With over a year of delay, 100 units of the CANT Z.1018 were finally ordered on 31 October 1940. However, on 26 December an additional order was placed for 10 units of "pre-series" aircraft. Due to problems arising from introduction of the all-metal airframe, the 10 pre-series aircraft were specified to be constructed of wood. Similarly to the Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 "Shturmovik", the plane was constructed with a hybird wood-metal construction. This mixed construction required addtional considerations to be made, since wood and metal structures have very different properties and are thus difficult to integrate into a single airframe. But Zappata was a specialist in wooden structures, and his Z.1007 was already in production with wood construction, so this eased the challenge.