This
Cant.21 began life registered as I-AAPW in service with S.I.S.A..
It was later acquired by the Uruguayan government and put to service but not as
a civilian plane as we see it here –built as a commission-.
It looks a
bit like a grown-up version of the Cant.18 I posted here before, and required a
slightly different approach, since the fuselage was carved from wood and later
hollowed.
When I
create a wood master I try to make a vac copy, but in this case the size was far
bigger than what my Mattel could handle. The process of finishing the surface of
the wood fuselage proved lengthy and laborious, necessitating a number of layers
of fillers and primers in preparation for the final painting. No doubt I need a
bigger vacuform arrangement for future projects like this, which would alleviate
the work needed.
Click on
images below to see larger images
If you are
familiar with scratchbuilding you may have noticed that one tends to
create first a “kit” and then proceed with the assembly. In this case
the engine, gondola (another wood master for those parts), prop, supports
and associated bits took more than forty individual parts to be made; the
trolley ten and the interior only twenty one. The other parts went as
usual as you can see in the accompanying images, passing the hundred and
twenty parts not counting rigging wires and decals. Something you don’t
want to think much about when you are building the model. Decals were of
course home made, printed on white decal paper which fortunately was
required by the images’ background anyway.
It is
interesting to note that in spite of being morphologically similar to the
above-mentioned Cant.18, this model took double the time and more complex
techniques to be finished. In the accompanying photos some diagonal wires
are missing, those were added later, but I didn’t want to re-do the
photo session.
The
Italians produced a plethora of flying boats and seaplanes designs, all with
appealing lines and good performances, in a time when this branch of aviation
made sense. One can’t avoid feeling a bit nostalgic contemplating them.
Gabriel Stern
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images below to see larger images
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