'Steady as the Rock of Gibralter...' Handley-Page HP42W

[Steve-the-Duck]

'...But not as fast'
As a 'You might also like' prompt on eBay, there appeared a 3D-printed 1/72nd scale HP42 from a guy in Japan

So, I bought one as a Christmas present to myself

It comes with full interior, including luggage rack netting, wing spars, bamboo and brass rod for fixing, and self-adhesive markings

I'll probably get to start it in the New Year

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Furthmore, the maker does a 1/48 version.

And if THAT doesn't quite blow your mind - How about a Dornier Do.X in 1/72 and 1/48?

But wait, there's more, and this made ME go 'what the what' when I saw the pictures...
The SaRo Princess, in both prototype and 'what if' in service versions. In 1/72 and 1/48.

And I think, 'You're in Japan. How big is your apartment!?‘

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

'And so it begins...'

I've finally started the build of the big silver beast, so I intend to post stages as I go on here
Parts need a fair bit of cleaning and smoothing, so this may take a while...

First up, this is the set of brass, plastic and bamboo rods included. There's also an, invaluable, set of three sandpapers
Main and tail wheel parts. One wheel completed but not weathered. All parts have a lot of surface smoothing to do being 3D printed. The tail wheel was one part but separated coming off it's sheet. the lower part was at the bottom, and I do like the detail printed, so i may keep that

Props in four stages - as printed, cleaned up, undercoated, painted and ink washed. Another function of the £D printing is the 'wood grain' effect of the layering

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

First major section, the tail
I'm following the downloaded instruction sequence closely, as it all makes sense so far. I'm on page 2 of twenty-plus! As the designer is Japanese his English is good but 'lacking' just a bit, though easy enough to follow
These are the tail parts after a bit of cleaning and sanding. All the holes for locating points, and bracing wire mounting, are already printed on
Which is nice

Lower port side empennage completed. I've put brass rod right through both sides for balance. I'll be undercoating, probably re-surfacing and painting before attaching the rigging and the upper stabiliser. I was a little thrown at first by the upside-down aerofoil shape, and then I went 'of course it's that way up.'
For size compare-and-contrast, I put my Airfix (new) Gladiator alongside - now, that was a fun (and not) build!

 

[PaulTRose]

Furthmore, the maker does a 1/48 version.

And if THAT doesn't quite blow your mind - How about a Dornier Do.X in 1/72 and 1/48?

But wait, there's more, and this made ME go 'what the what' when I saw the pictures...
The SaRo Princess, in both prototype and 'what if' in service versions. In 1/72 and 1/48.

And I think, 'You're in Japan. How big is your apartment!?‘

i find it interesting that hes doing some fairly obscure subjects!

 

[yak face]

Excellent stuff !! I saw these too steve and was very interested . They look great and with a bit of patience its going to look mighty impressive , not to mention large ! The 1/48 one would be even more impressive. Great work so far , its a lovely aircraft and I cant wait to see the progress , cheers tony

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

And now the slightly bad news...
I can't find my reference material, due to my (non-existant) filing system...
I'm sure Aeroplane magazine had a centre-section pull-out on the HP-42 a while back, couple of years maybe, and I'd swear I had it.
But now, it's not in the stackette of other aircraft refence
Did I imagine I had it?

 

[scottie3158]

Chris,
An interesting subject.

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Tail built and undercoated; Halfords enamel matt black. Surface detail on the control surfaces looks good so far, still some of the printing effect on the fuselage I may take off, but we'll see how it looks once the silver goes on. I'll be using rattle cans as there's just so much area to cover and I'll probably stick with pure silver rather than Metalcote polished aluminium and then buff it up

The self-adhesive markings may turn out to be trouble in time to come...

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Well, here's a big hmmm...

Silver top coat shows up the printing effect more than I would hope, even after I've given it a thorough scrape and sand. So, time for some sanding, or just say to heck with it?
The maker recommends covering the surfaces with a two-part clear brush-on resin for a smooth surface - that's his fast solution
Have to think about how to proceed...

 

[yak face]

Personally i wouldnt worry about it on this part steve . The rear fuselage , tail and wings were fabric covered so the rougher texture is fine . The forward fuselage was all metal though so the bits that arent corrugated will need to be smoother . Perhaps a light sand then prime followed by another light sand and another prime , be careful not to lose any detail though ?

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Personally i wouldnt worry about it on this part steve . The rear fuselage , tail and wings were fabric covered so the rougher texture is fine . The forward fuselage was all metal though so the bits that arent corrugated will need to be smoother . Perhaps a light sand then prime followed by another light sand and another prime , be careful not to lose any detail though ?

Believe me, there's no way I'm doing any sanding on the main fuselage! Too, much, corrugation
There's going to be lots of work there as I have to slim the interior floor panels to leave not the slightest gap in between the fuselage sides. As will become apparent in due course
Now, as you've said it looks fine, Tony, next is rigging time

 

[Ian M]

Furthmore, the maker does a 1/48 version.

And if THAT doesn't quite blow your mind - How about a Dornier Do.X in 1/72 and 1/48?

But wait, there's more, and this made ME go 'what the what' when I saw the pictures...
The SaRo Princess, in both prototype and 'what if' in service versions. In 1/72 and 1/48.

And I think, 'You're in Japan. How big is your apartment!?‘

The Princess in 1/48 would have a wing almost 1.5 meter if I guessed right. Maybe he uses it as a bed! even in 1/72 it would be what, 90cm! Mad!

 

[adt70hk]

Looking interesting.

ATB.

Andrew

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Ian M, check out the maker's website, one-man-model.main.jp, for photos of his productions, and be aware the tatami mats they're sitting on are a standard size of 75cm by 2meters (or thereabouts)
What you can achieve with 3D printers - which is a whole 'nother thread on here!

 

[Defiant911]

Cool plane, I bought the 1/72 air fix 0/400 handley page but have not yet got around to building it.
pits a nice looking WW1 aircraft

 

[rtfoe]

Cool plane, I bought the 1/72 air fix 0/400 handley page but have not yet got around to building it.
pits a nice looking WW1 aircraft

I think the Airfix version is smaller than 1/72...

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

And now, compare and contrast - again... I may be doing this a few times on this build (and it gives me a reason to do a restoration job on a thirty-year-old build)
On the right, the tail of this bird so far - on the left, the Airfix 1/144 HP42.

Yes, they're about the same size!

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

So, the tail, does not, near completion

Taking Tony's advice, a bit of light re-sanding and re-spraying and, much better
Then, on with the upper tailplane

And the rigging has begun
Except...
I'm now looking at pictures of the tail on the original, and there are no panel lines among the fabric.
But there are ribs, or rather, longerons, visible in some close ups, right where those panels are marked
I have a cunning plan forming
Just wish I'd thought of it before priming and painting

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Well, here's the tail, and my cunning plan reaches fruition:
:
Masking tape strips over the panel lines. Then varnish spray over.
It works, but will it stay?

Empennage rigged with two thicknesses of micro steel rod

And next:

These are the 'stick-on' letters, and I'm not quite sure how they'll work. The instructions are a little vague too
Time to experiment with some spare letters and a test piece