After finally completing the Bristol I’ve decided to stay on the RFC theme and have some fun rigging the DH2.
I thought long and hard about which scheme I wanted to do and finally plumped for Option B
Throwing the manual out of the window the first area I concentrated on was the wings and tail. Previous experience with WNW kits is that the ailerons need something a little bit more substantial than the standard kit lugs so I drilled some 0.8mm holes and inserted some 0.8mm fuse wire, this creates a much stronger joint, is relatively quick to do, and you can move them around to your hearts content without the fear of the sodding things snapping off.
The painting process for the lower sides was then undertaken once the wings were cleaned up, this involves:
· Priming with Alclad primer
· Base coat of 40|60 mix of Tamiya deck tan and White
· Mask ribs and joints
· Thin pre-shade of Tamiya Dark grey and smoke to create shadows
· Tone down shadows with Citadel Bleached Bone thinned with Tamiya thinner
· Remove mask
· Further toning down with bleached bone to get desired effect
· Blend with brown filter using W&N Oils
The wings are now ready for the gloss coat and decals.
Back to the manual. First thing is to be careful when removing some of the more delicate parts from the sprue.
The great thing about WNWs kits is that a lot of the parts are engineered such that you don’t need to fully remove the sprue prior to painting. I followed the kit painting instructions using Tamiya paints.
The seat after priming had a base coat of XF-60 mixed with their clear to gloss it up a bit and then a wash of burnt umber was added. The cushion was a mix of light brown, dark brown and red with a thin mix of black and brown adding shadows. I then with the aid of a toothpick added a desert yellow colour to buttons. To blend it all together a wash of Mig rust was added.
The belts were painted on the sprue flat. Again a convoluted process but I like the effect.
· Priming with Alclad primer
· Base coat of 40|60 mix of Tamiya deck tan and White
· Citadel Bleached bone to create a slightly warmer tone
· Mask and apply Vallejo rust thinned with their own thinner
· Liberal wash applied to accentuate shadows and grime
· Couple of coats of future
· Apply thinned Brown & smoke mix to the edges of the belt
· Couple of coats of future.
The future is used because it enables me to form the belts to shape after painting without the paint flaking off. I just need to flatten the gloss to finish.
The Nacelle was painted using Deck Tan and bleached bone as before and I added the shadows of the frame using the frame as a mask.
The cockpit frame has lugs in most places that can accept a 0.3mm drill bit for the internal rigging. Some lugs were deformed and some not present at all. Where they weren’t present I drilled a 0.3mm hole and inserted dome 0.2mm fuse wire as shown. I would have like to have seen the lugs a touch bigger to make the job a little easier.
I can then thread a 0.5mm brass sleeve containing a length of thin EZ line over this wire and trim to suit. The bits and pieces were picked out and lowlights added via an oil pin wash.
The IP was painted and then future added to the faces in preparation of the decals. This had the added advantage of darkening the bezels that remained grey to create a contrast. Previously the IP decals on my WNW kits needed trimming otherwise they wouldn’t fit, this time they fitted perfectly on a base of wet future and patted down gently with a cotton bud. That clock that I’ve put upside down I couldn’t even read the detail on it with a mk1 eyeball.
The only bit of bare wood in the cockpit got the normal treatment of base, oils, gloss, smoke and the floor was built up using 3 shades of grey. I’ve only rigged the foot pedals as the rest of the internal rigging cannot be seen. I tried colour modulation on some parts just to waste a bit more time, I’m not sure how worthwhile its been but it looks ok to the naked eye.
Its now on to closing up the fuselage and the engine.
