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

[WD]

Really great progress!

Warren

[AngryJazz]

Impressed by the amount of work you put into this! Looks great! 

[IanB]

Good job you spotted the holes problem on the wings Ian. The tail surfacrs look good - nothing like 30 thou card for flying surfaces.

Stephen.

Thanks Stephen, I agree! I'd much rather have a little extra work at this stage than find out too late! More 30 thou and some brass rod is on its way!

Superb modelling. Harry W would be very proud!

Thanks Nigel, that's quite a complement! Not often that Harry W is mentioned any more, but I have his Ilya Muromets book which is a godsend for building that monster. Must get back to it......

I've been away for a while and it's great to come back to so many tasty updates. Great work Ian!! I'm sorry for the issues you've hit but well done on recovering.

Thanks Zac, welcome back!

Really great progress!

Warren

Mant thanks Warren!

Impressed by the amount of work you put into this! Looks great! 

Thanks AJ! (if you can abbreviate AngryJazz that way!)

Right, mailbox dealt with, on to today's update!

Somewhere along the line my measuring/checking against plans has gone a bit wonky - a fact I discovered when I test fitted the tail feathers. What it all amounted too was that I needed to add a small fillet to the rear decking of the 4 as there was too much gap for the horizontal stabiliser to fill. Fortunately, a minor issue and easily resolved with a piece of plastic rod, but it will need a quick respray. Again, that shouldn't be a problem as I have still to paint the wings and tail anyway so I can do it then.

Both aircraft now have a complete, pinned, set of tail feathers and test fits now look good!







I have since added another small pin to the rear end of the stabilisers on both just to give a more positive and secure location.

Then the most nerve-wracking task, which again should have been done before painting, drilling for the lower wing mountings.

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aaannnndd.....breathe again!

The have also been checked in profile to ensure that the wing spars (where the lower strut mountings are), lower cabane strut mounts. and cabane struts all line up. IE the struts will be level viewed from the side!

Phew.

Beer time!

Thanks for looking in!

Ian

[DaddyO]

Enjoy the beer Ian you've certainly earned it 

Top work all round
Paul

[RAGIII]

Looking superb Ian!
RAGIII

[NigelR]

I missed your last update, great progress and I'm looking forward to seeing these completed in 24!

[Tim Mixon]

Wonderful progress on these Ian. I like the pins you’ve added for reinforcement.

[KiwiZac]

Top job Ian, the various alignments look spot on!

[WD]

Just fantastic all the way around.

Warren

[IanB]

Thanks for the feedback gents, much appreciated!
I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and Happy New Year to all!

Happy New Year everyone and may the modelling gods be with you!

I have been busy over the last week, but I succumbed to starting yet another kit.  I had a nostalgia trip just before Christmas and ordered a load of 54mm Airfix Napoleonic figures, plus 3 Matchbox 1:32 cars which I had built as a teenager. The Jaguar SS100 got the better of me and a start has been made over on the vehicles forum.

Some progress has also been made here and I masked the undersides of all the flying surfaces. 



It's a tedious job, which is why I kept putting it off, but once I got started it went pretty quickly.

All done!



They were sprayed, then when dry the masking was removed. It was hardly worth the effort on the 4 as the ivory colour barely shows up the ribs!



The upper wings of the 4 have been glued together and once set I will don any remedial work needed on the joins, touch up, then spray a thin coat of ivory  - or maybe not, as the ribs are barely visible anyway! The 9 wings will definitely get a thin coat of CDL over the ribs to tone them down a little.

That's all for now,

Thanks for looking in!



Ian

[NigelR]

Lovely work, although it is a bit subtle! If you go to all that effort of masking the ribs on CDL, I would advise a light mist of a patchy reddish brown colour before you remove the masking strips. The varnish on the CDL areas would discolour and the rib tapes would stand out against this. You can see this on both period photos and replicas.

[IanB]

Thanks Nigel. None of my models are weathered so I'll save myself that job!
The CDL on the 9 is much more noticeable than this one.

Ian

[Tim Mixon]

Impressive progress Ian. Looking forward to seeing the final results.

Tim

[IanB]

Thanks Tim!
Just a brief update this time.

My preferred method is to just use paint to emphasise the ribs. If the upper surface is CDL, the underside ribs are usually shadows, so darker. If the upper surface is doped, the underside ribs are lighter. For CDL aircraft I mark the ribs with a pen or similar. If the upper surface is coloured, I paint the underside white, mask the ribs, then spray CDL. After removing the masking a quick light CDL coat gives the effect I want. The same is done on the upper surfaces.

This is what I have now after that process.





Subtle, but noticeable. 

I now need to do the same to the upper surfaces, and drill the rigging holes.

Slowly but surely!

Thanks for looking in,



Ian

[Rookie]

Beautiful work Ian.

Thank you for explaining your colouring process.

Willem