Caudron GIV 1/72 scratch build

[lone modeller]

Evening All,

Thanks Manni, Ian, Des and Steve for your encouraging remarks - they are greatly appreciated.

I fixed the fuselage nacelle to the bottom wing before I started painting so that i could clean up any joints. I have at last completed the painting of the main parts and added the markings by hand. The roundels were painted in the usual way: I used a pair of dividers and scribed the circles and then used thin paint and a supported hand. The aluminium plates on the top of the lower wing were to protect the fabric covering from all of the oil which spilled out of the engines - they were rotaries. I also made the struts from 20 x 30 thou Evergreen strip and painted these so now I can start the main assembly.





More on that when I get started.

Thanks for looking.

Stephen.

[lone modeller]

Evening All,

Well I have started the main assembly. The first task was to fix the engine nacelles to the lower wing. This was done one at a time to allow the glue to set and to stop me knocking one off when trying to fix the second. There was also the delicate matter of alignment in three dimensions: fore-aft, side-to-side and left-right. I had deliberately made the struts a little too long to allow for adjustment to fit - which was just as well because as expected the curvature on the lower wing di vary a little. The starboard (right) nacelle was fixed first:



and when this had set I put the port (left) nacelle on:


The next parts were the control rods between the fuselage nacelle and the engines, but before I could add these I had to rig the struts beneath the engine nacelles as can be seen in the above photo. There were three rods on each side: two were inserted into holes in the engine nacelles, the third was cemented underneath as this was attached to controls under the nacelle on the real aircraft.



Now I could attach the top wing. This needed care because if I had mis-aligned the engine nacelles the top wing would not sit squarely and the whole model would then be a mess. Once again a small amount of trimming of some of the struts was needed because once agin I had made some of the engine struts too long. A bit of patience and care sorted the problem out thus:



Thanks for looking.

Stephen.

[IanB]

That engine fitment looks a right pain, seems you got it spot on though! She's starting to look like a Caudron now.....very nice!

[Manni]

Very,very nice I'm looking forward for the next steps.
Manni

[RAGIII]

Beautiful in all respects! The engine nacelles look perfect!
RAGIII

[Des]

You have done a superb job to date Stephen, fitment of the engine nacelles look to be a real pain but you managed to fit them perfectly.

Des.

[lone modeller]

Evening All,

Thanks Ian, Manni, Rick and Des for the encouraging remarks which I greatly appreciate. Yes Ian fitting the top wing was a challenge but because I had carefully measured the holes in the top wing I had made things a little easier.

One of the lessons that I have learned from conversions and scratch-building is that sometimes it is a good idea to rig parts of the model while it is under construction as later they would be difficult to access. In this case I have decided to rig parts of the model to make life easier later on.

Before I started any rigging however I added the cross struts at the front of the engine nacelles. These were made from 10 x 20 thou strip: I added a single cross strut first and then cut two short pieces for each bay and added these to complete the cross. The rear of the bays between the engine nacelles and fuselage were then rigged as these will be difficult to access when the booms are in place.



The next step was to add the wing struts. These were cut and shaped from 20 x 30 thou strip and had been painted first. I added them one at a time starting with the inner struts: the top wing was held down with tins of paint while the sub-assembly dried out. The large struts which support the upper wing overhang were made in the same way as the others and measured with dividers before fixing in place. I then rigged the rear of the bays with rolled copper wire.





The next step could be the most difficult as I have got to construct the booms and fix these to the wings. I will post more when I have completed that stage.

Thanks for looking.

Stephen.

[Juan]

Outstanding work, love what you have done thus far.  Look forward to progress on this one.  Cheers

[xan]

yes, reallly outstanding!
Are you sure caudron had roudels in both wings in the underside?

Xan

[lone modeller]

Evening All,

Thank you Juan and Xan for the kind remarks - they are much appreciated.

Xan: the roundels under the upper wings are based on photos: I know that later in the war roundels were not normally put under the top wing on British aircraft, but in the earlier years they were on some, and in the case of Caudron IV's they were on some machines at least. I have also had a query about British machines having the upper wing extensions: the photos in the DataFile show both RFC and RNAS machines with upper wing extensions. It seems, (but I cannot prove), that British built machines lacked the upper wing extensions, those supplied by the French did have them. However if anyone knows any better please let us all know.

The next stage of this build was the booms. I just cannot resist an aircraft which has odd bits sticking out - hence my extreme interest in pushers and any other WW1 type that has unusual rear arrangements. The double booms of the Caudron were what appealed to me because they represent a modelling challenge - getting them properly aligned would be an interesting exercise. So this is how I did it without the aid of complicated jigs - just a pair of my late mother's hair grips.

To start I placed two strips of 30 x 40 strip on to the plans and held them in place with pins: the top strips were cut from the lengths provided and the underside of the front end filed so that it will sit on the top of the upper wing. The lower ones had the ends curved around by drawing out the profile as a line on a small block of wood, holding the strip in place over the line with pins and immersing the strip and wood in very hot water for 15 seconds. Then the plastic was plunged into cold water for 10 seconds and the runners were ready. The struts were glued and the sub-assemblies allowed to dry out thoroughly.





The booms were then painted before I placed an end of an upper boom on the top of the top wing and held it in place with a hair grip. I repeated the operation for the other side and supported the model on blocks so that the glue could set properly.



With the hair grips still in place because the booms were very fragile at this stage, I inverted the model so that I could add the struts which attach the booms to the underside of the lower wing. Each strut was individually measured with a pair of dividers and cut from rod. Only when all of the struts were in place and the glue dry did I take the hair grips away.





To complete the undercarriage and booms I added the axles from small pieces of paper clip.





When I set the model on the desk top both of the lower booms were resting properly! 

Thanks for looking.

Stephen.

[GAJouette]

 Stephen,
Fantastic work on her  booms my old friend. How will you be doing the booms rigging attachments ? Keep up the Outstanding progress.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette

[Thumbs up]

This is your best one yet! Fantastic modelling...Bravo!

[RAGIII]

Stephen,
Like all of the others I must say the booms are fantastic and this is certainly turning out to be one of your best yet!
RAGIII

[IanB]

I can only agree with the others! Beautiful work on the boom assemblies, and definitely your best yet!

Ian

[Juan]

Hate to sound like a broken record, but outstanding work.