Caudron G.III D2 - Belgian Air Force - Choroszy Modelbud 1/72

[NMLeonov]

Good day!

 

Today I would like to present a most delicate and fiddly recent completion of mine. It is training version of the Caudron G.III, which can rightly be called the first plane of many successful Allied aviators of the Great War. I didn't feel like documenting this build with too many in-progress pictures, but I was more than a little intimidated when I first looked in the box. It is entirely made of somewhat flexible resin, with photoetched wheel spokes. The major components are of course the wings, the engine, and crew nacelle - with interplane struts and the twin tail booms making up the majority of the model, it was mostly just lots of resin sticks to be cut off of casting blocks! Indeed, the preparation of each strut and beam took time, and I fashioned a simple jig out of styrofoam to hold all the wooden parts upright for painting. Then, after lots of cussing while getting the sesquiplane wings oriented correctly, I filled in the remaining area where some interplane struts weren't long enough, and started the rigging.

 

From the kit description: 

The Caudron G.III was designed by René and Gaston Caudron as a development of their earlier Caudron G.II for military use. It first flew in May 1914. The aircraft had a short crew nacelle, with an engine in the nose of the nacelle, and twin open tailbooms. It was of sesquiplane layout, and used wing warping for lateral control, although this was replaced by conventional ailerons fitted on the upper wing in late production aircraft. Usually, the G.III was not equipped with any weapons, although rifle-caliber weapons and hand-released small bombs were carried. Most G.IIIs were the A.2 model, used by numerous air forces for reconnaissance and artillery spotting on the Western Front, Russia, and the Middle East. The G.III D2 was a two-seat trainer aircraft, equipped with dual controls, and powered by a 80hp Le Rhône air-cooled rotary engine. The latest versions were equipped with more powerful 100hp Anzani 10 radial engine. Operators: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Colombia, Denmark, El Salvador, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Peru, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela.

 

 

 

 

I used two types of rigging material here, in an attempt to portray the difference of thickness between bracing and control wires. For the interplane bracing, I used EZ Line "Fine" .003" material and this was especially difficult to work with. I wish I had gotten a lot of the rigging to look more straight, but I think it is partly a downfall of EZ Line to curl up at the end when dabbed in CA glue. The control wires were done with Uschi .001" superfine line, and this was the stuff I should have been using all along. It's basically spiderweb and hard to see, but coincidentally much easier to glue. It also looks much more in-scale for 1/72. Safe to say, I will use exclusively the Uschi product from now on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I won't pretend to have done all the rigging as on the real deal... but I did most of it! 😁

 

 

 

 

 

Overall a very different and challenging build. I am still getting used to working with resin. To tell you the truth, I wish I had reserved the effort for the fantastic looking G.III from Copper State Models in 1/32. Who says I can't have both.. 😅

 

Thanks for looking!

Edited May 16, 2022 by Pyradus

[invidia]

Looks fantastic 

[Bertie McBoatface]

Assembling fragile sticks of resin with spider webs; what relaxing ways to spend our time we modellers come up with. Congratulations for ever getting to the end of such a painstaking project. The tail booms look especially amazing. 

 

It's such a shame that the EZ line let you down so. I had the same experience with the stuff curling away from the drops of glue I was trying to get them to lock on to. So frustrating.

[cduckworth]

Beautiful model.  I’ve noticed EZ line coming apart on my older 1/48 builds.  So obviously not using it anymore. 

[Pete in a shed]

Aways been tempted by resin kits but struts, especially resin ones!!, puts me off, did you have many breakages? This looks brilliant and I enjoyed the write up too. I've also had the same problem with EZ line when making aerial wires.

Pete

[BleedingBlue]

Much respect for all that rigging you did.  Turned out really good.

[dov]

After many of Coroszy models, my contratulation! I admire your job. Beautiful! Excellent. 

Happy modelling 

[Wulfman]

Awesome modelling !

