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Dornier Do-228 in 1/72 scale: modelling report of Revell kit
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Aircraft coded "SY 010" has two greys: about FS36492 and FS36622.
The upper areas were airbrushed Revell Aqua 75 acrylic stone grey and the lower areas with Gunze Sangyo Mr.Hobby H306. The leading edges / anti-icing areas of wing, stabilizer, outside wing panels and tail were also airbrushed after masking H306.
The markings were home designed and custom printed. If you want a decals set of your model, look at the decal page here for set AIPD 50...
After decalling the model was completed with the details and landing gear as described for the other models.
So... the 2x4 flap hinge rods, anti-collision lights, a few crew entry steps. The various static discharger wires and windscreen wipers. A single long antenna wire was set and a few blade antennas.
Also add a pair of bubble windows through plastic disks set at the second window from the front at both port and starboard.
Landing lights were suggested with silver paint in front of the main gear in the stubwing. A black area was painted on the lower wing section aft of the nacelles as was the aircraft nose.
A radar fairing was also made from scrap and installed, see how here...
Also a sort of rotating camera fairing? was added made from a bit of a bomb from the spares box; it is situated at starboard aft of the radar fairing and was painted black.
The propeller spinners were painted gloss silver, with light grey prop blades with black edge and yellow tips. The final thing to do was airbrushing a final gloss acrylic varnish with the usual technique.
SEYCHELLES
old> 
[area: 457 sq.km | population: 121,000 | capital: Victoria | GDP 20,000 USD per capita nominal ]
The Seychelles is an archipelago with islands lying in the Indian Ocean east of Kenya. It is the smallest country in Africa as well as the least populated and became independent as Republic in 1976 being a small British Colony.
The armed forces are small and operated just a few ships in the beginning. Though an air force was established in 1978, the registrations were civil. Beginning 2011 an armed Do-228-201 c/n 4069 coded CG774 was supplied by India for patrol duties. In 2013 a new Do-228-201 was obtained with code SY 010 c/n HAL4106 (and from 2018 a Do-228-202K c/n HAL4131).
... in a scenery...
In 1987 Revell Germany came with 1/72 Dornier Do-228 kit #4239. It was for the Do-228-100 with fuselage with 7 cabin windows on each side so with a "shorter fuselage" as the models made earlier. There are about 50 parts in the kit.
As noted on page 1, Revell did not include 2 parts for the rear ventral fins/ strakes. These are (almost) always seen on actual Do-228 aircraft to add stability.
This kit was made as a Mauritius Coast Guard Do-228-100. This aircraft was license build by Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) of India. The markings will be done with home designed decals, more about that later.
Building the kit is very similar as described for the longer Do-228-200 described on page 1.
The kit has basic parts with only a cockpit interior. The two control wheels on the instrument panel were added as were and few foot pedal controls. There is no cabin interior, but not a lot is seen.
The Do-228-100 has rows with 7 cabin windows. It seems the starboard 6th window opening be slightly moved 1 mm forward but I retained it as per kit.
The cabin windows are 2 strips which helps with fitting these. The strips were fixed with clear tape on the inside. Some sprue was set to suggest an interior. Note there is no window in the port rear fuselage doors, will be closed later on.
The fuselage was closed up but first add adequate nose weight to avoid "tail sitting". The main gear bay openings have a floor/ roof but there are side gaps, these can be closed with card and white glue. But it is not that obvious. Do not yet install the landing gear, do that after the paint scheme has been applied.
The
big wing has one big upper par and seperate lower parts. This helps
alignment and strength. The various flap hinges are to be set now and
at the their ends Revell suggests to add rods from stretched sprue; I
will install sections of plastic rod later on. The flap
hinge parts #38 and #41 behind the nacelle should be reduced 2 mm in
length.
In the engine nacelles the various intakes and air vents are missing. These will later be suggested with painting gloss black details.
The fuselage and nacelles were sanded flush and some putty was applied. The lower base plate gaps also need filling. When done, the single wind shield was set in place and white glue closed the gaps.
