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For me, it would be wonderful if everything was released in 1/400 scale, but having a large collection of 1/72 Corgi Aviation Archive models means that every now and again something comes along in this scale that I just can’t resist! Oxford Diecast have recently started competing with Corgi and have just released their first classic airliner – a De Havilland DH89A Dragon Rapide in early 1960s BEA colours.
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The passenger carrying DH89A Dragon Rapide biplane made its debut in 1934 as a more steamlined and powerful development of the DH84 Dragon. It was immediately popular and went on to play a formative role in the development of air services all over the world most notably while serving remote and island areas. War surplus Dominies (redesignated as Dragon Rapides for civil purposes) formed the mainstay of commercial aviation. British European Airways operated the type on its services between Lands End and the <?: prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1
lace w:st="on">Scilly Islands</st1lace> as late at 1964, when the type was replaced by Sikorsky S61N helicopters. Around 15 Dragon Rapides remain airworthy today worldwide and several more are being restored.
The Oxford Diecast Dragon Rapide is an absolute gem. It is fully rigged with fine metal wires and they have got the ‘peony red’ BEA colours ‘spot on’ . The only irritating ‘glitch’ is that they have moulded the nose as a separate casting for some reason, which gives an unsightly joint line, but this will probably only really noticeable on this BEA livery model where the cheatline stripes meet. The next issue will be the 1934 Kings Flight aircraft registered G-ADDD as used by King Edward VIII. Then will come a camouflaged RAF Dominie, followed by the yellow and back machine operated by the Automobile Association. If this model had been produced by any other company, it would have been very expensive, but Oxford Diecast have a reputation for very competitive pricing and this model retails at £29.99, which is the average cost of a 1/400 model. Consequently I can’t wait for more releases of this classic airliner.
As mentioned above, the BEA Dragon Rapides were replaced by Sikorsky S-61Ns in 1964 and the model shown here is an Airfix Sea King kit that I converted to a BEA S-61N using the Historic Wings vac-form fuselage conversion set that includes new resin floats and accessories. I have fitted out the interior with seats that are fully occupied by passengers.
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<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com
fficeffice" />The passenger carrying DH89A Dragon Rapide biplane made its debut in 1934 as a more steamlined and powerful development of the DH84 Dragon. It was immediately popular and went on to play a formative role in the development of air services all over the world most notably while serving remote and island areas. War surplus Dominies (redesignated as Dragon Rapides for civil purposes) formed the mainstay of commercial aviation. British European Airways operated the type on its services between Lands End and the <?: prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com
ffice:smarttags" /><st1lace w:st="on">Scilly Islands</st1lace> as late at 1964, when the type was replaced by Sikorsky S61N helicopters. Around 15 Dragon Rapides remain airworthy today worldwide and several more are being restored.The Oxford Diecast Dragon Rapide is an absolute gem. It is fully rigged with fine metal wires and they have got the ‘peony red’ BEA colours ‘spot on’ . The only irritating ‘glitch’ is that they have moulded the nose as a separate casting for some reason, which gives an unsightly joint line, but this will probably only really noticeable on this BEA livery model where the cheatline stripes meet. The next issue will be the 1934 Kings Flight aircraft registered G-ADDD as used by King Edward VIII. Then will come a camouflaged RAF Dominie, followed by the yellow and back machine operated by the Automobile Association. If this model had been produced by any other company, it would have been very expensive, but Oxford Diecast have a reputation for very competitive pricing and this model retails at £29.99, which is the average cost of a 1/400 model. Consequently I can’t wait for more releases of this classic airliner.
As mentioned above, the BEA Dragon Rapides were replaced by Sikorsky S-61Ns in 1964 and the model shown here is an Airfix Sea King kit that I converted to a BEA S-61N using the Historic Wings vac-form fuselage conversion set that includes new resin floats and accessories. I have fitted out the interior with seats that are fully occupied by passengers.
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