60 a Couzinet 70 Arc en Ciel.

[dinkycollect]

This is the Couzinet 70 ARC en ciel (Rainbow) in which ARC stands for Avions René Couzinet. It was not very successful, only three were build and destroyed rapidly. The last one used by the Aeropostale was re designed as Couzinet 71 in 1934, the Couzinet 70 never flew for Air France.



The Dinky model has a peculiar wing variation.



But what is most peculiar is this. Were two pairs of wings cast at the same time ? Perhaps John or Geoffrey can give some explanations ?

Sue Richardson did not mention this variation and she listed some of the colours only.

dinkycollect.

[Aeronaut]

The wing tips are different too (that is a real variant).... to me it just looks that whomever removed the casting from the mold broke the little tab and could not be bothered to put it in the scrap heap so off to the finishing shop it went. QC was not Dinky's forte!

[grwebster]

Jacques, very interesting. Didn't realize ARC was a double word play for Avions René Couzinet and also allowed for the French word for rainbow.

I have never noted the wing tip differences before. All examples I have seen are like the gold variant.

I would suggest, therefore, that the gold wing is the standard one and the white one was, perhaps, hand finished at the factory to correct some anomaly giving it the rounded shape. Perhaps John or Sir George have a better idea. It does look 'factory original' to me so this could be an explanation.

I have no idea about the underwing differences. The ones I have seen were like the gold version.

In the book we did, all 11 photos of the ARC en Ciel shown have similar wing tips to the gold example.
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[johnbeugels]

Hello,
This is a variant unkown to me. I checked my Arc en Ciels, 9 total including the 61 models, and none of them had the tab removed. I also see that the flaps on top of the wings are not visible. The color cream with red is a rare variant, but this color seems lighter then the standard cream, almost white. Is this a repaint?
Of course it is possible that the tab is broken of as you can see that the wing is fatigue.
After a good look at my own models I detacted that the tab at the rear of the wing is either square or rounded. So two more variants are possible. All my models have the same shape of the wings. Until now 7 color variants are know to me.
Gold with red tips, Silver with red tips, Cream with green tips, White with blue tips, Gold with blue tips, Cream with red tips, Gold with green tips. All the colors are in my collection with exception of the Silver model that I have never seen.
For the 61a 4 colors are know.
Silver with green on wings and fuselage, Red with gold, Silver with blue, Silver with red.
I anyone has more color variants it would be interesting to know.
John Beugels.

[grwebster]

For those not familiar with the French Dinky Toys No 60A and the No. '61A' here is a quick explanation.
The Arc en Ciel casting was called upon to substitute for a delayed introduction of No. 61A Dewoitine D-338 in the new boxed gift set No. 61 in 1937 with the addition of three round metal cowlings covering the front of the engines. The modified Arc en Ciel '61a' was only available in these sets for a very short time and it was replaced as soon as the new Dewoitine D-338 casting became available. As such, it is among the rarest of all the French Dinky aircraft.


Above: the original No 60A arc en ciel {with out the round engine cowlings} on the right with the No 61A Dewoitine D-338 on the left


Above: the Dewoitine D-338 in cream

[grwebster]

If the red and white one was a repaint, would not the person doing it have filled in the 'fatigue' cracks?
Also I can see the ailerons lightly in the photos on one wing.
But the right rear elevator does look like it was repaired so who knows?