Airco DH.6A aka "Skyhook"

[Loic]

Looks better than just "acceptable" to me mate

Edited January 4, 2012 by Loic

[Tomek]

Jean, glad you like it. Thanks! Most of all I'm glad you are not bored with my paper stuff!

Martin, I'm sure your tissue will produce much better and subtle effect. That what I was aiming for. Anyway as on the photo I showed, tapes were quite prominent on this aircraft, so overall I think it's OK. I'll try next time again delaminated strips of extra color. I think I know where I made mistake with this method - I retouched edges with acrylic paint before removing layers of paper from strips (cardstock is made of pressed layers). The paint glued together some of the layers. Next time I'll try without paint.

Thanks Loic! No go back to your build! I want to see some update soon.

[Gil]

Along Those Lines...,

 

Hi Tomek,

 

Reminiscent of work on a DH2 from my way back machine...,

 

Below is the result. Quite similar to your embossed example! Yours is much simpler though...,

 

+Gil

Edited January 5, 2012 by Gil

[LSP_Paul]

Tomek,

The cockpit detailing and embossing you're doing on the Ribs and Tape look fantastic!

 

Keep up the great work! I'm sure lots like me are watching and just not always commenting, I for one didnt want to distract from your build by adding text to it, but I wanted to let you know Ive been watching and learning while admiring your work.

EXCELLENT JOB SO FAR.

 

Paul

[DougN]

I think the embossed lines look great, and really capture the look of the real thing. Now hurry and get this finished so you can start that Yak

 

Doug

[Tomek]

Gil, your stretched fabric on DH.2 wings looks terrific! Can you elaborate a little about your method? I'm very curious. I'm planning to do the wings a little bit different, maybe something closer to your effect. The tape on the wings was not that much visible, at least on top surfaces. What I can see on some photos is stretched over ribs fabric and gentle valleys. That what I'll be aiming for, although I'm not confident at all I can pull if off. Your tips would be appreciated!

Paul, thanks! I'm glad you enjoying it!

Thanks Maru!

Doug, Yak is seriously considered, but not for a build in near future unfortunately. I'm already psyched to start on the Piper L-4!

 

The tail is ready. The elevators and the rudder are dry fitted at this moment, I'll install them permanently later. I'm thinking about painting copper wire connecting them black. I haven't retouched white edges before gluing together everything, so you may see some white flashes here and there. This will be corrected later. Photos are bit washed out - effect of my post-processing . Sorry.

 

 

 

Thanks for looking in

 

edit: I forgot to add that I made a cardinal mistake with the elevator configuration and the position of control sticks. The elevators will be resting on the ground. I've been aware of it for some time now, but it was simply too late to fix anything without damaging the cockpit. Embarrassing .

Edited January 6, 2012 by Tomek

[Gil]

Wing Webbing

 

Hi Tomek,

 

Embossing is much simpler.

 

1.) Prepare two airfoil curved pieces from kraft board:

 

2.) Prepare a foam core blank:

 

 

3.) Clamp the foam blank between the two kraft board foil surfaces and bake for 15-20 minutes at ~250 deg F [121 def C] to form foam core:

 

4.) Glue Rib Strips onto both sides of the foam blank:

5.) Cover the foam core in Tack-It Over and Over glue. Place the foam core inside the paper wing cover working closed the wing tip ends. Enclose inside a 2 mm foam sheet. Finish by clamping inside the curved kraft boards:

6.) Let dry over night or bake at 125 deg F [52 deg C] for an hour.

Like I said, embossing is a whole lot easier.

I've since found that the foam can be supplanted by using an internal sheet of 100% cotton rag tracing vellum on which the rib strips are placed. The wing skin is then placed over the vellum rib strips and clamped [with the 2 mm on top of the wing skin] into position between the two kraft board clamps. Only one side at a time can be assembled this way but it saves the baking process. Wing assembly then follows the normal sequence...,

Placing the thin vellum or "an embossing sheet" under the printed part allows the imagination to wander - a lot...,

Bien Cordialement, +Gil

Edited January 7, 2012 by Gil

[Loic]

Absolutly Great !

