Jure Miljevic Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 (edited) Hello I rescued this kit, which had spent many years almost at the bottom of my pile of kits. When I bought it, it was my firm intention to build it into a highly polished natural metal XH375. I have since changed my mind. So, my entry into this GB is DH 114-2D Heron EC-AOF, flying with Spanish AVIACO, poor relation of Iberia, in late 1950. Here is a link to the only colour photo I managed to find on-line: http://www.aviationcorner.net/show_photo_en.asp?id=297606 There is hardly anything new I could say about the Airfix kit, though. It certainly lacks detail, has rather thick wing and control surface trailing edges, very rudimentary undercarriage and generally shows its age. On the other hand, it has more or less accurate outline and could be build, as many of our fellow forum members demonstrated, into a decent model. So, I am back to my modeller's bench. Cheers Jure Edited August 17, 2017 by Jure Miljevic edited for spelling, PB link replaced 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisk Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Great choice Jure and a new type in the GB . The kit brings back memories as I built it as a kid a loong time ago. Will follow with interest. Cheers, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAG058 Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Welcome in and thank you for joining, good luck with the build! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandboof Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Great to see a Heron started Good Luck Martin H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Another interesting addition to the GB Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAG058 Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 How are you getting on with this one @Jure Miljevic ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jure Miljevic Posted May 11, 2017 Author Share Posted May 11, 2017 (edited) Hello! The build has been progressing very slowly so far. I spent several weeks browsing through my books and searching the web for information about Heron. More specifically, I was after a proper set of drawings, although I fairly quickly lowered my expectations and would settle for anything half-decent. I have learnt quite a lot about Heron, Dove and other De Havilland aircraft, however reliable drawings or enough information to draw them myself eluded me. In the meantime, my work was limited to an hour or so of modelling on odd evening. Quite predictably, I did not get very far. First I modified wing's attachments to the fuselage. Although its trailing edge is somewhat thick, shape of upper half of kit's Karman seems to be accurate. Not so with the lower side, which on Heron consists of a narrow metal strip, as the aircraft is a low-wing anyway and wings blend into a fuselage almost seamlessly. Part of kit's fuselage had been cut and glued to the lower half of the wing to remedy this. Lumps on the wing surface are super glue, which I used instead of putty. Stringers inside wheel wells had been fashioned out of pieces of thread on the lower surface of the upper half of the wing, temporary held in place by Patafix. On the top of it I sprayed liberal amounts of auto-repair filler and left it to dry for a while. To the lower half of the wing I added Polystyrol wheel well walls and few other minor improvements. Here is the photo of both wing halves, rubber-banded together. Note that flap's trailing edge had already been thinned to hopefully more convincing size and ribs simulated, although panel lines are provisional and engraved around the wheel well only. I have not touched the undercarriage leg wells yet, as I still have not figured out what to do with obviously inadequate kit's undercarriage parts. There should also be a line (electric?) added on the wheel well wall but I shamelessly chose to ignore it. Here is the right wing with all panel lines and rivets removed and new panel lines (most of them, but not all) engraved, trailing edges thinned down and fabric simulated. I am still mustering my courage to tackle rivets. Karman on the fuselage had also been improved, and lower part of flaps had been extended slightly to match those on actual aircraft. White piece to the left is my first attempt on undercarriage door, which certainly needs improvement. Note on panel lines: Airfix kit's wing panel and rivet lines seem to be more or less accurate for Heron 2B, however on Heron 2D's panels near the leading edge around engines had been slightly modified. Of course, with a Murphy's Law reigning supreme, I realised that only after I had already engraved panels in that area. Rivet counter's work is never done! To anyone seeking information on that or just looking for Heron photos I highly recommend Walk Around section of BM. This is my (fairly limited) progress so far. To force myself to improve my pace of building I announce my next update by next Sunday. Cheers Jure Edited August 17, 2017 by Jure Miljevic edited for spelling, PB link replaced 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisk Posted May 12, 2017 Share Posted May 12, 2017 Impressive work Jure. Maybe doesn't look like much to you, but I think a lot has been done to bring this old kit to a standard of a 21st century model. Also some intuitive approaches on show in your build! How did you tackle the simulation of the fabric surfaces? In my experience, most fabric covered control surfaces don't show the sagging fabric as seen so often on kits. They are dead flat with only the rib tape sticking out. The only time you see the sagging fabric is in flight with airflow (and pressure) pushing on the fabric. 