TonyOD Posted September 15, 2020 Author Share Posted September 15, 2020 (edited) @CedB the plot thickens... "The cabin floor slopes steeply to the flightdeck with quite a narrow aisle between the eight seats. " https://www.pilotweb.aero/features/flight-tests/de-havilland-dh89a-dragon-rapide-1-1650075 "In later years I had a flight in one and I recall the steep slope of the cabin floor when the plane was at rest." https://photoreflect.blogspot.com/2013/06/airfix-and-dragon-rapide.html Now I look closely, the tops of the chairs at the front of the cabin in the pic further up are clearly higher relative to the windows than those halfway along the cabin. I may have to give my cabin floor a rethink! (I stand by that rear bulkhead though...) Edited September 15, 2020 by TonyOD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted September 20, 2020 Author Share Posted September 20, 2020 (edited) The sum total of my achievements in modelling this week has been to paint two tiny little chairs, and have a complete overhaul of my area of interest. Going to be putting this one aside for a bit now to get stuck into a couple of GB’s Edited September 21, 2020 by TonyOD 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 Good luck with your GBs Tony. Enjoy. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 Great work on the seats Tony, they're looking really good Well done finding the source of the bendy floor. I've checked back to the pictures I took during PC's trip and out Duxford flight 5 years ago but, perhaps not surprisingly, I don't have any photos of the floor. I do remember the slope and narrowness trying to get in though! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted September 21, 2020 Author Share Posted September 21, 2020 7 hours ago, CedB said: Great work on the seats Tony, they're looking really good Cheers - I need to get the finest permanent marker and lay my hands on and touch up some bits! 7 hours ago, CedB said: Well done finding the source of the bendy floor. I've checked back to the pictures I took during PC's trip and out Duxford flight 5 years ago but, perhaps not surprisingly, I don't have any photos of the floor. I do remember the slope and narrowness trying to get in though! There are numerous unflattering videos of the rear ends of passengers squeezing themselves aboard DRs for pleasure flights! I thought about putting some bend back in the now flattened floor, but it's very thin and flexible so when the time comes (don't hold your breath mind) I'll just be able to put as much bend as I need to when I glue it in. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col Walter E Kurtz Posted May 12, 2021 Share Posted May 12, 2021 On 13/08/2020 at 18:47, TonyOD said: Other than the wreckage there is nothing to commemorate the unfortunate five who lost their lives in the accident. It's a desolate but beautiful place, and feels very remote even though it overlooks the Corridor Route, one of the most popular paths to the summit of Scafell Pike, which with Monday's fine weather was very busy. I've visited quite a few mountain crash sites but I found this experience particularly powerful and moving. This, ridiculous as it probably sounds, is why I want to make the very best job I possible can of my 1/72 recreation of Merlin V. Tony , I totally concur with your sentiments. It would be nice if a cairn could be created and perhaps a simple plaque added to it? Ive walked in that part of the Lakes a few times before. It's a lovely area. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted May 12, 2021 Author Share Posted May 12, 2021 1 hour ago, Col Walter E Kurtz said: It would be nice if a cairn could be created and perhaps a simple plaque added to it? It's actually my intention to have a brass plaque made and site it on a rock at the crash site. there are plenty to choose from! 1 hour ago, Col Walter E Kurtz said: Ive walked in that part of the Lakes a few times before. It's a lovely area. It really is. I haven't managed to get up to the Lakes since last summer what with Covid etc. but I'm hoping to before long. I haven't touched this build in eight months or so, but it's been in my thoughts again of late! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted November 14, 2021 Author Share Posted November 14, 2021 It occurred to me today that it's been over a year since I touched this one, and it's due a bit of TLC once I've got my Bf 110 out of the way! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TISO Posted November 14, 2021 Share Posted November 14, 2021 (edited) Nice. I kind of only found this just now. BTW there are a couple of PE sets for Dragon rapide: Kuvilainen - passanger window frames and cockpit parts https://www.scalemates.com/kits/kuivalainen-kpe-72032-havilland-dh89-dragon-rapide-photo-etch--331732 SBS - Dragon Rapide bracing wires: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/sbs-model-72051-dh-89-dragon-rapide-rigging-wire-set--1227508 Edited November 14, 2021 by TISO 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted November 18, 2021 Author Share Posted November 18, 2021 Thanks for that @TISO. I have the SBS set but sadly I can't lay my hands on the Kuvilainen interor bits anywhere (and I've looked really hard!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Thompson Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 26 minutes ago, TonyOD said: Thanks for that @TISO. I have the SBS set but sadly I can't lay my hands on the Kuvilainen interor bits anywhere (and I've looked really hard!) There's this by Whirlybits, still in stock at the Aviation Megatore, although I haven't seen one in the flesh: https://www.aviationmegastore.com/dh89a-dragon-rapide-detail-set-with-decals-for-aa-airfix--heller-whirlybits-wba72073-aircraft-scale-modelling/product/?action=prodinfo&art=104397 Postage to the UK is probably steep though. Paul. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted November 18, 2021 Author Share Posted November 18, 2021 7 minutes ago, Paul Thompson said: Postage to the UK is probably steep though. That's very interesting, thanks... but you're right... 25 euros to post it from the NL?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Swindell Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 54 minutes ago, TonyOD said: That's very interesting, thanks... but you're right... 25 euros to post it from the NL?! Try contacting Whirlybird direct http://www.whirlybirdmodels.com/ It's still listed on the pricelist on the website http://www.whirlybirdmodels.com/docs/pricelist.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted June 1, 2022 Author Share Posted June 1, 2022 Yikes. Getting on two years since I did anything with this. Not that it worries me unduly, I have completed the sum total of zero builds in 2022 so far, mainly because life has been giving me a bit of a clobbering (it'll all be alright in the end). This has prompted a stash clearout (in the interests of my continued solvency) as well as one of my periodic ponderings on the nature of my modelling. Fewer kits, better built may be more satisfying than pile 'em high, build 'em fast. Inspired in part by @cathasatail's superb Lancaster tribute build I think I may be coming back to this one soon... 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathasatail Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 4 hours ago, TonyOD said: Yikes. Getting on two years since I did anything with this. Not that it worries me unduly, I have completed the sum total of zero builds in 2022 so far, mainly because life has been giving me a bit of a clobbering (it'll all be alright in the end). This has prompted a stash clearout (in the interests of my continued solvency) as well as one of my periodic ponderings on the nature of my modelling. Fewer kits, better built may be more satisfying than pile 'em high, build 'em fast. Inspired in part by @cathasatail's superb Lancaster tribute build I think I may be coming back to this one soon... I really appreciate those comments, and am glad to have helped out a tiny bit! I'll be eagerly following along and I am really looking forward to seeing more of your own fantastic work Best wishes, Sam 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted June 2, 2022 Share Posted June 2, 2022 I hope you're able to continue with the model- I joined Britmodeller long after you started this thread but pleased it's been bumped back to the top and I've been able to catch up. My dad is from NW England and he walked Scafell Pike often in the 1950s before emigrating to Australia. I've been up there couple of times too- he made me go and I appreciated it once I got there! It's a beautiful place but it's easy to imagine how isolated and dangerous it can be in bad weather. As for the Rapide kit, you're working wonders with it. It's a decent kit, excellent for it's age I guess, but the extra work is well worth the effort! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted June 2, 2022 Author Share Posted June 2, 2022 So… after a lengthy hiatus, the Drag Rap is up and running again. Today’s job: a tiny door, or at least part of a door, because this aircraft featured a larger two part door to allow easier loading of stretchers. The second part will be even fiddlier. I want to have the door open to give a fighting chance of some of the interior being visible, so I cut this from a spare DR fuselage. The chrome window surround will be sprayed white same as the rest of the exterior. Window masked inside and out, not quite decided on my cabin colours yet. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted June 2, 2022 Author Share Posted June 2, 2022 3 hours ago, Zephyr said: I joined Britmodeller long after you started this thread but pleased it's been bumped back to the top and I've been able to catch up. Thanks - in its time the thread got a bit of a following, not because of the quality of my modelling but the story behind the aircraft I think. It feels great to be back on it. Scafell is indeed a wonderful place, I need to get back up there soon! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted June 2, 2022 Author Share Posted June 2, 2022 (edited) After hiding away for 18 months, the tiny wee seats get some tiny wee seatbelts, and a blast of matt varnish. Meanwhile, there was a bit of a cosmetic issue to sort out on the port fuselage, like a slight rippling effect: It took me a while to realise what it was. It’s “Heller”, backwards. Given that there are two distinct raised panel lines going the length of the fuselage aft of the cabin, I thought it might be tricky to address this without damaging the moulded detail. But it turns out the upper of the two lines doesn’t actually exist on the actual aircraft… …so I was able to cheerfully sand the uppermost line off both sides and buff out the imperfection. There’s a danger I might actually finish this thing… Edited June 2, 2022 by TonyOD 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted June 2, 2022 Share Posted June 2, 2022 Looking super, Tony. Hope getting back to modelling is giving you some breathing space. Regards, Adrian 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted June 3, 2022 Author Share Posted June 3, 2022 9 hours ago, AdrianMF said: Looking super, Tony. Hope getting back to modelling is giving you some breathing space. Thanks Adrian. I haven't been away from modelling per se, just floundering around a bit, as a couple of unfinished builds will attest! Anyway... time to bite the bullet and make a decision on what the cabin is going to look like. I'm taking my cues from this photograph. It's definitely a Dominie air ambulance, albeit that's not a navy man in the picture, and while it's not an entirely safe assumption that RAF and FAA air ambulances were configured identically it's better than nothing. The basic layout will be this. The stretchers (marginally less that 6 feet long to scale) and their frames will be end to end, essentially one scratch-built frame with a low section forward and a high section aft. I'm thinking blue for the blankets, because why not? The first chair is in the radio operator's position, the second at the back of the cabin out of the way just aft of the door, and I may have a go at a little foldaway chair to tuck under the higher stretcher. Some other things I'd like to try to get in: Ceiling bracing and lights. Also there was at least one circular escape hatch in the roof of the Drag Rap that will need scribing inside and out. I'm working on a ceiling panel to hide the internal join. Couple of roll-up stretchers to mount on the ceiling. Curtains! How on earth do I do this? There isn't a textile fabric in existence fine enough to replicate real curtain fabric at 1/72 scale. Maybe I'll experiment with pressing out some very thin sheets of Milliput. Interestingly if you look under the crew member's arm you can see an ornate stitched/padded bulkhead that suggests that this particular Dominie might have been a repurposed civilian Dragon Rapide. There were so many different ways to have a DR outfitted - by De Havilland, or by outside contractors - that there must have been hundreds of different configurations! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted June 3, 2022 Share Posted June 3, 2022 I’ve reproduced curtains in O gauge railway coaches by printing a suitable colour onto both sides of thin 80gsm printer paper. Once cut out and suitably rolled and folded, they look the part. It may work in 1/72nd, though perhaps Kleenex type tissue would be better. That won’t go through a printer, though! 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2996 Victor Posted June 3, 2022 Share Posted June 3, 2022 Great work, Tony: definitely a labour of love and a fitting tribute to those poor souls. Have you considered coloured tissue paper for curtains? Perhaps made on a jig so that you could lacquer them and paint them if necessary? Just a thought. Cheers, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted June 3, 2022 Author Share Posted June 3, 2022 5 minutes ago, 2996 Victor said: Have you considered coloured tissue paper for curtains? Ooh that's a good shout! Maybe even loo roll! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2996 Victor Posted June 3, 2022 Share Posted June 3, 2022 15 minutes ago, TonyOD said: Ooh that's a good shout! Maybe even loo roll! Absolutely, but probably not Izal Medicated 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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