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Caproni Camplni scratch build


Marklo

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More bits and a start on assembly. The fuselage will be a number of pieces, first off the nose and tailpipe will be separate to ensure I get a circular profile. I've split the cockpit transversely as this will make  building the interior and molding the canopy easier.  The rest of the fuselage will be split vertically but I may end up splitting the parts as my I don't think my vacuum box is big enough to mold the fuselage in 1 go. I suppose I could make a custom vacuum box, but that might be a lot more work than just splitting the fuselage, hmmm

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Started to assemble the formers.

 

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Attached the first layer of Balsa on the wing blanks. Plan is to put a layer each side, bevel the end to the correct diehedral angle, shape the balsa and then sheet it with  10 thou plastic card.

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It’s mostly a fairly cylindrical tube with tapered ends. It gets complex where the wings join the fuselage and around the horizontal stabs. Next step will be to infill the fuselage with bass wood then carve it out should be fun. 

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I’m afraid I’m all fits and starts. I think I have about 12 wips at the moment, at the moment the walrus, caproni, mustang and some me 262 butchery ( I’m more or less making a 262 HG III for our what if 2 go) are getting the attention, but that could change on a whim. 
 

The caproni is a bit of weirdness, it’s not a true jet but a motor jet, a piston engine driving a ducted impeller. It flew for the first time one year to the day of the Hienkel 178 which had been kept secret, and was announced as the first jet flight until the details of the H178 were retrospectively revealed, mr Caproni and Campini must  have felt  pretty aggrieved at that!

Edited by Marklo
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Always thought this was a most unusual design, probably closer to the first ducted fan plane than a true 'Jet'. Good work so far, looking forwards to the vacuum process!

Will you plan to have the tail section removable on your scale model? This shot always looked good if you were going for a diorama recreation!
forsag.jpg.b14f6be342afe2402653150c7bea9

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No will probably keep it on, just like I never do pilots I’m not a big fan of cutaways. Wouldn’t be the same without the flames. 
 

Actually I like the carving phase since I discovered bass wood. Hopefully I’ll get it infilled and make a start over the weekend. The moulding may be a little tricky as the fuselage is a bit bigger than my larger vacuum box. Torn between splitting it( more filling) and making a larger box( for a one off a lot of extra work). That said there is some pretty complex geometry around the tail so a split might be needed anyway.

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It’s mostly a cylinder it gets a little complex at the wing and tail roots and I might just try the fuselage as a plunge mold and vac the nose, tail and canopy. 
 

Although I generally find that vac forming is much easier than plunge moulding and give slightly sharper edges. Hmm I’m arguing myself in circles :) 

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Started on the infill. I'm using some balsa as core material and then I'll sheet it with basswood, this is mostly because I'm low on bass wood and I want to stretch my stock out a bit. It carves and molds way better than balsa with little or no grain evident once it's sanded smooth, whereas Balsa is easier to work it needs grain filling.

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now a slightly more Caproni shaped block, and only sliced my fingers twice so far. The more I carve the more I think this will be a mix of moldings and sheeted wood. The nose, canopy and tail are definitely going to be molded, but mostly owing to it's size I may sheet over the form for the rest of the fuselage.

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Thank you Steve. Wood will be there or thereabouts contemplating isopon as a filler. Especially if I’m going to use the middle bit in the finished model. Or I could go for milliput, might be a bit less toxic.

 

Next time I won’t be so miserly with the basswood. Still barely managed to stretch my current pieces to get this far, and bass wood is hard to find over here.

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