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Scale Models article - AA DH Rapide


marty_hopkirk

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Bit of a punt, not sure this in the right section but here goes...

I'm building the Frog DH Rapide as G-AHKV in the Automobile Association [AA] livery. There was an article in Scale Models built/converted by one of the in-house journo's and published circa'75/'76. I'm looking for a kindly sole, who I'm willing to re-inburse for a scan of the aforementioned.

Marty...

Edited by marty_hopkirk
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Slightly out on the timescale - the issue could have been November 1979 which was a biplane special issue, but could have been later - I think they also printed a 1\72 Scale Plan in the same issue as the one you're talking about. It won't have been later than about mid-1981, however.

Hope that helps.

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I'm little sketchy on the time frame and may have the original dates a tad early. But, my recall is, was it was not a bi-plane special and buying the issue in question during the summer months and it was only a 2/3 sided article. Not a lot to go on I'm afraid.

Marty...

Edited by marty_hopkirk
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Dave -

Many thanks indeed - no rush as we are away for the weekend anyway.

Cheers.

Marty...

If Dave struggles to find that issue - I know that I have it, it will be just a case of grabbing from the pile...

Let me know!

Spence :)

3312771832_c19987074d.jpg

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It will be interesting to see what the date of the article is.

Thinking about it, I'm sure it pre-dates the Heller kit being on the market, if memory serves that was circa summer '79. The premise of the article was the Frog kit was pretty much the only game in town [the Rareplanes version would have been knocking about, but it was not one of their best] at that point int time and as I recall was described as a collectors item back then.

I have to say despite the slightly odd scale [1/68 ish] in general terms the Frog kit is a far superior engineered kit, even if the nose shape is a little dubious the canopy and cockpit is a little on the small side, both easily rectified - the canopy by opening up and converting the Heller one and adding shims. there is no interior either, again a bit of cross kitting from the Heller kit and scratch building has easily resolved.

Marty...

Edited by marty_hopkirk
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Thanks for the offer, I have the SAM [Dec '91] and John Hamlin's Air Britain publication [pretty much the bible on Rapide]. The SAM Rapide "special" was published in the wake of the relase of Aeroclub quarter scale kit. In fact it includes a build article by Jim Howard. Curiously the copious number of monographs do not include one of G-AHKV in AA colours. For the record, taking into account the scale variance the Frog kit checks out very well with the SAM drawings if those are to be trusted?

Hamlin's book has two very nice photo's of the machine in question including the only one I have seen in colour - there must be more out there, given the striking nature of the livery. There is a colour monograph as well, but it looks a bit off to me.

Marty...

Edited by marty_hopkirk
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Hiya - Ali from A2Zee model s has all my SM back issues - and its in there somewhere. I seem to recall it was a review of the Heller model - but with reference to the Veejay model too. You could try asking Ali on his site here if he can find the article.

jonners

SM October 1980. These are reprints of the Aeromodeller article for August 1957. Mentioned all three kits. Mike Keep's article in SAM did not illustrate the AA machine Kilo November, but it did appear in the profile and in an Ian Allen publication on the Rapide.

John

Edited by John Aero
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I seem to recall it was a review of the Heller model - but with reference to the Veejay model too. You could try asking Ali on his site here if he can find the article. jonners

Thanks everyone, much appreciated. The Scale Models article I'm after is definatley a "stand-alone" one and predates the release of the Heller kit - by how much I'm not sure. If memory serves it featured as one of the colour cover shots of that particular edition although though it was a modest article. I really want to have a read to see what mods and constructional issues the Frog Rapide held. For this particular machine it is a far better basis than the cumbersome Heller offering, not only is it better engineered it has the right window arrangment.

Mention of the Veeday kit sends shivers down my spine, I did order when it was announced and when it eventually arrived it proved to be a quite a challenge, to put it politlely - I know it was probably one of the first ever limited run injection moulded kits made - but a vacform would have been much easier proposition. So quite why I bought five of them a recentish shop clearance I'll never know. If any wants one drop me a PM.

If anyone has any colour shots of G-AHKV in the AA livery, I would be eternally grateful.

Marty...

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Marty,

If you are looking for colour scheme details and decals, I may still have the decal sheet from Ventura's release of the Heller Rapide which came with AA decals IIRC. I'll have a butchers in the loft if you are interested.

Phil.

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Marty,

If you are looking for colour scheme details and decals, I may still have the decal sheet from Ventura's release of the Heller Rapide which came with AA decals IIRC. I'll have a butchers in the loft if you are interested.

Phil.

If you can lay your hands on those easily, I would be very interested. I have plenty of trades.

Cheers

Marty...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks, Dave much appreciated I know it must be a bind going through copious number of back issues.

Another punt but does anyone know the seating arrangement for the Rapide whilst service with the AA, particularly in the spotting role? I know Rapide like DC-3 had an almost infinitely number of internal layouts and was easy to change and no doubt it did depending on duties, from that point of view I could probably get away with anything, particularly with this build in 68 scale. But, I would like to get it right and one of my future builds is the Kiwi Resins 48 kit of the same machine that will have to be right from this particular perspective.

The little I can glean from the external images I have, including the one that John Aero kindly posted further up the thread is, I have deduced it is likely to have had the standard 8 or 6 seat layout. But, I'm far from sure.

Marty...

Edited by marty_hopkirk
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Thanks, Dave much appreciated I know it must be a bind going through copious number of back issues.

Another punt but does anyone know the seating arrangement for the Rapide whilst service with the AA, particularly in the spotting role? I know Rapide like DC-3 had an almost infinitely number of internal layouts and was easy to change and no doubt it did depending on duties, from that point of view I could probably get away with anything, particularly with this build in 68 scale. But, I would like to get it right and one of my future builds is the Kiwi Resins 48 kit of the same machine that will have to be right from this particular perspective.

The little I can glean from the external images I have, including the one that John Aero kindly posted further up the thread is, I have deduced it is likely to have had the standard 8 or 6 seat layout. But, I'm far from sure.

Marty...

I have the October 1980 Scale Models open in front of me.

There is a 5 page article on the DH89 in it . It includes 1 page of colour photos, a 1 page 1/72 scale plan, which includes seating arrangement for G-AKNY. The other 3 pages are a survey of the then available kits. (Frog, Veeday, Rareplanes & Heller).

There is a small colour photo of an AA machine on the front cover and a larger B&W photo of the same aircraft at the end of the article.

I can scan and send this article to you if you want. Just PM me with email details.

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