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Hobbycraft 1/72 DHC-2 Beaver ****FINISHED****


AndrewE

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I dug this out from the stash this morning, been meaning to build a few float planes for SPLASH SIG and this is a great excuse to build one.

 

I shall be using a st of Max decals and finishing it as a float plane operated by the RAAF in Antarctica in 1962.

 

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I would like to follow this thread Andrew :).

 

I have the same set of decals, but have no kit. Both the Hobbycraft and old Airfix one are hard to get hold of at a reasonable price here in Australia. I'm not sure which one to get, so I'm interested to see how your Hobbycraft goes together.

 

I love polar subjects, great choice of scheme :thumbsup2: 

 

:popcorn: 

 

Best regards

TonyT

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This is progressing nicely so far.  The clear plastic fuselage takes some getting used to, not many builds require the first task to be masking but at least the tedious job that is out of the way now. Masking required inside and out (remember to remove the inside before buttoning up the fuselage!)

I am not worrying too much about the interior as no doors will be open so nothing will be too visible. I shall add some detail to the floats in the form of inspection hatches and pulleys.

Apart from the fuselage doors there is very little in the way of panel lines on the kit.  I have rescribed the doors as the outline would probably have disappeared under a couple of coats of paint. I may do some extra panel lines on the wings but other than that I shall leave it as it comes.

 

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Beaver%2003_zpslf0lki6k.jpg

 

Beaver%2004_zpswjegcfmy.jpg

 

 

 

 

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GOOOD Choice. Despite it being a basic kit and has hints of Airfix in one or two areas. BUT watch out regarding the location points for the front float struts!!!!! The locations are TOO HIGH> You should drill the holes lower down practically on the bottom edge corner of the fuselage but in line with the wrong holes. Check all the many images on line and especially the highly recommended website   dhc-2.com

 

Whose markings will it wear?

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On ‎17‎/‎03‎/‎2017 at 8:32 AM, Paul J said:

GOOOD Choice. Despite it being a basic kit and has hints of Airfix in one or two areas. BUT watch out regarding the location points for the front float struts!!!!! The locations are TOO HIGH> You should drill the holes lower down practically on the bottom edge corner of the fuselage but in line with the wrong holes. Check all the many images on line and especially the highly recommended website   dhc-2.com

 

Whose markings will it wear?

Thanks for the warning but on looking closely at the fuselage there are no attachment holes for the floats, maybe I have a fuselage for the wheeled Beaver instead. 

 

I tried dry fitting the float struts and ran into problems straight away.  Firstly the rear set have the lower attachment points on the float set too far apart and the rear most strut is not long enough as photos show it attaching to the fuselage just below the rear corner of the main door.   The second problem is the front struts do not seem to fit properly either, and the carpet monster has claimed a set this morning anyway so it looks like I shall be making replacement ones all round.

 

I have added some detail to the floats from plastic sheet and then sanded down so hopefully when painted they are only just proud of the surface.  The inter float struts were attached but after finding a plan on the internet they seem to be a scale 12 inches too far apart so this has been corrected.

 

On the fuselage I have added the antenna housing? on top just to the rear of the wing. This was made from bits from the spares box and sanded to shape.  Also added is what I presume is an external fuel tank below the fuselage.  This tank appears in all of the photos of A95-205 that I can find and I have used a spare slipper tank from a Spitfire suitably narrowed by removing about a third of its width from the middle. This looks to be approximately the right shape and size.

 

Beaver%2005_zpsg0g9lpzp.jpg

 

Beaver%2006_zpsgywsersq.jpg

 

 

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The forward float attachment points are just visible on the inside fuselage halves. You can just make them out in your top photo . They are just below the forward doors as little circles. But it looks like you are getting along swimmingly so far.

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39 minutes ago, Paul J said:

The forward float attachment points are just visible on the inside fuselage halves. You can just make them out in your top photo . They are just below the forward doors as little circles. But it looks like you are getting along swimmingly so far.

Well I thought I was getting on OK as well but on closer inspection of photos I realised that the fuel tank should be offset to the left presumably so that it did not interfere with the exhaust which comes off the engine on the right.  Currently I have removed the tank and am making good again before re attaching.  I think I have all of the attachment points for the float struts now worked out.  Once I get the engine and fuel tank on I shall put it into a jig to cut and position new struts.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Time for a big update as things have progressed nicely over the last couple of weeks.

 

Firstly I have rectified the external fuel tank by shortening it somewhat and adding the plumbing to the front end.

 

 

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I have also added the covers to the small fuselage windows, these were made from slices of small bombs from the spares box. I think the windows themselves were actually tilted downwards but I have left them as they are.

 

The next job was to make a jig so that I could make the new struts for the floats.  Blue tack is actually much more sticky than you think and the rear strut between the floats was a casualty of this method on two occasions but it worked alright in the end.

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And the result with some more details added in the form of pulleys for the control lines to the rudders.

 

 

 

Next the wings were added.

 

 

 

 

 

And all ready for painting.

 

 

 

Mixed up an orange from Tamiya Orange darkened with liberal amounts of red.  The floats were sprayed with Alclad Airframe Aluminium.   Now putting on a few coats of Johnsons Klear before the decals.  This picture was taken after the first coat of Klear.

 

 

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First Beaver I have seen being built.

Impressive so far!

JR

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Finished this off earlier in the week and just taken some pictures for the gallery.  The attachment of the floats to the fuselage went OK and everything is reasonably squared up so I guess the scratch built struts worked out OK in the end.  Research can be as frustrating as it is rewarding sometimes and although it helped sort out  the details of the belly fuel tank it only provided tantalising clues as to how the rear rigging was routed through/around the tank. In the end I have omitted these two rigging wires altogether.  I made a change to the decal s as provided by Max Decals as research clearly shows that there were no roundels on the wing but instead the ARNE lettering was present (top and bottom).  The decals only provided enough lettering for the top so spare letters were sourced from the spares box.   The biggest disappointment was the presence of some plastic swarf inside the cockpit which has stubbornly remained attached to the inside of the windscreen despite shaking/tapping.

 

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