Guys, I’ve got a 1/48 Cessna 150 in my stash, and I want to build it to portray my grandfather’s plane. The first thing I need to know is how big are the N numbers on these birds? two feet maybe? And second, where can I find rub on numbers in that size? Thanks in advance!
I’m doing a Cessna for a friend. Unfortunately, I’m getting all my measurements off a couple of pictures that are not head on. What I’m using is 24 point Hellvatica letters that I got at an art supply store. They had a ton of different sizes and styles.
The registration numbers are 24", by regulation, and on the Cessna, they slant about 10 degrees aft. That is for the factory paint jobs, if the airplane has been repainted, it could be anything!
Ah, just what I needed. Thank you, Ashley!
Let us know if and where you find any slanted numerals and letters… I have a few GA aircraft in the wings myself.
RadMax8…
Here is a site that states FAR rules for civil aircraft markings:
http://www.risingup.com/fars/info/part45-29-FAR.shtml
Tom
The size of the numbers varies with the age of the aircraft. Take a look at these three (I know, the photos are HORRIBLE):
http://www.craigcentral.com/models/realplanes/images/n45351.jpg
http://www.craigcentral.com/models/realplanes/images/n68163.jpg
http://www.craigcentral.com/models/realplanes/images/n4686v.jpg
N45351 is a 1975 Cessna 150 and N68163 is a 1979 Cessna 152. N4686V is a 1980 Cessna 172 RG-II. For a while Cessna put the tail numbers on the fuselage in very large letters. About 1978 they stopped doing that and went to conventional tail numbers (the tail number for 68163 is very low on the vertical stab, right above the red stripe and on 4686V it is right at the top of the vertical stab). It also didn’t matter whether it was a 150, 152, 172, 177, etc, they did it on all of them. There are a bunch of other photos from that era on my web site at This Link. Sorry for the quality of the photos, I realize they are terrible. I took them with a little Kodak Instamatic 110 I always carried in my flight bag.
MusicCity… the plane I’ll be portraying will be one with the larger N number on the fuselage. Thanks again guys!
Craig,
In your photo of the Cutlass, the C-172 in the background hasn’t been flown in a while I would say.
I think they were probably about a foot tall. If you look at This Photo of a Cessna 177 (and I apologize again for the lousy photos) you can barely see a cargo door right in front of the “N”. My flight bag was about 14" high and it seems like I could barely get it through those doors.
I would have to agree! The airport was pretty good about keeping the grass cut, as you can see under the Citabria, so that one had probably been there a while.
I loved flying that Cutlass. Just soooo easy to fly, just like any 172, but a bit quicker because of the reduced drag. I took my instrument checkride in that plane. 'Bout got creamed by a thunderstorm flying back that night to!