Italeri 1/32 Macchi Mc.202 Folgore

[Thunnus]

Thanks guys!  I'm happy with the way that the fuselage turned out and gives a better idea of how to address the wings.

 

But before I go any further, I want to share the aftermarket stuff that I bought for this build.  I typically don't use everything that I buy but new aftermarket items intrigue me and I like to inspect what's available firsthand before deciding to incorporate something into the build.

 

First up is the Big Ed set from Eduard.  You save a little bit of money when you buy a Big Ed versus each item individually.

 

 

This set comes with four Eduard products.  The canopy masks are a no-brainer... the best masks in the business. I bought this particular set because I wanted an alternative to the kit seat harnesses and Steel series harnesses are included here. I'm up in the air with the brass flap set.  Mostly because of the work involved to fit these types of flaps into the model.  And sometimes the folding process is so intricate that I can't figure it out (i.e. Ta-152H flaps).  The last item is photoetch detail set containing a mix of internal and external upgrades.

 

 

The photoetch detail set also includes a Eduard's version of the instrument panel.  I'm not a big fan of Eduard instrument panels.  They tend to be flat, have that distracting surface texture and always use the same purplish grey for the instrument panel color which doesn't match any paint that I have. And resolution of the dial detail has been surpassed by other companies and technologies.

 

 

Which brings me to the Yahu instrument panel.

 

 

Being photoetch-based like Eduard, the Yahu panels are also flat, lacking the 3D relief that resin or plastic can provide.  But the dial resolution is incredible.  Remember, the Italeri includes a 3D printed decal so I'll have some choices here.

 

 

Next up is a box full of 3D-printed resin parts from a new company, Aircraft in Pixels. Similar to Laminar Flow Designs, which provided the excellent conversion for the Spitfire XIVe build, A-i-P seems to be a one-man shop cranking out specialty parts for mostly WW1 aircraft.  But luckily for us, he likes the Macchi Folgore too.

 

 

I bought a lot but not everything that he offers for the Folgore kit. He bundles most of the stuff I was interested in into an Essentials bundle, which include the spinner, the wheels, the fabric control surfaces and the desert air filter. Of primary interest is the corrected spinner. No prop blades are included so I'm assuming that the kit blades pop into the backplate.

 

 

Per Maurizio Di Terlizi, who authored a very helpful modeler guide to building the Italeri Foglore kit, the kit spinner is incorrect and was based on a largely modified spinner from a Macchi Mc.205 Veltro.  In essence, it is too long and the hole in front of the spinner much too large.  You can see the obvious difference in shape between the kit spinner and A-i-P's version.  To be honest, I'm not sure how correct the A-i-P spinner is either.  Mr. Terlizi gives some measurements in his article so I'll follow up with that.

 

 

Another egregious error that the A-i-P corrects are the fabric-covered control surfaces.

 

 

The kit parts feature a somewhat exaggerated stitching and sagging fabric effect and even worse, they got the number of ribs wrong on both the rudder and horizontal tail planes.  The rudder should have 8 ribs but the kit rudder has 6.  The horizontal tail surfaces should have 8 but the kit has 7.  The A-i-P versions have the correct number of ribs and look better to boot.  How Italeri could make a mistake like that is beyond me.  Really highlights a lack of attention to detail, which you would think be Job #1 at a company that produces scale models.

 

 

The weighted effect of the wheels is much more subtle and realistic than Italeri's attempt. Also got some cool Pirelli logos on the tires!

 

 

The air filter is surprisingly complex, comprised of four separate parts, not including the kit PE mesh grill.

 

 

Although I am not planning to have the engine cowling open, the rear of the engine is visible from the wheel wells, similar to the Focke Wulf Dora.  Any help to spruce up this area is welcome. So I picked up two of the detail sets that may or not help.

 

 

The kit exhausts are hollowed out at the tips so the A-i-P exhausts were not a must.  This was more of a "why not?" purchase.

 

 

The construction order is unusual in that the landing gear legs are supposed to be installed during wing construction.  This may create awkward situations later on and isn't ideal.  The A-i-P landing gear circumvents this issue by separating the landing gear mounts from the legs. The legs are nicely detailed and strengthened by metal rods.  A-i-P even includes an ambitious set of very delicate brake lines, which I'm sure to snap.

