Wings of Intent: Short S.16 Scion II - Dekno 1/72nd resin + 3D-printed parts

(The completed model article is here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2024/06/short-scion-ii-dekno-models-172-resin.html

It’s a joy for the civil modeler when manufacturers like Dekno release attractive types that have been overlooked by the kit industry for decades and decades. Appealing and historically significant in their role, they are surrounded by a halo of nostalgia radiating from the Golden Age of Aviation. The Short Scion came in several flavors. In this rendition Dekno gives us the smooth cowling and high engine position of the II type. Previous machines had the engine gondolas partially underslung, and also there were examples with different cowls and even different engines, as inline DH Gipsy Minors instead of the usual Pobjoy radial, notably in Australia. Some of the Scions were on floats. As we can see, there may be room here for future releases or conversions. Dekno offers at this time two boxings, one for G-ADDV/X of Ramsgate/Plymouth Airport, and another for VQ-PAB (VQ-PAA was a twin sister ship operated concurrently by the same airline) that flew in the then (not the contemporary) territory of British-controlled Palestine, that is, the Israeli airline of the time (i.e. not Palestinian as we understand it today, in spite of the name), covering flights inside what would eventually become the State of Israel (Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem and Lydda –present Lod). This latter livery is well-represented on the Net with several good photos:

https://www.loc.gov/photos/?q=Palestine+Airways

If you feel adventurous, a few other registrations could be done with the present kit that had the same characteristics and details (with new decals and different color schemes of course), among others G-AEZF, G-ADDV, G-ADDP, G-AEJN and G-AEIL.

In this very nice release Dekno offers what is now their standard approach: 3D-printed small parts, resin larger parts, paper masks (thanks for that, not the dreadful vinyl masks), clear resin parts, and a beautiful sheet by Arctic Decals. There is even a “zipper” decal to add detail, similar in location to the stitches that run for example under the DH89 Dragon. The instructions, well printed, are clear enough, and the build looks fairly uncomplicated.

All parts come bagged in groups, and if anything detaches in transit it’s contained inside the respective bag. So make sure that in extracting the resin trees from the bags you don’t leave anything behind or drop something. All the contents come well protected inside a sturdy cardboard box.

The interior is fully detailed, and so are the engines. All in all, great detail. The cabin door can be posed open if desired. I only found a few very small air bubbles in the cowls, which are remarkable thin and well-molded. Easily filled in a jiffy. Both wing leading edges at the root needed a small amount of putty and sanding to restore a good surface. Some parts (wings, stab) are keyed in a basic form. Many elements have their locating holes already molded in.

Two types of wheel are provided to fit the two decal options. There are a number of color calls for the exterior in the instructions. There are no color calls for the interior.

The inner side of the fuselage sides showing the interior detail. Cowls separated from their molding "crowns" and carefully sanded:

The Pobjoys. Between the cowl and the front shield little may be seen, so some modelers may opt for showing them "in maintenance":

The cowls are realistic and quite to-scale in thinness:

A few pages from contemporary publications:

The kit uses the Pobjoy Niagara III, but this is a very similar model:

All the 3D-printed parts are removed from their plinths. In the process I managed to break three thin legs, which were easily repaired with superglued stretched sprue:

A few parts are glued to the cockpit floor. Their locations have to be worked a little bit to get a better fit:

As I do this, I watch and listen to clips of the David Brubeck Quartet. Man, what a treat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qs1J612nZs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNqzIy-yFwA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7dBplP_PfM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm-o8GIMtHQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbAoBlWMrao

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x_xtsOR-7M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnWWC20zm6Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHdU5sHigYQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT9Eh8wNMkw

A home-made lens will replace the kit's nose light rendition, and aftermarket control horns the resin ones provided (not that there is anything wrong with them):

Oh, to look at the serene landscape go by...

The resin parts are washed in lukewarm soapy water and rinsed thoroughly . As always, I use a coffee maker mesh to avoid losing the smaller parts:

Some airbrushing with base colors. The clear parts are washed and given a coat of clear acrylic. Beware that smaller parts (like the nose light) are part of the mold:

Masking, airbrushing of other tones and detail painting will ensue.

Dry-run of the seats, all ok, and dry-run of the fit of the floor. It will need some material on the sides trimmed for a proper closing of the shells. For the rest, all going well. Seat belts still to be added:

As my age advances, two curves meet (unhappily, one may say):

-my experience grows, as does my materials and tools supply, a good amount of tricks were learned, hard lessons and their teachings acknowledged, and so forth.

-But the other curve (or counter-curve, one may say), defined by the fast decreasing sharpness of my senses combined with an ever-fuzzier memory and the normal and inevitable increase of stupidity with age, mercilessly intersects the above-mentioned curve in a crossing of doom.

