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Vintage Aeroclub Demon, 1/72


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I don't suppose many of these get built nowadays, but there was a time when the various Aeroclub kits were the best available if you wanted to do any member of the Hawker Hart lineage. Recently John from Aeroclub was kind enough to hunt up a couple of his old decal sheets for me, which was a tremendous help in a scratch-build project, and so I thought I would dig out of store and build one of the old Aeroclub kits I have, by way of a small tribute to all he has contributed to our hobby.

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I got a good many of these Demon kits years ago secondhand from a gentleman in Australia, shortly after taking up the hobby again. One I converted to a Nisr and one to a Hardy, and one I did up as a 'Malta Demon' in a scheme I now know to have been wildly inaccurate. I still have two, more or less, un-built, as well as an Audax and an Osprey. Even today, stacked up against the newer limited-run offerings from A-Model and AZ Models, they still have points to recommend them.

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I approached this build in an 'out of the bag' spirit, and since the instructions include direction to 'detail to choice' (as well as to make some of the struts), I think a bit of fiddling and some little extras stays well within that. The white metal parts supplied include a fair start towards a detailed cockpit, but I decided to recruit a couple of likely lads in Sidcots to save time and keep me concentrating on the over-all finish. I used the kit decals, which went down without any fuss at all. The subject of the Aeroclub kit, K2905 of 41 Sqdn., flown by C Flight leader, was chosen by the Corgi people as one of their 1/72 die-cast subjects not long ago.

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The aluminum dope finish is craft acrylic silver mixed with some white and cut with Future, brushed on over white primer. The metal panels of the nose are done with aluminum foil, boiled a while with egg-shells to take off the shine and darken it a bit, with MicroScale foil adhesive applied. Rigging is done with EZ-Line elastic for the long lines, and 0.004" brass wire for the short lengths.

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Wife tried a new technique in these pictures. Not long ago a picture was accidentally taken without the flash of another model, and in processing she removed the shadow and did a couple of other tweaks, and we both liked the result. So these are done without flash in indoor sunlight, and treated as she did the earlier picture.

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Edited by Old Man
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Hi Old Man:

Without a doubt, a great masterwork with this little gem of a kit. That's why many people is looking for those Aeroclub nice oldies.

I liked a lot all the rigging and painting you have done here and,obviously, the master photo work your wife did for you and our benefit, really a great lady doing her best effort to show her husban's masterwork. "Standing Ovation for both of you"!!!!!

Also, i bet you have felt as younger as you were by the time those nice kits were readily available in the market!!1 Cheers for you

Luis Alfonso

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A beautiful rendition, Sir, of the aeronautical allure of the 1930s!

She looks just 'right' to my eyes, although perhaps EZ-Line appears a trifle thick for the antenna job.

Marvellous modelling, in the true sense of the word.

Kind regards,

Joachim

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Oh that is just beautiful!. I love the Demon/Hart/Audax etc series and fully agree with you about John Adams bringing these kits to market. I have spent many happy hours over the last 25 or so years building Aeroclub kits, mainly 1/48th though. I still have a Vac-form 1/48 Demon stashed away, and I will build it one day.

Thanks for posting, it's lovely to see one of these agsin.

Cheers

John

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I'd imagine that was quite a challenging build. But a lovely result :)

Particularly like the inclusion of the crew in their white flying suits.

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Old Man.

your moniker belies your skills and talent. .This is absolutely FABULOUS. . :wub:

The simplicity of the base is quite a clever way of showing off your Vintage Aeroclub Demon.

She looks SPLENDID. And the pilot and co pilot in their white suits us EXACTLY as I think they would be dressed in that era.

BRILLIANT painting et al :wow:

KUDOS :worthy::worthy:

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Hi Old Man:

Without a doubt, a great masterwork with this little gem of a kit. That's why many people is looking for those Aeroclub nice oldies.

I liked a lot all the rigging and painting you have done here and,obviously, the master photo work your wife did for you and our benefit, really a great lady doing her best effort to show her husban's masterwork. "Standing Ovation for both of you"!!!!!

Also, i bet you have felt as younger as you were by the time those nice kits were readily available in the market!!1 Cheers for you

Luis Alfonso

Thank you, Sir. I was already old by the time they stopped making these, but I would have loved to have had them available when I was much younger. Thank you for the compliments on her picture work, also. I do not know what it is, but these look somehow more 'solid' to me than flash pictures do.

A really great result. That .004'' brass wire works a treat. Where do you get it from?

Thank you, Sir. There is a fellow named Berman over here in the States sells coils of it, at a very reasonable price. It is stiff, and can be held in a tweezer without worry over bending it, though straightening is often necessary for longer lengths. White glue on the ends will hold it in place, so it is safe to make mistakes....

A beautiful rendition, Sir, of the aeronautical allure of the 1930s!

She looks just 'right' to my eyes, although perhaps EZ-Line appears a trifle thick for the antenna job.

Marvellous modelling, in the true sense of the word.

Kind regards,

Joachim

Thank you, Sir. It was six of one, half dozen of the other on the antennae array; the fine wire would have sagged under its own weight over so long a length....

Oh that is just beautiful!. I love the Demon/Hart/Audax etc series and fully agree with you about John Adams bringing these kits to market. I have spent many happy hours over the last 25 or so years building Aeroclub kits, mainly 1/48th though. I still have a Vac-form 1/48 Demon stashed away, and I will build it one day.

Thanks for posting, it's lovely to see one of these agsin.

