Donnet-Lévêque Type A, Libramodels, 1:72

[IanB]

Thank you Des, Richard, Dan, and Rick. Yes, it was a little scary, to be honest, but the only other option I could think of was to reskin the sides and I wasn't sure how I would keep the integrity of the fuselage and create the curves, so "sculpting" it was!

 I spent some time yesterday making up a little jig to drill the holes for the wing mounting struts. The forward pair meet at the bottom of the bulkhead between the cockpits, and need to be the correct distance apart, at the correct height above the fuselage. I drew up a little card template. The edge is the centre of the cockpit, where the struts meet, I marked the height of the wing spar and the distance from the cockpit centre at which the struts met the spar, then simply drew a line between the two.



When the template was slotted over the fuselage and aligned, I could simply mark where the extended line passed through the fuselage and drill the holes.



As it turned out, I think the fuselage is a little too shallow. The struts pass through the fuselage in the correct place as measured against the drawings, but to get the correct width at the top, they don't meet at the bottom.



 Not too desperate as only someone who knows the aircraft intimately (and looks inside!) will know, and it will look wrong if I match the bottom and have the tops too wide.

 I've also prepared another little jig to help with positioning and trimming the tops of the struts when they are fitted permanently...



 They have been put to one side now as I want to get the fuselage painted before fitting them. To that end, I have also given it a quick blast of Tamiya White as a primer.







 As expected, there are a few areas needing a little more attention, but considering the nature and extent of the "surgery" I'm surprised at how well it's turned out!

 On another note, the engine arrived yesterday too....



What a beauty, I just hope I can put it together without breaking anything!

Ian

[IanB]

After tidying up those areas that needed further attention, the last job that needed doing before another coat of primer went on was to add the decking between the cockpits and round off the corners.
 A piece of .010" sheet was cut to length and the corners were added with a round jewelers file. The area between the filed corners was removed with a scalpel and the piece was glued in. Mr Dissolved Putty was added to ensure a good blend, and was also used on the remaining corners. When dry, it was cleaned up with the jewelers file and a sanding stick.



I'm happy with that. So another coat of primer.....





 It's looking good at the moment, I'll check on it again later!

Ian

[lone modeller]

I approve whole heartedly of your jig Ian. As you know I use these things frequently and always make them from what is to hand - the simpler the better in my book. The rest of the build is coming on really well - another of these very interesting early birds - cannot get enough of them.

Stephen.

[RAGIII]

One can not tell that you did so much sculpting and reshaping... A good thing of course! Looks great with the primer on!
RAGIII

[Des]

The scars of the modifications you performed on the fuselage are no longer evident now that the primer has been applied, well done.

Des.

[IanB]

Thanks Stephen, Rick, and Des. The fuselage has undergone a lot more work since the last update, mainly just cleaning up the last few traces of the surgery, and repriming, then repeating. It's as good as I think I can get it now, so on with the painting!

 I'm not certain that my usual method of painting wood effect will work on such a large surface, but I'm going to give it a shot - I can always repaint it! I'm also hoping to add a little variation between the ply panels on the sides.
 First off was a coat of the base colour. I've used Misterkit CDL as usual.



 I then masked up the panels. the plan is to paint the sides one panel at a time, then mask them off and do the top and bottom surfaces as one piece each.



The first panels were then painted with thinned ModelMaster Leather acrylic, using a 15mm flat brush. One stroke over each panel, then after a minute or so, another, until I got the look I wanted.



 Since I will have to mask those to paint the other panels I'll leave that now for a couple of hours. The tricky bit is going to be getting the panels similar, but with just enough difference to be noticeable if looking closely. To that end I may leave some of the panels unmasked and do it in stages so that I have a reference to work from.

Thanks for looking in,

Ian

[IanB]

Well, I did the other panels and I'm not too unhappy with how they've come out, especially considering this was more of a proof of concept than anything else....





 The front panels look fine, I'm very pleased with those, but the rear ones are not, so I'll probably do those again. A coat of clear orange over the top should tie it all together nicely.

Ian

[RLWP]

I'm asking because I don't know - did the grain go up and down the panels? I would have expected it to go along the hull, if only because it would look better

Richard

[IanB]

The reproduction at Les Retroplanes d'Argenteuil has the grain up and down, so I went with that.

Ian

[RLWP]

Not all of it 



Richard

[IanB]

I hadn't seen that pic, thanks. I have to redo the tail section anyway!

Ian

[RLWP]

If you are redoing the panels, I would say there is less contrast in the ply than your first go has created, both within the panels and also from panel to panel

I'd cheat, grain the lot and then faintly draw in the panel lines

Richard

[IanB]

I agree Richard, that's one of the reasons I decided to repaint some of the panels. Also, the final clear coat will reduce the contrast too.

So, on that note, today was the day to try to put it right. I gently sanded down the upper front panel, and the rear three on both sides, and repainted those, then did the underside, which left me with this....





 That looks far better to me. The rear panels were done horizontally.  I'm not too happy with the underside, but since it's not going to show I'm not going to redo it!

 Then the final touch, a coat of clear orange to tie it together and give it a more of a varnished wood look....







 I'm very happy with that!
 Could it be better? Absolutely! One of the biggest problems in this scale is getting the wood right. It probably looks a little over scale, but to get it closer would mean virtually no contrast and just a plain orange-brownish colour all over, so I'll settle for what I have. It has also given me a much better idea of what needs to be done to achieve this effect and I will be much more comfortable when I get to doing some of the wooden German two seaters.


Thanks for looking in,

Ian

[JamesAPrattIII]

This plane was according to my not too reliable notes still in service at Pola in 1916

[IanB]

Thanks James, that's very useful to know! Do you recall where that info came from, or can you add to it at all?

Ian