C.714 "Cyclone" - Greg Baker (WHIF) - Build Log
First off is the pic of "what's in the box". It might be an old tool, but it's quite clean. Not a lot of flashing or sink marks, although there are some ejector pin marks that will need to be dealt with.
So, first I cut the main fuselage pieces off the sprue, did a little bit of trimming, and taped the fuselage together for a dry fit. Somewhat surprisingly, the first seems good. It's nice that you can see the Heller stamp on the inside... but that's going
Of course, there's not much of a wheel well. That'll have to be scratch built since they're basically just holes in the undercarriage. Luckily, from what I've seen, a proper wheel well isn't that complicated.
Before we get to that though, there's the non-existent cockpit to attend to. I'm not a fan of pilot dummies, so I won't be including it. However, there's a ton to do here. Using some flat plasticard I decided to start with the area behind the chair.
The interior shrouds in the aft-cockpit window needed to be boxed in. Lots of sanding and checking the fit, then repeat going on. It's tricky to do because not only is it on a curve, it's also got a subtle bend to it.
First I carefully measured the front support (the wall behind the seat) and filed it to fit snugly. Then did the same for the top plank and then the rear support. After some careful alignment, cross braces were glued in place on both the front and rear.
Ok almost there. Just a tiny fit moe sanding to be done to make it fit snugly.
I finished the rear cockpit shroud, including the crazy little radio access hatch. Unfortunately, in order for the canopy to fit over the shroud, I had to cut it open.
Well, it seems to fit... after a bit of finagling.
Hmmm... what to do about under carriage and wheel well. I sanded down the interior... now what?
I stole a seat from an Academy F6F Hellcat and a control panel from an Academy F4U-1. The seat needed a bit of work to make it look like it belonged in a C.714, but I think it worked.
The control stick and panel are just taped on for now... mainly for a dry fit.
Still needs a few bits added on, but I'm happy with the result so far. I'm especially pleased with the oversized pedals for some reason.
Luckily, everything still seems to fit in place inside the fuselage. Whew!
The control panel seems to be sitting a little deep, but I measured 6 times. I'm going to try to add the side control panels as well by cutting up another F4U control panel, so I'll need a bit of room to work.
Oh goody! I can still get the canopy on as well.
I'm happy with the adjustments I made to the seat, but I don't think I can squeeze in any armour plating behind there.
Side view of the current cockpit details. I added some bars and controls.
I cut an Academy Corsair control panel in half and trimmed 1/4 off the bottom and it more or less fits in the cockpit sidewall area. I thinned it a bit, but perhaps more work is needed.
It fits alright and I think it really brings the cockpit to life. A little more filing and it should fit almost perfectly... famous last words, I know. 😉
Added a cross section of flooring for the wheel well.
Not bad... but now how to box in the well. Different levels and curves... this won't be easy.
Glued in a roughed-in wheel well sidewall and then contoured it with 0.1 mm Tamiya PlaPaper.
Flipped it over and started trimming the excess with a razor blade.
Okay. I think this is going to work. I also scribed the panel lines on the wings.
Besides the wheel well, I also drilled out the engine holes and removed one bump on top of the engine panelling.
I think the shape issue can be corrected by using epoxy putty...
Now to let it dry and cure before I sand it to fit.
I used the left-over putty to add support to the wheel wells. It's not pretty, but hopefully effective.
Also a little on the inside to fill in imperfections left by the glueing process.
Added a bit of sidewall details. I sure hope this all fits!
Used Tamiya grey putty cut with lacquer thinner to fill in the imperfections left by glueing the pieces together.
Both sides. I also added in a firewall behind the control consol.
Took a bit of sanding on the top, but I got the wings packed together. Same with the cockpit.
I cut the holes in the engine panelling and then I sanded off and then added a bit of stretched sprue that was filed to shape to the engine. Also drilled the holes a bit more.
Hmm... still need to added a bit of shape to the underwing gun pods...
It's a tight fit, but the cockpit is done.
Interior primed, wings glued and gun pods extended... front cowl needs more putty and sanding.
Details added to the wheel well.
Cockpit and sidewall painted.
Cockpit painting and details done! Interior was painted FS35237 using a Tamiya acrylic mix (XF-66:1 + XF-19:1 + XF-2:2)
For basically a 100% scratch-built cockpit, I'm pretty happy.
Cockpit glued to the side of the fuselage.
Fuselage glued together and putty applied to the seams. Took a couple of cracks at it to get the alignment as correct as possible.
Added a bit of card to the air intake.
Also added card to the slots I cut in the engine panels.
Added pla-paper to cover the slightly raised panels and recreate the slot behind the engine.
Panels attached on the underside too. Added the gun barrels but they promptly fell off. Serves me right for not measuring them beforehand anyway.
Primed and ready... for more putty/sanding.
Basically happy with how the slot behind the engine worked out. Almost exactly as I planned it.
The raised panels have rivets scribed on them. It's subtle, but I think it looks good.
I knew those propeller blades were going to cause me trouble... 2/3 fell off.
Still needs some work... but not as much as I thought before the primer hid some of it.
The top side looks pretty good. Only minor adjustments needed.
Reattached the propeller (the first of several times I bet!) and added and drilled out the guns.
I noticed I lost the rear peg... so a bit of stretched sprue to the rescue. Also used it for the top and bottom antennas since the kit parts seemed huge and out of scale.
Cut up the canopy... I hope this works!
Added some rivet details.
Yeah... ok. I can live with that. On to the painting!
First under coat of black pre-shading. The airbrush was spitting a bit.
Maybe a little too heavy on the underside... but I think I can work with it.
I finally got some paint down. The complex masking on the windscreen was a bit tricky, so we'll see how that turns out.
I painted the underside the same grey as the cockpit. I'm trying to figure out what to do with the wheels, but that can wait a bit... I always seem to snap them off when I try and get them installed too soon.
Ok, so the first round of camouflage is going on. First to do a little fuzzy edged paper masking. I've seen this done, but it's my first time to try it... I hope it works!
The paper on the top of the engine was a bit looser than the rest and gave a lighter camouflage band, but since I'm going to do one more layer, I think I can cover that up.
This side looks ok... but...uhm... wait a sec... isn't there supposed to be a pilot tube on this wing? Hmm... seems it's been missing since the first image
Another round of masking... it seems so innocent now, but little did I know that sticky paper was going to cause me a nightmare...
The masking turned out not too bad, but even though I thought I'd de-tacked the paper, it left glue all over the place. Clean up was tricky.
To add insult to injury, I accidentally drilled a tiny hole through the top of the wing while installing the landing gear. I also had to remove the canopy for a "do-over".
Now what can we make out of a bit of styrene cylinder with a notch in it and a bit of blended wire...?
While removing the glue, a bit of water and some gentle rubbing left my coat of paint with a weathered look. I actually kinda like, even if it was totally by accident,
Ok... so let's try this again... second (of eventual three) attempts of making the canopy.
I know. Let's make a gun-sight!
Comments
29 November 2016, 04:43
Bart GoesaertNice aircraft with regards to shape, not so nice with regards to fit etc... but on the other hand you don't see this one being built often, so... I'm in
29 November 2016, 11:27
Jean Pierre CULIS-FERYBonjour. Joli début. Attention avec la structure que tu as bâti derrière: elle est un peu trop en avant elle doit être alignée sur la marque verticale sur le fuselage (se sont les rail de guidage des panneau latéraux de la verrière. Sur cette structure à gauche (en regardant vers l'avant de l'avion) il y a une trappe d'accès à la radio qui se trouvait à l'intérieur. Sur le devant et derrière le siège, il y avait une plaque de blindage.
29 November 2016, 16:33
Jean Pierre CULIS-FERY@John Thomas: It's a light french fighter: it was a try to transform a race plane (Caudron was a specialist of the "Coupe deutch" ) as a combat plane (this program is know in France as "Jockey fighter program). It was a disaster because the race plane were plane very light, but ths plane with the armament and military equipement had very bad performance. In 1940 these plane were affected to the polish pilot, some of them had Victory with this plane. Some of these plane were given to the finish army, but the finish aviation judged this plane as Dangerous and stop the flight whith this plane. Sorry for my bad English, best regards from France.
