Jump to content

Azur 1/72 Morane-Saulnier MS406C "Battle of France"


Recommended Posts

For my second build I will be doing the Azur Morane-Saulnier MS.406C from the "Battle of France" boxing:

DSCN3397.jpg

In the box are the same parts as included in the other Azur releases of the MS.406/410:

DSCN3406.jpg

...but with decals and paintschemes specific to Armee de l'Air machines from the period up to late June 1940:

DSCN3399.jpg

I will be building "Camo D" - Azur describe this as being an aircraft of the 3me Escadrille of Groupe de Chasse II/2, but the Colorado Decals set for the MS.406 has the same aircraft with a white "2" in a red disc and says it is from the 4me Escadrille... I have no idea who is correct so unless someone can correct me I will go with the kit description as it is the more recent of the two.

Cheers,

Stew

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anuzer Freanch build Stew? Hee haw hee haw (why do they call me Donkey?)

As we're into French Fancy have a look at this. Brilliant! :D

:popcorn:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks gents :D

I made a start on assembly, it looks a nice kit and has gone together well so far but there are a couple of things to watch out for - firstly an ejector tower right where you need to fix the forward cockpit bulkhead:

DSCN3427.jpg

I had to trim a chunk off that so the bulkhead would fit:

DSCN3428.jpg

The other thing is that the instructions indicate that the aft cockpit bulkhead is glued to the cockpit floor - it isn't, there are a couple of small circular indentations in the fuselage side that the floor attaches to as well as being glued to the front bulkhead, there is a gap between the floor and the aft bulkhead:

DSCN3430.jpg

I made the rollover cage from sprue, rather than wire as indicated in the instructions, just because it is easier to trim and glue.

While I was waiting for that to dry I started on the wings. While searching my "stuff" box recently I found some Albion Alloys brass micro tube, so I drilled out the gun mountings...

DSCN3421.jpg

... and fitted some brass 'barrels' and a pitot to replace the kit parts:

DSCN3424.jpg

I also assembled the propeller and replaced the cannon barrel that passes through the spinner:

DSCN3426.jpg

I built the RS Models MS.405 last year - essentially the same aircraft - and so far I'd say the Azur kit is definitely the better of the two.

I hope today to get the cockpit painted, and the fuselage halves joined.

Cheers,

Stew

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice work Stew, I really like the brass tube additions.....so much so I may well copy! Please can I ask what size of tube you have used, so I can get hold of similar? The tube looks so much better than the kit parts.

Cheers,

Rob

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice work Stew, I really like the brass tube additions.....so much so I may well copy! Please can I ask what size of tube you have used, so I can get hold of similar? The tube looks so much better than the kit parts.

Cheers,

Rob

I use 20 or 21ga for 20mm cannons, 23ga for 0.5" calibre and equivalents and 23 or 25ga for rifle-calibre weapons, if that helps.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That spinner gun is some next-level stuff, Stew. This is really coming together nicely.

Thanks PC :D - the brass tube was another thing that I bought and never used because "it was a bit expensive" but since the guns on the Morane are featureless tubes with no flash suppressors or cooling vents I thought they would be ideal for replacing the kit parts which - in fairness - are not bad.

Nice work Stew, I really like the brass tube additions.....so much so I may well copy! Please can I ask what size of tube you have used, so I can get hold of similar? The tube looks so much better than the kit parts.

Cheers,

Rob

Thanks Rob, I got the brass tube off ebay some time ago, my original intention was to use 0.5mm for the cannon and 0.3mm for the wing guns, however once I had done that I decided the MGs looked decidedly undernourished so I replaced them with 0.5mm tube too - of course this means that my cannons and machine guns now have the same bore, but if I catch anyone studying it too closely I'll poke them in the eye with it :owww:

Cheers,

Stew

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Stew

Nice start. This is the exact same boxing as I've got, thanks for the paint refs, I now have the relevant Lifecolor paints you suggested so I can make a start at some point. I've also got a mask for the canopy which will be handy. I'm not that fussed on WW2 French aircraft but after seeing one of these display at Duxford (more than once) I've since fancied having one in the collection.

thanks

Mike

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Mike - I had no idea they had one at Duxford, is it a recent acquisition? I'll mostly be using colours from the Sovereign Colourcoats Armee de l'air Range on mine, my brief excursion into acrylics didn't so much go pear-shaped as started off pear-shaped and ended up in a mushroom cloud of disappointment :lol:

Sean - thanks, glad you could make it :D

I painted the interior, I wanted a nondescript blue-grey as the interior of the earlier MS.406's were not painted in the much darker Bleu de Nuit (I'm not sure about the later ones, but since the one I am building is quite an early one I don't need to be sure about that). The colour I chose ended up darker and bluer than I intended anyway, but I suspect it will not really be noticeable once it is all closed up. I didn't like the kit-supplied seat straps which as Bobster noted are rather big; more like 1:48 scale in appearance... luckily I have a pack of Eduard etched French seatbelts in the stash so I used one of those instead:

DSCN3431.jpg

... and painted up the etched IP...

DSCN3435.jpg

... not perfect and too much guesswork to be accurate, but again, I doubt it will notice once it is closed up...

