Revell 1/72 Macchi C.200 Saetta

[flyjoe180]

This is the old (ancient) Revell kit of this iconic Italian aircraft. It was the first model I ever built, with Dad in the early 1980s. I remember painting it (it was the overall green version which still crops up from time to time). This version has the great looking Italian 'mottle' scheme. The kit has not changed in all those years, and it certainly shows it's age with flash and crude components.


The box and parts, nicely sealed:





No point in hanging around. Putty and sandpaper heaven. If you're into that sort of thing...








I added plastic card to the floor of the cockpit/roof of the landing gear bays so you can't see straight through later on.





I stuck my awesome Italian pilot onto his sofa of a cockpit seat, and primed the Saetta. The cowl is stuck on with bluetac so I can remove it afterwards for it's yellow and bronze paint.





As my build rate has suffered (standstill) for some time, my objective is to finish this soon (yeah right).

[Guest]

that certainly goes together very quickly! This kit reminds me of those short run kits which are horrendous to put together.


Good to see you have the main parts together despite it's quality

[flyjoe180]

that certainly goes together very quickly! This kit reminds me of those short run kits which are horrendous to put together.


Good to see you have the main parts together despite it's quality

Again, it's an old kit so you go with what you have, but it falls together really. The difficult part was the landing gear, and masking the tiny canopy.

[papa 695]

Well you've not been on for a while Joe, but your making up for lost time. 

[PaulTRose]

theres one from the past! i can remember building that as a nipper

[Guest]

That looks nice Joe, the colour scheme should be a challenge in 1/72

[Guest]

Can't wait to see how you do this scheme Joe.

[yak face]

Great start joe , its good to get back to basics now and then , and they dont come much more basic than this veteran moulding!! Cant wait to see the paint go on , cheers tony

[Guest]

Not familiar with this aircraft.  Is it me or does it look like it was designed to have a different engine to the one it ended up with?

[flyjoe180]

Not familiar with this aircraft.  Is it me or does it look like it was designed to have a different engine to the one it ended up with?

Macchi was forced to use a radial engine in the Saetta; Italian development of liquid-cooled engines was not up to speed at the time of the aircraft's introduction. It was pretty much obsolete at the start of the Second World War. The C.202 Folgore was a development of the C.200, strapping a Daimler Benz 601 engine to the airframe and altering the fuelage accordingly. The Folgore turned out to be one of the best fighters of the war.


Having said that the Saetta did serve in all the major Italian campaigns, and on the Eastern Front had a kill to loss ratio of 88 to 1!

[flyjoe180]

Pressing on. The engine cowl, propeller and engine are ready for installation later:





The yellow/brown colour was sprayed on after the white fuselage band was masked off. The colour is a bit washed out in this photo, I've been using my cellphone camera.





Once that was dry, I added random blobs of tac. Once ready, i will spray the next colour, a dark brown, and repeat the exercise once more for the final green colour. It's got Macchi pox!

[flyjoe180]

Sprayed the dark brown colour next. Had a peek under a few tabs of tac and the process is working excellently.

[Guest]

That's coming along very nicely Joe, looking forward to the big reveal

[flyjoe180]

Thanks Patrick. Me too!


Masked with blobs of tac for the green, and the final top colour sprayed on. This particular pot of paint is over 20 years old now and sprays very nicely and evenly! Humbrol went through a patch of bad paint products, the very old tins and the brand new tins have been superb.








Waiting for it to dry overnight and then I will reveal the camouflage scheme. Probably going to need touch ups on the underside I suspect.

[yak face]

looking forward to the big reveal joe!