This 1/48th scale Eduard Hanroit HD.1 kit was originally released in 1998, although I built the Weekend edition (plastic parts only) 2006 release here. Overall this is a great little kit. So far this is my only attempt at a WWI era aircraft and a "half-baked" one at that.
Notable Kit Features:
Nice simple cockpit details (photo etch details included with some boxings)
Overall good fit of parts
Finely molded surface details
Build Inspiration:
I had kept my collection away from biplanes, for the most part, mainly focused on WWII to current day jet types. Not knowing as much history of the earlier aviation period coupled with the added construction complexity that a bi-plane brings had kept me away from these kits. For some reason (probably a sale) I decided to pick this little HD.1 up and give it a go.
Heads-Up Report:
The Hanriot had holes in the seat (to reduce weight) Drill out using a pin vise.
Note that the aft fuselage brace wire is a double run
Eduard missed the two bracing struts on the tail surface which need to be added (not that I noted that detail at the time of my build)
You may want to drill and dry-fitted all of the rigging, strut, and landing gear mounting holes for a better fit during the final assembly
Eduard has an error in the instructions with the bi-plane struts. They are incorrectly numbered and should be mounted with the more "tapered" strut in the forward position and the "heavier" strut in the rear position (Note: I missed this detail during my build and only discovered this later)
Using a caliper to set the distance on the struts to receive the upper wing will allow you to set the parts on the lower wing and allow that to dry before moving onto the upper wing join (otherwise it gets into a losing balancing act to try and do it altogether)
The rigging can be done using wire or rigging elastic depending on your preference - each method has a slightly different prep (as using elastic I will do a drill through on the lower wing in order to pull the elastic taunt and fix it with superglue, patching it later - otherwise I will just do a partial tap.) As you can see the rigging here is especially fine and doesn't show up in the photographs... don't strain your eyes, truth is I never got around to finishing this one and it still made it to the display area somehow :)
Kit Additions / Modifications:
I built this 48th Eduard Hanroit HD.1 kit out-of-the-box (which I can use as an excuse on why the rigging remains unfinished - I will get around to it at some point I guess - but don't wait around ;)
Finishing:
This aircraft was painted in an overall sand shade with the Italian coloured marking also painted on the tail and underwings. Some tonal variations were used to simulate wear. The front cowl was painted aluminum. An attempt was made to get some wood grain in the prop by lightly brushing on a slightly darker wood tone after the base wood tone had dried.
The After-Build Report:
I think this 1/48th Eduard Hanroit HD.1 is a coming of age kit for Eduard as around this point their kits were showing a noticeable improvement. Simple, but nicely molded, this kit provides a good transition kit into WWI era aircraft if you want to try your hand at rigging ...just like I did (oh wait, I actually didn't - shame on me :)
Feel free to comment or ask any questions - Keep on building, gain experience, challenge yourself if you like, but try not to stress yourself out over the build - it is supposed to be an enjoyable hobby after all - Cheers
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