... this was then installed, along with the joystick, the end result is quite a nicely detailed cockpit:

DSCN3445.jpg

... and finally I closed up the fuselage:

DSCN3449.jpg

It's not really visible in the picture but I will need some filler along the cowling join (in fact I don't think I've ever built a model that didn't yet :lol:) - however a test fit of the wings to the fuselage indicates a potentially very good fit, which is nice.

So today a bit of filling and sanding, and who knows what?

Cheers,

Stew

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oooooohhhhhh very nice work on the interior, the seat belts look cool. The cockpit on my build is a bit dark, l like the colour of your version as it allows detail to be seen once closed up. I took the easy option of a nato black IP, instruments highlighted with a 0.5mm drawing pencil, but your version looks pretty damn good painted up. I'm taking notes for the other MC.406/410 in my stash.

I found that just a smidge of filler here and there was needed.....quite a painless short run kit I can only recommend to anyone.

Cheers,

Rob

Edited by bobster
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nicely done Sir! That cockpit, especially the IP, looks really good.

That final pic looks a bit like a Spitfire doesn't it (if you squint)? Like a... how do you type in a French accent? Ooh, I know, "a Spitfire, hee haw hee haw".

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Rob, yes it has gone together very well so far, I do hope it continues :lol:

Thanks Ced; I am afraid the only way I can make it look like a Spitfire is by closing both eyes :owww:

PC, what a wicked thing to say: I'll have you know Ace Rimmer was held back a year B)

Cheers,

Stew

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I made quite a lot of progress yesterday, partly thanks to this:

DSCN3451.jpg

... doing this...

DSCN3453.jpg

... which I painted with a coat of the interior colour to get this:

DSCN3458.jpg

... I also assembled the retractable radiator, on the left...

The kit provides the upper- and underside aerials as etched brass parts, which I hate; it might be more to scale but it just looks wrong to me. I made some new ones out of sprue using the kit parts as my guide:

DSCN3455.jpg

The eagle-eyed amongst you might be wondering why I made two of each... well I ordered another one of these kits so I can do one in the markings of Pierre le Gloan's aircraft, and I wanted to have consistency between both models, so it was easier to do this now rather than try to duplicate them later.

The wings and empennage (pour vous, Ced) were attached:

DSCN3463.jpg

... the canopy and undercarriage fitted and the wheels and resin parts for the Bronzavia flame-damper exhausts prepared for priming, which will, I hope, be today's job...

DSCN3464.jpg

Cheers,

Stew

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Out of likes, again! What a teenager...

Looking good Stew and I agree that brass PE 'sticky out things' are nasty :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now you are tempting me to start building the other one of these held in the stash. The trouble is at the moment I have the three builds on the go in this GB, a Thunderbolt left over from the lesser airforces GB, an RAF Tomahawk and a Westland Whirlwind prototype that I started building in the winter and was waiting for warmer weather before I spray the yellow undersurfaces. I must resist and complete some!

Good progress by the way :).

Rob

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know what you mean about it being wrong Stew, other problem is it doesn't give you the option to do a wheels down model cos it's too long! Hobbyboss avoided the problem by not supplying one, so I've had to adapt the spare wing brace into one. Would like to know how it was deployed though!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Charlie,

If I recall correctly it was pneumatically operated, like a few of the systems on the MS.406 and the fairly frequent pneumatic failures were an unpopular aspect of the aircraft amongst the men who flew it.

The underside mast was folded when the wheels were lowered and only deployed whilst in flight, because, as you note, when lowered it 'out-reaches' the undercarriage, which I imagine would 1) abruptly terminate your landing and 2) rip the belly out of the aircraft.

I've broken mine off now and will have to re-glue it later; I also lost the etched tube that goes in front of the cockpit with the ring-and-bead gunsight on it, but I think I can make another... :hmmm:

Cheers,

Stew

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great progress Stew looks to be a crisply molded kit.

Thanks Steve; for a limited-run kit it's very good, not quite up to Tamiya standards for fit and moulding but not too shabby either :D - I'll be doing at least one more of these, hopefully for this GB.

I got the Alclad Grey primer on...

DSCN3473.jpg

I got some grittiness in it, I noticed it in a couple of the Spitfires I did too, anyone know if I should be spraying at a lower pressure? Or just using less primer?

Anyway I did the light blue-grey undersides then started brush-painting the uppersurfaces with a very thinned first coat of Sovereign Colourcoats Gris-bleu Clair (yes, the lighter one, the Gris-bleu Fonce looks much too dark to me - that's only based on other people's models rather than direct observation though - but the lighter grey looks a good match for the uppersurface colour :shrug: ) and their Ombre Calcinee and Kaki...

DSCN3474.jpg

... and I made a new ring and bead sight with stretched sprue and the sights from an Eduard Bf110 which I never used when I built it - it's a little bit overscale but it will do:

DSCN3478.jpg

So as soon as that's dry I can start knocking it off like I did the original :huh:

Today I have to trial-run the bus route for my new job on Tuesday, just to make sure I know where I am going and don't get off at the wrong roundabout (which I did once many years ago, about 8 miles short of my intended destination; I ended up just walking home instead :lol:) but hopefully after that I can do the second coats of the uppersurface camouflage.

Cheers,

Stew

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...