Italeri 1/32 Macchi Mc.202 Folgore

[Thunnus]

Thanks for the comments guys!

 

 

The clear parts have been dipped in Future in preparation of masking.

 

The masks, which are from Eduard, have been applied to the clear parts. Before I glue the windscreen in, I've re-mounted the reflector glass on the San Giorgio gun sight.

 

 

The windscreen is glued into place and I can finally not worry about that reflector glass being knocked off.  The little mirror has been added to the inside of the windscreen.

 

I'm going to deviate from the instructions construction order again and glue the wing tops onto the fuselage first without the wing bottom. This will make it easier to manage to get a good bond on the joint at the wing root.

 

 

 

I let that glue joint cure for 24 hours.  I want it nice and strong before I attach the wing bottoms.

 

Fit was pretty good with the exception of a healthy gap along the front join.  This was bridged with stretched sprue.  Folgores have a very distinct panel line along this line so the joint will be filled but the panel line preserved, which can be trickier than filling the joint completely.

 

With the windscreen secured into place, the canopy is a snug friction fit.

 

Aware of the space between the canopy and rear fairing, I've temporarily covered the canopy interior and the rear part of the cockpit to prevent paint leakage.

 

 

The clear parts are given a coat of black which is the color of the interior of the canopy frames. There is a noticeable step along the front edge of the windscreen.  Unfortunately, the gun cover was glued in prematurely but I was able to pry it loose without damage.

 

Shims of plastic card were added to raise the gun cowling slightly and get rid of that step.

 

The 3D-printed ailerons from Aircraft in Pixels were glued into place using thin CA glue.

 

 

[LSP_Kevin]

Consummate skills, John.

 

Kev

[Thunnus]

Thanks Kevin!  Postimage is acting up so I apologize if the photos aren't showing up. 

 

 

[Troy Molitor]

Wonderful update John.  Loving this one like all the others.   

[scvrobeson]

Great progress John!  You've got a full airframe here.

 

What is the piece of stretched sprue sticking out from the fuselage for? Just a mask to keep paint out of the cockpit?

 

 

Matt 

[Thunnus]

On 3/26/2025 at 2:52 PM, Troy Molitor said:

Wonderful update John.  Loving this one like all the others.   

Thank you Troy!

 

 

 

On 3/26/2025 at 9:38 PM, scvrobeson said:

Great progress John!  You've got a full airframe here.

 

What is the piece of stretched sprue sticking out from the fuselage for? Just a mask to keep paint out of the cockpit?

 

 

Matt 

Thanks Matt!  Ahhh... forgot to mention the stretched sprue.  This is a hole in the starboard fuselage for the venturi tube.  My particular machine, which I will talk about later, has the venturi tube on the bottom so the fuselage hole needed to be filled, which is what the stretched sprue is for.

 

After the shims were added to the gun cover, the cover was glued back into place.

 

Adding a shim creates two seams instead of one so, prior to putting it back on, the joint between the shim and edge of gun cover was  filled with Black CA glue where necessary and sanded down carefully.

 

A quick spray of primer to check the seam work.

 

The wing tip lights come with large tabs at the base which requires them to be sandwiched between the wing tops and bottoms.  They cannot be installed after the fact, which I didn't realize. So the tabs needed to be cut off.  And then I drilled small holes to simulate bulbs and filled the holes with clear green and red paint.

 

Getting closer to the painting stage!

 

The ventral radiator was installed next.

 

A view of the bottom after the radiator is in place.

 

[Thunnus]

Since the tires have flat spots sanded onto them to simulate the weight of the aircraft, wanted to set the flat spots in their correct location while the landing gear covers are still off.  So I temporarily mounted the main landing gear and tail gear, oriented the flat spots correctly and then carefully seeped thin CA glue to lock the wheels into place.

 

The landing gear covers, which have been painted, can now be glued onto the landing gear legs.

 

Another look at all of the painted landing gear components.

 

[Greif8]

Man that undercarriage really pops John!  Superb work as always man!

 

Ernest

[Shoggz]

Just exquisite work John.

[Gazzas]

Nice update, John.  Those LG look great.

[Thunnus]

8 hours ago, Greif8 said:

Man that undercarriage really pops John!  Superb work as always man!

 

Ernest

Thank you! 

 

 

8 hours ago, Shoggz said:

Just exquisite work John.

Thank you Richard!

 

 

5 hours ago, Gazzas said:

Nice update, John.  Those LG look great.

Thanks Gaz! 

 

The landing gear legs by AiP are impressively detailed but a bit delicate.  Gluing the landing gear covers onto the legs makes everything stronger so I tried to do that as soon as possible.

 

 

Thinking ahead to the camo scheme, the one sure thing in my head was that I wanted to do the characteristic "smoke ring" pattern.  There are a lot of choices including five on the kit-supplied decal sheet.  The kit even includes the smoke rings as a decal, which is a nice addition but one that I am not intending to use, as indicated in the paint test that I conducted earlier in the build.


The aircraft that I've zeroed in on is the Series VII Folgore flown by Capitano Furio Niclot Doglio, the commanding officer of 151 Squadriglia 20 Gruppo 51 Stormo.  He claimed six aircraft shot down with an additional two shared with his wingman, Ennio Tarantola. 

Doglio was shot down in his Folgore and killed on July 27, 1942.  Tarantola went on to become a notable Folgore ace himself, his aircraft famously adorned with his nickname, "Dai Banana".

I will be painting the large national insignias and aircraft ID with masks.  The kit decals can be used for the generic data stencils and also the Black Cat and Green Mice emblem of the 51 Stormo.  However, the serial number of this aircraft 9042 is not represented on the decal sheet.  The "4" and "2" are not used by any of the other depicted aircraft on the decal sheet, so I would have to create this on my own.  Thankfully, the serial numbers are relatively large and thick and a custom mask is possible.  This is also a Series VII Folgore and the series number is also depicted on all Folgores.  The closest I could get to VII on the decal sheet was XIII.  The series number is much smaller than the serial number so I don't know if a mask is possible.


I conducted a paint test to see if I could make a mask for the serial number and replicate the aircraft ID number since it has very thin borders.  It is possible but tricky. The "hole" in the number 9 is the smallest dot of mask material that you can imagine.

 

[Dpgsbody55]

Nice work, John.  The undercarriage looks impressive; definitely better than the kit offering.  I like your choice of colour scheme too.  Those masks will be patience testing. 

 

I'm looking forward to seeing this with the smoke rings painted rather than the kit supplied decals.  I'll be following this part closely as I need all the tips I can get as I may well do a smoke ring C-205 later on and I don't like the thought of so many decals over the entirety of a model.  They don't last like paint does.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

PS.  I'm guessing you mean by "pioneering that trail" you mean not making the mess of it that I did .  I'm sure Mario Castoldi is spinning in his grave after seeing my effort .

Edited March 29, 2025 by Dpgsbody55

[zaxos345]

Awesome as always John!!!!! 

[MikeMaben]

Haaay, not bad for a beginner 

 

 

 

 

[JayW]

John - I am just gobsmacked by your progress, your problem solving, and your work that is just perfection.  Oh, and your photography.  It shames me....   I am now caught up.  This is one of the more interesting kits I have seen warts and all.  I also followed Michael's build a while back - his trials and tribulations!   Looks like these Italieri Folgore kits are a labor of love.  But man what a cool looking machine.  The finish line is in sight - carry on.