This is very ingenious mate !

That is so cool, I love watching your work

[Hubert Boillot]

I unashamedly lifted Gil's technique on my Aichi Hansa with a balsa wing core ....(Argghh.....I can't believe how long this one has been idle )

 

I confirm it works great !

 

Your work is absolutely superb Tomek !

 

Hubert.

[Tomek]

I apologize for my late reply. I was away this weekend.

 

Gil, thank you for posting your mini tutorial! No wonder some call you a "mad scientist"! As I said, the results is very, very interesting. I've been thinking about using your technique, but I see two problems. First, the kit has the tape detail already printed and my core with glued strips would have to be perfectly aligned. Tricky but maybe doable. Second, I only have two copies of the kit. Since I've never tried anything similar to your approach it may be not enough. I need to think about it more. Maybe I could adapt part of your technique, as Hubert did. I still need to check if the kit's wing ribs are correct. For the first glance they looked too "thick". If that's true I may need to make some sort of lightweight core anyway.

 

Hubert, I hope one day you will return to this build. Very inspirational. I noticed your radiator made of embossed cigarette foil! Pretty cool!

[Gil]

Hi Tomek,

I think you should consider the method covered in the last section for your model. It explains that you can bypass using a core by using ribs glued to a vellum tracing paper carrier sheet instead. Scan the original wing sheet and print it on the vellum sheet - this will make positioning the ribs accurately a easy task. The only antsy part is aligning the rib sheet with the printed cover before gluing it up in the top clamp piece/2 mm foam sheet/printed wing/rib on vellum/bottom clamp piece lamination.

 

The DH2 model shown was redrawn from the original model. There was several trials that made it past the top of the dust bin on the voyage of discovery...,

 

+Gil

Edited January 9, 2012 by Gil

[TaffyMan]

Hi Tomek thought I would check in as haven’t looked in on this for a bit – Very nice like how she’s coming together.

 

And look you getting free cooking lessons as well – those wings sure look pretty.

 

So more pop corn - as if I didn’t eat to much over Christmas!!!!

 

Happy Days - Taff

[Tomek]

Thanks Taffy for looking in! I hope not to disappoint you, but there will be no cooking recipe from me today

 

Gil,

Again, big thanks for the tips! Thinking hard about it I decided to follow my old path of embossing .

I'll definitely try to experiment with your technique because the effect is really interesting. As an excuse for my laziness I give two reasons. One, I think it will be better for the model that I'll stay consistent. Maybe a different technique used for the wings will stand out too much? Second, I decided to push forward embossing a bit and see how an attempt at simulating stitches on the rib caps would look like.

 

The tapes were done in similar fashion as on the tail surfaces. Areas were moisten with diluted O'glue, and embossed on soft surface (rubbery bottom of a mouse pad). The edges of the tapes were given more sharpness on the outside while the area was still moist. When everything dried, with a thin but dull tool I embossed the stitching on harder surface (cutting mat).

 

 

Position of the ribs was fairly accurate in comparison with the in-scale drawings. The whole structure was pretty solid and it helped a lot in skinning.

 

 

You can see some visible spots of CA application in the center section of the upper wing. These should disappear after a flat coat.

Overall, I kind of like the subtle effect embossing gives. From some distance it barely can be seen, the stitching is visible only really close.

 

I'm thinking about applying a oil dot filter on the wings on this stage (lifted from DougN threads) and subtle weathering which role will be to enhance a bit my embossing and simulate more the structure of the wings. Let's see how it goes....

[fozzy]

Hi Tomek...The embossed tapes are very impressive...certainly better than mine!!..as I have said before... you are a master with paper!

[Gil]

"Embossing is easier"

 

Hi Tomek,

 

I agree, the technique requires practice meaning multiple trials till you get the hang of it. Best you saved it for a later time.

 

The wings shown in the short tutorial were also tone adjusted in Photoshop to give the embossed look. Embossing and toning together work extremely well - a combintorial trompe l'oeil...,

 

In any case it turned out beautifully!

 

Bien Cordialement, +Gil