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PK-127 de Havilland Twin Otter


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I found the box in our lean-to, which means it (along with a couple of other non-Matchbox kits, including USS Voyager (NCC-74656)) had been subject to years of extreme cold, extreme heat, sunlight, and rainwater coming in through the leaky roof...

 

Box - Front

 

Box - Rear

 

Seems I started painting it when I first bought it gawd-knows-when, but here are various parts being prepped to recoat with thinned paints (a concept I had NO idea of when I started doing models as a kid back in the early 1970s!):

Various pieces

 

But before I can paint properly I found I have other parts to glue on. These little things that went on the underside of the wings (can anyone name what they're meant to represent?) were fiddly little so-and-sos as there were no significant recesses for them):

Wings with fiddly bits

 

I'll post a photo of the parlous state of the decals when I get home...

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Great stuff Jeff

Many modellers spend a great deal of time weathering their builds, I believe you are the first I've seen to ever weather the box :thumbsup:

Dave aka @Rabbit Leaderwill know what the bits under the wings are called, he's probably got some as paperweights on his desk at work !

Best of luck with this one.

Cheers Pat 

 

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40 minutes ago, JOCKNEY said:

Great stuff Jeff

Many modellers spend a great deal of time weathering their builds, I believe you are the first I've seen to ever weather the box :thumbsup:

 

That made me chuckle! 😄👍

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Yep, good to see another Twin Otter (it has gotta be the most popular type at the mo, hasn't it?). They are flap actuators, and I have always struggled to get them to fit properly. Having said that, once glued, I have never lost one despite using the wings as handling props!

 

Good luck with the build, I will keep dropping in, and I am so very glad you managed to find it after all!

 

Ray

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Yes... Flap Actuators, although they are quite thin so I'm not such how much meaningful mechanism would be living inside those parts (say's he who works with larger jet airliners!). 

The Twotter has surprised me by being the most popular kit subject chosen for this GB, so it's no surprise that Revell keep punting these out in different boxes every year or so, they are obviously very popular sellers. 

 

Cheers, welcome aboard and best of luck.. Dave (who must be the only one here who doesn't own one?) 

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21 hours ago, Jeff J said:

I'll post a photo of the parlous state of the decals when I get home...

 The parlous decals are on the left (curly and yellow), with some decals that are in good condition (flat and, well, not yellow) on the right for comparison...

Parlous Decals

(I ought to have picked a white background to place them on for a better 'white balance')

 

The section at bottom left I'll not be using on the model so I'll be trying them out somewhere to see if the ones I do want to use are viable, and sun-bleaching the others to get rid of the jaundiced look. If they're not viable, or don't sun-bleach out, then I'll take up @rossm's kind offer.

 

Other than that, not much progress last night, as I was just doing fiddly stuff, and establishing exactly what needs doing next.

Edited by Jeff J
Added white balance comment
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In true Uttoxeter business legends John and Peter style...Damn, double damn, then round the block for another dose of damn!

 

Just spend a while this evening painting the main gloss yellow only to find I was using insignia yellow.

 

MATT insignia yellow.

 

DAMN!

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8 hours ago, Jeff J said:

In true Uttoxeter business legends John and Peter style...Damn, double damn, then round the block for another dose of damn!

 

Just spend a while this evening painting the main gloss yellow only to find I was using insignia yellow.

 

MATT insignia yellow.

 

DAMN!

 

It will act as a good undercoat for the gloss version, I have done that before myself!

 

Ray

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2 hours ago, Ray S said:

 

It will act as a good undercoat for the gloss version, I have done that before myself!

 

Ray

Yeah, I figured it wasn't a disaster, but it does mean I'll have to go back to Hobbycraft again (and cross my fingers that they've got gloss yellow in stock). Was hoping to avoid a 3rd coat though. Oh well.

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Cockpit construction has commenced, the cabin windows have been glued in, and the engine housings attached to the wings.

 

Cockpit construction

 

That main cockpit windscreen is a right be-atch though, so I'm leaving the other cementing to harden before I try again tomorrow.

 

 

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I thought I'd get nothing done this evening (Valentine's Day and all that), but wifey had a work-related call to deal with so I managed to do a second coat of the gloss red, and tried out a couple of the unwanted yellowed decals on the unwanted pointy baggage compartment nose, one with with Micro Set and Micro Sol to see what difference those two solutions made (never used them before).

 

The Micro set seemed to gather together from the surface tension before I added the decal. After that, I can't say I saw any difference, but perhaps it's more noticeable on parts with more raised/etched detail.

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I've never used (Tamiya) masking tape before, but I'm very impressed with it.

 

Look at those sharp lines!

20220217_220025

 

 

However, I've made a mistake on the rear wings. I've done an extra red bit, in this photo it's to the right of the wing shown, whereas the red should be straight across, except for the little bit at the top.

 

This is very annoying.

