Wingnuts 1/32 AMC DH-9 ** DNF -> A/C Forum **

[JohnRatzenberger]

I'm back .... paint shopping at the IPMS/USA show was a bust, not just for this build, so I've done some online ordering, but it's still not al that I want/need so I'll just keep on with the sub-assemblies until I have a plan ...

[JohnRatzenberger]

Fortunately, this is a long leisurely GB because I'm struggling for bench time ...

I see the GB is running well without my modeling contributions, but I'll still keep track of things and here to help if needed.

[TobyC]

Stick with it. I've had a slow down in proceedings as my arthritis flared up very badly at the start of the week making any form of progress impossible but I'm almost fit again(steroids do help) will get back to work very soon.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Pix in a day or so, not that there is much.

I did some HGW PE on the Vickers & the Lewis; I am still working on the Scarff Mount ....

Full of confidence, I started on the bomb load and that's where it got ugly. To keep this really short, let's say that the WNW kit has enough bomb/carrier parts to do most but not all legitimate combinations of ordnance. The HGW 132020 Armament Set has even less, way less (I will also note the HGW instructions only match the RE8 but can be sorted). At that point, a couple hours later, I dropped idea of the PE detail on the bombs/carriers as requiring me to use/buy more sets. Then I went digging into some other WNW kits and decided I could swipe bombs/carriers from the FE.2b, without hurting my plans for it, to fill up the bomb load on the DH.9.

Now I am cleaning/building parts and will get some pix next day or two, but am a bit annoyed I didn't spot this way earlier,

[splash]

are you planning on going loaded for bear?

[JohnRatzenberger]

Actually, I am rethinking it. I spent some time last night on the webby-thing and found some squadron histories, Nr.103 to be specific. They report that the DH9 could barely stagger to 14,000' with 2x112. Reading further, one can compute from the # aircraft that bombed and the # bombs dropped that each aircraft had either 2x112 or 1x230 (or less). I found it interesting that on any particular raid, perhaps 1/3 the aircraft carried the 230 and the other 2/3 carried the 112s. These raids varied widely in purpose -- trenches, rail, buildings, etc - but then the range of bomb types available was pretty small.

Perhaps I will go back to one of my initial thoughts and do it with 2x112 or maybe stretch it a little and do 1x112 and the 2 Cooper bombs on the wings -- that's just slightly overloaded at 112+100+100. In which case the WNW DH9 has all I need or I could use 2 HGW PE kits to spice it up. The choice now boils down to "realistic" vs "eye-catching" vs "quit screwing about and get to work".

[JohnRatzenberger]

It is a good thing this is a *leisurely* GB as I've really had a problem getting started. Compounding that is I'm spending way too much time on a small part of the build.

Anyway, here's progress on the Vickers & Lewis.

These are HGW PE parts. I think the front sight is too big, but I'll leave it for now. I need to get do the ammo drums, there is some PE for the handles/straps, then get to painting.



Here's the Lewis and Vickers seen before and the start of the Scarff mount.



And here's the Scarff later on. The elevating tracks are WNW PE - the HGW PE looks the same, but is thinner and harder to get mounted.



So, need to make the Lewis drums, paint the drums, guns, and Scarff. Then I can run a bungee cord and call them ready to go.

So, here we are with the bomb load. I have bored you with my selection issues before, so lets just say that I'm doing Coopers on each wing and a single 112 lb under the fuselage.

The HGW PE set is a mixture. As I noted before it was designed on an older WNW kit and either is not necessary or doesn't match this kit or any improvements that WNW has made since then.

For example, all the HGW PE for the Cooper carriers isn't needed -- the new WNW carriers are complete and just fine as is. That kames things simple, believe me.

And the 112 lb carrier is designed for a different aircraft/kit. After a bit of work, I decided to make my own carrier by replacing/detailing kit parts with the HGW PE where it made sense. It's all a bit complicated to show.

Here's the HGW PE. Note the built-up jig to help you get the PE fins on the bomb case -- really a great idea, although not without some thrills. First, it came apart on my first try, so I CA'd some angle braces at the corners and under the shelf. Second, there is no "floor" - I got all my fins in, the bomb nestled snuggly, then picked it up to look at and the fins slid out through the bottom. On the next try I left it sit.



Here we are with the fins in and the bomb slid down. The jig aligns and holds things very well. I gently turned it and looked "inside" to see that everything was square and equal and then put a tiny dab of CA at the top of each fin. You do not want the CA running down inside the jig or you'll have it all glued together.



And here we are -- the 112 lb bomb and the Coopers, all with carriers. The Coopers need fuze propellers but I think I'll have to bend all the tiny vanes to make it look right. The 112 needs braces between the fins, fuze propellers, and there are more HGW parts to fit on my cobbled together carrier. Then it's off to the paint shop.




I have the engine parts primed in a semi-gloss black and will start painting soon. The bulk of it will be aluminum so the black will act as a pre-shade. The various pipes, fittings, and gizmos are supposed to be black.

And, because I am falling behind now, I removed att the flying surfaces, fuselage, and main interior structure parts from their sprue so I could clean them up, prime them and start on the wood graing, CDL, and etc.