 

[scvrobeson]

Yeah, Bo Monroe's stuff is absolutely amazing. He's been doing detail stuff for WW1 planes for a decade or so now, but has really ramped things up with 3D printing in recent years. He's even going back and re-doing some of his old stuff, and it's absolutely beautiful.

 

Looking forward to you adding in the aftermarket bits to boost the build

 

What grit do you use to smooth out the rivets? I don't want to obliterate mine when I do the same step

 

Matt 

Edited July 6, 2024 by scvrobeson

[Thunnus]

Thanks Matt!  Looking forward to incorporating the A-i-P stuff!  I use 400# 3M sandpaper to sand down the rivets.  You actually want a bit of "bite" to quickly remove the raised plastic rather than slowly grinding it down because that tends to clog up the rivets.

 

More riveting progress on the upper wings and forward fuselage panels.

 

[alain11]

I think I will learn a lot by following your thread ... thanks you for sharing your experience ...... I take note 

Alain

[Greif8]

Superb work John!  Scribing lines is without a doubt my weakest modeling skill.  Your work in this area is immpeccable.

 

Ernest

[Dennis7423]

John, you make this process seem so casual, like fueling your vehicle or making a sandwich. I quite enjoy it.

 

- Dennis S.

   Mount Juliet, TN USA

[baffozac]

Hello,

 

Contrary to what is written in the Aero Detail, this small bulge (red arrow) is not characteristic of the last series but appears only on the 202 built by Breda.
So, if you want to make a plane with smoke rings, typical camouflage of planes built by Macchi, there is not this bulge.
Italeri was inspired by the 202 of Vigna di Valle which is not entirely authentic.
The spinner was tinkered and the rear engine cowling (green arrow) is that of a 205.
Aircraft in pixels part is correct. 

Cheers

Alain

 

 

 

 

[Daniel Iscold]

Amazing build!!!

[Azgaron]

Excellent work so far! Looks very nice!

 

Håkan

 

[Dusan]

Very nice and clean... 

[alaninaustria]

Wow, a complete masters class!

Cheers

Alan

[Thunnus]

Thanks guys!  Appreciate the comments and the info about the extra bump on the engine cowling, which I'll remove.  But for now, this build is paused.  I was mainly curious about re-scribing the fuselage panel lines and now that's done, I'm going to box it up and save this build for later.  I promise to return!

[dennismcc]

Great to see a master build of this kit as I am partial to Italian subjects and have the same kit lurking in the stash, hopefully the "pause" will not be too long.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[amurray]

"To avoid unnecessary waste, I like to cut the Dymo tape in half, longitudinally.  I purposefully cut it messy so I can easily distinguish the straight side."

 

GREAT tip!  

[Thunnus]

Thanks for comments guys!  With the Tomcat build nearing the end and no word on the clear canopy replacement from Tamiya for the Spitfire XIVe conversion, I'm probably going to get back to this Folgore build at some point this year.  One of the things I have been contemplating is how to do the smoke ring camo.  Nothing against the supplied decals, which I've seen gives a very nice result, but I'd like to put a more personal touch on the painting.  So I came up with an idea and wanted to test it.

 

The idea is this: scan the smoke ring decal sheet that Italeri supplies and use the scan to produce adhesive masks for the rings.  The decal sheet is quite extensive and digitizing the irregular line patterns in AutoCAD is quite onerous.  It's do-able but it'll take time.  And adhesive masks produce very hard edges, which is not what I want for the smoke rings.  So I'm going to use the masks to produce outlines of the smoke rings that I can fill in with the airbrush.

 

I've produced a mask set with a limited number of ring patterns and applied them on to my paint mule.  Directly on the unpainted plastic since the green will come after.

 

 

I then sprayed Mr Hobby Aqueous H-310 US Brown FS30219, which is my leading candidate for the Nocciola Chiaro 4.

 

 

After the masks are removed, I have the smoke ring shapes outlined, which I can carefully fill in with the green color.  This will be much easier than trying to paint these patterns freehand.  At this stage, I should've lightly sanded or Micromeshed all of the smoke rings to get rid of any raised edges of paint but I didn't notice these until I started spraying the green.

 

 

I used Mr Hobby Aqueous H-64 Dark Green RLM 71 for the green. 

 

 

This test was given a pastel wash and flat coat to better gauge the results.

 

 

I think this is going to work well, as long as I deal with the paint edges after the brown is sprayed.