Special Hobby 1/32 Fiat G.50 COMPLETED

[stona]

This is the completed model, presented as one of my virtual walkarounds.

It's a Fiat G.50-II 'Freccia' of the Italian Regia Aeronautica. According to the kit it is an aircraft of 34a Squadriglia, 24 Gruppo Autonomo, I'll take their word for it. This aircraft was based in Tirana during early 1941. The Italians had invaded and occupied Albania, not without some difficulty.

It's a limited run kit and those who followed the build will know that whilst it does not leap out of the box and build itself it is a fairly simple kit to get into shape, certainly at the top end of such kits. It will pose no problems for a model builder with a bit of experience.

Without further ado, here is the final result.

[Steve-the-Duck]

And very, very, nice too. Even if I am a little biased. I especially like the subtle weathering job.

BTW the text on the 24 Gruppo badge reads 'Fatte vede che ridemo', which, aptly, translates as 'Show up so we can have a laugh'

[Tim Marlow]

Lovely job. First class work from start to finish. As to the aircraft itself, you can almost see where the top wing used to be......

[spanner570]

Great result, Steve.
Cracking paint job.

Ron

[Neil Merryweather]

Bellissimo!

[adt70hk]

Steve, very well done indeed.

Andrew

[stona]

Thank you all for being so kind!

My next project arrived today, about ten minutes after I ordered it from John at the Scale Model Shop. Excellent service, as always, and very competitively priced.



Yep! It's another Italian job. Worryingly, this one seems to have an extra wing, not something I'm familiar with as far as building goes. There must be something wrong with me.

[Tim Marlow]

The forerunner.......that’s where the wing went.....you could do that one as a Battle of Britain bird couldn’t you?

[stona]

The forerunner.......that’s where the wing went.....you could do that one as a Battle of Britain bird couldn’t you?

One of the options is for an aircraft based in Belgium in November '40.

The trouble is that my ignorance of Italian aircraft would conflict with my knowledge of the BoB. The scheme is a three colour camouflage over a grey underside, but I have read British reports of two of these aircraft which arrived on our shores involuntarily, and both mention specifically silver undersides and only two camouflage colours. The camouflage colours might be a mistake (though the one at Orfordness clearly only had two) but RAF intelligence officers knew what a silver underside looked like. Many RAF aircraft had been finished in a 'silver' aluminium dope throughout the 1930s and some still were. It does not look like grey to the naked eye.

The previous model I just finished as per the instructions OOB. I'd find myself in a quandary if I did this one for a period I know about!

[Tim Marlow]

Chances are then Steve that the box scheme is what it should have been, but the RAF intelligence report was what it actually was.......does the Intel report tie in with any pre-war scheme?

[stona]

The Orfordness one is described as 'muddy brown' and 'green' with silver undersides. It's conceivable to me, having read many reports for Luftwaffe aircraft too, that the 'muddy brown' is a version of the Italian yellow camouflage colour. The British clearly believed that the Italian aircraft were in a tropical scheme, possibly toned down by the application of a green colour. They are unequivocal about the silver undersides.

This is the best picture of the Orfordness forced landing. The cowling is known to be yellow, so we can contrast that with the camouflage base colour. This bears no resemblance to any of the schemes I have found on the various sites dedicated to Italian aircraft, but I'm not an expert.



The British applied a third colour, probably Dark Earth, later.

[Andy the Sheep]

Steve,
I have 2 pics of CR42s operating from Ursel (Belgium) over England in autumn 1940 in the "Corpo Aereo Italiano" or C.A.I. (Italian Air Corps), Mussolini (late) contribution to the Battle of Britain :flushed:.
They are dated (published in 1973) and here for discussion purposes only, but I hope they will be useful. They are low quality and the camo scheme is not so clear but, as we say here, "little is better than nothing"
To give some more information, in the Italian Air Force, then and now, "Squadriglia" is equivalent to a Flight, "Gruppo" to a Squadron while "Stormo" is a Wing and, normally, linked to an Air Base.
Fighter pilots (who also flew FIAT G50) suffered a lot from frostbite due to the open cockpit; on the first models of G50 the cockpit was closed but the pilots required the open one because of the bad quality of perspex and, mainly, because when the aircraft went into a flat spin (not unusual on the early single wing fighters) it was almost impossible to open the closed canopy and bail out. The alternative to bailing out was to shut the motor and centre the stick to recover from the spin, still feasible at high and medium altitude but impossible at low altitude and/or during take-off and landing.


Andrea.

[Tim Marlow]

On the Orfordness image it looks like there is a third colour inside the disruptive pattern.....there is a light and dark effect most noticeable in the centre of the upper wing. It might be light, but doesn’t seem to match what you’d expect from the lighting conditions shown. It’s also noticeable on the tail to the front of the horizontal cross bar marking.

[stona]

Steve,
I have 2 pics of CR42s operating from Ursel (Belgium) over England in autumn 1940 in the "Corpo Aereo Italiano" or C.A.I. (Italian Air Corps), Mussolini (late) contribution to the Battle of Britain :flushed:.
Andrea.

Thanks very much. I think one of those is one of the options in the kit.

Every little does indeed help.

[stona]

On the Orfordness image it looks like there is a third colour inside the disruptive pattern.....there is a light and dark effect most noticeable in the centre of the upper wing. It might be light, but doesn’t seem to match what you’d expect from the lighting conditions shown. It’s also noticeable on the tail to the front of the horizontal cross bar marking.

I'm not sure. I can see something on the fin. I would have expected the CEAR to mention three colours if present, but it is possible that it might not have done so. Some of the CEAR's on Luftwaffe aircraft make some strange reading!

When the RAF museum took a stab at this one they used two colours, but got the pattern badly wrong.

I'm quite liking the aircraft in British colours at the moment. That would be a bit different, but the photograph I posted is the only one I've seen of the aircraft after it left the beach. There's a few with it the right way up and with the British markings being applied.