Scale aviation modeller international

STRUTS AND OTHER BITS

The Pegasus kit comes with

some assorted strut material

that needs to be cut to the

proper length, as indicated on

the instructions. However, as I

still had some material from an

Airfix DH.4 in my spares box, I

decided to use those instead.

The fuselage struts were added,

while the wing struts were glued

on the upper wing only, at a 90°

angle and not leaning forward.

This was because the wings on

the DH.4A were not staggered

like those on its bomber cousin,

as the passenger cabin caused a

change in the centre of gravity.

The landing gear in the Pegasus

kit is a sturdy white metal affair,

but as it is rather short for the

DH.4A, it had to be discarded and

I again used the one from the

Airfix kit instead. This is also too

short, but as it is injected styrene,

it is a lot easier to make it 1.5 mm

longer by cutting the legs and

gluing in shims of plastic card.

The propellers in the Pegasus

kit are not bad, but as I needed one

without a spinner, I again took

the one from the Airfix kit. This

was airbrushed an acrylic tan base

colour and after this had dried,

I used a mixture of Humbrol red

and brown enamels to brush on

a wood pattern. The centre plate

was brush painted silver, with a

wash to bring out the details.

TIME FOR SOME COLOUR

After adding the last small details,

the fuselage openings were masked

and the wings and tail painted

silver using a Tamiya spray can.

This gives a nice tough glossy

surface, which will provide a good

base for decaling and weathering.

After this had dried, the wings

and tail were masked and the

fuselage painted dark blue, again

using a Tamiya spray can. With

the masking removed, the various

details were painted with Vallejo

acrylics. Rather than masking and

spraying the window frames of the

passenger cabin, I used thin strips

of silver decal sheet that were cut

to size and placed on the model.

The Arctic decals came next

and these worked like a charm.

After allowing a day to dry, the

various surfaces of the model

were glossed over with Klear floor

polish to protect the decals.

76 • JULY 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

074-77-CIVIL-DH4-0718.indd 76 11/06/2018 14:01