Azur FRROM 1/72 Renard R-31 - Belgium May 1940

[PattheCat]

Hello fellow BMers,

 

My entry is Azur Frrom 1/72 Renard R-31. 

It's the only airplane designed and built in Belgium to have seen combat during WWII. It's a two seater recon airplane of which 34 were delivered in 1934-1935. It was already obsolete when entering service (underpowered: 500hp, slow: 300 kph max, unarmored). Twenty-one were still serving in two frontline squadrons (named Blue/Red Sioux) during the German invasion of Belgium on 10 May 1940. Eighteen days later 9 were left and were destroyed by their crews.

 

Yes, it's a plane, again. But this time I'll take the plunge as it's my first short run kit. Also some tiny photoetch parts are included in the box. Enough to make me feel I'm not "in my comfort zone".

 

Here is the usual cursory overview of the box art and contents. You get 39 plastic parts (2 not used), a small PE fret, decals for 3 aircraft - all for Belgian Air Force planes, the only user, an instruction booklet with color profiles referencing Gunze/Mr. Hobby paints.

 

".

 

The parts are nicely cast.  

 

No traces of flash. The sprue gates for the small parts are really much thinner than what I expected

 

Clear.

 

Fasten your seatbelts.

 

 

I've begun to test fit the parts. First "new feeling": the plastic is much softer than what I'm used to so the sanding stick and cutter bite somewhat too easily in for my liking.

We'll see where it goes.

 

Don't forget to have fun with your "uncomfortable" builds!

 

Good night.

 

Pat.

 

 

[AdrianMF]

Welcome aboard Pat. Good to see you are flying the flag for Belgium!

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

 

[Mr T]

A nice choice of a less swell known aircraft. There is something attractive about the 30's aircraft in transition to 'more modern' designs. 

[Heather Kay]

I built this kit ages ago. It’s a lovely little model.

 

Don't forget, plenty of images available from Belgian Wings…

 

https://www.belgian-wings.be/renard-r-31

 

 

[Ray S]

This looks very promising! When I saw the aircraft's picture, my first thought was a parasol-winged Hawker Fury or Demon. I wonder if there was a design link?

 

I have built one Azur-Frrom kit (a Vildebeest) and was mightily impressed with it, so I hope you have as much fun with yours (secretly, of course)

 

All the best, Ray

[stevehnz]

Nice choice Pat, I've one of these squirrelled away too, the squirrels say I can't have it just yet, so I'll have to enjoy watching you build yours. The little sods seem to think they run my stock  

Steve.

[Dave Slowbuild]

I will follow along too, Pat, if I may?

Gorgeous aircraft - hope you enjoy being out of your comfort zone!

[TonyW]

Nice looking plane from a very interesting period. The mouldings look really crisp and clean

 

Enjoy the build.

 

Tony.

[81-er]

That's a really interesting looking aircraft, Pat. The kit box/instructions remind me of Special Hobby, are the brands linked?

 

James

[PattheCat]

1 hour ago, 81-er said:

That's a really interesting looking aircraft, Pat. The kit box/instructions remind me of Special Hobby, are the brands linked?

 

James

 

Good morning James @81-er,

I indeed have also been thinking - given strong similarities in the type of plastic and instructions - that they have a link.

Special Hobby mentions Azur on their site as an "own production" brand.

Frrom (pun intended) all that I do more than suspect that they - at the least - take care of the moulding process.

Sorry, but I don't know more.

Kind regards.

Pat.

 

[PeterB]

1 hour ago, PattheCat said:

 

Good morning James @81-er,

I indeed have also been thinking - given strong similarities in the type of plastic and instructions - that they have a link.

Special Hobby mentions Azur on their site as an "own production" brand.

Frrom (pun intended) all that I do more than suspect that they - at the least - take care of the moulding process.

Sorry, but I don't know more.

Kind regards.

Pat.

 

Hi Pat,

There is a whole clutch of model companies based in Prague and whilst they may in some cases have started independently they are now merged or at least connected in some way- MPM, CMK, Azur, Frrom, Planet, Special Hobby/Armour/Navy. They also make models for other companies such as Eduard and Xtrakit. I seem to remember Sword is also in Prague, but that may just be a coincidence.

 

On 4/10/2023 at 8:44 AM, Ray S said:

This looks very promising! When I saw the aircraft's picture, my first thought was a parasol-winged Hawker Fury or Demon. I wonder if there was a design link?

 

I have built one Azur-Frrom kit (a Vildebeest) and was mightily impressed with it, so I hope you have as much fun with yours (secretly, of course)

 

All the best, Ray

 

Know what you mean Ray,

 

Avions Fairey was a Belgian subsidiary of Fairey Aviation and built a few versions such as the Fox in that country - maybe that was an influence?

 

Pete

[Heather Kay]

16 minutes ago, PeterB said:

Avions Fairey was a Belgian subsidiary of Fairey Aviation and built a few versions such as the Fox in that country - maybe that was an influence?

The frontal aspect similarities are probably due to them all adopting the Rolls-Royce Kestrel engine.

[PattheCat]

My thanks to Heather @Heather Kay and Peter @PeterB for they valuable input.

[CliffB]

As others have said, a beautiful looking aircraft.  Good luck with the build Pat 

[PattheCat]

Good evening,

 

An initial progress report is amply due.

Question: do I feel uncomfortable?

Answer: I swore a tad more than usual as it's now confirmed I don't like the plastic used.

 

Tailplane strut broken in three just holding it in the tweezers but no problem to repair it (left one) with extra thin and a little bit of dissolved putty.

 

 

Never had such a surprise! Lower wing part broken while sanding on a flat surface to thin the trailing edge.

