Search the Community

Hi Everybody, First timer in Group Build. Not sure how successful I'll be with my building pace. Moreover I thought to enter with even three models of Jet, Streak and Flash! Nevertheless doubts aside and let the fun begin!

Buongiorno, signori! Now I'm posting the fourth (and so far the last) model from my small AMI collection. This time it is probably the most iconic of all the aircraft built in Italy - Piaggio Avanti. No need to write a lot about the design - I believe all aviation fans know quite a lot about the type. Avanti is carrying a lot of 'the best' titles - the quietest, the speediest, the most fuel efficient turboprop executive airplane. The most unique and at the same time very aesthetically balanced design. The first of the only two production aircraft with three lifting surfaces configuration (another one is Su-30/33/34 family). How can anyone not have this in the collection? The base kit comes from Amodel. Of course the company is well known for challenging quality - and I can confirm that many smaller parts required attention to make them thinner, remove defects, etc. However the parts fit was rather good. I think the only really challenging area was fitting engine nacelles to the wings - especially alignment of those to look parallel to each other, taking care of proper sitting on the wing given main wing dihedral and so on. Of course some filler was needed here and there. But again - nothing really overwhelming. The kit provides full interiors for two versions - VIP and 'economy' passenger cabins. I chose economy option as I believe some of the AMI Avantis should be in that configuration. Not sure if AMI has deluxe Avantis but I know for sure some of AMI P.180s are counter electronic measures aircraft with various relevant equipment and couple operator working places inside. Not much interior seen on photoes but with cellphone torch on I can enjoy the neat look of the chair rows Some updates included minor improvements in the pilots cockpit such as seat belts and handles inside. Also I added a wall blanking the air intakes (honestly this area could be improved much much more as air intakes are fairly complex on a real thing). Exterior elements such as antennae, pitot tubes etc require references to the particular aircraft that you're building. Not everything from the kit should be put on. Not everything that should be on a real thing is in the kit. Lamps and navigation lights from the kit are completely useless. I scratch built navigation lights from the transparent plastic sprue and minor lamps made by just drops of Kristal Klear. On contrary canopy window fits quite fine but of course polishing is badly needed. Kit provides decals for a black and silver Spanish civil operated aircraft and for a fully boring grey Italian Marina Militare machine. I did not like either option but Caracal Decals did superb job issuing a set of decals providing for AMI, Guardia Costiera and Esercito machines and two civil operated ones with French and Polish registrations. Polish one is a medical transport so probably would require a cabin with medical beds and life-support equipment. Of all the options I thought that Aeronautica is the most elegant (Guardia Costiera is the most colourful though) so I went forward all white Avanti with a thin blue strip. Decals applied quite well. Unfortunately the insignia were out of register so I found the same size roundels in the leftovers from my Revell Eurofighter. Okay. Now As I posted all the four AMI aircraft of my collection - I need to share couple group photoes. First the pair of non-combat planes together: And then full quartet - for size comparisons as well! And links for RFI threads of the three others - just in case: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235130494-f-104g-il-spillone-dellaeronautica-militare-172-hasegawa/ https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235130495-fiat-g91r-the-greatest-success-of-italian-air-industry-172-meng/ https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235130530-siai-marchetti-sf260am-classic-trainer-bird-by-stelio-frati-172-special-hobby/ Thanks for watching! Dennis

Hello, I'm continuing my series of Italian aircraft. The next one is a little SIAI-Marchetti probably the most widespread Italian design created by aviation engineer Stelio Frati. This little bird stayed in production for over 50 years and continues to serve in AMI already for 47 years (the newer EA version of course - but the design did not change too much). This bird has been largely neglected by kit manufacturers in 1/72 for many years until Special Hobby and AZ models concurrently released it in the end of 2020. I could never understand how Italeri is able to ignore such classic Italian designs... Special Hobby supplied its initial release with the decals for the SF.260 that took part in a farewell ceremony for SF.260AM version that was held in Latina airbase on 19 September 2009 - almost exactly 14 years ago! The machine with s/n 54436 and code 70-63 received commemorative inscriptions to mark 35 years of service and impressive 235,500 hours flown as an AMI trainer! This kit - quite unusually for me - is completely out-of-the-box. Minor scratch built additions include a small antenna on the canopy and two antennae on the sides of the tail. Kit builds up quite quickly and easily. Decals worked very well. Orange colour is of course complex to paint. I used Hobby Color H14 which in my view gave very close match. Thanks for looking to everybody! Dennis P.S. As a bonus - here is the original aircraft photographed at the ceremony in Latina taken from this article https://theaviationist.com/2009/09/22/latina-19-09-09-sf-260ams-last-flight/:

Hello, This is the second of aircraft of my AMI collection following the F-104G model. I always thought about FIAT G.91 as if it was a Cinquecento in the aircraft industry. Small, versatile, agile aircraft well serving its role. And of course Gina was a great success of Italian aircraft industry in the post WWII era. The aircraft represents 103° Gruppo, 2° Stormo based at Treviso-Sant'Angelo in the 70s. The aerodrome is not used for military purposes anymore. The Meng kit is a little simplistic, while having perfect fit throughout so could be assembled very quickly. I read that it has some geometry inaccuracies. I do not remember exactly what is particularly wrong though. To improve the model I used Pavla cockpit set that was originally intended for Revell kit. The set was a little too small for the space available within the fuselage so fitting it properly required some beams added inside. I also went forward with minor improvements and drilled through side camera windows which I later sealed with Krystal Klear. Landing lights and navigation lights on wing tips are also made with drops of Krystal Klear. Decals are from Xtradecal set. The kit only provides a Frecce Tricolori option for AMI aircraft. However the quality of Meng decals looked suspicious so I decided to do a camo version to accompany my F-104 in the same colours. To have Italian insignia colours conforming to the F-104 I used Sky Decals roundels here. The only thing I was not able to fully get clear for myself - whether AMI used Matra rocket pods or not really. Seems that these pods were standard for NATO air forces but whether these could be used on AMI Ginas - that is a question for me. Anyway I decided to put Reskit Matra pods to make the model look armed. Group photo with F-104 as a bonus: Thanks for looking and best wishes! Dennis

