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Airfix 1/72 DH-125A

jeaton01

Well-known member
I've been working on this one for awhile, it's an airplane I used to fly back when I was in that business.

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It's an older kit and fairly basic. There were a few places a little short shot and the transparencies were not the best so I filled the cabin windows with clear epoxy and filed and sanded them flush with the surface. I should have counted the windows at this stage.


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After some study I realized after assembling the basic airplane that the cabin window arrangement on the Airfix kit is different from the civil DH-125-1A, in that on the one I flew there were five on each side but the kit has six on the left and four on the right. The aft windows on both sides were too far aft. No problem on the left side as I can just paint over that one, but on the right side the aft one had to go and two more needed to be added toward the front. I made masks for all the windows and the cockpit windows as well and that made it easy to locate where the windows should be. Rather than try to use clear epoxy I gouged out oversize holes and filled them with clear acrylic cut from an old drafting triangle and superglued them in, leaving them proud of the surface. Then I filed and sanded them down flush with the surface and polished them. The landing light transparencies were also installed, which took a while as the fit was not good. More filing, sanding, and polishing ensued. In general fits were off enough to require work with Epoxysculpt in a lot of places. The windscreen was a bit shorter that the opening for it on both sides and that was dealt with Epoxysculpt. The control surfaces were meant to move but the associated fits were not too good and also fragile.

I think I am about ready for paint. I'm leaving the nacelles off until most of the painting is done, remember all that striping? It's all over the nacelles.

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I have thought about using clear epoxy for windows a number of times but never took the plunge, did you use tape on the outside to contain the epoxy ?
 
Thanks for the comments, everyone.

I have thought about using clear epoxy for windows a number of times but never took the plunge, did you use tape on the outside to contain the epoxy ?

No tape, Gary. As long as the windows are small enough the epoxy will bridge. And you can add more epoxy later to thicken the window if necessary, with no effect on transparency. When the hole is larger clear acrylic is easier and faster. The downside to the clear epoxy is drying time, you have to give it several days. I've tried using tape but it's pretty messy getting it off and the epoxy seeps under. To fill large windows it might be helpful. I tried several layers of tape with the windows cut out on the lower layers so some epoxy was proud of the surface and that did work pretty well except for the epoxy seeping under some. I'm thinking the next time I will plan on a two step process, with minimum filling the first pass and then adding a second layer to thicken the windows.
 
This is awesome! I'll enjoy watching this come together. I started one of these and got the whole fuselage and wings together sans engine pods; but then lost the whole landing gear sprue! Now I have a second one in the stash. Watching this just might convince me to finish mine.

Bring it on John!
 
Here's where I am on the DH-125. I had do stop and do a lot of thinks on how to do the laser striping, and I let the gloss black dry quite awhile to get really hard. Finally I made the stripes with a decal. The are not exactly like the one I flew, but I think the nacelles on the Airfix kit are a little too high and that upsets the apple cart. Close enough, and onward. The nacelles are just resting in place here, some bare metal foil needs to be applied for the deicing panels on the wing and tail, and the gear remains to be installed.


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Love the original Hs125... before the hush-kits were fitted and long before the 'green' engines were mounted. They were so loud. The nav-trainers (similar to USAF & USN Sabreliners) used to use our field to shoot approaches regularly, rarely stopped-by but always around !

Great work, John. Could even be tempted to buy / build one of those for Micro Modeller Month next year.



Ian.
 
Looking very Good John ….. I've bought the kits before …. then had to modify and cut and modify, buy more tools, modify more ….. Your doing a great job …. and the results are showing your skills ….. :pilot :ro: :dude
 
Thanks, everyone.

As to the noise, one of the things I often noticed that when parking the beast, you could see the eyes cross on the person marshalling the airplane as those Viper engine fronts lined up on them. It wasn't just the loudness, it was something about the character of the noise. I hope I didn't cause any permanent brain damage!
 
Yeah, John, I remember that screach so well. It was almost 'primal' made a h*ll of an impression on ones' brain ! :gogo


Ian.
 
Hey John...
Just seen this over at Hyperscale:

http://www.hyperscale.com/2019/reviews/kits/sw72119reviewdc_1.htm

Just a thought, y'know, if you were feeling brave :hmmm



Ian.
 
This one has reached it's zenith. It's done in the scheme of the one I flew for a time. The cabin windows are clear epoxy, decals were made with a Dell 1250C color laser printer, and Bare Metal Foil replicates the weeping wing surface deicing system. It's not perfect, but then neither was the real one. But as I did and do the real one, I forgive it it's faults and will remember it fondly.

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Great job, John!...I´m getting to see your photos,now :coolio .... :eek:ldguy

Best regards my friend!

Luiz.
 
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