Aurora 1/60 Flying Sub Restoration

By Steve Causey

First Look

The Project: Restore a 40 year old glue bomb Aurora Flying Sub. This was fun to do. I have vivid memories of building this kit as a child...I got it on a Friday, and by Saturday morning it was done. Well, I added the framework on Sunday... I looked in the box and decided I could tackle all those frames. I still remember the smell of burning leaves as we raked the lawn. I had set the sub up on a tree stump and looked at it all that afternoon...

The first thing when you purchase or inherit an old built up kit is to decide if it's worth the restoration or maybe try and find a different one. This build wasn't too bad. Some parts were loose but none were missing. Some glue drizzle here and there but not too bad. The paint however was a nasty thick black enamel.

The first order of business was to gently remove any loose parts. I washed the entire model in a strong green-type cleaner solution and let it soak. I used a plastic bowl to make sure I didn't lose any parts. Then I rinsed the entire kit in a large colander, again so as not to lose anything. The Sink monster is much less forgiving than the Carpet monster.

When the detergents were rinsed away I put all the wet parts into a large zip lock bag and put it in the freezer. I let the bag of parts freeze overnight. This is to use the expanding water to split the parts of the model away from each other as the water freezes.

The next day, I laid all the parts down on towels after the final rinse and draining. You can inspect the parts to see if you need to separate more pieces or if you can live with the few that are still connected.

For paint removal I used common brake fluid. This can be problematic, and as an alternative, Pollyscale/Testors as well as other manufacturers make a paint remover. TEST FIRST. After soaking outside for a few days, I inspected the parts and took an old stiff paint brush to help remove the rest of the paint. Use eye protection and gloves when working with brake fluid. This removed most of the paint. I washed the parts off in several times using dish soap and rising. Any remaining paint can be removed with sandpaper.

I wanted to add lights, and to clean up the window area (the kit's windows look like Coke bottle glasses). The kit was missing it's stand, so a Moebius Orion Shuttle donated it's stand. I drilled out many of the kit's framework lightening holes and made repairs as needed.

Next, everything gets a shot of primer. My plan was to try and make it look like my build of the Big Moebius Flying Sub, so I used the same color scheme. For the yellow I used Tamiya chrome yellow spray - the blue was a Krylon spray.

The lighting I designed was a simple three LED set: two led headlights and an RGB (red green blue) led for the reactor core panel.

When I was finished, I realized I had three other Flying Subs in the house so, I had to take some family pictures!