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SE-210 Caravelle III Air France 1/72 Mach2


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Hello

 

Not a LSP, but a large model.

 

I wanted to build a Caravelle for a long time. But not just any Caravelle. This particular one, msn 12, F-BHRF christen Auvergne :wub:

 

This one was exposed for many years at the entrance of the airport of my home town. As a kid, I always was fascinated by the "huge" (Huge is a matter of perspective... but as a kid, it was hude to me) plane parked there, on the side of the road.

Then when, as a teen, I started flying gliders there, we use to spend some evening on board with the friends from the flying club. Some even slept on its wings...

It was unfortunatly scrapped in 2006.

Anyway, enough with the nostalgia.... :D

 

All Caravelle kits are quite old and they all have their issues, some worse than others.

Mach2 is a French short run brand. It is known for producing subjects that are definitely not mainstream. It is also known for the "limited" quality of its kit.

I knew the Mach 2 kit would be a challenge but having built several fonderie miniature kits (another French short run brand known for its bad moulding and hard fitting) , I was not afraid..... :ph34r:

 

Well.... :unsure: I was in for an adventure...

It is probably the worse kit I ever built... :help:

 

I had already decided not to use the "clear" parts, which are clear only by name. This turned out to be a great decision.

Then I got rid of all the interior stuff... anyway there is nothing to see because ref previous line...

 

The wheels: directly in the bin as well. The two parts of the mould were not aligned, I let you imagine the shape of the wheels... :BANGHEAD2:

I replaced them with 1/48 Mirage F1 wheels for the MLGs and 1/48 NLG wheels from an F-100 for the NLG.

Not the most accurate but who cares, it cannot be worse than the kit "things".

 

I also replaced the engine exhaust by Whirlybird resin exhaust initially planned for the DH Comet.

 

Now the funny part: wing to fuselage assembly. I quickly realised that this would be an adventure in itself: the wing sweep between the upper and lower parts was not the same by a significant margin.

Sometimes on some kits, you need a bit of surgey to assemble parts. Here it was butchery.

I reworked the complete wing root with a dremel and a miller (not sure of the english term, it is not a drill, it is the tool used to machine metal parts if you see what I mean) :fight:

I think I never had to remove so much plastic to fit parts.

Then, a truckload of putty here and there and I could finaly start painting.

 

Humbrol 147 for the lower fuselage and the wing/horizontal stabilizer walk ways

hu metal cote for the rest of the wing

For the white on upper fuselage, I sprayed Tamyia true white TS-26. I could not imagine all this white area with an handbrush.

Orange and dayglow for the wingtips.

 

The decals: another adventure.

I ordered them from F-Decals, a french brand producing a wide range of airliners decals. I must say that was a bumpy road as it took him 4 months to send them.

And having exchanged with others on French forum, that's not only due to the covid mess and lock down.

No answer to the numerous reminders.

the only two emails I received were to tell me the decal sheets would be sent the next monday, which never happened.

I ended up opening a claim with paypal. and then by miracle, 3 days after I received the decal sheets, but not excuse, no message, nothing :angry2:

which is a realy shame because those decals are real nice and good quality.

 

I also used windows and windshiled decal sheet from Authentic airliners. I think they add a touch of realism compared to the usual grey windows we see on mist airliner kits.

 

Here is the result:

 

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IMG-2768.jpg

 

IMG-2769.jpg

 

IMG-2770.jpg

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The hard work paid off.  Got the same kit in the stash, and looking at it is rather demotivational.   I think there was a review on Internet Modeller that mentioned the windshield is either too high or too low, so the cheatline running through the windows won't match up.  The window decals certainly look the part and will help a lot in that respect.

 

Jens

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Beautiful model. Especially considering the "fight" you had! 

 

Always loved the Caravelle. Flew on one from Toulouse Blagnac to Bordeaux Merignac in July 1976 and have been hankering to build an Air Inter one for ages. Is there an "easy" option out there in 1/144 scale?

 

Tony

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18 hours ago, Tony T said:

Beautiful model. Especially considering the "fight" you had! 

 

Always loved the Caravelle. Flew on one from Toulouse Blagnac to Bordeaux Merignac in July 1976 and have been hankering to build an Air Inter one for ages. Is there an "easy" option out there in 1/144 scale?

 

Tony

The easiest option is perhaps the Authentic Airliners kit - they do different versions; the III, VI-R and 10R.  AModel also make Caravelle kits in injected plastic which are nice - they make the III, VI-N and 10R.  F-RSIN Plastic make the 10B and 12.  Personally, I would stay away from the F-RSIN kits are they are moulded and mastered to Mach-2 levels of quality.  F-RSIN's decals do appear to be nice in general, and they do a Caravelle 12 with 1970's Air Inter markings.  I don't know if they would be appropriate for the shorter fuselage versions though.

 

Jens

Edited by jenshb
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30 minutes ago, jenshb said:

The easiest option is perhaps the Authentic Airliners kit - they do different versions; the III, VI-R and 10R.  AModel also make Caravelle kits in injected plastic which are nice - they make the III, VI-N and 10R.  F-RSIN Plastic make the 10B and 12.  Personally, I would stay away from the F-RSIN kits are they are moulded and mastered to Mach-2 levels of quality.  F-RSIN's decals do appear to be nice in general, and they do a Caravelle 12 with 1970's Air Inter markings.  I don't know if they would be appropriate for the shorter fuselage versions though.

 

Jens

 

Don't forget the Airfix kit! I have one in my display case that I mangled as my first-ever airliner build. Thinking of pulling it out and refurbishing it, actually.

 

Kev

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Well, the Airfix kit has the very early nacelles without the fluted exhaust, and frankly isn't as good as either the Authentic Airliners or AModel Caravelles, which is why I didn't bother mentioning it.  There are aftermarket resin engines available with the fluted exhaust which will help.  There is photoetch for Caravelles available too - a search on Hannants website will show some options (except Authentic Airliners).

 

Jens

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