SBS 1/72nd. Macchi M.C.72 record seaplane

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

 

I have forgotten to post this one, from more than two years ago, the completed model was just posted:

 

So here is the WiP that goes with it in case it is of interest for future builders of the kit:

 

 

The etched steel wires for the rigging are as said a separate (aftermarket) product -from the same vendor-; this is the instruction sheet:

 

Clear parts...really clear, not just in name:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read bellow BEFORE excising the signaled parts. Those collars make the parts fit properly one inside the other and with the fuselage, they are necessary!:

 

There is a joystick floating in the vacuum of the instructions sheet, whereas it should be included in the sub-assembly of the controls pan bellow. It reminds me of Rabelais' "Whether a Chimera, bombinating in the void, can devour second intentions". The pan's ultimate position is not clearly shown in the instructions, but it's easy to deduce where it goes :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

The fuselage halves are united. There are locating devices, pegs and holes, unlike in most resin kits. They work mostly well, but I got a slight misalignment on that airscoop on top of the fuselage (most likely my fault): 

 

I ended up with a bit of a gap, partially on top and along most of the bottom. This is most likely my fault at cleaning the resin pouring block, but I think there could be an issue with some lip at the bottom where there is not clear what should be removed and what not. Masking tape is used to confine the area of puttying and sanding to a minimum to preserve detail as much as possible:

 

The fuselage seams were hid. The upper portion of the vertical stabilizer was a good fit. The lower portion was not (you have by the way two options, a "normal" and a longer one). The horizontal stabilizers halves have two very tiny pips that are supposed to go into minute recesses in the fuselage. It does not completely well. A tongue and slot may have been better:

 

The wings go on, the fit is good if you clean the casting line from the wing root:

 

With this type of design, alignment is a concern. The way to go here is to paint the base color on the elements, mask and paint all the different radiator surfaces comfortably, and then glue the legs to the floats (they have a positive, self-alignment fit), and then glue the floats to the fuselage checking everything continuously. This should minimize boo-boos:

 

I drilled holes in the fuselage nose, the spinner parts and floats, to be able to grab them for painting. The elevators were added to the fuselage, they come conveniently prepared with a "pivoting" point to insert in the tail area, this allows you to "rotate" them and then fix them in the desired position (a bit drooped in my case). The photoetched mooring parts will be glued on the floats before painting:

 

The level of care of SBS is shown for example in the fact that they provide a couple of extra mooring PE parts and locating devices for them. Notice they have a very small stem, which should go in a hole in the float's front and back, as per instructions. Those holes are marked already in the mold as little dimples. I used them as a guide for my drill:

 

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

The primer shows the most impeccable kit surface. Not a single blemish, pore, scratch. A few minor touch-ups will be needed where I glued or puttied something.

This is the type of kit that you don't have to correct or improve, but rather be cautious no to mess:

 

Now white enamel is airbrushed in preparation for the red. The underside of the floats should be masked before the red, since they were white. At this point the spinner parts and four prop blades are painted aluminium:

 

The floats' bottoms are masked, and the parts are airbrushed with the Italian red color:

 

The different parts are masked, to leave only the radiators exposed. This took quite some time and care. Then  the brass color was airbrushed:

 

 

So far so good, but in airbrushing the wings, some strange interaction of the paint with the very fine texture occurred. Retrospectively, the wing radiator areas should be given just one coat of "brass" or gold paint, in order not to clog it with primer and undercoats, as I did.
To fix the model I'll go the opposite way, sanding the texture a bit and applying an undercoat, then the paint, so the surface may appear leveled and the paint won't fill the texture partially. We'll see:

 

The floats and legs came out ok, given the not so fine texture:

 

Remember I said you have to be careful not the mess-up an otherwise excellent kit?

After lightly sanding that problematic texture on the wing, I applied a couple of layers of acrylic floor polish in an attempt to fill-up that texture somehow. Once dry, I airbrushed the brass paint. The results are much better, yet not totally satisfactory.
So you are warned: paint that texture first, the amount necessary to give the color and no more, no primer, then mask and paint the red, otherwise this strange high-resolution texture of very fine grain will partially clog with paint and show streaks.

 

 

 

 Dry run of props/spinner assembly which goes very well (provided that you have left those collars I pointed out to in the instructions).
The legs as said attach positively to the floats. The front leg has also a positive lock (although alas small) with the fuselage, but the aft leg has a roundish feature that doesn't provide as good a fit. It is actually somewhat wobbly. The whole thing sort of self-aligns, but not perfectly or securely. Not sure why in this joint SBS did not do something similar to what they did on the floats: good locking devices. If those aft legs would have attached to the fuselage positively, this song would be different. As I use cyanoacrylate to glue resin parts, there is no chance of fiddling too much. The proper separation and parallel setting will have to be refined with the cross-members that unite both floats horizontally.:
May be SBS or other vendor will come up with a beaching trolley, not only needed to pose the model credibly, but also to provide the means to properly align those floats in gluing them to the fuselage:

 

The fuselage front has some bare metal areas in the shape of a stripe. Cut to size alu-sprayed decals were used for the task (NOTE: actually, the version modeled with this kit does not have those metal stripes, but other do. I removed them when I realized it):

 

I am surprised that SBS did not provide a pontoon alignment schematic for the modeler to achieve the proper distance without floats and to get them parallel. No 1/72nd top view is provided either:

 

This is SBS' rigging accessory P.E. set.
The steel is rigid enough to span the distances without flexing or sagging if done correctly:

 

The rigging completed. Canopy is set place. The prop sub-assembly is added. Decals are applied:

 

 

 

[HOUSTON]

Moa,

 

EXQUISITE and EXCEPTIONAL  build  

 

 

 

 

 

[Courageous]

Absolutely beautiful Moa.

What metallic paints to you use?

 

Stuart

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

24 minutes ago, Courageous said:

Absolutely beautiful Moa.

What metallic paints to you use?

 

Stuart

Thanks Stuart

Lately I have been using almost exclusively Alclad II paints.

For mixes -as in German and French special hues (grey silver and white silver)- (not on this model) I used Model Master metallic paints.

[72modeler]

@Moa,

 

That is a gorgeous model! The brass surfaces of the cooling system look very realistic and that red is truly Italian. Looks like a modern racer, not one designed and built almost 80 years ago! I'm sure you have seen this already, but I found an interesting link to the MC72's record-setting flights that might be of interest to others- that tandem V12 is one unbelievable mass of rotating parts!

Mike

 

https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/macchi-m-c-72/

Edited December 25, 2019 by 72modeler
added link

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

18 minutes ago, 72modeler said:

@Moa,

 

That is a gorgeous model! The brass surfaces of the cooling system look very realistic and that red is truly Italian. Looks like a modern racer, not one designed and built almost 80 years ago! I'm sure you have seen this already, but I found an interesting link to the MC72's record-setting flights that might be of interest to others- that tandem V12 is one unbelievable mass of rotating parts!

Mike

 

https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/macchi-m-c-72/

Thanks Mike, and great link!

 

[DMC]

A real beauty, Moa, thanks for posting.

 

Dennis

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

13 hours ago, DMC said:

A real beauty, Moa, thanks for posting.

 

Dennis

Great compliment, especially coming from a master,

Cheers

[DMC]

10 hours ago, Moa said:

especially coming from a master,

Ha! Moa, you can’t kid a kidder.

[Col.]

Wow! A stunning kit but your fine work has made the most of its potential