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Italeri is to release in 2022 (?) a new tool 1/32nd Macchi MC.202 Folgore kit - ref. 2518 Source: https://www.italeri.com/uploads/news/v3MVLXcbbQoOMhc7K6EQf04r6mGnCp3M2cEDY6a6.pdf V.P.

Greetings to all. The Hasegawa model is of venerable age, poor in detail but at the same time with excellent panel lines, precision joining, thin edges. Therefore, in a sense, it is great for those who want to work with their hands and apply dexterity. At the same time, the prototype itself is very rich in details. Therefore, during the construction, a lot of aftermarket goods and even more parts made from scratch were used, most of which I think can be seen in the photo. The prototype is Captain Franco Lucchini's unit, a well-known aircraft among modellers, primarily because of its unusual paint scheme, which caught my attention. The plane was reconstructed at least twice, both times changing its appearance, and ultimately received half a wing and a hood from other aircraft. *Sorry for the automatic translation

Since My Cicogna is screaming for detail Hopefully heres something that move along faster. A Macchi MC202 Folgore from Tauro. I've never built a Tauro kit before so this should be interesting. tro If this works out ok, I have an MC205 Veltro to add as a sister ship. we shall see.

Hi all I haven't post here for a while, so I decided to post the little Italian stallion I just finished today. Machi Mc.202 Folgore (Italeri 1/72) representing a very well documented aircraft of the 51 Stormo, 153 Gruppo Autonomo, 374 Squadriglia - Sicily 1942. Model built basically straight from the box apart for the seat belts. Painted with Gunze aqueous line. Critics and comments are very welcome. Cheers Paulo

Hasegawa 1/48 MC202 Folgore, the model built almost straight from the box.

MC.202 Folgore Upgrades (for Hasegawa/Eduard) 1:48 Eduard The recent reboxing of the excellent Hasegawa kit of the Folgore with some Eduard goodies brought a few comments along the lines of "It's a shame they didn't do something about the main gear bays", and now they have, as well as some landing flaps for even more detail on the underside. Landing Flaps (48907) A single fret of brass with a relatively low part count due to the captive nature of the many ribs that will be visible when the flaps are open. Initially you have to perform some surgery on the kit to remove the bay area, and reduce the thickness of the edges to enable the new flap bay to fit in. This sounds quite onerous, but with some careful scraping with the side of sharp blade, it can be done relatively quickly, so that hoovering up all the mess takes longer! With that done, the bays are then constructed by folding over the long strip and then twist the ribs into place, securing them with a little CA. This is repeated for the opposite wing, and for the two root sections of the flap bay that are built up separately and fit to the lower wing, while the main parts attach to the underside of the upper wings. The flaps are built up the same way, then have a number of longerons added and a length of 0.3mm wire from your own stock. Some cross-braces are added to the ends, and five hinge parts join the flaps to the wing. Finally, a small actuator rod is made from 0.5mm rod you must provide, which slips under the covered part of the bay, which means that it makes more sense if you paint the bays before you insert them into the wings. Undercarriage Bay (648278) The real aircraft has a quantity of pipework resembling spaghetti in the bay centre, which isn't depicted by the kit's bay, and more than one member has commented on this omission in the past. This resin and PE set arrives in a clamshell box, and contains sufficient parts to completely re-vamp the bay, and is surprisingly keenly priced. The main box has a multitude of parts moulded in, and has a detailed painting guide as you go along. More hoses are added along the way, and structural tubing intertwines, with yet more added as the two aspects of the set are brought together. The kit's bulkhead is skinned with a detailed rendition of the bay wall, and small holes are drilled through the plastic part to accept hoses later on. A number of smaller PE detail parts are added, and once painted interior green, the "greeblie" box is mated with the bulkhead and a set of PE wiring harnesses are installed amongst it all. A PE centre section between the two wheel wells is constructed, while the kit analogue is removed from the lower wing section before installation. The bulkhead and detail part are then added and construction continues as normal. You can see the completed set in the rendered depiction below, which was shamelessly lifted from their site. Review sample courtesy of

TopDrawings 71 Special Edition – Macci MC.202 (9788366148222) Kagero Publishing via Casemate UK Known at the Folgore, which is Italian for Thunderbolt, the MC.202 was the most common Italian fighter aircraft of WWII, and was considered by many to be pretty much the best they had. The MC part of its name stems from its designer Mario Castoldi, who designed it around a licence built DB601 engine that was constructed by Alfa Romeo once it reached series production. It remained fairly much unchanged overall, with a short list of upgrades that centred around pilot protection, improving the aircraft's offensive armament and adding filters to improve longevity in hot, dusty environments. We have kits in most major scales of this elegant aircraft, although we're not spoiled for choice in some scales, sadly. The TopDrawings series majors on scale plans, which is the main thrust, but also includes a little background information, some pertinent profiles, and often a bonus of decals or masks targeted at the subject matter in hand. With this edition, you get a set of masks for the 1:72 Hasegawa kit for the wheels and canopy in pre-cut vinyl. The book is written in English on the left of the page, with Polish on the right, which translates to top and bottom for the captions to the various drawings within. The book itself has 28 pages bound in a card cover, and the rear cover is devoted to additional colour profiles of a Series VII and a Series III in "smoke ring" camouflage. Held loosely within are two loose A2 sheet printed on both sides with plans of the Series VIII, airframes in maintenance situations and on the second sheet, which is printed glossy paper, the major structures of the airframe plus more plans of the Series III and VIII, all in 1:24. The first half of the plans show the initial prototype MC.202 and series I, II and III, followed by the IV, VII, VIII and IX. After this the colour profiles are printed on four pages, augmented by the aforementioned two on the rear cover. After the break there are a host of detail drawings covering weapons, common parts in the wings, tail wheel variations, the two types of engine mounts, instrument panel changes, the two gunsights used, the engines in different scales, prop profiles, and the three canopy designs in chronological order. Then the usual side profiles showing the changed areas between each successive series marked out in grey, which surprisingly for a relatively unchanged aircraft takes four pages. The last few pages covers front, rear, overhead and lower plans in 1:72. Throughout the book, there are numerous smaller diagrams that show differences in wing leading edge shape and the addition of leading edge tanks; weapons pods carried under the wings and a drawing of the cowling from below. Conclusion These books are essential for the modeller that enjoys comparing their models against scale plans, and wants them to be as accurate as possible, with the large scale prints and masks a bonus if you're a modeller in 1:72. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

SEM Model has released a 1/48th resin correction set for the Hasegawa/Eduard Aermacchi C.202 Folgore kits - ref. 48802 Sources: http://semmodel.altervista.org/en/C202corr48_en.html https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1877734912277907&id=717692698282140 V.P.

MC.202 Exhaust Stacks (648281 for Hasegawa/Eduard) 1:48 Eduard Brassin If you already have a Hasegawa MC.202 in 1:48 or are going to pick up the new Limited Edition we reviewed here, you might be interested in this little pick-me-up addition for the kit. The set arrives in the familiar Brassin clamshell box, with the resin parts safely cocooned on dark grey foam inserts, and the instructions sandwiched between the two halves, doubling as the header card. Inside are two resin exhaust stacks, which have extremely finely cast hollow pipes for a more realistic look. Once removed from their casting blocks, they just drop into the kit slots and can be secured with CA or epoxy at your whim. As usual, take the precaution of wearing a mask when cutting or sanding resin, as the tiny particles are harmful to your health if breathed in. Washing the parts in warm water will also improve the adhesion of paint, as there may still be some moulding release agent on the parts when you receive them. Review sample courtesy of

Hello all Here is my latest completion - Hasegawa's 1/48 Folgore, a lovely kit to build. I'm usually an out of the box builder, but I've always had a soft spot for the look of the MC202, so was tempted into the aftermarket for this one to try and add a little extra nice detail to this build. The extras were: * Smoke ring decals from Mike Grant * Ultracast resin seat, wheels and exhausts * Montex Maxi Mask for cockpit frame and some markings * EZ line for the antenna wire The fuselage band and the white tail crosses were painted on rather than using decals, and the underside wing roundels were done with the Montex masks. However, I found these very fiddly so reverted to the decals for the upper wings. A quick note of praise for Mike Grant's smoke ring decals, these are really thin and conformed beautifully with no hint of silvering. It was painted in Tamiya acrylics XF19 Sky Grey for the underside and XF59 Desert Yellow for the upper surfaces - perhaps not the best matches for authenticity, but that's something that I'm not too fussed about. Kept the weathering light, with just an oil paint wash to highlight the panel lines and a thin dark acrylic mix for some exhaust staining. Pretty happy with how it turned out, and really enjoyed this build. Thanks for looking Adam

