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


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The top fuselage "stringered" cover is on, after cutting out the emergency exit circle.
7-minute epoxy was used, thinly spread on the part. A piece of cloth dampened with alcohol was at hand to remove epoxy stains (there were several).

I had to keep prodding the part in place.
So unless you know what you are doing, kids, don't try this at home:

IMG_4996+%25281280x960%2529.jpg

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7 hours ago, stevehnz said:

Liking good, the roof stringers especially so. How does one know if ones subject has a metal tummy or not :unsure:

Steve.

Hi Steve

Only (that I am aware of) the machines that operated for Aero Taxi TAASA in Argentina had that mod.

See here, at the bottom, and then beginning of the following page:

https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1960/1960 - 2430.html

 

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The stringers look great. When I did something similar with a model of mine, I tried with a variety of glues, not including epoxy, finishing up with superglue. Lots of trial and error. But I think 2 part epoxy is probably the best choice there.

 

Regards,

Adrian

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Lovely work. As per Adrian's comment, those stringers look great, and convincing. "convince" - I like that terminology in respect of moving and gluing things in place 😊 I visited Duxford museum on Saturday and went for a brief flight in one of their Rapides, so I am gushing with admiration and appreciation for the Rapide at the moment - more than usual. Glad to  see your doing a wonderful job of recreating such a wonderful aircraft.

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10 hours ago, Courageous said:

Those stringers look subtle but effective under the primer.

I've taken a look back through the topic and I didn't note how you mad 'your' skin, can you elaborate?

 

Stuart

Hi Stuart

As explained above, I saw the technique applied to the Rapide in an old SAMI issue.

But the technique itself is as old as scratch-building.

The part is positioned over a piece of cardboard and scribed with a ball-pen. How much pressure/passes and how thick the plastic depends on the particular project.

If the results are a bit excessive, you can tone down sanding. If too mild, re-scribe.

The technique is good but won't tolerate too much compound curvature, and works obviously better on relatively flat surfaces or single-curvature ones.

Practice is the rest.

Cheers

 

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Hope I am not too late in mentioning this; but do check the alignment of the aileron actuators on both wings with the outer most struts, which houses the cable runs for the ailerons. I found that on one of them they do not match up with the location points in between the wings respectively. On one I built I noticed the one was a ribs distance apart but do not exactly recall which. Also the tailplanes!!! If you do a dry run you will notice the hinge line got the elevators are angled back....not good!!! the feint rib lines look as though they are in line but when mated to the rear fuselage and the tapered angle of this area, you will see how bad they are!!

 

Wouldn't want you to spoil your very nice build with errors mentioned here ruining your work.

 

 

 

PS: I would dearly love to have a modern new tooling of the Rapide in 72nd..... right now will be fine!!!

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38 minutes ago, Paul J said:

Hope I am not too late in mentioning this; but do check the alignment of the aileron actuators on both wings with the outer most struts, which houses the cable runs for the ailerons. I found that on one of them they do not match up with the location points in between the wings respectively. On one I built I noticed the one was a ribs distance apart but do not exactly recall which. Also the tailplanes!!! If you do a dry run you will notice the hinge line got the elevators are angled back....not good!!! the feint rib lines look as though they are in line but when mated to the rear fuselage and the tapered angle of this area, you will see how bad they are!!

Hi Paul

Of the stab I knew, having built one long ago, but I had missed the aileron linkage misplacement (lower right wing, underneath), so thanks very much!:

IMG_5082+%25281280x960%2529.jpg

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The horizontal stabilizer is sanded down to erase the rib relief, that is angled incorrectly. New "ribs" are engraved. The angle of the root rib is changed to better fit the fuselage sides, avoiding the swept-back angle that the kit renders otherwise.

The front knob, that was removed to alter said angle, is drilled and replaced with rod.

Now ready for priming:

IMG_5155+%25281280x960%2529.jpg

Base color applied to airframes and ancillary parts:

IMG_5160+%25281280x960%2529.jpg

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Moa,

These are looking really lovely - as "bigbadbadge" says, your builds are inspirational.

As someone who seems to be struggling with a Revell Spitfire that simply has to built "out of the box" I am very impressed by the quality of your work.

Thanks for sharing.

Nick.

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Hi Moa 

They're looking great what a great pair.

Although SWMBO might not be happy when I get another model.  Can you please write me a note to excuse my behaviour !!!

 

Keep up the good work. 

All the best 

Chris 

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58 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Although SWMBO might not be happy when I get another model.  Can you please write me a note to excuse my behaviour !!!

Sure. Try this:

 

Dear Unknown (but somehow universal) SWMBO:

On behalf of the world modeling population (calculated in the millions) we request that you dispense forgiveness and absolution for our modeling sins, which are many.

But please consider the number of all sorts of other sins we do not commit by committing to modeling itself.

What are, in the great scope of the universe and mankind's history a few more shillings? so little price to pay for so much happiness.

Consider the dinosaurs, they did not do any modeling and they went extinct.

Think about Plato, Kant, Lao Tse, John Lennon. They may be all looking at you while you ponder on this momentous decision.

As the Monty Python famously said in the Mr. Creosote restaurant skit: Only One More Little Thin Mint!

What can possibly go wrong.

 

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2 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Although SWMBO might not be happy when I get another model.  Can you please write me a note to excuse my behaviour !!!

You could sell those notes by the truck load! You can put me down for one for a start!

 

Martian 👽

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