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Air Bleu Caudron Simoun F-ANRO (Heller 1/72)


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Hello once again!
 

I would like to present you my latest work which wasn't shown here in WIP. My friend Pavel and I decided to build the same model kit and the choice fell on this beautiful Caudron. He planned to recreate the artbox F-ANXM (which was silver not yellow!!!) and I wanted the blue F-ANRO which is also in museum). The kit is really advanced even for it's old age. Except for a few mistakes made by the producer there is only two bigger issues - the shape of the undercarriage and the problematic two piece windscreen. 
I decided to work on the details in the interior so my build was delayed and Pavel was the first one who completed the build. His result is here - https://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=136419

I am really looking forward to DoraWings 1/48 Simoun kit and also to another Caudrons in my collection :)
And if you are interested in my blue colour - I used the Vallejo Model Air French Blue (71088)
Hope you like it and thanks fot looking!

 

P1570155 P1570146 P1570152

 

P1570158 P1570145 P1570138 P1570143 P1570149 P1570154 P1570159 P1570160 P1570161 P1570162 P1570163 P1570164 P1570165

 

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Firstly, let me congratulate the pair of you for a beautiful brace of Caudrons.

Full marks to your friend for getting the colour scheme of Doret's plane correct....it doesn't happen often.

 

However, for the Air Bleu plane, unfortunately things are rather different. Air Bleu was a specialist mail-carrying company and for few years carried all France's internal air mail in their blue envelopes. They carried NO passengers. The seats were replaced by a fenced-off area for carrying the mail sacks on all their aircraft. Also, they were not painted 'French Blue', but an unusual metallic shade, which the museum aircraft attempts to emulate. This is very clear from studying the contemporary photos. The moral here is......you can never do too much research.

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Excellent work on both counts. They both look lovely and those internal detail  photos are just amazing. Interesting notes provided by @Roger Holden. I know Heller mention Humbrol 52 for their Metallic Blue colour call out so would this be closer to what we believe is correct? 
 

Cheers and well modelled.. Dave 

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40 minutes ago, Roger Holden said:

Firstly, let me congratulate the pair of you for a beautiful brace of Caudrons.

Full marks to your friend for getting the colour scheme of Doret's plane correct....it doesn't happen often.

 

However, for the Air Bleu plane, unfortunately things are rather different. Air Bleu was a specialist mail-carrying company and for few years carried all France's internal air mail in their blue envelopes. They carried NO passengers. The seats were replaced by a fenced-off area for carrying the mail sacks on all their aircraft. Also, they were not painted 'French Blue', but an unusual metallic shade, which the museum aircraft attempts to emulate. This is very clear from studying the contemporary photos. The moral here is......you can never do too much research.

Hello Roger and thanks a lot for the information you provided to me. You are absolutely right with that last sentence. My process of thoughts was that I will recreate the interior as it is in the museum and then I chose the marking. I was aware of a few original Air Bleu photos but I did'n notice the missing seats. The colour was advised by my friend who builds the Caudron Racers but obviously it doens't mean that they were the same on racer and the Simoun. I have little knowledge about the British aviation and this was my first French aircraft. I think this is definitelly my new field of research now. I really like all the Caudrons and I plan to build the Goéland next (also in blue marking - the RS models boxart). I will be very pleased if you will take a look at the work in progress and sometimes advise me a forther information :)

As you see, I can't do nothing with this Simoun now, but that's ok because the DoraWings model kit will be next attempt to do it right (I would like to make a St Ex's machine)
Thanks a lot once again!

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1 hour ago, Andrew.S said:

Hello Roger and thanks a lot for the information you provided to me. You are absolutely right with that last sentence.

Ok, Andrew. Thanks for taking my comments in a good spirit ! Not everyone does. Some get defensive or have closed minds. Anyway, fwiw I have 4 books on the Simoun/Caudron Renaults, one on Air Bleu, plus the various Avions/Fana/Replic magazine articles. If you had posted some early-stage wips, I would have commented then. I've been researching this stuff for more than 35 years and trying to get everything right is a bit of a passion. I'll watch out for your Goeland.....

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2 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Excellent work on both counts. They both look lovely and those internal detail  photos are just amazing. Interesting notes provided by @Roger Holden. I know Heller mention Humbrol 52 for their Metallic Blue colour call out so would this be closer to what we believe is correct? 
 

Cheers and well modelled.. Dave 

I wasn't aware Heller had featured one of those aircraft in their kit;must be a recent re-issue. Not sure if the original colour is known for certain, but I think it should be a medium metallic blue. The preserved aircraft seems a bit dark in photos, but may be the lighting.

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8 minutes ago, Roger Holden said:

I wasn't aware Heller had featured one of those aircraft in their kit;must be a recent re-issue. Not sure if the original colour is known for certain, but I think it should be a medium metallic blue. The preserved aircraft seems a bit dark in photos, but may be the lighting.


Yes Roger, the latest Heller C.635 issue Includes decals for Air Bleu as well the wing and hori stab red stripes for Doret’s plane. It’s a lovely overall package. 
Cheers.. Dave

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The interior is awesome, particularly these sweet chairs. Air Bleu must have been so impressed by them that they decided to equip their planes with those passenger seats eventually 😀

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17 hours ago, Moa said:

Beautifully finished model/s!

Incredible modeling skills, congrats to you two.

I agree, the Heller kit, after all these years, can still be made into a nice model.

I made ten years ago F-ANRU with it.

Many Heller kits have a commendable finesse, especially for the time.

Great subject choices.

Thank you very much Moa! You are absolutely right, they did a good job back then...

:)

 

17 hours ago, Toryu said:

The interior is awesome, particularly these sweet chairs. Air Bleu must have been so impressed by them that they decided to equip their planes with those passenger seats eventually 😀

Thanks for your kind words :D I'm glad you like it!

 

20 hours ago, Roger Holden said:

Ok, Andrew. Thanks for taking my comments in a good spirit ! Not everyone does. Some get defensive or have closed minds. Anyway, fwiw I have 4 books on the Simoun/Caudron Renaults, one on Air Bleu, plus the various Avions/Fana/Replic magazine articles. If you had posted some early-stage wips, I would have commented then. I've been researching this stuff for more than 35 years and trying to get everything right is a bit of a passion. I'll watch out for your Goeland.....

I am happy that you didn't keep the information for yourself! I like to do a research for every model I build but sometimes there is not enough time for that :)

 

22 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Excellent work on both counts. They both look lovely and those internal detail  photos are just amazing. Interesting notes provided by @Roger Holden. I know Heller mention Humbrol 52 for their Metallic Blue colour call out so would this be closer to what we believe is correct? 
 

Cheers and well modelled.. Dave 

 

Thank's Dave! I hope that the Humbrol Baltic Blue with white or silver underlayer will be just fine. :) Cheers!

 

 

 

 

Thank you very much you all! :)

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