Scratchbuilt 1/144 Airco DH11 Oxford

[Jonners]

The Airco DH11, designed by the legendary Geoffrey de Havilland, was designed as a day bomber to replace the DH10 Amiens. Powered by a pair of ABC Dragonfly engines, the sole example H5891 first flew in January 1919.

 

 

Although aerodynamically clean (for the period) and offering an excellent field of fire for the mud-upper gunner, some handling problems were encountered and the Dragonfly engines proved to be unreliable and underpowered. The fate of the Oxford was sealed, however, by timing: the end of the First World War had effectively removed the imperative to produce new day bomber types, leading to the cancellation of the planned second and third prototypes, and the DH11's demise.

 

I started this model some time ago before putting it in a box 'to finish later'. When that later duly arrived, I decided to finish it alongside my Handley Page Hyderabad scratchbuild shown in the WiP section. It is mostly of plastic card construction, being a fairly simple box-section fuselage, but I used some bombs from the spares box (plus filler!) to form the basis of the Dragonfly engines: 

 

 

 

The finished article was hand-painted, though I admit the finish is a bit ropey, and the props were carved from cocktail sticks. Decals for the serial were found by scouring the depths of my spares folder, while the roundels came from the Miniscale MS-006 sheet. Rigging was a chore, and my first attempt in this scale and using this technique, which was to superglue individual lengths of straightened dental repair wire in the same way as stretched sprue would be used.  Here goes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...and one more for luck:

 

 

Thanks for making it this far!

 

Jon

[TonyW]

A terrific achievement. that really does look spectacular for such a small model. The picture on my monitor is of a plane with a wing span of over a foot. Everything still looks crisp and clean, even at that kind of enlargement. The build could easily pass for a much larger scale.

[Jonners]

Thanks Tony, that's very generous. Actual wingspan is 12.5cm - I've just measured it!

[JWM]

That i a great tiny model!

BTW - Where you've got that huge bottle of Revell cement?

Regards

J-W

[Horatio Gruntfuttock]

That is quite stunning Jonners. I thought it was 1/72 and was most impressed until I saw the last shot when 'impressed' turned to 'gob-smacked'! Must admit I would never dream of rigging in 144 so well done there as well.

[spiton]

great scratchbuild. Looks very light and simple. Well, You had a Idea, and You  Did it... But We know, that it isn't simple.

[russ c]

Amazing micro-modelling there or that`s one big tube of glue you got . 

[jeaton01]

Amazing model.  Have the Aurora DH10 but never heard of this.

[John Masters]

What a treat to see the model and then suddenly the final image...oh yes...144th...I forgot!  Amazing!

[Silenoz]

splendid work in this wee scale...

[Britman]

Nice going with the rigging Jon ,and I noticed the 'quieter ' prop colour. Just to add , I picked my Hyderabad off the shelf last night and fixed a wayward rigging line! I am hoping to pick this project up again and get on with it , but, I put the drawings somewhere to get them easily rather than amongst all the others.  Do you think I can find them?  I'll get back soon I hope. 

 

Keith 

[invidia]

Great looking model, didn't realise how small until the last picture. 

[GrzeM]

Very good build!

The airplane looks like a mix of the DH 9 and the Dragon Rapid.