DWC

[smperry]

I decided to take a break from WWI modeling for a short spell and work on my William's Brothers 1/72 scale Douglas World Cruiser. I will be doing New Orleans with pontoons.

It so happens that with this model, I have one of the Holy Grails of scale modeling. I have a swatch of fabric from the original airplane. It is 1 5/8" x 2". I cut a 3/8" swatch to give to Bob Pearson, of color profiles fame, as he built a 25% scale model of one that hung and hopefully still does, in the Vancouver, BC airport terminal. So bring on the color Police, they can complain about my yellow wings or my gray cowl or my radiator or my tires. But Lord help 'em if they make a peep about my Olive Drab fabric or struts :-) The fabric came via the Smithsonian Museum who at one time were selling posters of aircraft they had restored which included a 2x2 piece of the original fabric. My Stepfather bought the one for the DWC and another for the Fokker T.2 that made the transcontinental flight in the 1920's. (I also have a 1/72 vac kit of the T.2 in the sash)

I think this is one of Wms Bros better kits. It is decidedly NOT a Shake & Bake kit. It is a Builder's kit. There are no alignment pins and holes along the fuselage and pontoon edges. There is minor flash, especially on the small parts. The decals look great, but will get some decal film anyway. The instruction sheet is printed on both sides. One side is covered in annotated assembly sketches and annotated scale 3 view drawings. The other side of the sheet, which is bigger than a sheet of 8 1/2 x 14 sheet of paper, is completely covered in research notes, history as well as general and specific step by step instructions. There is as much information and good modeling here as you care to draw out of it. It may be a Builder's kit, but it is a darn fine Builder's kit.



sp

[lcarroll]

    Great project sm, and a great bit of history. This will be an interesting one to follow. The piece of original fabric is a great addition and those Williams Bros. products are, as you say, for "real Builders". Good luck, and enjoy!
Cheers,
Lance

[smperry]

Lance
Oh I'm already enjoying. There are no small number of world class scratch builders on this forum, but I will say I am nearing world class at scrounge building. That is the art of finding bits and pieces everywhere, from other kits to the kitchen trash can to Momma's stuff, (gotta tread lightly there).
In this particular case, New Orleans now lives at the Airforce Museum and Chiciago at the Smithsonian. The original exhausts, looking for all the world like they came off an Albatross, were causing exhaust gaskets to fail. They had workers at a Chinese shipyard in Shanghai fabricate individual short stacks for each cylinder. Today Chicago has the short stacks, but New Orleans has an original exhaust manifold installed. (I believe both are restored aircraft). When I saw the drawing of the original manifold on the plans, I dove into the spare parts box and found only 1:48 manifolds. I was about to drag out my shoebox full of bagged 1/72 WWI kits when I remembered a Roden Alb D.III in a box tucked away on the shelf. Bless Roden's little heart, they had not one, but two manifolds in the sprue. One a bit thicker but easily scraped down to match the other. I did find a Roden molded Mercedes D.III engine with an exhaust manifold in spares box which got dropped in the D,III box. Now that is scrounging at it's best. Definitely enjoying.

Off the plans.


The thin one gets the end heated and bent a bit more curved, while the fat one get scraped down to match.

sp

[smperry]

I followed the instructions bu assembling the fuselage and then adding the cockpit and engine pieces. I had to chuckle at the instructions that made a point of saying that the fuselage halves should be dry fitted and adjusted  until the fit is correct.  I did so and a perfectly smooth surface made for a good joint that took minimal cleanup. Painting instructions are fairly specific and I have been following them. I added rudder bar cables and attempted to scratch seat belts.. They came out too big, so I will try again tomorrow and see if I can make them smaller.







sp

[smperry]

Got the fuselage closed up. I tried to make belts and harnesses out of strips of painted tape, but 1/72 details are pushing the limits of these eyes and fingers. I settled for seat belts only, fortunately the cockpit openings are small.

The fuselage top with the installed cabanes fitted the closed fuselage halves with only a little dressing of the edges. The seam will only need minimal filling to look like the line between panels on the full size airplane.

I'm very pleased with how this one is coming together. That is a sure sign that it is time to stop and re-read the instructions before I get over confident and make problems for myself.

[ermeio]

This is one of the  most relaxing biplanes I have ever built...
enjoy the kit ... it turns out into a great subject and even if it lacks finesse in certain areas it is a very nice model

[smperry]

This is turning into an enjoyable build.
I got the major pieces primed and the fuselage colors painted. I think I matched the fabric sample to within half a shade.  I think the rest of the model will go smoothly. Like ermeio said, it is a relaxing model.





sp

[smperry]

I was motoring along with the DWC just fine until I got the not so bright idea of scribing a line around the fuel tank on the top surface of the upper wing.
It looked so good in my head. Not so much after my fingers got done with it. So I cut off the filler cap and thought  to cover my sins with 5 thou card. I had to turn my shop inside out to finally find a usable piece of 5 thou card. All the while I have been fascinated with paper card models, so the DWC sat a week or so. I really need to do a thorough bench cleaning as my workspace is starting to get out of hand and I promised myself a thorough cleaning as soon as the DWC gets finished, so it is time to get moving on that project.

The 5 thou card got the corners ever so slightly rounded and the edges beveled with a sanding stick, (well as much as you can bevel 5 thou card). I stuck it down with liquid cement. The wing is painted and has a coat of Future sprayed on so it was not a true weld, but the liquid cement softened up the card just enough to stick down well with no spooges oozing out around the edges. I found a piece of Evergreen rod real close to the diameter of the filler neck I cut off.  I hoped to slap a little paint on it, but the yellow cheapie acrylic that looked a perfect match didn't cover well. I'm calling it a primer coat. I don't want to use the rattle can yellow as that involves tricky masking so as not to leave a line. I guess I will spray some inside the cap and use a brush to finish painting the fuel tank. I have some punches which look about the right size to make a fuel cap slightly larger in diameter than the neck. That will have to wait until tomorrow to give everything a chance to completely dry.





sp

[gbrivio]

Nice plane, I did't know this model and its history. And it really looks relaxing as you said. Looking forward to the completed model.
Ciao
Giuseppe

[kensar]

This is looking very nice, SP.

[smperry]

Thanks Giuseppe and Ken

This kit has presented me with no problems that I didn't manufacture for myself. It is a very enjoyable build. I wish everyone put as much into their instruction sheets. I will be saving this one as there is just too much good information in one place to get rid of.

As soon as I finish repairing the fuel tank on the top wing, I have to scratch the external fuel tank which mounts on the left fuselage side at the root of the lower wing. Lost that piece somehow. After that it will be drilling holes at the correct angles and spacing for the rigging.

sp

[lcarroll]

Coming along very nicely sp. A Biplane, a "Yellow Wing", and a truly historical subject ....... what's not to like here?! Lovely work!|
Cheers,
Lance

[Monty]

A lovely historical plane in great colours! And coming along beautifully! Well done!

[smperry]

Thanks Lance and Monty.

I scratchbuilt the exterior fuel tank which sits on the lower port wing root. I lost the kit part. It may be overscale, but I didn't want them running out of gas over the ocean.



You can see two 1mm brass rods. These separate the pontoons and replace very flimsy plastic pieces. A first attempt to attach them failed and I will have to try something different tomorrow.



The little anchor was broken and all that was usable were the flukes. I used more 1 mm brass rod for the shaft and made rings by cutting a coil of beading wire.

sp

[kensar]

The anchor is a cool accessory for this subject.
Looking forward to seeing this one completed soon.