 

 

Some cockpit parts were glued and all sprayed with Stynylrez grey primer. Same with the wheels and the radiator subassembly (I decided to invert the front part, I'll explain why later in the build)

.

 

The PE seatbelts were a real pleasure to shape over the seats (not yet glued to) . The metal is very thin and flexible but not springy. It's like they had been annealed.

 

 

Some painting is planned but not sooner than sunday thus I already wish you a pleasant weekend.

 

Pat.

 

 

 

[TonyW]

Those seats look amazing.

 

I've just had a wing trailing edge break on my wooden kit build, doing the same kind of sanding down as you. 🙄

[PeterB]

On 4/24/2023 at 9:12 AM, TonyW said:

Those seats look amazing.

 

I've just had a wing trailing edge break on my wooden kit build, doing the same kind of sanding down as you. 🙄

I guess that if they have even a slight amount of dihedral you will need to support them appropriately or they will be stressed, but even so they must be brittle - be they wood, resin or plastic, but then it is of course easy to be wise after the event!

 

Pete

Edited April 25, 2023 by PeterB

[Mr T]

Nice progress and those seat belts do look good. I have had experience of breaking struts with slightly brittle plastic, but, not a major component. The small parts on my Comet tank showed a similar tendency to sudden unplanned disassembly in SpaceX speak. 

[PattheCat]

My apologies for reacting slowly to your posts but I keep having small problems with my mails and notifications (some arriving with one week of delay 😠). No reaction from my Internet provider and I still couldn't find a cause linked to the computer

 

On 4/24/2023 at 10:12 AM, TonyW said:

Those seats look amazing.

 

I've just had a wing trailing edge break on my wooden kit build, doing the same kind of sanding down as you. 🙄

Sorry to hear about that @TonyW. I hope you could set it right.

 

On 4/26/2023 at 12:16 AM, PeterB said:

I guess that if they have even a slight amount of dihedral you will need to support them appropriately or they will be stressed, but even so they must be brittle - be they wood, resin or plastic, but then it is of course easy to be wise after the event!

 

Pete

That's just the case @PeterB, slight dihedral and a weak spot at the center where there is a recess to insert the wing on it's center "support bracket" at the top of the fuselage.

 

3 hours ago, Mr T said:

Nice progress and those seat belts do look good. I have had experience of breaking struts with slightly brittle plastic, but, not a major component. The small parts on my Comet tank showed a similar tendency to sudden unplanned disassembly in SpaceX speak. 

 

Thanks @Mr T. Same for me (control sticks are a classic for me). Isn't " unplanned disassemby" in the case of SpaceX not a (just a little 🤣 ) too politically correct description?

 

You may expect some pics tomorrow.

 

Nice weekend to all of you.

 

Pat.

[Marcel]

Good progress. When I was building this model a couple of years ago (it can be found here on BM somewhere) the wing half broke as well - but then it was in fact easier to sand the trailing edges.

[AlxBNE]

Short run kit with tiny PE..... definitely not my comfort zone either.

Coming together really well and looks great with a coat of primer on.

Looking forward to some colour.

[PattheCat]

Hello,

 

Not a lot of progress made but some painting done around the pit.

 

Vallejo Metal Color aluminium was airbrushed on the framing and covered with fine masking tape.

Most of my paints are Gunze acrylics so the recommended "sail" colour was then used for the cockpit sides.

Just a little bit of weathering was applied. Tamiya metallic grey brushed on the alu painted details (dark alu for the "cylinder?" thingie) and sail colour was largely thinned and mixed with Tamiya smoke for some blotches on the canvas.

As I could find no clear picture of the actual cockpit, I don't know if the upper part was made out of alumium, canvas or wood. Wood was used for the replica at Brussels Air Museum but that's no real proof I think as they also used wood for the framing which was aluminium.

 

Let's say I like it like it is now, for lack of evidence.

 

And here is the what comes inside, also painted in different shades of aluminium (plain, dull, dark), Gunze wood for the seats, leather for the collars (?).

 

Both IP's are supposed to be glued to a fuselage half. You can see on the picture that I attached the front one with blu tack to the part I think to be the structure to support the wing "center strut" on the real thing. Because putting the panel in its designed place leaves zero room between it and the control column I decided to somewhat adjust things to get this result:

 

What I did is to move the floor assembly 0.5 mm backwards and scrape around the rear of the IP for another 0.3 mm (I only had to remove the locating ridge on the fuselage halves, but that's just like me folks 😂) 

 

I still have to paint  the instrument panels (no decals included for these)and seatbelts then put them into place to close the fuselage.

 

I wish you good modelling or good night, depending on your time zone and/or inclination.

 

Pat.

 

[Ray S]

Excellent progress here Pat. It is a shame about the disintegrating parts, but you seem to be overcoming the issues well. The internals look fabulous, and it was a big win with those seat belts, they looked very good indeed. Also, a good recovery for the instrument panel/control column problem.

 

Cheers,

 

Ray

[PattheCat]

23 minutes ago, Ray S said:

Excellent progress here Pat. It is a shame about the disintegrating parts, but you seem to be overcoming the issues well. The internals look fabulous, and it was a big win with those seat belts, they looked very good indeed. Also, a good recovery for the instrument panel/control column problem.

 

Cheers,

 

Ray

 

Thank you Ray @Ray S. That's a very nice little kit. I'm positively surprised.

As it is, small annoyances but no real issues. Your support is much appreciated.

 

Cheers.

Pat.

[AdrianMF]

The interior is looking good. I have the "no room to move the stick" problem quite often too!

 

Regards,

Adrian