Postman H.

The magnificent, reliable and slow H.P. 42. 

The moulds are from 1965, but the fit is really good so far. However, the corrugated metal (duralumin?) texture on the fuselage is a bit thick, so I wondered if I could somehow reproduce it in scale. Luckily I found a couple screws in the toolbox that had aproximately the right amount of turns per mm. The idea is to slide aluminium sheet between the screws. This pic shows first attempt, squeezing the screws together with copper wire and pulling the foil by hand. Wavy but promising! 

These spaghettis have to go. 

This Lego jig allows a controlled pull of the sheet while sandwiched between the screws. Now the pattern is straight and it looks good, so I can go on. 

Fuselage skinning done. I opened the luggage compartment door under the starbord wing and another door in the tail section. 

Wall thickness is too much, windows seem to be in a medieval castle. 

Thinned walls  

Test fit, looking good. This is the lower wing. 

Plastic pins to support the cabin floor. 

Cabin floor made from a SIM card holder found on the street. 

This seat will be the master, 18 copies needed. 

Master ready. Now I'll test the copying method with some dummy before trying it on the seat. 

It felt like a perfect time to learn how to solder wire, thus improving the look of the undercarriage. This first attempt highlighted how many factors have to be considered and dealt with when soldering, alignment being only one of them. Still pondering if the result is worth it, but it looks promising, and it's so much fun! 

Looks good in frontal view. 

There are two struts with airfoil section, which I'll reproduce squeezing brass tubes around a small brass rod (which is the soldered part). Must try with different brass tubes, the upper one seems too thick. 

Two seats copied, I'm very happy with the result! Only 15 more to go... sigh. 

Cockpit walls and passenger cabin door ready. The metal embossing technique is working great so far. 

Instrument panel and steering wheels 

Quick dry fit 

Some structural details added, plus the luggage shelf support running above the seats  

Overall look. Luggage compartment is also cladded with corrugated metal (an educated guess...) 

Front view 

The entrance and radio equipment 

All components of the cockpit painted and in place 

Two tones of acrylic brown paintbrushed over Tamiya deck tan (same as seen here on the floor) and this bulkhead is ready. It was a first class cabin! 

All seats pinted at last! 

 

You can all now have a proper seat! 

 

Covid crash workbench 😄