Scratchbuilt 1/144 Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano By Joel Christy

Introduction

I do like building unusual aircraft models but this time I think I may have tackled the most unusual yet. The Caproni Ca.60 was a giant nine winged flying boat with eight 400hp Liberty engines. The nine wings were arranged along the 77 foot fuselage in sets of three with the tail empennage the same length as the other two sets. The nine wing panels are the same type of wing as the Caproni Company used on its very successful Ca.4 triplane bomber in World War One. Perhaps this explains why Count Gianni Caproni decided to build his giant seaplane in order to use up surplus parts. In any case the result could be called the First “Jumbo.” The Ca.60 was to be a 100 plus passenger prototype to pave the way for an even larger aircraft capable of crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

Reportedly to have made one short hop without incident the Ca.60’s maiden flight was less successful. It rose to a height of about 60 feet above Lake Maggiore and plunged into the water. The test pilot survived unscathed but later a mysterious fire destroyed the wreckage and that ended Count Caproni’s Transatlantic dream.

I was inspired to try modelling The Caproni Ca.60 when I came across a photo in the Wings of Peace modelling website and a link to the Musee De Hydroaviation in Biscarrosse, France. However this is all I know of that particular model except that it appeared to be a large scale model. I then searched the web and found a good set of General arrangement drawings that could be used to build a model of the beast. I also came across two film clips of the Ca.60. One was an historical item whilst the other documented a large RC flying scale model of the aircraft that flew beautifully which to me indicated that the Ca.60 project had been viable and was not just a pipedream. I have learned since that the flying model was electric powered and appeared to have a wingspan of around 5 feet. Searching the web also resulted in finding some good photos of the actual aircraft being built and situated on the water awaiting its first flight.

The Model

I decided to build my replica of the Caproni Ca.60 in 1/144 scale mainly because I couldn’t see myself rigging a 15 inch model in 1/72! I scaled the plans found on the internet to 1/144 and began by cutting out the fuselage formers from 40 thou sheet plastic. Next the sides were cut from 15 thou ice cream lid plastic. The formers were glued to their respective positions on one side before gluing the other side to the assembly. Once this was dry the keel was attached; also made from 15 thou sheet. Although keels look complex I’m always amazed at how simple they are to construct.

I set the fuselage aside at this stage as the three sets of wings would be attached before the top decking. I cut nine wing blanks from 40 thou sheet. (In this case I had to use black sheeting as no white was available to me at the time.) The nine pieces were then given an airfoil shape using an Aeroclub T-al sanding block. This was achieved by sanding from the top down and then cleaned up using 900 grit wet’n’dry sandpaper. I intended to do the blanks first and then add the 18 tapered later ailerons, which I did. Next the rib positions had to be scored in the wing blanks on both the top and undersides. I used the plans in the Albatros Datafile number 111 Caproni Ca.4 to get these. A single swipe with a number 11 scalpel blade approximately 1,332 times achieved the desired result. (I must be nuts!) When the wings were ready I marked out one with the 12 strut positions and used it as a pattern for the rest. I then taped three wings together and drilled three at once thereby saving time and getting all the holes consistent. When the wings were drilled out and ready, each one was given one or two coats of liquid poly to give them a nice fresh surface.

Next I made strut material out of hammered brass wire. This would be used for the eight supporting struts in each set of wings. The other struts were made by heat stretching Contrail strut material to the desired thickness. Each set had 22 struts except the tail set which had the eight rudders. I assembled the wing sets using super glue to hold the wings in position. A bit of cardboard served as a jig whilst the glue dried. The plastic struts were glued in with liquid poly.

When everything was ready I attached the three wing sets to their respective positions on the fuselage with styrene glue making sure they were properly aligned. Once all was dry I attached the pre-cut top decking over the wings.

Four of the eight Ca.60 engines were mounted on four booms that passed under two sets of wings and joined together through the middle set of wings. This sounds complicated and it is but these booms hold the whole structure together. I made the booms from 15 thou plastic sheet and formers similar to the fuselage. The nose of each one had a shaped piece of 80 thou sheet attached to it.

Once the wings and booms were attached to the fuselage the basic airframe was complete and it could be painted. I airbrushed several coats of Humbrol number 130 satin white for a good overall finish.

Now the detailing could start and there was a lot. The most difficult bits were the two middle engine nacelles housing the other four engines, I plunge formed four halves over a carved wooden plug. Once cleaned up the four halves were glued between the front and rear wing sets. To these were added exhausts made from corrugated plastic sheet and radiators made of 40 thou sheet. The four boom engines were also made from corrugated sheet to form V-shaped Liberty engine cylinders. These later items were painted with number 67 tank grey. The numerous windows were created using a computer photo suite. I copied a side view photo of the Ca.60 and reduced the windows to the proper size and printed them off. Once cut out and glued to the fuselage they looked great. The hull was masked off and painted with number 33 matt black. Seats with belts were added to the pilot’s cockpit. I left the two floats until the last stage of construction so they wouldn’t get knocked off.

The last major procedure was the rigging which consisted of hot stretched sprue. Rigging one set of triplane wings can be daunting but doing three sets on one fuselage is a bit much even for me. Not all lengths were the same and it was easy to miss areas and then have to come back to them. Using gossamer-like lengths on an all white aeroplane also made one a bit dizzy. There is no contrast so I needed an extra lamp clamped to a chair to get shadows to form as I placed the sprue in place. I’ll be the first to admit that the Ca.60 was my most difficult model to rig to date. I reckon I cut and glued 600 plus bits of sprue to the three sets of wings. (I AM nuts!) I made the hot stretched sprue as thin as possible so that it wouldn’t be too obvious but still could be seen. The pulleys on the top wings were made of thin slices of 30 thou diameter plastic rod. The eight propellers, four 2-bladed and four 4-bladed, were made of 15 thou sheet. Lastly the two stabilizing floats were attached to the bottom of the middle set of wings.

Well that completed the Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano. It may not be a perfect replica but I feel it gives one a pretty good idea of what one of Aviation’s great oddities looked like. I may need to take a long rest after this project. But I have my eye on another even larger giant from the 1930s; stay tuned.