A Taste of Italy; Airfix 1/72 Fiat G-50

 

 

       One if Italy's first entries in the "fully modern fighter" category the Fiat G-50 (like it's contemporary, the Bf-109) served throughout the Second World War, albeit less successfully. Like many of those fighters it was constrained by under-powered engines and old-fashioned ideas about armament. The Fiat served in the Italian Air Forces as well as those of Finland, Spain and Croatia, some even soldiered on in the Yugoslav Air Force after the war ended. In Finnish service it attained the stunning kill ratio of 33/1. Of course there is a Wikipedia article on this aircraft

       This is one of Airfix's older kits first issued in 1967. Despite its antiquity it is a rather good kit, assembly is straightforward and quality is good with only minor areas of flash and mold-lines that are easily cleaned up. Mine was in one of many re-boxes of this model (originally it was issued in the plastic bag and header format). According to Scalemates it was still in production in 2022.

 

the model was in excellent condition 

as one would expect from a box still in the shrink-wrap

 

 

a decent-looking pilot figure is always a welcome addiction

 

the only area of difficulty in assembly was where the wing and fuselage meet

clamping solved most of this issue

 

 

and a tiny bit of filler

 

the underside had some unevenness that was easily solved with putty

 

 

while the putty was drying I gave Antonio a coat of paint

then I shot the model with Testors Modern Sand

 which I spotted over with Americana Medium Hauser Green 

then painted the underside with Americana Sky Blue

 

 

he seemed happy with his aircraft

once that was dry I applied a coat of acrylic floor polish to give the decals a glossy base

 

the decals were excellent aside from the white being a bit translucent 

another coat of gloss helped the decals blend in followed by a coat of Vallejo Matte Varnish 

 

it was a good looking aircraft

 

and the kit does a good job of capturing those sleek lines

 

then we switch to the magical color-changing background and the colors become much cooler

in person the  colors are about halfway between what you see in the photos

       This is a neat little model which is only slightly younger than I am. Honestly it has held up better than I have! A great addition to your Italian Air Force. It served on every front, even participating in the Battle of Britain.