Caudron G3 1:32 scale

[Des]

I've been working on this scratch built model for about two weeks now, these photos show where I am up to at the moment. The wings on the Caudron had wing warping hence the larger ribs on the rear half of the wing. The fuselage tub is quite small but did carry a pilot and observer, the pilot sat at the rear but both crew had flight controls. Instrumentation was very sparse and there was no armament. This model will have the 80hp Le Rhone engine fitted, it will also be fitted with spoked wheels. This will not be a rapid build so please excuse me if there are large time spans between updates.
A full build log can be found here;  http://www.ww1aircraftmodels.com/page42.html

Des.

[Old Man]

Great to see this under way, Sir!

A great start.

How did you handle the wing's peculiarities?

[bobs_buckles]

Des,
 Truly marvellous work 
What method did you use for the wood? Looks lovely.

Cheers,
Bob

[coyotemagic]

I've been following along on your site, Des, and I'm glad to see you've started a thread here.  She's well on her way to being another Delatorre masterpiece.  I love your method of shaping the wings and will definitely give that one a try.
Cheers,
Bud

[RAGIII]

Beautiful work! I am a bit surprised you aren't further along after 2 weeks    Just kidding of course, I don't even get the parts cleaned up on an injection kit in that amount of time! VERY IMPRESSIVE!
RAGIII

[PrzemoL]

Well, Des, if you told us, it was a new WNW kit, no one would doubt, that you had gotten a brand new kit from them to test build it.
Just amazing. I am looking forward to see this project unveil.

[Des]

Thanks very much for all the kind words, they are much appreciated.

Old Man - The wings were made up from three layers of 0.5mm styrene sheet, each was cut to the wing shape then glued together using plastic glue. I then taped the wing around a piece of aluminium tube t get the airfoil shape. After about half an hour I removed the tape and the wing retained its shape, any fine tuning can be done by hand. I left the wing overnight to cure and it ended up being very rigid, an easy way to form wings, only needed to sand the leading and trailing edges. The wing ribs are made from 0.5mm square Evergreen strips glued to the wing, the rear ribs, which are for the wing warping are made from 0.8mm round Evergreen rod. I used a liberal amont of Automative putty/primer and once dry sanded it down to achieve the hollow look between the ribs. The photo below clearly shows the airfoil shape achieved by the simple method explained above.



Bob - The wood look on the fuselage was done by first base coating with Gunze off white, once dry I used 502 Abteilung oil paints to achieve the wood, the dark wood on top was Abt 080 Wash Brown straight from the tube with a little liquin added to assist drying, once completely dry I gave it a coat of Humbrol Clear Orange then a coat of satin clear. The two side panels were done using Abt 093 Basic Earth with a little Wask Brown added, again the liquin was added. The paints come in a set called Vehicle Weathering and Effects Abt 320, the paints can be purchased separately if required.

Des.

[Old Man]

Thanks for the description, Sir.

That sounds like a technique that might work out at my scale, also. Was the tube a match for your under-camber, or a bit smaller in diameter (to allow for some spring-back on the piece)? By plastic glue I presume you mean something like Tamiya liquid glue?

[Des]

The tube matched the under camber of the wing, after about half an hour I checked the wing against my plans, a little tweaking was needed towards to trailing edge to flatten it out just a tad, this is easliy done just by bending the wing slightly with my fingers, it was then left over night to dry and it was near perfect when placed back on the plans.. I use two types of plastic glue - Humbrol Precision Poly or Revell Contacta Precision Polystyrene glue, both excellent products, but any good polystyrene glue would perform the same job.

Des.

[pepperman42]

I always thought plastic had memory and it would slowly flatten out again. Did you "wash" the glue across each laminate and then sandwich them together? Im not doubting your process Im actually very excited by the simplicity!! No carving in camber on a balsa core or heating or vacing etc etc. The glue softening the plastic I suspect helps the forming. She looks beautiful and Im looking forward to each update (and watching the main site too)!!

Steve

[Des]

Plastic does have a memory to a degree. I apply the glue so it covers the entire surface, it doesn't need to be thick, then I sandwich all three layers, while the glue is still ''wet''  I wrap the wing around the pipe or tube and tape it in place. It only takes about half an hour before the tape can be removed (depends on the brand of glue you use) and the wing will retain its shape, it is still quite flexible at this point and fine adjustments can be made by using your fingers, it will dry very rigid overnight.

If you had a piece of balsa shaped to the wing shape it would be a simple case of taping the wing to the balsa and leaving it overnight, no need for fine adjustments.

It's all good fun experimenting with new ideas, some work while others don't, I feel that this idea for making wings is very easy and fuss free.

Des.

[pepperman42]

Oh yeah!! Its perfect!!! That makes wing construction a snap.

Steve

[Des]

I assembled and painted the engine today, it is the 80hp Le Rhone from a WnW Sopwith Pup kit, for photo purposes it is only loosely fitted to the bulkhead. The propeller is an Eclair which was used for the Caudron aircraft, the propeller is a laminated wood propeller made by Doug Craner.

Des.

[Chris Johnson]

I've been following along on your main site and as always, you're executing another museum quality model here Des.

Cheers,

Chris

[GAJouette]

  Des,
Absolutely stunning works my old  friend. I like Chris and certainly others as well I've following along from the start on your home site. Keep up the stunning works Des,your scratchbuilt projects and all the kit project are a true inspiration to us all. Even this lapsed old modeler has gotten back into a new project with your works as a guide and inspiration.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette