WW1 Aircraft Modeling > Under Construction

Airfix DH4 with Blue Rider DH9 conversion, and Pegasus DH4 double build

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IanB:
I'm starting a double build on another site as part of a De Havilland group build, so thought I'd post it here too.
I'll be on vacation back home in UK from 26th until May 16th so I'll get an initial post done now as there will be no updates until after my return.

Geoffrey De Havilland was born in my hometown of High Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire so I've always had a soft spot for his aircraft. Wycombe was, historically, a furniture town and most of the factories were converted to aircraft parts manufacture for the duration. Obviously there was a good supply of skilled woodworkers in the town, and many more came in from other areas.

His father was a church minister, and Geoffrey was born at Magdala House, (now Terriers Green House) at Terriers, near Hazlemere on 27th July 1882.

(reference "High Wycombe's Contribution to Aviation" by David Scott and Ian Simmons, 

My subjects (yes, I'm going to attempt 2!) are:

First, the Airfix (actually MPC boxing) of the DH4, with the Blue Rider DH9 conversion.





This will be built as a 144Sqn aircraft based in Ramleh, Palestine (now Ramla, Israel) in September 1918



My reference:



and some after market goodies in the form of Miniworld guns and Gaspatch pilot's seat

So what do we have to be going on with?

I'm sure most of us are familiar with the old Airfix kit. It's actually pretty accurate shape wise, but unfortunately when I pulled it out to check it, I noticed that the wings were a little warped....





Taking into consideration the amount of work required to remove all the surface detail and fill the strut attachment points I decided it would be easier and quicker to scratch build the wings - I don't think much of this kit is going to be used! 

The Blue Rider fuselage is, to put it politely, a tad thick....



but the detail is nice and it matches plans, so that's a bonus!

I've made a start on preparing the fuselage and making new wings as those tasks represent quite a bit of work before construction can even begin, although no construction will be done until after the build start date.

First the fuselage:

Blue Rider do provide a template for the engine and cockpit openings



so that was photo copied and cut out. The fuselage halves were taped together and the template was attached to give me the guide I needed to mark the plastic that needed removing.



I marked the edge of the black areas with a fresh number 11 blade. The plastic is quite soft so that was easy enough and that gave me my cutting references.

I started with the engine as for some reason I thought that would be easier. No idea why I thought that!

Cutting the plastic away was fairly easy. As mentioned above the plastic is fairly soft so I used a micro saw to cut the ends then scribed it with the blade just within the lines until eventually I could snap it out. It was then shaped with blades and files to the correct outline. Once the shape was complete, I had to thin the edges considerably. Much cutting out of lumps and scraping with a curved blade eventually reaped results.



getting there.....





With both sides done it was then fine tuning to get the engine to fit.




That will do! The engine will be detailed later as part of the build proper.

Then it was time to attack the cockpits. Again saw cuts front and rear, and careful scribing with a blade until I could snap the main piece of excess plastic away, and then fine tune with blades and files as before, followed by much scraping of the fuselage insides to reduce their thickness!

One side done





and completed.





I also removed the step under the fuselage where the wings would mount.

  a) because my scratch built items won't need it, and b) because it increases the depth of the interior, also making it flatter. The gap will be filled and the wings attached seperately with brass pins. I had started to adjust the gap to fit the wings before it struck me which is why one is slightly bigger than the other!

Wings were cut from 1mm sheet and shaped by sanding and filing. I am still in the process of thinning the trailing edges.







That is the end of play until return from hols.

The second build will be the Pegasus DH4 kit.



This will be built as a Liberty-engined US aircraft, Number 6, of 50th Aero Squadron. The pic below is number 5 but is basically the same except 6 didn't have the name on the nose.



This was the aircraft flown by 1st Lt Harold E Goettler and 2nd Lt Erwin R Bleckley in their final resupply mission to the "Lost Battalion" (which was neither lost, nor a Battalion, but they were surrounded) and during which they both lost their lives. Both were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

 It should be noted that this was not their usual machine, that being Number 2, but that had been so badly damaged in previous resupply missions earlier in the day that it had to be retired, hence they borrowed number 6, the usual mount of Lt Floyd M Pickrell and Lt Alfred C George.

References:





What I have to build from:













That's it for now, see you mid May for the continuation of this madness!


Ian

lone modeller:
Not one but two very interesting projects here Ian: I will be following along.

Stephen.

DaddyO:
Also going to join in with the DH cookup on the other channel (not sure what yet but probably the old DH6 vacform I picked up recently)  ::)

Progress on these two looking good so far Ian. (I may have the old Pegasus kit in the stash which I'll have a look for)

Cheers
Paul

Rip Van Winkle:
I will be watching too. Your posts are extremely informative and helpful.

Tim Mixon:
I’m watching with great interest as well Ian. I’ve built the Pegasus DH-4 but it got busted up pretty bad during a move several years ago.
The Blue Rider conversion is very nice and your doing a first rate job with it.  Looking forward to your next post. 
Hoping you have a very relaxing vacation!

All the best,
Tim

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