Airco DH.2 (1/32, Wingnut Wings)

[Adam]

Beautiful.

Adam.

[GAJouette]

 She's shaping up to be one Awesome bird my old friend.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette

[PrzemoL]

Thanks, Adam and Gregory.

The struts are in. The upper wing is just put on to assure the proper alignment of the struts. The lower wing dihedral had to be increased by placing the pens for support, thus all the struts fit into their holes in the upper wing. It is not easy to fit all 10 of them but it is doable. I will have to do it once again, with the glue in the sockets - but this tomorrow!

[PrzemoL]

Some more steps forward, though not everything went smoothly...

Everything was ready for the upper wing assembly



And then I erronously decided to use gel CA glue, what almost led to a disaster. I put small glue blobs into the struts sockets and tried to place all 10 struts to their places. The unstrained wing geometry in the kit is such that the upper wing has larger dihedral than the lower one. Thus the wing tips have to be gently pressed one against another to get everything in place. And it was too much, not all struts went all the way in the sockets. The glue started setting too early. I had to tear off the wing from two resisting struts, luckily the plastic glue at low wing sockets was strong enough... Swearing like tinker I had to re-drill all the sockets to remove that damned CA glue. Then I decided to use the glue only in the outermost struts. This way it went well. So now the upper wing is on but the cabane and inner interplane struts are just dry-sitting in their sockets. However the rigging I started seems to stabilise all the wing cellule. It is not over, yet, as you may see, but I have enough for today.

[Ian from Doncaster]

Great work Prez! 

I find it very difficult to fit a wing, all struts together, before the glue goes off.  It is a very good idea of yours to glue the critical joins and let the fit and strength of the model with the rigging hold it all together.

[Ernie]

Prze, it certainly isin't coming easy is it?  I had visions of building one of the
DH.2's but after seeing what you have gone through, with the talents you have,
I think I will hone my abilities a little...no a lot more before tackling such a beastie.
After the fight with the struts, with the rigging begun, it is really looking superb. 
Even with all the adversity, you are doing a masterful job, my friend!

Cheers,
Ernie  

[IFF1418]

Hello Przemo, glad you made it in installing the upper wing. If you had some trouble doing this, you can imagine what fear I have glueing the struts. Your rigging is as always outstanding. What a great build this is going to be. Congratulations!

Kind regards
Patrick

[RAGIII]

Terrific work Prez! Your skill level makes everything look as though there were no problems at all. Nice recovery from your difficulty with the struts! Rigging is outstanding.
RAGIII

[dr 1 ace]

Prez,

Just beautiful, typical of your work !

Bertl,

 can't wait to see yours !

ED

[mgunns]

Hello Prez:

Wow!  What a great recovery from the brink of disaster.  You would never know by looking at it.  We always learn don't we?  Great job and I am looking forward to your next update.

Best

Mark

[Nigel Jackson]

Hello PrzemoL

Thank you for posting these images and the commentary. Sharing the problems and how you addressed them is really helpful. Notwithstanding the difficulties, this is already looking a beautiful piece of work.

Best wishes
Nigel

[PrzemoL]

Many thanks, everybody for watching and kind comments.

Well the wings are rigged, (the last missing lines to come will be the elevator controls, but only when the crate stands on its legs):






I have also prepared the tail booms and the tail itself for painting - the parts were cleaned from delicate flash, fitted with Bob's eyelets, the elevators fitted with small wire pieces to strengthen their joint to the stabiliser and finally the tail piece is glued together. I have noticed the slot in the horizontal stabiliser is a bit too wide to keep tightly the vertical stabiliser - I have decided to connect them before painting and use some liquid CA glue as a filler to hide the joint. The photos will follow when colours are on.

[Des]

Coming along beautifully Prze, the rigging is excellent and your shading is superb, I really like your CDL colour.

Des.

[RAGIII]

Coming along beautifully Prze, the rigging is excellent and your shading is superb, I really like your CDL colour.

Des.

I can't say it any better!
RAGIII

[stefanbuss]

Really impressive work shown here (again). I thank you for highlighting your building mistakes, as well.

Stefan