Caudron 714 - a Wiggum weekender (sort of) - finished

[dutik]

Howdy!

 

After some serious trouble with Italeries Mirage III (short shots of the intakes...) I am in need to build something quick and easy to overcome the "All your projects are doomed!" feeling. A Wiggum weekender, or something close to. Special Hobbys Fiat G.50, Dragons Bf-109 E-4/7 and Azurs Caudron were the favourites. Nice kits alltogether. The Freccia has some problems with the cockpit. Lot of small parts with insufficient instructions, lacking details inside an open cockpit and featuring a nice, but multi-part radial engine. DMLs Emil is a winner, right ootb. The best Emil in 1/32 scale, modellingwise at least. But if I got stalled with a french design, why not call in another french design to the rescue? OK, lets start the Caudron.

 

If you don't know about this one: French WW2 wonderweapon, a racing plane converted to a lightweight fighter. Sounds promising on paper, but was an utter failure in the harsh reality of air forces and airwar. It was to slow, insufficient armed and lacked any climb rate for a fighter. So the Caudrons went straight to the French sqadron of Polish exile pilots. The had the urgent need to payback to the Germans and the Luftwaffe, so it worked somehow...

 

 

The kit:

 

Short run, clean surfaces, no flash. Very nice clear parts. Resin and PE included where appropriate. Good instructions. Looks promising.

The online builds mention only two areas of concern: Cockpit bulkheads and wingroot fit.

OK, lets give it a try

 

Regards

- dutik

 

Edited June 18, 2016 by dutik

[dutik]

Cockpit:

 

Built per instructions. Check fit. Check steps of construction. There are parts to be inserted through the instrument paneel. Don't forget to open up the holes (they are somewhat tight) and to add all "lower parts" before glueing it into the fuselage:

 

 

 

No need for AM. Everything is in the box. The IP is just a styrene part. I painted it black, drybrushed the instrument faces white (it took me some turns), then reduced the black to the instrument faces as seen in images of the real thing. The PE rudder pedals were glued to the floor. If you want to show the cockpit open just add some invisible small styrene pieces underneath to lift them somewhat off the floor. Painted the whole thing with Lifecolor, UA 145, iirc, added my preferred very bright highlights and a black wash. Voila! Ready. Quick and easy so far.

 

Enjoy!

- dutik

[Iain]

Look forward to this - great start - hope it all goes together and behaves nicely for you!

 

Iain

[DeanKB]

I'm in the middle of the Azur 714C1 kit - because I wanted a quick, easy, cheap build!

 

These Azur kits are great value & it sure makes a change from a 109 or Spitfire.

[dennismcc]

Nice to see one of these built, I must build mine as it is the last French 1/32 scale WW2 aircraft that I have to build.

 

Chjeers

 

Dennis

[dutik]

Up to challenge number one: Fitting the cockpit!

 

 

The sidewalls have inserts that you glue and paint first. Then I dryfitted the front bulkhead. The fuselage halves have a different thickness of styrene, so I left the bulkhead off. I added the floor subassembly and the rear bulkhead to the right fuselage first. When I tacked the fuselage halves together something was wrong. The cockpit floor didn't meet the other sidewall, the front bulkhead tried to snap the floor off, fitting all together was a nightmare. The answer was to cut off the "lip" at the lower end of the front bulkhead, and things started to come into shape. I first glued the rear fuselage together. After this I glued the front fuselage together. Take your time to get the fuselage aligned well. The cockpit area got glued at last. The front bulkhead was inserted from below. Gaps to the left and right were filled with thin round strip styrene. When everything was in place I added strip styrene from and shot the fuselage inside with superglue and filler pearls. This should keep the parts together forever and avoid any splitting:

 

 

The "tab" at the wingroot is to support the wing-to-fuselage joint. At the other side the upper wing part will recieve a "tab" too to "click" the wing into the fuselage.

 

Regards

- dutik

Edited February 29, 2016 by dutik

[Zero77]

Very nice start Dutik !

This Caudron is certainly one of the weirdest design of a combat aircraft !

