1/72 cr 42

[Guest]

a really nice build this plane,the paintwork is awesome,must have been a pleasure to build(almost)thnx for the show theuns

mobear

[Guest]

I must say that yes it was fun to build. My last Italeri was the 1/72 Grippen and that was NO fun, but this one makes up for it LOL!

I am happy with the rigging and will try the same on the 1/72 Airfix Swordfish later.

Theuns

[yak face]

Excellent job theuns , and not easy in 1/72 too! 5 star build , cheers tony

[Guest]

ooOOoo a swordfish,straight jacket will be ready for you,especially in 1/72 lol

mobear

[Guest]

The reviews on the nwe tool airfix swrodfish are very good indeed and as I understand they suply a jig of sorts to help with the alignment of everything. I saw the kit and it looks really nice. Now I just need the space bucks to get one LOL!

Theuns

[stona]

Great looking CR 42 Theuns.

It was a very good aeroplane,the last great bi-plane fighter and very well flown by the Italian pilots. They caused real problems for British Hurricanes over Malta.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

This came out really well mate, top stuff on that paintwork.

[Guest]

As I understand the RAF pilots were told not to get suckered into a tight turning fight with the Fiats, nothing could turn so well, except for the Gladiators maybe.

I am surprized you lads like the paintwork that much, it is really so simple it (for me) looks like a toy LOL!

Theuns

[stona]

Yes,the Hurricane was best not to try to fight the CR. 42 in a turning fight. This isn't a disaster,the Hurricane could out dive,out climb and out accelerate the CR.42 and if the worse came to worse could always run away!

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Pretty much the same senario as with the Zero and the F-6f hellcat.

The lighter planes have a way less wingloading, they turn tighter but are generally not so strong to be able to have high dive speeds and usually can not take allot of damage.

Each design philosopy has it's own merets I guess :-)

I wonder how a good Fiat driver woud fare against a good Gladiator driver, I think the planes should be pretty much the same....

Theuns

[stona]

I wonder how a good Fiat driver woud fare against a good Gladiator driver, I think the planes should be pretty much the same....

Theuns

The numbers on the two aircraft are very similar. The Gladiator has a significantly lower wing loading. The CR.42 is quite a bit heavier and yet still outclimbs the Gladiator in my table. Odd since they had the same (840) horse power available,but there are obviously factors other than weight which come into the equation. For example,the CR.42 was technically a sesquiplane (the lower wing had 50% or less area than the top one) and had better aerodynamic efficiency than a pure biplane like the Gladiator. This might also explain why the CR.42 is very slighty faster,only around 10 mph at 10,000 ft.

The actual score,rather than the usual over optimistic claims,was one all over Malta. I read somewhere that the British flew the two types against each other (at Yeovilton of all places) and decided that the CR.42 just about edged it.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

I think the better climb rate might be because of the lover drag coeficient of the 42 .The smaller bottom wing and no external rigging will cause WAY legg surface and paracitic drag than all the flying/landing wires and bigger wing of the Gladiator.

Folks might be very surprized tro find out ho much drag a few 3 or 6mm cables can cause, even streamlined wires are draggy. Interesting to note that the WW1 Fokker D7 had a rather thick wing section comparred to otehr bi-planes, but due to the lack of external rigging was less "draggy"

Check out this link to "Pat" Pattle who downed allot of planes with the Gladiator

Marmaduke Pattle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Theuns

[Guest]

Theuns just caught up with this ,very tidy build! Very nice cammo as well!

[flyjoe180]

An interesting aside as we are discussing Hurricanes vs CR42s. The Regia Aeronautica took part in a limited capacity at the end of the Battle of Britain.

The Italian contribution - History of the Battle of Britain - Royal Air Force Museum

This account is very interesting, from the 11 November 1940 Italian raid which went horribly wrong for them: "the Italians veered eastwards towards Southend then making off on a slanting dive for Margate, the Straits and Calais. As they turned away I saw three BR.20s go down in flames followed by their crews in parachutes.

At that moment I saw about thirty to forty unknown biplanes which I realised was a gaggle of CR.42s, supposedly protecting the bombers - as they (the CR.42s) crossed my path without seeing me, I gave the second a short burst at full deflection - it went down like a fireball. The other turned to fight - due to its great manoeuvrability it kept getting on my tail, but after a series of successive bursts I saw it begin to smoke and flame."

Histomil.com • Information