Caproni Ca.3 Build
- History
- The Kit
- Wings
- Fuselage
- Wheels
- Front and Rear Gun Placements
- Cockpit
- Top Wing Attachment
- Rigging
- Final Construction
- Conclusion
Caproni began to build large aeroplanes in 1913, the first to use pusher propellers in the central nacelle with tractor airscrews in a twin boom configuration. The plane was the Ca.30. The Ca.30 used rotary engines, as did the Ca.31. The Ca.32 had three 100-hp Fiat engines. The Ca.32 (military designation Ca.3) had three 150 hp Isotta-Fraschini V4B's and was known as the 450 hp Caproni.
All 250 of the Ca.3s were delivered by the end of 1917. An additional 50 were delivered by February 1918, delayed due to a lack of engines. They were also built under license in France and were identical with the exception that some of the French planes substituted a 130 hp Canto-Unne in the center position.
The first bombing raids by Capronis took place in August 1915 and the rugged qualities of the plane were soon apparent. Often anti-aircraft did a great deal of damage but the Caproni was rugged enough to get back to base the great majority of times. The first large scale bombing raids by the Ca.3 took place in June 1918 with troop support in the battle of Ortigara and also bombed Pola and Tarvisio.
It was decided in July 1917 to attempt to launch torpedoes against Austrian ships. The tests were successful but preparations took so long that only one operation was feasible before the war ended.
One Italian squadron was active in France. A squadron of Caproni aircraft performed reconnaissance work along the Istrian coast. They were also used at the 8th Training Center for American pilots at Foggia. Two Ca.3s were sent to the United States in 1918.
Although obsolete by the mid-1920s, they still gave a good account of themselves in the colonies, where they were appreciated for their simplicity, safety and reliability.
The Caproni by Miekraft was introduced to the world in May/June 1990 in Windsock with a full-page ad. It was a very ambitious undertaking and 500 of the kits were to be produced. It took a long time to get the kit into production and I had the privilege of seeing one of the kits soon after it was released. It WAS a very ambitious undertaking and it was a box of parts. Metal and plastic and string and decals and other stuff. It also carried a $70.00 price tag and I had to pass on owning one. At the time, it was also a kit well above my abilities as a builder.
I obtained mine in a trade about 10 years later and I moved it to near the front of the pile of kits that were soon to be built. I made the decision to make this kit # 150 for several reasons. One, I have never seen this kit built by anyone except in the Miekraft ad in 1990. Two, my building skills have improved over the years and the intimidation factor is gone. And Three, it is a neat looking aircraft and will look good in my collection. Now to the build.
Both top and bottom wings are in three pieces and on both wings the center section was a little thicker that the two outer sections. Before gluing, the control surfaces were scribed deeper on both sides. I squared the edges and used Weld-On 3 to glue the sections together. After they were dry, both wings were very carefully sanded until all of the sections matched. I then painted them with my mixture of CDL, Floquil Depot Buff and Reefer White. I then matched the red and green as closely to the tail colors as possible and painted the national colors on the bottom of both wings.
Here I will cover the center fuselage and the booms. The center section is two pieces and they fit well. A little sanding, some Weld-On 3 and it is done. At this point I glued it to the bottom wing. The booms were as easy. A little sanding, a little gluing and I stuck them on the bottom wing. I added the hortizional tailpiece, made sure of the alignment and glued it all together. I then painted this entire assembly CDL and gloss coated everything with Testor's glosscoat lacquer. I don't think I have five hours in the kit yet.
Unfortunately, AMS took over at this time. I was going to order 10 wheels from Aeroclub and be done with it. But I decided to try one. The results were convincing so I did the other nine. The two white metal halves were cleaned and sanded flat. The spokes were attached on both halves with super glue. Then, from the back, using the handle of my paintbrush, I slowly forced the spokes outward to form the cone. The two halves were glued together, again with super glue. The fit is not perfect so I filed the center as flat as possible. Some putty, some paint, ten wheels. See what an easy build this is?
The rear gunner platform was an interesting build. The instructions were clear enough but without reference material, small details would be lost. The frame was cut out and prior to bending, the center section was removed. The kit has a solid piece with a cross but no pictures show this to be anything other that netting to keep the gunner out of the prop. Now I have to fine some kind of matching mesh for the center section but that will be down the road.
I replaced the metal floor with wood, matching the metal floor as far as notches. The frame was then bent around a tube of the proper diameter and attached to the floor, making sure the brackets held up the floor. That was the easy part. Both pieces of the gun ring were cut out and glued together. Then the ring separator was sandwiched between the upper and lower ring.
The nose gun assembly was cut from the PE fret and assembled. This was very straight- forward and presented no problems.
Both machine guns are Aeroclub Revelli guns.
The first thing I did was to put as much modeling clay in the bottom as I could to see if I could keep the nose wheel on the ground. A floor was cut out of wood and fitted in. The fuel tanks are from the kit but with thin strips of masking tape used to show the straps. A couple of pieces of round stock for the filler caps and these are done.
The PE instrument console is folded into shape, throttles added and some random decals applied before gluing it in place. The seat frames had to be constructed and three seats were positioned.
The steering wheels are provided but there are no control columns. Not only did I make the control columns, I added the control cables to these minute little things. With the installation of the columns, the cockpit tub is complete with the exception of the rear engine. A wooden frame was built for this engine and it was put into position. The nacelle engines drop right into place after a small notch is cut to allow for the shaft.
This is by and far the most difficult part of the kit. I installed the four inmost struts and then added the struts from the top wing to the cockpit. This gave it enough strength to get the model back on its wheels. The struts from the engine to the top wing were installed and then the nightmare began. There was a warp in the top wing that required for the first time ever, five minute epoxy. The model is very heavy and it is very difficult to handle. It is also bigger than my usual models and I kept bumping it into things. Eventually, the wings were on but I had struts pop loose for the rest of the construction with the slightest bump. After many hours of modelling enjoyment, I proclaimed the top wing on and moved on to the rest of the kit.
The final step of actual construction was installing a peg on the three rudders and mounting them.
This is usually my favorite part of a model but the weight and size of the kit made this a difficult chore, at best. I could not pick the model up for fear of the dreaded strut pop. I tried elevating the model to eye level and this worked ok. My preference is to pick up the kit and bring it to the light. I had to bring the light to this kit. After about 10 hours of rigging, I was too frazzled to continue. I proclaimed it rigged and moved on.
With the rigging done, the front machine gun was installed. Very easy. Not so easy was the rear gunner's platform. The entire thing is so delicate that the slightest bump bends something. After about an hour, I get it attached to where it looks good and I proclaim the kit complete.
The final step is to overspray the entire kit with Gunze Sanyo Sail Color to tone down the colors a little. It also helps to hide shiny glue spots.
What have I learned from this kit? If you have one, save it for the collector's market and make some big bucks on it. This was not a fun build. I did not use at least half of the metal etched parts. This was a very ambitious undertaking on the part of Meikraft and I think it is a model ahead of its time. But it is crude by today's standards. This kit would be easier to build as a vacuform as it would be lighter and easier to handle. I would wait until someone releases this kit either in resin or injection molded plastic. Using today's standards, this will be one beautiful kit. The kit is # 150 of my collection and it will sit proudly in its place.
- Color Profiles of World War 1 Combat Planes by Giorgio Apostolo and Giorgio Begnozzi, Page 121
- Windsock International Volume 6, November/December 1990, page 17
- Windsock Datafile 78, Caproni Ca.3, by Gregory Alegi
Last Revised 3/18/2007