Trumpeter 1/48 SM 79 Sparviero.

[BarryW]

I must admit that I am rushing through these last 1/48 scale builds, eager to get back to my rebuilt 1/32 stash. The point is that if I don’t finish these off then I won’t ever get back to them and some of the best 1/48 kits are yet to come…

Anyway back to this one. The SM-79 is one of my favourite Italian WW2 aircraft and the only kit of this type in 1/48 is this flawed Trumpeter one.

While I say it’s a flawed kit, it’s accuracy is not good and it is low on detail, it was an enjoyable build out of the box. All I bothered to add to the basic kit were some seatbelts made from tape. (I did not try to replicate those complex chain belts the Italians used!).

A few pics.


















This was my first use of the MRP Italian AF colours and the Italians certainly use a lot of very vibrant colours.

I have left just five kits in my 1/48 WW2 project and will build them in this order.
ICM He111 H-20
HKM B17G
Tamiya G4M1
B26B Invader (not exactly a WW2 version of this aircraft….)
Lancaster Mk1.

After that I will get back to 1/32 scale starting with the ZM Raiden. I am quite excited about getting back to this scale as I have some great kits now stashed. From ZM as well as the Raiden I have the bf109G and Ki45 Toryu. Also the Trumpy P38-L, Hobbyboss B24D, ICM Yak 9 and, of course, the Border Lanc.

It’s my bad but I find that I am not really taking these small scale builds very seriously and I am much more prone to think ‘that’ll do’ or ‘I won’t bother’ with these. That said I will want a decent result from the B17 and Lancaster and I will put these up as full build threads when I get to them.

Incidentally, I won’t be totally finished with 1/48 when I have built these five. I have a small 5 kit ‘tail-pipe’ project in mind with some of the very best 1/48’s money can buy stashed, the Tamiya F14A and F4B, AMK MiG 31, Kinetic Sea Harrier and Airfix new tool Buccanner.

 

[therapy]

Very nice Barry. I've always liked this plane as well and still have an old Airfix one unbuilt that I've had for about 40-odd years. That scheme must have taken a fair bit of patience!

Nick

 

[Ian M]

That is certainly very colourful.

Another you might want to add to the paraffin burners: Kinetics nds tool f16. It should by all accounts be a good un.

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Well that's an impressive gert big slab. I'm still hoping for a 1/32 injection job. Or Airfix do one in 1/24th, lol... Hmm, Tamiya have never done anything Italian

However, time to put my nerd hat on, because those colours look a bit weird to me and my (copious) references and paint stocks.
The yellow could be giallo mimetico (camo yellow) '1', the most pale shade (I put the numbers in quotes as they're post war classifications), the green is a bit too 'green' for the verde mimeticos (camo green), but the brown is okay for bruno mimetico (camo brown). The underside looks close to a RAF 'Sky', rather than grigio mimetico (camo grey). That's all the pre '41 colours
The nose and leading edge look, to me way to dark, even for grigio azzurro scuro (the blue-grey for late seaplanes), and by my references ought to be closer to grigio azzurro chiaro (light grey-blue). 'Soft-edged' too

Going to have to look into this MRP range

 

[Mickc1440]

That's a great looking finish

 

[BarryW]

Well that's an impressive gert big slab. I'm still hoping for a 1/32 injection job. Or Airfix do one in 1/24th, lol... Hmm, Tamiya have never done anything Italian

However, time to put my nerd hat on, because those colours look a bit weird to me and my (copious) references and paint stocks.
The yellow could be giallo mimetico (camo yellow) '1', the most pale shade (I put the numbers in quotes as they're post war classifications), the green is a bit too 'green' for the verde mimeticos (camo green), but the brown is okay for bruno mimetico (camo brown). The underside looks close to a RAF 'Sky', rather than grigio mimetico (camo grey). That's all the pre '41 colours
The nose and leading edge look, to me way to dark, even for grigio azzurro scuro (the blue-grey for late seaplanes), and by my references ought to be closer to grigio azzurro chiaro (light grey-blue). 'Soft-edged' too

Going to have to look into this MRP range

MRP have a large range and the problem I had was working out the right specific colours for this build. To a large extent it was educated guesswork. Any mistakes being mine.

The colours I used are:
MRP 302 Grigio Azzuro Colore 1
MRP 304 Grigio Azzurio Scuro Marino Colore 3
MRP312 Verde Colore 9
MRP313 Bruno Rossini Colore 10
MRP324 Gialio Mimetico 1936. 1916-1942
MRP318 Vernice Per Interni Subalare (cockpit)

There are 32 colours in the Italian range and a lot are very similar.

