Thom216 Posted October 28, 2023 Share Posted October 28, 2023 (edited) Woops! I started this in the Italian Job GB, not noticing that it was too new to requirements. Mr. @JOCKNEY kindly offered to let it stay, but I'll shift it into gear here. So, this is Italeri's 1/72 SM79 Sparviero and, being now fifty, it is pass time I'll be getting in touch with my Italian roots by building my first Italian aircraft! I have some interior and exterior PE to go with it. Sprues! As you can see there are options to open it all up, but I'll building her closed and retaining those sleek (humped) lines. I'll detail the 'pit just in case I can see anything through the glass. And starting with the pedals and the IP. The instructions call for light green on the interior, but seeing other builds and references it looks like it should be light gray. That'll be easy to fix on the central pedestal as that is all that is painted as of yet. Short progress for now, but model on! Thom https://imgur.com/a/Nvu2x3x Edited October 30, 2023 by Thom216 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted October 28, 2023 Share Posted October 28, 2023 Great stuff Thom The SM79 is a wonderful aircraft so really looking forward to seeing you bring this one to life. Best of luck Cheers Pat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psdavidson Posted October 28, 2023 Share Posted October 28, 2023 I would have followed in the GB, so I'll lurk here instead /P 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvinneko Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 (edited) Cool looking plane. Love the 1930s planes converted to war use. Ju52, Caudron Goeland, Lockheed Electra. This is a new one to me. Edited October 29, 2023 by marvinneko 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 Looking forward to this! Rrgards, Adrian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
campo Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 Great plane, for the colors, the cockpit area was green and the rest of the fuselage was light grey 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted October 29, 2023 Author Share Posted October 29, 2023 Got the 'pit finished up and will post pics this evening. The partition behind the seats didn't seam to want to fit when test-closing the fuselage around it, and since some pics showed almost no partition at all, I pulled it out. As for the color, thanks @campo for the clarification. With it being almost done, I may leave it all gray, or I'll test lightly spraying some clear green over it to see how it looks. Keeping mind how little may show through the glass. We'll see how it goes. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted October 30, 2023 Author Share Posted October 30, 2023 Pics! As said, it's already light gray and since I doubt I'll see much, I've decided to leave it rather than go back to light green in the 'pit. For the seats, looking at pics, the seats come to a rounded point, rather than the one on the left below. The right has been roughly sanded to shape. And painted up with PE. Now starting to put the glass pieces in (while pinging one off and nearly not finding it) and soon after that, I'll put the fuselage halves together. Mode on! Thom 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvinneko Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 (edited) Nice details in the cockpit. Your modded seats look stylish and I like the details... red throttle knobs, seatbelts differing on the two seats, the diff colours on the steering wheel grips and metal parts. Makes it come alive. The Lancaster nose I photographed at the museum had a teddy bear hanging at the radio station. I've read thst other crew put up girlfriends underwear as good luck charms. I could picture that in this cockpit 😛 Edited October 30, 2023 by marvinneko 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted October 30, 2023 Author Share Posted October 30, 2023 @marvinneko Thanks! Again, probably won't see much, but just in case. 😉 As for the belts, I always try to give them a little 'character.' I did a Do335 in 1/48 and saw a pic with the shoulder belts thrown up over the headrest and did that on the build. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaasdebouwer Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 Looking good, I like what you did with the chairs. Seems to fit the PE better also. PE isn't always that easy to give the character you want. The fabric belts are a lot easier for that. But you're managing just fine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 Very nice interior. I like what you did with the Dornier too. Regards, Adrian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted October 31, 2023 Author Share Posted October 31, 2023 More work done on the interior. Next up was the tail wheel. Despite the ins telling to paint all the way up to the springs, only the lower half of the wheel will be visible at the end, so that's all that was painted. I also had to get a drill bit out and punch the top mounting hole straight through. ...as it is closed up on one side. Then after adding a partial partition behind the co-pilot seat, painting the guns and snipping the barrel off of the belly gun to add it back later, the internals were loaded up and the sides mated. After that's dry and the top panels are added, I'll deal with the little seam issue above the cockpit... And around the belly pan. And as she sits now, resting up. More to follow. Model on! Thom 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvinneko Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 Tidy work! Interesting gun placement. So they would open the windows and point the gun out for defence as needed? