Renard 36-37-38-40-42 : a loooong time project at 1/72 scale

[draken35]

Alfred Renard, Belgian aircraft manufacturer, produced a superb fighter just before the Second World War on his own funds, the Renard 36 which was then declined in 37 and 38 versions (the latter with a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine). Despite the qualities of the aircraft whose performance placed it between those of the Hurricane and the Spitfire, the Belgian government preferred to buy Hurricanes. English lobbying was powerful and Belgian politicians clueless!
The French government, for its part, had asked Alfred Renard to study a high-altitude fighter with an ejection cabin. Following the German attack and the defeat of 1940, none of these planes were produced in series.
Alfred Renard also realized in 1942 a sketch of the Renard 42, an aircraft somewhat similar to the P38 Lightning or the Messerschmitt 109Z and whose fuselages would have been those of the Renard 40.

At the hobby level, these planes were made in resin by Dujin, the same molds being used by Vami Models, HR Models and have been reissued for a couple of years by FSC Dujin.
Dujin and Vami are more or less of the same quality; from the point of view of the resin I find HR a bit below and FSC Dujin very below with a lot of air bubbles and defects but a small photoetched sheet is provided with the seatbelts and the instrument panel as well as two canopies instead of one for the others.
As an example to determine the age of the kits, the Renard 37 is marked "1997".
I got these kits in different ways: the Renard 36, 40 and 42 were bought from a friend who was liquidating his stock. Another friend sold me his Renard 38 from FSC Dujin at a good price (bought just for a replacement canopy he needed for his Renard 36) and offered me as "spares" the parts of his incomplete Renard 40. I got the Renard 38 directly from FSC Dujin. As documentation, I not only have two books ("Renard 36/37/38&40" by Nicolas Godfurnon and "Les Avions Renard" by Andr? Hauet and Guy Roberty) but also good contacts at the Brussels Air Museum and with members of the Foundation Renard.

I specify that you have to really like Renard planes to buy these kits and especially want to build them!
Indeed, regarding the Renard 36-37-38-40, the right wing is not as wide as the left wing (whose width is correct according to my documentation); this is the most striking defect. But there are plenty of others...

[draken35]

My idea at the start was to begin with the Renard 40 and only her. First exercise: cutting the canopy in vacu (provided in two copies). To my great satisfaction I managed a perfect cut... But when you want to place it on the fuselage (NB: I use the "spare" half-fuselages offered by my friend Bernard Libert for the tests, which allowed me to stick them together to facilitate my work) we see that it is not suitable at all !!! Obviously, it will be the same for the Renard 42; but twice, this time!)
Rather than abandoning the project, I will make a "master" which will be used to thermoform three new canopies (one for the Renard 40 and two for the Renard 42). For this, I will use Evergreen and miliput. On an Evergreen base I will put Miliput, then after sanding make the arches in Evergreen and sand again to soften them. You can see the difference between this Master and the canopy provided in kits 40 and 42. At this stage, I still have to finalize this Master by strengthening it a little before testing a transparent plastic shaping.

[draken35]

For the right wing of the Renard 40, I tested on the one received as a "spare" the following procedure: cutting the wing; replace it higher with fitting and miliput and adding a little material at the back. After careful examination, it does not fit because the wing no longer has the correct inclination at the front.

[draken35]

I will therefore work on the wing of the complete kit, this time by adding material (miliput) at the level of the leading edge. After sanding I am satisfied and I tell myself that as long as it takes, rather than waiting to do those of 36-37 & 38, I might as well do it now! So rather than building just one model of the series, I'm going to do all 5 together.
I make a parenthesis here to point out that this project will be done in the very very long term, in small doses at a time, between easier montages and that I am not sure to see it through to completion. But the urge is there!
So, once the leading edges of the right wings have been ground and sanded (some finishing work is still necessary at this stage), I go back to my documentation to check the dimensions of the wings: if I already know that the width is good, what about the length? On real planes, it was 11644mm. Which means that those of the models of the 36-37-38 & 40 (I will come back to that of the 42 later), it lacks a little more than 2mm. An Evergreen rod will serve as a benchmark to determine where I should add the missing material. Fortunately, it is at the end of the wings. Using good old Dymo tape, I mark the precise place where I have to insert, on each side, 1mm of Evergreen. I saw off the ends; place the Evergreen; sand; then I replace the wingtips after pinning them for better fixation. It will still be necessary to sand and to add material to the few gaps caused by the manipulations, but at least the dimensions are good now.
Afterwards, it will also be necessary to remove certain engravings, engrave missing panels and create the lines of rivets...

[No.1]

I am amazed with this topic  not many people know about this so promising fighter projects, and I like it very much, I read about it many years ago. Wish you best luck with this build 

[draken35]

Thank you my friend !