Not sure if this is being/has been done before, but it worked very well and I'm posting on request.
The Sig Magnum was the first "bigtime stunter" that I was aware of back when I was about knee high. It had neat lines and just always looked cool whether flying or sitting in the pits, and that holds true for me today. However, kits go for top dollar these days, and up until recently, I was still shy to build a big stunter due to transport and movement to new duty locations. So I thought to kit bash a 40-size model to look like one.
While perusing the interwebs one day, I chanced upon a PDF copy of the Sig Magnum plans and instruction booklet. The booklet includes patterns for all of the printed wood that comes in the kit, and with those two items, the project was off to the races.
I went with the Vector 40 as my "canvas". It wouldn't take a whole lot of massaging to get it to look right. All of the numbers were kept the same. The wing built as prescribed with the exception of wing mounted landing gear. The fuselage also built more or less per the kit. Reduced formers and turtle deck sides from the Sig plans and instructions completed the top deck. The stab area stayed the same as well, requiring the needed cosmetic changes.
The build went really fast and easy with the help of the PDF documents. I roughly penciled out what I needed on the plans, took measurements, and jumped on the computer. All of the pieces that gave the magnum its shape-- Rudder, stab/elevator, wing tips, and fuselage parts--were produced from printouts. The nice thing about Adobe Acrobat is that whats on the screen comes out the printer. That is, I could enlarge or reduce the wingtip for example, to match the chord line on the Vector wing, and actually measure it on the screen with a ruler. Then just hit CTL+P and print templates. Perfect fit every time. This greatly reduced the "that looks about right" method of construction, because it all came off the plans!
I got ahold of a set of kit decals, both the "MAGNUM" graphic and lettering. Being much too big of course, I scanned them into the computer and sent them off to Callie Graphics for reduction. Callie Sowden deals mostly in RC Scale graphics and aftermarket decal sets for allot of the RC Foamie/park flyer models. She has tons of color schemes for WWI and WWII subjects on file, and works really fast and fairly priced. I got turned onto Callie Graphics by some FF guys who use her for quick-applying AMA numbers to FF models, so that should tell you how light they are. I think the decals she did for my Aeroshell T-6 weight about a half ounce total. On top of all that, shes an all-around very cool lady!
There was one small problem. Trying to faithfully replicate the Sig Magnum box art, I noticed that the model had the NX prefix preceding the AMA number, and there is no X in the kit decals. I spent almost a day on the computer trying to piece one together on Microsoft Paint, but looked like hot garbage when I was done. I sent it all in to Callie and she said she could mess with it and get it to look right. 4 days later I had decals in my hand that were perfect!
Rest of the build was straight forward: Polyspan covering on the wing and "Docspan" on the hardwood surfaces, and all brodak dope finish. I think I leaned a bit to hard on the spray gun when shooting clear, as it came out a bit heavy but pretty tail-heavy. Didn't really know what to do about nose weight--there is almost no room in the nose for it, and needed lots of it to balance. Then I found tungsten weights in the pinewood derby section. a cylinder shaped piece 1/2x3/8" in size weighed a half ounce. They're pretty expensive, but with premium real-estate under the hood, they worked well. Model toped out at 55oz when all was said and done. A bit disappointing, but still flies decent with a Byron Barker Magnum 36.
It is constantly mistaken for its big brother. I posted these pics and a bunch more on the CL Flying page on facebook and received allot of questions like:
-Where did you get a Magnum kit
-Where did you get a Magnum kit with a built up wing
-Why are you putting a 36 in a magnum
I mean, some folks were REALLY confused, and it was irritating at times, but flattering as well because that meant I got it right!
The computer-aided stuff really helped, and has several uses for future projects. I'm going to do another kit-bash as soon as I get to Colorado, this time an SV11 as a base. The plans that I'm modeling (no pun intended) are enroute and will be taken to Staples or somewhere to be scanned into PDF format, and will be used in the same fashion.
Topic: Kit Bashing and PDF (Read 2430 times)