Welsh Models 1/144 Handley Page Herald BIA
Discussion
Following on from the fairly straightforward and "modern" injection moulded DC-4, I decided to have another stab at a vac form. My last attempt failed miserably but hopefully this one will get to the end.
The kit in question is Welsh Models' Handley Page Herald. It is essentially all vac form with the exception of the engines which are cast in resin. Propellers, undercarriage etc are in white metal;. Aerials will need to be made from scrap plastic and stretched sprue.
The kit comes with a nice decal sheet for Channel Express who were one of the last users of the Herald, operating them on freight and newspaper flights into the 1990s. However, I wanted to do mine in a more nostalgic (for me) scheme.
The Heralds of BIA were a common sight at Dublin Airport all through the 1970s when I was a keen spotter. Indeed, the very same aircraft had been common for a large part of the 1960s as well when they operated in British United Island Airways colours. I'm going to complete it in BIA colours.
The 2-6 Decal Sheet shown below contains registrations for all the Heralds BIA operated in the red scheme. The colour instructions are not quite accurate although from what I can see from looking through as many colour pictures I could find on the internet, no two BIA Heralds were painted identically. Some BIA Heralds also had the black and white striped propeller blades which were tried on a number of aircraft in the 1970s - so I'm tempted to do one of those.
The smaller sheet shown underneath is the original Welsh Models decal sheet that they originally included with the Herald when it was first released well over 30 years ago. I'm tempted to keep this to one side for use on a BIA DC-3 project.
I always had a soft spot for the Herald which I looked on as the plucky British underdog to the much more successful Fokker F-27 Friendship which outsold the Herald by a factor of about 20 to 1.
I had cut out the main components ages ago but here's some pictures of the assembly work so far.
The kit in question is Welsh Models' Handley Page Herald. It is essentially all vac form with the exception of the engines which are cast in resin. Propellers, undercarriage etc are in white metal;. Aerials will need to be made from scrap plastic and stretched sprue.
The kit comes with a nice decal sheet for Channel Express who were one of the last users of the Herald, operating them on freight and newspaper flights into the 1990s. However, I wanted to do mine in a more nostalgic (for me) scheme.
The Heralds of BIA were a common sight at Dublin Airport all through the 1970s when I was a keen spotter. Indeed, the very same aircraft had been common for a large part of the 1960s as well when they operated in British United Island Airways colours. I'm going to complete it in BIA colours.
The 2-6 Decal Sheet shown below contains registrations for all the Heralds BIA operated in the red scheme. The colour instructions are not quite accurate although from what I can see from looking through as many colour pictures I could find on the internet, no two BIA Heralds were painted identically. Some BIA Heralds also had the black and white striped propeller blades which were tried on a number of aircraft in the 1970s - so I'm tempted to do one of those.
The smaller sheet shown underneath is the original Welsh Models decal sheet that they originally included with the Herald when it was first released well over 30 years ago. I'm tempted to keep this to one side for use on a BIA DC-3 project.
I always had a soft spot for the Herald which I looked on as the plucky British underdog to the much more successful Fokker F-27 Friendship which outsold the Herald by a factor of about 20 to 1.
I had cut out the main components ages ago but here's some pictures of the assembly work so far.
I visited the Woodley Musuem a few years ago. I need to go back.
The Herald was actually a Woodley design. The designation of the Herald was the Handley Page HPR-7, the "R" standing for "Reading". Handley Page took over Miles (who were based at Woodley) and the Herald was in the process of being designed at the time.
It started life as an evolution of the Miles Marathon -
The Herald also started off with four engines (Alvis Leonides radial pistons) but elicited so little interest that it was quickly redesigned to use to Rolls Royce Darts.
The Herald was actually a Woodley design. The designation of the Herald was the Handley Page HPR-7, the "R" standing for "Reading". Handley Page took over Miles (who were based at Woodley) and the Herald was in the process of being designed at the time.
It started life as an evolution of the Miles Marathon -
The Herald also started off with four engines (Alvis Leonides radial pistons) but elicited so little interest that it was quickly redesigned to use to Rolls Royce Darts.
Progress has been made.
The white metal propellers provided in the kit are not quite right for the Herald. Although they are the types used on some Dart engined aircraft (the F-27 and the HS748 for example), the Herald's propellers had rounded tips rather than squared off tips. So that needed correcting.
The resin engines have now been attached to the wings - using superglue - and the resultant fairly large gaps filled and blended in. Next will be yet another coat of grey primer to check if further filling is required. Vacforms are all about filling, sanding, blending, priming and repeating that process until everything looks right.
The white metal propellers provided in the kit are not quite right for the Herald. Although they are the types used on some Dart engined aircraft (the F-27 and the HS748 for example), the Herald's propellers had rounded tips rather than squared off tips. So that needed correcting.
The resin engines have now been attached to the wings - using superglue - and the resultant fairly large gaps filled and blended in. Next will be yet another coat of grey primer to check if further filling is required. Vacforms are all about filling, sanding, blending, priming and repeating that process until everything looks right.
Edited by Eric Mc on Tuesday 11th July 09:38
Undercoating and priming is now in progress. The engines will also receive a coat of Tamiya Gloss Black as they will eventually be painted to represent a natural metal finish.
The control surfaces (ailerons, rudder, elevators) have been pre-shaded so that the corrugations have a better chance of standing out when the top coat of white and red gets applied. Black areas have been painted chordwise across the tailplanes because these had a black area painted on them to lessen the visibility of exhaust staining from the two Rolls Royce Darts.
In searching through numerous colour photographs of BIA Heralds, it is amazing how much variety there was in the application of what should have been a fairly standard colour scheme. Some of the aircraft had white painted engines and some had the engines left in their unpainted natural metal state. I've gone for the latter look as it makes the model a little more interesting.
Other differences can be seen in radio antenna fits.
The control surfaces (ailerons, rudder, elevators) have been pre-shaded so that the corrugations have a better chance of standing out when the top coat of white and red gets applied. Black areas have been painted chordwise across the tailplanes because these had a black area painted on them to lessen the visibility of exhaust staining from the two Rolls Royce Darts.
In searching through numerous colour photographs of BIA Heralds, it is amazing how much variety there was in the application of what should have been a fairly standard colour scheme. Some of the aircraft had white painted engines and some had the engines left in their unpainted natural metal state. I've gone for the latter look as it makes the model a little more interesting.
Other differences can be seen in radio antenna fits.
Eric Mc said:
None of them are that big. I have a couple of sets of shelves which, for the moment anyway, can hold the finished items. For example, the wingspan of the Herald is only 20cm and the fuselage length is 16cm.
Ah right, you always seem to have a few on the go at any one time. 
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