Bengalensis Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 While waiting for parts for another project to arrive I felt for doing something slightly different. For a rather long time now I've had the old Williams Brothers 1/32 kit of the Caudron C.450/460 in my stash, a quite early edition. I also bought Renaissance 1/32 resin kit of the C.561 when it was released a few years ago. They have both been on the bench to be looked at a number of times by now, but today I've made a start on both of them. They will be built together, and most likely painted the same blue, so they will be in the same thread here. I don't plan on very complicated builds (I've said that many times and failed), there will be closed cockpits for example. To me these machines are first and foremost about the beautiful and speedy lines, and nice little trip back to interesting times when searching reference pictures. The C.450/460 kit contains options of four machines in several races 1934-36, the C.450 with fixed and covered landing gear and three C.460 with retractable gear, that were problematic in 1934 so they were then flown with them locked down and you get all the different covers for them used on these machines. I have decided to build the C.450 as the winner of the 1934 Coupe Deutch del la Meurthe with #13, flown by Maurice Arnoux. The C.561 with its radical design never flew any races, as far as I know at least. It would look good with racing numbers though, and I'm no expert in this field, so if anyone has information of it ever being raced I'd love to hear. Otherwise it will be built with the basic markings in kit. Here is the content of C.450/460 kit. It's on old kit, I'm not sure of the box art history, but it may be from the earliest editions. The decals look to be in good condition still, but I'm not sure how they will react, I will have to try one not used and see what happens. When I got the C.561 kit Renaissance had released a small detail set for the C.450/460, so of course I got one. It contains a small set of photo etch and new canopy, cast in clear resin. The reason Renaissance cast a new canopy looks to be due to the kit canopy having no markings for the framework. I will see how this choice turns out when I get there. Here we have the content of the C.561 kit. It all looks pretty good and clean to me. It will of course need some preparation and work. I went through all the parts already when I got the kit to check it was complete, I always do that, but I missed that one of the wheels was badly cast. It can be fixed with filler and some careful work, but I e-mailed Renaissance to see if I can get replacement. I've had good help from them before so hopefully I will not have to deal with this. The underside of the fuselage has a prominent mold line, but I think this looks much worse than it is. Work was started doing some basic resin clean up of all the parts and filling all pin holes and imperfections I could find with 2-part filler. That sanded out smooth and nicely and indeed the fuselage was no big problem. With a bit of heat from the hair dryer I adjusted the fuselage sides to improve the fit slightly of the top section. This should be good enough for glue and filler when that time comes. Work on the C.450 started with cleaning up a good deal of flash and smoothing the joint surfaces on most parts molded in halves, and gluing them together. This means that I will have to cut the pins for the wheels to make them click into the assembled wheel spats. With glue drying I continue the work of cleaning up the other few parts there is. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 More racers! Fantastic! Cheers! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Regarding the race number for the 561, it seems that you are correct in thinking it missed it, since it did not qualify for the race. I see strong similarities with the 461, may be worth doing some research for a -may be- not too difficult conversion? The 461 appears in photos as having used race numbers 2 and 3. I did not compare both, but thought you may, and find out, if interested. Cheers 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Nice to see some more racer action. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted January 9, 2020 Author Share Posted January 9, 2020 6 hours ago, Moa said: Regarding the race number for the 561, it seems that you are correct in thinking it missed it, since it did not qualify for the race. I see strong similarities with the 461, may be worth doing some research for a -may be- not too difficult conversion? The 461 appears in photos as having used race numbers 2 and 3. I did not compare both, but thought you may, and find out, if interested. Cheers The C.461 is an interesting thought. It would not be impossible to go that route, but if the measurements I find is correct the C.461 was slightly lager than the C.561, and it also means the 6 cylinder engine. For this time I'll stay with C.561. Maybe one should combine parts from both kits for the C.461... I just had an e-mail back from Renaissance, and a replacement wheel will be posted this week. Excellent service, thank you Etienne and Pedro. