Fairey Rotodyne from Revell

[paddington]

Here is my Fairey Rotodyne from Revells Classic Line.

Originally intended as a quickbuilt around x-mas time, it finally took nearly 3 month to finish it. I don't like the 1/76 scale but the decals looked much better than with the Airfix kit. Now when finished, I would say that the scale doesn't matter because these thing is so huge and so unconventionell, you can't see the difference. A lot of filler, sanding and rescribing the panel lines and rivets took it' toll on building time. The panel lines and rivets are much too heavy but in general it'a fine classic kit. The canopy parts didn't fit so after glueing the clear parts to the fuse I filed and sanded the nose section until everything was ready for polishing. Surprisingly, polishing was straightforward and it really looks great.

When I started with decaling I realized that the cockpit windows on the side should extend further down which makes it difficult to get the decals positioned so that they will match with cabin windows and cockpit. Eventually the cabin windows are now not centered but the cockpit looks fine. The decals are wonderful to work with but the long strips on the side are slightly too shorts so you get several gaps. But Revells spare service is really excellent and I got a spare decal sheet for free within one week. Anyone with the same problem, I still have plenty left.

[daz greenwood]

Very nice

I keep seeing these in my local Modelzone.

I think I'll have to get myself one.

Edited August 8, 2010 by daz greenwood

[Robert Stuart]

Very nice,

I aquired one of these in a swop - might be fun to build it ...

[TRUSKY1965]

Fantastic build Daz! Is a wonderful and unusual plane, extremly well finished. The paint is amazing, and the metal surfaces are perfect. Congratulations for this piece of art!

Regards, TRUSKY1965.

[Work In Progress]

Here is my Fairey Rotodyne from Revells Classic Line.

Most impressively done, and, as you say, by all accounts it's better than the Airfix one. I am tempted...

[roys]

Beautiful Mr Bear!!!! Nice setting as well.

[zero]

Nice one Must admit to having a passion for this aircraft, I wish I still had the one my father built, sadly both lost now.

okay, okay and a unusual WIP to be finish in KUTAIII

Dave

PS Paddington

How did you find the fit of the revell kit, this is my 3rd Airfix one and the glazing is a cowson!

Be interested to here your views on the build mate

Edited August 8, 2010 by zero

[marty_hopkirk]

Paddington -

I add my compliments to the above, well done you have been rewarded with an accurate kit of Rotodyne.

A lot less aggravation than trying to accurise the Airfix kit I can tell you. I did put myself forward as building this kit with as a BEA "red square" liveried machine as a psudeo travel agent model with fuselage side omitted, in the airliner GB using the S&M Silk decals. But, I took a commission in the meantime, this is taking all of my spare time at the moment - your build has got my gander up to push on with the Revell Rotodyne.

Marty...

[CliffB]

Great model and great setting

Cliff

[garryrussell]

Superb build

The time spent with the cockpit glazing has been more than worthwhile

Marty..........BEA ordered the Rotodyne but that and the RAF .......the production version that is, was to have a longer fuse and wings and two RR Tynes.

[marty_hopkirk]

All and any production examples of Rotodyne would have almost certainly have to have used Tyne as the power plant. The all up weight of Rotodyne had exceed the capacity of the Eland. The machine could not fly on one turbine without overheating it - flying on one power plant would have been a prerequisite to fly into any city airport. The conversion to the Tyne would have required a major redesign, there were other short comings that needed resolving as. Rotodyne was a private venture, as I understand the cost in carrying out the remedial work was not sustainable without significant orders.

I'm not sure BEA had anything other than an expression of interest in the machine, it was New York Airways pulling their order that sounded the death knell for Rotodyne.

Marty...

[garryrussell]

The major problem was the noise of the tip jets. All the other shortcomings could be eventually addressed but there was no real answer to the pressure jet problem for a machine that was supposed to fly into and land in the centre of cities.

When Westland took control of Fairey they had their own heavy helicopter, the Westminster and the Rotodyne project sort of faded away.

BEA ordered six but the order was never confirmed.

Had there been a definate production timescale they probably would have, but at the time there was no confirmation of it's continued developement

BEA did show off models and other stuff in Red Square livery at various exhibitions and general publicity shows for a short while.

[marty_hopkirk]

The major problem was the noise of the tip jets. All the other shortcomings could be eventually addressed but there was no real answer to the pressure jet problem for a machine that was supposed to fly into and land in the centre of cities.

Noise was another unresolved issue, most definitely. There was a whole host of unresolved design issues - all with time and money no doubt could have been resolved but given the gestation period up until cancellation, the prospective buyers of the machine just gave up on it. As it was marketed as a city-to-city aircraft not being able to fly on one turbine was a major handicap.

When Westland took control of Fairey they had their own heavy helicopter, the Westminster and the Rotodyne project sort of faded away

It was the pulling of the New York Airways order that ultimately did for Rotodyne.

BEA ordered six but the order was never confirmed.

Commonly known as an expression of interest. All the records suggest they were luke warm on the project as indicated by their interest running to only 6 machines indicates.

BEA did show off models and other stuff in Red Square livery at various exhibitions and general publicity shows for a short while.

