Author Topic: Completed: 1/72 scratch build Caproni Ca 5 Group Build After Build  (Read 12327 times)

Offline RAGIII

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Re: 1/72 scratch build Caproni Ca 5
« Reply #15 on: May 16, 2019, 10:47:17 PM »
Looking awesome. Love the interior!
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline AndRoby67

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Re: 1/72 scratch build Caproni Ca 5
« Reply #16 on: May 18, 2019, 03:58:51 AM »
Hi!
Really great project, I will follow next steps!
The first link you posted shows one of the two Ca.5 used by the "1a Squadriglia Navale Siluranti Aeree" (First Naval Squadron Aerial Torpedoes), commanded by the famous poet/warrior Gabriele D'Annunzio. The Squadron was based in Venice and started its career equipped only with two Ca.3 and five pilots.
Under the cabin in the photo there is the shield with the "Sufficit animus" motto created by D'Annunzio himself.
Cheers,
Roberto

Offline gbrivio

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Re: 1/72 scratch build Caproni Ca 5
« Reply #17 on: May 18, 2019, 02:24:58 PM »
Good progress with interiors, I agree with your idea about similarity in layout and fittings with the Ca3 cockpit. Looking forward for your next steps.
Ciao
Giuseppe

Offline lone modeller

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Re: 1/72 scratch build Caproni Ca 5
« Reply #18 on: May 26, 2019, 07:18:32 AM »
Evening All,

Many thakns Prez, p9o1rische,Rick and Giuseppe for the very encouraging comments: I really appreciate you people who drop by and leave such positive comments.

Roberto: I did know that the photo to which you refer was of a torpedo bomber, but I did not know which unit the aircraft belonged to, nor did I know about the squadron commander. Thank you for the information: it is truly surprising what one can learn from others simply by building a model!

I have been working on the fuselage nacelle - trying to make a decent gun ring on the nose and add some radiator cooling vents around the front end. The Ca 5 was a trimotor like the earlier Ca 3, which presented the designers with the problem of how to cool the pusher engine at the rear of the fuselage nacelle. The answer was to mount a radiator in the extreme front of the nose and pump the cooling water from the engine to the nose and back again. It does not require a degree in mechanical or thermal engineering to work out that this was not an optimal solution: the type was not a success in part because of the overheating problems associated with the engine mounted in the fuselage. However that may have been I still had to add the coolig gills to the fuselage (and will have to add more later to the booms when I get around to making them). I decided that if I cut and glued strips of 10 x 20 thou strip in the right places and then used a file and glasspaper to shape them I might just get away with something resembling said gills:







I have also built up the nose for the front gunners gun ring with a plastic disc which was cut and filed to fit the nose position. Filler did the rest: you can also see the filler around various parts of the fuselage mouldings where trimming and small errors needed correction. When all is primed I am hoping that the blemishes will disappear.... we will see.



I decided to apply more to 10 x 30 thou strip and add the ribs to the wings. For those who may not know of this technique (and I am constantly asked about this at model club open days), here is a brief description:

I mark the positions of the ribs with a pencil on the wings, tail surfaces, ailerons, elevators, rudders, etc as appropriate. In this case I am using 10 x 30 strip because this was a large aircraft and the ribs would accordingly have been wider. On smaller aircraft I use 10 x 20 thou strip, and on larger scale aircraft I use larger strip suitable for the scale.

I cut lengths of strip which are longer than the chord of the surface to be covered. I apply liquid cement liberally along the pencil line and quicly lay a strip directly on to the line and gently press it down with the end of a nail file of other suitable hard, flat tool.

When all of the strips have been applied and the glue allowed enough time to dry I check each strip by trying to push it gently sideways. If any section of strip have not adhered properly I apply more cement to the areas which have not stuck down.

When the cement is dry and all the ribs are firmly in place I cut off the ends of the strips with a sharp scalpe and gently rub them along their lengths with fine grade glass paper to take off the sharp edges and give them a rounded cross profile. Finally a couple of coats of primer ensure that any small gaps or blemishes disappear.

This photo shows some of the strip being applied to the lower wing and one of the ailerons: the yellowish strip will be under the fuselage nacelle so if it is visible later the bright white plastic surface will not show.



Waiting for liquid cement to dry can be tedious so I started to build one of the engines (there will be three eventually). The engines were 6 cylinder Fiat A 12 inlines developing between 200 and 300 horse power on the early variants: later machines had Fiat Isotta or Liberty engines fitted. The differences between the original  and later Fiat engines are not really apparant in this scale so I made one using plastic rod of different diameters, strip and bits of sheet - some of the latter was laminated to make the engine block/sump. The components look like this when laid out:



and like this when glued together and painted:





Only two more of those to make now, but at least I know how to do it so they should not take too long..

The next update will be delayed as unfortunately I have to go on my travels (again) for a couple of weeks. But if you have been, thanks for looking.

