Italeri 1/32 Macchi Mc.202 Folgore

[Thunnus]

16 hours ago, scvrobeson said:

More awesome progress John! I am wondering if the exhaust stacks are far enough forward? Seems like the first pipe should be much closer to that front fairing, if not tucking under it like it does on other planes? That might solve the issues with the deflector plate.

 

 

Matt 

Thanks Matt!  Sorry if it is not clear but that front exhaust stack is tucked under the shroud and not visible from that perspective. Adjusting the position of one would throw off the spacing of the stack so I don't think I would go that route.  I think I can adjust the shroud to make things fit.  OR use the kit exhausts, which I am assuming do not conflict with the shroud.

 

 

13 hours ago, Rob Owens said:

Yet another Museum Piece in need of a museum. . .

Thank you Rob!

 

 

9 hours ago, Greif8 said:

Continued top quality work John.  It does seem that fit issues tend to "snowball" on some kits much more than others.

 

Ernest

Thanks Ernest!

[scvrobeson]

4 hours ago, Thunnus said:

Thanks Matt!  Sorry if it is not clear but that front exhaust stack is tucked under the shroud and not visible from that perspective. Adjusting the position of one would throw off the spacing of the stack so I don't think I would go that route.  I think I can adjust the shroud to make things fit.  OR use the kit exhausts, which I am assuming do not conflict with the shroud.

 

You were right, I wasn't seeing it with the PE part of the shroud added.  I guess that the AiP exhausts are meant for if you have everything off, you might have to go with the kit ones if they're the best fit.

 

 

 

Matt 

[Dpgsbody55]

Great to see more progress on this, and I'm also feeling a little bit vindicated in that the poor result of the exhausts on mine was not only down to my ineptitude and impatience.  You are not alone in describing some of Italeri's build choices as being "strange".  That would not be my word for it .

 

I ran into the same issue with the brass exhaust shroud as you have done when fitted with the AiP exhausts.  I was "locked in" at that point so I finished up filing out the centre part of the shroud.  It took a bit of filing too and I would not go down this route again.

 

That Quickboost prop and spinner looks great.  I think a better choice than mine too.  Incidentally, I fitted the gun cowl in three pieces and the removable panels needed a little widening with 0.5mm stock strip plastic.  Even if you don't split it, it's still too narrow and is one of the few parts on this kit that doesn't fit well.

 

Keep plugging away, John.  I'm sure your model is going to look tremendous when done.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Thunnus]

Thank you Matt and Michael!

 

The exhaust shrouds are very delicate and I didn't think I'd have much success trying to modify them so I decided to create new ones.  The PE fret was previously scanned for such a possibility and I used the scan to trace a slightly modified set of shrouds in AutoCAD.  I essentially made the cut-out for that front exhaust pipe deeper to accommodate that front exhaust pipe.  The resultant masks were laid out on a sheet of brass and cut out using a sharp x-acto blade.

 

The exhaust pipes were glued into place using PVA glue using an eraser tip to push them into place without damaging the paint.

 

The new exhaust shrouds were then test-fitted.

 

Once I was comfortable with these new pieces, I painted them to reduce the amount of masking I would have to do later.  The painted shrouds were then glued into place using thin CA glue.

 

 

I think that worked out ok.  I'll spend some time cleaning up the joint between the brass shroud and the fairing in front of it but I can essentially move on.

[scvrobeson]

Great fix John! Looks like you found the way to get everything sorted out and together

 

 

 

Matt 

[LSP_Kevin]

Excellent problem-solving, John!

 

Kev

[IainM]

Now that's a good work-around! Well done, looks great!

[Dpgsbody55]

That's very neat solution, John.  Very well done.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Spaced Marine]

@Thunnus, looking back through your builds have made me want to build models again. Your work is great  and I appreciate the care you put into each project. 

[geedubelyer]

11 hours ago, Thunnus said:

I think that worked out ok.

 

The master of understatement 

 

Brilliant work John. 

What I am in awe of is the neatness and precision of your work.

Even in unforgiving macro your work is faultless. 

 

Inspirational 

[Thunnus]

On 3/22/2025 at 11:44 AM, scvrobeson said:

Great fix John! Looks like you found the way to get everything sorted out and together

 

 

 

Matt 

Thanks Matt!  It helps to take things slow and catch things before the glue stage.  Easy to say but difficult to put into practice.  Having previous builds to reference like Michael's helps tremendously.

 

 

On 3/22/2025 at 2:56 PM, LSP_Kevin said:

Excellent problem-solving, John!

 

Kev

Thanks Kevin!

 

 

On 3/22/2025 at 6:32 PM, IainM said:

Now that's a good work-around! Well done, looks great!

Thank you Iain!  I could tell that the adjustment would be minor based on how the original shrouds fit.

 

 

 

On 3/22/2025 at 8:08 PM, Dpgsbody55 said:

That's very neat solution, John.  Very well done.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

Thanks Michael!  Like I said, it really helps to have a reference build to follow so thank you for pioneering that trail for us.

 

 

On 3/22/2025 at 9:32 PM, Spaced Marine said:

@Thunnus, looking back through your builds have made me want to build models again. Your work is great  and I appreciate the care you put into each project. 

Thank you!  Get back to it then!  I re-started model building about 10 years ago after spending decades and decades away from it. 

 

 

On 3/22/2025 at 10:37 PM, geedubelyer said:

 

The master of understatement 

 

Brilliant work John. 

What I am in awe of is the neatness and precision of your work.

Even in unforgiving macro your work is faultless. 

 

Inspirational 

Thank you!  I try to operate under the principle of "if it looks good magnified, it will look good to the naked eye".

 

As I prepare to join the wings to the fuselage, I'm taking care of small bits first.  The aerial attachment points have been sorted out with some minor modifications/replacements to the kit-supplied parts.

 

The wing-mounted pitot tube was similarly upgraded.

 

The painting of the landing gear components has started.

 

The last two 3D-printed part frets from Aircraft-in-Pixels are some external details and the incredibly fine brake lines for the main landing gear.

 

The smallest parts on the external details collection, which are the ring and bead gun sights will be kept on the sprue until they are ready to use. The rest of the parts have been cut off and cleaned up.

 

The brake lines... I've been afraid to try to separate them due to their extreme fine-ness.  If I were a betting man, I would lay money down on at least one breakage.

 

But whaddaya know... got lucky and managed to free all four gossamer pieces without a break. The flexibility of the resin used helps alot.

While still separated, the landing gear components have been painted.

 

After painting, I can start to assemble the landing gear components.  The trickiest is the attachment of the brake lines.

 

At this point, I can temporarily mount the landing gear legs onto the fuselage for this unique look.  It's a bit shaky since the wing spars which house the landing gear mounts are not yet sandwiched into place by the wing tops and bottoms.

 

The collection of painted landing gear components.

 

[Kenneth Joy]

Beautiful work!  Really enjoying your build

[SwissFighters]

One of the things which makes your work so enjoyable for me, John, is your presentation: neat, clean, set up without distractions. The focus is on the model and so it really pops. I don't work like that but really enjoy it.
Thanks for sharing.
Tony
 

[dennismcc]

This is so neat and accurate, and such an enjoyable read, really fine work.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Sasha As]

Beautiful work!