Dewoitine D.510 Chinese Air Force - Dora Wings

[dutik]

Howdy!

 

To honour the vast number of Asian air forces I start another Asia build. This will become a Chinese AF D.510 of the Sino-Japanese war.

 

This is not a beginnig from a sealed box. I've started this kit some time ago, then moved it to the shelf of ...waiting AF in beeing. But all the images got lost when my former image hoster went the way of the Dodo, so I will restart somehow. It is the Dora wings kit. Nice kit overall, sturene with PE, decals and masks. But it has some problems of its own, which we shall overcome one by another. Let's go!

 

Simple task: Drilling out the exhaust pipes.

 

 

The cockpit is lacking a lot of details. Some scratchbuilding with strip styrene, lead wire and other stuff required.

 

 

Enjoy!

- dutik

[dutik]

The cockpit floor is solid where it has to be open. Same goes for the rear wall. We know this from other kits too. Easy to fix here:

 

 

Added some details to the seat too.

 

 

Much better now. Enjoy!

- dutik

[Dpgsbody55]

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Erwin]

A build I didn't expect.

I must look into other types used in Asia.

 

This looks interesting.

Buffalo.

 

Edited December 9, 2024 by Erwin

[dutik]

3 hours ago, Erwin said:

A build I didn't expect.

I must look into other types used in Asia.

 

This looks interesting.

Buffalo.

 

The chinese government ordered all kind of weaponry that was available at the world market. Interwar aircraft production of that time was more boutique like than industrial assembly lines. Small batches one after another. So they operated a wild mix of aircraft types available in time, also Curtis biplanes, Brewsters, soviet bi- and monoplanes, french, whatever. The chinese Dewoitenes were taken from a batch ordered by the French airforce to speed up delivery to China, when the Armee de'l Air agreed to wait longer for delivery of its planes.

 

This war was also short from seeing Dewoitenes D.510 fighting each other. Japan ordered two of them to test them as a new model for the airforce, hence the Dora wings kit in Hinomaru livery. But the D.510 offerd no advantages over the own fighter prototypes, so the Japanese skipped ordering Dewoitenes and went on with their own stuff. Otherwise we would have seen the D.510 fighting on both sides of that war.

 

Regards

- dutik

[dutik]

The painted and wheatered cockpit:

 

 

Regards

- dutik

[dutik]

If you watch close you will note that I left a gap between the molded-on spants and my added parts. This is where the cockpit floor has to slip in. Dryfitting the cockpit floor:

 

 

Good fit, indeed. The cockpit looks also nice, doesn't it?

 

Regards

- dutik

[dutik]

Dusted off the sprues. And I've lost the instructions - how's that possible? Scalemates to the rescue - downloaded and printed a new set. Now up to the remaining cockpit parts!

 

Regards

- dutik

[MikeMaben]

[scvrobeson]

Good save on the instructions. Looking forward to this one being back on the bench

 

 

Matt 

[dutik]

 

 

Oh boy, this was harder than expected! The PE is stiff and the belts were reluctant to get the right shape. Of course one fully built up and painted belt got tweezer launched. It was a really large search and rescue operation. It took some Broncos in the air, Spads at standby and a Jolly Green Giant to winch the belt up into safety!

 

Next step: Wringing with the PE bezels of the dashboard

 

Enjoy!

- dutik

 

[dutik]

While fiddling with the PE dashboards (yes, plural here) I am working along the wings:

 

 

While making the wing with interlocking areas is a good choice to allow for rivet details around the edges it is not so nice due to the gaps and seems running across the wings. A quantity of putty was needed to smooth this out. Rescribing/rivetting of the lost details still to be done. Added some tabs and some shimming to ensure a good alignment of the wing surfaces. Long wingspan, no spars provided - can you spell wing droop? - I will make my own from some square brass tube.

 

Thats it for the moment. Enjoy!

- dutik

 

[dutik]

 

Closed the wing. The wingspan is huge for a single seater - 38cm! Sealing it from inside with superglue was a good idea - it leaked glue like a seave... Now the parts are bond well, but the leading edge needs still a good amount of putty. Nevertheless - good progress. Testfitted the fuselage halves. Fit was really good at the wing roots in contrast to reports from other modellers. I have just to shorten the lower central part a bit to achieve a snug fit at the both ends into the fuselage. Better to shorten than to close gaps, indeed.

 

Regards

- dutik

[Hubert Boillot]

Nice progress.
 

FYI, thanks to member Morane, I just found a website with printable 3D-designed parts, designed by Fancherello (who I believe is also a member here) for the D-500 family.

 

Link here :

 

https://www.insidethearmour.com/product-page/stl-files-for-upgrades-to-the-dora-wings-1-32-d-500

 

The price for uploading is modicum, and is a donation for Ukraine, btw.

 

Hubert

[dutik]

Looks like steam punk Great stuff, if you own a 3D printer, indeed.

 

Regards

- dutik