29 November 2016, 21:37
Greg BakerThanks guys! I know the C.714 was a terrible failure as a fighter... but at least it LOOKED good. 🙂 I'm not sure why, but this kit just called to me and I decided to temporarily put aside some other current projects so I can participate in an "Old Kits Group Build" (whatifmodellers.com/..49121.html#msg749121) - feel free to check out the lengthy "What if" background story. This project has a tenuous connection to the rest of my Area 88 mega-project as well, so I figured two birds... one stone. 🙂
30 November 2016, 00:28
Greg BakerJean Pierre - Merci beaucoup pour l'information - c'est tres utile! La structure derrière, est-elle correctement alignée maintenent? Je crois que oui. Je ne savais pas qu'il avait une plaque de blindage, mais c'est pas trop tarde de l'inclure... je m'excuse pour mon français mauvaise. Ça fait bien des années depuis que j'écrit en français, mais pas de problème de lire! Alors soyez comfortable et continue à m'aider. 🙂
30 November 2016, 00:36
Greg BakerY'know, someone said that the Heller kits were the Tamiya of their day and I believe it. Bart is right... it's missing a LOT of details, but it is a great canvas for a bit of scratch-building. I'm glad John's following along too... 'cause as I was building I was thinking "John's gonna LOVE these crazy pedals".😉
30 November 2016, 00:46
Greg BakerEdgars - As a What If build, I don't plan to make the included version, but it'll be close enough. I'm thinking a desert cammo style paint job if I can manage it.
30 November 2016, 00:50
Jean Pierre CULIS-FERY@greg: Ta structure est désormais bien positionnée, joli travail! Et ton français est probablement meilleur que mon anglais 😉. Tu as raison de dire plus que si l'avion était raté pour les performances, les caudrons sont de très beaux avions.
30 November 2016, 08:17
John ThomasGreg, you are right. I also liked the Academy's Corsair instrument panel. Scratch-building is fun right. If you are thinking about a "What if" Plane may be a High Gloss Racing style finish and marking like those Race Plane of the 1930's with GUNS. I have built only one Heller kit the P-40 back in the day. I have a few in my stash. The Heller P-51, P-39 and the F6F Hellcat.
30 November 2016, 13:01
Greg BakerHeh. You should be happy then. I cut another Academy control panel in half and trimmed 1/4 off the bottom and used the two halves on the side walls! Scratch building IS fun, but I'm beginning to think I didn't pick up enough Evergreen styrene bits when I was back home... especially the really small diameter strips. 🙂
30 November 2016, 15:55
Greg BakerI do love the old racing planes, mind you... I'd love to get my hands on a a Macchi M.52 in 1/72 too! The M.72 seems a bit easier to find, but I like the bigger nose on the M.52.
30 November 2016, 15:58
John ThomasGreg, I am quit happy. I do the same thing using spare parts to update older kits. The Evergreen stuff is very handy. I have a boat load supply of it from over the years of using it. Is there any model railing road shops in Korea? That is were you mite find it or online.
30 November 2016, 17:15
Łukasz GlińskiI don't like whatifs to be honest, but I'm very curious what can be done with Heller's Cyclone
1 December 2016, 07:35
Greg BakerJohn - there are plenty of model shops here in Seoul. None of them are focused on rail roads though, nor carry Evergreen products. For strips, tubes, cylinders, etc, there are some options from both Tamiya and a local company called StyleX. I particularly like StyleX's offerings but they don't really offer much in the way of patterned sheets (other than thicknesses). I'm always surprised at how much I misjudged the size I need. I always seem to buy too big... 'cause it looks so small in the store!
1 December 2016, 08:09
Greg BakerLukasz - this probably won't be too wild a whif project... and given the small number of planes to reference, there's not a ton of choice for real life accurate anyway. Hopefully you'll like what I'm doing. 🙂
1 December 2016, 08:17
Łukasz GlińskiWell, in case you decide to go back the real Cyclones, for sure you're gonna find some nice Polish or Finnish examples😉 I'll keep on having a look here anyway
1 December 2016, 10:28
Greg BakerOh, I have seen a few very nice ones. I've been scouring the internet looking for reference pics and am only copying the best!😉
1 December 2016, 11:55
Greg BakerYesterday was a bit frustrating. My plan to use plastic paper to box in the wheel wells ended in gooey disaster. I think the idea was good, but I didn't include enough support for the flimsy paper and it went all over the place. I think I'll put in some posts and string it like a fence. That might work.
1 December 2016, 23:22
Bart Goesaertyou can try to "harden" the paper first with thin superglue. you'll need to fix it afterwards with superglue also, but it will be more rigid. After this treatment you can also sand it, and to remove the hairs like wood that was painted for the first time.
2 December 2016, 08:09
John ThomasGreg, here is an idea for our wheel wells. just glue our Evergreen board and batten sheet flush to the inside of the bottom wing over the wheel well open. it is the quit way for adding detail work in wheel wells and you dont have to add sidewalls. It may be a little shallow but it works. I have done it a few times and I liked the look.
