Caudron C.714, Azur, 1:32 - FINISHED

[Landrotten Highlander]

Setting up a blog for this build.

Just ordered the Azur kit - hope to get it before Christmas - and initial tought is to build it out of the box in the Finnish colours.

 

Some history can be found here on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caudron_C.714

If there is an aftermarket kit for the Renault 12R-03 I might have some panels open - would appreciate if anybody knows if and where this can be found.

 

Slainte

L.H.

Edited October 26, 2020 by Landrotten Highlander
editting title

[dennismcc]

Nice to see one of these built, it is the last one on my list of French WW2 aircraft to build, I have completed the D520, MS406, Bloch 152, and the H75 in French service. So just the C714 to go, so it will be interesting to see how it builds.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[R Palimaka]

Great choice! Something unique, especially in Finnish markings.

 

Richard

[Landrotten Highlander]

The postman was so kind as to deliver the kit this afternoon.  I have had a brief look at the contents, and figure out what colours I will be needing.  Ordered the paint as well as the mask highlighted in post #3. I ordered some background reading via amazon.  All this is scheduled to arrive some time next week .

 

I will take some pictures this weekend as I need daylight.

For those that are interested in making this kit: you have 2 options, either buy the French version or buy the Finnish version.  In the Finnish version - the one I chose) there are 3 camouflage schemes:

     BuNo 8535/C-555, No. 3, LLv 30, Pori, Finland, September 1940

     BuNo 8538/C-556, No. 6, LeV, Toukokuu, Finland 1941 (my choice)

     BuNo 8539/C-552, No. 7, LLv 30, Pori, Finland, September 1940

version 1 and 3 use the same colours, but the camouflage pattern is very different.

 

Until me next post

 

[Gazzas]

Looking forward to this one!

[Landrotten Highlander]

Hello All,

we have started building by opening the box and looking at its contents:

 

The boxart for the Finnish version of this aircraft, and lots of empty space in the box.

 

At first glance this seems a simple kit with few parts.  There are 4 grey sprues and 1 clear sprue, a small bag with resin parts and another bag containing the decals and a smal photoetched sheet (not visible in this picture).

 

Here you see the 3 suggested camouflage patterns.

 

I also bought this book:

Cyclone, the ultemate story (ISBN 978-83-61421-26-9 ) on amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/8361421262/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

To make a long story short, Cudron was well known for building cheap and lightweight airplanes that has a speed that could rival military airplanes of the time (1930s).  The prototype of the C710 - the first in this line of aircraft - had its maiden flight on 10JUL1936 andits basic design did not change.  The C714 saw only action at the hands of Polish pilots who were part of a Polish squadron in France at the beginning of the war.

Finland needd some modern aircraft in the lead-up to the winter war, and France promised to deliver 60 of the C714.  Only 6 made it to Finland, and from those only 4 ever took to the skies - 2 of them were damaged during lending when being delivered to their units - and none saw active combat.  It transpired that the C714's take-off and landing characteristics did not suit the short Finnish runways.

 

One of the 2 aircraft - CA-556 - has survived to this day.  It arrived from the factory on 28MAY1940, was stored at the air depot on 10FEB1941 and delivered to the Mechanic School on 06MAY1941.  The author of the book was instrumental in having the airframe brought to Poland in 2015 where it will be restored.  The aircraft remains property of Finland and will be permanently on loan to Poland.

 

That's all for now, Folks

[Landrotten Highlander]

OK, started working on the cockpit - will take some pictures later.  The PE in the kit provides for a seatbelt, but based on the info from the book it is the wrong shape and seems to be missing the 5th point. 

 

Does anybody know of a 5-point aftermarkeet seatbelt kit circa 1940 n 1:32?

Thanks for any info.

 

Slainte

L.H.

Edited December 21, 2019 by Landrotten Highlander
typo

[Landrotten Highlander]

So, finally got me camera working, and got some primer from Halfords too.

As all kits I worked on so far, we start working on the office.  The kit is very basic, so even though I wanted to build OOB, I will have to make some alterations.

These 5 components make up the tub:

.  Th cockpit floor (bit on the left) has 14 small pieces fitted to it (including the PE pedals and cover just before the stick and a resin control stick), while the IP consists out of 3 pieces as per kit instructions.  The armour plate, seat and fire wall make up the rest.  There was supposed to be another resin handle on the IP panel but the carpet monster got it - I big feat, as I do not havee a carpet

 

Closer up view of the cockpit floor:

I found the joystick too bare, so added some cabling using a 0.5mm copper wire (bit too thick) and 2 threads from the sowing kit.

 

Added the seat, the seatbelts are included in the kit.  However, they are wrong based on my information: the seatbelt installed in this aircraft was a 5-point seat belt, and the 2 that went over the shoulder had a cross-piece, which is not represented by the kit.  I also thinned down the edges of the seat, as I felt the kit one was too thick.  Looks better now.

Edited January 9, 2020 by Landrotten Highlander
additional information

[Landrotten Highlander]

I improved the seat belt with a thing string of paper, and added the 5th one scratchd using part of the PE support frame.

 

I also made some alterations to the IP as this was too flat to me:

My home made throttle stick, added a selection switch at the bottom part, a pixture and carb-heater switch on the RH side, and a series of fuses as a bottom row on the IP panel.  Not an exact copy of the aircraft, but close enough for my purposes.  I might scratch build the office in a larger scale at a later date, and that one will be an as faithful reproduction as possible.

 

There as still some additional items I need to add, but this will be done while gluing the floor, firewall and armour plate to the fuselage halves.  But in order to do that I need to get everything painted.  Got my delivery of a new spray gun, and obtained a second-hand small compressor, so will be playing around with this first.

 

Until next time

[Azgaron]

Very nice work so far!

 

Håkan

 

[dennismcc]

Nice work, keep it up

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Alain Gadbois]

Great work on the cockpit! Looks very nice.

 

Alain

[Landrotten Highlander]

Thank you, lads.

I painted the bits last night in the required blue-grey, will have a close inspection then start focussing on the detailed painting.

Since this particular aircraft never saw action I will be minimal with weathering while still avoiding making it look like a toy.

 

Slainte gu mhath

[dutik]

Good choice!

 

I've build this kit (Armee de l'Air Version) some years ago. Build blog here. The front bulkhead of the cockpit was a bit tricky. Also faced a large gap at on wingroot. Placement of the UC flaps caused some headache (IIRC they overlap somewhat, but the instructions are not very helpful here). Everthing else went smooth. The Montex masks are highly recommended. There is or was a replacement prop/spinner/front end set from Poland (didn't use it, was hard to get so I skipped the idea).

 

Nice idea to build a Finnish one! Have fun!

- dutik

[Landrotten Highlander]

Hi dutik,

thanks for the info. Looked at your build - very handy, although I will be doing things a little different. See how it works - oe not.

Slainte

L.H.