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!
Commenti
3 June 2024, 10:51 -
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.
