ICM 1/32 Fiat CR.42 Falco

[Jim R]

Hi Steve
I always imagine that biplanes were WW1 aircraft but this was developed in the 1930s - shows what I know :rolling: . Look forward to your build. Glad you sorted the seat harness without too much expense.
Jim

[Dave Ward]

Marmaduke ( Pat ) Pattle - A South African flying in the RAF in WWII downed 15 planes, whilst flying a Gloster Gladiator - 14 of which were Fiat CR 42's! It's believed he was the highest scoring RAF ace of WWII, will over 60 'kills' - his fighting was over N.Africa & Greece, and Squadron records were incomplete & patchy. Most of his victories were on a Hurricane, he was killed in combat in April 1941 - Strangely his story isn't that well known..............
Dave
ps Fiat CR 42s also took part in the Battle of Britain & one came down in England!

[Steve-the-Duck]

Two CR42s came down in Norfolk, both on 11 November 1940 - 95-13 Flown by Sergente Salvatori, later flown by the RAF as BT 474 and now in Hendon, and 85-16 flown by Sergente Lazzari, but that was more of a wreck
We've discussed them quite a bit on Steve's completed G50 thread
I've also got some photos of two other extant CR42s; the one in Vigna de Valle museum outside Rome, and the one being restored to fly at Duxford. The latter was supposed to be up in the air last year...
But we all know how THAT went

BTW the latest issue of Scale Aircraft Modelling has a build review of the Special Hobby Whirlinsd, plus photos and colour profiles

[stona]

Here's a bit of construction.

The tubular structure comes in many parts and the fit is very good indeed, which augurs well for the rest of the kit.

I've yet to try this in the fuselage, but it looks like it should fit okay.



The instrument decals come as individual dials, which is an excellent solution if you are going to use decals, so well done ICM. Obviously it involves a bit more fiddling. I always set them of a drop of Klear (other varnishes are available) which settles them down nicely.

[Tim Marlow]

Good start Steve. Amazing how Spartan that cockpit looks compared to aircraft of only a year or two later isn’t it…

[Mark1]

I'm impressed with the ICM trucks so good to hear positive things about their planes,looking forward to starting mine,hope my cockpit looks as neat and tidy.

[stona]

Good start Steve. Amazing how Spartan that cockpit looks compared to aircraft of only a year or two later isn’t it…

It certainly does. There's another two part Italian instrument panel to go at the front, but that hardly makes it busy!

[Bugatti Fan]

Seat Harness. Why all the lament about the cost of after market sets dedicated to this kit? Surely it would be easy enough to use some wine bottle lead like seal or some aluminium food container and cut it into strips, paint it and use some photo etched buckles? I have used both effectively to make far seat belts and form them to lay very realistically. Personally I think this looks better than bought stuff.

[stona]

Seat Harness. Why all the lament about the cost of after market sets dedicated to this kit? Surely it would be easy enough to use some wine bottle lead like seal or some aluminium food container and cut it into strips, paint it and use some photo etched buckles? I have used both effectively to make far seat belts and form them to lay very realistically. Personally I think this looks better than bought stuff.

It can work.

The Italian harness is a complicated affair involving chains and all sorts of other weird assemblies.

I've never been able to make a harness at this scale that looked as good as some of the after market ones. I used to be a fan of Radu's products (RB Productions), his Luftwaffe harnesses were excellent, but he has now stepped away from the company.

Even the cheap paper and P-E one that I used in the Whirlwind looked better than anything I can make from scratch.



At 1/72 they are easy to make. Nobody is looking for stitching, brass eyelets or the brass tabs on the end of straps at that scale, they would be almost too small to see.

This is one of Radu's 1/32 Luftwaffe harnesses. Yes, they are fiddly to assemble.





I can't do that from scratch. Of course, your mileage may differ.

[stona]

I fitted the cockpit c/w the Kits World decal seat belts which are okay at best. They have a habit of rolling up in a way that is really not helpful at all. I resorted to gluing them in place using a few spots of the G-S Hypo Cement I usually use for clear parts. It had no adverse effect on the decals themselves.

Fuselage is just taped together, but everything fits very well, and positively (which makes a change).



Even less will be visible when I fit the top of the nose, which includes the gunsight to go in between the two halves of the split instrument panel. The Italians certainly came up with some unique solutions!

[BarryW]

Interesting Steve... I found no such issue with the Quinta Studio 3D seatbelts on the SU-25. I did find that a spot of brown wash helped them get a more used look. They look better than flat p.e. though.

[stona]

Interesting Steve... I found no such issue with the Quinta Studio 3D seatbelts on the SU-25. I did find that a spot of brown wash helped them get a more used look. They look better than flat p.e. though.

Definitely better than flat PE, but there are other options.

I did discover that you can limit the curling by using cold water to soak the decals for what feels like an eternity, but not eliminate it entirely. The chains on the ends of some of the straps definitely did not want to fall into place

[stona]

Little time today due to children and grandchildren. We could have been even more overrun, but one daughter and her fella are in quarantine after returning from Spain, where, very sadly, his dad passed away.

I did manage to get a half hour to finish the fuselage.



You can see the fit is excellent, almost Tamiyaesque (which I doubt is a word!)

I think the engine may be next.

[papa 695]

Cracking start and work Steve

[Dave Ward]

fit is excellent, almost Tamiyaesque (which I doubt is a word!)

Steve,
I think Tamiya has fallen well behind the market leaders, they only produce a few models a year, seeming to concentrate on R/C item. Resting on their laurels from the last century doesn't seem to work. A lot of makers are achieving the same fit, consistently, with a crowded release schedule. Incidentally - if you look at Tamiya boxes - at least the ones I looked at, are marked " Made in Philippines " I'd never noticed that - a new thing?
Dave