De-Havilland DH82a Tiger Moth G-ANEM (ICM 32035)

[Archimedes]

Normally I don’t attempt to build more than one kit at a time but could not resist this opportunity to take part in the 25th Anniversary GB.

 

ICM’s Kit of the Tiger Moth 32035 just arrived from the ever-reliable Mike Swinburne ( @seiran01) who is GREAT to do business with! So I have decided to build this: G-ANEM

 

 Another Tiger? Yes I am a glutton for punishment.  This will provide an interesting comparison to building the Matchbox kit of G-AIVW. The link: well it has got silver wings and a silver empennage so I thought that would be enough to get this one into the GB. 

 

Kind regards,

Paul

 

Edited March 1 by Archimedes
Typo

[mozart]

Good choice Paul, but the kit has issues! Its main problem lies with the flexibility of the lower wing, essentially the plastic is too thin so I found it impossible to achieve the correct dihedral, even with tensioning the flying wires so that they did what they are supposed to do. I have another one with which I hope to address these difficulties, but in the meantime I thoroughly recommend the brass undercarriage and struts cast by Aerocraft. 
 

Apart from that, it goes together very well and is light years better than the old Matchbox kit. 

Edited March 1 by mozart

[Archimedes]

1 hour ago, mozart said:

Good choice Paul, but the kit has issues! Its main problem lies with the flexibility of the lower wing, essentially the plastic is too thin so I found it impossible to achieve the correct dihedral, even with tensioning the flying wires so that they did what they are supposed to do. I have another one with which I hope to address these difficulties, but in the meantime I thoroughly recommend the brass undercarriage and struts cast by Aerocraft. 
 

Apart from that, it goes together very well and is light years better than the old Matchbox kit. 

That is good to know Max - thank you. I read your G-ANFM build last night from end to end so I see that whilst the ICM kit is better than the Matchbox kit, it is certainly not perfect. I am looking forward to it however! Thank you for the recommendation on the Aerocraft undercart and struts!

 

Kind regards,

Paul

[Archimedes]

So, What am I working with so far? I have the ICM kit 32035 and three CMK upgrade kits: the fuel tank, the propeller and the cockpit sets. 

 

On Max’s recommendation I have also ordered the Aerocraft undercarriage and strut sets too. Onward then!

 

Kind regards,

Paul

 

[mozart]

The fuel tank is essential Paul, but I'd recommend you take note of my build in that area.  I have read at least one thread (not on this forum) where the modeller expected a closely fitting tank between the wings, but it isn't so - there really is a gap either side so you have to cater for that.

[Archimedes]

Indeed I did note that on the fuel tank. For manufacturers of kits I think features like that are what make a kit so hard to engineer: the Tiger Moth is, in real life fastened together at quite small connecting points and designing a model that has sufficient strength given those constraints in injection molded styrene is actually quite difficult. For the fuel tank itself I also noted your comments about the casting block - thank you for those. I am simply following in your footsteps on this one!

 

Kind regards,

Paul

Edited March 4 by Archimedes

[mozart]

1 hour ago, Archimedes said:

Indeed I did not that on the fuel tank. For manufacturers of kits I think features like that are what make a kit so hard to engineer: the Tiger Moth is, in real life fastened together at quite small connecting points and designing a model that has sufficient strength given those constraints in injection molded styrene is actually quite difficult. For the fuel tank itself I also noted your comments about the casting block - thank you for those. I am simply following in your footsteps on this one!

 

Kind regards,

Paul

You’re 100% right there Paul about the way that the real Tiger Moth is bolted together and the attendant difficulties with making a kit that is reasonably robust but looks right, the infamous lower wing being very much the case in point….only two fixing areas one of which, the aft, isn’t catered for in the ICM kit:

 

 

 

[Archimedes]

“That the Tiger Moth should have become one of the immortal names in aviation is made the more surprising when it is realized that few if any epic flights have been made on the type.”

 

Alan Bramson & Neville Birch ‘The Tiger Moth Story’

 

First steps.

The ICM kit is a different world to the old Matchbox kit. For one, the front cockpit is much more accurate and the whole is better engineered. There are however limitations to what can be done at this scale in ensuring the wings hold their dihedral angle and we’ll come to that in later posts. For now; I am just posting the first steps on what will be G-ANEM.

