Andrew's Special Hobby Caproni Ca. 311 **Finished**

[AndrewR]

And on Christmas morning...

Photobucket played up...

[Old_Tonto]

Having the same problem mate!

Do you think the techs at Photobucket decided Xmas day was a good time to do some upgrades? After all, nobody takes pictures on Xmas day do they?

[AndrewR]

The problem seems to be the resize function. I can upload to Photobucket just fine, but the images throw up the "image greater than 1000 pixels high" error on the forum. But I haven't changed any settings.

[iggie]

I've just about given up with blunderbucket nowadays, and use the 'add image' feature for posting pictures into the forum almost exclusively.
It seems that every time my pc has an update or blunderbucket has a fit, the upload settings get scrambled and have to be reset. Life is too short for that and I struggle to remember how to change them back anyway.

[AndrewR]

So, with Boxing Day service going restored, here are the edited highlights.

Nice wrapping paper, and a Christmas card.

Wonder what's in it?

Open the box. Get Elder son to take photo, cutting my head off.



Special Hobby Caprioni Ca.311

[AndrewR]

The greenhouse canopy looks a bit scary, but those nice Special Hobby people have included canopy masks in the kit. They also moulded the fuselage in clear plastic for good measure.



There's also a bagful of resin bits for engines, exhausts, guns and aerials, and a photoetch fret with seat belts and instrument panel.




Decal options for a captured RAF example, a Yugoslav and a Croatian example. I will be doing the RAF one!

[AndrewR]

Elmo says "Thank you, Secret Santa, this looks very interesting.

[AndrewR]

Not many builds of this kit on the Internet, but there's a nice one here:

http://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=89805;

I gather from the translation (my knowledge of Czech being limited to beer names...) that the resin engines don't fit in the cowlings, the photoetch mudguards are tricky, and the transparent fuselage may be difficult to glue.
Also looking at the kit, you mask and spray both the inside and outside of the transparent fuselage.

And here is the test build with no paint.
http://www.mpmkits.eu/2014/07/photos-of ... i.html?m=1;

[Martin R]

Andrew,

May your days be graced with well-fitting resin inserts and well-designed canopy masks!

regards,

Martin

[Mikeew]

Ah! A flying greenhouse.
Interesting....

[iggie]

Ah! A flying greenhouse.
Interesting....

Indeed! Sitting back to watch with interest

[AndrewR]

Ah! A flying greenhouse.
Interesting....

Indeed! Sitting back to watch with interest

So, no pressure then...

[AndrewR]

The fuselage and wing parts have been washed and trimmed.




Once the fuselage is stuck together, then the wing section (which is the softer plastic) can be shaped to fit. At the moment the central section of the wing is fractionally to long.



I'm going to mask and spray the interior of the fuselage with interior green. Then I can add the fairly elaborate interior before sealing up the fuselage.



In the meantime, the wing assembly will get the wheelbays painted and assembled.

As far as I can see, the engines should fit in the nacelles okay, as long as the moulding plug is removed. That's a pleasant surprise after reading the review!

Cheers

Andrew

[AndrewR]

The masks provided are of the same plastic material as Montex - they might well be made by Montex. This is good, as I like their vinyl masks better than the Eduard paper ones.



So this took about 40 minutes to mask up the interior. Some windows are omitted on the RAF version, so I haven't bothered with all the interior masking.



The modelling time was restricted by the dog throwing up on the carpet, and all the consequences



So, down to the basement lab for painting.

Undercarriage bays in aluminium over panzergrau primer:



First coat of interior green. Not great coverage, and still signs of grease on the surface stopping the acrylic paint coverage. This despite the scrubbing it got last night.



I've now put a second coat on, which makes it look a lot better.

[AndrewR]

And the third coat should do it.