Time to separate the clear resin windows from their pouring block and insert them in place:

Now, this is probably the most difficult task of this build. Cleanly separate, adjust, and plug the windows, one by one. Do it one at the time, so you don't confuse them. To separate them I used a new, sharp Xacto to carefully and repeatedly score at the base, and gently bend until they separate. Them a very mild pass with a fine grain nail polisher/sanding stick:

To have a flat surface against to VERY GENTLY try each window and finally insert it, I used a wood stick:

That will allow the relief of the wing root to overhang:

Thus. Now the windows can be gently pushed in, but not before making sure a comfortable, if snug, fit is achieved with minimum use of the sanding stick:

One by one they are inserted, BUT BEWARE THAT YOU CAN'T USE TOO MUCH FORCE, or the very thin dividers will snap, and you will regret it. PATIENCE, and a slow, accurate adjustment are the rule. The fit of the windows is remarkable good, more accurate that in many injected kits. The transparency of the clear molded resin, even after a bath in floor polish, is ok, but not brilliant. Dedicated modelers may use the windows provided as a pattern and cut new ones from clear material:

This one required a bit more attention. But at the end a whole side was done in less than half an hour, thanks to the basically good fit. Eventually, to secure them, a very thin superglue applied super-sparingly will be used, as the floor polish should prevent fogging (fingers crossed):

Next is the other side:

Then the interior:

And closed. The fit is fair if you did your dry-runs and adjusted as needed, but will need some putty at the seams, as other kits do:

The windshield is the only transparency that in my sample required more adjustment to get a good fit. Dekno has been evolving consistently lately, delivering ever-better kits of wonderful subjects. I think that the only remaining area where some improvement can still be achieved is the transparencies. From certain angles they will look ok, but from some others they will show distortion and irregularities.

Size comparison with the ongoing Fairchild 71:

The kit provides all the needed locating holes. I drilled the control cable exits with a very fine bit. As explained in the photo, the second stab strut doesn't anchor on the fuselage, but goes to a short post underneath the fuselage:

The tail feathers were installed. On my sample these required some minor adjustments to achieve a good fit. But I had to work more than that on the locating devices for the wing-to-fuselage joints, as the molding was not particularly accurate. Even after some work and once the wings were glued (always watching the dihedral) the seams required a certain amount of filler to blend properly. I used 10 minute epoxy for the wings, gluing first one checking until the epoxy set, and then the other, doing the same. As these are artisanal kits, individually cast, you may get a better fit. Milliput will be used to fill the gaps.

The outside of the door on my sample had a minor printing defect, so it will be sanded smooth and the handle restored with a bit of thin wire:

The kit's masks are applied (they are great by the way) and a first coat of primer is airbrushed. This almost invariably reveals spots that need attention:

After a couple touches of putty and a few passes of the sanding stick and cleaning, the gloss black for the aluminium color is airbrushed on all pertinent parts:

I think the location of the fuel caps on the wing is a bit too far aft, so these will be removed and new ones added. Other than that it seems that we have quickly reached the final stages of the build, thanks to the simple but affective approach of the kit.

Aluminium on:

Clear coat to facilitate decal application, masks off:

The nacelles molded on the wing leading edges are keyed to accept the engines, but on my sample the receptacles needed enlargement. Once the engines are glued in position, the cowls just slide over them. In my sample it was a tight fit, not needing glue. BEWARE: the cowls are keyed too, one cut out being larger and therefore to the side of the root, and make sure the cowl cutout shape follows the leading edge shape, i.e.: do not put the wrong cowl on. I had to enlarge the hole for the prop in the engines. 3D-printed parts are hard resin, while the big parts are soft resin, bear that in mind while drilling and sanding. I also had to enlarge the hole for the prop on the engine front plate, plus thin those plates down to sit properly:

It was decided to use a strong acrylic glue (Gator's Grip) normally used for P.E. parts to add the props threaded through the engine fronts, instead of superglue, to allow easy positioning. The prop axles are somewhat short, hence the need to thin down the front plates -as mentioned above- for a better general fit:

So far so good, and looking good.

The landing gear parts have locating devices, but all sockets needed enlargement to get a good fit. As a rule, I believe that modelers should check the fit of all locating devices in this kit beforehand as all the recesses invariably needed to be made bigger, so you don't have to deal with the fit once the parts are painted -like me now. The shock absorbing legs need careful alignment, they go a bit out and a bit forward to meet the wheel axles. They are keyed that way:

The tail control horns are glued, as well as the home-made nose light, the control cables rigging will follow. Last will be the aileron controls and cabin door, after decaling, and the aftermarket beacons on and below the fuselage. Then an aftermarket Pitot that goes under the nose (these are indicated in the decaling instructions). The exhausts over the wing will follow. As it can be seen, plenty to do yet before contemplating the finished model from the sofa.

The decals went on flawlessly:

I modified the anchoring of the exhausts adding a small inverted "V" as support, as per photos of the original, and added the Venturi on one of them, again as per photos: