Tales from the Basement Lab by AndrewR

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AndrewR
In the basement lab
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Re: Tales from the Basement Lab by AndrewR

Post by AndrewR »

The upper fuselage only had one spot which needed a bit of extra work to smooth it out. The lower fuselage was not so good, but "out of sight, out of mind" :grin:

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The decals, as usual for kits of this vintage are hopelessly out of register. It's possible the tail marking may be usable - if they don't disintegrate.

Meanwhile priming of the struts and wings has commenced.
Up in the Great White North
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AndrewR
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Re: Tales from the Basement Lab by AndrewR

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Some good progress throughout the day, as I've been able to break off other tasks at home to do a bit of painting, then leave it to dry, and come back again later.

The instructions call for dark brown upper wings, which I assume is meant to be weathered PC10. I've decided to go for the slightly more pristine dark green PC10,assuming the aircraft is freshly painted! In this case Vallejo Panzerolive Green is standing in. The undersides are left in Vallejo Sand primer, which is a nice match for CDL.

The propeller is painted in Vallejo Wood, and then small streaks of dark brown applied with a toothpick, and then rubbed in the direction of the grain.

The radiator is Vallejo Aluminium. I intend to give it a dark wash to bring out the grill effect a bit more.

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The fuselage has had a coat of grey on the front part, and is drying, prior to getting the PC10 on the rear half.
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splash
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Re: Tales from the Basement Lab by AndrewR

Post by splash »

Great to see you back at the bench.

I didn't realise Airfix did this model, so I will watch your build with great interest.

Regards Splash
My work bench is starting to look like Portsmouth Naval Dockyard.
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AndrewR
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Re: Tales from the Basement Lab by AndrewR

Post by AndrewR »

splash wrote:Great to see you back at the bench.

I didn't realise Airfix did this model, so I will watch your build with great interest.

Regards Splash
Thanks. I have a bit of time off, so I hope to build a few simple kits. The DH4 is a 1967 tool, and is pretty nice.
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Clashcityrocker
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Re: Tales from the Basement Lab by AndrewR

Post by Clashcityrocker »

A good steady start.

Nigel
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Stuart
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Re: Tales from the Basement Lab by AndrewR

Post by Stuart »

Nice to see you back and attacking an old CBK Andrew.

Hope all is well with you work and Family.

Cheers

Stuart
Stuart Templeton I may not be good but I'm slow...

My Blog: https://stuartsscalemodels.blogspot.com/
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AndrewR
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Re: Tales from the Basement Lab by AndrewR

Post by AndrewR »

And here we have an absolute world-first for me: dry fitting the upper wing on a biplane. No jig. All the struts align with a tiny bit of effort, once the solidly mounted cabane struts lock into their locating holes. This is by far the best engineered Airfix biplane that I've ever built.

Image

There was a minor panic, when I thought that I'd misplaced my EZ-line rigging thread, but it has now been tracked down. I'm going to try rigging most of the lines before putting the upper wing in place. Fingers crossed.
Now for some fun with decals...
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AndrewR
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Re: Tales from the Basement Lab by AndrewR

Post by AndrewR »

The Airfix roundels were very out of register, so I have substituted some spare markings from a Revell kit (I have no idea which kit they came from, but the roundels and bars were a perfect replacement!).

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The only decals needed are the rudder markings. I have given the original Airfix decals a spray with decalfix, in the hope that they may be useable. If not, there will be some tedious painting of the rudder markings. I will have to wait for a while now until the decalfix dries before attempting that bit of decalling!

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With any luck I'll be able to attempt a bit of rigging later.
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iggie
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Re: Tales from the Basement Lab by AndrewR

Post by iggie »

Excellent progress Andrew; I'm really going to have to get one now!
Best wishes

Jim
If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing
"Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow"
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AndrewR
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Re: Tales from the Basement Lab by AndrewR

Post by AndrewR »

iggie wrote:Excellent progress Andrew; I'm really going to have to get one now!
It's a very nice kit, and you could modify it by changing the engine. The only thing you really need to do is source new decals. I'm amazed how fast it went together, especially since I haven't built anything for several months.
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AndrewR
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Re: Tales from the Basement Lab by AndrewR

Post by AndrewR »

First rigging session. I'm trying an experiment here, and rigging before placing the upper wing in position. It might go horribly pear-shaped, but it's a lot easier than trying to rig when the upper wing is in position. The EZ-line is under very slight tension, and should be stretched a little more when the struts are located correctly in the lower wing.

Image

The decals for the rudder were a bit of a trial. Amazingly, I did manage to get them off the original decal sheet without disaster - but then found that they didn't fit properly and needed trimming, which proved to be a moderate fiasco.

Image

So some patching using offcuts from the Revell sheet were added later. Not perfect, but now it looks more like a slightly tatty paint-job, rather than my fault :mrgreen:
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iggie
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Re: Tales from the Basement Lab by AndrewR

Post by iggie »

I like the idea of rigging before assembly of the wings.....not sure though that I am entirely brave enough :roll:

Or, that Mrs iggie is ready for the ensuing language if it went wrong :oops: :shock:
Best wishes

Jim
If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing
"Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow"
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AndrewR
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Re: Tales from the Basement Lab by AndrewR

Post by AndrewR »

iggie wrote:I like the idea of rigging before assembly of the wings.....not sure though that I am entirely brave enough :roll:

Or, that Mrs iggie is ready for the ensuing language if it went wrong :oops: :shock:
I only tried because I could dry fit the wing in position without clamping it (the only time I have every built a biplane where this happened). And, it worked. I only had to redo the tension on 2 of the 16 wires.

:partytime:

Image

Image

That's about as much rigging as I can take in a single day (two sessions, with a swimming and lunch break in between).

The DH.4 has a lot of rigging, and I probably won't attempt to do the whole lot.
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Clashcityrocker
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Re: Tales from the Basement Lab by AndrewR

Post by Clashcityrocker »

Very good work with your rigging Andrew.

Nigel
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AndrewR
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Re: Tales from the Basement Lab by AndrewR

Post by AndrewR »

Clashcityrocker wrote:Very good work with your rigging Andrew.

Nigel
Thanks Nigel. I am one of those strange people that likes doing rigging. :shock:

Although I almost never do a full rigging job, just enough to give the impression of a rigged aircraft. It's art, innit?

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There are still a few more rigging lines I'd like to add here, but it's pretty much done.

Image

I highly recommend this kit, especially if you are nervous about biplanes, because the upper wing goes on a treat without any need for jigs etc.

cheers

Andrew
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