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Finished: 1/48 De Havilland Comet DH.88 MikroMir


Louis

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Hello!


Here is the beautiful bird:

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The de Havilland Comet DH.88 is a British twin-engine aircraft that won the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race, a competition for which it was specially designed.

The box contains details of the plane with a photoetched sheet and decals for 3 different decorations:
The one illustrating the box, a black and gold plane and a last entirely green. All 3 participated in the 1934 race.


The parts will need to be prepared at length I fear to obtain an acceptable model.

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The edges of the passenger compartment and the wall should be thinned out.

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Much thinned ...

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The opening is enlarged towards the front to correspond to reality and to be able to redo the "cap".

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A small rectangular section strip is glued to the edge of the opening.

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The walls are modified by adding a plate on each side at the height of the dashboard.



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The interior of the cockpit is improved a bit.

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Later version of the aircraft.


The handles and the parking brake are redone because the original is too thick.

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The rudder pedals will also deserve to be changed.

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The floor is modified to be able to place the boards there which allow the crew to put their feet on it.

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It remains to find an acceptable color to paint the interior.

Many seem to agree that he was black.


Yet in the photos it seems much clearer.

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The fuselage around the windshield deserves serious improvement.

 

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Funny detail you will notice that the front end of the windshield is rounded while the windshield supplied by MikroMir is ... pointed. [/ B]

 

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There is a bead on the kit but it is rounded. So I deleted it to redo it with an evergreen strip 0.5mm wide and 0.25mm thick. Everything is glued with extra fluid T glue little by little with the help of tape.

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With a little "surfacer"

 

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The goal is to be able to stick a cap as thin as possible and resembling the original.

 

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The interior deserves to be improved too. The central part of the dashboard is redone to gain volume.

 

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The rear is also redone because it will be visible.

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The wheel for retracting the gear is supplied in photoetched form, completely flat. Only the central part is preserved.

 

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Is the original metallic?

 

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The seats in the kit are unusable in my opinion. There are several versions it seems: The one that looks like a folding seat and whose backrest is visible in the photos

 

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... and the very rounded one visible on the site of the DH88 being restored.

 

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The dashboard ends.

The dials are redone, black paint on white plastic and engraving with an airbrush needle (a fine thing).

It remains to varnish the dials and paint some details.

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Same treatment for the two large compasses which sit in the cockpit.

 

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The kit provides for dials printed on a sheet of plastic but they seriously lack finesse.

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The seats are thermoformed on a model made of 2 component mastic.

 

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After an hour of sanding and adjustment:

 

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In aluminum, it remains to varnish them.

 

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The rudder pedals are redone. to resemble those of the Rapid Dragon. The passenger's are under the pilot's seat.

 

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With the rod that connects the two rudders, the one in front and the one behind:

 

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Edited by Louis
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Thank you!

 

The wheel to retract the landing gear is in place as well as the parking brake in front of the stick. Not sure he's in a good position, but pulling back to fly doesn't seem like a good idea. There would not be much space to maneuver the stick.
To the right of the pilot, the stick to release the airbrake (it seems to me). Plastic stretched and tube stretched in a cotton swab.

 

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I was inspired by the throttle of the DH88 restored a few years ago to make mine (evergreen and aluminum from a food tray for the levers).

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It will be necessary to make a second one for the second rear passenger.

Only the images of the restored aircraft show this controller.
It seems too "contemporary" to me for a 1934 controller.
If anyone has any other information?

 

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Regards

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  • Louis changed the title to 1/48 De Havilland Comet DH.88 MikroMir
  • 3 weeks later...

Hello!

 

I glued the fuselage. There is no stud to position it correctly. The two half fuselage are not quite the same length and at the rear there is a serious molding problem. I glued the two pieces in order to have a correct cockpit opening.

 

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The engraving of the half-fuselages almost aligns with the upper part. There are very few (2 ...). She is not very pretty.


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Underneath there is a good 2 mm offset which means that it is wrong on one of the two pieces.


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The three parts of the engine nacelles when glued show serious fit problems.

 

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I chose to glue the small part (the one in the front with the hole) in 1st and to align it to have a correct semicircle where the propeller will be.

 

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We will have to put putty.


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The gills are open in the plastic which is easily 1mm thick. You will need a milling cutter and a drill.

 

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 I continue to sand, drill and fill holes. Before adjusting the parts, we get this:

 

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By sanding and cleaning each part correctly, the situation improves significantly. Nothing insurmountable but it is long. The bottom of the pod should be widened with a shim so that the top of the cowl can fit. It is necessary to widen by more than half a mm.

 

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Under the hood it is necessary to drill the exit of the exhaust pipe.

 

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And at the front, the opening sees its angles rounded with mastic.