All the clear sections such as cabin windows were masked with tape (or use masking fluid). A base coat was airbrushed with Revell Aqua 75 steingrau to check for any flaws and to get an even base coat. This is essential.
The model got now get the basic white paint scheme/ livery. Airbrushed was Gunze Sangyo Mr.Hobby H1 acrylic. For the blue nose (approx. FS15056) anti-gare panel Gunze Sangyo Mr.Hobby H15 was airbrushed and for the red panels (approx. FS11302) Gunze H3. Masking was needed. The lower area of the horizontal stabilizer is also red.
(On this Dornier no black de-icing booths were seen). The various engine air intakes and vents on the nacelles were painted gloss black with a fine brush.
The missing ventrail fins/ strakes were added from plastic card.
The Mauritius Coast Guard markings were home designed as decals and custom laser printed. If you want a decals set, this is possible. Look at decals sheet AIPD 49 on the decal page 4 here...
The rear fuselage stripes needed some trimming.
With decalling done, the wing assembly was set in place. The gaps between wing and fuselage were filled with white glue and painted when dried. (white thus here).
Below the lower forward fuselage a radar fairing is fitted. See here how it was made from scrap.... It was painted mat black and installed.
Propeller colours may vary. For this aircraft, the propeller blades seem to be light grey (approx. Revell Aqua 374 paint) with yellow - white tips. The spinners are bright silver/ chrome. Fix the props with white glue.
Installment of the main landing gear struts and wheels is a bit unclear in the Revell instructions. The 2 small gear struts were set on the "bar" with glue but the structure is very vulnerable. I set a few plastic bits on their sides to get more strength. On each door, 2 retracting struts were added from thin white sprue and also bits for the hydraulic break lines. The nose gear was installed after I reduced the nose gear door #49 in length.
The various details were now added:
Bubble windows were suggested with plastic disks set at the second window from the front at both port and starboard. Fix with Micro Kristal-Kleer.
The 2x4 flap hinge rods were made from plastic rod as indicated in the Revell instructions and installed. The flap fairings behind the engine nacelles were painted black.
A small anti-collision upper light #25 on the fuselage-wing section. On the wing tips, lights were painted red (left side) and blue (right side) dots. Also, a blade antenna was added made from thin card. From white stretched sprue, a few crew entry steps were set.The nose tip was painted mat black.
The kit nose pitots # 27, 28 were replaced with finer metal rods and installed (after any anti-glare panel has been painted).
Antenna configurations may vary on a Do-228. The Mauritius aircraft has a long wire antenna. It was made from Prym "strick elastic" wire (or use fishing line), fixed with super glue.
Various static discharger wires were set: 4 at each tip of wing, stabilizer and tail. Made from flexible black EZ line wire.
Windscreen wipers were made from black stretched sprue and added as well.
The final thing to do was airbrushing a final gloss acrylic varnish with the usual technique: 90% Johnson Future/Pledge thinned with 10% Gunze Sangyo Mr.Color Levelling Thinner acrylic. This gives an overall sheen and protects the decals.
MAURITIUS
[ islands area: total 2040 km2 | capital: Port Louis | population: 1,3 million | GDP 11,000 USD nominal per capita ]
Mauritius is a group of islands some 2,000 kilometers East of Madagascar and is a republic. The Mauritius Coast Guard monitors a large area of the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar off the African east coast. Fixed aircraft were used from mid 1990 like an Britten Norman Islander and an acquired license built HAL Do-228-101(with the shorter fuselage). From probably 2004 3 aircraft of the longer fuselage version Do-228-201 and -202 arrived.
October 2024 it was announced that "British" jurisdiction of the Chagos archipelago will be transferred to Mauritius though the important American military base at Diego Garcia atol will be leased for 99 years.
For more information about Mauritius, look at the Alouette page here...
This Dornier Do-228-201 c/n 4074 coded MP-CG-3. 
Note the stripes at the outboard wing areas.
... in a scenery...
A nice bunch of Dornier 228 of various smaller World Armed Forces is now in the collection.
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Created this page Oct 9, 2024