Wings of Intent: Caudron C.448 Goéland Paris-Saigon-Paris race

(The completed model can be seen here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/06/caudron-goeland-ric-et-rac-paris-saigon.html

Modeling motivation is such an interesting thing. Modeling should never be a chore, but a passion (although of course none of us is immune to frustration and fatigue). Passion and a modicum of commitment that allows to overcome the unavoidable hurdles. But for that, it has to be great appeal, and sometimes is even a very small detail what drives modelers to start and complete a project, in this case the discovery, as I was scratchbuilding a Caudron C.231, of the inclusion on its fuselage of two funny canine characters, Ric et Rac, famous during that time in France.

During research, a photo of a Caudron Goéland (gull) popped up that had the same characters on the fuselage too. And I was hooked, again. This Goéland participated in a Paris-Saigon-Paris "race", where sadly only three planes finally competed, another Goéland and a Breguet Fulgur. All suffered diverse mechanical failures, never reached Saigon, and the whole thing was a bit of an embarrassment for the French aviation industry, which of course doesn't detract from the three crews' valor and the planes value. I enthusiastically praise any "civilizing" attempt, as I am tired of most kits being military and associated with death.

As always, even before opening the kit box, some reasonable degree of research is done. I think this stage is indispensable for any build that hopes to have a modicum of accuracy. Never fully trust a kit, a decal sheet, a plan, or a drawing. They all help a lot and we should be very grateful for all of them, but experience of decades has shown that many times they are not really completely accurate. The kit manufacturer in this case, covering this specific version, realized that some details of the original kit had to be replaced or complemented by resin bits: a whole vertical tail, two sort of bumpers that go underneath the wing tips, and other details. It seems that the kit -as originally released- may not have had some of the resin bits, but mine did have them. For those with an old release without the bits, there is an LF set that offers the resin bits together with (inaccurate) decals.

I have to thank friends and master modelers Jörgen Stendahl (whose beautiful and masterfully built model of the same Ric et Rac Goéland you may have seen when I posted it on the related Farman 231 thread), and Alain Bourret, who offered insight and additional images.

The search for information about the plane modeled, the finding of unexpected and interesting facts, the joy of looking at photos of it and compare all that with the kit is a task that gives me immense pleasure, going a bit beyond to correct or add something, and learning not only about the plane, but the historical context, the careers of their crews, etc. This aspect of the hobby has become at least as pleasurable as the building itself.

A useful reference for those interested in the Goéland is "Le Caudron Goéland" by Pierre Cortet and Robert Esperou, Lela Presse, now long gone and out of press and ridiculously expensive to buy second hand.

Thanks to those hours spent gathering information, it is thought that:

1) The color of the upper fuselage of the Ric et Rac Goéland is unlikely to be white as described in the instructions, but instead silver-white (a hue used contemporarily on many French planes of that time) or a somewhat dull silver.

2) The race number 2 wasn't just applied to the rudder, but also under both wings (as corroborated photographically by two images) and most likely on top of them two. Those extra (white) race numbers are absent in the kit's decal sheet, and will have to be commissioned.

3) The interior wasn't standard either military or civilian as in the kit, as the plane was sent to factory for changes for the upcoming challenge. Unfortunately no interior photos were found, but it be could safely assumed that long-range fuel tanks were employed, although exterior photos show that they may have been of low profile, as they don't block the windows. Beyond that, it's a bit speculative, but a passage could have been provided between twin tanks as the cockpit could be reached boarding normally through the cabin door. Other arrangements are possible and have been used in other planes, like having the extra fuel tank to one side of the cabin, or occupying the width of it and the crew having to climb over it to go back and forth.

4) The tail race number is presented as black; there is at least an equal chance that it was blue, again extrapolating from photos.

5) The crew was composed by Challe, Brill (also spelled "Bril" in the media) and Henry on radio, and not -as confused sometimes- by Arnoux or Japy, who crewed the other Goéland.

6) The other Goéland had the registration F-AOMS, and not other regs inaccurately given in some publications.

