PeterB Posted August 2, 2020 Author Share Posted August 2, 2020 Depends of course on whether it is the Doncaster or Darlington version - I forget which but one is darker and bluer. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinxman Posted August 2, 2020 Share Posted August 2, 2020 The Doncaster's the darker, at least that what it looks like on the label. 😀 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 Blimey, thats bright Pete! Looks like it has gone on very nice though, will make a nice base for the other colours. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted August 3, 2020 Author Share Posted August 3, 2020 (edited) This might just work! Needs a bit of tweaking but not too bad for a first attempt. I will have to be careful with the wings as it will be easy to lose the pattern and proportions, and the two wing mounted engine cowlings will be a bit of a pain - I will have to try and tack them on, but getting at the side nearest the fuselage will be better done with them off. Difficult to be certain but it looks like the green went all the way round the cowlings on most planes though one or two do seem to have a grey lower part. At least the white decal line will tidy up the brass collector ring - don't know what I am going to use when my ancient Humbrol Authentic MC 19 Antique Bronze finally runs out or dries up! The nose cowling was a late addition so not camouflaged yet. In the pics under the kit, the Grigio Azzuro Chiaro looks bluer than the Colourcoats I have, though on this machine I have gone with the darker Grigio Mimetico as per the Sky instruction sheet. The torpedo looks like it is in GAC as well, not the usual silver/gunmetal. I was going to use Giallo Mimetico 3 for the "lines", again as per the Sky instructions, but I am running out, so instead I have used Giallo Mimetico 4 which I think looks better anyway - not a lot of difference but the 4 is just a little less yellow than the 3 . @Graham Boak says he has read that they were actually supposed to be the same colour but different paint manufacturers made each version slightly differently.. At this rate the camo may just be on a week after I started the build, which is certainly quick for me!. Cheers Pete Edited August 3, 2020 by PeterB 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 Did I? OK, but this week I'll just say that different aircraft manufacturers used different paint manufacturers, and the colour was different from each manufacturer. Whether this was because of failure to match a specific instruction, or just because the original requirement was vague, I don't know. However as to my knowledge no researcher has found any Regia Aeronautic colour standards, or any reference to one, before the later Tavola 10 I strongly suspect the latter. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted August 3, 2020 Author Share Posted August 3, 2020 (edited) Hi Graham, You memory must be getting almost as bad as mine. It was back in May on my Fiat G50 build thread when you said "In this case, the four different GMs were not meant as distinct paints but came from different manufacturers and were used by different aircraft manufacturers. There was an excellent booklet produced some time ago which remains unbeaten as a guide to Italian camouflage use. It will say which of the four GNs was used by the G.50. I can dig it out if you really want to know". Not a problem anyway, but you later said that the booklet you mention confirmed that Fiat bought and used what we tend to know as GM3, whilst in the case of Macchi it was GM4. I wonder what it says about Savoia - Marchetti but I will stick with the GM4 as it looks about right to me. Cheers Pete Edited August 3, 2020 by PeterB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 Hmm. I think that's a matter of the way I phrased it - could have been done better, first time. I strongly suspect that the RA had no intention of requiring 4 different versions of Gallo Mimetico, because which air force would? Greens, now... But I haven't actually read that, unless my memory has deteriorated even further in three months. Given that similar variation was seen in other colours I believe it was just a vague statement and a lack of interest. Later colours appear to have been much more standardised. Which could be a matter of a lesson having been learnt, perhaps? Now I really must dig out that booklet... by the Plastic Modelling Club of Rimini, IIRC. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 I think your camouflage is working really well Pete, it definitely looks like the picture you have and also like ones I have seen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dansk Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 Looks grrreaaat pete 👍😎 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted August 3, 2020 Author Share Posted August 3, 2020 (edited) As I do not have any pics showing the upper surfaces of the wings I have improvised - probably totally wrong but I like it. That just leaves the two wing engine cowlings and then I can start putting decs on! At least it is rather less glaring now. As I mentioned earlier this scheme seems to have been used by a number of Squadriglia based near Benghazi which is a desert area, so the choice of green for the basic colour does seem a little counter intuitive - some illustrations show a bit more of the sand colour, but I am happy as it is. The white band sets it off rather nicely I think. It is certainly quite unusual and has taken considerably less time than I expected - perhaps the warm weather has helped as the enamel paints have dried quite quickly for once! Perhaps this was not quite such a mad idea after all. Cheers Pete Edited August 3, 2020 by PeterB 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinxman Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 That looks fantastic. 