Chris's 1/72 Planet Models Breda Ba.44

[Steve-the-Duck]

Now, onto the, absent, interior. Which, for a 'pl;ane with windows all down the sides is annoying. All there is in the kit is a front and rear bulkhead plus the cockpit floor, none of which are correct

The cockpit has two seats, for a start, and a weirdly shaped door in the centre. Even the joystick is wrong


All the detail from the cockpit floor removed, a main compartment floor, new front, rear and luggage compartment bulkheads assembled

And this is how it lines up, though not yet attached. I put a 'shadow' of the main door on the inside, which might just, but probably won't show up looking through the windows

Having four seats left over from my Rapide gives me a good head start, so i only need to scratch up two

On the right the original, unmodified; centre the modified one with new rear supports and hollowed out armrests; left, the scratchbuilt addition, which has turned out rather well. So, when I come to build my Savoia S.72 airliner, with the big picture windows all down the side, I can make another twenty-or-so seats from scratch!
Or not
Time to see if anyone has a 3D print seat out there...

[Steve-the-Duck]

Replacement rudder now complete, and the kit parts sliced off and stuck together, 'cause you never know when you might need another replacement some time

And it matches up pretty well. I think

[Steve-the-Duck]

Interior now complete. Four seats modified, two scratchbuilt. Cockpit parts 'accurized' with a new joystick, rudder bars, throttle columns and seats

One of the seats is slightly askew, but, meh. Even managed to do a figure-of-eight grip for the joystick out of carefully bent wire, so I'm happy
I only did two of the four rudder bars, just so there's something there visible. The joystick is a bit too tall, and should really line up with the bottom edge of the windows and the lower edge of the control panel, but hey, it's there
A quick clean, some primer, and it'll have paint on

There is a curved roof panel above the cabin, which, in the one photo of the interior, is VERY shiny, but I'm in two minds about adding it as it may not be very visible
But being visible has never stopped me adding something before!

Once painted, it'll be time to put the fuselage together. And then it'll be time to drill a LOT of holes, for struts and rigging. And by the photos, some of the holes for mounting points on the cowlings are BIG

[Tworrs]

Quite a challenge that one Chris, however you are doing a great job with it. :thumb2:

[Mickc1440]

Lovely work Chris

[Steve-the-Duck]

Quite a challenge that one Chris, however you are doing a great job with it. :thumb2:

Not as much of a challenge as you might think (unlike a certain Hawker Hector I could mention). Really just a case of adding and 'improving' what's already there.
It really is a nice little kit, and well cast without the typical bubbles you might expect

The REAL challenges are what I've got planned AFTER this...

[Andy the Sheep]

Chris, I'm sorry, I've missed your build and just had a catch up; if you need some help in translating parts of your reference book, I'll be more than glad to help.

[Steve-the-Duck]

Chris, I'm sorry, I've missed your build and just had a catch up; if you need some help in translating parts of your reference book, I'll be more than glad to help.

Andrea, thank you SO VERY much! Some of it I can just about struggle through with individual words, but others I draw a blank
You, sir, are now officially my hero!

[Andy the Sheep]

Sir, I endeavour to give satisfaction, as Jeeves would have said.
I've heroically (:upside sent you my e-mail address; feel free to mail me whatever you need to be horrendously translated into something I boast to be English language. :rolling:

[Steve-the-Duck]

The interior undercoated, with Halfords Grey Primer

I can't find any reference to the colours of the interior of Ala Littoria airliners, assuming that, when the 'plane was camo'ed only the outside was repainted. The phot I have shows the interior as VERY shiny. I'm going to go with blue, as Ala Littoria and SAN 'planes had blue markings on the cream (Bianco Avorio) outsides
Or red
The build I've seen by an Italian modeller did the entire interior in brown, but I've no idea what he sourced

[Steve-the-Duck]

Well, thanks to Andrea's (Andy the Sheep) translations and 'a guy he knows' we've now made a leap ahead.
I did do a quick paint of the interior in blue and blue-grey, then Andrea pointed me toward the interior being ivory, like the outside. Which does make sense, even if the photo of the interior makes it appear darker (but the windows are VERY bright)
So then...

A quick spray with Tamiya deck tan, which is a bit darker / browner than most of the Avorio 'chips' but, it's good enough
Now, detail painting

Seats sandy brown / leather-like, with Tamiya 1mm tape for seat belts. Have to go over with a matt or semi-gloss just to tone the seats down. Nowhere near as good as the build I've found and ma basing some work on, but satisfactory. Also shows how different it looks from daylight to camera flash
Then, a few additional details into the cockpit, the visible frames and cable runs

I've gone over the cockpit with a lighter shade, just to punch it up a bit. The door inside I've added, I've also done lighter so it might just be visible in the back
Still thinking I might cut the door open later, but the visible fuselage thickness might look too much

Almost time to put the halves together

[Waspie]

Very nice Chris. And a big thank you too. Your mention of tape for the seat belts has given me an idea!!
In the back of helicopters to walk around we used a dispatcher harness. Now you mention the tape thing makes me want to try and make a harness from tape and wire for the D rings etc!! :thumb2:

[Steve-the-Duck]

I always use Tamiya tape, usually the 1mm stuff, for belts in 1/72. If I haven't got a specific brass set, that is. Being brown, it doesn't usually need recolouring, though you can paint it before applying. And it's self-adhesive too

Can be just a little fiddly though. But that's what needle-nose pliers are for!

[Steve-the-Duck]

Right, we actually have the fuselage halves together

The two sides have come out slightly different sizes, so didn't quite match up, so not the best fit, but a bit of rasping, filling, and sanding and we're there.

Thanks be to slow curing cyano

Also, the re-profiled tail is now on, as you can see



The gap looks worse than it is
Next will be the windows

I've been drilling mounting points in the wings for struts and rigging as best as I can, but it looks like I'll have to attach the lower wings to be able to line stuff up properly. It was always my intent to leave the top wings off as long a possible anyway, but the brass rod pins will hold them in place for alignment

[Steve-the-Duck]

So, for my next trick...
First I took a scan of the photo of the control panel

..Manipulated it a bit to get a 'clean' panel

Printed that out at 7% and stuck it on the model piece

Yes, the detail is barely visible, but it works. And it'll be almost invisible behind the windows anyway
But it will be there!