DH-88 Comet, Macroberston Air race, Charleville QLD 1934

[Ericg]

This is my newly completed 1/32 Aerotech De-Havilland DH-88 Comet `Grosvener House' as flown by Tom Campbell Black and Charles W.A Scott in the Macrobertson Air Race, London to Melbourne, 1934. They won the race, winning with an elapsed time of 71 hours. During my research I discovered that one of the mandatory stops was at Charleville, Queensland. I have a personal connection with that aerodrome, having flown in to it many times in a DHC-8 and it was a stop on one of the 4 sectors that formed my check to line as a Captain on that aircraft.

The Kit: Aerotech (Marsh Models) Resin/Photo etch/White Metal

The kit represents the overall shape of the real aircraft quite well but needed some extra work to bring out the distinctive shapes that make this iconic aircraft into a sleek and beautiful racing machine. A lot of work went into applying the fabric effect to the control surfaces and aft of the rear spar on the wing. Similar efforts went into the construction of the canopy to replace the decal framing of the kit with real framing constructed from 43 parts of plastic card and aluminium foil. I worked on this kit pretty well every other day and it took 1.5 months from start to finish. I felt that the kit needed a new front instrument panel and as such this was Scratchbuilt. Here is a list of the mods that I did to the kit.

Modifications:

Reshaped Fin, Nose cone, rear of cowls, fuselage cross section
Modified front of cowl.

All fabric effects added with primer

Scratchbuilt Front Instrument panel and canopy

Seat cushions from Plastic card

Aftermarket:

RB Productions Sutton Harnesses
Airscale instruments
Uschi Woodgrain decal

Paint and finish:

Tamiya TS-8 Italian red (2 coats straight from the spray can) Followed by 2 coats of TS-13 clear over the kit decals and self masked and sprayed `comet'.

General photos











Pilots perspective













Detail Photos

















I like to do a couple of comparison photos at the end of each photo shoot (hope you guys don't mind)

2 Iconic designs from the De Havilland company



Aerotech kits: Challenging but oh so worth it!



In its new home (this cabinet houses my 10 completions for 2014)

[tor lives]

Take a bow Capt Eric.....quiet simply one of the most beautiful and exquisite models I have ever seen.
The dedication, commitment, and passion that goes into your models is truly amazing and an inspiration to all.
TOR

[hrtpaul]

Damn freaking awesome. I now don't have to spend the cash and find one of these cos it'd never be this good. I'll be downloading the pics for reference for my 1/72 build

[Adam the Akrodude]

Gosh!

CLUNK! - that was my jaw hitting the floor!

Words fail me!

[Ericg]

Aww you guys are too nice.

I would start saving my pennies if I were you, I have had email confirmation from John Simons, owner of Marsh Models (aerotech) who has confirmed that 2 kits of the comet covering more versions will be released in mid 2015.

Eric.