WNW 1:32 Wingnut Wings AMC DH.2 ( DH.2 7849, A Flight, 29 Sqn, September 1916)

[FarEast]

This build was started on ‎Saturday, ‎June ‎20, 2015 and uploaded to Facebook and also another modeling forum - the next few posts will bring you up to speed to where I am as of now. Sorry for the bulk posting but I hope you enjoy the build.

So after completing the Wingnut Wings Fokker E.I (LF70) project - still not finished as I am currently sculpting the pilot from the original 1916 photo, I decided that I would continue the theme of heavily rigged aircraft and move over to the Entente. Now what with the group build I considered building the FE.2b but I felt not so sure about the skill levels I possessed and opted for what my heart desired and that was the AMC (Airco) DH.2.

I wanted to build if for sometime now and actually own the Wingnut Wings Duelist set containing both the Fokker E.I and DH.2 but as both kits sold separately and in stock I decided to indulge and buy both kits separately and horde the Duelist set.

One of the other factors that played into the build was that I really wanted to give the Aviattic RFC Linen a try, I see many people using the Lozenge but nobody has posted a build using the linen. I used it extensively on the fuselage, underside of the wings and the tailplane of the Eindecker with great results and I wanted to see how a DH.2 would look that was predominantly covered in linen.



One last thing I learned from the Eindecker is that the rigging really makes the plane and the more detailed and accurate you can make those features the better it looks as the eye is naturally drawn to it. With this in mind I went about looking at the actual kit and identified some parts that would require a little more work to make them stand out some more (Similar to the carbane on the Eindecker where I replaced the turnbuckles with Gaspatch products) This time I turned to HGW Models and ordered the Super Detail set for the DH.2 along with the required turnbuckles from Gaspatch.

 

 

Now I really wanted to try out the Aviattic linens so jumped straight to the wings. The process I followed was this:

• Flat white base coat
• Masking off of ribs and internal supports
• Pre-shading using Tamiya Smoke heavily thinned 1:3 and 1:5
• Removal of masking tape
• Several thin layers of Flat white to soften in the Pre-Shading
• Pre-Weathering (under the Linen to simulate heavy staining and to add depth)
• Added solid (White backed) Linen Rib Tape
• Made templates of flight surfaces for linen
• Cut Decals and applied.

[FarEast]

I got a very heavy session on the workbench on Saturday about 10 + hours - although I lost 2 hours hunting for the dog whom had decided to take himself for a walk after the wife left the garden gate unlocked (He knows how to flip the catch!) Although I have to admit it was nice to get out of the house and take a walk through the woods looking for him.

So more work on the wings!

[FarEast]

My goal for the weekend;
 

• Finish the post shading on the upper and lower wings
• Complete the cockpit internals

With the wings masked already it was just a simple case of spraying the wings with a very thin coat of Tamiya smoke and leaving them in the dry box until I'm ready to go back to them.

Actually I want to try blend matte, satin and high gloss effects over the ribs of the wing to simulate the effect that the stressed linen had and that will require some experimentation.











Sadly I ran out of time, I still have the pilots chair and micro fabric seat belts to go in along with the instrument panels, which I managed to get the wood effect finished on before cleaning everything up - so that's a job that can be done over the week.

[FarEast]

I couldn't resist it, before heading out to work this morning I took a few photos of the fuselage dry fitted to the lower wing with the phones camera.

[FarEast]

So on Friday the Taurus Models Gnome Monosoupape 100hp British rotary engine arrived along with some additional goodies for other builds in the stash.

But first I need to get the cockpit detail finished up.





The fabric seat belts by HGW are just simplicity when it comes to installing them and I will soak them with water mixed with pva glue to weigh them down and then manipulate them in to the desired position - they will then dry in that position



I also took the time to start on the pre-shading and weathering done I laid the base colours down in preparation for the Aviattic decals.



So with that done it was time to work on the Engine.



The parts are incredible and ridiculously small, this really pushed me to the limits and I honestly felt that I was out of my depth.





Half way there!

