De Havilland DH.114 Heron 1

[teddybeer]

Without knowing why, Roy Cross's box art of the De Havilland Heron, which is not military at all, made me dream, just like the more warlike ones he produced....
Or maybe I just like this plane, small, rustic, but with beautiful lines...

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It's been years since I bought the F-Rsin resin model and waited for “the right moment” to cast it in metal.
While there were no problems with the fuselage, the wings were more difficult because I had to try several times over several years (I only cast in the summer).

But although the wings were the correct length (finally!) and width, the surface was dotted with small holes, as if it had been attacked by “smallpox.”
Is it a problem with the metal or the mold not being hot enough? I don't know yet...

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So, filler, sanding, filler, sanding, and more filler and sanding—the activity I hate the most...

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To be continued

[teddybeer]

Since I decided to build the Mk.1 version of the Heron, i.e. with fixed landing gear, I had to fill in the landing gear wells.
So, more filling and sanding...
Then attach the landing gear.
Fortunately, F-Rsin provides two options with specific parts.

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And now, the painting operation, in particular that of the upper fuselage in white.
As I only paint large surfaces with spray paint, I have found a technique for “difficult” colors: white, yellow, and red.
After applying the primer (either white or gray), I apply a coat of Insignia White, which “paints” the object.
Then, I can apply the white, yellow, or red color, which “just adds the color.”
One or two coats, and it's done.
This avoids the problem of these “non-covering” paints.
To protect the white areas that need to be masked off for the rest of the painting, I decided to apply a varnish.
This is the first time I've tried this....

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To be continued

[teddybeer]

After painting the top of the fuselage white, which I also varnished to protect it from masking, I tackled the rest of the paint job.
I wasn't too happy with the first coat of grey.

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According to various photos of this aircraft, taken at different times and on different devices, the main paintwork appears to contain varying amounts of gray or metallic color.
So I decided to do a mixture of the two, trying to apply the aluminum spray “lightly,” like a mist, to achieve a metallic gray effect....

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And here is the result after removing the white masking.

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There was a small problem with applying the decals.
The fuselage strip with the cabin windows has a grey section just above this strip...
The same applies to the end of the fuselage strip located very close to the horizontal tailplane.

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So, it was necessary to ‘play with the scalpel’.....
Then, the finishing touches with:
- the engine exhausts (note the Toffifee holders in which I prepare my mixtures. Can you imagine how many Toffifees I have to eat to paint...?)

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- the 3D-printed propellers from the F-Rsin kit (the previous ones were made of metal), which are particularly fragile.

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Et voilà.
All that remains is to varnish everything and fit the propellers.
To be continued