Was at the IPMS show in Houston today and found a very rare kit of a rare plane from Rare Plane Vacuforms. The Dewoitine D-510. Rare as can be a 1936 French plane. I’ve built a vacuum form before but not in 25 years. Planning will take some time.
Wow!,that’s gonna be a tough one.good luck
I’ve tracked down some old pictures and pictures of built models. My major concern right now is the radiator system below the engine. I’ve also started to plan all the tooling I’m going to need. I’ll have a polystyrene and metal frame to fit the skin over. These kits are 50% scratchbuild, 30% spares case raiding, and 20% what they give you. I cut out all the parts trim and sand then start taking measurements.
SMER did a D500 and 510 in 1/72, and Fonderie Miniatures did the 510 in 1/48. The FM kit may be a little less work than the vac kit, not sure. It’s a typical FM kit. Haven’t looked at the SMER kits in some time.
Thanks, I’m psyching myself up to build the kit. I have already slipped by the hardware store and bought a nice sheet of ultra fine sandpaper to sand the parts down with, and have already started building the landing gear struts from measurements I have made off of the sheet.
I have the same kit in the stash, but I was not planning on building it. Good luck building it, those old rareplanes are just one notch above a scratchbuild!
As for the aformentioned SMER kit, I think this is a Heller rebox and can also be found under that name.
you are definetly a braver man than I…I came close to two different vacuform builds and never got too far past cutting the parts out
Ought to be something when its done though
Wow! I didn’t even know there was such an animal as a vacuform model, though it shouldn’t have surprised me. I’m very interested in watching this build for sure!!! Raymond
I’ve made my first steps in this build. It will be a slow build because of it’s complexity. I’ve started by cutting out the main portions of the air frame and sanding them into shape. The interior will need considerable scratch building. First I will construct a frame to hold the aircraft together, build a cockpit, engine detail, a propeller, landing gear, and other aircraft details. I have tons of styrene to build details, and spare wheels for the landing gears. This plane is a member of the last generation before enclosed cockpits and retractable landing gear became standard.
I sanded the edges after I cut them with scissors. Then I sanded the halves and made sure they fit well against each other. Now I have to take measurements and build the cockpit, the frame for the main portion of the air frame.
I’ve been working a little on this kit. The radiator or super charger below the engine is my current phase of the construction. I’ve cut the front and back out and am building the fuselage below the engine. I cut strip polystyrene and surprisingly got it right on the first try. That won’t happen again. For me, it’s like one of those things that happen once every 8.5 billion years. Oh well. Looking for up close pictures of the supercharger or radiator. Any help would be appreciated.
This is from “The Complete Book of Fighters”, by Green and Swanborough.
Thanks that’s very useful. I owe you.
I build post world war II aircraft. I keep looking for the heads-up display and the AAM.
Very cool, I’ve never built one. I did look at a XP-67 Moonbat since it looked like an easy thing to build with vac form but ultimately passed on it.
If I mess it up I’ll paint it in modern French colors.