|
Flying Machines 1/48 Fiat G.50 Serie II Freccia (Arrow) by Jean Barby 
|
|
|
|
Click the STORMO! Eagle to return to the Gallery |
|
I suppose that most of the people surfing Stormo have a certain knowledge of this atypical fighter of the Regia Aeronautica.
Even with lesser performance than its Italian stable mates, it was a "first" in many regards, including retractable undercarriage,
enclosed canopy (on the Serie I). Flying Machines provides the modeler with a new range of G.50, advantageously replacing the not so good
Hasegawa/Secter kit. It includes typical short-run molding, plus great resin parts and photoetch for the long neglected Italian seat belts.
I invite you to follow the step by step the assembly of this model with photos to illustrate what I did to obtain a better replica than one
built from out-of-the-box. Unit History: 354a, 355a Squadriglie, 21o Gruppo CT, 51o Stormo 356 Sq became Autonomo on 3 June 1940, but rejoined the Gruppo on 4 August. On 13 June CR.32s were detached to Guidonia as a night-fighter section. The Gruppo transferred from 51o to 52o Stormo on 11 September. 354a and 355a Sq became Autonomo and moved to the Greek-Albanian front on 28 October. Three CR.32qtr night-fighters were assigned to 356a Sq on 7 November, to add to its G.50s. December, however, the unit was training on seventeen new MC 200s, as well as a few G.50s. 382a and 386a Sq now joined 356 Sq. In April they moved to Bari for operations in Yugoslav campaign. They may have been on convoy escort duties between Tunisia Sardinia in August. While preparing for anti-partisan operations they received orders to transfer for the Russian front. Between March and July 1942 the unit personnel moved to Stalino, replacing 22o Gruppo as the fighter component of the USSR Expeditionary Force. It received that unit's surviving aircraft in addition to ten new C.200s it had brought with it. In early June 361a Sq arrived from the Aegean. On 27 June two squadriglie were detached to Borvenkovo to cover the crossing of the river Don at Izyum, carrying out fighter sweeps and ground strafing. Using Voroscilovgrad as main base, squadriglie were detached where needed most. Two went to Tazinskaja as esorts to German Ju.87D from 24 July and two then went Obliskaja four days later. In August two were on intercept duties at Millerovo a one was at Kantamirovka until 18 December, when it moved to Starobelsk. It was on 12 December that Tenente Walter Benedetti led seven C.200s of 361a Sq from Kantamirovka to attack Russian troops attempting to surround units of the Italian 8th Army, which were defending the approach to Stalingrad. It seems that the officer was downed by anti-aircraft fire. Reunited back at Voroscilovgrad by the end of December, the last operation was carried out on 17 January 1943 over the Millerovo area. Five days later the unit retired to Stalino, ready for the return journey home. Fifteen unserviceable aircraft were left behind. During September it had received twelve C.202s, and later two photo-recon versions arrived. Bad weather hindered operations and the C.202s only managed 17 sorties with no losses or claims. The C.200s claimed 88 USSR planes for the loss of the fifteen write-offs. In February, at Odessa, the unit had twenty-four C.200s and nine C.202s left. Fully equipping with C.202 Serie VIII machines on returning home, the unti was sent to Sicily after two months in training. 382a Sq left the Gruppo at this time. By August the Gruppo was back in Italy with a few serviceable aircraft left.[2] References [1] Waldis P., M. de Bortoli and A. Brioschi, "Ali e Colori 3, Fiat G.50", La Bancarella Aeronautica, Torino 2000 [2] Dunning, C., "Courage Alone: Italian Airforce 1940-43", Hikoki Publications, 2009
|
The Interior Cockpit What is provided in the kit is very much all right if you leave the side doors closed. In our case the doors will be open. I have made good use of some left over parts from Italian Classic G.50 I built some years ago. Most of the pneumatic bottles are from the spare box or are made from scratch; the trim wheel should not be attached to the left side console but should stand along the side of the seat. I could have painted all this Griggio Azzuro Chiaro 1, but because it was an early bird I did use the classical Verde Anti Corrosione. A wash of raw umber diluted with turpentine gave some depth of field to the details. I strongly suggest to glue the G.50 tail to each half fuselage half before assembling; it'll save you a lot of sweat! 
The Engine An exquisite piece of resin allows you to duplicate the Fiat A74 engine. Oil lines and pushrods are respectivly electric wires and plastic rods. I painted the gear box in neutral grey before assembling the cylinders, those were also treated that way before cutting them from the sprue.
You have to adjust the resin wheel bay to the wings and take great care of the join. A lot of cyano and putty were used for that. I decided to lower the wing flaps. After removing the kit parts I did a lot of sanding and cutting with an X-acto blade to the wing edges, in order to make them as thin as possible. The flaps themselves come from the Italian Classic set but are designed for the Hasegawa kit, and are too short. Some plastic card and a ruler is all that you need for this operation. The tail was also glued into place and sanded smooth. Trouble! The cowling is one piece of resin, pretty delicate and beautifully cast. The first problem was with the engine. It fits OK to the cowling but the part to be fixed on the fuselage is too short. In turn the propeller will be in contact with the cowling when put in place. I overcame this by placing the engine in the right position, then, using small squares of plastic, fixed it forever inside the cowling. That was the first step. The second problem is with the sit of the cowling/engine ensemble. When put in place as the instructions suggest, it sits too far back, hiding the side louvres of the fuselage when those louvres should be plenty visible. The solution is to build a "lip" with plasticard and epoxy putty to give support to the cowling. Proceed with this method and patience! The result speaks for itself! 
Before starting the painting process, I must write some explanations. Those planes from the 354 Squadriglia arrived in Tirana during the Albanian campaign with the typical three tone camo from Fiat. Giallo Mimetico 3 with Verde mimetico 2 and Marrone Mimetico, and Griggio Mimetico undersides. In the field however and to blend into the surrounding mountainuous environment, these planes were overpainted with a random spray of green. And this is exactly what I did. During this exercise I ran into a lot of trouble with my airbrushes and I felt sometimes like throwing the "Freccia" against the wall for a last flight! After a full night of sleep I went back in a better mood and I am quite satisfied with the result. 
The final pictures were taken outside with heavy storm clouds beginning to form. Mud was simulated with MIG pigments and turpentine using the pictures of the old immagini book as a reference. No upper wings fasces on the 354 Sq. planes! Final details were added after weathering and they concern the propeller and hub (scratch), the flaps, actuators (plasticard), pitot tubes and navigation lights (copper tube cut to length, a thin transparent sprue is glued inside, then a lighter brought to contact, and there you are!) Exhausts were drilled in plastic tubes of the right diameter and painted rust. The Breda Safat are from Karaya Cal50 tubes, with copper wire for the muzzle.
|
Aircraft: Fiat G.50 Manufacturer: Fiat S.A. Type: Fighter Year: 1939 Engine: Fiat A.74 RC 38, 14-cyclinder radial, air-cooled, 870hp Wingspan: 36 ft (10.98 m) Length: 25 ft 7 in (7.80 m) Height: 9 ft 8 1/2 in (2.95 m) Weight: 5,280 lb (2,395 kg) (Loaded) Maximum Speed: 294 mph (473 km/h) at 19,685 ft (6,000 m) Ceiling: 35,200 ft (10,700 m) Range: 420 miles (675 km) Armament: 2 x 12.7mm (0.5 in) SAFAT machine guns Crew: 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
January, 2008 STORMO! © 2008 |
