1:72 DeHavilland Dragon Rapide...or is it a Dominie?

[HP42]

Here's one I've just about finished. I'm missing the decals for the codes. I ordered them from Hannants a while back but their delivery times are, well, not exactly 'Amazon'. This is a model of the Rapide HG691 (or is it a Dominie?...dunno..) that lives at Duxford and gives pleasure flights. My father paid for myself and my son to have a flight in it some months ago. It was a wonderful experience and as a 'thank you' I've made him a model of the aircraft we flew in. I've put it into the civil section though technically it was a military aircraft and is marked as such, though now its in civvy street.

It's the old Heller kit sold under the Airfix brand. It's not a brilliant fit and there's a bit of warpage in the fuselage. I had to do quite a lot of filling and sanding on the upper wing fuselage joint and even then I can still see the join. The aircraft is kept very clean so there's isn't much in the way of weathering to be done -so I didn't! The rigging is stretched sprue on the wings though I had a go with invisible mending thread on the tail. The real thing is double rigged in places (i.e. a pair of separate wires running next to each other) but the CBA factor as well as my skill levels dictated that I just stick with single rigging.

The silver colour is Revell acrylic 99 Aluminium which I found rather nice to work with after thinning with Tamiya thinner and stuffing it through the airbrush. It does wear a little through handling though. The yellow is also Revell acrylic 15 and it's coverage is very thin which required a number of coats. It bled under the tape a number of times so much touching up needed doing.

Comments and critique welcome.

Phil

Edited December 19, 2009 by HP42

[woody37]

Nice lil diarama, a journey back in time.

[derek burton]

very nice , and a very "pretty" aircraft i have considered doing a post war one myself,

Is there any detail in the passenger cabin also are the kit wing`s full span or in two part`s

Dek.

[Kev1n]

looks good from here

[HP42]

very nice , and a very "pretty" aircraft i have considered doing a post war one myself,

Is there any detail in the passenger cabin also are the kit wing`s full span or in two part`s

Dek.

There is detail in the cabin in the form of 8 seats as per the original. There's precious little detail in the original aircraft cabin anyway. The transparencies were quite thick so I simply stuck clear film on the inside. Quite honestly it's so dark in there under the wing I needn't have bothered. The cockpit has a bit of detail, you get pedals, control stick, seat and moulded in 'rectangle' on the bulkhead that I guess is the fire extringuisher. I painted it red but in reality it turns out to be green. I made some seat belts for the pilot but the canopy glass is quite thick and I wouldn't waste too much time in there aside attending to the basics.

The lower wing is in one part. The upper wing is full span but in two parts, top and bottom. The instructions tell you to apply the rigging thread then glue the halves together. I ignored this and rigged afterwards with stretched sprue, much easier.

Here's a piccy of the original aircraft. Note the serial numbers I'm yet to fit. There's also a fire extinguisher on hand for when they start the engines (these engines have been known to catch fire on startup and this aircraft had a mishap a some years ago). Also note it's being piloted by Santa!

Edited December 19, 2009 by HP42

[kev67]

Nice clean build, I had one of these models from Heller years ago but never got round to building it, I think I sold it on ebay in the end. Building the Devon/Dove at the moment which was the replacement for the Rapid

[Caleb]

You've made an average kit into a really nice model, it looks right to me and I used to work with the 2 Rapides at Duxford.

Just to help out with the history, HG691 is actually G-AIYR and was built by Brush Coachworks as a Rapide - HG691 is the original construction number. She was owned when new by an Air Taxi company, then went to a survey company based at Elstree then went into private hands with a family for quite a while (I think it was the Cysters?). In the 90's she was bought from British Aerospace by Clacton Aero Club and was in an all silver livery with British Aerospace still visible under the cockpit windows. She was then briefly in the half silver half navy blue livery then went into the notorious "grass and custard" Classic Wings livery to match the Tiger Moth G-APAO.

And yes flames arn't that uncommon! The Gypsy's are hand primed before the first flight of the day by opening the port side cowls and pumping a flattish grey primer handle towards the front. If you didn't have a broom handle to hand you had to balance the cowl on your head. Once the chambers were full fuel used to tip out the breathers and out through the spats in a little puddle. During the day (especially on a hot day) to purge air the engines need pre-priming using the plunger in the cockpit which again results in the same puddle of fuel.

But as I said, cracking model. The only thing is 'YR doesn't have another window aft of the door and doesn't have an ACB on the cockpit roof.

[HP42]

You've made an average kit into a really nice model, it looks right to me and I used to work with the 2 Rapides at Duxford.

Just to help out with the history, HG691 is actually G-AIYR and was built by Brush Coachworks as a Rapide - HG691 is the original construction number. She was owned when new by an Air Taxi company, then went to a survey company based at Elstree then went into private hands with a family for quite a while (I think it was the Cysters?). In the 90's she was bought from British Aerospace by Clacton Aero Club and was in an all silver livery with British Aerospace still visible under the cockpit windows. She was then briefly in the half silver half navy blue livery then went into the notorious "grass and custard" Classic Wings livery to match the Tiger Moth G-APAO.

And yes flames arn't that uncommon! The Gypsy's are hand primed before the first flight of the day by opening the port side cowls and pumping a flattish grey primer handle towards the front. If you didn't have a broom handle to hand you had to balance the cowl on your head. Once the chambers were full fuel used to tip out the breathers and out through the spats in a little puddle. During the day (especially on a hot day) to purge air the engines need pre-priming using the plunger in the cockpit which again results in the same puddle of fuel.

But as I said, cracking model. The only thing is 'YR doesn't have another window aft of the door and doesn't have an ACB on the cockpit roof.

Thanks for the information Caleb, much appreciated. I'm kicking myself for not spotting the aft window, given that this was my seat when I flew in it -doh! What's an ACB?

Christmas came and my father was very taken with the model on its display stand, so that's all that matters. I might have to build another one now to fill that gap in the cabinet.

Phil

[bentwaters81tfw]

Anti-Collision Beacon

[lasermonkey]

Lovely model! I had my first flight in that particular aircraft, so I'll be doing it myself one day.

I got a good seat, too!

[Miggers]

Very,very nice Phil and a great memory of a great day out.

Still a nice little kit that can make a very respectable model as you've done here.

BTW,my first flight was in a Rapide too.

Land's End airfield,summer 1968.

Scenic Airways giving pleasure flights over the beach,about 15minutes for 18/-(less than a quid in new money!!)

That's me in the stripey shirt and shorts,my dear Dad right behind me and over his left shoulder(with the quiff),

Freddie my brother in law.

Mark