7) Taking advantage of this elucidation, let's clarify the following inaccurate statement by Air Britain (otherwise a wonderful cornucopia of aviation goodies, absolutely worth having and reading):

4893 F-AOMX Caudron 448 Goeland 1/7272
Roger Bril, Boulogne-sur-Seine; (23.10.36) for Paris-Saigon-Paris
Race, named “Ric et Rac”, commencing 25.10.36. Retired en route
in Iraq. Regd 3.37 to SFTA, Paris, then 5.37 to Auguste Amestoy,
Briscous, operated by Air Pyrénées. Captured by Spanish
Nationalists after forced landing on beach at Zarauz, nr San
Sebastian 22.6.37 and became 31-2.

The plane didn't have a forced landing at all. The pilot, José Yanguas, was a traitor that feigned a mechanical failure just to make a perfect landing on despicable dictator Franco's occupied territory, where members of the legitimate and elected government he was transporting were detained by Franco's cronies, and unfortunately some of those passengers were summarily executed. Truth be honored, at least for the sake of those whose lives were cowardly taken.

8) That F-AOMX had a pair of what looks like skids or bumpers underneath the wingtips (to help spare damage to the wings in the case of a not very fortunate landing?), provided now in the kit as resin parts.

9) F-AOMX -and other Goélands- had a bigger rudder, again present now in the kit as an extra resin part

10) This is a big "maybe", but I think that the wing leading edges were a metal color and not blue like the rest of the wing, as some photos hint at that.

Accessories:

There are two extensive photo-etched sets for this kit on the market, one by Renaissance, the other by Brengun. Another addition could be a Renault 6Q resin engine by Raresin (RR 72012), if one would wish to display a nacelle partially opened. There is also an Arctic Decals set that covers the necessary masks that also provides window "metal" frames, which are conspicuous in many photos. Renaissance of France offers a full Ric et Rac decal set that also includes marks for an unrelated model, -now redundant as the kit has them- at a very stiff price and high S&H charges, but it includes those tail blue race numbers in case you can't print them yourself and are willing to pay the price -literally.

The transparencies look good:

The resin parts included in the kit.

I think the seat arrangement and type provided in the kit are the military ones, and may need modification/substitution, more on that later. The two Goéland that participated in the race had a civil past, not military, thus at least the cockpit seats may have been different, and not of the "Caudron Simoun" type present in the kit, but again this is speculation, as no interior photos were found of this plane. There is a photo of the other Goéland cockpit (which was a different mark with even a different window arrangement) that shows the "frame" type of seats in the cockpit, but provided with padding at the front, not as a skeleton frame and not the "squared" frame seats provided in the kit, that may not be used. Here is the photo of the other Goéland cockpit:

Decal sheet covering four subjects:

The sprues, looking good. You get a full interior, but likely not the one this racer had (again, I found no photo of the interior, so can't be 100% sure):

The instructions, looking detailed and clear. We'll see during the actual building if we encounter any glitches

The LF aftermarket items, not needed now as the kit has the alternate parts. The decal sheet included in the LF aftermarket set is inaccurate regarding the Ric et Rac image. Also please notice the plastic sleeve, that is almost the size of the contents, making removal of them difficult and getting them back in almost impossible. I have many modeling products that follow that useless and annoying approach, why, one rhetorically asks? Why many manufacturers feel compelled to do that? mysteries of the modeling realm. USE BIG ENOUGH BAGS SO THINGS CAN BE TAKEN OUT AND PUT BACK IN EASILY!

An aftermarket engine that could be used removing a panel from the engine nacelle:

The Brengun photo-etched set. It will be only used partially. This plane had the starboard door deleted, and the frames for the windows will come instead form the Arctic Decals set. Some of the antennas do not apply to this version:

A view of the resin bits that now the kit includes. As said, the seats may not apply to this particular version, TBD:

Here are some contemporary articles mainly from Gallica, for your perusing and amusement:

A different take on the cockpit, with other seats (there were various models of the Goéland, also showing different control wheels and instrumentation):

And a drawing of the LG:

If you have this kit and for some unfathomable reason you are doing the Spanish version, firstly, why? It's the frigging "nationalists" (does the work remind you of something? yes, you are correct, they aided and abated despicable nassiss and created a decades-long, beyond cruel dictatorship) and secondly because they are inaccurate.You could do instead the plane employed for the legitimate, elected government: EC-AGG of LAPE (Líneas Aéres Postales Españolas):

To the left the LF resin tail, to the right the kit's. Both have rib effect, subtler on the LF one. Both have the trim tab little horn, the LF one has a tail light. The kit's is slightly bigger and has a slightly different tailcone shape:

The exhausts in the kit are a bit off, as they are sort of crowded towards the nacelle front, and the exhaust provided only has two "big" stacks instead of three (this represents a common military arrangement that doesn't apply to this plane), and protruding small ones where there were only holes. The other Goéland did not have those two last holes. The kit provides a resin part to make up for that missing stack, pointing downwards, but that's not what it can be seen in the photos I have (photos do not show that on this plane, other Goélands had them).

