Author Topic: Airfix 1/72 Airco DH4  (Read 5053 times)

Online FAf

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Re: Airfix 1/72 Airco DH4
« Reply #15 on: September 13, 2021, 06:51:11 AM »
Great work! And who knows what will be seen of the interior later, maybe you've done just enough?!
/Fredrik

Offline RichieW

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Re: Airfix 1/72 Airco DH4
« Reply #16 on: September 14, 2021, 04:36:14 AM »
It doesn't matter if you did too much to the interior or not. The best thing is that you enjoyed doing it. It would be a shame to not take all the fun out of a model that you can. Can't go leaving any of the fun in the box!

It looks great BTW!

Richie

Offline RAGIII

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Re: Airfix 1/72 Airco DH4
« Reply #17 on: September 14, 2021, 06:31:46 AM »
Your interior work looks even better with paint applied! Really excellent progress on this Old Classic!
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline Early Bird Fan

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Re: Airfix 1/72 Airco DH4
« Reply #18 on: September 23, 2021, 02:57:50 AM »
It doesn't matter if you did too much to the interior or not. The best thing is that you enjoyed doing it. It would be a shame to not take all the fun out of a model that you can. Can't go leaving any of the fun in the box!

It looks great BTW!

Richie
yup, it was fun building it up and i'm not really bothered if most of it can't be seen.

thanks for the comments and continued support on this one, i've made a bit more progress recently. The fuselage halves are now joined and although there was no gaps in the seems it had the telltale dip in the middle which a lot of these square bodied kits seem to have. I applied some sprue goo down each seem then used a craft knife to slice the top off to try and leave a straight edge. That was followed by copius amounts of sanding to smooth things out, once done i re-primered it before starting the paint.




The light grey is almost there, one more coat should do it


I've also been doing some work on the wings, namely attempting to add the pulley covers for the wires that run along the leading edge of the wings and end up operating the ailerons. I got busy (and messy) with some milliput and created some blobs on the wings where they need to be.


Once dried I prised them off and cut them down to a more eye pleasing size and shape, they are supposed to be a teardrop shape but being only about 5mm long i just can't hold them to sand that kinda shape. The final size is 1.5mm tall, 3mm wide and 5mm long so although they may look a bit overscale it's about as small as i can get them, i also need to leave enough meat on them so i can drill a hole through for the rigging. You can also see in this pick i've removed the bomb racks as Stephen pointed out to me they should run fore/aft, i've drilled some new holes and just need to make up some new racks.


This is how they look after some final fettling


As this is the lower wing this is pretty much all that will be seen, once it's all painted they should look a bit smaller...maybe


I aim to get the other wing sorted tonight then i get them both in primer and think about painting them

Offline lone modeller

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Re: Airfix 1/72 Airco DH4
« Reply #19 on: September 24, 2021, 01:27:27 AM »
Progress is progress as they say... That was a lot of very fiddly work but it will add much to a better looking model.

Stephen.

Offline RAGIII

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Re: Airfix 1/72 Airco DH4
« Reply #20 on: September 25, 2021, 02:30:56 AM »
Moving along nicely on this Old Beast! Looking forward to your next update!
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline RichieW

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Re: Airfix 1/72 Airco DH4
« Reply #21 on: September 26, 2021, 05:48:11 AM »
Nothing wrong with a mini update, little by little this old classic is being brought up to date.

Richie

Offline WD

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Re: Airfix 1/72 Airco DH4
« Reply #22 on: September 26, 2021, 09:03:39 AM »
I think it's coming along wonderfully.

Warren

Offline Early Bird Fan

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Re: Airfix 1/72 Airco DH4
« Reply #23 on: October 19, 2021, 04:37:03 PM »
thanks for the comments on this build, they are very much appreciated.

Feels like it's time for a bit of an update...the lower wing and undercarriage are now firmly fixed to the fuselage. The lower wing fit was generally good but i did do a bit of fettling prior to paint to try and ensure no filler was needed.


I've also managed to get a bit of character on the undersides, not quite airbrush quality but with a bit of finishing it should look decent.


I've kept the cabanes and interplane struts a bit simpler this time, just 2 coats of desert yellow and 1 coat of clear orange. I've also decided to not modify the struts and fix them in place as they are, they are a bit unconventional but it shouldn't really notice once in place. For the rigging of these i've drilled holes in each corner and i'll glue the rigging in place prior to fitting the struts so those joins shouldn't be visible.


if all goes well it should be looking like a biplane in the next update...

Offline lone modeller

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Re: Airfix 1/72 Airco DH4
« Reply #24 on: October 19, 2021, 11:20:56 PM »
I like your idea for the rigging - always a problem in the True Scale. It sounds very promising - looking forward to seeing how it works out.

Stephen.

Offline RAGIII

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Re: Airfix 1/72 Airco DH4
« Reply #25 on: October 20, 2021, 08:21:06 AM »
The colors look great and I am looking forward to the rigging update! Sounds like a good plan!
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline Early Bird Fan

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Re: Airfix 1/72 Airco DH4
« Reply #26 on: October 20, 2021, 04:20:01 PM »
I like your idea for the rigging - always a problem in the True Scale. It sounds very promising - looking forward to seeing how it works out.

Stephen.
thanks, in theory it should work ok

The colors look great and I am looking forward to the rigging update! Sounds like a good plan!
RAGIII

thanks, i hope to get the wings joined and make a start on the rigging this weekend...at least that's the plan  :D

Offline 2996 Victor

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Re: Airfix 1/72 Airco DH4
« Reply #27 on: October 22, 2021, 06:22:21 PM »
Hi Dave,

I've just been catching up with your build of this venerable kit. Excellent progress so far and the interior work is especially impressive.

Looking forward to seeing the next installment.

Kind regards,

Mark

Offline Early Bird Fan

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Re: Airfix 1/72 Airco DH4
« Reply #28 on: October 24, 2021, 01:21:22 AM »
This build is now officially a biplane, i thought it would be easier to set the cabanes in place first as the fixing for them is fairly straight forward and gives a positive location for the upper wing. I also added some 1mm long standoffs to represent the rudder control rods. It also got a quick coat of pledge so i could add some decals before the rudder rigging is added.


All the interplanes glued in place, a quick lick of paint and it should look ok, the pre rigging idea seems to have worked well.


And with the top deck fitted, it pretty much went according to plan and was a fairly straightforward job, next up is a riggathon session  :grin:





Offline RAGIII

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Re: Airfix 1/72 Airco DH4
« Reply #29 on: October 24, 2021, 01:24:35 AM »
Really looking Fantastic! It is amazing to see yet another Beautiful DH4 being made out of this Old Kit!
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler