CliffB Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 My Bolivian Breguet is inbetween paint coats and it's almost a fortnight before the Sea King STGB starts, so I've no bits of plastic to stick together... I thought that I would therefore put up a second Lesser Built AF entry, an Ethiopian DH.60M using the recently released 1/72 Amodel kit. The DH.60 'Moth' was the first of many related de Havilland aircraft that were to bear deritive names (the most famous of which probably being the DH.82 'Tiger Moth' - you can see the clear family resemblence). The name came from Geoffrey de Havilland's love of lepidoptery. The Moth first flew in February 1925 and was initially powered by a 60hp de Havilland Cirrus engine. These early aircraft were subsequently to referred to as 'Cirrus Moths'. Various other engines were subequently offered and 1928 the DH.60G was unveiled, equipped with a 100hp de Havilland Gipsy engine. Thus was born the 'Gipsy Moth', which was to transform the fortunes of the humble DH.60. It was in a Gipsy Moth that Amy Johnson made the first female solo flight from England to Australia, taking 19 days. The Gipsy Moth and its predecesors all had wooden fuselages, but in 1929 a Gipsy engined Moth with a fabric covered, metal framed fuselage was introduced - the DH.60M 'Metal Moth'. It can be distinguished by a slightly rounded fuselage with visble stringers (compared to the smooth flat sides of the wooden aircraft). The Metal Moth was heavier than the wooden Moths, but more durable and with reduced maintenance requirements. To my knowledge, this new Amodel kit is the first one of a Metal Moth (I stand to be corrected please). The venerable Frog Gipsy Moth includes a decal option for a Metal Moth (in fact it is the same K1852, that features in the Amodel box-art), but the fuselage is most definitely DH.60G. Here are the spues from the Amodel kit. I'll try to provide some better close-ups of key parts, as the build progresses. The kit has four nice decal options. Two silver military aircraft (RAF and Danish), plus two civil opitions: a silver German one and a bright red British aircraft (G-AADR), which I believe is still flying - unfortunately you can't see its white registration letters in the decal photo below I shall be building this of course as an Ethiopian aircraft, from 1930. It is silver overall, with a tailstripe in Ethiopian colours and the all important 'Lion of Judah' emblem on the fuselage. The Lion decal will need to be home made A history of the plane, plus some photos and colour artwork can be found here. See you later. Cliff 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hgbn Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Danish decals included might have to get one of these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hgbn Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Wonder if the pilots used to use the very long exhaust to heat the gloves during the flight? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted January 19, 2015 Author Share Posted January 19, 2015 Wonder if the pilots used to use the very long exhaust to heat the gloves during the flight? Hi Henrik, That long exhaust was apparantly a popular feature of the Moth as it did actually help to keep the occupants warm. The downside though was that unwary passengers were sometimes tempted to use it as a hand hold when exiting the plane after a long flight ! Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hgbn Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Pilot to passenger. Can you smell pork rinds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Another good choice Cliff. I look forward to seeing your homemade decals for the lion. It certainly looks like a nice comprehensive kit. Craig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Lovely choice of subject Cliff Nice to know a bit of history behind the subject as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Another very interesting and unusual subject ! Now I've always struggled to understand the lineage of the DH Moth family, in any case they make for good looking models. There's one thing I may bet on: an A-Model biplane is never going to be the easiest thing to build... (said the one who has a Hector in his stash...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Brown Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Just when I was toying with the idea of a Gipsy Moth this thread comes along! Rick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted January 19, 2015 Author Share Posted January 19, 2015 I look forward to seeing your homemade decals for the lion. Craig. Thanks Craig, I shall be relying on the fact that the final image will be very, very small! Lovely choice of subject Cliff Nice to know a bit of history behind the subject as well. Cheers Col. I'm glad that you enjoyed the bit of history - just please don't expect any more (at least not until I've read chapter 2)! Another very interesting and unusual subject ! Now I've always struggled to understand the lineage of the DH Moth family, in any case they make for good looking models. There's one thing I may bet on: an A-Model biplane is never going to be the easiest thing to build... (said the one who has a Hector in his stash...) Hi Giorgio. It's extremely rare for me to make a 'new release' kit, so I have high expectations here! Come to think of it, the last was probably a Roden He.111 and that didn't end at all well...... Just when I was toying with the idea of a Gipsy Moth this thread comes along! Rick. Glad to hear it Rick. Please don't let me put you off! Is it an Amodel you are thinking about? Cheers Cliff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Brown Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Thanks Craig, I shall be relying on the fact that the final image will be very, very small! Cheers Col. I'm glad that you enjoyed the bit of history - just please don't expect any more (at least not until I've read chapter 2)! Hi Giorgio. It's extremely rare for me to make a 'new release' kit, so I have high expectations here! Come to think of it, the last was probably a Roden He.111 and that didn't end at all well...... Glad to hear it Rick. Please don't let me put you off! Is it an Amodel you are thinking about? Cheers Cliff Yep, an Amodel. Watching with interest. Rick. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cooper Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Watching with interest. +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted January 22, 2015 Author Share Posted January 22, 2015 Thanks Tom, hopefully making a start at the weekend... Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted February 2, 2015 Author Share Posted February 2, 2015 With everything else that's been going on recently (not least in the Britmodeller GB scene), my little Moth has taken a bit of a back seat. I have made a start though and almost immediately my hopes of 'Tamiya-like' fit from this new release kit were dashed! This is very much short-run territory. I started by checking out the fit of the fuselage bits/lower wing and nothing will go together without judicious carving to expand the slots and holes provided.The quality of fit that you get will depend on your skill with the blade, file and sanding stick. Looks like I'm going to need some filler..... I've made just one other Amodel kit in the past (a Shavrov Sh-2), and this Moth reminds me very much that experience - even down to their use of soft plastic. The underlying quality of Amodel's mouldings is good though and I am expecting that this will build into nice little model. Just for interest, here's a comparison of Amodel's rendition of the all-important wing ribbing with that of two other Moths in my stash. Top is the Frog Gipsy Moth, next is this Amodel and bottom is a Choroszy resin Cirrus Moth. I think Amodel take the honours Cheers Cliff 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Have to agree with you on the wing ribbing comparison Cliff. Only hope not too much detail is lost in the inevitable sanding and filling. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmcclure Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 So glad this thread has come along. I've got "Jason" in the stash so I'll be watching this with great interest. Like you, I think that the individual parts look well molded and detailed, if the fit is...approximate! It's only the propellor that worries me - does it look wrong to you? As soon as I opened the box of mine, the blades looked too short and too wide. I'd love to find an AM option but no luck yet. Cheers, Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted February 5, 2015 Author Share Posted February 5, 2015 Have to agree with you on the wing ribbing comparison Cliff. Only hope not too much detail is lost in the inevitable sanding and filling. Thanks Col. I've been doing a bit more today and things haven't turned out too badly. So glad this thread has come along. I've got "Jason" in the stash so I'll be watching this with great interest. Like you, I think that the individual parts look well molded and detailed, if the fit is...approximate! It's only the propellor that worries me - does it look wrong to you? As soon as I opened the box of mine, the blades looked too short and too wide. I'd love to find an AM option but no luck yet. Cheers, Roger Hi Roger. I know what you mean about the prop , although looking at photos the real thing can look quite dumpy too sometimes. The jury's out ...... Today I tackled the interior. As usual, the macro is pretty unforgiving! I've added a bulkhead at the front as: 1) It's visible from the front cockpit 2) There's see-through from the engine if you don't put one in. I used plastic card for the bottom bit and a blob of blue-tac to seal up the complex shaped gap at the top (that's where the see-through is). It's worked fine. Here are the instrument panels. Sorry for the dust! For some reason Amodel only provide one joystick (for the rear cockpit) and one set of rudder pedals (for the front cockpit)! Easily supplemented though. Clunky though this all looks on macro, it looks much better in context (honest!). Cheers Cliff 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Nice work Cliff. This will be another interesting, and unusual build. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Swindell Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Looking good Cliff, ta for the tip on the front bulkhead - I've started cleaning up parts on my 60M so I'll add a bulkhead to my to do list. Heads up on a gotcha if you've not spotted it already, every copy of the sprue with the undercarriage on, the later type (X) undercarriage is short shot on one side. If you have two kits you might be able to cut them in half and reverse one side, otherwise it's scratch build (or rob an Airfix Tiggie) if you want the late undercarriage. I think I'll be replacing the cabanes with brass wire for strength as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 Hi Dave The good news is that my X-strut seems fine (see photo post#1). The bad news though is that one of my cabane struts is short (missing the fuselage locating pin).... Good luck with your 60M, what scheme are you doing? Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Swindell Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Hi Cliff My apologies, I just looked at your photo in post 1 and said " but yours is short shot just like mine" The just like mine is correct, however checking with dividers proves I was wrong about them being short shot, its an optical illusion due to sprue gate position which to me makes one leg look longer than the other. Rather glad to be proved wrong on this one, no need to scratch a replacement. Mine will be G-AALG in the guards colour scheme as discussed here 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Looks to be going together well for you Cliff. The simple cockpit certainly captures the nature of these machines and is a great antidote to the complicated 'busy' offices found in the more modern jets many of us are working on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 Mine will be G-AALG in the guards colour scheme as discussed here Sorry Dave, I hadn't made the connection and I have been following that thread! Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 Back onto the Moth now and I've done a little more, adding the kit-supplied details to the front end and also adding the tailplane. The tail is beautifully delicate but the front-end bits appear slightly too heavily moulded. I scored the elevator hinge lines on top and bent the elevators down to a typical 'at rest' position. A 10 second job, but one that adds quite a bit of visual interest. Next up will be the undercarriage. Cheers Cliff 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Nice work Cliff, she is really coming along now. Great touch with the elevators, as you say it doesn't take long but adds a lot to the look of the finished model. Craig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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