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de Havilland D.H.91 Albatross - FINISHED


nimrod54

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40 minutes ago, Grandboof said:

Nice work Great silver finish 

Martin H

 

Thanks Martin, I used Mr Surfacer 1200 as the primer followed by three light coats of Silver Leaf straight from a rattle can.

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I spent this afternoon making the aerials that sit above and below the nose section of the fuselage. These were made from some flattened micro-tubing, small pieces of plastic strip and wire, they just need neatening up and they will be ready to fit.

 

DSC01738_zpsn4bqvpwv.jpg

 

I meant to include this photo in with last nights update, it shows the modification I made to the undercarriage doors, which can be seen in this photo of Frobisher. I will also need to look at improving the kit legs, these are open on one side and should actually be u-shaped. I could possibly get away with using the doors to hide the open side but the top section of the 'U' can still be seen, so I think I will try to add this detail.

 

DSC01740_zpsfnb4lzhm.jpg

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1 hour ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

Your making me jealous here John. Lovely scratch work buddy. 

 

Cheers mate, still pondering over the u/c leg changes. I think that I am going to go with making the outer wheel support first, then fill in the shoulder to leg sanded up to shape and then perhaps pinch an idea from @Dave Swindell Mossie build and use some rod to make an axle. I will need to take extra care to make sure that everything lines up.

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Hi John

A useful image of the undercarriage leg (I'll not push for full engine detail/cowlings open :wink:)

91_10.jpeg

 

Note the diamond shape in side profile. Laurent has moulded the leg & wheel all in one with brass wire for the upper leg, it's not entirely accurate but is a better representation than the Welsh one.

I'd make the leg open ended and file a small V groove for the axle which I'd fix to the wheel.

After painting, drop the wheel & axle into the groove, trim axle to length and touch up paint.

I think attempting to drill for fitting an axle as per my mossie build will be rather fragile at this scale.

 

More good photo's here, click for larger versions of them.

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Thanks for the photo, link and advice Dave, there are some lovely clear shots of the undercarriage in there. Further searching also turned up these images of a 1/72nd vac-form Albatross build. I should be able to cobble something together from your links and this one. Whilst the end result may be a bit of a compromise it should look OK at this scale. Think that I will give the full engine detail a miss though. :winkgrin:

 

 

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My (unbuilt) AirCraft Models kit was out last night to check the U/C, I think they've captured it pretty well.

The kit drawings show the legs normal to the wing underside, and not the to ground. The build you linked to appears to have followed the drawings, and, whilst it may partly be due to wide angle photography, the legs look far too splayed out when compared to photo's of the real aircraft.

The 4th photo down is the closest I can find for the moment to a head on shot, and the legs look close to the vertical to me, it's the doors that make them look splayed.

Note the doors are in two sections (three if you count the hinged addition you've made) Upper inner section fixed to the leg, and lower outer section fixed to the fork.

The cockpit and 3 x cabin emergency escape hatches on the passenger planes were glazed, looks like these are on the decal sheet?

I'll let you off the engine this time, but when you do the larger one I'll expect all this detail

 

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3 hours ago, Dave Swindell said:

The cockpit and 3 x cabin emergency escape hatches on the passenger planes were glazed, looks like these are on the decal sheet?

I'll let you off the engine this time, but when you do the larger one I'll expect all this detail

 

Glazed and unglazed escape hatches are on the decal sheet along with two sets cockpit and cabin windows, one set with passengers and crew. That LSM is something else, thanks for sharing.

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Using photos and links from Dave alongside stuff that I have found through my searches, I made a start on trying to improve the look of the undercarriage. I decided to stick with the kit parts and trimmed one of the legs then added some wire to the outer edges of this to create a lozenge shape that is more representative of the real thing.  I also left the locating pin for the wheel at this point to use as a guide for the width of the gap when building up the opposite side.

 

The opposite side was built up using square section plastic and strip filed to shape and also trimmed with wire, and I have added two small pieces of plastic rod to represent the ends of the axle. Just some trimming of the outer sections of the axle and a general tidy up and that should be it.

 

DSC01762_zpsbufgrvkp.jpg

 

DSC01760_zps3qakkmat.jpg

 

DSC01761_zps7zseqn4g.jpg

 

 It is not totally accurate but its the best that these arthritic fingers can manage.

 

I have just been looking at the photos again and realised that the axle will form the outer sections, so these have now been removed in preparation for fit of the wheel. :doh:

Edited by nimrod54
Light Bulb Moment.
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That is how I do it too, but when I do it, the stuff bonds immediately when the wire isn't where it should be and doesn't bond when the wire is where it should be :wall:

 

In other words, it isn't one of my favoured tasks.

Cheers, Peter

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2 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

One of the most beautiful aeroplanes ever

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

I must agree with you there Adrian, it has to be one best looking aircraft I have seen.

 

I was able to finish the remodelling of the undercarriage legs but after a trial fit I wasn't to happy with the way tings looked, so I have ordered some larger micro tubing to make new oleo legs and this will help me to square things up.

 

DSC01780_zpsyofwcjdt.jpg

 

I have also added the light in each of the wings using pieces of clear sprue, this was filed, sanded and polished to match the leading edge profile. The light was then masked before the surrounding area was repainted.

 

DSC01781_zpsuowwwbyz.jpg

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Hi John,

 

statistics show that when one is over 20 years of age, the size of models one works on is due to increase as time passes.

In your case, they grow smaller all the time!

Beside small scale modelling being one of the ways to spot an alien, I am really impressed!

Plus I agree with the consensus: this plane is downright gorgeous!!!

 

Great work so far and top marks for the micro surgery on the landing gear!

 

JR

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Progress on both builds could be a bit hit and miss over the next few weeks, my mother-in-law passed away tonight. That's the loss of both in-laws since January, such lovely people - life can be quite tough at times.

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1 hour ago, nimrod54 said:

 

Progress on both builds could be a bit hit and miss over the next few weeks, my mother-in-law passed away tonight. That's the loss of both in-laws since January, such lovely people - life can be quite tough at times.

Sorry to hear that John. I was looking forward to seeing these two finished soon, but family comes first.

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Hi John,

 

what terrible news.

Please pass on my sincere condolences to your wife for the loss of her mother, and all my thoughts are with you both.

 

JR

Edited by jean
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