 

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The rear of the pod needs to be slimmer too. It will be glued to the upper surface of the wing. On the right the part before sanding:

 

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The oil tanks which are in the nacelles are enlarged. Especially to hide the large joints that persist after gluing the two half-pods. I should have simply put a 1mm thick plastic plate sandwiched between the two pieces that form the Kit's reservoir, but I thought about it too late ...

The top must still be "flattened"

 

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Regards

Edited by Louis
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  • 5 weeks later...

Hello!

 

The different parts of the two engine nacelles are glued. They must clean each part well to be able to adapt them to each other.

 

We thus manage to significantly reduce (I am weighing my words) the days.

 

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Obviously you will have to putty.

 

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After many hours of work.

Nothing insurmountable but what a pity all the same this lack of precision in the molding.

The upper part of the covers will be cut with precision:

 

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Before gluing the nacelles to the wings, the engines must be glued in.
FORTUNATELY we will only see the 1st cylinder. I wanted to leave a partially visible engine, I quickly changed my mind. The engine block is usable but the cylinders would need to be redone and everything else too.
The cylinders are in two pieces cut lengthwise. Nothing aligns. There are many holes in the engine block to glue them but the studs in the cylinders are much too big and it does not fit...
All parts show a shift in the molding. Everything is to be manufactured if you want to exhibit it.

So I stopped there:

 

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...and I had to cut 3 or 4 mm at the front to make it fit in the nacelle. Same for the bottom of the cylinder.

 

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The best for the end it is necessary to re-engrave the vertical joint between the two halves of the covers, on the facade and below. A real nightmare for me.

 

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The oil tank filler holes in the engine nacelles are etched into the kit wing. These are actually simple holes that allow access to the tank cap (see photos of the tanks above).
You cannot refine the wing once the lower and upper surfaces are glued. It had to be done before...
So I drilled a hole to glue a piece of thin plastic plate into it. The hole is then drilled. Do not forget to put the pipes and are plug in it.

 

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The hole is still a little far from the trailing edge of the wing.

I go back to sanding.

 

Regards

Edited by Louis
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  • 1 month later...

Hello!

 

The wings are glued!


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The angle of the intrados suits me but curiously not that of the extrados.
I took again once again the openings in frontage which were too thin.

 

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The different parts must be sanded to be adjusted as well as possible to each other. This is especially important in this kit if you want to be able to catch up on design errors and rough casting.
By spending time there you can almost have clean junctions. Almost only...

 

The joints at the fuselage wings, the joints at the intrado/extrado level, the Karman connection, the empennage

 

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It is necessary to resume and complete the engraving. Both sides of the fuselage are engraved but once glued we realize that the two sides are engraved differently...
The plastic is very soft, it is difficult (for me) to make a nice fine engraving. It is marked just by drawing a line with a pencil...

The caps on the fuselage are missing, two in front of the cockpit, one just behind the cockpit (in red).

 

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It also lacks two half-traps under the fins.
The two original hatches are not symmetrical...

 

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It is necessary to re-engrave the plates of the Karman fitting at the front and at the back and below.

 

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The engraving behind the wings shows an offset of almost two mm. I left it like that.

 

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To calm myself down I redid the headlight which is in the nose.
The glass tip is unusable, it does not have the right diameter and the plastic is very thick. So I polished it to use as a template to thermoform a new one.

 

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I used the same piece to form the interior of the lighthouse. A little silver paint, a small bulb made of stretched plastic painted yellow and you're done.

 

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We often find this drawing to illustrate the phare but we do not always see the same phare on the photos.
Note that the phare is probably adjustable (up down).

 

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Regards

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Just an observation from experience for those wanting to crew their MikroMir model- the cockpit coaming should be parallel in plan fore to aft (measure photos above) and not significantly tapering towards the rear. Find your narrowest shouldered figures for the back seat; or spread the rear fuselage and make a new canopy- with the rounded front of course.

 

Les

 

.

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On 3/14/2022 at 8:07 PM, gunzo said:

Just an observation from experience for those wanting to crew their MikroMir model- the cockpit coaming should be parallel in plan fore to aft (measure photos above) and not significantly tapering towards the rear. Find your narrowest shouldered figures for the back seat; or spread the rear fuselage and make a new canopy- with the rounded front of course.

 

Les

 

.

 

Damned...Too late.

 

Thank you Gunzo.  I didn't think to check that at all.

 

 

Hello!

 

The engine nacelles are glued and are difficult to put in place. The rear part in 1st according to the plan. I would have liked to assemble the nacelles entirely before gluing them to the wings in order to avoid redoing the joints between the front and the rear and to be certain that the front and the rear are aligned.
I did not succeed.
Please note that the two parts (6 and 7) representing the partitions between the front and rear part are not identical. There is a different one for each side. This is also the case for the rear part of the nacelles. They are not identical.

 

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The junction to be filled between the wing and the nacelle is important.

 

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On this side I had to stick a plastic sheet of 0.2mm to catch up with the level.

