OEM Aircraft Reference ?

[Paul Domingue]

I saved this link a year or so ago because I was interested in acquiring reference material for modeling. At the time the going price was between $100 and $500 dependent on aircraft. I just went to their site and I think they have lost their minds.
http://www.aircraft-manuals.com/chvof4seaiai.html

In my search today I ran across this site and being a bit leery I made some additional searches for some substantiation that it was legitimate. I could not find anything stating it wasn't and it seems that the Canadian government has no problems with the site although they are based somewhere in Europe.
http://www.sicuropublishing.com/serv...eprints/Detail

I also found this forum link questioning the the site's copywrite and the last post in the thread is a post from the owner of the site in question.
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/archiv...hp?t-9120.html

I'm ready to start on another model and willing to spend a little cash to get good source material. If any of you have information on reliable sources for this type of information and could point me in the right direction I would consider it a great favor. Trading my first born male child is not out of the question.

[Daveroo]

just a comment on the price ect..i read a magazine called military machines international,last month they had a story on reproductions ,restorations,and a term i cant recall..but they were talking about using truck chassis and light 4x4 chassis like land rovers to armored cars and and even tanks..and they use British FV tracked vehicles to build tanks as big as tigers and panthers and some of them are pretty convincing.they then said that with the internet,the builders plans are becoming avalible and for collectors with BIG money,they are contracting builders to build them "rare" vehicles from scratch.the argument i used to hear when i was a kid when i used to say...well they built it in 1942..why cant it be built now?..i was allways told..the tooling is gone,you cant go back in time..they are now proving that to be false...3D printers are recreating original parts to be cast in everything from brass to gold..computers can take a CAD drawing or set of plans from a Maybach engine for a SDKFz V and mill it out of aluminum..it doesnt need to be cast or forged steal anymore as they will only be used for show or in stadiums on "parade".
ive said this before..but Jack Roush's Old Crow of Col Andersons was built from the ground up,the only original part is the builders plate.but its considered an orignial because of the builders plate...this was told to me by Bud himself.


but my point to this all..those prices may have risen due to the fact someone may have the notion to build a plane from the ground up..a new build replica

[anthony31]

Smithsonian Institute has tech drawing on microfiche. Not sure how much it costs but probably a fair bit less than $12000

http://airandspace.si.edu/research/a...draw/mfilm.cfm

[srgalahad]

I don't know if you caught it, but both of the first two links are to sites naming Sicuro Publishing. I can't see what the difference would be.

As for the Richmond Hill address they mention, it seems it might be a work-around for some issue as there are numerous sets of plans for sale on Ebay (with some differences between Can. and the US sites?) using a Richmond Hill location in the ads. Maybe Ebay won't accept Italian company ads in N. America.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Vought-F4U-1-...item19db850ea7

you might also look here, although their list seems short
http://aviationshoppe.com/f4u-corsair-p-259.html

[Paul Domingue]

Thanks for the suggestions, I think ebay is going to be my safest bet for finding this type of material.

PS, Miss you on TS Rob.