Stephen.
« Last Edit: May 26, 2019, 06:41:30 PM by lone modeller »

Offline RAGIII

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Re: 1/72 scratch build Caproni Ca 5
« Reply #19 on: May 26, 2019, 08:21:04 AM »
Awesome progress! The fuselage cooling vents and gun ring are looking terrific!
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline AndRoby67

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Re: 1/72 scratch build Caproni Ca 5
« Reply #20 on: May 28, 2019, 08:34:41 PM »
Hi Stephen!
Good news for my eyes to see your steps! If you learn something trough my infos, for sure I'm learning trough your high level of scratchbuilding!
The photo of the "torpedo" Ca.5 was one of the few with a Squadriglia insignia. Designed to carry two torpedoes, in reality they made few training flights with only one with no success.
The fact that you are building Fiat A.12 means that you decided what Ca.5 you choose to build?
Some years ago I found that Ardpol sells Fiat A.10 in resin in 1/72nd scale, I bought three for my old Ca.3 Meikraft kit still to build...
Cheers!
Roberto


Offline GazzaS

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Re: 1/72 scratch build Caproni Ca 5
« Reply #21 on: May 30, 2019, 07:00:20 PM »
Fantastic scratch building!
There are only two states to be in:  Queensland and blotto.

Offline AndRoby67

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Re: 1/72 scratch build Caproni Ca 5
« Reply #22 on: June 03, 2019, 05:33:41 AM »
Hi Stephen!
Yesterday I was in our Air Force Museum located near Rome. Entering first hangar, dedicated to WWI, they had a Fiat A.12. I shooted some photos that I add here, hope useful!
Cheers!
Roberto

Offline AndRoby67

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Re: 1/72 scratch build Caproni Ca 5
« Reply #23 on: June 03, 2019, 05:34:32 AM »
Second photo....

Offline AndRoby67

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Re: 1/72 scratch build Caproni Ca 5
« Reply #24 on: June 03, 2019, 05:35:01 AM »
Third

Offline lone modeller

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Re: 1/72 scratch build Caproni Ca 5
« Reply #25 on: June 22, 2019, 07:02:57 AM »
Evening All,

Thanks Rick, Roberto and Gazza for the kind comments: I am sorry to be late in replying but I appreciate them very much. Special thanks to Roberto for the superb photos of the Fiat engine which are very useful.

I have been much delayed in preparing this next stage of construction for a variety of reasons, but here are the latest steps.

The aircraft had twin booms with tractor engines - as the booms were almost square in cross section they were reletively easy to cut out from 30 thou card.



The sides of the booms had air cooling vents for the engines so these were added and shaped from 10 x 20 thou strip as described for the nacelle above:



The bottom surface of the booms has a marked curve as can be seen in the image above, so to make the card fit better I held the blade of a pair of scissors on the under surface of the card, pushed on the upper surface with my thumb and pulled the card between my thumb and the scissor blade. This was repeated several times until the card was sufficiently curved to match the required shape. I used strips of scrap card to act as supports along the inside edges of the corners and ran liquid Revell Contacta glue along the joints for the initial adhesion, reinforced with liquid cement where necessary. Two small squares cut from scrap card were used inside the booms to help reinforce and keep them square:





The top of the boom behind the engine had a curved surface so I moulded these from 30 thou card. At the same time I moulded the rounded fronts in the same way: the latter will be added later.



I hope that the next update will not take quite so long i.e. I am hoping that life will be a little quieter in the near future!

Thanks for looking.

Stephen.

Offline Alexis

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Re: 1/72 scratch build Caproni Ca 5
« Reply #26 on: June 22, 2019, 09:17:18 AM »
Really nice work so far Stephen  ;)



Terri
Hurra ! , Ich Leben Noch
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Offline RAGIII

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Re: 1/72 scratch build Caproni Ca 5
« Reply #27 on: June 22, 2019, 09:11:51 PM »
The booms and vents look great as do the molded boom parts!
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline kensar

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Re: 1/72 scratch build Caproni Ca 5
« Reply #28 on: June 23, 2019, 09:25:33 AM »
Nice progress, Stephen.  Looking forward to the next update.
If I need curved plastic card, I pull it across the edge of a table to make the curl.

Offline AndRoby67

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Re: 1/72 scratch build Caproni Ca 5
« Reply #29 on: June 24, 2019, 09:18:37 PM »
Hi!
Great work on the booms, you made simple what's not!
I found another shot of the Naval Ca.5. You may see frontal radiator for the central engine and "Nazario Sauro", dedicated to one of our Carabinieri's hero (dedication of the plane made by D'Annunzio himself again).
You may note also the single attachment for the lonely torpedo.
Bye!
Roberto

P.S.: What's the trick to insert big photo in the post? Because the one in the attachment need to be so little! I have the big version in my files...