WnW AMC DH-2 7907 ---- 32 Sqn Sept 1916 ---- DONE!

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks Peter, Shep, Grant and Ron, always nice to hear. Thanks for looking in on me. Not quite as much done overall on the weekend as I was wanting to get done but alas, as we all have the holidays coming up, and life in general, things always seem to get in the way……………..

 

I did however; actually get some noticeable progress done though; if not purely based on the fact of the WWI bipe building sequence. Normally decals come VERY last, but with rigging and struts and blah blah, decals need to come sooner rather than later.

 

So I dove in, and shot the needed areas with a couple thin coats of MM gloss clear. I started off with the main wing roundels, and moved onto some of the factory markings, and rudder strips and codes –

 

 

 

 

I have to say………..not trying to gush over a “fad” or get too worked up over any one company, but WnW has some of THE best decals Ive ever used. Somehow they stay strong and maneuverable on the whole while there wet, but as soon as you start blotting them and setting them in place, with a little micro-sol, they conform as good as any decals Ive used in my modeling career to date.

 

They snuggle down like no bodies business, and wrapped around the rudder on both sides with ease –

 

 

 

Next up, I started snipping the engine parts off the sprues, and since I already painted the main body of the engine silver and black last week, It was now time to add all the bits, and dry brush the cylinders with steel, then clear, wire up the ignition wires, and weather it a bit.

 

Here is the result after a wash with Flory Models dark dirt and a moistened down mix of TWPs orange rust and oil stain, on the valve rockers and pins to simulate the noticeable caster-oil staining on the real Gnome Monosoupape –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MORE………….

Edited December 23, 2012 by Out2gtcha

[Out2gtcha]

Then I moved on to tackling the fuselage. The very small DH-2 fuse was already heading in the right direction, as I put the front upper fairing on, and got some minor sanding and filling done as well last week.

This week I started off by masking everything but the soon to be metal gray parts and shooting some Tamiya fine white primer on it, to see how close I was.

Pretty damned close was the answer I found out………

 

I sanded back the overall surface with 1500 grit paper, and removed all the masking. I then glued in the front Vickers gun fairing.

The final challenge of the weekend was to replicate the small joining band that connected the upper and lower halves of the fuselage, and that wrapped all the way around it. This band had raised rivets on it from the factory, but was sanded clean away in the prep process.

 

So hear I took some plastic stretch Pactra masking tape, and lined it up on a piece of smooth tile, and laid my aluminum straight edge down on it and cut just a scant mm or two thick piece, and stuck in on right where the join was on the real deal.

 

Then I simply took some Archers rivets, and lined the, strip, following that up, with a dousing of Micro-sol.

I dirtied up the inside of the fuselage a bit and the erroneous joint mark between the front upper fuse fairing and the rear upper fuse that is created when you glue the front on, has pretty much gone away . Its gone on the outside to, but still need to RE-mask and shoot the gray on the outside –

 

Here is where im at right now –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The joint, strip and rivets are far from perfect or perfectly straight, bbut they are acceptable, and I like the way it turned out, since the OOB strip got sanded away.

 

More later gents. Off o beddy bye for me!

 

Cheers,

[Guest Peterpools]

Brian

WOW! Perfect decal work, just perfect. I found the same when applying the decals to the Abli, WNW's are what seems as a bit thick the first few seconds but as soon as the Micro Set and Sol are applied, lay down just beautifully; strong and tough, yet settle in, allowing all the details to come shining through.

All the pre-shading just comes through ever so lightly and the final effect of the thin fabric and ribs looks just tremendous.

Stellar work, just simply stellar!

Keep 'em coming

Peter :popcorn:

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks Peter!

 

Ive been watching the Albi with GREAT interest wondering what the selection will be for us once the Great War GB kicks into effect?

 

Seems like we might have a dealuge of D VIIs so im thinking I might step in up "one" and build a D VIII. Im also waiting on some Pheon decals for my Sopwith Tripe, that I might tackle as well.............

 

 

 

Think im going to go down and shoot some white on the rear fuselage to get it prepped for gluing, then I can actually mask the whole of the metal parts of the airframe off and shoot the overall gray on the fuse.

 

 

 

Cheers

[A.Wolf Grant]

Terrific Brian, love the DH-2 and, as usual, you're doing a bang up job.

I might be in for the Great War GB with Roden's Siemens Schuckert DIII maybe because, as I mentioned elsewhere, it sounds like it ought to be a phone, or maybe the Spad VII c1 Lafayette - haven't made up my mind yet.

 

Grant.

[Out2gtcha]

Terrific Brian, love the DH-2 and, as usual, you're doing a bang up job.

I might be in for the Great War GB with Roden's Siemens Schuckert DIII maybe because, as I mentioned elsewhere, it sounds like it ought to be a phone, or maybe the Spad VII c1 Lafayette - haven't made up my mind yet.

 

Grant.

 

 

Coooool Grant!

 

I was thinking the same type thing, IF I didnt go with teh Avis D VII I have. I have a feeling the Encore boxing of the DR I I have might actually be a better kit, and as I have some Montex masks coming for IT, it might be a great candidate for the GB.........

 

MORE decisions............

[krow113]

Engine looks very well done.

[Out2gtcha]

Very nice of you to say Steve, and considering the high quality nature of your 32nd WWI builds that Ive seen, Ill take that as quite a complement -

 

I worked on the engine bearers yesterday main and forward both. I finished up what had to be done on the engine, and set to work for final assembly on the fuselage.

 

First up, I laid things out, and got the main, and forward engine bearers set up and glued in place. Dont follow the instructions here, as its MUCH easier to position the main/rear bearer without the engine attached to it, like WnW instructions tell you to. The small plastic retaining "C" clip the holds teh engine to the bearers, and allows the engine/prop combo spin, can still fit on the engine shaft here, with the rear fuse cover off.