Hello, I've not been posting here for more than a year which does not mean I had nothing to show. Looking back to my shelves I figured I have almost a collection of aeroplani dell'AMI which I never got posted here. So starting to fix this omission with the iconic aircraft of the jet aviation golden age - the F-104G Starfighter or il Spillone as it was nicknamed in Italy - the country which was able to keep the beast flying into the XXI century!!! F-104 is the airplane I always liked for it's extreme rocket-like shape that shows its power and speed. Super-strong engine with small wings, cabin, radar, tail attached. No surprise I wanted to do the most clean version of it without wingtip fuel tanks and without anything on the fuselage bottom. Clean sheer power! That is how I got to choose the first version used by AMI - F-104G and modelled it in the cleanest configuration possible. Just added two Sidewinders to show even more power. The prototype I chose was flying with 10° Gruppo, 9° Stormo at Grazzanise airbase in Campania. The location of the airbase is perfect for making superhot photoes of F-104 flying over the Amalfi coast above blue sea and rocks... Here is the photo that I used to inspire my project: http://www.916-starfighter.de/Large/Stars/wA9-05.htm The kit is the very well known Hasegawa set. I had the boxing for Luftwaffe and AMI F-104G/S. The kit decals for AMI aircraft are intended to build up an S version so I got couple Sky Decals sheets with Italian roundels and with multiple F-104 AMI badges to reproduce 9-05 s/n 6522 with il Cavallino Rampante on the tail. Unfortunately the Sky Decals set contained il Cavallino for grey schemes only so it did not have a white background which I sprayed myself trying to match the shape of the insignia as much as possible. I also used quite a bit of aftermarket staff. That included CMK interior set, Aires exhaust, Armory wheels, Master pitot tube. Of all these items I would say exhaust makes the largest difference as Hasegawa's is fairly simplistic. Also Master brass antennae is a must have for me anytime. So much better than kit parts for small price and very easily installed. CMK interior was quite poorly fitting to be honest. Of course it looks much better but not much of it is seen after you close canopy. As mentioned above - decals are coming from Sky Decals sets. Sidewinders are from Hasegawa weapons set. Paints are Hobby Color for camouflage and Vallejo aluminum metallic for underside diluted with a little bit of neutral gray to reduce shiny effect. Blueish tint for radome is self-mixed. I'm still not sure what the right colour should be there. At least I'm satisfied with how this part looks like. And some collage with close up shots: Thanks for watching! Dennis

I was trying to educate myself on the Tornado in Italian service in the 1980's, but I am finding it is not the easiest subject to research. You just have to love the Tornado in Italian camouflage with that aluminum underside and huge white codes. As far as I can tell, the Tornado entered service in Italy in 1982. In the second half of the 80's they were flown by two wings; 36th Wing at Gioia del Colle with 156 squadron and a yellow tail flash. 6th Wing at Ghedi by 154 and 155 squadrons both with red tail flashes. (And 102 squadron with a blue tail flash looks to have flow the Tornado from about 1993 I think) I am not sure if I have missed another squadron under the 36th or whether at this time they were still also using the F-104 as I have found photos of 36th Wing Starfighters dated as late as '87. And did the different squadrons carry additional markings or did they just pool Wing jets? If anyone can confirm or correct any of that and maybe even have knowledge of a resource I've not found, that'd be great. Edit: Of course, I forgot about their jets at Cottesmore with the TTTE.

Hello everyone, i started to build this kit: to realize these two airplanes: I used this PE : Wip-EFA#004 by Rodolfo Masti, su Flickr First Step: Wip-EFA#005 by Rodolfo Masti, su Flickr Wip-EFA#006 by Rodolfo Masti, su Flickr Wip-EFA#007 by Rodolfo Masti, su Flickr Wip-EFA#008 by Rodolfo Masti, su Flickr Step 2: WIPEFA-007 by Rodolfo Masti, su Flickr WIPEFA-008 by Rodolfo Masti, su Flickr WIPEFA-006 by Rodolfo Masti, su Flickr WIPEFA-009 by Rodolfo Masti, su Flickr

Hello, I just finished the Trumpeter 1/48 Italian Air Force Grumman Hu-16 Albatross . I like this plane so I added a lot of features like engines, sound and lights. I had a lot to rework because nothing was "italian", but just a base version with italian decals (wrong and lacking). I had to add or modify a lot of antennas and other details and add or build lacking decals. I hope you like it. Find a movie here https://www.flickr.com/photos/angelomoneta/24955771903/in/photostream/ and more pictures here https://www.flickr.com/photos/angelomoneta/with/24955771903/ Angelo

We've all been there with our mental colour cards trying to figure out which is the correct green, peering at every conceivable book and internet resource. Even blindly following the recommendations of a bloke you ever met or heard of before. Painting strips of slightly different shades of green again and again slowly becoming mad and even more unsure of your choice. So after my little rant which Tamiya XF- green is the correct one or nearest to an Italian camo Panavia Tornado from the 80's. Hopefully one of you Tonka boys will help me out. thanks, Wayne