Italeri Macchi C.202 Folgore. FINISHED… well almost!

[quang]

29 minutes ago, MikeA said:

Did the fuselage panels overlap on the Macchi?

No, Mike. I guess they’ve got the old Matchbox engraver out of retirement and put him at work on the fuselage.

 

Do the panels overlap on the real thing? I have to check out. 

[Tolga ULGUR]

Looks great

 

[Thunnus]

Thank you for sharing your build with us Quang!  Your cockpit painting is wonderful.  Based on the photos I'm seeing here, I see a mixed bag from Italeri.  Some good and some... not so good.  Disappointed with the lack of refinement on some of the molding (i.e. fabric control surfaces, panel lines).  Especially, the panel lines... easy to make them shallower but tricky to make them narrower. 

[MikeA]

I found a discussion on Britmodeller with some nice close up photos  which answers my question: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235099861-macchi-202-fuselage-dimensions/. Sorry - I'm unable to copy the photos over.

 

The fuselage panels are overlapped by the forward panels at the engine bay but are butt joined down the length of the fuselage. Shame as I was wondering if that would be a nice way of dealing to the Italeri wide panel lines.

 

For all that, it certainly does look to be a nice kit and am looking forward to how it progresses, especially with your painting skills.

 

Mike

[quang]

3 hours ago, Tolga ULGUR said:

Looks great

 

I agree Tolga. It would make a welcome change from the good ol’ Curtiss 

 

2 hours ago, Thunnus said:

Based on the photos I'm seeing here, I see a mixed bag from Italeri.  Some good and some... not so good.

Aren’t they all, John? The trick is to try to enhance whatever you can, forget the rest and be happy with it. 
 

1 hour ago, MikeA said:

I found a discussion on Britmodeller with some nice close up photos  which answers my question: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235099861-macchi-202-fuselage-dimensions/. Sorry - I'm unable to copy the photos over.

 

The fuselage panels are overlapped by the forward panels at the engine bay but are butt joined down the length of the fuselage. Shame as I was wondering if that would be a nice way of dealing to the Italeri wide panel lines.

Quite an useful link you found there Mike, especially the original manual for erecting the fuselage. Thank you for sharing it. 

[Thunnus]

12 minutes ago, quang said:

Aren’t they all, John? The trick is to try to enhance whatever you can, forget the rest and be happy with it. 

 

I've just got the kit in hand so I'll be able to take a closer look.  On immediate glance... I am impressed with the fineness of the Italeri moldings on the majority of the parts.

[MikeMaben]

On 8/13/2023 at 10:40 PM, quang said:

I’m still wondering how the tube was attached to the fuselage. Some drawings show it flush. Others show a gap. 

Hi Q ,  It looks to me to be just a tube attached only at the rear to an intake fairing and at the front by

a tapered fitting (flush with the fuselage) and attached to the fuselage by one fastener.

 

 

ntn

[quang]

Thanks M! I’m coming to the same conclusion as yours. Although I found this clear pic of a factory-fresh series III C.202 built by Macchi. The intake looks longer than on the Aero Detail drawing. The flaring at the opening is also less prominent.

 

Picture for info only

[Borsos]

Thanks for clearing the road for us with this build. I must say I like everything I see. Looks like a nice kit of a simply beautiful original. (I won’t tell what I paid for the PCM kit on eBay some years ago …).

go on with that great work! 
Andreas

[spyrosjzmichos]

Following your project with interest!

The cockpit does look well detailed and you've done a great job painting it! 

[quang]

Thank you @Borsos @spyrosjzmichos. My aim is to build the stock kit to the most of my ability while making it entertaining.
Glad you like it.

Cheers,

Quang

[MDriskill]

15 hours ago, quang said:

Picture for info only

 

Thanks for the excellent build in progress here - the detailed look at the kit, and construction notes, are MUCH appreciated!

 

Interesting details in this superb photo:

+ The small fairing at the front of the exhausts is not painted (seen often - but not always - on early Macchi-built aircraft with the "poached egg" or "Continental" camo).

+ Prominent gap all around the fuselage at the rear of the cowl (typical of all C.202's and 205's)

+ Early straight-oleo tailwheel strut (later a/c had a "knuckle" type which placed the wheel slightly farther to the rear and displaced the aft fairing).

+ Shallow early oil cooler.

+ Early un-armored windscreen.

 

Along with the un-flitered supercharger intake, we would need the last three items to correctly do some of those nifty early schemes on the ASK decal sheets. There are also some minor surface detail items (vents, small hatches, etc.) that need adding, deleting, or moving; well-shown in the "usual suspect" references.

Edited August 17, 2023 by MDriskill

[quang]

1 hour ago, MDriskill said:

Interesting details in this superb photo:

+ The small fairing at the front of the exhausts is not painted (seen often - but not always - on early Macchi-built aircraft with the "poached egg" or "Continental" camo).

+ Prominent gap all around the fuselage at the rear of the cowl (typical of all C.202's and 205's)

+ Early straight-oleo tailwheel strut (later a/c had a "knuckle" type which placed the wheel slightly farther to the rear and displaced the aft fairing).

+ Shallow early oil cooler.

+ Early un-armored windscreen.

I already got most of the details you mentioned but I totally missed the tail-wheel strut. Just in time for I was just about to mount it on and close the fuselage halves.
Thank you very much for the head-ups.

Cheers,

Quang

Edited August 17, 2023 by quang

[Sasha As]

Good job !!!

[Rocat]

Great progress, I'm following.