This kit was built for a SAMI review article in 2007.

Choroszy Modelbud 1/72 Caproni Ca.100 Alfa Romeo engine

At the last count, there have been roughly eleven 1/72 Caproni Ca.100 kits produced by Choroszy Modelbud. This Alfa Romeo engined variant, sporting a typical Italian Racing Red colour scheme, is one of the more recent issues.

The kit contents are completely familiar to me now, having built a fair number of CM's Ca.100s for this magazine. The wing moulds are perhaps starting to show a bit of wear and tear, with a few flaws that need to be smoothed out prior to painting. The all-new fuselage halves are beautifully moulded and require very little cleaning up before joining them together. The undercarriage and tail fin can be assembled at this stage as well, although the radiator, wings and stabilisers are best left as separate items until all painting is completed.

One thing to look out for is to get the correct alignment and dihedral on the wings, especially the lower ones. They can go out of square all too easily. The struts are quite tricky to align as well and I found it easier to glue the wing struts in place on the lower wings first, which helps to determine where the fuselage to wing struts should go once the top wing is in place.

Aclad Aluminium was used for all the silver surfaces and Model Master Gloss Red for the fuselage, struts and tail fin. Although the white decals are very opaque, without a hint of transparency, there was a bit of silvering. No such problem with the large black codes applied to the wings.

This version is one of the more attractive Ca.100's, enhanced by its red and silver colour scheme. The louvre panels around the engine echo the styling of the famous Alfa Romeo cars of the same era. The distinctive lettering also adds to its charm. Anyone who has built a Choroszy Modelbud Ca.100 before will know what to expect, as the delicate wing & undercarriage strut assembly process makes it a fairly demanding kit to get right.