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Automobile Association Dragon Rapide - FINISHED


nimrod54

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I am still awaiting the arrival of my Welsh Models Albatross kit, so had another rummage around and came across this little fella. There are not a lot of parts but the masking for the paint should prove to be enough of a challenge to keep things interesting, I may even make an attempt at rigging it too.

 

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1 hour ago, Basilisk said:

Wow, and it comes with PE propellers. I hope you have a steady hand!

 

Cheers, Peter

 

Me too Peter, especially if I carry through my threat to attempt the rigging. The two white metal bits under the etch fret are the propeller spinners.

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2 hours ago, nimrod54 said:

I may even make an attempt at rigging it too

 

Rigging is not compulsory, but it does make a difference:-

15Finished.jpg

 

This is John's pre-production version which I managed to wangle out of him with my own decals.

Rigging was stretched sprue measured to length with dividers. Cut and check length, dip each end in pva and place in position. Do one wire in each bay, let the glue dry, then come back and do the other wire.

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@Dave Swindell

 

Thanks for posting the photo and the rigging tip Dave, I will definitely adopt your technique and give it a go now. I made the BEA version a couple of years ago when the kits were reissued, but I did not attempt to rig that one.

 

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I must admit that it looks better when rigged though.

 

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I made a start on cleaning up the parts for this kit last night then glued up the fuselage halves and this morning I fixed the lower wing in position. Assembly for this kit should be fairly quick but care needs to be taken to make sure that the parts fit neatly.

 

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This looks interesting! I reckon you should try the rigging, I can see how it would perhaps be a bit daunting but it will look good.

 

Have you seen this stuff before? http://www.migjimenez.com/en/accessories/608-rigging-fine-003-mm.html

 

I've used it once and was quite impressed. It's elasticated line, super glue one end, stretch it to where your want and super glue the other end and huhu off the excess. The 1/144 line is mighty fine though, almost invisible.

 

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@DAG058

 

Thanks for the link, I have some Uschi van der Rosten rigging thread which, like the Mig stuff, is elastic, but I have only used it for aerial wires so far. I have another plan for this build though and that is to use some 0.1mm Nickle Silver wire. Initially I was concerned about this sagging but I think that the lengths needed will be short enough for this not to happen.

 

Assembly of the plastic is almost complete, I just have a couple of joints to tidy up, particularly around the nacelles, and paint should not be too far off after that.

 

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A brief update on progress. The yellow is on and I will leave this for a few days to allow the paint to harden off, then it will be time to get on with the tricky task of masking for the black. As you can see the upper wing is ready for the decals.

 

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11 minutes ago, Silver Fox said:

I used fine gauge Nickel silver wire ( 0.1 IIRC) and it hasn't sagged over the last three years so you should be fine.  Great progress so far.

 

I think that you are right, I have been playing about with various lengths over the past few days and it should be OK. I was considering double wires as per photos I have found, but I think that would be overkill at this scale. I must remember that less is more. :D

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I have been able to get the first layers of black on the rest model and removed the masking tonight. There are one or two areas to be tidied up and then I can mask up the nacelles and nose for painting the curved sections on these.

 

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I had been having a think about a way to make the masks for the nacelles and my solution was to use the profile that was included on the kit instructions. I took a measurement from the instructions (in this case the wingspan) then took the same measurement from the model and worked out the ratio between model/instructions, which came out at approx. 0.59. I then copied the instructions profile at 59% of the original size and hey presto, I had a guide for cutting masks. 

 

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I was also able to use dimensions from this to scratch build the bullet shaped radome on top of the fuselage, photographed here on top of the obligatory giant penny. :winkgrin:

 

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Back with more soon.

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These 144s do wonders for the eyesight. Nice work. 

 

Moving next week. Hope to get the new man cave up to speed soon. 

Edited by Hockeyboy76
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9 hours ago, nimrod54 said:

I was also able to use dimensions from this to scratch build the bullet shaped radome

That's a D/F loop in there John, and you've done a grand job carving that given its size. The rest of the model's coming on great as well

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14 hours ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

These 144s do wonders for the eyesight. Nice work. 

 

Moving next week. Hope to get the new man cave up to speed soon. 

 

They sure do buddy. I think that I will have to resort to some form of magnification in the not too distant future, the one thing that keeps me from doing this is that it would give Caron another excuse for 'extracting the urine'. :D

 

Good luck with the move next week,  hope everything goes well and that you are all soon settled in.

 

14 hours ago, Dave Swindell said:

That's a D/F loop in there John, and you've done a grand job carving that given its size. The rest of the model's coming on great as well

 

Thanks for the info Dave, I think that the nose could do with some further rounding off and I may slim the support down bit more too,

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