Crossing a DIII with a DH9a

[DaddyO]

(Raises one eyebrow, scratches pointy ear)................. fascinating.

Paul.

LOL you got it Paul 

This is going to be good... I always thought the D.IV was a very nice looking aircraft.  Too bad the real one did nothing well (guess it was really just a test bed to try a geared engine?).
You've made a great start and obviously put a lot of ingenuity and work into this project so far... looking forward to seeing how it all turns out.

Scott

Thanks Scott. 
Took a bit of a back burner whilst I was sorting some other stuff out, but nice to see it shaping up again and it should look different when finished with a three bladed prop.

Not sure whether to go with lilac and green (my original thought) or brown and green for the wings; could have been either I think.

[lone modeller]

That is an interesting way to modify the nose - lots of sanding and carving of plastic but the result is good. Not so different from shaping a wood former and moulding a new part from plastic sheet.

A very interesting project which I am following with interest.

Stephen.

[KiwiZac]

That's looking great so far Paul. To me it almost looks like kit parts!

[DaddyO]

That is an interesting way to modify the nose - lots of sanding and carving of plastic but the result is good. Not so different from shaping a wood former and moulding a new part from plastic sheet.

A very interesting project which I am following with interest.

Stephen.

Thanks Stephen. 
I'm used to carving (blue foam or balsa wood) for flying models so it's the method that I'm most familiar with. If I was making more that one I'd have a go at moulding the part, but for a one off it seemed the simplest way of doing it (Although cutting the various holes in a moulded part would be far easier)

That's looking great so far Paul. To me it almost looks like kit parts!

Thanks Zac. 
Looking forward to adding this one to the display shelf now

[DaddyO]

Needed to make a few details to dress up the interior so it was time to break out the plastic card and get stretching sprue 

DIV instruments A by Paul S, on Flickr

A lick of paint and some putty for a seat cushion (still to be painted) and here are a few details that will never been seen again . . .

DIV instruments by Paul S, on Flickr

Apologies for the poor photo's, but you'll get the general idea

[lone modeller]

A shame that they will never be seen again... I often wonder why we do that!

Stephen.

[NigelR]

Goodness gracious, those are soooo small! Don't sneeze whatever you do......

Lovely work as always. Even more impressive in this tiny scale.

[DaddyO]

A shame that they will never be seen again... I often wonder why we do that!

Stephen.

LOL - it does seem to be a bit of a theme doesn't it. 
(I suppose with a torch and reading glasses you'll at least get an idea of these . . . .)

Goodness gracious, those are soooo small! Don't sneeze whatever you do......

Lovely work as always. Even more impressive in this tiny scale.

Cheers Nigel 
As it happens the compass pinged off somewhere this morning never to be found again so I'll need to knock up another one of those 

Apart from the seat and dashboard most are now safely tucked away in a small plastic bag with the rudder pedals and control column now waiting to be fitted later. Seatbelts have been made using painted paper with buckles cut from some etched PART seatbelts which I find these much easier to conform than brass, even when it's been annealed.

[DaddyO]

Plenty of progress on this one with the major components starting to come together. A suitable jig was knocked up in my usual way with foamboard and photocopies of the plans and the lower wings and tail attached (It actually took 3 attempts to get the lower wings looking correct, but brass pins meant this was more frustrating rather than arduous) 

A few details added including a radiator bottom for under the wing which I'd completely forgotten to make earlier. I debated about scribing panel lines on the fuselage, but the finish looks so smooth I've decided to just mask and paint each wood panel to get the same effect.
All the strut and rigging holes are now drilled (0.4 and 0.2mm drills respectively)
Little bit of filling needed to dress off the tailplane joints and then I'll add some other details before priming. Incidentally rather than scribe the metal nose panels I masked and sprayed a few coats of primer just to build up a lip to suggest these are separate.

DSC_1879 by Paul S, on Flickr

I've cut and laminated some wood for the prop before I realised that with a three bladed prop the grain direction will be incorrect on at least one of the blades (Not a problem with two bladers) I'll now make the prop blades individually and peg into a solid spinner which is a fun job I'm putting off for the moment . . . .

Finally just because I could here's what it'll look like with the top wing in place 

DSC_1881 by Paul S, on Flickr

[NigelR]

Now that is looking quite special. This will be a very unique build when it's done. I really like your approach to the problem solving, and as for scratchbuilding a 3 bladed prop, that is very impressive, no wonder you are putting it off.....

Question - I struggle to use bits below .4mm without them continually snapping. What method and drill do you use with .2mm bits?

[DaddyO]

Now that is looking quite special. This will be a very unique build when it's done. I really like your approach to the problem solving, and as for scratchbuilding a 3 bladed prop, that is very impressive, no wonder you are putting it off.....

Question - I struggle to use bits below .4mm without them continually snapping. What method and drill do you use with .2mm bits?

Cheers Nigel. Should look different when done (I'll need to build a DIII or DV to go alongside)

Fret not about the drill bits I break them all the time 
FWIW I buy them by the boxload (A box of 10 costs about ?5-6 on Evibay; just search for microdrill) and I usually use up 3 or 4 on a simple rigging job like this one.

I use them between my fingers rather than in a dremel and after a few twists clean off the threads by wiping on the back of a finger. Took an hour or so to drill everything on this one and I'm completely cross-eyed when I've finished. 
Some plastics are horrible to drill, but the cheap kits I normally use have nice soft plastic that drills easily enough (I broke about 10 bits doing the double rigging lines on the Eduard Spad)

I prefer to drill after priming, but before painting because getting the broken drill out can make a right mess. If any holes fill in after painting I poke a piece of brass wire through the hole to open it out again

[ScottJ]

This is looking really good, did you ever decide on mauve or brown for the camo scheme?
I like your idea of representing the metal cowl pieces with multiple layers of paint... too many times I've gone to scribe panel lines and ended up with a trench that doesn't scale out well for the size of the kit.  I'll be paying attention to how that technique turns out on the finished model.

Looking forward to the next installment.

Take care
Scott...

[DaddyO]

Thanks Scott 

I've used the 'primer panel' method before (I always end up making a pigs ear when I try scribing, although I'm getting better)

I'm going brown for the camo scheme since it was ordered in November '16 and the change in colour requirements didn't come in till the following April. I imagine red/brown paint stocks would have been used up first so say May onwards for a lilac/green scheme. Seems unlikely that it would have taken 6 months to put it together and paint given the rapidity of new designs generally so I'm going with the green /red brown on this one

Paul

[lone modeller]

That is a sophisticated jig! The model is shaping up really well and as Nigel has written, it will probably be unique, which makes it even more impressive. I too am looking forward to seeing this one completed.

Stephen.

[DaddyO]

  Cheers Stephen.
I make them up for everything since they use offcuts of the same foamboard I make the boxes from and I can tweak them easily with shims of plastic to get everything square; jigs were a bit of game-changer for me making small multi winged aircraft and I always recommend using something (I've tried lego and meccano, but keep coming back to these)

Anyway another crude jig needed to get the position of the prop blades on the spinner 
Spent most of yesterday (in between ferrying my daughter about and watching the rugby) making up three individual blades. In retrospect it would have been much easier to make a pair of 'normal' two bladed props and cut them apart when carved, but we live and learn. No idea of shape or even if a spinner was used, but decided it would look better with a spinner and they needed to be slightly smaller overall diameter than an equivalent two blader because of the increased blade area. Pins hold them at 120 degrees apart, but I need to work out how to carve the 'slots' the blades fit into on the solid spinner now so put it aside to have a ponder about that . . .

DIV propeller by Paul S, on Flickr