**** DONE: 1/48 Fiat G.55S Torpedo Fighter - Mediterranean Theater of Operations

[JKim]

good, nice job tomorrow I approach national postal and sending you

Thanks Sergio! Does the SMER canopy come with a windscreen? I would need both as the Flying Machines kit is one piece (canopy + windscreen) and the crack went right through both. I was unsuccessful trying to glue the kit canopy together with epoxy as the joint wasn't strong enough to hold. With a layer of epoxy in the joint already, each successive attempt at joining the two pieces will get sloppier and sloppier.

 

[le_steph40]

8)

 

[Capt. Vick]

Thanks Alberto!

 

[al49]

I got three books on Fiat G.55 plane so it wasn't too difficult to find a few pictures that could be of some help:

Front view

Two side views of the camouflaged bird

Also a picture showing the correct position of wing fasces too often displayed the wrong way

And last a plan view showing the two colour options according to D'Amico and Valentini book.

Please note that correct position of wing fasces is on above photo, not on the colour artwork, of course.

Hope the above can be of some use.
Alberto

 

[al49]

I also found a nice colour side view with clear indication on how camouflage should be, at least according to the author.

Alberto

 

[JKim]

Thank you so much for the references Alberto! They are useful and very interesting too!

 

[JKim]

Although the last profile posted by Alberto suggests otherwise, most references, including the photos of the actual aircraft indicates the removal of the cowl guns. Which means I should fill in the gun troughs on the kit cowling.

Any suggestions on how to do this? I'd like to preserve the curvature of the cowling as much as possible and avoid flat spots. My initial inclination was to use standard tube putty and just start spackling it into place but thought I'd ask for the small chance that one of you has a brilliant, one-step method that requires no sanding afterwards.

 

[Capt. Vick]

Great stuff! Not used in combat?

 

[al49]

About MG, It's very likely that they were removed in order to save weight and whilst the profile shows them in the caption they say "after removing armament".
My suggestion to fill the cavities is to use Milliput, can be worked very easily until you get the shape you need.
Alberto

 

[rochie]

Nice choice of subject

 

[JKim]

The canopy repair was a failure. The 2nd attempt at gluing the pieces together using epoxy was a messy affair and ended up separating again. So I'm writing that off. I haven't heard back from modelhobbies.co.uk so I have no idea when to expect a replacement canopy to show up, if at all. Luckily I do have other options available. Sergio has been kind enough to send me his SMER canopy but we'll have to evaluate fit when it arrives. I've read that the SMER G.55 kit is actually 1/50 scale, not 1/48 but hopefully it's close enough. And then there is the vacuform option. There is a vacuformed canopy set that has a G.55 canopy (intended for the Classic Airframes kit) available via hobby shop or Ebay. I've read at least one other Flying Machines G.55 build where a broken canopy was replaced with this vacuform piece and it was reported as a good fit.

Despite the canopy woes, work on the Silurante continues. The beautiful resin cockpit was base painted in black and then given a coat of light interior green. The seat and the seat bulkhead was painted in Alclad aluminum.

Dryfitting the cockpit assembly into the fuselage halves led me to an installation order that deviates from the instructions. Instead of gluing one side panel into a fuselage half and adding the seat and cockpit floor to that side, I glued each side panels into each fuselage half. Fit is defined by locating slots and is very positive.

The PE instrument panel is attached to the starboard fuselage half. I replaced the broken gunsight with a spare from the Tamiya P-47D kit.

The cockpit floor will be kept in a separate subassembly until the fuselage halves are joined where it can be installed through the bottom opening. The kit came with tiny pre-painted PE foot straps but I mangled one. Because of my canopy situation, I reasoned that the foot straps will never be visible and elected to leave them off.

The seat was attached to the rear bulkhead and will be kept separately. The kit instructions call for the seat to be mounted to the cockpit floor but the bulkhead to fuselage connection was much more critical (and secure) so the seat/bulkhead subassembly will be added through top opening after the fuselage comes together.

 

[al49]

Brilliant!
Alberto

 

[Wurger]

 

[fubar57]

Very nice detail on the innards.

Geo

 

[Crimea_River]

Shaping up to be another beauty John.

 

[Capt. Vick]

Wow!

 

[chris brown]

That pit is looking sharp. Beautiful resin and a great job painting her up.

 

[Gnomey]

Great work so far!

 

[Wildcat]

The cockpit looks fantastic!

 

[Airframes]

Very nice work so far.
As you've discovered, trying to repair a broken canopy is never successful. Even if a good joint can be made, with 'invisible' adhesive, the break will still be seen, as the edges of each face are visible through the transparent plastic.
A vac-formed canopy, or a 'home made' moulding will work without problems, especially with an open canopy of the sliding or hinged type (i.e. like a Bf109).
Being thin and flexible, obtaining a good fit is not difficult, although the final trimming from the sheet is important, and has to be precise, more so if the canopy is to be fitted in the closed position.