Italeri 1/72nd scale CR.32, Caccia, Sardinia, spring 1938...

[John Masters]

I am shocked that this is, so far, the only CR.32 Freccia in the mix.  Such a ubiquitous aircraft all over the Mediterranean.  And I am honoured to build it.  In a way, I am honouring my father. This was one of his favorite aircraft.  I will be building the Freccia from the 85th Squadriglia stationed in Caccia, Sardinia.  I like the profile too.  A little camo, a little NMF, two-tone spats.  Very nice.  

 

 

Nice profile...

 

 

Sprue...

 

 

My bench is clear.  I now have two aircraft lined up and the Desert GB begins on the 26th.  I can do this.  No rush for any of it.

 

--John

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

One Id like to add to my collection someday soon. Great choice of scheme by the way. 

[Andwil]

5 hours ago, John Masters said:

I am shocked that this is, so far, the only CR.32 Freccia in the mix.

Myself and @jean are building the original Supermodel boxings of this kit over in the Classic Italian GB.  It will be interesting to see how yours builds up, the sprues look identical so I guess Italeri have made no changes or improvements to the moulds, ie all the struts are still butt joints 😟

 

AW

[John Masters]

3 hours ago, Andwil said:

all the struts are still butt joints

I know.  It's tricky.  Care is needed.

[jean]

 

5 hours ago, John Masters said:

I know.  It's tricky.  Care is needed.

Hi John,

you are the king of the understatement and shortcut.

I love these three words: care is needed...

 

JR

[John Masters]

20 minutes ago, jean said:

I love these three words: care is needed...

It can't be any more difficult that the TOKO Hansa-Brandenburg Star Strutter!

[John Masters]

21 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

One Id like to add to my collection someday soon. Great choice of scheme by the way. 

It's a handsome aircraft.  I prefer it over the CR.42.  That in-line nose...multo buena!

 

Some work began, and a perusal of what could be tricky...

 

Pretty straightforward.  The interior green might be a bit bright, but since it will be closed up anyway it wont be seen.  A simple cockpit.  Decal for the IP and harness.

 

 

While that all dried, etc...I went and worked on the Sea Vixen.  Then I came back and perused my near future...

 

 

 

Happily, the struts are numbered on the sprue.  Still, handle with care!

 

 

And, with that, I did this...

 

 

Tomorrow I'll close it up.

 

--John

 

 

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

2 minutes ago, John Masters said:

It's a handsome aircraft.  I prefer it over the CR.42.  That in-line nose...multo buena!

Yes this exactly. 

[Andwil]

Italeri have made improvements to the kit, cockpit detail and much more positive strut connections.

 

I’m going to be a contrarian now and say that I think the CR.32 is quite ugly….

 

AW

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

4 minutes ago, Andwil said:

I’m going to be a contrarian now and say that I think the CR.32 is quite ugly….

No worries AW everyone is entitled to their own opinions. 

[John Masters]

Fuselage together...

 

 

I went and did some other things while that set up a bit, then continued. 

 

 

There I will leave it for the night.  The next phase involves a fair amount of work with the fuselage and lower wing.  It appears that my build will have the gun pods beneath the lower wings as well as those on the fuselage.  So tomorrow...

 

--John

 

 

[John Masters]

I attached the lower wings and puttied up a couple of narrow gaps.  I think I might be ready to prime the build tomorrow.  I have decided to use the decals provided for the tri-colore tail feathers.  I'll see how the go.  Painting the red/white/green is always an option and I don't mind the masking.  

 

 

--John

[John Masters]

OK. I had a moment of sensibility.  I masked and painted the tail feathers.  Not difficult and it will be much more satisfying in the end.

 

I gave it some white primer first...then masked that.

 

 

 

Then I hand painted the green and red...the green wasn't opaque enough with the first coat.  I went back after it had dried and fixed that.

 

 

Much better than decals.  I will have to snip out the little logo that goes in the white area, but that's not difficult.

 

 

 

Masked off for the remainder of the build.  I have plenty of construction before I can  prime this aircraft--undercarraige, top wing, etc...

 

 

--John

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[81-er]

That's definitely better than the decals

 

James

[Wez]

Welcome along John, you're making goo progress so far.

[John Masters]

On 8/22/2023 at 11:09 AM, 81-er said:

That's definitely better than the decals

 

Thank you James. I agree.

 

On 8/22/2023 at 9:21 PM, Wez said:

Welcome along John, you're making good progress so far.

 

Thank you Wez.  I did some modelling last night.

 

I have assembled the landing gear...and primed all the pieces.  If I follow the plans, the next step would be to attach the struts to the underside of the upper wing and let that all dry.  Then I will apply the Italian Doped Linen and the NMF areas around the nose.  Once that is done, I can do the camo bits.  So It's building, painting, building...

 

 

--John

 

 

[John Masters]

Struts are on.  Not so difficult. What I anticipate to be difficult will be attaching them all to the aircraft.  For another day.

 

 

--John

[Andwil]

Watching this come together has made up my mind that it is not worth me continuing with my Supermodel version of this kit - I had a check fit of the butt jointed struts and they are not going to work.  I’ll get one of these Italeri kits to replace it.

 

AW 

[John Masters]

I test fitted the struts and it will definitely be a 'one strut at a time' job to attach them onto the lower wing.  There's always a test, isn't there?

 

Anyway, I gave the rest of the aircraft some Duraluminum.  I will wait a good 24 hours before I mask off what I need to and paint the camo on the upper surfaces of the wings.

 

 

--John

 

 

 

 

[Torbjorn]

Looks like a racing machine!

[John Masters]

11 hours ago, Torbjorn said:

Looks like a racing machine!

Well, it is Italian...😉

 

The bandwidth on BM feels mighty tight...lots of uploading and traffic tonight.

 

I have masked the FIAT and it's ready for the camo...

 

 

 

I'm using these for the colours...

 

 

Light Stone is first...

 

 

It's not a complex pattern, so I'll be using blue tac for the next round of masking.

 

--John

 

 

[Torbjorn]

27 minutes ago, John Masters said:

Well, it is Italian...😉

 

The bandwidth on BM feels mighty tight...lots of uploading and traffic tonight.

 

It my firm belief that the Italian aircraft manufacturers were just intent on making beautiful machines and then reluctantly added a machine gun or two to fulfill the buyer’s request.

 

Also had issues accessing BM the entire evening.

 

27 minutes ago, John Masters said:

I have masked the FIAT and it's ready for the camo...

 

 

 

I'm using these for the colours...

 

 

Light Stone is first...

 

 

It's not a complex pattern, so I'll be using blue tac for the next round of masking.

 

--John

This will be a striking paintjob.

27 minutes ago, John Masters said:

 

[John Masters]

8 hours ago, Torbjorn said:

It my firm belief that the Italian aircraft manufacturers were just intent on making beautiful machines and then reluctantly added a machine gun or two to fulfill the buyer’s request.

Thankyou Tor.  Probably true.  I feel the same way about the French fighters form the 1930s.  The Dewoitine D.500, Moraine 225, Loire 46...beautiful aircraft, like flying sport cars...with guns.  And all but obsolete when they took off.  

[John Masters]

Green is on!

 

 

Note the landing gear.  The other side will get some brown.

 

 

The brown is easy.  The top wing gets a diagonal bit through the middle, in between the green.  The lower wings get two splotches.

 

 

--John

[81-er]

The paint's looking good, John 

 

James