The louvers provided are of the "wedge" type, to glue on (as if they would open in the back). Some Goélands have them, others have the section opening without louvers, and others have the louvers but they are fixed (which is the case with this plane). Here are the different arrangements:

This Goéland had the louvers fixed (i.e. the panel where they are is not hinged at the front and angled, opening at the back). The photo-etched frets also have them, but they may stand proud unless you carve a bit. I think I will try the Archer louvers, which will be flush:

Here is the plane represented by the kit:

Here is the other Goéland that participated in the race:

You may also notice that both had that oblong panel, metal color, under the engine, exactly like the Caudron Simoun and many Caudron racers with similar engines. Patrice Roman pointed out to me that those are the oil coolers (thanks Patrice!).

The kit provides a clear cover and a "lamp" to make up for the nose light, as the kit is heavily based on military variants, not applying here:

...that arrangement is unnecessary, as there was just a simple lamp in civil planes as this photo clearly shows. I will be using one of my home-made lenses, but modelers can perhaps install an MV lens (railroad models) of the proper size, of modify a bit what the kit provides. If the kit's cavity results to be too big (I haven't yet dealt with it), a bit of Milliput or epoxy may fill the area for re-drilling:

All this talk about small details may convey the wrong impression that this is not a good kit, which is not true. I believe this is a very nice kit that had good accessories and good detail that goes beyond of what many other similar kits offer, besides being the reproduction of a very beautiful plane. Whatever may be a little off, is the product of two things: A) the fact that as usual, the civil variants derive of the military releases of most manufacturers, but some details naturally change; some are picked up and corrected, some are not. For example, the allotment of antennas is inaccurate for this version, as are the details pointed out above in the article. B) The limited amount of time that a manufacturer can dedicate to research and find out about minutia (it took me a large amount of hours, but I loved every minute of it).

So let's be clear on this: this is a welcome kit of good quality and extensive detail, that may need, depending on the modeler, a bit of effort to make it even more accurate if so one wished.

The purpose is not pointing out defects, but to find joy in doing the little things that improve the kit (ANY kit) to a degree that brings personal satisfaction, without making of it a rule, and much less a "must do". Each one finds his or her happiness as he or she deems fit, and that's how it should be, as this is a hobby meant to illuminate the soul, not to create a burden, or set up bars to rise to, goals to be achieved, or create misery by competing with others. Each one of us finds the path that suits the own desires. And we know we are always learning and benefiting from the efforts and knowledge of others, so gratefulness is in order too, and humbleness, as we enter the vast universe of aviation and modeling, all whose details and aspects -to quote Lady Galadriel- "Even the wisest can not tell".

Now, where were we?

Something to pay attention to when the moment arrives: the wheel axles are "solid", that is, the landing gear leg is not provided as usual in two halves that trap the wheel. The instructions indicate (not very clearly) that a cut should be made, the legs splay open, and the wheel inserted. This operation may be a little risky, so perhaps a longer section of the axle should be removed leaving just enough to grab the wheels securely, so the legs are not splayed to the point of breakage. Another approach could be to cut the axle, provide a new one for the wheel, and glue it to the legs, or do a metal tube job (metal legs inserting into a tube axle), that is of course more demanding:

The Arctic Decals masks and frames set. Notice the word "vinyl" is crossed, as the masks are now masking paper (a much better result and handling)

A truly beautiful set, practical and surely to help "dress up" the model:

A number of parts are separated from the sprues and cleaned up. There is a minimum of flash and the gates are not too intrusive, still, every part needs cleaning to some degree. The trailing edges of the wings will need thinning from inside, a common task needed with many kits:

The fore and aft doors are opened. They will be replaced by photoetched items:

