Automobile Association Dragon Rapide - FINISHED

[AdrianMF]

It's surprisingly small and delicate for a twin at 1/144 scale. The paint job looks like a nightmare to do but I'm sure it will look fabulous when done.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[nimrod54]

2 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

The paint job looks like a nightmare to do but I'm sure it will look fabulous when done.

 

Cheers Adrian. The biggest nightmare for me was masking and painting the nacelles, I thought that I had things sorted earlier in the week but I wasn't happy with it in the end and I decided to remove the paint and try again. In the end I made a mask from the scaled down kit instructions, but even now I don't think that it is quite right, but I have decided that I can live with it and today I completed the decaling.

 

Next job is to add the upper wing and struts, then on with the dreaded rigging.

 

 

[Cookenbacher]

Microscopic indeed, John. That's some fine work on the scheme.

[CliffB]

A daunting scheme in any scale John.  Respect is due for tackling it in 1/144. 

It's looking good !

 

Cliff

[nimrod54]

I have been able to progress this a bit more since Saturday. The struts have been added, the wing join completed and filled but I think that I will have to add some thin plastic sheet to get it looking right. I have also added some simple rigging using 0.1mm nickel silver rod and that is as far as I have got for the moment. Just the little details required to complete this one now though.

 

 

This may be the last update for a few weeks but I hope to be back soon after that.

[Silver Fox]

Lovely work. The rigging looks really good. I read of your loss in the Dh91 Thread and add my condolences and hope all goes as well as possible in the circumstances.

[Hockeyboy76]

Cracking build John. That looks fantastic. Take all the time you need buddy. See you soon. 

[nimrod54]

On ‎14‎/‎03‎/‎2017 at 3:17 PM, Silver Fox said:

Lovely work. The rigging looks really good. I read of your loss in the Dh91 Thread and add my condolences and hope all goes as well as possible in the circumstances.

 

On ‎16‎/‎03‎/‎2017 at 7:22 PM, Hockeyboy76 said:

Cracking build John. That looks fantastic. Take all the time you need buddy. See you soon. 

 

Thanks for your kind words gents, Caron and I appreciate them.

[nimrod54]

I decide to add a thin piece of plastic card to this after all, I can repaint the area now and hopefully I have blended this enough so that it doesn't look too bad.

 

[Cookenbacher]

Oooh, that'll hid the seams perfectly.

[MickE]

That looks great John.

 

Mick

[Silver Fox]

Brilliant work.

[nimrod54]

On ‎23‎/‎03‎/‎2017 at 4:07 AM, Cookenbacher said:

Oooh, that'll hid the seams perfectly.

 

Thanks Cookie, I applied a coat of black over the join and discovered that it did need some further work. This has been carried out along with some further refinements, but it still needs a re-check.

 

8 hours ago, MickE said:

That looks great John.

 

Mick

 

Thanks Mick, I am pleased with the way this is going, I will try to paint the props and spinners over the weekend.

 

7 hours ago, Silver Fox said:

Brilliant work.

 

Cheers bud, I am glad that I decided to go with your preference of 0.1 Nickel Silver wire now. In the end it wasn't that difficult to do and makes a big difference to the finished look. I have now added the scratch built DF radome along with some nav-lights fashioned from tiny blobs of Microscale's Krystal Klear but I still have to paint those up.

[Hockeyboy76]

She's looking very good. Great work Buddy. 

[nimrod54]

50 minutes ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

She's looking very good. Great work Buddy. 

 

Cheers H. Any luck finding that bench of yours yet.

 

[Hockeyboy76]

On 24/03/2017 at 8:14 PM, nimrod54 said:

 

Cheers H. Any luck finding that bench of yours yet.

 

 

Found the bench buddy, just missing the legs & nuts......... oh and the space.  Quite a bit of work to do on the man cave & the house. I know which way round I want to do things, not sure it's the same way as the misses tho. 

[nimrod54]

11 hours ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

 

Found the bench buddy, just missing the legs & nuts......... oh and the space.  Quite a bit of work to do on the man cave & the house. I know which way round I want to do things, not sure it's the same way as the misses tho. 

 

Important that you make the right choices mate, you don't want to end up in the same situation as your modelling bench with your appendages missing.

 

Good luck with the refurb works, sounds like a long term job.

[Hockeyboy76]

On 26/03/2017 at 4:28 PM, nimrod54 said:

 

Important that you make the right choices mate, you don't want to end up in the same situation as your modelling bench with your appendages missing.

 

Good luck with the refurb works, sounds like a long term job.

I see what you did there! 

 

Yep always finding extras to do that keep me away from sorting the man cave, but plans are afoot to extend it first. 

[nimrod54]

The next update of this build will probably be the last. I did think that this would be the final update, but having checked some photos last night I may have to make a couple of alterations. The prop blades in the photos I have found look to be black so these will need repainting and I can't see the wind driven generator in those photos either so this might have to be removed, but I am not sure if it is fitted on the opposite wing. I am trying to find some clearer shots to confirm these details.

 

Anyway here is where I am up to at the moment, the whip aerials have been added and the wire from the fin to fuselage mast is also on, so there are plenty sticky out bits for me to knock off now - ooohhh goodie.

 

 

 

 

Arrgh! Looking at the above photo I am going to have straighten that DF loop up too.

[Cookenbacher]

Beautiful work John.

[jean]

Good evening John,

 

in my book you are the mad hatter of modelling! And I am really in awe of your ability.

Rigging a biplane and doing an intricate paint job on those microscopic nacelles has a name where I come from. This usually wins you a padded cell for the rest of your life, with nice people in white who feed you colored pills and give you 1/350 biplanes to rig...

But as I said, I am glad they haven't caught up with you yet.

 

Hat down to you, John.

JR

[nimrod54]

13 hours ago, jean said:

This usually wins you a padded cell for the rest of your life, with nice people in white who feed you colored pills and give you 1/350 biplanes to rig...

 

Hi Jean

When I was at school I was once told that the first sign of madness was hairs growing on the palms of your hand, the second sign was looking for them. I am pleased to say that since then I haven't found a single hair. Now where are those 1/350 biplanes that you need rigging. 

[Hockeyboy76]

John mad?

 

No he's just a connoisseur of 144 scale.

[nimrod54]

Well chaps and chapesses I am going to call this one done. I checked out the few photos I can find of this aircraft and decided in the end to leave the props as they are I have found an image of it with black blades and another has silver on the front and black on the rear. As for the wind powered generator, from the images I have found it remains unclear as to whether this is fitted or not, so for the moment it stays. I tweaked the DF Loop a little but I think that it could have done with a touch more, I chickened out of doing this because I didn't want to risk knocking any of the whip aerials etc off.

I made a base and added some N gauge figures (1/148 so not totally to scale) just for a bit more interest and that was it.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Thanks to all for your comments and support throughout this build. Time to get on with work on the Albatross and 125 now

[Dave Swindell]

Another fine model there John, and the base really sets it off.

 

From the images a google search on the reg shows up I'd go with prop blades silver front and black rear. I can't see any sign of the wind powered generator in the photos either. I'm curious where the struts above the tail originate from? Not something I recall seeing on a Rapide and isn't shown in the photos?