Finished: Helene Boucher, 1/48 CAUDRON RACER C450 JMGT, FFSMC decals

[Louis]

On August 8, 1934, Helene Boucher take off to fly as soon as possible on a 3km circuit. Two pylons mark the each ends. With his blue Caudron marked with number 13, she beats internationnal reccord speed over 1000km on all cathegory at an average speed of 409.187km/h.

On August 11, 1934 she broke the world speed reccord and became the "quickest human of the world" at the speed of 445.028km/h.


She died at an early age of 26 on a test flight near Versailles when the machine crashed into the woods of Guyancourt.

En français:

http://www.master194.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=75635

Hello,

After seeing the magnificent work of Adrian:

http://www.master194.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=61568

and Miro
http://fighters.forumactif.com/t43665-caudron-c450-williams-brothers-1-32?highlight=c450

and Patrick:

http://www.master194.com/maquettes/patrick/caudron/index.htm


Read this very good advised by the journal "Icare":

Hélène Boucher La fiancée de l'air, Bernard Marck

I fell in love with this aircraft. I needed one!
Not seeing coming new box (and especially the new board DECAL) in the "Williams Brothers" I fell back on the 1/48 JMGT Kit

The Kit JMGT 1/48 : Caudron C460



....which I hope will become a C450.

The kit is very well packed.
I did not see any bubbles in the resin.


Some pictures:

The seat....beautiful:



The floor:



Trim wheel:





The door and the control stick:



The instrument panel, very small:





An engine cylinder which is visible through the hole of the cover:










The landing gear in a single part. I see no trace of mold, even with a magnifying glass!




The very thin wing:



A resin part gives the dihedral wings and spacing. The aircraft fuselage slips between the wings.

It's very clever.



I think the engraved lines are a little wide...





The canopy, "smooth" :

The caudron will be part of a diorama with a figure representing Hélène Boucher. I hope ...

I start with the figure. If it is missed, I will build the Caudron of the box.

I used the method explained here but in french (there are lots of photos):

http://maquette-garden.forumactif.com/t22199-la-sculpture-de-figurine-ou-comment-j-y-arrive


First:

A metal skeleton with the fairest possible proportions.
I use these templates:
http://www.google.fr/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=gabaritproportion.pdf&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Favangard.unblog.fr%2Ffiles%2F2010%2F07%2Fgabaritproportion.pdf&ei=4YeBUarxHIeJ7AaA8YGYAg&usg=AFQjCNFLkWajZdyjOq4hd3UUA0RKluL8wQ&bvm=bv.45921128,d.d2k






The figure out of the plane while standing on the fuselage. The other hand is on the head,she takes off her "headband wearing" (?)




Colette Duval: http://www.britishpathe.com/video/model-jump-aka-model-drop

Muscles are made of milliput then dressed.






This is a long process because you have let it dry regularly.



Sometimes you have to resize ...

Several working days to an ugly head:





The milliput is very difficult to model for small details. It dries quickly and is too soft.

So I bought Super Sculpey (it becomes hard in an oven at 130 ° C). This becomes much easier and pleasant to work with.


After one hour of work:



After reworked head and a lot of work:



The nose is too wide and it does not look like Helen Boucher, but I can not do better.

At first I wanted to dress this figure. Unfortunately it's too sexy....(There is another lying on a carpet .)



http://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/catalogsearch/result/?q=32mm+&x=0&y=0&cat=

I use the photos found on the internet and documents published in "Fana de l'Aviation" 146-149 and 188






The nose is refined and cheeks were "rounded"





Now I have problems with the facial surface ...

By scraping and sanding the surface of the nose, it has become a bit "fluffy" as covered in dust grains in places.

- Is there is a way to smooth the surface after passing the oven?? (Other than "micro-mesh" or sandpaper).


- An airbrush hit with a primer or putty (surfacer 1200) appear to he a good idea?





The landing gear is almost finished ..





My wheel rims are irregular and undulate slightly.
On the other hand it is redone.



Thank you in advance for your help, your criticisms and suggestions.

Best regards.

Huberlu

A+



Merci d'avance pour votre aide, vos critiques et vos suggestions.

Cordialement.

Huberlu





A+

Edited April 11, 2015 by Louis

[Sean1968]

Great stuff, I love the 1930's designs.

[crookedmouth]

The hand-sculpted figure is going to be a work of art all by itself!

[Louis]

Thank you "Crookedmouth" and "Sean".

[Louis]

A plastic sheet (0.1mm) is glued around the landing gear to make the recessed portion that slides.

Engraving is filled with Surfacer. It will be rebuilt.

The door is openn.

The slots are upside: the round part must be to the rear.....

The wall of the interior is refined with sandpaper:

Regards.

Louis

[Fritag]

Louis,

This is great work. That little figure is art not modelling. Lovely looking aircraft.

Steve

[Chaotic Mike]

Remarkable, I *love* the figure!

[Louis]

Thank you !!

I tried sanding the fuselage to obtain the trough between the rails of the fuselage ...I glued the sand paper to a piece of rounded plastic part and use two flat guides for a horizontal trough. It does not work ....

It does not work ....

So I'm using "roadrunner's" method : http://fighters.forumactif.com/t55753p15-caudron-c460-jmgt-1-48?highlight=caudron+c460

The adhesive tape serves has to position the plate

Regards.

Edited June 26, 2013 by Louis

[Silver Fox]

Fantastic work, on both the figure and the aeroplane.

[Louis]

Thank you Silver Fox .

Louvres are redone with a piece of alu of food box (In the right direction). They are pushed with one tooth pick.






The blue adhesive tape serves as guide.






Some surfacer...Rivets are to be moved


The result could be better.