I will take a page from friend and fellow modeler Jörgen Stendahl, and slightly modify the existing fin to only use the resin rudder. This will be much less messy than the removal of the whole vertical tail, and will not impair alignment:

For this I corroborated that the width of the kit's fin was equal to the resin rudder, to ensure they match:

The nacelle vents needed some plastic clearing, as they had some flash:

The resin rudder (that is integral with the tailcone) is separated from the fin:

Smaller bit off the sprues. Their careful cleaning will take a bit. Don't do this if you are unsure of what goes where, or if you are afraid to lose the parts. Have a good look at the parts' trees before tossing them in the trash can, as there are very small parts molded there. I don't paint parts while on the sprues because is silly to paint the part, then detach it, having to smooth the area where the gate when in, and then touch up the paint. Not very practical one may say:

Compare the size of the Goéland vertical tail with the ongoing build of the smallish Farman 231:

The kit's resin accessories are separated form their casting blocks and cleaned up. Not all will be used. The cockpit/cabin floor is being built. The aft cabin bulkhead had its door (only marked in the kit's part) removed, to provide a hint of the soon-to-added restroom through the access door. You may notice that the desk after the first bulkhead has not been added, as this space, close to the center of gravity, was likely occupied by long range fuel tanks. Besides, only three crew members, and not four, were present. The resin faired tailwheel stem will of course be replaced by a metal one, as small and thin resin bits are notorious for their fragility when loads are imposed:

Some adjustments needed:

Congrats to RS Models, because after those minor adjustments to clear internal detail, the fuselage halves closed on the interior effortlessly (dry run), something you very seldom see on kits:

Another thing that needs remediation is the second door, which wasn't present in this plane. To delete it will be a little bit of a challenge. The idea is to sand the area and reestablish the longerons relief by masking, puttying and sanding. In any case the longerons were much less prominent in the plane, so all will be toned down. We'll see how it works:

I toyed with the idea of lowering the flaps, but came to my senses given the many mods needed and the work ahead. In case you decide to do it, know that the flaps didn't split evenly, but "carried" the end of the trailing edge with them. Furthermore, there was a center section that deployed from the fuselage bottom, so it's not just a matter of separating and deflecting them from the lower half of the wings:

Preparing for deleting the door:

Door sanded off:

Rudder removed to install the resin alternate part:

Tape and putty to restore the surface detail. The distance between lines is about 2.5mm (width of the needed masking tape):

The horizontal tail halves have a slot to secure and align them, whilst the wings sort of embrace a protrusion on the fuselage that fits inside them. The fit is not tight, but seems fair enough to get a good alignment. It will be necessary to keep an eye on the dihedral for a good result though:

We continue with some details: The wheels have some tubular or wire structure going in front of them. What is it, I have no idea. The remnant of a support of the wheel well door on the earlier models, or some device to get rid of the mud. It is not, as stated somewhere, the line for the brakes, which can be seen on the other side:

The kit provides quite the array of antennas, vents and the like. They all apply...to some model of the Goéland, but most do not apply to this particular plane. The nacelle air intake on this plane was very small and located somewhere else, and the only vent on the fuselage top that can be seen in photos is that of the restroom. No antennas or vents are seen on top of the fuselage, and there is only a Pitot (provided in the kit) under the nose. The plane -as it had a radio- had perhaps a trailing antenna, which is usually unwound and reeled-in at need from a short mast under the belly or the tail:

The nacelle noses did not have the pip shown on the kit's part, but had a quadrangular intake:

The parts are thus modified deleting the pip and carving the intake:

Toilet, sink and tap are fabricated for the restroom, but this, if true for other Goélands, is speculative for this plane:

None of these details are really important, it's just a divertimento for me.