[splash]

That's a clever jig for the bombs.

[JohnRatzenberger]

It is actually. There is the basic jig stand and then 3 different "spacers" for the 3 different bombs (100, 112 early, 112 late). There's a little tab in the center that hooks into a hole in the end of the bomb to hold it steady. It's a bit fiddly to work with but does the job far better than I could "bare-handed". I may have mentioned before, there is no 230 lb bomb detail, so that's a shortfall -- and the instructions only match one of the earlier WNW kit part numbers.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Another long post as I've tried to get this moving ....

First, bombs and guns where I am spending too much time ....



In the upper tray you'll see they 112 lb bomb & carrier -- work proceeds with fin supports and arming prop. I continue to cobble together a more detailed carrier but it's part by part as I next need to fit the 112lb before going too far - then think about painting. In the tray bottom left are the Cooper bombs -- added HGW arming props to them. These are next in the paint shop. And the bottom right tray has the Vickers & Lewis whish I've started to paint, as well as make the handles for the drums. The Scarff mount is painted and I am trying to make/fake the bungee cord -- that's an add-on and I don't think I made sufficient allowance for it.

Next up is the engine - I think I mentioned it before. I have the basic block and cyl-head assembled. This will get an aluminum spray, then I'll add all the fittings.



And, I started on all the flying surfaces, fuselage, and interior parts -- at least those that are wood or fabric. So I carefully snipped them from the sprues, cleaned up the snip marks and the one or two small bits of flash and half dozen ejector marks I found. I also studied the instructions carefully, in particular the rigging, and did all the prep work for that. I have decided to use EZ-line - charcoal large for the flying/landing wires, charcoal fine for the incidence and control wires. I have decided to use the "glue-under-top, pull-through-bottom and fix" wing method and so opened all the dimples WNW provides to mark the rigging points.

One thing threw me quite a bit. The rigging instructions show wires running along the leading edge to a pulley and over/under the wings to an aileron. Yet I could find no obvious wires coming out of the fuselage, especially to the top wing. I was quite puzzled and after no small amount of research went back to my RAF Rigging Book and found the upper wires were called "compensating" cables and then it became obvious. The stick controls the cables running along the lower wing leading edge and move the lower ailerons. The lower ailerons are connected by cable to the upper ailerons and the movement of them is then "compensated" by the cable running along the L/E of the upper wing. I'll try to show this better when time comes. The big point is that I pre-drilled the pulleys and a place for fairleads in the wing leading edges.

I do love it when I can go off on some obscure research tangent and then find most all that I need right in my library.





Lastly, the plan is to prime all these things in various colors with Tamiya rattlecan -- fabric base, dark wood base, and light wood base. Then I'll make them appear more "fabric" and "woody". There's a lot to do. Peruse the Picture of Primered Parts.



OK, that's where we are -- I'll continue to putter on the guns and bombs, get serious on the engine and start on the interior wood and the exterior fabric -- but not tomorrow because I have my annual eye exam.

I think I'm in good shape now, other than fussing over the guns/bombs. I do have to be careful painting interior parts that I not let paint build up and cause problem when I go to close it up. I did not, for example, paint the outside of the fuselage sturture as it cannot be seen and I'll confine my "wood work" to what can be actually seen.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Sorry, life again, and now I must take off for 3 days to visit an ailing friend.

Work has happened just not enough in the right places to finish something so I could post it with pride, so here's couple pix of piles of parts.



The weaponry and some cockpit items like seats and compasses, a Vickers ammo box, the Lewis & Vickers look a bit more gun-metal, the Lewis pans have handles, the Scarff has bungees, the bombs really await decals, although I might yellow them up a bit more first. Got some detail and touch-up painting to do.



Much of the wood is here -- a base, or rather several different bases, then some grain, then some varnish. Not shown are all the pieces and fittings that have been painted and are ready to install. Subsequent to this photo I detail painted the IP and the next step will be the decal instrument faces. Getting to the point where I can start assembling the interior. Although I have looked at it, I hven't really thought about how I want to do that to make all the cockpit cabling easy -- it might be steel wire rather than EZ-line.

Back Monday ....

[MarkyM607]

Looks good, even in bits!

[JohnRatzenberger]

Moving along slowly, but guess what ? Tomorrow, if not interrupted too often, I will construct the basic fuselage framework and be able to move onto page 2 of the instructions which will be more fuselage work .... After I get the basic framework built and set aside to dry, I'll decal the instrument panel in prep for the next page/step ....



One thing is that I skipped about a dozen tiny placard decals -- the biggest one I tried rolled up and was lost. For all the others I used a swipe of paint to fake them -- and the letters are just as unreadable as if I had fought with the decals.

I really need to get back to the engine and start the masking to do wing ribs and such ....

[ShaunW]

I've only just started to really take interest in this GB and already I can see that I have been missing out on some great work. I have seen reviews of WNW kits in the magazines and it's great to see someone on here building one up. They ain't cheap but they certainly look good. Hope your friend is improving.

[JamesPerrin]

Glad to see you are taking a rational approach to building this kit. The parts are starting to look like something and that interior should look great when it comes together.