3 Hanriot HD1 78ma Squadriglia 1/144

[andonio64]

Hallo,
here is a new work of mine, on the other forum I am in they have organized a WW1 group build starting on new year's day... but I had already started my Breguet XIV so to take part in that GB I had to start a new job.

Without stopping the BrXIV I decided to handle this kit:


As probably many of you already know, it's a double 1/144 combo.

3 out of the 4 options proposed by the decals are Italian and one is Belgian (ça va sans dire!).
I decided to tribute an hommage to the 78th Squadriglia, and in particular to Mario Fucini, one of the many aces flying for that squad on the Hanriots.
I have bought some weeks ago his wartime diary:

"Voli sul nemico" = "Flying above the enemy"
THis edition dates back to the fifties but the original book was issued in 1932.
Fucini flew also in WW2 and ended up in the 1950's his military career as Air force Brigadier-General.

The plane depicted here is the last one he flew, there are at least other two different (earlier) versions of his plane with different identification markings.

About the second plane I think I will make the other 78th squadriglia machine suggested by the kit: Sgt. Guido Nardini (not Quido as written on the box back)




Here are the sprues:


I those small plastic bags are the engine and its cowling!


Decals and PE frets...



Instructions


My usual information sources...

I see two major problems on which I ask your educated advice:
- the struts are all provided as PE parts. The problem is not being too thin but too weak. Should I make them from thin plasticard? I am afraid to set them in tension when rigging the wings...
- Yeah, rigging here needs a genial idea, I need Ondra's advice here!!!!

AnDonio

[andonio64]

Fucini's Hanriot  was a Macchi built, so it was classic CDL and had the fuselage and the upper surfaces painted in a darker shade of beige.
The cockades were the normal ones, with the outside circle in green.

The camouflage of this plane was overpainted on the factory dark beige and, according to the big book by the Historic office of the Italian AF, was not exactly as depicted on the box, it should have two colours roughly painted. A reddish brown and a dark green.
Something like this:


The paint was thicker and darker on the fuselage sides and on the upper side of the top wing and less thick on the upper side of the bottom wing

This is a publicly available photo from which the historical office of the IAF deduced the colors, plus a couple of other photos in the book not available publicly on the net.


Number 78 could be black or red, in this case it seems red was the best hypothesis for visibility reasons
In another photo it appears with a white border

The big white pennant painted on the two sides had 12 black skulls representing the victories he claimed (he was officially awarded 7 kills).

My idea is to paint it like this version.


The Hanriot flown by Nardini was French built and the canvas was aluminium doped, the cockades were repainted from the French (the blue inner circle was repainted green).

Thanks for watching an I am looking forward to getting some suggestion!!!

Antonio

[ondra]

Hi Antonio,

great to see you starting with this dual build.

Got your back with whatever assistance or advice you need.

As for the struts, I would consider using a combination of brass rod and evergreen profile glued together with CA and then sanded to shape - I used this on my S.E.5a and it worked well.



As for rigging - I would recommend a test assembly of all parts using masking fluid to hold the parts in place. Once you are sure the fit is correct, glue the lower wings and all struts in place and then rig the whole construction - you wil be gluing the monofilament to the top of the struts with extra thin CA. Once rigged, the top wing goes in place.

For this purpose I use elastic monofilament by Uschi van der Rosten glued with CA to a piece of thin copper wire:



You glue the copper wire in pre-drilled holes in the lower wing (simulates turnbuckles at the same time) and once the CA has cured, you simply stretch the monofilament to the top of the strut on the other side and glue. Easy peasy.

Cheers

Ondra

[andonio64]

Thank you Ondra fore these great ideas, I only hope I will be able to make it!

[RAGIII]

I am looking forward to seeing you build this pair!
RAGIII

[Des]

Another great thread for me to follow, looking forward to the next updates.

Des.

[andonio64]

Thanks guys, your support adds pleasure to the pleasure of modeling!

AnDonio

[andonio64]

Hallo everybody,
here is the state of the art on the microHD project:


Here are the pieces painted while still on the sprues, too small to be held in the fingers!!!



Engines and cowlings (you can see some electrons escaping their orbits if you look at the photo very carefully...



I tried to enrich a bit the pilot place, skids on the floor and control stick were not supplied by the kit.
The lumps of glue at the bottom of the sticks cannot be seen after the fuselages are closed. I used 0,5 mm diameter plasticard, a smaller size (I have 0,3) would have been nearly invisible.



Instrument panels and firewalls (not supplied by the kit)


everything at its place

At the end of the evening session I closed the two fuselages, now they need some sanding and putty...

I'm getting blind!!!!

;-)

[Manni]

Woah, Antonio! Crazy man! Looks so good, the seats are great and the dashboard, too.
Wonderful!
Bye,
Manni

[gbrivio]

A promising build and a very good start. And I'm very interested in Fucini's plane as I have a long time begun HD1 in my shyness cabinet waiting to be completed in the same mistery livery.
Ciao,
Giuseppe

[Juan]

Wow, that is tiny.  Looking good on your progress.

[andonio64]

Thank you guys...
This WIP is useful to explain the meaning of field depth in photography to novices!

@giuseppe: the livery I chose for Fucini is not fully documented, but it's an interpretation of the photos by the big book on Italian Aces of WW1 which is historically very accurate and describes something very close to that model by Mikko, the finnish guy I posted the link above.

[RAGIII]

Nice start Antonio! Looking forward to the rest of the builds!
RAGIII

[andonio64]

Thanks Rick!

[andonio64]

A few weeks ago I asked Václav Lomitzki of Valom to purchase a second decals sheet, to have more 78 markings, and he was so kind to send me for free 2 sheets (including 2 PE frets) and one more sprue tree...
So probably I'll add a third 1/144 HD1 from the same squadron but I'm not sure which one...