De Havilland D.H.89a, Heller, 1/72nd scale

[Courageous]

Love the work on your undercarriage, fantastic work as usual Moa.

 

Stuart

[CedB]

Those springs! Great stuff Moa

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

15 hours ago, k5054nz said:

I almost exclusively build museum/private/warbird aircraft, but I think I'm very odd like that among modellers! It makes getting references a lot easier.

But Zac, not to have to plunge your head into references for ages may deprive you from part of the suffering involved in building models!

Sigh...I can't understand certain modelers....

😉

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

The surplus section of the nacelles is removed:

 

The halves are glued together:

 

 Some re-shaping is ahead, since the aft part in the Argentinian machines was more curved, as can be seen in this crude sketch.
Also a partial bottom will be needed enclosing the nacelle, minus the area where the legs exit.
In order to curve the aft part, some Milliput or epoxy should be added there internally, to allow sanding without creating gaps:

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

The legs were glued to a styrene tab. Then the inner lips of the nacelle where the legs go were thinned down.

The legs were then inserted expanding just a tad the gap, to be pressed so to speak between the sides. Once in place, checking correct angle and height, cyano was applied:

 

Then the reinforcement struts were cut from wire and glued too:

 

 All elements in place. The bottom will be covered with styrene sheet sanded to shape, then some little epoxy will be added from the top, carefully, to anchor the gear firmly:

 

The pan receives a generic grey tone:

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Parts that will cover the bottom of the nacelles:

 

Glued on. They will later be sanded to shape. Notice that I forgot, when I painted the cabin pan, about the "ceiling" at the bottom of the upper wing, in the background:

[GrzeM]

Very interesting build! Not only detailing and improving the existing kit, but also all those modifications!!!

Good luck with this!!!

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

A generic cylinder is added behind the nacelles' front -clearing the edges-, before gluing the latter on:

 

My ebil plan: to use two sets of Arctic Decals masks, one for the exterior and another for the interior; that way when you peep through the open door you won't see a glossy piece of strip window in the cabin, but the same tone as the rest of the fuselage. That means I will glue the transparencies first, mask, and then paint the fuselage interior (note to oneself: do not forget to remove the masks before closing the fuselage):

[Fastcat]

Looking better and better with every photo. Nice!

 

Dave

[CedB]

Seconded!

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

The nacelles are completed:

 

The interior is ready:

 

Transparencies are glued on. They do not completely adapt to the curvature of the fuselage sides, buy I didn't want to "flex" them in the opposite direction for fear of breaking or crazing them, so I glued one extreme first and then the opposite:

 

Masks are applied from the inside (you will need a second set for the outside). The nacelles are glued on the lower wing; their fit is a tad indifferent, and may need a touch here and there, still, no perfect fit:

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

The interior is given a base color. Door and wing "ceiling" should not be forgotten:

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

A few more details:

 

 To build fast has its advantages and disadvantages. The P.E. sets have arrived, but being not completely aware of its contents I already dealt with some of the details myself. You may notice that there are two sets: the second is for other DH89 I want to build, the MacRobertson entry Tainui, ZK-ACO:

 

 Nice set with good instructions. Not all is for me doable, being some of the parts beyond what my eyes can handle, and others I rather do in a different way (seat belts, for example):

 

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Assemble of the photo-etched components begins:

 

[corsaircorp]

Really good job Moa !

Such a nice aeroplane, and you're making her justice 8

With an Heller kit, let's say this is more than justice !

Brilliant !

Sincerely.

Corsaircorp

[Courageous]

Going great Moa. You can always build another DH to use up your PE.

 

Oh, don't forget to de-mask your internals.

 

Stuart

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

9 hours ago, Courageous said:

You can always build another DH to use up your PE.

  

Oh, but I am, Stuart:

14 hours ago, Moa said:

the second is for other DH89 I want to build, the MacRobertson entry Tainui, ZK-ACO:

[Martian]

My "won't" power is fast disappearing and its all your fault Moa! 

 

Martian 👽

[Tomoshenko]

Lovely work, especially on the undercarriage. Even though I won't be modelling his version myself, it's nice to see.

1 hour ago, Martian Hale said:

My "won't" power is fast disappearing and its all your fault Moa! 

 

Martian 👽

Yeh my thoughts too. My kit is working its way up the stash ladder.

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Almost ready to close the fuselage:

[Courageous]

Looks neat and tidy, and the internal masking looks like it's off .

[CedB]

Very nice Moa - I like those internals, a lot!

[perdu]

Our resident Rapide expert likes it

So do I, I wish I'd finished mine now

 

Lovely little bird isn't it

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Fuselage is closed. Here I am doing a dry-run of the photo-etched window frames. They go quite well. Since this Argentinian machine had the frames painted over with the color of the fuselage (red), I will be using these metal ones, saving the Arctic Decals' "metal" vinyl ones for my next DH89, Tainui, that will need them:

 

Dry-run of upper and lower wing, no problems here:

 

Those seams of course will need attention, all over the model:

 

 The lower wing is glued in place:

 

A view of the components:

 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Looking good Moa.   Great work,  I must admit I didn't know that a PE set was available for this kit.  May have to look at another one now. SWMBO might not be happy though !!!

 

All the best 

Chris