**** DONE: GB-63 1/48 Macchi C.202 "Folgore" - Stormy Weather

[Crimea_River]

Username: Crimea River
First name: Andy
Category: Judge – Non-competing
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Haseawa
Model Type: Macchi C.202
Aftermarket addons: Brassin Wheel Wells, Brassin Exhausts, STORMO Decals

Well, it's August 1 and Stormy Weather is here. I wanted to do another Italian subject with an interesting camo scheme so chose the old 1/48 Hasegawa C.202 Folgore ("Thunderbotl") kit for this project.

I've always liked the sleek lines of this family of aircraft so getting one for my collection was not a hard decision. The kit is the only one I know of for this subject in 1/48 and suffers a few issues that I will fix with aftermarket parts which are on their way to me as we speak. The kit's exhaust stubs are a joke and the wheel wells, which enable a full view of the back of the engine, could do with some upgrades so I got the resin replacements for these areas. Cockpit PE upgrades were out of stock so I didn't get those - I'll likely pose the model with a closed canopy anyway.

The kit features two schemes, one of which carries the dreaded "smoke ring" camouflage. I'm up for the challenge to give these a go with my airbrush, however the kit decals for this scheme are not the correct colour so I'll have to come up with a fix. Here's the scheme I'll be attempting (photo screen grab from Britmodeller site):

The aircraft is serial number MM9083 and was flown by Maggiore Andrea Favini, CO of 153 Gruppo in September 1942. Some photos exist that would confirm the black lettering and blue boundary on the squadron patch as opposed to Hasegawa's choice of red for both but I'll worry about fixing those when I get there.

EDIT: The chosen scheme has changed (see post 12 below) and aftermarket decals were added to the list in the intro above

 

[Wurger]

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Great choice Andy and a brave subject with all those smoke rings.

 

[Jock Tamson]

Nice I like the Italian WW2 stuff. Don't see them build up too often.

 

[Ghosts of War]

Thought you might be interested in a couple of aircraft from the Italian Air Force Museum in Vigne di Valle. Top is C.202 MM 9667, bottom is C.205V MM 9546

 

[Ralph Haus]

Love it! Someday I'll find one I can afford. The smoke rings. I would assume these were not applied based on any official 'pattern' as say the Luftwaffe or British standards, and if so then applying them as you go will take some pressure off. Or are you really going to replicate the pattern that is on MM9083? Interesting, the wrap around camo colors on the wing leading edges!

 

[Crimea_River]

Ghosts of War hanks for the pics.

Love it! Someday I'll find one I can afford. The smoke rings. I would assume these were not applied based on any official 'pattern' as say the Luftwaffe or British standards, and if so then applying them as you go will take some pressure off. Or are you really going to replicate the pattern that is on MM9083? Interesting, the wrap around camo colors on the wing leading edges!

The pattern was random. I have good reference pics and will try to emulate the pattern within reason. Probably lay it out with light pencil lines first then follow up with the brush. Might do it before the wings are assembled to the fuselage too so I can get in to the tight areas.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Good thinking Batman and good luck!

 

[Wayne Little]

Good luck Andy....

 

[Crimea_River]

This being a subject that I'm not very familiar with, I am continuing to spend some time learning about it. While scouring through the STORMO site, I decided to open my wallet again and buy their Battle of Malta Italian Aces set:

I ordered the decals late last night and I was staggered to find then delivered to my doorstep this morning! I found out that Vince, the site editor, lives just across town from me and so he delivered them in person. Great service!

As I mentioned earlier, the Hasegawa decals are wrong and the more I thought about how I would fix them, the more I became convinced that this would be very difficult, so the new set will give me many more options.

I'll now take a look at the STORMO offerings and report back on what I decide. I'm also still waiting on my resin parts to arrive but have discovered that there was a later mod that added dust covers in the wheel wells that would have hidden all the engine bits. However, there seem to be some questions as to whether or not the covers were always carried in the field. Given that I will have the engine plug detail set, I'll probably go with the open wheel wells anyway.

 

[N4521U]

Will be good to see one get finished.
I have an old GB unfinished, sitting onna shelf waiting for clouds............ never gonna happen.

 

[Crimea_River]

So having now gone through the Stormo decal options, I decided to keep to the unique smoke ring camo and will go with scheme III in the above pic. This is MM.9066, a series VII C.202 flown by Ennio Tarantola of 151 Squadron, 20 Gruppo, 51 Stormo at Gela, Sicily in September, 1942. Tarantola's personal marking "Dai Banana!" (Go Banana) livens up the scheme, as do his colourful personal markings on the tail. Several photos exist of this bird and I've directly linked them here:

A few words on Tarantola, copied from here:

One of the top scorers in the C.202 was Ennio Tarantola. As a youngster, he sold fruit from a pushcart in the Piazza Cavour, earning him the nickname "Banana." He dreamed of flying and earned his license to fly at 17 after training in gliders before joining the Regia Aeronautica.

