Jump to content

#345 - Dragon Rapide


Unkempt

Recommended Posts

Here we go with (another) Dragon Rapide!

 

Lovely plane, reasonably simple kit but good for its age. I got this in an unmarked box from a guy on EBay but it's definitely a Heller so here it is:

 

Instructions:

 

kCXwPud.jpg

 

Well that looks pretty straightforward. Judging by the style this is quite an old edition I've got here.

 

Part 2:

3VfOrzt.jpg

 

Blimey, I'm not reading that lot. More importantly, here are the bits:

 

G4myPJk.jpg

 

Looks like everything's present and correct, and a quick fuselage/wing dry fit looks like nothings too warped. Except this little fly in the ointment:

 

sszoCll.jpg

 

Yeah, that's not going to work. I'm aware you can get a vac replacement for this but they don't seem to exist on this continent so I'm going to try a plunge mould for a replacement, which I have sort-of successfully done before. I did know about this before I bought it, part of the reason it was so cheap, so I'm not complaining.

 

Oh, and the decals look a bit ropey, but I'm not going to use them. I'm going to have a crack at the 'Scillonia Airways' G-AHAG. Normally I'd stick a picture in here but I can't actually find a non-copyrighted one so if you want to see it, have a google or click this here link. I'm going to try printing my own decals, again something I've done a couple of times before, except this time it'll involve dodging the plague while using the local library's laser printer.

 

I won't be adding anything except the new canopy and rigging so hopefully a relatively straightforward build. First up will be the interior, just as soon as I've finished squinting at photos to try and work out what colour it is, because all the photos I can find are exterior. Unless  anyone's got a pic of the inside?

  • Like 4
  • Sad 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry about the canopy, don't forget the wanted section here on BM, I have been rescued by fellow modellers on many occasions. 

If you do take the plunge and mould your own can you show us mortals how it's done please.

Good luck with the build of this beautiful aircraft.

Cheers Pat

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't forget Tasman actually produce a Clear Vax canopy for this Heller kit, it may be better to replace rather than mould your own? 

Here is a link to a New Zealand stockist, however you may be able to source one closer to home. 

Cheers and good luck.. Dave 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the encouragement chaps. Rabbit Leader, yes, that's the one I found but I can't find a local one (I'm in the US) and getting one from NZ would cost more just in postage than I paid for the kit. Moa, my error seems to be across at least three panels and I don't think I'm up to a neat repair. I'm going to do the canopy first though, I've decided, just to check that I can before moving on.

 

Re interior colours - I did do an image search and found nothing, but I have recently been informed that 'moving pictures' are a thing these days. (What wizardry is this?) And here's a video of the very plane, complete with a few interior shots. Black and white for the passengers, interior green with black panels up front. Lovely.

 

 

 

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

OK, canopy time.

 

I've started by filling in the partial canopy I've got to create a correctly shaped (but full of plaster and filler) positive mould. This gets me the shape I want to do the mould with.

 

dxWSVDc.jpg

 

Next, I found a bit of transparent plastic to make the new canopy out of. I always use some clear plastic bubble packaging for this; NOT bubble wrap, but the stuff on a cardboard backing that holds e.g. tools or whatnot when you buy them from a shop. This kind of stuff.

 

Vg6uKCJ.jpg

 

You want a nice big flat bit of that. I didn't get a pic of the bit I actually used but it's similar.

 

Now here's the tricky bit. You need to heat up that flat piece of plastic until it's soft and floppy. Doing it over an electric hob works. Ideally you can make a frame for the plastic to hold it while it heats up, although I didn't for this one. So, hold the plastic over the heat until it's soft, and then plunge that positive mould right into the soft plastic . I didn't get any photos of that bit because it's a two, preferably three-hand job. If everything goes right then you get something like this:

 

SjWAjDd.jpg

 

It'll no doubt take several goes to get it right - I've done this several times before and I managed to get this one on the second go which isn't too bad.

 

Trim off most of the excess:

 

7E6K0nC.jpg

 

- you can see the mould former still inside the moulded transparent plastic. Separate them out:

 

eoFDvxv.jpg

 

The new one's on the left there. It's very thin and fragile. You'll need to trim/file/sand it to final shape, and then a wash/coat of future to finish it up.

 

I'm fairly happy with this one and I'm going to start in on the real build now, though I'm not going to rule out having to do this again at the end if I can't get it to fit properly or mess it up at the final fitting. Fun times ahead. Next up will be the interior.

 

And I'm sure I don't have to say because we're all very sensible here, mixing melting plastic with electric hobs can be dangerous, so don't drop it or let it catch on fire, as that would be Bad.

 

 

 

 

 

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good and sound fix.

I take it that the heat-formed canopy will be now a little bigger than the canopy itself.

If it results to be a not very good fit, for the next one maybe you could sand down the plastic plug part somewhat, and then the new part would be more on the ballpark.

Hope you can resume your interesting build now!

Cheers

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks chaps! Sorry, going a bit slow here. Moa, yes, the canopy is a little bigger but only by the thickness of the material and it's very thin; as I said, I might need to redo the canopy later, so I might try sanding down a little. Dom, that amazing, that's almost exactly what mine looked like - I wonder what percentage looked like that? Luckily everything else is looking fine and the fit so far has been very good, unlike some other builds in here.