 

First I sprayed the cockpit sides and floor in standard ‘Interior Green’ (Humbrol Matt 120). 

I then put a coat of clear acrylic over that and gave a pin wash to the interior framing to make it pop out (the photo above shows the port side au naturele and the starboard ‘pre-cotton bud wipe’). As you can see, the seats and inside of the engine compartment were sprayed at the same time in the same colour (Humbrol Matt 120).

Appropriate parts on the second sprue were also treated to a spot of interior green. Note the injector marks on the inside of the doors. I’ll have to do something about those.

 

I then turned my attention to the Instrument panels.  On G-ANEM the IP’s look like this.

I did not use the kit parts as these are not a million miles on from the Matchbox originals. Instead I turned to the CMK resin set which have a lot more detail. Though unfortunatelythey do not match the instruments on G-ANEM entirely as they also have a thermometer on each IP that I’ll need to put a splash of colour on to (red probably).  You’ll notice the oil pressure gauge has been painted in yellow: for this, I primed the IPs in white, shot the yellow and then masked them and shot the ‘Almost Black’ (Combination of Humbrol 91 (10%)+ 120 (10%)+ 85 (80%)) and unmasked. Here is where I am up to so far with them:

The instruments themselves will need a coat of black as well as the support plates for the oil gauges.

 

So here is the current state of affairs:

 

Kind regards,

Paul

Edited April 26 by Archimedes

[LSP_Kevin]

Nice progress, Paul!

 

Kev

[MikeC]

6 hours ago, Archimedes said:

"That the Tiger Moth should have become one of the immortal names in aviation is made the more surprising when it is realized that few if any epic flights have been made on the type.”

 

Alan Bramson & Neville Birch ‘The Tiger Moth Story’

I think a certain David Cyster may disagree https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/236471/

Having heard him give a talk about this flight, it is all the more impressive.

 

Back to the model, though, great start.

 

[mozart]

A sound start Paul, agreed the ICM cockpit is a major step up from the Matchbox one, but isn’t the IP disappointingly poor!? Incidentally, the “thermometer” is an early type of rate of climb or descent indicator: 

 

 

I never used it, it was possibly only used when “under the hood” doing blind flying training so omitted on post-war restorations/builds. 

 

 

 

Edited April 27 by mozart

[Archimedes]

10 hours ago, mozart said:

A sound start Paul, agreed the ICM cockpit is a major step up from the Matchbox one, but isn’t the IP disappointingly poor!? Incidentally, the “thermometer” is an early type of rate of climb or descent indicator: 
 

I never used it, it was possibly only used when “under the hood” doing blind flying training so omitted on post-war restorations/builds. 

 

 

 

Thanks Max, ahhh understood! I just glanced briefly at an image of an IP that had one and saw big red ‘C’ on it and assumed ‘Centigrade’.  That shows where assuming gets one…

 

Fully agreed on the IP. Strange that they really appear to have put no effort into that. 

 

Kind regards,

Paul

 

[Archimedes]

15 hours ago, MikeC said:

I think a certain David Cyster may disagree https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/236471/

Having heard him give a talk about this flight, it is all the more impressive.

 

Back to the model, though, great start.

 

Thanks for this Mike! To be fair to Bramson and Birch - this was first published in 1962 which is the edition I have. Perhaps they addressed this in later editions?

 

Kind regards,

Paul

[MikeC]

8 hours ago, Archimedes said:

Thanks for this Mike! To be fair to Bramson and Birch - this was first published in 1962 which is the edition I have. Perhaps they addressed this in later editions?

 

Kind regards,

Paul

That's interesting, as it caused me to actually go and look at my edition. It's the paperback published in 2020, and credited solely to Bramson.  This does mention the flight in one of the later chapters.

 

But it does raise another question: the TM may not have done many epic flights, but it trained so many before, during and after WWII. Many pilots who went on to do great things trained on the Tiger to start with. It just carried on bashing countless circuits and suffering at the hands of countless "Bloggses", and being the ideal trainer: easy to fly, difficult to fly well. Arguably that's of far greater importance and significance than headline-grabbing epic flights, especially as the former fulfils the aircraft's primary purpose.

But that's just my 2p/2cents worth, and my apologies for diverting your thread with what may come across as (but isn't intended to be) a bit of a rant.

[Azgaron]

Very nice start on the build Paul!

 

Håkan