With a whopping 110 hours under his belt, Tarantola was sent to Spain to fly the CR.42 with the Condor Legion, where he achieved his first victory over a Republican I-15. After Italy joined the war, the promising pilot was selected to train on the Ju 87. On June 29, 1941, he scored a hit on destroyer HMAS Waterhen, which had to be taken under tow. The next day, his unit finished off Waterhen, but Tarantola was himself shot down and ended up in his dinghy for 18 hours. After his rescue, Tarantola decided that eight months in the Stuka was enough and he requested a transfer back to fighters.

On Nov, 4, 1941, he was assigned to the Fiat G.50-equipped 151 Squadriglia, 20 Gruppo, based in Tripoli, and a month and a day later scored his second victory, an RAF P-40 Warhawk. Later that month 20th Gruppo withdrew to Italy to re-equip with the new Macchi C.202, and they were back in combat flying from Sicily during the massive effort to knock out the island fortress of Malta. On July 1 and 4, Tarantola shot down Spitfires, and became an ace by sharing Spitfire kills with Sqaudriglia commander Capitano Furio Nicolot Doglio, The pair downed another Spitfire on July 25, but two days later Doglio was killed in combat by Canadian ace George "Buzz" Beurling, Tarantola was wounded in the same battle.

On Oct. 11, Tarantola claimed yet another Spitfire, but three days later he survived another close call when he was forced to bail out near Sicily, again being fished from the sea by a search-and-rescue flying boat. 20 Gruppo was withdrawn for rest in December and did not return to combat until May, when it moved to Sardinia. Flying from the island, Tarantola scored victories on June 28 against a P-40 and a P-38 on July 30. On August 2, the war came to Sardinia and Tarantola flew five missions against raiding American fighters that day, claiming two 14th​ FG P-38s and damaging an OA-10 Catalina.

After Italy surrendered, Tarantola joined the ARN and flew against allied bombers. On April 24, 1944, he was flying a Fiat G.55 against a B-24 formation over Turin when he was jumped by P-47s, which shot his plane up and forced an injured Tarantola to bail out. He burned on the legs so badly he did not fly for the rest of the war. Tarantola joined the new Italian Air Force as an instructor and then as a demonstration pilot, retiring in November 1960. Marshal Ennio Tarantola passed away in 2001 at the age of 86.

So, here's how things look right now - the Brassin resin details arrived yesterday and not a single piece of plastic has been cut from the sprue as yet:

The wheel well detail set looks stunning and I'll post more detailed pics when I get to that stage. The new exhausts will be a big improvement over the pathetic kit parts.

Hope to get a jump on this tomorrow after a bit more research.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Brilliant Andy, I do like your choice.

 

[rochie]

Like this one Andy

 

[fubar57]

Outstanding choice Andy and you can't go wrong, as far as I know with the STORMO. site. Massimo was kind enough to help me on my 205 build.

Great choice Andy and a brave subject with all those smoke rings.

Cheated with mine Vic. Italeri included smoke rings on the decal sheet and if you look closely at them, they look like they were sprayed on. Mike Grant does smoke ring decals as well but are rare to find

 

[T Bolt]

Good one Andy

 

[Kalakan]

As always my dear friend Crimea, its a very nice project.

The force is strong with you.

 

[Jock Tamson]

Great detail on your chosen subject Andy. That always enriches the build process. Looking forward to watching

 

[Crimea_River]

A small start has been made with a few of the cockpit bits assembled, enough to allow painting to start.

In the above pic, the seat is just posed in position with no glue. I'm probably going to thin the walls a bit before adding the back cushion and straps, which I'll need to scratch build, before painting it aluminum.

MM9066 was a series VII aircraft produced at Aeromacchi as part of a 100 unit block from MM9023 to MM9122 between April and July 1942. According to the Stormo site, a 1941 directive "that took full effect in 1942" stipulated that cockpits and other interiors were to be painted in Griggio Azzuro Chiaro 1 (the same colour as the underside) over the usual grey/green primer. The timeframe is fuzzy but I would estimate that my subject would have been built in May or June of 1942 so the question becomes whether or not my machine got the grey paint. I think, in the absence of hard proof, I'm going to go with the grey given that we are well into 1942 when my bird was built.

I'm drooling a bit over the Brassin wheel bay detail set seen here:

These parts will form a model in themselves and I look forward to spending some quality time on this area.

Well it's not much but its a start. I'll be back when there's something worth while to show you. In the meantime, thanks for the looks and likes.