Caudron C.561 French Racing Plane by DocRob - FINISHED - S.B.S. Models - 1/48

[DocRob]

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 

[Egilman]

I'm down for this one.....

[Canute]

Sign me up for this racer.

[DocRob]

2 hours ago, Egilman said:

I'm down for this one.....

 

1 hour ago, Canute said:

Sign me up for this racer.

 

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

[CDW]

Climbing aboard 

[Old Collingwood]

Reminds me of a few of the racers  I used to see  at Airshows.

 

OC.

[yvesvidal]

Great choice for a fantastic plane.

 

Yves

[DocRob]

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

 

[DocRob]

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 

[Egilman]

All I can do brother is give you the pics I have...

 

I would say dull aluminum or light grey... My choice would be dull aluminum.... The 461 was dull aluminum and it was built for the same race, same year... (I think that tells the tale)

[DocRob]

45 minutes ago, Egilman said:

All I can do brother is give you the pics I have...

 

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

[Egilman]

2 hours ago, DocRob said:

The different coloring? / reflection? of the engine top cowling is also remarkable. I've not seen this before either.

My pleasure....

 

And the dark blue? I would say the HR pic tells the tale there as well rather than that grainy newsprint scan.... Yes there were two cooling panels on the cowling you can easily see the one on the top but there was one on the bottom as well and yes they were polished aluminum....

 

The 561 didn't race that year in fact I can't find any reference to it ever racing... (it didn't pass inspection but I don't know why) The 461 did that year and won it's class....

[DocRob]

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

 

 

[Egilman]

2 hours ago, DocRob said:

but will try the darker LP-78 Flat Blue also on a piece of scrap.

 

That's also a little too bluish, the color is more like US Navy Sea Blue or Non-Specular Sea Blue, that very dark blue the navy was into during and after Korea....

 

And it's a semigloss...

Edited April 19, 2023 by Egilman

[DocRob]

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

[yvesvidal]

Personally, I like the lighter blue better, similar to what the artist Romain Hugault used for his superb Bandes Dessinees: 

 

 

Yves

[realworkingsailor]

There is a replica of an earlier model Caudron racer:

 

 

Is that closer to the blue you’re after?

 

Andy

 

 

[Egilman]

3 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

Personally, I like the lighter blue better, similar to what the artist Romain Hugault used for his superb Bandes Dessinees: 

What's more important on that cover, the race or the seamline? {chuckle}

 

It is a very pretty blue...

Edited April 20, 2023 by Egilman

[DocRob]

4 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

Personally, I like the lighter blue better, similar to what the artist Romain Hugault used for his superb Bandes Dessinees: 

 

3 hours ago, realworkingsailor said:

There is a replica of an earlier model Caudron racer:

 

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

[RGL]

Such a good looking aircraft 

[realworkingsailor]

3 hours ago, DocRob said:

 

 

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

Just a thought, is it possible the blue is similar (or identical) to the blue in the French tricolore?

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_France
 

Andy

[Egilman]

A little comparison is in order...

 

The c651... A little yellow shifted true, but still the only color pic I have been able to find of the actual aircraft.... 

US Navy Sea Blue - Non-Specular sea blue...

 

F8F Bearcats... Mid 50's....

 

F4U Corsairs post Korean War....

This last one is also a bit yellow shifted... This is the closest match to the paint on the subject I can find... 

 

And the paint on the Corsair and Bearcat is high gloss.... I suspect the same for the Caudron c651 as well...

 

Maybe an eighth of a shade off but that's your color...

 

Edited April 20, 2023 by Egilman

[Canute]

The Caudron looks supersonic just sitting there.

[Egilman]

Well it's all-up weight was 2200lbs with a 450hp Renault 4 cylinder inverted engine driving a fixed 2 metre propeller...

 

310 mph.....

[DocRob]

On 4/20/2023 at 10:25 PM, realworkingsailor said:

Just a thought, is it possible the blue is similar (or identical) to the blue in the French tricolore?

 

On 4/20/2023 at 10:46 PM, Egilman said:

The c651... A little yellow shifted true, but still the only color pic I have been able to find of the actual aircraft.... 

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

[CDW]

Judging from the size of that replica, the pilot would need to be the size of a racing horse jockey to fit inside the cockpit. Large men need not apply for that job!

In my career before retirement, we had a twin turbo prop Beech Commander aircraft. On one of our first flights in it our pilot invited me to sit beside her in the copilots seat. No can do, could not fit. A lot of aircraft seem to be designed for smaller frame pilots.

[DocRob]

20 hours ago, CDW said:

Judging from the size of that replica, the pilot would need to be the size of a racing horse jockey to fit inside the cockpit. Large men need not apply for that job!

In my career before retirement, we had a twin turbo prop Beech Commander aircraft. On one of our first flights in it our pilot invited me to sit beside her in the copilots seat. No can do, could not fit. A lot of aircraft seem to be designed for smaller frame pilots.

 

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

[DocRob]

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

 

[CDW]

How did the pilot see anything looking forward while inside the cockpit? Must have been quite a task on landing and takeoff and flying around the pylons for that matter though I guess when rolled to one side the pilot would gain some forward vision that way. 

[Egilman]

3 hours ago, CDW said:

How did the pilot see anything looking forward while inside the cockpit?

Most of the time they didn't... what is usually in the way of the windscreen? the gunsight... (usually right at eye level) Even in light commercial planes, the best view from the cockpit is the forward part of the side window... Yes, you can see out the front, but it definitely isn't the best view... the HUD was a revolution in visible, useable forward sightlines when it came out...

Edited April 25, 2023 by Egilman