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted January 9, 2020 Author Share Posted January 9, 2020 Work on the C.450 continued. With glue dried the wings were cleaned up and the raised lines for C.460 retractable gear doors were sanded off. With a little bit of adjusting the wings fit the fuselage halves quite well, better than expected. The same goes for the tail plane. I'll have a better look at this when the fuselage is joined and both sides can be seen together I also sanded off the raised moldings for the oil cooler panels. The side was not present as early as 1934 and the bottom one will be replaced with photo etch. The exhaust stacks got their ends drilled out and the holes drilled through the fuselage. I later blanked off the holes from the inside with thin bits of styrene sheet so I have something to glue the stacks against after painting. All the few lovely blue plastic parts that will be used, apart from the instrument panel that will need to be replaced with some new scratching to back up the photo etch. I taped the fuselage together to prepare the recess for the new oil cooler panel. I wanted only finer adjustments remaining to be done later on when the fuselage is assembled. More work was also done on C.561, mostly preparing small parts. The landing gear parts ready for paint. The wheels will be dealt with when the replacement arrives. The pitot tube is made from a small resin part and a turned part. I drilled for a 0,4 mm brass pin into the wing. Another 0,4 mm brass pin was used for the tail skid. Propeller blades and spinner ready for paint. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Good progress! And wise modifications! Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Both moving along great to this layman's eyes. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted January 10, 2020 Author Share Posted January 10, 2020 Thanks a lot guys! A bit more progress on the C.561 today. Adjustments made to all twelve exhaust holes to ensure the stacks can be aligned OK. Engine detail test fit. This will have to be painted and installed early, with the hole plugged during painting. I drilled and installed two brass pins for the rudder to get a secure joint. Glued and with some small sanding of the top it looked like this. Tail plane check. I think this will be OK for glue and further work with filler. For the wing joints I drilled and glued 2 mm steel pins. I had to dry fit the major parts to see where this is heading. Every joint will need filler and work as progress will be made, but I like what I see. She just begs for a work bench test flight, but that's still some time away. Both recesses for the cooler panels had to be adjusted for a proper fit. This will have to be checked as primer work goes on later. Time to start work on the cockpits. The details molded into the sides of the C.450 looked a bit lame, so I sanded it all off and added new ribbing from Evergreen strips. Nothing here will be exactly correct, but I don't think too much will be seen anyway. The photo etched instrument panel is a good thing as it's much more like the C.450, compared to the kit pieces that are more C.460 if I understand it correctly. Seat belts will also be added using the pieces from the Renaissance photo etch. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 Excellent job! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted January 11, 2020 Author Share Posted January 11, 2020 Thanks a lot! With the C.450 fuselage taped together to check the fit of the new instrument panel I thought I'd also check the tail planes and the rest together. I then moved to the C.561 cockpit. Just using the kit parts, although more will be visible in this one than in the C.450 I'm afraid. Cutting seat belt material from wine bottle foil. My stock of such foil is so large I could almost spent the rest of my life building tiny seat belt models... Time to get some paint on the first parts. I'm not 100% sure on anything, but I will use some sort of grey for the cockpits and some slightly different grey for the seats and some beige for the seat belts. The C.561 propeller blades were quickly rejected by the paint department and sent back with a note of complaint to the preparation department. Tiny pin holes present in both tips. Quick work was done at the preparation department while other colors were sprayed. On the second attempt the blades passed inspection. Alclad aluminum was used. Sadly it doesn't seem that the C.561 had the black painted backside of the blades that is seen on the C.450 as I thought it's a cool detail. This lot will be left to dry out over night before some light dry brushing and washing of the cockpit sides and masking the C.450 propeller for back side paint. I also have to search my stock of paint for a suitable blue, even if that is some way off still. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Nice to see the progress! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Both looking very nice. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted January 12, 2020 Author Share Posted January 12, 2020 Painting the insides was quickly finished up this morning. Then I turned my attention to the C.450 propeller, masking for painting the backside of the blades. Here we are after flat black spraying and masking off. The instrument panels sanded back with 1200 grit after the flat black paint had thoroughly dried. The compasses that mounts at the top center of both instrument panels are made from a piece of photo etch and a body of turned aluminum. There is a turned piece supplied also in the C.450/460 detail set, and there was also one in my set from the beginning, but I seem to have wasted it away somewhere. I don't think I have seen it during the build, but it used to be there. I created a new piece from a small light lens and a slice of aluminum tube. There are no suitable decals for the C.450 instrument panel. I rummaged my scrap box of 1/43 car instrument decals and came up with some usable pieces. I placed them each individually on the backing plate, checking with the photo etch part as I went on. I ended up with this after some gloss clear was applied on the faces. Seat belts and seats fitted. The Renault 12R engine fitted to the C.561. Or at least the front of it. With the nose section glued in place there is a hint of the engine to be seen inside. The finished C.561 cockpit before closing up the fuselage. There will be some work needed with filler and sanding to finish the top of the fuselage. I will wait with fitting the instrument panel until just before fitting the canopy. With the all work necessary before that I would most likely just damage it otherwise. The C.450 cockpit parts glued into the right fuselage half, checking the fit against the left side as the glue settled. The two halves are at last ready to be joined with glue once and for all. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 A real pleasure to watch the build unfold. Cheers 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 On 1/11/2020 at 10:38 AM, Bengalensis said: Could you please tell me what's that paste/filler? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted January 13, 2020 Author Share Posted January 13, 2020 8 hours ago, Moa said: Could you please tell me what's that paste/filler? Automotive 2-part filler; PPG A730. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted January 13, 2020 Share Posted January 13, 2020 Good steady progress, both looking great. Those I/P's look good too. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted January 13, 2020 Author Share Posted January 13, 2020 Thanks a lot guys, glad you like the work. I ended yesterday evening joining the C450 fuselage. It went together quite well and this was left over night to dry up. This morning I have cleaned up the joint, all good so far. But now I have to face the dilemma. There are a number of thin raised panel lines on the fuselage. On top of that problem all of those lines going across the joint are of course gone. The next problem is that scribing is my least preferred modelling work, by far. It is even worse than masking... To answer that problem I applied a thin layer of filler to the top fuselage part of the C561. @Moa Here is the PPG filler I use. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted January 13, 2020 Share Posted January 13, 2020 3 hours ago, Bengalensis said: There are a number of thin raised panel lines on the fuselage. You have to get rid of them. I hate them too and I build in 1/72. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted January 13, 2020 Author Share Posted January 13, 2020 11 minutes ago, Courageous said: You have to get rid of them. I hate them too and I build in 1/72. Stuart You're absolutely right, there is no other way. I kept looking the other way though and sanded the nose joint and filler I applied smooth. I even tidied up some panel lines and rescribed others. It's far more enjoyable scribing resin than polystyrene in my world, even if it's far from fun. The C.561 is ready for tail planes and wings. Then I had to face it. Get over it. Get it done. So here we are right now, all scribing basically done and lightly sanded, next is some cleaning of them all. It feels pretty good, but it's not absolute perfection, some more attention will be needed after primer, but I can move on. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted January 13, 2020 Share Posted January 13, 2020 Good work! And thanks for the filler information! It has Greek lettering, which makes it philosophically deep. Cheers 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted January 14, 2020 Author Share Posted January 14, 2020 On 13/01/2020 at 18:43, Moa said: It has Greek lettering, which makes it philosophically deep. You're right, I'd never thought of that before. That might be a reason why I find it so good to work with? The C.450 rigged up for tail plane fitting. Tail planes permanently fitted. A small bit of filler work will be necessary on both, but only very little. And the C.450 got its Renault 456 inline 6 cylinder engine. The wings are glued. Looking quite good, a bit of filler will be necessary here too of course. Then the wings for C.561 was glued, epoxy on the steel pins are used here, then a bead of CA along the whole joint. This one will need more work with filler, and reshaping the upper sections of both wing roots. The C.450 was quickly ready for some masking and a first coat of primer. I will prime and sand both machines to satisfaction before fitting the canopies, and then a thin last coat of primer, at least that's the plan. Or I might paint the C.450 canopy separately. Will have to dwell on that. More work necessary on the C.561, but it's getting there. There is some detail molded into the wing part of the wheel wells, but I'm not that happy with it. I removed the detail and cleaned up as best I could, then added some new ribbing, just like that, with no further research. The top side needed quite a lot of shaping and sanding of the roots, but hopefully this will do it. The C.561 also ready for masking and primer in the end. And I have still not looked for that blue paint... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted January 14, 2020 Share Posted January 14, 2020 Excellent subjects, excellent progress and excellent quality. Such beautiful lines, not to mention the glamor of racers per se. A pleasure to see it developing. Cheers 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 All I can is a repeat of Moa's words. 13 hours ago, Bengalensis said: added some new ribbing, just like that, with no further research. My 1/72 C.714R has no detail, nobody knows what should be in there, so I may have to pinch that idea. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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