1/32 Aerotech Spirit of St Louis.

[Ericg]

Recently I was contacted by John Simons of Marsh Models asking if he could use photos of my recently completed 1/32 DH-88 Comet for publicity of the forthcoming re-release of the Comet kit. I was only too happy to agree and in return he very kindly offered me the choice of his range. I chose the Spirit of St Louis kit, as I have had my eye on it for quite a while and I feel that it will sit well in my collection of completed kits.

Now, I know I have heaps of kits started but they are mostly jets and I like to mix things up a bit. Thinking about next years shows that I plan to enter I realized that I needed to get things started on a civil (non airliner) aircraft.

Firstly a look at the two Aerotech kits that I have finished. They are fairly basic kits that build into impressive display pieces if care is taken in assembly and finish. You certainly don't see many built but they make for very nice alternatives to the many 109's and Spitfires that clog the forums and display tables at shows. To be honest, if my great mate Brent hadn't handed me the box of the Supermarine S4 a few years ago with an offer of a great price and a `lets see you mess this up' style grin on his face, I may have not have embarked on the challenge of getting these kits into my display cabinet. Thanks mate!



The kit. Upon hearing the postman at the door with a model shaped parcel, it is always a race between me and my 4 year old son to see who can get to it first. Of course he always wins, and he gets the pleasure of unwrapping a parcel from afar, whilst hopefully I inspire the younger generation into getting into our very rewarding hobby.



The long box was very well packed and full to the brim of resin, metal parts, decals and more.



I was curious as to how big the model would be, especially the wingspan. I was surprised at how big the wingspan is, although it is quite heavy being think solidly cast resin. Luckily, Aerotech have cast the weight bearing parts of the undercarriage in Zinc.



The fuselage fits together quite well, with some very nice detail cast into the cowling.



The instrument panel is white metal with photo etch instrument dials.



The built up instrument panel. I forgot to include the fret of photo etch in the first pic that includes the brass instruments. It is quite accurate to the reference pic that I have of this area.



Cockpit interior. Mostly white metal with the resin fuel tank. Once again, it is a little basic and could benefit from some further wiring. I am still tossing up whether to do some more work in here or leave as is. I would like to TRY and keep this out of the box.....



The fuel management system has been well cast in white metal.

[Adam the Akrodude]

Ah hah! I was wondering what "expensive" kit you'd purchased. Great choice!

This will be another cracker no doubt. Did you read Lindy's book? He sure was a fascinating person - great mental toughness. To do what he did and do it so accurately was just amazing. I've been to Dingle a few times - his first landfall crossing the Atlantic - lovely spot, great "craic"!

Your Scooter is looking seriously kick ass too mate!

Happy building over the Chrissy/New Year period! Better get in a lot of building before all those sleep deprived nights ahead!

[Ericg]

Thanks Adam,

Haven't read the book mate but I probably should, he had a pretty interesting life. As far as purchasing the kit, I didn't pay a cent for it! John sent me this one on the house.

Eric

[hrtpaul]

*puts his civvie kits back in the cabinet as there's no point entering the category next year*

[Ericg]

C'mon Paul, wheres the spirit mate? Bring your A game and you'd be able to beat me, easy!

Some more work.

I decided to make a small amendment to the kit instrument panel and used Airscale decals, which I reckon have made a big improvement on what is supplied with the kit. I had to work hard to get it looking close to my reference though as there is instruments from quite a few of the Airscale sheets here; 1/48th scale, Soviet dials, Jet dials, upside down dials.... anyway, I reckon I got it pretty close.



Here is the finished panel. I thought for a while about whether to depict the white marks that Charles used to count off how many hours he used in each tank in the top right hand corner of the panel. I guess it brings a human element to the project regardless of how hard they will be to see. It gives the aircraft a lived in/Historical feel. Apart from the Airscale decals, everything else is `from the box'. I also had to scratchbuild the magneto switch as the kit one pinged off into the distance, courtesy of some fine tipped tweezers. I used some scrap white metal from the kit to carve a new one.



Here is the painted fuel management system. I painted the small silver shape on the rectangular part for reasons which will become clear soon.



The built up instrument panel and fuel tank/system. The silver paint was to depict the mirror in the periscope.



The cockpit side walls have been sprayed Tamiya rattle can bare metal silver, with the kit cockpit frame laid over the top. There is not much detail here, but with some careful painting some can be added. I am struggling to find references which confirm how the side walls were painted, so if you have some please feel free to add!

[Adam the Akrodude]

Excellent work so far Eric. I question some of your cockpit work though. According to my references, you've screwed up the cockpit colours - see below.

[tor lives]

Looking lovely so far.....up to the usual Capt Eric standard that we have all come to expect.
So let me get this straight......confirming that the 1:32 DH-88 is to re-released. Do we have any more details on this vital piece of news???, (e.g.; when, where, how much etc.).
TOR

[Ericg]

Hi TOR, not sure mate but will check for you. I believe it will be very soon.

Sometimes when you are confronted with a challenge during a model, you need to draw inspiration from the subject itself. My thoughts were turning towards a solution to the bare metal cowls, which are a unique and very eye catching feature of this particular aircraft. The kit does include decals which are reasonably nice, but in my heart, I knew they just wouldn't cut it and I wouldn't be satisfied with them. I wanted the cowls to be as real as possible and I thought of various ways in which I would be able to achieve them. The process by which the real aircraft has the texture applied to the cowling is `engine turning' so after some research, and a good deal of thought as to how I would accomplish it I set up to do some real engine turning. Each part takes a while to do but I thought that if Lindbergh could spend 33 hours flying across an ocean with no sleep then a few hours spent here would be no big deal.

I recently purchased a Proxxon micro drill press with a compound table which is entirely suitable for the task in which I set it. By mounting some thin aluminium (the stuff that forms the membrane on a Milo tin) on a piece of MDF I was was able to clamp it to the bed of the compound table, giving me a very flat surface to work on. I chose a small length of brass rod at an appropriate diameter (3.2mm) and punched out disks of 240 grit wet and dry sandpaper which I then glued onto its end. Each full wind of the X and Y axis wheel gives me 1mm of movement in either direction and everything in between. I worked out that I would wind 2 mm in one direction for each circle, then overlap its adjacent line by moving the part 1.5mm across and then do another line. I took rough templates of each part from the kit decals which are not quite the same shape as the scribed lines, So i adjusted each template to suit and then transferred it to the work piece. Once I got the hang of it, the process is quite easy. I used the lowest RPM possible on the drill and used very light pressure to make each circle.





Here is a panel in progress. I found that I achieved better results by leaving the Aluminium dust where it was rather than blow it away. Notice how precise each circle is.



A panel with the engine turning completed. It was at this point that I thought F%^# YES!



Dry fitted for final adjustment.



I used a toothpick to push the vents in, then filed them from the back. I will cut them neater once I have glued each panel on.



A comparison between the kit decals and the new metal panels.

[Adam the Akrodude]

That is amazing and a huge improvement over the kit decals - very cool!

[F-27pax]

That is truly AMAZING!! My admiration is lost for words.

Leigh