Special Hobby 1/32 Fiat G.50-II 'Freccia'.

[Steve-the-Duck]

Of course it's the same engine, it's the A74! D'oh! Time to get out my CR.42 books!
But in the meantime

[stona]

I've made a start on the cockpit.

I have no idea what's going on with the harness, what I have done is a composite of what I've seen other modellers do with theirs!

The fit is average and the engineering what you would expect from this sort of kit, it has not thrown up any problems...I probably shouldn't have written that!



I've also made a generic instrument panel from a combination of spare and Luftwaffe decals. It's just a representation of an instrument panel, I have not even attempted to replicate that of the G.50. It will hardly be visible in the model.

[Steve-the-Duck]

IMHO, as they say, it all looks fine to me

[stona]

Like a glacier I am moving forwards, relentlessly, but slowly.

I am in the process of joining the two fuselage halves. You can see that the fit is not bad.



On the other hand, let's not beat about the bush. This is a limited run kit and it does not go together like a Tamiya uber kit, nor would it be reasonable to expect it to. The instructions and fit are rather vague, an issue not helped by my own lack of familiarity with Italian aircraft!

It was not even clear how the cockpit fitted into the fuselage and when I worked it out it was difficult to get it to fit concurrently with the other bits, like the bulkhead behind the pilot and instrument panel, none of which have any real means of location. The solution came in the form of tabs and strips of card to act as locators and things to which one side could be affixed, like these below the cockpit floor.



None of this is beyond the scope of competent model builders, who are after all the intended market for kits like this, but someone young and/or inexperienced would quickly become frustrated.

In other news, I have looked ahead at fitting the engine, and that is going to be problematic too. It seems to sit at an upward angle of about 10-15 degrees, nowhere near centred in the cowling, in fact the cowling won't fit if you simply glue the engine in as per instructions and hope for the best. I do however have a cunning plan, more of which later :smiling3:

[stona]

I've managed a good swing at this model this afternoon.

The fuselage is completed and the back of the empennage replaced. You can see where I've fixed one side of the piece substituted for the original kit part because I obviously cut one half with an error equivalent to the width of the razor saw blade :flushed:

I have spent a lot of time 'adjusting' the lower wing to fit the fuselage correctly. I have now attached it in the old aircraft modeller's 'fix the lower wing and worry about the tops later' style.

Which all means that at stumps today the Fiat is starting to resemble an aeroplane.



Oh, as you can see I have built the engine, you're looking at the back of it, so that will be ready for fitting when required.

[Tim Marlow]

Nice work. Got to love an Italian job!

[yak face]

Top work steve , good old fashioned kit bashing :thumb2: :thumb2:

[stona]

Top work steve , good old fashioned kit bashing :thumb2: :thumb2:

I suppose it is. It really is not a bad kit and I have built far more difficult limited run and/or resin kits. Generally the plastic is well moulded and the fit is not bad at all. I could have avoided the only significant filling (with card) I have done by making sure to cut the end of the empennage in the same place on both sides. If I was doing it again, I would make the cut after joining the fuselage halves.

The resin is very good and the PE nice enough, though I have not used the minute bits that someone keener might have done. There is only one significant clear part and though a bit thick it is nice and clear and will look better than okay, especially with a dip in Klear.

The engine fit, which we will get to soon, is just an engineering issue. I don't think anyone worked out a better way of fixing it and whoever cast the resin 'adaptor' which goes between the back of the engine and the fuselage didn't take into account that the front of the fuselage is not square! The trick is making the adjustment, which is in itself easy enough, whilst making sure not to push or pull the engine forwards or back in the cowling. Obviously one way and I won't get the propeller on and the other the propeller will be too far in front of the rest of the aeroplane, both are going to be noticeable.

Overall, given the current shortage of kits, I would recommend this to any model maker with a bit of experience. I would not suggest it as someone's first kit; it would probably put them off for life.

[Steve-the-Duck]

Well, you're almost at the camou stage
Not much evidence of filler in the fuselage. Which is nice!

[stona]

Well, you're almost at the camou stage
Not much evidence of filler in the fuselage. Which is nice!

I've got to get the engine and its cowling on first. My first cunning plan turned out not to be as cunning as I thought, so I'm working on a plan B at the moment. I may abandon the kit fixing altogether and work out a way of fixing the engine directly to the cowling. It's how to do it invisibly and with a way to fix the big 'horseshoe' of an exhaust which is very vague and seems only to attach to the lower cowling (where the exhausts emerge).

The only filler I have used is a swipe underneath the fuselage at the back of the wing and a couple of swipes at the upper wing-fuselage joins. There is none at all in the join of the two fuselage halves.



With a bit of fettling of the mating surfaces you can definitely make the kit go together well. The two fuselage halves went together near enough perfectly.

There are some areas which betray the true nature of the kit. The fixing of the engine is one I've already mentioned and I've just been looking at the propeller hub and blades which promise to be interesting!

[stona]

Success!

I combined Plan A and Plan B to fit the engine. I'm certain that others will find their own way, but here's what I did.

I fitted the resin adaptor to the fuselage having opened up the key to give some wiggle room. I shimmed the bottom and top pairs of rear cylinders with what I think is 0.3 mm card (don't quote me) to give a loose interference fit it the cowling, meaning it doesn't jam the engine into place but there's not much movement possible. Slide the engine into the cowling (it has to go from the back) and loop the exhaust 'ring' over the back of the engine. Having applied some CA glue to the fuselage adaptor slide the engine cowling assembly in to place. The cowling is one of the few parts of the models that can only locate one way with no play. Gently slide the engine back into the adaptor, rotating to vertical and fitting the key. Only the lower part will be glued because of the angles involved, but it is enough. You can then glue the cowling into place. As of now I have not glued the exhausts in any way because they don't seem to move and can't go anywhere. You can see the one on the side of the model nearest the viewer sticking out below the cowling.

[stona]

I've now got the model primed, in white.





I've used white because I shall mask of the various white markings, and some white discs under the wings where the fasces in the white roundels go. White decals can be b*ggers otherwise, even on the underside grey (Grigio Mimetico).

I'm going to attempt to approximate something like this with the camouflage.



I don't know how it was done originally, but I'm intending to paint the entire upper surface in the green colour (Verde Mimetico 3) before applying the mottle of the yellow (Giallo Mimetico 3) and then red/brown (Marrone Mimetico 3) and don't want the whole thing to become too dark.

I have also found a reference to the 'back' of the propeller blades (facing forward on the aircraft) being painted in a blue colour whereas the 'front' (facing the pilot) was painted black. I quite like that idea.

That's it for today as I will leave the primer until tomorrow before I give it a polish.

[Tim Marlow]

Lovely choice in camo Steve. These schemes look superb, but must be terrifying to paint up.

[stona]

Lovely choice in camo Steve. These schemes look superb, but must be terrifying to paint up.

All these Italian schemes were a bit weird. I know the amount of research, comparative trials etc. that we put into our camouflage schemes and I sometimes wonder if the Italians were making it up as they went along! I would assume not.

[Tim Marlow]

You’re talking of a country that exists purely for aesthetics there Steve. I’ve been to Italy a few times (absolutely love it) and I really think they spend more money on sunglasses than they do on their houses. They probably just picked these schemes because they looked really cool....and they were right!