Cheers

John

Thank you, Sir. I agree, they were, and are, great kits. Obviously, 'for experienced modellers' applies, but if you bring something to the build yourself, these build up very nicely indeed. The surface renditions remain superior to many more modern kits, and the metal parts are a treat, and not just in detail. The metal struts were a joy, and fit very well.

Edited by Old Man
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I'd imagine that was quite a challenging build. But a lovely result :)

Particularly like the inclusion of the crew in their white flying suits.

Old Man.

your moniker belies your skills and talent. .This is absolutely FABULOUS. . :wub:

The simplicity of the base is quite a clever way of showing off your Vintage Aeroclub Demon.

She looks SPLENDID. And the pilot and co pilot in their white suits us EXACTLY as I think they would be dressed in that era.

BRILLIANT painting et al :wow:

KUDOS :worthy: :worthy:

Thank you, Gentlemen. I like to do an occasional crew now and then. It is fun on its own (I went through a figure painting period when in my teens, mostly Staddens), and it serves as a marker to myself to concentrate on the externals, which will be seen, rather than the internals, which mostly will not. I worked for some years as a jeweler when a younger man, and can get lost among tiny bits quite easily....

A beautiful build, and set of wonderfully with the base, nice one ,

Sean

Thank you, Sir. I do the terrain element separate from the wood. I cut the shape out of thin plastic, and give it body with epoxy. Dirt texture comes from colored grout powder, and ground cover is railroader's static grass.

That's a fine tribute to John - lovely piece of work and as above, where did you find the 0.004" wire?

ATB

Rick

Thank you, Sir.

He is gentleman and a very good fellow.

As I said above, a fellow named Berman here in the states sells coils of it. He often advertises over on HyperScale in their 'Plane Trading' section.

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Crickey OM!!

Another jaw-dropingly good biplane model from your stable.

You're rather good at biplanes aren't you my friend.

The Boss's camera work is also spot-on.

I reckon "Uncle" John Adams will be well impressed with your work.

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Lovely work, OM! As a fan of the Hart-series, I love to see well-built models of them. I'd love to see that Nisr - you should post it. Regarding the Malta Demons - I'd love to do one, but does anyone have any good information about the colours?

Regards,

Jason

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Crickey OM!!

Another jaw-dropingly good biplane model from your stable.

You're rather good at biplanes aren't you my friend.

The Boss's camera work is also spot-on.

I reckon "Uncle" John Adams will be well impressed with your work.

Thank you, Sir. I am fond of building biplanes, so I get a good deal of practice in on them.

Wife greatly appreciates yours, and other's, comments on the camera-work. She is very good with images in general, and on occasion does up decals for me.

Very nice indeed. The crew are certainly a good finishing touch.

Thank you, Sir. Figures can add a nice touch.

Lovely work, OM! As a fan of the Hart-series, I love to see well-built models of them. I'd love to see that Nisr - you should post it. Regarding the Malta Demons - I'd love to do one, but does anyone have any good information about the colours?

Regards,

Jason

Glad you like it, Sir. The Nisr is on the 'I could do this better now' shelf, and this applies both to quality of craft and to a recently developed suspicion the cross section of the fuselage of these radial types was bulged a bit where the pilot's gun was. I saw a picture of a Persian Hind with access panels off that has given me much to think about on that topic.

Regarding the Malta topic, we have been chewing over that recently in the Interwar forum. Here is a link; you might find the discussion and materials interesting....

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/71814-demons-with-wacky-camo/

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That is lovely! I particularly like the treatment of the metal nose against the aluminium dope fabric. The Aeroclub kit is very short run, but it has excellent surface detail compared to the Airfix Demon, where the fabric effect was ground into the old Hart mould. I've got an unfinished Demon waiting for me to work out how to make the wings look reasonable!

The squadron markings are super and the crew set it off wonderfully.

Regards,

Adrian

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Thank you very much for the link, OM! Very interesting, although obviously there are still questions about the Malta scheme. Regarding the radial-engined Hart variants, there was indeed a bulge over the forward-firing gun. I'm not certain, but this may apply to all of the radial-engined versions. Kora and AZ Models have portrayed this bulge on their kits, such as the Swedish Hart, the Persian/Soviet Audax, and the Egyptian Audax. I do hope you redo your Nisr (mine is still in the "to-do" pile) and post your results.

Regards,

Jason

Edited by Learstang
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That is lovely! I particularly like the treatment of the metal nose against the aluminium dope fabric. The Aeroclub kit is very short run, but it has excellent surface detail compared to the Airfix Demon, where the fabric effect was ground into the old Hart mould. I've got an unfinished Demon waiting for me to work out how to make the wings look reasonable!

The squadron markings are super and the crew set it off wonderfully.

Regards,

Adrian

Thank you, Sir.

I am a devotee of foil; nothing looks quite so much like metal as metal.

Messing with the Hart mould was one of the worst mistakes the old Airfix made....

Your model and display captures the spirit and realism of a bye gone era!

Thank you very much, Sir. Glad you like it.

Thank you very much for the link, OM! Very interesting, although obviously there are still questions about the Malta scheme. Regarding the radial-engined Hart variants, there was indeed a bulge over the forward-firing gun. I'm not certain, but this may apply to all of the radial-engined versions. Kora and AZ Models have portrayed this bulge on their kits, such as the Swedish Hart, the Persian/Soviet Audax, and the Egyptian Audax. I do hope you redo your Nisr (mine is still in the "to-do" pile) and post your results.

Regards,

Jason

I greatly appreciate the confirmation, Sir. I suspect it has something to do with having to get the gun a little farther from the center-line to allow the bullets safe passage between the cylinders of the motor. It will take a little thought to figure how to do it right for a conversion from one of my kits on hand....

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