[FarEast]

The first order was getting the fuselage halves and corresponding parts together, after a few dry fittings and subsequent cleaning of parts she slotted together beautifully.

 It took a few runs to get rid of the seam line that runs down the center of the nose cone but Mr. Surfacer and finisher are great and really airbrush on well, as you can see from the image I also removed all the appropriate detailing ready for the HGW ultra detail PE parts.



Again more cleaning and dry fitting and finally time to mount the fuselage to the lower wing and fix the engine in place.



Next up was the 'Emergency 5 gallon Gravity Fed Petrol Tank', I really didn't like the plastic breath tube and it didn't really respond well to having the end drilled or carved out. So in the end I decided to just replace it with a piece of brass tubing, well it was brass tubing so it was a 100% accurate modification.



A drill hole and a single bend later and the 'Breath Tube' is done.





The whole thing was given a coat of Mr. Surfacer and then Mr. Finisher and painted up. The fuel gauge was painted with a thinned MIG AMMO Weathering Effect Fuel Stain and when the light catches it the effect is perfect.

[FarEast]

So the final job of the weekend was to start putting in the anchor points and turn buckles - having inspected numerous images of the only flying DH.2 replica (That happens to be in the same scheme I'm building) as well as some excellent photos courtesy of James Fahey, I realized I was going to need about 84 open ended buckles to complete the wings, I had exactly half that number so even before I started an order for 150 open end turnbuckles was sent to Gaspatch models with priority tracked shipping in the hope that they would reach me by the following weekend.



With those in place and no time to start other parts it was time to call it a day.



So I've spent the last two days rigging, yesterday I got all the wing struts and braces done.









I also took a better photo of the finished emergency fuel line with cut off valve, this detail is actually missing from the Wingnut Wings DH.2 option A,B,C and D. Option E has the detail in low detail and no valve, so using 0.5, 0.3mm tubing and some nuts that fitted the scale I made my own.

[FarEast]

So the build log is up to date, this post is work that I did yesterday,

More rigging and I was really starting to get eye fatigue - don't you just hate it when you just want to complete that last little bit before calling it a day but  no matter what you just can't get it right and have to do it over, but you know you should leave it but can't and continue to mess it up!

Well that was me rigging last night - Rule # 890099 when its late and it won't go right WALK AWAY!
 
So anyway what was I doing? Well control lines of course!
 
After painting up the elevator control levers and attaching Gaspatch turnbuckles I threaded the two lines through the pulleys on the wing struts, these had been drilled out ready for this moment and they slipped through perfectly! I left plenty of length however to enable me to attach them to the elevators.

Next up was the rudder lines - these were a little harder as the pulley line is on the outside and therefore they need to be glues in place on the pulley before attaching to the 3 way splitter that then connects it to the rudder and tail skid. The PE part that came with the kit is rather two dimensional.

I started with drilling 5x 0.5mm holes in a piece of scrape PE sprue that came with the kit and then cut to size and sanded.

[coyotemagic]

Truly spectacular work, James!  Thank you for providing the ultimate guide for when I build mine, which will have to be soon, thanks to you!
Cheers,
Bud

[FarEast]

coyotemagic, thank you for your kind words!

I'm about to play around a little more with the Aviattic Linen decals to try and replicate something that happened completely by accident and will hopefully be another tool in the box when it comes to weathering PC8 and PC10 coated aircraft.

However I have run out of the Japanese version of KLEAR so I need to pop to the drugstore and purchase a new bottle!

BACK SOON!~

[Des]

Thank you James for the very descriptive account to using the Aviattic decals, the technique you used ended with spectacular results. I'm really enjoying this build and look forward to seeing more.

Des.

[UFAG]

Impressive...

[lcarroll]

    Absolutely stunning work James. I recently completed this Model, and have to say mine pales by comparison; your paint work, shading, everything is top drawer! I'll be watching carefully for the completion, she's an absolute beauty!
Cheers,
Lance

[RAGIII]

I have taken some time looking over your log. The techniques and results are simply Stunning! Thank you for posting!
RAGIII

[uncletony]

Like I said, your work will be appreciated here

Great stuff!