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ICM 1/32 Fiat CR.42 Falco 'Corpo Aereo Italiano'


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Hi Gents,

Please allow me to present my fourth completion of 2021, the very lovely ICM 1/32 Fiat CR.42 Falco in the markings of the aircraft flown by Capitani Edoardo Molinari of the 83a Squadriglia, 18o Gruppo of 56o Stormo CT based at Ursel in Belgium during the latter part of the Battle of Britain:

 

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The kit was built more-or-less out of the box, but I did add a Regia Aeronautica pilot figure from the ICM seated Axis pilots set. He was clearly designed to fit the CR.42 kit, but to be honest if I did it again I wouldn’t use him, as while on the one hand he saves the trouble of replicating the weird set-up of the contemporary seat harness used in the Falco, he also blocks out virtually all of the internal detail which really does deserve to be seen.

 

I used the Eduard canopy mask set, some Albion Alloys Aluminium micro-tube for the bracing between the outboard struts, stretched sprue for the control surface actuators and some Infini Lycra thread for the R/T wire – apparently three aircraft in each squadron carried radios, and as a Squadron Leader Edoardo would have had one. The R/T aerial mast was also made from stretched sprue.

 

I found out quite a bit about Regia Aeronautica camouflage of the period and most of what I found out was that I didn’t know half as much I always thought I knew. The undersides were finished in Colourcoats ACLW25 - Weißaluminium and the uppersurface camouflage was a base mix of ACRA01 Giallo Mimentico 1 and ACRA03 Giallo Mimetico 3, with a mottle of ACRA06 Verde Mimetico 2 and ACRA12 Marrone Mimetico 2. The camouflage pattern is loosely copied from that of the Falco that nosed over on Orfordness beach in November 1940 but the ‘jaggies’ on the top wing are too fat and the mottles over the remainder are too dense and fussy.

 

The markings were mostly the transfers provided with the kit, but the kit’s codes are incorrectly portrayed as being yellow, whereas I was informed by three gents whose advice I respect that these should be blue. I’d like to give a big thank you to them for telling me long before I had applied the decals, and a massive thank you to @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies for making me a set of masks that worked really well (apart from the one which I applied on the wonk, which worked perfectly well but, of course, came out wonky) and even mixed me a tin of blue paint with which to paint them.

 

Anyway my mis-steps, uncertainty and idiocy aside, I enjoyed building the kit very much and am pleased with the result as it makes a nice model. The build thread is here:

 

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

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45 minutes ago, dov said:

Did you make masks for the camo? Let me know. 

Excellent work!!!!!!

Happy modelling

 

Thank you mate, no, Jamie did me a mask for the codes but the camo was done freehand :) 

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

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WOW!!!!!! That camouflage pattern and colors are not easy to replicate accurately yet you have done just that.  Beautiful!!! :goodjob:

 

Mike

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Thanks very much gents :cheers: 

 

1 hour ago, Duncan B said:

Absolutely stunning work on the mottling there Stew, superb.

 

You know I consider you the Mottle King, Duncan, so that's especially nice to hear from you - thanks for selling me the kit, too :D 

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

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Lovely finish Stew - really enjoyed the WIP masterclass on sprayed insignia too,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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By crikey Stew

 

I have never seen anything like that

 

Quite stunning 

 

I like the way she is finished all fresh and new

 

Colourful indeed....what a beauty

 

Congratulations

 

Cheers

 

Bruce

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That camo paintwork is a real eyeopener! And freehand? Wow…

 

The aileron actuators look like thick rods, nothing like the cables of the original, though… 😉

 

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Wonderful work, and I think that the pilot reflects the panache of the camo perfectly!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

 

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Stunning result, Stew -

 

Your pilot figure in the cockpit adds a nice touch too

 

Regards

 

Dave

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