2 December 2016, 13:02
Greg BakerThanks for the help guys! I decided to give a more robust rough boxing a go. I glued a bunch of plastic around the perimeter and then covered it with 0.1mm Tamiya PlaPaper and trimmed with a razor blade. I added some pics.
2 December 2016, 23:44
Greg BakerJohn... that was definitely Plan B.... which I very nearly caved on after my first disastrous experiment with the plapaper sidewalls. These still need to be gently trimmed, filed and sanded into submission... so we'll see.
3 December 2016, 08:58
Greg BakerAlright. The cockpit is done. I need to lightly sand the inside of the wheel wells smooth, but it all fits together so far. Other than the underwing gun pods, I think. I made all the external fuselage modifications. It's coming along now.
4 December 2016, 22:20
John ThomasGreg, our cockpit is looking real nice. You have done some fine work
5 December 2016, 12:43
Greg BakerThanks John! I'm trying to finish this for an "old kit" group build that I started late on, so it's been my main focus lately. Following the stuff you were doing really helped see the possibilities.
5 December 2016, 15:40
Wojciech KuczaThat's some serious work involved here, but it's all looking very well in this old kit 🙂 Keep it up, great job so far!
5 December 2016, 18:47
Greg BakerThanks guys! I'm a little nervous about cutting up the canopy, but I want the interior to be visible, so he who dares, wins... or gets a vacuum form!
5 December 2016, 23:41
Greg BakerWell, got the cockpit basically done. Since it's pretty much completely scratch built, I'm pretty happy with howitzer turned out. Now to get it glued in place.
10 December 2016, 15:51
John ThomasGreg, your cockpit and wheel wells have turned out very nice, your hard work shows
10 December 2016, 18:31
Greg BakerThanks gents! After I got it all packed inside, it took a bit of work to get the fuselage glued together and aligned as properly as possible. I added some plasticard to the engine intake and the slots I cut out and then glued and clamped my life away. What I learned from the experience is that I need better clamps. 🙂
11 December 2016, 23:39
Greg BakerThe Pla-paper sure has come in handy. Besides the wheel wells, I also used it to replicate the slightly raised armour(?) panelling on the outside of the airframe. I used my handy dandy rivet wheel on the small strips and then glued them in place and primed the whole thing. I probably could have done a better job, but I rushed it a bit because I wanted to see what it would look like. Oh well, sometimes. Good enough is good enough.
14 December 2016, 00:17
Greg BakerFeels good to get some paint down. Masking the windscreen took a long time.
17 December 2016, 16:20
Greg BakerSuffered a bit of a setback. I used some sticky paper to mask the second camouflage coat... I thought I took enough of the tackiness off before I applied it, but guess not. Pulling it off left quite a mess. I was able to get the glue off with just a bit of water and some gentle rubbing, bug it left me with a weathered look to the paint. I was going to do that anyway, so no real problem, however it also ended fogging my canopy somehow. I'm a bit picky about how the canopy looks, so I declared a "do-over", but that means another round of masking - properly this time! Toaddinsult to injury, when I was installing the landing gear, I ended up poking a tiny hole through the wing... not even noticeable, but large enough to let a mess of gluey sprue juice squirt through onto my paint job. Luckily it's pretty localized, so a tiny bit of gentle sanding, a carefully placed camouflage template and a careful bit of painting should get me back on track. Sigh...
19 December 2016, 15:59
Wim van der Luijtcrap on a cracker! luckily you didn't destroy the model in frustration... 😄
19 December 2016, 16:08
Greg BakerNo kidding! After I sat down and had a good manic cry... I decided I could work my way out of trouble."No dammit! It's weathering if I SAY it's weathering!" 🙂
19 December 2016, 16:25
Jean Pierre CULIS-FERYIls ont utilisé des caudrons 714 au Vietnam? Encore un truc que les autorités nous ont caché! It's a very nice job Greg.The raised armour is not an armour it's the cover for the canopy mecanims: its slide in the side of the fuselage (left and right).
20 December 2016, 06:58
Greg BakerAlright. After keeping the updates under wraps the last few days, the end result can finally be revealed. Check out the completed build here - scalemates.com/profi..bums&album=31667
28 December 2016, 12:13
Album info
The work-in-progress build album of the Caudron Renault C.714. A appended part of my Area 88 master build project, this album features the World War II-era WHIF equivalent of my self-inserted vanity entry, the Super-Etendard.