 

Anyway, I have been sticking a few things together:

 

RUJp9ah.jpg

 

... and painting a bit...

Y5lQc00.jpg

 

... and masking, masking's always fun

fYo0NqF.jpg

 

Current state of affairs:

b2Q53gb.jpg

 

I think I'm going to do lower wings, then paint, then upper wing. then finish off. Hopefully the next bit should go a little more quickly. I also need to start working on my decals, so that's a bit of fun photoshoppery when I'm not sticking or painting.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Well, I've been slacking off... sorry for the delay, a lot's been happening over here in the last few weeks. Still, I did manage to get some stuff done. First, I managed to knock the box over and completely lose the wheels. Good start! I found some subs in the spares box. Can't remember where the wheel outers came from (maybe a walrus?) but I know the hubs were a pair of tank wheels.

 

xEv1H70.jpg

 

They fit quite nicely:

 

wtQalww.jpg

 

Got that all together and got some white on it:

 

sPCjPEd.jpg

 

... and then got some baby blue on the bottom

 

VjNtmFL.jpg

 

I'm using 'Tru-color' paint for this one, mainly because the local art shop got some in and nobody but me ever seems to buy it, so it's going cheap right now. It's mainly for the train guys and that blue is 'Psg. Car Int. Lt. Blue' if anyone wants it. Sprays nicely though and surprisingly easy to clean up.

 

That's about where the plane is now, but I've also started to look at decals. I need to match the codes and the airline logo; I think I'll paint the red lines, although I might change my mind later. So far I've got this:

 

xGobfeP.jpg

 

I tried to match the airways logo with a handwriting font but they were terrible; then I had the idea of looking on their website and yep, there's the logo right there. Just needed to change the colour to match. The serial codes I've nearly got a match for but the 'G' isn't quite angular enough. I might replace that with a cleaned up version from the photo. It all needs much more faffing around with scaling and colour matching and so on.

 

And that's it for now.

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just caught up with this and it’s going to be a stunner.

 

As for the striping, have you heard of this......?

 

https://modelmaster.uk/3-waterslide-rub-down-transfers

 

Kemco stripes are great. Bought various colours years ago. Presfix style, you peel off the paper backing, place it face down on your chosen subject and then run a wet brush over the tissue like backing. Wait a few moments and remove the paper. I’ve used it on my Vanguard/Nimrod WHIF

 

50524475367_3400009e41_b.jpg

 

Trevor

 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

44 minutes ago, Max Headroom said:

have you heard of this

Nice finding!

What is the code or type number of the sheet under your model?

I only see offered specific size, not mixed ones.

I couldn't locate on their list a generic sheet that would combine various sizes and colors, which would be far more practical than a ream of the individual ones.

Cheers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Slow and steady wins the race, I hear. I think that might be a lie though...

 

I did my decals. The library's closed at the moment for plague reasons, but luckily my wife works there so I got her to print them out. First go they came out about half size. No idea how. Next go, they looked OK.

 

psKS6C6.jpg

 

Close up - there's some smudging.

 

CytpxCN.jpg

 

Luckily I printed out four times as many of everything as I needed. I thought I'd try one of the smudged ones on my test I-16 to see that it worked OK.

 

Gwi8xRN.jpg

 

Oh hey, look at that. Thing is, I have white decal paper and transparent decal paper, and I meant to give her transparent, but I am a fool who had actually forgotten that I had white paper to start with. Luckily most of it is going on the white part of the plane anyway, so I lucked out a bit.

 

pYhcf41.jpg

 

zza4xJK.jpg

 

Going to need a few little touch ups, and I'm not sure what to do about the underside code. Blow another sheet of decal paper, I suppose. Still, getting there! Pretty sure I can get this done before the build finishes.

 

To do: attach top wing, struts, rigging, paint touch ups, cockpit + glazing. Maybe I can get another post out in less that a fortnight next time...

 

 

Edited by Unkempt
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A fantastic build all round and a great choice of scheme :thumbsup:

I have fond memories of several family holidays on Scilly in the 90s, flying in by S-61 or Islander though, rather than by Dragon Rapide!

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Very quick update because I haven't done one for ages: struts, rigging!

 

K3ulGaL.jpg

 

Still to do: cockpit, various details (tailwheel etc), paint touchups!

 

... also, now I look at that pic, try and clean some of that overspray off the windows. Bah.

 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...

Ah, well, here's the thing... you know how, in the first post, I was cocky enough to explain how to make a replacement cockpit? Turns out I shouldn't have been quite so confident. I messed that up, put it to one side for a couple of days and, well, time makes a) fools of us all, and b) most of an Edgely Optica.

 

So, bearing in mind that I haven't yet got a successful replacement canopy (and also managed to lose the exhausts somehow), I think this is how it's going to look for the end of this build:

 

Qhkxp6t.jpg

 

2EY7FGa.jpg

 

And there it is, for now. I'm thinking of getting one of those vac canopies for it; I certainly want to finish it off, I think the livery came out nicely and I like the look of it, so maybe you'll be seeing it in RFI in a month or two.

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...