De Havilland Rapide 113" freebie.

[Cuban8]

On 10/08/2023 at 09:58, Eric Robson said:

Many years ago Richard Crapp built a large model Rapide, not sure of the size but he may have made the plans available.

Have an Old Warden Scale Day video from the 1980s showing RC's model after an R.U.D! Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly........a horrible sight actually.

Lovely aeroplanes in which I've had a couple of pleasure flights courtesy of Duxford's Classic Wings.

[Eric Robson]

12 minutes ago, Cuban8 said:

Have an Old Warden Scale Day video from the 1980s showing RC's model after an R.U.D! Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly........a horrible sight actually.

Lovely aeroplanes in which I've had a couple of pleasure flights courtesy of Duxford's Classic Wings.

It was the first aircraft I ever flew in many years ago.

[Cuban8]

Apologies for going off at a slight tangent to the main subject, but we attended Duxford's 19 Squadron flying day last week and saw many Dragon Rapide flights and a demonstration of a Lockheed Type 10 Electra. Bearing in mind that these two aeroplanes are both children of the early/mid 1930s and I guess, designed to satify a similar requirement, the new offering from DH compared to the ultra modern Type 10 is striking and illustrates just how forward thinking Lockheed were at the time.

The DH 89 is a beautiful sight to behold, but woefully out of date even at the time compared to the Type 10. I'm not saying the Americans always got it right, they didn't (as did we) but the US seems to have had a knack of getting it right when it really counted and made a fortune as a result.  Off the top of my head, the DC3 and Boeing 707 and 747 being a few examples. Outside of the US, the DH106 Comet and much later the Airbus A 380, didn't and haven't, gone so well. Then of course, we have Concorde v the Boeing SST and Concordski.

An interesting subject for another thread perhaps?

On Cliff's gifted Dragon Rapide.......it's a nice looking model but clearly with a chequered history. A difficult descision to possibly be throwing good money at a lost cause, the only way to know will be to carry on and see what happens and don't expect too much in the way of success. Not a nice position to be in.

Edited August 18, 2023 by Cuban8

[RottenRow]

55 minutes ago, Cliff Bastow said:

On trying a test fit of the outer wings I have discovered that there is no positive fixing for these, it just relies on the inner rigging wires being tensioned to pull the wings into the centre section. Really not sure if this is acceptable. Thoughts anyone?

 

On the Martin Tuck version that I am (slowly) building, that is exactly how the outer wing panels are retained. The wing joiners are 10 swg piano wire into brass tubes, the wires are around 12" long from memory. There is also a small 1/16" ply tab on the lower panels which allow small self tapping screws to hold the panels together, but this is more to aid assembly at the field than provide strength I feel.

 

The wing section on these aircraft is quite thin and the wings don't have a lot of strength or stiffness in themselves. Just like the full-size, they rely on the rigging wires to hold everything together and in the right place. Those wires must therefore be made well and tested.

 

48 minutes ago, Cuban8 said:

Have an Old Warden Scale Day video from the 1980s showing RC's model after an R.U.D! Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly........a horrible sight actually.

 

Richard's model came to grief due to one of these rigging wires coming detached or breaking. I was there at the time and watched it all happen.

 

By the way, I know that your model isn't the Martin Tuck version, but that plan and building instructions are available as free downloads on Outerzone. They may be useful to you for reference or ideas.

 

https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=12272

 

Brian.

[Trevor]

1 hour ago, Cliff Bastow said:

On trying a test fit of the outer wings I have discovered that there is no positive fixing for these, it just relies on the inner rigging wires being tensioned to pull the wings into the centre section. Really not sure if this is acceptable. Thoughts anyone?

Pick the model up by the outer wings and bounce it up and down a bit in your hands, looking for any movement. It obviously depends on the security of the rigging but I'd expect there to be more risk of the lower wings easing out a bit than the uppers. Best not to use fixed, auto connecting plugs and sockets for the aileron servos perhaps!

 

Many (most) high performance gliders, pulling substantial positive and negative g, rely on nothing more than a strip of insulating tape to keep the wings in place (and nothing at all for the plug on tail halves). However, I can see that tape might not be acceptable for a scale model, although maybe ok on the underside?

[Geoff S]

1 hour ago, Eric Robson said:

It was the first aircraft I ever flew in many years ago.

 

I flew in the very similar Domini back in 1955/6 at RNAS at Stretton when I was in the RN section of the school's CCF.  The second time (in 1956) we had to have parachutes!  I think we were considered expendable the previous year 🙂

 

It's a beautifully detailed model and I would think well worth a few hours work on checks and repairs.  Don't worry too much about the scale finish until you're sure it's sound and airworthy.  Perhaps it's so detailed that it's made it slightly overweight?  If it has motors then run them (with borrowed batteries to save immediate expense?) and check the power v weight and wing area.  It would be a shame to scrap it IMO.

 

 

Edited August 18, 2023 by Geoff S

[Richard Crapp]

On 10/08/2023 at 09:58, Eric Robson said:

Many years ago Richard Crapp built a large model Rapide, not sure of the size but he may have made the plans available.

Mine was an enlargement of the Switzer-Jerry Bates plan , same thing.

It was 1/4 and flew on 2 Enya 90's

[Basil]

On 09/08/2023 at 19:22, Cliff Bastow said:

I have been gifted this by a club member who damaged it on its maiden and could not be bothered to repair it!

The white areas are where I have started repairs.

 

You lucky old thing!!!!!!!

Bas

[Eric Robson]

On 05/12/2023 at 12:56, Richard Crapp said:

Mine was an enlargement of the Switzer-Jerry Bates plan , same thing.

It was 1/4 and flew on 2 Enya 90's

I remember David Bishop telling everyone it had generators on to power the landing light in the nose.

[Cliff Bastow]

I have decided that this is a bit big and a bit beyond me so I have passed it on to a club member who was also interested in it.

He is going to strip the covering completely and redo it.

He has kindly said I can fly it sometimes when he has completed it.

He is  a well know modeller and has won some national contests so I have no doubt about his ability to sort it out.

He is going to fit i/c engines so I have kept the motors and esc,s. One of which has already been used to convert my FW190 to electric which has now flown. The other one is going in my World Models Miss America Mustang.