Robert Stuart Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 I'm planning to jump in with a 1/72 deHavilland Rapide from Heller ... It's an old boxing The parts The box contains decals for one civil operator, Air Couriers, and two trainers: a French Radio Navigator's School and (RAF or civil?) Air Observers Navigation School No 6. I don't plan to use any of these, but will go for a machine operated by the Railway Air Services, a 1930's joint operation between Impeial Airways and the four regional railways groups. The fact that my initials are RAS had no influence on my choice, honest! These are Arctic Decals. The presentation is excellent, with a photo of one of the aircraft on the cover and, inside, fairly comprehensive instructions on how to correct use the (laser printed) decals, and a guide for correcting the Heller kit. I'll let you know, as I go along, what changes (if any) I make to the model. There is one downside to my choice - it's a very old boxing, and the canopy is short-shot. I'll send a note to Heller to see if they can replace that. p.s. I've just placed an order for some etch 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimHead23 Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Lovely old kit and one that I am very fond of. I look forward to watching your progress. Regards Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skids Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Great stuff, theres something about the Rapide that always gets me. Had two fly over together a few weeks ago and they looked amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Stuart Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 (edited) Lovely old kit and one that I am very fond of. I look forward to watching your progress. Regards Jim Thanks Jim. I must have had this one in the stash for over 20 years, but never attempted a Rapide before. Great stuff, theres something about the Rapide that always gets me. Had two fly over together a few weeks ago and they looked amazing. I'm jealous, I must live in the wrong part of the world, I only ever see these at air shows Edited July 25, 2016 by Robert Stuart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 I think I have one of these buried in the stash, Will you be rigging it? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Stuart Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 Will I be rigging it? Highly likely, the rigging diagram seems fairly simple, and there are pre drilled rigging holes ... Though they are set up for single wires, the Rapide seems to have mostly doubled wires on the wings 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 "guide for correcting the Heller kit" Given that I have one in my stash, I have to ask. What are the issues? Are these features on the specific aircraft or is it a general inaccuracy? It's great to see one of these being made. It looks pretty nice on the sprues. Regards, Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lasermonkey Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Definitely in! I think I have fourteen or so Heller Rapides in the stash, with some of them being re-boxings by the likes of Aerofile or Tasman. I hadn't heard of Arctic Decals before, but il shall check out what they do for the Rapide. I certainly need more decal options! IIRC, one of the biggest failings with the Heller kit is the fuselage/upper wing area. It's flush on the kit, whereas on the real aircraft, the wing is lower that the fuselage top. My first ever flight was from Duxford, in G-AIYR, so I have a massive soft spot for the '89. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Stuart Posted July 26, 2016 Author Share Posted July 26, 2016 (edited) "guide for correcting the Heller kit" Given that I have one in my stash, I have to ask. What are the issues? Are these features on the specific aircraft or is it a general inaccuracy? It's great to see one of these being made. It looks pretty nice on the sprues. Regards, Adrian I think the kit looks like a Rapide, so I won't make all of the changes below (there's a whole philosophical mess when you start defining scale, or at least, when I start trying to define scale). It is worth checking against other plans or drawings before saying the following are real issues, especially for a hand built or hand maintained wooden aircraft with a long production run. Apparently ... The fin and rudder should be taller - maybe 2 or 3 mm The engine nacels and undercarriage 'trousers' should be shorter front to back. Maybe I can move them backwards. The cockpit canopy is too short, correcting this would have knock on effects for the cabin. Any issues with the upper wing seem to come down to revising the root fillet. HTH edited - added bullets to bullet points (bullets/lists aren't available on the iPad) Edited July 26, 2016 by Robert Stuart 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skodadriver Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Lovely - I'll follow this with interest. It might inspire me to do something with the Aeroclub 1/144 version which I bought from John Adams at the ScotNats this year! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Another I shall follow with interest, this is in my stash as well so will be good to see yours go together. Bob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miggers Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 I think the kit looks like a Rapide, so I won't make all of the changes below (there's a whole philosophical mess when you start defining scale, or at least, when I start trying to define scale). It is worth checking against other plans or drawings before saying the following are real issues, especially for a hand built or hand maintained wooden aircraft with a long production run. Apparently ... The fin and rudder should be taller - maybe 2 or 3 mm The engine nacels and undercarriage 'trousers' should be shorter front to back. Maybe I can move them backwards. The cockpit canopy is too short, correcting this would have knock on effects for the cabin. Any issues with the upper wing seem to come down to revising the root fillet. HTH edited - added bullets to bullet points (bullets/lists aren't available on the iPad Hmmm. Well,it sure as shishkebab look like a Rapide when built(done two 'Eller's and have an Airfix one in th'stash). The biggest gotcha is the upper wing/fuselage joint.Needs a bit of faff and fettle to get it right and strong(sits a bit low too IIRC). Other than that it's just about the only game in town for a 1/72nd Rapide apart from Tasman's kit(re-boxed,re-decalled Heller) and Veeday's short run jobbie from the late '70's 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 Any word from Heller on the canopy Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 A great choice Robert and don't you just love Arctic Decals' envelopes! I've got a spare canopy you can have if you still need one. Cliff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandboof Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Nice to see this built Will be watching your rigging. Oldmodeldecals out of nz do some interesting NZ civies 72nd Martin H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Stuart Posted October 16, 2016 Author Share Posted October 16, 2016 On 30/08/2016 at 00:18, TrojanThunder said: Any word from Heller on the canopy Robert Sorry for the delay in replying TT, but, no, no word yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Stuart Posted October 21, 2016 Author Share Posted October 21, 2016 I've just ordered another version of this kit online from Creative Models .. they have an offer this week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisTheBear Posted October 25, 2016 Share Posted October 25, 2016 Just found this thread while looking for stuff on this kit. Any progress to report? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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