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Coombs Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 2 hours ago, Thom216 said: I'll deal with the little seam issue above the cockpit... You've just prompted me to take a look at the Sparviero in the stash, and mine doesn't have the short shot. I'm afraid you got a bum deal there. When the fuselage halves are set solid, will you cut the corner to make a straight edge so you can insert a wedge of plastic/plasticard then fair it in with putty? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted October 31, 2023 Author Share Posted October 31, 2023 4 hours ago, marvinneko said: Tidy work! Interesting gun placement. So they would open the windows and point the gun out for defence as needed? From what I can tell, the front gun above the cockpit aims forward from that vertical slot. The gun to the rear of the hump has hatches that open up, which are not in place at the moment. And yeah it looks like the side windows open up to let the middle point out and the bottom just points out the rear of the belly. I just bought some metal barrels from the eBay and with the hatches closed, I'll just slip them in so they are just poking out. 3 hours ago, Steve Coombs said: You've just prompted me to take a look at the Sparviero in the stash, and mine doesn't have the short shot. I'm afraid you got a bum deal there. When the fuselage halves are set solid, will you cut the corner to make a straight edge so you can insert a wedge of plastic/plasticard then fair it in with putty? There's a half ring that still needs to be added, and once that's in place I'll start added some filler putty to start making that all good. Good to hear your model doesn't have the short-shot. Though now, I should check the other Sparviero kit in the stash... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted October 31, 2023 Author Share Posted October 31, 2023 And I think I may have hit a log-jam. To close up the back of the hump, I need a part that is apparently not in this kit. Or the parts that are in it that are supposed to close over that area, A30 and A31, are undersized and only meant to modded in the open position. Looking at the Arfix kit, it looks like that kit does have the option for both. So I'll toss this out there, if anyone has built the Airfix 1/72 kit but did NOT use part 33 (the back half of the hump) I would gladly pay for postage for it. Otherwise I'll be buying the Airfix kit for that piece. Thom 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Coombs Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 Italeri parts 26A, 30A and 31A together equate to part 32 of the Airfix kit (having a look at the instructions on Scalemates, forgive me). You need some kind soul who has Airfix part 33 going spare to complete the hump (and keep your fingers crossed that the fit is reasonable). Can anyone out there oblige? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted October 31, 2023 Author Share Posted October 31, 2023 38 minutes ago, Steve Coombs said: Italeri parts 26A, 30A and 31A together equate to part 32 of the Airfix kit (having a look at the instructions on Scalemates, forgive me). You need some kind soul who has Airfix part 33 going spare to complete the hump (and keep your fingers crossed that the fit is reasonable). Can anyone out there oblige? Too true. But even if the fit is close it would be something to work with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted November 1, 2023 Author Share Posted November 1, 2023 ...or, I can try doing some modelling and fix it on my own. So out came a PE razor saw and hobby knife and I hacked off the effected parts. I'll glue on the fold out doors at the rear of the hump and with the piece off, it should be easier to cut some stryene, back it and fill the area in. If it doesn't work, at least I tried and I'll keep my eyes open for the part a cheap Airfix kit. Model on! Thom 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvinneko Posted November 1, 2023 Share Posted November 1, 2023 Go for it! 🔨🪚 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted November 1, 2023 Author Share Posted November 1, 2023 (edited) I'm doing it! I used thin styrene strips, their ends angled to fit the opening and built them up the sides. For that top opening, I laid down some writable scotch tape and traced it out and then transferred that to more styrene. And all in place. I'll 'paint' that with CA on the inside for strength, and then the outside as well before I starts to sand it out. Model on! Thom Edited November 2, 2023 by Thom216 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvinneko Posted November 2, 2023 Share Posted November 2, 2023 That's awesome. You'll have that fixed up nicely in no time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted November 2, 2023 Share Posted November 2, 2023 Nice save on that, I'd wager your effort looks superior to whatever the missing part would have looked like anyway. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted November 2, 2023 Author Share Posted November 2, 2023 Definitely have to work on the shape of the hump now, as it now has a good flat spot in profile. Need add more styrene!😁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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