scratch built 1/6 scale airco DH-2

[mcguyver]

hello to everyone, for my next project i chose to scratch build a 1/6 scale DH-2 with P. Neate plans and every thing i can muster up on the net as far as reference material. the first thing i did was to construct the front part of the fuselage. seeing if i couldn't produce that part the build would be a washout. with all it's compound curves i choose to vacuform it with 0.60 black styrene. i did concider fiberglassing the part and even wood planking over a skeliton of the shape.i am glad i went vacuforming, i have a small system i built and useing a conventional oven to heat the plastic, it produced a very nice part. the plugs were built out of hard balsa. i'll also be etching a lot of the detail parts in ferric cloride. i built a small tank and an etching system about 6 months and have finally mastered the art. i do all my films on my computer building all the parts in corel, i find this drawing program alot easier than my cad programs. after all the art work is done i print on a specillaly coated piece of film. from there i laminate my brass or stainless steel with a photo resist. i use a thicknes of anywhere from 5 mil to 30 mil. the thicker it is the longer it takes to etch. i slap the film on both sides of my metal plate and it goes on a light table to expose each side, rinse the image area with sodium hydroxide and into the tank. it produces some spectacular parts. i'll post some pics of the process. i did start with a smaller system from micromark and after i found out how easy it was i built myself a bigger tank. i do purshase my chemicals and photo resist from micromark.com. back to the DH-2. ive completed all the fuse parts. i cut all my wood parts on a scroll saw or table saw and also cut all the ribs myself, nothing is laser cut. here are a few pics of the build so far and will keep you posted on the progress.

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[mcguyver]

i did want to also mention that this will be an elec. flying model with a fully detailed working cockpit.here are a few more pics of some of the detailed parts i did with etchant on a previous 1/7 build of a fokker D-7 and the plugs i used for the DH-2. the DH-2 should should prove to be an outstanding build. i love all the rigging, it's just such a funky looking areoplane.

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