Macchi C 205 V - Veltro

[al49]

Hi everybody,
here following you will find a few pictures of my Macchi 205 obtained from the Pacific Coast kit in 1:32.
Born as a temporary solution the MC 205 was the best Italian fighter produced in reasonable numbers.
When I say "reasonable numbers" I mean aprox 250 units, nothing in comparison with over 33,000 Me 109, over 20,000 Spitfire and FW 190, over 12,000 P51 and P 47, over 11,000 Zeros etc.
It was the result of the installation of a German DB 605 engine (or the licensed version produced by Fiat) into the Macchi C 202 airframe.
Camouflage with "smoke rings" is typical of 1943.

Insignia and markings are those of Sergente Ferruccio Serafini, belonging to 378a Squadriglia, 155o Gruppo Autonomo of Regia Aeronautica based in Capoterra, Sardinia in July 1943.
Alberto

 

[Airframes]

Beautiful work Alberto, very well done. But what happened to the canopy, it looks a bit cloudy?

 

[otftch]

Nice job.
Ed

 

[al49]

Beautiful work Alberto, very well done. But what happened to the canopy, it looks a bit cloudy?

Yes, you got it!
In facts these picture have been taken just after I sprayed acrylic matt varnish all over the model without realizing that this would have covered canopy as well!
After that I stripped off all canopy parts, cleaned and repainted: i will post a new photo as soon as I will have it.
BR
Alberto

 

[javlin]

Very Nice Al I have a few of the PCM kits in my stash.I love the areial turnbuckle on the tail how did that come about.Cheers Kevin

 

[Wurger]

With all here.

 

[Lucky13]

Awesome work Alberto!

 

[al49]

Yes, you got it!
In facts these picture have been taken just after I sprayed acrylic matt varnish all over the model without realizing that this would have covered canopy as well!
After that I stripped off all canopy parts, cleaned and repainted: i will post a new photo as soon as I will have it.
BR
Alberto

Hi,
here I'm.
It's not as perfect as I would like, but is much better...

BR
Alberto

 

[Airframes]

Ah! I thought it might be varnish. Glad you saved it though. If you give it a polish with car body colour restorer, and then a coat of Johnon's Klear/Future, it should sparkle like new.

 

[Heinz]

Looks fantastic!

 

[vikingBerserker]

Oustanding!

 

[Wayne Little]

Very Nice!!

 

[Gnomey]

Good job!

 

[Matt308]

Well done. Love the 205!

 

[MarkElder]

Just joined and saw your Mc205, great job! I have the same kit (love those 1/32 kits!) and would like input on your build. Any big hurdles in build or gross innaccuracies? Thanks!

 

[al49]

Hi,
first I must say that when I did this model, the C 205V wasn't available at the shop next to me, so I purchsed the PCM kit for Macchi C 202.
Then, when I opened the box, I saw that some items for the 205 were already included, so I decided to build the 205. To do this I had to make a resin copy of the oil radiator and scratch build the lower part of the cowling.
The above to say that I don't personally know what's really in the box you have.
What I know is that PCM worked with the support of Maurizio Di Terlizzi, one of the best modeller I know about and also author of some books on Italian WW2 aircraft.
So, if you intend to build the kit just "out of the box", the kit should be OK and you should only need to put some putty here and there, as usually happen on low run kits.
Instead, if you want to build something more personalized, first I suggest to look at this link:
Macchi C.205 Veltro by Maurizio Di Terlizzi (Pacific Coast Models 1/32)
Additionally, I recommend to purchase these two books:
Aviolibri book n.1: Macchi C 205 Veltro, written da Maurizio Di Terlizzi and
Ali d'Italia n. 27: Aermacchi C 205
both have Italian/English text and should be available from PCM.
There is also a "walk-around" done on a machine preserved in Italy, I will find-out the link and let you know.
Cheers
Alberto

 

[al49]

Hi again,
I'm sorry but I cannot find any more the link for the walk-around. In any case I have several detail pictures taken from several places, if you need them, pls send me a PM.

Instead, if you fully knowledgeable of WW2 Italian aeroplanes camouflage and colours ignore the following, otherwise, if you aren't, I give you some tips.

The Veltro sported basically three different livery:
Camouflage Green (prototypes) and smoke rings with Regia Aeronautica until September 1943 armistice, then smoke rings again and round three-colour roundels with co-belligerent aviation and German RLM 74/75/76 combination with ANR (Aviazione Aeronautica Repubblicana)
For more detailed info, I recommend this book:

On that book you will find also all correspondence between FS colour numbers an WW2 Italian paints.
For my Italian models I used Misterkit product that you can probably purchase locally or directly from them.
MisterKit
About painting smoke rings, I know two methods: by free hand, if you are very good with the airbrush or using a mask.
I hope the above will be of some help for you and/or any other interested in Italian WW2 aircraft models.
Alberto

 

[kgambit]

About painting smoke rings, I know two methods: by free hand, if you are very good with the airbrush or using a mask.

Or Mike Grant's decals.

 

[al49]

Or Mike Grant's decals.

Yes, I know about these decals.
In fact, I asked Mike for a quote in November 2008 and the price was USD 35 including shipping, so I opted for the mask that I did myself in this way:
I scanned the 1:48 picture from Ali d'Italia book, I divided the image it into parts: left wing, right wing, fuselage etc. and I printed at 150% on adesive paper.
Then with a lot of patience, I cut all the smoke ring profiles, like in this example:

After that I positioned the mask to the already painted hazelnut colour.
Next I sprayed the dark green colour in several very tin layers.
Of course the adhesive paper should be of the low sticking quality, otherwise it will damage the previous paint.
Also you will need to touch up here and there with a little brush where the different masks overlap.
Cheers
Alberto

 

[kgambit]

Yes, I know about these decals.
In fact, I asked Mike for a quote in November 2008 and the price was USD 35 including shipping, so I opted for the mask that I did myself in this way:
I scanned the 1:48 picture from Ali d'Italia book, I divided the image it into parts: left wing, right wing, fuselage etc. and I printed at 150% on adesive paper.
Then with a lot of patience, I cut all the smoke ring profiles, like in this example:

After that I positioned the mask to the already painted hazelnut colour.
Next I sprayed the dark green colour in several very tin layers.
Of course the adhesive paper should be of the low sticking quality, otherwise it will damage the previous paint.
Also you will need to touch up here and there with a little brush where the different masks overlap.
Cheers
Alberto

Nicely done. I've used a similiar approach for mottling but without the adhesive backing on the mask - I just use Blue Tac which works very well.

Mike wanted to charge you 35$ ? Oh wait, that's a custom order as he doesn't normally stock the 1:32 scale decals - just 1:72 and 1:48.