The trailing edges will be thinned down using cabinet scrapers:

The Goéland (not sure if all of them) had two sort of battens running lengthwise on the inner section under the wings. This photo is labeled on the Net as to be of this plane (but there is no guarantee) showing them. They may have to be fabricated and added. The kit's wings show an engraved line where they go:

At some point without realizing it I broke a part that belongs to the landing gear. It is reconstituted:

I usually remove details like nav lights and antennas molded in one half of the parts as they hinder the tiding up of the seams. In this case they are removed and later replaced with stretched clear sprue colorized with red and green Sharpies:

The battens seen in the photo (perhaps a reinforcement for the fuel tanks) are added:

After deleting the second cabin door the relief is restored:

The small parts that go on the wells are glued. The instructions here are a bit vague. Small and faint arrows on wing and parts help a little (It's better if you jump ahead in the instructions and look at the diagrams of the assembly of the landing gear). The fit of the dummy cylinders is not sharp. The cylinder parts have a slim tongue that helps alignment with the engine nose. The stem of the tailwheel has been replaced with a metal tube to prevent the very likely breakage of it later in life:

And now for those exhaust stacks that need some tweaking. This plane had three angled stacks and two little holes after them, but not in the position, shape and amount that the kit has them, as these are for other Goéland types. Here are two images of them as they are on F-AOMX:

So the parts are marked with pencil lines where the three angled stacks should be, and two red dots where the holes are in the photos (no stacks protruding there):

So the kit's openings will be filled with Milliput, the positions re-drilled, and the two little holes drilled in their correct position too. On this I will again take a page from friend and fellow modeler Jörgen Stendahl and glue some plastic from behind, and then cut the kit's exhausts and glue them from outside:

Milliput filling the kit's positions of the exhausts. The aft two holes are already drilled:

A few parts from the aftermarket photoetched set. Instead of using the reverse of the instrument panel to add the film and P.E. part, I made another of exactly the same size. Once again to the credit of RS Models, the fit of the inst. pan. (that slides between the fuselage sides) is very good. Notice that the set provides film windows to be trapped either between the doors or by the window frames. The challenge will be here not to get glue on them if used. The metal instrument panel also provides two small lamps on stems, do not obliterate them:

The cockpit transparency is also a good fit, necessitating just a bit of adjustment. Photos indicate that the two top windows were blanked, so don not mask them at the time of painting:

I have to say that the more I advance with the build, the better I like this kit. It's "workable", it's easy to deal with. An amicable kit with good fit overall and good detail. Oh my, it looks like I will have to get another.

As the control wheels in the kit and the Brengun set do not match the ones I want, I built new controls from styrene and Hauler steering wheels:

Wing and nacelles halves glued, good fit:

Some parts are given their respective base colors:

More painting. The strip with the painted pointy ends is to make two missing exhausts (as the kit only has the military type). For the cabin four colors were used, grey/metal for the cockpit, ivory for the cabin bulkheads (and fuselage interior), white for the restroom area, and dark grey for the cabin floor. All are speculative:

The curved tube or wire that surrounds the wheels is made:

The interior is being detailed. The inst. pan. is ready to the right. The (speculative) long distance fuel tank on the foreground. The fit of the nacelles on the wings is very good, one was spot on, the other necessitating just a few passes with a sanding stick. This kit continues to surprise me with its good fit, something not common for short-run businesses:

More little things are getting being prepared:

The nacelles are glued. The bays will be painted now, and then masked:

The long-range tank is added. Most of the interior, as explained, is speculative given the lack of photos of it:

My test pilot, Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter-crasscrenbon-fried-digger-dingle-dangle-dongle-dungle-burstein-von-knacker-thrasher-apple-banger-horowitz-ticolensic-grander-knotty-spelltinkle-grandlich-grumblemeyer-spelterwasser-kurstlich-himbleeisen-bahnwagen-gutenabend-bitte-ein-nürnburger-bratwustle-gerspurten-mitzweimache-luber-hundsfut-gumberaber-shönendanker-kalbsfleisch-mittler-aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm, tried the toilet and found it too tight. Thus a new one was made at his request. When I call it "request", what I mean is that he screamed "Do you think I have a 1/144th scale butt?":

The interior is almost ready:

The wing tip bumpers provided as resin parts in the kit (present in both participating Goélands and only in two other planes of the many photos I have of the type) are superglued to the wings:

Little by little all that can be painted before assembly is painted:

A few pieces of baggage that will go inside the netted area are painted:

Still undecided as to either use the kit's cabin transparencies or the film with the etched frames provided in the aftermarket set. I think the latter may pancake into a too-thick assembly and be too prominent.

