De Havilland D.H.4A - Civil conversion of vintage Airfix 1/72nd kit

 

( From La Vie Aérienne)

 

-Notice the different schemes for the same registration-

(From Flight magazine)

(The completed model can be seen here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2024/04/de-havilland-dh4a-vintage-172nd-airfix.html

This blog has presented a large number of models depicting civil conversions of ex-military types, many of those early ones for just one or two passengers, somewhat hastily created for the nascent airline industry*. This is the case with the AIRCO/De Havilland D.H.4a, a modified surplus machine to which a sort of primitive cabin enclose was added. It used a prevalent “limousine” arrangement for passenger transport of the time, two passengers facing each other as in a coach, the pilot as usual for the period exposed to the elements. A vintage (1967!!!!) Airfix kit is used, that has very hard and brittle plastic, and commits all the sins of that kit-making period, many of which will be described for your guilty pleasure as we advance with the build. 

There were several machines so modified, but they differed in details and shape. G-EAMU and G-EARI, for example, have the connecting section between cabin and cockpit opening angled down, while others maintain more or less the same "roof" level. 

There are other civilian DH4s (G-CYDK, G-CYBU, for example) for the lazy and/or uncomplicated modeler, that need no other care than being demilitarized, modify a bit the aft position, and the addition of civil paint and registers, perhaps a different engine in some cases. No need to deal with the wing stagger or adding cabins. Plenty of images online.

* Who would have thought, that an industry that started concerning itself with the comfort and well-being of its passengers would become a corporate monster driven exclusively by revenue, plagued with misconducts, finned consistently and repeatedly for blatant violations and misdeeds, ever-rushing production compromising safety, and in general giving a toss about their ultimate destinatary: the suffered passenger squeezed in an ever shrinking seat, with no elbow or leg room, trying to use a restroom the size of a shoe box, being nickel and dimmed for any kind of right that should be natural, like carrying baggage, and being treated like cattle unless he/she is a millionaire. How much would I love that those execs, stockholders, board members and owners could only ever fly in coach, among the masses, with no privileges whatsoever, seeing the innumerable issues the overworked flight attendants, check-in personnel, pilots and cleaning and maintenance crews have to deal with, thanks to their greediness and impossible schedules, plus overcrowded, oversold flights. Do yourself (and all other passengers) a favor: demand better seating, better rights, and better treatment. Complain when you suffer discomfort, not to the flight attendants or the desk people, they have nothing to do with it, but to customer service, to their CEOs and board members (it’s not difficult to find out who they are), the ones that are actually creating those cramped, sometimes insufferable conditions while filling their pockets at your expense. Fight for a balanced approach, revenue AND service, not just revenue. And especially if you fly on a Boing, beware of loose bolts and faulty software! Do not rely on the FAA, they are there to do very little, just slap wrists, and “recommend”, being under the boot of…yes, money makers. They are mostly understaffed and underfunded, so they can’t “interfere” with the “industry”, yes, the same one that has to “regulate itself”. And we have all seen the results of that policy.

 The typical bagged kit of the time:

Want to have fun? Join the Airfix club!:

My pilot and companion, as you can see for their body positions, have been in that bag 57 years, holding on...holding on...holding on. I don't think they can hold it anymore. A mingitoire, for pity sake, for these suffering pilots! Besides, behold "The Pedestal", which is to the kits what the appendix is to our digestive system:

A couple of parts broken on arrival, who cares, many will have to be replaced anyway. Notice the old washboard surface of those ribbed wing. You could sand a hill down with them!

Look, mom, panel lines!

As the DH4A had vertical struts, not leaning ones (no wing stagger), those will have to be replaced. The furrow they go in filled, and the boomba racks deleted. Since you are at it, remove all control horns, a luxury for that time, but overscale by today standards:

A too-simplified radiator. Some conversions did have a similar one, but most had "slates":

Several vigorous sessions in what I call the modeling water-sports area (kitchen sink) were necessary to subdue the overdone ribbing. Stabs too, but pending vertical tail. A section of both fuselage sides -from aft the cockpit to aft the back position- is removed to make room for the cabin modifications:

Removal of those childish sticks that held the seat, the only interior detail besides the pilot and companion suffering from urinary tract issues. 

The removed sections are clearer here:

The cabane struts did not attach from the side, but right from above. The area is reworked to make it so:

Airfix at that time was perfecting the art of the ejector pin mark, practicing a lot. The 4A did not have fuselage side steps, which are puttied over. Instead, access to the cabin was achieved by an incorporated ladder on one side (the side to which the cabin side roof opened, there was no actual door, passengers have to sort of climb over the side):

Airfix at this time was still wondering where exactly all those parts should go, so they scattered them all over the instructions...hum...can you guess, modeler, especially if you were a child bent on ruining your life getting into modeling?

Those fabric creases are of course too much and need to be toned down. The engraved "panel" is a trench out of place, and besides, the stitching should have crossed over it. A very poor rendition, that was considered "detail" then in the Kit Paleolithic Era:

The trenches are filled:

The control horn positions are drilled anew to later add PE metal horns. Some rigging holes are drilled at this time too:

"AIRFIX CHECK LIST, Have you got them all?"

What is what Airfix wanted to achieve here? to compromise the family budget? the parents' bankruptcy due to overspending in their progeny kit collections? the kids going crazy and having to sell drugs to pay for their modeling vice?:

As a companion, a KeilKraft 1914 Dennis Fire Engine 1914 (the DH4A started life in 1919) is being built also as a divertimento. The two kits being rather...simplistic in nature:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2024/02/dennis-fire-engine-1914-keilkraft-172nd.html

The early version of G-EAMU had the top wing center still opened, thus the area is removed (a rib needs to be added). I saw online a model with the later scheme with that opening, which is not accurate, as by the time of Kings Cup that area was sealed and occupied by a tank, replacing the bulbous one normally hanging down from the top wing:

The two bulkheads are being prepared, the top parts still need to be shaped. Behind the pilot seat there was a gas tank that needs to be made, together with the cabin interior:

If you don't have to go outside, nice modeling weather, alternated with the re-reading of a few pages of Hesse's The Glassbead Game*, and perhaps a sandwich. The life of a Modeling Monk.

*The Glass Bead Game was written in 1931, soon it would be a century. It's amazing how it can still be read and remains relevant, pertinent, "alive". Especially now when totalitarianism, fascism and religious fanaticism (of which we have here the local branch, you known, an unloving and hateful parody of christianism that would make any real christian cry, not any kind of reasonable gun control, and screw democracy; the guns btw because they are pro-life, of course) are spreading their dark cloaks again over humanity. The frigging basterds nassis prevented it's publication in Germany then (yeah, ban those books! sounds familiar?), just a few years before Hesse got the Novel Prize for it. How fitting, and how telling.

I have been trying to see if I can get a Rolls Royce Eagle 1/72nd engine for this project, it would be nice to open that hood, but at the same time it will complicate the build. Aeroclub (E069) produced one, but none are there to be found anymore. Then I found in my stash an Engine & Things one, that may do, as the old mold was worn down by the time it was cast:

The lonely rib is glued in place. I wonder if this section was really left opened to the wind or had some kind of clear covering in the original:

Details, details. The rib with circular holes I already glued in is the wrong type, so I made the right one to replace it. To answer my own question above, there was some clear panel material sealing the area, edged in black (possibly a thin metal flange):

Fitting now the interior structure:

Fabricating the fuel tank located immediately behind the pilot's seat:

Found some white metal era seats:

Just making sure everything works with a dry-fit:

Working now on more details and to fix that radiator adding slates made of styrene half-round stock. The exhausts will need extensions:

Working on it now. Please notice I am not a fan of the System of Measures from the Middle Ages, as I use metric:

The kit's exhausts are clipped, drilled, and a metal pin inserted to receive the extensions provided for the passengers' comfort. These are made from styrene rod in turn drilled on both ends, one end curved outwards again to match photos of the original:

Photos show two wind-driven generators mounted on masts behind the pilot, on the fuel tank fairing. These are made by shaping from a styrene rod two pointy and two round ends that are cut from the rod and then glued together. P.E. little props and airfoiled masts will complete the assembly:

Interestingly, the four blade prop of this plane was actually two two-blade props superimposed, so the kit's prop should not be used:

Through the years I gathered a nice collection of props, but as this is a not common one rotating "the other way", I got zip:

Therefore I proceeded to closely cut two opposite blades from the kit's prop, slice a new "hub" from a styrene rod, and glue the blades to it at the proper angle. Once set the two props will be superimposed, previous slight reduction of the hubs' thickness:

Some base colors and a mist of primer to reveal issues applied:

The struts are painted wood with enamel and oils. The two-part prop is assembled::

Home-made generic inst. pan. and painted white metal wicker seats:

The three holes on the fuselage tail were see-through:

So they are drilled (they are marked in the kit):

Interior in:

I decided to forgo the idea of adding the engine, as the parallel build, the Vega Gull, ate more time than suspected, and I need to keep things a bit simpler:

Fuselage closed:

The lower wing is added. A shaped bit of styrene is used to plug a hole that I think was meant for a machine gun:

LG and horizontal tail are on:

A clear cover spans the two bulkheads, later to be masked and painted, and a turtledeck fairing master is made to vac a shell from it:

Now the downward section that spans the cabin with the cockpit has to be fabricated:

First two sides are shaped, painted inside and glued:

 Then the top part. Holes for two fuel trunks and two wind-driven generators need drilling after tidying up the area:

Masking of windows and coat of primer:

White is airbrushed, as areas under the lower wing and on top of the upper wing where white:

The access ladder is fabricated:

After masking the white areas the blue color was airbrushed. I used Model Master's Ford and GM engine blue, after dabbling with Humbrol 14, 15 and Testors gloss blue:

I fabricated a sawhorse to put a resin engine on, close to the model, as if an engine exchange just happened:

The two fuel caps behind the cockpit are on. The two wind-driven generators, as they are fragile, will be added at the end:

The upper wing is on, after gluing the windshiled. Cabane struts still to be attached. Wind-driven generators being held by tweezers:

A late note on the wing gravity fuel tank: the kit has it in the wrong side. I just realized this, and moved it to the correct side (left of the pilot as he seats). Surprisingly, in the kit's headers and boxes, that tank is in the correct side.

Cabane struts on, first section of exhausts on, and part of the rigging. About 50 more sections of rigging and control cables will be necessary to complete that stage:

The gorgeous Arctic Decal set has arrived, application begins:

Most decals need to be applied before the next stage begins, as some of the rigging and control cables go over them:

I think we are done. Now to wait for the weather to allow a photo session to post the completed model:

(The completed model can be seen here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2024/04/de-havilland-dh4a-vintage-172nd-airfix.html