It would be nice to know how close I got to picking the right ones. I have built very few Italian aircraft so their camp schemes are a mystery to me and this is my first using ‘actual’ Italian colours instead of FS equivalents.

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Ah right. There's the Misterkit paint range I have some of which, I believe, are actually Italian. The Mr Paint range I'm aware of but haven't got any of, and I'm now looking at. These colours look pretty good, onscreen, though a couple seem to have odd names. But then, years ago Squadron Signal put out a pair of Regia Aeronautica books were they kept referring to a mythical colour 'verde bottiglia', 'bottle green', which is actually verde olivia scurro of the post '41 Tavolo 10 colours

There are painting profiles of the 218 sq 'planes out there by Osprey in their aerosiluranti book. Think I've got bw photos too which show how light the fore part grey was

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Back again. IMHO, the colours from the MRP range are closer to:
If you used 324 for the base, 306 might have been better, though there's no colour called 'sabbia' sand in the Regia Aeronautica listings, but the pre '41 colours, the mimetici, are a bit vague. There are at least four different Giallo Mimetici, from four different actual real paints. 324 looks like, to me, giallo mimetico '4', usually used in IMAM 'planes
328 or 329 for the green. 312 verde is really the tricolore green
I assume 304 is the nose / leading edge colour. 301 probably better? There's no grigio mimetico in the range, but 301 looks close, so that's the underside as well

I can see I'm going to have to buy these paints myself, though there are some curiosities to my references in there. Who knows, I might put some more paint on actual plastic!

 

[Jim R]

That's an eyecatcher for sure. Really nice.

 

[Gern]

Beautiful

 

[adt70hk]

Regardless of whether or not the colours are exactly correct, that's turned out beautifully.

Very well done indeed Barry!!

ATB.

Andrew

 

[Valeron]

A very colourful aircraft and very well built and painted Barry

 

[spanner570]

Excellent model. Barry. Very neat and sharp painting.

My favourite aircraft. One thing's for sure, I hope Chris doesn't look at the colours on my Sparviero, cos' I might as well put my foot on the model before he has chance to take a blimp!

Ron

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Excellent model. Barry. Very neat and sharp painting.

My favourite aircraft. One thing's for sure, I hope Chris doesn't look at the colours on my Sparviero, cos' I might as well put my foot on the model before he has chance to take a blimp!

Ron

I never said I didn't LIKE it, lol. Any Italian 'plane is double plus good IMHO. I'm just doing the 'recourse to authority of FAR too much research, FAR too many books, and too many paint ranges that don't fulfil my need' so none of my projects quite get finished... So, only 'constructive' commentating

Here's a case in point of Italian colours; one of my, dual language, Italian books recommends using RLM 70 Schwarzgrun as verde olivia scuro, the main green for post '41 'planes. And photos I have show German aircraft markings overpainted in Italy with a distinctly different shade, though the 'recommends' colour would be the same

All I can, and SHOULD /will say, is what and why the colours used don't match what I 'know'. But then, I'm not Italian either!

 

[Airborne01]

Weird looking bird, exotic plumage, but you've hit this one on the beak! Eeetsa nice a one!
Steve

 

[Ian M]

@Steve-the-Duck I know zip about Regia Aeronautica and the colours they used. I do know that Sovereign Hobbies that overtook White ensign paints do have very accurate colours 98% of the time and are as much as possible matched to original colour chips. they might be of interest to you Chris.

I would also point out that it is maybe a good idea to check that your screen is calibrated correctly before you start to pick at the colours.
Barry I am sure can take it as it was intended. Others may not.

 

[Andy the Sheep]

Barry, a very neat and fine build, as per your standards. Looking forward to your next builds, especially the B17.

I was staggering on the edge of the minefield of the colour discussion: Italian Armed Forces colour during WW2 is a topic which still cause violent blood feuds on Italian modelling forums, hotter than the infamous Dunkelgelb issue.
Anyway, being Italian I feel as someone is poking at my shoulder so I dare to give some suggestions which I deem useful.
First: there's no certainty about that issue : some purist affirms that even some restored aircraft now on display at Vigna di Valle Italian Air Force museum is not correctly painted.
Second: there wasn't a general strict rule and there was large freedom of choice at Squadron level (and even at individual level: never forget we're talking of Italian pilots, thus a very individualist sub-kind of the already very individualist Italian kind) and I cannot rule out that many maintenance and repair units went to local shops or used whatever they found (paints and thinners as well) that could be sprayed or brushed on an aircraft;
Third: the chemical industry in Italy had some difficulties in producing paints due to the peculiar situation caused by international economical sanctions (consequence of the invasion of Abyssinia) and war so F.S. or RAL or PANTONE or any other accepted benchmark in paint production were considered no more than a suggestion. Moreover, low quality paints means bad reactions to sunlight, heath and/or cold.
For those who may be interested, Italeri has a good range of Italian colours as well as LifeColor (set CS19), but they are all acrylics, thus nothing to do with the MRP line used by Barry (with the usual enviable results) .




