WW1 Aircraft Modeling > Vacform Kits
DH-6 1/72nd
djuggie:
November 22, 2023
Another very old vacuform off my shelf, this one the Phoenix DH-6 in 1/72nd scale. I know that few modellers build vacs any more but I have a shelf load of them. In my collection of models, 43 of them are vacs. When I came back into the hobby in 1980, space and availability of kits were of great concern. The only offerings at that time were the Revell series and then I discover Airfix. About this same time vacuforms were just start to appear on one sheet of plastic and nothing else. I was not ready to scratch build machine guns and other fiddly parts until Aeroclub came into existence. I now had an entire selection of white metal parts that transformed vacuforming. Vacuform kits exploded on the scene followed by decals and there were kits that I figured would never be kitted in any injection form.
Veeday, Pegasus, Merlin, Toko and Eduard, along with others, came along years later to prove me wrong but the purchases had been made. Many years later I am starting vac # 44.
As you can see, everything is on one sheet. The instruction say no decals or metal parts are included leading me to believe that is a late run kit and metal parts are included. One beautiful thing is Datafile #103 with reference material that did not exist when I bought the kit.
I cut all of the parts off their sheet. There are two schools of thought on these cuts. One is to leave a lip around the part and you sand until the lip peels off. The other is to cut the part off at an angle right next to the part. This makes for less sanding but great care must be taken not to sand too hard. This work is done at the kitchen sink as I need access to a lot of water. The sandpaper is wet/dry 120 grit. I store the sandpaper under something flat the it will last for years.
The tape on the wings and tails surfaces is for gripping the part and applying even pressure as you sand. The wings will be sanded using less pressure at the leading edge and sanding the trailing edge to a razor edge. Touch up sanding will give me the rounded leading edge.
DaddyO:
Great to see this one being started. I've picked up a few vacs over the last year or so and have cut some of the parts out on this one :)
Stumbling block I hit before going any further with mine was the cockpit layout since I couldn't find any reference to the overall cockpit area (good photos of the instrument panel in the front though) My thought was that there is no second instrument panel for the back seat, just rudder pedals, throttle and stick. ???
Pulling up a seat to watch and see how this comes along ;D
Paul
NigelR:
Another trip down memory lane ;) I had several vacforms in my stash and vowed to build at least one after I retired. Guess what - I got rid of them all! Seems far too much like hard work to me..... :D
DaddyO:
--- Quote from: NigelR on November 23, 2023, 07:18:20 PM ---Another trip down memory lane ;) I had several vacforms in my stash and vowed to build at least one after I retired. Guess what - I got rid of them all! Seems far too much like hard work to me..... :D
--- End quote ---
Got a lovely Otto Doppledekker sitting on the shelf with your name on it Nigel ;D
djuggie:
Paul, Nigel,
I think this one of the reasons I took so long to build the kit. No reference material. Everything had to be scratch built and in 1/72nd could be very tedious and not very rewarding.
In my early vac days that didn't matter to me. Remember, I was after a large collection and no one could see inside anyway. But, for you two builders and the perfection you present in your kits, it does matter what the strap holding down the fuel tank looks like. Me, not so much. It wasn't until WINDSOCK began to be published that I started adding more details.
And, Paul, you should not so cruel to offer Nigel an Otto Doppeldecker. We do not want him running screaming from the room.
Remember, everyone has a breaking point where they will tell you anything to make the pain stop. :-)
Dennis
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