 Whiskey Jack 1/72 de Havilland Canadian Rapides
Overview De Havilland had a tendency to design attractive aircraft, and the Rapide definitely falls into this category. Long, tapered wings, coupled with that legendary de Havilland tail, made for a classic shape that had no equal. Several of these great planes made it to Canada where they flew with a variety of airlines, including Queen Charlotte Airlines, Canadian Airways, Quebec Airways, and Canadian Pacific Airlines. Canadian Rapides could be found on wheels, skis, or floats, and most had a redesigned lower engine cowling to handle this variety of undercarriage. The Decals Whiskey Jack has come out with a pair of decals for Canadian Rapides, one for QCA and the other covering Canadian Airways, Canadian Pacific Airlines, or Quebec Airways. Each sheet comes with a two-page instruction sheet covering all the various changes required on the Canadian Rapides  as well as decal placement. Queen Charlotte Airlines operated a pair of Rapides, CF-AYE and CF-BND, both operating in the latter half of the 1940s. The QCA livery consists of a black cheatline with yellow titles, a yellow tail band and yellow wingtips outlined in black, and the QCA emblem on the nose. The decals also include registration codes for both planes.  The second sheet provides options for three planes from three different airlines, but two of them are the same planes depicted on the QCA sheet, just at an earlier time in their careers. CF-AYE flew with quite a few airlines before going to QCA, including all three presented on this sheet. The instructions depict this plane in Canadian Airways colors, which at this time consisted of a very dark blue fuselage, engine nacelles, and struts, with the wings and tailplane in orange. This same color scheme is found on CF-AVJ of Quebec Airways, and for both aircraft the rest of the markings are very similar. White registrations on the fuselage, a coat of arms for the doors, and airline logos for the tail. Wing registration codes are in black. CF-AYE is displayed on wheels and CF-AVJ is displayed on skis.
The last example is the Canadian Pacific Airlines Rapide, and this one is a bit different from the other two. This plane is finished in overall aluminum dope, with black engine cowlings and struts. Black registration codes for both the fuselage and wings are balanced by the Canadian Pacific logo on the tail and small titles for the forward fuselage. This plane is CF-BND, which later flew for QCA, and this one is depicted on both wheels and floats.  These decals are very well printed, with great color saturation. They are printed on an Alps printer, so they are quite fragile and an overcoat is highly recommended. With the modifications required to the Heller kit, these sheets probably aren't for the beginner modeler, but they will result in some interesting and unique Rapides.
Our thanks to Whiskey Jack for the samples. Check out their website for ordering information. | 
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