Handley Page H.P. 42 - completed 15 Apr

[Natter]

Dear All, I said a while back I may join with this. Now I have finished the model for the Motorcycle GB I am free to get on with it.

The obligatory box and bits to show it is <25% built:

... but main assemblies go together really quickly:

Ejector pin stubs on the inside of the upper wing were like towers:

... and needed the attention of the scalpel so the upper wing would go together:

I did a quick scribe of the tail control surfaces too, to improve the definition of the moving surface separation:

I do not intend to scratch any interior, I'll leave that sort of thing for those more skilled and more patient than me; I may try some rigging though.

Edited April 15, 2013 by Natter

[Troffa]

Great looking subject Dave, will be following this one as I have a Biplane in the near "to-do" pile, not as challenging as yours though!

Cheers,

Mark

[AnonymousDFB1]

Remember mangling this one when I was a kid, nice work

[Peter Lloyd]

These things set new records for most miles on an airframe, I believe. Didn't know the kit existed.

[nimrod54]

Cracking choice, look forward to seeing it finished.

[Natter]

Hi All, a bit of an update.

Having said I would not do an interior I put in a couple of bulkheads and a floor, then did a very simple cockpit. This was because I was going to model this with the doors open. I realised that by doing that I would have to make some seats, and then complete the interior and that wasn't the plan at all. So, I left it as just the cockpit:

The model windows are poor and quite large, and it was all too easy to see the empty cabin interior. The real aircraft had curtains at the windows, and in the Middle East they were often closed, so that was the way round the problem of seeing the blank interior:

Airfix have modelled the rib effect on the wings, which in 1/144 are ridiculously large.

'Desertbloom' has a brilliant photostream on Flikr with loads of HP42 pics which I am using as a source of reference. The wings are pretty smooth, even if they are fabric covered - link here http://www.flickr.com/photos/39411748@N06/6117957758/in/photostream/

So I sanded them:

The wing control surfaces are nothing like the kit depicts, with frise ailerons and the slats almost always extended on the ground: http://www.flickr.com/photos/39411748@N06/6116248930/in/photostream/

Soooo........ the point of no return:

.... and suddenly ...

I closed up the gaps with plasticard but I need to re-work the aileron blank to make it look right. The slats one is getting there:

I'm in for an op on my ankles tomorrow, so though I may be off work I should be able to sit at a desk in a couple of days and catch up with some more modelling. More to follow....

Edited April 6, 2013 by Natter

[CliffB]

Great work with the HP42 so far - one of my favourites.

Good luck with op.

Cliff

[Natter]

I have managed a few bits today. The fuselage has some lumps on the roof which are representative of the tubes (vents?), but they don't look good so I took them off. As the roof is corrugated it meant rescribing the channels.

Lumps off:

I marked the lumps with the blade of a scalpel so I had a straight line to follow, and then rescribed the corrugations. I will add small tubes later:

A lot of the pieces have mould seams on, but the struts were really bad before I scraped them with a scalpel blade:

I added the forward struts to the upper wing, which was a mistake as I hadn't finished working on the wing and I broke several struts several times. I have done some more work on the tail too as the upper 'wing' sits proud of the fins and rudders, not as Airfix made them. I reshaped the fins so they looked more like the shape in the period photos and then added some small pieces at the top of the fins:

so the top 'wing' sits clear of the fins, and it should look a bit like this when it is on the plane. The holes are for the rigging when I do that later on:

So far I am about here with assembly of bits (broken strut to be fitted later):

Hopefully more progress soon.

