Handley Page HPR.7 Dart Herald 1:400 Scale Mould Review

Handley Page HPR.7 Dart Herald in 1:400 Scale

Updated: January 2026

The 1950s brought the race to replace the large fleet of Douglas DC-3/C-47s and led to the creation of a selection of new aircraft designed specifically for that purpose. In the USA the Convair and Martinliners had already entered service, but in Europe new products from the Netherlands (Fokker 27) and UK (Avro 748) provided strong competition to a third type - the Handley Page Herald. Ultimately, both would be far more successful than the Handley Page product and the F27 would get to license production in the US as the Fairchild F-27.

The Herald began as a four engined aircraft using the Alvis Leonides Major piston engine and orders came in prior to the first flight in 1955. In fact, it beat the competing F27 into the air, but the Rolls-Royce Dart had proven itself in service with the Viscount and now the F27 was in the ascendancy. In fact the Herald lost all its orders and the company was forced to also switch to the Dart with the twin-engined HPR.7 flying in March 1958. Ultimately even this version was not as efficient or economic as the competing F27 and HS748 and only 50 Heralds were ever sold. Production limped on into 1968 and Handley Page went into liquidation in 1969. Even so, the Herald gave good service and the last passenger service wasn't flown until 1987, with the last freighter soldiering on until April 9, 1999.

For more on the Herald see Adrian's article from 2016 about the type's service with BEA:

The BEA Herald Story - by Adrian Balch

Herald in 1:400 Scale

It is somewhat surprising that there is a Herald mould in 400 scale, but having flown in both Canada and Israel it was a type that was always likely to catch the eye of the Aeroclassics owner. Unfortunately his eye has not cast itself much further than those nations and so the output of G-reg Heralds has been poor. Indeed, there have only ever been 13 models made, several of which are the same as each other, and only 8 separate liveries have been made. The reappearance of a pair of Taiwanese examples for the Chinese brand YU ModeL in 2025 opens up the slim hope that more Heralds may appear. Here are the releases to date:

Unsurprisingly, in 400 scale the Herald is one of the smallest moulds available. Here it is, lower central, with several other DC-3 replacement contenders:

HPR.7 Herald in Real Life

The Herald has some similarities to the F27 with a high-mounted wing, but with a noticeable dihedral, and long maingear legs.

Rob Hodgkins, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

MOULD

Aeroclassics (2010)

The Herald was quite a late prop mould from Aeroclassics, but is a nice little example of the type. The shape of the mould is very good with the wings sitting atop the fuselage in a way that means there's no seam. The only area that could be improved is the fit of the vertical stabiliser to the fuselage, which currently has something of a gap between it and the body. The unusual forehead and nose form are recreated well.

The mould was seemingly lost, or in need of repair, after 2013, but surprisingly YU ModeL worked with Aeroclassics to get it back into an operational state in 2024 so that they could release a pair of FEAT examples in 2025. These turned out very nicely.

Release Options

Despite there being only 50 aircraft made the Herald saw quite widespread service, at least in the UK, and arguably all of these options are more saleable than all the models, aside from the BEAs, made to date!