DocRob

After working on the bottom fuselage seam, I added all the major components to the fuselage. You glue the wings together first, push them into the fuselage and than add the intersecting cowling piece. Smart engineering and the fit is perfect. The tail was glued into place and now I have to wait for the delivery of my hopefully good looking blue color. Because size was an issue in this thread, I wanted to make a short comparison with other 1/48 planes, I built. The mighty MIG is no real match, the Caudron looks like an external tank with wings. The Hellcat is a monster against this tiny racer and even the small WWI Siemens Schuckert D.III has a lot more wingspan, but a shorter fuselage. Cheers Rob

Some Caudron racers competed in American pylon races, but the C.561 was designed exclusively to win the third 'Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe' in 1936, were the rules were the following: In 1931 Suzanne Deutsch de la Meurthe initiated a new competition for the Coupe, which was contested for the first time on 29 May 1933.[12] The trial was to be run in two 1,000km stages separated by a 90 minutes refuelling stop, and was limited to aircraft with an engine capacity of less than eight litres. The starting point of the race was still at the aerodrome at Étampes. Suzanne Deutsch de la Meurthe was offering one million Francs, and the Ministère de l'Air (Air Ministry) offered another three million in prize money.[13] The course was over 100 km (62 miles), from Etampes aerodrome to Chartres Bonce and back. The race itself was in two stages, each of 1,000 km (625 miles). (Wikipedia) I guess with that configuration, there was a lot of straight flying. The only Caudron C.561 was not contending due to technical difficulties in 1936. Cheers Rob

The cockpit is a sparse affair. I added an oxygen bottle, some levers and pedals, but most will stay unseen in the pit. The seat belts are made from PE and are the ones supplied with the kit. I sprayed the interior matte aluminum, as I think, the constructors would have gone for weight reduction at all cost and omit paint. By the way, I glued the fuselage halves together, an easy task, given the overall quality and fit of the resin, which is even equipped with guiding pegs. The seam on the lower fuselage was filled with some black CA, on the upper side, there is virtually no seam. Cheers Rob

These spoked wheels look the part, CDW. Thanks for the warning about the spoke nipple count. I have no carpet in my cave, but don't want to go hunting for these tiny buggers. I may wear an apron, like jewelers do. Cheers Rob

I guess, lightweight goes for the pilot as well in these racers, CDW. The Caudron is a very small airframe and the cockpit is as well. Cheers Rob

Andy and Egilman, many thanks for nearing in on the color question, it seems, like the earlier Caudron models where of a lighter blue color. But the rendition of the French flag and the GSB examples in Egilmans pictures are very close to my eye. I will mix some blue hues soon and test spray them and will decide then. Cheers Rob

Thank you LegoKing, if I had only used the plastic of the kit, it would have been looking like a piece of junk as well. The PE and printed parts made all the difference and some patience, of course. Cheers Rob

Thank you Yves and Andy. The C.460 seems to have been painted in a lighter blue tone, like the replica you showed, Andy. There are lots of pictures from that airframe and there were three built, with a bit of service time. The C.561 was only built once and it didn't took part in the races, it was built for due to technical difficulties. To my knowledge the C.460 was later also flown in US races. I also own the comic book which indicates some mid blue shade, but the pictures @Egilman has posted indicate a darker hue. I guess it will we difficult to find the correct color, given, many photos were retouched and are also not always accurate. I will make some tests on spare parts and then will decide. Cheers Rob

Thank you Egilman, where do you find all these pictures. The color really looks like GSB to me. Unfortunately I don't have such a dark blue in my shelf and it seem, like I have to mix something. Also interesting is the matte finish, which I would have preferred to a high gloss paintjob. Cheers Rob

With lots of my projects, I try to emphasize the possible difficult to solve problems, before I'm at the actual stage of the build. Having the how-to's in my head, helps to keep a clear sight. I considered masking the polished aluminum covers, after spraying them with chrome or polished aluminum following a gloss lack primer. Then I remembered, I once bought a sheet of Bare Metal foil and tried it onto one engine cover. It's not perfect in the pic, but I hope, I can do better after the blue color has been sprayed on. For now it's peeled off again. Speaking of blue, I almost decided to use the left one, Tamiya LP-6 gloss Pure Blue, but will try the darker LP-78 Flat Blue also on a piece of scrap. Lastly, I detailed the cockpit with some tiny PE parts and added the futurized canopy, to see , which insights could be expected. The canopy holds only through friction and I think, I will leave it off for painting, because I had some slight fogging issues with polystyrol canopies and lacquer paints, lately. Cheers Rob

