Mjoo

I think these are really beautiful, love the colours. Very harmonious as one would expect from elves. Watching with interest, -M

Blue is the colour! For Caudron racers, at least. I have mixed feelings on painting these things. I enjoy playing with the colours, mixing the paints and the act of painting itself. On the other hand it took me two weeks to get from primer to gloss, mostly spent just waiting for paint to harden between short sessions with airbrush. Progress is boringly slow, and my builds tend to pile up at this stage. Anyways, colour has now been laid down and gloss coat applied. What was the real colour? I have no clue. I couldn’t find a good reference on the colour so I sort of interpolated from what other modellers had used (including different Caudrons on the Britmodeller). I went after darker end of middle blues. Gloss coat makes these look lighter than they actually are. Hope the blue will tone down once I’m finished. I tried to get variation on the all-blue apperance and painted some panels with different shades. Not a success. In the cup the shades did look different but on the plane it’s all same blue. Only clearly visible difference is unintentional: paint lifted on the cowling of C. 450 and the fixing that left that panel quite pale compared to the rest of the airframe. Oh well, a decal is to be placed there, hopefully hiding the mishap. The darker, intentionally rough patch of paint represents the hasty paint job for Arnoux’s name as described earlier. These close-ups are harsh. Small bits are pretty much finished and waiting for final assembly. I think the exhausts came out quite nicely. They look more brown in nature than in the picture. There was a stamping tool included for C. 460 wheel covers. Good thing too, bending those without the stamp would’ve been quite painful. Note to self: never prime before stamping 😬. Next up panel lines and (light) weathering. That’s the part I am most uncomfortable with. Cheers, -M

Yes indeed. There is continuity in Caudron designs through the 1930s. Cheers, M

Hope you don’t feel too bad about it. Careful wet sanding may save the day but may take some time. But be careful. The plastic around will probably sand much easier than CA and possibly make the situation even worse. Cheers, -M

Thanks, @Fixer! Good advice on trimming the tricolori decal. Cheers, M

Nice! I have this on the bench, too. How did you do the Italian tricolori, did you use the decal or did you paint it? If decal, did you paint the background white or is the decal opaque enough to be put directly on the red surface?

This looks really great! Especially I like the weathering.

These are just gorgeous! Great painting, especially the faces. I think this depends on what you intend your minis to be. If your are building an army to play a game the consistency might be desirable. If you’re painting showpiece group then you might want some variation. Anyway these are great as they are. Cheers, Mjoo

I’d like to add two notes to what @Troy Smith has said. 1) The mixture is quite pale and difficult to see e.g. on grey plastic; I’ve mixed some bright pigment to talc to make it more easily visible. (Quinacridone red, as was readily available at the local art store and was labelled as non-toxic unlike the cobalt blue they had.) 2) All CA is not equal when mixed to fine powder like talc. If the “open time” is short, then the mix may harden really fast. I’ve had some fast CA to harden immediately after mixing. Best to experiment with what CAs you have before using on a model. And only mix the amount you need immediately. Talcum I have is pure, bought it from the pharmacist. The stuff at my usual grocery store had some additives to it but I can’t remember if it was corn starch or something else. Both were sold as baby powder. Pharmacy had higher price but a small bottle will go a long way.

Looking at the planes you have posted here I believe you will do fine scratch building, too.

SBS Model has a very nice kit in 1/72 if you do not want to build from scratch.

Citadel paints brush nicely. However, the colour range may not suit your needs as they are tabletop gaming oriented. I use them in detail painting. I haven’t got any clue about their availability in your place of origin, but I’ve been pushed towards them as there still is brick and mortar tabletop gaming shops in here while the modelling shops have closed down. I run out brush colours one pot at a time. And buying a single pot of paint online is not very economical.

You managed to produce a beautiful model despite the problems with the kit. Congrats! Like the base, too. The real plane is intriguing. A hydrofoil flying boat is about as bizarre as it gets.

I like the sheen a lot. Not too glossy, not too dull but just where it should be. Very nice.

Nice technique for weathering. Thanks for sharing!

Awesome. Nice modeling and the paintwork is just breathtaking.

Both planes have been primed, puttied & sanded and re-primed. Not happy with the surface but it is what it is. I’m moving forwards with the build and still learning to use the airbrush. Tyres have been painted and masked for spraying the hubs. Turns out my that "house maintenance kit" punch set's smallest blade (3mm) is pretty much spot on for the wheel hub masks. I decided to paint tyres first as it resulted simpler painting workflow; could've gone the other way round just as easy. Hefty looking fine precision instrument 😉. One of the wheels had a larger-than-minor casting imperfection. I didn’t bother fixing it but decided to use it for C. 450 as the wheel spats will hide the faults. Incidentely, there’s six wheels instead of four. That’s because this build has caught up with a C. 561 build I started some time ago. I’ll be building these three in lockstep so C.561 may ”bleed” into some images here. This build is about the two Caudrons Arnoux used so anything relating to C. 561 is co-incidental and only serves to illustrate the actual topic. However, here’s two images starring the C. 561. First a family portrait: Undeniable resemblance there. And what a sleek airframe the C.561 was! Cheers, -M

Excellent face and beard!

Actually, there is something I could do: I could paint a coarse rectangle with slightly different shade of blue where Monville’s name should be, and slam the ”Arnoux” decal on top of it to simulate hasty paint job done between the legs. Likely to be an un-thruth but since I’m guessing anyway… Cheers, -M

I wonder if somebody here has some insight on the markings? I’ve been looking at the decals. For C. 460 they seem ok but for C. 450 I’m not so sure 🤔. Everything I have found on the net says Monville was race no. 3. The decals give the plane as no. 13. I haven’t found a clear picture with Monville’s race number (there are always people standing in the line of sight) but it looks to me that it is 3, not 13. Easy remedy, though, I’ll just cut the decals in a suitable way. Another thing is the pilot’s name on the cowling. Instuctions give text as ”Arnoux” without any decorations. Again looking at the photos, it seems to me that at the starting line it reads ”Monville” in the cowling, decorated with a coloured circle in front of the name. So either the decals are wrong or the ground crew repainted the name during the break between the legs. The circle looks to be light colour but old black and white films are tricky to interpret. 1935 it could be orthochromatic or panchromatic film they used. Anyways, there is little I can do as I don’t have any means to produce new decals. Still, I’d like to know. The decals look like this: I think that at the start of the race Monville had his name on the cowling as in decal 12 for C. 460 is for Arnoux (upper sheet). Instead the instructions give only text "Arnoux"; see decal 14 from the C. 450 sheet (lower). Cheers, -M

Thanks, rockpopandchips!

Splendid start with the cape! Can you give details on how you did it?

Excellent sculpting and top notch painting! Very comic booky. The plinth also fits nicely to the subject.

I think the topside seams are ok. Bottom ones need some work, but first I need to get some primer on so I can better see the problem. Wings, nose and tail bits have been attached, too. Next I need to prep all the small bits and then to the paint shop! Or garage, as the other members of the family call it. This is taking form now; there’s a passing resemblance of an airplane present, rigth? Cheers, -M

Great idea to use a triangular base! Keeps the composition tight & directs the viewer's gaze to the action at the muzzle of the gun.