Andrea

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Hey Andy,
I was about to say, 'Oh blimey, not another range of Italian colours', and then I went, 'no, wait, I've got those.' you're absolutely right about changes due to sunlight, we are talking the Med after all. There's some info that nocciola chiaro, thepost'41 basic 'sand faded to a distinctly pink shade.

I stay away from the Italian model forums as, like the Japanese colour debates, they're bleeping snake-pits. Unlike the much more gentlemanly discussions around here. How about 'the luftwaffe staged through Italy en route to North Africa. Sandgelb is practically identical to nocciola chiaro, so...' Heresy!

Yeah, there's a lot to be said for colour balance in picture reproductions. I would post some of the pics I took in Vigna di Valle, if I hadn't managed to lose the lot on the memory card. Gah! I've got no problem with the 'planes there. But it was a hot day in August

Oh yeah, the number of paint manufacturers, and which ones served which companies is hilariously complicated, hence there being at least four giallo mimitici! Not to mention, 'ooh, the Regia Marina aren't using their paint stocks so we'll borrow some,' is perfectly plausible, so having grigio azzurro scuro (let's call it dark sea grey, because why not), as on this beast rather than the more likely grigio azzurro chiaro (light blue-grey) isn't implausible. Hey if seaplanes used that, and the camo idea for the SM79s was 'horizon blend, sure, why not?

One fun real world example, which came up in the build on here of a 1/32 CR.42, is why the one in Hendon has a silver underside, as described in the intelligence report, when all Italian documentation states all CR.42s should be grey underside? I have a theory...

Anyway, what colour, from Airfix's own rnge would you paint their SM.79

Let me finally say, I'm sure the good manners and tolerance shown around here is we're a bunch of eclectic modellers who appreciate skill, effort, and knowledge. I mean, I've posted RAF silver wings and large manga figures. Or l'm just weird

 

[Andy the Sheep]

Hey Andy,
I was about to say, 'Oh blimey, not another range of Italian colours', and then I went, 'no, wait, I've got those.' you're absolutely right about changes due to sunlight, we are talking the Med after all. There's some info that nocciola chiaro, thepost'41 basic 'sand faded to a distinctly pink shade.

I stay away from the Italian model forums as, like the Japanese colour debates, they're bleeping snake-pits. Unlike the much more gentlemanly discussions around here. How about 'the luftwaffe staged through Italy en route to North Africa. Sandgelb is practically identical to nocciola chiaro, so...' Heresy!

Yeah, there's a lot to be said for colour balance in picture reproductions. I would post some of the pics I took in Vigna di Valle, if I hadn't managed to lose the lot on the memory card. Gah! I've got no problem with the 'planes there. But it was a hot day in August

Oh yeah, the number of paint manufacturers, and which ones served which companies is hilariously complicated, hence there being at least four giallo mimitici! Not to mention, 'ooh, the Regia Marina aren't using their paint stocks so we'll borrow some,' is perfectly plausible, so having grigio azzurro scuro (let's call it dark sea grey, because why not), as on this beast rather than the more likely grigio azzurro chiaro (light blue-grey) isn't implausible. Hey if seaplanes used that, and the camo idea for the SM79s was 'horizon blend, sure, why not?

One fun real world example, which came up in the build on here of a 1/32 CR.42, is why the one in Hendon has a silver underside, as described in the intelligence report, when all Italian documentation states all CR.42s should be grey underside? I have a theory...

Anyway, what colour, from Airfix's own rnge would you paint their SM.79

Let me finally say, I'm sure the good manners and tolerance shown around here is we're a bunch of eclectic modellers who appreciate skill, effort, and knowledge. I mean, I've posted RAF silver wings and large manga figures. Or l'm just weird

Chris, unfortunately my bench is some 5 km away from my computer and I suppose my notes about paints for RA aircrafts are there, but if I'm not wrong, I have some notes only about Humbrol colour.
If you may wait a couple of days, I'll be glad to oblige.

Andrea

 

[Tim Marlow]

………Or l'm just weird………

Stick with weird……I like weird