1/72 Caudron "Condor" from the Heller Caudron-Renault 714

[Brian da Basher]

In 1932 an unemployed mime named Marceau Marcel enlisted in the Armée de l'Air. Little did anyone know at the time, but this quiet new pilot trainee would have an enormous impact on world events. Marceau Marcel earned his wings and was assigned to Groupe de Chasse 13.25, the Diables Rouges or "Red Devils" based at Thionville near the river Rhine. G/C 13.25 was equipped with the newest French light pursuit, the Caudron 669 Condor.

The Caudron 669 was designed to meet Specification C-1 1/3 in 1931 for a new pursuit for the Armée de l'Air's Groupes de Chasse. While it did not win the final competition, it was ordered in small numbers as a hedge against any failures or production glitches with the winner. The Caudron 669 was powered by a 12 cylinder Renault Foie Gras inline engine which gave it a top speed of 245 m.p.h. It was very heavily armed with four 7.5 MAC machine guns in fairings under the wings and two 18 m.m. Hispano cannon on the engine decking synchronized to fire through the propellor. The Caudron 669 had an enclosed cockpit and featured a pair of the most menacing spats ever seen above France. When an Air Ministry official saw the aircraft diving on him during trials, he screamed "Sacré bleu!!! The condor, she is attacking me!!!" and the name stuck.

By early 1936, Capitaine Marceau Marcel had risen to flight leader due to his proficiency at using hand signals to communicate with his squadron mates. This would come in quite handy, because in March, 1936, the Wehrmacht entered the demilitarized Rhineland on bicycles. The French and British governments as well as the League of Nations did nothing, so Capitaine Marcel took matters into his own hands. Upon noticing the sea of feldgrau beneath him during a routine patrol, he led his flight on a steep dive right at the invaders.

This caused one Major Heinz Guderian, who was spearheading the German advance, to wet himself and he ordered a hurried retreat back across the Rhine. An uproar ensued when Major Guderian submitted his drycleaning bill to the Reichstag for payment. Chancellor Hitler and his Nazis were tossed out of office and Herr Hitler spent the rest of his days as a solid waste technician, 3rd class at the Lintz sewage plant.

Capitaine Marcel was promoted to Commandant and given command of the Diables Rouges as well as the Legion of Merit medal. His Caudron 669 Condor, Old No. 6, can be seen on display at the Musée de Armée de l'Air in Metz across the Rue d'Aromatiqué from the state-of-the-art municipal water treatment facility.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

The basis for this project was the classic 1/72 Heller Caudron 714 which I picked up for a song a few months back. For those of you who don't know what a Caudron 714 should look like, here's a picture:



Here's one of the box art:



Of course, mine was going to be a little bit different. Over the recent Labor Day weekend, I noticed that with some careful surgery, the grill from an SE-5 was an almost perfect fit on the 714 fuselage. The tip of a bomb from my spares box was added to the SE-5 prop and I added the exhausts left over from an XP-70. All I had to do next was make the spats!

Due to an apparent shortage of Aeroclub spats at Roll Models, I've been carefully hoarding my supply and have been scratch-building my spats when possible. For this bird, I decided to bend a couple pieces of sprue and cover the sides with sheet plastic for the "straight-leg" variety. I think they fit this model nicely and helped me decide on the name Condor.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

The entire model was brush painted by hand with acrylics. Model Masters Primer Gray was used over all, and the grill was done with Model Masters Steel with a wash of Mars Black to bring out the detail. The exhausts and guns were done with cheap craft-store Gunmetal and the tires in Mars Black. The rudder stripes were painted by hand with more cheap craft-store paints. I painted the cockpit with Model Masters Gunship Gray and detailed it although you can't see much through the canopy. The decals were from my stash, but the "Diables Rouges" squadron markings came from a sheet for a Czech Avia. I'd orignally thought about entering my Condor in the Gray Pride GB, but since it's not wearing low-viz markings, I decided just to show it here. I hope you enjoy it and the backstory as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you.

Brian da Basher

[NARSES2]

Hi Brian

I love those lightwaeight fighters (Jockey fighters as the French called them) and your take on it is terrific.

Nice liitle kit - I built one as a floatplane a few years back.

If you like sporty types then look at the Renault Caudrons in the Dujin catalogue

[NARSES2]

Hi Brian

I love those lightweight fighters (Jockey fighters as the French called them) and your take on it is terrific.

Nice liitle kit - I built one as a floatplane a few years back.

If you like sporty types then look at the Renault Caudrons from Dujin

http://www.hannants.co.uk/search/?FULL=DUA72269

[Brian da Basher]

Thanks for that link, Narses! You're not kidding, that C.560 is sweet! My wallet is sobbing already.

Brian da Basher

[John Howling Mouse]

His hand-signals came in handy....?  Heh, heh---you kill me.       
This is very clever concept, BdaB.  And, you have once again managed to produce a design that seems incredibly friendly and inviting.  Love that cockpit and the blending of the airframes.      

Don't know how you do it (but I'm glad you do).

[Brian da Basher]

Gracias, Senior Howling Mouse. You've been one of the people who've influenced me greatly, especially when it comes to detailing cockpits. It's still a bit of a chore to me but I like the results. Unfortunately with the Caudron kit, the "clear" piece distorts the view so badly, you can hardly see the 'pit, but at least I know it's there. I've found that a few lines of tan paint tipped with little dots of silver on the ends can make fairly convincing seat belts in 1/72 scale. At least when the "clear" parts are of the quality of this kit.

Brian da Basher

[Howard of Effingham]

BdB!

TGOOTGS looks good on you!

[the grand order of the golden spat]

another one escapes into the wide blue yonder of wiffydom 

[Tophe]

Funny!

[Ed S]

 






Ed

[cthulhu77]

Wonderful work, and the back story is a great grin. 

Spatalicious !!!!

[sequoiaranger]

Couldn't help myself. When you said that you couldn't enter the plane in the Gray Pride Group Build contest because it didn't have "low-viz markings" on it, I took pity on you and "magically" transformed the markings in visibility so low that they blended into the background!   

[Brian da Basher]

Thank you Sequiaranger! IF they were able to apply those colors over the entire airframe, it would become invisible!

Brian da Basher

[sotoolslinger]

Another Spattastick  build B and the backstory .......AAAAAAA HA HA HA