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DH 60G Gypsy Moth Coupe - The British Arctic Air Route Expedition


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On ‎19‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 7:20 AM, CedB said:

Very nice John - good job on the rigging.

She's looking very smart now, especially with those open windows - neat work :)

Thanks for the kind comments Ced. I feel that removing the moulded sections from the canopy and replacing them has helped to refine the detail in that area, although I have just noticed that the frame detail should only be only run along the top and bottom edges and down the hinge line. :doh: I think that because the upper wing is now on, it will be a bit too awkward for me to get to now, so I will have to live with that little error on this one.

 

I managed to squeeze in a bit more work last night, not without some ham fisted handling first though, this led to me breaking the two struts that join the floats together. So after two damns, a double damn, two b 'ells and a b****r - I had calmed down enough to carry out a repair and then fixed them in place.

 

38296709535_10cc3382a6_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

38296709925_7dc23bc486_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

With some red paint touch ups on the struts, a bit more rigging, the prop, beaching trolley and the upper wing registrations left to do, I think that one or two more sessions at the bench should see this one finished. I am not sure if I will get those in before we depart for The Netherlands on Friday though.

 

If this does happen to be my last update before Christmas, then in that fine old tradition of those two leading journals, The Beano and Dandy, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of my readers a Merry Christmas.  :santa:

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Looking excellent, John! The colour scheme really makes it a beautiful aircraft! Not too far from finished now!

 

I wish you also a Happy Christmas!

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I had hoped to add some rigging for the rudder and elevators tonight but I had forgotten that I had broken my 0.3mm drill. I will get a replacement ordered and hopefully it will arrive in time for me to complete that little job. Other work that I have finished has been the paint touch up on the struts, the addition of the tailplane supports, and after some paint, the final assembly of the beaching gear. 

 

39458019861_d53ccc8114_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

39458019101_f4bf4f4167_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

39458017411_9751722449_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

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On ‎02‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 22:24, John D.C. Masters said:

Excellent looking flyer you have there...love the rigging, the colour, the Expeditionary nature...and of course, the trolley.;)

Thanks John, I have used Uschi van der Rosten superfine thread for the rigging, it can be a bit tricky to use and at times I felt that I could do with employing an octopus, but with some patience and lots of muttering I got there.

It was the Expeditionary nature that appealed to me when I was looking for a suitable subject for this group build. This would also lead me to some further reading on the subject and I hadn't realised that the Arctic Air Route had not been fully mapped until this expedition in the early 1930's. The other Moth used on the expedition was yellow so both were quite colourful aircraft, IIRC this aircraft suffered considerable damage when they failed to secure it during an Arctic storm.

The trolley is in with the kit, my biggest dilemmas were colour choice and whether the wheels should have solid rubber tyres or metal. With no clues from the kit instructions, I considered using Olive Green but went with a Medium Grey in the end and decided to go with solid rubber tyres, both choices will no doubt be proved to be incorrect by those better informed.

 

I have enjoyed putting this kit together and could well be tempted into assembling another DH60 at some point, maybe with a conventional undercarriage for the next one.

 

On ‎03‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 06:45, CedB said:

She's a beauty John, great job :)

Thanks for the kind comment Ced. I hope that you had a good Christmas and New Year.

 

On ‎03‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 08:03, jrlx said:

As the others said: beautiful!

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

Thanks Jaime. I will try to complete the rigging if the drill arrives in time, although to be fair, I could add the rudder rigging but maybe not the double wire affair seen on the real aircraft. I am a subscriber to the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) school of modelling when it comes to rigging. If not then I will take some more photos for the gallery over the weekend.

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4 minutes ago, nimrod54 said:

The trolley is in with the kit, my biggest dilemmas were colour choice and whether the wheels should have solid rubber tyres or metal. With no clues from the kit instructions, I considered using Olive Green but went with a Medium Grey in the end and decided to go with solid rubber tyres, both choices will no doubt be proved to be incorrect by those better informed.

 

I think that your colour choice is fine.  I think that most of these seaplane "ports" were connected with naval stations, either merchant or military, and so the paints used for utility equipment were probably pretty drab, heavy and filled with lead to avoid corrosion.  Grey, light grey, white lead, etc...the trolley wheels were probably steel.  

 

Was the other expeditionary aircraft the same aircraft as well, but just yellow?  They'd make a stunning pair...

 

Once again...lovely work.

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1 hour ago, John D.C. Masters said:

Was the other expeditionary aircraft the same aircraft as well, but just yellow?  They'd make a stunning pair...

 

Yes John G-AAZR was the same aircraft type and can be seen in this link to a photo from the expedition DH 60G Coupe. There is also another nice shot here on Page 6 of the gallery of one of the aircraft on skis.

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Hi John ( @nimrod54 )

 

The GB deadline has been extended one week till 14 January 2014, 23:59 GMT. So, if you think there's still some final details to take care of before calling the model finished, you still have some time for that.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

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2 minutes ago, jrlx said:

Hi John ( @nimrod54 )

 

The GB deadline has been extended one week till 14 January 2014, 23:59 GMT. So, if you think there's still some final details to take care of before calling the model finished, you still have some time for that.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

 

Thanks for the heads-up Jaime, that should certainly help with the elevator rigging. No sign of my drills yet but I am still waiting to see if they arrive in the post today.

 

I have had a closer look at the rudder cables and it will prove too awkward for me to add those at this stage. The kits rudder control horns are too short but this would be simple to correct, the problem lies at the other end where the rudder pedals protrude through the fuselage. I scratched a couple of cable attachments from plastic strip and tubing but it is proving too difficult for my arthritic fingers to feed these through the wing rigging to attach them. In hindsight this work should have been done before fixing the upper wing in place and completing the rigging work, a bit of poor planning on my part there.  :banghead:

 

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Shortly after yesterdays posting my drills arrived so I was able to add the elevator cables last night, I have decided to forego the rudder cables because they are proving too difficult for me to attach at this stage of the build. I also took @John D.C. Masters advice (post #61) and repainted the wheels on the beaching trolley in a steel colour, so with that work completed, I am calling this one finished. 

 

25683770958_43e69247c3_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

38657882295_deda39bc82_c.jpg

] by John L, on Flickr

 

39524535602_7e08443ab8_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

25683771598_70c1b4097a_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

My thanks go to Jaime for hosting this GB and also to all of you out there who have taken the time to visit, comment and offer advice throughout my build. Cheers for now.

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Beautiful finished model, John! Carefully executed and immaculately finished! It's a joy to look at!Very well done! :clap2:

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

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As others have said, great work on the rigging (particularly on the tail). I also like the finish and expeditionary nature of the subject.

 

Regards,

David

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