👍 I know very little about Italian camo schemes, however this GB has shown some interesting variations - I might have to try some of them soon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 I think that she looks brilliant Pete. Nothing wrong with a bit of improvisation mate, especially when pictures are non-existent. The upper surfaces look right to me as the pattern flows nicely from the fuselage and is perfectly logical, its what I would have done anyway. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted August 4, 2020 Author Share Posted August 4, 2020 (edited) Thanks guys, Actually this camo may have worked better than I thought. Depending on the lighting and the angle I view it from, the overall impression is that of the sand colour as the lighter green almost seems to merge in with it. Well, I guess that is what camo is all about!. I will get the other cowlings painted today and then leave it a while as some of the paint is still a little tacky. I will do a little touching up, but as I understand it this was a field paint job done by 2 or 3 Squadriglia based at airfield K2 near Benghazi in early 1942 and I guess that like any other ground crews, the Italian ones were not quite in the same league as say Michelangelo! I have just been going through my books trying to work out what colour the props were - Airfix for once don't say black with yellow tips. In fact many had silver (dural) front faces well into 1942 as shown in the kit instructions, whilst others had black faces as early as 1941, many but not all with yellow tips. The machine I am basing this on as per the illustration in the Osprey book was MM 21434 which was from an early batch built by Savoia-Marchetti between 1938 and 1939 so I am pretty sure it would have had silver fronts at least initially. Whether or not they had been overpainted by January 1942 I have no idea. Cheers Pete Edited August 4, 2020 by PeterB 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 It is a very effective scheme Pete, I really like it.👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted August 5, 2020 Author Share Posted August 5, 2020 (edited) When I was a kid, most of my kits were finished within 48 hours of my bringing them home - sometimes rather less. I think one of the quickest was the Airfix 1/600 scale HMS Nelson which I was given for a birthday present - having found where it was hidden it was about 80% built by the time my birthday arrived!😀 Those days are long gone, but this must be the quickest build I have done this century - arrived in the post on Monday of last week, started Tuesday, and here it is now, nearly finished! Besides the props and spinners, the only kit parts to still go on are the torpedo, aileron balance weights, pitot tube and the gun in the front of the hump. I will also be adding a few things Airfix missed, namely a short radio mast and a DF loop on top of the fuselage, and hopefully the bracing at the top of the vertical tail surfaces which is prominent in pictures - I can't work out if it was thin struts or more probably heavy duty cable. I will see if I can knock something up from piano wire, assuming I can get it straight - it comes in coils! As you can see I have already put some of the decs on. The white cowling stripes are from the kit, the fasces on the cowling and cross on the tail are from the Sky Decals sheet. The speed of construction has of course come at a price - my 3 Airfix Bf 109 E's for the BoB GB have been on hold during the period, but what the heck, I have got until October to finish them. I enjoyed building this kit the first time, and am doing so again, It may have accuracy issues - I have read that the hump is not quite right and by the look of it the windows behind the canopy should perhaps be slightly further back and considerably taller, but I think it builds up well. I am glad I decided to built it for this GB. Cheers Pete Edited August 5, 2020 by PeterB 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 Hi Pete, I think they are bracing wires not struts above the tailplanes. Your build is looking great, you may have put her together very quickly but you have also done a really good job of the build, the painting of the camouflage scheme is superb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted August 5, 2020 Author Share Posted August 5, 2020 (edited) On 7/31/2020 at 1:37 PM, modelling minion said: I think the Italeri kit is supposed to be more accurate than the Airfix one but that is hardly surprising given the amount of years between the two kits, I don't know specifically about the hump but I presume that it falls into the same category. You really are spoiled for choice when it comes to schemes to paint them in, if you can find it the Sky Models Decals sheet for them has quite a few options on it in a wide variety of different schemes. I am thinking of building mine as a machine from the Spanish Civil War. Hi Craig, A couple of warnings about the "Sky Decals" sheet for the SM 79. The ones I have used from their range for fighters have been great, and this sheet is also good, but there are so many schemes catered for the decs are crammed together. To get at the ones I wanted for this scheme I used scissors, which was probably a mistake as there is absolutely no space and I ended up cutting the edges off another "set" of decs - no problem as I was not going to use them, but I guess a sharp scalpel might be better, The other problem is