156 - Heller 1/72 Dewoitine D500/501. +++FINISHED+++

[fightersweep]

Yep! I must be mad. Less than a month to go, an Arado 196 and Chaika to finish off and I want to start build number seven? I'll take mad. There's a few reasons for this. One, is that I feel the need to build a French subject for this very French GB. Two, is that this kit is more or less another Heller kit that I built as a teenager (I built the D510) and thirdly, I just like the subject and this kit. So, although this kit has been superbly covered already, I'm going to have to throw another one in before the final GB gong sounds.

 

So, here we have kit number 156 in it's original 1977 boxing. Once again, more cracking Heller artwork of a typically French quirky subject. Well, quirky on this side of the channel I feel. I don't recall ever seeing the 500/501 kit on the shelves back in the day, but I did see the 510. The moment I saw it, I bought it. Who says that kids only buy models of Bf-109s and Spitfires?

 

 

Again, the box reveals three grey sprues of nicely moulded crisp parts with a good level of detail and a lot of finesse. Another example of Heller in their prime.

 

 

Decals in this kit don't seem to bad. Only slightly yellowed and probably quite usable. I also got my little orange safety slip for the green capsule of Heller gloo. However, my sealed poly bag was distinctly sans green capsule of gloo and so perhaps a strongly worded letter in French needs drafted with a 1977 date mark.

 

 

Despite the decals being good, I shall use aftermarket goodies for this build as I think the two included options have been covered in this GB. I haven't used decals by LF Models before, but they look good on the sheet and they have certainly covered the D500/501/510 very well recently. Not sure which option I shall be using yet, but at the moment, I'm leaning towards the one with the blatant Kellogg's advertising on the side.

 

 

Right! Time to get cracking as there is little time to spare!

 

Steve

[JeroenS]

Hi Steve, good luck with this build but don't worry, there's plenty of time left, you'll make it 🙂 

[TonyW]

A lovely little kit. Building it will be a treat for yourself.

[fightersweep]

@JeroenS @TonyW

 

Thanks chaps! Made a start on the kit today. Must be 35 years since I last built this kit, but it looks to be nice so far. Must say that the undercarriage struts appear to have that classic Heller butt joint/lack of location pins thing going on so that should prove to be fun later in the build. I honestly can't remember how that all turned out last time. Probably not well.

 

Steve

[JOCKNEY]

Great stuff Steve

 

Yes I believe you have complete flexibility in where / how the undercarriage attach !

Great choice with the decal option 

 

Cheers Pat 

[fightersweep]

Made a start on the Dewoitine D.501. Not much to report, but the cockpit has been painted and some seatbelts added for a bit of extra interest. The control column resembles a table leg which is quite amusing and reminds me of an eBay listing I saw once for a "genuine" Sopwith Camel control stick. It was obviously a chair leg and a few wags (including myself) messaged the seller to enquire if he had another three Sopwith Camel control sticks for sale. Wings and radiator have also been stuck together and cleaned up. Can't say I was sure what Heller meant with their call out for the cockpit colour. No idea what "Nile Green" is, but a quick Google to the many paint conversion charts online revealed that Humbrol 90 is the best match. So not much to see, but I think progress will pick up from here and it won't be long before I have a complete airframe. 

 

 

Steve

[JOCKNEY]

Great stuff Steve 

Be careful with that ariel its very easy to break off and be swallowed by the carpet monster, no prizes for guessing how I know !

Cheers Pat

[fightersweep]

1 hour ago, JOCKNEY said:

 Be careful with that ariel its very easy to break off and be swallowed by the carpet monster, no prizes for guessing how I know !

 

Already got that in hand. I've decided I'll record the exact moment I break the aerial off and post it here. It's intact at the moment, but it's only a matter of time.

[fightersweep]

Well, the Soothsayer of the Highlands said it would happen, and it did. As promised, I recorded the exact moment it happened and here is the predicted broken aerial. Broken off while doing a bit of sanding. The only deviation from Notradamus's 2021 GB prediction is that it wasn't eaten by the carpet monster, due mainly to the fact that it didn't ping off, but more took a slight knock, developed a severe list to starboard before deciding to fall off. No feast for the carpet monster today! Still, without further ado, here is exhibit A;

 

 

Never mind! It'll be fine!

 

Moving on, the Dewoitine (minus aerial) is now largely together and only required a small amount of filler. Can't say I was sure how good the fit would be around the nose and cowling, but it's been far better than I expected. Next job will be to fit the radiator, tail feathers and that spindly looking undercarriage. I think that the undercarriage in particular may well be a sweary half hour or so.

 

 

Steve

[JOCKNEY]

55 minutes ago, fightersweep said:

Well, the Soothsayer of the Highlands said it would happen, and it did. As promised, I recorded the exact moment it happened and here is the predicted broken aerial. Broken off while doing a bit of sanding. The only deviation from Notradamus's 2021 GB prediction is that it wasn't eaten by the carpet monster, due mainly to the fact that it didn't ping off, but more took a slight knock, developed a severe list to starboard before deciding to fall off. No feast for the carpet monster today! Still, without further ado, here is exhibit A;

 

 

Steve

Steve

 

[fightersweep]

17 minutes ago, JOCKNEY said:

Steve

 

 

No apology needed 🤣. I knew that aerial was going to get broken eventually. One of those instances where no matter how hard you try to avoid the inevitable, it's going to happen anyway.

