DH 60X Hermes Moth

[Squirrelnet]

So finally sorted my poor spraying skills and reacting paint ...by rubbing down the nose section and brush painting it. Looks much better and the extra paint will help my nose weight  

Before the top wing was added and obscured the front cockpit I thought I'd add a dashboard and cockpit crash pad. I'm fortunate to live not far from Old Warden so on a visit up to the open workshop last year I took advantage of G-EBWD being in for a rebuild to get a couple of fairly square on dashboard shots.  They weren't quite complete so in Photoshop I copied the edge from one side and copied it onto the other. The dashboards were then squared up with a little PS distortion and resized to fit and printed out onto coated paper. They were then sprayed with acrylic varnish to stop the ink running if it gets damp/wet and stuck in.

For the crash pad I found some very dried up Harty clay - the air drying lightweight clay. Some of the curved surfaces in the lump looked about right so I cut some slithers of this in crescent shape and used those. They look a bit 'hairy moustache' in the pics but less so on the actual model

A  jig was made from some foam board and the wings have now been attached. Luckily my paint order from Hannants turned up as well so I could paint the cabane struts blue before fitting the top wing

[TheLurker]

Looks the business Chris.

[AndyB]

That's looking very promising, Chris.

[Squirrelnet]

Thanks both.

Well I now have a complete(ish) model that I can try to fly at Henley on Sunday.

Struts have been added and the wheels soldered on with a small washer and the wheel covers glued on with some canopy glue. The rest of the detailing and marking I'll add next week at some point but it would be good to get some initial trimming done while i have the chance

I will add some thread rigging I think tomorrow though for a bit of extra strength

The weight is 12.9g without rubber and it balances without any additional weight ...yet -  I haven't tried balancing with a motor in, I'll do that tomorrow. Hopefully any weight can be hidden or used in making the dummy engine

I'm hopeful I can at least try it across the garden before committing to the hard gym floor

[Squirrelnet]

Some rigging was added this afternoon using some ordinary polyester thread in grey

As someone asked on FB about rigging I thought it worth saying what I did

The anchor points in the fuselage are in the extra sheet strip I added to locate the lower wing. A small hole 0.030" was drilled through it and the thread was simply pushed through so I fish the end out with tweezers and a tie a double knot on the end. The thread was then run to the top of the interplane strut and wound round it once and a small blob of cyano applied to it. When dry I then ran the thread to next point and did the same ending at the cabane strut. Each side needs just two lengths of thread.  I've done this on few models and while its perhaps not as scale as some methods as the interplane strut wires don't quite attach at the base of the strut it is easy to do and as it securely attached adds considerable strength to the wing structure

The model also gained a pilot curtesy of Paul Plecan's paper pilot sheet

[Kevin M]

That rigging looks very good, sometimes it can look too obvious, but the colour and diameter look right to me on your model Chris. 

[Squirrelnet]

Bit of an update on the DH60

I took it to Henley today and while shows some promise I have to admit to a bit of schoolboy error  

 It seemed to need a lot of down thrust which threw me a bit, only when looking closely at it side on did I realise the front former is NOT at 90 degs to the thrust line. I had built in upthrust !!!

The 3/32" strip I added merely brought it back to to what it should have been to start with. I think it needs a bit more that the 5 degs that i have in the noseblock but the second problem was the floor for the dummy engine is fouling the motor hook so I'll cut some of this way or maybe use a longer prop shaft to move the hook behind the engine former.

I persevered and had something approaching not bad but  then I blew a motor in it !!! which wrinkled some of the covering on the side panels. Thankfully after following John Scates advice of applying some water to the rear of the tissue it has shrunk back into place despite being painted.

