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Building the old Super Model 1/72 kits


Kilroy1988

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Hello folks,

 

I'm interested in opinions about the difficulty level and overall quality of the old Super Model kits. I have three in my stash now, including the Cant Z.1007, Savoia Marchetti SM.81, and Fiat CR.32.

 

I notice that most of the decals are rather yellowed, which is something I believe I can work around, but I was wondering if anyone has had trouble with them not holding up to removal from the backing for application, etc? It seems like it would be quite an effort to come across modern decals to match these bombers!

 

Honestly, I'm enthusiastic about building these particular planes, but am rather wary of the age of the materials at hand. I'm busy with a series of Eastern Front kits just now and would rather quickly put these back on the market if it seems apparent that I might run into trouble.

 

Penny for your thoughts! Thanks!

 

-Gregory

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Build review on Modeling Madness of the Super Model SM 81: https://modelingmadness.com/review/axis/ity/sm81.htm

 

However, if I were you, I'd try to sell the Super Model kit and buy the Italeri one, I bet it's more recent.

Edited by Sturmovik
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I built the S. 81 and the Fiat years ago and still have both the single and twin tailed versions of the CANT. The Fiat was tough because there was bugger all to help with the strut alignment. The Italeri Savoia is basically the super model model kit updated with new decals and some PE I think. There may be some shape glitches but nothing major. Fit and molding is par for a 70s era kit. As you suspect, the decals are most likely the stumbling block

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Hi Gregory

I have CANT Z.1007 Monoderiva in my stash. It looks a bit crude, lacks details and it has been said it has some rather serious shape issues in canopy area. Still, as with Z.506 I believe it is the only kit available. As a precaution decals should probably be given a coat of liquid film before application. Otherwise, Skymodels AM decals cover most of Italian WWII combat aircraft. These decals are a bit on a thick side, but this can be worked around with usual methods. Cheers

Jure

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Thanks so much for the feedback so far, folks.

 

Based on what I'm reading here, I think I'll probably try to re-sell all of these kits and wait until I have some more experience before attempting them, or else purchase the upgraded versions. I have only built half a dozen kits since getting back into modeling recently (absent since childhood), and do not want to spoil anything!

 

Cheers!

 

-Gregory

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I've built the SM 81 and Fiat CR 32. The SM 81 requires a lot of filler and some of the locating places for wheel struts etc. are less than clear and in the wrong places. As others have mentioned the Warren bracing on the CR 32 is a nightmare if you don't take care and time. They turn our OK in the end but you need to be very careful.  

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As you have by now understood you have 3 kits that are from an era when fit wasn't high on the mind of kit manufacturers and none of these is a modern kit.

At the same time the options aren't really that many for these kits, so yes you can sell yours but there isn't much better around

The Z.1007 is an easy one: there's no other alternative,  Italeri reissued the Supermodel kit retaining the original brand, later boxes may have better decals but the plastic is the same. My advice is keep it and look for an aftermarket decal sheet (more on this later). You could of course sell yours and search a newer boxing, you may be lucky or not.

 

The SM.81 on the other hand was reissued by Italeri but in a modernised form: boxes marked as Italeri contain a kit that is essentially a rescribed and more detailed version of yours. The new panel lines, the better details and of course the newer and better decals make the Italeri box much preferrable to the original Supermodel one. The question is of course how much you'll get from your kit and how much you'll have to pay for a "new" Italeri kit.

 

The CR.32 is somewhere in the middle: the Italeri updated mould adds locating pins, so making building the kit a little easier, and replaces some of the detail. The detail level is however not great, although it's overall a small aircraft and a lot wouldn't be visible anyway. Of course the decals in the Italeri kit are much better and include more subjects. What would I do ? Personally I would sell the old Supermodel and buy the 1/48 Special Hobby kit ! The Italeri update is IMHO not worth what it costs, MSRP in Italy was around € 17 while the SH kit sells around the €25 mark.. this for a larger kit with PE and resin parts. Of course I've been enjoying the hobby for many years and I don't mind working with these materials, you may or not feel ready to do the same in this moment. And of course, this is a kit in a different scale, and you may want to stick to 1/72.

