Civilian aircraft
are not particularly well catered for by mainstream manufacturers. Once in
a while we see some refried beans that have re-incarnated several times
and that used to be mostly it, but lately a few companies are stepping in
and offering an alternative for modelers looking for a fresh approach to
the world of aviation. Although conversions are sometimes available and
cottage industry does produce some nice examples on the field, there are
times when you have to fabricate your own bits. And that’s not that
difficult after all.
Here the 1/72 Italeri S.M. 79 Sparviero minus some bits plus
some other bits.
As customary, the images will tell the story of the building process.
Retrospectively, the method I used to produce the canopy –a vacuformed
“roof” and front flat panels- is something that could be better done
as one whole vacuformed piece in order to facilitate matters.
Click on
images below to see larger images
As references were being consulted (thanks Fabrizio D’Isanto, Fabio
Beato and the guys at Wings of Peace!) it was evident that a number of
details had to be erased from the original kit, like the “hunch”, the
lower fuselage gondola and some of the windows. Props had to be re-worked,
a suitable interior scratch-built, and a few details added.
The main concern was actually the decals,
but, after an attempt on my part that rendered so-so results, fellow
modeler Mika Jernfors
came to the rescue with superb graphics. By that time I had already placed
some of the so-so decals that refused to be removed, so I could use only
partially his excellent images.
If you feel curious about the history of
this S.M.79 version and the airline that operated it you could Google
their names and surely something will come up.
For the base color I used Humbrol 41 Ivory, which seems a good match for the
color used originally. The blue is a custom mix. It is so secret that I hid the
recipe even from myself and now and can’t remember the ingredients, but it
involved mixing potions under the full moon and being helped by Smurfs.
Hey, why not drop for a while the
camouflaged jacket and wear a nice, cool, smart suit?
See you on the sky.
Gabriel
Click on
images below to see larger images
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