I'll add a new section to the nose to bring it up to 90 deg to the thrust line, or infact slightly more to add a tad more (1 deg) of down thrust and it needed more side thrust as well

Still despite all this it does look like it's going to go . There's a video here which has a couple of 'not enough downthrust' flights on it https://youtu.be/rgFMwlQLsGQ

[steve h]

I thought it showed a lot of promise Chris
Once you've sorted the front end it should be fine

[martynk]

Some rigging was added this afternoon using some ordinary polyester thread in grey

As someone asked on FB about rigging I thought it worth saying what I did

Thanks Chris... Very helpful

[Squirrelnet]

Thanks Steve, yes it certainly shows promise

I managed to sort the nose out on the DH60 this afternoon, well hopefully anyway.

The front former in 1/64" ply was carefully cut from the front of the fuselage and glued to some 1/8" sheet. This was cut into wedge using my packing as a guide. Once it was all dry the nose was sanded to shape and is now drying after another coat of paint. I've actually added a tad more to give a tad more down thrust as it still needed it

The prop shaft I think I will make a longer one so it clears the problem bit of the fuselage rather than trying to cut away the fuselage as I'm not sure even that would give enough clearance

[Squirrelnet]

A quick catch up on the DH60

Last week I headed over to Old Warden in search of the full size aircraft . It's always a good day out to have a look around the museum and the motorbike needed the exercise 

Some nice straight on CU photos of the markings later and a bit of time on Photoshop and I have a decal sheet. As the model is silver and white I could use clear decal sheet which saves having to do any intricate cutting out.

There's a few more to add but the basics bring the model alive

[Squirrelnet]

Last Saturday I tried trimming again now with the plan down thrust and things are looking much better BUT...

A few things still needed doing.

There's a couple of flights shown here https://youtu.be/KqSaY77Q_1o?si=nBQR1MdybQTu9IR- ( Including Lurk's Hillson FH40 taking to the air )

The main problem was the motor peg pulled through the fuselage which put pay to any further flying. Annoyingly these things always go through the decals  . Oh well at least  I printed a few spares. The section of tissue was cut and fuselage repaired. The rest of the decal was removed with some Microset and some patience. I added some small 1/64" plates to inside of the fuselage as a belt and braces although I've never had this happen before

Another strange thing that was throwing me is the prop has the shaft drilled at an angle so downthrust appears different depending which way up the prop is. As the thin shaft kept bending anyway and I need the weight up front I used some larger dia meter wire and drilled the hole square.


It still needed a massive amount of downthrust . Looking at the model closely and I had too much declage, a rather embarassing 4-5degs infact    .I had thought I could alter the tail but with it that far out there was nothing for it but to go in with the scalpel and cut the wings off and re-rig it at 2 degs. It also looked like it could do with a bit more dihedral so as the thread rigging was removed to re rig so it was fairly straightforward introduce some more when re doing the rigging wires. a small bit of tension on the landing wires which were done first pulled in enough.

I've made a start on the dummy engine but I won't actually add it until I've sorted out the noseweight, then the lead needed can then be incorporated into the dummy

So apart from building in the wrong downthrust, rigging it with too much declage, the off centre propeller and the motor peg pulling through the fuselage this has been a nice simple build  ....still everyone says it looks pretty

Right ready to go again

[Nigel M]

sorry, wrong thread 

[Squirrelnet]

A few more twiddly bits today

The tank top I've done a transfer in clear decal sheet just with some parallel lines on it

There's a couple of screens from Tunnocks packaging with decal sheet edging , the dummy engine now has intake and exhaust manifolds and I've added the air intakes and oil cap to the nose. The cylinders are dowel painted black and wound with silver metallic thread tacked on with cyano. The whole thing is then painted with canopy glue to stick the thread on properly

I did some strut logo's as well but they are clear decal film so have disappeared a bit but I didn't fancy trying to cut them out of white decal sheet

Quite fancy adding the fuel pipe from the centre section tank as it such a part of the aircrafts character but not sure what to use for that ... I was thinking foam but not sure that would last long

[Slowmatch]

Looking lovely Chris, the details really make it.