 

Decals: As Jure mentioned, Skymodel made decals for many WW2 Italian aircraft. Sheet 72019 covers both the SM.81 and the Z.1007, with 3 of the former and 6 of the latter ! This sheet however does not include national markings, only unit and individual markings. Wing and fuselage fasces and the white cross on the tail have to come from somewhere else.

These insignia can be found in a number of Tauromodel sheets. Now Tauromodel also had a few sheets with complete decals for some of your subjects, in any case some of the older ones are not available anymore. Check their current catalogue here:

 

http://www.tauromodel.it/ElencoOggetti.aspx?GenereSelezionato=1&FamSelezionata=Decae&ScalaSelezionata=3&Qualesito=2

 

While Tauro decals may or not be in the catalogue, Skymodel closed several years ago. Their sheets can still be found around, in the US Pacific Coast Models used to carry the whole range but I see that now they only work as distributors. Best option is search on the usual sites...

 

The CR.32 was also covered relatively recently by Printscale, with a sheet that is in current production, so no problem here

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I haven’t checked their site @Giorgio N, would Mr. Kit be a potential source for the Skymodel sheets? 

From memory, I think Supermodel had most if not all of their decals, at least at times, printed by Cartograf, as did Esci and Italeri. And possibly Tauro too, having just had a look in their Mc 202 box. As the Supermodel kits were in production for something like 20 years with essentially unchanged boxes, it will be hard to tell from which Cartograf period they are (if they are in fact Cartograf...). And Cartograf standards evolved quite a bit too over the years, their classic 80s stuff on yellow or blue paper invariably has rather thick, Matt carrier film and a tendency to silvering. I don’t think that variety would disintegrate on being soaked.

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24 minutes ago, tempestfan said:

I haven’t checked their site @Giorgio N, would Mr. Kit be a potential source for the Skymodel sheets? 

From memory, I think Supermodel had most if not all of their decals, at least at times, printed by Cartograf, as did Esci and Italeri. And possibly Tauro too, having just had a look in their Mc 202 box. As the Supermodel kits were in production for something like 20 years with essentially unchanged boxes, it will be hard to tell from which Cartograf period they are (if they are in fact Cartograf...). And Cartograf standards evolved quite a bit too over the years, their classic 80s stuff on yellow or blue paper invariably has rather thick, Matt carrier film and a tendency to silvering. I don’t think that variety would disintegrate on being soaked.

 

They do have several sheets shown as available on their website, not surprising as Mister Kit is a shop with really a lot of stuff.

For me it's a local shop, being just on the other side of the city (meaning it still takes me a 40 minute drive...), they do mail service but I don't know what they would charge to customers outside Italy.

At the same time I would not necessarily limit myself to Italian based shops when looking for these decals, my latest sheets for example came from UK shops. Sometime it's actually easier to find stuff for Italian subjects outside the Country as Italian shops may have run out of the same items due to requests from local modellers.

 

Regarding Supermodel decals, in my experience they weren't that bad in terms of printing. Those on yellow paper were also no worse than other decals of the era (mine were from the mid '80s). Different story if we consider how they may behave today of course. DIfferent story regarding accuracy as well, as they weren't always that well researched. They sometime also used dry transfers instead of decals, I still have some left over from an old box of their MC.205. I don't know if this kit was the only one with dry transfers or others were also issued with these.

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Thanks again for the feedback, guys, and especially Giorgio!

 

I bought all three kits very inexpensive on Ebay, waiting around for decent prices, and see that they are selling on a semi-regular basis for at least what I paid. I'll lose some percent of the shipping money at most. I'm debating about the Z.1007 now, and may leave it in the pile for the time being.  Cheers!

 

-Gregory

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1 hour ago, Giorgio N said:

 

...Mister Kit ...

For me it's a local shop, being just on the other side of the city (meaning it still takes me a 40 minute drive...)...

 

Regarding Supermodel decals, in my experience they weren't that bad in terms of printing. Those on yellow paper were also no worse than other decals of the era (mine were from the mid '80s). 

I‘ll try them in person if/when I am at Milano the next time 😉

That was what I wanted to bring across, actually the few I have are IIRC actually very well printed, as were most Italian sheets I have seen included in 80s kits. If they got registration right, this seems to have been the Achilles Heel, especially with many of the Esci aftermarket sheets. Again I am no expert, but the Letraset type dry decals were I think confined to some of the fighters.

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