Franco Poloni's Models

The following pictures are of Franco Poloni's models. For more information, Franco can be contacted via E-mail at: frank@lo.itline.it
The kit is a Meikraft Model, 1/72, and is a multimedia kit: main parts in plastic, resin for the engines, a lot of p/e (interplane struts, instrumant panel and guns, and the rear gunner birdcage, plus lot of other items....) and even some wood, in form of very thin slices for struts covering.

I started working on the nacelle, and I remove the plastic from the front part of the nacelle, fwd of the pilots seats, and build the structure as it actually was, then I cover it with paper, the one used with flying models, and this job gave a nice result.

I rebuilt the floor, according to some photos taken at the Caproni CA.3 during restoration in a USA Museum.( might be Dayton ?) then comes the wings, the only attention here is to reinforce the joint among the 3 sections, so I drilled holes and insert metal pins. I used the p/e struts, and to attaine a correct aerofoil I sandwiched between 2 plastic stips, sand it and cover it with a generous amount of white glue, then painted.

With a jig I placed the main parts on drawings, align everything and glued the struts, then removed the top wing, drilled holes for the rigging to pass trough, rigged, glued and let it dry. Then some sanding and voila', finito.

The undercarriage required only some clean up from the various flash, not difficult but time consuming.



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