that unlike the fighter ones I used, the number sets are not made as one unit eg 374-2 on my MC 200. Although aligned as a set they float off as individual numbers, dash etc and can be tricky to get on to the kit - some numbers such as the "2"'s and"4"'s try and fold over on themselves, but fortunately they are robust enough to very carefully tease back into shape. Anyway, they are on and I have drilled locating holes for the wires - I agree that is what they seem to be. Once the decs are dry and given a couple of coats of varnish I will try and fit some Size 4 piano wire, once I have straightened it out - did not fancy using EZ-Line as it goes a bit slack when painted sometimes, and stretched sprue would be too fragile I guess. Whilst waiting for the decs to dry I have used a bit of the wire to make a simple DF loop, and finished painting the torpedo and props. Incidentally, checking the plans there was another bracing wire? that went from just behind the cockpit to around the middle of the wing on each side, but I will give that a miss as it is almost certain to get broken when handling the kit! It is not usually visible on pics anyway. Should be ready for a finishing coat of varnish by the weekend all being well. Cheers Pete Edited August 5, 2020 by PeterB 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 Amazing camouflage Pete, looks fantastic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted August 6, 2020 Author Share Posted August 6, 2020 Well, my "Gobbi" is ready to join the Wimpy in the queue for a coat of flat varnish. As you can see, in the end I decided to put the bracing wires on the wings after all! As I said yesterday I was concerned about breaking them whilst handling the model, and still am, but the main thing that put me off was the fact that the various grades of piano wire I have all came curled up in a coil, and straightening them is a pain, particularly the sort of length required for the wing braces. I could of course un-temper them by heating them over a flame, but that makes them easily bent out of shape and more vulnerable to damage. Then I remembered the lengths of straight wire I have for use as handrails on my loco's. Ok it is a bit thicker, but then I would have thought the wooden wings needed stronger braces than the tail so that is fine. However, after my wife decided to decorate my study cum workroom, bless her, everything is out of place but I found them in the end. I have absolutely no idea what colour the braces were - they may have been painted in camo, but I have painted mine in a sort of steel colour by mixing dark grey and aluminium. Likewise I have gone for dural fronted blades which may or may not be right but so what! Anyway, that did not take very long and I am rather pleased with the result. Not the most beautiful of machines, but in its way it is quite attractive - to me anyway. I will have to be careful when spraying it - don't want blobs of varnish on the wires! Cheers Pete 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 8 minutes ago, PeterB said: As you can see, in the end I decided to put the bracing wires on the wings I always thought the wires from the fuselage to the wings was a radio aerial/antenna. Chris 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted August 6, 2020 Author Share Posted August 6, 2020 (edited) Hi Chris, You could be right or it could even be a control cable. However some 79's had a large radio mast on top of the hump, whilst others such as this had a smaller one further back and the aerial ran from that to the top of the vertical tail - you can see it in the Osprey pic under the kit near the top of this page. Of course they may have had more than one aerial? Cheers Pete Edited August 6, 2020 by PeterB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 Can't help you with whether or not the cables to the wings are for support or if they are an aerial, but I suspect aerial as in some pics I have seen they appear to be a bit slack. Your model is looking fantastic but has one down side, it's got me checking out my Italeri kit and schemes to build it in when I should be concentrating on the builds on my bench! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 I just spent a few minutes flicking through online images of SM.79s looking for the wing wires. Since the tail brace wires were almost always visible, but not those on the wing, I came to the conclusion they didn’t really exist. Then I found a couple of shots taken from inside the aircraft, and there were the wires. They were very fine, and I suspect they were actually aerial wires. They may have been introduced in place of the typical fittings on a mast to the fin, as that may have been vulnerable to withering fire from the upper dorsal gunner! 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted August 6, 2020 Author Share Posted August 6, 2020 (edited) Hi Guys, Oh well, they are on now. If they were aerials, they are a bit on the heavy side - perhaps they were trying to pick up the BBC Home Service - secret fans of Alvar Lidell maybe!😄 Speaking of shooting things off, I wonder it the forward firing fixed gun in the hump was synchronised - its line of fire seems awfully close to the prop arc! Pete Edited August 6, 2020 by PeterB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 13 minutes ago, PeterB said: perhaps they were trying to pick up the BBC Home Service - secret fans of Alvar Lidell maybe!😄 ITMA more likely. There was a particularly good Italian character in the show, not at all stereotypical of Italians… 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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