Regarding the fuel feed pipe: what about the plastic wiry stuff that clothes tags are attached with? Or maybe wire insulation with the copper pulled out?

[ZK-AUD]

Fine styrene rod. Painted copper with Alclad I’d you have it. Available in little packs. Check out railway modelling suppliers

[Squirrelnet]

Thanks both great ideas. I have ordered an assorted pack of styrene rods from Evergreen ( via ebay)

A few more twiddly bits for the engine today - This time rocker gear.

I have had some success with paper engines particularly the rotary types from the paper kits via Dave Cowell Aerowerkes Hints and Tips CD ( included in DPC kits)
I thought I would adopt that idea for the rocker gear and cut them from some thin black card . The exhaust valve spring seems prominent too so to do that I sanded a small balsa dowel , coloured it with permanent marker and wound it with silver metalic thread. The section was then painted with canopy glue to stick the thread to the dowel in the same way as the cylinders. Small sections were them cut off to form the exhaust valve assembly and cyano'd on

Quite good fun making these tiny parts which I will probably loose forever the first time it hits the wall but it made me happy this afternoon  

[cast_off_vortex]

I've been watching this thread since it started. Very cool subject and an excellent model! Amazing how many Moth varieties were produced by De Havilland. I never heard of the Hermes Moth before. Frankly, I like the look of the unswept wings on the Hermes Moth better than the swept wings on the Tiger Moth.

Hard to believe this is a peanut. The detailing of the engine, rigging, construction of the lading gear and finish are really tops.

Good luck flying this beauty!

[TheLurker]

Hard to believe this is a peanut. The detailing of the engine, rigging, construction of the lading gear and finish are really tops.

Ahh, but Chris hasn't got a lathe, which makes everything so much easier.

Have to agree, that's a lovely little engine.

[billdennis747]

Very nice Chris. In a rare example of foresight, I collected quite a few plastic bendy straws for cylinders. As for the wing tank, I acquired a lot of the rubber strip  that goes into shirring elastic. It comes in a flat ribbon and I experimented with painting it with a few coats of thick dope. When peeled off, you are left with dope corrugations to stick on to the tank.
As for the copper pipe, I would have used thick copper wire, hence my absence from Peanut competition results!

[Squirrelnet]

Thanks both for the nice comments.

Ahh, but Chris hasn't got a lathe, which makes everything so much easier

... ? Sorry what lathe ??

Bill - I have some your shirring elastic rubber you gave me a while back and very useful it is too, I hadn't thought of using it like that.

I've seen your bendy straw cylinders , they look very good, your DH Hawk Moth springs to mind. It's a bit cartoony but I quite like the metallic thread over black dowel on small models and if I did have a lathe (which I don't) then mounting the dowel in the chuck and rotating by hand to wind the the thread on would work very well  

Not much progress today. I added some panels lines in fine marker but thought it looked a bit clumsy so I partially removed them with white spirit which gives a better more subtle effect I think

Made up another nose block too for the static prop should I get that far. There's tail struts to do and the exhaust plus any extra styrene details like the fuel pipe but I need to get it flying nicely before that I think

[LASTWOODSMAN]

Hi Chris.   I am really enjoying your build, and all of your great pics.    And thanks for all of the flying tips  -  very helpful.    That exquisite engine is having a definite influence,  on my choice,  of one of three different laser cut model kits,  for my next immediate build,  of a 30 inch rubber powered,  Golden Age era,  Bipe ...      

Lastwoodsman
Richard

[Squirrelnet]

Thanks Richard, good luck with your next build. Interwar biplanes really do look good to me too

I made up a static prop today only to check the peanut rules to see that static props are not needed ...still kept me quiet for a couple of hours

[Gary Dickens]

Now you can enter it in Open if you like...

Gary

[TheLurker]

Yes, enter it Open cos it makes my Ro.37 look utterly feeble.