1/72 Flying Machines Fiat G.55S Silurante

[Jackman]

Hi,

 

I was just wondering if anyone has this kit?  Is it a rebox of someone else's kit and how is the overall quality of the kit?

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-72-Flying-Machines-Fiat-G-55S-Silurante-/323741191495?_trksid=p2385738.m4383.l4275.c10

 

I can't seem to find in-box reviews anywhere.

 

Thank you.

[JackG]

Don't have the kit, but it is a Special Hobby rebox:

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/flying-machines-fm72003-fiat-g55s-silurante--147995

 

. . . and review of the original kit:

http://kits.kitreview.com/sh72087reviewbg_1.htm

 

regards,

Jack

[Jackman]

Ah, I see.  Thank you from one Jack to another 😁

 

I initially thought it might be a re-boxing of the old Supermodel kit. 

[Giorgio N]

Anything from Flying Machines was made by Special Hobby/MPM. They were somewhat like an Italian Azure, with ideas coming from Italy and manufacturing by the Czech company, resulting in some variants of a kit released under one brand and others under the other. In the case of the G.55, the mould was that reviewed in the like posted above while the differences among variants were sorted using resin parts. The exception was the G.55B that also included a new fuselage.

I have a couple of these kits and they are typical Special Hobby of era, short run kits with quite good quality: good surface detail, not Tamigawa style but comparable to other mainstream manufacturers,  soft plastic,  good resin parts, vacfuformed canopies... looks like a kit that will sure require care in the assembly steps. Mating all the various resin bits to the main plastic parts will also make things more complicated than with other kits but as some of these parts are very nice I feel it's worth the extra hassle.

[Don McIntyre]

Supermodel made a very nice little G.55S. it's not quite up to today's standards but it still looks nice when done. Italeri may have re-released it but I'm not sure. Probably as rare as hen's teeth...

[Giorgio N]

The supermodel G.55S is not particularly rare, harder to find than the regular G.55 but not too hard. There are a few at the moment on that online auction site going for a tenner.

Personally I wouldn't bother though, the lines of this kit are seriously off, with the fuselage having a lot of problems. Wing is passable but tailplanes are too short.

Add the total lack of detail and the (incorrect) raised panel lines and here's a kit that can be of interest only to someone who wants to experience a '70s style build.. At that point better search the Frog kit, that can offer the same experience but is more correct in outline 

[Jackman]

I've seen the in-box pictures of the Supermodel kit on Ebay. The parts do look like 70s vintage. The in-flight display stand with the engraved name of the aircraft looks nice, though.  Didn't know about the incorrect panel lines. Thanks for that.