FIAT 508CM "Coloniale" - 1:35 Italeri

[Mike]

508CM "Coloniale"
1:35 Italeri

The Autovettura FIAT 508 was a small, robust go anywhere vehicle produced by FIAT and mass produced to over 100,000 in various guises in a number of countries before WWII. The CM was a militarised edition that had increased ground clearance, different gear ratios, and a toughened military spec body. It was designed for use in the colonies, a number of which were desert environments, with rough terrain, which the CM could cover better than a stock vehicle.

Putting out a mearge 38bhp from its FIAT 108C engine, which displaced 1,100cc, and drove two wheels via four forward gears, it had good reliability and was typically used as transport by officers and other HQ types.

The Kit
At only 3.35m long and 1.37m wide, the CM is not a large model, and comes in a small figure style end-opening box with two sprues of grey styrene, a small pre-cut sheet of clear acetate and a decal sheet. The instruction booklet is equally diminutive at around A5 size, but has a greyscale CGI style to the 14 assembly steps, which makes it easy to see the shape and location of parts.

A full chassis and engine are included, with the exhaust pipe/muffler having a slide-moulded hollow exhaust, which is nice to see. The front wheels have suspension arms that affix to the chassis, and the radiator sits at the front behind the grille. The rear axle has leaf-suspension springs and a driveshaft runs from the engine to them to provide them with power. The wheels are in two halves, and have good tread detail moulded in, and with careful gluing of the axle to the internal cap, they could conceivably be left to rotate, although how appealing that would be to an adult modeller is moot. The body fits over the chassis, and incorporates the wheel arches and a hole for the engine, and the interior has a quilted pattern moulded into the majority of it. The two front and back seats are moulded as pairs, and attach directly to the body floor, with gear stick and handbrake attaching to the transmission tunnel that runs down the middle of the floor. The driver's instrument panel fits into a separate front part that has the windscreen and engine firewall included, inside which the foot pedals and steering wheel fit.

The clear parts in this kit are all acetate sheet, and when the retaining sticky backing paper is removed, the parts simply lift away from the sheet with no attachment points. This is preferable to clear styrene parts on a vehicle with flat glazing, as the acetate is easy to handle, and much closer to scale thickness, having no propensity to distort like clear styrene can during cooling.

The sides of the vehicle are fitted along with the instrument panel assembly, and here some nice detail on the inside (glove pockets for the rear passengers) has resulted in some small sink marks that will need making good. This is made a little more difficult by the fact that the area affected is surrounded by a raised framework, so care and some small sanding tools will be needed to do the job well. After joining the chassis to the body assembly, the boot/trunk is added, and a spare wheel is dropped onto the axle sticking from the boot lid. The front doors can be posed open or closed, as can at least one of the engine cowling sides. The engine cowling parts are quite rough on the inside however, so a little work will be needed if you're expecting people to look inside. The front grille is a single part, and has nicely moulded detail on the outside, but the individual slats don't go all the way through, so some darkening washes in this department will give that impression. A set of securing buckles are added to the lower side of the engine opening to add a little more realism, and a set of small running board/steps are attached to the sills, with a pair of small stowage boxes sit behind the front wheel arches, positioned directly over a set of rather thick looking mud flaps. On top of the arches the running lights are supplied, with alternate black-out covers and tiny lozenge shaped pieces of acetate sheet to place behind the slots to depict the lens, which is quite thoughtful for such a tiny detail.

More acetate is used on the semi-rigid side windows, all of which are pre-cut for a good fit. The main fabric roof has a rather interesting fabric texture moulded into it, which may or may not be overscale after primer, paint & varnishing. If it looks too much to you, it will probably rub down between coats of primer to reduce its prominence. The rear of the hood has a small lozenge shaped acetate window added, and signifies the end of the build.

It's probably best to leave off the width indicators until the main painting is complete, and I would also consider leaving the acetate windows off too, securing them later with some GS-Hypo Cement, which will secure the parts well, with no effect on paint or plastic.

Markings
The 508CM was widely used, and seems to have been camouflaged quite differently at times, perhaps at the whim of its user, or at unit level. One of four vehicles can be modelled from the box, as follows:

• 132nd Armoured Division "Ariete" North African Campaign 1942 - all over sand with an olive drab hood (soft top). Rams head markings on the front doors.
• Regio Esercito Balkans 1943 - Medium Green with Dark Green splodges and olive drab hood.
• Luftwaffe Provence, France 1944 - Dunkelgelb with Olivegrun crazy-paving pattern and olive drab hood.
• Organization Todt Northern Italy, 1944 - Dunkelgelb splodges over Olivgrun, and grass pattern overpainted on the Dunkegelb patches. The Dunkelgelb patches also extend to the hood.

Instrument panel decals are supplied on the small sheet, as well as the ram's head motif and number plates. The vehicle's data plate is also supplied, although it is only used on the Luftwaffe machine. Decals are printed by Zanchetti Buccinasco in Italy, and are in good register, having a slightly matt carrier film.

Conclusion
A neat little vehicle that was used as a Staff Car by not only the Italians, but the Germans also. It will look great in a diorama situation, or just parked next to an Italian (or German) tank in your cabinet.

Recommended.

Review sample courtesy of

[Panzer Vor!!!]

Can you leave the top down?? It dosen,t look like you can which if so is a pity

[Mike]

Doesn't seem to be an option Dave, unless you just leave the rag-top off altogether?

[Panzer Vor!!!]

I think that would have been better then the engine tbh