SM55X I-BALB (1/72 Delta 2 Kit)

[wallyinoz]

I finally got off my butt and finished this:

I had to design and print quite a few decals for this as the kits decal sheet was lacking in registrations and I did not want to mask off the top of the hulls

My interest in this aircraft type was kindled about 20 years ago when I came across some original photos. I did a bit of research and discovered the pretty amazing feat of the round the world flight by a fleet (a "Balbo") of Italian Flying boats to attend the Chicago World Fair.

Finding a kit was difficult, these are as rare as rocking horse doodoo and even though quite crude fetches quite high prices. I was very lucky to get one at a reasonable price from Larry Schmidt at Hyperscale about 5 years ago. After I finished my SM75 I-TALO I thought it needed a compadre in the cabinet so I pulled this out... A challenging build.

Each aircraft carried civil type registrations under wing (both wings) with the letter "I" for Italy and the first 4 letters of the aircraft commanders name. I picked the Formation leader Italo Balbo's aircraft as my subject. In my research I found an Italian documentary of the flight and took a couple of screen grabs of it. The lead aircraft was equipped with some blind flying aid which looks remarkably like a head up display projection! Not bad for the age:

[Giorgio N]

Great model of a very interesting subject ! And built from a kit that isn't really the easiest to assemble...

[JWM]

Great model of great bird! - Please tell more: how was the build? I bought this kit recently on an aucion. Frankly speaking it was the most expensieve one in my life...It is smowhere near top of my stash: a single Savoia 55 was used in Spanish Civil War and few of them were used in Romania during WWII. There are photos of SM 55 from both those users but I have still doubts about painting schemes... If I found it correctly Italy removed this type from use before WWII.

Cheers

Jerzy-Wojtek

Edited May 24, 2016 by JWM

[kiwitrogg]

What a lovely build of and interesting looking aircraft that I have to admit to never having heard of before.

Thanks for the write-up.

Cheers

Gaz

[Dennis_C]

It's a great model of a beautiful airplane!!! Truly Italian design. Who else could create such tail booms or so nicely embed cockpit into center wing?

And again - I love models that make me Google to learn more about the prototype.

[Spitfire31]

She looks like something out of 'Porco Rosso'…

Fabulous model of a fascinating type!

Kind regards,

Joachim

[wallyinoz]

Great model of great bird! - Please tell more: how was the build? I bought this kit recently on an aucion. Frankly speaking it was the most expensieve one in my life...It is smowhere near top of my stash: a single Savoia 55 was used in Spanish Civil War and few of them were used in Romania during WWII. There are photos of SM 55 from both those users but I have still doubts about painting schemes... If I found it correctly Italy removed this type from use before WWII.

Cheers

Jerzy-Wojtek

thanks everyone,

Hiya Jerzy,

the model is a SM55X which was used for the Chicago flight, a later mass formation flight used a different version with different / exposed engines and I think changed hull shape, if you want a non Chicago machine some mods may be required.

the kit uses hard plastic on really thick sprues, fit is variable. Getting the booms square and straight and struts faired into the rear of the hull was tricky. I replaced some of the thick and clunky rods with thin plastic rod stock. windows were terrible, I mostly used crystal clear to fill the port holes

[malpaso]

What a lovely model of a beautiful aeroplane. Imagine seeing the formation of 24 of them arriving across the Atlantic. No wonder Balbo became the aviation word for an impressive formation.

Cheers

Will

[Lothian man]

A nice build of a very basic kit. Falcon IIRC do a replacement canopy.

[vh-bob]

Wally, I think every one has said it, Fantastic build. I would love one of these and looked on EBay etc. recently and was amazed by the prices asked plus the astronomical postage to Australia. Pound for pound,it must be the worlds most expensive kit. Oh well I most likely would have buggered it up any way.

[JWM]

If somone is interesting - here are photos of single Savoia 55 used in SCW by nationalists and based in Mallorca

http://www.aviationcorner.net/gallery_en.asp?aircraft_type=Savoia-Marchetti%20S.55&aircraft_type_id=2135

Regards

J-W

Edited May 25, 2016 by JWM

[EXPrompt]

I have the same model.

Sm55A - the early boat has the open engine, a case form the same, has 4 shooting points. It is interesting that could bear a torpedo.

Romanian boats of modification Sm55A

SM55X - the late version of the boat as in model, was used for transatlantic record flights.

5 boats in 1936 have been sold in the USSR as civil boats flew in the Far East the USSR several years.

[MikeW]

Now that is great. An awesome result achieved. I'd say your display cabinet is just about to be enhanced.

Cheers,

Mike

[jagmkx]

Beautiful job!  Love this aircraft as well.  I have the same kit (no PE and searched and searched)) in my build que but less experience at producing the black compound shapes. I'd love to hear @ the method you used to such success if your interested in describing?

Thanks

 

[jeaton01]

Just lovely.  Some real modeling in view!

[wallyinoz]

5 hours ago, jagmkx said:

Beautiful job!  Love this aircraft as well.  I have the same kit (no PE and searched and searched)) in my build que but less experience at producing the black compound shapes. I'd love to hear @ the method you used to such success if your interested in describing?

Thanks

 

hello there,

it has been a while since I finished that model, but I am pretty sure the black decal designs were drawn in a free program called" inkscape". it is a program you have to play around with to dis cover what you can do with it. I am pretty sure I have some left over decals back at home but I will be in the uk for another couple of months, i will look for them when i get back and will get in touch with you

cheers

wally

[invidia]

Stunning model. 

[jagmkx]

Wally,

 

That will be great, no rush! Appreciate your help! Looking forward to hearing from you when time permits.  Thank You

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Beautiful model of a beautiful plane, and you mastered a terribly challenging kit, a remarkable achievement!

As some others, I also have the kit, although in my case a second hand, half-built reject.

You have to muster a LOT of modeling stamina to face this despicable beast of a kit.

I plan to build any of the ones that had a peaceful civil life with Societa Aerea Mediterranea in Italy, or one of the few that were even flown by airlines in the US (Alaskan Airlines and AirVia, Marine Air Transport).

Surprisingly, three were built under license in the US, one being NC175M.

There is also the famous "YAHU" in Brazil.

Cheers

 

 

 

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

I-BAUQ

(from Flickr)

 

[RidgeRunner]

A delightful machine and a delightful model. You've done a great job there!

 

Martin

[Uncle Pete]

Very cool and unusual kite.  Guys on this site manage to fins the most interesting obscurities!

[jagmkx]

Wally,

Following up on thew chance that you had time to see if you had the patterns for the SM55 Delta 2 kit that you mentioned a while back?  Thanks

[wallyinoz]

Hi there am on a camping road trip at the moment will have a look for you next week..promise!

[Rob S]

Very nice!