[TonyW]

On 12/31/2020 at 2:32 PM, fightersweep said:

r. No idea what "Nile Green" is, but a quick Google to the many paint conversion charts online revealed that Humbrol 90 is the best match. So not much to see, but I think progress will pick up from here and it won't be long before I have a complete airframe. 

 

 

 

Steve

 

Early Humbrol No1 was Eau de Nil, a quite vivid shade of green. I painted a FROG Hunter in that colour ages ago.

 

[fightersweep]

@TonyW That's a very nice Hunter and a nice shade of Eau de Nil (.....Eau de Nil?....Nile Green?.....that clanging sound is the sound of my penny having just dropped! 🤣)

 

I guess Hu 90 was close enough, but that Hu #1 certainly has a far greener hue. Nice colour!

 

Steve

[RidgeRunner]

8 hours ago, fightersweep said:

@TonyW That's a very nice Hunter and a nice shade of Eau de Nil (.....Eau de Nil?....Nile Green?.....that clanging sound is the sound of my penny having just dropped! 🤣)

 

I guess Hu 90 was close enough, but that Hu #1 certainly has a far greener hue. Nice colour!

 

Steve

Colour coats do a nice Eau-de-nil, Tony

 

Edit: oops, too late I see

[fightersweep]

Quick update. The Dewoitine is now a complete airframe. Once again, no real dramas as the fit of the main components was spot on. However, as expected, the undercarriage was fun as Heller's locations for the U/C fixing points was either vague or non existent. So that made for some moments of heavy perspiration. Once the tail feathers and undercarriage was in place, a good look from the front and back showed that things appeared to be a bit wonky despite efforts to get everything lined up. Couldn't work it out until I spotted that the vertical fin and rudder are slightly warped to the right, and this gives the illusion of everything else being off. Never mind eh? The sit appears to be ok and it looks fine from most angles, so I'm not too bothered. This is where I am now, and this little beauty of a Heller kit is ready for some paint. Silver with a hairy stick. What could possibly go wrong?

 

 

 

 

Steve

[fightersweep]

Very quick update on the Dewoitine. It's now received lashings of silver, and I mean everything is silver! Can't wait to get the decals on as this thing is crying out for some colour. I decided to try a little experiment with this kit. I'm usually an enamel paint kind of chap, but for this build, I thought I would try a pot of old Games Workshop Methril Silver. I picked a trade pack of these up from a boot sale years ago and thought I would give it a try as I had heard good things about it. Well, those opinions seem to be true. Three thinned coats give a beautifully smooth and even finish. I have to say, I'm impressed! There are a few issues, but looking at the other D.500 kit I have, the plastic seems to have quite a rough surface. I didn't spot this until I applied the silver otherwise I might have sanded the kit down before painting. However, I guess that would have lost the surface detail, so I'll go with what I've got.

 

 

 

Looking at these photos, I've spotted that I need a little filler under the windshield.

 

Steve

[Bjorn]

Wonderful! To me, this kit is somehow the incarnation of the whole Heller brand! Can't wait to see it with decals!

[fightersweep]

28 minutes ago, Bjorn said:

Wonderful! To me, this kit is somehow the incarnation of the whole Heller brand! Can't wait to see it with decals!

Thanks Bjorn. Yes! Totally agree. This Dewoitine somehow perfectly sums up Heller in one kit. It's a really enjoyable build even if some of the construction is a bit vague, but that's typically Heller too. Hoping to get the decals on tomorrow, and then I think I'll be close to the finishing line.

[Toryu]

Super silver surface - fantastic flush finish!

[fightersweep]

Another one done! I've really enjoyed building this Heller Dewoitine D.500 and I wanted to get at least one French type into the GB. This is another kit I built as a teenager back in the 80s and was probably the third or fourth Heller kit I bought. I don't think this will be the last one I build either. No issues with the kit at all, but the aftermarket decals gave me a few frights. They were ok, but seemed to be a tad oversized for the kit in places and the white was quite translucent. Something I discovered once the cockerel decal had set over the diagonal stripe down the fuselage. Ho hum. Apart from that, I'm fairly happy with the build although I think I would have done a few things differently. However, I'm really impressed with the Games Workshop Methril Silver. It gave a really nice finish with a brush and this may well be my go to for future silver builds. Time to put this one into the gallery, although I'll have to wait until tomorrow now to take some better photos. Thanks for following my ramblings!

 

 

Steve

[Bjorn]

Lovely. Just sooo French! Nice, clean finish! 

[Bengalensis]

Lovely machine, it's looking very nice. I find it hard to believe that nice and smooth looking silver finish was brush painted. Impressive, very well done!

[fightersweep]

@Bjorn @Bengalensis

 

Thank you! Much appreciated. The Games Workshop Methril Silver works beautifully if applied in two or three thinned coats. I've not used acrylics before, but this will be my go to for silver finishes from now on.