Macchi C.202 Folgore Hasegawa 1:48 The Macchi C.202 Folgore (Italian for Thunderbolt) was constructed by Macchi Aernautica as a development of their earlier C.200 Saetta. The original C.200 features an air colled radial engine, however the C.202 would feature a licence built Daimler-Benz DB601Aa engine. This along with a redesigned more streamlined fuselage would bring the speed upto 372 mph it's speed and manoeuvrability were comparable with other fighters of the time. It did have its problems, chiefly that it was under armed and was susceptible to entering dangerous spins. In addition the radios and oxygen systems were highly unreliable often leading to 50/60% of pilots returning to base. Over 1100 were built, and as well as serving with the Italian forces they were used by Croatia during WWII, and after the war Macchi we able to sell some surviving aircraft to the Egyptians where they would be used in combat against Israel. The Italian Air Force used them in the training role until 1948. The Kit This kit was originally released by Hasegawa in 1995, and has been re-released in various boxing since then, the last being in 2006. For the release now Hasegawa have reverted back to the box art and decal options of the original 1995 kit. The kit arrives as 3 main sprues, 3 small sprues, and a clear sprue. As you would expect from Hasegawa the parts are well moulded and all the parts are crisp. Construction begins as with most aircraft, in the cockpit. The main cockpit is made up from the bottom section, two sides and the instrument panel. The seat is added, with the control column, a rudder bar, and some ancillary controls to the cockpit sides. Once the cockpit is completed it can be placed inside the fuselage, and this then closed up. The panel on top of the nose with the guns is added as a separate insert, and oil cooler are added; and also the tailplanes at this stage. The wings are the next major construction step. These are of a conventional lower one piece wing, to which the left and right top wings are added. The undercarriage bay must be constructed and installed before the top wings are added. Once complete the wings are added to the main fuselage. Once the main aircraft is built its on to all the small parts to finish off. The main landing gear is constructed and added. The lower radiator is added along with the tail wheel n the exhausts. One last item is the propeller. For this kit it is three separate blades which must be added to the hub. Finally the canopy is added. Decals As mentioned this new release brings the same decals as the original 1995 kit, for two option. A smallish decal sheet has the national markings and a few others as the aircraft did not seem to have much more in the way of markings. The options supplied are; 363-2 363 Squadriglia 150° Gruppo 53° Stormo, Italian Air Force (Blotch camo) CL111 Commander 153° Gruppo Italian Air Force (Ring camo) Conclusion This is good re-release from Hasegawa. The kit has not been available for a while now. Overall recommended if you want/need a C.202 in your collection. Review sample courtesy of UK distributors for

Macchi 202 & 205 Cockpit Set (for Hasegawa) 1:48 SBS Model The MC.202 & 205 were of the same design lineage, and consequentially had very similar cockpit, with the main differences being the power plant and armaments. SBS have crafted these two very similar cockpits in a mixed media kit that contains resin, Photo-Etch (PE) and clear acetate film. The sets are different enough to warrant separate boxings, so make sure you pick up the right one. They both arrive in SBS's nice little card box, with a picture of the set on the front. Inside is a bag of resin parts, a separate card-backed bag for the PE and acetate, plus a single sheet of instructions, which are well drawn, clear, and have painting call-outs that are so often missing from aftermarket sets. C.202 Folgore The main differences are in the instrument panel, with the rest of construction common between them. The kit cockpit is designed with inserts for the sidewalls, and the resin replacements for these are much more detailed, and are improved further by the addition of some PE levers and trim-wheel. The cockpit floor is very finely engraved with floor panelling, and has a delicate webwork of supports for the seat, all moulded as a single part, with flash to be cut away with a sharp blade. The curved rudder rests are added from PE parts, utilising the kit rudder pegs, and a new resin control column. The seat is also resin with moulded in belts, while the headrest and armour are PE, with additional PE belt-tops that join to the resin stubs at the top of the seat back. A rear-view mirror is fitted to the top of the windscreen hoop to replace the thicker kit part. C.205 Folgore The instrument panel on both sets is a multi-layered assembly, which is happily shown on the instructions in both an exploded-diagram, and in a completed state, so you can check your work. Using three layers of film and three PE panels that attach to the resin back-plate, you also add a kit part, PE and film rendition of the gun-sight. Where the two sets differ is in the central lower panel, which is larger on the 202, and also has an extended lower panel to the right of the pilot's knees. The additional levers that are added to the panel are identical, with just one extra on the central panel of the 202. Painting As mentioned above, there is a colour diagram at the end of the instructions, using generic names or FS numbers for the correct colours, and if you paint the backs of the film panels white before construction, you will be able to see the faces of the pre-printed dial through the PE panel. Conclusion SBS have impressed us greatly since we became aware of their products, and these sets are well up to muster, correcting what I consider to be a weakness of a lot of Hasegawa kits when measured against modern standards. The resin is well cast, casting blocks sensibly placed, and the PE of a very high quality. Add the clear, concise instructions into the mix, and you have a top line product that is difficult not to like. It's also good to know that your hard-earned cash will be going to a thoroughly nice, cheerful gent. Very highly recommended. C.202 Folgore & C.205 Veltro (scroll down to see the individual sets) Review sample courtesy of

Dear Fellow Britmodellers I always liked those Italian colour schemes, and the Hasegawa MC202 can be had quite cheaply even as a 'combo'. I added the True details resin cockpit and wheels. I hope you like the 'Vespa arrabbiata Andrew