 

Wulfman

[k5054nz]

I didn't even know there was a G.III in 1/72, how fantastic! Beautiful job Pyradus! I for one hope you do indulge in the CSM kit too...

 

And to add to your history of the type: we had several civilian examples in New Zealand before and during the Great War, sadly now all long gone.

Edited May 16, 2022 by k5054nz

[Sergei]

Well done with this Choroszy kit. I am about to finish their Airco DH-1  and it is the most difficult kit I have ever attempted so my admiration for your having completed the Caudron!

 

Having wrestled with EZLine I now use 32 gauge florists' wire (Amazon have it). It makes rigging a lot easier - and permanent!

[billn53]

Excellent work!
 

I haven’t done a boatload of rigging, but I’ve always had good experiences with Uschi’s line. Another, very similar product is Infini Model’s “Aero Rigging”, which I used on my 1/48 Lindberg Jenny.

[billn53]

1 hour ago, Sergei said:

 

Having wrestled with EZLine I now use 32 gauge florists' wire (Amazon have it). It makes rigging a lot easier - and permanent!

Hmmm… Can’t find it on Amazon. I’m sure you don’t mean the cloth-wrapped wire. I’d love to find some to experiment with.

[NMLeonov]

On 5/16/2022 at 4:02 AM, Bertie Psmith said:

Assembling fragile sticks of resin with spider webs; what relaxing ways to spend our time we modellers come up with. Congratulations for ever getting to the end of such a painstaking project. The tail booms look especially amazing. 

 

It's such a shame that the EZ line let you down so. I had the same experience with the stuff curling away from the drops of glue I was trying to get them to lock on to. So frustrating.

 

Hi Bertie, yes I often found myself wondering why I was playing around with resin sticks for hours on end. At least it can be a humorous affliction we modellers have! Thank you!

 

On 5/16/2022 at 5:17 AM, Pete in a shed said:

Aways been tempted by resin kits but struts, especially resin ones!!, puts me off, did you have many breakages? This looks brilliant and I enjoyed the write up too. I've also had the same problem with EZ line when making aerial wires.

Pete

 

Pete, I did have a couple moments where I moved my brush too quickly and a strut would snap off completely, which is not what I'm used to from plastic models! I definitely had to handle this one with care. I'm glad you like it!

 

On 5/16/2022 at 1:03 AM, invidia said:

Looks fantastic 

 

On 5/16/2022 at 4:19 AM, cduckworth said:

Beautiful model.  I’ve noticed EZ line coming apart on my older 1/48 builds.  So obviously not using it anymore. 

 

On 5/16/2022 at 5:42 AM, BleedingBlue said:

Much respect for all that rigging you did.  Turned out really good.

 

On 5/16/2022 at 10:41 AM, dov said:

After many of Coroszy models, my contratulation! I admire your job. Beautiful! Excellent. 

Happy modelling 

 

On 5/16/2022 at 11:59 AM, Wulfman said:

Awesome modelling !

 

Wulfman

 

22 hours ago, k5054nz said:

I didn't even know there was a G.III in 1/72, how fantastic! Beautiful job Pyradus! I for one hope you do indulge in the CSM kit too...

 

And to add to your history of the type: we had several civilian examples in New Zealand before and during the Great War, sadly now all long gone.

 

21 hours ago, Sergei said:

Well done with this Choroszy kit. I am about to finish their Airco DH-1  and it is the most difficult kit I have ever attempted so my admiration for your having completed the Caudron!

 

Having wrestled with EZLine I now use 32 gauge florists' wire (Amazon have it). It makes rigging a lot easier - and permanent!

 

20 hours ago, billn53 said:

Excellent work!
 

I haven’t done a boatload of rigging, but I’ve always had good experiences with Uschi’s line. Another, very similar product is Infini Model’s “Aero Rigging”, which I used on my 1/48 Lindberg Jenny.

 

My friends, thank you for your gentlemanly comments! There is something special about the pioneering designs of WWI. And some excellent recommendations for various other rigging materials.