Thanks for the feedback guys.

This morning, I spent some time evaluating the cockpit of the Clear Prop kit, comparing it to reference photos and the extra detail parts I have for the kit. I want to get this all figured out before I start assembly and painting. This is part of my new approach to modeling, trying to get my ducks a little more in a row (without being overly fussy about it) before starting a task.

I didn't have a lot of spare time today, but I did manage to get something else going on the build. I had planned on using the wheel wells from the Academy kit on the Clear Prop kit, but I thought I might try casting them first to see if that will work. That way I can avoid having to cut up a perfectly good model kit.

First step was to figure out something to hold the silicone for the mold. My grown kids have some Lego blocks still hanging around in our stored stuff in the garage, so I went rooting around in there and grabbed a bunch of blocks to make the mold box.

After pouring some silicone in the box, I let it outgas for a little while to reduce micro bubbles, then placed the wing into the silicone. I had to drizzle some extra silicone into the box to get it to fill high enough. IN the process, there was some overflow onto the part. But this can be trimmed away when I remove the part from the mold.

George (@gblair), I put a shorter lego block in there (under the wings) to take up some of the space, then wrapped masking tape in place to seal up most of the remaining gap. You can see the tape in the second photo.

The silicone doesn't go to the top of the box, only to the top of the tape. There's a little bit of leakage, but I have a plastic lid under the mold and it's okay so far. I have to wait until tomorrow to see how it works out. The silicone is very slow curing.

This kit is going to be a nice change of pace from what I've been working on this past year. All the surface detail is there and looks great. No rescribing required (other than fixing around seam work). I have the Quinta set for the cockpit and a resin seat. The kit itself has excellent detail .

Excellent idea, my friend @clipper!

I suppose I should consider getting (or making) a pressure pot for casting. Despite letting the silicone set for as long as I dared before sticking the wing in it, there were still numerous micro bubbles in the silicone, which showed up in the final mold and in the casting. Not an insurmountable problem, just annoying. My experience with casting is quite limited, and although I know the basics, I haven't had much in the way of practice.

The pot life on this casting resin is extremely short, less than 3 minutes. I barely got it in the mold before it started setting up.

Still, the wing casting came out okay. The parts that I needed are 99% complete, with the aforementioned micro bubbles, and one small air bubble resulting in a small nobbin on one wheel well. There is tape in the casting which was used to keep the resin from sticking to the Lego blocks, but this is in an areas that will be discarded. Since I plane to detail the well somewhat, none of this will prevent me from using the casting.

Came out great, my friend @clipper! Some filling and sanding will do.

The fuselage has some vents behind the cowling on the upper sides. This is a series of openings with the sheet metal pushed out on three sides of the opening, forming a series of vents open in one direction. On the MOhawk, they are actually three in one direction and several ( 6 maybe) in the opposite direction. I think they call these louvered vents?

I was going to try and use the Academy kit's vents but they are no good. I am thinking of trying to cut a series of small slots in styrene sheet using my vinyl cutter, but I am not confident in its ability to make cuts that small. Then I would form the louvers using something hard like a toothpick. I am pretty much limited in what I can do without a 3D printer. Even that I think would struggle at this size. Another option is to form it out of aluminum from a soda can, but cutting the slots is difficult at that small size. We're talking 1mm in width and about 2 or 3mm in length with at least 8 slots cut neatly in a row.So we'll see what I can come up with.

Here's some photos of my take on the airplane you're doing, using info from Cutting Edge decals

3 attached images. Click to enlarge.