Was that not just a Fairey advertising opportunity?

Marty...

Edited August 9, 2010 by marty_hopkirk

[The wooksta V2.0]

When Westland took control of Fairey they had their own heavy helicopter, the Westminster and the Rotodyne project sort of faded away.

According to Derek Wood's "Project: Cancelled", Rotodyne had government backing so Westland had to can the Westminster. There's also a three view of the redesigned version with RR Tynes.

Edited August 8, 2010 by The wooksta V2.0

[Obi-Jiff Kenobi]

Lovely model, Paddington.

Obi-Jiff

[Martian]

That's one lovely model!

Martin

[Kev1n]

neatly done model, I like it

I've never had this, or the airfix version - if I did get the airfix one I'd probablky build it oob and not worry too much about whether or not is was strictly accurate.

Wonder whyh rv made it 1/76 scale??

[marty_hopkirk]

Wonder whyh rv made it 1/76 scale??

To the fit the box.

I've never had this, or the airfix version - if I did get the airfix one I'd probablky build it oob and not worry too much about whether or not is was strictly accurate.

It's not just an accuracy thing, the Airfix kit is a bit of a beast of a build, the more recent shots being a bit more awkward due to shrinkage and sink marks that have developed down the years. The Revell kit scores because the tooling has not been bashed to death over the last 40 years [the tool only being recently found] and it has a rather wonderful, if somewhat speculative interior that can be displayed in a travel agent style if a portion of the port fuselage is left off, or for those liking working features it can be made to hinge.

Marty...

Edited August 9, 2010 by marty_hopkirk

[thx6667]

The Revell kit scores because the tooling has not been bashed to death over the last 40 years

To be honest, neither had the Airfix kit, it had been OOP for the best part of 25 years when it came back in 1996 and then only hung around the range for a couple of years before going OOP again.

But the Revell kit is nicer though, must bag one.

[marty_hopkirk]

To be honest, neither had the Airfix kit, it had been OOP for the best part of 25 years when it came back in 1996 and then only hung around the range for a couple of years before going OOP again.

But the Revell kit is nicer though, must bag one.

By comparison then...

The current boxing of the Revell kit is only it's second outing. Were as the Airfix kit has been in and out of production since the '50s.

Marty...

[garryrussell]

Certainly the Airfix one was around into the seventies on it's fist pop and a couple of times since

The fit etc on the later issues is not a lot different to the earlier versions in that it was present then. Later plastics and mould use have helped exaggerate the problems, but even though a lot have been moulded, I can't imagine it was produced in huge numbers, well not compared to other types, so mould use can't really be blamed for all the problems. Ill fitting doors, undercarriage doors like armour plate and a general "thickness" all round, gaps and misalignements etc were a feature of the kit from the beginning.

The Revel version just hadn't been around in recent memory so it would be a less worn mould on what was always a rare kit .

This is though a bit of a specialist subject and anyone keen enough to build one will not mind the faults as there are things done anyway which would naturally remove these problems and with some effort, (The fun part) a good model can result.

I have seen some excellent builds of the Airfix version, but still I think the one above is the best I've seen and I do feel the Revel version just "looks right"

FROG also did one and there was a much smaller one by Lincoln, later issued by Kader.

Garry

[Kev1n]

me being me then, the only solution would be to go get one of each and build both....

just to compare them:)

but then, I'm weird like that

[marty_hopkirk]

FROG also did one and there was a much smaller one by Lincoln, later issued by Kader.

Garry

Heller produced Rotodyne in kit form as well, albeit it was the Revell kit reboxed.

Given Lincon's/Kader's previous form, their kit may have Frog heritage in a smaller scale.

To me the fuselage proportions of the Airfix kit just look plain wrong - there is a lot to correct to make it look like Rotodyne.

Marty...

Edited August 10, 2010 by marty_hopkirk

[Bill Neill]

Heller produced Rotodyne in kit form as well, albeit it was the Revell kit reboxed.

Given Lincon's/Kader's previous form, their kit may have Frog heritage in a smaller scale.

To me the fuselage proportions of the Airfix kit just look plain wrong - there is a lot to correct to make it look like Rotodyne.

Marty...

I got the Revell one today thinking of doing a Royal Navy one either as COD or anti sub

Bill

[Adrian Hills]

Since this thread was up and running there has been an excellent book published “Fairey Rotodyne” by David Gibbings. It is very reasonably priced and quite comprehensive in its discussion of the subject.

 

I’m starting a build of the excellent Revell kit. Will be using the S&M decals and depict it in blue as a ‘Westland’ rather than Fairey Rotodyne. Like to use the decals in honour of the chap who owned S&M who passed away recently.

 

As with a recent Airfix SRN4 build I like to depict ‘in use’. For the Rotodyne I will show the front half of the fuselage with test equipment, some seats further to the back with the passengers supplied in the kit. Another element will be open rear clamshell doors with a vehicle entering. 
 

When on the ground the tops of the fins were put to horizontal and I think the central fin sideways too. This was so that the rotor didn’t strike them. It seems the kit depicts the top of the fins at a 60 degree angle, a feature that was soon changed. Setting fins to vertical in flight aided stability - according to the excellent Gibbings book 😊