**** DONE: GB-39 1:48 CR. 42 Falco - Battle for France to Battle of Britain

[Crimea_River]

Thanks for the help guys. Anyone know when in the production the aluminum colour (presumably silver dope) was used vs. the grey?

 

[Wurger]

As far as I know the silver ( aluminium ) paint was used from 1933 at least.. The Fiat factory used both the aluminium and grey in 1936-1938 period. In 1939-1941 the grey . The aluminium paint was used for canvas covered surfaces and undersides while the grey for the undersides only.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Wojtek. Now I just need to find out if I can trace s/n MM4462 to a production date.

EDIT 1: One of the references provided by Geo indicates that it was produced in December 1939, so grey it is.

EDIT 2: However, a restored CR42 in Italy displays s/n MM 5643. This one would have been built in 1940 but it displays silver undersides!! So confusing.

 

[Wurger]

It looks like.

 

[Crimea_River]

Not so sure. I crossed posts while editing...

 

[Wurger]

The silver paint was in use for a very long time. Initailly the RA kites were of aluminium at all surfaces. When the grey was started to be used many early assembled planes still retaining the silver on the undersides. What is more from 1935-1941 the colours weren't standarised.

 

[Wurger]

Andy, I have found an interesting pic of Cr.42s. If you look at the shot you may notice that the air intakes under the engine cowling look very shiny what may indicate the silver paint. Also the plane behind the foregound one has the strut of the landing gear also very light contrary to the closest kite. However both planes have the wing struts dark ( although the background plane seems to have them of the same tone the prop blades are ). If these would be of the silver, their tone would be the same the prop blades are at least. If so it might be the foreground plane had the air intake silver only while the background one had the undersides of silver. The visible part of the bottom of the fuselage and the bottom wing tip of her indicates that too.

The pic source: Luigi Gorrini nella battaglia d'Inghilterra

 

[Crimea_River]

Good pic Wojtek, thanks. The restored example in Italy has full silver undersides but the struts are painted grey. I think that would be more likely the case rather than having just the intake silver.

 

[Wurger]

It s very likely. ALso please look at the pic. Please note the struts made darker... undobtedly the undersides are of the grey paint. IMHO the foreground Fiat in the pic above had the struts painted in the same way.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks pal. Would you happen to have a pic of the plane shown in the profile in post 71?

Btw that pic shows a later scheme of green with sand patches. The struts look to be the same.

 

[Wurger]

That' true Anndy. Therefore the grey on the undersides is almost certain. Regarding the struts.. .. undobtedly these are of camo. If you look at the foreground plane and its struts you may notice the two lighter smudges there. Very similar to these above with the camo.

 

[fubar57]

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PM sent Andy

 

[fubar57]

As per the PM, I've been through the rest of my books....nada

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks very much Geo. Really appreciate the effort. The only other thing I have to go on is the chart posted from Stormo in post 24 replicated here:

Assuming the chart to be correct, the Aluminum underside option only appeared with the C1A camouflage scheme. The scheme in the pic your sent me, Geo, looks more like the C1 scheme with the small blotches. So looks like I`m leaning toward the grey and I will now need to decide on the correct shade.

 

[Wurger]

Here his kite before moving to Belgium in 1940.

Here the plane in Belgium in 1940

Here is escorting a Fiat BR 20M in way to England , 1940

And here it is said to be in August 1940..

the pic source: Asisbiz Social App

 

[fubar57]

I agree. Your bird was one of the last ones in the production block that ended Dec. '39

 

[fubar57]

Cross posted with Wojtek, grey should be the bottom colour

 

[Crimea_River]

You've been a great help guys, thanks. Still reading and finding conflicting info. I reread the article on the colours of the aircraft downed in England. Crash reports for two different aircraft with LATER production s/n's say the undersides were silver.

 

[Gnomey]

Great work so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Hugh.

Here are the grey options, depending on which source you believe. It's difficult to fathom why they could be so different. FS36314 and 36293 are fairly close so I've only shown one. 36395 suggested by Italeri for the kit scheme. 36231 from the Stormo website. 36293 from Urban's site as one of 2 Grigio Mimetico options for "Late-war overall camouflage colour" and 36440 again by Urban as "Grigio ?" for "Lower surfaces".

Unless someone can provide new proof to the contrary, I have decided to go with silver undersides as I think there is just as much evidence to support this for my scheme than the use of grey. Besides, I think it will look nicer!