Thanks a lot for the pics and opinion Egilman. The second picture, I've never seen before, great find, as it's far more conclusive than the well known first one. It shows not only, that dull aluminum or light grey would be the right choice, but also, how the canopy opens. The different coloring? / reflection? of the engine top cowling is also remarkable. I've not seen this before either. Cheers Rob

The fuselage color seems to be discussed relatively often for such a rarely build plane. It varies from Bugatti blue to dark blue and I will stay on the darker end of this discussion. Even more difficult is to determine the interior color. My best guess is natural aluminum, to reduce weight, but light grey would be an option too. Does anybody have an opinion or even facts about this? Cheers Rob

Thank you Gentlemen, Not with racer's pace, but with little steps the Caudron build continued. After some fine tuning for the fitting of the main components, I wanted to try, if the punch press method for the wheel covers works. I annealed the PE parts, until they changed to a bluish tint and then punched. ...and it worked. I may have gotten the PE-brass a bit softer with more heat, but due to the two narrow connection point wouldn't risk it. Here is an example for the clever design of the kit, all main component key into each other, do you hear that Zoukei Moura ? Finally, I cleaned all the resin parts thoroughly in soap water, Future dipped the canopy for enhanced clarity and started with the interior assembly. The front section was assembled and here again, the ingenuity shows, because the air intake in front and one on the cowling have an insert, which is cast to exact measure, to be used as a guiding element. Cheers Rob

Me neither, I have the same kit and extras and it itched me sometimes to start the Honda. I will follow your build and take place on the sparse (non existent in fact) back seat. Cheers Rob

Welcome on board Ken and Egilman, it's a bit crammed in that whacky little racer's cockpit, but I will see what I can do, to make it a pleasant ride for you . Cheers Rob

Thank you Egilman, once for the praise and second for the background info on the paintjobs of the USS Arizona. I knew, the blue-grey paint was applied shortly before the attack, but wanted to learn a bit about weathering in this kind of scales. I'm not after a 100% accuracy and take my liberties with my builds, which I often start, because I have a fascination for the subject and because I want to learn something new, modeling wise. I live a bit isolated with no modeling community around (except MSW and LSM), so I build only for my own pleasure and not for competition, it's more about challenging myself. Like you, I like the USS Arizona a lot and when I saw the Eduard boxing, I was sold. If my build struck a chord with you, I'm pleased and look forward to your rendition. Cheers Rob

Thank you Ken and Edward, the built was demanding at times, but well satisfying. Speaking of detail, The USS Arizona is not quite finished, the anchors are missing and I noticed, I forgot the yellow prop blade markings on the Kingfisher planes. Then there's the rigging. I've not decided finally, how deep I will get into that. As for the next build, the decision is made. I will build a sleek flying racehorse, diversification is the best medicine against boredom . Caudron C.561 French Racing Plane - 1/48 - S.B.S. Cheers Rob

Très cool was my first impression when I've first seen the Caudron C.561, what a design, completely different than other race planes of it's time. The design was not so much max power orientated, than sleek and aerodynamic. My last contact with the whacky racer were Hugault's paintings in the German version of the comic book 'Au-dela des nuages T1'. I bought the kit a while ago, initially after I stumbled over it somewhere in the net, I couldn't resist the magnetizing box art. The producing company is from Hungary and they produce resin planes and accessories in 1/48 and 1/72 mainly. When I opened the sturdy and beautiful designed box, I was up to my next wow. Securely packed where the grey resin parts for the airframe, including a quite detailed interior, along with a clear (and I mean clear) resin canopy, metal casted wheel struts, a PE-fret, including seatbelts, a dashboard, wheel covers and other detail parts, Kabuki canopy masks, decals, a manual and a separate four side color print. The quality of the resin is perfect, there are no bubbles or blemishes, the whole kit oozes a 'build me' type of quality and as it is my first full resin plane build, I have to confess, all my fear was gone, after inspecting the kit contents. Yesterday, with my USS Arizona build more or less in the books, I decided to use a good spare hour for removing the cast blocks (easy) and do some test fitting. What's to say, the first impression didn't exaggerate, the fit is almost perfect and it seems, filler will only be needed in small quantities on the bottom seam of the fuselage. The parts design is absolutely clever, especially around the wing root to fuselage to engine cowling area and even includes guiding pegs, Chapeau S.B.S. Another example for smart design are the wheel well covers, which are made from PE, which should be annealed and then press formed between the included resin punches. This kit is a true gem, it doesn't happen very often to me, that I'm totally enthusiastic from first of the kit, through opening and inspecting the box and dry fitting and getting a grip for the kit. Cheers Rob

Thank you Paul, I'm completely undecided about my next build. It could be a 1/48 Oeffag 253, an Austrian biplane of WWI or a 1/20 vintage McLaren, or I continue with some stalled builds. The next days will show. Cheers Rob

Thank you Johnny, I wanted to build this kit, the moment I saw the color scheme. What a nice distraction from the normal light grey jobs. The build was testing at times, but I have to say, there were no real project threatening failures, astonishingly. Most hick ups were self induced, due to lack of research or laziness and being inexperienced. I have to praise the Eduard PE, which is very detailed and precisely designed. The only determining factor in this project was the will to finish, as it needs some tedious and methodical work. I had moments, where I distracted me with thoughts about next projects, but the motivation came always back, after taking a short break. Cheers Rob

Phew, almost there. Some touchups are still to do and there are still some parts missing, like the anchors, which I forgot. I added all the railings, which proved easier than thought. I bent them to shape before carefully set them on a wooden board with double sided adhesive tape and then primed and sprayed the railings. Before installing the outer railings, I glued on the masts, cranes and superstructure, not to interfere with later. Lots of figures were added and I hope, they tell little stories with their poses, interaction and placement. Lastly, there is the question, if I rig the Arizona. I'm not so sure, if rigging would be visible in this scale, but this decision will be made later. It seems like I can think about new projects. There were times, where I couldn't think of getting to this stage, during the build and this feels good and satisfactory. Cheers Rob

Thanks for continuously finding hairs in my USS Arizona soup, ddp . Checking the pictures, it seems you are right. I initially wanted to place the guns like you mentioned, but now they are glued in place like they are. Not the most accurate Arizona build around, I fear, but I can live with that. Cheers Rob

I added more and more sub assemblies to the mix. After a bit of detail painting with a brush, the numerous boats were glued to the decks, later followed by the gangways. More figures were CA-ed to their stations. The superstructure and the mast section are not glued in place yet, as I will add some railings first. Not shown on the pictures are the anchor chains, which I blackened in burnishing fluid. Cheers Rob

It's a bit of cash in time now, as it's the time of the build, where all the pre fabricated sub assemblies got finally detailed and added to the decks. I mounted the planes on their sleds onto the catapults, dozens of bollards, winches, AA guns and mid artillery with their gun shields. Not all is glued yet, and I try to assemble in a logical order, without risking to destroy glued on details through bad sequencing. Suddenly the whole build appears to melt together with these very rewarding steps. Cheers Rob

You made your decision Bill and I think it's a good one. Answering the initial question of your thread, I can only add a personal view, as my experience in wooden ship and plastic ship builds are limited. I'm an experienced modeler though, but ships weren't on my past schedule. Last year I took all my courage and started my first serious attempt in wooden ship modeling, I built the Duchess of Kingston from Vanguard models. I never limit my modelling urges, but I always need a trigger or a point of fascination to start a project, in this case the biography of the name giving dame. When this initial spark is ignited, I will loose myself in a project, no matter what. The DoK was way above my skill level, but it is a well designed and with the help of the forum members, I almost sprinted through the build, which is finished sans the rigging. I had more fun learning and building and working with wood instead of plastic. It was so very exciting, that I bought another Vanguard kit, which is very helpful with a very clever design, good materials and exceptional step by step manual. This year, I started on the other side of the medal, building a 1/350 scale USS Arizona and it was a love and hate build until now. The plastic of the base kit is so bad, that luckily nearly all the weaknesses of the kit are substituted by countless photo etched parts and 3D-printed ones. I had difficulties to get into a building groove, like with the wooden sailing boat, but I will finish USS Arizona soon and besides some letdowns, most of the build is tedious but satisfactory, too. Interestingly it took me four month to build the Duchess of Kingston (without rigging) and the USS Arizona will take about the same time. Like I did before, I will build models from plastic, wood, resin and maybe metal like before, but it will be generally more biased to ship modeling. Personally, I easily get bored, therefore, I always seek new challenges in modeling. I guess with your background in modeling and woodworking skills, you will easily achieve good results with a decent wooden ship kit. The rest is determination and working always to your standards and like others already mentioned, have fun. Cheers Rob