 

Other than leave it as it (inaccurate!) what can I do?!

 

 

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A day off work, travel not recommended, what else could I do but...

 

Masking for gloss black markings:

20220218_175705

 

Yellow touch-ups and some pieces I'd missed:

20220218_175726

 

 

More touch-ups, attaching two of the four rear-wing stabilisers (is that what they are @Rabbit Leader?) and just for fun, clipped in the front wheel that I'm not going to use:

20220218_175748

 

 

...because I'm going with the floats:

20220218_180550

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On 2/19/2022 at 4:12 AM, Jeff J said:

… attaching two of the four rear-wing stabilisers (is that what they are @Rabbit Leader?)

 

I suspect, although if memory serves me correct these small fins are particular to Floatplane Twin Otters and were fitted to enhance yaw stability. I might be wrong, however its some type of device to allow the pilot to expect the plane to fly in the direction he hopes its going. You will also find that Tamiya tape is the equivalent to butter on toast and once you start using it you will never touch another masking tape again. Having just said that, Hardware grade Yellow Frog Tape is also very good and a lot cheaper when you consider how much tape you get for a similar price. The Twotter is looking good. 

Cheers.. Dave 

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Let's talk about propeller tip markings.

 

The instructions show they should be red-white-red (d-e-d):

20220222_115222

 

...over 2.5mm (I just eyeballed that measurement!)

 

Doing the red first, as a single contiguous area was not terribly difficult, but masking off the two 'outer' red parts so that I can paint the white middle stripe is really freaking hard!

20220222_115155

 

 

After fiddling with the two types of Tamiya masking tape on the props, I experimented with water colour masking fluid either side of a piece of masking tape on the nose cone that I'm not using:

IMG-20220222-WA0002

 

 

This failed. As I took away the tape the set fluid just came away with it.

 

What techniques do you use? Is modelling masking fluid better?

 

 

 

 

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Nice little build! 

 

Really like Twin Otters, having had loads of gash flights in them over the years, including post maintenance test-flights!

 

The things under the wings aren't the actuators, they are the flap hinges.

By hinging them that way it provides a full span 'slotted flap' when they open and droop, the main portions are double slotted, the outboard are flaperons, incorporating the aileron.  Ideal for STOL use.

 

 

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I've been a bit lax on the photo taking, sorry about that, but still making steady-but-slow progress.

 

The 3-colour prop tips look striking at a distance, but close inspection shows wonkyness and uneven stripe thickness, plus those dreaded high edges where the masking tape was.

 

Most of the painting is done though, just some final yellow coats to hide the filler, plus the floats to finish.

 

The engines and props are on the wings though!

 

Production will show over the next few days however, as my elder daughter is staying over so needs "her" room back (s'funny, I could have sworn it had become mine again)

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On 2/22/2022 at 12:20 PM, Jeff J said:

What techniques do you use?

 

Hi Jeff.  For masking, I'm a big fan of slicing yellow Tamiya tape down into thinner strips.

 

So for example, on the prop tips, I'd cut some tape down into the width of each band - i.e. approximately 0.8mm (which is 2.5mm divided by 3). Produce plenty, so that you have an adequate supply that is exactly the same width.

Next, paint the whole prop white.

Then put a strip of 0.8mm tape at the extreme tip of each blade (which will ultimately be red), and then put another strip immediately below the first, in order cover the white band.  The first bit of tape is there to help you to position the second one in the right place.

Then remove the first bits of tape, to leave just the white bands masked, and then paint the props red.

Next, add another thin strip of tape below the white band in order to cover the inner red band.  Then add a thicker piece of tape over the over of all the bands, so that all three are covered (still allowing the bottom edge of the last bit of 0.8mm tape to define the bottom edge of the bands).

Finally, paint the props black and the remove the tape.

 

As a general point, don't try to wrap any of the tape around the prop blades.  Instead, cut two pieces of tape (say, 5mm long), and apply them from opposite sides of the prop blades.  Pinch the two pieces of tape tightly together at the edges of the blade to form a tight seal.

 

For masking round a complex curve like the nose cone, first use a very narrow strip of yellow Tamiya tape (as narrow as you can cut), to define the edge.  The thinner the tape, the better it will follow curves without lifting.  Once you're happy with the position and straightness of the edge, you can back fill the remaining area that you want to mask using larger pieces of tape or masking fluid etc.

 

My final piece of advice would be to throw away the white Tamiya tape (although others may disagree :winkgrin:)!

 

I hope that makes sense and helps a bit.

 

Cheers

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I actually printed red/white/red decal strips on white decal paper for my Frog Shackleton as there were rather a lot of them - 24 blades with two sides to do.

DSC01695

They needed a little touching up but worked pretty well - as you can see I also printed a black line at the bottom to make painting the blades easier.

DSC01905-crop

 

Just a though.

 

Pete

 

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