[WWI] Caproni methods

[Rev Zoom]

Karen,
I used the photoetch of the fuselage as it was - from what I could tell in 
various pictures, the framing was flat - spruce or mahogany ?? - so I left 
it alone.  The diagonal struts looked to be tubular so I either coated those 
with thick superglue, hit it with catalyst - did that a couple times - and 
then lightly sanded smooth (the bracing strut from the fuselage to the wing 
is a prime example of that - or I replaced with Strutz (as in the fuselage). 
As far as coating flat photoetch with superglue, if you lay the superglue in 
a running bead along the edge of the piece, it will tend to form a convex 
shape - then run a light amount of catalyst along the opposite edge and it 
will harden in that convex shape.  Takes a little practice but really shapes 
up flat photoetch (forgive the pun, I sometimes can't help myself).  I 
started doing that with ships (I also do 1/350 and 1/72 WWII ships) 
photoetch and found the 3D effect to really enhance the modelling - even if 
it is only a little bit rounded, it makes a big difference to the eye.  I 
think it has to do with light and shadow - contrast - which the brain 
interprets as 3D.

The Caproni took me about 6 weeks.  I had the kit on my shelf for several 
years and everytime I looked at it I got annoyed considering what it cost 
and what a miserable kit it looked to be (for example, the whole idea of 
forming the photoetch for the wings and then covering with tissue and doping 
it produced a kind of wailing hysterical laughter in me).  Right around 
Thanksgiving I decided to build something over the holiday period as it can 
be stressful for those in my profession (clergy) and I find building a 
fiddly kit to be the best tonic for stress.  I figured I would take my worst 
kit as if I messed it up it would not bother me.  Hence the Caproni.  Once I 
started, it became an obsession.

The concept for the wings came from my other hobby - historical miniature 
wargaming.  I grew up in Texas; I wanted to game the Alamo; there are no 
15mm models of the Alamo.  I had already painted all the figures (putting 
the cart before the horse).  How to make one?  Being lazy, I did not want to 
try and model one from stucco and such.  So, I took pictures of the Alamo 
chapel in San Antonio and put them on my PC.  I scaled them in photoshop, 
corrected the perspective, printed them out, glued them to balsa sheets, cut 
them out, put those together, glued it to a plywood base, terrained it,  and 
had the chapel.  I then pieced the walls and other buildings together in 
photoshop from the chapel walls and, long story short, ended up with a full 
scale model of the Alamo compound.  The guys in our gaming group kept 
touching it as they were sure it was 3D.  The illusion was eerie.  It has 
been a great game piece.

Well, that gave me the idea to try it for the wings on the Caproni.  I used 
glue sticks to put the covering on the styrene (no water = no wrinkling of 
the paper) and ran a bead of superglue on the edges in case the glued paper 
wanted to lift from the styrene (next time I will rough up the styrene first 
with coarse sandpaper).
Once that worked, I tried it for the rest of the Caproni.  The neat part of 
it all - if something got messed up, just print a new sheet.

Next up is a Savoia Pomilio SP3 that I just acquired.  I think I am a 
glutton for pain.
Kevin

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Message: 6
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2010 15:10:29 -0500
From: Karen Rychlewski <krychski at earthlink.net>
To: World War I Modeling Mailing List <wwi at wwi-models.org>
Subject: Re: [WWI] [Flickr] Winks147 wants you to see something
Message-ID: <E9ED606A-0AF3-4FF2-BA11-B575591E300C at earthlink.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed

Hi Kevin

My compliments on a gorgeous model and your photos of it.

I think the way you modified it turned the flatness of the photoetch
wings and such into a truly 3-D representation. I am intrigued by
your description of how you did the wings and it's given me fresh
incentive to dust off the Caudron G.4 I have.

Did you build out the PE frets for the fuselage framing with
something or replace the PE with metal or styrene?
Do you have any idea how long it took to build it?

Again, a definitely awesome model

Karen