Castaibert IV 1/72 scale scratchbuilt

Paul Castaibert was an Argentinean of French origin who also became a well recognized aviation pioneer. From 1911 to 1918 he developed a prolific line of airplanes for Argentina and Uruguay. As with the Mira “Golondrina” recently presented, these machines followed the design general lines of European counterparts, but adapted and refined, many times using a great ingenuity to solve construction challenges and having innovative devices built into them.

The model presented here is a two-place trainer variant of the Castaibert IV.

This model was also elicited by Armando’s photos mentioned on the “Golondrina” article. The references used were as well the same. And again, as with the other machine, the plan in the references is not accurate, so some corrections had to be made before scratchbuilding began.

As you can see in the images the model follows the construction engineering used many times before, being the exposed aft section of the fuselage the most challenging part. The solution mimics the one used some times for flying scale models.

The bumps around the nose were adapted from a commercial product blister. The metal horns have been attached to the tail surfaces (wings had none -no ailerons-, since the roll was warp-controlled):

The nose blisters are glued in place as well as the tailskid parts:

The blisters were given a coat of Mr Surfacer to blend them in, and the wing spars are now in position:

A variety of struts were prepared and eventually glued to form part of the landing gear and cabane.

Instruments were applied (just two bezels) and seats and control column put in place:

More landing gear and cabane strut members are measured, cut and attached. About fifteen of them:

painting session:

 

The fuselage fortunately preserved its dimensional stability absorbing the tensions of each added element:

 The fuselage aft frame was sprayed a light wood color:

 Then with a brush a darker hue was used to give it more depth:

 The Castaibert and the Mira fuselages were then touched up to paint the struts, landing gears, some details, etc.:

Home made decals:

The control cables are being strung:

 And attached to the control horns:

 The diagonal braces are beginning to be installed in the fuselage tail and landing gear. A kinda stressful and very time-consuming task:

 Model with all diagonal bracing ready for the decals, before wing bracing is put in place:

White circles are placed as a base for the color roundels, which are printed on clear stock:

 The very delicate job of adding the "wires" begins. The structure is flimsy and tension should be applied very carefully:

 

A sort of deceiving project in the sense that the lines look very simple, but the details and number of parts require time and attention.
This is one of those not-so-well-documented planes, given the early times, and the fact that the manufacturer customized every single one of the 20 planes he built does not help. Castaibert later on moved to Uruguay, were he continued to develop his types, and there is more graphic documentation covering the Uruguayan production than the Argentinian one. The pioneering endeavors of Pablo Castaibert -together with those of others- deserve recognition as an early effort to establish a local industry.