Chris_Bryan Verified
This is one I have been waiting for
This is one I have been waiting for
From the maker’s photographs, this appears to be the first accúrate Rapide kit ever in any scale or medium. Instead of relying on George Cox’s unaccountably way-off Aeromodeller drawing from the 1950s, Armory appears to have consulted de Havilland parts drawings and rigging diagrams, or even (gasp) gone and looked at a real full-size Rapide!
The wing ribs are in the right places, the all-important cockpit transparencies and cabin windows look to be the right shape, and even the thrust line separation seems correct. The Cox drawing and every kit based on it has this at 12’, throwing the whole centre section proportion out, whereas on the real thing it is 11’6". If Armory have got this right, they’ve really done their homework. They certainly have omitted Cox’s wholly fictitious ribs close in either side of the nacelles…
The display model has the cockpit bulkhead too upright, which is odd considering that the cabin window abutting it has the correct slope of some 13 degrees! Easily fixed, though.
Not quite discernible from Armory’s publicity shots is the anhedral angle on the stub wings; most kits have this way too steep, giving almost a Ju 87 effect, whereas on the real thing it’s just under half a degree measured at the top of the front spar, barely noticeable.
An apparently little-known detail is that the original DH 89 has a shorter tailplane than the 89A, with elevators of quite a different shape. See the packing dimensions diagram I’ve attached.
