SPA Modeler

I thought I would have more time this morning than I actually had. I was planning on starting the painting on the Henri Daehne props but could only manage a few preliminary steps before being called out on errands.

Before I start painting, I wanted to glue the prop components together in such a way to make painting easier. What I did deviates from the order of the instructions but I have played around with these components enough to know that this shouldn't pose a problem.

Henri recommends using epoxy glue to attach the three blade mounts to the prop shaft hub. This makes sense since they need to be inserted at a prescribed angle. Two-part epoxy doesn't set immediately so it will make the necessary adjustments easier than if I were to use CA glue.


Using the alignment diagram that Henri provides, I glue each of the blade mounts to the hub.



By the time this dries, it should be strong enough to accept the prop blades and the slight twisting that will be required to get the prop angle correct. The plan is to glue the hub cap onto the hub and then paint the four sub-components separately: prop blades, spinner backing plate, propeller hub assembly and spinner.

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jkim wrote:I thought I would have more time this morning than I actually had. I was planning on starting the painting on the Henri Daehne props but could only manage a few preliminary steps before being called out on errands.

Now that sounds very familiar... But the drying time for the sub assembly sounds like a good thing.

The prop hub cap has been glued on. I've put a mask on the prop backplate so that I get a secure glue bond after painting.


Preliminary painting on the prop components. The VS111 prop blades on the Dora were made of wood so I am laying down a base of brown. The hub and backing have been given a base layer of black. I've preshaded the spinner using a black mottle pattern.


The Eagle Cal decal sheet has a decal for the spinner spiral but I think a painted spiral looks better. So I'm going to use a photocopy of the decal sheet to cut a mask of the spiral. I've laid a patch of clear frisket paper over the decal.


The mask is carefully cut out using an x-acto blade and scissors. It's tricky to cut the spiral with smooth curves so slight corrections will probably have to be made after painting.


The spinner is given a coat of white.


That's all I had time for this weekend before other commitments took over. I'll resume the prop painting in a few days!

Interesting to mask the spiral instead of using decals. I've always wondered if the decals are worth the trouble than painting them using masks.

Such a shame no one put out a mask for spirals on propellers. It would be a lot easier IMO.

Wow! Painting on the spiral! You're braver than I am!

The last spinner I did was a Revell decal I had to partially melt down with liquid cement to get it to stick. I still had to paint it afterwards, but it turned out well in the end.

You're work is masterful, John. Im drooling over this build!

Thanks guys! That's great picture of a VS111 prop, Bruce. I think it is one of the props that Henri Daehne used as a reference for his castings as there are pictures of what looks to be the same prop in his instructions.

I've had good experiences using spinner spiral decals on conical shaped spinners like the Bf109 but not so much with the bullet-shaped spinners as found on the Dora. There are some nice details on the HD spinner that will be better preserved so that is another good reason to use paint. Since I have the spiral decal, I have a perfect template for a mask. The difficult part is cutting it so the curves are smooth... it gets really tricky on that inside edge of the spiral tip. Since the mask is clear frisket paper, it is hard to tell at this point if my cut was smooth so it might take a few iterations to get this right. There ARE some dedicated masks available for spinner spirals out there but I have not had any experience with them.

Have you tried using the Xacto Swivel knife? I have one but they're a PITA to use.

BlackSheep214 wrote:Have you tried using the Xacto Swivel knife? I have one but they're a PITA to use.

Yeah, I bought one especially for cutting spiral masks but it wasn't the perfect answer I was hoping for. It cuts curves a little better than a standard x-acto knife but I've found it hard to control the arc.