Regards

[Parabat]

Some superb work on the figure and your attention to detail is quote inspiring, keep up the good work!

[Louis]

Thank you!

[milktrip]

Excellent. The work on the figure is fantastic

Edited July 8, 2013 by milktrip

[Caerbannog]

Wow!!! This is extreemly nice. I took an old box out of my shelf last week which contains a Cauldron C561 from Pend Oreille, which is a horrible kit. The fuselage is one piece with an opening from instrument panel to cockpit rear... so there is no "footroom". The fuselage is also missing the fabric effect and my attempt with finely stretched sprue and putty turned out a bit too strong - I think I will follow your solution. So I expect some more good tips for my C561 from your thread

No decals are provided in the Pend Oreille (Edit: I is not Pend Oreille but the world famous company E.C.P. Phenix... never heard of this company before or after. Maybe this is a recast of Pend Oreille because the ECP fuselage is one solid piece and Pend Oreille has a conventional fuselage which is split verticaly) kit of my C561 and I will probably do my own windscreen as the one which is supplied in the kit looks suspiciously small.

The figure is fantastic!

And thanks for the JMGT kit info, I did not know about this kit beeing available. It is currently sold out at Hannants but I put it on my wish list :-)

René

Edited July 15, 2013 by Caerbannog

[Work In Progress]

Yet another stunning thread that I've only just seen. Your figure work is inspirational.

[Martian]

This an extremely well thought out and crafted build. I am enjoying this thread immensely.

Martin

[Sarcococca]

Hi Louis,

this is a wonderful thread!

I like your attention for details, history and your dexterity!

Your figure sculpting is extremly stunning and skilfull!

I`ll stay tuned and follow this amazing WIP!

P.S.

I have a Deja vu, watching your Avatar.

Louis, are you a french modeller and did you post several years ago in the Amay Forum from Jean Paul Deware???

My name was Doccrazymodel and the Avatar was the same!

Amitie

Dirk

[Louis]

Thank you very much!!

1/32eme C561 will be done by "Renaissance".

http://www.renaissance-models.com/bis/index.php/nouveautes/produits/2306-caudron-c561

Regards

C460 Cockpit plan:

http://speedbirds.forumactif.org/t316-caudron-460-et-autres

http://speedbirds.forumactif.org/t306-caudron-c460-jmgt-1-48

[Louis]

I have a Deja vu, watching your Avatar.

Louis, are you a french modeller and did you post several years ago in the Amay Forum from Jean Paul Deware???

My name was Doccrazymodel and the Avatar was the same!

Amitie

Dirk

Hello Dirk,

Yes I'm french and I met this Avatar into a forum but which one ??? I dont know "amay forum from JP Deware." I think it was "aeroscale" forum or "The Aerodrome".

Amitié

Louis

[woody37]

Just caught up with this, quite stunning, that figure is superb

[Louis]

Thank you very much!

Thank you very much to Patrick for his plans (the same as the link below) and photos:

http://www.master194.com/maquettes/patrick/caudron/index.htm


The cockpit is almost finished.

The edges are refined as possible.


The vertical "ribs" are added to the upper part of the fuselage. I'm not certain that it existed. In the photos we vaguely guess some shadows ...
The most prominent is useless, a mistake.
Closest to opening the passenger will receive the dashboard and will be invisible except 1 mm ...


The chair is resized a little to have a flatter and less rounded back. No photos of true anyway ...



The dashboard .... I have nothing small enough to fill it properly. I cheat.



The bottle (CO2 ?) To get the train ...
It is true that for a fixed gear aircraft ...That's the plan!



The throttle is moved back from the kit. The curve is flattened tin wire in a metal ruler.

The control system components. On the map it is a crank. I chose to use a steering wheel as in the kit.




Everything is painted light gray or blue-gray.
The pillow of the seat is in red that makes more sport and I like.

Of course you can hardly see anything:







Regards.

[Louis]

Google translate to you an article from Adrien:

http://www.master194.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=75635&p=884417#p884417



"But I have some doubts about the design of the cockpit:
- The throttle should it be left?
- I think the big wheel is the c.362 and not to C.450/460
- Left in place there would be a rectangular box with a simple crank to control flaps which apparently he coupled adjustment incidence stabilizer.

I refer you scan a bit better plan than you ever had, and a layout of the dashboard. The plans are by Harry Robinson, published among others in Aircraft Archive: Famous Racing and Aerobatic Planes [/ i], but available to my knowledge. There is a small error legendary crank flap is not where it is shown (it is inaccessible to the driver), and I will also put a time diagram showing the shutter mechanism.

Finally, I send you a picture of the dashboard of c.450 published in Volume 2 of the book Hauet, which is no longer available.








Regards

Edited July 18, 2013 by Louis

[Louis]

If we look at the previous photo:

The opening above the dashboard is rounded off and shorter

The dashboard is very close to the trapdoor of access of the plane ( the door).

We guess it on the following photo:


On my Caudron it is much more far. It is impossible to affect(touch) the dashboard or the instruments.

And it is true that we do not see a throttle control to the right.

Although???



Do you know that is this instrument (in red) and what he(it) marked there above?

[Scratchbuilder]

Louis, when buying Milliput, leave the white muck on the shelf. Always use the yellow-green one and cook it under a desk lamp. It goes very hard and takes tiny detail with chisels and knives and is so smooth it can be polished to a glass like finish. I also make figures and always use it. I also use it for vacuum forming patterns. I engrave, file, sand and carve it. Keep your tools wet while it is uncured.

Nice work on a very beautiful aircraft, by the way.

artin

[Caerbannog]

This threat is getting better all the time :-)

Thanks

Rene