15 hours ago, Jure Miljevic said: I am still mustering my courage to tackle rivets. Have a go at it Get yourself some Rosie the Riveter tools made by Petr Dousek and the rest is child's play. These are precision tools allowing you to do the riveting freehand on smaller models. 15 hours ago, Jure Miljevic said: Rivet counter's work is never done! So true. Setting yourself a time limit for building steps does help a little to live with the rivet counter virus. Keep up the good work - looking forward seeing more. Cheers, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alancmlaird Posted May 21, 2017 Share Posted May 21, 2017 Watching this build avidly! Having finished a Dove conversion in last year's 'shelf of doom' build, I have a Heron next on the list (after anything else that gets in the way). I love your wheel well detail (though I'm aiming to do a fixed u/c mk1), so I'll be taking notes on your other detail work for future reference. Nice, unusual choice of model and a bit of a challlenge using a 50 year old kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAG058 Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 Any to report on this one @Jure Miljevic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jure Miljevic Posted June 24, 2017 Author Share Posted June 24, 2017 Hello First I would like to thank you all for your comments and words of encouragement. Obviously, time limited builds are not for me as with deadline approaching progress of my build got increasingly slower. Consequently, for a last month I have been avoiding group build forums out of sheer embarrassment. So, my sincere apologies for such an ostrich like behavior. I am still working on Heron kit, although at snail's pace. I would like to continue to post about my progress, but I am not sure in which forum. I understand this group build will be locked at midnight, so I presume I should open new topic in WIP? Cheers Jure 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAG058 Posted June 25, 2017 Share Posted June 25, 2017 No problem Jure, good luck with the rest of your build and I look forward to seeing it completed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jure Miljevic Posted June 26, 2017 Author Share Posted June 26, 2017 Thanks, DAG058. I will start it anew in WIP forum then. Cheers Jure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyTiger66 Posted August 14, 2017 Share Posted August 14, 2017 On 26/06/2017 at 7:26 PM, Jure Miljevic said: Thanks, DAG058. I will start it anew in WIP forum then. Cheers Jure Hello Jure, I just found this build whilst searching for Heron builds on Britmodeller. I wondered if you might be able to re-link the pictures? I would love to see the extra detail work that you did . I'm hoping to do this kit and any information would be very helpful. Best regards TonyT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jure Miljevic Posted August 15, 2017 Author Share Posted August 15, 2017 Hello, TonyT I will do that. I am a bit surprised I can still post here. I was under the impression that after the deadline had passed the topic is locked. I am still working on this kit but due to lack of information the progress is painfully slow. Cheers Jure 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jure Miljevic Posted August 17, 2017 Author Share Posted August 17, 2017 Hello While working on upper wing surface panel and rivet lines I noticed that outer engine nacelles are too short. Cutting parts of nacelles to remedy this seemed to be easy enough task. However, after closer inspection both nacelles and engines looked a bit shallow to me. This impression grew even stronger after a dry fit of a modified spinner. The engine definitely looked undernourished. I am still trying to figure out what to do about it. Cheers Jure 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyTiger66 Posted August 17, 2017 Share Posted August 17, 2017 It's great to see the photographs back Jure . I think that on Group Builds, it's only the gallery that gets locked. It's worth checking with @Enzo Matrix. You may be able to get the thread moved into the aviation WIP area. Ingenious work with the thread and automotive filler to create the wheel well detail. I'm hoping to build a Royal Navy Sea Heron. As you say, drawings appear to be elusive, as are decals. I appreciate that progress will be gradual, (my ownbuilds progress at a truly glacial pace ), but look forward to seeing the Heron progress; the engines look like a nice puzzle to solve Best regards TonyT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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