Airfix 1:72 Hannover CL.IIIa

[IanB]

Thanks,
 Doug just got in touch again, so hopefully it won't be too long now.....

Ian

[Dal Gavan]

That's looking good, Ian.  I'm especially impressed with the engine- they're a tricky build in 1/32, let alone 1/72.

Hopefully your decals will arrive soon, I'd like to see this one finished.

Cheers.

Dal.

[IanB]

OK folks, 18 months later (no, it didn't take THAT long for the decals to arrive...) and I'm finally back on this one. I dug it out this morning and immediately decided it needed more work on the wings and control surfaces - mainly just thinning them a little more at the trailing edges. That's all done, I've drilled out the hand holds in the upper wing cutout, and fitted lower wing. While waiting for that to dry properly I thought I'd post a couple of pics.

 Doug's decals are unfortunately not complete. The wing lozenge is 1st rate, but he decided to do the fuselage as a wrap instead of just providing a sheet to fit as required. Hopefully it will work ok with the alterations I've made around the cockpits. Also the wing midsection lozenge is one wrap around piece, the same colour all across, instead of being lower colours for the underside. At least it will provide a pattern to paint the lower side myself. I'll also have to photocopy it to use as a pattern for the lower tail as no decal has been included for that.







I'm looking forward to getting on with this now, it's been WAY too long....

Ian

[radio]

Ian great work on this little bird.
Martin

[vincentm]

You're making a very good upgrading on this kit. The outer surfaces seems to better than I would've thought, but the inside is desperately empty and you're doing a great job to fill it.

[RAGIII]

Ian,
In a way I am glad you took 18 months off on this one, otherwise I would have missied your beautiful build. Having caught up on where you are to date I am extremely impressed! Your interior improvements and the Aftermarlet engine are awesome! Also the fuselage corrections really make a difference. Looking forward to your next update!
RAGIII

[Alexis]

Ian , I really like your take on this kit . I have one in the stash and will follow this for tips .






Terri

[IanB]

Thanks all!
It's a fun kit to build despite (or perhaps because of?) its shortcomings. Just a small update - I began yesterday thinking I was ready to give it a quick coat of primer to check for blemishes and then spent the whole day improving what I had!

 I removed the weird little lump in front of the pilot's cockpit (supposed to be a windshield maybe?) and reshaped the cockpit opening. Somehow I'd missed that previously - it would have been a lot simpler to have done it earlier. I widened it slightly towards the rear and then brought the back edge forward by about 1mm by adding small amounts of Mr Liquid Putty and gradually building it up. The front edge was squared off a little in the same way.
 The gunner's ring mounting was added using an Aeroclub part, rounded off at the edges, and added the gun mount using a tiny piece of .020" rod and.... Mr Liquid Putty! How I managed for so long without this stuff I have no idea - it is much stronger than normal putty and easier to file and drill too. I also moved the mounting point for the rear cabane strut about 1.5mm rearwards and 2mm upwards (the original and the newly drilled hole can both be seen on the 2nd pic below). All the rest of the strut mounting holes have also been drilled.







 The wing struts were separated and mounting pins added, and the undercarriage main legs have been made from .016" brass rod and .020x.030" strip. A little liquid putty along the joining edges, and a gentle filing and the seams won't show!



I've also included a pic of Doug's decals - I know this doesn't do them justice but it gives an idea of what I got. As I mentioned previously, the lozenge is very nice, but I'm not sure about the fuselage. The tail section is fine, but I may paint over the rest using the decal as a guide, then overspray it as required. I think he tried to do the decal as the finished "oversprayed" look and it doesn't quite give the look I want - plus the wing section shouldn't be oversprayed, and the lower tail section is missing completely, so that will enable me to match all those sections to each other. I'm not sure that the "wrap" format will work either - we'll see....
 I did mention these points to Doug, so hopefully future prints will be a little better - this was, I believe, his first try at these (It's also only my opinion, and others may find this exactly what they need....)



Ian

[RAGIII]

Terrific work on your final changes! As for the decals it sounds as though you have a good plan to deal with the issues! Looking forward to MORE!
RAGIII

[ALBATROS1234]

i got a set of these hannover decals from doug last year. i would suggest tracing the outline on to plain paper cutting them out and trying them on the fuselage to see where you are etc. from what i could see in 1/32 with the wnw kit they dont really fit as is. i made templates and did hours of work and i eventually lost interest when something else struck my fancy. what can i say i'm fickle. but anyway in the case of 1/32 there wasnt enuff decal there to do a full wrap.if i use the top and splice the sides in there was much of the bottom left uncovered. i was intending on making a template for doug so he could adjust his polygons to fit the wnw kit but i just forgot, and havent thought about it in a while. been doing alot of scratching and such lately. perhaps you can make it work in 1/72.idk but templates will be key.

[Alexis]

I'm curious to see how this stage is going to turn out with the decals ...








Terri

[radio]

Ian it is a very nice work.
What is about Doug`s webside? Has he another?
I need decals about my Eduard Hanover CL-III and the Gotha G-V.
Hy Albatros can you send me yours from the Han CL and can I change it to 1:48?
Martin

[IanB]

@Albatros - Doug's decals are not made to cover the bottom unfortunately so mine will have a blue underside.
 I had no major problems with the fit of the decals, but they don't stick very well and when I handled it about 5 hrs later part of the tail decal lifted - the same happened around the cockpit today, days later! Hopefully these issues are now resolved....
 Here are some pics of the newly applied decals...







 A couple of spots suffered damage where the colours came off, but since I intended to overpaint most of it anyway it wasn't an issue.

After the decals had dried properly (this morning), I mixed up some acryllics to match the lozenge as closely as possible and overpainted the wing centre section, and tail, and painted the nose cowlings, struts, undercarriage and lower tail to match.









 I was actually very pleased with my handywork until I saw this pic of the upper wing! It looks terrible, but believe me, you can't see the bad lines with the naked eye!

 I then got out the airbrush and gave the fuselage a blow over of Prussian blue to blend it all in and change the decals from their original purple look....



 Next step will be to give it all a dullcoat, and then mask it and spray the wings white in preparation for the lozenge. I should have done this first but forgot, so know I have made myself a problem - hopefully the decals won't lift!

Ian

[Alexis]

Hey Ian , kinda of a bummer on the decals . I have used Doug's lozenge decals and didn't have this trouble with them . Glad to see you where able to recover them and move forward . Also like the blue over spray , much better .




Terri

[IanB]

Thanks Terri,
 3 more edges have lifted since I posted that, the white glue is getting put to use....hopefully no more!

Ian