always a "transfer" of the model's name that was to be placed on the stand, if the stand was placed the other way you wouldn't be able to read the label... your honour my case rests :wink:

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59 minutes ago, TonyW said:

Wars have started over less...

 

so true! sad innit.   Airfix obviously had no regard as to positioning of the stand slot, as you say sometimes you had to haveit the other way for the model  to balance.... I miss stands in kits was it Frog that used to have a ball swivel and pose-able stands?

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Aurora and Lincoln had the swivel stands, possibly Heller as well.  Frog had those art deco, swoopy ones that made your model look like it was at mach 4, even the Fairey Gannet!!

 

FROG_Hunter.jpg

 

Apologies for the thread hijack.  It's the model that should be getting the attention here!

 

Tony.

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Great restoration – I can't see the scars, only a smart looking desk model!

 

Regarding this more important issue about the direction of the Airfix stand, to my mind the correct way from a perception point of view is without a doubt the one underneath the Beech, with the support angled in the direction of flight. ;-)

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

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Hey Pete and thanks guys

you know it's a funny thing, this is a pretty shoddy model, scars of it's wounds evident through the paint as well as remnants of the original engraving (cheat lines and registration marks) in the plastic, also the nose was not well done  the transition between the plastic and bog being visible in certain light but I have put it in the cabinet and from a metre distance it looks absolutely bloody gorgeous in my eyes ( yeah I know I have a really soft spot for this aeroplane) So I am becoming more and more driven to doing a better detailed job on my remaining Aurora kit complete with interior and scratch built undercarriage ( I am torn here, the aircraft looks far better wheels up and flying than on it's legs) bugger, I might have to find yet another kit so I can do another wheels up and another wheels down! but it has to be the bigger 1/60 one Pete, not the 1/88!

 


8795401592_06d17c1d91_b.jpg

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What a beautiful restoration.

I don't know Beech aircraft history, but was this a predecessor of the Baron?

Probably not, but it sort-of looks like where the Baron's inspiration came from.

:goodjob:

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3 hours ago, kapam said:

What a beautiful restoration.

I don't know Beech aircraft history, but was this a predecessor of the Baron?

Probably not, but it sort-of looks like where the Baron's inspiration came from.

:goodjob:

Hiya kapitam!

The Baron came about from converting the single engine Bonanza, though surprisingly the Beech Twin Bonanza looked nothing like either the Bonanza or the Baron and was a completely different airframe, The Travelair was an intermediate step from the Bonanza - Travelair - Baron metamorphosis, as to the Beech 18, I think it's development stopped there but the cockpit window frames / design seems to be carried over onto the  Queenair (which was a development of the Twin Bonanza!) but who knows, I am no expert..

I once made a Bonanza to Baron conversion:

24109430618_b800545c2c_z.jpg

in 1/48 scale converted from the minicraft ..V35..jeez that was fun

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