Roden 1/48 Airco DH9C Commercial Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

The Airco DH9C was designed as a bomber in RAF service during World War I and was adapted into a number of different roles, including passenger service. The aircraft was modified with a new rear decking to provide fully-enclosed space for two passengers in what was the rear cockpit plus a third passenger in an open pit ahead of the pilot. The aircraft was used to ferry passengers around the UK as part of the de Havilland Hire Service.

Roden has produced the Swiss Army Knife version of the DH9 tooling, rendering a variety of engine and upper deck combinations to create the biplane modeler's dream kit. This kit is molded in light gray styrene and presented on nine parts trees. This version will use the new enclosed rear deck and the Siddeley Puma engine. You'll also find parts in the box to render numerous other variants through the various parts combinations not used in this build, so you'll have some nice additions to your spares box.

The kit has the following features/options:

• Detailed Puma engine
• Nice cockpit and passenger seating
• Passenger boarding ladder
• Rigging diagram

Markings are provided for one example:

• DH9C, G-EBDD, de Havilland Hire Service, 1922

This will be a straightforward build with a simple silver dope paint job, so most of your time will be spent on rigging the model once it is together. Thank you Roden for providing that information!

My sincere thanks to Squadron for this review sample!