Beginners attempt at WAK Dewoitine D560 1/33 scale

[gazweller]

Just thought I would share some photos of my progress in building the WAK Dewoitine D560 in 1/33 scale. This is my first real attempt at an aircraft at this scale so please forgive the imperfections.

The WAK kit is very nice and simple and it’s a good model to start with I think. I am using the laser cut parts, and am building from a scanned and printed copy of the kit that I bought so as to be able to print extra parts if/when I mess up. For adhesive I'm using transparent glue from a Tesa Glue Pen applied with a small paint brush and edge coloring is done with a mix of pastel pencils and Faber-Castell Pitt pen brushes.

I’ll post some further photos once I’ve done so more but in the meantime all hints, tips and comments are welcome. It’s been a real learning experience putting it together and I’m still struggling to get nice curves on things like the LE of wings and tailplanes etc. What is the preferred method for curving and shaping pieces such as these?

Regards
Gary

[Jomev]

It's a good start. A beautiful model that deserves to be finished.

[gazweller]

Originally Posted by Jomev

It's a good start. A beautiful model that deserves to be finished.

Thanks! I will certainly finish it - working on the wing fairings as we speak!

[Phillip Wingrove]

Very beautiful. An idea for curving a tapering leading edge, have you tried a model paint brush as these normally taper to the end (bottom) ?

[Don Boose]

Well, if that's your "beginner's" model, you have a bright future as a paper modeler.

Great work on this historic avion.

Don

[gazweller]

Originally Posted by Don Boose

Well, if that's your "beginner's" model, you have a bright future as a paper modeler.

Great work on this historic avion.

Don

Thanks Don, that is very generous of you to say so. It's a bit of an oil painting, if you get my meaning - the further the distance that you look at it, the better it is!

[gazweller]

Originally Posted by Phillip Wingrove

Very beautiful. An idea for curving a tapering leading edge, have you tried a model paint brush as these normally taper to the end (bottom) ?

Yes that is pretty much what I have been doing. Starting with larger diameter pens, knife handles and then working down to smaller diameter paintbrushes etc. I have also been using embossing tools with small diameter metal balls to get the curve in, but I'm still finding it a bit tricky to get right.

[Burning Beard]

You are doing a great job, for leading edges I usually use a #5 knitting needle. That size looked handy when I bought them at Walmart, just start slowly and work it down to the curve you want. Knitting needles are nice because they are long.

[gazweller]

Originally Posted by Burning Beard

You are doing a great job, for leading edges I usually use a #5 knitting needle. That size looked handy when I bought them at Walmart, just start slowly and work it down to the curve you want. Knitting needles are nice because they are long.

Ok, thanks for that tip!

[gazweller]

So after a bit of frustration I managed to get the wing fairings on.

Could have kicked myself as I realized, after they were on (of course!!), that I should have cut small slits in the fairings where the black markings are. This would have made them much easier to curve and to fit. A lesson learned for the next model.....

Next up is the lower air intake and then the undercarriage.