 

With the rear fuselage cover off at this point, I got both bearers glued in and weathered a bit. I also gave the rear fuselage cover a shot of white paint (for the grey colors consistency sake) , at at later point, taking some off with a piece of sticky tape for a weathering experiment -

 

 

Next, got the engine slid into its two bearers, and clipped on with the provided C clip that goes on the back of the main bearer -

 

 

 

I then glued on the rear fuse cover, and since the enamel paint was still slightly fresh, I used some sticky tape to take a spot or two off the cover, so it would show through when the gray was applied. I plan on highlighting the areas edges a bit, and maybe even changing the tone of the gray here, as Ive seen some pics war weary DH-2s almost ready to be pulled from front line service with what looked like field applied patches, scrapes, and paint touch-ups and scuffs.

 

The fit here on the rear fuselage cover is quite good, but somehow I did manage to get a tiny gap on the rear starboard section anyway. Oh well, Ive also seen some rather ill fitting, and beat up panels on some aircraft, so Im leaving it and calling it "personality".

 

Had to get creative with the masking as not to stick any tape to the delicate engine wiring or fuselage rigging -

 

 

 

All that was left was to shoot the gray. Which I did.

 

Here is the result. There are a few seems that will need re-scribed, and some cleanup to do, but overall Im happy with the way things look, and very pleased at how my upper/lower front fuselage strip came out as well, once under some paint -

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here you can kinda-sorta see that spot I took off of the white under the gray right at the front of the rear panel near the bottom. in hindsight probably should have gone lighter there knowing I was trying to get it to fully show through -

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meh, live and learn. I know these things were more frequent than not, beat to crap, so Ill have fun with some weathering in other places as well.

Thats all likely for this week with the holidays and work and what not.

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT (or day)

[jeroenpeters]

Amazing stuff Brian.

I agree on the decals. Neat stuff. All you can ask for... in a decal

If or when you tackle the rigging with the same craftmanship as the rest of this build,

I WILL get one of these myself too.

 

Cheers and best wishes,

Jeroen

[Guest]

HOLLY CRAP, Brian ! This is coming out better all the time. Love watching..........Harv

[Guest Peterpools]

Brian

Simply Stellar work, Just awesome

Keep 'em coming

Peter :popcorn:

[Out2gtcha]

Jeroen, Harv, Peter, thanks for the kind words.

 

Im not really used to shooting acrylics, but in this case since I already shot some on the interior, I went ahead and used it here too. Prolly will stick to my enamels from now on, after working with them for a bit. I DO however love their drying time.

 

My next task, is to find some of the clear-ish flat elastic rigging material.

 

Anyone know an equivalent to the UK/EU "Prym" flat elastic knitting-in rigging thread WnWs uses?

[krow113]

Brian :

WNW rigging material is Sullivans International clear Knitting in Elastic Item # 86000 .

They have distributors in North America , Oz , and NZ.

www.sullivans.net

 

One of the few RFC WNW aircraft being done here and you are up for the next rigging tutorial!

[Out2gtcha]

Well, Ive had a few days off, and have made some noticeable progress……………

 

Ive got the fuselage close to being done, minus the Lewis MG mag holders, the Lewis MG itself, (this will be added way later after rigging is complete to save me breaking it off multiple times). I just have to cut a small notch along the length of the MG mag holders to compensate for the small lip between the upper and lower fuse halves I made.

 

All of this will look much better and more realistic once weathered with Tamiya weathering pallets, and a nice Flory Models wash. Heres where I am atm –

 

 

 

I really forked up the decal on the bottom of the fuselage, with it tearing multiple times (my own fault) so this is about as good as its going to get before weathering, so im hoping the weathering process will make it look at least a touch better –

 

 

I also got the gravity fed aux fuel tank on, and got a coat of MMs flat lacquer clear on as well. The stuff is magic I say!!

 

 

I was SO proud of the way the gravity fed fuel tank filler and gauge came out……………until I saw the macro pics of it. L

 

 

Well just know that it looks WAY better in person than with the macro lens on it, but I still like the way it turned out. The gauge is not accurate for 7907 but I added it anyway because I thought it brought a lot of visual interest and detail to an otherwise drab area of the plane. You can also see from the two photos how much lighting can effect the way they paint looks, as it’s the exact same wing with the exact same OD paint, but looks almost brown in one shot and green in the other –

 

 

 

 

 

Added fuel level in the gauge –

 

 

While I waited for the magazine holders to dry, I used an exato blade to cut/scrape off the OOB “leather handles” on the extra Lewis MG mags, and replaced with a strip of Pactra tape and painted, the dry brushed. Again same here, MUCH better looking in person than in macro pics but hey ho –

 

 

Lastly I took the remainder of last night and painted and detail up all of the wing struts which ended up taking several hours –

 

 

 

More work to commence tonight and tomorrow, as I have tonight and tomorrow nights off. Im thinking I may even get to the point of attaching the lower (at least) and maybe even upper wings before returning to work on Wed night……..

 

Cheers for now guys,

[Guest Peterpools]

Brian

Time so very well spent. I'm willing to bet the bottom decal will look just fine once the weathering is done, as it will be just another texture, adding interest. Love the way the gravity feed tank came out and the fuel level in the gauge; one sweet touch! Nice work and a very steady hand with the detail painting on the struts.

Yep, that's the drawback of macro work (micro if your a Nikon Man), as everything in the final image larger then life. To bad we don't have a way of actually posting images at 1:1, but there are way too many variables to deal with.

Awesome work and just getting better and better.

Keep 'em coming

Peter