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Cadbury and Leckie's DH4, Airfix 1/72nd, OOB and only £1.75!


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The masks are off.  I used Medium Sea Grey Himbrol rattle can for the grey.  Looks good.  Now I can add some more bits to it, touch up some detail on the paint...Getting there.

 

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-John

 

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23 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

Your paint mixes look very good to me and the wood effect you have achieved is really good.

Thanks Craig.  I think it'll be a good looking build.  It's an Airfix Classic, after all!

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John, wish I'd noticed this before you painted the wing undersides - the Airfix bomb racks are moulded 90 degrees from the correct angle. Well, they're really bars to which the carriers were affixed.  They scrape off easily enough but the paint won't be happy. Better news, there is no need for making apologies for not doing doubled flying wires because the DH4 was won of those marvellous beasties that didn't have them, which is rare in British 2-seaters.

 

The kit originally was marketted as Rolls Royce Eagle VIII engined (correct for the Leckie/Cadbury markings) , and despite the simplification of the exhausts coming out of holes in the sides, the earliest issues did have a stab at the metal fairings over the cylinders heads just above. By the time of the boxing you're using this had worn down and is easy to miss.  As to the radiator shutters, these may or may not have been present, as is also true of the wind pumps behind the pilot. Mark II undercarriage , there's a photo in the Air Britain book from later in it's life. From the side it clearly shows the MkII undercarriage. Unfortunately the angle is wrong to see into the radiator front, and struts obscure where the wind pumps would be.

 

Paul.

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2 hours ago, Paul Thompson said:

Better news, there is no need for making apologies for not doing doubled flying wires because the DH4 was won of those marvellous beasties that didn't have them, which is rare in British 2-seaters.

Yes.  I was relieved to have remembered that too!  

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The struts are all on the top wing, cleaned up mostly and ready to assemble onto the rest of the aircraft.

This is actually trickier than one would think.  It requires 3 sets of eyes and four hands.  Barring that, a lot of patience and blue language.

 

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--John

 

 

 

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FWIW for future reference, I found it helpful to leave the exhausts off until the wing mounting and rigging dust settled. They fit easily enough and there's plenty of purchase to push them home. Although in the end on my recent DH4 I used some spare Pegasus exhausts that fit just as well.  Without the exhausts in the way, the nose makes a safe place to pick up the model as you steadily rig and remove your holding options. And for that reason I left the drag lines until the very last. Something else that may not be clear, depending on whose plans you look at - most photos I've seen don't have the short lines connecting the control horns to the between the wings balance wires. Depending on how you're rigging that makes life either harder or easier! I see you've drilled the holes for these balances - if they go all the way through they'll need filling on the horn side.  (Sorry if you know this already, but I'm assuming some people reading the thread may not).

 

Paul.

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On 10/06/2021 at 08:35, John Masters said:

This is actually trickier than one would think

Nope. I've avoided wingy things with rigging because I always assume they are going to be very tricky! You are making excellent progress with it though! :thumbsup:

Kind regards,

Stix

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18 hours ago, PlaStix said:

I always assume they are going to be very tricky!

Not at all.  Patience is required.

 

And so I begin this phase.  It is not an 'all in one' thing.  I will rig the wings and then apply the decals to the fuselage and wings, especially the underside.  Then rig the tail planes and attach the wing skids on top of the underside roundels.

 

.2mm monofilament (4lb. test), CA, sharp cocktail sticks, hemostats, rigging jig, scissors, sharp hobby knife...

 

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One side...I glue one end in the hole, then tighten with the hemos as weight.  Glue the other hole, set, snip, trim...

 

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Smaller rigging pieces (X braces, etc...) will be stretched sprue.  That's my technique.

 

--John

 

 

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I am calling this one finished.  I have touched up the paint, finished the rigging, given it a spritz of 'dust' and exhaust.

 

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From the front...

 

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I'll let it sit for the night and photograph it tomorrow in better light.

 

--John

 

PS...just noticed...there are  couple of bits of rigging left to do.  No worries.  Ten minutes.

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6 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

I suspect that they didn’t lug them up to 16,000ft when they were hunting for Zeppelin!

 

Probably not!  😀  This kit brought back fond childhood memories.  Of course, no rigging back then...

7 hours ago, Paul Thompson said:

3 DH4s on the trot, rather a daft thing to do.

Wow!  Very cool.

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Hi John. Well done on getting it finished and it looks absolutely superb. Lovely job all round! Very well done! :worthy:

Thank you for building it in this GB.

Kind regards, 

Stix

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2 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Thank you for building it in this GB.

Kind regards, 

Thank you Stix.  It was a fun build and kit that I had avoided for years.  Not because of the rigging but because it looked so boxy...

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