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Williams Bros Caudron C.450


Leaning_Dog

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It's been nearly a year since we packed everything up for our move from Nevada up to Oregon. We've been in our new house six months and finally have things pretty much under control, so the hobby boxes are finally being unpacked.

 

aSUE5oY.jpg

 

I have a 100% failure rate in group builds so far - so hey, why not keep trying! I've been wanting to build this one for a long time - in fact it's been in the stash so long the decals went off in a big way. A quick email to Williams Bros. and a new set was on it's way ... in 2010. Honestly, where does the time go?

 

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Anyway, nothing fancy with this one. No extra details - the canopy will be closed. It's all one color, so that's a huge plus. I have found my compressor... but my airbrush is still buried somewhere in one of these boxes so it'll be the rattle can if I don't find it, Tamiya X-14 if it turns up. Bare Metal Foil for the ventral oil cooler, and hopefully I have enough putty... not very many parts, but as near as I can tell, none of them fit together particularly well. But hey, it's called model building, right?

 

Cheers!

 

John.

 

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Hi John,

Great choice for the GB. In fact, I have this kit and I've been considering entering this GB with it. Similar plans in painting too with Tamiya spray cans. The problem is that it is missing the canopy so it would require quite a bit more work to make a master and vacuform.

Looking forward to see your next update,

Regards,

Alain

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I have this one too, and it would have been among my first choices, should I participate in the GB. I would however probably choose the record plane of Héléne Boucher, an iconic lady flyer of the 30s (at least for the French cottage industry supplier mkes declas for this version.

 

Hubert

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks for the kind words.  

 

Hi John,

Great choice for the GB. In fact, I have this kit and I've been considering entering this GB with it. Similar plans in painting too with Tamiya spray cans. The problem is that it is missing the canopy so it would require quite a bit more work to make a master and vacuform.

Looking forward to see your next update,

Regards,

Alain

 

Alain - you might try emailing Williams Bros. directly to see if they can send you a canopy. When I needed a replacement decal sheet they responded promptly and provided excellent customer service.

 

Slowly chipping away on this one – the first step with this kit is carving/filing/sanding and dry-fitting every piece before committing anything to glue. Overall, the fit is actually pretty decent, but typical of these kits there is a lot of flash, and some pretty healthy ejector pins that need to be dealt with. I've been slowly working through the pile of parts, making little sub-assemblies of the firewall/motor/prop, wheels/pants, and getting the best fit possible for the stabilizer and wings. The cockpit is pretty much a blank canvas that many on this forum could turn into a work of art – at this time I lack the patience or interest for such things, especially considering that virtually nothing will be seen with the tiny canopy closed. So in the interest of actually completing something, I'll sling some paint in there, close up the fuselage and move on.

 

whn4kLl.jpg

 

Caudron only built four of these in 1934 – three classified as type C.460 with retractable landing gear (Serial #'s 6907, 6908 and 6909), and one with fixed gear classified as type C.450 (Serial # 6910). According to the detailed history provided on the instruction sheet, due to problems with the retractable gear mechanism, all of the C.460 planes competed in 1934 with their landing gear down. Serial # 6907 had wheel pants with wide fairings, #6908 flew with no wheel pants or fairings, and #6909 sported wheel pants with narrow fairings. Williams kindly provides all the various wheel pants and fairings to allow you to build any one of the four aircraft. Cool. In 1935, all C.460 aircraft competed with retractable landing gear and those parts are also provided.

 

At this point I'm going for C.450 – fixed gear with full fairings and wheel pants simply because I like the way it looks. When it's time to apply the decals I'll need to decide on the specific year as the numbers changed over time – race #13 in 1934, #3 in 1935, and #1 in 1936.

 

Cheers!

 

John

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Love the old WB racer kits - basic but very solid - great choice!

 

The problem is that it is missing the canopy so it would require quite a bit more work to make a master and vacuform.

 

 

Renaissance used to produce a small detail set with a replacement canopy - maybe still available:

http://www.renaissance-models.com/ter/index.php/avions-toutes-echelles/echelle-1-32/produits/2538-caudron-c450-c460

Edited by petrov27
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So................. Petrov27, I checked out the  Rennaissance website, and they have and accessory kit I would like to buy, BUT how does one get in touch with them, I tried to register and the site won't let me do that, every link I try connect to says it can't, and I don't see an email contact?....  They have a conversion kit I'd love to get , I am in western Canada, and cannot make contact, do you have any ideas of what's up with them? Any adice or thoughts would be most wwelcome

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I found the contact stuff.... sorry to hijack the thread, my most humble apologies, and for the record, I will follow this build with interest... again.............. apologies...

 

Hi Jeff -  no worries!  I knew at one time that somebody had a 1/32 kit of the Caudron C.561 but had forgotten all about it until I clicked on the link to Renaissance and there it was. The amazing thing about this group is not only the mind-boggling depth of collective knowledge, but the incredible generosity with which it is shared. Some really useful things can come from 'side bars' that show up in various threads. And thanks for following along!  

 

Cheers!

 

John.

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