Fiat BR-20 box art 9-5

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Fiat BR-20 box art 9-5

Post by Spruester » Thu Mar 28, 2024 1:15 pm

Hello I was directed to this very nice forum. I'm searching for a photo of a Fiat BR-20 9-5 9th Squadron, 25th Group the plane on the box art of the Special hobby kit in this article. Any information is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

https://www.hyperscale.com/2010/reviews ... in%20areas.

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Re: Fiat BR-20 box art 9-5

Post by Editor » Thu Mar 28, 2024 4:43 pm

Welcome to Stormo and thank you for your post.

There are two photos (below) of this plane with and without the white band and both with the Savoy cross. The first photo (ADI #23) without the white band was taken sometime between the start of the war and before the end of 1940. The second photo (Courage Alone) was taken February 1941 (Courage Alone says June 1940, but this is incorrect since the white band was not in effect at this time and the plane would have been carrying the tri-colors on the rudders). ADI #23 also provides a profile of this plane (below 3rd image) in the late-Serie Mimetica colors. I also posted the ADI #23 profile of 23-21 (4th image) of the Aviazione Legionaria in Spain in the early-Serie Mimetica colors.









The first thing to note in the first photo caption is MM.21247. This plane was a Serie III machine and was built between May 1937 - January 1938 so it probably looked like 23-21 above (w/ early-Serie Mimetica colors; field applied to the first three a/c in Spain):

Giallo Mimetico 1, Verde Mimetico 1 and Marrone Mimetico 1

The Special Hobby instructions say: Giallo Mimetico 2, Verde Oliva Scuro 2 and Marrone Mimetico 2. The obvious problem here is that Verde Oliva Scuro 2 didn't appear in official communications until mid-1941 and wasn't seen/documented on RA planes until the end of 1941 because existing paint supplies had to be exhausted before the Tavola X colors could be used. On later aircraft (e.g., G.50, CR.42) FIAT began using Giallo Mimetico 3, Verde Mimetico 3 and Marrone Mimetico 2, the late-Serie Mimetica (darker) colors around 1940 so I'm not sure where Special Hobby got their color suggestions from other than the colors were guessed at?

Also there are no known instances where paints were mixed (Serie Mimetica + Tavola X) and obviously VOS2 didn't exist when the plane was manufactured and still didn't appear when the photo with the white band was taken. btw the Classic Airframes kit also has the same color problems wrt GAC1 (at least this color) - I didn't check any of the Classic Airframes profiles in the review because I don't have the instructions for this kit. Another thing to note is the serial number "MM.2124" given in the instructions, obviously incorrect but also repeated for subject C – missing the last digit clearly, possibly on both since the Serie III batch spanned MM.21241-21288 with MM.21241 & 21242 = BR.20A.

I should point out that by autumn 1940 the BR.20 was phased out from frontline service, replaced by the BR.20M. Some BR.20s were overhauled and brought to BR.20M standard (where the late Serie Mimetica colors may have been introduced, although the second photo of 9-5 still shows a BR.20) while the others were used in secondary roles such as reconnaissance, liaison and (mostly) training. However if you examine closely the camo around the unit badge of 9-5, splotches of Verde mimetico in the two photos of 9-5 appear to match which suggests the early-Serie Mimetica colors were still present when the plane was photographed in Feb 1941 - not surprising because it’s still a BR.20. So the second photo (in flight) was probably taken with (stacked?) filters that darkened the green in the orthochromatic film that was used at the time.

Some of these issues should have been pointed out or discussed in the review but as a rule don't rely solely on reviews (of any subject), check the comments of modelers who have built the kit (there are many good ones on this site) + related forum discussions.

One final note, spend some time looking through Stefano's VITO charts (on this site) and search "Fiat Br.20" and "Br.20" to get the VITO chart equivalents for this plane e.g., Bruno mimetico (as suggested by the VITO charts) is quiet a bit darker in the VITO charts. And one more final note, often this plane BR.20/M is (wrongly) portrayed as being easily lit on fire, however this reputation stems from Japanese use of this plane who removed the self-sealing tanks and replaced them with larger metal vat-like fuel cells for extended range that as you might imagine easily ignited, even from a single well-placed shot - this was a common problem with almost all Japanese aircraft.

I hope this helps.

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Best To Y'All On The Special Hobby FIAT BR.20 Build...

Post by RetiredInKalifornia » Thu Mar 28, 2024 8:41 pm

...Sample photos of my Italeri 1/72nd Builds:

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Two late-issue Italaerei models were destroyed when accidentally dumped whole open bottle of liquid styrene glue on table it wicked up by unassembled painted parts c.2007 :shock: :oops: Replacement Italeri kits had near inch-long longer flight deck part than the Italaerei ones me thinks to provide a spot for the dorsal turret gunner figure to stand on, off hand can't remember if either kit had any figures! The Cicogna was a favorite of mine despite its obsolescence a handfull surviving into early post-war period as transports & trainers.

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