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

[Dutch522]

Just catching up on this thread, great work on these little critters! The 9 dovetails rather nicely into my second great love, the Interwar/Silver Wings era (Chrome Yellow Wings era on this side of the pond). Looking forward to more progress.

Dave V.

[IanB]

Thanks for the comments gents, glad you're enjoying it!

Only just over a week since the last post- I must try to keep this up!

Since I've had a long weekend this weekend some more has been done on these two. The only problem is that I keep thinking of other things that need doing! The "other things" this week were preparing some CAD drawings for some of the internal details. I had intended to simply paint the instrument panels, but having done that, they look really tacky. I couldn't find any photos of the DH4 cockpit so decided to take a pot and emailed the pilot of the US Liberty Plane to see if he could help. Imagine my surprise when the next morning I received an email from him with pics!

Accordingly, I will offer my sincere thanks here to Dorian Walker for sending the following: (At least a couple are by James Fahey of course, no surprise there!)









Perfect photos for what I needed!

Yesterday's task then, was to prepare the rough part drawings and print them to check the fit before detailing them. Parts done were:

Pilot's backrests. The striping is just the result of me handbrushing a gloss coat on to see if the detail showed. I'll reprint them anyway.



Rudder pedals - I decided that two bits of plastic rod glued together were not going to work....



DH4 instrument panel



It needs shortening slightly top to bottom, but otherwise it has been made to fit by simply shaving slightly more off the fuselage parts.

DH9 panel



I had to trim a tiny piece off the left edge to get it to fit, and I will need to raise the top of that same area slightly but otherwise a good fit!

DH4 radiator



Hmmm.... although a little thinking let to a session paring the cowlings either side to thin them. Resulting in this...



Which shows again just how thick the plastic is! A little fine sanding on the edges and fits nicely. I will print the front of the engine separately and attach it from behind the radiator. The cooling slats will also be printed separately along with the "lip" around the radiator opening to give the nose the correct look of having the engine cowlings turned in at the front. You'll see what I mean (hopefully) later, when I get that printed.

Anyway, back to the PC now to continue with a little more detailing!

Thanks for looking in,



Ian

[KiwiZac]

Great progress Ian, thanks for sharing!

[Dutch522]

Gorgeous work, Ian. I have the Smithsonian book on the US DH.4 they restored some years back, so if you get stuck for any other details give me a holler. I'd be glad to look it up for you.

Dave V.

[RichieW]

Great stuff Ian, that rudder bar is miniscule. I can almost hear the carpet monster's tummy rumbling! Yes more updates, this is a fascinating project full of old fashioned skills and modern 3d printed wizardry.

Richie

[IanB]

Thanks guys, much appreciated!
Dave, the only other thing I can't work out is the design of the spent casing ejector chutes. I can't figure out how or where the left gun shells would get to the ejector chutes on the right side.

I had today off so managed a productive day in Fusion getting the details done. Instrument panels for both aircraft, radiators for both, plus additional details for the 4 such as radiator shutters, a "lip" for the engine cowlings, and the nose of the engine to mount the prop on.

First then, the instrument panels. Here's the reference plus the design for the DH9.



and the same for the DH4



They seem to have printed ok too!





I'm not sure why there are lines across the DH9 panel but I'll see if I can get rid of those. Otherwise I'm very pleased with them both.

The 3 parts for the DH4 nose:

Radiator



Nose of the Liberty engine



and the front of the cowlings with the cooling slats



The radiator has two lugs on the back to align the engine part. Those need to be moved slightly further apart to allow proper fitment and it needs narrowing just a tad. Otherwise it looks good.

Engine nose works well, and the cowling lip needs to be narrowed by about 1mm and have more supports added for printing. I'll add a thin strip across the back to keep the slats aligned and straight too.

Here's how the rad and engine fit together.



Finally, the radiator for the DH9



That fits nicely and is a huge improvement over the white metal part.

That's it for tonight but a day well spent!

Thanks for looking in!


Ian

[KiwiZac]

Lovely work Ian!

[Dutch522]

Hi, Ian, I dug out my DH-4 book, and had forgotten how disappointing it is when compared to the one on the D.Va... there's only a single chapter on the actual restoration, and not a single photo of the Marlin installations. I studied the photos I have, and ended up more mystified than when I started. Looks like there's two possibilities: In the first you can see a pair of what look to be chutes for spent cartridges on this post-war a/c:



... with the one for the left gun apparently leading to a chute that might (or might not!) empty through a hole in the bottom of the fuselage.

But these others all point to (possibly!) some sort of Rube Goldberg combined chutes that both empty out the starboard side of the a/c, one ahead and one behind the forward cabane:



... I can't imagine you'd need that much ductwork to get rid of the brass from one gun.

These are the only photos in my library showing the Marlin installation clearly, and unfortunately the lower, uncovered photo shows a test setup on a Salmson. But at least it shows the ammo cans:



Hope these help. Wish I could've come up with something more definitive!

Dave V.

[Tim Mixon]

Beautiful work Ian!  Love the instrument panels.  They will look great when you get them installed.  Good luck with the ammo chutes!

[lone modeller]

Catching up Ian: you have made great strides since I last looked in. This 3D printing lark really adds a new dimension or even dimensions to our hobby. Much better than what I do trying to file and sand bits into shape - and yours is so much more accurate and detailed too!

Keep up the good work.

Stephen.

[RAGIII]

Most impressive Ian! Simply stunning work in 1/72nd scale!
RAGIII

[IanB]

Thanks Tim, Stephen, and Rick - much appreciated.

Stephen, here is what can be done with the 3d printing. There is no way I could do this the traditional way.....

Here's the DH4 front end dry fitted.

First the front of the cowlings



The radiator and "engine" dry fitted



and all together



I think that's a decent improvement over the kit part!



Since I can't spray the aluminium on the instrument panels I've ordered some Vallejo paints and when they arrive the painting of these parts can be completed, and the interior can be completed!



Ian

[RAGIII]

Brilliant!
RAGIII

[KiwiZac]

That's outstanding!

[Tim Mixon]

That radiator looks cool 😎!  Pun intended. Lol