C.714 "Cyclone" - Greg Baker (WHIF) - Build Log
1November 29, 2016First 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.
2November 29, 2016So, 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
3November 29, 2016Of 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.
4November 29, 2016Before 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.
5November 29, 2016The 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.
6November 29, 2016First 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.
7November 29, 2016Ok almost there. Just a tiny fit moe sanding to be done to make it fit snugly.
8November 29, 2016I 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.
9November 29, 2016Well, it seems to fit... after a bit of finagling.
10November 29, 2016Hmmm... what to do about under carriage and wheel well. I sanded down the interior... now what?
11November 29, 2016I 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.
12November 29, 2016The control stick and panel are just taped on for now... mainly for a dry fit.
13November 29, 2016Still 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.
14November 29, 2016Luckily, everything still seems to fit in place inside the fuselage. Whew!
15November 29, 2016The 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.
16November 29, 2016Oh goody! I can still get the canopy on as well.
17November 30, 2016I'm happy with the adjustments I made to the seat, but I don't think I can squeeze in any armour plating behind there.
18November 30, 2016Side view of the current cockpit details. I added some bars and controls.
19November 30, 2016I 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.
20November 30, 2016It 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. 😉
21December 1, 2016Added a cross section of flooring for the wheel well.
22December 1, 2016Not bad... but now how to box in the well. Different levels and curves... this won't be easy.
23December 2, 2016Glued in a roughed-in wheel well sidewall and then contoured it with 0.1 mm Tamiya PlaPaper.
24December 2, 2016Flipped it over and started trimming the excess with a razor blade.
25December 2, 2016Okay. I think this is going to work. I also scribed the panel lines on the wings.
26December 2, 2016Besides the wheel well, I also drilled out the engine holes and removed one bump on top of the engine panelling.
27December 4, 2016I think the shape issue can be corrected by using epoxy putty...
28December 4, 2016Now to let it dry and cure before I sand it to fit.
29December 4, 2016I used the left-over putty to add support to the wheel wells. It's not pretty, but hopefully effective.
30December 4, 2016Also a little on the inside to fill in imperfections left by the glueing process.
31December 4, 2016Added a bit of sidewall details. I sure hope this all fits!
32December 4, 2016Used Tamiya grey putty cut with lacquer thinner to fill in the imperfections left by glueing the pieces together.
33December 4, 2016Both sides. I also added in a firewall behind the control consol.
34December 4, 2016Took a bit of sanding on the top, but I got the wings packed together. Same with the cockpit.
35December 4, 2016I 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.
36December 4, 2016Hmm... still need to added a bit of shape to the underwing gun pods...
37December 4, 2016It's a tight fit, but the cockpit is done.
38December 5, 2016Interior primed, wings glued and gun pods extended... front cowl needs more putty and sanding.
39December 8, 2016Details added to the wheel well.
40December 8, 2016Cockpit and sidewall painted.
41December 10, 2016Cockpit painting and details done! Interior was painted FS35237 using a Tamiya acrylic mix (XF-66:1 + XF-19:1 + XF-2:2)
42December 10, 2016For basically a 100% scratch-built cockpit, I'm pretty happy.
43December 10, 2016Cockpit glued to the side of the fuselage.
44December 11, 2016Fuselage glued together and putty applied to the seams. Took a couple of cracks at it to get the alignment as correct as possible.
45December 11, 2016Added a bit of card to the air intake.
46December 11, 2016Also added card to the slots I cut in the engine panels.
47December 13, 2016Added pla-paper to cover the slightly raised panels and recreate the slot behind the engine.
48December 13, 2016Panels attached on the underside too. Added the gun barrels but they promptly fell off. Serves me right for not measuring them beforehand anyway.
49December 13, 2016Primed and ready... for more putty/sanding.
50December 13, 2016Basically happy with how the slot behind the engine worked out. Almost exactly as I planned it.
51December 13, 2016The raised panels have rivets scribed on them. It's subtle, but I think it looks good.
52December 13, 2016I knew those propeller blades were going to cause me trouble... 2/3 fell off.
53December 13, 2016Still needs some work... but not as much as I thought before the primer hid some of it.
54December 13, 2016The top side looks pretty good. Only minor adjustments needed.
55December 14, 2016Reattached the propeller (the first of several times I bet!) and added and drilled out the guns.
56December 14, 2016I 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.
57December 15, 2016Cut up the canopy... I hope this works!
58December 15, 2016Added some rivet details.
59December 15, 2016Yeah... ok. I can live with that. On to the painting!
60December 15, 2016First under coat of black pre-shading. The airbrush was spitting a bit.
61December 15, 2016Maybe a little too heavy on the underside... but I think I can work with it.
62December 17, 2016I finally got some paint down. The complex masking on the windscreen was a bit tricky, so we'll see how that turns out.
63December 17, 2016I 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.
64December 18, 2016Ok, 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!
65December 18, 2016The 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.
66December 18, 2016This 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
67December 19, 2016Another round of masking... it seems so innocent now, but little did I know that sticky paper was going to cause me a nightmare...
68December 19, 2016The 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.
69December 19, 2016To 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".
70December 28, 2016Now what can we make out of a bit of styrene cylinder with a notch in it and a bit of blended wire...?
71December 19, 2016While 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,
72December 28, 2016Ok... so let's try this again... second (of eventual three) attempts of making the canopy.
73December 28, 2016I know. Let's make a gun-sight!
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21 May 2025, 14:11 -
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.