Building continues after a long hiatus, giving the transparencies a bath in clear acrylic. The instrument panel console is given a small reinforcement as I think it will be attached to the floor and not to the sides as in the instructions. The "luggage" has been added to the netted area:

I finally ended up cutting and fitting individual windows, even the ones at the front, from acrylic sheet, to gain a little bit of clarity. The round windows will be filled with "window maker":

The interior is glued to one side of the fuselage:

And the fuselage halves are glued together:

The cockpit transparency was not a natural fit. Half an hour of careful fiddling provided a reasonable adjustment. The alternate resin rudder is added:

The seams are treated. Some panel lines will have to be restored later. Here the short-run nature of the kit is evident:

The horizontal stabilizer and wings are attached. Both have locating devices, but adjustments have to be made. This is a lovely kit, but not a shake-n-bake one, and some experience and degree of dexterity is needed. Provided the modeler is up to it, it's a joy, but a joy accompanied by a bit of work:

First coat of primer. Some spots need revisiting:

-Of all the detail parts that the kit provides for the fuselage top, only two are accurate, the small restroom vent (already glued in place) and an antenna under the nose (to be glued later).

-Ratier logos from an Arctic Decal sheet are added to the propeller blades.

-There are also a couple parts provided for the nacelle that are not accurate for this version, a vent at the top in the form of a hood, and a sort of biggish airscoop for the sides of the nacelles. In this plane the vent on the top was very small, so that part was discarded in favor of a later application of a single Archer louver. The scoop for the sides was replaced by a smaller one in the correct position for this plane.

Big vents (not for this plane):

And smaller narrower on this plane:

Ancillaries are given a gloss black coat in preparation for the metal color:

A gloss light grey coat is airbrushed as a base for the colors to follow :

Departing from the instructions the fuselage top is painted white aluminium, as in photos where white is present, the fuselage top looks darker, and white aluminum was commonly used at the time in French machines. Masks are then applied followed by airbrushing the blue color:

Final assembly can start now:

The landing gear is composed of four parts, two "forks", the wheel, and a jack. They are very well molded and their locations are marked on the wheel well. But: since they lack any real locating devices, any positive anchoring point, any means of securing the parts in place, it's very difficult to glue them together. I just spent a couple hours and ended up removing everything. This is by far the most frustrating sub-assembly of the kit, and remember that you even have to cut the wheel axles to be able to insert the wheels by prying the legs open, risking breaking the legs, how silly is that? I know this is a short run kit, but some little holes to anchor those parts would have been all that was needed (and not having to cut the axles yourself, of course). Another way to solve this would have been to assemble the gear on a platform and then glue that to the well:

The propeller sub-assemblies are another point of frustration. In order for the parts involved to fit, you have to further "excavate" the receptacle for the prop on the backing disk, and thin the prop too to be able to fit the spinner on top (which in turn had the little carvings that trap the prop also shaved a bit. In sum: bad fit overall:

The subtext is: test the fit of all sub-assemblies, even if they look OK.

Now sometimes modeling becomes a little absurd. The kit's decals as mentioned are incomplete in two accounts: they lack the white race number "2" under the wings as seen in photos of the plane, and they also missed the "Caudron Renault" small lettering that goes on the nacelles (they provide them incorrectly in black, decals number 22). I believe their number 2 in black for the rudder is incorrect too. Funnily enough, the box depicts the last two things correctly, so go figure, it's either like people at RS don't talk much to each other or someone was a little bit lazy making the final adjustments.

The old LF set to modify the kit to the Ric et Rac version (that predates this civil release of the RS kit) has so many mistakes that I better do not list them here, but it does include the small white lettering for the nacelles, so saved in that account.

You also see in the photo below the corrective images commissioned from Arctic Decals in order to be able to complete the model accurately, the white race number "2" and the blue ones for the rudder.

The kit's decals went on ok, so far so good. They are thin and I trimmed some of the carrier. Treat them with care. In the photo they were just applied, so still have to "suck in". The numbers "2" are part of the Arctic Decals corrective set. Also visible is the home-made nose light, and those "colander" panels typical of the Renault engine cowling (those come from a donor P.E. set):

Application of decals continue. The "metal" frames from Arctic Decals (the masks were also from them) are ready to be applied. Nav lights are in place, as well as a thin metal linkage for the rudder trim tab. The props are in place, and the Pitot is being help by tweezers for later application. I can't find confirmation of race numbers 2 being also on the top of the wings yet: