Congratulations Richard! That's awesome. The CR.42 builds up to a large plane and looks impressive in 1/48, and especially in that scheme if done right. Nice job.

The age-old question of color matching and Tamiya colors. Paint lines come and go. Polly S and Polly Scale were (mostly) two different lines, Polly S (an older formula) was used primarily for trains/railroad modeling. I liked Polly Scale paints and I think this line still continues in Testors Acryli...

I haven't tried Techmod decals. Cartograf are really in a class of their own, they invest in R&D, they use the latest technology and equipment and it shows. They also have a very able staff - what others can't do they find a way and are very easy to work with, and most importantly they get that deta...

I think part of the issue is that it takes a long time to make an accurate decal sheet - everything in a decal sheet needs attention to detail e.g. size, shape, stenciling, colors, markings, text/descriptions, clear instructions, good quality photos for drawings, artwork, units badges etc 48012/4801...

Here's a video of Italian Military Exports that puts Italy 6th world wide although I seen a chart last week that indicated Italian military exports are already ahead of Germany - when you factor in Fincanteri and transfers like the Giuseppe Garibaldi and refits, they probably are. Also a second vide...

Filippi's plane Bf.109G-6/U3 isn't a subject we would normally do (in decal Sheet 48013, not in 48006 as in your email) because the photos we have of it aren't complete, however it fell within a W.Nr. block (163000 - 164000) that were finished differently in regard to the vertical tail surfaces and ...

Beautiful job Richard, I love the finish - the color looks really good. I’m assuming you mixed black with some blue? The color of RA Night Fighters (CN) is an interesting topic. The three colors to focus on when considering this subject, the Fiat CR.42(CN) are: Black Nerofumo (carbon-black) Grigio A...

Outstanding work! Its a shame this kind of detail gets buried inside a cowling.

Hi Quang, the cockpit detail and Breda-SAFAT MGs look great. I look forward to engine construction.

I haven't seen a reference photo for C.200 362-3, but below is a photo of a line-up of 362a Sq C.200s believed to have been taken at Kriwoj-Rog in August 1941, likely upon their arrival. The inner and outer top-wing white triangles are clearly visible. Just a couple of things to note about this phot...

Without launching into a full-throated defense of that reference, the Waldis and De Bortoli book contains a lot of useful information that shouldn’t be dismissed (as suggested in the article you’re referring to) because of a phrase or a sentence that wasn’t made clear, especially if the authors neve...

One other thing to note (following-up from what you noted about the oil radiator) is that the (coolant) radiator located underneath the cockpit (lower surfaces); the sides of the radiator were camouflaged for Aermacchi machines and painted over GAC1 on Breda built machines - again see the link above...

Yellow markings were applied from April 1941 - Nov 1941 (when the Germans appeared in the area), see the link below (read: Yellow cowls ): Stormo Color Guide - Dircetives Examples of the light and dark colored yellow cowls can be seen in Img. 30 in Stefano’s VitoCharts (scroll down the article): Ste...

A photo of C.200s belonging to 372a Sq. 153 Gr. CT, 54o Stormo. This is an interesting photo. I'm assuming you're modeling either 372-2 or 372-7. ADI 8 says the photo was taken sometime 1940-1941. The dark yellow nose-band however indicates that the photo was probably taken at least from April 1941....

Hi Dennis the camouflaged undersides of the nose and demarcation lines of the rear fuselage differed depending on who built the plane eg Breda, SAI and Aermacchi. Planes with camouflaged noses (eg NC4/VOS2) that curled underneath the nose were built by Aermacchi and those that curved up toward the e...