Edited April 6, 2013 by Natter

[Natter]

I have managed a little bit more work on the Heracles. Having separated the ailerons and the slats I then needed to work out how to refit them in the right configuration! First off, the ailerons. Looking at the period photos there seemed to be two supports for the hinges, so to replicate the upper support and provide strength for the ailerons I drilled the filled area of the wing and inserted fine wire. I didn't bother filling the gap in the ailerons themselves as the gap would be well hidden once assembled. I drilled them to accept the other end of the wire none the less:

The slats were a different matter. I cut short lengths of stretched sprue, drilled the slats and fitted the little bits of cut stretched sprue into the holes. As part of the earlier preparation work I had removed the lumps that were supposed to be the control horns. I glued two remanufactured control horns made of plastic card, one at each end, and then fitted the assembly to the wing. The two middle horns were then fitted to the wing direct. The lower hinge supports for the ailerons were made from more stretched sprue and glued on in line with the internal wire. Some small pieces to represent the hinges still need making and fitting, but for now it looks like this:

I wanted to make the upper wing and struts as a separate assembly and fit it after painting, but I was having real problems lining the struts up, and I kept breaking them. So, I have taken a risk and fitted the upper wing even though I still have the painting to do. There are still a couple of struts to fit, and the wheels and tailplane upper are just dry fitted, but it looks like this so far:

It's getting there........

[Neal]

Looking great. That's some really clean, precise scratch building.

[CliffB]

Some serious work going on there Dave.

Looks like this could turn into something pretty special!

Cliff

[Natter]

Hi folks, tahnk you for the compliments but this won't be special, I am just trying a few things out and (mostly) having fun. I did a bit more work today.

The tailwheel was basic and didn't look much like the real thing, so I did a few bits with the same wire as I used to support the ailerons. The shock absorber is just some Tamiya tape. It looks OK, not great, but OK:

I did the tubes on the cabin roof too. The little bits under the engine nacelles are representative oil coolers. The lower ones are by the main undercarriage angle struts, and are all but hidden, so I haven't put those on. Well, that's my excuse as they were darn difficult to fit!:

The upper wing has pipes and, errr... , something else, over the fuel tanks; the pipes running back to the trailing edge of the wing. I did the 'something else' with shaped strip and the pipes with lead wire. They look like this:

I have primed the model and now I have to pluck up the courage to set about it with four or five shades of silver!

[CliffB]

Just remembered this brilliant post from a couple of years ago.

Hope you don't mind me bumping it up again. It's worth reading right the way through.

Cliff

[Natter]

Cracking thread Cliff, and worth reading through as you said. I knew that Heracles was an H.P.45 but I didn't know about the 2 and four bladed props. So, the kit props are correct for the H.P45 after all.. The pics in the thread are also to be found in "Desertbloom"'s photostream in Flikr which I have been using as my main reference.

[Bengalensis]

Beautiful work on equally beautiful subject. As so often, I once again feel I was born far too late when I see this wonderful aircraft. It gets my imagination going... Looking forward to next update, and the next...

[Natter]

Okay then, where were we. Well the whole model has been given the silver treatment using Citadel/Games Workshop Chainmail and Mithril Silver, and Alclad Airframe Aluminium and Chrome. The Chainmail is around the windows and the fuselage forward of the tailwheel. The corrugated fuselage is Airframe Aluminium with the forward fuselage in Chrome as I haven't got polished Aluminium in my paint store. All the fabric areas and the struts are in Mithril Silver. I had real problems with the Mithril Silver, which surprise me as I have always managed a decent finish with it before. I couldn't get a regular flow through the airbrush and on the final coat the airbrush spattered and shot out a load of bits and lumps, destroying the finish on the upper wing. No option but to rub it back and go again:

After a rerun with the primer and a quick polish back I filtered the Mithril Silver through a pair of SWMBO's tights before spraying the topcoat. Yes she did know I was using them for this! There were loads of bits on the outside of the tights after filtering, so new pot is required. The new finish is much more what I was expecting:

Alas the comments I had read about the Alclad Airframe Aluminium being fragile were all too true. It was left 12 hours before being masked, but removing the Tamiya tape revealed it was trashed:

I polished it back very gently and recoated. It looks better now, but if you haven't used it before learn from my mistake.

