Colin M's Italeri 1:48 Fiat CR.42 Falco

[colin m]

Gentlemen,
As much as I wanted to build another Spitfire, I decided to try and find something a bit different, which I think I've done ok at.
The 'brave' Italians, decided to send a few Bi-planes over to take on the Spitfires and Hurricanes of the RAF. Well, apparently, the fiat had a really good turning circle. And a nice paint job.

[colin m]

And I’m off,
Just two main sprues, which might mean a straight forward build. Forgetting it’s a biplane of course. The detail looks good. Time to stick some bits toy.

[yak face]

Looks a lovely kit colin , i do like the fiat biplanes ( sesquiplanes to be pedantic) , very sturdy interplane struts and very little rigging to do too so thats a bonus . Do Italeri provide any seat belts on the decals ?

[PaulTRose]

Nice looking kit

Good luck with the paint job

[Geoffers]

Looks very nice Colin, good luck with your build 👍

Geoff.

[Jim R]

Never knew the Italians were involved in the B of B and certainly not with biplanes. A really interesting build. Hope it goes well.

[colin m]

Do Italeri provide any seat belts on the decals ?

They do, but errrm, probably not worth using.

Good luck with the paint job

Yes, that will be a bit of a challenge, but hey.

good luck with your build

Cheers.

Never knew the Italians were involved in the B of B

Well, it wasn't exactly a great display of air power, so it's not surprising you didn't know. There must be many more who will also be a bit surprised.

[colin m]

Well I've done the old trick, Do a bit here, do a bit there and then you remember the build thread ! So here's some pictures of my progress.

The cockpit. Like many little bi-planes, you can't really see much. So I didn't spend too much time on it.



Then in the fuselage it all goes. No real drama here, but it's a good job this is a bi-plane, those little things would never get the aircraft off the ground.


then I want to try something a bit different, a variation of pre-shading, spotty shading.

I've done spots on the underside as well, which has a top coat of aluminium. I'm hoping this will break up the uniform finish of the aluminium.

[HAWKERHUNTER]

the fiat had a really good turning circle.

Interesting little thing Colin. I am sure the tight turning circle would come in handy when they met the Spitfires and turned for home pronto.

[Jim R]

Interesting to see how the spotty preshade works. Sounds like a good idea to add some variation to the aluminium.

[flyjoe180]

Nice work Colin, this is going to look fantastic in that scheme.

For anyone wanting a very brief history of the Italian contribution to the Axis air war against Britain in 1940: https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/researc...aero-italiano/

[colin m]

Nice link Joe, thanks for that. Captain Eric Brown flew a captured CR.42 and described it as an aerobatic gem. The Hurricane pilots defending Malta were also a bit surprised at the manoeuvrability of the Falco.

Anyway, a late night with a bit of paint, gave me this. This is going to need a serious filter coat to tone things down, but generally, I'm quite happy with the result. Checking on line, these aircraft were sprayed freehand, and there are many different variations of camo schemes out there, which means, well, crack on, do what you want.

[Nicko]

Loving that paint job!

Nick

[stillp]

Very nice paintwork Colin.
Pete

[scottie3158]

Paint work is excellent Colin.

[Geoffers]

Top notch painting Colin 👍

Geoff.