[dutik]

Thank you for your support, fellows! Goes straight ahead until now, but we know: If everything works too well you are marching into an ambush

 

Got this one for cheap at an IPMS meeting, 30 Euro, iirc, so I ordered a set of Montex masks. This may save me from problems painting the cockpit. We shall see

Regards

- dutik

Edited February 29, 2016 by dutik

[dutik]

Added the front parts: A resin bulkhead with an engine face and the fuselage front. It is possible to fiddle the bulkhead in place inside the closed fuselage. Don't forget to have installed the exhausts before, and to have trimmed back the front end of the exhaust part close to the first exhaust stub. This will align these two parts with the fake cylinder heads of the resin bulkhead. Painted the "interior". The insert for the air intake at the bottom was to small, so I cut some mesh to fit at the back of the opening. Last step is to glue the fuselage front into place. Fit was very good. No sanding required here, in contrast to other build reports.

 

 

Sorry for blurry image. My pocket camera has some problems to focus at close range. The black colour is primer that I used to check the fuselage alignment the day before.

 

Not shown are the wings under construction. I boxed in the shell ejector openings and added the wing guns. There is a molded-on line for the placement of the gun part in one wing half, and some kind of wave line in the other wing half. Odd. Added some styrene from behind to get the gun parts glued in place. Fit of lower and upper wing halfes is good, but there are small gaps all around the seam that need some filling and sanding.

 

Regards

- dutik

[dutik]

Glued the wing to the fuselage and taped it to achieve a tight joint:

 

 

Have to set it aside now for a day or two. We shall see how the wing/fuselage joint looks then.

 

Regards

- dutik

[dutik]

Here things slow down a bit: We are facing challenge number 2 - the wingroots.

 

 

The gaps are smaller then expected, thanks to dryfitting, some careful sanding and adding tape to keep things together. A little insert of strip styrene and some putty will do the trick. There was also a slight "trench" around the front part. Fit is good, but the edges of the parts are more "round" than "edge", which results in a shallow depression. Some putty shall fix this.

 

There is a much larger problem at the lower side:

 

 

Do you see the hole at the wingroot? One side was in need of a little bit of putty, but the other side shows a large step between wingroot and wing, resulting in a real gap. This is too much for simple sanding down the wing - the gap is deeper that the styrene part thickness. I guess the lower wing got distorted in the box. The rear end was noticeable wider than the lower fuselage, even after my attempts to glue the wing flush into the fuselage. Not visible here, because I sanded it down before taking the photo. Guess I have to add some strip styrene into the gap and to add some cut to shape styrene at the fuselage wingroot part to smooth this out. I can fix this, but will take some days. For now I set it aside until the putty has fully cured.

 

Regards

- dutik

[Iain]

Looking good dutik - you'll soon have that joint fixed!

 

Iain

[LSP_Kevin]

Looks like you've got your hands full with this one, mate, but you're whipping it into shape nicely.

 

Kev

[dutik]

Added some layers of strip styrene forming steps. Some putty and sanding - Ding-dong, the gap is dead!

 

 

Reengraved paneel lines and rivets. Looks ok to me. After this I noticed another seam at the upper rear of the gun gondolas that wasn't at the real aircraft. Applied a last bit of putty. Some sanding and polishing the next days and I am ready to add the canopy and the elevators. Still a Wiggum weekender, indeed.

 

 

Regards

- dutik

[dutik]

Sanded and polished as required. There are some scratches left, but in places were the aircraft might be well worn, so I'll let them stay in place. Started to fit the canopy. It is a milimetre to long, just as written by other online builders. So I sanded the very frontmost part as well as the fuselage in front of the cockpit, also the rear part towards the cockpit center. Hope you got the message. If not have some redwine, like I did in the evening. German Spaetburgunder, Pinot noir, from the county of Baden. To be correct of Kaiserstuhl destination, a sun-kissed former volcano hill near the Rhine river, in the neighborhood of the Black forest. Recommended!

 

While painting some add-on parts for the cockpit (the sight and the radio) I rebuild a pair of inspection hatches lost by the sanding and added the elevators. One had a nice fit, the other one was in need of some strip styrene to seal some gaps:

 

 

 

By the way - the elevators were made handed by the designer, so no worry about correct placement. The movable parts are one-piece, which eleminates any seams to be filled and gives a nice trailing edge.

 

Thats it for the evening

- dutik