I have painted the engines and the props which are currently drying. Next is to Klear the airframe ready for decals. Currently it all looks like this:

The camera hasn't done the forward fuselage any favours, the contrast isn't actually as stark in real life. Looking at the period photos the forward fuselage was highly polished; I haven't replicated that very well, but it will have to do. The weekend will see this finished unless I have a Klear disaster.

[Natter]

I have managed a bit more today. It doesn't look much but it has taken a while. The whole airframe was sprayed with Klear to get a good gloss. While that dried the last touches were made to the engines, a bit of a dry brush with some metallic. The main registration letters on the wings were cut as closely as possible with a scalpel, essentially leaving no carrier film. The other decals were just cut to their main outline. Once applied, and the micro-sol/set residue cleaned, the whole model was sprayed with Windsor and Newton Galleria satin varnish.

I had actually done the rigging before the varnish and I also did the aileron hinge pieces. These are small discs about 0.3mm wide cut from 0.5mm rod, and then cut in to half circles. A paint touch up will be done as part of the final detailing.

The tail was rigged too. Although there are small imperfections in the photo the whole model's tail assembly is less than 2" across and they don't show up. The little triangle on the top is the start of the elevator actuator mechanism which is very prominent on the original.

The engines aren't too bad but the mudguards were too high and I have had to drop them down the undercarriage struts. You can still see the original mounting hole which will need filling and a paint touch up.

The propellers are done with lifecolor sand, W&N burnt umber oil and a coat of Klear. They are about 3/4" across so the picture is way bigger than life size. I am undecided about trying to make a small boss for each one, or just paint the centre silver. We shall see:

I have 'stuff' to do tomorrow so no more modelling until at least Sunday.

Edited April 12, 2013 by Natter

[CliffB]

Looks like this could turn into something pretty special!

Cliff

'I told you so'

Cliff

[Bengalensis]

Absolutely wonderful!

[Neal]

'I told you so'

Cliff

Agreed

[John_W]

That is absoloutely stunning.

[Natter]

It is almost there, canopy framing to finish when the last bits have dried:

I realised that I was taking things too seriously as I marked the boltheads on to the propeller bosses with a needle in a pin vice, using a magnifying visor. The propeller bosses are <2mm across. That way madness lies....

[Natter]

The final details are done.

The exhausts have been done. The kits skinny plastic bits are the wrong shape and look silly, but I found some copper wire which was about the right diameter and was workable. The upper exhausts have fine wire supports to represent the fine support struts on the originals and while they're not perfect close up in the pictures, they look OK on the model. The colour is Humbrol metalcote steel:

The lower exhausts are configured slightly differently on the different HP42s, but I think I have the correct configuration for Heracles. The silencers are made from stretched plastic tube slid over the wire. The supports were too awkward to fit on the lower exhausts, so I have compromised a bit:

I dropped the mudguards and made the supports from stretched sprue:

The tail is completed with the supports and control rods for the outer rudders and the control for the upper elevator. The outer rudders are actually hinged at the rear and I had to move them forward as Airfix moulded the mounting halfway through the lower elevator whereas they actually mount at the rear of the tailplane. In hindsight I should have reduced the rib effect on these too, but it's too late now. The tailwheel has been reworked as well:

At the forward end I made the pitot from stretched sprue and thin card, and the wind generator from stretched sprue with a propeller from a tiny piece of folded bare metal foil. The canopy framing is BMF as well, and the tiny faults noticeable on the pictures don't show up on the model. The window in the door is Micro Krystal Klear, which still hasn't dried properly yet.

That's it; done. The model is in the cabinet. I will post some other pics in the gallery when I get the chance. A huge 'thank you' to all who commented and watched.

[CarLos]

Great work, Dave. Fantastic details, specially in this small scale.

Makes me think of my Contrail vac...

Carlos

[swordfish fairey]

Nicely completed Dave, you've done a grand job with it....................Smudge