Marklo Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 (edited) Since this is now taking most of my modelling time I thought I'd post a WIP thread. I'm building a Roden 1/48 DH4a in Aircraft Transport & Travel Livery Blue and Silver although opinion is divided as to wether it should be Black and Silver. I like hte blue so that's what I'm going to run with. First bit of assembley. It's a nice kit with sharp mouldings but everything is very thin and I had a lot of issues with alignments and fits. Not for beginners. Some prelimary paint work and breaking out the oil paints for some wood effects. Teeny tiny eylets (1mm OD) attached to the undercariage for rigging wires Rigging of same in progress Wheels on definitely needs a bit of cleaning up and retouching. Vertcal tail added. I'd have put the upper desk on the Cat (my avatar btw, hes 20 so I suppose I have to forgive him his foibles) knocked it off the desk and I can't find it. Not the rug in the room I model in is a very short pile so it's more space time anomaly than carpet monster. However as the Roden kit comes with all the parts for the DH4 bomber ( and about 10 other variants) , if I can't find the decking I can always use the one from that version with just a little cutting. Edited January 25, 2019 by Marklo 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Holden Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 AT & T should indeed be black, as it was a subsidiary of the manufacturer (AIRCO) and used their 'house' colours. The Instone plane was the blue one and decals are available from Arctic Decals : https://www.arcticdecals.com/products.html?id=21442/386816 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted January 28, 2019 Author Share Posted January 28, 2019 Quote On most photos of AT&T aircraft the fuselage colour looks too light to be black. Hmm gauging colours from black and white photos is notoriously dodgy as the various hues can vary wildly depending on the chemicals used to develop said photo and the age of the print. Quote AT & T should indeed be black, Quite torn on this one, I like the blue and this is intended to be an OOB build, so no aftermarket decals, but black would be quite striking too. hmm *a bit like the Airfix blue Matilda Caunter camoflauge then : I painted mine grey btw) Or maybe I can quote Slartibardfast and say , I'd rather be happy than right' Quote I find it plausible that AT&T used PC10 as a fuselage colour I don't think I'd buy this as the wings are definitely silver not CDL which would at least imply post war RAF schemes and no PC10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Holden Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 On 26/01/2019 at 20:22, schulz_hl said: Roger, do you have a contemporary source for that "house colour" statement? AIRCO did not manufacture civil airplanes before the end of WWI, so when were those house colours applied for the first time? I have a third hypothesis apart from black and blue. I find it plausible that AT&T used PC10 as a fuselage colour as all of their initial fleet were former military aircraft. On most photos of AT&T aircraft the fuselage colour looks too light to be black. Airco painted several of its aircraft in a 'house' colour scheme in 1919, like the DH-4R and 9R racing planes (which had 'AIRCO' in large white letters on the fuselage.) There were others, including some DH6s I think. It's possible that some of AT&Ts ex-military aircraft retained their military colours, but the DH16s were black and silver according to John Stroud's Aeroplane Monthly article and he was usually a reliable witness on colours. That DH51 you mention on the WoP forum was painted up for a British Airways (?) TV advert a few years ago, which featured several vintage aircraft in pseudo-vintage liveries. I guess it was the closest they could get to anything appropriate in airworthy condition. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted January 29, 2019 Author Share Posted January 29, 2019 The side walls on the kit were leaning in alarmingly so I've fitted some pracing to push them out to meet the upper decking. Odd kit looks lovely, nice moldings but a lot of flash and some very thin pieces that need quite a bit or reinforcement in the build. I've read reviews where the struts were drilled and reinforced with brass, hopefully I won't need to do this. Upper deck dry fitted (and act of Cat repaired) now fitting without needing buckets of filler. Quote the DH16s were black and silver according to John Stroud's Aeroplane Monthly article And the DH4a's ? Poised ready to break out some Humbrol 33 (but I do so like the blue ) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted November 10, 2019 Author Share Posted November 10, 2019 (edited) Ok this has sat for wayyyy too long, might move it over to Kuta XII, but either way needed to be finished with Edited November 10, 2019 by Marklo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 Glad to see this coming along! I've got one in the stash and I hope to eventually follow in your footsteps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted November 10, 2019 Author Share Posted November 10, 2019 (edited) Not happy with the silver at all, so shot it with some silver from Aldi then a very thin mist of humbrol metalcote aluminium. Much more like it. I also cut and fitted new windows as I wasn't happy with my first attempt, again much better. Next step finish the interior and it's on to struts and rigging. Edited November 10, 2019 by Marklo 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted December 31, 2019 Author Share Posted December 31, 2019 Progress, nearly ready to fit the upper wing. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted January 6, 2020 Author Share Posted January 6, 2020 (edited) Upper wing attached and all rigging wires in place. Just need to pull them through the lower wing and of course add in hte interplane struts. What you don't see is the AT&T decals which I managed to damage on both sides. In a fit of desperation I emailed Roden they emailed me back very quickly and they are sending me out a new set free of charge (10 out of 10 to Roden on their customer service), but it might mean I have to wait a bit to get the decals to fully finish the build. Edited January 6, 2020 by Marklo 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted January 14, 2020 Author Share Posted January 14, 2020 Rigging pulled and started on the interplane struts. Going for a January finish on this as it's been sitting on the shelf for ages.... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted January 16, 2020 Author Share Posted January 16, 2020 Started to tension and fix the rigging. The rear of the upper wing is sitting a little high, but the rigging is helping to pull it in, however it means I need to do one bay at a time and leave it to set. Still should be done soon. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted January 19, 2020 Author Share Posted January 19, 2020 I'm probably labouring this, but here's the rigging all taut. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted January 23, 2020 Author Share Posted January 23, 2020 Decals on, a bit of touching up needed as some tore/fragmented a bit. Still lots of minor bits and pieces to do but looking well. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted February 6, 2020 Author Share Posted February 6, 2020 (edited) Free of charge from the (and I mean this sincerely) good people at Roden. That's brilliant customer support if ever I've seen it. Won't hurt the spares box either. Edited February 6, 2020 by Marklo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted February 9, 2020 Author Share Posted February 9, 2020 I think we're done, must take some better photos for an RFI thread. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted February 9, 2020 Share Posted February 9, 2020 Nice work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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