 

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Before gluing the front part it is necessary to tinker with plates protecting the wing. They are cut in aluminum tape.

 

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As I have refined as much as possible the part of the nacelle which is fixed around the leading edge of the wing, I have created a gap that needs to be filled. I chose to put plastic wedges to separate the lower surface and the upper surface of the wing.

 

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It's a little better...

 

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There is still putty work.


Regards

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  • 2 months later...

Hi,

 

Always difficult...

 

I redid the caps of the oil tanks housed in the nacelles. By refining the plastic of the fenders as much as possible, I deformed the surfaces...and this is only visible after glossy painting. So be careful.

 

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The fixings of the hoods must be redone. 6 discs made with cookie cutters for each side.

 

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The entire device is painted white, then yellow and finally red. Italian red from prince auguste:

 

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Several layers but it's too orange for my taste.

 

I finally used "brilliant" red from Mr Hobby H86. Shiny but not shiny enough to put decals on. So I polished the surfaces that receive tamiya compound decals to make them shine.

 

The decals are thin and won't tear. It should be fine.

 

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I made "hubcaps" in the aluminum of food trays to improve the wheels a little. A disc cut. I stamped with a toothpick. Yes...it takes a long time.


 
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Regards.

Edited by Louis
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One of the most beautiful aircraft ever built. I was lucky enough to see G-ACSS fly at Farnborough in 1988 after her restoration.

You’re doing a great job, it looks like it’s putting up a fight but you’re winning.

 

John. 🇺🇦

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Great build and will be quite helpful when I tackle mine someday. Funnily I bought this kit because the Heritage Aviation resin kit is so "demanding" - I thought the MikroMir will be Tamigawalike compared to the resin kit... Well maybe it still is 😄

 

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  • 1 month later...

Hi,

 

The plane is gloss varnished entirely in order to make the decals disappear.
I did not manage to "drown" them in the varnish to make them disappear.

Yet I put on layers. 10 days of drying and the varnish (Mr Hobby airbrushed) still marks as soon as I touch it even with gloves. I go crazy to remove all traces with polish.

I nevertheless "polished" the whole plane to have a very smooth surface and especially to catch up with the fingerprints.


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All shiny it really looks too much like a toy. I'm going to finish it in a satin like "gloss matte paint".

It remains to find a satin varnish that is "shiny" enough.
If you have an idea, I'm listening.

While waiting to find it and the drying time I took the wheels:

Both sides are desperately empty on the kit when we could simply add two or three things:

Not having enough to cut a plastic disc of this size and because I was also afraid that by adding such a thick disc the wheel would no longer fit in the fork, I made a flat ring out of lead wrapped around a brush handle and flattened under a metal ruler. It is easy to do. . The photoetched part is from a ww1 propeller hub board.

 

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On the other side there is a hubcap.

 

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For those who would like to put the Dunlop decals supplied as decals... well they are too big (30%).

 

Regards

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Allow plenty of time to clean up any undercarriage parts that are poorly molded.

 

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I modified the tire to flatten it with putty.

 

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I finished the propellers which are also to be improved and modified.

The propeller spinner is at least a millimeter too long. It is necessary to sand its base and enlarge the holes for the blades.
Note that we can clearly see the streaks (3D printing?) on the base of the pan (1st image).
I sanded them, here with a small disc of sandpaper glued to a medical needle guard. In the end it's useless...


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The photoetched part is useless.

 

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The shape of the propeller spinner is rough but I haven't retouched it.

 

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Regards !

Edited by Louis
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Hi!

 

Even the Tamiya tape leaves big marks in the varnish...I'll let it dry for a few more weeks, or a few months...


I will be able to finish the long canopy which will remain open. In any case do not intend to put it in place CORRECTLY on the kit.

Its shape is wrong. It should be rounded at the front and not pointed as represented by Mikromir. Another bad point for them.


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I sanded the front to round it but it's still not enough. Impossible to do more considering the angle there is in the windshield.
It would in fact have to be redone in its entirety...but no.

 

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The plastic is thin, which is a good point, but the uprights are very "thick" especially towards the front, you can sand them with a wedge without touching (or almost) the parts which must remain transparent. The surfaces are not smooth which can be seen very well.
After sanding the uprights and polishing the surfaces:

 

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Mikromir provides masks but they lack precision and ESPECIALLY leave glue everywhere. A piece of advice, don't use them!

 

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After a layer of black, white and finally red:

 

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I started to remove the glue with a little alcohol, it's hard to come off, especially in the corners. I am very afraid for my painting.


There is a frame inside the canopy. You can see it clearly in the first photos. At least part of it will have to be redone...

 

Regards

Edited by Louis
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I share your frustrations with this kit, Louis; it is so very near to being very good.   On the bright side, there is still room for Airfix to produce a definitive offering!

 

As it happens, I have bought 3 of the MikroMir Comets, but the last 2 were more as a token of solidarity.

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